Marker, Plaque, Monument Monday

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Revolutionary War

Memorial

Kentucky Veterans Cemetery West

Hopkinsville, Kentucky

[Click on photos to get larger images]

Front side of the SAR marker listing 71 men of

Christian Co., KY who participated

in the establishment of our country

during the Revolutionary War.  

On the Fourth of July, I attended the unveiling and dedication ceremony of the 9-foot tall granite monolith memorial to the Revolutionary War Patriots and Soldiers who lived in Christian Co., KY. I am directly descended from Thomas West of North Carolina that is etched on this marker along with 70 other men being honored. Several of these other men are related to me, but are not of direct lineage.

Back side of this large marker. 

There were several hundred people present including many of my cousins (along with their families) from my father's side of the family: Tommy Henderson, Eddie Deason, Barbara Oatts Smith, Joan McCarty, Chad Word... there were more that I met for the first time. This was such a thrill to know that my ancestor will be remembered for his involvement in establishing our independent nation!

 Cousin Eddie Deason pointing to our

common ancestor Thomas West.

 Dressed in a dark suit is Bob Fears, President of the John Manire SAR Chapter and Master of Ceremonies.  He is holding a proclamation from the Kentucky Governor.  To his left (right side of photo) is Major General McConville that gave the Keynote Address, William Turner (County Historian, publisher), and 3 members of the Manire SAR Chapter.  Next to Pres. Fears on the left side of photo is my cousin Chad Word, behind him is cousin Eddie Deason, next is KY State Representative Tilley, then finally me, John G. West, representing the Ohio Valley SAR Chapter of the Indiana Society - and my ancestor Thomas West.

 Cousin Tommy Henderson (left), who organized and directed the entire ceremony and was rushing around the whole morning, taking a moment to pose with Indiana Bones (right side of photo)!

Next to the Colonel John Green Chapter NSDAR wreath is my cousin Barbara Oatts Smith along with several other members of her DAR chapter. 

- Compiled by JGWest.

- Photos taken by Eddie Deason, Indiana Bones, and others.

"Loose Lips Sinks Ships!"

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Wartime has brought us many slogans. World War II was full of slogans to promote the war effort. One of them was “Loose lips sinks ships!” meaning that idle talk could be heard by enemy spies that might result in aiding the enemy. The slogan is still used today for keeping secrets.

Sometimes in our quest to find our ancestors, it seems that there are well-guarded secrets concerning our family histories. And that may be true! Sealed lips about a family member or the events that at one time were deemed to be unfavorable by the rest of the family was not uncommon. So many reasons to keep secrets: births out of wedlock, unfaithful spouses, law breakers, escaping the facts of the past, even the fact that a child was disabled or considered to be an “idiot.” Names were even changed and the family would move great distances to protect the secret! And these “secrets” often impedes our search for our genealogy. Like the WW II slogan warns, family gossips or others will eventually let the “cat out of the bag” (sort of speak) and the secret is known. For some in the family, the truth is undesirable, while others now understand what happened and doors to the past have been opened.

It seems that during war or other serious situations idle talk could lead to destruction or grave consequences, while other situations that same kind of idle talk can lead to learning more about the truth. I have discovered lately that just casual conversation can lead to new discoveries that were never secrets, but, rather, just undisclosed information. I mentioned several of these in a presentation I have given “Research Skills vs. Just Plain Luck!” This July 4^th. after the dedication of a memorial to Revolutionary War Patriots and Soldiers in Christian County, KY, many of my cousins and other relations went to eat some Bar-B-Que. Chad Word and his family sat across from me and the conversation got around to the Civil War and one grave marker that was basically “swallowed” by a tree trunk growing around it leaving only the top and base showing. Merril Rogers was a union soldier during the Civil War and Chad was able to replace the marker with a military one. Since, I have a Rogers line in Christian Co., I had to ask where was he from and who does he descend from? The answer was Robert Rogers and Lucretia Dillon... my ancestors, too! In just the last few months, I discovered by the casual mentioning of where some of my ancestors were buried that a friend also had people buried there and that led to this same Robert Rogers & Lucretia Dillon being common ancestors!

Mentioning a cemetery in the past led me to the discovery that some Internet friends were cousins thru common ancestors in Breckinridge Co., KY. And then there was the time, several years ago, a neighbor just two doors over from our house stopped me as I was walking the dog down the block, “come up here on the porch and sit for awhile I have a story to tell you,” he said. Hard to resist a story, right? After the story came idle chat, that led to him complaining about his wife being on the computer too much. He then said that she does some of the work from her job on it and that she helps a lot of people with their research of the Perry County Carters. I didn't know that Donna did genealogy research! Was he talking about Perry Co., IN? Yes, he said, she has a huge database of the Carter family that were early pioneers of Perry Co., IN. My wife has Carter family from Perry County. They were the same Carter family and we soon found the common ancestor and several other family lines, as well.

Idle chat can have some serious consequences in “Love and War” while it can lead to new discoveries in the search of your family history. Is it luck or just fate that these casual conversations can find cousins? Remember as you idly talk, the person behind you may be a foreign spy or may be an unknown cousin!

- Written by JGWest.

"Flags Over America" Program in Hopkinsville, KY

I present a program to entertain and educate others about our country's heritage through flags... the presentation is called "Flags Over America!"  I have given this program at a TSGS meeting several years ago.  Below I am posing for a photo in front of part of the flags dressed in my Revolutionary War State Militia uniform.  I give the program as part of the Ohio Valley Chapter Sons of the American Revolution Speakers Bureau.  This time I had been invited to return for an encore performance for the DAR/SAR Annual Dinner Meeting in Hopkinsville, KY at the beautiful Oakland Manor.

 Becky West generally assists me in holding flags for everyone to see.  She dresses in typical Colonial women's attire.  My volunteer photographer, Chad Word, caught Becky relaxing before the meeting began.

 Becky & I just beginning the program in above photo.  Below we are nearing the end of the program showing one of my favorite militia flags known as the Guilford Courthouse Flag.  I had 25-3X5 foot flags on poles for display and to talk about.  This is a modified shorter version of "Flags Over America!"

 In the above photo you can see most of the flags on display.  My 4th. cousin Tommy Henderson is seated in lower far right corner in red knit shirt.  Below Tommy is giving an SAR report during the business meeting.

Becky & I had a great time.  I always put in plugs for the Tri-State Genealogical Society, as well as, Willard Library.  Special thanks to my set-up & take-down team of Tommy Henderson, Eddie Deason, Becky West and Chad Word.

- Photos taken by Chad Word.