Explorers and Early Settlers South of Muldraugh Hill
EXPLORERS AND EARLY SETTLERS SOUTH OF MULDRAUGH HILL.
By Otis M. Mather, Hodgenville, Ky.
The Man Muldraugh *
Little can be said authoritatively of the pioneer whose name is
perpetuated in the unique geological formation extending from
the heart of Kentucky to the Ohio River and known as Muldraugh (or
Muldrow) Hill. According to the best available information, he was John
Muldraugh, who at an early date in Kentucky history settled on or near
the eastern extremity of the eminence which bears his name, now in
Marion County. Through the kindness of the Secretary of the Kentucky
Historical Society I have received a copy of certificate of the Land
Commissioners, of date February 11, 1780, by which John Muldraugh was
awarded 1,000 acres of land, "lying on both sides of the Rollinging
fork of Salt River about six miles below the Shawnee Ridge, running
up and down said River for quantity, to include his improvement,"
on account of marking and improving the same in the year 1776. That
he was a man of some consequence may be inferred from the record
of the second meeting of the Militia of Nelson County, held on the
29th day of September, 1791, at which "John Mulhaugh was assigned as
Captain, taking the place of Charles Kennett moving away." The duties
of this position, important at that time, he discharged at least for
several months. The records show that he made a report as Captain
at the end of the year 1791. Nelson County was then practically the
entire territory from Salt River to Green River. Captain Muldraugh's
militia distriot embraced the southeastern part of the County, which
is now known as Marion County.
I have been informed that John Muldraugh left children, and that some
of his descendants are now living in Marion County, but none of the
name Muldraugh.
The Hill
It is not improbable that the name Muldraugh Hill was first given
to the particular hill on which Captain Muldraugh lived or which was
owned by him, and that gradually the appellation was extended to the
entire range, stretching east to west a distance of approximately
seventy-five miles, from Calvary, in Marion County, to West Point,
on the Ohio. Depositions in Hardin County show that as early as the
year 1805 the extreme west end of the miinence, on the south side of
Salt River, near its mouth, was known as Mulders Hill.
The peculiar feature of this noted formation, technically called
an escarpment, is that it is a one-sided mountain range. Binding
closely its entire length upon the channel of Rolling Fork and main
Salt River, the crest of Muldraugh Hill forms the dividing ridge
between the waters of Salt River on the north and the waters of Green
River to the south. From the river bottoms on the north the ascent
is abrupt to an average height of some 400 or 500 feet, but there is
no corresponding descent on the south. When the traveller from the
north has climbed the steep hill he finds himself on a plateau sloping
slightly toward the south. The creeks flowing into Rolling Fork and
Salt River from the south are short, consequently much the greater
part of the territory which lies between those rivers and Green River
drains into the latter stream. Nolynn River is the largest stream
in this territory. Its headwaters are in the northern and eastern
portions of LaRue County, in some places not more than two or three
miles Erom the Rolling Fork of Salt River, but these branches after
uniting to form Nolynn, flow southmestwardly about seventy-five miles
t o fall into Green River just above Brownsville, in Edmonson County.
The French traveller, F. A. Michaux, who rode on horseback from
Louisville to Nashville in 1802, thus records his impressions of the
Muldraugh Hill country:
"Ten miles on this side (northward from Skaggs' inn) is Mulders Hill,
a steep and lofty mountain that forms a kind of amphitheatre. From
its summit the neighboring country presents the aspect of an immense
valley, covered with forests of an imperceptible extent, whence
as far as the eye can reach nothing but a gloomy verdant space is
seen, formed by the tops of the close-connected trees and through
which not the vestige of a plantation could be diserned; (Thwaites'
Early Western Travels, Vol3, p. 213). Collins, in his History of
Kentucky (Vol. 2, page 540), remarks "In the Geology of Marion County
appears a singular phenomenon first demonstrated by the surveys made
in locating the Muldrow's Hill turnpike, and afterwards by other
surveys. The southern boundary line of the county is the dividing
ridge of Muldrow's Hill, separating the waters of the Rolling Fork
and Salt river on the north, from those of Pittman's creek and Green
river on the south. This hill or elevation is more thas 500 feet
above the bed of the Rolling Fork ... The face of the country south
of the Rolling Fork - extending from Casey county around to the Ohio
river - is considerably higher than in the counties to the north,
bordering on the same stream. This exceptional peculiarity in the
formation of thc earth in this region gives force and interest to
the theory of Volney - who contended that a large portion of central
Kentucky was once the bed of an immense lake extending into Indiana
and perhaps into a portion of Ohio; which broke through its southern
wall or bank, and thus formed the Ohio river. The Silver Creek Hills
in Indiana correspond in elevation to Muldrow's Hill in Kentucky;
and being opposite and on the west side of the Ohio river, may have
formed a portion of the southwestern border of the supposed lake. "
First Settlements In Kentucky
However interesting the topography or the geology of Muldraugh Hill may
be, our present concern is with history rather than description. The
object of this paper is to inquire as to the first white men
who explored the region south of Muldraugh Hill, and, following
this inquiry, a brief mention of some of the earliest settlers and
stations in this part of Kentucky. The occupation of this territory,
including as it does the northern part of the extensive region known
the "Barrens," may be said to be a secondary step in the settlement
of Kentucky.
After the beginning at Harrodsburg, in June, 1774, further settlement
of Kentucky was interrupted for a few months by Dunmore's War. Though
this war is said to have been incited by Governor Dunmore for
the purpose of turning the attention of the Virginians from the
oppression of the English to the danger from the Indians in the
west, its fortunate conclusion before the actual breaking out of the
Revolutionary War, had a favorable effect in encouraging settlement in
the Ohio Valley, and ultimately was of vast benefit to the colonists in
the War against Great Britain. Following the battle of Point Pleasant,
at the mouth of the Kanawha, in October, 1774, the Ohio River was
opened to passage by the whites.
Under the protection of Colonel Richard Henderson and his visionary
Transylvania Company, a number of settlements were made in central
Kentucky in the years 1775 and 1776. Before the end of the year 1778
General Rogers Clark had established a few families on Corn Island,
from which they moved the next year to make the fort on the main land,
which was the beginning of Louisville. By the end of the year 1779
stations were scattered throughout the central and northern portions
of Kentucky from the mouth of Limestone (Maysville) almost to the
mouth of Salt River.
But at the foot of Muldraugh Hill the earliest settlers halted. Its
precipitous cliffs and rocky slopes temporarily barred the way to the
fertile plains and valleys beyond. Itis not probable that on the first
day of January, 1780, the smoke ascended from the stick chimneys of
a dozen cabin homes in all the vast region between Muldraugh Hill
and Green River. Not until there were in readiness immigrants in
sufficient numbers to erect forts or "stations" was the time ripe
for the occupation of this isolated territory. This time came in
the Spring of the Year 1780.
The Land Law of 1779.
Notwithstanding the natural obstacle to the settlement of the region
over the crest of Muldraugh Hill, the great influx of settlers early
in 1780 soon drove the homeseekers into that territory.
There were at least two causes for the flood of adventurers at this
particular time. One was the Virginia Land Law of 1779, the other
was the "hard winter" of that year. Each of these had an important
bearing upon the settlement of Kentucky.
As a rule, the settlers who had arrived in Kentucky before the Fall of
1779 held their lands by an uncertain tenure. The earliest surveyors,
Colonel Thomas Bullitt and his party, who explored and surveyed on
Beargrass, and Hancock Taylor and his party, who were in central
Kentucky, in 1773, were engaged to survey on military warrants issued
to officers and soldiers of the French and Indian War. The benefit
of some of the most important of these surveys was lost when the
holders of the warrants entered the service of the British in the
Revolutionary War.
The settlers who came in 1775 and 1776 under the auspices of the
Transylvania Company awoke to find their land grants worthless when
Virginia declared illegal and void the purchase made by Colonel
Henderson from the Cherokees.
The Land Law of 1779, for the first time, afforded to the public
practically unlimited opportunity to acquire title to lands west of
the Alleghenies. Recognizing the priority of right of those who had
opened the way by establishing the first settlements in Kentucky,
this law justly discriminated in their favor by permitting them
to hold their possessions on payment of smaller amounts than were
required of others. Briefly, this law provided that any actual
resident in good faith before the first day of January, 1778, should
be entitled to four hundred acres of land, including his settlement,
at the price of $2.50 for each hundred acres, and in addition should
have a pre-emption right to one thousand acres more on payment of the
State price of forty pounds paper money (then equal to about $40.00)
for each hundred acres; while from all others was required the full
State price, as given above.
Under this law Treasury warrants were issued for millions of acres
of land in Kentucky, to be located by the holders of the warrants at
their discretion.
The "Hard Winter."
Among the first generation of Kentuckians, the season of unprecedented
cold which prevailed from the last of November, 1779, to the following
March, was always remembered and spoken of as the "hard winter."
During this time the Ohio and its tributaries were sheets of ice.
The immigrants who had come down the river or crossed the mountains
in the Autumn of 1779 were happy to shelter themselves temporarily in
the hospitable stations on Beargrass and on the waters of the Licking,
the Kentucky and Salt River, and to add to the scanty stores of those
stations such supplies as could be brought in from the frozen forests
by means or trap or trusty rifle.
Toward the end of March, 1780, many boats on the upper branches of
the Ohio, which had been built the preceding Fall, and had been tied
up through the Winter, began to move down stream. We are informed
by an early writer (Collins, Vol.2, p. 366) that "during the spring
of 1780, 300 large family boats arrived at the Falls, and as many as
10 or 15 wagons could be seen of a day, going from them."
From the Virginians and Pennsylvanians who in the year 1780 and in the
few next succeeding years came down the Ohio in their crude house boats
and landed at the Falls, the northern part of the watershed of Green
River was chielfy peopled. True, some of the first settlers who for
a time had been at Harrodsburg or other of the older stations came at
an early date to establish themselves permanently in the region south
of Muldraugh Hill, but these constituted only a small percentage of
the population.
The Spies.
But though the Green River country was not occupied until about six
years after the first settlement at Harrodsburg, in the meantime it
had been thoroughly explored. As the whole of Kentucky had been a
hunting ground for adventurous Virginians and North Carolinians,
so for two or three years before 1780, hunters from Harrodsburg
and other settlements crossed Muldraugh Hill in search of big game,
and in this way spied out the land.
The earliest explorers of lands in the Green River section were
probably some of the Long Hunters, who, after crossing Cumberland Gap
in 1771, spent a year hunting through this region. A party of them
had a camp for several months on the Caney fork of Russell's Creek,
at a point now in Green County, near the road leading from Greensburg
to Columbia. Here they built a rude hut in which to store the skins
of wild animals killed, from which the stream was thereafter known
as Skinhouse branch. The extent and success of the efforts of this
party may be inferred from an inscription left by one of the hunters
after the skins were found to be ruined from a leak in the bark roof
of the hut - "2,300 Deer Skins Lost. Ruination by God."
Among those of the Long Hunters who were at the camp on the Caney Fork
were James Knox, Joseph Drake and Henry Skaggs (or Skeggs). Which of
these was the head of the party is a question on which authorities
differ. The names of Knox and Drake appear often in pioneer Kentucky
history. Henry Skaggs was in Kentucky as a hunter and explorer before
Daniel Boone crossed the Cumberland mountains. He was an intelligent
but eccentric bachelor, whose home was in the woods. His intimate
knowledge of Indian life and his tact in dealing with the red men were
of vast benefit to the early settlers the Green River country. Skaggs
spent his last days as a member of the family of a Mr. Edwards,
who about the year 1790 settled on the south side of the river in
the vicinity of the present village of Pascal, in Hart County.
Depositions of Squire Boone, dated September, 1797, which are in the
office of the Clerk of the Hardin County Court, show that he made a
number of journeys through the Nolynn valley from 1778 to 1780. In one
of these depositions he states that in 1778 he was passing through the
country from Cumberland (Tennessee) to Kentucky. Because of his early
acquaintance with this region his services in locating lands here were
much in demand by holders of Virginia Treasury warrants. Evidence is
not wanting that these services were financially profitable to him.
Edward Bulger and Silas Harlin entered lands in the Green River valley,
though they resided at Harrodsburg. Bulger made an improvement,
perhaps about 1779, on "a branch of Green River called Elk Garden,
and about fifteen miles from Gordon's lick" (Hughes' Ky. Reports,
21). This stream which was called Elk Garden is probably the same which
took the name Nolynn about the beginning of the year 178O. Both Bulger
and Harlin were among the earliest settlers at Harrodsburg, Harlin
being one of James Harrod's original company of 31 which arrived in
May, 1774. Doubtless both often crossed Muldraugh Hill and ranged the
"Barrens" many months before settlers entered the country south of
the Hill, though of this they left no record. The voices of these two
brave men were forever silenced in the bloody battle of Blue Licks,
in August, 1782.
I find in Hardin County depositions of David Glen and John Cowan,
two of Harrocl's company of May, 1774, which show that they were
hunters and explorers in this territory. In a deposition given by
Glen July 14, 1796, he says "that some time in May or June, 1780,
he was in company with a certain William Stewart exploring the Green
River country and that they travelled from the Long Falls of said
river northeast about three miles" and saw Crow's Pond and other
ponds which they "adjudged to empty into Green River." John Cowan,
in a deposition dated April 2, 1798, "at the forks of Nolynn about
300 yards above Mr. Hodgen's new mill," says that he was at that very
place in April, 1780, in company with a certain Joseph Early, and that
"they went to the head of the creek and saw other forks, but none so
large as this." Hodgen's new mill was located near the mouth of South
Fork, four miles below his old mill, where Hodgenville now stands.
Thomas Harbeson, a resident of Mercer County, in a deposition dated
August 15, 1797, says that "in April, 1780, he, together with Samuel
Johnson and James Brown (brother to Col. Patrick Brown) were going
out to hunt on the head of Sinking Creek, now called Pittman's creek,
and passed up a creek now called Salt Lick creek, but at that time
he knew no name for it," and "he believes it had none at that time,
for he was perfectly acquainted with this part of the country, it
being his usual hunting ground." Salt Lick Creek is now the dividing
line between LaRuc and Marion counties.
In a deposition given by Abraham Haptonstall February 12, 1802, he
says that "in the month of June, 1780, himself and Hubbard Taylor
and Hancock Lee, several others being present, came to a spring
on Bacon Creek" ( a branch of Nolynn) and marked trees. He asked,
"What reason have you to believe this creek to be same that you made
the improvement on?" and replied - "From the size and beauty of it
and from the quantity of barrens that lie adjoining and the distance
travelled betwixt and the South Fork of Nolinn, and its being the
last creek that runs through a large tract of barrens on east side
of Nollin, and further that I never discovered any barrens from the
mouth of said creek down Nollin to Green River, to the best of my
knowledge. This deposition is interesting not only because of its
description of hte country, but because the witness who testified
and the persons mentioned as being with him in this region in 1780.
Hancock Lee was the founder of the old settlement on the Kentucky
River, below Frankfort, known as Leestown.
Hubbard Taylor is well known in the political life of early Kentucky.
He was one of the first Representatives of Fayette County, and later
was Senator from Clark County. Abraham Haptonstall first appears in
Kentucky history in 1769, when, in company with Colonel Richard Taylor
and his brother Hancock Taylor, he made a voyage from Pittsburgh down
the Ohio and hte Mississippi to the mouth of the Yazoo, said to be
the first trading voyage past the Falls of the Ohio (2 Collins, 358).
He came out as an assistant to Hancock Taylor when the latter was
sent by Governor Dunmore to survey lands on the Kentucky, in 1773,
and was with Taylor when he was mortally wounded by Indians, in 1774.
Haptonstall attempted to remove the bullett with his pocket knife,
but failed. He rescued Taylor's notes of surveys and they were later
legalized by an Act of the Virginia Legislature. As late was the year
1814 Haptonstall wa living in Jefferson County (2 Collins, p. 358).
Among others who should be mentioned as explorers of the Green River
country were Benjamin Lynn and John Severns. But as they both settled
in this territory they will be discussed in connection with other
early settlers.
These are only a few of the many who doubtless traversed and hunted
over the region from Muldraugh Hill southwardly to Green River before
it was occupied by a single white inhabitant.
First Settlement South of Muldraugh Hill
Filson's map of 1784 gives, with tolerable accuracy, the locations
of many stations in the Blue Grass region and near Beargrass, but
fails to indicate that Filson had any knowledge of the few struggling
settlements which had theretofore been made south or west of the Salt
River valley. The greater part of the territory between Salt River
and Green River is thus described: "Here is an extensive tract called
Green River Plains, which produces no timber and but little water,
mostly fertile and covered with excellent Grass and Herbage." This is
the region which became knowne as the "Barrens" or Kentucky Meadows.
Though, of course, exact figures are not available, my guess would
be that by the end of the year 1784, as many as 400 or 500 settlers,
young and old, had established themselves in the territory embraced
between Green River on the south and the Ohio River and Muldraugh
Hill on the north. These were widely scattered, among at least half
a dozen different stations, chief of which were:
1. Pittman's station, on the north bank of Green River, five miles
west of the present town of Greensburg, which was probably settled
in the Fall of 1779 or Spring of 1780;
2. Skaggs' station, on Brush Creek, now in Green County, settled
about 1781 ;
3. Hardin's settlement (now Hardinsburg), settled by William Hardin,
in April, 1780;
4. Barnett's station, near Hartford.
5. Severns Valley ; and
6. Nolynn station.
The scope of this paper will not permit detailed discussion of the
settlement of the four stations first named. They were probably
first reached by boats by way of Green River and the Ohio, and not
by crossing Muldraugh Hill.
The Severns Valley station and Nolynn station were twelve miles
apart, and both were within a few miles of the crest of Muldraugh
Hill. Severns Valley station became Elizabethtown; the Nolynn
settlement was the beginning of Bodgenville. These two stations were
established near the same time, about the end of the year l7S0, and
for a number of years thereafter they were frontier posts southward
from Louisville and were as "cities of refuge" for settlers who before
the end of Indian warfare ventured into the territory immediately
southwardly and westwardly.
As has been indicated, only a small part of the region south of
Muldraugh Hill had been occupied or "improved" before the passage
of the Virginia Land Law of 1779. In the record of the claims before
the Commissioners appointed by Virginia, which held its first session
at St. Asaph's or Logan's Fort, in Lincoln County, in October, 1779,
many settlement and pre-emption certificates were awarded to settlers
in other portions of Kentucky, but comparatively few for lands in the
Green River section. Practically the whole of this part of Kentucky was
taken up in large tracts on the Treasury warrants provided for in the
Act of 1779. Perhaps not as many as a score of persons had valid claims
to lands in this territory between Muldraugh Hill and Green River on
account of actual settlements on improvements thereon before 1779.
The Settlers.
On or about the day when John Hancock and other patriots in
Philadelphia subscribed their names to the Declaration of Independence,
a flat boat containing eight Virginians landed on the south bank
of the Ohio at the mouth of Salt River. As shown by depositions
which are in the office of the Clerk of Hardin County Court, this
company consisted of Samuel Pearman, Francis Shane, William Sevan,
John Ross, Robert Sweeney, Samuel Brinton, Robert Brinton and William
Woodward. In a deposition given by Francis Shane he says that the
company landed at the mouth of Salt River "some time in the last of
June or first of July, 1776," and "Pearlman began to chop and make
some marks there. Afterwards we came higher up said river and Pearman
made an improvement," and the other men also erected cabins. This
statement of Shane is corroborated by a deposition of Pearman, also
in Hardin County. There erection of these crude huts was doubtless
the first overt act of white man indicating an intention to claim
from the savages any part of Salt River.
This company did not remain long to occupy their improvements. Pearman
says he went back to Virginia, and came down the Ohio again in 1780. On
his second trip he apparently asserted claim to the land which he had
marked four years before and evidently succeeded in establishing his
right to it, for the records of the Hardin County Court show that at
the july term, 1798 "on the application of Samuel Pearman, a town was
established on his land, at the mouth of Salt River, to be known by
the name of West Point;" and by that name it is known to this day.
How many of the others who were in the company of 1776 returned to
reside in Kentucky, I am unable to say.
Of the few whose settlement and pre-emption claims to lands south of
Muldraugh Hill were adjudicated by the Commissions of 1779, two are
of special interest in connection with the present inquiry. These are
the claims of Benjamin Lynn and and Andrew Hynes. For the privilege
of examining copies of records of the Commissioners in advance of
publication in the Register the Kentucky Historical Society, I indebted
to Mrs. Jouett Taylor Cannon, Secretary-Treasurer of the Society.
These records, under date October 30, 1779, show:
"Benj. Linn this day claimed a right to a settlement and pre-emption
to a tract of land lying on the north side of Green River in the fork
of a creek, about 40 miles from this place (Harrodburg) and 12 miles
from Pottinger's cabbin on the Rolling fork, near 35 miles south of
Bullett's Salt Lick, by improving the same and residing in this country
ever since the year 1776. Satisfactory proof being made to the Court,
they are of opinion that said Lin has a right to a settlement of 400
acres of land, including the said improvement, & the pre-emption of
1000 acres adjoining, and certificate issue accordingly." See p. 28,
Register Kentucky Historical Society, Jan., 1923.
To one not acquainted with the country or with the history of Lynn,
it would be difficult, from the description thus given, to locate his
lands. But to the resident of LaRue County, it is clear that this
was the first settlement in the vicinity of Hodgenville. This town
is located just below the junction of several small creeks which
form Nolynn River, and it is just twelve miles from New Haven,
on Rolling Fork River, near which place was the cabin of Samuel
Pottinger. The distance and directions from Harrodsburg, when the Court
was in session, and Bullitt's Lick are not far wrong. The fact that
these distant stations were mentioned to identify Lynn's settlement
indicates that he had chosen a tract of land remote from any other
known settlement, and also that Nolynn Creek had not then been named.
Again, on the 20th of November, 1779, when the Commissioners were
in session at the Falls of Ohio, the following entry appears in
their records: "Andrew Hines this day claimed a pre-emption of 400
acres of land at the State price, lying on the waters of Green River,
about 12 miles from Benj. Lynn's land, partly a northwest course, by
making an actual settlement in the month of May, 1779." Satisfactory
proof being made, a certificate was ordered to issue for 400 acres,
"including the said settlement." See page 53, Register Ky. Historical
Society, Jan., 1923. Though the main channel of Green River is between
thirty and forty miles south of Elizabethtown, this tract of land is
evidently the same on which that town was later laid out. As Hynes'
settlement was 12 miles from Benjamin Lynn's, "partly a northwest
course," so Elizabethtown is 12 miles a northwestwardly course from
Hodgenville. Hence, we have the original entries for the lands
on or near which these two towns stand, in October and November,
respectively, 1779.
Benjamin Lynn came to Harrodsburg in the year 1776. On the 2nd of
January, 1777, he became one of Colonel Harrod's company of 30 men
who went from Harrodsburg to the Ohio River, eleven miles above
Limestone, to get the 500 pounds of gunpowder which General George
Rogers Clark had procured in Virginia for the relief of settlers in
Kentucky. On July 9th, 1777, Lynn married, at Harrodsburg, Hannah,
sister of John Severns (or Sovereigns), on which occasion, according
to Collins, "there was great merriment." In his earlier days Lynn
was noted as a hunter and as an explorer. He and his brother-in-law
John Severns were together at the camp on the knoll, just above
where Hodgenville now stands, probably about the summer of 1779,
when the disappearance of Lynn is said to have given rise to the name
of the stream, Nolynn. The incident from which this name originated,
according to Lynn himself, as stated in a letter of his son-in-law,
John Chisholm, dated September 16, 1846 (Draper Mss. 37 J 105) was
as follows: "I heard Capt. B. Lynn say (he) as he supposed was the
original cause of the name. There was 10 men and himself hunting in
the Barrons, exploring that portion of the country, and had concluded
to spend a few days at that camp. And they were to meet every night
at the camp. Capt. Lynn, on the first day's hunt, early in the day
came on a fresh trail of Indians, followed them that day throughout,
wishing to see where they were bound, continued on the trail so far
he could not reach the camp at night. The second night, when the
company would reach the camp at night one by one came singly, they
would say-'No Lynn yet ;' that was the talk until Lynn came, and they
call (ed) their camp No Lynn; and the creek continues the old name.
A deposition in Hardin County shows that in the month of November,
1779, Lynn and John Severns were together at a Camp which they called
"Camp Destruction," on the stream flowing into Green River, which
since that time has been known as Lynn Camp Creek.
In later life, Lynn became well known as a preacher of the Separate
Baptist Church. He established a number of churches in the Rolling
Fork and Green River sections of Kentucky. He was one of the first
ministers to whom authority was given by the Nelson County Court to
perform the marriage ceremony. The records of that Court show--"April
14, 1789. On motion, ordered that Benj. Linn have license to celebrate
matrimony according to law."
After many years' service in the locality with which his name is
now associated, Lynn went to southern Kentucky, to make his home
with his brother, and there he died. He is known in history as the
"Hunter-Preacher" and as the "Daniel Boone of Southern Kentucky."
The name which is now written Severns appears in many of the old
records as Soverns or Sovereigns. John Severns came to Harrodsburg
from the Monongahala country, as early as the year 1775. As has
been seen, he was in company with his brother-in-law Benjamin
Lynn exploring in the Green River region at an early day. He was
a surveyor, and about the year 1779 was engaged on the waters of
the stream which flows southwardly from Elizabethtown into Nolynn.
According to depositions which are in Hardin County, this stream and
its valley until the Fall of 1779 were known simply as "the Valley."
At tht time they took the name Severns Valley. John Severns lived
on the waters of this stream for several years, until about the year
1790, when, it is said, "he penetrated the wilderness of the Northwest
Territory, and settled with his family on the south branch of the
Patoka river," in Indiana, at the place now known as Severns Bridge,
three miles northeast of Princeton, "being the first white resident
of the country now comprised withinthe limits of Gibson County."
Of his subsequent life and the services of his wife, Mary, as a
"medicine woman" among the early settlers of this part of Indiana,
an interesting account is given in Tartt's History of Gibson County,
published at Edwardsville, Ill., in 1884.
Colonel Andrew Hynes, on whose land Elizabethtown was laid out,
after Hardin County was organized, and for whose wife, Elizabeth,
the town was named, was one of the trustees appointed by the Virginia
Legislature to lay off Louisville, on its establishment as a town, in
1780. In 1788 he was named in another Act of the Virginia Legislature
as one of the original trusters of Rairdstown (Bardstown). Leaving
Severns Valley, he became a resident of Bardstown, where he died
about August, 1800, while Representative of Nelson County in the
General Assembly of Kentucky.
Haycraft in his history of Elizabethtown says "that about the fall of
1779 and winter of l780, the early settlers were Captain Thomas Helm,
Colonel Andrew Hynes and Samuel Haycraft, each of whom built forts and
block houses." In a deposition of Ben Helm, son of Captain Thomas Helm,
dated 1815, he says that he "beeame a settler in Severns Valley in the
month of November or December, 1780." As he was only thirteen years of
age in 1780, he doubtless came with his father. It is further stated in
Haycraft's history (p. 151) that his father, Samuel Haycraft, Sr. "in
1780 settled on the hill above the Cave spring (near Elizabethtown)
in a fort which he built and in which several families resided." It
would therefore appear that Andrew Hynes, who in November, 1779,
obtained a certificate for 400 acres for "making an actual settlement
in the month of May, 1779," was the first settler on the land where
Elizabethtown stands. However, there were at least three others who
made improvements or entered land in Severns Valley as early as the
year 1779. These were John Severn, whose cabin was probably the first
in the Valley, Elisha Freeman and Thomas McCarty.
At a meeting of the Commissioners held at Falls of Ohio on November
23, 1779, the following entries appear:
1. "Elisha Freeman this day claimed a preemption of 400 acres of land
at the State price, lying on the first right hand fork of the creek
that Soverns cabbin is built upon, in Soverns Valley, a branch of
Green River. Satisfactory proof being made t o the Court that the said
Freeman made an actual settlement in May, 1779, they are of opinion
that the said Freeman has a right to a preemption of 400 acres of
land including sd. Settlm't & that a cert'e issue accordingly. "
2. Thomas McCarty this day claimed a preemption of 400 acres of land
at the State price, lying on the head of a branch, the north branch of
Soverns Creek, a branch of Green River, in Soverns Valley, by making
an actual settlernrnt in April, 1779. Satisfactory proof being made to
the Court, they are of opinion that the said IIcCarty is entitled to
a preemption of 400 acres including the sd. seetlm't & that a Cert'e
issue accordingly." (Register of Ky. His. Society, Jan. 1923, page 57.)
Both these entries imply knowledge of a prior settlement in the Valley
by John Severns.
It may be said with reasonable certainty that the first settlers in
Severns Valley were John Severns, Andrew Hynes, Elisha Freeman and
Thomas McCarty, and that all these had built cabins there as early as
the Summer of 1779. If there was another settler in the Valley before
the year 1780 it was Banam Shaw, who became prominent in the early
history of that locality and Was ruling elder of the Severns Valley
Baptist Church in 1792. In a deposition of John Essery, who was one of
the first trustees of the town of Shepherdsville, he stated (1806) -
"Soverns Valley was settled by Shaw in the year 1779."
But though Scverns and Hynes and others may have built cabins in "the
Valley" in 1779, and Benjamin Lynn may have made an improvement on
Nolynn about the same time, it is not likely that any of them were
permanently located on the southern slope of Muldraugh Hill before
the Spring of 1780.
The three forts in Severns Valley -Hynes', Helm's and Haycraft's -
according to the best evidence, were erected in the year 1780, while
the fort on the land of Phillip Phillips, which was the first on
Nolynn, was probably not built until the beginning of the year 1781.
In a deposition of Daniel Linder, one of the earliest settlers of
Severns Valley, dated June 2, 1811, he was asked -"At what time
do you believe that Nolin station was settled?" His answer was -
"I suppose in the year 1780 or 1781, of which I am not certain."
It is not probable that families settled permanently in either of
localities before the erection of fortifications for their protection.
From the time that forts were built in Severns Valley and on Nolynn
until danger from Indian attacks had past, these two stations were
closely allied. Their interests were the same, they worshipped
together, their soldiers fought under common leaders. Until Hardin
County was organized, in 1793, there was little difference in the
population of Severns Valley and that of the settlement on Nolynn. It
is not possible to state how rapidly the settlements increased in
population during the first few years, but some indication of their
growth may be noted in two depositions which may be seen in Hardin
County.
In a joint deposition of Daniel Linder and John Hart, two of the early
settlers of the Valley, they were asked the question -"What nnmber
of settlers was there in Severns Valley in 1782?" Their answer was -
"We are of opinion there was updward of twenty."
John Handley came to Severns Valley as a surveyor in the year 1780.
In a deposition given by him in 1814 he was requested to state the
number of inhabitants in Severns Valley and Nolynn in the year 1783,
prior to the 16th day of December of that year, and he replied -
"I cannot say with any probably certainty the number of inhabitants
in Severns Valley and Nolin on above date, but I believe there
were a pretty good company of Military at each of those stations at
that time."
Among the men who came to these remote settlements were many who
possessed qualities of physical and moral courage and leadership.
Without disparagement of others, I refer briefly to only a few,
in addition to those who have already been mentioned.
Like Andrew Hynes, Phillip Phillips, who built the fort on Nolynn, had
the distinction of being prominently identified with the civic life of
three counties - Jefferson, Nelson and Hardin. He was one of the early
Justices of the Peace of Jefferson County, taking the oath of office on
April 7, 1784. Two days later he was sworn as Captain of the Militia of
the same County. After the organi zation of Nelson County, in 1784, he
served for some time as Sheriff of that County. When Hardin County was
cut off from NeIson, Phillips was appointed one of the three Justices
of the Court of Quarter Sessions of Hardin, taking the oath of office
February 26, 1793. The other two Justices were Thomas Helm, one of
the first settlers in Severns Valley, and Joseph Barnett, founder of
Barnett's Station, who "travelled upward of seventy miles to sit on
Court." Haycraft, in his History of Elizabethtown, says (page 22) -
"Hon. Judge Phillip Phillips was ... a gentleman of large estate -
lived on Nolynn, about ten miles from the Valley - was a man of much
influence and figured for several years in Church and State to a
considerable extent; afterwards moved to Tennessee, where he died."
John LaRue, a native of Frederick County, Virginia, came to Kentucky
in 1776, and built his first cabin on Brashear's Creek, now in Shelby
County. Returning to Virginia, he married there, and about the Fall
of 1784 located permanently near the Knoll, on Nolynn Creek, within
the limits of the county which now bears his name. He was the owner
of many thousands of acres of land, in various parts of Kentucky. For
some time prior to his death, which occurred in January, 1792, he was
ruling elder of the Severns Valley Church. He left four children. His
daughter Rebecca married George Helm, son of Thomas Helm, of Severns
Valley. Their oldest son, John LaRue Helm, was twice Governor of
Kentucky.
Robert Hodgen, the owner of the plantation on which Hodgenville was
laid out on the establishment of that town, in 1818, was a native of
Pennsylvania. He moved from that colony to Virginia, and there married
Sarah LaRue, a sister of John LaRue. These two men came together
to Kentucky in 1784. In 1789 Hodgen obtained from the Nelson County
Court license to erect a mill on Nolynn, where Hodgenville now stands,
which was probably the first mill in this part of Kentucky. He took an
active interest in public affairs, serving as Sheriff, Presiding Judge
of County Court and as Representative of Hardin County in the General
Assembly of Kentucky. At the June Term of the Hardin County Court,
1797, Robert Hodgen was granted license to keep a tavern at his home
on Nolynn. If we may judge from the Baedeker-like entry of the elder
Michaus under date January 31, 1796, it may be inferred that Hodgen
had an agreeable place of entertainment before this tavern license was
granted. This writer says (Vol. 3, Thwaites' Early Western TraTels,
page 88) - "Sunday the 31st passed by Huggins Mill on Nolin river
(good lodging)." Robert Hodgen died in February, 1810.
General John Thomas came to Nolynn in 1783, after service as a
Captain in the Virginia troops in the Revolutionary War. His wife
was a daughter of Robert Hodgen. He was made Captain of the Militia
soon after his removal to Kentucky, and rendered gallant service in
St. Clair's campaign against the Indians, in 1791. In the year 1810
he and Samuel Haycraft, of Elizabethtown, were opposing candidates
for Representative of Hardin County in the General Assembly. Haycraft
obtained a certificate of election but Thomas contested on the ground
that Haycraft held another office at the time of his election, and
Haycraft was held to be ineligible. He then resigned the office
previously held, and the same candidates made the race again, which
was a heated contest and which resulted in the election of Thomas
by only a few votes. In the year 1814 Gen. Thomas was appointed
by Governor Shelby Major General of the Kentucky Militia, and was
given command of the Kentucky troops who were destined to take part
in the battle of New Orleans. Before these troops reached the field
of battle, Gen. Thomas became seriously ill, and the command devolved
upon Brigadier General John Adair. Adair's vigorous defense of his
men, in the controversy with Gen. Andrew Jackson growing out of the
latter's charge of cowardice against the Kentucky troops in this
battle doubtless led to Adair's election as Governor of Kentucky in
1820, and to his election as United States Senator a few years later.
Gen. Thomas, though superior officer of Gen. Adair at the time of the
battle of New Orleans, and though never, so far as I have been able to
learn, accused of inefficiency, has scarcely been mentioned in Kentucky
history. On his retirement from the military service at the close of
the war of 1812, he returned to his farm on Nolynnn, where he resided
until about the year 1828, when he moved to the State of Indiana.
He died at the home of one of his sons, near Terre Haute, about 1835.
Colonel Patrick Brown was one of three brothers who came from Virgnian
to Kentucky. James Brown, one of these three, was killed in the
battle of Blue Licks, in August, 1782. William Brown, another of
the brothers, is known in Kentucky history for his Journal of the
Wilderness Road, of 1982, which has been published more than once.
Following his brother Patrick, William Brown located on Nolynn,
about three miles about Phillips' fort, on a farm owned jointly by
the two brothers, where William spent the remainder of his days,
and where his body lies buried. Patrick Brown was active in public
and military affairs. In the year 1791 he performed distinguished
service as Major in the unfortunate St. Clair campaign. In August,
1792, he was commander of the combined militia forces of Severn
Valley and Nolynn statsions which pursued the last organized band of
Indians that raided his part of Kentucky and which was annihilated by
Col. Brown's men on a small stream in Bullitt County, then known as
Brown's Run. In 1799 Colonel Patrick Brown represented Hardin County
in the second Constitutional Convention of Kentucky, but refused
to sign the Constitution promulgated because it failed to provide
for the emancipation of slaves. Col. Brown later moved to Indiana,
and died near Madison in that State about the year 1835.
The Reverend Joshua Carman, probaby a native of New Jersey and
believed to be a direct descendant of John Carman, who arrived at
Plymouth, Massachusetts, on the ship "Fortune" in November, 1621,
came from Virginia with his kinsmen, the LaRues, and at an early date
became prominently identified with the religious life of the people
of Severns Valley and Nolynn. Colonel Reuben T. Durrett, in his
sketch of "Ancient Louisville," mentions Carman as one of the first
preachers at the Falls of Ohio. In the year 1787 he became pastor
of the Severns Valley Baptist Church, which was organized June 17,
1781, and whose membership was made up of residents of Nolynn as well
as from the people of the Valley. This church is yet in existence,
and it is the oldest in the State of Kentucky. Its original record
book, which is preserved in the fire-proof vault of the Southern
Baptist Theological Seminary, of Louisville, is interesting now as
secular well as church history. The first pastor of this church was
the Reverend John Gerrard, a son-in-law of Jacob Vanmeter, one of
the founders of Elizabethtown. Gerrard was captured by the Indians,
in March, 1782, and was never again heard of. Although the membership
of the Severns Valley Church consisted largely of slaveholders,
Joshua Carman was an uncompromising emancipationist. Under his
leadership and that of Josiah Dodge, his disciple and successor
in the pastorate, the slavery question was the subject of constant
debate in the congregation, which at length, on February 27, 1796,
solemnly resolved that it could not as a church have fellowship
with those who held the righteousness of perpetual slavery. For a
time the Severns Valley Church withdrew from the Salem Association,
which tolerated Slavery, and found a more agreeable affiliation in
the Green River Association. After a number of years' service with
congregations in which slavery was a subject of controversy, Joshua
Carman, together with Josiah Dodge, organized an Emancipation Church,
about six miles from Bardstown, which is said to have been the first
organization of this kind in Kentucky. Its existence was brief. Later
Joshua Carman moved to Eastern Ohio, where doubtless his advanced
ideas upon the subject which two generations later almost wrecked
the Union met a more generous approval than he had found in Kentucky.
Without further mention in detail, I incorporate two lists of names,
showing, as completely as I am able to give, the names of the first
settlers in Severns Valley and on Nolynn, embracing probably nearly
all who had located at these stations down to about the first of
the year 1785 and some who arrived later. Where practicable, the
approximate date of arrival of each settler is shown.
Severns Valley List.
Bladen Ashley;
Christopher Bush;
Rev. Joshua Carman;
____ Dyer;
Elisha Freeman (about 1779);
Jacob Funk (about 1781);
Rev. John Gerrard (1780);
Jacob Harris;
Samuel Harris (1781);
John Handley (1780);
John Hart (1780);
Miles Hart;
Silas Hart;
Samuel Haycraft (1780);
Ben Helm (1780);
Charles Helm (1780);
John Helm (1780);
Thomas Helm (l78O);
Andrew Hynes (1779);
Peter Kennedy (about 1751);
Daniel Limber (1780);
Thomas McCarty (1779);
Jacob Linder;
Christopher Miller (before 1783);
Nicholas Miller;
Samuel Miller;
Claudius P. Raguet;
Abraham Raimer ;
Edward Rawlings (1780);
Stephen Rawlings (1780);
Andrew Reed (before 1783);
Banam Shaw (1779);
Osborn Sprigg;
John Severns (about 1779);
Joseph Stover;
Swank Thomas (before 1783);
John Swank;
Isaac Vanmeter (1780);
Jacob Vanmeter, Sr. (1780);
Jacob Vanmeter, Jr. (1780);
Dan Vertrees;
Isaac Vertrees;
John Vertrees (1780);
Samuel Watkins.
(44 names)
Nolynn List.
Daniel Ashcraft (before 1783);
Jediah Ashcraft (before 1784);
John Ashcraft (before 1783);
Jacob Ashcraft (before 1784);
Abner Bozarth (before 1783);
James Bozarth (before 1783);
Jonahthan Bozarth (before 1783);
John Bozarth (before 1783);
Patrick Brown (before 1783);
William Brown;
Edward Brownfield;
Soloman Casinger;
William Cessna (before 1783);
James (or Joseph) Defevers;
John Deremiah (before 17S3);
Josish Dodge;
Isaac Dye (before 1783);
James Dye (before 1783);
Job Dye (before 1783);
Shepherd Gum (1783);
Coonrad Kastor (before 1783);
Banner Friend;
Jaoseph Kirkpatrick (1781);
Robert Hodgen (1784);
Isaac LaRue (before 1784);
Jacob LaRue;
John LaRue (1784);
James Logsdon (before 1783);
Thomas Logsdon (before 1783);
William Logsdon (before 1783);
Benjamin Lynn (1779);
Michael Miller;
Phillip Phillips (about 1781);
Gen. John Thomas (1783);
Coonrad Walters, Sr. (about 1784);
Coonrad Walters, Jr. (about 1784);
John Walters (about 1784).
(37 names)
It is believed that these two lists include most of the heads of
families at the two stations down to the time when settlers in this
vicinity began to locate their own farms.
After 1785.
For several years after the Severns Valley and Nolynn stations were
established they were regarded as outposts. In the "Kentucky Gazette,"
of Lexington, notice was given, under date February 26, 1791, that
various posts on the frontier "are to be immediately occupied by
the guards for the defense of the district," naming among others,
Mouth of Salt River, to have 19 men, and Sovereigns Vallev, 10 men,
and Hardin's settlement, 12 men.
In the first assessment of Hardin County after its organization,
which assessment was made in the Fall of 1793, the county waq found
to have 318 tithables, indicating a population of probably 1500. The
county was approximately 140 miles long, and had an average width
of nearly 50 miles. The territory which was then Hardin County now
includes eight entire counties and parts of four more.
When Hardin County was organized it had no town in which to establish
a county seat. There was a sharp rivalry between the people on Nolynn
and the inhabitants of Severns Valley over the location of the Court
house. This continued for several years after the county seat had been
definitely located in the Valley, and was the pretext for many a fist
fight. Especially was this true on election days. Samuel Haycraft,
who was born in 1795, says that he remembers seeing "about twenty
couple fighting at once at the end of Main Cross Street near where
the bridge (in Elizabethtown) now stands."
The name Elizabethtown does not appear in the records until the
May term of the Hardin County Court, 1795. 0n the 4th day of July,
1797, the town was duly established by order of that court. Not until
twenty-one years later, in the year 1818, was Hodgen's Mill legally
changed to Hodgenville. John Hodgen, one of the sons of Robert Hodgen,
procured the establishment of the town on the lands of his deceased
father, and caused i to be named for his family. As said by the
brilliant Ben Hardin in his celebrated speech at Hodgenville just
before LaRue County was organized, John Hodgen "with a prophetic eye"
caused a public square to be left in the center of the town. In 1843
the last county to be formed out of the territory of Hardin and the
only county formed from any part of its territory east of Severns
Valley, was established by an Act of the Kentucky General Assembly
and mas called LaRue, with Hodgenville as its county seat.
In the first and second decades of the last century Hardin County was
the home of a number of persons who later achieved greatness. Among
these were John James Audubon, the ornithologist, who was a merchant in
Elizabethtown for some time, and the celebrated Duff Green, who became
the staunch friend and adviser of President Andrew Jackson. Green
came to Elizabethtown as a teacher, but later became a partner in a
mercantile firm at that place.
About the year 1802, Thomas Lincoln moved from Washington County
to Hardin, where he remained until the year 1816. His first
location in Hardin County was on Mill Creek, several miles north
of Elizabethtomn. Near the Mill Creek farm which Thomas Lincoln
purchased, his widowed mother located with a married daughter, and
there she died. Her body is buried in the graveyard of the old Mill
Creek Church. In 1808 Thomas Lincoln left Elizabethtown where he had
been engaged as a carpenter from the time of his marriage in 1806
and located on a farin on the South Fork of Nolynnn, now in LaRue
County, to which he obtained an imperfect title and which he later
lost in litigation. In a log cabin on this place his son Abraham,
the future President, was born, February 12, 1809.
In the year 1813 Hardin County had the rare distinction of being
the home of two persons destined to become Presidents of the United
States - Abraham Lincoln and James Buchanan. In that year the latter,
then only twenty-one years of age, located at Elizabethtomn, partly
for the purpose of looking after some lands in Hardin County in which
his father had invested, and partly with a view of practicing law
in the new country. After measuring his own legal attainments with
those of Ben Hardin and other able members of the Elizabethtown bar,
he decided that his prospect for professional success mwould be better
in his native State, Pennsylvania.
Lystra.
I conclude with a brief mention of Lystra, a city which was planned
to adorn the heights of Muldraugh Hill in the extreme eastern part of
LaRue County, and which was designed to be one of the most magnificent
in the world. On the wall of the entrance to the old Capitol Building
at Frankfort, now occupied by the Kentucky State Historical Society,
hangs a map published at London, England, in 1794, on which Lystra
is indicated as a central and chief city of Kentucky. Detailed plans
of the city are yet on sale in rare book stores. One of these plans
might be an interesting exhibit, but I content myself my quoting from
Collins' History of Kentucky (Vol. 2, page 646):
"Lystra was the name given by some English speculators to a paper town
laid iff in 1795, on the sout side of the Rolling Fork of Salt River,
between Salt Lick and Otter creeks. The plan was one of the most
beautiful in the world. It was the choice spot of 15,000 acres of
land purchased, and was laid off in 25 large blocks or squares, the
center of each being a park. In the center of the plat was a circular
park, surrounded by an avenue 100 feet wide. The four indented or
semicircular quarters of the four blocks who corners are embraced
by the park, were dedicated to public use - as sites for a church,
college, town hall, and place of amusement. The streets were each 100
feet wide; the houses upon streets running N. and S. were required to
be set back 25 feet from the line, but upon streets running E. and W.,
to be built on a line with the streets. ..."
Within the last few years I have driven over the lonelv road which
traverses the primeval forest where this magic city was to rise. It
is fifteen miles southeast of Hodgenville and about ten miles from the
nearest railroad station, on the Knoxville division of the Louisville
and Nashville Railroad. In the immediate vicinity is Gleanings,
a post-office and country store on the southern bank of the Rolling
Fork River. Lystra was only a dream.
Read before the Filson Club, Louisville, Ky., February 5, 1923.
