John J. Dickey's interview with John Eversole [#7483]
Manchester, Kentucky
31 January 1898

I was born in Clay County, Kentucky, February 27, 1815. My father's name was Abraham Eversole [#3031]. He was born in Ashe County, North Carolina. He died of small pox about the close of the [Civil] war. My brothers came from the war on furlough and took small pox after they came home. From him they took the disease. They had been vaccinated and recovered. I was the second child, and he was 21 or 22 years old when I was born. This would make him 71 or 72 years old when he died in 1865 or 1866 and would fix his birth at 1794 or 1795. My grandfather, Jacob Eversole [#459], came from Ashe County, North Carolina, on New River to the mouth of Cutshin, now Leslie County. My father and his brother, Wollery [#457], helped him to grub cane and burnt it near the mouth of Cutshin. They told how the cane would pop when they burned it. I think my father was 16 or 17 years old at that time. If this be true, it would put their removal to Kentucky about 1810. The country was new. John Amis (or Amy) [#4088] was the first settler about the mouth of Cutshin, but I cannot tell when. John Amis was killed at the first term of court held in Clay County which was in 1807.

My grandfather later settled about two and one-half miles above the mouth of Grapevine on the North Fork. My grandfather, Jacob Eversole, was born in Pennsylvania. He was a wagoner in the Revolutionary War. In the service, he contracted white swelling from a bruise. He recovered from it but always halted a little in his walk. He was not grown at the time, just a youth. His father [Jacob Ebersohl #461] came from Germany to the United States prior to the American Revolution. He came to escape the persecution of [by] the Roman Catholics. I suppose he settled in Pennsylvania. My Grandmother Eversole's name was Mary Kessler [#460]. Her father [Hans Abraham Kessler? #5904] was a weaver, and he learned his trade in Germany. He could weave almost any kind of warp. He took his loom with him wherever he went. He probably brought it with him from Germany. My grandfather, Jacob Eversole, had brothers, John and Peter [#21771], who were older than he; also, Chrisly who was a great wit. he was in demand at various gatherings to make fun for the crowd. My grandfather used to tell of a little incident that occurred in his boyhood. In the entry of the barn, they threshed their wheat and rye with flails. One of the boys, perhaps John, fell from the loft onto the floor of the entry and struck his forehead. He sprang up and rubbed the grains of wheat off his forehead that were sticking in the flesh and exclaimed, "Peter, do you think my neck is broken?" I do not know how many children my great-grandfather had. Some of my ancestors either the Kesslers or the Eversoles or both worked for their passage to America. My grandfather and grandmother read and spoke the German language. They both spoke bad English. They lived with my father part of the time. They learned English after they came. Their children spoke German. They would upbraid each other for speaking improperly. At first they would tell their children that they were too proud to speak their mother tongue. When they were old, living with Father, I heard them talk a great deal. They had a German Bible. He was accustomed to conduct the family devotions at my father's during his residence there. I have heard him preach several times, but his language was so broken that it provoked snides. I have heard men say they would as soon hear him preach as anybody. My grandmother was a Christian, also. They both were members of the Baptist church. My grandfather was a Dunkard Baptist and wore his beard. He was the only man I ever saw wear a beard during his lifetime.

I have heard Daniel Duff [#4134] and William Strong [#3148] preach. Also, I heard Jesse Bowling [#467] and John Gilbert [#4091] who baptized me. My father, Abraham Eversole, prayed in public. My uncle, Lewis DeWeese [#4306], also prayed in public. He married my aunt, Sallie Eversole [#3032]. He was not a preacher. My father preached when he got old, and he used to have family prayer.

The early settlers raised a few acres of wheat. They cut it with a sickle, threshed it with a flail, and ground the wheat on horse mills, water mills, or hand mills. They stretched a piece of thin, cotton cloth over a large hook thereby making a sieve, and through this they bolted the flour. They called it a "sarch." Mills or morters in which cornmeal was made with a pestle run by a sweep was common. The preaching was first in private houses, and afterward they built meetinghouses. Their meetinghouses were used for schoolhouses. When my cousin, Joseph Eversole [#455?], was in the Legislature of Kentucky, the Representative from Lewis County told him of an Eversole who lived in Ohio, opposite Lewis County. The Representative was acquainted with him. My cousin, Joe, wrote to him. The Ohio man acknowledged him as kinsman from what my uncle wrote to him. It was he who said that our Eversole ancestors left Germany for conscience sake. He said he knew of Jacob and Mary Eversole, my grandparents, but they lost sight of them. He was glad to hear of them. I read the letter which my cousin exhibited when he returned from Frankfort. My grandfather died before I reached majority. I think it was before my marriage which occurred when I was in my 19th year which would be in 1833 or 1834.

I do not know when my grandfather moved to North Carolina from Pennsylvania or how long he lived there. I don't know [when] or why he moved to Kentucky except that the news of the fertility of the soil and the abundance of game at the place. My grandfather was not a gunner, but his sons were fond of the chase. Perhaps the love of hunting prompted his sons more than their father to come to Kentucky. I do not know that my grandfather owned land, but his sons did.

John Amis (or Amy) [#4088] was of French extraction, I have heard it said, a kinsman. Lincoln Amis came and claimed the land about the mouth of Cutshin after John Amis' death. William Begley had possession at the time. The matter did not go into court. I do not know how they comprised [compromised] it. Wiley Amis [#35696], who had the war with Capt. William Strong, was a son of John Amis' widow. He was not an Amis but simply took his mother's name. He was born out of wedlock, and I do not know who was his father. It was John Amis who was one of the principals in the "Cattle War." He was killed at the first session of court in Clay County in 1807 by Joel Elkins whom he had partly reared. It is said that a peddler had been killed, and Amis and this man were accused of the crime. The man told Amis that if he swore against him he would kill him. Whether he testified against him or not I do not know, but the man came into the courthouse and shot Amis' brains out, in the presence of the court. He fled to the top of the mountain, pursued by officers and a posse. he became exhausted and sank down and surrendered. He was tried and convicted at that session and hung.

I have heard the following lines on the "Cattle War." John Amis (Amy) and others went out to kill elks. They came across a group of cattle, and there they made their slaughter. They killed more than 20 head and sunk them in the water. Pete Stacey punched a woman, which caused the blood to run. I would have liked it better if it had not been done. This was in reference to Peter Stacey of the North Fork crowd who punched a woman in the face with his gun. The Amis crowd sent for Gen. Hugh White to come with his militia and protect them, and this was his reply. "You have got yourselves in trouble, and you get out of it if you can. I'll neither come to your assistance nor send a single man."

The North Forkers came in force to the Middle Fork to take stock from Amis and to make good their losses for the song goes to say. They took Jugie and Frogie and burnt three fodder shocks and broke some rifles. I have heard that old John Begley say that his father, Thomas, sent him after General White riding a fine stallion, and he rode it so hard that it died. Juder Lewis [#3127] married this John Begley's daughter. He married a Stewart.