Tombstone Tuesday - W.C. and Mary H. McGehee

Rev. W.C. McGehee

Sept. 29, 1818

Oct. 27, 1873

Mary H. McGehee

Dec. 10, 1835

Apr. 18, 1912

Buried Cedar Hill Cemetery, Princeton, Kentucky. Tombstones photographed 15 Dec 2017.

The Rev. William C. McGehee and Miss Mary H. Dudley were married 22 August 1853 by S.N. Davis, Cumberland Presbyterian minister, at the home of M. Dudley. The bridegroom was born in Louisa County, Virginia and his bride was born in Princeton. [1]

The McGehee family was living in Todd County, Kentucky in 1860[2] and, by 1870, they were living in Princeton again.[3]  The Rev. McGehee wrote his will on the same day he died and it was recorded 16 December 1873.[4] He mentioned his wife, Mary H. McGehee, and "our children," but does not name them.

By 1900, Mary H. McGehee had moved to Knoxville, Knox County, Tennessee.[5] Ten years later she was living in the home of her daughter, Annie McGehee Dooley, in Knoxville.[6]

According to Death Certificate #5214, Mary H. McGehee was the daughter of Milton B. Dudley and Eliza Harpending and was born in Kentucky.[7]

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[1] Brenda Joyce Jerome. Caldwell County, Kentucky Marriages1833-1853, (Evansville, IN: Evansville Bindery, 1997) 171, 180.

[2] 1860 Todd County, Kentucky census, Elkton, Roll M653-396, p. 760, Ancestry.com, accessed 12 March 2018.

[3] 1870 Caldwell County, Kentucky census, Princeton, Roll M583_451, p. 506B, Ancestry.com, accessed 12 March 2018.

[4] Caldwell County Will Book B, 279.

[5] U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995, Ancestry.com, accessed 12 March 2018. Mary H. McGehee was living at 233 Church Ave E.

[6] 1910 Knox County, Tennessee, Knoxville Ward 6, Roll T624_1507, p. 6B, E.D. 86, Ancestry.com, accessed 12 March 2018.

[7] Tennessee Death Certificate #5214, Mary H. McGehee; Ancestry.com, accessed 12 March 2018.

Published 8 May 2018, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/

Ferry Licenses

Kentucky is blessed with many streams and rivers and where you have streams and rivers, there must be a way to cross them. From the earliest days of the Commonwealth, the need for ferries was recognized and, in order to make the ferries operate efficiently, there had to be regulations.

Laws of Kentucky of 1799 [1] outlines the rules for a successful ferry system.

The county courts were empowered to establish ferries across the rivers or creeks within their boundaries. In order to establish the ferry, the land owners on both sides of the watercourse must have a month's notice that the application was to be made for the ferry.

The rates of the ferries were fixed by the courts at the time the ferry was established. The rates covered the following: every coach, waggon, chariot and the driver, every two- and four-wheeled chaise, carriage, phaeton and driver, every hogshead of tobacco and all livestock.

If the county court thought it beneficial that a tavern be kept at the ferry, they could license the ferry keeper to keep a tavern without a fee for the license. The ferry keeper had to post bond with security, but did not have to pay a fee for the license.

All ferries were to furnish the necessary boats and ferry-men within six months after the establishment of the ferry. If they did not, the ferry was discontinued.

The following has been abstracted from loose bundles marked "Ferry Bonds" in the Caldwell County Clerk's Office, Princeton, Kentucky. Ferry licenses are recorded in the county court order books also.

Bond:  17 May 1841. A ferry hath been established from the lands of Milton Dudley in Caldwell County on the Tennessee River to the opposite shore at the place where Morse's old ferry was. If M. Dudley shall at all times keep good & sufficient boats for the transportation of passengers and carriages and other personal property across the river at that place, giving immediate passage ... when required, this obligation to be void. [signed] A.H. Dudley & David W. McGoodwin, his securities.

[1]  Laws of Kentucky. (Lexington, KY: Printed by John Bradford) 1799, Chapter XC, pp 245-247.

Published 13 November 2014, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/

Tombstone Tuesday - James Milton and Ann E. Dudley

Jas. Milton Dudley
1806-1877
Ann Eliza Harpending
His Wife
1819-1884

Buried Cedar Hill Cemetery, Princeton, Caldwell County, Kentucky. Tombstone photographed 7 October 2011. Note the Masonic symbol at the top of the tombstone.

Milton Dudley obtained a bond to marry Miss Ann Eliza Harpending on 12 February 1835 in Caldwell County. Security on the bond was Asberry Harpending.

The 1850 Caldwell County census shows Milton Dudley, age 44, tobacco factor, born in Kentucky; Ann Eliza Dudley, age 31, born Kentucky and children Mary H., age 13; Paulina, age 10; Gideon C., age 4 and Alexr., age 1.

Copyright on text and photographs
by Brenda Joyce Jerome, CG
http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/