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Born: about 1801 in Virginia
Died: about 1866 in Rockcastle County, Kentucky
In the censuses Elisha says he was born in VA and his children also say their
father was born in VA. That doesn't perfectly fit with
Adam's death
record, but the disagreement is small, only a year or two. Either Adam's
family's memory or an error in Elisha's age in the census could account for the
discrepancy.
Elisha married Sarah Decker about 1838; he apparently lived with his father
Jacob until the
latter's death (he looks to be in Jacob's household in 1830), marrying at an
older-than-average age. There is no evidence of a wife prior to Sarah, although
it's possible he was married before. [Update: Based on
evidence in an 1833 land document, he was married to a woman named Ann at that
time. It's unclear whether Elisha and Ann had children, but it's possible the
two oldest children could have been from this union. It's also possible they
had girls, the names of whom we don't know.] He and Sarah had two boys
(Henry B and John G) and two girls (Malinda and Margaret). Henry B, who was a
successful farmer in Rockcastle and Pulaski in later years, is the only child
who we know anything substantial about.
There are persistent family stories which indicate Elisha may be the father of
Ingram Renner, but the stories are confusing and aren't consistent from one
telling to the next.
In 1834, Elisha lived in the "old Renner cabin" on Buffalo Branch
Road. He had moved by 1839, probably just south to the Decker farm, which was
also on Buffalo Branch about a mile away. Sarah's widowed mother, Rhoda, was
living in Elisha's household in the 1860 census. A map showing the Decker land
and Renner cabin is
here.
An analysis of the census records indicates Elisha lived in the Line Creek area
most of his life.
There are no records which show Elisha owning land, although he paid taxes on
130 acres of land on Skeggs Creek in 1835, grant in the name of Renner. 1835
was an aberrant year for Adam as well. What's even more interesting is that
John is not on the
1835 tax list at all, but in 1837 (data for 1836 is missing) he's back with 220
acres. Perhaps, for some unknown-to-us reason, Adam and Elisha paid the taxes
on John's land in 1835.
Elisha's last year on the
tax list is 1865;
in 1867 Sarah appears for the first time.
Like the other older Renners, Elisha has no gravestone. He and Sarah are
probably buried with the Deckers in an unknown cemetery on Buffalo Branch.
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