Olive Hill: Volume 2: 1884 -1959

By Willie Davis

Carter County, Kentucky was blessed with an abundance of diverse natural resources, including timber, iron ore, coal, and limestone. During the Industrial Revolution one of its towns, Olive Hill, became the center of a 600 square mile hotbed of fireclay, a unique heat-resistant clay used to make firebricks. For decades, thousands of hard-working Olive Hillians dug, moulded, and fired that uncommon clay into hundreds of thousands of firebricks per day to line open hearth steel furnaces, locomotive fireboxes, and steamship boilers. Without the steel, there would be no skyscrapers and no rail lines. Without the trains and ships, there would be no movement to expedite a growing nation. Olive Hill firebricks helped make this possible. Olive Hill and its people gave all that it had in a time it was most needed until a time it was needed no more. More people need to know the Olive Hill story. More people need to know more American History. Olive Hill the book is a historical fiction novel that follows the Reed family from May of 1800 thru June of 1959. It tells the Olive Hill story as I see it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jan 6, 2021
• ISBN: 9781665511261

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© 2021 Willie Davis. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse  01/06/2021

ISBN: 978-1-6655-1127-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-1126-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020925204

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Dedicated to

anyone interested in Olive Hill, Kentucky - yesterday, today, or tomorrow. You have a storied past. Be proud of it.

Olive Hill Volume 1 - Overview

May 1800 – September 1884

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September 1894. The leaves on the trees are just slightly tainted with color. Thirty-two year- old Ezekiel Noah Reed, ‘Zeke’ to everyone, sat quietly on the Lawton hillside with his knees pulled up to his chest and his arms wrapped around them.

He could feel the sweet soft breeze that constantly swept over the hill. From that position, he could see the valley below and the distant rolling hills. He was waiting for his family – his songstress wife, Addy, and his children: Alex, age nine, his daughter Cora, age eight, and his youngest son Raymond Simon, age six.

He turned and spotted four small figures climbing up the hill, growing bigger as they climbed. They were ‘toting’ a picnic basket and taking turns lugging it to the top of the hill toward him. Addy had promised she would pack a lunch to make the day ‘special’. It was a celebration of the new Reed Cemetery and as Zeke promised, he would explain to all of them the Reed family history.

As they approached, Zeke shouted to them Look! while pointing down toward the Raybourn store in Lawton. The first afternoon train from Lexington had stopped before continuing eastward to Olive Hill and then to Ashland. The same train would pass back through the next morning, bound for Lexington.

When the four reached the top of the hill, they sat down next to Zeke. Addy wrapped her arm around Zeke’s and laid her head on his shoulder. It was her way of saying again ‘Thanks’ for bringing them home to Olive Hill, which some were now thinking included Lawton, Enterprise, Soldier, and even as far as Grahn and Smokey Valley.

Zeke had grown up in Olive Hill and Addy in Soldier. They had married and lived at the Reed homestead on Tygarts Creek in Olive Hill before his surveying work took him, Addy, and the children down to Yellow Creek and the Cumberland Gap.

The Tygarts Creek flood in 1893 had washed away the Reed family cemetery in Olive Hill. This devastated Zeke and Addy, and it was partly what brought them back to Carter County to live - that and the fact that Carter County was home to the Reed family for decades.

Zeke decided to build a home in Lawton, a few miles west of Olive Hill on the trail that followed the train route from Olive Hill to Morehead. As a surveyor, he could get anywhere he needed to go in Kentucky by catching a train from Raybourn’s. In addition, Zeke liked the fact that Lawton and Enterprise were growing.

Zeke had intentionally kept Addy and the children from seeing the cemetery until he finished it. He and Addy were still distraught that the search for the Reed family and friends’ bodies had not been recovered. None of them. However, Zeke became determined to re-establish the Reed family cemetery with graves and headstones, even though there would be no bodies in the shallow graves he would dig.

Zeke was facing south during the picnic.

The rolling hills dipped and swayed before him. He guessed this place had to be one of the highest points in Carter County because it had such a far-reaching view. He wondered how many people, if any, had seen what he was viewing.

The thousands of trees were still summer green, but he knew the leaves were starting to revolt into orange and brown hues. It would not be long before they would be covered in a blanket of white.

Directly below the hill in the flat area by the Raybourn store lay an open field of grass that wavered gently from a warmhearted west to east wind. There was one house between Zeke’s new house and the Raybourn store. He could see the animals around its barn and across the trail from the barn was a field of corn about ready to harvest.

He was loving Lawton.

Zeke had worked on the new Reed Cemetery since Spring and now, it was completed. He had hired three men from the keg factory to help him build a four-rail crossbuck fence to encircle the new cemetery. The cemetery faced eastward with the gate entrance on the west side. It had an engraved stone sign that read ‘REED CEMETERY’.

Zeke originally thought that he would have one monument engraved with the names of the twenty-one bodies washed away during the Tygarts flood. Halfway through construction of the fence, Zeke decided to provide a single headstone for each, with only the name, year of birth and year of death. This would allow future generations to pass on each individual’s unique story.

Zeke made a special trip to Ashland and ordered the carved headstones and a west gate sign from Joseph McCleese, a well-known stonecutter in eastern Kentucky. They arrived in Lawton by rail in early September. Zeke had not thought through the process of moving that much weight from the store to the top of the hill. He needed additional men to help him.

In the middle of the cemetery was a single, majestic oak tree whose patterned bark led one’s eyes directly to its heavenly branches and making a statement to the other nearest trees, Don’t you dare come any closer.

Zeke faced the twenty-one headstones east toward the rising sun and in front of the mighty oak tree so it could capture the morning sun rays and force them downward to the gravesites. In late afternoon, it would protect the gravesites from the sun with shade. Then in darkness, it would guard them until the next sunrise.

Zeke laid out the headstones in an order that made sense to him for telling the Reed family story.

Isaac Peterson, 1743-1814; Charles Reed, 1755-1813; Samuel Reed, 1786-1861; Victoria Carson-Reed, 1792-1815; Sally Ward, 1806-1875; Elizabeth Tann, 1789-1848; Peter Tann, 1785-1848; Beth Reed-Tappen, 1814-1889; Simon Tappen, 1837-1884; Victoria Tappen-Walsh, 1843-1891; Noah Reed, 1814-1883; Julia Ann Frayer-Reed, 1816-1862; Joseph Reed, 1839-1839; Matthew Reed, 1836-1862; Naomi Reed, 1837-1862; Julia Frayer, 1796-1832; Bo Frayer, 1794-1851; Joseph Frayer, 1818-1829; Brayden O’Connor, 1756-????; Edward Swanigan, 1783-1851; Pal, Noah’s best friend;

After their picnic lunch, Zeke began to tell the story of how the Reed Family came to America.

"My great-great grandfather, Charles Reed, was a British soldier in the Revolutionary War. After the war, he stayed in America and became a millwright in Virginia. He married Jenny and they had a son, Samuel, my great grandfather. Jenny died and is buried in Virginia. Charles and Samuel came to Kentucky to start a new life.

From Virginia, they traveled to Kentucky through the Cumberland Gap to Boonesborough, then onto Lexington, and then to what we now know as Olive Hill. They built a grist mill at our old homestead on Tygarts Creek. Since the area was sparsely populated, it was not even considered a county. Actually, Charles and Samuel were two early pioneers here in eastern Kentucky."

Zeke carefully told them about building the original Reed cemetery on the Tygarts and the ‘great’ flood occurring the previous year. The bodies that washed away are not buried here physically, said Zeke. However, I would like you to think of them as being buried here in spirit, and let’s honor them as if they were.

With the picnic completed, Zeke stood up, reached out his hand to Addy, and lifted her up. Come on, boys and girl. Let your mother and me introduce you to the Reed family.

They walked through the gate, towards the big oak and to the first headstone, Isaac Peterson. Of course, young Raymond Simon had no sense of Zeke’s storytelling order and ran away from the family to the last of the twenty-one headstones.

Who is this, father?

Pal was my grandfather Noah’s childhood dog who died saving grandfather’s life near Maysville. Pal’s act of valor awarded him a place of honor among the family. Zeke thought Pal’s story would take on more mythical proportions as time passed. Pal’s life symbolized the meaning of our family’s loyalty.

And who is this? asked Raymond Simon.

That was Noah’s wife, Julie Ann, my grandmother. She was killed at the start of the Civil War. It was a horrible death that haunted grandfather for the rest of his life.

The next tombstone: Zeke said, That’s my mother, Naomi, your grandmother. Sadly, she died at my birth. I never knew her. Great Aunt Beth along with Grandfather Noah and Simon William, my cousin who was Aunt Beth’s son, raised me.

Alex was standing in front of Edward Swanigan’s headstone. Was he a member of the family? asked Alex.

No, son. He was a great friend of the family. He helped Grandfather Noah and Grandmother Julia Ann establish an Underground Railroad station at their home in Olive Hill. They helped three hundred slaves escape to freedom from Virginia to Ohio through Eastern Kentucky.

Addy had walked away from Zeke and the boys and was standing at Beth Reed Tappen’s headstone, holding Cora’s hand. I would not be who I am today, she told Cora. She was your father’s Great Aunt Beth and the lady who taught me to read and believe in myself. She was a strong woman. She was friends with Harriet Beecher Stowe and Mary Todd Lincoln. I loved this woman deeply. She changed my life.

Addy continued. Great Aunt Beth had an adventurous life. She married a West Point officer and lived in Boston. When he was killed in the Mexican War, she moved to Mansfield, Ohio to be with her father, Samuel, and again moved to Pittsburgh to be with her daughter, Victoria. Later, she returned to Olive Hill to be with her brother, Noah, after Julia Ann’s death.

Who was Samuel again? Alex asked as he looked at Zeke, with Raymond Simon standing in front of Victoria Carson-Reed’s headstone. Zeke quickly answered Alex as he really did not want to share any stories about Victoria. What she had done to Samuel and the family was despicable. It was better left unsaid here and discussed later, maybe.

Alex, Samuel was your great-great-great grandfather. He was quite a man. He and his father Charles started the grist mill on Tygarts Creek and Samuel mined saltpeter for the family up at the caves north of here. Later, they hauled charcoal in the Ironton area to iron ore furnaces along the Ohio River. Samuel was quite the horseman and horse trainer. He eventually moved to Mansfield, Ohio and started a hotel near the railroad. He was a true entrepreneur.

As soon as Zeke said the word entrepreneur, he knew it was not understood.

Unless asked, Zeke was not going to talk about Sally Ward. Sally was a free black woman who fell in love with Samuel, and he with her. He took her to Mansfield to further protect her during the turbulent years before the Civil War. Their love was hidden from everyone outside the family. Someday their relationship would be understood by the children, but not now.

How did some of them die? asked Alex. The oldest child, of course, would of be the one to ask the death question.

Some died peacefully after having lived a full and productive life. Some died more tragically. Zeke did not want to elaborate more on that. His thoughts immediately went to Charles, Samuel, Matthew, Julia Ann, and Simon William. How sad he thought, especially Julia Ann.

Zeke gathered Addy and the three children in front of Elizabeth and Peter Tann’s headstones. Elizabeth and Peter were married slaves in Virginia. Isaac, who was Samuel’s grandfather, bought their freedom in Virginia and they came with them to Kentucky to be with Charles and Samuel. Elizabeth and Peter were loved by everyone in the family. There were never two finer people who walked this earth, said Zeke.

Zeke looked at Addy and she nodded slightly as if she would have loved to have known them. He reached out for her hand and leaned over and gave her a kiss. They did not hide their love from the children.

Addy and Zeke both knew that there were twenty-one graves here that had no bodies. Now the children knew. Both Addy and Zeke also knew that in the years to come, they would probably be buried there along with other friends and family. We’ll put all the future graves behind the oak, snickered Zeke.

Zeke turned to his family. Let’s go home.

As they walked down the hill, Zeke carried the picnic basket in his left hand and held Addy’s hand with his right. Cora walked by Addy’s side. Alex and Raymond Simon took off running to see who could get down the hill the fastest. It’s what boys do.

Addy stared off at the rolling hills that surrounded Lawton. It’s good to be back in Carter County, she said as she smiled, and quietly said "Thank you."

Without looking at her, Zeke just nodded, squeezed her hand gently, and smiled!

Welcome to Olive Hill, Volume 2…

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Contents

Volume 2

Volume 1 Summary

Author’s Note to Readers

Timeline 7: February 1900 – December 1902

In a Nutshell…The Last 15 Years and 5 Months

Chapters 155 - 189

Timeline 8: May 1920 – July 1924…

In a Nutshell…The Last 17 Years and 5 Months

Chapters 190 – 211

Timeline 9: In A Nutshell…

In a Nutshell…The Last 18 Years and 1 Month

Chapters 212 – 237

Timeline 10: September 1945 – June 1959

In a Nutshell…The Last 13 Years and 9 Months

Epilogue:

Chapter 238

Fictional Characters

Notable Carter County Personalities

Special Thanks

About the Author/Illustrator

Author’s Note to Readers

Books are just words on a page. Books become escape portals to other realities when we as readers allow those words to have meaning. For those of you who responded to me about Olive Hill, Volume 1, I thank you for your kind words.

In my story, Olive Hill is just geography, a place on a map blessed with the right natural resources at the right time for America’s growth spurt. Bringing those natural resources to fruition were Olive Hillians, the people who lived in that geography.

I have tried to convey in my Olive Hill story these weren’t special people. They were just Americans, human beings who valued their independence with their chest out, shoulders back, and chin up. They were just people who cared about their families and worked, played, and prayed hard. They didn’t always do the right thing, but then…who did?

I have also tried to convey that Olive Hillians were not isolated people, but they connected to the world. The winds that blew over Olive Hill blew over China days before and would blow over Europe tomorrow.

I have attempted to show this historical connection with the world through a series of Nutshells that, as some of you have suggested, is a separate history book within a fictious novel.

However, I have provided you an escape in that you can skip the Nutshell and continue with the story, hopefully, without much interruption. You can always go back to a Nutshell…

Olive Hill is published in two volumes.

Volume 1 covers eighty-four years and three months, from May 1800 to September 1884.

Volume 2 covers seventy-four years and seven months, from September 1884 to June 1959.

Volume 2, like Volume 1, is broken up into Timelines and Nutshells.

A Timeline is a specific time period in which my story is told. There are ten Timelines throughout the two volumes. Volume 1 has six Timelines and Volume 2 has four timelines.

Example:

In this volume, Timeline 7 covers the time between February 1900 and December 1902. Timeline 7 contains Chapters 155-189. Each chapter is identified by the month in which the chapter occurred. The chapters are divided by numbers to distinguish different time periods within that month (1) (2) (3), etc.

A Nutshell is the elapsed time between Timelines.

Nutshells cover longer time periods than Timelines. Nutshells are divided by geography and characters – not by chronological years…e.g. It identifies what happened in the United States, in Kentucky, in Carter County, and in Olive Hill since the last Timeline ended. It answers what happened to the Reed family, Zeke, Addy, Alex, Cora, etc.

Example: In between the end of Timeline 8 and start of Timeline 9 is an elapsed time of eighteen years and one month. Want to know what happened and to whom in these eighteen years? You will find out in the Nutshell right before Timeline 9.

In Volume 2 there is an Epilogue, Chapter 238, which ends my story.

The Epilogue is who remains alive and where they are in June 1959 as they enter the turbulent 1960s. Most of the endings are happy. Promise.

Just as in Volume 1, there are maps, illustrations, and a Reed

Family Tree in Volume 2.

There is a series of Reed Family Trees in the front to help you figure out who is who, who belongs to whom, when they were born, and when they died, if they did.

There is one map of Kentucky. One map of Carter County. One map of Olive Hill. These are the three geographies that transcend both volumes. All original art. You will not find these maps published elsewhere.

Throughout the two volumes there are illustrations to help you visualize the story. The illustrations were drawn by my brother, Harlan.

Olive Hill, Volume 1 is the story of the first America, the land of opportunity. In May 1800, where Volume 1 begins, America was a few million souls clinging to the eastern edge of a vast continent. People were moving west and opening up a vast new wilderness.

Olive Hill, Volume 2 is the story of the second America, the land of progress. Industrial might. World power.

Olive Hill, Kentucky played a little-known, but important role in both Americas.

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Timeline 7: In A Nutshell…

The Last 15 Years and 5 Months

September 1884 – February 1900

(1)

February, 1900. The last 15 years and 5 months. United States. After the Civil War, the hope was that the nation would bind up its wounds. But the decades between the end of the war and 1900 were tumultuous. Events during the last 16 years of the nineteenth century only deepened our country’s differences.

The famous opening line of Charles Dickens’1859 historical novel, A Tale of Two Cities, could easily apply to any two cities in the United States in 1901…

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…

The Founding Fathers who wrote the Constitution expressed its writing a miracle. Jefferson believed the two extremes of government were tyranny on the left and anarchy on the right, with the power of the people in the middle. Franklin, Washington, and Madison believed its construction had divine influence

A fundamental principle in the Constitution’s was that power should be dispersed among free people. The framers understood that success of the new republic depended on the moral strength of the people, and virtuous leaders. The role of their government was to maintain equal protection of their inalienable rights.

The history of the United States can be viewed as a struggle of how the people and their elected leaders either adhered to or neglected these principles.

(2)

In the 1880s, LaMarcus Thompson, a successful women’s underwear manufacturer in Indiana, cashed in everything he had and opened America’s first roller coaster in Coney Island, New York. The coaster dropped fifty feet, traveled six miles an hour, and cost a nickel to ride. The public was ecstatic.

Thompson’s action and brainchild were symbolic of the times. The last quarter of the nineteenth century was a roller coaster ride. Pivotal events energized the best of what the United States had to offer the world while simultaneously disregarded the principles the framers of the Constitution so dearly regarded. The nation’s differences were growing.

By 1900, the population of the United States had grown to a little over 76 million, a twenty-one percent increase from the decade before. There were now forty-five states.

Part of this population growth was due to the mass immigration from southern and eastern Europe. This wave of immigration didn’t come from England, Germany, or Ireland. They were coming from Hungary, Poland, Italy, and Russia. Most of them settled in cities and participated in the Industrial Revolution, which was in high gear.

The country was still transitioning from an agrarian society, one that depended on agriculture as its primary means of sustenance, to an industrial society, which is driven by technology to enable mass production.

People in agriculture were moving to the cities to work in the factories. They joined the immigrants to become a part of an overworked and underpaid labor force. This workforce included many women and children.

Transportation and communication became nationalized. The railroad industry continued to boom. There were now over 210,000 miles of railroad in the United States. Trains had supplanted all other long-distance travel.

The telephone, phonograph, and radio had been invented. Mass usage was coming.

The disparity between wealthy industrialists and poor workers brought about the first labor unions whose goals were to improve working conditions while keeping certain classes of people out of the workforce. Racial tension continued. Social, political, and economic policies continued to be hostile towards non-white individuals. Strikes erupted, and violence continued to be a way of life.

Cities became a mess. Urban engineering advances like bridges, canals, skyscrapers, and trolley lines were starting to emerge. The invention of electricity began to impact the entire urban culture.

Greedy and corrupt politicians and industrialists gained wealth at the expense of the working class. These entrepreneurs dominated all major industries: oil, banking, liquor, timber, mining, textiles, etc. They accumulated vast wealth while building huge monopolies. Newly emerging captains of industry crushed their competition so decidedly that they earned the name ‘Robber Barons’.

Rockefeller. Carnegie. Vanderbilt. Gould. These titans of industry were more recognizable to the public than politicians. They hid behind philanthropy and defended their practices through espousing Social Darwinism, the concept of evolutionary survival of the fittest applied to business practices.

Politics was also highly corrupt and dominated by political machines. Machine bosses controlled the votes via their associations and politicians were beholden to the bosses. Politicians gave jobs to their family and supporters, qualified or not. Scandalous and corrupt activity became common at the federal, state and local levels.

Between Lincoln’s assassination and 1900, only Grant and McKinley were elected for a second term. Grover Cleveland was elected President twice with Benjamin Harrison elected president between Cleveland’s two terms. Of seven one-term presidents, three were assassinated: Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley. Chester Arthur became President after Garfield was assassinated, but his poor health kept him from seeking another term.

Because of the many political divides, presidential elections were razor-thin victories. Cleveland defeated Blaine in 1884 by 62,000 votes out of ten million cast. Rutherford Hayes and Benjamin Harrison lost the popular vote, but won the Electoral College votes. William Jennings Bryan rose to prominence in the Democratic Party and was nominated three times as their presidential candidate, never winning the Presidency.

Reformers and reform movements developed slowly. Civil Service reform, Interstate Commerce, and Anti-Trust legislation gained little traction when passed. Angry farmers organized and formed a third political party, which gained some momentum before fading away.

A spiritual re-awakening occurred, and there was an increase in religious activism. Missionary activity increased inside and outside the country. Women joined forces with the church to begin paving the way for child welfare, the prohibition of alcohol, and their right to vote. Social work began garnering credence. Church associated colleges and seminaries rapidly expanded.

The western frontier was awash in Indian blood, as military clashes with Native Americans continued. The hundreds of thousands of Indians who inhabited the Great Plains were now confined onto reservations, paving the way for further westward expansion.

In the midst of all the changes came the economic depression of 1893, which lasted four years. Stocks declined. Banks failed. Businesses closed. Farmer bellied up. One of the reasons was the fight over bimetallism.

The Constitution gave Congress the power to coin and regulate the value of money. Gold and silver were identified as the official monies of the new United States. From the Constitution’s ratification, the economic history of the United States is a story of the government trying to control the demand and supply of silver as well as its price in relation to the price of gold.

Congress originally established the ratio of silver to gold as fifteen ounces of silver to one ounce of gold. Later it was changed to sixteen ounces of silver to one ounce of gold. The huge Civil War debt was incurred without the backing of either of the precious metals. Then the discovery of western silver mines increased the supply of silver. Silver prices soared, and then Congress devalued it. Seventeen years later, Congress tried to boost silver prices.

By 1890, the fight for continued bimetallism was reaching a head and the political drama was intense. Republicans wanted only gold to be the official metal to back currency, which would restrict the money supply and, to them, be good for business. The Democrats and Populists wanted silver to be equal to gold. They believed that a tight money supply would hurt farmers and workers. The fight would come to a head in the election of 1896.

The symbolism of the struggle was clear. It was the ordinary working folks against the bankers and robber baron industrialists. The gap between those who have and those who have not was now well established. There was essentially no middle class.

The titans of industry combined their financial might and saw to it that William McKinley, Republican, defeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan. Business would continue as usual, and by 1900 the United States reverted to only gold as the metal that backed the country’s currency.

The United States considered itself to be an isolationist nation during the decades after the Civil War. While European countries increased their imperialistic drives to control Asian and African countries, the United States concentrated its focus on domestic issues.

The United States was not pulled into international affairs until the Spanish-American War in 1898. Cuba’s fight with Spain for its independence eventually involved the United States in a short war. In the end, Spain denounced all claims to Cuba and ceded the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico to the United States. The role of American imperialism had just begun to be debated.

In summary, the sixteen years between 1984 and 1900 in the United States was a duality of opposing views. As the world exists with opposing forces, such was the United States in 1900.

To many, it was an era of open imperialism. Greed and corruption. Unscrupulous politicians and business men. Unbridled capitalism. Scandal. Shady business practices. To others, it was modern America’s formative period, when a nation transformed into a world power dominated by industrial corporations.

Regardless of one’s view of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, society was a roller coaster ride of change at an unprecedented pace. There was no time for the nation to slow down and collect its breath. It had yet to realize that time would never come.

(3)

February, 1900. The last 15 years and 5 months. Kentucky. Kentucky’s population in 1900 was a little over two million. Louisville was still the largest city and Lexington still second largest. Both were growing.

Agriculture was still its primary economic structure, but that was changing. Kentucky farmers started to abandon rye, corn, and wheat to turn their fields into the more profitable tobacco. At the turn of the century, Kentucky was well on its way to leading the nation in tobacco production. Less diversity in agricultural products and increased attention to golden tobacco hurt Kentucky farmers when the American Tobacco Company monopolized the industry. Violence erupted over this situation.

The liquor industry, legal and illegal, flourished. Kentucky was producing almost a third of the nation’s distilled spirits. A downturn occurred during the Panic of 1893. More pressure was coming with the rising temperance movement and it was clear to many that government control was in the future of the liquor industry.

Kentucky owned over ninety percent of the hemp market in the United States near the turn of the century, but it was a declining industry outside of Kentucky’s control. The iron and timber industries were also diminishing.

The new kids to Kentucky’s economic neighborhood were coal, oil, and minerals. Railroad growth to isolated areas attracted outside money to harvest these commodities. Small rural areas became boom towns overnight. The downside was that these valuable resources were being shipped to other parts of the country, spawning no secondary industry in Kentucky.

Lexington native James Allen had become nationally and internationally known through his latest novel, The Chair Invisible. John Fox, Annie Johnson, and a host of others were starting to carve out recognizable writing careers. Mary Anderson of Louisville had debuted at Louisville’s premier theatre, Macauley’s, and by 1900, she was an internationally renowned stage actress.

In 1901 the Kentucky Derby had crowned it’s twenty-seventh winner. An African-American jockey had won the Derby three times. The enamel bathtub, invented in Louisville, was gaining market penetration. Two sisters in Louisville composed a birthday song titled Good Morning to All. John Hillerich registered the name ‘Louisville Slugger’ at the US Patent Office and started making baseball bats in earnest. Efforts were being made to make Lexington’s John Bibb’s lettuce variety commercially available.

Technology had increased the speed of printing and newspapers were becoming a force in American life for news. There were now county, state, regional, and national newspapers. The news was a profitable business that came with muckraking and sensationalism. This didn’t bode well for Kentucky’s decrepit side.

Kentucky received a lot of negative national publicity in the last fifteen years of the 19th century. There were three main reasons: fighting, feuding, and feckless government. Kentucky had the reputation of being one of the most violent states in the nation. At every election there were fights, many with guns. The Regulators who organized after the war continued to operate locally. Under the banner of bringing justice to their area, they decided unilaterally who was guilty and what the punishment should be. There were 166 lynchings in Kentucky the last twenty-five years of the century. The law lagged behind everything. The Regulators appeared to be in charge.

This type of Regulator violence was prevalent in the south under different names. However, another type of violence that differentiated Kentucky from other southern states was the family feuds. They were prevalent. Martin-Tolliver-Logan. Howard-Turner. French-Eversole. Baker-White. Amis-Strong-Little. And of course the infamous Hatfield-McCoy which involved two state governments.

Add to this feuding Kentucky’s inept political system of corruption and nepotism and you had a Churchill Downs three-time winner. Kinship in Kentucky had always been strong. Families continued to vote in blocs and successful candidates did what was necessary to gain as many family blocs as possible – including buying votes. Candidates gained black miners’ votes for some whiskey and a dollar. Voting again in another location for another shot and buck was not uncommon.

There was little question that the elected victor could appoint supporters to key positions. Naming family and friends to local office was just an accepted practice. Professional staffs didn’t exist. Each county and each city had its own little political fiefdom ruling its territory. Backrooms were a typical location where deals were brokered, local decisions were made, votes were controlled, and elections were won.

Political power didn’t have to be geographical. Lobbies had influence. Many legislators were on the payroll of the powerful Louisville and Nashville Railroad. Agricultural alliances such as the Grange and Farmers’ Alliance demanded legislative promises.

Political talk was cheap, the legislators did little, and a series of weak governors with few initiatives were elected to serve the people. The one major legislation that emerged was a watered-down new state constitution.

Since 1855, the Democrats had held a stronghold on Kentucky politics. Twelve Democrat governors followed each other to the statehouse. This changed in 1895, when Republicans won the governorship with the help of the American Protective Association, a secret fraternal group opposed to Catholics and immigrants.

The governor’s election of 1899 demonstrated the ferocity of Kentucky politics. Republican William Taylor defeated Democrat William Goebel by 2,000 votes out of over 300,000 votes cast. The Board of Elections declared Taylor the winner and he was sworn in. Within weeks the Democratic majority in the General Assembly began an investigation to determine if Taylor had used wrongdoings in being elected. Pure Republican hatred.

While Goebel was waiting for the investigative decision he was shot, but did not die. A day later, the Assembly declared Goebel to be the governor and he was sworn in from his bedside. Three days later Goebel died of his wounds and his Democrat Lieutenant, J.W. Beckham, took office. Taylor had been governor about three weeks and Goebel about three days. Democrats had once again taken the reins of leadership. In one six-week period, the state of Kentucky had four governors.

Three Republicans, one being Governor Taylor and another the secretary of state, were accused of Goebel’s shooting. No one went to jail after eight years of hung-jury trials. Kentucky received much negative national publicity for this incident.

The combination of general violence perpetrated by the Regulators, family feuds, and Kentucky’s inept political system provided some dream storylines for newspaper copywriters. The pioneer culture of the self-sufficiency, rugged individualism and isolation west of the mountains was now gone from national consciousness. The new image of Kentucky was symbolized by a violent, ignorant, bloodthirsty and poor hillbilly. It was a stereotype that would haunt Kentucky for decades. Such was Kentucky’s luck.

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February, 1900. The last 15 years and 5 months. Carter County. In 1900, the population of Carter County was 20,228, an eight percent gain over the 1890 census, and sixty-one percent gain over the 1880 census. The county was growing quickly.

The county had voted for the winning President five of the previous eight Presidential elections. They voted three times for Benjamin Harrison over Grover Cleveland. Harrison won once and Cleveland twice.

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There were now fifty-two post offices in the county. That’s fifty-two postmasters and fifty-two named communities. They ranged from every corner of the county and covered every letter in the alphabet except the letters I, Q, X, and Y… Access, Blue Rock, Cresco, Deer Creek, Eby, Fitch, Gregoryville, Heflin, Jacobs, Kings Chapel, Littlejohn, Music, Nobleton, Olive Hill, Partlow, Riggs, Seney, Trace, Upper Tygart, Verdant, Whitt, Zula.

There were three major county newspapers in circulation: The Bugle Herald, The Carter County Bugle, and the Grayson Herald.

Carter County churches were strong, and more churches were being built. In 1890 there were fifty-seven congregations with twenty-two buildings. Christians. Disciples of Christ. Methodist Episcopal. Missionary Baptists were plentiful at the turn of the century. Willard. Grahn. Barretts Creek. Denton was next.

Where there are people, there is work and business. The county was flush with general merchandise, grocery, jewelry, furniture stores, hotels and restaurants. There were attorneys everywhere and the medical register between 1889 and 1900 listed over fifty physicians.

Education had made collaborative strides. The county had over 100 school districts. Each one was divided into eight educational divisions with one County Superintendent. Each division had a trustee who was chairman of that division plus being a member of the county educational board. The state supported Carter County’s education by granting $2.00 per student.

The Carter Caves area covers around 2,000 acres. Colonel John Ratcliff is recorded to own Carter Caves as far back as 1856. There was always speculation that gold and silver resided in the veins of the Caves. After the war the Colonel started selling off parcels of land, but he kept the mineral rights in hopes of striking it rich.

The Ashland Daily Independent reported that a Buffalo, New York company purchased some Cave land and built a hotel in the 1880s. The Colonel traded even-up 500 acres of tillable Cave land to Silas Maggard in 1894 for Maggard’s farm in Elliot County. Ratcliff believed there were silver mines on Maggard’s farm. But silver was never found in either location. The Maggard family migrated to Carter County and started selling off parcels of their parcel.

The oldest road in Carter County, the ‘Greenupburg Road’, was still a viable artery where supplies were brought down to the county from the Ohio River. The Buffalo Trail was now the Midland Trail. It extended the length of Kentucky. Taverns were spaced apart about a day’s ride. Lodging, food, and alcohol were always for sale.

Still, the biggest economic impact on Carter County was the railroad. It continued to grow. By 1900, there were over 3,000 miles of track in Kentucky. By 1886, the Chesapeake and Ohio had acquired the EL&BS and was leasing the AC&I. There were connectors, spurs, and tramways off the C&O mainline that reached the timber, coal, limestone, and clay.

There were over 1,600 farms in Carter County, and farmers could continue to get their product to distant markets. Many of them followed other Kentucky farmers and converted their farmland to grow the more profitable tobacco. Harvested tobacco was transported to a warehouse in Grayson where it was shipped by rail to Louisville.

The iron furnaces were no longer, but coal had supplanted and surpassed iron production as the main economic driver in 1900. Timber started to diminish somewhat in 1893. However, Carter County was one of the leading coal producing counties in the country. One benefit was that Carter’s coal was close to the Ashland iron furnaces which had converted from charcoal to coal for fuel.

The coal mines were in eastern Carter. Willard. Denton. Mt. Savage. Music. Coal production increased from 28,246 tons in 1890 to 260,000 tons in 1901. The state began to pay attention to miner safety about the same time miners became restless. Some went on strike for higher wages.

Carter County’s newest industry, brick-making, had just got a foothold by the turn of the century. Carter Countians were just realizing that they might have an extensive deposit of fireclay. Sebastian Eifort had been mining clay up Perry’s Branch north of Olive Hill since the mid-1880s. He had the clay hauled by mules to Charles Taylor’s brick plant near Portsmouth.

The clay was of such fine quality for refractory purposes that it was next delivered in 1886 to the Ashland Fire Brick Company and then three years later to the Louisville Fire Brick Works. Eventually, outside entrepreneurs realized that the fireclay deposit around Olive Hill was potentially massive. They gambled and built Kentucky’s first interior brick making plant in 1895 at Olive Hill, the Olive Hill Fire Brick Company.

The fireclay that was first used to make bricks was mined from Aden. Shortly after, a solid bed of fireclay was discovered up Perry’s Branch. This vein averaged sixteen feet in thickness, and in some places, was twenty-seven feet thick.

Two hangings occurred in Carter County in the 1880s and 1890s. One hanging was legal and the other was vigilante justice.

A few miles south of Willard, Austin Porter broke into his ex-wife’s house at 3:00 a.m. on May 26, 1882 and stabbed her while she was sleeping. He later surrendered and was placed in the Carter County jail. Three weeks later an armed mob of between 100 and 150 men from the Willard area commandeered a train, traveled to Grayson, and convinced the jailer to turn Porter over to them.

The mob took Porter back to Willard where they hung him over a bridge. The rope snapped on their first try and Porter plummeted into the creek. He was fished out, a new knot tied, and successfully hanged on the second attempt. He was left to dangle there the next day as men, women, and children viewed the hanging corpse. An inquest determined that Porter died of strangulation of a rope, placed thereupon by whom we don’t know.

James Dewitt was hanged legally in May of 1896. Dewitt was separated from his wife when, in November of 1895, he choked her during an argument. He tied a shawl around her neck to hide his fingerprints and hid her body in the bushes. He moved her body twice to continue concealing it. A search party was formed to look for the missing Mrs. Dewitt. James joined the search party claiming he knew nothing about her whereabouts.

Her body was found in the woods and James eventually admitted to killing her. He was found guilty and a crowd of over 5,000 attended his Grayson hanging.

At the end of the century, Carter Countians responded to the national call for volunteers to fight in the Spanish-American War. Over one-hundred men formed Company F and mustered in at Lexington’s Camp Corbin in July, 1898. They traveled to Camp Shipp in Anniston, Alabama in September. They did not get to Cuba to fight and were mustered out in February of 1899.

Like the rest of the Commonwealth, like the rest of the country, life in Carter County was accelerating with no end in sight.

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February, 1900. The last 15 years and 5 months. The Reed Family. There were now twenty-one gravestones in the Reed family cemetery, but only seventeen bodies. Everyone knew that Isaac was buried in Virginia, Charles’ body was never recovered, and Pal, Noah’s loyal dog, was buried in Maysville. No one still alive knew that Noah and Beth’s mother, Victoria, was not actually buried there. Whatever happened to her was still unknown.

Beth Tappen was the last Reed to be buried there. She died peacefully in her sleep in August of 1889 in North Braddock, Pennsylvania at the age of seventy-five.

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February, 1900. The last 15 years and 5 months. Beth Tappen. Beth had left Olive Hill in August of 1887 to live with daughter Victoria and Nathan. Zeke and Addy’s oldest, Alexander, was over two years old now, and Cora Beth, Zeke and Addy’s second child, was over a year old. When Zeke, Beth’s grandnephew, decided that he was moving the family from Olive Hill to Middlesborough, Beth knew it was time to take up Victoria’s long-standing offer to come live with the Walsh family in Pennsylvania.

In her short time there, Beth had made some friends at St. Joseph’s. She had done some charitable work at the church and school. The kids loved her. However, other than those times, she spent most of her time inside the house by herself or spending time with Winifred and Andrew. She had no desire to go to Pittsburgh as did Nathan and Victoria.

She continued to write to friends, especially Harriet. Harriet Beecher Stowe was still in Connecticut, but was of ill health. The Washington Post reported that the celebrated author had dementia. Victoria wrote to Harriet informing her of Beth’s death.

Beth had stopped writing articles years ago, but had continued to write poetry, which she never submitted. Most of her family and friends never knew she was such a talented writer.

She had fifteen sealed boxes of papers that she insisted be moved from Olive Hill to North Braddock…otherwise, she was not moving. Nathan shook his head at the ultimatum, but knew he had to acquiesce and made arrangements that the boxes be transported. After Beth’s death, Victoria opened some of the boxes to find a treasure trove of autographed books, letters, and poetry. Beth had all of her husband’s letters, including those while Simon was at West Point and in Mexico.

Beth had saved letters from her friends in Boston, Mansfield, and even a few from Olive Hill. She had kept letters she had received from her son Simon William during the war and when Simon and Zeke were in Minnesota. And, of course, she kept all letters from Victoria, including the time Nathan and Victoria were in D.C. and Louisiana.

Beth had all of Harriet Stowe’s books, autographed. Uncle Tom’s Cabin had a special heartwarming note to Beth. Beth had kept all of Harriet’s correspondence and all letters she had exchanged over the years with Mary Lincoln. She had a dozen letters she had saved from George Meade. The General had kept in touch with her since Simon’s death in Mexico. The last letter she had received from him was in 1870, two years before his death.

She even had two letters from Reverend John Rankin, the abolitionist she met while at Catharine Beecher’s school in Cincinnati. And, there was a series of notes that Beth had made concerning John Brown, the unusual man she had met in Boston. She had followed his exploits after meeting him in the church, although there were no letters directly from him.

She had hundreds of poems, some written on plain paper, some on envelopes, and some on the back of articles she had submitted to papers under her penname ‘S. Paap’.

Victoria resealed the boxes and stored them, vowing to go through them carefully in the future with the vision to possibly publish some of her mother’s writings.

Victoria had received special permission from the diocese bishop to hold a memorial service at St. Joseph’s. She wanted to bury her mother at St. Joseph’s, but Nathan knew that Victoria knew that Beth demanded to be buried with family in Olive Hill.

So, all of the Walsh family escorted Beth’s coffin back to Olive Hill. Andrew, Victoria’s son, was six years old by then. He had been to the Olive Hill before, but was way too young to remember. These were his first indelible memories. Victoria was able to give him his first real history of the Reed family.

Victoria had telegraphed Zeke in Middlesborough about Beth’s death. Zeke confirmed the news and stated that he and family would be there for the burial.

Since Beth and Zeke’s old houses were now occupied by the Jones family, the Zeke-Reed family and Victoria-Reed-Walsh family found themselves staying at the hotel in Olive Hill. Everyone was able to get caught up on the last year. It was a grand Reed-Walsh reunion. In addition it was a grand reunion between Addy and her family.

Victoria also telegraphed the county papers about Beth’s passing and the date of the graveside service. She also took the time to telegraph the paper in Mansfield, not knowing if anybody had remembered her.

Minister Kibbey had died in 1883. James Everman conducted the graveside service. He was very eloquent and knowledgeable about Beth’s history. There were a lot more people in attendance than expected. Bertie and Emmy had prepared some food, but not nearly enough for all those who had shown up.

For Beth Reed, it was a life well lived. She was born in Olive Hill, grew up in Lexington, educated in Lexington and Cincinnati. She fell in love with a West Point graduate and lived for years in Boston. When her husband was killed in the Mexican War, she moved to Mansfield, Ohio with her children to be with her father. She returned to Olive Hill upon his death and stayed there until she finished her years with her daughter in Pennsylvania.

In 1900 she was still remembered and missed…

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February, 1900. The last 15 years and 5 months. Zeke and Addy Reed and family. Alexander Noah Reed was born May 5, 1885 in Olive Hill, Kentucky. He was Zeke and Addy’s first child. Cora Beth Reed, their second child, was born April 9, 1886 in Olive Hill Kentucky. And their third child, Raymond Simon Reed was born July 4, 1888 in Middlesborough, Kentucky.

Raymond was not born in Olive Hill because Zeke Reed moved his wife and two children to Middlesborough, Kentucky in September of 1887. They moved back to Lawton in August, 1892.

The last sixteen years were tumultuous for the Reed family. Life took a sharp turn for Zeke Reed in early 1887. He had just returned from attending Wily Bartee’s funeral in Denton when he received a telegraph from an Alexander Arthur in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Mr. Reed…will pay you $500 to come to Yellow Creek, Kentucky in March to explore joining our surveying team. Am aware of your work at Kentucky prison and Minnesota railroad. No commitment required once you are here.

Alexander Arthur

The offer was too intriguing and the payment too large to turn down. Zeke asked Gar’s brother Glyn to come down from Soldier and stay at the house for two weeks. Zeke felt somewhat uncomfortable, but comfortable enough, to leave Addy and the children under the care of Gar, Glyn, and Beth. Addy’s father Emerick also indicated that he would ride the train down on each of the two weekends to check on them.

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Zeke had to first find out where Yellow Creek was. Yellow Creek was a small settlement located in a valley just west of the Cumberland Gap in Bell County. Zeke was especially intrigued because he knew that his great-grandfather, Samuel, had passed through the Gap with his father Charles in 1800 on their way from Virginia to Kentucky. Zeke had never been on the Wilderness Road.

He packed his bag and took the west bound train to Winchester and then another one south bound to Corbin, where he rented a horse to cover the last forty-five miles to Yellow Creek. The area was beautiful, and Zeke found the ride exhilarating. It seemed like Minnesota, untouched by man, not like what he was experiencing in the new coal fields of Carter County.

When he arrived in Yellow Creek he found a small, one street community with only a few structures. He had to ask around to find the gentleman who sent him the telegraph.

Mr. Reed, said the forty-year old Scottish engineer, I’m Alexander Arthur. Thank you for coming to Yellow Creek.

Zeke was not sure he liked him from the start. Alexander Arthur was dressed in a double-breasted English-style frock coat that hung to his knees. Zeke knew from experience that anyone who seemed that sure of himself was more air than substance.

Alexander Arthur said nothing else until he reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of bills and handed Zeke $500. Your reputation precedes you, Mr. Reed. I have some plans for this area and I would like you to join us in making this area the ‘Pittsburgh of the South’.

Zeke was certainly curious. He sat with Mr. Arthur while he described his vision. Alexander Arthur had migrated from Scotland and settled in Boston. He became general manager of timber operations in the rugged Blue Ridge mountains near the North Carolina-Tennessee border. From there, he visited the Cumberland Gap region where he discovered a large amount of iron ore deposits.

It’s simple, Mr. Reed. I and my investors now own over 20,000 acres of land here. I’m buying more, maybe up to 100,000 acres. We have plans to develop a multi-million dollar iron ore operation while transforming this rough frontier community into a grand city, including hotels, businesses, and maybe a college. I’m going to convince a railroad company to build a spur to transport the iron ore out to the world. I have two surveyors now and I would like you to join us in fulfilling my vision.

Zeke was stunned. He knew this could be done because he had seen it happen in Minnesota when the iron ore there was discovered. Zeke stayed silent for a while as Mr. Arthur let his news sink in.

Finally, he spoke, Are you married, Mr. Reed?

Yes, I have a wife and two children in Olive Hill in Carter County.

Then I’m going to make you an offer that hopefully you can’t refuse. I would like you to return to Olive Hill and make whatever arrangements you need to relocate your family here by September, sooner if you could. There is a lot of surveying work to be done.

Zeke continued to say nothing. Mr. Arthur reached inside his coat and pulled out a pencil and piece of paper. He wrote on it, folded it, and slid it across the table to Zeke.

"And this is what I’m willing to