The Kentucky Covingtons ~ Part II

Family faces are magic mirrors. Looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present and future. We make discoveries about ourselves.  - Gail Lumet Buckley

In our last post we wrote about our uncle Benjamin Covington's move with most of his family to Bowling Green Kentucky around the turn of the 19th century. In this post we have stories of some of Ben's children, grandchildren and other Covington family members in Kentucky.

Carolyn Covington's sampler

Caroline Covington (2C4X) was the daughter of our cousin Elijah M. Covington (1C5X). She was born in Bowling Green, KY in 1813. In 1823, when she was ten years old, Caroline made a sampler that is now part of the Antique Kentucky Samplers organization.

The verse on Caroline's sampler was from a popular poem of the day written by Thomas Gray. She used only two stanzas of Gray's lengthy poem:

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard. by Thomas Gray

Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid

         Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire;

Hands, that the rod of empire might have sway'd,

         Or wak'd to ecstasy the living lyre.

Full many a gem of purest ray serene,

         The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear:

Full many a flow'r is born to blush unseen,

         And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

The signature on the sampler reads:

Caroline Covington's work in the tenth year of her age

Elm Grove Warren County Kentucky November 28, 1823

Caroline embroidered The name Uselman Clarke the bottom left of the sampler led to some conjecture by the Kentucky Sampler Association:

An exact date of death for Caroline L. Covington is currently unknown to AKS. According to several sources she died young (prior to 1835), unmarried, with no known children, and may have died in Warren County KY, New Orleans, Louisiana, or elsewhere. New Orleans is an interesting possibility given the following curious constellation of facts. The 1833 Philadelphia, PA obituary of a physician name Uselma Clarke. . . which mentioned he sometimes practiced in New Orleans.

Note: According to the obituary, Dr. Clarke died in New Orleans. He had gone there from Philadelphia to "fill the place of a deceased brother. . .who died there in the discharge of his duty."

. . .the fact that after (mother) Harriet Baldwin Covington's (6C5X) death in 1826, as the daughters grew up, "they were sent to New Orleans to their uncle, Judge (Isaac) Baldwin (6C5X), to be 'brought out' and all married there except Caroline who died when she was about grown." Did Caroline make her sampler in Kentucky and add the name of her New Orleans physician after she was sent to New Orleans following her mother's death? This is intriguing but pure conjecture on the part of AKS.

Below is Caroline's sampler:

family stories

It appears that surveying ran in the blood of the Kentucky Covingtons. The first, Elijah Covington, was county surveyor from 1799 until 1833. Two of Elijah's brothers, Thomas and John, and his son Euclid were deputy surveyors under him. Elijah passed the mantle to his youngest brother, Isaac who held the office until 1845.

Elijah's son Albert (2C4X) studied to become a doctor at the University of Pennsylvania but never practiced his profession. He married Josephine Wells whose father was involved in the Dred Scott case.

Note: U.S. District Judge Robert W. Wells first ruled that "if Scott had been emancipated by living in free territory, he qualified as a citizen, but later "ruled against Scott, finding that he was still legally a slave under the applicable laws."

From a family biography:

Euclid Covington was a Democrat. Dr. Albert was inclined to be a Whig. Euclid was a member of the Legislature of Kentucky while Judge J. R. Underwood was a member cf the Court of Appeals. Euclid announced that he would support Mr. Clay for the Senate and not Judge Underwood who was from his own county. This developed somewhat of a coolness between the two families.

Stories of John B. Rodes

Family friend, Judge John B. Rodes wrote some stories about Elijah's children:

It is evident that Isaac Covington under this will (after the death of his father Elijah) was given the home place in part directly and the rest at the death of the four daughters or upon their marriage. It is also evident that the four unmarried daughters had to be provided with slave girls as maids.

John W. Covington (2C4X) (Issac's brother) was a bachelor and evidently under this will Isaac Covington was acquiring all the lands around the old home place consisting probably of approximately 1,000 acres and embracing the farms now owned by Albert Covington (Isaac's son) and young William Covington, his nephew. It is evident that the North Carolina relatives were never forgotten and also that the old maid sisters were the particular care of all the brothers. There were only two however, left in 1845, to-wit: Milly and Letitia. Polly had died and Rachel had married. (Elijah, Sr.'s) will was natural because Thomas A. Covington was also a bachelor and Elijah M. Covington (Jr.) was the wealthiest of the whole tribe.

Note: Of Elijah's eleven children, six remained unmarried throughout their lives.

It is evident that Letitia is the last of the old maids. In 1860 Elijah M. Covington, Rachel Grider and John W. Covington were all dead as was also Benjamin H. Covington and Nancy Dockery in North Carolina. Isaac is still living at this time and becoming the residuary beneficiary of the unmarried sisters as well as his brother, John W. Covington. Letitia signed  the main will by making her mark but she appears to have signed the codicil herself.

The Isaac Covingtons (2C4X) had large numbers of slaves. They never sold any or trafficked in them. When they were emancipated they stayed around, and many of them remained on the place. The slaves of (Isaac's son) Euclid Covington did the same thing. They were helped and advised, and the responsibility for their welfare was always more or less recognized.

Albert Covington stories

Elijah's great-grandnephew Albert (3C3X), born in 1878, when asked to write some family stories, included the following:

When Fanny Covington (3C3X), my sister, was born, my Grandfather Meador came over and got my brother, Joseph Gilmore Covington (3C3X) his namesake, who was then about two years old, took him home with him and practically reared him until he was sixteen years of age. Joe then returned home and began to go to school and to take with him his sister, Fanny, and his brother, Ben. . .

I have also been asked to tell the story of how liquor brought my father and mother together. They say that liquor never did any good in the world, but in this instance I, at least,

must confess that it did:

My grandfather, Isaac, like all the old Covingtons, always kept a little liquor at home, and he was careful about buying the best. Grandfather heard that he could obtain some mighty good liquor at Gallatin, Tennessee and that Mr. Joseph G. Meador could put him in contact with the distiller. He wrote to Colonel Meador, and Colonel Meador turned the letter over to his daughter, Katherine. Katherine found a good distiller and then she wrote to grandfather telling him about the distiller and the brand of liquor. My grandfather made the purchase, and the liquor was said to have been very good. He wrote young Katherine Meador and thanked her, and there developed a correspondence, and grandfather finally invited Katherine to make a visit to his family to meet his daughters. She accepted the invitation, came to visit them, met my father, and they fell in love and married. I wish I now knew that brand of liquor!

My father was a Southern sympathizer. When the Federal troops occupied Bowling Green, Kentucky in the spring of 1862 and Buckner retired to Tennessee, a company of Union soldiers camped on our place. Father was drafted for the Union Army--the 52nd Infantry. He despised this company--said they were skunks and thieves. Therefore he hired a substitute--one Whack Wallace--for $1300.00. Whack joined up and left on the train with the company, but in the night and only a short distance north of Bowling Green he swung off the train. Later he returned to Warren County and bought a farm with the $1300.00 and was never interfered with.

Following are family story about Albert:

Dr. Albert Covington. . .after finishing his education visited his uncle, Judge Baldwin, in New Orleans, and on the request of Judge Baldwin accompanied the Judge's son to Europe and remained there about six years, chiefly in Florence, Italy and Paris, France. Major

says that his father, Dr. Albert, spoke French and Italian with facility. While Dr. Covington was in Italy he was invited to a court ball given by the Grand Duke of Tuscany. The court costume or special suit made for the occasion has been preserved in the Covington family and was worn by young Wells Covington (son of the Major) at a church party in the Parish House of the Episcopal Church in Bowling Green some years ago. Singularly enough it fit young Wells to perfection. This court ball was given just one hundred years ago -

Below is a photograph of young Wells Covington (4C2X) in his father's special suit:

Erasmus Covington (Albert's brother) died after having graduated at the West Point Military Academy and left his farm, now known as the Lazarus farm, to his brother, Euclid. Euclid Covington was a Confederate and a large slave owner. After emancipation he continued to aid in the support of his negroes as long as he lived. Dr. Albert Covington was a mild Union man - not extreme. Erasrnus Covington was born in 1809 and died when he was twenty-seven or thirty years of age. Warner Lewis Underwood, a younger brother of Judge Joseph R. Underwood, was a candidate for the same appointment to the West Point

Academy, but Covington secured it.

John W. Covington never married. Mr. Albert Covington tells the story that when Soloffion

P. Sharp was assassinated at Frankfort on November 6, 1826, Beauchamp, his assassinator called him to the door and when asked who was there replied, John W. Covington, Mr. Sharp. Mr. Sharp said, "John W. Covington is my friend," and as he opened the door Beauchamp stabbed him and killed him.

Note: The above is a true story. The murderer did identify himself as John Covington.

Our cousin Joseph G. Covington (3C3X) was a great-grandson of our uncle Benjamin Covington (4U). Joseph had been the city attorney for Bowling Green for four years, President of the Board of Trustees of Ogden College, a directer of and attorney for the Citizens' National Bank, an Elk and a Mason. "He was not only prominent and popular, but also a general favorite in all these fraternal orders." Below are some of Joseph's thoughts on immigration and the rights of American citizens which may have reflected the sentiments of many at the time.

Ours is therefore the Anglo-Saxon civilization where greatest perfection has been attained in America, producing that particular type known as the American civilization, to which we should adhere with an unfaltering faith and jealously guard every invasion of its sacred prerogatives. Into the folds of this splendid civilization we are asked to take a vast heterogeneous mass of people of the worst of every race and clime, every grade of humanity, every shade of religious and political belief, and vest them with little or no delay with all the rights of American citizenship and bid them rise among their peers - the political equals of all the famous sons of Cavalier and Puritan - dowered with the inestimable privilege of the ballot.

0 America! Did heaven design thy lordly land

to nurse the motly dregs of every distant clime,

Each blast of anarchy and taint of crime

which Europe shakes from her perturbed sphere

In full malignity to rankle here?

Note: The excerpt of poetry above was written by Irish poet Thomas Moore.

How shall we deal with this question? To the statesman who has at heart the common good of his country there are and there can be but two answers. First, close all doors against the unclean. Make your laws for the admissions of foreign immigration as rigid as your quarantine regulations. Guard the health of the nation as you would the health of the individual citizen, and in that manner let us farmers keep out the chaff whose tendency is to destroy and not to build up. Second, in the case of those who come here with an honest purpose, give the body politic time to incorporate and assimilate that they may become American in fiber, thought, spirit, and life, before we receive them in full fellowship. It is now time we were adopting such a standard and taking the initiative steps to keep out the seeds productive of those social disorders and upheavals we have witnessed in the last ·few years.

Joseph James Covington

Our cousin Joseph Covington (1C6X) was born in Richmond County, North Carolina in 1789. He was the son of our uncle William Covington (5U) and our cousin Rachel Thomas Covington (1C6X). Joseph was a first cousin of Bowling Green pioneer Benjamin Covington (4U). It's very likely that Joseph heard about Bowling Green from his cousin Ben and decided to make the move himself.

Joseph was an attorney and became the director of a local bank. He built his house on the outskirts of town. Below is a picture of the the house from the Kentucky Museum:

The Covington Building, named after Joseph, was built on Fountain Square sometime in the 1860's.

A plaque on the right side of the building gives the history of the building and a small blurb about the man the building was named after:

Built for Joseph Covington, an attorney, director of a local bank and a noted "stump speaker" at Democrat rallies. . .

Joseph died in 1860 at age 71. Six of his eleven children were still alive at his death and, after providing for his wife Nancy, the property was to be sold and divided among them.

John Wall Covington's will

Benjamin's son John (1C5X) was born in 1785 in Richmond County, NC. He would have been about 15 when his family made the move to Kentucky. John never married but amassed a sizable estate by the time he died in 1843 at age 58. Below is his will which leaves everything to his siblings and their children.

I give and bequeath to the children of my sister, Nancy Dockery $1,000 to be equally divided between them, also to my brother, Benjamin H. Covington's children $1,000 to be equally divided bet them.

Note: Nancy and Benjamin, Jr. were the only two of Benjamin, Sr.'s children to remain in North Carolina. Nancy died in 1825 at age 49 and Benjamin "Sugar Ben" died in 1827 at age 47.

I give and bequath to my brother, Elijah M. Covington, that part of the connection of land on which I live which lies on the west side of the Nashville Turnpike Road. The land which follows to be divided into two equal parts, one part to belong to my sister, Rachel Grider (Rachel died in 1850 at age 50) and the other part to belong to the children of my sister, Sally Smith (Sally died in 1824 at age 40). It is also my wish that the balance of my land whereon I now live belong to my brother, Isaac C. Covington, and my sisters, Milly and Letitia Covington and at the death or marriage of the said Milly or Letitia to belong to Isaac.

Note: Spinsters Leticia and Millie both died in 1860, at ages 80 and 67 respectively. Isaac died 15 years after them at age 80.

To my sister Rachel Grider, my negro woman Hilda and all of her children. The balance of my negroes and other property to my brother Isaac and sister Milly and Leticia.

Of Benjamin's twelve children, only four of them lived past 50.

Isaac Covington story

Finally, we have a story about Benjamin's son Isaac (1C5X) as told by Isaac's grandson Albert E. Covington (3C3X). The story concerns Isaac and his two sons Ben and Edward, Albert's father

The grandfather always thought Ben, not Edward was a great horse trader. But Edward had a "nice filly" that Isaac repeatedly tried to purchase. Offered $100 but Edward refused to sell. Finally the filly died and my father got the negroes to prop the filly up by the side of the barn. Then he went over to my grandfather's house and said he needed a little money and was ready to sell her.

Grandfather wanted to buy. Edward said she "must be bought just as she stood. Isaac said okay. Money passed hands. A little later Isaac told his negroes to go to Edward's barn and get the horse. The negroes returned and said to him, "Marse Isaac, 'at filly is daid." My father did not go to see my grandfather for several weeks and when he finally did, grandfather said to him: "Edward, that filly was dead that you sold me." My father answered, "Well Daddy, I reckon I am about as good a trader as Ben, what do you think about it, now.

Robert Wells Covington story

Robert Wells Covington (4C2X), a grandson of Elijah was born in 1856. He lived in Bowling Green his entire life. Robert wrote a letter to the editor of Post Dispatch in Rockingham about his connection to North Carolina. In it he used a tongue-in-cheek quote about upright men and beautiful women originally written by Mark Twain.

The rule I have adopted. however, is that if the men are upright men of good character &' good citizens I claim a relationship and if the women are beautiful (as they generally are), cultivated. and attractive, I claim a kinship with them also, and this rule, I find, has worked well. Thus, Sir, you see. I have thrust myself, as it were, into the ancient and honorable family of the Richmond County, North Carolina, Covingtons, but this, l assure you, I do not as a stranger alien, but rather as one who, long absent returns to the home of his fathers.