William A. Eckles: The Youngest Son Went West

 William Adams Eckles of Kentucky, born 1807

by Jean M. Hoffman, CG

William Eckles was born 28 June 1807 to Robert and Nancy (Adams) Eckles probably in Fayette County, Kentucky.¹ That is around the time his father likely died. William's full name was William Adams Eckles, the middle name his mother's maiden name. Three-year-old William undoubtedly was one of two males under age ten in the U.S. census of 6 August 1810 in the Nancy “Ackels” household in Fayette County.²

 The Eckles family soon moved to Georgetown in neighboring Scott County, Kentucky.³ There his oldest brother, Charles, became the head of household. William was 13 when the U.S. census of 7 August 1820 was taken so he is surely the male ten but under 16 in the Georgetown household of Charles Eckles.⁴ William’s three older brothers would be the ones engaged in manufacture. Since Charles was a wagon maker, the family probably all worked in the business. Their mother would be the oldest female, over 45. Will Brown headed the family before theirs on the census sheet. Mr. Brown was probably a brother-in-law of Charles Eckles married to Jane (Boyd) Brown, a sister of Charles’s wife and a future member of the Georgetown Presbyterian Church.

 As William Eckles matured, his own name appeared in records. Before they turned 18 and were eligible for militia, a group of 25 Georgetown boys had a company of their own. Their captain was John A. Gano in whose papers the militia list is located.⁵ It begins with this:

 “We are now forming a company to the Rules of which all the

undersigned must agree. ---- Rule 1st Each man ^boy

belonging to the company shall[,] if an officer[,] have a black

plume and blue uniform and sword[,] if not[,] a white plume

and blue uniform with a gun ---- 2nd Each man ^boy^ shall

obey his officer[.] 3rd Each person belonging to the com

=pany shall be liable to a fine for non attendance

as the company shall direct --------"

Oliver Brown, next on the list after William Eckles, was their lieutenant. Oliver was born in 1806, a son of previously mentioned William and Jane (Boyd) Brown.⁶ John A. Gano was born in 1805. For this to be when he was under 18, the group was probably established before 1822.

 Though only 16 at the time, William might be the “W. Eckle” who was a charter member of Royal Arch Mason Chapter #13 when it was established on 1 December 1823 in Georgetown, Scott County, Kentucky.⁷ The other charter members were W. D. Hubbel, Levi Lusk, W. Johnson, Stephen G. Marshall, Thomas Hord Bradford, George Douglas, Robert J. Webb, Hugh Offutt, Henry Johnson, and Jas. Long. No Eckles was in the list of 1845 members.

 Having turned 21 in 1828, William Eckles appeared in the Scott County tax rolls in 1829 along with Charles and Nancy.⁸ William still lived with Charles and their mother who was in her sixties at the 1830 U.S. census.⁹ The other brothers were deceased (Alexander) or moved away (Robert C.). The family of William Brown Sr. was now listed six houses away. Charles, William A., and Nancy Eckles all paid taxes to Scott County in 1830.¹⁰

 William's sister-in-law, Nancy (Boyd) Eckles, probably died before 1820 and certainly before 1830.¹¹ His brother, Charles, married again 1 October 1834 to Ann Brooks.¹² Another family change came when their mother died. Her funeral invitation was a large one for services at Charles’s home on 27 April 1839.¹³ Then the younger daughter of Charles Eckles, Nancy Boyd Eckles, married Charles Nichols 12 March 1840, the couple apparently living with Charles initially.¹⁴ These changes may have prompted William to move out as he is the sole member of his household in the U.S. census of 1 June 1840. He was in his thirties and engaged in manufacture and trade, possibly still in the wagon making business.¹⁵ There is no evidence William ever married and Georgetown did not hold him long after these changes.

 William in Missouri

Older brother, Robert C. Eckles, moved to Missouri with his wife's Oldham family in the 1830s.¹⁶ William was with him in Missouri by 28 November 1844 when he purchased several items including a saddle, from the estate sale of Moses Oldham, his brother's late father-in-law. Robert also made a number of purchases at the sale in Fort Osage Township in Jackson County, Missouri.¹⁷ From Jackson County, probably at the courthouse in Independence, on 11 October 1845 William gave power of attorney to Charles Eckles back in Georgetown to sell his share of the land they inherited from their brother Alexander.¹⁸ The estate papers for Moses Oldham include a note from Robert C. Eckles related to a partnership with William dated 9 July 1846.¹⁹

 No definite record of William has been located after 1846, but he might be the “Wm. Echols” on the census of 27 October 1850 in Sacramento, Sacramento County, California, a forty-three-year-old laborer born in Kentucky.²⁰ No other men in the 1850 census are as close despite the variant spelling of the surname. Many men ventured to California drawn by the gold rush. Two neighbors of Robert C. Eckles, later his brothers-in-law William I. and James H. Douglass, recounted trips to California in 1849 or 1850 where they stayed a few years.²¹ It is certainly possible that William A. Eckles ventured further west as well.

 

 ENDNOTES:

 

1. “Stansifer, Cleveland, and Nichols family Bibles, 1785–1988,” for Nichols family, Bible pages plus typed pages of family history information and a newspaper clipping, accession no. SC1209, Kentucky Historical Society, Frankfort, Ky.; digital images (http://www.kyhistory.com/cdm/search/searchterm/sc1209/), Eckles Bible Records typescript, image SC_2_05.

2. 1810 U.S. census, Fayette County, Kentucky, Nancy Ackels household, p. 805, line 12; Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7613); National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) M252, roll 6.

3. Scott County Deed Book A: 318, Charles Eckles from Branham, 1811, County Clerk, Georgetown, Ky.

4. 1820 U.S. census, Scott County, Ky., population schedule, Georgetown, p. 94 (penned), line 14, Charles Eckles; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/7734/); NARA M33, roll 27.

5. John Allen Gano, unidentified list of company members, C65, microfilm roll 2, flash 1 (microfilm apparently purchased from the University of Kentucky), State Historical Society of Missouri, Columbia, Mo.

6. Georgetown Cemetery (Scott County, Ky., 710 South Broadway Street), Brown family marker, names on three sides (Oliver Brown, 1806–1887), photographed by author, 27 June 2014.

7. B. O. Gaines, The B. O. Gaines History of Scott County, Kentucky, vol. 2 (1904; reprint Georgetown, Ky.: Frye Print. Co., 1981), p. 40 (original p. 277).

8. Scott Co., Ky., Tax Assessor, Tax Books, 1819‒1823, 1825‒1831, 1833, 1835; FHL film 8222, DGS 7834507, image 756 (1829)

9. 1830 U.S. census, Scott County, Kentucky, Georgetown, p. 129 (stamped), p. 257 (penned), line 3, Charles Eckles household; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/8058/); NARA M19, roll 41.

10. Scott Co., Ky., Tax Assessor, Tax Books, 1819‒1823, 1825‒1831, 1833, 1835; FHL film 8222, DGS 7834507, image 848 (1830).

11. Charles Eckles guardian report in Will Book E, part 2: 161 (records reentered after the 1837 courthouse fire), Scott County Clerk, Georgetown, Ky.

12. Eckles Bible Records, image SC_2_05.

13. Marie Dickore, compiler, Copies of Names on Invitations to Funerals and Burials in Scott County and Fayette County, Kentucky, 1821–1898 (Cincinnati, Ohio: n.pub., 1942), p. 8.

14. “Kentucky, County Marriages, 1797-1954,” Scott County Marriage Register, 1837-1863, no. 218, Nichols and Eckles, 1840. Also, 1840 U.S. census, Scott Co., Ky., Georgetown, p. 93, line 12, Charles Eckles; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/8057/); NARA M704, roll 123.

15. 1840 U.S. census, Scott Co., Ky., Georgetown, p. 93, line 6, William Eckles.

16. 1840 U.S. census, Jackson Co., Missouri, p. 56, line 28, Moses Oldham; NARA M704, roll 224.

17. “Missouri, Wills and Probate Records, 1766-1988,” Ancestry (https://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=9071) > Jackson > Case Files, Series 1, Box 21, Files 1-17, Obrien-Owens > image 195, Jackson County Probate Case Files, Moses Oldham, Sale List, 1844.

18. Scott County, Ky., Deeds, T:279, William Eckles of Jackson County, Missouri, to Charles Eckles, power of attorney, 11 October 1845; County Clerk, Georgetown, Ky.

19. “Missouri, Wills and Probate Records, 1766-1988,” image 269, Jackson County Probate Case Files, Moses Oldham estate receipt from Robert C. Eckles, 1846.

20. 1850 U.S. census, Sacramento County, California, pop. Sch., Sacramento City, p. 341 (penned), p. 171 (stamped), dwelling 717, family 753, Wm. Echols entry; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/8054/); NARA M432, roll 35.

21. The History of Jackson County, Missouri . . . (Kansas City, Mo.: Birdsall, Williams & Company, 1881), 901 (William I. Douglass: “went to California in 1849 and spent about four years”), 902 (James H. Douglass: “in 1850 went to California and spent three years.”).