David Arnett
David was born on January 6, 1755 in Scotland. He died on September 12, 1825 in Harlan County, Kentucky. David married Letitia Green. Letitia was born in 1740. She died after 1830.
Letitia's surname is not certain; Green would fit since David and Letitia's daughter, Nancy Arnett, married James Green (son of Lewis Green and Esther Kilgore). Letitia may have been a first cousin of Lewis Green.
David came to America shortly before the Revolutionary War, possibly with his father who may have also been named David. Although they came from Scotland, they may have come by way of Ireland.
David paid taxes in Knox County from 1801-1811 when he was declared tax exempt (meaning he was over sixty years old). He was granted 163 acres on the Cumberland River in 1806, according to the Knox County records. It is likely that this land was near Balkan, Kentucky. David and James Green jointly purchased 180 acres of land in 1814; and in 1818, David sold his half to James Green. David signed his named and his wife, Letitia, made her mark.
David and Letitia had four children. The second, Elias, was our Ancestor.
Elias was born about 1780. He died sometime after 1825. Elias married Elizabeth Miles. Elizabeth was born in 1785/1787. She died after 1870 in Magoffin County, Kentucky where she was buried.
Elias does not appear in the 1810 Knox County census. His wife Elizabeth is living alone with their three Arnett children. It is not known why Elias was absent that year or where he was.
From 1811 to 1822 David Arnett paid taxes for a male over the age of 21. This may have been for his son, Elias. Elias and his family are in the 1820 Harlan census, but after 1820, Elias disappears and no more record of him can be found. He probably died between 1825-30 or else moved away, leaving his family behind.
About 1830, a woman named Elizabeth Fletcher showed up in Floyd County, Kentucky (where Elias' brothers Stephen and Reuben had previously moved). Stephen and Reuben Arnett helped Elizabeth Fletcher obtain land in Floyd County in 1830. She had five children with her in the 1830 census. Four of them (James, Mary "Polly", Celia, and Kelsey Nelson) also used the name Fletcher. But one of Elizabeth Fletcher's daughters, Susannah, went by the last name Miles. Susannah stated on her marriage license that she had no natural father.
Local legends in Floyd County indicate that there were originally three Arnett brothers who came to Floyd County. Two of these brothers were Stephen and Reuben. Was the third Elias? All of Elizabeth Fletcher's children were told they were really Arnetts, even though they went by the name of a stepfather, Fletcher. Local legend also indicates that Elizabeth Fletcher's maiden name was Miles.
It is likely
that Elizabeth Fletcher was really Elizabeth Miles Arnett, the widow of Elias
Arnett. She apparently left her older three children (Elias, Telitha, and
Barnett) behind in Harlan County with relatives when she moved, first to
Tennessee and then to Floyd County, Kentucky. Elizabeth either re-married to a
Fletcher when Elias Arnett died, or she assumed the name Fletcher for some
reason. Her younger five children were probably all the children of Elias
Arnett, with the possible exception of Susannah.
Elizabeth is buried next to her son, Kelsey Nelson Fletcher in Magoffin County, Kentucky.
It is Telitha Letitia (Letty) Arnett, one of the children who was left in Harlan County when Elizabeth went to Floyd County, who is our ancestor.
Telitha was born in 1806 in Kentucky. She died after 1880 in Bell County, Kentucky.
In the 1880 Bell County census, she is listed as 75 years old and living with son, Daniel.
Telitha may have been married prior to her marriage to Lewis Green as the marriage record lists her as Smith.
Telitha married Lewis Green III, son of Lewis J. Green Jr. and Esther Kilgore, on January 26, 1826, in Harlan County, Kentucky. Lewis was born on April 3, 1803 in Knox County, Kentucky. He died before 1880 in Bell County, Kentucky.
Lewis and Telitha had twelve children.
The tenth, Daniel Green, married Caroline Hoskins.
Their daughter, Talitha Cecile Green(e), married James Henderson Bobbitt.
Their daughter was Pauline Bobbitt Hansen, my mother.
The lineage of Arlene Hansen...
William Bobbitt & Joanna Sturdivant - VA
William Bobbitt & Mary Green - VA
James Bobbitt & Elizabeth Dalton Bennett - VA
Captain William Bobbitt & Elizabeth McKenzie - VA
James Levi Bobbitt & Rebecca Day - VA to KY
James L. Bobbitt Jr. & Jane Hubble - Pulaski Co KY
William Levi Bobbitt & Alice Jane McHargue - Pulaski Co KY
James Henderson Bobbitt & Talitha Cecil Greene - Pulaski Co KY
Alice Pauline Bobbitt & Richard Hansen - Weston Co WY
Arlene Hansen (me)