The Family of John Moore Whitaker of Paducah, KY

This website is intended for the benefit of the descendents of John Moore and Katie Crowley Whitaker of Paducah, KY. John Moore was born in Maury Co., TN, a descendent of Mark and Katie Boone Whitaker. Mark and his brother John "Peg Leg" were early settlers of Fayette County KY, before moving to Lincoln County TN. Katie was a first cousin once removed of Daniel.

Little is known of John Moore's early life and family, other than the bare facts which have been culled from census data. The story handed down in the family is that John's mother died when John and his brother were still children, and that they were raised by their father, who was a traveling gambler on the river boats. Some of John's children could remember visits by their grandfather and uncle in the early years of the 1900s, but no one recalled their names, and only recently has this information been recovered from census records.

The relationship of the old brothers Mark (my 4th g-grandfather)and John Pegleg Whitaker (ancestor of Robert Scott W - see link to website below) has recently been definitively established by the Whitaker DNA project (http://www.couchgenweb.com/whitaker/). My cousin Tim is a perfect match to RSW. The DNA project also rules out a link to the line of immigrant Mark Whitaker of Baltimore, MD. Family lore has it that Mark and John were sons of Marcus Whitaker, who was the son of William W. + Elizabeth Carleton. William was the son of Joshua Whitaker and Jane Banister Parker, an English Quaker family. William immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1721, then moved his family to Rowan Co., NC in the 1750s. As of this writing, June 2003, no proven descendents of the Joshua/William line have taken the DNA test, so a link to that line cannot yet be firmly estalished or ruled out.

I've also recently traced some of our Love family line (Elizabeth Love who md. John Whitaker, son of Mark and Catherine Boone), and have found that Elizabeth's grandmother Bettie Robertson Draper was captured by Indians in 1755 along with her famous sister-in-law, Mary Draper Ingles (aunt and namesake of Elizabeth's mother, Mary Draper). The elder Mary Draper escaped from her captors, and made her way back 500 miles to her home, in a celebrated pioneer story that is the subject of many articles and books, and a 1995 TV movie. Bettie's infant was killed and her arm was gravely injured by a musket ball in the attack. She was forced to run the gauntlet, and was later adopted into another tribe. She was ransomed some years later. There is more information in the report, "Ancestors of Elizabeth Love" below.

Family Photos

• Catherine Boone Whitaker's grave (112 KB)
  In the Whitaker family cemetery, Lincoln Co. TN. Stone was placed by DAR around 1985.
• The Whitaker cemetery (106 KB)
  Cemetery on the old Whitaker farm in Lincoln Co., TN
• James Philip Whitaker Sr., 1943 (29 KB)
  A sketch of dad in his Navy uniform. He's about 19 here.
• James Philip Whitaker, ca. 1916 (20 KB)
  Dad, about age 2
• Sherrod Goode Colley, ca. 1940 (34 KB)
  Mom's maternal grandfather Bud Colley, taken on a visit to his daughter Lucy's family. He's about 90 years old here.
• John Moore Whitaker, ca. 1920 (15 KB)
  Grandfather Whitaker at the family house on Harrison St, about age 50.
• Lucy Colley and her little sister Susan, 1888 (118 KB)
  Mom's mother Lucy is about 4 here, and Sis is about 2.
• Katie Crowley Whitaker, ca. 1935 (32 KB)
  Grandmother Whitaker, feeding her "pet" squirrel on Harrison St, about age 60.
• Ephraim D. Osburn family ca. 1905 (48 KB)
  Great-grandpa Ephraim, with 3 daughters(Emma, Mary & Rhean), a son (Henry Norman?) and brother (?)
• Pauline Whitaker, ca. 1950 (24 KB)
  Aunt Pauline, about age 50.
• Ephraim D. Osburn family, ca 1910 (235 KB)
  Left to right (best guess...): Boy unknown, George and Mary Osburn Neff, Henry Norman Osburn and 3 kids, Rhean Osburn, John Stewart Osburn, Ephraim and second wife Molly Jo Curtis, and their daughter Edna.
• The Luttrell brothers, ca. 1914 (77 KB)
  Mom's double cousins, the Luttrell boys from Marked Tree, AR. From left to right are Hugh M., James H., George D., Harry A., and Alonzo Layton. George became a detective in Memphis.
• Mark Whitaker's grave. (105 KB)
  In the Whitaker cemetery, Lincoln Co., TN. Stone was placed by DAR around 1985.

Family Tree Maker Reports and Trees

• Genealogy Report: Ancestors of Elizabeth Love

Related Links

• R.S. Whitaker's page
• Story of Mary Ingles and Bettie Draper's capture by Indians