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- They moved from VA to Woodford Co., KY soon after the Revolutionary War.
Martinette Viley Witherspoon took notes from her mother, Catherine Janes Martin Viley, as follows "Grandmother Hale was a large fleshy woman with light hair and blue eyes. She always dressed in bombazine with a long train and when she walked out in the grass little negroes followed and held up her dress. Grandfather Hale lived high and was a rich man. He died before he spent all of his immense wealth. Left it all to his wife to do with as she pleased....There were no rogues or rascals in the family. Grandmother gave all her children nice homes, negroes etc.--a good start in life. Grandmother was a member of the Episcopalian Church and thought it was vulgar to be a Baptist (as several of her children were). She owned the first and only carriage in all the section where she lived and all the neighbors borrowed it, her two horses and the driver when they went to Lexington shopping, which journey they made only twice a year. The carriage was lined with red leather and the border was pinked and fastened around the top with brass headed tacks. It seated four persons and the driver rode on one of the pairs of horses and had a saddle to match the carriage. The footman had a seat outside on the back of the carriage. The carriage was swung high and had steps to let down, had the big gooseneck springs out behind. Grandmother would go, with some of her daughters to Lexington and such loads and bolts of goods as she would bring home! In the summer she would always go to the springs (her old Virginia habit I suppose) and would make these long journeys in her carriage, would always take her maid and one little grand daughter, she said she took one because she could manage one and make her behave. My mother said she remembered when her time came and she went on her first wonderful journey with her Grandmother; she had a good time but her grandmother made her "walk a chalk line." The maid had to dress her grandmother and her."
Smith Hale (spelled Heale in Va.) "was regarded as one of the wealthiest, as well as one of the most influential men in the county, as he owned thirty-one slaves who did service on his large estate. His farm was near Spring Station" and he and his wife are buried there privately (though the marble shaft and tombstones were removed and used in "constructing a driveway for the living.") Smith Hale "always appeared in public with knee pants, stockings, shoes with buckles, sweeping coat of the pigeon-tail variety, colonial hat and hair in queue." (from Wm. E. Railey's History of Woodford County, Kentucky, 1975). One story is that went he had bills at the end of the year, he would sell off a slave in Lexington; his son-in-law Nathan Payne would get him drunk and then all his money would be gone and he would have to sell another. to settle his bill. I've seen a letter that Catherine Jane Viley dictated a few days before she died in 1886 to Mr. Wise: "About the Smith Hale Spoliation Claim I know so little, would not attempt an answer were it not through courtesy to you. I suppose it would come under the head of 'French Spoliation Claims.' Smith Hale, my grandfather, and some other wealthy private individuals, fitted up some ships to be sent to help Lafayette in his attempt to establish a Republic (like ours). It was during Washington's presidency. The ships were destroyed by our government, if I understand aright, and never reached France, and these men thought they ought to be indemnified for their loss. The bill passed through both houses many times, and I think was signed by two Presidents. Arthur certainly did, just before he went out of office. At Grandmother Hale's death, she gave all the old papers to her oldest child, and if they are still preserved, the oldest heirs would know of them, among whom are Amelia Patterson, who married I don't know whom, and lives near Otterville, Cooper Co., Mo."
Children:
m. (1) John Moffett: Hiram; m. (2) William Patterson of Cooper Co. MO Katherine, m. William Payne of Lexington KY Margaret, m. Captain Merry of MO Maria, m. Edward Payne of KY Jane Susanna Smith (1802-1835), m. William Holman Martin Lewis Douglas, m. Letitia Flournoy (Huguenot from VA?) Antoinette Caroline, m. Dr. Ezra Offut 4/1828 Armistead Patrick Douglas George William Eliza, m. (1) William Hamilton, m. (2) Marquis Calmes (son of Marquis Calmes and Priscille Hale) Louisa
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