Person:Aaron Atherton (1)

Revolutionary War Service, Montgomery Co., MD

• In a book titled "The Revolutionary Records of Maryland", under Montgomery County, it shows among the men signing the Patriots' oath of fidelity and support, returned on 16th of March, 1778 the names of ,William Lee Sr., Joseph Lee, Joseph Lee, Jr.,Samuel Lee, Aaron Atherton, Benjamin Atherton, John Atherton, Aaron Atherton Jr., and Daniel Cresop.
• In "A Maryland Revolutionary War Militia List", compiled by the Daughters of Founders and Patriots of America from the Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore located in the Filson Club in Louisville,KY, on page 225 under Captain Daniel Cresap; Col. Barret Bn; Washingaton, Company are listed John Eatherington, Cpl; Joshua Eatherington, Private 1st class; William Lee, Pvt 1st class; Samuel Lee, Pvt 2nd class; Benjamin Eatherington, Pvt 3rd class; Aaron Aetherington, Pvt 6th class & Josiah Lee, Pvt 7th class. On page 267 - list of discharged soldiers of 2 Bns of militia raised to serve in Continental Army - pd 1781 to Wm Lee no., 479, nine pounds and one shilling. Since the first names are the same, Eatherington is a phonetic varient spelling of Atherton and Daniel Cresap is a phonetic varient for Daniel Cresop, and visa versa.
• Those same named Lees and Athertons show up on tithable and tax records in Nelson Co., Ky (which was then still Virginia) and one of Aaron Atherton Sr. and Jr. daughters married one of William Lee Sr., and Jr. sons, according to Kentucky marriage records. There is a Jessee Lee who was the son of this William Lee Jr., through his marriage to his wife, Sarah Jane Morgan nee Reeves.

Connection to Bardstown, Kentucky

• In June 1999, A Lee folder was discovered in the genealogical section of the Bardstown, Kentucky library. In the folder was a work sheet bearing the following information:

"William Henry Lee was born in Maryland (possibly Baltimore Co.) about 17--, and he joined the Maryland Militia taking the Oath of Fidelity & support in Jan 27, 1778. While in service or before, he met and served with Aaron Atherton Sr. and his three brothers, John, Joshua and Benjamin. William and the Athertons served in the Washington County, MD area in Capt. Daniel Cresap's Co. of Col. Lemuel (Samuel) Barrett's Battalion. He was already married to Marg. Atherton. He served with his son Abraham Lee..."

• June 2013, The following statement above should be written as

Maj. William Lea Sr. was born in Talbort, Maryland about 1737. He joined the Maryland Militia taking the Oath of Fidelity & support in Jan 27, 1778. While in service, or before, he met and served with Aaron Atherton Sr. b. 1720 and his three brothers, John, Joshua, and Benjamin. Maj. William Lea Sr. and the Athertons served in the Washington County, Maryland area in Captain Daniel Cresap's Company of Colonel Lemuel 'Samuel' Barrett's Battalion. Maj. William Lea Sr., was already married to Margaret Atherton, the daughter of Aaron Atherton Sr. b. 1720. Maj. William Lea Sr., likely served with his son's, grandson's, brother's, one being an Abraham Lee.

1. ↑ Aaron Atherton, in Find A Grave.
2.   Pulaski County Book Committee (Illinois). Pulaski County Illinois, 1819-1987. (Paducah, Kentucky: Turner Pub. Co., 1987, c1987)
   Page 20, 50, 70, 71, 72, 83, 85, 87, 119, 194, 344.

   Villa Ridge, Atherton Settlement

3. ↑ David L. Morgan, State Historic Preservation Officer, Kentucky Heritage Council. National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form. (United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service)
   Page 9, 26 Nov 1990.

   Distilleries were also common in the county as early as 1800. Whiskeymaking provided early settlers with a commodity which could be readily transported to markets and sold. Wattie Boone and Aaron Atherton both operated distilleries on the banks of Knob Creek in the 1790s and these distilleries were forerunners of the John M. Atherton Distillery built after the Civil War. Other small distilleries are known to have been operated on farms throughout the county.
   SOURCE

4. ↑ ^4.0 4.1 Miami Daily News and Metropolis. Audubon's Whisky (Louisville Courier-Journal)
   11 Nov 1929.

   The Miami News, 11 Nov 1929
   Audubon's Whisky, (Louisville Courier-Journal)
   Paragraph 2
   Only a few years later, Thomas Lincoln, Abraham's father, loaded about 400 gallons of the best whisky he could find on his flatboat on Rolling Fork, near the mouth of Knob creek, and he took it to Indiana. Despite the upsetting of his craft at the mouth of Salt river, he recovered most of his cargo. Tom Lincoln was not a distiller, although an uncle of the same name owned a still house in Fayette county. However, the Rolling Fork country was noted for the quality of its whisky, both then and later. Possibly Lincoln bought his liquor of Peter Atherton, then the ferry-keeper of Knob creek. Atherton established nearby what later was to be the largest distillery in the world.
   Ever since the revolution, the farmers of the west had made whisky. There were few roads. A pack-horse could carry only four bushels of grain over the mountains, but in the form of whisky the product of 24 bushels could be carried. It was when Alexander Hamilton sought to levy the excise tax on these farmers that the "Whisky Rebellion" broke out.
   One of the chief mediums of exchange among the pioneers was "good merchantable whisky." Corn, therefore, was not only the principal food crop, but the main money crop. In liquid form, corn was a safer investment than in the shape of meat, either alive or packed. When Tom Lincoln carried whisky in barrels to Indiana, he was merely carrying the products of his farm, whether he made the liquor himself - which is unlikely - or took it to Peter Atherton or someone else to be distilled. When Audubon and his partner, Rozier, and years later Abraham Lincoln himself, dealt in whisky as merchants, they were selling it as a farm product, like so much tobacco, smoked hams, or meal.
   SOURCE
   
   Peter Athertons' father Aaron Atherton was already operating the Knob Creek distillery.
   Thomas Lincoln, worked for a short time for Aaron Atherton and Wattie Boone's distillery. Thomas was efficient in wood making and probably made bourban casks for the distillery.

5.   Adams, Evelyn Crady. Goodin’s Fort (1780) in Nelson County Kentucky, in Filson Historical Society (Louisville, Kentucky). The Filson Club history quarterly. (Louisville, Kentucky: The Club, 1930-2000)
   Vol. 27, No.1, January 1953.

   These were among the people at Goodin's Fort (According to Edgar Porter Harned)
   
   Samuel Goodin, Sr. , John Houston, Capt. Samuel Pottenger, Isaac Goodin, Samuel's son, Atkinson Hill, Samuel's son-in-law; Samuel Goodin, Jr., Samuel's son; Peter Kennedy (Indian scout); Thomas Goodin, Samuel's son; Elizabeth Goodin, Samuel's daughter; Catherine Van Meter, Elizabeth Goodin's daughter; Letitia Van Meter, Elizabeth Goodin's daughter; Sarah Van Meter, Elizabeth Goodin's daughter; Elizabeth Van Meter, Elizabeth Goodin's dau; Abraham Goodin, son of Samuel and Elizabeth; General Braddock^S7 (only slave mentioned at fort, freed in 1797); Abraham Van Meter, died about 1782; Beck Swank^S7, married General Braddock^S7; Abnego Carter; Unknown Hamilton; Aaron Atherton Sr.; Peter Atherton, son of Aaron; John S. Atherton, son of Peter; John M. Atherton, son of Peter; Peter Lee Atherton, son of John M. Atherton.
   
   The fort was the logical refuge for the following adjacent families: David Crady; Richard Edlin; Christopher Bush; Samuel Miller; Anthony Chambers; Daniel Vittitow; Samuel Vittitow (ie. Withrow); Stephen Vittitow; Zachariah Maraman; Leonard Johnson's son Clemmy, fiddler from Maryland.
   
   Page 5 - Atherton's Ford
   Page 7 - Aaron Atherton Sr. and family
   Page 18 - Milton Atherton
   Page 19 - B.F. Atherton, Finetta Atherton
   Page 26 - 16 Dec 1823, Suit of Purcell vs Atherton, in Hardin County Court
   Page 27 - Atherton Family. W.H. Perrin, op.cit., 1887, p. 781.
   
   When Samuel abandoned the Fort Goodin, he moved across the Rolling Fork to one of his plantations in present LaRue County, KY. He apparently retained more than half of his original land entries which approximated two thousand acres. He died on his plantation in the Edlintown area in 1807. He left no will.There seems to be some confusion about the names, "Goodin, Goodwines, and Goodwins" . There seemed to be a lot of them in early Kentucky, especially in Nelson and Hardin Counties.. And, they seemed to share the same given names as well. Several writers have attempted to sort this out.

6.   Patrick Hogue (Samples). Transcribed Atherton Text.
   
7.   Dr. John C. Butler, in Jacob Van Meter Family & History.

   The son, Abraham Van Meter, had at least one slave he brought with him from Virginia. This was "General Braddock", who earned his freedom through killing nine Indians. He moved from the Severns Valley settlement to Goodin's fort in the Rolling Fork when Abraham Van Meter's widow, who had inherited "General Braddock" from her husband, following his death from a poison Indian arrow, married Samuel Goodin. The slave was appraised at 100 pounds. On March 19, 1797 he was "set free forever". He afterwards married Becky Swan and lived on a small farm near Elizabethtown. This verifies that the Swans, who came out with the Van Meter party, also brought slaves to Kentucky. The son, Abraham Van Meter, had at least one slave he brought with him from Virginia. This was "General Braddock", who earned his freedom through killing nine Indians. He moved from the Severns Valley settlement to Goodin's fort in the Rolling Fork when Abraham Van Meter's widow, who had inherited "General Braddock" from her husband, following his death from a poison Indian arrow, married Samuel Goodin. The slave was appraised at 100 pounds. On March 19, 1797 he was "set free forever". He afterwards married Becky Swan and lived on a small farm near Elizabethtown. This verifies that the Swans, who came out with the Van Meter party, also brought slaves to Kentucky.