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Editor's Note:
Readers of The Kentucky Explorer have been introduced to the
Rev. John J. Dickey in past issues. Remember that he was a traveling
preacher throughout the eastern part of the state during the
years between 1880 and 1925. He helped to establish numerous
churches and at least two colleges. He was also a teacher and
a newspaper editor. However, his most enduring gift to us today
may well be his diary that he kept faithfully during some 50
years of his later life beginning in the 1880s. In all, over
6,000 pages written in his own hand make up this interesting
digest.
In this journal of his, Dickey often wrote down accounts of events
daily. Much of the material concerns his day to day life. However,
during the late 1890s he began to gather family history on various
families he met in his travels. We are offering these interviews
to our readers in the hope that they will be appreciated in the
sense that Rev. Dickey intended. These interviews were written
word for word as they were given to Rev. Dickey. Nothing has
been changed.
Matilda Duff
Lewis
Hyden, Kentucky
May 27, 1898
My father
was Rev. Daniel Duff, born in Guilford County, North Carolina,
in 1776. His father was Shadrick Duff. He was killed in the Revolutionary
War. His wife, Deborah Dickson, did not survive him. Shadrick
Duff's father was born in Ireland. He was Scotch-Irish. The Dicksons
were Irish, also. My father spoke (used) broken English. My father
used to call Mrs. Sparks his old Irish aunt. My father had a
sister, Elizabeth, who married Mr. McLean. They settled in Green
County, Tennessee, and reared a large family. I saw two of the
sons at my father's once. My mother was Nancy Ann Ellison. My
parents married in Guilford County. Her father was Welsh. Soon
after my father and mother married, they came to Lee County,
Virginia. There were Duffs living there. Robin Duff of that county
was a very wealthy man. They were related to my father. While
they lived in Lee County, several children were born to them.
Their oldest child was Henry; he was born in 1798. John was born
in 1801. In 1818 my parents removed to Perry County, Kentucky,
and settled on the North Fork of the Kentucky River, about two
miles above the mouth of Grapevine Creek. He was a Baptist minister.
Attending a meeting of some kind in Harlan County, he met with
Rev. Jesse Bolling who lived on the North Fork and becoming attached
to him made a visit to his home. This led to his removal to Kentucky
and Perry County. My father's children were Henry; John; Shadrick;
and Martha, who married William Bowman and moved to Iowa. They
reared a family. Deborah married William Bolling and reared a
large family on Middle Fork, at about the Perry and Breathitt
line. Mary married a Shepherd and moved to Missouri; Colson married
Elizabeth Gilbert of Virginia. These Gilberts moved to the Sandy
country, where Thomas Gilbert, the father, died. Drusilla married
William Gilbert, brother of Elizabeth. They moved to Illinois
about the close of the war. They lived in Carter County up to
that time. Alexander married Miss Holly or Holyfield. He is a
carpenter and lived in Breathitt County. Margaret, who married
John Hays of Breathitt County, moved to Wolfe County where he
died. She was living at last account. She reared a large family.
I am the next and youngest. I was born in 1825. I married John
Lewis in 1859. Our children: Brusilla Lewis, wife of Theo. Lewis;
Henry Lewis, with whom I live; and one who died are my children.
These are all. My father died in 1855 in Carter County. My mother
died in Perry County in 1849. My father then went to his daughter's
in Carter County, where he married a Mrs. Ellen Roe. He only
lived a short time after this.
I went to school to David Fee. He was a smart man, a good teacher,
and highly respected. He taught near my home. When my father
moved to Kentucky, he came on horseback. Dad came down Red Bird
and up Cutshin. There were no wagon roads. They stayed all night
at John Gilbert's house. I knew old William Strong; he was also
a Baptist preacher. William married Jane Callahan, the daughter
of Edward Callahan of Red Bird. Several of her brothers lived
on the North Fork and it was they who were engaged in the "Cattle
War." John Amis, the leader of the other side, was a brother-in-law
of John Gilbert, both having married Bolling sisters. The names
of the Callahans were William and Isaac (nicknamed "Pike");
it seems to me there was a third. Old Samuel Davidson married
a Callahan, a sister to Mrs. Strong, and he was in the war. Rev.
William Strong was a Baptist preacher. He had children as follows:
Edward, Isaac, Alexander, and William. William married a Deaton,
sister of the old legislator. Edward married a Spencer. His children
were Capt. William Strong, Mrs. Alfred Marcum, Mrs. John Lyttle,
and Mrs. Henry Duff; also Robert Strong, who died young, leaving
a few children; and Judge Alex Strong of Lee County, Kentucky.
William had children as follows: Judge Edward Strong, of Lost
Creek known as "Red Ned;" Mrs. William Cope, Tom Cope's
father; and Mrs. Wiley Cope of Big Branch. Isaac had a son, William.
Alexander married Miss Wilson and had several children, one the
wife of George Baker of Clay County and Daniel Strong of Laurel
County.
John Spencer was an early settler, Grapevine. I think he came
from Virginia. He had a large family. I think William Spencer
of Breath-itt County, who married Miss Brittain, was a relative
of his. Joseph Spencer was one of his sons. John Spencer, who
married John Duff's daughter, was a son of Joseph Spencer. My
brother, John Duff, married Mary, the daughter of Gen. Elijah
Combs. He had children as follows: Sarah Jane (Davidson); Henry
Duff, married Mahala Strong, daughter of Edward and sister of
Capt. Bill Strong; Elijah, married Mary Eversole, daughter of
Billy Eversole, lives in Owsley County, father of Miss Mary Duff;
and Shadrick Duff, married Mary Combs, granddaughter of General
Combs. They reared a family: Louisa, wife of John Spencer; Nancy,
wife of Maj. John Eversole, mother of Joseph, Harry, George,
John, and Claude Eversole; Orleana, wife of Adam Campbell, reared
a family; and Mary, wife of Anderson Eversole who moved to Kansas,
a brother of Abner and Capt. Billy Eversole.
John Duff, my brother, was the first surveyor in Perry County.
He was county judge of Perry County in his old days. He had an
arm amputated when he was in his 70s. He died in 1892, age 91.
He left a fine estate at the mouth of Grapevine. His wife survives
him.
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