Charles Alexander and Josie (Bean) Logsdon

Charles Alexander Logsdon, son of William and Alice (McIlvoy) Logsdon, married Ann Josephine "Josie" Bean on 4 Sep 1878 at St. Charles Church in St. Mary, Marion Co., Kentucky. 

Josie was the daughter of Ignatius Eulogius "Logan" and Margaret (Warren) Bean. Josie was the great granddaughter of Clotilda (Vincent) Bean who I have written about before. 

Charles Alexander and Ann Josephine (Bean) Logsdon circa 1878

Charles and Josie had 8 children before Josie died in 1907; Alice, Herman, Josie, Agnes (Sister Baptista), Charlie, Leslie, Marie, and Lillie. Leslie was my husband's grandfather. Leslie died young, before his children were grown.

Photo courtesy of the descendants of Herman Logsdon, particularly John F. Hagan with whom I have had the pleasure of corresponding.

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Horseshoe Bend Farm: The Logsdon Ancestral Home

Nearly a year ago in July of 2010 I posted an article on the maternal grandparents of William Logsdon and as a result of that article and one other earlier article,"Who the heck is Alice?",  I met Bernard Thompson, a half-cousin of my husband Mike. (See my blog post "Treasure Chest Thursday: The Perks of Blogging".) Bernie's and Mike's common ancestor was their great great grandfather, William Logsdon (1799 - 1882), but Bernie descends from William's first wife and Mike descends from William's second wife.

In an e-mail, Bernie told me he'd been to the Logsdon ancestral farm at Horseshoe Bend outside of the small town of Springfield, Kentucky. He said if we were ever up that way to let him know and he'd take us there. He had met and made friends with the wonderful old couple that had lived there for the past 60 years and was sure they'd be delighted to show us the home. Up to that point I'd had no idea that the farm was still in existence and Mike and I were both excited at the possibility of getting to see it.

Mordecai's on Main Restaurant

Plans were made and on Thursday, May 26 we met in Springfield with Bernie and his wife Mary Ann and another local genealogist couple, Gerald and Martha Thompson. First, Bernie treated us to lunch at Mordecai's On Main Restaurant on Main street there in Springfield.

(Notice the "o" in the name is a Lincoln head penny. President Abraham Lincoln's parents, Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks were married in Springfield in 1806.)

After lunch we made our way to Horseshoe Bend Farm. I had checked this farm out from the description Bernie had given me of where it was and using Google Earth, it was easy to pinpoint.

Horseshoe Bend Farm, Springfield, Washington County, Kentucky

What I saw from Google Earth was somewhat deceptive though. It doesn't give a sense of the steep elevation! We turned onto a very narrow, nicely paved road that went up, and up, and UP! Looking down from the road you could see the original wagon road not far below. The Horseshoe Bend Farm was on a hill..or knob. I live in Florida so I call it a mountain!

closer overhead view

When we reached the top, we saw among the trees the quaint old farm house, built by William Logsdon in the early to mid 1800s. There were two large barns, the old original wooden barn and a newer barn.  As we stepped from the car we saw our hostess standing just inside the screened front door. There was a strong breeze scented with earth, animals, and honeysuckle and the surrounding scenery was breath taking! I was a little shy snapping that first picture so after I took it I handed the camera to Mike and he took the rest. I felt like I was invading privacy but I think he felt a sense of his ancestral roots and he wasn't the least bit shy about taking more pictures.

Front view from outside the gate

Front view closer up

Back view showing the 1950s addition (kitchen and enclosed porch).

We don't know for sure exactly when this house was built by William Logsdon. William had at least 10 children by his first wife, Nancy Worland (Bernie's ancestor), who he married in 1823. Nancy died in 1838 and William married Mike's ancestor, Alice McIlvoy, in 1840 and had at least 10 more children by her. The farm is several hundred acres and still a working farm with cattle and crops. Below are a few photos of the surrounding countryside. To get the full effect you really should click to enlarge!

Yes, we did tour the interior of the home but for the privacy of the present owners I will refrain from making those photos public. The home originally had four large rooms, two upstairs and two downstairs with a stairway in the center. I have since wondered, just how do you sleep that many in one family? Not that all 22+ family members were living there at one time, but there had to be a fairly large number of them living there at any given time just the same! I assume male children had one bedroom upstairs and the females had the other and the parents must have slept in one of the two rooms downstairs. The upstairs bedrooms must have looked like dormitories!

William Logsdon owned a small number of slaves and I'm not sure where they would have lived on the property. There may have been another building at one time. In the 1850 slave schedule William had three male slaves ages 60, 14 and 12 and one female slave age 42. In 1860 only the three male slaves are listed, ages 72, 24 and 21. I think Mike was a bit dismayed to learn he had an ancestor that owned slaves but of course it was common at the time, especially if you had a fairly large farm such as this one.

I believe the property known as Horseshoe Bend Farm may have been purchased originally by William's father Joseph and that William did not own it until after his father died. In the will of Joseph Logsdon he states: "I bequeath unto my son William Logsdon, the plantation he now lives on...". This will was written in 1839 so it is likely the farmhouse was built years before then.

I wish to thank Bernie publicly for making this visit possible. It was a memorable, enjoyable and informative day. To top it off, Bernie left us with a couple of wonderful parting gifts: The books "2008 Maryland to Kentucky Reunion - A Guide to the Kentucky Holy Land" and "Putting Meat on the Bones - A Tribute to our MD to KY Ancestors", Written by their Many Descendants, Compiled by the 2008 MD to KY Reunion Committee. It is my understanding that the couple that accompanied us, Gerald and Martha Thompson, were involved in making these books happen. They are absolutely priceless additions to my genealogy library! Our thanks to all four Thompsons for a wonderful visit!

Original barn at Horseshoe Bend Farm

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Treasure Chest Thursday: The Perks of Blogging

The Geneaperks

Gregory Szarkiewicz's Photographs - FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I just started blogging my genealogy in February of this year and in that time I have received several short pieces of communication via the comments section of my posts from excited distant cousins who had stumbled upon my blog. Unfortunately so far, none of them has left a return e-mail address and I have no way of returning the communication. I can only hope they will come back.

But last week I had a change of fortune when I received a wonderful e-mail from one of my husband's distant half-cousins [who found the e-mail button near the bottom of my blog] and with his permission, I am sharing that letter with all of you!

Subject: Logsdon Ancestry

Date: 8/11/2010 5:22:39 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time

Lisa:  Several weeks ago it was my good fortune to stumble on to a Web site "Old Stones Undeciphered".   Just by chance I saw this little question:  Who the heck is Alice?  Knowing that Alice McIlvoy was the second wife of William Logsdon, I continued to read your narrative that answered that question.

My name is Joseph Bernard Thompson, most often called Bernard or "Bernie".  I was born 9/28/1934 in Washington County, Kentucky.  My father was William Lloyd Thompson, b. 2/8/1897, d.2/22/1973.  His father was Richard Alexander Thompson who married Mary Jane "Mollie" Smith, b.11/9/1867, d.12/21/1919.  Mollie Smith's grandmother was Nancy Worland, the first wife of William B. Logsdon.  I have been the beneficiary of the work of several other people who have done research on the Logsdons but found quite a bit of information in your postings that I do not have. I did not have the maiden name for Joseph (Blackhead) Logsdon's wife, Eleanor and the info re her parents from Westminster, Md., the latter which you posted 7/24/10.

I have had an interest in my family's ancestry for a number of years but have only begun to work on it in earnest this past year.  I am learning as I go.  It is amazing for me to see how much information you have posted and I am very appreciative of your efforts, not to mention a bit envious of your ability to gather so much from so many sources.

I live in Lexington, Ky  now, am retired and do have some time to devote to "chasing my ancestry".  My wife is also a Thompson and is from Loretto in Marion County. I do get to Washington and Marion Counties on a fairly regular basis.  I did visit the William Logsdon homestead (Horse Shoe Bend Farm) last year.  A Holderman family has owned and lived there for more than 50 years.  According to them, the house is much the same as when originally built.

Obviously I would be receptive to communicating with you regarding the Logsdons although at this point I do not have much to offer. Judging from what you have posted on "Old Stones Undeciphered", you appear to have the capacity to get a lot done, not just in genealogy.

Best regards from Lexington,

Bernard Thompson

Now, I had Bernard's lineage in my data but only down to Mollie, so you can be sure we have much to share. But the real surprise was the fact that Bernard has been to the Horseshoe Bend Farm, a farm I'd never before even considered still existed!! What exciting news! I'm ready to pack up and head for Kentucky the first chance I get!

That's great, I love being "stumbled upon".  And a new genealogist in the makings too....gotta love it!

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Sentimental Sunday: Seriously Irish

My son Michael takes his Irish ancestry seriously!

He told me the other day he was going to change his last name to McILVOY (his Irish ggggrandmother's maiden name - see my blog: Who The Heck Is Alice?) I gave him my blessing!

He wears the McILVOY* tartan regularly.
*(There are only a handful of Irish surname tartans. This tartan is actually the county ANTRIM tartan, the county in Ireland where Alice was born.) 

His Celtic elbow tattoo

His momma loves him!♥

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Tombstone Tuesday: Alice M. Logsdon 1852 - 1872

Alice M. Logsdon Born July 2, 1852 Died Feb. 7, 1872

Daughter of William B. and Alice McIlvoy Logsdon

St. Charles Catholic Cemetery, St. Mary, Marion Co., Kentucky

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Who the heck is Alice?

I was going to write about Alice eventually but then I discovered the other day that daughter Hallie didn’t have a clue as to who Alice was. (Oh my!) She thought I was talking about the Alice in the song "Living Next Door to Alice" that was so popular with our Irish Singer friend from Canada, Jack McGuire.

“What would your brother say?”, I asked. Michael’s carefully chosen tartan for his first kilt was the plaid for County Antrim, Ireland where his Irish ancestor Alice had been born. He had agonized over each and every part of the outfit using great care with color and originality.

So now my desire to make sure Alice is given due recognition has taken on a new urgency....


Alice MCILVOY, my children's third great grandmother, was born in, or near, Belfast, County Antrim, Ireland around the year1813. This birth year is given here using the information from her obituary that says she was 90 years of age when she died in 1903. The 1900 census gives January 1815 as her date of birth. (Alice's headstone says 1818 but we know this is incorrect.) Alice was the daughter of Alexander McIlvoy and Mary Magdalene McConley. She and her family arrived on the shores of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania aboard the "North Star" out of Liverpool, England on 28 August 1818. In all the years of my research involving hundreds of ancestors between our two families, Alice was the latest immigrant to come to the United States. Others had arrived here 100 to 200 years earlier. Not one relative I have traced on either side arrived here late enough to have come through Ellis Island in the late 1800s.

What I’d really like to know are the details of the journey of the McIlvoy family between the date of their arrival at Philadelphia's port and the end of that journey which placed them squarely in the middle of the Commonwealth of Kentucky in the precinct of Mackville near Springfield in Washington County where Abraham Lincoln's parents were married just a few years earlier. That’s a long way by wagon train, lots of obstacles….mountains, Indians, etc. Yet they show up there as early as 1820, just two years after their arrival in the U.S. Did they come in the tide of one of the great Catholic migrations from the North?

In 1840, when Alice was about 27 years old she married William B. Logsdon. She was William's second wife. His first wife, Nancy Ann Worland, had been dead almost 2 years and William already had 10 children when he and Alice were married at St. Rose Church in Springfield. Before 1860 Alice would give William ten more children! Their large family lived for many years on a farm known as the Horse Shoe Bend Farm on the Little Beech River.

In 1870 we find William and Alice in the neighboring county of Marion in the precinct of Loretto. They were living in this precinct until William's death in 1882. Sometime before 1900 Alice moved to the precinct of Chicago in the same county and in the 1900 census her spinster daughter Mariah Louise is living with her. Alice died in 1903 and was buried alongside her husband in the old St. Mary's cemetery in Lebanon. I believe Alice's first name may have been Margaret. She is listed as "Peggy" (a nickname for Margaret) on the immigration lists and one of her grandsons, on his father's death certificate, listed his grandmother's name as "Margurite". But, like so many Catholics, Alice was known by her middle name.

Alice's obituary below is taken from "The News-leader" (Springfield, Kentucky) Thursday, August 6, 1903.

"The remains of Mrs. Alice McIlvoy Logsdon who died in Chicago, Ky., were brought to St. Mary's, Marion County last Monday for burial. She died on August 1st and was 90 years of age. The deceased had lived many years of her life in this county where she has children and grandchildren and a number of nephews and nieces living. She was the sister of the late Daniel McIlvoy and widow of William Logsdon who lived for a number of years on the Little Beech in this county on the farm known as the Horse Shoe Bend farm. Mrs. Logsdon was born in Belfast, Ireland and came to this county at an early age. She was a woman of fine character and noted for her charity and kindness of heart."

Alice is buried at St. Mary, Lebanon, Marion Co., Kentucky, Section J, Card 61, Section #40

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