Crawford Joseph Hayden

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Mar 1886

Crawford married Hazel Amelia Daigle on 6 Jan 1917 in Denver, Denver, Colorado. Hazel was born in 1897; died in 1959; was buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Wheat Ridge, Jefferson, Colorado. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

James S. Hayden and Mary Drucilla Hayden were second cousins once removed, both (if our theory of Joseph Hayden's origins is correct) being descendants of William Hayden (1742-1794) and his wife Elizabeth Thompson.

From the record of James S. Hayden's marriage to Mary Drucilla Hayden, we can see that, like PNH's father, he abbreviated his first name to "Jas".

US Civil War: Company K, 4th Kentucky Infantry (Confederate), 1861-1865.

From History of Daviess County, Kentucky, together with sketches of its cities, villages, and townships, educational religious, civil military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, biographies of representative citizens, and an outline history of Kentucky. Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Company, 1883:

James S. Hayden, born in Nelson County, KY, Aug. 23, 1836, is a son of Joseph Hayden (deceased), a native of Washington County. He came to this county in 1852. He enlisted in the Company K, Fourth Kentucky Infantry. He was in many of the principal battles and never lost a day's service while in the army. He was married Jan. 28, 1868, to Mary D., daughter of Urban Hayden. Eight children have been born to them, only six living -- Clarence, Richard I., Treasie M., Robert, Claude and Mary A. Mr. Hayden owns a farm of 103 1/2 acres. He belongs to the Catholic church and Total Abstinence Society.

From History of the First Kentucky Brigade by Edwin Porter Thompson (Cincinnati: Caxton Publishing House, 1868):

JAMES HAYDEN, Daviess County, Ky., fought at Baton Rouge, Murfeesboro, Jackson, Chickamauga, Mission Ridge, Rocky Face Gap, Resaca, and Dallas; from Dallas to Atlanta; both days at Jonesboro', and in all the mounted engagements.

From the Owensboro Messenger, 5 Nov 1908, page 3:

TAPS SOUNDED
FOR ANOTHER VETERAN OF THE SOUTHERN CAUSE.

James S. Hayden Dies at His Home at West Louisville--Born in Nelson County.

James S. Hayden, one of the best known and most highly respected citizens of Daviess county, died suddenly of heart trouble Wednesday afternoon at his home in the West Louisville neighborhood. His death was entirely unexpected, as he was apparently in good health.

Mr. Hayden, for many years, was a resident of Daviess county and a valuable citizen. He was [born] in Nelson county, Ky., August 23, 1836, and was a son of Joseph Hayden, deceased, a native of Washington county. He came to this county in 1852. He enlisted in Company K, Fourth Kentucky Infantry, Confederate army. He was in many battles and never lost a day's service while in the army. He was married to Miss Mary D. Hayden, on January 28, 1868, his first wife, and eight children were born to them. He is survived by his second wife and five children, four sons and one daughter. Mr. Hayden was a member of the Catholic church and was a Christian gentleman.

The funeral will take place at 2 o'clock this afternoon from St. Alphonsus chuch, and the interment will take place at the church cemetery.


From the Owensboro Messenger, 8 Nov 1908, page 7:

SHOWN THE MEMORY OF JAMES S. HAYDEN
Meeting of Rice E. Graves Camp of Confederate Veterans Held and Resolutions Adopted.

Rico [sic] E. Graves camp was called together to take action on the death of Comrade James S. Hayden, who died near West Louisville. On motion the commander appointed the following committee on resolutions: Nick Lancaster, Thomas Murphy and James H. Cottrell.

The committee reported the following, which was adopted:

Whereas, One more call, one more answer. J. S. Hayden, member of Rice E. Graves camp, answers to the final call and passes into the great beyond. Brave soldier and good man, always ready, both in the field of battle, or in the peaceful pursuits of life; generous in life, true to his friends, and stood by his political party to the last. When death called he was anxiously scanning the returns of the election, like a [sic] brave soldier he was. "Oh," he said and joined his comrades on the other side. Just a promotion, higher up in the ranks, where the boom of cannons or the strains of a soldier's life is not known. Peace to his ashes.

J. S. Hayden was born in Nelson county, in the year 1836. Daviess county was his adopted county. He was a member of Captain Millett's company K, Fourth Kentucky infantry, also a member of the Rice E. Graves camp.

Therefore be it resolved. That we, as members of said camp, express our sympathy and sorrow for the broken link in the chain that is almost too short to be counted. A few of us still remain to gather around one more dead comrade and we extend to the family our heartfelt sympathy.

Second. That a copy of these resolutions be spread upon the camp roster and a copy sent to the family of the deceased.

T. M. MURPHY.
NICK LANCASTER.
J. H. COTTRELL.
Committee.

James married Mary Drucilla Hayden on 28 Jan 1868 in Daviess County, Kentucky. Mary (daughter of Urban Hayden and Rosella Coomes) was born on 4 Apr 1847 in Daviess County, Kentucky; died on 25 Apr 1890 in near West Louisville, Daviess, Kentucky; was buried in St. Alphonsus Cemetery, West Louisville, Daviess, Kentucky. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 25 Apr 1890, Curdsville, Daviess, Kentucky

Notes:

Also Drucilia, Drusilla, Drucy, various other spellings. Died of consumption.

Mary Drucilla Hayden and James S. Hayden were second cousins once removed, both (if our theory of Joseph Hayden's origins is correct) being descendants of William Hayden (1742-1794) and his wife Elizabeth Thompson.

Mary Drucilla Hayden was also a second cousin once removed to James S. Hayden's second wife Josephine Aud, both of them being descendants of PNH great-great grandparents Frances Coomes (1726-1822) and Charity Wood (1734-1796).

Owensboro Messenger, 30 Apr 1890, p. 4: "J. S. Hayden was appointed guardian of the heirs of Drusilla Hayden, deceased."

Notes:

Joseph Hayden's parentage remains unproven. But we (Laura Hayden and PNH) think it very likely he was a son of George Hayden (1776-1859).

(1) DNA evidence indicates that Patrick is probably a direct paternal descendant of the immigrant Francis Heydon who died in St. Mary's County, Maryland circa 1694. Specifically, his brother Benjamin's Y-DNA is a 98% match to that of several people with documented paternal descent from Francis. Additionally, Benjamin's Y-DNA is also a strong match to that of people descended from Charles Evans Hayden (1873-1939), who was a grandson of George Hayden (1776-1859).

(2) We do not have a record of a straight father-to-son descent from Francis to Patrick. We have records that show Patrick is descended from Francis, but they go through the maternal line at least twice. (Specifically, the documented descent from Francis goes through Joseph's son James's wife Mary Drucilla Hayden, daughter of Urban Hayden, son of Mary A. Hayden, daughter of Charles Hayden, himself a direct male-line descendant of Francis. Urban’s father William Leo Hayden was not a descendant of Francis, but he married a Hayden, Mary, who was.)

(3) We have never been able to find a record of the parents of Patrick's paternal great-great-great grandfather Joseph Hayden (~1800-<1883).

(4) And yet, if the DNA evidence is to be believed, Joseph must be a direct paternal descendant of Francis.

This has led us to examine the question of which direct paternal descendants of Francis Hayden (d. ~1694) were in Washington County, Kentucky at the right time to be the father of Joseph Hayden who was (according to the 1883 History of Daviess County, Kentucky, citation details below) born there in approximately 1800.

William Hayden, direct paternal great-grandson of Francis Hayden, was born in St. Mary's County, Maryland in 1742. He and his family emigrated from Maryland to Kentucky as part of the expedition led by his more famous brother Basil Hayden. William Hayden died in Washington County, Kentucky on 10 April 1794.

His sons were:
Charles Hayden, b. ~1766, St. Mary's County, MD; d. 1813, Washington, KY
Benedict "Bennett" Hayden, b. 1768, St. Mary's County, MD; d. 1794, Washington, KY
Henry Hayden, b. 1770, St. Mary's County, MD; d. 1828, Washington, KY
Wilford Hayden, b. 1772, St. Mary's County, MD; d. 1827, Washington, KY
George Hayden, b. <1776, St. Mary's County, MD; d. 1859, Springfield, Washington, KY
Thomas Hayden, b. 1779, St. Mary's County, MD; d. 1850, Fancy Farm, Graves, KY

(Incidentally, the Wilford Hayden mentioned above, sold, in 1802, 300 acres near Springfield, Kentucky, to Mordecai Lincoln (1771-1830), uncle of the 16th President of the United States. More on Wilford's page, behind the link.)

Benedict Hayden is unlikely to have been Joseph's father, unless our birth year for Joseph is off by at least six years. That leaves Charles, Henry, Wilford, George, and Thomas.

Kentucky's 1800 census records were burned by the British during the War of 1812. But surviving tax lists from 1800 turn up 17 men named Hayden, Heydon, Haydon, or Haydin being taxed in Washington County that year. Among those seventeen are names corresponding to all five of William Hayden's sons known to have been alive and in Washington County in 1800: a Charles Heydon, a Henry Heydon, a Wilfrid Haydin, a George Hayden, and a Thomas Haydon. ("Will Heydon" and "Willy Heydon", also among the 17 names, might well be the same individual as Wilfrid/Wilford.)

Charles Hayden is already known to be a 5G grandfather to Patrick, as the father of Mary A. Hayden who married William Leo Hayden, natural son of Basil Hayden's wife Henrietta Cole. Charles is unlikely to be the father of Joseph because the records show him and his wife Eleanor Elliott as parents of a different child born in 1800, Charles Hayden Jr., who married Eleanor Hagan (1803-1882) and died in 1838. That leaves Henry, Wilford, George, and Thomas.

Henry Hayden married Jennet Lee in Kentucky in 1789, and she had several children by him before she died sometime before 1796. In July 1796 Henry married Mary Green, and we have no record of them having any children.

Wilford Hayden married Ann Nancy Lee, and they had a child in 1800, Phillip Hayden, who married Elizabeth Thompson Hayden (1811-1849) and died in 1841.

Thomas Hayden married Mary Willett in January 1802. They had 13 children, including a John Joseph Hayden in 1812, but John Joseph married Elenor Hobbs and isn't our Joseph Hayden.

That leaves George Hayden (1776-1859) as the likeliest father for Joseph Hayden. George Hayden married Mary Elliott, the sister of his brother Charles's wife Eleanor Elliott, in Washington County, Kentucky in 1796. George and Mary's first recorded child is Elizabeth b. 1798; the next one we're able to find is Eleanor b. 1803. As Laura Hayden points out, this a very long gap for the usually-prolific Haydens; Joseph could well have been born to them in that gap.

Some unsourced online records show George Hayden and Mary Elliott with a son identified as "Clement Hayden" born c. 1800 in Washington County, Kentucky. It's hardly impossible that this Clement's full name was Clement Joseph Hayden, or Joseph Clement Hayden. Or Clement and Joseph could be separate children; the gap is long enough to easily encompass the birth of two. Relevant to this, the 1820 census shows George and Mary's household containing two "Free White Persons - Males - 16 to 25", which suggests that they had at least two otherwise unrecorded sons prior to 1805.

Just to reiterate, Joseph Hayden (1800-1883), Patrick's GGG grandfather, has to have been a direct paternal descendant of the immigrant Francis Hayden, unless the DNA results are wrong. And to repeat a supporting point, those DNA results also showed Patrick's brother Benjamin as a strong match to paternal descendants of a grandson of the George Hayden we are hypothesizing as Joseph Hayden's father -- Charles Evans Hayden (1873-1939), grandson of George by his second wife, Nancy Doncaster.

[Thanks to Laura Hayden for doing most of the work on this series of deductions.]

***

Details from the 1820 US Federal Census, Bardstown, Nelson County, for George Haydon:
[Showing the presence of two males in his household born between 1795 and 1805]

Name:
George Haydon
Home in 1820 (City, County, State):
Bardstown, Nelson, Kentucky
Enumeration Date:
August 7, 1820
Free White Persons - Males - Under 10: 2
Free White Persons - Males - 10 thru 15: 1
Free White Persons - Males - 16 thru 25: 2
Free White Persons - Males - 26 thru 44: 1
Free White Persons - Females - Under 10: 1
Free White Persons - Females - 10 thru 15: 2
Free White Persons - Females - 16 thru 25: 2
Free White Persons - Females - 26 thru 44: 1
Number of Persons - Engaged in Agriculture: 4
Free White Persons - Under 16: 6
Free White Persons - Over 25: 2
Total Free White Persons: 12
Total All Persons - White, Slaves, Colored, Other: 12

***

Another thing we know as well as we know anything about Joseph Hayden is that he married Catherine Clayton on 26 Aug 1823 in Nelson County, Kentucky, and that she was a daughter of Joseph Clayton who fought on the Virginia line in the Revolution and died in Nelson County, Kentucky between 1813 and 1824.

The following legal transcript, found at http://www.geocities.ws/johnadamfogle/26.html and entitled "Indenture, Nelson County, 11 April 1803", shows that as far back as 1793, William Hayden (father to George, who we believe to have been Joseph's father), and his son Charles Hayden, and Joseph Clayton, who would become Joseph Hayden's father-in-law thirty years later, were all neighbors in Nelson County, Kentucky, owning land that abutted one another's holdings.

This Indenture made the (blank) day of March in the year of our Lord one thousand Eight hundred and three between Charles Morehead and Samuel Miller Commissioners of the County of Nelson of the one part and Joseph Fogle of the same county of the other part. Witnesseth that Whereas by an act of the general assembly of this state passed on the first day of March in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety seven entitled an act to reduce into one the several acts for the conveyance and division of lands the County Courts of this state were authorized and directed to appoint Commissioners in their respective counties to divide and convey lands in certain cases and the said Morehead and Miller having been duly appointed by the County Court of Nelson for the purposes contained in the above recited act and having been called upon by the said Joseph Fogle to divide 5 certain surveys or tracts of land held in tennency in common between him the said Joseph Fogle and a certain Adam Fogle of the aforesaid County of Nelson as will more fully appear from the title papers of them the said Joseph and Adam aforesaid being thereto had one of the said surveys or tracts of land containing two hundred and fifty acres of land lying on the North side of the Beechfork in the said County granted by patent to Josiah Lee, and conveyed by said Lee to said Joseph and Adam Fogle, a second tract containing one hundred and ninety acres, a third tract containing twenty five acres the fourth tract containing fifty eight and one fourth acres and the fifth tract twenty acres and three fourths which four last mentioned tracts are hereafter more particularly described. Now we the said Charles Morehead and Samuel Miller Commissioners as aforesaid in pursuance of the power and authority vested in us by the aforesaid recited act of assembly have enfeoffed transfered and conveyed and do by these presents enfeoff transfer and convey unto the aforesaid Joseph Fogle all the right title interest or claim of him the said Adam Fogle to the aforesaid four last mentioned tracts of land the one hundred and ninety acres situate lying and being in the County of Nelson on the north side of the Rolling Fork of Salt River conveyed by deed duly recorded in the Bairdstown District Court by Josiah Lee and wife to said Joseph & Adam Fogle and is bounded as follows, towit, Beginning at a sycamore and Mulberry on the bank of said fork at the lower corner of James Andersons one hundred acre survey, thence north twenty west one hundred poles thence north forty east thirty poles to a white oak and maple thence south eighty east forty poles to a white oak thence south ten east one hundred and thirty eight poles to two beeches in James Anderson's line, thence with said line north eighty west two hundred and forty five poles to the Beginning. The twenty five acres bound as follows, towit, Beginning at a hickory tree south of the Ball alley, running thence south 84 west 53 1/2 poles to a white oak black walnut and sugar tree corner to Clarke and Hayden, thence S 2 1/2 E 88 poles to a sugar tree on the west side of the road, thence north 87 E 40 poles to a stake near a dead white oak and black walnut in Duncaster's plantation thence N 4 W 39 1/2 to a small black oak, thence up the said road N22, E 40 1/4 poles to a stake in the said road, thence north 4 W 14 poles to the Beginning, which said tract William Hayden is bound by bond dated the sixth day of May 1793 to convey to said Adam & Joseph Fogle.

The fifty eight and one fourth acres is bounded as follows towit, Beginning at an old hickory standing near the old battery and running thence north two degrees west 100 poles to a large white oak in Haydons line, thence south 77 3/4 degrees west seventy three poles to a white oak standing in the road, thence south 75 west 36 poles to white oak standing in the edge of a glade, thence south 10 east 74 poles to a small cedar standing in a glade, thence north 84 East 108 poles to the beginning which said tract of 58 1/4 acres Kanellam Peak is bound by Bond dated the (blank) to convey to the said Adam & Joseph Fogle, Twenty acres and which Joseph Clayton is bound by bond dated the (blank) to convey to the said Adam and Joseph Fogle is bounded as follows, towit, Beginning at a white oak and red oak corner to Joseph Claytons and George Clarke land on the top of a hill on the south side of Russells branch and running thence south 79 east 108 poles to two sugar trees and Iron wood sapling standing in the head of a small drain of Pottengers Creek, thence North 2 1/2 degrees West 41 3/4 poles to a dogwood stump corner to Charles Hayden, thence along his line passing said Haydens corner due west 80 poles to a large white oak in George Clarks line, thence South 49 1/2 degrees west 39 poles to the beginning. To have and to hold the aforesaid four last mentioned tracts of land lying and being in the County of Nelson and containing in the whole two hundred and ninety four acres and all and singular the appurtenances and hereditaments thereunto belonging or in any wise appertaining to him the said Joseph Fogle his heirs, Exors, admons and assigns forever to the only proper use and behoof of him the said Joseph Fogle his hers & e forever.

In witness whereof we the said commissioners have hereunto set our hands and affixed our seals the day and year first above written.

Witness
Chs Morehead seal
Saml Miller seal

At a County Court held for Nelson County on Monday the 11th of April 1803.
This Indenture from Charles Morehead & Samuel Miller two of the commissioners of Nelson County to Joseph Fogle was acknowledged by the said commissioners to be their voluntary act & deed for the purposes therein expressed and the said Indenture together with the papers agreeable to which the within division was made was ordered to be recorded.

Teste, Ben Grayson, c.c

A copy Attest
B.L. Blakey, C.N.C.C.

***

Regarding his death date, Laura Hayden notes: "We don't have a date of death for Joseph. We only know it was after his last sighting in the census records - 1850 - and before his mention in this excerpt from the History of Daviess County (pub. 1883): 'James S. Hayden, born in Nelson County, KY, Aug. 23, 1836, is a son of Joseph Hayden (deceased), a native of Washington County.'"

The Owensboro Messenger, 24 Aug 1880, lists "Hayden, Joseph S" as among those with a letter addressed to them at the Owensboro Post Office which "if not called for in thirty days will be sent to the Dead Letter Office."

***

The 1850 census records Joseph as living in Nelson County with his daughter Mary Ellen Hayden and her husband Orville Price, and gives his age as "50". This is the chief evidence for a birthdate of around 1800.

A Findagrave.com page exists for "Joseph Haydon", listing him as born in 1800 and buried in St. Catherine Cemetery, New Haven, Nelson County, Kentucky. It gives no death date, and the user who recorded this cemetery notes that they photographed every stone there and found no stone for him. Despite the fact that this Joseph Haydon's birthplace is given as "New Haven, Nelson County, Kentucky" instead of Washington County, we think this is our Joseph, because his daughter Mary Ellen and her husband Orville Price, in whose household we last see Joseph living in 1850, are both buried there as well.

***

Joseph married Catherine Clayton on 26 Aug 1823 in Nelson County, Kentucky. Catherine (daughter of Joseph Clayton and Eleanor Cole) was born before 1803 in Nelson County, Kentucky; died about 1840 in Nelson County, Kentucky. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Twin brother of J. Raymond Hayden (1813-1856).

The Owensboro Messenger and Examiner for 13 Aug 1879, page 3, reports: "A hen belonging to Urban Hayden, Esq, rose up and cackled over an egg within an egg last week. The phenomenon can be seen at his office."

The Owensboro Messenger for 16 May 1885, page 4, records under "Real Estate Transfers": "Urban Hayden to Jo Aud, parcel of land for love and affection." Urban Hayden's daughter Mary Drucilla Hayden (d. 1890) was the first wife of James S. Hayden. James S.'s second wife was Margaret Josephine Aud.

The Owensboro Messenger for 9 Feb 1889, page 4, for 10 Feb 1889, page 5, and for 22 Feb 1889, page 4, reports: "COMMISSIONER'S NOTICE, Daviess Circuit Court. C. W. Hayden, &c., Plaintiff, vs. J. G. Medley, &c., Deft. In Equity. All persons having claims against Urban Hayden deceased, are hereby notified to present same properly proven, to the undersigned, on or before March 1st, 1889. GEO. F. HAYNES, Master Commissioner." C. W. Hayden is probably Urban's eldest son Charles William Hayden (1845-1919).

The Owensboro Messenger for 10 Feb 1892, page 1, reports: "Jerome Hayden sues James Hayden for a settlement of the estate of Urban Hayden." The James Hayden mentioned here is probably not Urban's son-in-law James S. Hayden, but rather his son James Urban Hayden (1856-1933). The Jerome is probably Urban's son Jerome, born about 1854.

Urban married Rosella Coomes on 14 Apr 1844 in Daviess County, Kentucky. Rosella (daughter of Charles William Coomes and Frances "Fannie" Dobbins) was born on 25 Jan 1825 in Kentucky; died on 26 Nov 1857 in Daviess County, Kentucky; was buried on 27 Nov 1857 in St. Raphael's Cemetery, West Louisville, Daviess, Kentucky. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1824
• Alternate birth: 27 Jan 1825
• Alternate death: 27 Nov 1857, Daviess County, Kentucky

Notes:

Sometimes given as "Rosalie"; sometimes given as "Anna Rosella".

Notes:

Emigrated from Maryland to Kentucky in 1788. [www.stmarysfamilies.com, citing Hayden/Rapier and Allied Families by Mary Louise Donnelly.]

Laura Hayden notes that, compared to other Haydens of this time and place, there appear to be unusually long spans of time between the births of George and Mary Hayden's children. We suspect this means we don't have a full record of all of them.

The 1820 census enumeration of George Hayden's family lists two "Free White Persons - Males - 16 to 25", and two "Free White Persons - Females 10 to 15", none of whom can be accounted for by George and Mary's known children. This is specifically relevant to our belief that George and Mary were the parents of Joseph Hayden b. ~1800, who would account for one of the missing males aged 16 to 25; for more on that, see Joseph's own page. It could also account for another son named Clement, unless Clement is just Joseph Clement or Clement Joseph. We have no theory of the identity of the missing daughters aged 10 to 15, who would have been born between 1805 and 1810.

The book History of Daviess County, Kentucky. Together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages and Townships, Educational, Religious, Civil, Military, and Political History; Portraits of Prominent Persons, Biographies of Representative Citizens. And an Outline History of Kentucky (Chicago: Inter-State Publishing Company, 1883) states that George and Mary Hayden's son George Samuel Hayden (1810-1876) was "the youngest" of "a large family". In fact, we believe he was the youngest of George and Mary's children, and that George's several further children were the offspring of a second wife named Nancy Doncaster or Duncaster. But at any rate, three children - Elizabeth, Eleanor, and George Samuel - don't constitute "a large family" by the standards of the time. So we're strongly inclined to believe that George and Mary had more children than those for whom records have survived.

George married Mary "Polly" Elliott on 7 Jul 1796 in Washington County, Kentucky. Mary (daughter of Matthew Elliott and Ann) was born between 1769-1774 in St. Mary's County, Maryland; died before 1818 in Washington County, Kentucky. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

The most thoroughly-researched work we've seen about Joseph Clayton has been by Paul Nordberg. His earlier monograph "Joseph Clayton of Nelson County, Kentucky" dispensed briskly with a number of misconceptions, at least one of which we'd been responsible for perpetuating. More recently, he revised and extended his work on Joseph and his wife Eleanor, combining it into a single paper called "Joseph and Eleanor (Cole) Clayton of Nelson County, Kentucky." Reversing his earlier conclusion that Joseph Clayton was born in St. Mary's County, Nordberg now argues, we think convincingly, that the preponderance of the evidence indicates that he was born in Chesterfield County, Virginia, a son of Francis and Elizabeth Clayton, as first proposed in 2002 by Ann Whalen:

Briefly speaking, I have changed my mind about Joseph's ancestry because of very good demographic and temporal fit, identifiable uncertainties about interpretation of the genetic evidence, and two very specific ties. (1) Both Francis and Elizabeth Clayton of Chesterfield, and Joseph and Eleanor Clayton of Nelson County, had five reported sons, four of whom were named William, John, Joseph and Thomas. Each name by itself is common, but I estimate that the likelihood of the combination occurring purely by coincidence is less than five in one hundred. (2) As will be discussed more fully below, Drury Ragsdale, captain of the artillery company that Joseph Clayton (later of Nelson County) joined, was a close neighbor of Joseph Clayton of Chesterfield County, and the two families were notably associated in their migrations. The odds of this pair of circumstances happening just by chance seem to me almost infinitesimal. As Thoreau remarked, "Some circumstantial evidence is very strong, as when you find a trout in the milk."

The new paper also cites recent DNA results from a living paternal descendant of Joseph Clayton that, added to already-assembled circumstantial evidence, strongly suggests that Joseph's wife Eleanor was the Eleanor mentioned as a daughter in the 1771 will of Robert Cole.

Nordberg also has an online family tree, and while we recommend that researchers consult the monographs mentioned above, and the older one about Joseph's wife Eleanor which is linked from our page for her, his briefer remarks in his entry for Joseph Clayton are worth excerpting here.

From Paul Nordberg at paulnordberg.net/family-history-reunion/ps07/ps07_325.html:

He fought in the Revolutionary War. He was a matross, an artillery private. He enlisted in 1777 and served through at least March of 1780, when he was stationed in Morristown, New Jersey. His regiment, just being formed when he enlisted, initially did garrison duty at Portsmouth and Yorktown, Virginia, near where enemy ships were "hovering" in Chesapeake Bay near Hampton Roads. (This was the area from which a number of the men in Joseph Clayton's company came.) In March of 1778, the regiment was jointed Washington's army at Valley Forge. For the rest of the War, they fought in Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey. Joseph Clayton took part in several battles.

In 1783, he received £111 13s 7d as the balance of his pay according to an act of 1781, and he was granted a Military Warrant for two hundred acres of land, an entitlement of every soldier who fought until the end of the war. There are signs that he sold out rights to the assigned parcel on Paint Creek to one David Nisbitt, one of a group of land speculators. It seems reasonable to suppose that he married between his military discharge and the move to Kentucky.

He first appears in the records of Nelson County in 1786, when he witnessed the will of John Brients. In 1792, tax books show him with no land, four horses, and seven cattle, appearing immediately after Joseph Clark. In 1793, he had 66 acres of land, five horses and seven cattle, perhaps funded in part with proceeds from the sale of his assigned warrant rights. Various Clarks are on the same page. On October 3, 1793, as he is listed on the court records as a bondsman for the marriage of George Clark and Sarah Brothers, both of St. Mary's County, Maryland. Joseph's serving as bondsman suggests a prior relationship with George, who had come to Nelson County in 1786 or 1787. In 1800, Joseph Clayton is shown purchasing land from James With[e]row. He is regularly present in Nelson County records though 1813. I have found no trace of him after that. In 1823, "widow Eleanor Clayton" gave consent for the marriage of their daughter Catherine. An affadavit in much later pension application of 1851 by 84 year-old Peter Blair, whose brother knew Joseph Clayton during the Revolutionary War, reports that Joseph "as he was informed & believes...died on the [blank] day of [blank] 1824." This information seems a bit squishy, since it is hearsay much after the fact, and occurs amid statements that are factually incorrect in some other particulars. I suspect that Joseph died around 1813 when the records for him seem to end, and that Eleanor stayed with their son John, who has a female over 45 in his household according to the 1820 census.

Joseph married Eleanor Cole. Eleanor (daughter of Robert Cole and Ann Greenwell) was born between 1755 and 1760; died between 1830 and 1848. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Aft 1823

Notes:

The only thing known with certainty about the wife of Joseph Clayton is her given name, Eleanor. But Paul Nordberg's monograph "Eleanor Cole of St. Mary's County, Maryland" makes a strong circumstantial case that she was Eleanor Cole, a sister of Patrick's 5G-grandmother Henrietta Cole (1754-1837). More recently, in early 2021, DNA results from a living Clayton descendant of Joseph Clayton showed strong matches to Robert Cole (d. 1771), known father of Henrietta. As a result, Nordberg has concluded, and we agree, that when the circumstantial evidence is added to the genetic, it can be stated with reasonable confidence that Joseph Clayton's wife was the daughter Eleanor mentioned in the 1771 will of Robert Cole.

Notes:

William Leo Hayden (1785-1866) was the natural son of Henrietta (Cole) Hayden, by Charles Ewing.

When the Hayden family arrived in north-central Kentucky in 1785, they and the rest of their migrant party were confined for some months inside a rough-and-ready fort for their protection. It’s easy to imagine that this was hard on them all, and Henrietta (Cole) Hayden had further reason to be depressed; she had lost four children on the trek from southern Maryland. Whatever her reasons, she had an affair inside the fort with a sketchy land speculator named Charles Ewing, and became pregnant as a result. She subsequently confessed the liaison to her husband, who publicly denounced her but did not divorce her. Henrietta and Basil went on to have several more children. William Leo, son of Henrietta by Charles Ewing, was raised in Basil and Henrietta’s family, where his nickname was “Not Blood.” Basil’s will provided William Leo with half the amount he gave to each of his own surviving children.

After Basil’s death in 1804, Henrietta immediately married Charles Ewing. Shortly afterward, she declared in court that she "will not take or accept the provision made for me by Will of my late husband, Basil Hayden, dec'd., or any part thereof and I do hereby renounce all Benefit which I might claim by said Will, and I hereby claim Dower as the law directs." But in 1807 Charles Ewing left her and bigamously married one Mary (or perhaps Margaret) Flint. In 1808 Henrietta managed to divorce Charles, which required an act of the Kentucky legislature.

From Littel's Laws of Kentucky, Volume 3:

[Page 446] An act concerning the marriage of HENRIETTA EWING. approved Feb. 3, 1808 This act authorised her to sue CHARLES EWING, for a divorce, in the Nelson court, and to obtain it on a jury's finding that he had seperated from her and intermarried with MARY FLINT, and continued to live in adultery with said Mary.

From John Medley (1615-1660) by Mary Louise Donnelly (citation details below):

William Leo "Little Willie" Hayden was born 12/16/1785 in Washington Co Ky, the son of Henrietta Cole Hayden. The account of William Leo Hayden's birth is told in letters written by Rev Stephen Badin to Bishop Carroll.

"The widow Hayden who had disgraced herself in marriage, has renewed her past scandals and finished by marrying heterodoxum corum heterodoxo (a protestant by a protestant - in 2/4/1805 letter). Mr Rohan who is keeping school on my land has among his school-boys a subject that might become a clergyman were not the illegitimacy of his birth an obstacle to it. I thought proper to inform you of his virtue & talents, & also that the parents are willing & in some degree able to procure him a liberal education. He belongs to Mr Hayden's family, tho he be not his father: he is twelve or thirteen years of age."

William Hayden, mentioned in Basil Hayden, Sr's will as "Henrietta's son" [sic — the actual phrase is "my wife's son" —PNH], might be the illegitimate son of Charles Ewing whom Henrietta married seven months after Basil Hayden, Sr's death. In Washington Co Ky, on 2/5/1810 William Leo Hayden married first Anna Pike (d. 1/8/1811), the daughter of John Pike. In Washington Co on 1/4/1813 he married secondly Mary Hayden the daughter of Charles Hayden and Eleanor Elliott. The information on his birth and marriages was recorded in his family Bible.

William Leo Hayden was well educated and was the teacher of his own children. In 1835 he moved with his family to Daviess Co Ky. On 11/16/1841 William Hayden purchased 1523 acres of land on the south bank of Panther Creek from William R Griffith and Philip and Eliza H. Triplett (Deed F: 554-555). For a time Court was held in his home. In 5/1866 William and Mary Hayden deeded to Charles Leo Hayden, "...who supported said William and Mary last 10 years ...," 206 acres (Deed T: 306-307). Mary died 7/14/1866 and William Leo Hayden died 12/6/1867 in Owensboro, Ky.

From The Immigration of William "Little Willie" Leo Hayden, quoting a letter written in January 1886 by Richard R. Coomes to the Hon. B.J. Webb:

[A]s some of St Raphael's congregation appear to show some dissatisfaction of the short and, in truth, unjust reference to said congregation, I feel bound to give some items concerning it.

The facts concerning its settlement are these. In 1834 a man well known about Holy Cross [Catholic Church in Calvary, Marion County, Kentucky] as "Little Willie" Hayden, son of Basil Hayden, sold his farm near the church and immigrated to Daviess County, Kentucky to look for better situations for himself and his sons. With him came his brother, Lewis Hayden. The two selected land adjoining the St. Raphael farm, with "Little Willie" agreeing to purchase 1,500 acres adjoining the 200 acres that he had selected for the church. Lewis selected a like amount adjoining that of "Little Willie"'s if William R. Griffith, the owner, would donated 200 acres to the church. Griffith willingly gave the 200 acres and, by doing so, made a sale of the 3,000 acres to the two brothers. The sale of the land that he owned in that part of he county benefited himself, the Hayden brothers, and the Catholic Church. The above purchase was made in 1833 or 1834. At the time, there was not a Catholic living nearer than ten miles from Owensboro, in Daviess County, Kentucky.

"Little Willie"'s family came in 1835 as the first settlers in St. Alphonso's congregation, his house being the first and only station for church until the first log church was built in 1844. He was the principal head of Catholic affairs so long as he was able to get about. He died on December 6, 1867, aged 82 years. There was another William Hayden who settled near St Raphaels but moved within the bounds of St Alfonsus before 1840.

In 1841 when I moved within the bounds of the then St Raphael's, now St Martin's, there was living in the St Raphael's congregation Randall Blandford, William Sims, Reson Cravens, John Livers, Charles Clayton, John Hayden, John Mattingly, Sylvester Hayden, James M Hayden, Phillip Hayden's widow and family, Thadius Coomes, and others whose names I can't now recall. But this I can say, that after 1845, by marriages and imigration the county filled up very fast so that it was soon necessary to build the church of St Alfonso within seven miles of St Raphael's and a few years thereafter that of St Martin's both principally within the original boundry of St Raphael's all of which may be said to be a fairly prosperous farming country so that the Hayden purchase gave to the Catholics of Kentucky a chance for homes without having to go so far west, and as a general thing, to do better nearer home, not that I am opposed to going West by any means, some of my own brothers & a sister went and did better.

I hope this will give you a better idea of the St Raphael country.

Will of William Leo Hayden, written 21 Dec 1866, probated 6 Jan 1868:

In the name of God. Amen. I WILLIAM HAYDEN, of Daviess County, Kentucky, being of extreme old age but of sound mind and disposing memory and calling to mind that all men must die and wishing to arrange my temporal concerns before I am imposed by the call to appear before my God and Judge to determine my lot through all Eternity hereby revoking and annulling all other wills which I may have made heretofore do make and establish this as my last Will and Testament to wit.

Item 1. I bequeath my soul to God who gave it me and my Body to the Earth from which it was taken to be decently interred in an ordinary and plain manner.

Item 2. I will and bequeath unto my granddaughter, HELEN MARION PIKE, one bed and furniture, the same that she now uses, it being in the possession of my daughter-in-law (Melissa Hayden) who is entitled to use of the same until my granddaughter may find it to be her interest, or necessary to leave her Aunt Melissa in that event it is to be given up to her demand.

Item 3. I will and bequeath unto my son, CHARLES L. HAYDEN an equal share with all my other heirs not named of all money or cash notes or other estate of which I die possessed first paying or settling all just dues or demands against me out of the sd. money and before distribution is made. I further bequeath to my sd son, CHARLES L, HAYDEN trundle bed stead and bedding attached thereof. Also other articles of household and kitchen furniture and farming implements as also my large Duoay bible all of which last mentioned articles I now deliver into his possession as being his own right and I further bequeath to my son CHARLES L. HAYDEN the right of a roadway one rod wide leading from his farm along the lines of a sixty acre tract which I formerly sold to James Eubank so as to enter at the south of the land dividing between Alvin Hayden's farm and the farm which I have sold to URBAN HAYDEN which road and land shall be one rod wide thru from end to end and unobstructed by any gates or fence also on other land intersecting the land by or at the southeast corner of the orchard on the sd. farm and running through the sd. farm passing by URBAN HAYDEN's farm in the direction of the Glenn Bridge as so called this lane shall be one rod wide from end to end with gates there planted, this described road and lanes are reserved in the contract and sale of the land and premises to URBAN HAYDEN unto the afsd CHARLES L. HAYDEN and his heirs forever.

Item 4. I will and bequeath unto whichever of my children I may be living with at the time of my demise my bed and all its furniture attached, my wearing apparel, my big arm chair, and small chair also any articles of furniture which I term side board, a large demijohn or glass bottle, a few other small bottles and convenient articles unnecessary to mention.

And lastly, I hereby nominate and appoint my son WILLIAM C. HAYDEN the executor of this my last will and Testament. Given under my hand this 21 st day of Dec. 1866 in my own writing.

[Signed in the presence of James Hayden, Edwin C. Hayden and James S. Hayden; the latter presumably his grandson-in-law James S. Hayden, husband of his granddaughter Mary Drucilla Hayden.]

*****

The family bible of William Leo Hayden is supposedly now at St. Joseph's, Maple Mount, Daviess, Kentucky. Its transcription, "Bible records of Basil Hayden (Basil Robert Hayden, 1774-1833)", in Kentucky Genealogical Records Book, GRC Book Series 1, volume 319, pp. 84-87, lists, among the children of Basil and Henrietta (Cole) Hayden, "Milly Hayden 12/16/1785." William Leo Hayden was born 16 Dec 1785; "Milly" is very likely a mistranscription of "Willy".

William married Mary Hayden on 4 Jan 1813 in Washington County, Kentucky. Mary (daughter of Charles Hayden and Eleanor "Molly" Elliott) was born on 4 Jun 1794; died on 14 Jul 1866 in West Louisville, Daviess, Kentucky; was buried in St. Raphael's Cemetery, West Louisville, Daviess, Kentucky. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Charles married Frances "Fannie" Dobbins on 29 Apr 1824 in Daviess County, Kentucky. Frances was born about 1795 in Ireland; died after 1870. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1798, Ireland

Notes:

Or perhaps Dollin.

Notes:

Note attached by "stashyc" to William Hayden in her public ancestry.com tree:

Basil Hayden Sr. and his brother William Hayden, sons of George Hayden (d. 1754) were living in Kentucky at the time of their mother Charity's death. Neither were mentioned in Charity's will of 1791. Elizabeth Hayden (d. 1761), the boys' grandmother, left [land to] just the two oldest children of her deceased son George [...]

"Item I bequeath to my two grandsons William Hayden & Basil Hayden sons to George all that part or parcell of Land whereon William Morgan now lives known by the name of Shankes Resque containing 102 acres more or less to be divided Equally between my two grandsons as above mentioned". According to the Rent Rolls (43:105) Basil sold his share to his brother William on 9/17/1767.

Accompanied his brother Basil to Kentucky in 1785.

Deed recorded 3/31/1789 (Deed 2:59-60) in Nelson County, Virginia (became the state of Kentucky in 1792) records William Hayden['s] purchase of 400 acres of land "...beginning in James Cloyds line..." (on Pottinger's Creek).

William Hayden's will was proved null and void in the case "Hayden Heirs vs Hayden Executors" files 1794. The names of all of William Hayden's heirs were given in the court case (A:191-192) in Washington County, on 2/22/1796. When the heirs sold William Hayden's land, Bennett Hayden was not named as he had given whatever was to come to him from his father's estate "to my sister Mary Hayden" - dated 4/10/1794 (Deed A:178 Washington Co., KY).

Died:
year only.

William married Elizabeth Thompson. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Matthew married Ann. Ann was born before 1753; died after 1786. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

"Taken together, the various pieces of evidence present a credible case that Francis Clayton descended from a clan around Blackburn and Leyland, Lancashire. It would be ideal to have specific lines and names, of course, but with record loss I doubt that we ever will. The most eligible candidate ancestor appears to be the Richard Clayton who in 1635 settled in Virginia, perhaps five to ten miles from Francis's Chesterfield farm of 1755. I suspect that Richard may have been just one of a larger family group, however, and it would be a mistake to settle on him just because we happen to have a little more information about him than about his namesakes. -- Still, the story makes good sense and is consistent with available evidence. That is not a bad start." [Paul Nordberg, "Family and Ancestry of Francis Clayton of Chesterfield County, Virginia," citation details below]

Francis married Elizabeth. Elizabeth died after 4 Nov 1771. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Bef 1719, St. Mary's County, Maryland

Notes:

Abstract of the will of Robert Cole, from Linda Reno's stmarysfamilies.com:

Robert Cole, SMC 11/26/1771-12/2/1771. Wife: Sarah, alias Elizabeth. Children: Eleanor, Elizabeth, Mary. If any of these 3 die before marriage or not arrive at age, estate may go to survivors of these 4: Eleanor, Elizabeth, Mary, Henrietta Hayden. Son-in-law: Robert Mattingly. Granddaughter: Elizabeth Mattingly. Heirs of daughters: Jane Mattingly and Margaret Melton, both deceased. Execs: Sons-in-law, Robert Mattingly, Richard Melton, Basil Hayden. Wit: James Roach, Clement Hayden, William Hayden.

From Mary Louise Donnelly, John Medley (1615-1660):

"An inventory of Robert Cole's estate was made on 8/14/1772 with a value of nearly 445 pounds of sterling. He owned seven slaves and the usual items found on a plantation of that period, and some special items such as a desk, a seal skin trunk and a pair of spectacles and case. When the final account of Robert Cole's estate was made on 11/22/1773 his heirs received nearly 513 pounds of sterling (Acc't 69:205)."

Robert married Ann Greenwell before 1743. Ann (daughter of Thomas Greenwell and Mary Medley) was born about 1730 in St. Mary's County, Maryland; died before 1771. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: Between 1808 and 1810

Notes:

Described by Paul Nordberg in his monograph on Joseph Clayton as "a land investor with many doings in Nelson and nearby Washington Counties", which only begins to illuminate the energetic sketchiness of this particular individual.

Alicia Towston (see excerpt later in this entry; citation details below) appears to not believe that our Charles Ewing is the same Charles Ewing who married, in Bardstown, 4 Feb 1786, Sarah Wickliffe. We think they were the same person. Several things notably line up:

* The marriage of Charles Ewing to Sarah Wickliffe comes just a year after the liaison with Henrietta (Cole) Hayden which produced PNH ancestor William Leo Hayden.

* Sarah Wickliffe died in 1804, just a year before Charles Ewing and Henrietta Hayden recommenced their affair and married.

* The Charles Ewing in the 1823 case "Ewing v. Handley" (citation details below), which illuminates an entire universe of complex transactions in land and slaves between Ewing and his Wickliffe in-laws, was "absent from the country in 1791" (Towston: "In May 1790 he took a flatboat to Natchez, in company with Samuel Ewing"), was back in 1792 (Towston: "In 1792 he was Justice of the Peace for Washington County"), and was sued in 1808 by James Handley but died shortly thereafter (Ewing v. Handley: "after this suit was prepared for trial, Ewing died").

From Alicia Towston (citation details below):

He is probably the same Charles Ewing who is mentioned in the Draper Manuscripts as going on a hunting expedition in Kentucky with frontiersman Henry Skaggs in 1771.

His activities during the Revolution included: 11 April 1781, carried a message to Governor Jefferson about Bedford militia movements; 1782, compensated for loss of a bay mare in public service; and 1783, obtained a Continental soldier rifle from Robert Ewing.

About 1787, this Charles moved to Kentucky. There were at least two men named Charles Ewing in Kentucky at this time, so caution in interpreting records is necessary. I think the Charles Ewing in Nelson County and adjacent Washington County is likely the correct one, because this is the same area to which Mary (Ewing) Handley had migrated, as well as a Samuel Ewing who may be their younger brother.

He served as a Nelson County Militia officer until June 1789. In May 1790 he took a flatboat to Natchez, in company with Samuel Ewing. In 1792 he was Justice of the Peace for Washington County. From 1792 through 1807 he surveyed and obtained grants for numerous land claims in Washington and Nelson Counties. There is no evidence of any marriage in his early years, but on 14 February 1805, in Washington County, he married Henrietta (Cole) Hayden (1754–1836), widow of Basil Hayden, and apparently a mother of twelve children. This was not a happy marriage, and Charles soon moved out and began living with Mary/Margaret Flint. Henrietta sued for divorce, which was granted on 3 February 1808. In the meantime Charles had married, on 3 February 1807, Mary/Margaret Flint in Nelson County. They apparently moved away, and possibly the 1810 census entry in Garrard County, Kentucky, for Charley Ewing is their household. There are no known children.

Mentions of Charles Ewing in Hayden/Rapier and Allied Families by Mary Louise Donnelly (citation details below):

Early records in the State of Virginia show speculators named William Oldham, Charles Ewing, Peter and Adam Shepherd, and others secured thousands of acres of land in the region of Pottinger's Creek, Rolling Fork Creek, Cartright's Creek, Hardin's Creek, etc., in what is now Nelson, Washington, and Marion Counties in Kentucky. The Catholic pioneers purchased their property from these speculators. [pp. 17-18]

The deed (Book 3:77) for Basil Hayden's property was recorded on [3 Dec 1785] in Nelson County, Kentucky and reads as follows: 'Know all men by these presents that we Isaac Morrison and Charles Ewing both of Nelson County and State of Virginia are held and firmly bound to BASIL HEYDON of the State of Maryland in the penal form of two hundred and fifty pounds current money of Virginia to be paid to the said BASIL HEYDON his heirs Ex. or Admin. and to the true payment whereof we bind ourselves our heirs and Executors firmly by these presents sealed with our Seales and dated this third day of Dec. one thousand seven hundred and Eighty five - The condition of the above obligation is such that if the above bounded Isaac Morrison and Charles Ewing their heirs Ex. or Adm. or either of them do and Shall will and truly convey or cause to be Conveyed unto the above mentioned BASIL HEYDEN his heirs Exs. or Adm. a certain tract of Land situate on the north side of Pottingers Creek adjoining Phillimon Lee (Phillip Lee) on the East Containing three hundred acres of land by a good and Sufficient deed a good Sure and Indefeasible estate of Inheritance in Fee Simple on or before the twenty fifth day of December one thousand Seven hundred and Eighty seven and that without further Delay then the above obligation to be void otherwise to remain in full force and virtue in same.' (The deed was signed by Isaac Morrison and Charles Ewing and the witnesses present were Philip Lee and Charles Hayden.) Then the following was recorded: "This Bond from Isaac Morrison and Charles Ewing to BASIL HEYDEN was acknowledged by the said Morrison and ordered to record" (Signed Ben Grayson Cl. C.). [p. 40]

"BASIL purchased additional land on Pottinger's Creek. By the 1799 taxes he owned 525 acres of land and 24 slaves. He purchased additional land from Charles Ewing and Nicholas Woods." [p. 42]

HENRIETTA HAYDEN, "the widow of BASIL HAYDEN," married secondly on 2/4/1805 Charles Ewing (Nelson County Marriages 1:63). Concerning this Father Badin writes to Bishop Carroll on 2/20/1805, "The widow HAYDEN who has disgraced herself in marriage, has renewed her past scandals and finished by marrying heterodoxum coram heterodoxo (a protestant by a protestant)." [p. 43]

Probably an earlier letter of Father Badin written to Bishop Carroll on 8/13/1798 refers to her previous scandal, "Mr. Rohan who is keeping school on my land has among his school-boys a subject that might become a clergyman were not the illegitimacy of his birth an obstacle to it. I thought proper to inform you of his virtue & talents, & also that the parents are willing & in some degree able to procure him a liberal education. He belongs to MR. HAYDEN's family, tho he be not his father: he is twelve or thirteen years of age." This refers to William Hayden, mentioned in BASIL HAYDEN, SR.'s will as Henrietta's son. Whether he was the son of Charles Ewing, whom Henrietta immediately married seven months after BASIL's death, can be surmised. [p. 43]

The marriage of HENRIETTA HAYDEN and Charles Ewing did not last long. In a Judgement in Nelson County for 1808 and 1809 HENRIETTA EWING vs Charles Ewing and Mary Flint. "Since Charles Ewing continued to live in a State of adultery with said Mary in shameful violation of his marriage vow & agreement with Henrietta, Henrietta asks for a divorce." [p. 43]

From EARLY TIMES IN WASHINGTON COUNTY, KENTUCKY by Orval W. Baylor (p 9) "Charles Ewing came to Kentucky around 1785. He was a well-bred, well educated and cultured gentleman." Charles Ewing first owned 600 acres on the north side of Hardin's Creek which he sold to Jereboam Beauchamp. In 1787 he purchased a 500 acre tract lying on the north side of the Rolling Fork. "On a knoll overlooking a big bend in the river he erected a large two story log house; and there he lived to a ripe old age." Charles Ewing was one of the first justices of Washington County. He served two terms as a legislator from Washington County and then retired from public affairs. According to the 1799 tax lists Charles Ewing owned 8,748 acres of land in Washington, Nelson, Green and Lincoln counties in Kentucky. [pp. 43-44]

From Clan Ewing of Scotland by Elbert William R. Ewing [citation details below]:

When Charles II Ewing was in his prime the county west of the Alleghenies and (to the southwest) the Cumberlands was an unsettled wild. Game was abundant; pelts were valuable. Hunters, in parties large and small, often spent an entire hunting season, camping, far beyond the frontier line. Land was examined, incidentally; and many a Kentucky home owes its original location to the intelligent eye of one of the early Virginia hunters. Charles (II) Ewing was such a pioneer.

Charles married Henrietta Cole on 19 Feb 1805 in Springfield, Washington, Kentucky, and was divorced on 3 Feb 1808 in Kentucky. Henrietta (daughter of Robert Cole and Ann Greenwell) was born on 2 Jul 1754 in St. Mary's, St. Mary's, Maryland; died on 6 Dec 1837 in Marion County, Kentucky; was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, Holy Cross, Marion, Kentucky. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

See the notes for her son William Leo Hayden for the story of William Leo's birth and of Henrietta Cole's complicated relationship with Charles Ewing.

From Abstract of Early Kentucky Wills and Inventories: Copied from Original and Recorded Wills and Inventories by Junie Estelle Stewart King (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2010):

HAYDEN, HENRIETTA. "To worshipful Court of Washington County, I, Henrietta Hayden of said county do hereby declare that I will not take or accept the provision made for me by Will of my late husband, Basil Hayden, dec'd., or any part thereof and I do hereby renounce all Benefit which I might claim by said Will, and I hereby claim Dower as the law directs. As witness my hand and seal this 9 day of February, 1805. Wit: William Hayden, Lewis Hayden." Recorded April Court, 1805.

Notes:

Linda Reno gives Charles Hayden's dates as 'b. Bef. 1772, St. Mary's Co., MD; d. Aft. 1811, Nelson Co., KY.'

His will (citation details below) appoints his wife and his son-in-law, PNH ancestor William Leo Hayden, executors of his estate. It also gives William, among other bequests, "my negro man, Dennis".

Charles married Eleanor "Molly" Elliott on 7 Sep 1793 in Nelson County, Kentucky. Eleanor (daughter of Matthew Elliott and Ann) was born before 1777 in St. Mary's County, Maryland; died after 26 Oct 1813 in Nelson County, Kentucky. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Linda Reno, in this post to MDSTMARY-L, has Charles and Eleanor's marriage date as 23 Jun 1792.

Notes:

Married:
003

Notes:

"William Coomes, of Owensboro, whose house was a station and resting-place for Fathers Nerinckx, Abell, Durbin, and other priests in their visitations to that part of the State." [A Century of Catholicity in Kentucky, citation details below]

From Descendants of Richard Coomes (citation details below):

September 3, 1796, Nelson County marriage bond: William Coomes -- Rachel Coomes, bond Richard Coomes
 
From Daviess County records, the will of William Coomes -- written in May 1834 -- probated in June 1844. Wife: Rachel. Daughters: Teresy Wallace, Mary Margaret, and Elizabeth Coomes. Sons: Charles, Felix, Benedict, and William Peter Coomes.
 
William was one of the first Catholic settlers in Daviess County, arriving at a time when the county was still a wilderness.  Early Church records reveal that William often used his home as the first meeting place in the county for those first Catholic settlers. He sold land on 2 October 1837 for the building of a new church.
 
An early lawsuit of Daviess County, dated Feb 3, 1816 indicates that William was in Daviess County prior to 1830 to survey land and purchase property. The lawsuit references lots purchased in Owensboro on May 6, 1817, yet the first recorded deed in the courthouse is dated Aug 12, 1835.
 
William's will was written on May 8, 1841, but not probated until July 3, 1844. Noted on the original document at the courthouse that a fire destroyed the original document and that the family requested it be copied in its originality back into the will book. His son, Felix, was the administrator of his estate.

William married Rachel Coomes on 3 Sep 1796 in Nelson County, Kentucky. Rachel (daughter of Francis Coomes and Charity Wood) was born on 9 Oct 1775; died on 22 Aug 1847 in Daviess County, Kentucky; was buried in Mater Dolorosa Cemetery, Owensboro, Daviess, Kentucky. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 1772

Notes:

From the Louisville, Kentucky Catholic Advocate, 4 Sep 1847:

"Died, at her residence, near Owensboro, Ky., on Tuesday, 22d August, Mrs. Rachel Coomes, in the 74th year of her age. The deceased was relict of the late Wm. Coomes.

"The deep anguish and pain felt by her relations and acquaintances, will be much relieved when they reflect on her many virtues, and the manner in wich she prepared herself for her final dissolution. After a long life spent in the practice of religion, finding her end approaching, she called for her confessor, who administered to her all the last rites of her holy religion. On the evening of the 23d she was interred in the county cemetery, in the presence of the pastor of the congregation and a large collection of relations and acquaintances, who will long remember the pious example she has left for their imitation. May she rest in peace."

From Combs-Coombs &c:

Rachel m. William COOMES.

Sept.3, 1796 (Nelson Co, KY Marriage Bonds) William COOMES-Rachel COOMES Bond -- Richard COOMES

08 May 1834 -- Jun 1844 (Davies Co KY) Will of William Combs. 8 May 1834, wife Rachael, children: Charles, Mary, Elizabeth, Felix, Benedict, William Peter, Trese WALLACE, ex: Felix Combs wit: Henry & Benjamin READ (Abstracted by Combs Researcher Jean Smallwood who also provided the following:)

From "Davies County Kentucky Records #1, Marriages 1815-1848, Deaths 1852-1861, Wills 1815-1850" by Researchers:" Will of William COOMES -- written May 1834 -- probated Jun 1844. Wife Rachel. Daughters: Tesesy WALLACE, Mary Margaret, and Elizabeth COOMES. Sons: Charles, Felix, Benedict and William Peter COOMES

Notes: Combs Researcher Joe Lewis adds that Rachel's husband, William, was the s/o William COOMES, Sr. b in Charles Co MD, who came to KY (Harrods Station) in spring of 1775. A submission to "Kentucky Ancestors," KY Historical Society quarterly, vol. 30 #2, 1994-1995, page 79, ROSTER OF FIRST KENTUCKY ANCESTORS, submission by Researcher Henry D. Paine, includes birth dates of 13 March 1769 for William and 9 Oct 1775 for Rachel, his source unknown.

George married Charity. Charity died in 1791. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Variously asserted to have been Charity Shircliffe, Charity Morgan, and Charity Alvey.

Thomas married Mary Cole between 1734 and 1738. Mary (daughter of Robert Cole and Elizabeth Tant) was born between 1715 and 1720 in St. Mary's County, Maryland; died before 1776 in St. Mary's County, Maryland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Robert married Elizabeth Tant before 1704 in St. Mary's County, Maryland. Elizabeth (daughter of John Tant and Margaret Bloomfield) was born before 1689 in St. Mary's County, Maryland; died after 1724 in St. Mary's County, Maryland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Abstract of the will of Thomas Greenwell, 11 Mar 1750:

To son Philip.
To dau. Winefret, Negro man Robin.
To dau.-in-law, Anne Riley.
To dau.-in-law, Elizabeth Riley.
To son-in-law, Bennet Riley.
To my three said children in law, each a two-year yearling.
To son George Greenwell, 1s.
To dau. Anne Cole, 1s.
Rest of estate to my children: Philip Greenwell, Anastasia Greenwell, Monica Greenwell, Mary Greenwell and Raphael Greenwell.
Wife Mary Greenwell and Robert Cole, exs.
Wit: Henry Jernegan, Ignatius Greenwell.

Thomas married Mary Medley before 1724 in St. Mary's County, Maryland. Mary (daughter of John Medley and (Unknown first wife of John Medley)) was born about 1700 in St. Mary's County, Maryland; died after 20 Aug 1743 in St. Mary's County, Maryland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

He is said to have been born in Coleraine, Londonderry, Northern Ireland. He was related in some way to Robert Ewing (~1718-1787), with whom he came to Virginia. Charles and Robert are recorded as having called one another "brother", which has led many to believe that they shared the same parents, but in fact what we actually know is that they were brothers-in-law, their wives (Robert's wife Mary Baker and Charles's wife Martha Baker) being sisters to one another. The earliest written account of their coming to America (set down shortly before his death by Nathaniel Ewing, 1772-1846, of Mount Clair, Knox, Indiana, and first published in the Louisville Courier-Journal on 28 Feb 1897) calls them only "two young men, cousins of my grandfather, Nathaniel Ewing"; had they been actual brothers, one would think this account would have said so.

Charles Ewing and Martha Baker were GX5-grandparents of the American aviation pioneer, movie director, billionaire, and lunatic Howard Hughes, making Hughes and PNH sixth cousins once removed:

Charles Ewing (~1715-1770) = Martha Baker
Caleb Ewing (d. ~1780)
Elizabeth Ewing (1779-1812) = Richard Montgomery Gano (1775-1815)
John Allen Gano (1805-1887) = Mary Conn (b. 1807)
Richard Montgomery Gano (1830-1913) = Martha Jane Welch (1832-1895)
William Beriah Gano (1854-1913) = Jeanette de Lafayette Grissom (1857-1905)
Allene Stone Gano (1883-1922) = Howard Robard Hughes, Sr. (1869-1924)
Howard Robard Hughes, Jr. (1905-1976)

(As a side note, the elder of the two men named Richard Montgomery Gano in the above was a son of John Gano (1727-1804), a Baptist minister and Revolutionary War chaplain who is widely, and almost certainly falsely, claimed to have baptized George Washington. The younger Richard Montgomery Gano (1830-1913) was a Confederate general from Texas in the Civil War.)

From Clan Ewing of Scotland by Elbert William R. Ewing (citation details below):

By no means least of the noted and splendidly influential families of our name were those founded by two brothers, Robert and Charles Ewing. All the evidence indicates and nothing disputes that they were close cousins of the other immigrants of our family. One tradition has it that they were born in Coleraine, Ireland; while another says they were born near Stirling Castle, Scotland, within the old clan bounds. Whichever be correct, it is certain they were near relatives to those who came from at least not far from Londonderry. A tradition, given me by Rowland D. Buford, of Bedford City, an aged man (in his eighty-sixth year at the time of his letter to me) who knew and respected their descendants, insists that they fled from Scotland because of some political difficulty, being staunch Covenanters who, no doubt, warmly espoused the cause of the Protestant claimants to the English throne. However, I am satisfied that they came, whether from Scotland or Ireland, because of the general unrest which prevailed in both countries, and which I have briefly narrated.

An undisputed tradition says that on reaching America they visited their relations in Cecil County, Maryland, for a short time, and then pushed on for the new lands and broader opportunities in that section shortly to become Bedford County, Virginia, near where Samuel Ewing, James Ewing and other cousins then lived.

The sketch of the Ewings left by Nathaniel Ewing of Mount Clair, Knox County, Indiana, and published in the Courier-Journal, February 28, 1897, after what I have elsewhere quoted continues: "Some time about the year 1735 or 1740 two young men, cousins of my grandfather, Nathaniel Ewing (the only son by the first wife of William Ewing, born in Scotland), came to America. Their names were Charles and Robert Ewing. Having gotten into an affray at a fair in Ireland they were so unfortunate as to kill a man, for which they were obliged to fly the country and came to my grandfather's, where they concealed themselves for a length of time until one of my grandfather's half brothers came from Virginia on a visit to his relations in Maryland. On his return they were put over the Susquehanna in the night and went with him to Virginia. It being a place less frequented by emigrants from Ireland than Maryland, and a proclamation having arrived offering a reward for their apprehension, their longer stay became dangerous.

"Some time after their arrival in Prince Edward County a new settlement was founded further back, in what is now called Bedford County, near the Peaks of Otter. They joined the adventurers and finally settled there and married sisters, daughters of Mr. Baker, a Presbyterian minister, and lived there until death. They both left large families, who are now settled in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri, some of whom I have seen, viz.: Baker Ewing, Young Ewing, Samuel Ewing and Finis Ewing. The last is a Presbyterian clergyman and resides in Missouri. I mention the family on account of their having become so numerous in the western country and to show the connection between them and my family."

Exhaustive investigation leads me to the most decided opinion that the "affray at a fair" and its result is an error. Mr. Buford, who never heard of this fair story, was quite confident that the "trouble," whatever it may have been, was nothing other than a mere "political matter" which resulted in no physical encounter. He lived in the county where both Robert and Charles spent the most of their distinguished lives; and so had a better opportunity to know their pre-American history than had Nathaniel Ewing whose article was published in the Courier Journal. All the facts, aside from Nathaniel's statement, indicate that at that day Robert and Charles could have been as readily located where they settled in Virginia as had they re mained in Cecil County.

That they had committed no grave crime in early life, even in the heat of an unpremeditated encounter, the prominence of their later lives attests. [...]

Charles Ewing, whose will is dated May 31, 1770, and which was probated in Bedford County, Virginia, July 24, 1770, was the same splendid type of citizen as his brother, Robert. This is not mere theory. Nor is it simply family tradition. The positions these two brothers filled as well as those held by their children after them and the testimony of such men as R. D. Buford, who knew their neighbors and who spent years studying the family records of his county, furnish us undisputed proof.

This Charles, the immigrant, and his son, Charles, were the only Ewings of that Christian name in all that part of Virginia in their day, so far as I can learn. So it is the more easy to identify them.

Charles married Martha Baker about 1744. Martha (daughter of Caleb Baker and Martha Brooks) died after 24 Jul 1770. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

According to Alicia Towster (citation details below), they were probably married in Amelia County, Virginia.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: Bef 1719, St. Mary's County, Maryland

Notes:

Abstract of the will of Robert Cole, from Linda Reno's stmarysfamilies.com:

Robert Cole, SMC 11/26/1771-12/2/1771. Wife: Sarah, alias Elizabeth. Children: Eleanor, Elizabeth, Mary. If any of these 3 die before marriage or not arrive at age, estate may go to survivors of these 4: Eleanor, Elizabeth, Mary, Henrietta Hayden. Son-in-law: Robert Mattingly. Granddaughter: Elizabeth Mattingly. Heirs of daughters: Jane Mattingly and Margaret Melton, both deceased. Execs: Sons-in-law, Robert Mattingly, Richard Melton, Basil Hayden. Wit: James Roach, Clement Hayden, William Hayden.

From Mary Louise Donnelly, John Medley (1615-1660):

"An inventory of Robert Cole's estate was made on 8/14/1772 with a value of nearly 445 pounds of sterling. He owned seven slaves and the usual items found on a plantation of that period, and some special items such as a desk, a seal skin trunk and a pair of spectacles and case. When the final account of Robert Cole's estate was made on 11/22/1773 his heirs received nearly 513 pounds of sterling (Acc't 69:205)."

Robert married Ann Greenwell before 1743. Ann (daughter of Thomas Greenwell and Mary Medley) was born about 1730 in St. Mary's County, Maryland; died before 1771. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Note attached by "stashyc" to William Hayden in her public ancestry.com tree:

Basil Hayden Sr. and his brother William Hayden, sons of George Hayden (d. 1754) were living in Kentucky at the time of their mother Charity's death. Neither were mentioned in Charity's will of 1791. Elizabeth Hayden (d. 1761), the boys' grandmother, left [land to] just the two oldest children of her deceased son George [...]

"Item I bequeath to my two grandsons William Hayden & Basil Hayden sons to George all that part or parcell of Land whereon William Morgan now lives known by the name of Shankes Resque containing 102 acres more or less to be divided Equally between my two grandsons as above mentioned". According to the Rent Rolls (43:105) Basil sold his share to his brother William on 9/17/1767.

Accompanied his brother Basil to Kentucky in 1785.

Deed recorded 3/31/1789 (Deed 2:59-60) in Nelson County, Virginia (became the state of Kentucky in 1792) records William Hayden['s] purchase of 400 acres of land "...beginning in James Cloyds line..." (on Pottinger's Creek).

William Hayden's will was proved null and void in the case "Hayden Heirs vs Hayden Executors" files 1794. The names of all of William Hayden's heirs were given in the court case (A:191-192) in Washington County, on 2/22/1796. When the heirs sold William Hayden's land, Bennett Hayden was not named as he had given whatever was to come to him from his father's estate "to my sister Mary Hayden" - dated 4/10/1794 (Deed A:178 Washington Co., KY).

Died:
year only.

William married Elizabeth Thompson. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Matthew married Ann. Ann was born before 1753; died after 1786. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 6 Nov 1824, Bardstown, Nelson, Kentucky

Notes:

Came to Harrod's Station with his wife in 1775 or 1776. According to The Centenary of Catholicity in Kentucky (citation details below), he and his wife were among the first people of European ancestry to permanently settle in what is now Kentucky.

From Descendants of Richard Coomes I (citation details below):

The William Coomes family left Maryland, moving to Virginia. When hearing of the fertile ground in "Kain-tuck-ee", the Indian name for Kentucky (meaning beautiful ground), the Coomes family joined the pioneers, led by James Harrod, in the early 1770s. They used flatboats and poled them down the mighty Ohio. After journeying down the Ohio for several weeks, the party made their first permanent camp at a place called Drilling's Lick. It was located on the Kentucky River, near the present day site of Frankfort, Kentucky. While the men were busy with hunting and trapping, Frances Jane Coomes began to manufacture salt. This was the first and earliest manufacturing of salt in the state. After a short stay at Drilling's Lick, the pioneers pushed further into the wilderness. They settled at a place called Harrod's Station, later called Fort Harrod. The men hunted and trapped and cleared land to grow crops. Frances Jane Coomes spent much of her time teaching the children how to read, write, and cipher.

Oct 28, 1779: William Coomes this day claimed the right to a settlement & Preemption to a Tract of Land lying on the waters of Beach Fork of Salt River, known by the name of Cave Spring, by residing in this country FOR TWELVE MONTHS, before the year 1778, satisfactory proof being made to the Court they are of Opinion that the said Combs has a right to a settlement for 400 acres of Land including said Spring & a Preemption of 1000 Acres Adjoining & that a certificate issue for the same accordingly (certificate book of the Virginia Land Commission, 1779-1780)

During the War of Independence there were three companies of volunteers from what at that time was known as Kentucky County, Virginia. Captain John Holder's company was organized in either 1799/1780, at Ruddells' and Martin's Station, near the present day site of Cynthiana, Kentucky. William Coomes was a sergeant in Captain Holder's company. His official title was "Sergeant of the Continental Line".

After the war William Coomes and family settled in Bardstown on a one thousand-acre farm two miles northeast of the town. They wanted to be near people of their own faith - Catholic; and, there was a large cave on the farm for protection from Indians. William Coomes presented 105 acres to Father Badin for a new church.

William married Frances Jane about 1760. Frances was born in Maryland; died on 25 Apr 1816 in Cox's Creek, Nelson, Kentucky; was buried in Bardstown, Nelson, Kentucky. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: 6 Jun 1742, Medford, Baltimore, Maryland

Notes:

The following is a transcript of a paper written by genealogical researcher and 5th great grandaughter of Frances Jane Coomes, Rita Mackin Fox:

While conducting research on the life of Kentucky pioneer Frances (a.k.a. Jane) Coomes (a.k.a. Combs, Coombs, Coombes)--Kentucky's first teacher, among other achievements--the status of women in American history became very clear. I experienced firsthand the frustration of trying to discover the story of one Kentucky pioneer who had the misfortune of being born a second-class citizen--a woman. For Frances and other women in American history, very few historical documents exist to tell us what their lives were like. When a woman's accomplishments were deemed noteworthy enough to be included in a civil document or historical record, she usually was referred to in connection with her husband's name because, upon marriage, almost all women in colonial and Federal America were viewed as being one legal entity with their husbands.

While Frances Coomes had many historical accomplishments in her own right, she is referred to in most state history books only as Mrs. William Coomes. Her maiden name is unknown. Some researchers believe her to be a Lancaster, others a Greenleaf or Greenwell, and yet others a Mills. But I have yet to see any solid proof for any of these surnames. I hope one day to find her marriage record--which is probably in Maryland or Virginia--but I know many other Coomes researchers have already tried and failed to turn up such evidence.

Kentucky historians and Coomes researchers can't even agree on her given name--Frances or Jane. There was a plaque erected in her honor during the 1930s at Fort Harrod State Park in Harrodsburg (also referred to in this paper as Harrod's Town, its original name), Ky., which referred to her as Jane. Several deeds in Nelson County, Kentucky, the first of which was dated 10 March 1789, refer to her as Frances. To illustrate the confusion, at Frankfort's Department of Libraries and Archives, there are two biographical sketches on her in the vertical files--one under Jane, the other Frances. The "Jane" file lists her achievement as being Kentucky's first schoolteacher. The "Frances" file describes her role as Kentucky's first woman physician. Both mention her being the first Anglo in Kentucky--woman or man--to manufacture salt. Because she is called Frances in the only primary documents I have found, I will use that name, unless citing a source that names her otherwise.

With that established, let me share what I have learned of my ancestor, Frances Coomes, my maternal fifth-great-grandmother. In the process, I hope to give my reader a glimpse of the life of a pioneer woman on the Kentucky frontier.

Frances makes her marks on Kentucky history

Frances's husband William is credited, along with Dr. George Hart, an Irishman and physician, as being one of the first Catholics in Kentucky. Of course, they actually were the first Catholic males, as the entire Coomes family emigrated at the same time. Along with Frances, their nine children are overlooked as being among the first Catholics in Kentucky. All of their children were born before the family emigrated to Kentucky circa 1775-76. Like so many other questions yet to be answered, the exact date of Frances and William's arrival at Harrod's Town is in dispute. Martin Spalding and others give 1775 as the year. However, Frances's arrival is not included in the following passage from Allen's History of Kentucky: "In September 1775, three more ladies arrived in Kentucky, and, with them their husbands and children settled in Harrodsburg, to wit: Mrs. Denton, Mrs. McGary, and Mrs. Hogan." The Fort Harrod entry in the Kentucky Encyclopedia reads: "Among the pioneers who arrived in 1776 were Jane Coomes, who started a school and taught for the next nine years...." But all sources agree that the Coomes family was in Kentucky by 1776, the year Kentucky County, Virginia, was created by the Virginia Assembly. Harrod's Town served as the county seat.

Frances began to make her place in Kentucky history soon after entering the region. Spalding, writing in 1844, cites information provided by Frances's son, Walter A. Coomes, who said he was about 16 years old when he arrived at Harrod's Town. Spalding reports that William Coomes was born in Charles Co., Md., and later moved to the south branch of the Potomac River in Virginia. (It is not yet known if they were married in Maryland or Virginia.) The Coomes family emigrated from Virginia to what is now Kentucky together with Abraham and Isaac Hite. Spalding shares this glimpse of Frances's first historically noteworthy activity:

"On their way through Kentucky to Harrod's Station, the party encamped for seven weeks at Drilling's (sic) Lick, in the neighbourhood of the present city of Frankfort. Here Mrs. Coomes, aided by those of the party who were not engaged in hunting, employed herself in making salt--for the first time, perhaps, that this article was manufactured in our State."

George Morgan Chinn describes the salt-making event as follows (although her being Irish is not yet proven):

"While the party was camped near Drennon's Lick, Mrs. Coomes, a resourceful Irish Catholic...collected a few kettles and directed the boiling of salt water from the spring. The Indians had long used this method for obtaining salt, but for the early settlers it was hardly a practical solution. Even if heavy and precious iron kettles large enough for the project could be obtained, it took from 800 to 1000 gallons of the salty spring water and days of feeding the hot fires under the boiling kettles to produce one bushel of salt--comparable in value to 20 British shillings, a good cow and calf, or 1000 pounds of tobacco."

Needless to say, Frances was an invaluable person to have along on the Wilderness Trail from Virginia, through the Cumberland Gap, and into Kentucky. She proved even more valuable once she arrived at Harrod's Town. According to one biographical file in the Library Extension Division, she is credited as being the first woman physician in Kentucky. The sketch reads:

"There she practiced medicine and surgery, and she was in wide demand on the frontier as an obstetrician....From Maryland she had brought her meager supply of medicines. These she supplemented by making her own from herbs. She dispensed calomel, her principal drug, sparingly. As a substitute, she boiled an extract of white walnut until it became a sirupy (sic) mass, and then made pills of it."

This biography, which cites Dr. John A. Ouchterlony's Pioneer Medical Men and Times of Kentucky as its source, also describes two examples of Frances's healing practices. She successfully treated a case of clubfoot in one of her grandchildren, who had been born with her or his toes touching the shin bones. Frances bandaged the deformed feet daily until they were normal. Another treatment is described in greater detail:

"... that of a man who came to her from Virginia for treatment of an ulcer. She informed him the treatment would be severe, but he consented. She provided an operating table of hewn timber, constructed to enable the patient to be strapped down. She used clay to fashion a dam around the diseased tissues and then applied a powerful escharotic (sic) by pouring hot boiling lard over the affect[ed] surface. It was a crude procedure, but the principle was sound. And the patient was cured."

Dr. Ouchterlony is quoted as writing that Frances "certainly was the first female who ever practiced medicine in Kentucky, and according to some was the first of either sex to exercise the beneficent functions of the healing art in our State." The sketch stated (though it did not attribute the statement to Ouchterlony) that "it is assumed she may have practiced medicine before her neighbor, Dr. Hart, had an opportunity to do so, although it is believed that she had the benefit of his instruction and perhaps the use of whatever medical library he possessed."

At Harrod's Town, the Coomes family lived outside the fort, but used the fort for protection during sieges and attacks by Indians, which continued long after the Coomes family moved on to Nelson County. The first of the attacks began in March 1777, when the fort came under continuous attack by Indians. Several Kentucky histories, including Spalding's, recount the narrow escape of William Coomes in an attack outside the fort in which one of his Harrod's Town companions was killed.

Frances occupied part of her time in Harrod's Town as a teacher and is credited with being Kentucky's first educator. "Mrs. Coomes, at the urgent request of the citizens, opened a school for the education of children." The need was great, according to a fall 1777 census of the fort that shows nearly one-third of Fort Harrod's population was under the age of ten--58 white and seven black children. (It is not known if the black children, possibly slaves, were provided instruction.) Present-day Kentucky historian Thomas D. Clark described Mrs. Coomes' school as "nothing more than a dame school without significant implications of the English system of education. Her youngsters of Fort Harrod were taught to read and write from paddles with the alphabet inscribed upon them and from the Bible texts."

The Library Extension Service biographical sketch quotes a Lexington Herald story about the school as follows:

"Her texts were the New Testament and crude wooden paddles, which took the place of horn books of Queen Elizabeth's time, on which the letters of the alphabet and figures were printed. It was a blab school where all studied aloud, their swaying bodies keeping time to the tune of their A B Cs. A dunce stool stood in a corner; a rod for chastising the negligent nearby. The seats were made of puncheons or logs cut lengthwise, set up on peg legs, there were no backs. That little school room was built of round logs with no chinking between them. It had a dirt floor, only one window, covered with a doe-skin instead of glass, and a slab door hung on deer throngs."

Kathryn Harrod Mason describes horn books as "a paddlelike affair made of clapboard and a piece of horn, which was steamed and flattened to provide a smooth writing surface." Mason adds the following anecdote:

"Mrs. Coomes called the children with a brass bell that had once hung around the neck of a cow she had brought across the Wilderness Road."

While Frances left no diary behind, we can get a glimpse of her daily life in this description of the typical pioneer woman in Kentucky:

"Woman was something more than man's helpmate on the frontier ... 'it is not known whether the man or woman be the most necessary.' ... She was both mistress and servant, matron and nursery maid, housekeeper and charwoman, dairy-maid and cook....Custom and necessity united to lay upon her the duty of providing for every household need that the rude agriculture of the period did not supply, and in all the multifarious activities which engaged her skill and energy, she labored unaided by labor-saving machinery. And so she milked the cows in all weather, while sturdy men and boys watched an operation too effeminate to enlist their service; churned the butter and pressed the cheese; carried the tube to the spring and caught rain-water for the weekly 'washing' from the eaves in troughs and barrels; made her own soft-soap; washed, picked, carded and dyed the wool; pulled, broke, hatcheled and bleached the hemp; spun the thread; and wove the cloth; contrived and made the garments; reared her children; nursed the sick, sympathized with the distressed and encouraged the disheartened laborer at her side. In all this, and above it all, woman was the tutelar saint of the frontier."

Frances in later years

Spalding reports that Frances and William remained at Harrod's Town for nine years. By 1783, William had obtained a grant for 1,000 acres in Jefferson County on the Cox's and Stewart's creek watercourses. This land helped form Nelson County in 1784. William was deeded this land in December 1784. He became a prominent Catholic landowner in this area and is mentioned often in deeds, court records, and the marriage bonds of his daughters and sons. Frances seems to have slipped into obscurity, only mentioned by given name in a few deeds between 1789 and 1813 and identified as William's wife.

The Coomes family Bible gives the date Frances died as 25 April 1816. William passed away on 6 Nov 1824. No will was probated nor is there a record of their estate being settled in Nelson County. Several of their children had moved on to Daviess and other counties, so it is possible they did not die in Nelson County. But they might not have had any property left to be divided. In 1813, William and Frances divided 1,646 acres of their land among eight of their nine children, excluding only Nancy Ann.

While this paper has to come to an end, my search for Frances's story goes on. Primary records, particularly marriage, deed and will records may hold many clues, if only I can find them. Perhaps I'll even find mention of her in the diaries and records of her neighbors. But I already am quite proud of all Frances managed to accomplish--not the least of which is the feat of getting her name mentioned in any record in our state's male-authored history books.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 3 Aug 1822, Nelson County, Kentucky

Notes:

From Combs-Coombs &c:

Francis COOMES, b ca 1726, Maryland, d 3 Aug 1822, Nelson Co KY; buried St. Michael's Catholic Cemetery; m in MD Charity WOOD; b ?, d aft 1796, probably in Nelson Co KY. They resided in first Virginia [location not known], were there ca 1767 when son, Richard, was born (1850 Nelson KY Census) and then, between 1768 and 1771, removed to Surry Co NC where Francis COONS [sic] appears on the tax lists of the newly-formed (from Rowan) county with 1 tithable. [...] On 06 Aug 1796 (Surry Co NC DBF:332) Francis COOMER [sic] sold Round Hill to John FARMER, £100, and shortly thereafter removed to Nelson Co KY where he first appears on tax lists in 1797.

Note: There is a Find a Grave page for a Francis Coomes buried in St. Michael's Catholic Cemetery in Fairfield, Kentucky. It gives no parents, spouse, or children, but the text says "Was a Private in the Virginia Militia during Revolutionary War", something not mentioned in the lengthy compilation of Francis Coomes information on the Combs-Coombs &c. site. The photograph shows a headstone that has been made illegible by damage, to which a modern plaque has been added reading "FRANCIS COOMES / PVT VA MILITIA / REVOLUTIONARY WAR / 1726 1822."

Further from Combs-Coombs &c:

The ancestry of neither Francis Combs nor his wife has been determined; however, it is possible that he was from Charles Co, MD. According to the following family traditions/histories:

(1) Extracted from "The Centenary of Catholicity in Kentucky", by Hon. Ben. J. Webb, published by Cook & McDowell Owensboro, Kentucky in 1980, Chapter XXXVIII, "The mission of Daviess County," an interview by Webb of Francis' grandson, Richard R. COOMES:

"Richard R. COOMES, whose name appears in the above list of early settlers in the county [list of pre-1831 settlers of Daviess Co. KY], is a grandson of the veteran patriarch of the Cox's Creek settlement, Francis COOMES, who died a centenarian in 1822. The history of the family, as sketched for the writer by its oldest living representative in Daviess...is sufficiently interesting to be here introduced:

"Francis COOMES, from whom one branch of the family so designated and residing in KY has its descent, was born in Maryland about the year 1722. When a young married man, he stayed away from MD and went first to VA, and afterwards to N.C. Here there were children born to him and these grew up with little, if any, knowledge of their ancestral faith. When his oldest son, Richard, father of the venerated friend whose account the writer is here quoting, reached his majority, he became dissatisfied with his surroundings in NC, and, after wandering from place to place for a number of years, finally came to KY in the year 1790. It is more then likely he fell in with some of his father's former acquaintances of MD, then on their way to the settlement on Cox's Creek [Nelson Co, KY].

"Richard COOMES was accompanied to the State and to the settlement referred to by two single sisters, Anna and Rachel COOMES, the first of whom afterwards became the wife of Walter COOMES, .... and the mother of the late Rev. Charles I. COOMES .... and the last the wife of William COOMES, who removed from Nelson to Daviess County in the year 1815.

"In 1794, or thereabouts, Richard COOMES returned to N. C. and brought back with him to Kentucky his aged father and mother, and two single sisters. One of these latter afterwards intermarried with Wilfred WATHEN, and became the mother of ... Rev. John C. WATHEN. The other was married to John SPEAKS. Having still a widowed sister residing in VA, Mrs. Margaret WATHEN, he went after her a year or two later, and brought to KY herself and her two infant children. ... she was afterwards united in marriage with Zachariah AUD, of the Cox's Creek Settlement, and she became mother of ... Rev. Athanasius A. AUD,.... The death of Richard COOMES took place in 1868, at the age of eighty-eight years."

(2) From Combs Researcher Joe Lewis: Father Eugene COOMES, S.J. also stated that Francis and Charity had nine children, some born in MD, VA and some in NC. In addition to those named above, Fr. Eugene also listed "...Henry who died 1856 in Breckenridge Co. KY, Leonard, who married Mary Anastasia COOMES (daughter of William COOMES) 1800 in Nelson Co. KY, and Lydia who married a CRUTCHFIELD in NC and moved to St. Lawrence in Daviess Co., KY.

Francis married Charity Wood about 1767 in Maryland. Charity was born in 1734 in Maryland; died after 1796 in Nelson County, Kentucky. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate death: 19 Aug 1826, Fairfield, Nelson, Kentucky

Notes:

Or Woods.