Abell Family at Rolling Fork Settlement

According to The Centenary of Catholicity in Kentucky by Hon. Ben J. Webb, 1884, the settlement on the Rolling Fork River, in Washington County, was begun in 1788, with a few families coming a year or two earlier. Some of these early Maryland settlers were Clement and Ignatius Buckman, and Basil and John Raley. Ignatius Buckman was killed by Indians. His wife and children heard four shots, and after waiting for what seemed an eternity, peeked through a loop-hole in the side of the house and saw six Indians taking the only two horses the family owned. Afterwards the body of the husband and father, was found by the stable door, scalped and with four bullet wounds. Other settlers who came within a few years were the families Dolan, Fagan, Fenwick, Forrest, Hamilton, Hayden, Jarboe, Luckett, Lee, Morgan, Mills, Moore, Spalding, Sims, Wathen, Yates and others.

Robert Abell also came to the settlement in 1788, from St. Mary’s County, Maryland. He married Margaret Mills before leaving St. Mary’s County, and they had ten children – several born in Maryland, the rest in Kentucky – Samuel, Jesse, James, Robert, Ignatius, Benjamin, John, Mary, Ellen and Janet. Robert returned to Maryland for visit in 1802, where he died. It is said in Calvary Cemetery – Holy Name of Mary – that a stone was erected for the parents – but neither are buried there. The father, Robert, is buried in Maryland, and the mother, Margaret, is buried at St. Thomas Catholic Cemetery in Nelson County, Kentucky.

To the memory of Margaret Abell who died January 1818, aged 59 years.  this tribute is inscribed by her children.  St. Thomas Catholic Cemetery, Nelson County, Kentucky

Jesse Abell, son of Robert and Margaret, was the representative of Washington County in sessions of the legislature of 1831-2 and Marion County in 1842. In the earlier years Marion was a part of Washington County, becoming a separate county in 1834. Jesse was married to Susan Wimsatt, daughter of Robert and Dorothy Abell Wimsett, May 28, 1808, in Washington County. Their children are Henrietta, Lucinda Lucy, William Madison, Samuel Benedict, Edmund, Mary Sophia, Benjamin, Albert Ignatius, Teresa and Benedict Joseph Abell.

Jesse Abell, born September 15, 1778, died March 10, 1846.  Susan, wife of Jesse Abell, born August 18, 1785, died August 5, 1847.  Holy Name of Mary Catholic Cemetery, Marion County, Kentucky.