OHIO STATEWIDE FILES OH-FOOTSTEPS Mailing List Issue 45 *********************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ *********************************************************************** OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest Volume 01 : Issue 45 -------------------------------- From: "Ralph W. Cokonougher" Subject: Hester Genealogy by M. Hester, 1752-1905, pp.47-60. Date: Thu, 22 Mar 2001 22:58:23 -0000 Pages (47) through (60). "HISTORY AND GENEALOGY OF THE DESCENDENTS OF JOHN LAWRENCE HESTER AND GODFREY STOUGH. 1752 - 1905." Compiled by Martin M. Hester in 1905 at Norwalk, Ohio. **************** (Photograph of Effie (Hester) Lee.) Mrs. Susan A. Druley says: "My father, Col. John Wesley Lee, was born February 3, 1797; died February 15, 1846, aged forty-nine years. He was a man of strict integrity, noble principles, and ever a most genial nature, making many and ardent friends. He was of a military turn of mind, serving as Colonel of the State Militia well and faithfully. He filled several offices in the county with credit and honor to himself and acceptably to the people; served as Sergeant-at-Arms in the Legislature at Indianapolis, Ind., in 1840, but death came unexpectedly and cut short his course. He was a Methodist, and at one time a class leader in the Church." Of her mother she says: "My precious mother, Effie (Hester) Lee, lived to be eighty-one years of age and was energetic and active to the last of her life. My mother was one Page (47). ************************ of the uncrowned queens of earth, being left a widow with eight children, from one year to nineteen. She never faltered, but reared her children, as only a good mother can do, battling nobly with the great struggle of life, doing whatever her hands findeth to do, and always performing her work with Christian fortitude which characterized her life. She was a Methodist from fifteen years of age to the end of her life, and was of that type of christianity whose works do follow them. She knew no compromise with sin. Truly it can be said of her, 'She was a mother in Israel; her children rise up and call her blessed.'" On September 8, 1905, there was an article of nine pages received from Rev. John G. Sarvin, of Mattoon, Ill., who has been intimately acquainted with the Lee family for more than one-third of a century. It is too late for insertion entire, but confirms and even exalts the genuine work of the Lee family. He refers to the capable and forceful character of the father; to his sturdy and patriotic ancestry in colonial days; to the noble spirit transmitted to his sons. Also to the fact that the ancestry of the mother was from the noblest and best blood of the land. Four of their sons served with distinction in the Civil War. Tenderly and feelingly he tells of the earnest and untiring devotion and heroic fortitude with which this widow marshalled every energy for the good of her dependent childrent. How her daily prayers ascended as incense to God; and how His answers came in rich blessings on her dear children. How the affection of her children rose in response to her devotion for their sakes. How peaceful and glorious the end of her life, bright with hopes for the future, and how tenderly they bore her casket to the tomb. The record of the family is already entered in the manuscript, and we take pleasure in adding this tribute to such a noble branch of the Hester family. - [ED.] Children of John W. and Effie Hester Lee, being the fourth generation, are: 136. ELI, b. June 11, 1825; d. August 4, 1825. 137. ELIZABETH, b. May 29, 1826; m. Dr. Joel L. Shrewsbury, March 12, 1848. She d. January 26, 1905, a. 79. Page (48). ************************ (Photograph of Elizabeth (Lee) Shrewsbury.) On February 1, 1905, the following funeral notice was received: "Elizabeth Shrewsbury died at her home in Toledo, Ill., Thursday, January 26, 1905, at ten o'clock, P.M., aged 78 years, 7 months, and 28 days. Funeral services will be held in the Christian Church, in Toledo, at four o'clock, P.M., Friday, January 27, 1905. Interment in Stilesville cemetery, Indiana. Friends of the family are invited to attend." 138. ANDREW JACKSON, b. June 11, 1829. 139. GEORGE WASHINGTON, b. February 8, 1832; m. Isabelle Cole, December 20, 1859. He d. April 22, 1897. Page (49). ************************ (Photograph of Prof. Thomas J. Lee.) 140. THOMAS JEFFERSON, b. February 22, 1835; m. Letitia Thornburg, June 24, 1859; d. November 28, 1888. He was a graduate of West Point, N.Y. He served in the civil war with credit to himself. He was a very brilliant man with a powerful intellect. He left the army and devoted the last twenty-five years of his life in educational work, locating an institution called Lee's Academy at Loxa, Ill., where he educated over two thousand young men and ladies during the last nineteen years of his life. He fell at his post, loved and lamented by all who knew him. "His works do follow him." He was a Christian, a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. 141. WILLIAM MATTHIAS, b. September 25, 1837; m. America C. Puett, October 15, 1867. They have seven children. 142. SUSAN A., b. February 11, 1840; m. Richard S. Druley, February 14, 1866; have one son. 143. BRIG. GEN. JESSE MATLOCK, b. January 2, 1843; m. Lucy M. Hathaway, December 23, 1868. Page (50). ************************** 144. JOHN WESLEY, b. February 14, 1845; m. Josephine Hamline, April 20, 1866. He d. January 21, 1902. No. 33. Children of John and Sarah (Hester) Combs, being the fourth generation are: 145. HESTER ANN, b. November 17, 1831; m. James S. Hester, son of Craven P. Hester, 1846. He d. July 18, 1879. Second m. --- Jones, of Franklin, Ind. She d. 1898. 146. THOMAS J., b. January 3, 1836; m. 1874. He is a well-to-do farmer living near Charlestown, Ind. 147. WILLIAM M., b. September 18, 1837; unm.; living near Charlestown, Ind. 148. DR. JOHN M., b. January 30, 1843; m. Cornelia E. Allen, of Newville, Ind., December 26, 1867; have one son. 149. LAURA H., b. April 7, 1850; m. Coonrod Bolinger, of Seymour, Ind. He d. ---. She has three children. No. 34. (Photograph of Lewis McCoy.) Page (51). **************************** (Photograph of Mrs. Rebecca [Hester] McCoy.) The following sketches of Lewis and Rebecca (Hester) McCoy were furnished by their son, Capt. John M. McCoy. Family and descendants of Lewis and Rebecca (Hester) McCoy: "Lewis McCoy, eldest son of John McCoy, was born January 31, 1806, near Charlestown, Clark county, Ind. Was married to Rebecca Hester, May 24, 1831, who survived him after a union of many years, the happiness of which is evinced by the most touching expression just before his death, which occurred at Franklin, Ind., September 7, 1874: 'My beloved companion, we have traveled life's journey together for more than forty-three years, and now at its close we bless God that we ever met. We have lived and loved on earth - we shall love and dwell together in heaven. May God bless and suppot you during our brief separation.'" Page (52). **************************** ministers of her own denomination; also was her husband's cordiality apparent in his entertainment of the Methodist brethren. Truly each delighted to do honor to Christ's representatives of whatever denomination." Children of Lewis and Rebecca (Hester) McCoy, being the fourth generation, were: (Photograph of Dr. George Knight McCoy.) 150. DR. GEORGE KNIGHT MCCOY, who was born July 5, 1832, received his academic education at De Pauw University, Indiana, and his degree of M.D. at Louisville Medical College, Kentucky, in 1856, and died in New Orleans, unmarried, December 18, 1865. At the time of his death he was in the army of the United States, Assistant Surgeon of First Heavy Indiana Artillery. His brother officers of the army said of him: "He was a most efficient, courteous and gentlemanly officer, a true, devoted and estimable friend and a true, upright and noble man, whose generous impulses and sturdy honesty of character and devotion to duty endeared him to all his companions and brother officers. Always zealous, faithful and untiring in Page (54). *************************** the discharge of his duties, he won and held the confiding respect of his commanding officers and the affection of his comrades." 151. JOHN MILTON, b. August 29, 1835. 152. HENRIETTA, b. December 25, 1842. 153. WILLIAM A., b. September 1, 1844. No. 35. Children of Wm. Allen and Nancy (Weir) Hester, being the fourth generation, are: 154. JAMES, is dead. (Photograph of Dr. W. W. Hester.) Page (55). ******************************* 155. DR. W. W. HESTER, m. Jessie M. Henderson. The following sketch of his life was furnished by his cousin, Capt. John M. McCoy, of Dallas, Texas: "He was an able physician, graduate of Louisville, Ky., Medical College, also Philadelphia, Pa., Medical College. When the war broke out he threw down his pill bags and took up his musket, as a private, and went into the army and fought through the war in many battles. He was rapidly promoted and was honorably discharged when he was Lieutenant Colonel. He contracted troubles in the army, which compelled him to have several surgical operations, from which he never recovered. After his discharge from the army, he was Clerk of the Legislature of the state of Indiana; and subsequently, first assistant physician for the Hospital for the Insane at Indianapolis, Ind., for fifteen years, and then transferred to the same position to the Hospital for Insane at Anna, Ill., for ten years; then removed to Chicago, Ill., to resume his general practice, which continued until the time of his death, which occurred July 18, 1902." Page (56). ***************************** MILITARY ORDER OF THE LOYAL LEGION OF THE UNITED STATES. Commandery of the State of Illinois. IN MEMORIAM. COMPANION LIEUTENANT COLONEL. WILLIAM WEIR HESTER. DIED AT CHICAGO, ILL., JULY 18, 1902. Circular No. 26, Series of 1902, Whole No. 441. Chicago, October 20, 1902. At a stated meeting of this Commandery, held on the 25th day of September, 1902, the accompanying report of a committee appointed to prepare a tribute of respect to the memory of our late Companion Lieutenant-Colonel William (Weir) Hester was received and ordered published. By order of First Lieutenant Oliver W. Norton, Commander. Roswell H. Mason, Captain, Recorder. William Weir Hester was born near Charlestown, Ind., April 18, 1835. He was about five years old when his father and mother died of a malignant fever within ten days of each other. His father died first, and he remembered clearly the leave- Page (57). **************************** taking when his dying mother was carried to the bedside of her dying husband. Four little boys were left. William Weir, the second son, went to live with his grandmother, Susan Hester, a widow whose husband, Mathias Hester, was scalped by the Indians in Bear Grass Creek, near Louisville, Ky., in 1791. After six or seven years he went to make his home with his uncle, the Rev. George K. Hester, of Charlestown, Ind., where he remained until he was old enough to choose for himself the education which was to fulfill his boyhood's dreams. At the age of eighteen he began teaching school and taught about eighteen months with success. But the desire of his youth and the deepest devotion of his life lay in his chosen profession; it drew him steadily away from other things, and at twenty he was studying medicine with his uncle, Dr. U. A. V. Hester, of Gosport, Ind., for his life work. In 1858 he took his degree at the Medical School of Louisville, Ky., and soon after began the practice of medicine in Cataract, Ind. In 1859 he located at Rome, Perry county, Ind., on the Ohio River. He soon acquired by his indefatigable energy a lucrative practice which involved hard riding over the hills of Perry county. But the guns of Sumpter stirred his soul, and without thought of consequences, like so many other noble souls in that year of our Lord, he entered the army and without parole served his country for three years and a half, coming out as Lieutenant Colonel of the Forty-eighth Kentucky Volunteer Mounted Infantry. He was in many engagements, raids and battles, among which was the battle of Corinth. So much had he commended himself to his superior officers as a man of military mould, that the strongest inducements were offered him to enter the regular army. After short consideration, however, he refused. He had chosen a profession which heals, and patriot and soldier as he continued all his life long, it was far dearer to him than that which wounds. Immediately after his discharge from the army he was elected Clerk of the Indiana Legislature for one term. At the close of this term of the legislature he was called to the State Hospital for the Insane at Indianapolis as first assistant Page (58). ***************************** physician. Here he remained fourteen years and a half. Early in this period he had leave of absence from hospital service, and took the course in medicine at Jefferson medical College in Philadelphia, receiving its diploma. Pursuing this course in mature years, he carried it with honor and with results which showed in the thoroughness of his professional work. In 1879 he was called to the Southern Hospital for the Insane at Anna, Ill., and here he served the state most successfully for eleven years longer. he withdrew in 1890 and took up the general practice of medicine in Chicago. His strong good sense, his skill in diagnosis, his careful attention to every phase of the malady and every condition of the sick room were giving him a place among the physicians of Chicago that would have been second to none in general practice, when the disease which proved fatal attacked him. In the past six years and a half he has undergone six operations, the third in November of last year. Up to that time his fine constitution, pure life and strong will had made it possible for him to resist the encroachments of the disease, the foundations of which were laid during his service in the army. But the end of his valiant fight was nearer than it seemed and on the 18th of July last, he died, having been confined to his bed only nine days. He fought a good fight with the weakness of the flesh. He had kept faith with all who trusted him as a physician or as a man. There is, we know, laid up for such the reward which Godhood keeps for manhood preserved. JOHN MCLEAN THEODORE H. PATTERSON CHARLES F. MATTESON, Committee. 156. ROBERT died in the army during the civil war. Page (59). **************************** (Photograph of Milton (Payne) Hester.) The following sketch was furnished by his daughter, Lillian (Hester) Cairns: Milton Payne Hester, farmer, of Centralia, Ill., and eleventh child of Matthias and Susanna Hester, was born in Clark county, Ind., June 4, 1813. He grew to manhood in Clark county, and received his early education in the common schools of the neighborhood. This was supplemented by much reading throughout his life. In the spring of 1839 he came to Marion county., Ill.; in 1840, he married Miss Christina Copple. To them were born eight children. They began life together on the farm which Page (60). ****************************** _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------- End of OH-FOOTSTEPS-D Digest V01 Issue #45 ******************************************