Elijah Drake, Elijah; Smith, Henry; and , James Stewart

Elijah Drake, Henry Smith, and James Stewart were three young men who resided in Madrid Bend, Fulton County, Kentucky.  Fulton County is located in western Kentucky, next to the Mississippi River and on the borders of Mississippi and Tennessee.  James Stewart was born in February 1875 in Tennessee and was 27 years old at the […]

Lovern, Moses

There is no extant information about Lovern to date. In early September 1905, Moses Lovern of Williamson, West Virginia was arrested for assaulting James Butcher, a well-off businessman. Convicted of the crime, he began serving a 60 day sentence later in the month. On September 24th, in the middle of the night a group calling […]

Beard, Lewis “Lon”

Lewis or “Lon” Beard was born in March 1887 to Curtis and Lillie Beard. He was the second oldest son of seven siblings and was born and raised in the predominantly white community of Elk Creek, Kentucky. Lewis’s immediate family was not the only family in his neighborhood. His uncle Jonas Beard and his family […]

Carter, George

George Thomas Carter was an African American man born in Kentucky in May 1878. His parents were likely Thomas and Catherine Carter, who are listed in the 1880 Census, living in Ruddels Mills, Bourbon County, Kentucky. In 1898, he married Mary L. Carter and they had a daughter named Lilly M Carter. When the 1900 […]

Dooley, Bill

Bill Dooley was an African American man who lived in the outskirts of Fulton, Kentucky (a town in southwestern Kentucky bordering Tennessee) with his wife and children. He was employed as a railroad section hand by the Illinois Central Railroad. News reports after his death referred to Dooley as “a peaceable, inoffensive man.” Nothing else […]

Miller, Wallace (or Wallis)

Wallace Miller was a black teenager born in February of 1891 in the state of Kentucky.  He resided in Cadiz, located in Trigg County, Kentucky, with several family members, including his father Bubbard Miller, his mother Della Miller, brothers Rumsy Miller and Robert Miller, sister Lemon Miller, and half-sister Maggie St. Clair.  Also living in […]

Tutt, George

George Tutt was born in October 1884.  He was 15 years old at the time of the 1900 census. George Tutt was the son of Katie Tutt, age 60 at the time of the 1900 census, who was a widow.  The Tutt family resided in Trenton, Todd, Kentucky, including Katie, George, his sisters Sarah (28 […]

Bumpus, Joseph (alternate spelling Bumpass)

Joe Bumpus was a Black man born in September of 1869 in Tennessee. He eventually moved to Kentucky, and married a woman named Addie in 1898. She had a daughter named Henrietta who was born before they married, but Bumpus claimed her as his stepdaughter in the 1900 Census. At that time, his stepbrother Turner […]

Weaver, Tom

Tom Weaver was an African American man born in Kentucky in January 1868. He moved around adjacent counties, and according to the 1900 Census, he resided in Herndon, Christian County as a boarder of the Blair family. He was a farm laborer who gathered tobacco and other crops. He did not marry and had no […]

Carroll, Charles

Charley Carroll was a young white youth born on June 6th, 1897.  He and his siblings lived with their parents, John and Delphinia Carroll in Beespring, Edmonson County, Kentucky.  His mother was Delphinia Carroll (01/12/1862-12/06/1929).  His father was John Irvin Carrell (01/09/1856-1900).  Charley had several siblings, Acie (1890-1989), Lawson(1885-1949), James (1881-1970), Emma (1889-1981), Patrick (1877-1937), […]