BIOGRAPHIES:  VALLANDINGHAM, George, Rev. War veteran

Submitted by: Dick Vallandingham   [SMTP:vjournal@hargray.com]
 
 "Some Genealogical Notes on the Vallandingham, Crim and Frier Families
 of Kentucky
 
 A paper submitted in connection with the marking of the grave of a
 Revolutionary War Veteran, George Vallandingham, by the Bland Ballard
 Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.
 
 With Kentucky veterans of the past four wars taking the publicity
 spotlight in recent stories it may be well to look back a great many
 years earlier to the events and times of a Kentuckian who served in the
 Revolutionary War. George Vallandingham served his and our newly created
 nation well, joined the advance guard of the great westward trek and was
 among the earliest settlers in the new and virgin District of Kentucky.
 George Vallandingham died in 1835 and is buried in the churchyard of the
 old Drennen Ridge Baptist Church, now the Franklinton Baptist Church,
 Franklinton (Henry County), Kentucky. The descendants of this
 Revolutionary War veteran now number in the hundreds and are scattered
 throughout the United States; a great many descendants are located today
 in Central and Northern Kentucky.
 George Vallandingham was born September 12, 1761 in Loudoun County,
 Virginia1, the son of Richard and Nelly Vallandingham.2  According to
 the veteran's sworn statement3 made in 1832, he entered the service as a
 militiamen in a Loudoun County company commanded by Captain William
 Beavers around the first of May, 1781. This company was marched to
 Richmond, Virginia where they joined the Virginia Regiment commanded by
 Colonel Merriwether (a part of General "Mad Anthony" Wayne's Army which
 at this time was sent to aid Lafayette in his efforts against Lord
 Cornwallis). The veteran stated that his company was forced to retreat
 from near Richmond to the Rapidan River where General Wayne engaged the
 British as a beginning of the Jamestown or James River campaign.
 Richard Vallandingham, father of George, with his wife and all but two
 of his children moved to Virginia's newly created back country District
 of Kentucky in 1783, settling on Boone's Creek in what was to become
 Fayette County. The will and estate settlement4 of this old patriarch
 filed in 1816 in Fayette County lists his children and has provided
 descendants down through the years with an exact family record. Richard
 Vallandingham named the following children:     
 (1) James; (2) Nancy, who married Henry Wigenton; (3) Mary, wife of
 Alexander Evans; (4) George; (5) William; (6) John; (7) Jane, who
 married Robert Muir; (8) Malinda, wife of William Martin; (9) Catherine,
 late wife of Jesse Moore; (10) Hugh; (11) Rebecca, wife of Porterfield
 John [editor - Tolin]; (12) Richard; and (13) Asa. During the next few
 years, Fayette records indicate the movements of the children as they
 sold their lands to move further westward and to the north.
 George Vallandingham was married to Margaret Frier, daughter of Robert
 and Jane Frier. The Friers, too, were among the earliest settlers of the
 bluegrass country; Robert Frier being listed among the elders of Marble
 Creek Baptist Church in Fayette County, later as sheriff 5 of the county
 and as one of the Fayette delegates to Kentucky's first Constitutional
 Convention held in Danville in 1789. Robert Frier's signature appears on
 Kentucky's first Constitution formally approved in 1792. 
 A close relationship between the Crim and Vallandingham families began
 early in the 1800's in Fayette County. Among George and Margaret Frier
 Vallandingham's children were two daughters, Perthenia and Eliza. James
 Crim married Perthenia in Fayette County January 15, 1814 and Joel Crim
 married the second daughter, Eliza, March 1, 1822. The Crim land was in
 the close neighborhood of the Vallandingham's on Boone's Creek at the
 Headwaters of Hickman Creek.6 
 James Crim, born May 1792 was one of eleven children of Joseph and
 Delila Crim.7 Joseph Crim, a Revolutionary War veteran,8 had purchased
 land from John Hawkins Craig and had settled in Fayette County as early
 as June 1797.9  Among the five holders to treasury notes dated 20 March
 1793 entitling the owners to 4980 acres of land "on both sides and near
 the mouth of Big Licking River" was also James Crim. This land would
 apparently embrace the major parts of the present cities of Covington
 and Newport in Northern Kentucky. These treasury notes were sold for the
 grand total of $100 to James Taylor in 1810.10  Joseph Crim's will 11,
 filed in 1818 names his children as (1) Jemima, (2) Elias, (3) Fielding,
 (4) William, (5) Joel, (6) Peter, (7) James, (8) Martin, (9) John, (10)
 Lewis, and (11) Benjamin Y.
 James and Perthenia (Vallandingham) Crim purchased a small tract of land
 on Boone's Creek in the near neighborhood of both families in September
 1823.12  The tract was sold in 182613 and the young couple and their
 children moved to Henry County, Kentucky, locating "on the waters of
 Drennen Creek" near the present village of Franklinton. Perthenia
 Vallandingham Crim's parents, George and Margaret Frier Vallandingham,
 now in their advanced years, sold their property in Fayette County in
 February 183114 and came to make their home with their daughter and
 son-in-law in Henry County. Later in this same year, 1831, Margaret died
 and was laid to rest in the cemetery at the side of Drennen Ridge (now
 Franklinton) Baptist Church. She was to be followed in death in 1835 by
 her husband, George Vallandingham, the old Revolutionary War veteran,
 who was buried beside his wife in this pioneer cemetery of Henry County.
 James Crim died at the age of 43 and within a few weeks of his
 father-in-law in 1835 and he too was buried in this same cemetery beside
 George Vallandingham. Nine years later James Crim's young widow married
 Garland Cox15 and moved to the neighborhood of Vance (Henry County),
 Kentucky where she died in 1861. An account of the estate settlement of
 James Crim appears in Fayette County records16 inasmuch as his mother,
 Delila Crim, was still living and had retained dower interest in Fayette
 County properties. The settlement lists children of James and Perthenia
 (Vallandingham) Crim as:(1) Margaret, wife of Joseph Elston; (2)
 Joannah, wife of John Young; (3) Amanda, wife of John M. Batts; (4)
 Georgina, wife of James Chadwell and (5) James, Jr. Many of these family
 names are still to be found in Henry, Shelby and Carroll counties.
 James Crim, youngest child and only son of James Crim, Sr. was born 6
 August 1823 and on 24 February, 1846 married Louisa Johnston, youngest
 daughter of James Johnston.17  James and Louisa (Johnston) Crim's family
 is listed as follows:
 
 Perthenia Crim b. 7/15/1847
 m. Jesse B. Fewell
 d. 9/1/1931
 James Crim b. 11/8/1849
 m. Mildred Tingle
 d. 4/22/1879
 Elizabeth Crim b. Sept 1853
 unmarried
 d. 2/5/1933
 Martha Ann Crim b. 11/13/1855
 m. William Fewell
 d. 4/15/1928
 John Maynard Crim b. 12/13/1857
 m. Sallie Tingle
 d. 3/17/1934
 William Preston Crim b. 5/26/1860
 m. Frances N. Willett
 d. 4/28/1941
 Isaac (Pike) Crim b. 7/28/1862
 m. Reecie Willett
 d. 5/5/1954"
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