The Love Family of Birmingham
Written by Justin Lamb
The Love Home in Birmingham. On the porch are James and Cynthilia Love. Meta Love Smith is standing in the yard and her millinery shop can be seen behind the home to the left.
(Courtesy of Marshall County Genealogical Society)
The Love family had an early role in the formation of the now inundated town of Birmingham. James Love was born in Beith, Scotland in 1832 and immigrated to Birmingham in the 1850s after receiving a letter from his brother asking to join him in the river city which offered various opportunities of shipping and commerce. James Love arrived in the infant town of Birmingham by 1855 and soon became involved in the tobacco business. He opened up a tobacco stemmery which became a very successful part of the local business community. Not long after his arrival in Birmingham, James Love married Cynthilia Hale of Paducah in 1865 and they had five children: Robert C. Love born in 1866, Ruby Claire Love born in 1869, Meta W. Love born in 1871, Roy M. Love born in 1872, Erle Dudley Love born in 1876.
With the success of her father’s tobacco business, Meta had every opportunity bestowed upon her for a successful life. After completing school at Birmingham, Meta enrolled at college in Evansville, Indiana and earned her degree in business which was almost unheard of for a woman in rural Kentucky at the time. Meta returned home in 1891 and began operating her own millinery business selling women’s hats. Meta was one of the very few women in the county operating her own independent business.
Around 1900, Meta married Alden W. Smith. Not long after the marriage, the Love’s tobacco stemmery burned. The Love’s did not have insurance, so James Love had to pay back all of his investors with his personal finances which left the family in financial hardship. Meta closed her shop to help her father build back his tobacco business which opened back to full operation by 1905.
James Love passed away in 1912 at age 80 followed by his wife Cynthilia in 1915 who died of breast cancer. The Love estate was distributed to the Love children. Robert, Roy and Erle continued to farm and Meta returned to the merchant business. By 1920, Meta and her husband Alden opened up a grocery store in Birmingham which they operated until Birmingham was flooded in 1942. After being forced to move from Birmingham, Meta lived in Fredonia, Kuttawa, and Paducah until she passed away in June 1959 at Riverside Hospital in Paducah. She was buried in the Birmingham cemetery near her parents and husband. Roy Love passed away in June 1936 followed by his brother Robert C. Love in October 1939. Earl Dudley Love died in 1958.