Eleanor (Pate) Clark Comstock Hambleton was the daughter of Edward Pate, born February 25, 1766 in Bedford County and Mary Crawford, born November 18, 1771 in neighboring Botetourt (pronounced "bought a tot") County, Virginia. We know very little about the childhood of either Edward or Mary. We can assume their life wasn't all that much different from others who grew up in the shadow of the Blue Ridge during the Revolutionary War years. Both fathers served with local militia companies, requiring them to be away from the family for three to six months at a time. Edward by then was old enough to take on the chores usually performed by his father and Mary would have been expected to keep her younger siblings from harm's way. Once the war was over dinner table conversation likely revolved around discussion of crop yields and the latest news from Kentucky.
Edward and Mary married April 6, 1789 in Botetourt County and their first children, including your Eleanor, were born there. For them the decision to move west wasn't as difficult as it could have been.
They were joining others -- her parents, several of their siblings and numerous friends. This group settled in Hardin County, but ended up in Ohio and Breckinridge when those two counties were carved out of the larger one.
https://sites.rootsweb.com/~lksstarr/Descendants%20of%20Glendon%20Jean%20Starr/5%20Edward%20Pate%20to%20John%20Dent.pdf
