Some Things Get Better

     Yesterday, I wrote about how the grave stone of Elisha had deteriorated in the last decade.  But not everything has gotten worse.  

     My grandmother visited St Gregory Cemetery in Samuels, Kentucky around 1950.  Two pictures survive of her visit. The first shows a row of grave stones of her mother and her maternal grandparents.  In 2005 we visited the same cemetery and happened to take a pictures from a similar position.  In the fifties, the cemetery was overgrown with brush and appears to be in disrepair.  Not so now.  

     By examining the following photos, you can see that the community of St. Gregory Church is now maintaining the cemetery in good condition.  A big THANK YOU for all who help maintain the cemetery from this descendant of at least six direct ancestors who are buried here.

1950 photo of grave of Eliza Jane Gates Blandford in the foreground

Similar view from 2005

The first four graves (seen above) from left to right: Eliza Jane Gates Blandford;
 Eliza's brother, Truman James Gates;
Eliza's parents, Elizabeth Mattingly Gates and William R. Gates.

Here is a wider view of the cemetery in 2005 

Photo taken in 2008 (courtesy of Amanda-findagrave contributor #47289435)

A low-resolution picture of my grandmother, Mary Cathering Blandford Armstrong,
 standing next to the grave of her mother, Eliza Jane Gates Blandford. 

Ancestors at the Nazareth Academy

   In 1814 the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth founded a girls’ school just outside of Bardstown, Kentucky. The Sisters called the location Nazareth.  Nazareth was about 5 miles from the location of the future home of Elisha Gates and family.     

    My Aunt Jane had told us that several of our ancestors had attended and graduated from the Nazareth Academy.   On a trip to Kentucky in 2005, my sister, my wife and I stopped by the the girls’ school.  The academy has now been merged with Nazareth College and renamed. Some of the building now serve other purposes. The Sisters were wonderful hosts.  They showed us through their wonderful museum, and some of the rooms where our ancestors would have congregated.  The Sisters shared some old records with us.  It appeared that around 1900 someone at the academy had transcribed records of each alumnus onto 3 by 5 cards.   The front of the cards for my two ancestors are shown below.

Elizabeth Mattingly

(1832 - 1918)

Daughter of George Mattingly and Catherine Miles

Eliza Jane Gates

(1853 - 1903)

Daughter of William R. Gates and Elizabeth Mattingly

    As is normally the case, each record that is found opens new questions or areas of research.  Aunt Jane did not believe that these records were accurate.  She had been quite adamant that Eliza Jane Gates and Elizabeth Mattingly were:

1. catholic.
2. graduates of the Academy.
3. longtime students at Nazareth Academy.

Returning to Nazareth Academy is on my list of things to do.  It always seems that shortly after I have visited archives I realize there is a few more pieces of information that I should have looked up.  At Nazareth I should have examined records of some of the siblings and cousins of Eliza Jane and Elizabeth.  These records might have shed more light on the accuracy of all the records.  But at this point I would certainly agree with Aunt Jane that the statement in that first record about the religion of Elizabeth Mattingly.   The Nelson County marriage record of her parents show that they were married by I. A. Reynolds.   The Rev. Ignatius A. Reynolds was pastor at St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Bardstown at the time.  Her uncle, Richard Pius Miles was the Catholic Bishop of Nashville from 1837 until 1860.  I would tend to believe that Elizabeth Mattingly was Catholic.   I also would tend to believe that Elizabeth’s age is incorrect.   She is shown as being 14 years old in 1848.   Her birthyear on her tombstone¹ and her death certificate² is given as 1832. Were these transcription errors? We might get some answers with another visit to Kentucky.

1. "Find A Grave - Millions of Cemetery Records." 25 Aug. 2013 <http://www.findagrave.com/>
2. "Kentucky, Death Records, 1911-1955," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/N9LF-6V9 : accessed 25 Aug 2013), Elizabeth Gates, 1918.

Stills and Spirits

    Most frontier farmers had a difficult time getting their crops to market.  The roads were poor and in some cases non-existent.    The distances were great and there was always the issue of spoilage. They soon found that if they distilled their grain into whiskey that spoilage was a non-issue.  So stills and distilleries were a part of my Kentucky and Pennsylvania roots.  
My Pennsylvania ancestors moved into western Pennsylvania about the time of the Whiskey Rebellion.  The Whiskey Rebellion was a result of of the federal government’s attempt under George Washington to apply a tax to spirits but not grain.  Because of the tax, the frontier farmer carried a disproportional share of the cost of the government and it cut into profits as well.  I know that some of the Hugus ancestors must have been distillers, especially since Jacob Hugus was issued a patent for distilling spirits in 1828 and another issued in 1832 for making wine from cider¹. Hugus Patents
     Distilleries were also an important part of life in Nelson County, Kentucky.   The town of Samuels was named for the Samuels Family which has been distilling spirits for hundreds of years.  Present day Maker’s Mark Whiskey was founded by members of the Samuels family.  Even though we know that John G. Gates worked at a distillery and  there was a Mattingly Distillery near Samuels, we are unaware of any family owning distilleries in Nelson County.  William R. Gates (the second son of Elisha Gates) married Elizabeth Mattingly.  Elizabeth’s brother, Miles P. Mattingly was owner of several distilleries in Owensboro².  There was even a court case as a result of one of his purchases.   Old W. S. Stone Distillery; M. P. M. Distiller, Hand Made Sour Mash Whiskey became a famous brand at the time.³


1.  Ellsworth, Henry-Leavitt. Unites States. Patent Office. Digest of Patents, Issued by the United States from 1790 to January 1, 1839. Washington D. C.: Peter Force, 1840.

2.  The History of Daviess County, Kentucky. Chicago, Illinois: Interstate Publishing Company, 1883. 

3.   Mattingly v Stone, Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1889 Southwestern Reporter, Vol 12, page 467-69

The Gates' Farm

     The Gates' farm was along the waters of Froman's Creek near Coxs Creek.  Elisha probably purchased this land with the proceeds from the sale of the Anchovie Hills Plantation in Prince George's County, Maryland.  The 1850 Census shows the farm valued at $10,000 which was considerably more than other farms in the area.  In 1855 Elisha and Christina gave 153 acres of land to their sons, John and William.  Elisha Gates died during the Civil War but Christina Gates lived until 1869.  William had married Elizabeth Mattingly in 1849.  John did not marry until much later in life.  
     My Aunt Jane, who met some of the Gates family, told about an episode involving Elizabeth Mattingly Gates.  During the Civil War, Union soldiers came through taking all the meat from the farm.  They eyed the nice wool blankets longingly saying, "Wish we were further south, then we'd take these".  Elizabeth Mattingly Gates sat in front of the dresser where their money was hidden but they didn't ask her to move. 

Gates' Family Home near Coxs Creek, Kentucky - May 1905
 from left: Russell Gates; Mattie Gates; Metta Gates Spaulding; Elizabeth Mattingly Gates (wife of W^m Gates)

By comparing this old map¹ with the Google map you can see that the Gates' Farm is close to where Samuels Road (509) turns south.   Zooming makes Froman's Creek visible.  St. Gregory Cemetery is located a little west and south along Mobley Mill Road. (Coxs Creek is also known as Cox Creek or Cox's Creek)

View Larger Map

1. An Atlas of Nelson & Spencer Counties, Kentucky. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: D. J. Lake & Co., 1882.