Since its Settlement in
Dutch New York
in 1646
Link to pictures of Kuykendall Family
WITH GENEALOGY
As Found in Early Dutch Church Records
State and Government Documents
TOGETHER WITH
Sketches of Colonial Times, Old Log Cabin Days,
Indian Wars, Pioneer Hardships, Social Customs, Dress and
Mode of Living of the Early Forefathers
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
--BY--
GEORGE BENSON KUYKENDALL, M. D.
KILHAM STATIONERY & PRINTING CO.
PORTLAND, OREGON
1919
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DEDICATED
TO THE MEMORY OF MY FATHER
JOHN KUYKENDALL
Whose kindness, solicitude, watchcare and guiding hand, during the tender years of childhood and youth, whose fatherly counsels during young manhood, directed my purposes and kept me from straying. The memory of his nobility of character, his unswerving rectitude of principle and purpose, his devotion to right and splendid example, have been the guiding star of my life.
As time has sped by, as the world, times and men have changed, his character and life have towered, as a great lighthouse, above the mists of the years, and illumined the voyage of my life. To him, to whom I owe the most of all I have ever been, or ever accomplished, of worth to myself or the world, I inscribe this volume,
In gratefull remembrance.
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CHAPTER CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
Introductory Considerations. Object of this work--General indifference to family history--Kuykendall history covers a long time and wide area--Author's recollections of the past--Usual dryness of genealogy--Connecting up events in family history with contemporary events.
CHAPTER II.
Story of Search After History and Genealogy of Kuykendall Family. More than genealogical facts given--Author's knowledge of the family history--Family traditions--Sending searching party to Virginia--Difficulty in getting data--Holland Society of New York--Findings of its genealogist. Mr. Versteeg--Mr. Nearpass and "Church Life"--Mr. Stickney and Mr. Van Sickle--Ancient Kuykendall Deed--Sale of first ancestor's home at Fort Orange, N. Y.
CHAPTER III.
Origin of the Name Kuykendall. Its meaning and derivation--The name is Dutch--Traditions in regard to name--Mr. Van Laer's suggestions--Roosevelt and Kuykendall names formed similarly--Given names in the Dutch records.
CHAPTER IV.
Changes in the Name Kuykendall and How They Came. Different forms found in the old records--How some of the descendants explain the changes--Autographic signatures of some of the early Kuykendalls--Conclusions drawn from the manner of spelling the name.
CHAPTER V.
Fort Orange New York, When Kuykendall Ancestor Came. Rensselaer's settlements--Description of Fort Orange at that time--Location of first ancestor's home--The old church, the bell and pulpit, at Fort Orange.
CHAPTER VI.
Dutch Reformed Church Records. What are they--Their value to Kuykendall family--Manner of keeping them--Minisink, Deerpark, and Walpack records.
CHAPTER VII.
Other Notes Connected With Early Kuykendalls. The first Dutch church of New York--Pre-American Kuykendall's home was in Gelderland, Holland--Marriage of Luur Jacobsen Van Kuykendaal--His children--The Tietsoort family--Marriage of Jacob Kuykendall.
CHAPTER VIII.
Children of Luur Jacobsen Van Kuykendaal. Record of their baptism, as found in New York Dutch Records. Comment on his family record--Facts concerning his children's lives--Jacob Kuykendall's family record--Jacob with surveying party on Susquchanna--Further history--Reminiscences of George Labar.
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CHAPTER IX.
The Family of Jacob Kuykendall. Minisink Island and the country around--Dutch ox carts--Wolves, panthers, and wildcats--Old home of Ks charming yet--Johannes Kuykendall marries Elizabeth Brink--Old cabin of John K--Millrace and masonry--Excerpts from Journal of House of Burgesses--Old deeds and records--Family record of Johannes Kuykendall, The Four Brothers in Indiana--Around old Vincennes, Indiana.
CHAPTER X.
The Four Brothers, Continued From Last Chapter. Peter (5), eldest of Four Brothers--What we know of him and descendants--Daniel (5) of the Four Brothers--His descendants.
CHAPTER XI.
Descendants of Henry Kuykendall (5), Youngest of Four Brothers. Marriage--Settlement--Mill building and other activities--Family record--Henry's sons George, John, and activities--James Wesley, son of Henry--Biographic sketch.
CHAPTER XII.
Descendants of Jacob Kuykendall, Continued. Jacobus (3), (James), son of Jacob--His children's baptismal record--Benjamin (3), son of Jacob--His public activities--Connection with early Virginia courts--Benjamin's death--Will and mention of children's names.
CHAPTER XIII.
Nathaniel Kuykendall 1st and Descendants. Nathaniel's life in Virginia--His family record--Nathaniel's descendants--Dr. Jacob Kuykendall of Vincennes, Indiana--Other Nathaniel descendants--Some of later generations--Biographic sketches--Captain Isaac Kuykendall and descendants.
CHAPTER XIV.
Cornelius Van Kuykendaal, Family Record and Comments. Short recapitulation--Cornelius' family baptismal record--Analysis and comments thereon--Leur, son of Cornelius, marries Lena Consalisduk--The name Manuel--The Gunsaulus family--Descendants of Cornelius.
CHAPTER XV.
Mattheus and Arie Van Kuykendaal. Birth and marriage of Matthew--Arie--His connection with the Quick family--Thomas Quick, Sr.--His murder by the Indians--Baptismal record of Arie Kuykendall's children--His daughter marries Roelof Brink--The Brink family--Recapitulation and remarks.
CHAPTER XVI.
Pieter Van Kuykendaal and Descendants. The family record--Marriage to Femmetje Decker--The Decker family--Early times at the old Kuykendall home--Moses Coykendall and descendants--Samuel Decker Coykendall, capitalist and philanthropist--Other descendants of Pieter--Recent prominent Coykendalls.
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CHAPTER XVII.
Pieter Kuykendal Descendants, Continued. Those who lived about Sussex, New Jersey--Others about Port Jervis, N. Y.--The Wilhelmus branch--About the Mamakating regions--Burial place of Wilhelmus Kuykendall and wife--Pieter's descendants in Cayuga county New York--Old deed for slave--Further Pieter Kuykendal family data.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Correspondence from Kuykendall Descendants. Regions where the first Kuykendalls lived--Letters from Western Virginia Kuykendall descendants--From John A. Kuykendall--From his daughters--Some Illinois and Indiana correspondence.
CHAPTER XIX.
Southwestern Kuykendalls and Correspondence. Remarks preceding letters--Kuykendalls in early Carolina history--Excerpts from North Carolina Colonial Records--Activities of N. C. Kuykendalls near Rock Hill and Yorkville, South Carolina--Letters from Texas, Kentucky, Mississippi, and other states--Correspondence of Judge W. L. Kuykendall, and son, John M.--Biographic sketches.
CHAPTER XX.
Southwestern Correspondence, Second Series. Letters from Tennessee--and Texas descendants--Kentucky and other correspondence--Early Kentucky settlers--Trials and hardships--Moses Kuykendall and descendants--Summary and comments.
CHAPTER XXI.
Descendants of Kuykendalls who Settled in Southern Indiana and Illinois. General considerations--Grouping of letters--Vienna and Carmi, Illinois, Kuykendalls--White River, Indiana, early settlers.
CHAPTER XXII.
Texas Kuykendalls--Captain Abner Kuykendall first of family in Texas--Early pioneer struggles--Excerpts from early Texas history--Death of Captain Abner Kuykendall--Judge William Kuykendall of Tilden, Texas--His narration of family history--Benjamin Straysner Kuykendall, sketches and incidents by himself and others.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Kikendalls and Kirkendalls. Most Kikendalls trace back to New Jersey--Kikendall letters from Michigan--Washington state--Kentucky--Illinois--and other states. Change of name from Kikendall to Kirkendall--Letters showing ancestry of the two branches--Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Kirkendall branch and others--West Virgina and Iowa Kirkendalls and Curkendalls and others.
CHAPTER XXIV.
Cuykendalls and Correspondence. Martynus Cuykendall--His autograph signature--Cuykendalls who settled near Owasco, New York--Letters from Cuykendalls in various parts of the country.
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CHAPTER XXV.
Coykendalls and Correspondence. The spelling Coykendall a more recent form--All Coykendalls are from the Pieter Branch--Michigan and New York Coykendall correspondence--Mrs. Dr. Pott's family record--Letter of M. A. Coykendall--Family history and sketch--Letter of John F. Coykendall and other correspondence.
CHAPTER XXVI.
Some Early Pennsylvania Kuykendalls. Sketches of early Allegheny and Beaver county settlers--Henry Kuykendall in Baptist Church records--Ira, James, and Christian Neff Kuykendall.
CHAPTER XXVII.
Kuykendalls in the Revolutionary War. Scantiness of Revolutionary soldier history--Difficulty of finding data--Revolutionary War Pension records obtained by author--Names and history of Kuykendall pensioners.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Early Migrations and Settlements of the Family. No nawspapers to tell of their moves--Early settlements all near the old home--Much moving after the Revolutionary war--Moved in caravans or in boats on the rivers--Crossing the Plains--Starting on the journey--Crossing Missouri--Prairie dog country, rattlesnakes, owls and Indians--A terrible thunder storm and rain--Alkali water and thirst--Night visits of coyotes--Beautiful mirages but deceptive--An experience with service berries--Crossing Snake river at Salmon Falls--"Cussing" as an aid in wading a river--Grotesque and hard ways of travelling--Down the Columbia in a barge--Death of little girl--Oregon at last.
CHAPTER XXIX.
Genealogy of the Kuykendall Family in the Order of Generations.
CHAPTER XXX.
The Rifle, Axe and Log Cabin. The axe hewed the way for civilization--The fall hunt--Yaugh houses, or bunting houses--The pioneer log cabin--The fireplace--Furniture and equipment--Dogs of the early settlers, their helpfulness to the pioneer.
CHAPTER XXXI.
Mode of Living and Home Life of our Ancestors. Women's work--Spinning, weaving, making clothes--Men's work clearing farms--Passing of the walnut tree--How our fathers obtained their shoes--Domestic wares--Cooking--Soap making--Maple sugar making--Pastimes and social amenities--Dress--Keeping time, time pieces--How our fathers made fires and lights--Corn, its uses and ways of making meal--Hominy block--Handmills or Querns--Tub mills--Makeshifts and substitutes.
CHAPTER XXXII.
Schools, Teachers and Education in Early Times. First schools of our Dutch forefathers--School discipline--Punishments and the instruments used for this purpose--Old time school books--Rusty cups and iron combs--Goose quill pens.
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CHAPTER XXXIII.
Churches, Sabbath and Religious Meetings. The Early Dutch Reformed Church--Carrying guns to church--Early day singing--Sunday a day for rest and amusement--Lorenzo Dow waking people up.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Marriage Customs and the Old Time Weddings. Forms of betrothal--Weddings great events--An old time wedding--Assembling of bride's friends--Company of the bridegroom--Run for the bottle--The wedding--Wedding dinner--The dance that came afterwards--Fiddles and fiddlers.
CHAPTER XXXV.
Sickness, Medicines and Medical Treatment. Housewives were the doctors--Herbs, barks, and roots--Spring medicine--Mustard plasters--Worms, symptoms and remedies--Rheumatism and cures--Bleeding--How it was done.
CHAPTER XXXVI.
Indian Warfare, Forts and Indian Atrocities. Stockade--Forts of the early settlers--Night flight to the forts--Boy fort soldiers--Life in the forts--Capture of white women and girls--Hard times and hunger--Going armed to farm work--Indian attack on early Virginia planters--When our fathers dreaded fine weather--Artifices and cruelties of Indians--A Kuykendall Enoch Arden.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
Pests, Outlaws and Tories. Many small insect scourges--Malaria--Milk sickness--Its work swift and fatal--Frontier renegades--Their miserable work among Indians--Tories--Their treatment by our forefathers--Branding with a hot spade--Tarring and feathering incidents.
CHAPTER XXXVIII
The Old Mine Road and the Early Kuykendall Home. Mine road historic--Romance and mystery connected with it--Old copper mines--Tunnels--Myths and traditions--The old road connected with thrilling historic events.
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Forms of Servitude, Peculiar Customs, Witches and Old Time Superstitions. "Binding children out"--The Redemptioner--Slavery and the Kuykendalls--Witches--Signs, omens and superstitions--Testing witches--Washington Irving's Legends told by our ancestors--Amulets and charms.
CHAPTER XL.
Kuykendall Descendants in the War with Germany.
CHAPTER XLI.
More Light in Obscure Places in the History of the Kirkendalls. Correspondence of W. L. Kirkendale of Detroit, Mich.--Joseph Sargent Kirkendall--His family record--George Kirkendall, Shipping Master--Mrs. Jessie Polmeteer's letter--Tombstones of David Kirkendall and wife--Letter of Mrs. Proctor, Burlington, Ontario--Mrs. Daisy William's letter--Family record of David Kirkendall--Children of Samuel Kirkendall and Euphemia Lowry--William Kirkendall and Nancy Hess' family--Joseph S. Kirkendall of Carsonville, Mich.--Data from L. R. Kirkendall, Corning, N. Y.
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CHAPTER XLII.
Additional Data Received too Late to Come in at the Proper Place. Statement of Henry J. Coykendall, Syracuse, N. Y.--Miss Harriet C. Johnson--Letter from Hiram Coykendall, Detroit, Mich.--McCage Kuykendall, letter--Family of Alfred Harden Kuykendall and Sarah L. Fort--Moses and Martha Andrews Kuykendall--McCage Kuykendall's family--Family of Garland and Belle Grattis Kuykendall--Lee and Oma Garret Kuykendall's family--Thomas and Maree Smith Kuykendall--Isaac N. Kuykendall's letter--Data from, Miss Mollie Cobb--J. M. Kuykendall, Cherokee, Tex.--Matthew Johnson Kuykendall--Wylie M. Kuykendall--Leander Kuykendall's family history.
CHAPTER XLIII.
Interesting and Curious Book Accounts and Documents, in Colonial and Ante Colonial Times. Ledger account of 1756, and 1757--Tinker's bill--Funeral expenses--Old tavern licenses--Price of bed with clean sheats--Cost of damning his royal highness--Doubling up, to cut cost of sleeping--Old time survey markings--Ancient deed of Walpack Church lot--Quotations from Minisink Valley Church records.
CHAPTER XLIV.
Genealogical Notes, Kuykendall and Stark Families. Rev. J. W. Kuykendall, biography--Early traits, education, "Boy preacher" at 18--Labors in Southern Oregon--Breakdown in health--Locates in San Jose, Calif.--His death--Rev. T. L. Jones' letter--Captain Isaac Kuykendall's family--J. Stewart Kuykendall--His public activities--Edgar Davis Kuykendall--College days--Studied law--Located in Greensboro, N. C.--Civil and military record--Capt. Isaac Kuykendall's daughters.
CHAPTER XLV.
Did More Than One Kuykendall Ancestor Come Over From Europe? Early Dutch New York documents--Powers of attorney--Accounts of Carsten and Urbanus Luursen--Church baptismal records.
CHAPTER XLVI.
Attempts to Trace the European History of the Kuykendall Family. Reference to "Willy Kukenthal" at Harvard College--Kuekenthal family history, back to 16th century--Ancestry of Maternal side of Kuykendall family--Tack family--Westphael ancestors of Jacob, Cornelius and Matthew Kuykendall's wives--Why we have no better knowledge of our ancestors.
CHAPTER XLVII.
Miscellaneous Portraits and Notes. Further sketch of Dr. William Kuykendall--Public activities as physician, in hospital, school legislation--Nathaniel Kuykendall, Gainesville, Tex.--Family sketch--Judge A. B. Kirkendall--His portrait--Family of Andrew Briggs Kuykendall--Group picture--Samuel D. Coykendall--Family record--Mrs. Harriet R. Frisbie's war work activities--Mrs. Mary K. Weaver, portrait--Charles Allen Kirkendall's portrait--Mrs. Nannie Kuykendall Collins.
CHAPTER XLVIII.
Autographs of Some of the Early Kuykendalls, Comments and Other Topics. Sundry notes and observations--Kirkendalls and Klingensmiths--H. J. Kirkendall's statement--Further account of Judge W. L. Kuykendall of Saratoga, Wyom.--His son, John M. Kuykendall--J. B. Kuykendall, Vienna, Ill.--Kuykendall family historical association--Its object, suggested plan--How to carry on--Conclusion.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
The following rough draft of George Benson's book. THIS HAS NOT BEEN PROOFREAD, so treat the information as such. If you do see any errors, please let me know.
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CHAPTER I.
INTRODUCTORY CONSIDERATIONS.
When the study of the Kuykendall ancestry was
first begun, it was not with the idea of publishing the results
of my researches, but only as a matter of my own satisfaction.
For many years my time and attention were so fully occupied with
an extensive medical practice that it was impossible for me to
devote much time to ancestor hunting. The work was therefore carried
on in quite an intermittent manner, and as a sort of change and
relief from the daily rounds of duty.
The farther the work was pursued the more fascinating it became,
and the determination was reached to gather what data could be
found and publish it, that others might share the benefit and
pleasure I had derived from the information obtained.
Often when young, incidents were told me that took place in Virginia,
where my grandfather and great grandfather had lived. I had listened
with breathless interest to stories of horrible cruelties and
tortures inflicted by the Indians upon captive men and women,
and even little children. In my fancy I had often pictured the
place where my forefathers lived, the appearance of their homes,
and tried to imagine how they dressed and looked, and what kind
of food they ate and how they did when they first came to America.
When older I had heard repeated the traditions of the family in
regard to religious persecutions in the old country. All these
things made a great impression upon my youthful mind. When it
came to correspondence to gather information, it was found that
some people are very indifferent about such things. One correspondent
vouchsafed the expression that he did not "care whether his
people came across the Atlantic in a ship or a wheelbarrow."
A few even professed to think that it is a foolish waste of time
to attempt to learn about our forefathers, and that the study
of such things tends to "foster pride."
There are persons who have given much time to the study of the
pedigree of their horses or hogs, or even of their chickens, who
could hardly tell their grandfather's given name. To me as a physician,
the study of genealogy has been peculiarly fascinating, because
it brings us at once into contact with the laws of hereditary
transmission of mental, physical and moral traits through generations.
It seemed to me that a work on genealogy would be more interesting
and useful, if it gave something in the way of family history,
as well as of the purely genealogical facts, and that it would
add still more interest to give an account of the home life, dress,
daily employments, the dwellings, environments, toils, dangers
and privations of the people whose genealogy was treated, especially
when conditions were so different in the times when they lived.
Accounts of the lives and adventures of our American pioneers
have always been thrillingly interesting, but the interest is
greatly
2............History of the Kuykendall Family__
enhanced when the pioneers happen to have been
our own people, our grandfathers and great grandfathers or further
back ancestors. It has been my aim, as far as possible, to answer
such questions as would naturally arise in the minds of thoughtful
people in regard to their forefathers.
Who of us have not often thought, "what was the origin of
my family?" "Where did they come from, to America?"
"Where did they land in this country, and where first begin
to make homes?" "What kind of houses did they live in?"
"What were their modes of travel and what was the condition
of the country?" These and hundreds of similar questions
have arisen in my own mind many times. The American history of
the family Kuykendall began one hundred and twenty-six years before
our government was founded, and to write it in full, would be
almost to write a history of the country itself. A genealogy and
history of the scope suggested by these questions would be impossible,
yet we may so connect up the past of our family as to make it
far more interesting than a bare genealogy. It has been my aim
to show how the lives of our fathers were connected with contemporary
people and with the events transpiring around them.
Coming from Holland, our forefathers spoke the Dutch language.
They came from the old country with the old home traditions, predilections
and tendencies. Most of our earliest American forefathers were
members of the Reformed Dutch Church, and came to this country
bringing their convictions and principles with them. No sooner
had they founded homes for themselves, than they established religious
worship, as was the custom of their fathers, and Dominies of the
Reformed church were called to be ministers and pastors to their
people. It should be a matter of pride to every Kuykendall descendant
that the record of baptisms and marriages of our earliest American
ancestors are found in the registers of the Reformed churches,
in the Hudson and Delaware valleys, along with those of other
old Knickerbocker families, who have helped to build up the civilization
and institutions of the country.
When we look over the names of the very early settlers of New
York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and what is now West Virginia,
we find the names of many who were friends and neighbors of our
fathers, families with whom they intermarried, associates in business,
society, and in church relations, and in various business enterprises.
In the registers of the early Reformed churches are the names
of neighbors who were present and participated in the ceremonies
attending the baptism of Kuykendall children, and our forefathers
performed the same service at the baptism of their children.
When the history of a family embraces a period greater than the
duration of the nation, and its events cover the area of a continent,
and all this during the thrilling experiences of pioneer times
and savage warfare, and through more than two hundred and
__Introductory Considerations............3
fifty years of the world's greatest activities,
it is evident that such a history would have a great interest
to its descendants.
We fain would roll back the screen of time and look upon our ancestors
as they really were; we would like to know what they did, and
to enter into their thoughts and feelings, their joys and sorrows.
We would turn back the phonographic record of history and listen
to voices that have been silenced for hundreds of years.
My object has been to gather such data as would enable living
descendants of our ancestors to trace their family lines back
to those who first came to America, to note the origin of our
name and show the changes that have been made in it, and to account,
as far as possible, for them. There are yet many sources of information
relating to our family that have not been worked out, while the
pre-American history has scarcely been touched. It is a matter
of great regret that our fathers left such meager accounts of
their history, that they did not write down and preserve records
of their lives and what was going on around them. My correspondents
frequently wrote regretfully, that they knew little or nothing
about their forefathers. Nearly all American families have shown
this same neglect to keep records of the back history of their
people. I, myself, have been sorry that forty or fifty years ago,
I did not obtain from my parents and the older ones of the family
a full account of what they knew of their forefathers. If this
had been done, and then all had been written down and preserved,
my work would have been much easier. My own memory reaches back
clearly to more than sixty years ago, and to some events sixty-five
or more years. My grandfather was born in 1785, and had heard
his father and grandfather tell their recollections of the family
history, so as to carry the tradition many years further back.
My great grandfather was baptized in the year 1741, and he no
doubt could remember what his father and grandfather told, and
if their knowledge had been preserved and transmitted, what a
clearing up there would be of things that must forever remain
unknown.
There are many Kuykendalls living today, who are from seventy
to ninety years old. Every branch of the family has some of these
very old persons. If all of these had learned from their fathers
all they could, and had preserved it, we should be able to trace
practically every Kuykendall living, and have enough data to make
a complete genealogical record since the coming of our fathers
to America.
A purely genealogical work is, as a rule, very dry and uninteresting
reading, except to a very few.
An uncle of mine used to have family prayer night and morning,
and read the chapters of the Bible in rotation, as they came,
regardless of their contents. I remember of being at his home
sometimes, when the morning prayer time came, which was always
before breakfast; this I regarded as very inopportune in view
of my appetite. On one occasion especially, the chapter
4............History of the Kuykendall Family__
happened to be where the genealogy of some
of the ancient Jewish worthies is given, and where it tells of
one patriarch begetting a son and giving him a jaw-breaking name,
and the son in due time begat another, and conferred upon him
another name fully as discouraging. The process was continued
until there was a whole column of "begats" and tongue
twisting names of the begotten. What most deeply impressed me
at the time, was a "tired feeling," and regret that
Jews living thousands of years ago should keep me so long from
my breakfast.
With this personal experience still in my mind, I wondered whether
there is not some way to obviate at least some of the tedium of
a subject, that is usually as "dry as dust" to the ordinary
reader. It could hardly be expected to invest a purely genealogical
record with the charm of a thrilling narrative of personal adventures,
and yet it seemed to me that we might combine the genealogical
features with other relevant matter, that would make it interesting,
especially to the family descendants.
It adds much to the bare facts of genealogy to keep in mind the
contemporary history of the times in which the persons were living,
and who were their neighbors, and how these ancestors were connected
with the happenings going on around them. We can better appreciate
the history of our ancestors if we keep in mind the condition
of society, state of educational, industrial and scientific progress.
All these things help to make genealogical charts and tables glow
with interest, that would otherwise be dry. These thoughts have
been kept in view while this work has been in progress. It is
not possible to answer all the questions that will suggest themselves
and that we should like to have answered, in regard to our ancestors.
The time has been too long since our people came to America, and
conditions and environments in early times were such that proper
records could not be kept. It is hoped that our people will be
pleased that even so much has been accomplished toward a genealogy
and history of the family. With what is herein given many will
be able to form a continuous line of descent from the first American
ancestor of the family born in America. Hundreds have already
had their ancestry traced back clearly, and by a little study
and research many more will be able to straighten out the tangles
in their family records.
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CHAPTER II.
STORY OF THE SEARCH AFTER THE HISTORY AND GENEALOGY
OF THE
KUYKENDALL FAMILY.
It was a question with me whether to print
only the results of my researches into our family history, or
to tell something about how the results were obtained. It seemed
to me that perhaps it would give more of a human interest and
a personal touch to pursue the latter course, and that it would
also add considerably to the pleasure of reading this volume.
This latter course has been chosen, partly because many of my
correspondents have written, "How did you learn of our family
history?" "Where did you find all this,--it is very
interesting!" "I wish you would tell more about where
and how you learned all this." My aim has been to give our
Kuykendall descendants the facts as nearly as possible, in regard
to our ancestors, but in addition to the facts, inferences have
been drawn from these; but where this has been done, they have
always been stated as inferences.
It had always been said by my people that our ancestors were of
Holland origin, and that in early times they spoke Dutch in this
country, and that great grandfather Kuykendall spoke English with
somewhat of an accent. I knew that both my grandfather and great
grandfather and their brothers had lived in Virginia, that grandfather
was born there, but whether great grandfather was born there or
somewhere east was not known certainly by me.
Grandfather Henry Kuykendall, with three brothers, Peter, Daniel
and John, went from Virginia to Indiana about 1805, and three
of them located a few years later in Vigo County, Indiana, not
far from Terre Haute. Grandfather Henry was the youngest of the
four brothers. I had understood that he was with Harrison at the
battle of Tippecanoe, which was fought in the fall of 1811. Great
Grandfather John died before his sons left Virginia, and when
grandfather was a small boy. When young I had heard grandmother
tell of happenings in the Revolutionary war, and of persons, events,
and certain things, in a way that I knew she must have heard these
things from older ones of the family, and that our people must
have lived near to some of the scenes of that war. She told of
the Tories, British and the Hessians, and of the brutalities of
the soldiers of the British, and I was very much impressed by
her accounts of early Indian atrocities. I can remember in my
childhood, that grandmother and the older ones of the family,
when wanting a term to express the utmost depths of human depravity
and meanness, would say "as mean as a Hessian," and
this was supposed to be about the utmost limit, because the Hessians
were the hired minions of the British in the Revolutionary war.
At first I did not know the exact year of birth of my great grandfather
John, but knew it was along somewhere about 1740. There was a
span of something over 160 years, to take in the history back
to great grandfather's birth. Still back of this there was the
6............History of the Kuykendall Family__
earlier history, going back to the coming of
our people from Holland, and just how far back that it could be
traced I did not know.
Our own family records had been destroyed by fire, and the further
back records of grandfather had been lost or destroyed.
The most valuable sources of information to be found were old
court records of the counties where the Kuykendall people had
lived, such as deeds, wills, contracts and property inventories.
The next valuable perhaps would be the family records of the oldest
living descendants of our forefathers.
With the undertaking before me as here outlined, the work was
begun in an extensive correspondence, in the endeavor to reach
as many people of our name as could be found. Thousands of letters
were sent out to different parts of the country, some to the addresses
of Kuykendalls I had been able to locate, and others to various
county seats, to county recorders, asking for recorded data concerning
any of our people whose names appeared on the county books, on
deeds, wills, voting lists, or any other papers that might give
information of a valuable nature. Editors of newspapers were written
to, notices were inserted asking for information, and by these
various means, information began to accumulate. I was brought
into touch with many Kuykendall descendants of whom I had never
before heard.
I had an aged uncle, the only living brother of my father, who
was very much interested in the past history of our family. He
was well along toward eighty years old. By correspondence with
him, it was found that he was able to give me a great many facts
and helpful suggestions.
He said that our ancestors were from Holland, that they came to
this country at a very early date, landing somewhere near where
New York City now is. The date of their coming he could not give,
but it was while New York was still under Dutch rule. That they
lived in that state for years, but that they became dissatisfied
with conditions around them. A little later they heard of a beautiful
valley out West in Virginia. Some of the Kuykendalls and their
neighbors fitted out an expedition to go west and explore this
new country. The expedition returned with a glowing account of
finding a most beautiful valley, where the soil was very productive,
but that it was far out beyond the frontiers among the Indians.
This led a number of the Kuykendalls to sell their property in
New York state and strike out for Virginia. As to the date when
this took place, or what route they took he could not tell. They
made the journey over the wilderness country and settled somewhere
on the Potomac river, in a very beautiful valley. The country
was very new and the date so early that our Kuykendall people
were among the first settlers, and consequently had first choice
of the lands. They lived there for many years and had a long and
severe struggle with the Indians, and endured many privations
and dangers, but finally succeeded in clearing up fine farms,
and after a while owned negroes, and raised corn, cattle, hogs
and other kinds of
__Holland Society of New York............7
products, among which were tobacco. He said
they had to fight Indians every summer for years, and often had
to carry their rifles when out at their farm work, and that they
built forts into which they collected in times of Indian outbreaks.
He seemed to have remembered remarkably well the traditions of
the family. This was very interesting to me. I was staring into
a study of the family history just a little more than a hundred
years after they left Virginia.
One of the most discouraging things one meets in correspondence
to get genealogical information from people in regard to their
ancestors is the general apathy and indifference of the average
person in matters of this kind. As a rule, however, our people
were interested and glad to cheerfully co-operate, and wrote kind
and appreciative letters expressing their interest and a wish
for my success.
In the course of my correspondence articles and notices were sent
to newspapers, making inquiries in regard to any Kuykendalls that
might happen to see them. These brought many replies and much
information. Correspondence was extended to librarians of the
great libraries of the country, to state archivists, historians,
genealogists, historical societies and various sources of information.
It is a pleasure to note the fact that courteous replies were
received, and a real interest was manifested by persons of learning
and culture who had no interest in the matter other than a desire
to be helpful to a fellow seeker after information.
Early in my researches I learned of the HOLLAND SOCIETY of New
York. This society has for its object the collection and preservation
of all information attainable, relating to the early history of
that state, particularly while it was under the rule of the Dutch.
The Kuykendalls having been pioneers of that state this society
was evidently a favorable place to seek information. I found that
Mr. Dingman Versteeg, the genealogist for the society, had discovered
records of the Kuykendall family, in the old Dutch records of
New York, going as far back as 1650. This was the first definite
information received by me reaching so far back, and I was very
much gratified, feeling that good progress was being made. Mr.
Versteeg was employed to look the matter up and report to me.
I was now anxious to learn the date of the first appearance of
our people in Virginia, and wrote to the United States Census
Bureau, asking the director for information. It was found that
the census for Virginia, of the first United States Census was
destroyed by fire, at the time of the capture of the city of Washington,
in the year 1813, but there had been a census taken by the authority
of the State of Virginia in the years 1782 and 1784. These returns
show that there were no Kuykendalls enumerated in Virginia, anywhere
except in Hampshire county (W. Va.), and knowing definitely that
Great Grandfather John and his father had lived in Virginia, during
these years, and as his name was found on the returns, it was
certain that he was the John Kuykendall
8............History of the Kuykendall Family__
therein mentioned. Correspondence with the
descendants of some of the Kuykendalls who now live in Hampshire
county, showed that they are descendants of the same stock, the
ancestors of those who came there in very early days from the
Delaware valley and settled, some as early as 1743.
While this was developing, Mr. Versteeg, of the Holland Society,
was working on the old Dutch baptismal records, and soon sent
me a copy of the registry of Kuykendall descendants in the Reformed
Churches of the Delaware and Hudson valley, going back to 1650.
The data received from Mr. Versteeg showed that the first ancestor
in America lived at Fort Orange, N. Y. (now Albany), and that
he died there; that an account of the settlement of his estate
had been found among the old Albany records. It was shown also
that his son, the first American Kuykendall, had lived in the
Hudson river valley, near Kingston, that he married there and
had a large family, the records of whose baptisms were found,
in the Dutch Reformed Church registers. All this was very interesting
and marked decided progress.
Soon after beginning with my correspondence, my attention was
drawn to the various ways the correspondents spelled their names,
among them appearing Kuykendall, Coykendall, Cuykendall, Kirkendall,
Kikendall, Curkendall and Kuyrkendall. The difference in all cases
being in the first syllable of the name, there being only two
exceptions to this; one family in North and South Carolina, (some
of whom were found in Texas), spelled the last syllable dal, omitting
one 1. Another family spelled the last syllable dol. The fact
was disclosed that those who spelled the name Kuykendall, are
found more in the west and south, while those who sign their names
Coykendall or Cuykendall are found in New York and New Jersey,
or are from ancestors who lived in times, not far back, in regions
not far from Port Jervis, N. Y., or Sussex, N. J.
Quite a number of families supposed their own branches represented
a distinct people from the others.
Correspondence with people of our descent in New York, soon brought
me into touch with some of them who were very much interested
in the family history. One of these in particular, had made quite
thorough researches, and with valuable results. This was a lady,
Mrs. H. R. Frisbie, of Roscoe, N. Y. She is a descendant of the
"Wilhelmus" branch. Wilhelmus was the grandson of Pieter,
the youngest son of Leur Jacobsen (Van Kuykendall), our first
American born Kuykendall. So far as I have been able to learn,
all of this branch retain the original spelling, Kuykendall. Great
credit is due her for her intelligent, persistent and earnest
efforts. Her work, however, was almost exclusively limited to
her own branch of the family.
The work of Mr. Versteeg, of the Holland Society, proved to be
very satisfactory, as he was very familiar with the Dutch language
and the genealogy of a large number of the old New York families
of Holland descent. A letter was written to the librarian
__Land at Old Kuykendall Home............9
of the Port Jervis, N. Y., Free Library, and she referred me to Hon. W. H. Nearpass, then Mayor of the city, who is one of the best informed men in all that country, on the history of the Dutch Reformed Church and the pioneer families in that part of the Delaware valley, and also the families of the Hudson valley about
Plat of Old Minisink Village, Made in 1725
Kingston. Mr. Nearpass had, something like nineteen or twenty years before, begun the publication of a paper at Port Jervis, called "CHURCH LIFE." In this paper he published a series of articles on the ancient Dutch Reformed Church at Machackemeck, giving genealogical sketches of the families that had from time to time
10............History of the Kuykendall Family__
joined the church, from its earliest history
in that region. He published also brief historical notes and sketches
of the old Dominies, elders, officers and leading members.
In response to my inquiries, Mr. Nearpass sent me a number of
his papers, and among these was one that contained a genealogy
of the Kuykendall family, and their connection with the Reformed
Church, both in the Delaware valley about Port Jervis, and in
the Kingston regions, on the Hudson river. He wrote me many letters
afterwards, and sent me a tracing of a plat of the ancient village
of Minisink, adjacent to the "Big Minisink Island,"
a few miles below Port Jervis, on the Delaware river. There appears
on this plat the names of Jacob and Mattheus Kuykendall, who were
owners of land there at that time, and who were interested in
the founding of the old village, in 1725. On the plat the name
is written Van Kuykendall, showing that our people at that time
yet recognized the Dutch form of the name.
About that time I came across some of the writings of Mr. Charles
E. Stickney, on the early settlement of that part of the Delaware
valley, and was much interested in two series of articles published
by him, in the "Wantage Recorder," a newspaper of which
he was and is yet owner and publisher. One of the series was written
upon the subject of "The Old Mine Road," and the other
was the History of Deckertown." Deckertown was the early
name of Sussex, in the County of Sussex, N. J. Mr. Stickney kindly
sent me a number of the papers on the "Old Mine Road,"
one of which contained a brief sketch of the Kuykendall family
as connected with the township of Wantage and the Sussex county
regions, in early pioneer days, and of their neighbors who lived
near to and traveled along that old highway. This old road was
so intimately connected with the history of the family Kuykendall,
that it deserves more than a passing notice, and if space will
permit something about it, as related to our people, will be given
elsewhere. For the present it may be said that the old mine road
is a very ancient highway running from Kingston on the Hudson,
N. Y., across the country to the Delaware river, and then down
that river to an ancient copper mine, about three miles above
the Water Gap. As nearly all the members of the first American
Kuykendall family were born and raised in the vicinity of Kingston,
and the family all migrated along down the old mine road and settled
near it in the Delaware valley, anything about this old road very
much interested me. It was much satisfaction to definitely locate
exactly the home and scenes of our very early forefathers. It
was learned by me that a gentleman named J. J. Van Sickle lived
within a very short distance of the old home of Jacob and Mattheus
Kuykendall, and that he was an authority on certain phases of
the early history of that country and its pioneer settlers. He
was written to, and he sent a very courteous reply, in which he
gave some of the very information of which I had been in search.
He mentioned certain old stone houses and scenes, that he thought
would make an interesting
__Letters of Mr. Van Sickle............11
addition to the Kuykendall history, and offered
to secure photographs of them. This proffer was accepted gladly.
It would perhaps be interesting to quote here some excerpts from
Mr. Van Sickle's letters.
"The stone house built by Jurian Westfall or Jacob Kuykendall
is still standing in the old Minisink village. It was built about
1751, and is in a fine state of preservation. You should have
a picture of this house. The parchment deed you spoke of, you
will find, I think, by writing to Edward Everitt, Orange, New
York, or to the heirs of Martin Everitt, Port Jervis, N. Y. It
might be that the Historical Society of Port Jervis has secured
it. One of the old
Ancient Stone House Built about 1754 on Lands once owned by Matthew Kuykendall
Westbrook or Kuykendall houses is still standing,
that is referred to in the deal made for the cemetery purchased
in 1731. Also the fort, built by the state of New Jersey (colony),
in 1755. Pictures of these houses and some landscape views you
should have for your history. In the old cemetery the headstones
are lettered in Low Dutch language, and I cannot translate them.
The first date is 1736." From another letter:
"In 1759, Sussex county was represented by Peter Kuykendall,
and in 1760 by Solomon Kuykendall, as Chosen Freeholders. In the
Continental army there were three Kuykendalls, Captains Samuel,
Benjamin, and Simon. Samuel was wounded at the battle of Springfield,
under Col. John Cleves Symmes. They were holding the British army
in check, or covering the retreat of Washington
12............History of the Kuykendall Family _
across New Jersey. Samuel was wounded in 1776,
and afterwards received a pension, on account of the loss of his
hand from the wound."
The kindness of Mr. Van Sickle was very much appreciated and it
gives me pleasure to acknowledge my obligation to him for many
favors shown me. During my researches it was learned that at the
time of the early settlement of the country, a certain deed had
been given for lands that I was sure embraced the homes of some
of the Kuykendalls. This old document was described as being written
on parchment, and as having as the tribal signature of the Indians
from whom it was purchased, a picture of a turkey, supposed to
be the totem mark of the tribe to which the lands had belonged.
This would be the first deed to the lands. I was much interested
and determined to find the old document, if it was still in existence.
After a long chase, by correspondence, covering a very wide range,
it was finally located in Canada, or it was what I supposed was
the deed sought. It was found belonging to the descendants of
the Everitt family, and in possession of a daughter of Allen Everitt,
Mrs. J. M. Hursh, of Macoun, Saskatchewan, Canada. She kindly
consented to loan me the instrument, for examination, study and
photographing. When the deed came, it was found to be, not the
deed from the Indians, but far more valuable for me, because it
had been given by Jacob Kuykendall, one of the original owners
of lands at the old Minisink village, the very ancestor to which
my own family traced directly back. There was his name signed
to the document in his own hand writing. I had found not what
I was looking for, but something of inestimably more importance.
The venerable document was unrolled. It was stained and yellow
with age, and one corner frayed and a small bit torn off, taking
some letters of the latter part of the name of my great, great
grandfather, Jacob Kuykendall. The deed was given nearly two hundred
years ago. The writing was faded and the signatures were quite
dim. It was written on sheepskin parchment, no doubt with a quill
pen, for steel pens were not used for generations afterward.
What a tide of reflections came to me. What changes in the country
since the deed was made. Since it was signed December, 1731, there
have come a majority of all the great inventions and discoveries,
in fact about all that now confer the greatest blessings and comforts
of civilization. When it was made and signed there was no such
thing as even a friction match for lighting a fire, no use of
steam power, not a telegraph, telephone, steamer, or railway car
for more than a hundred years afterwards. The United States and
the American nation, with all their myriad population, had not
yet even been thought of. These reflections crowded upon my mind,
and then in imagination I went back to the old village and the
time when the deed was signed. There were a few log buildings,
in a sort of clearing in the woods, a little tavern, blacksmith
shop and a trading post. What kind of a place was it? Who were
present
AN ANCIENT DEED
Made by Jacob Kuykendall, December in year 1731
14............History of the Kuykendall Family__
when the deed was signed, besides those whose signatures now appear? What was said and done? How different the deed looked then, when clean and snowy white, with the beautiful writing, all fresh, and every letter and word standing out clear and sharp. Then I thought of the generations that have come and passed on since that time, nearly two hundred years ago. The makers and signers of the deed and thousands of their descendants have come upon the stage of existence and have passed away, their bodies have mouldered to dust, and even a knowledge of the resting places of most of them are lost. This old document was so valuable a find,
Ancient Indian Trail
that planning was at once begun to have it
photographed, and many efforts were made to secure the best results.
It did not belong to me, and if it had, it would not have been
kept in my possession, but placed in care of some historical society
for safe keeping. Various attempts were made at photographing
it, and a number of processes were used to secure the best pictures
possible.
While examining and handling this old deed the thought came to
my mind, suppose that when the deed was signed and turned over
to the party that bought the land, some one had said, "this
deed will still be in existence two hundred years from now, and
one hundred and eighty-three years from now a great great grandson
__Summing Up of Findings............15
of its maker will come across it, over three
thousand miles from here, in a land now wholly unknown. The finder
will cause a picture to be made of it, by sunlight, by a process
that has never yet been conceived by man, and that will not be
discovered yet for over a hundred years. When it is discovered,
the children of the maker of this deed will have multiplied and
spread all over North America from ocean to ocean." Such
a prediction would have been considered the wild phantasy of a
lunatic. Thus little do we know of the changes that time will
work, or what will happen within two hundred years from now. The
thought came to my mind, "Will any one, two hundred years
from now be making any inquiry after us or know who we were, where
we lived, or what we did?"
I had now the records in full, so far as known, of the Kuykendalls
found registered in the old Dutch Reformed churches; had several
fragmentary sketches of the genealogy of the Kuykendall family,
or of that part of the family that remained in the country near
where the fathers had lived. That part of the country comprised
Orange, Sullivan, and Ulster counties, N. Y., and Sussex, Warren
and Hunterdon counties, N. J., and a small strip of country on
the other side of the Delaware river, in Pennsylvania, where a
few of our people had lived.
I had the plat of the ancient village of Minisink, and of the
old Jacob Kuykendall deed, and much other historical matter relating
to the family, that I had not known of, before beginning my researches.
While all the work that has been described was going on, a correspondence
was carried on both among the Kuykendall descendants in various
parts of the country, and with the great libraries in various
states, historical societies and all other known sources of information.
Letters had been received from Mr. A. J. F. Van Laer, State Archivist
of New York, that were both very interesting and helpful. I shall
never forget his unvarying kindness and the assistance he rendered
me in looking up the Albany records in the Library of New York,
at Albany.
Mr. Versteeg, genealogist of the Holland Society of New York,
had already sent me a transcript of the sale of the house and
lot of our Holland ancestor, Jacob Luyersen, after the ancestor's
death, which must have occurred in 1656. Both these gentlemen
took much interest in looking up the origin and derivation of
the name Kuykendall.
The wording in the contract for the sale of that emigrant ancestor's
property shows conditions existing at the time, that are very
interesting, independent of that which attaches to the fact of
his being our forefather from Europe. The record of the court,
as found in the old Dutch minutes, will be good reading for Kuykendall
descendants, and others, now, after a lapse of over two hundred
and sixty years, and it is given below:
16............History of the Kuykendall Family__
Transcript from the Early Records of Albany
County, 1656-1675.
"Terms and conditions on which the trustees of the estate
of Jacob Luerszen propose to sell the house and lot of the said
Jacob Luyersen, deceased, with the lot of the same, lying next
to Fort Orange, according to the patent thereof. Ist there shall
be delivered to the buyer of the house with all the fixtures and
the lot, length 8 rods, breadth in front on the road 4 1/2 rods,
breadth on the west side 3 rods 5 feet, all according to the patent
thereof, except the gardenstof which is therein.
"Delivery shall be on August 20 of this year 1657. The payment
shall be in good current seawant; the first installment to be
on delivery of the house and the last on May 1, 1658.
"The buyer shall be held to furnish 2 sufficient sureties
immediately to the seller's satisfaction. If the buyer cannot
then furnish sufficient sureties, it shall be sold again at his
cost and charge, and whatever loss it come to be worth, he shall
be held to make good, and whatever more it becomes worth he shall
enjoy no benefit therefrom. The auction fees shall become a charge
to the buyer."
"After much bidding, Jansen Van Wytert remained the last
bidder, for the sum of 813 guilders, according to the aforesaid
conditions.
"Done in Fort Orange, July 18, 1657, in presence of
Louis Cobuson and Johannes Provoort."
_______________
Page 41.
"On this July 20 1657 appeared Andres Van der Sluys who delivered himself surety for the person of William Frederickse (Bout) in the action respecting the house which Hendrick Jansen Van Rytart, (Wytart) bought of the trustees of the estate of Jacob Luyersen, deceased, for so much as half of said house comes to, viz: 406 Guilders, 10 stivers.
Page 213.
"Paulus Martensen, (Van Benthuysen) grant
and convey to Claes Cornelise Van den Bergh, a house and lot in
the village of Beverwyck, near Fort Orange, bounded on the north
by Captain Abraham Staets, south by the said Fort, as large as
it lies in fence. according to the patent thereof, granted by
the Lord Director General & Council to Jacob Luyerson, deceased,
of date October 25th anno 1653, and the grantor acknowledges that
he is paid and satisfied therefor: done in Fort Orange Oct, 12,
1662."
"Paulus Marten."
Witnesses:
Philip Pietersen Schuyler
Adrien Gerritsen (Papendorp)
__Indian Currency in Dutch New York............17
The wording of this transaction tells us something
of the conditions existing at the time the sale was made. The
price of the house and lot was stipulated to be paid in so many
guilders, good current seawant. The term "guilders"
shows that the country was under Dutch financial control as well
as domination otherwise. Seawant was a sort of small sea shell
money, or wampum, such as was the currency of the Indians. It
was really Indian money. The scarcity of silver was so great that
the inhabitants were compelled to resort to whatever makeshift
expedients they could, to carry on trade and exchange among themselves
and the Indians.
It will be noticed that the "gardenstof" was to be reserved,
and not to go on with the building and lot. Wonder if the old
lady, Mrs. Jacob Luyersen (Van Kuykendall), our maternal ancestor,
had not planted and cultivated that garden patch herself, and
claimed it for herself and the "kinder"?
As the old Albany court record that has been quoted above, has
reference to the Holland ancestor of all the American Kuykendalls,
and the disposal of his property after his death, it can hardly
be otherwise than very interesting to his living descendants.
The question naturally arises, "Did this first ancestor come
to America alone, or did he have brothers and sister or other
relatives that came at the same time or afterwards?" A pretty
thorough search of the early Dutch Reformed Church baptismal and
marriage records was made by me in Albany and in New York City,
and they reveal the fact that there were three persons of the
same name as our ancestor came to this country, if not together,
then at times not far apart. They were Jacob, Urbanus and Christian
Luursen. The names of the first two are so associated on the baptismal
records, that one cannot resist the conclusion that they were
brothers. The other's relationship is not so clearly indicated,
but a strong inference is created that they were of the same family,
possibly a little more distantly related. A chapter was prepared
for this volume treating this subject in detail and quoting the
records in full, but for lack of space this will have to be omitted.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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The following rough draft of copy of pages 37-64 George Benson's book. THIS HAS NOT BEEN PROOFREAD, so treat the information as such. If you do see any errors, please let me know.
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CHAPTER VII
OTHER NOTES CONNECTED WITH THE VERY EARLY KUYKENDALLS
We have seen that our first ancestor born in
this country was baptized in the Dutch Reformed Church of New
York City. Before going on with a fuller account of the Kuykendalls
mentioned in the records by generations that have gone before,
a few words in regard to the history of this first church of America,
where was baptized the first Kuykendall of America, will be interesting
to our people. This interest grows out of the fact of the relation
it bore to the beginning of our family history in this country.
This church of New Amsterdam, now New York, was organ-ized in
the year 1628, and has continued to this day, and is now the wealthy
Collegiate Church of New York City, and has ten buildings and
fourteen ministers. It was founded and organized by Rev. Jonas
Michaelus. The church building in which our first American born
Kuykendall was baptized was a stone structure erected in the summer
of 1642, and therefore was at the time of his baptism a new building.
The pulpit and bell were made in Holland and shipped over to New
York.
It was not the custom at that time to enter the name of the mothers,
when children were baptized, and hence w~ do not see in this record
the name of the mother of our first ancestor of American birth.
This is unfortunate, as we are left without a knowledge of the
early history of the first ancestor's mother, and family.
It is elsewhere explained that the patronymic, or father name
of our first ancestor was Luur or Luer, or some modification of
that name and that among the first baptisms of his children, the
name Van Kuykendaal did not appear.
As stated he lived in Celderland, Holland, in the vicinity of
Wageningen. He and Urbanus Luursen probably came to this country
together in the employ of the Dutch West India Company. The affairs
of that company were at that time under the supervision of Killiaen
Van Rensselaer, who was a wealthy dealer in diamonds and pearls
in Holland. This man purchased a large tract of land on the Hudson
river and sent over a lot of Holland people,-farmers, mechanics
and artisans, to develop the lands.
Jacob and Urbanus were undoubtedly brothers, and it would seem,
from the evidence of the old records, that they came over to New
Amsterdam about the winter of 1646. Probably both were mechanics,
the records say that Urbanus was a mason. We do not know whether
Jacob was married before leaving Holland or not.
He went to Fort Orange soon after arriving in America, and may
have been in the employ of the company up to the time of his death.
He must have died in 1656. He had a grant from the Lord Director
General and Council for a lot for building purposes, dated October
25, 1653.
BEGINNING OF THE FAMILY KUYKENDALL .............................35
On this lot he had a home and little garden.
Owing to the fact that the name of his wife does not appear anywhere
in the records, we are unable to follow her later history as we
should like.
There is little room to doubt that Leur grew up from early youth
in the Esopus country, (the region about Kingston), and, as he
married there and lived there, it is most likely that his mother,
after the death of his father, moved from Fort Orange to Rochester,
(now Accord), soon after she was left a widow.
At about the age of thirty, he married, in the year 1680, at Kingston,
the daughter of a Hollander who lived in Esopus, her name being
Grietje Tack, daughter of Aert Pietersen Tack and Annetje Ariens.
The Tack family came from Holland at a very early day and settled
at Esopus. Some of the family descendants lived there several
generations.
There is today, at Stone Ridge, a little town of New York, about
ten miles out from Kingston2 an old hotel that was built by Johannes
Tack, the great grandson of Cornelius Tack, the father-in4aw of
the first Kuykendall born in this country.
Luur Jacobsen Van Kuykendall and his wife, Grietje Tack Kuykendaal,
continued to reside in the vicinity of Rochester, until about
the year 1700. During this interval they had seven children, all
of whom were baptized at Kingston. Their eighth child, a daughter,
Annetje, was baptized at Minisink, thus fixing the date that the
family moved from Rochester to Minisink. At the time of their
removal, Leur, father of the family, was about fifty years old.
He had lived in that vicinity for probably forty years. He then
had one daughter and five sons. We have here the beginning of
the family Kuykendall on the western continent, now moving from
Esopus, then one of the oldest and most thickly settled communities
on the Hudson river, going to the Minisink country, then a far
out frontier.
William Tietsoort was the first settler in the region to which
they were moving. He had preceded the Kuykendalls about six years,
having gone in there about 1694. Previous to that he had been
living in Schenectady, a few miks out from Fort Orange, the childhood
home of Luur's father. While Tietsoort was living there, the Indians
attacked and burned Schenectady and he fled from there down to
Esopus, (Kingston), where his brother Abram lived. The Indians
in the Minisink country were friendly with the whites at that
time and invited the blacksmith Tietsoort to go to their country
and start a blacksmith shop.
He made his home there and the Indians deeded him a tract of land,
the title of which they never afterwards disputed.
It was not long after that time that Luur Jacobsen Van
Kuykendaal moved to Minisink. Later Jacob, Luur's son, married
Adrientje Tietsoort at Kingston, daughter of the brother Abram,
of
William, the blacksmith.
Quite likely the fertile soil, beautiful country and fine hunting
and fishing opportunities had some influence in inducing the move.
36 ................... HISTORY OF THE KUYKENDALL FAMILY
Jacob had by this time probably begun his fur
trading with the Indians, and Minisink was a famous fur trading
point.
We have now traced the family down to the Minisink country on
the Delaware. They went along down the old mine road, for there
was at that time no other road to travel.
It has been stated before that the children of Luur Jacobsen Van
Kuykendall's family were baptized and the record of their baptism
made in the registers of the Reformed Dutch registers, in the
churches where the family lived. All baptisms were recorded in
the order of the date upon which they were performed, and as a
matter of course, the names of other children would come between
the names of the children of any one family. It will aid us to
understand what the records really convey, to know something of
the customs and practices of the Dutch Reformed Church in those
days, in regard to baptism. Our forefathers were very punctilious
in regard to their observance of the rite of baptism, and there
were many little details carried out that are not observed today.
Only such can be mentioned as will help to an understanding of
what the record conveys.
When a child was presented for baptism, it was required that there
should be two sponsors for the one baptized, if it were an infant;
two witnesses, if it were an adult. The sponsors were supposed
to take upon themselves the responsibility of the religious training
of the child, and were to answer the questions and baptismal vow
required. It was the father's place to see that witnesses were
present and it was usual to have the sponsors or witnesses persons
related to the baptismal candidate.
When therefore we see the record of the baptism, we know that
the witnesses were not persons picked up by accident or con-venience
only. They were generally some way related by blood or marriage,
and not merely friendly assistants; but circumstances sometimes
caused variations from this rule. We may not at first discover
the relationship between the parties, but on investigation it
will generally be found that some kind of relationship existed.
We see from this that the witnesses or sponsors will, in many
cases, afford a clue to the relatives of the family. In the forepart
of the next chapter will be given the record of Leur Jacobsen
Van Kuykendaal's children's baptisms, with names of witnesses
and sponsors.
NOTE-It Will be seen that the name Luur is spelled Leur also. It was spelled variously in the baptismal records.
CHAPTER VIII
CHILDREN OF LEUR JACOBSEN VAN KUYKENDAAL-RECORD
OF
THEIR BAPTISM AS FOUND IN THE OLD
DUTCH CHURCH RECORDS.
We present below the family record of the first American born ancestor of the Kuykendall family. The spelling is given just as it occurs in the old church registers, with names of sponsors or witnesses so as to convey a correct idea of the original record.
They are scattered throughout the register, according to the date of the baptisms. They have been brought together here in the order of the births, so as to appear as one complete family record, that can be easily referred to in the study of the family history.
The record is presented in three columns, the first column contains the names of the children and the dates of their baptism; the second contains the names of the parents, while the third shows the names of the sponsors or witnesses.
Child's Name and............................................
Name of Parents........................ Names of Witnesses ...
Date of Baptism. ................................................................................................or
Sponsors
Styntie............................................................
Leur Jacobz, ..............................Stintie Douwes,
April 2, 1682..................................................
Grietje Artz Tack....................... Claes Teunisse.
Jacob, ............................................................Luyr
Jacobs,............................... Annetie Arys,
August 12, 1683............................................. Grietje
Tack............................... Jacob Jans Van Etten.
Johannes........................................................
Leur Jacobs, ...............................Cornelis Aartz Tack,
April 20, 1685...............................................
Grietje Tack................................. Sytie Van Etten.
Cornelis,........................................................
Leur Jacobs, ...............................Johannes de Hooghes,
May 30, 1686............................................... Grietje
Tack................................ Jan Evers, Grietje Adriens.
Johannes, .......................................................Lur
Jacobs, ................................Johannes de Hooghes,
September 30, 1688...................................... Grietje
Tack............................... Johannes Evers, Grietje Adriens.
Mattheus was born about 1690, no baptismal record found.
Arie,..............................................................
Leur Jacobs,.............................. Jan Van Etten,
June 8, 1694..................................................
Grietie Tack.............................. Janette Rosa.
Pieter,............................................................
Luir Jacobs,.............................. Peter Van Etten,
May 1, 1698. ................................................Grietje
Tack.............................. Hyltje Van Etten.
Annetje,.........................................................
Luir Jacobsen,.......................... Willem Van Vreedenburg,
May 19, 1700................................................ Grietje
Tack. ...........................Cornelia Swart.
Sara,..............................................................
Luir Jacobsen,.......................... Pieter Van Etten,
June 14, 1702 ................................................Grietje
Tack.............................. Eva de Hooghes.
Seyte,............................................................
Leur Jacobsen Van ...................Manuel Van Etten,
October 27, 1706.......................................... Kuykendaal,.............................
Gertruy Tietsort.
......................................................................Grietje
Tack.
38 ....................HISTORY OF THE KUYKENDALL FAMILY
In view of the fact that most of our people
have heretofore known but little about the very early history
of the family, I feel sure they will be pleased to see the family
record of the first Ameri-can born ancestor. It can confidently
be relied upon as correct, as it is a faithful copy from the old
Dutch Reformed Church baptismal registers. If carefully and intelligently
studied, it will convey more than at first sight appears.
There is nothing to show that Mattheus was ever baptized, though
it is highly probable that he was, and that the record was lost.
His birth coming between the births of his brother Johannes, 1688,
and Arie, 1694, the birth of Matthew has been placed at 1690.
His marriage is recorded under the head of "Marriages,"
in the Kingston Dutch Reformed Church register, as follows:
"14th Jan. 1715.
"MATTHEUS VAN KUYKENDAAL j. m. born in Ray-cester (Rochester)
and JANNETJE WESTVAAL, j. d., born in Kingston and both residing
in Mennising, (Minisink). Banns registered 3, April."
Rochester, (now Accord), is a little village about fifteen miles
in direct line from Kingston. While Mattheus and his bride, at
the time of their marriage, lived in the Minisink region, not
far from Machackemeck or Port Jervis, they chose to go back to
Kingston to be 'married, for this was the old home of both.
One of the first things that attracts our attention in the record
is the great variation in the spelling of the names. Our ancestor's
first name is spelled Leur, Luyr, Luir, and Lur, they all having
the same sound. In those days they spelled by the sound, that
is pho-netically. If a word sounded right it was accepted without
criticism.
It will be noticed that in every instance the mother's name is
given as Grietje Tack. When Seyte's baptism was registered, the
father's name is written out in full, LEUR JACOBSEN VAN KUYKENDAAL.
It is clear from this, that the name was all along understood
to have been Van Kuykendaal, but according to the custom of the
time, in writing the name, the patronymic only was used, as Mr.
Versteeg suggests.
We have in this baptismal record an illustration of several of
the peculiar features connected with the baptism of our forefather's
children, as, for instance, the custom of giving the maiden name
of the mother, instead of the name by marriage, and of having
witnesses or sponsors for each and every child baptized.
We notice in this family there were two children named Johannes.
When a child was baptized, and afterward died young, it was a
very common custom to give some child born later, the same name;
this was done to perpetuate it in the family, or as they often
said, "hand the name down" in the family. Many instances
of this kind could be given both in church and family records
of the time.
THE FIRST ANCESTORS FAMILY HISTORY .............................39
STYNTIE or CHRISTINA, the first child, a daughter
of Luur Jacobsen Van Kuykendaal and wife Grietje Aertze Tack,
grew up with her parents about fifteen miles from Kingston, New
York. She married Jurian Westfall, about 1710; the baptism of
their first Child took place in 1711. Jurian and his wife, Christina
Van Kuykendaal, lived nearly eleven miles below the present site
of Port Jervis, on the Delaware river, in Sussex County, N. J.,
adjacent to what was then called the "Big Minisink Island."
Here Jacob Van Kuykendall and his brother-in-law, Jurian Westfall,
lived on part of a tract of land they had bought jointly from
Thomas Stevenson, of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, containing 500
acres. They sold a part of this tract to a man named Johannes
Westbrook, and divided the remainder between them.
The plat of the old original village of Minisink, made April 7,
1725, shows the names of both Jacob Kuykendall and Jurian West-fall
and also that of Jacob's brother, Mattheus. Just what time they
might have moved on to this place is not known, but it may have
been any time between 1714 and 1725, but was probably nearer the
first named date.
The marriage of Jurian Westfall and Styntie Kuykendall was
the first intermarriage of the two families. By this marriage
Christina had three children, viz: Johannes, baptized June 24,1711:
Jacobus, baptized February 8, 1713; Jacob, baptized June8.1715.
Christina must have died soon after the birth of this child Jacob,
for her husband, Jurian Westfall, married the second time to Marytje
Koddebeck, August 20, 1717. Both Cuddebacks and Westfalls intermarried
with Kuykendalls afterwards many times.
Family records and genealogical charts taken alone are not usually
interesting reading. Family history, all history, in fact, is
mostly the sum of the biographies of the men and women connected
therewith. As the genealogical record of the sons and grandsons,
and daughters of Luer Jacobsen Van Kuykendaal are taken up, we
shall note some of the facts connected with their life histories.
Unfortunately there are some of them of whom we 1~ve no record,
except that of their baptism.
JACOB VAN KUYKENDAAL, or Jacob Kuykendall, as he later signed
his name, the second child of Luer, was baptized August 12, 1683,
at Kingston, N. Y. He was reared to manhood in the region about
Kingston, and married Adrientjen Tietsoort, who was the daughter
of Abram Tietsoort of Kingston, and niece of William Tietsoort,
the pioneer blacksmith. The Tietsoorts, (now spelled Tittsworth);
and the Kuykendalls intermarried in several instances later, as
when William, a son of Stephen Tittsworth, married Cath-crine
Kuykendal, daughter of Hendrick Kuykendall and Eliza-beth Cole.
Jacob Kuykendall had Only one child, Margrita, by his first wife.
She was baptized at Kingston, N. Y., September 11, 1709. This
first wife, Adrientje Tietsoort, must have died soon after the
40 ...................HISTORY OF THE KUYKENDALL FAMILY
birth of her daughter Margrita, for his second
marriage is recorded as having taken place at Minisink, February
3, 1712. The record in the Church register reads: "Married,
Jacob Van Kuykendaal, wid'r of Adrientjen Tietsoort, and Sara
Westvaal, maiden, both residing in Mennissing, (Minisink).
Family record of Jacob Van Kuykendaal now follows:
Margrita, baptized Sept. 11, 1709, by 1st wife Adrientje Tietsoort.
Johannes, (John), baptized Jan. 19, 1713, by 2nd wife Sara Westphael.
Jacobus, (James), baptized August 19, 1716, he and the others,
by 2nd wife.
Dina, baptized Jan.28, 1719.
Marretjen, baptized Oct.22, 1721.
Benjamin, baptized Sept. 1, 1723.
Christina, baptized Feb.12, 1727.
Nathaniel, baptized Oct. 6, 1728.
Abraham, was probably born in Virginia, no record found.
The family of Jacob, with some of his brothers
and their families, went to Virginia, as elsewhere related, and
some of their descendants are found still farther west and south.
Going out into the frontier so early, many of the descendants
lost trace of their forefathers.
The descendants of Pieter, the youngest brother of Jacob, who
mostly remained in the east, will be interested with Jacob's descendants,
because they have heretofore known so little about the Kuy-kendalls
of the far west, or the source from which they sprang. Those of
the early forefathers who remained in the east had con-siderably
better Opportunity of keeping trace of their ancestors, as they
remained in the same locality, near the old ancestral home, generation
after generation.
We find Jacob's name several times in the old records. He is mentioned
in the Archives of Pennsylvania, as being connected with the survey
of the line between New York and New Jersey.
There had been some doubt as to where the line really was, and
the assemblies of the two colonies, New York and New Jersey, had
passed several acts providing for the survey of the division line
between them. The record reads:
"Whereupon the Commission ordered James Steel and Jacob Taylor
to repair to Machackemeck, (a Dutch town on the east side of the
Delaware river), when certain Commissioners from the above named
provinces were appointed to meet." Steel and Taylor reported
April 19th as follows: "We were appointed to set out on a
journey to Machackemeck, in order to meet certain persons who
were appointed by the government of New York and New Jersey, etc.
"In pursuance thereof we sett out from Philadelphia, 20th
day of same month (April)." The report goes on to say, they
arrived there, "and having made inquiry of several Indians,
and particularly
JACOB KUYKENDALL AS SURVEYOR'S GUIDE....................41
of Solomon Davis and Jacob Kuykendall, (two
Indian traders), about the branches of the river Delaware, that
were between the said river, called the ftishkill and Susquehanna.
The said Solomon Davis and Jacob Kuykendall, having, as well as
those Indians, often traveled between those rivers, from one to
the other, and therefore knew perfectly well what branches were
to be found proceeding out of the Delaware.
The Commission appointed Maj. John Harrison to travel over from
the ffishkill to Susquehanna, who took with him Jacob Kuykendall
and an Indian for guides, and soon went on his journey, which
he undertook on foot."
While this incident gives some account of Jacob Kuykendall's life,
it also gives other co-related facts. Solomon Davis is well known
to have been an Indian trader who lived in Machackemeck, near
the present site of Port Jervis. He and Jacob Kuykendall had,
as Indian traders, made many a trip along the Delaware, and be-tween
that river and the Susquehanna.
The Davids were of English Origin, and the name frequently appears
written in the old records as Davids, Davis or Devins. One of
the sons of Solomon Davids married Marretje Kuykendall, (laughter
of Cornelis, brother of Jacob Kuykendall.
Mr. Nearpass, in "Church Life," says, "This Solomon
Davis was a son of Joris Davis and Johanna Davis, an Englishman,
who first settled at Hellegat, on the Island of Manhattan, from
thence he removed to Fort Orange (Albany), and in 1654, went with
his family to Ulster County. He was a trapper, and in 1655 was
an interpreter and principal mediator between Whites and Indians."
We have here disclosed the fact that the Kuykendalls and Davids
began their acquaintance probably as early as 1654, at Fort Orange
and may possibly have been acquainted several years before. for
at that time our Holland ancestor, Jacob Luursen, was still living
at that place.
Hanna, in his "Wilderness trail," mentions Jacob Kuykendall
as Indian trader in Minisink, in 1719.
The next we hear of him is when a plat of the old Minisink Village
is surveyed, at which time the name of Jacob with five others
appears on a plat made by Cornelius Loew, April 7.1725. A cut
of this plat in reduced size is seen elsewhere in this volume.
The names that appear on the plat are those of Jacob and Matthew
Van Kuykendall, Johannes and Anthony Westbrook, Jan Cortright
and Jurian Westfall.
Jacob Kuykendall was still living there at the same place six
years later when the people of the community were wanting a place
for a school house and cemetery. Several of them formed an association
and purchased a tract from Johannes Westbrook, which was, according
to the deed, to be for a "burying ground and a schule house
forever."
That same year. 1731, Jacob sold out his interests at the Minisink
Islands. While he had lived there, he appears to have
42 ...................HISTORY OF THE KUYKENDALL FAMILY
been in some sort of partnership with his brotherinlaw,
Jurian Westfall. Jurian had died before, and when the deed from
Jacob Kuykendall was made, it was to the heirs of Westfall, and
conveys all Jacob's interest in the five hundred acres that he
and Jurian had bought from Thomas Stevenson.
At that time there was a flourishing village at Minisink, just
on the main land, adjacent to Minisink Island, on the Jersey side
of the Delaware. It is said in history that it was the first village
in Sussex county, New Jersey, with a store, blacksmith shop and
tavern.
What there may have been there in the way of local industries
otherwise, we do not know, but there were a number of residences
and a fort and trading post of quite extensive note.
After Jacob sold out in 1731, he appears, the next account we
have of him, apparently a little lower down the Delaware on the
Pennsylvania side. In 1741 a petition was sent to Thomas Penn,
then Governor of Pa., asking relief from the aggressions of the
whites, who were said to be crowding over upon and taking the
Indian's lands. They sent this petition by a man who carried a
letter signed by Abram Van Vampen, Jacob Kuykendall, Nicholas
Depui and James Kuykendall. James was a son of Jacob Kuy-kendall.
I found in one of the public libraries of New York, a little book
entitled "Reminiscences of George Labar, the author of which
was 107 years old in 1780. Labar was a pioneer in that part of
the country about the Water Gap and Stroudsburg. He says, "The
principal settlers in 1741, in that vicinity were N. De Pui, Abram
Van Campen, Jacobus Kirkendall, Daniel Brodhead and Jacob Kirkendall,
and that they had petitioned the Governor to send help, as the
Indians were retaliating for the wrong of the "Indian Walk."
That a great swindle was perpetrated against the Indians in that
so called "Indian Walk Treaty" there can be no doubt.
It is a pleasure to know that while our fathers were made to suffer
for the wrongs against the Indians, Jacob and James Kuykendall
were on the side of the Indian's rights, with their neighbors
Depui and Van Campen.
Having now given some of the principal facts connected with the
life of Jacob Kuykendall, eldest son of Luur Jacobsen Van Kuykendaal,
down to the year 1741, from records that have been found, we may
proceed to give an account of his children, so far as we have
found data to do so. The record of their baptisms has been already
presented in an earlier part of this chapter.
NOTE-It is quite possible that Jacob Kuykendall may not have moved down to the Water Gap. People anywhere within 25 or 30 miles were considered to be neighbors in those pioneer times.
CHAPTER IX
FAMILY OF JACOB KUYKENDALL, FIRST SON OF
LUUR JACOBSEN Van KUYKENDAAL.
MARGARITA, was the first child of Jacob, born
of his first wife Adrientje Tietsoort and baptized at Kingston,
N. Y., Sept. 11, 1709, by Dominie Ganitherus du Bois. Her after
history was not found.
Jacob's family was a healthy, vigorous one, and most of them grew
to maturity and raised families. It was over thirty years after
the birth of this Margarita that her father's family went to Virginia.
In the meantime she may have married or may have died.
JOHANNES, the second in the family of Jacob Kuykendall was baptized
at Minising, N. J., Jan.19, 1713, by Dominie Vas. He grew up to
manhood in the region where he was born and baptized. The country
all about was still far out on the frontier, and settlements were
few and sparse. Jacob, his father, was at that time engaged in
trade with the Indians, buying and selling the peltry of fur bearing
animals.
His business called him away from home for considerable periods
of time, while he was out on his trading expeditions along the
Delaware, Mohawk and Susquehanna rivers and their tribu-taries.
Here at the old home on the Delaware, the family continued to
live, farming, raising gardenstuff, and doubtless much of the
meat used by them was procured by the rifle and fishing rod. Those
Kuykendall boys had the finest fishing, hunting and trapping and
Canoeing along the river. It was a beautiful place; the Dela-ware
river and valley, and the hills back of the old place formed a
charming picture.
There is nothing to show where Johannes received
his school-ing, whether at a home school at the old Village of
Minisink, opposite the Minisink Island, or above at the Machackemeck
school, near the home of his uncle, Peter Kuykendall. For a number
of years the old Minisink Village was one of the most widely known
business trading points of all this region. The soil there was
very fertile, and remains very productive yet, after so long a
time. It produced large crops of corn, vegetables, wheat and oats.
When the Dutch settlers first located there, they planted out
orchards, and soon there was an abundance of apples and large
quantities of cider was made for home use and for sale or exchange
at Esopus, (Kingston.)
The old home of Johannes was near the ancient mine road which
ran through the village. Along this noted highway there was much
travel between the Water Gap and the old Dutch town at Kingston
on the Hudson. The village was a noted stopping place for travelers
and teamsters who hauled ore from the old mine up to Esopus. and
for the settlers hauling their wheat, cider,
44..................... HISTORY OF THE KUYKENDALL FAMILY
feathers, peltry and other products to market.
These sturdy old Dutchmen camped there on their way, and at night
gathered about their campfires or at the old tavern, telling stories,
smoking their pipes, drinking cider, and according to history,
some of them took something considerably more stimulating.
If we could conjure up by some magic power, and bring back those
old times and people, and listen to the stories they told, what
thrillingly interesting things we should hear; what portrayals
of fishing, hunting, Indian fighting and heroic exploits, and
what marvelous narration's about ghosts and witches and the comedies
and tragedies of early pioneer life in far back times!
At the old Minisink home, where Jacob and Matthew Kuy-kendall
live there was an old Indian graveyard, where for ages the Indians
deposited their dead. Almost within a stone's throw of this Indian
burying ground is the ancient cemetery purchased in 1731 for the
use of the first white settlers. It is all overgrown with brush
and concealed from the public gaze. In the thick brush there are
a number of graves marked by head-stones. Among them there are
two or three stones still standing erect and solid. In the picture
opposite this page, the stone settlements around. Jacob and Mattheus
lived in close proxi-mity to the old village, while their brothers
Arie and Cornelius lived in nearby regions, and old Peter lived
about where Port Jervis is.
In those days they had no automobiles, not even light wagons or
buggies. Their only wheeled vehicles were all wood, high wheeled
Dutch ox carts. The wheels of these were about six feet high,
had wooden "linch pins" to hold them on, and the wooden
rims of the wheels had no metal tires. These carts were ox-motors,
the necessary vim being excited by a hazel or hickory gad. Some
of the more "uppish" folks had horses or mules. With
all their lack of conveniences, people those days were very sociable
and visited around among each other a good deal, when there were
no Indian hostilities to prevent. For a long period the country
was infested by wolves, panthers, bears and wildcats, that preyed
upon the flocks and herds of the settlers. These wild animals
became such a pest that a bounty was offered for their scalps
or "heads," and the old Sussex county records show instances
where some of the Kuykendalls and their neighbors received warrants
for considerable sums in payment for "panther heads"
or "wolf
PAGE 45 ILLUSTRATION
46................... HISTORY OF THE KUYKENDALL FAMILY
heads," as they were called in the old
court minutes. For quite a number of years the wild animals we're
more an object of dread than the Indians. There were, however,
not infrequently, scrapes with the In4ians2 caused mostly by the
sale of rum and i)randy to them by ~eckless white settlers or
traders.
Johannes Kuykendall's grandfather, Luur Jacobsen Van Kuy-kendaal
and wife Marguerita Tack Kuykendaal were both living as late as
1720, as is shown by the records. The extent of education received
by Johannes. we do not know, but his father . was an in-telligent
and prominent man, who took an active interest in the moral and
educational welfare of the community in which he lived. The country
was new, and the state of society primitive; there were few books
and practically no newspapers at that time, in the cabins of the
pioneers. Benjamin Franklin started, in Philadelphia, what is
now the "Saturday Evening Post," the same year that
Nathaniel, the junior brother pf the elder johannes, was born.
The books in the homes those days were mostly old heavy Dutch
bibles and "psalm books" of the times, with an occasional
book of other kind. The bibles were mostly printed in Dutch characters.
There were Indians all around them, but when Johannes was young,
they were, for the most part friendly, and lived in peace with
the white settlers. The children of the Indians and whites played
togcther, hunted and fished together and usually got along in
a friendly a,n4 neighborly way.
Old Jacob Kuykendall, the father of Johannes, had so much dealing
with the Indians, in his trading with them, that he learned to
speak their language. Many of the settlers could talk with the
Indians. The country about the old Kuykendall farms was at first
all covered with timber, but most of it has been cleared off for
many years and used for agricultural purposes.
During the sulumer of 1914, just two hundred 'years after the
baptism of my great great grandfather Johannes Kuykcndall, I visited
the ancient home country of our forefathers on the Dela-ware,
and found it to be a charming region yet. It is also a very historic
section of the country, where many thrilling events occurred in
'both colonial and precolonial times. It was among these romantic
surroundings that Johannes Kuykendall was reared to manhood. While
living here he met and married at Kingston, Miss Elizabeth Brink.
She was a daughter of Thomas Brink, who, with Nicholas Schoonhaven,
deeded the tract of land upon which stood the Walpack church,
where Johannes had some of his children baptized. In the same
church there were several of the Kuykendall children baptized.
Johannes Knykendall, Jr., the great grandfather of the writer
was here baptized, August 8,1741.
It was only a few years after the birth of Johannes Jr. that the
family went to Virginia. Some of the Knykendall's had al-ready
gone' there and started homes. The country on the South Branch
of the Potomac was then new, with very few settlers. There were
no church organizations, nor church buildings in all the land,
PAGE 47 ILLUSTRATION
48..................... HISTORY OF THE KUVKENDALL FAMILY
so there were no church baptismal records kept
to show the genealogy of the people, as there had been in the
country of the Delaware valley, where our folks had previously
lived.
After getting to what is now Hampshire county, West Vir-ginia,
Johannes, Sr., or John, his brothers Nathaniel, Abraham, Uncle
Matthew and others of the family located on the south branch of
the Potomac, about six miles above the present town of Romney.
This town was laid out under the direction of Lord Fairfax, the
survey-ing and platting being done by George Washington, then
a young man. Johannes, was, at the time of going to that country,
about thirty years of age. He bought, March 10, 1760, a tract
of 250 acres of land from Jonathan Coburn, on the side of the
river
Pioneer Cabin of John Kuykendall. on South
Branch of Potomac. Hampshire County. Well Virginia
Built between 1760 and 1770.
opposite to his uncle, Matthew, who had located
there before him. Here he built a mill for grinding wheat and
corn for the settlers. This mill stood for many years, and is
mentioned a number of times in the Hampshire county records. He
dug a mill race over the tract of land, across a bend in the river,
and where the water was taken out of the river he built two substantial
walls of masonry' to form a forbear, and the stone walls remain
solid and in good condition yet.
The writer visited Virginia the summer of 1914, and was at the
old place where his great great grandfather, great grandfather
and grandfather lived, and saw the old mill race and stone masonry
at its head.
KUYKENDALLS IN "JOURNAL OF HOUSE OF BURGESSES"..................... 49
Johannes Kuykendall is mentioned in the "Journal
of the House of Burgesses" and in "Henning's Statutes"
of Virginia, in several places, as being connected with various
business transactions. Among the earliest of these is where "John
Kirkendahl" and John Welton had a land deal May 142 1751.
On the same day Matthias (Matthew) Kuykendall sold his place on
the "South Branch."
In the Journal of the House of Burgesses 'of Virginia, session
beginning March 25, 1756, pages 378 and 379, we have an account
of payment made to men in the service against the Indians, on
the South Branch, in 1755, for supplies furnished by persons living
in that region. Coin was so scarce that tobacco was the common
medium of exchange, and the greater part of the bills were paid
in this commodity.
In the list of payments we find the following:
"To John Kirkendale, for 6 Bufhels 3/2 pecks of Corn, and
1/2 Bufhel Wheat, appraifed to 175 lbs Tobacco
"To Nathaniel Kerkendale, for 3 steers, appraifed to 1200
lbs Tobacco.
"To Benjamin Kerkendale, for Pork and flour, valued at 1
Pound, 6 s, and 3 pence.
Johannes Jr., continued to live in that country until his death.
We have not the exact date of death of either the younger Johannes
or the death of his father, but the younger died in the latter
part of 1777 or early part of 1778, for his estate was being probated
the latter year, Henry Kuykendall Jr., being his administrator
and executor. This Henry was son of Henry, brother of Johannes
Sr. It seems that Johannes Jr. and his father Johannes Sr. and
Ben-jamin, brother of Johannes Sr. all died within a short time
of each other. The elder Henry died in Bourbon Co., Kentucky,
Benjamin died at his home in Pennsylvania, at the mouth of Peter's
Creek, and the two Johns, (father and son), died on the South
Branch of the Potomac, near Romney, W. Va.
There is a deed of record in Romney, bearing date of Feb. 17,
1804, from "Moses Kuykendall, heir at law of Benjamin Kuy-kendall,
and executor of his will, to Henry Kuykendall, son and executor
of Henry Kuykendall, of Bourbon County, Ky., for 219 acres in
Hampshire County." This deed says that Henry Kny-kendall,
deceased, was a son of John Kuykendall, that his father was named
Henry, and his grandfather was John, thus showing definitely the
relationship between the parties.
A few more excerpts from the old Virginia records follow:
"Deed 8th Sept. 1807, by Henry Knykendall of Ross County,
Ohio and Betsy, his wife, to Jonathan Purcell, of Knox County,
md."
Henry Kuykendall of Hampshire Vs Benjamin Kuykendall of Yohogamia.
Injunction 1789. Attended bill March 13, says "Benjamin Kuykendall
has died, leaving Moses Kuykendall heir at law."
Deed by Moses Kuykendall of Jefferson county Ky. to Henry Kuykendall
of Ross County, Ohio.
50.................... HISTORY OF THE KUYKENDALL FAMILY
There arc a number of other deeds along about that time show-ing among the Kuykendalls numerous property transfers, and trans-fers to persons of other names, that appear to have been relatives.
This changing about seems to have been partly
On account of the death of the two Johns and the elder Henry,
and partly because some of the parties interested in property
in Hampshire County, Va., had moved to Knox County, md., and others
to Ross County, Ohio.
There is little doubt that a careful search and study of the old
records of Romney might give many sidelights on the subject, and
possibly clues might be found that would lead to the unraveling
of many perplexing tangles, for which we now seem to have no solution.
During the civil war, a number of Hampshire county rec-ords were
destroyed or lost, and much valuable data has disappeared, making
the tracing of many of the old settlers very difficult or impossible.
After the death of Johannes Kuykendall Sr. born 1713, John Jr.
born 1741, and Henry Sr. (date of whose birth we do not know),
the families they represented, scattered away into different parts
of the country. Some went to Kentucky, just who, how many, or
what were their names, or their after history, we have no def-inite
data, except in regard to the descendants of Johannes Jr. (4),
(1741), whose history follows next.
JOHANNES KUYKENDALL (4), (1741), was the son of Johannes, Sr.,
and Elizabeth Brink. Johannes, Jr., hereafter called John, had
four sons and one daughter. Of the daughter we have only one family
tradition and not a definite record. The sons were of the fifth
generation, as follows:
Peter Kuykendall (5), born ,1775, married Miss Julia Ann
Daniel Kuykendall (5), born , 1779, married Phebe Price.
John Kuykendall (5), born 1779, married 1st Miss Van Kirk, 2nd
Miss Mary Peary.
Henry Kuykendall (5), born 1785, married 1st Mrs. McFall, 2nd
Miss Sarah Smith.
The brothers of this family are, for convenience, often called
"The Four Brothers," and when this term is used hereafter,
it will be understood that the above Peter, Daniel, John and Henry
are referred to.
Their father, John (4), died when he was under fifty years of
age, and when the youngest of them was but a small lad. Along
about 1805, these orphaned brothers decided to go to Indiana.
They went first to Kentucky and lived there for a time, and then
went on to Knox County, Indiana. They stopped for some years at
and about Fort Vincennes, which was the first place where the
whites made settlements in Indiana.
There were a number of cousins of these four brothers who went
in to Indiana and located at or near the same time. Among them
were Dr. Jacob Kuykendall and his brother Abraham, whose
TRAVELING IN COLONIAL TIMES .....................51
history is given elsewhere in this volume.
The lure of "Old Vin-cennes" fascinated these Kuykendalls
and decided the destiny of themselves and their descendants.
At that time the country was new and unorganized. There was the
old Fort Vincennes with a number of soldiers, a straggling little
hamlet of French, English and Indians and mixed breeds. The brothers
remained here in this vicinity for a few years, during which they
found time to explore the Wabash regions above. Owing to the timbered
condition of the country and lack of roads, traveling was done
mostly by boats along the water courses. Vessels propelled pelled
by steam had not yet come into common use. The most commonly used
water craft was the pirogue, the flat barge and canoe. Besides
these there were all manner of boats of various sizes propelled
by oars or sails.
At that time there were two principal routes taken for travel
by emigrants going from Virginia to Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio.
One of these was through the great forests, by land, and the other
was by the Ohio river. A considerable proportion of the emigration
went by this way, because it was easier and they could take along
more of their personal property and goods, but in times of Indian
hostilities it was very dangerous. On account of the danger perhaps
the larger part of the travel was overland by means of caravans,
in considerable bodies, for the protection of women, children
and stock.
Many a young married couple went from Virginia or the interior
of Kentucky, with all their earthly goods on a pack horse, or
carried all they had upon the horses they rode.
In this way they traversed narrow Indian trails, through deep
dark woods, along precipitous bluffs, mountain sides, or in ravines,
amid overhanging limbs of trees, over logs, brush and rocks, making
such progress as they could and camping wherever night found them.
When the four brothers arrived at Vincennes, the Indians were
nominally at peace, but depredations by roaming, lawless bands
were frequent, and made the condition of settlers precarious.
There were constant threatenings of a general uprising that kept
the pioneers in a state of dread and anxiety and prevented them
from looking after their farming and gardening and other work.
The story of the adventures and experiences of these Kuyken-dall
brothers would make very interesting reading. The "roughing
it" in the new country; Indian alarms, sudden attacks causing
the settlers to hasten to the little forts within stockades; fierce
fights with the savages, where the women in the forts molded bullets
and loaded the rifles for the men; how the forts were sometimes
fired by the Indians, and the girls and women went to springs
and creeks under fire of the redskins to carry water to put the
fire out; the dreadful malarial sickness the people had to endure;
my Grand father Henry's experiences in the campaign of Harrison
in the years 1$1 1 ;-these all would bristle with adventure and
thrill with interest. But this must be passed by. The separate
history of these brothers will be taken up in the next chapter.
CHAPTER X
THE FOUR BROTHERS-CONTINUATION FROM LAST CHAPTER.
Peter Kuykendall (5), born 1775, was the son
of John (4), baptized August 8, 1741, son of Johannes (3), baptized
Jan.19, 1713, son of Jacob (2), baptized Aug.12, 1683, son of
Luur Jacobsen \Van Kuykendaal baptized May 29, 1650.
Peter located near Terre Haute, Indiana, just across the state
line in Indiana, on a rich, heavily timbered tract of land, on
the \Vabash river bottom, about the same time his brother Henry
located on Sugar Creek. Here he succeeded in getting a nice tract
of land cleared up and put into cultivation, and had begun to
get a start in life, when his health failed. Realizing that this
was to be his last sickness he made a will, which was dated in
February, 1825. In this will he left his property to his wife
and to a son William and a daughter Elizabeth. The daughter went
to Wisconsin.
The son grew up in the country where he was born, but no history
of him has been obtained. If there should living descendants of
this son happen to see this sketch, he will be able to complete
the line of his ancestry, back to our first American forefather.
The next one of the four brothers will now be considered.
Daniel Kuykendall (5), born 1777, was son of Johannes (4), born
1741, married Phoebe Price, and they had four children as follows:
Fanny (6), no birth date, married Benj. Painter, 4 children.
Henry (6), born April 15, 1818, married Nancy Brimberry.
Elizabeth (6), no birth date married Elias Hughes.
John (6), no birth date known, died at age of 21, unmarried.
Concerning these four children of Daniel's we know nothing more
than is here stated, except in regard to Henry (6), born as stated,
April 18, 1818. He 4ied Sept.20, 1904, and his wife died three
or four years earlier.
Henry and his wife, Nancy J. Brimberry, lived all their early
married life at Palestine, Crawford county, Illinois. Here some
of the family were buried. They had ten children. They moved later
to Christian county, Kansas, during the great grasshopper invasion,
and settled about five miles from Topeka. Here Mr. Kuykendall
acquired a competence. He was a very fine man, generous, energetic
and thrifty. He died at Topeka.
The children of Henry Kuykendall (6), and Nancy. Jane l')Brimberry,
were:
John A. (7), born Jan. 1, 1842, died Sept.24, 1913.
Jerusha Ann (7), born Oct.30, 1843.
Daniel (7) born Feb. 3, 1845, died in infancy.
Leander (7), born Jan. 3, 1847, lives near San Diego, Cal.
Henry Price (7) born Jan.20, 1850, died in infancy.
Phebe Ellen (7), born Aug.20, 1852, married James Whitehead.
Nancy Jane (7). born Jan.20, 1854, married Henry R. Rice.
KUYKENDALL COURTSHIP AT LINCOLN'S HOME....................53
William Rush (7), born March 27, 1856, lives
at Topeka, Kan.
Joseph (7), born June 11, 1858 married, has three children.
Effie Afton (7), horn March 28, 1864, died 1867.
Following up the history of this family we have first John
A. Kuykendall, who married 1st Mary Lee, Dec.26, 1864, who was
born at Elizabeth, N. J., 1844 and died at Taylorville, Ill.,
July 3, 1873. He first met Miss Lee at the home of Abraham Lincoln,
in Springfield, Ill. It was under the roof of the great emancipator
that he wooed and won his wife, during the throes of the Civil
war.
JOHN A. KUYKENDALL Los Angeles, Cal ---------PICTURE.
They were married in Springfield. They had
four children, who were of the eighth generation. Seven years
after the death of his first wife he married Miss Tabitha E. Hopkins,
of Cloverdale, Ia.
He enlisted in the Union army August 16, 1861, and served in Co.
D, 33, Reg. Ill. Volunteers. He was under General Grant most of
the time of his service, was in many battles and at the siege
of Vicksburg. He was wounded in one of his arms, 1863. After the
war he was in business several different places, and for several
years was in Minneapolis, Minn., where he dealt in mines and mining
stock, visited London and made successful sales there. He went
to California fifteen years before his death. His last work
54.................... HISTORY OF THE KUYKENDALL FAMILY
was in connection with the settlement of a
large estate involving several million dollars, with suit against
railroad corporations. He made several visits to New York, Washington,
D. C., and Chicago while in this business. He was suddenly stricken
with apoplexy, while at home in Los Angeles, Cal., on a visit.
His death followed in a few minutes, and he was buried in Rosedale
cemetery, Los Angeles. He died Sept.24, 1913.. His widow still
lives in Los Angeles, Cal. He had four children by his first wife:
Maude Kuykendall (8), born ??? , married Edward Thomas, who is
a druggist.
Edna Kuykendall (8), born ??? , married Mr. Mitchell.
Nellie Kuykendall (8), was born ??? , married Mr. Meister.
Henry (8), born, date not learned, died in infancy.
These daughters have lived for some years in California. Mr. Thomas,
the husband of Maude, is a prescription druggist, and until recently
resided in San Francisco, at 129 Guerrera Street. Mrs. Mitchell
and Mrs. Meister live in Los Angeles, Cal., the former at 720
Cornwell Street, and at latter at 550 Nordyke Avenue.
With the death of Mr. John A. Kuykendall, the male side of his
family ceased and there is no male living to continue the line.
LEANDER (7) was the second son of Henry Kuykendall and Nancy Brimberry,
brother of John A., whose family we have just followed. Leander
as seen in the family record was born Jan. 3, 1847. He married
Anna Abbott, in Taylorville, md. He and his wife, when young,
were school teachers.
They have five children: Gertrude, Edith, Arthur, Arle and Edwina.
The family have lived for many years in California, their present
home being near San Diego, at National City
Leander has been for some years past in the transfer business
at and around San Diego, Cal.
WILLIAM RUSH KUYKENDALL (7), brother of John A. and Leander, was
born March 27, 1856, as seen in the family record. He has lived
at Topeka ever since his father moved there many years ago. He
has remained single, and has for years been engaged in the real
estate and insurance business.
The third of the four brothers who went from Virginia to Indiana
was JOHN KUYKENDALL (5), son of Johannes (4), born 1741. John
located in Sugar Creek Township, about six miles west of Terre
Haute, in 1819, within less than a mile of his brother Peter.
Here at the age of about forty years he started to make a new
farm on heavily timbered Wabash bottom land. He had married his
first wife, Miss Van Kirk, eleven or twelve years before, and
had three children by her, the eldest of which was George Washington
(6), who was then about eight years old. The other two children
were Belinda and Sarah Elizabeth. His first wife had died and
he married the second time about the time he moved upon his newly
acquired land. His second marriage was to Miss Mary Peary. He
lived on this place until his death, Dec. 29, 1834, when he was
fifty-five years old. His wife died Nov.20,
DESCENDANTS OF JOHN, ONE OF THE "FOUR BROTHERS" ....................55
1858. A full list of his children is found
in the section of this work, "Kuykendall Genesis," where
most of his descendants are to be found in the order of their
birth. Some discrepancy was found in the dates of birth, as given
by different correspondents.
The eldest son of John Kuykendall and wife, Van Kirk, was GEORGE
WASHINGTON (6), born Oct.16, 1811, who married Nancy Forsyth Art,
Nov.26, 1840. They had a family of ten children. He lived a few
miles west of Terre Haute, md., and died at his home Nov. 9, 1864,
and was buried in the Pisgah cemetery, near Sandford, md.
Washington was a man of energy, character and of fine natural
ability. He had a family whose sons and daughters have been useful
citizens.
The first in the family of George Washington was JOHN THOMAS (7),
born 1841. He grew up at the old homestead and received his education
in the schools of the community where he lived. At about the age
of twenty-one he enlisted in Company C, 85th Regiment, Illinois
Volunteer Infantry, and served from August, 1862, until the close
of the war. He was in numerous severe engage-ments and was with
Sherman in his "March to the Sea." He received an honorable
discharge, and after returning home married Miss Annie Rollins.
They had no children. He died of heart disease Oct. 2, 1892. His
widow lives in West Terre Haute, md.
WILLIAM ESPEY (7), son of George Washington and Nancy Forsyth
Art, was born Sept.18, 1844. He entered the Union Army Oct.14,
1861, in the 43rd Indiana Volunteer Infantry. He was discharged
for disability Sept.28, 1862. When he had recovered, he re-enlisted
in Company D, 11th Volunteer Indiana Cavalry, and served until
the end of the war. He was married twice. First to Susan Lankford,
July 5, 1866, and second to Sarah E. Smith, Dec. 28, 1882. He
died Sept.10, 1917.
Mr. William Espey Kuykendall was a man of intelligence, good judgment
and business ability, a man of strict integrity and relia-bility.
He was always a staunch friend of education, morality and progress.
His family were brought up under the influence and teachings of
the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he was a loyal adherent.
Most of William Espey Kuykendall's children and grandchil-dren
live in Illinois, not far from the old paternal home.
For the eighth generation the reader is referred to the section
"Kuykendall Genesis."
JAMES McELROY KUYKENDALL (7), third son of George Washington Kuykendall,
was born April 4, 1847, and married Lennie Adams. He died Jan.20,
1899.
There are two 'daughters living. His widow, Mrs. Lennie Kuykendall,
lives in West Terre Haute, Ind.
There were two daughters of George Washington that married brothers.
The daughters were MARY JANE, born April 22, 1843, and married
Hiram B. Smith; MARY ELIZABETH KUYKEN-
56...................... HISTORY OF THE KUYKENDALL FAMILY
DALL, born August 9, 1849, married George W.
Smith. Hiram B.Smith was a veteran of Company A, 7th Illinois
Cavalry, Union army. He died about 1901, and his widow, Mary Jane
(Kuykendall)
Smith, lives at West Terre Haute, md.
George W. Smith, husband of Nancy Elizabeth Kuykendall, was also
a soldier of the Civil war, in 115th Indiana Infantry.
WELTON MODESITT KUYKENDALL (7), son of George \Washington Kuykendall
and Nancy Forsyth Art Kuykendall, was born Jan. 5, 1855. Welton's
father died, leaving him an orphan at the age of nine years. He
remained home until he was twenty-two years old, to aid the family.
His early education was obtained in the old schoolhouse in district
number two, Vigo county. After a varied experience in farming
and other business, he married Miss Clara Olive Smith, daughter
of Milton H. Smith of Edgar county, Illinois, Dec.28, 1882. In
the fall of 1844 he in company with his wife's people went out
into Kansas and located on government lands, where they made homes.
ALFRED ANSON KUYKENDALL (7), son of Washington Kuykendall and
Nancy Forsyth Art Kuykendall, was born Oct.
26, 1857.
He married Lizzie Ferguson, and they had two daughters and one
son. Mrs. Nettie Soloners, of South Bend, Ind., and Mrs. Verna
Cooney, of Peoria, Ill. The son's name is Mervil Kuykendall. Mr.
Alfred A. Kuykendall had a grocery store in West Terre Haute,
Ind. He died suddenly, 1913, of heart disease, when seemingly
in good health. At last accounts his wife was still living in
West Terre Haute, Ind.
Having now followed out the descendants of Washington Kuykendall
(6), the first in the family of John (5), 1779, there comes next
BELINDA (6), who was born , 1813, and married John Long, who was
born in Tennessee. The children of Belinda Kuykendall Long and
John Long are given below, accord-ing to the date at hand from
which dates are missing:
Samuel (7), born , 1832.
Daughter (7), born
Nancy Catherine (7), born , 1835.
Elizabeth (7), born ,1837, died in infancy.
Sarah (7), born
Alfred (7), (no date of birth found).
Sarah (7), born in 1847.
John (7), born in 1852.
There is only one of the above children of whom there is any-thing
definite known by the writer. Nancy Catherine, born 1835, married
1st C. Charlton, by whom she had five children. He then died and
she married 2nd time, to Thomas C. Hill, and they have had seven
children.
Mrs. Nancy C. Hill and her husband are living still, he at the
age of 92 years and she 87. They are remarkably well preserved
physically and mentally. They live at Manito, Ill., and raise
a
DESCENDANTS OF JOHN, ONE OF THE "FOUR BROTHERS" ....................57
fine garden every year and raise pigs and chickens.
They have a son, Dr. Hill, who practices medicine.
ELIZABETH (6), daughter of John Kuykendall and his wife, Van Kirk,
was born , 1815, and married a man named John Logan. She died
near St. Louis, Mo., and there are said to be two daughters living
in the country yet.
WILLIAM KUYKENDALL (6), son of John Kuykendall and Mary Peary,
second wife, was horn April 27, 1820, and married Martha Simms,
who was born April 24, 1824. William Kuykendall died Feb.22 1890.
He started at farming with forty acres of land, worked at clearing
it of timber during the summer time, and taught school in the
winter, saved his money and invested in more land. On this place
is a tract of timber that remains much as it was a hundred years
ago, covered with large fine beech, walnut, hickory, linden, oak
and sycamore trees. Many years ago there used to be a sugar camp"
on this place, where the family made maple sugar.
Names and dates of birth of the children of William Kuykendall
and Martha Simms Kuykendall are found below, with some of the
facts connected with their life history, which can only be given
very briefly.
Maurice (7), was born Feb.28, 1844, died Nov.15, 1865. He was
graduated before he was seventeen, and when the Civil war began,
he enlisted in the. Sixth Regiment md. Indiana Cavalry. He was
taken sick with typhoid fever and died Nov.15 1865. He was never
married.
John (7), was born March 26, 1846, and died May 5, 1869. He also
served in the Union army in the Civil war. He married Lucy Farr,
Nov.22, 1866, left one daughter Nettie. His wife, Lucy, married
the second time, and is now Mrs. Lucy Campbell living at West
Terre Haute, Ind.
William (7), born Nov. 11, 1848, married Miss Mattie Scott and
they had four children of the 8th generation. For names and date
of birth, see "Kuykendall Genesis."
Pauline (7), was born Nov. 9, 1850, married Jacob Hixon. Mrs.
Hixon resides in West Terre Haute, Ind., R. F. D. No.6. She has
children living. He died several years ago.
Henry Clay (7), was born March 7, 1853, and married Miss Sarah
F. Engles, Dec.19, 1871. They had an even dozen children, the
names of which will be found in "Kuykendall Genesis,"
eighth generation.
Martha Jane (7), was born July 31, 1855, married Charles Wesser,
Dec. 29, 1877. Address Charles Wesser, Marshall, Ill., R. F. D.
5.
Sarah Elizabeth (7), was born July 15, 1857, married John Davis.
Address Mrs. Sarah Davidson, Marshall, Ill., R. F. D. No.1.
Mary Clotilda (7), was born Oct.30, 1859, and married John L.
Thompson, a carpenter. No children. Address Marshall, Ill.
Lyman Beecher (7), born June 2, 1862, married Minnie Cooper, August,
1890. They have no children.
58.....................HISTORY OF THE KUYKENDALL FAMILY
Alzira (7), horn June 30, 1864, history of
her family not at hand; family is living somewhere near Marshall,
Ill.
Minnie (7), horn July 9, 1866, married John Franklin Murphy, Dec.28,
1886. J. F. Murphy was born Oct.25, 1860. He is a farmer. They
have children: Maud, Everett F., Vierling John, Virgil Leroy and
Robert Edward. See "Kuykendall Genesis."
There will now be given a brief sketch of some of the members
of the family of William Kuykendall (6), Sr., and Martha Simms,
his wife.
When the Civil war began and Lincoln made a proclamation calling
for volunteers, two sons, Maurice and John, offered their services
and joined the army. Maurice enlisted in the 71st Regi-ment, Sixth
Indiana Volunteers, and served with ability to the end of the
war, coming out with a lieutenant's commission. Going hack home
from the war, he took typhoid fever and died Nov.15, 1865.
John, the brother of Maurice, served through the Civil war, and
died four years after his return home. He married Miss Lucy Farr,
in 1866, and left one daughter, Nettie, who was living a short
time ago. John's widow married again to a man named Campbell.
Mrs. Lucy Campbell lives in West Terre Haute, md.
It is rather a curious fact that the widows of nearly all the
Kuykendall Civil war soldiers in that part of the country, live
or did live at or near West Terre Haute, md.
William Kuykendall Jr. (7), lives near the old homestead, on the
rural mail route out of Marshall, Ill., close to the Indiana state
line. He has been closely connected with the breeding and rais-ing
of fine horses and cattle, and has taken great pride in improving
the farm stock of his community. He has a large, beautiful and
fertile farm with a comfortable home. In the country near around
live most of his children and grandchildren.
Henry Clay Kuykendall (7), is the next younger son of William
Kuykendall (6). He married Miss Sarah F. Engles and they have
had twelve children, six sons and six daughters, most of whom
grew up to maturity.
Henry Clay has had somewhat of a varied experience. In his early
life he farmed, later followed the nursery business, and has far
a number of years been a minister of the "Christian Church."
He has, while preaching, carried on several little side lines,
among which were raising medical herbs, such as ginseng, golden
seal, plants that in early days were very plentiful in that part
of the country.
Lyman Beecher, the youngest of the family of William and Martha
Simms Kuykendall, married Miss Minnie Cooper. They have no children.
They have a beautiful farm, situated in a very rich region, that
certainly looks to be unsurpassed as a farming region. On this
tract is the forest tract before mentioned. Here red and grey
squirrels clamber over beech, walnut and hickory trees and rustle
down the nuts as they did when the Indians were the only human
inhabitants of the country.
DESCENDANTS OF JOHN, ONE OF THE "FOUR BROTHERS" ..................59
We have been for some time tracing the history
of the descend-ants of John Kuykendall (5), one of the "Four
Brothers," and have followed out the line of George Washington,
and William, his two eldest sons3 and have also mentioned some
of the daughters.
We now come to Samuel Kuykendall (6), born January 8, 1825, who
married Lorna Jane McMillen, Jan.15, 1845. She was born Aug.30,
1828.
Samuel died June 7, 1890. The family of Samuel Kuykendall are
mostly traced out to the Eighth generation in the section on "Kuykendall
Genesis." In addition to what is found in that section it
may be said that William clippinger Kuykendall, son of Samuel
Kuykendall, lives upon his farm a few miles out from Terre Haute,
Ind. His sister, Mary Eleanor, four years older, stays with him.
They have a large number of warm friends in the country about
them. Mr. Kuykendall had the great misfortune to lose his wife,
Jennie McCandless Smith Kuykendall, Nov.19, 1910.
His son, Ernest, married Miss May Herrington. They have no children.
A happy couple and very pleasant to meet.
Annie Celestia, daughter of Samuel (6), married Jerome Hogue and
they have seven children, ranging in ages from 21 to 39 years
(1917), with many grandchildren. Most of the family live near
the border line between Indiana and Illinois.
We now go back to Alfred Kuykendall (6), third in the family of
John Kuykendall and Mary Peary. As before shown, Alfred was born
Dec.20, 1823. He grew up to manhood in the vicinity of the old
home and married Annie Long. In the year 1852 he and his wife
with some other Kuykendalls and their neighbors, Longs and other
people of the neighborhood, moved to Wisconsin. Alfred settled
at Rich-land Center.
Their children's names were:
John (7), horn Sept. 24, 1844, married Jane Kittle, born May,
1846.
Jacob (7), born Feb.13, 1848, married Nellie Reed.
Of these two sons John married, as stated, Jane Kittle, and they
had four children that lived to be of age. These children are
of the eighth generation from the first American born ancestor.
Their names are:
Cora May, born June 5, 1867. Alfred, born Nov. 10.1870. Edith,
born Dec.23, 1873. Lena Belle, born July 29, 1884. Of these Alfred,
the only son in the family, was brought up at Rich-land Center,
Wis., was educated in the common schools of the country and later
attended the University of Wisconsin and secured a good education.
He engaged in school teaching, and after some experience there,
he was elected School Superintendent. Later he was employed as
principal of the high school at Pomeroy, Wash.; remained there
for one year, and then he went to Los Angeles, Cal., and later
back to Wisconsin. From there he went to Bellingham, Wash., to
take charge of the Normal High School at that place in August,
1915.
60 ...................HISTORY OF THE KUYKENDALL FAMILY
He was taken suddenly ill in the school room
and died after a few hours of illness. His body was taken to Wisconsin
for interment.
Lena Belle, his sister, went to Washington state, while Alfred
was in Pomeroy, and taught school in Asotin county. There she
met and married Charles Smith, and they afterwards went back to
Wisconsin, where he died in the spring of 1918. They lived for
a while at Eau Claire, Wis.; they had three children.
Mary (7), daughter of Alfred Sr., married David Henry, and they
have several children.
Jacob (7), married Nellie Reed, June 27, 1869, and they have had
nine children, five sons and four daughters, of the eighth gen-eration,
viz:
Frederick Paul, born June 13, 1871. Maurice, born Oct. 8, 1874.
Emma Alice, born Feb. 9, 1876, married Jerome Fry, Aug.16, 1896.
Harry, born June 1, 1878. Frank, born July 4, 1881. Katie Marie,
born Jan. 10, 1886, married George Ray, Aug.22, 1903. Sydney,
born Oct. 2, 1889. Jessie and Bessie (twins), born April 29, 1891.
Jessie married Albert Agnew, Jan.19, 1908, and Bessie married
Walter Lundgren, April 16, 1910.
All these are living, 1918.
Frederick Paul, son of Jacob Kuykendall and Nellie Reed, married
Elizabeth Jackson. They have children: Ray, born April 24, 1892.
Leta, born, 1894; Albert, born 1896; Thelma, born Jan.26, 1906,
and Chauncey Norman and Idel.
Maurice married Carrie Burges, Jan. 8, 1893. They have two children:
Boyd, born April 8, 1896. (He is in the army.) Lela, born July
12, 1894.
Harry, married Edith Stull, Sept. 8, 1900. They have two children:
Vera Lucile, born June 7, 1904, and Leon Claire, born Oct.24,.
1906.
Sydney, married Miss ______. They have three children: Archie
Lowery, born Feb. 8, 1911. Junior, born Feb.14,1914, and
Clermont, born_______, 1916. Sydney is in the army.
Frank, born July 4,1881, married______, May, 1907. They have three
children: Clyde Milton, born Aug. 4, 1900. Alice, who (died in
infancy and Davol, date of birth not obtained.
Most of the children and grandchildren of Jacob Kuykendall, son
of Alfred, Sr., are to be found in Wisconsin. Jacob still lives
there at Richland Center, with most of his children not far away.
It will be noticed above, that John Kuykendall, father of this
Alfred Kuykendall, married Jane Kittel. This is quite interesting
in view of the fact that Petrus Kuykendal married Catherine Kittel,
at Deerpark, N. Y., Dec.17, 1752. Petrus was the son of old Pieter
Kuykendal, who lived at Machackemeck, (Port Jervis, N. Y.) I surmise
that this Jane Kittel was of the same Kittel family. It would
be quite interesting to trace the matter out.
CHAPTER XI
DESCENDANTS OF HENRY KUYKENDALL (5), YOUNGEST
OF THE
FOUR BROTHERS.
We now come to the youngest and last of the
four brothers. sons of Johannes (4), grandson of Jacob.
HENRY KUYKENDALL (5), was born in Hampshire county, Virginia,
1785. Some of the activities of his life have already been mentioned
in the account of the going to Indiana of the four Kuykendall
brothers.
Henry married first at Vincennes, Mrs. McFalI, a widow with two
sons and a daughter. By this marriage he had one daughter, Mary.
When Mary was only a small child, her mother died, and Henry again
married, this time to Miss Sarah Smith, daughter of Henry Smith,
who lived a few miles from Terre Haute. The first marriage was
1808-9 and the last about 1816. Henry and his wife moved upon
a new tract of land he had entered that year, living in a tent
or "lean to" while a new cabin was being erected. While
still living this way, their first son, Daniel, was born. A history
of Vigo county says "Daniel Kuykendall was the first white.
child born in the Sugar Creek Township."
There were still a good many Indians in the country, and they
made frequent visits to the cabins of the white settlers, and
were not very welcome to the women, when the men were away from
home. The memory of recent outbreaks was too fresh in their minds
for the redskins to be welcome visitors. They were very busy people,
however, with plenty of hard work to occupy their time. Henry
Kuykendall cleared a tract of land and proceeded to build a home
and a saw mill and grist mill. At that time little wheat was raised
in the country, corn being the main reliance for bread. Henry
and his wife and family lived on this farm for thirty years, and
all their children were born on the old homestead. The family
record is given below.
Mary Ann Kuykendall (6), was born June 10, 1810, by his first
wife; by second wife, Sarah Smith, were born;
Daniel Kuykendall (6), born July 14, 1817, married several times.
George (6), born September 19, 1818, married Candace Stark.
John (6), born April 14, 1820, married Malinda Stark.
Ephraim (6), 4ied in very early infancy, no record found.
Henry H. (6), born April 2, 1831.
William E. (6), born Dec.22, 1833, both died young.
Sarah Ellen (6), born June 14, 1836.
James Wesley (6), born June 14, 1836; these were twin children.
Leonard (6), was born May 10, 1839, was never married.
Henry Kuykendall died in Monroe, Wis.; was buried there. Sarah,
his wife, died at Sandford, Indiana, and was buried in Pisgah
cemetery.
62................... HISTORY OF THE KUYKENDALL FAMILY
Daniel, the eldest son, grew to manhood at
the old homestead and was educated in the district schools of
the country near his home. He married Miss Virena Malcoib, in
the year 1836, and moved to Freeport, Ill., in the year 1843.
From there he moved to Wisconsin, with his brothers, John and
George, in 1846. During his lifetime he held several county offices
and positions of trust. He was married several times and had a
large family of children, of whom at the present time (1918) there
are living his eldest daughter, Sarah Ann (Edwards), and a son,
William L., who has been for some time living near Kansas City,
Mo. Mrs. Edwards is a spry, well preserved old lady of nearly
79 years of age. She lives at Hudson, Wis., has one son and two
daughters living.
Her eldest son married Miss Anna Skoliska in the year 1860, and
they have two sons, William and George, and one daughter, Lillian.
The second son of Daniel Kuykendall (6), son of Henry, was Henry
Alexander (7), born 1840. He enlisted in the Union army, 1861,
was wounded at Mound City, Ill., and died in the hospital near
Fort Donaldson, in the year 1862. He was unmarried.
Nancy Ellen (7), was born 1842, married Charles Chadwick, 1868.
They had three children, viz: Ernest, married but no chil-dren;
Cassius, single; Lillian, married Edgar Cowles.
John (7), was born March 18, 1842, died March 21, 1898. He was
in the Fifth Regiment Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, Company
F. Enlisted Jan. 24, 1862. Wounded at Nashville, discharged March
22, 1865. He was in a large number of engagements, some of which
were at Corinth, 1862; Richmond, 1863; Mississippi Springs, and
Jackson, Mississippi, 1863; Vicksburg, and various other places.
After the war he married Martha Fidelia Chadwick, Oct.11, 1868,
and they had three sons who grew to manhood:
Ulysses Schuyler (8), born Sept. 9, 1869, married September, 1899.
John Selab (8), born April 26, 1875.
Aleck Gerdon (8), born March 29, 1878.
Ulysses Schuyler (8), has four children, viz: Ruby May (9), born
Sept.23, 1902, died May 26, 1903. Nina Irene (9), born March 17,
1904; Percy AIlden (9), born Nov.26, 1906; Jessie Alice (9), born
Dec.16, 1909, died Dec.20, 1910;
All these people live in the fertile irrigated district, of which
Grandview, Wash., forms the center, where they are engaged in
raising fruit and in bee culture.
Mary Jane Kuykendall (7), daughter of Daniel, was born 1845 and
married Frederick Miller. She died in 1911; they have five children
as follows: Minnie (8), is married and lives at Roosevelt, Okla.
Arthur (8), single, lives at Roosevelt, OkIa. Jessie (8), single,
lives at Wetmore, Kan. May (8), is married and lives at Hiawatha,
Kan. Clyde (8), single, lives at Wetmore, Kan.
By his wife, Mary Armstrong, Daniel Kuykendall had two Children,
viz:
DESCENDANTS OF HENRY, ONE OF THE "FOUR BROTHERS" .....................63
Isaac Kuykendall (7), born, date not found,
died 1862.
William L. (7), son of Daniel (6), was born July 3, 1850, and
married Miss Mary Ann Chambers, March 7, 1872. They have had six
children as named below:
Sarah Ellen (8), born March 28, 1873, married Frank Binnall, 1895.
They have three children, June, Alfred, and Florence Hester.
Aaron (8), born August 17, 1875, is single, at Des Moines, Ia.
Mary Fleck (8), born August 17, 1875, died aged nine months.
Francis (8), was born Dec. 18, 1883, married Wyllie Alice John.
They have no children.
William Harrison (8), born Dec. 4, 1888, was
drowned while bathing in Little Wableu river, Mo., June 16, 1906.
Charles Lucius (8), was born Feb. 19, 1902, graduated at Des Moines
College, 1910, and resides in Des Moines, Ia.
Daniel Kuykendall had another son, by his third wife, Anna Bailes,
date of whose birth and subsequent history are not at hand.
We now come to the third in the family of Henry Kuykendall (5),
GEORGE KUYKENDALL (6), who was born, as seen before, Sept.19,
1818, at the old Henry Kuykendall homestead, on Sugar Creek, Vigo
county, Ind.
He married Candace Stark, daughter of Jesse Stark, Feb. 27, 1846.
64.....................HISTORY OF THE KUYKENDALL FAMILY
It so happened that the lives of George Kuykendall
and his brother John were cast more closely together than any
of the other children of the. family. At an early age they both
manifested a decided mechanical tendency. In this they were encouraged
by their father, who supplied them with material and tools to
work with.
John, the y6unger of the brothers, married first, and George,
the elder, married a younger sister of John's wife, three years
after John's marriage. They worked together at the old shop, then
took building contracts together in the country round about Terre
Haute, and together they moved to Wisconsin in the year 1846.
In 1852,
they "crossed the plains" together,
and located in the same neigh-borhood in Southern Oregon. They
were intimately associated together in business for between forty
and fifty years.
After living fourteen years in Douglas County, Ore., near the
village of Wilbur, the family of George Kuykendall moved to California
in the year 1867, and in 1870 they located in Santa Rosa, where
they continued to reside up to the time of the death of the head
of the family, which occurred June 13, 1900.
His wife, Candace Kuykendall, died Nov.30, 1893. The home place
fell into the hands of their son, William Stark Kuykendall, who
has lived there ever since. William had two children, both died
in infancy.