Minnie Ida Carter Sizemore was born Sept. 8, 1880, the third child of Henry Kane Carter and Amanda Jane Taylor Carter Fain. She was born in Pumpkin Valley, near Eidson, Hawkins County, TN. She was the youngest child and had two older brothers: Cicero and Andrew Jackson "Jack" Carter. At least one record indicates that her first name was Minnie with Ida being her middle name but was known only as Ida to everyone. This was confirmed via oral transmission from daughter Mable Sizemore Barker to her daughter Montie Barker Grills prior to Mable's death in 1975 and was confirmed to this memorial's manager on 28 June 2011. After the death of her father on 8 May 1882, her mother Amanda was remarried to Ernest Fain of Rogersville, TN on 23 Feb. 1885. From that union three additional half-siblings were added to the family: Nora, Alvin and Dinah Fain.

She married Hillery Walter Sizemore on Dec. 30, 1899, whose family was neighbors. Hillery and his brother Tom built the home that Ida and Hillery lived in their whole married life. Life was pretty hard for them as a farming family as they basically lived like their ancestors a century before. After the Chestnut Blight began killing off almost all of the giant trees by the late 1920s, several of their teenage sons including Avery and Ballard worked for several years logging them out of the ridges using crosscut saws and sledding them out with mules.

The family survived by virtue of owning some desirable flat creek bottom land that was planted in corn and tobacco with another section used for hay for the animals. They had a large garden and chicken coop above the home. The family also had a notable orchard for many years around the ridge near the home. The family was blessed to have a good spring located high on the ridge above their home and water was piped down to the house. They also raised a few head of cattle and pigs and had several horses and mules over the years that they used to plow with even well into the late 1960s. Hillery and the older boys built a large barn made of chestnut wood in the 1930s out from the house that still stands today in good condition. Sadly, their house no longer exists although the outbuildings are still there.

Ida and Hillery were well known in the community for making fine wooden caskets. Hillery was a good carpenter and Ida hand stitched and upholstered the interiors using cotton for batting. The family also operated an kerosene engine-powered grist mill for a number of years until it was washed away in a flood in the late 1930s.

Ida was the mother of thirteen children beginning with Henry in 1901. By having so many children spaced out about two years apart, she was assisted in raising the youngest children by her older daughters. The family also raised two grandchildren during the 1930s after an older daughter Lydia died. Ida endured much including having three children die during her lifetime but was known for her hearty laughter and good humor. In late January 1937, Ida got pneumonia reportedly from riding in the rumble seat of son Charlie's newly acquired car and and died way too young on Feb. 11, 1937. Hillery outlived her by 36 years.