USA > Kentucky > History of pioneer Kentucky > Part 17
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18
1 Hening, Vol. VII, p. 669.
2 Ibid.
.
230
HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY
up Kentucky for the Virginians. The English shortly announced a new policy, to survey the lands in tracts of from fifty to one thousand acres and sell them at auction.3 But the Virginia House of Burgesses showed itself rebel- lious, and Governor Dunmore, in fulfillment of his prom- ises, sent the Virginia surveyors out in 1773 and 1774 to locate the lands for the veterans.4 These surveyors did not pay strict attention to boundary lines, but did considerable surveying west of the Kentucky River. Most of the sur- veys, however, had been made east of the Kentucky, when in 1774 Dunmore's war put an end to all surveying, legal and illegal.
In the spring of 1775 the Transylvania Company be- gan its settlement of Kentucky lands. The company of- fered to each man making the initial trip with Boone or Henderson tracts of 500 acres at a cost per hundred of 20 shillings.3 At the same time it reserved the right to increase the price to those coming in later. In October, 1775, the company changed the terms of land grants ; for a price of 50 shillings each settler was to receive 640 acrees with an additional 320 for each taxable settler he brought in.6 By January, 1776, 900 claims had been recorded and 560,000 acres surveyed.
It will be remembered that one of the grievances of the Harrodsburg men, as set forth in their remonstrance, was this increased price of land. In point of fact, it was alto- gether to the advantage of the settlers that Virginia should assert jurisdiction over Kentucky, inasmuch as under Tran- sylvania land cost 50 shillings per hundred acres and
3 Dunmore's Proclamation, Cal. Va. St. Papers.
4 Supra, Chap. V.
5 Journal of Virginia Convention, p. 51.
6 American Archives, Vol. IV, p. 554.
231
HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY
under Virginia cost nothing at all. The fall of Transyl- vania put an end to her land system, though the land war- rants issued by her were legalized.
In the meantime, during 1775 and 1776, the Virginians continued to take up lands in Kentucky. So in 1776 there were three kinds of land claims in Kentucky: the claims based on military service, the claims taken out under Transylvania, and a great multitude of claims taken out without any warrant or title whatever. June 24, 1776, the Virginia Convention passed a resolution that all men then actually settled in Kentucky should be given prefer- ence to their lands, and the General Assembly, in October, 1777, followed up this resolution with an act providing that all who had taken up lands in Kentucky prior to June 24, 1776, should have title to 400 acres.7 A law passed two years later, October, 1779, gave to each settler who had been in Kentucky a year prior to January, 1778, or had raised a crop of corn, 400 acres as a settlement right and a pre-emption of 1,000 acres.8 A cabin had to be erected to secure this pre-emption. Lands taken up after January, 1778, were to be passed on by a Court of Land Commissioners named in a law of the same year.
By the provisions of the land law of 1779, future titles to Kentucky land were to be secured only through treasury warrants.9 A land office was provided for and a Register was appointed by the Assembly. Henceforth land was to cost 40 pounds per 100 acres and the method of securing the title was an intricate one. A prospective land owner was required to deposit at Richmond the neces- sary money and receive a land warrant. This warrant
7 Hening, Vol. IX, p. 355.
8 Ibid., Vol. X, p. 38.
9 Ibid., p. 50.
232
HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY
merely named the quantity of land and authorized its survey. In each county of Kentucky was an official sur- veyor, and by him, or his deputies, the survey was made wherever the holder of the warrant desired. Trees, rocks, water courses, etc., were used to mark the boundaries. Plat and certificate of survey went on the surveyor's rec- ord and had to be returned to Richmond within one year. Within six to nine months later a deed was given.
The defects of this law are apparent. In issuing war- rants for amounts without specifying locations, opening was left for great confusion; the same ground was quite likely to be surveyed several times. The power of the owner to place his survey in any shape he desired resulted in many unsurveyed fragments and scraps of farms being enclosed by surveyed land. "Blanket" surveys were com- mon in which the holder of the warrant ran his lines around great territories, being, of course, guaranteed only such lands as were not already surveyed. By these means the fragments and scraps were secured, but in most cases they were occupied by settlers without title and dispossession en- tailed litigation and often bloodshed. The provisions of the law were so involved that many settlers never completed their titles and were eventually dispossessed. The litiga- tion has vexed the State to this day, and even now there are thousands of acres whose occupants have no other title than that of continued possession.
Yet in this law Virginia probably did the very best she was able. Nothing but a public survey of all Kentucky prior to settlement could have prevented the evil. Such a survey was impossible for several reasons. In the first place, many settlers had come into the frontier in the con- fusion of early Revolutionary times and taken up claims
233
HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY
before Virginia could formulate any actual land law. Moreover, physical conditions in Kentucky made such a survey impossible ; Virginia had no surveyor at that time able to conduct a survey of Kentucky on a large scale in the mountains or even in the Bluegrass.
The Court of Claims provided for in this law has already been described. The law remained in force, with minor changes, until 1792. In May, 1781, a law was passed authorizing the County Courts of Kentucky to direct surveys for the poor people of the land.10 Each family was granted 400 acres at a price of 20 shillings per 100 acres. Credit was given for two and one-half years. The law was to be in force until May, 1783, but when the time arrived a law was passed extending it for six months and reducing the price to 13 shillings.11 In November, 1781, a deputy land-register was provided for to reside in Kentucky.12
Of the actual size of the farms taken up by the settlers prior to 1792, little that is definite can be learned. Under Transylvania rules 960 acres could be secured in one grant and by Virginia settlement and pre-emption rights, 1,400 acres. After 1779 the size of a grant was limited by the paying capacity of the settler. It is not unlikely that up to 1780 the average size and the maximum size was the same. After that there was a tendency to reduce the size, and by 1792 in all probability the farms were less than 1,000 acres, being larger in the Bluegrass and much smaller in the mountains.13
10 Hening, Vol. X, p. 431.
11 Hening, Vol. XI, p. 296.
12 Ibid., Vol. X, p. 445.
13 Hughes, Lands in Dispute.
234
HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY
The productivity of the Kentucky land in pioneer times is indicated by the following figures: Hemp, 800 cwt. per acre; maize, 60 bushels; wheat, 30 bushels; barley, 40 bushels ; oats, 50 bushels ; clover, 25 cwt.14 According to the same authority unimproved land in Kentucky cost from 1 to 8 shillings ; improved, 12 to 15 shillings, and if there was an orchard the price rose to 11/2 pounds sterling. 15
In 1792 the three leading crops in Kentucky were corn, hemp and tobacco. As was natural, Indian corn was al- ways the first crop to be planted by the new settler, since for the first few years his family, as well as his cattle, depended on it for subsistence. In early Kentucky the ground, after being plowed, was harrowed with large brush from the trees and was then laid off in furrows "both ways." 16 The corn was planted by dropping it by hand ; when it matured both blades and ears were stripped from the stalk and stored away. For the most part only yellow corn was raised in early days, and in 1792 this was selling for twenty-five cents per bushel. The corn was plowed but once and no sort of fertilizer was used to repair the soil for the next crop. In fact, it was not poor ground the settler had to fear, but excessive fertility ; if wheat was sown on new ground, it grew so rank as to be useless. Wheat crops could be raised only after four or five corn crops.17
In early Kentucky, hemp was considered superior to tobacco as a staple crop.18 It was first raised near Danville by Archibald McNeill in 1775, and continued until the Civil war to be a principal product of Kentucky. In early times hemp served as the standard of exchange in Ken-
14 Imlay, Kentucky, Letter IV.
15 Ibid., Letter VII.
16 A. Michaux, Travels, Early Western Travels, Vol. III.
17 Filson, Description of Kentucky, p. 23.
18 Moore, Hemp Industry in Kentucky.
235
HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY
tucky, and in 1786 Virginia made it receivable for taxes at 30 shillings per hundred weight.19 In 1792 the usual price was 25 shillings.
Tobacco did not become an important crop in Ken- tucky till after 1787. Since it is a crop that can not be largely consumed by the producers and it was practically impossible to get it to market because of distance and poor transportation, the necessary result was that little was raised and that for a very low price-two cents per pound. The mode of cultivation followed that in use in Virginia, which meant stripping the leaves from the stalk when the plant matured and leaving the stalk standing in the field. After the opening of the New Orleans market to Wilkin- son, the growing of tobacco took on new life, and it soon became the principal crop of export in the State. This increased demand for tobacco naturally raised the price, and in 1786 a Virginia law made it receivable in taxes at 20 shillings .per hundred weight.20 One year later the rate was raised to 23 shillings.21 The market for the tobacco was found in New Orleans. Tobacco, however, in early Kentucky had to be delivered to warehouses estab- lished by State license and there inspected by State officers.22 When the tobacco was delivered at these places certificates were given to its owner and these naturally enough passed current as money in the primitive economic life of the time.
The present road system of Kentucky is founded on the traces of pioneer times, and those, in turn, were based on the Indian and buffalo trails. There was an essential difference between the two, since the Indian paths were nar-
19 Hening, Vol. XI, p. 30.
20 Hening, Vol. XI, p. 259.
21 Ibid., p. 455.
22 Ibid., Vol. X, p. 205.
236
HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY
row, while the buffalo trails were many rods wide. Lewis Evans' map of 1755 indicates the most important of the Indian roads in Kentucky. These have already been de- scribed. There were, however, numerous offshoots and branches of these roads and many of them were afterwards adopted as routes for county highways.23 The buffalo trails led from all directions to the "Licks"; they were more numerous by far than the Indian roads, and like them were often adopted as highways.
Filson's map of 1793 shows the road system of Ken- tucky in pioneer times. Lexington was the converging point of nine roads, Danville, of four. The four most important roads were the Wilderness Road, the Nashville Road, the Lexington-Limestone Road, and the Louisville roads. All these were made of the same material: viz., dirt. They were of unequal width along their course and had no grading. A road in pioneer Kentucky was simply a strip of land over which the trail passed. The Virginia Assembly, in 1779, appointed Calloway and Shelby to mark out a way for pack horses over the Wilderness trail. This did not mean that before this time the trail was not in use for pack horses, but merely that the trail was to be im- proved and the best branches indicated.24 Though little was done at this time in the way of improvement, the road con- tinued to be used in increasing measure for immigration and trade. It was the custom for people going from Ken- tucky to Virginia to travel in companies under guard, and these trips were advertised long ahead so that all travelers might take advantage of them. The Lexington-Limestone road was never a subject for State action before 1792. Its
23 Verhoeff, The Kentucky Mountains.
24 Hening, Vol. X, p. 143.
237
HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY
origin lay in the Indian-buffalo trail that connected both places with the Lower Blue Licks. It came into prominence first as an immigrant road to central Kentucky for those coming down the Ohio, and later as a trade route by which the Pennsylvania merchandise reached the Bluegrass. The first wagon was taken over it in 1783. The course of the road was the present Maysville and Lexington pike. At Lexington began the road to Nashville; it made with the Limestone Road a continuous highway across the land and was a famous route for travelers, and, later, for trade. Its course is shown on the Filson map; it passed through the "Barrens" of Kentucky, where a traveler in 1792 might go forty miles without seeing a house. Because of the nature of the ground over which it passed, it formed an easier road than the two already mentioned. It was not improved before 1792. The Louisville roads were also modified trails connecting that town with Lexington and Danville. At these towns they connected with the roads already mentioned. The Louisville roads were free from obstruction, for most of their course, and could be traveled by wagons from the first. All the Kentucky roads, how- ever, had to cross numerous rivers and these were seldom fordable. Due to this fact the Virginia government early authorized the establishment of ferries at the necessary places. The Boonesborough ferry in 1779 was the first of these and was followed by many others. In 1787 the au- thority to establish ferries was given to the County Courts of Kentucky.25 In 1786 Virginia authorized the building by private subscriptions of a "New Road" from Lexington to the Kanawha.26 It was unfinished in 1792.
25 Hening, Vol. XI, p. 500.
26 Ibid., p. 196.
238
HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY
The settlement of Kentucky crept out from the central Bluegrass along these four great roads. Indeed, pioneer Kentucky may well be likened to a wheel of which the Blue- grass was the hub and these roads the spokes. Washington, Mayslick, Lower Blue Lick, Millersburg and Paris grew up along the Limestone Road, while Frankfort, Shelbyville, Midway and many others were founded on the roads to Louisville. The road through the "Barrens" did not at first induce settlement, but after 1792 settlers began to take up farms along the road and towns came into existence at the usual halting places of the travelers.
From the time Kentucky County was formed in 1776 until the day of its admission in 1792, the life of its inhab- itants was one of turmoil if not of danger. There was much fighting and more talk of fighting with the Indians, and one of the most essential facts in the early history of Kentucky was the organization of the militia on which Ken- tucky depended for protection.
It was the Virginia law that all free male citizens between the ages of eighteen and fifty should be a part of the militia and subject to military service at the will of the State.27 The usual exceptions were made of the feeble- minded and the incapacitated, etc. The militia was to be organized by counties with the county-lieutenant at the head with the title of colonel. Under him were the majors and captains in order, all of whom received their commis- sions from the Virginia authorities. Among the county- lieutenants he was the ranking officer who had been longest in command, and in case two or more received their appoint- ment at the same time, the seniority was determined by lot. The county-lieutenants had the authority to call out the
27 Hening, Vol. XI, p. 476.
239
HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY
troops in case of invasion, but otherwise this power was reserved to the Governor of Virginia. In Kentucky, the settlers were furnished with rifles by the Virginia govern- ment, and these rifles were understood to belong to the settlers as long as they remained in Kentucky. As a matter of fact, the arms seldom returned to the government, no matter where the pioneer removed. The militia privates only received pay when they were actually called out by the officers in the service of Virginia. Then they were compen- sated munificently at the rate of five dollars a month, with one ration a day additional.
It was the custom of Virginia from time to time to send troops from the older counties to those in the more exposed west. These were enlisted for a definite period of time, and if much trouble was brewing, remained constantly under arms until their time expired. For these, regular commissaries were established and maintained at each fort. These had in their employ "hunters" whose business it was to see that the troops were supplied with meat. At stated times the militia accounts were audited and the men paid.28
Ammunition for the use of the Kentucky militia was of course furnished by Virginia. It was kept in the various forts and doled out by the sparing hand of the militia officers. This official ammunition, of course, was only used when the militia was called out; on forays and hunts the pioneers had to shift for themselves. Often the ammuni- tion trains on their way to Kentucky were attacked by Indians, who boasted that the kind-hearted Virginians kept them as well supplied with powder as the Kentuckians did with horses.
28 Autobiography of Daniel Trabue.
240
HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY
By the law of 1784 the Kentucky militia was to have a private muster every three months, a regimental muster in March or April and a general muster in October or Novem- ber. They were to be drilled in the discipine that Von Steuben had introduced into the Revolutionary army. But the law was never enforced and the militia remained in 1792 little more than a a rabble on the parade ground, but on an Indian raid a thing of terror from the North Carolina line to the Great Lakes; they went into service ununiformed and highly regardless of rank and discipline, but they fought none the less valorously for that, and theirs is the credit that Kentucky was enabled to live through the strenu- ous days of Indian warfare and finally come into Statehood.
In military as well as other affairs, the unit of govern- ment in Kentucky was the county. Until 1783, when the District Court was established, the county governments were the only forms of control of which the Kentuckians had any experience. At the time of separation from Vir- ginia, Kentucky was composed of nine counties : Jefferson, Lincoln and Fayette created in 1780; Nelson, 1784 ; Bour- bon, Madison and Mercer, 1785; Woodford and Mason, in 1788. Each of these had its usual quota of justices of the peace and a Court of Quarterly Sessions. Each county, too, was given representation in the Virginia Assembly. It is of interest that the different counties were not given representation in proportion to their population, but each had the same number of delegates-two each. When, in 1788, the Kentucky counties were given a Congressional representative, John Brown was chosen and remained in office until Statehood.
241
HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY
When the District of Kentucky was created in 1783, a District Court was established, consisting of a judge, two assistant judges and an attorney.29 The Court was to meet quarterly and was to sit for eighteen days at each session. The salary of the judge was fixed at 250 pounds, of the assistants at 200 pounds, and the attorney at 150 pounds. 30 In 1784 the salaries of the judges were increased to 300 pounds. 31 John Floyd was the first judge, with McDowell and Muter as assistants and Walker Daniel, attorney. On the death of Floyd, Muter became judge, with McDowell and Sebastian as assistants; Innes became attorney when Daniel died.
The counties each had a sheriff and a surveyor appointed by the Governor. The seat of government was Louisville, for Jefferson; for Fayette, Lexington, and for Lincoln, Harrodsburg. When these three counties were created, James Thompson was appointed surveyor for Lincoln ; George May for Jefferson, and Thomas Marshall for Fay- ette. George May had been the surveyor of Kentucky County.
It must be admitted that the early Kentuckians were not distinguished for religious piety. There were many de- nominations among them, of which the Catholic, the Meth- odist, the Baptist and the Presbyterian were the most con- siderable, but they scarcely affected the current of Ken- tucky life. Contemporary writers noted with amazement the absence of piety in the land, and were not slow in pre- dicting a fitting retribution.
There were three hundred Catholics in 1792, and they merited and secured a reputation for good citizenship and
29 Hening, Vol. XI, p. 85.
30 Ibid., p. 398.
31 Ibid., p. 499.
242
HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY
godly character, such as had distinguished the early Quakers in Pennsylvania. The Kentucky Catholics came almost entirely from Maryland.32 In their old homes they were poor, and the prospect of good land in Kentucky attracted them. Until 1785 the members of the church were few; Hart and Combs were at Harrodstown in 1776, and there were a few others at the various stations. In 1785 a con- siderable number of Catholics from St. Marys, Charles and Prince George's counties moved to Kentucky and settled on Pattinger's Creek. The land was poor there and the prospect uninviting, but the congregation made the best of it. By 1787 there were fifty Catholic families in Ken- tucky, but no priest. They encountered fierce opposition from the Protestants. Father Wheelan ministered to the small flock from 1787 to 1790, at which time he returned to Maryland. From 1790 till 1793 William DeRohan, from South Carolina, labored as an irregular priest in Kentucky.
The early history of the Presbyterians in Kentucky cen- ters around the Reverend David Rice.33 He came to Ken- tucky from Virginia in 1783 and gathered the members of his church into three congregations. They were located at Danville, Cane Run and Dick's River. In 1786 the first synod was held at Danville, and in 1792 there were twelve organizations of Presbyterians in Kentucky.
Between Presbyterian and Methodist in early days there was more co-operation than rivalry. In 1783 the Reverend Francis Clark came to Kentucky and establised a church at Danville. The church was of slow growth and had a mem- bership of but ninety in 1787. Daw and Ogden were ap- pointed itinerant preachers in 1786, and by their efforts
32 Spalding, Sketches; Badin, Mission du Kentucky.
33 Rice, Memoirs.
243
HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY
Methodism soon became a vital force in the district. In 1788 two circuits were formed, Lexington and Danville. In 1700, Bishop Asbury came to Kentucky and a Methodist Church was built at Masterson's Station. A conference was held, 300 pounds was subscribed for a school and two new circuits made, Limestone and Madison. In 1790, there were nine ministers among the Kentucky Methodists and the church membership numbered 1,400.34
By far the largest denomination in early Kentucky was the Baptist. The majority of the settlers from the Yadkin region were Baptists and they from the beginning more than outnumbered all the other denominations. Squire Boone himself was an itinerant Baptist preacher, as was also William Hickman, who came to Kentucky in 1776. In 1790 there were forty-two Baptist churches in Ken- tucky and the membership numbered over 3,000. No other denomination could show such results.35
Kentucky in 1792 had a population in excess of 100,000. Of these not more than 10,000 were members of the four churches that have been named. There were, in fact, a goodly part of the people that belonged to minor organiza- tions. It might be said of the religions of Kentucky, as of its currency, that every civilized country contributed some- thing. Yet, after the most liberal estimate is made, the admission must still be made that two-thirds of the popu- lation of Kentucky in 1792 were content to live without the fold of the church.
The increase of population in Kentucky was an object of wonder and even jealousy to the eastern States. In seventeen years it had leaped from nothing to over 100,000;
34 Redford, Methodism in Kentucky.
35 Marshall, History of Kentucky, Vol. I, p. 446.
244
HISTORY OF PIONEER KENTUCKY
no other State in the Union had experienced such growth. Up to 1780 the population had not numbered more than a few hundred, but in that year beegan the great migration from Virginia, and three years later it was estimated that Kentucky contained 12,000 people; by 1784 the number had become 20,000 ; by 1785, 30,000 ; by 1790, 73,000, and by 1792, 100,000. This population was confined almost wholly to the Bluegrass and was composed of rural com- munities. Settlement was going on all the time in the mountains along the roads that led to the Bluegrass, but in 1792 it was yet inconsiderable. There was no town in Kentucky numbering more than 1,000 inhabitants. In 1790 Lexington contained 834 inhabitants ; Washington, 462; Louisville, 350, and Danville, 150. Boonesborough was still one of the thriving towns in Kentucky and Mays- ville was bidding fair to become the metropolis of the west. Most of the population of Kentucky was Virginian, with Maryland second and North Carolina a close third. The people were almost entirely of English blood, with a small per cent. of Germans.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.