James Huff Overview
There is a near perfect match for James
and Biddy Woody Huff in the 1850 Harlan Co., Kentucky census:
James Huff, 82, Doctor, Virginia
Obedience, 82, Virginia
Alfred, 14, Kentucky
In the next home was:
Thomas J. Huff, 43, Farmer, Virginia
Catherine, 39, N Carolina
Polly, 16, Kentucky
Four home's away was:
Isaac Huff, 48, Farmer,
Virginia
Elizabeth, 24, Virginia
Ira, 23, Kentucky
Martin, 21, Kentucky
William, 20, Kentucky
John W., 14, Kentucky
Hiram, 12, Kentucky
Rebecca, 11, Kentucky
Milton, 6, Kentucky
On the previous census page was:
Winston Huff, 44, Farmer, Virginia
Stacy, 40, N Carolina
Louisa, 21, Kentucky
Elizabeth, 18, Kentucky
Obedience, 16, Kentucky
William M. C., 11, Kentucky
Rebecca, 8, Kentucky
Mary A., 5, Kentucky
Ellen J., 3, Kentucky
Two censuses pages away was:
Elisha Huff, 25, Virginia
Sally, 21, Kentucky
Absalom, 1, Kentucky
Mary, 8/12, Kentucky
The 1840 Harlan Co., Kentucky census includes James Sr., James Jr., Winston, Thomas and Isaac Huff, all in close proximity.
The 1830 Harlan Co. Kentucky census includes James, James Jr., Thomas, Isaac and Vincent Huff, all in close proximity.
Since Elisha Huff was enumerated in 1850 as being born circa 1825 in Virginia, I assume that the Huffs moved to Kentucky between 1825 and 1830. However, I cannot pinpoint James Huff in the 1820 or 1810 censuses.
All the above is interesting; however, the Obedience mentioned with James Huff has been spoken for by Huff researchers. She is supposedly Obedience Koger. As usually, the online lineages are very short on sources, but I think I have tracked down the source for Obedience. The well respected Wise Co., Virginian historian, Emory L. Hamilton (1913-1991), contributed many stories and biographies to the Wise County GenWeb site. I have copied the sketch for Dr. James Huff.
"Dr. James Huff, b. ca. 1768 in NC, d.
1852 on Clover Fork, m. Obedience Koger, b. ca 1768.
Dr. James Huff was the last survivor of the battle with the half-breed Benge in
1794; was a member of the Virginia Legislature before 1797.
Issue:
(1) Thomas Huff, b. 1802, d. 17 July 1882, m. Catherine Morris, 6 Apr 1828.
She was b. ca 1810. Had child: Polly Huff who m. John C. Holmes.
(2) Dr. Winston Huff, b. ca 1810, m. Stacy Parker, 12 Feb 1827. She was b.
1800. Had children: Robert Huff?, b. ca 1844?; Daniel Huff?, b. ca 1846; Nathan
Huff?, b. ca 1848; Green A. Huff; Louisa Huff; Elizabeth Huff; Obedience Huff;
William M. C. Huff; Rebecca Huff; Mary Huff; Ellen Huff." (DLW note: As can
be seen in the above 1850 census enumeration, Mr. Hamilton's list of children is
incorrect. The 1860 census enumeration for the same Huff family and their next
door neighbors, the Henry Clark family, shows that Mr. Hamilton included some of
the Clark's children in his list of Winston Huff's children. This error has
nothing to do with the proof of the surname of Obedience, the wife of James
Huff, but it does illustrate how transcription errors become part of "accepted"
lineages that have been copied, but not checked against readily available
sources. My thanks to Wilma for making me aware of this error.)
Chief Benge's Last Raid
There is another interesting story concerning James Huff in the "Historical Sketches by the Historical Society of Southwest Virginia"on the Wise County GenWeb site . This sketch by Luther F. Addington is called "Chief Benge's Last Raid" . This event occurred in 1794 and James Huff was described as the last surviving witness in 1846. The sketch is quite detailed and I have extracted a small portion. The main value of this sketch is to pinpoint the location of James Huff prior to his move to Kentucky.
"Now let's view the site as described by the last surviving member of the Hobbs' party, Dr. James Huff of Kentucky, in an interview 1846 for the Jacksonian, a newspaper published in Abingdon and filed in the Draper Papers."
""Some time in the month of April 1794,
just before daylight a man by the name of John Henderson rode up to Yokum
Station in Powell Valley and informed the station that Indians had taken the
wives of Peter and Henry Livingston....""
""....the writer has seen this spot where Benge was killed; it is one of
those deep, dark mountain passes where the ridge on each side seems to reach the
clouds, an the center of the deep, gloomy valley below is covered with large
masses of unshaken rocks, with a wild furious stream, tumbling and rolling in
the midst.""
""These backwoodsmen sat but a short while in their hiding places until two
of them highest up the precipice, V. Hobbs and J. Van Bever saw an Indian and
the wife of Peter Livingston coming.""
Mr. Addington's comments concerning James
Huff's recollections are interesting and may have something to do with the
whereabouts of James Huff before this appearance in Kentucky.
"However, it was not Peter's wife but Henry's.
Now there is no such rugged terrain as described here just south of Norton: no
great boulders, no great gorge; no cliffs, merely a small bump of stone which is
claimed to be Hobbs' hiding place; no stream which could be called a furious
one, just a small branch which today is called Benge's Branch. Now it must be
recognized that there were no white settlers in Norton until about 1890, nearly
a hundred years after Benge's demise; consequently, traditional stories, and the
failure to study facts as recorded in reports of responsible persons of the
time, have led to errors in designating the scene of Benge's death."
Without a doubt, the James Huff found in
1850 Harlan Co., Kentucky
is the person described by Mr. Hamilton. However, with all respect to the
work of Emory Hamilton, there are a few details about James and Obedience that
seem pertinent to me.
1. I can find no corroborating evidence for the marriage of
James Huff to Obedience Koger.
2. Mr. Hamilton does not name the parents of Obedience. His
sketches usually supply this type of information when it was known to him.
3. Mr. Hamilton was not sure the names of the parents of
James Huff.
4. Mr. Hamilton believed that James Huff was born in North
Carolina. The 1850 Kentucky enumerated James Huff as being born in Virginia.
5. In 1786, a James Huff and Biddy Woody were married in
Henry Co., Virginia. The Douglas Register records the birth of Biddy Woody as
January 21, 1765 to William and Lucy Barnet Woody. William was recorded on
the tax lists of Henry County at the time of the Huff marriage. A James Huff was enumerated once in the 1782-1790 Henry Co.
Tax Lists and that was in 1786. If this was James' first enumeration, his birth
date would be circa 1765. Other Huffs enumerated in this period were: Joseph,
John, Mary, and Peter. None of these people were enumerated in Henry
after Patrick County was formed from Henry in 1790, so I assume they lived in
the part of Henry that became Patrick. I have not found an online lineage that
includes any of these Huffs in Henry County, so I assume that they have not be
seriously researched.
6. Wise County was formed in 1856 from Russell, Lee and Scott
Counties; however, the events described in the Chief Benge sketch seem to have
occurred in Washington County which was adjacent to Russell and Lee in 1794. If
James Huff was in Virginia before circa 1825, it would seem he should have been
enumerated in Russell, Scott, Lee or Washington in 1810 or 1820. However, there
are no Soundex James or J. Huffs enumerated in Russell, Scott, Lee or Washington
during this period. In fact, I can't find a suitable Soundex Huff any where near
this area in 1810 or 1820.
April 6, 2009 Update: Thanks go to Larry Huff for
informing me that James Huff was recorded on the Russell County tax lists for
1790 and 1791 then, after Lee County was formed from Russell, James was on every
Lee tax list until 1818.
So, with the addition evidence placing
James Huff in Russell and Lee Counties from 1790 through 1818, the Huffs are
much less mysterious to me. I have found nothing to prove Emory Hamilton's
assertion concerning Obedience's surname; however, I have found the Henry County
marriage of James Huff to Biddy Woody in 1786, the same year that a James Huff
was taxed in Henry. James Huff's assumed birth date from the 1786 tax list
matches well with the James Huff enumerated in the 1850 Harlan County, Kentucky
census, as does the proven birth date of Biddy Woody and Obedience, the wife of
James. In my opinion, the evidence pendulum has swung strongly in favor of Biddy
Woody, but a little more hard evidence would be nice.
I will appreciate any facts
pertinent to the above discussion.
Revised Apr 6, 2009