Martha Kate Rigg

Martha Kate Rigg (1831-1900) was sister to my 2nd great-grandmother Nancy “Nannie” Montgomery Rigg. This story about her was shared during a genealogy discussion recorded in the 1970s (exact date unknown). The participants included my grandfather (Willis Hite Farley) and grandmother (Audrey Hale Farley), and my great-aunt (Francis Folsom Farley, known as “Frankie” and “Aunt Aggie”) … Read more

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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Death of James Orville Hale

Orville Hale
Orville Hale

James Orville Hale was the oldest child of my great-grandparents, Effie Allen Rice Hale (1887-1978) and Henry Orville Hale (1882-1966). He was known by his middle name of “Orville” and his younger sister Audrey Vellence Hale Farley (1908-2001) was my grandmother. 

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