John K. Green
a. John K. Green, son of Ezekiel Calhoun Green and Matilda Harrison, was born in 1836 at Smithland, Livingston County, Kentucky. The 1850 federal census, in which John is enumerated in his father’s household at Smithland, gives his age as 13.[1] As a previous posting notes, in 1860, John was enumerated, unmarried, in the household of his married brother Samuel Kerr Green in Smithland, with his age given as 24.[2] The census lists both Samuel and John as farmers, each with $3,000 real worth and $4,400 personal worth.
For references to John in his father’s estate documents, see this previous posting.
In July 1858 (the day is not given), John and his brother Samuel deeded to E. Rothman of Smithland for $200 a fourth of lots 21 and 57, on Water Street leading to Charlotte Street.[3] The deed states that the Green brothers owned this portion of these lots by division of the estate of Robert Harrison, who was, as a previous posting indicates, the uncle of their mother Matilda Harrison. John K. and S.K. Green both signed the deed with no witnesses, and both acknowledged the deed on 15 July 1858 and it was recorded on the 31st of July. As a previous posting shows, on 17 April 1846, Erasmus Rothmann of Smithland had mortgaged property to John and Samuel’s father Ezekiel C. Green.[4]
On 18 July 1860, the Louisville Daily Courier reported on a meeting of the Democratic party of Livingston County at Smithland on 13 July, stating that Col. J.K. Huey, who administered the estate of John and Samuel K. Green’s father Ezekiel and was Ezekiel’s multiple cousin, had been called to chair the Livingston County party and S.K. Green, Esq., had been called as secretary of the county party.[5] The same report states that for the upcoming Kentucky Democratic convention, those appointed to represent Livingston County included J.K. Huey and John K. Green.
According to Scott William Riley, John K. Green died 13 August 1862.[6] I have found no indicators that John was involved in the Civil War or died while doing military service. If John died at home, it’s likely he died at Smithland, I think, and that he’s buried along with his parents, brother Samuel, and half-sister Mary Musa in Smithland cemetery. If so, the grave appears not to be marked at present.
For reasons entirely unclear to me, multiple family trees have conflated John K. Green, son of Ezekiel Calhoun Green and Matilda Harrison, with a John Kidwell German who was born in Tennessee and died and is buried in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, and who was the son of William German and Mary Kidwell. Ancestry’s hints make the same conflation. John Kidwell German is not John K. Green, son of Ezekiel Calhoun Green and Matilda Harrison!
I haven’t seen a document spelling out the middle name of John K. Green, but would hazard a guess that it was Kerr, as with his brother Samuel’s middle name. I think it’s likely John was named for his grandfather John Green, and if his middle name was Kerr, that he would have been given that name in honor of his grandmother Jane Kerr Green.
Samuel Kerr Green
b. Samuel Kerr Green, son of Ezekiel Calhoun Green and Matilda Harrison,was born 3 June 1837 at Smithland, Livingston County, Kentucky. This date of birth is inscribed on Samuel’s tombstone in Smithland cemetery.[7] The tombstone gives Samuel’s full name as Samuel Kerr Green. Samuel is buried next to his wife Emma Augustine Burnam.
As stated previously, Samuel appears on the 1850 federal census in his father’s household in Smithland and in 1860, he is enumerated as the head of his household in Smithland with wife Emma, their daughter Musa Dora Green, and Samuel’s brother John K. Green.[8] Musa Dora’s middle name is given here as Davidella.
Samuel witnessed the marriage of James A. Hodge to Jennie Warmack in Livingston County, on 30 November 1858.[9] Samuel’s half-sister Mary Musa had married James L. Warmack the year before, on 17 November, and I think it’s very likely that Jennie Warmack and James L. Warmack were closely related, but I haven’t been able to find enough information about the Warmack family to confirm this deduction. Samuel also witnessed the marriage of Thomas F. Gibson to Samuel’s sister Mary Musa, the widow of James L. Warmack, in Livingston County on 26 April 1865.[10]
On 28 April 1859 at Bowling Green in Warren County, Kentucky, Samuel K. Green gave bond with M.T. Hall to marry Emily Augustine Burnam, daughter of Alexander Burnam and Sophia W. Wood.[11] The bond states that the couple married with consent of Emily’s mother, who was a widow. License was issued for the marriage the same day, and the couple then married on 28 April with witnesses J. McClure and S. Phillips, and with J.C. Petrie officiating.[12]
The given name of Samuel’s bride appears in most other sources as Emma, and the surname is often spelled as Burnham in various records. Multiple sources including her tombstone in Smithland cemetery and several obituaries state that she was born on 10 December 1838, with the obituaries giving Hopkinsville, Kentucky, as Emma’s place of birth.[13]
As I noted above, according to a report in the Louisville Daily Courier on 18 July 1860, when the Livingston County Democratic party met at Smithland on 13 July 1860, Samuel K. Green was made secretary of the local party, with Col. J.K. Huey, who administered the estate of Samuel’s father Ezekiel C. Green, being made chair of the Livingston County party.[14] The same report states that for the upcoming Kentucky Democratic convention, those appointed to represent Livingston County included J.K. Huey and John K. Green.
NARA’s Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Kentucky, 1861-1865 contains a listing for a Samuel K. Green whose service packet shows him enlisting on 25 October 1861 at Catlettsburg in Boyd County, Kentucky, in Co. H (Hollingsworth’s company), 14th regiment of Kentucky infantry (Union).[15] Samuel gave his age as 30 at enlistment. When I read the papers in this service packet, however, it’s clear to me that this soldier was a Samuel K. Greer and not Samuel K. Green. I don’t find a Civil War service record for Samuel K. Green.
On 2 March 1863, to secure a debt of $1,960.06, Samuel K. Green mortgaged to Thomas M. Davis his interest in the Cumberland Island tract of land that had belonged to his father Ezekiel C. Green, including his interest in the share of this land that had belonged to his deceased brother John K. Green and his interest in the land vested in the estate of Louisa B. Carson during her lifetime.[16] Samuel’s wife Emma A. Green signed onto the mortgage and both Samuel and Emma acknowledged it on 3 March, when it was recorded.
For information about this tract of land surveyed for Ezekiel Calhoun Green on Cumberland Island at the mouth of the Cumberland River near Smithland on 4 July 1836, see this previous posting.[17] As the posting I’ve just linked notes, when Ezekiel’s daughter Mary Musa married James L. Warmack on 17 November 1857, the record of the marriage in Livingston County states that Mary Musa, who was born 10 June 1842, was born on Cumberland Island.[18] That record leads me to conclude that Ezekiel and his family may have lived on the Cumberland Island land. In his commentary on the Green family in Livingston County, Kentucky, History and Families, Scott William Riley states that his mother Martha Gilhofer Riley, who was a granddaughter of Samuel K. Green’s daughter Musa Dora, told stories Musa Dora had told her about being rowed from an island near Smithland to school every day by Musa’s father Samuel Kerr Green.[19] Riley notes that a deed of sale indicates that Ezekiel Calhoun Green bought an island now known as Cumberland Island in 1836.
The 1870 federal census lists the family of Samuel K. Green at Smithland post office in Livingston County, and as with the 1860 federal census, shows Samuel’s occupation as farmer.[20] The census lists Samuel as 33, a farmer, with $2,000 real worth and $2,200 personal worth, born in Kentucky. Wife Emma A. is 30, also born in Kentucky. In the household are children Musa, 10, and Henry B., 4, both born in Kentucky, along with laborers Robert Venable, Robert Jackson, and Arnold Story.
An obituary of Samuel K. Green’s son Henry Burnam Green published in the Paducah Sun on 28 March 1906 states that when Captain Harry Green, who followed his father as a boatman, was around eight years old, his father, Captain Samuel Green, moved the family from Smithland, Kentucky, to Cairo, Illinois.[21] Henry B. Green was born 1 December 1866. It appears, then, that in 1874 or thereabouts, Samuel K. Green moved his family from Smithland to Cairo, Illinois, where Samuel then took up the occupation of piloting river boats, the occupation listed for him on the 1880 federal census, which found him and daughter Musa and son Henry living at Cairo in Alexander County, Illinois, at the boarding house of Helen McKee.[22] The census gives S.K. Green’s age as 40 and erroneously states that he was born in Alabama. His occupation is “St. B. Pilot.” Samuel’s wife Emma had died 5 March 1877 at Cairo.
On 15 December 1898, the Paducah Sun reported that Capt. Sam Green had been engaged to come out (as a pilot) on the new Sue Skinner, a berth for which he had been “laying” for some time before he “landed the plum.” The report says that Samuel Green wanted “Bud” Smedley to come out with him, but Smedley wouldn’t leave The Thistle, since he didn’t like the up-to-date packet boats.[23] Paducah and Cairo are closely connected as major inland ports along the Ohio River that are only some 35 miles from each other by direct land route.
The 1900 federal census shows Samuel continuing to live at Cairo, at this point, with his daughter Musa, who had married Robert King Woodward at Cairo on 19 May 1882, and who was now widowed, Robert having died about 1890.[24] The census states that Samuel was born in June 1836, whereas his tombstone gives the date of birth as 3 June 1837, as we’ve seen. It shows Samuel as widowed and born in Kentucky with a South Carolina-born father and Kentucky-born mother. He’s listed without an occupation.
Samuel K. Green died at Cairo at the house of his daughter Musa on 22 June 1904. His obituary in the Cairo Evening Citizen states,[25]
CAPT. SAM GREEN DEAD.
Passed Away This Afternoon After Long Illness
Capt. Sam Green died at 4 o’clock this afternoon at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Musa Woodward, at Eighth and Walnut streets. He had been failing in health for a long time.
Another obituary for Samuel K. Green appeared in the Paducah Sun on 24 June 1904. This notes that he held both a pilot and a captain license, and was “one of the best known river men in this section of the country,” who had done little work on the river in the final part of his life due to heart disease.
As was noted previously, Samuel Kerr Green is buried in Smithland cemetery along with his parents, his wife Emma, and his sister Mary Musa — and, I suspect, his brother John K. Green. Samuel was named for his uncle Samuel Kerr Green, a brother of Ezekiel Calhoun Green, who was, in turn, named for his grandfather Samuel Kerr, whose daughter Jane Kerr married John Green. As was his nephew, Samuel K. Green, son of John Green and Jane Kerr, was a riverboat man during his early days in Nashville, Tennessee.
The Methodist publication Southern Christian Advocate carried an obituary of Samuel K. Green’s wife Emma when she died in Cairo on 5 March 1877. Jonathan Kennon Thompson Smith’s transcript (or abstract?) of this obituary reads:[26]
EMMA GREEN wife of Samuel K. Green, born Hopkinsville, Ky. Dec. 10, 1838; died Mar. 5, 1877; dau. of Alex. and Sophia Burnham; mother of 3 children, one of whom predeceased her.
The abstract notes that the obituary mentions Emma’s sister Mrs. Mollie Jenkins.
On 7 March 1877, the Cairo Daily Bulletin published a death notice for Emma stating,[27]
Died.
On Monday, March 5, 1877, at 10:40 a.m., of consumption, Mrs. Emma Green, wife of Capt. S. K. Green, of this city, in the 37th year of her age. Funeral service, conducted by Rev. J. D. Gillham, will be held at residence, corner Eighth Street and Washington Avenue, today (Wednesday) at 3 o’clock p.m. The remains will be taken to Smithland for interment per steamer James Fish, Jr., which leaves port at 5 o’clock p.m.
A lengthy obituary appeared on 11 March 1877 in the Cairo Daily Bulletin:[28]
Emma A. Burnham was born in Hopkinsville, Ky., Dec. 10, 1838. She was married to Samuel K. Green April 28, 1859. Died in Cairo, Ills., after a lingering illness of several months, March 5, 1877. She was the mother of three children, one of which (a little girl) preceded her to the mansions of bliss. She leaves to mourn her early decease, a husband, two children, a mother, four sisters, one brother, with many relatives and friends; but we feel that they “sorrow not as those who have no hope,” for their loss is her eternal gain.
She professed religion and joined the Methodist Church a number of years ago, and all who knew her, and those most intimately acquainted with her, can say of a truth, that her life was “hid with Christ in God.” She was not inclined to be very demonstrative in her religious life, not indeed in anything. She was naturally of a modest, retiring disposition. It was especially in her upright walk in her daily life that her Christian virtues were to be most clearly seen, when they shone with the greatest splendor.
She was a faithful, devoted wife, an affectionate, self-sacrificing loving mother, a dutiful and obedient daughter an earnest sympathizing friend and neighbor. All who knew her could but love her, and those who knew her best loved her most. She did not say very much during her sickness about dying. It was not her disposition to talk much on such subjects, but her uncomplaining, calm submission to the dispensations of Providence, resigned to live on account of her family, but resigned in all things to God’s will, was manifest in all she did say. At one of my visits, I asked her if she felt the presence of the Savior with her, and enjoyed the comforts of religion in her affliction. She answered very emphatically that she did and this was the great source of her comfort. In speaking about praying she said to her daughter at one time, “I pray nearly all the time.” A few nights before her death she woke her daughter in trying to sing, “Nearer my God to thee, nearer my God to thee,” etc. May God’s grace comfort and cheer, and his spirit lead those left to mourn.
J. D. Gillham
Children of Samuel Kerr Green and Emma Augustine Burnam
Samuel Kerr Green and Emma Augustine Burnam had the following children:
b1. Musa Dora Green was born 8 April 1860 at Smithland, Kentucky, and died 6 June 1933 at Chicago, Illinois. On 18 May 1882 at Cairo, Alexander County, Illinois, she married Robert King Woodward, son of Corodon Roswell Woodward and Christene Margarete Christman.[29] Robert was born 25 January 1859 at St. Louis, Missouri, and died about 1890, apparently in Chicago. Musa is buried with her parents in Smithland cemetery, Smithland, Kentucky. Though, as we’ve seen, the 1860 federal census gives her middle name as Davidella, her death certificate and other documents give the name as Dora.
b2. Mollie Green was born 17 August 1862 at Smithland and died 31 July 1863 at Smithland. This information is from William Scott Riley’s article cited in n. 6, infra. I think it’s likely she’s buried in Smithland cemetery, but if the grave is marked, I haven’t found a record of the tombstone.
b3. Henry Burnam Green was born 1 December 1866 at Smithland, Kentucky, and died 27 March 1906 at Cairo, Illinois. On 27 April 1892, he married Marie LaForge, daughter of Alphonse Champagne LaForge and Frances O. Hatcher. Marie was born in June 1869 at New Madrid, New Madrid County, Missouri, and died 13 March 1957 at Chicago.
Like his father Samuel Kerr Green and his father’s uncle of the same name, Henry Burnam Green was a boatman. In July 1892, he was appointed as a pilot-officer of the U.S.S. Emma Etheridge on the Mississippi River above Cairo.[30] His death at Cairo on 27 March 1906 was the result of an accident that occurred on 24 March as he piloted the John A. Wood and caught his leg in the pilot wheel, crushing the leg, which had to be amputated. Sepsis set in after the surgery, causing his death. Obituaries and accounts of the accident were printed in the Paducah Sun and Cairo Evening Citizen.[31] The Paducah Sun obituary states that Capt. Harry Green, a “well known pilot,” had died at Cairo on the 27th after the accident and surgery I’ve just noted; this account says that Harry Green suffered from epilepsy, and it was a seizure that caused him to crush his leg in the pilot wheel. The obituary also notes, as previously mentioned, that Harry Green was son of the late Capt. Samuel Green, who had moved his family from Smithland, Kentucky, to Cairo when Harry was about eight years old. Paducah Sun says that Henry Green left a sister Musa Woodward of Cairo, as well as a widow and “several interesting children,” and was interred in New Madrid, Missouri, from which his wife came.
On 28 March 1906, the Cairo Evening Citizen printed the following:
CAPT. HARRY GREEN DIED LAST NIGHT Well Known River Pilot Passed Away at 11:45 at U. S. Hospital.
Capt. Harry Green died at the United States Marine Hospital last night at 11:45 o’clock. The deceased was 40 years of age.
Capt. Green was taken to the hospital Sunday night suffering with a broken ankle. Yesterday it was found necessary to amputate the limb above the knee, as blood poison had set in.
The patient grew weaker and weaker and, owing to his nervous disposition, was unable to recover from the shock of the operation.
The manner in which Capt. Green was injured, as told by the captain, was in attempting to throw the searchlight, he fell and caught his leg in the pilot wheel, fracturing his knee and badly crushing his ankle. The accident occurred near the point. So great was the shock that the captain did not know the extent of his injuries. He managed to get to his feet and piloted the boat to the landing. When friends came to his rescue he was very weak.
The deceased was born at Louisville [sic], Ky., in 1865 and came to Cairo eight years ago. He had been a pilot all his life. During his record as a pilot, he never had a boat to sink.
Capt. Green was a pilot on the John A. Wood. He was well known among rivermen and was very popular among his associates.
The funeral will be held tomorrow afternoon at 12:30 o’clock at the family residence on Sixth Street.
The deceased was a member of Ascalon Lodge No. 51, Knight of Pythias, and that lodge will have charge of the funeral. The remains will be taken to New Madrid, Mo., for interment. A committee of Ascalon Lodge will accompany the remains to New Madrid on the Cotton Belt.
Capt. Green is survived by his wife, three children, Elise, Harry and Francis Green, and a sister, Mrs. Musa Woodward.
Many of the boats in the Cairo harbor had their flags half-mast today in honor of the deceased.
FUNERAL NOTICE
Died, Wednesday, March 28, at 2:30 a.m. Harry S. Green, aged 40 years.
Funeral services will be held at the family residence, No. 227 Sixth Street, at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, March 29th. Remains will be taken on the Cotton Belt train at 2 o’clock p.m. for New Madrid, Mo., where interment will be made.
Friends are invited to attend the services.
The following day, the Cairo Evening Citizen stated,
FUNERAL OF LATE CAPT. HARRY GREEN Held This Afternoon from Family Residence with Impressive Services
REMAINS TAKEN TO NEW MADRID, MO.
Death of This Popular Riverman a Great Shock to His Many Friends—Many Beautiful Floral Offerings
The funeral of Captain Harry Green was held this afternoon at the family residence, No. 227 Sixth Street. The funeral services were conducted by Rev. Morris, of the First Methodist Church, and were very impressive.
A large crowd was present and many beautiful floral offerings were given by the many friends of the deceased. Among these were two very large pieces, one representing the gates of heaven ajar and under it was the inscription “Our Captain.” This was given by the crew of the tow boat, Fred Hartweg. The other piece was from Ascalon Lodge K. of P. Many other large pieces were received from different rivermen and friends of the family.
The funeral left the house for the train at 1:30 o’clock. The pallbearers were the following: A. Wilson, W. S. Dewey, Peter Lind, Sam Richardson, C. C. Haynes, Clarence Nichols, H. S. Antrim, Captain Fred Bennett, and Capt. Faudree. Ascalon Lodge sent three of their members to accompany the remains to New Madrid. They were Messrs. Will Smith, John A. Miller and H. S. Blockley. The remains are to be interred in the family burying grounds two miles from New Madrid. The relatives and friends of the deceased who accompanied the remains left on the Cotton Belt at 2 o’clock. Capt. E.L. Faudree also accompanied the remains to New Madrid.
The death of this well known and popular riverman was a great shock to all the rivermen and others with whom he was acquainted.
Henry B. Green is buried in the family cemetery of his wife Marie’s family at New Madrid, Missouri, the A.C. LaForge cemetery. Marie LaForge Green is buried in All Saints cemetery at Des Plaines, Illinois.
Mary Musa Green
c. Mary Musa Green, daughter of Ezekiel Calhoun Green and Louisa B. Reed, was born 10 June 1842 at Smithland, Kentucky. This date of birth is given on her tombstone in Smithland cemetery.[32]
As a previous posting notes, the 1850 federal census enumerates Mary Musa in the household of her parents in Smithland. Another previous posting discusses references to her in the estate records of her father Ezekiel, which show her stepfather Milton Henderson Carson as her guardian and state that she was sent to school with William Moore and Miss Helen Simpson.
On 27 November 1857, Mary Musa married James L. Warmack. The marriage took place in Pope County, Illinois, and was recorded there, as well as in Livingston County, Kentucky, where the couple settled following their marriage.[33] A digital image of the Livingston County marriage record is at this previous posting.
What little information I find about James L. Warnack, I find on the 1860 federal census, which lists J.L. Warmack and wife Mary M. at Smithland, telling us that James was 24, born in Tennessee, and was a “Stm Boat Pilot” with $4,000 real worth and $2,700 personal worth.[34] Mary M. is 18 and was born in Kentucky. The couple actually appear twice on the 1860 federal census in Smithland: the other enumeration gives the same information, identifying J.L. Warnick [sic] as a St. B. Pilot with $6,000 and $6,300 real worth.[35] The 1860 federal slave schedule also shows James L. Warmick [sic] holding three enslaved persons at Smithland.[36]
I do not have a date or place of death for James L. Warmack, but it appears he had died prior to 25 April 1865, since on that date Mary Musa Warmack married Thomas F. Gibson in Smithland.[37] The marriage records states that Mary Musa was Mrs. Mary M. Warmack when she married Thomas Gibson; as noted above, Mary Musa’s brother Samuel K. Green witnessed the marriage.
On 30 April 1865, the Memphis Argus published a notice stating,[38]
Thomas F. Gibson, an old and well-known pilot, has been lately married, and is now in Cairo with his wife.
Thomas F. Gibson is buried next to Mary Musa in Smithland cemetery, with his tombstone stating that was born 22 December 1825 and died 21 January 1891. Federal censuses give his birthplace as Tennessee. As with James L. Warmack and Mary Musa’s brother and uncle, both named Samuel Kerr Green, Thomas F. Gibson was a boatman. The 1850 federal census shows him living in Smithland in the household of Charles Peterson, a steamboat captain.[39] On 3 July 1855, the Louisville Daily Courier carried an article about the explosion of the steamer Lexington in Rome, Indiana, on 30 June 1855.[40] The article states that the Lexington was on its way from St. Louis to Louisville when its boiler exploded on the Ohio River. Thomas F. Gibson was a first mate on the steamboat, and was slightly wounded in the explosion.
By 1870, Thomas may have given up the steamboating life, since the federal census of that year lists him at Smithland as a farmer.[41] This census shows Thomas (44, born in Tennessee) farming with $1,500 real worth and $1,000 personal worth, and wife Musa M. (27, born in Kentucky) with $1,500 real worth and $1,500 personal worth. The couple have no children, but in their household are two young Petersons, Irene and Mollie, along with several laborers. As I’ve just stated, in 1850, Charles F. Gibson was living with the family of Charles S. and Mary A. Peterson in Smithland, and along with Charles, a female aged 16, E.J. Gibson, is in the household. Mary A. was, I think, a sister of Thomas F. and E.J. Gibson. When Irene Peterson died on 11 March 1901 in Monticello, White County, Indiana, her death certificate gave her parents’ names as Charles S. Peterson and Milissa Gibson. I think that in 1870, Charles F. Gibson and wife Mary Musa were raising some younger Petersons because of a family connection.
In 1880, the federal census again finds Thomas and wife Mary Musa at Smithland, where Thomas’s occupation is now given as justice of the peace.[42] Thomas’s age is 54, and his parents are listed as Tennessee-born. Musa M.’s age is given as 37, and her birthplace is Kentucky; the census says that her father was born in South Carolina and her mother in Ohio. Again, Irene and Mary Peterson are living with Thomas and Mary Musa. The household is headed by a lawyer, Charles H. Webb.
Death notices for Thomas F. Gibson appeared in the Memphis Public Ledger and Appeal-Avalanche on 7 January 1891 and in the latter paper on the 8th of January.[43] The notices the Public Ledger and Appeal-Avalanche printed on 7 January state that Capt. Thomas F. Gibson was an old citizen of Smithland and had died there on Friday last. In the same notice of river news from Cairo in which the Appeal-Avalanche printed its death notice for Thomas F. Gibson is a notice that his nephew Harry Green had left Cairo on 6 January piloting the Debus. The brief obituary the Appeal-Avalanche printed on 8 January states that Thomas F. Gibson, aged sixty-four, who had died at Smithland the preceding Saturday, was “an old Cumberland and Mississippi River pilot, but had retired to a farm near Smithland.”
The last federal census on which I find Mary Musa, Thomas having died in 1891 as noted above, is the 1900 census, in which she appears as the widowed head of her household at Smithland.[44] The census gives Musa’s date of birth as June 1842 and states that she was born in Kentucky, and her father in South Carolina and mother in Maine. It also notes that she had not borne children. In the household are her nephew-in-law P.H. Bush, his wife Ola, and their children Vivianna or Virginia, Edgar Bryan, and Mary M. Bush, as well as another great-nephew, Alvord L. Mitchell. These appear to be relatives of Mary Musa through her mother Louisa B. Reed, whose first husband was Timothy J. Alvord.
Mary Musa’s death record states that Mrs. Musa Gibson, a widow aged 66, died of pneumonia at Smithland on 27 January 1909, and that she had been born at Smithland, daughter of Ezekiel and L.B. Green.[45] I think the name Mary Musa may have come into use in this Green family through the Harrison family into which Mary Musa’s father Ezekiel married when he married Matilda Harrison and then, apparently, her sister Anna/Ann. The uncle who raised Matilda and Anna, Robert W. Harrison, had a wife Mary M., whose surname appears to have been Harrison, too. I think it’s very likely that Mary M.’s middle name was Musa. Matilda also had the middle initial M., and may have been yet another Musa.
[1] 1850 federal census, Livingston County, Kentucky, Smithland, p. 384 (dwelling/family 858; 14 September).
[2] 1860 federal census, Livingston County, Kentucky, Smithland, p. 277 (dwelling 631/family 642, 21 August).
[3] Livingston County, Kentucky, Deed Bk. 4, pp. 24-5.
[4] Livingston County, Kentucky, Deed Bk. HH, p. 231.
[5] “Democratic Meeting in Livingston,” Louisville Daily Courier (18 July 1860), p. 1, col. 4-5.
[6] See Scott William Riley, “Green,” in Livingston County, Kentucky, History and Families, ed. Livingston County Historical Society (Morley, Missouri: Acclaim Press, 2010, p. 135.
[7] See Find a Grave memorial page of Samuel Kerr Green, Smithland cemetery, Smithland, Livingston County, Kentucky, created by Charles Lay, maintained by Find a Grave, with a tombstone photo by wanda.
[8] See supra, n. 1 and 2.
[9] Livingston County, Kentucky, Marriage Register Bk. 1A, p. 155.
[10] Ibid., p. 217.
[11] Warren County, Kentucky, Marriage Bonds Bk. C-D-E, p. 333.
[12] Warren County, Kentucky, loose-papers marriage file.
[13] See Find a Grave memorial page of Emma Burnam Green, Smithland cemetery, Smithland, Livingston County, Kentucky, created by Charles Lay, maintained by Silent One, with a tombstone photo by wanda; obituary in Southern Christian Advocate, 14 April 1877, abstracted in Jonathan Kennon Thompson Smith, Death Notices from the Christian Advocate, Nashville, Tennessee 1877-1879, p. 13, at the Davidson County, Tennessee, USGenweb site; and “Obituary,” Cairo [Illinois] Daily Bulletin (11 March 1877), p. 3, col. 6.
[14] See supra, n. 5.
[15] NARA, Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Kentucky, 1861-1865, RG 94, available digitally at Fold 3.
[16] Livingston County, Kentucky, Deed Bk. 5, pp. 170-2. The index to Livingston County, Kentucky, deed records at FamilySearch lists several other deeds in deed books not digitized by FamilySearch: Deed Bk. 7, pp. 236, 239; and Deed Bk. 8, pp. 165-166.
[17] Livingston County, Kentucky, Court Order Bk. I, pp. 5-6.
[18] Livingston County, Kentucky, Marriage Register 1857 (unpaginated).
[19] Riley, “Green,” in Livingston County, Kentucky, History and Families, p. 135.
[20] 1870 federal census, Livingston County, Kentucky, Smithland, p. 251 (dwelling 40/family 41, 8 June).
[21] “Death of Pilot Green,” Paducah Sun (28 March 1906), p. 3, col. 3.
[22] 1880 federal census, Alexander County, Illinois, Cairo, p. 94A (331 Washington Ave., family 365; 21 June).
[23] “News of the Rivers,” Paducah Sun (15 December 1898), p. 4, col. 3-4.
[24] 1900 federal census, Alexander County, Illinois, Cairo, p. 30B (806 Walnut St., family 81; 5 June).
[25] “Capt. Sam Green Dead,” Cairo Evening Citizen (22 June 1904), transcribed by Darrel Dexter, Obituaries and Death Notices, The Cairo Evening Citizen, 1 Jan 1904- 29 Dec 1904, Cairo, Alexander County, Illinois at Rootsweb.
[26] See supra, n. 13.
[27] “Died,” Cairo Daily Bulletin (7 March 1877), p. 3, col. 4.
[28] “Obituary,” Cairo Daily Bulletin (11 March 1877), p. 3, col. 6.
[29] See “General Local Items,” Cairo Bulletin (16 May 1882), p. 4, col. 2; and “Yesterday’s Event, the Wedding of Mr. Robert K. Woodward and Miss Musa D. Green, at the Methodist Episcopal Church Yesterday,” Cairo Bulletin (19 May 1882), p. 4, col. 3, on this wedding as “the most important social event of the last few weeks.”
[30] U.S. Department of Interior, Official Register of the United States: Containing a List of Officers and Employees in the Civil, Military, and Naval Service, vol. 1 (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1892), p. 434.
[31] See supra, n. 21; and Cairo Evening Citizen, 28-9 March 1906, transcribed by Darrel Dexter, Obituaries and Death Notices, The Cairo Evening Citizen, 1 Jan 1906- 31 Dec 1904, Cairo, Alexander County, Illinois, at Rootsweb.
[32] See Find a Grave memorial page of Mary Musa Green Gibson, Smithland cemetery, Smithland, Livingston County, Kentucky, created by Charles Lay, maintained by Jerry Bebout, with a tombstone photo by wanda.
[33] Pope County, Illinois, Marriage Bk. A, p. 487; and see supra, n. 18.
[34] 1860 federal census, Livingston County, Kentucky, Smithland, p. 278 (dwelling 638/family 649; 21 August).
[35] Ibid., p. 284 (dwelling 683/family 694; 23 August).
[36] 1860 federal slave schedule, Livingston County, Kentucky, Smithland, p. 965 (21-14 August).
[37] See supra, n. 10.
[38] “River News,” Memphis Argus” (30 April 1865), p. 3, col. 5.
[39] 1850 federal census, Livingston County, Kentucky, Smithland, p. 323 (dwelling/family 7; 1 August)
[40] “Terrible Steamboat Disaster, Explosion of the Lexington,” Louisville Daily Courier (3 July 1855), p. 4, col. 1. See also “Steamboat Explosion,” New York Times (3 July 1855), p. 4, col. 5. On 21 August 1861, in an article entitled “Steamboat Meeting at Paducah,” the Louisville Daily Courier, p. 4, col. 4, states that the crew of the steamboat Jackson Purchase had met at Paducah and passed a resolution supporting “Southern interests.” The article states that Thomas G. Gibson was a mate aboard the Jackson Purchase who signed the resolution.
[41] 1870 federal census, Livingston County, Kentucky, Smithland, p. 251 (dwelling 38/family 39; 8 June).
[42] 1880 federal census, Livingston County, Kentucky, Smithland, p. 300 (dwelling/family 118; 5 June).
[43] “River Intelligence,” Public Ledger [Memphis] (7 January 1891), p. 3, col. 2; “At Cairo,” Appeal-Avalanche [Memphis] (7 January 1891), p. 7, col. 1; “General Flotage,” Appeal-Avalanche [Memphis] (8 January 1891), p. 7, col. 1.
[44] 1900 federal census, Livingston County, Kentucky, Smithland, p. 179A (dwelling 75/family 76; 4 June).
[45] Livingston County, Kentucky, Register of Deaths, 1909, unpaginated.
Begats and Bequeathals 