1st Land Grants of (Current) Mercer County, Kentucky

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~kymercer/grants.html – Also has a nice history of County Formations for the area.

Smith       Zachariah      400  Harrods Run    02-07-1780  1-9
                          1000  Harrods Run    05-29-1780  1-56
Zachariah had a brother named John...

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Naming Patterns – Thinking Out Loud

I’m still obsessed with John M. Smith (1760-ish – 1835) and trying to make a connection between him and a Smith family from the first permanent settlement in Kentucky – Fort Harrod.  John has been a brick wall for a long time, and some of the information I’ve discovered in the last year has given more clues – and more questions.

For years, I thought John had 4 children based on deeds when the siblings sold their portion of John’s land to each other, but researching the Russell County Court Records revealed 2 children that I didn’t know John had. Solomon and Benjamin Smith both passed away in 1840 and their older brothers, George and Elias, were the administrators of their estates.  I have the Court record, administrator and executor’s bonds, but nothing further.  One year later, a brother-in-law, Henry Payne, grants power of attorney to one of his relatives to make sure that his children get their rightful share of each estate.  Only one of these sons – Benjamin – ever showed up in a tax list. He was listed directly after his older brother, owned no property or horse, so to me, it appears that he is a young man living with his brother after the death of his father.  I estimated Solomon and Benjamin’s dates of birth guessing that they were about 20-21 years old at the time of death.  If they had been older, they should have shown up in the lists earlier. So now my group sheet shows 6 children.

Another unknown person showed up in the Court Records in 1833.  John M. Smith was the administrator for the estate of John B. Smith.  John B. never appears in a tax list or deed, and I can find no administrator or executor’s bond for this estate.  I had been hoping that I might find a John B. Smith in Mercer County and that probate records there might make the connection to John M, but I have not been able to find any records at all for a John B. Smith. Today, I was looking at John M’s group sheet and I noticed a 5 year gap between the 2nd and 3rd child and another gap between the 4th and 5th child. Could it be that John B. was also a child who wasn’t quite old enough to be listed on the assessment list?  If I insert a hypothetical John B. into the 2nd gap, I have the following children:

1) Sarah Smith – b. @1804 m. Henry Payne in 1828 d. bef. 1847
2) George A. Smith – b. 1805 m. Talitha Ellis @1834 d. 1890
3) Elias Smith – b. 1810 m. Elizabeth Meadows in 1834 d. 1853
4) Jane Smith – b. @1812 m. Thomas Simpson in 1838 d. 1880
5) John B. Smith – b. @1813?       d. 1833
6) Benjamin Smith – b. @1819?   d. 1840
7) Solomon Smith –  b. @1820?  d. 1840

I find an interesting (and highly speculative!) naming pattern.

Based on information from Genealogy.com, one common naming pattern was:

• The first son was named after the father’s father
• The second son was named after the mother’s father
• The third son was named after the father
• The fourth son was named after the father’s eldest brother

Based on this theory – George Smith (who received a land warrant on Harrod’s Run adjacent to James Harrod’s land in 1780) could be John M. father.  At this time, I only have 1 person in George Smith’s group sheet – a daughter who was married in 1787 – so this is certainly possible.

I don’t have the name of John M’s wife, but in theory, her father’s name would have been Elias. (Both of John M’s oldest sons also had sons named Elias AND George, so I think these are important names in the family.)

The 3rd son, the hypothetical John B, would be named after his father, John M.

Without knowing more on George Smith of Harrodsburg’s children, I cannot confirm that Benjamin or Solomon could be named after brothers.  However, Adam Smith, who died in the Mercer County in 1793, had 2 sons named Benjamin and Solomon.

So my new focus will be on finding all I can on George Smith.  At northamericanforts.com, the listing for Smith’s Station in Mercer County says it was built in 1784 by “George, Adam or Zachariah Smith”.  Does this imply they were related?  They don’t list a source, so I don’t know, but it would make sense. George got his land warrant in 1780 and Adam and Zachariah got theirs in 1781.  Of course, I can find all kinds of information on Adam and Zachariah, but next to nothing on George.  Based on various message boards, Adam and Zachariah’s father was John Michael Smith.  Could my John M. be named after John Michael?The search continues!

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Original Pioneers to Fort Harrod

From Google Books: History of Kentucky: Embracing…

http://books.google.com/books?id=GqPtr-hyQskC&lpg=RA1-PA517&dq=James%20Harrod%2031%20men&pg=RA1-PA517#v=onepage&q=James%20Harrod%2031%20men&f=false

In May, 1774, Capt. James Harrod’s company of  adventurers, of 31 men,

James Blair
James Brown
Abraham Chapline
John Clark
John Crawford
Jared Cowan
John Cowan
John Crow
Azariah Davis
William Fields
David Glenn
Thomas Glenn
Silas Harlan
James Harrod
Thomas Harrod
James Harlan
Evan (or John) Hinton
____ Rees
John Shelp
James Wiley
John Wilson
And 10 others whose names we cannot ascertain, came down the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers in periogues or canoes to the mouth of the Kentucky River, which they ascended…

In two or three weeks this was followed by Isaac Hite’s company of adventurers of 11 men -

Robert Gilbert
James Hamilton
Isaac Hite
James Knox
James McColloch
Alexander Petrey
Jacob Sandusky
James Sandusky
Benjamin Tutt
David Williams
and one other name not preserved.

I know that somewhere, I have seen a complete list of men.  Smith surname was not included, so I did not copy.  Keep searching.

From http://boards.ancestry.com/localities.northam.usa.states.kentucky.tips/266/mb.ashx

This list, per several historic researchers, is not complete, but supposedly is the only known list of residents of Fort Harrod. Most of these names are taken from the Draper manuscripts and from various depositions.

Ann POAGUE McGINTY and her husband, James McGINTY, Thos ALLIN, Elisha BETHY (killed by Indians), Nicholas BRADSTONE, Jas BROWN (killed by Indians), Jeremiah BRISTOEE, Col. BOONE and family, Col. Abraham BOWMAN, Saml. COBURN (father of Mrs. Ann McDANIEL), John COWAN, George CALDWELL, Col. Richard CALLOWAY, General George Rogers CLARK, William COOMES and Jane COOMES (school teacher), Capt. CUNNINGHAM, Joe CHAPMAN (killed by Indians), George CORN and his five sons (not named), George CLARE, James COWAN (killed by Indians), Josiah COLLINS, Elisha COLLINS, Wm. DAVIS, Ezekiel DAVIS, Thomas DENTON, George GRAY, Eli GERRARD (killed by Indians), John GASS, Jno. HAYS (killed by Indians), William HARRIS (killed by Indians), John HAGGIN, Michael HUMBLE, Wm. HAYDEN (killed by Indians), Benj. HAYDEN, George HART, Richard HOGAN, John and Peter HIGGINS, Saml. JOHNSON, Patrick JORDAN, James JANUARY, Simon KENTON, John KENNEDY (killed by Indians), Thomas KENNEDY, Jacob LIGHT, Jos. LINDSAY, Ben LINN and wife Hannah (nee SOVERIGNS) LINN (thought to be the first marriage at the fort), Jas. LEGERWOOD, John McMURTRY, Wm and Francis McCONNELL, Jas. McMURTRY, Jas. McILVAIN, Wm. McCRACKEN, Jas. McBRIDE (killed by Indians), Jas. McGINTY, — McDONALD, McAFEE brothers (Robert, Jas, George, Wm and Samuel), Mrs. Ann McDANIEL (widow of Jas who was killed, married 1778), Col. Jas. HARROD, Hugh McGARY, Jas. McCOUN and son Joseph, Saml. MAYS, Wm. MITCHELL, David MITCHELL, John MORRISON, Simeon MOORE, Wm. MANIFEE, Capt. Clough OVERTON (killed by Indians). Col. Wm. POAGE and wife (who md 2nd Joseph LINDSAY, 3rd Jas. McGINTY), and their children (Elizabeth who married John THOMAS, Robt., Jos., Mary, Matty, Anne), Benj. PETTIT, Col. Robert PATTESON, Robt. POAGE, Geo. POAGE, Henry PRATHER and wife Elizabeth (nee WILSON), Bazil PENDERGRASS and his wife and daughter, Jas. RAY, Lewis ROSE and wife Barbary (FRIER) ROSE, Nathaniel RANDOLPH, WM. RAY (killed by Indians), Hugh SHANNON, John STAPLETON, Peter SHANKLIN, Robt. SHANKLIN, Roswell STEVENS, Thomas SHORES, Barny STAGNER (killed by Indians), Bartlett SEARCY, John STORY, Hugh SHANNON, Geo. THOMPSON, John TOWNSEND, Levi TODD and family, Robert TODD, David VANCE, Jas WASSON, Col. Wm WHITLEY and family (were also at St. Asaph), Hugh WILSON wife and son Harrod (first child born at forn in 1775), Edward WORTHINGTON and Betsy.

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First White Men in Wayne County, Kentucky

From “A Century of Wayne County, Kentucky, 1800-1900” on Ancestry

First white men of Wayne County – “Long Hunters” – summer of 1770.

James Knox
Richard Knox
William Allen *captured by Cherokee
Joseph Drake
Obadiah Terrell
John Rains
Uriah Stone
Henry Smith - even if this isn’t my direct line, perhaps this is a connection for why my Smith’s came to this area from Danville.
Edward Cowan
Christopher Stoph *captured by Cherokee
Humphrey Hogan
Cassius Brooks
Robert Crockett
James Graham
John Montgomery
Abraham Bledsoe
Richard Skaggs
Henry Skaggs
David Lynch
Kasper Mansco
Russell Hughes (book says Russell and Hughes)

In 1774, Colonel William Preston gave orders to Captain Billy Russell to warn settlers and surveyors in Kentucky of an Indian upraising.

In May, 1779, the Virginia Assembly enacted a law opening Kentucky to general settlement by survey, entry, and residence.  In the same year, the General Assembly of Virginia passed an act for marking and opening a road over the Cumberland Mountains in the County of Kentucky.  Richard Calloway and John Kinkead effected the opening of the road* by Dec 1, 1781.

From 1800 to 1810, each year brought a large number of families.  Grants under the “Headrights” provision were made to the following… Matthew and William Smith

* (Wilderness Road – from Wikipedia)

The Wilderness Road was the principal route used by settlers for more than fifty years to reach Kentucky from the East. In 1775, Daniel Boone blazed a trail for the Transylvania Company from Fort Chiswell in Virginia through the Cumberland Gap into central Kentucky. It was later lengthened, following Native American trails, to reach the Falls of the Ohio at Louisville. The Wilderness Road was steep and rough, and it could only be traversed on foot or horseback. Despite the adverse conditions, thousands of people used it.

In 1792, the new Kentucky legislature provided money to upgrade the road. In 1796, an improved all-weather road was opened for wagon and carriage travel. The road was abandoned around 1840, although modern highways follow much of its route.

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Harrodsburg Original Land Grants Map

This is on my computer desktop. I have no idea where I found this, although it HAD to be through a Google Books search because of the highlighted words.  I tried to find it again, but no luck…  Wish I could get rid of the highlights.

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Pioneer Stations Map

List of Stations by Sandra K Gorin, taken from Collins Historical Sketches of KY, History of Kentucky, Vol II, published by Collins Co in Covington, KY 1874, copy provided by Charles Barker. Compiled by Dr Christopher C Graham of Louisville ca 1874.

http://www.geocities.ws/Heartland/Ranch/5417/GenReports/StationMap/12.jpg

Smith Station is Number 7

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Smith Station – Message Boards

Posted 1 May 2000 at -http://boards.ancestry.com/localities.northam.usa.states.kentucky.counties.lincoln/1614.1633.1635.1726/mb.ashx

On Filson’s 1784 map of Kentucky there are two Smith’s stations which were at that time in Lincoln County. The most southwestern one is between Danville and Harrodsburg on a run that is not named on the map. However, I believe it may be Harrods run. My ancestor George Smith lived on Harrods run between Danville and Harrodsburg at that time.
Anyone know about these two stations which are quite close together. What is the definition of a Station?
Irma

Response on 31 July 2000 at  http://boards.ancestry.com/localities.northam.usa.states.kentucky.counties.lincoln/1614.1633.1635.1726.1993/mb.ashx

Irma:
James Smith Station is one of the stations shown in Lincoln County on Filson’s 1784 Map.
James Smith with the help of his older sons and brother Henry, established a station near the sinking spring on an early trace than ran from the settlements on the west side of Dick’s River to the deep ford at the mouth of Hickman Creek on the Kentucky River. At the Harrodsburg Land Court held 11/5/1779, James Smith claimed the right to a preemption of 400 acres lying on the east side of Dick’s river on a branch near a sinking spring by the said Smith making an actual settlement on the premises March 1, 1779. The Preemption Warrant no. 409 was issued 3/21/1780 for 160 pounds paid by James Smith to the Virginia Treasury. The land entry was dated 6/19/1780, 400 acres on waters of Dick’s River, adjoining Samuel Scott on the south, Andrew Gimblin on the east, and Archer on the south. Surveyed 10/17/1780 and the 400 acres was granted 6/1/1782 to James Smith by Benjamin Harrison, Governor of Virginia. Although Smith had many surveys of land in today’s Garrard County this is the Station Tract. James Smith, Henry Smith, William Smith, Townsend Fugate and Michael Woods spent the hard winter of 1779-80 at the early station. This station became a favorite stop over for travelers.
In 1794, Smith purchased an adjoining tract from Andrew Gimblin and built a log cabin that served as a tavern or inn. This later became Smithtown and in 1836 became the community known today as Bryantsville, Garrard County, Ky.
After James death in 1798, his son Edmond who married Jane Ann Findley, daughter of early settler, David Findley, established the “Burnt Tavern” at the site of the old cabin. In the 1950′s this famous Kentucky land mark was torn down and today part of this tract has become a subdivision and the part that contained the family cemetery is commercial property and the ground around it has been bull dozed down 8 feet and all the top-soil sold. All that remains is a small 1/8 acre that contains at least 20 of the Smith descendants. Edwin and Jane Ann Smith have a beautiful stone marker that has been torn down by a large fallen tree. Plans are to have this stone erected again as soon as funds are available.
In the last couple of years an effort started by a descendant that lives in Garrard County and with the financial help of the Smith/Findley families that migrated west to Missouri and California, a new chain link fence has enclosed the 1/8 acre of ground. A marker has been placed in memory of James Smith, who fought in the R. W. and plans are to erect a stone for his wife, Magdeline Woods, daughter of William Woods. I have a list of the known family members that are buried in this cemetery and will be glad to furnish them to interested parties.
Margaret

To Do:

• Find the Filson’s 1784 map of Kentucky
• Begin a group sheet for James Smith

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THE hint

This is the hint that started my Danville quest.  From “The History of Kentucky” (written in 1922) page 437-438 found in Google Books. (My own additions in parentheses.)

Oscar M. Smith has been a member of the Russellville bar for fourteen years, and during a large part of that time has occupied his present position as city attorney. Whatever he has found to do he has done to the limit of his strength and abilities, both of which have been of the highest order, and thus while rising in professional prestige he has also won and held public confidence and regard.  Mr. Smith was born in Russell County, Kentucky, August 21, 1872, and is a son of Rev. Elias and Mary C. (Davis) Smith.

The great-grandfather (my John M. Smith) was a native of Virginia and was the pioneer of the family in Kentucky, where he was an early settler of Danville and became a large landholder and the owner of many slaves.  His son, Elias Smith (father of Rev. Elias Smith) was born at Danville, and was twenty-one years of age when he came to Russell County, Kentucky. Following in the foorsteps of his father, he became a planter whose broad acres were tilled by slave labor, and his death occurred on his plantation when he was forty-eight years of age (the dates on his tombstone: 9 Feb 1810 – 21 July 1853) before the birth of his grandson (Oscar).  Elias Smith married Elizabeth Meadors (sic) who was born in Russell County in 1823 and died at Marrowbone, Cumberland County, this state in 1895. (I have confirmed the Elias Smith owned a large amount of land and slaves)

Rev. Elias Smith was born in 1847 in Russell County, Kentucky, and resided there on is farm until 1882. In that year he removed to Jamestown, this county, where he was a preacher of the Methodist Episcopal faith for one year, then going to Monticello, Kentucky, where he carried on preaching for four years.  The five years that followed were spent at Greenville, and for one year he was pastor of the church at Cerulean Springs, a like period being passed at Dixon. In October, 1905, he came to Russellville, where he purchased a home and farm, his main reason being to educate his daughters in Logan College, although he still carried on his ministerial labors. While driving in the streets of Russellville, April 21, 1914, his horse became frightened and ran away, and in the smash-up which followed Rev. Elias Smith was killed. (I wonder if I can find a newspaper account?)

More information follows about the life of Rev. Smith, which I don’t think helps me in my quest.

Notes that I wrote to myself:

Oscar M. Smith – b. 21 Aug 1872 in Russell County.

Parents – Rev. Elias Smith and Mary C. Davis
b. 1847 in Russell County
moved to Monticello, Wayne Co. in 1883
d. 21 Apr 1914

Grandparents – Elias Smith and Elizabeth Meadows
b. in Danville (new information. According to “Russell Co, Kentucky, cemetery records by Irma Shepherd, Elias’ tombstone says he was born in 1810)
Elias came to Russell County at age 21 (abt. 1826-1831)
d. on his plantation at age 48
m. Elizabeth Meadows who was born in Russell County in 1823 d. in Marrowbone, Cumberland Co, 1895 (I know they were married in 1834 in Russell County)

Great-Grandfather – Would be John M. Smith
native of Virginia (all of Kentucky was Virginia until 1792)
early settler of Danville
large landowner with many slaves

There are several John Smith’s listed in Mercer County tax records and one in particular has 450 acres up to 1824. In at least 1 of these tax records, he’s listed with a military rank.  There is no John Smith with 450 acres listed in Mercer County in 1825 or 1826 – about the same time that John M. Smith purchases land in Russell County. I’d love to find land transactions that show when this man left Mercer County. Of course, if it happened to mention that he was moving to Russell County, I wouldn’t turn that down! I need to order the films and maybe have a chance to look at them over Thanksgiving break.

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Early Kentucky History Research

Thinking about RootsTech has got me in a genealogy mood, so I’m trying to think of “quick” things I can research and accumulate that might be helpful to me when I have a full day to research.  I’ve decided to concentrate on my Smith line.  (Doesn’t everyone have a Smith line?)

I have a brick wall at John M. Smith who was part of Russell County from the day it was formed.  I have a cousin who hired a professional researcher to try to break the wall down and he shared the results with me, but I have to say that I don’t agree with the analysis.  I took this researcher’s hypothesis – which they admitted was speculation because they could find no direct proof – and followed each family member forward in time and didn’t find anyone who could be my family.  Lot’s of questions, but no lightbulb moments.

In my own research, I found a biography of a descendant of John M. who is not in my direct line.  This biography did not use too many names, but it did list relationships such as “the grand-father of the subject”, etc.  I made a simple tree with the information that was given and it indicated that John’s family had been some of the original settlers of the Danville area – the first part of Kentucky ever settled.

So my current plan is to follow all Smith’s in the area forward as much as I can to eliminate all lines that I can and see if I can find a potential link to my family.  I’m basically talking about a 50 year time-frame.  The first settlers came to Kentucky around 1775 (Kentucky became a state in 1792) and John M. is in Russell County in 1826.

So when I do have a few minutes to research, I usually surf for information about Fort Harrod – the first settlement in Kentucky. And I often find an interesting image or map or list of individuals that I need to do a better job of keeping track of.  I think I’m going to use my blog for that purpose. I won’t be stressing over being analytical with the information at this point or giving thoughts on how it might fit in. I know that I just won’t ever post anything if I try to do that.  And later, when I do get a full day or week-end to work on my files, I’ll know exactly where to look to find that map or article and I can begin to put things together that way.

I don’t want to put all my eggs into the “Danville Basket”, so I’m also going to try to research Wayne County history because the Smith’s area of Russell County was carved out of Wayne County in 1825 and I might find something helpful that way as well.

Kentucky researchers!  If you have helpful links or information, I would LOVE to hear from you!

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A Wonderful Find – Now What?

I’m so excited about some discoveries I’ve made doing research with Google since Saturday!

I had read a story that one of my ancestors, along with his brothers, had a trading post in the Danville, Kentucky area around the time of Kentucky statehood and I wanted to try to confirm that.  The last ancestor that I have confirmed information on is John M. Smith from Russell County.  I know that John purchased land in 1827 (Russell County was formed in 1826) and also had two land grants around the same time.  I don’t know if John was in the area before his area became Russell County or where he might have come from before that.  I don’t know his wife’s name or his parents.

I’ve latched onto the Danville area trading post as the clue that’s going to move me back a generation.  But I have not been able to find anything helpful because there are too many Smiths in the county.  While doing a Google search for trading posts, I discovered that I should be Googling the term “Stations” instead of trading posts.  Then I came across a link that listed “Smith’s Station” located on the road from Danville to the mouth of Dick’s River.  Now I had a better idea of which part of Mercer County to be looking for the Smith’s in Mercer County.  Last night, I was THRILLED to find a map showing all of the pre-1800 Stations in Kentucky and there was Smith’s Station!  Another web site told me the 3 people who are attributed with beginning the station. Could these 3 names be John’s father and his brothers?

So I’m excited to get back to the library on Friday to see what I can find in the Mercer County history books and tax lists.  My hope has been to find that some of the people in John’s part of Russell County (witnesses, neighbors, etc) were also in the same area of Mercer County in the early 1800′s to help me confirm which John Smith in Mercer County could be my John Smith.

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