This note was found among my great-grandmother’s genealogy – Frances Barber Linton.  She married Robert E. Lee Montgomery in February of 1893 in Washington County, Kentucky.  Both families had been in the county for generations – the Linton’s moving from Loudoun County, Virginia in 1818, when John Hancock Linton, a veteran of the Revolutionary War bought 2,000 acres of land.  The Montgomery’s came from Maryland about 25 years earlier, part of the Maryland to Kentucky movement at the close of the 18^th century.

This note is in the handwriting of my great-aunt, Lillie Montgomery Goodrich.  She was the keeper of the treasures after her mother died.

Robert and Frances, with Lillie, Maggie and Alice.  Robert Linton is standing in front of the house steps, Robert, Jr. beside the dog.

“My mother and father, Frances B. Linton (Great Grand Daughter of Captain John Linton) and husband Robert L. Montgomery, bought 219 acres of Captain John Linton’s land in 1903, land from Mr. Tom Sims.  This home was about a mile from the cemetery where the Linton family was buried.  And was called the Linton Family burial grounds.

Linton Family Burying Ground

“My grandmother Catherine Taylor Linton, and her husband Edward (Ned) Linton, went to housekeeping about ¼ miles from our home on this same land.  They soon went to Lebanon, Kentucky.  My grandfather worked in a mill until his health broke down, then they moved back to Washington County, and lived with Aunt Mary Edwards Janes in the first original homeplace.  There were seven children in my family and four are still living.”

My mother loved visiting her grandparents at this home.  Her grandfather Robert was a dairy farmer, and also raised a large garden.  The house had two staircases, one for the girls, going up to the second floor from the dining room.  The boys had their staircase in the kitchen.  There was no door between the boys’ section and the girls’ section.

Mother said her grandfather was a rather stern man, expected them to go out on the porch and sit and watch the cars go by.  I can’t imagine there to be that much travel on such a rural road!  She said his children called him ‘Papa’ – with the emphasis on the first syllable.

Grandmother Frances was the epitome of grandmothers, spoiling her grandchildren with treats and fun.  Mother said they were considered rich, and her mother, Alice, married a poor man – my grandfather Rue Carrico.

The seven children Aunt Lillie mentions were Mary Alice (my grandmother), Anna Margaret, Laura Frances (who died December 11, 1912, of tuberculosis), Lillie, Robert Lee, Edward Linton (who died August 21, 1974, this note must have been written after that date), and Benjamin (who lived less than a month in 1908).