Back to Kuykendall Genealogy IndexKUYKENDALL OUTLAWS
Seeking the identity of the KUYKENDALL outlaw mentioned in the following excerpt from Otto Rothert's book, "Outlaws of Cave-In Rock", 1924:
July 1794, Red Banks (Henderson, KY): An infare [wedding reception] was given today by Samuel Mason to a fellow named Kuykendall who had run away from Carolina on account of crimes and had run off with Mason's daughter to Diamond Island station, a few weeks ago. Mason had forbid him the house and threatened to take his life, but had become reconciled and sent for them to come home. Afterwards it was reported that Kuykendall was killed by some of the party at the close of the ball.
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"Rosscard asked if we had any notorious Kuykendalls. The "CLAW" comes to mind. The Claw was a one-armed robber and bandit that operated along the Natchez Trail. He had a steel claw mounted on his arm. He would rob somebody and then use his claw to kill him. They finally caught and hung him.
Another one was the son of a fat father farmer. The fat farmer and his two sons were in the cornfield when a bunch of wild Indians attacked. The two boys ran and got away, but the fat farmer was caught and killed. The two brothers watched the Wild Indians cut off his head and play football with it. One brother went berserk and charged down the hill to kill as many WI's as he could. His end was sealed when he showed his face. The other is the star of this story.
He became so good at imitating wild turkeys that he could stand behind a tree and fool any hunter. Every time he fooled a WI close enough he would shoot or stab the WI to death. His best way of killing WI's was to be walking down the street in one of the Forts or small towns and stabbing WI's without warning. This brother died of "old age" after killing 207 WI's.
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A Family Blacksheep
Posted by: Carl Moreno Date: June 20, 2001
In Houston Texas recently I ran across a book entitled "Indian Wars and Pioneer Tales of Texas". Ran across a family black sheep. There was a band of outlaws "who for many years had caused the traders much anxiety and loss, waylaying their negro drivers and appropriating their goods. A young German was murdered and his money stolen. The crime was supposed to have been committed by Kuykendall (the leader of the gang) and his negro Napoleon."
This took place about 1856-57 in Houston.
Don't know this K's first name but thought it was interesting.
From the Genealogy.com GenForum http://genforum.genealogy.com/kuykendall/messages/2081.html
The Kuykendall Gang
Received this from Jon Musgrave a well known Southern Illinois historian: The outlaw in question is Robert Kuykendall who arrived in the Houston area around 1841-1842. He and his brother John were slave traders in the south. They left their home near Shawneetown, Illinois, after the Black Hawk War. Lewis Kuykendall, the boys' father also dealt in slave trading and a Gallatin County Grand Jury indicted him for kidnapping in 1842. He left Gallatin County early in 1842, though his wife and youngest children remained. By the mid 1840s he appears in Harris Co., Texas, and has moved to Milam Co., Texas, by the 1850 Census. His son Robert is living in Harris Co., that year. Robert was later sent to the Texas State Penitentiary sometime before the Civil War. There's more on the Kuykendall Gang in my book, Egyptian Tales of Southern Illinois, found at http://www.IllinoisHistory.com.