Esther Ann (Spear) Hill Aldrich and her Six Children

Esther Ann was twice widowed and she had six children from the two marriages.  She first married Hiram Hill, who died from injuries received in the Civil War.  Esther and Hiram had four children.  Then she married William Aldrich, and they had three children.  William, Junior, one of their twin sons, died young.  William, Sr. died 19 February 1884 a few weeks before Esther’s forty-sixth birthday.  Bert, their youngest, was age seven then so Esther had a struggle raising these last two children alone.  They were poor as church mice.  Pictured are Esther with her six children who survived to adulthood.  BACK ROW (left to right):  Clara Anista (Hill) Martinsen (called Carrie), Hiram Hill, Jr., Charles Wilbur (Bert) Aldrich and Ada Camila Aldrich.  FRONT ROW:  Celia Elizabeth (Hill) Cole, Esther Ann (Spear) Hill Aldrich and Maria Belmar (Hill) Ullenbrauch.  The picture was probably taken in the late 1890s.