The Bishop Family of Clay Co. KY

Contributed by: James R Philpot on July 9, 2005

1. Settlement Period:

The Bishops appear on Clay tax lists in 1807 and Samuel Bishop is listed in County Court records as an actual settlerand said to have a plantation on Newfound Creek in 1816. So far so good. The tax lists for 1807 also list a George Bishop, a James Sr. amp; James Jr. as well as Samuel Bishop Sr. & Samuel Bishop Jr. and a William Bishop SR & Jr.. George Bishop also appeared in the court records of Spartansburg, SC listed as a citizen of Clay Co. KY (See article in CCAN by Mary Mills) in the same period. Also, there appears a John Bishop & Stephen Bishop in the Military records of the KY militia which included mostly men from Clay Co. in the War of 1812. I accept only Samuel SR, Jr. and William SR , Jr. on the grounds that only these names appear in other sources or were handed down by family tradition. Perhaps, since Clay County was a lot larger initially, there were Bishops settling in current Brathitt County and who may have been cousins or less related to our ancestors. No link has been established between the 2 Sams or the 2 Williams with George, Stephen, John and the Jameses. So there it lies as far a I'm concerned. Both Willliams died pretty early including the founder of the William Bishop-Sarah Burns group as he died in 1827 per son William B Bishop's Civil War Pension application. No direct proof is available but it appears that all the original males (i.e. Sam Sr. Jr. and Wm. Sr & Jr.) died out before 1830 because the tax lists for that period show only Sam's wife Mary (Abner) and Williams wife Sarah (Burns ) as landowners then. Shortly after, the number of Bishops increased rapidly in the tax lists and census. In the next generation Abel Bishop b in 1812 was an original settler of the Bishop Bend which adjoins Newfound Creek, so that the whole area from the about the Mouth of Roadrun to the head of Newfound Creek was Bishop laden. (This incidently is the area I grew up in) .There were other allied families as well including Allens, Bakers, Abners Barretts and a Bowling etc. See Kelly Morgan's History of Clay Co. Pioneers for more information. Strange that all the settlers at the current northern border of Clay with Owsley South Fork River were in the A & B part of the alphabet. Perhaps, there was some unrecorded arrangement in a large migration party, that our settler-ancestors were grouped alphabetically by area , i.e. maybe strong willed Captains such as John Baker or Adnoriam Allen said All Youuns: Abners, Bishops, Bakers, Allens and Barrets settle the area round the big bend in the South Fork River and we will pertect yer famblies from the injuns. Or maybe that's too fanciful.

2. The Original Bishop women settlers:

Before 1850 the census and tax lists had only the head of households and so were usually silent about women . However, marriage records listed the rides and from these we know there was an elder Rachel Bishop who approved the marriage of er daughter Rachel to Morris Allen before 1830 ( exact date is recorded ), and she also approved he marriage of Keziah Bishop to Gabriel Jones in 1827. The marriage record of Mary (Polly) Abner to Samuel Bishop was recorded in 1811 and Sarah Burns marriage to William Bishop a few years later. The latter 2 women were the surviving heads of families by the name of Bishop surviving into 1830 as mentioned above. Interesting family traditions exists concerning Keziah Bishop who was said to be the mother of Abel Bishop, Brice Bishop , a daughter Keziah and one more daughter. Tradition has it that Keziah was the mother of Abel Bishop by Minan Abner, the brother of Polly Abner named above. And so Minon would have been her brother in law). Then she lived with Andy Burns who fathered Brice Bishop. Andy was most likely another brother in law thru Sarah Burns who married William Bishop. However, these could be cousins-in- law. After Keziah married Gabriel Jones they moved their belongings by flat boat from (probably) Newfound Creek up Buffalo Creek where Gabriel Fork remains to this day apparently named for him. The tradition also says later (after 1842) the Jones family relocated to Oregon Territory by Ox team over the prairies using buffalo chips for fuel instead of wood . There was a reported sighting of a Jones son during the civil war by a Bishop relative of Clay Co. A diligent researcher /Bishop descendant, in CA, has found Census records of Keziah and Gabriel in what is now Lewis Co. WA in 1850 then Thurston Co. Washington in 1860. She also found definite land records there listing Keziah as a Bishop who married Gabriel Jones in 1828.

3. Those Family Traditions:

There are three major sources of family traditions that I have received from those researching the family.

A. Nancy Ann Cole who married Daniel Bishop gave this account to her daughter Rose who gave it to the lady researcher in CA. Her version presumably came in the 1920 s or 1930 s. In Roses quote of her mother: Bill Bishop and family migrated from New Orleans to Kentucky and settled at the mouth of Newfound Creek on the South Fork of the Kentucky River. They came through with pack horses ; there being no roads for wagons. They came through a place called the Notches where only one horse could get through at a time. Sometimes they had to stop and fight Indians; there were at least four children that we know about: Sam, Bill, Kizzie and Rachel. Sam, Bill and Rachel married and settled in this vicinity and died here. Kizzie was the common law wife of Andy Burns and had four children who took the name of Bishop: Abel, Brice, Sally and Kizzie. Later she married Gabriel Jones and had a family of Jones Children. Several years before the Civil War they left here with a wagon and ox team and crossed to Oregon, taking 6 months to cross the plains, using dried Buffalo chips to cook in place of wood. We do not know anything more of her, except someone reported seeing some of the Jones boys in the Civil War. Kizzie (2nd) married Jim Easton and went to Missouri to live. Abel married Nancy Robertson and settled here. (Abel was the great great grandfather of James R. Philpot who is transcribing this). Sally married Clifton Mobley and settled here. Brice (the father of Daniel Bishop ) married Eliza Allen and lived and died here on the farm where my (Dan Bishop & Nancy Ann Cole Bishop) mother and father lived. Brice had 7 children : Bill, Sally, Nancy, Dan, John, Mary Jane and Esther. All are dead now except Mary Jane and Esther. Dan (my father) married Nancy Cole and had 8 children : James , Roberta, John, George, Henry, Brice, Armada & Rose. This account was given to me by my Mother Nancy Ann Cole Bishop and she got the early history from Great Aunt Rachel who came through from New Orleans when only a small girl, more than 150 years ago. The Bishops came originally from England.

B. My second direct source was material given to me by Geneva Frost who has been a member of the Clay County Genealogical Society when she so graciously gave me this material a few years ago. There was a Professor from the University of Kentucky doing a study of the hill people and pioneers and he came there in the early nineteen fortys and interviewed a goodly number of old timers until he satisfied himself of the general gist of their accounts. He spent a lot of time with Uncle Monroe Bishop. Uncle Monroe was the Grandson of Sam Jr, and the son of Elisha. To quote Professor Jim Brown "Samuel Bishop and William Bishop, Brothers, together with 2 sisters were as nearly as I can find out the first settlers on Newfound Creek. They came sometime between 1800 and 1810; they were listed in the 1810 Federal Census." Some of the old people (Hugh Nog Bishop, (Clay M s Father) and Uncle Monroe Bishop) told me they were from Virginia and moved to KY to get away from an epidemic of Yellow Fever there. Samuel Bishop married Polly (Mary) Abner on Nov. 15, 1811 and they had the following children:

   a. Elisha Bishop who married Amy Johnson,
   b. Bill Bishop who married Susan Barrett (he was called Simlin Head and Billy who hung himself (JRP 's info is in1888 that William Sr. Killed himself). This is Jim "Hammerhead Bishop s father and mother.
   c. Rachel who married an Ambrose,
   d. Elsie who married a Browning,
   e. Nancy who married a Spivey. (You can find C, D, & E in the 1850 census s of Clay and Owsley)

About the daughters (Rachel, Elsie and Nancy), Uncle Monroe Bishop said they all went to Jackson County. He never saw but one - who came to take his grandmother (Polly Abner Bishop) back with her. I ve given you sheets on II William Bishop who married Sally Burns (Sarah) and some of their children. This William Bishop is Samuel Bishop s brother and is one of the original settlers of Newfound. I did not trace the Bishops or anybody back before the first settlement of Newfound Creek, since I was interested at that time only in the history of the first settlers in the area from the time they came to the time I began my study in 1942. I ve also given you a sheet on Jim Hammerhead Bishop and his wife Rhoda Carmack and their children. You will note Hammerhead is the third child of Old Billy Bishop. You (Geneva Frost) will note that your grandmother is the third child of Jim and Rhoda Bishop.

C. The third source of family traditions comes from an anonymous source but who is quite credible.

William the son of Samuel & Polly Abner Bishop served as a Private in TT Garrards Regiment. Wm served on the Union side with his sons (including William who was killed) and came home from the war in a sickly condition and remained sickly until 1 May 1888 when he hanged himself. Family story is Mary Bishop (Sam s Polly) listed in the 1850 census of Clay; that after she gave her soul to the devil, she went completely mad. It was said she even pulled out her tongue. Williamâ€™s grandson and the son of James (called Hammerhead) named Isaac (called Ike) talked about her and said after his parents moved to Jackson County KY he found her grave there. Private Wm. Bishop, CO I, 14 KY Cavalry, Union soldier, died 1 May 1888 or 30 April. National Archives have the items on Wm and son Wm jr. (JRP has copied their files). James Hammerhead had a daughter Elizabeth or Isabelle Belle Bishop who married Andrew Jackson Gabbard 1 Apr. 1894 at James Bishopâ€™s home, I presume in Jackson Co. Ky. They had 11 children. It will be easier to understand the people named above with the following geneological table for the so called Hammerhead line:

Husband: William (Hammerhead) Bishop
Born: 1818 Place Clay County KY Was in Company I", 14th Kentucky Cavalry
Marr.: 15 Mar. 1839 Place Clay Co. KY by Job Allen
Died: 30 Apr. 1888
Husband's Father: Samuel Bishop
Husband s Mother: Polly ( Mary Abner)
Wife: Susan Leaner Barrett Born 1822 Place Clay Co. Ky.
Died: 2 July 1902 Wife s Father Jesse Barrett Wife s Mother Polly Hardrock
Chilren:
James Bishop   b 16-12-1847   buried Laurel Pt. Cem. Teges Ky m Rhoda Carmack died 1 Aug 1901.
Theopholos    b 1842   Civil War Soldier
Squire   b 1840   Civil War Soldier
Irvin   b1856
Mack   No date   (1867) I think JRP)
Isaac    b1854
Esther   b1854   (This was the wife of Alex Bishop S O Elisha.)
Lydia   b1858
William    b1843   Died at Young s Point La during Civil War (1861-1865)
Rachael    b1845
Mary   b1847

One purpose of this article was to present geneological information on the major Bishop lines unavailable to Kelly Morgan when he wrote his ground-breaking History of Pioneer Families of Clay County written in the 1970â€™s. I have not expanded on the descendants of Abel Bishop or Elisha Bishop (both my great grandpas) because these lines were covered well in Kelly Morgans Book. More to come later if there is interest.

James R Philpot