Chronicling America

I don't get excited about too many genealogy websites, but Chronicling America, sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress, is an exception. This project is part of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) and is especially exciting as it is a free site and can be accessed from the comfort of your home. You can browse through issues or search by a specific name and time period.

Available newspapers of special interest to western Kentucky genealogists are the Crittenden Press (1886 - 1906), the Hickman Courier (1900-1908), the Hopkinsville Kentuckian (1894-1910) and several Paducah newspapers (1896-1906). If you research a county other that the four named here, don't discount the value of searching these newspapers. Newspapers often covered adjoining towns and counties. For example, the area around Salem in Livingston County was routinely covered by the Crittenden Press and the Paducah newspapers usually covered events around Smithland in Livingston County and Eddyville in Lyon County.

The addition of these small town newspapers is a tremendous resource for genealogists. Check them out.

Miracle Word Church - Salem, Kentucky

Miracle Word Church, 100 West Main Street (U.S. 60), Salem, Livingston County, Kentucky. For many years, this building housed Matlock Memorial Christian Church, where my parents and grandparents were members. Photographed Fall of 2009.

Checklist for Citing Sources

We have all been cautioned to "cite your sources," but do you remember to do it? If you don't, maybe the following checklist will be helpful in reminding you to do this necessary task.

1. Have I listed a source for each fact not of common knowledge?

2. Have I used the proper format for the source, therefore providing a clear path so other researchers can find that source? Did I include the title of the book or article, name of author, date of publication and the name of the publishing company? If it was an original source, did I include the book title and page number and location of the record (i.e. Caldwell County, Kentucky Will Book B, p. 25, Caldwell County Clerk's Office, Princeton, Kentucky) It is also helpful to add the date the source was checked just in case that book or record gets moved or lost.

3. Have I acknowledged the work done by others? Have I unfairly passed off the work of other researchers as my own? If John Jones shared his research with me, including material I did not have, do I list him as the researcher?

4. Have I included original sources in my search for information? Thorough research includes an exhaustive search in a variety of records, not just online material.

5. Am I aware of the difference between oral tradition and facts? If Aunt Mary tells me Grandpa Jones died in 1899 and she saw the date listed in a Bible, did I list Aunt Mary as the source rather than the Bible I have not seen? Oral tradition can provide new avenues in our research, but should not be labeled as fact unless proven.

Citing sources should become a habit and is the mark of a good genealogist.

Tombstone Tuesday - James Crane

James Crane
Born
Dec. 9, 1833
Died
Jan. 11, 1873
He has gone from our midst
The dear husband and father of our home
And our once happy hearts
Are cheerless and lone

Buried at Uniontown Cemetery, Union County, Kentucky. Tombstone photographed 21 June 2009.

First Missionary Baptist Church

First Missionary Baptist Church, 20 South Elm Street, Henderson, Kentucky.

The church was founded from the First Baptist Church, when African American worshipers formed their own congregation in 1845.

Photographed 18 November 2009. Note the steeple of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in the background.

Capture of the Alice Dean

 

Western Kentucky genealogists and historians are familiar with John Hunt Morgan and his activities on land during the Civil War. Fewer of us are familiar, though, with his capture and destruction of the steamboat Alice Dean. The following account is found in the Henderson Reporter of Thursday, 16 July 1863.

From Captain James H. Pepper, who was in command of the Alice Dean at the time she was captured and burnt by the rebels under John Hunt Morgan, and who arrived in this city yesterday, we learn particulars of the occurrence.

The Alice Dean was on her way from Mound City to Cincinnati and when, on Tuesday last, near Brandenburg, Kentucky, Capt. Pepper discovered the steamer McCombs lying near the shore, apparently in distress, making signals for him to bring his boat alongside. As the Alice Dean came up, in obedience to the summons, Capt. Pepper discovered that the McCombs was in possession of rebel troops, who evidently intended to board and capture his boat as soon as she came within reach, but all his efforts to get his boat again underway, and escape, were unavailing. She was immediately boarded by a large force of rebels, and himself, officers and crew placed under arrest, the soldiers in the meantime helping themselves to such valuables as came within their reach. When Capt. Pepper found that it would be impossible to escape with his boat, he ran to the office with the intention of secreting the money there belonging to the boat, the silverware &c, but he found himself confronted by a number of soldiers, who leveled their guns and ordered him to desist.

The rebel commander, General Morgan, informed Capt. Pepper that a large number of his troops had arrived at Brandenburg; that he wanted to take them across the river; that having no boats of any kind of his own, he was compelled to take possession of the Alice Dean to be used for that purpose and that as soon as his men and their horses and equipment, artillery &c were safely on the Indiana side of the river, she would be released and allowed to proceed on her way.

There were but few stores on the Alice Dean at the time she was captured, which were taken possession of by the rebels.

Tuesday evening Capt. Pepper received an order to prepare supper for 50 men, which, he informed the officer bearing the order, it was impossible as he had no provisions. The next morning a similar order was received and a like answer returned.
Capt. Pepper and his crew were engaged about 2 days in ferrying the rebels and their equipment across the river, during the whole of which time they had not a mouthful to eat, nor were they allowed to take any rest.

After all the rebel troops had been ferried across the river, Capt. Pepper received the following order:
"Indiana, U.S., July 2.
Capt. Pepper: Sir, in keeping with order from my superior officer, Major General John H. Morgan, I hereby order you to move your crew from your boat, Alice Dean, together with all your individual property as I am ordered to burn your boat. I am, sir, respectfully, Your obedient servant, Jas. W. Mitchel, Captain and Provost Marshal. Second Brigade, Morgan's Div. C.S.A."

Capt. Mitchel very politely informed Capt. Pepper that he could take from the boat such articles as he desired. Capt. Pepper placed the silverware belonging to the boat and a few other articles in a satchel and then went ashore, when his men were drawn up in line in front of the rebel soldiers. Capt. Mitchel told his men they could go on the boat and take such articles as they desired as he intended to burn her. Capt. Pepper asked the same privilege for the crew as a compensation for the labor they had performed for the rebel General, which was readily granted. They all helped themselves to bed clothing and such things as could be removed when the noble vessel, the finest on the Ohio River, was fired by the rebel Captain, and in a short time all that remained of the beautiful, finely furnished and fast running Alice Dean was a charred and smoking hull.

The Alice Dean was valued at $60,000 and was not insured against the vicissitudes of war.

Added note: Way's Packet Directory, 1848 - 1994, p. 12 states that a steamer of the same name was built in 1864 and ran the Cincinnati - Memphis route With Capt. Pepper commanding. After only three trips, the second Alice Dean hit the bank in March 1864 and sank.

Tombstone Tuesday - A. Barret Dade

A. Barret Dade
1865 – 1923
Erected By Friends,
Horsemen and Breeders
Of the United States
And Canada

A. Barret Dade is buried at Fernwood Cemetery, Henderson, Kentucky. His tombstone was photographed 10 November 2009.

Barret Dade, a native of Virginia, died of pneumonia in New Orleans 11 January 1923. Dade was survived by a wife, mother, brother and sister, all of Henderson. A resident of Henderson, he was a director of the Green River Jockey Club, which built and operated Dade race park between Henderson and Evansville, Indiana. Dade Park was named in honor of A. Barret Dade when it was built in 1922. Today it is known as Ellis Park.