Graves County, Kentucky

I have often wondered about Graves Co., KY that attracted some of Ben West's ancestors and some of my ancestors.  Ben's family were concentrated in the Logan & Simpson Co. area while my family were in Christian Co & western Todd Co.  But, for some reason about 1840 or so, some of the children of my direct ancestor Charles H. West removed to Graves County that was to the west of Christian County as can be seen in the following transcription of the 1848 indenture of Charles H. West (who died in 1845):

Christian Co., KY Deed Book 32, pp. 177-179

This Indenture made and entered into on the 26th. day of August in the year 1848 Between William E. West of the County of Christian & State of Kentucky, Moses Austin & his wife Aquilla Mahala late Aquilla Mahala West of the County of Weakley and State of Tennessee, Frederick F. Williams and Martha A. his wife late Martha A. West of the County of Henry and State of Tennessee, William Stroud and Mary S. his wife late Mary S. West of the County of Calloway & State of Kentucky, Charles B. West of Graves County Kentucky, Thomas A. West of Holt County Missouri and the following named children of Jesse West Dec'd. Viz Harmon R. S. W. West of Warren County Illinois, John M. West of Weakley County Tennessee, Amos S. West of Graves County Kentucky, William E. West and Sarah West of Todd County Kentucky and Susan C. West of Christian County Kentucky  Children and heirs of Charles West deceased of the first part and Orran A. West of the County of Christian and State of Kentucky of the second part.

Charles B. West & his nephew Amos S. West were in Graves County at the time of the above indenture.

In a great photo posted by Ben West on Nov. 27, 1999 on the West, Fike & Affiliate Families page of MyFamily.com shows the West family members of West Plains, Grave Co., KY.  Ben states: "The family members depicted in this photograph (taken Ca. 1903) are descendants of Amos West (1766-1819) and Frances Herndon of Sulphur Spring, Simpson County, Kentucky."

Simpson County is east of Christian Co. with Christian Co. being close to the middle of Simpson & Graves counties.  Here is some information that Ben West posted on MyFamily site sometime back for me on Amos S. West:

From the West/Fike MyFamily Web Site:  Ben West - Jan 5, 2003   Viewers | Reply to this item     John,

I appreciate your posting this information to the web site.   Since you mentioned Amos S. West as an heir of Jesse West, I thought that I would share some of my Graves and Calloway Counties, Kentucky research findings with you.

From CEMETERIES OF CALLOWAY COUNTY "HEART OF THE JACKSON PURCHASE" by Judith Ann Maupin, June 1981, P. O. Box 954, Murray, KY 42071:

pp. 158-159 -- Lassiter Cemetery

p. 158  West M. L., 1878 - - ____

p. 159  West S. M., 1876- -1905

West Amos S., June 18, 1821- - Feb. 6, 1904

West Sarah J., wife of A S, Jan. 13, 1835- - Jan. 26, 1919

West Benjamin, son of M L & S M, died Sept. 25, 1900, age 2, 19 days

West Samuel, Nov. 3-16, 1873

West Austin E., Sept. 8-18, 1877

West Sally, Jan. 12, 1876- - Dec. 12, 1911, no stone

From GRAVES COUNTY, KY. BIRTH RECORDS 1852 TO 1859 by Don Simmons, Simmons Historical Publications, P. O. Box 66, Melber, Ky. 42069, 1991:

p. 24  625 West, F. M. A. (m) Amos West and Mary Brown 3-22-1853

p. 39  1041 West, C. J. R. (m) A. West & M. A. Brown 4-30-1855

p. 46  1265 West, H. A. D. (m) A. West & M. A. Brown 5-30-1857

p. 74  2074 West, Mathew S.  Amos West & Mary Ann Brown 6-16-1859.

From GRAVES CO., KY NEWSPAPER GENEALOGICAL ABSTRACTS VOLUME 10, Simmons Historical Publications, Melber, Ky. 42069, 1984:

Thur. 2-25-1904

p. 10  Uncle Amos West, an old man of Calloway Co., died Sat. morning and was buried Sun. at the Lassiter Graveyard near Swan.   He died of paralysis.

Until Ben's family DNA matched my DNA (and that of Hal Beumer's cousin) we wondered, but did not know at all if our ancestors were related.  This blog was written by me to point out that these two branches of the West family lived in Graves County back in the 1800's.  Did they know that they were related?  Were they aware of a relationship when they came to Kentucky around 1800?

If you have some information to add to this blog, please post it to the comments for this blog or send to me directly at:  jgw.mylines@gmail.com  

Written & submitted by John G. West