Elijah Herndon
1774-1849
Written by William Russell Stevens and published in the Falmouth Outlook July 28, 1978.
Elijah Herndon was born in Goochland County, Virginia November 27, 1774 to son of Lewis and Frances Thompson Herndon. Lewis was the eldest son of James Herndon c1716-1764 and Valentine Haley who died in Goochland County in 1799. James was the youngest son of Edward Herndon 1678-1758 and Mary Waller. Mary was the aunt of John Waller who purchased Kunta Kinte of the Roots fame in 1767.
Lewis Herndon with his family and slaves moved to Woodford County, Kentucky where his will was drawn up September 17, 1789, and it was probated in Scott County July 1796 shortly after his death. Elijah appears on the Scott County tax lists for 1796. Sometime before 1800 Elijah married and moved to Campbell County where he is listed on the census. The name of his first wife is unknown, but the names of the children are in the Herndon Family Bible; John T, James, Isabella, George R, Elisa, and Frances.
On April 10, 1806 he purchased 130 acres of land in Carthage from Benjamin and Jeanette Beall for $260. In 1810 Elijah had a household of four males, three females, and one slave. On August 30, 1813 he mustered into Captain Squire Grant's Company of the 4th Regiment of Kentucky Mounted Volunteer Militia at Newport. They marched north to Ontario Canada under the command of General William Henry Harrison where they defeated the British and killed Tecumseh at the Battle of the Thames. Elijah mustered out November 8, 1813. He was paid $11 a month plus 40 cents a day for his horse. According the pay records in the Archive Building, he received $25.54 for his services and $28.40 for his horse.
A family story states that Elijah and his slaves built the brick home on Washington Trace Road in 1818 out of bricks used as a ship's ballast for his second wife Elizabeth Sadler. His next child born was Susan in 1820. According to Robert Herndon possessor of the bible who died in 1973, the Herndon House was used by Harriet Beecher Stowe in part of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Mrs. Stowe lived in Cincinnati for 18 years until 1850 and did visit Northern Kentucky. The slave quarters were in the basement of the home on Washington Trace. This home is still standing today and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
Elizabeth died shortly after Susan was born and Elijah married Catherine De Moss in Pendleton County on June 23, 1821. She was the daughter of Peter De Moss and Catherine Houseman. Elijah and his wife had Evaline, Mary Gregg, Rebecca M, Fletcher and Demarius. His daughter Mary Gregg married William Evermont Bryan on October 21, 1845 in the family home in Carthage.
During the winter of 1843-44 Elijah and his wife Catherine deeded 1/2 acre to Thomas Tarvin, John C Tarvin and William I Newman, trustees of the Carthage Methodist Church. The church was organized at the home of Elijah and Catherine and the earliest burial in the cemetery was Raleigh Tarvin in 1846.
On December 29, 1847 Elijah made a will. He died July 26, 1849 and it was recorded August 27, 1849. The home and land was willed to Fletcher. By decree of the court of June 24, 1850 Demarius took herself out from under the control of her mother and named a new guardian her half brother Zeno Barker. Fletcher did the same thing and selected another guardian.
On March 15, 1853 Mary Gregg and her husband William Bryan embarked on a steamboat at Cincinnati for St. Louis and on to California. They settled in Alameda. Catherine died April 21, 1857 and was buried next to Elijah in the Old Mt. Gilead Methodist Church Cemetery. Her estate was put up for sale and everything to the last spoon is recorded in the inventory in the sale book at the court house in Alexandria.
When Fletcher died in 1921, the Herndon land and homestead was surveyed and divided among the heirs with Eddie Bonnie Herndon, Fletcher's son, getting the house and 12 acres. In 1926 the house was bought by Lisle McArthur. It was later sold to the McCormick family.
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