Ponderings

I’m always surprised at the families that have passed through Mt. Vernon and Franklin County. 



John Bradberry sent me an article from the September 2013 issue of the Hopkins County Genealogical Society quarterly newsletter on the Baccus Boys. The article is “The Notorious Baccus Boys Revisited: The Lost Son of Joseph Baccus” by Randolph W. Farmer. The article traces the Mason County War of 1875 to the lynching of Elijah and Peter Baccus. Mr. Farmer tracks one branch of the Baccus Family to what is now Franklin County. Between 1855 and 1857 the family was living in the small town of Mt. Vernon. The family’s business can be tracked through tax records and land records, all relating back to Mt. Vernon in Titus County. Our village was always called Mt. Vernon (at least since the Keiths gave the land for the formation of the “town of Mt. Vernon” in 1849 at a post office called Keith, and later Lone Star). 



Lucinda Bacccus’ maiden name was Brown; an old family here. She seeks a divorce against Joseph in 1857-58, stating among other causes that her husband has charged “in the presence of divers good citizens of Titus County, that petitioner (Lucinda) had been guilty of the crime of adultery.” She denies all of this (adultery was a crime punishable by a fine of up to $1,000.00). But, as Mr. Farmer points out, what happens next is going to blow this up further. In the Clarksville newspaper of May 22, 1858, page 2 – “Difficulty and Death” reports of a murder at the Brown Grocery in Black Jack Grove in Hopkins County. A Mr. Scott shows up with the Hopkins County Sheriff seeking to collect a debt from grocer Brown. Joseph Baccus will manage to shoot Scott in the ensuing fray and ends up indicted for murder in November 1858. Joseph eludes capture; Lucinda dies in 1866; and their son Elijah ends up lynched in Mason County. 



I’m always surprised at the mobility of our ancestors. In the 1840’s I have letters where my forefathers were entertaining cousins who came from the summer from the Carolinas to check on their kinsmen who were already here out on the Trace. And the Browns and Harpers here marry into the McCorkle family over in Hopkins County. How did people manage to network before the age of regular transportation and communication, but they did. Thanks John Bradberry for sharing this report. We’ll have a copy on file with our director, Elaine McFeely; let us know if you want to read more.

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