Hi Sandy and All, If you see any mistakes let me know. Thank you for letting me know you appreciate our Kidder Family mailing list. It is a joy working with everyone and getting to know my family. Gramma would be so happy. Sincerely, Ramona ----- Original Message ----- From: Ramona Gayle Woods <cherokee6@bright.net> To: <KIDDER-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2000 9:30 AM Subject: Clarence Edward Kidder | Posted on: KIDDER Biographies | Reply Here: http://genconnect.rootsweb.com/genbbs.cgi/surnames/k/i/KIDDER/biograph ies/4 | | Surname: Kidder, Mitchell, Hamilton, Massie, Carey | ------------------------- | | CLARENCE EDWARD KIDDER | He was born Clarence Edward Kidder, March 18,1884, at Brooksville, Bracken | County, Kentucky. He was the third child of William Nicolas Kidder and | Louisa Rebecca Mitchell. | They were poor, but proud people. William Kidder farmed for a living or | worked at whatever was available. William, Louisa and their family worked | very hard for a living, as did most people of the time. | I remember a story that he told one of his brothers intentionally splitting | his heel to avoid working in the fields. His mother promptly provided the | brother alternative labor, piecing quilts. No one in the family was immune | to contributing their fair share. | He learned to swim the old fashioned way, his father threw him in the Ohio | River. As a method of learning, it was cheap, fast, effective, and there | was great incentive. | He was married at the age of seventeen to another seventeen year old, Carrie | Mae Hamilton. They were married at Pink's Post Office, near Blue Creek, | Ohio. They lived many places over the years, mostly southern Ohio, between | West Union and the Ohio River. A few of the names that I recall are; Peach | Mountain, Upper Twin, Lower Twin, Big Swirl, John Graham's Place, The Brissalo | Place, and Duncansville. Some of these may be one and the same, they're | just places that I've heard of. | His family began in 1903, and they named their first little girl Mabel. | Then in 1906 there was William Francis and in 1909 Orville Austin. | Carrie became bedfast about this time with rheumatism. Rheumatism, a good | name for anything the doctors couldn't diagnose. I believe it was rheumatic | fever. At this time he was logging, for fifty cents a day, and glad to | be working. | In 1911 another son, Ralph Edward, followed by Dora Vell in 1913, Denver | Russell in 1915, and Luvada in 1916. Luvada, however, had a bad heart and | lived only 21 days. then in 1918 another son, Hartsel Elmo. | Then came World War I. He didn't have to go, but they went through some | rough times, trying to send kids to school and keep food on the table. | I, Betty Mae, was born in 1921, near Serpent Mound in Adams County. From | there I can remember pretty well from the stories I've heard. | When I was a year old, the famil moved to Highland County, on the old Kirscher | Nixon Farm. | Then a stillborn baby boy was born, a weak heart. in 1924 another boy, | James Noble, followed by yet another stillborn. | He lved ther with his family for 11 years, and farmed on the halves. I | always said, "He raised the corn to feed the hogs, to sell to buy fertilizer | to raise the corn to feed the hogs..." | We always had lots of love and plenty to eat. Breakfast included ham, fried | potatoes, biscuits, gravy, eggs and jellies. Dinner and supper included | even more, beans(white, brown, and green). | We always had enough to wear. At that time there was no middle class, just | those who owned farms, bankers, and business people who worked for them. | And so we had many friends. The farm was large, and included a part of | the Fort Hill area. | Besides raising kids, he had white faced Hereford cattle, Jersey milk cows, | horses, pigs, chickens and ducks,( but the ducks are a different story). | He raised corn, wheat and tobacco. Mabel married in 1924 and William Francis | shortly after that. | His father passed away in 1928 with cancer. That was a hard time for him. | His father was such a quiet, gentle man, with a long white beard. His father | would ride from Lawshe to the farm, about 30 miles, in a wagon, pulled | by a mule team. His mother was very stern. She acted as midwife for all | but the last three children. She also delivered Dora's first child, Eddie, | on her sventy-seventh birthday. She smoked a clay pipe, which she kept | in her apron pocket. She passed away November 3rd, 1937 with cancer. | He joined Pisgah Methodist Church, where he went every Wednesday night | for prayer meetings. He was a devout Christian, except for his chewing | tobacco, and a very strict parent. He allowed no card playing or drinking | ay the house, and the girls always had to be in by 10:00. The kids were | not allowed to be in any school function, because, "We wnet to school to | learn, not to be in plays." | He had a third grade education, but could "out figure" the math teacher. | He learned more in 3 years than most do in 12. | In the 1920's he had an emergency appedicitis operation. He had been carrying | a large sack of wheat on his back to put in the wheatdrill, and when the | doctors found his appendix, it ahd moved in back near his spine. The doctors | made a large incision, which became infected, keeping him in bed so long | he had to learn to walk again. He always said his "day started before daylight | and ended after dark", so that was a bad time for him. | Hartsel and Russell were taking the work horses to pasture in the dark, | Hartsel's horse ran into a wire gate. The horse threw Hartsel, injuring | his head. Russ carried him home and he lay in a coma for about a week. | The doctors said there was nothing they could do but wait. Harsel pulled | through, but again it was a trying time. Then Ralph married in 1930. | In 1932, he bought a farm west of Hillsboro. He had always raised a lot | of tobacco, so he had a new tobacco barn built.That was the year of the | drought, and the government limited the amount of tobacco that could be | raised. The government took their share, and he lost the farm after 2 years. | Moved again, to route 62, south of Hillsboro, Mrs. Robinson's farm, but | they couldn't get along. After another 2 years he moved the family east | of Hillsboro, on to Frank Robinson's farm. Dora married, Russell married, | and Hartsel married. In 1938, I married and Orville married. | Next he moved down by Sinking Springs, on the Charlie Davidson farm. He | stayed only a short while, and moved again to John Lawthorn's farm, where | Carrie had a serious gallstone operation. James Noble married, and joined | the Army. | He had 4 sons in the service, so he sold out and moved to Urbana, bought | another house, sold it, and bought another. He lived there several years, | working the paper mill, sometimes the swing shift. He now had major surgery | for a double hernia. | He decided to retire and return to Hillsboro, where he and Carrie celebrated | their 51st wedding anniversary. He received a good offer for the home and | sold it, moved to Wall Street in Wilmington, where Carrie suffered a stroke. | The stroke paralyzed Carrie and took her ability to speak. He decided to | buy a house on the Southeast Street in Hillsboro, so that I could move | in to help care for Carrie. Carrie lived 9 months, passing away in 1955; | they had been married for 53 years. | He stayed there a short time afterward, then moved to Ironton, Near Orville. | In Ironton, he met Nettie Massie. A year and a half after he lost Carrie, | he married again. Ralph was killed in an auto accident near Urbana, in | 1959. | He had another major surgery, from which he never fully recovered. He developed | heart problems, hardening arteries, and passed away on February 22nd, 1967. | He had been married to Nettie for 10 years. | He is buried, beside Carrie, in the Hillsboro cemetery. | This story tells of the hard times, but we also had good times. Reunions, | Sunday Dinners, Christmases, lots of laughter and music. All of this along | with the noise, fights, cut fingers and toes, broken bones and more. He | had 44 grandchildren and some great grandchildren when he passed away. | Some he didn't get to see, but he loved them all anyway. He did many things | wrong, and a lot more things right, and my question is, "If you had walked | in his shoes, could you have survived?" | As written by, | Betty Mae Carey | March 18, 1991 | Submitted by: Sandy Kidder Great Great Granddaughter of Clarence Edward | Kidder and Carrie Mae Hamilton Kidder | | | | ==== KIDDER Mailing List ==== | Post Your Kidder Bible Records Here: | http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/surnames/k/i/KIDDER/bible_r ecords | | ============================== | Personalized Mailing Lists: never miss a connection again. | http://pml.rootsweb.com/ | Brought to you by RootsWeb.com. |