Legends, Traditions and Stories

 The following was first published here 17 Oct 2013.

Grandma said Grandpa was part Native American. He must have been, she said, as he looked Native American. Auntie said Grandpa's ancestor was Cherokee, after all Grandma said he was Indian and the Cherokees came through this area of Kentucky on the Trail of Tears. Uncle said Grandpa "fell away" from the Trail of Tears and stayed in Kentucky. Otherwise he would have gone on with the rest of the Cherokees. Dad said he didn't care if Grandpa was Indian or not. He was tired of hearing about it and changed the subject.

So, was Grandpa of Native American descent or not? How much faith do you put in family stories? What do you believe and what do you discard? And finally, where do you look for Native American records in Kentucky? 

Family legends, traditions and stories are fun, but they don't have to be true to be fun. Sometimes they are so preposterous that we are sure they are not true. But what about the stories that could be true.

One way to find out if those stories are true is to have your DNA tested and follow that with searching records going backwards from what is known to what is not known. These records should include census, vital records, deeds, mortgages, church records and anything else available for the appropriate time period.  Don't forget to ask yourself if the record you are  using makes sense to have been your ancestor.                          

I've been researching Kentucky records for a long time and have never seen  a single document or a big book marked "Native American Records" in the courthouse. Except for separate books for African American marriages, all other records are found together with no label indicating color or ethnicity.

So, record those legends, traditions and family stories and be sure to write down the date you heard them and the name of the storyteller. Then get busy researching to determine if they are true or not.

Happy researching!

Published again 13 July 2022, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/

Carved in Stone Doesn't Make it Right

Once a name is carved incorrectly in stone, it is difficult, if not impossible, to correct it. The following tombstone is a case in point. This post was first published 29 Dec 2009. It is my understanding this monument was erected long after the lives of the mother, Harriet C. Bebout, and her son, John Bebout, had ended.



This lovely tombstone for John Bebout and his mother Katherine is located at Pleasant Grove Cemetery, Crittenden County, Kentucky. There is just one thing wrong with the tombstone - the mother's name is incorrect. Most records list her name as Harriet or Harriet C. Bebout. It would be easy to assume the C. in Harriet's middle name stood for Catherine, making the name on the tombstone correct. However, in the will of her father, John E. Wilson, recorded in Crittenden County Will Book 1, page 46, she is listed as "Cassa Bebout wife of Peter Bebout." When her daughter, Harriet Ann Bebout, married James P. Sullenger in 1863, the wedding was at "Casander Bebout's."

Her full name might be Harriet Cassander or Harriet Cassa , but it surely was not Katherine. Harriet C. and her husband, Peter Bebout, were my 4th great grandparents. Harriet C. Wilson Bebout was born in 1824 and died in 1908. Peter Bebout was born in 1823 and died in 1862.

Published again 29 June 2022, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog,  http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/

Celebrate !

Originally published  21 June 2018. 

What do you do when you learn your ancestor was a crook, outlaw or  simply had a penchant for operating on the other side of the law?  Celebrate ...!   Yes, celebrate,  especially if he got caught! Crooks left records  and those records can be full of information. Even cases involving will contests or disputes over debts can provide information.

The bigger the crime, the more records generated by the crime. The records for civil and criminal cases are usually located in the Kentucky Dept for Libraries and Archives in Frankfort.  To learn how to order records from KDLA, go  Here

Scroll down to Civil Case File Record Request and Criminal Case File Record Request

In the meantime, celebrate that you had an ancestor who left records about his life.

Published again 9 June 2022  Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog,  http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com

Civil War Loyalty Oath

A re-run of an earlier post:

 Smithland, Livingston County, Kentucky was under control of the Federal army throughout almost all of the Civil War. In late 1861 and early 1862, several rules were instituted that were meant to suppress support for the Confederacy. It was unwise to openly show support for the South in any way.  Even flying a Confederate flag could result in a heavy fine.

Teachers, ministers, jurors and public officials were required to take a loyalty oath. Below is the oath signed by C.W. Threlkeld, who was authorized to solemnize the rites of matrimony in 1864. This is from Livingston County Loose County Clerk's Papers 1863-1867, Box 16, filed October Term 1864.

Oath
I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of this State and be faithful and true to the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the Laws and government thereof so long as I continue a citizen thereof and I do further solemnly swear that I will not aid assist abet or comfort directly or indirectly the so called Confederate States or those now in Rebellion against the United States or the State of Kentucky so long as I continue a citizen of this state. So help me God.   [signed] C.W. Threlkeld
Subscribed and sworn to in open Court Oct 4th 1864.  Att: J.W. Cade, C.L.C.C. [Clerk of Livingston County Court]

Second posting on 15 May 2022.

Kentucky Marriage Bonds

This is a repeat of a post first published here 30 Nov 2017 

If your ancestor obtained a marriage bond in a Kentucky county, but there is no evidence a marriage was performed there, do not assume the couple did not marry. Check for a marriage return in neighboring counties. The marriage bond could be obtained in one county and the couple  could be married in any county in the state. The marriage bond, however, was not valid outside Kentucky.

Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/

It's the latest Style ... in 1908!

 Genealogy isn’t just a list of names and dates. To really study genealogy and understand how our ancestors lived, we need to study the social and cultural aspects of the time period too, including what clothing fashions were in style.

Clothing fashions, of course, were not necessarily the same in rural areas as they were in metropolitan areas. My great-grandmother was born in 1877 in Crittenden County, Kentucky and married when she was just 18 years old. Between 1896 and 1917, she had twelve children. She led a full life - full of hard work, rearing a family and attending church on Sunday. I’m sure high fashion was not high on the priority list in her life, or in the lives of most of her neighbors.

That wasn’t the case, though, for young ladies who lived in the larger city of Henderson, Kentucky. In 1908, "Merry Widow" hats arrived and were all the rage.

The Henderson Daily Gleaner reported on 5 April 1908 that "Scores of pretty young girls and blushing widows were seen on the streets yesterday bedecked with ‘Merry Widow’ hats in screaming colors. The new hats are really things of beauty, especially when worn by the young maidens, and within a few days it will be difficult for two women to pass each other on a sidewalk of reasonable width, for the ‘Merry Widow’ hats are the broadest that ever shaded a pretty face."

Three days later it was reported in Paducah, Kentucky that the deacons of the First Baptist Church proposed to bar the "Merry Widow" hats and passed a resolution compelling women to remove them in church.

The Gleaner wasn’t finished with news of those hats as it was reported later that month that "Merry Widow" hats massed in a solid bank in the foremost rows of St. John’s Catholic Church in St. Louis, Missouri prevented a panic among the worshipers at Easter service by hiding from the congregation a dangerous blaze on the altar, which was extinguished by the priest and altar boys. Paper flowers were ignited by candles on the altar and while the fire burned fiercely, those in the church remained with bowed heads in prayer, the flames blocked by the wide-spreading Easter creations resting atop the heads of the ladies who were sitting under the sanctuary rail, where they could not see the fire.

"Merry Widow" hats weren’t in fashion very long, but they were a lively topic of conversation while they lasted.


Originally published 26 October 2007. Published again 6 April 2022, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/

Rules for the Jailer

Here is another of our posts from the past. This one appeared in the Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog on the 20th of Feb 2020.  If you share it with anyone, please remember to give credit to the Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog.

Being the Jailer in 1875 in Lyon County, Kentucky consisted of more than carrying the keys to the cells. Other duties were required and were spelled out in a document found  among loose county court papers in the courthouse in Eddyville. How do these rules compare to the duties of present-day jailers?

Rules for the government of the Jailer

 

"The Jailer is required to Keep the Jail perfectly clean, & suffer no filth of any Kind to accumulate in or about it.

He is required to clean out the privy valt [sic], or Sink, under the Jail, immediately and as often as may be necessary to prevent a stench in the Jail.

He is required to whitewash both the upper and lower cells and to use in the cells and in the Sink under the Jail, chloride of lime or other disinfect out in such quantities and often enough to destroy the Scent and purify the air of the Jail.

He is required to Keep the clothing and bedding of prisoners perfectly clean.

He is directed to feed the prisoners confined in the Jail at regular intervals three times a day with a sufficiency of wholesome food and to keep them supplied with fresh water."

Filed in open Court and ordered to be spread at large upon the order book of this court and delivered to the Jailer April 26, 1875.