Downingsville

Like so many small villages in frontier America, Downingsville, on the "Bonnie Eagle" creek or Big Eagle, is gone as if a page torn from an old book. Although it is marked as a place on some county maps, most state maps or atlases do not mark its location. Downingsville is not designated by a road sign today and does not appear to have been in recent years. Williamstown, the county seat of justice, is located 10.8 miles to the east on Kentucky 36 via Four Corners and Stewartsville. Jonesville, whose prosperity probably contributed to Downingsville's decline, is located 3.4 miles (on Highway 36) to the west on the Grant-Owen County border.

Early settlers of Grant County, such as my Bickers ancestors, chose to farm land along and near Eagle Creek in the vicinity of Downingsville, but, today, it is not known whether there are any remaining foundations of homes or stores to identify old Downingsville. [The high, old concrete bridge foundations are barely visible in the thick trees on the riverbank from the new highway.  RLB, March 2001.]

Evidently, the beauty and fertility of the area motivated people to settle this part of Grant County. One today can perhaps appreciate the pioneers' love of the land near Eagle Creek by this description of James T. Franks' property in 1901.

"One of the loveliest farms and one of the most beautiful homes in Grant County is the farm and home of J. T. Franks, on Eagle Creek, near Folsom. Six hundred and fifty acres of beautiful bottom land encircled by the green hills and everlasting bluffs of old Eagle, and with its historic stream, as winding as a serpent's trail, meandering its length through this farm, it makes indeed a beautiful picture...a royal domain." His farm, "is about equally divided between valley and hill land, all of it very rich and productive."

One of the earliest historical mentions of Downingsville is in Lewis Collins' noted History of Kentucky, (page 325) published in 1847, twenty-seven years after the formation of Grant County from western Pendleton County.

Downingsville was one of the only three Grant County towns noted, along with Williamstown (established in 1825 with an 1846 population of 350) and Crittenden (established in 1831 with a population of 250).

Collins' reference follows, in its entirety: "Downingsville is a small village, situated ten miles west from Williamstown, and contains one tavern, one doctor, one lawyer, one store, a few mechanics, and thirty inhabitants."

The May 30, 1901 souvenir edition of the Williamstown Courier provides the following reference to Downingsville (note the "s"): Downingsville is a village on both sides of the bridge at Eagle Creek thirteen miles west of Williamstown. Two stores, a blacksmith shop, and one saloon make up the business industry. One of the two stores referred to belonged to W. P. Kinman, "Eagle Creek's Hotel Man and General Merchant" (Courier, page 49). Here follows the complete text:

On the waters of "Bonnie Eagle", half way between Williamstown and Owenton (Owen County), where the Downingsville bridge spans the stream, is a town historic in pleasant memories. The village is Down(s)ingsville, and for years and years she has been a voting precinct, having a post office and a store and a Democratic majority never less than a hundred, and frequently running to two hundred or more.

Just over the bridge, in the peaceful valley, in a hundred yards of the stream, lives William P. Kinman, whose beautiful cottage residence is made a part of this sketch. For many years he has taken care of the wayfaring stranger, whose footsteps have guided him to Downingsville, giving him food and rest and the wherewith to quench his thirst. His hostelry is noted far and wide for his completeness of entertainment and the geniality of its landlord. In connection with his hotel he runs a livery stable, a general store and a saloon, and has a monopoly of the neighborhood trade for miles around.

Being born in Downingsville, and being a Kinman, he could not be other than a Democrat, for no Kinman that we ever heard of ever voted other than the Democratic ticket. He has reared several boys, all of whom are like the father and are "jolly and good fellows".

The precise date of the founding of Downingsville is not known, but the Downingsville Post Office was created in 1843 or 1844 according to lists complied (from U. S. post office microfilm at the National Archives) by Russell Stevens and Mark Risen. Steven's list indicated the first postmaster in 1843 was George Renneckar (Renaker) with Chapman Coleman succeeding him in 1844. However, Risen's list indicated Lawson Hopper was the first postmaster, but the year is noted "??". From Coleman forward their lists agree.

The "Mark Risen Downingsville Postmasters List" follows:

One of the best clues to the origin of the name "Downingsville" is provided the Courier newspaper issue, aforementioned. It contains nearly 300 biographical sketches and pictures of Grant County's leading citizens in 1901. In the bio sketch for Williamstown Postmaster John A. McPherson is the following significant reference to the naming and founding of Downingsville:

Mr. McPherson was united in marriage to Miss Bette Carter Downing, daughter of John H. and Lucy H. Downing (founder of the Democratic precinct of the Downingsville in Grant County (Courier, page 45.).

However, if the Downing family were a prolific or prominent family at its founding, by the time the 1860 census was taken there were only five Downings enumerated in Grant County. Bette C. Downing, a girl of 14 born in Kentucky, resided with the family of James A. and Lucy H .Johnson in the Downingsville P. O. area. In the Gouge (later Mason) P. O. area, the family of William and Frances A. Downing, resided. He was a farmer, aged 57 and she was 46. Their two children, Margaret E. and Frank Tunis, were 10 and 1, respectively. All were born in Kentucky.

Two observations should be made at this juncture. First, it would seem plausible that Betty C. Downing's mother, Lucy H., is the same as Lucy H. (Mrs. James A.) Johnson in the 1860 census. Secondly, John A. McPherson's bio sketch has a subtitle which read, he was a "Coal Merchant and Leading Republican Politician." We shall see later how Downingsville was a resolute Democratic stronghold in Grant County. His marriage to a Downingsville native daughter probably stirred the political pie! Staunch Republican that McPherson was, this may account for his residence in Williamstown.

By 1860, it is natural to expect that many of Grant County and Downingsville residents would be native born. Indeed, according to the 1860 census, the overwhelming majority were born in Kentucky. Those Downingsville area residents not Kentucky born were natives of 15 other states and 3 foreign countries. Virginia leads the list of states with 34 natives followed by Tennessee (12), Indiana (9), Illinois and Ohio (5), Delaware and Pennsylvania (4), North Carolina and Maryland (3), New Jersey and Missouri (2) and one each from Mississippi, Iowa, Louisiana and Texas.

The three residents of foreign birth were (1) Pierce Kent, 47, of Ireland (2) John McGregory, 39, a stone mason of Scotland, and (3) Franklin Elderidge or Elder, 18, day laborer of Germany. Interestingly, my third great-grandfather, Morgan Bickers, is incorrectly noted as a native of Kentucky in this 1860 census, when, in fact, he was a Virginia native, born in Orange County, 1799. He died in 1861 in Grant County.

As one might expect in 1860 rural Kentucky, Downingsville area residents were mostly farmers by occupation. However, there were other forms of employment such as two domestics (women housekeepers), five school teachers, two ministers, one stone mason, one wagon maker, three merchants, one constable, two wool carders, one blacksmith, one cabinet maker, one lawyer, two carpenters, on (black?) overseer, one miller, one physician, and one engineer.

Although agriculture dominated the economy and farmers were its backbone, other occupations such as those noted contributed to the society in Downingsville, to wit:

Rebecca William and Mary C. Richardson were domestics.
School teachers were James Williams, age 80, born in Virginia and Alfred Bickers, 29, the son of Uriah Bickers Sr. who would soon serve as a Union officer in the Civil War. Two "common school teachers" were Simon P. Gossett, 28, and Henry M. Reed, 22, both born in Kentucky, Susan Chappell, 18, born in Kentucky, was a "school mistress."
The two ministers were John W. Lee, Baptist, 44, born in Kentucky and Jesse B. Locke, "M. E. S." (Methodist Episcopal South), 34, born in Kentucky, wife, Lucinda and four young children. Rev. Locke may have been the preacher at the White Chapel Church near Holbrook and, therefore, the minister to the Author's Bickers ancestors.
The one stone mason was John McGregory.
The one wagon maker was Joseph C. Belew, 34, born in Kentucky.
The three merchants, presumably of Downingsville proper, were Presley Hansbrough, 40, of Virginia, William S. Ayers, and William R. Parrish.
The lone constable was 24 year old Reubin Hedger, born in Kentucky.
George S. and James Salyers were the two wool carders.
The blacksmith was John W. Puthuff, 22, of Kentucky.
Robert Chappell, 60, of Virginia, was the cabinet maker.
Twenty-nine year old George A. F. Lucas of Kentucky was the only lawyer.
Squire L. Lucas, 29, and Josiah C. Evans, 27, both of Kentucky, were the carpenters.
The overseer was Joseph McMillian, 39, of Kentucky.
Arch Caldwell, 52, of Kentucky, was the miller.
The sole engineer was James D. Kennedy, 39, a native of Ohio.

Mary A. Childers, 87, of Virginia, was the oldest person enumerated in the Downingsville Post Office area of the 1860 census. As the head of household, she was a farmer with real estate valued at $3,280 and personal property valued at $2,000.

In the 1860 census, there were 239 "dwellings" or homes enumerated in the Downingsville Post Office area. Many of these were large families whose means of support was largely farming. Joseph Stewart had the largest family with 14 under his roof. Some other large families were those of William Jump (13) and James A Webster (12). Eleven persons occupied the homes of Morgan Bickers, Thomas J. Stiggers, Lewis Ford, John Douglass, James D. Bennett, John P. Evans, Henry Childers, and John J. Hensley. Ten people resided in the homes of John Wood, Jesse E. Smith, Samual Kinman, William S. Chrisman, John Stewart, Charles J. Dunn, Preston L. Shelton, and Henry Long.

A "typical" Downingsville family of 1860 would be that of my third great-grandfather, Morgan Bickers. He was a farmer with a large family of eleven, nine of them children aged 4 to 19 by his second wife, Jemima G. Williams. In 1860, Morgan was 62 and his wife, 43. He was not the poorest or the richest of farmers, if we consider his real estate was valued at $1, 160 and his personal property was worth $250. He never owned more than 200 acres in Grant County. Most of that land was on the Eagle or Stevens Creeks.

Of the numerous biographical sketches in the 1901 Williamstown Courier, the following notable citizens had Downingsville connections: Horatio Arnold, William Cates, Robert H. Childers, J. T. Chipman, Milton Jump, T. J. Jump, Pierce Kent, Robert L. Kinman, W. P Kinman, D. C. Pettit, Dudley Starnes (an "uncompromising Democrat") and Dr. J. M. Wilson.

History of Grant County, John B. Conrad, Editor
Published by The Grant County Historical Society
Williamstown, Kentucky
Article by Robert L. (Bob) Bickers, 1992.

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