Joseph Hedges Ewalt was born on 16. Jul. 1865 at Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky. He was the son of
Joseph Henry Ewalt and
Henretta Hedges. Joseph Hedges Ewalt married
Nancy Clay Thomas, daughter of
Keller Thomas and
Martha Anderson, on 19. Nov. 1903. Joseph Hedges Ewalt was shown in the census on 29. Apr. 1910 as a farmer. In the census on 29. Apr. 1910 Joseph Hedges Ewalt was named Joe H. Ewalt.
Joseph Hedges Ewalt and
Nancy Clay Thomas appeared on the census of 29. Apr. 1910 at Centerville, Bourbon County, Kentucky; 2 children, 2 living. Joseph Hedges Ewalt was shown in the census on 19. Jan. 1920 as a farmer.
Joseph Hedges Ewalt and
Nancy Clay Thomas appeared on the census of 19. Jan. 1920 at Centerville, Bourbon County, Kentucky. Joseph Hedges Ewalt was shown in the census on 4. Apr. 1930 as a farmer.
Joseph Hedges Ewalt and
Nancy Clay Thomas appeared on the census of 4. Apr. 1930 at Magisterial District 7, Bourbon County, Kentucky. Joseph Hedges Ewalt died on 4. Jan. 1956 at Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky, at age 90.
JOSEPH HEDGES EWALT.-In view of the nomadic spirit that has grown to animate the American people to so great an extent, it is pleasing to find in any community representatives of old and honored families whose names have been long and prominently identified therewith and to find such scions worthily and successfully carrying forward the industrial enterprises of the sections in which they were born and reared. This is significantly true of Mr. Ewalt, who is numbered among the essentially representative agriculturists and stock-growers of Bourbon county and who owns and resides upon the fine old homestead plantation which figured as the place of his nativity.
Joseph Hedges Ewalt, an honored representative of one of the sterling pioneer families of Bourbon county, was born on his present homestead in Centerville precinct, that county, on the 15th of July, 1865. He is a son of Joseph Henry and Henrietta (Hedges) Ewalt, both likewise natives of Bourbon county, where the former was born November 27, 1828, and the latter, August 6, 1839. Joseph Henry Ewalt was a son of Samuel and Cynthia (Pugh) Ewalt, both of whom were natives of Bourbon county, where the former was ushered into the world August 12, 1792, and the latter on the 30th of March, 1795. Samuel Ewalt was a son of Henry Ewalt, who was born in Germany, on the 27th of January, 1754, and who was a lad of eleven years at the time when his parents, John and Sarah Ewalt, severed the ties that bound them to their fatherland and emigrated to America. They established their home in what is now Bedford county, Pennsylvania, and there they passed the residue of their long and useful lives. Henry Ewalt was reared to maturity in the old Keystone state, and it was his to render gallant service as a soldier in the Continental line in the war of the Revolution. On the 10th of December, 1777, about one month prior to his twenty-fourth birthday, he was commissioned ensign of the Sixth Company of the First Battalion of Pennsylvania Militia, and it was with this command that he played well his part in the great conflict through which oppression was hurled back and the boon of liberty gained. He married Mrs.. Elizabeth (Frye) Keller, widow of Jacob Keller and daughter of Abraham, Sr., and Agnes Ann Frye. Abraham Frye, Sr., was born in Frederick county, Virginia. He was a member of Captain Charles McClay's company of the First Battalion of Cumberland county (Pennsylvania) militia during the Revolutionary war.
In 1788 Henry and Elizabeth Ewalt removed from Pennsylvania to Kentucky and numbered themselves among the pioneers of Bourbon county. Their original homestead was that now owned and occupied by their great-grandson, Joseph H. Ewalt, whose name initiates this article. Here Henry Ewalt and his wife continued to reside until they were summoned to that "undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns," and they contributed their quota to the development and upbuilding of this now opulent section of the Blue Grass state. On the 4th of August, 1788, John Hagin, of Mercer county, deeded to Henry Ewalt two hundred acres of land north of Cooper's Run, Bourbon county, for a consideration of one hundred and ten poundsabout five hundred dollars-and on this homestead Henry Ewalt died in September, 1829. Elizabeth Ewalt died in 1837. Their remains are interred in the family burying ground on the old homestead. The property has never passed out of the hands of the Ewalt family, by which it has thus been retained for nearly a century and a quarter.
Samuel Ewalt was born and reared in Bourbon county, and he contributed his quota to the reclamation and development of the home farm, while his educational advantages were limited to the primitive schools of the pioneer epoch. He became the owner of a large and valuable landed estate in Bourbon county and was one of the most successful planters of this section of the state, where he was influential in public affairs. He married Cynthia Pugh December 24, 1817. She was the daughter. of Joseph and Elizabeth (Hunt) Pugh. Joseph Pugh, in Bedford county, Virginia, in the spring of 1777, was commissioned a lieutenant
in the Fourteenth Virginia Regiment, upon Continental establishment. Cynthia (Pugh) Ewalt died September 28, 1833. His second marriage. was to Eliza Porter Smith, of Harrison county, on June 7, 1834. She was born August 27, 1799, and died February 29, 1852. Samuel Ewalt died August 28, 1878.
Joseph Henry Ewalt, the sixth in order of birth of the children of Samuel and Cynthia (Pugh) Ewalt, was reared to maturity on the old homestead plantation and was afforded such advantages as were offered in the common schools of the locality and period. On the 18th of December, 1856, was solemnized his marriage to Sophia M. Spears (born September 6, 1838), who died August 27, 1857. On the 10th of December, 1863, he wedded Henrietta Hedges, a daughter of Samuel (see sketch of Joseph Hedges on other pages of this work) and Rebecca (Moran) Hedges, members of well known pioneer families of Bourbon county. Rebecca (Moran) Hedges [born August 26, 1815, died February 9, 1893,] was the daughter of Edward B. and Letitia (Clay) Moran and granddaughter of Samuel and Nancy (Winn) Clay. Samuel Clay enlisted in the Revolutionary war in 1777, when less than sixteen years old, and followed General Greene throughout the campaign of the Carolinas.
Joseph Henry Ewalt well upheld the prestige of the family name and continued to be numbered among the representative agriculturists and stock-growers of his native county, until his death, which occurred on the 15th Of August, 1877. He was a man of strong character and most generous impulses,-direct. kind-hearted and sincere,-and no citizen commanded a fuller measure of popular confidence and esteem. His wife still survives hill' and has attained to the venerable age of seventy-one years (1910). She resides on the old homestead with her son Joseph H., and this place is endeared to her by the gracious memories and associations of the past. Her husband lived until his death, and virtually his entire life was passed on the ancestral estate, of a considerable portion of which Ile became the owner. The homestead, as now constituted, comprises two hundred and fifteen acres, and is one of the well improved an" valuable farm properties of the county Joseph Henry Ewalt was a staunch adherent of the Democratic party and ever manifested a lively interest in public affairs, though he never desired or held political office. He was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity. Hiswidow has been a devoted adherent of the Christian church for over fifty years. Concerning the four children the following record is entered: Joseph Hedges, the eldest of the number, was born July 15, 1865, as has already been noted in this context; Rebecca Ann, who was born January 11, 1867, died on the 17th of the following September; Lily, who was born April 20, 1869, died November 15, 1885; and Lettie Clay, who was born December 31, 1870, died April 15, 1874. Thus the subject of this review is the only surviving child.
Joseph Hedges Ewalt found his early experiences compassed by the scenes, incidents and work of the home farm, and after duly availing himself of the advantages of the public schools of his native county he continued his studies for three years in the Kentucky University, now known as Transylvania University, at Lexington. Later he completed an effective course in the celebrated Eastman Business College, at Poughkeepsie, New York, in which institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1884. He then went to the city of Delaware, Ohio, where for the three ensuing years he held the position of bookkeeper for the Delaware Wagon Company, one of the leading industrial concerns of that place. In March, 1887, Mr. Ewalt returned to the fine old homestead, and here be has since been actively and -successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits and stock-raising, in which latter department he has gained special prominence as a breeder of high-grade Short-horn cattle and Southdown sheep. He is progressive in connection with his business activities and avails himself of the best modern facilities in carrying forward the various departments of his farm industry. Everything about the attractive old homestead bears evidence of thrift and prosperity, and he has every reason to find satisfaction in the fact that he has not wavered in his allegiance to the vocation under whose influences he was reared, as his success has been of unequivocal order, the while his course hag been such as to retain to him the high regard of the community in which virtually his entire life has been passed.
As a man of strong intellectuality and well fortified opinions, Mr. Ewalt has been influential in public affairs of a local character, and lie is ever ready to lend his co-operation in the promotion of enterprises and undertakings that tend to advance the general welfare of the community. Though showing no predilection for official preferment, he clings to the faith in which he was reared and is a stalwart in the camp of the Democratic party. Both he and his wife are members of the Christian church and are earnest and liberal in the support of the various departments of its work.
This review would stultify its consistency were there failure to make special note of the prominent position held by Mr. Ewalt in the time-honored Masonic fraternity, of which he is one of the most influential members in his native state. He has completed the circle of both the York and Scottish Rites, in which latter he has attained to the thirty-second degree, being affiliated with the Grand Consistory, A. A. S. R., in the city of Louisville, Kentucky. He has not only passed the various official chairs in each of the four subordinate bodies of York Rite Masonry, in which his maximum affiliation is with Cynthiana Commandery, No. 16, Knights Templar, at Cynthiana, Kentucky, but he has also been called to high official station in the state organizations of these bodies. Thus it may be noted, that he is at the present time Grand Senior Warden of the Kentucky Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons, and thus in line of advancement to the supreme office, that of Grand Master. He is Past Grand High Priest of the Kentucky Grand Chapter of Royal Arch Masons; Past Grand Master of the state Grand Council of Royal & Select Masters; and Past Grand Commander of the Kentucky Grand Commandery of Knights Templar.' In 1912 he will, in course of regular events, succeed to the exalted office of Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the state, the highest position in the gift of the ancient-craft Masons of this jurisdiction. Upon his advancement to this position he will be one of only eight persons who have served as head of each of the Grand Bodies of York Rite 'Masons in the state of Kentucky. He is also affiliated with the adjunct bodies, the Order of the Eastern Star and the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, in which he is identified with Oleika Temple, at Lexington, Kentucky. Mr. Ewalt has been a close and appreciative student of Masonic history, traditions and both the esoteric and exoteric phases of its work, and few are better fortified in such knowledge. He holds membership also in the Knights of Pythias and the Kentucky Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. Five of his ancestors served in the Revolutionary war.
In the historic home of William Garrard Talbot, at Mount Lebanon, Bourbon county, on the 19th of November, 1903, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Ewalt to Miss Nancy Clay Thomas, who was born in this county on the 17th of July, 1875, and who is a woman of culture and most gracious personality, being thus a charming chatelaine of the beautiful home over which she presides.
Mrs. Ewalt is the daughter of Keller and Martha (Anderson) Thomas, both of whom were born in Kentucky, the former on the 12th of October, 1845, in Bourbon county, and the latter on the 20th of February, 1844, in Harrison county, both being representatives of old and honored families of the Blue Grass state. Mrs. Thomas died in Bourbon county on the 29th of August, 1902, and Mr.Thomas now resides in the home of his son Henry A., in the city of Pontiac, Michigan. They became the parents of five children: Henry A., Anna, William, Nancy Clay and George, and of the number, William and George are deceased. Anna is a resident of Bourbon county, the wife of William Garrard Talbot, of whom mention is made on other pages of this work. Mrs. Ewalt is the great-great-granddaughter of Moses Thomas, one of the 1779 pioneers of Kentucky. Keller Thomas, her father, enlisted in the Confederate army at the age of sixteen years and served under General John Hunt Morgan. His daughters, Mrs. Ewalt and Mrs. Talbot, are enthusiastic members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. The latter served two years as president of the state organization. Mr. and Mrs. Ewalt have two charming little daughters, Anne Thomas, born October 13, 1904, and Josephine Hedges, born July 4, 1906.
HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS, E. Polk Johnson, three volumes, Lewis Publishing Co., New York & Chicago, 1912. Common version, Vol. III, pp. 1357-1360. [Bourbon County].