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