From: KyArchives [Archives@genrecords.org]
Sent: Wednesday, December 22, 2004 1:15 PM
To: Ky-Footsteps
Subject: Byrd.William.Silouee.d1829.Fayette.BIOS


William Silouee Byrd unknown - 1826
Fayette County KyArchives Biography

Author: "Letters from a Young Shaker,"  edited by Stephen J. Stein
It is a collection of letters written by William Silouee Byrd to his father,
Charles Willing Byrd.  William S. Byrd's mother was Sarah Meade, daughter
of David Meade II of Chaumiere.  He was descended from the prestigious Byrd
family of Westover, Virginia.  Charles Willing Byrd was Governor of the
Northwest Territories and in 1803 after Ohio became a state, Thomas
Jefferson appointed him a federal judge.  William Silouee Byrd went to live
in the Shaker community of Pleasant Hill, just a few miles from Lexington
and Chaumiere, in Kentucky in mid-1826.  William S. Byrd died in 1829, a
victim of costifness, which was constipation secondary to another,
undetermined chronic illness.  Here, in a letter to his father, William S.
Byrd describes the death of Samuel Hughes Woodson. Page 77: "Your
connection to Uncle Samuel Woodson, has gone to witness the reality of an
unseen world.  He departed this life at Chaumiere, last Saturday morning,
after a short, and painfull illness of one week.  The disease which
terminated his earthly career is called the inflammation of the brain.  How
uncertain is human existence, it has been a short time since he was here
with his son, Tucker, both apparently in the enjoyment of good health.  His
daughter Sally is at this time lying sick in Frankfort, and will in all
probability share the same fate.  All this information you will not be
surprised to received after their removal from the healthiest, to the most
sickly part of the state. 'Evelyn (my note:  William S. Byrd's sister and
Tucker Moore Woodson's wife) went to Frankfort to supply the place of her
Aunt who was sent for from Chaumiere, to attend her husband, or I might
perhaps with more propriety say, to be an unprofitable witness of the
distressing scene, for I do suppose there was little prospect of her being
able to administer relief to her husband, as there was of Evelyn's
rendering any service to her daughter.  Had she been in the possession of
useful medical knowledge, and a nurse of the first order, it might be
accounted for, but as it is I am at a lost to know what object they could
possibly have had in view." (The Shakers believed that the second appearing
of Christ was through an English woman named Ann Lee.  They were called The
Society of Believers, and lived in communities throughout the Midwest
beginning in the early 1800's.  They remained celibate, hence the Society
has very nearly disappeared today.  They are known for their beautifully
crafted furniture.)
 


Submitted by: Sandi Gorin and Judith Woodson Martin
 



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