Compiled by Teresa
Martin Klaiber 2023
William
C. Mayhew was born 2 November 1832 in Greenup County, Kentucky. His parents, William
and Matilda Kazee Mayhew, were married in Greenup County 1 December 1829[i]. His grandparents, Myra and Rebecca Curran
Farmer[ii]
Mayhew, also married in Greenup County, Kentucky 13 January 1805.
William
crossed the river to marry Mary Elizabeth “May” Ross the 19th of
June 1854 in Lawrence County, Ohio[iii]. She was a daughter of the first judge of Boyd
County, John D. Ross. Her mother was
Susan Lockwood Ross, another pioneer family from Boyd County.
Boyd
County, Kentucky was formed in 1860 from portions of Greenup and Lawrence
County, Kentucky. That year the census
shows the family with three children: Grace, John D, and Susan. The census indicates that William has no
value in real estate at that time. In
all they had a total of six children, all born between 1854 and 1872. The other children included: George W., John
D., Susan Evangeline, Dimma and James Taylor Mayhew. All the children were born on Big Garner,
Boyd County, Kentucky.
The
first tax list of Boyd County shows William Mayhew with no land values but does
own a horse and one cow. By 1862 William
C. Mayhew is enlisted in the county militia and now had two horses and two
cows.
William
C. Mayhew enlisted in the 45th
Regiment, Kentucky Infantry (Union), Company K on 7 October 1863 at the
courthouse in Louisa, Lawrence County, Kentucky. He mustered out at
Catlettsburg on 14 February 1865.
The
1866 Boyd County tax list shows William being assessed for 158 acres on Garner.[i] Their property adjoined what is today this
compilers land at the fork of Solomon’s Branch and Long Branch. The family once again has two horses, two
cows and William is still on the county militia list. As late as 1871 he served
the Boyd County Militia, at the age of 39.
In
April 1875 the Mayhew’s daughter married Charles W. Diamond. John D Ross deeded 12 acres on Garner, for
love and affection to both William and Mary Elizabeth in 1885[ii]
and daughter Susan married in June 1886
to John Henry Harris.
William
C. Mayhew died 3 May 1890 and was buried in Klaiber Cemetery, Long Branch Road,
Boyd County, Kentucky, on the road where he resided.
Two
years after William died, son George purchased a “lot” in the cemetery
described as “…on a point nearly opposite the mansion house and on the south
side of the creek the same is for a grave yard where William Mayhew is now
buried….[i]” The grantor was Henry Powell Sexton who owned
the land surrounding the property.
Daughter
Dimma was friends with Lorain Klaiber whose nickname was Raney. In April 1893 the young ladies of Garner
attended a quarterly church meeting[ii]. Dimma died 9 April 1895 and was buried next
to her father on the point. At one time there was a fence around the plot.
Mary
Elizabeth Ross Mayhew continued to live on Garner until her death 8 September
1904. She is also buried on the point
next to William.
Mary Elizabeth Ross
Mayhew
I
wrote about the Mayhew’s son-in-law
John Henry Harris
in May. John
Henry Harris, Eva, and their children, resided with her widowed mother, Mary
Mayhew in 1900, on Garner, Boyd County, Kentucky. In the 1970’s the state of Kentucky conducted
a project to collect and catalog cemeteries in the state of Kentucky. Evelyn Jackson was coordinator in Boyd
County. Besides “reading” stones she
collected information from family and caretakers of the family cemeteries. Among the names listed in Klaiber Cemetery is
“Flora Mayhew” with no dates. There is a
field stone in the Mayhew plot. When
John Henry Harris died in 1909 he was buried in Klaiber Cemetery close to the
Mayhew plot. The Mayhew’s did not have a
daughter Flora. But John Henry Harris
and Susan “Eva” Mayhew Harris had a daughter Flora born in December 1889. Flora was the granddaughter of William and
Mary Elizabeth Mayhew. This compiler
believes that the KHS cemetery reading may be incorrect and should read “Flora
Harris.” I believe she died between
1900 and 1910. Nola Harris wrote me in
2009 stating: “all I have…is my great – aunt Angie’s word (Mary Angeline Harris
Pelfry) and I don’t know if there is existing family bible records. Angie called it Sexton Cemetery[i] and
said that her dad, mom, and little sister were all buried there. The only gravestone seems to be that of her
father John H. Harris.”
There is no stone for Susan
Evangeline “Eva” Mayhew Harris either but it does appear there is an unmarked
grave next to John Henry Harris. At this
writing this compiler has not found a death record for her. She died 4 May 1924 and had been living with
another son Charlie Harris, a coal miner, in Logan County, West Virginia.
[i]
KY, Boyd dbk 25 page 513
[ii] Ashland Republican, 27 April 1893
[i]
KY, Boyd tax fhl 008188344
[ii]
KY, Boyd dbk 19 page 438
[i]
KY, Greenup Marriage , page 57. The clerk spelled Matilda’s last name as Kesee. Joseph Arthur was bondsman.
[ii]
In published Greenup Marriage records
& History of Greenup County by
Biggs she is referenced as Rebecca Farmer d/o John Currant
[iii]
OH, Lawrence, page 80 #483
