Early History of southeast Kenton County 1790's to 1836

 By: David Theodore Mann

            In the fall of 1994,  at the National Archives building,  I confirmed that Benjamin Mann of Campbell Co. Ky. was my ancestor.  His struggle to receive a pension for serving in the Third Virginia Regiment during the Revolution provided a wealth of information on the Cruis'es Creek area of Campbell County.   This article is about the several pioneer families,  and some history  of what is now the southeast corner of Kenton County.

             It seems that Benjamin Mann followed the typical migration patterns of the time.  He was born in Glamorganshire Wales in 1750 and married Mildred Timberlake around 1770.     Benjamin first shows in the colonies at Louisa Co. Virginia in 1773 as a farmer under Ben Timberlake.   In the 1780's, during the American Revolution, Virginia became the theater of action with Lafayette in Louisa Co. and Cornwallis in Yorktown.  Benjamin is drafted into the Third Virginia Regiment in 1781.   After the Battle of Yorktown he becomes ill and was furloughed from the Fourth Virginia Regiment in 1782 at Richmond Va.  It appears Benjamin,   his wife Mildred Timberlake, their children and Mildred's relative Phillip Timberlake moved from Louisa Co. Va. to Fayette Co. Ky. sometime in the late 1780's.  Benjamin first shows in Campbell Co. on the 1800 census.

             Bartlett Graves purchased 400 acres from John Grant in 1808.   This parcel covers a good portion of Cruis'es Ck. where many pioneers lived.    Grave's deed description begins at "Jesse Bracking's upper corner thence north 56 degrees west 175 poles,  thence north 55 degrees east 285 poles,  thence south 56 degrees east 310 poles too Lucy Todd's line, thence with his line south 45 degrees west 220 poles to the black oak, white oak and beech on the said creek, thence up said creek where it meanders to the beginning,   it being a part of  Harris's survey".    Within this parcel  and heading down the creek beginning at Jesse Bracking's  we then see William Stephen's farm,  Benjamin Mann's Farm, William Mann,  then finally Samuel Rich's farm .   Lucy Todd's farm and Todd Springs are also close by.   I was not able to locate Benjamin's farm exactly,  but I was able to locate William Stephen's farm from the J.D. Lake 1876 Atlas which shows the location of his son Leonard Stephen's farm  up the creek from the  bend at Oak Island Rd. where it intersects the Hempfling Rd.  This would put Benjamin's farm at the bend somewhere at the intersection of the Oak Island Rd..   The Atlas also shows Samuel Rich and Hume and  C.B. Armstrong on Hy. 14 or what I believe is refered to as Rich Rd.  It appears Armstrongs farm is out on a spur ridge a 1/4 mile from the road.     Benjamin Mann's son Milton LT Mann of Clermont County finally sells the family farm in 1838 to William Griffing.

             While at the Kenton Co. Library I researched the indexed book on Campbell Co. Work Orders,  which are still at the old Courthouse in Alexandria.   These books are collection of court orders dealing mostly with appointing viewers and survevors for laying out locations of roads .   They contain a lot of information about the people, what they did and where they lived .On our trip to Kenton Co. last spring I had a chance to talk with William R. Stevens in the Ft. Thomas area.   He did a lot of reseach in the 1970's on early road construction.   In an article he wrote called "Roads  Campbell County Pioneers"  he talks about the first trace or road between Lexington and the Ohio River.   Mr. Stevens said  the road probably followed the road to Paris then turned north substanually the present route of 27 to Falmouth and the Hy. 17 thru Wilmington to Banklick and to the mouth of the Licking on the west side."

             On Feb. 6, 1797 after some political disension possibly envolving the location of the county seat,  the Wilmington /Newport road is ordered built thru the lands of Squire Grant,  John Grant and Bartlett Graves.    Court. Work Orders that effect the people on Cruis"es Creek and surrounding areas begin in 1808 and show William Shannon,  George Vice and Benjamin Mann laying out a road amendment from the Wilmington Road to Grassy Ck.- from the Wilmington Ford  (on the Great Licking River) to run the west side of said Dickersons farm and to intersect the Banklick Road at Todd Springs.

             A work order in 1816 shows  John Grant is Building a mill and a 12 foot high dam on Bowman Ck.and John Hume, B. Mann, and  William Stephens sign a statement that no damage will arise from the dam overflowing the waters to lands mansion house,  office curtilage .  Other names on Aduad Damnum are John McCullom, Taylor Barton,     Jesse Vanhorn, and in the presence of Bartlett Graves.  This order would indicate that their farms were located close enough to Bowman Creek to be affected by the dam.

            In Oct. 1819,at the age of 69, Benjamin first applies for a pension.  He is inscribed on the rolls March 14, 1820.   He is then dropped from the rolls on July 16, 1821 because of the amount of property he owns.  During the Revolutionary period veterans had to prove a need for a pension.  Because of Benjamin's age and poor health, and the location of his farm on the county line between Campbell and Pendelton, he gives his oath of participation in the Revolution and statement of need of a pension in Pendleton County Circuit Court.  Campbell County Circuit Court denies Benjamin's Pension because he did not give oath in the county of his residence.  A letter dated May 23,1821  Falmouth, Pendleton Co. Ky. from M.C.Kennett to the Campbell County Circuit Court is pleading for the second time to accept his claim .   Kennett states " The old man's lamp is nearly extinguished; he will not in all probability, long enjoy the bounty of his government."  Many of Benjamin's friends and relatives write letters of support, but the most impressive letter is from the hand of Benjamin himself , "Know all men by these present that I Benjamin Mann, of the County of Campbell and the State of Kentucky,  espousing especial confidence and trust in the probity, integrity and abilities of the Honourable John T. Johnson Esq. now a member of Congress".  This letter was written Jan 22, 1822 at the age of 72.  Now the Congressman is involved and several communications take place recounting Benjamin's destitute condition, with all 23 children gone.  Finally, Benjamin has his pension reinstated  by Congressman Johnson on Jan. 7, 1826.  Benjamin dies in the spring of  that year.    The truth in Kennett's letter is all to apparent, Benjamin probably never saw a penny of his pension.  Poor treatment for someone who was at the battle of Yorktown and witnessed the surrender of 10 German Regiments and 8 British Regiments and General Cornwallis.

             My family and I visited Kenton Co. last spring.  We started at the Kenton Co. Library and were taken back by its beauty and functionality.  The Genealogy section was impressive and the people helpful.  They showed me the Mann Family folder which actually contained some correspondence I had written.  From there we went to Visalia and met, 5 generations removed cousin James Mann, who lives at the corner of Hy.1303 and Mann Rd.  The original cabin from the late 1700's is still standing.  James line is from Benjamin's son Thomas who was born in Virginia about 1784.  James showed me a family cemetery with many headstones made out of river rock.  Only one name was readable  "Richard Mann".  James family line would read James Mann son of Mabley McKinley  Mann, son of Napoleon Bonaparte Mann, son of Richard Mann, son of Thomas Mann, son of Benjamin Mann of Glamorganshire, Wales.  James had some interesting stories.  We then paid a visit to Dennis Mann on Rich Rd.  He takes care of the Mann Cemetery on Hy. 491 out of Crittenden.  Eli or Elijah Mann is probably his line.

             Wilmington Baptist Church  in Fiskburg was our next stop.  The Church originally was located at the Wilmington Ford on the Great Licking River in 1804 and was moved to its present location about 1840.  There is an extensive cemetery that is not indexed.  There are 15 Mann's buried at the cemetery including Richard Mann one of the sons of Benjamin.  There are many other pioneer families buried there whose names appear on old records like the Hightowers,  and the Taylor's.   We talked with the current Pastor and were told there are no records concerning the cemetery or the people resting there.  Our next stop was the old family farm and cemetery of  Benjamin' s son Benjamin Mann, Jr.   It was hard to locate, but with a little local help we found it.  Overgrown and not maintained, it was showing the signs of neglect and vandalism.  Resting in this isolated spot punctuated by bright green Myrtle are his wife Susan Muirhead and their Children.  It is Indexed and in the book Kenton Co. Cemeteries in the Kenton Co. Library.  Finally, the Mann and Manafee Cemeteries were our last planned stop for the day.  The cemeteries are located on Hy. 491 about 5 miles out of Crittenden heading east.    The Mann Cemetery , which Dennis Mann acts as caretaker is where Eli Mann, born in 1810, is buried.  I stopped to check the Manafee Cemetery just down the road.  I was still trying to locate Benjamin and Mildred Mann's grave, but while digging in the Myrtle I tripped over a headstone laying flat.  After removing the overgrown myrtle I discovered the headstone of James Mann, born Dec. 24, 1803.  Both James and Eli were sons of  Benjamin Mann.  It may seem hard to believe that a woman born in 1753 was still bearing children as late as 1810, but Eli Mann provided information in a book called the Mann Memorial which is in the Library of Congress which states that Benjamin and Mildred had 23 children.   

            I am a decendent from Benjamin's son Archibald, born in Fayette Co. Ky. in 1794.  Archibald is sent to Indiana and is in the battle of Tippecanoe while his brother Elijah joins the Kentucky Calvary under Squire Grant and also fights in the War of 1812.  Archibald was married to the girl next door, Sabrina Tarvin, in 1814 by Caleb Taylor, a circuit minister on the Licking Circuit. The Rev. Taylors daughter Fanny Lightfoot Taylor marries Archibalds brother William.   An interesting side note to Fanny Lightfoot Taylor is that in corresponding with the Glamorgan Family History Society in Wales I was told there was a television program which they mentioned an illigitimate duaghter of one of the royals named Lightfoot and was ultimately given the Taylor.  They are presently working on a connection.

             Other names connected by marriage are the Griffiths, Rouse's, Crisler, Muirhead,  Stevens and Swetnum.   Archibald then moves his family to Indiana in 1836, along with the Bobbitts, and the Timberlakes, which was common for that time period because there was safety in numbers.

             Thus opens the last chapter in Kentucky.  Archibald writes that in the 1860's from Indiana that his son David O. Mann and grandson Theodore Paul Mann are both in the Civil War fighting for the Union, while at the same time Archibald's only brother alive in Kentucky, James, has a son fighting for the Confederacy.   From the beginning  in Louisa Co. Va. in 1773 Benjamin does not show on Tithes for the Anglican or Church of England,  indicating possibly he was a non-conformist.  His son Archibald helped found two Baptist Churches in Shelby Co. Indinana and his grandson David O. Mann was a horseback traveling lawyer and Missionary Baptist Minister surrounding the Indianapolis area.      

             There are several questions I have been unable to answer as a result of this reseach.  First,  which is the proper spelling of the Cruis"es Creek ,  Crews Creek as stated on John Grants deed to Bartlett Graves in 1808 or the current spelling Cruis'es Creek.  Several locals refered  to it as  Crusy Creek.  Secondly What is the origin of the name.  Finally, there are several  geographical locations I need help with for example,  the location of  Todd Springs,  Mansion House near Bowman Creek,  John Grants Mill seat on Bowman Ck.(Campbell Co. Order Book 2, page 5, 24 June 1816.). Wilmington Rd. to Grassy Ck.- from the Wilmington ford to run the west side of Deckersons (Dickerson's) farm and to intersect the Banklick Road at Todd's Spring. (Campbell Co. Order book 1 page 81, 19 Sept. 1808) , the location of Bartlett Graves 400 acre parcel purchased from John Grant in 1808,   what is the Harris Survey,  and finally I have not been able to locate the headstones for Benjamin and Mildred and Archibald and Sabrina.

             I hope this article stirs some interest in this interesting part of Kenton County.  As a new member of the Kenton County Historical Society I look forward to working with you.  My thanks to the Kenton Co. Library and Mike Averdick and all the people who patiently answered my many questions during my trip last spring.