Maybe it's Maybelline, MAYBE IT'S MORGANFIELD

https://ket.org/program/kentucky-edition/maybelline-family-returns-to-their-roots/

This is just our segment click on links!

This is the entire program. 

https://ket.org/program/kentucky-edition/october-16-2023/

At last here are the links to the episode on KET, Kentucky. Alix our producer did a beautiful job. The message is very clear   MAYBE IT'S MAYBELLINE...MAYBE IT'S MORGANFIELD

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0277miT7PWq7Qaw1cNLuyt3o7a6pdgMgH578HA64Abpy8d3q2zEntrwhByhw6EafMl&id=100013105513834&mibextid=CDWPTG

Finding my Maybelline Roots in Morganfield Kentucky

My Great grandmother, 16 year old Susan Anna Alvey, in 1877.

My Great grandfather, Thomas Jefferson Willliams,  the local Sheriff and tax collector, was fearless when it came to doing the right thing.  He lost his right eye and often teased his grandchildren by pulling fake eye out and handing it to one of them. My dad remembered running away screaming.

Susan Anna Alvey Williams and TJ had 6 children. The most famous being Tom Lyle Williams, founder of the Maybelline Company. When Susan Anna, died in 1919, of the great flu, TJ turned his attention to keeping the books for Tom Llyle in the early years of Maybelline. 

On the farm as children, my grandfather William Preston Williams and his little sister Eva K. Williams in 1909. 

The 500 acre family farm and homestead was over 100 years old, by the time the Williams kids were born.  By 1916, the farm was sold and the family moved to Chicago, to assist Tom Lyle with the Maybelline Company.

TJ and Anna's third grandchild, and their son, Noel James and Frances Williams second child, Annette Williams, plays with the chickens before the farm was finally sold.

The country story wore many hats in the early day's, including being the local post office, photography studio, soda fountain, and supply store.  it also acted as a saloon at one time, before Prohibition  in 1920.

Noel James, wife Frances, with their two girls, Helen and Annette, in Morganfield, visiting the homestead.  The family was now prospering in Chicago, as the Maybelline Company continued to grow.

Little Helen, with the chickens in Morganfield.

                   Little Annette in the chicken coop.

Sheriff TJ with my father William Preston Williams Jr., in 1925.

And finally the Big Three, Sheriff Thomas Jefferson with his son, Tom Lyle Williams, and his first grandchild, Tom Lyle Williams Jr. in Chicago, 1934.

Read more about Morganfield and the early days of Maybelline in The Maybelline Story.

Do you watch the TV Show, "Finding your Roots?" http://www.pbs.org/weta/finding-your-roots/ Anyone interested in their Genealogy, would learn a lot from the tremendous research done to produce every episode. Several of my cousins have researched our family history and even proved our connection with the great Patriot, Benjamin Franklin, and General Jonathon Williams, of the Revolutionary War. Here is a tiny glimpse into my roots in Kentucky. I'm proud to have those Southern ties in my background.

I'm proud of my roots in Morganfield Kentucky, where Maybelline got it's start.

In all the research I did for The Maybelline Story,

 I found our family had quite a romantic past

My great grandmother, Susan Anna Alvey.  This picture was taken in 1877 when she was only 16 years of age and considered a great beauty. 

My great grandfather, Sheriff Thomas Jefferson Williams, was the local tax collector, and fearless when it came to doing the right thing. 

Susan Anna Alvey Williams, and Sheriff TJ, had six children, the most famous being Tom Lyle Williams, owner of the Maybelline Company.  When she died of the great flu in 1919, Sheriff TJ, kept the books for Tom Lyle during the early years of Lash -Brow-Ine, and Maybelline. 

My grandfather Preston and his little sister Eva, 1909.

The 500 acre family farm and homestead was over 100 years old by the time the Williams kids were born, and by 1916, the farm was sold, so the family could move to Chicago and help Tom Lyle with his little Maybelline Company.

TJ and Anna's third grandchild, and their son, Noel James and Frances Williams second child, Annette Williams, plays with the chickens in Morganfield.

The country story included the local post office, photography studio, soda fountain, and supply store. it even acted as a saloon, before Prohibition was passed in 1920.

Noel James', wife Frances, with their two girls, Helen and Annette, in Morganfield.  The family, now living in Chicago, worked for Tom Lyle and his Maybelline Company. 

Little Helen, with the chickens in Morganfield.

                   Little Annette in the chicken coop.

Sheriff TJ with his fourth grandchild, my father William Preston Williams, in 1924.  

Sheriff Thomas Jefferson with his son, Tom Lyle Williams, and his first grandchild, Tom Lyle Williams Jr. in Chicago, 1934.


Read more about Morganfield and the early days of Maybelline in my book The Maybelline Story.

The original Maybelline Family from Kentucky to Chicago to Hollywood and beyond.

In my book The Maybelline Story and the Spirited Family Dynasty Behind it, I tell the story the Williams family and the birth of the Maybelline Co.  The original family from Morganfield Kentucky started out with (from right to left,) Sheriff Thomas Jefferson Williams, his wife Susan and six children.  Their first child, a boy named Pearl died at 19 leaving Noel James, (in the middle,) Mabel Anna, Tom Lyle, William Preston, (my grandfather,) and Eva Kay. This picture was taken in 1916 when a little company called Maybell Laboratories first introduced an eyelash darkener called Maybelline.  The company was named after the founder Tom Lyle's sister Mabel and financed by his older brother Noel with $500. he'd saved to marry his sweetheart Frances Allen. 

By 1934 the five siblings had worked together to build the Maybelline Co into an unimaginable success and though the depression destroyed many well know companies, Maybelline continued to thrive.  Here is a picture of Sheriff TJ, with Tom Lyle and his son Tom Lyle Jr.  It was taken while Tom Jr was at Duke University and Tom Lyle lived at the Villa Valentino in the Hollywood Hills.  Susan had died of the great flu in 1919.

By 1934 Noel James, Tom Lyle's older brother was vice president of the Maybelline Co, married Frances and had four children.  From left to right you see, Annette Louise, (Neppy,) Richard Lyle, (Dick,) Noel, Helen Frances, Frances and Noel Allen Williams. 

Mabel married Chet Hewes in 1926 and had three children Shirley Anne, Thomas Randolph, (Tommy) and baby Joyce Mae are in this picture.  Chet handled the manufacturing of Maybelline and eventually formed his own company within the Maybelline Co. called Deluxe Mascara after Maybelline was investigated for being a monopoly.   Mabel, Maybelline's namesake became known as Auntie Mabel to all her nieces and nephews and remained the loving matriarch until the end of her life. Her family still lives in Chicago.

Eva, the youngest child of TJ and Susan married Ches Haines and had three children. June Anne, Marilyn Frances, (Ditty,)
and Robert Charles (Bobby.)  Ches Haines was in charge of transportation at the Maybelline company while Eva, (Auntie E,)  stayed home and raised her three children. 

Preston Williams a WW1 Veteran married my grandmother Evelyn Boecher and had my father William Preston Williams Jr.  Preston never wanted to work for the Maybelline Co. and was the wild card in the family.  Eventually Evelyn and Billy followed Tom Lyle to California and Billy was raised by his mother and Uncle Tom Lyle.


Today the Maybelline family has grown into the third and fourth generation and is a very large family.  The Maybelline Story is told from my branch of the family's point of view, the West Coast branch who grew up in California with Tom Lyle.  

The story goes back to the original family in Morganfield Kentucky, through the heyday's of Chicago gangsters and into the glitz and glamour of Hollywood when Tom Lyle was the King of Advertising. 

I hope you love The Maybelline Story and find it to be a fun ride through the 20th Century with the Williams family.