A Very Vital... Vital Statistic!

Recently, I discovered a cousin that I did not know of before. This cousin, Bart Burke, is descended from my Thomas West, Jr. and from that line is my 6^th. cousin one generation younger than me. However, he also descends from Joseph Phipps and Margaret G. Woodis making him a 3^rd. cousin one generation removed. We made arrangements to meet at Willard Library for me to give him a lot of new information on these lines. While preparing my information & notes, etc. - I remembered some great new information on the Woodis line that I had found, basically by accident.

The incident occurred at least 20 years ago when I learned from Mary Lou Bevers at one of our genealogical meetings – this alone is justification for joining a genealogical society! I often got some great tidbits of information and “secrets” that helped me in my research and especially getting around brick walls. This one was a simple one about all of the Kentucky birth & death certificates available in the State Office of Vital Statistics up to a not so distant date from the current day were listed in large volumes and several counties throughout Kentucky had them available for viewing in the courthouse. Henderson County, KY was one of these wonderful counties which is just across the Ohio River from Evansville where I live. I went rushing over there the next day looking for the death certificate of my great, great grandmother Cincinnati O. Williams the wife of William Ellis West of Christian Co., KY.

She was not listed in any format or variation I could think of. I decided to look up other death certificates for other ancestors. Woodis was always a good one to check first because there were so few of them. The furthermost that I had gone back was Littleberry Woodis and his wife Luvana (maiden name unknown). One of their sons (in my direct line) was William H. Woodis and his wife Amanda. This William was born in 1818 and I suspected that he had died before the 1870 census, since only Amanda and the kids could be found. This William and Amanda had a son William; with this second one having a William, also - making it 3 generations in a row with a William Woodis. In the vital statistics books I found a William Woodis that died in 1913 in Christian County with his death certificate number. Since I was confident that the oldest William had died before 1870 and besides he would have been about 95 years old in 1913! The third William seemed too young and should have lived past 1913... maybe. So, I suspected this to be the middle William that I did not descend, but hopefully he would have his mother's full name (Amanda ?) listed on his death certificate. I sent off for it and was so excited to get it in the mail about a week later. But, when I opened it, I was confused as it said he was born in 1818 and died at age 95 with his father Littleberry Woodis and his mother was Luvana Blalock... this was William H. Woodis who I thought died in 1870 or earlier! Later, I found him in the census in Illinois and back to Kentucky for the other census that he would have been in. He had divorced Amanda Black and married Nancy Cannon before the 1879 Census.

William H. Woodis Obituary: Hopkinsville Kentuckian Mar. 25, 1913 PIONEER CITIZEN

W. H. Woodis Dies Near Laytonsville, Aged 95, among the oldest citizens of the county died Fri. night at the home of his son-in-law W. H. Woodford, near Laytonsville. Death was caused by pneumonia and resulted after an illness of only 5 days. The deceased was born in this county June 9, 1818, and he was therefore nearly 95 years old. His parents were natives of NC . Mr. Woodis had resided in Christian all of his life, excepting about two years which were spent in Illinois. He is survived by three children: Mrs. Woodford, of Laytonsville; W.R. Woodis of Todd Co. and T.A. Woodis of Lewisburg, Logan Co. His wife passed away about a year ago. Mr. Woodis was a member of the Methodist Church, having professed religion during a revival at Vaughn's Grove last summer. He had been twice married, his first wife died many years ago. The interment took place at Ebenezer Saturday.

- Written by JGWest

Tombstone Thursday -

West Cemetery

Ovil, Christian Co., KY

(Hidden in the woods)

Nancy Emeline Williams

Wife of

Charles Patterson West

And J.R. Johnson

Died 1913

(Last known burial in this cemetery)

According to the property owners who watch over this cemetery and try to cut back some of the ever-invading woods, a large oak tree fell knocking this tombstone over.  The Maywald family cleared away the tree and re-set the marker as it was!  I am very grateful for their efforts... they have no connections to any family buried here.

Close-up of the etching on the stone, reads: "Nancy E. Wife of C.P. West and J.R. Johnson Died Sept. 27, 1913 Aged about 82 years"  Nancy is the daughter of Stephen Williams and Jane Henderson.  Charles P. West was the half brother of William Ellis West also buried in this cemetery with William E. West having a wife named Cincinnati Williams the niece of Stephen Williams.

- Photos taken by Indiana Bones.

[Tombstone Thursday is dedicated

in memory of Donald G. West 1952-2000]

"Using Family Names For Computers!"

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The backyard Garage is finally torn down!

With all of the rain this year (plus not feeling well & a sundry of other excuses), it has taken me almost the whole year to finally tear it down. But, yesterday, a friend & his boys helped me. Busy from 6AM until the friend got here, I was tired, cold and really out of the mood to go through with it. But, with others to motivate me, we were done in about three hours. I still need to haul the debris to the dump, but the garage is down.

This is why I did not have time to post anything yesterday, nor for today. However, I was reading Facebook posts and one of my friends is Bill West (no known relation to me) who puts out a very nice genealogy related blog of his own... had an interesting topic about naming computers. Bill named his computers after TV show characters. One of the comments came from a Diane who said she named her computers for family members citing her two aunts. I got the idea that it would be cool to name my computers after my ancestors. So, I added the following comment to Bill's Facebook entry: "Diane, that is a neat idea... naming computers after family! Ignatius West was born in 1750 in Granville Co., NC and is the brother of my direct ancestor Thomas West, Jr. Thus, Iggy (my nickname for him) is an Uncle many "greats" back. So, I, hereby name my computer "Iggy"!"

We all have some cool names in our ancestry that are interesting, neat, special or highly unusual like my direct ancestor Littleberry Woodis. I could name a computer "Littleberry" or even "Woodis"! I could name one "Cincinnati" after my Great, Great Grandmother Cincinnati O. [Williams] West (I still do not know what the "O" stands for and it was used many times in records). My father, brother & nephew were all named "Gaither Glennis West" with either of the given names would make great names for a computer. Mom's name was Bernadine... not a bad computer name. Powerful names like James Tobias Long or Mary Bright Rogers. Another one John Barton Haynes. My favorite is Arthur Sylvester Mays husband of Susan Apalone Lewis. The name Ap(p)olone was used a lot in my Mattingly family.

We could name all sorts of items for our ancestors. Since we travel a lot to Ohio to see the grandkids in the Cincinnati area... I think I will name the car in honor of my GGGrandmother "Cincinnati!" My cell phone "Littleberry!" (Well, they have "Blackberry" phones, don't they?) Davy Crockett named his long rifle "Old Bess" - so, why not name important items we use? I wonder what is showing on "Tobias" today?

Oh, if I still had a garage, I could have named it "Woodis!"

- Written by JGWest

"It Can't Be This Easy!"

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As a kid of about 12...

I started asking relatives about our family. Who were they, where did they live, where did they come from, what did they do in their lives? Dad knew his great grandfather William Ellis West and Cincinnati, his wife - plus several of William's brothers. This would prove very helpful many years later. It was well known that the courthouse in Christian County, Kentucky was burnt down during the Civil War. He assumed all of the records were lost forever. A few years after Dad died his Aunt Eva died intestate (without a will) in Christian Co., KY. A legal problem surfaced concerning the estate that led me to an attorney in Hopkinsville for advice. As I left his office across the street was the courthouse with a large Historical Plaque. I decided to read it. The courthouse was burnt down during the Civil War, but the townspeople knew in advance... all records were saved back to the forming of the county in 1797 and still intact today! I checked records for William Ellis West using the index. In the first book he was listed with all of his siblings (several I knew from Dad) as heirs of their deceased father's interest in his father's share of the estate of his father! So, this one document stated that William Ellis West (with wife Cincinnati & his siblings and spouses) were the children of Jesse West, their father, who was the son of Charles H. West (Jesse's father) whose share of his father's (Thomas West) estate was the subject of this document. I thought this can not be this easy! I told the clerk of my discovery. A lady overheard me and told me about Shirley West Cain - a Christian County WEST expert! I called Shirley and gave my descent from William Ellis West to my grandfather Warner West. She asked that since Warner only had one son, Gaither, which of his kids was I... Glen, John or Don? She confirmed my whole line back to Thomas West and that I was qualified for Sons of the American Revolution (SAR)!

-Submitted by JGWest