Life in Wayesburg, Kentucky
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My father's families, for lack of a better description, were entrepreneurs who never really ended up with anything, but lived a comfortable, conservative rural country life. At one point, I was involved in genealogy, and traced my father's family back to the 1700's in Virginia. As far as I could determine, they were not outstanding people, and did not leave their mark in history.
The only interesting fact I found was that one of Daddy's relations led wagon trains from Virginia through the Cumberland Valley, so people could settle in the Kentucky and Tennessee valley. His name was James Francis Moody, and he was Grandma Horton's (Mary Ella Warriner) great granduncle. Between 1797 and 1807, he worked as a wagon scout between Knox County, KY and various areas of Virginia. Before his legal residence became Kentucky, he was a resident in Culpepper County, Virginia. In Knox County, Kentucky, he managed to accumulate over 3,000 acres of land.
The Horton's were opposed to slavery but Moody did own slaves and took two of them with him when he relocated to Texas in 1854 from Kentucky. James was married to Margaret Ann Horton, a daughter of John Payton Horton.
The Horton's settled in the Cumberland River Valley, in Kentucky, where you will find Cumberland Falls. The Falls drop only 60 feet, but the place is incredibly peaceful, and beautiful. People travel from all over the world to see the "moon bow" at Cumberland Falls. I did not capture it on film, but I have seen it.
When I was doing my genealogy research, I found the cemetery that is the resting place for the first member of my family that came from Virginia, and died in Kentucky. The man was born in 1783 and died in 1873. The cemetery is located in southeastern Kentucky in Knox County, where some of the early family purchased land and settled.
My paternal great great grandfather, Crim Smith was a veteran, killed in action. His body was lost, and actually never recovered. Sgt Smith was a Wagoner in the civil war. He mustered in on January 2, 1862. He fought at Vicksburg, spent time in Memphis in the hospital and in October 1863, he died. Smith's body was lost while in transit to Waynesburg, Lincoln County, Kentucky. He was only 36 years old. Smith married Margaret Williams and their daughter, Mary Ann, married George Washington Horton. George Washington Horton was Grandpa Horton's daddy.
Grandpa Horton was also a veteran, a Wagoner during his service, between May 25, 1918 and December 23, 1918. He was honorably discharged. Grandpa spent most of his life in Waynesburg and now rest there near his mother and father, in the Double Springs Cemetery.
There was one funny story about Grandpa Horton that has always put a smile on my face. Whenever he was out driving everyone else on the road yielded to him. You see he firmly believed that his Buick hood ornament should line up with the double line that ran down the center of the road. In fact, when other people were driving, he would direct them to line up the hood ornament accordingly.
Grandma Horton was just as laid back. She sewed anything and everything, and was a great cook. Grandma never raised her voice or hand. She loved to play Gin and Solitaire. Grandpa was a carpenter and worked at the local sawmill. He cut a sheet of thin plywood that would fit across her favorite chair. She would sit there for hours and play cards. Oh yeah, she also had her milk carton with the plastic bag in it for her to spit in. Grandma did love her snuff, and there was always a pinch of it in her mouth. Grandma was a lady, and you never doubted it.
Grandma was married three times. With her first marriage to Barbee Barkley Wheeler, Sr. on July 5, 1916, she had one son, Uncle Bud, Barkley, Jr., who was born on November 11, 1916 - four months after getting married. Barkley Sr. died December 29, 1918 and sometime after that, she married my grandfather, Craig. My Daddy was born on July 11, 1924. Eventually, she divorced grandpa and years later remarried him. Daddy's brother was a veteran, of eight years, by the time Daddy went into the Army Air Corp.
