Letters from the Past
Submitted by Carl Johnson
(These letters also appear on the Grant County, KY GenWeb.)
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The years are April, 1911 and May 1942 As written by a distant cousin of Carl Johnson, HERSCHEL H. ARD. The letters are rich in Kentucky history, trips to Wayne and Pulaski Counties.

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I came through Somerset, the county seat of Pulaski County . Of course I wanted to stop a short time anyhow and see some of the folks I used to know 31 years before . Went out in a truck to Naomi , a little old county store and post office. I went to Charles B. Ard's place , where I stayed a good bit in 1911 . I expected to have a good chat with him, but heard in Somerset that he had been dead a few years. He died in 1933. His wife and son, Otha , who was a small boy about 5 when I was there, were at the same place . (Charles B. Ard - grandson of Reuben.) I stayed two nights and a day in the county . There seemed to be much improvement in the county after 31 years. There better roads and better farming. I stayed in 1911 a good bit with Luther Ard, the oldest brother of Charley Ard. I knew he was dead . He passed away in 1915. I met two of their brothers on this trip that I had met before -----hamp and James H. Ard ( Jones H. Ard ). They were the sons of James M. Ard, the sons of great-uncle Reuben Ard. Thurday, May 21, 1942 is the day I spent in Pulaski County. It seems that Wayne County goes on the north side of the Cumberland River. This I had forgotten when I was there before. Most all the Ards live in north side of the river, except great-uncle James Ard's folks who lived south of the river and south of Monticello.

Otha Ard took me in his truck to Mrs. Veela (Trimble) Ard, the widow of Luther Ard. The place looked quite natural where I used to stay. One girl, Grace (22), was at home. Two younger boys were out in the field and I didn't see them. There were only four or five children when I was there. They raised eleven children. One, Ernest (24), has died in a Lexington Hospital since I was there. We stopped at two of the other boy's places, but they were not at home, so we went over to Jones Hiatt Ard's, who will be 73, July 18, 1942.

Jones H. Ard related to me some of the Ard history in Kentucky: (Sons of Reuben Sr.)
Son #1 - Great-Uncle James McHenry Ard had two boys and several girls.(Born August 18, 1804). The oldest boy, I suppose, was Cyrenius (born 1831). After the war he went to Hart and Barren counties, west of Wayne. I spent Christmas day with him in 1910 out from Stick Rock, Kentucky. He and his wife were both living at that time. He was 88 years old then. They had, I think it was eleven children. I remember a few of their names, James, Marcus, Frank, Cyrenius Wade, Timothy, Myrtle; one girl married a man by the name of Evans. James Ard one boy, Charles, who was killed in the first World War. Had one girl, I forgot who she married, but they used to live not far from Goodnight, Kentucky. James is now dead. Marcus lives in Horse Cave, Kentucky. He had two children, Eula Ard, who married Earl Wrigth, and Other. Other finished the state university at Lexington and is salesman for some big firm. At any rate his father Marcus, told me about in Feb. 1937, as I stopped a short time in Horse Cave, coming from Louisville, Kentucky. Frank had several children, but I never saw him and his children. Cyrenius Wade I saw out from Glasgow, Kentucky about August 1940. I had met him in 1910 at his father's home. He has six boys and a girl or two. He is about 58 now. I don't know anything about the other children of Cytrnius.

Great-uncle James' other son, Reuben, was married twice. I remember him in 1911. He had three children, Robert E. (Bob), Minerva, and Victoria.Bob never married, still lives on the old place, and in 1911 was living with two or three of his old-maid aunts. Minerva married a McKatnie, who lives near Monticello. He came over to Charley Ard's in 1911, when I was there. Victoria married a Gibson and lives out from Somerset at Ringold. Has two boys. Robert, the oldest, I remember in 1911. One girl married a Isabel, and lives in Wayne County, and one married Jones Hiatt, for whom Jones Hiatt Ard was named.

Son #2 - Great-uncle Abraham Ard's hair, Jones Ard related, was black till the end and a full set of teeth. He had three children, Reuben, William Marshall, and Sarah Bell. Sarah BellL married Thomas Wood and died without heir. Reuben had four children -- Dick, Grover, Ardie Lee and Murphy. Ardie Lee married Elijah Terter and has a large number of children. She lives near Naomi, but I didn't see her this time. Dick is not married, as far as they know, and they don't know where he is. Murphy is in Iowa, not married they say. He was in Kentucky in 1911, but I never got to see him. Grover was living in Wayne County near the river in 1911, he married a Dehart. Has several children. One boy, Walter, and a girl Irene. He has been living in Illinois for about 16 years. They told me he had five daughters that sang and played over the radio at Knoxville, Tennessee a few years ago.

In the spring of 1911, April, I took a steamboat from Nashville, Tennessee, and went 400 miles up the Cumberland River to Burnsides, Kentucky . Wayne County was cut off of Pulaski County in 1800 . Wayne County was the first place we find the ARDS this side of Scotland, as far as records go. Although some of them may have stopped in Virginia on the way over, as Kentucky was a part of Virginia at any early date, I have heard of Ards in Virginia . Kentucky is celebrating this year it's Sesqui-centennial of it's admission as a state into the Union in 1799. I have never been able to find out at what time the Ards came to Kentucky, but I believe soon after the Revolutionary War. Great - grandfather Reuben Ard Sr . had six children . Five boys and a girl . Three of the older boys stayed in Kentucky--James, Abraham, and Reuben . Three went with or before him into Missouri---David , Charles C. and Talitha. I met some of the descendants of all three of these brothers in Kentucky in 1911 . I had some notations taken from some of the records in the court house at Monticello the county seat of Wayne County . These were burned up in a fire in Tennessee in April of 1913 . I remember seeing the deed grandfather Charles C. Ard made when he sold out in Kentucky to go to Missouri . It was about 1841. They told me back in Kentucky that these three brothers all died in their eighty-sixth year . They said great uncle Reuben died in 1902 . That would make him born about 1816. I take it that he was just older than great uncle David , who was born in 1817 or 1818 . (I suppose grandfather Ard was born in 1819 or 1820. From the family Bible grandfather was born in 1813-Alta. ) In the middle of the month, May of 1942, I took a short trip through Kentucky . I visited Camp Knox, 30 miles south of Louisville , Kentucky . Stopped at Lexington , the blue grass section of Kentucky. They say Lexington was named about the time of the Battle of Lexington of Revolutionary Days. The first log house was built in Lexington in 1776 by Robert Patterson . ( It still stands .) The Transylvania College, chartered in 1780 and built about 1783, is still running . It is supposed to be the first College west of the Allegheny Mountains. Henry Clay used to teach Law in this College . The home of Henry Clay was named "Ashland" , because of the many ash trees about . Also was named from the old Clay home in Virginia. A great-granddaughter of Henry Clay , a Mrs. Bullock , 86 and her son ,Henry McDowell Bullock , 48 , live at the old home place now in Lexington . Gen . John H. Morgan , the confederate General of the Civi War days , home is in Lexington . The house that his maternal grandfather Hunt , of Albama , built in 1811 still stands .General Morgan had a battle near Gallatin , and the old man , James W. Parher , who stays with us . remembers him well , and tells a good many stories about him . Mary Todd the wife of Abraham Lincoln , old home is in Lexington . The state agricultural college of Kentucky is in Lexington . I took a bird's eye view of it . Coming south from Lexington I came through Lancaster , the county seat of Garrand County the birthplace of Carrie Nation; famous in Kansas history . out in the country about 8 miles is the Uncle Tom's cabin place . Stopped at Stanford , the county seat of Lincoln County, It is a small town in the edge of the mountains . While there met Dr .Wm N. Crag, 71 , a man much interested in Kentucky History . He said Kentucky was settled by three different early settlements. One down from north to Harrodsburg, supposed to be the oldest town in Kentucky . The other two were by Daniel Boone and Gen. Logan. The Dr. Craig was a descendant of a sister of Gen. Logan .
 

William Marshall Ard, at an early day , went to Texas . He is still living and his 89 years old . He probably is the only first cousin father has living . He lives in Fort , Worth , Texas area and has several children out there Son #3 - Great -uncle Reuben Ard died June 08, 1902 , 85 past . As already mentioned, he was a Lieutenant in the Federal Army, and had two sons, Abraham and James M. (who were in the Army with him ?) Charley had an enlarged picture of him on the wall taken, I suppose , during the Civil War with a pistol in his hand . He had the following children; Abraham, James McHenry, John William, George, Susie, Polly Ann, Marandy, and Maria. Abraham has already been cited as being in the Army with his father and brother . He had the following children : Laura S., Duke, Millard, Van, Mosby, Ard. Laura S. Ard married Thomas Pinckney Johnson and I believe lives around there some place on the old home place on Richardson road. She is about 74 . Duke went to Texas, and they have no record of him . Millard spent 33 years in the Army and was pensioned . I remember Charley Ard speaking of him in 1911 . Van Buren, I remember in 1911 he had several children---one Buckner, who lives now where James McHenry Ard did live in 1911 . I met Van Buren Ard in 1911, but did not see him or any of his family on this last trip , as he lived back in the pan-handle country of Wayne Co, Kentucky , west of Naomi , and the roads were bad to get there. I met Mosby Ard in 1911. He had two children then , and now has several more . Susie Ard, daughter of great -uncle Reuben Ard, married Jas Dagley . I don't remember how many children they had , but I met one this time at Naomi, Lewis Dagley, 72 . He has several children and lives around with them. Polly Ann, married John Dagley. I did not get any record of them. Mandy Ard married man by the name of Ross, and they had no family. Maria Ard married her first cousin , Reuben Ard. He was Uncle James son . His first wife was a Brown, and his first two children were by her . James McHenry Ard, son of great -uncle Reuben, was the oldest Ard around there in 1911 of his father's set . March 27, 1843 to March 03, 1915 . He was about 72 . Co , 1 13 Ky Cty , His children were Luther, Jones, Hiatt, Minnie, Charles B., Hampy, Marshall, and E. Terrell Ard. Luther Green Ard b. Jan 13, 1867 ----May 16, 1925 58+. Have already mentioned his eleven children . Don't believe I gave their names ----Iva Ard Beshears 48, Chester, Oscar, Worth, O'Kea, Onnie, Emerg, Ernest, Grace, Lindreille, Luther, 17

Jones Hiatt Ard, July 18, 1869 ---73 next . He married Emma Trimble, sister to Luther's wife, Veelia. They were the daughters of Crawford Trimble, a Missionary Baptist minister that I well remember in 1911. His children were Ollie, 42 James, been in Detroit 19 years , Earl , 37 in Cincinnati, Alma, married Elbert Muse, Columbus ( April 06, 1906-- Oct 16, 1933, 27 ) . He had four children, Edison, Louise, Herman, Darlean, Alpha, 27, still at home, Leona, in Illinois, Munice, married a Pierce and lives not far . Minnie Weddle Ard married a Norfleet and her family lives around there . Marshall O'Doyle Ard is married and has children , but I didn't get to see him on this trip. E. Terrell Ard has been dead a few years, and has children . Charles Barlow Ard , 1874-1933 , had three girls and one boy, Otha. Versia Ard, Gardner and Elise Ard, Cain, both live in the county, and Zella Ard Stephens lives in Easton, Indiana. Lewis Hampton Ard has several boys, They are scattered around. I remember he had one,. Lester, has one, Sam in the Army. The two youngest are at home . John William Ard, son of great - uncle Reuben, died about 80 . Had 5 girls and 3 boys . I remember in 1911 . The boys were Hays, Fremont, and Leslies . Hays, lives in Illinois. He is between 65 and 70 , and has a family . Fremont has been dead for several years and had several children . Have no record of the rest of the family . George Ard, son of great-uncle Reuben, had two girls . One , Mary, marrried a man by name of Bible and lives somewhere in Kansas . Otha Ard and I took dinner at Jones Hiatt Ards. I remember taking dinner at least once with him 31 years ago. It was a wet time, and Otha Ard couldn't do much on the farm, so he wanted to go to Somerset. On the way we stopped at the Felix Jellicoffer Park .They have a monument there where this Confederate General of Nashville, Tennessee fell with two of his Lieutenants and about 150 men at the Battle of Fishing Creek, Jan 19, 1862 . I remeber well one day in 1911 I was walking along the road and saw this monument and crawled over the fence through the weeds to see what it was .On the way back from Somerset we stopped at the National Cemetery in Nancy , It is not a very large one . They always have a big gathering there every 30th of May .I attended the one in 1911 .Otha Ard has a good ridge farm up from the river .He uses a tractor and plants Iiiinois Hybrid Seed Corn . He runs a wheat thresher and is quite a sheep raiser . I remember his father shearing sheep in 1911 . He has a team of mules he says he refused $600.00 for . We came back and stopped at Chester Ard's . We went over to theTarter Cemetery where most of the Ards are buried . We went in Chester Ard's car . We came back by Naomi, near where an old Baptist church used to stand . Chester Ard said he remember my taking him and his older sister, Iva Ard Beshears there to Sunday School .The old church is gone , and they have a new one in a different place. There is also a Nazarene Church not far , which has been built since I was there . I stayed all night at Chester Ard's . At night his brother Oscar Alvis , (36) came up with his 3 boys . Oscar was a small boy of 5 when I stayed at his father's (Luther Green Ard's )home .He said he remember several things about me . He said he remeber I started to cultivate corn with a one-horse double shovel and I put the back shovel next to the corn . I suppose it was the first time I had ever used a double -shovel cultivator . Oscar has a farm near his mother's and brother's . He was elected a year or to ago a member of the County School Board . Oscar Ard married Willie Marie Pierce and has six children : -- Wendell Luther, 12, Norman Oscar, 10, Herschel Loren, 8, ( my namesake) , Tarzan, 6, Donald 4, Lucille, 1, Chester Ard spent 10 years in a machine shop in Detroit . He saved his money and put it in a farm and equipped it well . Has a nice looking place . He didn't want to raise his children in a city . He believes the country is the place for them . Chester Ard married Ella Flynn of the neighborhood and they have six children Kenneth Dell, 20, Elfreda, 17, Havena, 15, Clifford C. , 11, Geneva, 10, and Earlina, 7, . I left early the next morning on the bus from Nancy to Glasgow , Kentucky , and on back to Tennessee . I enjoyed very much a short stop to renew old acquaintances and acquire some new ones where I had spent nearly three months and thirty -one years before. I had always planned on going back to Kentucky, but never seemed to get ready , but passing through was glad to stop for a short trip .

HERSCHEL HUDSON ARD ( May of 1942 when all of this was written about the trips in 1911 and 1942.) Herschel Hudson Ard was b. May 06, 1889 in Elsmore . Allen Co, Kansas and died Feb 17, 1980 in Portland, Tennessee . Herschel's grandfather Charles C. Ard b. April 12, 1812 in Wayne Co, Kentucky and d. Feb 24, 1864 in Allen Co, Kansas, was married in Wayne Co, Kentucky Oct 15, 1840 to Susan Mahaley Barrow b. June 10, 1820 in Kentucky and d. Mar 26, 1864 in Allen Co,Kansas


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