From: KyArchives Sent: Saturday, October 14, 2017 10:14 AM To: Ky-Footsteps Subject: Logsdon.Ebenezer.1835.Hart.BIOS Ebenezer Logsdon May 15, 1835 - May 19, 1909 Hart County KyArchives Biography Source: Ancestry.com and other sources Author: Compiled by John Henderson Name: Ebenezer Logsdon - Sex: M Birth: 15 MAY 1835 in Hart County, Kentucky Death: 17 MAY 1909 in Cub Run, Hart County, Kentucky Burial: 18 MAY 1909 Ream Chapel Cemetery, Cub Run, Hart County, Kentucky In 1850 census he is a 15 year old farmer in Jasper County, Iowa. He lives with his 54 year old mom Nancy. His future wife, Nancy, is a 13-year-old girl living with her family in Hart County, Kentucky. Image 69, Page 205. At age 18 Ebenezer married back in Hart County, Kentucky where he was born. The record reads 10/1852 (no day given) Ebenezer Logsdon of Hart County, age 18, single, born Hart County to Nancy Logsdon of Hart County, age 16, born Hart County. They were second cousins. They were married by Dennis J. Logsdon. In the well-known Logsdon book titled, Durbin-Logsdon Genealogy and Related Families: From Maryland to Kentucky, compiled by Betty Jewell Durbin Carson she lists the date of marriage as October 16, 1852, but I can find no documented proof of that. In the 1860 census of District 2, Munfordville, Hart County, Kentucky Ebenezer is a farmer living next door to Ellender O. Logsdon. He is 25 and wife Nancy is also 23. He has one child Boaz, age 6. He has personal property worth $30. Sarah Elizabeth Wilkerson 5 lives with her parents Joseph P., 40, and Malinda J., 39. Her siblings included James M. 18, Sarah E. 24, Louisa J. 15, William A. 13, Martha 11, Joseph T. 9, Mary F. 7 and Thos. S. 2. Sarah claims in the Civil War Pension record that she lived outside Munfordville on Carrico Road near what has since become Cub Run, Hart County, Kentucky. In the 1870 census of Precinct #4, Rocky Hill, Edmonson County, Kentucky Ebany is 35 and a farmer with $400 in real estate and $375 in personal property. His wife Nancy is 33. Children are Thomas G. 13, Stamper 10, Ebanen 6, Andrew J. 3, and Dennis J. 1. The date of the census is July 2, 1870 which supports this being my Dennis J. who says he was born October 1868 which would mean he was still one when the census was taken, although he was nearly 2. In an obscure reference in the Hart County Historical Society Logsdon Family Folder is a poorly documented record which shows in 1874 Ebenezer Logsdon owned (or worked) 210 acres of land in Hart County near Cub Run valued at $450. His nearest neighbor was Joseph Wilkerson. The Wilkerson family lived in the 1870 and 1880 census in the same location near Cub Run, Hart County with numerous family members surrounding them. After Ebenezer's wife Nancy died in April 1878 George P. Jeffries married Ebenezer Logsdon and Sarah Elizabeth Wilkerson Reames in her father's home on October 9, 1879. She was also a widow and his neighbor Joseph's daughter. Ebenezer had three children living with him on the land document in 1874. Since I know for certain from the Civil War Pension records that Boaz, Stamper, Andrew J., Ebenan (Anne), Dennis Jasper, Clarington, Athur Lewis, and maybe even Ebenezer, Jr. (born in 1874) were alive when the document was created where were they living? The only child that could have been deceased already was Thomas G. because his death date is only known as before 1898. Another land document references Ebenezer as a farm worker with 5 children (date unknown) but likely before 1878. Ebenezer paid to Wash. Mansfield, an agent for tobacco companies, $40 per 100 acres for a total of $80. He paid 500 pounds of tobacco, 150 bushels of corn, and 15 bushels of wheat. In a letter written from Oregon in 1970 to the Hart County Historical Society the writer references knowing that Ebenezer had a son Stamper but no details are given other than to request whether the mother's maiden name may have then been Stamper. The letter does not say how the family may have been related to Ebenezer, nor Stamper, but it is possible they descend from Stamper. In the 1880 census they are not found. In the 1900 census of South Leitchfield, Grayson County, Kentucky he is 65, born January 1835. He was born in Kentucky of a Kentucky father and a North Carolina mother. He has been married to Sarah E. for 20 years, born January 1863, age 47. She had 10 children, but only 4 are still living. They live next door to William Reames, Elizabeth's only surviving child from her first marriage. Children at home include Grider F., 17, born March 1883, Lemuel B. 15, born April 1885, Benjamin S., 8, born December 1892. All children were born in Kentucky. In 1910 census of Cub Run, Magisterial District No. 5, Hart County, Kentucky Sarah is 55, and she has had 10 children, only four are living. Living on the farm with her is Ben G, age 19. Living next door is Lem B. Logsdon 23, married six years, both their first marriages, to Pearl R. They have had two children and both are living, Emma D., 5, and Mary A, 3. Sarah is listed as married once and her son Ben G. as married twice. I'm certain that was mistakenly flip-flopped. In the 1920 census of Cub Run, Hart County, Kentucky Benjamin G. Logsdon is 28 and owns his farm free and clear. He is married to Emma, age 20 and they have two children, Maymie I. and Leslie V. Grandmother Sarah E. (Wilkerson) Logsdon, age 68 and widowed lives with them. In the 1930 census of Magisterial District #5, Hart County, Kentucky Benjamin G. is 39 and married the first time at age 23. Emma is 30 and married at age 15. They are general farmers. Living with them is mother Sarah E. age 79 and widowed. They also have three Maymie I. 13, Leslie 11, and Violet 7 2/12. Ebenezer's Civil War Pension file is consolidated under National Archives #688.604. The records list family member birth and death dates, and a list of LIVING children notarized as coming from the family bible in 1898, as well as wedding dates authenticated by the presiding official and notarized since the originals had been lost to fires in Hart County, Kentucky. At no point is Ebenezer ever referred to as a reverend. He states several times that his occupation has always been farming. He is literate and writes quite eloquently. Sarah does not write. Ebenezer is described as age 26, 5' 10 1/2", 140 pounds, dark complexion, hazel eyes, black hair, and a farmer born January 18, 1835 in Munfordville, Hart County, Kentucky. He states he never received any bounty as part of his enlistment or completion of active service. The detail in these records indicate where the family lived at different points in time. Ebenezer claims he lived in near Munfordville (what became Cub Run, Winesap and Forestville areas), Hart County, Kentucky then in Baxter, Jasper County, Iowa, and then back near Munfordville, and then resided in Hawesville, Hancock County, Kentucky all prior to his enlistment. After leaving the service in December 1864 until September 1865 he lived in Derby, Perry County, Indiana. From then until September 1867 he lived in Hawesville, Hancock County, Kentucky. From September 1867 to March 1871 he lived near Bonnieville (known as Rocky Hill), Edmonson County, Kentucky. From then until March 1884 he lived near Munfordville, Hart County, Kentucky. From March 1884 to 1902 he lived near Leitchfield (in what became Sadler), Grayson County, Kentucky. By 1903 Ebenezer is living in Cub Run, Hart County, Kentucky. In 1905 Ebenezer is living first in Forestville and then in Winesap, Hart County, Kentucky. All correspondence with the Civil War Pension Commission from 1907 until Sarah's death in 1933 lists the couple's residence as Cub Run, Hart County, Kentucky. Ebenezer applied for disability pension benefits of $6 per month on February 2, 1886 and again for $8 per month on July 12, 1890. He is living in Leitchfield, Grayson County, Kentucky at both points in time. His basis for the request is catarrh (inflammation of the mucous membrane) of the head, throat, and nasal area, rheumatism in knee, shoulder,and right elbow joints, prostate enlargement, constipation, and general senile debility. In addition he had a back injury due to another man letting loose logs Ebenezer he ha were carrying and it jerking his back out. This occurred on duty near Hopkinsville, Christian County, Kentucky. His benefits were suddenly halted on February 4, 1898 when his Civil War service record is brought into question. His first enlistment at Munfordville, Hart County, Kentucky on July 19, 1862 to Company L, 7th Kentucky Volunteer Cavalry never shows him as being mustered out. Instead he is assumed to have deserted about August 31, 1862 in Richmond, Madison County or Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky. As a result Ebenezer is refused further benefits. Many notarized documents change hands in attempts to clear his name. Their argument is that Ebenezer showed up for a few weeks at camp and then the company was disbanded due to the resignation of their leader(s) Captains Knight and Metcalf. Ebenezer claims he was never officially mustered into the unit before it disbanded so he never needed to muster out. His record was never cleared. Instead a law was passed in 1902 giving veterans the right to use a honorable discharge from their last term of service as the one upon which benefits for their entire period of service were based. So Ebenezer was granted benefits, but only $6 per month, again July 25, 1902 based upon the new laws and a doctor's ongoing assessment of his partial disability. He had reenlisted at Howesville, Kentucky as Sergeant in Company K, 35th Kentucky Volunteer Infantry from August 7, 1863 until December 29, 1864 when he mustered out from Louisville, Kentucky. His benefits increased to $10 per month on December 16, 1903, $12 on October 18, 1905, and finally to $15 on April 17, 1907. Sarah began receiving benefits after his death and has a great deal of correspondence with the Commissioner handling her case. She begins with a $12 monthly benefit upon his death in 1909. In 1916 she is rejected for an increase to $20 due to the fact she was not Ebenezer's wife during the Civil War and/or had not attained age 70. On January 1, 1930 her request for an increase to $40 began based upon her being over 75. At key points throughout her final years Sarah seems to change her age and year of birth to meet the legal requirements to attain more pension money. She does this "lying" despite the fact the commission asks for proof and uses census records to disprove her. Sarah invariably moves dates EXACTLY five or ten years back or forth to suit her need. She also pleads for money because she is widowed and in debt. My guess is she was doing so deliberately to increase her chances of sliding through the cracks and getting better pension benefits. But, the commission caught her lies every time. Her letters are quite biting and accusatory of the commissions slowness and fault finding. She hand wrote over the top of typed correspondence they mailed her. She threatened legal action and even suggested she was due a homestead that was never given her husband after the war. She demands immediate responses, yet provides slowly and imprecisely the information requested in support of her claims. In the church papers of Ream's Chapel found at the Hart County Historical Society in 2/2006, Ebenezer and Sarah are buried there, but they are not listed as members nor was Ebenezer ever a pastor there. Ream's Chapel was founded in 1896 and merged with the nearby Cub Run Methodist Church in 1965. It is unclear what denomination the Chapel was prior to merger. Interestingly, Ebenezer and Sarah's Gravestone is modern and looks like it has been placed there since about the 1960s. No obituaries were found in any available papers of the time period for Ebenezer or Sarah Elizabeth Wilkerson Logsdon. Submitted by: John Henderson http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00028.html#0006847 This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/kyfiles/