Reverend Benjamin Fulton Jenkins

The following article was submitted by Janice Cox Brown, of Tyler, Texas, 2^nd great-grand niece of Reverend Benjamin Fulton Jenkins. 

Reverend Benjamin Fulton Jenkins

March 22, 1842 – May 5, 1932

of

 Meade, Ohio and Daviess Counties, Kentucky

Benjamin Fulton Jenkins was the fourth child and youngest son of Benjamin Shacklett Jenkins and Elizabeth Tichenor Humphrey.  His paternal grandparents, John S. Jenkins and Sarah Quick Shacklett, (formerly of George’s Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania), were early Kentucky settlers before 1800 in Meade County (then Hardin County).  His maternal grandparents were Abijah Humphrey and Catherine Emerson of Burkesville, Cumberland County, Kentucky.

Ben Jenkins was born in early spring, March 22, 1842, near Doe Run in the rolling hills of farmland in Meade County. Benjamin’s brothers and sisters, all born Meade County, were Catherine Ann “Kitty” Jenkins, born February 1831; John H. Jenkins, born August 14, 1833; and Sarah Jane “Sallie” Jenkins, born June 3, 1836.  .  “Kitty Ann,” as she was called by the family, was married December 24, 1848, to Thomas Smith, a next door neighbor.  He was a son of Thomas J. Smith and Eliza Grant.  Thomas and Kitty Ann (Jenkins) Smith were the grandparents of my grandmother, Eva Caroline Smith, who married Jasper Newton Cox, in September 1908 in Ohio County, Kentucky.  Thomas Smith became a brother-in-law to Benjamin Fulton Jenkins, and both became members of the Cromwell Home Guard. 

            About 1855, when Benjamin Fulton was between twelve and thirteen years old, his parents moved from Meade to Ohio County, Kentucky, where he was raised to manhood on his father’s farm.  In between crops, Ben attended the county schools when he could and acquired a fairly good common education.  In the Ohio County, Kentucky 1860 Federal population census the Jenkins family is listed as living in the Cromwell District. At some point in his youth, Ben F. Jenkins became interested in wagon making.  In Meade County, they had lived not too far away from George P. Paul, a blacksmith.  When his father bought a farm in Ohio County about 1856, they lived near another blacksmith, Wm. W. Angell, a carpenter, D. C. Mitchell, and William Valentine, a wagon maker.  While still in his teens, Benjamin Fulton Jenkins, called “Fult” by his family, was a strong, healthy boy and was always a tinkerer.  In the 1860 census when he was eighteen, he reported his occupation as “wagon maker.”

            Even though Kentucky declared neutrality in the fast-approaching civil war, men and boys living near Cromwell, a small village on Green River in Ohio County, put down their plows and picked up guns to defend their homes.  The Cromwell Home Guards were organized in June 1861. Ben, then nineteen, and his brother, John, twenty-eight, joined up along with many of their friends, including his brother-in-law, Thomas Smith, and friends and neighbors, Leonard Thomas Cox and his father, Thomas Jefferson Cox.  As members of the Guard, they were anxious to help protect their own family members and their homes.

Later, probably thinking they would find adventure and excitement, the two young men, Ben and Leonard, were recruited and volunteered for enlistment in Company D (that later became Company H).  Their company became a part of McHenry’s regiment, designated as the 17^th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, organized at Hartford and Calhoun, Kentucky, under command of Colonel John Hardin McHenry, Jr.  The two young friends, Benjamin F. Jenkins and Leonard T. Cox, were part of the brand new soldiers who, in December 1861, were formally organized and mustered into the service of the United States for a three year enlistment. 

During the war-torn years, the 17^th Kentucky Regiment participated in the six major battles of Donelson, Corinth, Chickamauga, Shiloh, Atlanta and Missionary Ridge, along with many other smaller battles, assaults and sieges. When it was mustered out of service at Louisville, Kentucky on January 23, 1865, the regiment had lost a total of 298 men during service, with 7 officers and 128 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, and 5 officers and 158 enlisted men who died of disease. Benjamin Fulton Jenkins and his friend, Leonard Thomas Cox, both of Cromwell, must have considered themselves lucky to have survived the war and be returned home to their families.

Being from a religious and Godly family, Benjamin had joined the Baptist church when he was young, and about four months after his return from the war in January 1865, he had already felt “called” to the ministry.   No doubt he was strongly influenced from all he had endured upon the battlefield, where he saw so many sick and wounded soldiers being nursed.  Benjamin Fulton Jenkins was ordained in April 1865 by Alfred Warder Taylor and immediately took up his work in the ministry under the direction of the Gasper River Association of the United Baptist Church.  He was said to “have a strong physical development, a well balanced mind, and he became an accurate and logical reasoner, a clear and forcible speaker, and an eminently successful pastor, recognized for his knowledge of the Bible.”

Eventually, Ben Jenkins bought and managed a well-watered and timbered farm of 113 acres near Beda, about three and one-half miles from Cromwell, where he lived for about twenty-one years.  He was up at dawn, farming five days a week until dusk, and preaching on the weekends, where he held or assisted other preachers in holding large revivals, called, in that day and age, “protracted meetings.”  All day meetings and dinners on the ground were held in the summertime.  He traveled by horse or buggy and sometimes on foot to preach at his churches, performed weddings, and performed hundreds of Baptisms in ponds and creeks. 

            A little over three years after his return from the Civil War when he was twenty-six, Benjamin chose for his bride, Elizabeth Iler Arnold, nineteen, the daughter of John H. Arnold and Altha Jane Iler.  The young couple married July 5, 1868, and had six children: Susan E., John A., Altha C., Laura D., Benjamin Franklin, and Broadus Smith Jenkins.

            In the 1870 census Ben Fulton Jenkins was found living at Cromwell, (listed as Benj. F. Jackson) and listed in the household was Benj. F., age 28, wagon maker, and his wife, listed as Eliza J., age 21; and their little daughter, Eliza S. age 1; also living in their home were both of his parents: Benj. S. Jenkins, age 67 and his wife, Eliza T.

Ben and Elizabeth Jenkins had been married fourteen years when their last child was born, but the happy event turned sad when Elizabeth died from complications of the birth.  She was only thirty-three when she passed away on October 17, 1882, at her home in Cromwell, one day after giving birth to Broadus Smith Jenkins.  “Bettie” as she was known was buried at the Arnold Cemetery, not far from Bald Knob Church. 

My grandmother told me that when Elizabeth died, Benjamin's sister, Kitty Ann (Jenkins) Smith took the baby and cared for him until he was almost two years old, when Benjamin married for a second time.

            Sometime after 1883, Ben moved his children to Habit, in Daviess County.  Benjamin Fulton Jenkins, sixty-one, and Nancy Emmaline Miller, twenty-seven, born Ohio County, married in Daviess County, Kentucky on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1884.  Nancy, called “Emma,” was the daughter of James C. Miller and Frances Y. Haynes, who moved to Daviess County in January 1871. 

Emma became the step-mother to Ben’s six motherless children, ranging in age from Susan, 16; John, 13; Altha, 11; Laura, 8; Benjamin, 6; and Broadus, 2.  Ben and Emma’s union produced four children of their own:  James C. M. “Miller,” Emerson Haynes, Josiah Clint “Joe,” and an infant, who was born and died on the same day.   

Emma and her husband had been married thirty-six years when she died on May 31, 1920 at her home in Owensboro, Daviess County.  She was sixty-three at the time and left her husband and one son, called Joe Clint, age fifteen, and two grown stepsons, Benjamin Franklin and Broadus Smith.  She was buried in Elmwood Cemetery, Daviess County.  Her obituary was published in the Owensboro Messenger newspaper, Tuesday, June 1, 1920:

"Mrs. Emmaline Jenkins"

Mrs. Emmaline Jenkins, wife of Rev. B. F. Jenkins, died at her

home, 604 Lewis street at 3:55 o'clock.  Mrs. Jenkins is survived by her husband and three sons, Frank, Smith, and Joe Clint Jenkins.

Rev. Sam P. Martin, assisted by Baptist preachers of the Daviess County Association, will conduct the services from the Third Baptist church, at 3 o'clock this afternoon.  Baptist preachers are requested to attend in a body.

The pallbearers will be Prof. A. Powell, H. M. Talbot, E. O. Miller, George Milliken, S. B. Lee and J. W. Cottrell, with interment in Elmwood Cemetery."

            My grandmother said her grandmother’s brother, “Uncle Fult” as he was called by the family, was really smart.  On the day of my visit, she went to her big trunk and took out a yellowed “tract” of three poems B. F. Jenkins had written about the Civil War.  I had photocopies made.  Grandmother had written on front of the “tract” “My great uncle wrote these poems.  My grandmother Smith’s brother.  Mother.” 

            I quote these poems below, written by the old soldier many years after the Civil War had long been ended.  He must have given the war much thought throughout his lifetime as he recalled his service and the difficulty of getting used to the rigors and demands of army life. 

“LIBERTY BELL”

                                    Ring on, old bell; we still hear thy chimes

                                      Thy  music to  us  is still  sublime

                                    With wondr’s vibrations the world shall hear,

                                      American  freedom  loud  and  clear.

                                    Thy notes of freedom hath no bound –

                                      Their effects are felt the world around;

                                    Freedom to think and freedom to act,

                                      In science and genius has made its track.

                                   

                                    The wondrous advancements of this age

                                      Are only the announcements of another page

                                    (this line, on fold is illegible)

                                      As tyranny is smitten by thy Liberty peals.

                                    Ring on, old bell, thy glorious note;

                                      O’er land and sea may freedom float,

                                    The bondage and tyranny shall lose its power,

                                      And kings shall quail and monarchs shall cower.

                                    The soul, the genius, the mind set free,

                                      Has marked this age of Liberty

                                    With wondrous strides of inventive skill

                                      Like improvements made on the mortar mill.

                                    The reaper takes the sickle’s place,

                                      The whip-saw is lost in the hand-saw race,

                                    The oar, and paddle, and even the sail,

                                      Before the steam engine on the waters quail.

                                    The old great lamp that hung on the jam,

                                    By the electric light has received a slam

                                      These items are enough for the reader to see,

                                    What the bell rang out, Man Shall Be Free! 

“WHAT CAUSED THE WAR?”

                                    What caused the war, did the boys in gray?

                                      Not they, not they.

                                    What caused the war, did the boys in blue?

                                      Not true, not true.

                                    What part, then, did they play,

                                      The boys in blue, the boys in gray?

                                    They were the arbiters of national strife

                                      That was here in the beginning of the

                                      Government’s life.

                                    Two systems of labor do not agree,

                                      One slave, the other free

                                    The labor system of every land

                                      Must have its laws on which to stand.

                                    Two systems of labor in one domain

                                      Causes strife to the legislative game.

                                    The law making powers can never agree

                                      While one part is slave and the other free—

                                    On tariff and taxes one public domain,

                                      One suffers loss, the other gains.

                                    The best men that lived tried to adjust,

                                      For Congress was forever in a big fuss,

                                    Trying to fix what never could be,

                                      With one part slave and the other free.

                                    If free labor and slave had neither been sin

                                      Lawmakers would have had the same trouble within.

                                    Hence it was left to sword and blood

                                      To settle what congress never could.

                                    As we were the arbiters of that day,

                                      Lay a flower at the grave of the blue and the gray,

                                    And think not to say that we caused the strife,

                                      That cost so many a noble life.

“THE BLUE AND THE GRAY”

                                    This solemn tread will soon be o’er

                                      This day heaps honors on heroes dead;

                                    And you and I will be no more,

                                      Yet, resting on the same cold bed.

                                    Around our graves, then, who will march

                                      To pay tribute to the fallen brave,

                                    And bear the colors of this arch,

                                      And wave them o’er our silent grave?

                                    They will lack the experience we have had,

                                      Of standing by mid battle’s storm,

                                    And looking on our fallen dead,

                                      Seeing fresh-spilled blood from manly form.

                                    Oh, if I had inventive skill,

                                      I would superceed artillery’s roar;

                                    I would spike each gun that dares to kill,

                                      And sheathe the sword from shore to shore.

                                   

 I would make one gun of the blood war spin

                                      I would load it with the love they bore.

                                    And shoot it through the stubborn will

                                      Until carnal war is heard no more.

                                    Yes, I would make a gun so very large

                                      That all the world could hear,

                                    And load it, with LOVE the charge,

                                      And fire it in God’s fear.

                                    That unborn millions might possess

                                      The victory we have won.

                                    As around the graves we march to bless

                                      The Blue and the Gray as one.

                                    Yes, o’er my head in years to come

                                       When men do honor in the brave

                                    Let love’s soft thunders shake my home

                                       As o’er my grave the flag is waved.

                                    And still is love and peace unfurled,

                                      ‘Till the seven last thunders shake the world,

                                    Then from the grave the good will rise;

                                      Then Comrades meet beyond the skies.

Probably one of the fullest accounts of the life of Benjamin Fulton Jenkins was written by Wendell H. Rone (1884-1943) and can be found in “A History of the Daviess-McLean Baptist Association.”

Reverend Benjamin Fulton Jenkins

“No minister has been more universally loved and respected in the history of this Association than Elder B. F. Jenkins.  Our subject was born of humble and Godly parentage in Meade County, Kentucky, on March 22, 1842, and was the youngest child of four born to B. S. and his wife, Elizabeth Humphrey Jenkins.  His grandfather was John S. Jenkins, who emigrated to Glasgow, Kentucky, about 1790, where he remained but a short time when he moved to Daviess County; and from thence to Meade County, where he reared a large family of nine children, of whom B. S., the father of our subject, was the sixth.

Brother Jenkins’ early educational advantages were limited to a great extent, but, by diligent study, together with a strong physical development and a well balanced mind, he became an accurate reasoner, a clear and forceful speaker, and an eminently successful pastor.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, Brother Jenkins enlisted in the Union Army, serving in Company D., Seventeenth Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, where he followed the fortunes of the Army of the Cumberland through all its famous battles of Missionary Ridge, Chickamauga, and Atlanta, doing his duty bravely for three years and four months.

It was during his services in the Army that he felt called to preach the Gospel.  He had previously professed faith in Christ and had been baptized into the fellowship of a Baptist Church by Elder Alfred Taylor while a small boy.  One of the gifts he took with him to the war was a small Bible, which he kept with him at all times, and from which he read continuously, when occasion permitted.

Having returned safely from the War, we find him ordained in the Gospel Ministry on the Third Sunday in April 1865, at the Green River Baptist Church, near Cromwell, Ohio County, Kentucky.  Elders Alfred Taylor, J. S. Coleman and J. F. Austin served as presbytery.  This began an active ministry, which was to last for fifty-eight years.  In that time he served a total of forty-four churches, most of them within the Green River section. 

He also held a total of 298 protracted meetings, and as one of the tangible results of these meetings, over 8,000 persons were converted and baptized into the fellowship of Baptist Churches.  Many of these he baptized with his own hands, while others were baptized by the pastors whom he assisted in the meetings.

Among the large number of converts at these meetings were forty-four young men who later became ministers of the Gospel, twenty-six of whom he baptized himself.  Many of these became prominent pastors.  Among them may be mentioned M. W. Whitson, J. N. Jarnagin, and Granville Dockery.

Brother Jenkins was the author of three tracts during his ministry – “Meat and Milk of the Gospel,”  “What Causes Panics?” and “Baptist Axioms.”  The last mentioned tract had a circulation of over 14,000 and was commented on very favorably by the brethren and the Baptist Press.  It is so outstanding that the author has included it in this history.

On July 5, 1868, Brother Jenkins married Miss Elizabeth I. Arnold of Ohio County, Kentucky.  Six children were born to this union:  Susan E., John A., Altha C., Laura A., Benjamin, and Broadus Smith.   The first Mrs. Jenkins died in October 1882, the day after the birth of her youngest child, and Brother Jenkins married Miss Emma Miller, the eldest daughter of J. C. and Frances Miller, on December 24, 1884.  Four children were born to this second marriage, but only one survives.  The second Mrs. Jenkins died in 1920.

Our Brother served the following pastorates in this Association during his active ministry:  Bell’s Run, 1885-1890, 1893-1899; Buck Creek, 1885-1891; Island, 1888; Mt. Carmel, 1888-1899; Livermore 1889; Calhoun, 1892-1893; Glenville, 1892-1895; Bethel, 1896-1900;  Stanley, 1897; Beaver Dam, 1898-1900; Red Hill, 1899-1900; Mt. Liberty, 1901-1904; Concord, 1901; Bethlehem, 1903-1904; New Hope, 1906-1907; Richland, 1908; Hopewell, 1915-1917; and Hall Street in Owensboro, 1917-1918.  The last named pastorate was entered into on the day he was seventy-five years of age.

Besides the above-mentioned pastorates, we note that Brother Jenkins also held several pastorates in Ohio, Butler, Hancock, and Muhlenberg Counties.  He served as Missionary for the Gasper River Association from 1867 to 1870.  He preached the Annual Sermon before the Daviess County Association in 1891 and served as Moderator in 1909 and 1910.

Near the year 1923 he left the state and moved to Missouri to live with his son, B. Smith Jenkins.  Even in his advanced years, he continued to faithfully witness for Christ and led many souls into a walk with Him.  He died at the home of his son in Springfield, Missouri, on May 5, 1932.  His remains were brought back to his native state and laid to rest in the Elmwood Cemetery in Owensboro.

For many years Brother Jenkins lived near Cromwell in Ohio County.  Still later in life he made his home on a small farm near Habit, in Daviess County.  From that time on until his removal to Missouri, his home was on Lewis Street in Owensboro.  For many years the Pleasant sight of Brother Jenkins in his stove-pipe hat and frock-tail coat greeted the eyes of the brethren in the Association.  He reached the advanced age of ninety and gently fell asleep.”

Obituary from "The Ohio County News" - Friday, May 13, 1932:

" AGED MINISTER'S FUNERAL HELD SUNDAY”

..~.~..

Rev. B. F. Jenkins Had Baptized 7,500 in 55 Years as Pastor

..~.~..

        Funeral services for Rev. Benjamin Fulton Jenkins were conducted at the

        Third Street Baptist church in Owensboro, Sunday afternoon at 3 o'clock,

        and included brief talks by Rev. C. G. Cagle, Rev. Norris Lashbrook,

        Rev. J. J. Willet, Rev. Sam Coakley, Dr. O. C. Robertson and others.

        Interment was in Elmwood cemetery beside his last wife.  His death

       occurred in Springfield, Missouri, Thursday, May 5.  His age was 90 years,

       2 months and 13 days.

       Rev. Jenkins was born March 22, 1843 in Meade county and moved to

       Cromwell at the age of 12 years.  When the call came in 1861 he enlisted in

       Co. K 17th Kentucky Infantry serving his country as a soldier 3 years, 3

       months and 17 days and engaging in some of the fiercest conflicts, of the

       war between the states.

      Just after the war he was ordained as a Baptist minister and remained active

      until the age of 78, serving as pastor of 44 churches within a period of 55

      years. He assisted in 294 revivals and baptized 7,500 converts.  He ordained

      44 young men into the ministry, 26 of them having been immersed by him.

      Much of this service was in Ohio county, where he is remembered by most

      of the older citizens.

      In 1867 he was married to Elizabeth I. Arnold, whose death occurred

      October 17, 1882.  Six children were born to this union.  Sue, John, Altha,

      Laura, Frank and Smith.  Only the two last named survive.  Frank resides

      at Memphis, Tennessee and Smith at Springfield, Missouri.

     On December 24, 1884, he was married to Nancy Emmaline Miller, who

     also preceded her husband to the grave.  Four children were born to this

     marriage.  All died in infancy except Joe C. Jenkins, who resides in

     Gainesville, Florida."

Thus ends the life of Benjamin F. Jenkins, an old soldier and an eminent preacher in Ohio and Daviess Counties and Western Kentucky, whose sermons and good preaching were long remembered by those who heard him. He advanced to the age of ninety, living a life of simplicity and devotion, faithful to his Lord until his death, May 5, 1932. 

His final wish to be buried in his beloved home state of Kentucky was granted.  He lies beside his second wife, Emmaline (Miller) Jenkins in Elmwood Cemetery at Owensboro, Kentucky.

1890 Map

This map was furnished by Billy Morris, a genealogist and a native of Ohio County. Billy's note to me read: 

"When you look at the map you will see a railroad running from Horse Branch, Renfrow, Baizetown and was suppose to go to Morgantown in Butler County. It was to follow Horse Branch creek south go through a tunnel then follow Sixes Creek to Green River bottoms then to Morgantown. The farm I grew up on had a ridge on it. The house was sitting on this ridge. Rain that fell on the north side went to Horse Branch Creek, on the south it went to Sixes Creek. The tunnel was suppose to be built on that farm.My great aunt, Octavia Morris Hoskins, wanted to put in a restaurant and rooming house where it crossed the Rosine to Morgantown road. I was told there was lots of excitement about the railroad but it was never built."

Note that the town of Westerfield, as shown on the map, is now called Bell's Run.

Sam Hightower

From The Hartford Herald newspaper, June 7, 1893.

On Sunday, the 28th, Sam Hightower, section foreman on the new railroad from Owensboro to Horse Branch, while returning from Horse Branch to Olaton, where he lived, was thrown from his hand car, which ran over him, inflicting wounds from which he died the next morning at 2 o'clock. At the time he fell he was on the front part of the car working one of the levers and while thus engaged his feet slipped and he fell in front of the car while it was yet running at a fast speed, and the car ran over him. A physician was sent for and he was conveyed to his home, but never recovered from the shock. His remains were interred near Olaton.

Note:  I found a Sam Hightower listed in the 1880 census as age 7; he was living as a boarder with the Thomas Corbin family in Ohio County, so if this is the same person as the man described in the article, he would have been 20 years old when he died. 

Jasper Newton Cox - Coal Mining Experience

Jasper Newton Cox

Coal Mining Experience – Ohio Co. KY

After being discharged from the army in 1905, my grandfather, Jasper Newton Cox (1884-1974), returned home, where he got a job working at the Broadway Coal Mining Company at Simmons, Ohio County, Kentucky.  He was working there when he and my grandmother married, although he only worked in the mines a few months.  My grandmother, Eva Caroline Smith (1889-1988), daughter of James Thomas Smith and Sarah (Sanders), didn’t like for him to work in the mines because it was simply too dangerous.  The Hartford Herald and The Hartford Republican frequently reported mining accidents, which were all too common.

In 1907, the Broadway Coal Mining Company in Ohio County, Kentucky, where he worked, began operations that lasted until 1934, providing a livelihood for some 250 employees, who dug, loaded, and hauled tons of bituminous coal daily from its depths.  The daily capacity was about 1100 tons, from Vein Number 9, a seam of coal about four to five feet in thickness.  Coal seams were not called by names, but were given numbers as a form of identification.  The trade name for the Broadway Mine was the Lewis Creek Mine.

Every day, equipped with hard hats and carbide lights on their forehead, the miners descended a vertical shaft on a lift, about 40 to 50, maybe 60 feet or more, down to the bottom.  Underneath, in the miles of tunnels, they spent ten hours a day without seeing sunlight.  Once on the floor, they wound through a maze of shafts to begin the day’s work at the seam of coal where their shift had ended the day before.  Each night, using dynamite, the  shift’s miners blasted out the next day’s work.

Granddaddy said he went back many nights to blast out coal after finishing his day job and worked to make extra money.  The next morning the day shift miners, using picks, began digging out coal from seams formed more than 300 million years ago.  After it was dug, the coal was loaded in cars on rails.  Tons of coal were dug, loaded and hauled out daily from the depths of the mine.  It was dirty, grueling work.  At the end of the day’s shift, every man emerged to the surface, bone-tired and covered thick with dust “as black as coal.”

My grandfather told me:

      "In the coal mines, I ran a machine to cut boards. Worked eight hours a day

       and went back lots of nights and worked extra, blasting out the next day's work

       so loaders could work the next morning taking coal out. When the coal mines

       went on strike, I went to farming on Ben Amos' farm. Raised mostly corn and

       tobacco.  I did that for two or three years and then went back to the mines."

The second time he worked in the mines about two years later was at the McHenry Mines for nearly three years, more or less, during a period from about 1911 to 1914.

One morning when I was visiting my grandparents and my grandfather was telling me about his life, Grandmother had come out on the screened-in back porch and sat down in her rocking chair and was listening to what Granddaddy was telling me.  When he said he went to work in the coal mines after they were married, she said:  

“He only worked in the coal mines for about three months, as I didn’t like for him to work in there.  It was too dangerous.”

At this point, it reminded Grandmother about a real incident that happened in the coal mines to her.  She described how she and my daddy (as a young child) went down in the mines with my grandfather once, and she told this story:

“One time your daddy and I went down into the coal mines with him at night when they were to blast out a section so there would be coal to dig out for the next day’s work.  We wore carbide lights on our foreheads.  When the blast went off with a huge and deafening noise, we stood behind one of the coal pillars.  And after it was over, we were all covered with coal dust and were black as could be.  And I had worn my new red dress.” 

Grandmother laughed at her remembrance, and continued:

“I had to give all of us a bath in a zinc tub, and it took lots of scrubbing to get clean.”  

The large pillars of coal, that she mentioned, were left to support the rock between the mine’s roof and the surface.  There were times when coal pillars were removed that it caused the ground to collapse.

~.~

As mentioned, it didn’t take long for my grandmother to realize that she didn’t want her husband to be a coal miner. And she didn’t like being a coal miner’s wife.   Her husband’s work was much too hazardous.  Every morning she handed him his lunch bucket as he started to leave and said a prayer to herself that he would return home safe and sound at the end of the day. 

The family was listed in the 1910 census living near Rosine: Jasper N. Cox, age 24; wife, Eva, 21; and one child, Gilbert O. Cox, age 1.  Living next door to them was John Henry Stewart and his wife, Susannah Miranda (Cox); sons, Roy T.(hompson), 17; Warren C., 15; and Ethel C, age 13.  Susannah was my grandfather’s oldest sister.  

When he left the coal mines after they went on strike, Granddaddy bought a little farm

near Cromwell from his brother-in-law, John Henry Stewart, and went to farming.  My grandparents were living on their new farm when their first daughter Eula Mae was born in April 1912.  (Two more daughters were born in Texas after 1922.)  He was working over in his corn field, shocking corn with a neighbor, when the horse kicked their three-year old son (my father) in the head down at the barn lot.  (But that’s another story.)

~.~

Granddaddy said there was no money in farming.  Farmers are at the complete mercy of the weather and perhaps the seasons had not been kind to farmers in the area that year.  So when Auntie and Uncle, (Lizzie and Everett Sandefur), came home for a visit, they talked my grandparents into moving to Louisiana.  Her sister begged my grandfather to come live with them in Edgerly, so that he could get a job in the oil field, where a lot of activity was going on at the time.

Grandmother sold all her things at auction in preparation for their move.  They had handbills printed about the auction – date and place – and grandmother and her sister went in the buggy and tacked the handbills up on trees to advertise their auction. It turned out great, she said.  On some things they received more money than what they had paid for them originally, such as her dining room table, which she said was a really nice one. 

They left Kentucky for Louisiana by train from Beaver Dam in October 1915.  In about 1919, they moved to Texas.

Courting Days and Marriage

After an absence of about five years while he served in the army, my grandmother saw Newton Cox, as he was called by family and friends, for the first time after he came to join several friends and young people at her home in about 1907.  My grandfather had brought her a rose, which she later pinned on his coat.  She was eighteen and he was twenty-three.  He had come “calling” out to her home near Select and she said she had

no idea of going with him, but, she said, “I pinned the rose on his coat.”  And that very night he asked to start courting. 

In a taped oral interview with family around the table, she told me about her first time to go on a date with my grandfather. 

“We went to Bald Knob Church.  And then I thought, well, I wasn’t going to go with him at all.  But then he asked for a date the next day, and I went with him the next day to Mt. Pleasant.  (Laughter.)  But really, I didn’t have any intention of going with him.  But we just kept on, and the second date was better.” 

When I asked how they met each other and about their courting days, Grandmother told this:

“We were raised in the same community, being neighbors, and we attended the Select School together.  The first date we ever had was to

go to church.  Daddy did not have his own buggy and always hired one to go courting in.  I always thought he tried to pick the wildest horse he could get at the livery stable.”  

(My grandmother called my grandfather “Daddy” and he called her “Mama” because that’s what they got used to saying to each other when their children were small.)

Thus began a courtship that lasted about a year.

At this point in my interview, I asked Granddaddy to tell me about his marriage.

“Well, after I asked her to marry me, I went to our Baptist preacher by the name of Preacher Gordon and asked him to marry us at a certain hour of the day.  The preacher told me he was sorry but that he had already promised to marry somebody else at that particular hour.  Preacher Gordon said, “Could you wait until another time so I could have time to marry both couples that day?”  Granddaddy said he told him:  “No, I can’t change the hour, but I can change preachers.”  And I did, and so Pendleton Taylor, another Baptist preacher, married us.  We had a home wedding at her house with just family and friends there.”

"Aunt Pru, my step-mother, (formerly Prudence Taylor) prepared a wedding supper for us and we spent the night at my father's house after we were married, before going to the mines the next day.”  (His father was James William Cox.)

They set up housekeeping in one of the company houses that were rented to the miners and their families, and they traded at the company store.  The pay scale was a little above average, but hardly enough to live on by the time they paid their bills at the company store.  Goods at the company store were marked up higher and workers had very little choice but to trade there. 

My beloved grandparents were married on Sunday, September 6, 1908 and had been married sixty-six years when my grandfather passed away in his sleep at home in September 1974. My grandmother died at Tyler on December 4, 1988.

Jasper Newton and Eva Caroline (Smith) Cox

Photo from Golden Wedding Anniversary

September 6, 1958

                                                                              ~.~

Ohio County Coal Mining Facts

In an internet article about Kentucky Coal Heritage, concerning coal camps and communities, Ohio County was listed with mines at Aetnaville, Beaver Dam, Center- town, Coffman, Deanefield, Echols, McHenry, Prentis, Render, Reynolds, Rockport, Simmons, Taylor Mines and Whitesville.  For the period of this report, 14 communities represented 27 different coal companies, spanning operations for 49 years from 1903 through 1952.

Between the years of 1903 through 1952, 27 mines operated in various sections of Ohio County in various years, although mining had been going on prior to the turn of the century.  Four companies began operations in the county in 1903: Deanefield Coal Company at Aetnaville; Taylor Coal Company at Beaver Dam; Central Coal and Iron Company at Render; and Taylor Coal Company at Taylor Mines. Williams Coal Company at McHenry began operating in 1904; Green River MM&T Company at Coffman began in 1905 and closed in 1906. 

McHenry Coal Company at McHenry, where my grandfather worked for about two or three years, operated from 1905 through 1921.  Greenriver Coal Mining Company at Coffman began and ended their operations in 1907 under that name;  Broadway Coal Mining Company at Simmons, south of McHenry, also began operations in 1907 that lasted through 1934, a span of  27 years. 

Taylor Coal Company of Kentucky at Beaver Dam employed the largest number of miners/employees with 350 working there (1911-1915).  Next was Williams Coal Company at McHenry operating from 1904-1915 who employed 300 workers.  Two hundred and fifty employees worked at Beaver Dam Coal Company at Beaver Dam (1916-1937); 250 were reported as being employed at Beaver Dam Coal Company at McHenry (1916-1937), and at Simmons where my grandfather worked for a few months, the Broadway Coal Mining Company employed 250 workers (1907-1934).  The year 1952, the latest year of operation listed in this particular report, was for Central Coal Company at Render (1948-1952). 

In my research about coal mining, I found that the Western Coal Field Region included all of Butler, Daviess, Grayson, Hancock, Henderson, Hopkins, McLean, Muhlenhberg, Ohio, Union and Webster Counties, and parts of about seven other counties, although not all of the counties contained coal.

The most successful weapon of the miners to obtain safer working conditions and better wages was the strike.  A strike meant that all workers quit working and refused to return until their demands were met by company officials.  Business conditions also affected the miners’ paychecks, especially in summer months when the demand for coal decreased, so most miners were often unemployed for a period of weeks in the summer.

For the local Ohio County area, the job of the modern day coal miner has above average benefits, due to the risks involved. Mining continues to be a dangerous occupation.

Today, mines still operate in Ohio County, including strip mines, where coal is located less than a hundred feet or so deep.  Much coal information can be found on the internet about the Western Kentucky Coal Fields.

~.~

To learn more about coal mining history, a number of websites are available with information about the towns, the coal camps, working conditions, and Kentucky mine photos, as well as pictures of the miners.  Browse some of these websites at:

http://kycoal.homestead.com/KYCoalMiningHistory.html  (includes photographs)

http://www.coal/education.org/coalhistory/coaltowns/coalcamps/Ohio_county.html

http://www.ohiocountykentuckyhistory.blogspot.com/2012/07/coal-mining.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Coal_Fields.

                                                      ~  by Janice Cox Brown

oldest granddaughter of  Jasper Newton & Eva Cox Tyler, Texas – August 2012

               ~.~

The topographic maps below reflect the mining area at Simmons, where my grandfather first worked at the Broadway Coal Mining Company mines, and the area of Select and Cromwell, where my grandparents were born and lived in Ohio County, Kentucky.

HARRY S. TRUMAN’S CONNECTION TO OHIO COUNTY

HARRY S. TRUMAN’S CONNECTION TO OHIO COUNTY

            The following was abstracted from a family tree report prepared by ROLLAND TRUMAN Attorney-at-law 1206 Security Bldg. Long Beach, California originally dated 1942 and revised in1945. This report was found on the FamilySearch.org web site. The report is slightly confusing but it includes information regarding many people from Ohio County, KY that are related to President Truman. Part of this report was written before Harry S. Truman became President, so it might refer to him as Senator Truman. I have not changed the report other than to reorganize it so that it is a bit easier to read. There are a few errors in this report, such as referring to the Owensboro newspaper as being from Ohio County. I have not done any independent research on this subject.

            From reading the following it appears that the grandfather of Harry S. Truman was Anderson Shipp Truman; and that Anderson Shipp Truman had a brother named Milford Madison Truman, whose descendants lived in Ohio County, KY. The report follows:

HONORABLE HARRY S. TRUMAN

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

            HARRY S. TRUMAN was born May 8, 1884 in the town of Lamar, Barton County, Missouri. He married Elizabeth Wallace on June 18, 1919. They have one child, MARY MARGARET, who is a music student at George Washington University, Washington D. C. According to "This Man Truman" by Frank McNaughton and Walter Heymeyer, "born of humble circumstances—drugstore helper, then news boy, railroad hand, bank clerk, farmer, soldier, manager of a clothing store, county judge, Senator, Vice-President and finally President of the United States—his career is the prototype of the American man.'' He became United States Senator from Missouri in 1935 and gained inter­national prominence as leader of the Truman Investigating Committee which he headed beginning March 1, 1941. In November 1944, he was elected Vice-President of the United States. On November 17, 1944 we sent out congratu­lations and stated; "You have made the Truman’s mighty proud and when you become the President of the United States, there will simply be no living with us."

            On April 12, 1945, HARRY S. TRUMAN became the President of the United States of America.

            In this family tree, we cannot begin to set forth the wonderful way our beloved President has maintained his office in the few months he has been President. Current magazines, daily newspapers and many books are being written about his achievements.

            Our main purpose is to trace the TRUMAN ancestry and to tie in the family history with PRESIDENT TRUMAN, as we have received numerous letters, tele­grams and telephone calls requesting information.

            An article entitled "Truman's Kentucky Background" by Paul Nafe and Grace Clayton Banta, released through the Courier-Journal Roto Magazine, (Louisville, Kentucky) On June 3rd, 1945, and "Harry Truman's Missouri" appearing in Life Magazine, June 25, 1945, give information regarding his maternal ancestors as well as many historical facts and pictures.

1. WILLIAM TRUMAN

            WILLIAM TRUMAN, born January 15th, 1787, according to W. L. TRUMAN'S letter, was the third orphan boy in the group from England. He was a very handsome young man, about 5'8" in height, weight 145 pounds, and a fine conversationalist. We quote further from the letter by W. L. Truman: "He (WILLIAM) married MISS EMMA SHIPP near Versailles, Woodford County, Kentucky. She was a wealthy aristocrat, well educated. He settled eight miles north of Shelbyville and near the town of Christiansburg; bought 160 acres (231 acres according to a letter dated May 31^st, 1932 by W. S. TRUMAN of Pleasure­ville, Kentucky), and built a fine home for his wife and God gave them seven boys (eight is correct) and four girls.

            On October 3rd, 1945, we received a letter from KATHERINE TRUMAN COOPER of Paducah, Kentucky wherein she enclosed a copy of the Bible record of her grandfather (MILFORD MADISON TRUMAN). This is the first record we have seen which gives the parents of WILLIAM TRUMAN of Shelbyville, Kentucky, who fought in the War of 1812. Here is the valuable information:

"WILLIAM TRUMAN (II), son of WILLIAM (I), and NANCY TRUMAN, and father of MILFORD MADISON TRUMAN, was born January 15, 1787."

"EMMA GRANT SHIPP, wife of WILLIAM TRUMAN and daughter of RICHARD D. SHIPP(1747) and ELIZABETH DONIPHAN (1759) was born October 29, 1787."

"WILLIAM TRUMAN, and EMMA G. SHIPP, daughter of R. D. and ELIZABETH D. SHIPP, were married August 28, 1807."

"Children: RICHARD DONOPHAN" TRUMAN born March 3, 1812; EDMUND ARMSTEAD TRUMAN was born August 17, 1810; DELILA ANN TRUMAN was born March 1, 1814; ANDERSON SHIPP TRUMAN was born February 27, 1816; WILLIAM W. TRUMAN (III) was born January 28, 1818; MINERVA E. TRUMAN was born June 19, 1820; MILFORD MADISON TRUMAN was born April 1, 1822; WOODFORD C. TRUMAN was born March 20, 1824; ELIZABETH SOPHIA TRUMAN was born July 4, 1825; JOHN THOMAS TRUMAN was born March 1, 1829; MARY SHIPP TRUMAN was born March 2, 1832; SANFORD TRUMAN was born August 10, 1808, their eldest son who died at the age of two years."

2. ANDERSON SHIPP TRUMAN

ANDERSON SHIPP TRUMAN was one of twelve children born to WILLIAM TRUMAN and EMILY SHIPP TRUMAN of Shelby County, Kentucky. He was born February 27, 1816. He was married to Mary Jane Homes in Shelby County, Kentucky on August 13, 1846. They later moved to Jackson County, Missouri. Five children were born to this marriage, namely: MARGARET ELLEN, WILLIAM THOMAS, JOHN ANDERSON, EMILY and MARY MARTHA.

MARGARET ELLEN married JOSEPH TILFORD NOLAND. Their daughter is MARY ETHEL NOLAND of 216 North Delaware, Independence, Missouri.

WILLIAM THOMAS married HENRIETTA STRANG and their son is MAJOR GENERAL RALPH EMERSON TRUMAN of 5106 Garfield Avenue, Kansas City, 4, Missouri, who is now retired.

3. JOHN ANDERSON TRUMAN

JOHN ANDERSON TRUMAN married MARTHA ELLEN YOUNG of Grandview, Missouri. She is now 92 years old (1945). They have three children: HARRY S., JOHN VIVIAN and MARY JANE.

4. HARRY S. TRUMAN. The (initial) S. in the name of Harry S. Truman stands for both Shipp and Solomon, his own grandfather, and his wife's father's name. Senator Truman, according to "Who's Who in America", was born Mary 8, 1884, married Bee Wallace June 18, 1919, attended army school after being county judge in Missouri, was captain of Field Artillery, U. S. Army Corps in World War I; is Colonel in Field Artillery Reserve. In his official capacity he has been credited with the construction of $25,000,000 worth of highways and public buildings in Jackson County, Missouri.

2. MILFORD MADISON TRUMAN

Milford Truman had two sons, Laban Sebree Truman, who is the ancestor of the Truman’s of Columbus, Georgia, and John Gardner Truman.

3. LABAN SEBREE TRUMAN married Sallie Gray of Ohio County, Kentucky. He had three children, Everett Howard, Carline and Catherine Truman. Everett married Pearl Lillian Smith of Louisville, Kentucky; and she is now the President of the Truman and Smith Institute of Columbus, Georgia. Her name appears in American Women, Women of Achievement and the Inter­national Blue Book, the "Who's Who in the World." They had one child, Valerie Evelyn Truman of Columbus, Georgia. She graduated from the University of Georgia with a bachelor of arts degree and from Oglethorpe University with a master of arts degree. She is now the Registrar of the Truman and Smith Institute. She is the wife of Leslie Lloyd Wohlford, who came from Hampton, Iowa; and they have one child, Alice Jean Truman Wohlford. Little Alice, (ared one year two months 1944) on her father's side, is a direct descendant of Peter Stuyvesant, early colonial governor of New Amsterdam (now New York).

3. JOHN GARDNER TRUMAN

JOHN GARDNER was born November 22, 1849 at ______. He married SARAH ANNIE JONES on October 9, 1875 at Ohio County, Kentucky. She was born October 12, 1857 at _____________. (Her sister is NORA ACKER of Tryon, North Carolina who has twin daughters, ADA and IDA.) According to a letter dated January 21, 1945 from ADA ACKER JOHNSON of Campobello, South Carolina, the marriage license is recorded in the Ohio County, Kentucky Marriage Book "U", page 120.)

JOHN GARDNER TRUMAN and SARAH ANNIE JONES had twelve children:

FOSTER PENELTON TRUMAN

RAY TRUMAN

ROSCOE TRUMAN 

LUELLA MARIE TRUMAN

ARCHIBALD WILLIAM TRUMAN

ROY MASON TRUMAN

NORAH TRUMAN

MILFORD GARDNER TRUMAN (also known as Billy Norton)

EFFIE ANNA TRUMAN

CARL HUMPHREY TRUMAN

EARL TRUMAN

CHESTER ARNOLD TRUMAN

RAY was born August 12, 1878 and died February 5, 1879.

ROSCOE was born March 23, 1880 and died February 8, 1881.

NORAH was born October 12, 1889 and died August 14, 1890.

EARL was born a twin of CARL, born March 20, 1897 and died the same day as born.

Archibald William Truman, H.D., F. A. C. S., is a famous surgeon who is now head of the Glendale Sanitarium & Hospital at Glendale, California. He is a cousin of Senator Harry S. Truman and looks enough like the Senator to be his twin brother, except that Harry's forehead is higher.

JOHN GARDNER TRUMAN moved to Oklahoma, or Indian Territory, in the early Eighties. He visited in Kentucky only one time after leaving. That was in 1904. WILLIAM MADISON SMITH of Louisville, Kentucky, in his letter of January 3, 1945, states, "He gave us kids a very minute description of the opening of the Cherokee Strip in which he participated." "It compared favor­ably with Edna Ferber's screen play 'Cimarron' as portrayed by Richard Dix and Irene Dunn."

SARAH ANNIE died of cancer April 14, 1908 and is buried at Nunn, Colorado. We visited the grave with our folks on August 12, 1926. The cemetery is located in a desolate and lonely area.

JOHN GARDNER TRUMAN died August 24, 1931 at the age of 82 years and is buried at Inglewood Cemetery, Inglewood, California, near Los Angeles.

We are indebted to ADA ACKER JOHNSON of Campobello, South Carolina for information concerning the ancestors of SARAH ANNIE JONES. She has sent us copies of many historical documents in regard to this branch of the family, together with many prints of our ancestors.

SARAH ANNIE JONES TRUMAN was the daughter of MASON LONG JONES, born January 13, 1835 and died February 25, 1916 and MARY ELLEN COOPER, born January 6, 1835 and died November 10, 1880.

Other children of MASON LONG JONES and MARY ELLEN COOPER were:

WILLIAM JOSEPH JONES, born August 28, 1859; died May, 15, 1941.

CHARLES TIMOLEON JONES, born August 7, 1861; died July 24, 1917.

JACOB CARL JONES, born May 22, 1864; died June 12, 1915.

ELIJAH ROSCO JONES, born September 9, 1866.

LENORA CATHERINE JONES, born May 2, 1869.

EFFIE LILLIAN JONES-BALL, born June 8, 1873; died Apr. 20, 1936.

ARCHIE CLIFTON JONES, born Feb. 14, 1877; died September 24, 1926.

(Wife's child?) MYRTLE C. born Aug. 13, 1883.

JENNIE J. born June 21, 1853, died Dec. 11, 1912.

The above records were copied from MASON LONG JONES' Bible, now owned by ELIJAH R. JONES of Fordsville, Kentucky.

MASON LONG JONES was a son of WILLIAM SNELLING JONES, born March 7, 1801 and died August 6, 1853; and SUSANNAH CARTER JONES, born March 13, 1795, died March 27, 1854. Other children were:

MARY ANN JONES, born Aug. 11, 1821; died November 19, 1897. HENRY FRANCIS JONES, born September 16, 1823; died Sept. 6, 1832. ELIZABETH JONES, born March 22, 1826; died Feb. 18, 1893. WILLIAM WASHINGTON JONES, born Sept. 26, 1828. JAMES MCDOWELL JONES, born March 8, 1831; died May 13, 1862. RICHARD JONES, born November 1, 1833; died November 12, 1833.

The above records of names and births, including others not listed were copied from WILLIAM SHELLING JONES' Bible, now (1945), owned by Mrs. A. D. MORTON, Hardinsburg, Kentucky.

As already noted, the mother of SARAH ANNIE JONES was MARY ELLEN COOPER, who was a daughter of JOSEPH HENRY COOPER, born May 2, 1802 and died Oct. 19 1892; and SARAH McDANIEL, born August 9, 1805 and died June 13, 1880.

JOSEPH HENRY COOPER was a son of JACOB COOPER who died in 1805 in Chester County, South Carolina and served in the South Carolina Militia from 1780-1785. His mother was REBECCA McKINNEY, born June 15, 1760 in Virginia and died Nov. 2, 1838 in Breckinridge County, Kentucky. Her parents were JOHN McKINNEY AND ELIZABETH McDONALD.

The parents of JACOB COOPER were JACOB COOPER, who was granted a land grant April 6, 1753 at Anson County, North Carolina and who died about May 11, 1769 in Craven County, South Carolina, and MARY ________ .

            WILLIAM MADISON SMITH, Louisville, Kentucky states that "grand Dad (WILLIAM MADISON) was a high type citizen, a consecrated Christian, a Dea­con in the Baptist Church for years, and a Mason. He was also a Democrat. He was born in the East End of Ohio County, Kentucky, and for his charity and good-neighbor policy, was called "Uncle Milt". He was a total abstain­er from alcoholic drinks and never used tobacco in any form. When they celebrated their fiftieth anniversary in 1895, eight children were present, only JOHN GARDNER being absent."

            WILLIAM MADISON SMITH, in his letter of January 5th, 1945, informs us also that he is a bachelor, has been a clerk in the Louisville, Kentucky Post Office for 25 (35) years, and is a farmer on the side. He own most of the farm on which his Grand Dad, WILLIAM MADISON, resided after settling in Kentucky. He has traveled considerably throughout the United States, made a trip to Alaska and in 1939 he visited the Holy Land, France, Egypt, Smyrna, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and England, returning to the United States on Thursday before war was declared the following Sunday.

            The Owensboro Messenger, Ohio County, Kentucky in its Sunday issue of July 22, 1945, contains a featured Article by W. E. Daniel, with pictures, giving a detailed account of the Truman’s in that area:

            “MILFORD was one of twelve children of WILLIAM TRUMAN AND EMILY SHIPP TRUMAN of Shelby County, Kentucky. MILFORD TRUMAN was born on the 1st day of April, 1822 near Cropper and Bag­da, small villages in Shelby County, Kentucky and about 35 miles east of Louisville on the perimeter of the Bluegrass section.

In 1845 he married LOUCINDA NEVIL. Ancestors on both sides had originally migrated from Virginia. According to a letter dated January 3rd, 1945, from WILLIAM M. SMITH of Louisville, Kentucky, nine children, seven boys and two girls, were born to them. After the birth of the first two children, they moved to the vicinity of St. Joseph, Missouri to operate a farm for his married sister. While residing there, a third child was born. In the early 50's they moved to Fordsville, Ohio County, Kentucky and purchased a farm on which they lived until his death in 1901. His wife's death preceded his by about three years. Both were buried in the Fordsville Cemetery.

The children in the order in which they were born are as follows:

HUMPHREY D., Deceased. Buried at Canadian, Texas. He married ELIZABETH PHILLIPS. He performed the marriage ceremony for NORA JONES (sister of SARAH ANNIE JONES who married JOHN GARDNER TRUMAN) and HENRY ACKER, ac­cording to their daughter, ADA ACKER JOHNSON of Campobello, South Carolina.

JOHN GARDNER, Deceased, married ANNIE JONES.

RICHARD, Deceased. Buried in Yellow Creek Cemetery, a few miles from Owensboro, Kentucky. Married JOSEPHINE DAVIDSON.

THEORDORIC NEWTON, Deceased. Buried in a country cemetery near Fordsville, Kentucky. Married POLLYANA CROW.

WILLIAM CLAUDIUS, Deceased. Buried in Fordsville Cemetery. Married MARY ROBY.

MARY MARJORIE, Deceased. Buried in Fordsville Cemetery. Married JOHN H. SMITH March 19th, 1884. They lived to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. He died January 21st 1941. There were four children, namely:

            WILLIAM MADISON of Louisville, Ky. A sister and brother survive.

            ANNA ELIZA, now 81 years old (as of January 1945) lives at Van Zant,      Kentucky. Is very feeble. She married JOSEPH M. COOPER in January        1884. He is deceased.

            LABAN S., now 77 years old (Jan. 1945) married SALLY GRAY. Live on    his farm RFD #1, Narrows Kentucky. Wife still living.”

LABAN SEBREE TRUMAN

            LABAN SEBREE TRUMAN was born about 1868, at ________County, Kentucky. He married SALLY GRAY of Ohio County, Kentucky on _________ at ___________. They lived on his farm on RFD #1, Narrows, Kentucky, where his wife still lives (January 1945). They had three children: EVERETT HOWARD, CAROLINE and KATHERINE.

EVERETT HOWARD TRUMAN married PEARL LILLIAN SMITH OF Louisville, Kentucky in 1914. She is now president of the Truman & Smith Institute of Col­umbus, Georgia. Her name appears In American Women, Women of Achiev­ement and the International Blue Book, the "Who's Who in the World". She is a noted author and teacher and is known professionally as PEARL SMITH TRUMAN. They have one child, VALERIE EVELYN. She is graduated from the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Arts De­gree and Oglethorpe University with a Master of Arts degree. She is now the registrar of the Truman & Smith Institute. In 1942 she mar­ried LESLIE LLOYD WOHLFORD who came from Hampton, Iowa. They have one child, ALICE JEAN TRUMAN, born August 15, 1943 at Columbus, Georgia.

KATHERINE TRUMAN has taught school in Paducah, Kentucky and is married to D. T. COOPER, Principal of a Junior High School. Their address is Colonial H eights, Kentucky. She is presently working on the Truman History in connection with her branch of the family.

Update 9-26-2012

In the book Truman by David McCullough, copyright 1992, at page 409, there is a reference to a letter that President Harry Truman wrote to his family in Kansas; the President had traveled to Europe by ship to meet with Churchill and Stalin. In the letter President Truman wrote of meeting a seaman on board the ship named Lawrence Truman and stated, "He comes from Owensborough (sic), Ky., and is the great grandson of our grandfather's brother. He's a nice boy and has green eyes just like Margaret's."