Research in Kentucky: Hoping to Find Lancaster, Neal, & Polly Families & their Fan Club

The National Genealogical Society’s Family History Conference was held this year in Louisville, Kentucky, and this allowed me to conduct on-site research for my family and my husband’s family. Before going, I studied websites and finding aids, and created my own research goals. My husband’s family was straightforward. I acquired documents from the Indiana State Archives, and we visited two cemeteries in Jeffersonville and Louisville.

However, two of my family lines are more complicated. I have the Lancaster and Neal families in Shelby County, Kentucky, and the Polly family in Lewis County. This post will report on my findings in Shelby County.

Shelby County
I started in Shelby County. The county seat is Shelbyville, and we visited the county museum first. The director informed us that their historic records are in the Kentucky Room at the public library. There was a gold mine there. So often, family files contain no records about my family, but there was a thick folder on the Lancaster family and another for the Neal family.

Mrs. Betty Matthews did some research on both the Lancaster and Neal families and I found several copies of family group sheets, along with maps and copies of bible pages covering my Robert Lancaster and James Neal families. There are no dates on the sheets, so I have no idea when they were created, but maybe before so much has been put on the internet.

Searching for Betty’s name at Ancestry, I found a Betty Jean Buntin, who married Robert Matthews. They had two sons and lived in Shelbyville.[1] She died on 30 October 2015 in Louisville and was the daughter of Anna Marjorie Nex and Alexander O. Buntin, being born in 1922 in Indiana, Pennsylvania. She met Robert at the College of William and Mary, though Shelbyville was his hometown. She was the president of the Shelby County Historical Society and wrote more than twenty books of genealogy for her grandchildren. “She was the go-to person in Shelby County for years for anyone interested in researching his or her roots.”[2] They were married on 31 March 1945 in Atlanta, Georgia.[3] He died on 30 October 2010.[4]

Was she a member of my Fan Club? Or perhaps it was her husband, Robert Matthews. He was a native of Shelbyville, so it seems more likely he might be kin. His parents, Robert Foster Matthews, Sr. (1898-1961) & Zeralda Baxter (1902-1984) were linked on Robert’s memorial.[5] Robert Sr.’s parents were also linked: Benjamin Franklin Matthews (1865-1951) & Margaret Kilgore (1872-1960). The memorial listed his parents as Absolem Matthews (1823-1894) and Ann Rounder (1833-1900).[6] None of these names rings a bell in my family of Lancaster, Neal, Land, and Myers.

Working backward with the Matthews wives' names: Zerelda Baxter’s father was Junius Gaines Baxter (1877-1951), born in Madison Co, Kentucky. His father was Edmund Baxter and mother Harriet A Gaines. I had no luck finding parents for Margaret Kilgore.

Checking FamilySearch Family Tree, Betty is listed. Checking the pedigree chart, there are no Lancasters or Neals listed on her husband’s side. Her side has no Kentucky roots.[7] The conclusion I can draw is that someone contacted her and she saved the research she did on the Lancaster and Neal lines. Unfortunately, the file has no correspondence in it.

Anyway, the sheets point me to some of Robert’s children that I have not researched. These are the ones who stayed in Kentucky, while my ancestor moved first to Lewis County, Missouri, and then to Kaufman County, Texas. The bible pages also give me more clues.

The last thing I found in the library files was a file on the Dover Baptist Church. This is an old church, started in 1812, and possible ancestors are named: James Neal and his wife, and Samuel Ellis and wife. One of James’ daughters, Polly, married John S. Lancaster. I drove out to the church, which is located along the Bullskin-Lutz creeks, just the area where my Lancasters and Neal lived. It was rebuilt in 1887, so it’s not the same church building, but it was nice to see the land where my ancestors had farmed.[8]

Below is a map of the area and some photos I took around the church.

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[1] “Candidate for Attorney General,” Henry County Local (New Castle, Kent), p. 1 & p. 8.

[2] “Shelbyville, Betty Buntin Matthews,” The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kent), p. A-11, col. 4.

[3] “Miss Buntin Weds Ens. Matthews,” The Atlanta Constitution, 26 Mar 1945, p. 13, col. 5.

[4] Find a Grave (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/143082794/robert-foster-matthews), photo of stone by Charlie O, Robert Foster Matthews Jr (1923-2010), memorial 143082794, buried at Grove Hill Cemetery, Shelbyville, Kentucky.

[5] Find a Grave (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/177071816/robert_foster-matthews), memorial 177071816, Robert Foster Matthews Sr. (1898-1961).

[6] Find a Grave (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/177071328/benjamin_franklin-matthews), memorial 177071328, Benjamin Franklin Matthews (1865-1951).

[7] FamilySearch Family Tree (https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/pedigree/landscape/LBBJ-WRM), Betty Jean Buntin (LBBJ-WRM).

[8] Reverend W. E. Powers, History of the Dover Baptist Church 1812-1962, (Shelbyville, 1962).

#52Ancestors-Week 25: Fan Club
This is my eighth year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow (https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/) at Generations Cafe.

I write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or My Trails into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

 
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