Vinson Green Wesley

   Death Notes:

The Casey County Tornado of the year 1878: Retyped from a retype by Chester Ware, The story originally published in the Casey County news many years ago:
On the 2nd day of March, 1878, there were two storms raging in the Gilpin section of Casey County, one on the north side of Jonothan Fork and the other on the south side of Jonothan Fork. They came together about the head of the creek and formed a tornado which wwept everything in its path as it traveled at a terrific speed.
The first building of any note in the path of the storm was a cabin in which James Lawless and family lived. It took the top off this building and passed on to the home of Vinson G Wesley, where Mr. Wesley and wife, Peg, as she was familiarly known, Bell and ann, two daughters, also V. Green Richardson, Johnson Sloan and William Taylor, a brother of Mrs. Wesley, were sitting around in the kitchen after having eaten dinner.
Hearing a stormcoming they went into the front room, which was larger and all managed to get into the front room except Mr. Richardson, who saw rails, boards and lumber flying in the air as he reached the door and turned back into the kitchen, as there was an open passway between the kitchen and the front room. He saw the top of the kitchen and the walls blown away down to the floor and that was the last he knew until he came to himself under a lot of logs. He attempted to extricate himself but found that he was held fast. About this time there came another gust of wind and the logs were blown away.
He got up and looked around but could not see the house or barn and said for a few minutes he did not know whether he was in another world or not. By this time the neighbors had begun to gather and he was taken in charge.
The body of uncle Vince was found inside the yard with one arm cut off and a wall of the house was lying on top of him. The girls were all dead. The body of Aunt Peg was found about a quarter of a mile away. All her clothes were stripped from her. Her underskirt which was made of lindsey was found about seven mules away on the Elliott place. Some of the wuilts that were blown from the bed were also found near the body. It has always been thought that Aunt Peg and the bed were taken up in the "funnel" of the tornado as Aunt Peg would always run and get in bed in time of a storm, as there was an old saying that feathers were a non-conductor of lightning.
The house was built of logs and they were scattered for a quarter of a mile. One of the logs was carried about a quarter of a mile and driven into the ground six or seven feet. There was a beech tree standing near the spring that was about 16 inches in diameter and it was some 12 or 14 feet to the first limb. The wind twisted it around, until it was a bundle of splinters, but the roots remained intact. The barn was also built of logs, but the floor was about three feet above the ground, this space used for a sheep house, then the walls were built on top of this floor. A shed was built all around and stalls were in this shed. The stock must have all been in or around the barn when the storm struck as they were found nearby all dead except the sheep which were in the sheep house. All the barn was blown away except the sheep house part. A five dollar bill was found hanging on a briar in perfect condition.
The tornado passed through the Mt. Olive section, tearing down fences, uprooting trees and the dwelling of Dr. Sherd McClure was moved a few inches from its foundatin.
The age of the victims were:
Vinson G. Wesley 57 years
Margaret (Peg) Wesley 53 years
Elizabeth Ann Wesley 25 years
Martha Bell Wesley 17 years
By J.B. Wesley Bethelridge, KY. from the Edwin H. Wesley collection.

Vinson married Margaret (Peg) Taylor on 9 Jan 1843. (Margaret (Peg) Taylor was born in 1825 and died on 2 Mar 1878 in Jonothan Fork, Casey, Kentucky.)