Three Forks of the Kentucky River Historical Association

Biography

"Greys Bend"

A Lutes Family History, Page 2

by Willie Hartman Lutes

THE FAMILY OF JOHN AND PRISCILLA MANN LUTES: (OR THE LUTES'S OF THE 19th CENTURY):

John Lutes (born Maryland 1796 - 1877)
Priscilla Man (born Kentucky 1798 - 1879) Married in Owsley County, Ky., 1819

a) Priscilla
b) Henry
c) Elizabeth
d) Charles
e) Buford
f) Dock
g) Christopher
h) James
i) Demia
j) Joe
k) William

a) Priscilla, born 1820. Married into Hilton family. No record as to her children, death date, etc.

b) Henry, born 1822. Married Evaline Smith. Lived on farm near his parents. Census records of 1850 list two children: Francis, age 3, and Mary, age 1. His farm is valued at $1000. No record of other children, his death date, etc. His grandmother, Mary Lutes, was living with him in 1850. She was 80 years of age at that time.

c) Elizabeth, born 1850. Married into the Abner family. No other records.

d) Charles, born May 23, 1827. Died May 13, 1871. Married Lucinda Plummer. To this union were born 10 children: Nancy, Ellen, Sam, Dillard, Ward, Arch, Granville, William, Curt, and John. Charles settled on land joining his father's place, and his great grandson, Enos Lutes is living on the place today (1962). Many of Charles Lutes' descendants are living in Lee County today.

e) Buford, born 1829. When the Civil War started, Buford was 31 years of age. On Oct. 16, 1861, he and my grandfather William enrolled in the Union Army, and were sent to a training camp at Lebanon, Ky. They were both put in Co. G, 8th Ky. Infantry. Buford died while still in camp, March 19, 1862. He was perhaps buried in the Military Cem. at Lebanon. (I am in possession of a copy of the "History of the Eighth Regiment, Ky. Vol. Inf." by Capt. T.J. Wright printed in 1880).

f) Dock, born 1831 - died 1865. At the start of the Civil War, Dock enrolled in the "Three Forks Battalion" a State Troops outfit that did guard duty of the three forks of the Ky. River, and down the river to Irvine, Ky. Duty here involved men in quarrels that led to trouble for many years to come. Dock was discharged in 1865 at Rocky Gap (St. Helens) Ky. He was walking home and about half way between St. Helen and Red Brush he was shot and killed from ambush. No clue was ever found as to who shot him, but it is with no doubt, some of the bushwackers that often hunted out their enemies and shot them in the back. I talked to old men who told me they remember when they were small boys there were two large stones, one on top the other, placed on the spot where Dock was killed. Noah Lucas, age 32, who lives nearby said he remembered the stones but he did not know what happened to them, but he showed me where they used to be.

g) Christopher, born Feb. 14, 1833 - died Apr. 16, 1909. Married Lucinda Roberts. To this union were born nine children: Francis, Marion, Simpson, Shade, Edwin, Elizabeth, Priscilla, Thomas, Addie, and Christopher Jr. Christopher lived on land near his parent's place, and when they died he lived on the home place. Many of his descendants live in Greys Bend today.

h) James, born 1835 - died 1904. Married Mary Canters. To this union were born four children: Buford, Demia, Elizabeth, and Myrtle. Mary died in 1866 and James married Ella Lucas. To this union were horn 10 children: Harve, Fletcher, Lizzie, Hillard, Dell, Rose, Sinda, Jessie, Linnie, and Larrie. James built a log house on the hill above his parents' house, and the hill is still called "Jim's Hill". During the Civil War, he was in the "Three Forks Battalion". He enrolled in 1864 at Rock Gap, and was discharged in Aug. 1865.

i) Demia, born 1837. No record. She perhaps died very young.

j) Joseph, born 1839. Married a Kincaid girl, and they say in Ky. that he was in the Civil War and died in service, and his widow drew a pension, but the War Dept. has no record of him.

k) William Clayton, born Apr. 30, 1843 - died 1929. The last-born child of the family. William spent his boyhood days in Greys Bend. He became 18 years of age Apr. 30, 1861, the year the Civil War started. Ky. entered the war in Sept., 1861. William, along with his brother Buford, enrolled in the Union Army, Oct. 16, 1861. They were sent to Lebanon, Ky. for training, and attached to Co. G, 8th Ky. Infantry. This regiment was made up of boys from the Ky. mountains, and became one of the outstanding regiments of the Civil War. Their battle flag later on bore the names of: Stone River, Shilo, Perryville, Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, and Missionary Ridge. G and H companies lost so many men at Chickamauga that they were consolidated into one company. William was then made a corporal and transferred to Co. D. His time was up Jan. 4, 1864. He re-enlisted the next day, and was assigned to Co. A. 4th Ky. Mounted Infantry as a Corporal. He served the rest of the war with this outfit. When the war ended they [were] with Ben George Thomas at Nashville Tenn., where they had spearheaded the drive that destroyed Gen. Hood's entire Army Corp. The 4th Ky. were kept in service until Aug.19, 1865, when the entire regiment was mustered out at Macon, Ga.

When William came home from the war, he married Sirilda Thompson, daughter of William and Mary Thompson. Sirilda had a brother, Francis, who had served in the Confederate Army, and fought against William at Chickamauga. He was very bitter against William after the war and would not even speak to him. But William never held any grudge and they later on became friends.

After William married, he took his bride up to the northwest part of Greys Bend. Here, in a log house overlooking the high, sandstone bluffs of the North Fork of the Ky. River they started housekeeping. William kept a fox horn hanging to a post and each day at noon he would blow this horn. The sound could be herd all over Greys Bend and men working in the fields would know it was time to come in for dinner. Five children were born to William and Sirlida while they lived in Greys Bend: Willie, Elhannon, John, Siladeth, and Kate.

Through these years of the late 1860's and 1870's the family lived well enough, so Willie, Elhannon, and John walked three miles over the hills to the Gum Springs School house, where they learned Readin, Writen, and numbers. In that day, that was lots of "learnin". And then tragedy struck.

In the late summer of 1882 Sirllda took sick with 'lung-fever'. They sent for Dr. Nell down at Red Brush who was the only doctor in the country. He rode horseback, his 'pill-bag' tied to the saddle horn. But he could do nothing; Sirilda was beyond human help. They all knew the end was near. She called the older children to her bedside and asked them to promise her they would always be good, and never use God's name in vain. Elhannon (my father) was 14 years of age at this time, and 55 years later (1947) the minister who conducted the services at his funeral said, "This man's widow tells me she never heard him use God's name in vain".

After Sirilda died, William later on took his family and moved down in the south part of the country, on the South Fork of the Ky. River. He bought 200 acres of land about a half mile from the river. They called this area, The Flats. The land was so rich and red here, the timber grew tall and straight, and there were more fish and game than any family could use. Joining William's place to the south, was the farm of John and Mary Evans, who would later be my great-grandparents, on my mother's side of the family.

Between William's place and the river stood an old church house which was known as Hall's Chapel. This church was named after the Hall family, who lived near the chapel. William Lutes married Frances Hall in this old church and six children were born to this union: Arthur, Luther, Clayton, Carrie, Harve, and Elmore.

While living here, Elhannon met and courted Ollie Botner, who was living with her grandmother, Mary Ann Evans. They were married at the Evans home, Nov. 1, 1888. They lived with Mary Evans the first six months of their marriage, while Elhannon was building a log house down in a deep hollow, near his father's place. They later called this place "The Place in the Hollow".

Willie and John Lutes also married here while living here on the Flats. Willie married Laura Hall and settled one place near his father's. John married Amanda (Mandy) Hall, who was a niece of Frances Hall. John served some time in the standing army but I do not know the exact years. I talked to old people in Ky. who remembered him, walking tall, and straight in his blue uniform. After his marriage John also settled here on the Flats. So in the 1890's we find my grandfather William, and three of his married sons all living in the south part of Lee Co., Ky., near the Owsley Co. line, and on the South Fork of the Ky. River.

John Lutes left Ky. in 1906 and went to Monon, [White County] Indiana. In 1909 he went to Wisconsin. In 1910 he went to the Northern Peninsula of Michigan. In 1919 he settled in Flint, Mich., and lived there until his death, March 15, 1945.

The three forks of the Ky. River, The South, Middle, and North Fork, join together at Beattyville, forming the Ky. River. A short distance down river from Beattyville is a place called Lumber Point. Here, in the 1890's my father, my uncle John, and my uncle Willie, would dump their logs into the river in the spring after the ice had thawed. They would cut these logs in winter, and haul them down the mountain on sleds. They would form these logs into long rafts, with a long 'seep Paddle' on the rear end which was used for steering. They would ride these rafts down river to Frankfort, a distance of over 80 miles. After selling the logs, they would get in their canoe which they had carried on the rafts, and take off back up river to Beattyville. I have heard my father tell of those trips; about rubbing tobacco juice in their eyes to keep awake; of falling off the rafts into the ice-cold water; the rafts getting hung up on the rocky shoals, etc. Father used to laugh and tell about the time they wrecked their canoe and had to walk back. They took off across the hills and saw a man with a long rifle in the crook of his arm walking toward them. They knew he was a 'moon-shiner' and they were in danger of getting shot. So they pretended to be three rough, tough, rowdy boys out looking for some whisky. The moon-shiner took them to his still and they started sampling his moonshine. My father never was a drinking man but he was afraid not to drink. He said it was the one time in his life that he got so drunk he could not hit the ground with his hat.

Each year when I go to Ky. and look down on the river from the high, sand-stone bluffs, I see three young men riding a raft down the muddy waters of the historic Ky, Ell - Bill - & John.

I shall close now. Later on in my "Story of the Lutes Family" I will have more to tell about these ancestors of ours---much more. I only wish I was a more gifted writer, so I could write it as I really feel it. But perhaps sometime in the distant future someone more versed in the art of writing than I will take it upon themselves to do just that. God Bless you all and in the years to come may the Lutes' have many more Family Reunions.

Sincerely, Willie Hartman Lutes (now deceased)

(The pioneers of Virginia had a stage coach road thru Maryland to Virginia. Our great-great grandfather named John Lutes, built a harness shop along the road near the Potomac River where the city of Washington is now located on the Pennsylvania Ave. Later they moved into Virginia where they lived for a number of years. Finally they went to Kentucky with Daniel Boone. That is where the older members of the Lutes clan were born and brought up.)

[There has been no other writings found by Willie to date, but does say that he "will have more to tell", so it is believed that there are more writings (stories) out there somewhere. If you are snooping around some day and find any, let us, any of us know.]

Copied by: Loren Andre Lutes (1998)