Wesley L. Routt, 1843-1942.  Rachel E., his wife, 1836-1923.  Mt. Hebron Methodist Cemetery, Anderson County, Kentucky.

Wesley Lefare Routt was born December 14, 1843, in Anderson County, Kentucky, to Richard Routt and Mary J. Holman.  Wesley was born just in time to be a soldier of the Civil War – and he served in the Confederate Army in Company G, Sixth Regiment.  He fought at Shiloh, Chickamauga, Rocky Face Ridge, Resaca and Dallas.  He was wounded at Dallas and disabled for any further service during the war.  He is listed in History of the Orphan Brigade by Ed Porter Thompson, 1898.

After the war, Wesley returned to the county of his birth, where he married Rachel White, October 27, 1867.  The couple had three children, Stanley, Jennie and Ira.  Stanley married Virginia A. Bond.  Jennie never married, and Ira lived about a year.

There is not one census in which all family members appear together.  Since baby Ira died in 1876, he did not appear in any census.  The only proof that he lived at all is the tiny stone in Mt. Hebron Cemetery in Anderson County.  In the 1880 census Wesley is 36, Rachel is 42, Stanley is 10, Jennie is 7, and Jane White is 82 (Jane is Wesley’s mother-in-law).  In 1900 Stanley is not living with the family, but in 1910 he is, with his wife Virginia.  In 1920 Wesley, Rachel and Jennie are living in the same household.  Rachel White Routt died February 17, 1923, of bronchial pneumonia.  On her death certificate, her parents are listed as Thomas White and Jane Doson.  After that date Wesley and Jennie lived together until her death on February 10, 1941.  She was found, presumably by her father, dead in her room, of a hemorrhage of the lungs due to long standing tuberculosis.  Stanley Routt died ten years previous.  Wesley Lefare Routt had outlived all his relations – his parents, his wife, his children, and, to my knowledge, all his brothers and sisters.  Wesley died a year later, May 9, 1942, at the age of 98 – he would have been 99 in December.

The Harrodsburg Herald, Mercer County, Kentucky

 Friday, May 22, 1942

 Lawrenceburg Loses Last Soldier Of South

 Wesley L. Routt, better known as “Uncle Buck Routt,” 98 years of age, died last Saturday afternoon at his home near the Kentucky river on the Harry Wise extension road, in Anderson County. Funeral services were held at the Hebron Church Sunday afternoon, conducted by Rev. M. D. Morton, pastor of the Sand Spring Baptist church.

With the passing of Uncle Buck, Anderson county has lost its last confederate soldier, as he was the last of those Anderson countians who fought under the confederate flag.