On This Day in Family History - July 4

 Twins Lora and Dora Gibson were born 04 July 1877

Photo L-R: Lora, Julia, Dora

Lora and Dora were the children of Asa and Adaline Gard Gibson

Here is what my mother wrote about Lora and Dora's birth:

Aunt Dorothy told me that Grandma Burford was so tiny when she was born that the doctor said she would not live.  You know Grandma was a twin.  Dorothy said Grandma was in the bottom part of the womb and Dora was in the top part.  I guess Dora just sat on Grandma and squashed her.  Anyway, Grandma was so tiny she fit into a shoe box after they had put padding it.  The doctor said she would die, and her mother and father believed that was true and they just weren't doing anything to save her.  So Grandma's grandmother asked Grandma's parents if she could take her home with her and try to save her.  They let her do that.  She put cotton seed in a shoe box for warmth - I guess it held heat or something.  She put Grandma in the shoe box with the cotton seed all around her and put her on the back of a wood burning stove to keep her warm.  She fed her with an eye dropper because she was too tiny to nurse or have a bottle.  So by George, she lived and grew and was healthy and everything.

Here is a picture of Lora and Dora with some of their other siblings:

Lora Gibson married Alexander Oscar Burford. They were my great-grandparents.

Lora and Alexander Oscar Burford with their first 5 children.

Here are a couple of other pictures I have of Lora as she grew older

I only met (great) Grandma Burford once, that I know of. That was when we made a trip to Arkansas in 1965. Here is a picture we took during that trip:

Back: Wathada, Aunt Juanita, me. Front: Aunt Judy, Grandma Burford, Aunt Helen.

Juanita, Judy, and Helen were Grandma Burford's daughters. This picture was taken at Aunt Judy's house in Brinkley, Arkansas.