​George Pointer, my 5th great grandfather, was born around 1750 in Virginia. He died around 1810 in Lincoln County, Kentucky. George assisted in establishing American Independence and achieved the rank of private. He first served under Captains John Martin, John Boyle and Colonel Benjamin Logan. He then served under Brigadier General George Rogers Clark with the Lincoln County Militia (Harding, George Rogers Clark & His Men, PP 121, 122, 174).
 
My 5th great grandfather and his wife had eight children. The second oldest, George Pointer, born in 1780 in Virginia married Joannah Tackett in the year 1801 in Wayne County, Kentucky. That same year, they had their first child, Elizabeth Pointer while living in Pulaski County, Kentucky. Elizabeth Pointer married James Monroe Jett, also born in 1801 in Pulaski County, Kentucky.
 
James Monroe Jett is a descendent of Jost Hite, my 7th great grandfather, born around 1685 in Germany, died 1761 in Frederick County, Virginia. After arriving to America and moving multiple times; Jost, his family and several other families eventually moved to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. As history recounts, Jost went on to own the largest land holdings in the Colony of Virginia. Jost organized a group of families to settle in the Shenandoah Valley near present day Winchester, Virginia. He is credited in US History books as being the first European to settle west of the Blue Ridge Mountains (German Origins of Jost Hite, Virginia Pioneer by Henry Z Jones, Jr., Ralph Connor and Klaus West, Edingburg, VA 1979). In a past episode of Who Do You Think You Are, country singer Tim McGraw, finds out that he is also a descendent of Jost Hite.
 
Elizabeth Pointer and James Monroe Jett, along with other family members, eventually moved to Osage County, Missouri. George Washington Jett, one of their younger children, married Elizabeth Baker. A child of that union, William Jasper Jett married Amanda Ellen Johns. Of that marriage was born my grandmother, Loretta Jett who married my grandfather Clarence Albert Lindsey. From that union came my father, Jackie Wayne Lindsey who married Erma Jean Mayfield.
 
My grandfather, Clarence Lindsey, was born 1902 in Alto Pass, Union County, Illinois. My grandmother, Loretta Jett, was born 1907 in Cooper Hill, Carroll County, Missouri. Loretta and her family lived in Gasconade, Missouri where there was a government boat yard. Clarence and his family lived in the Rockwood, Randolph County, Illinois area. Clarence worked on a boat and found himself in the Gasconade, Missouri area where he met Loretta. Their oldest child, my father Jackie was born in Gasconade, Missouri. The little family eventually moved to Randolph County to make their home in Chester, Illinois.
 
I take you back in time, to travel with my ancestors, to bring you to present day. As I did my research, to complete my application for membership to the Daughters of the American Revolution, I discovered that my 5th great grandfather had already been in this area, some 241 years ago, as he fought with Brigadier General George Rogers Clark and his men to secure Kaskaskia. Not too many weeks ago I stood with my father and youngest daughter at the Covered Bridge to watch a historical marker be rededicated, marking the area where the troop camped before moving into Kaskaskia.
 

​Seeking one’s family history can be a very rewarding task although it often is frustrating.  My sister and I were told may times during our youth that we had patriots who fought in the Revolutionary War.  We were proud of the fact but needed to prove it.  Collecting documents/proof from people who lived over 200 years ago is not easy, but with a lot of assistance we have found one great-grandfather seven times removed and are able to follow the line through the generations until it reaches us. 
It all begins in Bedford County, Virginia.  The area was originally settled by English, Scotts, and Irish.  The county lies in western Virginia between Roanoke and Lynchburg.  In 1752 the General Assembly of Virginia established the town of Liberty.  This was a year subsequent to the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown.  This is the first location in history to bear the name, LIBERTY.  Another claim to fame is that Thomas Jefferson had a summer home in Bedford County.  The primary occupations involved farming and timbering.  Walter’s parents, Daniel and Mary Heuton, were both born in Bedford County as were their eleven children.  Our patriot Walter Neal, born on 11-17-1752, was the oldest. He was a cooper by occupation. He married Winifred Wood in 1774 and they had thirteen children.  His enlistment in the Revolutionary War can be found in Bedford County, Virginia, Order Book 5, May, 1778.  He died of natural causes at 48 years of age (10-20-1801) and is buried in Bedford County, Virginia. At some point Winifred apparently moved to Gallia, Ohio, because that is where she is buried as are a number of her children.  Rachel, the sixth child of Walter and Winifred, is our direct ancestor.  She and her husband, Thomas Wray, are buried in Gallia.  From Rachel, our ancestry line runs through two more women:  Rachel’s daughter, Matilda, and Matilda’s daughter, Melinda.  Then direct line returns to sons:  Melinda’s son John William Hedrick and then John’s son, John Franklin Hedrick.  Next the line runs through John Franklin Hedrick’s daughter, Melba, who is our mother. 
There is much more we would like to know but have not yet discovered.  Direct lines are harder to trace through women who often leave not only their immediate families but also their geographic roots to move with husbands.  Records housed at The Daughters of the American Revolution Library indicate that thirty-eight women have verified Walter Neal as their patriot.  Of those thirty-eight, five show the same direct line through his daughter, Rachel Neal Wray, and we are two of them.  We continue to search for more details and hopefully our search will be productive.
Andrea Jeanne Fulford Costilow
Marcia Lynne Fulford Ellison

 







 Lybarger Revolutionary War Memorial -- Medley, Bedford County, Pennsylvania

​Nicholas Layenberger brought his family across the Atlantic on a ship named the Snow Betsy. By August of 1739 the family was settled in Bedford County, Pennsylvania.  Less than forty years later his son Ludwick, two of his brothers and two nephews were serving with the 4th Company, 1st Battalion Bedford County Militia in the Revolutionary War.  According to the Bedford County Census of 1790 the spelling of the surname had changed from Layenberger to Lybarger.  Ludwick Lybarger’s grandson, Samuel, was the first Lybarger to move to the prosperous French village of Kaskaskia, Illinois. 
                                                                                 MONTREUIL TO MONTROY
The surname “Montreuil” came into use during the early 17th century in what is now Canada.  In 1636 Louis Sedilot arrived in Quebec, New France.  Born in Montreuil-les-Bresches in Picardie, France, he attached “dit Montreuil” to designate his place of origin.  Louis is the progenitor of the Canadian Montreuils whose descendants traveled from Quebec and settled at Kaskaskia. Jean-Baptiste Sedilot dit Montreuil was born November 24, 1749, in Quebec Diocese Montreal Canada.  He was a 5th generation descendant of Louis Sedilot and Marie Grimoult and the first to reside permanently in Kaskaskia. The surname Sedilot was eventually dropped and the name Montreuil survived. During the Revolutionary War, George Rogers Clark liberated Kaskaskia from English rule.  Jean-Baptiste Montreuil served with Captain Francis Charleville’s company of Kaskaskia Volunteers when George Rogers Clark captured Fort Sackville (Vincennes) in March of 1779.  Sometime around 1848-50 the spelling of the name changed to the English phonetic spelling of Montroy.
                                                                               
I am descended from Ludwick Lybarger.  My husband and I are both descended from Jean-Baptiste Montreuil.  There is a little stone cottage still standing on Lot 20 Chestnut Street, Chester, Illinois.  The restoration of this stone cottage has been dedicated to the memory of these two revolutionary War Patriots. 
                                                                                                               Joan Montroy, Liberty Bell of the West Chapter, NSDAR.
 
 

​In a world that is so vast, we can still find connections between those descendants in our past and see how their connections in society reflect into present day and even into our future.  This feature article will look at how one Revolutionary War soldier has impacted the name of the nearby town, Mulkeytown, including many of the sites and roads named Mulkeytown in Southern Illinois. 
Jonathan Mulkey was a pioneer and one of Tennessee’s first known Baptist preachers.  Mulkey was a Private who served in Colonel Christian’s expedition against the Cherokees in 1776 during the Revolutionary War.  Jonathan’s son was born that same year and named Phillip Mulkey.  Phillip followed in his father’s footsteps and became a popular traveling evangelist and he preached in Tennessee, Kentucky and in Southern Illinois.  Phillip died in 1844 and was buried in the Mulkeytown cemetery. The Mulkey Cemetery located in Mulkeytown, Illinois, prominently displays a sign in honor of Jonathan, which states, “Pioneer Gospel Preacher”. The Mulkey family is credited with opening the first store in 1835 in the trading point area of Southern Illinois which was eventually named Mulkeytown, Illinois, after the Mulkey family.  Even the very prominent jurist, Judge Mulkey, sprang from this renowned family. For a town to name itself after a preacher and store owner, it was and continues to be a great honor and privilege. 
Fortunately, Phillip’s father survived the Revolutionary War and if he would have not survived, then the little trading town in Southern Illinois could have been named after someone else.  So, when you are traveling in Southern Illinois and you happen to cross Mulkeytown Road or see a building or cemetery named after Mulkey or if you travel through Mulkeytown, remember that its name originated from a Revolutionary War soldier. 
This article is brought to you by Jill Asbury, a descendent of Revolutionary war soldier, Jonathan Mulkey.
 
References: findagrave.com
                      genealogytrails.com/ill/franklin/tyrone_twp.html
                        oocities.org/franklincoil/mulkey.html
                                    anamericanfamilyhistory.com/TennesseeFamilies&Places/Mulkey
 

Patriot of Shelia Alms, Deb Uchtmann, Bernice Cowan, Mary Ann Bunselmeyer

 John Clendenin’s story begins in Scotland.   Charles Clendenin, John’s grandfather, was born in Dumfrieshire, Scotland in 1712 and immigrated to America prior to 1735.   After arriving in Lancaster, PA he traveled south to Westmorland County, Virginia and settled at Fort Lee/Fort Clendenin.  In 1818 this settlement was renamed Charleston, West Virginia after Charles Clendenin. 
          John Clendenin was born January 15, 1759 in Eddisen, Augusta County, Virginia.  His father, James Clendenin (son of Charles), served in the French/Indian War in 1759 as one of Captain William Preston’s Rangers.  John served in the 3rd Virginia Regiment of the Continental Line and was noted to have also furnished supplies to the forces.  During the war, John was assigned to some type of military prison.  Family history has it that while serving in this capacity, a woman came to John in desperate need to talk to her brother who was incarcerated in the prison.  The law would not permit a woman to enter the confines of a prison. John, showing compassion, loaned her his uniform for disguise and the woman was able to see her brother.
          After the Revolutionary War, John and his wife Mary (Sympson) moved to Green County, Kentucky.
          At the close of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the area of Illinois was surveyed into land patents that were to be sold and the revenues generated were used defray the cost of the war.  Anyone with military service was given preference in purchasing these land patents.  In 1817 John and his family relocated from Kentucky to Chester, IL.  On October 11, 1817, John purchased one of the land patents in the amount of 120 acres for $262.40. 
          John lived on this land until his death in 1836 and was buried in the family cemetery located on this property.  This cemetery has been incorporated as “The Clendenin Historical Site”.  On June 16, 2007, Liberty Bell of the West Chapter held a ceremony marking the grave of Revolutionary War Soldier and Patriot, John Clendenin.