Family-tree birthdays for the week of Feb. 23:
Feb. 24
John G. Caudill (my 3G uncle on my mother's side), b. 1852 in Letcher, Ky.; d. July 15, 1924 in Rowan County, Ky.
Sadie Jewell Williams (my first cousin twice removed on my mother's side), b. 1908 in Farmers, Rowan County, Ky.; d. March 1, 1908. Though it is likely little Sadie died as an infant and had a twin sister, I'm not confident about the birthday. In other family tree information, I have a second daughter, Glada Pearl Williams, born to Scott and Minnie Williams with a birthday five days later in the same year. According to family tree information I discovered on Ancestry.com but not substantiated with sources, Sadie was born in Rowan County and died a few days later in Morgan County, while Glada was born in Morgan and died in Rowan County on March 9, 1908. That seems quite unlikely.
Feb. 26
William Thomas "Buddy" Hall (my 3G uncle on my mother's side), b. 1854 in Morgan County, Ky.; d. Feb. 27, 1944, in Morehead, Rowan County, Ky. One of 14 children born to George Martin Hall and Susanah Downing Hall. Might have been born in a portion of Morgan County that later formed Rowan County, which was created two years after Buddy's birth from parts of Morgan and Fleming counties.
James L. Kidd (my second cousin once removed on my father's side), b. 1918 in Rowan County, Ky.; d. Feb. 11, 1970, in Campbell County, Ky.
Feb. 27
• William Delano Wilson (my first cousin three times removed on my mother's side), b. 1807 in Bath Township, Greene County, Ohio; d. March 14, 1878. William D. Wilson, the "land baron" of Madison county, was the first born of Valentine and Eleanor (JUDY) Wilson. He was born in Bath township, Green county, Ohio, February 27, 1807, and died of erysipelas at his homestead on the Darby Plains, March 25, 1873. He married Nancy Moore of Madison County, Ohio, whose father was killed by the Indians in the War of 1812. They had eight children.
I found this personal history on an article at Ancestry.com:
There is no photograph or other likeness of William D. Wilson left, while living. There was a post-mortem photograph taken, but it is not a true likeness. He stood six feet in his boots. He was straight and with well-rounded and comely proportions, up until late in life, when he inclined to corpulency. His hands and feet were small and short; his hair dark brown, thick and oily; his head large number seven and one-half hat well rounded, and well balanced phrenologically; his complexion clear, and slightly florid; his lower jaw strongly set; his teeth short, even, pearly white, and without signs of decay up until the time of his death. ...
He served his father faithfully and well up until he was twenty-one years of age. He then hired as an ordinary farm laborer, for three months "wet and dry," at seven dollars a month, to Judge John Arbuckle, a near neighbor. Shortly after this term of service, he married and bought two hundred acres of land, out on the Darby Plains, at eighty cents an acre. This was bought with borrowed money, his uncle Daniel going on his notes. The Darby Plains were mostly under water in those days during the wet season of the year; but they grew a rank, coarse kind of wild grass, which, if cut and property cured, contained just enough nourishment to keep cattle from starving to death. ... Each year his herds grew larger, and soon he began to add new acres to his first purchase. His first cabin stood over across the road from where he died, in a cluster of apple trees that are still standing.
Etna Cornelia Wilson Tarter (my second cousin three times removed on my mother's side), b. 1896 in Kentucky. I have not located details about her death.
Lewis A. Trent (husband of Annie L. Boggs, my second cousin once removed on my father's side), b. 1904; d. Sept. 2, 1985, in New Jersey, USA.
Golda Kidd (my second cousin and my second cousin once removed), b. 1911 in Morgan County, Ky. Have not found a record of her death, but according to 1930 census data, I know she was alive at age 19.
Feb. 29
Laura Etta Hall Lambert (my 2G aunt on my mother's side), b. 1908 in Rowan County, Ky.; d. Oct. 6, 1998, in Morehead, Rowan County, Ky. My great grandmother Mahala Susan Wilson's sister, Laura Etta — whose name was often pronounced as though spelled "Loretta" — married William Lambert (1901-1982). There are Lamberts on my father's side, but I'm not sure if William is related to them.
Glada Perl Williams (my first cousin twice removed on my mother's side), b. 1908 in Morgan County, Ky.; d. March 9, 1908, in Rowan County, Ky. It's probably not all that unusual to have more than one leap year baby in a family-tree database of more than 1,800 people — but two born on the same leap year? Of course, as I noted above in the entry of her sister, Sadie, I doubt the accuracy of the family tree report on Ancestry.com, to which I attribute her birthday. There is no further documentation on that website, and I've not been able to find other records of the twins(?) births or deaths.
March 1
Michael Clay Wlson (my 3G uncle on my mother's side), b. 1869 in Montgomery County, Ky.; d. Sept. 13, 1929, in Montgoemry County, Ky.
Viola Wilson (my first cousin three times removed on my mother's side), b. 1873 in Jeffersonville, Montgomery County, Ky.; d. Sept. 17, 1878, in Jeffersonville, Montgomery County, Ky. Viola was the second oldest child and the oldest daughter of noted Morehead doctor Jeremiah Wilson and his first wife, Anna Eliza Halley Wilson. She died at age 5 and was among the five of jeremiah and Anna's 13 children who did not live to see their 21st birthday. At the time of her death, her sister Cora Wilson was just 2 and the family still lived in Montgomery. They later lived in several areas of Rowan County — Farmers, Elliotville and Morehead. Cora Wilson would become a world-renowned adult-literacy advocate.
Julia Fields Brown (wife of Ora O'Neal Brown, my first cousin twice removed on my mother's side), b. 1899 in Stephens, Ky.; d. July 28, 1992. A note attached to the photo above reads: "Taken one month after the wedding on the porch of the house where they set up housekeeping." The couple were married in Ashland, Ky., but lived Portsmouth, Ohio, where they first met while Ora worked in a grocery store. He held all sorts of jobs — from railroad brakeman to street car conductor, and moved around quite a bit, settling for a while in Ora's hometown of Elliottville, Ky. They had nine children.
Allie Wilburn Williams (my great uncle on my mother's side), b. 1919 in Rowan County, Ky.; d. Sept. 30, 2002, in Springfield, Clark County, Ohio. "Uncle Bill" to my mom, and one of her favorites. Bill was the only of my grandmother's brothers that I spent any length of time around. He was an avid golfer, and I loved visiting his home in Springfield. From a garage where the walls were lined with egg cartons filled with golf balls, he would roll out an electric golf cart. I rode that thing up and down his long driveway until the battery died.
Karen Diane Trent (my first cousin once removed on my mother's side — and my mother's maid of honor). Happy birthday, Diane! Hope you have a great day.
March 2
Mary A. Brinson (my wife's 3G grandmother), b. 1844 in St. Stephens Parish, Charleston County, S.C.; d. April 20, 1918, in Bonneau, Berkeley County, S.C. Brinson was her married name. I do not know her maiden name. She was the widow of Thomas W. Brinson, who also was born in St. Stephens Parish but died in Petersburg, Dinwiddie County, Va., on March 25, 1965. He enlisted in Company D, South Carolina 23rd Infantry Regiment and served in the Confederacy. It's possible he perished in battle, as the Battle of Fort Stedman was fought on the day of his death. Many Confederates were mowed down in crossfire in the Union victory that day.