Melvina was born in either late 1871 or early 1877.

The annual report of the Rowan Co. clerk to the Kentucky state auditor for 1877 lists Melvina McClerg, age 6 (in ink, then penciled “mos”), born in Carter Co., Ky, cause of death dysentery, residence Rowan Co., Ky, died 2 Aug 1877 in Rowan Co., father Marion McClurg born in Rowan Co., mother born in Va.

It is unclear whether Melvina died at age 6 months or 6 years. Most of the deaths on the page have either “years” or “mos” in ink in the age at death column when the number is low enough to be ambiguous. This line doesn’t. There is a later penciled “mos” in a superscript position. Ordinarily, I would take that at face value, but the records seem fairly consistent that Levina Josephine McClurg was born in the spring of 1877. (The 1880 census gives her age as 3, and the 1910 census gives her birthdate as April 1877.)

So if Melvina was born in 1877, then presumably they were twins and one of their birthdates is slightly off (Melvina may have been only 4 months old when she died, or Josephine may have been born a few months before April.) This hypothesis is supported by the similarity of the names Levina and Melvina, and also by the fact that dysentery as a cause of death is most common for infants.

The other possibility is that Melvina was born about 1871, was 6 years old when she died, and it is the penciled annotation that is in error.