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Uriah Bickers
Uriah Bickers, farmer by occupation, was born July 19, 1796 in Orange County, Virginia. He was the second son and third child born to his parents, William Bickers and Sally Leathers, spinster. They were married in Orange County June 3, 1794.
Uriah's siblings, in order of birth, were Robert, Norah, Morgan, William Ennis, and Joel. He also had half-brothers and sisters from his father's second marriage to Nancy Todd of Georgia.
His family moved from Virginia to Kentucky about 1808 and were in the Scott County census of 1810. By 1820, Uriah was with his family in Harrison County where he married Deborah (Debby) Henry. She was born December 23, 1799; her parents are unknown.
By 1826 he is on the Grant County Tax List and this year appears to be when he moved from Harrison County to Grant - only six years after the formation of Grant County. His death on July 16, 1883, just three days shy of his 87th birthday, made him a resident of Grant County for sixty-seven years.
His wife, Debby, preceded him in death by nearly 36 years on September 7, 1857; he never remarried, but lived with his son, Union Army Lieutenant Alfred Bickers according to Grant County censuses. Both Uriah, his wife Debby, many of their children and some of their spouses are buried at the White Chapel Church Cemetery in Holbrook, western Grant County. This cemetery has more early BICKERS buried in it than any other known Grant County burying grounds.
Uriah and Debby Bickers were benefactors to the White Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church South. There is a Grant County deed recorded March 29, 1850 [Book E, Page 336] in which they donated the existing church building and land (across White Chapel Road from their log cabin) to the church's Trustees-in-Trust, one of whom was Uriah's brother, Morgan Bickers. Their respective, large families were members of that church. Formerly, this denomination and the Bickers were members of the Episcopal Church in Orange County, Virginia, which in turn, was the Established Church or Church of England in colonial times before the Revolutionary War.
Uriah, as the older brother, surely must have prevailed upon the younger Morgan to move to Grant County between 1830 and 1833. Their bonds of affection extended to the naming of sons after each other. In addition, Uriah named a son [Uriah Jr.] after himself, making three Uriah Bickers and two Morgan Bickers living in Grant County at the same time.
The known children of Uriah Bickers and Deborah Henry include, but may not be limited to the following [derived from the 1850 Grant County census and compared to tombstones]:
Henry (August
5, 1825 - October 7, 1848)
1. Elizabeth
(21)
2. Alfred (19)
3. Morgan (17)
4. Eliza (14)
5. Robert [Hall] (12)
6. Nancy (10)
7. Uriah [Jr.]
(7)
8. Thomas (26)
9. Mary E. (4)
10. William P. (3)
Author's note: The BICKERS surname is often misspelled BIGGERS in Grant County and other Kentucky records.
Researched by
Robert L. (Bob)
Bickers
Used with permission.
Beulah Wiley Franks
Grant County Coordinator, KY/ALHN