Elliott County Civil War Veterans of 1890 By Mr. John A. Stegall johnstegall@hotmail.com . Used with permission of Mr. John A. Stegall. One installment in a series of articles Mr. Stegall publishes in The Elliott County News, this article first appearing in the May 9, 1997 edition of said paper and a continuation from Apr 4, 1997. Transcribed with permission from Mr. Stegall by Samone Ratcliff on Mar 22, 2000.
William H. H. Lewis: Pvt., Co., A. 54th., Ky., Inf. This veteran stated that he entered
the military service on Sept 14, 1864, and served for a period of one year and 2 days, having
been discharged Sept 16, 1865. He mentioned no war-related injuries, but did say he suffered
from “Rheumatism”. His post office was Wyett, which had been established by William H. H. Lewis
on Aug 16, 1889, and named for Wyett Adkins, a prominent resident of the vicinity near the head
of Devil’s Fork. William H. H. Lewis was appointed the first postmaster of Wyett.
This particular Lewis family appears to have lived in the Devil’s Fork area in extreme
western Elliott County, and, more precisely, on Lewis Branch, which may have been named for
William Henry Harrison Adkins.
The 1850 Morgan Co census shows that a William H. Lewis, aged 37, was living in that
county. His wife, Elizabeth, was 32. Morgan Co marriage records show that William and Elizabeth
Henry were married Dec 25, 1834. Their children named in the 1850 census were: William, 14;
Daniel, 12; Eliza, 10; John, 8; Leander, 3; and Isaac, 6 months.
This Lewis family does not appear in the 1860 Morgan Co census, a Lewis family researcher
says they were living in Rowan Co, and indeed, the 1860 Rowan Co census names a W.H.H. Lewis, age
48, as a resident of that county. Judging by the names of his neighbors (Nickell, DeHart,
Fannin, Fultz and Adkins), it appears that he was living in the extreme southeastern section of
Rowan Co. In this census, William’s wife was recorded as Honor M., age 40. This would have been
his second wife, who, according to Morgan Co records, was Honor Cassity. She and William were
married June 9, 1861.
William H. H. Lewis was still a resident of Rowan Co when the 1870 census was taken. He
stated that he was 57 years of age: Honor was 50.
By 1880, William H. H. Lewis was again a resident of Elliott County’s Devil’s Fork
Precinct. He was 67 years of age; “Honor M.” was 61. Only one child, Laban T., 21, was at home
with them.
I do not find William H. H. Lewis named in the 1890 Elliott Co tax assessments; neither
do I find him listed in the 1900 census for that county. It is my belief that he died during the
1890s. I have heard of a Lewis cemetery in the Devil’s Fork area, maybe over in Morgan Co. This
may be were William H.H. Lewis is buried.
James F. Lion (Lyons): While claiming to have been in the Union Army, this veteran gave
the census taker no information other than his post office, which was Newfoundland.
According to the incomplete marriage records of Elliott Co, a James F. Lyon, 28, and born
in Tazewell Co, VA, and Phebe Conn, 19, were married July 16, 1878.
This same James F. Lyon and Phebe Conn Lyon are found living in the Newfoundland Precinct
at the time the 1880 census was taken. They had one child, Laverna, age 1 year.
If the ages quoted above for James F. Lyons are correct, he would have been unusually
young to have served in the Civil War.
The 1890 Elliott Co Tax Assessments for the Newfoundland Precinct does not indicate
anyone by the name of James F. Lyons in that precinct as a landowner or the nearest neighbor to
any other Newfoundland resident.
I am unable to locate any additional information on James F. Lyons.
Jared C. Lyon: Pvt., Co., I, 5th., Ky., Vol., Inf. Again, we find a Confederate
veteran, who, somehow, was named in the census intended for Union veterans. He indicated that he
served a period of one year from Oct 1861 to Oct 21, 1862. He further indicated that his company
was “disbanded”, and that he was “Not discharged”. His address in 1890 was Gimlet.
Family records indicate that this veteran’s actual name was Jarret Corbin Lyon, but that
he usually went by the name Corbin J. Lyon. This same source states that his parents were Jesse
and Mary “Polly” Wellman Lyon.
On Sept 9, 1869, Jarret (or Colby) Lyons married Perlina Sparks at the home of her
parents, Nelson and Peggy Mauk Sparks, on Big Gimlet Creek, Carter Co, KY.
The same source that provided the information regarding Jarret’s marriage, also indicates
that he was born in Feb of 1838, in Lawrence Co, KY, and the Perlina was born Aug 1845, probably
in the same county.
I do not find Jarret and Perlina mentioned in the 1870 Elliott Co census; neither do I
find them in the 1880 report for Elliott Co. Perhaps they were residents of Carter Co during
that time.
The 1890 Elliott Co Tax Assessments indicates that a Jared C. Lyon was the owner of 71
acres of land in the Moccasin Precinct. It was also indicated that there were three children
between the ages of 6 and 20 in the Lyon household.
When the 1900 Elliott Co census was taken, Jarret C. Lyon stated that he was born in Feb
1838, an was 62 years of age at the time (June 5, 1900); Perlina was 54, having been born in Aug
of 1845. They said they had been married 30 years and were the parents of three children. Their
son, George Elmon, age 29 (born in Oct 1870), was still at home with them. A niece, Lidda M.
Sparks, 16 (Mar 1884) was also living in the Lyon home.
In 1910, Jarret and Perlina Lyon were living in the home of their son, George E. Lyon.
Jarret was 72 years of age; Perlina was 64.
Perlina Sparks Lyon died in 1910; Jarret in 1913. Both are buried in the Clark Cemetery
on Rt. 504, in Elliott Co.
George Elmon Lyon(s), the oldest child of Jarret and Perlina, was born Oct 15, 1870. He
married Lucinda Cox, who was born May 19, 1863. George died Feb 29, 1952; Lucinda died Jan 1,
1968. They had 2 children; Edna who never married, and Grace, who married Ernest Rose, and still
lives near Rt. 504.
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