Elliott family gravestone, Vanceburg Cemetery, Lewis County, Kentucky.
Our travels take us to Lewis County and the town of Vanceburg. The city cemetery is up a rather steep, rutted drive, but what a beautiful sight when you reach the top. Lovely views of the Ohio River are your reward.
One stone represents the Elliott family. William Elliott was born in Ohio in 1819, the son of Benjamin Elliott and Isabella McCann, both originally from Pennsylvania. William married Nancy Birney Bruce July 3, 1845, in Lewis County. Nancy was the daughter of William Alexander Bruce and Amanda Melvina Bragg.
Nancy’s brother, John L. Bruce ‘paid the fee’ for their marriage, I suppose this means he was the bondsman. ‘William Elliott is over the age of 21 years and a certificate from Alexander Bruce, the father of Nancy, given his consent was proved by the oath of John L. Bruce, a witness thereto. On July 3,1845, ‘according to the rites and ceremonies of the Methodist Episcopal Church’ the couple was married by Jedidiah Foster.
William and Nancy had thirteen children, all but one living to adulthood. In the death records for the county, daughter Lelia, aged 2 years, died January 28, 1854, of infected lungs.
The rest of the family consisted of Brunette, Isabella, Lucy A., Mary Washington, Octavia, Amanda, Alexander, Henry B., Thomas B., Edora, William and Kate. What lovely names for their daughters! Brunette, a very unusual name, was named for her mother’s sister.
William Elliott, born September 28, 1819, died November 29, 1879. Lelia Elliott, November 25, 1851 – January 28, 1854.
William Elliott died November 19, 1879. He is listed in the death records for that year and it mentions he lived in the county 34 years.
Thomas Bruce Elliott, September 19, 1865 – June 7, 1897.
Son Thomas Bruce Elliott died in 1897. Since his name is included on the stone he probably didn’t marry.
Nancy Elliott, January 3, 1828 – May 1, 1898.
Nancy Birney Bruce Elliott died the next year, aged 70.
Brunette died in 1887 and William, Jr., in 1895, but the remainder of the children lived well into the 20th century. I would love to know the number of descendants from this family!
Categories: Family Stories
Thank you so much for all you do. I enjoy these posts, pictures, and history so much but don’t say Thank you enough.
Thanks the the post. I am one of the descendants of William Elliott and Nancy Birney Bruce through their daughter, Brunette. Nancy was a granddaughter of Lucy Neville Blakemore Bragg, the subject of one of your previous posts. Nancy’s parents, Alexander Bruce and Amanda Bragg, were divorced in 1842 and following the court-ordered sale of Alexander’s portion of land in 1849, Alexander resided with William and Nancy Elliott while Amanda resided with her mother, Lucy Bragg. Also living with Lucy and Amanda in 1850 were Alexander and Amanda’s sons, Thomas and Henry, who had testified against their father in the divorce. It was just three years after the divorce that Alexander gave permission for his 17-year-old daughter, Nancy, to marry William Elliott. Interestingly, the first 7 of William and Nancy’s 13 children were daughters, and none of the four sons had a son to carry on the Elliott name.