Here you can find news and current event items from Caldwell County. If you know of something going on that would be of interest to folks all over the country, please send it to me.
24 May 1997.
Brenda Joyce Jerome has received notification from the Board of Certification in Washington, DC that she now a Certified Genealogical Record Specialist. Brenda is publisher of the Western Kentucky Journal, owner of a very active genealogical publishing company, speaker, author and genealogist. Let us all join in congratulating her!!
The following copywrited account from the Western Kentucky Journal is reprinted with permission.
LIVINGSTON CEMETERY
CALDWELL COUNTY, KENTUCKY
On 27 July 1996, under the leadership of Merrill Greeman, several members
of the Crittenden County Genealogical Society and Caldwell County
Historical Society visited what is reputed to be the oldest known
cemetery in the area. It is located on privately-owned land off US 641
about 1 mile north of Fredonia, just south of Livingston Creek and
very near where Livingston Presbyterian Church was founded in 1797
by the Rev. Terah Templin and a group of former members of Hardin's
Creek Church (Lebanon, KY) and Road's Run Church (Springfield, KY). The
foundation stones from the church have been moved from the church location
with some piled under a tree. The cemetery appears to have many unmarked
graves and many marked with sandstones. All inscriptions appear to be hand-
carved with the exception of that of Jane Johnson and the adjoining 1817 stone.
There is a legend that some of the unmarked graves are for Cherokee Indians
who died on the Trail of Tears. This cemetery is also located near the old
town of Centreville, which was the county seat of Livingston County for a
short time before Caldwell County was formed from Livingston in 1809.
Mary Morrow Hannah Elder
Dec Sep 5 1811 Dec Jan 3 1819
(leanding against at
tree along with 3
uninscribed headstones) M.L. (footstone; the owner of the
property stated the headstone for
Mary Leeper, who died ca 1816, had been moved)
John Elder Jane Johnson
Dec Oc 21 1799 wife of Dr. James Johnson
(leaning against a tree) Born Mar 15 1782
Died Dec 11 1818 aged 31 (sic) yrs
8 mo & 26 days
(professionally carved with willow tree &
sheep; appears to be in original location.)
In Memory of
Thomas Griffis
Robison deceased ____________1817
October the 31 ______01 Aged 27 yr 8 mo
Aged 15 years (top of headstone broken and missing;
(round, effigy-style top; appears to be in original location beside that
bottom portion missing) of Jane Johnson)
1828 (top of headstone)
Robert J Elder
Dec Sep 16 1815
Here lies the bo
dy of William
Robert Elder Hamilton Dep
Dec Jen (sic) 14, 1821 arted this Lif
(The 4 is carved backwards) e October 27 1800
Aged 50 years
(round, effigy-style top; bottom
portion broken off)
Brenda Joyce Jerome has provided this information:
The Caldwell Co, KY Historical Society meets the first Thursday night of alternating months at Coon Public Library in Princeton. Dues are $12 per year and includes a quarterly newsletter. Current officers are Mrs. Louise Purdy, President; George Harralson III, Vice President; Doris Thomas, Secretary; and Stice Goodwin, Treasurer. The Society has bought the old Dr. Amoss house near Cobb and is restoring it for a Black Patch museum. Dr. Amoss is reputed to have been the leader of the Night Riders, who created havoc throughout W. Kentucky and Tennessee by destroying tobacco warehouses. The George Coon Library on Harrison St., Princeton, has a fine and growing genealogy room with microfilm and reader/printer, copying machine, many books on the area and other states, family files, plus an Archive Room, which contains old church records and original source material. Also of interest are the many notebooks containing obituaries of area residents.These obituaries date back to about 1900. Brenda Joyce Jerome West Kentucky Journal
Brenda Joyce Jerome has provided this information:
Ruth Nichols and Glenn Martin, members of the Caldwell Co Historical Society, received an award for achievement (Western region) from the Kentucky Genealogical Society at the annual KGS seminar in Frankfort on 3 Aug 1996. Since Jan 1996, Ruth and Glenn have spent untold hours dusting, sorting, and filing in archival boxes the original, loose papers and files from 1809 - 1900 in the county clerk's office. The goal is to make the records more accessible for historical and genealogical researchers. Some records may be temporarily unaccessible, but shelves are being built to hold all of these very important records.