A Study of the Life of Solomon Stratton

 

Many publications have mentioned hubby’s[i] fourth great grandfather, Solomon Stratton.  Most highlight his purported military service and involvement with the founding of Prestonsburg, Kentucky.  Most, in print and online, do not give proper citations.  But no matter how many times hubby and I day trip US 23 to Prestonsburg and Betsy Layne our thoughts and admiration linger on him and other pioneer families that led us down a trail that now includes five beautiful grandchildren.  Hopefully some day they will hand down the stories, as well.

Solomon Stratton was born about 1745. Assuming he was born in the area where he reaches adulthood, he was born in Albemarle, British America.  According to DNA evidence he was either ½ brother or cousin to both Isaac (1754-1831) and Seriah Stratton (1740-1821/23).

When Solomon was thirteen, Amherst County, British America was formed from a portion of Albemarle.  It is estimated that Solomon was about 21 when he married wife Jane.[ii]  Their first child, Esther was born about 1766[iii] probably in Amherst County.

The first mention this compiler has of Solomon Stratton in the Piedmont region, Amherst, is in the publication on the Layne family[iv] by Benjamin Floyd Layne stating in 1767 William Laine Jr. lived near Minos Wright, Solomon Stratton, John Stratton and others.  This is a newer publication and does not give a citation.  The first recorded county document this compiler has located for Solomon, is the next year, May 1768 when a Court Order involves “William Lain vs James Shannon” for one pound ten shillings.  Solomon, now about age 23, along with William Lain and a Thomas Largen were paid fifty pounds of tobacco for two days attendance at court[v].

On February 6, 1769 Solomon Strutton[vi] along with William Lain, Henry Strutton, John Strutton, Menos Wright and James Mobley are listed as the road gang to work on the survey of William Spencer leading from the Tye River to Higginbotham’s. Another portion of the road is described as Rucker’s Run Bridge to Higginbotham’s.  While this is two years later than Layne quipped, it is most likely one of the sources he utilized.  Solomon’s 2^nd daughter Elizabeth[vii] is estimated as born this same year.

Solomon and Jane have four sons born between 1774 and 1778: Harry, Henry, Tandy and Richard.

Solomon Stratton’s military appearance is in the Virginia Militia for Montgomery County, Virginia.   Montgomery included present day Wythe and part of Tazewell.  His service was under Captain James Moore for 1778.[viii]. He may have made the rank of Sergeant as indicated in one publication.[ix]

1783 Militia showing  Capt. James Moore, Solomon Stratton, Sergt, Low Brown, James Shannon,  Robert Lasley (under 18) & others of Montgomery County

It is at this point that narrated accounts state Solomon was at the Battle of Alamance and with George Roger's Clark expedition to Illinois in 1779.

The review of a pension record of Joseph Davidson[x],from Tazewell County, who also served under Captain James Moore in the Montgomery Militia shows that Davidson was at Davidson Fort, on the Bluestone, under command of Captain Moore in the Spring of 1779.  Captain James Moore was also at the first Battle of Alamance in 1771. Moore was commander of Davidson Fort on the Bluestone in 1777.  He does not appear to be the Clark that went on the Clark expedition as he was murdered by Indians in 1782 near Davidson Fort. Rolls for the Clark expedition include a different James Moore who was not appointed Captain until he was in Illinois where Moore later resided and died. Did Solomon volunteer to join another unit, leaving Moore?

None of the available lists for the George Rogers Clark Expedition are complete, making positive identifications frustrating.

The earliest published reference of Solomon Stratton in Clark’s Expedition is in History of the Settlement and Indian Wars of Tazewell County by George Bickley in 1852. This repeated in the 1920 publication of History of Tazewell County and Southwest Virginia stating that the following accompanied Clark to Illinois: William Peery, Low Brown, John Lasly and Solomon Stratton. The Annals of Tazewell followed in 1923. Bickley and subsequent publications gave no reference/citation.

History of Southwest Virginia Washington County 1777-1870 was written in 1903 and states “while the company, as a whole, refused to go upon the expedition, a few of the men joined other companies and took part…Low Brown, John Lasly, Solomon Stratton, Nealy McGuire, William Peery.  Supplies were purchased upon the Holston…17 March 1779…”  This would indicate Stratton did join another company, but what company? Where is a roster?

Low Brown’s pension[xi]  states he enlisted in the Illinois regiment in 1779…at the time he was a resident of Montgomery County…that previous he was a citizen of Montgomery and enlisted under Lt. John Draper. “That sometime between the two terms of enlistment …was by order of Colonel Preston to Captain James Moore, appointed by said Captain Moore as an Indian Spy.” This places Brown in the same Montgomery county militia as Solomon Stratton.

The McGuire quoted is most likely one of the McGuire’s that went by “Neely.”  Rev. Cornelius McGuire who went by “Neely” and who later will marry Solomon Stratton’s oldest child, Esther, 29 December 1787, in Montgomery County, would have only been 11 years old at the time of the George Rogers Clark Expedition.  It is most likely Cornelius aka “Neely” born about 1725 who’s brother John McGuire does appear on pay lists for the Clark Expedition.

William Peery[xii] was a volunteer in the Expedition as well as at the Battle of Alamance, North Carolina.  He migrated from Augusta county to present Tazewell.  His affidavit includes a statement from Low Brown.  His pension clarifies that he and Brown were in a company commanded by captain Jesse Evans[xiii] and marched to Illinois.  John Lesley (Lasley in publication) made oath for the affidavits of William Peery and Low Brown. 

The Pension of John Lasley[xiv] taken in August 1833 in Lawrence County, Kentucky, on the East Fork of Little Sandy states that he enlisted September 1778 with Captain Jesse Evans and served under Clark and that he “rendezvoused …on the Holston River March 1779 and marched to the mouth of the Kaskaskia River. Low Brown made oath that h also had enlisted under Captain Jesse Evans in the county of Montgomery.

None of these men mention Solomon Stratton, who by the time of the pension statements was deceased.

The payroll for Jesse Evans[xv] includes himself, William Perry, Low Brown, John Lasley but does not include Solomon Stratton or a Neely McGuire. Jesse Evans does appear as 1^st Lieutenant in Montgomery County in the order books in March 1778.  George Rogers Clark and His Men Military Records 1778-1784 contains other militia payrolls as well as Evans but again does not include Corneilius “Neely” McGuire nor Solomon Stratton.

In March 1781 a battle less frequently called “Battle of Alamance,[xvi]” occurred in North Carolina, involving militia called “Botetourt Riflemen” under Colonel William Preston[xvii] who was commander of the Montgomery Militia and led by Captain David McNeely. This militia crossed and held Alamance Creek.  William Peery states that he was present at that battle. Preston was under duty of General Pickens and engaged Tarleton’s soldiers on March 2 near a plantation on the Alamance River. Preston then repositioned at Wetzell’s Mill.  Preston's militiamen complained that the "burthen, and heat, of the Day was entirely thrown upon them, and that they were to be made a sacrifice by the Regular Officers to screen their own Troops.”[xviii] This compiler finds no pay dockets or militia rolls that can confirm Solomon Stratton was at Alamance nor later with Clark. 

This compiler can prove that Solomon Strutton/Stratton received a certificate for a public claim for equipment and supplies in Montgomery County, May 1780[xix].  1781tax roles was not available to this compiler.  But the Virginia General Assembly had enacted several statutes involving counties that were delinquent “owing to frequent calls of the militia.[xx]”  This is also the estimated year that Solomon and Jane give birth to daughter Mary Stratton[xxi] (child #7).  Solomon is shown paying personal property tax in Montgomery County in 1782 along with John, James, Robert, Samuel and Thomas Shannon.

Twelve May 1783 Solomon Stratton received a survey of 245 acres on the Bluestone with one bearing being along Shannon’s line[xxii].  Four years later, Esther married Cornelius McGuire in 1787 in Montgomery County. She is the eldest daughter of Solomon and Jane. Solomon and Jane had a total of ten children while still residing in Montgomery County.  Between 1785 and 1787 three more sons are born, in Montgomery County, to Solomon and Jane: Cornelius, Hiram and John.

In 1790 Solomon is taxed in Montgomery County next door to James Shannon. This is the Shannon that Solomon’s 245 acres lines with. January 15, 1793 the 245 acres on Bluestone, which had been surveyed 10 years prior, is granted officially to Solomon Stratton described again as Bluestone Creek on the waters of New River adjoining Shannon’s line.[xxiii]

Wythe County was created in December 1789 from Montgomery County. By January 1793 Solomon is paying personal property tax in Wythe County, Virginia along with James and William Shannon. In October he signed a petition in Wythe County to form Tazewell County.[xxiv]

Indian raids on the Upper Clinch and Bluestone are recorded in 1792 and 1793.   With Wayne’s victory involving the Indian Tribes in Ohio occurring in 1794 land speculators and surveyors became more active[xxv].

Solomon was pilot on a survey for Nicholas Wilson for 300,000 acres on the Clinch River in late March 1794.  A field survey was made by the principal surveyor or his deputy in the presence of the surveying team which included two chainmen, a marker to blaze trees used as corners and a pilot sometimes called director or by the name housekeeper.  Further review of Sims Index shows that the land was granted at Roark’s Gap.  In early 1789 a band of Shawnee had attacked and killed James Roark’s family.  They lived at the gap between the waters of Clinch and Sandy River. Today the incident is marked at Route 631 and 637 in today’s Tazewell County.

By 1796 Solomon’s sons Richard and Tandy Stratton appear along with Solomon Stratton on personal property tax in Wythe County.  William and James Shannon appear on the same list[xxvi].

This same year (1796) is published on a Kentucky Road Side Historical Marker as well as in publications that Solomon is said to have migrated from Tazewell County to Stratton Settlement on Mare’s Creek in Floyd County, Kentucky.  The fact is Tazewell is not officially formed until December 1799 and Mare’s Creek and all of what would later be Floyd County was still part of Mason County, Kentucky.

Maybe as a compiler I “am splitting hairs” but I find continued court activity for Solomon in Wythe County. 

Solomon did appear on a 2^nd petition for the creation of Tazewell County in November 1796[xxvii] in Wythe County.  Six months later, according to a plat of Prestonsburg, Kentucky, originally surveyed 3 May 1797, a town was laid out on the north side of the Sandy River opposite the mouth of Middle Creek to be known as Prestonsburg. The survey was under direction of Major Andrew Hood, Matthias Harmon and Solomon Stratton under John Preston’s grant.  Records burnt in a fire in Floyd County in April 1808 and this document was redrawn and refiled until 1810 (Floyd deed book A page 66). 

The following month, June 1797, Solomon and Jane Stratton made an indenture in Wythe County to son-in-law Cornelius McGuire for 73 acres being part of the 245-acre grant which was on both sides of Bluestone Creek in line with James Shannon.  Witness to the deed included Henry Harman Sr., John Peery and others. The deed was filed 11 July.  At the same time Solomon and Jane sold 122 acres of the 245 tract to John Tollot.  Neither Solomon or Jane are at court to acknowledge the sales and while two witness gave oaths the filing was continued until, a year later, 12 December 1798, when Samuel Walker gave his oath[xxviii]. There is indication that Solomon was in Wythe in December 1797 when he once again signed a petition that the Upper end of Russell and part of Wythe north of the Clinch to become a new county named Tazewell.

There is no doubt that Solomon Stratton was surveying.  John Preston kept an account book and worked out an agreement with Hood, Harmon and Stratton for surveying and calling them adventurers.[xxix]

Once again, due to loss of records in Floyd County, the dates are a bit muddied but orders in Floyd Circuit Court, in session in 1817, cite Preston’s grant along with John Smith of Montgomery County, Virginia. Dated February 7, 1787 and entering into a contact with Daniel Harman and Charles Skaggs with Mathias Harman and Henry Skaggs, principals. By the terms of this contract the latter were bound to ‘find, discover and shew land of good quality to the amount of 100,000 acres in the Big Sandy Valley.' the land was entered in accordance with the terms of the contract, March 9, 1787. Later, John Graham of Augusta County began and completed the surveying of this very large boundary[xxx].   These were depositions taken involving Preston land disputes.   “Here follows the agreement ……between John Preston and John Smith of the county of Montgomery and Daniel Harman, Charles Skaggs on behalf of Mathias Harman and Henry Skaggs …Preston and Smith doth agree and bind themselves to procure land office treasury warrants to the amount of one hundred thousand acres. Preston and Smith were to pay the expense of surveying. William Harman accepted 250 acres as claim and assigned his part to Richard Damron, Robert  Haws, Harry Stratton, Solomon Strutton (as spelled) and Tandy Stratton, dated 8 September 1808. A deposition of Richard Ratliff taken in October 1819 states he saw Mathias Harman, Charles Skaggs, Daniel Harman and Henry Skaggs start from Virginia in company with a surveyor to locate lands on the waters of Sandy.  Solomon, Richard, Harry and Tandy became defendants in the land disputes[xxxi].

Solomon’s son Henry Stratton was appointed as one of the first Justice of Peace for Floyd County in December 1799.

One treasured document located for Solomon Stratton places him in Floyd County in 1801.  Found in the trunk of Winnie Fitzpatrick Johns, who lived in Prestonsburg and appears to have collected circuit documents. According to an article in the 1930’s and 40s she would go to the Floyd Courthouse, browse through files of the circuit court and take-home records that particularly interested her[xxxii] (ouch). One document was a twelve-month note from Richard W. Evans to Thomas C. Brown[xxxiii], Solomon Stratton, Caleb Litton and Thomas Pinson dated July 21, 1801 for the amount of sixty-eight pounds and one penny.  This was the price Evans was obligated to pay for lots 6, 8, 10, 13 and 14 in Prestonsburg.

After the formation of Tazewell, which included the Bluestone, Solomon Stratton and son Thomas were asked to give evidence back there in Mathias Harman vs John Graham in 1803.[xxxiv]  In another Tazewell case[xxxv], Samuel Lusk vs William McBroom, July 1805, John Graham was directed to take depositions of William and Cornelius McGuire and Solomon and Tandy Stratton in Floyd County.

In June 1808 Henry Crum was asked to survey a road from Prestonsburg to the mouth of Ivy by information of Solomon Stratton and Ruell Priest.[xxxvi] 

Solomon Stratton appears on the 1810[xxxvii] census next to son Hiram in Floyd County. He has one slave and no females which is an indication that Jane is then deceased.  He is taxed in Floyd County the same year, now 65 years old. At the age of 67 he marries for a 2^nd time in Floyd County. A bond was filed 13 September and he and Sarah “Sally” Walker were married  17^th of September by Simeon Justice, a minister of the Gospel.

The Floyd Court Orders show he “paid down a fine on the clerk’s table” 27 October 1812.[xxxviii]  Unfortunately the order does not say why he was fined.  

On 22 April 1816 a deed[xxxix] from John Graham to Solomon was made for 80+ acres described as on a branch by an old school house dividing line between Stratton and Harry Stratton…along the road on a clift of the river…crossing Mare Creek thence running down the river...  The deeds in this book are typed flagging researchers that they are not the original and were recopied.

Solomon Stratton finally received a patent for 68 acres  with the survey dated 28 September 1816 and citing two land warrants #19078 and #19079 entered March 9, 1787 for land described as Floyd County on the Sandy River near the mouth of Mare Creek and bounded by a corner of John Preston survey #4 and a corner of Preston’s survey of 46 acres on Mare Creek…thence crossing Mare Creek and running down to a corner of James Lain’s survey formerly John Preston’s.  Harry Stratton and Ben Miller witnessed the transaction.  It was also signed by John Graham and Robert Walker as “survair” which is as spelled in the document[xl].

Now age of 73, Solomon bound himself for $200.00 to Benjamin Lewis[xli]. The condition of the obligation was that within 12 months from the date a title would be made for a tract on Mare Creek beginning at the lower end of James Laynes upper bottom where the old mill stood outside of said Laynes line and taking in different branches.  Solomon Stratton died before he could meet that obligation.

At the August 17, 1818 Floyd County Court Sally Stratton, widow of Solomon Stratton, and Harry Stratton were appointed administrators of the estate of Solomon Stratton. Heirs listed were Harry Stratton, John Stratton, Tandy Stratton, Esther Stratton McGuire, Richard Stratton, Elizabeth Stratton, James McBrayer and John Laird[xlii].

A deed [xliii]written about September 1821settled the note made with Benjamin Lewis. The deed was between Henry Stratton for himself, for John Stratton, John Lord, James McBrayer, Tandy Stratton, Richard S Stratton and Esther McGuire heirs at law of Solomon Stratton, deceased, and
John Graham, Wm J Mayo and Robert Walker commissioners appointed by Floyd County Court (January term 1820). The heirs of Solomon Stratton to Benjamin Lewis of Floyd County on the other part 50 acres beginning at lower end of James Loins (as sp) upper bottom...filed 29 Sep 1821.

An affidavit in 1967 by descendent Edward Stratton stated that he grew up in the vicinity of the mouth of Mare Creek at Stanville, Kentucky and remembered the pioneer cemetery and that some of the pioneer graves were marked with grave stones, one being Solomon Stratton. The stones were later removed and the land was plowed over.  Mares Creek is just north of Stanville off of US 23 today.

The distance between Ivy Creek and Mare Creek is 7.8 miles. The Kentucky Road Side marker #690 was placed at the Junction of US 23 and Mare Creek Road in 1964 and is now missing and unaccounted for.    The sign read: “Stratton Settlement Founded, 1796, by Solomon Stratton, veteran of George Rogers Clark's expedition to Illinois, 1778. In Virginia militia, 1783. In 1788 he and son explored this region. Eight years later, he and kinsmen from Virginia settled here. In 1797, he, Matthias Harman, Andrew Hood, laid out Prestonsburg for Col. John Preston. Stratton died 1819; unmarked grave, 500 feet east.”

In paragraph #2 of this article I stated that DNA now indicates that Solomon Stratton is related to both Isaac Stratton and Seriah Stratton.  Hubby has DNA along with descendants of all three of these Stratton’s the centimorgan’s for both Isaac and Seriah submitters are 16cm over a segment.  This is relatively low but an important flag for further research.  Utilizing DNA Painter, it gives a 60% probability as half 5^th great uncles i.e. ½ brothers to Solomon with the submitters being in the 6^th cousin range.

Isaac Stratton states in his Revolutionary pension[xliv] that he was born 22 June 1754 (age 65 the 22^nd day June last 1822) in Amherst County.  Among papers of Col. James Higginbotham are payments referencing Abraham Stratton, Henry Stratton and Isaac Stratton circa 1777.[xlv]  Isaac said that he enlisted in Amherst County, Virginia.  He stated he had no property save a lot of wild hogs, a sickly wife age 65-70 and three daughters living with him all upwards of 21 years and acting for themselves.  He signed his pension by mark. 

Isaac is 9 years older than Solomon.  Henry, in the Higginbotham notation, is the same Henry Strutton/Stratton that appears with Solomon on the road gang in Amherst in 1769.  Isaac Stratton is a witness when Henry Stratton’s daughter marries Thomas Laine Jr. in February 1780[xlvi].While Solomon does not name any of his children Isaac, he does name a son Henry. Isaac’s revolutionary pension is mentioned in the George Rogers Clark Papers of the Draper Manuscripts. The Virginia Pension roll of 1835 shows that Isaac died in Tazewell County, Virginia 16 January 1831. The bluestone fell within Tazewell once created.

While the interaction and location of Isaac and Solomon fit nicely, the same does not appear with Seriah Stratton.  According to DAR applications, if they are correct, Seriah was born 7 July 1740 in Simsbury Hartford, Connecticut.  Thus, he is a contemporary to Solomon b 1740 and Isaac born about 1754.  Since it does seem illogical that a father bounced back and forth from New England, I would assume he is a cousin and not a ½ brother.  Remember assumptions can be dangerous.  Seriah first appears as an arbitrator in Augusta County records in 1773 at the age of 33.  He enlisted in the Twelfth Regiment of Virginia March 1777.[xlvii]  He is cited in a Pendleton County Chancery court record in 1777 involving Skidmore’s[xlviii] and by 1780 is in Rockingham County with a public claim.[xlix]  A militia voucher shows him with 5 horses and Martin Stratton with 1 horse in 1788 in Rockingham[l].  By 1800 he appears in Mason County, Kentucky.  Greenup County, Kentucky is formed from Greenup in 1803 and Seriah Stratton appears on the 1806 Greenup Tax lists.  He has property in Greenup County where he dies between 13 July 1821 and 13 January 1823 at the age of 81.  While this compiler is giving the reader a brief account, I thus far see no interaction with Solomon in the over 40 entries I have for him.

It is imperative that researchers keep an open mind.  Once a researcher sees the many trees and theories spewed on the internet, it can be hard to shake their nasty presentations.  Solomon appears with John Strutton/Stratton and Henry as well as the Lain/Layne family in Amherst County.  Many unproven trees link John to Bermuda Hundred and state he is born in 1720 making him the parent.  If he is born in 1720, he is still paying tax in Amherst when he is 70 years old[li].  At least one publication states that John was in the French and Indian War.[lii]  There is a Land bounty application for 1760 under Col. Wm. Byrd.[liii]  

Internet trees state that John Stratton married Mary Shannon giving the date of 19 June 1771.  There is no recorded marriage in Amherst county for same.  In fact, on that date John Stratton received a horse, cows, pewter, iron pots and household furniture from a Mary Shannon.[liv]  It is a BILL OF SALE and not a marriage. The deed does not clarify if this Mary Shannon is single, married or widowed.  It was witnessed by Ambrim (Abraham) Stratton and James Shannon.  The deed states “do bargain sell and deliver” but gives no amount and later “assign to him their proper use.”  One can read many things into this bill of sale but it is not the marriage record.  John, if born 1720ish as tossed around online would be about 51 years old.  If this ended in a marriage, if John Stratton is the father, she is still not the mother of Solomon.  The last record this compiler has for John is dated 1800 in Amherst County where he is “John Stratton Sr. and sells to James Garland horses, furniture and all household goods in lieu of 100 pounds due David and James Garland from Stratton.[lv]  If utilizing those horrid trees John Sr. is 80 years old.

I leave my readers with a plea for anyone to provide this compiler with proof that Solomon Stratton was on the Illinois Expedition.  I also leave you with things to ponder and hope each of you will clear your minds, pick up the continued research and follow the documentation.

 

 

 

---

[i] James David Klaiber

[ii] Readers should review an article by Walter V Ball “Samuel Cecil Never Had a Sister”

iii Esther m. Cornelius “Neely McGuire 29 Dec 1787 in Montgomery County.

 

[iv] Floyd Benjamin Layne, Layne - Lain - Lane Genealogy: being a compilation of names and historical information of male descendants of sixteen branches of the Layne-Lain- Lane family in the United States gathered from legal rec of Virginia, Amherst, Court Orders, film 008151599 1766-...page 325rds and other available sources (Los Angeles, CA: Bookman Press, 1962)

[v] Virginia, Amherst, Court Orders, film 008151599 1766-...page 325.

[vi] In many records the name appears as Strutton while other court records show it as Stratton.

[vii] Elizabeth Stratton married John Laird

[viii] Kegley, MILITIA OF MONTGOMERY CO, VA, 1777-1790, p 28

[ix] Ruth Cleveland Leslie, A Supplement of Lesley/Leslie , 1975, Page 1895

[x] R2690

[xi] S5299

[xii] VAS895

[xiii] Jesse Evans, of Montgomery County served as Lt in counties militia commissioned Dec 29, 1778 Capt in Clarks Regiment. First page of payroll (Document 28, APA 208, Microfilm Miscellaneous Reel 1384, Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts, Library of Virginia)

[xiv] S30687

[xv] Document 28 in the Illinois papers: 1779-1784, Muster rolls and payrolls of Kentucky militia, APA 208, Microfilm Miscellaneous Reel 1384, Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts, Library of Virginia.

[xvi] The first Battle of Alamance took place in NC in May 1771. The 2^nd battle in 1781 took place at Alamance Creek.

[xvii] Wm Preston b 1729 s/o John Preston d 1783.  S/o John Preston . John Preston had a 100,000-acre grant and Prestonsburg named for him.

[xviii] 78Charles Magill to Thomas Jefferson, 10 March 1781, Jefferson Papers, 5:115

[xix] Library of Virginia. Archives, Auditor of Public Accounts Indexes and lists 1776-1928.

[xx] John Sinks, Harold Ford, Tilghman McCabe Jr. Virginia Revolutionary Tax Lists from the Records of the Auditor of Public Accounts., SAR Committee. 2014

[xxi] Mary Stratton b about 1781 m Ichabod McBrayer and after his death married Edward Branham 1840 in Pike Co., KY. She is thought to be buried in Boyd County, KY on Four Mile.

[xxii] Virginia, Montgomery, Record of plotts (plats) FHL 7897246, Book B 82

[xxiii] Library of Virginia (LVA), "Land Office Patents and Grants," database,. 1793-0125

[xxiv] Nettie Schreiner-Yantis, Archives of the pioneers of Tazewell County, Virginia ( Springfield, Virginia, 1973), Page 288.

[xxv] David Johnston A History of Middle New River Settlements and Contiguous…p 53

[xxvi] Virginia, Wythe, Tax, 1796 fhl 007856355.

[xxvii] Nettie Schreiner-Yantis, Archives of the pioneers of Tazewell County, Virginia (Springfield, Virginia, 1973), Page 292.

[xxviii] Virginia, Wythe, Court Orders, fhl 007896889 page 86 1797.

[xxix] Scalf, Kentucky’s Last Frontier p 166

[xxx] KY, Floyd Circuit A p 244

[xxxi] Williams, James Alan Circuit Court Records 1808-1823 Floyd County, KY

[xxxii]“ The Long Lost Trunk of Winnie Fitzpatrick Johns”, trunk in possession of Betty Ratliff Stallard, Coeburn, VA donated to the Floyd Co. Historical and Genealogical Society. https://www.oocities.org/rlperry.geo/LongLostTrunk.html

[xxxiii] Thos. C. Brown a pensioner fr Hampshire Co Va ironically Solomon Stratton, gs/o Solomon was presiding clerk when he applied for a land warrant in 1855

[xxxiv] Tazewell County, Virginia, County Court Orders Volume 1 page 98, Harman vs Graham, 1803; , .

[xxxv] Nettie Schreiner-Yantis, Archives of the pioneers of Tazewell County, Virginia (Springfield, Virginia, 1973), page 55.

[xxxvi] Floyd County, Kentucky, Circuit Court Books June 1808, page 8; Courthouse, .

[xxxvii] 1810; Census Place: Floyd, Floyd, Kentucky; Roll: 6; Page: 102; Image: 00116; Family History Library Film: 0181351

[xxxviii] : Floyd County, Kentucky, Circuit Court Books Book C, 1812; Courthouse,

[xxxix] Kentucky Floyd, deed book A page 305

[xl] Old Kentucky Survey and Grants #7195 indexed as Solomon Stratton and Heirs

[xli] KY, Floyd dbk B p 105

[xlii] Floyd county, Kentucky, Court Orders Book 3, 1818; Courthouse, .

[xliii] KY, Floyd, dbk B p 271

[xliv] S38396

[xlv] Elizabeth Petty Bentley, Virginia Military Records From The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, The Wm & Mary College Qterly and Tyler's Qtrly (1983), p 22 Amherst County.

[xlvi] Amherst Co Va Register of M p 12

[xlvii] Fold3.com, Rev War Pay docket & rolls page 41.

[xlviii] "Skidmore and Scudamore Family History," database, A Suit In Chancery: Phares vs. Veneman, 1777 (http://www.skidmorefamilyhistory.com/OP09%20Phares%20v%20Veneman.pdf ), Seriah Stratton mention

[xlix] Military Resources," database, The Library of Virginia [LVA], The Library of Virginia (http://ajax.lva.lib.va.us/...: accessed ), Library of Virginia. Archives.; Virginia. Auditor of Public Accounts (1776-1928)..

[l] John W Wayland, Virginia Valley Records Genealogical and Historical Materials of Rockingham County, Virginia and Related Regions (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc, 1985), p 104-5.

[li] Virginia, Amherst, Tax, fhl 007846299 1790.

[lii] Catherine Hawes Coleman Seaman, Tuckahoes and Cohees: The Settlers and cultures of Amherst and Nelson Counties 1607-1807 (Sweet briar College Printing Press, 1992),

[liii] Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck, Virginia's Colonial Soldiers (1988), page 243.

[liv] Amherst County, Virginia, Deeds, book C page 233

[lv] Amherst County, Virginia, Deeds, Bk I p 112, Stratton to garland, 1800

Elsie Ellis Rucker Klaiber 1912 – 1987 Autobiography

 

Transcribed and comments by Teresa Martin Klaiber 2020

During the Fall of 1985 I asked my mother-in-law to write her autobiography. She insisted, she was not a writer but would do her best.  I am thrilled to see her flowing handwriting, written on lined paper that is now aging.  As I sit to transcribe, I think of how many students lives and family that she touched.  It is November, as it was when she left us.  We were so upset we did not realize her funeral was scheduled for Thanksgiving Day.  But that day, as I stood on the hill and looked back down the road, I saw hundreds of cars coming to honor her.  Tears streamed down as I thought how each had given up their own Thanksgiving to give Thanks and praise to her.    

I miss her chatter as the pots and pans banged in her kitchen. She taught me to cook.  I never mastered biscuits or her cream candy. She gave so much of herself.  Newly married, for some reason I wanted a long velvet dress.  I never thought of the cost nor did she say a thing.  Instead I got both a blue and red velvet long dress hand made by her[i].  As each year dawned, she would open a Christmas Savings Account and never missed a payment always presenting it to us to fulfil the Christmas wishes of her three grandsons.  She was their secret Santa.  As students we were always assured a freezer full of beef while others ate romaine noodles. 

And while her autobiography does not express her personality, I am so honored to transcribe it.

Elsie Ellis Rucker Klaiber

I was born Jan. 7, 1912[ii] to David L.[iii] and Barbara E. McGlothlin[iv] Rucker. Our home was located on Jack’s Fork of Garner (Boyd Co.) mailing address R. 1, Rush, KY.  My brother Harold (9)[v] was disappointed when I was born. I was not a boy. My sister Elzema (6)[vi] and Mildred (3)[vii] were happy to have a little sister.

When I was 6 months old, my parents moved to Mavity (mouth of Bear Creek) R. 1, Catlettsburg. My father had a large store and grist mill there.  My youngest brother Kenneth[viii] was born three yrs. Later in 1915.

I attended a one room school (Grassland) for 2 years.

Since the school term was short and my older brother & sister were ready for high school, we moved to Ashland, KY. on Bath St. and Win. Ave[ix]. in 1921. I attended the Wylie Elementary School. Our next move was to Catlettsburg in 1924.  I graduated from T. R. Brown High School in 1929.

I attended Marshall College one semester and began my teaching career in 1930. My first position at 18 years old was a teacher at a one room school, Slick Rock (Boyd County).

 

I attended college in the summers and renewed my certificate to teach. During the spring of 1931 I met John H. Klaiber and married him 8 years later on August 4, 1939 at London, Kentucky. We lived on Laurel[x], R. 1, Catlettsburg for 3 ½ years moving to the farm in 1943.[xi] [xii]

John & Elsie 1940

Our daughter was born and died on April 17, 1945[xiii] in Huntington, W. VA. Hospital. She was buried in the family cemetery on our farm (Klaiber Cemetery).

Two years later March 15, 1947 my son James David Klaiber was born in St. Mary’s Hospital in Huntington, W. VA[xiv].

I taught until 1968 when I retired due to a heart condition[xv].

My hobbies are sewing, canning, reading, traveling and visiting my grandsons and their parents[xvi].

I was a leader of 4H groups for 30 years of my 35 years of teaching and was a member when I was in my school years. I was a member of the Garner Homemakers for two years[xvii].

 

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[i]

The red velvet dress taken on the farm 1968

[ii] KY Vital. B. Cert 985

[iii] Rucker, David Leander 27 Dec 1875 – 13 Dec 1955

[iv] McGlothlin, Barbara Elizabeth 2 Jan 1877 – 17 Sep 1946 m. DL Rucker 16 Sep 1902 Boyd Co. KY

[v] Rucker, Harold Delbert b 14 Oct 1903 Boyd Co., KY died 3 May 1971 Detroit, Michigan

[vi] Rucker, Emma Elzema b 2 Jan 1906 m. George Gallup. Died 6 Jan. 1994 Columbus, OH

[vii] Rucker , Mildred Beatrice b 18 Oct 1909 m Boone Hall. 2 Alton Crisp died 15 Jun 1990

[viii] Rucker, Kenneth Winfield 15 Jul 1915 – 13 Mar 2000 m. Willa Mae Allie

[ix] Ashland City Directory, 1922 1505 E. Winchester Ave.

[x] KY, Boyd Deed book 151 p 93. 5 acres left hand side of pike.

[xi] Long Branch Road, Boyd Co., KY

[xii] Taught Oakland 1933

[xiii] WV Cabell D Register Vol 6 p 7K

[xiv] She taught at one room Long Branch where son James David was in her class until she traded and went to Trace so he could have another teacher.  Later she taught at Garner Elementary.

[xv] Bachelor of Arts Morehead, August 1962

[xvi] The week before her death traveled to Central Ohio to visit. She said then it would be her last trip as it had been very hard.

[xvii] Student Ally United Scholarship Memorial 1995; presented to Boyd Co grad. In memory of SAU charter members including Elsie Klaiber.

Remembering Ruckers Of Alley Branch

 

Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber 2020

 

A recent request on The Boyd County genealogy Face Book wall, I manage, gave me the perfect opportunity to get out with hubby and visit a cemetery.  What a perfect way to social distance during a pandemic.  We would be driving lovely Fall country roads and the people in the cemetery would be at least 10 feet away.  You may have to think about that sentence for a minute to understand it. 

Several years ago I had handed over my beloved CSI[i] kit to a Rucker researcher, due to health issues.  I loved researching in cemeteries. I have missed the adventures, which could be another potential article. Physically I could not reach this cemetery but hubby managed to get some super digital photographs of Brown Cemetery on Indian Trail Road.  It was a dual project. There were several needing pictures and we knew that Mary Elizabeth Alley, wife of Isham Brown was a niece to Bazel Rucker, hubby’s second great grandfather.

As I waited for his return walk down the hillside to our vehicle, my mind flooded back to another visit to the Chadwick Creek area, forty-two years ago.  We were back in Kentucky to visit family in July 1978.  We had driven from New Jersey with 3, 5, and 7-year-old boys who were delighted to be on the farm. After several wonderful days my mother-in-law suggested that we slip away to visit where she had grown up.  A girl’s afternoon outing.

Elsie Ellis Rucker Klaiber packed her famous bread & butter pickles, some home canned veggies and we were off to visit Chadwick Creek, Alley Branch and Katie Wilcox.  No one ever left the Klaiber house without a jar of love. Elsie was not about to visit without giving some more.

Katie B. Wilcox was 81 years old that July 19^th day, spry and lively as ever.  My father often talked about Katie. She was well-known and well-loved in Boyd County, often walking the 4.2 miles to Catlettsburg and back home, refusing many offered rides throughout her life.  

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 31 October 2020), memorial page for Katherine "Katie" B Wilcox (7 Apr 1897–25 Jul 1979), Find a Grave Memorial no. 76272021, citing Ashland Cemetery, Ashland, Boyd County, Kentucky, USA ; Maintained by LeDee (contributor 47128407) .

 

I was ill prepared for a formal interview.  Elsie and she were about to give me a day to remember. Katie hopped in the car and directed me up the left side of Alley Branch.  Katie chattered that the Wilcox farm adjoined the old Rucker property.  Katie was the daughter of Gavit Wilcox and granddaughter of John and Levica Brown Wilcox. She was also the great granddaughter of Isham Brown, Sr.  Born in 1897, Katie lived her entire life on the farm on Alley Branch.

She took us where in her words “Bazil and old Mrs. Rucker lived in a log cabin.”  I estimated we had driven about a mile or so up the road from the Wilcox property.  There we stopped along the side of the road while Katie asked a tenant farmer for a drink from the old well which was still in use.  There is nothing, in my estimation, better than fresh cold well water.  According to Katie, Bazil Rucker dug the well next to their house.  She turned to Elsie Rucker Klaiber and said “Your drinkin’ from the well your great grandfather dug.”

As a side note, while Katie was alert, I would like to tell my audience that Katie was born in 1897 while Bazil Rucker had died in 1881.[ii]  His wife, America McGuire Rucker had also died in June 1893. Both deaths were prior to Katie’s birth. When I asked, she said she “knew of” her (America’s) funeral.  Katie said America died having a tiny trunk full of family papers that she put under the stairwell.  When the place was later renovated (during Katie’s life) the trunk was found.  Sadly, Miss Wilcox could not recall by whom.  According to Katie Wilcox, it contained Confederate money as well as family papers.  Elsie Rucker Klaiber joined in agreeing she had heard that same story told by her family.

As records unfolded in my own research, I was able to confirm that Bazil and America’s eldest son, John H. Rucker, served the Confederacy in Company D of the 2^nd Kentucky Mounted Riflemen.  John, as many others, took the Oath of Allegiance by the US government after surrender compelled them.[iii]

Katie said the log house later burned.  She introduced me to the owners of the property by the name of Ferguson.[iv] We sat on the porch while the Ferguson’s stated that deeper in the hollow was a foundation of another house.  Katie was adamant that that house was not the Rucker home.

According to Katie Wilcox, Bazil and his wife were buried above what is now the Ferguson home, marked only by stones and two trees. Mrs. Ferguson walked to the graves with me showing where they were marked by of the two trees and two field stones.  According to neighborhood tradition they both lay between the shade of the trees.  My polaroid caught the sun between the trees, and yes there were two small field stones at the trees.

 

We said good-bye to Ferguson’s, leaving the old Bazil Rucker homesite proceeding up Alley Branch to the house site of James Leander Rucker and his wife Emma Garrett Rucker, grandparents of Elsie.  This property stands on the left-hand side of Alley Branch Road.  The house site was then owned (1978) by the J. Wright family. Mrs. Wright invited us to stay, while Katie Wilcox continued her narration, describing the Rucker’s two-story home.  Because Elsie knew her grandparent’s home place, with her own experiences, she confirmed that Katie had not missed a beat.  The old stone cellar was still standing (1978) though renovated and used by the Wrights in the form of a garage.

Elsie also reminisced saying that she walked to her grandparents in the 1930’s.[v] That the house was “old” then.  She recalled an outside stair leading to a ‘bedroom’ where all the children slept; they being separated by curtains of a sort.  What was left of the place later burned according to Mrs. Wright.  Katie added that she remembered lovely flowers being grown around the house and the table “was always full.” Certainly, a Rucker tradition from my own experience.

“James Rucker inherited the left side of the farm and later sold to some Griffith’s. His sister Mandy inherited the right and sold to the Allie’s. Mandy married John Brown, my uncle” said Katie.

I will again pause the narrative. There was a total of ten children in the Bazil Rucker family.  Bazil’s will, after giving America all personal property, did indeed give James L. Rucker the farm on the left-hand fork of Chadwick Creek “…which I purchased from John Alley, which lies on the left hand or south side of the present site of the county road[vi] coming up the creek. Except about two acres now planted as an orchard.  This boundary given to said James L. Rucker, includes a forty-acre tract to which I have heretofore made a deed to Emma his wife…” Daughter Amanda received the “home farm” along with stock.  None of the other children were cited in his will but were established in their own homes.  James L. and Emma lived next to his parents, at the time, and Amanda “Mandy” did not marry John Brown until after the death of her mother, America, in 1893.[vii]

But Katie had said that James Rucker later sold some to a family named Griffith.  As a genealogist I have now completed a title search of the properties.  I found no deed transaction with Griffith’s. I did not locate Griffith’s close to Wilcox property until 1930 and then the family was marked as renters.  The Griffith’s were probably renting from the Ike Hicks family who bought property from James L. in May 1918.[viii]  [ix] One deed does deserve merit in this story.  James L. received a tract on the left-hand fork of Chadwick’s Creek from John and Amanda Brown for $650.00 with $100.00 to be kept back for maintenance of the Widow Rucker during her natural life, she being the mother of Amanda and James L. Rucker…[x]” 

Returning to the remarkable day in 1978 on Alley Branch, Katie began to tell about James and Emma (Garrett) Rucker’s daughter, America Mae.  She was nicknamed “Make”.[xi]      Katie said she had lovely blonde hair and blue eyes, very fair and thin.  She dated a John Hensley by horse and buggy.  When she was in her teens she died from “stomach trouble and was buried on top of the hill (Alley Branch Road Hill) which is called Light House Point but no Light House”. 

Elsie, who by the way, was also, as a young girl, blonde, blue eyed, with very fair skin, remembers an old rail fence and walking a path looking down on the grave around the 1930’s when she would go for visits to her grandparent’s place (James and Emma Rucker’s).  Elsie later made notes stating “Make” died in 1905.  Elsie said America’s grave is unmarked and slightly sunk in the backyard of a home at that location.  Katie Wilcox pointed out the original dirt road that wound down Alley Branch.  While “Make was a little older than described, I located lose Boyd County 1905 deaths, in the attic of the Courthouse. “Make” Rucker, age 22, single, dress maker June 22^nd, cause, consumption of bowels.  The death occurred on Chadwick Creek with parents J.L. and Emma Rucker cited.  By retracing that day 42 years ago, before writing this article, I believe that Light House Point is, just before the intersection of Alley Branch with Silver Run.  Today, 2020 there are large satellite towers located on the point.

Katie Wilcox had one more story to share with Elsie and I.  She told how James Rucker’s two eldest children, David Leander (Elsie’s father) and Margaret, would help work and clean.  But on another day, sister “Middie” (Amanda) was helping to clear brush.  After stacking only a few sticks she climbed on the brush pile to nap.  Margaret and David set fire to the pile waking “Middie” “in short order.”

The spirit of family stories and memories should be kept alive for future generations.  One year later, Katherine B. “Katie” Wilcox died, 25 July 1979.  She was laid to rest in Ashland Cemetery.

Many years later, my husband and I returned to our beloved Boyd County and we found ourselves once again at the Wilcox Farm, then owned by the Gute family.  We purchased a mother goat and her kid.  As we headed to my fathers to get them checked, he a veterinarian, I turned to hubby and asked “Do you suppose Katie would be upset if we named the mamma goat for her.” I also asked my father who had mentioned her in one of his books[xii].  He laughed and said he felt she would have loved the idea.  The 2^nd Katie brought us great joy during her years with us.

I have returned to Alley Branch with other Rucker cousins to visit Alley Cemetery. Hubby and I drive through Laurel Gap just to honor the Rucker family and my mother-in-law.  Elsie Ellis Rucker Klaiber died 24 November 1987.  She touched many county children as a teacher in Boyd County.  She fed me well not only at the dinner table with her wonderful bread & butter pickles, but with love of family.  She kept note pads by her chair and scribbled every shred of information she could glean from family members to help me build a wonderful genealogy for her grandchildren and now great grandchildren. 

One simple outing, so memorable that I felt the need to write it down for future generations.  Heed this dear reader. Take up your pencil, pen, or keyboard and write.  Fear not those critics of misplaced punctuation. Write to preserve our history for genealogists and story tellers alike. 

 

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[i] CSI = Cemetery Sleuthing Investigation kit – included gloves, trowel, corn cobs, etc needed to read tombstones and rod for probing for sunken stones

[ii] KY, Boyd, WBK  1. [age 216

[iii] KY Confederate Pension Records, #980

[iv] Of Mormon faith

[v] Elsie Rucker would have walked from her father’s home, David Leander Rucker, on Laurel in the 1930’s.

[vi] The left side appears to be the where the 1978 Wright’s property would be.

[vii] Amanda and John Brown’s property, depending on acreage may have extended toward the Isham Brown holdings.

[viii] KY, Boyd Dbk 78 p 312

[ix] Ike Hiks aka Isaac Hicks married Nancy Jane Fuller.  The census for this time frame list her as Jane.

[x] KY, Boyd Dbk 19 p 218

[xi] In her death record her occupation is recorded as dress maker. Possibly where she got her nickname?

[xii] Martin, John G. Never a Ho Hum Day