Author: kimbroughgenealogy

Family Graveyard Restoration

This is an update of an earlier post from 2014 with links and additional photos.

Landon surveys the graveyard 1997

In the early 1990’s while visiting Guthrie, Landon came upon the old Kimbrough Family Graveyard, located on the tobacco plantation owned by various Kimbroughs until the early 1900s when it was sold out of the family.

“I was really excited to find something my father’s family knew nothing about, but the task at hand was daunting: the gravestones were knocked over, covered with brush and rabbit warrens made walking hazardous.”

When I saw it, I worried about snakes, myself. I hate snakes. Once it was cleared I agreed to help document what we found.

Bob Kimbrough, (Landon’s father) and his cousin Ben Kimbrough of Clarksville, Tennessee, paid to have the site cleared and the tombstones replaced in their original positions as much as possible. Cousin John Kimbrough agreed to maintain the site. We visited again a few years later and copied down the information about the tombstones and did our best to create a family tree for the people buried there, but that may not appear on the cemetery page. Feel free to email if you’d like what information we do have.

Robert Landon Kimbrough in the Kimbrough Family Graveyard in Guthrie, KY
Robert Landon “Bob” Kimbrough at the start of the restoration of the Kimbrough Family Graveyard

Susan, who at the time was the owner of the house and property, said that someone had found a tombstone or two down by the creek years ago, but didn’t know where they belonged. I fear that vandals likely displaced or took additional tombstones. It is said that there may have been another older graveyard on the property, or more likely it was a slave graveyard. Sadly, other tombstones might have solved some of our family mysteries. The earliest burial date here that can be read is 1830 and the latest 1903.

Posted with gratitude for the late Bob Kimbrough, and very much alive cousins Ben Kimbrough and John Kimbrough. We recently lost Sue Head Kimbrough, widow of Charles, mother of John, and enthusiastic supporter of the restoration. Aunt Sue provided a lovely “B & B” for us when we visited Guthrie. She will be missed!

To see the restored cemetery go to: http://kimbroughgenealogy.lanstat.com/

William – Are you Thomas’ brother?
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William – Are you Thomas’ brother?

As the search for Thomas Winston Kimbrough <TWK>’s parents continues, we have collected a lot of information on various Kimbroughs and continue to attempt to stitch together family groups. We will focus on the presumed brothers, based on Mededith Kimbrough’s will. < See the page The Kimbrough Brothers>

Our current subject is William Kimbrough, born in Virginia who ended up in Illinois. He’s the best candidate for a brother so far.

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William  J. KIMBROUGH was born circa 1783 in Virginia and he married Susannah WIATT OR WYATT on 18 Dec 1814 in Henry, Virginia. They were married by the Rev. Mr. Patterson, a Methodist Minister, per William’s Military Pension application. He is 13 years older than Thomas, so that may indicate more than one family for the unnamed father.

William shows up in the 1830 Census in Todd County, Kentucky in proximity to TWK. His close neighbor, Young Thomas, is a signer on the will of TWK’s brother Meredith.  So far,  we cannot find a son for him named Meredith, which is a way to identify him from the will.  They do have a son, James M., noted in one of the censuses, but that appears to be James Monroe. At the time of Meredith’s will in 1831, the couple had been married for 17 years, surely long enough to have had a son whose name was Meredith. The following biography that was posted on Find A Grave <Memorial# 74654025> reports 14 children, so perhaps there was a son that’s not named in any of the records we surveyed. A biography of one of William’s sons, also William, is cited below and includes his birth in Todd County in 1830. In the following generation, a son is named Meredith.

Here’s the excerpt and the source:

William and Susan (Wyatt) Kimbrough, natives of Virginia, whence they removed to Kentucky at an early day. The father engaged in farming in Todd county until 1834 when he brought his family to Hancock County, Illinois, settling in Carthage township, where he purchased a farm of forty acres east of the city of Carthage. 

field-corn-air-frisch-158827.jpeg

He built there a log cabin and began the development of the property. He lived there for some years and afterward sold the farm, removing to a larger farm which he rented.

Kimbrough Wm Brother Land record 1840

A number of years later he took up his abode in Carthage, where he lived retired, his death occurring there when he was eighty-six years of age. He was a member of the Baptist church and a democrat in political views. A public-spirited man, he was an advocate of all that tended to improve and advance the community interests. He was also a prosperous and progressive resident of the county in his day and he was uniformly respected. At the time of the war of 1812 he espoused the cause of his country and served throughout the period of hostilities. His widow, who was also a consistent member of the Baptist church, survived him for a number of years and in their family were fourteen children, who grew to maturity, but William R. is the only one now living. Both parents lie buried in Seckman cemetery in Carthage township. <1907> 1

We’re sure that there were many challenges along the way. Here’s just one of them from 1868 – it could be attributed to either father or son:

Kimbrough fire Quincy_Daily_Whig_1868-12-21_[2].png

pexels-photo-461061.jpegWhen all is said and done, we still don’t know who William’s parents are and whether or not he was Thomas’ brother for sure. Hopefully, as we search for information on all the brothers mentioned in the will a solution to this “brick wall” will present itself. Until then, with any luck some of this information will be helpful to the multitude of descendants of William J. and Susannah Wyatt Kimbrough.

 

  1. BIOGRAPHICAL REVIEW OF HANCOCK COUNTY, ILLINOIS CONTAINING BIOGRAPHICAL and GENEALOGICAL SKETCHES of MANY OF THE PROMINENT CITIZENS OF TODAY AND ALSO OF THE PAST – EMERSON CHICAGO HOBART PUBLISHING COMPANY 1907

 

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Ancestor Charts

Since it has been a long while since I posted, I thought a quick ancestor summary could be helpful. Here’s a fan chart of Bob (Robert Landon Kimbrough)’s ancestors, in hopes of catching a cousin or two. We continue to research in the background, but despite retirement it always seems we’ve just not quite solved “that” mystery – whatever it might be. rlk-fan

In this blog we have left out Bob’s wife’s family: an equally colorful group of characters soon to be added: a group of immigrant Scandinavians, Danes, and Germans. Despite the appearance of a lack of facts, we have spent nearly as much time on this crew as on the Kimbroughs. With one look at the surnames, however, you will understand some of our problem. Sylvanne’s grandparents were nearly all immigrants. The fortunate part of this family is that they settled in Oregon and Washington, closer to us than Kentucky or Virginia so easier to research. Sadly, the frontier nature of the area has created some record gaps. We’ll just keep looking and create some posts about them as well.

sylvanne-fan-chart

It’s Good to have a Will or Maybe Not
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It’s Good to have a Will or Maybe Not

In which we are reminded you can’t take it with you

 

I was lucky enough to spend several days in Salt Lake City at the Family History Library last month. I also got to attend Roots Tech, which was a lot of fun, and I even took the time to attend a couple classes and learned a few things.

While searching at the Library I found the probate file of William Wallace McMurry on Family Search <Tennessee Wills and Probate records, 1779-2008>. William was the 2nd great grandfather of Robert Landon Kimbrough (1919-2009) Landon and Harry’s late father, and was linked only by family story in our records until this discovery. Robert’s mother was Mary McMurry, daughter of Robert Lee McMurry. Here’s how he is related to WWM:

McMurray Robert Lee ancestors

Reading the probate file created the usual challenges: format, reproduction and handwriting.  This, and other documents that I’ve tried to decipher, drove me to buy Reading Early American Handwriting by Kip Sperry. When I was able to make my way through the documents I found a wealth of information about the family. William died intestate in 1850 in Dickson County and at that time had 7 named legal heirs. His wife had predeceased him.

As did all the Kentucky/Tennessee ancestors at that time, William owned at least a few slaves and they were offered at his estate sale as was customary. One of the slaves, Patsy, was mentioned by name and the sale included her 2 month old child. She was purchased by William’s son, J.T. The remaining three slaves were sold to others. Perhaps knowing to whom they were sold will assist others in tracing their ancestors. I am sure there are many untold stories.

McMurry will part slave sale

William Wallace McMurray Jr, eldest son and our ancestor must have taken to heart all the hard work and possible heartache that was entailed in being his father’s executor. He wrote a will on May 7th 1890 and it was probated in 1893 in Todd County Kentucky. It contained an interesting conditional bequest.

McMurry WW Last will and Testament 1890 crop

The question remains: was this a good thing, or a bad thing? Was 125 acres and the “William Old Place” more or less than her 1/7th share of the estate? Family story had it that she was to be “disinherited” if she married Jesse Rollow – she did marry him, by the way – but her brothers got together upon the death of their father and refused to deny her share. More research is needed to figure out what really happened with the land. As far as the marriage went, it appeared to be a happy one and they were married until her death in 1941.

Rollow Sallie McMurry Headstone Rossview

 

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Bibles and Brick Walls

Does every genealogist have a serious brick wall? One they’ve worked on for years? In case you’ve forgotten, Thomas Winston Kimbrough was born according to a source or two, in Louisa County Virginia in 1796. Born to whom is the unanswered question! He married and subsequently moved to western Kentucky around 1819 where he lived until his death in 1868. In our search for T. W. K.’s parents we have become familiar with a wealth of Kimbrough information.  Through investigating multiple Kimbrough families and trying to reconstruct information from burned counties we have come across large number of descendants. We’re hoping by posting information to help others climb over their walls, someone may have the footholds for ours.

The family of Thomas Winston was large and members lived in several Kentucky counties and some in Tennessee. One of the items is the following Bible Record that was found on PERSI. I carefully reviewed the copies of pages we received and transcribed them, as you will see. If you’d like to have copies of the originals I worked with I’m happy to email them to you – they’re too ugly to post.

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Transcription of copies of Kimbrough Bible 1820

This Bible was undoubtedly from the family of Meridith Garth and Mildred Ann Maria Terry Kimbrough. Meridith was the oldest son of Thomas and is well documented in a variety of ways. No one mentions his grandparents, however.

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Thanks Bob, or how we got so interested in Kimbrough genealogy

My late father-in-law, Bob Kimbrough, known as “Lan” to his relatives, took a trip back to his hometown of Guthrie, Kentucky during the early years of our marriage. I have always been interested in history and when I found that this family had an old house there – a plantation house, really – and some older relatives who still lived near there, I was hooked. Why not investigate the Kimbrough genealogy? It seemed sooo much more romantic than my local folks. It didn’t hurt that each time I searched the various genealogy websites I would find hits on the name – many of which turned out to be related.

So began the quest that’s lasted over 15 years: who were the Kimbroughs? Are the McMurrys related to William Wallace? Are the Bollings descended from Pocahontas? Were the Kimbroughs the only plantation owners in Kentucky that didn’t own slaves? As you can imagine, many of the family legends, like the last one, have turned out to be just that – legends. Can’t say it hasn’t been fun.

As I began another round of sorting information today I came upon some pictures that reminded me of Bob’s pivotal part in our search. He passed away on December 13th, 2009, so as we approach this anniversary I thought it apt to write a bit about him, his history and his contribution to the Kimbrough legacy.

Bob was born on 26 March 1919 in Guthrie, Todd County, Kentucky to Keith Keesee  and Mary McMurry Kimbrough. He was the 3rd son of 5 children and spent his growing up years in Guthrie. His mother died when he was not yet 11. He decided, after high school to attend Georgia Tech in faraway Atlanta, encouraged by his aunt and uncle who lived there. He obtained his engineering degree from there and never looked back. He was Army Air Corps ROTC and entered WW II in 1941.

Here are his orders:

Special Orders to Galveston

Monday, 23 June 1941

HEADQUARTERS KENTUCKY MILITARY AREA

436 Post Office Building

Louisville, Kentucky.

June 23, 1941. Special Orders No. 112.

By direction of the President and under authority contained in Public Resolution No. 96, 16th Congress, approved August 27, 1940, second Lieutenant Robert Landon Kimbrough, 0-410941, CA-Res.,(541st CA) Guthrie, Todd, County, Kentucky, is ordered to extended active duty effective June 30, 1941, on which date he will proceed without delay from the place shown after his name to Fort Knox, Kentucky reporting upon arrival to the Commanding General, for temporary duty for the purpose of undergoing final type physical examination. Upon completion of the physical examination, if found physically qualified, he will proceed immediately to Galveston, Texas, reporting upon arrival to the Commanding Officer, for assignment and duty with Harbor Defenses of Galveston.

He will rank from May 20,1941. Unless sooner relieved, he will return to his home from the station where he is then serving.in time to arrive thereat on June 29, 1942, on which date he will stand relieved from active duty. The travel directed is necessary in the military service. FD~1325 P 15-06, 15-02, 15-07, 15-13, 15-01, A 1505-01-2. (Reference War Department letter AG 320.2 (12-27-40) M-A-M, January 3, 1941, Subject:

“Allotment of Reserve officers for Regular Army Inactive Units to be activated June 1, 1941”). (Reqn. #112-1941)

 Bob in 1940s

He shared with us one of the other important related turning points of his life – he was NOT sent to Guadalcanal later in the conflict as his engineering skills were needed elsewhere. Otherwise a lot of our Kimbroughs would not exist. The military continued to be a big part of Bob’s life even after discharge in about 1947  from the Air Force as he maintained membership in the Reserves until the mid 1980’s.

Bob spent his post active military career with the Boeing Company and retired from there. After his retirement he did some traveling and on one of his trips he came upon the old Kimbrough Family Cemetery which was originally on the Kimbrough Plantation in Hadensville, Kentucky,  just outside of Guthrie. His original Kentucky forebears were buried there and he wanted to see that it was preserved for future generations. With support from a cousin, Ben Kimbrough and his nephew John, son of his late brother Charles, Bob crafted a plan to restore what tombstones and sites could be found. We got involved in the last stage of the restoration: taking pictures and documenting the burials – as best we could. Our results are seen on the website http://www.kimbroughgenealogy.com .

The quest for information to know more about the folks who were buried in the cemetery really drove a lot of the research for a while. We have yet to find out where Thomas Winston Kimbrough and his brothers were raised…but we have hope! I’m sorry that Bob won’t be around to celebrate with us when the brick wall is finally breached, but I’ll imagine him laughing.

RLK on front porch of his childhood home in Guthrie, Kentucky in 2001

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Yes, we’re still here!

Ok, I know we said we’d be back to you later…didn’t really mean a LOT later, but life intervened. We have just moved into a new residence and coupled with our travels genealogy did take a back seat. I’m sorry to say that we haven’t yet dismantled our brick wall. We believed we had isolated our search in Virginia but North Carolina (full of Kimbroughs) keeps popping up. We’ve not done much research there, either on site or long distance. So far we have gathered so much Kimbrough information it’s overwhelming! I will post some Bible pages.Kimbrough Bible - Memoranda Page

Kimbrough Bible - Births Page

Kimbrough Bible - Deaths Page

Kimbrough Bible - Marriages Page

Kimbrough Bible - Matrimony Page

These Bible pages are from the family of William Landon Kimbrough of Hadensville, Todd, Kentucky and show members including Landon’s grandfather Keith.

Meanwhile I’ve tried to do some work on my lines. Most of my forebears landed in America in the late 1800s so are a problem of another type – clearing the palate, so to speak. Eventually I’ll blog about that, too. Both Landon and I have lines that go back to pre-Revolutionary War and also have 19th century immigrants. Typical Americans.

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Courthouses and Historical Societies

After our trip to Washington DC we spent a busy two days visiting the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society as well as their courthouse and a return to Louisa county and the courthouse there. Both courthouses had the records very available, which was nice, but I missed that wonderful woman from Logan County Genealogical Society who helped soooo much at that courthouse! Landon performed yeoman service in copying lots of very difficult to copy record pages as well as photographing lots of other items and documents. It was more difficult in Louisa as photographs weren’t allowed for some reason. No copies of indexes, either, which made it difficult to pull all of the items we wanted in the limited time we had. His family <that’s who we’re researching, after all> would be proud of his effort! Now we’re feeling like we have lots of information but no concrete ideas or trails to follow. We’ve decided to focus on the William Kimbroughs and see where that gets us.  Taking time to sort and timeline some of the new information and review what we already have will be helpful, I trust.

During our time in Charlottesville at the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society we found a great deal on the Garth family, that is prominent there. The librarian, Margaret O’Bryant, was incredibly helpful and really knows the area! We keep running into various documents by Rosalie Edith Davis who wrote The Garth Family, a very comprehensive book. We will order one when we get home.

We moved off the Kimbrough theme a bit as we looked for more information about Richard Gaines and Thomas Garth in Albemarle County. Richard Gaines married Ann Garth, daughter of Thomas and they were the parents of Susan Gaines, wife of “our” Thomas Winston Kimbrough. Susan’s sister married Meredith Kimbrough, Thomas’ brother. Richard Gaines was a carpenter and did a lot of work for Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Garth served as Jefferson’s business manager and may have fulfilled some other offices for him while Jefferson was away from Monticello. We made a point to visit Monticello for that reason and have found several references to Garth and Gaines in the Jefferson papers and other historical documents. Helps history come alive!

Continuing to travel and gather information makes it difficult to post, but as we travel back to the west I hope to update both my information and this blog. We will stop in Salt Lake City, with an eye to clarifying some findings and perhaps gaining even more information, as we ran out of time at the Albemarle Courthouse.

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Virginia is for genealogists!

28 May 2012

While sitting in the library in Hanover Courthouse, VA, week before last paging through books, a man came in to talk to the librarians and I overheard him say:  “You ladies have been so helpful to me but I STILL can’t find my 6th great-grandfather William Kimbrough in the cemetery!” <WHAT?!!> Needless to say, I struck up a conversation with this fellow and we exchanged information. Not sure if there is a connection, but what a coincidence…anybody read the book Psychic Roots? Hanover County has a large number of Kimbroughs, as does its neighbor, Louisa. Both were the same county in early history so keeping track of dates and locations is important.

We spent time with Elaine Taylor, Museum Director of the Sargent Museum and Jim Artz, Mayor of Louisa, in the Louisa County Historical Society http://www.louisacountyhistoricalsociety.org/ – a great place with very helpful people and lots of resources – and found some interesting will information.

Thanks to Elaine we found evidence that William Kimbrough (ca 1765 – ca 1851) of Louisa freed all of his slaves upon his death and decreed in his will that they were transported to non-slave states. An unusual act in these times, I imagine. I believe that this is the same William who is shown in the 1850 Louisa County census as living with Celia Cosby, a mulatto woman and her child. He is 85 at the time of the census. There are numerous Kimbroughs and Winstons in Louisa County and we plan a trip to the courthouse and the public library as soon as we can manage. This likely means a return to VA after we visit Washington, DC.

Other than ruling out a number of folks and getting a bit more information, the trip to the Library of Virginia was inconclusive. I did find out about some databases they have online that I can access with my LVA library card.

So far, I’m feeling frustrated. Wish me luck!