Genealogy Richard Remmé, The Hague, Netherlands » Ebenezer Catlin Guest (1817-????)

Personal data Ebenezer Catlin Guest 

• He was born on January 6, 1817 in Albany, Albany County, New York.Source 7
• A child of John I. Guest and Eleanor Catlin
• This information was last updated on December 4, 2022.

Household of Ebenezer Catlin Guest

(1) He is married to Esther Mary Evans.

They got married in the year 1837 at Barren County, Kentucky, he was 19 years old.Source 7

Child(ren):

1. Eleanor C. Guest  1847-1853
2. Henry C. Guest  ± 1849-????
3. Caroline E. Guest  ± 1851-????

(2) He is married to Mary A. Taylor.

They got married on September 7, 1864 at Barren County, Kentucky, he was 47 years old.

Child(ren):

1. Ebenezer Catlin Guest  ± 1867-????

Notes about Ebenezer Catlin Guest

Ebenezer Guest's date of birth is given here as 1817, rather than the 1815 date given in "Kentucky: A Histgory of the State" In every census between 1850 and 1880, Ebenezer gives an age implying a birthdate between 1817-1819, never any earlier.  On the other hand, his borther, who was also born in 1815 according to printed sources, has census data and tombstone.inscription consistent with a birthdate of 1815. It seems unlikely that Eleanor Catlin Guest gave birth to one son in January 1815 and a second son in September 1815.

Information concerning Ebenezer Catlin Guest from Patti Guest:
At the age of 20, he joined a regiment of New York Volunteers, with the purpose of joining Papineau in the Canadian rebellion, but the regiment was disbanded before entering into active service.  Ebenezer then joined a “Band of Americans” and assisted in the destruction of British vessels: the “Sir Robert Peel” on Lake Champlain, and the “British Queen” on Lake Ontario, in retaliation for the loss of the “Caroline,” which was burned by the British on the Niagara River.
Ebenezer engaged with a clock manufacturing company, and went on a collecting tour through the South and West for 2 or 3 years.  In 1837, he married Esther, daughter of Major Joseph Evans, of Burren County, KY, who died Dec. 22, 1861, leaving 2 children, one being a son who died from small pox when a young man.  In 1843, Ebenezer settled in Russellville, KY, and was engaged in a stove and tinware trade; sold out in 1846, and removed to Rochester, Butler County, and went into the tobacco trade.  The next year he joined the regiment called the “Tennessee Tigers”, for the Mexican war.  The government refused to enlist them, and they returned home.  Ebenezer continued in the tobacco trade and in 1853 invested heavily, and through a depreciation in the market value, lost about $16,000.  In the next year he put his son in business and sold out his own interest to a partner, who went into bankruptcy, by which Ebenezer lost $8,000.  In 1858 he suffered by fire the loss of his dwelling, warehouse, and store, including stock of goods and tobacco.  He immediately rebuilt and continued the traffic, to which he added the hoop pole and stave trade.  At the beginning of the civil war, Ebenezer took his position in favor of neutrality, and consequently could not procure goods for his trade and was forced to suspend business.  He then recruited a company of 110 men for State service, but before he could procure arms for them from the government, about 80 of the company joined the Federal army, and the company was disbanded.  Ebenezer married Mary Taylor in 1863.  She was from Barren County, KY.  She died in 1872, leaving one son, Eben C.  At her death, she left her household affairs in charge of an aged woman, who was a slave to Robert Todd.  Ebenezer was a Royal Arch Mason, in Russellville Chapter No. 8, and a Democrat, but was an “Old Line Whig”.  He believed in free thought in religious matters, and was highly respected as a man and citizen by all who knew him.

The Robert Todd mentioned above was the father of Mary Lincoln Todd (Abe Lincoln’s wife).  Todd was a confederate with slaves in that area.  He also lost 3 sons in the Confederate Army.

When Ebenezer first moved to Rochester KY during the 1840’s, he lived his first years at the Anne Roberts Hotel in lower Rochester on Water Street, along with other boarders such as Margaret L. Pitts, Robert J. McDowell, Naomi McDowell, Wallace and Lawrence Redding, and Ebenezer’s wife, Esther and 2 children: Elenor and Henry C. Guest.  Elenor was born in 1847 and Henry was born in 1850.  On July 16, 1852, Henry C. Allin and Naomi F. Allinb, William S. McDowell’s widow, appointed Ebenezer C. Guest and John E. Pendleton of Hartford as their true and lawful attorneys to settle the estate of William S. McDowell.  On Sept. 5, 1855, Guest bought the W. S. McDowell estate.  This property made up almost the entire town of Rochester.  Most of the property lay in what is known as Upper Rochester along Russellville Street and Ferry Street.  His little girl, Elenor, died in 1853 at age 6.  She was one of the first people to be buried in the Rochester Cemetery. His first wife, Esther, died in 1861, at age 35, and she is also buried in the Rochester Cemetery.

In 1863, Ebenezer built a home in Rochester and is now a Kentucky Landmark.  Ebenezer lived in the house at least until 1880.  This information came from 2 sources:  “KY: A History of the State, by Battle, Perrin, Kaufflin, 1985” and an article from a Rochester County newspaper dated March 15, 1983, titled “Ebenezer Guest House: Kentucky Landmark” by Roger G. Givens.

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Timeline Ebenezer Catlin Guest

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