Kentucky:  A History of the State, Battle, Perrin, & Kniffin, 3rd ed., 
1886. Allen County.

SYLVESTER H. WELCH was born in Allen County, Ky., April 9, 1831.  His 
grandfather, Thomas Welch, was a native of the State of Virginia, and 
belonged to the religious sect known as Friends or Quakers.  He came to 
Kentucky at an early day, and settled in what is now Allen County at 
about the time of its organization; during his lifetime he was engaged 
in farming; he died about the year 1830.  Amasa Welch, the father of 
Sylvester H., was also a Virginian and a farmer.  He came to Kentucky 
when a boy, with his parents, with whom he remained until he grew to 
manhood.  In 1825 he married Sarah Lyles, who bore him six children, 
four of whom are living; her death occurred in 1853, and was the result 
of burns received from her clothing taking fire from an old-fashioned 
fireplace.  Amasa was born in the year 1800, and died in 1863.  He and 
wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.  Sylvester H., at 
the age of sixteen, left the shelter of the parental roof, and set out 
in the world to gain his own living; up to that time he had few 
advantages for obtaining a school education, but his excellent home 
training was a great help, and he applied himself diligently to books 
during his spare hours, and at the age of twenty years he was familiar 
with the current literature of the day, and had become expert in the 
saddler's trade, which he followed in Scottsville until 1861, when he 
discontinued it and engaged in mercantile pursuits, in which he has 
continued with success to the prsent time.  From 1876 to 1882 he was, in 
connection with the mercantile business, engaged in the manuacture of 
spokes and handles; his factory employed from forty to fifty men.  Mr. 
Welch has been thrice married; first, in 1853, to Martha W. Burton, who 
died in 1857, leaving two sons:  Anthony and Plutarch, both of whom are 
now married and living in Allen County.  His second marriage occurred in 
1859, with Josephine Garing, of Allen County.  At her death, in 1863, 
she left two sons:  William T. and Lonnie.  Mr. Welch's third marriage 
occurred in 1867, with Mary Virginia Garing, a sister of his second 
wife; this union is blessed with the birth of five children:  Robert, 
Eddie, Harvey, Bessie and Paul, all of whom are living.  Politically Mr. 
Welch is a Democrat.  He takes little interest in politics, however; his 
time and attention are given to his business and the education and 
culture of the minds of his children.  He and wife are life-long members 
of the Methodist Church, in which Mr. Welch is steward.  He has taken a 
deep interest in the erection of the handsome church edifice that now 
adorns the village of Scottsville.  He has been a member of the Masonic 
fraternity since 1866, and now occupies the master's chair in Graham 
Lodge, No. 208.

Welch Lyles Burton Garing Graham
=
VA

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/allen/welch.sh.txt