Breckinridge County KyArchives News.....The Lighfoot Legacy December 8, 2021
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Dana Brown http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00005.html#0001067 March 17, 2022, 1:27 pm

The Herald News Newpaper December 8, 2021
THE LIGHTFOOT LEGACY
BY LESLIE GALLOWAY HAYCRAFT
THE HERALD NEWS NEWSPAPER 
12/8/2021 EDITION

	Out of the original members at Hardin’s Fort, there was one pioneer of Breckinridge
County that had an important impact in creating generations of fine citizens.  It is
very clear that education was of great importance to him as he raised his family and
passed on his beliefs to help build the county into a better place.
	Colonel Philip Lightfoot had come from Virginia, as the other settlers with a
military background and law degree.  Records show he was judge from 1829-33 in old
Hardinsburg, therefore he was probably already a lawyer when he arrived in the wilds
of Kentucky.  Philip stayed in Hardinsburgh with his land grant, not venturing to
other part of the county as many of the members of the fort.  He was involved in the
county government and probably had a law office in town.
	The Colonel married Adah Elizabeth Lander (b. 1796 – d. 1865) who was raised in
Winchester and it is known they had around 12 children, names of which I only have
some.  Of the known names I came across in research are: Rosanna, Nathan, Richard,
John, Annie, Delia, and Mary Lander.
	Philip and Adah built a home (c. 1828) in Hardinsburg and are buried not far from
the home.  The home is still standing and they are buried in The Lightfoot Family
Cemetery which must have been part of his 50 acres of land grant.  Their daughter
Elizabeth and her husband and a grandchild are there and most likely Nathan and
Mary.  Today there are only two stones standing but story tells that in the 1930’s
there were stones all around and they slowly disappeared.
	Education must have been stressed upon the upbringing of their family.  Nathan
became a doctor who practiced in Hibbartsville.  Richard was in the state
legislature for a time and later practiced medicine.  He had inherited his father’s
interest in law and he and Nathan unknowingly became the first of many generations
of Lightfoot doctors.  Annie married a doctor who practiced in Cloverport; her good
upbringing no doubt helped that match.
	During those first years of growth of the county, several of the Lightfoot children
moved toward Cloverport to live as it was developing as a steamboat town.  Annie,
John, and Delia were the first of many relatives to be in Cloverport as wealth and
population boomed with it being a shipping hub.
	Phili and Adah’s son, John Slaughter Lightfoot (b. 1819 – d. 1894) married Ann
Newsom.  He and Ann had several children: joh Foster, Mary, Charles, Addie, and
Nettie ?  John was in the military and practiced medicine in Cloverport although I
found no reference to the school he attended.  Later generations attended school at
Cincinnati but earlier family could have received training for law or medicine
through the military.  Dr. John and Ann Lightfoot are buried in Cloverport.
	In the Breckinridge News 1876, John S. is listed in the Cloverport directory as a
livestock owner (as well as a town doctor) and his brother Charles is listed as the
City Marshall.  In 1868 John wa a stockholder in the Hardinsbrg and Cloverport
Turnpike Corporation.  The Lightfoot family in Cloverport at that time were carrying
in their father Philip’s footsteps involved in politics, professionalism and serving
the public, even expanding into business.
	Dr. John S. and Ann’s son, John Foster (b. 1849 – d. 1909) received his medical
degree in Cincinnati and served Cloverport for many years.  He married Rebecca G.
Reynolds (b. 1847 – d. 1929) and they had at least three children: Forrest Lee,
Charles Ross, and Sallie.  Both of the boys became doctors in their father’s
footsteps.  Rebecca was a respected and important part of the community as a
newspaper article reflected also: “noted for her hospitality and for entertaining
preachers.  She is kind hearted and generous, ever ready to help the needy and
enjoyed the respect of the community at large.”
	Dr. John Foster was Philip’s grandson, the second generation of doctors in the
family and the first that I definitely found reference to his educational being in
Cincinnati.  Dr. John Foster had a sister Mary who married a doctor and lived in
Louisville and is buried in Cave Hill Cemetery.
	Forrest Lee (b. 1876 – d. 1920) and Charles Ross (b. 1880 – d. 1923) were
great-grandsons of Philip and Adah Lightfoot and surrounded by uncles and a father
as a doctor.  Forrest practiced in Cloverport and his brother practiced in another
county, eventually coming to Cloverport also; perhaps when his brother saw an
opportunity for such timing.  In 1892 Forrest was one of six doctors in Cloverport;
the population was such at that time that they town could support this.
	In 1919 Charles was also noted as being the Postmaster as Cloverport while his
brother Forrest Lee in 1908 owned part of the Cloverport Mill.  They were
businessmen, served their community in and involved in their town wholeheartedly.
	Forrest Lee (b. 1876 – d. 1920) married Elizabeth Mary “Lizzie” Miller (b. 1874 –
d. 1958) and had at least three children: Rebecca Jane, Amelia, and Frances Lee.  He
was only 44 when he passed away.
	This was an accidental story and I hope to build on it more as I ended up with a
partial family tree of the Lightfoot family.  Of course as I came across information
in the county for the name Lightfoot associated with military, doctor, lawyer, etc.,
I pieced all of this together.  If I had traced the family roots even deeper, I am
quite sure that the influence of military and pioneer determination that brought
Philip Lightfoot to Breckinridge County was even more profound than I can see at a
glance.  Education is so important and I am proud that we have an example such as
this some in our history as evidence of what a difference that one person can make.
	Sources:  Breckinridge County Archives, The Breckinridge News historical archives,
History of the Lander Family of Virginia & Kentucky by David Lander 1926.


Additional Comments:
Copied from original article, with permission from Leslie Galloway Haycraft
(reporter) and the Herald News newspaper, from their 12/8/2021 edition.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ky/breckinridge/newspapers/thelighf569gnw.txt

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