BBC Snippet Buford A. Mathes, the first member of the Tennessee Ornithological Society from Northeast Tennessee, left behind some of the earliest and nicest photos of birds taken in the region. Mathes grew up in the area and lived at Johnson City when he became a member of TOS, March 1916, at the age of 38. The state society was just a year old and he joined as soon as he learned of its existence. He was born in 1878 and died in 1935. In 1901 he married Bessie Jones of Abingdon, Virginia. Buford Mathes feeds a Blue-headed Vireo small worms. White-eyed Vireo adores fledglings. These photos were left to Wallace Coffey as part of the Bob Lyle collection. from the archives of the Bristol Bird Club