Trussville historian, author dies

A leader of historical preservation in Trussville has died.

Earl Massey died Tuesday, Aug. 2. He was 88.

Massey’s celebration of life is Saturday, Aug. 6 at Deerfoot Baptist Church in Trussville. Visitation is 9:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., with services beginning at 11 a.m.

Born June 24, 1934, Massey worked for the city of Birmingham Streets and Sanitation department for more than 32 years. He was a supervisor. He served on the Trussville Historical Board from its creation in 1983 until 2007, when his daughter, Sandra Turner, replaced him. He served as an adviser to the board from 2007 until 2020, when his Alzheimer’s disease began to worsen. The Trussville City Council in 2006 approved a proclamation in appreciation of Massey, stating in part that his “commitment to the preservation of our history benefits our community and will be a lasting memorial for use by succeeding generations.”

“It about brings tears to my eyes because I think, you know, he was so prepared and wanted to help us, to help the city of Trussville,” Turner said earlier this year. “He wants people to remember their history, and he took care of it in every way he could other than pouring it into people. You can’t make people want to know it, but for the ones who want to know it in the future and now, it’s there for them because he preserved so much. He made it available. He’s a very, very, very special, sweet person.”

Massey met Carol in the 1950s at a cleaner’s business on Main Street in Trussville, in the area where, coincidentally, the Standard Oil Products Museum is located today. Carol worked at the cleaners on Saturdays, and Earl came in one day after traveling home from Texas. He invited her to a Sunday school Christmas party. She said OK. They married in 1958. “Trussville Through the Years,” the couple’s historical book about Trussville, was printed in the 1980s. It includes topics such as Trussville’s formative years, the Civil War era, Reconstruction, the Cahaba Project and yearly notes of interest.

“He’s been a historian ever since I’ve known him, and always working to save stuff,” Carol said earlier this year. “I got hooked on it because he wanted me to help with it.” 

One of Carol’s first realizations that Earl not only enjoyed history but craved it was when they would travel to cemeteries on Sunday afternoons. Carol did not necessarily want to spend a weekend afternoon among the headstones, but Earl loved it. He wrote down names and all their information. He made a book out of approximately 30 cemeteries in Jefferson and St. Clair counties. People called him from across the country looking for their kin. Back then, Earl could ask you what your grandmother’s name was and he would know your grandfather, too. He knew, after asking perfect strangers for their names, who their relatives were.

Earl was always busy. He worked for the city of Birmingham, built a house for his new bride and, inexplicably, found time to have supper on the table when Carol got home from work after 5 p.m., work a second job, and discover and document a city’s history. He worked in Birmingham until 3 p.m., at which point he would work on their house. Other times, he worked a second job at an East Lake shoe store.

Everyone at the Birmingham Public Library knew Earl. Instead of taking a lunch break, he’d go look up information, study the old microfilm. He researched Trussville’s beginnings, the city’s housing, genealogy for those who asked him, and more. The Masseys wrote books. Earl did the research and interviewing, and Carol typed and proofread. Once, while working in Birmingham, Earl was told to take a heap of old photos to the dump, Carol said. He found a box of Trussville photos, mostly of old houses. He took them home. Many are now displayed in the museum inside Heritage Hall, which is at capacity with relics of Trussville’s past.

In a 1997 article in The Birmingham News, Massey was interviewed to talk about Trussville’s history, about its 50 years as an incorporated town. He talked about the research and studying that goes into documenting history, the links among families.

“It’s just lots of fun,” Massey told The News.

As for Earl’s legacy, Turner said he would not want the credit for all he’s researched and preserved. After all, stewards of history do not keep it all to themselves. They share what they know in books, photographs and museums.

“What he would want is just that history is preserved and known, which is a reason he worked so hard for the museum,” Turner said earlier this year. “I think he would just want the people of Trussville to know what a gem Trussville is, and to remember the history of it, and have it marked down so that in years to come people who come there or grow up later can still access it. I think that’s why he worked so hard, especially when he knew he was going to be losing his knowledge. He got everything written down and organized in such a good way.”