Mildred Downing's Ancestors

Mildred’s g-grandmother Mary Bracken Downing died in 1824 at the age of 33. Her five children (ranging in age from two to ten), moved into the Curry Household and were raised by Martha Bracken (Mary Bracken Downing’s sister) and James Roland Curry:

Martha Bracken married James Roland Curry in 1816.
The Curry’s were a prominent family in Kentucky society and entertained within a wealthy circle of friends and community leaders. Their home was near the courthouse in Cynthiana. where James Curry was a judge. His slaves are said to have been an easy-going, well cared for, happy lot of negroes”. Tradition tells of Major Curry making a trip down the Ohio and Mississippi by boat, looking after his landed interests, that in Cairo, IL he found himself short of help and picked up a young man at this point who was none other than Abraham Lincoln...that while on this trip Lincoln saw the sale of a slave that deeply aroused his sympathies, causing him to weep. Major Curry was a southern sympathizer and was a prisoner at Camp Chase in Ohio, but he was released, some say, through the intercession of President Lincoln. View the detailed genealogy book and a sketch of his interesting life.

Their biological children:

Mary Bracken Curry Desha (1819-1885) Married 1838 in Cynthiana KY to Dr. John Randolph Desha (1804-1877) (son of KY Gov. Joseph Desha and Margaret Bledsoe Desha). Dr. Desha received his medical degree from Transylvania College in Lexington Ky. They had 2 children: Issa Desha (1843-1892) and Mary (1853-1911). Issa Desha became the second wife of William Campbell Preston (W.C.P.) Breckenridge of Lexington, KY. (His first wife was Lucretia Hart Clay, grand-daughter of Henry Clay). Mary Desha never married; she was one of the founders of the Daughters of the American Revolution. For 25 years she lived in Washington DC, and was president of a chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. She was buried in Lexington, KY. INITIALS MBD scratched into miniature case.

Eliza Curry (1821-1902) M Wallace McIntosh. No Children.

James Rolland Curry Married Malvina Bruce. James was killed by a northern spy in 1862 at Richmond, VA. He was a physician in the Southern Army. They had one child, Martha.

Martha Curry (b 1826, died after 1902 in Lexington, KY. Married William McChesney (son of Samuel McChesney and Elizabeth Clay). He was a grain merchant in Louisville, then a postmaster at Lexington for 10 years. Their children: Heste born 1853; Samuel William born 1855; James Curry born 1857; and Ann born 1862.

Anne Curry married George Rogers Clark Todd (Mary Todd Lincoln’s brother). George attended Transylvania Medical School in Lexington from 1846-1848, and is described as a bright but dissolute man; impetuous, over-bearing. . Anne and George lived in the home of her parents for several years after her marriage. George was ordered to leave Cynthiana by Anne’s father, James Curry. George never returned to Cynthiana or to his family. He went south during the Civil War and was an officer and contract surgeon in the Confederate army. Ann an George had on child, Mattie Dee Todd (1853-1909). Read a biography on Mattie Dee Todd.

THE 5 Downing children that were raised in the Curry household:

After the death of his wife, Mildred's g-grandfather, Alexander Downing moved to Mississippi where he became a heavy land owner and was appointed Surveyor-General from President Tyler. As noted above, his five children were raised in the Curry household . He never remarried after the death of his wife Mary.

Thomas Alexander Downing Born 1813. Died a bachelor at age 48.

Dr. Alexander Thomas ("A.T.") Downing (Mildred's grandfather). Born in Cynthiana KY 1815. His mother died when he was 8 and he was raised in the Curry household. He married: 1) Margaret Conrad of Warsaw, Kentucky in 1848 and Mary Ann Owen of Missouri in 1854. He graduated from Bloomington College in Indiana in 1835, then from the Medical Department of Transylvania in Lexington KY in 1842. He practiced medicine in Cynthiana KY until 1849, when he moved to DeKalb County where he was successful at farming, cattle raising and medicine. He died in 1896 at 81 years old. His children: by his first marriage Mary Jane, born 1848 married to J.H. Newby of Missouri. By his 2nd marriage he had four children: Flora Bill born 1861 and married to Thomas Tygard; Lille Jessie born 1872 and married to D.R. Henry; Annie Mackie born 1875 and married to Clark Packard; and JOHN CROCKET DOWNING (Mildred's father) born 1865 and married to Carrie Koll in 1890. He was appointed postmaster of Cameron Missouri by Woodrow Wilson. Their children: Frederick Koll Downing born 1892 DeKalb County, MO; Juanita Downing born 1893; Mildred Mary Downing born 1902. Name "Frederick" scratched into miniature case.

John (Jack) Rosenburg Downing born 1817 disappeared at the age of 26.

James Curry Downing born 1819 died at the age of 15.

Mary B. Downing born 1821 in Cynthiana KY... Married Rev. W.W. Hill, and had 2 children that both died in infancy. Died in Louisville KY in 1856 at age 35. INITIALS MBD scratched into miniature case.