From: KyArchives [Archives@genrecords.org]
Sent: Wednesday, June 29, 2005 9:06 AM
To: Ky-Footsteps
Subject: Starling.Samuel.M.1807.Christian-Boyle.BIOS


Samuel M. Starling September 19, 1807 - unknown
Christian-Boyle County KyArchives Biography

Author: County of Christian, Kentucky, Historical and Biographical. Edited by William Henry Perrin

COL. SAMUEL M. STARLING, of Hopkinsville, is a worthy member of the illustrious 
historical family of McDowells, whose thousands of members, scattered 
throughout the State of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Virginia, 
Kentucky and the entire South, have contributed so much to the brilliancy and 
solid fame of this nation. Among the most warlike and fiercest of the sept who 
ranged themselves with the Campbells, to whom they were allied by blood and 
marriage under the standard of McCallum More, in the series of struggles which 
led to the expulsion of the right line of the Stuarts from the British throne, 
were the sons of Dowell, Presbyterians of the strictest sect, and deeply imbued 
with the love of civil and religious liberty, which has ever characterized the 
followers of John Knox. One of these was one of the most respectable of the 
colonists from Scotland and England who settled in the north of Ireland during 
the Protectorate of Cromwell. Among other children of this colonist was a son, Ephraim, who, at the age of sixteen, joined in the heroic defense of Londonberry in 1688. In this defense young McDowell bore himself with conspicuous gallantry in a band where all were heroic as any Greek who fell at Thermopylae. On the 20th of May, 1729, several families of the McDowells, ten of whom died on the passage shipped for America, where they arrived in the following August and settled in Pennsylvania. This little colony was soon afterward joined by Ephraim McDowell, who remained here until the fall of 1737, and then with his son John removed to Augusta County, Va. One night they were joined by Benjamin Borden. This gentleman had obtained from Gov. Gorch, in exchange for a buffalo calf, the papers for 500,000 acres of land in the Shenandoah Valley, provided he would settle thereon 100 families. He offered any one who would conduct him to his grant 1,000 acres of land, which was promptly accepted by John McDowell. James Greenlee, a son-in-law, and the father and son soon removed their families to what has since been known as the "Borden Grant" covering much of Augusta and Rockbridge Counties, and in consideration of a liberal share of the claim, undertook to assist in carrying out Borden's contract for him. Their efforts resulted in soon bringing to this section other Scotch and Scotch-Irish families - McClungs, McCues, McCouns, McElroys, McCampbells, Campbells, McKees, Caruthers, Paxtons, Lyles, Irvins, Caldwells, Calhouns, Stuarts - names which have since illustrated every page of Southern and Western history. Ephraim McDowell died here at an age exceeding one hundred years, just before the Revolution. His eldest son, John, received a military commission from Gov. Gorch, and was killed with eight of his men in a fight with the Indians on Christmas day, 1742. The common grave in which all were buried may still be seen enclosed by a brick way, a short distance from Lexington, Va. The widow of John Young (nee Magdalene Wood) subsequently married Borden, and after his decease, Col. Boyer. She died at the age of one hundred and four years, leaving two sons and a daughter. Judge Samuel McDowell, the eldest son of Capt. Jon You and Magdalene Wood, was the progenitor of the Kentucky branch of the family; he married, when little over eighteen years old, Mary McClung, and with his family in 1784 moved to Mercer County, Ky. The third son, Samuel, who had been a Revolutionary soldier, came with his father and was appointed by Washington Marshal of the State. He married Anna Irvine, a distant relative, and reared a large family, living within a few miles of Harrodsburg, Ky.; his oldest child, Polly, in 1805 married William Starling, who had with his father and many sisters and brothers emigrated from Mecklenburg County, Va., in 1797. From this marriage was born Samuel McDowell Starling, the subject of this sketch. The ancestors of Col. Samuel M. Starling on his father's side, thought not so numerous as the McDowells, were no less honorable and respectable; his grandfather, Col. William Starling, was colonel of a Virginia regiment which was organized to repel the attacks of the traitor Arnold; he was High Sheriff of his county, and was distinguished as a man of great coolness and undaunted courage. Of his grandsons, Col. Lyne Starling was aide to Gen. Crittenden through the war. Col. Edmund Starling was colonel of the Thirty-fifth Kentucky; his great-grandsons in the Federal Army were: Lieut. William Starling, son of Col. Lyne Starling; Dr. Starling Loving, of Columbus, Ohio; Lieut. Ned. Campbell.  Col. S. M. Starling was the second son, and was born September 19, 1807, on Wilson's Run, a small tributary of Dick's River, a short distance from Danville, Boyle Co., Ky. It has always been a matter of pride to Mr. Starling that he is the most thorough Kentuckian in the State, both of his grandfathers being natives of Virginia, both Revolutionary soldiers; his mother a native of Kentucky, born in 1787, and both he and his mother being born in the center county of the State. When a lad of four years, his father moved to Frankfort, Ky., and settled on a tract of land containing 1,000 acres, just below the mouth of Benson Creek; his education at school was begun here, the land walking over to Frankfort, where he enjoyed the instruction of Charles O'Hara; he was subsequently a student of Kean O'Hara, who taught school many years there, and who educated the young men of Frankfort from 1810 to 1820. In 1821 his father, William Starling, who had while a resident of Frankfort been a merchant and Warden of the penitentiary, moved to Logan County, Ky., and settled on a farm five miles south of Russellville. While living here Col. Starling married Elizabeth Lewis, a daughter of Gabriel Lewis and Mary Bibb; he worked as a farmer from the time of his marriage in 1831 until 1836, when he moved to Hopkinsville, where he has since resided. From his earliest youth Col. Starling was educated in the Washington, Hamilton and John Marshall school of politics; he believed the disintegration of the Union the great danger of the Government, and hence had great aversion to the resolutions of 1798; he distrusted Mr. Jefferson and his school, who seemed to him to be doing all in their power to weaken the bonds that united the interests of the whole nation. When the Rebellion of 1861 took place, and during the extreme violence of party spirit that preceded the outbreak; he as a most uncompromising and vigorous supporter of the Government; he was convinced that the institution of slavery had outlived its day, that the age was too enlightened to longer tolerate the infamy, and though the hereditary possessor of a large number of slaves, hailed the promise and fact of emancipation. Entertaining these views, at great personal cost he entered the Union army in 1862, with a commission of Second Lieutenant in the First Kentucky Infantry, and was at once placed on the staff of Brig. Gen. J. S. Jackson as Inspector of Division. There was for a few weeks a tremendous effort to concentrate troops and to provide for the protection of Louisville against Bragg. This done, the pursuit of the rebel General at once began, and overtaking him at Perryville one of the bloodiest battles of the war ensued. The three Generals of the Division - Jackson, Webster and Terrill were killed, and Col. Starling rendered such efficient service at this juncture as to receive the highest compliments in the official reports for his gallantry. Gen. R. S. Granger, who succeeded Gen. Jackson, retained Starling upon his staff in the same position; he was soon afterward appointed by Col. James M. Shackelford, Captain in his regiment, and on the promotion of Shackelford to the position of Brigadier-=General, Starling was commissioned as Major of the First Battalion in the Eighth Kentucky Cavalry; he commanded his battalion which was prominent in the pursuit and capture of Gen. John S. Morgan when he made his raid through Indiana and Ohio. At the expiration of his term of service, he was mustered out and made Colonel of the State Guard, and in this capacity had several vigorous skirmishes with guerilla parties who attempted to capture Hopkinsville. He is at this date, May, 1884, living a quiet, contented life near Hopkinsville, cultivating fruits and flowers, and entertaining his old political principles with unabated conviction and earnestness. Col. Starling is a well-informed and cultivated gentlemen, of literary tastes and acquirements, a clear, incisive writer, and a cordial, hospitable host, remarkable even in this land of overflowing hospitality. Of the union of Samuel M. Starling and Elizabeth Lewis were born the following children: Mary, married to William R Payne, who died soon after his marriage; no children; she resides with her father. Lewis married Virginia Duffield, of Brandon, Miss; he died at Pensacola, Fla., leaving one child - William. Thomas Starling married Nannie Killebrew, who died in 1870, leaving Nannie, Lizzie, Kate, Lewis and Ellis. George Starling is unmarried, and superintends the work of the homestead. He served throughout the war in the Confederate Army under Gen Joe Johnston, but is now an uncompromising Union man and Republican. Anna Irvine Starling died unmarried.



Submitted by: Sandi Gorin http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00002.html#0000404



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