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Chapter 8
Daughter ~ Lucy C. Ware With three young children running around the house, all under the age of five, and the colony of Virginia holding its’ breath as tensions rose with Great Britain, it must have been a little overwhelming for Caty when she learned she was pregnant again in 1773. The odds were she was still nursing five-month old baby Polly at the time, and although James was 32 years old, Caty had just recently celebrated getting out of her teens and turning twenty. The new addition to the family was born on November 12, 1773, and they named her Lucy. The little girl would have been too young to fully understand the ramifications of the Revolutionary War during her early childhood, but by the time she got married in 1790, the war was over and her home was no longer a colony, but a state. George Washington had been elected as the first President, and both her father and fiancé shared the honor of being a “Patriot” for the cause of American freedom.
Lucy C. Ware Webb Lucy married one year before her older sister, Polly. Her husband was Capt. Isaac Webb; the brother of Charles Webb who would marry her sister in 1791. Both sisters were married in Virginia by the same minister, Reverend Alexander Balmain. (Ref. 307) In a section written by Thomas Green and quoted in Reverend Hayden’s Virginia Genealogies, it is recorded:
“Isaac Webb enlisted in the
Revolutionary Army at the age of 17, served to its close, attained the rank of
Captain, and received land from Virginia.
‘Lieut. Isaac Webb, of the Continental line, received Jan. 13, 1784, 2666
2/3 acres for three years service; also an annual pension from May 31, 1833
until his death.
He resigned Feb.
24, 1780, after Gates defeat, having served three years and more. General Clinton, by proclamation,
offered to reinstate any resigned officer who would repair to headquarters and
report.
Lieut. Webb at once returned
and was made Captain.
He marched to
the South, with 120 men, and never resigned afterwards.’”
(Ref. 6) Actually, Isaac “first served as an Ensign and 2nd Lieutenant in the 7th Virginia
Continental Line; then 1st lieutenant, 5th regiment of the
Line in 1799.”
(Ref. 944)
He also
“served as a Captain under Green in the
14th campaign.” (Ref. 621,934)
Land Grant
Ref. (943)
When
Lucy and Isaac married
on December 23, 1790, Lucy was 17 and Isaac, who was born in 1758, was 32.
(Ref. 550, 621, 1067)
Josiah Ware, a cousin of Lucy’s, once described Isaac as being “a very small man, of an active figure.”
He also went on to add,
“I first saw him, at their house near
Lexington, Kentucky - - about 12 miles, I think, east of Lexington; about 1825.”
(Ref. 174, 638)
Josiah, who felt very close to
his cousin Lucy, mentioned that she was “very
fine-looking; and had as fine a face as you ever saw, full of kindness and
benevolence.” (Ref.
638) It is easy to see
from the painting of her that she was, indeed, a lovely woman.
James and his son-in-law, Isaac, became close friends in Virginia, and that
friendship played a major role in the families moving to Kentucky together. Isaac, having been awarded a land grant by the government for service in the Revolutionary War, “had
acquired a great
deal of land in Fayette and Bourbon counties of Kentucky.”
(Ref. 174) Over 2,666 acres of prime land was nothing to sneeze at. This land, extensively in Kentucky,
covered a tremendous area.
In a
family letter, it was stated that Isaac Webb “owned nearly all the land Cincinnati was built upon and a great part of the land Lexington was
built upon.”
(Ref. 2) It is interesting to note that the actual land documents
he obtained “were signed by both Thomas
Jefferson and James Madison.”
(Ref. 174)
The Ware and Webb
families were now joined by two marriages, making it logical for them to travel
together and build their homes in close proximity to each other; thereby
claiming vast strongholds in this new “land of promise” called Kentucky. Property was wealth, and the two
families now had a lot of Bluegrass acreage.
The land grant for Isaac Webb was described as
“a certain tract of land containing 1,000
acres, ‘situate between the Little Miami and Sciota Rivers, north-west of the
River Ohio, as by survey, bearing date of the 14th day of May, in the
year one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine, and bounded and described as
follows, to wit: Survey of one thousand acres of land on part of a military
Warrent, Number Two thousand two hundred and forty-six in favor of the said
Isaac Webb) (the whole hereof being for Two thousand six hundred sixty-six and
two thirds acres) on the Waters of Paint Creek, beginning at three Elms
Southwest corner of John Belfield’s survey No. 1411, and in the line of a survey
made for Dowse and Hite No. 1280, running with their line two Hickories and an
Elm in Jone’s line thence East four hundred poles crossing a Branch to an Elm
and two Honey Locusts thence North four hundred poles to a Stake in a prairie
Southwest corner of James Merewether’s survey no. 1127, and South East corner to
John Belfield’s Survey thence with Belfield’s line west four hundred poles to
the Beginning . . . .”
Patent dated December 22, 1802.
(Ref. 174)
To understand the land grants, it is
important to remember that the country looked much different in the 1700’s than
it does today.
The newly formed
Congress, in establishing the Ordinance of 1787, “established the precedent by which the United States would expand
westward across
North
America by the admission of new
states, rather than by the expansion of existing states. What was then known as the
Northwest Territory was
organized out of the region south of the
Great
Lakes, north and west of the
Ohio River, and east of the
Mississippi River.”
(Ref. Wikipedia ) This was a monumental decision on the
part of what used to be the original 13 colonies because it shifted forever the
boundaries and powers of each state.
It showed tremendous forethought on the part of the nation’s leaders at the
time.
According to Wikipedia, “in October 1784, Virginia ceded to the
nation the vast territory northwest of the Ohio River, but there were two major
stipulations attached to the deal.
One demand was that the Northwest Territory had to be divided, eventually, into
new states (later determined to be Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin,
and the portion of Minnesota east of the Mississippi River.)”
The second stipulation was that the
Virginia Military District, which included the area east of the Little Miami
River and west of the Scioto River, was to be used to fulfill land grants
promised to those Virginia soldiers who had done service in the Continental Army
during the war.
The federal
government agreed to Virginia’s requests when it accepted the state’s offer of
land in 1784.
Article 5 of the Ordinance
of 1787 specifically addressed this issue of creating separate states.
Maps made by GOLBEZ on Wikipedia
The two maps above
show how different the state boundaries looked in the 1700s from what they are
today. They explain why Isaac lived
in Kentucky and yet was also credited with owning land in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Map showing the location of the border of Kentucky with Cincinnati, Ohio
Once the great move was made from Virginia to Kentucky, James and Caty
must have been pleased when Isaac and Lucy settled close by. Thompson and
Sallie put down their
roots in the Paris/Centerville area, as did Polly and Charles. Lucy and Isaac, however, chose their
land in Fayette County.
In fact, the
Ware and Webb properties were both located near Antioch Pike.
In a certified statement on file in the Kentucky State Library, W.G.
Stannard provided the best existing description of the location of both the Ware
and Webb properties:
“I, W.G. Stannard, certify that I have
personally examined the records of Northumberland County, Virginia, and that I
find the following:
“. . . we come to two brothers
who married two sisters, and came from Frederick County, Virginia to Kentucky,
in 1792, with their father-in-law, Dr. James Ware. They built three homes on the old
Ironworks Pike, just east of the Bryan Station Pike. The Dr. James Ware house still stands
at the intersection of the Brier Hill Pike and Antioch Pike (new) and the Isaac
Webb Sr. burying ground, also on Antioch Pike, was restored in 1933 by some of
his descendants.”
(Ref. 939 )
Map showing Ware Road
Caty was probably thrilled when Lucy’s baby was
named after her. Little
Catherine (sometimes spelled with a
“K”) was born on September 15, 1791.
The child was sometimes called Caty, like her grandma, but to help differentiate
between the two, she was more often known as
Kitty. Kitty married another member of the Conn family, James Conn. He was the brother of both William Conn (husband of Fanny Webb) and Sallie Conn (wife of Kitty’s Uncle Thompson Ware.) They were married on January 31, 1814, when Kitty was 23 and James was 28. (Ref. 941) Later that year, as the nation was embroiled in the War of 1812, James Conn did his military service. Attaining the rank of captain, he “led a company from September 10, 1814 to October 9, 1814, under the command of Lt. Col. Andrew Porter.” (Ref. 1055)
Kitty and James had five children; four sons and one daughter. In a letter to her cousin, Sally
Ware, on May 6, 1819, Kitty made special mention of her sons:
“I have four sons, three living. My first I call John Scott
[Conn] after Dr. Scott of Frankfort, my second
is named Webb [Conn] after my father,
my third is Joseph Scott [Conn] after
Dr. Scott formerly of Chillicothe (the doctor is now living in Frankfort), and
Thomas [Conn] after Grandfather Conn. My second son, Webb, I had the
misfortune to lose (last March was a year) with whooping cough and measles.”
(Ref. 35D) For some reason, Kitty did not mention her daughter in this particular letter, but she and James did have one, named Catherine Webb Conn. On April 14, 1847, “Robert Innes was married to Catherine Conn, daughter of James Conn & Catherine Webb. They lived in a house on 2nd street in Lexington.” (Ref. 174, 689) Robert had previously been married to Tabitha Boyd. (Ref. 174, 689)
Kitty Conn fell victim to an outbreak of cholera in the early years of her marriage. She died on May 10, 1820.
(Ref. 621) Her
husband, James, decided to leave Bourbon/Paris
County and relocate to Blue Licks in Nicholas County. It is unclear whether Kitty moved
with him and died in Nicholas County, or if she stayed in Bourbon County by
herself and died after he moved.
According to old family
letters, she clearly was not overjoyed with James’
From
family bible James had “inherited the old homestead place of his fathers, but he sold the property to his brother, William Conn, before moving.” (Ref. 941) Kentucky records indicate he relocated “to Nicholas County, Kentucky, where he was living in 1882 and where he probably lived out his life.” (Ref. 941) James did, indeed, stay in Nicholas County. He remarried in 1823 and had four additional children with his new wife, Martha H. (Patsy) Throckmorton. (Ref. Debbie McArdle, wife of James Talbot McArdle, of Crystal Lake, IL.) Kitty’s mother gave a written account of what happened to Kitty’s children after her death. She wrote: “Kitty’s oldest son, John, is living with James Webb. [James] got me to write to [John’s] father [James Conn] that if he would let him have John, he [referring to James Webb] would educate him and give him whatever professional character his talents would best suit. He sent him [John]. Kitty is living with me. The other two children, Joseph and Thomas, are with him [James Conn] – to my sorrow. I wrote a letter to him [James Conn] the other day that if he would give up their mother’s [Kitty’s] property that Mr. Webb [Lucy’s husband and Kitty’s father] gave her, though it’s but little, we would take the other two boys and educate them and insure to them the property when they came of age. But I did not send it, knowing it would displease him very much.” (Ref. 597) In referring to other grandchildren and how well their parents were looking after their education, she further lamented, “If only other poor motherless ones had the same chance.” (Ref. 597)
Even though
Lucy could not visit with Joseph and Thomas as much as she would have liked,
James Conn did provide well, and equally, for all of his children. Papers kindly provided by fellow
researcher, Karin Rice, clearly stipulate how much land was to be allotted to
each child after his wife’s dower was taken out.
(See
below)
Chart given courtesy of Karin Rice (Ref. 2268)
“Lot #1 went
to the children for James’ second marriage, and Lot #2 went to the children he
had with Kitty.”
(Ref. 2268)
James Conn died in Nicholas County in 1833. The inscription on his tombstone,
which was found by Bill Wheaton in the Throckmorton Cemetery in 1999, reads as
follows:
James Conn, Died June 22, 1833, aged 47 years, 1
month, 17 days. He
died as he lived; a Christian.” (Ref. 2268, 2269)
THROCKMORTON CEMETERY
Isaac and Lucy’s
second child, another daughter, was born on January 28, 1793. They named her Winifred, but called
her Winny. She was probably named after Isaac’s
spinster sister, Winney Webb, who was very dear to him. On June 12, 1811, Winny married
Mathew Thompson Scott, who was called “Thompson” by family members. In a letter from James Ware II to his
son, James Ware III, in Virginia, he wrote, “Thompson Scott was married to Winny Webb
the 12th of the month.”
(Ref. 35E)
Photo of Mathew Thompson Scott - courtesy of Bill LaBach
Mathew came from a highly respected family in Pennsylvania. “Born in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania in
1786, M. T. Scott lost both of his parents, Matthew and Elizabeth Thompson
Scott, when he was very young. He,
therefore, came to live with his relative, Dr. John Mitchell Scott of
Frankfort.”
(Ref. 966, 2261)
After
settling in Kentucky, Mathew made a fine reputation for himself.
“By good judgment, honesty and industry, he attained a comfortable
position in later years and during his residence of a half century in Lexington
had the respect of the best families in that section.”
(Ref. 966)
Just prior to his marriage, Mathew embarked upon a banking career. He
“became a clerk in the Lexington branch of
the Bank of Kentucky in 1808. After
his marriage, he subsequently obtained the position of teller, then cashier, in
the United States Bank.
When that
bank was taken up by Northern Bank of Kentucky in 1835, he became a cashier in
the new bank.
Mathew Scott became
President of the Northern Bank of Kentucky and served in that capacity for six
years before his death in 1858. He
was also the first treasurer of the Lexington Cemetery Company.”
(Ref. 485, 796, 990, 974)
The “Kentucky
Gazette” newspaper from 1801-1820 lists
several business transactions for Mathew:
“Tuesday, August 6, 1811 – Directors of the Bank
of Kentucky were elected.
Mathew T.
Scott is cashier of the Lexington Bank; a promotion from being a clerk.”
“October 13, 1812 – War news mentions Mathew T.
Scott at the branch bank in Lexington.”
“Monday, March 27, 1815 – M.T. Scott has stock
in Lexington Branch Bank for sale.”
“Friday, June 5, 1818 – The managers of Farmers
& Mechanics Bank of Lexington are named, Mathew T. Scott being one of them.”
“Friday, December 17, 1819 – A report given by
Mathew T. Scott on the finances of the Farmers & Mechanics Bank of Lexington.”
“Friday, January 14, 1820 – A note from M.T.
Scott regarding a statement to the stockholders of the Farmers & Mechanics Bank
of Lexington is given.”
(Ref. 974)
As his lucrative career prospered, Thompson and Winny watched their
family grow.
They had 15 children: James W. Scott (1811), Elizabeth
(Betsy) Thompson Scott (1813), Isaac Webb Scott (1814), Lucy Catherine Scott
(1816), Mary Dewees Scott (1817), Lucy Webb Scott (1819), John William Scott
(1821), Winny Webb Scott (1822), Matthew Thompson Scott ( 1823), Margaret Scott
(1824), Lucy Ware Scott (1826), Joseph Scott (1829), William Nicholson Scott
(1831), and William Thompson Scott (1833).
(Ref. 477)
In a letter Lucy Webb wrote to her niece, Sally Stribling, around 1831,
she said, “Winny has 11 children living
and two dead.
She expects to be
confined in two months.
James, her
oldest, is one of the smartest boys.
He’ll finish his education this year.
Betsy is pretty faced, but too low entirely.
Isaac and Mary are going to school in
Lexington.
Mary is 13 years old; as
tall as Betsy now.
They are all
smart, promising children and will have good opportunity if their father, a man
of energy and industry, knows the worth of an education.”
(Ref. 597)
The pregnancy Lucy made reference to in this letter produced another son. Born on June 20, 1831, the Scotts
named the boy William Nicholas.
Sadly, the child would only live two years.
Winny was pregnant again in 1832, but she had no way of knowing how
little time she would have with her growing family. Her baby was due in June of 1833, a
year that would go down in history as one of Kentucky’s most devastating times. As people would later recall,
“the terrible ravages of the cholera in
1833 will ever keep that fatal year memorable in the annuals of Lexington. The devoted city had confidently
expected to escape the scourge on account of its elevated position and freedom
from large collections of water, but an inscrutable Providence ruled it
otherwise.
About the 1st
of June, the cholera made its appearance, and in less than ten days, fifteen
hundred persons were prostrated and dying at the rate of fifty a day. An indescribable panic seized the
citizens, half of whom fled from the city, and those who remained were almost
paralyzed with fear.”
(Ref. 687)
It must have been a terrifying time to bring a
new life into the world.
There had been a previous outbreak of cholera the year before, so people
knew exactly how dangerous this disease could be.
“Cholera, an acute, infectious
disease characterized by profuse diarrhea, vomiting, and cramps, leads to great
body salt depletion.
It is spread by
contaminated water and food. Major
epidemics struck the United States in 1832, 1833, 1849, and 1866.”
(Ref. 919) When it came again in 1833, it
struck with a vengeance, and by the time the summer passed, the Ware and Webb
families were left with little but tears to mark the coming of autumn.
There were reports of the illness striking its deadly blow even as early
as May; well before the summer heat had reached its peak. Everyone knew conditions would only
grow worse as the summer progressed.
Eight months pregnant with another baby, the Scotts had to bear the loss of the
little boy they had just welcomed into the world two years earlier. Baby William died on May 4th
-- just one month shy of what would have been his second birthday.
Death gives way to new life though, and one month after burying their
beloved toddler, Winny gave birth to another son.
Still in the grips of mourning, it was probably in little William’s honor
that the new baby was named. William
Thompson Scott, born on June 23rd,
was robust and
healthy; so much so, that this tiny infant managed to survive the epidemic that
took the life of so many around him.
The Hayes Presidential Memorial Library has a file where the following
incident was reported.
Mary Ann Todd Webb (Mrs. William
T. Nicholson) relayed this story to her daughter, Isabelle Eugenia Nicholson in
1876: “. . . [In 1833] Sister Winny’s infant was not two weeks old . . . when news came of the death of her parents and her brother reached her. She was kept in so much terror of cholera (because) all the bank officers had died of cholera – (except Mr. Scott [her husband] and one other,) and he was called upon to write wills of persons who had cholera. When Betsey was told of the death of Papa, Mama, & Isaac, she (without thinking) ran into Sister Winnie’s room and said, ‘O, Sister, Ma, Pa, & Isaac are dead.’ Sister lost all reason, though Dr. Scott went to her and said, ‘Winnie, you are not sick but frightened. I assure you, you are not sick’ . . . and when brother was told, he exclaimed in anguish, he ‘had killed them all.’ ” (Ref. 174)
Grave marker for Winny Scott
It is certainly not difficult to sympathize with Winny’s great anxiety. Having lost one child already, and
now hearing that (not one, but both) her parents and her brother had just
died, the shock of the news must have struck fear to the depths of her bones. Sadly, her feelings of doom became
reality when she, very shortly thereafter, came down with cholera too.
Winny died on July 8, 1833.
She was only 40 years old at the time, and her death left Mathew Scott with a
house filled with
children to rear by himself. Having been
orphaned by his own
parents at such
a young age, he must have felt great sympathy for his offspring. Family members pitched in to help,
and Winny’s sister-in-law, “Maria
[Cook Webb], took the baby who was William
and weaned her own child, Lucy [Lucy Webb Hayes] who was two years old. The cholera was at its
height at that time.”
(Ref.174)
Thompson’s
grieving was not over yet, however, as he lost his oldest son, James, to cholera
in September.
That year of 1833 was especially terrible for both the Webb and Ware
families in Kentucky, with the cholera causing much death and suffering
everywhere.
Hardly a member of the
family was left unscathed, but without a doubt, it would seem the hardest hit
was the family of Lucy and Isaac Webb.
In a letter to President Hayes from Isaac Scott (their grandson and the
son of Winny and Mathew), he wrote in reference to Lucy Hayes’ father and his
uncle, James Webb:
“He died at my father’s [Mathew Thompson Scott] house during the
terrible scourge of the cholera in July 1833.
I sat by his bedside and nursed him during his illness of 8 days and
nights, never taking off my clothes as there was so many sick we could not get
help.
We had four sick at the same
time.
My mother [Winnie] died a few
days before Uncle James.” (Ref. 296)
Mathew Thompson Scott managed to survive the epidemic and he remarried three years later. His new wife was another daughter of Lucy and Isaac Webb. Elizabeth (Betsey) Frances Webb was the youngest sister of Winnie, and she was twenty years younger than Mathew at the time of their marriage. They had a very happy and contented life together before Mathew died on August 20, 1858 at the age of 72.
Grave of Mathew Thompson Scott
Photo taken by James and Judy Ware 2010
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CHILDREN OF: WINIFRED WEBB
and MATTHEW THOMPSON SCOTT
B. Jan. 28, 1793
B. Jan. 5, 1786
D. July 8, 1833
D. Aug.
1858
Winny was the daughter of Isaac Webb and Lucy Ware Webb, and she was the granddaughter of James
& Caty Ware.
She and Matthew
Thompson Scott married on June 12, 1810.
When Winny died of cholera in 1833, Thompson married her sister,
Elizabeth (Betsy) Frances Webb Cunningham who was also widowed at the time.
(Ref. 485)
(1) James W. Scott
(2) Elizabeth (Betsy) Thompson Scott
(3) Isaac Webb Scott
(4) Lucy Catherine Scott
(5)
Mary Dewees Scott
(6) Lucy Webb Scott
(7) John William Scott
(8) Winny Webb Scott
(9) Matthew Thompson Scott
(10) Margaret Scott
(11) Lucy Ware Scott
(12) Joseph Scott
(13) William Nicholson Scott
(14) William Thompson Scott
Numbers above in bold print have a matching photo of the person’s grave below.
(3) Isaac Webb Scott
(7)
John William Scott
#12 Grave of Joseph Scott
11 Grave of Lucy Ware Scott
“Being fruitful in every good
work –
Photos taken by James and Judy Ware 2010
The following two graves are the grandchildren of Winny and Mathew, by their son
John Scott and his wife, Elizabeth Skillman Scott.
Grave of Lucy Ware Scott - Infant daughter of John and Elizabeth Scott-
granddaughter of Winny & Mathew Thompson Scott, great granddaughter of Lucy and
Isaac Webb, and great great granddaughter of James and Caty Ware. She died at 7
months “He gathereth the lambs with his arms and carries them in his bosom.”
Grave of Bessie Scott - daughter of John and Elizabeth Scott- granddaughter of Winny & Mathew
Thompson Scott, great granddaughter of Lucy and Isaac Webb, and great great
granddaughter of James and Caty Ware. She
died at 8 years, 3 months, and 18 days
Lucy and Isaac, thankfully, had no knowledge of
what lay in store for them in 1833, when they had their first son on March 17,
1795. They now had a baby boy to
carry on the family heritage. They
named him James, in all likelihood
out of respect for both Lucy’s father and grandfather. Lucy was now 22 years old and big
sisters, Kitty and Winny, were four and two years old, respectively.
James studied medicine in Lexington, Kentucky, and practiced in Chillicothe, Ohio. He was a veteran of the War of 1812,
having served at the young age of 17.
He wed a young lady named Maria Cook on April 18, 1826.
In a letter written sometime after 1828,
Lucy Webb wrote, “James [my son] is living in Chillicothe, married a Miss
Cook [niece of Dr. Scott]. They have two sons, Joseph and James. Miss Cook is amiable but very homely. They are doing, I believe, very
well.” (Ref. 597)
Maria’s father was Isaac Cook and her mother, Margaret, was described as a “pretty and vivacious local belle” in
her younger years. (Ref. 2250) Josiah Ware, a cousin, once noted that “Dr. James Webb was a very handsome man. He had black
hair and dark eyes, and was tall and straight.”
(Ref. 638)
They probably made a strThey probably made a striking couple.
James, Maria, and their sons set up housekeeping in Chillicothe, Ohio.
“Dr. Webb was educated at Transylvania
University and grew up to be a fine type of southern gentleman but with decided
opinions in regard to the evils of whiskey, drinking, and slave holding. He and Maria lived in the old
Woodbridge house on the corner of Paint and 2nd Street which later became site
for Ross County Bank building.”
(Ref. 370 & 688)
The couple provided their sons
with a sister on August 28, 1831.
Their baby daughter was named Lucy Ware Webb, after her paternal grandmother. The young parents had no idea that
their little girl was destined for
greatness, and James would die before his daughter ever really got a chance to
know him.
Ohio home of James & Maria Webb and
Lucy Webb was only two years old when James succumbed to cholera in the 1833 epidemic. She was, however, very close to her
grandfather, Isaac Cook, and he proved to be a strong and loving influence in
her life. Grandpa Isaac
“impressed upon his family, including
young Lucy, who adored him, the importance of temperance.”
(Ref. 2250) Under his encouragement, she “signed a pledge to forsake drinking any
alcoholic beverages.” (Ref. 633) It was a promise she kept faithfully.
Lucy Ware Webb at 16
In a time when few women were
encouraged to broaden their minds, “Lucy
attended the new Wesleyan Female College in Cincinnati at the age of 16.”
(Ref. 2251)
Nine years older than Lucy, Rutherford B. Hayes was attracted to her bright intellect
and inquisitive mind. As a promising
lawyer, he had high aspirations for the future which would eventually lead him
to become the governor of Ohio and even the President of the United States. Lucy would become the first wife of a
president to have a college education.
(Ref. 411)
The couple married on December
30, 1852, in Ohio. According to a
description of the event, “the ‘radiant’
bride looked beautiful in her white-figured satin dress, simply tailored with a
full skirt pleated to a fitted bodice.
She wore a floor-length veil, fastened with orange blossoms. It accented the glistening blackness
of her hair and the slimness of her figure.”
(Ref. 2250)
Lucy’s wedding dress
Rutherford B. Hayes and bride Lucy Ware
Webb
During the Civil War,
Hayes was brevetted a Union major general of volunteers for gallant and distinguished service during the
1864 campaign in West Virginia.
Lucy and her husband strongly opposed the South during the war; slavery being
one of the many issues the couple agreed upon.
Oddly, Lucy’s strong convictions had been fostered by her father and
grandfather, both of whom were slave holders at one time. However,
“her grandfather, Isaac Webb, Jr., becoming convinced of the evil of the institution, had willed
his slaves their freedom and her father, at the time of his death, had been in
the process of freeing slaves inherited from an aunt.”
(Ref. 2250)
This was one of the numerous
examples of how the Civil War often split families apart. Many of Lucy’s relatives in Kentucky
and Virginia not only still owned slaves, but fought vigorously on the side of
the Confederacy. Never wavering in
her belief of freedom for all men, Lucy still grieved for those in her family
who suffered loss during the war and, afterwards, during Reconstruction. In her eyes, whether Rebel or Yankee,
they were all still “family” when peace finally came.
When the war was over, Hayes
decided to pursue his career in politics.
After serving as governor of Ohio, he was nominated by the Republican
party for the presidency of the United States.
It was not a landslide election, but Rutherford won and the couple headed
off for the White House with small children in tow. The halls of the capital
were often filled with laughter and the sound of children’s voices.
Lucy with three of her children at the White House
(Ref. 2250)
Lucy became one of the most beloved first ladies
in American history. Her sweet
nature charmed all who came to know her.
Even though she had her strong convictions on issues such as “no alcohol
served in the White House,” the nation fell under her spell. Nicknamed “Lemonade
Lucy,” she made no apologies for her beliefs.
There were some among the Washington elite who complained at first, but “Lucy’s courage in adopting a
controversial policy for White House entertaining helped to convince people of
the honesty and sincerity of the president and the First Lady.”
(Ref. 2250)
With her tiny stature (she was
only five foot, four inches tall), her beautiful black hair, and kind brown
eyes, “Lucy Hayes was one of the most
personally popular of all of America’s First Ladies.”
(Ref. 633, 2251) As one news columnist, Mary Clemmer Ames, wrote, “Mrs. Hayes’s strong healthful influence
gives the world assurance of what the next century’s women will be.”
(Ref. 2251)
One of Lucy’s least favorite
chores associated with being First Lady was keeping up with correspondence. She was not fond of writing. “Since it was not the custom for a
president’s wife to hire a staff of social assistants, Lucy made up for her lack
of grown daughters by inviting nieces, cousins, and daughters of friends to
assist with social and secretarial duties.”
(Ref. 2250)
Emma Foote, a cousin from Cincinnati, spent a great deal of time at the
White House and helped Lucy with this task of keeping up with the paperwork.
A note to Elizabeth Ware Britton, the daughter of Josiah Ware, written by
Emma Foote at the White House. It is
an invitation for Elizabeth to come and spend the day with Lucy Hayes.
(Ref. 16)
Original note owned by James & Judy Ware
Monogramed note sent from Lucy Ware Webb Hayes at the White House to Josiah’s daughter, Elizabeth Ware Britton, regarding an opportunity for Elizabeth to work in the Treasury Department Original owned by James & Judy Ware
Lucy made sure that her home was
open to family and friends during her time in Washington. One relative who came to visit
several times was her cousin, Josiah Ware, who had owned a large plantation in
Virginia before the war. Even though
they had been on opposing sides during the conflict, their love for each other
remained strong. In fact, there is
an amusing story about an incident that happened several years after the war,
when Josiah was visiting President and Mrs. Hayes. It personifies the confusing
loyalties that were the hallmark of the American Civil War.
Taken from the Memoirs of Thomas
Corwin Donaldson
Washington, D.C., April 14,
1882:
“I was chatting with William T.
Crump, steward of the White House today, when Col. Ware’s name came up. I have frequently mentioned him. He was a cousin of Mrs. Hayes, and a
frequent visitor at the White House; almost a lodger there towards the end of
Mr. Hayes’ term. He lived a few
miles from Martinsburg, W.V., in a splendid old mansion with beautiful grounds,
and attached to it were broad grazing fields.
He was sitting one day at breakfast talking with President Hayes, when he
described how he saved his estate, houses, herds, etc., until near the close of
the war in 1864; and that neither side had touched his Southdowns sheep until
that time, which were the finest in Virginia.
Crump, who was standing in the room, had been a member of the President’s
regiment (23rd Ohio Volunteers) and the President’s orderly during
the entire war. He said: ‘Why, Mr. President, don’t you recall
we camped near Col. Ware’s place, and our men killed and ate his sheep? Don’t you recall how good the mutton
was? I saw you eat some of it. They were killed by your order.’
‘Well,’’ said the President, ‘I do now
recall it.’ Col. Ware and all laughed heartily.
It was true Hayes had slaughtered his relative’s sheep. It was a queer place to recall it. Col. Ware afterwards wanted to know
if the President would not recommend his reimbursement by the government. The President declined.”(Ref.
785) There was often such good hearted
banter between the two men.
Josiah’s affection for Lucy was apparent in all his writings. At one time, he penned, “I can see a resemblance in the form of
Cousin Lucy’s face to Aunt Lucy . . .
her eye shows a cheerfulness that was a sweet trait of Aunt Lucy.”
(Ref.289)
Josiah William Ware Lucy Ware Webb Hayes
It is easy to see the family
resemblance between the cousins; especially around the nose and eye lids.
The Hayes presidency was marked
by many new additions to the traditions of White House living. During their time there, bathrooms
with running water were installed and a crude wall telephone added. In addition,
“Lucy and Rutherford were the first couple
in the White House to start the yearly tradition of the Easter egg roll on the
front lawn, a tradition that is still carried on.”
(Ref. 172, 357)
Hayes only served one term in
office, and then he and Lucy moved back to their beloved home in Ohio called
Spiegel Grove. “Lucy’s passion for social harmony, which had marked her tenure as First lady, continued to
influence her actions even after the family relocated. . .
Unlike the glass-bowl atmosphere of the
White House, where her every move could be observed, however, life in Spiegel
Grove, surrounded by a loving family and friends, provided a reasonable degree
of privacy and a sense of serenity.”
(Ref. 2250)
Rutherford and Lucy celebrated
37 happy years of marriage, spending their final years together in peace and
tranquility, each pursuing their favorite hobbies.
(Ref. 357,411)
Lucy died of a stroke on June 25, 1889, having lived 58 years.
(Ref. 357)
Her father and both paternal grandparents, having passed away in the
cholera epidemic of 1833, never got to know what a remarkable woman she turned
out to be.
~~~~~~~~~
Spiegel Grove
CHILDREN OF:
DR. JAMES WEBB
and
MARIA COOK
B.
March 17, 1795
B. March 9, 1801
D. July 1, 1833
D.
Sept. 14, 1866
James was the son of Lucy Ware Webb and her husband, Isaac Webb.
He was the grandson of James & Caty Ware and the great grandson of James
and Agnes Ware. He married Maria
Cook on April 18, 1826.
(Ref. 633)
(1) Dr. Joseph Thompson Webb
(2) Dr. James DeWees Webb
(3) Lucy Ware Webb
CHILDREN OF:
President Rutherford B Hayes and LUCY WARE WEBB HAYES
B. Oct. 4,
1822 B. August 28, 1831
D. January 17, 1893
D. June 25, 1889
Lucy and Rutherford B. Hayes were married on December 30, 1852
(1) Birchard Austin Hayes
(2) Webb Cook Hayes
(3) Rutherford Platt Hayes
(4) Joseph Thompson Hayes
(5) George Crook Hayes
(6) Fanny Hayes
(7) Scott Russell Hayes
(8) Manning Force Hayes
(Ref. 357, 2250)
Members of the Hayes Family on the porch at Spiegel Grove,
Isaac and Lucy Webb had their fourth child on March 2, 1797, giving young James Webb a brother. They named their new son
Isaac Webb III, after both his father
and grandfather Webb. He married
Louisa Harrison Jones and the couple had four children:
Lucy Webb (1824) who married Dr. Robert W. Bush;
Edward Webb who died, probably of cholera, in 1833; Isaac Webb IV (Nov. 26,
1831) who married Miss Gray and died in 1898; and Frances Webb (1828). In an early letter written by Lucy,
she stated, “Isaac has two children; Lucy
and Edward [who] live ½ mile from him
on Miss Winney Webb’s farm.” (Ref. 597)
(She was
probably referring to the spinster sister
of her husband, Isaac.) Isaac Webb
III died on the same day as his father during the raging cholera epidemic.
Children of Lucy and Isaac Webb
Sister of Isaac Webb
Grave markers located in the Webb/Ware Cemetery in Kentucky
The Webb family continued to
grow. On February 16, 1799, Lucy and
Isaac added another daughter into the household, this time a namesake for Lucy;
her full name was Lucy Caroline Webb. On July 31, 1817, Lucy Caroline
became the bride of Dr. Joseph Thompson Scott.
Joseph, born in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, was the younger brother of
Dr. John Mitchell Scott who had married
Joseph Scott, as did his
brother, had gone into the medical profession; graduating from the Jefferson
Medical College in Philadelphia. He
set up his early practice in Chillicothe, Ohio, where he met his first wife, Martha Finley.
(Ref. 479,805) He and Martha were married in 1805
and they had two daughters before Martha passed away in 1810.
(Ref. 482,688) style="mso-spacerun:yes">
After her death, Dr. Scott took his little girls and moved to Lexington. It was here that he met Lucy Caroline
Webb. (Ref. 805)
Known as “an able physician and a man of
considerable financial ability,” Dr. Scott married Lucy Caroline “near Bryant’s Station, ten miles from
Lexington. The dividing line of
Fayette and Bourbon counties ran through her father’s place.”
(Ref. 2261)
After they were married,
“Dr. Scott returned to Chillicothe around
1822. He joined Lucy’s brother, Dr.
James Webb, in 1825 and they practiced in partnership for about two years. He was more attracted to Kentucky
though, and he and Lucy went back in 1827.”
(Ref. 688)
The couple started their own family right away, and Lucy gladly assumed the role of
“mother” at the same time she became a new wife, loving Joseph’s daughters as if
they were her own. Sarah Finley
Scott was 11 years old at the time she gained her new stepmother, and Elizabeth
Thompson Scott was just nine.
Grandma Lucy wrote to her brother in Virginia that “Elizabeth, the doctor’s daughter by his
first wife, is beautiful.”
(Ref. 597) The affection Lucy felt for Elizabeth can be seen in her last will and testament, dated 1868. She made this request: “To my step-daughter Elizabeth Fullerton
(I give) my breast pin set with pearls and containing the hair of my husband,
her father.” (Ref.
449, 451)
Just one year after her wedding,
in 1818, Lucy Caroline gave birth to her own first baby. Her little girl bore the name of both
her proud mother and her maternal grandmother, Lucy Caroline Webb. This Lucy later married James
Montgomery Holloway in 1836 at the age of 18.
Dr. & Mrs. Scott had a baby boy
next, naming him Joseph. He was born
in 1819 but, sadly, Joseph only lived about a year; dying on September 17, 1820.
The next child born was another
daughter. Mary Epps Scott came in
the winter of 1821. Grandma Lucy
proudly referred to her two youngest granddaughters, Lucy and Mary, in another letter to Virginia. “Lucy and Mary (Epps) are going to school
in Lexington – I never saw two children learn faster in my life. Lucy plays the best on the piano that
I ever heard one for the time she has been learning.”
(Ref. 597)
Mary Epps Scott
Mary Epps Scott wed John W. McFarland on January
2, 1844. After
many happy years of marriage, Mary died before John in 1885.
Mary Epps Scott McFarland
Grave
marker for John McFarland & Mary E. Webb McFarland in Lexington Cemetery “Asleep until the day break and the shadows flee away”
Another baby daughter arrived for Lucy and Joseph on November 4, 1822, but
little Margaret Scott only lived a very short time, dying in 1823. It was four years before another
child came into the family. This
time, a son! Isaac Webb was born on
June 27, 1826.
Photo of Isaac Webb Scott
He became a doctor, married Mary
Buchanan, and they lived in New Orleans, Louisiana. Isaac died there in 1913 at the age
of 86.
Cemetery markers in Lexington Cemetery
Little is known about Joseph and Lucy’s next two children. A son, James N. Scott, was born in
1828, and then a baby girl, named Catherine Scott, arrived in 1829. Catherine only lived one year before
her death in 1830. James, however,
lived to adulthood, married Sara Woodbridge, and they had Lizzie, Lena, and
Isaac Woodbridge Scott. Lucy Caroline had another son in 1832, and they named this baby after her husband, Joseph Thompson Scott. He “was a surgeon in the 1st Missouri Infantry CSA and served on the staff of General Frost.” (Ref. 481)
Joseph “was taken prisoner during the war, but was later
exchanged.” (Ref. 805)
He married
Isidora Churchill Dean in St. Louis, but
“after the war, Dr. Scott located at New Orleans and soon built up a large
practice.
He died
in 1896 in New Orleans.”
(Ref. 805)
The Scotts welcomed yet another son in 1834; this one named Matthew T.
Scott.
Before dying in 1862, Matthew also served in the Confederate Army. He “lost an arm in battle and was thence
forth known as ‘One-Armed Matt.’ ”
(Ref. 174)
Grave of Mathew T. Scott
The last two children born to Lucy Caroline and Dr. Scott were Winnie
Maria Scott in 1836 and David Humphreys Scott in 1838. Both of these children lived well
into adulthood, but not much else is know about them. Winnie married James Stillwell who “died of injuries during the Battle of
Forts Philip & Jackson,” and she died in 1910.
James Stillwell grave
Winnie Scott Stillwell grave
“To live in the hearts we leave behind is not to die.”
When the Scotts were residing in Lexington, they “owned and lived on a 22 acre tract to be
contained within the block now bounded by Limestone Street, Maxwell Street, Rose
Street, and the Avenue of Champions (formerly Euclid Avenue). At the time Dr. Scott owned this
property, the legal description said it was bounded by Mulberry Street, a line,
Van Pelt Street and an alley.
Mulberry Street is now Limestone Street and Van Pelt is now Rose Street.”
(Ref. 479, 796)
Dr. Scott was loved by the residents of Lexington, and he and Lucy
Caroline spent many happy years there.
When he died on June 6, 1843, his obituary appeared in the “Protestant
and Herald” newspaper, and was reprinted in “The Frankfort Commonwealth” of June
20, 1843. It read as follows:
"It becomes our painful duty to record
the death of our very highly esteemed friend and excellent fellow citizen, Dr.
Joseph Scott, of Lexington, who departed this life at his residence, on Tuesday,
the 6th inst., at about 10:00 p.m.
Dr. Scott was born Feb. 19th, 1781, lived sixty-two years, three months and
eighteen days, and then 'slept with his fathers'.
He has been long and most favorably known in this State and in Ohio, as
one of our ablest and most successful Physicians. Diseases, often of the most
malignant character, were made to yield, with the blessing of God, under his
superior skill, and even death, in some instances, where he had apparently
commenced his work, was staid, and the tide of life and health restored. Many,
very many of the living will bless his memory while they retain their
recollection. His funeral was attended by the largest and most respectable class
of citizens we have ever witnessed on a funeral occasion in Lexington.
Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Methodist and Baptist, with scores of
non-professors of religion, attended with demonstrations of the deepest feeling
and solemnity. The funeral procession was of great length; scores of carriages,
and persons on horse-back, and the sidewalks of the streets crowded with people
on foot, all slowly, silently and solemnly following the remains of their
departed friend to the last lodging place of mortals - the grave."
(Ref. 482)
Joseph was 62 years old when he died.
Lucy, at 44, would remain a widow for 25 years before her own death in
March 1868.
Grave of Dr. Joseph Scott & Lucy C. Webb Scott Photos courtesy of James & Judy Ware 2010
Map showing the layout of the Lexington Cemetery
Lucy C. Scott’s Will
(Ref. 449, 451)
CHILDREN OF:
LUCY CAROLINE WEBB and
DR. JOSEPH THOMPSON SCOTT
B.
Feb. 16, 1799/1800
B. Feb. 19, 1781
D.
March 17, 1868
D. June 6, 1843
Lucy was the daughter of Isaac and Lucy
Webb and the granddaughter of James and Caty Ware. She married Dr. Joseph Thompson Scott
on July 31, 1817.
He already had two daughters from a
previous marriage with Martha Berkley Finley whom he married in 1805.
(Ref. 174,482)
(2) Elizabeth Thompson Scott
AFTER MARTHA DIED, LUCY & JOSEPH
HAD THE FOLLOWING:
(1) Lucy Caroline Scott
Married Dr. James Montgomery Holloway on Sept. 22, 1836
(2) Joseph Scott
(3) Mary Epps Scott
(4) Margaretta Scott
(5) Dr. Isaac Webb Scott
(6) James Nicholson Scott
(7) Catherine Scott
(8) Joseph Thompson Scott
(9) Matthew T. Scott
(10) Winnie Maria Scott
(11) David Humphreys Scott (Ref. 479, 783 & 796, 2261)
In 1801, when Isaac Webb was 43 and Lucy was 28, they celebrated the birth of another
son.
Cuthbert Webb was born in the cold,
wintry month of January. Sometime
prior to 1830, his mother wrote, “My son,
Cuthbert, lives this year with Dr. Scott, as Lucy (her daughter & Dr. Joseph
Scott’s wife) was so lonesome since he moved to the country.”
(Ref. 597) Cuthbert
was the only adult child of Lucy and Isaac who remained single. Former director of the Rutherford B.
Hayes Center, Watt Marchman, established that “Cuthbert never married. It appears that Mary Ann, brother
Cuthbert, and daughters Eugenia and Elizabeth C. all settled in the St. Louis
area of Missouri.” Other
records, kept at the Hayes Library, state that “Cuthbert Webb died at the residence of
his sister, Mrs. Nicholson in Missouri.
He had inherited 5 Negroes from his Aunt Winny Webb.” His death occurred in 1860.
By the early 1800s, Lucy and Isaac had a house full of children, and they
were not through yet. It must have
delighted James and Caty Ware to have so many grandchildren around. Kitty was 11, Winny, nine; James,
seven; Isaac, five; Lucy Caroline, three; and Cuthbert, one. Another baby girl named
Mary Ann Todd
Webb joined them on March 15, 1803.
The Ware and Webb families were undergoing great changes the year Mary Ann was
born, and so was the whole country.
It was an exciting time for the United States.
“For three cents an acre, (amounting to 15 million dollars) the United States purchased from
France a huge region between the Mississippi and the Rockies.”
(Wikipedia) It was known as the Louisiana Purchase,
and it would forever change the face of America.
The purchase, which
doubled the size of the country, was a defining moment in the administration of
Thomas Jefferson, who was president at the time.
Kentucky, still a little rough around the edges herself, was now the
“jumping off” point for further expansion west, luring a whole new generation of
pioneers to explore new lands. For
those like Mary Ann, born in the first part of the new century, it must have
seemed like a whole new world.
Maps showing Louisiana Purchase
At the age of 17, Mary Ann Todd Webb married William Nicholson, of Cooper
County, on October 19, 1820.
(Ref. 192, 2009)
Their first child was
Webb (nicknamed John) Nicholson,
followed by James Cuthbert, William P., and Mary Susan. This was only the beginning of what
would be their large family.
On July 10, 1828, the couple provided Grandma Lucy with another namesake,
Lucy C. Nicholson. “This granddaughter was destined to be
known as the ‘Belle of Boonville’, Kentucky.”
(Ref. 174, 2009)
She was a very bright woman; accomplished in reading both Latin and French. She met and fell in love with Major
David Herndon Lindsay, an army officer who had recently lost his wife. They were engaged to be married when
the Civil War began, but because of the turmoil of the times, they decided to
defer their wedding until after the hostilities ceased.
Lucy was earnestly devoted to the cause of the Confederacy. She helped establish a hospital for
the wounded, and during the winter of 1862, she and other women in Springfield,
Missouri, made clothing for the soldiers.
However, upon hearing that the Confederate men fighting in the area were
in dire need of certain medicines, she took her dedication to a whole new level.
Showing great creativity, Lucy used the fashion styles of the day to
accomplish her mission in getting the desperately needed supplies to the
southern army. It was very common
for women to wear some kind of head gear when they were out in public, so she
made a most unusual hat for herself.
She took two immense rolls of velvet and rolled quinine in one and morphine in
the other. Then
“she put one around the coil of her hair
and the other around the crown of her head.”
(Ref. 2275)
For good measure, she “put 22 pair
of home-knit socks under the hoops of
her skirt.” (Ref.
2275) She succeeded in her daring escapade,
but someone, unthinkingly, spoke of her adventure and the news reached the
Federal army. “On her return home to Boonville, in the spring of 1862, she was arrested as a
dangerous rebel and was placed
in jail for smuggling medicines.”
(Ref. 174, 793, 2009)
She stayed confined to prison for eight weeks until Colonel Crittenden, from the Union
army, arranged for her release. He
commented that he was “not about the business of arresting women and children.”
Lucy then began teaching school, but her problems were far from over. The Union provost marshal in St.
Louis, Colonel Dicks, apparently felt she “inspired sufficient terror so he called
for her arrest by a force of 40 men.
Colonels James Rollins, Odon Guitar, and others interested themselves to have
the lady released. Colonel Dicks,
however, had her taken to St. Louis and incarcerated in Gratiot Street Prison.”
(Ref. 2009, 2275)
It was a prison well known for holding not just
Confederate soldiers, but spies, guerillas, and civilians suspected of
disloyalty. It was, needless to say,
not a good place to be, especially for a woman.
For several long weeks, Lucy survived the horrible conditions for which
Gratiot was well known. She was then
taken to another
Prison record
As was frequently the punishment
in cases such as hers, “she was subsequently banished from St. Louis with a number of other ladies and sent south by
steamer to Okolona, Mississippi.”
(Ref. 2009, 2275)
Upon reaching Mississippi, the poor female travelers were left to their own
devices without food or shelter of any kind.
Lucy, with the wife of General Frost as a traveling companion, managed to
journey all the way from Mississippi to Pine Bluff, Arkansas, where Major
Lindsay was serving in the Confederate army under General Frost. Finally, “on the 22nd day of July 1863
at the General’s headquarters, Lucy and Major Lindsay were married. She remained
with the army until the close of the war, devoting much of her time to the aid
and comfort of the soldiers.”
(Ref. 2009, 2275) Many years later, Lucy died in 1923 at the age of 95 when she was burned to death in a
house fire.
(Ref. 174, 793, 2009) Her younger sister, Lizzie, was
living with her at the time, and they perished together.
Mary Ann Webb and William Nicholson had five more children after the
birth of Lucy. Elizabeth C.
(Lizzie) Nicholson, born in 1832, never married.
As stated above, she died, at the age of 91, in the same house fire that
killed her sister. The two girls
were followed by Alice Peachey Nicholson, Louise W. Nicholson, L. Gertrude Nicholson, and
Isabelle Eugenia (called Eugenia or Belle) Nicholson.
Unfortunately, with a
total of 10 children in the Nicholson household, their grandparents, Lucy and
Isaac Webb, would only live long enough to know about the first six.
~~~~~~~~~~
CHILDREN OF:
MARY ANN TODD WEBB
and WILLIAM NICHOLSON
B. March 15, 1803
B.
D.
D.
Mary Ann Todd Webb was the daughter of
Isaac and Lucy Webb and the granddaughter of James and Caty Ware. She married William Nicholson on
October 19, 1820.
(Ref. 192)
(1) Webb (a.k.a. John) Nicholson
(2) James Cuthbert Nicholson
(3) William P. Nicholson
(4) Mary Susan Nicholson
(5) Lucy C. Nicholson
(6) Elizabeth C. (Lizzie) Nicholson
(7) Alice
Peachey Nicholson
(8) Louise
W. Nicholson
(9) L.
Gertrude Nicholson
(10) Isabelle Eugenia (called Eugenia or Belle) Nicholson
Isaac and Lucy’s next child, John Thompson Webb, was born on March 18, 1805. By this time their little home was overflowing with children: Kitty (14), Winny (12), James (10), Isaac Jr. (8), Lucy (6), Cuthbert (4), and Mary Ann (2). Hayes Library records state that John Thompson “received 1,000 acres of land on Paint Creek in Ohio from his father and mother, Isaac and Lucy Ware Webb, deed dated January 21, 1831.” (Ref. 174)
Paint Creek
John moved later to Alabama and
that is where he died.
The last child for Lucy and Isaac was
Elizabeth (Betsey)
Frances Webb, born on September 12,
1806. Lucy, age 33 at the birth of
this child, was just five months pregnant when her beloved father passed away. Grandpa James never got to meet this
grandchild.
Betsey first married Reverend Joseph P. Cunningham and they had four
children before he passed away.
Isaac Webb Cunningham (called Webb) was born in 1827, followed by Robert, Lucy,
and Joseph, who was called John. In
Lucy’s letter to her niece, Sally Stribling, she wrote, “Betsey Cunningham has two very
interesting boys, Webb and Robert.
She would have been so delighted to have met with you and Josiah.”
(Ref. 597) After Robert’s death, Betsey remarried in July of 1836. Her husband, Mathew Thompson Scott (known as Thompson), had been previously married to her older sister Winny (who died in 1833).
There was quite a large difference in their ages.
In one letter President Hayes wrote to his sister, he mentioned that “Aunt Betsey is twenty years younger than
her husband and the youngest woman of her age I have ever seen.”
(Ref. 174)
Hayes described another visit with the Scotts in a letter to his sister in 1855:
“I . . . was soon at (the) home at Uncle
Thompson Scott’s cousinly mansion at Lexington, Kentucky. The family here consists of Uncle
Thompson, a fine, old gentlemen of over seventy years old, with faculties
unimpaired; intelligent, and cheerful.
He has been in the bank, of which he is president, some forty years, is
staid and sober, but not severe or strict.
He is now reading the Bible at the other end of the room. His first wife [Winny] and present wife [Betsy Webb Cunningham] were sisters of Lucy’s father [James Webb]. There is one unmarried daughter, Cousin Lucy, a
fine good girl, getting passé, but good-looking; two sons, twenty and
twenty-two, fair specimens of the better sort of Kentucky-bred young men.”
(Ref. 174)
Cousin Lucy Cunningham must not have
remained single much longer because, during his next visit, Hayes wrote that he “met Lucy Cunningham with her rich husband
spending the honeymoon here after their tour.” He added, “The house is very large, rooms high, ventilation perfect, and nobody bothers or is bothered by
anybody else. It is as independent
as in a hotel and much the same in some things.
Newcomers arrive constantly.
The table ranging from ten to fifteen plates – plates, by the way, precisely
like the blue old china ones Mother had in Delaware. . . . People here seem to
live for the sake of living more than in most places.”
(Ref.174)
Three years later, Mathew Thompson Scott died on August 21, 1858, at the age of
72. According to records in
Lexington, “He was a man of superior
financial judgment and irreproachable integrity.
(Ref. 976) He was certainly loved by his family.
Lucy, who was twice his mother-in-law,
wrote at one time that Mr. Scott “comes
home in the evening; one of the best husbands living (and fathers).”
(Ref. 597
Lucy went on to express her
gratitude for her entire family when she wrote, “I often think, ‘who am I’ that God should
be so kind to me in giving me such affectionate children and such kind husbands
and wives to them all . . .
for which I hope ever to be truly and humbly thankful.”
(Ref. 597)
Grave of Mathew T. Scott
Scott section in the Lexington
Cemetery
Scott family burial section in
the Lexington Cemetery
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tomb of Winney Webb
When the Webb brothers, Charles and Isaac, moved with their families from Virginia to
Kentucky, they were accompanied by one of their sisters, Winney Webb. Winney was an extremely wealthy
woman who never married. As one historian stated, “At her death in 1823, Winney Webb, a
spinster, had amassed an estate; composed of land, slaves, and personal property
that would have been the envy of any of her male contemporaries, to whom she had
loaned money on many occasions.”
(Ref. 936, 2283)
She was also a very generous woman, leaving her great wealth to her many nieces and
nephews. (Ref. 452)
The following is a list of the
slaves she owned and bequeathed in her will:
To her brother, Isaac Webb:
(1) Rawley (blacksmith)
(3) David (the cooper)
(2) Jerry
(4) Turner
To nephew, James Webb:
(1) George (2)
Clarissa (3) David (4) Phylis
(5) Sam
(6) Cynthia (7)
Alexander (8) Aggy (9) John
To nephew, Isaac Webb:
(1) Adam (2) Hannah and children, (3) George and
(4) Sam
To nephew, Cuthbert Webb:
(1) Lucy
(3) Henry
(2) Noble
(4) Augustus
To nephew, John Webb:
(1) Nancy
(3) Alfred
(2) Milton
(4) Sam
To niece, Winny Scott:
(1) Sam
(2) Adela
(3) Julian
(4) John
(5) Joanna
(6) Winney
(7) Isaac
To
niece, Lucy Scott:
(1) Rachel
To niece, Mary Nicholson
(1) Amanda
(2) Hampton
To niece, Elizabeth Webb:
(1) Mill
(2) Tammy
(3) Mariah
To nephew, Charles Webb:
(1) Lucy
(2) Winny
(3) George (eldest of the name)
To nephew, John Webb, from
brother Charles:
(1) Rueben
To niece, Winny Webb:
(1) Lucy
(2) Adam
To nephew, George Harrison:
(1) Harrison
(2) Minerva
(3) Mary
To nephew, John Bull:
(1) Phoebe
To niece, Frances Faunleroy:
(1) Sydney (2) Churchill (3) Eliza
To Thomas Conn, son of niece,
Kitty Conn
(1) Anarchy
To other nieces
(1) Nancy
(2) Molly
(Ref. 452)
She made sure to make the
following notation:
“It is my wish that my Negro,
Rawley, who is now learning the shoemaker trade be free at 25 years of age. Also Mortimer and Sam be free at the
same age. I also leave old Lucy free
to be supported by Isaac Webb should she not be able to support herself.”
(Ref. 452)
Winney seems to have been greatly admired by one and all, with many
children being named after her. One
descendant wrote, “Winney Webb, an extraordinary woman, was buried under this sumptuous box crypt, which she
directed in her will to be erected over her grave. This beautifully restored
grave is located on Stewart Road.”
(Ref. 936)
The following photos were taken by Susie Stahl who was part of an incredible
restoration project concerning the Webb/Ware Cemetery in Kentucky.
Winney Webb’sb’s
tomb
prior to the restoration
Winney’s tomb
after restoration
Photos and
explanations provided through the kindness of
Life in Kentucky was full and eventful for Lucy and Isaac. During the years they were raising
their family, the world around them was undergoing some dramatic changes. Having
watched the colonies unite into one, cohesive country, they would hear the news
of President John Adams moving into the newly built White House and also hear of
the burning of that very same house in the War of 1812. The year their last son was born,
1805, Lewis and Clark first laid eyes on the great Rocky Mountains and also
reached the Pacific Ocean. Because
of this, every day seemed to open up new horizons. The Webb and Ware families enjoyed many years of peaceful tranquility and prosperity. Lucy mentioned in one of her letters that her daughter, Lucy Caroline, “is so pleased with raising so many fowls, she and Winny (both). I was up there two weeks ago, and I never saw the like of the fowls in my life. I believe we had 150 turkeys and as many ducks and chickens. I was all but distracted with the noise and fuss with feeding. When I came home, I found a calm both in the house and yard; but for fowls and children.” (Ref.25)
Lucy’s letters to her relatives in Virginia provided a constant link
between the close knit families. Her nephew, Josiah Ware, once wrote that
“Aunt Lucy and my father were each other’s favorites, as she
told me, but she must have been every one’s favorite that knew her. In every respect she was the most
perfect woman I ever knew. She was
old and white-headed when I first saw her.”
(Ref. 299)
Josiah further wrote, “I knew Lucy
Ware intimately and corresponded with her.
When she was about 60 or 70 years old, her hair was cut short and was as
white as snow. She was a perfect
specimen of hospitality. She
was rather fleshy, not too much so and about the height of Lucy (Webb) Hayes.”
(Ref. 638)
Josiah also described his Uncle Isaac as “a very small man, of an active figure. I first saw
them at their house near Lexington, Kentucky about 1825.”
(Ref. 289,638)
When Josiah visited with President and Mrs. Hayes at the White House, he
always enjoyed the opportunity to lovingly reminisce about his family ties in
Kentucky. He was able to provide
personal information on so many of
Lucy Hayes’ family that had died before she had a chance to really know them. She must have been very grateful for
that. At one time, Josiah mentioned
all the letters that he and Lucy’s grandmother, Lucy Webb, had exchanged over
the years, saying, “I had a large bundle
of them; our correspondence was regular and her sheet always full and as if it
flowed from her heart.”
(Ref. 299)
Those happy times for Lucy and Isaac came to an abrupt end in 1833, when
cholera settled like a blanket of death over Kentucky. As author, George W. Ranck, described
it:
“The streets were silent and
deserted by everything but horses and dead-carts, and to complete the desperate
condition of things three physicians died, three more were absent, and of the
rest scarcely one escaped an attack of the disease. The clergy, active as they were,
could not meet one-third of the demands made upon them.”
Businesses closed and “men passed their most intimate friends in
silence and afar off, staring like lunatics, for fear the contagion was upon
them. The dead could not be buried
fast enough, nor could coffins be had to meet half the demand . . . many of the
dead were buried in trunks, boxes, or simply wrapped in the bedclothes upon
which they had just expired, placed in carts, and hurried off for burial without
a prayer being said and no attendant but the driver. The grave yards were choked . . . out
of one family of nineteen people, seventeen died.
By July, cholera had killed over five hundred persons, and the whole city
was in mourning. The terrors and sufferings in Lexington during the fearful
cholera season of ‘33’ no pen can describe.”
(Ref. 2256)
It was, indeed, a year of grieving.
As mentioned previously, many of the children and grandchildren of Lucy
and Isaac succumbed to the disease in a short span of time. On June 22, 1833, “Isaac added a section to his will (he
knew he was on his death bed and knew Lucy was too) pertaining to the
disposition of his slaves and the wish that they be hired out for 3-5 years
until a fund was raised sufficient to defray the expense of their removal to
Liberia and comfortable settlement there.
If any slave should refuse to be moved, they must remain in bondage.”
(Ref. 296 )
In a letter written from Isaac Scott to President Hayes in 1883, Isaac
sought to explain more fully the circumstances surrounding the deaths of the
some of the family members during that time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Doctor Webb’s father
[Isaac Webb] died in June 1833 - left a will which can be found in the Fayette County Court Clerk’s office
at Lexington, Kentucky, I think. My
father [Mathew Thompson Scott] was
Executor or Administer in the division of his farm, I think. Dr. Webb got about 40 acres of land,
which I, as agent for his widow and children, sold to – Johnson, at about $40.00
per acre, and perhaps Aunt Webb paid for the house in Chillicothe with the
money. My grandfather, or I should
say, Dr. Webb’s father [Isaac Webb]
willed all his Negroes free on condition they agreed to go to Liberia. They were to be hired by a trustee
for a term of years and the money so raised to be used for an outfit and 6
months maintenance after their arrival in Liberia. I was appointed trustee and hired
them and sent all (but two who refused to go) to Liberia. I think it was in 1838 or 9. And the agent of the Colonization
Society said he had never taken a party who were as well provided for as they
were. The two who staid [stayed] were sold and Uncle Joseph Scott and my
father paid the estate for them and let them get their freedom by being hired
out until their hire paid the amount they were valued at. When I was in Lexington in 1871, I
saw one of them; the other has been dead many years.”
(Ref. 296, 300)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sections of the letter written
to Hayes in 1883
Most of the family members were buried in a small cemetery near the home of Isaac Webb. One source locates the graveyard as “on Stewart Road.” (Ref. 934) In 1998, another researcher provided more detailed instructions on how to find the cemetery. “I have three ‘sources’ that locate the property in Fayette County, about two miles on the Houston Road from its intersection with Briar Hill Pike in Fayette County. For whatever use it is, that road runs northwesterly to and along a Houston Creek on to where it meets the Lexington-Paris Pike (the Antioch Church is at the Lexington-Paris Pike juncture, in Bourbon County, where it is known as the Antioch Pike.) The road markers in Fayette County now show that road as the Huston-Antioch Road and a current map shows the name as Antioch Road (most of it is in Bourbon County.) My sources say a family burial ground is about two miles along the Houston Road, near Isaac Webb’s house. The Department of Transportation has a topographic map where a spot is accompanied by the letter ‘CEM’ (which I was told means “cemetery”). It seems a bit less than two miles down (or up) that road, in Bourbon County but near the Fayette line. A private drive or trail appears on the map where the property shows on that map, but I was unable to pick it out on the 1974 aerial photo.” (Ref. 944) It was not an easy site to find because it was on private property then and now, making access to it difficult. In 1931, Ware and Webb family descendants located and restored the old cemetery. They enclosed it with a 20 foot by 30 foot stone wall which was about four feet high and cemented. They even placed a plaque commemorating the site: “Years took its toll, however, and the family resting place again fell into sad disrepair. The large tombstone of Isaac’s sister (Winny Webb) had all but broken apart and the surrounding wall and other graves were hardly recognizable.” (Ref. 2095)
The following are photos of the site just prior to the new millennium:
Photos of the Webb/Ware Cemetery before current restoration
Webb/Ware
Cemetery prior to the most recent restoration
Old Webb/Ware Family Cemetery before restoration
Winney’s
old marker
INSCRIPTION
“Isaac Webb Sr. his wife Lucy Ware
of Frederick County Virginia 1792
and some of their sons and daughters
who died in epidemic of 1833.
This burying ground restored by their descendants in 1931.”
(Ref. 417)
In 2006, this wonderful, old cemetery got another facelift from some very
caring family members. The amount of
time, money, and love that went into its restoration is a testimony to the kind
hearts of those involved. Mike
Riegert and Tom Moore of the
Historic Paris Bourbon County/Hopewell
Museum were the historical preservationists on the project, and
Susie Stahl did an incredible job of overseeing everything and keeping it well
documented. What a remarkable job
was done!! One of the pivotal
supporters of this project, John Woods, died suddenly a few years ago, but his
enthusiastic backing on this restoration will be forever appreciated by many
generations to come.
Webb/Ware Cemetery after restoration in 2006
Thankfully, people have carefully recorded the information inscribed on
the old tombstones so these facts about Lucy and Isaac have not been lost to
weather and time.
Document on file at the Kentucky State Historical Library
(Ref. 2283) In 2010, James and Judy Ware, from Oklahoma, finally found the old cemetery during a research trip to Kentucky. With the kind help of Tom Moore, the site was located and current pictures taken at the time. It was interesting to see how much change had occurred in the few short years since the restoration of 2006. The following photographs were all taken during that visit.
Located across a large field
Property
owner’s home & barn is
in the background
Entry road leading to the Webb/Ware Cemetery
Looking back toward the road Webb/Ware Cemetery 2010
Inside the bricked in area
Entering by the
gate
Sadly, it was very overgrown inside the walled area
Photos
taken 2010
There is writing on each side of the tall monument
Grave of Winney Webb
When they did the restoration in 2006, they were very careful to
keep as much of the original cemetery pieces as possible.
The old marker that was placed in the
first restoration of 1931 was still embedded in the walls in 2010.
The photos below show where part of the original
old wall was incorporated into the newly restored wall of 2006.
There was also a “stile” added in 2006 – a form of stairs built into the wall on both sides to
enable a person to climb up and over the wall
Inside the wall Outside the wall
Taken from inside the walled enclosure – showing the road to the
side and also the original old marker from 1931 embedded in the wall
All 2010 cemetery
All 2010 cemetery
photographs provided courtesy of James and Judy Ware
Lucy and Isaac Webb made an
indelible mark, not only on their new home in Kentucky, but on the history book
pages as well. It was their children
and grandchildren who helped to shape the new century that awaited them after
their daring move from Virginia.
James and Caty Todd Ware would have been so proud.
Supporting Documents for Chapter 8
CHILDREN OF: LUCY WARE and
CAPTAIN ISAAC WEBB
B. Nov. 12, 1773 B.
Jan. 19, 1758
D. June 22, 1833
D. June 26, 1833
(Ref. 512, 550, 634, 2003)
Lucy was the daughter of James Ware II and Caty Todd Ware.
She was also the granddaughter of James Ware I and Agnes Todd Ware. She married Capt. Isaac Webb on Dec.
23, 1790 – shortly before the big move to Kentucky
(1) Catherine J. (Kitty) Webb
(2) Winny Webb
(3) James Webb
(4) Isaac Webb III
(5) Lucy Caroline Webb
(6) Cuthbert Webb
(7) Mary Ann Todd Webb
(8) John Thompson Webb
(9) Elizabeth (Betsy) Frances Webb
Entries in family bible
(Ref. 448)
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