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The Story of the land - history of the region and the Penn's Chapel community

The Mississippian Plateau Region was virtually unsettled in 1780 but developed rapidly after 1820. Ease of access from the Blue Grass and Nashville along with favorable topography in the Pennyroyal, accessibility to water, and an abundance of timber and grass led to its rapid growth. (Source: University of Kentucky, Kentucky Geological Survey)

Land grants

In 1763, King George III of England declared veterans of the French and Indian War would be paid with land rather than money. Bounty Land Warrants allowed surveys of unappropriated land; the amount of acreage depended on the soldier’s rank and time of service.
 

The Virginia Land Law of 1779 adapted the same method of paying veterans of the Revolutionary War. The Land Law created a military district south of Green River in western Kentucky for Virginia veterans.

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Because an ancestor received a military warrant for service in the Revolutionary War does not mean he took title to the land. Warrants and surveys were assignable—meaning they could be sold in whole or part. Veterans who preferred cash to moving to a military district could sell their warrant, keep the money, and stay home.

Source: (Kentucky Genealogical Society)

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Green River Country 

Many of the "Green River Country" settlers were Revolutionary War veterans from Virginia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

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Soon after Kentucky's first settlement at Harrodsburg in 1775, a great migration of pioneers began moving west toward the Green River Valley. Some came down the Ohio River by flatboat and others chose the overland route through the Cumberland Gap. By 1810 all but nine of the 28 counties drained by the Green River were chartered. Bowling Green had a population of 154.

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In addition to the military bounties the Virginia legislature awarded up to 400 acres to those who had already "really and bona fide settled themselves (built a cabin) ... upon any waste or unappropriated lands." 

(Source: The Green River of Kentucky, by Helen Bartter Crocker, Univ. of KY Press, 1976)

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Some Early Residents

One of the early settlers in the area of Warren County, Kentucky now known as the Penns Chapel, Sand Hill, and Anna communities was Jonathan Wilson. He was born in 1785 in Montgomery County, Virginia. His family was likely part of a group of Scotch-Irish settlers who came to Virginia from Ireland.

 

Between 1807 and 1809 Jonathan Wilson moved to Warren County, Kentucky. He moved first to the Rays Branch area. He bought and sold land many times in his lifetime including land along Indian Creek and the Little Beaver Dam Creek. The latter is in the neighborhood of what is now the Penns Chapel community and  Dripping Springs Farm. Jonathan married four times and had 17 children.

(Source: Descendants of Jonathan Wilson of Warren County Kentucky and the allied families of Sturgeon, Cowles, Spinks, Flohri/Flora,Baugh, Graville by Wm. Michael Wilson and Mitchell Wilson.)

 

Many of Jonathan's descendants still live in the Penn's Chapel area. One of his sons, Martin Wilson, married Rhoda Sturgeon, and they donated part of their farm for the Penns Chapel Church in 1897. One of Martin and Rhoda's children Granville Washington Wilson married Daisy Dean Cowles. Daisy's father was Leander Cowles who lived on the farm that is now Dripping Springs Farm.

 

The photo shows the Lee Cowles family in front of the house that stood just a few feet from the farmhouse that still stands on Dripping Springs Farm. Elihue Spinks lived with this family from at least age 8 until he was a young man. Lee Cowles is seated on the right and that may be Daisy Dean standing on the left. It is unknown who is in the house looking out the window. Maybe our Elihue? 

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Churches and Cemeteries

Penns Chapel Church of Christ 

Date of construction, About 1897

As noted above, the land for this church was donated by Martin and Rhoda Wilson from a portion of their farm. In the deed they mention an old existing church to be torn down and a new one erected. The old church mentioned in the deed may have been John Sturgeon's, a Methodist minister and the father of Rhoda Wilson.   

Source:  http://home.insightbb.com/~bglandmark/churchtxt3.html

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The earliest dates on the Penns Chapel cemetery stones are 1897 (Miller) 1898 (Cannon), 1899 (Wilson). So burials must have started right after the church was founded. Other family names in the cemetery include Spinks, Cowles, Lucas, Mayhugh, Sturgeon, Stiles, Lewis, Bratcher, Jones, Watt, Manco, Denham, Minton, Beck, Martin, Grimes, Simmons, Bledsoe, Oakes, Montgomery, Cherry and more. Many of these are names of early settlers in the area are found in census, birth, death and marriage records. 

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Another cemetery that is close to Penns Chapel is the Cranville Chapel Cemetery (sometimes called Crammel or Crandall). This site is  on a high hill near the intersection of Penns Chapel Rd (Hwy 1320) and Wayne Watt Road. The chapel itself is long gone, but is remembered by many people who recall stories of the cemetery on the hill being haunted. The story goes that those who traveled the old road that ran near the cemetery would hear organ music playing at night many years after the church was gone. Many of the stones are unreadable now, but the burial dates appear to range from 1873 - 1949. (Names on the stones include Lewis, French, Hunt, Hall, Cannon, and many Wilsons.) This cemetery is only accessible  foot and much of the site is overgrown with trees and vines. The stone pictured at right reads "MEARY ELISABETH FRENCH, THE WIFE OF  L. A. FRENCH. WAS BORN IN1859 DEC. DEC 14 1902."

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Lafayette America "Lafe" French was Ernie Cordelia's grandfather. His first wife,  Rebecca Sarah Skaggs's had a daughter named Mary Palvina French  who was Ernie Cordelia's mother. Meary/Mary Elisabeth was Lafe French's second wife.

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Perhaps the oldest cemetery in the area is the Watt/Flora cemetery in the nearby community of Sand Hill. This is believed to be the location of Jonathan Wilson's grave. He was the first Wilson in the area and died in 1850.   The stone marked J.W. has no date but is close to his son's stone (Woodford Wilson). The earliest marked stone shows a death date of 1854 (Watt). Names in this cemetery include many who were known to live in the Penns Chapel area as well: Alford, Bratcher, Beck, Flora, Grimes, Hall, Hopper, Miller, Runner, Simmons, Spinks, and Watt among others.

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Penns Chapel Store and a Mill

There was once a store close to the church at Penns Chapel. In the 1960s Lisa remembers visiting this store many times. The owners were Elbert Porter "Cooch" Jones and his wife Bessie Jones. "My mother, Cleo Spinks Hite, would send me to the store with a list, and Cooch or Bessie would go around the small store (essentially one room) and find the items for me. I also spent time in front of the window to the left of the front door where there was a fascinating candy shelf with lots of old fashioned kinds of candies that I don't think were sold in more modern grocery stores of the time. There was a sign over the store's front door that said something like "E.P. Jones Store." There was a gas pump outside the store. Cooch also drove the school bus for the kids in the area for awhile."

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Cleo and her sister Virginia Spinks Mahan Grimes remembered that their great grandfather Lafayette A. "Lafe" French owned that store at one time, and he also a mill. The mill was located elsewhere - possibly Little Beaver Dam Creek Road. They remembered their brother Lloyd Spinks riding a mule to take a bag of corn to the mill to be ground into meal.  On one trip there was a hole in the sack, so the meal spilled out along the way back home, much to the family's disappointment.

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Marie Beck Wilson remembered her brothers made up a children's rhyme something like this: 

"Eddie Beck did a peck,

Willie Beck found it.

Jimmy Beck took it to the mill 

and Lafe French ground it."

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There is a photo of the Penn's Chapel store in earlier years (to be added). The scene was described as a political rally. The building that was the store is now a residence.

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Penns Chapel School

There was a one-room school house located at what is now the address of 2296 Penns Chapel Road. Lloyd, Cleo and Virginia all attended the school. We would love to find a photo of that school!

(Source: Oral histories, memories and family stories collected by Lisa Hite)

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