The first permanent settlement within the limits of what later became Barren County that is evidenced by authentic records and documents that have been seen and examined by me personally was made in early spring of the year 1791, by Alexander Edwards, near the present village of Savoyard, in what is now Metcalf County, Kentucky, then Lincoln County, Virginia. He was a soldier of the revolution, a man of intelligence, and was well educated--far above the average then, and now. The following summer and fall many settlers came into that region, settling in the neighborhood of the present villages of Center and Knob Lick, and along Blue Spring Creek. These settlements were extended rapidly in every direction, and by the year 1795 most of the choice locations within the above described boundary were taken up and improved. Among these early settlers (one as late as 1797) were four brothers of Alexander Edwards, who all had what was then called a good Academic and Classical education. In this region there was among the early settlers, not counting the four brother named, a larger percentage of well -- even highly -- educated men and women than could perhaps have been found in any other region on any frontier. I do not mention the four brothers above named to indicate that they and their families were of superior attainments to all others (many others were their equals) and the only reason known to me as to why they were spoken of in early days as being the best educated family is the northeastern section of the county was that they outnumbered any other of the well-educated families.
Among the other well-educated families of the early settlers, whose names occur to me at the moment, I will mention the Rountree, Maxey, Breants, Clymer, Philpott, Robinson, Montgomery, Thompson, Ament, Abbett, Faulkner, Yancy, Allen, Craddock, Rogers, Garnett, Hardy, Wood, Smith, Gillespie, Young, Hamilton, and Gatewood families, and among later arrivals the Newman, Beauchamp, Pemberton, Bohannon, Douglas, Lawless, and Hord families.
Many soldiers of the Revolution and of the Indian wars settled in this district, some of them being well provided with worldly goods, and a few being wealthy; and many of those not so well off, being intelligent and industrious, much improved their circumstances later; but for years schools ere poor. The principal reason for lack of good schools was not an indifference on the part of parents or lack of books, but principally for lack of good teachers. It somehow never occurred to those well-educated men and women that they could teach school, or that they were under any obligation personally to do so, or to do anything in the line of education further than to give some instruction to their own children. The truth was that the old-country idea still prevailed that the business of a teacher was a low-grade calling--on par with or only a little above that of a tinker or cobbler--and that suitable for men who were cripples and unable to follow other business. The best teachers to be had were generally Irishmen or Scotsmen who had not been long in the country, who would teach until they could make a start at some other business. Few young men -- Americans -- could be induced to teach, and as for young women it was hardly considered, first for social reasons, and secondly because it was then thought that they could not control the larger boys. The demand for competent teachers soon became so great that meetings were held in some neighborhoods to devise ways and means , and, many neighborhoods in turn following the first ones to act, they proceeded in a way to draft teachers, and the result was that within a few years this district moved far ahead of other part can be illustrated by an account of how it was managed in the section where I was brought up, as I have often heard it related by old persons who were conversant with the facts.
On Blue Spring Creek there lived a man of middle age named Isham Hardy, who had purchased a tract of land (on Time) which was very rich and heavily timbered, and which he was trying to open up with the assistance of some small boys. He was not a gifted man as to general management, and was poor and hard run, but he was a man of fine mental capacity; was a fine English and classical scholar, and of excellent morals and standing. He was selected as a teacher, and a committee of the foremost men in the neighborhood called on him and announced the fact. He was much taken back at the proposition and asked to be excused -- saying that he was in debt for his land and could not meet his payments unless he could get more land under cultivation, and that teaching would ruin him. The committee asked for a detailed statement of his indebtedness, and of the value of all crops and stock raised by him per year, and they then proposed to build a house and employ him to teach five months each year at certain rates, but to teach the children of the very poor within certain limits free -- and if his income from the school, added to what he might make on his farm each year, did not amount to as much as he was then making, they would make up the deficiency each year; and that they would pay him in addition thereto the sum of ten dollars in money each month. A contract was drawn up on these terms and the school was soon in operation, and it continued for much longer than for the five years contracted for. It became the first real seat of learning in the section under consideration, and there were educated many men who afterward became noted business men, and others who became distinguished in law, medicine, divinity, and in public life. After the old gentleman retired by reason of age the school continued by his son for some years -- he was also a gifted teacher, and was afterward a man of great political prominence.
In the neighborhood lying between the villages of Center and Knob Lick and the Blue Spring Creek, there resided one Major Pond, a man somewhat past middle age, who had been brought up in the lap of luxury in the tidewater region of Virginia but had been unfortunately reduced to poverty and now found himself in this new country with little else than his wife, three small boys, and six girls ranging in age from ten to twenty-two. The girls were all beautiful, and the older ones were well educated and accomplished, but were so crushed by grinding poverty that their friends feared for their future. The Major was a man of good intentions; well educated, and refined in speech and manners, and he was much cast down because of the little he could do for his family. He was drafted for a teacher in about the same manner as in the case of Mr. Hardy, with the difference that, as the Major had little or no income, the committee simply made an estimate of what it would take to maintain his family in comfort and guaranteed him a sum agreed on for a term of years in case both parties were satisfied, and the school began at once; and, while it did not prove to be a permanent seat of learning as in the former case, the Major lived long enough to educate a number of young men who afterward taught successfully in other neighborhoods. The school was also a God-send for his family, as all of his daughters married respectably before his death.
These two cases are given as samples of the procedure taken in most neighborhoods in the region above described, and the schools thus established constituted the first steps towards laying the foundation on which was afterward built the best educational system that I have ever known.
The educational boost given by the first schools thus founded was not allowed to die out, but was perpetuated and improved upon by young men who went out from these centers to teach, and they prepared their pupils for the higher courses in the academies which came later. A little experience with the kind of schools described put the best people in the notion of trying to have a schoolhouse and a good teacher in every neighborhood was then considered to be about five or six miles square, which, with the house near the center, would require few children to walk over two and a half miles to school, which was not then regarded as too far.
The Hardy school, which was considered the best of the type described, sent out more good teachers than any of the others. It was located exactly in the present track of the public road, in front of the church Rock Spring, and it seems that this neighborhood, on lower Blue Spring Creek, became the center point from which improvement went out in every direction. After houses were built it was still at times hard to get teachers, and for many years it was occasionally necessary to draft one for a short time.
**Source: Excerpt from "Cyrus Edwards' Stories of Early Days and Others" In What Is Now Barren, Hart, and Metcalfe Counties. Edited and Compiled by Florence Edwards Gardiner, 1940 The Standard Printing Company Inc. Louisville, KY. pp.45-49
James G. first married Elizabeth, the second daughter of Alexander Edwards who settled in the spring of 1791 near Savoyard as already stated.
**Source: Excerpt from "Cyrus Edwards' Stories of Early Days and Others" In What Is Now Barren, Hary, and Metcalfe Counties. Edited and Compiled by Florence Edwards Gardiner, 1940 The Standard Printing Company Inc. Louisville, Ky. pp.198
Savoyard
Savoyard was the first permanent settlement in what was later Barren County and now Metcalfe. It was established by Alexander Edward's in the spring of 1791. Later Alexander Edwards and Jesse Black selected land and made some improvements then left and went for there families. They came back and settled along the Blue Spring Creek. They were later followed by three or four brothers between 1791-1797. Two of the brothers were reported as being the first known practicing physicians in Barren County.
The post office in the area of Savoyard was first known as Cross Plains and was established in 1869. It was later discontinued and reestablished at the present site of Savoyard under its new name. The village was often referred to as "Chicken Bristle" although the original name is unknown.
SOURCE: Edmonton-Metcalfe County Chamber of Commerce
http://www.metcalfechamber.com/savoyard.htm
Grantee: Edwards, Alexander
Acres: 200
Book: 2
Survey Date: 6- 4-1799
County: Barren
WaterCourse: Bews Cr
Reference: THE KENTUCKY LAND GRANTS
Volume 1
Part 1
CHAPTER IV GRANTS SOUTH OF GREEN RIVER (1797-1866)
THE COUNTIES OF KENTUCKY
page 304
Bibliography:
Jillson, Willard Rouse. The Kentucky Land Grants, - Vol. I-II (2). Louisville, KY: Filson Club Publications, 1925
The following has been compiled by Anne Rohr,
a descendant of Samuel Hinds Hardy and Carrie Elizabeth Stamps
Anne Rohr
__________________________________________
Facts About Alexander Edwards
 |
|
Was born on 15 May 1765 in Christiansburg, Smyth County, Virginia.
|
|
|
Shown in records as land owner in Barren County, Kentucky in the years 1791,1804, 1806, 1807, 1814, 1815 and 1816 in Barren County, Kentucky.
|
|
|
He was Early Metcalfe reference to Edwards family before 1799 in Metcalfe County, Kentucky.
|
|
|
Revolutionary War Soldier |
|
|
He was a Farmer and stock raiser before 15 Sep 1816 in Barren County, Kentucky.
|
|
|
He died on 15 Sep 1816 in Barren County, Kentucky.
|
|
|
He had an estate probated in 1817 in Barren County, Kentucky.
|
13 I'd like to do a little overview of Metcalfe Co and it's people for those new to researching in the area. It is located in the eastern portion of what is known as the Pennyroyal region of south central KY. On the north it is bounded by Hart and Green Counties and on the west by Barren Co. Monroe Co is on the south and Cumberland is southeast. Adair is located on the east. The main waterway is the Little Barren River and Marrowbone Creek.
The county was named for Thomas "Stonehammer" METCALFE, who was the 10th governor of KY. The county came into being as the result of a dispute over a railroad with its parent county, Barren. ......
The earliest known landmark is the Blue Spring in the NW portion of the county near the Barren Co line. It was the gathering spot for the early settlers and is mentioned frequently in the early deeds. It was known to FILSON when he drew a map of the area - the Great Warrior's Trail which extended from the Cherokee settlements near Lookout Mountain in Chattanooga and ran up to the Indian settlements in IL and IN by way of Munfordville and the Falls of the Ohio. The "Great Warrior's Trail" crossed the Green River at Munfordville and was known as the "Great Buffalo Crossing." Some of the early residents of this area was a friend of Daniel BOONE's -KENTON, also LOGAN and the McAFEES. Henry SKAGGS, a "Longhunter" was here, the EDWARDS family also.
After the Revolutionary War, soldiers and offiers paid in land in KY and OH included Metcalfe. Military warrants were issued to soldiers - one tract was surveyed by Edmund ROGERS in 1792 which was located on the South Fork of the Little Barren River, about 4 miles NW of Edmonton - this was for Stephen McKINNEY where a station was opened.
Edmund ROGERS (whose surveys I am running on Mondays) was a soldier in the Rev War, a land surveyor and a first cousin to General George Rogers CLARK. He was founder of Edmonton, born in Caroline Co VA in 1783. He loved the area so much that by family tradition (which is also part of our family), he had climbed a tree to see a survey better, fell out of the tree and (or fell off a log crossing the river ... two versions) .. and fell into the creek. He went to the home of John SHIRLEY to get cleaned up - met John's daughter, Shirley, fell in love and married her. He Owned land on 4 Jun 1799 in Barren County, Kentucky.
Info from Harold Wayne Davis;
___________________________________
Alexander was a Revolutionary War soldier having fought when he was only 16 years old. He moved from the Holston Valley with his mother after the death of his father. He lived in Woodford County, Kentucky before he sold his claim and moved to Metcalfe County, Kentucky near a place called Chicken Bristle, now known as Savoyard. After living there for a while, he sold his land to his brother William and moved one mile farther west to a tract of about 200 acres known as the Whit Thompson place, where he died. He was well educated, had refined manners, honest, intelligent, charitable to the poor, patriotic, and peaceful.
|
