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KESTER Family History, Part IV

Samuel FERGUSON (Sr.) (1758-1814)

--. Samuel Furgason (Ferguson) (Sr.) was born on June 9, 1758, in Trenton, Burlington County, New Jersey, or Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, to Elizabeth Lacock (Leacock) and her first husband, Thomas Zilliah Furgason.^{[Hunt 586]} Samuel's father died when he was a toddler and his mother went on to marry William Kester, a widower, about 1762 when he was about 4 years old. Samuel married Elizabeth Anderson on August 17, 1779, in "Patterson Creek, Virginia," presumably in Mineral County, West Viriginia. By 1780, the Fergusons moved into Maryland, probably west to Allegany County, where the Kester family had resettled. They had four children before Elizabeth's death in 1786, reportedly in Washington County, Pennsylania.

After Elizabeth's death, Samuel resettled in Nelson County, Kentucky, southeast of Louisville, he married Elizabeth Crook Blue in Bardstown on August 12, 1788. They had 11 children:

The Furgason family likely started in Allegany County, Maryland, where the Kester family lived. By 1781, it appears the Furgasons moved northwest to Peters Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania, southwest of Pittsburgh. It was from Peters Township that Samuel served as a "ranger on the frontier" and reportedly was ordered to rendezvous with Captain Samuel Cunningham's 1st Company of the 2nd Battalion of Washington County Militia on June 14, 1782.

At the close of the war the Furgason family may have returned to Allegany County, Maryland, until 1786.

By 1786, the Furgasons had either returned to Washington County, Pennsylvania, or were headed north toward Pittsburgh with the Kester family to take a flat boat down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh to Kentucky.

Elizabeth (Anderson) Furgason reportedly died in 1786 in Washington County, Pennsylvania. She was about 24 years old.

After Samuel resettled in Bardstown, Nelson County, Kentucky, he remarried to Elizabeth Crook BLUE on August 12, 1788. They had four children born in Bardstown before moving northeast into Ohio Territory and resettling in Butler County, probably in 1798, five years before Ohio statehood. The rest of their 11 children were born in Butler County.

Just three months after Samuel's last child was born, he died on February 14, 1814, in Hamilton, Butler County, Ohio. He was 55 years old.

Perhaps during the 1820s, Elizabeth moved west with some of her children to Marion County, Indiana. She was living with her youngest surviving son James in Warren Township by 1850.^{[Cen 1850]}

Elizabeth Crook (Blue) Furgason died in Marion County, Indiana, on October 8, 1865, at the age of 95. She is buried at McVey Cemetery in Warren Township, now in the eastern suburbs of Indianapolis.

Pvt. Paul KESTER⁵ (1760-1814)

12511. Pvt. Paul Kester⁵ was born about 1760, probably in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, north and across the Delaware River from Philadelphia. He was apparently named after his paternal grandfather. His mother died when he was a baby and his father remarried about 1762 when he was about 2 years old. He married Ruhama Bonham⁶ in April 1785 and had nine children:^{[Hunt 309]}

The Kesters moved from Hunterdon County, New Jersey, probably to Allegany County, Maryland, with Paul's father.

In April 1786 the Kesters, along with Paul's father, moved down the Ohio River to Nelson County in central Kentucky, south of Louisville, 6 years prior to Kentucky statehood.

The Kester family probably moved north to Elk Creek, then in Shelby County and later redrawn into Spencer County, when Paul's father bought 600 acres there in 1795.^{[Hunt 593]}

Following the conclusion of the Northwest Indian War (1785–1795) in Ohio, Indiana, and southern Michigan, the Treaty of Greenville (August 1795) redrew the border with the Western Confederacy of Indian tribes, pushing them north from the Ohio River to open up lands in southern and eastern Ohio for American settlement. By 1802, perhaps as early as 1801, the Kester family crossed the Ohio River north into southern Ohio Territory and settled briefly at Middletown, Butler County, along the Great Miami River. Paul's younger half-sisters, Elizabeth (Kester) Liston and Sarah (Kester) Pound had settled in Butler County in 1801. His younger half-brothers remained in Elk Creek.

By around 1807, the Kesters moved to Preble County in southwest Ohio, southwest of Dayton.

War of 1812 (1812-1815)

British military support to Indian raids in Northwest Great Lakes region, and America's continued support to Napoleonic France, with whom Great Britain and most of Europe was at war, led to America's declaration of war against Britain in 1812. Early in the war, William Hull, the Governor of Michigan Territory, was commissioned as a brigadier general and invaded lower Canada. The British countered, repulsed Hull, and took Fort Detroit. The following spring, Major General William Henry Harrison suffered defeats against the British and Indians in Michigan while attempting to retake Fort Detroit. A Native American massacre of American prisoners of war at the River Raisin, southwest of Detroit, and British invasion of northwestern Ohio followed but was halted by the unsuccessful British and Native American sieges on Fort Meigs, about 165 miles north of Preble County. It was immediately after the first Siege of Fort Meigs that Paul joined Lanier's independent battalion of Ohio militia from Preble County on March 11, 1813.^{[Hunt 309]}

Pvt. Kester served with the company until it was decommissioned on April 7, 1814.^{[War 1812]} Upon his discharge Paul "was killed on his way home."^{[Hunt 309]} He was about 53 or 54 years old.

Continue on to
Ruhama (Bonham) Kester⁶

Son John moved west to Vigo County, Indiana, by 1817, and apparently took his widowed mother with him. John later moved about 50 miles north to Montgomery County. Ruhama may have stayed behind in Vigo County.

Ruhama (Bonham) Kester died on October 20, 1846, in Pimento, Vigo County, Indiana, likely at the home of one of her grandchildren who did not continue west to Iowa. She was 81 years old. Ruhama is buried at the Second Prarie Creek Baptist Cemetery in Linton Township, Vigo County.

Elizabeth (KESTER) LISTON (~1763-~1840)

12512. Elizabeth Kester was born about 1763 in New Jersey^{[Hunt 395]}, perhaps in Hunterdon County. By the 1780s her family moved west to Allegany County, Maryland, where she married Edmund Liston (Sr.) in 1781. After their marriage they "settled under the Laurel Hills on George's Creek," possibly referring to the area of the town of Moscow. They had eight children:^{[Hunt 395]}

The Listons moved to Kentucky in 1786 along with Elizabeth's parents, by way of flat boat down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They arrived in April and first settled in Nelson County, southeast of Louisville. In 1789 they moved closer to Louisville in Jefferson County and then to neighboring Spencer County in 1791.^{[Hunt 395]}

The Listons moved again in 1801 northeast to Butler County, Ohio Territory, north of Cincinnati and two years prior to Ohio statehood.^{[Hunt 395]}

In 1808 the Listons picked up and continued west to the area of Vincennes, Sullivan County, in western Indiana Territory.^{[Hunt 395]}

Elizabeth's two eldest sons, Joseph and William, served during the War of 1812 (1812-1815).^{[Hunt 396,446]}

The Listons stayed near Vincennes until 1814 when they moved north into the adjacent Vigo County and settled near Prairie Creek.^{[Hunt 395]}

Edmund Liston (Sr.) died sometime prior to Elizabeth.^{[Hunt 395]}, likely during the 1830s^{[Cen 1830]}. He was probably in his 70s or early 80s

Elizabeth (Kester) Liston died about 1840 and is buried at Prairie Creek, Vigo County, Indiana. She was about 77 years old.^{[Hunt 395]}

William KESTER (Jr.) (~1765-~1815)

12513. William Kester (Jr.) was born about 1765, probably in New Jersey^{[Hunt 483]}, perhaps in Hunterdon County. His family moved to Allegany County, Maryland, by the 1780s. He married Eunice Pound and had 11 children:^{[Hunt 483]}

The Kesters migrated to Kentucky in 1786 along with William's parents, by way of flat boat down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They arrived in April and first settled in Nelson County, southeast of Louisville.^{[Hunt 483]}

The Kesters moved a little ways north into adjacent Shelby County and settled at Elk Creek in 1795.^{[Hunt 483]} When Spencer County was formed in 1824, Elk Creek became part of Spencer County. The Kesters remained at Elk Creek the rest of their lives while William's elder brother and sister migrated north to Ohio and west to Indiana in the early 1800s.

Both William and Eunice (Pound) Kester died within days of each other about 1815 and are buried in Elk Creek. The were both about 50 years old.^{[Hunt 483]}

Sons Nathan and Absalom became members of the Regular Baptists (also known as Primitive Baptists or "Old School Baptists") in 1831. Absalom became a charter member of the Concord Church in Westfield, Clark County, Illinois, in September 1831, and Nathan joined later that year in November. Their first cousins, Jesse and Bonham Kester also became Regular Baptists in Putnam County, Illinois.

Sarah (KESTER) POUND^• (1767-1848)

12514. Sarah Kester^• was born on January 4, 1767, probably in New Jersey. She and her family moved west to Allegany County, Maryland, by the 1780s, and in 1786 moved to Kentucky by way of flat boat down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They arrived in April and first settled in Nelson County, southeast of Louisville. In that same year, Sarah married Thomas Pound (Sr.) and raised 11 children:^{[Hunt 541]}

The Pounds started their family in Nelson County, Kentucky, and then moved north probably to Elk Creek, where her parents moved in 1795. Elk Creek was then located in Shelby County and later redrawn into the newly established Spencer County in 1824.

In 1801, the Pounds relocated north into southwest Ohio to the "Miami bottoms" in Butler County, just north of Cincinnati.^{[Hunt 541]}

The Pounds moved west one more time in November 1816 to near Prairie Creek, Vigo County, Indiana.^{[Hunt 541]}

Sarah was a "doctor woman" and well known for her skill in attending the sick.^{[Hunt 541]}

Thomas and Sarah (Kester) Pound both died, just hours apart, on February 2, 1848. They are buried at the Second Prairie Creek Cemetery in Vigo County. He was 80 years old and she had recently turned 81.

John KESTER (1770-1839)

12515. John Kester was born on March 23, 1770, in Virginia, perhaps in the area that is now West Virginia. His family resettled in Allegany County, Maryland, by the 1780s and then moved to Kentucky in 1786 by way of flat boat down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They arrived in April and first settled in Nelson County, southeast of Louisville. John married Sarah Pound in Nelson County on October 26, 1791.^{[Marr 1791]} They raised 10 children:^{[Hunt 543,593]}

Son William recalled that his mother Sarah grew cotton near Cox's Station, Nelson County, carded it by hand, spun it, wove it, and made her own wedding dress. She later loaned the dress to others to be married in.^{[Hunt 594]}

John joined Major General "Mad Anthony" WAYNE's^{[Hunt 543]} Legion of the United States, which was established in 1792 at Legionville, near present-day Baden in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, downriver along the Ohio River from Pittsburgh. The Legion fought the Western Indian Confederacy throughout north and western Ohio ultimately scored a decisive vistory at the Battle of Fallen Timbers ) near Toledo on August 20, 1794.

The Kesters moved north from Nelson County to Elk Creek, then in Shelby County and later redrawn into the newly established Spencer County in 1824. They stayed in Elk Creek through 1838, by which time his two surving elder siblings and many of their families had moved north into southwestern Ohio and then to western Indiana.^{[Hunt 543]}

John tended "a great many sugar trees on his land, from which he made sugar every year, some seasons making as high as three thousand pounds."^{[Hunt 593]}

John sold the Elk Creek homestead in March 1838 to Dr. James J. Heady and was visiting family in Vigo County, Indiana, when he died on September 14, 1839. He was 69 years old and is buried at the Second Prairie Creek Cemetery.^{[Hunt 543,593]}

Sarah (POUND) KESTER died 10 years later on October 14, 1849.^{[Hunt 543]}

Continue on to Part V