Tb4 J (**£>?& GENEALOGIES AND SKETCHES OLD FAMILIES WHO HAVE TAKEN PROMINENT PART IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF VIRGINIA AND KENTUCKY ESPECIALLY, AND LATER OF MANY OTHER STATES OF THIS UNION. IT BENJAMIN F. VAN METER. LOUISVILLE JOHN P. MORTON & COMPANY II.i \y:lmm~ 973 N D2v C Q CENTER r®mm.™™mm INDEX. LEWIS FAMILY 3 John Lewis 5 Thomas Lewis '3 Andrew Lewis "3 Colonel William Lewis >7 Colonel Charles Lewis lo Colonel Thomas Lewis ao Nancy Lewis Garrard ** General James Garrard • • ai Sallia Lewie Clay ™ General Green Clay " ConilGHTID, I90I, Elisabeth Clay Smith " •r Colonel John Speed Smith « Paulina Clay Rode* " BlM|AMlM F. VAM METIS. Sidney Payo* Clay 33 Brutus J. Clay a* Clays j6 Henry Clay a? Hector P. Lewis - aB Asa K. Lewis #- • •• 3' Edward Lewis 3* Kilty Lewis Payna 3* Colonel Henry C. Peyn* * - • • * 3* Stephen D. Lewis 33 Thornton Lewis 34 CaptsiA Thomss Wright 34 Sophia Lewis Johnson 38 Hon. John T. Johnson 3* Alpheus Lewis 3* Tbeodosia Ann Turner Lewis 38 Douglass Payne Lewis 4° Samuel Lewis 43 It. F. VAN METE*. John Lewis 43 Amhor of ihU llMh. William Lewis 43 Stephen Lewis (son of General Robert Lewis) 43 PHILLIPS FAMILY 44 Moss FAMILY 43 INDEX. INDEX. v MM MOM VA« METE* FAMILY 47 John S. lianas 13* Isaac Van Metre, or Van Meier 49 John Milton Vsn Meter 133 Garrett Van Meter 50 Rev. Stephen Yerkes, D. D 137 Isaac Van Meter 53 Abram Van Meter (of Fayette Co., Ky.) 138 Jacob Van Meter 53 Garrett Van Meter (West Virginis) 140 lute Van Meter ( "Big Ika") 59 Solomon Van Meter (son of Garrett) 141 Hon. John I. Van Meter 61 William C. Van Meter f 44j Colonel Jacob Van Meter'a Children 6s Charles W. Van Meter M 5 Isaac Van Meter (of Clark County. Kentucky) 6) Sarah Inskeep Vsn Meter 147 Solomon Van Metrr 65 Van Meters, as given by Mrs. Anna Louisa Thompson, of Clinton, Iowa • 149 Captain William D. Nicholas 69 Vsn Meter family in reunion 15 s James Stoueatreet -.. 71 Memorandum from Emanuel Van Meteren, sathor of old history -59 Irvine Hockaday '. 73 CuHHinaHAM FAMILY i6fl Nelson Prewitt 74 Joseph Helm CIsy 68 Thomas Moore Field 76 t Captain Isaac Cunningham 169 Dr. S. \V. Willis 7B George W. Swoop* 79 HASHES* FAMILY 171 Evalin* Swoop* Van Meter 80 Captain J. Hanson McNeM. IT« FsascC. Van Meier (of Fayette Co., Ky.) 81 McNeill's capture of Crook and] Kelley 178 Henry Hull 81 Roll of McNeill's Command 181 Jacob Vsa Meter 83 Msry Johnston t8« Sarah Aon Via Meter Hall 83 Susan T. Van Meter Allan 83 Dr. Algernon Sidney Allan 83 Benjamin F. Van Meter gg Archie L. Hamilton, Sr , „ 01 Henry Clay Bigelow , QS William Pettit ; OJ Colonel James ft: Holloway ................ 04 General John Stuart Williams g5 Patton D. Harrison g7 Captain Ales. Macomb Wetherill ,00 Paper read by Emma Van Meter Hamilton Defer* D. A. R. Society 10* Thoa. C. Van Meter , ,,, W. II. Campbell.. ;., ......Ill ElUa Carotin* Van Meter ttt Abram Van Meter ll3 Jonas Marks Kleiser. m Louis Marshall Vap Meter ; ,, j Horatio W. Brnc* 123 Thorns* H. Moor*. t^ Colonel John H. Moor* t 3<J jime* M. West . .. , t,, PREFACE. well as from family records when access could be had to them ; and for later facts I rely on the oldest living members of the family and PREFACE. on my own recollections of what I have learned from the older members of these families, whose testimony can not now be had ; In this book I have gleaned and collected from every authentic on tombstones and recorded wills, and any source from which source within my reach such genealogical, biographical, and histor­ authentic information can be had. ical facts as I consider entirely reliable concerning the prominent As to the Lewis family, of which I shall treat first, I had the old families o( which I treat, and, as a general rule, have endeav­ advantage and enjoyed the pleasure of a personal acquaintance ored to show the connection by marriage ol the different families. with nearly all the sons of the late Col. Thomas Lewis in the lat­ While genealogies and biographical sketches are the principal ter part of their lives, and gained from them some valuable infor­ aim of this book, I have not hesitated to add historical sketches mation concerning that family. when of sufficient importance to justify recording ; and by way of THE AUTHOR. adding interest and entertainment, amusing incidents and anecdotes have not been rejected. It can not be denied that to our forefathers we owe much of the happiness and prosperity we now enjoy, and every worthy descendant of those gallant and adventurous spirits must feel the desire to become acquainted with their history and characters as well as their lineage, as far back as it can be authenticated. In undertaking to establish this lineage before it is entirely lost, and to gather up many interesting and valuable facts and incidents which, in their present disconnected and much scattered condition, are already obscure and would soon be entirely covered up by the "sands of time and the clods of the valley," I have made free use of various authors, and only confine myself to such sources of information as I consider reliable. Among the authors from whom I have drawn are: Churches and Families of Virginia, by Bishop Mead ; Annals of Augusta County, Virginia, by Joseph A. Waddeli; Genealogy of Virginians, by Horace P. Hayden ; Foot's History ol Virginia; Campbell's History of Virginia; History of Augusta County, Virginia, by J. Lewis Faytoo; Kerchival's History, and others; as GENEALOGIES AND SKETCHES, ant, undertook to oust Lewis from his lease without regard to law GENEALOGIES AND SKETCHES. or justice. Lewis refused to vacate, and the Lord with his bailiff and posse undertook to compel him to surrender the house and lands. Lewis barred the doors and refused admittance. His lord­ ship fired a shot through the window, which killed Charles Lewis, the brother of John, who was lying sick in bed in the house, and THE LEWIS FAMILY. another shot wounded his wife, Margaret Lewis, in the arm. Thus outraged, John Lewis attacked the landlord with his shillalah, cracked his head and scattered his brains. He also killed the chief For years before 1700 there lived in Donegal County, Province bailiff, and drove the balance of the posse in a panic from the prem­ of Ulster, Ireland, a farmer, John Lewis, and his wife, Margaret, a ises. John Lewis is described as a man more than six feet tall, daughter of Laird Lynn, of Loch Lynn, Scotland. This man be­ very powerful and active. Alter this tragedy he left his wife to longed to what was known as the middle class of society, although settle up his business affairs in Ireland, while he made his escape to he had descended from a French nobleman, and was an educated, Portugal; but after three years Margaret Lewis emigrated to Phila­ practical business man of bis day (of that class which constituted delphia with her children, and, according to pre-amngement, met the nerve and sinew of the body politic). Above him in that conn- her husband there in 172a They lived in Pennsylvania for twelve try the Irish lord reveled in luxury and wealth, which was frequently years, and then removed to the very frontier of Virginia in 1733 and attended with idleness and vice, while beneath him struggled the settled on the west side of the Blue Ridge Mountains, near where peasantry, most generally in ignorance, penury, and want- the town of Staunton is now located. This family, with one or two John Lewis was the son of Andrew Lewis. Esq., and his mother others, were the first white people who ever lived in the wilds and was Mary Calhoun, and this family was of Protestant-French wilderness west of the Blue Ridge when Augusta County comprised descent from the Huguenots, who had been driven from France by all that territory claimed by the British Government west of this religious persecution about 1685, directly after the revocation ol range of mountains and extending to the Mississippi River, com­ the Edict of Nantes. prising a considerable part of what is now West Virginia, and all of Margaret Lynn descended from a very distinguished old Protestant Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. family of Scotch Highlanders who were quite famous for their John Lewis and his sons built a substantial stone house on a bravery and military prowess back in the early history of Scotland, small stream called Lewis Creek (about two miles from where the when the clans were so frequently marshalled for bloody contest on town of Staunton is now situated), and in this stone house John the moors and glens of that historic old country, where her Lewis resided for the rest ol his life. It was called Lewis' Fort, ancestry had fought valiantly and successfully for their lands, their and is still standing, unless it has been recently destroyed. In it leaders, and their religion. She was therefore of a stock that were the sturdy and fearless John Lewis and his worthy family withstood intelligent, generous, hospitable, and fearless. the opposing Indian savage of the West, while his substantial home John Lewis was born in Donegal County, Ireland, in 1678; was furnished hospitable shelter and protection for the enterprising emi­ educated in Scotland, where he made the acquaintance of Margaret grant who crossed the Blue Ridge in search of a home in this then Lynn, who became his wife and went with him to his native county wilderness country, until he could select a location and build his of Donegal, where they were prospering and rearing a family, hav­ cabin; and here, notwithstanding the apparent adverse surround­ ing obtained an advantageous land lease under a wealthy Irish Lord ings, he, by fearless, determined effort, prospered and accumulated a who was a Catholic John Lewis and his wife being Protestants large estate, and reared a family of sons, every one of whom became and Presbyterians, and the Catholic Lord preferring a Catholic ten­ famous men in their country's service — either military or civil.