Thanks for sharing your trip information and lots of genealogy in it. [email protected] wrote: > If you want to read strict genealogy, punch the delete button now. In years > past, I called this a trip report. Some folks enjoyed reading it, and some > complained that it has no right or reason to be on a genealogy mailing list. > I was told that since my trips do have some genealogical and historical > reasoning, it is welcome on the lists. So here goes. > > My wife Elizabeth and I left Guthrie, Oklahoma early morning Saturday, May > 20. Stopped overnight in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. Didn't make it to West > Liberty, Kentucky until late Sunday afternoon. We always spend our time > there with my dad's cousin Ruie Nickell. She has very few written records, > but she is a walking, talking genealogy library. > > On Monday the 21st, we spent much of the day at the library in West Liberty. > Found a lot of marriage dates I had wanted for ages, mostly on my Jones and > Nickell families and one of the Lemaster marriages I had wanted. Also > copied some very interesting information from "Selections From Morgan County > History." That book contains a lot of stuff I had never heard about. > Fascinating book!!! I got Xerox copies of quite a few of the marriage > records at the courthouse after I finished at the library. > > Tuesday evening in Cannonsburg, we attended the viewing for Tara Potter, 42 > year old daughter of my cousin Billie Jean McGuire Stephens. Billie Jean has > been in very bad health for more than a year, and this death was very hard > for her. > > Wednesday afternoon, we drove to Huntington, West Virginia and visited with > Leroy and Dee Caudill. Surprisingly, Dee and my wife are more closely > related than Leroy and I are. Liz and Dee are descended from Chloe Flynn > Ballard whom Daniel Boone had rescued from an Indian camp. We had a great > visit, and Dee served a delicious dinner. > > Wednesday evening after we got home, I got to meet another cousin I'd never > met before. Bruce McLin, who now lives at Lacy Creek, came to Ruie's to meet > us and visit a while. Bruce's grandmother and my grand father were brother > and sister. His grandmother was Carrie Caudle Howard. Bruce sure reminded > me of my grand dad. Later that evening I talked on the phone with Joyce > Blackburn Nickell. Joyce is an antebellum historian and really studies the > Civil War. We talked quite a lot about John DeSha and Priscilla Jones > Nickell and of Joseph DeSha and Freelove Jones Nickell - brothers married > sisters. These Jones women were sisters to my great great grandfather Uriah > Jones whose wife Matilda Jane Nickell was sister to John and Joseph. Jane > and Uriah are buried in Oklahoma. John and Priscilla are buried in the > Canada Nickell Cemetery at Matthew. I wouldn't find Joseph and Freelove's > graves until the next day. > > The wonderful wife of another wonderful cousin there gave me a copy of the > Morgan County Cemetery Listings. Wish I had a free full year to find some of > those cemeteries. I definitely wanted to find the one in which Joseph and > Freelove Jones Nickell were buried. I had obtained a county map at the court > house and was sure I could find it if I didn't get permanently lost. I > figured ( and I did it) I could drive down Jones Creek road to see the area > in which old Ambrose and Martha Craig Jones had settled and come out a little > south of the South Fork Church near Index. That worked out great. I really > enjoyed the drive through there. It's all such beautiful country. We went > south to Walnut Grove Church and turned off on state road 844. I went to two > cemeteries before I realized that somplace we missed the one we wanted. I > finally did what men are not well know for doing. I stopped and asked > directions. A very nice lady with some of the most beautiful flower beds > I've ever seen came to the door before I even got near enough to knock. I > asked if she could tell me where the Nickell cemetery was. She said "which > one?" I told her I was looking for the graves of Joseph DeSha and Freelove > Nickell. She told me she thought she knew where it was but wanted to call > her mother first to make sure. Didn't take long, and she gave us directions. > We had just not seen the road. Drove right past it again, but didn't go > far. The road was very steep and wet, so I walked up. Wasn't very far > though. This old "smoker" only had to stop once for breath. The cemetery > was well cared for and absolutely beautiful. And, surprisingly, not my usual > luck, but Joseph and Freelove's stone was the first one inside the gate. > Joseph DeSha Nickell, April 15, 1831 - August 23, 1913. > Freelove J. Nickell, August 17, 1830 - September 23, 1878. > I don't know if the J. stood for Jones or if it was her middle initial. Some > one had told me her name was Patience Freelove. Does anyone out there know > for sure? > > That evening after getting back to Ruie's, Joyce Lewis Lemaster came to > visit. Wonderful lady!!! She writes the Lacy Creek news for the Licking > Valley Courier. Not long after she left, I talked again on the phone with > Joyce Nickell about Joseph and Freelove's grave. she wants to go see it, too. > > Friday evening we went to the Canada Nickell cemetery at Matthew. I got some > pictures of Big Joe and Matilda Lindel Nickell's graves and of John and > Priscilla Jones Nickell's graves. We put up a new flag at the grave of > Thomas Nickell, Ruie's husband. When we got back to the house, there was a > message that Ruie's brother Paul B. Gullett had been taken to Morehead to the > hospital. Paul B. has been undergoing cancer treatments. His white blood > count had gotten too low and they were going to keep him over the weekend. I > haven't heard yet, but I sure am praying that he's doing okay. > > Saturday was the Wesley Caudle family reunion. We usually hold the reunion > at the top of Trace Fork at the old home place, but this year the rains had > made the trail too muddy. We had our dinner at the Lacy Creek Church > pavilion, then went to Elk Fork Church for a baby shower. The new baby will > be Ruie's first great grandchild. Of course, it wasn't really a baby shower. > It was a surprise (Really was, too) 80th birthday celebration for Ruie. I'm > sure there were at least 100 people there to help her celebrate. We all had > a really great time. Quite a few people came to Ruie's house that evening > for more visiting. > > Early Sunday morning, Georgia Lindon came by and showed me her genealogy and > family history albums. Sure wish I was so organized. I hear from Georgia > fairly often by e-mail as she researches quite a few of my family lines, > including the McGuires. > > We left Ruie's about 9:15 a.m. Sunday morning to head for home with delays in > several places in Kentucky for sight seeing. We drove through Beattieville, > Ravenna, and Irvine just to see that part of the state where my great great > great grandparents Ambrose Jones and Martha Newton were married and lived. > If I had planned that part of the trip ahead of time, there were some good > folks I would have contacted ahead of time so I could perhaps have met them - > at least Joretta Newton Estes. Sorry I couldn't remember her last name, so I > couldn't even call her. Would love to have met some of the Newton family. > We had lunch at Hardee's in Irvine. Couldn't find a regular restaurant. > > Joretta and her sister Pat Newton Brown had told me about the pottery factory > at Bybee. Their description made me decide I wanted to go see that place - > family business since 1809, hand thrown pottery!!!! It was Sunday, so we > stopped long enough for me to take some pictures, then went on into Richmond > for the night. > > Monday morning we went back to the Bybee pottery store and stood in line in > the rain for about 15 minutes before the doors opened. And just like Pat and > Joretta had explained, I believe the shelves were emptied in about 15 or 20 > minutes. We did manage to grab up 4 nice small pieces without getting our > arms broken. I've never seen anything like it other than in the movies when > women during world war II fought over silk stockings when the store got them > in. In fact, I saw it happen in Stillwater, Oklahoma. I watched through the > big store window. > > Had breakfast back in Richmond, then walked some on Main Street taking > pictures. Being a holiday, everything was closed. After a few pictures, we > drove out to see what we thought was a cabin in which Kit Carson was born. > What we found was just a sign marking that he was born in that area. Then we > went to Fort Boonesboro. Very interesting place. I was happy to get some > good pictures of the memorial marker showing my ancestral names of Ambrose > and Jesse Coffey and one of the Hammonds family. After Boonesboro, we went > to Harrodsburg and old For Harrod. That was another very interesting piece > of Kentucky and American history. From there we went to Bardstown for the > night. Naturally, we stayed at the "My Old Kentucky Home" Motel. > > I think Bardstown owes its very life to Stephen Foster. We ate breakfast at > "My Old Kentucky Home" restaurant. We did a lot of site seeing on Stephen > Foster Drive. Took a lot of pictures. The Mason County Courthouse and Saint > Joseph's Proto-Cathedral!! Toured "My Old Kentucky Home" where Stephen > Foster wrote the song of that same name. It's a beautiful home and was a > very interesting tour. From there, we went to the best Civil War Museum I've > ever seen. > > We then drove down to New Hampton and toured the Kentucky Railroad Museum. > Liz's father was a railroad man, so it was especially interesting for her. > Of course, I enjoyed it, too. After that, we went on to Abraham Lincoln's > boyhood home, then to his birthplace. Both were really interesting. It's > hard to believe that someone who had lived like that would ever become > president. > > That ended our site seeing. Had to head for home then. Made it as far as > Goodlettsville, TN again for the night. On Wednesday 31, we didn't do any > site seeing either except for the middle of the interstate. Over nighted at > Russellville, Arkansas. Came on home Thursday, arriving about 2:30 p.m. > after driving a total of 2701 miles. > > It was a great vacation, lots of wonderful visiting, lots of genealogy and > history finds, lots of good site seeing, and lots of fun. I'm almost ready > to go again, but would miss my computer and e-mail too much to go this soon. > LOL. > > I hope I haven't bored any one too much. I love to tell about my trips and > would like for others to tell about theirs, too. > > Bud Caudle > Guthrie, Oklahoma > > > > ==== KYJOHNSO Mailing List ==== > Comments or suggestions pertaining to this list may be sent to: > [email protected] > Visit the Johnson County Historical Society homepage: > http://www.rootsweb.com/~kyjchs/johnson.html