52 Ancestors: Water

I love a good tale involving treasure especially gold and sea battle.

Basil William Prather (1742-1822) was my 6th great grandfather on my mother's maternal side. He fought in the Revolutionary War at the Battle of Camden in North Carolina for General Gates. He was shot in the leg and would limp for the rest of his life. I found this story on Ancestry. I cannot verify anything but the fact that for a time Basil did live in North Carolina and his twin brother lived in Kentucky.

The Tale

There is a family tale that states that Basil Prather leased land along the coast of North Carolina and while riding near the beach on his property, he witnessed a sea battle. One of the ships exploded and while the battle continued, sections of this ship washed ashore. Basil was said to have found much treasure which included gold. Shortly afterwards he sold his property and moved west because questions were being asked by officials regarding the gold that was carried by the ship that had washed ashore.

It was know that he moved to Kentucky and there is a document found showing that he had buried gold under a log house which was located across the river from his home. He paid Bill Hatfield $10 to dig up the gold hidden under this log cabin. The amount of gold is unknown, but $10 in this day and time was a lot of money to pay for a common laborer to dig up anything. The log cabin was located near Magnet, Indiana. After moving to Kentucky he was involved with surveying. One of those areas that he surveyed was in Fayette County, Kentucky where his twin brother Baruch William "Peter" Prather later built his plantation home about 6 miles southeast of present day Lexington , Kentucky.

**** I edited the original story a bit to make it flow better