Johnson Co Ky

A project of the Johnson County Historical and Genealogical Society.

“. . . Retracing the Vanishing Footprints of Our Appalachian Ancestors” represents a genealogical history of thirteen major pioneer families who settled in eastern Kentucky during the 18th and 19th Centuries. The surnames include Adams, Berry, Brooks, Brown, Burton, Castle, Chaffin, Daniel, Large, Thompson, Ward, Wellman, and Young. To fully appreciate their social and economic hardships and challenges requires the reader to visualize what life was like on the early frontier. After the American Revolution and the Civil War, many of these early pioneers traveled from North Carolina and Virginia into the sheltering hills of eastern Kentucky via Cumberland Gap and Pound Gap. Others came from Pennsylvania. They settled in early Floyd and Lawrence Counties, which were later divided into present day Boyd, Elliott, Floyd, Johnson, Lawrence, and Martin Counties. They were mostly of English, Irish, Scotch-Irish or Anglo-Saxon extraction and made their living by farming the hilly terrain or working in the coalmines. Some supplemented their income by trapping and hunting. They may have been poor by economic standards, but they remained a proud and independent people with strong character traits. Many of their descendants have gone on to become physicians, lawyers, teachers, scientists, military leaders and public servants.

The Kentucky Encyclopedia's 2,000-plus entries are the work of more than five hundred writers. Their subjects reflect all areas of the commonwealth and span the time from prehistoric settlement to today's headlines, recording Kentuckians' achievements in art, architecture, business, education, politics, religion, science, and sports. Biographical sketches portray all of Kentucky's governors and U.S. senators, as well as note congressmen and state and local politicians. Kentucky's impact on the national scene is registered in the lives of such figures as Carry Nation, Henry Clay, Louis Brandeis, and Alben Barkley. The commonwealth's high range from writers Harriette Arnow and Jesse Stuart, reformers Laura Clay and Mary Breckinridge, and civil rights leaders Whitney Young, Jr., and Georgia Powers, to sports figures Muhammad Ali and Adolph Rupp and entertainers Loretta Lynn, Merle Travis, and the Everly Brothers. Entries describe each county and county seat and each community with a population above 2,500. Broad overview articles examine such topics as agriculture, segregation, transportation, literature, and folklife. Frequently misunderstood aspects of Kentucky's history and culture are clarified and popular misconceptions corrected. The facts on such subjects as mint juleps, Fort Knox, Boone's coonskin cap, the Kentucky hot brown, and Morgan's Raiders will settle many an argument. For both the researcher and the more casual reader, this collection of facts and fancies about Kentucky and Kentuckians will be an invaluable resource.

The men of the 5th Kentucky Mounted Infantry called him "Captain" and later, his subordinates in the 10th Kentucky Mounted Infantry called him "Colonel". Some of his enemies called him a "dangerous guerilla chieftain". Very late in the war, his regiment was re-designated as the 13th Kentucky Cavalry. When his Confederacy no longer existed, and there was no longer a need for his sword, he picked up his Bible and returned to his former life as a country preacher and community leader. This book contains specific details regarding Confederate Colonel Ben E. Caudill's 13th Kentucky Cavalry. It includes a complete roster of the men who rode with Caudill, historical accounts of their engagements with their enemy, and a collection of period and post-war photographs.

VOLUME II - DESCENDANT CHART: This is the companion volume to the second edition of the Wallick family history book titled Hans Michael Wallick’s Descendants in America: European Origin from 1623. The descendant chart in this book begins in 1623 with the birth of Hans Michael’s grandfather, Simon Walck, in what is now the German state of Bavaria. It contains a detailed and comprehensive list of both the male and female descendants of our first American progenitors, Hans Michael and Frederica Esther (Eisen) Walck/Wallick. Over 8,000 names are included in this descendant chart! May their Wallick tribe increase…

By: Mitchell Hall, Pub. 1928, reprinted 2021, 556 pages, soft cover, ISBN #978-1-63914-044-2. Located within the Big Sandy Valley, Johnson County was formed in 1844 from: Floyd, Lawrence and Mason Counties. This book is similar to other history books of the era with such topics being discussed: English colonists, early settlement, government, local customs, geology, education, religion, industrial and etc.... The author has loaded this book with wide variety of genealogical information such as: 1925 & 1890 Tax List; 1837 Tax List of Floyd County; A list of early residents from 1844 to 1848 which were pulled from the 1st court order book; 1793 Tax List of Mason County; a map of pioneer trails from the Carolinas and Virginia into the Big Sandy Valley; Kentucky Land Grants and Entries affecting Eastern Kentucky and Johnson County, various lists of county officials and men serving in WWI; a list of Revolutionary soldiers from Mason, Floyd & Johnson counties showing name, date of pension, number of court order book, along with page number; and other items of interest.

James Dobbins'(b. 1740, Ireland) story begins in Augusta Co., Va. James and Elizabeth (Stephenson) Dobbins spent their formative years, were married, and began their family. Their sons, Robert Boyd and John, were b. 1783 &'85. The family migrated to Abbeville & Pendleton, SC. James & Elizabeth had seven children. Four daughters and their husbands were: Mary w/John H. Morris (emigrated to Franklin Co., TN), Elizabeth w/George H. Hillhouse (emig. to Giles Co. & Lawrence Co., TN), Sarah w/Hugh F. Callaham (emig. to St. Clair Co., Ala.), Jane w/George Liddell (emig. to Noxubee Co. & Winston Co., MS). Their last-born, James, Jr., b. 1790, died young at home. They & their spouses' families were Scotch-Irish settlers in backcountry of SC. Ten families representing two generations were pioneers and products of history, geography, and culture of frontiers in SC. Six children migrated west, north, & south to new frontiers. Grandchildren of James & Elizabeth became the third Dobbins generation at farther frontiers.