Kentuckian in New Mexico – William Loftus Lightburne Jr

 

Kentuckian in New Mexico – William Loftus Lightburne Jr

Jean M. Hoffman, CG

 

Researching the life of my second-great-grandmother, Eliza Jane (Tarlton) Lightburne (1828–1864), required looking for details from her children hoping they left traces of their parents. Eliza Jane’s last surviving child was William Loftus Lightburne Jr. who lived to 1932. He differed from others in the family as he lived his last 20 plus years far from Kentucky—in New Mexico.

 William Loftus Lightburne Jr was born on 25 Oct 1857 in Scott County, Kentucky, the ninth child and second surviving son of Eliza Jane and William Sr.[i] He appeared on the census of 7 August 1860 in the household of William Loftus Lightburne Sr. in Scott County, Kentucky, as Wm. L., age two.[ii] His mother and two older sisters died in 1864.[iii] Two years later his father married widow Martha Francis “Fannie” (Triplett) Smith.[iv] Will appeared on the census of 15 July 1870 in the household of Wm. Lightburn and his second wife in Stamping Ground, Scott County, Kentucky, as Will Lightburn, age twelve and attending school.[v] He appeared on the census of 15 June 1880 in Georgetown Precinct West, Scott County, Kentucky, as a farm laborer boarding in the household of Y. E. Duncan.[vi] Will’s father died 10 March 1890 and was buried in the Georgetown Cemetery.[vii] He apparently left no will.[viii]

1900 U.S. census, W. L. Lightburn household in Scott County, Kentucky

 William married Emma Nutter on 31 March 1892 at Newtown, Scott County, Kentucky. He appeared on the census of 7 June 1900 in the Powder House Precinct, Scott County, Kentucky.[ix] Will was listed as the head of household, a farmer, but the rest of the family was related to his wife: her mother, siblings Keene, Leah, Nannie, and James with his wife Hannah plus niece Edna Parker. Along with the two servants he was certainly outnumbered. Emma and William were still in Scott County on 5 September 1904 when they conveyed her interest in land of her late father in Fayette County to her sister Maggie Nutter Smith.[x]

 By 1907 the couple lived in Kansas City, Missouri. Emma went back to Kentucky before her mother died from pneumonia on 12 March 1907. Emma, suffering from tuberculosis, died three days later on 15 March 1907 at the home of her sister, Mrs. William (Leah) Harp, on Newtown Pike in Scott County.[xi] Emma was buried in Georgetown Cemetery with a gravestone that left room for her husband’s inscription.[xii]

 Venturing west from Missouri, Will lived in Santa Rosa, New Mexico, for over 20 years before his death.[xiii] Will married Ida Augusta (Fuller) Clark circa 1909.[xiv] Ida was born in Missouri and married in 1889 in Potter County, Texas.[xv] In 1900 she was a widow with two Texas-born children in Baird, Callahan County, Texas.[xvi] How did Will and Ida meet? Santa Rosa is between Tucumcari and Albuquerque, New Mexico. It is on I-40 and in 1926 was on the newly named U.S. Route 66. Earlier it was the junction of two railroad lines.[xvii] Potter County, Texas, includes Amarillo which is on the route to Tucumcari, but Callahan County is far to the southeast of there. A possible connection is Will’s first wife’s brother, Keene Nutter, who moved to Hereford, Deaf Smith County, Texas, southwest of Amarillo in May 1909.[xviii] Will and Ida were together on the census of 29 April 1910 in Santa Rosa, Guadalupe County, New Mexico. He was a house carpenter living with his wife and two children from her first marriage. She was a dressmaker and they had been married one year.[xix] They appeared on the census of 21 January 1920 running a boarding house in Santa Rosa, Guadalupe County, New Mexico.[xx] His wife Ida died 19 March 1928.[xxi] William appeared on the census of 14 April 1930 in Santa Rosa widowed with one lodger but no occupation listed.[xxii] He died on 10 November 1932 in Santa Rosa, Guadalupe County, New Mexico, at age 75.[xxiii] He was probably buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Santa Rosa, Guadalupe County, New Mexico, where his wife Ida has a gravestone.[xxiv] Sadly, his death certificate has no information on his parents, the information provided by the attending physician.

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[i] “New Mexico Deaths, 1889-1945,” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9T2-Z3KV-F?i=609 : viewed 21 July 2024), image group number (IGN) 4229717, image 610 of 2496, William L. Lightburn Certificate of Death no. 4913 (1932), informant R. J. Thompson (the doctor).

 [ii] 1860 U.S. census, Scott County, Kentucky, population schedule, District No. 1, sheet 992, dwelling 825, family 828, W L Light Burn household; imaged, "1860 United States Federal Census," Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7667/images/4231205_00404 : viewed 25 July 2024).

 [iii] “Died . . . The Mother,” undated clipping, soon after 20 August 1864 from unidentified newspaper; McClintock Family Papers, privately held by descendant, Georgetown, Kentucky, 2011. Inherited in 1991 from his grandmother, Elizabeth (McClintock) Nickell.

 [iv] “Kentucky, County Marriages, 1797-1954,” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9BY-VQBR-V : viewed 14 April 2024), digital film 007731872, image 33, Scott County Marriage Register (1863-83), unpaginated, W. L. Lightburne and M. Fannie Smith, 1866.

 [v] 1870 U.S. census, Scott County, Kentucky, population schedule, Stamping Ground Post Office, sheet 331A, dwelling 241, family 250, Thos [Wm] Lightburn household; imaged, "1870 United States Federal Census," Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/7163/images/4269357_00667 : viewed 25 July 2024).

 [vi] 1880 U.S. census, Scott County, Kentucky, population schedule, Georgetown Precinct West, ED 168, sheet 49C, dwelling/family 225, W. L. Lightburn household; imaged, "1880 United States Federal Census," Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6742/images/4241278-00404 : viewed 22 July 2024).

 [vii] Find a Grave, database with images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/132646045 : viewed 30 July 2024), “William Loftus Lightburne” (1820–1890), memorial with tombstone image by “Sue P.”; citing Georgetown Cemetery, Georgetown, Scott County, Kentucky.

 [viii] "Kentucky, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1774-1989," Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/9066/ : viewed 30 July 2024) > Scott > Administrator Bonds, 1856-1891 > image 688 of 726, Scott County Administrator's Bond no. 166, estate of Wm. L. Lightburne, 1890. A. L. Coleman was appointed administrator with S. B. Triplett as surety to the bond.

 [ix] 1900 U.S. census, Scott County, Kentucky, population schedule, Powder House Precinct, ED 58, sheet 7A, dwelling/family 124, W L Lightburne household, enumerator was Moses E. Nichols, his brother-in-law; imaged, "1900 United States Federal Census," Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/21789565:7602 : viewed 22 July 2024).

 [x] Fayette County, Kentucky, Deed Book 136: 180, Emma Lightburn and husband to Maggie Nutter, now Smith, 5 September 1904; imaged, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/008337036?i=474&cat=436712 : viewed 27 July 2024), IGN 8337036, image 475 of 706; citing clerk of county court.

 [xi] Death and Funerals, The Lexington Herald, Lexington, Kentucky, 16 March 1907, p. 6, col. 2.

 [xii] Find a Grave, database with images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/101670409 : viewed 22 July 2024), “Emma W. Lightburn” (1862–1907), memorial with tombstone image by “laribel”; citing Georgetown Cemetery, Georgetown, Scott County, Kentucky, dates are years only.

 [xiii] Deaths-Funerals, Mrs. Mattie L. Nichols, Lexington Herald-Leader, Lexington, Kentucky, 14 March 1911, p. 10, col. 3, survived by her brother Will Lightburn in New Mexico. ^“New Mexico Deaths, 1889-1945,” FamilySearch, IGN 4229717, image 610 of 2496.

 [xiv] 1910 U.S. census, Guadalupe County, New Mexico, population schedule, Santa Rosa, ED 97, sheet 7B, dwelling 121, family 123, W L Lightburn household; imaged, "1910 United States Federal Census," Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/16867204:7884 : viewed 22 July 2024).

 [xv] “Texas, U.S., Marriage Index, 1824-2019,” database, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/293874:8795 : viewed 29 July 2024), Potter County, J. S. Clark and Ida Fuller, 1889.

 [xvi] 1900 U.S. census, Callahan County, Texas, population schedule, Baird, ED 15, sheet 11, dwelling 209, family 218, Mrs. J S Clark household; imaged, “1900 United States Federal Census,” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/70304120:7602 : viewed 29 July 2024).

 [xvii] Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Rosa,_New_Mexico), “Santa Rosa, New Mexico,” revised 12:46, 26 July 2024.

 [xviii] “More Kentuckians,” The Hereford Brand, Hereford, Texas, 14 May 1909, p. 1, col.3, B. K. Nutter family arrived from Kentucky to live.

 [xix] 1910 U.S. census, Guadalupe County, New Mexico, pop. sch., Santa Rosa, ED 97, sheet 7B, dwelling 121, family 123, W L Lightburn household.

 [xx] 1920 U.S. census, Guadalupe County, New Mexico, population schedule, Santa Rosa, ED 77, sheet 7B, dwelling 132, family 149, William L Lightburn household; imaged, "1920 United States Federal Census," Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/78797530:6061 : viewed 22 July 2024).

[xxi] Find a Grave, database with images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/132091396 : viewed 22 July 2024), “Ida A Lightburn” (1876–1928), memorial with tombstone image by “Ladybug”; citing Evergreen Cemetery, Santa Rosa, Guadalupe County, New Mexico.

 [xxii] 1930 U.S. census, Guadalupe County, New Mexico, population schedule, Santa Rosa, ED 10-8, sheet 8A, dwelling 171, family 184, William L Lightburn household; imaged, "1930 United States Federal Census," Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/108098333:6224 : viewed 22 July 2024).

 [xxiii] ^“New Mexico Deaths, 1889-1945,” FamilySearch, digital film 004229717, image 610 of 2496, no parent info.

[xxiv] Find a Grave, imaged gravestone for “Ida A Lightburn” (1876–1928). Will’s entry may be (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/104481833 : viewed 21 July 2024), “Will L. “Chad” Lightburn” (no dates), memorial created by “henry osborne,” with no tombstone image; citing Evergreen Cemetery, Santa Rosa, Guadalupe County, New Mexico.