He4 John Kenton Hester

    He4 John Kenton Hester  was the son of  Henry Hester (He5),  He was  the oldest of the 9 children of Henry Hester and Sarah Griffith (Gr5).
    He was born in Fleming Co., Ky. on Aug. 26, 1821 and died in Robertson Co., Ky. Jan. 28, 1895. Robertson Co. was formed in 1867 from Nicholas, Mason, Harrison and Bracken counties. He is buried in the McDowell Burial Ground about 6 miles from Mt. Olivet, Ky. This cemetery is off the road through a field in woodland and is reached by a lane. His gravestone is a rather large flat stone which is standing. In this same cemetery is the grave of his youngest child, Anna Elizabeth Hester He3-11.
     

    JOHN K. HESTER
    b. Aug. 26, 1821. d. Jan. 28, 1895
    He followed virtue as
     his truest guide
    Lived as a christian
     died

     ANNA E.
     dau. of J.K. and S.J. Hester
     b. Sept. 21, 1870
     d. June 9, 1883
     Someone loved one
     Someone loved two
    I loved one and that is you.

    John Kenton Hester is surely named for his father's father John Hester and the family name of his great grandmother Jane (Kenton) Owens.
    On Dec. ' 22," 1846 John Kenton Hester married Susan Jane Mitchell (Mi4). This marriage is recorded in the Court Record of Bracken Co. in Brooksville, page 60. They were married by A. Anderson. Susan Jane's sister Permela (Amelia) Ann Mitchell. married a brother of John Kenton Hester - Willoughby Griffith Hester. Susan Jane Mitchell was born Nov. 23, 1828. She died in Robertson Co., Ky. on Feb. 13, 1905. 8usan Jane (Mitchell) Hester is buried in the 0ld Corinth Christian Church cemetery. There are not many graves there. Her grave is enclosed with an iron fence and on the gate is the word "MOTHER". The stone  reads:

    SUSAN JANE HESTER
    b. Nov. 23, 1828
    d. Feb. 13, 1905
    Mollie (Mary Louise England)6 Lucas, a granddaughter of John Kenton Hester  and Sarah Jane (Mitchell) told Miss DeBell the genealogist:

    "Grandfather lived in a valley and wanted to be buried on the hill above the McDowell Burial Ground. Grandmother didn't want to be buried there."

    A grandson Eustace Granger Hester wrote his cousin Clinton M. Hester on June 25, 1955
    "For some reason our grandparents were not
    buried side-by-side, but some 5 miles apart.
    Our grandmother is buried in the Old Corinth
    Burial grounds and is well marked and her grave
    is enclosed by an iron fence, and well marked.
    I don't know why this was, but their deaths were
    several years apart and I believe she was active
    in the church there and the familv and relatives were closer to Old Corinth." ¬

    Could it be sentiment - wishing to be buried in the churchyard of the old church where her next to youngest son John Kenton Hester, Jr. had preached his first sermon?

    In a letter written Aug. 15, 1955 to Clinton M. Hester by the genealogist Miss Mary Pickett DeBell, she writes of the Old Corinth Church:
    "It is a most interesting old log church abandoned of course - a mute testimony though to the
    days of yesteryears and the faith and industry of the sett1ers who desired a place to worship.
    Some of the logs with sti1.l the bark on them were about 12 inches and hand hewn, The weather boarding off on one side so we could see the clinking of rocks and plaster over. Growing up
    the side of the old building I got a winter bouquet of bitter sweet and it will be a pleasant reminder
    of our interesting trip there. This old church is up an extremely rocky hill".."

    The New Corinth Church was first built in 1918. That church burned and about 1943 another church was built on the site of the burned church.
    The granddaughter Molly (England) Lucas told Miss DeBelll "She expressed it as if John Kenton Hester had never worked: Just made things with his hands which he sold. One thing she recalled was his making fly brushes out of peacock feathers. They were the most elegant weapons of that day to keep the fly off the tables while eating. My mother had one she paid ten dollars for and a colored boy swished it over the table and sometimes gave us a whack."

    "When his son John Kenton Hester, Jr. "as in Ontario, Canada at school grandfather would be
    so anxious to hear from him that he would walk sometimes twice a day to get mail from him in
    Mt. 0livet. No wonder with such interest he (the son) succeeded."
     Paul Nelson Hester, another grandson of John Kenton Hester told Miss DeBell:
     "My grandfather was a tall man, a great reader, had much mail and people came from around to be read to. He invented a corn planter and sold them for 25 c and never got a patent. His grandparents lived not far from where Paul lived."

    In the Court Records of Bracken Co., Ky. is recorded a
    mortgage; dated. June 1855 signed by John K. Hester and given to
    R. J. Hughey. It. states in part,
     "John K. Hester mortgages to R. J. Hughey June 1855 $150'. due by note.' about 3 acres of tobacco,
    2 acres of corn, 2 acres of wheat, 2 calves, one white and one red. one cupboard and one clock to
    have and to hold to him or his heirs - but on  condition that said Hester pays off, etc."

    John Kenton Hester and Susan-Jane (Mitchell)  had 11 children:
     Note the surnames this couple used in naming their  children Wright, Owens, Mitchell, Kenton, Willoughby and Griffith.
     

      He3-1 Silas Wright Hester, b. Sept. 10, .1847; d.
      He3-2 William Henry Hester, b. June 3, 1850; d. Sept. 21, 1935.
      He3-3 Sarah Catherine Hester, b. Jan.22,1852;d.May 12, 1934
      He3-4 James Edward Hester, b. Dec. 4, 1853; d.
      He3-5 Hiram Abiff Hester, b. Nov. 28, 1855; d.
      He3-6 Louisa Owens Hester, b. Sept. 12, 1859; d.
      He3-7 Mary Jane Hester, b. Jan.12,1861; d. Mar. 9, 1865.
      He3-8 Alice Mitchell Hester, b. July 9, 1863; d.
      He3-9 John Kenton Hester, b.Oct.29,1865; d. Nov. 4, 1916
      He3 Willoughby Griffith Hester, b. Jan. 5, l868; d June I, 1937.
      He3-11; Anna Elizabeth Hester, b Sep 21,1870, d June 9, 1883.

      Source: Geneology of the Descendents of John Hester, by Hester Geraldine Lester Searl



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