Black Residents of the West Fork Community

Barker's Mill area of southeastern Christian County, KY

 I wrote this about 2 years ago, when I was exploring the history of the Barker's Mill area of Christian County, KY. I'm not sure why I didn't post it at the time. Maybe I thought my readers were getting bored with Barkers Mill. Anyway, I came across it last night, and I thought it was sort of interesting.  For background, see these posts:

 Barker's Mill in Christian County, KY
Old Homes Around Barkers Mill
Exploring the Barkers Mill Community 
Chapel Hill Church in Christian County, KY

Originally, much of the labor on the large farms in the area of Barker's Mill was provided by slaves. After the Civil War, many black people continued to work and live on the farms where they had been slaves. This happened in many areas of Christian County, and indeed, throughout the entire South.

Farm laborers are plentiful in [Christian] county, largely furnished by the colored population, of which there are about fifteen thousand in the county, and I must say to their credit, they make the best every-day farm laborers we are able to get. The average price of farm labor per month with house and board is, for men, $11 to $12.50; without board, $15.

Source: The 1908 Handbook of Kentucky

In the 20th century, some black workers become sharecroppers, which was a step up from being farm hands. There were many white sharecroppers as well. Sharecroppers owned their own farm machinery, tools, and draft animals, and they were considered self-employed.

Tobacco was often grown on "the share plan", as it is called in period writings. The landowner provided a house, a garden spot, and grass for the sharecropper's animals. The sharecropper typically worked about ten acres of tobacco and a field of corn. At harvest, the crop was divided evenly with the landowner. With good soil and favorable weather, the sharecropper might make a modest profit.

In 1900, a school was established for black children near the Barker Mill, and it operated through 1952. A store served the farm workers of the area. It is interesting to read the history of the Barker's Mill (West Fork) Community, knowing that the area was populated by many black families as well as white families.

Glen Burnie of the Barkers Mill area

Renovation in progress

The Kentucky New Era had an interesting article on January 2, 2010, about the renovation of Glen Burnie, a large, old home in the Barker's Mill area of southeastern Christian County. Glenburnie, built in 1820, was the home of Chiles T. Barker in the mid-1800s. I wrote several posts about the Barker's Mill area last spring and summer.

Currently, I think you can read the article without a password, but that may change.

Chapel Hill Church in Christian County, KY

Carneal's Chapel, near Barker's Mill, in the West Fork Community

Chapel Hill Church in April, 2009

Tonight, I'm revisiting the Barker's Mill and West Fork area of southeastern Christian County, Kentucky. I want to share some of the photos I took at Chapel Hill Church when I was there several times last spring.

The Chapel Hill Church was originally called Carneal's Chapel for Josiah Carneal who donated land and helped to build it.  Regular worship services are no longer held there, but it was a Methodist church.

The church and cemetery sit inside the bend of a quiet rural road, encircled by farmland. The grounds are shaded by tall oak trees that count their age by the centuries they've seen. Birds sing in the treetops.

The cemetery is nicely maintained. The headstones are a mixture of old and new. I counted about 45 different surnames, but I am sure I missed some of them. A complete listing of the gravestone inscriptions is posted on one of the internet genealogy sites.

In the churchyard, swings and benches invite visitors to relax. There are things to study, too -- a geological survey marker and a metal historical marker (side 1 | side 2) that summarizes the history of the West Fork Community.

There's also a small mystery -- what are the rocks with holes in their centers, piled against a tree trunk in the churchyard? I picked up a similar but smaller rock in the cemetery, that still had its core. Keely thinks they look like pieces of ancient bone, and she may be right. Maybe ancient inhabitants of the area killed and dressed some animals here. I'm curious, but I'll probably never know for sure.

I'm disappointed that I missed a Hymn Sing that was held at Chapel Hill Church on May 30, 2009. I think I would have enjoyed it immensely. It's significant that a columnist from the Clarksville Leaf Chronicle wrote about the event. It demonstrates the community's ties with Clarksville, Tennessee, rather than Hopkinsville, Kentucky (the seat of Christian County).

The Chapel Hill Church is just a very intriguing place. If you're  interested in more of the West Fork area's history, please read the other posts that are labeled  "Barker's Mill".

Old Homes Around Barker's Mill

West Fork  area of Christian County, KY

(For background, please read the posts that are labeled "Barkers Mill.")

Glenburnie, the home of Chiles T. Barker, prominent landowner in the West Fork area during the 19th century, and his wife, Mary Louise Hutchinson Barker, is still standing.

Glenburnie is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. According to Hopkinsville & Christian County Historic Sites by Kenneth Turney Gibbs and Carolyn Torma, it was constructed in about 1820 (when Chiles was about 4 years old). The name of the builder and original owner is not given.

Glenburnie is a brick house. Gibbs and Torma say it is one of the best example of Federal style architecture in Christian county. They also report that the woodwork in the house is exceptionally fine and very well preserved.

I believe Glenburnie is the house that is barely visible at the end of the road in the photo below. Carneal Lane turns into a private lane at the point where I stopped and snapped the picture. I didn't go any farther down the road because I respect private property. However, I would have loved to see Glenburnie a bit closer. [Update: I later learned that this is NOT Glenburnie via an email from a grandson of Glenburnie's owner.]

The large old home in the photo below is also in the area of Barker's Mill. I don't recognize this house in Hopkinsville & Christian County Historic Sites, but it still has its history -- a history that I am curious about.

 

The photo above was taken in April, so there are fewer leaves on the trees. This home is near the Chapel Hill Church. I believe it is the Massie House, which is pictured in Hopkinsville & Christian County Historic Sites. The Massie House was built in 1878 and is said to be "a typical Greek Revival I-house of the mid-nineteenth century."

 

The Chapel Hill Church and Cemetery are just to the right of this photo. The large trees are on the edge of the church grounds. This is a remote-controlled gate with a TV camera. Down the road at left is a log house, and beyond that, a large home. I don't know if it is one of the historic homes listed in Hopkinsville & Christian County Historic Sites.

The Barkers of the West Fork

Early landowners in southern Christian County, Kentucky

Disclaimer -- This is not an authoritative history of the Barkers. I believe it to be more or less correct, but it probably contains inaccuracies.

Settlement of the area that is now southeastern Christian County, Kentucky. began shortly after the Revolutionary War. The land was mostly flat or slightly rolling. It was covered with prairie grasses, except along the creeks and rivers. The fertile soil was clay over limestone, well suited to crop production, especially dark tobacco.

Fort constructed

In 1783, Revolutionary War veterans John Montgomery, and James Davis received land grants in the area. They built a fort along Montgomery Creek, a few miles southeast of present-day Pembroke, KY. Montgomery Creek was a tributary of the West Fork River (source). Franklin M. Chestnut is also mentioned as one of the earliest pioneers. Perin's history of Christian County, Kentucky, describes the fort as a "blockhouse, with loop-holes cut in the sides and a thick slab door made out of walnut." 

Surge of settlement

The fort was the center around which settlement of southeastern Christian County, KY, began. Perin's and Meacham's histories of the area agree that few if any hostile Indians lived there. However, the area was sometimes traveled by Indian hunters or war parties. Within just a few decades, the Indians were gone permanently, and the land was under cultivation by white settlers and, in many cases, by their black slaves.

Charles M. Meacham wrote in his 1930 history of Christian County:

At the beginning of the new century [the 1800s] a stampede had set in and what became known as South Christian was soon settled by immigrants from Virginia, a different race from the hardy woodsmen from North Carolina who had settled in the north. They came with their families, Sons of Revolutionary soldiers and statesmen of the east, bringing their slaves with them, their herds of cattle, horses, mules and other livestock. In their wake came the preachers and school teachers, and before the county was twenty-five years old its citizens compared favorably with any in the state. (Source)

Charles Barker (1771-1851), a Virginian, arrived in the West Fork area in 1809, during the wave of settlement that Meacham described. He was joined by his wife, Barbara Walton Barker (1772-1824), by 1812, if not earlier. They settled somewhere in the area that is now southern Todd or southeastern Christian County in Kentucky or northern Montgomery County in Tennessee.  I haven't found any information about the specific location of their home.

Charles and Barbara Walton Barker had six sons and four daughters. The older children were born in Virginia, and the younger children were born in Kentucky and Tennessee.

John Walton Barker and Cloverlands

John Walton Barker (1793-1867) was the oldest of Charles and Barbara Walton Barker's children. He was a teenager when his parents moved to Tennessee. Perhaps he was a student; he seems to have stayed behind in Virginia for a few years. He came west in 1814, after his marriage to Mary Minor Merriwether, a native of Louisa County, Virginia.
Upon arriving in the West Fork area, John W. Barker built (with slave labor) a large home for his bride. Completed around 1820, the house was located in today's Montgomery County, Tennessee, less than a mile from the Kentucky/ Tennessee state line  He named it Cloverlands (or Cloverdale).

John Walton Barker and Mary Minor Merriwether Barker had four children. Their firstborn, Thomas L. Barker, died as a child. The second child was Chiles T. Barker. He was the Barker who bought Barker's Mill in the mid-19th century. Daughter Barbara (or Barbary) Ann Barker married Alexander Mosby Clayton, a lawyer who served as a judge in Arkansas while it was a territory and also in the state of Mississippi. Daughter Nancy M. Barker, married Robert F. Ferguson, a journalist who became a Tennessee state legislator and a prosperous farmer in the Clarksville, Tennessee area.

Mary Minor Merriwether Barker died in 1831, and in 1838, John Walton Barker married again and had five more daughters whose family lines I did not attempt to follow. Despite the second marriage, Chiles T. Barker remained the only surviving son of John Walton Barker, a fact that probably influenced his earthly fortunes and inheritance. A Tennessee history says that John Walton Barker was believed to be the richest man of Montgomery County in his time.

Cloverlands, the 4700-square-foot home built by John Walton Barker, still stands on the Tylertown Road, north of St. Bethlehem, Tennessee, according to the National Register of Historic Places. It was used as a bed and breakfast a few years ago, but the B&B seems to have gone out of business now.

Tobacco stemmery

John Walton Barker's home and farm were both called Cloverlands. The B&B owner provided a bit of history in 2004:

Cloverlands was a tobacco plantation. Mr. Barker not only made money from his tobacco, but also bought his neighbors' tobacco and removed the stems in a stemming house located on the property. Then he would take the tobacco himself to New Orleans where it was shipped to European markets. This gave him a contact in London, so that before the Civil War began, he took his money and put it in the Bank of London. He was one of the few Southerners who came out of the War still a millionaire. (Source)

The following information about John W. Barker comes from Folk Finders, an excellent website about Montgomery County, Tennessee history:

Before the Civil War, John W. Barker was a pioneer in the tobacco industry in Clarksville. He was one of the first in Clarksville to establish a tobacco stemmery. In 1838 he was among the individuals appointed by the Montgomery County Court to mark the route for the Clarksville and Russellville Turnpike. [Note: This route probably became modern-day Highway 79.] These men were to determine the need for a new bridge at any point between Barker’s ferry and the mouth of West Fork of Red River if the present bridge was not on the chosen route. (Source)

A family-history researcher wrote these notes about John W. Barker on an internet: genealogy bulletin board:

John Walton Barker was a tobacco farmer, and took trips to New Orleans to sell and ship his crop, always bringing home pecan seedlings to set out, some of which flourish today. The house is full restored and is a private residence. "Meriwethers were known for their culture and learning and the Barkers for their business acumen." (Source)

John Walton Barker, his wife Mary Minor Merriwether Barker, and many other members of the Barker family are buried in the Barker family cemetery at Cloverlands. The B&B owner stated that there is also an unmarked slave cemetery on the property. The general location is known, but the exact sites of individual graves are unknown.

Meriwether Connection

Charles Barker and Barbara Walton Barker, the parents of John Walton Barker, are said to be buried in the Meriwether Cemetery at Meriville in Todd County, Kentucky. Meriville was a large plantation between Trenton and Guthrie. Its house, known also as Meriville, was built around 1810 by Dr.Charles Meriwether (1766-1843) who was married to Barbara Walton Barker's sister, Mary Walton Meriwether (1786-1869).

John Walton Barker married a Meriwether (Mary Minor Meriwether). Intermarrying between the two families continued in the generations that followed. The Barkers were also connected to the Meriwethers through other families, as cousins' cousins.

A number of Barkers are buried in the Meriwether Cemetery, but a list of the names on tombstones in that cemetery does not include the names of Charles and Barbara Walton Barker. It seems odd to me that their graves would be unmarked, but perhaps something has happened to their stones over the years.

These were the first two generations of Barkers in the West Fork area -- Charles Barker and his son John Walton Barker. I would like to give more sources for this information, but I can't figure out how to make a reliable link to most of the information at RootsWeb. If you would like to wander through the Barker family trees yourself, just type the surname, given name, and birth year of any of these people into the search form at RootsWeb.

Related posts:
Exploring the West Fork Community
Barker's Mill in Christian County, Kentucky

Exploring the Barker's Mill Community

Adventures in local history

It's hard to describe what I've been doing in my blogging time. lately. It's been both fascinating and frustrating. I began with a topic that I thought would be quite simple, and instead, it has branched in a dozen different directions.

It started in early April when I got an e-mail from a reader of the blog. He suggested that I might enjoy visiting the Chapel Hill Church and cemetery in the Barker's Mill community of southeast Christian County, Kentucky.

I found the Barker's Mill Road on my map of Christian County, and late one afternoon, I drove down there. I should have left earlier in the day, because it took longer than I expected to reach the area. It was quite dark by the time I crossed the bridge over the West Fork, and I didn't even see the church and cemetery. I was too busy following Barker's Mill Road, I guess.

I was a little surprised when Barker's Mill Road went over a large 4-lane highway, but I knew it had to be I-24. The subdivisions surprised me too. Soon, my road intersected with a heavily-traveled road whose name I recognized -- Tinytown Road in Montgomery County, Tennessee.  I followed it to Fort Campbell, and went home from there.

I learned a few things on that trip, even though it was too dark to see much. I learned that the southeast corner of Christian County is much closer to Clarksville, Tennessee, than it is to Hopkinsville, Kentucky. I also learned that the West Fork is a river of some consequence. And I learned that on the backroads, there's no indication of the state line between Kentucky and Tennessee.

On my several trips to the area since then, I had plenty of daylight. I enjoyed driving the roads of the area. I saw the remains of Barker's Mill, and I visited the Chapel Hill Church (originally called Carneal's Chapel). The Chapel Hill cemetery is probably the most peaceful, beautiful country cemetery I've ever visited. I will write more about all of this later.

I drove into southern Todd County and saw some of the fine farmland and old country mansions in that area. I also located Glenburnie, a large plantation home that is on the historic register and saw other large, old homes on the Christian County side of the West Fork community.

Glenburnie was the home of one of the Barkers who once owned Barker's Mill, so I decided to do a little research about the Barkers. It turns out that there is a good deal of information about the Barker family on internet genealogical sites, in old books available through Google, and in the Christian County history books that I own myself. It has been fascinating to learn about the generations of Barkers who were wealthy landowners and prominent citizens of the West Fork area. I see their history as not just a story of Christian County, but a story of the South.

That brings me to the point where I am currently. I've been writing and writing about the Barkers, and if I ever get all those words condensed down to something of a reasonable length that might be of interest, I'll post it.

Related post:
Barker's Mill in Christian County, KY

Barkers Mill in Christian County, KY

Milling on the West Fork of the Red River

Old foundations of Barker's Mill and dam (at right)

Barker's Mill, on the West Fork of the Red River, was one of several mills that once operated on the river in that area. Other nearby mills included Coleman's Mill, Ringgold Mill, and Peacher's Mill.

The Barker's Mill Bridge, where I stood in mid-April to take the photo at the top of this post, is on Barker's Mill Road in extreme southeastern Christian County. Stone structures can be seen on both sides of the river. These were probably anchors for a dam.

Dates and owners

The exact construction date of Barker's Mill is unclear. Western KY History's history of Barker's Mill says that the mill had been in operation at least 20 years before 1860. Kentucky Genealogy's history of Trenton precinct is a little more specific. It says that the mill is believed to have been in operation as early as 1812.

A biography of Thomas S. Watson mentions that he was an early owner of the mill. Watson was a Tennessean who had a brief business partnership with Andrew Jackson in the Nashville area before investing in milling and ironworks along the West Fork.

[Thomas S. Watson] became owner of Barker's Mill on the West Fork of the Red River in Christian County, Kentucky by 1815; and he also built, about 1816, what later became known as Peacher's Mill in Montgomery County, Tennessee. (Source)

A historic marker, erected in 2005 by "relatives of former residents of the West Fork community" at the nearby Chapel Hill Methodist Church gives this information:

The water mill, built in 1812 by Bailey Martin, was located on West Fork downstream from a covered (later iron, now concrete) bridge. Later mill owners were: Stephen Woodward, 1826; James Miller, 1826; John T. Allensworth, 1841, Richard H. Kelly, 1853; Peter Peacher, 1859; Chiles T. Barker, 1860; and his son John W. Barker, 1884, hence the current community name, Barker's Mill. The mill operated until the late 1920s and was torn down after 1937. For a time it was known as "Glenburnie Mills.

A photograph of Barker's Mill is included in Christian County by Chris Gilkey and William Turner. These authors note that the mill was closed about 1910, but was not torn down until 1937 after a flood.

Wooden mills, gone but not forgotten

Despite the various disagreements about dates, it seems that a mill operated for about a century in a site near the Barker's Mill Bridge. It's certain that the mill was renovated or rebuilt several times within those years. The wheels of mills like this were made of wood, as were their gears. The sluices that channeled water to the wheel were also wooden.

When steam engines (and later, gasoline motors and electricity) became available for power to grind grain, watermills were abandoned. Most mills were torn down, fell down, or rotted away. They are still remembered in the names of the roads that once led to them -- such as the Barker's Mill Road of Christian County, Kentucky.

On the web:
How a gristmill works

Related post:
Two Red Barns on Edwards Mill Road