Stephen Middleton "Mid" (8) Goble was a slave owner in Pactolus, Carter Co., Kentucky in the 1800s. Mid was the son of Ephraim (7) Goble and Hannah Virgin and was born October 28, 1811. He was one of 19 children born to Ephraim who was married three times. Middleton Goble and wife Emily Bruce Duncan had eleven children, four were sons. When Mid's sons would go into town during the war and join either one side or the other Mid would throw their rifles in the Little Sandy River, to try to keep them from fighting.
George Reason Goble And Family � Circa 1893
The Goble farm was located on the Beckwith Branch of the Little Sandy River and was built about 1780 by Lafe Duncan, brother of Mid's wife Emily. A 1961 Ashland newspaper article said Middleton Goble was the biggest slave trader in the area and usually kept 100 slaves to work the farm. One winter before the war 37 slaves died of pneumonia. Two slaves, Bird (male) and Rach (female) stayed on after they were freed and were said to be part of the family but ate at a smaller table in the dining room with the family. The photograph above was taken after Mid's death. Son George Reason (9) Goble maintained the family and the farm. Annie Laurie Goble stands in the doorway looking to her right. She was the only child of George Reason (9) Goble and his first wife Susan Buckley. George is the second from left on the first row and Emily Bruce Duncan Goble is on the left, the wife of Mid and mother of George. Lyddy Lydia Felty, wife of George, is on the right. Bird and Rach are on the far right.
The farm is now owned by Wes Kefer. The family graves are still located on the property in a grove of trees in a field. Mr. Kefer says there are over 300 slaves buried in unmarked graves in the field behind the house. He also told of human bones found in the walls of the house when an addition was built. He knew George and said that George was a drinker and kept his coffin on the back porch full of meat.
John Thomason (11) Price, Betty Goble (10) Thomason, Annie Laurie (10) Goble, George Reason (9), Stephen Middleton "Mid" (8), Ephraim (7), Abraham (6), Stephen (5), Daniel (4), Daniel/David (3), Daniel (2), Thomas (1), Willmi (William) Goble
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