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Descendants of John Conway - June 24, 2003

Generation No. 4

36. JOHN⁴ GROUNDS (RHODA CONWAY³ LONG, MARY² CONWAY, JOHN¹) was born 18 Feb 1799 in Mercer Co, KY, and died 11 Apr 1874 in Edwards Co, IL. He married (1) PRUDENCE JAMISON 21 Mar 1823 in Warren Co, KY (bond-consent by father)⁹, daughter of WILLIAM JAMISON. She was born Unknown in Warren Co, KY, and died Bef. 1830. He married (2) ELIZABETH ANN DOTY 13 Sep 1831 in Warren Co, KY; by N. Fogg ¹⁰, daughter of JAMES DOTY and DEBORAH HARLIN. She was born 17 Jun 1810 in or Doughty (Dawdy???); b. Kentucky, and died 19 Apr 1888 in Scott's Station, Wayne Co, IL.

Notes for JOHN GROUNDS:
Additional sources other than those listed at Robert Ground & Rhoda Long:
Evelyn Barclay family files, her sources:
      Marriage certificates for children Martha & Prudence & Mary
      Marriage Records John, Sarah, William Rhoda, Robert, Margaret
      Henry, Harrison, John, Martha
      Divorce papers, Sarah 1858
      Family Records of:
            Flavia Jenkins
            Mamie Hays
            Wes Mullenneix
      Will & Estate Papers for John Ground(s)
      US Census Edwards Co, IL 1850-1900
Mrs. Dan Stone, Bowling Green, KY, family records


Children of JOHN GROUNDS and PRUDENCE JAMISON are:

84.	i.	MARY⁵ GROUNDS, b. 05 Jan 1825, Warren Co, KY; d. 23 Feb 1891, Edwards Co, IL.
85.	ii.	MARTHA GROUNDS, b. 20 Jun 1827, Warren Co, KY; d. 16 Aug 1859, near Albion, Edwards Co, IL.
86.	iii.	PRUDENCE GROUNDS, b. 08 Sep 1829, Warren Co, KY; d. 06 Dec 1884, Shelby Pct, Edwards Co, IL.

Children of JOHN GROUNDS and ELIZABETH DOTY are:

87.	iv.	SARAH⁵ GROUNDS, b. 21 Nov 1832, near Bowling Green, Warren Co, KY; d. 16 Mar 1920, 87y 3m 25d.
88.	v.	WILLIAM GROUNDS, b. 02 Dec 1834, Edwards Co, IL; d. 18 Apr 1930.
89.	vi.	RHODA GROUNDS, b. 17 Apr 1837, Edwards Co, IL; d. 08 Dec 1855, Edwards Co, IL.
90.	vii.	ROBERT GROUNDS, b. Feb 1839, Edwards Co, IL; went to Christian Co, IL; d. Aft. 1910, on 1910 Census, Macon Co, IL.
91.	viii.	MARGARET GROUNDS, b. 06 May 1841, near Samsville, Edwards Co, IL; went to Chautauqua Co, KS; d. 09 Nov 1924.
92.	ix.	HENRY GROUNDS, b. 06 Oct 1844, Edwards Co, IL; d. 20 Dec 1883, Chautauqua Co, KS; pneumonia.
93.	x.	HARRISON GROUNDS, b. 15 Apr 1848, Albion, Edwards Co, IL; d. 08 Feb 1937, Sedan,Chautauqua Co, KS.
	xi.	ELIZABETH J. GROUNDS, b. 02 Aug 1849, Edwards Co, IL; d. 30 Jan 1850, Samsville, Edwards Co, IL.
94.	xii.	JOHN HARLAN GROUNDS, b. 02 Sep 1851, Galesburg, Knox Co, IL; d. 05 Apr 1927, Portland, Multnomah Co, OR.

37. MARY⁴ GROUND (RHODA CONWAY³ LONG, MARY² CONWAY, JOHN¹) was born 29 May 1800 in Mercer Co, KY, and died 28 Nov 1847 in Warren Co, KY. She married ISAAC GOODNIGHT 24 Jul 1828 in Warren Co, KY, son of HANS GOODNIGHT and MARY LANDIS. He was born 01 Jan 1782 in Harlan's Station (Harrodsburg), Boyle Co, KY, and died 14 Oct 1869 in Three Forks, Warren Co, KY.

Notes for ISAAC GOODNIGHT:
Information on this family line, particularly Michael, the father of Isaac Goodnight and his children, was found in "The Good(K)night (Gutknecht) Family in America" by S. H. Goodnight. This book, publishing date, unknown, was written by a descendant of Michael Goodnight through his son, Henry, names Scott Holland Goodnight, who was born 16 Jan 1875 in Holton, Kansas.

Additional information was obtained from the family records of Rosemary Filyaw, Evelyn Barclay, Elsie Davis, Dan Yarbrough, Nellie V. Grabs, Mary M. Baker, and the GedCom file of Dianne Thurman, all descendants. Ms. Thurman lists several references as well, and they are listed as they occur.

Kelli Goodnight lists a child Charles Goodnight b. Macoupin, IL and died in Mercer County, KY. This Charles was to have married Charolette Collier who died in 1883 in Oran, Palo Pinto County, Texas. She cites the son of Charles Goodnight, Jr. and Charles Patman of Clarendon, Texas. I wonder if this is the famous "Charlie Goodnight" who married but had no children? In any case, I do not believe this Charles is a child of Isaac Goodnight and Elizabeth McMurray.

Information on the family of Robert L. Lawrence and Martha Goodnight comes from records of Mamie G. Hayes. More information about Mrs. Hayes can be found with her family group.

See also notes on Thomas M. Goodnight -- Kentucky: A History of the State, 1886. The biography gives the dates of Isaac's marriages and other information.

Family sources which like to say that Isaac Goodnight was the first white child born in Kentucky are mistaken. Settlers, including families, had been coming to Harlan Station for nearly 10 years before the Goodnights arrived. To assume none of them had children makes no sense.

Other sources of information:
Cemetery records -- Goodnight family Graveyard, Three Forks,
Warren County, KY
Cemetery records -- Rehoboth Cemetery, Mansfield, Tarrant Co., TX
Marriage Records, Warren County, KY
US Census, 1810, Warren Co, KY, p. 255 or 256
US Census, 1820, Warren Co, KY, p. 60
US Census, 1830, Warren Co, KY, p. 109
US Census, 1840, Allen Co, KY
"Plymouth Rock to the Pacific," by Wesley Mulleneix, p. 154
Tax Lists, Lincoln County, KY

The Longhunter, Vol. XIX, Issue 4, pg. 11-12
Isaac Goodnight

(tells traditional story of death near Harlan Station)
Birth of Issac Goodnight 1 Jan 1782 "on the first hour."
Marriage in 1808 to Elizabeth McMurry
Move to Warren County, near Three Forks, north of Barren River (KY) after marriage; living on large tract of land secured "through a grant signed by Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia."

Became member of old Bays Fork Baptist Church. When that church was divided, he went with the group that formed the Rocky Springs Baptist Church.

"Isaac Goodnight was the 22nd child of his father, and he was father of 21 children. He passed away on October 13, 1869 at the age of '87 years, 9 months, 12 days and 3 hours.'"

From History of Mansfield, Texas, 1996, p. 249

Michael Goodnight was a Baptist and a refugee from religious persecution in his native land of Germany. Isaac Goodnight, born 1782 near Harrodsburg, Kentucky, was bound to William Hays at the age of sixteen to learn the saddler's trade at Standford, in Lincoln County, Kentucky. At the age of 21, he became a professor of religion under the preaching of Rev. William Finley.

================

Article from The New York World, "Three Lives in Four Centuries," ca 1907:

New York World

It is not often that the span of three lives stretches into four centuries, but Mrs. Martha Lawrence, who recently died in Warren County, Ky., was the granddaughter of a man who was born in 1694. Moreover, her father was the first white child born in Kentucky.

Michael Goodnight (probably Gutnacht in the original German), born in Germany in 1694, emigrated to Virginia in 1708. He marrie dearly and one of his sons was present with George Washington and Daniel Boone at Braddock's defeat. He removed subsequently to North Carolina, where he became many years later an ardent supporter of the Revolution, in which several of his sons fought. His first wife dying, he remarried in his old age. When he was past 80, he penetrated to the Kentucky wilderness on an exploring expedition with 30 men under the celebrated borderer James Harrod. He returned to North Carolina for his family, intending to bring them to Harrodsburg, which others of the party had chosen as the site for the first settlement in Kentucky.

But when they were within a day's journey of the fort they were attacked by Indians at midnight of Sept. 1, 1775. Michael and most of the party were killed, but some escaped in the darkness. Among them were Mrs. Goodnight, whom men from the fort found two days later lying unconscious in the woods.

Four months later a son, the first white native of Kentucky, was born to Mrs. Goodnight at Harrodsburg, and was named Isaac. He was of great vigor and courage, and while yet a boy he became one of the most famous Indian fighters in Kentucky.

(A curious tradition that has been passed down through the family says that throughout his entire life, Isaac could never go to sleep without a cover over his face.)

(In 1805, he married Elizabeth McMurray of Mercer County, and three years later moved to Warren County and settled at Three Forks. He began buying land in 1815. Ten children were born to this marriage.)

(Elizabeth died in 1827 and Isaac married second, Mary Ground. They had five children.)

(Isaac's third wife, Rhoda Gadberry, was 8 years older than her husband. She died in 1860, after twelve years of marriage.)

(Isaac believed it was not good for a man to live alone, so he took a fourth wife, Frances Dickerson, 39 years his junior. She survived him for many years.)

He lived to be 93 years old, surviving the civil war four years (although an elder brother had fought in the French and Indian war more than a century earlier), was married five times and became the father of 21 children. His last surviving child, Mrs. Lawrence, who has just died was 78 years old, and left several great-grandchildren.

The fifth (??) wife of Isaac Goodnight, the man who was born the year the cannon were thundering at Bunker Hill, has only been dead a few years. One descendant of his recently represented the Third Congressional District of Kentucky in the lower house of congress, and many others are of prominence in their native state.

It is a singular fact that the grandfather of an American woman who has just died was born when Mary and Dutch William were on the throne of England, when Louis XIV reigned in France and the Battle of Bienhelm was not yet fought.

================================

The family home of Isaac Goodnight in Three Forks, Warren County, Kentucky was in the early 1930s shown as a two-story brick home with chimneys on each end of the house and two recessed paneled front doors. The walls were 18 inches thick. Isaac is said to have made each brick by hand that went to build this home. It is located about 15 miles north of Bowling Green on the big Barren River. A small covered porch adorned the front, and a root cellar was at one end of the house, also with a fireplace.

The home was divided by a a wall with no connecting door on the second floor, and a closed stairway on each side, thus separating the boys from the girls.

Other frame buildings were added, one of which is visible in an old photograph of the home. This building appears to be living quarters as well and could possibly attach to the house. The photos were taken in fall or winter. Dried corn stalks are seen standing in the field, right up to the side of the house. The house burned down since the photos were made. Across from the barn lot, on a hill, is the Goodnight family graveyard. (The house burned in about 1976 and was replaced by another house.)

The house was built by Isaac Goodnight, a farmer and tanner by trade. He was a large slave owner and he and his slaves made the bricks for the house.

The tall painted monument to Isaac Goodnight is located at the family cemetry at Three Forks. The cemetery is on Three Forks Road off Coles Bend Road on the farm of B. M. Smith. Three of Isaac's wives, Elizabeth McMurray, Mary Ground, and Rodah Gadberry, are also buried there. (Kelli Goodnight adds that some family members believe that Frances Dickerson Goodnight is also buried there.) Isaac's stone lists his birth and death dates, and also says, "Initiated into the Masonic Fraternity in 1822," and "He professed faith in Christ and united with the Baptist Church in 1908." Near the top of the spire is the Masonic emblem. There are 15 known graves in the cemetery:

Benjamin Neal 28 Aug 1908 - 13 Aug 1836
Mary Neal Wheatley 13 Jun 1813 - 30 Dec 1862
Sarah Gadbury 25 Feb 1776 - 3 Feb 1858
Anna Lawrence 1891 - 1892
Robert Goodnight 22 Sep 1837 - 20 Mar 1838
H. H. Goodnight 21 Apr 1834 - 4 Jan 1895
I. H. Goodnight 5 Feb 1848 - 13 May 1901
Isaac Goodnight 1 Jan 1782 - 14 Oct 1869
Elizabeth Goodnight 23 Apr 1787 - 29 Sep 1827
Mary Goodnight 29 May 1800 - 29 Nov 1848
Rodah Goodnight 10 Mar 1774 - 9 Apr 1860
Emily N. Goodnight 3 Oct 1830 - 8 May 1907
Charles Rector 29 Sep 1833 - 4 Jun 1898
Mary Moulder 12 Sep 1874 - 25 Mar 1904
Myrtle Moulder 2 Jan 1885 - 29 Oct 1908

The two Moulder women are two of the three wives of Jack Moulder. Mary was the first; Myrtle was the second, and third was Lotty Lawrence, daughter of John A. & Cynthia Payne Lawrence. One of Jake's sisters married Johnny Phillips, and lived on the Goodnight farm. After "Mr. Johnny" died, "Miss Mondy" had a home for life. When she moved from an old log house, which was probably the original home, the house and grounds reverted back to the Goodnight family.

Extract from letter written 20 Jan 1855 by "Grandfather Goodnight to Isaac S. Goodnight in Texas:

"Son and Daughter, this is to let you know that on yesterday evening we received a great feast in letters which was so gratifying to me you can't conceive. One from you and one from Rachel and one from Sarah C. Curry and one from Catherine Jamison and one from Jacob Goodnight, and all well. Murdock fetched them from the post office late in the evening. ...I was also gratified to hear that you liked the country very well, but have some inconveniences with it. This I would look for. We are to have those things or we might get too lazy. I was also glad to hear that you got out there safe and sound and that you are at work and got plenty of the fat of the land to eat and that you are on the gaining hand in health. You now have gained 20 pounds in weight." He speaks of hard times among the neighbors and says, "you say you don't know whether you will ever see us again or not...My son, it is a long road to come to say howdy and fare you well, for you can't make a support for your family and go abroad for him that won't provide for own household is worse than an infidel and has denied the Lord that brought him." He tells of his tanning business and says that he sent the demi-john to Bowling Green for oil and that Murdock would fetch it on Monday. He tells of trying to collect some accounts saying, "I got a warrant for William Meek and I got to find out that he was not to pay for he had nothing. He owes Totty $100 and can't get a cent so I stopped at that. ...John Murdock has sold his place and has said he wanted to move this spring and I told him last night that he had better stay until Fall, he would starve himself and family. He talks of going by water."

3 May 1858:

Writes that it was raining that day and crops were very late with many cold washing rains and he fears they will be sorry in Kentucky that year. A frost came April 27 that he was afraid had killed the fruit and mast.

Children of MARY GROUND and ISAAC GOODNIGHT are:

95.	i.	MARTHA⁵ GOODNIGHT, b. 13 Feb 1829, Warren Co, KY; d. 08 Jul 1907, Warren Co, KY.
96.	ii.	ISAAC SHELBY GOODNIGHT, b. 08 Jun 1830, Smith's Grove, Warren Co, KY; d. 09 Mar 1879, Mountain Creek, Tarrant Co, TX.
97.	iii.	JACOB GOODNIGHT, b. 17 Aug 1832, Smith's Grove, Warren Co, KY; d. 26 Oct 1898, Rio Vista, Johnson Co, TX.
98.	iv.	HENRY G. GOODNIGHT, b. 02 Apr 1834, Smith's Grove, Warren Co, KY; d. 04 Jan 1895, Warren Co, KY.
	v.	ROBERT GOODNIGHT, b. 22 Sep 1837, Smith's Grove, Warren Co, KY; d. 20 Nov 1838, Warren Co, KY.

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