The Fincastle
Surveys
from Sandi Gorin & the SCKY Mailing List
As you well remember, before 1792, there was no
Commonwealth of Kentucky.
The lands lie in Virginia and the last county claiming our lands was
Fincastle County, Virginia and Kentucky was also known as Kentucky
County,
Virginia. In April of 1774, a group of surveyors headed out to begin
surveying the area that would many years later end up as the
original three
counties in Kentucky. Some of the Fincastle surveys laid outside of
Kentucky, but for the major part, the men appointed were tromping
through
the wilderness areas seldom seen by the white man. It must have been
an
awesome task; even more desolate than when settlers started coming
into
Kentucky en masse after the Revolutionary War. Only a few brave
souls had
been in our land and the surveyors were met with challenges every
step of
the way.
Surveyors included John Floyd, Hancock Taylor, James Douglas and
Jesse Hite
who departed from Smithfield, Virginia and began their trek by boat
down
the Kanawha and Ohio Rivers. At every spot along the way, they
sketched out
their surveys with the help of their work crew. Can you imagine the
excitement, fear and wonder these men experienced? Trees so thick it
blotted out the sky. Rivers and creeks so pure that one could see to
the
bottom? Animals of every variety and always the illusive Native
American
who might be around the next bend.
The men reached the Falls of the Ohio on the 28th of May, a long
trip
already. Fatigue must have overcome them at times, but the lure of
the new
lands pushed them on. Twenty-eight surveys were done after their
arrival at
the Falls covering 40,000 acres. This would encompass the
present-day city
of Louisville running south to the Watterson Expressway and east to
Anchorage. On June 3rd the surveyors split into two groups - one
headed by
Hancock Taylor. Taylor surveyed the area around Harrodsburg and then
moved
over to near Frankfort on the 17th. John Floyd, leader of the second
party,
rejoined Taylor on July 1st and they camped near present day Midway,
KY.
Now they split into 3 parties with James Douglas and Isaac Hite in
the
third group. Floyd surveyed the North Fork of Elkhorn; Taylor went
along
the South Fork of the Elkhorn and Douglas along Jessamine and
Hickman
Creeks. Sixty-two surveys were completed here for about 113,000
acres.
Remember now, they didn't have the fancy tools that surveyors do
today,
these were men on foot carrying heavy chains, marking the lines of
each
survey by cutting slashes in trees to mark the boundaries or piling
rocks
up with a notation on it. Long, arduous work.
An Indian attack on July 8th stopped any plans of the men reuniting
at
Harrodsburg and the men started for home by different routes. Two
men were
lost on the 27th when Indians attacked Taylor's group and killed he
and
another man. To the remaining surveyors and their crew came to
rescue the
noted Daniel Boone and Michael Stoner, scouts sent out by Virginia
for this
very purpose. Floyd and his companions came back by following an
Indian
trail that led up the North Fork of the Kentucky River and through
the
Pound Gap. Douglas' group paddled their way home in a small canoe
down the
Ohio and Mississippi Rivers and then catching a ride on a ship
headed to
Virginia.
The weary men who had survived returned to Fincastle County and
presented
their surveys - likely water soaked, perhaps blood stained and
ragged. The
survey work did not stop with these four men however; surveyors
continued
to come into Kentucky during the years 1775 and 1776 until finally
over
206,250 acres had been surveyed. These were primarily done on the
old
military warrants from the central part of the state. Further
information
can be found in an article entitled: "Fincastle Surveyors in the
Bluegrass,
1774" by Neal Hammon, found in the Kentucky Historical Society
Register 70,
October 1972.
What was involved in these Virginia surveys? Virginia had to do
something -
after the Revolutionary War, settlers began flooding into the
Kentucky
County area, primarily since Virginia had paid its soldiers by
giving them
land there. Many of the surveys were totally inaccurate and were
known as
"tomahawk surveys" or what Henry Clay called "fireside surveys." It
caused
problems for Virginia and later Kentucky for many years. The
original
surveyors came out of William and Mary College which the guidelines
for
surveying had been designed. After Kentucky statehood, Kentucky set
forth
its own rules and regulations for "ascertaining internal land
boundaries
and property recording and determining the validity of warrants and
deeds."
With the 2nd Kentucky Constitution, each county was to submit the
names of
two proper persons, who, with the consent of the Senate, one was
appointed
a county surveyor. If no one's name was submitted from a county, the
Governor submitted a name and was approved or disproved by the
Senate. It
was not until January 1814 that the Kentucky General Assembly
finally
specifically outlined the requirements for surveyors.
(c) Copyright 15 May 2003, Sandra K Gorin, All Rights Reserved.
Sandi's Puzzlers:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gensoup/gorin/puz.html
SCKY Links:
http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html
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http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/
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