From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (African American Women Veterans in and from Kentucky)

Hughes, Esther Lee Langham

(born: November 30, 1920 - died: September 19, 2005)

Subject

Women's Army Corps (WACs)

Migration North

Military and Veterans

World War II

U.S. Army

Military Branch

Women's Army Corps

Active Duty Entered

December 12, 1942

Notes

Esther Lee Langham was born in Cumberland County, TN, the daughter of William L. Fayette Langham and Gertrude White Langham. Her parents were married March 31, 1919. Esther was living with her maternal grandparents John and Elizabeth White in Claiborne County, TN when she was enumerated in the 1930 U.S. Census. Their daughter Gertrude, Esther's mother, had died on May 20, 1921, a few months after Esther was born.

By 1935, John, Elizabeth, their children, and some grandchildren were living in Middlesboro, KY. Esther is listed in the 1940 U.S. Census as John and Elizabeth's daughter. John White supported his family as a farm laborer. John and Elizabeth White owned their home. In 1942 Esther Lee Langham enlisted in the Army, according to her record in the National Archives, Access to Archival Databases. She enlisted in Cincinnati, OH.

After her military service Esther L. Langham returned to Kentucky. In her social security record, 1946, her name is given as Esther L. Hughes. Her daughter was born in Kenton County, KY in 1947, according to the Kentucky Birth Index in Ancestry. Esther's grandmother died in Lexington, KY in 1967. Esther is listed in the obituary by her maiden name, Langham; she and a sister were said to be living in Millersburg, KY.

In 1996, Esther's aunt, Mary Inez Simmons, died. Esther Langham is listed in the obituary as living in Cincinnati. In 2002 Esther L. Hughes was living in Detroit, MI, according to the Phone and Address Directories in Ancestry. She died in Detroit in 2005.

Sources: Social Security Applications and Claims Index (Ancestry); Gertrude "Gertie" White Langham's Tennessee Death Certificate file #57, registered #61 (Ancestry); "Colored News," Middlesboro Daily News, 8/15/1942, p. 4; "Notes and Obituaries: Mrs. Elizabeth White," Sunday Herald-Leader, 4/23/1967, p. 10; "Funeral Notices: Mary Inez Simmons," Lexington Herald-Leader, 10/18/1996, p. 14.