The Kentucky Williamsons

Carefully Researched, documented & submitted by: Troy Williamson, James F.
Williamson, Sue Kriegshauser, Dave Jostes, Karl Williamson, and "others
who wish to remain anonymous",  on 14 FEB 2004

The state of Kentucky did not officially come into being until June 1, 1792. Explorers and hardy pioneers, however, had known and wandered and lived on its fertile soil for over 200 years before. Variously claimed by Spain, France, and Britain, the rich, extensive Ohio valley lands to the west of the Appalachian mountains were coveted by governments overseas. Spain, more committed to fortifying land lying to the west of the Mississippi River, bowed out early. France and Britain, however, fought fiercely for ownership of its regions.

The two countries diverged in their methods of gaining control over these uncharted lands. France spread her conquest from the Mississippi River to the Ohio River valley by trade with the indigenous tribes of each region. Using Indians as assassins, they played on tribal fears of a takeover by white settlers. Britain, on the other hand, had issued a proclamation barring settlement of "the western lands" lest her eastern colonies get too unruly. Indian tribes were recruited to keep out the French and any settler brash enough to proclaim his independence by settling in the forbidden territory.

It was inevitable that they would clash, and it was during this violent and bloody time for settlers in what was already being known as Kaintuck, or the "Bloody Ground" in the Indian tongue, that we first pick up the trail of our ancestors there.

Branches of the Williamson family were already in the colonies by the 1680s. Always on the farthest edges of settled lands, Williamsons cleared land, built homes and sometimes a road, and then moved on. A letter from Elkanah Winchester in 1803 to his church back east provides a glimpse into the character of those pioneers:

"Most of the settlers on the New Frontier (KY) were frontier folk from the Old Frontier, very few were from the Settled East. The (Ohio) River brought them from…PA in the west…and north; …from MD; …the Kanawha Trace brought them from the Carolina settlements on the Yadkin; …from Franklin and Floyd Counties and the lower Valley VA. These areas were the Old Frontier. It showed in the type of people who came, in their self-reliance and independent thought. They didn't just accept being told something was true, they tried it out for themselves, and used it. They had to, or they died on the frontier."

Years later, in the only government record to ever state a description of an individual family, came this accolade about the early Williamson family line:

"They had an element of manhood far and above the average, and were the most robust, fearless men that ever landed in America."

While the exact record of their passage still remains to be discovered, there is evidence to show that the Kentucky Williamsons came from those areas of Virginia and Pennsylvania about which Rev. Winchester wrote. At this time, we are 99% sure that they came by flat-boat down the Ohio River.   One of the most popular starting points was Pittsburgh, PA.

The Ohio River is formed by the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers at Pittsburgh, the Ohio River forms part of the border between Ohio and West Virginia, between Ohio and Kentucky, between Indiana and Kentucky, and between Illinois and Kentucky before joining the Mississippi at Cairo, Illinois.

The settlement of the Kentucky region had been undertaken mostly by Virginians. The county of Kentucky, Virginia, was established when the Commonwealth of Virginia declared sovereignty over that area in 1776. In December 1777, under the leadership of George Rogers Clark, Virginia began to carry out her campaign to win the region permanently for herself by encouraging settlement. This was a strike against the British who were at war with the colonies in the east, and it was also an attempt to gain lucrative lands for herself. Pioneers interested in settling in the new territory were encouraged by newspaper advertisements which extolled the richness of the lands near the Ohio River.

Government orders were given to muster militia to defend the settlers. George Rogers Clark was put in charge and was dispatched with two sets of orders. One was to defend the territory of Kentucky against the increasing attacks of hostile Indians, while the other authorized him to attack Ft. Kaskaskia, a British post in the Illinois country further inland.

Between 1778 and 1779, Clark led three companies of militia into Kentucky territory for his campaigns. He ordered Captain William Harrod to place detachments of militia at different forts and stations down the Ohio River, and then establish a fort at the Falls of the Ohio (present-day Louisville, KY).

Falls of the Ohio

It is believed (at this time) that the first of the Williamson Kentucky family came to the Kentucky territory in 1779 by flatboat on the Ohio River."  The Williamsons settled on a location two days' wagon ride east in the triangular region bounded by Boonesborough, Boone's Station, and Linn's Station. Boone's Station at that time was the only station between Harrod's Station (not to be confused with his fort at the Ohio River) and Linn's Station, built a few months earlier.

2:John and his family lived midway between Boone's Station, and Linn's Station, which was twenty-two miles further east. These all comprised the Painted Stone region, and Indian raids became especially brutal there in 1781; by midsummer, settlers began fleeing for safety. The Williamsons were at this time awaiting the birth of twin boys, 3:George and 3:Moses. Their birth year of 1781, however, was to be long remembered as the bloodiest year in the early history of Kentucky, and no family was to go untouched by its events.

That same year of 1781, (Major) Bland Ballard was living at Linn's Station, which was better fortified by having a palisade and a few militia sent by Captain Harrod. On the 12th of September Major Ballard started out to Brashear's Station in what is now Bullitt County to get a minister to marry two couples at Linn's Station. When only a few miles out, he discovered that a large body of Indians had passed, so he turned swiftly and rode back to warn Linn's Station. He then sent word to Beargrass Station which was next in line and was the garrisoned military headquarters for Jefferson County. Emulating Paul Revere, he then went on to Boone's Station that night to warn them, a twenty-two mile ride.

The loss of manpower caused by settlers leaving the region had already weakened Boone's Station. The settlers who had been notified by Major Ballard on his way to the station now rushed to find safety there. The station was lightly defended—just some houses arranged in a square with pickets. The settlers were "flushed by Major Ballard's news" and wanted to leave and go to Linn's Station the next day. When the next day came, however, there were not enough packhorses for everyone or their goods. It was decided that Squire Boone would stay at the fort with a few others, while Major Ballard was sent to conduct the majority of the families to Linn's Station.

When Major Ballard was twenty miles out and eight miles from Linn's Station, he was attacked in the front and the rear at Long Run Creek. Hurrying to the rear where the fighting was fiercest, he "drove the Indians back and held them as long as he could". When the Indians faded away into the woods, he helped a man and woman who had been separated from the main body and had hidden in Long Run creek. He was again attacked by Indians, but shot one and killed the other in hand-to-hand combat. He then hurried to the place where he had left the rest of the company and found that the Indians had massacred "a great many and scattered the rest." It was never known who all the settlers were, but an obituary address made at the time of Major Ballard's death makes mention of the fact that 3:Elizabeth Williamson, Major Ballard's future wife, survived the massacre.

In later years, a biographer gathered accounts from 4:John Williamson, 2:John's grandson, about the 1781 Linn Station massacre. The following was taken from the book History of the Ohio Falls Counties:

"John Williamson, Jr., owner of the property upon which Chenowith Spring house fort now stands, was born in 1796, and still lives at this advanced age, having a mind and memory as clear as crystal. His father, John Williamson, came with his father John Williamson from Virginia and settled at the Linn Station in 1781. During the massacre of that year, Indians attacked the fort, killed the grandfather, Mr. Williamson's oldest uncle, and made captive his father, who was taken that night to Middletown, where he saw the scalp of his father and oldest brother stretched over a hoop to dry, and knew for the first time of their murder.

His legs and feet being sore, the Indians made leggings of deer skins and tied them on with hickory bark. He was then ten years old and remained with the Indians in all four years before he made his escape. He was adopted into the Tecumseh family, the father of that noted chief being the Shawnee chief of the party, and the one who adopted him. He was taken to Chillicothe, and there granted his liberty on condition that he could run the gauntlet. A fair chance was given him, and he would have succeeded had it not been for a log at the end of the race that prevented his mounting it successfully and he was struck by a war club.

He was next taken by two Indians and washed in the river. This was done for the singular purpose of washing all the white blood out of him. It was done by two Indians who alternately dipped and ducked him until all breath and hope were gone, and he was then pronounced Indian and trained in their hunting grounds and by their campfires. He attempted several times to make his escape, but failing his purpose would return. He was finally purchased of the Indians for twenty-four gallons of whiskey.

After his return to Louisville, he fought the Indians for seven years; was in Wayne's army and the battle of the River Raisin, where he was agin {sic} captured, taken to Detroit and burned at the stake. His daughter Elizabeth married Major Bland Ballard, an old Indian fighter and uncle of Judge Ballard, of Louisville. The second daughter married a Mr. Smith, who also participated in the Indian Wars. Ruth, who afterwards married a Mr. Hall, was quite young at the time of the massacre. 3: George Williamson and Moses Williamson were born after that time. James was thirteen years old when murdered, and John ten years old when captured, and his son, John Williamson, is now in the eighty-seventh year of his age, and although married the second time has no children."

Although this version is used in several books and references, it can be seen that memory is sometimes faulty in details after a generation. 4:John's statements about 3:Elizabeth, 3:Anne "second daughter," 3:Ruth, 3:George, and 3:Moses are misleading. 3:Elizabeth married Bland Ballard in 1781, so she could not be the 10-yr-old 3:John's daughter. Humphrey Marshall in his Obituary Addresses also states "her father and one of her brothers were killed." That makes 3:Elizabeth and 3:James brother and sister. 3:James was only "one of her brothers." 3:Ruth was "quite young at the massacre" so she couldn't be 3:John's daughter either. 3:George and 3:Moses were "born after that time." The only one who was truly 3:John's child was 4:John Williamson Jr., born in 1796. All the rest, (Elizabeth, Anne "2nd daughter", Ruth, James, George, and Moses), along with the 10-yr-old John, were children of 2:John Williamson, the "grandfather".

After the massacre, it is conjectured that 2:John's widow Anne lived with another family. It was barely a year since the family had begun to homestead, and the land would not yet have begun to support them. Now that the two oldest males were dead and her 10-year-old son was captured, Anne, heavily pregnant, and with 3 daughters to feed, clothe, and protect, would in all probability have moved in with a kindly neighbor. Later accounts show 3:Elizabeth married to Major Ballard 5 months later, and living next to his parents. It would not be improbable that the Ballards and Williamsons knew of each other prior to the massacre.

Anne and family might have stayed with them, but the Ballard household was already crowded. A better possibility was that the Williamsons moved in with the McManus family. John McManus Sr. and his wife lived near the Williamsons, and 9 years later, after the death of his wife, John would marry the widow Anne Williamson.

Indian attacks diminished after 1781, but were still a danger to settlers with their lightning-like raids. In 1787 the Ballards and others had settled near Shelbyville. Bland Ballard's father and stepmother had built their home on the farthest outskirts and 3:Elizabeth and Bland had settled on a small hill overlooking his parents' homestead. On March 31, 1788, a roving band of about 10-12 Indians attacked the senior Ballard's household. 3:Elizabeth had been visiting her mother-in-law and immediately gathered in the children. Bland's father, outside near his woodpile, managed to shoot one Indian before he himself was killed and scalped. Bland, in the woods on the hill, heard the shooting and came running, throwing himself behind a tree stump at the edge of the clearing.

3:Elizabeth, having no gun, instead climbed out on the roof and, at great risk to herself, directed Bland's attention to Indians lurking in the clearing. In the next hour, Bland proceeded to pick off the
remaining Indians. Before he could dispatch them all, however, two Indians broke into the cabin and tomahawked and scalped several of the children. Bland, running up, shot one Indian from the doorway, but was not in time to save his stepmother from being tomahawked. He grappled with the remaining Indian, and finally succeeded in killing him. 3:Elizabeth remained unhurt.

From 1795 until 1811, Bland and 3:Elizabeth lived on their homestead. During this time he served five terms in the Kentucky legislature. In later years, Bland Williams Ballard and his wife 3:Elizabeth were held in such esteem by the people of Kentucky that an act of the Kentucky legislature in the winter of 1853-54 provided for the reinterment of their remains in the State Cemetery at Frankfort with imposing ceremonies. Later legislation created the county of Ballard to honor his achievements.

By 1805 Anne was a widow again. Her husband had provided for her in his will, however, and for her sons 3:George and 3:Moses, and her daughter 3:Ruth. Her daughter 3:Elizabeth was married and had presented her with multiple grandchildren, as had her namesake daughter 3:Anne, who had married a noted Indian fighter, Jacob Smith. Her remaining son 3:John had moved to Shelby County, KY, where he married and began farming.

In the comparatively more peaceful years before the War of 1812, the last of Anne's children were married. 3:George married (S)ally Hagerman, a relative of Daniel Boone, in 1806. His twin 3:Moses married Delilah Hodgen in 1812. But warlike times were again coming to the Williamson family.

Anne's son 3:John had cultivated a hatred for Indians during his 4-year captivity with the Tecumseh Indian family. After being returned to his mother and siblings, he joined various scouting parties and began fighting Indians wherever he encountered them. For seven years he roamed between the lands of Jefferson County and Shelby County while slaking his thirst for vengeance. Gradually, with maturity, came the desire to settle down and put his energies into beginning a family and farming the land.

In 1795 he married Charity Whitaker, whose father, Abraham, had been one of the original settlers of the county, and whose brother Aquilla was a noted Indian fighter. Always overshadowing everything, however, was his cruel treatment at the hands of the Indians. In 1811 came word that the British were mustering Indian tribes to bolster their fight for title to the western lands and all trading privileges. 3:John quickly volunteered for duty in Colonel Allen's First Rifle Unit, Kentucky Militia. Bland Ballard, 3:Elizabeth's husband and 3:John's close friend, also volunteered.

The following are excerpts taken from the Register of the Kentucky Historical Society , first published serially in the January, 1912, to January 1915 issues of the commemoration of the Centennial of the War of 1812:

At the very beginning of the War of 1812, General William Hull had been given command of the Army of the Northwest, but after a bluff at invading Canada, he had surrendered the whole of his army under his command, with headquarters at Detroit, to the British forces under General Brock. This left the entire northwestern frontier exposed. At the time of Hull's surrender, five regiments of Kentucky troops had been raised. General William Henry Harrison, "hero of Tippecanoe" was then placed in command and determined to roust the British at Detroit. It was several months before his plan could be implemented.

On January 1, 1813, in ice and snow, he began occupying a defensive position on the Maumee River, just south of the Michigan boundary line. He then had under his command 7000 Kentuckians, commanded by Brigadier General James Winchester. These composed the left wing and were quartered at Fort Winchester, 100 miles away. On January 16 Winchester received word from the citizens of Frenchtown, on the River Raisin, that a body of Indians were on the warpath there. General Harrison was too far away to consult, so he decided to detail Colonel William Lewis's regiment of 550 militiamen, and Colonel John Allen, with 110 men from his regiment of Kentucky Riflemen, to march to Frenchtown's relief. {Colonel Allen's First Rifle Regiment, Kentucky Militia, was organized on August 15, 1812. Its 4th Company was comprised of Capt. Bland W. Ballard; 3:Lieut. John Williamson; Ensign John W. Nash}.

Early on the morning of January 18 the Kentuckians crossed Maumee Bay over solid ice and advanced on Frenchtown. An advance guard was thrown forward, led by Captain Ballard as acting Major, and including 3:John Williamson. Forming a battle line, the troops charged up the riverbank in the face of murderous fire, dislodged the enemy, and drove them into the surrounding forests, where the fighting was very hot from 3 o'clock until dark. Captain Ballard was wounded in the attack. The Kentuckians returned to Frenchtown in victory, but in a precarious defensive position. The next day, General Winchester, disregarding Colonel Lewis's advice, proceeded to picket the troops in an open field near Frenchtown. He then recrossed the river and established his headquarters a mile and a half away.

Late in the afternoon on January 21, General Winchester received news of a combined British and Indian army in great numbers, but disregarded the news and left Frenchtown unpicketed. The British forces, meanwhile, had advanced with artillery to the immediate vicinity of the town.

Between 5 and 6 o'clock the next morning, January 22, a furious assault was made upon the camp. The unprepared sleeping troops scattered toward the Maumee, but were cut down by British artillery, musket fire, and scalped by Indians. Within the space of one hundred yards, over one hundred Kentuckians were killed and scalped.

At 10 o'clock a white flag was seen by the remnants of the Kentuckians, carried by General Winchester who had been made a prisoner by the British. Colonel Proctor, commanding the British forces, stated that if the men lay down their arms, the massacre would stop. The terms were agreed to, and the Kentuckians gave up their weapons. Even before Colonel Proctor began retiring the British forces, however, the Indians began to plunder the scene. Although appealed to, Colonel Proctor, contrary to the terms of surrender which he had had no intentions of keeping, withdrew his troops and left the field open to the savages. The wounded Kentuckians had been taken to houses in Frenchtown previously, and now two hundred half-drunken Indians broke in, stripped the wounded of valuables, and then mutilated and scalped them, while leaving them alive. The houses were then set on fire and the wounded were burned alive.

Those of the prisoners who could walk, including Captain Ballard and 3:John Williamson, were marched off; those falling from wounds or exhaustion were scalped and killed. Captain Ballard managed to escape his captors and make his way back to friendly forces. The rest of the prisoners, depending on rank, were taken to either Fort George on the Niagara River, at which place they were paroled or exchanged, or to Detroit, where they were burned by the savages after the British had finished interrogating the prisoners.

After the war, things began to settle down for the Williamson families. Continuing a family tradition, most of 2:John and Anne's children named their own children after parents and family members. The name "Bland" was especially popular in recognition of his fighting qualities. Most of the Williamsons were farmers, but one of 3:Ruth's sons, along with her husband John, was in manufacturing. History so far, however, has not revealed what exact trade they practiced.

By the early 1820s, the Williamsons had again had the urge to settle new lands. One by one the third and fourth generation families packed their household goods and headed out to new lands, this time in Indiana. They had survived Indians and wars, lost their homesteads, buried loved ones in the rich soil of Kentucky. Now there was a new frontier, and the Williamsons, "robust and fearless", were going to lead the way.

REFERENCES:
(a) {Eulogy by Col. Humphrey Marshall in the collection Obituary Addresses, etc. (Frankfort, KY., 1855): MS. Notes compiled by R. C. Ballard Truston, of Louisville, from many scattered references to Ballard.}
(b) History of the Ohio Falls Counties,
(c) {from the notes of Lyman Draper's The Life of Daniel Boone, compiled 1852-1888, publ. 1998 by Ted Belue}
(d) {letter from G. T. Wilcox, Eden post office, Jefferson County, Kentucky, July 23, 1880 to Mr. Thomas W. Bullitt}
(e) {Dodd, Jordan. Kentucky Marriages to 1850. {database online} Provo, UT:   Ancestry.com, 1997. Electron records held by the individual counties in Kentucky.}
(f) {United States census records, Kentucky, 1810}
(g) {Jefferson County, Kentucky, tax roll, 1798.}
(h) {Jefferson County, Kentucky Will Book 1, pg 177, dated 1805-1805}
(i) {G. Glenn Clift. Remember the Raisin, Frankfort Historical Society, 1961,
from the 1st Kentucky Volunteer Rifle Regiment muster roll and casualty list}
(j) {Mormon Genealogy site, Batch F515562, Sheet 048}
(k) {The Edward Pleasants Valentine Papers, Vol I, Baltimore, MD. Heritagequestonline.com, 2003}
(l) {Letter: Elkanah Winchester, North Carolina, 1803.}
(m) {Bland Williams Ballard. Dictionary of American Biography Base set. American Council of Learned Societies, 1928-1936. Reproduced in History Resource Center. Electron records held by Gale Group.}
(n) {Kentucky Historical Marker Database. Compiled by Kentucky Historical Society.}
(o) {Willis, Geo. L. History of Shelby County, Kentucky, Louisville, KY: CT Dearing Print Co., 1929.}
(p) {Dandridge, Danske. George Michael Bedinger: a Kentucky pioneer. Charlottesville, Va.: The Michie Co., printers, 1909.}
(q) {Johnstown Independent. Newspaper. Columbus, OH. 25th Jul 1935. Excerpt taken from a letter written by Jonathen Williamson.}
(r) {from the manuscript notes on Kentucky by Lyman Draper, compiled 1852-1888, in the
files of University of Wisconsin.}
(s) { Register of the Kentucky Historical Society , first published serially in the January,
1912, to January 1915 issues of the commemoration of the Centennial of the War of 1812}

Last modified: November 30, 2004