Men on a Log

I can't begin to date this photograph of what Don and I have come to call "men on a log." It could be anywhere from the 1920s to the 1940s, so anyone with any ideas please jump in with your comments. If I had to guess, I'd say probably 1920s to early 1930s. As cotton crops began to be destroyed by the boll weevil, small farmers in Itawamba County turned to selling timber to generate income for their families. Portable sawmills aided their efforts, as did a huge market for Itawamba's timber.

Don has been able to identify a handful of the men in the photo. One man was particularly easy to identify, and that is Don and Mike's great-grandfather, James Henry "Jim" Dulaney. Jim was named after both of his grandfathers: James Dulaney and Henry Moxley. He is the third seated man on the first log, from the left.

To identify others, Don turned to Mrs. Mary Dulaney who has been invaluable in recognizing and identifying familiar faces in many older photographs. So far, we know that Napoleon "Poley" Johnson is seated on the second log on the far right of the photo. Dick Wilemon has been identified as the second seated man on the first log, from the left. Lawrence Tucker is the first seated man on the second log, from the left, and Dewey Johnson is the third seated man on the second log, from the left.

Terry Wilemon provided the photograph.