Mercer County Genealogy Trails

 

The Curd family and its

Mercer County ghost towns

 

By Jean C. Dones

[Source: Kentucky Ancestors; Genealogical Quarterly of the Kentucky Historical Society; Winter 2003; Vol. 39, No. 2; Submitted by Cathy Schultz]

Dones is a double g-g-g-g-granddaughter of John Curd Sr. and Elizabeth Price. She is a member of the Jamestown Society through Lucy Brent, wife of John Curd Jr. (m. 1758), and John Price, father of Elizabeth Price.  Curdsvilles can also be found in Daviess County, Ky., and Buckingham County, Va. 

 

Among the lost, or “ghost,” communities in Kentucky are New Market and Curdsville in Mercer County. Each has an interesting history with many unanswered questions. The two communities are linked by a common connection with John Curd and his descendants. I continue to research Curdsville and would welcome any comments, suggestions, corrections, and additions.

 

John Curd

John Curd Jr. (b. 14 April 1726, Goochland County, Va.) was one of the eight children of John Curd and Elizabeth Price. His grandfather was Edward Curd, whose first record in America dates from 1705. John Curd Jr. married Lucy Brent, a daughter of James and Catherine Brent, in Lancaster County, Va., on 7 April 1758. Their 11 children were all born in Goochland County from 1759 to 1780.

Following military service and starting in 1780, John Curd Jr. began to apply for land grants in Kentucky County, Va. Kentucky County had just been opened for settlement by the Virginia legislature, and was further divided into three counties: Fayette, Jefferson, and Lincoln. Applications for land grants were subsequently made by John’s sons and the sons of Joseph Curd (John’s brother, who had remained in Virginia). The significance of the early land grants for John Curd is emphasized by the fact that the first settlement in Kentucky, Fort Harrod, was founded in 1774.

It is not known if John Curd Jr.’s first trip to Kentucky preceded bringing his family. Travel would have been extremely difficult for women and children; the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap was little more than a marked trail. In addition, there was always the threat of Indian attacks.

Some historians have recorded that John Curd and his family were members of the Traveling Church, which involved the movement of an entire church body from Spotsylvania County, Va., to Kentucky in 1781. However, a list of participants in this migration does not include any Curds.

John Curd was an energetic courageous individual, and certainly a visionary concerning opportunities for himself and his family in the West. He had  served as an emissary for Virginia Gov. Patrick Henry on missions to Kentucky and he knew what to expect in this vast unknown area.

So John Curd Jr. focused his attention on the land grants located on Dick’s River and Salt River. There is no question that on the basis of his experience and observations, he sought a practical way to move goods and people past the palisade cliffs of the Kentucky River. The buffalo trail used by animal herds, Indians, and frontiersmen provided the answer.

It is said that Dick’s River (later also called Dix River) was named for Captain Dick, a Cherokee chief helpful to early pioneers and settlers in the area. 

In 1786, petitions were submitted to the Virginia legislature by John Curd and others “to establish a public ferry, a town, and an inspection of tobacco, on the land of John Curd in the county of Mercer.1

Because of the inadequacy of roads, access to river transportation was vitally important to ensure profitable and convenient markets. There were a number of ferries along the Kentucky River. As Dr. Thomas D. Clark—historian laureate of Kentucky— has written:

“Curd’s Ferry was the first wagon road out of the Bluegrass area into the central Kentucky section, namely Lexington. This crossing connected the central Bluegrass with the country south of the Kentucky. Beyond this it was a flatboat dockage and landing from which many flatboats departed Kentucky for New Orleans in the early years of the downriver trade. The Curd family name has lingered on in Kentucky in one form or another.”

John Curd’s tobacco inspection warehouse was one of the first such ports established on the Kentucky River. At that time, tobacco was the standard currency and by Virginia law, farmers were required to have an official inspection of all tobacco sold there. A certificate would be given, which would pass for currency and could be used to pay taxes.

The warehouse must have been a crude structure.  It was described as “[One] log cabin used as a scale room, with door turning on a wooden standard with staples hasp and pad lock. One open sided room with posts in the ground with cabin roof.”

It appears that there were problems with the physical condition or maintenance of the property since in September 1790 John Curd was ordered “to repair the present warehouse at the mouth of Dick’s River, making it closed and secure to strong doors hung with iron hinges and secured with strong locks or bolts, on or before December 25 next; and to make such additions thereto as shall conveniently contain, together with the present warehouse, 146 hogsheads, the addition to be made close and  secure as above directed on or before April 1st next.”

The warehouse and ferry landing still existed in 1822, when they are mentioned in the widow’s dower of Nancy Curd, widow of John’s son Newton Curd. The warehouse history is not known, but the ferry continued through several owners. The landing was used by the Shaker community of Pleasant Hill as early as 1816 and, in 1830, the Shakers purchased the landing from Newton Curd’s heirs. Eventually the Shakers oversaw the construction of a road along the bluff hillside to the river; this became a major route used by both Confederate and Union forces during the Civil War.

In May 1793, John Curd petitioned for permission to erect a water grist mill on his lands near the mouth of Dick’s River.

After Kentucky became a state—on June 1, 1792—special acts of the Kentucky Legislature established warehouses on the Kentucky River, including Curd’s at the mouth of “Dix River.” In 1804, a legislative act authorized the inspection of beef and pork at a number of tobacco warehouses along the river, including Curd’s.

Some genealogists list John Curd’s death as 1801 in Mercer County. However, a December 1797 item in the Kentucky Gazette states that “John and Price Curd, executors of the estate of John Curd dec’d. regarding the estate sale. John Curd lived on the Kentucky River.” In 1802, John Curd, a son, of Warren County, issued power of attorney to David Curd of Barren County to  allow David to act for him the settlement of their deceased father’s estate. Final settlement, however, did not take place until 1819, when John Pryor, probably a son of Mary Curd Pryor, and Woodford Curd were authorized “to sell, divide and make deed to certain tracts of land, devised by John Curd to his heirs.”

John and Lucy Brent Curd are believed to be buried in the Curd cemetery “On the Ison Farm” in Mercer County. It is also believed that Newton Curd and his wife Ann Elizabeth Hatcher were buried in the same cemetery, although the gravestones were removed by a later owner.

New Market

The “town” referred to in the 1786 petition was to be called New Market. It was to include 20 acres of John Curd’s property at the confluence of the Kentucky and Dick’s rivers. There were detailed specification concerning plans for the town and the responsibilities of those purchasing lots. Lots were to be sold at public auction and were to be advertised for three months at the Mercer, Lincoln, and Fayette county courthouses.  2

No record has been found of any activity at New Market. It’s likely that Curd’s dream simply “never got off the ground.”

Curd House, Jessamine County

In 1986, an historical marker honoring John Curd was dedicated on High Bridge Road in Jessamine County. In 1984, the Curd House at that location was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The present owners, Margaret and Terry Morgan, have a deep interest in Curd history and have extensively researched the family. They have proudly shared their interest with schoolchildren, historical groups, and interested individuals.

Curdsville

In the 1893 edition of Lippincott’s Gazeteer of the World, Curdsville is listed as “a hamlet of Mercer Co., Ky., 1 ½ miles from High Bridge Station, which is 10 miles west of Nicholasville.” It’s likely that Curdsville was a cluster of buildings with businesses providing services for the many Curd families who lived on surrounding farms.

Curdsville appeared on the 1876 Centennial Map of Mercer County and in the 1890 Kentucky Geological Survey’s Preliminary Map of Kentucky. William Curd of Lexington grew up listening to stories about his great-grandfather’s general store in Curdsville and his wagon trips to Louisville to replenish its inventory.

Dr. John Curd, whose father was born in Louisville in 1879, recalled childhood visits to Curdsville. “My father took his family and relatives a number of times to visit the Curdsville area,” Curd said. “He pointed out where the blacksmith shop and other buildings stood, including sites where his uncle lived, and the Curdsville and Shawnee Run cemeteries and Shakertown … his parents were married in the Shawnee Run Church.”  3

Dora Curd Markovich (b. 1910), who lived in Long Beach, Calif., remembered Curdsville in 1993:

“A little village with a mill (the old stone was there when I grew up), a post office, a blacksmith shop, a general store, and of course, houses, and the old cemetery where most all of our ancestors were buried … I went to a one-room school which was on the edge of our property. A plot of ground was deeded to the county for the school, and if it ceased to be a school [would] revert back to the heirs. Daddy made a trip back there after the family came to California and used some of the money he sold it with to put a fence around the old cemetery. … My high school alma mater was Harrodsburg, 10 miles away. … Of course, we all went to Shawnee Run Church, even those who would move away and marry.”4

The school was probably Locust Grove School, which existed from 1890 to 1939. 5

Mercer County historian Alma Ray Ison gathered information about the area from her husband’s cousin, James H. Ison:

“His farm land adjoins the river near High Bridge. He says it was known as Curdsville when he was a child and has continually been spoken of as such because the vicinity was completely inhabited by families by the name of Curd. There was a one room school in the 1900s called Locust Grove. On the back of his farm near the river and indications of an old foundation, which he thinks could possibly have been the remains of the Curd warehouse.”

Churches and Cemeteries

Most Curdsville area residents attended Shawnee Run Baptist Church, organized in 1788. The present church is the fourth structure on the site. Many Curd names are to be found in the church’s adjoining cemetery.

There were three other small Curd family cemeteries in Mercer County, and the names were copied in the 1960s by May Jessamine Bland James, a Curd descendant who lived in Tucson, Ariz.

Post Office

Listings of Mercer County post offices do not include Curdsville. Perhaps mail would have gone through the Harrodsburg or Danville offices. An 1869 letter from prisoner of war R.S. Curd to his wife was addressed to “Pleasant Hill, Ky.”6 

Railroad

Curdsville had one of the seven Mercer County railroad stations, providing a vital link for the Curd families and other area residents to move their produce to the markets in Cincinnati and Chattanooga.

1 William Walter Hening, Laws of Virginia (Volume 1) (New York, 1823), p. 400–402.

2 Ibid.

3 Dr. John Curd (of Louisville) to Edna Curd Miller (of Kenton, Ohio), 1993.

4 Dora Curd Markovich (of Long Beach, Calif., to Jean C. Dones (of Columbus, Ohio), 1993. Original in the possession of the author.

5 Harrodsburg Herald (Centennial Edition, Burgin School Days section), 1978.

6 Letter in the possession of William Curd of Lexington.

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