Saturday during my quest for a new post I went to my file on Pine Knot Cemetery in McCreary County.  If you are unfamiliar, McCreary County lies on Kentucky’s southern border with Tennessee, on the eastern side.  The Pine Knot area is about five miles from the Tennessee border.  Within this small cemetery are two clusters of families by the name of Creekmore.  Not being from the area I was not familiar with this name.  I think perhaps this is one of the reasons I enjoy genealogy so much.  You find names that are known in one part of the state are not in other parts.  I wanted to find out if these two families were related.

William B. Creekmore, (I believe Ballentine to be his middle name since that is his grandfather’s name), is listed in the 1860 Whitley County census with his parents, Francis Marion Creekmore and Nancy Campbell.  William was eight years old.  His siblings were Henry, 15; Elizabeth, 12; Susan, 8; and Sarah, 3.  Ten years later the census record, in McCreary County, listed two new names, Solomon, 9; and N.L., 3, a little girl.  William came from a farming family.

On the first day of February 1893, William Creekmore married Margaret Ellen Robbins in Rockcastle County, Kentucky.  In the 1900 census for McCreary County William is 42, a hotel keeper.  Margaret is 37, born in Tennessee.  They have no children.  Living with them is the widowed Rosie Branam, 34, sister-in-law, and Gertrude Davis, 13, a niece.  In 1910 there are still no children.  William is a merchant, and living with them is Earl Branam, 6, a nephew.

Margaret Ellen Creekmore, March 8, 1863 – December 31, 1915.  Pine Knot Cemetery, McCreary County, Kentucky.  ‘Sleep in Jesus, blessed sleep from which none ever awake to weep.’

Margaret died December 31, 1915.  In 1920 William, 65, and Earl, 17, are borders.  William died in October 14, 1927.  Williams death certificate doesn’t give much information – there is no date of birth, he is ‘about 75’.  It says ‘don’t know’ for the parents’ names and birth places.  If only young Earl Branam is left to report the information, he probably didn’t know.

William B. Creekmore, December 23, 1854 – October 14, 1927.

The Advocate Messenger, Danville, Boyle County, Kentucky.

Saturday, October 22, 1927

Buried beside William is his brother, Solomon Creekmore.  Solomon was ten years younger.

He married Katie Brown January 17, 1901, in Campbell County, Tennessee.  They had six daughters and one son – Rhoda, Sopha, Ellen, Blanch, Mamie, Syble, and Clarence S. Creekmore.

Solomon Creekmore, October 6, 1864 – April 17, 1928.

Solomon died April 17, 1928.

Katie Creekmore, February 13, 1872 – February 19, 1944.

Kate lived another sixteen years.  She died February 19, 1927.  Her death certificate lists her parents as William Brown, born in Scott County, Tennessee, and Martha Hudson, of Clay County, Kentucky.

Jasper C. Creekmore is the oldest of the second family of Creekmore’s buried in this cemetery.  He was born October 11, 1848, and married Mary Ann Taylor.  In the 1880 census of Franklin County, Arkansas, Jasper is 31 and Mary Ann is 25.  He was born in Tennessee, she in Kentucky.  Children listed are Sylvester, 7, born in Tennessee; Julia, 5, born in Tennessee; James, 3, born in Kentucky; Ackmon, 1, born in Kentucky, and a baby of two months that is not named, born in Arkansas.  By 1900 the family is back in Whitley County, Kentucky.  Renford is the name of the child born in Arkansas, which is noted in the census.  Daughter Nellie, 13, was born in Kentucky, as well as the rest of the children, Lilly, 10, Thomas A., 9; Francis, 4; and Milford, 2.  Why did they move to Arkansas?  It was for a very short amount of time.  Baby Ackmon was born in Kentucky in 1879.  In 1880 Renford was born in Arkansas.  And in 1887 Nellie was born in Kentucky.  How interesting to know why they moved and why they came back.  The 1900 census tells us Jasper and Mary Ann have been married 27 years, they’ve had 13 children, ten living.  In the 1910 census Jasper is a farmer, son Sylvester a farm laborer.  James and Ackmon were coal miners.  Renford was a day laborer and Nellie worked in a grocery store.  What a good picture of family life.

World War I came into this family’s life, like all the others.  Sylvester’s registration card says he was 45 years old, a farmer, born January 25, 1873.  He is short, black eyes and hair, and is physically disqualified.  It does not say why he was disqualified, but he lived to be 80 years old.  It must not have been life-threatening, it just didn’t allow him to fight in the war.

His brother Milford Rose Creekmore was 19, born November 25, 1898, a salesman.  He is short, slender, brown eyes and black hair.

Jasper C. Creekmore, October 11, 1848 – October 30, 1918.  Mary A., his wife, March 30, 1854 – February 2, 1919.  Married July 18, 1872.

Like so many during 1918, Jasper Charles Creekman died October 30, 1918, of influenza.  His death certificate says he was born October 11, 1848, was a merchant.  His parents were Green [Berry] Creekmore and Ida Ellison.  Mary Ann survived him by a few months.  Her death certificate lists her age as 64 years.  She died of pneumonia.  Her parents were Benjamin Taylor and Hala Creekmore, both born in Kentucky – notice that last name!

Four children and a grandson, Napoleon Creekmore, are buried with them.

Sylvester Creekmore, June 27, 1873 – August 30, 1926.  ‘Dying is but going home.’

Milford R. Creekmore, November 25, 1898 – October 11, 1924.  ‘Gone but not forgotten.’

Julia Creekmore, January 19, 1875 – October 12, 1924.  ‘Let our Father’s will be done.’

Napoleon Creekmore, June 11, 1904 – February 12, 1927.

Lillie Creekmore, October 27, 1889 – February 14, 1923.

So how do these two families come together?  We must go back to Robert Creekmore, 1755-1824 and Elizabeth Batchelor, 1756-1829.  But let’s go back one more generation for one more piece of evidence.  Robert Creekmore’s parents were David Creekmore and Frances Ballentine.  When Robert named his sons, he wanted his mother’s maiden name to be used, in memory of her.  Robert and Elizabeth Creekmore named their first son Ballentine Batchelor Creekmore – giving him his grandmother and mother’s maiden names.  Another son was named William Balentine Creekmore.  It is from these two sons that both families have their connection.  There are about ten years between the births of the two brothers, Ballentine Batchelor born about 1784, and William Ballentine about 1797.  Jasper C. Creekmore is the grandson of Ballentine Batchelor Creekmore.  William B. Creekmore is the grandson of William Ballentine Creekmore, making Jasper and William B. cousins.  The line from Robert and Elizabeth Creekmore is – 1) William Ballentine Creekmore 1797 – Francis Marion Creekmore 1822-1907 – William B. Creekmore 1854-1927.  2) Ballentine Batchelor Creekmore 1784-1850 – Green Berry Creekmore 1818-1887 – Jasper C. Creekmore 1848-1918 – Sylvester Creekmore 1873-1953.

Dedicated to the memory of Ballentine and Barsheba Batchelor Creekmore and Robert and Elizabeth Batchelor Creekmore of southeastern Kentucky; and to the memory of the unknown dead buried in this cemetery.  Erected by their descendants, August 1986.

In Jellico Creek Cemetery is a stone dedicated to the Creekmore – Batchelor families.  Brothers Ballentine Creekmore and Robert Creekmore married sisters, Barsheba and Elizabeth Batchelor.