County of the Month: Mercer

The area known as Mercer County was one of the first settled in the Commonwealth. In 1769, Daniel Boone wintered in a cave on the land occupied first as Trigg's Station, later called Viney Grove. Settlers were attracted by the deep soils, excellent for crops such as tobacco, corn, grains, strawberries and hay; the fertile grasslands were excellent for raising livestock. In 1773, James Harrod built the first permanent residence on the site known as Harrodstown, then Old Town, then later called Harrodsburg.

Harrodsburg began as a number of log cabins set upon 1/2 to 5 acre lots, and were distributed to a group of thirty men by lottery. Shortly after these residences were established, Indian raids permeated the area to the point that habitation was impossible, the settlers leaving town in early 1774. In March, after the Shawnee signed the Treaty of Camp Charlotte with Lord Dunmore, Harrod and his party returned to resettle. The company was able to build more cabins and make improvements. However continued Indian attacks wreaked havoc upon the residences located on the outer edges of the community. Construction of a stockade started in the fall of 1775 and was completed the next year. The fort enclosed an area of approximately an acre and a half, with a spring and stream running through for fresh water supply. In the center was a powder magazine. These Stations were centers in which families were gathered for mutual protection; the men gradually extending out their farming operations as safety allowed.

New settlers who arrived in Kentucky went out from the fort at Harrodstown to build other stations:

• Boiling Spring
• Brown's Station
• Danville Station
• Fontain Bleu
• Gordon's (Harlan's) Station
• William McAfee's Station
• Major Hugh McGary's Station
• Trigg's Station
• Wilson's Station
• Liberty Fort
• Frowman's Station

In 1780, the Virginia Assembly divided Kentucky County into Fayette, Jefferson, and Lincoln counties, with Harrodstown the county seat for Lincoln County. In 1785, Mercer County was formed out of Lincoln County, and Harrodstown remained the county seat. At the same time the town's name was officially changed to Harrodsburg.

Harrodsburg, during the latter part of the eighteenth and first half of the nineteenth century, was a thriving community. Greenville and Harrodsburg Springs were among the finest spas in the South. Beaumont College, a well-known school for girls, was built on the site of Greenville Springs.

Also during the first half of the nineteenth century, the Shakers built a large and prosperous community at Pleasant Hill in accordance to Mother Ann's vision, "the next opening of the gospel will be in the southwest; it will be a great distance, and there will be a great work of God." They were excellent farmers, and pioneered the silk culturing in Kentucky. Garden seed and preserves were their chief exports, but they were also known for brooms, coopersware, weaving implements, shoes, tanned skins, woolen goods, and pressed cheese. In addition to the Shakers, a sect of the Dutch Reformed Church settled in Harrodsburg. Their meetinghouse, Old Mud Meeting House, named for the extensive mud daubing used in its construction, was the first meetinghouse west of the Allegheny Mountains.

 

Mercer County Trivia

First Dwellers and Their Hardships

In the book, "History of Mercer and Boyle Counties," author Maria Daviess describes life in early Mercer County:

"The life in these Stations was almost inconceivably hard and rough. The first settlers were not as a mass like the half-kilted hardy Scotch clans. Many had been lords of Manors in the Old Dominion, who had hob-nobbed with Lord Fairfax, and whose dames in stay and hoop had been led down the regal halls of the Belvidere "at Richmond on the James," through the stately minuet by Lord Dunsmore, the King's colonial governor. To such as these, to any... this life must have been worse than Hebrew bondage on the green banks of the Nile. The lives of the pioneer mothers as well as of the pioneer fathers, were full of danger and hardships, and required great endurance and had in them more of the elements of suffering than belonged to the lot of the next generation, that grew up around them who had never known, as they had, a softer life... Respectable dress, so dear to the hearts of gentle women, and the luxuries of the table had been their birthright. These foremothers now struggled bravely to gather around them some rude comforts and conveniences of life, and to implant correct moral principles and knowledge of polite usages of society in their children, and they succeeded. But the existence of such furniture and clothes and modes of society as they had known were for a long time only traditional things to their children who lived on in health and happiiness all unconscious of their privations."

Townspeople Listed on the Legislative Petition for Establishment of the Town of Harrodsburg

Sam Denis	John Hargis	James McCoulting
Daniel Hazel	Thomas Moore	Gideon Higgins
John Gregs	Ebenezer Miller	Patrick Carmikel
Henry Prater	Daniel McGary	Vincent Dunn
Thomas Denton	William Higgins	George Long
Owen Owens	Adam Shepherd	C.O. Frier
John Thompson	Jno. E. King	Robert Jameson
John Wilson	Henry Higgins	Henry Wilson Jr.
Richard Sinot	Val King	Henry Wilson
Samuel Dennis Jr.	Henry Thomas	George Wilson
Evan Thompson	Mich Humble	Jas. Wilson
Parmenia Bullitt	Thomas Threlkeld	Alexander McClure
Jas. Stewart	Dan Sullivan Jr.	William Shepherd
Henry Spillman	Jos. Smith	Andrew Jameson
James Alexander	James Berry	Thos. McClure
Jacob Spillman	Samp Lapsley	Moses McClure
Randolph Slack	T.R. McDonnly	John Hamilton
Aron Hogg	Daniel Wier	Geo. Campbell
Jospeh Conaway	Edmund Hammon	Robert Cartwright
Charles Howard	William McBrayere	Thomas Cartwright
George Slaughter	Thomas Hunt	Jacob Cartwright
Mathias Yocum	Henry Smith	Moses Threlkeld
John Yocum	John Prater	James Thomas
Roger Patton	John Warren	Banjamin Bohun
Nimrod Duncan	James Bray	John Threlkeld
John Ray	John Witton	George Buncanan
Robert Denbow	Rohn Robeson	John Buchanan
John Wilson	John Long	Samuel Jameson
L. Thompson	Adam Funk Sr.	Joseph Mallister
George Gibson	Cam Funk Jr.	James McCoun
John Gibson	John Gibson	James Doak
Samuel Vanhook	John Miles	James McAfee Jr.
John McCollough	Christopher Windsor	John Armstrong
William Harrison	Hugh Emison	John McAfee
Will McConnell	John Lawrence	John ---
Jospeh McMurtry	Jas. Cowen	James Harrod
David Martin	Elias Fisher	Robert ---
Peter Hartman	Benjamin Graham	James McAfee Sr.
James Astingus	Jas. Brown	George McAfee
Patrick Brown	Daniel Brown	John McAfee
T. Brown	Thomas Gist	Peter Casey, Jr.
Richard Overton	henry Synam	Barnabas Stagner
Benjamain Bradshaw	James Ray	Thomas Preator
Thomas Threlkeld Jr.	Paul Gibson	Edward Preator
Patrick Jordan	Matthew Yocom

 

Family History and Mercer County Research Resources

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

County Clerk records

• Agency history
• General index to deeds – grantee – 1786-1909
• General index to deeds – grantor – 1786-1908
• General index to real estate conveyances – grantee – 1886-1979
• General index to real estate conveyances – grantor – 1886-1979
• Deed books – 1786-1986
• General cross index to marriages – 1786-1984
• Marriage books (indexed) – 1786-1984
• Marriage registers – 1786-1901
• General index to mortgages – mortgagee – 1938-1979
• General index to mortgages – mortgagor – 1938-1979
• Mortgage books – 1839-1996
• Order books – 1786-1801
• Tax assessment books – 1789-1892
• General index to wills – 1786-1986
• Will books (indexed) – 1786-1930

Circuit Court records

• General index to civil and criminal cases – 1786-1900
• Civil and criminal case files – 1780-1865