USA > Kentucky > Irish pioneers in Kentucky : a series of articles published in the Gaelic American > Part 6
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Less than a month after its first settlement, Captain Hugh Dunn, his wife, three brothers and one sister, came down the Ohio in their family boat, and after many adventures with the Indians joined the settlers at Columbia. Dunn established Dunn's Station at the mouth of the Great Miami in 1793. "A census taken after the arrival of this little company . showed a total population of 56 men, women and children. These were all the white people then known to be in the present State of Ohio west of Marietta." (From a sketch of Judge Isaac Dunn, in the Lawrenceburg, Ind., Press, July, 1870.)
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Irish Footsteps in Kentucky.
The Western Settlements Largely Undertaken by Irishmen- Notable Record of the Steele Family, Natives of Newtown-Limavady, County Derry.
In the histories of Graves, Grayson, Green, Greenup, Hardin and Harrison Counties, several representatives in the Legislature during the first quarter of the nineteenth century were descendants of Irish settlers, such as William M. Cargill, John and Jeremiah Cox, William L. Conklin, R. W. Brandon, James W. and Peter Barrett, B. G. Burke, John M. McConnell, William Connor, Joseph. D. Collins, Edward F. Dulin, Joseph Patton, William Conway, T. W. and James W. Hayes, J. B. Hayden, John H. and Thomas S. Geohegan, George L. McAfee, William K. Wall, Stephen B. Curran, William W. Cleary, H. A. Ward, Thomas J. Megibben, John Givins and J. C. and N. P. Coleman.
One of the first settlers of Hardin County was Colonel Andrew Hynes, who located where Elizabethtown now stands and who built a fort in 1780, which is said to have been one of the first three settlements which existed at that time between the Ohio and Green Rivers. Andrew Hynes was the founder of the town of Elizabethtown, which he named in honor of his wife's Christian name.
Peter Kennedy is prominently mentioned in accounts of Indian war- fare in Hardin County about this time. He "proved himself a hero in a conflict at the Ohio River near the mouth of Salt River." He lived to a very old age and "left a numerous and clever progeny." Other settlers in this county in 1793 were Isaac Hynes and one Nolan, after whom Nolan Creek was called.
IRISH PIONEERS OF HARRISON COUNTY.
Among "the visitors to and improvers of Harrison County," are mentioned John Haggin, Daniel Callahan, Patrick Callahan, Matthew Fenton, William Hoskins and William Shields. "These, with six or seven others," says Collins, "came down the Ohio in March, 1775, and up Licking River in canoes in search of lands to improve, and landed near where Fal- mouth now is." It was called Hinkson's Company, having been commanded by John Hinkson. Howe, in his "Historical Collections of Ohio," says that Hinkson was a native of Ireland, whence he had emigrated in early life. He settled in Kentucky and established a station near the junction of
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Hinkson and Stoner. Here he brought up a family. His son, Colonel Thomas Linkson, fought under General Harmar in 1791 and with Wayne in 1792 against the Indians. He became a Judge and Member of the Legislature, also fought in the War of 1812.
After some little time exploring Hardin County, Hinkson's company proceeded up Licking River to near the Lower Blue Licks, and "in the neighborhood between Paris and Cynthiana, they improved lands, made small clearings, built their cabins and named the streams and stations after some of the company. It was a flourishing settlement in 1776."
About the same time, a body of 14 men, known as Miller's Company, traversed this region, where they joined Hinkson's party. In Miller's com- pany were "Paddy" Logan, William Flinn, William Nesbitt, Joseph Houston, William Steele, Alexander Pollock. William Mcclintock and Richard Clark, some of whom were natives of Ireland. The two companies stationed themselves at Blue Licks, from where they sent out parties of explorers.
THE IRISH VANGUARD.
In the fall of 1775 Peter Higgins and Robert Shanklin passed through Harrison County surveying lands. Others who are mentioned "among the earliest settlers" of this county were William Kennedy, James McGraw, Thomas Moore, Robert Keen and John, James and Samuel McMillan, who came into the county and "made improvements" in 1776. Thomas Dunn is noted as having been the first to raise corn in this county (in 1776), and James Kenny, Thomas Kennedy and James Galloway were among those who made "improvements."
In May, 1776. came John Lyons' company of ten men from Pennsyl- vania, two of whom were the brothers James and William Kelly. They joined Ilinkson's station and took up lands in the vicinity. These settlers, under command of Hinkson, offered a brave resistance in the Summer of 1780 to a combined British and Indian force which had fiercely attacked the settlements between Lexington and Bryan's Station. "Higgins' block- house made a brave resistance," writes Collins.
The Kelly brothers, James and William, are mentioned in Howe's "Historical Collections of Ohio" as "among the early settlers of Mason County, Ky." They were killed in a fight with the Indians on the Ohio River near the mouth of the Big Guyandotte, while defending the settle- ments.
Major William K. Wall was one of the leading citizens of the county. His father, John Wall, emigrated to Kentucky in 1791. William was a lawyer and a member of the State Legislature for many years. He fought in the War of 1812.
Henderson County sent to the Legislature James McMahon ( 1815), Daniel McBride (1827), and John E. McAllister (1843). John W. O'Bannon represented Henry County from 1834 to 1838; Hugh MeCracken and S. P. MeFall, Hickman County in 1822 and 1832 respectively; Andrew Sisk from Hopkins County in 1829, and as Senator from 1832 to 1836. All of these were descendants of Irish pioneers in their respective localities.
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THE STEELES FROM NEWTOWN-LIMAVADY.
One of the most noted families of Jefferson County is that of Stcele, and one which has left its mark all over Kentucky and the adjacent States. According to the Registers of the Kentucky Historical Association, the pioneers of the family were Richard and Andrew Steele, who emigrated from Ireland in 1745 and landed on the eastern shore of Maryland. Both were born in Newtown-Limavady and were educated at the University of Dublin. They were the grandsons of Sir Richard Steele, who resided in the castle of Ballyedmund, near Rathdowney.
Soon after his arrival in Maryland, Richard Steele received a grant of 1,000 acres, which he located in the beautiful country near Mercersburg, Pa. There he raised a family of eight children. some of whom are mentioned as among the most prominent and useful of the early settlers of Pennsyl- vania, West Virginia and Kentucky.
The boys received their earliest lessons in patriotism at their father's knee, and when old enough hurried to join the contingents which were formning in their neig borhood to aid the potriot army. General John Steele, who, according to the American Historical Register of February, 1896, was a member of Washington's family and field officer of the day at Yorktown, was a son of Richard Steele, the emigrant from Newtown- Limavady. His brother, Richard, also saw service in the Revolutionary Army.
According to the Kentucky Historical Association's Registers, "the frontier was in need of brave and tried men, and Virginia offered large grants of land in the Western counties to go and protect her borders from the ravages of the Indians and the British. Richard Steele was one of . those who answered the eall. In 1780 he organized a handful of brave souls, who traveled on flatboats down the Ohio River, amid constant dangers from the lurking Indians who were then on the warpath. They landed on Corn Island, at the Falls of the Ohio, where they were com- pelled to stay for nearly two years on account of the attacks of the savages. Here they suffered much hardship. One of the party was the father of United States Senator John Rowan. and Corn Island afterwards became part of the Rowan estate. In time they moved over to the main- land and built a stockade and fort on Beargrass Creek (the site of the present City of Louisville ) ."
AN IRISHWOMAN'S UNFLINCHING COURAGE.
In one of these attacks. at Floyd's Station, seven miles from the Steele settlement. Richard was shot over the heart by an Indian. When the news was brought to the fort, Mrs. Steele, who was also a native of Ireland, "on being told of her husband's terrible wounds and condition, determined to hurry to his side, notwithstanding the persuasion of her friends, who pointed out the almost certain death she would court in venturing on so perilous a journey. She made them bring a horse, mounted it with a nursing babe in her arms, and rode out in the night through the
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wilderness, passed the Indians safely through the gate of the stockade, and nursed her husband back to life and health."
In 1784, Richard Steele and his family moved to a plantation which he had acquired near Lexington, and in 1788 his name appears among the list of delegates to the General Assembly. In the land office at Frankfort can be found records of several land grants to Richard Steele in ten differ- ent couties of Kentucky, all for distinguished military services.
In a paper on "Captain Andrew Steele, a Revolutionary Soldier," by Mrs. J. C. Morton, Secretary of the Kentucky Historical Association, and published as part of the records of the Society, the author pays a glowing tribute to this gallant Irishman. In 1776, he moved from Mercersburg, Pa., to Kentucky, with a company of seven men. "He took part in the awful border warfare, and was at the defeat of Bryan's Station, and in the famous battle of Blue Licks."
In the Calendars of Virginia State Papers ( volume S) are found elo- quent and thrilling letters from Andrew Steele to the Governor of Virginia, describing the perils and dangers to which the Kentuckians were exposed, and describing the battles with the Indians and the resultant sorrow and suffering. These eloquent petitions are regarded as among the finest speci- mens of writings of the day.
In recognition of his services in "the rear-guard of Kentucky" --- as Kentucky border warfare is styled-he was given large grants of land in that State. The patents are on record in the land office at Frankfort, the largest having been one of 1,000 acres in Fayette County-(Book one. page 244).
Some years after the Revolution, Andrew Steele returned to Ireland and there married his second wife, Aun Carr, but died on the return voyage. His children are mentioned among the pioneers of many places in Kentucky.
AN IRISH AND AMERICAN PATRIOT.
"Andrew Steele," writes Mrs. Morton, 'never lost his love for his native land, the Emerald Isle, and thought with the poet :
"""Immortal little island, No other land or clime Has placed more deathless heroes In the Pantheon of time.'
"Yet, oppression and tyranny will drive a proud spirit from earth's fairest Paradise to seek liberty, justice and happiness in a less-favored spot of earth. Andrew Steele believed in American Independence; he fought for it, worked for it in Kentucky, and eventually found his reward and became a man of high position and influence."
He is described as "Captain Andrew Steele" in Perrin's History of Kentucky. Perhaps the title was given to him by courtesy, as we have been unable to verify it on any record in the Land Office at Frankfort. Be- sides his extensive holdings in Fayette County, he had many valuable tracts of land in Bourbon, Mason, Scott, Woodford and Franklin Counties. His
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two brothers-in-law lost their lives in the battles of Boonestown and Bryan's Station. One of the handsomest avenues in the Capital City, Steele street, was called for William Steele, a cousin of Andrew. A large number of his relatives settled near him in Kentucky, between whom there were the most affectionate family relations. Their descendants are now scattered far apart in almost every State of the Union. Many of them are bankers, doctors and lawyers. They were always ready with purse and rifle to aid the cause of their country, for which their Irish ancestors fought so well. They were distinguished for their courage, their endurance and well-known ability, whether in the front or as civil officers, or in the rearguard in the terrible border warfare along the Ohio River, and on the south shore line of Pennsylvania, Virginia and Kentucky.
Another Kentucky pioneer was Thomas Steele, who, as well as his wife, Eleanor Moore, were natives of Newtown-Limavady. He was Andrew's younger brother, and joined him about 1787, locating in Woodford County.
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Irish Pioneers in Kentucky.
Large Irish Catholic Settlements in the Early Days of Bardstown and Other Places-The Need for Systematic Research.
Among the descendants of Irish pioneers of Mason County who represented that section in the Kentucky Legislature, between 1792 and 1815, were John Maher. John McKee, James W. Coburn, James Ward and Michael Dougherty. ' Michael Cassidy, a native of Ireland, was sent to the House of Representatives from this county in 1797.
The first frame bouse in Maysville was built by Charles Gallagher. He also kept the first store in that city. The first brick house was built by Simon Kenton. The first white child born in the county was Joseph Logan, son of John Logan. He was born at MeKinley's block house on September 27, 1785.
In the early part of 1790 John May, from whom Maysville took its name, came down the Ohio, embarked at Kelly's Station on the Kenawha River, whence they proceeded to Point Pleasant, where they were joined by a man named Flynn, who, with two sisters, named Fleming, had come from Pittsburgh. The party came up with a roving band of Indians. with whom they had a desperate fight, in which several of the white men were killed. Flynn was a terror to the red men, whom he had put to flight on several occasions when they attacked the white settlements. They accord- ingly vowed vengeance on him, and when captured at Point Pleasant, put their terrible threat into execution by burning the unfortunate Irishman at the stake.
Colonel Timothy Downing, an Irishman, was a well known pioneer of Mason County. On his return on one occasion from Lexington, where he had been on a trading expedition, he was captured by Indians near Blue Licks. They crossed the Ohio with him at Logan's Gap, but after a most thrilling experience, he escaped and returned to Maysville.
A Captain Richard McCarty is mentioned among the pioneers of Mason County. It is thought he was one of the Virginia family of that name, who, like so many others, were attracted to the rich country to the West. There is nothing on record to indicate that he settled down in Kentucky, but his name is mentioned in several old records and narra- tives of the military expeditions under General George Rogers Clark as taking part in expeditions against the Indians. It is related that in a
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conflict with, a band of Indians near the River Raisin in the Spring of 1793, Captain MeCarty commanded the Kentuckians. He was taken and led into captivity, but was purchased from the Indian chief on the restor- ation of peace. He and a Captain Baker were the only two of the captives to escape, the remainder having all been tomahawked.
One John Coburn came to Kentucky from Philadelphia in 1784. He was first a merchant in Lexington and in 1788 was admitted to the bar. In 1794 he settled in Mason County. He became Judge of the District Court and later of the Circuit Court. President Jefferson appointed him Judge of the Territory of Michigan, which office he declined, but sub- sequently accepted the appointment to the judgeship of the Territory of Orleans and held court at St. Louis. He is described as a man of great ability and much respected. Collins says he was "one of the most inde- fatigable, efficient and accomplished political writers of his day." There is no reference to his nationality, but his name warrants us in placing him in this category of Kentucky's Irish-American pioneers.
THE FIGHTING RACE.
McCracken County was named after Captain Virgil MeCracken, a na- tive of Woodford County, Ky., whose father was one of the first adven- turers in that region and who lost his life on November 4, 1782, in the expedition of General Clark against the Piqua towns to avenge the terrible battle of Blue Licks. Captain Virgil McCracken raised a company of rifiemen and at the battle of the River Raisin, on January 22, 1813, "fell while bravely fighting at the head of his company."
Meade County was called after another native of Woodford County, (Captain James Meade, of Irish descent. When quite a youth he volun- teered his services in the Wabash expedition and fought at the famous battle of Tippecanoe, where he was promoted to the rank of captain for his bravery. Like McCracken, Meade met his death at the battle of the River Raisin while leading his company.
Menifee County was named in honor of Richard Menifee, who prob- ably was of Irish origin. He was born in Bath County, Ky., in 1810. He was a school teacher and afterwards a lawyer. He had a brilliant career, which was prematurely checked at the early age of 31. "Over the whole State," says Collins, "his death cast a gloom. It has been the fortune of but few men of the same age to achieve a reputation so splendid. Born in obscurity and forced to struggle in early life against an array of depressing influences, sufficient to crush any common spirit, he had rapidly but surely attained an eminence which fixed upon him the eyes of all America as one of our most promising statesmen. At 2; he was elected to Congress. His efforts in the House, bearing the impress of high genius and commanding talent, soon placed him in the front rank of de- bates at a time when Congress was remarkable for the number of its able men."
His father, Richard Menifee, represented Montgomery County in the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1801 to 1806. James MeElhenny was a Senator from Montgomery at the same time. Montgomery County
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was called after the distinguished general of the Revolution, Richard Montgomery, from Donegal.
In Nicholas County there was a flourishing settlement known as "Irish Station," about six miles South of the Lower Blue Licks, on the road to Lexington. It was so called after a group of Irish people who settled in the vicinity some time after 1.75. A man named Lyons es- tablished himself near there and carried on a large trade in general mer- chandise.
IRISH CATHOLIC SETTLEMENTS.
Benjamin J. Webb, in his "Catholicity in Kentucky," refers to a large number of Irish settlers who located in 1785 at Pottinger's Creek, about fifteen miles Southeast of Boston, in Nelson County. He relates that in 1785 a "league of sixty families was formed in St. Mary's County, Md., who were all Catholics, each of whom was pledged to emigrate to Kentucky within a specified time." Twenty families left Maryland in 1785, the remainder following within a few years.
Among the leading Irish Catholic families of this vicinity are men- tioned those of Ignatius Byrne, Henry MeAtee, Ignatius and Randal Hogan, William Mahony, Bernard Nally, Henry Norris, James Mollihone, Jeremiah Brown, Philip and Henry Miles, Thomas Bowlin, James Queen and Francis Bryan. Mrs. Monica Hagan had been there since 1782. She set- tled at New Hope with her three sons, Clement, James and Edward.
In 1790 Thomas MeManus, with his wife, Mary, and four children, left Lancaster, Pa., to make their home in Bardstown, Ky. McManus and his wife were both natives of Ireland and had settled some years before in Lancaster, where their children were born. They embarked on a flatboat at Pittsburgh, with a number of other Catholic emigrants, whose names are not mentioned, but who, without doubt, were largely, if not wholly, Irish. In our articles on Western Pennsylvania we have shown that a large percentage of its earliest inhabitants had emigrated from Ireland.
Descending the Ohio River at that time was like running the gaunt- let between two files of savages. The redmen usually laid in wait in large and formidable parties for the boats floating down the river, and many a death struggle took place between them and the boatmen. The McManus party was fired on and Thomas McManus and a number of his companions were killed. This terrible misfortune checked their journey, but after religiously burying their dead, and the savages having decamped, the remainder of the party proceeded down the river. Mrs. McManus first settled near Winchester, in Clark County, but subsequently removed to Bardstown. She met with many misfortunes, but being a truly courage- ous woman, she overcame them all, and lived to a very old age. She died at Bardstown in 1825. One of her sons, Charles McManus, was the lead- ing merchant of the town and one of its most honored citizens. He married a noted Kentucky beanty, Priscilla Roby. Mary McManus mar- ried Edward Hayden, one of the principal purveyors in Kentucky for General Andrew Jackson's army.
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The town of Bardstown was once called "the Athens of the West" by Henry Clay. "One hundred years ago," says a writer in the Sun, "it was mentioned in the same class with New York, Boston and Philadelphia. To-day it is a village of 1,800 people, a picturesque community scattered over one of Kentucky's cave-punctured bluffs and boasting its chief water- way in Pitch Fork Creek. Once known as one of the centers of American learning, with its Jesuit College, its seminaries, its massive cathedral, its proud gentry and its beautiful women, Bardstown is known to-day only as the county seat of Nelson County, and alone distinguished for its prod- uct of "Old Nelson Rye." "From learning to liquor," as Governor Johnson once described it.
John Reynolds was one of the earliest emigrants to Bardstown. One Prendergast was there in 1777. There were several families named Hogan there in 1812, all Catholics.
COLONY HEADED BY AN IRISH PRIEST.
Rev. Mr. Whelan, an Irish Franciscan, was sent from Maryland to Kentucky by Bishop Carroll. He arrived in Bardstown in 1787 with a new colony, and "the Catholics met him with open arms." When Father Whelan left Kentucky in 1790 and returned to Maryland, he was succeeded by Rev. William de Rohan, who was born in France of Irish parentage.
Bishop Spalding, in describing the journey of Fathers Badin and Bar- rieres, two French priests, who in 1793 had been assigned by Bishop Car- roll to the distant Kentucky settlements, relates that they celebrated divine service at the house of Dennis MeCarthy, an Irish Catholic. in Lexington. MeCarthy had been a clerk in the commercial house of Colonel Stephen Moylan, the Corkman who distinguished himself as the organizer and commander of the Fourth Dragoons, popularly called "Moylan's Dra- goons," in the Revolutionary War.
Benjamin J. Webb, author of "Catholicity in Kentucky," says there was a large number of settlers of Irish birth among those who first lo- cated at Hardin's Creek, "more, possibly, than were attached to any Catholic settlement in the State, with the single exception of the wholly Irish settlement on Cox's Creek, in Nelson County." The Hardin's Creek settlement was established in 1786, and that at Cox's Creek in 1795. Among the Irish families whom he mentions are those of the Hogans, Flannigans, Mollahones, Raneys, Hoskins, Maddens, Bryans, Gannons and Hughes. Their descendants are still numerous in Marion and adjoining counties.
In 1800 a family named Kelly came from Ireland and settled in Bardstown. Other Irish Catholics who are mentioned among the early settlers at Bardstown, and who are supposed to have come with Father Whelan in 1787, were named McArdle, McGill, McAtee, Rogers, Moore and Harkins. James McGill and his wife, Lavinia Dougherty, were both natives of Ireland. Among the Irish residents of the town about 1810 are mentioned Patrick Donohoo, Simon and William McDonough and William and George Dougherty. The last two became lay teachers in the celebrated college of St. Joseph at Bardstown.
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As we have already pointed out, our Irish-American literary and historical societies will find in Kentucky one of the most fruitful and in- teresting fields for historical research of any in the United States. If a systematic and exhaustive examination were made of the early records of the State, sufficient material of a most reliable character could be found to fill several volumes. The researches made by the writer of these articles have, for want of time and opportunity, been circumscribed and un- methodical; but it goes to show what an organization, formed for the pur- pose, can accomplish. If this work were done one-half a century ago, we would hear less to-day of the "Anglo-Saxon". and "Scotch-Irish" twaddle that is handed out to us from time to time, "when the wine is red."
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