David Henton

• DAR Ancestor #: A055429

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David Henton was a descendant of Sr. Thomas Hinton, one of the largest stockholders in the London Company, for the settlement of Virginia. David was drowned in the Ohio River during the spring of 1780 while on the way to Kentucky with the Jacob Van Meter family. His body was never recovered.

"Mary had two or more children by her first husband who were thus left without a father in the new land. Settling in what was then Jefferson County, Virginia, in the Indian troubles that ensued, became known in Kentucky annals as the 'Widow Hinton.' ...She was in the thick of the Indian fighting that reddened the soil of Kentucky with the blood of white settlers...

In 1781 we find the 'Widow Hinton' at Squire Boone's station, on Brashear Creek, sometimes called 'Painted Stone,' near present Shelbyville. In April of that year, a band of Indians, led by the white renegade, Simon Girty, attacked the station. Squire Boone was twice wounded in this affray, one arm being so badly shattered that it never fully healed. Girty was said to have boasted afterward of how, on this occasion, he 'had made Squire Boone's white shirt fly.'. In September of that year (1781) it was decided to abandon Squire Boone's.

"On September 14th, all of the families, with the exception of Squire Boone's and the 'Widow Hinton's' (there were not enough pack horses to take them) started off but were ambushed when 21 miles out and still eight miles from Linn's Station. No men were left at Boone's Station except Squire and his son Moses, a boy of about twelve years. A day or so afterward a large party of about three hundred men from the Falls settlements (Falls of the Ohio, where now is Louisville) marched out, buried the dead and went to the relief of Squire Boone's Station. They reached there probably about 17 September and rescued the families of Squire Boone and Mrs. Hinton, together with the stock which had wandered back, and much of the plunder lost by the moving families."

In the late summer or early fall of 1779, Major William Chenoweth of Revolutionary War fame appeared on Pottenger's Creek in Kentucky and entered lands in then Jefferson (now Nelson) County, adjacent to present Hardin County, which grants had been issued by Patrick Henry, governor of Virginia. On 5 March 1781, Major Chenoweth was appointed administrator of the estate of David (or John) Hinton.

She married William Chenoweth in October 1781 at Hardin, Nelson County, Kentucky and had nine children with him.

Mary died on 29 June 1832 at their home in Deatsville, Nelson County, Kentucky, near Dateville and about ten miles from Bardstown, the county seat and scene of 'My Old Kentucky Home.' She was buried at Wilson Creek Baptist Church, built on land which William gave for the church which was organized in 1801. The graves of William and Mary are well preserved and marked with stones. Their home is also standing, a large stone house and the spring where they kept milk, is arched over with stones and in good condition.

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Apr 15 2018, 8:17:18 UTC

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David Henton was a descendant of Sr. Thomas Hinton, one of the largest stockholders in the London Company, for the settlement of Virginia. David was drowned in the Ohio River during the spring of 1780 while on the way to Kentucky with the Jacob Van Meter family. His body was never recovered.