North Carolina triplets with rhyming names: Dessie, Bessie, Essie

Triplets Dessie, Bessie and Essie Justice (plus a younger sibling)
Dessie, Bessie, and Essie Justice

During the early decades of the the 20th century, Thomas Edward “Tommy” Justice and Laura Effie Justice (née Searcy) of Henderson County, North Carolina, welcomed 14 children — including a set of triplets.

Here are the names of all 14 siblings:

  1. Curtis Edward (born in 1900)
  2. Sidney Thomas (b. 1902)
  3. Dessie M. (b. 1904)
  4. Bessie Martha (b. 1904)
  5. Essie Margaret (b. 1904)
  6. Lula Belle (b. 1906)
  7. unnamed son (b. 1908)
  8. William Leonard (b. 1909)
  9. James Arthur (b. 1911)
  10. Anna May (b. 1914)
  11. Fred (b. 1917)
  12. Mary Sue (b. 1919)
  13. Laura Lee (b. 1921)
  14. George Washington (b. 1924)

Dessie, Bessie, and Essie were born in the family’s log cabin on March 16, 1904.

As children, Dessie and Bessie looked a lot alike, but Essie stood out because she “was the runt,” according to Dessie.

Dessie also noted that all three of them were “bashful” as youngsters:

We were entered in baby shows and attracted a lot of attention since we were triplets, but we didn’t like it. We would run and hide under the bed when people came to take our pictures. They would have to drag us to the shows and feed us ice cream behind the curtain to keep us at the show.

Speaking of Dessie…I wasn’t able to track down her middle name. What do you think Dessie’s middle initial, “M.,” might have stood for?

Sources:

Image: Clipping from Spirit of Missions magazine (Sept. 1911)

4 thoughts on “North Carolina triplets with rhyming names: Dessie, Bessie, Essie

  1. Fun post and cute names. Dessie Mary? I assume Mary bc there was a Mary already in their family. Side note if allowed: my late mother was from North Carolina and her mother (Martha) was a twin (Mary). Biblical meaning for them. Perhaps that was a name trend back then for sisters?

  2. I would guess Marie or Mary, but maybe they couldn’t agree and just went with “M” … ?

  3. My great-great grandparents had a similar idea around the same time period and named twins Bessie Lottie and Jessie Lena.

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