A Visit to Kentucky
by Nimrod Whitaker - 1880
On the 16th of February, we left home for old Kentucky, my native state; on the night of the 16th we arrived in Madison, Indiana, and found the Ohio River booming, the water being all over the track west of the depot. We stopped in Madison over night and next morning met several friends and relatives. At noon on the 17th we got on board the Maggie Harper, where we met several very clever gentlemen, amongst them were old friends, Capt. Humphreys and David Humphreys, Capt. Washington Rice of Lousiville, and Uncle William Drake, of Trimble County, Kentucky who met myself and Aunt Emily Drake and Miss Addie Drake. We found the Ohio river full and rough. It took good management to get the boat turned down stream but we finally got out all right. We steamed down to Wise's Landing, 15 or 18 Miles below Madison, where James Drake met us with a wagon. We arrived at Uncle Billy Drake's at sunset, where we passed the night and next day pleasantly. On the night of the 18th we had a big ball at Mr. Drake's. On the 19th I went over to visit my uncle Jacob Crim, in Oldham County, and had a pleasant visit. On the 22nd I went to the graveyard where my Grandfather Crim was buried, who was 86 years old when he died, and was one of the oldest settlers of Oldham County. He settled 6 miles north of Lagrange in 1805, where he lived the remainder of his life. He raised a large family, but several of them have departed this life, amongst them my dear mother, who moved to this county with my father 40 years ago this spring; I was their only child, 2 years old.
On the 23rd I went to a big ball at Mr. Conn's in Trimble, where I met a large crowd of my old acquaintances and had a good time. On the 24th I went to Bedford, the county seat, where I met Aunt Jennie Lane, Mrs. Maggie Peak and Mr. George Peak, Uncle Silas Gatewood, Joe Drake and many others. On the 25th I came over to Milton, wher I visited my brother-in-law, J.R. Mc Cord and many others, all clever people. The people of Trimble and Oldham are very clever, sociable people and treat everybody well, the most of them belong to the old time Democracy.
Yours, Rod Whitaker
This article graciously supplied to the Trimble Co., KY genealogy page by Bradley J. Baker, descendant of the Whitakers and Crims. I am sorry - I no longer have an email address for him. I was contacted by another descendant of these lines - Nancy C Demaree. Below is information she supplied to the Trimble County Genealogy page.
The Uncle William and Aunt Emily Drake he mentions are my grandmother's
grandparents and the others mentioned are my grandmother's aunts and
uncles as well. My grandmother was Elizabeth Warren Drake Goode
(1880-1955) daughter of James Witson Drake (1848-1937) (and Mary
Katherine Perkinson) also mentioned in this letter of 1880. This 1880
Nimrod was the son ---I am pretty sure -- of Mickelbury and Sarah (Crim)
Whitaker. Mickelbury's parents were -- I believe--- Nimrod and Sally
(Brackett) Whitaker. The elder Nimrod (b. abt 1790) married Sally Bracket
in March 1812 and they had two children. Nimrod also had children
--three--- by Sally's sister Elizabeth......the births of all five
children occurred between about 1812 and about 1822 so far as I know
..... and all children were born while Nimrod was marred to Sally.....one
year a child by Sally next year or so a child by Elizabeth etc and
both families lived on same farm!.
This story was written to me in a
letter by a grandson of another one of the brothers of Emily and Addie
-- William Warren Drake ( 1858-1939). The writer -- Tom Drake of
Indianapolis, IN--- got the information from the Bible of Elizabeth
Brackett---Nimrod the elder's sister-in-law and paramour. This entire
scenario -- if indeed true and I do believe it is --- is quite a drama
for early nineteenth century rural Henry/Trimble Co., KY.
Return to Trimble County Page