Cornelius Calvin Sale, Jr, a native a Wilkes Co, NC, died on Monday at the age of 92.

Before I started writing this, I thought it might be a surprise to many people.  Then I realized that the story had been on the front page of the Wilkesboro newspaper.  Little Cornelius grew up to become Robert C. Byrd, US Senator.

On 11/20/1917 Cornelius Calvin Sale Jr (future Senator) was born in Wilkes Co to Cornelius Calvin Sale Sr (b1875) and Ada Mae Kirby (b1887).  Just 10 days short of his first birthday, his mother Ada Mae died as one of many victims of the Flu Epidemic of 1918.

Even though his father was still living and would soon remarry and have ten more children, young Robert was adopted by his father's sister Aunt Lula Sale Byrd and her husband Dalton Titus Byrd.  Lula and Dalton had been married for 15 years, and I don't believe they had any children of their own.  That probably explains why they "took in" Robert.  Incidently, I don't know how his name migrated from "Cornelius Calvin Jr" to "Robert C.", but it's not too surprising given the times and the circumstances.

Below, the 1920 Wilkes Co, NC, census, for Somers Twnp lists Robert C. Sale (age 2) as the grandson of Martha E. Sale (age 71).  Also in the household was Daulton T. Byrd (stepfather/uncle), Varluma V. Byrd (stepmother/aunt), and Hazle Sale (probably his cousin).

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The earlier 1910 Wilkes Co census shows that young Robert had two older brothers named Clyde (b1907) and Willie (b1909).  I believe he also had an older sister.  Each of these children were raised by other relatives when their mother died.

By 1930, Robert's elderly grandmother had probably died, and he moved with his aunt and uncle to Raleigh Co, WV, where they are found in that year's census.  Robert is now 12 and listed as the son of Dalton and Lula as shown below in the 1930 Raleigh Co, WV, census, Slab Fork Twnp.

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This is the same census, zoomed in to the names and ages.

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Dalton Byrd took his family to West Virginia in search of work which he found in the coal mines.  As for Robert, except for his early childhood, his home was in WV.  He was the valedictorian of his high school class, and the rest is history.