Thomas Hartley (abt. 1760 - 1806)

Born about 1760 in Berkeley, Virginia

Husband of Elizabeth (Williams) Hartley — married about 1783 in Berkeley, Virginia, United States

Descendants

Died 1806 at about age 46 in Nicholas, Kentucky, United States

Biography

Keith Johnston compiled a genealogy for the Blackburn (and Hartley) families in 1997 which provides the following: The following material is taken from a book titled, A History of Thomas Hartley, of Virginia, A Soldier of the Revolutionary War, and His Descendants, by Joseph C. Hartley, grandson of Thomas Hartley, Quincy, Illinois; T. M. Rogers & Co., 1894.

"Thomas Hartley was a soldier of the American Revolutionary War; he enlisted in the State of Virginia, and served about seven years, from the commencement to the close of the war. He was a resident of Berkley County, Virginia, and sometime during the war, it is said, he was taken prisoner by the British and confined with other American prisoners on board a British ship somewhere near the Virginia coast, and with three or four of the prisoners managed to escape by lowering themselves down in to the water, and he, being a good swimmer, go to shore; but he never heard anything of his companions. He being in the salt water so long hurt his hearing, which is thought may have contributed to his unfortunate death, many years afterwards.

Thomas Hartley married Elizabeth Williams, a Virginia girl about the year 1783, or directly after peace was declared. He lived in Berkley County, Virginia, until the year 1794, when he emigrated to Kentucky and lived in Nicholas County near the town of Carlisle and not far from the Licking River. He was drowned in this river in the year 1806. He was crossing in a small boat above the mill dam near Blue Licks, and being partly deaf did not hear the noise of the water flowing over the dam, and getting in the strong current was carried over and was drowned. There was a man with him, so it is said, who escaped and got to shore, which being the case, the defect of being deaf could not have been the cause of the accident. His body was never found. A sad end of our patriot grandfather. His wife Elizabeth, or Betsy, as she was called, survived his death ten years; she dying about the year 1816. She had been blind for several years before she died, having lost her eyesight from cancer. She is said to "have been cured by a charm, after the cancer had destroyed her eyesight". I do not know how true this may be, but I have heard my father say that the man that cured her took her to a running stream to effect a cure. Thomas Hartley's death, occurring in the year 1806, would make his age at death 46 years." --Keith Johnston

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Sources

Hartley, Joseph C. A History of Thomas Hartley of Virginia, A Soldier Of The Revolutionary War, and His Descendants. Gathered from the Traditions of the Hartley Family by Joseph C. Hartley, Grandson of Thomas Hartley. Quincy, Illinois: T. M. Rogers & Co., Printers, 520 Hampshire Street. 1894.

Johnston, Keith E. (compiler). Benjamin F. and Mary Hartley Blackburn Family. Lemon family manuscript: July 1997, revised Sept 2000.