Martin Kilbourne
and Mary or Martha Estep

Martin Kilbourne b 1790 TN d before 1870 Wise Co VA; s/o Elijah Kilbourne and Elizabeth Dotson (See Curt Sanders Kilbourne Family Website for extensive research on this family). Martin Kilbourne m. Mary Estep (aka Martha) b 1793 NC. (1860 Wise Co VA Census). Children of Martin Kilbourne and Mary Estep;

I. John Kilbourne b 1816; m. Nancy Wells b 1820 VA; d/o William Thomas Wells and Rebecca Shepherd.

II. Elizabeth Kilbourne b 14 Sept 1818 NC d 7 Mar 1879; m. Elihu Wells b 18 Dec 1818 VA; s/o William Thomas Wells and Rebecca shepherd.

III. Joseph Kilbourne b 1824 NC m. Elizabeth Creech b about 1826 VA.

IV. Elijah Kilbourne b 1825 VA

V. Peter Kilbourne b 28 Apr 1829 VA d 28 Jun 1885 Wise Co VA m. Mary Polly Unknown b 28 Jan 1830 VA d 22 Feb 1914 Wise Co VA buried Kilbourne Cemetery, Wise Co VA.

VI. Enoch Kilbourne b 1832 VA m. Elizabeth Unknown.

VII. Martin Van Buren Kilbourne b 1833 VA d Wise Co VA m. Louisa Williams b Apr 1835 VA.

VIII. Jake Kilbourne

When Martin Van Buren Kilbourne went down to sign up for the Civil War (64th Virginia Infantry), his four oldest sons (brothers? if the father went along to the Civil War, he would have been 74 years of age, so I'm thinking this is Martin b 1833) went along. Martin, of course, became a captain, Joseph a 2nd Lt., and Jonathan and Peter were privates in H company, under their father and older brother. The next son, known as Jake, went along, too. He wasn't old enough and was sent home. Jake ran off and joined the Yankees.

After the war was over, he came home. The others had been captured in what was known as the shortest battle of the Civil War, at Middlesborough, KY. It was also the battle with the fewest casualties from war. The men who were captured were given their choice of going to the Yankee prison camp in Ohio, or signing a pledge of allegiance and going home. Martin and his sons (brothers?) chose to sign the pledge of allegiance. Dad told me that Martin said to the boys, "Come on boys, let's go home. It's time to do the spring plowing." Martin and Joseph were given back their sabers, but they had to leave their horses. The Yankees needed them. They walked home from Middlesborough to Appalachia. It turned out that it was a good choice. The 64th Cavalry suffered the most casualties from the war, not by injuries, but by typhoid and all of the other medical indignities suffered by prisoners of war.

In 1940, I visited in Appalachia and stayed with Uncle Roy Kilbourne. Uncle Roy had married Matilda Snodgrass of Meadowview, VA. They had a passel of kids, beginning with Bill, who was my brothers age, then Carl (b. 1922), Lee (b, 1924 - my age, but two weeks younger than I am), Robert (b. 1926 - we call him "Loud-mouth Bob, because of his inclination to dominate a conversation, like his daddy), Juanita, (b. 1927 - a mousy little creature, with all those brothers), and then three more boys and another girl that I would have to look up. Uncle Roy told me the stories about Devil Jake. All dad said was, "Roy never should have told you all of that."

Dad insisted that Jake wasn't all that bad. There was one story about Jake that accused him of stealing a team of mules. Dad insisted that this wasn't right. He said that Jake was sitting on the bank of the river fishing, when a man named Creech came up the river, riding one mule and leading another. The mules had harness on them. When Creech saw Jake, he asked him to help get the mules home, and asked him to ride the other one. Dad said that Jake accommodated him, and got on the other mule. Creech went ahead. When he got around the bend in the river, Creech suddenly cut back right, and went up the ridge. Jake followed him. At the top of the ridge, they met a posse led by the sheriff. It seems that there was a dispute over the ownership of the mules. The sheriff pulled his pistol and shot Creech through the forehead. Jake, exercising the soul of discretion, turned and ran.

Dad says that he knows that it is true; that they buried Creech on the spot where he fell. Dad said that when he was a boy, he and some others went to the place where Creech was shot, found his grave, and dug up the skeleton. He said that there was a bullet hole in the skull, and when they picked it up and shook it, that the bullet was still there and rattled around.

Dad didn't tell me what I already know: Creech was a cousin.; Martin's wife had been a Creech.  John Fox picked up on the escapades of Jake. Being a Yankee in confederate territory, they picked on him. John fox wrote The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, Look Homeward Angel, and other novels of the times. He adopted Jake as one of his characters, but called him "Devil Jake" Kilbourn. When I was a boy, they were still fighting the Civil War. I can imagine how it was for Jake.

Dad claimed that after Jake left Creech, he was far enough ahead of the posse that he got away. Somewhere along the way, he ran into a boy named Cornet and gave him a ride on the mule. He finally had to stop to rest. Dad said that he posted Cornet as a lookout. The boy was supposed to give a yell if he saw the posse. He said that he posted the boy across the field next to the woods. The boy yelled a warning, and Jake took off again. The posse shot the boy and killed him, too. Jake got away, and wasn't seen for several years.

There was a family named Cornet that lived in Berea, KY where I grew up. They had a grocery store. I knew that Mr. Cornet had some connection with dad before Berea, but it was never explained to me. Cornet was a relative of the boy. If you look in the history of the Melungeons, you will find the name of Cornet. The Melungeons were people that the background wasn't fully known. They had settled in Wise County.

The younger children of Martin (including a son named Martin and two girls) moved to Letcher County. When Life magazine showed a picture of a Kilbourn who was a moonshiner in Letcher County, my mother disclaimed any relationship. The had a colorful history there, too. I had a client from Hazard County, KY. He asked me if I was related to those Kilbourn's. He insisted that they were so mean that when they couldn't be controlled by the sheriff, they made one of the Kilbourn's sheriff, so that he could control his relatives.