Lesley/Leslie by Ruth Cleaveland Leslie
We begin our narrative with the departure of William Robert Lesley and his brother, John, from Dublin, Ireland, in 1755—20 years ago. As you have seen we have made no attempt to bridge the gap between the early Scottish kings and barons and our own ancestors—a gap of some seven centuries in length.
Some members of the family have said that these brothers were sons of one John Lesley who kept a tavern in Ireland; also that he had been banished from Scotland as a “free thinker’ at the beginning of the 18 th century. Whether these things are true or not is a matter of conjecture and so far as this particular story is concerned of no particular importance. Another story is to the effect that the two brothers brought with them wares wherewith to set up a linen shop in the new world. Soon after their arrival, however, matters took a much different turn and this goal was never achieved,
We never heard the name of the ship the Lesley brothers took nor how long they were on their way. It was a wooden sailing vessel of some sort, however, for there was no other kind at that time. The mid-18 th century was a time of vast expansion in the building of these ships. About 1765, Nelson’s Armada was given a mighty boost by greatly improved warships which had been many years abuilding. These, too, were sailing vessels—beautiful, proud things. It is doubtful that the passenger ships of that day had accommodations to equal even those of the crew of those warships.
The Lesley brothers arrived in New York and apparently got into difficulties almost immediately. Some sort of street brawl developed. In this, William Robert came off the victor and entered a barber shop to have the evidences of the fray removed. The barber, a friend of Lesley’s opponent, let his razor slip, by accident or design, and slit the throat of his customer. The wound was so serious that William Robert was close to death for quite awhile. During his illness his brother John disappeared, no doubt giving him up for dead. They never met again. The wound he received was to prove the indirect cause of the death of William
Robert some 57 years afterward.
Linen Merchant Turns Pioneer
William Robert Lesley, left stranded alone in a strange city, departed as soon as possible—as would most of us have done from a place which had welcomed our appearance with such bloodthirsty attentions. He made his way to Philadelphia, by what means we do not know—perhaps by post chaise, perhaps by coastwise vessel, more likely afoot or in a much more lowly equipage, for he could not have had any funds.
In Pennsylvania he met and married Elizabeth Buchanan. This is believed to have taken place in Lancaster County. They soon joined a caravan of Scotch-Irish settlers on their way to Augusta County, Virginia, which at that time encompassed all the lands of Virginia westward of the Blueridge to the Mississippi and northward to Canada.
At just what point in Augusta the Lesley’s first stopped has not been revealed but eventually they came to the Bluestone in what became in 1800 and what is now Tazewal County, Virginia. It is with that county that we usually associate our family. As I will show later, they could very well have come to that spot in the beginning. However, wherever they were it was in the environs of Augusta county as constituted before other counties begun to be broken off from it. Elsewhere, I have shown the succession of counties under whose jurisdiction the Lesley’s were at different periods of their Virginia residence.
The William Robert Lesley’s were the parents of four children, all born in Augusta County, Virginia. Two daughters, Nancy and Elizabeth, are believed to have been older than the two sons, although the dates of their birth have not come down to us. John, the elder son, was born in 1760, and Robert was born in 1763.
Early Exploration and Settlement
In Southwest Virginia
Hunters had for years roamed the vast wilderness of the southwestern part of Virginia. However, the first expedition to bring about practical results in the way of settlement was that of Colonel James Patton in the spring of 1748. It was the first to cross the New River and the first to enter the territory of what now constitutes Tazewell was a part of Augusta County.
In 1750, Colonel Patton, Dr. Thomas Walker, and others set out upon a circuitous journey for the purpose of exploring a grant which had been issued to Patton/ Four months were spent on this trip which began at the home of Dr. Walker in Albermarle County. A detailed account was kept by Dr. Walker in his journal. The crossing of the James River was made about where the city of Lynchburg now stands, after which the main wagon road to the New River was taken. The party traversed Buford’s Valley and crossed over Buford;s Gap and entered the Roanoke Valley. Crossing New River, they then went on toward the Holston Valley where they helped Samuel Stalnaker “raise” his house, the first house raising in that valley. This was the furthest west settlement at that time. Crossing Clinch Mountain they reached Clinch River near the present Sneedsville, Tennessee.
The Walker party reached its objective, Cumberland Gap, after five weeks of travel, and entered for the first time what is now the state of Kentucky. On this second journey Dr. Walker named the gap “Cave Gap”, bur ir is said that on the previous journey either he or Colonel Patton had named it the Cumberland gap for the duke of Cumberland. In May the party turned east and re-entered Virginia at a point which was not disclosed in the notes of the journey. Explorations were continued in a meandering fashion and rivers were named for member of the party. Among these were the Powell, Tomlinson, and Lawless rivers. They spoke of the “coal lands” and seemed interested in the minerals, but apparently did not realize their value, else they would have taken up the entire grant. The party reached home in July 1750.
Land Companies Formed
In order to bring about the colonization of the unsettled portions of the Commonwealth, very large grants were given to three large land companies: The Loyal Land company, The Ohio Company, and the Transylvania company.
The first of these grants was issued July 12, 1748, to the Loyal Land Company and was for 800,000 acres in one or more surveys, beginning at the North Carolina Line and running westward and north so as to include that quantity of land. It was issued to 40 grantees headed by John Lewis, Esq. who had come from Pennsylvania in 1732 and had founded Staunton, Virginia. The name next to that of Mr. Lewis was that of Dr. Thomas Walker.
The first land surveyed in that eventually became Tazewell County was on October 14, 1750, by the Loyal Land company for one John Skelton and consisted of 650 acres at Crabapple Orchard waters of Clinch river. Another 1,000 acres were surveyed for Skelton on a “branch of the Clinch”, Thomas Lewis was County Surveyor of Augusta but these surveys were made by his deputy, John Buchanan, Dr. Walker was also appointed a deputy surveyor for Augusta County and was quite busy surveying his own lands and those of the Loyal Company.
The Loyal Land Company confined its operations to the territory east of the Allegheny’s but often ran afoul of the Ohio Company. The Transylvania company operated in what later became the state of Kentucky.
The Loyal company issued circulars among the British colonies “inviting settlers to come and settle their lands by promising them to survey for them the place and quantity of land they chose; at the cheap rate of $3 per hundred acres, with surveyors’ fees, patent fees, etc… they offered a reasonable time for payment and retained title as security for purchase money, and were to receive interest after a limited time.” Before the autumn of 1754 land were sold to about 200 families who were already settled upon them.
On August 27, 1754, the Governor of Virginia issued instructions concerning the land “lying westward of the ridge of mountains which separate the Rivers Roanoke, James and Potomac from the Mississippi.” He stipulated that not tracts larger than 1,000 acres were to be granted to any one individual.
During the decade immediately preceding the aforementioned instructions large tracts ranging from 10,000 to 800,000 acres were granted to groups of individuals and speculation was rife. Dr. Walker’s surveying expedition in locating Colonel Patton’s grant was symbolic of this feverish speculative activity. Within little more than two years immense tracts were granted to the three large land companies. Such noted Virginians as Washington, Lee, Dinwiddie, Jefferson, Merriwether, Preston, and others were interested in these lands
Virginia Counties which contained the Bluestone Area
The Bluestone area where the Lesleys lived was successively under the jurisdiction of the following Virginia counties, as the population grew and there was need for more and smaller governing units:
ORANGE COUNTY, formed in 1734 from Spottsvalvania, was the largest county ever established in the world. It extended to the westernmost boundaries of Virginia, which at that time extended to the Mississippi and the Great Lakes.
AUGUSTA COUNTY, was formed from Orange County in 1738, and was officially organized in 1745. It comprised all Virginia territory west of the Blue Ridge, except the Valley east of what are now Rockingham and Page counties and a small part of the state of west Virginia as now constituted.
BOTETOURT COUNTY, was formed from Augusta in 1769-1770.
FINCASTLE COUNTY, was created from part of Botetourt in December 1772 and was organized on January 5, 1773. the first county west of the divide. On September 3, 1776, the county re-organized under the laws of the commonwealth of Virginia, and was the first county government in the west under any independent state. Fincastle lasted as a county only until 1777, at which time it went out of existence as a county.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY was formed from Fincastle, Botetourt, Pulaski counties in 1776-77. Upon its formation it contained 12,000 square miles, partially of entirely formed: 26 in Western Virginia, 25 in the state of West Virginia, and 9 in Kentucky.
WYTHE COUNTY was formed from part of Montgomery and Grayson in 1789-90.
TAZEWELL COUNTY was formed from parts of Wythe and Russell counties in 1800.
LESLEYS ON THE BLUESTONE
The first record found by this researcher which showed the presence of William Lesley in the vicinity of the Bluestone is that Michael Wood in May 1774 when he wrote to the Colonel William Preston that “in that Bounds from thirty men,” He listed then and William Lesley is 29 th on the list. On Wednesday, July 20, the same year, Major James Robertson wrote to Colonel Preston’s Command at Culbertson’s that “the following persons will march with me on Thursday: William Lesley is 14 th on the list. This was for service in Lord Dunmore’s war.
At the time of their father’s “marching” off to war, the two sons John and Robert Lesley, were only 14 and 11 years of age, respectively. Both were tall and stalwart and no doubt were of great comfort to their mother and sisters. This was a time of frequent attacks by marauding savages.
It is thrilling to imagine that William Lesley may have been one of that band of “Free Men of Fincastle” who, in January 1775, gathered at the lead mines to elect the committee of Safety which drafted the “Fincastle Resolutions”. These resolutions have been called the “first declaration of freedom” anywhere in America, the “precursor of the Declaration of Independence” which came more than a year later. Fincastle was at the time the name of the county which contained a great deal of the territory which earlier had been in Augusta County. It is a pity that this county was so short-lived. Its name should have been preserved. It lived as a county only five years, 1772-1777.
Sons and Sons-in-Law Also Served
“After 1776”, both of William Lesley’s sons, as well as the young men who became his sons-in-law, served in the defense of their new country. They were all members of Montgomery County’s Militia. The elder son, John Lesley, was at first assigned to the “Upper Station”, one of the forts erected for community defense. On October 12, 1778, however, at just a scant 18 years of age, he was chosen as one of the men to march with Colonel John Montgomery’s Regiment to join General Clark in the Illinois Campaign.
The story of the taking of Kaskaskia and Vincennes by that band of 150 men led by General Rogers Clark has been told by many, But the General’s own day-by-day account is the most thrilling of all. The shooting of the rapids at the Falls of the Ohio, the wading neck-high for days through water which overflowed the lowlands, the swimming across swollen streams, and the final swooping down on Vincennes like undulating waves of grain makes wonderful reading for the school boy. How much more so to those descendents of the men who made up that brave band whom Clark praised so highly! Most historians agree that it was “one of the most heroic episodes of the Revolution, and one of the most important in its consequences.” The fact that this territory was in the hands of the Americans when the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783 made possible the securing of the entire vast Illinois Territory to the United States.
John Lesley served 18 months with the Continental Army on the Clark Expedition, and returned to the Bluestone, When the new county of Wythe was formed in 1790 and encompassed the Bluestone area, he was named a Lieutenant in the Wythe County Militia.
Robert Lesley was only 15 years of age when he offered his services in the Montgomery County Militia. He was accepted for service and listed with the same company as his brother John – that of Captain James Moore. However, it was noted that he was “under age”, and this may have accounted for the fact that he was stationed at nearby forts. Be that as it may, he gained a reputation as an Indian fighter of great cunning and skill, as the following excerpt from an earlier historian’s writings will show:
“Robert Lesley was a tall, raw-boned mean of great strength and courage. He was made captain of a company of men to defend the settlement on the Bluestone. On one occasion, about 1790, he led his company against a band of Indians then invading the settlements and camped in a cabin twelve miles from the fort, on the Bluestone. The Indians came and Lesley gave the command to another and hastened home to protect his wife and his two children.
Later Lesley pursued the Indians who had killed families on Tug River. Robert found them scalped and mangled. He pursued the Indians further. They had broken scissors and left one blade upward on a log. Robert stepped on it and became so badly wounded that he couldn’t go further. He had to be taken home and the expedition abandoned.”
(History of the Leslie family, by Wm. E. Connelly 1916. Excerpt taken from Family Scrap Book of Esta Leslie Evans.)
Robert Lesley was also made a member of the Wythe County Militia is 1790, the same year as his brother John, He was made a Corporal at the first setting up of the force for the newly-formed county. The above quoted writing indicates that he was promoted to Captain.
The specific service of the two sons-in-law of William Lesley was not so clear in the records examined. Ti is believed, however, that John McGuire (who married Nancy Lesley) was among those who fought in the vicinity of the Point Pleasant. One John McGuire is mentioned as being severely wounded, at first thought fatally, but was afterwards reported as recovered. Whether this was as to Uriah Stone is that he was also engaged principally in the protection of the community from Indian depredations, but the specific references eluded this researcher.
The Lesleys Acquire Lands on the Bluestone
In April 1775, a few motnhs before he agreed to “march” with Major Robertson in defense of the frontier, William Lesley made his first entry for lands on the Bluestone. This survey was for only 63 acres and was, as were his subsequent surveys, a part of the Loyal Land Company’s Grant. (See “Early Exploration and Settlements”, herein).
It was eight years before another survey was made for William Lesley. In the meantime the War for Independence had been fought and won, but there was still danger from marauding Indians for many years to come. The 1783 survey was for 400 acres and was also on the Bluestone. Two additional surveys in 1794, one for 212 acres and the other for 291 acres, completed William Lesley’s land acquisition in Virginia, insofar as the records examined disclosed.
In the two decades which had passed, the settlement on the Bluestone had become quite populous and lively. Even the description of the boundaries of these surveys, brief as they are, show the signs of progress. Whereas, in the first, only such natural boundary marks as trees and streams are mentioned, the names of neighbors began to be added, and, a little later, such things as paths, mills, and wagon roads.
All of William Lesley’s lands lay “at the end of the little valley”, and included lands on both sides of Bluestone Creek, spreading out over the “big bottom” and to the mountain across the wide bottom lands – as befit a Lesley – “low lying meadow lands”.
Manners and Customs of Early Tazewell
One of the earliest historians, in describing the life of the settlers of Tazewell County, Virginia, has this to say regarding their manners and customs: “They have the same pastoral simplicity which characterizes Scotch Highlanders everywhere – the love of stock, determination to be free, hatred of oppression, pure sentiment. The dress worn by the women consists of Lindsey coats and bedgowns. The garments made in Augusta, Botetourt, and older settlements, had worn out and a different material was brought into use. This was a wild nettle, cut down green, and treated much as flax is now treated.
For their table they had a few pewter dishes, plates and spoons, but mostly their utensils consisted of wooden bowls, trenchers, and noggins; gourds made with salt and iron on pack horses. Delft china and silver were unknown. Their food consisted of hog and hominy, Johnny cake and pone, milk and mush as a supper dish. Lacking milk, they used sweetened water or molasses, bear oil, or gravy.
William Lesley was a miller and chose a spot for his mill near the mouth of a little stream as it flowed out of Wright’s Valley into the Bluestone. When this writer visited the spot some 150 years later there was no mill but the occupant of the residence nearby recalled that a mill had been there some years gone by. The name of Lesley was not associated with it, however, in the memory of present inhabitants. More than a century had passed since William Lesley and his family had left the valley and gone through and over the mountains on the search for new worlds to conquer.
I found a most peaceful valley, the fields and gentle slopes covered with grass for the grazing of cattle and sheep, and very few of the lovely trees of the forest primeval which had been there when William Robert first saw it. The house near the wagon road of long ago –now a paved highway with cars of all description gliding past – is occupied by a descendant of that ill-fated Captain James Moore in whose company of Militia “our boys” had first joined up “after 1776”.
Over against the mountains the family of Shannon still lives. For the rest, the place is occupied by strangers, who, although longtime residents, have no recollection of the name of Lesley. They were kind, however, and made me welcome to ramble over the slopes and examine the “oldest cemetery” anywhere around. I was looking for the but scarcely hoping to find some evidence of where and when William Lesley’s wife, Elizabeth Buchanan Lesley, might have departed from this earth. I failed, of course, for what they considered an old cemetery was not old at all from my standpoint. And so, the mystery still stands.
Lesley Sons and Daughters and Their Families
Shortly after William Lesley acquired his largest survey of 400 acres in 1783, his eldest son, John Lesley, made his first survey. This was for land in Wrights Valley which also lay “on the waters of the Bluestone”, on which he had made improvements pursuant to an entry made in 1781. Wrights Valley lies back of and runs into the little valley on the Bluestone where his father had chosen his lands.
John Lesley, whose birth date was October 23, 1760, was married on December 3, 1789, to Martha Cloyd. The marriage was recorded on Montgomery County, Virginia, under the jurisdiction of which the Bluestone area remained until the following year. Wythe County was formed out of part of Montgomery in 1790 and that year the Wythe County Militia was organized and John Lesley was made a Lieutenant.
The younger son, Robert Lesley, who was born October 25, 1763, was married on May 21,1787, to Elizabeth Compton, of Leesburg, Virginia. The names of Elizabeth’s parents are not disclosed but there were some Comptons (John and William) who were residing nearby. The name of the surety and witness at the marriage, however, was on Samuel Cloyd, apparently the same Samuel Cloyd who acted in the same capacity two years later for Martha Cloyd when she married Robert’s elder brother. The Comptons are said to be of English extraction. Elizabeth has been described as fair, with golden hair, characteristics which are still quite prevalent among her present-day descendants. They were the parents of 15 children, ten born in Virginia, and five in Kentucky. (See page 98)
Nancy Lesley, who may have been older than her brothers, married John McGuire first. They had two
children, William McGuire and Nancy McGuire. It is understood that her husband died early in their
married life. There is a record of one of John McGuire having had land surveyed on the Bluestone in 1783, and this was probably adjoining or nearby the main survey of William Lesley.
In 1787, on December 4, Nancy McGuire was married to Richard Elkins, who is also said to have been a Revolutionary War Soldier. Further information regarding their removal from the Bluestone area in 1799 and the establishment of their home in what is now Logan County, West Virginia, will be found on pages 18-19. They were the parents of quite a large family.
Elizabeth Lesley, the other daughter of William Lesley, was married to Uriah Stone. The date of their marriage is not known. Uriah Stone was a well-known hunter and had come into the area at least as early as 1773. Several land surveys were made by him in the vicinity. They had no children and were reported to have gone to Georgia. No further contact was had with them.
The younger son of William Lesley, Robert, also begun to acquire lands shortly after his marriage. An entry made in 1790 was for a small acreage of 65 acres; a survey in 1794 was for 220 acres; and three subsequent surveys in 1795, 1798, and 1800, brought his acquisitions to some 500 acres more or less. His lands adjoined those of his father on the waters of the Bluestone “called the three branches joining the Little Valley” and included portions of the “Big Bottom”.
In 1790, William Lesley made a deed of gift to his son, Robert, of a portion of this 400-acre survey, the portion which contained the mill. In 1802 he made a gift of land to his son, John, described as the “place where he (John) lived”.
Wm. Lesley and Son Robert Leave the Bluestone
According to early writers, the Lesleys made several expeditions into the region west of mountains, in the state which later became Kentucky. Authorities differ as to the exact dates of these settlements but some place them as early as 1789 on Pond Creek, now in Kentucky. They are said to have planted corn and other grains and to have pushed on further in their explorations, but were driven back by the Indians and were unable to harvest their crops. They were said to have returned again in 1791 and to have at that time explored the region in Kentucky where they later made a permanent settlement. Other writers give later dates for these explorations. I quote from one of these:
“In 1798, Robert and his nephew William McGuire made and improvement at the mouth of Pond Creek, on Tug River, on the Kentucky side. They planted corn, potatoes and turnips. Later in the year they descended Tug River to the Great Burning Spring, where they camped. One night McGuire was sent to the river for a bucket of water. He saw a large elk come into the river and swim to the Kentucky side, and he called his uncle. The elk turned back and was going up the river bank when Lesley got into sight, but he fired and killed the elk, Hunters were camped at the springs, and they did not know who had fired. They thought it might be the Indians, so lighted the springs; the gas flamed high, lighting up the countryside. Next morning Lesley made a raft and crossed the river and secured the carcass of the elk.
“Lesley sold his improvement at the mouth of Pond Creek to a man named Stafford. On October 10, 1802, Robert Lesley and father left their homes on the Bluestone to make settlement on John’s Creek, in what is now Pike County. They took their families with them. Robert Lesley had examined the country in 1801.
“In the spring of 1802, he had bought land and cleared a portion of it and planted it in corn. He left his crop in care of a man named Guilkef, whom he had known on the Bluestone. When he came back with his family and his father and family, they made the settlement known to this day as the Leslie Settlement.”
(Source: History of the Leslie Family, by William E. Connelly, 1916, Ibid.)
Present day researchers who are going into this matter more deeply than this writer are of the opinion that the earlier dates given are the more nearly correct for the Kentucky settlements by the Lesleys, and would place them as the first in the Big Sandy Valley. However, this may prove out, it is generally conceded that they did make the fist permanent settlement in that portion of the valley which is now Pike County, Kentucky.
The records examined are not clear as to just how either Robert or his father disposed of their holding on the Bluestone. After Robert’s death (in 1822) there was an entry ( in 1827) which indicated that at least 100 acres may have been sold to Lewis Wilam; and in 1830, his widow, Elizabeth Lesley, of Pike County, Kentucky, sold the 220 acre tract to Howard Haven, of Tazewell County for $100. (See page 13 for continuation of the Robert Lesley Family in Kentucky).
John Remains in Virginia
After his father and younger brother, as well as his sisters and their families had left the vicinity John Lesley acquired more land on the Bluestone. In 1805 he purchased for 50 lbs. Virginia coinage 100 acres from William Brown, a part of 400 acres granted Jacob Shull and William Brown by letters patent in 1795. The next year, 1806, John Lesley purchased 150 acres on the Bluestone from Thomas and John Cartmell. For this he paid 200 pounds Virginia currency. This acreage was a part of the plantation of Robert Wallace. Thus, in addition to the acreage (unspecified as to amount) given to him by his father, John Lesley acquired some 450 acres on the waters of the Bluestone.
John Lesley spent some time after this in Kentucky, presumably in the vicinity of the Lesley Settlement on John’s Creek made by his father and his brother Robert. At least some members of his family, including his wife, were with him.
In 1815 John Lesley deeded a half-acre near where he lived on the Bluestone to the Trustees of the Methodist Episcopal Church, viz: Isaac Brown, William Brown, Samuel Flummer, and Thomas Allen. The very next year he gave to his son, William Lesley, of Tazewell, 100 acres on the north side of Stoney Ridge, on the waters of Muddy Fork of Bluestone, opposite David Martins. There is a reference in this deed of gift to the date October 16, 1804, which may be the date on which John Lesley acquired this particular tract. The next year he deeded to Hiram Peery 100 acres on the Bluestone. This may have been a gift, although it is not so stated in the record examined. One Ruth Lesley, who is believed to have been his daughter, was married to Hiram Peery.
John Lesley in Kentucky
In November 1827 John Lesley made another gift to his son William, comprising 160 acres on Bluestone at the head of the hollow on the south ridge and adjoining the Howard Banes and Wallace lands. On March 1, 1828, John Lesley and his wife “Mattie” (Martha) sold to Charles Tiffany 279 acres on the Bluestone, “the place where John Lesley has resided for many years”. The consideration was $1200. This land was described as adjoining that of John Shannon, William Compton, said Tiffany, and the ‘Wm. Lesley line’ (his son, William).”
No further operations in Tazewell County, Virginia, were disclosed for John Lesley. After the sale of the property to Tiffany, he and his wife and either members of their family again resided for a year or so in Pike County, Kentucky. One source states that Martha Lesley died in 1830 and is buried in Pike County.
John Lesley, accompanied by at least his youngest son, John P. Lesley, and perhaps some other members of the family, went to Lawrence County, Kentucky. He resided on East Fork of Little Sandy in Lawrence County. In 1883 he applied for a pension under the Pension Act of 1831. This was granted and he received payments until early in 1841. No actual account of his death was discovered by this researcher but he apparently died before another payment was due on April 1842. The aforementioned source also states that he was also buried in Pike County. However, no information as to the specific burial place was learned.
THE LESLEY SETTLEMENT
In the
Big Sandy Valley
of Kentucky
The site of the original LESLEY SETTLEMENT in the Big Sandy Valley of Kentucky lies about mid-way of the John’s Creek Valley which is about 30 miles from head to mouth where it empties into the Big Sandy. John’s Creek itself is fed by many streams which flow into it from both sides and from all directions. The Lesleys – father and younger son – first gazed upon the spot which they chose for their home from the top of a high hill after working their way from their home on the Bluestone in Virginia, through almost impenetrable mountain terrain. It bears repetition again – that word which William Lesley is reported to have said when he first glimpsed the low-lying meadows: “GOD! What a spot for man to live.”
All around on the mountain sides was the beautiful timber – poplar, maple, ash, beech, elm, walnut, oak, and sycamore – and between two streams flowing into the larger one from opposite sides was the bottom land where they were to plant their first crops. One stream was later named Sycamore Creek in honor of the giant tree which gave them their first shelter. It is said that men, horses, and wagons were accommodated within the shelter made by the two parts of its divided trunk. Further up was another stream coming in the John’s Creek (so named later) from the opposite side. This stream is known to this day as Lesley’s Branch.
The reader will have noted from preceding pages that there as some variance in reports as to when the men of this family first penetrated these mountain fastnesses of what for long was known as the Dark and Bloody Ground. However, there seems no disagreement as to the date when they came, with their families, to this spot which they had chosen for their permanent home. It must have been ablaze with color that October 10, 1802 when they arrived at their future home. Nothing is more beautiful than forests of deciduous trees at this season of the year – the blazing yellows, the flaming reds and scarlets, the burnished browns in countless shades – unless indeed it is that same forest in the spring of the year with all the many shadings of leafy green foliage, or when winter’s shows cover all with soft mantles of white interspersed with the evergreens showing through. No season of the year in the hill country is without its own beauties.
Several weeks, perhaps months, were occupied with the journey of this family from Virginia to their new Kentucky home. Time has dropped such a veil over those days that at the present time there is no one who can confidently reply to my question: did William Robert Lesley’s wife, Elizabeth Buchanan Lesley, make the journey? The question seemed never to have occurred to anyone but the writer, and it is her candid opinion that Elizabeth had gone on to her reward many years before – perhaps sometime before 1785-1787 during which years William Lesley was listed in Montgomery County, Virginia, as a taxpayer, and a “head of a household” with only one person in it.
The family, then, consisted of William Robert Lesley, whose age was about 73 years; his son Robert and wife Elizabeth Lesley, and their ten children who were born in Virginia. Their ages ranged at that time downward from Robert’s 39 and Elizabeth’s approximately the same to baby Harvey who was born in February of that year. In addition, there were seven little girls: Hannah, 13; Elizabeth, 11; Adah, 10; Rachel, 6; Jemima, 6; Cynthia, 4; and Esther, 3 years of age. Of the two other sons; Allen was the eldest and was nine years of age; Milton was not yet two years old. Three sons and two daughters were added to the family before another decade had passed: Pharmer, Amos, Naomi, Martin, and Luna.
The first log cabin home of the Lesley’s was soon erected by the two men and the eldest son, with perhaps some help from the man with whom they left their crops through the summer. One story is to effect that some sort of cabin had been built by them on previous hunting and exploration trips to the locality. One family legend states that William Lesley had hunted with Daniel Boone and that Boone gave him one of his guns as a keepsake in memory of their hunting days together; indeed some place credence in the story that Boone had pointed out this spot to Lesley, and that William Lesley then brought his son back with him before determining to make it a permanent home. A gun is still in the keeping of a descendent of William and Robert and is said to be the gun in question, and is known as “Old Smoky”.
Another story regarding Daniel Boone’s opinion of the mountain section of Kentucky is to the effect that he disliked it intensely and advised settlers not to enter it. He had had some harrowing experiences while traversing it, not only with Indians but with the ruggedness of terrain and climatic conditions. Apparently the Lesleys did not share his opinions in this respect.
William Lesley’s pioneering spirit at such an advanced age and after such bitter experiences almost from the moment of entering this land of America was at least, and doubtless many others. No doubt he dreamed of developing this place into such a home for his son and family as that he had fought and labored for the Bluestone. Again, he may have just yielded to the younger man’s enthusiasm to begin anew in a newer place. Be that as it may, William Robert Lesley had not long to tarry here. Before the year was out he was the victim of a freak accident which resulted in his death. The reader will recall the wound inflicted in his throat as a young man in New York City? One evening when he was left along with the smaller children while his son and daughter-in-law and others were attending to barnyard chores, he was choked to death on a piece of venison which he had broiled at the open fire. The meat was hard to chew and hard to swallow because of the old wound. The family returned to find him writhing in the throes of death unable to dislodge the venison from his throat. He is buried on the shelf of the hill just back of the then site of their home. For 120 years the date was kept visible in the bark of a beech tree beside the grave – indeed some remnant of it is still visible. However, in 1922, several of his descendants erected a more enduring marker of cement, and on it carved the following simple inscription:
William Robert Leslie
1802
So endeth the story of William Robert Lesley, Irish immigrant, would-be linen merchant, pioneer, soldier, hunter, and again pioneer. Out of the lives of many such is our country built.
After the death of William Robert Lesley in 1802, the family of Robert and Elizabeth Compton Lesley increased to 15 children. The first log cabin was replaced by a larger one across the fields where there was more level space. More land was cleared and planted in a variety of grain and other foodstuffs for both human and animal consumption. Cotton and flax were grown and made into wearing apparel and household items; sheep were sheared and the wool carded, spun, and woven into garments; the hides of sheep, cattle, and other animals were made into shoes and other leather items needed for farm and household use.
Robert Lesley lived for 20 years after coming to Kentucky to reside, and during that time acquired much more land. At one time it is said that he owned all the land from John’s Creek to the Mouth of Sycamore to the Mouth of Brushy.
Although the Lesley’s were the first family to settle in this part of the John’s Creek area it was not long before other settlers came with their families. Community life with its comradely gatherings for husking bees, house and barn raisings, quilting and weaving parties, and other such neighborly get-to-gethers made life very enjoyable despite the many hardships to be endured in a new country.
Robert Lesley lived to see the formation in 1821 of the new county of Pike to include the John’s Creek area where he had settled. The Lesley household was and remained for long afterwards a center for religious and educational thought and endeavor. The sons and daughters of Robert Lesley and Elizabeth Compton became the leaders in these fields wherever they resided.
Robert died in 1822 and Elizabeth 15 years later (in 1837). Both are buried in the garden back of their home; their graves are marked by simple stones, inscribed with only their initials and the dates of their deaths; some of their sons and daughters also lie there.
After the deaths of Robert and Elizabeth Compton Lesley, their home on John’s Creek was maintained for many years by their youngest son, Martin Lesley, and several of his unmarried sisters. Martin Lesley purchased the interests of several of those members who had married and left the vicinity, and in 1845 when he married he built a completely modern home for his bride. The home continued to be the center of community life. A smaller home was built for the two unmarried sisters who continued to be very important members of the household.
After Martin Lesley’s death in 1859 leaving five small children, his widow continued to maintain the home and rear the children. The Civil War came on with the depredations visited upon that as well as other homes. Shortly after the war (in 1867) the Widow Lesley married a Mr. James Denton and for awhile the home was occupied by the Dentons and those members of the Lesley family who had not already married and established their homes elsewhere. In about 1874 for the first time the site of the original homestead of the Lesleys passed out of the hands of the family. Mrs. Denton sold to a Mr. Maynard, and accompanied her husband to his home in Lewis County, Kentucky.
After a number of years the approximately 500 acres of the original Lesley homestead was again purchased by a descendant of the first settlers. In 1889, Garland Hurt, a great grandson of Robert and Elizabeth Lesley, was married and soon thereafter brought his bride to the ancestral home. He rebuilt entirely most of the buildings which were very much run down. The Hurts have reared a large family, the wife has been deceased for many years, and now at 86 years if age, Mr. Hurt still presides over the ancestral home of the Lesleys. With him are his son and daughter-in-law, and together they maintain a reputation for hospitality as well as leadership in religious activities in the local church which was founded by their ancestors so many years ago.
