Person:Isaac Goodnight (4)

!SOURCE: TIB Harlan's Station at Harlan nr Merzer father came to America from the Palatinate (Germany) 1752; landed in Philadelphia

BIRTH SOURCE Isaac Goodnight; Male; Birth: 01 JAN 1782 Harlan'S Station,Nr Merzer, , , Kentucky; Death: 14 OCT 1869; Spouse: Francis Dickerson; Marriage: After 1850 , Allen, Kentucky; No source information is available. Record submitted after 1991 by a member of the LDS Church. Search performed using PAF Insight on 25 Jul 2004 International Genealogical Index The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Family History Library 35 N. West Temple Street Salt Lake City, Utah 84150 USA www.familysearch.org

DEATH SOURCE Isaac Goodnight; Male; Birth: 01 JAN 1782 Harlan'S Station,Nr Merzer, , , Kentucky; Death: 14 OCT 1869; Spouse: Francis Dickerson; Marriage: After 1850 , Allen, Kentucky; No source information is available. Record submitted after 1991 by a member of the LDS Church. Search performed using PAF Insight on 25 Jul 2004 International Genealogical Index The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Family History Library 35 N. West Temple Street Salt Lake City, Utah 84150 USA www.familysearch.org

MARRIAGE SOURCE Isaac Goodnight; Male; Birth: 01 JAN 1782 Harlan'S Station,Nr Merzer, , , Kentucky; Death: 14 OCT 1869; Spouse: Francis Dickerson; Marriage: After 1850 , Allen, Kentucky; No source information is available. Record submitted after 1991 by a member of the LDS Church. Search performed using PAF Insight on 25 Jul 2004 International Genealogical Index The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Family History Library 35 N. West Temple Street Salt Lake City, Utah 84150 USA www.familysearch.org

SEALING TO SPOUSE SOURCE Isaac Goodnight; Male; Birth: 01 JAN 1782 Harlan'S Station,Nr Merzer, , , Kentucky; Death: 14 OCT 1869; Sealing to Spouse: 18 JAN 1997 PROVO; Francis Dickerson; Spouse: Francis Dickerson; Marriage: After 1850 , Allen, Kentucky; No source information is available. Record submitted after 1991 by a member of the LDS Church to request LDS temple ordinances. Search performed using PAF Insight on 25 Jul 2004 International Genealogical Index The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Family History Library 35 N. West Temple Street Salt Lake City, Utah 84150 USA www.familysearch.org

ENDOWMENT SOURCE Isaac Goodnight; Male; Birth: 01 JAN 1782 Harlen Station, , Mercer, Kentucky; Death: 14 OCT 1869; Endowment: 25 MAY 1936; Sealing to Spouse: 26 JUN 1936 ARIZO; Elizabeth McMurry; Spouse: Elizabeth McMurry; Marriage: 1805 , Warren, Kentucky; Film Number: 170710; Reference number: 15640 Record of LDS Church ordinance (living or proxy). Search performed using PAF Insight on 25 Jul 2004 International Genealogical Index The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Family History Library 35 N. West Temple Street Salt Lake City, Utah 84150 USA www.familysearch.org

SOURCE: The Louisville Times Newspaper, Sep. 5, 1903 furnished by D. Collins. When the Indians killed Isaac's father, Michael Goodnight, Elizabeth, his mother, was expecting him. They had returned to NC to get their household effects. They were a part of a caravan composed of other pioneer families who were guarded by 30 armed men. No serious mishap befell the train until the train was within half a day's journey of the fort at Harlans Station. All seemed secure, but at midnight, Sep. 1, 1781 the fearful cry of the savage was heard followed by gun short, screams and confusion. Michael Goodnight was killed in the first onslaught and his son, John was severely wounded, but he succeeded to make his escape. Mrs. Goodnight, who was in a delicate condition at the time, fled into the dark forest. Many of the emigrants were massacred, but a few escaped to the fort where the alarm was given. A party was made up to search for Mrs. Goodnight and she was found two days later in the woods lying prostrate upon the ground in a semi-conscious state, her face covered with a blanket. She was taken to the fort and four months later, Jan 1, 1782, Isaac Goodnight was born. A curious circumstance, preserved in the family traditions, is that from his birth until the day of his death, Isaac could never go to sleep without a cover over his face. The youth of Isaac Goodnight was spent at the fort with his mother and he was known as one of the strongest young men and best Indian scout and fighter in the settlement. The Isaac Goodnight homestead was probably one of the oldest homes in Warren County, if not the oldest. It was quite a mansion for its day, a two story structure with eighteen inch thick walls, two recessed panelled front doors and large chimneys at each end. The inside was built to accommodate boys and girly and keep them separated as there is a closed stairway on each side and no connecting door on the second floor. The massive fireplaces were still there and the chair rails remained through the years, as well as the panelling under the staircases. This house burned about 1976. It was replaced with another house. Don Collins saw the original house before it burned. The house was built by Isaac Goodnight, a tanner and farmer by trade and a large slave owner. He and his slaves make the bricks for the house. His tombstone reveals that he was born in 1782 and tradition in the family is that he was the first white child born in Kentucky. (I believe this has been proven wrong.) In his youth Isaac Goodnight was bound out to learn the tanner and saddle makers trade, an occupation he continued until his death. Source furnished by Margaret R. Bates: The Longhunter, Vol. XIX, Issue 4, pg. 11-12 Isaac Goodnight (tells traditional story of death near Harlan Station) Birth of Issac Goodnight 1 Jan 1782 "on the first hour." Marriage in 1808 to Elizabeth McMurry Move to Warren County, near Three Forks, north of Barren River (KY) after marriage; living on large tract of land secured "through a grant signed by Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia." Became member of old Bays Fork Baptist Church. When that church was divided, he went with the group that formed the Rocky Springs Baptist Church. "Isaac Goodnight was the 22nd child of his father, and he was father of 21 children. He passed away on October 13, 1869 at the age of '87 years, 9 months, 12 days and 3 hours." The family home of Isaac Goodnight in Three Forks, Warren County, Kentucky was in the early 1930s shown as a two-story brick home with chimneys on each end of the house. Isaac is said to have made each brick by hand that went to build this home. A small covered porch adorned the front, and a root cellar was at one end of the house, also with a fireplace. Other frame buildings were added, one of which is visible in an old photograph of the home. This building appears to be living quarters as well and could possibly attach to the house. The photos were taken in fall or winter. Dried corn stalks are seen standing in the field, right up to the side of the house. The house burned down since the photos were made. Across from the barn lot, on a hill, is the Goodnight family graveyard. The tall painted monument to Isaac Goodnight is located at the family cemetery at Three Forks. Three of his wives, Elizabeth McMurray, Mary Ground, and Rodah Gadberry, are also buried there. Isaac's stone lists his birth and death dates, and also says, "Initiated into the Masonic Fraternity in 1822," and "He professed faith in Christ and united with the Baptist Church in 1908." Near the top of the spire is the Masonic emblem.

1.   The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Ancestral File (TM) (July 1996 (c), data as of 2 January 1996).