Chloe Flinn and Boone County

Chloe Flinn (1781-1863) is my 5th great-grandmother, and her childhood rescue by Daniel Boone was the inspiration for the naming of Boone County, Virginia (now West Virginia). The 2nd paragraph on this website sums it up well:

Chloe Flinn Ballard Headstone
Chloe Flinn Ballard Headstone

In 1786, Shawnee Indians attacked the home of a young girl named Chloe Flinn. The father was killed. The six year old along with her mother, brother, and sister were taken to Ohio by the Indians. A few months later, Daniel Boone came across the group and traded meat, flour, and whiskey to the Shawnees in exchange for several white prisoners including Chloe. Boone brought the little girl to live with his family in Limestone (now called Maysville), Kentucky. He then located some of Chloe’s relatives and brought her to an uncle in the Charleston area. Sixty years later, Chloe Flinn’s son, St. Clair Ballard, was a House of Delegates member from Logan County (now Boone) and related that story to the Virginia General Assembly in Richmond. Ballard asked that legislators to name the new western Virginia county in honor of the man who rescued his mother.

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Annie’s Civil War Letter to Mandaville

1862 Hopkins Letter
1862 Hopkins Letter

One amazing artifact in my possession is a letter dated 28 December 1862 written by Letha Anne “Annie” Ballard Hopkins to her husband Mandaville “Mandy” Jackson Hopkins. Annie and Mandy are my 3rd great-grandparents. Continue reading “Annie’s Civil War Letter to Mandaville”

Hail to the Chiefs

Malinda Jane Belcher was born 06 February 1858 in Mercer County, Virginia (now WV). She was my great-great grandmother, and died in 1933. She probably married her first husband sometime before 1878 (no marriage records found at this time). This first husband, who was the father of five of her six children, came from a family who clearly admired several leaders of the country. Continue reading “Hail to the Chiefs”

Nancy Crawley – Slave of Hopkins Family

This post is part of the Slave Name Roll Project. The individual(s) identified as slaves below were the property of my ancestors. Documenting my findings is one small contribution towards helping others in their own research. Hat tip to Cathy Meder-Dempsey and her post on Frank (the individual I was also researching) and great description and commitment to this project.


Lora Morris - Grandmother CrawleyIn the course of a fairly general search of the Hopkins family in archived newspapers, I ran across a 1967 article in the Charleston (WV) Gazette about Lora Viola Morris. The article focuses on Lora’s longevity and a bit of her life story as she approached her 100th birthday. The paragraph that caught my eye was this:

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