Joseph McKim and his wife, Martha McClelland McKim, are buried in Old Millersburg Cemetery, in Nicholas County, Kentucky, just on the outskirts of the small town of Millersburg, home to less than 1,000 residents. Ritchey and I visited this cemetery in August of 2014. I remember we took US68 to Paris, continuing north and driving through the small town of Millersburg. The cemetery was just over the county line (just past the sign!) into Nicholas County. With ten years in road changes I cannot find it on Google Maps. If we drove there, could we find it? Most likely, we are never deterred in our search for a cemetery!
Joseph and Martha’s married bond is dated January 6, 1800. Robert E. Miller was bondsman.
Joseph McKim fought in the 10th Regiment of the Kentucky Militia during the War of 1812, known as Boswell’s.
From Joseph’s will we find the following children listed: sons Gamaliel W., Robert J. and Joseph M., and daughters Elizabeth who married John M. James August 29, 1844; Martha Lee who married William Holliday, October 4, 1821; and Linda M. who married a Throckmartin. One grandson, Joseph Holliday.
Joseph McKim Will
Bourbon County Will Book N, Pages 374-375
I, Joseph McKim, of the County of Bourbon and State of Kentucky, do make this my last will and testament in manner and form following, to wit.
First. I desire that after my decease all my just debts shall be paid out of the monies arriving from the sale of my personal estate.
Second. I will that after my decease the farm on which I now reside shall be sold at public venue upon the usual credits and the ?, after said farm distributed as follows. That is to say, I will that my three children, Gamaliel W. McKim, Elizabeth M. James and Robert J. McKim, each receive out of the money arising from the sale of my farm aforesaid, fifteen hundred dollars. The said Gamaliel W. McKim shall receive the said fifteen hundred dollars in addition to a note of seven hundred dollars which he holds on me for services heretofore rendered, note is now due. And I further will that my three children above named shall have six of my Negroes, such as they may choose. That is that each of my children above named shall have two Negroes including the one now in the possession of Elizabeth M. James, which shall be one of her two. The six Negroes shall be equally divided in value between my three children aforesaid. It is my will, however, that the two Negroes bequeathed to my daughter Elizabeth shall, with their increase, be hers during her natural life and that after her decease they, with their increase, shall belong to her heirs forever.
Third. I will that my three children, Joseph M. McKim, Gamaliel W. McKim and Robert J. McKim, each have a bed and furniture, and the said Robert, one horse worth eighty dollars.
It is my further will, and I hereby bequeath to my grandson Joseph Holliday four hundred dollars to be paid to him by my executor after the above bequeath. I bequeath to my daughter Lucinda Throckmorton five hundred dollars to be land out in land for her whenever she may choose, and the land as purchased by my Executor shall be by deed secured to my daughter during her natural life and then to her heirs forever.
It is further my will and I hereby direct that after the above bequests shall all be adjusted agreeably to the provision of this my last Will and Testament heretofore made, that whatever of my estate may thereafter remain shall be equally divided between my nine living children. Provided, however, that the amount whatever that may be that shall be coming to my two daughters Martha Lee Holliday and Lucinda M. Throckmorton, by the last forgoing provision of this my will shall remain in the hands of my executors to be paid out to them for their own benefit and behoof of them, my two daughters aforesaid, during their natural life and thereafter for the use of their heirs forever.
And lastly, I appoint and constitute my son John Morton McKim, my Executor of this my last Will and Testament. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal the second day of November 1846.
Joseph McKim, his seal
Attest. J. Irvine, Samuel Grafton
At the October term of the County Court of Bourbon County, Kentucky, on the first day of October 1849, this last Will and Testament of Joseph
McKim, deceased, was this day proved in open Court by the oaths of Joshua Irvine, an attesting witness and being sworn to by Joseph Morton McKim, the Executor, was ordered to be recorded. Witness, Thomas P. Smith, Clerk of said Court the State above.
Categories: Family Stories
He lived quite a while after his wife passed. Sad for both of them. Since I wondered what she died of at age 55, I asked AI about epidemics at that time and found the following…The Kentucky epidemic of 1838 refers to a major wave of Asiatic cholera that struck the state during the broader 1832–1835 cholera pandemic, with 1838 remembered mainly because physicians and historians published accounts that year summarizing the devastation of the earlier outbreaks. The epidemic itself was part of cholera’s first major visit to Kentucky, which was the most severe and frightening in the state’s history.
Throckmartin is likely Thomas Reade Throckmorton 1803-1886 who married Lucinda Elliott McKim 1809-1891