Monuments throughout the earth, countless writings roosting on library shelves or housed in domestic shrines, and very numerous SOCIETIES of SONS or DAUGHTERS or DESCENDANTS of THIS or THAT evidence the yearning of posterity to link itself to specific ancestors or chains of ancestors. The longer the chain and the brighter its links, especially those of ancient forging, the stronger the desire to become a part thereof and the greater the honor presumed to vest in authentic danglers thereon.
This universal human craving betokens a praiseworthy interest in the grave and often vexing question of Who begat Who - which is, of course, the main question in every ancestor problem. Moreover, it serves many useful purposes. Should it suddenly cease, thousands of professional genealogists, writers, library employees, missing-heir swindlers, and others, would lose their jobs. The businesses of clairvoyants, lawyers, certain kinds of expert witnesses, and courts would decline. Paper, printing, and allied trades, would suffer a sickening slump. Societies founded on lineage would fall asunder, leaving as useless wreckage an appalling mass of regalia, badges, medals, decorations, relics, records, and other treasured whatnots. Hordes of superannuated men and women who presently scour the genealogical vineyards for traces of provable and preferably prominent relatives would become slaves to idleness or be forced to engage in less zestful puttering. No one would care a
croupy whoop whether Hirohito is the Son of Heaven, as tootled by the villainous Japs, or a sneaky Son of a B----, as claimed by all right thinking people. That Herr Hitler's old name was a nullius fillius bearing the disgusting name of Shickelgruber, would neither brighten nor tarnish the reputation of that infamous scoundrel. In short, a Basic Scholarly Pursuit of absorbing human interest since the days of Adam and Eve, would have perished - "Be "Gone with the Wind", as have the illusions of a balanced budget and other promised manifestations of national well-being under the "We-planned-it-that-way" ministrations of Roosevelt's New Deal. All of which leads up to the conclusion that, as matters now stand, the identification of one's ancestors and the durable recording of their names, deeds, and station in life is a duty which one should not lightly shirk. It also warrants the assertion that he or she who undertakes this chore, engages in a worthy enterprise one which earmarks him or her, as the case may be, as the grateful fruitage of benign ancestral endeavors and also as a potent benefactor of the laboring, professional, business, and leisure classes. Such an undertaking, however, has not always presented itself to me in this extremely favorable light. There was a time when, notwithstanding the fewness of my known ancestral exhibits, the somewhat unimposing array of their achievements, and the evident opportunity for broadening my ancestral horizon, I was little concerned about the identity or doings of my unknown ancestors. Without stopping to reason why, I probably assumed that the dead past having buried its dead, it might be just as well, Be to speak, to "let sleeping dogs lie". After all, curiosity slew the cat, and "where ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise". Many an
otherwise faultless pedigree is irretrievably marred by the intrusion of one or more black or darkly mottled sheep at some point along the ancestral trail. These add no glamour to a family tree and are not highly prized by discriminating ancestor hunters. In fact, the mere possibility of coming afoul of such a fellow lurking within one's unexplored family background is enough to chill the ardor of many who hunger mightily to possess themselves of an exhibitable family tree.
In common with most other deep students of social and political trends, I am inclined to believe that the marked prevalence of such unornamental twigs in the genealogical forest - offering, as they do boundless opportunities for promiscuous mud-slinging, even at the best of families - gave birth to the famous Jeffersonian brand of philosophy that all men are created equal, and that each vessel of human clay be judged by how uprightly it stands on its own bottom, unaided by ancestral prestige, and unhampered by ancestral failings. These noble principles - however often or loudly voiced - are like most other dogmatic theories in that they ignore substantial crumbs of contradictory phenomena. Surely such pre-natal fixations as inherited physical characteristics, mental attributes, moral tendencies, and so-called "instincts" - which, perhaps, are but memories inherited from preceding links in our existences - imply that there is a large degree of ancestor responsibility for the appearance, character, and deeds, of posterity. Recognition of this fact has caused millions to wrinkle the brow in earnest thought and supplied inspiration for much wordy discourse. Far be it from me to add another jot or tittle to the fishing exploits of my betters in such troubled waters.
Getting back to the earlier subject, a further excuse for my
former lack of acute interest in ancestor problems, was my awareness of a strong undercurrent of popular opinion to the effect that no well-balanced person should exhibit much more than a casual interest in his or her ancestors. Strivings to add a cubit or so to one's stature by pluming the family hat with faded ancestral feathers were regarded as significant evidence of personal ineptitude and sound proof of obnoxious ingrained arrogance. The opinion was general, emphatic, and seemingly well-founded so far as local neighborhood examples were concerned, that those who boasted of their ancestors had little else wherewith to pat themselves on the back, and, figuratively speaking, were like unto the potato - the only good belonging to them was underground..
It is not believed that what I shall write about our family origins and history will bring on a quarrel with those who harbor such opinions. Certainly, the urge to explore our family backyard was not inspired by the hope that ammunition would be found for snobbish boasting; and the most that I shall claim as the outcome of my explorations is that our ancestral tubers - now long beneath the sod - were sound Grade A spuds, just as one would naturally expect from observation of the surface growth - their living posterity; and just as I have always supposed them to have been.
When these researches were begun, the outposts on my ancestral frontiers of which l knew, were held by a mere quartette of "ancients" whose kinship to me gave them no better claim to antiquity than that of having been my grandparents. The proud right to call me grandson had been bestowed posthumously on the grandfathers in this little band, but both grandmothers were then available to welcome the "blessed event" of my arrival. One Grandmother Wilson - was a familiar figure during my early boyhood
years. Grandmother Morey had vanished from earthly scenes before I became able to remember much about her. Of the ancestors who had dotted the generations beyond the grandparental sky-line, I had heard little and knew less. The obscurity which time had wrapped about them was practically unbroken by family archives or traditions. Gleanings from these sources were far too meager to furnish identifications of them or to evoke clear mental images of what they had been like. Facts which I have since discovered remedy these deficiencies to some extent but do not yield material for a complete or wholly satisfactory record of our antecedents.
It is not proposed to make this family history - if such it may be called - a mere catalogue of names and vital statistics. Such things, alone, are of little interest to me and probably to most others. I shall try, therefore, to garb the ancestral exhibits with enough descriptive clothing, other than names, dates, and family relationships, to afford some idea of what our ancestors were like, what they did, and what were their contemporary surroundings.
My dormant interest in the family history was aroused about twenty-five years ago. At that time, J. H. Nelson, a fellow attorney for the Interstate Commerce Commission who dabbled in genealogy on the side, was writing the history of a certain Wilson family. A rich widow who had achieved membership in the Daughters of the Revolution desired to spread on record the history of her Revolutionary ancestor and his descendants. She had employed Nelson to do that job. This ancestor was a certain Samuel Wilson who was born in Rockbridge County, Va., in 1760, and died at Russellville, in Logan County, Ky., in 1833. Nelson told me of the circumstances and asked about my own antecedents. From what little I knew of the family history, this Samuel seemed to be from up my own
alley, for I remembered that my Grandfather Wilson had removed from Virginia to Allen County, Ky., before settling in Illinois..
Furthermore, I had an Uncle Samuel then living at Patoka, Ill. What could be more likely than that my grandfather had named him in grateful memory of his own father? And that such father of my grandfather was Samuel of Russellville, that sterling old patriot who had helped to humble Cornwallis at Yorktown and thenceforth had wrought long, lovingly, and well, in clouting the "injuns" out of Kentucky and sowing the fertile seeds of blue grass, fair women, and fast horses, for which that State is so justly famous. The need of myself and others of the family for specific Revolutionary ancestor had been met I hoped, by the labors of Nelson in behalf of an unknown but worthy widow of the House of Wilson. That hope was dashed by Uncle Sam's replies to inquiries made in November, 1915, and later. His peek into the foliage of the ancestral tree had failed to uncover a Great-grandfather Samuel. According to Uncle Sam, the name of that important personage was Joseph; and the facts which he presented left no room to argue that here was a case of mistaken identity or that Samuel hid become my great-grandfather, incognito, or by way of, alias Joseph.
The reasoning of Uncle Sam as to the improbability of kinship with Samuel the Revolutionist had the ring of sound material. He had seen this Joseph but once. It appears, however, that Joseph was then holding himself out, openly and notoriously, as my Uncle's grandfather and that his appearance impressed itself strongly upon the avuncular memory. In a letter to me some seventy years after that event, Uncle Sam described him succinctly as a "steeped-over old codger, walking with a stick". The researches of Nelson had failed to show that the appearance of the Russelville suspect
tallied with this pathetic description of Great-grandfather Wilson.
Pointing out that our Allen County Wilsons had lived only a short distance from "those Logan County Wilsons", Uncle Sam deduced that they were unrelated, "notwithstanding their. Sam and Joe". As to this, he said:
I prodded Uncle Sam with other letters during the next few months until he finally declared that he had given me all the information that he had about our ancestors, and intimated that he wanted to drop the subject. He was, in short, all petered out from raking around in the ashes of memory for clues as to those from whom, and the places from whence, we had sprung. What more l learned from him and from other sources will be set forth in succeeding chapters.
There the matter rested for about sixteen years. This lapse of active interest has greatly hampered the present undertaking for during much of that time several sources of information were available who no longer are. Time, I have found, is a very effective remover of ancestral footprints whose preservation depends upon living memories. The lack of definite knowledge concerning one ancestry can be cured much easier before than after the living founts of information have run dry. It would have been easy fifty years ago to have learned from Grandmother Wilson, then about
eighty years old but still keen-witted and spry, all she knew about the Wilson and her own family, the Waggoners; or to have learned from my Mother, Uncles, Aunts, and other "Old Folks" the things of which they knew or had been told. No amount of research or time and effort, at this late day, could repair that lack of interest or forethought.
The summer of 1932 found me in Washington with little to do after having spent the previous two years in hospitals there and at Denver. Taking advantage of that opportunity, I made some examination of genealogical and other records in the Library of Congress, the Headquarters the D. A. R., and the office of the Adjutant General. I also obtained some information from Mrs. C.J. Waggoner of Adolphus, Ky., who assured me that I "was on the right track" and expressed her willingness to aid in my further inquiries.
On my way to California in December, 1932, l passed over the road from Gallatin, Tenn., to Scottsville, Ky., through that part of Allen County where the Wilsons and the Wagoners had settled about 116 years before. Stopping at Adolphus, near the south line of Allen County to inquire where Mrs. Wagoner might be found, I learned that she was spending the winter in Florida but that her nephew - "Hub" Wagoner - was postmaster of the village and one of its few inhabitants. I visited with him for about an hour and received some information which would have been quite helpful if l could have followed it up at that time.
From "Hub's" house l went to Concord cemetery, about two miles south-east of Petroleum, a small town three miles north of Adolphus, and saw there the graves of several Wilsons and Wagoners. If that of Great-grandfather Joseph <
cemetery is situated on a hillside, on the west bank of Big Trammel Creek and nearly opposite the home of Great-grandmother Wagoner which stands on a hill across the creek. It was a miserable, rainy day. There was no bridge and the water looked to be too deep for crossing at the ford. So, I came away with only a passing look at things which I had hoped more fully to explore. It was my intention then to revisit the place on my return trip to Washington the following summer. I was unable to do so, however, and my efforts to unravel the ancestry of the Wilsons was not resumed until summer of the present year (1941).
Until then, l had paid little attention to the Morey line of ascent. I have since been able to develop much information about that maternal branch of our family and have found it very interesting. The earlier ancestors of the Moreys and some of the published facts about them are described at length in Chapter III. It has been possible to do this because the Moreys were few in Colonial days; most of them lived in New England where it was the general custom to preserve records of ordinary happenings as well as those of more important events; and a large part of these records, or summaries of them, have been published, chiefly, I suppose, at the instance and for the benefit of those who are prideful of their Puritan ancestry or are otherwise interested in such genealogical data.
The history of the Wilsons might be of equal interest if all the facts were known, but their trails are not easy to follow. Three Wilsons, at least, participated in the founding of the Jamestown settlement. Others were among the first settlers elsewhere in Virginia, and in Maryland, the Carolinas, Georgia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and other Colonies. They were numerous and so
widely scattered during the Colonial period and of such diverse and apparently unrelated antecedents that without adequate information with which to begin an investigation, the development of a satisfactory genealogical record would be difficult, expensive, and perhaps impossible. These difficulties are aggravated when, as in our case, the more immediate of the family ancestors resided in frontier settlements of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia, of which the records are few hard to find, and not widely available. Such facts as I have been able to learn about this branch of the family are set forth in Chapter II, which also includes a brief sketch of our Waggoner antecedents. Short sketches of our Reynolds and Lockwood ancestors, with whom the Moreys intermarried, are included in Chapter III.
In another chapter, I shall try to present a picture of the Wilsons and Moreys of Fayette County, Ill., and something of their times and surroundings. Finally, there will be an appendix consisting of some biographical sketches, excerpts from records, and other things.
Finding a needle in a haystack has some earmarks of an easy job when compared with the chore of finding the Wilson ancestors who preceded Great-grandfather Joseph <
Uncle Sam, my primary fount of ancient Wilson history, could tell me little more about Great-grandfather Joseph <
birth, I do not know. His impression that he was born in Lauderdale County Va., was clearly erroneous. There is not and never was, a Virginia County so named. The one having a name nearest like that is Loudon, in the northern part of the State immediately east of the Blue Ridge. This may have been the County of Uncle Sam's time-befogged memories, and he may have confused it with Lauderdale County, Tenn., where I have heard Grandmother Wilson say she once lived before moving to Illinois. Many counties in Virginia are wholly east of the Blue Ridge. Some parts of others on the western slope of its main chain are east of its spurs or secondary ridges. Any one of these might have been embraced in Uncle Sam's conception of counties east of the Blue Ridge. My researches lead me to believe that Joseph was a native of Loudon or else Augusta County. Before stating the reasons for this belief, something will be said in general about the Wilsons who inhabited this country before the migration of Joseph to Kentucky; also a few words about their predecessors across the big pond.
Perhaps one person's guess is as good as another's as to how the name Wilson originated and who were its earliest bearers. The opinion of my favorite author on that important point was as follows:
This historian of the Wilsons added the following bit of interesting and useful information:
Before making the acquaintance of this author, some ten years ago, I had long suspected that the Wilsons were of Princely blood and that much of the old Viking spirit was cradled e'en yet in may a Wilson bosom. It was something of a shock, though, to learn that the early fathers of the family had so suffered from an inferiority complex as to display a snarling, slobbering wolf as their tribal emblem. My thought upon that matter, if any, was that a lordly lion or a soaring eagle would have been an appropriate symbol of their quality and rank.
Coming down to much later times, a document entitled Records of the Virginia Company, derived from manuscripts in the Library of Congress, shows that two or three Wilsons had some part in the first settlement at Jamestown. One, a Sir Thomas Wilson, appears to have been a secretary of the company and is quoted as having reported among other things:
The Indians have killed in Virginia from 300 to 400 Englishmen, and but for an accident, man, mother, and child had all been slain". (Vo1. 1, p. 158)
A minute of the Board of Directors records that:
"ffrancis Carter, also with like approbacion of this Company, passed over seven shares of land in Virginia, p'call of 40 shares assigned unto him by the Right Honorable, The Lady LeWarr, unto these seven persons following: To The Wilson, clothworker," and six others who were named, one share each. (Vol. I, p.548).
Whether Thomas, the clothworker, was also the Sir Thomas who bemoaned the unneighborly conduct of the indians toward their English civilizers, I do not know. Most likely, he was not. His social
status and behavior while a Jamestown colonist would have been quite unseemly in a noble Lord. Thomas, then aged 23, arrived at Jamestown 1620 in the good ship "Abigail". Presumably he fell upon evil and unprosperous times, for in 1624 and 1625 he was a servant of a Dr. Pott. This "Mister", "Governor", and "Doctor" Pott, "Director of Physick", and the "Physician General to the Colony" was one of the pioneer Big-wigs of "James Towne" or James Citty" but was, himself, a none too savory character, judging from what I have read about him in Capt. Yonge's "The Site of Old Jamestown", 1607-1698, PP. 116-117, and in other records. A court held August 26, l626, was, for Thomas, a rendezvous with Old Man Trouble. Governor Wyatt and his Council dealt with his case, as shown in the following minute:
The said Thomas Wilson hath been sett in ye stocks, he being a tenante, and to pay XXs for a fyne and to give bond to his good behavior and see to stand bound untill the next quarter courte, and upon his good behaviour to be discharged". Virginia Magazine, vol. 26, p. 3.
These drastic penalties appear to have convinced Thomas that the way of the transgressor is hard, even in such minor affairs as getting plastered and implanting a shiner on the trustful countenance of his lawfully wedded wife. His reformation was quickly achieved, for on September 10, 1626, the court again dealt with his case as follows:
Another Wilson, Henry by name, came to the Colony in 1619 at the age of 24 in the ship "Sampson" and during the 1624-1625 depression was the servant of a Captain William Epps. Henry also became enmeshed in the legal toils. A minute of the Governor's Court of January 30, 1625, recites:
This nest-egg of two or three Wilsons of the Jamestown vintage had increased to 1,785 heads of families and to a total of 8,032 individuals at the time or the 1790 census. Their names were spelled by the enumerators in eight different ways: Willerson, Willison, Wilston, Wilsin, Willeson, Willson, Willsen, and Wilson. In all but a comparatively few instances the spellings Wilson or Willson - were used, as they are in nearly all cases today. These Wilsons were well scattered throughout the fifteen states, but they were more numerous in Pennsylvania, where there were 380 heads of families, than in any other State. The total number of family heads was quite evenly divided as between those north and south of the Mason-Dixon Line. Those in the latter group included 199 in Maryland, 163 in Virginia, 273 in North Carolina, and 163 in South Carolina. Numerous others were in Delaware and Georgia, but owing to destruction of census records their number is uncertain.
The family heads in Virginia, alone were but one less than the Morey total for the whole United States. If it could be assumed that all the Virginia families had stayed put from 1790 until Joseph's removal to Kentucky and that there are adequate records of them all, the job of sorting out our Joseph would be difficult enough. When to the perplexities of such a task are added the lack of comprehensive records and the confusion of many migrations from one county to another, and from and to other States, the enormousness of the undertaking
becomes apparent. The Virginia census records of 1790 added fuel to the flames which consumed the National Capitol in 1814. Many records, too, were destroyed during the Civil War or have been lost through other causes.
Knowing that Joseph was not born until 1771, nor his oldest child until about l800, it can be assumed that he was not the head of a family in 1790, or until about 1795; and since the name of his father is not certainly known to me, I have tried to determine his family antecedents by matching a Joseph of his Virginia days with the few facts concerning him. Mainly these are the years of his birth and departure for Kentucky; his probable place of residence in Virginia, his having had a brother George, and the apparent identicalness of his Virginia neighbors with those who settled near him in Allen County, especially such of them as had uncommon or otherwise peculiarly significant names.
Virginia records of various kinds disclose the existence of several Josephs who lived in counties east of the Blue Ridge and were probably born about 1770. I have found but two, however, who meet the further test of having had an identifiable brother George and neighbors bearing the surnames as those certainly early settlers in the Wilson-Wagoner neighborhoods of Allen County. One of those was Joseph, the son of George, a resident of Loudon County. The other was Joseph the son of James, who lived in the eastern part of Augusta County. The emphatic need for a brother George in the family picture springs from The fact that he is practically my only specific clue to the Virginia relatives of Joseph. That he had such a brother is shown by Uncle Sam's recollections of what he had heard and by the
issuance of land warrants in Kentucky to a George Wilson at about the same time and in the same localities as those issued to Joseph. Uncle Sam had never seen this George, and only knew of him through family traditions.
Augusta and Loudon counties are among the Virginia counties which the Census Bureau was unable to publish data in its 1790 report comparable to those shown for most other Virginia counties which, for lack of census records, were compiled from tax lists and other contemporary records. I have seen no publication which makes a fairly comprehensive showing with respect to the inhabitants of Loudon Co prior to 1815, the year of Joseph's migration to Allen County. My thought that he may have been a native of Loudon County is based chiefly on the notion that Uncle Sam may have confused it with the non-existent Lauderdale County, the fact that Wilson, Wagoner, and other "key" families bearing the names of early settlers in Allen County were living there or nearby at the appropriate time, and the record of a will made in, 1777 by a certain George Wilson, a Revolutionary soldier of Loudon County, in which he mentioned his sons Joseph and George, his wife Catherine, and his daughters Margaret and Elizabeth. Virginia Soldiers. of l776, Burgess, vol. 2, p. 789.
The fact that most of the very few Trammel families of that period lived in or near Laudon County is quite significant. Trammel Creek in Allen County, derived its name from them. Six families bearing that name settled along its course between 1797 and 1816. One, headed by Samson Tramme1, Jr., acquired land near the Wagoner farm in 18l6 and may have moved to Allen County with the Wilson-Wagoner party. One year's residence was required to obtain the kind of land warrant he received. The father of this Samson, Samson, Sr., was a captain of Loudon County militia in 1781 and died there in 1796. Samson Jr.
appears to have been living in Montgomery County, Md., Virginia in 1790. Virginia County Records, Crozier, Vol. 1, p. 54; Virginia Taxpayers, 1782-1787, Fathergill and Naugle; Census, 1790.
The early records of August County are quite voluminous. Hundreds of its early inhabitants are name and many details concerning them are shown in Wadell's Annals of August County, Chalkely's "Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlers in Virginia", and various other records. From these it appears that the earliest Wilson families of Augusta County were those of a David Wilson and a William Wilson who settled there in 1740 and 1747, respectively. Little is said about David except that he emigrated from Ireland, landed at Philadelphia, and came with his wife, Charity, and son, James, to August County in 1740. He appears to have moved to Bedford County, probably about 1765. Annals of Augusta County, Weddell, 2nd. Ed., p. 29, 36. William was probably a brother of David, since a James is referred to as the cousin of a son of William.
This William is said to have been a native of Dublin, Ireland. After his marriage there to a Barbara McKane, he came to America and in or about 1720 settled at the forks of the Brandywine in Chester County, Pa. In 1747 he moved to Augusta County and lived there until 1762. He then moved to the Stony Run neighborhood in what is now Highland County and resided there until his death in 1795 except a few years during the Revolutionary period which he spent near his original home in Augusta County. His absence from Stony Run during these years was due to indian troubles. His son John served throughout the Revolution and commanded a regiment of Virginia militia at Yorktown. William Jr., another son, (more generally known as Thomas), was seized by indians in the course of a raid on his father's farm and "carried off to the indian towns beyond the Ohio" (Chillicothe) where he died a captive.
This assault on the Wilsons was incidental to the "Kerr Creek Massacre" and was quite a stirring affair. At that time Wilson was completing preparations to erect a new and larger log house. John had ridden to Dickenson's Fort, nearby, to muster help for the "raising". William Jr. had gone to a grist mill. one mile from home, to have meal ground for the house-raising party. Father William and an Irish helper were working near home on logs intended for the new house. Sisters Elizabeth and Margaret were washing flax tow on the bank of the river, not far away. Mother Barbara was with them. Sisters Barbara and Susan were in the old cabin, ironing. Then came the indians. John, returning from the fort, was fired upon and rode back for help. Upon seeing the indians, Mother Barbara ordered Elizabeth and Margaret to run. She, being in feeble health and unable to escape, was tomahawked and severely wounded. When the red skins approached the cabin, Barbara dashed out and was downed by a blow which cracked her skull. Sister Susan was made of sterner stuff. She slammed the door, and when an indian tried to enter, vigorously mauled and sizzled him with a hot iron. The commotion brought Father William and his fellow bog-trotter to her aid, one with an adze, the other with a handspike, and the savages were quickly put to rout. William Jr., as already stated, was captured and carried away. This incident in the history of one Wilson family was probably no more exciting than many others which enlivened the existence of our Virginia ancestors - whoever they were. Annals of August County, 2nd. Ed. PP. 123, 124, 173-177.
The Wilsons descended from these two families had become quite numerous before 1815, and their ranks doubtless had been swollen by
others of the name who had become residents of Augusta County. Among these were at least three or four Josephs, James, and Georges and several each of Williams, Johns, Benjamins, Samuels and Henrys, without which no well-rounded family of early Wilsons would have been complete. There were also some Thomases, Olivers, Matthews, and other exotics, including - it is significant to note - a Steth. He and a son of Great Grandfather Joseph <
The name Steth may have derived from an intermarriage with a Seth or Stith family. +[1] So rare was that name in the early days that it is not listed in the census report, A Century of Population Growth, from which all surname groups of less than ten families are omitted. A few such families, however, lived in Virginia, one of them near the Blue Ridge. A William Stith was president of William and Mary Co1lege in l752-l755, and an early historian of Virginia. In my experience I have come across no others who were christened Steth or Stith or who had that surname. It seems plausible to suppose that our Great-uncle Steth was a relative - perhaps a nephew of the Steth Wilson who figured in the Augusta records. The James Wilson who, I suspect, may have been the father of our Joseph, was probably a descendant of the early settlers, David or Wi1liam. His father may have been a Robert who died in 1768, or a John who died in l754. The will of Robert mentions his son David
to whom he devised 260 acres; his sons William and Robert (infants in the legal sense); and his sons Thomas, Samuel, and James, for whom pre-testamentary provisions had been made. Chalkely's Chronicles, vol. 3, pp. 105, 106. The will of John devised 400 acres to his son James and other property to his son William (infant), his wife Ann, and his daughters, Mary & Agnes. Chalkely's Chronicles, vol. 3, p. 35. But several James Wilson are mentioned in other documents of the period and it is quite uncertain as to who were the parents of the James suspected of fathering our Joseph.
This James, whatever his antecedent, appears to have been a farmer who lived in the northeastern part of Augusta County, near Waynesboro. His will, made June 12, 1807, and proved April 23, 1811, mentioned his sons Joseph, William, and George, and his daughters Joanna (Hogshead), Mary (Erwin), Peggy (Trimble), and Olive McFrul). His son, Joseph, and son-in-law, James Hogshead, were the executors. Chalkely's Chronicles, vol. 3, p. 238.
Augusta was a hot-bed of Scotch-Irish settlers. It therefore fills to perfection the need for a suitable territorial background for the Scotch-Irish elements of our ancestry. +[2] The
other ingredients, according to Uncle Sam, are English and German. The Moreys, Reynolds, and Lockwoods amply supplied the English strain. The Wagoners are responsible for the Germanic microbes, molecules, or germs. August county and near-by places were also liebensraum +[3] for numerous families who had the same surnames as those of the Allen County pioneers. Among these were the Wagoners and such rare or significant names as Ashby, Binion, Blankenship, Hinton, Lyle, McReynolds, Meador, Trammel, Travelstead, Benedict, Bohannon, Carrier, Celser, Clayton, Dethridge, Dye, Ferguson, Guy, Hatter, Lightfoot, Ogle, McElroy, Roark, and Verdon. These names were culled from the lists of Kentucky land grants about 1800-1820, In Allen County or near by and from early marriage records of Allen County. +[4] Their counterparts are found in the early records of Augusta and other counties of the Blue Ridge.
These examples of identical family surnames are, of course, only suggestive of Joseph's probable homeland in Virginia. It is not certain that any of these famili1es were travelling companions of the Wilson-Wagoners or that any of those who were in their company had actually lived in the same Virginia neighborhood or county. +[5] In that
day the roads from Virginia to Kentucky were somewhat dangerous and quite hard to travel and it was customary for emigrants to move in "companies". A company would assemble at a convenient starting point, the day of leaving was usually well advertised, and any one who wished might join it. "There was", it is said, "risk enough for the most daring in any case; but a well-armed company of trained pioneers was dangerous game on which to prey". Historic Highways of America, vol. 6, p.139.
The so-called Wilderness Road, marked out by Daniel Boone, was used wholly or in part by the early travellers from Virginia to Kentucky. Much has been written about it, including the following:
"Through the great trough between the Allegheny and Blue Ridge ranges passes the pioneer route to which the central west owes much as to any thoroughfare in the country - that rough long, roundabout road which, coming down from Lancaster, crossed the Potomac at Wadkins Ferry and passed up the Shenandoah valley by way of Martinsburg, Winchester, and Staunton; and on to the headwaters of the New River, where it was joined by the central thoroughfare through central Virginia from Richmond. Here stood Fort Cissel, erected in 1758, 200 miles east of Cumberland Gap. Beyond ran an indian trail toward the gap to Fort Wautauga on a branch of the Holston, 50 miles from the Gap . . Over this road explorers, hunters, squatters, and bounty-land claimants surged westward to the land of which Boone wrote."
"The route was difficult and dangerous beyond description. A narrow trail in the forests six hundred miles in length, was the only path. It had been travelled by many as early as l775, but each traveller had made it worse and the story of the hardships of the journey through the "wilderness" would make the bravest pause."
"Any adjective ever applied to a roadway, if it were of a derogatory character, might have been fitly applied to portions of this old track. There was probably not a more desperate pioneer road in America. than this. . . Through privations incredible and perils thick, thousands of men, women, and children came in successive caravans, forming continuous streams of human beings, horses, cattle, and other domestic animals, all moving onward along a lonely and heartless path to a wild and cheerless land. Historic Highways of America, Hulbert, vol. 6, pp. 29, 39, 80, 193, 194.
The Wilson-Wagoner ancestors probably agreed in principle, at least, with the foregoing uncomplimentary remarks, judging from what I have heard Grandmother Wilson say about the trip from Virginia to Allen County.
She spoke of places so steep that wagons had to be lowered or held back with ropes or dragging tree tops and of narrow ledges with high cliffs on one side and bottomless gorges on the other. Uncle Sam's version of the migration was as follows:
As already indicated, Uncle Sam's information as to the part of Virginia from which The Wilsons came was woefully lacking in details. His "somewhere east of the Blue or Blue Ridge Mountains" takes in a lot of territory and that vague description was restricted further only by hazy memories of hearing his mother say they came "from Lauderdale County, it seems to me, but I am not sure", and his theory that the names given their churches and settlements in Allen County were imported from their former Virginia homes. The bestowal of old names on new places was certainly a general custom of the times as shown by the march from Massachusetts to the Mississippi and beyond of the Salems, Rutlands, Granvilles, and other place-names which marked the westward progress of the Morey and other New England families. There are many localities in Virginia, however, which have such names as Stony Point and Concord, the names of the Wilson-Wagoner settlements in Allen County, and hence this theory affords no certain clue.
Uncle Sam's suggestion that Joseph might have lived in Maryland before going to Kentucky may quite well be true. Families did move around then, even as they do now. Wilsons were then plentiful in
most Maryland Counties. Among them was a Joseph of Georgetown Hundred in Frederick County who married a Ruth Ferguson on October 1, 1793, and was a registered as a voter in the presidential election held in February, 1796. There were Wagoners there also, and certain other families whose names were borne by some Allen County settlers. Among such families was that of Samson Trammel, previously mentioned. Maryland Records, Brumbaugh, vol. l, and Census, 1790.
The surname Wagoner (or Waggoner), however spelled, is of Germanic (probably Bavarian) origin derived from the occupation of carter. or wagoner. In A Century of Population Growth it is grouped with other names spelled Wagener, Waggener, Wagginor, Waggonner, Wagoner, Wagonour, Waggner, Wagner, Wegner, and Wiegner. In 1790, families bearing one or another of these names totaled 222 and included one in Massachusetts, Two each in Maine and Vermont, three in Connecticut, 26 in New York, 132 in Pennsylvania, 15 in Mary1and, 14 in Virginia, 21 in North Carolina, and six in South Carolina. The early German immigrants to America were chiefly refugees from religious persecutions in their native land. Some who settled here at the time of the Revolution had been Hessian hirelings of the British.
The Wagoners of Virginia enumerated in the 1790 census, with probably not more than two exceptions, and a few of those in Maryland and Pennsylvania were the descendants of two families which settled in Essex County, Va., one about l660 and the other in 1739. The head of the latter group was of English birth, and, it is said, came from England. Both, however, were of Germanic blood, wholly or in part.
The smaller of these two groups was founded by A Peter Waggoner (Wagener) who was born at Sisted, Essex County, England, and came to Essex County, Va., in 1739. He was a lawyer by profession, became County Clerk of Fairfax and Prince William Counties, was a captain of Virginia Rangers in Braddcock's Expedition, and served as County Lieutenant of Fairfax County during the Revolution. He married Katy, the daughter of Hon. John Robinson, "of His Majesty's Counsel", at Piscataway, Essex County, July 5, 1939[1739-ed], and in 1790 was the head of a family of 7 white and 15 black person living in Fairfax County. His father, the "Rev. Worshipful Peter Wagener, Esq.", born in Middlesex County, England, was a graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge, served as rector of a parish in Essex County, Virginia, 1705-1707, and as rector of Sisted Parish, Essex County, England, from 1707 until his death in 1742. Virginia Magazine, vol. 32, p. 128 and vol. 33, p. 56.
The larger family group in 1790 was founded by a John Wagoner or Waggoner who was born abroad in 1643, emigrated to Essex County, Va., some time before 1666, and died there about 1716. He was a land owner and presumably a farmer, married a Rachel Wood, and was the father of six sons: Andrew, Samuel, Herbert (1), John, James, and Benjamin. Of these, James, and probably Andrew, moved to Pennsylvania about 1696. John settled in Hampshire County, Va., and the others remained in Essex. I have found few specific records of their identifiable descendants except those of Herbert (1). He married an Elizabeth and was the father of John, James, Herbert (2), Thomas, Greensby, Reuben, and Edmond.
Most of Herbert (1)'s sons emigrated to Spottsylvania and Culpepper Counties, Va., Between 1740 and 1750 and in 1800 they or their descendants were scattered throughout the Blue Ridge region in Augusta, Fairfax, Frederick, Rockingham, Shenandoah, and other counties. Some were in Maryland and others in Kentucky. Thomas and Edmond were Officers (Ensigns) during the French and Indian War and probably its victims. Both died before 1771. Land bounty rights granted in their behalf, acquired by their brother John, were transferred by him to his son Andrew (1). This Andrew, b. 1743, d. 1818, was a Major and Lieutenant Colonel of Virginia troops during the Revolution and a close personal friend of General Washington. He became a large land owner in Kentucky and elsewhere, and died in what was then Frederick County, Va., (now Berkely County, W. Va.). His only son, Andrew was a Major during the War 1812. Andrew (1) is said to have had five brothers. One, Edward, was killed on Braddock's expedition. Two others were John and William, both Revolutionary soldiers. The remaining two were probably Thomas, also a Revolutionary soldier, and Adam. +[6]
James, the second son of Herbert (1), was the progenitor of most of the early Wagoners of Kentucky. He moved from Essex to Spottsylvania County between 1740 and 1750 and to Culpepper County in 1771, where he died in 1803. He married Ann Jones in 1750 and was the father of Richard, James Jones, Thomas, Herbert Green and John. These sons emigrated to Kentucky between 1795 and l82O. Other pioneer Kentuckians were descended from James' brothers, Herbert (2) and Reuben.
Great-grandfather Wagoner was undoubtably a descendant of the immigrant John, and most probably of the latter's son Herbert(1) but I have been unable to determine with certainty the intermediate links. Richard and James Jones, the first and second sons of James, settled in Barren County, Ky., about 1795 and 1820, respectively, quite near the neighborhood of our Wagoner relatives in Allen County. Their brothers Thomas and John moved to Kentucky about 1816 and 1796, respectively, but the land grant to the former was in Christian County and to the latter in Henderson County. They may, however, have actually settled in Allen County or elsewhere in the State.
Richard married a "Caty" Gaines and died, probably, in 1817. His will made in December 1814, and probated in January 1818, mentioned his wife Caty, his son Thomas, and the children of his son James. It appears however, that he was the father of children named Martin, Richard, Reuben, Henry, Ann, Martha, Mary, and Elizabeth. James Jones, the next younger brother of Richard, married Elizabeth Garnett, and was the father of Reuben (1797-1884), Stokely (1779-1836), Robert, Richard, and Thomas. Thomas, the third brother of Richard, married Mary Garnett, a sister of Elizabeth, and was the father of Thomas T., William P., and Peyton R. John, the youngest brother of Richard, married Sarah Garnett, another sister of Elizabeth. I have found no record of his descendants or those of Herbert Green. Tylers Quarterly, vol. 20; Kentucky Land Grants, Jillsen; Kentucky Wills, King; Census Reports; and other records.
By a process of elimination, I conclude that Great-grandfather Peter Wagoner <
Though the natural environments were somewhat dissimilar, Virginians settling in the inhabited regions of Kentucky up to the time of the Wi1son-Wagoner migration and until several years later, had neighbors like those they had left behind, and, in that respect, probably felt quite at home amid their new surroundings. Kentucky was a part of Virginia until it became a separate State in 1792, and nearly all its inhabitants were natives of the "old Dominion". The predominant influence of Virginia in the founding of Kentucky and in the shaping of its characteristic racial, political and social structure has been the theme of many writers. Kentucky's unique relationship in this respect was thus expressed by one of them:
Since the pioneer Kentuckians were almost exclusively a product of Virginia, it fol1ows that most of them were of British descent. As to this, one writer has said:
A large proportion of Kentucky's early settlers were veterans of the American Revolution. Virginia's soldiers and sailors of that and earlier wars were encouraged to settle in Kentucky by land grants varying from 100 to 200 acres to privates to thousands of acres to officers of high rank. These veterans were, it is said,
In this connection, it should be noted that under the first pension laws none but wholly disabled and indigent veterans was entitled to a pension. There were many who never applied for a pension and many others whose claims were rejected.
Uncle Sam's information as to the Revolutionary service rendered by our Wilson-Wagoner ancestors, like that as to their Virginia homeland, was lamentably indefinite. Those were his words upon that matter "The fathers of my Grandfather Wagoner and Grandfather Wilson, and their fathers before them, were old enough to have participated in the Revolution. We know they did, but not where or when or who they were. That is what we would like to know". Assuming that Great-grandfather Joseph Wilson <
Allen County is in the southern tier of Kentucky counties and near the center of the Kentucky-Tennessee boundary line. It was formed in 1815 and previously had been a part of Warren and Barren Counties. A few families had settled within its present boundaries as early as 1800 and by 1815 it probably had several hundred inhabitants. Its population in 1830 was over 6,000. It was named in honor of Colonel John Allen who commanded a regiment of riflemen under General Wm. H. Harrison in the War of 1812 and was killed in the battle of the River Raisen. Scottsville, its county seat, established in 1817, was named for Gen. Winfield Scott, according to one writer, and for Gen. Charles Scott, fourth Governor of Kentucky, according to another. +[7] The latter appears more likely.
The area embracing Allen County and other parts of Kentucky south of the Green River was reserved originally for settlement by veterans of Virginia's wars and until 1797 none else could settle there. These lands were then opened to settlement by any person over 21 years old who was possessed of a family. Any such person who had been a bona fide settler for one year was entitled to full and free possession of a homestead not exceeding 200 acres. Also, under an act passed in 1816, unoccupied land could be purchased by any citizen of the United States at the price of $20 for 100 acres. Therefore, the acquisition of land by the early settlers did not necessitate any considerable capital outlay.
During the first 20 or 30 years of the last century and the preceding ten years or more, bounty land claimants, other homeseekers, and land speculators swarmed into Kentucky as thickly as grasshoppers to a Kansas wheat field or as did the locusts of Egypt which plagued the oppressors of the "Chosen people". Even the Father of his Country, his brothers, and many other immortals of the Revolutionary Era joined the thousands of lesser lights in the mad scramble for Kentucky lands. These lands could only be procured, at first, on warrants issued by Virginia, and, later, those issued by Kentucky. Such warrants specified the acreage which the ho1der might acquire, but were not applicable to any specific parcel. They could be "laid" on any unoccupied tract. Lands in Kentucky were not surveyed or plotted by the State. The holder of a warrant selected the site, procured his own survey, and furnished his own description of its location with reference to watercourses or other natural phenomena. These descriptions were required to be so specific and exact as to preclude unintentional trespass by other warrant holders, but they seldom were. As a result of this loose system, there were many conflicting claims and the original claimant was often ousted by later and more astute warrant "layers". Even old Daniel Boone who did so much toward opening Kentucky for settlement and who, at times, thought he owned considerable slices of it. was eventually picked clean as a bone and by his disgust thereat, was constrained to seek sanctuary in the Spanish-held realm of Missouri.
The warrants issued probably represented on their face a considerably greater area than was available for settlement. The total of 143,228 warrants was made up of 9,564 "Virginia Grants" between 1782 and 1792; 9,034 "Old Kentucky" grants between 1793 and 1856; 15,730 "Grants South of Green River" between 1797 and 1866; 25,621 "Kentucky Land Warrants" between 1816 and 1873; 572 "Tellico Grants" between 1803 and 1825; 8,7l3 "Grants West of Tennessee River" between 1822 and 1858; 4,583 "Grants South of Walker's Line" between 1825 and 1853; 55 "Headright Claims" between 1827 and 1849; and 69,356 "County Court Orders" after 1835.
I have been in Allen County but once and saw little of it then - then only the small strip visible on a thickly-clouded rainy day from along the main highway between Gallatin, Tenn. and Bowling Green, Ky., through Scottsville, and the short detour over a side road between Petroleum and Concord cemetery. This highway lies, in part, in the valleys of Big Trammel, Little Trammel, Bayes' Fork, and perhaps other small streams. My general impression of the land along most of this route was that it was quite hilly, generously sprinkled with rocks, and spotted with scraggly patches of timber, much like that in Union County and other parts of southern Illinois when I was young.
The Big Barren River, a tributary of the Green, forms most or the northern and eastern boundary limes of Allen County. Drake Creek, a main tributary of Big Barren, flows northward across Simson and part of Warren Counties, a short distance west of the Allen County border. From near the center of Allen's south line, Big Trammel flows northwestward, diagonally across the county, and enters Drake Creek a few miles below its mouth. Southward of Big Trammel and roughly parallel to it is Middle Fork, another
tributary of the Drake. Bayes' Fork, a small branch of Big Barren, flows in the same general direction as Big Trammel and bisects the area northeastward of that stream. Each of these interior Allen Count main streams has several tributaries. Little Trammel enters the county about three miles west of Big Trammel and flows northward into it at Petroleum, some three or four miles north of the Kentucky-Tennessee line. The triangular slice of land thus formed and the adjoining area lying south of Snake Creek along the eastern shore of Big Trammel was the homeland of our Wagoner Great grandparents and their children and is inhabited still by several of their descendants. Snake Creek flows westward into Big Trammel near Concord cemetery. About three miles north of the Tennessee border and five miles west of Petroleum is Stony Point, near which, according to Uncle Sam, was the home of Great-grandfather Joseph Wilson <
Uncle Sam's description of our Kentucky homeland is quoted below:
As elsewhere, time has wrought many changes in the aspect of the Wagoner neighborhood since the boyhood days of Uncle Sam, about 100 years ago. The present road from Gallatin to Scottsville runs alongside the Scottsvi1le branch of the Louisville & Nashvi1le Railroad about two miles to the westward of the Wagoner farm, It may be, however, that the old road along the east bank of Big Trammel is in existence still. The so-called road over which I travelled between Petroleum and Concord is doubtless part of the road of Uncle Sam's memory running from Concord to Stony Point. The air line distance between these places is less then eight miles and it is unlikely that the present highway distance is much greater. The village of Petroleum, probably derived its name from the fact that its location marks the site of a petroleum well, perhaps the first in the oil-field which covers that part of Allen County. Curiously enough, a place on Big Trammel, a short distance northwest of Petroleum, bore the name of Oil Spring on Munsel1's map of Kentucky, published in 1818, or long before the discovery of petroleum in this country. What is now known as Snake Creek is called Waggoner's Fork on Munsell's map.
I can well imagine that the Wagoner home occupies a beautiful location, as stated by Uncle Sam. My nearest view of it was from Concord cemetery. The visibility was very poor but I could make out a house standing near the point of a fairly high tongue of land which sloped quite steeply to the small valleys of Snake Creek and Big Trammel. The cemetery lies across the latter, nearly opposite the house standing near the point of a fairly high tongue of land which sloped quite steeply to the small valleys of Snake Creek and Big Trammel The cemetery lies across the latter, nearly opposite the house, on the eastern and northern slopes of a less abrupt hill. I saw there several graves of Wilsons and Wagoners but did not find those of our great-grandparents. The cemetery seemed to be fairy well-kept, but many of the graves were poorly marked or not marked at all. The church is on a small "flat" between the eastern foot of the cemetery hill and Big Trammel Creek. It is a frame building of the usual country or small-town church type and probably occupies the site of the large log structure mentioned by Uncle Sam.
Other facts which I learned from Uncle Sam regarding the Wilson-Wagoner families of Kentucky are set forth in the following excerpts from his letters.
"The name of my Grandfather Wilson was Joseph <
"The Wilson and Wagoners emigrated to Allen County, Ky., somewhere about 1815. The Waggoners settled on Big Trammel Creek and the Wilsons on Middle Fork Creek, some 12 or 14 miles distant from each other. If Grandfather Wilson ever moved, I do not know it. He is buried, I think, in Concord cemetery on Big Trammel Creek near the church of that name."
"I know of five of his sons and one daughter. It is possible that he had six sons but I am not certain. His son's names were Stith, Benjamin, Ashley, Nelson, and Joseph. The daughter's name was Milly. Stith, I think, was the eldest son; the second was Benjamin. The third, I think, was my father, Ashley Jarrett Wilson <
"Now, your Great-uncle Stith and his family went to Tisomingo County, Miss. I know not when, but it was before I ever saw any of them. I was born in 1839. I saw one of my Uncle Ben's family. I was then about ..... years old. He, I should judge was about thirty, and his name was Benjamin. My Uncle Ben died in Allen County. Some of his family was scattered around there when I left there and a goodly number of younger girls and boys. Ashley <
"Ashley Jarrett Wilson <
"We landed in Illinois in 1854 at my oldest Aunt's on my mother's side, who lived in Jefferson County in a neighborhood known as Romine Prairie, southwest of Remoe (now Dix), and about 15 miles southeast of Salem. We lived in that locality until December, 1856, and then moved to a farm just west of Squire Miller's place on the railroad south of Shobonier and Casser Creek."
"It seems that our Kentucky line of Wilsons was a kind of failure from the financial point of view. They owned nothing much and didn't seem to care to own much except a family. They, all but one, were wealthy in that respect, and he was well-to-do. Yet they were a respectable class of people."
"My father, Ashley J. <
"My sister Emeline married John Hall of Romine Prairie, Marion County, Ill. She died in 1857, and is buried in Farmer cemetery, southwest of Shobonier. Hall volunteered in the 44th Illinois Infantry and was killed at Stone River, Tenn."
"Myself and brother John volunteered in the 35th Illinois Infantry. Billy (William Wesley) volunteered toward the close of the war in a hundred day regiment. I don't remember the number."
"Your Aunt Caroline married Harrison Lawrence who served in the 111th regiment of Illinois volunteers. Emery, Your Pa, stayed at home to take care of Mother and the girls. After John and I returned home he was drafted, but was not sent to the field. You made good when the Spanish call came. Your Aunty Mary married Leonard Morey, who served in the 14th Illinois Cavalry. The balance about the Wilsons, you know."
..............
"Now, to this place (the Waggoner farm on Big Trammel) did my grandma emigrate from Virginia when my mother was four years old, which would make it about 1815. She and my father , both, were born in 1811. My mother was the youngest child of the family which consisted of five boys and four girls. The names of the boys were; Edward, the oldest, 2nd. Ephriam, 3rd, Samuel, 4th, Johas (Jones?), and 5th, William. The names of the girls were: Polly, the oldest; 2nd., Barny; 3rd,. Patsy; and 4th., Martha <
"I do not remember ever seeing my Uncle Edward or Uncle Ephraim. I have a dreamy feeling that I have but am not sure. They left the country before I was old enough to remember. I have seen Uncles Samuel, Jonas, and William and all of my Aunts. Uncle Ed went to Missouri and so did Uncle Eph. Uncle Sam and Uncle Jonas stayed on the place, and so did Uncle Will until he married, after which, I think , he built on a portion of the home place and lived there. Uncle Sam and Jonas never married. Uncle Sam accidentally shot and killed himself when he was about 50 years old. My Aunt Polly married Allen Meador, a Black Hawk War soldier, and after a time he moved to Illinois and laid his land warrant in Jefferson County, 7 miles from Rome, now called Dix, which is about 12 miles south of Salem, Ill. Aunt Barny married John McReynolds. Somewhere about 1852 he sold his farm adjoining Grandma's place and moved to Franklin County, Mo. I think he left there and went to Uncle Ed's and Uncle Eph's neighborhood which, I understand, was within about 50 miles of Independence, Mo., but I don't know in which direction."
"Uncle Ed and Uncle Eph came back to Kentucky and took Grandma and Uncle Jonas and a negro woman that grandma owned back with them to Missouri. Possibly my Uncle John McReynolds moved at that time, too. A disturbance was raised over the taking of grandma and the colored woman to Missouri. Grandma was about 90 years old at that time. They aimed to take a
colored man that Grandma owned, also, but the heirs prevented that and they had to give bond to return the colored woman to Kentucky within 90 days after Grandma's death - they must send her back, whether dead or alive. Well, these different parts or the family were not much on each other after that and that is why I know so little about them."
"Aunt Betsy (Elizabeth), married a man by the name of James Meador. He had a large family of boys and girls, about the same in number and age as your Grandpa's family. My Aunt Polly and Aunt Barny both had boys grown and married with grandchildren as old as I was at the time I knew them. We left these families of my Aunts in Kentucky, not far from the old home place".
"I am now 76 years old. My Mother, if living, would be 105. My Mother's sisters had children about as old as she was. Running back from Mother's birth, the usual time between births about two years, say - would make my Grandmother's marriage about 1795. Her parents and their parents were therefore old enough to participate in the Revolution. The game would be true of my Grandfather Wilson's parents. But where did they fight in the Revolution? We know they did but not where or when and who they were. That is what we would like to know."
Published records that I have seen add little to the information received from Uncle Sam concerning our Kentucky relatives. Most records of the County Clerk's office of Allen County were destroyed by fire in 1902 and, hence, little information can be obtained from that source. Based on records of Kentucky land grants, I feel quite certain that our Great-grandfathers Wilson and Wagoner had lived in Kentucky before the removal of their families to Allen County in 1815. "South of Green River" land warrants were issued to Joseph Wilson, November 29, 1804, for 100 acres on Skaggs Greek in Barren County, and on December 23, 1816, for 200 acres on Trammel Creek in Allen County. Warrants of the same type were issued to George Wilson on March 8, 1800, for 200 acres on Bayes Fork in Warren (now Allan County and on September 27, 1819, for 50 acres on Trammel Creek in Allen County. Such warrants, for not more than 200 acres, could be obtained after 1797 by any person over 21 years old who had a family and had been a bona fide settler for one year.
"Old Kentucky" grants were issued to Peter Waggoner on September 4, 1807, for 200 acres in Warren County (no other location given), and on October 21, 1810, for 400 acres on Little Trammel Creek in Warren (now Allen) County. Kentucky Land Warrants" were issued to him on February 19, 1817, For 30 acres on Trammel Creek, And on February 14, 1821, to him, or his heirs, for 50 acres on a fork of Drake Creek, both tracts in Allen County. An "Old Kentucky grant was issued to George Waggoner on July 23, 1799, for 200 acres on Trammel Creek in Warren (now Allen) County. Settlers could purchase warrants for "Old Kentucky" grants, not to exceed 400 acres, at the rate of $2.25 per 100 acres and were entitled to preempt 1000 acres more at the price of $40 per 100 acres.
Earlier "Virginia Military Grants" were issued to a Joseph Wilson for 1,000 acres, January 17, 1785; 1,200 acres, January 9, 1785, and 200 acres, May 19, 1785. Similar warrants were issued prior to 1800 to other Wilsons named Edward, George, Henry, James, John, Richard, and William and to several Wagoners. The 1,200 acre grant to Joseph and several of those to Wagoners were in or near the Wilson-Wagoner neighborhoods in Allen County. (Kentucky Land Warrants, Jillsen).
The Joseph of these ear1ier grants could not have been our Great-grandfather Joseph<
Aside from these land records, the only certain reference I have found to Great-grandfather Joseph Wilson <
Some of Joseph's children mentioned by Uncle Sam are named in the fragments of marriage records of Allen County which survived the 1902 fire. These records show that Steth M. Wilson married Nancy Foster, October 8, 1821, and that Milly Wilson married Justice Mayhew on January 7, 1822. Other Wilson Marriages at about that time were those of James to Anna McReynolds, December 23, 1822; Patsy to John O'Neill, July 7, 1817; Margaret to James McReynolds, January 22, 1821; and Anna to Jeremiah Orsbourne, April 24, 1821. (Marriage Records of Allen County, Willoughby).
I suspect that the James, above mentioned, may have been the additional son of Joseph of Uncle Sam's uncertain memory, or that he might have been "James Nelson", the son Uncle Sam thought was "probably John Nelson". The girls may have been other daughters of Joseph, of whom Uncle Sam had no recollection. On the other hand, they and James, as well, might have been the children of Joseph's brother George or members of other Wilson families, since there were several Wilsons living across the line in Sumner County, Tenn., and in Barren and Warren Counties.
The pension application of Grandmother Wilson (Civil War Claim No. 5071), shows that she was married to Grandfather Ashley <
A Benjamin P. Wilson, the son of Uncle Sam's Uncle Ben, is the only identifiable grandson of Joseph <
While at Concord cemetery I jotted down the names of several Wilsons and Waggoners shown on grave stones, but the only Wilson names I now have a record of are a Barbara and a Joseph A, He was born in 1831 and died in 1885.
There is little that I can add to Uncle Sam's description of our Wagoner relatives. In October, 1932 I wrote to Mrs., C. J. Wagoner of Adolphus, Ky., giving her the substance of what I had learned from Uncle Sam and what I surmised as to the antecedents of Grandmother Martha (Wagoner) <
Uncle Sam made no mention of his Grandfather Wagoner, probably through oversight or because he had heard little if anything about him. I have heard my Grandmother say that he died when she was eight years old, I think. This, then, was in 1819, or 20 years before Uncle Sam was born. Aside from the land grants, I have found no published mention of him except that he was named as an appraiser under the will of Rance Lyles of Warren County, May 8, 1810. (Abstract Early Kentucky Wills, King, p. 228.)
The Allen County Marriage Records show the marriages of his son Ephraim to Jemima Mayhew, September 7, 1817; and of his daughter, Polly, to Allen Meador, April 1, 1817; Barney to John McReynolds, December 7, 1819; and Betsy (Elizabeth), to Jesse Meddow, November 21, 1832. Ephraim married (2nd.), Selah Wilson, October 7, 1822, in Sumner County, Tenn. The son Edward (or Edmond) a married Charity Wilson, in Sumner County, on October 13, 1813, and appears in the Allen County records as officiating minister at some 25 marriages between September 23, 1835, and July 15, 1846.
Edmond also executed affidavits in 1833 and later years as to the veracity, character, etc., of several applicants for Revolutionary pensions, including the application of James R. Alexander, previously mentioned. Probably he moved to Missouri shortly after July 15, 1846, when, according to the records, he ceased to his labors as marrying parson of Allen County. He returned to live in Allen County; however, and is buried in Concord cemetery. I was told by Hub Wagoner that he became a locally famous preacher - a sort of second Peter Cartwright - and was well remembered still, in those parts, as the "Old Preacher". His brother, Samuel, who aocidenta1ly shot himself, is also buried at Concord. He was born on October l0, 1801, and died on May 14, 1852.
# Ch arts W-l and W-2 embracing the foregoing facts and my favorite surmises as to the ancestry of the Wilson and Wagoner branches of our family are included at the end of this chapter. Other data concerning them will be found in the general appendix.
# Charts Omitted