Hello to all! I'm sure everyone is enjoying their summer and having some great Vacations. Its been busy for me, but no "vacation" this year. I've closed my Antique Shop and now I'm busy trying to get rid of everything.

If any of you folks that still receive the newsletter via mail need the address' of any of the members, just write to me and I'll get it for you. Since the Newsletter is now on line I don't want to publish their place of residence.

Thanks once again to Earnestine Moore for taking some nice pictures of Bethany Missionary Baptist Church in Dierks AR. I got a brand new scanner for Mothers Day - it broke down a few weeks later and its not back yet! I hope I can get these pictures up by the next issue in November.

If you haven't checked out this site Strictly by Name better do it. I used them and the service is great and the results are wonderful. I got copies of 3 wills and the translation as well. I sent for and received the complete will of William Kesterson Sr - Greene TN 1735-1821. This has been put on the Website on the Kesterson Wills Page. It says exactly what we knew it said - just uses a few more words. OH - by the way, they only charge $2.50 for the copies.

I don't know how much difference this really makes to anyone, but on Family Tree Maker Historical, I found this marriage listed. Elizabeth KESTERSON to Samuel McBRANTNEY on the 16th of September 1830 Jefferson County Ohio. This is the same Elizabeth BOLEN who married John KESTERSON 13 July 1809 in Jefferson County Ohio. John was the father of Benjamin, Sylvester, Hazzard and Willis. I thought that Samuel McCABE was the man she married the 2nd time! This marriage to Samuel McBrantney is on the same date as I have for the marriage to Samuel McCabe. It really makes no difference - but thought you might like to know the name is different or "wrong".

KANSAS CITY MISSOURI CITY DIRECTORIES:
John Wesley Kesterson 1848 TN - 1923 AR son of Gross Scruggs Kesterson. John married 3 times - 1st to Rosa Parkhurst (died young) - had one daughter named Rosa. Married next to Kate (Ganther) Poorman, a widow. We have a marriage date of 6 September 1891! However - Dave Kesterson has found some severe contradictions to this date by the fact that she was listed as Kate Poorman on the City Directory of Kansas City MO in 1891 listed as a "domestic" and living at 714 E 14th. In 1892 she is still listed there! (Maybe they just didn't verify their records from the previous year). Kates father Xavier Ganther and her brothers George and Charles are all listed during this time period. John Wesley is not listed. We need to pin down the marriage date for Kate and John. Their first known - for sure- child was born April 1897.

William H Kesterson is listed in 1889 as a Carpenter residing at 2131 Washington. In 1890 he's living at 27 McClure Place and also listed is Albert S Kesterson also a carpenter living at 2502 Euclid. In 1891 William and Albert are living at the same residence - 2606 Michigan. Who do you suppose they belong to?

Malinda Dorsey/Dossey wife of John Kesterson Howard County AR. Was she the daughter of William & Mary E Dossey? John Rankin and possibly others, believe she probably is, but no concrete evidence has been found yet. Scott Warren has a website covering Dossey/Dorsey/D'Arcy that might be of interest to any of you wanting to find out more. Dossey/Dorsey Website

Patti Brooks has found her ancestor Daniel Kesterson's connection back to Thomas. Tom McKnelly (Clay County IL Volunteer) sent her the 1860/1870 Census results for Clay County IL and he was listed as the oldest child of William C Kesterson & Anna Stroud. Along with that Tom sent her his other brothers and sisters. William C is the s/o Thomas Kesterson & Nancy Carol Jackson, Thomas s/o John Sr, s/o William and Ann Greene TN - and on back. I didn't have these Census Reports so it was great news. William C Kesterson and family left Greene TN around 1858 as his last child was born in IL in 1860. Along with them went John Kimmons and Mary Kesterson who was the d/o Wm Kesterson Jr and Mary Bailey s/o William Sr and Ann. There might have been others that we don't know about yet. No real digging has happened in Clay Co IL. I once had one of the helpers in that county send me the Cemetery Listings that included William C's family.

For those of you interested in the children of William C and Anna Stroud it goes like this: Daniel July 1849 (for some reason he did not show up on the Greene Co TN Census in 1850), then John b 1853, Nancy 1855, James 28 Nov 1857, Sarah Aug 1860.

Robert Kesterson is also a descendant of this line. Robert & Cheryl, I hope you have all the new information that we have uncovered - if not email me and I'll catch you up.

Years ago (1996) I had some information on James Kesterson from one of his descendants Connie Kesterson Thompson from Springfield MO.

This is one of those little tidbits of information that you just NEED to know! Jenna Cain found this on a Trivia type website. She emailed them and asked the source - They think it was from "Asimov's" Book of Facts and of course - no dates given. Some of you OHIO Kestersons might be able to identify the spot. If so let the rest of us know. This is amazing!!

"During an excessive rainstorm and apple tree shifted about and came sliding 200 yards downhill, demolishing a fence and barn on the way, and stopped upright. It continues to bear fruit. (Kesterson Farm, Pomeroy Ohio)"

And then speaking of Farms and other famous places. Middle Tennessee State University has a few interesting things. Once again thanks to Jenna Cain for finding the site. Among other listings on the site there are the following - Henry County TN one named "The Kesterson Farm". Now who lived there? In Greene Co TN - some familiar names arise - Lee Susong Farm, A.D. Susong Farm, Easterly Farm, Bailey Farm, Scruggs Homestead.

Jenna also found this announcement that was in the Chillicothe Constitution Sun 2 Nov 1890. Mrs Jane Kesterson - died Milville, Ray Co (MO) 81 years of age mother-in-law of Sam Walker of this city. I believe this is Jane Smith born abt 1810 VA. She was married to William H Kesterson the son of James Kesterson and Catherine (Kitty) Chowning. They go back to the Lancaster Co VA Kestersons. James was the s/o William Kesterson b 1737 an Elizabeth Berry. William and Jane had several daughters - any one of which could have married this Sam Walker.

HOPPER Descendants
I found this completely by accident... Its a Will from Knox Co KY in which Blackgrove Hopper was a Witness. Thought you might be interested. AND I might add this was found on the "Gregory" site. You might recall that back in Augusta VA there is the family of Willis Kesterson who married Catherine Gregory. This tells us that some of the Gregory family made it to KY - and it also might mean that Blackgrove Hopper might have know the Gregory Family while he was still living in VA.. All things to consider! While you are considering that - note the name William Baker SR among the Witness.You can find the website here: Cousins Corners

Thomas ARTHUR Will: 17 May 1828/Oct Court 1833 Knox Co KY son Ambrose, son in law ROBERT GREGORY and wife Milly. Other legatees: negros Mary, Lucy, Jack. Exec: Ambrose Arthur. Wit: James Save, Lyne S. Kenningham, William Baker Sr., BENJAMIN GREGORY, Blaggrove Hopper, Matthias W. Cain, Coleman Rice. The children of Thomas Arthur not mentioned in will were Jeanna McSpadden, Elizabeth Leash, Mary Baker, Sally Goodin, Susannah Stewart. (Robert Gregory m Milly Arthur 2 Jun 1814 Knox Co KY)

I continue to get a lot of emails asking about our "Indian Heritage" and it gets more serious all the time! Now the story growns to a (Male) Kesterson family living on a reservation. If thats true then he was living there without the blessing of the Tribe. I can find no such listing and we all know that the Indians were very particular about who was allowed to live on the reservation. I leave no stone unturned - I am constantly and forever looking for "ANY" hint, clue or suggestions that we, the Kesterson family, have Indian Blood. Once again I have to tell you - I can't find it and neither can "ANYONE" else. Where oh where do these questions come from? How do stories like this run through one family after another and not one piece of evidence anywhere to suggest it ever happened. There have been several instances of a Kesterson male marrying an Indian woman and most often that woman is not Full Blooded. This will give "that" particular family some Indian Blood but this is the most your going to find. I'm going to start another page on my website devoted to "Our Indiana Heritage - or Lack of it". In reality I will do that because I know of a couple of instances where we have some actual records.

The 1880 Census is on CD's in its Entirety - John Rankin told me about it and I sent for, and have now received my own set. I will be happy to do lookups for any of you that are members of the Newsletter!! Its going to be a great tool I'm sure. I won't limit my lookups to just Kesterson names - you can ask for your other lines as well. John has offered to do this too, so between the two of us you have some help in finding those ancestors that you couldn't find before. The cost was $50.00 but I think it will be worth it to any serious researcher. How I wish they would put the rest of them on CD's for that price! Look how far the genealogy world has come of late - can you believe it?

I want to thank Terry Gordon and her sister Amy Allen for their help recently. I want to tell them again how sorry I am for the loss of their father Dennis Michael Kesterson who died recently. I found the obit of "Mike" online and a picture of him as well. I've put it on this site too so if you care to see it jump over to the "Obit" page. The Obituary mentioned that Mike was from the Dubois Co IN area and it mentioned his ancestor Jeremiah Kesterson as being in the Revolution and other things. Jenna Cain and I have been searching everywhere for this line as Jeremiah had a brother named Meredith/Meriday and Meriday is her line.

So I did something I've never done before. I looked up the phone number and I called Mike's wife. I was very nervous about doing this because I just will not infringe on anyone's privacy. But I called Bonnie Kesterson and she was a delight to talk to and not at all upset that I had called. Her daughter Terry just happened to be there and I talked to her too. Terry got in touch with Amy and they sent me the family history. It was the famous Kesterson Family History Legend that Shirley Smith found years ago in a library somewhere and we are no closer to getting to the truch of the legend than we were back then. I have created a Web Page for this document so that in the future anyone can go to it when necessary.

Also included in the papers that Amy Allen sent me was a list of "Famous Kesterson Places"

Cleveland Co AR has the "Kesterson Lake Dam" & Kesterson Lake that is a Reservoir (Vincent Kestersons family lived around this area - must be some of the land they held at one time)

Merced Co CA has the Canal called "Kesterson Ditch" as well as the ever famous "Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge" ( I still don't know who held this land - anyone else know?)

Rosebud MT has a 2 Dams called "Kesterson Number 1" and "Kesterson # 2" and "Kesterson Ranch" ( What Kesterson Family was in Montana?)

Lee Co VA has the Kesterson Mill (On the land once owned by David Chadwell Kesterson)

Among the other papers Amy sent was a map with the US Federal Census 1790-1997.. This was interesting and about as wrong as anything I've ever seen. It gave the number of Kesterson Households. You can smile when you read this.. (1790 - 0) (1800 - 0) (1810 - 11) (1820 - 10) (1830 - 20) (1840 - 21) (1850 - 32) (1860 - 100) 1870 & 1880 there were only 38 and get this 1890- 1920 there was only (1) Kesterson household. We must have gotten really busy after that because in 1997 - we finally grew to 1544 Households. This info was put out by Wm Thorndale and Wm Dollarhide. Adapted from "Map Guide to the Federal Census, 1790-1920" I can't imagine how they got their numbers!!

There was an Index by State among those papers Amy sent. I don't know what year this was done but here is how we ranked by state.. Tennessee - 140 families, Texas & California had 93, Ohio had 88, Arkansas had 63 and the rest had under 50. This may not be an accurate count but it does tell us the most heavily populated states for the Kesterson families. Its easy to see that TN seems to be the "Hub" of Kesterson activity and that state held the David Chadwell Kesterson Family in Claiborne TN, The William Kesterson Family in Greene Tn and the Sylvester and Hazzard Kesterson families in Anderson TN. We were concentrated in East TN to be sure. It also falls pretty much as we know it today.

NEW MEMBERS

Robert Reeder and his Aunt Emogene Maxine Turner both hail from the Fallin/Kesterson Line. Etta Mae Hickman (Reeder) / Lona Jane Fallin (Hickman) 1874 / Jesse C Fallin 1857 GA / Richard Hobson Fallin 1829 GA / Jesse Fallin 1806 VA / John Hobson Fallin 1778 VA / Hannah Kesterson (Fallin) 1742 VA / George Kesterson 1710 VA / George Kesterson 1674 VA / Thomas Kesterson.

Helen Fallin Owens Another member of the Fallin line that just keeps on growing. Helen Fallin / Ufa Howell Fallin 1907 / John Henry Fallin 1868 / William Capus Fallin 1825 / Thomas Fallin 1780 / Hannah Kesterson 1742 / George Kesterson 1674/ Thomas 1648

Vicki Kesterson and her brother Neal Kesterson along with their cousin Tommy Wayne Kesterson are all from the Caldwell/Graves Co KY Kesterson's. Hubert Neal Kesterson 1931 & his brother William Grey Kesterson 1934 / Presley Andrew Kesterson 1898 KY / John Washington Kesterson 1871 KY / Andrew C Kesterson 1833 KY / George Kesterson Jr 1796 TN / George Kesterson Sr 1765 VA / William Kesterson Sr 1735 VA / John Kesterson 1712 VA / George Kesterson 1674 VA / Thomas. We've had a little "Mini-Rush" of Graves Co Kin find us in the last few months. I guess it was because I actually left my vibes in Graves Co KY when I stopped there last March. This is my own "up close and personal line " so I'm always excited to hear from anyone from the KY branch.

Billie Hobbs Horn keeps us in the theme of the Kentucky Klan. Her line is Billie Hobbs / Mary Elizabeth Yarbrough 1911 / Jackson Pryor Yarbrough 1872 / Martha M Kesterson 1831 / Samuel Kesterson 1794 / George Kesterson Sr 1765 / William Kesterson 1735 / John Kesterson 1712/ George Kesterson 1674 / Thomas Kesterson

Shauna & Richard Fassett join us as descendants of the Mercer Co MO Kesterson family. You might recall this is the family that has a mystery Kesterson as the father - Nancy Tinsley the mother, first found as a widow in Knox Co KY. Line goes - Richard Fassett (Shauna) / Riley Dwight Fassett / Riley Dorris Fassett 1903 CO / Amanda Kesterson 1870 MO / William T Kesterson 1834 KY / Nancy (Tinsley) Kesterson 1808 KY

Michael Kent Middleton is another Nancy Tinsely Kesterson descendant. Just got his family line and it goes like this: Michael / Theadore Herman Middleton 1940 KS / Esther Mabel Ingram 1914 KS / Harvey Wootson Ingram 1884 NE / Mary Melissa Kesterson 1857 MO / Wm Thomas Kesterson 1834 KY / Nancy (Tinsley) Kesterson 1808 KY

Brett Kreider found us through the Family Tree Maker Site. He is from the Lafayette MO group and we haven't had a new member from that line come in for awhile. (Wouldn't old John Henry be proud?) John Henry was one of the most "AMAZING" Kesterson man! He had two complete families. His first child was born in 1819 and his last child was born in 1871. There were 52 years between his 1st and last child! Brett descends from the youngest child of the first marriage. Glad you found us Brett, you have a truck load of cousins - literally! Brett Kreider 1967 / David Lawrence Kreider 1944 / Mary Margaret Ramsey (Kreider) / Mary Ina Kesterson (Ramsey) / John Henry Kesterson 1860 / William Henry Kesterson 1841/ John Henry Kesterson Jr 1797 / John Henry Kesterson Sr 1760 / William Kesterson Sr 1735 / John Kesterson 1712 / George Kesterson 1674 / Thomas.

Mollie Davis Sparks and her father Frank Davis have joined our group and are members of the John Kesterson/Malinda Dorsey line of Howard Co AR. Mollie Davis (Sparks) / Frank H Davis/ Tina Price (Davis) 1907/ James Michael Price 1876 / Robert Edward Warren Price 1852 AR/ Annis Kesterson (Price) 1828 TN / John & Malinda. Mollie and her father both wonder about the "Indian" Heritage. Do you suppose we will ever find it ?

Jayne Williams can also lay claim to the John and Malinda line. I found Jayne on Robin Baileys website and spent most of one night with her trying to get everything in order. What a welcome addition to the research team. Her line is Jayne Kesterson/ Richard Raymond Kesterson 1916 / Richard Isaac Kesterson 1889 / James Polk Kesterson 1846/ John and Malinda. Jayne brought us the family of James Polk and is the first descendant of that line..

Peggy Lackey Bottger and her brother Neal Lackey are more descendants of the ever popular John Kesterson /Malinda Dorsey Line . Peggy & Neal / Robert Ray Odell Lackey 1925/ Sarah A Price 1885/ Robert Edward Warren Price 1852 / Annis Kesterson 1828 / John & Malinda

Marlene Aries joins our group, a descendant of the Greene Co TN family. Marlene / Walter William Kesterson 1912 / Franklin Amos Kesterson 1886 / Thomas J Kesterson 1842 / Charles Kesterson 1819 TN / Thomas Kesterson 1798 / John Kesterson 1760 / William Kesterson Sr 1735 / John Kesterson 1712 / George Kesterson 1674/ Thomas Kesterson

Connie Eggers is a member of the William and Ann family out of Greene Co TN. Connie Mann/ Clayton Mann 1927 KS / Francis R Mann 1896 NE / Mattie Kesterson 1871 / James Canon Kesterson 1846 IA/ Charles Kesterson 1819 TN / Thomas Kesterson 1797 TN / John Kesterson 1760 VA / William Kesterson 1735 VA / John Kesterson 1712 VA / George Kesterson 1674 VA and Thomas

Roger Leon Kesterson is a very welcome new cousin. Only the 2nd person that we know of that descends from John Kesterson , brother of Vincent. Mary Anne Henderson Deane is the other descendant. They should have a lot to say to each other! Rogers line is - Roger Leon Kesterson Jr/ Roger Leon Kesterson Sr/ Walter Augustus Kesterson 1857 / William Madden Kesterson 1828 / John Kesterson & Catherine Graves.

Tom Vaughn is a descendant of Chloe Kesterson/John Taylor Nelson.. So far Tom Vaughn and Richard Taylor are the only two descendants of this line. Here is Tom's lineage. Tom Vaughn/ Charles Leroy Vaughn/ James Thomas Vaughn/Marshall Lewis Vaughn/ Eliza Jane Parker/ Eunice J Nelson/ Chloe Kesterson/ George Kesterson/ George Kesterson/ George Kesterson / Thomas Kesterson.

Well I hope I haven't missed any new cousins. Be sure and visit the Angelfire Website - I have added 5 pages that cover Meriday and Jeremia Kesterson. Some of you will remember years back we tried to figure these brothers out. We are having another go at it with some new material to work with.

There is another old issue of the Newsletter online now and various other pages I've added information to. Its an ongoing project so visit often! I expect to get some additional information off those 1880 Census CD's and I'll let you know what I find.

Have a great summer - see you in the fall..

Chris

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