On This Day in Family History - December 31

Lora Gibson Burford died 31 December 1970 age 93

Lora was my great-grandmother

Here are all the pictures I have of Lora Gibson Burford (in no particular order):

Lora and Alexander Burford with their first 5 children - Deb, Helen, George, Ishmael, and Killough. They had 5 more children - Bernice, Lester, Neil, Juanita, and Judy. Lester was my grandfather.

Photo: sisters Lora, Julia, Dora (Lora and Dora were twins)

Photo L-R: Lester, Juanita, George, Lora, Deb, Bernice, Judy, and Helen

Photo: Lora with some of her siblings. L-R: Anna, Edna, Dora, Lora, Iva Jane, Julia, Lawrence

Photo: Lora with my mother Wathada and my brother John, 1965

Photo: Back - Wathada, Juanita, me. Front: Judy, Lora, Helen. This was taken at Judy's house in Brinkley, Arkansas, in 1965. 

I don't know when this picture was taken. Pretty sure it would have been in Hunter, Arkansas, either at Lora's house or at her son Neil's house.

Photo: Lora and her son George

Photo: Lora Burford, unknown when or where this was taken

Cleffie was the wife of Lora's son Lester (my grandfather). Mildred was the wife of Lora's son Neil.

This is probably the last picture taken of Lora Gibson Burford.

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Here are some anecdotes I have from my mother about Grandma Burford:

Wathada’s notes: 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.  So I guess her grandmother just went ahead and raised her.    That was a new story to me when Dorothy told it to me, but in a little while I did remember hearing a story like that but wouldn't have ever remembered any details of it or who it was about.    Aunt Dorothy said Grandma resented that whole thing and never did get over it.  She said Grandma always said the her mother gave her away. And she was bitter about it.  But I have seen in a census at least once where Grandma was listed in the household of her parents.  They may have included her just because she was their daughter even though she might not have actually been living with them.  Or maybe she did live with them some of the time.  There's no way to know these things for sure.  

Wathada’s notes: Aunt Dorothy told me that Grandma (Lora Gibson Burford) had gone to stay with Alexander and his first wife when she was 14 years old and lived with them from then on.  I asked her why she had gone to live with them when she was 14, and she said because Helen Virginia (Alexander's first wife) was always sickly and was not able to take care of her children.  Grandma had gone to live with them to take care of the children.  That would have been in 1891 or 1892. Raymond (the oldest) would have been 5 years old then. Most likely it was around the time of the birth of the last child (Hazel) who was born in January 1892.  They paid Grandma for taking care of the children.    

[Author’s note: About a year and a half after Helen Virginia died, Alexander married Lora Gibson.]

Wathada’s notes: Grandma loved her stepchildren. When I talked to Hazel's (Daddy's half-sister) daughter-in-law, she said Hazel had told her that they loved their stepmother.   She said she didn't have a lot of clothes when she was growing up, but that what she had was beautiful - much nicer than most little girls have.  She said Hazel specifically mentioned a beautiful skirt and a satin blouse she had when she was growing up.  I guess it must have been her favorite.  She said it was beautiful.  I know Grandma made the clothes she had and she was a very good seamstress and was famous for her quilting.  She was actually an artist at whatever kind of needlework she did.