William Kester, Sr.

• Son of Paul Kuster and Ruth Kitchin
• Birth: 1733 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Province of Pennsylvania
• William Kester (Sr.)4 was born about 1733, probably in the vicinity of Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. After his father died when he was young, he went to live with a Quaker family in Chester County, Pennsylvania, west of Germantown, and attended the Sadsbury Monthly Meeting just across the county line to the west in Lancaster County. His younger siblings went to live with his uncle Hermanus Kester.
• The Kesters later moved west into Maryland and perhaps (West) Virginia by the 1780s. Their daughter married near Cumberland, Allegany County, Maryland in 1781 and "located under the Laurel Hills on George's Creek, southwest of Cumberland."[Hunt 307] This description likely points to the area around the town of Moscow, where Laurel Run drains into George's Creek before flowing into the Potomac River.
• Ohio River Valley, the Kesters later continued west into Kentucky, then a county belonging to the Commonwealth of Virginia. They first headed north to Pittsburgh and then took a flatboat down the Ohio River and came under fire by Indians along the way. They landed at the Falls of Ohio at Louisville, arriving in April 1786, six years prior to Kentucky statehood. From there they were escorted southeast to Cox's Station (Cox's Creek), the first pioneer station in Nelson County, 4½ miles north of Bardstown.
• The Kesters settled in Nelson County just as warfare with the Western Indian Confederacy was on the rise in Ohio. The Indians made frequent raids into Nelson County stealing horses and sometimes murdering settlers. Son John served in the "Legion of the United States" campaigns under Major General "Mad Anthony" Wayne, probably from about 1792 until 1795.
• In 1795 the Kesters purchased a tract of land from Mr. Shepard for $100 and a horse. The tract, along Elk Creek, about 25 miles north toward Louisville, was said to be 500 acres but proved to survey out to 600 acres. Elk Creek was then in Shelby County but was later redrawn into Spencer County when it was formed in 1824.
• After moving to Elk Creek, Elizabeth fell ill and was bedridden for about seven years before succumbing. Elizabeth (Lacock Furgason) Kester died in Spencer County, Kentucky, between 1805 and 1810. She was likely in her late 60s.
• Death: June 25, 1820 (87) in Elk Creek, Spencer County, Kentucky, United States

Married

• Married (1) Elizabeth Kester, his first Cousin,Elizabeth Kester, was born on the 25th day of 6th month [August], 1735. After her uncle, Paul Kester, died at an early age, her father took in three of Paul's four children. Elizabeth married the eldest, her first cousin, William Kester4 on October 14, 1756, and were believed to have been "cut off" from the Quaker church. Elizabeth and William had one son before Elizabeth's untimely death. Elizabeth Kester died in her early 20s, before 1762. William went on to remarry, have more children, and eventually migrate west to Maryland and Kentucky.
• Married: (2) Elizabeth Leacock on 25 June 1762 Trenton, Sussex, New Jersey, USA. Elizabeth (Leacock/Lacock) Furgason (Ferguson•), the widow of Thomas Zilliah Furgason (Ferguson), married about 1762, probably in New Jersey. Elizabeth had a three- or four-year old son and William's son was about two years old. They went on to have four more children
• Married: (3) Sarah Martin. William remarried to the widow Sarah (Martin Pound) Stigler on March 24, 1810, in Shelby County (now Spencer County), Kentucky. He was about 76 years old and she about 71. William Kester died about 1820 at the age of 87 and is buried at Elk Creek. Sarah (Martin Pound Stigler) Kester died about 1825 or 1826 in Kentucky at the age of 86 or 87. She is also buried at Elk Creek.

Children With Elizabeth Kester

• I- Paul Kester by his first cousin Elizabeth, born about 1760, died in 1814, married Ruhama Bonham.

Children with Elizabeth Leacock

• 1- Elizabeth Kester by his second wife, born about 1763, died about 1840, married Edmund Liston. For her record see Part III.
• 2- William Kester by his second wifeborn about 1765, died about 1815, married Eunice Pound. For her record see Part IV.
• 3- Sarah Kester by his second wife, born June 24,1767, died February 2, 1848, married Thomas Pound. For her record see Part V.
• 4- John Kester by his second wife, born March 23, 1770, died September 14, 1839, married Sarah Pound. For his record see Part VI.

This source came from: The Pound and Kester Families: Containing an account of the ancestry of John Pound, Page 306-308- https://archive.org/stream/poundkesterfamil1904hunt#page/306/mode/1up

History

William Kester, a son of Paul and Ruth (Kitchen) Kester, was born in the vicinity of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, about the year 1733. His first name was probably given him from his mother's family, as William was a common name among the Kitchens of that period. It is said that Williams's father died when he was quite young; and that "some kind-hearted Quakers took him away; presumably to live with them and it is probable that he was living during his minority with these Quaker people in Chester County, Pennsyvania, for it is know that his brothers, Samuel and John and sister, Rebecca, were all residing in that county at a later date, and that he himself was identified , or at least acquainted with the members of the Sadsbury Monthly meeting as a member, but the minutes of the Kingwood, New Jersey, Monthly Meeting show that he came there on the 11th day, the 3rd month 1756, by a letter of recommendation from the Sadsbury Meeting. His reasons for thus moving from the vicinity of Sadsbury, Pennsylvania, to Kingwood, New Jersey, are indicated by the fact that he had shortly before that time become of age and that his uncle Hermanus Kester, and family and his brother John and sister Rebecca (both minors who had evidently taken up their abode with their uncle Hermanus after the death of their father) were all members of the Kingwood Monthly Meeting. William's uncle, Hermanus Kester, had a daughter, Elizabeth born on the 25th day, the 6th month, 1735, and to her was doubtless married, as the Kingwood records show that on the 14th day of the 10th month, 1756 "William Kester and Elizabeth Kester, first cousins," were brought before the meeting for marrying, and as no further mention is made of them in the minutes of that meeting, it is supposed they were "cut off" and dropped from the membership as it was against the rules of the Friends for first cousins to marry. Some years later William Kester moved to Virginia or Maryland. It is not known for certain in which state he located, but probably,he first settled in Virginia and afterwards moved to Maryland. The boundary line between these two States in those times was in dispute, and this may account for the fact that some of his descendants say he resided in Virginia, and others say he lived in Maryland. However, this may be it is known that between 1781 and 1786, he was living near Cumberland, Maryland, as the family of his daughter Elizabeth have preserved the history that she married Edmund Liston there in 1781 and located under the Laurel Hills on George's Creek, southwest of Cumberland and that William and his whole family immigrated from that vicinity to Kentucky in the year 1786. The account of that trip given on another page ( see appendix III) of this volume shows that they went from Maryland overland to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania and thence by the Ohio river on a flat boat, landing where Louisville, Kentucky now stands, in the month of April 1786. From that date he and his children lived in Nelson County until 1795, when they moved to near Elk Creek in Shelby, now Spencer County Kentucky, where he remained until his death. William was married a second time, probably in New Jersey, about 1762, to a widow, Ferguson, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Lacock (see Appendix I and L), who died in Spencer County Kentucky, about 1805-10, and he was married again about 1813, (see Appendix IV), to a widow, Stiglar, whose maiden name was Sarah Martin, and who had been married twice before, her first husband being John Pound, the common ancestor of the Pound Family found in this volume. At the time of this last marriage, William was Eighty and his wife Seventy-five year of age, and they were then living with their children, John and Sarah (Pound) Kester, and remained there until they died. He and his third wife both died at the age of eighty-seven years and are buried at the Elk Creek, Spencer County, Kentucky USA. His five children on by his first wife and four by the second wife

Sources

• William Kester's Ancestors - http://jtbullock.com/Tree/WilliamKester.html
• History of William Kester and Elizabeth Leacock- https://www.geni.com/photo/view/6000000001727537458?album_type=photos_of_me&photo_id=6000000085630452209&position=1
• White, Jean M., Editor. “The Descendants of Paulus and Gertrude Kusters”- White, Jean M., Editor. “The Descendants of Paulus and Gertrude Kusters”, 303 Pages, Indexed, First Edition, Published by The Castor Association of America, Printed by Mennonite Press, Newton, Kansas, 1991; Pages 242-243.
• Hunt, John E., Compiled by. “Pound and Kester Families containing an account of the ancestry of John Pound (Born in 1735) and William Kester (Born in 1733) and a genealogical record of all their descendants and other family historical matter", 628 Pages, Indexed, First Edition, Chicago, Publisher: Regan Printing House, 1904; Pages 305-308, 594.
• Citation on the sheet, page 17: Kester, found in Pound and Kester book, also Book of Wills, Trenton N.J. p 5 - The Pound and Kester families : containing an account of the ancestry of John Pound - https://archive.org/stream/poundkesterfamil1904hunt#page/5/mode/1up
• William Kester, "United States Census, 1810"- https://www.geni.com/photo/view/6000000001727537458?album_type=photos_of_me&photo_id=6000000085630452264
• White, Jean M. The Descendants of Paulus and Gertrude Kusters of Kaldenkirchen, Germany and Germantown, Pennsylvania, the first four generations. Castor Association of America, 1991
• The Story of The Pectol/Carrell Ancestors, Life is Lived Forward, But Understood Backwards Compiled by Don W. Pectol Orem, Utah August 7, 2015Chapter 5 Page 8 - http://www.myfamilyonline.com/histories/The%20Story%20of%20the%20Pe...