The Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century History
of the Mortonsville Kentucky Area in which the Howard Family Lived

bly-12 In 1778 Kentucky was formed into a county of Virginia. It became the fifteenth state on June 1, 1792. The map to the left depicts the Mortonsville area in Woodford County, Kentucky where the Howards settled in the the late eighteenth-century. The immigrants were farmers from Virginia looking for cheap land. In his chapter titled “History of Southern Woodford County, Kentucky including Troy, Clover Bottom, Mundays Landing, Mt. Edwin and Nonesuch,” Cash D. Bond summarizes the attraction which Kentucky had for our ancestors:

The area involved in this history is bordered on the west by the Kentucky River, on the east by Highway 33, on the south my Munday’s Landing Road, and on the north by Clear Creek. It includes the communities of Nonesuch, Clover Bottom, Munday’s Landing, Mt. Edwin and part of the community of Troy known as the fifth precinct of Woodford County, Kentucky.

A few hardy souls settled early in the area after the Revolutionary War. The Virginia Legislature in 1779 passed a law that encouraged the settlement of Western lands. Any person settling on unclaimed land and raising a crop of corn could possess the land by paying $2.25 per 100 acres for not more than 400 acres, with pre-emption rights for as many as 1,000 acres more adjoining. This was followed by a large migrant to Kentucky of people to locate these land warrants. In the 1810 Census there were 2,846 people in the community. 1,460 males and 1,386 females.

The fields were laboriously cleared of trees and from them their cabins were built on foundations of stone. The limestone soil made fine pasture land with grain, livestock and tobacco growing forming the base for farm incomes. Small gardens provided for their own needs and surplus grains were ground at the local mills and sold. Sorghum was also grown. A few milk cows could be found on most farms and what surplus dairy products they had were sold. As the fields were cleared of rocks, fences of this material surrounded most of the farmlands. Unfortunately many of these beautiful rock fences have fallen into disrepair. Ponds were laboriously dug to provide water for their livestock. For those not fortunate enough to have springs nearby, cisterns had to be dug for their water. On some cliff-side homes a cable was run to a spring down the cliff with a bucket on a pulley to retrieve water. Many had root cellars for food storage. Barns were erected to house their tobacco and farm equipment and the remaining land was fenced off. As they prospered these cabins were expanded and often covered with siding. Many of them have been restored and are occupied today. See Cash D. Bond in his History of Southern Woodford County (Versailles, Kentucky: 1990s?), p. 5.

The active role of Judy’s family in the Methodist Church during the 1830s is recorded in a deed dated March 12, 1835. This deed states that that Judy’s father, Vincent Howard, was an initial trustee of the Mt. Edwin Methodist Church on Oregon Road in southern Woodford county. The deed is quoted by Lucile Shryock Davis in her article, “Mt. Edwin Methodist Church, Woodford County, Kentucky,” (Woodford County Historical Society, 1989).

Between Fielding Davis of the County of Woodford and state of Kentucky of the first part, and Beverly Allen, Lawrence Wilson, James Jelf, Lewis Allen, Vincent Howard trustees in trust for the Mt. Edwin Church, all of Woodford County, of the other part Fielding Davis doth donate a certain tract of ground lying in Woodford County on waters of Clear Creek. A place for the worship of Almighty God for the benefit of Mt. Edwin Church and to be free for all denomination when not in use by the Methodist Society.

bly-13 The map to the left depicts Oregon Road on which Mt. Edwin Methodist Church is located.

During the 1790s antislavery sentiment in Kentucky was centered in the Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches. . . During the Kentucky constitutional convention in 1792, there was much discussion of the slavery question, but the adversaries of slavery were not organized and as a result the opposition largely centered in the church. The slaveholders were unified and organized, and they came to prevail, although the antislavery dissenters persisted in their opposition to the institution. . .By 1797 [the churches] were able to win over public opinion in demanding a new constitution. In 1797 and 1798 the voters approved a referendum to call a second constitutional convention in July 1799. Again the antislavery forces were thwarted in their attempt to bring about emancipation by constitutional provision. The antislavery agitation, however, did not cease with the adoption of the state constitution of 1 June 1800. (ibid, pp. 13-14).

Another of the Howards that fell short of the ideal was Vincent’s uncle, Isaac Howard (1761-by 1852). Isaac was a younger brother of Jeroboam Howard, Vincent’s father. Isaac migrated to Woodford County in 1788. Isaac married Susy (Lucy) Willis in 1798. Isaac and Susy had seven children. Isaac died in Woodford County. Isaac had nine slaves in 1810 according to the Federal Census of Kentucky that year. The picture below includes one of Isaac's former slaves, Wilson Chinn. This picture appeared in ”White and Colored Slaves” by C.C. Leigh in Harper’s Weekly (January 30, 1864), p. 71. Harper's had the following caption for the picture, "Left to right: Wilson Chinn, Charles Taylor, Augusta Boujey, Mary Johnson, Isaac White, Rebecca Hunger, Robert Whitehead and Rosina Downs. Emancipated slaves, white and colored. The children are from the schools established in New Orleans, by order of Major-General Banks. The article that accompanied the picture made the following observations about Wilson Chinn:

bly-2 Wilson Chinn is about 60 years old. He was “raised” by Isaac Howard of Woodford County, Kentucky. When 21 years old he was taken down the river and sold to Volsey B. Marmillion, a sugar planter about 45 miles above New Orleans. This man was accustomed to brand his Negroes, and Wilson has on his forehead the letters “V.B.M.” Of the 210 slaves on the plantation 105 left at one time and came into the Union camp. Thirty of them had been branded like cattle with a hot iron, four of them on the forehead, and the others on the breast or arm.

Click here to view another picture of Wilson Chinn which is on the Library of Congress web site.