Individual Details
Jacob Jansen "Valley Creek Jake" Van Meter Sr.
(17 Mar 1723 - 16 Nov 1798)
Jacob was born in Somerset Co., New Jersey but grew up in Virginia on his father's Shenandoah Valley settlement. In his father's will Jacob was called "my fourth and youngest son," and he inherited an equal share of "all Staylen (stallions), geldings, mares, colts." He inherited land, but not the estate "Opequen," on which his father lived, since he was the youngest son.
Jacob married Letitia Strode and all his children were born in the northern third of the territory then known as Frederick Co., Virginia. Frederick Co. was divided and the area where Jacob had lived became Berkeley Co., Virginia in 1772, but by then he had moved on. It wasn't until 1863 that Berkeley Co. became part of West Virginia.
About 1768 when he was 45 yrs. old, Jacob decided to move farther west as many of the inhabitants of the valley of Virginia were then doing. After disposing of much of his property he accompanied John Swan, Sr., (1721-1790), Thomas Hughes and others in a tour of the lands then claimed as part of northwestern Virginia but later established as a southwestern part of Pennsylvania. They had decided to sell their property in the Winchester vicinity and locate on land which would be granted by the Colony of Virginia for service in the French and Indian War. When they reached an area they liked (now in the vicinity of present day Carmichaelstown, Greene Co., Pennsylvania) they 'tomahawked' (marked on trees) such land as they wanted. Their claim lay along Muddy Creek in what is known as 'Ten Mile Country', land lying along Ten Mile Creek, a tributary of the Monongahela River, on the western side of the stream. Returning home, they brought back their families, slaves and such household goods as could be carried on pack horses, the slaves walking and driving the stock, following the route cut out by Braddock's army. There were about fifty people in the party which settled along Muddy Creek. Jacob was granted 400 acres of land on the west side of the Monongahela, Application Number 2405, dated April 3, 1769, also a grant for 211 acres, a tract called 'Burgundy,' also on the west side of the river. John Swan, Thomas Hughes and Henry Van Meter (Jacob's brother), were also granted land for services, and all four erected forts, located near each other on some bottom land not far from Muddy Creek's mouth. The neighbors' strong stockade was known on the frontier as the Swan-Van Meter Fort.
Jacob and Letitia lived by the waters of Muddy Creek for several years. They are among the names of signers for the organization of the Great Bethel Regular Baptist Church of Jesus Christ (now Uniontown, Fayette Co., PA), on Nov. 7, 1770. This church is one of the first religious societies established within the boundaries of present day Fayette Co. He also participated in the organization of Goshen Baptist Church organized in 1774 in Garrard's Fort (in present day Greene County PA). In that original body were found ten members of the Van Meter family: Jacob and his wife Letitia, Rebecca and her husband, Edward Rawlings, Susannah and her husband, Reverend John Garrard, Mary and her husband, David Henton (who was the first clerk of this church), Elizabeth, and her husband John Swan, Jr.
Jacob Van Meter assisted in the establishing of American Independence during the Revolution, though not in active combat, as he was then in his fifties. Records dated 1774 which list names of persons who contributed in a "lift" of cattle for the army of Capt. William Herrod list both Jacob and his son Abraham, indicating the region of Frederick and Hampshire Co. Virginia where they resided. (These counties became West Virginia in 1863) A Jacob Van Meter was a member of the Committee of Observation for Washington Co. Penn., which met at Pittsburgh May 16, 1775, which might be this Jacob, though the various Jacobs get confused. Other records from Berkeley Co. Virginia (certificate #305) list a Jacob Van Meter as furnishing grain for the Continental Army Oct 24, 1780, but he is probably a different Jacob, as this one had moved to new lands west of the Appalachian Mountains by then.
Jacob decided to move west again to a part of Virginia he called "Kaintucke", the recently formed Kentucky Co., one of three newly formed counties divided from Fincastle Co., Virginia in 1777 by Virginia's General Assembly. In the minutes of the court of Yohoghania Co., Virginia, March 23, 1779, which met at Andrew Heath's farm near West Elizabeth, it is recorded that Jacob and Abraham Van Meter received approval to pass unmolested to the Falls of the Ohio (now Louisville, Ky.) On September 18, 1779, Jacob Van Meter and his family had been granted certificates of dismission by the Goshen Baptist Church.
Soon twenty-seven house boats were, under the direction of Jacob Van Meter, Sr., floating down the Ohio, bringing the families and all their household goods, livestock and anything they could pile on the boats. Haycraft's "History of Elizabethtown" relates that the colony that came to Kentucky with his father Samuel Haycraft (Sr.) were all, including his mother, sons, sons-in-law, and daughters of Jacob. All of the Van Meter children, except daughter Eleanor and son William, accompanied their parents, together with their husbands and wives.
The journey west wasn't without hardship. Two of Jacob's daughters lost their husbands on the journey. Elizabeth Van Meter's husband, Lieutenant John Swan Jr., was sitting on deck on one of the boats with his little baby girl in his arms when he was struck by an Indian arrow, fired from the river bank. His wife grabbed his gun and began helping the men ward off the attack. The other tragedy struck the party when Mary Van Meter's husband, David Henton, fell into the river while helping unload the boats and was drowned, leaving her a widow with two children.
The party also included two families of slaves that belonged to the senior Jacob. In his will were provisions that they were to be set free upon the death of his wife. They were to serve her during her lifetime, but if she lived until they were thirty years old, they were to be given their freedom.
Jacob Van Meter brought the whole group down the Ohio River to the Falls where there was a settlement called Corn Island. Place names during this time of westward expansion changed as the population grew. The spot called Corn Island, finally to become Louisville, was then known as Jefferson City and still belonged to the State of Virginia. Later divided and became Nelson City. Still later, a year before Kentucky became a separate state, it became Hardin City. Meanwhile county names changed too. In 1780, Virginia divided the three year old Kentucky Co. into three smaller counties, Jefferson, Fayette, and Lincoln, Jacob being in the area designated as Jefferson. Four years later Jacob's area became Nelson Co., when it was formed in 1784 from Jefferson. These and the other counties in the area held conventions between 1784 and 1792 to discuss statehood for Kentucky, which was passed with Virginia's blessing on 1 June 1792. Jacob's home finally became part of Hardin Co., as it is today, when Hardin County was organized from Nelson by the Kentucky Legislature in 1792.
Though Jacob Van Meter and his colony arrived at the Falls that autumn, they waited for the warm spring months before moving on to their new home. They had to endure a period of severe wintertime weather that was ever afterward known as "the Hard Winter of 1780" before reaching their destination.
In the spring of 1780, Jacob arrived in Severns Valley with his group of about a hundred people. He located on Valley Creek, at the mouth of Billy's Creek, about two miles above the present site of Elizabethtown where three earlier settlements; Helm's Fort, Hynes Fort, and Haycraft's Fort, had been erected by Captain James Helm, Col. Andrew Hynes and Samuel Haycraft about a mile apart from each other. Jacob immediately erected his own fort or block house for the protection of his family and relatives which became known as Van Meter's Fort. The forts were subject to frequent Indian attacks and the report of a gun at any one of the forts was a signal to the others. While the first arrivals lived inside the forts for safety, within a year or two other hardy settlers arrived who settled on land about the forts in spite of Indian danger. Haycraft's "History" tells, "many deeds of valor were performed by those sturdy pioneers. It cost some blood" Uncommon bravery became a common quality.
Jacob built a small grist mill at the mouth of Billy's Creek, near where it joins that main stream of Valley Creek, for grinding corn and wheat. When grandson Samuel Haycraft was about eight years old, he ground a bag of corn there three times a day except Sundays, for his father's one-horse distillery. Others say Jacob also had a still which permitted him to have tavern license and keep travellers in his home. (He had a still and a tavern license to keep travelers in his home at the time of his death.) He is said to have raised the first wheat in Hardin Co., having brought the seed with him from Virginia. Captain Jacob Van Meter, nephew of Jacob Sr., (the son of Henry), who came to the valley with his uncles's party, later also built a fort, mill and a still, about five miles down Valley Creek. The settlement came to call Jacob Van Meter, Sr. "Valley Creek Jake" and his nephew, Jacob Van Meter, "Miller Jake" as both were located on Severn's Valley Creek, not far apart and each having mills.
In 1790 the Court County of Nelson County appointed viewers, Jacob Van Meter among them, to view and report on the best way to open a road from Phillip Phillips' lane, near Hodgen's mill, to Capt Jacob Van Meter's mill on Valley Creek. This public road helped open Severns Valley and Van Meter's mill on Valley Creek became Elizabethtown.
Jake and Letitia were among the 18 charter members of Severn's Valley Baptist Church organized a year after their arrival on June 18, 1781. It was constituted under a green sugar tree, between Haynes station and the present site of Elizabethtown. His son, Jacob, Jr., and his negro man, Bambo, were also members. Elder John Garrard was constituted with the church and became it's pastor. He had been ordained in Pennsylvania before the move to Kentucky. It is the oldest church west of the Allegheny Mountains, still in existence and one of the largest Baptist bodies in Kentucky. Many of his descendents have carried on the work of this church.
Jacob Van Meter accumulated much land in Kentucky. At the time of his death in 1798 he owned 7,891 acres. Jacob and Letitia were buried on their old farm where they settled in 1780. His son Jacob cut and inscribed a sand rock tombstone for him. He cut in rough characters the following inscription:
"HERE LIZES
THE BODY OF
JACOB VANMATER
DIED IN THE 76
YARE OF HIS AGE
NOVEMBER THE 16
1798"
It is said that the spellings were an attempt to make the epitaph sound like how Jacob pronounced words during his life.
The Daughters of the American Revolution Chapter in Elizabethtown is named the Jacob Van Meter Chapter in honor of him. They later removed and reinterred Jacob into the Elizabethtown Cemetery. In October of 1935, the Woman's Club of Elizabethtown dedicated a bronze marker in his memory. The inscription placed on his grave by his descendents reads:
JACOB VAN METER SR.
1723-1798
ENSIGN 12th VIRGINIA REGT.IN FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR CAPTAIN, ILLINOIS REGIMENT, VIRGINIA STATE AMERICAN PATRIOT-SOLDIER KENTUCKY PIONEER TROOPS IN AMERICAN REVOLUTION AND SERVED ON COMMITTEE OF OBSERVATION AT PITTSBURG.
COMMANDED 'A' COMPANY IN GEORGE ROGERS CLARK'S EXPEDITION TO TAKE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. LEAD BAND OF 100 PERSONS FROM VIRGINA TO KENTUCKY DOWN THE OHIO RIVER ON 27 FLATBOATS TO SEVERNS VALLEY IN 1779-1780. BUILT ONE OF THE FIRST FORTS IN KENTUCKY AND HELPED ESTABLISH THE FIRST PERMANENT SETTLEMENT BETWEEN THE FALLS OF OHIO AND GREEN RIVER AT ELIZABETHTOWN.
PROMINENT IN FOUNDING HARDIN COUNTY. ONE OF THE ORGANIZERS OF SEVERNS VALLEY BAPTIST CHURCH,1781, OLDEST CHURCH WEST OF ALLEGHENY MOUNTAINS.
CAPTAIN JACOB VAN METER CHAPTER D.A.R.NAMED IN HIS HONOR.
HIS WIFE
LETITIA STROUD VAN METER
MARRIED IN VIRGINIA 1741
MOVED FROM THE FAMILY CEMETERY 1965
Jacob married Letitia Strode and all his children were born in the northern third of the territory then known as Frederick Co., Virginia. Frederick Co. was divided and the area where Jacob had lived became Berkeley Co., Virginia in 1772, but by then he had moved on. It wasn't until 1863 that Berkeley Co. became part of West Virginia.
About 1768 when he was 45 yrs. old, Jacob decided to move farther west as many of the inhabitants of the valley of Virginia were then doing. After disposing of much of his property he accompanied John Swan, Sr., (1721-1790), Thomas Hughes and others in a tour of the lands then claimed as part of northwestern Virginia but later established as a southwestern part of Pennsylvania. They had decided to sell their property in the Winchester vicinity and locate on land which would be granted by the Colony of Virginia for service in the French and Indian War. When they reached an area they liked (now in the vicinity of present day Carmichaelstown, Greene Co., Pennsylvania) they 'tomahawked' (marked on trees) such land as they wanted. Their claim lay along Muddy Creek in what is known as 'Ten Mile Country', land lying along Ten Mile Creek, a tributary of the Monongahela River, on the western side of the stream. Returning home, they brought back their families, slaves and such household goods as could be carried on pack horses, the slaves walking and driving the stock, following the route cut out by Braddock's army. There were about fifty people in the party which settled along Muddy Creek. Jacob was granted 400 acres of land on the west side of the Monongahela, Application Number 2405, dated April 3, 1769, also a grant for 211 acres, a tract called 'Burgundy,' also on the west side of the river. John Swan, Thomas Hughes and Henry Van Meter (Jacob's brother), were also granted land for services, and all four erected forts, located near each other on some bottom land not far from Muddy Creek's mouth. The neighbors' strong stockade was known on the frontier as the Swan-Van Meter Fort.
Jacob and Letitia lived by the waters of Muddy Creek for several years. They are among the names of signers for the organization of the Great Bethel Regular Baptist Church of Jesus Christ (now Uniontown, Fayette Co., PA), on Nov. 7, 1770. This church is one of the first religious societies established within the boundaries of present day Fayette Co. He also participated in the organization of Goshen Baptist Church organized in 1774 in Garrard's Fort (in present day Greene County PA). In that original body were found ten members of the Van Meter family: Jacob and his wife Letitia, Rebecca and her husband, Edward Rawlings, Susannah and her husband, Reverend John Garrard, Mary and her husband, David Henton (who was the first clerk of this church), Elizabeth, and her husband John Swan, Jr.
Jacob Van Meter assisted in the establishing of American Independence during the Revolution, though not in active combat, as he was then in his fifties. Records dated 1774 which list names of persons who contributed in a "lift" of cattle for the army of Capt. William Herrod list both Jacob and his son Abraham, indicating the region of Frederick and Hampshire Co. Virginia where they resided. (These counties became West Virginia in 1863) A Jacob Van Meter was a member of the Committee of Observation for Washington Co. Penn., which met at Pittsburgh May 16, 1775, which might be this Jacob, though the various Jacobs get confused. Other records from Berkeley Co. Virginia (certificate #305) list a Jacob Van Meter as furnishing grain for the Continental Army Oct 24, 1780, but he is probably a different Jacob, as this one had moved to new lands west of the Appalachian Mountains by then.
Jacob decided to move west again to a part of Virginia he called "Kaintucke", the recently formed Kentucky Co., one of three newly formed counties divided from Fincastle Co., Virginia in 1777 by Virginia's General Assembly. In the minutes of the court of Yohoghania Co., Virginia, March 23, 1779, which met at Andrew Heath's farm near West Elizabeth, it is recorded that Jacob and Abraham Van Meter received approval to pass unmolested to the Falls of the Ohio (now Louisville, Ky.) On September 18, 1779, Jacob Van Meter and his family had been granted certificates of dismission by the Goshen Baptist Church.
Soon twenty-seven house boats were, under the direction of Jacob Van Meter, Sr., floating down the Ohio, bringing the families and all their household goods, livestock and anything they could pile on the boats. Haycraft's "History of Elizabethtown" relates that the colony that came to Kentucky with his father Samuel Haycraft (Sr.) were all, including his mother, sons, sons-in-law, and daughters of Jacob. All of the Van Meter children, except daughter Eleanor and son William, accompanied their parents, together with their husbands and wives.
The journey west wasn't without hardship. Two of Jacob's daughters lost their husbands on the journey. Elizabeth Van Meter's husband, Lieutenant John Swan Jr., was sitting on deck on one of the boats with his little baby girl in his arms when he was struck by an Indian arrow, fired from the river bank. His wife grabbed his gun and began helping the men ward off the attack. The other tragedy struck the party when Mary Van Meter's husband, David Henton, fell into the river while helping unload the boats and was drowned, leaving her a widow with two children.
The party also included two families of slaves that belonged to the senior Jacob. In his will were provisions that they were to be set free upon the death of his wife. They were to serve her during her lifetime, but if she lived until they were thirty years old, they were to be given their freedom.
Jacob Van Meter brought the whole group down the Ohio River to the Falls where there was a settlement called Corn Island. Place names during this time of westward expansion changed as the population grew. The spot called Corn Island, finally to become Louisville, was then known as Jefferson City and still belonged to the State of Virginia. Later divided and became Nelson City. Still later, a year before Kentucky became a separate state, it became Hardin City. Meanwhile county names changed too. In 1780, Virginia divided the three year old Kentucky Co. into three smaller counties, Jefferson, Fayette, and Lincoln, Jacob being in the area designated as Jefferson. Four years later Jacob's area became Nelson Co., when it was formed in 1784 from Jefferson. These and the other counties in the area held conventions between 1784 and 1792 to discuss statehood for Kentucky, which was passed with Virginia's blessing on 1 June 1792. Jacob's home finally became part of Hardin Co., as it is today, when Hardin County was organized from Nelson by the Kentucky Legislature in 1792.
Though Jacob Van Meter and his colony arrived at the Falls that autumn, they waited for the warm spring months before moving on to their new home. They had to endure a period of severe wintertime weather that was ever afterward known as "the Hard Winter of 1780" before reaching their destination.
In the spring of 1780, Jacob arrived in Severns Valley with his group of about a hundred people. He located on Valley Creek, at the mouth of Billy's Creek, about two miles above the present site of Elizabethtown where three earlier settlements; Helm's Fort, Hynes Fort, and Haycraft's Fort, had been erected by Captain James Helm, Col. Andrew Hynes and Samuel Haycraft about a mile apart from each other. Jacob immediately erected his own fort or block house for the protection of his family and relatives which became known as Van Meter's Fort. The forts were subject to frequent Indian attacks and the report of a gun at any one of the forts was a signal to the others. While the first arrivals lived inside the forts for safety, within a year or two other hardy settlers arrived who settled on land about the forts in spite of Indian danger. Haycraft's "History" tells, "many deeds of valor were performed by those sturdy pioneers. It cost some blood" Uncommon bravery became a common quality.
Jacob built a small grist mill at the mouth of Billy's Creek, near where it joins that main stream of Valley Creek, for grinding corn and wheat. When grandson Samuel Haycraft was about eight years old, he ground a bag of corn there three times a day except Sundays, for his father's one-horse distillery. Others say Jacob also had a still which permitted him to have tavern license and keep travellers in his home. (He had a still and a tavern license to keep travelers in his home at the time of his death.) He is said to have raised the first wheat in Hardin Co., having brought the seed with him from Virginia. Captain Jacob Van Meter, nephew of Jacob Sr., (the son of Henry), who came to the valley with his uncles's party, later also built a fort, mill and a still, about five miles down Valley Creek. The settlement came to call Jacob Van Meter, Sr. "Valley Creek Jake" and his nephew, Jacob Van Meter, "Miller Jake" as both were located on Severn's Valley Creek, not far apart and each having mills.
In 1790 the Court County of Nelson County appointed viewers, Jacob Van Meter among them, to view and report on the best way to open a road from Phillip Phillips' lane, near Hodgen's mill, to Capt Jacob Van Meter's mill on Valley Creek. This public road helped open Severns Valley and Van Meter's mill on Valley Creek became Elizabethtown.
Jake and Letitia were among the 18 charter members of Severn's Valley Baptist Church organized a year after their arrival on June 18, 1781. It was constituted under a green sugar tree, between Haynes station and the present site of Elizabethtown. His son, Jacob, Jr., and his negro man, Bambo, were also members. Elder John Garrard was constituted with the church and became it's pastor. He had been ordained in Pennsylvania before the move to Kentucky. It is the oldest church west of the Allegheny Mountains, still in existence and one of the largest Baptist bodies in Kentucky. Many of his descendents have carried on the work of this church.
Jacob Van Meter accumulated much land in Kentucky. At the time of his death in 1798 he owned 7,891 acres. Jacob and Letitia were buried on their old farm where they settled in 1780. His son Jacob cut and inscribed a sand rock tombstone for him. He cut in rough characters the following inscription:
"HERE LIZES
THE BODY OF
JACOB VANMATER
DIED IN THE 76
YARE OF HIS AGE
NOVEMBER THE 16
1798"
It is said that the spellings were an attempt to make the epitaph sound like how Jacob pronounced words during his life.
The Daughters of the American Revolution Chapter in Elizabethtown is named the Jacob Van Meter Chapter in honor of him. They later removed and reinterred Jacob into the Elizabethtown Cemetery. In October of 1935, the Woman's Club of Elizabethtown dedicated a bronze marker in his memory. The inscription placed on his grave by his descendents reads:
JACOB VAN METER SR.
1723-1798
ENSIGN 12th VIRGINIA REGT.IN FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR CAPTAIN, ILLINOIS REGIMENT, VIRGINIA STATE AMERICAN PATRIOT-SOLDIER KENTUCKY PIONEER TROOPS IN AMERICAN REVOLUTION AND SERVED ON COMMITTEE OF OBSERVATION AT PITTSBURG.
COMMANDED 'A' COMPANY IN GEORGE ROGERS CLARK'S EXPEDITION TO TAKE NORTHWEST TERRITORY. LEAD BAND OF 100 PERSONS FROM VIRGINA TO KENTUCKY DOWN THE OHIO RIVER ON 27 FLATBOATS TO SEVERNS VALLEY IN 1779-1780. BUILT ONE OF THE FIRST FORTS IN KENTUCKY AND HELPED ESTABLISH THE FIRST PERMANENT SETTLEMENT BETWEEN THE FALLS OF OHIO AND GREEN RIVER AT ELIZABETHTOWN.
PROMINENT IN FOUNDING HARDIN COUNTY. ONE OF THE ORGANIZERS OF SEVERNS VALLEY BAPTIST CHURCH,1781, OLDEST CHURCH WEST OF ALLEGHENY MOUNTAINS.
CAPTAIN JACOB VAN METER CHAPTER D.A.R.NAMED IN HIS HONOR.
HIS WIFE
LETITIA STROUD VAN METER
MARRIED IN VIRGINIA 1741
MOVED FROM THE FAMILY CEMETERY 1965
Events
| Birth | 17 Mar 1723 | Somerville, Somerset, New Jersey, British America |  | ||
| Marriage | 30 Aug 1741/42 | Frederick, Virginia, British America - Letitia "Letty" Strode | | ||
| Will | 11 Nov 1798 | Hardin, Kentucky, United States |  | | |
| Death | 16 Nov 1798 | Hardin, Kentucky, United States | | | |
| Burial | Elizabethtown City Cemetery, Elizabethtown, Hardin, Kentucky, United States | |
Families
| Spouse | Letitia "Letty" Strode (1725 - 1799) |
| Child | Eleanor Van Meter (1742 - 1811) |
| Child | Abraham Van Meter (1744 - 1781) |
| Child | Rebecca Van Meter (1746 - 1821) |
| Child | Elizabeth Van Meter (1752 - 1848) |
| Child | Susanna "Susan" Van Meter (1750 - 1798) |
| Child | Rachel Van Meter (1754 - 1841) |
| Child | Mary M. "Polly" Van Meter (1757 - 1832) |
| Child | Isaac Van Meter (1759 - 1840) |
| Child | Margaret Van Meter (1759 - 1843) |
| Child | Jacob "of Otter Creek" Van Meter Jr. (1762 - 1850) |
| Child | John Van Meter (1764 - 1806) |
| Child | Alcinda "Alsey, Aisley" Van Meter (1766 - 1828) |
| Child | William Van Meter (1766 - 1808) |
| Father | Jan "John" Van Meter Jr. (1683 - 1745) |
| Mother | Margaret Molenaur (Miller) (1683 - 1745) |
| Sibling | Rebecca Van Meter (1711 - 1770) |
| Sibling | Isaac Van Meter (1713 - 1748) |
| Sibling | Elizabeth Van Meter (1715 - 1792) |
| Sibling | Henry Van Meter (1717 - 1793) |
| Sibling | Rachel Van Meter (1719 - 1744) |
| Sibling | Abraham Van Meter (1721 - 1783) |
| Sibling | Maudlena (Magdalene) Van Meter (1725 - ) |
Notes
Will
listed: are sons Jacob, John, Isaac; daughter Peggy; wife Letty. The will was probated December, 1798. Executors were: sons Jacob and Isaac Van Metre, Samuel Haycroft.Jacob Van Meter Will
In the Name of God Amen I Jacob VanMetre being infirmly in health but of sound and perfect mind calling to mind the mortality of the Body and that is appointed for all men once to die do make and ordain this my Last Will and Testement and first of all I give and recommend my soul to the hands of Almighty God that gave it and my Body to be buried in a decent and Christian like manner at the descretion of my Executors. Nothing doubting but the General resurrection I shall receive again by the mighty God that gave it and as touching Such Worldly affairs where with it pleased God to bless me with I give and dispose of in the following manner (That is to say) I give and bequeath unto my beloved wife Letty VanMetre all and singular my Household furniture to enjoyed and dispose of at her descretion and that her death if any part thereof should be remaining I make no doubt but as she has divided her affections amongst her Children but she will Equally divide the residue of her Legacy with them as she thinks they Severally Stand in need. I also allow my said wife Letty the following precious legacies to be enjoyed by her at her descretion during her natural lifetime (VIZ) the dwelling house and garden adjoining the same which I now occupy also one young mare called Pole with here saddle and bridle for her proper use and behoof together with one half the orchard and Meadow and Cleared Farming Land of which she is to have the benefit of one half of the production and she is to support and assist in labour and materials in keeping the said farm in repair and providing the said production and I do further allow her to have one half of the benefits of the Grist Mill during her life and to be at an Equal Existence together with all buildings and appurtinances belonging to said farm in keeping the same in repair also I give and bequeath unto my wife Letty one Equal third part of all remainder of my personal Estate during her life after all my Just debts are paid and after her death the remaining part of her third to be distributed amongst my children as she my think most Expedient. I also allow my wife Letty the full benefit of all my Negroes during her Life (To Wit) Daniel Mark Isaac Celilah but if Either or any of them before mentioned should arrive to the age of Thirty Years old before the death of my wife Each or Either of them shall be wholy set free from Servitude without serving any person whatsoever and if my wife should depart this life before they arise to the age of thirty it is my Will that they then be set free from servitude. Also it is my will that the other two thirds of my personal Estate I allow to be Equally divided amongst my Children such as has not received their Legacy before my death and if any of my legatees should be dead be it understood that their heirs shall receive it. I also leave to my son Jacob the plantation on which I now live with whatsoever Land I may obtain adjoining the said plantation Except that part which I have given to my son John VanMetre which will appear from agreement line to be bounded as followeth to begin at the lower end of a plum first above the Mill dam and to run across the whole of the three surveys on the same direction of the upper line which is to be for his use and his heirs forever. The reserve of my Plantation and whatever Lands shall be remaining together with all and singular appurtinances together with one half the Grist Mill and after the death of my wife Letty the whole of the Mill to be for the use and behoof of my son Jacob and his heirs forever by his paying unto the other Legatees after the death of my wife on half of the Valuation of the Mill the same to Valued by persons chosen by the Legatees that is to say the Value of building the same Also the residue of my land I leave and bequeath unto my sons Isaac and John to be Equally divided in quantity and quality Except one hundred and fifty acres unto Samuel Haycraft as a Compensation for a Legation of Land of four hundred acres and the said 150 acres to be laid off for said Haycraft upon the Lower End of a five hundred acre survey only if the same shall be procurred from other claims if not where the Legatees shall agree also the same number of acres that my son John has surveyed to him off of my Plantation tract as before mentioned to be laid off for the use of my son Jacob and his heirs forever the whole of the residue of my Lands that shall be procurred after the foregoing Exceptions to be Equally divided between my sons Isaac & John and their heirs forever Exceptions What Land is taken and laid off for my son Jacob on Caney is to be reduced from the lands to be divided for my son John before a Dividend takes place between the legatees also it is my will that my son Abrahams Heirs do receive three pounds each for their use and behoof to wit Catherine Sarah Letty & Elizabeth also that my Daughter Peggy Receive five pounds and also twelve pounds exclusive of the Division for a Compensation I do also appoint my son Jacob VanMetre and Samuel Haycraft and my son Isaac to be my sole Executors to see to the proper distribution of this my last will and Testament and I do hereby Revoke all others and Ratify and confirm this my last will and testament In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my seal this 11th day of November 1798 Jacob Van Metre
Hardin County Will Book A
Death
Jacob Van Meter died at age 76 and was buried on his own farm.Burial
PLAQUE TRANSCRIPTION:American Patriot - Soldier - Kentucky Pioneer.
Ensign 12th Virginia Regt. in French & Indiana War. Captain Illinois Regiment. Virginia State Troops in American Revolution and served on committee of Observation at Pittsburg.
Commanded a company in George Rogers Clark's expeditions to take Northwest Territory.
Led Band of 100 persons from Virginia to Kentucky, down the Ohio River on 27 flat boat to Severns Valley in 1779-1780. Built one of the first forts in Kentucky and helped establish the first permanent settlement between the Falls of Ohio and Green River at Elizabethtown.
Prominent in Founding Hardin County, one of organizers of Severns Valley Baptist Church, 1781, Oldest Church west of Alleghey Mountains. Captain Jacob Van Meter Chapter D.A.R. Named in his honor. His Wife Letitial Stroud Van Meter 1725-1799. Married in Virginia 1741. Their remains moved from their family cemetery 1965.
Endnotes
1. Unknown. A Story of a Van Matre Family. (Eleven pages copied by Shirley Lillie,
2. Howard L. Leckey, The Tenmile Country and Its Pioneer Families: A Genealogical History of the Upper Monongahela Valley (1977; reprint, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Com, 2009), 198, born March 17, 1723; digital images, Google, Google Books ( : accessed 6 April 2015.
3. Unknown. A Story of a Van Matre Family. (Eleven pages copied by Shirley Lillie,
4. Ross, John Harlow "Pete"., Email on the family of Etersa (Van Meter) Ross with anecdotes on Van Meter ancestry. (
5. Smyth, Samuel Gordon, A genealogy of the Duke-Shepherd-Van Metre family : from civil, military, church, and family records and documents (Lancaster, Pa.: New Era Print Co., 1909, 480 pgs.), p 401.
6. Unknown. A Story of a Van Matre Family. (Eleven pages copied by Shirley Lillie,
7. Howard L. Leckey, The Tenmile Country and Its Pioneer Families: A Genealogical History of the Upper Monongahela Valley (1977; reprint, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Com, 2009), 198, born March 17, 1723; digital images, Google, Google Books ( : accessed 6 April 2015.