from Marion County, Kentucky – Biographies

Robert B. Lancaster, farmer and distiller, was born in 1835, and is a son of Benjamin Lancaster and grandson of John Lancaster, who came from Charles County, Maryland, to Kentucky, settling near the present village of Loretto, Marion County. John Lancaster had a large family; his son Benjamin was born in 1799 and passed his entire life in Marion County.  He married Ann Pottinger of one of the oldest families of Nelson County and had a family of eight children, of whom five grew to maturity, viz.: Mary J., who died in 1844, in early womanhood, Samuel P., James M., Robert B. and Ann E Lancaster, the last of whom died in 1868.  The entire family were adherents of the Catholic religion.  The father, Benjamin Lancaster, died in 1840 and the mother in 1881.  Robert B. was born near Loretto, was but five years old when he removed with his widowed mother to Nelson County, and there grew to manhood, receiving a good English education in St. Joseph’s College of Bardstown.  He embarked in the mercantile business (1856) in Lebanon, but returned to Nelson County, pursuing the vocation of farming until he permanently located in Lebanon in 1874, since which time he has been variously employed in merchandising, farming, distilling and trading.  In 1867 he married Miss Mary Teresa Abell, daughter of John and Jane (Spalding) Abell.  She died January 6, 1879, leaving six children as follows:  Mary J., Anna E., Joseph S., Benjamin H., John A., and Mary T. Lancaster.  His present wife, to whom he was married in 1881, is Sallie Dougherty of Louisville.  Their only issue is Robert B. Lancaster, Jr.