This is my Uncle Jim, my Dad's oldest brother. This is how I remember him looking.  His full name was James Gibson Alexander and he was born 20 Jan 1916 in Rockbridge County, Virginia. 

Yesterday, I discovered that his name was originally going to be James Lewis Alexander, after his father's uncle James Gibson.  But when my grandfather found out that James Gibson's middle name was Lindsay, he didn't want that for a middle name.  So they settled on Gibson. 

I discovered this tidbit from a letter written on 25 January 1916 by my great-aunt Josephine Fultz to her sister Draper.  She apparently was answering several "fool questions" that Draper had written asking about the new baby.  Draper Fultz was a nurse at Stuart Circle Hospital in Richmond, Virginia, at the time. 

Jo wrote that "Jimmie weighs 9 lbs." and "His face is exceedingly round, and at present sorta yellowish with several red specks on it".  She added that instead of describing his hair, she would send a sample of it.  And she did, pictured below. She said the sample looked "like a snake doctor with pink wings".

She also refers to herself as "Aunt Josie", a nickname I never heard anyone call her. Then she goes on to explain the name change.  She said everyone else except his father, John Addison Alexander, wanted him to be John A. Jr., but John Sr said John was so common. Funny thing is that their third son, my father, was named John A., Jr.  Maybe it just took a while for him to get used to the idea.