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.
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