George Rogers Clark Floyd

My ancestor this week is another distant cousin, whose War of 1812 pension file was found and posted on Facebook, just like last week’s ancestor story was.  This ancestor from my Mom’s side of the family is George Rogers Clark Floyd who was born April 29, 1781 in Amherst County, Virginia.  George was the son of Col. John Floyd 1745-1783, and Sarah Jane Buchanan 1759-1812, and had two brothers and a half-sister from his father’s two marriages.  George’s brothers were William Preston Floyd, born August 1779-????, most records say he died without any children, and none mention a wife, so he may have died young, and John Floyd 1783-1837, married Letitia Preston, they had 12 children, and he was governor of Virginia from 1830 to 1834.  George’s half-sister was Mourning Burford Floyd 1769-1847, married John Charles Stewart, her mother was Matilda Burford.  George’s mother, Sarah Jane Buchanan, remarried in 1784 to Alexander Breckinridge, 1752-1801.  She had several children with him according to different online sources, but the www.findagrave.com says there were no known children from this union.  I have not followed any of the Breckinridge’s, so I don’t know much information about any of them at this time.

Living in the dark and bloody grounds of Kentucky, George would have had to grow up quickly, especially without a father around.  His baby brother, John who became governor, was born near present day Louisville, just two weeks after their father, John Floyd, was murdered by Shawnee Indians.  I don’t know if Sarah Jane and her sons went back to Virginia or if they stayed in Kentucky for a while, but either way George and his brothers would have grown up learning to shoot, hunt, and farm, to help in their survival in the wilderness.  I know they went back and forth between Kentucky and Virginia a number of times, and George’s brother, John, was the only native Kentuckian to serve as governor of Virginia.  Governor, John Floyd’s son John Buchanan Floyd, also served as governor of Virginia from 1849 to 1852.

The following portrait paintings are supposed to be of George (black & white) and his brother John (in color), who became governor of Virginia from 1830 to 1834, and are supposed to have been painted by Benjamin Trott in 1805 in Kentucky.   I found these pictures online on a number of different sites.  You can definitely tell they were related and painted by the same person.

Not sure how or when, but George met a young woman named Maria Maupin who had been born in Williamsburg, Virginia and they were soon married on September 21, 1806 in Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky.  They had a son the following year, who they named John Gabriel Floyd, who was born July 7, 1807.  There is no death date for Maria, but different online trees have her dying around the time that the baby was born, if was the same day or shortly after I have not been able to find out yet.  John Gabriel Floyd married Ann Elizabeth Hager and they had at least nine known children and he died in Keokuk, Lee County, Iowa on March 4, 1868.

In 1807, when George was serving as a Captain in the town militia in Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky he was recommended by William Clark for an appointment to be a Captain in the United States Army, on November 26, 1807.  Just a few months later, George entered the service of the United States Army, on May 3, 1808 as Captain of the 7th Infantry.   Sometime after his first wife’s death, he met Sarah T. ‘Sally’ Fontaine and they were married on April 16, 1810 in Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky.   The following page showing George and Sally’s marriage, was from Sally’s widow’s pension files.

George fought at The Battle of Tippecanoe on November 11, 1811 near present day Lafayette, Tippecanoe County, Indiana where he was second in command.  Affidavits given for and by his widow in her pension papers, say that George enjoyed excellent health until Tippecanoe, when afterwards, he was sickly with consumption until his death.

George and Sally’s first child, a daughter, named Georgianna Maupin Floyd was born in 1812 and died in 1832, according to cemetery records.  Georgianna had married William Byers Carroll on July 1, 1830 in Louisville and they had one child, a daughter, named Georgianna Floyd Carroll, born in 1831 and died in 1907 in Manhattan, New York.  William Byers Carroll died in 1837 of yellow fever, but I don’t know what caused Georgianna’s death, it could be she never recovered from the birth of her daughter.

George was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in the 4th Infantry on August 26, 1812 while serving in Louisiana.  However, George’s health had become so bad that on April 30, 1813 he resigned his commission to return home.  The pension record mentions that when George was on his way back from Natchez, Mississippi after resigning his commission that he took sick again by Nashville, and stayed with his uncle, Col. W. P. Anderson for several weeks before be able to resume his journey up to Louisville.  The record further states that George wanted his wife, Sally to come down to him to help in his recovery, but that she was unable to because of her own health and with an infant child she was unable to join him, so when he had recovered enough, his uncle brought him on up to Louisville.  I believe this child was their first child, Georgianna.

In part of the pension record it says something about George’s son from his first wife, and the children and grandchildren of Sally T. Floyd, but does not name any of them.   I know his son by his wife Maria was John Gabriel Floyd and his first known child by Sally was Georgianna.  I also know that George and Sally had a daughter named Jane Buchanan Floyd born in about 1822, married James Steptoe Penn on May, 21, 1840 in Louisville and they had three children, Lucy, Evelyn and George before Jane died around 1859 or early 1860 in Ponchatoula, Orleans Parish, Louisiana.   George and Sally may have also had two more daughters named Matilda Floyd, about 1816 and before 1858 and Evelyn Floyd, about 1819 and before 1858.  I cannot find anything out about these two girls and I found their names in different online family trees, but no sources were listed for either of them.  I have them both dying before 1858, because in part of Sally’s widow’s pension in 1858, it stated that she lived with her only living child, but again did not name the child.  I found Sally living with Jane and James Penn on the 1850 census in Jeffersonville, Clark County, Indiana so I know Jane was the only living child that Sally was talking about.  I also know that the Penn’s went down to Louisiana and that is where Sally was living in 1858 when she was writing for an update on her pension.

On November 1, 1850, Sally applied and received a 160 acre bounty land warrant for George’s military service during The Battle of Tippecanoe where he was second in command and for his time serving during the War of 1812.   She was living in Jeffersonville, Clark County, Indiana at the time she first applied.  Sally was listed on the pension rolls in Louisville, Kentucky on November 4, 1853 and on the rolls in Orleans Parish, Louisiana on November 4, 1858 but by September 7, 1861 this pension was being transferred back to Kentucky.   Sally stated the reason for her moving to Louisiana was the fact that her only living daughter had married and went with her husband to Louisiana and that she went with them.  Her reason for moving back to Kentucky from Louisiana, was because her daughter has since died, and she wanted to go back to her old home and live the rest of her days there among her old friends.  While in Louisiana she had lived in Orleans Parish in the town of Ponchatoula according to the pension papers.

I liked the following image from Sally’s pension file because it was a letter from Congress asking that she be granted her pension in 1851.

I have mentioned Sally and the widow’s pension she had filed for George’s service in the United States Army from the Battle of Tippecanoe to the War of 1812, but not when George died.  George did not live long enough to file for a pension himself.  The consumption and other ailments he contracted during his military service finally got the best of him and on June 5, 1823 at the age of 42, he died at their home near Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky.  The Floyd family had been fairly wealthy, but Sally states in the papers that after George resigned his commission, that he did not have a business mind, and did not do well with investments and so lost most of the Floyd money and that was why she needed to ask for a pension from his service in the army. 

George is buried at the Floyd-Breckinridge Cemetery in Plymouth Village, Jefferson County, Kentucky as are his father, mother and his daughter Georgianna, as well as his mother’s second husband Alexander Breckinridge.  From pictures on www.findagrave.com it looks like there maybe a number of unmarked graves, which are probably other family members of George, Sally and the Breckinridge’s.   So far I have not located a death date for George’s wife Sally, nor is she listed in the same cemetery as George.  From her widow’s pension file she was still alive on September 7, 1861 but there are no records after that time period, which I have been able to find to date.

At www.findagrave.com it gives the following directions to the cemetery.  Located on the old property of General, Robert Breckinridge, off Breckinridge Lane, on property of Mr. Osie Lentz in the year 1928.  Take Breckenridge Lane to Hillsboro.  Bear left onto Prince William Street.  You will be on the street that runs behind Jamestown Apartments.  Go up approximately 3/10 mile.  The second left is Jamestown Court.  The cemetery is at the end of the cul-de-sac, surrounded by a stone wall.  The following are pictures from www.findagrave.com.

So many men have served in our military throughout the history of this great country, many died on the battlefields, but many more died from the diseases they contracted during their military service, living days or years after the battles had been fought.  George Rogers Clark Floyd was one of many, but he is a relative I am proud to say I am related too.

To see all I have collected on this family and my other Floyd family members in my Floyd Family Tree online you can click on the following link: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=williamfloyd

Rebecca Melinda Henry

Well as always I am looking for an ancestor to write about for the week and they usually just pop right into my head rather suddenly, and I know, this is who I am supposed to write about this week.  That is exactly what happened again this time, but in a more dramatic way than usual.   This past week on Thursday, July 16, 2015 I was watching grandkids, which is my normal occupation in the past six years and I had two babies asleep in my lap, one who is 5 months old and one that is 9 months old.  I had heard my cell phone ding and thought it was a text, but saw that it was actually a new entry on Facebook instead.  I took a look to see what was posted and saw an entry for a War of 1812 pension and I thought, I know those names.  I sent a quick message to the person who had posted, who had hope a family member would see the post and the wonderful information that was in the pension record.  I told them, I am pretty sure this is a distant cousin of mine, and when I get to my computer I would double check for sure.  Well I did and they were, YES!!!

When this soldier was applying for his pension he had apparently torn out the bible pages, with his and spouse’s marriage date and place, and some of their children’s birth dates listed to help get his pension.  They even had both of their death dates listed as well in other parts of the pension papers.  These were dates I did not have, other than the marriage date, which I had found a couple of years ago.  Fantastic is the word I keep using, over and over.  

To learn how you can help preserve the War of 1812 pensions, go to this link: http://www.preservethepensions.org/ and to access the images that have already been digitized and that you can see for FREE you can go to this link: http://go.fold3.com/1812pensions/.

Now on with this couple, their story and how they are related to me.  Rebecca Melinda Henry was born in about 1813, in the area that became Lawrence County, Alabama and is from my Daddy’s side of the family through my Papaw Beard’s, mother’s side.  Rebecca was my first cousin, five generations removed from our common ancestors who were: Samuel Henry and Mary Bremar from South Carolina, my fifth great-grandparents and Rebecca’s grandparents.  Rebecca’s father was the Rev. John M. Henry who was my fourth great-granduncle and her mother was Jane Pickens.  Rebecca was the second of the nine known children born to her parents and she also had a half-brother, her father’s son by Elizabeth Marcia Horton, who went by the name George Washington Horton 1832-1909, who married Emily Lenora Chamblee, this is a story for another time.  J

Rebecca’s father’s middle name was either Mitchell or Madison, but it depends on which family is telling the story.  I tend to go with Mitchell myself, but so far I haven’t run across an official record that says either one, only the middle initial of M.  Rebecca’s full siblings were the following: Andrew Pickens Henry 1811-1870, married Hulda Ray, Elmira Henry about 1814-????, married the Rev. Stammers, Joseph Pickens Henry 1816-1899, married Eleanor Givens, James Bremar Henry about 1821-before 1865, married Margaret J. Mulligan, John M. Henry about 1823-????, married Mary Elvira Davis, William Calvin Henry 1824-1892, married Mary C. Givens, Mary Henry about 1826-????, married Jerry Alexander and Patrick C. Henry 1827-1911, married Mary A. Chambers, then Caledonia L. Story.

Since Rebecca’s father was a Baptist minister it looks like they moved around quite a bit.  Rebecca’s parents were married in Livingston County, Kentucky on November 5, 1810.  The family then left Kentucky stopping in Tennessee for just a short time where their first child was born, then to Lawrence County, Alabama by 1820, by 1830 in Greene County, Alabama and in Neshoba County, Mississippi by around 1840 or so as Rebecca’s fathers died there sometime between 1842 and 1845.  I am sure Rebecca helped with all the day to day chores around the house as soon as she was old enough, but I don’t really know too much about her early life.

Sometime in the early 1830’s, Rebecca Melinda Henry met and then married John Kethley on February 28, 1834 in Sumter County, Alabama.  John Kethley had fought in the War of 1812 in Capt. Elijah Adams Company which was part of the 10^th and 20^th Consolidated Regiment in the Louisiana Militia.  I have been doing some looking online this weekend to see if I could find anything about this regiment but so far no luck.  It is John’s pension record that I mentioned in the first paragraph that has the two old bible pages.  John according to a number of different people was born October 11, 1796 in Montgomery County, Tennessee and was therefore about 17 years older than Rebecca.  I don’t know if John was ever married before he married Rebecca, or if it was his first marriage too.  The following are the two bible pages that were in John’s pension files.  It looks like these two pages may have been one page originally.

Rebecca and John were the parents of at least eight known children, but there is a seven year gap from the first two children to the third child.  After finding the birth dates in these pension papers, I did a little digging and was able to find some of these children and some more information about the family.  These children were the following: John Bryant Kethley 1836-after 1900, married Sarah Rogers, William W. Kethley 1838-1912, married Nancy ????, Mary Kethley about 1845-after 1850, Needham Kethley December 31, 1848-before 1880, married Sarah A. Summers, Owen Singleton Kethley July 21, 1850-after 1860, Rush Buckner Kethley September 16, 1852-after 1880, married Elizabeth Cox, then Letha Summers, Joseph Kethley November 14, 1854-after 1870 and Sarah Harriet Kethley October 12, 1855-after 1860.  The two oldest boys moved to Texas where they died, but it looks like all the rest may have stayed in Mississippi. 

To see what else I have on this family and where the information was found, you can go to my online family tree at this link: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=popfraley

Rebecca and John’s first two children were born in Alabama, probably Sumter County where Rebecca and John were married.  So far I haven’t found them on the 1840 census yet, but by 1850 they were living in Scott County, Mississippi which is almost due west of Sumter County.  They lived there for a number of years, but for some reason moved over around Vicksburg in Warren County, Mississippi before 1870 and lived there for a few years, before moving back to Hillsboro in Scott County, Mississippi.   John had applied for his pension in 1850 in Scott County, Mississippi originally but apparently reapplied for his War of 1812 pension during the time they lived in Vicksburg in 1871. 

Vicksburg is right on the Mississippi River and John’s occupation was a blacksmith, as were most of his sons, so I wonder if they didn’t move over to Vicksburg, during the Civil War or shortly after the war, since there was so much going on there and blacksmiths would have been in very high demand and great to have around.  Blacksmithing was a very lucrative job back in those days and if you were good you could make a pretty decent living, a lot better than farming usually.  I am again assuming that they therefore probably lived a fairly comfortable life.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia online we read: “The Siege of Vicksburg (May 18 – July 4, 1863) was the final major military action in the Vicksburg Campaign of the American Civil War.  In a series of maneuvers, Union Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Tennessee crossed the Mississippi River and drove the Confederate Army of Vicksburg led by Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton into the defensive lines surrounding the fortress city of Vicksburg, Mississippi.  Vicksburg was the last major Confederate stronghold on the Mississippi River; therefore, capturing it completed the second part of the Northern strategy, the Anaconda Plan.  When two major assaults (May 19 and 22, 1863) against the Confederate fortifications were repulsed with heavy casualties, Grant decided to besiege the city beginning on May 25.  With no reinforcement, supplies nearly gone, and after holding out for more than forty days, the garrison finally surrendered on July 4.  This action (combined with the surrender of Port Hudson to Maj. Gen. Nathaniel P. Banks on July 9) yielded command of the Mississippi River to the Union forces, who would hold it for the rest of the conflict.  The Confederate surrender following the siege at Vicksburg is sometimes considered, when combined with Gen. Robert E. Lee's defeat at Gettysburg by Maj. Gen. George G. Meade the previous day, the turning point of the war.  It cut off the states of Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas from the rest of the Confederacy, as well as communication with Confederate forces in the Trans-Mississippi Department for the remainder of the war.”

Like I said previously, Rebecca and John moved back to Hillsboro in Scott County, Mississippi sometime before 1880 and are on the census which was dated June 11, 1880.  John only lived seventeen days after he had been enumerated in the census records, because according to John’s pension records and from the information that Rebecca had given in August of 1880, John had died in Hillsboro on June 28, 1880 and was buried at the Baptist Church Graveyard in Hillsboro.  So far I have checked www.findagrave.com and www.billiongraves.com for a record of their burial but have not find them listed, so either it hasn’t been recorded yet, or they may have never had a tombstone.  Rebecca applied in August of 1880 for a widow’s pension for John’s service in the War of 1812 and was granted said pension until her death, which according to the pension office occurred on August 1, 1884 in Hillsboro.  They did not say where Rebecca was buried, but I am assuming that it would have been the same place as John since she died in the same place, just four years later.  The following is the pension page that showed the death dates for both Rebecca and John, the dates are also mentioned in a couple of other pages as well.

I have been looking this past weekend trying to find something about the regiment that John Kethley served in but so far I haven’t had any luck.  John’s pension doesn’t mention any battles or engagements or what exactly he did during the war other than that he was a private and I have read through all 35 pages of the pension too.

Rebecca and John didn’t leave much of a foot print to follow, they lived, they worked, they raised their family and they died.  There were children who died young and at least two children who moved away to Texas before their parents passed away.  I can’t even imagine how hard that must have been on aging parents to have your two oldest children, leave to know you would probably never see them again.  My children and grandchildren all live within two miles of me and I don’t know what or how I would feel if any of them moved off to a different state to live.

Another week and another story told, not a lot, but now you know, as radio personality Paul Harvey, use to say, “The rest of the story”.

Lucian G. Hart

My ancestor this week is my third great-grandfather, Lucian G. Hart, whose nickname was Lew and or LG and he is from my Mom’ side of the family.  Lucian G. Hart was born February 23, 1854 in Monroe County, Kentucky and was the son of Jesse Hart and Louisa Jane Lewis from Hawkins County, Tennessee.   So far I have not been able to find what Lucian’s middle initial of G stood for.  Lucian was the seventh child, and a twin, of the thirteen children born to Jesse and Louisa from 1837 to 1865 a span of 28 years. 

Lucian’s parents, Jesse and Louisa were married April 4, 1842 in Hawkins County, Tennessee but their first child was born 5 years before Jesse and Louisa ever got married.  I have often wondered if Jesse or Louisa had been married before, but so far I have not been able to find any record of one, for either of them.  Jesse and Louisa would have only been 17 and 16 years old when this child was born.   The first five children were born in Hawkins County, Tennessee the next six in Monroe County, Kentucky and the last two in Simpson County, Kentucky.

Lucian’s brothers and sisters were the following: Thomas W. Hart 1837-1903 married Margaret Ann Drane, Mary Elizabeth Hart 1843-1934 married Granville Elite Leake, Matilda C. Hart born about 1844 died after 1860, Francis Marion Hart born about 1846 died after 1860, Susan E. Hart born about 1848 died after 1860, Sarah Jane Hart born about March 1850 died after 1870, Arbell Hart was a twin to Lucian, but died a little over a year later on November 11, 1855, Seaphine Hart born about 1857 died before 1870, William N. Hart born about 1859 died after 1870, Harmon C. Hart born about 1860 died after 1880, Kamdla S. Hart born about 1863 died after 1870 and Robert Virgil Hart born about 1865 died after 1880.

Lucian’s father worked as a farmer and Lucian and his brothers worked on the farm as well.  It doesn’t look like the family ever had very much in the way of material goods, down right poor is what I would say.  I can’t really find any records for this family, other than a few marriage and death dates and the census records.  Basically they didn’t leave much of a foot print behind.  Lucian’s father Jesse died sometime after 1870 and before the 1880 census was taken, and Lucian’s mother Louisa died after 1880 and probably before 1900.  Jesse and Louisa may have died in Simpson or Warren Counties in Kentucky since that is the counties they were last found in after leaving Monroe County, Kentucky.

Sometime after 1860 and before 1870, Lucian apparently left the family home and went out on his own.  He is not with his parents on the 1870 census, nor with any of his siblings that had already married and started their own families.  The next time I find Lucian, after the 1860 census is when he gets married in Montgomery County, Tennessee on July 15, 1877.   They were married by James L. Killibrew a Justice of the Peace, and a John Young signed the marriage bond with L. G. Hart who made his mark, which means Lucian could not write and therefore probably couldn’t read either.  My third great-grandmother and Lucian’s wife was Harriet Crow who was born October 26, 1862 somewhere in Arkansas.  Harriet was the daughter of Richard Crow and Sarah Ann Hawks who were from Coffee County, Tennessee but were in Christian County, Kentucky by 1874.

I don’t have any pictures of Lucian, I wish I did, but I do have one and only one of his wife Harriet.  This picture is a five generation picture that was taken in Christian County, Kentucky in 1934 and shows Lucian’s mother-in-law Sarah Ann Hawks Crow 1830-1936, Harriet Crow Hart 1862-1941, Ida Ann Hart Fryar 1878-1961 (my 2^nd great-grandmother), Carrie Elizabeth Fryar Threlkeld 1904-2001 and Jimmie Dell Threlkeld 1930-1999.  I knew the last three, my 2^nd great-grandma, Ida, the little short one in the picture, died when I was three, but I can remember her, and Aunt Carrie I went a visited a number of times with my Mom, as well as stopping at Jimmie Dell’s in Union County, Kentucky a time or too.   Aunt Carrie sure took after her grandma, Harriet being tall and slender like she was.

After Lucian and Harriet’s marriage they settled down in Christian County, Kentucky where Lucian took up farming and the family lived here until around 1893, when they moved over to Webster County, Kentucky living in the Blackford area of that county.   They soon left Kentucky after 1895 and moved to Illinois where their last child was born and by 1900 they were living in Madison County, Illinois where they spent the rest of their lives.  They became the parents of at least nine children, the first seven being born in Christian County, the next in Webster County and the last being born in Randolph County, Illinois.  There may have been other children but I only have records of these nine and the 1910 census says Harriet was the mother of eleven children, but I don’t know who the other three were.  They may have been babies who died young.

The nine children that I do know about were the following: Ida Ann Hart 1878-1961 married William Lonzo ‘Lonnie’ Fryar 1874-1960 (My 2^nd great-grandparents, I remember both of them, though I was 2 and 3 years old when they died.), Margaret A. Hart 1880-1983 married William A. Murphy, Carrie L. Hart 1882-1963 married William Elvis Watson, Lulu Annis Hart 1884-before 1920 married Ellis L. Barnes, Virgil Hart 1886-before 1936 (Family stories say he ran off and no one ever knew what happen to him, but he was still with the family in 1900 though.), Jesse Hart about 1889-before 1900, Gracie Hart about 1892-before 1900, Mary Hart 1895-1924 married Marion ‘Bud’ Griffin and James K. Hart 1904-1970 married Alberetta Schultze. 

I wish I had pictures of all of these children, but unfortunately I don’t.  I do however have one of Ida and her husband Lonnie that I just cherish, since it was probably taken shortly before 1960, when Lonnie died.  It is the following:

In Illinois, Lucian was still farming, but by 1920 he was working as a janitor at a public school and Harriet was taking in laundry.  Their youngest child, James, who was only 15 in 1920, was working as a trapper in the coal mines.  It looks like they were still struggling to make ends meet if a 15 year old boy had to go to work in a coal mine.

I was lucky to be able to find an obituary for Lucian G. Hart.  I was assuming since they were so poor, from everything I had ever found, that there probably would not have been one, but thankfully there was.  From the Edwardsville Intelligencer in Edwardsville, Illinois and the issue dated Friday, November 20, 1936 we read: “Lucian G. Hart expired at his home in Pin Oak Township Monday evening.  Mr. Hart was 87 years, 8 months and 22 days old.  Funerals services were held at the Kueker Funeral Parlors and interment was at Friedens Evangelical Cemetery, Thursday afternoon.  Mr. Hart is survived by his wife, and four children, James Hart of Troy, Mrs. Margaret Murphy of East St. Louis, Mrs. Ida Friar of Providence, Kentucky and Mrs. Carrie Watson of Clay, Kentucky.”

Lucian’s wife Harriet Crow Hart survived not quite five more years, dying on June 7, 1941 and was laid to rest beside Lucian at Friedens United Church of Christ Cemetery which is located off State Road 162 southeast of Troy, Illinois.  The newspaper said it was Friedens Evangelical Cemetery, but it was really Friedens United Church of Christ Cemetery.  Following is a picture of the entrance to the graveyard as well as of their tombstone, which looks to be newer then what you would expect from a 1936 or 1941 stone, also a picture of their son James’ tombstone who is also buried here.   Harriet’s tombstone says her birth year was 1859, but it was really 1862, her brother John Crow was born in 1859.  Thanks to the great people who post pictures on www.findagrave.com so that if we can’t get to these cemeteries ourselves, there is someone who can.

Another ancestor story is now told, not a lot is known about Lucian G. Hart, but hopefully others will see this and maybe there will be someone out there that knows more about him, and maybe they will have some pictures to share.  Since I have started writing these little bios about my ancestors, cousins some as close as second cousins have gotten in touch with me and pictures have been shared.  It has been so cool to reconnect, because of these bios, with some that I haven’t seen since I was just a little kid.  I thought this would be hard to do, to write a bio every week, but so far I haven’t had a hard time doing it at all and the year is half over now.  This is the 29^th ancestor I have written about, so only 23 more to go, to finish out my 52 ancestors for the year 2015.  I want to think everyone for the comments and stories they have shared with me through all of these so far, it’s been wonderful.

Joseph Warford

May all of you have a wonderful Fourth of July and remember the sacrifices that our ancestors gave to have us live in a FREE country.  The ancestor I will be talking about this week is my eighth great-grandfather, Joseph Warford, from my Mom’s side of the family.  His descendants have fought in every war from the Revolutionary War to the present war, and many of them gave their lives along the way.  Joseph Warford was born about 1714 in Monmouth County, New Jersey the son of John Warford and Elizabeth Stout and Joseph was number three of the nine known children born to John and Elizabeth.

Joseph’s siblings were the following: Job Warford 1709-1757 married Sarah Delameter, John Warford 1711-1791 married Mary Lee, James Warford 1716-1794 married Sarah Jewell, Abigail Warford 1718-1794 married George Warne, Elizabeth Warford 1720-???? married John Colvin, Rachel Warford 1723-1777 married Isaiah Quimby, Jane Warford 1725-1765 married William Allen and Ann Warford 1727-???? married Gabriel Fox.  Some of these siblings stayed in New Jersey some went to Pennsylvania like Joseph and some went into Virginia in the part that later became West Virginia.

Joseph soon met a young woman who family tradition states was born in Ireland, her name was Elizabeth Banner and she was born about 1721 and died in about 1785.  I have yet to find anything more about Elizabeth other than her name and that she died after Joseph did.  Joseph and Elizabeth were married around 1737, probably in New Jersey and possibly in Hunterdon County, which is where the majority of their children were supposed to have been born, as well as some of them in Monmouth County, where Joseph was supposed to have been born.

Joseph and Elizabeth also had at least nine known children, and they were the following: John Warford 1738-1816 in Jefferson County, Kentucky and he married Mary Wickersham, Henry Warford 1740-before October 1784 married Elizabeth Van Hook (They are my direct line and family stories say that they came to Kentucky in 1781 and that Henry went back to Pennsylvania for something and took sick and died there, but his family stayed in Kentucky.), Joseph Warford 1742-After 1782 married Rachel Stillwell, James Warford 1744-After March 1771 married Eleanor Truax, Abigail Warford 1746-After March 1771 (Family stories say she was scalped by Indians, during a raid, and that she was found under a large oak tree dead.), Jane Warford 1748-1818 in Warren County, Ohio married Dr. David Blair, Sarah Warford 1752-1823 in Bedford County, Pennsylvania married John Stillwell, Elizabeth Warford 1754-After March 1771 married Mr. Graves and Rachel Warford 1760-before August 1797 in Bedford County, Pennsylvania married Joseph Graves.

Life in New Jersey during the early and mid-1700’s would not have been a picnic and I am sure there were lots of day to day trials and tribulations for Joseph and his family to endure.  From what I have found so far Joseph worked mainly as a farmer, but he must have done fairly well at that occupation, because they seem to have been better off than most for that time period.  But as was the case so many times during these early years here in America, they outgrew or thought things were getting to crowded and so sometime around 1766, they headed northwest to the new lands that were opening up in Pennsylvania.  Joseph, his wife and nine children, plus others in the area went to the area that is now Fulton County, Pennsylvania but was Cumberland County at the time they were there.  The Stillwell’s, Graham’s and Truax’s, all blood lines of mine were in the same areas in New Jersey and in Pennsylvania, so they may have traveled together to the wilds of Pennsylvania.

In December 1766, Joseph Warford was deeded 100 acres of land on which he laid out a small village which was to soon carry his surname, and it became the town of Warfordsburg, Pennsylvania which is now located in Bethel Township.  The family built a large stone structure that served as their home and also as a tavern, and this building stood until 1947, when it was destroyed by fire.   For your information Warfordsburg lies just north of the Mason-Dixon Line in southern Fulton County, off Interstate 70.  On July 2, 2002 I was able to go with my husband and our two youngest daughters and drive around the area where this family lived.  I always get such an overwhelming feeling of family when I am able to go to the places that my ancestors lived and died, and to feel their spirits still there is wonderful.

This family must have had some fantastic genes, because for the time period that they lived infant mortality was quite high and I know of no children that died young in Joseph’s family.  As a matter of fact none of Joseph’s children that I am aware of had died before Joseph, which was very uncommon back in those days.  If you have been reading my blog since I first started it back in November of 2014, you will remember the story I told about Penelope Kent Stout in December of 2014.  Penelope was one of Joseph’s great-grandmothers and she lived to be 110 years old.  That was after being scalped, peeled and gutted by Indians, after having been shipped wrecked first when she was around 18 to 20 years old, and having ten children later, none of whom died young.   STRONG GENES!!!

I have yet to find any kind of military record for Joseph Warford, but he could have fought in King George’s War 1744 to 1748, the French and Indian War 1754 to 1763 or any of the other numerous Indian wars that happened during his life time.  They lived on the frontier, so there were always Indian problems, little raiding parties that would come through and terrorize the settlers, burn crops and run off livestock, you would have always had to have been on your guard at all times.   Joseph died the year before the American Revolutionary War started, so I doubt there was ever any kind of a pension that his widow could have filed for.

Joseph Warford left a Will, which was written March 2, 1771 and which was probated on January 10, 1775 and again, according to family stories he died in December of 1774.  I found Joseph’s Will at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City on Microfilm #331358 and the records are from Bedford County, Pennsylvania Probates Will Book 1, pages 11-12.   In Joseph’s Will he says that he is from Cumberland County, Pennsylvania but the will is recorded in Bedford County.  This area of Pennsylvania was first settled in about 1750, and the county seat of Bedford County, was established March 9, 1771 from Cumberland County, which at that time included the whole southwestern part of the state.  So technically he would have been from Cumberland County at the time he wrote his Will.

In Joseph’s Will he mentions his beloved wife, Elizabeth Warford, his sons: John Warford, Henry Warford (my direct line), James Warford and Joseph Warford, and his daughters: Abigail Warford, Jane Warford, Sarah Warford, Elizabeth Warford and Rachel Warford and he states that if any of his daughters die before marriage, then their share to be equally divided between their remaining sisters.  The following is a copy of the actual will, but there is some bleed through which makes a little part of it hard to read.

Joseph Warford, another one of those ancestors I would like to meet one day.  The things he saw in just his 60 short years of life, a country that would, within a year after his death, be fighting for their independence from Great Britain.  Something Joseph might never have even dreamed of, but almost all of his children lived to see was, FREEDOM from tyranny.  I am proud of the heroic acts it took for my ancestors to come to this country, clear the land, and make something that we, as their descendants can hopefully be proud of to this day.  I hope we can all stand up to those that try to break the laws of this land, which our founding fathers and our ancestors so diligently fought for.  May we as true American’s follow what our founding father’s wanted for each and every one of us, FREEDOM of Religion and FREEDOM from tyranny.  May we make our VOICES heard, when those that want hope and change to supposedly make things better, when we already have a wonderful document called the Declaration of Independence, can be put down and those that want what is actually good for America, be put back in charge, that is the hope and change, I hope to see. 

  

The following picture I ran across online at: http://www.historique.biz/ makes me proud to be an American, the other picture I saw on Facebook and it reminds me that we still have FREEDOM of Religion, and we will be able to keep that too, if we don’t allow others to try and take it away from us.