“CHANEY KILGORE”

I came across an old 1998 post that Anne Green wrote at the Rootsweb Kilgore Archives: "Our family bible indicates Elizabeth Kilgore, daughter of Ralph, was called "Chaney" Kilgore. Anybody have background? I seem to recall there were Chaneys in Virginia but know of no relationship to Kilgores et al."

Most websites which show Elizabeth’s parents list Ralph Kilgore and Nancy Gray. So, why the discrepancy here?

Here's what I know about Chaney, from my grandmother's account, and why I have determined that it is correct. Elizabeth was my great, great grandmother. Chaney was Elizabeth's mother, not Nancy (Gray) Kilgore.

My grandmother was Susan Estelle Larkey (a granddaughter of Elizabeth Kilgore and Brooks Nickels). My grandmother died several years ago, but was quite adamant about the parentage of Elizabeth, from whom she had firsthand account. According to my grandmother Susan, Elizabeth was the illegitimate daughter of "Chainyu" Kilgore and James Culbertson (James was married to Mary Kilgore...presumed to be a distant relative of Chainyu). Chainyu came to the US as a child of about 12-15. Her passage was paid from Scotland by James Culbertson in return for a period of indentured servitude in his household.

According to my grandmother, she was told by her mother, Mary Louise Nickels (Elizabeth's daughter), and her grandmother = Elizabeth (Kilgore) Nickels, that Elizabeth went by the name Elizabeth Henderson up until the date of her marriage, at which time she was forced to use her mother's name, Kilgore, because she could not legitimately use the Henderson name for the marriage certificate. From about 1860-1870, even after Elizabeth's death, her aged mother Chainyu\Chaney continued to live in the household of Brooks Nickels until her death, even after he remarried.

A large majority of the records, including those at LDS, which show Elizabeth (married Brooks Nickels) as the daughter of Ralph Kilgore and Nancy Gray may be traced back to the submitted research of the late Marguerite Van Etten (my aunt and my mother's sister). My aunt was at the time attempting to collect documentation in order to gain membership into the Daughters of the American Revolution group (DAR) and - per my mother and grandmother and Robert M. Addington (noted Scott County historian, author and genealogist) - Aunt Marguerite's enthusiasm to uncover Elisabeth's lineage caused her to too quickly seize upon what she had hoped to find (descendancy from a veteran of the American Revolution, i.e., Charles Kilgore, Ralph’s father). Aunt Marguerite later admitted that she forgotten her mother's and grandmother's stories of "Chainyu." When she found an Elizabeth Kilgore born in 1816 in Scott County, VA, she assumed this to be the same one. However, the Scott County census records for the Brooks Nickels household 1850 show our Elizabeth as 30, which would indicate a 1819-1820 birth. Purportedly, Addington was furious with Marguerite, because she ignored evidence to the contrary and submitted the incorrect lineage to LDS, DAR and other record repositories. In later discussion with her sisters, Aunt Marguerite realized that she had indeed forgotten about their mother’s stories of Chainyu, and realized that her research submission had created an incorrect genealogical trail. She is said to have attempted to recall the inaccurate material from the DAR, but was told that it was too late – once accepted as valid, the material remains as part of the official records. This submission perpetuated, if not created, a still-expanding family of records showing the inaccurate lineage to Ralph Kilgore and Nancy Gray (who did indeed have a daughter Elizabeth…just not the same as the one who married Brooks Nickels). Whether Elizabeth, daughter of Ralph and Nancy, married is apparently unknown. If so, her marriage records are not in Scott County, as only one other Elizabeth Kilgore (born 1804 to William Kilgore and Virginia Jane Osborne, married 1831 to John Roach) is recorded during for the period from 1810-1840 period. The Scott County marriage records for Brooks and Elizabeth do not list Elizabeth's parents, although perhaps the certificate might…if it has survived, and could be found.

I never quite knew what to believe, until a few year ago, when I found a couple more pieces of information:

1) According to a Gaelic linguistic dictionary, Chainyu is a spelling variation of the Gaelic name Teine or Tyne (as in the name of actress Tyne Daly). The 'Ch' is how the 'T' is pronounced in Gaelic. Chaney is apparently the familiar name that people called Chainyu Kilgore. Teine means fire or flame in Gaelic.

2) Census records for 1860 and 1870 list a "Chaney, spinster" living in the household of Brooks Nickels. At the 1840 Scott County census, Chaney Kilgore is still found listed as a single head of household, under the females ages 40-50 column. Since she was apparently still indentured when Elizabeth was born in 1819-1820, Chaney was probably nearer to the 19-20 age at Elizabeth's birth, and so approximately age 40 at the 1840 census. She was found living with Brooks in Estillville in 1860 and in Johnson Township in 1870. If you have a paid membership to one of the on-line census services, you will be able to cross-verify index entries for Chaney Kilgore for 1840, 1860 and 1870. (also for Brooks, whose township location (unknown township for 1840, Western district for 1850, Estillvillle for 1860, and Johnson Township for 1870, matches Chaney's in every instance). When I first found them, I printed copies of both the 1860 and 1870 census records that shows Chaney as a “spinster” living in Brooks' household, but I can no longer the 1860 copy or a website that shows the actual household members for that census. Portions of pages 546 and 547 of the 1870 census, showing Chaney, age 78, and the rest of Brook's household (including my great grandmother Mary Louise Nickels) may be viewed here.

On the 1840 census, Chaney is found on page 306. On the 1860 census, page 305, and on the 1870 census page 547.

I also keep looking for a ship's manifest that shows a young female Kilgore (Chaney) making passage to Virginia as an indentured servant around 1802-1812, but so far have found nothing. The only other information that I have found is that another Kilgore, Hiram (son of Robert & Winnie) was apprenticed to James Culbertson in 1799, at the age of 14.