B. F. VAN METER, Author of this Book. GENEALOGIES AND SKETCHES OF SOME OLD FAMILIES WHO HAVE TAKEN PROMINENT PART IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF VIRGINIA AND KENTUCKY ESPECIALLY, AND LATER OF MANY OTHER STATES OF THIS UNION. BY BENJAMIN F. VAN METER. LOUISVILLE JOHN P. MORTON & COMPANY leoi COPYRIGHTED, 1901, BY BENJAMIN F. VAN METER. INDEX. PAGE LEWIS- FAMILY : .• 5/ John Lewis 5 Thomas Lewis , 13 Andrew Lewis '. ,'... 15 Colonel William Lewis 17 Colonel Charles Lewis..« 19 Colonel Thomas Lewis ....,....-, 20 tNancy Lewis Garrard - 22 General James Garrard 22 Sallie Lewis Clay 22 General Green Clay 22 Elizabeth Clay Smith .'. 22 Colonel John Speed Smith 22 Pauline Clay Rodes 22 Sidney Payne Clay 23 Brutus J. Clay •• 34 Clays ! - 26 Henry Clay 27 Hector P. Lewis 28 Asa K. Lewis 31 Edward Lewis ...."' 32 Kitty Lewis Payne 33 Colonel Henry C. Payne 32 Stephen D. Lewis 33 Thornton Lewis ..T.JSWHS* ..." 34 Captain Thomas Wright 34 Sophia Lewis Johnson » 38 Hon. John T. Johnson .' 38 Alpheus Lewis 38 Theodosia Ann Turner Lewis 38 Douglass Payne Lewis 40 Samuel Lewis ....'. 43 John Lewis 43 William Lewis 43 Stephen Lewis (son of General Robert Lewis) * 43 PHILLIPS FAMILY 44 Moss FAMILY 45 iv INDEX. i FAOE VAN METER FAMILY 47 Isaac Van Metre, or Van Meter ....." 49 Garrett Van Meter >. 50 Isaac Van Meter 53 Jacob Van Meter 53 {saac Van Meter ( "Big Ike") 59 Hon. John I. Van Meter ' 61 Colonel Jacob Van Meter's Children 62 .-Isaac Van Meter (of Clark County, Kentucky) 65 Solomon Van Meter \ '. 65 Captain William D. Nicholas A 69 James Stonestreet '...... _. ; 72 Irvine Hockaday 73 Nelson Prewitt 74 Thomas Moore Field. 76 Dr. S. W. Willis 78 George W. Swoopo • • • • , 79 Evalino Swoope Van Meter. 80 Isaac C. Van Meter (of Fayette Co* Ky.) 81 Henry Hull 81 Jacob Van Meter 83 Sarah Ann Van Meter Hall 83 Susan T. Van Meter Allan 83 Dr. Algernon Sidney Allan ..' \. 83 Benjamin F. Van Meter 88 Archie L. Hamilton, Sr...' 91 Henry Clay Bigelow g2 William Pettit ' 93 Colonel James H. Holloway g4 General John Stuart Williams ..; 95 Patton D. Harrison 97 Captain Alex. Macomb Wetherill.- 100 Paper read by Emma Van Meter Hamilton before D. A. R. Society 102 Thos. C. Van Meter : m W. H. Campbell ..m Eliza Caroline Van Meter n't Abram Van Meter ^. 112 Jonas Marks Kleiser 112 Louis Marshall Van Meter 113 Horatio W. Bruce 123 Thomas H. Moore 124 Colonel John H. Moore 130 James M. West 131 INDEX. PADS John S. Hanna 132 John Miltotf Van Meter 133 Rev. Stephen Yerkes, D. D 137 Abram Van Meter (of Fayette Co., Ky.) • 138 Garrett Van Meter (West Virginia) 140 Solomon Van Meter (son of Garrett) 141 William C. Van Meter ...."..* ~- 144 Charles W. Van Meter 145 Sarah Inskeep Van Meter 147 Van Meters, as given by Mrs. Anna Louise Thompson, of Clinton, Iowa . 149 Van Meter family in reunion 156 Memorandum from Emanuel Van Meteren, author of old history T59 CUNNINGHAM FAMILY > .> • '...., 166 Joseph Helm Clay , 168 Captain Isaac Cunningham 169 HARNESS FAMILY 171 Captain J. Hanson McNeill 173 McNeill's capture of Crook and Kelley 176 Roll of McNeill's Command 181 Mary Johnston 183 PREFACE. In this book I have gleaned and collected from every authentic source within my reach such genealogical, biographical, and histor­ ical facts as I consider entirely reliable concerning the prominent old families of which I treat, and, as a general rule, have endeav­ ored to show the connection by marriage of the different families. While genealogies and biographical sketches are the principal aim of this book, I have not hesitated to add historical sketches when of sufficient importance to justify recording; and by way of 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 rod 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. Waddell; Genealogy of Virginians, by Horace P. Hayden; Foot's History of Virginia; Campbell's History of Virginia; History of Augusta County, Virginia, by J. Lewis Payton; Kerchival's History, and others; as (3) 4 PREFACE. well as from family records when access could' be bad to them ; and for later facts I rely on the oldest living members of the family and on my own recollections bf what I have learned from the older members of these families, whose testimony can not now be had; on tombstones and recorded wills, and any source from which authentic information can be had. As to the Lewis family, of which I shall treat .first, I had the advantage and enjoyed' the pleasure of a personal acquaintance with nearly all the sons of- the late Col. Thomas Lewis in the lat­ ter part of their lives, and gained from them some valuable infor­ mation concerning that family. THE AUTHOR. GENEALOGIES AND SKETCHES. THE LEWIS FAMILY: For years before 1700 there lived in Donegal County, Province of Ulster, Ireland, a farmer, John Lewis, and his wife, Margaret, a daughter of Laird Lynn, of Loch Lynn, Scotland. This man be­ longed to what was known as the middle class of society, although he had descended from a French nobleman, and was an educated, practical business' man of his day (of that class which constituted the nerve and sinew of the body politic). Above him in that coun­ try the Irish lord reveled in luxury and wealth, which was frequently attended with idleness and vice, while beneath him struggled the peasantry, most generally in ignorance, penury, and want. John Lewis was the son of Andrew Lewis, Esq., and his mother was Mary Calhoun, and this family was of Protestant-French descent from the Huguenots, who had been driven from France by religious persecution about 1685, directly after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Margaret Lynn descended from a very distinguished old Protestant • family of Scotch Highlanders who were quite famous for their bravery and military prowess back in the early history of Scotland, when the clans were so frequently marshalled for bloody contest on the moors and glens of that historic old country,. where her. ancestry had fought valiantly and successfully for their lands, their leaders, and their religion. She was therefore of a stock that were intelligent, generous, hospitable, and fearless. John Lewis was born in Donegal County, Ireland, in 1678; was educated in Scotland, where he made the acquaintance of Margaret Lynn, who becamehis wife and went with him to his native county of Donegal, where they were prospering and rearing a family, hav­ ing obtained an advantageous land lease under a wealthy Irish Lord who was a Catholic. John Lewis and his wife being Protestants and Presbyterians, and the Catholic Lord preferring a Catholic ten- (5) 6 GENEALOGIES AND SKETCHES, ant, undertook to oust Lewis from his lease without regard to law or justice. Lewis refused to vacate, add 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 another shot wounded his wife, Margaret Lewis, in the arm? Thus outraged, John Lewis attacked the landlord wjth his shillalah,* cracked his head and scattered his brains. He also killed the chief bailiff, and drove the balance of the posse in a panic from the prem­ ises. John Lewis is described as a man more than six feet tall, very powerful and active. After this tragedy he left his wife to settle up his business affairs in Ireland, while he made his escape to Portugal; but after three years Margaret Lewis emigrated to Phila­ delphia with her children, and, according to pre-arrangement/ met her husband there in 1720. They lived^ in Pennsylvania for twelve years, and then removed to, the very frontier of Virginia in 1732 and settled on the west side of the Blue Ridge Mountains, near where the town of Staunton is now located. This family, with one or two others, were the first white people who ever lived in the wilds and wilderness west of the Blue Ridge when Augusta County comprised all that territory claimed by the British Government west of this range of mountains and extending to the Mississippi River, com­ prising a considerable part of what is now West Virginia, and all of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. John Lewis and his sons built a substantial stone house on a small stream called Lewis Creek (about two miles from where the town of Staunton isr now situated), and in this stone house John Lewis resided for the rest of his life. It was called Lewis' Fort, and is still standing, unless it has been recently destroyed.