Note by Phyllis Brown:  Edward Barber Edwards and Nancy Linton are my great-great-great-great-grandparents.  They made the journey from Loudoun County, Virginia, to Washington County, Kentucky, in 1818 with Nancy’s parents, Captain John and Ann Nancy Mason Linton.

The following was given to me by my dear friend Sally Clarkson Keene.  It was written in longhand by Annie Clarkson Snider for her sister Marilyn Clarkson.

“I am writing these disconnected scraps of family history and folklore for Marilyn Clarkson who enjoys it as I did at her age and has not the wonderful source of information I did, my two great aunts, Catherine Taylor Linton and Margaret Taylor Hennessy.

With the least encouragement Aunt Mag would begin the story of Edward B. Edwards journey from Leesburg, Virginia in 1818 with his wife, seven children, negro slaves, horses, pack mules and dogs to settle on part of a two thousand acre tract of land owned by his father-in-law, John Linton.  He had paid $1.25 an acre for this land in 1802.  In crossing the Cumberland Gap, Mrs. Edwards’ horse stumbled, fell to the ground, and her leg was broken by the fall.  They made camp for two days, the negroes cut saplings and made a sled, cut more saplings splitting them through the center.  The bark sides were turned down and some kind of bed constructed two feet above the runners of the sled, her feather bed was unpacked placed on the rude bedstead and Nancy made the rest of her trip in this fashion.

Of course, the leg was never set, and she never walked another step.  A log house was erected, one part of which is still standing near the Cave Spring (Sam Thompson house).

I have been told that even though bedfast she carded wool, knit, sewed and ruled her family with a rod of iron and that the negroes were in greater fear of her wrath than of a whipping.

The eldest son, John or Jack, according to the old English customs, was given a larger share than the other children could hope to have.  His house was built of logs on the south side of what is now the Spaulding house.  The other children were Susan, Mary, Jonathan, Catherine, Martha and Sarah.

Susan married Jack Taylor and was your great, great, great grandmother.  A very romantic story has been handed down through the years of the trust and fidelity of Susan and Jack Taylor.  When she left Leesburg in the spring of 1818 he too left with a load of mules for the sugar plantations of Louisana.  He expected to realize quite a sum of money on the transaction, return by boat up the Ohio River and there buy a team of horses and the rest of the journey was to have been made on horseback to Washington County.  Susan was filling her hope chest and the wedding was to take place before Christmas.  But the fall of 1818 came and passed as eight more springs and falls before Jack came.  She never lost courage or hope but continued to spin and weave for the family and add to her hope chest.  In the early spring of 1823 the negroes were working in sugar camp near the Cave Spring.”

There is a page missing here, but one day when Susan was out at the well one of the negroes came running and said, “Miss Susan, guess who’s here!” She immediately said, “It’s Jack!”  And so it was.  He had been struck with a debilitating fever and not been able to return until now.  They were married at once and were very happy.

Family Sheet for Edward Barber Edwards and Nancy Linton

Husband: Edward Barber Edwards
Birth: 21 Apr 1768 in Maryland
Death: 1834 in Washington County, KY
Father: Johnathan Edwards
Mother:  Sarah Barber

Wife: Nancy Linton
Birth: 1778 in Virginia
Death: 1861 in Washington County, KY
Father: John Hancock Linton
Mother:  Ann Nancy Mason

Children:

Name: Susan Clark Edwards
Birth: 1797
Death: 02 Dec 1836 in Washington County, KY
Marriage: 25 Nov 1828 in Washington County, KY
Spouse: John Cotton Taylor

Name: John L. Edwards
Birth: 12 Oct 1800
Death: 23 Dec 1883 in Washington County, KY
Marriage: 13 Oct 1831 in Logan County, KY
Spouse: Mildred L. Linton

Name: Catherine Kitural Edwards
Birth: 1805
Death: 23 Jul 1883 in Washington County, KY

Name: Jonathan Joseph Edwards
Birth: 18 Feb 1805
Death: 05 Feb 1884
Marriage: 20 Jul 1829 in Washington County, KY
Spouse: Nancy Millie Linton

Name: Benjamin M. Edwards
Birth: 1809
Death: 02 Aug 1852 in Washington County, KY

Name: Mary Jane Edwards
Birth: 27 Dec 1814
Death: 28 Dec 1905 in Washington County, KY
Marriage: 29 May 1832 in Washington County, KY
Spouse: James Kaleb Janes

Name: Martha L. Edwards
Birth: Sep 1817 in Washington County, KY
Death: 10 Dec 1880 in Washington County, KY
Marriage: 19 Jun 1848 in Washington County, KY
Spouse: Theodore Clarkson

Name: Sarah Barber Edwards
Birth: 1822
Death: 1903