When I came across some history of the Warren family, I was particularly interested because I attended Warren Elementary School on Chamblee Tucker Road from 1962 until 1966. I have a fairly good memory of how the school looked inside and out, of waiting outside for the bus, and of some of my teachers and fellow students.
I remember that they used to show movies in the cafeteria/auditorium occasionally on weekends and that is where I saw the movie Cinderfella, starring Jerry Lewis. It’s funny the things that will stay in your memory from when you were a child and this is one of mine.
These were the days of rapid expansion of schools in DeKalb County, so I was transferred briefly to Evansdale School one year, only to be sent back to Warren when Evansdale was overcrowded. Then I spent my last couple of years of elementary school at Pleasantdale Elementary off Pleasantdale Road.
The book “A Century in North DeKalb,” which has the history of Corinth Baptist Church and a good deal of Chamblee history, tells that John William Warren and B. T. Sheffield were elected deacons of the church in 1904. Warren was forty-seven years old at the time and went by John. He and his family were active members of Corinth Baptist, which later became Chamblee Baptist. This is where I first read about the Warrens, but with some research in newspapers.com and ancestry.com I found more.
J. W. Warren (1857-1940) and Emily Francis Stanton Warren (1860-1925) moved from Conyers, Georgia to Chamblee, purchasing land on Chamblee Tucker Road. Warren Elementary School was built on land that the family owned and of course the school carries their family name. Later they sold property to Atlanta Baptist College, which is now Mercer University.
Sometimes the family would walk to Antioch Presbyterian Church at Chamblee Tucker Road and Oakcliff Road instead. Church was the place where most social activies for young people took place. I have not found any information on this church to date.
The Warren family were farmers, growing cotton and corn primarily, but they also had a vegetable garden, fruit trees, chickens, cows, and pigs.
When Emily F. Warren died in 1925, six daughters were listed in the obituary. They include Eva Warren, Abbie Warren, Mrs. D. G. Chesnut, Mrs. M. G. Henderson, Mrs. P. R. Warnock, Mrs. J. R. Chapman, and Mrs. W. S. Johnson. Married women were always listed by their husbands names at the time, never by their own given names. Emily and John Warren also had a son named Robert Warren.
Evie Warren died in 1963 and her obituary appeared in the February 27, 1963 Atlanta Constitution. She had been living at the old family home at 3151 Chamblee Tucker Road. Her sister Abbie Warren was also living at the family home. Evie Warren was buried at the Chamblee Baptist Church cemetery. Because the church eventually moved to Johns Creek and became Johns Creek Baptist it is sometimes referred to by that name, but the old Chamblee Baptist cemetery is still located on Hood Avenue in Chamblee, Georgia.
Chamblee Baptist cemetery on Hood Avenue.
In 1975, Abbie Warren was still living in the old family home. She kept her membership at Corinth, later Chamblee Baptist Church. She taught Sunday school for twenty-five years. She recalled riding to church in a buggy or wagon. The roads were rough and rocky and the trip took about forty-five minutes.
Abbie Warren attended Milledgeville State College and the Univiersity of Georgia. She taught in DeKalb County schools for over forty-three years, primarily at Chamblee Grammar School. She retired in 1960 and moved to the Briarwood Nursing Home in 1985. She died at age 94 in 1989 and is buried at Chamblee Baptist Church cemetery in Chamblee.
Warren Elementary was converted to an occupational educational facility in 1984 and is today known as Warren Technical School, located at 3075 Alton Road Chamblee, GA. The school is inside I-285, off Chamblee Tucker Road.
Google’s view of Warren School at Alton Road and Chamblee Tucker Road, and yes that is a Coca-Cola truck in the image.
I don’t remember an old house near my elementary school, but the Warren home was standing during those years.