Alvie and Lethia: a brother-sister pair

This one isn't really much of a mystery, but it was fun looking for and finding them. Check out the names as they were indexed; the indexers sure did struggle with these unusual (and old-fashioned) names!

Alvie Dunn

As far as I can tell, Alvie Burton Dunn was the youngest child of William Dunn and Margaret Gray Dunn. He was born June 5, 1878, never married, and passed away on April 18, 1946. He was a farmer, and lived with his sister Lethia Alafaire Dunn Primm for most of his adult life.

I'm sure that Lethia helped with the farm in addition to keeping up with the house and cooking meals.

Uncle Alvie Dunn, Oliver Lawing

Oliver Lawing married Essie Dunn, who was a niece to Alvie and Lethia. We also have a picture of her sister, Mayme Dunn. Essie and Mayme's father was Alvie and Lethia's brother William Leo Dunn.

Uncle Alvie Dunn

I think Alive liked horses.

From the records, it looks like Alvie and Lethia cared for their parents as William and Margaret advanced in age. Here's a sweet picture of Lethia with her mother Margaret and her cousin Floyd Todd's first wife, Carrie Asbury Todd.

Carrie Asbury Todd, Lethia Dunn Primm, Margaret Ann Gray Dunn. Taken about 1914.

Lethia was born on February 19, 1871, older than Alvie by seven years. She married R. Ernest Primm on May 18, 1893 and became a widow soon after. According to research done by cousin Rita, he died in an accident while working about a year after their marriage. Lethia never remarried. After a long life, she passed away on December 19, 1949 at the age of 78.

I like to think that Alvie and Lethia were somewhat like Matthew and Marilla in the Anne of Green Gables series: a brother and a sister who divided the work on the farm and supported each other. When Alvie registered for the WWI draft, he listed Lethia as his closest relative.

I found a lot of sources for these two; you may be interested in looking at some of them.

Source timeline:

1880 Census

1893 - Lethia Dunn's marriage to Ernest Prim

1900 Census

1910 Census

1917 - WWI Draft Registration

1920 Census

1930 Census

1940 Census

1946 - Alvie's death

Alvie's headstone

1949 - Lethia's death

Lethia's headstone

Matilda Catherine Bowers

Parents: J. Bowers, Diana Connell
Birth date: About 1859
Marriage date: About 1885 to Robert Jackson Connell. She was about 26 and he was about 29. They had five children: Docia, Broadus Robert, Luther Wilburn, Charlie Lee, and Cora Lee. Charlie and Cora were twins.
Death date: 18 June 1901

Matilda was born a short 2 years before the outbreak of the American Civil War in Lexington county, SC. Her father was not listed in the 1860 census with her family, so I'm guessing he had died sometime between 1858 and 1860. The family also moved from where they lived in 1850 to live right next door to a John Connell in 1860.

Sometime around or before 1885, Matilda married Robert Jackson Connell in Lancaster, SC. According to the information on FamilySearch (gathered by people other other other than myself), he was her first cousin; Matilda's mother and R.J.'s father were siblings. Matilda and Robert's first child--Docia--was born in 1886, followed by Broadus in 1891, Luther in 1895, and the twins Charlie and Cora in 1896. Sometime after Charlie and Cora were born and before her passing in 1901, the family moved to Camden, in Kershaw County, SC. I'm sure she worked hard keeping her family fed and helping to do work on the farm in between giving birth to her children. Matilda passed away in 1901 at about the age of 42.

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I wasn't able to find very many records for Matilda, but I did find two sources that give enough information to infer important dates and happenings in her life. Those sources would be her headstone at Malvern Hill Cemetery and the 1860 Census. The death records for her daughters Docia and Cora strengthen the link to the woman recorded on the headstone and Robert Jackson Connell, and help prove that she is the wife

Headstone at Malvern Hill Cemetery in Kershaw County, SC
In 1860 Census

In children's death certificates:
Docia
Cora Lee