Plans are underway for a Clan Uisdean Gathering and family reunion in Murray, KY over the weekend of July 23rd & 24th 2005. The gathering is open to all related family members interested in our Scotch-Irish heritage and genealogy. Are there members of the Moody, Eldridge, Stubblefield, Osbron and other families related to the McC/Quiston (all variations in spelling) on this list? If so please contact me at billiejo@garlic.com. Remember April 6, National Tartan Day. B. J. McCuiston PO Box 2193 Gilroy, CA 95021-2193 2B1 C1

I am searching for a friend that lived in Murray, KY about 1968-69. Her name is Kizzie Cantrell. Her husband had a doctorate in Mathematics and taught at MSU. They had a son Randy. I can't remember her husband's first name unfortunately. Rochelle Wright California

Researching Cochran, Ray, Wade, Casey, Ritch, Terry, Yandell, Hatcher. Thanks for any help. Mary

I sent a message earlier about adding several documents to the FTP pages at Rootsweb.com for the Ivie and Wells surnames. I didn't say what kind of documents. I also didn't mention that several of the documents mention other individuals. The files include the following with others to be added as time permits: John Ivie's will (Calloway, KY) and pension file for the War of 1812 (VA) death certificates and funeral home records (NM; Carroll & Henry, TN) deeds (Calloway, KY; Henry & Williamson, TN; Henry, VA) Reuben M. Wells probate record (submitted but link not up yet) guardianship record for Nancy Wells (submitted but link not up yet) As I mentioned previously, members of these families migrated from Henry County, VA, to Anderson/Spencer Counties, KY; to Williamson County, TN; to Calloway County, KY. My grandparents then ended up in Carroll County, TN. You can access these documents by one of two ways: (1) Go to the address below, select the state and county, search for surnames or browse the files: http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ (2) Access the links to the documents from my web site at the address below (then click on Document Links): http://webpages.charter.net/nashivie/Home.html Sylvia

I've added several documents to the FTP pages at Rootsweb.com for the Ivie and Wells surnames. Members of these families migrated from Henry County, VA, to Anderson/Spencer Counties, KY, to Williamson County, TN, to Calloway County, KY. My grandparents then ended up in Carroll County, TN. You can access these documents (will, deeds, vitals, military) by one of two ways: (1) Go to the address below, select the state and county, search for surnames or browse the files: http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/ (2) Access the links to the documents from my web site at the address below: http://webpages.charter.net/nashivie/Home.html My web site is new, and the links are about all I have added so far. I have several other documents and some data, which will be added as times permits. I would appreciate any help on these families. Some lines are dead ends. Some lines are accepted by most researchers, but I haven't been able to document them yet. Thanks. Sylvia A. Nash

I haven't been active on this list in a long time. However, I am looking to see if there are any new members who are researching the Clark families who came to Calloway Co Kentucky from North Carolina. Mainly the family of Alexander Clark, Malcolm Clark, etc. My father's line goes through that of Carroll Witt Clark. I would love to know who the father of Alexander Clark was. Thanks. ~ Mary

My friends - Today I am sending along another of the essays written by the late Dr. Gordon Wilson, a native of Fidelity(which we know as New Concord)in Calloway County. Our good friends at "The Kentucky Explorer" discovered this 1950 piece by Dr. Wilson and published it recently, for which we are grateful. I expect to bring some data posts to the List this week. I have recently been involved with the translation of a 17th century family document that was written mostly in Latin. It has been a challenge, given the script in use at that time and the use of the Latin language. -B ==================================================================== Kentucky Springs -Dr. A. Gordon Wilson Water out of a faucet is certainly purer and more abundant than water from a spring, but something poetic has disappeared in the process of confining the stream in an iron pipe. Springs formerly had a much more important place in our little world than they have now. They often determined the location of the first settlements, but many of the pioneer springs have dried up since the woods have been destroyed. Other springs that once figured in human welfare have been covered with sand or have become hopelessly polluted. Streets have been laid over countless springs and spring branches. In modern London we are told the trout brooks that Isaac Walton used to fish in are now underground drains and sewers. But in many country places the spring still holds a high place, as picturesque and necessary as the old well and its oaken bucket. Springs are often associated with spring houses. An artist looking for the quaint and antique, could find dozens of models for his art in the spring houses of Kentucky from the simple boxed-type to the stone houses, nearly all of them ancient in appearance and often overgrown with mosses and lichens. What an array of milk and other food the old spring house sheltered. Since ice is a necessity in many country homes, milk cooled in a spring house may not seem cold enough, but we old-timers still prefer just that temperature given by its being exposed to the cold spring water for a day or two. Sometimes a spring was a sort of neighborhood insti­tution. One such in the neighborhood of Fidelity, Calloway County, Kentucky, in which I was born, has been of great value to the surrounding farms. For greater health the early settlers built their houses on a hill away from the malarial swamps. Water, then, became a difficult thing to get. Wells dug in this soil often got clogged with sand - ours did. But the roadside spring, curbed with a hollow gum log, has supplied an abundance of pure, clear water for two or more generations. When the supply, caught in the winter rains, runs low in the cisterns, water is hauled from the spring for immediate use or to fill the cistern again. Horses are brought to this spring to drink. Near at hand is a country church always attractive because of the cold water supply. No neighborhood center is more appreciated or better known. People from a distance have used this spring as the center for picnics for 50 years or more. The spring has become a symbol of nature's bounty. Springs had many another association in the mind of the small boy. The spring branch was always a good place to see small fish and other water animals. Along the branch grew cerdinol flowers, swamp astors, and water weeds. Crawfish built their chimneys near the little stream. In the coldest weather when the larger streams would be frozen over, the little spring branch would be clear and free, often with green water plants still growing in it. Daring youngsters loved to wade in the cold water during the summer to show how brave they were and often slipped and got their Sunday pants wet. Fortunately such things as state and national parks and forests are utilizing the springs and restoring them to some of their former use fullness. Given a spring in a woodland, what else would one wish to make poetry a reality? ===================================================================

My friends - Let me say first that I am very grateful for the many expressions of good wishes which I received relative to my scheduled minor surgery last week. As it happened, the procedure was postponed, due to my surgeon having slipped on a wet floor and fracturing his leg. But I have "banked" all of the good wishes for use again, and, as I said, they were much appreciated. Today, I have a potpourri of items that I want to pass along, most of which are connected with Calloway County. Before moving to that county, however, our good friend Brenda Jerome passed along some information she found in "Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northeast Arkansas" , showing some former JP residents who had removed to AR at various times. In this group are: Capt. Hiram Vardeman Gray - born 1822 Graves County, KY J.C. Cobb - born 1838 Fulton County, KY Virgil Y. Cook - born 1848 Boydsville, Graves County, KY Moving to Calloway County, I am listing below some Equity Court Cases which were heard in the Calloway Equity Court in the late 1850's and early 1860's. Most of these records were lost in the 1886 courthouse fire, but we do have some that survived. I have taken a sampling of those and shown them below. If any of our subscribers see a case involving their family, I may - depending on the case and how it was reported in the Equity Court Orders - be able to supply a bit of additional information. Send a message to me directly and I will check it. Grand Jury indictments - September, 1858: W.J.Mathis - disturbing the religious worship W.Goodwin - unlawful shooting at another and challenge to fight in single combat(duel) W.H. Hale - gaming James F.Collins - malicious wounding of another's cow Jaden Hawes - malicious wounding William Boggess - perjury Martha Tucker - arson Manuel Hargroves - carrying concealed deadly weapon & others Henrietta M. Goodwin vs. William Goodwin - divorce granted (March 1859) John K. Bonner vs.Drucilla Bonner - divorce granted John B. Tatum vs. M.J.Tatum - divorce granted Martin Lamb vs. J.W.Dunn (March 1859) - Case dropped J.T.Mathis vs. Ann E. Mathis (September 1859) - case continued, no details William Holland, et al. vs. M.G.Miller, et al - guardianship G.W.Barnett vs. Josiah Holland - case dismissed(no details) William H[ardy] Curd vs. John F.Spann, et al (March 1861) - no details W[illiam] H[ardy] Curd vs. B[enjamin] G. Martin - no details J[ohn] L[ewis] Utterback vs. Thomas Hudspeth - no details I will post others in this group as we go along. -B ========================================================================

Dear friends, I have 1840 through 1880 US Census data for McCuin Lee. It appears that he was married three times, Jennie MIDGET, Martha Frances PAGE, and Roda C (?), who is found in the 1870 and 1880 censuses livng with husband MCuin Lee and in the 1900 census living with son McCuin Lee. McCuin Lee the father lived in the Liberty District, Calloway Co. for most of his adult life. I am looking for information about several things: The parents and other ancestors of McCuin Lee. Information about parents and ancestors of the three wives. Cora C's surname and any information about her. The older McCuin Lee is my wife's 2nd gg. Thank you, Rothwell Conway (Bud) Polk, Jr.

I'm trying to contact Joe and Janette Walker concerning the Wells & Walker families of Calloway Co. I've lost the e-mail address. If you're on this list, please write again. Sylvia Nash

My friends - I recently saw a posting to another list which contained information on the Churchill family. Because of this family's prominence in Calloway County over many years, and their numerous connections to other families of the area, I am passing along the information, with the permission of the original poster, Priscilla, even though the bulk of the material is concerned with the immediate ancestors of the Calloway group. -B =================================================================== "The Churchill Family Genealogy Vol 1" by Charles Timothy Todhunter. Armistead Churchill The seventh child and fifth son of Armistead Churchill II and his wife Elizabeth Blackwell. He was born in Fauquier Co, Va. on Monday, Apr 13, 1772 and died presumably in Calloway County, Ky. ca. 1845 at around the age of seventy-three years. Armisted Churchill was the second of his father's children of that name. He was a young boy of about fifteen years when his family settled at "Blenheim" south of the Town of Louisville in Jefferson County, Ky. by 1787. Eight years later Armistead Churchill would meet and marry Sally Hynes, the daughter of Col. Andrew Hynes and his wife Elizabeth Warford (Warfield) of Hardin County and later Nelson County, Ky. Sarah "Sally" Hyned was born in 1778, probably in Maryland, and died sometime after June 24, 1806. The marriage of Armistead Churchill to Sarah Hynes took place in Nelson County, Ky on Thursday, January 29, 1795. The bride was seventeen, and the groom was twenty-three. The subject's father-in- law, Col. Andrew Hynes, was one of the original trustees of Bardstown, Nelson County, Ky. at that town's official formation in 1797. Eight months after the marriage of Armistead Churchill, his father, Armistead Churchill II, died at "Blenheim" in Jefferson County, Ky. According to his father's will, Armistead Churchill was heired four slaves and 1,000 acres of land in Fayette County, Ky. on the Elkhorn and Cedar Creeks. Armistead Churchill would soon add to that on January 18, 1796 the land on which Hynes Fort was constructed near Elizabethtown in Hardin County, Ky. This 250 acre tract was purchased for five shillings and later surveyed on November 9, 1797. Armistead Churchill and his wife Sarah Hynes would sell this same tract to Ambrose Denton Geoghe- gan, Sr., who was living at Crab Orchard, Ky. at the time of the pur- chase. Ambrose Denton Geoghegan, Sr. landed in Baltimore, Md. on May 6, 1771 from Dublin, Ireland and from Hagertown, Md. He came to Kentucky in 1804. Consequently, the families of Armistead Chur- chill, Col. Andrew Hynes and Ambrose Denton Geoghegan, Sr. were friends for a number of years. Armistead Churchill was described by other members of his family as a "born trader." Tradition states that he would trade anything he had. It has been stated that he would frequently trade his horse with or with- out bridle and saddle while he was away from home, and he would oc- casionally return home without his horse while carrying his bridle and saddle on his shoulders. He had been further described as a fierce- tempered, vicious and bad fellow. Armistead Churchill and his wife Sarah Hynes made their home in Hardin County, Ky. It was there that Elizabethtown, the county seat of Hardin County, was established out of thirty acres owned by Col. An- drew Hynes on July 4, 1797. Such was done on a motion in court made by Col. Andrew Hynes, with Benjamin Helm as his security; and Armi- stead Churchill, along with Robert Hodgen, Benjamin Helm, John Ver- trees, Stephen Rawlings, Samuel Haycraft, Sr., Isaac Morrison, and James Crutcher, was made original trustees of that town. It was earlier in 1793 that Col. Andrew Hynes laid out Elizabethtown from his own thirty acres and named that new town after his wife Elizabeth (Warford) Hynes. While living in Hardin County, Armistead Churchill was ordered by the court of that county in August of 1801 to patrol the area eighteen hours every week for one year as a private under the command of Cart. Robert Huston, Captain Controller. Others to patrol along with Armi- stead Churchill were Robert Coleman Slaughter, Isaac Bush and Geo- rge Helm. In Hardin County Court in November of 1804, Armistead Churchill and Jacob Van Meter were appointed surveyor of the road leading from Elizabethtown to Jacob Van Meter's Mill. Also, in that same court on March 24, 1806 Armistead Churchill and Jacob Van Meter were assisted as surveyors of that same road by the subject's older brother John Churchill. Armistead Churchill and his wfie Sarah Hynes lived out their mar- ried life in or near Elizabethtown, Hardin County, Ky. All three of their children would most likely be born there. Sarah Hynes, wife of Armistead Churchill, was alive as of June 24, 1806 as her name ap- pears on the deed with her husband's that transfers 450 acres of Har- din County land to Ambrose Denton Geoghegan, Sr. She apparently died sometime thereafter and was most likely buried in the cemetery of her father, Col. Andrew Hynes, just north of the Town of Bardstown in Nelson County, Ky. An event that was significant in the life of Armistead Churchill as well as other members of the Churchill family, was the marriage of Mary Churchill to her second husband, Alexander Scott Bullitt of "Oxmoor" in eastern Jefferson County, Ky. One of the most promin- ent men in Kentucky at that time, Alexander Scott Bullitt served the State of Kentucky as the first Lieutenant-Governor form 1800 to 1804. This marriage of Mary Churchill and Alexander Scott Bullitt took place in Jefferson County, Ky. on July 31, 1807. Sometime thereafter her older brother Henry Churchill rented some farmland at "Dry Run," a part of the "Oxmoor" plantation. Apparently, Henry Churchill soon thereafter took as a business partner in this rental his younger brother Armistead Churchill. For reasons yet unknown, Armistead Churchill and his brother-in-law Alexander Scott Bullitt fell to disagreement. Supposedly as a result, Armistead Churchill was put off the plantation by Alexander Scott Bullitt; and at the death of the latter on April 13, 1816,; his widow Mary Churchill was left a life estate to the residence of her late husband as well as the part of "Oxmoor" called "Dry Run." Apparently, soon thereafter Mary Churchill had her nephew Armistead Guthrie Churchill, son of Armistead Churchill, work for her at "Dry Run" possibly as an overseer. In a letter to Mary Churchill written on Mon- day, August 26, 1816; William Christian Bullitt and his brother Cuth- bert Bullitt informed their stepmother that Armistead Guthrie Churchill had shot a Negro girl on Saturday night, August 24, 1816. After that related incident, he abruptly left the "Dry Run" plantation. The Bullitts further remarked that the tobacco crop was suffering, and that a per- son should be immediately employed to superintend the place. They further stated that they wanted nothing to do with her brother Armi- stead Churchill. Mary Churchill responded the same day in letter that she had no objections to a new overseer of "Dry Run" provided that they under no circumstances hire Joseph Frederick. She further stated that the Bullitts were mistaken in thinking that she wanted her brother Armistead Churchill to oversee "Dry Run." Ten days later Armistead Churchill apparently went to "Dry Run", engaged in an argument with Joseph Frederick, and shot Joseph Frederick to death, supposedly in front of the latter's home at "Dry Run." Armistead Churchill supposed- ly made his escape on a grey mare. It appears that Joseph Frederick had been hired by Cuthbert and William Christian Bullitt after the sud- den departure of Armistead Guthrie Churchill on August 24, 1816. These incidents were related to the subject's younger brother Samuel Churchill in a letter from Cuthbert and William Christian Churchill dated Thursday, September 5, 1816, the same day of Joseph Frederick's murder. This letter further contended that Samuel Churchill had inten- tionally put his brother Armistead Churchill on "Dry Run" for the pur- pose of "bullying and browbeating us while you would remain behind the scene." The letter further remarked that Armistead Churchill and Samuel Churchill had wrongfully conspired to turn Mary Churchill against members of the Bullitt family by attempting to convince her that she was being cheated in her business affairs at "Dry Run." This letter further alluded that after Armistead Churchill murdered Joseph Frederick, he disclosed his intention "to wade up to his knees in blood and that he would begin with Frederick, before his sister should be wronged." At the time of these threats, Armistead Churchill claim- ed that certain members of the Bullitt family refused him one of the horses on the "Dry Run" farm which it appears he claimed under a purchase from his sister Mary Churchill. Finally, this letter holds Sam- uel Churchill responsible for the actions of his older brother Armistead Churchill while absolving his older brother Henry Churchill of any wrongdoing. Samuel Churchill responded in a letter written the next day, stating that he had never attemped to infuse "a belief into the mind of Mrs. Bullitt that you wished to cheat her." Samuel Churchill further stated that he had no part in putting Armistead Churchill on "Dry Run" but in fact had advised his sister Mary Churchill to have no- thing to do with Armistead Churchill as Samuel Churchill considered him "a hasty passionate and indiscreet man in his conduct." Finally, Samuel Churchill stated that he could not be held responsible for the actions of others, even his brother. Upon the death of Joseph Frederick at the hands of Armistead Chur- chill on September 5, 1816, Cuthbert and William Christian Bullitt posted a $1,000 reward for the capture of Armistead Churchill as fol- lows: STOP THE MURDERED! $1,000 REWARD Will be paid to any person for apprehending ARMISTEAD CHURCHILL, SEN. and securing him in any jail in this State, or the United States, so that he can be brought to justice for the Murder of Joseph Frederick. Said Churchill is about six feet high, between forty-five and fifty years of age, slender made, walks very straight, blue eyes, thin brown hair, a thin visage, thick lips, a little marked with the small pox, the rim of his ears very thin, and apparently notched, a long prominent nose, smiling countenance when speaking, very polite and affable in his con- duct and conversation, and remarkable for his gentlemanlike appear- ance---his clothing can not be well described, as it is believed that he can change them as he pleases, but general wears a fine blue broad cloth coat. After Churchill commintted the murder, he took flight on a grey mare which he probably will exchange, as he is fond of trading. The above Reward will be paid to any person, when said Churchill is so secured and delivered up to proper authority, that justice can be obtained for the above murder by JACOB FREDERICK. Louisville, Ky. Sept. 5, 1816 Forty-eight days later on October 23, 1816 Armistead Churchill was arrested and brought to Louisville to be jailed without bail. About three weeks later on November 11, 1816 Armistead Churchill was indicted for the murder of Joseph Frederick at a meeting of the Jefferson County Circuit Court. His case was to be tried in the April 1817 term of that court, and he was committed without bail. Throughout the next two months emotions ran high and intense feelings were engendered by much of the citizenry of Louisville. Consequently, at the next session of the State Legislature in Frankfort, friends of Armistead Churchill secured the passage of an act entitled "An Act providing for a change of venue in the case of Armistead Churchill," which was approved on February 3, 1817. This act stipulated the following: "Whereas, it is represented to this General Assembly that Armistead Churchill stands indicted in the Jefferson Circuit Court for murder, and that owing to the unusual prejudice existing there, he cannot have a fair and impartial trial." It further provided that Armistead Churchill had the option to be tried in Bullitt Circuit Court in Bullitt County, Ky. On April 21, 1817 he was elected to be tried there, at which time he as taken to Shepards- ville and held without bail for trial during the June term. In the mean- time, Armistead Churchill had secured the legal services of Benjamin Hardin and John Rowan to engage in his defense. Benjamin Hardin, a resident of Bardstown, Nelson County, Ky., was considered to be one of the finest criminal lawyers of his time. The trial began on June 3, 1817 in the Bullitt Circuit Court and last two days. Benjamin Hardin and John Rowan based much of their defense of Armistead Churchill on the contention that William Christian and Cuthbert Bullitt apparent- ly contrived to expel their stepmother Mary Churchill from their late father's "Dry Run" plantation and that they further employed Joseph Frederick as an instrument to execute this plot. The case was submit- ted to the jury on June 5, 1817 at which time the jury could not agree on a verdict. Records state that they continued to consider until Sep- tember 27, 1817 when one of the jurors, James Daougherty, disap- peared. It just so happens that the day before, September 26, 1817, Mary Churchill died at "Dry Run" plantation. What connection there is between the disappearance of the juror James Dougherty and the guilt or innocence of Armistead Churchill is not known. Armistead Churchill was admitted to bail on September 27, 1817 at which time he attended the funeral of his sister Mary Churchill at "Blenheim" Cemetery in Louisville, Ky. His case was continued until the February 1818 term of the Bullitt Circuit Court. At that February term, the judge awarded the Commonwealth a venire facias de novo (a new writ of venue issued to summon a jury on some irregularity or defect in the proceed- ing under the first venue, or an order granting a new trial for any rea- son). However, on a motion by the defense this venire facias de novo was annulled. Finally, on February 25, 1818 Armistead Churchill was discharged without further trial. In conclusion, through what facts are available in the case of the Commonwealth of Kentucky versus Armistead Churchill, it appears that Armistead Churchill did indeed take the life of Joseph Frederick, and that he may have well acted in a manner which he felt was in the best interest and protection of his sister Mary Churchill. It further appears that Armistead Churchill may well have believed that Cuthbert Bullitt and William Christian Bullitt were indeed plotting to remove their step- mother Mary Churchill from "Dry Run"; however, the facts seem to in- dicate that the Bullitt family had no such intention. Their outrage at this contention was reflected in a series of letters written to Attorney Benjamin Hardin from Cuthbert and William Christian Bullitt challen- ging Mr. Hardin to a duel as the Bullitts felt that their honor and inte- grity had been seriously wronged. Incidentally, Benjamin Hardin de- clined to duel on the grounds that his remarks were not to be taken personally but were to be construed only as part of his job as legal defendant of his client. Finally, as to the disappearance of the juror James Dougherty, only speculation can be offered. Having been freed from jail and the legal charges against him, Armistead Churchill returned to his home in Hardin County, Ky where he resided until some time after 1820. By 1830 Armistead Churchill was living in Simpson County, Ky. His son Andrew Chur- chill was known to be living in nearby Warren County, Ly. where he is known to have married his second wife in September of 1821. By 1840 at the age of sixty-eight, Armistead Churchill was living in Calloway County, Ky. in the household of his oldest child Armistead Guthrie Churchill. Armistead Churchill appears as executor of his oldest son's will written in Calloway County, Ky. in 1841. Armistead Churchill most likely died sometime between the death of his son in February of 1841 and 1850. At his death, most likely in Calloway County, Ky., Armistead Churchill was probably taken to the cem- etery of his father-in-law, Col. Andrew Hynes, just outside the Town of Bardstown in Nelson County, Ky. Armistead Churchill and his wife Sarah Hynes were the parents of the following three children: Armistead Guthrie Churchill---born ca. 1796. Died February 28, 1841. Andrew Churchill---born ca. 1798. Died ca. 1836. Elizabeth Hynes Churchill---born ca. 1800. Died ca. 1841.

I am posting this with the permission of the listowner. If you have any questions, please contact me off the list at mere_thom@runbox.com *********** The Holiday Inn in Anderson, Indiana (Exit 26 on I-69; 40 minutes outside Indianapolis) will play host to the Indiana Genealogical Society's annual conference on Saturday, April 2, 2005. George G. Morgan, noted author and columnist for Ancestry.com, will speak at four sessions: Preservation of Your Family's History and Treasures; Genealogy Orienteering: Using Maps to Find The Right Place; Bring 'Em Back to Life: Developing an Ancestor Profile, and "Tell Me About When You Were A Little Girl": How to Conduct A Family History Interview. Other sessions will focus on preserving photos, using school records and researching Catholic ancestors. There will be various vendors (including the Illinois State Genealogical Society and the Ohio Genealogical Society) and a Computer Resource Center staffed by IGS, where you can view demonstrations of websites, data CDs and other software. The Anderson Public Library ( <http://www.and.lib.in.us/> http://www.and.lib.in.us) will have a Research Lock-In on Friday, April 1st from 5 to 8 pm. Conference and vendor registration forms are available on the Indiana Genealogical Society website at <http://www.indgensoc.org/conference.html> http://www.indgensoc.org/conference.html ************************************ Meredith Thompson Newsletter editor & website manager, Indiana Genealogical Society webmaster@indgensoc.org ************************************

I am looking for the burial place of Nancy Ivie,wife of Robert C. Ivie. Robert is buried in the Ivy Cemetery in Calloway Co; he died 6/30/1901. Nancy was still living in 1903 when Robert's estate was being settled. The KY Archives did not find an estate or probate record for Nancy. I haven't found her in the 1910 census, and she isn't buried in the Ivy Cemetery. She was born in Nov 1822/23 and was either a Long or a Walker before she married. Any help on Nancy would be appreciate. Thanks. Sylvia Nash

I¹m researching the Bazzell family of Calloway and Graves county (and anywhere else !). Recently I was contacted by a Burkett family researcher. He is trying to locate some evidence of what happened to Sarah Louise Burkett, who was about 13 in the 1870 census records. According to family history, she married a ³Rick Bassel² She disappears from the records by 1880. This information led him to my family tree, with my Richard AJ Bazzell, who is a single man in 1870 and by 1880, a widower with two young sons born in 1876 and 1878. Also, a sister and a brother of Richard AJ Bazzell married into the same Burkett family. So the evidence is strong for Sarah Louisa being the first wife of Richard. Also, Richard later migrated to Bollinger county Missouri, along with siblings of Sarah Louisa. He married 2 more times and had a total of 14 children. I would love to find a marriage record for Richard Bazzell ­ Sarah Louisa Burkett, circa 1875 ­in Calloway county. Do such records exist? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for all past help! -Beryl Reid

My friends - When I began to prepare today's posting, I checked my outbox and found that, for reasons I do not know, my posting that should have been sent last Thursday was placed in queue and never sent on its way. I apologize for that error, and shown below is this belated message. Today, we are reviewing another of the delightful little essays by Dr. Gordon Wilson, from his book, "Fidelity Folks". Dr. Wilson was born and grew to adulthood in Fidelity(better known as New Concord)in Calloway County, and went on to become the chair of the English Department at Western Kentucky University. He was known as a superb storyteller, and these essays that he wrote about aspects of living in Fidelity in the late 1800's and up to about 1909 confirm his talents in that regard. Our subject today is The Fidelity Literary Society. -B ======================================================================== THE FIDELITY LITERARY SOCIETY -Dr. A. Gordon Wilson "Fidelity Folks" We were so far away from other centers of population that we had to provide our own entertainment, except for the rare tent shows, magicians, or circuses that came to us or to the county seat. Political campaigns furnished some warm events in late summer, when the numerous candidates spoke at the union church and were cheered or hissed according to the affiliation of our people. In the blazing hot weather the various churches conducted their annual protracted meetings at Sulphur Springs, and Mount Carmel, and the union church. Late in the fall we had an exhibition at the Fidelity School, sometimes with a generous treat for everybody, though the treat was usually given the children at school before the evening program. And there was always the Sunday School through the spring and summer and until Christmas or nearly that time, with preaching on second Sundays except in raw winter weather. Once and only once while I lived at Fidelity was there a community Christmas tree, for that idea had hardly had time to reach our little outlying area. Though there were parties for the young people, right through the winter, there was little for older people to do but go visiting or sit till bedtime. For one brief period we had what was a distinctive institution, the Fidelity Literary Society. Parent-teachers associations were then unknown, but this society in many ways took the place of such an organization. Some of the younger people, including the local teacher, perfected the organization, which met once a week from house to house, ultimately reaching nearly every section of our corner of the county. We had some good programs, too, for Fidelity had talent that needed only some encouragement. The society began to function after Christmas, after the school had closed and the Sunday School had frozen out, No home had enough chairs to seat the crowds that would come, in spite of cold or snow. We would place a long plank between two blocks of stovewood turned up on end and then fold a quilt lengthwise to pad this seat. In that way we could take care of many people. A big fire would be built in the living room, another one in the kitchen fireplace, and another in the Wilson heater in the front room. It took all or most of this space to seat our guests. The program started off with quotations on some subject that formed the nucleus of the entire serious program. Poor Richard and the Bible were drawn on heavily, as were also the schoolbooks that we studied, particularly Mc­Guffey's readers. Then followed speeches, debates, pantomimes, breakdowns, community singing with the band accompanying, and nearly everything else that you could think of. The youngest performer that I recall was a boy who still wore boy dresses but who had a voice like an auctioneer, even at that early age. The oldest performer was an elderly lady from up the creek who read well and could do good imitations. My best known contribution was a reading called "I Stole Them Breeches," a mournful story of a colored brother who wanted to be baptized in style and had to steal a pair of breeches because his "onliest pa'r was clean worn out and gin up the ghost when I gun to shout." Sometimes the program ended in refreshments: cake and pickle or popcorn. Our postmaster-druggist did for us many of his best numbers, from playing trick numbers on his fiddle to acting numerous parts. I admired him almost to the point of worship, so eager was I to grow up and be able to roll them in the aisles. And he could do the sentimental things so well that dozens of hardened men would pretend that their colds had suddenly become worse. From the sublime to the ridiculous was an easy grade for the entertainer, and we sometimes found ourselves shedding tears from hearty laughter within a few minutes of being ashamed of our sniffling at some pathetic line. Just why this good neighborhood custom had so brief a life I cannot remember. It should have lasted until the days of the high school and its gymnasium/auditorium, which became the community center that replaced the old union church some twenty-five years ago. ==========================================================================

My friends - It has been some time since we last reviewed one of Dr. Gordon Wilson's marvelous essays from his work, "Fidelity Folks". Dr. Wilson was born and raised in Fidelity, in Calloway County, which we know today as New Concord. He was a past master at storytelling, as these little essays amply prove. Today's subject is 'The Autograph Album'. I can recall autograph books still being popular in my high school days, and we had calling cards printed as a part of the graduation process in the senior year. The earlier time, though, of which Dr. Wilson speaks, was a much more ornate and formal era. -B ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ THE AUTOGRAPH ALBUM -Dr. A. Gordon Wilson “Fidelity Folks” The autograph album was formerly as much a distinctive part of the front room as the family album with its collection of tintypes and frozen-looking pictures. This prized book usually came into the home as a Christmas present from Sister's current beau. It was an elongated affair, with many a page just itching for verses and appropriate prose, "sappy inanities," as Mark Twain called the contents of the much prized gift books of the last century. Each friend of the young lady was asked to write in her album. A graduate thesis could be written on the penmanship and its flourishes, the loops and curves, the birds and other strange fowl drawn with many a push and pull of the pen. Still another thesis would treat of the verses, some of them hallowed by age, others tampered with slightly, and some--horrible to relate-­original and worse than banal. Many a verse found in these books had first come into the possession of the writer from the wrapper around a bit of candy, usually called a "candy kiss". Some of these wrappers found their way into the schoolroom and then across from the boys' side to the girls' side, if not interrupted by the teacher. But the penmanship in the autograph album often dressed up the inconsequential little verse until it looked like a first-class poem, written by some eminent poet who was not an adept at writing but long on decorations, like some medieval copyist. The autograph album lay in its own little space on the crowded center table, having to share quarters with the big family Bible, the stereoscope and its pictures, the decorated lamp, the big family album, etc., etc. Its contents were not copyrighted and were not secret. If some of them seemed a bit too sentimental after the ex-beau had long been married to some one else, I suppose that we attributed this to what the textbooks called "poetic license". Great men may err greatly, I have been told. Just as the later postcard rack displayed your private messages for all and sundry to see and comment upon, so the autograph album preserved your passing freaks of spelling and penmanship until the fad of the autograph album was replaced by something else, and the book was hidden away with other possessions that are too dear to burn and too worthless to lie around gathering dust. Very closely related to the autograph album was the ornate calling card, once very popular. These calling cards were in no sense what their name implies, for they were given away to one's friends and preserved thereafter just like other mementos. They reposed in a little tray and were open for inspection always, like some of the packages now sent through the mails. "Open for inspection" is hardly right, for the name was hidden under a lovely wreath or picture, glued down at one end. Two doves might be billing and cooing on this flap or two hands clasped in love or friendship. The name was in script or print, according to the passing fad. Long after I had left Fidelity--in fact, when I was a senior in a junior college--some neighbor girl at Fidelity had read in COMFORT or AMERICAN WOMAN how she could obtain some valuable prize for selling some dozens of these ornate calling cards. She approached Mother, who had a hard time in turning down house-to-house canvassers, and suggested that the cards might be for me. Mother was too old and too old-fashioned to need any calling cards, but I, illustrating a throw-back to my Scotch origin, carefully removed the flaps from the cards and used them in my commencement invitations. I did such a good job of trimming off all offending signs of the former flap that I am sure no one suspected the origin of my dainty little calling cards. ==========================================================================

My friends - I have recently been addressing some of the questions that I receive from time to time from subscribers and others about the JP region, its history and people. One question that I receive about a dozen times each year is, "What happened to Calloway Town?". There is a plat map of Calloway Town available on the JP Images website. Calloway Town was born in the middle 1830's. It was the brainchild primarily of Isaac Wells, and a few other men, to serve what was then the central part of far eastern Calloway County. Its location today would be in the northeastern corner of Calloway County. It was to be built adjacent to the Tennessee River, and the plat map shows a ferry landing and the River itself. The plat indicates that the town would be approximate 50 miles upriver from Paducah(therefore, southeast of Paducah, since the Tennessee River flows northward). By 1839, the community was viable and conducting commerce via the river primarily, although residents in the eastern part of central Calloway County also used Calloway Town as a trading point. Calloway Town prospered for a few years. When Marshall County was cut from Calloway County, however, in 1842, the fortunes of Calloway Town began to decline. Ferries sprang up somewhat north from Calloway Town, and some communities, such as Birmingham, began to gain prominence. Several of the "leading lights" of Calloway Town died - some, such as Isaac Wells, who died in 1841, having died at a relatively young age. The community began to dwindle, much as Wadesboro did after its status as county seat was superceded by Murray, and, by about 1865, Calloway Town was, for all practical purposes, a ghost town. One of the unsolved mysteries connected with Calloway Town is where the community cemetery was located. There is little doubt that one existed, and some of the residents of Calloway Town, and the area close by, were buried there. However, these deaths occurred in the 1830's and 1840's, primarily, and, as we know, the grave markers in those days were composed of a sandstone/limestone combination that did not stand up well to the humidity of the region. By the time of the TVA Kentucky Dam project in the late 1930's, all traces of the community - and the cemetery - were gone. There were a number of families in the area(such as the Wells, Skaggs, Norsworthy, Hale, Scott, Hardy, Rowlett, Brandon and others)who very likely had burials in the area of Calloway Town. Most of those burials are now lost, and Calloway Town is under the waters of the Kentucky Lake. -B ====================================================================

Found this on ebay, thought it might help someone in their research. The url is: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=5523784461 Or you can go to ebay and search for item number: 5523784461 Hope it helps someone, Dorothy

My friends - Today, we are reviewing another of Dr. Gordon Wilson's delightful essays. This selection - one of his longer ones - comes from his little book, "Passing Institutions" and is entitled, 'The Home-Knit Yarn Stockings'. Dr. Wilson, in his usual, almost magical, way, transports us back in time to share the experience of making and using home-knit stockings. My own parents spoke of their home-knit stockings in their lifetime, and it was one of their special memories. As is now customary, there will be no data posts tomorrow or on the weekend, and I will not have the necessary time to convert and offer a miscellaneous file. I will return with a posting on Monday. -B +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ THE HOME-KNIT YARN STOCKINGS -Dr. A. Gordon Wilson “Passing Institutions” Some generations hence it may seem as strange to Bible readers to read about sheep as to hear of oxen hitched to a plow; but to us who have worn home-knit yarn stockings and have watched their development from the time the wool left the sheep's back, there will always be a romance about sheep quite as real as the Oriental poets themselves have felt. Many an upland field not good for cultivation formerly had its flock of sheep, browsing among the sassafras and persimmon bushes and sounding their appealing voices over field and wood. Practically unnoticed through the summer, they became the especial care of the younger children through the winter. Regardless of the calendar or the late frosts, the day the sheep were sheared in the spring was the signal for the boys and girls to "pull off barefooted." Any boy would gladly hold a sheep's head while a man cut off the fleece, particularly if one's feet could feel a freedom not previously experienced in many months of hard winter. If sheep could stand the bleak late-spring days, so could boys and girls. And the boy had a distinct advantage over the sheep, for in a few days of going bare­footed he acquired a toughened skin that could resist any ordinary frost. The Prisoner of Chillon could not have felt any greater freedom when he was released than did a boy's feet after their long confinement in brogans. After the shearing came another interesting event, the washing of the wool. Father, Mother, and all the children were called into service, and when the day was over, all the sheds were covered as if with a very-much-belated fall of snow. While most of the dirt was removed by this washing, the burrs and coarser particles of dirt remained. Thus it was necessary to have a wool-picking. This often occasioned a number of neighborly gatherings. Great art was shown in removing the worst burrs without resorting to the use of scissors. A big split basket in the corner received the cleaned wool; the same basket held the wool when it was taken to the carding mills and made into light, fluffy rolls. Before my time the rolls were made at home. I myself have made a few rolls with cotton cards, largely for the experience, but I had the satisfaction of seeing Mother spin these rolls along with those from the mills. By the time the wool had been cleaned and made into rolls it was the season for Mother to start spinning. Early in the fall the spinning wheel was brought out from the shed or the attic, and, as the evening passed away, the subdued, musical sound of the wheel filled the house, lending a picturesque setting for the stories I read or the dreams I projected. Outside in the murky sky I sometimes heard passing a flock of wild geese; the music of the wheel and the stirring call of the birds of passage have so associated themselves in my memory that the one brings up the other. Though I hear each Fall the same wild geese, it seems, pass­ing over my house, I miss the whirr of the spinning wheel and the odor of fresh rolls of wool. "Hank" is not a dignified term in our day, but to me it suggests the hank of yarn thread that I so often held while Mother wound the thread into large, soft balls. I was doing this very thing once when my big sister was reading aloud the passage in Longfellow's "The Courtship of Miles Standish" which tells how John Alden held the hank of yarn for Priscilla, the "beautiful maiden." And so wild geese and the glow of early autumn fires and "The Courtship of Miles Standish" and the sound of the spinning wheel are all mixed up in my memories, quite too tangled for me to wish to separate them. Nearer and nearer comes the process of the annual making of stockings. On some evening by the fireside Mother brought out her knitting needles and set to work. Faster than sight itself her fingers clicked the needles, the stocking growing visibly in a single evening. Even if she nodded, the knitting went on, we always stoutly maintained, and it is certain that she could knit without looking at her work. It was a great event when she reached the heel and doubled the thread. Up until that time the prospect for a stocking seemed very slender; now the completed article was almost in sight. A few more evenings, and the pair was complete, in form but not in color, for dye must be allowed its share in the stocking which was to have so great a history. By the time a new pair had been knit for each member of the family, Christmas was near, the season created especially for the home-knit stocking. Just a few days before Christmas Mother dyed the whole output of her fall and winter knitting and re­dyed the stockings that had had to be supplied with new feet. Initiation for the new stocking was then at hand. The snake has long had an undeserved reputation for powers of distention; that honor should go to the home-knit yarn stocking. On Christmas morning my new pair would have more contents than would have comfortably filled a gallon bucket. In another way they resembled snakes, for there were startling knots along the stockings, revealing the presence of an apple or orange, fruits little seen except at Christmas. The smaller spaces were snugly full of candy, raisins, figs, nuts, and the inevitable bale of firecrackers and a Roman candle sticking out at the top. Bulkier objects were laid in the chair on which the stockings were hung. Fortuna's horn may have been good enough for the over­aesthetic Greeks; I prefer as a symbol of plenty the Christmas stocking, and since the home-knit variety has the greatest powers of distention, then that one as the modern representation of abundance. For the greater part of Christmas morning I delved into those stockings, finding new treasures as I proceeded. I literally ate my way through. Occasionally I encountered days afterwards a lump of something which proved on investigation to be a remnant of figs or raisins, overlooked in my early-morning search. During Christmas week or later, whenever there was a snow, the new stockings were needed, even being re-enforced by an old pair pulled on over the shoes and used for leggings. This was the regulation outfit for rabbit-hunting. Yarn stockings have a way of keeping the feet fairly warm, in spite of their being wet. Even "during books" in the subscription school which was often held after the holidays a fellow needed the warmth of wool stockings, for the two stoves, "with half a cord o' wood in," made little impression on the arctic temperature of the old nondescript schoolhouse. We welcomed a chance to get out into the snow to drag up saplings for wood, for by that means we kept our blood circulating and also avoided the necessity for studying or for sitting quiet. What with rabbit-hunting, going to school, and doing the necessary chores about the farm, we soon needed repairs for our stockings. After supper, that busy time for Mother, the darning gourd was inserted into the worn stockings and the holes mended. This repairing process had to be resorted to a number of times during the winter. By the second winter the feet were too much worn to be darned; this necessitated new feet. The old pair with the new feet was again subjected to dyeing, but even then the tops had a much darker color, revealing that they were second-season stockings. I recall how disappointed I was once when Mother was unable to get my new stockings dyed in time for me to hang them up, and I had to use a pair that had been re-dyed. Santa Claus seemed to know no difference between the new and the old, for his apples, oranges, figs, raisins, and nuts came true to form, and the Roman candles and fire­crackers looked fully as good as at any other time. After the days of the stocking as a useful object of apparel were over, it still had a history. It could be worn over the shoes in winter, as I have already indicated, and in this capacity it often served through a long snow. But there was one use which was supposed to be the end of old stockings quite as appropriate as the end of old battleships is said to be: from the worn toe we made a core of a ball and supplied the ball proper by unraveling the rest of the stocking and winding the thread until a good-sized ball was the result. Along toward the completion of the ball we threaded the yarn through a darning needle and sewed the ball thoroughly, so that it could stand rough treatment. We had never seen a baseball, and seldom a rubber ball. For all our games of ball--cat ball, bat ball, town ball, shinny, "antny over," hat ball--we used the home-grown product. I tell you, nothing hurts quite so much as a yarn ball soaked in water before nailing some fellow to the cross in the game of hat ball. This was the name we applied to one of our ceremonies in this game. When we played "antny over," the ball regularly got lodged on the roof of the schoolhouse, which required a vast amount of climbing the bell-post to dislodge it. Like the deacon's masterpiece, the ball does not wear out easily. Usually we threw it too far away and were never able to rediscover it. The yarn stocking, particularly the home­knit one, like the yarn ball, has gotten lost, "ne'er to be found again," A brief impulse to knitting was given by the[First] World War, but died down, just like many of the fine impulses of that war. Machinery can do the work so much more rapidly that we now buy our stockings and socks at the store, but no sentiment is attached to "boughten" stockings. Mother deservedly turns her attention to other things in the modern home, but I miss the music of the spinning wheel; I miss the feel of the hank of yarn in my hands; I miss the yarn ball that I once regarded as the finest toy; but I miss most of all the sight of the new pair of stockings bulging with treasures greater than those of Fortuna's horn. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I'm searching for George C. Butler born abt 1826 in Tennessee, he is on the 1860 Calloway Co., Murray, KY with wife Mary and Children: William O. Butler 11 yrs Male TN Thomas S 9 yrs Male TN Sarah E. 6 Female KY Martha A 4 Female KY Avy j 2 yrs Female Ky Living a couple of households from George C. Butler in 1860 was James A. And Sarah Dickson Butler with children Nehemiah 1853 m. Mary McCuiston in 1877, Jemina J. born 1856, Sarah E. 1858, Mary Elizabeth 1860, Susan 1864, James Williams 1866, Tennessee A. 1870, Codelia 1873, Perry A 1868 Living next door to James and Sarah Dickson Butler is Calvin G. Butler and wife. I need to find out how these Butler families are connected 1870 Concord, Co., Calloway Co., KY Butler, George C. 44 Male White Farmer TN eligible to vote Butler, Mary J 41 Female White Keeping House TN Butler, Thomas A 19 Male White Farmer Sarah E 15 Female White at home Martha A 14 Female white at home Ary E. 12 Female white at home James C 9 male white at home Thanks, Shirley