Kentucky: A History of the State, Battle, Perrin, & Kniffin, 5th ed., 1887,
Jessamine Co.
DAVID WILLIAM STEELE is a son of Gavin and Celina Ann (Jones) Steele,
natives of Harrison County, Ky., and North Carolina, respectively.
Grandfather Thomas Steele, was born in Harrison County, subsequently
settled in Jessamine County; he was a millwright by trade, was engaged in
the milling business at Brooklyn, Ky., and was the owner of large tracts
of land, owning at one time the entire tract where now stands the town of
Brooklyn. Gavin Steele was born in Cynthiana in 1801, was also engaged
in the milling business at Port Mills, Jessamine County, In 1830 he
secured, by special act of the Legislature, the right to dam the Kentucky
River at the mouth of the Jessamine, the only man who ever secured that
privilege, and built a mill of six stories, with a capacity of seventy
barrels per day, which mill was destroyed by the spring freshet of 1847.
He had three children: Margaret (Mrs. William R. Dudley), of Madison
County; David W. and Gavin A. He had also one sister, Mary, who married
John McMurty, who kept an extensive tannery near Brooklyn. David W.
Steele was born in Cynthiana, Harrison County, January 17, 1834, and was
educated in the public schools of the county, learned the trade of
millwright, and at the age of twenty-two, located at Paris, Monroe Co.,
Mo., and engaged in the lumber business. In 1861 he enlisted in Col.
Porter's Missouri Regiment, Confederate States Army, and served three
years. In 1864 he removed to Fulton County, Ill., and engaged in the
lumber business. In 1867 he returned to Jessamine County, and erected a
steam mill at Pekin. Two years later he located at his present place,
situated on the Union Mills Turnpike, about three miles from Nicholasville,
and erected on the Hickman Creek the Union Mills, a three-story building.
The mill is operated with all the latest machinery adapted to the business,
and has a capacity of sixty barrels of flour per day. In addition to the
water power, they have in use a forty-horse-power-steam-engine. Mr.
Steele was married, September 22, 1857, to Miss Lucy McCann Gosney,
daughter of William Gosney of Missouri, who died July 3, 1877, leaving
two children: Anna M. (Mrs. Charles H. Madden) and Lulie. He married for
his second wife, December 28, 1880, Miss Georgie A. Welch of Nicholasville.
In 1872 Mr. Steele was elected captain of company --, Regiment, Kentucky
State National Guards. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church,
Nicholasville.
Steele Jones Dudley McMurty Gosney Madden Welch
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Cynthiana-Harrison-KY Brooklyn-Butler-KY Madison-KY Paris-Monroe-MO
Fulton-IL NC