New Settlers

At a time when many of the old and early settlers of Williamstown were dying off and moving away to other parts of the country, new people with new energies were moving into and settling in and around Williamstown. These people were to become large landholders, merchants, mechanics, mill operators, craftsmen and teachers. Many of them became small farmers and just citizens of the town.

Elias and Eliza Monroe Arnold and children moved from Hampshire County, Virginia to Pendleton County, Kentucky around the year 1831. There were twelve children in this family. There is no record that these Arnolds were related to William Arnold of early Williamstown. These Arnolds and Monroes, a family who came here with them, were large landholders in Pendleton County, around Morgan. One of the twelve children of Elias and Eliza Arnold, was Tilberry Miles Arnold. Tilberry lived a few miles east of Williamstown on the Falmouth (now Kentucky 22 East). Tilberry married Elizabeth Polk and had ten children, and several of them moved to Williamstown.

Charles and Margaret Robinson West moved to Grant County in the year 1836 and settled about three miles east of Williamstown on the Falmouth Road. Charles and family came to Grant County from Garrard County, Kentucky, near Lancaster. He was a shoe cobbler. He had a family of seven children, one of which was Richard West. Richard became a blacksmith and a prominent farmer and owned over 800 acres of land. He had a family of ten children.

Jacob and Rebecca Bowman Isaacs (Isaaks) and family came to Grant County around 1846. They came from that part of Clay County, Kentucky that is now Owsley County. Jacob and his family settled about three miles west of Williamstown on the Withers Mill Road. He became a very large landholder, owning land from Williamstown to near Stewartsville. He later sold most of his land in that area and moved to Williamstown and then in the 1870s, he moved to Mason where he died. Jacob and Rebecca had a family of nine children. One of the daughters married into the Woodyard family.

Just after the great fire in Williamstown in 1856, thirty-six members of the Hardy and Mary Elizabeth McJunkin Phillips family, including the Jacob and Elizabeth Phillips Bowman family, migrated from Owsley County to the Region Road area, southeast of Williamstown. These families became farmers and blacksmiths. After the Civil War, although Union veteran Asa and Margaret Pennington Phillips migrated to Illinois, and Charles and Lauretta Hazelwood Phillips migrated to Idaho, other children, such as Jemima Phillips Anglin, William and Mary Elizabeth Pennington Phillips, stayed in this area, with descendants now working in Williamstown.

James Kells migrated to Kentucky from Ireland in 1845. He first settled in Boone County, then later in Grant County about two miles south of Williamstown on the Cynthiana Road. He later built a home near the Pendleton County line east of Williamstown, near the old town Doudton. Mr. Kells was a Union soldier in the Civil War. He lost a leg at the battle of Jonesboro, Georgia. He had a large family of thirteen children. He was a large landholder, and his descendants live in Williamstown today.

Thomas Adams, born in Pennsylvania, came to Kentucky around 1804 and settled in Boone County. He later came to Williamstown around 1845 and settled in the Fairview community. Mr. Adams was a farmer and large landholder. He had a large family and owned several slaves. He has many descendants living in Boone, Grant and Pendleton Counties, and in the Williamstown and Fairview area.

R. H. O'Hara came to Williamstown just after the Civil War from Owen County, Kentucky. He was the son of an Irishman, James O'Hara, who migrated to America in 1798. Mr. O'Hara was a doctor and druggist, and in 1878 he retired from the medical profession and devoted mot of his life to his drug store, which he owned and operated on Main Street in Williamstown, and the banking business. He was a past president of the Grant County Deposit Bank. Mr. O'Hara was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1890 from Grant County. He was also the Master Commissioner for the Grant County Courts. He was a well-known citizen and business in Williamstown for over forty years.

Doctor John M. Wilson, a graduate of Ohio Medical College, came to Williamstown from Pendleton County in 1857. He set up a practice, became a banker and large land holder, and bought a piece of land connected with the old Collins Hotel (which had been destroyed by a fire a year or so earlier). On Paris Street, he built a large home, which stood until the 1970s. Dr. Wilson was also one of the founders of the Webb Academy, a private school (1874-1890) in Williamstown.

John Carnes, farmer, miller, lawyer and Civil War veteran, lived at Mt. Zion before coming to Williamstown. After the Civil War, he came to Williamstown and set up a law practice. He practiced his profession in Williamstown for nearly 30 years before moving to Kansas, where he later died.

N. C. Tunis, hardware merchant, came to Williamstown in the 1840s and established a hardware business near the now Williamstown Baptist Church across from the Williamstown Post Office on Main Street. Mr. Tunis has descendants living in Williamstown today.

John T. Sheriff, an Irishman, came to Williamstown around 1840 and was employed at the N. C. Tunis Hardware Store. He later bought into the business.

E. H. Smith was a prominent attorney, banker and Grant County Court Clerk. In 1863 he was elected to State Legislature. He was one of the organizers of the Bank of Williamstown. He was born in Barren County, Kentucky in 1827 and came to Williamstown in 1847.

D. L. Cunningham, miller and businessman came to Williamstown in 1851 and established a stream flouring mill, located on Licking Street, now Mill Street.

William Cates came to Grant County in 1857 and ran a store at Downingsville. Later, he moved to Williamstown and ran for Jailer, a position he held for several years.

John Dunn, an Irishman, migrated to Williamstown in 1854 and established a marble works on South Main Street, making mostly tombstones. His location was near the old Grant County News Building.

William Webb Sr. and family came to Grant County in 1847 and settled in the Cordova neighborhood. Three of his sons who came to Grant County with him, came to Williamstown shortly after the Civil War. John H. Webb, William Webb and James P. Webb were farmers and businessmen in the community. James P. Webb was Sheriff and Grant County Court Clerk several times throughout his life.

Lawrence Cavanaugh, an Irishman, came to Williamstown in 1850 and established a carpenter's trade. He was quite a wealthy man at the time of his death. He was president and one of the organizers of the Grant County Deposit Bank.

H. D. Stratton was born in Ross County, Ohio in 1822. He came to Grant County in the early 1850s. He was one of the Superintendents of the Grant County Schools. He was a veteran of the Mexican War in 1848. He died in Williamstown in 1896.

History of Grant County, Kentucky
John B. Conrad, Editor.

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