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Lou Birchie Ayers Blythe Barron Lou
Birchie Ayers, born February 9, 1893 in Tippah County, Mississippi, was
the daughter of Simpson Green Ayers and Hattie Hayes. The 1900
census lists Hattie Hayes Ayers as living in Tippah County,
Mississsippi along with "Loo B. Ayers" and three siblings.
On 19 August 1906 Birchie, aged 13, married William Jefferson Blythe, aged 24, in the same county. From this marriage nine children were born, including - Clifford Lewis Blythe (1908 - 1960); Pauline Blythe Linsteadt (1910-1994); Earnest Clyde Blythe (1912 - 1981); William Jefferson Blythe (1918 - 1946); Vera Lee Blythe Ramey (1923 - 2006); and Glen Hardy Blythe (1927 - 1986). The Texas Blythe family recalls that the Blythe family moved to Texas in 1909 in a covered wagon from Tippah County, Mississsippi across Arkansas to Sherman. The birth date for Birchie in various census and other records varies between 1891 and 1893. The 1900 census for Tippah County, Mississippi lists Birchie's sister, Minnie as being born April 1891, which would negate the birth of Birchie in February 1891. In 1910 Birchie's mother, Hatty is still living in Mississippi along with her widowed daughter, Minnie, age 23. In the same 1910 census for Grayson County, Census "Bertchie Blithe" is listed as living in Howe/Van Alstyne area, aged 19, along with two sons, aged 2 years and 14 months. Both boys were born in Mississippi which indicates that the Birchie & William Jefferson Blythe family moved to Texas in 1909 or very early 1910. By 1918 the Blythe family is living in Sherman, Grayson Co., Texas as farmers when son W.J. Blythe was born. TEXAS (CORRECTED) BIRTH CERTIFICATE Name : W.J. Blythe Birth : 17 February 1918 at 6 p.m. Residence : Rt. #3. 507 W. Lamar, Sherman, Grayson Co., Texas Father : William Jefferson Blythe, deceased, born Mississippi Aged 35 at time of child's birth Occupation : farmer Mother : Birchie L. Ayres, born Mississippi Aged 28 at time of child's birth Occupation : works at Cozy Eats Shop as a cook Address : 507 W. Lamar, Sherman, Grayson Co., Texas Filed and signed by Birchie L. Blythe, 4 May 1943 In the 1920 Grayson Co. census W.J. Blythe (age 36) & Birchie L. Blythe (age 27) are listed with six children living in Sherman on Dripping Springs Road. The 1930 census lists the Blythe family living in Sherman on Preston Road; Birchie's age is listed as 39. In 1930 Willie Blythe developed colon cancer and died in 1935. As many families in that time of Depression, the Blythes lost their home even though young W.J took a job at Ashburn's dairy just down the road. By 1936 Lou Birchie was behind by two payments on the mortgage payments and managed to dispose of the property to avoid foreclosure, with only a few dozen dollars left on the mortgage. The family then moved to an upstairs apartment on Houston Street, downtown Sherman; Birchie worked as a hotel chambermaid. As a widow In the 1940 census, Birchie lives with three of her children at 1024 E. Houston Street in Sherman. She is a seamstress for the WPA Sewing Project. Her age is listed as 49 years. 
1024 E. Houston St. Sherman, Texas (Google street view, 2015) In 1943 Birchie submitted an affidavit for a corrected copy of her son W.J's birth certificate and her age is listed as 28 at that time; he was born in 1918. W.J. Blythe, a handsome traveling salesman from Texas, worked out of Oklahoma selling products for an auto parts distributor. He met Virginia Dell Cassidy, a student nurse in a Lousiana hospital, in 1942 when he brought a woman friend into the emergency room; he and Virginia were married on September 3, 1943; at this time W.J. Blythe changed his name from "W.J." to "Bill". Tragically, he died in a car accident in Hope, Arkansas, just four months before their son, William Jefferson Blythe, was born. Billy shipped out for military service during World War II and was stationed in Egypt and Italy. He returned home to Hope, Arkansas after being discharged in 1945, but Billy & Virginia had chosen a home in Chicago to purchase. On May 17, 1946, Billy was traveling from Chicago to Hope, Arkansas to bring his pregnant wife, who was visited her family, back north to Chicago, when he lost control of his car in Sikeston, Missouri. Although he survived the accident, he died as a result being thrown from the car into a drainage ditch and drowned. Billy Blythe was buried at Rose Hill Cemetery in Hope, Hempstead County, Arkansas Virginia and her infant son moved to Chicago where she met Roger Clinton. In 1962 future President William Jefferson Blythe took his stepfather's surname legally. In 1994 Virginia Blythe Clinton was interred beside her first husband.
Birchie, paternal grandmother of President William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton, worked in May 1943 at the Cozy Eat Shop as a cook. It was one of the places she worked during the last 11 years of her life. In 1943, according to the affidavit BIrchie submitted, she was living at 503 W. Lamar Street in Sherman. Birchie married Avery Barron in Durant, Oklahoma, who died in 1967. Birchie died in early1946, after suffering a stroke, just six months before her famous grandson was born and two months before her son's tragic death. Birchie and Avery Barron are buried in West Hill Cemetery, Sherman, Texas. 
source : https://www.whitehouse.gov/1600/presidents/williamjclinton Bill Clinton's mother was the fourth wife of William Jefferson Blythe, Jr. She did not know of the existence of the first three wives before she read the Post article, more than 47 years after her husband's death. Sources
1900 - 1940 US census US Corrected Birth Certificate US Death Certificates Weingarten, Gene. "The First Father", The Fiddler in the Subway, pgs 31-49. Simon & Schuster, c2010. https://books.google.com/books?id=Vx6CHHo8pz8C&pg=PA32&lpg#v=onepage&q&f=false, viewed April 21, 2015. 
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