Person:Thomas Kerns (4)

Information on Thomas Karnes

F. Landis Weaver writes:

Thomas Kerns was born about 1769 in Bedford County, Virginia. He was li ving in 1797 in Fayette County, near Lexington, Kentucky. He was living i n 1800 in Green County, Kentucky, which became Adair County, then Russe ll County. He appeared on the census in 1810 in Adair County, Kentucky ( 1 son aged 0-9, 1 son 10-16, 3 daus 0-9). He appeared on the census in 1 820 in Adair County, Kentucky (1 son aged 16-26, 1 dau 0-9, 2 dau 10-16 , 1 dau 16-26). He died about 1834 probably in Russell County, Kentucky ( still owned land there). He was (possibly) buried in Kearnes Cemetery, W est Russell County, Kentucky.

Thomas Kerns was evidently the first son of Michael & Elizabeth to move t o Kentucky, which has made it more difficult to find records of his lif e. He signed a surety in Bedford County for the marriage of John Welch o n 5 Jan 1791. Since he legally had to be over 21 years old at that time , he must have been born before 5 Jan 1770.

Thomas was listed as a resident of Fayette County, Kentucky on 9 Nov 17 97, when he obtained the rights for a military land warrant of 1000 acr es located on the waters of the Green River in Kentucky. The deed from J ames Trimble was recorded in Bedford County, Virginia. (Book 10, page 4 87). In 1797, Fayette County was the area very close to present Lexingt on, Kentucky; and the Green River military district included the presen t Adair / Cumberland / Russell County area. It is not yet known if Mich ael actually paid for Thomas's land, but Thomas was not left any inheri tance in Michael's will of 1803.

Very few records have been found of Thomas and his family. He was proba bly married in Kentucky, and his wife, Altier, signed an Adair County D eed with her mark on 1 Jul 1805 (Book A, page 294). Altier is aged 16-2 6 on the 1810 Census. Since she was over 21 in 1805, she was probably b orn in 1784.

Census records seem to indicate that Thomas and Altier had 2 sons and 4 d aughters. A daughter named Betsy married Royal Pennington in Adair Coun ty on 20 Nov 1817. A younger daughter named Jane married Andrew Stone i n Russell County on 30 Jun 1828. Thomas sold 60 acres in Russell County t o John Kerns on 9 Mar 1834. It's not known if this John was one of his s ons. Another Russell County Deed dated 22 June 1835 mentions "the estat e of Thomas Kerns". This indicates that Thomas may have died in late 18 34 or early 1835.

An Adair County Deed (Book E, page 583) mentions that some of Thomas's l and had been sold at a sheriff's sale on 17 Sep 1821. His brother Job p urchased the land and agreed to let Thomas continue to live there. Seri ous land devaluations at that time caused financial hardships for many p eople, and it appears that Thomas got caught in the economic downturn.