Tombstone Tuesday - John Berry Sr.

In

Memory of

John Berry

who died

Decr 28 1839

Aged 46 years & 10 mo.

Buried on a bluff overlooking Berry's Ferry on Hwy. 137 (Faulkner Road) in Livingston County, Kentucky. The tombstone is on the ground and broken into a number of pieces.  Photographed 27 August 2010 and submitted by Marty K. Hodge of Marion, Kentucky.

John Berry obtained a bond to marry Maria Hodge, daughter of Henry Hodge, 28 June 1815 in Livingston County. John Berry left a will, in which he named his wife and children. The will is recorded in Livingston County Will Book B, page 71.

Unrecorded Nunn-Hull Will 1854

It was not unusual for a will to be placed in the hands of the county clerk for safe keeping. Occasionally those wills were not recorded - either because the testator moved from the area before his/her death or perhaps through neglect. Whatever the reason, those unrecorded wills are as valuable as recorded wills in our research. The following unrecorded will was found among loose county court papers in a bundle marked "old Papers" in the Crittenden County clerk's office, Marion, Kentucky.

"In the name of god Amen I Mary Clarisa Hull of the County of Crittenden state of Kentucky being sick and weak in Body but of sound mind and disposing memory For which I thank god, calling to mind the uncertainty of human life and being desirous to dispose of all Such worldly Estate as it has hath pleased god to Bless me with I give and bequeath the same in the maner following viz

I give unto my Dear husband Armstrong Hull all of my Land on which I now live, also my negro girl named Rachel Amico also my gray Horse named Jim also my Bay mare also my Bed and Bedstead and furnishing and all other things that I am in possesion of[.] I also give my Husband A. Hull all of my they moneys yet Dew me as my Interest in my Fathers Estate which is in now in the Possesion of John & T.L. Nunn.

I also will and bequeath unto all of my Brothers & sisters Ten Dollars Each to Be paid thence By my Executor herin after mentioned[.] Lastly I herby appoint and co Constitute my Dear Husband Armstrong Hull my Executor of this my Last will and Testament herby Revoking all others or any that may be presented on in witness wher of I have her heruto herunto Set my hand and affixed my Seal this second day of february in the year of our Lord Eighteen hundred and fifty four Signed Sealed published and delivered as and for the last will and Testament of the above named Mary C. Hull in the presence of us Test: Thos. L. Phillips, John W. Phillips. [signed] Mary C. Hull {seal}"

M.C. Nunn is named as a daughter in the will of Ira Nunn [Crittenden County Will Book 1, p. 38]. Among other items, he left her two slaves, Rachel and Robert Lopez, a sorrel horse named Jim and a bed, bedstead and furnishings. Mary C. Nunn married Armstrong Hull 22 March 1853 in Crittenden County. She died in 1854 and is buried in the old Nunn Cemetery, off Hwy. 365 not far from the Crittenden-Union County line.

In memory of

Mary C.

Wife of

Armstrong Hull

Born

Apr. 1, 1832

Died

Feb. 13, 1854

Tombstone Tuesday - Sarah Ann Beverly

Sacred

to the Memory of

Mrs. Sarah Ann

Beverly

daughter of

Gen. Thomas

POSEY

of Virginia

and wife of

Mr. Wm. Beverly

[illegible line]

Aug. 20, 1800

and departed this life

Feb. 15, 1851

Sarah Ann Beverly and her husband, William, are buried in Fernwood Cemetery, Henderson, Kentucky. The tombstone was photographed 7 August 2010.

According to the History of Henderson County, Kentucky by Starling (1887), Sarah Ann was born in 1800. She appears on the 1850 Henderson County census as age 49 and born in Virginia.

FGS Conference Wrap Up

This past week at the FGS Conference in Knoxville, Tennessee has been a time to remember. Not only was it an opportunity to hear expert genealogical speakers, it was also a time to meet new bloggers and to renew acquaintances with other genealogists.

The classes covered every imaginable topic of interest to genealogists. One of my favorites and a friend I had not seen for some time, was Kandi Adkinson of the Kentucky Land Office. She can explain - step by step - how land was patented in early Kentucky in such a way that it is so easy to understand. If you have never heard Kandi, try to catch her at one of her speaking engagements around Kentucky. She is a treasure.

Another favorite was the class on Union draft records of the Civil War. I had no idea they existed or what they contain. Arranged by congressional districts in Kentucky, these records contain lists of deserters and physical examinations of the drafted men as well as other records. Unfortunately, they are only accessible at the Atlanta Branch of the National Archives and they are only for Union soldiers.

Wendy Bebout Elliott's lecture on the Trail of Tears was outstanding also. I was pleasantly surprised that she concentrated on events leading up to the Trail of Tears rather than the march itself. Wendy is a special person. We corresponded over 20 years ago and she was very helpful to me when I was researching the Bebout family. Her Bebout ancestor was a brother to Benjamin Bebout, the progenitor of the Crittenden County, Kentucky Bebouts.

There were other really informative classes and it was sometimes difficult to decide which ones to attend. In addition to the lectures, there were special events combining the winning duo (food and music) which enhanced the whole conference experience.

It isn't always convenient to attend national conferences, but there are a number of regional and local workshops and seminars that we can attend. One coming up in September is TreeRoots at Willard Library in Evansville, Indiana. It's free and promises to be a good workshop. More on it later.

Friends Expire on Same Day

The following article appeared in the 17 November 1906 issue of the Hopkinsville Kentuckian and was accessed through Chronicling America   http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/.

Lawyer Friends of Smithland Die the Same Day

Paducah, Ky., Nov. 15 - James C. Hodge, 63 years old, and Capt. John w. Bush, both prominent attorneys of Smithland, expired suddenly last night within an hour. James C. Hodge dropped dead in view of his son as he stepped off the steamer Royal, at Smithland, and Capt. Bush expired from the shock of his chum's death. Capt. Bush had been ill two months.

James C. Hodge was returning from Paducah, and had just stepped ashore from the gang plank when he turned to say something to his son, Blount Hodge, the pilot, threw up his hands and fell to the ground. Life was extinct when his son reached his side. He leaves his wife and the following children: Blount, Robert and Annie Hodge, and Mrs. R.J. Perkins of Smthland; James Hodge, of Louisville.

Capt. Bush was stricken with paralysis at the Livingston County courthouse two months ago, but had recovered sufficiently to be sitting up when the news of Hodge's death reached him. He sank back without a word and expired. He was a Captain in the Union army in the Civil War. He is survived by his wife and the following children: Frank and Chas. Bush, Mrs. Robert Rivers and Mrs. George Harris, of Smithland; Mrs. J.A. Crenshaw, of Newbern, Tenn. and Mrs. C.C. Grassham, of Paducah.

Tombstone of J.W. Bush and wife, Sarah Ann Watkins, Smithland Cemetery, Smithland, Kentucky.

Tombstone Tuesday - Arthur H. Belt

Arthur H. Belt

Born

Jan. 6, 1810

Died

Oct. 14, 1877

Buried New Union (Ditney) Cemetery, near Lola, Livingston County, Kentucky. Tombstone photographed 20 March 2010.

According to his death record in Kentucky Vital Statistics of Livingston County, as viewed on ancestry.com, Arthur H. Belt was a minister, born Tennessee and 67 years of age when he died. He was the son of Benjamin Belt, who was born in North Carolina.  Arthur H. Belt appears on the 1850 Crittenden County census with his wife Malinda and children Elizabeth and John.

Malcolm Yeaman of Henderson, Kentucky

Judge Malcolm Yeaman was a well known attorney in Henderson. When he died in 1927, the following obituary appeared in the Evansville, Indiana Courier and Journal on Sunday, 20 February 1927.


Henderson, Ky. - Judge Malcolm Yeaman, 85, died at his home on Center street this morning at 1 o'clock, following an illness of several months. He practiced law in Henderson for 64 years.

Judge Yeaman was born in Brandenburg, Ky., March 9, 1841. He was admitted to the bar in Henderson in 1863, having studied law under his brother, George Yeaman, of Owensboro, Ky. He has been a member of this bar since that time and for the last 15 years he has been president of the Henderson Bar Association.

He is survived by five children: the Rev. Marion V. Yeaman, Presbyterian minister of St. Louis, Mo.; Mrs. Lila Marshall of Henderson; Dr. Malcolm H. Yeaman of Gulfport, Miss.; Harvey Yeaman of Tennessee and James M. Yeaman of Henderson.

Funeral services will be held at the Central Presbyterian church, of which he has been a lifelong member, at 2:30 o'clock tomorrow afternoon. The Rev. J.E. Hixon, pastor, will officiate, assisted by the Rev. Dr. Rutherford E. Douglas, pastor of the First Presbyterian church. Interment will be in the Fernwood cemetery.

Additional information on Malcolm Yeaman can be found in A History of Kentucky and Kentuckians, Vol. 3 by E. Polk Johnson, page 1275. A biographical sketch on Yeaman states he was the son of Stephen Minor and Lucretia (Helm) Yeaman. He married Julia Van Predelles Moore in 1861. She was born in Louisville, Kentucky and was the daughter of Dr. John Rochester and Mary (Van Predelles) Moore. In addition to the children named in the above obituary, also listed as children of Malcolm and Julia Yeaman are Julia, wife of Ernest H. Haughlin, and John Rochester Yeaman.

The 1920 Henderson County census shows the Yeaman family living at 604 Center Street. This home is now part of Rudy-Rowland Funeral Home.

Research Plans

Yogi Berra might not have had genealogy in mind when he said "You got to be careful if you don't know where you're going because you might not get there," but it is a good message to genealogists.

Excitement runs high when we think about visiting a courthouse, library or cemetery. We know who we are researching, but do we take time to analyze exactly what we need and where we might find that information? It isn't difficult if we just take a few minutes to plan.

You may call it a Research Plan, a To Do list or a Check List, but whatever you call it, just make it and use it. It will keep you focused on what you need to find out and where to look for the needed information.

Are you searching for a death date from the 1800s? What records might hold the answer - a will or estate record? Could it be found in a church record? How about a cemetery record? Again, all it takes is a few minutes to come up with a list of what you need and where to look.

I keep a running list for each family I am researching and when it is time to visit the research facility, that list goes on top of my research notebook. When I arrive at my destination, the list comes out and I go to work. After looking for each item, a check mark is made beside it. If nothing was found, a big X goes next to the item. When I get home and review what was found or not found, the items with the X are analyzed. Did I look in the right places or do I need to look elsewhere? If additional research is needed, I start a new list with the new location as the focus. Be sure to keep a list of where you have already looked for the information so that you do not duplicate your search.

Being organized won't guarantee you find what you need, but it certainly makes searching a lot easier.

Tombstone Tuesday - Nanthaniel Nelson

Nathaniel Nelson

Died

Feb. 22, 1863

Aged
About 55 years

Elizabeth

[broken]

Buried Duncan Cemetery, off Hwy. 365 in Crittenden County, Kentucky. Tombstone photographed 20 March 2010.

Nathaniel Nelson married Elizabeth Slayton 5 October 1840 Livingston County, Kentucky. Elizabeth's birth date is listed as 4 May 1822 and her death date as 22 June 1861 in Crittenden County Cemeteries, Vol. III, page 17 by The Crittenden County Genealogical Society, 2005.

On 7 April 1862, Nathaniel married Adaline Lynn Gill , the widow of Francis Gill. Nathaniel and Elizabeth had the following known children: William, Joseph, Serena, Sarah C., Lucenia, Virginia, Buchanan, James N. and Charles. Nathaniel and Adaline had no children.

8th of August

One of the biggest summer events when I was a child in Hardin County, Illinois was the 8th of August. At the time, I had no idea of the significance of the celebration. All I knew is that we went to Elizabethtown, called E'Town locally, to listen to music, visit with friends and eat the delicious barbecue. Everyone - whether black or white - was invited to participate, but I remember mainly whites attending.

Somewhere along the way, the event was discontinued in E'Town and a Heritage Festival replaced it and is still held on the second Friday and Saturday of August.

The 8th of August continues to be celebrated in western Kentucky, including Paducah and several other towns. In Paducah, the celebration  has expanded to several days with a picnic, parade and a lot of music.

So, how did the 8th of August begin? On the 1st day of January 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The Proclamation did not free all slaves; it freed only those slaves held in states which were, at that time, not under the control of the Union. Slaves living in states under control of the Union, including Kentucky, which had never seceded from the Union, were not freed. Slaves in those rebellious southern states (i.e. Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, etc) were suddenly free while slaves in Kentucky and Tennessee, which was largely under control of the Union, would not be freed until 1865. All great events - and the emancipation of slaves was certainly a great event - must be celebrated and that is how the 8th of August began. Former slaves gathered to celebrate this life-changing event.

Not all folks celebrate emancipation of the slaves on August 8. Different states celebrate on different days - Florida celebrates on May 12th and Alabama and Georgia celebrate on May 28th. In Kentucky and Tennessee, the 8th of August is the special day. Why the day was celebrated in a non-slaveholding state like Illinois is unknown. Perhaps the celebration was begun in southern Illinois by former slaves from Kentucky.

Death of Moses Walden

Genealogy is where you find it and not necessarily where it should be. Such is the case with the following obituary, which appeared in a regular column titled "Colored Folks" in the Evansville, Indiana Courier on Friday, 18 July 1900.


"July 8 was one of the old colored men in Henderson County, Ky., in the person of Moses Walden, died at his home, on the Holloway plantation. The deceased was born Sept. 4, 1817, and was, therefore, 83 years old at the time. He was the last of those generations of old people that used to belong to the Holloways of Henderson County which had seen and felt the rigors of slavery. Mr. Walden was the father of Sergeant C.W. Walden, who is now in the United states Army in the Philippines. He was buried on the old homestead farm where all of his children were born. He was a member of the Free Will Baptist Church at Race Creek for sixty years in which he lived an upright life and died in the full triumph of Christian faith. His funeral services took place from Race Creek Baptist Church in the presence of a large congregation. His remains were laid to rest on the Holloway farm in Henderson County, Ky., where nearly all of the Holloway family, both white and colored, have been buried."

Tombstone Tuesday - Aaron W. & Elizabeth D. Pickett

Pickett

Aaron W. Pickett

Apr. 23, 1844

Aug. 27, 1917

~

Elizabeth D.

His Wife

Apr. 5, 1848

Oct. 21, 1917

Buried Smithland Cemetery, Smithland, Kentucky. Tombstone photographed 17 June 2010. Note the I.O.O.F. (Independent Order of Odd Fellows) emblem on the tombstone.

Aaron W. Pickett was the son of George W. Pickett and Fannie Waymer. Elizabeth was the daughter of Washington Doyle and Kittie Rice. Aaron W. Pickett and Elizabeth Doyle married 8 November 1871 Livingston County, Kentucky.

Update on County Offices

Work has begun on the new county office building and library in Livingston County, Kentucky. The three-story building will be located on Court Street in Smithland, on the same lot where the Dunn-Grayot House was located, next to the old county courthouse.

The first floor will have offices of the Sheriff and County Clerk. The second floor will have offices for the Judge Executive, County Attorney, Child Support and PVA. The public library will be on the third floor.

The photographs were taken 19 July 2010.

News From Sturgis - 1925

It is in the neighborhood news that we find those little gems of information that add flesh to the bone of our ancestors. If someone died or married or visited relatives, it was sure to make the news. The following items on Sturgis, Union County, Kentucky can be found in the 4 October 1925 issue of the Evansville Courier.

Sturgis, Ky., Oct. 3 - The Bay View Reading Club held its first meeting of the season Friday afternoon with Mrs. B.W. Dyer as hostess.

Mrs. H.A. Taylor of Henderson was the guest of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. C.H. Ellis, during the past week.

Ben Landrum and sister, Bess, returned to their home at Calhoun yesterday after a visit here with their sister, Mrs. C.H. Ellis, and family.

Mrs. M.D. Meacham of Hopkinsville is the guest of her son, J.E. Meacham, and family.

I.F. Elliott, who is a chief petty officer in the U.S. Navy, left Tuesday for San Diego, Calif. after an extended visit with Mr. and Mrs. T.F. Stubbs.

Mr. and Mrs. B.H. Omer and little son have returned from a two months' stay in Lansing, Mich.

Mr. and Mrs. Frank Wilson left recently for an extended visit with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. F.M. Meridith, at Sikeston, Mo.

A revival opened in this city today at the First Baptist church. The pastor, Rev. O.W. Taylor, will be assisted by Rev. E.C. Stephens of Louisville and singer, D.P. DeHart of Russellville.

J.B. Slaton of this city is visited his daughter, Mrs. W.M. Hammack, at Madisonville.