County of the Month: Clay - Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives

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Image: (Top) "Clay County Courthouse in Manchester, Kentucky;" (Bottom) "Old Courthouse in Manchester, Kentucky that Burned"
(Goodman-Paxton Photographic Collection, 1934-1942, Kentuckiana Digital Library)

Image: "Spinning Scene, Oneida, Kentucky, ca. 1900-1915"
(Elmer L. Foote Lantern Slide Collection, Kentuckiana Digital Library)

Oneida Baptist Institute

During the late 1800's, James Anderson Burns came to Oneida, where he was welcomed by his many relatives, supplied with a pistol, and promptly began participation in the family's longstanding feud with some neighbors. During one raid, Burns was felled by a blow to the head. Left for dead, Burns remained semi-conscious in Clay County's backwoods for three days. When he finally regained his sense, he made a vow that he would never gain take part in a feud. He further resolved to devote the remainder of his life to religion.

In 1899, he came up with plan: the building of a school. Burns was determined that the provision and resulting opportunities of a school would deter the violence of local feuding. After approaching several leaders of the local clans, the leaders pledged to work together for free and donate the materials necessary for construction.

The school opened on New Year's Day, 1900 as Mamre Baptist College. In 1904, the trustees changed the name to Oneida Baptist Institute. Five of the original trustees could not read or write. The first class of five boys graduated in May 1908. Henry B. Hensley (1843-1929), a one-time feudist, was baptized at age 66 and became a staunch supporter of the school.

Recognized for it adherence to Christian values and quality education, the Oneida Baptist Institute operates year-round as a boarding school for approximately 500 students, offering instruction for grades six through twelve on a work study plan.

Image: "Contestants in Spelling, Clay County" - A group of Moonlight School pupils
(Cora Wilson Stewart Photographic Collection, 1900-1940, Kentuckiana Digital Library)

Moonlight Schools

Educator Cora Wilson Stewart discovered the extent of adult illiteracy, when men who were going off to fight in World War I asked her to teach them to write so they could send letters home. During 1911, she began the Moonlight School movement in Rowan County.

Stewart recruited volunteer teachers who could teach adults at night and used the local newspaper as a textbook. Eastern Kentucky, known for both wars and feuds, was not a safe place in the early 20th century, and adult students feared walking or riding to school unless by the light of the moon. The Moonlight Schools, open only when there was a full moon, became models for teaching literacy in the state and all over the nation.

Governor Bert T. Combs

Bert T. Combs, governor during 1959-1963, was born in Clay County, Kentucky. A prominent attorney, Combs won the gubernatorial race against Republican John Robsion, R., 516,549 to 336, 456.

As governor, Combs secured the funds by backing a 3% sales tax to pay a veteran's bonus. He was able to raise more than enough money to not only pay the bonus, but to fund roads, education, parks, human resources, and social services.

Combs established a merit system for state workers, protecting countless jobs. He appointed the state's first human rights commission and urged communities to set up similar organizations.

In 1963, he issued an executive order that desegregated all public accommodations in the state. His is considered one of the most progressive administrations in Kentucky's history.

Image: "Pack Horse Library Carrier Visiting Man with Gun Shot Wound"
(Goodman-Paxton Photographic Collection, 1934-1942, Kentuckiana Digital Library)

Learn more about Kentucky's Packhorse Librarians.

Clay County Public Library

Clay County Historical Society

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County of the Month: Clay

Although Clay County was established in 1807, much of the original county's acreage was ceded to form parts of Jackson, Owsley, Leslie, Lee, Breathitt, Knott, Perry, and Harlan counties. Nestled in the South Fork of the Kentucky River, the county is named for General Green Clay, who was a member of the Kentucky Constitutional Convention and served in the General Assembly. (Clay was the father of Cassius Clay and cousin of Henry Clay.)

Greenville, again named for Green Clay, was established as the county seat in 1807. The name was later changed to "Manchester," in hopes that the name would portray the community (as that of the same city so named in England) as an economic center of Eastern Kentucky.

The town's specific location is credited to a salt spring, which was owned by James and Daugherty White. The son of Gov. James Garrard opened a competing salt works; which eventually resulted in the White and Garrard family feuds, extending from the 1850s to 1904.

English, Irish, and Welsh settlers were attracted to Clay County by its fertile grasslands and salt reserves, which drew animals and created an ideal hunting ground for both settlers and Indians. There is archaeological evidence that prehistoric Indians, and possibly the Cherokee, manufactured salt in Clay County to preserve meat. At one time, pioneer Daniel Boone offered a plan to reroute the Wilderness Road to pass by the headwaters of Goose Creek (a tributary of the Kentucky River). The production of salt became a major industry, and the town of Manchester became a major trade center for Eastern Kentucky, with salt being shipped to settlements along the Kentucky River.

The fertile grasslands provided favorable growing conditions for tobacco. Each year, Clay County produces two million pounds of burley tobacco each year. It also has many natural resources, including coal, gas, oil, timber, and water, which contribute to the county's economy. Burning Springs, discovered in 1798, was named for its ignitable release of natural gas.

Clay County has no urban areas. In 2003, the total population for the county was 24,346.

Clay County Trivia

The "Old Joe Clark" Ballad

"Old Joe Clark" is a mountain ballad, sung during World War 1 and later wars by soldiers from eastern Kentucky, about the life of a shiftless and rough mountaineer named Joseph (Joe) Clark. Clark occupied a log house on Sextons Creek on 700 acres of land in Clay County, and lived with several different women and had many children.

He ran government-supervised still. He would load an ox cart with whiskey and take it to the round bottoms with a Spencer rifle lying across his lap. He is said to have shot the arm off one of his neighbors when they got into a fight. Another story claims that Clark also lost an arm.

There are several stories surrounding his death. J.B. Weaver gave this account, as told to him by Joe's son. Clark was living with a woman named Chris Leger and they split up. He then began living with a McKenney woman in his store, renting his house to Chris and her new friend, the brother of Old Jim Howard. Leger and Howard then devised a plan whereby they would kill Joe and she would claim he had left the farm to her. Howard shot and killed Clark on April 22, 1886, near the back porch of the store. Howard then fled to Beattyville, where a few days later while crossing a bridge, he was stabbed to death by two men from Clay County.

Clark is buried in the family cemetery on a hill overlooking the farm at Sextons Creek.

View the music transcription: http://memory.loc.gov/afc/afcreed/reedt048/0001.tif

Listen to a midi recording: http://memory.loc.gov/afc/afcreed/130/13035b04.mp3

Music transcription and midi file provided by the Library of Congress' "Fiddle Tunes of the Old Frontier."
Background information provided by the Kentucky Historical Society and "The Rosinators" Folk Music Website.

Family History and Clay County Research Resources

Below are some resources available at KDLA for genealogists and researchers interested in the Clay County area.

County Clerk Records

Agency history
Articles of incorporation books (indexed) - 1893-1996
Administrator's bonds books (indexed) - 1852-1977
List of executors and administrators book - 1808-1906
Committee's bonds books (indexed) - 1950-1977
Guardian's bonds books (indexed) - 1852-1977
List of guardian's book - 1879-1909
Guardian's covenant book (indexed) - 1895-1906
Trustee's bonds book (indexed) - 1891-1909
Circuit Court clerk bond - 1928
Constable bonds books (indexed) - 1852-1922
County treasurer bonds book (indexed) - 1894-1989
Justice of the peace bonds book (indexed) - 1891-1958
Minister's bonds books (indexed) - 1877-1996
Miscellaneous bonds book (indexed) - 1890-1938
Poorhouse keepers bonds - 1899
Public official's bonds book (indexed) - 1890-1961
County school superintendent bonds book (indexed) - 1889-1920
Sheriff's bonds books (indexed) - 1853-1985
Surveyor bonds book (indexed) - 1894-1918
Tavern keeper's bonds book (indexed) - 1852-1894
Bounties - fox and wildcat certificates - 1868
County Court case papers - 1856, 1884, and 1893-1904
General cross indexes to deeds - 1799-1940
General indexes to deeds - grantee - 1806-1990
General indexes to deeds - grantor - 1806-1990
Deed books (indexed) - 1807-1994
List of unrecorded deeds - 1824-1901
General cross index to commissioners deeds - 1877-1946
Commissioner's deed books - 1890-1958
Reports of commissioners' of division of land - 1888-1960
Distilled spirits register - 1892-1893
Governor's certificates of appointment of local officials (to fill unexpired terms) - 1806-1859
Certificates of election - 1851-1884, 1892-1904, and 1925-1933
Election petitions - 1899, 1904-1905, 1909, 1927-1931, and 1933
Poll book - 1875
Record of the board of election commissioners - 1899-1916 and 1938
Election materials - 1900, 1907, and 1923
Voter registration books - 1905 and 1907
Indenture of apprenticeship book - 1887-1895
Coroner's inquest - 1851
Inventory, appraisement and sale bill books - 1855-1977
Lunatic inquest books (indexed) - 1896-1936
General indexes to marriages (groom and bride) - 1806-1964
Marriage books (indexed) - 1875-1905 and 1907-1994
Marriage licenses - 1807-1955
Marriage registers - 1807-1913
Medical register (indexed) - 1888-1970
Militia book (roll) - 1853
General cross index to mineral leases - 1890-1947
General index to mineral leases - lessee - 1939-1988
General index to mineral leases - lessor - 1939-1988
Mineral lease books (indexed) - 1877, 1891-1903, and 1909-1994
Minute book - 1840-1871
Miscellaneous books (indexed) - 1912-1993
Order books - 1815 and 1855-1886
Power of attorney books (indexed) - 1893-1993
Probate records book - 1832-1854
General cross index to real estate conveyances - 1892-1898
Record of encumbrance on real estate books (indexed) - 1932-1992
Road orders books - 1808-1945
Viewers' reports book - 1895-1896
Settlement books (indexed) - 1871-1977
Estate settlements - 1828-1851 and 1854-1896
Guardian's settlements - 1862, 1866, 1890, and 1899-1900
Recorded surveys - 1836-1838
Tax assessment books - 1807-1809, 1811, 1826, 1828-1831, 1833-1838, 1840-1875, 1879, 1883-1890, 1892, 1903-1904, 1907, 1909, 1935-1939, 1943-1946, 1948-1949, 1951, 1953-1964, and 1966-1967
Commissioner's tax books - 1810-1812 and 1823
Delinquent tax list - 1814
Will books (indexed) - 1826-1994

Circuit Court Records

Agency history
Committee bonds book (indexed) - 1894-1950
General indexes to civil cases - 1809-1891 and 1936-1978
General index to civil cases - defendant - 1807-1933
General index to civil cases - plaintiff - 1807-1933
General indexes to criminal cases - 1934-1978
Civil case files - 1800-1965
Criminal case files - 1800-1959
Miscellaneous court cases and miscellaneous court papers - 1959-1970
Grand Jury indictments - 1921-1957
Transcripts of appealed cases - 1912, 1926, 1928, 1936-1938, 1941-1967, and 1969-1970
Idiot inquest books (indexed) - 1936-1965
Lunacy inquest book (indexed) - 1936-1958
Judgment from inferior courts book (indexed) - 1937-1970
Jury attendance book - 1936-1958
Order books (indexed) - 1809-1893
Civil order books (indexed) - 1894-1929 and 1936-1954
Criminal order books (indexed) - 1893-1931 and 1936-1952
Record of probations book (indexed) - 1950-1965 and 1974
Trustee of the jury fund report of fines and forfeitures - 1893-1932
Circuit Clerk report of fines and forfeitures to the Department of Finance and settlement of accounts with the state - 1936-1966

Quarterly Court Records

Judgment book (indexed) - 1854-1871
Civil order book - 1936-1958

Fiscal Court Records

Order books (indexed) - 1915-1924 and 1936-1994
Sheriff's settlements with Fiscal Court - 1870-1872, 1874-1912, and 1914-1945
County treasurer's settlements - 1870, 1877, 1879, and 1894-1944

Information Updated:01/05/2005