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HISTORY OF THE FUSON FAMILY
BY
HENRY HARVEY FUSON
ORIGINAL DATA COLLECTED IN
THE FIELD
FROM
1927-1936
LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF
KENTUCKY
120993
Edited with Revisions
and Corrections by
Lorraine
Miracle
Bryan,
Texas
February
1995
PREFACE
By
To help other Fuson researchers I have edited and retyped the
History of the Fuson Family manuscript by Henry Harvey Fuson. The original manuscript is on file at the
University of Kentucky Library along with Fuson Family Statistics on
about 300 Fuson families or Fuson family descendants of other names. Thanks to Mr. Fuson’s diligence in searching
out Fusons all over the United States and gathering much genealogical material,
Fuson research has been made much easier.
However, the research by many present-day Fuson/Fuston descendants of
records not available to him at the time of his research has shed more light on
the Fuson family, thus I have added notes to clarify or correct information in
his manuscript. As well as footnotes, I
have also added notes here and there in [brackets].
Thomas Fuson was a son of John and Elizabeth (Wheeler) Fuson
of Hanover County, Va. Thomas served in
the Virginia militia in the Revolutionary War under a Capt. Isom/Isham and at
least two of his brothers, William and John Fuson, Jr., were also verterans of
that war. Thomas has been approved as a
Revolutionary War ancestor for DAR membership as has his brother William.
Thomas’s wife Rachel Robinson was the daughter of James
Robinson and some have thought her mother Nancy Foster Lane because she was the
alleged grandmother of Thomas and Rachel’s son, Jonathan. However, I believe that Rachel’s mother may
have been named Hannah. Rachel was born
ca 1768 in North Carolina. Some years
ago in the Fort Worth, Texas library I found record of a James and Hannah
Robinson of North Carolina who had a daughter Rachel born November 1768, and
since Thomas and Rachel named their first daughter Hannah, this seems strong
circumstantial evidence. There was,
however, a close connection between a number of Lane and Robinson families of
early (1700’s) Virginia and North Carolina, so it is possible that Rachel’s
mother was a Lane and Nancy Foster Lane was Rachel’s grandmother and her son
Jonathan’s great-grandmother.
There is much research to be done on the early Fusons, but I
hope these few notes along with Mr. Fuson’s family history will make it a bit
easier for those who want to learn more about their Fuson heritage in the years
to come.
For further details on some of the descendants of Thomas and
Rachel (Robinson) Fuson, please refer to my article, Thomas Fuson (ca
1765-1849) and Rachel (Robinson) Fuson (ca 1769-1857) and Some of their
Descendants in Bell County, Ky. historical journal Gateway, Vol. VIII, No.1, Fall 1993, and Vol. VIII, No. 2, Spring 1994.
February 1995
THE PIONEER MOVEMENT OF THE
FUSONS
By H. H. Fuson
John Findlay stirred the imagination of Daniel Boone, and, thereby, caused a mighty movement to Kentucky and the West to begin in earnest. Prior to that time (1750) Doctor Thomas Walker had come into the mountains of southeastern Kentucky, had built a house on Cumberland River four miles below Barbourville, and had explored southeastern Kentucky for the Loyal Land Company. Hunting parties had penetrated this region on divers occasions. It was near the close of the eighteenth century when Boone interested himself in the great migration of English colonists westward---westward beyond the mountains. And, when stirred by a mighty purpose, he left everything else behind, the family, lands, houses and all, and pushed into the wilds. He fought the Indians, built his fort and defended it, constructed his great highway---the Wilderness Road, and led the great migration of Anglo-Saxon peoples. Few men of history have laid out for themselves a more enduring fame than he has. As time goes on Boone’s star grows brighter and brighter in the firament.
Why was it that Boone embodied the very spirit of this movement, more than that of any other man, when he was one of the last to become interested in it? It was CHARACTER; it was VISION; it was SEEMING DEFEAT! He was honest as honest could be, he had the vision to believe he was called of God to lead this great migration of peoples, and, in apparent defeat, when he had lost his lands and everything, he was grand and noble. But was he defeated? He lost his son, many of his friends perished, his fort was outlawed by Virginia and branded as one of Herderson’s schemes, and his lands were taken from him. But no! he was not defeated. These were mere incidents in the great scheme of the Architect of Human Destiny. The purpose was to move the people of the race into new fields of endeavor. This Boone did, and his accomplishment becomes larger and larger on the pages of history.
This movement began in earnest around 1775. The tide poured through Cumberland Gap like a roaring avalanche. The whole Atlantic coast seemed to be on the move. The tide reached its height around 1800. Thomas Fuson, the Kentucky pioneer of the Fuson family, emerged from the tide to find himself lodged in the hills of southeastern Kentucky. He had come from Virginia, had tarried in Tennessee for a number of years and had then come to Kentucky to take up his permanent abode (as it aferwards turned out).
Our people in Kentucky had told us (a tradition handed down from earliest days in Kentucky) that our people had come from Middle Tennessee near Nashville. Some had made it more definite by saying that Thomas Fuson had come from White Oak Creek in Tennessee. Believing that tradition leads to facts in most cases (traditions are facts that have been turned over so many times by so many people that they do not often resemble the original facts, but have elements in them that point to the facts), I made up my mind a few years ago to trace our people back to where they came from in Tennessee. My father thought the task would baffle me to the end (I was not so sure myself), but faith in the tradition led me on. So one day my brother, Dr. T.S. Fuson, Cumberland Gap, Tennessee, handed me two names and addresses: Bob Fuson, Sparta, Tennessee, and Jack Fuson, Smithville, Tennessee. I wrote these men sending along the usual blanks to be filled out. When they came back filled out, lo! the lost had been found! I was struck dumb with surprise! Then I was so happy I could have jumped up and down in the floor like a child. They stated that Thomas Fuson was the father of Jonathan Fuson who had remained in Tennessee, and that Thomas went to eastern Tennessee (he had come about fifteen miles over into Kentucky from Cumberland Gap) with the rest of his family in the early part of the nineteenth century. Now, this accorded almost exactly with our tradition, which said that Jonathan was left behind in Tennessee and that Thomas, with the rest of his family, emigrated to Kentucky.
I could not wait to find out more about these people and confirm my judgment in its conclusions. So my brother Whorton and I arose early one morning and started in our Ford Coupe for DeKalb County, Tennessee. We left Cumberland Gap, after spending the night with our brothers there, went through Knoxville and over a rolling, hilly country to Rockwood. There we climbed up about a thousand feet, by a series of switch-backs, to the top pf Cumberland Plateau. From this vantage point over the town we could see for miles around. The town lay like a toy at our feet. We traveled for sixty miles along this Plateau and observed farms, towns and mines along the route. However, it is a rugged country with gorges and deep ravines at intervals. At the western end of this Pleateau, just before you descend into the valley below, on a sloping curve of the road overlooking the valley, is a fine fountain built to the memory of some useful citizen of that part. Descending into the valley, we came, in a few miles, to Sparta. Inquiring the way to Bob Fuson’s there, we found he lived thirteen miles out on the Nashville Road and one and a half miles to the left. Late in the afternoon we approached his farmhouse, a peaceful place on a rolling plateau. It is of the cottage type and reminds one of the English cottages from its background of trees and the cluster of apple trees to the right. We arrived at the house and, after talking with this splendid man for a few hours, we found out for sure that we were right and that we had found the Tennessee connections of the family. Bob is the grandson of Jonathan Fuson. The next day we went to Jack Fuson’s near Smithville. Here a large two-story building, A-frame in its make-up, set among trees and with a forest back of it, a sweeping plateau greeted us. In the land of our fathers! Could it be true? That night around the fireside we had a feast of conversation never to be forgotten! The noble hearts of Bob and Jack (Robert E. Lee and Andrew Jackson, but they like to be called Bob and Jack----I like to call them the David and Jonathan of the Fuson family) made us think more of the Fuson than ever. In all we had traveled two hundred miles or more on that first day. Only two hundred miles apart! One day’s journey by auto over a good road! And for an hundred years we have known nothing of each other!
DeKalb County is described by Will T. Hale in his Hisotry of DeKalb County, Tennessee, as follows: “About two-thirds of the county lies on the Highland Rim. The Highlands occupy the eastern and northern parts. The western part lies in the Central Basin and embraces several valleys of considerable size and great agricultural value, separated from each other by irregular ranges of hills, while there are some parks and ridges which mount up to a level with the Highlands. The valley of Caney Fork is long, winding and irregular. It begins below the falls between Warren and White counties near the southeast corner of DeKalb; runs toward the northwest, then westerly, till it opens out in the Basin in the northwestern part of DeKalb. It is narrow at the upper end; below Sligo Ferry it has an average width of half a mile. Its greatest width is about a mile; its length, following the general direction, about thirty miles. The valley of Smith Fork extends from south to north through the western part of the country. Its length is about fifteen miles and its breadth variable, spreading out in some places for a space of two or three miles, while in others it is cut in two by projecting spurs on each side. Each of Smith Fork’s tributaries has a valley of its own, and these small valleys contain many variable tracts of level land. The best lands in the highlands are found on the hillsides and along streams. In these situations are numerous excellent farms.”
The first trace we find of Thomas Fuson in Tennessee is on
Dismal Creek, DeKalb County.[1] On this rugged creek, just below the town of
Liberty, he lived for a number of years, probably reared his family here,
around and prior to 1800.[2] It is not probable that he married here,[3] but many of the Robinsons related to Rachel
Robinson, his wife, reside and have resided in the region. They, no doubt, emigrated with him and her
from Virginia. Two of the sons of
Thomas Fuson married while he lived on Dismal Creek: John, the oldest, who married Polly Garner,[4]
and Jonathan, who married Elizabeth Parker.[5]
Many of the Robinson’s (some spell the name Robertson)[6] live and have lived, in and around
Liberty. Will T. Hale’s History of
DeKalb County, Tennessee, is full of references to them. They were prominent there in the early days
and are still influential in the community.
Col. James Robertson, Mark Robertson and others selected the site of
Nashville in 1780. Elbert Robinson of
Temperance Hall; W.S. Robertson, Thirty-sixth Tennessee Legislature, 1869;
Norman Robinson, Fifty-eighth Tennessee Legislature, 1913; Judge Wingate T.
Robinson, Tennessee Senate, 1865; Dr. W. H. Robinson, of Liberty; Edward
Robinson, owner of one of the first steam mills; Bankers E.J. Robinson, W. R.
Robinson and B. W. Robinson; Ned Robinson, wealthy, who in pioneer days had him
a broadcloth suit made; Alex Robinson, Martha Robinson and Mai Robinson, school
teachers; Rev. Stephen Robinson, a Missionary Baptist Preacher, written up in
Grime’s History of Middle Tennessee Baptists and Will T. Hale’s History of
DeKalb County, Tennessee; Len Robinson, a Confederate soldier; William
Robinson, a stage coach driver; Lawyers John B. Robinson, Ralph Robinson and D.
Robinson; Dr. Arch Robinson; John Robinson, son of pioneer Edward Robinson; Dr.
C. C. Robinson, and others, where prominent in DeKalb County, Tennessee, at
some time in her history.
However, we know by tradition that Thomas Fuson lived in
Virginia, and, perhaps, that he was born in Hanover County. The war record of his brother William, who
he left there, says he was born in Hanover County, Virginia, in 1762. Thomas was born in 1760.[7] William was a veteran of the Revolutionary
War,[8]
having fought in the battle of Camden and at the surrender of Cornwallis at
Yorktown. After the war he went to Ohio
and died in Champaign County in 1835.
Thomas Fuson named one of his daughters Hannah Bates after William’s
wife Hannah Bates.
A letter of the Commissioner of Pensions to Mrs. Ferguson follows:
Madam:
I have to advise you that from papers in the
Revolutionary Pension claim S.4291 it appears that William Fuson was born April
16, 1762 in Hanover County, Virginia.
While a resident of Henry County, Virginia, he
enlisted in June, 1780, served three months as private in Captain George
Waller’s Virginia Company and was at the Battle of Camden.
He enlisted in September 1781, served three months as
a private in Captain Ruble’s Virginia Company and was at the battle of
Yorktown.
He was allowed a pension on his application executed
October 16, 1832 while a resident of Harrison Township, Champaign County,
Ohio. There is no data on file as to
his family.
The above noted is the only soldier by that surname
found on the Revolutionary War records of this Bureau, other spellings also
searched.
Respectfully,
Winfield Scott
Commissioner
A statement of the Misses Curry, of Washington, D.C., follows:
Born
Hanover County, Va. April 16, 1762.
Removed to Bedford Va. (now Franklin) where he remained until 1816, when
he removed to Champaign County, Ohio, where he was living Oct. 16, 1832 when he
applied for a Revolutionary War pension.
Entered service June 1780 for three months in Captain George Wallin’s (should be Waller’s) Co. in Henry Co., Va, and was attached to the 3rd Va. Regt, Marched to D.C. and was placed in Gen. Stephens command. Was engaged in the battle known as Gates Defeat, Gen. Gates being in command of the American forces. The surviving troops concentrated in Gullford Co, N.C. where Fuson’s time expired, and he was discharged. Returned to his residence in Henry County.
In Sept. 1781 he volunteered in Capt. Ruble’s Co. and
marched to Yorktown, Va. where the union troops under General Washington was
besieged, and was attached to Brig. Gen. Nelson’s brigade. Shortly after the surrender of the British
was taken sick and had not recovered when his three months expired.
He named Jesse Harbour, John Hall, and John Taylor as
neighbors who could testify as to his credibility and standing. He signed his name W. Fuson.
Rev. Joel Fuson, a
clergyman in the Baptist Church, Jesse Harbour and John Hall testify.
Requests for William Fuson’s record have been made by
1921
Walter B. Hadley, 658 Cajor St., Redlands, California.
1922 Mrs. Henrietta Hancock Hinman, 810 Chestnut St., Atlantic, Iowa.
Mrs. Marie Hancock, Rockville, Ind.
Miss Hancock wrote that William Fuson’s wife was named Hannah.
Jonathan moved with is young wife to Chalmon Hollow, a branch of Dry Creek, two miles from the present town of Dowelltown. Then he moved to Indian Creek. The log house that he built near the mouth of this creek is still standing, but unoccupied. It is after the fashion of the houses of the time: a two-story log house, of poplar and oak, with one large room below and one above entered from a stairway in one corner of the lower room. Later an open hallway led to a combined kitchen and dining room in the back. The house sits back from the creek two hundred yards on the lower end of a limestone ledge and faces west toward Jone’s Fork of Indian Creek. It is only about one mile from here to where Indian Creek empties into Caney Fork River. The place is eight miles from Smithville and ten miles from Liberty, the oldest town in this part of Tennessee, and said to be the oldest between Nashville and Knoxville.
Jonathan owned a fine farm here along the lowlands of Indian
Creek. However, it was a little risky
in the house when the high waters came up.
The waters had been known to rise to the top of the doors. At the time we visited it about fifty acres
in front of the house were standing in the finest of corn, where corn had been
grown year after year for a century!
Solon Gill owns the farm at the present time. The farm passed from Jonathan Fuson to Bill McClellan, from him
to Arnold Cogan, from him to John C. Taylor, and from him to Solon Gill. The farm originally contained about one hundred
acres, with fifty acres of river bottom land.
The farm is surrounded by steep hills six hundred to eight hundred feet
high, with limestone ledges protruding therefrom.
Weeds and English mulberrys are growing all around the house,
some of the mulberrys are hoary with age.
The spring on the east side just below the house is walled in for a
space of eight to ten feet on either side with limestone rocks as high as a
man’s shoulder. From the looks of the
spring it is just as it was when used by Jonathan and his family. A bold spring flows out from the limestone
ledge between the walls.
Across Indian Creek, opposite the Jonathan Fuson house, on a
fifty-foot rise, is where John, a son of Jonathan, settled. From the site of this house a fine view of
the Jonathan house can be seen, as demurely it sits in its place, with its
abandoned look, at the foot of the hills that rim it round. The land on Jone’s Fork here spreads out on
Indian Creek for two or three thousand feet and closes in just above the Jonathan
house, forming a kind of triangle with a broad base.
Jonathan moved from here in the year 1852 to a farm he had bought one and one-fourth miles from Smithville. Here he occupied a two-room, two-story log house with the side facing the road. A kitchen and dining room ran back on the other side. It was fifty feet back from the present highway, Allen’s Ferry Road. The house was built in 1838 by a man by the name of Curtis McDowell. The house has disappeared and Don Cantrell lives in one built near the same spot. This country around the Jonathan house here, and for miles around Smithville, is a level plateau some 400 to 800 feet above the river beds. Jonathan died here in 1867 and was buried in the Bonham (Fuson) Cemetery near his farm. His wife, his children and grandchildren, and many of his people lie buried here with him.
His descendants have been many and have peopled the larger
portion of DeKalb County. A large
portion of them reside here today. He
had fourteen children of his own. They
were: Thomas, Mary, Minerva, John,
Evaline, Sarah, Margaret, Jonathan Rufus, Elizabeth, James Lafayette, Nancy,
Martha, Andrew Jackson and Eliza. John
was in the Confederate Army and died while in service at Chattanooga,
Tennessee. Jonathan Rufus and James Lafayette
both served in the Confederate Army, as did Andrew Jackson. Jonathan, their father, became a Colonel in
the “Musters” before the Civil War.
Some of the leading descendants of Jonathan are: Andrew Jackson Fuson, a son of the Andrew
Jackson mentioned above, a farmer, honest, tried and true, a Christian
gentleman, who lives near Smithville; Robert E. Lee Fuson, a son of James
Lafayette, who lives on a farm in White County near the Nashville Road, a man
of the truest stamp and a good Christian; John, a son of John, who died
recently, and who was said to have been one of the best men that ever lived, a
farmer of Holmes Creek, Babe Fuson, a son of John and a brother of the John
mentioned just above, a farmer of Holmes Creek; Mount, a son of John and grandson
of John, a farmer who lives near Smithville; Mrs. Alexander, a sister of Jack
Fuson, who lives on a farm near Smithville; Mrs. Driver, a sister of Jack who
lives on a farm at the foot of Snow’s Hill; Lee Roy, a brother of Jack Fuson,
who lives on Indian Creek; Mrs. Thurman, a sister of Bob Fuson, who died
recently on their farm near Indian Mount; Mrs. Hays a sister of Bob Fuson, who
lives at the foot of Sligo Hill on a farm; Lem P. Fuson, a brother of Jack
Fuson, who lives on his farm near Smithville; and Luther L., a son of Lem P.
Fuson, who has taught school in DeKalb County for sixteen years.
Liberty is the oldes town in this region, having been founded
prior to 1800. Here James G. Fuson,
known as Liberty Jim, flourished. He
was quite a fixture in the early history of this town. He was a very large man, being listed by
Will T. Hale in his History of DeKalb County, Tennessee, as one of the
men there weighing 225 pounds and up.
He kept a tavern for some time, owned slaves, and was known for his liberality
and large-heartedness. His father was
probably a brother of Thomas Fuson or an uncle of Thomas, more likely an uncle.[9]
According to Arthur Fuson of Gath, Tennessee, the father of James G. Fuson came from Knoxville, Tennessee. The father, whose name is unknown to us, had six sons who have peopled a large part of Warren County, some of Cannon, and some of DeKalb and Wilson. These sons were: Lee, Andy and Sam, who lived in Warren County; Josiah (Si), who lived on Clear Fork in Cannon County; Jeptha, who went to Missouri; and James G., Liberty Jim. Some of the descendants of these men are: John A. Fuson, Prosperity, a farmer and a man of unusual high qualities; William L.D. and his sons of the head of Dry Creek, farmers and salesmen; Arthur Fuson, near Gath, farmer and splendid citizen; Bass Fuson, Warren County, farmer and salesman; Monroe and Dell Fuston, McMinnville, salesmen and splendid business men; Mrs. Lamberson and Mrs. Williams, sisters, grand-daughters of James G. Fuson, proprietesses of a hotel in Liberty; and Thomas Cleo, son of John A. Fuston, a farmer near Liberty; Colonel Ed Fuston, of Nashville; and Dr. A. E. Fuston, of Shelbyville.
The spelling of the family name. I have been asked time and again to tell members of the family
what the correct spelling of the name is.
In the first place, I tell them I do not know. In fact, I do not. But I
am willing, in a fair way, to tell what I know of how the name is spelled and
leave it to members of the family to decide for themselves. The name appears on some old tombstones in
England Fuson, and William Fuson, the Revolutionary War hero spelled his name
Fuson; Rev. Joel Fuson, who testified as to the good character of William,
spelled his name the same way; and the larger number of the family in America
spell the name Fuson. However, this is
not conclusive proof, and I leave it with you.
Now as to the spelling Fuston…in tracing history of the familyI had noticed
for some time that, as a rule, whenever I found the name spelled Fuston, I
could easily trace it back to Warren County, Tennessee. I wondered about this a good deal and got to
making some inquiries about it to find out the cause for the difference in
spelling. I was sure these Warren
County people belonged to the same family as those who spelled the name
Fuson. I have noted some exceptions to
this Warren County rule. John Fuson,
the son of Thomas the Kentucky pioneer, who never spelled his name himself
other than Fuson, when he had gone to Missouri and married a second time in his
old age, changed his name to Fuston, and it appears that way on his monument in
Palestine Cemetery two and one-half miles west of Leon, Iowa. The facts in this particular case are these. He spelled his name Fuson while he lived in
DeKalb County [then Smith County-1.m.], Tennessee; he spelled it the same way
while he lived in Kentucky, 1817-1852[10];
he still spelled it the same way while he lived in Mercer County, Missouri,
1852-1865, and changed it after he married and moved to Leon, Iowa. When he joined the army in the War of 1812,
in some way the office in charge spelled his name Fuston. He applied for a pension [rejected-l.m.] in
this name, and, to live in accord with this, reared his second family in this
name. They go by this name in Missouri today. Thomas Fuson, the Kentucky pioneer and his
father, always spelled his name Fuson, but often the tax assessors and others
got his name Fuston. They, doubtless,
spelled the name like it sounded without really knowing how it was
spelled. In pioneer days there was a
good deal of carelessness in the spelling of names anyways. We have found other spellings of the
name: Fewson, Fewston, Funston, Fusen,
Fueston, etc.[11]
Finally, in my search for the cause of the spelling of the name Fuston, thru correspondence, I reached John A. Fuston, Prosperity, Tennessee. He is a man around 70, thoughtful, intelligent and bears a reputation among his neighbors second to none for honesty and integrity. He wrote me as follows with reference to this spelling (It will be noticed I spell the name the customary way in each case. I think this courtesty is due any member of the family.):
Milton, Tenn. Route 2
May 1927
Mr. H.H. Fuson
Louisville, Ky.
Dear Sir:
My grandfather James G. Fuston had five brothers: Lee, Andy and Sam, who lived in Warren County. Si (Josiah) lived on Clear Fork in Cannon County. Jep moved from Tennessee to Missouri.
In the year 1870, the “t” was inserted in our name to distinguish the U.S. mail, there being relatives in DeKalb and Warren counties of the same given name.
Respectfully,
J.
A. Fuston
Then the name was changed to avoid a mix-up in the mails, a
perfectly laudable reason. Later, in
September, 1927, W. H. Dean, Tinsley, Bell County, Kentucky, whose mother was a
Fuson, and I went to DeKalb, Warren, Wilson and White counties, to collect
records of the family there. We visited
John A. Fuston (he was clever to the extreme, he and his good wife) in his
home, and he confirmed over and over in the most positive terms the statement
he had made to me in the letter. He
lives on some rising ground in a splendid farming region. The house is large and is set far back among
native trees. The grassy lawn runs down
to the road as if to greet you and make you welcome. The space around the house must consist of some three or four
acres. The largeness of the lawn seems
to be a kind of key to his open-hearted generosity.
Dr. John Adams Fuson,[12]
who came with his father James Fuson from Champaign County, Ohio, was probably
the most prominent Fuson of the name in DeKalb County during the Civil War
times. He was elected to the Tennessee
House of Representatives three times (see Will T. Hale’s History of DeKalb
County, Tennessee) and to the Tennessee Senate one time. His first candidacy for the Legislature must
have been very spectacular. Hale
says: “When Dr. J.A. Fuson was elected
to the Legislature in 1845, the Fuson supporters to a man wore red ribbon on
their hats on which was printed F U S O N.”
He was greatly beloved of all classes of people and lived to the ripe
old age of 95. After and engagement on
Snows Hill during the Civil War, he opened up his house as a hospital and
treated the wounded of both sides free of charge. He had been a very wicked man, according to report, until far
into old age, but became converted, joined the Baptist Church, had a house of
worship built almost in his yard and spent his last years as a very pious man.
Below are enumerated some of the members of his family: James Horace, a son, was Circuit Clerk for a number of years in DeKalb County, a Trustee, and served in the Union army during the Civil War; Dr. Williams Francis, a son, who lives at the old homestead of his father, and, like his father, practices medicine for the people; George Marshall, who recently died on his farm near his father’s old home, a very intelligent and good man; William, a grandson and son of George Marshall, a business man and farmer of Dowelltown; Flint, a son of Dr. William Francis, a lumberman of Dowelltown; S.L., son of George Marshall, who has benn magistrate for twenty-three years consecutively; Jospeh Benjamin, a son of Dr. John A., who recently died in Nashville, a son of Dr. John A., a fine old gentleman with a twinkle of humor in his eyes; William Neglie, a son of John A., a man of the finest character and education; and Mrs. Jerome Campbell of Smithville.
Monticello,
Ky.
December 21st, 1926.
Dear Sir:
The writer was intimately acquainted with Ezekial French Fewston who was a citizen of our town some forty or fifty years. He was a blacksmith and accumulated some two or three thousand dollars which he bequeathed to a very black thieving negro boy he raised, he having no children and his wife Malissa (nee Owens) having died before him. He was a son of Elizabeth Fuston who, as you mention, took up a tract of land in the lower part of Wayne County very long ago from which I infer he was born in this county.
You will note that he spelled his name F-E-W-S-T-O-N which may or may not be a variation of your family name. The “Ezekial” and the “French” may or may not be family given names.
There is a J.C. Fuson of Tidalwave, Ky., with whom I have some business relations, but with whom I am not acquainted. He comes from an adjoining county to Bell where you say your people came from and may be a relative of yours (yes, a first cousin and more. His mother was a sister to my mother and his father a cousin of my father.[14])
Yours truly,
John W. Tuttle
Thomas Fuson left White Oak Creek and came to Kentucky. Thus he became the Kentucky pioneer of the family. It is thought by some of the family that he
came in 1817. (See note 10) Some think earlier, around 1800. Some in Tennessee think he left there around
1826 [seems very probable that this is more likely the more reliable date from
present-day research-l.m.][15] It seems the confusion comes from the fact
that he made some hunting expeditions in conjunction with hunting parties into
Kentucky before he brought his family.
This is true. It is probable
that he visited Kentucky thus about 1800, or prior to that time. On one of these expeditions he got separated
from his hunting party and remained in Kentucky, alone, for two years. At the end of this time, coming up on another
hunting party from Tennessee, he returned with them to his home. The traditional story is told of him that,
when he approached his house, the children ran and hid (in pioneer days they
were taught to do this when attacked).
When they had returned to the house and had learned that there was no
harm to come to them, they begged her not to live with the “old hairy
man”. He was said to have had an
unusual amount of hair all over his body.
His clothes had worn out and, instead, he had clothes and shoes make of
deerskin. His long hair and beard made
him an object of fear to most any child, or even grown person.
He is said to have been a six-footer with broad shoulders and
smaller hips. He was large, strong and
rugged with it. For that pioneer day he
was considered a man among men. A story
is told of him in connection with driving hogs for the southern markets. The hogs were collected at Cumberland Ford
(now Pineville), and entered in a drove to be taken south. On this occasion Thomas Fuson, with several
men to aid him, was taking his drove to the Ford, and, when only a mile from the
place, a big old sow of the drove seemed to sense the situation (she had tried
to get away a number of times and get back to her pigs, but Tom had determined
she should go) and broke away from the drove.
When Tom headed her, she made a lunge for him, grabbed him in the
stomach and floored him. The other men
rushed up and beat her off with clubs.
When the defeated Tom got on his feet, he remarked: “Hell warm my soul if she didn’t like to get
me, boys.”
Another story is told of him. He was out hunting one day, walking down a path of Pine Mountain
in the direction of his home late in the afternoon when he discovered a panther
out on a limb over the path watching something down below. He sat down on a log to watch the outcome of
the situation. Presently he saw a fawn
feeding slowly up the path. The panther
leaped on the fawn and kiiled it. Then
Tom with the good aim of his rifle felled the panther. So he got both the panther and the fawn by
waiting. This is an instance where the
hunter bagged two with one shot.
He is said to have introduced wolf hunting into this mountain
region. He hunted wolves in this way,
so the tradition goes. First, he put
assefoetida (I am not enough of a hunter to know whether this will work or not)
on the sole of his shoes and walked through the woods where the wolves
were. Soon they would take up his track
and follow him. He would sit on a log
and wait for them to come up to kill them.
Thomas Fuson settled on the foot of Pine Mountain a short
distance below the present town of Chenoa, Bell County, Kentucky. It was to the right of Chenoa as you
approach the town coming up Big Clear Creek, probably a half mile below, up two
or three hundred feet on an elevated bench at the foot of Pine Mountain. The Kentucky Pioneer lived here the
remainder of his days. It was a rude
log house after the fashion of the times, and, at first, was no more than a
hunter’s lodge. Later it was developed
into a more pretntious log house. Today
a large orchard occupies the site, the house having disappeared long ago. Just above Chenoa, on the left, Bear Creek
comes into Big Clear Creek. His
children and grandchildren, from time to time, occupied most all of this region
in and around Chenoa at the juncture of these creeks. Today several coal mines occupy the grounds of this region, the
land once owned by the Fusons. Thomas
and his wife, Rachel Robinson, lie buried a short distance up Big Clear Creek
above Chenoa in an old pioneer graveyard, abandoned for nearly fifty years, but
now in use again.
It was customary in those days to take up land yourself,
build a house on it, and go to farming.
Usually a location was selected from the nearness to good hunting
territory. A good part of the time was
spent in hunting. Farming consisted in
raising what you and your family could consume. So Thomas Fuson settled on this land on Big Clear Creek, as above
stated, because, no doubt, of its proximity to Pine Mountain. This mountain chain did then (and has since)
furnished the best hunting in that region.
He built his house and took possession of the land in the early part of
the nineteenth century, but did not bother to secure a title to it.[16] Later, people came in such numbers that they
got to looking around for land that had faulty titles they could get hold
of. This attitude bestirred our pioneer
to action, and we find him obtaining a warrant for 50 acres on a survey of June
6, 1827, and recorded in the land office in Frankfort, February 23, 1829. The description in the warrant ends by
saying “so as to include Tom Fuson’s camp site”. I take it this means a house with some advantages as a fort, to
be used in case of attack. In a few
years he increased this to 200 acres.
His name is spelled Fuson in this warrant and the same in
most of the tax lists of the day; but, on the first tax list and on some of the
others it is spelled Fuston. This shows
that he spelled the name Fuson, and that it was only spelled Fuston by those
who did not know and spelled it the way it sounded to them.
After this the Fusons became a land-holding class. He obtained land and each of his boys took
out warrants for land as soon as he became of age, and, in a few years their
total acreage ran large. James R.
Fuson, a grandson, owned around 3,000 acres at the time of his death in
1864. He was the largest single owner
of land among them. Section IV is a
list from the land office at Frankfort, showing lands obtained by the Fusons on
warrants. This list does not show the
land bought on deeds.
Thomas Fuson is thought of by our people as a hunter and pioneer only. He was these, but he was a good farmer in addition. He is said to have rented some land at the mouth of Brush Creek in Knox County, Kentucky, and raised, with the aid of his three sons, 1,000 bushels of corn—this in a pioneer day when stock and tools were hard to get hold of. He had this advantage—the ground was unusually rich. Around the mouth of this creek, where he cultivated this corn, is about a thousand acres of level land, which overflows most every year. The descendants of Thomas Fuson still own this land: Squire Campbell, who married Polly Fuson, a great-granddaughter of Thomas Fuson, and Harvey Sowders, who married a daughter of Polly Campbell before her marriage to the Squire (she married a Jones the first time). Last year (1926), when we went there to get their records, these two men had 2,000 bushels of corn for sale.
The other pioneer of our immediate family was John Evans, of
Welsh descent. He was a grandfather of
my father. He lived on Evans Mountain
(named for them), a divied between Yellow Creek and Little Clear Creek, in the
early days and was frozen to death in his old age on Kennedy [Canada-l.m.]
Mountain overlooking the present town of Middlesboro, where he had wandered on
a cold winter day.[17]
He was a Mexican War veteran as this letter from the War Department will show.[18]
War Dpartment
The Adjutant General’s Office
Washington
2022 Eastern Parkway
Louisville, Ky.
The records of this office show that John Evans, of Captain Chile’s Co F, 3 Reg’t (Thompson’s) Ky. Vols. was mustered into service October 3, 1847, and was honorably discharged the service July 21, 1848, as a private.
Robert C. Davis
Major General,
The
Adjutant General
Thomas Fuson was the more picturesque character of the two, but John Evans died a tragic death. So, a few years ago, I combined the two characters in one and wrote the following poem as a tribute to them:
Wrapt is the broad crest of the mountain round
With the snows of primeval winter there;
Hushed are the little voices of the ground,
Stillness stands frozen in the icy air.
Sitting by the dark trunk of a giant tree,
With no thought of the world’s onward sweep,
O’er thee a snow forest of boughs, I see
Thee in resigned beauty dressed—asleep.
Folded are thy hands o’er a furry robe,
With drawn knees against a silent breast;
With bowed head like in silent thought to probe
The mysteries that lie in a state of rest.
The gun at thy side, the forest bound
By snows of pimeval winter fair,
And the days of search before thou were found
Tell of the age in which thou livedst to dare.
Of heroic men who with Boone onward came[19]
To build in a fair and promising land
A state that should have enduring fame.
Great art thou in death, most noble Knight,
For thou wert one of the builders rare
Of Freedom’s cause, which sprang from the dark night
Of its woe, to shed light on the race fair.
Fitting is thy death, too, O great Knight,
For thou didst depart to the Great Beyond
Amid the lone forest thou didst with thy might
Help to conquer, for the cause to you so fond.
No stone now marks thy final resting place,
Silent trees stand sentinel above thee;
But an army of descendants with bold pace
Are pressing forward to honor thee.
Rest, O great Knight, in our faith secure,
That we of this time may battle again
For the cause that, for men, will endure,
The cause that keeps forever free all men.
In Bell County the mountains run parallel with streams
between. There was Greasy Creek on one
side of Pine Mountain, Big Clear Creek on the other side, and Little Clear
Creek across Fork Ridge on the other side of Big Clear Creek. Big Clear Creek was between the two. Now the Fusons first settled on Big Clear
Creek. John, Thomas Fuson’s oldest son,
who married Polly Garner on Dismal Creek, DeKalb County, Tennessee,[20]
moved over to Greasy Creek across the Pine Mountain and settled on what is now
called the old Collins farm. He built a
large two-story log house here, lived here and reared his family. The farm he owned now belongs to William
Fuson, a grandson of his (the house is still standing).
When John was old his family became interested in Missouri, and
all, save four of his sons and daughters, went with him to Mercer County,
Mo. This story will be related to the
third division of this account.
James Robinson Fuson, Jr., a son of John, after living on and
around Bear Creek, moved over to Little Clear Creek. Here he began the buying of land. For a rifle gun he could buy a small farm and for a mule he could
buy the best of them. Between rifle
guns and the raising of mules he soon found himself the owner of about 3,600
acres of land on Little Clear Creek, Bell County, Kentucky. This land, in connection with the land owned
by his Uncle James Robinson Fuson, Sr., extended about three miles up and down
Little Clear Creek and from the top of Fork Ridge to the top of Log Mountain,
and was known as the Fuson Settlement.
This land is about two miles from Clear Creek Mountain Springs, the
Baptist Encampment.[21] This land was divided among his children
after his death and most of it is owned by his children and grandchildren
today.
He died of smallpox during the Civil War, caught from two of
General T.T. Garrard’s soldiers who called at his gate for something to
eat. He took the food to them, knowing
they had smallpox. He and all his
family afterwards took it. He
died. General Garrard learning of this
deed of kindness, and that the family had contracted smallpox as a result of
it, sent two of his soldiers, who had had smallpox, to wait on the family. He sent them from his headquarters in
Cumberland Gap. No others died after
these men arrived. James Robinson
Fuson, Jr., who married Lucinda Evans, daughter of John Evans, in 1844, reared
a family of seven children. They
were: James Arthur, William Lafayette,
Letitia, Martha Jane (who died in infancy)[22],
John Thomas, Bethane, and Henry Jefferson.
James Arthur was elected one of the first surveyors of Bell County,
Kentucky, after its organization in 1867 and served several terms as such. He was a farmer, and, like Maeterlinck’s
story, a “keeoer of the bees”. Beth Ane
Fuson was a farmer in his earlier years, Police Judge of Pineville, Magistrate
in the Pineville District, and County Judge of Bell County, from
1910-1914. He moved to Indianapolis,
Indiana after his term of office expired and lives there today. J. T. Fuson is the only other one of the
family living. He lives on his farm
five miles from Pineville, on Little Clear Creek, and at the age of 73 (1927)
still runs his farm. He taught school
in his earlier years. His wife Sarah
Jane (Lee) Fuson is still living at the age of 70. She is the daughter of Phillip Lee, a grandaughter of Andrew Lee,
who was a close relative of Robert E. Lee.[23] Her brother James Lee fought in the Union
Army, was in the Battle of Look-out Mountain and in Sherman’s March to the
sea. He taught school for a number of
years after the came out of the army, and was the first County Court Clerk of
Bell County, Ky., on its organization in 1867.
This ballad commemorates his army experience.
JAMES BRAY THE SOLDIER
(TO JAMES LEE)
To countryside and distant hills
The news spreads far and wide,
That North and South have come to clash—
See the army-moving tide.
“To boot and saddle then, ye men!
To arms, to arms, this day!
The North is calling now to you!
You must, in haste, obey!”
The gallant spirit sweeps away
Up creeks, o’er mountain sides—
To farthest confines, they now say
Where martial spirit abides.
A youth, just sixteen to a day,
Rides o’er the hills, along
The streams, and up the mountain side—
On his closed lips no song.
He rides beneath the frowning cliffs,
Where waters trickle down,
And wonders what path leads to fame—
The sure road tp reown.
On thru the pines in lonely dell
And up the winding path,
To crest of that high mountain there,
To highest peak of Bath.
He halts his panting steed on top,
And leaps from the saddle fair,
And looks away on piled-up hills
Amid the anxious stir.
He gazes on the world of strife,
In silence and amaze,
And takes a deep drought from the cup
In mem’ry of old days.
He plunges from the mountain crest,
With English blood all stirred,
And seeks the largest crowd—the test—
Then to proclaim the word.
“Off for the war, ye mountain men,
The Union must be saved!
Hear ye the rushing of the storm
That on these hills was waved?”
“Kentucky is now wedged between
The North and South, alas,
And we must fight, the Union to save,
Or else our state will pass.
“Out in the Bluegrass there, oho!
The Confederates stand
Ready to plunge in for the South
And divide our happy land.”
No scorn came from that youthful band,
Who heard this youth inspired;
They knew he sensed what they did feel—
His daring they admired.
He joined the beat of drum and fife,
And to the front he went,
With double purpose in the strife,
For Union and Content.
The state then clashed in farthest west,
On Mississippi’s strand,
And was deluged from Cumberland Gap
By each Confederate band.
They battle and battle again,
At Lookout Mountain there,
Where James Bray’s comrade falls just then,
Sore wounded he’s aware.
Out on that shot-torn field, where men
Lie out like harvest sown,
He seizes his dear comrade then
And claims him as his own.
Upon his back he carries him
And crawls thru briary field,
To safety back of that dreadful line,
His comrade’s life to shield.
Then turns again to stirring strife,
To battle to the end,
To save the day of Union’s life—
The South to make amend.
James Bray then joined brave Sherman’s march,
In sweep on to the sea,
Where death and destruction rife
Camped on the trail of Lee.
Surrender surely came, when Lee
To Grant did yield the flag,
And Union marched again, once more,
Under the one great flag.
Returned James Bray to his dear home,
By clearest waters there,
Amid the lofty hills o’erstept
With peaceful pines and fair.
Returned he to the quiet ways,
To life upon the farm;
To peaceful pursuits went he,
Free from all war’s alarm.
The purpose had now been achieved,
For which he surely fought,
And to content he gave himself,
As freely as he fought.
Then he taught school in Piney Grove,
And tried to direct the young
In Union’s pathway, as of old—
In ways our dads had sung.
He left a record for peace and skill,
In mountain’s deep stronghold,
That ever remains there still
Like a tale that is told.
And on hist’ry’s fairest page,
Of country record there,
He wrote the first on that fair page
In plainest hand and fair.
From dashing youth to noblest man,
He came and spent his day,
As spend it those who surely can,
In service in his way.
A dashing hero, no man of pride,
He served in humble way;
He lived, he fought, he wrought, he died,
In service true always.
Those of the family of James Robinson Fuson, Jr., living here or elsewhere, or recently living, are: Dr. T. S. Fuson, Cumberland Gap, Tenn; Dr. A. L. Fuson, Cumberland Gap, Tenn.; Whorton Fuson, Cumberland Gap, Tenn; Mrs. D. H. Howard, Harlan, Kentucky; Mrs. W. A. Johnson, Indianapolis, Indiana; Mrs. Morris Adler, Indianpolis; Miss Clara Fuson, Gary, Indiana; Mrs. John Carroll, Colorado; Lloyd Smith, Leonard Smith, Chester A. Fuson, James Seward Fuson, James B. Fuson, of Little Clear Creek; John Arthur Fuson, Big Clear Creek; L. B. Fuson, Mrs. Charity Fuson, Mrs. Cordia Miracle, Mrs. Lon Warrick [Wyrick] (recently deceased), of Middlesboro; James J. Fuson, Kildav, Ky.; Mrs. C. B. Baker, Log Mountain, near Pineville, Ky.; Jeff Fuson and Mrs. James H. Miracle, Little Clear Creek.
Thomas Fuson’s family consisted of: John, who married Polly Garner in DeKalb
County, Tenn.[24], came to
Kentucky with his father and reared a family here on Greasy Creek, Bell County,
Ky., and went to Missouri (Mercer County) [ca 1858, see note 10] with most of
his children when he was an old man; Jonathan, who remained in DeKalb County
[then Smith Co], Tenn., reared his family there, died and was buried there;
James Robinson Fuson, who married a Lee first [Catherine “Katie”] (and she and
her only child both died) and afterwards married Ruthy Staniford [or
Standifer], lived, died, and was buried on Little Clear Creek, Bell County,
Kentucky; Hall, who lived all his life in and around Chenoa, Bell County,
Kentucky; Hannah, who married Elijah Vandapool [Vanderpool] and went to
Missouri during Civil War times; Mahala, who married Jack Goodin, lived, died,
and was buried on Greasy Creek, Bell County, Kentucky; Betty [Elizabeth] who
married Bud Siler and lived and died in Whitley County, Kentucky, without
issue; and Pop who married John Lambdin[25]. Mahala had a son, John Goodin, who was
County Judge of Bell County, Kentucky; and Rev. John Stamper, a Baptist
preacher and grandson of hers, was Judge of the Knox County, Kentucky, court
for two terms (8 years).
John Fuson, son of Thomas, had the following family: First wife Polly Garner: Thomas Henry, who lived on Greasy Creek,
Bell County, Kentucky [married (1) Sophia Peace; (2) Delilah Goins; (3) Lucinda
Rhodes/Rhoads]; Rachel, who married Dan Johnson and lived near Williamsburg,
Kentucky; Jane, who married Ebb [Ebenezer] Goodin and went to Mercer County,
Missouri; James R. [Robinson], who married Lucinda Evans and lived on Little
Clear Creek, Bell County, Kentucky; Rebecca, who married Leroy Goin and went to
Woodland, California; John Garner, who married Sallie Dean, sister of W. H.
Dean, and went to Mercer County, Missouri; Nancy, who married Bill King and
went to Mercer County, Missouri; Betty [Elizabeth], who married Ben [Benajah]
Peace; Joseph, who married Perlina King and went to Mercer County, Missouri;
Pleas [Pleasant ?Lafayette], who married Mary Dean, sister of W. H. Dean, and
went to Mercer County, Missouri; Mary Patience (Pop) who married W. H. [William
Henry Harrison] Dean and went to Mercer County, Missouri (but later returned to
their old home in Kentucky); Hansom Mack, who never married and helped to found
Silver City, N.M.[26];
and Jim [James C.], who married Amanda Red Dean, sister of W. H. Dean, and went
to Mercer County, Missouri. His second
wife was Nancy Catherine James. To this
union was born: George Washington Fuston;
Arnetta Alice Fuston; and Will Carroll Fuston.
The children of his second family, including his second wife, are all
dead save Carroll, who lives in Bermingham, Iowa. All his first family emigrated to Missouri between 1850 abd 1860[27],
and settled in Mercer County, with the exception of Thomas Henry, Betty,
Rachel, and James R., who remained in Bell County, Kentucky. Mary Patience (Pop) Fuson Dean returned from
Missouri to Kentucky in 1884.
James Robinson Fuson, Sr., a son of Thomas Fuson, had the
following family: First wife Katie
[Catherine] Lee, one son who died in infancy (mother died at birth of
son). Second wife: Ruthy Staniford [or Standifer]: John Price, July Anne, Canteral Beth Ane,
Matthew, Millard Buchanan, Mary Angeline, America Jane, and China Alice. All these children died in infancy with the
exception of Mary Angeline, Millard Buchanan and Matthew. Mary Angeline married Shelton Evans, lived
on Little Clear Creek at Pineville and Middlesboro. She died in Middlesboro.
Matthew and Millard still live on Little Clear Creek at 75 and 70
respectively.
Mahala Fuson, daughter of Thomas Fuson, married Jack [John]
Goodin. To this union were born: John, who became County Judge; Thomas,
Joseph, Ebenezer Bronston, Rachel, Amanda, and Sallie.
James Robinson Fuson, Sr., Thomas’s son and uncle of James
Robinson Fuson, Jr., settled on Little Clear Creek less than a mile from James
Robinson Fuson, Jr., who settled there later.
There he reared his family, died at the age of 74 and was buried in the
Fuson Cemetery near his farm. Tradition
says he visited Jonathan in Tennessee in 1846 (in Tennessee they remember his
visit; his sons in Kentucky remember hearing him tell of going to Tennessee but
they do not know what for), and this is the only instance of any member of the
family visiting Jonathan, or he them, in Tennessee until our visit in May,
1927, to his people. Some of the
descendants of James Robinson Fuson, Sr., are:
Dr. Will Evans, Dr. J. T. Evans, Middlesboro; Dr. Lee Fuson, Pineville;
James R. Fuson and Robert G. Fuson, Middlesboro; Mrs. Johnny Martin, Crab
Orchard, Ky.; Charles Fuson, Hazard, Ky; Millard Fuson, Arizona; Mrs. Marion
Evans, Little Clear Creek; William Lee Fuson, Little Clear Creek; Boyd Fuson,
Harlan, Kentucky.
1850-1860
“Westward Ho!” was the battle-cry of America around 1800. This cry was sounding in the ears of our sea-board settlers during, and after, the first plunge thru Cumberland Gap. The Revolutionary War had not more than closed, and the government set up in 1789, when the tide received new impetus in this westward march. The whole population of the new Republic seemed to be on the move. Our people are still keeping step to the tune of this command and are marching west in great numbers. But after the first great plunge 1800-1825, there came a lull as all movements come and go in waves, waves to the accompaniment of the human emotions. And again, just prior to the Civil War, 1850-1860, another westward movement began in earnest. The Fusons were no exception to the rule. From Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky, they poured over the plains of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and later Kansas, Nebraska, and the far west, seeking, seeking, always seeking, LAND, and a place to better their conditions. In this way they have truly become a scattered people, but they have ever left behind them a trail of large families, honesty of purpose, religious fervor, and high endeavor. They have been true pioneers.
Now, before the story of the Fuson migration is told, let me
speak of some of the deeds of the leader of this movement—the deeds of W. H.
Dean. He was a son-in-law of John Fuson
who reared a family of sixteen children.
Someone must have owed John a fearful debt, for five of his children
married into Thomas Dean’s family. Now
W. H. Dean was a schoolteacher with the blood of the true pioneer coursing thru
his veins. While yet single, ere he had
married into the Fuson family, he joined the gold rush to California in
1849. Gathering together some of the
bolder ones of his neighbors, with ox-teams and covered wagons, they with the
fires of adventure burning in their souls, struck the trail of the gold-seeker
across the continent. They were among
the pathfinders of this new empire of the west.
The governement, by this time, had marked out a trail to the
Pacific Coast. Squads of soldiers lined
the trail for protection to those moving westward along the trail, and the
Indians had been warned, at their peril, to stay clear of this trail.
Before making up their ox-trains they proceeded to
Independence, Mo., where they obtained oxen, wagons, arms, provisions,
etc. They traveled through Missouri and
Kansas and cross the Rocky Mountains, while they peacefully slept, some Indians
stole up to their camp in the dead of night and stole all of their oxen. The next morning all they could see was
their covered wagons and the crags in the distance. Bestirring themselves, after the usual, or unusual, surprise over
their loss, they took up the trail the Indians had taken. Following this trail cautiously they finally
came to a peaceful valley below them with the scent of roast beef rising up
from the campfires among the wigwams.
They quietly surrounded the Indian encampment and, at a given signal,
rushed upon the Indians from all sides, suprising the guards, and captured all
the Indian men. They recovered all
their oxen, save one which had been killed and partially eaten. They took the live oxen and Indians back to
their camp, leaving the squaws and children unmolested to finish the ox. When they reached the camp, they lined the
Indians up, to the number of 10 or 15, shot each in his turn, and placed them
in a row, side by side, with their feet to the trail. Then they proceeded to yoke their oxen, hitched them to the
wagons, and rolled off west.
When they reached California, after disposing of their oxen,
wagons, etc., they took up claims in the gold region and began their search for
the precious metal. They found gold in
abundance! After a stay of twenty-two
months, amid a rush never to be forgotten, they were ready to return home with
$22,000 they had amassed above all expenses.
They left California by steamer for the Isthmus of Panama,
crossed the Isthmus on burros to the head of the Nicaragua River, and descended
the river in small boats to the Gulf.
Here they took steamer for New York, came to Louisville, Kentucky on the
train, and then proceeded home to Bell County, Kentucky, by stage along the old
Wilderness Road.
These men, after their return to Bell County, Kentucky,
engaged in the “Drover” business—the driving of mules and hogs to the southern
markets. This was considered a
profitable business at that time, but misfortune overtook them, and they lost
their hogs from cholera.
About this time W.H. Dean married Mary Patience (Pop) Fuson,
daughter of John Fuson. They lived for
three years after their marriage on the Dean farm at the mouth of Greasy Creek,
Bell County, Kentucky, 1854-1857.
During this period the western fever was working on our leader again,
the plains of Missouri were looming up before his eyes. So, in 1857, he and his wife decided to move
west—west to Mercer County, Mo. By
themselves, in a covered wagon drawn by oxen they started on their journey
westward, but with the understanding that John Fuson, with his sons and daughters
and their families, would follow when he got settled and reported conditions to
them.
All went well with them, so far as the pioneer’s life can be said to be well, until after they entered Missouri. Late one evening, with a cold wind blowing, Mrs. Dean took seriously ill. Something must be done to get her in a warm place—out of the cold—or else she would not last many hours. The young husband was desperate. Houses were scattering and far between, but finally, in their dilemma, they sighted a school house. Mr. Dean entered it with his sick wife in his arms, built a fire, and got his wife in a comfortable, warm place for the night. She was feeling better. Just then a brusque westerner stepped to the door and pushed it open. He demanded to know why they had intruded in his premises in such a way. He informed them he was trustee of the school and could not stand such an insult to him and the state. He ordered them to get out or feel the strong arm of the law (he was afraid to use his own strength). Mr. Dean quietly explained the circumstances of their being there: that they would not have intruded but for the circumstances of the illness of his wife. This being the case he pled with the enraged trustee to be reasonable with them, saying there was nothing else for him to do but protect his wife. This did not quiet his rage. He said: “Get out, or I’ll have the officer here in no time.” By this time the indignation of Mr. Dean, at such an outrage but few bounds. His wife would die if she went out into the cold. He would stay. He drew his gun and ordered the man to leave and not come back. Said he: “I’m going to stay, and you can’t help yourself. Leave.” He left like the sneak he was.
But early the next morning he came back to make peace with the family. His wife had evidently given him a lecture he couldn’t get over. He apologized for his conduct and asked Mr. Dean to bring his wife over to the house where she could be properly cared for. He did this—she needed the attention. While there that first day, learning that Mr. Dean was a school teacher and needing one for that school, he made a proposition to him to teach the school. This was on Sunday. On Monday he accepted and began teaching. Thus they spent the winter there at this trustee’s house. In the spring of 1858 they moved out to Mercer County, Mo. There they took up a farm on some rolling ground above the river, seven miles west of Mercer, Mo. There they lived from 1858-1879. Here Mr. Dean farmed and taught school and later engaged in the saw-mill business. They moved in 1879 to a farm tow and one-half miles south of Lineville, Mo. Here they lived until 1881. They then moved to St. Joseph, Mo., and lived on a farm where the St. Joseph airplane field is. This place is on the Missouri River and is known as the “French Bottoms”. It is just north of the city. They lived here two years, moving into St. Joseph, where Mr. Dean ran a group of butcher shops for a year. Then, in 1884, having bought out the heirs to his father’s farm in Kentucky, they came back to this farm, there to spend the rest of their days, die and be buried. After returning to Kentucky, he followed farming and saw-mill work.
Thus has the career of this leader of this movement been
told, but within a year or two after he and his wife landed in Mercer County,
Mo., twenty covered wagons, drawn by oxen, moved out of Bell County, Kentucky,
in the thick fog of the rising tide of the Civil War. They were headed for Mercer County, Mo., where Dean and his wife
awaited their coming. They were
following the bold, intrepid school teacher, whom they loved and revered. Thru inclement weather, over boggy trails,
and thru swollen streams, with all the hardships of the time, they made their
journey westward. A mighty impulse
stirred these people, in common with the people of their time, an impulse that
caused them to leave behind kindred and friends, loved ones, and stake their
fortunes on a new venture into the untried west.
Some of the families in the twenty covered wagons were: (1) John Fuson, son of Thomas Fuson,
Kentucky pioneer, who married Polly [Mary Ann] Garner in DeKalb [see note 1],
Tennessee, and his children as follows:
(2) Jane, who married Ebb [Ebenezer] Goodin (he lived to be 96 years
old); (3) John Garner, who married Sallie [Sarah] Dean, a sister of W.H. Dean;
(4) Nancy, who married Bill King; (5) Joseph, who married Perlina King; (6)
Pleas [Pleasant] who married Mary Dean, a sister of W.H. Dean; (7) Mary
Patience (Pop), who married W.H. Dean [William Henry Harrison Dean], (8) Hansom
Mack, who never married, and later helped found Silver City, N.M.; (9) Jim
[James C.] who married Amanda “Red” Dean, sister of W.H. Dean; (10) Rebecca,
who married Leroy Goin and later went to Woodland, California, and these others
besides the immediate family of John Fuson:
(11) James Cox, who married a daughter of Ebb Goodin and Jane Fuson
Goodin; (12) the father of W.H. Farris; Farris afterwards married America
Fuson; (13) Elijah Vandapool [Vanderpool] who married Hannah Fuson, daughter of
Thomas Fuson, the Kentucky pioneer; (14) McKiddy, who married Basha Fuson; (15)
and the Moodys with their mother—Joe, Bill, and Jim, who afterwards, it is
said, changed their name to Fuson.[28]
These people all took up land around the present towns of Princeton, Mercer, and Lineville, Mo., all of which are in Mercer County. It is said that there are 800 descendants of the Fuson family living there in Mercer County, Mo., today, but that not one of them bears the Fuson name. This comes about from a number of large families of girls who married and remained there. The few male members of the families scattered to other parts of the west. Pleas Fuson soon moved over to Bluffs, Illinois, where he lived the remainder of his life. His son Mack, who was an engineer on the Wabash R.R. for 40 years without a mark against him, lived there until recently, when he died Sept. 27, 1927, and was buried in the McCaleb Cemetery near Bluffs. Nearly all of Pleas Fuson’s family are buried in this cemetery with appropriate monuments to all of them. Mack’s son and daughters live in and around Bluffs. Mrs. Lena (Sawyers) Owens, wife of Herbert Owens, and granddaughter of Mary C. Fuson, lives there in Bluffs. Mrs. Jessie Fuson Bowers, wife of the Hon. Henry Bowers, a daughter of Joseph Porter Fuson lives in Pittsfield, Ill. John Fuson, after the death of his first wife in 1863 [Jan 1865?] went to Leon, Iowa, and married Nancy Catherine James. They lived two miles west and one-half mile south of Leon, Iowa, where they reared three children, who go by the name of Fuston. These children are all deceased, save William Carroll, who lives in Bermingham, Iowa. John Fuson died Dec. 31, 1877, and was buried in Palestine Cemetery two and one-half miles west of Leon, Iowa. A good stone, somewhat effaced by time, marks his resting place. His widow left there after his death and was living with her daughter in St. Joseph, Mo., at the time of her death. S.J. Fuson, head of the National Biscuit Company of St. Joseph and a son of James Fuson and grandson of John Fuson, lives in St. Joseph, Mo. Others have gone farther west or have gone back into Illinois.
Mercer County, Missouri, where these people settled at first,
is a heavy rolling plain, cut by deep winding river channels, and forming some
low black-jack hills. These hills have
worn away a good deal and are used mostly for pasturage now. The river bottoms are better and produce
well today. This is true, in the main,
about the region about Mercer, but the land spreads out better near Princeton
and gets to be mostly unbroken around Lineville.
W. H. Dean was a heavy, bulky man, not over-tall, with a
quiet manner and a kindly expression on his fade. He was sympathetic and kind; but courageous when aroused. John Fuson was tall and slender, inclined to
what is called raw-boned. He was quiet
in manner and much reserved. W.P. Akes,
a neighbor of his in Iowa, said of him:
“He was one of the best men I ever knew.” He belonged to Palestine Baptist Church—the building stands on
the cemetery grounds.
KENTUCKY
KENTUCKY LAND GRANTS
By Willard Rouse
Hillson, 1925
Pub. The Filson Club,
Louisville, Ky.
|
IV. GRANTS SOUTH OF GREEN RIVER (1797-1866) |
||||||
|
NAME |
ACRES |
BOOK |
PAGE |
DATE SUR. |
COUMTY |
WATER COURSE |
|
Elizabeth Fuston |
200 |
28 |
318 |
10/16/1807 |
Wayne |
Beaver Cr |
|
VI. KENTUCKY LAND GRANTS (1816-1873) |
||||||
|
Thomas Fuson |
50 |
V |
436 |
6/6/1827 |
Knox |
Main Clear Cr |
|
VIII. GRANTS SOUTH OF WALKER’S LINE (1825-1923) |
||||||
|
J.A. Fuson |
50 |
8 |
203 |
4/18/1882 |
Claiborne |
Bennets Fk |
|
J.A. Fuson |
25 |
8 |
204 |
4/18/1882 |
Claiborne |
Little Yellow Cr |
|
J.A. Fuson |
25 |
8 |
205 |
4/18/1882 |
Claiborne |
Bennets Fk |
|
X. GRANTS IN COUNTY COURT ORDERS (1836-1924) |
||||||
|
John Fuson |
50 |
6 |
156 |
9/7/1837 |
Knox |
Greasy Cr |
|
Thos Fuson |
50 |
11 |
264 |
1/6/1842 |
Knox |
Greasy Cr |
|
John Fuson |
50 |
20 |
180 |
3/18/1846 |
Knox |
Poplar Cr |
|
Jas. R. Fuson, Jr. |
50 |
20 |
181 |
3/5/1846 |
Knox |
BClear Cr |
|
Thos. H. Fuson |
100 |
20 |
182 |
3/17/1846 |
Knox |
Greasy Cr |
|
John Fuson |
100 |
20 |
183 |
10/22/1845 |
Knox |
Brush Cr |
|
Fuson/McKiddy |
50 |
22 |
71 |
3/5/1846 |
Knox |
Muddy Cr |
|
Jas. R. Fuson |
100 |
24 |
436 |
9/1/1847 |
Knox |
BClear Cr |
|
Jas. R. Fuson |
50 |
31 |
438 |
6/28/1848 |
Knox |
Clear Cr |
|
Bethanian Fuson |
100 |
38 |
462 |
5/31/1852 |
Knox |
BClear Cr |
|
James R. Fuson |
50 |
41 |
306 |
7/13/1852 |
Knox |
L Clear Cr |
|
James R. Fuson |
50 |
52 |
392 |
4/28/1856 |
Knox |
L Clear Cr |
|
James R. Fuson |
50 |
52 |
393 |
4/28/1856 |
Knox |
L Clear Cr |
|
James Fuson |
50 |
54 |
473 |
8/9/1858 |
Knox |
Btw L&B |
|
Thos. Fuson |
100 |
69 |
517 |
8/17/1866 |
Knox |
Fuson Br |
|
Thomas Fuson |
50 |
72 |
293 |
9/24/1867 |
Knox |
Long Br |
|
Jefferson Fuson |
50 |
75 |
473 |
8/5/1869 |
Knox |
Long Br |
|
James A. Fuson |
100 |
96 |
252 |
5/26/1875 |
Bell |
Tuby Br |
|
James A. Fuson |
130 |
97 |
275 |
2/17/1877 |
Bell |
L Clear Cr |
|
James & Franklin Fuson |
50 |
99 |
431 |
10/6/1879 |
Bell |
Long Br |
|
John P. Fuson |
50 |
99 |
432 |
10/6/1879 |
Bell |
Greasy Cr |
|
Mathew Fuson |
150 |
100 |
104 |
1/26/1880 |
Bell |
L Clear Cr |
|
John T. Fuson |
55 |
100 |
175 |
6/4/1881 |
Bell |
L Clear Cr |
|
B.A. Fuson |
200 |
103 |
276 |
8/20/1882 |
Bell |
Hignite Cr |
|
James Fuson |
50 |
103 |
277 |
7/8/1882 |
Bell |
Greasy Cr |
|
Thomas H. & James Fuson |
200 |
103 |
278 |
7/8/1882 |
Bell |
Greasy Cr |
|
John R. Fuson |
50 |
103 |
345 |
7/10/1882 |
Bell |
Pine Mt |
|
H.J. Fuson |
100 |
105 |
24 |
8/20/1881 |
Bell |
Hignite Cr |
|
H.J. Fuson |
100 |
105 |
25 |
9/28/1881 |
Bell |
Clear Fk |
|
Beth Fuson |
200 |
106 |
133 |
10/11/1881 |
Bell |
Caney Fk |
|
James M. Fuson |
200 |
108 |
179 |
12/18/1885 |
Bell |
Bear Cr |
|
John L. Fuson |
200 |
108 |
218 |
12/18/1885 |
Bell |
Bear Cr |
|
James S. Fuson |
20 |
109 |
118 |
3/4/1887 |
Bell |
L Clear Cr |
|
John P. Fuson |
50 |
110 |
226 |
6/20/1885 |
Bell |
Greasy Cr |
|
Nancy Fuson |
25 |
111 |
71 |
8/4/1882 |
Bell |
Richard Haynes Br |
|
Nancy Fuson |
25 |
112 |
208 |
7/24/1889 |
Bell |
Clara Cr |
|
CA.M Fuson |
200 |
112 |
395 |
8/17/1889 |
Bell |
Clear Fk |
|
James & John P. Fuson |
25 |
113 |
406 |
3/25/1890 |
Bell |
N. of Pine Mt. |
|
James Fuson |
25 |
113 |
450 |
3/22/1890 |
Bell |
Spur Near Log Fk |
|
John P. Fuson |
30 |
113 |
467 |
3/29/1890 |
Bell |
Greasy Cr |
|
James S. Fuson |
11 |
114 |
196 |
5/6/1890 |
Bell |
Jack Bull Br |
|
James S. Fuson |
17 |
114 |
197 |
4/14/1890 |
Bell |
B & L Crs |
|
James S. Fuson |
22 |
114 |
198 |
6/5/1890 |
Bell |
L Clear Cr |
|
Sarah J. Fuson |
55 |
114 |
234 |
6/9/1890 |
Bell |
L Clear Cr |
|
Emelia Fuson |
5 |
114 |
445 |
7/4/1890 |
Bell |
Log Mt |
|
J.S. Fuson |
60 |
116 |
201 |
7/4/1891 |
Bell |
Clear Cr |
|
James Fuson |
150 |
117 |
55 |
6/23/1892 |
Bell |
B Clear Cr |
|
Mathew & Millard Fuson |
40 |
119 |
320 |
8/27/1901 |
Bell |
Big & Ltle Clear Cr |
|
James Fuson |
25 |
121 |
448 |
8/3/1896 |
Bell |
Long Br |
|
Peter Fuson |
5 |
122 |
4 |
3/28/1905 |
Bell |
Greasy Cr |
January 12, 1927
Louisville, Ky.
H.H.
Fuson
Lorraine Miracle had
attached many Family Group Sheets at the end of this manuscript. Click on the individuals name to view a scanned
image of their sheet (front and back).
These are listed in order from left to right as they appeared in the
manuscript:
John
Fuson (Fuston) Thomas
“Tom” Fuson John
Fuson James
Robinson Fuson Jr.
James
Arthur Fuson William
Lafayette Fuson William
Thomas Miracle James
Otto Miracle Sr.
Elijah
Smith John
Thomas Fuson Bethanian
“Bethane” Fuson Henry
Jefferson Fuson
John
Arthur Fuson James
Blaine Fuson Clarence
Carter James
Robinson Fuson Sr.
Lorraine
Miracle’s Footnotes:
[1] At the time Thomas Fuson was there, it was Smith County as DeKalb County was not formed until about 1838.
[2] It was closer to 1820 when Thomas went to Smith County, Tn. As late as 1806 he was in Knox County, Tn. He is also known to have been in Greene Co., Tn., probably when he first removed to Tn. From Va. Around 1800.
[3] Thomas and Rachel’s marriage was recorded in 1802 in Patrick Co., Va. Under the names Thomas Fuson & Rachel Roberson, but, though I have not seen it, it is said there is a marriage record for them for 4 April 1791.
[4] John Fuson married Mary Ann “Polly” Garner probably in Anderson County, Tn. Ca 1814.
[5] Jonathan married first, Rebecca Stanley who died ca 1822. They were married 15 July 1818, Wilson, Co., Tn.
[6] The Robinson name in the early times was also recorded Robison, Roberson, and Robertson.
[7] Other traditional sources record Thomas’s birthdate as ca 1765 which seems to be more nearly correct.
[8] Brothers of William known to have also been in the Revoltionary War (in the Virginia Militia) were Thomas and John.
[9] Research by descendants of John Fuson, Jr., brother of Thomas of Kentucky, seems to indicate that Liberty Jim’s father was probably John Fuson, Jr.
[10] John Fuson was still in Smith Co., Tn. On the 1820 Smith Co. census. Though a couple of Fuson families were in Missouri by 1852, it is believed the wagon train with John Fuson and his family did not go until 1858. One of John Fuson’s granddaughters who said she was born in 1852 stated that she was 6 years old when she went with the wagon train to Missouri. Also, a number of John’s children who went with the wagon train were married in Knox Co., Ky. 1855-1858.
[11] Most of the Bell County, Ky. descendants of Thomas Fuson have always spelled their name F-U-S-O-N, but a very few have and still do use the F-U-S-T-O-N spelling.
[12] A grandson of William Fuson, the Revolutionary War veteran, and a grand-nephew to Thomas Fuson of Knox County, Ky.
[13] In 1820 Elizabeth Fuston headed a household in Wilson County, Tn. A Jonathan Fuston (same age bracket) headed another household in the same county. As Thomas’s son Jonathan was on the 1820 Smith Co, Tn. census, this Jonathan was probably either a brother or nephew of Thomas.
[14] The parenthetical phrase must be H.H. Fuson’s comment.
[15] In 1820, Thomas, John and Jonathan Fuson were on the Smith County, Tn. census.
[16] More current research seems to indicate Thomas Fuson had only been in Knox County, Ky. at the most a few months before obtaining a warrant in June of 1827.
[17] The Evans family tradition is that John Evans froze to death in a cave near his old homeplace. In the 1850 census he is in the home of his daughter and son-in-law, Elizabeth and William Mason; he is 76 and said to be “insane”. More likely he was a victim of what we now know as Alzheimer’s disease. In his History of Bell County, Ky. H. H. Fuson says Thomas Fuson froze to death, but this may be in error. It is possible that both men did freeze to death, but not probable.
[18] This letter does NOT pertain to John Evans, father of Lucinda (Evans) Fuson, as he was already 73 years old by the time this John Evans entered the Mexican War in 1847. More likely this John Evans was a son, nephew, or grandson of the older John Evans.
[19] John Evans and Thomas Fuson were actually more closely the age of Daniel Boone’s children than Daniel’s age.
[20] See Note 4.
[21] Now Clear Creek Baptist Bible College.
[22] Another source says Eliza Jane.
[23] There is disagreement between researchers about the parentage of Andrew Lee and, though this family is believed to be related to the famous Lee family of Virginia, after much research by many, the connection is still obscure and the relationship to Robert E. Lee is probably distant.
[24] See note 4.
[25] This is an error. The other daughter was Mary “Polly” who married William Vanderpool and went to Missouri, then Iowa in the 1840’s. Mary patience, called “Pop”, was daughter of John and Polly (Garner) Fuson, and she married William Henry Harrison Dean. Mary C. Fuson who married John Lambdin in 1848 was a daughter of Mahala Fuson before her marriage to John “Jack” Goodin. I believe she was called “Pop” also.
[26] Hansom Mack Fuson was one of a group of 9 men who discovered silver in the area of what is now Silver City, N.M.
[27] According to one of John Fuson’s granddaughters who was born in 1852, she was 6 years old at the time of this migration, so it must have occurred in 1858.
[28] Elsewhere, H.H. Fuson says that Jim was said to be a son of James Robinson Fuson, Sr. Since all three are said to have changed their name to Fuson, maybe all of them were??