Samuel Pottinger Lancaster, December 6, 1830 – May 7, 1902.  St. Joseph Cemetery, Bardstown, Nelson County, Kentucky.

Today we travel to Nelson County, city of Bardstown, to St. Joseph’s Cemetery located at the intersection of US150 and Hwy 245, just north on Main Street.  Although many of the earlier pioneers are buried in family cemeteries, or rural cemeteries, there are many buried in St. Joseph’s Cemetery that have ties to the early citizens.  Our case in point today – Ann Pottinger Lancaster and three of her children, Samuel, James and Ann Elizabeth.

Ann Lancaster, September 5, 1805 – May 10, 1881.

Ann Pottinger (I’ve also seen it spelled Pottenger), daughter of Captain Samuel Pottinger and Jane Caldwell, was born September 5, 1805.  Jane Caldwell was the second wife of Samuel Pottinger, and Ann was their youngest child.  Samuel was a Revolutionary soldier, the pioneer settler and founder of Pottinger’s Station (or fort) in 1781 in Nelson County.  Pottinger’s Creek (the station was built along this creek) is located in the southern portion of Nelson County, between the small towns of New Haven and New Hope, and near Gethsemane Abbey.  Samuel’s first wife was Jane Gray, with whom he had three children.  He also had three children with this second wife.

Issue of Captain Samuel Pottinger and Jane Gray:

1. Elizabeth, born in Pottinger’s Fort, Nelson County, Kentucky, 14^th May 1783; died in Nelson County, Kentucky, 6^th May 1857; married 4^th September 1803, James Phillips, born 2^nd April 1780, died 28^th January 1842, in Nelson County.
2. Samuel, born 1^st March 1785
3. John, born 1789, died unmarried 7^th September 1833.

Issue of Captain Samuel Pottinger and Jane Caldwell:

1. Robert, born circa 1801-2; died unmarried circa 1820.
2. Jane Gray, born 12^th November 1803; died in Union County, Kentucky, 9^th January 1828; married 20^th March 1821, Ignatius Aloysius Spalding, born in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, 5^th May, 1790, died in Union County, 5^th December 1851, son of Benedict and Allethaire (Abell) Spalding of St. Mary’s County, Maryland. He married (secondly) Ann Huston, born in Person County, NC, 5^th May 1790, died in Union County, 29^th April 1877.
3. Anna, born 5^th September 1805; died 10^th May 1881; married 26^th December 1826, Benjamin Lancaster, born 25^th April 1799, died 22^nd September 1840, son of Jack Lancaster.

Ann Pottinger married Benjamin Lancaster on December 26, 1826, at St. Joseph Cathedral in Bardstown.  Benjamin was the son of John Lancaster and Catherine Miles, born April 25, 1799.  As Ann’s family were pioneers, so too were Benjamin’s.  John Lancaster was also in the Revolutionary War and settled on Hardin’s Creek with the station of the same name, formed by the Beaven and Cissell families in what is now Marion County, in the area of St. Mary’s, and the church of St. Charles.  All the families mentioned were pioneers from Maryland, who moved to Kentucky after the Revolutionary War, most arriving between 1781 to 1800.

James Madison Lancaster, March 17, 1833 – October 3, 1894.

Ann Pottinger and Benjamin Lancaster had six children:

• John Lancaster, born 15^th November 1827; died 7^th December 1827
• Mary Jane Lancaster, born 13^th December 1828; died 16^th August 1845
• Samuel Pottinger Lancaster, born 6^th December 1830; died 7^th May 1902; unmarried
• James Madison Lancaster, born 17^th March 1833; died 3^rd October 1894; unmarried
• Robert B. Lancaster, born 26^th May 1835; died 18^th May 1904; married (firstly) 7^th May 1867, Mary T. Abell; married (secondly) 22^nd June 1881, Sallie Doherty; married (thirdly) 29^th January 1903, Bettie Cardwell
• Catherine born 24^th July 1837; died 14^th August 1837

Two died young, three did not marry.  Son Robert Benjamin Lancaster married three times, he had children with his first wife only.

Ann Elizabeth Lancaster, August 24, 1832 – August 24, 1868.

Benjamin Lancaster had an early death, dying at the age of 41.  He is buried in the cemetery at St. Charles, in Marion County with his parents; I found no stone when I photographed the cemetery, but it is possible there was one when he died.  Ann Pottinger Lancaster lived an additional 41 years.  The large monument in St. Joseph Cemetery is dedicated to her and her three unmarried children.