John Jolly Espy, Sr.'s Obituary

RWINS PHOTOGRPAHY LLC shot these Hi-Resolution Digital Images that can now easily be enlarged and read. If I had used my basic camera, you could still see the full images, but if you wanted to read the text, which is the purpose, the print would be too blurry.

For this task, the rate was $60 an hour. I took over the newspaper, a family treasure that's about eighty years old, and actually assisted in opening it and placing it out for it to be photographed. I worked with the photographer as he shot close to twenty images. He was adjusting lights and screens, and then he would get up on his ladders (step and full) to shoot from above. I just adjusted the positioning as he directed. In the end, it took a little over thirty minutes, including the time for the images to be cropped and then saved as JPEG files for Internet use. I was very pleased with the service.

The Wiregrass Farmer newspaper, from 1934. The first and last newspaper pages contain the obituary of my great-grandfather, John Jolly Espy, Sr., who had just died in an automobile accident while returning to Headland, AL from the Florida panhandle.  He and the driver were bringing back a bag of raw oysters to be eaten on the town square.

On another page, be sure to notice the Espy Mercantile Company ad, where it references his death.  The very last image is the framed obituary (plus another obit) I have on hanging on my wall.