The Maternal Line

It's mother's day, and that means everyone expects me to devote my Family Sunday post to my mother in some way.  I don't really feel like expounding upon memories of her that much, as she passed less than a year ago.  Perhaps someday I'll relate a few tales about her, but for the moment we'll go into a related tangent, my maternal line.



Annie Carney Littlefield
with sister Bridget (left)

Going strictly from mother to mother, my discoveries end with my great-great grandmother Annie Carney.  She was born circa 1853 in Northern Ireland, and immigrated to the United States after the Civil War.  Her parents were John Carney and Anna Nesbetter, and she had an older sister Bridget (who married a man surnamed Monteeth).

Annie married Henry Littlefield II (b. 1853), on February 19, 1873 in Chicago, Illinois.  The marriage license is signed by a Catholic Priest, which isn't surprising, since they were both Irish, and most Irish were faithful Catholics in those days.  Henry was the son of immigrants who had come over from the Emerald Isle sometime in the 1830's.  Henry and Annie had at least five sons: Joseph Henry (b. 1877), Alexander (b. 1884), John (1885), Alfred James (b. June 19, 1888), and Edward (b. April 1894).  They also had two daughters:  Anna Louise Littlefield (my great-grandmother, b. 1880), and Mary (b. Jan 1891).

We'll go over a few of the different Littlefield off-shoots some other time.  Today, we'll focus on the maternal line.



Grandma Nadine as a baby.



Anna Louise Littlefield married William E. Forthman sometime around 1900.  You can read about their numerous offspring in my previous Forthmans blog post here.  Their youngest child was my grandmother, Mary Nadine Forthman.

Nadine married John Julius Kirton in the early 1940's, and their daughter was my mother, Diana Elizabeth Kirton.

That's about it for now.  Everybody have a happy mother's day!