Hustonville, Kentucky was first called Hanging
Fork, located between Logan's Station and Carpenter's Station in the early
settlement of Kentucky. Benjamin Logan's Settlement was called St. Asaph's, and
less than twenty miles west was the settlement of Coonrad Carpenter and family.
When the Huston brothers marked their land, Stephenson Huston, Nathaniel Huston,
and Archibald Huston located between the two settlements -- slightly nearer
Carpenter's Station -- toward the end of the Revolutionary War. The Hanging Fork
of Carpenter's Creek was the location where a Virginia outlaw was hanged by his
captors, who opted for frontier justice rather than return their prisoner to
authorities.
The Huston Plantation House is known in the
Hustonville area as the Stoner Stephenson house, attributed to a later owner
after the Huston family removed to Texas previous to the American Civil War. The
house was originally built by Stephenson Huston (a coincidence about the
Stephenson name...), whose brother Nathan Huston had a nearly identical house
built located at what would now be the east end of Hustonville. That house
burned and was razed. Nathan Huston was a member of the original Kentucky
Constitutional Conventions, representing Lincoln County. According to tradition,
the same builder who constructed Traveller's Rest for Isaac Shelby was
responsible for the two Huston homes, the exterior rock being quarried from the
nearby river banks.
Contact the Lincoln County Historical Society at: PO Box 570, Stanford, KY, 40484
Shown in photo above:Numbered: 1. Frank Lusk 2.
Unknown 3. Doc Drye 4. Tom --- 5. O.S. Williams 6. Millard Allen 7. George
Bradley 8. C. Brown 9. Smith Yowell 10. Sam Lusk 11. George Tucker 12. Les M.
Reid 13. Gil Cowan 14. Theophilus Luke Carpenter 15. William Huffman 16. E.R.
Pearce 17. Fred Peacock 18. Sid Adams 19. J.H. Hocker 20. Jim Yowell 21. Calvin
Carpenter 22. George Hunn 23. John Goode 24. Cora May Goode 25. Unknown 26. Will
Routt 27. J. Austin 28. Mose Cook 29. George Good 30. Boyd Weatherford 31. Billy
Williams 32. --- Williams 33. Paul Drye 34. Unknown 35. --- Peacock 36. R.
Givens 37. Luke Carpenter
Photograph courtesy: The Hustonville Baughman
Family
Excerpted from Chasing the Frontier:
Scotch-Irish Settlement in Early America
The men who were making homes
along Dick's and Carpenter's Creek were expected to do their part when fighting
men were required. Lincoln County's Company of Light Horse, serving under
Captain Kinkead, was ordered out by Colonel John Bowman on February 21, 1781, to
defend settlers to the north in Fayette County. Each man was to bring his own
horse and provisions and Nathan Huston was among those riding to Fayette under
Kinkead. Although some of the men joined later, after the company was already
enroute, most served nearly five weeks before they returned on March 28th.
During the summer, George Rogers Clark ordered the construction of a river
boat that could be used in defense of the settlers along the river. In addition,
the men were to carve canoes from trees to serve as a part of the crude navy. No
sooner had Nathan returned to the cabin and their farm than Stephenson began
packing provisions for his own excursion. Another party of Lincoln County men
was being called out, this time to guard the men "Digging Canoes," and Stephen
was to be among them. The companies under Samuel Kirkham and John Martin would
march from Lincoln County to Leestown, at the north edge of present-day
Frankfort, with Stephen Huston and James Gilmore riding ahead on horseback. Each
was classified as a "Spy" with orders to "Discover the approach of the Indian
Enemy." Stephen mounted his horse on April 25, and rode north from Hanging Fork
as the company began its march from Lincoln County. He and James spent the
remainder of April, all of May and all of June, scouting the areas around the
militia and riding back to report their findings. The company -- their mission
completed -- returned to Lincoln County on July 2. While he was scouting at
Leestown, the ground under Stephen's feet changed its designation: Virginia had
officially organized the frontier as the "District of Kentucky" on May 1.
Captain Kirkham's "Pay Role" included Lieutenant William Givens, Sergeant
John Popham, Sergeant John Smith, Henry Miller, George Watts, John Summit,
William Crawford, John Anderson, Elkaner Allin, William Campbell, Saml. Hines,
John Bohannan, Moses Lucas, Jacob Holefelaws, Edwd. Willis, William Laurence,
Joseph Ayers, John Kelly, Robt. Armstrong, Henry Grider, Robt. Flemming, Jas.
Mcphaddian, Jas. Alley, Jas. Bradley, Saml. Wilson, Hugh Rosan, John Harbison,
David Smith, Patrick Hurrigan, William Addams, Jas. Gilmore, Stephen Huston, and
Richard Stearman.
The rate of pay differed greatly from the Captain to his
privates; Kirkham was to be paid eleven Pounds, Virginia currency per day, while
most of the foot soldiers received two Pounds, eight Shillings per day.
Possibly, since they had the luxury of riding on horseback, Stephen Huston and
James Gilmore were paid at a rate lower than any man who served the entire
campaign, at two Pounds, four Shillings per day.
If they might have felt
slighted at the time, they were compelled to action ten years later when they
realized they had never been paid for their efforts. To receive the back pay,
they were obliged to formally petition the General Assembly of Virginia.
TO THE HONE. THE SPEAKER & HOUSE OF DELEGATES--
The
petition of James Gilmore and Stephen Huston, Humbly sheweth--
That your
petitioners were employed in Lincoln County By Capt. John Martin and Capt.
Samuel Kirkham as scouts to Discover the approach of the Indian Enemy That they
served as such from the 25th Day of April untill the 2d day of July in the year
1781 and that they never Received any Compensation for their services -- and
prays that your Honorable body may take their case into Consideration and grant
them such Relief as you may think Just and Right
And your petitioners in
Duty Bound shall ever pray
In October of 1781, the Battle of Yorktown was to have been the conflict that
ended the Revolution, but in Kentucky the following year, settlers began to call
1782 "The Year of Blood." News to and from the frontier still took time, and the
native Nations that had been encouraged by the British continued raids against
settlers and travelers along the trail. In addition, the end of the conflict
east of the mountains allowed the British to better concentrate on George Rogers
Clark in the west.
Raids by Cherokees were occurring from the Block House to
the Cumberland Gap and Colonel Arthur Campbell had taken 150 volunteers through
Cherokee country in an attempt to move them out and retrieve kinsmen who had
been taken captive. At the mouth of the Powell River, Captain Joseph Martin had
led 65 men against a band that had been staging ambushes on Boone's Trail.
Benjamin Logan, by now a Colonel, ordered a company of men from Lincoln County
under David Cook to defend settlers on the frontier of that county. Four days
later, Colonel John Logan took another group of men from Lincoln County along
Skagg's Trace to the Falls of the Ohio.
This time, both Stephen and Nathan
would be on the road at the same time. The cabin at Hanging Fork was left empty
-- John having taken Archibald and the men with him back to Rockingham County.
The frontier was still too dangerous for the family to join Nathan and Stephen.
The attempts by the Indian tribes to drive the intruders from their lands was
having some effect; families hoping to move to Kentucky were being told that it
was unsafe to cross the Gap.
Captain Robert Barnett began the campaign on
March 15, and had Nathan Huston as his Lieutenant. John South served as Ensign,
and Stephen Huston was the Quartermaster Sergeant. Their mission was to aid in
the protection of Fort Nelson, the headquarters established by General Clark at
Louisville on the Falls of the Ohio. British General Sir Frederick Haldimand,
who was in command of Detroit and Canada, was planning a major assault on Fort
Nelson.
Haldimand was sending Canadian Ranger Captain William Caldwell,
Captains Alexander McKee and Matthew Elliot, and the Girty brothers against
Clark's fort. He intended the assault to begin in August, but on March first, 25
Wyandottes attacked John Strode's Station and two men were killed. The band then
crossed the Kentucky River and attacked Estill's Station near present-day
Richmond, Kentucky. After the Wyandotte warriors determined that Estill was well
armed, they turned north toward the Ohio River. James Estill set out with a band
of men in pursuit, and caught them at Hinkston's Creek. Estill and five others
were killed.
Pay Roll for Capt. Robert Barnets Company of Militia drawn into actual
service to the Falls of the Ohio under the command of Colo. Jno. Logan.
Robert Barnet, Capt.,Nathan Huston, Lieu , John South, Ensn. ,
Stephen Huston, Q M Serjt.,Archibald Belt, Serjt. James Heynes,Daniel McKinny ,
George Welch , Joseph East , Wily Espy , Clayburn Duncan , Jno Mitchal , Jno.
Sertin , Daniel Higgens,Abner Heyden,James McCord , Randol Smith,Wm. Crawford ,
Amaziah Vardiman , Kaleb Masterson,Wm. Richards , Hickison Grubs , Richard
Holly,Benjn. Molton,Amos Terry , Samuel Rice , Wm. Watts , Andrew Olliver,Green
Clay,Abram Estridge,William Garner
In August, more than 400 Ohio Indians under the leadership of Simon Girty
intended to raid Bryan's Station, north of Boonesborough. Bryan's Station was
set inside a formidable stockade, and Girty intended to lie in wait until the
men came out into the open. Inside the stockade, the settlers somehow learned
that they were about to be attacked, and assumed the warriors were waiting for
the men to come out. At dawn, the gates of the stockade were eased open and the
wives and daughters of the settlers sauntered out as those nothing was
suspected. They filled pails of water from a nearby stream and returned to the
stockade; Girty and his warriors allowed them to pass by, presumably to preserve
their element of surprise. Once the stockade gates were again closed, the 44 men
inside began firing their rifles at intervals, the successfully repelled Girty
and his warriors when they attempted to breach the stockade.
The retreat
from Bryan's Station by Girty and his men was so obvious that some of the
settlers were suspicious. Major Hugh McGary of Lincoln County was among the 200
mounted men under Lt. Col. John Todd who began a pursuit of the force. McGary
suggested that Todd wait for Benjamin Logan who was leading some 400 men up from
Lincoln County in support. Daniel Boone was among those riding under Todd, and
he pointed out that, generally, Indians in retreat simply split up to avoid the
enemy; the trail left by the Ohio warriors even included the blazing of trees.
Boone suggested that two brushy ravines among the hills just across the Licking
River were a likely spot for an ambush and that as many as 500 warriors could be
hiding there in wait.
Todd took their comments as an insult and turned to
his men, his face flushed in anger, and yelled "By Godly, what have we come here
for? All who are not damned cowards follow me!" He held his rifle aloft and
plunged his horse into the stream; behind him, his backwoods army began to whoop
loudly and fell in behind him to cross the water. Nearly too late, Todd realized
the disorder he had provoked and immediately ordered the men off their horses
and into three companies. The men met no resistance as they climbed the first
hill, but as the first men reached the crest, the Ohio warriors -- hiding in the
ravine, just as Boone had suggested -- jumped to their feet and swarmed forward.
Todd's companies were overwhelmed by the huge force, and began to flee for
their lives; those at the front were quickly overrun, while those just reaching
the water were cut off by another force that had moved down to the water's edge.
Boone's son Israel was badly wounded, and as he fell, Daniel tried to carry his
son toward the stream to escape. Daniel was attacked as he ran, and was forced
to leave Israel behind as he directed the other men back across the river. The
attack lasted five minutes and ended once the frontiersmen crossed the stream --
the warriors did not give chase.
Five days later, Logan arrived with his
force of men from the Dick's River area of Lincoln County. Advancing with Logan
to the place of the battle at Blue Lick's, Boone found the body of his son. For
the rest of his life, Daniel Boone carried a sense of guilt at failing to
convince Todd to delay his attack at Blue Licks, and he could never discuss
Israel's death without breaking down into tears. In all, the frontiersmen buried
43 men that day, all casualties of the ambush at Blue Licks.
After Todd's
defeat on August 19, George Rogers Clark ordered a series of attacks on Shawnee
villages. By October, Nathan Huston had been promoted to captain of the Lincoln
County Militia, and had been given a company to lead on an expedition against
the Shawnees. On the 22nd, the company riding out from Hanging Fork included
Captain Huston, Phil Morrison, Privates Hayden, Williams, and Cook, Joseph
Hagen, Henry Cook, John Shadrick, Abraham Millar, Joseph Dillon, John Craford,
Patrick Welch, James Haydon, John Long, and Frank Miller. A Shawnee village was
burned on November 10 and Nathan acquired the services of Michael Stoner to
scout the locations of the warriors from the village. Stoner joined the company
as a "Spie" on November 12, 1782, as Nathan Huston's company continued as part
of the expedition against the Shawnees.
Brigadier General George Rogers
Clark was leading the expedition through Ohio, conducting what amounted to a
reign of terror against the native tribes in the area in hopes of driving them
to submit to a treaty or to move westward. There were "deprivations" on all
sides, as is typical when cultures collide. The Shawnees and other Indian
Nations were only trying to protect land that they had lived on throughout their
ancestry, while the settlers considered their own claims to land as legally
secured. Both considered the other as intruders that should -- at a minimum --
be driven out of the area -- the least violent of the several options considered
or put into practice.
Among the many companies following Clark's command was
that of Captain Robert Barnett, under whom Stephen Huston had served in the
spring and early summer. On October 23, 1782, Barnett called his company out
again and shared with the his orders to join Clark on the expedition through
Ohio. Many of the men were Stephen's neighbors at Hanging Fork; David Evens,
Coonrad Carpenter, and William Evens among them.
As the expedition ended, Nathan Huston and his company began working its way
back toward the Dick's River valley, and Hanging Fork, continually alert as they
traveled. Nathan brought his men back to their farms on November 24, just six
days before a preliminary peace treaty was signed between Britain and the United
States. News of the treaty -- like all news on the frontier -- was slow in
coming; the Kentucky settlers got word of the peace agreement in early spring.
Conducting raids against the Indian Tribes, while an often reported
activity, was hardly the entire focus of life on the frontier. Living as they
did at the edge of the wilderness, families expected hardships and were
regularly subjected to them. Homes were attacked at intervals, and livestock was
lost -- not only to Indians -- but to natural predators as well. Expeditions
against the Indians by Clark and Benjamin Logan, who acted on Clark's orders,
continued well into the next decade, although Clark was never regained the high
esteem he enjoyed in 1779. Raids along the Wabash River were conducted in
September of 1786, less than a year after Clark signed a treaty with various
tribes at Ft. McIntosh. Logan's force marched along the Miami River at the same
time, burning the villages of New Piqua, Mackacheck, Wappatomica, Will's Town,
McKee's Town, Blue Jacket's Town, and Moluntha's Town. Following the Battle of
Fallen Timbers in 1794, when General Anthony Wayne was victorious over Indians
in the Northwest, the Treaty of Greenville was signed by twelve separate tribes
that established yet another line between the settlers and the Indians. Like all
lines drawn by treaty, they were only held in regard as long as the apportioned
land was beyond the current reach of the new frontiersmen.
When Thomas
Feland and his many sons and daughters moved into the Hanging Fork area, they
settled on a tract of land not far from the cabin of Stephen and Nathan Huston.
Between his militia activities, Stephen began courting Thomas' daughter Jane.
Early in 1783, Stephen and Jane were married in Lincoln County, and Nathan was
forced to clean up the cabin on the second tract of land so he could move out
and give the newlyweds some privacy. It was just as well. The rest of the family
would need a place to stay when they removed from Virginia, and it would be
Nathan and Stephen's job to make a place for them to stay.
Nathan was already busy in Lincoln County. He was no stranger to those at the
court sessions, including Benjamin Logan, John Logan, Hugh McGary, and Stephen
Trigg, who had been named as Justices of the Peace. The first county court was
formed in January of 1781, and the following month Benjamin Logan donated ten
acres that could serve as a location for a courthouse. The Justices began
including Nathan among those could appraise the estates mentioned in probated
wills. One of the men with whom Nathan worked as an appraiser was William
Montgomery, who had settled with his father and brothers on land very near the
Hustons at the headwaters of Green River, about twelve miles from Benjamin
Logan's fort. William the elder was Benjamin Logan's father in law, and four
cabins were built in the same area for family members, including the families of
William Sr. and William Montgomery Jr. -- the grandson of William the elder,
John Montgomery, Thomas Montgomery, and Joseph Russell. Nathan had occasion to
ride his horse over the the Montgomerys often, even when there was no court
business that needed tending. He was seeing Anne Montgomery, a daughter of
Thomas Montgomery who had served with Nathan under Captain Joseph Kinkead. Anne
was fortunate to be alive. Just after the Hard Winter had broken -- in March of
1780 -- a band of Indian warriors surrounded all four of the cabins at
Montgomery's settlement during the night. The next morning, when William the
elder and one of the slave children stepped outside the front door, they were
both shot and killed. While one of William's daughters closed the door and
called for a rifle, another daughter scampered out of the cabin through the
short chimney and ran to Pettit's Station -- just over two miles away -- where a
messenger was sent to Benjamin Logan. By the time Logan and his men arrived,
John Montgomery had also been killed, and -- except for Joseph Russell, who
escaped -- the remaining family members had all been taken captive. Logan
discovered their trail and as his men drew near, the Indians abandoned their
captives in order to move more quickly in getting away.
Business was
attended to and life went on as the number of families moving to Kentucky
continued to increase. In 1780, John Huston was among the signers of a petition
to the Virginia Assembly requesting that Kentucky County be divided into three
smaller counties, to make it easier for the settlers to conduct business, since
"the setled part of the County of Kentuckey is of Late grown so Extensive that
in a time of pace it would be extremly inconvanient for your petitioners to
attend at the Courthouse mutch more so at present when an invetorate War rages
with unremited violance." Twenty inhabitants of Unity Station, including John
Huston and Levi Todd, signed the petition on May 1. The Assembly returned a
favorable ruling, dividing Kentucky County into the smaller counties of Lincoln,
Fayette, and Jefferson, with county seats at Harrodsburg, Lexington, and
Louisville. By 1784, Nelson County was formed, followed shortly by the creation
of Bourbon, Mercer, and Madison counties in 1785. Mason and Woodford were also
created before end of the decade -- in 1788.
Another petition was passed around years later when settlers at Lexington
sought their own local government. Archibald Huston was among those who signed
the petition asking for the right to form a town to levy taxes, improve the
streets, establish peace, and the "power to remove and prevent Nusances."
The petitions of the early day Kentucky residents to the Virginia Assembly
are filled with the names of Scotch-Irish, including many who followed the same
route as the Hustons from the Shenandoah Valley. In addition to the sons of
Archibald Huston of Mill Creek Valley in Augusta County (later Rockingham) there
several other Huston families living on the frontier; Archibald Huston of
Fayette County, and James, John, Samuel, and William Huston, who lived in the
area that later became Bourbon County. Joseph Huston headed a party of fourteen
men in 1775 that headed into Kentucky from Pennsylvania, and founded Huston's
Station in 1776 at the site of present-day Paris, Kentucky. He returned to
Pennsylvania and died shortly afterward, leaving his lands in Kentucky to his
sons William, John, and Joseph, Jr. Huston Creek, which still runs through the
area, was named for the founder of Huston Station. Samuel Huston and his father
Peter, had moved to Kentucky from North Carolina and had both served in the
revolution at the battle of King's Mountain, later settling in the area called
Cane Ridge, near present-day Paris, Kentucky. Peter was interviewed some years
later by Lyman Draper, an historian who was collecting information about the
settling of Kentucky who recorded that James was born April 5, 1769 in Iredell
County, North Carolina. He married Nancy Alexander, born February 1765, also at
Iredell County, North Carolina, on May 18, 1790, and the two moved to Kentucky
in September of 1793, settling near Col. James Smith and Stephen Riddle.
The
presence of the Scotch-Irish as a separate, isolated community of settlers may
have ended with the lessening threat of attack on the frontier. As communities
became more populated, more stable, and -- most importantly -- more civilized,
persons who "removed" to areas along the edge of the frontier became much more
diverse. Presbyterian Churches were no longer the only meeting places in
extremely rural areas. Where the children of Scotch-Irishmen had been inclined
to marry the children of other Scotch-Irishmen because they were the nearest
families, that was no longer the rule. As more families moved to the frontier
areas of the country, intermarriages of faiths and nationalities became
commonplace, though many of the frontier homesites bordered on land settled by
previous neighbors or acquaintances. The Scotch-Irish broque became a wilderness
colloquialism as children born along the frontier were exposed to other
dialects, but some of the Ulster bloodlines remained intact well into the
eighteen-hundreds. As the country emerged from its infancy and the interactions
of the populace were no longer limited to those living in immediate proximity to
each other, the cultural separation of the Scotch-Irish diminished.
The continued migration of families to the frontier was still a rigorous
undertaking. Although traveling the wilderness was becoming easier, the system
of trails constituted one of the primary problems facing the settlers -- they
were still too primitive to even be called roads. As cabins sprang up throughout
the area, there were more complaints about the difficulty in getting from one
place to another, particularly traveling to some of the larger settlements like
Danville. Several men were ordered by the court to survey the lands from
Danville to the mouth of Hickman Creek, and report back to the court the best
route for a road. At the same time, Stephen Huston, Isaac Shelby, Jacob Spears,
Robert Barnett, William Reed and William Warren were asked to look at how a road
might best be laid from Danville to Widow Carpenter's land, on Carpenter's
Creek. The court had reason to select the men they did, since the road would
pass on, or near, the lands of the men doing the surveying. Several weeks later,
Stephen, Isaac Shelby, and William Reed returned with their report, and the
court ordered the establishment of a road to run from Carpenter's Creek near the
plantation of Stephen's father-in-law Thomas Feland, passing near William
Warren's house before heading in a line to Danville.
On February 16, 1785,
John Cowan entered the Lincoln County court bearing a commission from the
Governor that appointed him Sheriff of the county. He stood before the Justices
and took his oath of office, then mentioned the fact that he needed a deputy. He
recommended an old friend, a man he had served in the militia with and who had
also hailed from Rockingham County, Virginia. Before moving to Kentucky, John
Cowan had wed Mary Craig, the daughter of John and Sarah Craig who lived in the
McGaheysville area of Rockingham. After Sheriff Cowan proposed Nathan Huston for
the job, the court quickly voted agreement, and Nathan was given the oath of
office.
It wasn't always the Sheriff or his deputy that received the first
notification when trouble was at hand. In Lincoln County, the man who lived at
Sportsman Hill was often the first to know when an event had occurred,
especially those that victimized families on the Wilderness Road. Colonel
William Whitley was a Scotch-Irishmen who had come to Kentucky early, but had
sacrificed a good part of his early land holdings to pay for the construction of
a fine house between Logan's Station and Crab Orchard. There was nothing like it
in all the county, and it remains as the legacy of early Kentucky craftsmen. The
walls are of red brick carried in from Virginia, and the exterior walls are
decorated with a series of lighter bricks forming a diamond pattern. Above the
door, white bricks outline the initials of the home's owner -- W.W. -- and on
the wall on the opposite side of the house, Whitley had his wife's initials
inset using the same color bricks. The windows on the bottom floor high above
the ground, intended to protect the Whitley's from being fired upon from
outside. In addition, Whitley had a secret panel placed in a wall on the third
floor where women and children at the house could hide in the event of an
attack. It was the first brick house built in Kentucky, and served as the site
of some lavish parties and barbecues for people of the county.
Colonel Whitley, as part of the county militia, was regularly called upon
when attacks occurred on the Wilderness Road. Invariably, he would quickly
gather a group of men and set out for the site of the attack. He believed that
the militia should be strong enough to discourage the ambushes, but said more
than once that the troops did little more than "bury the dead." The Sheriff
usually accompanied Whitley when an attack was investigated, and more often than
not, Nathan -- as deputy -- rode with them. He had seen enough bodies on the
trail to know that traveling in small groups along the Wilderness Road was an
extremely dangerous practice. 
It was a matter of specific
concern to him, because he was getting married, and Nathan had sent word that
he'd like to have the family there for the wedding. His sisters were getting
older, and there were a number of good families living near Nathan and Stephen
that had young men that would make fine husbands. While it was still dangerous
on the Wilderness Road, it was nothing compared to what it had been -- even a
few years earlier. It was time for the family to make the move.
Each issue
of the Kentucky Gazette -- the new frontier newspaper that began publishing in
1787 -- warned families moving out by way of the Wilderness Road to come fully
armed and in large groups where possible. The paper had also begun printing the
names of parties that were heading west. Families on the trail were familiar
with the names of those that had left Virginia with similar hopes and dreams,
and had met with tragedy on the road. There was Mrs. McClure, who escaped with
one of her slave woman during an attack in 1784, but six others in the party
were not as fortunate. In 1786, several families and their servants were moving
westward from Rockbridge and Botetourt counties and stopped to camp for the
night. After dark, a band of Chickamauga warriors descended on the campsite,
slipping past their posted guards. Twenty-one persons were killed, five women
were taken prisoner, and the horses, mules and household goods were spirited
away. One of the women escaped detection by hiding in a hollowed-out tree trunk.
She was pregnant, and during the night, while huddled all alone in the dark,
went into labor and gave birth. She was found the next day by the militia, who
took her back with them to the settlement. There she was miraculously reunited
with her husband -- who had somehow managed to slip away and make his way back
through the darkness.
John and George accompanied the family along the trail
to assist the move and to increase the number of men who would protect the
party, but neither planned to stay in Kentucky. For both, Mill Creek still had
much to offer. Land along the Indian Road in Rockingham had increased in value
and their farms were doing well. For John, the primary consideration was Mary
Ann Miller -- now Mary Ann Huston -- his new bride. Their recent marriage was a
big event in Mill Valley, the first of the Rockingham Hustons to be married --
except for Stephen, who had taken a bride in the wilderness of Kentucky. Mary
Ann would have removed to the new state of Kentucky had John wanted, but she had
anxiously awaited his decision before telling her parents that the couple would
remain in Virginia.
It was quite a celebration when the family finally pulled the wagons into the
Dick's River valley; guns were fired into the air and shouts went up all around
the Hanging Fork. The arriving families were greatly relieved to have completed
the journey along the Wilderness Road, and more than a few young men in the
county were greatly pleased to see so many unattached young women move in at
once into their midst.
Housing was a difficult accommodation at the outset.
Between Stephen and Nathan there had been several blockhouses built on their
lands, but the structures were little more than large single room cabins.
William Whitley had shown that it was possible to build a fine home, even at the
edge of the frontier, when he completed construction of Sportsman Hill.
Whitley's home was an expensive endeavor, with bricks for the walls carted all
the way from Virginia. About the same time as Whitley's construction, Isaac
Shelby completed his home, which he called "Traveler's Rest," which was located
about eight miles from Stephen Huston's land. Shelby was always a respected
neighbor, but now he had a position of true prominence, serving as Kentucky's
first governor. "Traveler's Rest" was outfitted to suit a man of position. On
the first floor walls Shelby had waist-high paneling of polished cherry wood,
and throughout the house woodwork consisted of fine cherry wood and walnut.
Unlike Whitley's house, Shelby used native stone and the mason who pieced the
rock together claimed to have had a special formula for his mortar, which he
never revealed. The hand-hewn stone was carefully stacked and cemented over the
exterior of the two-story house. It was a house that befitted its name, and it,
along with Sportsman Hill, was the envy of the county.
When the Huston
brothers decided to replace the cabins, they looked to Traveler's Rest as a
model home, and its builder as their contractor. They would require a lot of
room, so where Shelby built a foundation on the ground, the Huston's opted for a
basement. The stone they would quarry themselves -- with the help of their slave
men -- from the banks of the river at Hanging Fork and Carpenter's Creek. The
same mixture of hogs-hair mortar that had done such a fine job for Shelby would
suit the Hustons just fine. A good many of the features of Traveler's Rest were
duplicated at Hanging Fork. The first floor windows would be high enough above
the ground to discourage attack. The chimneys would rise through the house with
fireplaces and hearths on both floors.
Copyright 1996, L.J. Hoefling