This week's birthdays from my family tree:
Dec. 15
Isaac Lewis (my 3G grandfather on my father's side), b. 1846; d. Dec. 16, 1923. Died the day after his 77th birthday. He is seen in this photo, seated, second from the left. His wife had a birthday the same week. See below.
Clyde Earl Hedrick (husband of Neil Emily Hall, my second cousin three times removed on my mother's side), b. 1899 in Missouri; d. May 21, 1975, in Kismet, Seward County, Kan.
Sadie Pearl Brown (my first cousin twice removed on my mother's side), b. 1916 in Rowan County, Ky.; d. Sept. 28, 1979 in Portsmouth, Scioto, Ohio.
Esther Mearl Carr (my third cousin twice removed on my mother's side), b. 1924 in White Lick, Rowan County, Ky.; d. Nov. 27, 1927 in White Lick, Rowan County, Ky. Died three weeks before her third birthday. I'm not sure of the circumbstances.
Dec. 17
Allie Jewell Kidd (my second cousin once removed on my fathr's side), b. 1919 in Morgan County, Ky.; d. Dec. 25, 2007, in Napa, Napa County, Calif. Died on Christmas Day.
Dec. 18
Margaret Caudill (my 3G aunt on my mother's side), b. 1861 in Elliott County, Ky.; d. May 8, 1906 in Elliott County, Ky.
Jane Ellen Williams (my third cousin once removed on my mother's side)
Dec. 19
Raymond Earl Caudill (my second cousin twice removed on my mother's side), b. 1919 in Knighttown, Henry County, Ind.; d. Sept. 14, 1992, in Antioch, Contra Costa., Calif.
Dec. 20
Rhoda Templeman (my 3G grandmother on my mother's side), b. 1842; d. Jan. 4, 1933. She was the wife of Isaac Lewis, featured above and to whom she was married 53 years.
David Kidd (my first cousin twice removed on my father's side), b. 1889 in Rowan County, Ky.; d. Sept. 4, 1978 in Rowan County, Ky. His WWI draft registration card, filed June 5, 1917, in Morehead, Ky., indicates he was at that time a farmer employed by W.E. McBrayer of Wagner, Ky., and that he was married, supporting a wife and three children.
• Ida Lambert (my 2G aunt on my father's side), b. 1894 in Sandy Hook, Elliott County, Ky.; d. Sept. 1, 1981. I don't know much about her, except she was the sister of my great-grandfather Henry Lambert. In this photo, she is shown with her father and my 2G grandfather, Julian Delaney Lambert, who was known as "Lane."
• Myrtle Stidham (my first cousin three times removed on my mother's side), b. 1908 in Rowan County, Ky.; d. Nov. 11, 1997, in Westerville, Franklin County, Ohio.
• Harlan D. Kidd (my second cousin once removed on my father's side), b. 1913 in Rowan County, Ky. I do not have a date for Harlan's death, although I suppose he could still be alive at 101.
Dec. 21
• Esther Wilson (my first cousin three times removed on my mother's side), b. 1894 in Ellsberg, Casey County, Ky.; d. Jan. 17, 1982 in Louisville, Jefferson County, Ky. The photograph at left, via Ancestry.com, is of Esther, at left, and her sister, Marjorie. They are the daughters of Dudley Boone Wilson (born Isiah Wilson Jr.) and Gillie Anne Peyton of Mount Sterling, Montgomery Co., Ky. Dudley Boone Wilson was a well-known civil engineer. He was the builder of a bridge linking Michigan and Ontario, according to an unannotated profile on Ancestry.com, as well as drainage canals, tunnels and railroad beds out across the American west and Midwest. The family often traveled with him on his construction assignments in Chicago, New York and out west. Esther Wilson married James L. Arnsparger and lived in Paris — the one in Bouborn County, Ky., not the one in France — and after his death made her home in Louisville, Ky. with her daughter, Dr. Ruby Anne Arnsparger. If the Arnsparger name sounds familiar to football fans, it is with good reason — Esther's husband was the uncle of Bill Arnsparger, the noted NFL and college football coach.
Myrtle Mae Lambert (wife of my third cousin on my father's side, Davis W. Kidd), b. 1908 in Elliott County, Ky.; d. Nov. 18, 1996. My paternal grandmother's maiden name also is Lambert, but if she is related to Myrtle Mae, I'm not yet sure exactly how. Interestingly, another Lambert also crops up in my family tree — my great-grandmother Nora Kendall Williams remarried after her first husband's death. However, my understanding is that James Albert Lambert spent much of his life in Ohio and Indiana and is not a blood relative of the Lamberts on my father's side.
Doris Joan Binion (wife of my great uncle Oscar Clayton Williams), b. 1938 in Carter County, Ky.; d. July 3, 2012, at St. Joseph Hospital in Lexington, Ky. My mother's aunt by marriage — and one of her favorites — she was a retired banker for First Federal Savings & Loan Association. She was a member of the Lakeview Community Church, the Homemakers Club and a former member of the Morehead Lions Club. Doris enjoyed flowers, gardening, sewing, painting and spending time with her family, especially her grandchildren and great-grandson. I know her passing is still very fresh for my great Uncle Clayton and his children, Robbin and Andy. I'm thinking of them on her birthday.
Makenna Lee Wilson (my first cousin once removed on my mother's side). Happy birthday, Makenna!