Looking for information on the location and history of Kennedy Station reportedly located in Eastern Garrard County. My ancestors, James and Mathew Robertson arrived at Paint Lick, KY in December 1779 and fought in the Revolutionary War at Kennedy Station.

Roger,

I am sending you an article that I prepared for Paint Lick Reflections, a quarterly magazine that ran for a few years. It dels with both John Kennedy and William Miller and the two forts they began.

Gerald Tudor

Early Citizens of the Community of Paint Lick and Paint Lick Creek

The Creek is the boundary that separates present Garrard and Madison Co. The Creek's water shed drains a good portion of both Madison and Garrard Cos. Its early settlers were no strangers to Fort Boonesborough in northern Madison Co., nor to Logan's Fort (St. Asaphs) in Lincoln Co. or Harrod's Fort in present day Mercer Co. All this territory grew very fast from the time it was first settled in 1774-1775 when the whole state was known as Fincastle Co. of Virginia (1772. Kentucky County (1777), then Lincoln Co. in 1780 to Mercer and Madison Cos. which were taken from Lincoln Co. in 1785 but as separate governments in 1786. 1786 is important as this is the earliest date that one will find court records that are specifically for Madison and Mercer Cos.
Most all if not all of the western waters of Paint Lick Creek was formerly Madison County which comprised almost the eastern half of the newly formed Garrard Co. in 1797. In earlier days there were beaten paths from these major Forts, particularly Logan's and Boonesborough where trails followed minor streams and over ridges mostly out of danger of Indian attacks. By these trails or traces, people from these large fort settlements ventured to settle their lands in between. Smaller stations and forts were then erected to satisfy the needs of the new settlements. Some stations recognized as early in the Paint Lick area were Kennedy's south of the Manse area, Paint Lick Fort (Miller's) at present Paint Lick Village, Maxwell's just west of Paint Lick beyond Lowell, Stevenson's southeast of Paint Lick on Paint Lick Creek, Bell's also east and south off Paint Lick Creek, and certain others.
Actually most pioneer houses were considered stations and afforded some protection and shelter for anyone in need. When threatened with word from the various spies who were always on the look-out, many were given time to reach the larger stations. Of prime interest in the Paint Lick area were the two stations or forts of Paint Lick, Miller’s and Kennedy's, both large enough to handle many families for short durations.
In summation, the early settlers where at the mercy or no mercy of the Indians and far removed from their government in Williamsburg and later Richmond, VA. The Revolutionary War kept the attention of the Virginia Gov. and little attention was given to their western possessions. When help was needed, it took weeks before relief arrived, and by then most often a crisis had either ended in death and destruction or relief was gained by the settler's steadfastness, and or the impatience of their attackers who pulled out.
Indian excursions continued even after most historians considered the 1790's as free of concerted attacks such as those on Boonesborough and Logan’s. Be that as it may be, a concerted attack by even small parties of Indians still rendered death and destruction on people. As late as 1792 near Paint Lick at Stevenson's Station(Stephenson in some accounts), death, injury and destruction resulted. An attack resulted in a prolonged stay in the fort at Kennedy's and scares caused the same at Fort Paint Lick where as often many as 20-30 people gathered. Even afterwards, the people were most wary of their surroundings.
Even before and after problems with Indians abated, many sons of Paint Lick took their families to the northwest and west where they continued or renewed their problems with the Indians. Their desires most always centered on gaining a new life and productive farm land. The hardships they were acquainted with as were their fathers and mothers and so endured and stoically accepted their lot.
Today, there is a yearning of distant descendants of Paint Lick ancestors to know more about their roots and how life was. Even we who have been forever near still learn from others near and far.
Finally, after the Indians, farm production, livestock trade, and good homes were built. Education was thought of even if not achievable to the poor except by subscription and invitation of those who were able to provide. This lasted until political problems eventually resulted in the War Between the States or Civil War, or other titles, whichever one desired to call it, even War of Independence, or War of Southern Independence, said to be the result of states rights and the institution of slavery. Gains that were made, were interrupted and families and churches split. Armies marched through Garrard Co. and specifically the village of Paint Lick where the army divisions and whole armies strung out from Big Hill in Madison Co. to Paint Lick and from Camp Dick Robinson in Northern Garrard Co. to Paint Lick later. In addition there were cavalry raids before and after. Food and water were premium as were horses. Like when the Indians sought to steal horses in an earlier day, citizens hid them often behind the cane which was tall, thick and widely spread in pioneer days. Horses were hidden and horse trading stopped when Morgan's Raiders were in country during the Civil War.
This brings one to the time of remembrance either by stories told to us by those who lived the times or related such to our parents or grandparents. Those living today, can certainly fill others in on their lives and the lives of others in and about Paint Lick. This is why Paint Lick Reflections meets the needs of people to express themselves and impart the love they have for their heritage and the community they live in or have such commitments to because their fore-parents made it their home always with struggles and joys.

TWO EARLY PAINT Lick SETTLERS
Both arrived with Boone to Boonesborough

John Kennedy, Jr.

The first proof of John Kennedy, Jr. being in Kentucky is from the Narrative of Felix Walker, who was seriously wounded on March 25, 1775 along with the shooting of Capt. Twetty who died three days later, and his body servant “killed dead”.
Daniel Boone says in his April 1 letter to Col. Henderson, “On March 28 as we were hunting for provisions we found Samuel Tate’s son, who gave us an account that the Indians fired on their camp on the 27th day.” Here, Thomas McDowell and Jeremiah McPheeters were also killed. This discovery further delayed their reaching the site of the future Boonesborough by several days.
Walker reports of the kindness, sympathy, and attention paid him by Daniel Boone in his distress, etc., and follows saying, "I also was kindly treated by all my companions, particularly John Kennedy". From this, we are assured that he was with Boone and party to present Boonesborough ahead of Henderson and company.
The following is perhaps the best estimate, or proof for those who first came with Daniel Boone to the present site of Boonesborough. It cannot be said that the list is perfect. Many claim various others also came, but logically such a number would have made this party quite large and certainly would have discouraged any Indian attack such as the one that resulted in the deaths mentioned above.

Historical Marker, The D. A. R. Fort Boonesborough.

"In testimony of the gratitude of posterity for the historic service of cutting for the Transylvania Company. The Transylvanic Trail, the first great pathway to the West, March-April 1775 from the Long Island of Holston River Tennessee to Otter Creek Kentucky by that gallant band of Axemen Pioneers and Indian fighters who at the risk and loss of life opened the doors of destiny to the white race in Kentucky and the West.”
Being the D. A. R. at that time, they would say, "opened the doors.........to the white race. It also opened the doors for others as well, and certainly made it much easier for the whites.
“Daniel Boone, Squire Boone, Edward Bradley, James Bridges, William Bush, Richard Callaway, Samuel Coburn, Jacob Crabtree, Benjamin Culbirth, David Gass, John Hart, William Hays, *Susannah Boone Hays, William Hicks, Edmund Jennings, Thomas Johnson, John Kennedy, John King, Thomas McDowell, Jeremiah McPheeters, William Miller, William Moore, James Noll, James Peeke, Bartlette Searcy, Michael Stoner, Samuel Tate, Samuel Tate, Jr., William Tweety, John Wardeman, Felix Walker, A Negro Woman, A Negro Man.
Erected by The Daughters of the American Revolution of North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky, Under the Auspices of the Transylvanians of Henderson, Kentucky, 1935."
*Note: The marker or a mistranslation has entered Rebecca Boone Hays. Susannah Boone Hays is the correct person. Boone himself stated that his wife, Rebecca was the first white woman to the Kentucky River (This was later when he brought the rest of his family to Boonesborough). His daughter, Susannah just took the statement in stride. Susannah and the slave girl were the cooks for the trail blazing party.
John was one of the first to establish a cabin outside the fort at the Boonesborough settlement, but he did not remain there.
Elizabeth Poage Thomas' remarks in Draper Papers 4/cc 85 say, " I was born in Virginia on the 4th day of September 1764 in Rockbridge County near the Natural Bridge. My father moved on the North Fork of Holston within 4 or 5 miles from Abingdon & remained there two or three years and in March 1775 we moved down the Holston near the Big Island where we remained until Sept. 1775 when Col Calloway and his company came along going to Kentucky, when my father William Poague packed up and came with him with our family, Col Boone and with his wife and family and Col. Hugh McGary, Thomas Denton and Richard Hogan were on the road before us and when we arrived at Boonesborough the latter part of September there was only five or six cabins built along the bank of the Kentucky river but not picketed & being open on two sides, Nat Hart had a cabin above a small branch which headed up near the river hill in a Buffalo lick, some two or three hundred yards distanct, and this was its condition when we arrived we found Boone & Henderson there when we arrived and a number of others to whom Henderson was selling land claims, we remained at Boonesborough that winter in a cabbin built by John Kennedy a brother of Gen'l Thomas Kennedy and in the winter the Kentucky river rose from heavy rains and ran around the cabins next the river hill & we were afraid it would have entered our cabin but it did not & in February 1776 my father & family moved to Harrodsburg into the Fort built by McGary. The cabbins built by Col. Harrod in 1774 were then standing and some of them occupied ......"
John Kennedy's cabin was apparently unoccupied at the time of the Poague's arrival, and only assumes that Kennedy was already venturing over the land and possibly surveying, because very soon he had made surveys and claims to settlement and preemptions in both of what became Madison and Garrard Cos. He did however establish an account back at the fort at Boonesborough in 1776, that Col. Henderson had set up.
Continuing with John's building the cabin, he is soon found at the settlement of St Asaphs' where Benjamin Logan had finished his stockaded fort in 1777. Here he received wounds in an Indian attack upon the fort when he and others were caught outside its walls. This was about the 30th of May 1777. He traveled between Boonesborough and Logan's Fort, present day Stanford in Lincoln Co., KY, and served as one of Benjamin Logan's scouts. It was while out on such duties that he witnessed the attack on Boonesborough and hurried to Logan's to spread the alarm.

Kennedy’s Fort 1779

John soon had his settlement and preemption of 1400 acres on the waters of Paint Lick Creek in present day Garrard Co., KY.
1775: “John Kennedy raised a crop of corn in present County of Garrard.” This is the same 1400 acre preemption and improvement, settlement tract that John Kennedy built his Station beginning in abt. 1779. Source: Forrest Calico's History of Garrard County and its Churches, 1947 where he gives his source as a Circuit Court suit between Thomas Bell and John Boyle, wooden box 11, bundle 43 Suit 326. This recorder has not seen the documents as they presently reside in the State Archives in Frankfort.
John is known to have been with excursions north of the Ohio in reprisal for Indian attacks on Kentucky settlements. He was later commissioned a Captain and Gentleman Justice of the Peace for Lincoln Co. but was not to hear of nor serve the office of Justice of the Peace.
The following is referenced from the work of Alma Lackey Wilson, published in The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society in April, 1947.
"Entering Kentucky at Cumberland Gap, Capt. John Kennedy, Jr., Wm. McAfee, the two Leeper brothers and Joseph Kennedy (John's brother) were attacked by a superior number of Indians, on December 26, 1780. Capt. Kennedy, and James Leeper were killed, and Joseph Kennedy was taken prisoner. The other Mr. Leeper was watering his horse at Yellow Creek, a short distance away, so made his escape to report the massacre at the nearest settlement."
It is ironic that John's brother, Joseph when mentioning his capture by the Indians, did not mention the death of his brother. This might lead one to think that there were two different occasions, when John was killed and another when Joseph was captured?
This recorder makes an unproven statement that the other Leeper brother may have been Hugh Leeper. He was later dangerously wounded between Logan's and Harrod's Forts while in a party with Benjamin Logan. He was returned to Logan's fort after being left with others, and rescued during the dark. He had been shot through near his heart, but recovered, based upon the Narrative of Daniel Trabue who was at Logan's Fort and who was in the rescue party.
The North Carolina Assembly passed an Act in 1784: "Heirs and Devisees of James Leeper.....John Kennedy, Jr.......who were killed in the defense of said country....shall receive....a grant of 640 acres of land without being obliged to pay any price for same: Provided that every person receiving such grant shall pay surveyors and other fees of office."
"A grant of land was made to John Kennedy, Jr. in 1784, but not in Kentucky (Not by any act of North Carolina) and assigned to his heirs, Joseph and Andrew Kennedy."
From the Draper Papers is a list of members of Benjamin Logan's Militia in 1777, three years before the massacre:

A list of Capt. Ben LOGAN’S pay roll

Capt. Ben Logan, Lt. John Logan, Alex Montgomery, Ensign*, Azariah Davis, Ensign Benj. Patton, Sargt., Wm. Menifee (may have been MCAFEE), Sargt., Rosel Stevens, Sargt., George Clark, Sargt. HUGH Leeper, John Martin, Wm. Whitley, JAMES Leeper, George White, John Fain, Wm. Casey, Robert Barnett, JOHN Kennedy, Julius Saunders, Benjn. Briggs, Nich. Proctor, Sr., Nich. Proctor, Jr., Page Proctor, Joseph Proctor, Reuben Proctor, Philip Trammel, Geo. Scote, JOSEPH Kennedy, Jared Menifee, James Menifee. (Draper MMS)

A Declaration of Mathew Robertson - his Revolutionary War Claim for Pension, S31338, State of Kentucky, Russell County, 29 April 1833: "That he entered the service of the Revolution under the following named officers and served herein stated: That in the year 1779 this affiant came from East Tennessee to the now State of Kentucky, and landed on Paint Lick Creek, now Madison County. .....in the spring of 1780 he volunteered as a private soldier and served in Captain Kennedy's Company and in Col. Benj. Logan's Regiment, that he was ordered by Captain Kennedy to assist in rearing and building Kennedy's Fort, that he did assist in building said fort, and when the same was completed remained in said fort as a private in said Company for three whole years, continually under arms and in service, ... acted as a spy to watch the movements of the Indians, etc. ....that his Capt. Kennedy was killed sometime before Clarke's expedition against the Miami Indians, and Captain John Martin was chosen the Captain the successor of said Kennedy, etc." Robertson, with his father, left the fort in 1784 to begin farming and clearing the land. He said that “he knew of no witnesses who could prove his services except Alexander Reed & Will Miller.” Both of these men were Paint Lick settlers).
John had married Mary Anderson, daughter of John Anderson and his wife, Ann Irvine who were early at Boonesborough, on April 15, 1780 in the fort at Boonesborough. This is where the Andersons were at the time. Their child, Nancy was born the following April, 1781.
“John had made a 'declared will' before his marriage (March 1775). He declared before witnesses that his estate was to be inherited by his father John Kennedy, and his brothers, Joseph, Andrew, and David, with 10 shillings to his brother Thomas Kennedy."
"The heirs entered into an agreement with his widow, Mary Anderson Kennedy to give her title to 1400 acres of land called 'Walnut Meadows.' Many years followed during which the titles and boundaries of Kentucky land were in dispute. Mary married Samuel Campbell, and in 1808 she and her husband brought suit against John Kennedy, Sr. and his sons, Joseph, Andrew and David for a settlement. Mary was awarded 1400 acres called Locust Bend on Silver Creek." This may have been the same land previously promised, but delayed by the many land disputes. The Walnut Meadow, however, may have been mostly on the waters of Paint Lick Creek in Madison County, land east of which could very well drain into both Paint Lick and Silver Creek.
It wasn't long that John's brother, Thomas was the owner of his settlement and preemption 1400 acres in present Garrard Co. Per Forrest Calico, "History of Garrard County Kentucky and its Churches" - page 40, Thomas Kennedy, " ...by his own depositions, came to Kentucky in 1781 (Actually 1782) and resided at his brother John's station on or near Paint Lick Creek." Here Thomas built his large brick home abt. the mid 1790's. For a short time the records establish that John had a station on his settlement 400 acres (At least for four years as reported by Matthew Robertson, above.) There is evidence that there was a beaten path from his station to that of Bells (current Cornett farm) to the east and just across the present border in Madison County.
Another mention of John's Station: "Joseph Kennedy says that Ambrose Ross lay sick at Kennedy Station in 1780, expected to die but recovered. He had a brother Hugh who came to Kennedy Station in 1782. As did Thomas Jones Ross about 2 or 3 yrs. old. Kennedy says he knew Sarah Ross, the mother of the above named Ross sons, 1779.”
In the records of the recently established Society of Boonesborough, both John and his father are listed as early settlers, only an error is noted that John, Sr. is the one listed as killed instead of his son. The official records do reverse this, and recently in 2001, so has the Society.
The Rev. John D. Shane in his copied work of the Henderson Company Ledger (Account Book at the Fort of Boonesborough) held by the Hart family: No. 90 John Kennedy. a/c opd. (Account Opened) May 24-1776. Brother of Gen. Thomas Kennedy of Kentucky: Killed in Cumberland Gap, in 1777 or 1778 (The informant's memory defective in this case. It was in December of 1780 that he was killed by the Indians). The Rev.'s notes continue with Thomas Kennedy's commanding a company in the Battle of the King's Mountain. He had a bad character, as respects his pecuniary affairs; but was a good soldier. Source: Townsend Room - Eastern Kentucky University Library.
As to the actual location of Kennedy's Station/Fort, attempts have been made to pin point it from existing court records, but being precise has been quite difficult. It is probable that it existed on John's 400 acre settlement which connected his 1000 acre preemption as indicated in the Virginia Survey Book 10, pp. 71-72 as being located on Station Settlement Creek, later Kennedy Branch (now Walker's Branch), a tributary of Paint Lick Creek. But, also considered as a possible sight which lies in his Preemption where later, Flavious Josephus Conn had his home and where in 1984 Nancy O'Malley, Research Associate Kentucky Anthropological Research Facility, with this recorder and his daughter, Lynne visited. At this time, the location was the home of Johnny and Alta Anderson, a descendant of Conn.
O'Malley's description of the log structures at this site and the closer location to natural streams described in a deposition locating Kennedy's Station does not rule out the Station being at this site at the forks of present day Walker's and Conn's Branches leading to White Lick Creek and Paint Lick Creek. She states, "....since settlements and preemptions were often granted even when the improvement was in the preemption. This point does not exclude the possibility that the log complex was the station." Source, O'Malley's "Stockading Up" 1987 revised 1994.
The following deposition given by Joseph Kennedy "deposes that John Kennedy's Station or Settlement tract was near the mouth of McCormack's or now called Frog Branch." This places the station even closer to where O'Malley chances it to be, but we may never know for a certainty.
The Station has been plotted at least three times by different people; first by Judge Forrest Calico in his History of Garrard County Kentucky and Its Churches; by Fred Simpson in his plotted map "Back of the Cane", where early surveys were plotted on a modern day map of the county, and also by Nancy O'Malley, in her published work "Stockading Up" 1987 revised 1994. The plotted locations in each case do not vary appreciatively. The location, if looking at a modern day map of Garrard Co., would place it south and east of present day Walker Pike (Hwy 1972) near the waters of Walker Branch (Formally Kennedy Branch) and not far, southwest, from the community of Manse on Hwy 52. The Fort logically would have been at the southern end of the Kennedy property just north of the Zophar Carpenter property to the south, which was then McKinzie's survey by Espie, if not as O'Malley might suppose.

William Miller

Some biographical notes report William as serving in the French and Indian War. If this is so, he was from the beginning to the end of the war age 7 and 14, based upon his birth of 1747.
It is stated that William served as a Private in Morgan's Virginia Riflemen. This is not proven although credited on his grave marker. However, he was an early settler in Kentucky on the Paint Lick Creek at what became Paint Lick Village, in present Garrard Co. where he established a Station; some say a stockaded fort or station. Records tend to agree that it was either a stockaded station or a fort.
Using descriptions found in the writings of certain examiners of historic pioneer stations, Nancy O'Malley being one, it is found that stations were meant to be private residences rather than for the public. Each station was generally owned by a single family, and often other families of blood kin. Some stations were stockaded for defense and other families from the area or those first arriving found safety in such stations. It is thought that they were not well constructed as they were only meant to be temporary and used for no more than 0ne to two years. Most of this description seems to fit that of William Miller's Station or Fort. And it appears that those who resided here, as needed, were of kin or soon to be by marriage.
A Historical Road Sign in the village of Paint Lick gives the names of William Miller, Alexander Denny, William Champ and George Adams as early residents at the Paint Lick Fort. These names appear to be of close kin, but not conclusive in every case. Based upon known and supposed dates of these families, the following are believed to have been in the stockade in late October 1784 during an Indian scare. Taken from this recorder's statement regarding Paint Lick Fort:

PAINT Lick Fort
(Built 1779-1781)
Named for a lick and painted trees and or banks of the stream

What little we know about this Station or Fort comes from early depositions in court cases and reference to it by William Champ, Jr. who was interviewed by Lyman Copeland Draper during the Civil War. Champ assures us that Miller's Station was a stockaded fort, ....."As Whitley and his victorious party approached Miller's Station, they fired a feu de jore, when the women in the fort alarmed, supposing Indians were coming ran helter-skelter hunting up their children, to see that they were all inside the gates and picketing....." The mention of "gates" is the clue to the station's being a stockaded or heavily picketed (fenced) fort. (This scare was apparently dated in latter October of 1784 when Whitley's men retook the plunder of the probable Moore party massacre.) Many stations were simply the homes of settlers with some means of defense and not necessarily stockaded or fenced in.
William Miller, owner of the ground the fort was built on, is said to have claimed his land on Paint Lick Creek in 1776 ("I chose a sight for a settlement....and raised a crop of corn") per the words of Anna Burnside Brown in her semi fictional biography of William Miller written in first person. By this biography, the Dennys, Champs and Adams used the fort prior to establishing their own homes. The same names are listed on the Historical Marker posted in the business district. (Note: Historical Markers are the result of concerted efforts of local citizens to submit their take on certain historical sites, personalities, or happenings recognized).
Miller settled four and one-half miles above the mouth of Back Creek, and by his own words, settled at his Paint Lick Station in 1781. Using a backwoods reckoning as the crow flies, Miller would have settled about half-way between the mouth of Back Creek and where he later had his station, although I cannot find that he had any claim for land other than near his station settlement. William had supposedly gone to Abingdon, Virginia where he married Nancy Yancy in 1780. Apparently his fort was being built during this time as most of the minor stations/forts were begun in 1779. It is related that his eldest daughter, Isabella was born in the fort in 1781 which places him there as he said, in the year 1781.
In this same year (1781), Joseph Wray deposes that Paint Lick Station had five men, Kennedy's six or seven, Bell's three, Maxwell's two and did not know how many Craig's had. During this period of time, 1781-1782, due to their weakness, and being constantly threatened by Indians, the inhabitants mostly kept concealed as much as possible until the fall of 1782 when large numbers of people came to Kentucky.
It is safe to say that the Champs were not in the fort until early October of 1784 as recorded in the Draper Interview with William Champ, Jr. who came with his family in that year as an eight year old.
Champ does not mention any attacks upon the Paint Lick Fort, but does give an account of the deadly attack upon Stephenson's Station near the Gum Spring, a short distance from Paint Lick Fort toward present day Wallaceton.
There is no known record of any attacks on the fort by Indians, but it certainly served as a haven during these troubled times. There was believed to have been an attack on Kennedy's Fort to the south and west of Paint Lick Station.
A cave spring still exists near where the fort is thought to have been. Some believe that the spring was enclosed by the stockaded fort. If so, this writer believes it to have been a rather large enclosure. The spring is on one of the higher levels of ground west of the Paint Lick Creek as seen from present Hwy 21. The logical site of the fort was just to the north and west of the spring on slightly higher ground where presently, 2003, a large barn exists. This location would have commanded the ground around the fort and afforded a degree of safety from being vulnerable from a higher elevation, the nearest being some distance to the west on the Garrard County side commanding today's business district of Paint Lick from the south.
Not all of the stations or forts had a spring within their walls. St. Asaph's or Logan's Fort at Stanford had a spring outside the fort that access was made by digging a passage to it with cover. The spring(s) at Boonesborough were also outside the fort. The spring at the fort at Harrodsburg was within the walls of the stockade and presented problems of pollution and sickness for the inhabitants.
In October of 1784, by best estimates, the following people are thought to have been at the Paint Lick Fort: William Miller, age 37; his wife Nancy Yancy Miller, abt. 23; Isabella Miller, their 3 year old daughter; Possibly daughter Margaret, born 22 Oct. 1784; Andrew Miller, a half- brother to William Champ, Jr. by their mother's first marriage; William Champ, Sr., 28, Hannah Miller, his wife, and perhaps some years older than William by having a son, Andrew Miller old enough to be included in scouting and Indian hunts; William Champ, Jr., age 8; Margaret Champ, 7, and Robert Champ 5; Alexander Denny, abt. 37, Mary (Allison) Denny, his wife, abt. 33; Finley Denny, over 10, George Denny, abt. 10, Susannah Denny, abt. 5; Alexander Denny, possibly an infant; Thomas Kennedy, 27, Agnes Ross Kennedy, his wife, age 28 (Note: Thomas, by his own deposition, first arrived at his brother John's Station in 1781); George Adams, abt 51, his wife, who may have been at that time, a Jean Miller, alleged to have been born at sea in route to the colonies, abt. age 49; and their son, John Adams, age 22. John Calvin Mason, husband of Nancy Snoddy, daughter of John, is said to have been born in a small fort in Paint Lick on 17 Aug. 1784. This means that his mother, Isabella Scott Mason, age abt. 16, and born in Ireland and the father as well, William Mason, age abt. 24 were there too. It has also been claimed that Robert Brank, Jr. resided in the fort in 1791 and no doubt many others over time.
It is not certain just how large Fort Paint Lick may have been, but logic tells us where it most likely set and close to the spring if not surrounding it. It was large enough to handle the list of settlers mentioned above (over twenty people), and could have been a quite crowded station unless there were at least five cabins. The fort did not have to have but a few cabins for refuge during relatively short durations of being under attack. It was a first place of stay for new comers, such as the Champs, until settled elsewhere, and for those of the neighborhood to seek safety.
The spring, today still reveals the rock walled enclosure but the walls through the years have been compressed closer together by the roots of a tree adjacent to it, thus limited to a very narrow passage into the spring rendering it inaccessible. In 1984, upon a visit with anthropologist, Nancy O'Malley of the University of Kentucky, researcher of early stations, and this writer's daughter Lynne, the spring was found to be relatively clear of obstruction. In June of 2002, the small entrance has become a deposit for sticks and posts and a roll of fencing across part of the cave. Perhaps this is to safe-guard cattle that are in the field.
Little more is known about Miller except his participation in Estill's Defeat, where he was accused of abandoning his comrades resulting in the deaths of several. This is denied by William Champ, who in his interview with Lyman Draper, offers Miller's side of the story:
"Col. William Miller - thinks he was a native of Virginia (Compiler's note: One account says born in Ireland) - lived early on Reedy Creek of Holston - and was out on some early Indian Campaigns, but couldn't tell what ones. Has no knowledge of Miller's drawing a pension. At Estill's defeat thinks Miller not blamable. Estill sent him with six men to flank the Indians and the Indians killed two of his men in the first fire and broke the cock of his gun with a bullet, so it was useless. There was a thick cane-break and could not see how many nor where the Indians were and Miller and the survivors thought it foolhardy to remain and be shot down and so left. Col. Miller was called a brave man. He was not out on any expeditions after Mr. Champ came to this country, except scouting near home." (Yelverton Peyton said Miller was as brave as any man, but that even the bravest sometimes falter.) (Compiler's note: While he served as a Lt. under Estill at the Defeat, and was accused of cowardly action in that event, he later was made Lt. Col. of the Militia.)
It is believed that he was with Boone as one of his thirty ax-men, but the source for this is limited. Miller is reported by some to have had the first station or fort in current Garrard Co., KY. The court records seem to contradict this claim and give it to John Kenndy, Jr., who certainly had the first settlement and preemption. Most all of the smaller stations or stockades appear to have been constructed no earlier that 1779. He reportedly settled four and one-half miles above mouth of Back Creek...and settled at his Paint Lick Station in 1881 (Was the station constructed well in advance of his marriage?). On or about 1780 he had gone to Virginia to claim his bride, Nancy Yancy. Their first child was born in November of 1881.
From "The Long Hunters of Skin House Branch" by Ruth Paull Burdette and Nancy Montgomery Berley - 1970 and dedicated to Lyman Copeland Draper from which some of the contents of their book is derived.
“William Miller, one of the youngest men on the Long Hunt, was born in Ireland on March 30, 1747. The family came to the Augusta County frontier where the father was killed by Indians while William was very young. William was a resident of Fincastle County in 1772 where he and fellow Long Hunter, James Dysart, with others of the Presbyterian faith. signed the call to the Reverend Charles Cummings for the ministry to the congregations at Ebbing and Sinking Springs. He made a settlement in 1776 in Kentucky on Paint Lick Creek.”
More accurately, by Miller’s own deposition, he settled about four and one half miles above the mouth of Back Creek which does empty into Paint Lick Creek. This places his Station Settlement, Paint Lick Station or Fort about four miles from where he first settled and to where he moved in 1781.
“After about 1782, he was elected Colonel of the Militia.”
Now, the following statement meets with some difference as to his wife, or was he married previous to Nancy Yancy? “William married a Miss Adams, whose family came from Pennsylvania.” The statement continues to credit the children of William to this Miss Adams, but his daughters' are definitely by Nancy Yancy. “Miller is said to have been six feet, two inches in height, fair complexioned, handsome with a good personality. He was for many years a member of the Presbyterian Church. He died on the west side of Paint Lick Creek in Garrard County on March 30, his birthday in 1841.” This recorder's source, Paint Lick Cemetery, gives birth as 30 Mar. 1747, death as 31 Aug. 1841. It is easy to see that getting the facts about early pioneers is a difficult task, and especially so with William Miller, whose life was somewhat fictionalized in the twentieth century.
William Miller left no male heirs, four of five daughters lived to adulthood and married. Other than his settlement at Paint Lick, little is known of him except his marriage to Nancy Yancy, a supposed biography penned by Anna Burnside Brown, believed to have been embellished somewhat to make it appear an autobiography in first person, and William Harris Caperton's account of Estill's Defeat where he says, "It is, however, disgraceful to relate that, at the very onset of the action, Lieut. Miller, of Capt. Estill's party, with six men under his command, ‘ingloriously fled' from the field, thereby placing in jeopardy the whole of their comrades, and causing the death of many brave soldiers." It might be said that Caperton lost kin in this battle. Additionally, Richard Collins, History of Kentucky, Vol. II, pp. 634-637, Battle of "Little Mountain, or Estill's Defeat", reports that..."7 were left dead upon the field; 11 came back to Estill's station, and were ever after held in high honor; and 7 returned to dishonor"-- Strange that 7 returned when Miller reports that 2 of his 6 men were killed at the first fire?. David Cook, Estill's Ensign, who was ordered to take Miller's abandoned position, is said to have watched for Miller to come to Richmond for over twenty years, "swearing he would kill him on sight, but Miller prudently kept away."
Richmond did not exist until about 1798, so if Cook looked for Miller for over twenty years it must have included the 16 years from the end of the Defeat up to the founding of Richmond. Perhaps Miller stayed away from the county seat of Milford during the time also.
Additional sources: Lancaster Women's Club, Patches of Garrard County 1976 - 1974, 1974. The Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society, October, 1945, Vol. 43 No. 145, Colonel William H. Caperton, Estill's Defeat, pp. 333-335.
Although there is no proof of a relationship of William Champ, Jr. to William Miller, it is possible as Champ's mother had been married to a Miller, and the Champ Party's destination, from the beginning, seems to have been Miller's Station. It is also possible that Champ's half-brother Andrew Miller may have already been at Miller's Fort before the arrival of the Champ Party. This recorder suggests that William Miller may have been an uncle to Andrew.

Some of the above taken from notes of article on the Champ/Draper Interview edited by Gerald Tudor, 1999.



TWO NOTED DESCENDANTS OF TWO EARLY PAINT Lick PIONEERS

Two of the earliest, if not the first pioneers in the Paint Lick community were William Miller, of Paint Lick Station and John Kennedy, Jr. of Kennedy's Station. Both men came to Kentucky with Daniel Boone in 1775.
William Miller lived a very long life (1747-1841), but had no male heirs to carry the Miller name to future generations. From the marriage of his daughter, Susannah to the Rev. Samuel Brown, a son was born by the name of Isaac Newton Brown (1817-1889). Isaac was born in Caldwell Co., KY. No further is known about his parents or his siblings, except that it is believed that his father died sometime in the late 1820's in Tipton Co., TN. Isaac spent 27 years in the U. S. Navy, but while apparently residing in Mississippi at the start of the War between the States, he took the side of the Confederacy for four years in the C.S.Navy and rose to the rank of Captain and command of the Iron Clad Arkansas. With this Mississippi war ship he was noted for his action against the Federal Navy's iron clads in and around Vicksburg and the Yazoo River. He did not lose his ship, but witnessed its destruction rather than see it destroyed by the Union. He had successfully battled the Union flotillas in running their guantlet on the river. The Confederacy recognized him for their Medal of Honor, but had no means of manufacture and awarding the medal. Isaac Newton Brown's correspondence in found in the records of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of The Rebellion, particularily Series I, Vol. 23, Naval forces on Western Waters, Apr. 12 to Dec. 31, 1862, and in his own lengthy submissions, after the war, which first appeared in The Century Magazine and later in Battles and Leaders of The Civil War, Vols.1 & 3 of 4 volumes published.
Annie Burnside Brown's first person account of William Miller telling his life's story to young Isaac Newton Brown, no doubt is her creation after reading of Brown's exploits. By her story, Miller is quoted as saying, "I believe I can count on you, my grandson, never to show the white feather if the occasion arises." This was after he had explained his experience in the battle with the Wyandotte Indians at Little Mountain, where he says they were greatly outnumbered. (by historical accounts, they were evenly numbered 25 and 25, and Miller later accused of cowardice; the white feather?). Words were put in Isaac's mouth when he interrupted, "Grandfather, someday I would like to be decorated for bravery like you have been." He was honored, and perhaps this eases the unconfirmed claims against his grandfather, which truly are not substantiated. Lt. Miller at the time of the accusations of cowardice, was later Col. Miller. This does not appear to honor one who was previously credited as showing the white feather. Isaac Newton Brown later made his home in Corsicana,Texas, Navarro County, and is buried in the Oakwood Cemetery there.
Captain John Kennedy, Jr.'s life was cut short by the Indians near Cumberland Gap. He was born 16 apr. 1753 and died 26 Dec. 1780. He likewise had no male heirs to bring the Kennedy name forward, but did have one daughter, Nancy, who was born in April after his death in December. From this one daughter, descends a legion, among whom, was a gg grandson, Richmond Kelly Turner (1885 OR-1961 CA), or better known as "Terrible Temper" Turner, terrible to the Japanese perhaps. Admiral Turner, a Naval Academy Graduate of 1908, "was one of the central figures in the wartime and pre-war U.S. Navy, emphasizing carrier and amphibious warfare well in the early 1930s. Held command of various surface ships, and was naval aviator. Promoted to Rear-Admiral, he was the head of the Navy's War Plans Division and helped formulate the basic U.S. strategy for the Pacific. He held this command well into June 1942, he briefed Vice-Admiral Robert L. Ghormley prior to the latter's assignment to the South Pacific, then followed him as commander of Ghormley's amphibious forces, carrying out the landing a Guadalcanal, his flag on the transport McCawley. He retained this command under Halsey and advanced his forces through 1943 to Rendova Island. After losing his flagship there, he turned command over to Theodore Stark Wilkinson and left for Pearl Harbor, there receiving command over yet another amphibious force, this time the entire forces of Spruance's Fifth Fleet. He was later replaced and ordered to plan for the projected invasion of Kyushu, Japan, which fortunately never occurred due to the atomic bomb."

Apparently, my response to your Kennedy Station posting is too long, and I opted to cancel. I meant to send it directly to you but could not read your e-mail. Should you not get the response by my posting, please reply to g2door@mindspring.com Gerald Tudor

Gerald, thanks for this great posting. I really enjoyed finding out that one of my dad's heroes, Admr. Turner, has ties to KY. I did not know that.

Sandy

Roger, please contact me at garymorrison1@juno.com regarding Robertsons at Kennedy Station.