Thomas Arthur, Sr.
Service: VIRGINIA Rank: SOLDIER
• Birth: 1749 LUNENBURG CO VIRGINIA
• Death: 9-8-1833 KNOX CO KENTUCKY
•
• Spouse: SARAH ARTHUR
biography
Thomas Arthur Jul 11, 2015.
Thomas Arthur was the son of James Arthur born 1729 in Lynchburg, Campbell,
Virginia Colony, British America, died in Bedford, Virginia Colony, British America.
He married Sarah Arthur 1770 in Bedford, Virginia Colony, British America. She
was born 1747, died May 03, 1828, buried in Arthur Cemetery, Knox County,
Kentucky, USA3. She was the daughter of William A. Arthur and Ann Murray.
Prior to 1800, Thomas Arthur moved his family to Kentucky and settled in Flat
Lick, along with other Revolutionary War soldiers who also received bounty lands
for their military service. Thomas Arthur farmed his land with the help of slaves,
his primary cash crop being hemp, which was needed for making rope and
widely grown in Kentucky in the 1800s.
In the early days taverns were really small inns which provided food, drink and
shelter for early travelers and were frequently, if not almost always, found at
regular stage coach stops. Susan Arthur, a descendant and local historian, gave
the following account of early taverns/inns. By today's standards these early
accommodations were small, dirty, and probably vermin ridden. Travelers shared
beds with other travelers, and usually slept with all their clothes on. Bathing and
toilet facilities were equally scanty; Travelers usually furnished their own eating
utensils - fingers and a knife; forks and spoons came later. A few places had
earthenware bowls, but plates were tin or wood."
In September, 1812, Thomas Arthur helped establish the Concord Baptist Church
(now called the First Baptist Church) at Flat Lick, Kentucky, and the first meeting
was held at his home. For about two years, meetings continued to be held in his
home alter which time he erected a log church building on the hill behind his
house. The church building burned down in 1851 but the site where it stood is
very close to where the present Baptist church now stands. Some slaves are
buried in a cemetery next to the church and also several Union soldiers who died
in the Union hospital at Flat Lick during the Civil War. Thomas Arthur's plantation was along the Cumberland River but since that time
the river has changed course several times. On his plantation, Thomas Arthur
established a family graveyard on a tree-shaded, grassy hillside opposite the hill
on which he built the church and on which the present church now stands. The
cemetery is located at the south end of the town of Flat Lick. on a hillside above
one of the houses on the east side of the road.
Permission to visit the cemetery must be obtained fiom current residents. In the
graveyard are tombstones for: Thomas Arthur; his wife, Sarah; their son Ambrose
Arthur; Ambrose's wife, Jane (Fletcher). On the hillside above the family
graveyard are said to be some unmarked graves of slaves.
According to Thomas Arthur's will, he gave his plantation to his son, Ambrose
Arthur and emancipated his "Negro" slaves, Mary, Lucy and Jack. Each slave
was to get a cow and a calf (or a cow with calf) and to have the use of the garden
plot and the cabin with "what property that is Considered to belong to their
homes" during his or her lifetime. Thomas Arthur gave all the children of his
slave, Mary, to his son, Ambrose Arthur, until the children reached age 25, at
which time they were to be given their freedom. All of Lucy's children he gave to
his son-in-law, Robert Gregory (husband of his daughter, Mildred "Milly" Arthur),
these children also to be set free at age twenty-five. He gave his "negro boy"
Harry, to his son Ambrose Arthur with the stipulation that, if Harry "should
behave himself well." he was to be given his freedom after a few years.