Church Sunday

 

   

     The following article is from The Wrightsville Headlight, Wrightsville, Georgia, Thursday, May 8, 1958, the Centennial Edition.  It was written by a Committee of Oaky Grove Church.

Oaky Grove History Dates Way Back to 1820 and Wee Log Church

    "Oaky Grove Church, located in Johnson County 10 miles east of Wrightsville [and 8.7 miles northwest of Kite] just off Highway 319 was organized in August, 1818 under the name of "Gum Log" by Elders Benjamin Manning and Jordan Smith.  Charter members were Bros. Hardy Johnson, Lewis St. John, Samson Powell, James Johnson, Michael Lighter, Ely Yates, Isaac Norris, John Taylor, Joseph Brantley, Thomas Fennell, Abner Sandford, Allen White and Sisters Milly Johnson, Rebecca Swain, Catherine Yates, Charlotte Johnson, Dorcos Johnson, Patience Powell, Susannah Davis and Lucy St. John.

    Log Church Built

    In May, 1920, the church agreed to the report of the committee 'to build the new meeting house below the public road on the north side of the Ohoopee River. The house to be built of  "hewed logs" size 22 X 30 feet.'

    About this time the monthly meeting was changed from the first to the fourth Sunday in each month. Services are held on the second and fourth Sundays now [1958].

    The church was identified with the Hepzibah Association until 1929. Division over the mission question about 1830 led to the organization of 'The United Baptist Conference.' This name was changed to Canoochee Baptist Association the same year.

    Church Name Changed

    In 1831 the name Gum Log was changed to Oaky Grove. In 1847 the association was divided into two bodies, upper and lower Canoochee.  Oaky Grove allied with the upper Canoochee. 

    In July, 1847, Brother Lanier Powell tendered a deed to a certain parcel of land on which to build a new church house. It was accepted and a larger church was built.

    In the contention over the question of churches continuing to accept baptisms from the Missionary Baptist Churches, in 1866 Oaky Grove, Sardis, Providence, and Philadelphia withdrew from the association and according to best information, organized the Ohoopee Association in 1867.

    Oaky Grove continued with that body until 1885, during which time quite a number of churches were added to the Ohoopee Association, but on account of some disorders a dissatisfaction arose and Oaky Grove, Sardis, Providence, Reedy Springs, Swift Creek (now Oak Ridge) and Piney Grove organized the 'New Union Association.'

    Records show that an effort was being made from about 1872 to reunite Oaky Grove Church with the upper Canoochee Assn. In 1879 a committee appointed by upper Canoochee Assn. made investigations and reported Oaky Grove an orthodox and orderly church. Having been received into the upper Canoochee Assn. in 1895, she has remained there until now [1958].** 

  

    The present church building was built in 1903. The present membership numbers about 200 active and inactive members [1958]. *

    * Current membership numbers are unavailable.

    ** Oaky Grove Church is now an independent/local fellowship and is not associated with the Upper Canoochee Primitive Baptist Association.

    Oaky Grove Pastors

    Pastors serving this church during the years were Elders:

        Benjamin Manning, 1818

        Jordan Smith, 1823

        Isaac Norris, 1839

        David Lamb 1860

        William Norris, 1862

        Edward Riner, 1877

        Henry Meeks, 1885;

        Joel Anderson to Meeks, 1890

        Elders J. N. Smith with Henry Meeks, 1891

        Henry Meeks, 1892

        W. J. Brown to assist Elder Meeks, 1896

        Meeks and Brown, 1899

        Meeks, 1900

        Henry Meeks and Joseph Kersey, 1910

        W. A. Lamb, 1912

        T. E. Silkes, 1915

        W. A. Lamb, 1916

        W. B. Screws, 1924

        W. H. Crouse, 1932

        S. M. Claxton, 1937;

        A. L. Brannen, Jr., 1949

        Elder Eugene Price and the Present Pastor, Elder Maurice Riner [1958]

        

        [The current pastor is Dr. Tom Akins, 1997-now.]

    Preachers ordained were Isaac Norris, Joseph Brantley, William Norris, J. P. Steptoe."

    There are 164 members of my family, especially the Tapleys, buried at Oaky Grove Church.  I believe the reason is proximity.  Oaky Grove is on the same road on which my great-great-grandfather's (Samuel Page Jr, 1800-1860) land was located.  This land became Tapley land after my great-grandmother, Becky Page Tapley, 1844-1924 married my great-grandfather, Jim Tapley, 1847-1912 .  

    Here are are a few family tombstones located at Oaky Grove:

Wedding Wednesday

Newspapers.com, The Macon  Telegraph, Macon, Georgia, Friday, November 16, 1951, Page 20

 1951 wedding announcement for

Eva Henrietta Claxton
1923-2008

and

Lewis Edward Lindsey
1928-1999

There are a few things about this announcement that I particularly enjoy or find odd:

    -     You've got to love the headline:  "Kite Girl, Dublin Man Wed." Were those two never supposed to mix? Why was she the "girl" and he was the "man" when she was 5 years older than him?

    -    They used to freely print people's home address in the paper - "... the couple will live at 105 N. Church Street, Dublin."

    -    The actual date of the wedding is not included in the article at all.

Mappy Monday

 

Johnson County Highway Map, 1932, State Highway Board of Georgia, Held by Georgia Archives, Morrow, Georgia, Digital Collection: County Maps, Surveyor General, RG 3-9-66

    My family's roots run deep in Johnson County, Georgia.  Since it's Monday, I thought I would try to show a map of  the general areas where three of my ancestral families settled.

    My branch of the Tapley family lived near Fortner Mill Pond which is near Powell's Chapel United Methodist Church. As a matter of fact, that area was named Powell on census records.  This area is between Kite and Bartow (Jefferson County) off Highway 221.  The land had originally belonged to the Solomon Page family but when my great-grandparents married - Jim Tapley and Becky Page, it became Tapley land.  Each one of their married children was given a plot of land so they were all neighbors.  

    My Drake family was from Adrian. Now Adrian straddles the Johnson and Emanuel County lines.  Some Drakes lived in each county, but my line - the children of James William Drake and Mary Ann Brantley - were born and spent their childhoods in Emanuel County.  Unfortunately, I do not know where their land was exactly.  They attended Poplar Springs Church which is in Johnson County.  

    George Schwalls settled outside of Kite near the Tom community.  He and his family attended Minton Chapel church and many are buried there. I do not know the location of their homeplace. Since George is my biggest brick wall, and my friend says he was a spy, I guess way out in the country in Johnson  County is as good a place as any to hide.  

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- Your Ancestors in the 1930s Great Depression

  From Randy (my cousin) over at Genea-Musings:

it's Saturday Night - 

time for more Genealogy Fun!!!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:

1)  What did your ancestral families do during the Great Depression (1930-1940)?  Did they keep their jobs and standard of living?  Did they suffer personally or economically?  

2)  Share your information about your ancestors in the Great Depression in your own blog post, in a comment on this post, or in a Facebook or other social media post.  Please leave a link to your post on this blog post to help us find your post.

Here's mine:

My paternal grandparents, Lusion Keman 'Loosh' Tapley (1870-1935) and Nealie Vermell Drake Tapley (1895-1970) resided in Johnson County, Georgia, between Kite and Bartow during the 1920's and early 1930's.  They had six children at home (5 boys and 1 girl), including my father, the youngest.  They were farmers and things got hard after the 1930 census.  They lost their home and had to move into a rental house in Wadley.  I believe this is what led to Loosh's passing in 1935.  He was a broken man after he lost the farm.  

In the 1930 census, they owned their own home.  There is no value listed on the census, but they owned it.  Papa was 57 and Grandma Nealie was 35 years old.  

I asked Gemini about the conditions for farmers in Georgia after the stock market crash.  Here is its reply:

    "Following the 1929 stock market crash, the condition for farmers in Georgia was already dire, as the state had been struggling with agricultural decline for most of the 1920s.  The crash served as a catalyst that intensified these existing hardships into a full-scale catastrophe."

    "Even before 1929, Georgia farmers faced significant obstacles:

    *    The Boll Weevil: Arriving in Georgia around 1915, this pest ravaged cotton crops, causing a massive decline in production and profitability.

    *    Soil Depletion: Decades of "cash-crop" agriculture (focusing almost exclusively on cotton) exhausted the soil. Practices like intertilling and poor contour plowing led to severe erosion and reduced land productivity.

    *    Economic Pressures: Farmers were struggling with falling cotton prices, high debt from purchasing new machinery they could barely afford, and a major three-year drought that began in 1925.

    When the stock market crashed, the situation for the state's predominantly rural population (69% in 1930) deteriorated further:

    *    Widespread Poverty: The typical farm family lived without electricity, running water, or indoor plumbing. Diets were poor, often consisting only of molasses, fatback, and cornbread.

    *    Foreclosures and Sharecropping: As bank failures spread and loans dried up, many farmers could not pay their debts and were forced off their land. By the onset of the Great Depression, approximately 2/3 of Georgia's farmland rather than owners.

    *    The 1930-1931 Drought: To make matters worse, the state experienced its worst drought on record shortly after the crash, which decimated what little production remained."

    According to the Mortgage Default filed by the The Federal Land Bank of Columbia (South Carolina), my grandparents borrowed $1,000 to buy their home and land in May of 1924.  There were two parcels of land; one was 58 1/2 acres and the other was 142 acres. By March of 1932, they were behind three payments in the total amount of $97.50.  So their home was foreclosed and sold "at public outcry before the courthouse door" on March 1, 1932 for $750 cash.  I am betting that my grandparents owed the bank the other $250 plus interest and fees after the sale.  

    My grandparents moved into rental housing. They and their older sons because sharecroppers.  My grandfather died in 1935, probably from a broken heart. My grandmother was left with six children from ages 19 down to 7 to support on her own.  They moved around a lot, probably following the jobs.  

    My maternal grandparents, Charles Morgan Tapley (1907-1973) and Ethel Irene Ranney Tapley (1913-1973) were not married to each other until the late 1930s.  My grandfather lived with his first wife and her parents in Covina, California on the 1930 census.  He was listed as a Preacher.  

    My maternal grandmother was 16 years old and lived in Redlands, California according to the 1930 census. Her parents owned their home and its value was $6,000. They also owned a radio, whereas my paternal grandparents did not. Her father (Luther Boardman Ranney [1870-1943]) is listed as a Pruner for private families.  Grandma Ethel mentions in her diary from that time that her father (age 60 in 1930) did work for the WPA (Works Progress Administration) during the 1930's.  The family seemed to survive the Great Depression well because she doesn't mention any hardships.

Friday Faces from the Past

 Lincelia E "Celia" Claxton Schwalls

b. 10 Apr 1839 in Edgefield County, South Carolina, USA

d. 18 Jan 1882 in Johnson County, Georgia,  USA

    Celia married George W Schwalls Sr. in 1866 in Edgefield County, South Carolina.  He moved her to Kite, Johnson, Georgia, USA. They had seven children together before Celia's early passing at age 42.

    Celia was one of the 10 children of Zachariah William Claxton (1806-1895) and Lincelia 'Lincely' Bush Claxton (1806-1872).  They are the reason I am related to Claxtons everywhere, it seems.  I have found several folks I went to high school with who, unbeknownst to me, are my cousins... through the Claxton line.  I do believe I am related to more Claxtons than Tapleys!

    Celia Claxton Schwalls was my 2nd great-grandmother:

Tombstone Tuesday - Robert L Kight

 

  I asked ChatGPT about the symbolism at the top of the headstone, and this is what it shared:

"The symbolism on this headstone is quite meaningful. The carved image at the top shows a hand pointing downward, with what appears to be rings or chains around the fingers.

Interpretation:

1. Hand Pointing Downward – While a hand pointing upward typically symbolizes the soul ascending to heaven, a downward-pointing hand can have multiple interpretations. In some cases, it represents the "Hand of God" reaching down to take the soul to the afterlife. It does not necessarily symbolize damnation, as some might think, but rather divine intervention or guidance.

2. Rings or Chain Links – The presence of rings or a chain could represent a connection between the deceased and those left behind. If they are broken links, this may symbolize a "broken chain," often used to indicate the passing of a family member, breaking the earthly bond with loved ones.

3. Fraternal or Religious Symbolism – Sometimes, hands on tombstones are associated with fraternal organizations like the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF), Freemasons, or other societies that used specific hand symbols to denote membership. If this person was affiliated with such a group, the rings or chain might indicate their involvement.

At first glance, it  [the image above the hand] might look like a lamb, but upon closer inspection, it appears to be a cloud or cuffed sleeve from which the hand is emerging. This design is common in 19th and early 20th-century gravestones, symbolizing the Hand of God reaching down.

However, if it were a lamb, that would carry Christian symbolism, as the lamb represents Jesus Christ (the "Lamb of God") and innocence, often seen on the graves of children. The texture and weathering of the stone may make it look more ambiguous."

  Robbie was only 17 years old when he passed away.  

Robert Lee "Robbie" Kight/Kite

 

b 30 Jan 1886 in Georgia, USA

d 02 Feb 1903 in Georgia, USA

 

laid to rest at

Kite City Cemetery

Kite, Johnson County, Georgia, USA

 

Son of

William Norris "Bill" Kight (1851-1919)

and Sarah L Tapley (1854-1923)

 

Robbie was my 3rd cousin, 2x removed.  

 

Our common ancestor is 

Newhampton Tapley (?-abt 1807)

Black Sheep Sunday - Hugh Dorsey Tapley (1919-2007)

   When my grandfather, Lusion K Tapley died in 1935, my grandmother, Nealie Drake Tapley, was only 40 years old. She had six children to support, ranging in age from 7 years old (my father, Gilbert, the youngest) to 20 years old (my Uncle Lamar, the oldest).  She worked various jobs over the years, from telephone operator to sharecropping.  The oldest boys all worked on local farms to help out. No matter how hard the labor she had to do to make a living, I am sure that raising 5 boys and a girl was harder, especially in their teenage years.  There are so many stories in our family of how the boys would try to get away with something and Grandma's creative kind of discipline to deal with their mischief. To say that Grandma Nealie had her hands full is an understatement.  She had to work hard to keep up with those children, especially the boys.

  Uncle Hugh was the 3rd oldest. He was 15 years old when their father died.  He was wild as a buck the next few years.  It seemed that every time his older brother, Russ, would get into trouble, Hugh would catch the blame and part of the punishment, even when he didn't deserve it.  There is no way of knowing exactly how losing his father at a young age, trying to stay out of trouble with his very religious and tough mother, trying to keep up with his two older brothers, the hard work of farm life, the endless poverty and struggle to have food to eat... how all of that combined in him to form the man he became.  

  Uncle Hugh was a complicated man. Was he a black sheep? Maybe not, but he was definitely borderline scoundrel.  

Arrow points to Hugh Tapley
circa 1942-1944

  There were some signs. He dated a local girl, Annie Lois Gladin, who ended up marrying his oldest brother, Lamar.  He also dated a girl named Blanche Dixon, and because of the events in the story I'm about to share with you, they broke up and she married Hugh's brother, Dempsey.  As soon as he could,  Hugh got a good, civilian job at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, Florida, probably so he wouldn't have to worry about money so much again. Uncle Hugh was very tight with his money; however, he and my father always seemed to be in some kind of contest of who had the nicer car.  If Uncle Hugh went and bought a new car, my father followed suit... and vice versa.  Hugh liked nice cars, especially Lincolns. Uncle Hugh could be abusive to his wife and four children. He had money for nice cars, but didn't always share that money for food or clothes for the kids. 

  Like most everyone, Hugh was not all bad.  He was a scoundrel, but loveable.  He could do something bad and then turn around and do something good.  The following story is an example of this.  I am going to share this story almost exactly as my father always told it, so I am sure there are some discrepancies included.   

  Sometime around 1938, when Hugh would have been about 19-20 years old, he borrowed a mule and a buggy from his friend's, James Burnett, employer (on a local farm), and he and James went out to the  local honkytonk called the Beeline right at the city limits of Kite,  on the road to Swainsboro.  After a night of drinking and good times, the two went outside to get the mule and buggy to head home. They got into an argument over where the mule was tied, and James Burnett called Hugh a "SOB." Hugh quickly told him to take that back or he would cut James's throat.  James refused to take it back. So as any 19-20 year old Southern boy defending his honor would do, Hugh pulled out his pocket knife.  But then he cut James's throat... literally from ear to ear.  Maybe the act sobered him up. Maybe he just realized what he had done, and he wanted to fix it. Either way, he proceeded to carry James Burnett to the doctor's house to have him sewn up, and thus saved his life. 

  Then self-preservation kicked in. He left James, at the doctor's supposedly, and returned to the bar to get the mule and buggy. He went to the home of his older (half) brother, James (or Fella as the family called him), and told him what happened.  I think all of the kids went to Uncle James at one point or another for help or advice.  He was the type to give you the shirt off his back.  Anyway, Fella must have told Hugh to go to Wrightsville and see their Uncle Jim (James L "Jim" Tapley [1868-1941]), who was a long-time Johnson County Sheriff's Deputy.  

  So Hugh rode to Wrightsville, a distance of about 10 miles, in the middle of the night by mule and buggy.  He told Uncle Jim what happened, and Jim's first question was "Do you have a gun?" Hugh said he did not.  Uncle Jim's advice? Get a gun and watch his back as far as Burnett goes. So it was then that Uncle Hugh left town and went to Jacksonville, Florida in order to give James Burnett some time to calm down.  

  I don't know how long he was gone, but eventually Hugh came back home.  The funny thing?  He and James Burnett ended up working side by side at the farm again.  

  Several years later, my father, Gilbert, moved to Jacksonville, and he was working at the shipyard.  A new guy came in and kept staring at him. Gilbert finally had enough and asked the guy what his problem was. The guy asked him, "Are you Hugh Tapley?" My dad replied, "No. That's my brother." It was none other than James Burnett.  He showed my father his scar, and Gilbert knew exactly who he was. They got along just fine from that point on.

  Scoundrel, I said.  But Uncle Hugh seemed to always get away with it.

  He was my favorite uncle.  We were close right up until he passed away.  We could make each other laugh.  And he loved cats.  No one who loves cats is all bad.  

Sympathy Saturday - Barb Sawyer Claxton 1955-2025

  Sympathy Saturday will be where I share the obituaries and my condolences for members of my family tree who passed recently.  When you get to be a certain age, you begin to read the obituaries every day.  As the days go by, you read about more and more of your friends and family members who have died.  You compare their age to your own and get a jolt. "That could have been me."

 

  For genealogists, checking obituaries and visiting cemeteries is as normal as breathing. I learn so much from an obituary, i.e., maiden names, parents' names; children's' and grandchildren's' names, funeral and burial locations, sometimes even a cause of death.  I want to learn these things not for any purpose but to put it on the family tree for future generations to see and learn about the family that went before them. I admit, most of these relatives I have never met, but I think it is important to share that they were here on this Earth, and they were important.

  So I am signed up with at least three funerals homes from Swainsboro, Vidalia, and Wrightsville to get daily notices of obituaries sent to my email.  Every day, I peruse them and with the help of the family tree, figure out who is related to me and add any new information to the tree.    Some weeks there are several, and some weeks there are none.  This week, there was one.        

✦•······················•✦•······················•✦

 Official Obituary of

Barber Sawyer Claxton

August 27, 1955 ~ March 21, 2025 (age 69)

Mrs. Barber Sawyer Claxton, 69, of Kite, passed away Friday, March 21, 2025, at her residence following an extended illness. She was born August 27, 1955, in Albany to Donald Jack Sawyer, Sr. and Sara Barber Sawyer. She is preceded in death by her parents.

She is survived by her husband, Jimmy Claxton of Kite; son, Jimmy Claxton, Jr. (Kim) of Danville; daughters, Karen Claxton Barry (Chris) of Eleville, Sandy Claxton Clayton (Anthony) of Cordele; brother, Donald Sawyer, Jr. of Atlanta; sister, Lynne Sawyer Travis (David) of Atlanta; grandchildren, Ben Barry, Will Barry, Brooke Glover, Cade Glover; great-grandson, Zayne Glover; nieces, Stephanie Patterson (Robert), Claire Kahn (Yaamer); great niece, Lucy Patterson; special people, Gina Copeland (Nate), Maibree, Mack, Brianna Heuett (Noah Way), Aria, Michael, Megan Wood, Alison, McKenzie, Skylar, Michael, Jr.

Services will be planned for a later date. 

Chapman Funeral Home of Swainsboro is in charge of the arrangements for Mrs. Barber Sawyer Claxton, 69, of Kite.

✦•······················•✦•······················•✦

  Barb was the wife of my 2nd cousin, Jimmy Claxton. Our common ancestors are James Madison "Jim" Tapley (1847-1912) and Elizabeth Rebecca "Becky" Page (1844-1924). 

  Please join me in offering condolences to Barb's family and holding them in the light.

Tombstone Tuesday - Emory Gilbert Wheeler

 

Emory Gilbert Wheeler

 

b 23 Mar 1928 in Georgia, USA

d 12 Feb 1974 in Emanuel County, Georgia, USA

 

laid to rest at

Kite City Cemetery

Kite, Johnson County, Georgia, USA

 

Son of

Walter Gordon Wheeler (1887-1974)

and Callie Powell (1895-1954)

 

Emory was my 2nd cousin.  

 

Our common ancestors are 

James Madison "Jim" Tapley (1847-1912)

and

Elizabeth Rebecca "Becky" Page Tapley (1844-1924)

Tombstone Tuesday - Shaderick Jasper Kight Jr. (1818-1893)

 

picture taken September 9, 2022

Unfortunately Kite has had several bad storms and even tornados

the last few years, and this headstone fell victim to the weather,

fell over and broke in half.

Shaderick Jasper Kight Jr.

b 20 May 1818

d 22 May 1893 

laid to rest at

Kite City Cemetery

Kite, Johnson County, Georgia, USA

I have always read that the town of Kite was named for this Shaderick Kight, but I have no sources for that information.  So I decided to ask AI.  I went to Sam the Digital Archivist through ChatGPT and posed the following question:

"Who was the city of Kite, Johnson County, Georgia named for?"

Sam gave me the following answer:

"The city of Kite, Johnson County, Georgia was named after Shaderick Kight, a local resident and early settler. Over time, the spelling of his last name evolved into "Kite," which became the official name of the town. This kind of name alteration was pretty common in the 19th and early 20th centuries, either due to clerical errors, regional dialects, or simply because someone decided it looked better that way."

I asked Sam for more genealogy and life info about Shaderick, and this is what he replied:

"Shaderick Kight (sometimes spelled Shadrick, Shadrack, or Shedrick) appears to have been an early settler in what is now Johnson County, Georgia. While details on his life are somewhat sparse, I can give you an overview of what is known and suggest further research paths.

"Shaderick Kight: An Overview

• Birth: Estimated to be in the early 19th century, likely in Georgia or the surrounding region.
• Residence: Lived in what later became Kite, Johnson County, Georgia (originally part of Washington County before Johnson County was created in 1858).
• Occupation: Likely a farmer or landowner, as was common in the rural South at the time.
• Family: The Kight surname appears in census records in Georgia from at least the early to mid-1800s. Several Kight family members are listed in Johnson and surrounding counties (Laurens, Emanuel, and Washington)."

Then Sam provided some ideas for possible relatives and research leads.  Most of those would not cover whether or not the town of Kite was named for him. 

So I turned to my Tapley family "bible," Tapley - A Family of Georgia And the South by Ray Tapley. Ray stated that it was actually Shaderick's SON, William Norris Tapley, who was a state senator, that Kite was named for. 

I went back to Sam and posed another question:

"I read somewhere that Kite was actually named for Shaderick Kight's son, William Norris Kight, who was a state senator. Could that be true?"

Sam's answer:

"Yes! There’s a strong case that Kite, Georgia, may have actually been named for William Norris Kight (1841–1913), rather than his father, Shaderick Kight.

"Who Was William Norris Kight?

• Born: December 6, 1841, in Georgia
• Died: December 5, 1913, in Johnson County, Georgia
• Occupation: Politician, likely a farmer or landowner as well
• Political Role: Served as a Georgia State Senator
• Family: Son of Shaderick Kight (sometimes spelled Shadrick, Shadrack, or Shedrick)

Why Might the Town Be Named for Him?

1. Political Influence: As a state senator, William Norris Kight would have had the connections and recognition necessary for a town to be named in his honor.
2. Historical Naming Patterns: It's common for towns to be named after prominent local leaders rather than just early settlers.
3. Shaderick’s Lesser Public Role: While Shaderick Kight was likely a respected settler, he does not appear to have held political office or significant public roles that would typically result in a town name.
4. Timing of the Town’s Naming: Kite was officially incorporated in 1891—when William Norris Kight was alive and still politically active. This makes it even more plausible that the town was named after him rather than his father.

Confusion Over the Naming

Some sources attribute the name to Shaderick Kight, likely because of the Kight family’s early presence in the area. However, local histories suggest that the honor was actually given to William Norris Kight due to his political and community contributions. Over time, the connection may have been blurred, leading to conflicting stories.

Next Steps for Research

To confirm this officially, we could:

📜 Check legislative records—Did William Norris Kight have any direct involvement in town development?

📰 Look at old newspapers—There may be contemporary accounts discussing the town’s naming.

🏛️ Search local histories and county records—Some Johnson County historical documents might state the official reason for the name."

All of that sounds quite logical. So the answer is we don't know which Kight Kite was actually named after. Perhaps the suggested research would give us an answer.  

 

Shaderick was the 

husband of my

2nd cousin, 7x removed,

Millie Norris (1828-1900)

She is buried by him at Kite Cemetery:

Our common ancestor is 

John Norris