HERREN’S in TRANSYLVANIA COMPANY LANDS

As the Revolutionary War was ending in 1783, the HERREN’S in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and South Carolina began to look to the “new west” on the other side of the Applachian’s, especially to the land being opened by the Transylvania Company.

After the failed attempts to set up new colonies on land that actually belonged to Virginia, the Carolina colonists who had made up the Watauga Association and the Transylvania Company lead the exploration efforts into the lands west of the mountains. Hunters and explorers led by men like Daniel Boone marked the Wilderness Road through Cumberland Gap and made regular trips into the territory.

Between 1785 and 1790 the westward migration began to flourish as the groups of German and Scotish-Irish from Pennsylvania made their way southward along the Great Valley until they met their fellow countrymen and kinsmen coming up from South Carolina and across North Carolina. Joining forces, they spearheaded the flow of settlers into presend day Kentucky and Tennessee. As this group was following the Wilderness Road, other kinsmen of the same group were making their way down the Ohio River from the Pittsburg area on flatboats.

The extreme eastern portions of both Kentucky and Tennessee were populated quickly because both North Carolina and Virginia provided land grants in those areas for military service in the Revolutionary War and for other services to the colonies. The actual boundary for this westward migration was along the Kentucky River with Shelbyville as an assembly point for most of the people coming into Transylvania Company lands.

The term “Transylvania Company Lands” is naturally a misnomer since the land claims of Colonel Richard Henderson were declared invalid. In addition, land he supposedly purchased from the Indians in central and western Tennessee and Kentucky was not recognized because the Indians who allegedly sold the land didn’t own it. Even with these setbacks, Colonel Henderson’s Transylvania Company is credited with opening the land for settlement. Henderson did receive over two hundred thousand acres of land for his service. This grant was called the Transylvania Landed Estates and is centered in the area settled by the HERREN family in western Kentucky.

The boundaries of the Transylvania Company land was the Kentucky River on the East, the Cumberland River on the west, the Ohio River on the North and Fort Nashboro, later Nashville, on the Cumberland on the South. Early records from Tennessee and Kentucky show family members at various locations in both states, but most of them and up toward the west central sections. The largest concentration in Tennessee was from Nashville west to Benton County near Camden, an area called Rushing Creek. The largest settlement in Kentucky was inside the land given to Colonel Henderson, in present day Webster County and corners of Hopkins, Union and Henderson Counties.

One of the first listings in Kentucky records is the entry of John Herron in Nelson County in 1790. This is probably the “Old” John who settled in Hopkins County around 1800 because records show letters waiting at the post office in Bardstown (Nelson County) for David Herron, the name of one of “Old” John’s sons. John could have lived around Bardstown for a period of time or he could have stopped at the famous “salt licks” of the area to reprovision his group as he traveled west. Another John Herron is shown arriving in Shelby County on August 25, 1800

followed by Sammuel Herron, another name well known in the family, who arrived on August 30, 1800.

The 1800 tax roll of Kentucky shows James Herren, Andrew Herrin, and Francis Herrin in Gerrard County; Smith and William Herrin in Harrison County; Daniel Herrin in Jefferson County; and Rueben Herrin, an ancestor on whom we have thorough records, in Henderson County, KY. These tax rolls show only the names of the head of household and their taxable tithes (servants, apprentices, etc.), but early court records list some of their business transactions.

William Herrin of Harrison County died in 1814 and his Will was recorded in Book A, page 224 of that county’s record. His wife was Anna and his sons were George, Ezerrah, and Sammuel. The Will was dated December 23, 1813 and probated in January 1814. The witnesses were Aquilla Perkins and Jonathan Marsh. It is believed that the sons of William migrated to Tennessee and settled among our immediate family.

Kentucky Court of Appeals land records show David Herron of Shelby County was granted a deed to a plot of land, probably a lot since acreage is not listed, in Shelbyville. James Herron of Richmond County received two deeds from the court; one for 1000 acres and another for a 1200 acre tract of land on Skaggle Creek. These two deeds for James indicate either an inheritance or a grant for military service during the Revolution.

In western Kentucky, Rueben Herrin is shown in Henderson County in 1800. He had made an earlier trip to the area just south of present day Poole, Kentucky in 1796 or 1797, then returned to his home near Pittsburg. Shortly before 1800, Rueben and his brother, William, and their families migrated to Kentucky coming by flatboat down the Ohio River. Their exact route isn’t known but most of the settlers coming down the river from Pennsylvania did not attempt to negotiate the “falls” at Louisville except during the summer months when the river was at its lowest point. While waiting for the low river stage, most turned their boats into the Kentucky River and anchored near Shelbyville and used Fort William, later called Carrolton, as the embarkation point. Many families used this area as an assembly point before moving west and this is a very likely scenario for our family.

About the same time that Rueben and William were coming through Red Banks (Henderson) to what is now Webster County, John Herron (Old John) was settling land a few miles to the south near present day Nebo. Both of these areas were in Henderson County at the time since present boundaries had not been set. John, coming from North Carolina, probably followed the Wilderness Road to Shelbyville, then to Nelson County around Bardstown, then to Russelville, called “Rogue’s Harbor” because of its rowdyness, which was the next stop on the settler’s trail, and then to Nebo.

It is apparent that these two sets of HERREN’s knew each other because of the settlement pattern and because of correspondence between the family in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. (It is my belief that “Old” John was the uncle of William and Rueben and also the uncle of my forefathers, Beverly, Wesley, George and Enoch as well as Daniel who also came from Tennessee. “Old” John was probably the oldest of the group in Western Kentucky and the only first born American member of the family to make the trek to the new west.)

The acquisition of land by the family in Western Kentucky seems to have followed a well known “buffalo trace” or trail which was used by the Shawnee Indians when they traveled across Kentucky from Southern Illinois to the “Rogue’s Harbor” area to trade. The route became known as the Shawnee Trace and runs roughly parallel to presentday Hwy. 41A through Webster and Hopkins Counties. William, Rueben and “Old” John acquired land along or adjacent to this “trace” almost in a line from just south of Poole to Nebo. Land records show the purchase or claiming of land along creeks and streams such as Silent Run, Highland Creek, and Rose Creek as well as other animal “traces” which led into the Shawnee Trace. One of the most prominent geographical features of the “trace” in Webster County was the “salt lick” near Jonesstand (present day Tilden). This is the same area that figured prominently in the escapades and folk stories about the outlaw Harpe Brothers who ravaged the area around Cave In Rock in Southern Illinois and Western Kentucky between 1798 and 1800. The head of one of the slain outlaws was displayed on land owned by Rueben Herrin.

HERREN land formed sort of a triangle which began with Rueben Herrin’s land at roughly the intersection of “Highway 41A and 57; running south through William Herrin’s land roughly along Hwy 41A to “Old” John’s just north of Nebo. Returning, the line would run just to the east of Shiloe (Lisman), crossing near Luzon (Little Zion) on to “Herrin Hill”; then to the starting point running near Boardly and Jonesstand. Of course, not all the land in this triangle was owned by family members, but this method gives a point of reference to show the settlement pattern of our forefathers.

As the west Kentucky settlement occurred, other members of the family were moving through central and west central Tennessee to Benton County near Camden. The relationship between these two groups is well documented. For example, four Herrin brothers migrated from the Rushing Creek settlement in Benton County back eastward to Webster County, Kentucky in 1846. And the Herrin’s who settled Southern Illinois around Herrin came from Davidson County, Tennessee to Hopkins County, Kentucky before moving to Illinois.

Early Tennessee records list numerous family names. As early as 1805, Issac Herrin is shown in Anderson County, near Knoxville. This is believed to be the same Issac who moved to Illinois to settle Herrin’s Prairie. His daughter, Sally, married David Herrin, son of “Old” john. The grandson of David and Sally was one of the founders of Herrin, Illinois.

By 1811, members of the Herren family are found in seven counties across Tennessee. John and James Herrin are listed in Williamson County in 1810. The next year, Heli, who later moved to Hopkins County, is shown in Sumner County; David and James Herron in White County; and Beverly, Sammuel or Lemmuel, and Calib Abimilick Herrin, one of my grandfathers, are found in Davidson County, around Nashville. In later years, Abimilick and his family moved to Benton County to join Joseph Rushing’s group in the community called Rushing Creek, near Camden.

From this point forward, each family group will be presented individually to show lineage and kinship.