Sunday, July 3, 2022

Sunday's Obituary: Robert Gillispie Robinault

For this post, I will stay within the Robinault family, as I have for the past couple weeks, but feature the obituary of a more distant relation. Robert Gillispie Robinault would have been a nephew of my 3great-grandfather Barney Robinault: a son of his brother Jeremiah. That makes his relationship to me a first cousin four times removed.

The obituary appeared on the front page of the Denison Review on 20 May 1914:


DEATH OF ROBERT ROBINAULT

Pioneer Resident of Crawford County Dies at His Home in West Denison Last Wednesday.

Robert Gillispie Robinault passed away at his home in Denison on last Wednesday, May 13th, after a long illness. Mr. Robinault was one of the pioneer citizens of Crawford county, coming to Denison almost fifty years ago. For a number of years he was engaged in farming in Goodrich township, moving to Denison in 1890, where he has since resided. Mr. Robinault has been in failing health for the past few years and death came as a relief from his long suffering. He has been afflicted for some time with hardening of the arteries and his death was primarily due to this.

The deceased was born Sept. 16, 1849, near Meadville, Crawford county, Pa. At the age of sixteen he moved with his parents to Crawford county, Iowa, first locating on a farm in Goodrich township. He was united in marriage to Mar Lee, Dec. 15, 1873, and to this union three children were born: Charles and Raymond, living, Claude having departed this life Feb. 18, 1909.

Besides his bereaved widow and two sons, he leaves to mourn his death two brothers, Jackson, of Purdum, Neb., and Henry, of Taft, Cali.

Funeral services were held at the Baptist church Saturday afternoon at 2:30, Rev. Williams officiating, after which the body was laid to rest in Oakland cemetery.





Source:


"Death of Robert Robinault," The Denison Review, 20 May 1914, p. 1, col. 5; digital images, Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov : accessed 16 Nov 2014).

Sunday, June 26, 2022

Sunday’s Obituary: Mrs. Barney Robinault

As last week’s obituary explained, my 3-great-grandfather Barney Robinault was “twice married.” This obituary is that of his second wife. Although her given name is never revealed in the article, their 1892 marriage record calls her “Veronego Diedrich.” I suspect that Veronego is a phonetic spelling of Veronica.

Barney and Veronego were married in Denison, Crawford, Iowa, in 1892. Both were previously married, but I have not yet looked into Veronego’s past, and cannot tell you the name of her prior husband. 




Her obituary appeared in the Denison Review on 29 July 1903:


Mrs. Barney Robinault died at her home in south Denison on Monday at six o’clock in the afternoon. The cause of her death was dropsy. She was seventy-six years of age and was born in Germany. The funeral was held yesterday. Her husband is very aged and almost blind and will miss the care of his wife, who was constantly looking after her wants.


I presume there is a typographical error on that last line, and that it was intended to read “looking after his wants.”



Sources:


The Denison Review, 29 July 1903, p. 5, col. 4; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 20 Feb 2022).

FamilySearch, "Iowa, County Marriages, 1838-1934," database, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 11 Oct 2015), entry for Barney Robbennolt and Veronego Diedrich's 1892 marriage; citing Denison, Crawford, Iowa, United States, county courthouses, Iowa. Reference ID BK1 PG130 CN1679; GS Film Number 1035130; Digital Folder Number 004311126.

Friday, June 24, 2022

The Westbere Butts

 


When someday I finally make the trip to England, I will have to go on the ultimate pub crawl. Members of my family have been associated with any number of pubs around England—as my research progresses, the list only keeps growing. There is the Creeksea Ferry Inn, which I detailed in my very first blog post, and which, alas, is now only a vacant building. And it isn’t the same building my great-grandparents would have known, anyway. There are also other pubs, with names like the Railway Hotel, the Chelmer Brig, and the Round House, some still in business under the same or different names. But one pub had the best name of all.

It was called the Westbere Butts.


Say it out loud. It’s fun.

The origin of the name is likely more prosaic than it sounds. It was located in the village of Westbere, Kent, just outside my ancestral village of Sturry. Thus the first part of the name. A butt is a name for a cask which may hold ale. This, I suspect, explains the second part of the name. Alternately, butt can refer to an archery range, and there are a number of places in England with names that refer to Medieval archery grounds. I have found no indication that Westbere Butts is one of those places, but then again, neither have I found anything to eliminate that possibility.

Grolltech, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons


I have found the Westbere Butts, in Kent, more difficult to research than those pubs located in Essex, so many facts remain missing at this time. Some of those missing facts pertain to dates. Usually I can find newspaper accounts of the precise dates that public house licenses were transferred from one publican to the next, but that has not been possible in this case, at least before the twentieth century. Nor can I ascertain the reason for this difficulty, as license transfers seem to have been published as regularly in Kent as they were in Essex.

However, I can state with certainty that Robert Gurney, a brother of my 4great-grandmother Mary Gurney, appeared in both the Kentish Weekly Post or Canterbury Journal of 20 Feb 1810 and the Kentish Gazette of 23 Feb 1810 with a concise marriage announcement referring to him as “Mr. – Gurney, of Westbeer Butts.” Assuming that Westbere Butts was the name of the pub only, this establishes that it was in operation by 1810. However, it could conceivably refer to the area, implying nothing about the alehouse.

There is more definite evidence in the 1838 directory. Robert Gurney can be found in the lists of both “Gentry and Retired Persons” and “Retailers of Beer” with the address of Westbere Butts, Sturry. That “Retailers of Beer” listing is a much stronger indication of a pub on site.

It is still not proof.

As late as 1881, an article appeared in the Kentish Gazette discussing a desired change of license for a beer retailer in Westbere. The house was not named, but was in the tenancy of a Mr. Ede, who already held an off-license. He was requesting that it be changed to an on-license, and the article colorfully describes the difference between the two:


The granting of an on licence would be a great boon to the neighbourhood as at present people had to stand out in the roads when they wanted a glass of ale and other refreshment that the house afforded. The Bench were asked to give permission for beer to be consumed on the premises as this drinking in the street must necessarily be more or less a nuisance.



So it is possible that the Westbere Butts had been in a similar situation. It could have been permitted to retail beer, but not allowed to serve the beer in-house. Therefore, it might not have been a proper pub. 

"Sporting Intelligence: Hunting Appointments: Hariers," Morning Herald, 4 Mar 1854, p. 7, col. 5; digital images, British Newspaper Archive (https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk : accessed 21 June 2022), Image public domain.



We do know that it become a pub at some point, though, and that point had to be prior to March of 1854 when the Morning Herald’s lists of sporting events included the “Westbere Butts Public-house” as one of the locations. But what of my family connection?

Robert Gurney passed away in 1848, and his son William seems to have taken up the mantle of beer selling, although not immediately. In the 1851 census William was apparently an ordinary farmer residing in Sturry. It was not until the 1861 census that he was residing at the “Butts Inn” in Westbere, and his occupation given as “Innkeeper + Farmer.” In 1871, he and his family were still at the Butts Inn, but William’s occupation was given merely as “Farmer.” In my research experience, innkeeping often included being the proprietor of a public house, and any premises ending in the word “Inn” tended to be pubs. We do know that the Westbere Butts was considered a pub by this point, so it can be reasonably assumed that William Gurney was the proprietor.

By the 1881 census, though, he had relocated to a place—still in the village of Westbere—known as Walnut Tree Farm. This was apparently an actual farm, as he was reported to be a farmer of 60 acres, who employed one man and two boys. The farm has proven even more difficult to research than the pub, but one website, “Hersden History,” claims that it is “now the sewage farm.” Somehow I prefer the older name.

After the reign of the Gurneys, the Westbere Butts went on to be operated by a series of other publicans, none of them, as far as I have yet discovered, related to me. As the nineteenth century turned into the twentieth, license transfers for the pub began to make their way into the newspapers. In 1903, the license was transferred from Mrs. Emma Bentley to Frederick Luckhurst, and in 1904 the license was renewed. Presumably the license was transferred a few more times before 1936, but those transfers, like those of the earlier century, seem to have disappeared into the ether. The last notice I have been able to find has been of the temporary transfer from Ambrose V. L. Hogbin to Michael J. Lynch in 1936.

Eventually, the Westbere Butts was converted into an Indian restaurant called Spice Master, and then the Mortar and Pestle, before eventually being abandoned. Last year plans were made for its demolition, and, according to a rejoicing comment on Facebook, it has since been demolished. Sadly, the former Westbere Butts with its amusing name will not be able to be included in my prospective genealogical pub crawl. 




Mortar & Pestle (formerly Westbere Butts), Island Road, photo taken 18 July 2021
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © John Baker - geograph.org.uk/p/6937443


Sources:


1851 census of England, Kent, Sturry, folio 155, page 4, household of William Gurney; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations Inc, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 Jun 2022); citing PRO HO 107/1625.

1861 census of England, Kent, Sturry, folio 8, page 9, household of William Gurney; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations Inc, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 Jun 2022); citing PRO RG 9/522.

1871 census of England, Kent, Sturry, folio 8, page 8, household of William Gurney; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations Inc, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 19 Jun 2022); citing PRO RG 10/971.

1881 census of England, Kent, civil parish of Westbere, village of Westbere, rural sanitary district of Blean, folio 42, page 6, schedule no. 30, household of William Gurney; digital images, Ancestry.com Operations Inc, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 Jun 2022); citing PRO RG 11/961.

“Adjourned Licensing Meeting St. Augustine’s Division,” Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald, 14 Mar 1936, p. 10, col. 2, digital images, British Newspaper Archive (http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk: accessed 23 Oct 2021), Image © Reach PLC. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.

Eason, Baldrick. 2022. “On a trip to Hersden yesterday, I was very pleased to see that the old Westbere Butts/Spice Lounge has finally been demolished.” [Post to Canterbury ‘grot-spots’ group]. Facebook. May 22, 2022. https://m.facebook.com/groups/1497870623854226/permalink/2799265447048064/?m_entstream_source=group

Llewellyn, Ross. “Hersden History.” Hersden Community Centre (http://hersdencommunitycentre.co.uk/hersden-history/ : accessed 23 June 2022).

"Married," Kentish Weekly Post or Canterbury Journal, 20 Feb 1810, p. 4, col. 5; digital images, British Newspaper Archive (https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk : accessed 23 Oct 2021), Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

"Married," Kentish Gazette, 23 Feb 1810, p. 4, col. 5; digital images, British Newspaper Archive (https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk : accessed 23 Oct 2021), Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

"Plan to bulldoze Spice Master Indian restaurant in Canterbury and build 10 homes approved," 24 Apr 2021, Kent Online (https://www.kentonline.co.uk : accessed 5 Nov 2021).

"Sporting Intelligence: Hunting Appointments: Hariers," Morning Herald, 4 Mar 1854, p. 7, col. 5; digital images, British Newspaper Archive (https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk : accessed 21 June 2022), Image public domain.

Stapleton & Co., Stapleton & Co.’s Topographical History and Directory of Canterbury, Faversham, Herne-Bay, Sittingbourne, Whitstable, Boughton, Bridge, Fordwich, Greenstreet, Herne-Street, Milton, Ospringe, Sturry, Westbere... (1838), 35-36; digital images, Internet Archive (archive.org : accessed 23 Oct 2021).

"St. Augustine’s Petty Sessions," Kentish Gazette, 6 Sept 1881, p. 3, col. 2; digital images, British Newspaper Archive (https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk : accessed 20 Jun 2022), Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

“St. Augustine’s Petty Sessions: Licensing Business,” Canterbury Journal, Kentish Times and Farmers' Gazette, 12 Sept 1903, p. 7, col. 3, digital images, British Newspaper Archive (http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk: accessed 23 Oct 2021), Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

“St. Augustine’s Licensing Sessions: Westbere Butts,” Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald, 6 Feb 1904, p. 7, col. 5, digital images, British Newspaper Archive (http://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk: accessed 23 Oct 2021), Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

St. Nicholas (Sturry, Kent, England), Kent, Canterbury Archdeaconry Parish Registers Browse, 1538-1913, "Burials 1814-1861," record for Robert Gurney's 1848 burial, p. 70, no. 559, image #39 of 60; digital images, FindMyPast (www.findmypast.com : accessed 26 Jan 2022).

Sunday, June 19, 2022

Sunday’s Obituary: Barney Robinault

Since I have neglected writing anything on this blog for over a year (until Friday’s post two days ago), I think I will attempt to get back into the habit by posting obituaries for the next several Sundays. This week it is for someone in my direct line, my 3-great-grandfather Barney Robinault. He was the father of my 2-great-grandmother Martha Robinault, whom you might remember as the wife of John Craig, who remained the victim of an unsolved murder in Omaha, Nebraska.

I am using the Robinault spelling of the name here, as that is the spelling used in this obituary. The name has a remarkable number of variant spellings including (but not confined to) Robbennolt, Robbenult, Robbinault, Robbinult, Robenolt, Robenult, and Rubenall. This makes doing newspaper searches for this family… entertaining. Fortunately, it is not a particularly common surname, so most results are bound to be relevant in some way. 



Barney’s obituary appeared in the Denison Review on 16 Aug 1906:


ANOTHER PIONEER GONE.

Barney Robinault Passes to the Great Beyond on Wednesday.

Barney Robinault, one of the pioneer residents and settlers of Crawford county passed to his eternal rest on Wednesday after an illness that has lasted for several years, at the home of Mrs. Lars Erickson who has taken care of him for the past three years.

He was a man of true Christian character and a friend well met, always jolly and jovial, and always endeavoring to do what was right and just with his neighbors, and by these manly traits had won to him a host of warm friends who will learn of his death with deep regret.

Mr. Robinault was born in Pennsylvania on July 31, 1820, and was 86 years old at the time of his death. He came to Crawford county about 35 years ago and has made his home here continually. He had been twice married and was the father of 16 children six of whom are still living, the remainder of the children together with his two wives having preceeded [sic] him to the grave. Of the six living children but one was present at the funeral and that was Mrs. Claus Hansen who is at present residing at Dow City.

The funeral was held this afternoon at 1:30 from the German Methodist church Rev. Gauger officiating and the remains laid to rest in the Denison cemetery. The family have the sympathy of the community in this sad hour of bereavement.


The obituary mentions that he had married twice. I am descended from his first wife, Julia Ann Kimmey, for whom, unfortunately, I have been unable to find an obituary. (His second wife will be featured next week.) It also says that he was the father of sixteen children. Only nine appear in my family tree, so it seems I still have considerable research to do on this family.


Source:


"Another Pioneer Gone," The Denison Review, 16 Aug 1906, p. 6, col. 3; digital images, Chronicling America (http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov : accessed 3 Jan 2017), The Denison review. (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current.

Friday, June 17, 2022

Friday Funny: Oh! you naughty man!

Somehow over a year has slipped by since my last post. Since today is Friday, and I still have many post cards from my collection that I have not yet shared, here's a slightly risqué one from 1907.

 

It depicts an man and a woman seated on a bench in the park. The caption records their conversation:

What are you thinking about Tommy?
Same as you.
Oh! you naughty man!

The way they are looking at one another, it is easy to guess what their thoughts may be.



The back bears the address
Miss Marion Corelli
228 ½ Wash St
Portland
    Ore

and is postmarked 25 May 1908 from Astoria, about 95 miles away on the Oregon coast.

The message is signed with the initials "GWG" and reads

How are you feeling
today little lady,
Can't say when I will
be back to the city,
soon I hope.

With some cursory research, I have been unable to identify either Miss Marion Corelli or GWG. A Marion Correlli appears in Portland city directories in the early 1900s, with the intriguing occupation of palmist, but the address is not on Wash or Washington street, so the identification is uncertain.

Saturday, February 6, 2021

Wade family from Kentucky to Ohio, part 2

Note: This series of posts deals extensively with the historical animosity between Native Americans and white settlers. Although the point of view of the Native Americans is underrepresented and deserves better recognition, my ancestors happened to be white settlers. Unfortunately, they participated in the historical travesties perpetrated against Native Americans. However, since this is a genealogical blog, it is primarily told from my ancestors' point of view, with an attempt to be sympathetic to both sides. The term "Indian" is used in reference to the indigenous peoples (when the nation or tribe is unknown) because it was the term most often used at the time, and because I have recently been informed that it is still the preferred term in many native cultures. I am not an expert in the subject, and humbly apologize if anyone finds it offensive. Although quoting racial slurs has been avoided as much as possible, one case of calling the Indians "savages" has been included in this post because of the strength of argument intended in the original. It is not intended to convey any approval of the offensive language.

 
 
Mefford's Fort, a cabin built in Washington, Kentucky, in 1787 from the planks of a flatboat.
Greg Hume, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons


The settlement of Limestone stood at the mouth of Limestone Creek where it emptied into the Ohio River and formed a natural harbor. It was located at the bison ford across the Ohio River, north of  the town of Washington, and the name was often applied to all of the larger area, including Washington. Today it is the site of the city of Maysville, Kentucky, although at the time of this narrative it was still part of the vast Virginia frontier.  After becoming a byword in the 1770s, Limestone was seeing a resurgence in settlement following Lord Dunmore's War and the American Revolution, both of which had bitterly set Indian against white settler. 

Near Limestone, frontiersman Simon Kenton had established a "station" in 1784, and there is confusion between various sources whether Limestone and Kenton's station were one and the same or whether they were separate fortifications. In either case, it seems the settlement originally consisted of a stockade of cabins adjoining one another, with a blockhouse on the corner, ready to welcome and afford protection to incoming settlers.

In addition to these shared habitations, settlers were beginning to erect individual cabins on their own personal claims, which could be a risky venture. As G. Glenn Clift, in his History of Maysville and Mason County, explains, "Barring the doors at night was not enough for these isolated dwellings. In the morning, the head of the house first climbed a ladder, always leaning against the left side of the door, and looked through the cracks for Indians.” He goes on to inform the reader that it was considered a “habit” of the Indians “to secrete themselves near the door and pounce suddenly on the unsuspecting pioneer as he greeted the sun.” (p. 49)

Even so, a mere two years later, in 1786, the population around Kenton's station had grown so much as to be considered a village, and a petition was written to the Assembly of Virginia to establish it as a town. Permission was granted, and the town was named Washington after the Revolutionary War hero George Washington, still three years away from becoming the nation's first President. As such, it was the first town of many that would eventually be named in his honor. According to a local tradition, which may be apocryphal, it was given the name of Washington in the hopes of one day becoming the nation's capital. The new town of Washington's nine trustees, "authorized to make such rules and orders for the regular building therein... and to settle and determine all disputes about the bounds of the said lots," included famed frontiersman Daniel Boone, who had recently opened his trading post and tavern on the Ohio River waterfront.

Washington and the larger area, still known as Limestone, were located at the time within Bourbon county, Virginia, and the county seat was a good forty miles distant. "To attend any form of court proceeding," Clift writes, "necessitated a long, dangerous journey to the seat of government." The petition to grant the settlers a town had been successful, so, riding on the coattails of their success, they soon sent another petition, this time for a division of the county. In this petition they dwelt on the difficulties of the journey, such as "the Intervention of a Mountainous tract of Barren Land running down on each side of the main branch of Licking Creek that cannot be inhabited," and the likelihood of being "surprised and murdered by the savages who frequently infest such places." This petition, however, met with opposition from elsewhere in the county and it took two more petitions and another year before a division of the county would finally be granted.

The third (and finally successful) petition, dated 25 Oct 1787 according to the Library of Virginia website Virginia Memories, contains nearly three pages of signatures, each page divided into three columns, and the petitioners are said to all "live in the Limestone Settlements near the Ohio River." One of these names is Josiah Wade. This is the earliest confirmed date of a member of the Wade family in Limestone.

Josiah Wade was a young man at this time, about 22 years of age. Perhaps he was the first of his family to arrive in the Limestone Settlements, or perhaps his family arrived with him and simply didn't sign the petition. At any rate, the family soon made their appearance. His mother had recently died, but his father William, at least five brothers--Zephaniah, George, Edmond, Joseph, and John--and at least three sisters--Margaret, Mary, and Abbie--are likely to have made their home in the settlement. Josiah himself may have been starting a family at this point; his probable son Joseph was born circa 1787. The exact location of the Wade family's residence is unknown at this time, but sources tend to place them somewhere in or near Washington.

Also in the area of Washington lived a surveyor named Nathaniel Massie, who would prove to be an important figure in the lives of the Wade family. 



Sources:

Bourbon, Virginia, Legislative Petitions Digital Collection, Accession Number 36121, Box 287, Folder 62, Inhabitants of Bourbon County: Petition (Division of County/New County), 25 Oct 1787; digital images, Library of Virginia, Virginia Memory (www.virginiamemory.com : accessed 10 Jan 2021).

David I. Bushnell, Jr, "Daniel Boone at Limestone, 1786-1787." The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 25 (Jan 1917); digital images, JSTOR (https://www.jstor.org/ : accessed 15 Jan 2021) 1-11.

G. Glenn Clift, History of Maysville and Mason County  (Lexington, Kentucky: Transylvania Printing Co., 1936), vol. 1.

Allan W. Eckert, That Dark and Bloody River: Chronicles of the Ohio River Valley  (New York: Bantam Books, 1995),  180. 

Neal O. Hammon and James Russell Harris, "Daniel Boone the Businessman: Revising the Myth of Failure," The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society 112 (Winter 2014); digital images, JSTOR (https://www.jstor.org/ : accessed 30 Dec 2020) 5-50.

Stephen Kelley, "The Founding of Manchester... Massie's Station," Ohio Southland 3 (Issue #2 1991); digital images, Adams County Public Library, Biblioboard Open Access (https://library.biblioboard.com/anthology/e552f221-42f0-4b9b-963d-32739ee859fd : accessed 24 Jan 2021) 19-25.

John McDonald, Biographical Sketches of General Nathaniel Massie, General Duncan McArthur, Captain William Wells, and General Simon Kenton: Who Were Early Settlers in the Western Country  (Dayton, Ohio: D. Osborn & Son, 1852).

James Rood Robertson M.A.Ph.D., Petitions of the Early Inhabitants of Kentucky to the General Assembly of Virginia 1769 to 1792  (Louisville, Kentucky: John P. Morton & Company, 1914). 

Eleanor Duncan Wood, "Limestone, A Gateway of Pioneer Kentucky," Register of Kentucky State Historical Society 28 (April 1930); digital images, JSTOR (https://www.jstor.org/ : accessed 14 Jan 2021) 151-154.

Saturday, January 30, 2021

Wade family from Kentucky to Ohio, part 1

Note: This series of posts deals extensively with the historical animosity between Native Americans and white settlers. Although the point of view of the Native Americans is underrepresented and deserves better recognition, my ancestors happened to be white settlers. Unfortunately, they participated in the historical travesties perpetrated against Native Americans. However, since this is a genealogical blog, it is primarily told from my ancestors' point of view, with an attempt to be sympathetic to both sides. The term "Indian" is used in reference to the indigenous peoples (when the nation or tribe is unknown) because it was the term most often used at the time, and because I have recently been informed that it is still the preferred term in many native cultures. I am not an expert in the subject, and humbly apologize if anyone finds it offensive.


Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons


Come all ye brisk young fellows who have a mind to roam
All in some foreign country, a long way from home,
All in some foreign country, along with me to go,
And we'll settle on the banks of the lovely Ohio.
We'll settle on the banks of the lovely Ohio.
-American folk song

Zephaniah Wade and Nehemiah Stites, both youths of about eighteen years old, along with Stites' dog, were traveling on foot along the old Buffalo Trace. They were somewhere along the eight mile stretch between the settlement of Mayslick and the town of Washington. The Buffalo Trace had been beaten down from centuries of American bison pounding through the bluegrass and canebrake from their ford on the Ohio River to the salt licks in the interior of Kentucky. These were not narrow game trails; in some places they reached fifteen feet wide and were rutted six feet deep, especially around the licks. The buffalo traces had been adopted as roads first by the Native Americans and later by the white settlers, and now settlements were popping up along them, taking advantage of the plentiful wild game seeking salt. Mayslick was one of these settlements, and Nehemiah Stites was one of the pioneers there. Zephaniah Wade resided in or around the town of Washington. 

The sources differ somewhat in the reason for Wade and Stites' journey. Allan W. Eckert in his book That Dark and Bloody River claims that they had been hunting on the North Fork Licking River, but Stites' cousin Mary Covalt Jone says in her journal that only Wade had been hunting; Stites was returning to Washington, where he was employed, from Mayslick, where he was "making a settlement," when he met up with Wade along the trail. 

In any case, Zephaniah's brother Joseph Wade later recalled that "because of the danger posed by marauding Indian bands, the two young men were not on the trail but traveling through the woods close by." A couple of Indians were in the area, spotted the pair of youths, and fired on them. Stites was instantly killed, "shot right through the breast over one shoulder & out the back" according to Jone. She goes on to say that "his dog stayed to defend him." Meanwhile, Zephaniah fled. His brother said that he "ran to a nearby tress, climbed part way up, and spied one of his attackers. Upon taking careful aim, he fired his rifle, wounding the Indian," whereupon the second Indian gave chase. At this point, Zephaniah took cover, either "behind a large root of a blown down tree" or "behind a bank." Jone adds that he could hear Stites' dog from his hiding place. Once he felt safe from pursuit, he hurried back to Washington, "barefoot but uninjured" (Eckert). He reported the death of Nehemiah Stites, and a company of men went out to retrieve his body and track the Indians. The body was retrieved, but the Indians got away. However, Joseph Wade adds, "they found an overcoat that had been worn by the Indian Wade had shot. They reported the overcoat had two bullet holes in it and had apparently been thrown off after the Indian was wounded."

The Kentucky Gazette of 21 Mar 1789 gives an account that took place the previous week which sounds remarkably similar to this one: "We are informed that on saturday the fourteenth instant, the Indians killed a man and wounded another, on the road from Lexington to Limestone, near May's lick... It is said they were pursued by about forty men who were determined to know to what place they belong." It is the same road, near Mayslick (May's lick), and the same number of white men mentioned, with one killed. The only detail disagreeing with the accounts of Zephaniah's experience is that the other man was wounded, while Zephaniah apparently escaped injury. Since no names are given in the Gazette, it remains uncertain whether this indeed refers to the same incident, but it is quite possible that it does. If it does, it provides an exact date for the event. The other sources are a bit hazy on the date. Eckert gives a date in the spring of 1787, but his source is not explicitly stated and is likely to be found somewhere within one of the many manuscript collections he cites for the chapter. Jone recollects the event as happening sometime around late 1788 or early 1789, but the recollection was not written at the time of the event. The latest date, the fall of 1789, is given by Joseph Wade, whose 1863 retelling of the story is summarized in an article by Stephen Kelley.

The story, whenever it occurred, also includes two postscripts. Mary Covalt Jone, who, as you will recall, was a cousin of Nehemiah Stites, concludes that "the dog followed me many a day after that." It is easy to envision the heartbroken dog pining for its master. However, Allan W. Eckert (or his source, whoever it may be) opts for a more amusing epilogue:

Back at Washington and Limestone word of the attack was quickly going the rounds, though in some tellings the dead man was confused with his friend.

At the small tavern in Limestone, where Wade dropped in after the expedition returned, he was greeted with handshakes and cheers, and one of their neighbors gripped Wade's shoulders and commented relievedly, "Why, Zeph, we heard you was killed."

"Y'know," Wade replied dryly, "I heard that, too, but decided it was a lie."

The "small tavern in Limestone," incidentally, was at this time run by a man with a name very familiar to most Americans. His name was Daniel Boone.
 
 

Sources:

David I. Bushnell, Jr, "Daniel Boone at Limestone, 1786-1787." The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 25 (Jan 1917); digital images, JSTOR (https://www.jstor.org/ : accessed 15 Jan 2021) 1-11.

G. Glenn Clift, History of Maysville and Mason County  (Lexington, Kentucky: Transylvania Printing Co., 1936), vol. 1. 

Don Corbly, Pastor John Corbly and his neighbors in Greene Township  (N.p.: Lulu.com, 2011).

Allan W. Eckert, That Dark and Bloody River: Chronicles of the Ohio River Valley  (New York: Bantam Books, 1995),  180. 

Neal O. Hammon and James Russell Harris, "Daniel Boone the Businessman: Revising the Myth of Failure," The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society 112 (Winter 2014); digital images, JSTOR (https://www.jstor.org/ : accessed 30 Dec 2020) 5-50.

Stephen Kelley, "Lore, Legends & Landmarks of Old Adams," The People's Defender, online archives (http://peoplesdefender.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=129868&SectionID=36&SubSectionID=360&S=1 : accessed 19 May 2012). No longer accessible.

"Lexington, March 18, 1789," Kentucky Gazette, 21 Mar 1789, p. 2, col. 2; digital images, Lexington Public Library (https://www.lexpublib.org/digital-archives : accessed 8 Jan 2021), Kentucky Gazette 1787-1840.