Uncle Bob tells us two stories of Crittenden County boys. The first is about Davy Lamb "who was taken by the Black Hawk Indians in the early days. Lamb's parents lived between Weston and Tradewater. Davy Lamb was held captive by the Indians for seven years. When he was liberated he returned to his parents. He was noted all of his life as a great hunter and woodsman."
The other boy was Silas S. Walker, who ran away from home at the age of 14 years and went down the river to New Orleans. "There he found friends among the American soldiers who were preparing to go to the Mexican war. Somehow he eluded the scrutiny of the officers and accompanied the army that was sent against Mexico. At the battle of Resaca Dela Palma, so the story goes, young Walker grabbed a gun from a dying soldier and helped charge the Mexicans. The poor little fellow was barefooted, the ground was rough, but the boy acted with bravery and determination ... It is not known how long Walker stayed in Mexico, but he finally came back to Crittenden County.
"Uncle Bob has vivid recollections of the wild excitement about the gold discovery in California in 1848. The Baker brothers, John Flanary, Bill Barnes, Phineas Newcomb and Jonathan Postlethwaite were among the gold seekers from this vicinity. Postlethwaite never returned. He is though to have met death in the great desert.
"Uncle Bob says the first steam boat he ever saw was the old 'Caldonia.' He saw it land at Weston. This was way back in the thirties. He says that at this time the Ohio River was a great highway for emigration. Emigrants came down chiefly in boats of their own manufacture."
Part III of Memories of Uncle Bob Heath will appear here in a couple of days.
Published 6 November 2014, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/
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