BARGER-L Archives

Archiver > BARGER > 1999-06 > 0928540572


From: "SUSAN DONAHUE" <>
Subject: [BARGER-L] Fw: Thanks, etc.
Date: Fri, 4 Jun 1999 18:56:12 -0500


Howdy, Friends and Cousins:

Help!....I think I have just spent a whole week in a trial run of a Y2K
disaster. I have been surrounded by defective computers, downed T-1 lines
and network failures. I am going through serious withdrawals. If any of
you sent me messages and have not received replies, please bear with me. It
may take a while to get back up to speed.

I am forwarding the sweetest note from Eileen Illum, one of our newest
Barger researchers. She is working on the Eastern Kentucky line, which
takes the prize in my book as the most fascinating bunch of Bargers in
America.

I am about half way through reading the book, "Days of Darkness" and I am
proud to tell you all that the Bargers were hardly mentioned, and certainly
not in a bad light. The book should be on the recommended reading list for
anyone doing research in Perry & Breathitt Counties in KY. I just may have
to take a trip down to Hazard and take a look for myself. Things got a
little out of control up in those hills, but the result is that there are
historical accounts of those communities which are a goldmine for local
historians.

Please read the following, and let us hear from you. (It sure is strange
that my list of "Most Wanted" Bargers includes two Abrahams, two Alfreds and
an Allen. What is it about those "A" names?)

Susan Barger Donahue


----- Original Message -----
From: Steve Illum <>
To: <>
Sent: Thursday, June 03, 1999 6:58 PM
Subject: Thanks, etc.

> Hi Susan,
>
> You are so right! I am finding family history very interesting! I have
> been wanting to write you back and thank you so much for answering my
"first
> e-mail." It really was my first and kind of scary to send...sounds silly,
I
> know. After I read your answer, I couldn't stop weeping. It was really
> overwhelming how much it meant to me. I never expected it to be so
> important to me!
>
> And thank you for e-mailing me again to encourage me for posting on your
> Query Board. It was exciting to get a Response, as well.
>
> I have been looking at maps and searching around and think you are right
> about Wilkes Co., NC not VA probably being Mary "Polly" Bowling's
> birthplace.
>
> While I was researching my Coldiron line on Surname Helper, I linked to
> Kentucky Biographies maintained by Sandi Gorin< and
> found the Benge, KY, June 15, 1898 entry of John J. Dickey Diary with the
> memories of Jason Walker Bolling, the great grandson of Jesse
> Bolling(Bowling) and Mary Pennington of
> Lee Co., VA (he says!) So I plan to look for her parents there. Jason
said
> she had a brother there named David Pennington that Elijah (Jason's
> grandfather) stayed with during "the late war." (Civil War?) According
to
> Jason, Jesse was born in North Carolina at Hillsboro. I'm guessing he
met
> and married Mary in Lee Co., VA. Mary "Polly" Bowling m. to Abram Barger
> (Jason says) was born in 1786 or 88 in Wilkes Co., so they could have been
> there in 1790 as Janice foundon the 1790 Wilkes Co., NC census, assuming
> it's NC not VA as you propose. They were at the Three Forks of Powell
River
> in Lee Co., VA in 1798 when Elijah was born. Jason said Jesse Bolling
came
> to Kentucky in 1810 when his grandfather was twelve. I found Jesse in
Clay
> Co.,KY on the 1810 list p155 next to Justice Boling (one of his son's name
> according to Jason) and John Barger p154, Christopher Boling p152, Ely and
> William Bolling p151(also sons' names),and Joseph and Isham Bolling, p150
> (relationship? maybe brothers?) I also found him in Clay Co., KY on the
> 1820 list p126 along with Abraham Barger this time. I found "Polly"
Barger
> on the 1850 Perry Co., KY list as living with her daughter Elizabeth and
> Howell P. Brewer. Since Jesse died in 1841 and Abraham in 1848 this
would
> make sense. Also a piece of Clay Co., KY was used to make Perry Co. in
1821
> so I don't think the family moved, just the county lines.
>
> As nearly as I can piece it together, Jesse moved to Kentucky with his
> family and children's families and settled on the middle fork of the
> Kentucky River. Most of this area is underwater today...Buckhorn
> Lake...except the Abraham Barger Cemetery which is on top of the mountain
in
> the middle of the lake!
>
> Jason also said Jesse had 10 children and names eight including Mary
(Polly)
> and husband Abram, as well as some of the spouses' last names I was going
> to post my findings on the Barger Family History Query Board but don't
know
> if it's appropriate? since it's mostly about Bowlings. I would be glad to
> send you the names of the children if you're interested. I would also be
> glad to send what I have of the descendants of Elizabeth Barger and Howell
> Prentiss Brewer. I really only have my direct line right now, but I
trying
> to get my mother to fill in some of the blanks.
>
> Thanks again for your encouragement and for being an internet pioneer and
> helping make all this discovery learning possible.
>
> Eileen ILLum
>
>
>

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