52 Ancestors --2015 Edition: #16 Sidney Bryant Hester

Amy Johnson Crow, the author of the blog No Story Too Small, is the host of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Blog Prompt series. If you are not familiar with the project please click on the following link:  Announcing 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: 2015 Edition.

Week 16 (April 16-22) – Live Long. Time to feature a long-lived ancestor. Any centenarians in the family?

Okay, I've fallen a little behind on my 52 Ancestors posts so this one is going to be a quick one so I can move on the to the next prompt. At a glance, I haven't come across any centenarians in the family tree yet but there are some who lived on into there 90's. 

I've chosen my maternal 2nd great grandmother's sister, Sidney Bryant Hester, to highlight in this post. Sidney Bryant Hester was born according to her death certificate on December 12, 1877 in North Carolina. 

Source Information Ancestry.com. North Carolina, Death Certificates, 1909-1975 [database on-line].

 Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. Original data: North Carolina State Board of Health, 

Bureau of Vital Statistics. North Carolina Death Certificates. Microfilm S.123. 

Rolls 19-242, 280, 313-682, 1040-1297. North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh, North Carolina.

Now the day and month of her birth may in fact be correct but I know that she was about 10 years older than this document indicates.

Here's she is shown listed with her family in the 1870 Federal Census for the town of Beaufort in Carteret County, NC. 

Source Citation Year: 1870; Census Place: Beaufort, Carteret, North Carolina; Roll: M593_1127; 

Page: 188A; Image: 407; Family History Library Film: 552626. Source Information

Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA:

 Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.

This census page was recorded on July 13, 1870 and it indicates that little Sidney was just a year old. This makes me think that her birth date was more than likely December 12, 1868. 

She married Mott Hester on July 26, 1888 and they had eight children together. One of these children died before 1900. Here are the names of the other seven.

Caroline Hester Jones (January 21, 1891--February 16, 1975)
Mott Moore Hester Jr. (February 16, 1894--1932)
Nannie Hester Jones (March 23, 1896--February 14, 1976)
Rosa Lee Hester (August 5, 1898--January 14, 1967)
Thomas Henry Hester Sr. (August 11, 1900--1959)
Cecil Hester (March 25, 1906--May 17, 1911)
Alice Hester Walker (July 30, 1910--May 18, 2004) 

She raised her family at 1112 Avery St. in Morehead City, NC. Her husband Mott and her owned the property together. The house is no longer standing but you can see a view of the neighborhood and learn more about one of her children on my post, A Little Boy's Story.

Besides being a homemaker, she also worked outside the house. Her husband was a fisherman and boat captain. On the 1920 Federal Census Sidney's occupation was listed as "Opening Oysters" just like her husband. 

Source Citation Year: 1920; Census Place: Morehead, Carteret, North Carolina; Roll: T625_1284; Page: 5B; Enumeration District: 3; Image: 857 Source Information Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch.

Sidney Bryant Hester was buried next to her husband at Bayview Cemetery in Morehead City, NC.
For more about Sidney Bryant Hester, check out these posts:

Another Piece Of The Puzzle

Tombstone Tuesday: Sidney Bryant Hester and Mott Hester