Four Generations

My immediate maternal ancestors were Emma Jane Dalton, Emma Lee Cooper, Ella Mae Young, and Emma Jane Bird.  So imagine my surprise when I found the photograph below. Even though it was severely damaged I felt I had found a treasure.

Four Generations
sitting left:  Emma Jane Bird
sitting right:  Ella Mae Young
standing back:  Emma Lee Cooper
standing front:  Emma Jane Dalton

Emma Jane Bird was born August 1859 to Sarah Hemings and Rueben M. Bird Sr.  At a very young age and with only a grade school education, Emma Jane Bird taught school in a one-room country schoolhouse (8 grades).  Emma Jane Bird married George Edward Young on December 31, 1879 in Ross County Ohio with Isaiah Redman officiating.  They had twelve children with ten (five daughters and five sons) surviving childhood.  For a number of years they farmed the Groom farm, located on the Canal Road, off Rt. 22 West, Circleville, Ohio.  Late in life they moved to a farm located near Rt. 104, Fox Post Office, and finally to a farm in Mt. Sterling, Ohio, where they remained until their deaths.  George Edward Young died April 4, 1942.  Emma Jane Bird died April 1949.

Ella Mae Young was born March 11, 1883 in Twin, Ohio to Emma Jane Bird and George Edward Young. She was their first daughter.  Ella married Edward Lee Cooper on April 8, 1904 in Ross County Ohio with Rev. George Carpenter officiating.  Edward Lee Cooper was a widower with two young sons. They had seven children (five daughters and two sons) together.  According to the 1910 census Ella was about 26, had been married for five years with two children, and living with her parents.  Ella was quite active in the church:  she was a member of the Ladies Aid and enjoyed entertaining them.  Ella died suddenly in 1930 at the age of 46 after a brief illness.  She died in the hospital, having received very poor care from the hospital attendants after her operation.  She was buried in Greenlawn Cemetery in Chillicothe, Ohio.

Emma Lee Cooper was born October 15, 1905 to Ella Mae Young and Edward Lee Cooper in Twin, Ohio. Emma Lee Cooper married William Filmore Dalton on March 6, 1922 in Chillicothe, Ohio with Rev. R. H. Hill officiating.  They had four children (three sons and one daughter). William Filmore Dalton died tragically in 1932 leaving Emma Lee Cooper with four young children to raise.  She contracted and survived tuberculosis and survived breast cancer. Emma Lee Cooper remarried May 3, 1937 to Jerome Russell.  (She later divorced him in 1962.)  All three of her sons served during WWII and returned home safely.  Emma Lee Cooper died February 9, 1990 after the passing of two of her children.

Emma Jane Dalton was born January 3, 1926 to Emma Lee Cooper and William Filmore Dalton Sr.  Emma Jane Dalton married Brownley Thornton Stewart on October 27, 1946 in Greenup, Kentucky.  Emma Jane Dalton was the first in her line to move from Ohio as she went to West Virginia with her new husband.  They had four children (two sons and two daughters) with three surviving childhood.  Emma Jane Dalton died September 28, 1986.

There was a very similar photograph taken about the same time with Emma Jane Bird and her youngest daughter Ida Mae Young.  Completing the four generations were Hazel Jaunita Redman and her son Forrest Delaney Carter.

Four Generations
sitting right Emma Jane Bird
sitting left:  Ida Mae Young
standing back:  Hazel Juanita Redman
sitting on lap:  Forrest Delaney Carter