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Charles Lycurgus ("Papa") Hearn
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(1881-1962) Mary Alice Heard |
Charles Lycurgus Hearn, father of C. Aubrey Hearn, was born in 1881 in Blount County, Alabama. He was the fifth of eight children of Samuel and Mary Ann Hipp Hearn.
Despite short school terms (three months in winter, two in summer) Papa attended high school and taught four terms in the county schools, beginning at age 17. He entered the agricultural college in Albertville, Alabama in September, 1901, and began working as bookkeeper for a local merchant. Appointment as a rural mail carrier enabled Papa to purchase his first horse and buggy. His rural route covered 24 miles each day.
Papa married Della Jane Hubbard of Albertville in 1906. They were the parents of six boys and two girls [see genealogical charts], all of whom attended college.
Although Papa's hopes of attending medical school were thwarted, he became a successful merchant in Albertville, where he was vice president and buyer for the Albertville Trading Company.
Papa served as a city alderman, was a deacon in the Baptist church, and for many years participated in the Marshall County Singing Convention. He took great delight in his children and grandchildren, and they in him. He died at the age of 80 in March, 1962.
Papa Hearn wrote the following advice to his grandchildren:
"Be obedient, tell the truth, keep good company, do not cheat, play the game fair, attend Sunday School and Church regularly, help with your hands and money in all good causes. Children in the home should love one another, be nice to older people, abstain from using ugly words, should read good books, make good grades in school, love Mama and Papa and help them. Care for the sick or distressed, live a Christian life, be a good citizen, upstanding, head high, in your community where you live and elsewhere and abstain from hard drinks. Cultivate good habits."