What’s New
A weird string of happenings involving a new computer and a malfunctioning mail account bounced many messages over the last few months (and left a few in cyber limbo) until I discovered the problem the other day. I apologize to all who tried to contact me. I wondered why interest in my family history pages had dropped off. Please try the new address on the contact me link.
In April 2007 I added a page of notes on my great-great grandfather, Cornelius Lowe (1829-1895) of Virginia and Missouri. I also added two pages on the brief but near fatal Civil War experience of Oxly Johnson. One on his time with the 23rd Missouri Volunteer Infantry and the other with his long campaign for a pension. His voluminous pension papers also allowed me to update my sketch of his life.
From time to time I have updated several of the pages to reflect additional research, filling in some gaps and correcting some errors that managed to sneak in. If there’s a particular family line that interests you, check to see if there is anything new.
I’ve also uploaded databases to Rootsweb’s WorldConnect for several of the families. The largest, Aunt Polly’s Kin, combines data on the Bristow, Clarkson and Stephens families and their kin in Boone and Kenton Counties. Others concentrate on other Clarkson lines, the Stones and Rowes, the Lowes and Johnsons, and Oxleys and Johnsons. I’ve updated some of these and added one on Tom Coombs’ family. I hope to add more soon. Check back from time to time.
Family History Notes
Essays on some of my ancestors, together with supporting material.
- Bristow Notes Descendants of John Bristow of Middlesex who left the Virginia Piedmont and settled in the Bluegrass, later venturing to the Great Plains, the Rockies, and the Pacific Coast.
- Brown Notes Hukey Brown was born near the shores of the Chesapeake around 1767 and died near the banks of the Mississippi in 1849, where he led the organization of the new De Soto County. He was a pioneer in the Old Old West, being among the early settlers in Franklin County, Georgia, and he later moved to new territory in Alabama and Tennessee. Some of his many children married into the Laughter and Perryman families.
- Clarkson Notes The Clarksons were in Virginia before 1700. Most trace their ancestry back to Peter Clarkson of New Kent. Many of his descendants later settled along the Piedmont, and later generations moved to Kentucky and Missouri.
- Johnson Notes Oxley Johnson married Catey Rogers in Roane County, Tennessee in 1818. They later moved to Barren County, Kentucky. Their children moved to Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma. Their son, Oxley, killed a William Christopher Chapman in Missouri, but was aquitted. New material on the Civil War in Missouri and its aftermath. Another line of Johnsons went from North Carolina to Florida.
- Lowe Notes Cornelius Lowe was born and raised in the southwestern corner of Virginia, between the Blue Ridge and the Cumberland Mountains. When his first wife and child died, he traveled west to central Missouri, where he raised a new family. He fought on the Union side in the Civil War.
- Rowe Notes Robert Ernest Rowe (1876-1961) from Cuba, Tennessee married Rosa Lee Thomas (1880-1962) of De Soto County, Mississippi. They left the bottomlands of the Great River for the High Plains of Colorado. Pictures of the Rowes.
- Stone Notes Thomas Stone moved across the Potomac from Maryland to the Virginia Piedmont in the late 1700s. After 1800 his children moved to the Kentucky Bluegrass, excpet for Thomas Jr., who moved to Middle Tennessee. Their descendants found their way to Arkansas and Missouri.
- Thomas Notes John Thomas lived in De Soto County, Mississippi near Memphis and served in the 44th Mississippi Infantry, CSA. He was wounded at the Battle of Franklin, captured, and returned home to wed Amanda Laughter.
19th-Century Letters and Diaries
Contemporary writings help us understand the world of our ancestors. I have transcribed three different sets of family letters and diaries from my Kentucky forebears, and provided explanatory notes and illustrations. They are filled with family news and major events, including the Civil War.
- Aunt Polly’s Diary Selections from the writings of Mary Beckley Bristow of Kentucky.
Mary (1808-1890), a devout Baptist, kept tabs on her many nieces and nephews in and beyond the Bluegrass. She could not escape the tumult of the Civil War.
Transcriptions with notes and illustrations. - Letters and Diaries of General Leonard Stephens of Kenton County, Kentucky.
A leading citizen of northern Kentucky, Leonard Stephens (1791-1873) wrote letters over three decades to his brother, William, who had moved to Missouri. They are filled with family and neighborhood news and gossip. He also kept diaries of his travels in the 1850s to his birthplace in Orange County, Virginia, to the nation’s capital, and to Missouri.
Transcriptions with notes and illustrations. - Civil War Diary of Captain Thomas Monroe Coombs, 5th Kentucky Cavalry, CSA.
Captured after the battle of Perryville, Tom escaped and journeyed over 1600 miles to rejoin his unit in Tennessee. He took part in John Hunt Morgan’s Great Ohio Raid of 1863. Once again captured, he and his comrades were confined at the Ohio State Penitentiary and later at Fort Delaware.
Transcriptions with notes and illustrations. - Other Civil War items Excerpts from accounts of other POWs, etc.
Early 20th-Century Postcards
- Postcards from My Grandmother’s Attic My grandmother saved hundreds of postcards that she and her family exchanged in the early 1900s. Here is a sampling of scenic cards from Oklahoma, Kansas, the Ozarks, and the Black Hills. Also some holiday and greeting cards reflecting the taste of the early 1900s.
Useful and Entertaining Links
- Links to a few sites I have found helpful, informative and/or just amusing.
Why the Green Wolf Name?
Since I have no ancestors named Green nor any named Wolf, why did I choose the name? Like most people who become serious family historians, I’m fascinated with puzzles, and my web name, greenwolf, comes from a mystery that engaged me for some time.
James Bristow, Jr. (1770-1855) bought land in Bourbon County, Kentucky, described in the old metes and bounds system as being on the waters of Green Creek and Wolf Creek. The exact location of his property eluded me. Green Creek survives on modern maps, a stream meandering easterly from the Fayette County line past Clintonville to its junction with Strodes Creek after a course of about nine miles. However, Wolf Creek was lost in fog of history; neither modern maps nor inquiries among local residents yielded a location.
One summer day in 1998, quite by chance I wandered into a room on the first floor of the Old Capitol Museum in Frankfort. There I found Luke Munsell’s Map of the State of Kentucky, dating from 1818, which showed Wolf Creek to have been south of and parallel to Green Creek, north of Johnsons Fork; joining the latter just before it entered Strodes Creek. Unfortunately Munsell’s sketch does not match modern topography. A more recent historical Map of Bourbon County, Kentucky prepared in 1934 by Alice Rogers Clay Blanton, does show James Bristow Sawmill located on the south side of Green Creek, west of the Paris-Winchester Pike. Based on these clues, I’m pretty sure that Wolf Creek is one of the watercourses that passes by the crossroads of Austerlitz.
This year, I’m hoping to walk the course of Green Creek to find any trace of the mill. Whether anything survives after almost two centuries, who knows? It will be fun looking.