Eleanor Chenoweth (1791-)

Eleanor was born 17 Jan 1791 in Jefferson County, Kentucky, which was at that point barely 10 yrs old.⁽¹⁾ She was the daughter of Arthur Chenoweth and Elspah Lawrence, and my son-in-law’s fifth great-grandaunt. (Her sister Jane was born on the same day in 1776)

Her parents were born in Frederick County, Virginia, and their first four children were born in Hampshire County, West Virginia.⁽²⁾ But sometime between 1780 and 1784 they packed up and traveled the 500 miles to Jefferson County, KY. But they don’t stop there, sometime after the birth of their last child in 1793, they moved to Bartholomew County, Indiana.  This was formed in 1821, and they probably got there afterwards: the children married in Kentucky (except Anne, the last one); both parents died Bartholomew County in 1828-9.  Arthur made a will on 26 Dec 1828; he leaves his estate equally to his eight surviving children. He does not mention his wife; she must have died before him.

The children don’t stay put either: many went on to Illinois, and further west. One of these days I might map this migration; in the meantime the Chenoweth website gives an interesting overview.

(1) Wikipedia: Jefferson County, Kentucky
(2) Wikipedia: Hampshire County was formed in 1754 from parts of Virginia’s Frederick and Augusta Counties, and is West Virginia’s oldest county. So they moved only a small distance, or it is possible that they never moved at all: both parents were born before 1754, they could have stayed, and the county and state would have changed around them.