The Ancestor Detector

02/25/2026

It was an absolute honor to receive the Mary Desha Medal for Youth yesterday from the DAR! Thank you so much to my family, friends, neighbors, politicians, etc. who attended the ceremony at City Hall last night. Here are a few photos from the ceremony taken by Lucas Wright!

02/25/2026

Our chapter was honored to recognize Benny Jett who truly reflect the spirit of Mary Desha — patriotism, service, leadership, and love of country. He represented the very best of the next generation, and it was inspiring to hear about his accomplishments and the ways they are already making a difference in our community.

From the heartfelt introductions to the proud smiles of family members, the entire program was filled with encouragement and joy.

Programs like the Mary Desha Youth Award remind us why investing in young people matters so much.

The future is bright — and it was shining at the Benny Jett celebration!

02/24/2026

One Spring Hill Teen will be Honored with National Award.

02/24/2026

The big day is approaching! I can’t wait to see you all tomorrow, at 6:30pm, at Spring Hill City Hall!

02/11/2026

For those of you who have not heard, the Brigadier General Richard Winn Chapter, DAR is going to award me the Mary Desha Medal for Youth on February 24, at 6:30pm, at Spring Hill City Hall! The Mary Desha Medal for Youth is a national award that honors youth for outstanding service to their community, state, or nation through participation and/or leadership. Everyone is invited to attend the ceremony. The only request is to please RSVP by February 16th to the email listed on the invitation below. I look forward to seeing you all there!

02/07/2026

We are looking for business sponsors for our April 2026 Quarterly Journal! If your business would be interested in sponsoring or you know of a business that would be interested, please comment below or email us at SpringHillTNHGS@outlook.com before the deadline of March 1st. (There is no limit to how many sponsors we can have!)

Sponsorship Levels:

$25 = Quarter-page advertisement in the quarterly journal, a social media thank you, and your name added to our website underneath Sponsors.
$50 = Half-page advertisement in the quarterly journal, a social media thank you, and your name added to our website underneath Sponsors.
$100 = Full-page advertisement in the quarterly journal, a social media thank you, your name added to our website underneath Sponsors, and a free copy of the quarterly journal.

Stay tuned as other sponsorship opportunities are in the works!

Thank you so much to the Brigadier General Richard Winn Chapter, DAR for sponsoring our October 2025 Quarterly Journal and to Spring Hill Heating & Cooling for sponsoring our January 2026 Quarterly Journal!

02/05/2026

Have you been wondering how to join the SHH&GS? It’s simple! All you have to do is fill out the form below and bring it (with your membership dues) to any of our gatherings.

You can also mail it (with your membership dues) to the following address:

Spring Hill Historical & Genealogical Society (or SHH&GS)
c/o Michael Langley, Treasurer
210 Carter’s Creek Pike
Columbia, TN 38401

We look forward to having you as a member!

02/02/2026

02/01/2026

📸 HISTORIC PHOTO OF THE MONTH: This month’s historic photo is of Marie Head Nellums in front of her home on Main Street.
(The below history was written by Benny Jett, President of the SHH&GS.)

Standing by her mailbox, Marie Nellums is pictured here in 1986 holding a copy of the Spring Hill Morning Sun newspaper. Marie was a longtime hairdresser in Spring Hill and operated Marie’s Beauty Shop out of her home on Main Street. She lived next door to Mattie Laura Harris, whose home is now the Fainting Goat Coffee Co. Marie’s home was torn down around 2014 and the property is now the coffee shop’s parking lot. Marie was the daughter of B.B. Head, who owned and operated a grocery store on Main Street for many years until he passed away in 1964. If you lived in Spring Hill before her passing in 2009, it is very likely that you knew Marie, talked to Marie, or got your hair done at Marie’s Beauty Shop.

01/24/2026

There are many more pictures like these in the book, Spring Hill: A Pictorial History! Be sure to purchase your copy from the Spring Hill Public Library before they run out of copies. Each copy of the book costs $30 and benefits the building of a new library.

01/23/2026

Today I received the resolution that the TN State House of Representatives passed in my honor! I am extremely proud and honored to have received this from Rep. Warner’s office.

Included with the resolution was an American flag flown over the TN State Capitol in my honor and a certificate of authenticity signed by the Governor.

The good part of this weekend’s snow/ice storm? I have plenty of time to plan where I am going to put these on my wall! 😂

10/21/2025

Here lately I have been putting together an event called Meeting Adjourned: An Evening with Spring Hill’s Former Mayors and I decided to clean City Hall’s front plaque which states the names of two of my late friends, Naomi Derryberry and Billy Kinnard. The result? Me getting caught of guard with a Certificate of Appreciation from the City and forgetting how to do everything but breathe at tonight’s BOMA meeting. 😂 Watch the meeting video online and my actions will prove to you how caught of guard I was. Thank you so much to the Mayor, City Administrator, and all of our Aldermen for this certificate! There is going to be a new frame on my wall very soon.