Jane Logan McKee

Jane Logan, born in Cumberland, Pennslyvania, was married to John McKee, immigrant from Ireland, by the time she was fourteen.  The pioneer couple settled near Kerrs Creek in land later known as Rockbridge County, Virginia.  It was heavily populated with Native American tribes, most especially the warlike Shawnee.  Several other families settled in the rich valley farmland too, such as the Gilmores, the Hamiltons, the Logans, the Erwins, the Norwoods, the Martins and the Cunninghams.  The McKees had seven children relatively quickly until tragedy struck.

According to a number of historical references, as well as legend, the settlers of Kerrs Creek suffered a number of casualties from at least two distinct Shawnee raids led by the famous Shawnee Chief, Cornstalk.  These raids took place near or concurrently with the French and Indian War (1756-1763) which was raging from Canada to New Orleans.  The Ottawa Tribe Chief Pontiac was successful in uniting the Native American tribes with the French, who made promises not to settle their land, against the British and their colonists pushing ever westward.  

On July 17, 1763, a smaller band of 27 braves attacked the individual farmsteads of Kerrs Creek.  According to one account, Jane, known as “Jenny,” and her husband John had sent their children to safety at Timber Ridge before the attack occurred.   They tried to slip out the back of their log cabin up the ridge behind their place, but Jenny was burdened with pregnancy and couldn’t run fast enough.  The Indians gained on the couple, at which time she urged her husband to run on ahead because their “children would have no parents” if he didn’t escape.  John hid Jenny in a sink hole and ran on.  He turned around in time to see the tomahawk take his wife’s life.  He managed to evade the braves, and returned later to find that his wife had survived long enough to tie a kerchief around her head to stem the wound.  He buried her where she lay, and noted her death in the family bible.  Another account has it that John was at a neighbor’s house attending sick children when the attack on his cabin occurred.  He returned home to find Jenny slain and scalped.  

Whatever the true account, John raised their children, and remarried.  Cornstalk, a tall and commanding historical figure, went on to become the chieftain of all of the Shawnee.  However, he reportedly had a change of heart later and decried all forms of warfare.  He tried to dissuade his tribe from joining the British against the colonists during the American Revolution.  He was murdered in 1777 (some say by several settlers from Kerrs Creek) while in American protective custody.  Supposedly, he had a premonition of his murder, and when the attack came, he bared his chest, offering it to seven rounds of gunshot.  

Thanks to ninastewartharrison who shared this in 2007 on Ancestry.com

Jane Logan McKee was my 7th Great-grandmother:  Alice Louise Wicker, James Wesley Wicker, Macy Alice Williams, Mary Ann Pullam, Ally Vaughn, Nancy Dyer, Gracie McKee, James Logan McKee, Jane Logan.
ninastewartharrison

"Was there a Catholic in the Family?"

Grandpa Wicker's cousin, Helen Williams Bateman, commented to me several times that someone in the Williams family was a Catholic (pretty unusual in Southeast Missouri Bootheel) and she wanted me to look into it.  I finally found it.

My great grandmother was Macy Williams (Helen's aunt).  Macy's mother was Mary Ann Pullam.  Her mother was Ally Jane Vaughn.  Her mother was Nancy Dyer the daughter of William Dyer.

Some families have stories about someone being an Indian Princess or on the Mayflower, but my family has stories about someone being Catholic.  Well, I did finally find that there is a possibility through Nancy Dyer's step mother.  So, my 4 great grandmother's step mother was a Catholic and possibly she also converted Nancy, who was born in 1811, the same year her mother Gracie McG(K)ee Dyer died.

I found this story on Ancestry: William Dyer Family from "History of Union County, Kentucky" 1886.

"If any family in Union County deserves the reputation of being a Union County family, it must be the Dyer family.  the founder of the stock was one of the first settlers, and he raised a large family, all of whom, except one, married and raised families.   Most of these children lived and died in Union County, and there are now probably more members of the Dyer family within Union County than any other race.

This family was founded by Wm. Dyer, a blacksmith, who was born in Virginia in 1780.  He came to Union Country in 1804, and settled where Morganfield now stands.  He married Gracie/Grizzell McGee in Virginia, before coming here.  His first four (sic) children were by her.  Family lore says that the family of William Dyer and the family of John Mason came to Kentucky together, by way of flat boat to Henderson County, Kentucky.  However, it was 1804, that the families arrived at the mouth of the Lost Creek after their trip down the Ohio River and pushed themselves up on shore and selected their home sites.  Per the 1810 census, the dyers had a household of three sons and one daughter under 10 years of age and four adults.  It is believed that Gracie McGee died around 1811.

William Dyer served in the War of 1812, so must have left his family of children with a neighbor or kin while he was away.  He served for six months as a private in the 11th Regiment of the Kentucky Militia under Slaughters; part of the time he was hospitalized at Baton Moure, Louisiana.  In 1816, William Dyer married Anna Harris and had six children with her.  the new Mrs. Dyer was a Catholic and raised their children in this faith.

Wm. Dyer is said to have been one of the men who located the county seat of Morganfield.  Tradition as it that he in company with other commissioners, were reclining on the bank near the spring, slightly feeling the effects of fatigue and Jeremiah Riddle's whiskey, when Mr. Dyer threw his cane up the hill toward where the Court House now stands, and proclaimed oracularly, that there would be the county capital.  He was a man of impulse, but integrity.

An illustration of this is seen in an incident of his life, that is related as follows:  A neighbor of his, by the name of Gwinn, had a horse that was constantly breaking into Dyer's cornfield.  After sending word to Mr. Gwinn several times to keep the trespassing horse off his corn, Mr Dyer shot the offending animal and then sent the price of the horse down to Morganfield to its owner.  Mr. Dyer died in 1832.  All his children died rather young.  There seems to have been considerable consumption in the family.  His trade has staid (sic) in the family.  His sons, John and Nathan, were good regular blacksmiths, and Harvey and James did the work for their farms.  John Will, the son of John Dyer and John Nathan, is the only one now in the business."  Additionally, the Dyer family also passed on to their inlaws the trade of blacksmithing.  This trade was shared with Roland Cecil Sr.  as he married Mary Huldah Dyer.

Supposedly, when William Dyer died, he was buried on the family property.  However, in 1966 a Waller Young owned the property and said that he never saw a tombstone there in the 20 years that he had lived on the property.  He did recall plowing throw (sic) the land where the old Dyer blacksmith shop had once stood.

Thanks to familyhistorycrw on Ancestry.com for these stories.

Williams Brothers

Although Benjamin and Mahala Watson Williams, had two daughters, we don't really know much about them.  Martha married Matthew Harris in 1846, had a daughter in 1849, appeared in the 1860 census, but her husband re-married in 1867.  That is more than we have on Polly who appeared in the court records and then we have nothing.  She might have married or died.

The oldest brother Thomas Jefferson Williams went with his brother-in-law Matthew Harris and his brother Daniel to Indiana where they joined the Union army in the Civil War.  Their brother James (and possibly Charles) went to Tennessee to join the Confederate Army.  While there are scores of James Williams in the Civil War, cousin Tom pointed out that this one joined the same day as JJ Vaughn who appeared as his neighbor in the 1860 Census. (and was possibly a relative of his future wife Mary Ann Pullum)

While the Union war and pension records for Daniel and Thomas Jefferson are lengthy (A 65th and C Infantry 120th Reg. Indiana), there is very little on James which makes us wonder if he went AWOL as many did.

Benjamin Williams and Mahala Watson

Genealogy can be pretty dry and reading legal documents can be tedious.  But every now and then we run across facts and can just imagine the emotions and conditions which led to the events.  But we will start at the very beginning.  May I introduce my great-great-great grandparents.  Sorry, there are no photos---those would be pretty rare for this class of people during the early 1800's.

Benjamin Williams and Mahala Watson were both born in Kentucky around 1810.  The first record we have is their marriage in 1827 in Hopkins, KY.

The 1830 census is more of a tally with only the "head of the household's" name.  There were 2 white adults between 20-29 (one male, one female) living in Benjamin's household.  I always like to see who else is on the page because there are often relatives.  William Williams was on the same page and in the same age range.  When we later found out his wife was Malinda Watson, we were pretty sure they were related through the husbands and/or the wives.  Carol Williams Huff found an obituary which showed that Malinda only had one daughter whose name was Mahala.  That is another indication that they were related---she might name her daughter for her sister.

The children started arriving by 1834 with Martha Williams (m. Matthew Harris), Polly Williams born in 1836 and Thomas Jefferson Williams in 1838. The next census in 1840 is still a tally with 1 boy under 5, 2 girls between 5-9 and 2 adults between 30-39 living in the household of Benjamin Williams.  Next door is living a Samuel Watson who was born around 1813, but we don't know if this was Mahala's brother, but he is likely a relative.

Pullams

Branum Cemetery, Cotton Plant, MO

I don't know very much about Mary Ann Pullam (my g-g grandmother via Macy Williams, James Wesley Wicker, Louise Wicker Long, Me), but I know she had to have had a hard life.  Recently, I made a connection (through DNA test) with a descendant of her sister Abby (Absela) Pullam.  Here is what Teri had to say about her ancestor:

The story I got goes that Abby Pullum (daughter of a Pullum and Vaughn mother) and John Freels were married in Kentucky, moved to Texas. Abby brought 5 daughters back in a covered wagon to Missouri, bootheel area. Leaving her husband or he left her while in Texas. He showed up later, but, she was not receptive since she had to get herself moved. It would be interesting to find what you have on any of these family tales.

Mary A. wife of J.B. Williams
Branum Cemetery

That is a very similar story to Mary Ann---she married James B. Williams in 1865 while living in Webster, Kentucky (she was 14).  She had 5 children (Willie Ellen, Sam Patrick, Mahaly J, Oscar and Macy Alice) before moving to Missouri sometime between 1882-1884.  Someone once told me one of the older children remembered crossing the Missouri River in a boat with Macy (my great-grandmother) running around so much that she almost fell over-board.

Mary Ann and James B. Williams had 5 more children in Missouri (Lillie Belle, Joseph Daniel, Martin Luther, Fannie E., Mary A.) between 1884 and 1891 which is when Mary Ann Pullam Williams died (from childbirth?)

According to one of their grandchildren, Sammy Williams, "there was never anyone that talked well of the Williams that came from Kentucky."  After the death of Mary Ann (maybe even before), James B. Williams left town for Howell Co. Mo (later Oklahoma Territory), had another family leaving the children to be raised by his son Sam Patrick and his wife.

The children of Mary Ann Pullam and James B. Williams were a mixed bag of religious, upright citizens and those who bordered on or participated in criminal activity.  James B. was reportedly a horse thief, deserted his children (possibly had another family at the same time) and may have been in prison.  This leads me to think that Mary Ann was the religious, upright woman who had at least three preachers as grandchildren (one of her children was named "Martin Luther Williams") and two children who started a Methodist Church in Hornersville, Mo.  There were rumors that she had been Roman Catholic, but I can't imagine a Catholic naming a child "Martin Luther", although I think we can safely say she was religious.

Thanks to cousin Tom who provided the photographs.

Macy's Children: Ruth and Wes

James Wesley Wicker (1898-1965) was the oldest of Macy's children and my grandfather. Ruth Agnes Hall Ezell (1908-1989) was always his baby sister (Georgia was born after he'd left home) whom he loved very much.
I had a special relationship with Ruth because she had a daughter, Kay, who was my age. So, I often went with my grandparents visiting Ruth and Everette in Memphis.
Ruth and Everette were married in 1926 but had been together since 1918 when their parents married. They were step siblings before marrying and having four lovely daughters: Merlene, Ann, Dorthy and Kay.
They were often referred to as "Ruth's girls".

Several years ago, my brother, husband, parents and I met with the surviving "girls", their daughters, husband and granddaughter at IHOP in Memphis.
Kay Ezell Walters, Dorthy Ezell Dent, Louise Wicker Long, Ann Ezell Crook (with my Dad LeRoy Long peaking over them)
But, as Georgia notes in this letter---Ruth was very special to all of us. Some might say she was the best of them all. She was friendly, loving, kind and a good Baptist. . . .excepting when her big brother Wes visited. Ruth's daughter Kay confided in me, "The only time Mother allowed beer in the house was when Uncle Wes came to visit."
I have done several blogs on Grandpa---he was my Mr. Wonderful.
We lived next door so I had plenty of opportunities to get to know my grandparents often choosing to stay with them for dinner rather than going home.
My mother once told me that the grandfather I adored was not the same man who was her father. Click here for Mother's memories.
It is amazing how a few years of maturity, a comfortable home can turn a stern father into a very loving grandfather.
The reason I started this series of blogs was to show other distant relatives how small the Williams family members were. But, with them always photographed with each other, it was hard to see. This photo is my grandfather James Wesley Wicker with my dad LeRoy Long and his father Roy Long

Macy's Children: Clara and Obie

Obie Palmer Hall (1906-1971) and Clara Belle Hall Stephens (1902-1982) pictured above were probably the most reserved of Macy Williams' children. Click here to see more photos of them as children.

(Obie and Georgia, his sister)

Obie was a Pentecostal preacher who came to St. Louis for revivals at least once a year. Although he and his brother Ray were both preachers about the best I can say about my grandfather (below) and Georgia (above) is that they attended church. They laughed that they were the "black sheep" in the family, but we all loved them despite their flaws.(Obie Hall with his brother Wes Wicker in St. Louis)

At Christmas, my sister and I recall Obie always giving us "books" of Lifesaver candies. Even today, I see them and think of Obie. He was so calm and warm---I loved when he visited and wanted to go to his revivals, but Mother never took me. My sister Jane remembers,"Uncle Obie was my favorite. He would write me letters all the time. He would send me a dollar or so for my birthday. He was such a small man. I love his smile. He always seemed happy"

(Obie with Mother, Louise Wicker Long)

Many years later Mother told me she wouldn't take me to Obie's revivals because she thought a revival would frighten me who was more accustomed to a serene Methodist worship experience. Obie lived in Rock Island or Moline, Illinois just up the Mississippi from St. Louis (at the border of Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin). Although he and his wife Wanda Morgan Hall had 7 children, only three lived to maturity: Joseph Clenno Hall, Alice Hall Washburn and Titus Obie Hall.(L-R: Louise Wicker Long, James Wesley Wicker, Naomi Ruth Hall, me, Obie Palmer Hall)

Here is a photo of myself as a baby with Naomi who died at about 16 years old of kidney disease if I am not mistaken. Alice and I corresponded with genealogy for many years before her death. Titus, in his later years, was a frequent visitor at Mother and Dad's after his military retirement. But, I never met Joe.

Clara and Obie in late 1940's or early 1950's

The two eldest in the family: Clara and James Wesley Wicker, my grandfather.

Clara lived in Michigan, so we didn't see her often. I can recall only meeting her one time. She never talked much about her family and when I asked her for information, she said, "I never knew much about my family tree and I have forgotten all I ever knew. And I don't know why you. . .want to trace it, but you may find out a lot of things you had rather not know. Hope all are well and enjoying your life. God Bless you."
Her niece Alice wrote, "She told me when she was a little girl she could not walk.  It wasn't that she didn't know how to walk, she had a rare blood disease that would not allow her to stand on her feet without terrific pain.  She used to use a high back chair to rest a knee and hop the chair around the house. . .The family farmed a few years then moved to Detroit, Michigan.  They bought their home and Aunt Clara's backyard was fence to fence flowers.  She had roses of every hue.  Her bird bath was a whit porcelain bathtub sunk in the ground. . .Aunt Clara worked as a seamstress in a local laundry and dry cleaning business. .."

Clara had 4 sons (Fred P. Stephens, Charles H. Stephens, Jimmie F. Stephens, Billy Ray Stephens) and one daughter---Bertie Lee pictured above with her aunts Georgia and Vennie and below at Clara's 80th birthday party (Bingo)

Macy's Children: Georgia and Ray

Although Macy Williams Wicker Hall Ezell looks a little stout in this photo, her granddaughter Alice Hall Washburn told me she was probably pregnant with Ray. Her father Obie said his mother was not actually big.
Ray Ezell was Macy's youngest child born in 1919 when she was 39 years old. My mother (Macy's granddaughter) was born in 1920 so she was very close in age to her two youngest aunts and uncles.
Although I met Ray and Nelda at least once, their story was legendary in our family. Ray was one of Grandpa's two brothers who were preachers. My sister says she remembers them visiting and Mom requesting that Dad not have a beer while they were there with Dad responding, "I don't care if the Queen of England comes to visit, I'm having a beer." I believe Ray had another job (insurance?) but his love was preaching at a Baptist church (photo above was in front of their church) in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. Nelda had previously been married to Grandpa's first cousin Peck Wicker by whom she had had two sons: Curtis and Woody.
Her third child (Ray's only child) was Michelle Rae Ezell pictured here with her husband Robert Weesner.The letter above is from Georgia about Ray, Nelda, Michelle and her children Joshua and Simon. (Double click to enlarge it) Georgia was a wonderful letter writer who seemed to keep in touch with most of her siblings and their families---at least those who were more Southern.
Ray, Michelle and their families were very precious to Georgia as evidence by the many times she visited with them and talked about them in her letters.
Everyone has an aunt (or great-aunt) who is bigger than life---that was Georgia. She was beautiful, vivacious, but as a child often "in trouble" with her mother. Because Georgia and Mother were very close in age, Georgia was a little resentful of how strict Macy was with her and not with Mother, Macy's granddaughter.
The first time I met Georgia she was visiting from Arizona and had the most gorgeous turquoise jewelry---I think that's why I love turquoise today over almost any precious gem. Later she lived in the Los Angeles area near Long Beach.
I think my love of cruises is from the stories I heard about her cruises. This Alaskan cruise (above) in the 1960's was aboard the Royal Viking Star (Neptune Lounge) where she met up with Jack Lemmon, a popular movie star, at the time. But, she had taken other cruises as a passenger of a freighter where she dined with the captain.
The photo above is Georgia with her first husband John Homer Vencil whom she married in 1941. She was married at least one other time to Emory John Endicott. Georgia always seemed happy to me and yet I know her life had it's downs. She was born the same year her father died. Mother thought Macy was pregnant with Georgia when their house caught on fire and Mr. Hall was killed in the fire. So, from the beginning, her life was difficult.
I love this family portrait of Georgia with her daughter Barbara, grandson (Keith whom she adored) and great grandson Justin Hill. I am not sure about Barbara's early years---I know she was raised by someone else---having been born to Georgia when she was a teenager. But as adults they were close with a typical Mother-Daughter relationship loving with the occasional disagreement.

Unknown Photos--SE Mo or Arkansas

I found these photos in a box at Mom's I do know 3 of these people: my aunt Billie Wicker Curran is the child on the left, my mother Louise Wicker Long is in the middle and their mother Vennie Watson Wicker is behind them standing sideways. I believe the boy next to Mom is J.H.Cates (John Henry Cates) with his mother Dolly Cates behind him. but I don't know who that little child is or the woman in the middle. Based on my mother's size, I'm guessing this photo was made in 1929.
I am not even sure if this photo is around Hornersville Missouri or if it is in Arkansas where my family lived. I do know the man with the cane is my grandfather James Wesley Wicker or "Wes". He had a lifetime of leg problems stemming from a bad leg break while riding horses. We may even have one of his canes that we got from Mom's house after she died.
Although this one is labeled on the back, I'm still not sure who Sam and Hene are. Could it be Sam Williams and J.H.Cates' father whose name was also John Henry?

The "Williams" Kids

Macy Alice Williams is pictured above with her second husband George Henry Hall and four of her children: Clara Belle Hall , Ruth Agnes Hall, Obie Palmer Hall and James Wesley Wicker, my grandfather. Macy had a hard life bearing two children after the deaths of her husbands (John B. Wicker and George H. Hall), and yet she is remembered as a good Christian woman. Her granddaughter Kay said, "Dad (Macy's step-son and son-in-law) said he never knew a woman as good as she was." I think her children are evidence to character.
Here are the children here, too. As you can see, Clara and Obie were more serious even as children and Ruth is almost always smiling just as she was an adult. Grandpa. . . .looks like he's not really fond of having his photo made. These photos were probably made in and around Hornersville, Missouri.
I love this photo of them---Grandpa is maybe 10 years old but driving a car. He later became a car mechanic and drove earth-movers during the Depression, so it is fitting that he's driving a car.
This next grouping of photos were made around 1948 in Memphis, based on the little girl Michelle. L-R: Clara Hall Stephens, Wesley Wicker, Ruth Hall Ezell and Ray Ezell with his daughter Michelle. Ray was actually Clara, Wes and Ruth's half brother. Macy's third marriage was to James Ezell who had a son Everette by another marriage. Ruth Hall married Everette Ezell. . . I will try to connect the dots---Ray's half-brother and half-sister were married.
Here are: Dot (Ruth and Everette's daughter), Clara, Ruth; in the front row is Georgia Hall Endicott (another sister) and my grandmother Vennie Watson Wicker, Wes's wife.
This is the only photo I have with all six siblings: Wes Wicker, Ray Ezell, Obie Hall, (they all had different fathers); Ruth Hall Ezell, Georgia Hall Endicott, Clara Hall Stephens
After my grandfather died some of them still managed to get together with my mother who was one year younger than uncle Ray, and 3 years younger than her aunt Georgia. Here are Georgia, Ray and Ruth in the Smoky Mountains near where Ray lived.
This was probably in the late 1970's. L-R Nelda Hayes Wicker Ezell, Georgia Hall Endicott, Ruth Hall Ezell, Louise Wicker Long (my mom) with my dad and Ray in the background.
They also met at my Mother and Dad's house in 1983: Ruth, Ray, Nelda and Georgia
Beginning in the left corner and going clockwise: Rachel Morgan Twenter, Ray Ezell, Georgia Hall Endicott, Ruth Hall Ezell, Nelda Hays Wicker Ezell, me, Louise Wicker Long with Leah Morgan Warren and then Rebecca Morgan Lewis. The little girls are my daughters.

Nelda, Ray's wife, was first married to my grandfather's cousin Peck Wicker, of barbecue fame. Click here for more about Peck and his barbecue stand. So, Nelda was related to my mother and grandfather twice through marriage!

Although it's hard to tell, Georgia, Wes and Ray were the giants in the family---5'4" ,and at 5'1.5" I am a true Williams!