Charles and Effie Dickey of Maine married in 1881 and went on to welcome 22 children — 14 girls, 8 boys — from the 1880s until the 1910s.
Here are the names of all the kids:
- Emma Mae (b. 1882)
- Ada Alice (b. 1883)
- Arthur Earness (b. 1884)
- Everlena Maude (b. 1885)
- Fannie Blossom (b. 1886)
- Nina Eudora (b. 1887)
- George Elwin (b. 1888)
- Fay Edna (b. 1889)
- Everett Onward (b. 1890)
- Merritt Carnot (b. 1891)
- Lema Inez (b. 1894)
- Margaret Ellen (b. 1896)
- Charles Loring (b. 1897)
- Effie Etta (b. 1898)
- Mildred Hortense (b. 1900)
- Ivan Thomas Nye (b. 1901)
- Floyd Merton (b. 1903)
- Arline Beatrice (b. 1904)
- Theodore Rayden (b. 1906)
- Middle name could be Royden.
- Jessie Alberta (b. 1908)
- Ila Pearl (b. 1909)
- Hilda Bernice (b. 1911)
I think it’s funny that they decided to name two of the children after themselves only after already having a dozen. Maybe they were running out of ideas at that point. :)
Which of the above is your favorite? (I’d have to go with #8’s middle, “Onward.” What an interesting choice.)
Sources: Descendants of 22 siblings plan Maine reunion, Effie Etta Estes Dickey (1866-1950) – Find a Grave
Hi, I’m Everett Onward Dickey’s granddaughter. I was surprised to see this. Thank-you for being interested. I did want to make one correction. Nina Eudora was born in 1887, not 1897. The first ten children were born one-a-year for the first ten years. Can you imagine? (Effie) Etta had five children and another on the way by the time she was 20. I always wondered where my grandfather’s middle name of Onward came from. I believe that his first name of Everett came from the man who married my great-grandparents, Everett Hammons. Lema’s name was a little unusual too since it was with an “m” instead of an “n”. Carnot is also a little unique.
Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment, Cheryl! Thank you also for the extra information. I will fix Nina’s birth year as soon as I post this comment…
I am a great-granddaughter and granddaughter of Fannie Blossom Dickey. I was born also on 12-4-39. I was named after my Mom, by my father. He told me he was under pressure to name me Effie Etta by family members because no one else was born on her Birthday. My Dad chose to name me Glenice Evelyn after my Mom.
What a neat story, G. Evelyn! I think “Effie Etta” is a cute combination, personally, but I can see how it might not be everyone’s cup of tea. :)
Me again with one more correction. The name of child# 19 was Theodore Royden, called Roy. I believe he was named after Theodore Roosevelt since he wrote a letter to the family. There is a Facebook group on the family called Dickey Family of Clinton/Canaan
Hi Cheryl, thank you for the extra information. :) It makes sense that the name might be Royden for Roosevelt, but I’ve been looking through the records and all I can find (so far) is “Rayden,” “Raydon,” and the initial “R.” So I’ll link to your comment from the post, but I’ll keep his middle name as-is for now.
I am a granddaughter of Ivan