William and Nancy

Before diving into the Warren County, Kentucky Court case involving my 4th-great-grandparents, William Free and Nancy Hayden Clark Free, I need to step back and properly introduce William and Nancy. William is currently a brick wall, I do not know his parents or where he came from in Kentucky. I do not have a marriage record for William and Nancy, but I do have the names of their children, and US Census entries in 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880 for William and Nancy together. Let's start there.

In the 1850 US Census, William and Nancy appear in Division 2, Barren County, Kentucky, living two houses down from Nancy's parents Jonathan and Martha Clark. My 3rd-great-grandmother Martha Jane Free is listed in the household with her older sister Elizabeth C. Free.

Ancestry. 1850 US Census. Barren County, KY.

By 1860, the family had moved to neighboring Metcalfe County with Nancy's mother, Martha Patsy Clark, and added a son, William Jacob Free.

Ancestry. 1860 US Census. Metcalfe County, KY.

Martha Jane married William Matthews on 27 June 1861 in Metcalfe County. My recap on the family of William and Martha Jane is here from 2017. The marriage entry lists Martha's parents as born in Russell County, Kentucky (for William Free) and Virginia (for Nancy). 

In the 1870 US Census, William Free, Nancy and son William appear in Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky. Nancy is listed as cannot read or write.

Ancestry. 1870 US Census. Barren County, KY.

By 1880, the family is shown in Roseville, Barren County, Kentucky. The 1880 entry states William's father was born in Kentucky and mother in Virginia, so those are leads to pursue on another search.

Ancestry. 1880 US Census. Barren County, KY.

This exhausts the census records for William, who died before 16 June 1900. Nancy appears as a widow in the 1900 US Census in Elk Spring, Warren County, Kentucky, living with her daughter Elizabeth.

Ancestry. 1900 US Census. Warren County, KY.

The census entries provide some hints of where to look next using FamilySearch Full Text Search, for records involving William and Nancy in Barren, Metcalfe and Warren County, Kentucky.

Another source of information on William and Nancy may be found in the Civil War pension files. It looks like William H. Free enlisted in the Union Army, 15th Kentucky Cavalry. There is a pension card on Fold3, and another on Ancestry listing Nancy with a widow's pension file number.

Fold3. US Civil War pensions index.

Ancestry. General index to pension files.