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Mary "Polly" Alley &
Frances "Fanny" (Alley) Nappier
- Polly & Fanny
are my 5th great grandaunts. These sisters were captured (Polly) or killed
(Fanny) by Indians in 1777. Polly was captured in the spring of 1777 and
Fanny and 5 of her children were killed in July or August, 1777.
William Alley
- William
Alley was my 13th great grandfather. He was appointed in 1560 by Queen
Elizabeth I to be the Bishop of Exeter. He is buried under the Choir Loft at the
cathedral. His biography can be found on the
Exeter
Cathedral website.
William Jefferson Ward
- William was
born in February, 1828 and died January 4, 1904. He was my great, great
uncle and was the son of Shadrack Ward and Lavina Hylton Ward. He was a
very eccentric man. It is said that he owned the store in Ward City, now Offutt,
Kentucky and tended the store in his nightshirt. He had a long white beard,
fiery blue eyes and he must have presented quite a sight to his customers.
Jeff attempted to stay out of the fighting during the Civil War. He
supposedly joined the Confederate Army after the death of his young daughter,
Julia. The story goes that while Jeff was away on a buying trip for the
store, it seems that a group of Union soldiers came to his house and demanded
that Jeff's wife, Sarah Hicks Ward, allow them to search the house for weapons.
Sarah and her young daughter, Julia, were forced to stand outside in the cold.
Julia caught pneumonia and died.
Eliphaz Preston Shelton Hylton &
Nathan P. Hylton -
Eliphaz and Nathan were father and son. Eliphaz fought for the North and
had his entire company killed after attempting to capture the notorious John
Hunt Morgan of Morgan's Raiders. The irony of the this story is that after
Eliphaz came home, he discovered his son Nathan, who was only 14, had, in fact,
joined Morgan's Raiders. After the war Eliphaz was known for preaching
long sermons against the Ku Klux Klan. He actually feared that one day the
Klan would harm him so he built a room in his house to protect himself from
them. On February 17, 1896, the Klan succeeded in killing Eliphaz.
Thomas Price
- Thomas Price was my 5th
great grandfather. He was born in Culpepper Co., VA about 1738 and died on
November 12, 1828. While researching information for a friend, Beverly Freeland
McQuown's family tree, I found a reference to her 6th great grandfather, Uriah
Humble. Uriah was mentioned in a will as a guardian for the daughter of a
Daniel Murley. The will was drafted and witnessed by--you guessed
it--Thomas Price. These individuals lived in Augusta County, Virginia.
The research paper went on to tell how these friends would go on to fight for
Colonel John Lewis at the
Battle of Point Pleasant,
how Uriah would eventually become Daniel's daughter's guardian etc.
Fact: My grandfather lived in Augusta County, Virginia
at the time of the will.
Fact: My grandfather fought with Colonel Lewis' men at
the Battle of Point Pleasant. He was wounded there as evidenced by his
Revolutionary War Pension Papers and tombstone epitaph.
Below are the two signatures of the Thomas Prices listed
above. Are they the same person? The will was signed about 1760.
The pension was applied for in the early 1800's so approximately 40 years would
separate the signatures which could account for the slight differences in the
letter formations.
Thomas Price's Signature
From Daniel Murley's Will:
Thomas Price's Signature from his
Pension Papers:
Were Beverly's grandfather and mine friends over two and a
half centuries ago? We'll probably never know for sure, but we'd
like to think so.
James Ward III, James IV, John Ward,
& William Ward -
The irony of this family is that James Ward III was killed during
the Battle of Point Pleasant. His son William was a member of his company.
James III's son John actually fought for the Shawnee Indians in that same
battle. John was kidnapped by Shawnee Indians at the age of 3. He was raised by
an Indian family, was given the Indian name of "White Wolf", and fought as an
Indian in their campaigns. He was killed at Reeve's Crossing, Paint Creek, near
Bainbridge in Ross County, OH during a small skirmish with a white party that
included his brother James IV.
On October 10, 1774, John fought with the Shawnee Indians under Puck-e-shin-wa
at the Battle of Point Pleasant, VA (now WV). Puck-e-shin-wa was the father of
the soon-to-be famous Tecumseh. Puck-e-shin-wa was killed as well as
John's father, James, who fought against the Shawnee.
Ingram Walter Davis, Sr.
- Ingram was one of the
members of the Elite Special Forces units in World War II called the 504th
Parachute Infantry Brigade. Their unit was known as the "Devils In Baggy
Pants" which referred to the clothing they used when parachuting out of planes
or going behind enemy lines. One German soldier described them in his diary and
this was the origin of their "nickname."
"American parachutists -- devils in baggy
pants -- are less than 100 meters from my outpost line. I can't sleep at night;
they pop up from nowhere and we never know when or how they will strike next.
Seems like the black-hearted devils are everywhere..."
Willie Escom Preston -
Escom was my uncle. He was born on July 27, 1924 and died on April 10,
1987. He had the honor of serving on the USS Hornet as a radio operator
during World War II. He had the distinction of being one of the first people in
the world to know that Franklin D. Roosevelt had died. He took the message for
FDR's son, Elliott, who was also stationed on the Hornet, that his father was
dead before it was released to the general public.
Bateman Preston
- Bateman was my 2nd great
granduncle. Per a newspaper story about his death: Bateman Preston
died January 9th, 1882 of lockjaw, caused by a gunshot explosion. A child was
poking a fire with a loaded gun when Mr. Preston attempted to pull the gun away
and it went off.
Brook Lin VanHoose-
was a photographer during the Spanish American War.
After the war he migrated to Jasper Co., MO. He became very wealthy and
was kidnapped and held for ransom. He was killed trying to escape his
captors. When his body was found, he was still wearing his 5 carat diamond
ring. |
