(note: birth and death records were not required by law in Kentucky until 1911. it is fairly hard to track down exact birth and death dates prior to that year unless an obituary, Bible record or doctor’s notes were kept. in some instances a birth may be written down in a church register or a book kept by an attendant. death records were often kept in Bibles and church registers, and sometimes if a doctor attended at the time of death he may have recorded the date. anything that requires legal filing, such as a marriage, can usually be easier to find, but not always)
John J Breedlove was the son of Cornelius Vaughan Breedlove (about 1812-about 1880), a farmer, and Elizabeth Crissman (about 1815-?). He was born in Todd County, Kentucky on August 7, 1848, the fifth of, I believe, seven children.
The family was still living in Todd County, Kentucky 2 years after John was born. On the 1850 census John is shown living with his father, mother and siblings: William F (age 15 years), Jesse T (age 9 years), Henry J (age 7 years), Mary A (age 5 years) and Sarah E (age 8 months).
In 1860 the family starts getting a little sketchy. First off, the name recorded for the family is “Breadlove”. It is also just their initials that are written, rather than their names. John is 11 years old and living with his parents and siblings. The other children listed are: Wm F (age 26 years), JT (age 20 years), HJ (age 18 years), MA (age 14 years) and VACF (age 3 years). Ok, now I realize that another sister had been born, as far as I know, in 1859. And her name on other census records is Nancy. So who is VACF? And what happened to Sarah E?
Sigh.
So, I hunted down John J Breedlove in the 1870 census and I *think* that I found him. That year there is a John Breedlove listed as living in Logan County, Kentucky with the Beauchamp family. There is no occupation written in for him. There are other boarders living in the house, but I can’t really figure out how he came to live there himself.
Another document I am still hunting down is his marriage to Margaret Stringer. From what I understand they married sometime around 1869/1870.
In 1880 John shows up in McLean County, Kentucky with Margaret and their children: stepdaughter Emma (age 11 years), daughter Mary Jane (age 7 years), Ona L (age 5 years) and William M (age 3 years). This census has Emma’s surname as Breedlove, but I think it might actually be Moore, as we see on later census records that John has a stepson by the name of Benjamin A Moore.
No census record available for 1890. (of course)
Apparently having set down roots, the family is still living in McLean County, Kentucky in 1900. On this census it is shown that they are living with two children that had been born during the previous 20 years: Lucy J (age 18 years, my great-grandmother) and Drusy (Drusie, Drusey, Druse, age 15 years). This census also states that Margaret is the mother of nine children, five of which are still living. I don’t know if the two children that are no longer living are accounted for or not. I also don’t know if they are John’s children or if they are children from Margaret’s previous marriage(s). I do see that John and Margaret have two grandchildren living with them in 1900, Magnola Lovell (age 4 years) and Mack H Lovell (age 1 year), the children of Lulu Breedlove and Jim Lovell. I’m not certain if Lulu is a nickname for one of the daughters accounted for or a different daughter all together.
The last census that John J Breedlove is found on is the 1910 census. He is living with Margaret and stepson Benjamin A Moore (age 47 years). John is a farm operator, as is Benjamin. The family is still living in McLean County, Kentucky.
John J Breedlove suffered a tragic death 2 years after the 1910 census. On October 12, 1912 in East Sacramento, McLean County, Kentucky he was killed when a sawlog, the largest and heaviest part of the tree, fell on him. I believe his death may have been instantaneous because no doctor attended to him. I cannot give an exact location of burial. The death certificate has the initials of the cemetery as M.E.C. Sacramento.
One of the more interesting stories of John J Breedlove’s life was told by his daughter, Lucy J Breedlove, to her grandson, Roger Vincent. Lucy said that John was good friends with Buffalo Bill (William Cody). Whenever Buffalo Bill would travel through Kentucky he would always stay with the Breedlove family for a few days. John and Buffalo Bill would hunt together during his stays!
Wow,that was one I had no idea about,our family is really beginning to come to life.Some of the names i can remember my Dad mentioned from time to time!