There’s a good chance I’ll never forget my wedding anniversary, although there is an equally good chance I’m condemned to forever celebrate it with a wicked hangover: Debi and I were married on New Year’s Day 1999, and we’ve grown accustomed to celebrating on New Year’s Eve and nursing the after effects with hopping’ john, pork and collard greens.
In fact, that’s what we served at our reception, the capper for a wedding that set us back a whopping $250. We rented the community center at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island for $25 and enlisted friends and family to help prepare food for the reception. My former boss, Richard Brooks, is a notary public (and now a judge) and performed the ceremony in return for a six-pack of beer. Our photographer was another friend, Sue Jarrett, who provided pictures as a wedding gift.
Our pending anniversary got me thinking about life events that coincide with other important dates. I dug around through my genealogical database and found that by getting hitched on or near a holiday, we followed suit of a few relatives. For instance, the clergyman and farmer Davis W. Kidd — my second cousin once removed — married Myrtle Mae Lambert on Christmas Eve 1927. My first cousin three times removed, Samuel Leedy, married his second wife, Susannah Pennington, on Christmas Day 1875. (That's Samuel on the left with his first wife, Mary Pauline Adeline Repass Leedy.)
Several relatives were married on days that didn’t gain wider significance until much later. For instance, my wife’s grandparents, Clarence and Ruth Ray, were married on Sept. 11, 1936. George Washington Hall married Nancy Abigail Quesenbery — my great-great grandparents — were wed July 20, 1887, the same date as the first moon landing, 82 years later. Of course, the guests most likely arrived on horseback or by wagon, and the nuptials were exchanged even before the invention of the airplane.
Not all such coincidences are happy ones. As I recently wrote, Christmas Eve 1952 marked the unexpected passing of my great-grandfather, Andrew Jackson Williams, at age 65. He was stricken by a coronary occlusion.
Another sad event that overlapped with an important date — in this case, a date that was itself a sad occasion — was the death of Thomas Marion Brinson, Debi’s great-great-uncle. He died Nov. 22, 1963 — the same day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
George Washington Hall was one of several relatives with the first name George and the middle name Washington. One of them — George Washington Wilson, born Feb. 22, 1840 — shares a birthday with the first president, too. I’m not sure if that explains why he was named for the father of our country.
That's me and Debi, with Tommy and Ande at our wedding in 1999.
At any rate, Debi and I will celebrate our 16th anniversary on a day marked by several big events throughout my family history. I’ve documented a whopping nine New Year’s babies. With a little more than 1,800 people recorded in my family tree, there should be an average of just more than five birthdays on any given day, accounting for leap years.
What follows is a list of holidays and historically significant dates that coincide with weddings, deaths and births. Interestingly, a few people double up. For example, Abigail Wilson was born on the Fourth of July and died on New Year's Eve — so she came in and went out with fireworks.
Enjoy. And if you’re reading this on Jan. 1, keep the noise down. My head is probably pounding.
Jan. 1 — New Year’s Day
Debi and Jeff married in 1999
Sidnia Lucinda Wells born 1834
Mahala Slusher born in 1841
Eli Franklin “Frank” Prather born 1848
Eliza Jane Hall born 1858
Nancy Ellen Caudill born 1887
Nella Kidd born 1908
Jerry K. Brooks born 1932
Vera Viola Ray born 1952
Hazel Binion died in 1992
Feb. 22 (1732) — Washington’s Birthday
George Washington Wilson born in 1840
John Benjamin Lewis born in 1876
Cordela Lewis born in 1878
Francis Hopkins Lewis died in 1874
Margaret A. Prugh died in 1884 (and was born on the start of the War of Northern Aggression)
Dr. Burwell Clifford Wilson died in 1946, while attending a conference in Louisville, Ky.
April 12 (1861) — Declaration starts War of Northern Aggression
Margaret A. Prugh born 1837
Lily B. Lewis born 1870
William Henry Elliott born in 1878
Mary Hopkins Lewis born in 1895
Edna Kidd born in 1930
Sarah Perry died in 1862
John William Lyinks died in 1904
Lee Wilson died in 1936
Lula Lewis died in 1963 (and born on what would become Pearl Harbor Day)
June 6 (1944) — D-Day
Berry Brinson died in 1916
Florence Ruth Porter died in 1991
June 21 — Summer solstice, first day of summer
Jeff Kidd born in 1969
Deloise Kidd born in 1933
John Sullivan Foster born in 1895
Myrtle Hall died in 1958
Samuel Williams died in 1965
July 4 — Independence Day
Lucina Lewis born 1813
Abijian B. Wilson born 1857
William Henry Hall born 1896
Lucille Ray born 1920
Inez Brinson Tiller born 1925
Gladys Ray born 1930
Walter Thomas Fisher born 1956
John Boggs died in 1942
William Tolliver died in 1970
July 20 (1969) — Moon landing
Susanna Kidd born in 1875
Harold M. Brinson born in 1929
Edgar Vernon Hall died in 1936
George Washington Hall married Nancy Abigail Quesenbery in 1887
Roy Brooks married Cassie Mae Pillion in 1924
Sept. 11 (2001) — Terrorist attacks on New York/Pentagon
Earl Wilson born 1867
Laura Deliliah Lambert born 1885
Clarence Richard Ray married Ruth Augusta Brinson in 1936
Elmer Kidd born 1902
Nov. 11 (1918) — Armistice Day/Veterans Day
Cynthia Ann Hall born 1850
Wardie Taylor Brooks born 1908
Foster John Brooks born 1927 (brother of Wardie Brooks. It's strange that they were born on the same day; it’s possible I’ve gotten bad information through a genealogical source)
Myrtle Stidham died in 1997
Jerry Brooks died in 1944
Andrew Alfrey died in 1959
Cell Ted Gregory died in 1963
Nov. 22 (1963) — Kennedy assassination
Archibald Kidd born in 1855
James Nelson Caudill born in 1917
George Martin Hall died in 1900
Ed Luster Barker died in 1947
Thomas Marion Brinson died in 1963
Dec. 7 (1941) — Pearl Harbor Day
Lula Lewis born in 1875
Lester Gregory born in 1920
Frances Shehorn died in 1923
William Wilson died in 1923
Fred Caudill died in 1985
James Carroll married Jane Ervin Hamilton in 1842
Dec. 24 — Christmas Eve
Clell Ted Gregory born 1914
Sarah Anna day died in 1908
Alex Wallace died in 1969
Davis W. Kidd married Myrtle Mae Lambert in 1927
Dec. 25 — Christmas Day
Dennis Downing born 1801
Earl Dean Headrick born 1924
Allie Jewell Kidd died in 2007
Samuel Leedy married Susannah Pennington in 1875
Dec. 31 — New Year’s Eve
Daisy Rice born in 1900
Kimberly Susan Walters born in 1971
Melvin DeHart died in 1993
Dudley Boone Wilson died in 1906
Abigail B. Wilson died in 1928 (and was born on Independence Day)
Peter Thornsberry died in 1977
Luster Boone Kidd died in 1988