USA > Kentucky > Lewis County > History of Lewis County, Kentucky > Part 18
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BELYEW .- This family introduces itself to the Lewis County Court from the Sycamore neighborhood. Its first representatives are Abra- ham Belyew and his wife, Anna. Paul Belyew seems to be one of his children, but others may have and may have not existed. Certain it is, however, that Paul made up any lack of progeny in his parents. His wife was Sallie Snider, and his children are: Eli, who married Betsy Patterson and lived on Brush Creek, in Ohio; Samuel, who also married a Miss Patter- son; William, who married Susan Watson; Hiram, who went to Iowa; Nancy, who married John Greenlee, and moved to Iowa; Betsy, who lives in Concord; Harriet, who married John .¿ ¿ Taylor, of Concord, famous as a mill and steam- boat owner, but now residing at Higginsport, O .; Margaret, who married William Vance.
EASHAM, William, who came to Lewis County in 1806 and settled on the farm known as the
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Pugh farm, on Salt Lick, married Martha Ruark, and died in 1850. The following are their chil- dren: Peggy, Joshua, Nancy, John Handly, William, Lucretia, Harriet, Rebecca, and Arthur.
EASHAM, John Handly, was born in 1804, and died 1877. His children are William, John, Nancy, Robert, and Betty.
EASHAM, William, married Lucy Thomas, and now lives on Indian Fork on Kinniconnick. His children are Betty, who married William Jordan; Richard, who is married and lives with his father; Frederick, Nancy, Parma, William, Clay, Lucy, and Clark, still children at home.
EASHAM, Elisha, was born 1802 and died 1868; married his cousin, Lucretia Easham, and settled on Kinniconnick, near Crum Post-office. To them were born the following children: Jonathan, who still lives on Kinniconnick; Edward, who lives on Paint Lick; Eliza, Eliza- beth, Martha Jane, and Nancy, who is the wife of Marion Meadows; George, Mary, and Sarah.
EASHAM, George, married Virginia Meadows, and lives on the old Ben Plummer farm, at the top of the hill on the road from Petersville to Mudlick and Mt. Carmel. He has four children: Charles, Crosby, Marion, Ora.
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WILLIAMS, Zachariah, was born in Mary- land in 1787, and died in Lewis County, Ky., in 1863. He was married to Sarah Hoover, in 1806, near Frederick, Va. She was born in 1789 and died in 1882. They are buried in the Beech Chapel Cemetery, in Fleming County, Ky. Zachariah Williams came to Fleming County in 1818, and removed to Leiws County in 1820, settling in the neighborhood between North Fork and Burtonville, where he lived until his death. In the latter part of his life he became a minister of the gospel. Seven children were born to this union, as follows: John W., Benjamin, Robert, Thomas, who lives near Poplar Plains, Ky., and Sallie Ann, who lived in Johnson County, Mo .; and Washington, who lives near Burtonville.
WILLIAM'S, John, wife was Mary Walling- ford, of Kinniconnick, Lewis County. They were married in 1828. The following are their children: Lucinda, who was the wife of Andrew Jackson, of Quick's Run; James, who married Kate Rigdon, daughter of Clayborn Rigdon, in 1860. Their children are Lorenza, Joseph, Cora, wife of Samuel Moone; William, Robert, Mary, who is dead; and John. The above-named families have and still live in Lewis County, near Valley.
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TONCRAY, Ezra, was born in Duchess County, N. Y., and emigrated to Rockbridge County, Va. He married Hannah Mitchell, and came to Kentucky in 1804. He came by way of Lex- ington, and settled in Lewis County where the old homestead now stands, on the old State Road. There was then neither road nor path by which he could travel farther on his journey, so he built him a shanty in the woods, near the blazed trail, and settled his family as comfortably as he could until he could move on farther. But he concluded later to stay, and bought the land where he was camped and immediately set about to make a home in the wilderness.
PARKER, William, of Virginia, was the father of Harry and Thomas Parker, who were citizens of Lewis County at its organization, in 1807. Just in what year they came to Lewis County is not definitely known, but perhaps about the year 1800.
PARKER, Harry, married Joanna Thomas, and they were the parents of Charles, whose wife was Jane Cooper. They had no children, and he died in Vanceburg.
PARKER, John F., who married his cousin, Nancy Parker, and he married at Fairview, and the following are their children: William, who is dead; James, a cigarmaker, now dead;
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and Robert H., commonly called "Kitty," and who lives on Black Jack Branch, near Vance- burg. Robert, the third son, married Elizabeth Parker, December 19, 1823, and died July 27, 1859, near Clarksburg. The following are his children: Harry Thomas, died in Greenup, November 30, 1859; Melvina Ann, married W. W. Winter in June, 1848; Benjamin W., once a saddler in Vanceburg; Harriet Lucy, wife of W. T. Swearingin, now living in Ashland, Ky .; Mary Jane, wife of Joseph W. Cottingham, of Vanceburg, both deceased; John Grant, who married Sarah E. Thomas in March, 1860, died in Vanceburg in June, 1871; Martha Ellen, born July, 1837, and died November, 1847; Georgia Ann, born June, 1840, and was married to P. M. Stricklett December 21, 1860; Mary Eliza, born April, 1842, and was married to J. M. Ruggles in December, 1869, and now lives in Saybrook, Ill. Mason Brown, the tenth child, was born November, 1844, and died in Sep- tember, 1873. Harry, the fourth son of Harvey Parker, married Elizabeth Mitchell, by whom he had a son, Edwin, who now lives in Vanceburg. Mr. Harvey Parker afterward married a second wife, and later moved to Missouri.
We now take up the history of the Thomas Parker branch of the family. Thomas Parker was twice married-first to Betsy Smith, of
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Fayette County, Ky., and secondly to Miss Botts, of Fleming County. His eldest son, Garland S., was born in April, 1794, and died near the mouth of Kinniconnick. His wife was Patsy Voiers. Their children were Rebecca, John, Robert, Plummer, Sallie, and Seth. Be- sides these there were several girls whose names we were not able to obtain.
PARKER, William S., was born May, 1799, and died in May, 1880. His wife was Theresa Mitchell, daughter of Captain Thomas Mitchell. Their children are: Granville S., living in Black Oak Bottom; Thomas, who died at Fairview; Anna Maria, late wife of Dr. John White; Eliza- beth, who married a Mr. McCall; Harriet Lucy, wife of Fred Savage; Susan, who married John Frizzell; and Eliza Preston, who lives with her sister Harriet, near Fairview.
PARKER, Ambrose Dudley, is represented at Vanceburg by the families. Thomas Parker, who was scalded to death in a mill vat, in this city, in the year 1807. His widow and son Jesse are living on a farm near the city, and their daughter Lizzie, now Mrs. Marion McGill, lives on a farm two miles west of Vanceburg.
PARKER, Fred H., his second son, also lives in this city, and has four children: Emma, William, John, and Priscilla. Robert, the third
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son, went to the war of 1861, and has never been heard of since. There were also three daughters, one of whom is Mrs. John Sullivan, another Mrs. Abraham Sullivan, and the last first married Thomas Moore, and, after his death, married J. Cole Redden, of Valley, Ky.
ROWLEY .- This family came to Vanceburg in 1838. It consisted of Charles Rowley, Amanda, his wife, and seven children: Hiram T., George W., Benjamin F., Edwin S., Charlotte S., James H., and Eliza J. Mr. Rowley was born on Long Island, N. Y., and his wife was born in Connecticut; but her parents moved to Canan- dagua Lake, in Lew York, when she was a child. After leaving New York the family went to Indiana. From there they moved to Branden- burg, Meade County, Ky. From this place they moved to Washington County, O., and thence to Vanceburg, Ky., in 1838, as above noted. They have lived here since that time, except George, who married James Carr's daughter, and moved away, making his home elsewhere. Hiram and Ben never married. James H., who is known as one of the best steamboat pilots on the Ohio, married Miss A. J. Ingram, and lives on Second Street, in Vanceburg. His children are James H., also a pilot, who married Miss Anna Carter, daughter
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of Thomas Carter, of Vanceburg; and Millie J., who married Mr. James Gardner, of the Vance- burg Flouring Mill Company.
MOWER, Samuel D., the son of Jacob P. Mower, was born in 1842, and is a citizen of the county precinct that bears his name. Mr. Mower is a business man of marked ability, and has a wide acquaintance in business circles. His farming interests are extensive, and he sustains a large tentantry. He was united in marriage to Rebecca Cox. To this union were born twelve children, nine of whom are living.
MEANS, John .- About one mile west of the Covedale Post-office John Means settled in 1846. He was born in Mifflin County, Pa., February 21, 1744. In 1794 he came to Ken- tucky, settling at Maysville. He was the father of six children, three sons and three daughters, as follows: John, Robert, Amos, Phoebe, Nancy, and Margaret.
JACKSON, Jesse W., was born in Mason County in 1788. He fought in the War of 1812, and was wounded in the battle of Lundy's Lane. He married three times, and to these unions twenty-one children were born. He built and operated a water-mill on Quick's Run, in 1842. He died in 1875.
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HERBERT, Dr. William, was born in New Jersey about 1796, and came to Kentucky, with his parents, in 1802, and settled at Poplar Flats. He later became a physician, and prac- ticed medicine for sixty years. He was married three times, and raised thirteen children. Most of his children are now dead. S. J. Herbert, one of his sons, still lives at Sand Hill, and is an old soldier of the Civil War, aged eighty years. One daughter lives in Maysville, Ky., the wife of Mr. S. McKellup. One daughter on Cabin Creek, the wife of John D. Tully. Another in New Richmond, O., the widow of Marion Bannister.
WILLIM, Harry, was born in England. He came to Kentucky at an early date, and mar- ried Mary Spurgeon. They then moved to Salt Lick, about 1824, and he operated a tan- yard in Clarksburg. To this union were born six children, four boys and two girls, as follows: Ernest, William, John P., Sarah, Catherine, and Thomas H. Lewis Spurgeon and Mary Spurgeon are half brother and sister, older than the Wil- lims.
ROBB, William, was born in July, 1775, in the city of Luxenburg, Germany. His wife, Elizabeth McGougin, was born in 1773, and they were married in 1800. David Robb was
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born October 13, 1801, in Pennsylvania. He was married to Martha McNutt in 1825, in Lewis County, Ky. Joseph Robb was born March 2, 1831, and was married to America Launtz in 1849, in Lewis County, Ky. Joseph Robb, now living, is eighty years of age. He is a cousin to the Joseph Robb who served forty-four years as a circuit clerk of Lewis County.
PARKER, William M., the grandfather of this sketch, was born in Philadelphia, Pa., in 1752. He served in the Revolutionary War, and came to Lewis County, Ky., in 1802. He was married to Miss Mary Lisson, and settled on Quick's Run. He died in 1850, aged ninety- eight. His son, Daniel Parker, was born at Marietta, O., in 1796, and moved to Lewis County and married Miss Margaret Knox. He died in 1869. The subject of this sketch, W. M. Parker, was born October 7, 1828. He served as justice of the peace for eight years, and was notary public for sixteen years, and now, at the age of eighty-three, is enjoying good health, lives at Concord, and has never lived out of the county.
MOWER, Jacob P., was born in Pennsylvania about 1811, and came to Lewis County in 1834, and was married to Frances Fry, in 1836. To this union ten children were born, eight boys
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and two girls. He was an honored citizen of the precinct, and served as justice of the peace sixteen years. Three of the sons are now living, viz: David S., Samuel D., and J. L. P., who all now reside in Lewis County and in this precinct.
STONE, Thomas, father of Ezekiel Stone, was born in Virginia and came to Kentucky early in the last century, and after living one year on Big Sandy River, moved to Kinniconnick, near the mouth of the Laurel Fork. He was the father of a numerous family, and most all the Stones in this part of Kentucky are descendants of his.
DOYLE, John A., was born in Maryland November 16, 1762. He came to Kentucky about 1790 as one of Simon Kenton's spies. (See Collins' History, page 553.) He was mar- ried to Christen Davis, daughter of Nicholas N. Davis, who lived on the farm now owned by William Kissick, March 18, 1796. To this union were born nine children, four sons and five daughters, viz: Edward, John, David, and Nichelson; Rebecca, Nancy, Elizabeth, Susan, and Ann. In the year 1798 he went to the Indian War and served four years. He also served in the War of 1812, and died December 8, 1845.
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BEVIN, John F .- James H. Bevin, the grand- father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Charles County, Md., in 1775, of English parents. He taught school for a number of years in Maryland. He emigrated to Mason County, Ky., about 1803, where he married Miss Mary Evans, November 22, 1807. He taught school in that county until 1820. He then bought a farm on Martin's Fork of Quick's Run, Lewis County, and moved to it the same year. His father died in Maryland about this time, and he fell heir to sixteen slaves, which were shipped to him. With this force a farm was soon cleared in the wilderness. His family numbered seven children, four boys and three girls, as follows: Harry W., Chloe, Elizabeth, Catherine, Benjamin D., Charles A., James T., Benjamin D., the father of the subject of this sketch, married Miss Jane Henderson, Novem- ber 28, 1839. To this union were born six chil- dren, as follows: John F., Lonzo J., Richard B., Mary E., who died in infancy; Albert R., Andrew C. John F., the subject of this sketch, married Miss Charity Hampton, daughter of Squire John Hampton, September 29, 1859. To this union were born four children, as follows: Elizabeth J., Paris C., Cora A., and Ben R. Lizzie and Paris C. died single. Benjamin R. married Miss Olive Irvin, daughter of Squire
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T. M. Irvin, of Martin, Ky. She taught in our public schools for a number of years, and now owns a store in Carrs, Ky. Cora A. married James D. Jackson, and they now live on the old Bevin homestead, on Martin's Fork. John F. and wife are still living at a ripe old age, sur- rounded by many comforts of life.
FITCH, John L., son of Benjamin and Olive Fitch, was born January 3, 1821. Mr. Fitch was one of the early pioneers and legislators, having served in the State Legislature in the early days of the county's history. He died May 15, 1859.
MAY, John, son of Thomas May, came to this county from Pennsylvania in 1792, and settled in Lewis County about the same year. He lived to the ripe age of ninety-one, and died September, 1874. Thomas May, father of John May, came to Lewis County and lived with his son until his death, in 1811.
FREEMAN, Daniel, and wife moved from New Jersey to Dark County, O., in the latter part of the eighteenth century. The romance connected with this couple differs so widely from the romances of the twentieth century, I think it will bear relating. At that time it was contrary to law for the young man to steal the
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girl. But as wit and schemes prevailed in those days as they do now, the young lady overcame that difficulty by stealing the young man. As in the days of our Puritan fathers, we see two seated on one horse, but the young man riding behind.
To this couple were born eight children. A. E. Freeman, a farmer resident of Lewis County, Ky., being one. He was born February 7, 1810, in Dark County, O. At the age of twenty-three he was married to Elizabeth Hoover, whom he met while she was visiting her brother, who lived near him. They moved to Lewis County, Ky., in 1844, where he prac- ticed his trade of shoe making, until he was about forty years old. He then began to culti- vate the soil, and to clear out the forests which then covered a great part of Lewis County. Through the aid of his good wife, and his son's perseverance, he acquired a large farm and some other real estate. To this union were born nine children, three of whom still live in Lewis County.
Elizabeth Freeman died at her home, near Trinity, Ky., May 9, 1891. A. E. Freeman then went to Boone County, where he spent the remainder of his days, these being com- paratively few after the death of his wife. He died December 1, 1891. He was then brought
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back to Lewis County and placed beside his wife in the old Mower Cemetery.
HALBERT, Judge William C. (taken from "Johnson's History of Kentucky and Ken- tuckians"), who is the present incumbent of the office of judge of the Circuit Court of the Twentieth Kentucky District, is a lawyer of prominence and influence in Lewis County, Ky. He was born on a farm fourteen miles west of Vanceburg on the 25th of February, 1856, but his parents removing to Vanceburg six weeks after his birth, he has since that time made his home in Vanceburg, and has seen it grow from a hamlet of twelve houses to its present size and importance. In this growth Judge Halbert has taken and contributed an active and gener- ous part, and, like his father, has ever been one of the most public-spirited and important factors in the growth of his native city.
Judge Halbert is a son of William C. Hal- bert and Lavinia A. Halbert, who were cousins. They were both born and reared in Lewis County, Ky., their parents on each side having been born in Bourbon County, this State, and their parents on each side having come from Culpeper County, Va., in the early settlement of Kentucky, to the central part of the present State of Kentucky. Isaac Halbert, the great-
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grandfather of Judge Halbert, was a native of Scotland, born not far from the English border or boundary line, from whence he came to Vir- ginia prior to the Revolutionary War, settling first near Alexandria, in Fairfax County, where he married Elizabeth O'Daniel, and then moved to Culpeper County, in that State, where he continued to reside until he removed to Ken- tucky, in March, 1785. He served as a private soldier from Culpeper County in a Virginia regiment during the War of the Revolution. In March, 1785, as stated, Isaac Halbert emi- grated to Kentucky, moving his family and household goods by land from Culpeper County, up the waters of the Potomac, to Pittsburg, and then, by what was known as a family or house- boat, he made his slow journey to what was then called Limestone, now Maysville, where he landed and took the old buffalo trail or road to Boonesborough station, or fort, where he lived for the next three years, and in which his eldest daughter, Catharine, and perhaps one of his sons, was born in May, 1787. In April, 1785, Isaac Halbert located and surveyed various tracts of land, by virtue of treasury warrants obtained by him from the State of Virginia, aggregating about three thousand acres. These lands were situated in the vicinity of the station, where he then lived, and are now
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History of Lewis County, Kentucky
in Bourbon, Clark, and Jessamine Counties, this State, but then in Fayette County, Va. Daniel Boone, then deputy surveyor of Fayette County, Va., surveyed one of these tracts of land for him, and his survey and plat are now on file in the records of the land office at Frank- fort, Ky. He was a friend of Boone and Simon Kenton, and bore his part in the struggle to wrest the new country of his adoption from the Indians and to make it a State. In 1799 he purchased four thousand nine hundred acres of land on Salt Lick Creek, in what is now Lewis County, but was then Mason County, in this State; and in the winter of 1800 he erected a dwelling house on this land, at the forks of Salt Lick Creek, seven miles west of Vanceburg, and in the spring of 1801 he moved into this house, which was the third house built in what is now Lewis County. He continued to reside on this land until his death, in 1825, and he is buried in sight of his home, where he died. He was a member of the first petit jury that was ever impaneled in the Lewis Circuit Court, in July, 1807. His wife was born in Virginia, of Irish stock on both sides, and she survived her husband twenty-two years, dying in 1847, in her eighty-seventh year. Isaac and Elizabeth Halbert became the parents of nine sons and three daughters, all of whom reached maturity,
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and six of their sons served as volunteer soldiers in the War of 1812 in various Kentucky regi- ments; three of them were at the battle of the Thames, and one served as a marine on board of Perry's fleet in the memorable battle of Lake Erie. Stephen Halbert, grandfather of Judge Halbert, was one of these sons who responded promptly to the call of Governor Shelby and marched with him to the Thames and helped to end the war with honor and victory in that section of the Northwest Territory. Another of their sons became a member of the colony that settled in Texas in 1828, and received a league of land on the Brazos River from the Spanish Government for settling on it. He afterward served in the war between Mexico and Texas, and subsequently served as circuit judge in his adopted State.
Stephen Halbert, the paternal grandfather of Judge Halbert, was born in Bourbon County, Ky., in March, 1793, and came, with his parents, to Lewis County in the spring of 1801. He married Mary Cottingham in that county in April, 1813, who died in 1829, at the early age of thirty-two. She was born also in Bourbon County, the daughter of William Cottingham and his wife, Mary Johnson, who emigrated from Snow Hill, Worcester County, Md., and settled in Bourbon County in an early day.
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He came from Ireland, or his parents did, and his wife came from England, or was of English descent. To Stephen Halbert and his wife, Mary Cottingham, were born eight children- five boys and three girls-and of this number, William C. Halbert, father of the Judge, was the second in order of birth. He was born in Lewis County on February 20, 1817, and was there reared to maturity on a farm. When barely of age he served as deputy sheriff of St. Francis County, Ark., for three years. Resigning this position on account of ill-health, he returned to Kentucky, and shortly after his return he was appointed acting sheriff of Lewis County (all the county officers being then appointed and not elected), and he continued to discharge the duties of sheriff, and without any deputy, for six years to the entire satisfaction of the court and the people. It is said that he never returned a warrant not executed if the person named in the warrant was in Lewis County; that he never summoned any one to help him arrest a person for whom he had a warrant, and that he never carried a pistol while acting as sheriff; and that he promptly collected and accounted for all public taxes and moneys that came or should have come to his hands as collector.
He read law, and was admitted to the bar in
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1856, and then removed from his farm to Vance- burg, where he made his home and engaged in the active practice of his profession until his death, in September, 1877. He was elected and served as county attorney of Lewis County in 1862, and again in 1870, and served eight years in all. He was nominated in 1852 for State senator by the Whig party from the Fleming and Lewis District, but declined the nomination on account of ill-health. In 1865 he was nominated by the Democratic party for State senator from the Mason and Lewis Dis- trict, and was elected and served four years. He declined a renomination from that party in 1869, on account of ill-health, and the demands of his private business. He was the leader of the Whig party in Lewis County from the time he acted as sheriff of the county until the demise of that party. He then became a member of the Democratic party, and continued the leader of it in Lewis County until his decease. He had a talent and a liking for politics, and could lead and organize his party as but few men could in his day, or since then, in Lewis County. He never drank, used tobacco, or gambled, was a strict member and an elder in his Church, and his one diversion was playing politics; but he never sought office for himself, and when he made a race at all he was drafted to help out
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his party and lead a forlorn hope, he having always belonged to the minority party in Lewis County. He was never defeated when he did run for office.
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