OLDHAM, Major Richard A. b. 13 Mar 1787 d. 31 Aug 1837 Madison County, Kentucky, USA

Oldham Family History

OLDHAM, Major Richard A.

OLDHAM, Major Richard A.

Male 1787 - 1837  (50 years)

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  • Name OLDHAM, Richard A. 
    Prefix Major 
    Born 13 Mar 1787  [1
    Gender Male 
    Died 31 Aug 1837  Madison County, Kentucky, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [2, 3, 4
    Alt. Death 6 Aug 1842  Habersham County, Georgia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [5
    Notes 
    • Reports of civil and criminal cases decided by the Court of Appeals of ...
      By Kentucky. Court of Appeals, James Hughes, Achilles Sneed, George Minos Bibb, Martin D. Hardin, Alexander

      Fall Term 1840

      OLDHAM vs Sale et al

      Error to the Louisville Chancery Court.

      Dower. Parol Contracts. Femes Covert. Void and Voidable contracts.

      Chief Justice Robertson delivered the Opinion of the court.

      Some time in the year 1803 or 1804, Richard Oldham, then about seventeen or eighteen years of age, being entitled to one undivided third part of lot No. 13, in the town (now city) of Louisville, owned jointly by himself and his brother, Jo.aurchill, made a verbal sale of his interest therein to Samuel Churchill, his brother-in-law, for the price of 50lbs then paid to him; and hsortly after his marriage with the plaintiff in error, that is, in the year 1809, after he had attained majority, he and his said wife, she then being in her minority, made to the said S. Churchill a conveyance of his legal interest in the said lot --the deed reciting and confirming his former unwritten sale.

      In 1805, Samuel Churchill, considering himself and wife entitled to two-thirds of the lot, sold that interest to Wm. C. Galt, who thereupon took possession thereof, and to whom (John P. Oldham having also sold his third to him) the said Chd their two-thirds.

      Galt, and those claiming under him, having occupied the lot ever since the year 1805, the widow of Richard Oldham, who died in the year 1837, shortly after his death, to-wit: in November, 1837, filed a bill in chancery against the proprietniously built on the said lot No. 13, asserting a claim to dower therein, on three grounds--1st. Because, being a minor when she acknowledged the conveyance to Churchill, her acknowledgment was voidable. 2dly. Because, as she insisted, her husband being also an infant when he made the verbal sale, his confirmation of that voidable contract, after their intermarriage, did not preclude her from avoiding it so far as her legal right to dower is concerned. 3dly, Because, as she also insists, she has still the right to avoid the verbal sale by relying on the statue of frauds and perjuries, her initiate right to dower not being divested by her husband's confirmation of that sale after she had become his wife. ......


      see Google Books


      R.C. Ballard Thurston 1899 notes: was an officer in the U.S. Army where he attained the rank of Major was in active service in New Orleans in 1812-14; married daughter of Maj. Thomas Martin (first commandant of the Newport, Kentucky barracks and one of the original members of the order of the Cincinnati) and his wife Susan Washington Ledbetter, who was a descendant of Col. John Washington, Great grandfather of Gen. Geo. Washington. Major Richard Oldham resigned from the army and settled in Louisville Kentucky where he was elected jailer and died in 1835.

      Pension file shows wife, Eliza was a resident of New Orleans, Louisiana at the time she applied for widows pension. File shows death of Major Richard Oldham as 31 August 1839 in Louisville, Kentucky

      Eliza Oldham spent some time in Gallatin, Tennessee due to illness, on her way back to Louisville to prove her Widow's Pension Claim.

      Pension file shows Richard served in South Carolina during 1812-1814, fought in the Battle of Tippecanoe. Served 7th United States Infantry.


      MISSISSIPPI:

      Jackson
      1828, Henry Ledbetter executed a note to Conway Oldham. Oldham v. Ledbetter, 2 Miss. 43.

      Times Dispatch
      16 May 1909

      We are very glad to correct the impression that we are indifferent to the position and importance of Richard Oldham by printing the following letter:

      My attention has been called to the Genealogical Column of The Times-Dispatch of the 2d instant, in which is given the genealogy of the Pope family. Referring to the mention therein of colonel William Pope, of Jefferson county, Ky., and the marriage of his daughter, Penelope Pope, and Colonel William Oldham, of Kentucky, and of the names of their three children--John, Richard and Abbey--I note that reference is made to the families of John and Abbey, but, as to Richard there appears only the following:

      "Richard Oldham was a noble-hearted and generous man, and for many years an officer in the United States Army, and in his last days served as jailer of Jefferson county, and died in Louisville, leaving several children, who , with their mother, removed to New Orleans.

      This curt mention of Richard, and omitting, as is done, any as to his wife and their descendants, and information of which character is given as to his brother and sister, is an injustice to him by those furnishing this Pope family tree, especially considering what his military and private life was.

      He was a major in the Seventh United States Infantry, thus following the profession of his father. He had entered the army as a lieutenant, and was first stationed at Newport Barracks, Kentucky, where he married Eliza Washington Martin, daughter of the commandant (and the first commandant of that post after its establishment), Major Thomas Martin, and of Susan Washington Ledbetter, his wife, the later the daughter of Colonel Drury Ledbetter, of Virginia, and my great-grandparents.

      I may further say just here that Major Martin was a native of Albemarle county, Virginia, a member of the Ninth Virginia Continental Infantry, a distinguished officer of the Revolution, and an original member of the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of Virginia, and where I now represent him.

      In 1808 the garrison at Newport Barracks was ordered to New Orleans, and Major Oldham, with his regiment, was station there for a number of years. Part of his army service, taken from the War Department records at Washington, is the following:

      "Major Oldham served with his regiment in Louisiana from June, 1808 to May 1811; on leave and on detached duty at Newport Barracks and at Louisville, Ky, to December 1811, when he returned to duty with his regiment in Louisiana and served with it until June, 1814."

      Major Oldham became commandant of Newport Barracks in 1819 on the death of Major Martin, but he remained there only about a year, later resigning from the army.

      After entering civil left, with no business experience, he was induced to go into enterprises, through advise not disinterested, as he subsequently found, and was led to indorse(sic) notes of some of his friends, so-called.

      In the course of a few years his inheritance had disappeared, and with a large family to take care of. He was not only "a noble-hearted and generous man," to quote again from your columns, but that character of man who had been unable to understand that a man's word or his signature to a note was not as soon as a bond. He was given charge, however, of the county courthouse and its appurtenances at Louisville, the county seat of Jefferson county, and a jail was doubtless embraced within its grounds, as customary in those days. If so, this could be the only excuse for referring to him as "Jailer of Jefferson county," as it appears in the article in your paper, as already quoted, and, seemingly, slightingly said.

      Another error appearing in the same connection is that "his widow and children removed to New Orleans." This probably arose from the fact that one of his childre, Penelope (and named for her grandmother, Penelope Pope), married William A. Violett, of New Orleans, but a native of Alexandria, VA.

      The latter were my parents, and as Richard and Eliza W. Martin were my grandparents, and Colonel William Oldham and Penelope Pope my great-grandparents, my familiarity with this part of the genealogy of the Pope family is explained.

      ATWOOD VIOLETT.

      The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Volume 47
      edited by Richard Henry Greene, Henry Reed Stiles, Melatiah Everett Dwight, George Austin Morrison, Hopper Striker Mott, John Reynolds Totten, Harold Minot Pitman, Louis Effingham De Forest, Charles Andrew Ditmas, Conklin Mann, Arthur S. Maynar


      One of the children of Colonel Drury and Winnifred (Lanier) Ledbetter was Susan Washington Ledbetter. She married Major Thomas Martin of Albermarle County, Virginia, a distinguished officer of the Revolution.

      "Major Martin was a member of the Ninth Virginia Continental Infantry, and at the battle of Germantown, October 4th, 1777, the Ninth Virginia was actively engaged, and in the dense fog, pressed forward so vigorously, that when the fog suddenly lifted, if found itself completely surrounded by General William Howe's army, and was captured to a man."

      Lieutenant Martin (as he was then) was first sent to Philadelphia, and then to confinement in the Provost—the old Hall of Records, City Hall Park, New York (demolished in 1903, at the time of building the subway station there).
      He was an original member of the Society of The Cincinnati, in the State of Virginia."

      The above is a part of the record furnished me many years ago, by Colonel Asa Bird Gardiner, Secretary-General of "The Cincinnati," in which Society I represent Major Martin as his eldest male surviving descendant.

      In 1803, an army post was first established at Newport Barracks, Kentucky, opposite Cincinnati, and Major Martin became its first Commandant, and remained so until his death in 1819. There is in my possession one of three portraits of Major Martin painted while in command of Newport Barracks. It is one of the by no means numerous portraits of original members of "The Cincinnati," and the badge of the Society, appears conspicuously in the lapel of the coat. (See portrait.). It was at Newport Barracks that the daughter of Major Martin and Susan Ledbetter—Eliza Washington Martin—married Captain Richard Oldham, of Kentucky,—and they were my grandparents. Captain Oldham's regiment was stationed there, and in 1808—five years following the Louisiana Purchase—the entire garrison was ordered to New Orleans. The only water transportation at that time was by flat boat, and in my young days, I never tired listening to the interesting events related by my grandmother of this many weeks' voyage down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers (which voyage she said was made with comfort and enjoyment), and also the description of the stirring events of the return trip overland, because of being constantly in contact with various tribes of the Indian Nations.

      A part of the army service of Captain Oldham, is the following, taken from the War Department records at Washington:
      "Richard Oldham, of Kentucky, was appointed 1st Lieutenant, 7th U. S. Infantry, May 3, 1808; was promoted to be Captain December 1, 1809, and to be Major, April 9th, 1814, and was honorably discharged, on the reduction of the Army, June 15th, 1815. He served with his regiment in Louisiana from June, 1808, to May, 1811; on leave and on detached duty at Newport Barracks and at Louisville, Ky., to December, 1811, when he returned to duty with his regiment in Louisiana, and served with it until June, 1814.
      On the death of Major Martin (his father-in-law), Major Oldham was appointed to succeed him in command at Newport Barracks on May 9th, 1819, and was honorably discharged as such June 1st, 1821.
      . (Signed) W. M. Carter,
      Ass't Adjutant General."

      One of the children of Richard Oldham and Eliza Martin was my mother, Penelope Abigail Oldham, who married William Alfred Violett, of Alexandria, Virginia, who in early manhood removed to Pittsburgh, Penn., where he secured employment with the firm of Atwood, Jones & Co., the then leading iron house West of the Alleghenies, and my father was sent by them, to New Orleans, in the year 1838, as their representative there. A few years later, 1842, he entered into business on his own account, as W. A. Violett & Company, and became one of the most eminent and successful merchants of the City of his adoption.

      Richard Oldham, was the son of Colonel William and Penelope (Pope) Oldham of Kentucky. Colonel Oldham was of Nelson's Independent Rifle Company, and he is to-day represented in the Rhode Island State Society of The Cincinnati, through a great grandson. In 1788, he was appointed Lieutenant-Colonel of the Kentucky Militia, and three years later was killed while in command of his regiment, at St. Clair's Defeat, near Fort Recovery, Ohio, December 4th, 1791—one of the many engagements of the several French-Indian Wars of the Far West, of those days.

      WASHINGTON-LANIER ANCESTRY OF ATWOOD VIOLETT, ESQ. The first five generations established by the report of Mr. Nelson and rest of the line established by family and official records as here above set forth, viz:—
      1. John Washington married Mary Ford, of Surry County, Virginia.
      2. Their son Richard Washington, married Elizabeth Jordan, of Virginia.
      3. Their daughter Elizabeth Washington, married Sampson Lanier, of Virginia.
      4. Their son Sampson Lanier, married Elizabeth Chamberlin, of Virginia.
      5. Their daughter Winnifred Lanier, married Col. Drury Ledbetter, of Virginia.
      6. Their daughter Susan Washington Ledbetter, married Major Thomas Martin, of Virginia.
      7. Their daughter Eliza Washington Martin, married Captain Richard Oldham, of Kentucky.
      8. Their daughter Penelope Abigail Oldham, married William Alfred Violett, of Virginia.
      9. Their son Atwood Violett, married Olga Quentell, of New Orleans.
      The report of Mr. Nelson also corrects the Lanier line as set forth by Albert Welles in his Pedigree and History of the Washington Family

      Find A Grave Bio
      Major Richard A. Oldham (1787-1842) was for many years an officer in the U.S. Army. He married Eliza Martin, a daughter of Major Thomas Martin, the first Commandant of Newport Barracks, Ky. Their eight children were Jane who married William Wetmore, of New York; William Henry; Thomas M.; Catherine who married John W. Edgerton, of Ohio; Worden P.; Penelope Abigail (1825-1908); Mary who married Dr. A. S. Robertson, of Nashville; and George L. Oldham who may have died during the Civil War. The latter married Harriett Josephine Miller (1835-), daughter of John Adam Miller. Their son, Alfred Violett Oldham (1862-1932), was clerk of the city court in Louisville. Penelope Abigail Oldham (1825-1908) married William Alfred Violett (1812-68), of New Orleans. There five children were Atwood (1847-1932), Mignonette (1857-1910), Ella (1850-1904), Lilly and Edward R. Violett (1856-1919). Atwood Violett (1847-1932) was a prominent broker in New Orleans and New York. He married in 1887, Olga Quentell, of Liverpool, Eng., and his children were Thelma (1892-1971) who married William Macy Brewster; and Rear Admiral Quentell Violett (1898-1984) who served in WWI and WWII and married Geraldine Schleussner (1911-89). Mignonette Violett (1857-1910) married financier and philanthropist Charles Smith Whelan (1850-1910), of Philadelphia, and their children were Violett (1880-1904) who married Malcolm Scollay Greenough (1876-1903)(Harvard 1898), and Charles Smith Whelan, Jr. (1883-1904).

      Major Richard Oldham reportedly died in Habersham, Ga.

    Person ID I3343  oldham
    Last Modified 7 Aug 2023 

    Father OLDHAM, Colonel William H.,   b. 17 Jun 1753, Berkeley, Albemarle County, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 4 Nov 1791, St. Clair's Defeat, Recovery, Mercer County, Ohio, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 38 years) 
    Mother POPE, Penelope,   b. 12 Feb 1769,   d. 16 Sep 1821, Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 52 years) 
    Family ID F1018  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family MARTIN, Eliza Washington,   b. 4 Jul 1792, Milledgeville, Baldwin County, Georgia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 4 Nov 1871, Gallatin, Sumner County, Tennessee, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 79 years) 
    Married 4 Jun 1809  New Fort Garrison, Campbell County, Kentucky, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [6, 7
    • OLDHAM, Richard, Lt. & Miss Eliza MARTIN, 6 Apr. 1809, m by JGW, b Sam'l. Vail, c by father Thomas Martin, Campbell County, Kentucky
    Children 
     1. OLDHAM, Alfred V.
     2. OLDHAM, Jane Eliza,   b. Jan 1814, Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky, USA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 4 Aug 1883, Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 69 years)
     3. OLDHAM, Catherine Martin,   b. 1816, Louisana, USA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 20 Aug 1888, Harrison County, Mississippi, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 72 years)
     4. OLDHAM, George Washington,   b. Abt 1820, Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky, USA Find all individuals with events at this location
     5. OLDHAM, John Pope,   b. Abt 1823, Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky, USA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 8 Apr 1858, Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 35 years)
     6. OLDHAM, Penelope Abigail,   b. 12 Oct 1825, Jefferson County, Kentucky, USA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 19 Jun 1908, Louisiana, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 82 years)
     7. OLDHAM, William Henry,   b. Abt 1825, Kentucky, USA Find all individuals with events at this location
     8. OLDHAM, Thomas Martin,   b. Abt 1828,   d. Yes, date unknown
     9. OLDHAM, James Richard or M.,   b. Abt 1835, Kentucky, USA Find all individuals with events at this location
     10. OLDHAM, Mary,   b. 1842,   d. 1930  (Age 88 years)
    Last Modified 7 Aug 2023 
    Family ID F1374  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsMarried - 4 Jun 1809 - New Fort Garrison, Campbell County, Kentucky, USA Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDied - 31 Aug 1837 - Madison County, Kentucky, USA Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsAlt. Death - 6 Aug 1842 - Habersham County, Georgia, USA Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 
    Pin Legend  : Address       : Location       : City/Town       : County/Shire       : State/Province       : Country       : Not Set

  • Documents 2 Documents

  • Sources 
    1. [S307] Maj. Abraham Kirkpatrick & His Descendents, Kirk Q. Bigham 929.2 K591b.

    2. [S1291] Pension File NARA.

    3. [S364] Histories and Genealogies of the Families of Miller, Woods, Harris, Wallace, Maupin, Oldham, Kavanaugh and Brown, Wm. Miller, (http://www.archive.org/details/historygenealogie00mill), 502 (Reliability: 3).

    4. [S743] R.C. Ballard Thurston 1899 in Wm. Miller, Genealogies of Kentucky.

    5. [S1039] Find A Grave, (findagrave.com).

    6. [S1780] Military Pension File - NARA.

    7. [S435] Marriages of Campbell, Boone and Kenton Counties, Kentucky, 1795-1850.