Re: Shamblin/Shamlin
-
In reply to:
Shamblin/Shamlin
Michael Shamlin 4/23/05
My father is Freddie Lee Shamblin (Shamlin). His parents were Joseph Shamlin and Ollie Mae Champion Shamlin. My understanding is that they were from near Booneville, Mississippi. I believe that Albert Lester Shamlin is my Uncle Lester that I heard my dad speak about before his death in 2001. Lester and my dad had a brother named Luther whom I have met. I also met another brother named William "Bill" Shamblin who died in Pearland, Texas in the early 1980's. Other siblings were J.D. who died in the late 1950's or early '60's of Leukemia (I believe J.D.'s adopted last name was Wilson), James Thomas (Cleveland, MS) who died in 1993 or 1994, a sister named Anna who died in child-hood, and a half-brother named Kenneth Richardson who I last knew to be living in Montreal, Quebec. My dad and all of his siblings were placed in an orphanage (except for the later arriving half-brother Kenneth) and as they were adopted out or fostered out their names were changed (i.e., adding the b to make Shamlin, Shamblin).
I got to know Ollie Mae quite well as she lived out her days at a Nursing Home in LaPorte, Texas where my dad's wife, Norma Jones Shamblin was the administrator. My mother Jessie Mae Corbett Shamblin and my dad Freddie Lee Shamblin divorced when I was in the 8th grade and so I never really knew my dad's family very well. I did try to have a relationship with my dad when my childre were young (they are now 22 and 18). I preached Ollie Mae's funeral on October 3, 1981 in Manvel, Texas where she is buried in the Manvel Cemetary. Her obituary shows her to have been preceded in death by J.D. Shamlin Wilson and Anna. It reads that she was survived by Freddie Lee Shamblin (LaPorte, Texas), James T. Shamblin (Greenville, MS), William H. Shamblin (Manvel, TX), Lester A. Shamblin (Columbus, Ohio), Luther Shamblin (Neward, N.J.) and Kenneth Richardson (Montreal, Canada). I think this info was simply best guesses by my dad (Freddie) and William H. (Uncle Bill) who were the only family present at the funeral.
If Albert Lester was my dad's brother we would be first cousins who have never met. I drove my dad to James Thomas' funeral in Cleveland Mississippi in either 1993 or 1994. I met his (James Thomas') children but can't remember their names now. I do remember that one of James Thomas' daughter-in-law's taught English at Delta State there in Cleveland, Mississippi.
Would love to learn more about my dad's family!
Michael P. Shamblin