Legacy From The Estate Of Ambrose Bush

Source

"Under a power of attorney given by Hyronimus and wife, authorising Jenkins to sell a legacy which the wife was entitled to from the estate of Ambrose Bush, deceased, Jenkins sold the legacy to the defendant in error, Jeremiah Bush.... ."


"Hyronimus" was Pendleton Hieronymus and his wife was Mary (Bush) Hieronymus.  Mary was the daughter of Ambrose Bush and Lucy (Gholson) Bush. 

Kentucky Surveying Mural

The Hieronymus's daughter, Julia, wrote the autobiographical book, Sixty years in a school-room: ..., (excerpted below):

My Grandfather Ambrose, the youngest child [of Philip Bush] save one, married a Gholson a family from whence originated statesmen and orators. My great-uncle, Billy Bush, came to Kentucky with Daniel Boone on his second trip. He was fortunate in securing the fairest portion of the land in Clarke County...from Winchester to Boonesborough. He gave away or sold for a trifle farm after farm to his friends and relatives that they might be induced to settle near him."

Note:  My ex-brother-in-law is the fourth great grandnephew of Ambrose Bush.

Bledsoes In Tennessee

Flowering of the Cumberland - Part II, by Harriette Simpson Arnow, mentioned the Bledsoes.

There was a connection between the Clendennins and the Bledsoes.  My 5th great-grandmother's first husband was John Clendenin.

The Bledsoe brothers, Isaac and Anthony, who had with several others helped survey the line, had also settled. Isaac, not to be killed until 1793, now lived at his station near present day Castalian Springs, while Anthony, already shot from ambush, had built on Greenfield’s Grant where his widow and family still lived.

This 1859 history book, History of middle Tennessee: or, Life and times of Gen. James Robertson, corroborated what was found in Ms. Arnow's book.

Fort Reconstruction In TN 

 On the night of 20th July 1788, a number of Indians approached and placed themselves in ambush... .  As he [Col. Anthony Bledsoe] opened it [the gate] he was shot down ... .  The Colonel did not expire immediately but was carried into the house while preparation were made for defense... .

The wife of Isaac Bledsoe suggested to her husband and then to her brother-in-law in view of the near approach of death that he should by will make provision for his seven daughters.  He had surveyed large tracts of land and secured grants for several thousand acres. The law of North Carolina then gave all lands to the sons to the exclusion of daughters.  Mr Clendening wrote the will; Col. Isaac Bledsoe supported his dying brother while he affixed his signature, and thus were all his children left to share in his landed estate.

But the devoted wife, whose name this providence had changed to widow, had yet to suffer from savage cruelty.

Adventures In China

Samuel Wells Williams, who spent much of his life in China, wrote "The Middle Kingdom: a survey of the geography, government, education, social life, arts, and history of the Chinese Empire and its inhabitants" and also Volume II of the same title. He also wrote "Our relations with the Chinese empire." as well as "Notices of Fu-sang, and other countries lying east of China, in the Pacific Ocean." Mr. Williams is also the author of "A Journal of the Perry Expedition to Japan (1853-4)."

In 1858 Mr. Williams inherited property in Detroit as an heir of his father, William Williams. He selected his brother, Robert, of Utica, New York, as his Power of Attorney, because he was living in Canton, China, at the time.

S. Wells Williams' sister-in-law, Martha Noyes Williams, wrote her own book about China, entitled "A year in China : and a narrative of capture and imprisonment ... on board the rebel pirate Florida, With an introductory note by William Cullen Bryant." She wrote another book, "Voices from the silent land; Leaves of consolation for the afflicted," a compilation of essays about death.

Frederick Wells Williams wrote a book about the life of his father, Samuel Wells Williams, with items of genealogical interest in it.

China is now an important factor to our economy and our way of life; what was it like in the 1800's?

Myra Clark Gaines & The Longest Court Case

The Famous Case of Myra Clark Gaines by Nolan B. Harmon, 1946, Louisiana State University Press (a review here) which I read a few years ago was brought to mind with the posting of her late husband's (Edmund P. Gaines') gravestone on my blog.

Myra's "famous case" referred to her long, arduous journey through the court system in a quest to inherit her father's estate. Why was her inheritance in dispute? In Louisiana, a state with "forced heirship," Myra Clark had to prove that she was a legitimate child of Daniel Clark and she, by law, would be an heir. Turned out it wasn't quite that simple. There were many complications and obstacles, thus launching the "longest court case."

Myra was raised by Samuel Davis and his wife and did not know that she was Mr. Clark's daughter until she was an adult. Was her mother, Zulime Carriere, still married to Jerome DesGrange when she "married" Daniel Clark? Was Jerome DesGrange already married when he "married" Zulime? Did Clark destroy all evidence of his marriage to Zulime while he was courting Miss Caton? Was Daniel Clark's "Last Will & Testament of 20 May 1811 really the last will or did the 13 July 1813 version really exist? Mr. Clark owned prime New Orleans real estate and greed may have trumped principles when it came to doing the right thing.

Myra Clark, the widow of William W. Whitney, was married to an American hero (General Edmund P. Gaines) and was acquainted with many more. Francis Scott Key played a role in her court case as did Daniel Webster.

Myra's mother, Zulime Carriere, married 1st Jerome DesGrange and later found that her marriage to the "aristocrat" (actually a confectionery owner) was not valid since he was already married to Barbara Orci. Zulime then married Daniel Clark, according to her sister, Sophie Carriere Despau; whether or not that marriage took place was at the crux of Myra's court case. It was thought that the marriage was kept secret for the sake of Mr. Clark's political career. When Zulime learned of Daniel Clark's plan to marry Miss Caton, Zulime felt free to marry James Gardette. Daniel Clark & Zulime Carriere had another daughter, Caroline, though they were not married at the time of her birth.

"A Full Report of The Great Gaines Case," published in 1850 -- full report?! She died in 1885 and the court case was not completed until 1891.

The chronological outline of the case and also some of the involved parties listed here.

See a picture of Myra here and here.

Myra's own estate was contested. Her son, William Whitney, was shot to death by her widower son-in-law, James T. Christmas, in a dispute on 27 June 1881. Her daughter, Rhoda (Whitney) Strother Christmas died in 1878.

George Drouillard, From Detroit to Lewis & Clark

SignTalker by James Alexander Thom recounts the life of George Pierre Drouillard, a hunter and guide attached to the Lewis & Clark Expedition. George was also known by the Shawnee name of Nah S'gawateah Kindiwa (Without Eagle Feathers). Eagle feathers, won through bravery, was seemingly denied to George because the Shawnees had become disorganized and chased from Ohio by General George Rogers Clark (Battle of Piqua).

"One of the soldier officers on this boat was said to be Clark, a war name from his childhood memory: memories of shooting, houses burning, women dragging their children into the woods to hide from the Town-Burner soldiers whose leader was the dreaded Clark. The name was still a curse in the house of Drouillard's uncle, Louis Lorimier, for Clark had destroyed Lorimier's great trading post in Ohio and ruined him."

Lorimier, a trader, moved his operations to present day Cape Girardeau, Missouri, once Spanish territory, sold to the French and ultimately part of the Louisiana Purchase. After being approached to join the Lewis & Clark expedition, George Drouillard wanted to consult his uncle, Louis Lorimier, but wondered how his uncle would feel if he (George) fraternized with the enemy. According to the novel, Sign-Talker, he found out that it would be just fine:

"Drouillard sat in astonishment. He could remember from childhood the sight of this man (Lorimier), descendant of French marquises, setting out in war paint and feathers to raid American settlements in Kentucky, less than twenty-five years ago. And now he was speaking of becoming an agent for them!"

Of course it was William Clark, George Rogers Clark's younger brother who was half of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. Details about other members of the party can be found in the book, The Men of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Another source can be found here.

While Meriweather Lewis gathered supplies and organized the expedition from nearby St. Louis, William Clark was on the other side of the Mississippi River, a place they called Camp Dubois, where the soldiers and other Corps of Discovery participants trained for their mission.

"The soldiers who would be going on the journey were still up in the shabby little post at Riviere a Dubois: training, bored, scouring the muddy countryside for bootleg whiskey, getting into fights, challenging their sergeants, getting punished, being deleted from the roster for insurrection then restored when they repented."

Photos of Camp Dubois by Jim

On 14 May 1804 the expedition started west from Camp Dubois with one keelboat and two smaller pirogues.

Various Photos of Keelboat At Camp Dubois State Historical Site By Jim

The book Sign-Talker emphasizes that George Drouillard (son of a Shawnee mother and French Canadian Father and born in the Detroit area), York (Captain Clark's black slave), Sacagawea and her infant son were the expedition's people of color. Drouillard, an excellent hunter, was hired to provide food for the expedition as well as serve as a guide.

George Drouillard successfully completed the expedition with Lewis & Clark but was murdered on a subsequent expedition (unrelated to Lewis & Clark) in Indian country after he himself had been tried and acquitted of murder.

The genealogist in me found the probate file of George Drouillard online here at this Missouri Secretary of State site.