Echoes From The Past


By JUDY MAUPIN *- Echoes From the Past
(A Column of historical and genealogical anecdotes, stories and family notes.)
Calloway County, Ky.

The Rushing Family

July 1981
Theron Rushing, son of William and Frances E. Rushing, was born Feb. 4, 1e28, in Trigg County, Kentucky. He died Jan. 31, 1883 at his home near the Tennessee River, opposite Newburg, Kentucky. He was buried in the Rushing Cemetery on the farm where he was reared.

Theron Rushing first married:

Caroline Downs Nov. 4, 1852. The daughter of Thomas and Susan Downs, she was born in 1834 and died about 1866. Theron Second married Harriet Shaw on Nov. 17, 1870. Harriet was the daughter of Newton and Martha McClain Shaw. She was born about 1849 and died in 1935; she was buried in the Downs Cemetery in Rushing Creek Cemetery.

About 1850, Theron Rushing bought l3nd bordering on the Tennessee River south of Blockhouse Creek. He built a large house not far from the creek but quite a distance from the Tennessee River. The house was built of large cypress logs, had two large rooms, with a big room upstairs and a dog trot in between, a kitchen built on tl!e back, and a long porch on the front, facing the river. In 1940, when TVA purchased this farm, the old house was still in good condition, proudly overlooking the farm land that extended to the beautiful flowing Tennessee River and seemed to defy the trend of modern times.

After the death of her husband, Harriet Rushing and three of the children continue to operate the farm and live in the house built by Theron Rushing.

After the marriages of her two daughters Harriet and her son Louis and his family continued to live on the farm until her death in 1935 at age 86.

Louis Rushing and his son Otho sold this farm to TVA during the early 111940's and purchased a farm in Todd County, near Trenton, Kentucky where they lived until death claimed them.

During the Civil War, Theron Rushing hauled salt from Newburg on the Tennessee River to Linton, Kentucky, on the Cumberland River. At that time, salt was needed by the soldiers at Fort Donelson and by the entire southern army.

Theron Rushing owned teams of oxen and wagons. At Newburg he loaded the wagons with salt and traveled at night over the hills and valleys to the Linton Ferry, a distance of about 12 miles. It isn't known how many loads of salt he hauled, but on one trip, about halfway to Linton, he was apprehended by Union soldiers. He was arrested and taken to Paducab, Kentucky, where he was kept in jail for. some months. He also lost his oxen and wagon.

Children born of Theron and Caroline Rushing were:

(1) Ival Ann Rushing, Oct. 9, 1855 - June 20, 1936. She married James P. Elliott. Both died in Bertrand, Missouri.

(2) James Buchanan Rushing, 1857-1859.

(3) Matilda Catherine Rushing, Nov. 19, 1859-1931. She married Charles Merts and moved to Pennsylvania.

(4) Ora Suddarth Rushing, born and died 1861. (5) Able Rushing, born & died 1862. (6) Frances Rushing, 1865-1929, married Frank McClelland, buried in Downs Cemetery.

Children born of Theron and Harriet Rushing were:

(1) Leliar Rushing, 1872-1936. She married Henry Shaw.

(2) Dennis Rushing, 1873-1883.

(3) Louis Rushing, 1876-1964. He married Bessie Downs and moved to Trenton, Kentucky (4) Mary Ellen Rushing, 189-1909. She married Thomas C. Barrow. (5) Edward Rushing, dates unknown.



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