Biography
information researched by:
Ruth
Flack McKnight
7831 Skycrest Trail
Indianapolis, IN 46214
Additional
Information on the Hume Family.
LEWIS HUME
Dr. Hume wrote:
Lewis Hume, son of Rev. George
Hume. Grandson of William Hume, and great grandson of Sir George Hume, the
immigrant was the youngest surviving son of George Hume, a soldier in the
Virginia State Troops in the War for Independence and his wife Elizabeth Proctor,
daughter of Hezekiah Proctor and granddaughter of George C. Proctor of Fredericksburg.
Research proved:
Lewis Hume was the son of
Rev. George Hume. He was not the son of William Hume, but the son of William's
brother John Hume of Culpepper County, Virginia. He was the great grandson
of George Hume, the immigrant surveyor of Spotsylvania, Orange and Culpepper
Counties, Virginia. Lewis's great grandfather did not hold the title of Sir.
While George Hume, the immigrant surveyor, did come from a long line of nobility
and royalty in Scotland, he and his father were found guilty of treason for
being a part of the Jacobite Rebellion of 1717. They were sentenced to be
drawn and quartered. However, our immigrant, only 17 years old at the time
of his sentence, was given a suspension of this death penalty, and sent to
serve on an English privateer for three years, and then exiled to America
because he
was so young. The Hume family in Scotland were stripped of all their lands
and titles. Lewis Hume's great grandfather came to America ill and broke.
The first records of George Hume, immigrant surveyor was a visit to Dr. Brown
in Williamsburg, Virginia. Lewis's father was a Revolutionary War Veteran,
Sergeant & Chaplain in 1st Virginia Regiment, serving under George Washington
and was with the Regiment for the winter of Valley Forge of
1777-1778.
Rev. George Hume was married to Elizabeth Proctor. However,
a partially burnt document, a will, found in the Kentucky Archives,
Fayette County, Kentucky shows Hezekiah Proctor as Elizabeth's brother not
her father. Her father was John Proctor and his mother Mary, surname unknown.
Lewis Hume was indeed the youngest son of Rev. George Hume by his 1st wife
Elizabeth Proctor.
Dr. Hume wrote:
Lewis Hume was born 8 Aug 1793,
in the old house still standing in Kenton County, Kentucky. He spent his childhood
here among the Indians, and in the later days of his life, it was his custom
to sit for hours recounting the tales of the Kentucky frontier from his own
life, and of the Revolutionary War which he had from his grandfather who died
at his
father's house, when Lewis was 16 years old. in 1809.
Research proved:
Lewis Hume was born on 8 Aug
1793. He was born in Bryant's Station, Fayette County, Kentucky. He
was reared in Fayette and Harrison Counties, Kentucky. As a boy of the frontier
he probably was raised with Indians and a life of hunting to feed his family,
as well as helping to farm. Lewis Hume, as was the custom of old men, did
indeed, regale his family
of stories of his youth and that of his parents and grandparents. Dr. John
Robert Hume was about 13 when his grandfather died. The family of John Robert,
w/siblings and parents, were still in Sullivan county, Indiana, all living
close to one another on the 1870 Census.
Dr. Hume wrote:
When Lewis Hume was a small
lad he learned to love the woods and used to roam for hours over the knobs
and hills of Kentucky, in company with an old Indian, who had taken up his
residence on the hill where the Hume graveyard is now located. This old Indian
loved the pale faced lad as his own and taught him to speak the native language,
which he spoke
fluently until he died.
Research proved:
Have been unable to prove
or disprove the information of the old Indian. Dr. Hume's notes, research
documents, old letters, diaries etc. were burned in a fire in Doniphan, Ripley
County, Missouri where he had a farm called Wedderburn Farm. A Native
American curator I spoke to at The Eideljorg Western Museum of Art here in
Indianapolis told me that it was plausible. After the Revolutionary War there
was a large migration of whites
into the wilderness areas where the Indians lived and used as their hunting
grounds. Kentucky was one of these areas. Tribes from both the south and the
north used Kentucky lands in this manner. The Indians were being driven out
of their homes and they were migrating also, trying to find a place to live.
They came to hunt game and get salt from the Salt Licks in Kentucky.
Due to the upheaval of the tribes and much movement, many lived solitary lives,
away from their tribes for a number of reasons.
The family lore that came down to us was that the old Indian
was a Pottawatamie. I cannot prove or disprove this either.
Lewis was a traveler and did do scouting. As a lad he probably
did roam the hills a lot hunting for game for his family. He would need good
skills to help provide food for the family. In this time period of Lewis Hume's
childhood, wild game was used as meat for the table. Beef was not primarily
used as food because cattle were more valuable for their milk and cream which
was used for making butter, cottage cheese (known as clabbered milk) and for
making cheese if the skills were known by the pioneer mothers. Cattle, known
as oxen, were used for beasts of burden . They were used to pull wagons, logs
and remove stumps, and anything else a beast of burden was needed for. Horses
were primarily used in this period of time for scouting, hunting, and communicating
with neighbors when there was an emergency. It wasn't until after the Civil
War that beef was begun to be consumed as table meat and the demand increased
for beef cattle.
There is nowhere that can be found the name of this old
Indian which might give us a clue as to his tribe.
Dr. Hume writes:
When a child, Hume was exceedingly
fair skinned, hair and eyes almost white as marble, caused him to be an object
of superstitious reverence among the Indians. It is said of him that once
after the death of his mother he was sent to a spring for a short distance
from the house to fetch some water in a large gourd used for that purpose,
when he was stolen by a roving band of Indians and carried to their camp near
Long Run. The child's father was not at home and it was three miles to the
nearest house, and the oldest person was a sister named Anna, afterward married
to Edward Stevens. She had in her arms a babe of a few weeks, left motherless
only a short time before and got sick unto death at that time. Frantic with
despair she supposed the little brother to be lost to the family forever.
A day and a night passed and still the child did not return nor could any
tidings be learned of him. A second and a third day passed when just as morning
dawned on the fourth day the old Indian, footsore and weary, slowly dragged
his aged limbs up to the stockade in which the cabin stood, unslung a burden
from his back, deposited it quietly on the floor and untying the deer skin
cover, gave back to the sister the sleeping child, alive, well but completely
naked. He
stooped and gently awakened the child, caressingly patted the white hair of
the lad and spoke to him in the pale-face tongue, the words: "Poor little
papoose, his momma gone way up." This sympathy for the child caused by
the loss of his mother whose grave was so near the Indian's cabin had been
the cause for this deed of heroism, the equal of which is seldom written in
the annals of the most civilized nation.
Research proved:
Once again this can not be
proved or disproved. The fact that the old Indian lived in a cabin makes me
lean more towards a Cherokee, rather than a Pottawatamie. However, most of
the northern woodlands Indians were on the prowl with the westward movement
of all peoples after the Revolutionary War, and many did live in cabins. ...In
this time period there were many roving bands of Shawnee in the area. The
Shawnee were known for adopting into their tribes, and their forays into Kentucky.
It may have been a band of Shawnees who took Lewis Hume from the spring. Again
it is plausible but no proof. It makes a great story for our family lore.
Speculation is that Rev. George Hume may have gone to a
larger settlement to find a new mother for his children, leaving them alone.
The babe in arms indicates to me Anna was caring for an infant, and
Elizabeth may have died of the complications of childbirth. More speculation.
Dr. Hume writes:
Another instance of generosity
of this selfsame savage is worthy of more than I shall have space to give
it. It is said that a few weeks after the facts just narrated that the elder
Hume was away from home visiting among his Virginia neighbors, where he and
two older children had gone to drive home some cattle when the river rose
and blockaded the way for
twenty-one days. During the entire time of the father's absence, the sister
Anna and three small children, Agnes age six, whose after history is unknown,
Lewis the subject of this sketch, aged four years and a baby of three months
were entirely alone. Scarcely had the children been left alone and they were
attacked by a band of wolves which had been driven to the hills by the high
water and all the store of provisions destroyed and the lives of the helpless
children saved with great difficulty.
Research proved:
Dr. Hume may have been off
on his time frame. for above mentioned account. If Lewis Hume was four years
old at the time of this flood, his stepmother would have been in residence.
Mr. Hume has Rev. George marrying his 2nd wife Susannah "Sooky"
Hutcherson in 1799. Marriage bond and return of Harrison County, Kentucky
show Rev. George Hume and Sooky
Hutcherson married on 28 Dec 1796. It seems unlikely to me that they would
have tried to travel in winter over the mountains to go home to Virginia.
It also seems unlikely that George would have left the children, this young,
in the wilderness alone in the middle of the winter. I do not doubt that Rev.
Hume was gone for periods of time because it is documented that he was a Baptist
circuit preacher. It wasn't until 1805 however, in Harrison County,
Kentucky that he presented papers to the Court to post bond for his
reliability so he could be licensed in Kentucky to perform marriages. It is
known that children were given much responsibility in this period because
all hands were needed to survive the wilderness, even little hands. If the
parents did go back to Virginia, I feel sure the children must have been older
than stated. Cannot prove this story either. Probabilities are here, time
is off I think.
As to the wolves, yes, there were wolves in the time frame
mentioned. However, in many parts of Dr. Hume's narrative, he mentions the
stockade. How did the wolves get into a stockade. Children, being children,
maybe they forgot to secure the entry gate. More speculation here.
Dr. Hume wrote:
Anna was an expert with a
rifle and on the day following that, killed a large turkey, using the last
remaining charge of powder. This supply was soon gone and one night, on the
twelfth after the departure of the father, the babe sickened with the croup
and died, and lay unburied in the house nine days until the return of the
father. During all this time, the
family was kept supplied with food by the generosity of the old Indian who
came every day and threw large pieces of venison over the stockade into the
yard.
I remember as a child I often heard my grandfather
over 80 years old, tell these tales to his grandchildren, and as often as
he told them or mentioned the name of his sister, his eyes filled with tears.
The reader will note that with sadness this noble hearted
savage met a tragic death when over 100 years old. In 1800 the elder Hume
and Lewis his son, found the stiffened corpse of the old Indian alone in the
woods, murdered and scalped and be it said to their credit that they gathered
his mangled body, made a crude coffin and laid the old hero to rest among
their own sainted dead in the little graveyard, over which he had watched
for so long, and that today, after a lapse of a hundred years during which
his deeds live on, the fine old red mans bone's rest in one of the twenty
or more unmarked graves, which one we shall never know till the great day
shall come, when some who have had better chances will come forth to a sadder
doom.
Research proved:
The early pioneer women of
this time of the settling of Kentucky, known as "the dark and bloody
ground" because of the Indian situation, were skilled in the ways of
the land and were good with rifles, axes etc. to survive the hardships of
the wilderness. The animals were so plentiful in this land in this time that
most of these hardy pioneers made stockade fences around their farms to keep
the wildlife from destroying all that they had worked for with crops and keeping
of farm animals. They had to compete with bears, panthers, deer, elk, buffalo,
raccoons and other wildlife for every morsel of food that could be harvested.
The fact that Anna was an expert rifleman was would be probable. If
this old Indian did indeed
befriend this family, then the fact that he kept them provided with food is
again plausible. That the children were unable to bury the baby in the dead
of winter is plausible too. Stockades were necessary to defend against Indians
also.
Since there are no stones in the Hume graveyard, we can
find no proof otherwise of the old Indian's death.
Dr. Hume says that he listened to stories of his grandfather.
His grandfather, Lewis Hume, died in 1875 in Sullivan County, Indiana. John
Robert Hume was born in Sullivan County, Indiana on 10 Aug 1862. He
would have been 13 when his grandfather died, and probably did remember the
stories. However, time distorted time and facts I am sure. Lewis was
aged 82 when he died.
It would not be out of the range of probability again that
the old Indian was murdered and scalped. It could have been by white settlers
or other Indians. Again, no proof for these stories of the old Indian. The
settlers feared and hated the Indians and killed them every chance they got.
An elderly, aged Indian would be fair game for anyone out to "get a redskin".
Of course, he would also be fair game for an enemy of his tribe too.
Part Two:
Dr. Hume wrote=
In 1799 when Lewis was six years old the father took for his second
wife Miss Susan "Sooky" Hutcherson and it seems that her lot as
step-mother was not strewn with flowers. The boys of the family were true
sons of the forest, brought up to the freedom of the open woods and fields.
They, and especially the one of whom we write refused to obey the gentle words
of the new mother, and at the age of nine he was apprenticed to a tanner where
he remained three years, but being unable any longer to endure the hardsyhips
of such a life, and longing for the freedom of his native hills, he ran away
when he was not yet twelve years old and joined a camp of surveyors of which
his Uncle Elzephan Hume was a member and became an ax-man, chainman and scout,
always doing his full part as a man. He remained with these people until he
was seventeen years old, travelling in that capacity over a great part of
Indiana. He was at Fort Knox Indiana in 1804, at Tippecanoe in 1810, the day
after the battle he assisted in burying the dead
and returned with Harrison to Vincennes.
Dr. Hume wrote: Contrary to popular beliefs, apprenticeships
were usually not entered into by contract until a boy was older than Lewis
was said to have been. Am unable to find apprenticeship records for Lewis.
When Lewis got his stepmother in 1796, he was only three years old. I am sure
he was not a wild roamer as this tender age.
I was unable to confirm that either Elzephan or Lewis Hume
were at the Battle of Tippecanoe. They are not on any militia rolls that I
can locate in Kentucky or Indiana. Dr. Hume gives the Battle of Tippecanoe
as 1810. The Battle of Tippecanoe took place in Nov of 1811.
That the boys in the Hume family grew up roaming the hills
of Kentucky is not too surprising, considering they probably had to hunt early
on, get salt from the salt licks, etc. There was one thing that struck
me though, and that was that Lewis and his brothers could read and write.
They signed their records with signatures, not a mark. Lewis Hume wrote
letters to Washington D.C. to check on his bounty land certificate and his
pension affidavits were signed by him. So, I imagine Sooky (as his stepmother
was known), probably spent time with these children and taught them to read
and write. Again, I am speculating, no proof of this probability.
Dr. Hume wrote: The famous twelve mile strip, granted
by the Kickapoo Indians to the settlers was part of his labors. The author
remembers once as a child to have crossed that line in the company of his
grandfather and to have been told that he assisted in surveying this line
before he was grown (65 years before).
In 1812 the president issued a call for two companies of
troops to go to Canada, and join Commodore Perry. These companies were quickly
raised and instead of 200 men, 800 volunteered. The two hundred being chosen
from the ranks of the Kentucky Scouts. Col. William Ellis was elected Captain,
Hume and one of his cousins from Madison County, Ky., joined as privates and
went with Ellis to Canada, but arriving at Malden about the time of Perry's
famous battle on Lake Erie were not sent to the front as the destinies of
war were
fought out and won by the entrepid commander before they could be put into
commission. Hume remained with his command at Malden, Canada during the year
1812-13 and was mustered out in January. He started in February to his home
in Kentucky, the distance all of which he made on foot, swimming swollen streams
amidst floating ice. He lost all his pay, in an adventure of this kind on
the Maumee River. The stream was swollen to a mile in extent. Hume tied his
belongins and money between two poles and attempted to swim with them across
the stream but lost his money, clothes, discharge and all in the water while
battling with floating ice. He however reached home safely and spent two more
years with the Scouts in southern Indiana.
Research proved: Lewis Hume did indeed serve in the
War of 1812. He received bounty land and pension for his service. The Treasury
Dept, Third Auditor's office dated 24 Oct 1871 stated that the rolls of Capt
Ellis's Company of Kentucky Militia show that Lewis Hume served from 10 Sep
1814 to 9 Mar 1815.
STATE OF INDIANA
RUSH COUNTY
On this the 5th day of November
A.D. 1850 personally appeared before me, a justice of the peace written
and for the County afroesaid, Lewis Hume, aged fifty six years, a resident
of said County, who being sworn according to law, declares that he is the
identical Lewis Hume, who was a private in the Company Commanded by Captain
James Ellis of the 16th Regiment of Kentucky Detached Militia Commanded by
Colonel Andrew Porter in the War with Great Britain declared by the United
States on the 18th day of June, A.D. 1812;
that he was drafted at Campbell County Kentucky on or avout the day of September
A.D. 1813, for the term or six months, and contracted and actually served
in said war for the full term of six months and was honorable discharged at
Fort Malden in upper Canada on the 10th Aug of March A.D. 1814 and received
a certificate of the same but lost it in the Maumee River on his return however,
but for an _______ refer to the muster roll of said company.
He made this declaration for purpose of obtaining the Bounty
Land to which he may be entitled under the "Act granting bounty land
to certain officers and soldiers who have been _____ ______ ______ ____ of
the United States ______ September 28th 1850.
Signed Lewis Hume
Under Warrant # 11505 he was awarded 80 acres on 28 June
1851.
Part Three:
STATE OF ILLINOIS
COUNTY OF JASPER
On this 21st day of April A.D.
one thousand eight hundred and fifty five, personally appeared before me,
A. R. Bridges, duly authorized to administer oaths within and for the County
and State aforesaid, Lewis Hume who was a private in the Company of Captain
James Ellis in the 16th Regiment of Kentucky Militia commanded by Col. Andrew
Porter in the War with Great Britain. Was enlisted in Boone County, State
of Kentucky in 1812 term of six
months and continued in actual service in said war for the term of six months
+ 26 days and was honorable discharged at Fort Moulton N. C (northern Canada)--
on the fifth day of April A.D. 1814, as will appear by the muster rolls of
said Company.
He makes this declaration for the purpose of obtaining
the bounty land to which he may be entitled under the "act granting additional
bounty land to certain officers and soldiers who have been engaged in the
military of the United States" approved March 3, 1855. And refers to
his former declaration made under the act of September 28th 1850 upon which
he obtained a Land Warrant No. 11505 for eighty acres, which he having legally
transferred and disposed of, is not within his power to return.
He further declares that he has not received a warrant
for bounty land under any other act of Congress, nor made any application
therefor, than the one above referred to, under act of September 1850 upon
which he obtained said Land Warrant No. 11505 for eighty acres, and one now
presented.
Signed Lewis Hume
On 21st of April 1855 Lewis Hume, of Newton, Jasper County,
Illinois signed over Power of Attorney to L. W. Goodin to act as his lawful
attorney to prosecute and receive from the United States the Bounty Land Certificate.
Declaration by Justice of the Peace Of Jasper County, Illinois 21 Apr 1855
A. R. Bridges. Clerk Hiram Wade on 21st Apr 1855 declared he knew A.
R. Bridges to be a Justice of the Peace for the County of Jasper in the State
of
Illinois.
In the file from the national Archives, Washington D. C.
is the following letter written by Lewis Hume;
Newton Ills March 23/56
Commissioner of Pensions
Dear Sir,
I made application for a Land Warrant
an L. K. Gooding forwarded the application to your office & seems to have
instructed you to direct it to him instead of me. Mr. Gooding has left here
& his present residence is not known to me. The warrant came to this office
about 3 months ago & I have been waiting to this time for him to come
back & take it out of the office for me. As he has not come back &
the Postmaster is about returning it to your
office, I therefore send this along with the request that you inclose
it & direct it to me as I am very anxious to get it.
Yours &c Lewis Hume
STATE OF INDIANA
COUNTY OF SULLIVAN
On this 15th day of April AD one
thousand eight hundred and seventy one, personally appeared before me William
D. Griffith, Clerk of the Circuit Court, a Court of Record, within and for
the County and State aforesaid, Lewis Hume, aged 81 years, a resident of Jefferson
Township, County of Sullivan, State of Indiana who, being duly sworn according
to law, declares that he was married at Boone County, Kentucky on the 16th
day of February
1816 and that he served the full period of sixty days in the Military service
of the United States in the War of 1812; that he is the identical Lewis Hume
who volunteered in Captain James Ellis' Company, 16th Regiment of Kentucky
Militia, Campbell County, Kentucky on the 8th day of September 1814 and was
honorably discharged at Fort Maldon Upper Canada on the 9th day of March 1815,
that claimant accompanied his regiment to Canada under command of Colonel
Andrew Porter, in General McArthurs Division-served there at Fort Malden,
McArthur & Prashel?- and until discharged aforesaid-claimant lost his
discharge in swimming the Maumee River in Ohio on his way home., that he at
no time during the late
rebellion against the authority of the United States, adhered to the cause
of the enemies of the Government, giving them aid or comfort, or exercised
the functions of any office whatever under any authority, or pretended authority,
in hostility in the United States; and that he will support the Constitution
of the United States; that he is not in receipt of a pension under any previous
act; that he makes this declaration for the purpose of being placed on the
pension roll of the United States, under the provision of the act approved
February 14, 1871, and he hereby constitutes and appoints, with full power
of substitution and revocation, John T. Gunn of Sullivan , Indiana his true
and lawful attorney to prosecute this claim and obtain the pension certificate
that may be issued; that his post office is at Carlisle County of Sullivan
State of Indiana; that his domicile or place of abode is Jefferson Township,
Sullivan County, Indiana. Signed Lewis Hume.
Attest;
Ezekiel Jones
John A. Allsman
War of 1812, Indianapolis Agency
commencing February 14, 1871 to Lewis Hume of Capt J. Ellis' Ky Militia, eight
dollars per month. His certificate was dated by Indianapolis Agency Nov 2nd/71
and sent to Pension agent. Certificate # 16091-80-55 Vol Inda Page 33
War of 1812
Act February 14, 1871
Brief of Claim to A survivors Pension in the case of Lewis
Hume of Captain Ellis's Company, Colonel Ky Mil. Residence Sullivan Co., Ind.,
Post Office address Carlisle, Sullivan Co., Ind. Enlisted Sept 10 1814, discharged
March 9th 1815. Declaration and identification in due form filed April 24th
1871.
SERVICE FOR SIXTY DAYS SHOWN AS FOLLOWS:
Report from 3rd Auditor shows that Lewis Hume served in
Capt. james Ellis' Co. Ky Mil. from Sept 10th 1814 to March 9th 1815. Length
of service 181 days.
Claimant declares he is not a pensioner under any provision
act, name, not on list of pensioners. Loyalty, claimant ---ment and testimony
of Ezekiel Jones and John A. Allsman. Oath to support the Constitution of
the U.S. subscribed.
Admitted Oct 27th 1871, to a Pension of eight dollars per
month from February 14, 1871. Signed John T Gunn, Sullivan, Ind, Atty &
J. R. Golding, Approved Ex'r.
Undated Dcoument:
Soldier Lewis Hume; War of 1812; Wife Hume Mary; Service
Capt. James Ellis; Co. Ky Mil; En. Sept 10, 1814; Dis Mch 9, 1815; Sur. Orig.
# 11,993: Sur Cert. # 7010: Bounty Land Warrants 11,505-80-50 & 16091-80-55;
Residence 1850 Rush co., Ind.; 1855 Jasper Co., Ill.; 1871 Sullivan Co., Ind.
(P.O.) Carlisle, Sullivan co., Ind.; Residence of Wife Jan 1816, Boone Co.,
Ky; Maiden Name wife Mary Roberts' Marr of soldier to wife Jan 16 1816, Boone
Co., Ky' Death of soldier-Pension agent states pension suspended 3 years
after last payment Dec 4, 1875 (act of death).
Lewis Hume and Sarey Sleet md 1st Oct 1816, Boone County,
Kentucky. Recorded in Boone County, Kentucky Marriage book A, Page 25, Burlington.
Lewis Hume and Polly Roberts, married on 21 Jan 1818 by
Lewis's father Rev. George Hume dated 21st Jany. This marriage is recorded
Boone County, Kentucky Marriage book A, Page 38, at Burlington.
(Author note) When I first found this biography of Lewis
Hume, and especially this part about swimming this Maumee River, a mile extent
across, I laughed aloud. My thoughts were what tall tales this man told. After
reading and studying other accounts of these days, I am now not so sure. These
early soldiers performed amazing feats of endurance and valor for their country
and to get home after these earlier Wars. The accounts of the George Rogers
Clark feat of the saving of Fort Vincennes for the Continental Congress
of Virginia during the Revolutionary War has almost convinced me these old
soldiers could, and did, accomplish and endure the impossible in their zeal
for their country. As a surprise Clark and his soldiers, swam
the flooded Wabash River between Illinois and Indiana to surpise Gen Hamilton
and secure the Fort for the Americans, thus taking all of the West for our
cause from the English.
As for Lewis Hume surveying the famous twelve mile strip
granted by the Kickapoo Indians, I can find nothing on this.
Dr. Hume wrote: In 1815 he (Lewis Hume) came home to Kentucky,
married Sallie Sleete, a daughter of Weeden Sleete, and niece of the wife
of his uncle Elza, as Elzephan Hume was called. He settled on a farm in Boone
County and lived there until a son was born, the wife and mother died when
the child was only eleven days old. Accounts of her death are current as told
by Grandmother Hume, second wife, who was present, are that Sally, the first
wife, died from drinking water from a poisoned spring. Her father died from
the same cause on the same day. The story goes that the family had been drinking
water from a spring near the house and that on this occasion some suspicious
persons were seen near the spring, but no danger was anticipated until father
and daughter had sickened, then some young horses had sickened and died. The
father who was sick when the daughter died, arose from the bed,
went across the room, stood by the bedside for a few minutes, then to the
door as one moved from on high delivered a discourse of such strength and
power that a great religious awakening started from it. When he had finished
he bestowed his parting blessings upon the assembled audience, crossed the
room, lay down upon the bed from which he had risen, and in a few moments
was dead. This is the story told by my grandmother who was an eye witness.
It is also said that on the death of this daughter and father, another and
last child was born only an hour later and she was named in honor of the sister
Sally who lay dead under the same roof. The record in the Hume Bible is as
follows, "Sary Hume, deceased July 26, 1817.
Research proved: Sally Sleet Hume, 1st wife of Lewis Hume,
did indeed die on the same day as her father. Her gravestone and that of her
father, Weeden Sleete, gives date of death as 3 Aug 1817, Boone County, Kentucky,
in the Sleet Family Cemetery, Howard Moore Farm, U.S. 42 near Duckhead Inn.
However, I cannot prove or disprove the sermon.
Lewis Hume did have an Uncle Elzephan Hume who was married
to Martha "Patsy" Sleet Hume. They were married on 11 Jan
1791 in Woodford County, Kentucky by Samuel S. Harmon. Weeden Sleet, brother
to Patsy and father of Sarah "Sally" was married in Woodford County,
Kentucky by Samuel S. Harmon on 15 Dec 1791. Both marriages record on Page
808.
Dr. Hume wrote: Lewis Hume married a year later to Mary
"Polly" Roberts of Verona, Kentucky. After the second marriage they
lived in Kentucky until 1832 when they emigrated to Dearborn County, Indiana
where the younger children were born.
Research proved: Lewis and Mary moved by 1820 to
Campbell County, Kentucky and were on the Census there. Lewis was on the tax
rolls for Campbell County, Kentucky until 1823. While his father Rev. George
Hume moved to Dearborn County, Indiana by about 1813, Lewis left Campbell
County, Kentucky and removed to Ripley County, Indiana where his youngest
children were born.
Dr. Hume wrote: While here Hume had a narrow escape
from a tragic death. Several young animals had disappeared from his corrals
and one morning after a fine colt had been killed, he started to locate the
miscreant and strangely enough carried his rifle with only one charge of powder
and no shot.
He had not gone far when he came upon an immense brown
bear lying down to rest after his night's repast. Mister Bruin resented the
hunter's intrusion with a show of fight. Retreat was impossible as the bear
was a better runner than the hunter. So nothing was to be done but fight,
and hastily pouring a charge of powder into his rifle, he discovered he had
no balls, so he cut a plug from the wooden ramrod of his gun and fired with
such precision into Mr. Bruin's mouth as to lay him dead at the feet of the
hunter. This was one of his favorite stories and occurred on a little Creek
called Laugherty in Dearborn County, Indiana. From Dearborn county, Hume emigrated
with his brother Aquilla to Rush County, Indiana in 1836 and settled at Moscow.
Here he remained and reared his family, and after several of his children
had married he moved to Jasper County, Illinois, in 1854, and from thence
in 1860 to Sullivan County, Indiana.
He settled within one mile of the scene of his early work
as scout and surveyor, in Jefferson Twp., Sullivan County, Indiana.
He died Dec 23, 1875 and was buried in Indian Prairie Baptist
Church yard. His wife Polly Roberts Hume predeacesed him about four years.
She died September 15, 1873. A neat marble shaft marks their graves.
Research proved: The last information
in the biography of Lewis Hume is fairly accurate. Lewis Hume was 82y of age
at his death on his stone. He and Mary are buried in Indian Prairie Baptist
Church Cemetery, Jefferson Twp., Sullivan county, Indiana. They were enumerated
on the 1840 and 1850 Indiana Census, Rush County. They were enumerated on
the 1860 in Jasper County, Illinois, town of Newton. In 1870 they were enumerated
on the 1870 Census in Sullivan County, Indiana, Jefferson Twp.. In 1862 one
of his daughters was
married in Sullivan County, Indiana. (See Family Group Record)
The account of Lewis Hume's adventure with Mr. Bruin is
probable. There were numerous bears in southern Indiana in the earlier days
of settlement. That the bear took down a colt is also probable. What seems
again to me, living in the 21st Century, an improbablility, is that
Lewis Hume, a boy and man of the woods, a hunter, a veteran of War of
1812, a scout and surveyor, in a dangerous era with indian problems
etc., would leave to go after a
large animal without sufficient ammuition for his gun. The dependence of a
gun to a pioneer in this era would have been second nature to him by this
time in his life. There would have been sign of a scuffle with a large animal
as well as tracks where the colt was left dead. As to the power of a
plug from his wooden rod, I don't know how possible that would be. Hoping
there are some re-enacters, bear hunters or gun lovers out there who can tell
me if
this is a possibility in the killing of that bear.
As much as we study the times of these hardy and brave
pioneers who endured so much to settle out great land, we weren't there, and
can only make educated guesses as to the truth of the events of the past.
Additional Hume
information can be found at the following web sites;
Welcome
to the Hume Family Homepage
Hume/Home
Family Tree
For picture of Lewis Hume see website as follows:
Lewis
Hume
Ruth
Flack McKnight
7831 Skycrest Trail
Indianapolis, IN 46214
