The Kentucky Land Grants

The Kentucky Land Grants

 With literally thousands of rugged people pushing their domestic caravans over the Wilderness Trail into Kentucky in search of lands for homesteads or for speculation, the struggle for possession became intense. The richest and best situated land, topographically, was surveyed and entered upon again and again. While squatters, strong of mind and purpose, frequently held some land without title; others like Daniel Boone failed to meet certain legal requirements and though undoubtedly rightfully entitled to the land lost it because of technicalities. 

Up to 1775 land in Kentucky had been surveyed principally for veterans of the French and Indian War in accordance with the laws of Virginia. At this time Henderson began his broad system of surveys in central Kentucky. He was beset at every turn by homesteading pioneers who, without surveys or purchase title, stubbornly held to the land they had settled upon and improved. To meet this distant and difficult situation, the Colony of Virginia issued a resolution in favor of these pioneers. This was enacted into a law shortly thereafter which declared that all who were possessed of land in Kentucky prior to June, 1776, should be allowed 400 acres of homestead.

Annals Of Tazewell County

Annals Of Tazewell County:

Source

Page 204 and Page 206

Acklin, Cr.

Revolutionary Soldiers

Page 213
William Hinds

2nd Regiment Artillery

We Met At Mrs. Acklen's

From Confederate Echoes: A Voice from the South in the Days of Secession and....., by Albert Theodore Goodloe:

Mrs. Acklen's Home (Belmont) In Nashville

The first night was spent at Mrs. Acklen's, the widow of Joseph H. Acklen*, not far out of Nashville. Uncle Calvin Goodloe had come to Nashville, on his way to Washington, on secret service for Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, commanding the Confederate army in Georgia, and we had arranged to spend the night together at Mrs. Acklen's, where, indeed, Uncle Calvin was stopping for a time. He and Mrs. Acklen were old friends and I had known her several years. He gave me the gratifying information that the Yankees were not then occupying Florence, and that I could likely cross the Tennessee River there if I could soon reach there in safety. *(My 1st cousin 5x removed)

Mrs. Acklen

Captain Robert Rutherford's Company

Reenactor Portraying A Soldier From Ackland's Era

"Christopher Ackland haveing produced to this Court that he is Intitled to Fifty Acres of Land under the King of Great Britains proclamation for serving as a Soldier in a Virginia Ranging Company under Captain Robert Rutherford and that he never Received any Warrant for the same." [Source]

The Virginia Ranger Companies at History Reconsidered, indicated the Periods of Service and County and included "1758-59 CPT Robert Rutherford’s (Frederick County)."

Major Acland In Hadden's Journal

There is a reference to Major John Dyke Acland (18 February 1746 - 31 October 1778) in Hadden's Journal (kept in Canada during Burgoyne's campaign in 1776 and 1777).

Is there a connection between the Ackland and Acklin families? I don't know.

Portrait Of John Coffee Hays

Portrait and description of Colonel Hays from The Mexican War And Its Heroes.  Hays and Christopher Acklin were both Texas Rangers.

"...conduct of Colonel Hays and his noble band of Texan volunteers. Hereafter they and we are brothers and we can desire no better guarantee of success than by their association."

"The following description of the personal appearance of this celebrated partisan is given by his friend Reid."
"We had heard so much of Col. Hays that we were anxious to be introduced to the commander of our regiment."

"As we cast our eye around the group we tried to single out the celebrated partisan chief and we were much surprised when we were presented to a delicate looking young man of about five feet eight inches in stature and told that he was our colonel.  He was dressed very plainly and wore a thin jacket with the usual Texian hat; broad brimmed with a round top and loose open collar with a black handkerchief tied negligently around his neck.  He has dark brown hair and a large and brilliant hazel eye which is restless in conversation and speaks a language of its own not to be mistaken with very prominent and heavy arched eyebrows.  His broad deep forehead is well developed he has a Roman nose with a finely curved nostril a large mouth, with the corners tending downwards a short upper lip, while the under one projects slightly indicative of great firmness and determination.  He is naturally of a fair complexion but from long exposure on the frontier has become dark and weather beaten. He has rather a thoughtful and care worn expression from the constant exercise of his faculties and his long acquaintance with dangers and difficulties, and the responsibilities of a commander have given him an habitual frown when his features are in repose.  He wears no whiskers, which gives him a still more youthful appearance and his manners are bland and very prepossessing from his extreme modesty."

John Coffee Hays

Hays Display At The Texas Ranger Museum

From The Mexican War And Its Heroes, a biography of John Coffee Hays, with whom Christopher (Kit) Acklin served.

Source

Captivated By Geography

Did Dr. Thomas Walker have an impact upon the Lewis and Clark Expedition?  The Final Challenge, The American Frontier, 1804-1845, by Dale Van Every, explained that Dr. Walker influenced Thomas Jefferson.

"Among all the facets of his [Thomas Jefferson's] scientific inquisitiveness nothing had so captured his imagination as the mystery shrouding the geography of interior North America.  This was not a recent interest.  His boyhood guardian had been Dr. Thomas Walker, the first explorer of Kentucky, and that great frontiersman's stories had stirred in him a desire to know more about the west which had never flagged and had never been satisfied."

A view of the Cumberland Gap, an area of Kentucky explored by Dr. Thomas Walker.

The route of Dr. Thomas Walker, the explorer, through the Cumberland Gap can be seen here.  

There was also a history between my ancestor, Christopher Acklin, and Dr. Walker (as well as Walker's son, Francis).

 Since President Jefferson commissioned the expedition, a case could be made that the Lewis and Clark Expedition had its roots in the explorations of Dr. Thomas Walker.

Belmont - The General's Headquarters

From the book "Under Both Flags: A Panorama....", by George Morley Vickers:

The enemy gave us no trouble after the first day or two though they were only a few rods away General David Sloan Stanley's headquarters were in the Acklin house* a fine large mansion near the Granny White pike. On a low hill not far away was posted the first brigade third division fourth army corps. It was a position from which could be had a fine view of the field in front. 

*the Acklin house is known as Belmont

  General Stanley, whose headquarters were located at Belmont during the Battle of Nashville, was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in Nashville.


From the Belmont website:
The Battle of Nashville, which occurred on December 15 and 16, 1864,  effectively ended the Civil War in the Western theater.  Belmont Mansion  was the scene for many preparations for this battle.  

Photo of Belmont taken in April 2009

Many of the historical markers for the Battle of Nashville are located near Granny White Pike.

Acklin place was also mentioned in the History of the Army of the Cumberland...:

Another Acklin-related blog here. 

So Red The Rose

One review of "So Red The Rose," by Stark Young, published in 1934, in The Commonweal, stated that:

"To read it is to experience a strange sensation one is not reading at all, but rather meeting and learning to know and love some exquisitely sensitive and brave people."

It is a novel set primarily in Natchez, Mississippi, in the Civil War era, and based on the author's McGehee relatives. The McGehees were related to the Acklins (and Hunts, Hills, etc., who went to Texas) and the Acklins were relatives of mine (although the McGehees were not related to me). Additional information concerning the McGregor connection to the McGehee family is here.

Comparisons between Gone With The Wind and So Red The Rose have been made and it is the last entry on this list of 200 Most Important Confederate Books. An interesting take on the book, entitled "A Novel The State Doesn't Want You To Read," is found here. A critique of Stark Young's style can be found here.

Adelicia's First Plantation

I found this novel, "The Last Plantation," through my research. When we visited the Angola Prison museum in Louisiana, the archives/office there had several items related to the original owners of the Angola Property -- Isaac & Adelicia Franklin (and later Adelicia's second husband, Joseph A. S. Acklin). My ancestor, Elizabeth Acklin Hinds, was Joseph Acklin's aunt. Adelicia and Isaac were the original owners of the Fairvue Plantation, later owned by Ellen Wemyss, and the subject of the dedication in the book.

[Letter From The Angola Prison Archives Relating To Fairview - click to enlarge]

THE LAST PLANTATION by Don Wright, published 1990

Dedicated to “Miss Ellen Wemyss,” “Mistress of Fairview”

“Clayton Harris was mistaken when he said, “We who came before eighteen sixty-five have seen the last plantation.” Through you, Mrs. Wemyss, a select few of us who have been fortunate enough to know you (we who came after 1865) have been given a renewed opportunity to see ‘The Last Plantation,’ for you, and Fairview are true, genteel Southerners of the old style.” We of Sumner county love you. ---Don Wright