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.
Hi Phyllis. I would like to clear up one matter. My GGGG-grandfather’s name was Alexander Bruce, not William Alexander Bruce. The William came in from the SAR application of Andrew Davis Bruce, son of John Logan Bruce, son of Henry Clay Bruce, son of Alexander Bruce. Andrew’s father, John Logan Bruce, also applied to the SAR, naming his father as Alexander Bruce, not William Alexander Bruce. Alexander Bruce’s son, Horatio Washington Bruce, also has an SAR application on record, naming his father as Alexander Bruce. Andrew Davis Bruce served as a general in the U. S. military, so his application has garnered respect. However, Alexander’s son, Horatio, was a prominent Louisville judge, member of the Filson Club, and second president of the KY SAR. I have reviewed Lewis County civil case files, and never does William appear as part of Alexander Bruce’s name. Please do not proliferate the error of Andrew Davis Bruce. Okay, now for Amanda Melvina Bragg. Her tombstone shows Amanda M. Bragg. She was married as Amanda M. F. Bragg. From Virkus’ Compendium of American Genealogy in entry for Nellie Bruce Irwin, her name is given as Amanda Malvina Fitzalan Bragg. That is the source I have chosen as the correct one. Nellie Bruce, wife of Ralph Waldo Emerson Irwin, was daughter of Henry Clay “Harry” Bruce. Harry was son of Thomas Joseph Bruce, son of Alexander Bruce and Amanda Bragg.
Regarding William Elliott: William Elliott owned a very large house about eight miles below Portsmouth that sat very close to the Ohio River. It was destroyed during the 1937 flood. To the community he gave land upon which the Methodist Church was built. The first church, built in 1874, was called St. Paul. After it burned down, a second church, also called St. Paul, was later built. It was dedicated on October 21, 1877, with Rev. Moore preaching the first sermon. Part of the second church is said to be still standing. Later the C. & O. Railroad came through and a flag station was put up just across the road from the church, and it was called St. Paul, followed by a post office, also called St. Paul. So the Forman’s Bottom area came to be known as the St. Paul neighborhood. There is no town with a Main Street, except for Route 10, leading from the bridge at Portsmouth to Vanceburg. An old note describes St. Paul: “We have one store, two churches, and one preacher, who preaches at both churches…. It is one of the most peaceful neighborhoods. Every one will help the other…. We have the highest hill along the Ohio river, known to all steamboat men. We have fine farming land, very productive even in the droughts of ’30 and ’36.”
The children of William Elliott and Nancy Birney Bruce:
1. Brunette Redden Elliott, 6 Apr 1846 – 12 Dec 1887, m. Benjamin Franklin King, Jr., my GG-grandparents. Brunette was named after her aunt, Brunette Proctor Bruce, who was in turn named after her aunt, Brunette Bruce, wife of Benjamin Proctor. Benjamin Proctor struck it rich with the gold rush and after opening a hotel in Danville, KY, was murdered by the youth, Thomas McGrath, in 1860. A phone conversation with one of B. R. Elliott King’s granddaughters revealed what the R. stood for: Redden. The granddaughter was Brunette Gravett Hanson. Even though Brunette died young (1887), her progeny appears to exceed all of her 12 siblings combined. A relative shared photos of Brunette and B. F. K., Jr., some years ago. They have since been posted to ancestry. Interestingly, the large brick home in Greenup, built by B. F. K., Jr., was sold to Roy Ogden Judd, Naomi Judd’s grandpa. I shared pictured of the home with Naomi many years before her death.
2. Isabella (Isabell, various spellings) Elliott, 2 Oct 1847 – 10 Apr 1928, married John P. McAndrew. John was a miller, rose to prominence in Portsmouth, OH, before moving to Missouri.
3. Lucy A. Elliott, 16 Nov 1849 – 1 Dec 1928, married Dr. Richard Mentor Johnson McGuffin. They lived in Bramwell, WV, the “village of millionaires.” They had an early home there which included “the first indoor plumbing in town with a windmill to help supply water, a free-standing shower, and a speaking tube from the front door to the bedroom.”
4. Lelia Elliott, 25 Nov 1851 – 28 Jan 1854, died from inf (inflamation or infection) of lungs, buried with her parents.
5. Mary Washington “Mollie” Elliott, 22 Feb 1854 – 12 Nov 1936, married John Henry McElhaney. John studied law, was active as a Democrat in politics, but ultimately decided on the life of a farmer. They got their son, Maurice (a close friend of Lewis County historian, William Carter Dugan), who was very tall, a pony.
6. Octavia Bragg “Tavie” Elliott, 26 Dec 1855 – 8 Aug 1930, married James M. King, brother of B. F. King, who married Brunette Redden Elliott. James and Octavia had no children but adopted a foster daughter, Helen Feree (or Foree). She married Carl Morton, and their family owns and operates the Morton Funeral Home in Greenup County. I have a young photo of Helen that the Morton family might like.
7. Amanda Kentucky “Tucky” Elliott, 16 Jan 1858 – 15 Dec 1934, married Samuel M. Weaver. Samuel was from Nova Scotia, Canada. He drowned in the Ohio River along with his brother-in-law, William Kinney Elliott, while crossing in a skiff. Amanda middle name was shared by Maude Biggs King, daughter of Nina Aura Mitchell Biggs who wrote the History of Greenup County, Kentucky.
8. Dr. Alexander Bruce King, 16 Mar 1860 – 25 Feb 1918, married Effie Ann Agnew. Effie’s father, John C. Agnew, was a pioneer steamboatman who for years had charge of the steamer “Handy,” in the Maysville to Portsmouth trade. He owned the old “Tacoma” and steamer “Abner O’Neal” for the Cumberland River trade and brought out the steamer “Return” for the Manchester-Portsmouth trade. In 1864 he offered for sale one-eighth interest in the steamer, “Clermont.” Alexander studied medicine under his brother-in-law, Dr. McGuffin and graduated from the University of Loiusville School of Medicine in 1886. After a partnership with Dr. William H. Campbell for a time in Vanceburg, Dr. A. B. Elliott moved his family to Charleston, WV.
9. Henry Braxton (Bragg) Elliott, Sep 1862 – 7 Jan 1929, married first, Ida Edeela Woodworth (daughter of Henry’s first cousin, Benjamin Laban Woodworth, and Elizabeth Jones), married second, Mary unknown. Henry’s life is largely a mystery.
10. Thomas Bruce “Tom” Elliott, 19 Sep 1865 – 7 Jun 1897, married Florence Edith Greenhow. Thomas farmed at one time, worked as a druggist and served as postmaster of the Frost community. His early cause of death is yet unknown. Thomas and Florence had a daughter, Norma, who moved to Los Angeles and married. After the death of Thomas, Florence and her widowed sister, Belle Bruce, operated a bookstore in Vanceburg. Isabell “Belle” Greenhow, was the widow of Ernest A. Bruce, son of George Washington Bruce III and Lizzie Torrence. Florence eventually moved to California to be with her daughter.
11. Edma B. Elliott, 27 Dec 1867 – 27 Nov 1949, married the Rev. Edmund Clymer Switzer. Edna lived the life of a wife of a Methodist clergyman. Edmund served pastorates at Barboursville, Wayne and Philippi, W. Va., and at Louisa and Grayson, KY. They both died in Huntington, WV, without children. An obit of Edna includes a photo.
12. William Kinney “Will” Elliott, 17 Jan 1870 – 11 May 1895, unmarried. In October 1890, it was reported that “W. K. Elliott or Jolly Will as he is familiarly called, with elastic step and head erect, is seen going toward Springville every Sunday, singing “She’s my Annie, I’m her beau.” William Elliott attended the Portsmouth business college (1891), and was a member of the Crescent Athletic Club. He was a member of Scioto Ruling, No. 60, Fraternal Mystic Circle. He was a promising actor and participated in the presentation of “The Blue and the Gray” in January 1893 and “Shamrock and Rose,” playing the role of Lieut. Douglass, a few weeks prior to his death. Along with his brother-in-law, Samuel M. Weaver he drowned in the Ohio River while crossing in a skiff. His body was found “floating about 200 yards from the Ohio shore and opposite the ice piers.”
13. Leda Katherine “Kate” “Katie” Elliott, 9 Sep 1871 – 2 Feb 1930, married George Henry Reuben. Leda died fairly young from breast cancer. Her husband was somewhat of a business magnate, with an important auto dealership in Phoenix, AZ, before moving to California. Their daughter, Leda B. Swartz, has a scholarship in her name in Denver.
Bruce Elliott King IV