James Trotter, Jr

1753 - 1827  (~ 74 years)

• Name	James Trotter, Jr  [1, 2]
  Suffix	Jr
  Born	May 1753	Augusta Co., Virginia   [2]
  Gender	Male
  Census	1810	Lexington, Fayette, Kentucky   [3]
  Residence	1810	Lexington, Fayette, Kentucky   [3]
  	With a woman over age 45 and twenty-one slaves
  Census	1820	Fayette Co., Kentucky   [4]
  Residence	1820	Fayette Co., Kentucky   [4]
  	With a boy and two girls under age 10, a man age 16 to 25, a woman age 26 to 44, and twenty-seven slaves
  Died	5 Aug 1827	Lexington, Fayette, Kentucky   [2]
  Buried	Lexington, Fayette, Kentucky   [2]
  	Trotter Cemetery [2] Morning Herald [Kentucky] 25 Apr 1899 ? Law and Sentiment Outraged Under Sections 1335 and 1336 of the Kentucky Statutes it is made a misdemeanor for anyone to unlawfully or secretly disinter or displace any dead human body from the grave or vault in which it has been deposited, or any one to willfully mutilate the rave in which any one has been buried. This is a proper law and ought to be enforced. It is particularly so in the State. Formerly each family had its family burying ground near to the family homestead, in which were buried the members of the family and its servants. These burying grounds as rule were inclosed [sic] in stone fences. It is not often that the homestead remains in the same family for several generations, and, therefore, these burying grounds are left to the protection of the sentiment of humanity, which makes graves and grave yards sacred, and to the law. It has been found difficult to preserve such burying grounds and many of our larger families have taken the precaution to remove their dead and the monuments over their graves to public cemeteries. Among the most conspicuous of the early families of Lexington and Fayette County was the Trotter family. The beautiful woodland now known as Chautauqua, and the suburb known as Woodland was owned by this family, and the mansion house erected by it. The plantation originally was much larger than the 110 acres known as the Erwin place, or Woodland, and included what was known as the "Trotter woods" and many other acres on the southwest side of the Tate's Creek pike. The descendants of that family are still among us, among the most respectable of our citizens. Leslie Combs, Esq., Captain Samuel T. Leavy, at one time Senator from the Woodford District, and various others represent the present generation of Trotters. The history of Lexington could not be written no understood without frequent mention of this name. Members of this family were actors in some of the most dramatic and sensational events in our history; among them were men of the highest ability and character, who filled the most important stations; and among the women of the family were some of the most beautiful, attractive and fascinating women of the nation. Very early, possibly over a century ago, Mr. Trotter constructed in the thick woods now lying on the northwest of the Tate's Creek pike a large and imposing vault, and it was for probably over ninety years one of the most conspicuous and well-known of the landmarks of Lexington and Fayette County. "Trotter's Woods" and "Trotter's Vault" were as well known as the fair grounds or race course of cemetery is now known. It is inconceivable that anyone who ever lived in Lexington could have been so ignorant of the history of Lexington, and of its families and of its surroundings as not to have known of the conspicuity of the Trotter family and of the existence of the Trotter Vault. There is, therefore, no excuse that we can imagine for the desecration of that vault, for the wanton and sacriligous [sic] sacking of its chambers and the savage distribution of the sacred relics therein contained. We can not conceive of how it was possible for any one to confound it with an Indian mound or to imagine that some ancient relic had been discovered. We have no personal feeling in this matter, and we did not on yesterday refer to the remarkable article in The Sunday Leader. Because we thought it best to wait until the descendants of the Trotters could have an opportunity to see that article, and to take such steps as they might think proper. But there is a public side to this as well as a private side. Scattered all over Kentucky are family graveyards. Many of them are located upon farms long passed out of the ownership and control of the families represented by the dead in those graves. The protection to those grave yards lies partly in the prompt execution of the law and in the name of those Kentuckians scattered all over the South, West and East, we submit to the authorities of Fayette County whether it is not imperative to see that this action is investigated and that the perpetrators of this outrage upon the dead are punished. [2]
  Notes	Said to have moved to Kentucky in 1784 Not found in online probate records for Fayette Co,. Kentucky (though indexing and organization are not good) (21 Feb 2016)
  Person ID	I572	Wm L Gann Ancestors
  Last Modified	22 Feb 2016

  
  

  Family	Margaret Downey,   b. 1755,   d. 19 Apr 1816, Lexington, Fayette, Kentucky  (Age 61 years)
  Last Modified	27 Mar 2014
  Family ID	F229	Group Sheet

  
  

• Sources

  [S40191] Find a Grave, Jim Tipton, founder, (http://www.findagrave.com), Memorial# 88727021 (Reliability: 1), 28 Mar 2014. [S40191] Find a Grave, Jim Tipton, founder, (http://www.findagrave.com), Memorial# 88726184 (Reliability: 1), 28 Mar 2014. [S40182] 1810 United States Federal Census, Ancestry.com, (Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010), p. 798, Lexington, Fayette, Kentucky (Reliability: 2), 28 Mar 2014. [S40181] 1820 United States Federal Census, Ancestry.com, (Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010), p. 101, Fayette Co., Kentucky (Reliability: 2), 28 Mar 2014.