The Cheathams whose ancestors settled in Washington County, Kentucky, have their roots among the very early settlers of America. In fact, in the female line their ancestor Thomas Osborn arrived only nine years after Capt. John Smith's first English settlement at Jamestown. He thus had set foot on American soil four years before the Pilgrims came over on the Mayflower.
A rather thorough account of the early Cheathams was published in a series of articles in 1983-85 in the Virginia Genealogist. The material that concerns the ancestors of the Kentuckians was presented in the first two 1983 installments (Vol. 27, Nos. 3 and 4). The date of arrival of the immigrant Thomas Cheatham (born 1645, died 1726) is not certain, but it had to be before 9 November 1677, since on that date his name as witness appears on a document in Henrico County, Virginia. The first record of Thomas's having purchased land is dated 29 Jan. 1691, when he acquired 300 acres on Proctor's Creek. The next year, on 1 August he purchased a half-acre town lot near the river.
Thomas was living on the 300-acre tract on Proctor's Creek at the time of his death. He wrote his will on 2 May 1720 and died sometime before 1 August 1726, the date of probate. Thomas named eight children but no wife in his will: Thomas, Jonathan, Marmaduke, Benjamin, William, Mary, Susanna, and Tabitha.
Thomas Cheatham Junior was born about 1686. On 2 February 1708 he married Tabitha, the widow of Benjamin Branch. This was one of several associations with the Branch family from which President Thomas Jefferson descended. Thomas Cheatham's brother William married Obedience Branch. (The Virginia Branches are said to be descended from Sir John Branch, who was Lord Mayor of London in 1450.) Mrs. Tabitha Branch Cheatham was born Tabitha Osborn, the daughter of Edward Osborn, who died in about 1697 in Henrico Co., and his wife Tabitha Platt.
Among his other lands, in 1734 Thomas Cheatham Jr. patented 400 acres in Henrico Co. on the north side of the Appomattox River and on the west side of a branch of Dry Creek. This was the land that he left to his son Thomas Cheatham III when he wrote his will on 29 Mar. 1756. The land now fell in Chesterfield Co., formed from Henrico in 1749. Thomas Jr. evidently died at about age 74, since his will listing seven children or their heirs was proved on 1 Jan. 1762
Thomas Cheatham III was born about 1711. In about 1732 he married Anne Pride, daughter of William. As is indicated by his will, Thomas had purchased a good deal of land during his lifetime. He deeded his son Daniel 200 acres on Dry Creek in 1769, just the year before he wrote his will. He confirmed this deed in his will and added more land for Daniel. He must have died in late 1770 or early 1771, since the will was proved on I Feb. 1771 in Chesterfield Co.
Daniel Cheatham, ancestor of the Washington Co., Ky., Cheathams, did not remain long on the family land. On 14 August 1779 he purchased 400 acres on Taylor's Creek in Mecklenburg Co., Va., from John Ballard and soon moved there. Daniel had married Agness Robertson, daughter of James Robertson by sometime in 1767. On 1 May of that year James Robertson deeded his daughter Agness Cheatham two slaves at the same time that Thomas Cheatham deeded Daniel three slaves.
Daniel Cheatham Sr. did not leave a will, but he died in Mecklenburg Co. in about 1815, leaving 10 children. Of these, three and perhaps four moved in the 1790s to Washington Co., Ky. They were Obadiah, Daniel Jr., and Reuben. By 1810 there was also a Samuel Cheatham in Washington Co., although it has not been proved that he was Daniel's son by that name.
Three of these sons of Daniel Cheatham Sr. were married before they went to Kentucky. The following information is from Mecklenburg Co., Va., records:
Obadiah Cheatham m. 12 Dec. 1787, Lucy Jones (dau. of Baalam Jones and Martha Green)
Daniel Cheatham m. 21 June 1790, Rebecca Cooper
Samuel Cheatham m. 15 May 1800, Elizabeth Keeton
Samuel Cheatham m. 22 Dec. 1803, Nancy Davis
Daniel's wife Rebecca was the daughter of Francis Cooper (formerly of Amelia Co.) and his wife Elizabeth, the daughter of James and Martha Arnold of Mecklenburg. Rebecca died in Kentucky and Daniel was married secondly in Washington Co. on 10 Sept. 1810 to Mary Ann Hardin, daughter of Moses Hardin and Mary Ball, formerly of Fairfax Co., Va. Reuben's marriage to Betsy Thompson also took place in Washington Co. in September 1803.
At this point the research in the early records of Washington Co. has been insufficient to give a complete picture of the families of Samuel and Reuben. Samuel appears only in the 1800 census, and Reuben's name occurs only in 1810 (and in a 24 Sept. 1803 marriage to Elizabeth Thompson), while Samuel is no longer there. On the other hand, up through 1830 there are at least 10 marriages of Cheathams in Washington Co. who cannot be assigned to the families of Daniel or Obadiah.
Without more information from deeds we cannot be sure when Obadiah Cheatham left Washington Co. He was there in the census of 1810, but does not appear in 1820. However, in 1821 he was deeded land there by his father-in-law Baalam Jones, who had been in Kentucky since 1792. (Jones was also from Mecklenburg, so it could be that he was the one who attracted the Cheathams to Kentucky.) In 1830 Obadiah is already in Spencer Co., and he must have arrived there at least by 1828, since on 12 April 1828 Silas Davis deeded him 55 acres on Snake Run on the road from Bardstown to Shelbyville. (This would place his land northeast of Taylorsville, near Little Mount.) This appears not to be the land that his son John Wesley sold to Andrew Allen in 1839, after Obadiah's death. Rather, Obadiah sold it to Richard Pack in 1835. There are no other deeds involving Obadiah in Spencer Co., but Lucy sold Andrew Allen 34 acres in 1837. It is interesting to note that John Wesley Cheatham was residing in Henry Co. at the time of his sale of land in Spencer. This Spencer Co. land was apparently in the same neighborhood as Obadiah's other land, since it was sold to Andrew and John Allen, whose land bounded Obadiah's.
Obadiah made his will on 24 Aug. 1836 and died sometime the next year, probate occurring on 2 Oct. 1837. Only three children are mentioned in his will: Dolly Cheatham, John Wesley Green Cheatham, and Sally Russell. His widow was to have the farm, and the children were to get personal property. John Wesley would receive the farm after his mother's death.
It would seem that John Wesley had returned from Henry Co. by 1842 or would do so soon. That is the year of his marriage to Emily Calvert of Nelson Co. They are clearly residents of Nelson Co. in 1850, when he, Emily, and the children were counted in the census.
Brother Daniel Jr remained in Washington Co. from settlement to his death in about 1848. The many Cheathams in Washington Co. in the censuses of the mid-nineteenth century are all Daniel's descendants. The one exception is John Wesley's residence there at the time of the 1860 census.
Early census records indicate several more children for Obadiah and Lucy besides the three in his will. Some of these could have been provided for with land, perhaps in Henry Co., where he had property and perhaps lived for a time, beginning in 1823. It will be noted that there were some marriages in Henry Co. as well. By 1830 Obadiah was in Spencer Co. In 1840 John Wesley was in Washington Co., apparently with his mother living with him. In 1843 John Wesley Cheatham bought a house and lot in Chaplin, Nelson Co., which was apparently for his mother Lucy. Those children marked with a star have not been definitely identified as Obadiah's children. Those marked with a star were Martha, Mary, daughter (b. 1794-1800), Frances, Agnes, America, and the daughter and two sons marked as born between 1815 and 1820.