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While looking for something else at the Pulaski County courthouse, I came upon some interesting notes about the maintenance of roads in the Line Creek area. Nothing earthshattering, but it may be helpful. First, and perhaps most importantly, especially to those of us interested in the Evans families, the Evans Ferry across the Rockcastle River was in existence at least as early as 1804. There is an indexed entry concerning it in Pulaski County Court Book 2, page 39, but, as luck would have it, Books 1 and 2 are missing from the courthouse (there are additional index entries for Line Creek-related items in those two missing books; I hope they turn up somewhere). In any event, Joseph Evans ran the ferry at that time. I was surprised to learn the ferry existed that early. The first official road from Somerset toward London was commissioned in 1802, to run from Somerset to the mouth of Line Creek. It did not follow old Hwy 80, but ran through Flat Lick and Sinking Valley. There is no evidence of a river crossing near the mouth of Line Creek (almost underneath the present-day Hwy 80 bridge), so perhaps the route was modified and the crossing became Evans Ferry. Remember too that although the site of the ferry (the old Hwy 80 bridge) is now in Rockcastle County, that was still Pulaski until 1810. June 1869 George Nichols was appointed surveyor "of section #3 of Buck Creek and Line Creek Road which lay between the forks of Lacey's Fork and the County line and that the hands residing in the following bounds...Beginning at Giles Whitakers thence to the Big Spring, thence to Reuben Langfords thence down Rockcastle River to the mouth of Big Clifty thence up same to the head of said creek at Riley Whitakers thence to the beginning and also the hads at Riley Whitakers and widow Lovings are included in the above boundary do assist said G. Nichols in keeping said section of road in good order." The road in question is roughly (or perhaps exactly) the first section of Hwy. 1956 (old 80) from its intersection with Hwy. 80 at Squib to Line Creek and maybe then to the Pulaski-Rockcastle line. The boundary given is not that of the road, but that of the area containing people who were responsible for its maintenance. Basically everyone who lived between Lacey's Fork and Big Clifty were required to maintain the road. This provides a good reference point for some 1870 census households: --Giles Whitaker was at dwelling 118 in the Dallas Precinct. His land was on the southern section of the present-day Line Creek Road, just north of the Hwy. 1956 bridge over the creek. --The Big Spring is about 2/3 mile from the mouth of Line Creek, above the Whitaker Cemetery. --Reuben Langford was not living on Line Creek in 1870 (he'd moved to the Grundy area), but he owned the land in the vicinity of the Whitaker Cemetery near the mouth of Line Creek until 1874 --Big Clifty is roughly two miles downstream from the Whitaker Cemetery. --Riley Whitaker (John R. who married Margaret Pointer) lived at dwelling 60 in the Burdine Precinct in 1870. The head of Big Clifty is about a mile northeast of the Acorn Church. I'm not sure if one can get there by road today, since that area was heavily strip-mined. --The "widow Lovings" was probably Nancy Lovings (Lovins) who was living at 110-Burdine in 1870. --George Nichols married Rebecca Whitaker, the daughter of Mills and Sidney Arnold Whitaker, in 1868. He lived along Lacey's Fork at 64-Burdine; mother-in-law Sidney was next door. Their houses were probably near the Maury Cemetery. --Based on the road document and the 1870 census, it looks as if the dividing line between the Dallas and Burdine Precincts was along this section of road and probably extended eastward some distance along old Hwy. 80. 23 Jan 1830 It was ordered that Warren Williams be appointed surveyor of the Line Creek Road "in the room of Larkin Cash from the Mt. Vernon Road at Zachariah Evans to [unreadable word] the Salt Works Road at Matthew Warrens [unreadable words] the following boundary, to wit: Beginning at Zachariah Evans, from thence to John Evans Sr, from thence to Boling Bullock, from thence to Boling Ping, from thence a straight line to the Saltworks Road at Matthew Warrens, from thence with the county line to Thomas Nichols, from thence to the beginning." PC Court Book 5, page 421 I believe this would be roughly the road from Hwy 461 out the Dahl-Elrod Road to the Sinking Valley Road and on down to Line Creek, coming down Loving Branch past the Harper-Lovins Cemetery. The reference to Thomas Nichols is interesting, as he did not own land on Line Creek. He did own property somewhere in the Sinking Valley area, so the road described here probably turned north and ran back up towards or past today's Line Creek Baptist Church Cemetery. July 1851 Andrew Warren was appointed surveyor of the Line Creek Road from the "widow Isaacs to a large rock in the road above King McKinneys in the place of Lorenzo D. Hood..., to wit: Beginning at the widow Isaacs, thence to Milton Bullocks, thence to Moses Pitman, thence to George Pitman, thence crossing the road at said rock to the county line, thence to the beginning." PCCB 7, p. 209 The "widow Isaacs" was Mary Isaacs, the widow of William Y. Isaacs. From the land records it appears they lived very near the mouth of Dyer Branch. So the first section of this described road looks to be the section leading from the creek back up the ridge (westward) toward Public, then turning north and going past the Line Creek Baptist Church Cemetery toward the McKinney Cemetery in the Plato-Vanhook area. April 1852 Peter Parkey was appointed surveyor of the "public highway leading from Wm Pointers by way of Line Creek to the Laurel County line in the place of Charles Warren, decd." PCCB 7, p. 255 The description for this road is ambiguous to us today, since William Pointer's land is hard to place. The most likely route is from the Conrad or Price Valley area to either Evans Ferry or around the Whitaker Cemetery. Neither the Rockcastle River nor Rockcastle County line is mentioned, each of which would be encountered before reaching the Laurel County line. In any event, it probably paralleled Laces Fork much like the present-day road (old 80) does. Also of note is the appointed surveyor, Peter Parkey. I don't know which Peter Parkey this was, nor how many Peter Parkeys were adults at the time. The only one I have information on lived in Rockcastle County in 1852, although he was from the Price Valley area. The man mentioned here is probably not the Peter Parkey who was married to Martha Linville and lived on Skeggs Creek. April 1853 Thomas Ping was appointed surveyor of the road leading from the Line Creek Road beginning at the schoolhouse near widow McQueary's to intersect with the said road near Morgan's Mill thence to Joseph Moore to Thomas Ping to William McKinney Sr to William McQueary Jr to widow Kelly's to R. Whotenberry's. PCCB 71, p. 323 I'm not very familiar with these families, except to say this was probably in the Plato area and may have connected with the road mentioned in July 1851 above. January 1854 King McKinney was appointed surveyor of the road beginning at Zachariah Evans to John Evans to John Grider to the rock at King McKinneys to the county line at Ephraim McKinneys. Again, I'm not very familiar with these families, but this road connected to the others mentioned above and was in the Dahl-Vanhook-Plato area. |