Saturday, January 31, 2015

FIRST SETTLERS of FORDSVILLE

Article taken from the Hartford Herald, September 22, 1909, page 2. Thanks to Helen McKeown for the tip.

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FIRST SETTLERS
of
FORDSVILLE


And a Short Account Of Their Lives

NAMED AFTER ELISHA M. FORD

First Hand Corn Mill Brought to Hartford

History Of The Yates Family

Fordsville, Ohio county, Ky. was settled by three early Kentucky settlers, viz: Benjamin Kelley, Ancil Hall and Richard Huff. Huff settled on the north-east side of what is now the town of Fordsville. Hall settled on the west side. Huff settled about the year 1793, but it is not known at what time Kelly and Hall settled their farms, other than that they were among the first settlers of this part of the State. Benjamin Kelley, when a small boy, was one of Daniel Boone’s party, taken prisoner by the Indians while making salt at the Blue Licks in Nicholas county, and was taken to Detroit, Mich., where he made his escape, taking with him an Indian tomahawk presented to him by Colonel McKee, the British Indian agent and principal advocate of the war then existing between the United States and the savages. This tomahawk is now owned by a grandson of Benjamin Kelley living near Fordsville.

Ancil Hall was a prominent Baptist preacher of his time and his descendants are now numerous in this part of the State. Richard Huff was an energetic settler, raised a large family of sons and daughters and his posterity is now widely scattered over several States.

Each of the early settlers had a graveyard on his farm and their remains and many of their relatives and friends were buried in them. The Kelly graveyard is now the Fordsville cemetery. The Huff graveyard is now surrounded by the residences, gardens, lots, etc. of the citizens of the town and the Hall graveyard is on Cedar Hill near the western corporation line.

The early name of Fordsville was Kelley’s Precinct, in honor of Benjamin Kelley, and so remained till about the year 1848, when Galin Crowe, of Hartford, established a post-office there and named the hamlet Fordsville, in honor of Elisha M. Ford, at that time the main business man of Hartford and the first man to establish a mercantile business at Kelley’s Precinct.

About the year 1830 a widow lady from Virginia bought that part of Mr. Huff’s farm on the south-east side of a small stream which is a tributary of Adams Fork creek. This lady was Mrs. Nancy Yates, widow of Lieutenant Reuben C. Yates, who died in the United States army near City Point, Va., during the war of 1812. Mrs. Yates family, at that time, consisted of her son, Wm. H Yates, and a number of slaves. She said she was a native Virginian, that her maiden name was Yates and at the age of 12 years she had married her cousin, Reuben C. Yates, and that she was but 13 years older than her son. She further said that her husband was a Lieutenant in the army and died there when  her son was a little child, and produced letters from John Tompkins and other army officers corroborating this statement and exhibited some of her husband’s army effects, one of them being his portrait painted while he was in the army and another being a copy of “Cushing’s Tactics,” at that time being the discipline of the United States army. She also received letters from Ann Washington and other prominent Virginia ladies, showing she was of a high-class Virginia people.

In the fall of 1869 I called to see Mrs. Yates. I told her that my grandfather was a soldier in Washington’s Continental army and an officer in the war of 1812 and that I had called to see her as the widow of one of my grandfather’s comrade officers.

Mrs. Yates was feebly reclining on her bed and at that time she was suffering from cancer of the breast, which soon terminated in death. She was cheerful and very courteous to me and appeared to be greatly interested in my grand-fathers services in the army, as they had been told to me. After I had addressed her for some time she made some remarks about her husband’s in the army and the close attachment his men had for him. She handed a bunch of keys to a servant and ordered her to bring some small portraits from a bureau drawer. On the return of the servant Mrs. Yates exhibited some old-time daguerreotype portraits of the Yates family. One of the portraits was taken from a French painting of her husband.

After the death of Mrs. Yates I copied the Lieutenant Yates portrait for my military drawing book and at this time I think it is the only one that is in existence. The original one and other relics of the Yates family were destroyed when the Yates homestead was burned some years ago.

Many prominent persons called to see Mrs. Yates and among the presents sent to her was the hand corn mill brought to Hartford by Hon. Elisha M. Ford on his return from the Legislature in 1845, and the balance wheel of this mill was at the Yates farm a few years ago. Mrs. Yates died November 9, 1869 and her son, William, preceded her June 30, 1864. Some years before Mrs. Yates died she selected a burial place on the farm near her hone and  her remains and those of her son now lie side by side on the east side of a large oak tree.


Article written by Edwin Forbes



Old mill from Fordsville.  Photo by Dennis Watson.


Wednesday, January 28, 2015

ALEXANDER B. BENNETT

ALEXANDER B. BENNETT and his brother, Charles N. Bennett, are the only surviving members of the family of Samuel and Lucretia (Barnett) Bennett.  Alexander B. was born where he now resides, September 10, 1819, and was reared to endure the trials and vicissitudes of life in a new country, having as text-books in school the spelling book and Testament only. By home study, however, he afterward acquired a good practical education. When eighteen years of age his father died, and he took charge of the home place, and supported his mother until her death. He bought the interest of the other heirs in his father's estate, and has added to the farm from time to time, now owning 500 acres of fine land with homestead improvements. October 4, 1838, he married Miss Frances A. Benton, daughter of Benjamin and Altha (Chapman) Benton, of Ohio Coanty, who formerly came from Maryland. For fifty years Mr. and Mrs. Bennett have been members of the Methodist Church South. They have seven (ihildren living: Wilber P., Lucy S. (now Mrs. A. Carson), Martha C. (wife of John C. Rowan), John S., Alelia B. (wife of A. Hoover), Leslie F. and Marenda J., at home.


Source: J. H. BATTLE, W H. PERRIN, & G. C. KNIFFIN 1895

Friday, January 23, 2015

Baptizing at Bald Knob Church, Ohio Co. KY

Baptizing at Bald Knob Church, Ohio Co. KY

Submitted by Janice Cox Brown

An Oral History Story

When we asked my grandmother, Eva Caroline (Smith) Cox (1889-1988)
to tell us about when she was baptized, she told this story: 

“Why yes, I wouldn’t mind telling you that.  Well, it was there at Bald Knob Church.  And the revival was going on.  But now in that day and time, they would say “protracted meetings” are going to start.  And of course there was a lot of boys and girls, and people saved.  And Ella and I was two of them.  And we were baptized in white dresses.  And Pearl Leach.  She was an awful sweet girl. It was in the afternoon at a pond.

“We were the only three that were baptized.  The rest of them were sprinkled.  And that was Uncle’s cousin, Pearl Leach. I just can’t recall where we went.  There was a pond of water.  I know that.  There was no bank – it was level ground, and they had a little house where you went and changed your clothes after you were baptized.  And they all went to the baptizing.  Pa took us – and we all went in the wagon…well part of us.  Some went in the buggy.  (Laughing).  I can’t hardly remember, but we were all there.  There was a lot of folks there.  It was in the afternoon.”   (part of this story was also retold in a June 1982 tape.)

“Bald Knob was a Methodist church, but you had your choice to be immersed or sprinkled. The preacher’s name was Embry – Brother Embry.

“And we were the only three that were baptized.  All of the rest of them were sprinkled.  I was about sixteen or seventeen.  It has been a long, long time ago.  They used to have such wonderful meetings there.  They really did.  They had a mourner’s bench.  And everyone would come up and be prayed for and all.

“Sometimes we visited other churches.  Oh yes, we always went to church.  Bald Knob had prayer meeting on Wednesday nights…every Wednesday night we always went.  And then if there was something on Saturday night, we went.  On the third Sundays, there was services.  But that was the only service.  But they would have church at Mt. Pleasant, or down at Select, or at Mt. Zion.  And we would go.  We always went to church.  Sometimes, in the afternoon, they would have singings.  And dinner on the ground…homecoming…they called it.  And everybody would come and spend the day.

“Bald Knob was where Ma and Pa belonged, and Grandma Sanders, too.  They all went to church there.  That church is old.  They have kept it up real good.  It was about two miles from our home.”

(Ella in the above story is my grandmother’s younger sister, who married Roy Thompson Stewart, son of John Henry Stewart and Susannah Miranda Cox.  Pearl Leach, born 8 March 1893, married Ansel Jacob Westerfield, and they had four children.  She was the daughter of Alonzo Blackstone Leach and Hannah A. Hayworth.  Pearl’s obituary indicates she died from the flu 24 January 1919 at her residence, age 29; buried at the Brickhouse Cemetery. “Uncle” was Everett Sandefur who married my grandmother’s older sister, Mary Elizabeth “Lizzie” Smith.  Everett, 1885-1954, was the son of Lucian Sandefur and Mary Emily Leach.)                            
                      


 The Old Bald Knob Church







Photos above: Brickhouse Cemetery next to the old Bald Knob Church where my grandmother attended church, and where her parents, James Thomas and Sarah (Sanders) Smith, and her grandparents , Charles and Fidella (Porter) Sanders, and many other family members are buried.

Tape Recording dated May 1, 1977

Saturday, January 17, 2015

CHARLES N. BENNETT

CHARLES N. BENNETT was born in this county, June 23, 1811, and is the eldest of five children born to Samuel and Lucretia (Barnett) Bennett. Samuel Bennett came from near Baltimore, Md., when a boy, with his father's (John Bennett's) family, to Ohio County, Ky., in 1798. He was a well-to-do farmer, and died May 11, 1837; his widow died November 15, 1854. Charles N. received the early training common to pioneer life. December 24, 1835, he married Miss Martha Lindley, daughter of Daniel and Sallie Lindley, of Ohio County, and settled on his present farm, then all timber, which he has largely cleared and improved, and now has 355 acres with cottage residence, and all surrounding conveniences, the result of his personal energy and frugality. Mrs. Bennett died March 23, 1883. She was a member of the Methodist Church South, of which Mr. Bennett is also a member. They were blessed with five children, four now living: Lucretia M. (wife of E. "Virgil), D. D., Stevens (farming), Amanda E. (at home), and Robert D., a Methodist minister. Mr. Bennett is a temperance Democrat.


Source: J. H. BATTLE, W H. PERRIN, & G. C. KNIFFIN 1895

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

THE BEAN FAMILY

THE BEAN FAMILY, Ohio County. Leonard Bean, the progenitor, a native of
Maryland, was born about 1787; removed to Ohio County, Ky., in an early day, and was during many years an eminent Methodist class leader, and died near Sulphur Springs in 1841. He married Sarah Boswell, of Maryland, who died in 1868, at the age of seventy-two years. To them were born William R., Polley (Crawford), Rev. Gabriel J., Eveline (Barnes) and Noble. Noble Bean was born in the house where he now resides, in Ohio County, Ky., May 7, 1830. He obtained such an education as the common schools of the country afforded during his youth. He was married December 23, 1852, to Chloe A. E., daughter of Bartemus and Sarah (Robey) Acton, of Ohio County, she was born April 3, 1833, and to them were born Henry F., William" T., Sarah E. (Thomas), Caleb W., Jane E. (Cole), Martha T., Gabriel B., Bedford K., Tilden C. and Dresden P. Mr. Bean is a successful farmer, owning 425 acres of fair land in a good state of cultivation. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity; in religion is a Methodist and in politics is a Democrat. Rev. Gabriel J. Bean was born in 1823, and has been for a full quarter of a century a Methodist local minister. He married Rlary J., daughter of Bartemus and Chloe (Robey) Acton, of Ohio County, born December 24, 1827. Their children are Josephine A. (Duke), Thomas H., Martha J. (Ross), Henry B., Leonard B., John E., Christina and William N. M. Thomas Henson Bean was born November 2, 1847, in Ohio County, Ky., where he has always resided. In youth he obtained a good business education. He was first married November 14, 1869, to Julia A., daughter of William and Julia A. (Neely) Duke, of Ohio County, born February 5, 1850, and died January 1, 1874. Their union was blessed with one child — William Jackson. Mr. Bean was next married May 5, 1875, to Amanda Z. Duke, sister to his first wife, born May 5, 1857, and to them have been born Henry P. (deceased), and Ira D. Mr, Bean is a farmer, owning 162 acres of good land in a high state of cultivation. In religion he is a Methodist, and in politics he is a Prohibitionist. Henry B. Bean was born July 20, 1852, in Ohio County, Ky., where he still resides. He obtained a fair English education in youth. He was married January 12, 1882, to Mary J., daughter of Fields and Amanda (Boswell) Harris, of Ohio County, Ky. She was born November 26, 1858. Mr. Bean is a neat and successful farmer, having 111 acres of good land in fine condition. He is an active Methodist and in politics a stanch Prohibitionist.

Source: J. H. BATTLE, W H. PERRIN, & G. C. KNIFFIN 1895

HENRY WILLIAM BEAN, Ohio County, was born near Sulphur Springs, Ohio County, October 6, 1846, and received his education in the same locality. He is the son of Henry and Martha (Birkhead) Bean, the former a native of Ohio County, born in 1820; the latter a native of Daviess County, born 1827. The father died about 1860; his family consisted of four children: Sarah Catherine, wife of Marion Madox: Lucy Jane, wife of William Leishbrooks; Irene, unmarried and Henry William, our subject. The last named was a very young man when his parents died. At the age of twenty years he commenced farming for himself, and in 1867 married Miss Laura Tichenor, the daughter of Peter and Maria (Shoemaker) Tichenor, of Daviess County. She is a native of that county, born November 28, 1850. Mr. and Mrs. Bean are the parents of seven children: William Thomas, Cora Etta, Irene, Marion Francis, Monroe, Leonard and Ollie. Mr. Bean is known as an upright, industrious farmer, and the farm on which he now resides is located in Ellis Precinct; Ohio County. Mr. Bean's grand-father, Leonard Bean, settled in Ohio County, from Maryland, at an early day. Mrs. Bean's ancestry were from Virginia. She is the youngest of three children. Her parents reside in Daviess County, Ky. Both Mr. and Mrs. Bean are faithful members of the Baptist Church, membership at Macedonia.

Source: J. H. BATTLE, W H. PERRIN, & G. C. KNIFFIN 1895

HENRY F. BEAN, M. D., was born in Ohio County, Ky., November 10, 1853, and is a son of Noble and Chloe A. E. (Acton) Bean, natives of Ohio County, and of Welsh and English descent, respectively. Noble Bean was educated and married in his native county of Ohio. He has always resided on the old homestead farm, near Sulphur Springs, Ohio County, which he now owns, having bought out the other heirs after his mother's death. He and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Chprch South; he is also a member of the Masonic fraternity, and an earnest advocate of temperance. Dr. Henry F. Bean received a good common school and academic education in youth. At the age of twenty he commenced the study of medicine, under the preceptorship of Dr. George P. Mitchell, of Sulphur Springs, Ky., now of Beaver Dam, and graduated with high honors from the medical department of the University of Louisville, with the class of 1875-76. He immediately commenced the practice of his profession at Sulphur Springs, Ky., where he remained until January, 1883, when he removed to Point Pleasant, Ohio Co., Ky., where he now resides, and is practicing his profession with abundant success, having secured a large and lucrative practice. He was married November 1, 1877, to Mary E. Tabor, also a native of Ohio County. One son gladdens their home — McPendleton. The Doctor and wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church South; he is also an active advocate of the temperance cause and in politics is a Democrat.


Source: J. H. BATTLE, W H. PERRIN, & G. C. KNIFFIN 1895

Saturday, January 10, 2015

Fox Hunting in Ohio County

Fox Hunting in Ohio County

 Oral History Stories

James Thomas Smith (1856-1926)
John Henry Stewart (1861-1931
Including his son,
  Roy Thompson Stewart (1892-1971)

and Ohio County Recollections of Billy Morris

Submitted by Janice Cox Brown

In years gone by in Ohio County fox hunting was a pastime for most small farmers, who kept a pack of hounds for their favorite sport.  When they weren’t working and had time, fox hunting was their entertainment and was something they could look forward to and enjoy.  Several times a week men and boys got together and sat around a big fire from sunset to dawn listening to their hounds bark, after they were released to chase the fox. That's all there was to their fox hunting -- listening. There was no kill.  A pack of hounds simply chased a fox around in circles through the woods, over the ridges, down creeks and gullies, until the dogs got tired, or they lost the scent, or the hounds ran Brother Fox into a hole.

The roving fox started his forage by sunset, traveling many miles in a night, and he never holed up, even in dropping temperatures overnight snow falls, or when Kentucky winter weather brought a bitter freeze.

Mostly, the fox hunters had trained their hounds themselves and just wanted to see how long and how hard their dogs could run the fox through the rolling hills of hardwood country – great oaks, hickory and pine.  When the hounds were turned loose, and when a scent was picked up, the hounds cried more loudly, and took off along the trail.  A dog that could run long and hard was worth a lot, and if they could keep up a steady bay on the trail, it was even better.  Many fox hunters believed that some foxes enjoyed the chase, too – the matching of wits.   

The prime fox hunting season was from when crops were harvested in the fall until spring when fields had to be planted again.  Often, several men and boys would get together on some cool October evening, and each would bring their fox hounds. Usually, they built a big fire and made a big pot of coffee, or at times, whiskey or some other fermented beverage might make an appearance.  A few hunters took a snack with them and maybe even roasted some corn over the open fire.  There was nothing like sitting on a ridge at night, with a harvest moon hanging low in the west, as they swapped stories and listened for their dogs barking as loud as they could.  It was music to their ears.  Nothing was more exciting or satisfying than watching and listening to their hounds.  It meant that the fox was giving their hounds a good run. Each man knew the voice of each of his hounds and could tell from their bark how close his dogs were to the fox. The hunters enjoyed rooting for their favorite dog, reminiscing, and telling stories about hounds of old. 

At times, the hunters just sat quietly around the camp fire and absorbed "the music of the chase”.  With all the dogs together, it was kind of like a chorus, always changing.  And every hunter listened for his own dogs, to know how they were doing.  Each man tried to visualize where each dog was in the pack, and could usually tell whether his dog was carrying the lead by the change of his bark, (called “change in his mouth”).  In other words, each hunter tried to visualize in his mind the drama of the chase by what he was hearing.  If the hound was aggressive and going ahead, his bark was more eager, more excited.

A successful hunt ended when the fox was accounted for because he entered a hole in the ground or slipped into his den under a rock ledge before the dogs got him, only to be chased again on another day.

As one old farmer put it, “fox hunting would make an old man young, and a young man forget his wife.”
 ~.~

~ FOX HUNTING ~
Oral History Story

James Thomas Smith
1856-1926

G.O. Cox - (my dad): 

“Grandpa Smith was a fox hunter.  My grandmother, (Sarah Sanders Smith) would make a great big pan of bread…that big a square (measuring) for them dogs.  Every evening.  And if he told her not to feed the dogs, I knew we were going to go hunting that night.  So they would run real good.  And he would put me up in front of him in the saddle and away we would go.  And we would meet four or five other fellows and they would all have their dogs and boy, I’m telling you, the fox chase took place.  And we would stop and listen to those dogs, and they could tell which dog was in the lead…and where the fox was going to cross.  And we would get on those horses, and race to get there in the moonlight and watch the dogs cross with that fox.  It was thrilling…to a little boy!

“Yes, it was a pastime to them.  He had the best dog there was in that country…my grand-father.  His name was Pullman.  I don’t know where he got that name for him, but I never will forget it.  “Pullman”…like the Pullman car on the back of a passenger train. And he had the best nose, and was one of the fastest dogs.

“I know one night, we had started across a bridge over there at the Chancellor Creek over a foot log when he was just a puppy, when my grandfather was training him, and it was a coon he was after instead of a fox, and when we got up there, that coon had a hold of that puppy on that log and pulled him off in that water.  And it was icy, mind you.  And Grandpa went right in that icy water and grabbed that pup by the leg and that coon was still holding on to him, setting right on top of his head.  And he would have drowned him, too, if Grandpa hadn’t of got him out.  They will do that, a coon will.”

Eva (Smith) Cox (my grandmother) telling about her dad, James Thomas Smith, the fox hunter:    

“My daddy was a great fox hunter.  He had fox dogs, and he went with all of them.  All of them hunted.  But daddy liked to go with Roy Stewart’s daddy.  John Henry Stewart.  Those two really loved to hunt together.  Yes…they went fox hunting all the time!  And then got up early of a morning and go to the field and work hard all day, and then his health give away.  And Roy Stewart would come by to go fox hunting, and he would help him finish his work so he could go fox hunting at night with them.”  Roy Stewart’s daddy was a farmer too.  And him and my daddy was as close as brothers.  They sure was.  (laughing)  “He was a fine man.”

“Some of the fox hunter’s families would come and spend the night and they rode in the wagon, and they would spend the night because it was too far to go back home at night.  I don’t know - (she was trying to remember…) some of them that fox-hunted came in wagons, and some had their dogs tied all around it…and the family would come along and spend the night.”

~ Contributed by Janice Cox Brown
~.~

(Roy Thompson Stewart married Aunt Ella Smith, my grandmother’s younger sister next to her in age.  Roy Stewart’s father was John Henry Stewart who married Susannah Miranda Cox (daughter of James William Cox and Mary Elizabeth Mitchell – my grandfather’s parents).  

From my Family TreeMaker Notes Section:                        

Roy Thompson Stewart was born November 26, 1892 at Select, Ohio County, KY.  He was the son of John Henry Stewart and Susannah Miranda Cox.

Roy Stewart married Ella Jennie Smith, the sister of Eva Caroline (Smith) Cox, my grand-mother.   They had two sons:  Velno Kenneth Stewart, born April 16, 1917 at McHenry, and Theron M. Stewart, born February 20, 1923; died July 17, 2006 at his residence in Indiana.

Roy was a well-respected member of his community and among his family relations.  He was a member of Select Church of Christ, the Cromwell Lodge No. 692 F&AM and the Cromwell OES No. 294.  A long-time rural mail carrier, he retired in 1958. 

He had Masonic graveside rites and was buried in Sunnyside Cemetery.

Roy helped me with my initial genealogical research on the Thomas Smith family, and I still have his letter written to me in 1964.

An obituary from The Ohio County News, dated Thursday, Dec 2, 1971, page 8, reads:

"Roy T. Stewart"

   "Cromwell” -- Roy T. Stewart, 78, died at 12:15 p.m., Tuesday, November 23, at the Ohio County Hospital.

    Mr. Stewart was born November 26, 1892 in Ohio County.  He was a member of the Select Church of Christ, the Cromwell Lodge No. 692 F&AM and Cromwell OES No. 294.  He was a retired mail carrier, retiring in 1958.

    Survivors include his widow, Mrs. Ella Smith Stewart; two sons, Kenneth Stewart and Theron Stewart, both of Hammond, Indiana; three grandchildren.

   Funeral services were conducted at 2 p.m. Friday, November 27, at the William L. Danks Funeral Home by the Rev. Gary Embry, pastor of the United Methodist Church, assisted by the Rev. Arnett Williams, pastor of Concord Baptist Church.  Burial was in Sunnyside Cemetery."
                                                                      ~.~
Roy T. Stewart, Master
Cromwell Lodge No. 692
                                                               (photo, but not shown here)
                                                     
                           Cromwell Lodge No. 692,  Cromwell,  met  on  St.  John’s  Day,
                        December 27, 1939,  and  elected  and  installed  officers  for  the
                        ensuing year.  Those so chosen were:

                           Roy T. Stewart, master; R. C. Burgess, senior warden, Hudnall
                        LeMasters, junior warden; Otha West, treasurer. The new secretary,
 Bro. Past Master Elmer Embry, acted as installing officer.
Bro. Past Master R. C. Burgess then installed Bro. Embry as
secretary and the following appointed officers:  H. N. Phelps,
senior deacon; D. Nelson, junior deacon; Owen T. Wallace,
senior steward;  J. W. Martin, junior steward; Clarence James,
chaplain, and Hilley Kessinger, tiler.

   Our new worshipful master, Bro. Roy T. Stewart, is an ardent
Mason, is taking the duties of his office seriously and members
of the lodge confidently look forward to a year of progress under
his capable guidance.  He will have the support of a loyal corps
of officers, eager to assist in helping the lodge to prosper.  An
increased attendance of our members will be highly pleasing to
officers of the lodge and spur them on to greater achievements .
  Stated meetings of Cromwell Lodge are held on the 4th Monday
each month, and we welcome visiting.  Craftsmen.-E Embry, secretary.

From my Family TreeMaker Notes Section:                        
                           
                                     John Henry Stewart -- 1861-1930
                     Susannah Miranda Cox -- 1863-1910

      Susannah Miranda, born July 18, 1863 was the second child of James William and Mary Elizabeth Cox.  She was named after her two grandmothers – Susannah Miranda Cox and Susannah C. Acton.  When she was eighteen, Susannah, called “Susie,” married John Henry Stewart, twenty, September 13, 1881.  He was born October 1861, the son of John F. Stewart and Catherine R. Douglas. Susie’s name is written in her father’s Bible as “Susanah M. Cox.”
    
During the next twenty-five years, this couple had eight children of whom only five lived to maturity.

1)         Oscar Newton, born July 1882; died age 60, 1943
2)         Minnie, born Oct. 1885; died age 33, 1919
3)         Azro B., born 1883 and died the same day.
4)         Elza Wayne, born 1887; died 1899, age 11 years
5)         Estill L., born 1890; lived two days.
6)         Roy Thompson Stewart, born Nov. 1892, (who grew up and married my
grandmother’s sister, Ella Jennie Smith);  died 1971, age 78
7)         Warren C. Stewart, born Sep. 1894; died 1916, age 22,
8)         Ethel Catherine Stewart, born Jan. 1897; died 1946, age 49

When the census taker visited the Cromwell community in 1900, he stopped at the home of John Henry Stewart and his wife, Susie M.   John was thirty-eight and Susie was thirty-six, and they said they had been married eighteen years.  Susie had borne eight children, five of whom were living at the time.  Children listed in the home were Oscar N., 17; Minnie F., 14; Roy T., 7; Warren C., 5; and Ethel C., 3.  John Henry’s occupation was farming.

By the time of the 1910 census, the family was living at Rosine, and Oscar and Minnie no longer lived in their parent’s home.  More than likely they had married and started families of their own.  Three children, Roy T., 17; Warren C., 15, and Ethel C., 13, were still living at home.

The census of 1910 was taken in April, and at that time, Susie had been ill for several years.  Four months later her condition worsened and she died August 26, 1910.  She was only forty-seven at her death, and she and John Henry had been married almost twenty-nine years.  She was buried in Fairview East Cemetery, Ohio County.  It was a very sad occasion for the entire family.

Her obituary was found in the Hartford Republican, dated Friday, September 2, 1910 on page five and another mention under the community of Select, dated September 4:
                                          

  ~ SELECT ~
                                                                    
                        “Sept. 4 – Mrs. Susie Stewart, wife of J. H. Stewart, died at her
                          residence this place Thursday night, August 25th of consumption.
                          
  She was a member of the Christian church and was a good
                          Christian woman. 

                          She leaves a husband and five children, and a host of friends to
                          mourn her loss.”

      John Henry Stewart later remarried Ida Luck on December 23, 1919, who helped make a home for his three children who were still in their teens.  According to his death certificate he died April 15, 1930, was still married to Ida, and was buried at Fairview Cemetery in Ohio Co. Kentucky.  Son O. N. Stewart was the informant and listed his father’s name as John Henry Stewart (and not John McHenry Stewart as some researchers have recorded).

                                                                      ~.~

(Email Note to Janice Brown from Billy Morris, a distant cousin, re his Uncle Clida Morris, another fox hunter.  Also, notes for John Henry Stewart, Ohio County trains, and mining.):

Recollections by Billy Morris

Billy remembered that his Uncle Clida Morris was a fox hunter, and he related this story:

“I remember my uncle Clida Morris was a big fox hunter.   In rural Ohio County back in the 1930s, early 1940s, when it got dark, it was really dark.   Also, sounds carried very far.  No airplanes or automobiles rumbling all hours of the night.  You could hear the dogs running and barking for miles.”  (Clida Morris (1897-1986) was son of Granville Morris (1872-1954) and Viola Frances Daughtery  (1877-1919)

Continued email: 
“Janice, I got both your messages this morning.  My grandfather Henry Stewart was the son of Charles W. Stewart and Susan C. Rains.  Charles’ father was Henry Stewart and this Henry was the son of Archibald Stewart.

“John McHenry Stewart who married Susan Miranda Cox was the son of John Franklin Stewart, who was the son of Cornelius Stewart; he was the son of Archibald Stewart.

“Most all the Stewarts around Mt. Pleasant, Select, Cromwell and Rosine area are from Archibald Stewart.”

Thanks to Billy for this information below on trains and mining in Ohio County:

Billy Morris: Recollections about Ohio County Trains

“You could hear the trains on the Illinois Central track when they went by. The Rosine hill was a real problem for the old steam engines. It was a long hill with the maximum incline allowed, at the top was a tunnel. When an engine started to spin its wheels going up the hill they would uncouple the last half of the train, take the front half to Horse Branch where they had a big siding. The engine would go back and get the remainder of the train and put it back together and go.

“If this happened at night you could hear the train running back and forth.  During that time, trains were the way of hauling most everything.  At Horse Branch there was a “Y” so the trains could change directions. This “Y” was also connected to tracks running to Owensboro.

“The railroad was the Illinois Central.  It ran from Fulton, KY to Louisville. There was
a spur at Horse Branch that ran to Owensboro,  KY.  Trains were the main form of transportation then.  My mother used to catch the train in the morning at Rosine and go to the High School at Horse Branch and back to Rosine in the afternoon.

Billy Morris: Recollections about Mining

“My grandfather worked in the mines at McHenry. They lived in the housing you mentioned and shopped at the company store. My mother was born there as were all the children. My grandmother Sadie Crowder died in 1918 with the flu that killed so many people. My grandfather quit the mines then and moved back to Rosine.

“I don't know much about the mines.  I know he had two scars on his head from slate falls.  I grew up at Renfrow and there were several what was called truck mines around. Farmers would find a small vein of coal and would work it during the winter to make extra money. Most of the people in the area got their winter coal from them. I went back in one when I was about 10 years old.  Had to crawl back as it wasn't over 24 to 30 inches high.  Once was enough for me.

~.~

“I wish I could have taped some of the conversations with my grandfathers. But when I was a kid they did not exist, and if they did, we would not have had one. Didn't get a radio until about 1939.  It belonged to my grandfather Morris and we were not allowed to listen to anything but 1/2 hour news at night.”

I hope you enjoy retirement as much as I have.

Billy


Wednesday, January 7, 2015

JAMES M. BARNETT

JAMES M. BARNETT, brother to John L. Barnett, was born in this county, October 6, 1854. At twenty years of age he commenced on his own account, entering the employ of Rhienhart & Co., tobacco dealers, at Owensboro, Ky., with whom he remained five years. He then engaged for himself in the same business in Grayson, and afterward in Daviess County, and in 1883 permanently located at Hartford, and established his present business. He has a thriving tobacco trade, and is successful in his line. Starting in life with no capital, his present financial standing is the result of his own unaided industry. March 10, 1884, he married Miss Alice Kimbley, of Hartford. She is a member of the Baptist Church. Mr. Barnett is a Cumberland Presbyterian and a stanch Republican.


Source: J. H. BATTLE, W H. PERRIN, & G. C. KNIFFIN 1895

Sunday, January 4, 2015

JOHN L. BARNETT

JOHN L. BARNETT is the eldest son of David L. and Sallie A. (Baird) Barnett and was born July 8, 1850, in this county. David L. Barnett, who was also born in Ohio County, was a farmer and tobacco dealer, and for several years government storekeeper at Owensboro, Ky. He and wife were members of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. He died at Owensboro, March 16, 1883, and his wife died January 9, 1879. They had nine children, seven living: Rebecca O., now Mrs. J. W. Marks, of Louisville, Ky.; Sallie M., now Mrs. Amos Shown, of Ohio County; John L.; Felix B., on the home place; James M.; Clarence M., now in Louisville; and Jennie A.  John L., being the eldest son greatly assisted his father in the support of the family, which prevented him receiving a thorough school training, but by study and a few terms at school, he gleaned a practical education. At twenty-one years of age he began life for himself in the tobacco business, buying in this and other localities, as agent, until 1881, when he opened a tobacco establishment of his own, and is doing an extensive business. He was married November 12, 1874, to Miss Pauline Barnett of this county. They have two children — Luther C. and Zana. Mrs. Barnett is a member of the Methodist Church.


Source: J. H. BATTLE, W H. PERRIN, & G. C. KNIFFIN 1895

Thursday, January 1, 2015

MRS. AMANDA PHIPPS BARNETT

MRS. AMANDA PHIPPS BARNETT was born April 5, 1830, in Ohio County, and
is a daughter of Elijah and Harriet (Robertson) Phipps. She was liberally educated at Hartford College, and May 24, 1850, married Robert Emmitt Barnett. His father, Robert Barnett, was county surveyor for thirty years; was a captain of State militia and participated in the war of 1812. His death occurred in 1865. His son inherited many of his traits of character, was a natural mathematician, thoroughly educated, and was for many years county surveyor. He was a man of great influence and highly esteenjjed by all who knew him. His death occurred December 25, 1874. He left eleven children, as follows: Elijah, who was educated at the State University, Louisville, and is now county surveyor; Pauline, wife of John L. Barnett; Alexander, a graduate of Hartford,, now farming; Nestor, a graduate of Louisville Medical College, now practicing; Junius, a graduate of Carmi College (I11.), now in New Mexico; Ledru R., teacher of vocal music; Victor, Andrew M., Robert J., Alzien and Uzal C., all in school. Mr. and Mrs. Barnett were members of the Methodist Church. They took deep interest in the education of their children.


Source: J. H. BATTLE, W H. PERRIN, & G. C. KNIFFIN 1895