Morgan County Communities CROCKETT

     Crockett is a small community in the head of Fannin Fork of Elkfork. Fannin Fork got its name from the Fannin Settlers who came from Ireland. From information given by Mr. Frank Wheeler, the first settlers at Crockett were Germans. A German woman, Polly Mumphire, married a Fannin. Among the other early settlers 
of Crockett were Frank and Harve Hutchinson from Virginia, and the Barkers who came from Virginia to Caney Creek, and then John barker , went from Caney to Crockett. The Fannins of Elkfork claim to be of German descent.
     Due to the large number of Wheelers living there, the community of Crockett was for a long time called Wheeler Town. Later, when the Crockett post office was established, the community began to be called Crockett.
     From information given by Mr. Lee Skaggs, the first post office of the area was on Split Wood near the head of the Opened Fork of Paint. It was established by Andrew Fyffe and was called Fyffe, Kentucky. Lee Skaggs was postmaster for a short time. When the post office was discontinued , the Crockett Post Office was established about 1890, and was kept in Pete Fannin`s house under the stairs. It was named crockett, after David Crockett Fannin, son of Pete Fannin. Following Pete Fannin, Jim Hutchinson, J.P. Conley and Lee Skaggs served as postmasters.
     The first schoolhouse at Crockett was where the ball diamond was most commonly located, in a bottom above the Community Church.This was taught by Henry Barker. Later, the school was moved to where the Community Church is now, and was taught by John D. Fannin for many years. Then in 1911, a three-room building was built on the top of the hill between Elkfork and Paint. The money for the building was collected largely by Frank Wheeler, who went from house to house making collections. In 1931, another collection was made and two more rooms were added. The school then became a junior high school. From 1936 to 1939, a stone building was constructed. About 1934, Crockett had become a four-year high school. During World war II, it was returned to a junior high school base , and with the completion of the hard surface road, the high school was fiscontinued. There is a Consolidated grade school there at the present time.
     There are three churches in the Crockett area: The Community Church where all denominations may preach (this was where the Pine Grove Primitive Baptist Church met during the lifetime of Elder William Scaggs), the Mennonite Church, and the Enterprise Baptist Church just across the hill.
     The greatest disaster that ever befell Crockett was the flash flood on Monday morning, May 30, 1927.
Seven people were drowned while trying to flee from the home of Lan Lyons because they thought the house was going to be carried away by the flood. If they had remained in the house, they would not have drowned.
Information from Early Morgan County by Arthur C. Johnson, published in 1974. This information has been made available thanks to Bernice Johnson (Arthur Johnson's widow) who gave us permission to use it. The information is still copyrighted.

A big thank you goes to Connie Spurlock for transcribing the information and to Diana Crace for obtaining permission to post it.


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