“Do not listen with the intent to reply, but with the intent to understand.” ~ Unknown
More slide show material: this is a tiny 2.5 year old me with my maternal great-grandfather, John Ed Hamilton. He lived to be 99. His daughter Hannah, my grandmother, was herself just seven weeks shy of 99 when she died. Great Papaw was a spry 89 in this photo and still living alone. He was the only child of Joseph Ray and Nancy Ann Fyffe Hamilton, but he had 15 children with my great-grandmother Sarah Ellen Cantrell. He was an incredible storyteller. Incredible. I wish I could remember all the fantastic stories he told during the 12 years we shared this planet together. He was a farmer, first on Mine Fork (now under Paintsville Lake), then up Coffee Creek where the house in this photo sat. It was a sturdy, white two-story farmhouse with a rock ice house, root cellar, and open well water that was so cold and clean a dipper-full would take your breath. You can see by the full coal buckets behind us how he stayed warm. Sadly, the house burned to the ground in the 1980’s. Great Papaw was the great-great grandson of Benjamin Hamilton and Susannah Moonglow Hurst. I think their offspring populated most of Morgan County, Kentucky. I have many close friends from Morgan County who can trace their lineage back to Benjamin and Moonglow. He was a Revolutionary War Soldier (likely deeded the land in Kentucky for his service) and she was a Cherokee from Tennessee. Family lore has always said so, not just our line, but every line back to Moonglow for 7 generations have held the same story. Some of our DNA bares it out, but someone better at genealogy than me would have to come up with the paperwork, if it exists. Then, of course, there’s her name. White women in 1770 did not use non-Christian names. The town of Moon, Kentucky was named after her. You might remember Moon as celebrating the Apollo 11 moon landing that garnered a few television news spots like this one. Moonglow died in 1846. Benjamin died in 1849. They’re buried behind the old post office at Crockett, Kentucky. For those of you with a scorecard, John Ed and I are descended from their son David Hamilton’s line.
Phoebe
hi! do you know anything else about Susannah Moonglow or her family? I saw on Ancestry that she is my 7th great grandmother, to say the least, I’m intrigued.
Kopana
I don’t know anything more about her, though I wish I did. She came from Hawkins, Tennessee and went by the last name Hurst. That’s all I know about her.
Carrie
I’m also a dependent of Benjamin and Moonglow. They are my 4th great grandparents. Their daughter married an Oldfield and I’m a descendent through the Elizabeth Hamilton Oldfield branch. I’m working on genealogy following my aunt’s death (she left a ton of family history info.). So John Ed’s grandfather was David Hamilton, son of Benjamin and Moonglow? Joseph Ray and Nancy Ann Fyffe Hamilton were his parents? I’m trying to fill in some gaps in the family tree. 🙂
Kopana
Nice to meet you, cousin.
Yes, Joseph Ray and Nancy Ann Fyffe were John Ed’s parents, but David Hamilton may have his great-grandfather. From what I understand, David and Drucilla Hill had a son they named Benjamin S. Hamilton. But I think David also had a brother named Benjamin, so it seems a little weird he’d have a brother named Benjamin after their father, then he decided to name one of his sons Benjamin. So you tell me if I’ve somehow inserted a Benjamin where there shouldn’t be.
Kopana
– Shirley Adams Terry
– Hannah Hamilton Adams
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– John Ed Hamilton (Sara Ellen Cantrell)
– Jospeh Ray Hamilton (Nancy Ann Fyffe)
– Benjamin S. Hamilton (Julianne Keaton)
– David Hamilton (Drucilla Hill)
– Benjamin Hamilton (Susanna Moonglow Hurst)
Carrie
Descendent (not dependent.)