Received of James K. Janes two dollars and fifty cents, the full amount of his subscription to “The Union“, commencing with No. 1 and ending with No. 52.           R. R. Peebles                                         December 25, 1837             by H. W. Matthis

1837 Receipt of James Kaleb Janes

James Kaleb Janes was born April 4, 1806,probably in Virginia.  He moved to Washington County, Kentucky, early in his life and there on May 29, 1832, he married Mary Jane Edwards, daughter of Edward Barber Edwards and Nancy Linton.  James and Mary Jane had no children of their own, but helped raise many nieces and nephews.  Mary Jane Edwards Janes is seated in the center of the Edwards/Linton/Taylor picture, made in 1901, that is in a previous blog.

In the 1850 census of Washington County, James Janes, 44, and wife, Mary J., 35, have living with them Martha Janes, 13, a niece, who later married Benjamin Springer Taylor; and Catherine Taylor, 18, a niece, daughter of John Cotton Taylor and Susan Clark Edwards.  Susan Edwards Taylor died in 1836, and John Taylor married again in 1848.

In 1860, James and Mary Jane are living by themselves.  In 1870, James and Mary Jane again have children in the house – the daughter and son of the two nieces living with them in 1850!  Etta Taylor, 10, granddaughter of John Cotton Taylor and Susan Clark Edwards, and daughter of Benjamin Springer Taylor and Martha Jane Janes; and Edgar Linton, 12, son of Catherine Taylor and Edward Edwards Linton.

Seated beside Aunt Mary Jane Janes in the photo mentioned above is niece Catherine Taylor Linton, and her son Edgard Linton; as well as Etta Taylor Clarkson, daughter of Martha Jane Janes Taylor, who died in Cape Girardeau, Missouri in 1866.

I have no information on “The Union” – I’m not sure if it was a newspaper or other subscription.  Does anyone know what this could be?

James K. Janes died January 23, 1879, and was buried in Pleasant Grove Presbyterian Church Cemetery in central Washington County.  In the background of the photo below you can see the gravestone for Edward and Catherine Taylor Linton – the niece who lived with James and Mary Jane in 1850.