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."

James Axley Stevens and Thomas Smith

The following information is from Janice Brown, an avid researcher and a friend of mine.

     James Axley Stevens, captured along with Thomas Smith on New Year's Day, 1862, survived the war and returned home to Ohio County.  Born in 1817, he was the son of Henry Stevens and Hannah Bennett, both of whom are said to have come to Ohio County, from Montgomery County, Maryland.

     The Stevens and Smith families appear to be closely connected and some of the families may have intermarried.  Almost five years later, on the 21st day of October, 1869, Thomas Smith's friend, James A. Stevens, gave an affidavit, along with several others, on behalf of and for the benefit of Kitty Ann, when she was trying to obtain a widow's pension.  In this affidavit, James declared and made oath:

      "that he and Thomas Smith were both members of Capt. William H. Porter's Company of Home Guards, and that on the 1st day of January, a squad of the company were guarding Borah's Ferry on Green River by order of Colonel McHenry of the 17th, who was then at Hartford, and the Rebels then held Bowling Green and the ferry way between those points, and that the squad was captured by the Rebels, and affiant and Smith were retained in custody until 15th Sept. 1862 when they were paroled and sent to Annapolis, Md. Smith was sick at the time they were paroled, and Thomas was sent to a hospital and died there of diahrrea (sic) which disease he caught while a captive."

      Kitty Ann (Jenkins) Smith, then age 32, was never to see her husband again. She was left with a small farm near Cromwell and the duty of raising their five young children, ranging in age from six months to eleven years.  She eventually obtained a widow's pension by a special Act of Congress.  It took a special Act because her husband was in the Home Guards, and not a soldier in the regular U. S. Army.  But, because the Home Guard militia had been ordered out by Col. John McHenry of the 17th Kentucky Regiment, Thomas Smith's duty at Borah's Ferry was considered to be active war service.  She was granted a pension of $8.00 per month as shown in the Special Act of Congress.

     Additional information about Thomas Smith: Thomas Smith begins in Meade County, Kentucky in 1849, where I first found documented record of Thomas' marriage to Catherine Ann "Kitty Ann" Jenkins.  They were married by George H. Hicks, M.G., on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1848.  Further documentation was found in the "consent" records wherein Benjamin Shacklett Jenkins, father of Kitty Ann, gave his consent to Mr. Fairleigh, the county clerk, requesting him to issue a license for his daughter to unite her in marriage to Thomas Smith.  Likewise, Thomas F. Smith, father of Thomas, Jr., gave consent for his son to be joined in matrimony with Kitty Ann Jenkins.  This was recorded in the Meade County, Kentucky Marriage Bonds Consent notes.  Both were required to have the consent of their parents because they were under age to marry.

      In the 1850 Meade County census records, Thomas Smith, age 19, farmer, born Kentucky, is listed with his wife, Catherine, also age 19, born Kentucky and their new baby, a son, six months old. They were listed in Household No. 382-383 in the Kentucky  District.  Living next door in No.381-382 was Kitty Ann's parents, Benjamin S. Jenkins and Elizabeth, and three of their younger children:  John, 17; Sarah, 14; Fulton, 8, and John Jenkins, 80, born Pennsylvania, father of Benjamin Shacklett Jenkins.

     Further, John James Leach was also captured and imprisoned and returned home as did  James Axley Stevens.  Janice tells the following story that was told to her by her great-aunt, Elizabeth "Lizzie" (Smith) Sandefur: "Auntie said that when the war was over, Thomas Smith was too sick to return home by foot, and the Leach friend went to get him in a wagon to take him to back home in, and before he could get back to the prison -- upon his return there -- he found that Thomas Smith had died two days before." 

     My grandmother went on to say that the men in the family took a wagon and went down to Green River to meet the boat when it was expected to come in, with the Ohio County men on it and to get Thomas Smith to take him home. Of course, they found out he was not on the boat because he had died. My grandmother said his wife, Kitty Ann (Jenkins) Smith had made him his favorite pie - a cherry pie, to welcome him home. Thomas Smith did not live to see his youngest son born." 

     John James Leach died May 12, 1892 at home near Cromwell at age 63.  He was a Mason and he is buried in the Williams family cemetery. 

Julius C. Jackson

Maybe the following will help some Jackson Family descendant:

Early Deeds of Pike County, Missouri: Book C:535; dated 10 June 1831, Christopher Jackson sold to Julius C. Jackson of Ohio County, Kentucky, for love and affection for his son, Julius C., land on Noise Creek, a branch of the Mississippi River.

Marguerite Leach Bohl

Telephone interview with Marguerite Leach Bohl conducted November 24, 2001.  Marguerite was born 23 Oct 1908 in Ohio County and died 1 April 2007 in Lubbock, Texas.

“My father was Clyde Leach and my mother was Sylvia May McCoy.  Father was born 29 Sep 1879 and died 9 Aug 1962.  Mother was born 1 May 1887 and died 2 Oct 1980.  My grandfather was Samuel William Leach and my grandmother was Finis Swain.  Grandfather and grandmother had 4 sons and no daughters: Oscar, Harney Leslie, Clyde and Chester.

Grandmother Leach (Finis) had a brother we called Uncle Sip who raised trotting horses.  I remember watching them race at the Ohio County Fair.  The horses pulled a sulky while racing.

When I was a child we lived near the Swain farm (Note: I am told the Swain Farm was in the Prentiss area; southeast of Shultztown; and is on the north bank of the Green River near Hudnall’s Landing).  My mother called Uncle Sip's wife "Aunt Willie," and I remember mother telling me to run over to Aunt Willie's home and borrow a cup of flour.  To get there I had to go through the field where Uncle Sip had his horses and they were very big and I was afraid of them.  My father, Clyde Leach, would keep the (racing) time for Uncle Sip with Uncle Sip's stopwatch.  After Uncle Sip died my father ended up with the stopwatch, possibly by inheritance, and I got it when father died.  I gave it to Otis Leach, who lived in Owensboro, and his son, Billy Leach, has it now.

I remember that Uncle Sip and Grandmother Leach (Finis) had a sister that we called Aunt Lydia, and that she married a Cooper and had two children, Juanita and Corbit.  Corbit was a Mason and was very good to Uncle Leslie Leach's (Harney Leslie Leach) widow, Ella, after Uncle Leslie died (Uncle Leslie was also a Mason).  I remember that Aunt Lydia lived west of Beaver Dam, near Centertown.

Uncle Sip had a daughter named Effie T. Swain that married Richard (Dick) Taylor.  They had two children, Ruby and Wilma, who were friends of mine.  I remember that Effie had a family Bible that had all of the Swain family information. (Note:  I see that Elida Quantrilla Swain married a Cooper, and this is probably the person they called Aunt Lydia, so I assume Marguerite is correct about Uncle Sip having a daughter named Effie that married a Cooper.  From another source I have an Effie T. Swain b. 3 Feb 1876 in Ohio County d. 5 Aug 1975 Ohio County, so Uncle Sip would have been 23 yrs old when Effie was born.)

I remember spending the night with Grandmother Leach (Finis) when I was quite young.  She cooked in the fireplace.  I slept upstairs in a little room.  She had a shawl that hung on a nail that she called a facinator. When Uncle Oscar Leach's wife died I was small and they held the wake at Grandmother Leach's house.”  (Note: There is a Leach family cemetery at the old Samuel William Leach farm, which is east of Beaver Dam about 5 miles, just north of the Green River Parkway on Bald Knob Road. I have visited that cemetery and I know that  Samuel William Leach is buried there, as well as several other members of that family.  Marguerite told me she had been to the cemetery many times.  She said it was near where Samuel and Finis lived.)