Person:Estel Tyree (1)

Kentucky Marriages, 1851-1900 Viewing record 1 of 1 Matches

TYREE, ESTEL T.

  Spouse:  KINNEY, MATIE  Marriage Date:  29 Dec 1898  
 County:  Marshall  State:  KY  

Kentucky Death Index, 1911-2000

Name: Estil E Tyree Death Date: 30 April , 1954 Death Place: McCracken Age: 074 Residence: Mccracken Volume: 20 Certificate: 9894

Database: 1900 United States Federal Census

January 17, 2005

6:16 PM

Name Home in 1900 (City,County,State) Estimated Birth Year Birthplace Race Relation to Head-of-house

Aina D Tyree Iveys Store, Marshall, Kentucky abt 1878 Kentucky White Wife Ben B Tyree Benton, Marshall, Kentucky abt 1866 Kentucky White Head Chesettie n Tyree Iveys Store, Marshall, Kentucky abt 1872 Kentucky White Head Cora Tyree Iveys Store, Marshall, Kentucky abt 1876 Kentucky White Granddaughter Estill Tyree Iveys Store, Marshall, Kentucky abt 1880 Kentucky White Head Etta Tyree Benton, Marshall, Kentucky abt 1877 Kentucky White Daught Flora Tyree Benton, Marshall, Kentucky abt 1886 Kentucky White Daught Ida Tyree Benton, Marshall, Kentucky abt 1888 Kentucky White Daughter James K Tyree Oak Level, Marshall, Kentucky abt 1861 Kentucky White S Landon Tyree Iveys Store, Marshall, Kentucky abt 1877 Kentucky White Grandson Linza Tyree Benton, Marshall, Kentucky abt 1846 Kentucky White Wife Luba Tyree Benton, Marshall, Kentucky abt 1883 Kentucky White Son Luke Tyree Iveys Store, Marshall, Kentucky abt 1879 Kentucky White Grandson Mary Tyree Iveys Store, Marshall, Kentucky abt 1850 Kentucky White Daughter Medie L Tyree Iveys Store, Marshall, Kentucky abt 1882 Kentucky White Wife Oscar Tyree Oak Level, Marshall, Kentucky abt 1878 Kentucky White Son Robt H Tyree Oak Level, Marshall, Kentucky abt 1891 Kentucky White Granddaughter Rudy M Tyree Iveys Store, Marshall, Kentucky abt 1899 Kentucky White Son Veatrice Tyree Benton, Marshall, Kentucky abt 1875 Kentucky White Wi Verge Tyree Iveys Store, Marshall, Kentucky abt 1900 Kentucky White S Claude Tyree Clarks River, McCracken, Kentucky abt 1879 Kentucky White Wife John Tyree Clarks River, McCracken, Kentucky abt 1870 Kentucky White Head Lora Tyree Paducah Ward 4, McCracken, Kentucky abt 1882 Kentucky White Granddaughter Robert Tyree Paducah Ward 4, McCracken, Kentucky abt 1870 Kentucky White Son-

From: Bill Utterback <billco@@arn.net> Subject: "The Kentucky Child" Date: Tue, 02 Dec 1997 09:10:45 -0600

Our good friend Sandi Goren recently posted her description of what a child in KY in pioneer days would face in his/her daily life. It is an excellent piece, and Sandi has given permission for me to pass it along to you. So, here it is:

THE KENTUCKY CHILD

If the young people of this era were magically transported back to the early settlement days of the State of Kentucky, I fear that the majority of them would throw their hands up in total frustration. No video games, no web access, no skate boards, no Nike shoes ? not quite! Instead they would find themselves in a little cabin somewhere in the woods. The cabin most likely had only one room with possibly a loft area above where they might sleep. The cracks in the logs would be chinked, allowing much cold air, snow or rain to come in. The floors were often dirt with the family dog scrounging around to find crumbs that might have fallen from the table. There was a large table, maybe a few chairs and hand made dishes. Our Kentucky boy or girl most likely shared their sleeping quarters with a "passel" of siblings. I fear there was no such thing as a separate room for each child with their own spacious closet. Closets were unheard of, pegs on the wall served as a hanging place for what few clothes they had.

It was said that the pioneer family had such few clothes that at night, the Mother would gather the children's clothing of the day, wash them and hopefully they would be dry by next morning. Sometimes the child had to sleep sans nightclothes if they were being washed. Most children did not wear shoes ? except for "Sunday go to meeting" shoes. They had to take such good care of their shoes (if they had any), that they would walk to church barefoot to keep the shoes from becoming soiled and then put them on outside the church doors. The Kentucky Child wore basically the same type of clothing as their parents. They had a cloth coat and pantaloons. In summer they changed to flax or tow linen or striped cotton for their "breeches". In winter, woolen jeans or linsey made at home became the attire. Some Kentucky Boys and their father wore buck skin hunting shirts and pantaloons. If they had shoes, they were normally red shoes or what they called "stich-downs." Very few people had boots for the rainy or snowy seasons. Wool hats were worn to protect from the cold weather and straw hats for summer. You could find a Kentucky Boy and his father wearing coonskin caps too. The Kentucky Girl was neatly attired in home made cotton dresses, striped or checked. Home made linen became underwear and a calico dress was a total luxury and to be worn only for special occasions.

Indians still roamed in most areas of Kentucky in the early days and the parents would have to keep a watchful eye out for them at all times. Children might be frolicking in the tall grasses or in the timbers next to their home when the call came from distraught parents to head for the cover of their little home. Wild animals roamed freely; this was their land. Bears, panthers, elk, buffalo, bear, coyotes, deer, raccoons, opossums, panthers, foxes, wild cats and wolves mingled freely in the timber land. Many of these animals were the main food source for the family and the Kentucky boy learned early how to handle a gun ? for protection and foo The Kentucky girl, at quite an early age, learned to spin and weave, to clean and cook. No microwave oven or refrigerator/freezer graced their kitchen. Many times the kitchen was in a separate structure to keep the cabin from becoming too hot in the summer. But most cooked only on the big open fireplace at the corner of the cabin. Everything was fixed in large pots hanging on hooks over the fire.

The Kentucky Child rose before sunrise to work along side their parents. Livestock was scarce in the early days and mostly of the undomesticated varieties. Cattle, sheep and hogs were let to run loose for many years and each morning and evening would have to be rounded up from the timberlands and corralled home. There were no separate barns for them; they huddled in a corner of a fence row together for shelter from the elements. The livestock they owned were not of a very good variety at times ? they had been brought with the settler from his home in Virginia, the Carolinas or elsewhere and every winter they thinned down to almost nothing. The hogs were wild razorbacks and bore little resemblance to Porky Pig! There were also lands to plow with the most elementary of tools, crops to put in, vegetables to grow for their own use. Most meat was kept in a smokehouse to get them through the winter months. When the sun set, then the day was over for the pioneer and their children. Little kerosene lamps broke the darkness in the cabins and provided meager lighting. The fireplace was lit in the colder seasons and the family sat around it. No television broke the silence of the long nights, no radio blaring out the latest news from across the world. Very few newspapers could be had in the remote areas of Kentucky and it might be months before a Kentucky family would learn of world affairs. It was a time of peace, rest and haunting silence. Except for the families who lived within the confines of a small village, the settlers and the Kentucky Child listened to the loudest quiet that one cold imagine. No lights from other cabins could be seen; the animals were asleep in the timbers; the stars lit the skies above and there was silence.

There were amusements in the early days, a term long used for anything that took the Kentucky Child and his parents away for a time from their labors. Dances went on quite frequently, but many children were not allowed to participate because it was believed by many of the churches that dancing was wrong. The Kentucky Boy loved to get on his horse and challenge his friends to horse races on the country roads. They had wresting matches, pitching battles, cock fighting, shooting matches at a target, corn shuckings, snow ball fights. If the Kentucky Child lived in "town", an occasional Punch and Judy puppet show would make its way to town which brought out the children in droves. Sometimes traveling circuses passed through town and just about everything quit in order for the country and townsfolk to participate. Sometimes the Kentucky Child would see exotic animals he had only heard about ? lions, tigers and elephants. Sometimes these circuses brought something unexpected with them ? cholera epidemics that killed many of the people. Because of improperly processed food, the people were contaminated with germs and the joy of the circuses faded as families were buried together. The peddlers bought glee to people as they passed through the area too. Hawking everything imaginable, the Kentucky Child jumped up and down in glee in seeing REAL dishes, cloth from all over the world, handmade toys ? and I am sure, like today, the child's most frequent words were "Mama, I want ?."

Many of the Kentucky Children didn't have much in the way of a formal education. School was only held for several months of the year ? either 3 or 6, when there were no crops to be put in or harvested. For many years there were no schools at all, and when they began, they were usually held in someone's cabin or possibly a special structure. It had one room with the teacher and the front and the children all facing the teacher. All grades learned together, each one with a little primer book and possibly a little piece of slate on which to write. Each student, by grade level, would have to come before the teacher and recite, and the younger children often learned by listening to the older children's lessons. There were recesses when the children rushed outside to play their little games; each child brought something to eat and a little tin cup with which to get a drink of water from the nearest well. The boys sat on one side of the teacher and the girls the other. The teacher might have no education at all in comparison to today's standards; if he would read and write, he was a candidate for becoming a teacher. This type of school was called a subscription school. The parents had to pay for their child to attend and the teacher lived off the payments. Women were seldom teachers in the earliest days because many women couldn't read and write, or the school officials felt them unqualified. It was not unusual to find a school where the children ranged in age from 5 to 21! But, the subjects that were taught were "tough" subjects if the teacher was better educated. The Kentucky Children learning reading, writing, arithmetic, astronomy, Latin, geography, economics, classics and many other subjects at a very young age. They put on plays for their parents and the neighborhoods as is done today.

When churches were established in the neighborhoods, the Kentucky Child was there with his parents in most instances. The fathers had to sit on one side of the church and the mothers the others. Little Kentucky Children sat with their mothers, the slaves had to sit in a separate section or in a balcony area if the church was large enough. The services were held two days a month ? on a Saturday and a Sunday and the sermons might last several hours. Sometimes the family brought a lunch which they ate on the church lawn between breaks. The churches had a lot of "singings" too which were a treat to the young people. Sometimes they were also held at the schools ? but this was a time for all the older young people and parents to get together and just sing. They didn't have song books, one man who had a good voice was the leader. The older young people also found this a time for courting. It was an exciting time for a Kentucky Girl to be courted by her beau and taken to the local singing!

But, somehow the Kentucky Child survived. They were strong, relatively healthy unless an epidemic came through including measles, cholera, yellow fever, influenza, summer sickness ? if this happened, the nearest doctor was called and he supplied the family with natural homemade remedies most often (such as onions or garlic hung around the neck for colds). They were for the most part respective of their elders, polite and turned into outstanding citizens. A few of the Kentucky Children excelled in their limited educational advantages and went on to go to a big city school, or they read law or practiced medicine with an old country doctor. They married young and raised a large family of their own and continued the traditions of their parents. Some Kentucky Children were orphaned at an early age when their parents just "wore out." They were then raised by another family member and became part of their home. Sometimes the Kentucky Child was indentured out to another family and went to live with them. Often this was because the parents were too poor to take care of them, often it was simply because the parents wanted the child to learn a trade. The child would move in with another family and supposedly be treated as one of their own. They worked for the head of the household until they were 18 or sometimes, 21 years old, learning blacksmithing, carpentry, wagon making, farming; and for the girls, it was one choice ? "housewifery." Sometimes the "adopted" family abused the Kentucky Child, beating them, denying their adequate clothes or shelter, or not allowing them to go to school. The Kentucky Child would in desperation run away from their home and the "master" would go to the county and tell the officers there what a rotten child he/she was. But, normally, the county saw right through it ? the fellow just didn't want to spend the money on the child and had been working him/her like a horse.

The generations of Kentucky Children survived. Many became the grand parents and great-grand parents or great-great-grandparents of many of you reading this message. We can be terribly proud of them!

© Copyright 2 December 1997, Sandra K. Gorin, All Rights Reserved.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ KYGenWeb Calloway County, KY Page: http://users.arn.net/~billco/calloway.html MOGenWeb Dunklin Co., MO Page: http://users.arn.net/~billco/dunklin.html Listowner: KYJacksonPurchase-L Mailing List US Land & Property Research On-Line Course: http://users.arn.net/~billco/uslpr.htm

1. ↑ State of Kentucky. Kentucky Death Index, 1911-2000.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2} Estel Eugene Tyree, in Find A Grave.