TENNISON, Willis {I3270} (b. 1795)

Given Name: Willis

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Imported GEDCOM file
Title: Imported GEDCOM file

Given Name: Peggy

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Imported GEDCOM file
Title: Imported GEDCOM file

Given Name: Malinda Jane

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Imported GEDCOM file
Title: Imported GEDCOM file

Given Name: Joseph

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Imported GEDCOM file
Title: Imported GEDCOM file

Given Name: Mary Ann

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Imported GEDCOM file
Title: Imported GEDCOM file

Given Name: Samuel

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Imported GEDCOM file
Title: Imported GEDCOM file

Given Name: William W.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Imported GEDCOM file
Title: Imported GEDCOM file

Given Name: M.C.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Imported GEDCOM file
Title: Imported GEDCOM file

Given Name: James A.

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Imported GEDCOM file
Title: Imported GEDCOM file

Given Name: Mary Polly

Source: (Individual)
Abbreviation: Imported GEDCOM file
Title: Imported GEDCOM file

Death: 14 AUG 1874 Taylor Co., KY

Given Name: Milliard F.

Note: Millard F. Bright died as a 5-month-old in Nov of 1857, according tobook of deaths of Taylor Co KY--of unknown cause.

Death: 15 NOV 1857 Taylor Co., KY

Given Name: John David

Note: John David Bright is thought to be the son of John Wesley Newcomb,according to the personal knowledge of Gloria Colvin and ArlandBenningfield and others. His mother was Mahala A. Bright, daughter ofBuford Bright of Marion County, KY.


OBITUARY OF JOHN DAVID BRIGHT:

Lebanon Enterprise Friday March 8, 1940
New Market Farmer Dies John David Bright, who had
been in failing health for several years, died at 2 o'clock
Wednesday afternoon at his home in the New Market
section. Following funeral services conducted yesterday
afternoon at 2 o'clock, his burial was in the Wise (Benning-
field) Cemetery near the home.
Mr. Bright was 57 years old and was a farmer. He is sur-
vived by his wife Mrs. Annie Nolley Bright to who he married
30 years ago, and five children: Mrs. J.D. (Rhoda Ellen)
Horton and Kenneth, Melvin, William and James Bright, all of New Market.

Event: Type: HOBBIES

Death: 6 MAR 1940 Marion Co., KY, Benningfield Cem

Given Name: John Wesley "Turk"

Note: Mahala Ann and John Wesley never married, although John WesleyNewcomb, nicknamed "Turk", is said to be the father of John DavidBright. This makes Turk my great-grandfather. I have yet to find anywritten documentation of this fact, although I have now found he andwife Martha called Mattie, Bright Newcomb, on a 1900 Marion CountyCensus, and they lived next door to Mahala A. "Hale" Bright, who wasthe sister of Mattie. Turk may also have been the father or MahalaA.'s other two children; Ida and Addie Bright.

The "Turk Place" where John Wesley lived, was located directly acrossthe road from the old Phillip Benningfield general store. (My son RonCarroll now owns the land where this store was located.) I was toldthere is an old pine tree and a barn still standing, that belonged toTurk Place. AND behind his house and through a field, was located ahouse where my great-grandmother Hale Bright lived! (This would be onwhat is called Moore's Creek Road, off the new road from Lebanon toCampbellsville.)

John Wesley would have been age 38 when he married Martha Bright,about age 35, in 1889. This means John David, born ca. 1880, wasborn before his marriage to Martha.

It is now documented by the 1900 Marion CO census, that Martha'ssister Mahala A. was "Hale" Bright, my long-lost great-grandmother.She is listed as head of household, along with Addie and John DavidBright. This has been quite an interesting search--especially since Iwas operating on apparently false information i.e. the Germany Storywhen I started out...and had I not challenged it, I might never havefound her. Since I now have located the census as evidence, it lookslike I finally have some answers and the puzzle is gradually fallinginto place.

Marion County KY Deed Book Index: J.W. Newcomb from Amanda E. Turner20-59 (1892-94) (Amanda E. Turner was his sister-in-law)

OBITUARY OF JOHN WESLEY 'TURK' NEWCOMB:

Lebanon Enterprise May 17,1918 New Market News Column
Marion County, Kentucky



NEWCOMB - John W. Newcomb, 66 years old, widely known
in the New Market section, died suddenly at his hme on
Moore's Creek Tuesday night of acute indigestion. He lived
only two hours after he was stricken. He was familiarlyknown to his friends as "Turk" Newcomb and was a farmer. Theburial took place in the Wise burying ground, in the neighborhoodwhere he lived, yesterday afternoon. His
wife and two brothers and two sisters survive him. (WiseBurying Ground later known as the Benningfield Cemetery.)

Death: 14 MAY 1918 Marion Co., KY, Benningfield Cem

Burial: MAY 1918 Benningfield Cem Moore's Creek, Marion Co., KY

Given Name: Beatrice Elizabeth Josephine

Death: 4 SEP 1992 Knox Co., TN

Given Name: Beaufort[Buford]

Note: Beaufort Bright, also spelled Buford, was born in Green County,now Taylor, in 1811 according to personal knowledge of Blanche Bright,taken from knowledge of the family--and from census records, he wasborn in 1811 or 12. Since his father was on the 1813 Tax List ofAugusta Co VA, moving to KY that year, it is possible that he couldhave been born in Virginia. He was one of possibly 15 children bornto George Adam II and Catherine Campbell Bright. Both of his parentswere born in Virginia, making them two of the early pioneers who cameto settle the land in Green County, Kentucky right after the turn ofthe 19th century. Both being born in Green County, Buford and Rebeccawould have met in Green County and they married about 1834, probablyin Green County or neighboring Washington. (Now Taylor and Marionrespectively.) A copy of their marriage record cannot be found, andmay have been destroyed by fire in the Marion County records.

Buford's father, George Adam Bright I, along with his twobrothers Wyndle and David, traveled to KY with their wives andchildren, and quite probably, traveled the famous Wilderness Road overthe Cumberland mountains and through the Cumberland Gap. It isunknown the exact route they took, and they could have traveled downthe Ohio River by flatboat instead. Brother Wyndle was a Revolutionarywar veteran. But there is no record of his claiming a land bountywarrant, so he must have purchased the land that he did own, in bothWashington and Green counties. (now Marion and Taylor) Wyndle is onthe 1835 Green County Revolutionary War veterans pensioners list, andaccording to his pension papers, he died in 1838 in Marion County. Thecemetery where he was interred, is unknown. [It is possible that he isin the military cemetery in Lebanon.]

On 1880 Marion County Census -- Buford is listed as age 70, afarmer, and Rebecca has died by this time, probably in childbirth, atage 52. Daughter Sara, age 40, is keeping house; Mahala A. age 32, isat home; Martha A. age 31 is at home and not yet married; Margaret E.daughter, age16, is at home, and James F. age 27, farm laborer has notyet left the home. Everyone is listed as born in Kentucky. Also onthis census and in separate but nearby homes, are Elija (Elze Buford)Bright, age 23, listed with wife Margaret and children, William andWalter J. Bright. And there is a William Bright, age 37, with wifeMary L. and children Mary L., Lizzie E. and Wm. F.

These Bright families are in the New Market area and are listed oneafter the other, indicating that they lived close together.

NOTE: Found that Margaret E. was born in 1864, and also that Rebeccadied between that birth and the 1870 Federal Census. Also found onMarion County KY census -- a John F. Bright on 1850, and a Henry P. on1860 census.

Buford and Rebecca Bright had a total of 16 (sixteen) children.There may have been at least one set of twins. Some may have died atbirth or in infancy, since a few of these children are not found oncensus. It appears that most all of the girls were given the name Annas their middle name. One son, James Franklin Bright, b.ca.1852 inMarion County, left Kentucky and a railroad job in 1908, taking hisfamily south to "make a fortune pickin' cotton", but he never made thefortune nor did they make it back to Kentucky. Thus his descendantswere, and are, residents of Arkansas and Tennessee, among otherstates. James Franklin married Hannah Elizabeth Settles in Calvary,Kentucky in 1882. They had seven children. They both are buried inKnoxville, Tennessee.

It was James Franklin who left the legacy of the exact number ofchildren of Buford and Rebecca Short Bright. One rainy afternoon,James Franklin said to his daughter, 16-year-old Beatrice, "There were16 kids in our family. I want you to get a pencil and take down thenames as I call them out". Beatrice did just this and many years ago,she gave the list to a grandson of James Franklins, Edgar F. Bright.This list was recently given to me by the 80-year-old widow of Edgar,Blanche Bright, who lives in Reedsport, Oregon. I think the list isprobably factual and complete. Bless James Franklin for listing them,as we likely would never have found at least two of them! Blanchesays that her husband never knew much at all about his Kentuckyancestors...only recently has she begun to research the Brightfamilies.
Buford was listed as a farmer on the 1860 Taylor County,Kentucky census. He and Rebecca, lived around the New Market--Moore'sCreek area of Marion County, Kentucky for much of their lives. It isunknown where they are buried, although it is thought they are buriedin the Lower New Market Graveyard on the old Lebanon Road. It isquite likely that many of their 16 children, and other Brightrelatives, are also buried there.
There are many stories about this family. One is that the Brightsonce owned the land in Pennsylvania where Pittsburgh now stands.Another is that Buford Bright brought his wife and 16 children toKentucky from PA and on the way, his wife and two of their childrendied in Illinois. He brought the remaining 14 children onto GreenCounty. Now this story is obviously full of holes and downrightimpossible, since we find Rebecca as well as the children, on Kentuckycensus for several decades. HOWEVER, it is quite possible that hisfather's brother David Bright was the hero of this story, or someother individual closely related to them.

Death: 3 APR 1882 Marion Co., KY

Given Name: Mary A.

Note: Although I do not believe it is this Mary A., there is a MaryE. Bright, buried in the Lower New Market Graveyard. Her tombstone isin good condition and is inscribed about as follows: "And when youget to God's great gate As you will no doubt do May angels with theirwings .......(spread wide) be there to welcome you". Born 1847, diedin 1919.

Given Name: Sarah A.

Given Name: Nancy A.

Given Name: Amanda A.

Death: 2 JAN 1900 Taylor Co., KY Good Hope Bapt Ch

Given Name: Lavina Alice