The Ten Tribes of David Stiles
In her book A History of the David Stiles Family: A Genealogy 1575-1980, historian Lois Sparks wrote about Stiles, Kentucky; the home of the Ten Tribes of David Stiles.
"In Nelson County, Kentucky, about eighteen miles from Bardstown, a valley bordering the Rolling Fork River and the surrounding hills constitute the site of a community known as Stiles, Kentucky. In 1809, when David Stiles settled here, or soon thereafter, this village was called Rolling Fork, Kentucky, and must have had a post office under this name since it is recorded that David Stiles’ oldest son, Lewis, was appointed postmaster of Rolling Fork, Kentucky, in 1824.
One other Stiles person is known to have been postmistress at Stiles, Kentucky. There may have been others of whom we have no record, but it is recorded that Fannie Beeler Willette was postmistress in the early 1900s.
The Union Band Baptist Church embraces some of the interesting history of Stiles, Kentucky. The first church, which burned in 1922, was located in the center of the Stiles Cemetery, on land donated by
John Stiles, son of David. The present church, completed and dedicated in 1924, was designed by Annie Byron Coakley, mother of George Gray Stiles and Dorothy Belle Stiles Miller, and was built approximately two hundred yards from the old church site, nearer the highway. Kentucky Stiles family reunions have been held annually in the Union Band Baptist church since 1938. (The first two reunions were held at the home of Margaret Beale Wilson LaRue).
While this writer’s father, Lewis Ogden Stiles, was preparing his family history in 1938-39, he frequently visited family members in Stiles, Kentucky. A further description of this center of the Kentucky family shall be in his words:
In Nelson County, between Howardstown and Raywick, on a nice hard surfaced road which connects with a paved highway both at Athertonville and Lebanon, stands the little town of Stiles. In itself it is of no more importance to those who share its name. Especially to those who live far from this village, it serves as a friendly land mark of the original family home; friendly since its dwellers are largely of their own blood and name. Just beyond a narrow fertile valley flows the Rolling Fork River, scarcely large enough to be called a river, but large enough to provide flat boat and raft transportation for our forefathers, large enough at times to be a serious barrier to cart and carriage of the early days, and a raging peril when on a rampage after a downpour. It was here in this valley that David Stiles established, in 1809, a home for his family, now known as the Stiles Family of Kentucky, which may now be estimated as near five thousand souls; and it was just here on this river that Joe Maxwell, his boat caught in the tree limbs, went in search of an axe and found a bride (Eunice, Fam. 531). The fateful tree stood for years with their names carved upon it but investigation shows no trace of it; evidently gone with the years, but it is said that the wood bearing the names was sawed away by their descendants and has been preserved.”As we enter Stiles from the west we pass in succession these homes: Thomas Harned on the right; Willett Stiles and his wife Emma Mae Brown on the left; then we behold the only business sign in the village, “Willett Stiles – General Merchandise” (also Post Master and operator of a gasoline station); at a distance from the road stands the boyhood home of Dr. A.T. McCormick, now Chairman of the Kentucky State Board of Health; then more homes: Edward Joseph Stiles and Carrie Stiles on the right; Robert Doran Gaddie on the left.
In the east end of town on the right stands the little Methodist church and at the end of perhaps one fourth mile through the open valley we find on the left the Union Band Baptist Church on the lawn of which the Stiles reunion was held in 1938.
On a gentle rise a few yards to the rear of the Union Band Church is located the cemetery. Almost every stone that meets the eye bears the name, Stiles, or those added through marriage.
Here rests the first Kentucky forefather of the Stiles family, David Stiles. Any stone that may have marked his grave has long since broken down and we find now only a large boulder on which is roughly carved, ‘D.S. 1760-1839.’ It is hoped that the family may at an early date provide funds sufficient to procure and erect a stone more worthy of their pioneer ancestor.
Across the road from the church and cemetery, towering above the landscape, rises a lofty height, a sheer wall of earth, the Mt. Pisgah of the Stiles family. To any person with the courage and endurance to reach the summit, it would afford an unbroken view of the ‘Promised Land’ of our forefathers. This elevation is currently known as Mt. Pisgah (Deut. 34: 1-8).
Here on the right of the road is the farm home of Proctor Brown whose daughter, Emma Mae, married Willett Stiles, the town merchant; adjoining it also on the right is the pioneer home farm of our forefather, David Stiles. On this location of the original home which was destroyed by fire, stands the attractive home of Burr Harrison Stiles. This home place has been occupied successively by John Stiles, Jonathan Stiles and Burr Harrison Stiles, since the passing of its pioneer owner.
Margaret Beall Wilson LaRue
1890 - 1971
Still further on the same road one and one half miles eastwardly from Stiles on the right is the former home of Capt. Lewis of the second generation (in Kentucky) and that of Ogden Willet Stiles now owned by Burr H. Stiles; at two miles on the right the former home of La Fayette Stiles now occupied by his unmarried children, Rhoda, Rebecca, La Fayette, and Cleveland; then almost immediately on the left, the former home of VanBuren Stiles; still further, about six miles out toward Raywick, near each other, are the nice country homes of Margaret Wilson LaRue and Mina Wilson LaRue.
I would that some word of mine might immortalize this home of my father, my grandfather, my great-grandfather, and my great-great-grandfather.”
~ by Lois Ogden Stiles Sparks, 1980
Source
A History of the David Stiles Family: A Genealogy 1575-1980; Lois Ogden Stiles Sparks, 1980.
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