Railroad conductor Thomas Alexander (“Captain Tom”) Rainey and his wife Addie built the house at 619 South Peachtree when they moved to Norcross in 1911, and lived there for over 30 years. The construction was supervised by his brother Charles, who was a master carpenter. Captain Tom’s father Thomas Bennett Rainey grew up in DeKalb County and fought in the Civil War; his mother Mary was the daughter of Irish immigrants who settled in Georgia.
Tom had sisters Florida, Indiana and Missouri, and brothers William (Willie), Charles and Zenda Vesta; the latter was named after the sacred text of the Zoroastrian religion (but he went by the nickname of Bud!).
Tom Rainey and Addie Brandon married on April 22, 1891, several years after he started his 53-year-long railroad career. They had four children: Ruth, Edna, Joseph and Frances.
