Birthdays from my family tree for the week of Jan. 5:
Jan. 5
Louisa Wilson (my first cousin three times removed on my mother's side), b. 1823 in Madison County, Ohio; d. July 1, 1894, in Somerford, Madison County, Ohio.
Jasper N. Wilson (my second cousin four times removed on my mother's side), b. 1836 in Clark County, Ohio; d. Sept. 25, 1893 in Clark County, Ohio.
Jean Darnell Ray (my aunt-in-law), born in Charleston, SC. Happy birthday, Aunt Jean!
Jan. 6
• Sarah Jane Wilson Wilson (my 3G grandmother on my mother's side), b. 1838 in Rowan County (then Morgan County), Ky.; d. Oct. 20, 1913, in Rowan County, Ky. Sarah's mother was Theodocia Lee, thus the "Lee" reference in the accompanying photo. Theodocia was the daughter of Maj. Burwell Lee and a cousin of Robert E. Lee. Her maiden name and married name were Wilson. Sarah was barely 14 when she married 38-year-old Isaiah Wilson, who might have been a cousin, although I've not established any blood relation.
• Mary Clementine Tolliver Hall (my 3G aunt-in-law), b. 1859 in Letcher County, Ky.; d. July 13, 1939 in Greenup, Ky.
• John Booth Kidd (my first cousin once removed on my father's side), b. 1881 in Elliott County, Ky.; d. May 7, 1965 in Rowan County, Ky.
• John Gilbert Moody (my wife's grandfather), b. 1906 in Augusta, Ga.; d. Oct. 3, 1949, in Charleston, S.C. Died before his 44th birthday — my mother-in-law was just 6 at the time — when he died of a massive heart attack while on the job at the Charleston Naval Shipyard.
• Zora Kidd (my second cousin once removed on my father's side), b. 1929 in Rowan County, Ky.; d. Jan. 6, 1929, in Rowan County, Ky. The seventh child of David and Elizabeth Kidd died the day he was born.
Jan. 7
Emmett Renfro Ballard (husband of Noi Hattie Wilson, my second cousin twice removed on my mother's side ), b. 1899 in Hot Springs, Garland County, Ark.; d. May 6, 1991, in Fayett, Ky. Emmett's wife, Noi, was born in Kentucky. The couple met when she was visiting her aunts, Stella and Flora, who had moved from Kentucky and were the sisters of her father, Dr. Burwell Clefford Wilson. The couple lived in Pine Bluff, Ark., according to the 1930 census, She died in 1931, before her 26th birthday, though I've not been able to learn a cause of death. Also unclear is how Emmett wound up in Kentucky at this death 60 years later He lived in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1935, and the 1940 census indicates Emmett lived in 1940 with his mother and brother in Lufkin, Texas, where he was employed as a salesman.
Lucinda Wilson (my first cousin three times removed on my mother's side), b. 1820 in Madison County, Ohio; d. Nov. 20, 1886. The daughter of Valentine and Susan Wilson, prominent landowners in Greene County, Ohio.
Clester Davis Caudill (my second cousin twice removed on my mother's side), b. 1912 in Morehead, Rowan County, Ky.; d. 1980 in Kentucky.
Jan. 8
Mary Pauline Adeline Repass Leedy (my 3G grandmother on my father's side), b. 1821 in Black Lick Civil District, Wythe County, Va.; d. April 22, 1874, in Stark, Elliott County, Ky. Mary was born in Virginia, where she met and married her husband, Samuel Leedy. The family then moved to Kentucky, which is apparently how my father's side of the family came to live in the area of Elliott and Rowan counties. Mary died at age 53, and Samuel, seen in this pencil sketch above with Mary, remarried and lived until 1890.
Jeannie White (my 2G grandmother on my father's side and my 3G aunt-in-law on my mother's side), b. 1843 in Kentucky; d. Dec. 10, 1903.
Elizabeth Kidd Tolliver (my first cousin twice removed on my father's side), b. 1879 in Wyatt, Elliott County, Ky.; d. Aug. 21, 1954, in Ashland, Boyd County, Ky.
Jan. 10
John M. Hall (my 4G uncle on my mother's side), b. 1844 in Morgan County, Ky.; d. May 18, 1910, in Rowan County, Ky.
Nancy Caroline Tolliver (aunt-in-law of Elizabeth Kidd Tolliver, my first cousin twice removed on my father's side, who celebrated a birthday the same week), b. 1847; d. 1930. Caroline and Francis Marion Tolliver — Elizabeth Kidd's father-in-law — were siblings of Craig Tolliver, a primary protagonist in the Rowan County War of the 1880s, a conflict bloodier than the Hatfield-McCoy fued.
James M. Wilson (my second cousin four times removed on my mother's side), b. 1849 in Ohio; d. unknown.
William Kidd (my 2G uncle), b. 1854 in Morgan County, Ky.; d. Jan. 10, 1854, in Morgan County, Ky. William, the second youngest of my 2G grandparents Edmund and Amanda Kidd's nine children, died the day he was born.
A female Wilson (my second cousin four times removed on my mother's side), b. 1856 in Ohio; d. 1856 in Ohio on the day she was born. She was the daughter of Uriah and Lydia Wilson.
Harold Edward Underwood (my wife's second cousin), b. in Charleston, S.C.
Jan. 11
Jacob Heffley (my first cousin three times removed on my mother's side), b. 1822 in Greene County, Ohio; d. unknown.
Kyndal Harper (my first cousin once removed). Happy birthday, little Kyndal! Hope you have a great day.