greathornytoads
Tenderfoot
- May 22, 2023
- 7
- 7
So today I stopped at a little country grave yard, disappointed I didn’t find the particular grave I was searching for, as I was leaving I looked down and came across this stone. A little back story:
Two years ago, while researching my family tree I uncovered that my 3rd Great Granfather was an outlaw before becoming Legislator & farmer. The newspapers (Indiana Papers) stated that he was leader of the KU Klux Klan, they referred them as kluxes. In 1868 he supposedly murdered a man (him and several members of his gang), so a warrant was issued. The newspaper states that a US Marshal & 25 Union troops from Louisville was dispatched to arrest him, but says he got away. The farm he lived on is still in the family, so last fall, through old maps I was able to locate where his home once stood. So I went and metal detected the area, and was shocked to find evidence of a large gun fight. He went on the lamb, came back in 1874 purchased a farm for $2000 cash in hand, in 1874 the country was in a depression, no banks to borrow money from, and with inflation $2k would be over $50K today. He was found not guilty in 1879 of that murder, and soon after that he was elected to legislature. Most of the men who were named in that article went on to become senators, legislators, and other prominent positions. I think they realized infiltrating politics would give them the chance to control the narrative. And the lawyer who represented him, was a die-hard successionist, so much so Habeas Corpus was suspended, and he was thrown in jail, until after the 1865 election.
For the past year Ive started leaning towards him being KGC, not the klan, or the klan as we know it today. Through a couple of newspaper articles, Ive been able to put the james gang here numerous times, very near the family farm. And successfully linked John Jarrett to living here, his sister lives here with her confederate POW husband, as well as his daughter being born here.
For the past 2 years Ive accumulated a lot of diaries, letters, books, maps, and the more I dig, the more likely their paths crossed. And in those 2 years I have discovered a Confederate Spy Ring, that involved very prominent citizens that included Doctors, lawyers, and wealthy farmers. On top of that spy ring, I was able to locate the Confederate rendezvous point for rebel raiders.
The rendezvous point is 2.5 miles from this rock I located today (as the bird flies). When I seen the rock, and that JJ, I knew exactly what I was looking at. But I could tell there was some other writing on it, older more wore down. I knew it wasn’t a headstone, so as I thought about it I started figuring it out. You can make out 4041, so I said to myself perhaps it’s a property marker. Bingo that was it. As soon as I got home I pulled the old deed, and sure enough the property was 40 poles one way and 43 the other. Im not too sure how far a pole is, but that’s close enough for me!
I think Jesse knew that it was a property marker with 4041 on it and it would be highly unlikely that rock would ever move. The land was sold for 1 cent to erect a church and graveyard June 1888, so at the time Jesse stopped there it was not a graveyard.
There is so many stories about the James gang, you have try to filter out the B.S. I don’t know how much of this is true, everything stated there is a paper trail, so Im dependent on information to be accurate, information over 130 years old.
The obituary for my 3rd Great Grandfather states at the time of his death he was the oldest Master Freemasons in the area.
So what im asking is has anybody found a marker similar to this? (Not just KY)
Has anyone come across info about the KGC in the Western part of Kentucky?
Does this mean there is a possible cache near by?
Id love to hear some feedback
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