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4. The Kentucky Migration
The first serious explorations of the Kentucky territory by English colonists had
begun around 1750, and it was found that the area was not generally inhabited by Indians,
but was used primarily as a hunting ground by Indian tribes living along the tributaries
north of the Ohio River and by the southern Cherokee tribes28,29. Negotiations
with the Indians for white settlement of the area followed close upon the early
explorations, resulting in the 1768 treaty concluded at Fort Stanwix, NY, with the Mohawk
Six Nations, who claimed rights to the territory by virtue of their conquest of the
Shawnees. The Indian participants at the negotiations agreed to white settlement of the
land south of the Ohio for the consideration of 10,000 pounds sterling. In 1774 an
incursion into Virginia by the Shawnee and Miami tribes led to their defeat, after which
they also relinquished their rights to the Kentucky territory. A group of negotiators from
the Transylvania Company which included Daniel Boone obtained agreement from the Cherokees
along the Tennessee River in 1775 to allow white settlement of the area. By 1780 a number
of stations had been established by James Harrod, Daniel Boone and others to facilitate
the migration into the territory from the eastern states. In spite of the treaties,
Indians raids on the settlements were common during the first two decades of the movement
into Kentucky. These were first encouraged by the French and, during and after the
Revolutionary War, by the British from their strongholds in the north. Indian depredations
greatly slowed the rate of settlement of the territory until the middle 1780's.
In the meantime, the Revolutionary War brought great hardships and even greater changes
to St. Mary's County1. British warships roamed
the Chesapeake and tributary rivers at will, impounding supplies and in many instances
looting and sometimes destroying homes, churches and warehouses. A large percentage of the
eligible men fought in the war, either marching with the Continental Army or guarding the
home front in local militias. The regular army regiments from St. Mary's County fought
engagements from New York to South Carolina and were present at the British surrender at
Yorktown.
The pursuit and successful conclusion of the war brought both detrimental and
beneficial effects to St. Mary's Countians. On the one hand, the great demand on supplies,
manpower and money created by the war, combined with the curtailment of trade with
Britain, led to a profound decline in the economy in the years immediately following the
war. Counterbalancing this was the fact that the vast expanse of land west of the
Appalachians which was gained by Britain's victory in the French and Indian war but closed
to settlement by the colonial government now became available to citizens brave enough to
relocate there. Some of the land was given out in grants to Revolutionary War veterans in
payment for their services, and more was available for purchase at low cost. These
circumstances resulted in a massive movement of people to the western lands, particularly
Kentucky, in the decades following the war. Kentucky was populated largely by settlers
from Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. As an example of the extent of the post-war
migration1, the population of St. Mary's
County decreased from 15,444 to 12,794 between the years 1790 and 1810. Many of these
followed earlier St. Mary's County pioneers to Kentucky, especially to Nelson and
Washington (then including Marion) counties.
For Marylanders, the usual route to Nelson County1
started overland to Pittsburgh, then down the Ohio river to Maysville, followed by another
overland journey to one of the forts, called "stations", near the area of
settlement. Alternate routes5 were (1) down
the Ohio to the Kentucky, inland along the Kentucky, then over the hills into the Salt
River basin; (2) down the Ohio to the Falls of the Ohio, then in to Bullitt's Lick over
buffalo trails; and (3) down the Ohio to the Salt River, then upstream into Simpson Creek.
Indian attacks were still common, and dependents were usually left at the nearest station
until the settlement area was secured and the land cleared for farming. Militias companies
were formed for defense of the settlement. Indian incursions into Nelson County continued
as late a 1792, when a band of Indians marauding along the Rolling Fork fought with a
group of settlers, resulting in four Indian and three settler casualties29. These raids ended in 1793, and the final
defeat and pacification of the Midwestern tribes came in 1795 with the treaty of
Greensville28.
When the earliest settlers arrived, Kentucky was still a territory of Virginia, and
Nelson County, formed in 1785, included the present Washington, Marion, and nine other
counties, plus parts of eleven others. Washington County (including Marion) separated in
1792, and Marion county was formed in 1834. The first large Catholic migration into Nelson
County was begun in 1785 by the League of Catholic Families, most of whom were from St.
Mary's County, Maryland. They followed the Maysville route down to Goodwin's Station (near
the present Boston), and from there moved into the Pottinger's Creek area of Nelson
County, near the present location of Gethsemani Monastery. A list of heads of families,
compiled by one of the settlers, was published in 1884 by B. J. Webb6 and has been reproduced in various publications
since then. The last name on the list is Francis Peake. Many surnames familiar to
Central Kentuckians, especially Catholics, are on the list, including Mudd, Mattingly,
Cissell (Cecil), Nally, Hagan, French, Edelen, Norris,
Spalding and others. A complete list is found in the Appendix.
R. C. Hammett1 states that the Pottinger's
Creek settlers found the land there to be poor, and quotes the following passage from a
reprinted 1897 article by J. E. Coad7:
"When I was a boy there was a tradition rife here to the effect that when the old
pioneers from this section used to meet Saturday evenings in Bardstown, as soon as they
had shaken hands, one would turn his back to the other and beg him for half a dozen kicks
under his coat-tail, and when they were duly administered, the other would turn around and
ask his friend for his kicking... Not infrequently, half a dozen pairs have been noticed
exchanging civilities of this nature, in the course of an afternoon. Why was this done,
you ask? Why, in order to get temporal punishment inflicted, to expiate the grievous sin
they had committed in abandoning the peaceful shores of Maryland for the wild forests and
savage Indians of Kentucky. But the plunge had been made, the labor and exposure of going
forbade the idea of return, and it was a clear case of "root hog or die'".
Other areas heavily settled by St. Mary's Countians include Hardin Creek (10 Miles east
of Pottinger Creek), Cartwright's Creek, Scott County, Rolling Fork, Cox's Creek, and
Breckinridge County. Most of the settlers, but not all, were Catholic. The Marylanders
brought with them the traditional skills of their region, including tobacco farming,
distilling, and preparation of Southern Maryland stuffed ham1.
The first Catholic church, a log building, was built at the foot of Rohan Knob (now Holy
Cross)5 in 1792. Since Catholic education had
been banned in colonial Maryland, most of the priests sent to Kentucky had been brought
from Europe, particularly from France. The diocese of Bardstown was created in 1808 with Father
Benedict Flaget named as the first Bishop. Father J. B. M. David was appointed
as the second Bishop in 1832, and Bishop Flaget was reappointed in 1833. With the coming
of the priests and the establishment of orders of nuns, Catholic education became
available, beginning with St. Thomas Seminary in 1811. However, relatively few of the
early settlers received an education, and many were illiterate. |