Scott County, Kentucky

Stamping Ground

Pages 203-204

STAMPING GROUND PRECINCT - LOCATION AND BOUNDARY - EARLY SETTLEMENT - ORIGIN OF NAMES- EARLY CHURCHES AND VILLAGES - ROADS AND STREAMS - POST OFFICES, SCHOOLS, MILLS, ETC.

Stamping Ground Precinct

Perhaps no other division of this county is more replete with historic matter than the one described in this chapter. Stamping Ground, or in common parlance, "The Stamp'" is No. 3 of the election precincts and is bounded on the north by Owen County and No. 4, or Lytle's Fork Precinct, on the east by No. 4, south by No. 1, or Georgetown precinct, and on the west by Franklin County.

The land, except a small portion in the northeast, has a general western slope, and possesses an admirable system of natural drainage in the numerous streams and branches which wind through it in different directions. The principal one of these is North Elkhorn, which passes through the southwest corner, receiving as tributaries McConnell's and Lecompte's Runs, with their numerous branches. These two streams were named respectively for William McConnell and Charles Lecompte, who as early as April, 1775, left the Monongahela country and came down the Ohio River to the mouth of the Kentucky, and up that stream to the Elkhorn region. They explored the country around the neighborhood of the "Big Spring", but made no permanent settlement. The surface of this precinct is hilly and broken in the northern part, and undulating in the southern. The soil partakes of the character of the rest of the county, though varying in fertility in different localities. The usual farm products and stock are raised and exported, and of late considerable attention has been paid to the culture of tobacco, which bids fair to soon become the staple crop. The timber consists mainly of oak, ash, poplar, walnut, maple and elm. The first road through this precinct was the Georgetown & Cincinnati road, which was cut out about 1790. At present many of the roads are macadamized, the principal through pike being the one from Georgetown through Stamping Ground, to the Owen County line. There are several cross pikes which serve as good outlets to this main thoroughfare. The streams are bridged at the deepest fords by substantial wooden bridges.

It is not known exactly when the first settlement was made within the limit included in this chapter. Anthony Lindsay, whose family is still represented in the precinct by William O. Calvert, John Lindsay and Mrs. Robert Sprake, all of whom are his grandchildren, built a fort or station near Stamping Ground, about 1790. Mr. W.O. Calvert states that he remembers seeing a few posts of the old fort which were left standing by his mother, who was a daughter of Anthony Lindsay. This fort, being near the great thoroughfare from Georgetown to the Ohio River, was a regular stopping place for all travelers.

Thomas Herndon and Cornelius Duvall settled on McConnell's Run about the same time (1790). In this immediate neighborhood there sprung up a school quite early, and in 1795 a church as organized near Stamping Ground, by the Baptist denomination. This church, first called McConnell's Church, was organized by Rev. Ambrose Dudley and William Cave. It was rebuilt in 1819, and again in 1858. It is now one of the best country churches, in the county. The congregation has lately purchased a parsonage at a cost of $1,500. The church roll now numbers 275 members, with a flourishing Sunday school of 100 pupils. The following are the names of the thirty-five original members: Elijah Craig, Rhodes Smith, John Hawkins, John Payne, Jacob Martin, Thomas Herndon, John Scott, James Key, Richard Seebree, Joseph Wiley, Daniel Baldwin, Benjamin Branham, John Cook, John Brock, Jesse Hambrick, Hannah Scott, Mary Herndon, Vinson Smith, Nelly Branham, Ann Baldwin, Deborah Stewart, Sarah Martin, Susan O'Banner, Lydia Hambrick, Mary Ficklin, Elizabeth Key, Elizabeth Craig, Jane Cook, Ann Threlkeld, Nathaniel Mothershead, Toliver Craig, Thomas Ficklin, E. Seebree, Ruth Mothershead and Sarah Hawkins.

Among the noted preachers who have ministered to the congregation since its organization may be mentioned Elijah Craig, Lewis Craig, William Hickman, Jacob Creath, James Suggetts, Samuel Trott, Theodrick Bolivar, Silas Noel, J.D. Black, George Hunt, John S. Waller, E. D. Isbell, A.C. Graves, R.M. Dudley, T.J. Stevenson and J. A. Booth, the present pastor. The Christian Church at Stamping Ground was organized by elder John T. Johnson. They worship in a substantial frame house, and have a large and increasing congregation.

The village of Stamping Ground takes its name from the fact that in the first settlement of the country, the Buffalo used to congregate at the salt springs at this place, and "stamp" the ground as they stood under the shade of the trees. The village being the largest in the precinct, naturally enough gave the name to the precinct itself. It now contains three hundred inhabitants, supports four stores, two blacksmith shops, one school, under the management of W. H. Cooper, and containing some forty-five pupils. One distillery, one hotel, one undertaker, one photographer, four physicians, two churches and one colored church and school, one Masonic Lodge, No. 203, and one woolen factory. The first post office in Stamping Ground was established in 1814, with Alex. Bradford, as Postmaster, an office now filled by J.H. Gatewood.

The distillery, now owned and run by Crigler & Crigler, was first erected for a woolen mill in 1864, by McMillan & Wright. It was turned into a distillery in 1868, by Robert Samuels & Co. The woolen mill, now owned and run by Wright & Brother, was first erected in 1844, by A.G. Goodman, and used as a college till about 1854, when it was turned into a woolen mill by E.R. Wright, the father of the present owners. Skinnersburg, on the eastern border and Minorsville in the north, are villages of less importance.

There is a flouring mill on the waters of North Elkhorn, owned by I.T. Reynolds & Co. It was built in 1845, by a man named Threlkeld.-------E.T. Brown

Source:
History of Bourbon, Scott, Harrison & Nicholas Counties, Kentucky, Edited by William Henry Perrin, 1882
Previously submitted by Jo Thiessen