Descendants of Peter Fountain Livesay

Generation No. 1

1. PETER FOUNTAIN¹⁰ LIVESAY (THOMAS⁹, THOMAS⁸, THOMAS⁷, JOHN⁶, JOHN⁵,THOMAS⁴ LIVESEY, JOHN³, THOMAS², JOHN¹) was born Bet. 1789 - 1792 in WVA^1,2, and died Bet. 1881 - 1884 in Greenbrier Co. Va.^3,4,5. He married (1) MARY LEGG June 20, 1819 in Greenbrier County, Virginia, daughter of WILLIAM LEGG and SUSANNAH VINCENT. He married (2) POLLY HESS 1849 in Greenbrier Co. Va.^6,7. He married (3) DELILAH STRICKLIN July 4, 1859 in Greenbrier Co. Va.^8,9, daughter of JOSHUA STRICKLIN and HANNAH.

Notes for PETER FOUNTAIN LIVESAY:

Jean Mundy sent some information about Peter and the Line; but also gave me the address of another historian who knows more about the family.

Nancy Schmellenkamp in Charleston, WVa, sent information which she had gained from a Lacy Livesay. Lacy is a man in his 90's in 1998, according to Nancy. He says that all of Peter's children are from Mary Legg. Also said that Peter was buried in Williamsburg WVA.; but Nancy can not find the grave. Peter was a blacksmith and had a blacksmith shop in Williamsburg, WVA. Peter Livesay's son William is her great grandfather.

I was surprised when I checked the #229 cd from Broderbund, which has

marriages for KY, NC, TN,VA, and WVA, to discover that our Mary Legg's husband,

Peter had his name spelled two different ways in there. This really opens up a question

about the connection between the various spellings of the name.

Here is the information:

Peter LEVISAY m. Polly Legg 1816 Greenbrier Co. VA.

Peter LEVISEY m. Polly Hess 1849 in Greenbrier Co. VA.

According to information sent by the LHS, Peter's last name is spelled Livesay. They also sent information which indicated that our Peter married both Pollys, as well as one more who would have been at a later time than the cd was covering. So, this is just to let those researching those spellings of the name, to perhaps check their records for any information which may make more connections, especially after the marriage of Mary Polly Legg.

[Compiler's research]

Sources give varying birth and death dates for Peter.

Here is another excerpt from "The Livesays of Greenbrier Co., WVA".

"Another child of Thomas Livesay, Jr. who remained in Greenbrier Co. was Peter Livesay, who was born about 1790 in Greenbrier and who was married three times. He first married Mary [Polly] Legg, who was the mother of his children. His second marriage was to Polly Hess and his third wife was Delilah Johnson. He lived on Culbertson's Creek near Williamsburg and was known far and wide as a skilled blacksmith and a successful farmer of 400 acres of land. Helen Lindsley, in her description of a 1961 tour of Greenbrier Co. by the Livesay Family Association members made the following statement about Peter Livesay:

"Both Peter and George were blacksmiths in their youth. Peter became sort of a wizard at gun smithing and other precision work and lived to a great age at Williamsburg." Helen was referring to the fact that Peter Livesay lived to be 93 years old and died of cancer on Aug. 31, 1884. Miss Lindsley commented that the home of Harry Coe Livesay, in Williamsburg, stands on the site of two log houses in which Peter lived. The Court Order Book of Greenbrier Co. for Oct. 1833, indicates that Peter Livesay and his wife, along with William Livesay and Fountain Livesay, his brothers and their wives, had inherited a lot in Frankford from their parents, Thomas and Margaret [Walton] Livesay. Peter and the others sold the lot in 1833. This entry,along with several others involving Thomas Livesay, Jr. and his family identifys Frankford as a town in which the Livesay presence was strongly felt."

"Other entries in the Court Order Books of Greenbrier Co., show Peter Livesay supervising "hands", who worked the public roads, witnessing wills, winning suits in court, and losing one, in which he was fined one cent." Greenbrier Co. and the nation count among their most solid citizens, the descendents of Peter and Polly [Legg] Livesay. Numbered among them is Everett Gray Livesay, deceased, who was an inventor, banker and business man in New York and Florida. He was also national champion of the left handed golfers three times and organized the Left Handed Golfers Association. Founder and owner of Livesay Window Co. of Miami, he had more than 100 patents issued to him as an inventor which included a special window for commercial purposes that was far advanced over windows then in current use. Among other valued and valuable members of the Livesay Historical Society, the descendants of Peter Livesay, who have made and are making outstanding contributions to the Livesay Historical Society are one of the members, Lacy Livesay, Lakeland, Florida, and John R.[Bob] Livesay, of Ronceverte, in Greenbrier

 1850 Census shows him living with wife Polly, who is apparently Polly Hess, since verified records prove that he married Polly Hess in 1849. This would tend to make me think that Mary Polly Legg died before 1849, rather than 1853-58 as the records I have from Nancy Schmellenkamp seem to show.

Polly Hess and Peter Livesay's marriage is verified in #229 Marriage CD by Broderbund [Marriages of selected states.

These children, which are recognised children of Peter Livesay[Levisay] and Mary Polly Legg were listed in the 1850 Census for Greenbrier Co. VA.

Thomas age 18 makes his birth 1832 instead of 1829

John age 16 makes his birth 1834 instead of 1833

Mary age 13 makes her birth 1837 instead of 1830, if this is the right Mary

Robert was 11, makes his birth 1839 instead of bet. 1840 and 44

Marian was age 9, makes his birth 1841, which is the apparent same date I have in my program.

Jasper was age 6, makes his birth 1844 which is same date I have

There is also a June with an unreadable last name living with them. She is 19 years old.

In another dwelling, I see a Susan Levisay age 23 would give her a b. date of 1827.

There are children with her.

Pauline is 8 years old

Elizabeth 5

James age 1

No sign of a husband

I assume this may be the Susan who was Peter's daughter.

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I have a copy of Virginia Graves' mammoth tome on the A12 branch, in which she transcribed verbatim all the courthouse records, wills, newspaper clippings etc., collected by her and other researchers of this line, most notably, I think, Dr. Harry Handley. I actually have about half of it on line, including the sections on John A121 and Peter A127, so it's easy enough to quote the sources, which include, for the

children of John Livesay, a complete transcription of a Bible record listing children & birthdates and JL's will (neither of which mention Peter). While there is nothing that establishes beyond all doubt the parentage of Peter, there are numerous court records that support Dr. Handley's statement that Peter "is believed to be one of the younger children of Thomas Livesay" born around 1790. The record of death for Peter is also transcribed in this book as: "Peter Livesay age 93, August 31, 1884; cancer - mechanic Parents John and Margaret (Walton) Livesay Wife Delilah Livesay; son R.C. Livesay" There is a footnote to the "Parents John..." stating that "John" should be "Thomas". John's (A121) wife was Mary Campbell, Margaret Walton was Thomas' wife.

Contributed by Nancy Resche, Livesay Researcher.

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Hi Joyce,

I appreciate you keeping me up to date on this question. I am still not convinced that Peter was a son of Thomas. The death record that they list does not agree with what I extracted personally or what

is listed in the book "Greenbrier County Death Records, 1853-1901" by Larry G. Shuck. Neither Mr. Shuck or I found a listing of the mother's name in the record. Could someone have read something

into the record that was not there in order to make a family connection. I plan to visit the area in March and will get a copy of the original record. Perhaps it will satisfy my curiosity since it is likely that Mr. Shuck and I both extracted our information from a microfilm copy of the record which may not have shown the mother's name. Thank goodness this is not in my direct line.

Richard

I received the Livesay Bulleton, yesterday. It is a good issue. Was pleased to learn something that we did not know before about Peter Livesay, who married Mary "Polly" Legg.

He is buried at Andrews Methodist Church in Williamsburg, WV. Ruth Tyler is considering the possibility of erecting a stone on his grave. Donations are being sought for this. The Bulleton is not clear about where one would send those donations, unless to the historian who is mentioned, as reporting this. Her name is Nancy Schmellenkamp. Address is 1524 Knob Rd. Charleston WV 2531

Joyce Armstrong-Cooper

More About PETER FOUNTAIN LIVESAY:

Cause of Death: Cancer¹⁰

Census 1: 1850, Greenbrier Co. Va. He was 53 y. old.

Census 2: 1820, He is between 16 and 26 years old. [Greenb.]¹¹

Census 3: 1870, Greenbrier Co. Va. He is 78 years old

Fact 1 1: He was the 7th of 13 children. Nancy is¹²

Fact 1 2: unable to find his grave. She got the information

Fact 2: 1870, Greenbrier Co. WVA census shows a Peter

Fact 3: Livesay, race: white; age: 78; birthplace: WVA;

Fact 4: Township: Williamsburg Twp; Microfilm: roll 1687

Fact 5: page 377¹³

Fact 6: He is listed as #127 with the Livesay Historical

Fact 7: Society.¹⁴

Fact 8: He is buried in Williamsburg, WVA according

Fact 9: to Nancy Schmellenkamp; but she has been

Fact 11: about where he is buried from Lacy Livesay, who

Fact 12: is in his 90's in 1998.

Notes for MARY LEGG:

1850 Census shows him living with wife Polly, who is apparently Polly Hess, since verified records prove that he married Polly Hess in 1849. This would tend to make me think that Mary Polly Legg died before 1849, rather than 1853-58 as the records I have from Nancy Schmellenkamp seem to show.

Polly Hess and Peter Livesay's marriage is verified in #229 Marriage CD by Broderbund [Marriages of selected states.

Richard states this about the possible birth dates of Mary Legg:

I don't think there is any sure way to pinpoint the date of birth of Mary (Legg) Livesay. Based on the broad groupings of the 1820 through 1840 Greenbrier County census records it is certain that she was born

no later than 1800. In the 1830 census she was listed in the 16 to 26 year bracket or having been born between 1794 and 1804. In the 1830 census she was in 30 to 40 year old bracket or was born between 1790

and 1800. In the 1840 census she was in the 40 to 50 year old bracket or the same 1790 to 1800 year of birth. I seriously doubt that she was born prior to 1795. Since it appears that Sarah (Legg) Johnson

was born in 1795 Mary was probably born after that year.

More About MARY LEGG:

Died 2: Bef. 1849, Since he married Polly Hess in 1849.....¹⁵

Fact 1: The LHS researcher for the Thomas Jr.

Fact 2: line gave 1783 for her bdate. The program

Fact 3: indicates an error. The mother would have

Fact 4: only been 13 years old at birth. Based on that;¹⁶

Fact 5: I am figuring that it may have been closer to

Fact 6: 1793. That is more inline with the dates of

Fact 7: her sibling's birth also.¹⁷

Fact 8: Nancy, another Livesay Historian indicates

Fact 9: that Mary's death date was 1858, instead of

Fact 11: believeable based upon information that all of

Fact 12: the children were Mary's.

More About POLLY HESS:

Census: 1850, Living with Peter Livesay and his children

Notes for DELILAH STRICKLIN:

She was 62 years old when she married Peter Livesay.

[marriage book, Greenbrier Co. WVA.]

Children of PETER LIVESAY and MARY LEGG are: