I have a
little mystery for you. It begins with a
broken tombstone for Margaret Ashmore in Smithland Cemetery in Livingston
County. There is no birth date and where
the death date should be, the stone is broken. Previous recordings, however, give the death date as 11 June 1849.[1]
Margaret
Infant
daughter of
Rob. & Rachel
Ashmore
If this
death date is correct, one would think her parents, or at least her mother, was
in Smithland on that date.
Maybe. But
no Ashmore is found on the Livingston County Tax Lists for 1849 or 1850
or 1851 or 1852. So, where were
Robert and Rachel Ashmore, the parents of little Margaret?
R. [Rachel?]
Ashmore, age 25, and G.A. Ashmore, age 1, are found on the 1850 Mercer County,
New Jersey census living in the town of Princeton in a household headed by William Williamson, age 24. By the way, Robert Asmore [sic] married Rachel Williamson 6
January 1844 in Somerset County, New Jersey. [2]
So, if Rachel was living with some of her relatives in 1850, where was Robert
and who was G.A. Ashmore, age 1?
It appears
that Robert Ashmore enlisted in the Army on 20 July 1849.[3]
He was described as age 28 with grey eyes, brown hair, stood 5 feet 9 inches
tall, was born in Hunterdon County, New Jersey and was a millwright. On the 16th of May 1851, he deserted. That is
the last record found on Robert Ashmore.
On the 1860
Hunterdon County, New Jersey census, Rachel Ashmore, age 37, and George Ann
Ashmore, age 11, were living in the household of Jacob and Anna Williamson in
the town of Lambertville. So, it appears that Rachel had a daughter, George
Ann, who was born about 1849 in Missouri. Was she a twin to Margaret? Was Margaret also born in Missouri and, if
so, why was she buried in Smithland, Kentucky?
Rachel and
George Ann didn't stay in New Jersey. By 1869 they are living in - where else -
Smithland, Kentucky. On the 16th of September of 1869, Miss Georgiana Ashmore
married Charles S. Delay.
Original Marriage License and Certificate 1869
Livingston County Clerk's Office
Smithland, Kentucky
The newlyweds
and the mother in law, Rachel, moved to Cairo, Illinois, where they are found
on the 1870 census. Rachel died 1 August 1872 at the age of 49 years. Services
were held at the M.E. Church in Cairo and her remains were taken to Smithland,
Kentucky for interment.[4] My hunch is she is buried without a tombstone
beside little Margaret.
Charles
Delay and wife Georgia (Ashmore) moved to Scott County, Missouri, where they
can be found on the 1880 census in the town of Sylvania with their children,
Georgie, Harry, Daisy and Charlie. Georgia Ashmore Delay died at Parker's Station,
Missouri on the evening of 21 March 1881. Her remains were taken to Beech Grove
Cemetery in Cairo, Illinois for burial.
There ends
the saga of the Ashmore family. What was their original connection to
Smithland, Kentucky? What drew them back
to Smithland time after time?
Every person has a story to tell. I just wish some of them would speak a little louder.
Every person has a story to tell. I just wish some of them would speak a little louder.
[1]
"The Old Cemetery at Smithland, Kentucky," The Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society, Vol. 41 (1943)
by Mrs. Verna Presnell McChesney and Livingston County, Kentucky Cemeteries
1738-1976 by Livingston County, Kentucky Homemaker Clubs, 1977 have the
same death date for Margaret Ashmore.
[2]
U.S., Dutch Reformed Church Records in Selected States, 1639-1989, Ancestry.com,
accessed 6 February 2017.
[3]
U.S. Army, Register of Enlistments, 1798-1914, Ancestry.com, accessed 16
February 2017.
[4]
"Died," The Cairo Bulletin,
Friday, 2 August 1872, p. 4
Published 26 April 2017, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/
