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Daviess County Kentucky was formed on June 1,1815, out of a part of Ohio County, which was
established in 1799. It is bounded on the north by the Ohio River and clockwise from east to west by
Hancock, Ohio, Mclean and Henderson counties. Boundaries changed several times in the early days and
you should check the records of surrounding counties for elusive ancestors.
Hancock was formed in 1829 from parts of Breckinridge and Ohio and Daviess Counties. Early records for citizens of
Daviess or Hancock county can often be found in Ohio or Breckinridge.
Mclean was formed in 1854 from part of Daviess and Muhlenberg which dates from 1799.
The first permanent settlers to the area probably came about 1796. Many of these were already in
Kentucky in the eastern counties of Nelson, Washington, Mercer, Shelby etc..
This web page is devoted to our pioneer ancestors, who survived dangers we can only imagine to establish
a home in the wilderness.
The ins and outs of where they came from and how all these different families came to live in one small
area of Ky. is fascinating to me.
The migration pattern they followed is the history of America.
Captain Thomas Graves came to Virginia from England on the Mary and Margaret in 1608.
That's even before the pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock.
The Horns,Winklers and Ricks were German immigrants who were in Pennsylvania before the
Revolutionary War.
One lone family, the Richardsons were born in Massachusetts.
The Hoaglands were probably New York Dutch. The rest, mostly Scotch-Irish like the
Douthitts and Barnetts or English like the Meadows and the Robys, were from Virginia , Pennsylvania,
Maryland and North and South Carolina.
Not all of the names have been traced to the immigrant ancestor but all were in the country by 1800.
The Graves, the first to land in the country were the last to come to Ky. They intended to go to Missouri
but the steamboat they were traveling on sank on the Ohio River with all their possessions and so they
became Kentuckians in 1843. Their son Major Rice Graves is Daviess County's best known Confederate
hero.
Not all of their descendants stayed in Kentucky of course. Still following common patterns of their time
some went west to Missouri and Texas and some went north into Illinois and Indiana. In modern times
their descendants live in every state in the Union.
No matter when our family came to America we should think of them with pride. All have an important
story to tell and talents to offer. My own children include a war bride grandmother from Equador in their
ancestry and through her a Canadian great grandfather who helped build the Panama Canal but that is a
whole 'nother story.
This is just the history of one Kentucky family.
I am indebted to my mother, who worked on our family history for 30 years, for much of the information on these pages. Also to a wide circle of generous people I have never met who through the internet, World Family Tree CDs and regular mail have shared their research with me. Not all of the information on these pages is well documented and I make no guarantees as to accuracy. There are bound to be mistakes. Please note that names printed in all capital letters are my direct ancestors.
Carol Elliott Arrington
James Douthitt's Day Book 1851
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