My Kilgore Connections of SW Virginia and Middle Tennessee
   
IMPORTANT TIP:  BE MINDFUL  NOT TO USE THE  SEARCH ENGINE ABOVE
UNLESS YOU WISH TO LEAVE THIS WEBSITE AND BE TAKEN TO  ANCESTRY.COM. 

welcome

About Our Kilgore Family Connections

Compiled by Alma E Dailey Harings
aka Libby

I am the daughter of Peggy Joyce Sanders of Jenkins, Letcher County Kentucky and wish to share what I have learned thusfar regarding our Kilgore family history.   I am a sixth generation descendant of Robert Kilgore of Scotland (1740-1783) and Winnifred Millie Clayton of Western North Carolina (1740-1784).  Our family connects to the Kilgores' through the marriage of William Thomas Dickson and Elizabeth Canzada Kilgore.  (William T. and Canzada were the parents of "Rev. John Edward "Poppy" Dixon". )

See below  

Our Direct  Kilgore Family Line
Compiled by Alma Harings

Robert Kilgore and  Winnie Clayton
My Great (X6) Grandparents

  Stephen C. Kilgore and Rebecca Salyer
My Great (X5) Grandparents

 William K. Kilgore & Polly Ann Layne
My Great  (X4 ) Grandparents

Stephen Kilgore & Nancy A Thompson
My Great  (X3 ) Grandparents

 Elizabeth C.  Kilgore & Will  T. Dickson
My Great (X2) Grandparents

Rev. John E. Dickson and Sallie Mae Taylor
 My Great Grndparents

    

  

Children Of Robert and Winnie Kilgore:  
  1. Charles KILGORE b: 4 JAN 1764  Orange Co NC   (Sp.  Avarilla Simpson ) 
  2. Robert KILGORE b: 1765 in Orange Co NC   ( Sp. Jane Porter Green)  ( See Fort House) 
  3. Stephen Clayton KILGORE b: ABT 1767  Orange NC   (Sp. Rebecca Sayler) 
  4. Esther KILGORE b: 1767  Orange Co NC  ( alternative b. 1783) (Sp James Green)
  5. William KILGORE b: 1769 Orange Co NC   ( Sp. Virginia Jane Osborn ) 
  6. Hiram KILGORE b: 1771 Washington Co VA    (Sp.  Rebecca Renfro




 The Savage Murders of Robert Kilgore and James Green

   December 31, 1782- January 1, 1783.

Our ancestor  Robert Kilgore  was killed in what is now Wise Co., Virginia at The Pound at a place called Warrior's Camp. Robert and Winnie lived along the Clinch River in what is now Scott Co., Virginia, then Russell County. His property directly bordered that of his brother Charles and was also located near that of Partrick Porter also of Orange Co., North Carolina. Several of the families who settled this section of Scott Co. were originally Orange Co. natives.

On December 31, 1782, James Green, husband of Jane Porter, and Robert Kilgore, Sr. left their hunting camp at the mouth of Indian Creek and Pound River and crossed a ridge heading toward Kentucky. They left a man by the name of McKinney in the camp. Two gunshots were heard by McKinney, followed by the unearthly yells of Indians. Before McKinney could grab his gun, he saw Robert Kilgore running for his life toward the encampment, shouting, "Run McKinney, leave all, save yourself!"

McKinney didn't wait to be told a second time. As he reached the crest of the ridge, he looked back, to see James Green fall, closely pursued by Mingoes. Green sprang up, grabbed out his hunting knife, but before the Indians reached him he collapsed. As the sun was sinking, McKinney reached Fort Blackmore.

By first light of the following day, the militia was on its way far up Stoney Creek, reaching the hunters encampment long before sunrise on January 1, 1783. No Indians could be found, but the camp had been pillaged. Next morning, they found the scalped remains of Robert Kilgore and a few hundred yards away, the body of James Green, with an Indian arrowhead in his right eye. The bodies were buried in a hollow chestnut tree on the north bank of the Pound River, a short distance above the mouth of Indian Creek.

James was killed in Pound Gap, Wise County by Bob Benge, a Shawnee Indian outlaw, while hunting with Robert Kilgore and McKinney.

Deed: Washington County, Virginia
Page 332 - James Green - 280 ac - on the north side of Clinch River - Commissioners Certificate - beginning on the south side of the river - March 10, 1786...James Green - 400 ac - actual settlement made in 1772 = on the north side of Clinch at the mouth of Sinking Creek - August 8, 1781


What Happened to Winnie Clayton Kilgore?
To my knowledge, no one knows for sure.  Here are a couple of thories I have come across:  

There is no information on what happened to Winnie Clayton Kilgore after the death of Robert. It is believed she remarried, probably in Russell Co., Virginia, unfortunately marriage register burned in a fire during the late 1800s. Family legend says she moved to Indiana with her oldest son Charles and died there, but there is no proof. ( by Judy Cardwell Clayton)









About Steven Kilgore and Rebecca Salyer  
 Questions or Comments?  ContactAlma

          My great (x4) grandfather  Steven Kilgore was born in Orange County, North Carolina between 1766-68 to Robert Kilgore and Winnie Clayton Kilgore. Steven Kilgore's name appears on the Russell County, Virginia tax roll in 1788 indicating that he probably had accompanied the Salyer brothers to the Copper Creek area in Russell County. Steven Kilgore married RebeccaSalyer around 1788, probably in Russell County. Steven Kilgore appears to have resettled in Marion County, Tennessee in 1808. He came down through Bledsoe County where he stopped for awhile with a Joe Kilgore. (Joe Kilgore has not been identified as to his relationship to Steven Kilgore.) He then continued down Sequatchie Valley to what is now Victoria in Marion county. (Not a county until 1817.) At that time the territory was CherokeeIndian land and the white people who came in were considered intruders.


 Steven and Rebecca Kilgore had three sons when they came to Tennessee. Charles born in 1790, William and Joseph born between 1800 and 1810. When Steven came to Victoria he settled on the Cowan farm and adjacent property. Besides being a farmer he also practiced his profession as a preacher. Steven and Rebecca had eight children of which many descendants still live throughout Sequatchie Valley and surrounding counties. Steven died between 1844-45 in Marion County and was buried in the family plot in Kilgore Cemetery on the foothills of ( page 81 ) Walden's Ridge in the Valley. Rebecca was still living at the age of ninety according to the 1860 census. She was living with her daughter, RebeccaLayne. The exact time of her death is not known, but she was buried beside her husband.
  Rebecca Salyer Kilgore is believed to have been a mixed-blood Cherokee of the AniTsiskwaClan.   See Chikamaka Cherokee Roll : Chikamaka™


Fort House copy The Fort House of Robert Kilgore

Robert Kilgore built his fort house on Copper Creek in Scott County, Virginia, soon after he married Jane Porter Green in 1785. Jane Porter was the daughter of Patrick Porter who built the first grist mill on Fall Creek about a mile southwest of the present Dunganon.

Jane Porter first married James Green of Fall Creek area. Green and Charles Kilgore of King's Mountain fame were slain on December 31, 1782 by Indians on Indian Creek near the present borders of Wise County, Virginia according to legend. However, a check of Revolutionary War Pension records disputes this, as Charles was still alive in Green County, Virginia in 1787, where he died in 1823.

 Robert Kilgore married Jane Porter Green in 1785. She had been born in her father's fort on Fall Creek about two miles west of the present town of Dunganon, Virginia. Having felt the security of Patrick Porter's fort and knowing that Indians had killed her first husband, she must have prevailed upon. Her new husband, Robert Kilgore, to build a strong house for their use. By this time there was her son, James Green, 2 years old who, she must have felt needed protection against Indian raids also. So near the waters of Copper Creek, Robert Kilgore built a strong log house, chinked it with limestone rocks and cut portholes. In case of an attack, those within the fort house could go up to the second floor, drop a trap door and be ready to shoot out the portholes.

In 1785 the Indian raids in this area were few. Only once, so history has it, did Indians approach the house. A band of them camped one night on the cliff top south of the house, but when dawn came, they moved on. Only one raid was made in Southwest Virginia after that. That one was made by Chief Benge in 1794 when he spirited away some Livingston women from the Holston River. He led them across what is now Scott County into the present Wise County when he was killed by Vincent Hobbs.

Robert Kilgore was examined for the ministry at the Primitive Baptist Church, two miles east of Nichelsville in 1808 and licensed to preach. But, because of poor housing, the Fort House was used considerably as a church. Records show that during his ministry, "Rev. Robin" as he was known, married 285 couples in the Fort House. The Rev. Robert Kilgore died in the Fort House March 29, 1854 and was buried near it. Later his body was moved to Nichelsville where it is entombed. The Fort House is maintained by the Scott County Board of Supervisors as a historical site in the county.


           

Kilgore Forthouse The Kilgore FortHouse

by Luther F Addington ( 1975)

Rev. Robert Kilgore, affectionately known as Robin, married Mrs. Jane Porter Green in 1785. She was the daughter of Patrick Porter who lived on Fall Creek (near present Dungannon) and built a fort and a grist mill there. She was the widow of James Green who was killed by Indians December 31, 1782. (1)

A traditional story has come down to us concerning this Indian killing, but now we know it is partially untrue. Here is the story as related in the History of Scott County: "In March 1783 Charles Kilgore, James Green, and a man by the name of McKinney left Fort Blackmore and went to the Pound River (in present Wise County) to hunt, and while there they were surprised by Indians, and Charles Kilgore, and James Green were killed. McKinney made his escape and returned to the fort. A search party led by McKinney found the bodies of Kilgore and Green, and buried them in the hollow of a large chestnut tree on the north bank of the Pound River, a short distance above the mouth of Indian Creek." (2)

Further proof of James Green's death at the time cited above is an entry in the court records of Washington County, Virginia, July 15, 1783: "On motion of Patrick Porter (James' father-in-law) administration is granted him on the estate of James Green deceased who made oath thereto and entered into and acknowledged his bond with Samuel Ritchie and John Martin his securities in the sum of one hundred pounds for the faithful administration of the said decedent's estate." (3)

But nowhere in these records do we have notice of Charles Kilgore's having been killed by Indians. To the contrary we have explicit proof that he lived long after James Green's massacre by the Indians. His Revolutionary War pension statement is proof of this.

The fact that Charles Kilgore's name was not on the 1783 Washington County taxable list but his wife's name Winnie was (error: Winnie was married to Robert Kilgore, brother of Charles), can easily lead one to believe that Charles was actually killed by Indians immediately prior to this date: however, one must take into consideration that Charles could have been away from home and the matter of making a tax report fell to his wife. Jane Porter Green's name also appears on this list but this is understandable since we know her husband James had been killed by Indians.

By why was not Charles at his home on Fall Creek (near present Dungannon) to take care of the tax report of that year?

A good guess is that he was in Green County, North Carolina (now Tennessee) for his pension statement in the archives at Washington, D. C. shows, according to a copy in the hands of this writer, that it was written near Greenville, Tennessee to suffice for a previous statement which had been destroyed by a War Department fire in 1814. According to the records he was still receiving a pension in 1820. The book "King's Mountain Men" by White, page 197 states: "Charles Kilgore was a private under Campbell, and was wounded. In the pension list of Green County, Tennessee, in 1820, he is named as an invalid with an allowance of $48 per year."

Since the 1820 pension payment was the last one made it seems safe to assume that Charles died about that time. Some genealogists place his death in the year 1823 because in the archives of the Green County Court is a will made in the year 1822 by one Charles Kilgore. This will (examined by this writer) leaves legacies to sons John M. and James M. which led Hugh M. Addington, author of "Charles Kilgore of King's Mountain" to conclude that Charles had married in Tennessee after his first wife's death (Winnie Clayton). (Error: Winnie Clayton was the wife of Robert Kilgore).

But an examination of the book "Virginia Soldiers of the Revolution", by Burgess shows clearly that the will was made by a different Charles Kilgore. Even his name had a middle initial J. Therefore, this eliminates Washington County Charles' second family.

But what happened to his real family? We know that Charles, Jr. the eldest son, moved from the Fall Creek area of Russell County, (formerly Washington County, later Scott County), to Green County, Tennessee in 1787. It is logical to conclude that the father Charles, Sr., went with him or even preceded him since he didn't make a tax report in 1783, but left it to Winnie, his wife. Neither he nor Winnie is on the Virginia 1784 tax report.

So, what happened to Winnie and the 400 acre farm Charles owned on Fall Creek? Hugh M. Addington in his book, "Charles Kilgore of King's Mountain" says Winnie died in 1784. He does not document the statement. Where did she die? In the bounds of present Scott County (Virginia) or Green County, Tennessee? From Charles, Jr.'s pension statement we learn that Charles, Jr. moved from Green County into South Carolina, thence back to Virginia. According to his pension statement he was born in Orange County, North Carolina, which means, of course, that most of Charles, Sr.'s children were born in Orange County, North Carolina. Charles, Sr. took up 400 acres of land on Fall Creek in 1773.

It seems that all of Charles, Sr.'s children, except Charles, Jr., remained in the bounds of present Scott County, since they are known to have married and reared families here.

Robert Kilgore married Jane Porter Green in 1785 (5) and began to look for a place to call home for her and her son James Green, Jr., born February 12, 1783. (6)

As a girl Jane had lived in her father's forthouse called Porter's Fort, situated about a mile up from the mouth of Fall Creek, on the western side.

Therefore it is likely that Jane, having lived during her girlhood in the Porter forthouse and since her husband James Green had been killed by Indians, insisted that her new home be a forthouse.

And that is what Robert Kilgore did, build a forthouse. He built it near Copper Creek one and a half miles southwest of a cluster of houses which later, with coming of James Nickels from Tazewell County, became known as Nickelsville. (7)

This house was built in the year 1786 (8) of hewn logs and the cracks between them chinked with limestone. In case of Indian attack the inmates could go upstairs, and let down a trap door over the stairway. Three port holes, one in the west end and one in each side, made it possible to shoot out at Indians should any ever appear.

It is said that the house was never attacked, however a band of Shawnees camped for a short while on the cliff tops to the south.

Over the years the house deteriorated. So long as a roof was kept on it the interior remained in fairly good condition, but of recent years the roof was neglected and the whole structure rapidly went to ruin. The big chimney began to slump and shatter.

Then fortunately the Scott County government secured funds to restore it to its original condition.

Now we come to Rev. Robert Kilgore, the builder of the forthouse. There is a mystery about his ancestry, which came to light only recently.

In his book, "Charles Kilgore of King's Mountain", Hugh M. Addington placed Robert in Charles, Sr.'s list of children as number two. But Robert, Jr., who lived in the forthouse with his father, went to Gate City upon his father's death and in the courthouse entered in the death register the following:

"Rev. Robert Kilgore, age 88, died May 29, 1854. Residence: Copper Creek, Place of Birth: unknown; Parents: Robert and Milly Kilgore. Reported by his son Robert Kilgore, Jr."

This leads us to believe that Rev. Robert was not the son of Charles, Sr., as has been assumed, but instead the son of Robert, who was a brother of Charles.

This we know about the elder Robert; he acquired 41 acres of land near Clinch River in 1772 and settled on it. (9) It was probably in the Fall Creek area where a year later his brother Charles settled.

It seems quite logical for us to believe that Robert, Jr., or may we say Robert III who made the death entry would surely have known his grandfather's and grandmother's names. Had they been Charles and Winnie he would have said so.

The last time we find Robert the settler's name in print is on the Virginia tax report 1782. But after that he vanishes.

Could it be possible that he went with his brother Charles into North Carolina (now Tennessee)?

Rev. Robert Kilgore of the forthouse was known far beyond his residence as a minister in the Regular Baptist church. He began his ministry at the Regular Primitive Baptist Church on Copper Creek two miles east of Nickelsville where he was one of the original members. (10) At that time the meetings were held in dwelling houses and sometimes in the Good Intent schoolhouse.

It was here that Rev. Robin was ordained to preach April 16, 1808. (11)

Later he often held services at the forthouse. It was here between the dates of 1815 and 1853 that he performed wedding ceremonies for 285 couples. (12)
And here at his beloved forthouse he died May 29, 1854. His wife Jane Porter Green had preceded him in death by 12 years. (14) They were buried in the Nickelsville Cemetery. An emblem on Rev. Robin's stone shows he was a mason. In all probability he first joined the masons at a lodge held in the loft of the old grist mill on Fall Creek, for as a young man he lived in that vicinity.

FOOTNOTES: (1) In the Russell County, Virginia courthouse, order book No. 3, page 266. Entered 1803. Ordered to be certified to the registrar of the land office that it is proved by this court that James Green who is the son and heir at law of James Green who was killed by the savages December 31, 1782 and that said James Green the younger was born February 12, 1783. (2) Addington, R. M., History of Scott County, Virginia, p. 303. (3) Summers, Lew, Annals of Southwest Virginia, p. 1155. (4) Charles Kilgore pension statement, number S699 (5) Addington, H. M., Charles Kilgore of King's Mountain, p. 141. (6) Russell County, Virginia, Order Book No. 3, p. 266. (7) Addington, H. M. op. Cit., p. 41 (8) ibid, p. 141 (9) Summers, Louis, op. Cit., p. 1225 (10) Copy of original Copper Creek Primitive Baptist minute book, p. 1, Date 1807. (11) Ibid, p. 2 (12) Addington, H. M., op. Cit., p. 142 (13) Robert Kilgore, Jr.'s statement in death register at Gate City. (14) Addington, H. M., op. Cit., p. 18

Five brothers who were great, great grandsons of Lord Douglas Kilqore came to America in 1763 from Scotland. Charles Kilgore, a gallant and brave soldier in the American Revolution was wounded at the Battle of Kings Mountain, North Carolina, where the Americans defeated the British General Ferguson. His brother, Hiram Kilgore, was killed in this fierce battle. The other three brothers were Robert, William and James.

The Saga of a "Kilgore
by Catherine Kilgore Flury of Tracy City Tennessee

              On June 26, 1896, I was born way out in the Victoria Ridges in a two-room log house. They named me Callie Ethel Ki1gore. My oldest sister Laura had the whooping cough at that time. So my mother decided to send her to grandma's to stay at least nine days. When Laura got the news that the new baby was a girl instead of a red headed boy, Laura was so angry across the woods and fields, with her split bonnet on, she hurried home. She came in the house and went to the bed, turned back the cover and blew her breath in my face and said;” I will kill this one". Well, she almost did. She and our mother, with other help, had to stay up night and day. Mother said that one night nurse was a young man named Bob Hampton. He would stay up all night holding me with a saucer of sweet oil and a feather. When I would cough so hard my breath cut off and I turned blue, Bob would dip the feather in the oil, run it down my throat and bring out the phlegm. My brother Leonard was sick then too. Not only whooping cough but some kind of fever and a carbuckel on his neck. Mother would cook up some kind of herbs: thicken with brains and put warm bags of this mixture on his neck. Leonard could only drink mare's milk, so at break of day Laura had to start over the woods and fields. She would walk for miles to Grandma's house to milk the mare. One day as she was going down a hill after staying up so much with me, she claimed she went to sleep and ran into a tree: she got a large bump on her forehead to show for that.

Mother told me why our Dad never whipped us. The hickory stick was left for her to correct us children. Once a little boy named Darris Derald was crying for some sweet wax the older children had picked from a sweet gum tree. The wax had to be boiled down so it would not stick to our teeth; anyway, this little boy did not want to wait and was crying for the gum. Dad whipped him so hard he left the prints of his hand on the child. That same night the boy took the croup and died before morning: went to his grave with Dad's handprint still on him. Our Dad would walk the yard field trying to find the little boys bare footprint.


We only got one pair of shoes a year. I remember this for it would be when the first frost came in the fall. Our Dad would get a piece of stick, have us stand on the floor and he would mark how long our foot was. By that length he would bring us a pair of brass toed shoes. My, how proud we were. We always expected something for Christmas but never wrote to Santa what to bring. I remember one Christmas my sister, Nancy, and a neighbour girl took two quilt tops and went out. Way after dark we heard a bugle. Half scared to death, we got a chair and sat real quiet in front of the open fireplace. I mean we were good. In came Mr. and Mrs. Santa. They had those quilts around them and over their heads. They asked my brother Leonard, (he was two years older than I) had he been good. Leonard stuttered real bad when he was afraid so he began who-who-yes-yes- -I-be-be-been good. He got the bugle. I would guess that bugle cost ten cents. One sister got a small china undressed doll. We all got a few sticks of candy and I think maybe an apple. We had a blind sister name Sarah. She died and mother gave me her dress. It was too long but that didn't matter to me. It had a ruffle on the bottom, which Sarah had loved very much, and so did I. I would only wear it on Sunday or when I went some place, as our clothes were few. Mother knitted our stockings. She would spin the wool and cotton on her old spinning wheel for the knitting. She would get walnut hulls and boil in water until she got a pretty brown color. She would dye part of the course thread brown. From elder berries we would pick, she would make red dye. So part of the thread was red. We had the prettiest stripped stockings. Warm too. And one more thing, they hardly ever wore out. Well do I remember Mother making her own soap? It was an all purpose soap. We used it for everything. Washing clothes, faces, heads, floors. Old fashioned lye soap. She would fix her ash hopper in the fall; it was made from long boards put close together at the bottom and it would widen out at the top. We would pour all our wood ashes in the hopper all winter. Then in the spring she would take the cover off and pour water in on these ashes. The water would soak through the ashes and lye would drip out in a kettle. Then with meat rinds and cracklins (they got these when they butchered hogs), this lye and meat skins would be cooked in the old wash kettle and there's the soap. Our Mother would give us a bath in the old washtub and wash our hair. Talk about pretty reddish brown hair, I had it; the best shampoo for shiny hair. None like it for shine.

When I started to school the schoolhouse had two rooms. Not one mind you but two; one large and one small. I guess I did as well as could be for a country girl with what schooling we did get. We would have to stop in the cornfield after school and pull fodder until the sun went down. Many a time a worm would sting me and I'd run to Dad. He would take out a wad of tobacco and put some tobacco spit on the sting and right then the pain would stop. I would work on; wishing the sun would go down. I was tired and hungry since there was not much to eat in the little lard bucket at lunchtime. I'd hope that Mother would have enough stove wood to bake corn pone; it sure was good even if it was made with only salt and water. After we got home, I would go after the cow and another youngun would go after stove wood. We would hunt the hills over for sticks and pull bark off logs and stumps; we would carry water from the spring too; enough to last all the next day.

One time in school, I remember, the class was choosing sides. The two best ones in the class doing the choosing (of course we had a few well to do girls and boys in the class). They would always choose me last because my arithmetic lesson was my hardest, I just couldn't do long division. Once the teacher made me stand and had all the class laugh and make fun of me. That hurt more than a whipping. I went to my seat and put my other three books in the desk. I cried and figured all day and by the time school was out, I had it down pat even with the speed and I do mean speed. The next morning I went to school (I didn't even tell Leonard) so as usual, I was the last one chosen. I walked up to the black board, big brown eyes, shining brown hair (thanks to the lye soap) braided and tied with rag string, bare feet, and I began to use them figures. I sat everyone down. All the big shots and even my brother, Leonard. When I sat their side down the teacher was so proud of me, he put a gift on the Christmas tree for me. My brother threw rocks at me all the way home, he was so mad. I could run as fast as Leonard in my bare feet though. Leonard was working for a man named Thompson. He paid him fifty cents a day to hoe corn from sun up to sun down. Leonard got me my first paying job, forty cents a day because I was two years younger. After a while I refused forty cents because my brother always helped me out when I fell behind. One day Leonard went to get a drink of water from the jug under the only tree in the field. Mr. Thompson had two colored boys working in the upper part of the corn field (not much integration in corn fields), and one of those colored boys came after a drink from this jug water. Somehow Leonard and the colored boy got into a fuss about a prizefight. My brother hit the Negro boy on the head with his hoe and knocked him out. We thought the boy was dead, so we started running home as fast as we could tearing down corn as we went. The boss came and poured water on the Negro boy, brought him back to breathing, then started out after us. The louder that man yelled at us to stop, the faster we ran. We were afraid he wanted to tell us the boy was dead. I remember that Halls Creek was pretty deep but not very wide and there was a bridge a little ways up the stream but a big tree had blown across that creek so Leonard took the short cut across the tree. To this day I don't know how I ever made it across but somehow I did. About then the boss had caught up enough to yell, "Come back Leonard, that boy is alright". So Leonard stopped and started to yell, "Who-who-u-u-se-se-send that ni-nigger home or I-I quit". Mr. Thompson sent the colored boy home and we went back to work.



Our Mother would go to Laura's or any of the boys house to stay when a baby was due and many mornings my sister Virgie and I would get up take our tin cup and go to a blackberry patch, pick berries that had ripened over night to have something for breakfast. Some mornings we would wait for anybodies cow to by. We'd put a hand full of salt down, take our tin cup and re-milk that cow to get enough milk for gravy. My brother and I would take a crosscut saw and go up on the hill and saw a big black log for the open fireplace. We would, both push that log to get it started down hill and then we'd yell at the top of our voices so that log would change ends going down that hill. That was exciting. Sometimes when the winter was real cold, we'd build such a big fire the old stick and clay chimney got on fire, and our Dad would have to put it out. On washday, we would talk it over which one would be the easiest to carry, the wash pot, tubs, wash board and clothes to the spring or carry the spring to the house. We'd decide to carry the water to the house and away we'd go. One tub, two buckets and with an old fashioned gourd, we'd dip the tub full to the ring and then the two buckets. My sister would take one handle of the tub and a bucket in her other hand and I'd do the same. We would get a good start, and then I would put down the tub and bucket and go back to the spring to see if I could miss the water that I had dipped out. Not even one gourd full could I miss. Now I realize that was simple for the water was running in as fast as I was dipping it out. We would scrub the house with a sage grass broom, all we had. Soon as our broom wore out, we'd go to the grass field and cut down more sage grass and our mother would make us another broom.

We all loved babies. Every time we heard of a new baby in our neighborhood, we'd spend hours in the woods looking in every old log and hollow tree and stumps for a baby. We never found a baby, but we did find a young bird once so we put it into a box and got our hoe and went to the woods to dig worms to feed it. Virgie swung down with the hoe at the same time I reached for a worm. She cut my head and home we ran, blood pouring down my face. Mom fixed that with turpentine. Virgie, being the youngest, could get away with lots of things. After dinner I would go look for Virgie and she'd be out on the porch reading the Bible. So my sister Pearl and I would go on and do the dishes. We thought Virgie wasn't to be disturbed since she was reading the Bible. We didn't realize she knew how to work us to get out of dishes. The only time I can remember our Dad whipping Leonard, and me we were about 6 or 7. Leonard and I put some fence rails in the cow stall and when the cow tried to get in the stall we had her fenced out. So she was in the corncrib when our Dad went out to the barn the next morning. Dad had to almost tear the barn down to get the cow out of the corncrib. Dad whipped Leonard first and Leonard screamed so loud I got scared and ran around the house. I got in the hens nest in the chimney corner with a board to hide me. But Dad found me and when he called I came out. He whipped me a little (not much) and I found out that Leonard had mostly been screaming to get him to stop. The first gift I can remember from Dad was a calf. This calf was out in the rain. The rain turned to ice and that poor calf had ice on his back. I was home alone at that time and somehow I got that calf in the house and had it stand by the open fire until the ice melted. Dad came in but wasn't a bit angry so he said that calf was mine and I sure did claim him from then on. Do you want to know how we spent our evenings? We spent them at home. We would shell corn at night and next morning Leonard and I would divide it and carry it on our heads to the mill to be ground into meal. Maybe the next night we would pick the seeds out of cotton so our Mother could spin it on the old spinning wheel. In the fall, we would pick peas and when they got dry enough we would spread them out on a sheet and beat them out with sticks and hull the rest by hand. Sometimes in the summer, we would play marbles or horseshoes but most of the time we had work to do.


I can remember the first car Leonard and I ever rode in. The man had a flat tire. We got out and Leonard got a long breath and said, "Well this is going to be a heck of a lift". He thought we had to hold the car up while the man changed the tire. Leonard grew up to be a proud fellow. He would wear an old stocking top over his head at night trying to get every red hair to stay in place. Even after he had grown to be a man, he would still stutter when he got excited. Mother did her own doctoring. There was a short man that would go out in the mountains and dig roots of all kinds. Some was called rat vain and snakeroot. Just all kinds of root. He would put all these roots and barks in a large kettle of water. He would boil it down until it was thick enough to pour into molds and dry. His name was Carlock. So when we saw him coming up the road, we would yell Mother here comes old man Carlock. Mother would start looking for pennies and nickels. I think he would charge about twenty-five cents. Mother was ready if one of us got a headache. Here she would come with a big tablespoon that little brown pill well covered, heaped over with anything she had in the kitchen to hide the pill. It would take so long for her to get my mouth opened, the pill would be dissolved and all the goodies she used to cover the taste, tasted like pills. It sure did the work though. My Mother would visit an elderly woman that lived up a hill. There was a large space of woods we had to go through and Mother would ask me if I wanted to walk along her. Of course, I wanted to go but the path so narrow I couldn't walk beside Mother and I'd follow behind. I was so scared sometimes I'd slip by her and walk in front. Then it seemed as if I could see something behind each bush when it was so dark I could hardly see the bush. But when we'd get to the top of the hill and I had a wider path, I'd stop by my Mother and put my hand in hers. I felt so safe then. Felt like nothing could harm me. We'd spend the rest of the evening with Mrs. Parks and she'd put potatoes on the open fire, and cover them with hot coals and ashes. Talk about good potatoes, none could taste better.  


 ( Page 88)

My older brothers could playa banjo: my Dad a fiddle. We had our own country music. Not bad if you like that kind. We did not do the latest dance steps or the newest song hits. Everything in those days was an old-fashioned tune. Though I imagine some are still popular today.

Authors Note: Catherine Flury's grandfather___and Our Grandmother Canzada were brother and sister.)

The Stoney Creek Primitive Baptist Association


We do not know when people of the Baptist faith first came to present day Scott County. We do know the first Baptist preacher in what is now Scott County was Squire Boone, a brother of Daniel Boone. These two brothers spent the winter of 1773-74 in the vicinity of Castlewood in present day Russell County, VA. The brothers traveled the Clinch River Valley as far west as Rye Cove. Daniel was in command of all the forts in the Clinch River Valley, while the militiamen were engaged in the Point Pleasant campaign of Dunmore's War.

The oldest Primitive Baptist Church was organized in the late 1700's on Stoney Creek north of Blackmore. We have minutes of this church, going back thirteen years before Scott County was formed in 1814.

The second oldest Primitive Baptist Church was located just east of Nickelsville, VA, on Copper Creek. We have minutes of this church going back to 1808. Robert Kilgore was pastor of this church for 40 years. At one time, he was also pastor of the Stoney Creek Church.

The Stoney Creek Primitive Baptist Church may have been built on the land grant that Captain John Blackmore got in 1773. David Cox bought the Blackmore property in 1817 when it was sold for delinquent taxes. In 1835, David Cox deeded one-half acre of land and building to William Addington and Thomas Strong, trustees of the Stoney Creek Church (Deed book No. 5 - Page 176).

Ten years after the Stoney Creek Church was organized, it became a member of the Washington Association. At the 1849 Washington Association meeting, it was suggested that the association be divided for the sake of more convenient attendance. At this meeting, the following churches requested dismission to form a new association: Big Glade, Blue Springs, Copper Creek, Cranesnest, Red Hill, Moccasin Creek, Stoney Creek, Three Fork of Powell River and Tom's Creek. They met by agreement with the Stoney Creek Church in Scott County for organizational purposes on Friday, before the fourth Saturday in October of 1851. The new body became the Regular Primitive Baptist Stoney Creek Association.

Elder Thomas Colley was elected to preach the introductory sermon, and Elder John Wallis was elected to be his alternate.

Anyone who said he had a calling to preach the Gospel in the Primitive Baptist Church was not asked what college he was graduated from, or what seminary he attended. He was allowed by the church to exhort and expound on the scripture for months, and sometimes years. Before he could be ordained, he was examined by the brethren and ministers of his faith and order. They determined his orthodox beliefs, that is they found his opinion of religious doctrine of the Primitive Baptist Church by asking him the following questions:

  1. What view have you of God?
  2. What view have you of the Trinity?
  3. What think you of the Holy Scripture of the Old and New Testament?
  4. What views have you of man in his first recitude?
  5. What think you of man in his present state?
  6. How can a God of infinite power or purity be just, and yet the justifier of the ungodly?
  7. How is the sinner justified before God from the guilt of sin?
  8. Is the act of faith that justifies from the guilt of sin?
  9. What view have you of the intermediate state of the soul and body?
After his ordination, he had to comply with a state law.

Elias Colier this day (June 12, 1877) produced credentials of his ordination, and also of his being in regular communion with the Primitive Baptist Church, took the oath of allegiance to this Commonwealth, and with J. S. Addington, C. C. Addington, J. M. Easterling and H. M. McConnell, his securities, entered into and acknowledged a bond in the penalty of ($1,500) fifteen hundred dollars conditioned according to law. Where upon, his motion, a testimonial is granted him in due form (Minute Book No. 18 - Page 58).

Abstract of Principle of the Stoney Creek Primitive Baptist Association are as follows:

  1. We believe in one true and living God as revealed in the Bible by the name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
  2. We believe the Old and New Testament are the work of God, and the only rule of all saving knowledge and obedience.
  3. We believe that man was created upright, but has ruined himself by the fallen state he is in, and that it is possible for him to recover himself by his own free will and ability.
  4. We believe that we are justified by the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ, and we are generated and sanctified by the Spirit of God.
  5. We believe in the doctrine of election, according to foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.
  6. We believe of a truth that God is no respecter of persons, but in every nation he that feareth Him and worketh righteousness is accepted of Him.
  7. We believe the saints will preserve through grace and never finally fall away.
  8. We believe that baptism and the Lord's Supper are ordinances of Jesus Christ, and believers are the subjects proper, and that the apostolic mode of baptism is immersion, and that no person is a proper subject to take the Lord's Supper, but such as have been legally baptized by a legal administrator of our faith and order, and have entered the church legally, and are in full fellowship in the church. We believe in charity according to the Scriptures, and also believe that feet washing is an example of Christ, and should be kept by the churches.
  9. We believe in the resurrection of the dead, of a general judgement, and that the punishment of the wicked is everlasting and the joy of the righteous is eternal.
  10. Any member who shall willingly, knowingly violate any of these abstracts shall be reproved by the Association as she may think proper.

The churches received members by relation, by letter, and experience and baptism. When the pastor gave an invitation for anyone wishing to join the church he would say, "The church door is now open for anyone wishing to join the church."

In the church minutes an invitation reads as follows: After preaching the church door being opened, Ann Kilgore come forward and was received by experience and was baptized (1850).

If a member had been excluded from the church, he could be restored to his seat int he church by coming to church and confessing his sins, asking the church to forgive him (recantation). The association was very strict on their churches and members, as evidenced int he recording of the minutes.

The following are some of the disciplinary actions taken by the churches going back one hundred and eighty years.

Brother Giles Lee acknowledged his fault for drinking too much of the spiritous fluid (whiskey). David Gibson, a backslider, received on a relation of the work of God upon his soul. Henry Leath excluded for getting drunk and fighting. George Gibson excluded for a disorderly walk. Thomas Alley excluded from membership for denying the name of a Baptist and the final perseverance of the saints in grace. Sarah Flanary excommunicated for dancing. Sister Rebedy Russell excommunicated for telling lies on her sisters and not confessing her faults to the church.

Brother Hall came forward and acknowledged his fault for getting angry by hearing some news that disturbed his mind. The church forgave him. Then Brother Riggs came forward and acknowledged he had sinned in going to see a bee tree taken on Sunday. The church forgave him. Brother E. Harris came forward and acknowledged his fault for being at a frolic. The church forgave him. James Nickels and Jane, his wife, are excluded from the church for acting out of Christian character in separating from each other. The church appoints Brother Kitzer assistant pastor.

Charles Kilgore charged with keeping a distillery and selling ardent spirits. Kilgore came to church and refuses to acknowledge that he was doing wrong for distilling and selling ardent spirits. The church excludes him. R. H. Kilgore be notified to attend our next conference to answer the complaints of the church.

Sister Polly Salyer is excluded for imposing herself upon the church when pregnant (husband, Samuel).

Nancy Kilgore died June 13, 1839.

December 10, 1853, the church door being open. Feeby Moore came forward and was baptized. Feeby Moore was a black woman who lived in the community.

No meeting at this time on account of the smallpox (1858).

During the autumn of 1864, the people of Southwest Virginia were suffering from hunger and for the need of clothing and shoes, because the Confederate Congress had a law that people had to give a percentage of their provisions to the Confederate government to feed the army. Marauders came through the country raiding and stealing from the people. This left residents in Southwest Virginia destitute.

There was no association held in the Stoney Creek district this year (1864) on account of there are no provisions to feed the people.

The church, being grieved with Brother Dillon for drinking too much spiritous liquor, at the next meeting Brother Dillon came to the church and acknowledged his fault for drinking too much stimulus fluid. The church forgave him.

In 1865, the Stoney Creek Association sent letters to its churches which read: We advise our churches that if any of their members shall aid or assist the Federal Government in any way contrary to the laws of the Confederate States of America, that they be dealt with for disorder, unless full satisfaction be given, and that the same be excluded from the church.

The Copper Creek Church (Addington Frame) sent the following reply to the Stoney Creek Association: To be loyal to the Federal Government and the Union of the United states is just and right, that to support and defend the Federal Government against foreign enemies and domestic traitors is a moral obligation binding upon all good citizens, and it has received sanctions of the only true God of heaven and earth by bringing the so-called Southern Confederate Government to nothingness. Therefore, to be loyal to the Federal Government does not bring any member of our churches into disorder.

The Copper Creek Church passed the following resolution: that no minister of the Gospel of our faith and order be allowed to preach in this church without consent of the church who has aided in the rebellion against the United States.

The original Primitive Baptist Churches became divided over foreign missions and parted ways in 1847. The foreign mission group joined the Missionary Church.

In 1887 a new controversy arose, this time over predestination. That is, the purpose or decree of God from eternity respecting all events of man, especially the preordination of men to everlasting happiness or to everlasting misery.

In the late 1930's, another controversy arose over eternal punishment. One group said there was no eternal hell for man regardless of how wicked he had lived. This group was called the "No Hellers." Those that believed in an eternal hell and punishment of the wicked were called "Hellers."

With all the controversy, arguments and wrangling, the association became a very small and helpless congregation. The last churches of the association were two or three churches in Tennessee, and it is doubtful that they are still in existence today. The Stoney Creek Primitive Baptist Association will, in a few years, pass into history.