Notes
Note N4315
Index
"n 1789 Harry Hurst and family immigrated to Kentucky crossing the river at Limestone, now Maysville, and settled in Mason County. (Mason County is adjacent to Fleming County, on its north, and also bounds the Ohio River.) It was a long hazardous journey from their old home in Loudon County (Virginia to Kentucky) and involved much hardship and suffering (see note). In 1796 John Hurst (1777) married Elizabeth Harper and moved to Fleming County, Kentucky. There he purchased a farm four miles east of Flemingsburg. He died, leaving a large family consisting of eight daughters and one son, Henry (1800). ***Note: "Crossing" the river (Ohio) at Limestone evidently means Landing at Limestone since both Virginia and Kentucky lie south of the Ohio River. Also most of the travel from Virginia and Kentucky in those early days were by boat and raft down the Ohio River.
"Following the Revolutionary War, a general economic slump along the Atlantic seaboard started the population fanning out westward. At the beginning of the 19th century the west meant Kentucky and the country surrounding it. It was real frontier territory. Land was cheap and waiting to be occupied by people with energy and ‘spunk’. Most of the land was virgin timber. Restless waves of home-seekers rolled out of the northeast and southeast. Trials were many and toil burdensome as these pioneers set themselves to conquer the wilderness. Only people of dauntless spirit ventured into it. The land was hard to clear because it was first growth and was very heavy. It wasn’t unusual for male members of the family to stay out until nearly midnight piling and burning the brush and stumps. After a few hours sleep they were up again by four and five o’clock to take care of the chores before going back to the clearing for another long hard day. The rifle was a constant companion for they were in danger daily from Indian attack. Some fierce Indian skirmished were fought here. Hard toil and hard fare were their lot as they strove against poverty. People were on the move constantly. It was not unusual for settlers to plant their crops and move before harvest time in the hope of bettering their condition.
Five Hurst brothers and their sister joined the endless procession of home seekers, bent upon occupying the vast empty continent west of the Alleghenies. James Hurst was born near York, England. His father had joined John Wesley’s Methodist movement and James himself headed for America. Before leaving England, all five brothers were married, James marrying Malinda Martin. A sister, Charlotte Hurst Sutton, and her husband and three children also came to America. The five brothers enlisted in the Continental Army under General Washington and at the end of the Revolutionary War they all became citizens of the United States.
Robert Hurst stayed in the east and settled near Old Richmond, Virginia. William Hurst went on to Tennessee; Samuel Hurst settled on Red River in the Sandy region of northeastern Kentucky; and John (our Buchanan County, MO Hurst ancestor) and James went on down to Fleming County, Kentucky and settled on the Sand Lick Fork of Foxes Creek about seven miles south of what is now called Flemingsburg. The County was named for Colonel Fleming who first settled his colony there. The sister and her family also settled in Kentucky. She and the brothers all raised large families.
Some claim that Kentucky got it’s name from an Indian word, kentake, meaning “land of the future”. Until 1792, it was a county of the State of Virginia. In that year it separated from Virginia and became the second state to be admitted to the Union after the first thirteen, the first being Vermont.
Fleming County, Kentucky, was in the foothills between the rolling lush blue grass region in the central part of the state and the mountainous coal fields in the east. Work on the farm was hard because much of the soil was rocky and farm implements were rather primitive. The main crops were corn, oats, wheat, flax, hemp, and barley. Timothy and red clover were raised for hay. In the fall the corn fodder was cut a hill at a time with a heavy steel knife. Wheat and oats were cut with a hand sickle. Hay, also, was cut by muscular power with a mowing scythe. Some of the people were too poor to own a horse and had to carry the grain to the mill on their shoulders. Or, if they had a little hand mill with small burrs, they ground their meal each day by hand."--Karen Bursenos originally submitted this to Hall/Adams Family Tree on 17 Feb 2010 in an article titled "Why Our Ancestors Migrated to Kentucky"
Notes
Note N4316
Index
Alternate birthdate is 21 Mar 1666 (Massachusetts Compiled Birth, Marriage and Death Records 1700-1850)
"The Old East Parish Burying Ground is the resting place for all of the founding families of Newton. In 1654, families living south of the river started holding religious meetings locally rather than making the journey to Cambridge. John Jackson provided an acre of land for a burial ground and for a meeting house, and this remained the only burying site for residents of Newton until 1781. A monument was placed in memory of Newton's founders in 1852, erected by the descendants of the first settlers. At the time inscriptions were recorded, only six headstones from the earliest inhabitants were still standing. However, their memory lives on through their descendants.
The original acre was added to three times, and the cemetery was used continuously until near the end of the 1800s. The final addition to the burying ground was made in 1834. Family members dying in Newton after 1781 may be found here in the East Parish Burying Ground, in the West Parish Burying Ground (opening 1781), or in the South Parish Burying Ground (opening 1802).
For a full list of family members interred in this cemetery, please see the memorials for pioneer Richard Park and his wife Margery."--Find-a-grave