Mount Vernon signal. (Mt. Vernon, Ky.) 18??-current, 1901-12-20
MT. VERNON AND THE EAR
LY SETTLERS OF ROCK
CASTLE AS GIVEN BY
ONE OF OUR OLD
EST CITMENS;

Kentucky having beeF admitted
as State in the galaxy N0f' States
in the year 1892, Which wSS COM
posed of four counties, VIZ: Jetfer-
son, Madison, Efntoln and Fay
cite, and in the, year 1910. the
county ofRockcastlc was organized,
taken from portions Of Lincoln
and Madison counties, aud is, now
bounded on the north BY Madison,
on the south by Pulaski, on the
west by Lincoln and on the east by
Laurel. In 1871 the town site of
Mt. Vernon was laid off, and plot
made Of same, and in the same
year the Court House was built.
The location for the site having
been decided by Stephen kangford
in 1910, to James Terrelfy John
Hill and James Mcclure as Trus.
tees of the town Of Mt. Vernon,
which contained az acres. Stephen
Langford was one of the first set
tiers i'll Mt. Vernon, having built
the house on, now old Main street,
where James Houk lives. The To-
cation of Mt. Vernon was then a
wilderness of cane, where many
deer and other wild animals in
habited. The two other oldest
houses built in Mt. Vernon, one of
which is the house on the corner
of old Main and Spring streets,
which has since been greatly i'm
proved and is better known as the
DR.. J. J. Brown house. The other
House was built upon the corner OF
now Main and Spring streets, and
was the house in which Col. R. G..
Williams lived and died and who
died on the grid day of Jan. 1876,
having moved to Mt. Vernon from
where Wilde now is in 1916.
This house was burned in the
year 1877. All three of these
houses had port holes in them in
order that the few people OF Mt.
Vernon might defend themselves
against the attacks of the indians
The following named people were
some OF the Early settlers OF Mt.
Vernon and Rockcastle county:
Stephen I,angford, John HUI.
Frederick Akers, James Lewis.
Elijah Kirtly, VIM. Buiord, John
Burdett, Josiah Bull, Uriah Ores
ham, Samuel Carson, James Hen
derson, James Mccall, James Kin.
caid, Henry P. Buford, Thomas
tones, James Terrill, William
Smith, Hezekiah Farris, Reubin
Elkin, Absolem Waters, James A.
Mcclure, Patrick Cherry. John E.
woodward, Barney Haley, Mason
c. Miller, the Dysart and Campbell
families, VIM. Fish, Bros. Bennett
and w. P. Hiatt, John Owens
and VIM. Adams.
Henry P. Buford was the first
County Court Clerk of Rockcastle
county. James Terrill was County
and Circuit Court Clerk from 1890
to I8so-the writer of this wrote
in the Office with James Terrill in
IS49-5o. Terrill died in May 1851.
l was living with him at the time
of his death. His widow, whose
maiden name was Annie Smith,
daughter Of Gen. William Smith,
died two years after the death of
her husband. Two good people,
were they.
Or. Josiah Joplin, who was
tioted So we'll for his skill in the
practice of medicine, came to Mt.
Vernon in 1870, from old Virginia.
He died in 1882. z
Mt. Vernon, the county seat, was
the only town in Rockcastle from
1870 to the year 1868, when the
Knoxville branch of the l.. & N. |
was built through the
county, then Gum Sulphur, Brod-
head, Maretburg, Pine Hill and
Livingston were built up. Brod-
head and Livingston are towns of
considerable business, Brodhead
having population OF some four
hundred people and Livingston has
about eight hundred, including the
t,,ay ,.,I,D .t1. 49, |