Meet Lidia Miller

 

For the month of May, when we celebrate Mother's Day, we'll be exploring what can be found on a young mother whose story has been repeated often throughout history. Lidia Miller, my mother-in-law's second great-grandmother, appeared long enough in history records to be recorded as the bride of William H. Gordon in 1838. Nine months later, she gave him his firstborn child, a son whom they named Adam. Just shy of one year later, she bore another son—but the arrival of baby William cost her her own life.

Baby William, bereft of his mother, did not thrive, and died in infancy, but his older brother Adam lived a full life, marrying—a descendant of Nicholas Snider, incidentally—and raising a family of his own while becoming an active member of his community in Perry County, Ohio.

I've known about Lidia Miller—well, at least that cameo appearance she made as a young wife and mother—for almost as long as I've been researching my mother-in-law's family. Despite being one of my first family history discoveries, though, I've not been able to locate anything further on the woman in other records. 

Ominously, Lidia's husband also died the same year in which she died. Her surviving son, Adam, was raised by his paternal grandmother, reported in her household for the 1850 census. Whatever was happening in 1840 in Perry County cost three members of the Gordon family their lives—and yet, sparse records from that time period keep me wondering what actually happened to Lidia. Was her loss due to difficulties in childbirth? Or a contagious disease sweeping through the community?

In addition to that, though, is my question about just who Lidia actually was. With a surname as common as Miller, it may be challenging to find her connection in the community, but using cluster genealogy techniques, at least we can try to pinpoint the other Miller family members living nearby. To expand on Lidia's story is an important goal for this month—even more so, to be able to connect this young mother to her parents' generation is my hope for May.