Early Settlements
Elias Tobin made a small clearing and built a cabin in 1775, on Slate Creek, where the old furnace now stands. Moses Sharp settled on Bald Eagle Creek in the year 1780. Hugh Sidwell, Thomas Clark, and a Mr. Bollard settled on Slate Creek, at the mouth of Naylor's Branch in 1783.
The only fortifications or stations built as a protection against the Indians, was the old Block-house on the ore bank on the road to Olympian Springs from Owingsville, built in 1786, and Cassidy's Station, on Salt Well Branch, erected by Peter Cassidy in 1787. The old Slate Furnace was built by John Cockey Owings, Jacob Myers, and John Breckinridge in 1790. Source: An Outline History of Bath County, McNabb, 1946.
1791... Peter Fort came out and settled about two miles northeast of Morgan's Station in Bath County. Fort and his wife Mary, both from Maryland, brought their five children out to the station. His family was joined by Robert McFarland's.
John Troutman built a station about three-fourths of a mile east of Fort's. John Hedges, who helped Troutman and his wife move out from Bourbon County, said Troutman was "a tanner. going up onto the Peeled Oak fork of Slate to live. Moved Troutman there fall of 1791." Source: In Search of Morgan's Station, Enoch, 1997
Hansford Station was built by Thomas Hansford, a Baptist preacher, in the fall of 1792, half way between Fort's and Troutman's.
Jacob Myers started construction of the furnace November 1789. It was the first of 30 iron furnaces built in Kentucky, it was located in what was then Bourbon County, hence the name Bourbon Furnace. Myers hired Andrew Hood to cut a wagon road from his station in the Clark settlements to the ironworks and build three cabins by the 1st of November. George Naylor and his family moved into one of the cabins. He was joined by his neighbor and son-in-law Jerimiah Poor.
James Wade, John Tyre and Soloman Skaggs were hired to cut cordwood. A man named Shaw was made manager. The Darnells [possibly Cornelius and Thomas] came up next to cut wood. Other men at the furnace included a man named Yates and Francis Downing, Sr. Even though iron production was very labor intensive, apparently Jacob Myers had a policy of not using slave labor at the furnace.
In 1790 Jacob Myers sold out to John Cockey Owings, Willis Green, Christopher Greenup and Walter Beall. John Mockbee was a technical overseer. Other workers included John Petit, Jacob Serincy, a man named Reynolds, Samuel Taylor, and Benjamin Smith. Robert Williams was hired as a ironmolder or potter in 1793. Other names include Bill Cassidy, Charles Johnson, Daniel Lynch, John Petit, John Poor, Jerry Poor, Thomas Prim, Senate Ramie, James Robinson, Jacob Serincy and Jacob Warner, in addition to many other names long forgotten. The University of Kentucky does have Owings ledger for the years 1796 and 1797, which lists expenses and clients.
In 1811, John's son Thomas Dye Owings took over ownership of the furnace works. He was the largest slave holder in Bath-Montomery Counties with 43 slaves. Many, no doubt worked at the iron works.
An iron furnace required a huge amount of labor to cut and haul timber, produce the charcoal, and dig the iron ore. Other than economic conditions, the main factor in how long an iron furnace could operate was determined by the amount of timber available within a practical distance. The typical iron furnace produced about 2 tons of iron per day. This required 300 acres of hardwood timber each year to make charcoal for the furnace. As the timber in the surrounding area was used, eventually fresh timber was just too far away.
A local militia drafted men to protect the furnace from Indian attacks. John Petty was the Lieutenant, George Trumbo and Daniel Deron were 2 of the 18 men assigned to the furnace. Others were Barnett and Johnson, both killed by Indians.
Comment: The area that became Bath County in 1811 was part of Fayette County 1780-1785, Bourbon County 1786-1792, Clark County 1793-1797, Montgomery County 1798-1811.
Also see Rob Kiskaden's blog post "Pioneer Exploration and Early Settlement in Bath County".
Contacts
Marvin Allen  Bath County Coordinator |
| Suzanne Shephard KY Asst. State Coordinator |
| Jeff Kemp KY State Coordinator |
