Thursday, October 27, 2011

Eason Heirs of Alexander Adams (ca. 1719 – 1805)


Alexander Adams, an early settler in Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky, died there on 12 January 1805 at the age of 85.[1] His will, written 23 December 1799, was proven in the Fayette County Court in the May 1805 session and ordered to be recorded.[2] Later the will could not be found, but its terms are summarized in an 1829 deed from his daughter, Agnes Eckles.

Alexander’s widow Ann Adams was left a life interest in the estate which was to be equally divided after her death among three daughters, Mary Milligan, Jane Eason, and Eleanor Steele and his grandson, Alexander Eckles, son of his daughter Agnes Eckles.[3]

Alexander Eckles sold his future share of the estate to Fulton Thompson on 18 June 1812.[4] When the will could not later be found, Agnes Eckles executed another deed to Thompson on 5 March 1829 relinquishing any claim to the estate that would have been hers without the will.

In 1831 the shares of Mary Milligan and the heirs of Jane Eason were sold to Charlton Hunt and Richard A. Curd. One deed sold the share of Alexander “Eson” and his wife Jane of Owen County, Indiana, on 13 August 1831. It specified that he was one of the children and heirs of Jane “Eson,” deceased and her husband Robert “Eson,” also deceased. The deed was recorded in Fayette County, Kentucky, on 30 December 1831.[5]

A single deed, dated 10 June 1831, sold the shares of John Milligan and Mary his wife, daughter of Alexander Adams and additional heirs of Jane “Eson,” daughter of Alexander Adams, all of the State of Pennsylvania. Their names and locations were:
  • John Milligan, Esquire, and wife Mary of Westmoreland County
  • John Eason and wife Elizabeth of Indiana County
  • John Patton and wife Jane of Centre County
  • Nancy Eason of Centre County
  • Henry Hughes and wife Margaret of Lycoming County
  • Samuel Shaffer and wife Elizabeth of Lycoming County
This sale was also to Hunt and Curd of Lexington, Kentucky.[6]

The share of Eleanor Steele was not accounted for in these deeds. Robert Eason and his wife Jane (nee Adams) were both deceased by 1831 when the deeds were executed. All of their surviving children may be included in these two deeds. All of them lived in Pennsylvania except Alexander Eason who lived in Owen County, Indiana.


[1] Died (Alexander Adams), Kentucky Gazette, Lexington, Kentucky, 15 January 1805, p. 3.
[2] Order Book 1: 274, probate of will of Alexander Adams, Fayette County Clerk, Lexington, KY.
[3] Deed Book 5: 112, Agnes Eckles to Fulton Thompson, Fayette County Clerk, Lexington, KY.
[4] Deed Book G: 62, Alexander Eckles to Fulton Thompson, 1812, Fayette County Clerk, Lexington, KY.
[5] Deed Book 7: 435-36, Alexander & Jane Eason, heirs of Alexander Adams to Hunt & Curd, Fayette County Clerk, Lexington, KY.
[6] Deed Book 7: 436-48, Eason & Milligan heirs of Alexander Adams to Hunt & Curd, Fayette County Clerk, Lexington, KY.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Tombstone Tuesday: Nichols in Georgetown

I've written about my Eckles and Nichols family in Kentucky. I have yet to learn of the location in which the family in Georgetown (Scott County, Kentucky) were buried into the 1860s. The earliest family recorded on a tombstone in the Georgetown Cemetery is undoubtedly of later origin. One side commemorates Charles Nichols (1817-1862), his wife Nancy Boyd (Eckles) Nichols (1819-1888) and their daughter Mary Ann Nichols (1843 - 1864). The reverse of the stone is for their son Charles Boyd Nichols, a prominent Kentuckian. He lived from 1848 to 1920. Also on the stone are his wife Ella Tarlton Nichols (1848 - 1930, also my relative) and their infant daughter Mary Ann (22 Jan 1872 - Feb 1872). I believe it is likely that son Charles Boyd Nichols had the stone carved for his parents as well as his own family. Its style is more in keeping with the 1920s than 1888 let alone the 1860s.

photographed in Georgetown Cemetery 1 September 2011
Close by are the stones for the eldest in this Nichols family and his wife. Moses Eckles Nichols (1841 - 1908) has a stone inscribed "Father" beside one inscribed "Mother" for his wife Martha "Mattie" Coleman (Lightburne) Nichols (1845 - 1911.)


Georgetown Cemetery records are posted online and may be searched HERE.