Lydia Kearley was the third child in the family. She was born in extreme northwestern Tennessee on 14 October 1811, just a couple of months before the New Madrid earthquakes began. Unfortunately, her story is not as happy a one as those of most of her siblings. In 1832 she married a William Wooten. (The name is often misspelled as Wootten). Four children were born to this union: John, Samuel Washington, James and Mary Darthulia.
William Wooten was an ill-tempered fellow who was wont to beat his wife and children. The story is told that Lydia's brothers once stopped him on the road and warned him in no uncertain terms that it would be bad for his health if he attempted to return to her house. The couple was divorced circa 1846, and Lydia detested her ex-husband so bitterly that she reverted to using her maiden name, an uncommon practice in those days. As late as 1860, she was living in Smith County with her two sons, and they apparently shared their mother's harsh feelings about their father, because they too had abandoned the Wooten name and called themselves Kearleys.
On the eve of the Civil War, Lydia owned $1000 worth of real estate (probably a small farm) and $1500 worth of personal property. Her mother lived immediately next door. Lydia died on February 26, 1882, a few months after her seventieth birthday, and she was buried in the Friendship Cemetery in Trousdale County.