By Steve Preston
Special to NKyTribune
When Major David Leitch, founder of Leitch’s Station in present-day Wilder, Kentucky, died in 1794, he left his estate to his young wife, Keturah Moss Leitch.
Keturah Moss Taylor. Courtesy of Gerner and Kearns Co., LPA, Newport, Kentucky.
She inherited all his earthly possessions, his wealth, as well as thousands of acres of land comprising today’s Cold Spring, Highland Heights, Alexandria, a large part of Kenton County, and the area of Grant’s Lick. The executor of Leitch’s estate was a young James Taylor, Jr.
As a 21-year-old widow, Keturah was one of the wealthiest persons in Northern Kentucky.
Her wealth had come with many hardships for someone so young. The death of her beloved husband was just the most recent experience she had to endure.
Keturah Moss was born on September 11, 1773, in Goochland County, Virginia. She was the daughter of Revolutionary War Major, Hugh Moss, and his wife, Jane Rogers Ford. Keturah lost her father while still very young, at six or seven years old. He died from wounds received fighting in the American Revolution.
Her mother later remarried, first Captain John Vaden, who died shortly thereafter, and then, Colonel Joseph Farrar. Keturah and two of her sisters were sent west to Kentucky in the spring of either 1783 or 1784. They were put in the care of her uncle, the Reverend Augustus Eastin. The small group was attached to a larger group of settlers heading to Bryan’s Station near Lexington, Kentucky. An eleven-year-old Keturah, separated from most of her family, was heading into “the dark and bloody ground” of Kentucky.
An account passed down tells of another group of settlers, who passed through Keturah’s group, and failed to post guards at night. Keturah and the others came upon their remains. The survivors had scattered in all directions, but about half the group lay mutilated and dead. The group with Keturah gave the dead the best burial they could and continued on.
The Taylor Home, Newport, Kentucky. Courtesy of Gerner and Kearns Co., LPA, Newport, Kentucky.
Years later, Keturah said she never forgot the sight of a scalp with golden curls hanging in a nearby bush.
The following year, 1785, Keturah’s mother and step-father arrived at Bryan’s Station, and the family was reunited. They settled in, and for the next five years pursued the frontier routine of survival and land improvement.
In 1790, a merchant named Major David Leitch was visiting his farm at Bryan’s Station and met Keturah. It was love at first sight, and in December of 1790, they were married. She seemed to accompany him on his many visits to his landholdings, no matter how dangerous the travel. On one such trip in 1791, they came up through Limestone, now Maysville, Kentucky, to visit Cincinnati. Once their visit was finished, they proceeded to return home with an armed escort via a western route. As the party of travelers became separated along the trail, an Indian ambush was discovered. The rest of the party spirited away, but not Keturah, who risked her life by refusing to leave the area until all of her party were accounted for.
In circa 1791-92, Keturah accompanied her husband to his property six miles above the mouth of the Licking River in Northern Kentucky. They were joined by other hearty souls, at the first community settlement of Campbell County, Leitch’s Station. David Leitch and Keturah would enjoy wedded life for only a short time. During one of many trips to his landholdings, David became ill with pneumonia and died on November 9, 1794. Enter General James Taylor Jr. (1769-1848).
David Leitch had his will written while on his deathbed at Leitch’s Station. He named Keturah Moss Leitch the sole beneficiary of his will. James Taylor was to be the executor and watch the finances and landholdings for Keturah. The many meetings held between the two created a fondness that was mutual. Taylor proposed, and on November 15, 1795, they were married at her mother’s home in Bryan’s Station.
They returned to Northern Kentucky, and the couple took up residence at Taylor’s home known as “Belle Vue” in Newport. Keturah and James would have eleven children together. Sadly, only four would survive infancy.
James Taylor possessed his own family’s land in Northern Kentucky. In fact, the marriage of Keturah and James Taylor combined the estates of the two largest landowners in Northern Kentucky. Records indicate that from Newport and Bellevue, South to Alexandria was deeded to either Keturah or her new husband, James Taylor. This marriage catapulted Keturah to the pinnacle of Newport society.
As the city of Newport grew, so did the fortune of James and Keturah Taylor. The Taylors continued to add money to their coiffures through land deals, ferry operations, salt works, banking, tanneries, and other investments. Keturah’s new husband was a cousin of James Madison and used his family connections to bring a United States Army installation to Newport in 1803, the Newport Barracks. At the time of her second husband’s death in 1848, he would have assets of around four million dollars.
General James Taylor, Jr. Courtesy of the Kenton County Public Library, Covington, Kentucky.
Keturah Taylor, as a prominent woman in Newport society, led by example when needed. She was a woman of great patriotism. In 1791, while married to David Leitch, she helped sew knapsacks for the soldiers at Fort Washington for their ill-fated battle against Ohio Indians under Arthur St. Clair. During the War of 1812, she donated blankets off her own beds to outfit needy troops. She also provided socks and clothing items to other troops. She was also a benefactor to the needy in the local community as well, and was affectionately known as “Mrs. T”.
Upon James Taylor’s death in 1848, Keturah became a widow for the second time. Her son, James Taylor III (1802-1883), was the executor of her husband’s estate. Keturah has left nothing. Taylor’s will set aside four rooms in the Belle Vue mansion for Keturah’s living space. Her son moved his large family into the remaining areas of the mansion.
Keturah Taylor spent the next 18 years as the “Grand Dame” of Newport’s prominent families and as the last connection to its founding. She divided her time between living at Belle Vue and at the residence of her daughter, Keturah Harris. In 1853 she had David Leitch’s remains moved from their old homestead and interred at Evergreen Cemetery in Southgate, Kentucky. On January 18, 1866, Keturah Moss Leitch Taylor died at her daughter’s residence. She was 92. In an unexpected decision, she was buried next to David Leitch, not James Taylor.
Steve Preston is the Education Director and a Curator of History at Heritage Village Museum. He received his MA in Public History from Northern Kentucky University.
