Correspondence with Phillip Stith -- more on the Stith Wright connection.
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To: Philip Stith, Sr. October 22, 2000
From: Jess Scott
Dear Phillip,
Thanks for your letter of October 15, 2000.
Attached is a note page on Ann Stith daughter of Richard Stith and Lucy Hall. She married first John Hightower and second Drury Hardaway. If she had children by John Hightower, I do not know it. Her son by Drury Hardaway was Thomas P. Hardaway and her grandson was James Leach Hardaway. James L. Hardaway is buried on the original Stith farm in Stith Valley in the family cemetery. He was the great grandfather of my father. I do not know where Ann Stith is buried. I have a note that she was buried in "Hardin" Kentucky but don't know what that means. There are a number of field stones in the old cemetery on the original Stith farm in Stith Valley. No writing remains on these stones. Perhaps one of these could be hers?
Also attached is a page on a Hester Ann Stith daughter of Griffin Stith. She was also known as Esther Stith. She was the first wife of Gilbert Wright. This must be the Hester Ann Stith you are interested in? She is your great-grandmother. I show this Hester Ann Stith as born in 1840. Would you check your date of 1858 for Hester? If this Hester Ann Stith is buried in the Stith-Wright Cemetery, I do not know it. Perhaps her stone was a field stone which has not survived? The second wife of Gilbert Wright was your grandfather's sister, Nancy Elizabeth Stith. I do know that Nancy Elizabeth Stith Wright is buried in the Stith-Wright cemetery.
Gilbert Wright m. Hester Ann Stith (his first marriage)
dau. Emma Catherine Wright m. Charles B. Stith
Henry Stith m. Mary Ann Stith
son. Charles B. Stith m. Emma Catherine Wright
dau. Nancy Elizabeth Stith m. Gilbert Wright (his
second marriage)
This is a very complex relationship but I believe it to be true.
Also I am including what I know about the ancestors of your friend's aunt, Clara Stith.
I do not know where Charles B. Stith is burried. If he is at the Stith farm or at the Wright-Stith Cemetery, his grave is not marked. I am familiar with the stones in both cemeteries.
Best regards,
Jess
To: Philip Stith, Sr. September 21, 2000
From: Jess Scott
Dear Mr. Stith,
Thanks for your letter of 5 September 2000. Here is a summary of the recent family line:
Henry Stith and Mary Ann Stith
Thomas J. Stith b 1841
brother: Charles B. Stith b. 1847
Irene Stith m. Fontaine
brother:
William Allen Stith
Edward Body Stith b. 1898
Ruth Fontaine m. Scott
Thomas J. Stith
Phillip E. Stith, Sr.
Walter C. Scott
Jess B. Scott
You and I are both descended from Henry and Mary Ann Stith. My great grandmother was oldest of a large family, as was my grandmother. As a result the generations don't line up year for year. As I read it, your father was first cousin to my great grandmother Irene and to Thomas J. Stith's father William Allen Stith. You are second cousin to my grandmother Ruth and to the current Thomas J. Stith. Note that the current Thomas J. Stith in Stith Valley is actually the grand son of the elder Thomas J. Stith.
I wonder if the lady you remember seeing on your way back from Florida years ago might have been my grandmother Ruth Fontaine Scott? Her great grandfather would have been the same as your great grandfather, Henry Stith. She was always studying family history but, to my knowledge, she never got around to organizing it. I have been spending some time pulling together records she left along with other family records that I can find.
My mother was a Brown from Clinton County.
Also you mentioned a friend in Marion that had a Stith grandmother. If you still want details I can send you the lineage. Her ancestor Jesse Stith goes back to a Drury Stith, 3rd who was brother to our ancestor Richard Stith, Sr. .
I will see what kind of pictures I can find to send you.
Best regards,
Jess
To: Philip Stith, Sr. January 19, 2000
From: Jess Scott
Dear Mr. Stith,
My cousin, Thomas J. Stith gave me your letter that you wrote to Audrey back in April of 1996. Audrey passed away a few years ago and I think yours was on her list of letters to answer when she died. Your letter may have been even after she died. I'm not sure on that. He also gave me an old envelope from you in 1992 with a genealogy pedigree chart partially filled out.
Thomas J. is doing well and still living at the house he built on the site of the old Stith farm house that burned.
I am part owner of the old homestead in Stith Valley, Meade County, Ky. where Richard Stith, Jr. and his brother William first settled in Ky. They were two of your great -great grandfathers, as they were my ancestors also.
I have also corresponded recently with your niece, Virginia Lake, who found me on the internet.
Best Regards,
Jess
Attachment to 22 October 2000 letter:
Ann Hall Stith daughter of Richard Stith and Lucy Hall
Ann Hall2 Stith [#183/] (Richard1), born 12 Nov 1757 in , , Campbell, Va; died 14 Jan 1831 in , , Hardin, Ky. She married
Thomas Parsons3 Hardaway [#2100/] (Ann Hall2 Stith, Richard1), born 1795. He married on
19 Feb 1818 in , , Hardin, Ky, Nancy Ann (Stith) Hardaway [#381/] (see 27), born 8 Sep
1798; died 16 Feb 1842, daughter of Joseph Stith [#42/] and Nancy (Cocke) Stith [#43/].
Children of Thomas Parsons3 Hardaway and Nancy Ann Stith were as follows:
+ i William4 Hardaway [#7600/51NN-S6], born 1831. He married Elizabeth Ezra (Hardaway)
Hardaway [#7604/51NN-TC] (see 347).
+ ii James Leach4 Hardaway [#7601/] married Margaret J (Cain) Hardaway [#6920/].
iii Nancy4 Hardaway [#8352/]
Margaret Cain Hardaway was my father's great grandmother whom he could remember. (Jess Scott, October 2000)
Attachment to 22 October 2000 letter:
Five Wright Brothers came from England to Virginia; sons of Martin Wright
1. Riley m Osborne 3 children
1. Liza m Brown
2. Margaret m Nall
3. Lindy m French
2. Poaste never married
3. Harve m Bell Board 1 child
1. Joe
4. Stanley ?
5. Gilbert Dempsy Wright d March 15, 1878 m 1st Hester Ann Stith (dau Griffin Stith)
2 children
1. Emma m Charley Stith 5
children (Charles B. Stith)
1. Charley
Gray
2. Boone
3. Grace
4. Bess
5. Ed (Edward
Body Stith)
2. Arthur m 1 child
1. Charlie
Gilbert m 2nd Nancy Elizabeth Stith on March 1, 1865;
8 children
Nancy b
July 29, 1843; d Nov 10, 1910; daughter of Henry Stith and Mary Ann Stith
3. Eudora Ann b Jan 20, 1868
4. Mary Lee b Dec 2, 1869
5. Martha J. b Dec 2, 1869
6. Lucy Jane b Sept 10, 1871
7. Thomas Riley b Sept 10, 1871
8. Joseph Henry b Dec 4, 1874
m Effie Rachel Hughes Sept 3, 1902 8 children
Joseph buried in Stith Valley; Effie Rachel b May 13, 1885
1. Robert Henry b May 11, 1903
2. Arvin Hughes b Sept 26, 1906
3. Bessie Lee b Jan 6, 1910
4. Eva Mae b July 9, 1914
5. Shellie Witt b July 27, 1917
6. Joseph Mac b May 3, 1919
7. Nettie Rachel b May 6, 1924
8. Clara Frances b Aug 11, 1927
9. Lona Catherine b Oct 12, 1876
m 1st Benjamin Hughes (then divorced) 1 child
1. Henry Robinson Hughes (This was the Henry Hughes who worked for John Williams for many
years.)
Lona m 2nd
William (Will) Thomas Hughes 1 child (William and Benjamin were brothers to
Effie Rachel)
Lona and William buried in Indiana
2. Susie
10. Gilbert Robinson b July 27, 1878; d ~
1950; m 1st Lillie Mae Hughes 1 child
buried in Buck Grove Cemetery
1. Earl Edward Wright 4 children
1.Laverne Wright married Pious Whelan 4 children
1. Mary Whelan
2. Joe Earl Whelan
3. Kathy
4. Diane
2. Ruth
3. Betty
4. Earl Jr.
Gilbert m 2nd Effie Rachel Hughes no children (m after death of Joseph Henry
Wright)
Three more Wright Brothers also came; cousins to the five; don't know father's name
6. Mark m Nannie Yates 2 children
1. Fronie m Miller 5 children
1. Luther twin
2. Louise twin
3. Martin
4. Guy
5. Irene
2. Hugh 2 children
1. Ersie m
Vertreese
2. Ellen m
Long
7. Silas m Lissie ______
1. Mark
2. Lucy
3. Dee m George Chaney
4. Crit never married
5. Lucy m James Ritchie
6. Mack
7. M. C. Lina m Dan Thomas
8. Robert m Mary Hughes (Mary was sister of Effie and Lillie Hughes)
The above provided by Joe Mac Wright January 2000.
Joe Mac also notes:
" The house that my grandmother Nancy Stith Wright lived in was a large log house. It burned while she was still living. the house that you and I remember as 'The Uncle Gill house' was built mistly by neighbors.
" The Joseph H. Wright family first lived with his mother Nancy. Their first child was born there in 1903. Sometime between 1903 and 1906 they bought on what is known as Sandridge, Hardin County."