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Alfred Harris Pence Sr. died September 30, 2010 at Fort Logan Hospital in Stanford, Kentucky. He was a third cousin, twice removed of Bud & Donnie Pence of the James Gang.
The earliest Pence family migrated as early as 1800 from Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley to Lincoln County where Stanford is located. Then, Emanuel Pence bought 250 acres on Logan’s Creek from Jacob Swope.
By then, John M. James, the progenitor of the family of Frank & Jesse James, had been residing in Lincoln County at Crab Orchard for fifteen years. The great-grandfather of the Younger Gang, Col. Charles Lee Younger, also had made settlement in Lincoln County at Crab Orchard. In 1800, John M. James partitioned a portion of Lincoln County and departed the area to establish his own Pulaski County, where he became its first judge-executive and state representative.
Among other local neighbors of the Pence, Younger, & James families in Lincoln County were the family of Far West frontiersman William Lewis “Bill” Sublette, and his brothers Milton Green & Solomon Perry Sublette. Their departure from Crab Orchard to the Far West would not occur until the 1820s.
Rev. Jeremiah Vardeman, who was born at New River in Fincastle County, Virginia, migrated to Crab Orchard in 1779 with his father Johannes Vardeman, an axman who cut the Wilderness Trail into Kentucky with Daniel Boone. Before he had become a preacher, Jerry Vardeman eloped with Betsy James, the daughter of John M. James. Later as a successful preacher, Rev. Jeremiah Vardeman baptized Robert S. Thomas, the first president of William Jewell College in Missouri. Vardeman founded the School of Theology at William Jewell, and also gave Frank & Jesse’s father, Rev. Robert Sallee James, $20,000 to also become a founder of William Jewell College.
Lincoln County, Kentucky, and its communities of Stanford and Crab Orchard forged a cohesion and force among the Pence, Younger, & James families that remained strong and powerful until the end of the Civil War.
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The following obituary for Alfred Harris Pence Sr. was published in the Advocate-Messenger newspaper of Danville, Kentucky.
STANFORD — Alfred Harris Pence Sr., 90, of Stanford died Thursday at Fort Logan Hospital in Stanford.
Born June 20, 1920, in Stanford he was a son of the late Alfred L. and Nannie Woods Pence.
He was a life-long member of New Beginnings United Methodist Church, a Navy veteran of World War II serving in the South Pacific, and a 64-year member of Caswell Saufley Post No. 18, American Legion. He graduated in 1942 from the University of Louisville College of Pharmacy (now the University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy) where he was a member and chaplain of Kappa Psi Pharmaceutical Fraternity.
Mr. Pence was the pharmacist and co-owner of Colemans Drugstore in Stanford and was the first pharmacist at Fort Logan Hospital, retiring after 20 years of service. He was a 50-year member of the Kentucky Pharmaceutical Association.
An active member of the community, he served on the Stanford Chamber of Commerce and the Stanford City Council, was a member of the Lincoln County Historical Society and Masonic Lodge No 60, as well as various other community activities.
Survivors include his wife of 68 years, Bettie Marie Bryan Pence of Stanford; four children, Alfred Harris Pence Jr. (Jackie) of Stanford, Ruth Anne Lowe of Lexington, William E. Pence (Carol) of Lexington and Bettie Sue Holthouser (James) of Memphis, Tenn.; 12 grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by a son-in-law, Dr. Charles Lowe, and a sister, Anne Elizabeth Gaines.
Visitation is 5-9 p.m. today at Spurlin Funeral Home.
The funeral service will be 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 2, 2010, at New Beginnings United Methodist Church. The Rev. Jeremy James will officiate. Burial will be in Buffalo Springs Cemetery. Military rites will be performed by Caswell Saufley Post 18, American Legion.
Casketbearers will be Bryan Pence, Chris Lowe, Matthew Lowe, Adam Holthouser, Cole Pence and Casey Cushenberry. Honorary bearers will be Robert Gaines, Ben Gaines, Sam Matheny, Buddy Pence, Cecil Witt, Cabel Francis, Jack Bright, Brent Iler, Josh Gordon, Joe Glenn Cushenberry, Matthew Darling, Jonathan Dahmer and Jim Holthouser.
Memorials in lieu of flowers may be given to the New Beginnings United Methodist Church Stained Glass Fund, or the Lincoln County Educational Fund, P.O. Box 423, Stanford, KY 40484.
Stray Leaves Daily
Daily updates from the family of Frank & Jesse James with stories, photos, & two searchable genealog
VIDEO of the Clay County Board of Commissioners bestowing honor upon our James colleague & friend Charlies Broomfield. Recognition begins at 2:00 min. mark.
Congratulations Charlie!!
We have hints from the Clay County Archives in charge of James Farm in Kearney, Missouri, that a road leading to the farm will be renamed Charles Broomfield Rd. Charlie was a Clay County Commissioner who took an active role in arranging the sale and transfer of James Farm from the James family to Clay County.
Cant say that I understand the significance of this.
Do you have the address of Jesse & Frank James Cabin in Paseo Robles, California?
SLAVE TRADERS AMONG OUR JAMES FAMILY . . . For a decade Stray Leaves has been researching this most distressing discovery. Finally, it’s time to bring this story to light. There’s much to report. The entire story will take time to tell. As we begin, we are also compelled to reconcile what this history means for us. More specifically for those who are now known to descend from these slave traders, whom it can be assumed never knew of this element of their ancestry, but also for the James family as a whole. The resolution will not come easy.
Forks of the Road Slave Market – Violence In Silence
ericjames.org
“Just at the Forks, where the Washington and Kingston, or Palatine roads converge, stood a low squatty frame building used during the winter monthsI ran a DNA test on all the James names I could find in these stories and didn't get 1 DNA match. My DNA is closer to Jesse than that James line is. I am looking into it being through Robert Thomason (step grandfather of Jesse Woodson James) and Julia Ann Singleton (Aunt to Jesse Woodson James).
I am a descendant of Betty G Woodson.
Waterproof, La in Tensas Parish to be more exact.
Tensas Parish. J. G. James and M. Kerrigan.
The King family. Descendants of Viking slayers. archive.org/stream/Kingswood/Kingswood%20reduced_djvu.txt
"In the middle of 1864, Captain Jason W. James was on scouting duty in the southern part of Madison Parish. About eight o'clock one morning he and his company arrived at the Plantation home of Hr. Joshua James on Roundaway Bayou, who also owned the Ione Plantation in Tensas Parish." You will have to read the rest. I am not posting it here. 😲 😲 😲 sites.rootsweb.com/~lamadiso/articles/ward/chap05.htm
And I do believe this James line is connected to Lucille Ball.
And speaking of slave traders. Nicholas Trammell is mixed in with the Carrigans somehow. www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/trammell-nicholas
And I am a descendant of Elizabeth Woodson Thomas. Wife of Captain Edmund King.
I am also showing DNA matches to the James grandparents of Jesse Woodson James and all 8 of his great grandparents. This is what I need help figuring out. All of my James DNA matches will be in the replies to this comment. In this screenshot they are all the white ones
The sons of Colonial Edmund King.
I am a descendant of Mary Joicy who was widow Woodson, mother of Elizabeth Woodson Thomas.
By the way I am not a Kerrigan by DNA. I am a Carrigan. Civil War name change. Descendant of William Michael Carrigan and Nancy Holt. Nancy Holt was the daughter of Michael Holt III and Rachel Rainey. youtu.be/IsK2eSTVW8A
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When this happens, it’s usually because the owner only shared it with a small group of people, changed who can see it or it’s been deleted.Where does Lucille Ball fit?
FIND-A-GRAVE BLUNDERS LEAVE JAMES FAMILY HOWLING . . . Can you spot the errata in this Find a Grave post for the grandfather of Frank & Jesse James? The most glaring deception is the photograph!
History tells us the photograph was invented about the time John M. James was dying. Neither history, nor the administrator of this posting, Charlotte Raley McConaha, can tell us is how photographic technology made its way from France to the distant American frontier to take a photo of John M. James, months before his demise.
Another imprecise miscalculation in this post is the attribution of the middle name “Martin” to John M. James. The name never has been proved by evidence. To guess the name is unreliable and wrong.