My maternal grandfather, Frank Melgara, was in business with Elwood for a time around 1910 and later. They had a grocery store in North Memphis, at the corner of Fifth and Mill.
Last time I was in Memphis, in 2013, it was one of the few buildings left standing in the neighborhood. I have a very old, somewhat faded photograph of the store (Fifth street was still paved with cobblestones) showing James Lee (called “Lee” by my mother, who knew him) in what is either a sailor’s white uniform or a baker’s livery, and a lineup of 10 men who must have been important to the business. At the other end of the line is a horse-drawn wagon atop which are sitting Elwood and my grandfather. The sign above the store awning and the side of the wagon proclaim “Burton and Melgara.”
I grew up working in that store, until I graduated from the University of Memphis in 1967. My dad and my uncle owned it after my grandfather retired, until they sold it about 1988. At some time during the depression Elwood Burton and the five Melgaras all lived in the dwelling space above the store. The store itself dates back to the pre-Clarence Saunders era, when the grocery business was much more service oriented. We still sold horse feed and pumped kerosene for lamps from a hand cranked tank (we called it “coal oil”). We also delivered groceries to people’s homes for as long as I worked there, and presumably until the eighties.
From Preston Sisk
From death certificate
Father: Robert Martin Burton
Mother: Martha Elizabeth Randolph
Single
He was a buyer, John P Robilio Co
Last time I was in Memphis, in 2013, it was one of the few buildings left standing in the neighborhood. I have a very old, somewhat faded photograph of the store (Fifth street was still paved with cobblestones) showing James Lee (called “Lee” by my mother, who knew him) in what is either a sailor’s white uniform or a baker’s livery, and a lineup of 10 men who must have been important to the business. At the other end of the line is a horse-drawn wagon atop which are sitting Elwood and my grandfather. The sign above the store awning and the side of the wagon proclaim “Burton and Melgara.”
I grew up working in that store, until I graduated from the University of Memphis in 1967. My dad and my uncle owned it after my grandfather retired, until they sold it about 1988. At some time during the depression Elwood Burton and the five Melgaras all lived in the dwelling space above the store. The store itself dates back to the pre-Clarence Saunders era, when the grocery business was much more service oriented. We still sold horse feed and pumped kerosene for lamps from a hand cranked tank (we called it “coal oil”). We also delivered groceries to people’s homes for as long as I worked there, and presumably until the eighties.
From Preston Sisk
From death certificate
Father: Robert Martin Burton
Mother: Martha Elizabeth Randolph
Single
He was a buyer, John P Robilio Co
My maternal grandfather, Frank Melgara, was in business with Elwood for a time around 1910 and later. They had a grocery store in North Memphis, at the corner of Fifth and Mill.
Last time I was in Memphis, in 2013, it was one of the few buildings left standing in the neighborhood. I have a very old, somewhat faded photograph of the store (Fifth street was still paved with cobblestones) showing James Lee (called “Lee” by my mother, who knew him) in what is either a sailor’s white uniform or a baker’s livery, and a lineup of 10 men who must have been important to the business. At the other end of the line is a horse-drawn wagon atop which are sitting Elwood and my grandfather. The sign above the store awning and the side of the wagon proclaim “Burton and Melgara.”
I grew up working in that store, until I graduated from the University of Memphis in 1967. My dad and my uncle owned it after my grandfather retired, until they sold it about 1988. At some time during the depression Elwood Burton and the five Melgaras all lived in the dwelling space above the store. The store itself dates back to the pre-Clarence Saunders era, when the grocery business was much more service oriented. We still sold horse feed and pumped kerosene for lamps from a hand cranked tank (we called it “coal oil”). We also delivered groceries to people’s homes for as long as I worked there, and presumably until the eighties.
From Preston Sisk
From death certificate
Father: Robert Martin Burton
Mother: Martha Elizabeth Randolph
Single
He was a buyer, John P Robilio Co
Last time I was in Memphis, in 2013, it was one of the few buildings left standing in the neighborhood. I have a very old, somewhat faded photograph of the store (Fifth street was still paved with cobblestones) showing James Lee (called “Lee” by my mother, who knew him) in what is either a sailor’s white uniform or a baker’s livery, and a lineup of 10 men who must have been important to the business. At the other end of the line is a horse-drawn wagon atop which are sitting Elwood and my grandfather. The sign above the store awning and the side of the wagon proclaim “Burton and Melgara.”
I grew up working in that store, until I graduated from the University of Memphis in 1967. My dad and my uncle owned it after my grandfather retired, until they sold it about 1988. At some time during the depression Elwood Burton and the five Melgaras all lived in the dwelling space above the store. The store itself dates back to the pre-Clarence Saunders era, when the grocery business was much more service oriented. We still sold horse feed and pumped kerosene for lamps from a hand cranked tank (we called it “coal oil”). We also delivered groceries to people’s homes for as long as I worked there, and presumably until the eighties.
From Preston Sisk
From death certificate
Father: Robert Martin Burton
Mother: Martha Elizabeth Randolph
Single
He was a buyer, John P Robilio Co
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