On August 5, 1977, Robert Rennick interviewed historian Lon Carter Barton at his home in Mayfield for over four hours discussing the history of community names in Graves County and the Jackson Purchase. Rennick was touring Kentucky researching the place names of villages, towns, and cities throughout the Commonwealth for a forthcoming publication. Below is the transcription of the second of six audio cassettes recorded that day.
Barton: … There’s a Methodist church, one of the older Methodist churches in the county, which is in Water Valley, and there’s a Pentecostal church on the highway that’s been there for a good number of years. So, along the highway in the residential areas, Water Valley has a reasonably good appearance. But now in the old town, they call it the old town, is pretty well decayed, I guess. Okay, that takes care of Water Valley. Now, Dublin.
Rennick: According to our records it was established, the post office was established, as Bush Creek by Samuel Jackson in 1832, or earlier than that, and the name was changed, or it moved? I don’t know which it is. Was Dublin in the same place before it changed names?
Barton: I really don’t know much Dublin, outside the fact that this is very likely a true date. Dublin, I’m sure it goes back to the 1830s. I don’t know exactly what year. So, I would assume that this is right. It seems to me from my questions in that community down there and around, that Dublin was named after a family that lived in that vicinity rather than Dublin, Ireland – so they say. And I don’t know the … let me see … when was that first settled … I just don’t know. And Bush Creek, I’m not familiar with that. But I am reasonably sure that the name stems from a family in the area and I’m fairly sure of your date here being correct.
Rennick: 1832?
Barton: Yeah, right. That’s not far from Fancy Farm, something like five miles or less maybe. And the Fancy Farm settlement came in the early 1830s. So, I’m reasonably sure that the date is right. Now in Dublin today, we have what we have in some of these other small communities – churches, general food stores, a service station or so … an old school there now, but it’s … let’s see … I guess in Dublin there’s one fairly good-sized store of the sort that I described a while ago – a general merchandise variety store. Then there may be another smaller store and that’s about it. Dublin has a Baptist Church which is quite old and has really has quite a history, which meets regularly today and now is a very active church in the Graves County Baptist Association. But I don’t believe they have another church there except the Baptist, if it do, I don’t recall. Wright’s Chapel is a Methodist Church is not far away, I guess maybe a mile or two from there. And of course, the Catholic Church at Fancy Farm is not very far, but right in the town of Dublin the Baptist Church is the only one. Now come on down here to Dukedom, that’s the state line.
Rennick: The post office begun in Weakley County, but we don’t know exactly when, then to Graves County before 1846, or that year, and back to Weakley.
Barton: It’s in Weakley now. The post office part is.
Rennick: Right. How much of it is in Kentucky and how much is in Tennessee?
Barton: Well, it’s about half and half I’d say. You mean today?
Rennick: Yes.
Barton: Business wise, I guess the two most important businesses in Dukedom are … would be the bank and the Jackson Brothers Funeral Home, both of them are on the Tennessee side. A good size grocery, combined with a filling station, and a fairly new flower shop are across the highway over on the Kentucky side. And so, I really wouldn’t know which over balances the other. I suppose maybe the presence of the funeral home on the Tennessee side would give some advantage to the business center in Tennessee. The far residences go, and alike, I believe Tennessee probably has a larger number of residents right in the community. Now going out from Dukedom in all directions there are probably as many homes in that general postal district, the Dukedom, Tennessee district, in Graves County as they have over across the state line. But apparently the settlement in Tennessee is a little stronger than the comparable settlement across the state line in Kentucky.
Rennick: Do you pronounce that with a “K” or “G” a hard “G”?
Barton: Well, that might be. It’s Doogdom, not Dukedom, like you pronounce Duke-Dumb. There is more of a hard “G” sound I guess in the local pronunciation – it maybe in my book somewhere. But I don’t think I’m gliding over that; I think that it would be the way most people would recognize it around Dukedom. Now it says …
Rennick: When was Dukedom first settled?
Barton: I don’t know. I was unable to track down anything very definitive down on Dukedom. I know that it was there at least in the 1840s. Maps show the town being there as early as 1840, but now whether … And the story that I received down there, and again this is folklore in a way, is that it was named after the Duke family that at one time was prominent in that neighborhood. But today I don’t find anyone who has ever heard of the Duke’s down there. So, this is not a proven fact by any means, but that was the story that I have received on Dukedom.
Rennick: Let’s see, from the post office registry in Tennessee, the postmaster’s first name was Duke.
Barton: Was that it?
Rennick: At least that’s what the registry says.
Barton: Yes. Well, this makes a good story as any that I’ve heard of – that Dukedom would be from that origin. Now, Pryorsburg. John Pryor was the man that gave his name to that.
Rennick: He was the man said to be the friend of Jackson.
Barton: Yes. I don’t know why it was called depot.
Rennick: Was that about the time the railroad came?
Barton: Yes. Right. I suppose that’s the reason for it.
Rennick: Was that settled before the railroad?
Barton: Yes. The railroad was already there before … let me turn this down … it’s a bit chilly I think … excuse me. The town was already there. This fellow Johnson Pryor was part of the census of 1830, I believe, he had already established a fairly large landholding down there. And so, when the railroad was built, he was, I presume, quite a promoter of the project. Just like the fellow in Wingo, named Jerman Wingo, was in that neighborhood. I’m not sure, however, that it was called Pryorsburg only after the railroad came through. I’m not … I think Pryorsburg, the name Pryorsburg, goes back earlier then the 1850s, but how much earlier I don’t know.
Rennick: I’m confused here, I thought that the railroad came in 1857. It was called “Depot” in 1855. Is one of those dates wrong?
Barton: Yes, I believe this one would be more likely.
Rennick: 57?
Barton: No, 55.
Rennick: 55.
Barton: This is … you see that railroad had a lot of false starts. They had a lot of trouble building that railroad from Paducah south. It was started and it was stopped, it ran out of money, and they completely halted construction for some years. I think the whole idea dates back to 1852 or maybe earlier, and it was not until 1856 that it got to Mayfield. So, it was still moving south in 1857 and 1858. And consequentially, unless they anticipated it being through there in 1855, I don’t know whether that date there would match or not. Bogey was called … I think Pryorsburg was called Bogey but I don’t know why. In fact, I don’t know what Bogey means.
Rennick: B-O-G-Y…
Barton: B-O-G-E-Y is what I’ve run into. And the name was changed to Pryorsburg in honor of Jonathon Pryor, who owned most of what is now Pryorsburg … Okay, what’s in Pryorsburg now. Pryorsburg is a pretty good-sized little community. A voting precinct, a number of churches – Church of Christ, Baptist, Methodist, Independent Methodist, two or three colored churches are there. The school, of course, is no longer there, it’s been consolidated with Wingo. But there are a number of businesses, here again though, old Pryorsburg, down on the railroad, has largely been bypassed by the Pryorsburg on the highway, so to speak, and most the business firms like restaurants – there are five restaurants there now, a couple of groceries, and there are one or two other retail establishments on the highway itself. And just below Pryorsburg is a fairly large rendering plant which presented with the … in the Pryorsburg area and just above Pryorsburg is one of the largest industries in Graves County – the Kentucky-Tennessee Clay Company as a ball clay mine. Just as I said above Pryorsburg between Mayfield and there. So, Pryorsburg is a fairly prosperous town. I don’t know how many people live there, probably several hundred or more. Now, Wingo. Now there’s some difference between pronouncing it “Wing – Go” and “Win – Go.” Some people pronounce it one and some people pronounce it the other. The older people, I think, are more inclined to say as it were W-I-N-G, one syllable, and “O” and the last syllable with the accent on the first syllable Win-Go … Wing – Go. Most people I think today though pronounce it Win-Go
Rennick: Win – go
Barton: Win – go
Rennick: Is that Win – Go?
Barton: Yes, Win – Go. But that’s not always been pronounced that way, I believe. Well now, Jerman Wingo was the fellow that I’ve always understood, that sort of founded that town. He was a man of some wealth and land and slaves and so on. He was the one who granted the passageway to the railroad. Here again, the railroad was involved in the growth of the … in the beginning rather, of Wingo. And Jerman gave them the land and in return established a station. I don’t know that I ever ran across the name Grissom there.
Rennick: Point Curve is that the same place?
Barton: Yes, that was presumably from the railroad turn there, I mean the road itself made a sweeping curve not far from Wingo. It’s not in the town but I believe I have some reference to that it had been the source of that expression. But the town itself, I believe, was named – but I don’t think it ever was – the official name of the community. I think Wingo was the first name.
Rennick: Who is this Theopolis Wingo?
Barton: I believe that was his brother, I’m not mistaken. There are more of them than Jerman, but Jerman happened to be the one that on the … or acquired the larger amount of land … and so on. When did the Wingo’s come? I believe in 1830s and 40s. They were there prior to the railroad, and they had established themselves pretty well and when the railroad came through. I believe Jerman was the one it was named for and the Point Curve part referred to the engineering term in the road, or in the track. What’s in Wingo now? It’s a pretty prosperous town. It’s, of all we’ve talked about so far, the largest, except for Mayfield. It has probably the largest school of all of them in the south part of the county. It has a number of churches, it has an incorporated structure, it has a town council, it has a town marshal, it has its own fire department and that sort of thing. I believe wing is the only other incorporated community in Graves County, besides Mayfield. I don’t know what the population would be, I’d say probably five hundred. There are two voting precincts – East Wingo and West Wingo. I’d say, number of businesses including a rather old and fairly strong bank, several stores – retail establishments – a funeral home, florist shop … The thing that makes Wingo different from Pryorsburg and Water Valley, all three of which are on the railroad and all three of which are on Highway 45, is that while the business and activity in general have shifted to the highway from down in the railroad section of Water Valley and Pryorsburg but in Wingo this hasn’t happened. The business community in Wingo is just about as strong, maybe stronger even, I guess even stronger, in the so-called old section down along the railroad than it is on the highway. On the other hand, a good bit of new development is taking place along the highway. There’s a very active filling station company there and they have taken the lead in developing some, you might say, subdivisions in Wingo. As I said, it’s an incorporated industry with its on local government and this type thing. So, I would have to say, Wingo is probably today, next to Mayfield in a lot of respects, commercially, politically… Well, Hickory, Hickory Grove was the original name for that community. I’ve never seen it in one single line though, I believe it …
Rennick: Two words then?
Barton: Yes, it’s always been two separate words that I’ve seen. And this appears to be the right date for Hickory Grove. This is another railroad community, so its beginning coincides with the arrival of the railroad in the late 1850s.
Rennick: Why did they change the name to Hickory?
Barton: I believe that was due to a … Well, Hickory Grove … I believe that was due to a fairly well know picnic ground, or picnic area, which was the sight of a … for like tail springs and other natural landmark locations in the county was the sight of a good many festivities during the summer and during the time of year when they could hold outdoor events. For a long time, I believe they had fourth of July celebrations at this particular place that was characterized by the trees and hickory shade and sort of an arbor that was pretty well known throughout the area. And I believe that’s how Hickory Grove got its name from this grove of trees where they did have quite a bit of outdoor entertainment and a site for barbeques, political rallies, and maybe religious meetings and all of these things. I don’t know when it was shortened to Hickory precisely, but this has been in my lifetime. So this hadn’t been … not exactly as far as … it’s not necessarily recent either but I’d say in the last forty-five years … forty or forty-five years.
Rennick: Why did they drop the “grove?”
Barton: I don’t know. The post office just reverted it to Hickory and maybe the “grove” disappeared, and hickory tree stayed on, I don’t know. I rather suspect the reason they dropped the “grove,” really was that they quit using it for reasons I’m not certain about – or quit using that particular locale as a place for outdoor rallies, barbeques, and the like. Probably one of Hickory’s subdivisions was built in what had been the “grove,” I really don’t know. I see … what’s there now in Hickory. A mail … post office is there, a very good restaurant is there, pottery is there, or a lamp factory which occupies the building that was a pottery at one time and a couple or three churches in the community, or near the community. A fairly good residential area which is nearly all together on the east side of Highway 45. A mine similar to the one in Pryorsburg, although not as big as … the old Hickory Clay Mine there. The store that’s on the highway that had been there for some many years – a general store, grocery, merchandizing establishment, a service station, with gas pumps and so on. Hickory is a very pleasant community. Alright now, Farmington.
Rennick: Post office was established as Cornersville.
Barton: I’m not certain about Connersville.
Rennick: Is that Connersville or Cornersville?
Barton: Connersville, I guess. The only theory I would have about that, you know, the Jackson Purchase is the part of Kentucky which was laid out by the regular survey system. When they would plot a meridian and intersect the meridian with the base lines at six-mile intervals, and all this, and divide the land into sections, townships, and ranges and so on. Now, I don’t know from memory but it’s quite possible that Farmington could have been situated at the very corner of one of these six-mile square sections. Or, it could have been in a corner of a smaller area of a township. But at any rate, Farmington, I believe, was known as Farmington at the time of the Civil War at least – certainly, within a few years of that time. So, it’s been Farmington for a long, long time.
Rennick: This is an error. It was twenty years when it came into the State. Well, I’ll have to go around and check that.
Barton: Is that the time you had found as a settlement date?
Rennick: No, this is one when the name changes to Farmington, but I made a mistake it’s not 28 it was a later time. I’ll check that.
Barton: I’m just not sure about the time it actually was changed but I am led to think that Farmington was there by the time of the war, I mean the time of the Civil War, the community was being called Farmington. I believe there are references in the O.R.’s possibly to Farmington.
Rennick: Do we know when it was first settled?
Barton: I think that probably this fellow was one of the very early settlers – the Stokes family. Another very early settler, or a family that was there, was a Hendley family – H-E-N-D-L-E-Y. They were very much involved in the settlement period of Farmington. It seems to me that it was … that pushes it back to 1839, 1838 somewhere along the late 1830s. Now, it says … you say here was that it probably changed by then, I don’t know, or was the post office moved to a new site. I believe that, from what people have told me there, Farmington was given the name as sort of a shortened version of Farmingtown which reflected upon their rural lifestyle or rural economy. The land is very good around there, it’s always been of rather high quality – soil, productivity – it’s been above average. In other words, it’s always been good farming area. My authority out there is that it sort of shortened itself from Farmingtown to Farmington, very much like Charlestown being shortened to Charleston, Elizabethtown to Elizabethton, and so on. What’s in Farmington now? It’s a rather thriving little town, they have some businesses … four or five businesses, they have a school … high school, although it is a small one. They have a number of churches, they have a community center, they have an Optimist Club that is fully operational. They are really rather thriving community or had a rather thriving community down there. It is a, like these other places – I haven’t mentioned all of them – has a voting district and funded itself. So, Farmington is a pretty prosperous little town, I think. And basically, grows the same agriculture that’s been part of the picture all these years and is still a major factor in their economy out there. It’s a farming community. Lowes?
Rennick: Now, didn’t Mrs. Hendley write a book …
Barton: Yes, right.
Rennick: Is that available?
Barton: Well, I have a copy, but I don’t know where in the world it is. And I’m sure she has many copies that she would be glad to sell.
Rennick: Wasn’t the book done back in the 40s?
Barton: Yes, about the 40s – the late 40s. And her sister, who’s there now, I’m sure she has a supply of those books, because I’m sure not too long ago, she would like to sell some. Now, Lowes. It used to be Lowes Crossroads. I really don’t know why they dropped the “crossroads” unless they thought perhaps the one word sounded better.
Rennick: Was it also called Roscoe?
Barton: I’ve never heard of it called Roscoe. It could have been. Now, the post office was established in 72 that means the town preceded the post office by something like forty years. The town had been there a long time before the Civil War. Lowes was a … in fact Lowes, occupied a kind of a middle point between Paducah, which was early occupied by the Northern forces and Columbus on the river which about the same time, you know, was occupied by the Confederacy. They said, the area around Lowes became quite prominent in Civil War maneuvering during that early part of the war, when scouting parties of both sides would come out toward the other point to reconnoiter and pull their kind of expeditions and all that type of thing. Levi Lowe was the founder of Lowes, and that’s the source of the name.
Rennick: Lowe. L-O-W-E?
Barton: Yes, right. L-O-W-E. I don’t know about Roscoe. I’ve never run across that. In fact, my thinking is that Lowes was the original name, because this fellow Levi Lowe, who was a Baptist minister, settled it with his family in the 30s, I believe 38 or 37 along in there at some point. But somewhere along the line it could have picked up some other names, maybe as well. Now, Lowes has a school, I believe the largest school in the county in terms of enrollment maybe, and also the usual number of businesses. Although, I guess, maybe this is another community where a bank and a funeral home are the predominant business firms – they have both of them. They have several churches in the area. It’s a right good little business town, I think. They have good two or three stores there. Although, the big old general store burned not so very long ago, and it was owned by the Lowe family. The Lowe family owns the funeral home there now. So, the family, the Lowe family, has been part of the community from the beginning. The descendants of the founder are still there in the town and are still prominent people there in town. It too is a separate voting precinct. So, I guess it’s got about 500 or 600 people scattered in the general area.
Rennick: Somebody said that a Lowe was doing a town history of Lowes.
Barton: Maybe. Could be. Roy Lowe is the funeral director; I expect he could give you as much on the background of the town as anyone. Alright you have Pilot Oak down here … that’s obviously because of the oak tree that stood there, which as I don’t believe is still standing. I not sure I could go to the exact spot where the oak tree stood, I know about where it stood. It was on the, or very near the stage road that ran from the Tennessee River to the Mississippi River across from, or near, Aurora on the Tennessee to … well actually the road split and one went to Columbus and the other south to Hickman on the Mississippi, but it was not far from this road that the pilot oak was located and hence the name. I don’t know about the date. I’ve run into references on Pilot Oak as early as the Civil War and even shortly before that. So much of this stuff is on the top of my head here that I really have somewhere but I don’t recall the details about. When, and by whom … I think this was probably one of the really old settlements. Not very far from Pilot Oak is a church which was settled, or organized, in 1823. The Stark family was extremely important in that particular area. John Stark, and John Stark’s family – his sons and daughters – and I’m not sure whether they were among the founders. The Emerson family was another one that was involved in the early days of that community. I’m not sure the Emerson’s were founders in that earliest period, but they were there in good numbers by the time of the Civil War. And if I’m not mistaken, Pilot Oak itself … because you see this … Pilot Oak itself as I started to say was a next to at least before the Civil War because this stage road was in the era of the 1850s, or maybe just a little before that in the 1840s and 50s. So now today Pilot Oak has very little actually, it’s a largely residential – maybe two or three churches. I’d say there’s a very old church, the old Primitive Baptist Church, called Old Bethel not far from Pilot Oak. There is a Baptist … Missionary Baptist Church in Pilot Oak today. I believe there’s a Methodist Church not far from Pilot Oak and I think there may be a store there. But some of the earlier stores that I recall that were there ten or twelve years ago are out of business.
Rennick: How about a post office?
Barton: No, they do not have a post office there. Now Sedalia has a post office … coming down here to Sedalia. Sedalia is another town like Dublin. And it’s just eluded my efforts to find out much about it except pure folklore. You ever heard the story on how Sedalia was named? That there was an attractive young lady named Dalia and when any of the young men in the general area were asked where they were going, if they were on horseback or in buggies or in carriages, they would say they were going to “see Dalia.” And that’s the way they say it was started and that is total folklore and there’s nothing in the world that will back that up – except hand-to-mouth stories. It is pronounced Sah-Dalia, however not See-Dalia. The accent is on the D-A. Of course, there is a town in Missouri named Sedalia and I thought possibly there might be a relationship there somewhere, but I’ve never been able to bring any evidence to bare on that there were. I think 1879 sounds about right, this town was not there during the Civil War. It was … I even had the idea that it may have been later than that in the 1880s, but I’d say ‘79, if that is when the post office was definitely established then I think the town maybe grew up around the post office rather than the other way around. Where did the first settlers or residents come from? From Missouri, yeah. That shows your thinking was rather in line with my theory on that, but that’s rather unlikely because, you know, our basic settlement migration pattern here didn’t come back west from this way. On the other hand, they came from the east – movement came from Central Kentucky and Middle Tennessee down here rather than backing in from across the Mississippi. Although, it could have been that way, but I really don’t think it was because if it had been that would have been easier to find out. So, I’ll just have to almost pass on that one as to how the place got named. I would like to know myself. And what’s there now, a very good community – a high school, three churches, either in the town itself or very close nearby, a good number of businesses, stores, an old established nursery there and there are some service stations, a very good grocery, some service establishments like beauty parlors, barber shop, and things of that type. So, Sedalia is … and until just about a year ago, Sedalia was the national headquarters for the Datsun Forklift Industry from Japan. A fellow who lived in, or still lives there in Sedalia, was the main representative of that company in the United States and he had quite an establishment out there but that’s been bought and moved to Memphis now. So, the International Equipment Company, which is the business’ corporate name of this firm in operation. For a while. Sedalia was at least pretty well known in Japan than anywhere else.
Rennick: Feliciana?
Barton: We can talk all night about Feliciana. Feliciana was probably settled in 1830s … early 1830s … ’32 or ’33 and on around there. There are several families in that community that could have been involved in the settlement. The Lockridge’s probably were involved with that. The Gordons were there. The Starks were there, the same family that was not far away from there at Pilot Oak. Pilot Oak is about three miles from Feliciana, and Pilot Oak is to the east of Feliciana. And Water Valley, the place we talked about a little while ago, is a little bit to the west about couple three miles. Now the name is a doubtful … the origin of the name. The two women, the two black women, slave women, and their fight is a romantic explanation. When you consider that one of the two was named Felicia and the other was named Anna and decided to memorialize both of them by naming it Feliciana – that’s just a little distant though to be very realistic, I think. You know in Louisiana there are two parishes Feliciana West and Feliciana East, I am more of the opinion that there’s a connection between Feliciana and Bayou de Chein which is right close by the creek and the church than anything else. These totally French, pure all pure French, names showing up so geographically close together in an area that had no French culture to speak of at all at the beginning, makes me think that Feliciana and Bayou de Chein may have been named by French travelers through this area at one time. At least the name Feliciana might have been left behind, I doubt if any French travelers came to that crossroads and now said this is Feliciana. I don’t think any of it exists but in somewhere or other I think probably the name was dropped, or the term or the word was used in such a way as to make it possible for the later Anglo-Saxons who settle it to get at that French name rather than the two slaves names. I don’t think that was likely to have happened, but it could have happened. What’s there now – nothing. A historical marker, number something or other, is there and that’s all. It’s a ghost town, totally a ghost town. And this is where we can talk all night, the decline of Feliciana. The people of Feliciana were most prosperous, and they were the most commercially active people at one time. In 1850s the Feliciana had reached a peak of – a bank stood there, the retail establishments were there, a school was there, they had a racetrack there. Feliciana was a …