[home]    [Sims index]    [surname index]    [photo album c WWI]

Some of the information on the Sims family is taken from the book, "The Pariss Sims Family & Related Families 1765-1965" by Almon J. Sims. While this is a wonderful book and an invaluable resource, I take it with a grain of salt because the information on my grandmother in that book is not entirely accurate (he put that she died in 1955 instead of the correct 1958, and that her daughter was Ann when, in fact, she's Ida Ann).

To jump straight to photographs, click here: pics

Leslie and his wife are discussed also on the page that has the Transcription of a taped 1998 conversation with Mary Lou Hardison.

 Click on image to enlarge. Once enlarged, to zoom, move cursor to right of image, back onto image, and click again. There may be more photos of him in his sister Lyda Sue's photo album c WWI

Leslie, Lyda, Paul	Leslie on left, from his sister Lyda's scrapbook	possibly Leslie
One of his columns from the 1950s, about his namesake nephew, etc	Leslie's son, Bobby Sims	Leslie's son, Robert "Bobby" Sims in 1991 at the Hardison Family Reunion in Jackson, TN

Recollection by his nephew of visiting in the 1930s:

(After she was widowed) My Grandmother Sims stayed most of the time with Leslie and his wife, Lucille. They lived in a relatively large house and had "help." My Aunt Lucille was the epitome of Southern hospitality and charm. She was gracious and seemed to truly enjoy having company and "doing for" people.

1900 census, Crockett County TN, Civil District 9.

"James" Sims, age 38,  born Jun 1861 in TN (doesn't list where his parents were born), married 10 years, occupation: physician

Wife Effie A., age 28, born Jan. 1872 in TN of a father born in Indiana and a mother born in TN, married 10 years

Son Robt L, age 9, born January 1892

Son Paul, age 7, born Dec. 1893

draft registration 1917 Robert Leslie Sims of Friendship TN, born 1-2-1892 in Crockett Mills, TN. Occupation: Editor and Publisher, self employed in Friendship, TN. Single with gray eyes, black hair, tall and slender. Reason for exemption: support of father and mother.

1920 census, Crockett TN, Civil District 12, Tigret Road (renting):

JP Sims, 58, printer--newspaper company, born TN of father born in TN and mother born in Alabama (it looks like)

Wife Effie Sims, 47, born in TN of a father born in IN and a mother born in TN

Son Leslie Sims, 28, single, editor--newspaper

Daughter "Lydia" Sims, 19, single, typesetter in printing office.

12-25-1922 Robert Leslie Sims married Lucille Bell (according to Sims book).

1929 baby book of his nephew LC Hardison shows gifts of "comb and brush from Aunt Lucille Sims" and baby book from "Uncle Leslie Sims."

1930 census, Friendship TN:

Leslie R. Sims, 37, married at 30, editor of newspaper.

Wife Lucille, 30, married at 23, born in MS of parents born in MS.

"Adopted daughter" Rebecca Jane, 2 years and 10 months, born in TN of parents born in TN.

11-16-1934 Robert Bell Sims born according to Sims book, which says he married Patricia Lytton. (Says Rebecca married Robert Lee Jr.)

7-6-1944 will of Sarah Avery Penick (2nd wife of Troy H Avery, the one who took the farm from Ida Avery Hardison's family) is witnessed by Leslie Sims.

On the internet, at http://rootsweb.com/~tnnews/#crockett (then click on Tri-County News) many parts of Leslie Sims' Tri-County News are reproduced, with his photo. The introduction (in 1998 it said it was written by Lynn Pierce Appling but now it says copyright Natalie Huntley 2002), says in part, "In 1909, at the age of seventeen, Leslie Sims already had three years of printing experience. He founded a newspaper in Kentucky along with his father and his brother Paul. But he soon decided to try his luck in Crockett County, TN, where he had spent much of his childhood. He founded the Tri-County News in Friendship in 1912 when only 20 years old. With the success of the Tri-County News, he moved to...Alamo and began publishing the Crockett Times in 1933. Sims purchased the Crockett County Sentinel, founded in 1873, in 1942."

From "The Pariss Sims Family and Related Families 1765-1965" by Almon J. Sims (1965), p. 110: "In 1952 Leslie Sims [son of John P. Sims], a great grandson, of Alamo, Tenn, gave me the following information on his branch of the family:

    "My father's name was John Sims. He had three brothers, James, William and Robert, and all of them, including my father, were doctors. They had one sister, Susie, who never married. My grandfather, William Sims, was a farmer and he had one older brother, Dr. John Sims, who lived in Lauderdale County, Tenn, near Double Bridges where he was a country doctor. He had two sons, William and Edward.

    "Dr. John Sims and my grandfather, William, had one sister, Martha, who married Erastus White of Crockett County, Tenn. She was the grandmother of Dr. Robert H. White, Tennessee State Historian and the author of a State history, "Tennessee, It's Growth and Progress' which is used in the public schools of the State.

    "I am almost sure that my great grandfather was Matthew Sims. I never heard my father say much about him for he died years before my father was born, but I understand he was a Methodist circuit-riding preacher in North Alabama. He came to Fayette County, Tenn. about 1828...Robert W. Sims, the lawyer of Gadsden, Tenn. was a relative of ours. I never knew him personally but my father did and I know that we are of the same family. Also father met Congressman Thetus W. Sims several times and they figured out the family connection."

    The author also refers to meeting with Leslie in 1963 and spending time going over the family history.

Social Security death index: Leslie Sims born 1-2-1892 died Jan. 1969 Alamo, TN

Leslie's son Bobby Sims was Public Information Officer for the Navy and then was with National Geographic. Need to add his info.