Gone a' Preaching

I received a copy of this picture from one of my husband's cousins, and I'm not certain who owns the original photo.  We were told that the picture was made in Smyth County, Virginia, when Rev. Calloway Blevins went to preach a revival at the church of one of his brothers, who was also a minister.

In Smyth County, Virginia  (click to enlarge)

Callie is near the center of the photo, with a long, full, white beard. And his mother, Susan Joines Blevins, is seated beside him with a dark scarf on her head.

The man seated on the other side of Callie is "probably" his brother, at whose church he had gone to preach. 

However, he had several brothers who were ministers. In the Heritage of Wilkes County, Volume 2, descendant Ursula Blevins Proffit stated that Calloway and his three brothers, Ezekiel, John and Linville, were all Baptist ministers.The History of the Stone Mountain Baptist Association states that three of his brothers, John, Ezekiel and Smithe, were "ministers who served many churches in the Cleghorn Valley of Virginia."

According to census data, Calloway had six brothers: John Andrew, Ezekiel, Linville, Squire, William Talmadge and Smith. Two of those brothers are identified in census data as ministers: Ezekiel and Squire.

Thus, reports and records indicate that Callie's minister-brothers were, variously, John, Ezekiel, Smith, Linville and Squire. This totals five brothers who were ministers, instead of three, as various reports state...  So, in the Smyth County photograph above, we were told that the man seated beside Callie was "probably" his brother, at whose church he had gone to preach. But he apparently had several brothers who were preachers, so we have no idea which brother this might be.

I would love to know the identities of any of the other people in this photograph. Please contact me if you can identify any of these folks.


UPDATE:  The wife of one of John Andrew Blevins's descendants contacted me with the following information:

The man in the middle of the picture with the white hair and beard is Calloway Blevins. Immediately behind and to the right of him is his brother Squire Blevins. Sitting beside Calloway is his mother Susannah. Beside her is another brother, John Andrew. Between John and Susannah is Ezekiel. To the left of Calloway is Linville. The man between Linville and Calloway is Daniel Smith Blevins. The seventh brother was in North Carolina when the picture was taken. This photo taken in 1912 was all of the Blevinses who attended a revival at the Cleghorn Baptist Church near Chilhowie. Calloway had come up from North Carolina to preach at the revival.

Thanks, Brenda!