by Harmon Lozier Jolley, Jr.
posted July 17, 2008
I’ve always liked to visit souvenir shops at tourist attractions. As proof, there’s a Rock City birdhouse hanging from a tree in my back yard. Often, the stores will have displays of coffee mugs, key chains, and mini-license plates with various names printed on them. You’ll always see the names David, Steve, and William. It’s rare to see Harmon, though. I recall rushing to the cashier on the few times when I’ve found my name on a souvenir.
My first, middle, and last names match my father’s, followed by the qualifying suffix of Junior. I can still hear my mother asking the caller on the phone, “Senior or Junior?” Sorting the mail correctly was also challenging at times. I enjoyed reading Popular Science, but I’m not sure that my father liked the summer edition of My Weekly Reader.
I’ve recently resumed researching my family’s history, and have been focusing on a relative with whom my father and I shared our first name. He was my great uncle, Harmon Levi Jolley. Not much is known about Uncle Harmon within my family, as will become clearer later in this article.
However, through archives and helpful assistance from the staff at the library, I’ve been able to trace Uncle Harmon’s career and history of places he worked. I have found this interesting because his changes in employers often mirrored the economic history of Chattanooga.
FROM RURAL GEORGIA TO CHATTANOOGA
Harmon Levi Jolley was born in 1889 at Everett Springs, Georgia to John Henry Jolley and Artelia Josephine Jolley, who were my great-grandparents. Harmon’s father passed away at a young age in 1895, and his mother took a job in a cotton mill to support the family.
In 1911, Harmon moved to Chattanooga with his mother, two brothers, and sister. Manufacturing was booming in Chattanooga, and so was rail transportation. His brothers were hired by the Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis Railroad, while his sister became a stenographer for Chattanooga Medicine Company. The family lived at 401 Boyce Street, which later became 2019 Chestnut Street during a street renaming and renumbering.
SOUTHERN EXPRESS COMPANY
Harmon worked as a clerk for the Southern Express Company for the first eight years that he was in Chattanooga. Southern Express was founded in Augusta, Georgia in 1861. The firm operated over all rail lines during the Civil War, and transported most anything transportable including Confederate money.
Southern Express had an office in Chattanooga during the Civil War. In 1893, the company relocated its headquarters from Augusta and Memphis to Chattanooga. The Chattanooga Times reported on July 1, 1903 that a celebration was held at the Lookout Inn. The article said that Southern Express selected Chattanooga because it “offered material advantages many and greater than were possessed by any of the other city candidates.”
A new office for Southern Express was built on the triangular tract bordered by Market Street, Georgia Avenue, and Tenth Street. Southern Express also continued to operate at its old location beside the Union Depot on West Ninth Street.
The article reported that most of the 280 employees worked in the accounting office. A million and a half bills per month from 3,500 offices were handled.
CHATTANOOGA COKE AND GAS
In 1917, the United States Railroad Administration nationalized several cargo businesses into the American Railway Express. Southern Express was included in this consolidation.
Possibly Uncle Harmon lost his job, or possibly he was looking for a career change. Whatever the reason, he became a clerk at the Chattanooga Coke and Gas Company in 1919. The Alton Park business was only two years old, and supplied foundry coke to manufacturers around the country.
H. L. JOLLEY GROCERY
The Chattanooga Times reported on September 11, 1921 that the ovens of Chattanooga Coke and Gas would be shut down for at least six months or longer. The company was in litigation over a contract with the Chattanooga Gas Company.
Uncle Harmon decided to go into business for himself, and opened a grocery at 5301 Beulah Avenue in St. Elmo, where he lived. One of his brothers (my grandfather) left the NC&StL railroad to work at the grocery. However, the business folded after one year, and my grandfather returned to the NC&StL.
H. L. JOLLEY EATING HOUSE
Undaunted by the demise of his first business, Harmon opened an “eating house” at 333 East Main Street, according to the 1922 Chattanooga city directory. The business district was often crowded with passengers from the Terminal Station, as well as employees of nearby manufacturers. However, his eating house was listed only one year in the directory.
TWO ICE AND COAL AND ICE COMPANIES
Next, Harmon landed a cool job working for the Miller Ice and Coal Company at 12 West Main Street. He was also listed as being married in 1923.
The next year, he became an inspector for the Atlantic Ice and Coal Company. Coincidentally, his nephew (my father) would later experience a back injury there while serving with the Chattanooga Fire Department. A fire had erupted at Atlantic Ice, and a wall fell on my father.
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W.H. LESSLY WHOLESALE PRODUCE
His experience as a grocer and restaurateur may have opened the door to his next employment at the William Henry Lessly and Company wholesale produce firm. Groceries and restaurants buy lots of fruit and vegetables.
W.H. Lessly arrived in the United States in 1864 and served with the United States Army. He was stationed in Chattanooga, and returned after the war to open a wholesale produce business. After his passing in 1916, his son, Arthur William Lessly, took over the operation while also serving as president of the Universal Broom and Mop Company.
Harmon was a locomotive engineer for W.H. Lessly, and brought carloads of produce from the main rail line to the acre and a half, two-story brick structure on Cowart Street at West Thirteenth Street.
HOTEL LOOKOUT
It seems that Uncle Harmon really liked the South Side of Chattanooga. Not only was he living at 1709 Long Street in 1927, but he also was managing the Hotel Lookout on the northwest corner of East Main and Cowart streets.
Arthur Lessly was listed in the city directory as being owner of the Hotel Lookout. Possibly he arranged for Harmon to move from the wholesale produce business to the hotel.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
Uncle Harmon must have at last found his calling in the hotel business. Through the Internet, I was able to view a copy of his 1942 military registration card. He was listed as both residing and working at the Hotel Orleans at 100 West 80th Street near Central Park in New York City.
Harmon had moved to New York in 1929, which was not the best time to be changing jobs and relocating with the stock market crash imminent. However, he remained in New York City until his passing in 1972.
My aunt recalls that her uncle Harmon made only one return visit to Chattanooga. On that trip, he brought some real china play sets for his nieces. In his later years, he corresponded with my grandmother, and reported the passing of his “dear wife.” The couple had no children.
While I’ve been on this quest for information on Uncle Harmon and his family, I’ve pondered what things he enjoyed about New York City and what things he and I had in common. I’m a baseball fan - did he enjoy going to Yankees games? I’ve played in the orchestra for some local productions of Broadway musicals – did he go to the same musicals in New York? I hope to learn more about the great uncle with whom I share a first name.
If you have information on any of the businesses mentioned in this article, please send me an e-mail at jolleyh@bellsouth.net.
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