A Wilson Family Tree
Notes for Joshua Brents
"Kentucky, A History of the State", ed. Perrin-Battle-Kniffin, 1887, Hart Co., p. 996
(obtained from post to SANDIDGE-L by Karen Jorgensen, 8 Oct 2002):
[From biography of Joshua Milton Brents] His father, Joshua Brents, was a native Kentuckian, born in 1788; held the rank of lieutenant in the war of 1812 - 14, and distinguished himself in gallantry at the battle of the Thames. He afterward located in Greensburgh, Ky., [sic] where he engaged in the general merchandise and tobacco freighting trade. He removed to Monroe, Hart Co., Ky., in 1820, where he resided until his death in 1865. He voted with the Whig party and was a strong Union man during the late war. His wife was a Miss Rebecca Worley, of Lexington, Ky; her death occurred in 1872. The family of which Joshua M. is the 5th, consisted of 9 children, 6 of whom are living: Maria L., who was thrice married; Samuel W.; John D., now a resident of Covington, Ky; Elizabeth M., who was twice married and is now a widow, residing in Louisville; Rebecca U. Rowlett, and Joshua M.
"Brents, The Joshua Tree" says that he was born in North Carolina and was about four years old when his family moved to Kentucky. He grew up in Green Co., KY, studied law there, and became an attorney. During the War of 1812 he held the rank of Lieutenant and distinguished himself in gallantry at the battle of the Thames. Merchandising and stagecoach operation are also mentioned.
There is disagreement among sources about whether he was born in North Carolina or Kentucky. "The Dickinson Family" and the bio of Joshua Milton Brents say Kentucky; others say North Carolina, including the 1850 and 1860 censuses. Some sources also have him born in 1788 rather than 1780, but the censuses agree with 1780.
WFT Vol. 22, Tree 393 did not list Ellen and William as children of Joshua & Rebecca. "The Dickinson Family of Glasgow, Kentucky" does not list Ellen, but lists two additional sons, Charles and Robert. The Waters.ftw Family Tree site lists all of these children plus Charles and Robert (no information about Charles or Robert, though).
The following is a portion of "Memories of Life on a Farm in Hart County, Kentucky, in the Early Sixties" by Mary E. Brent Roberts [Joshua's granddaughter] with a Foreward by her daughter Elizabeth Madox Roberts (The Filson Club History Quarterly, Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 129-153, July 1940). Available from the web site of the Filson Historical Society, http://www.filsonhistorical.org/ . These excerpts were included in "Brents, The Joshua Tree" (pp. 44-45), but I have gone back to the original so the following has some differences from the version in "Brents, The Joshua Tree".
At home in Louisville we lived on Jefferson Street, near Eleventh, a fine residence district then. Early in 1861 my grandfather and grandmother--Valentine Garvin and his wife Polly--came to visit us in Louisville, grandfather coming to the city to sell his tobacco. Mother let my two brothers and myself go home with them when they went back to the Blue Spring Grove, which was in Hart County, about six miles from Horse Cave....
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They [grandparents Garvin, at Blue Spring Grove] lived about a mile from what was called "the big road," which was a public highway but not macadamised. It was the old Louisville and Nashville public road, over which the old stage coaches traveled. At intervals there were relay stations where they stopped for meals, stayed all night, and changed horses. My Grandfather Brents kept one of these stations about eight miles from where my Grandfather Garvin lived. The name of the place was Monroe. Grandfather Brents was also postmaster there.
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Grandfather Brents' place had a very fine sulphur spring, which came out from under a ledge of rocks. In early times elks came there to lick the sulphur water; hence it was called Elk Lick. Indians also roamed over the hills. Grandfather had a number of Indian relics which he had picked up on the place: stone axes, arrowheads and stone cooking vessels, etc.
There was a man in the neighborhood who was famous as a big eater. He probably lived before my stay at the Blue Spring Grove, but the family used to tell about his eating. He was sort of a giant in this respect. His name was Stilts, and we always called him "Old Stilts." It was said of him that, going down the river on a flatboat with a group taking tobacco to New Orleans, one night while he was a watchman, he cooked and ate a whole side of bacon. I do not know whether he cooked and ate this on the flatboat or on shore.
Grandfather Brents was a man of a very delicate stomach, and once in town, when there was a group serving a country-court dinner, that is, serving dinner on a court day when there was a crowd in town, Grandfather went into the hall to get his meal. The charge was twenty-five cents, and it was paid as each one entered. Once inside a body could eat all he could hold. The minute Grandfather was inside the door he turned sick, at the mingled odor of food, I suppose, and turned straight about and walked out the door. But, as he went out, he asked for his money back. But the people who kept the door said that nothing was to be refunded.
Grandfather was a considerable joker. ... Outside on the street he met Old Stilts. He gave Old Stlits a quarter and told him to go inside the hall and "clean up the place." It was said that, after an hour or so, the people who ran the place paid Old Stilts to quit eating and go.
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There is a corncrib story about my other grandfather... Grandfather Brent knew that someone was stealing his corn from his crib. And so he went down to the crib with his shotgun and waited for the thief to come. It was a cold autumn night and Grandfather got tired of waiting and so he crawled into the crib and sat back comfortably against the corn. He went to sleep there. During the night the thief came, and when he had filled his sack, he locked the crib door and locked Grandfather inside. Grandfather had to call loud the next morning to get somebody to come down and let him out. Grandmother, his wife, always laughed at him and liked to tell how he got locked up in his own corncrib. Grand mother Brent (Rebecka, her name) had a keen sense of humor and was fond of telling stories.
The Brent or Brents, as some spelled the name, came to Kentucky from Tennessee. Earlier they had come from Virginia. Grandfather Brents' place was called Monroe, and was also in Hart County. Old people often called Grandfather Brents as if the name were Brunts, and there was a report somwhere in the family that the name had been Van Brunts or Von Brunts, and that the ancestors who bore it were Netherlanders.
Note: Some of the information in these pages is uncertain. Please let me know of errors or omissions using the email link above. ...Mike Wilson
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