Lincoln

1. Click a county name to learn about its delegates Woodford Mason Jefferson Fayette Bourbon Mercer Nelson Madison Lincoln In April of 1792, in a log cabin in Danville, 45 elected delegates met to make decisions about the form of government for the new state of Kentucky and to write its first Constitution. Five delegates had been elected to represent each of the nine counties in the Kentucky District of Virginia. They were farmers and militiamen, lawyers and ministers, future governors and legislators. Few of the rugged frontiersmen who first settled the Kentucky wilderness participated. Many delegates were major land holders and slave owners. These men were the first to set the course for the newly independent Commonwealth of Kentucky.

2. Lincoln County Click a name to learn more about the founding father Isaac Shelby Benedict Swope Sr. Benjamin McKinley Logan Sr. Thomas Todd William Montgomery Jr. John Carroll Bailey Click here to return to the map

3. Isaac Shelby was born in Maryland, and he began a long and prominent military career during the American Revolution, including leading colonial forces to victory in the Battle of King’s Mountain (1780). Shelby was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 1779, a position that he later also held in North Carolina, after a survey determined that Shelby’s land was actually in North Carolina. He surveyed land in middle Tennessee, and in 1784 moved to Kentucky, establishing a plantation near Boonesborough. There, he farmed, served as sheriff of Lincoln County, became a trustee of Transylvania Seminary, and participated in decisions to help secure the frontier and move toward statehood. After the 1792 constitutional convention, where he served on the drafting committee, he was named an elector for the Senate and Governor, as well as for the presidency. Shelby was then elected the first Governor of the new state of Kentucky. During Governor Shelby’s first term of service (1792-1796), the state established basic laws, instituted taxes, formed military divisions and a court system, advanced the Wilderness Road, and defended against Indian attacks. Isaac Shelby returned to farming after his gubernatorial term expired, but when conflict with Great Britain mounted, he was encouraged to run as governor once again. During his second term, he led the state during the War of 1812. Kentucky troops were organized and personally led by Governor Shelby in the Battle of Thames, for which he received the Congressional Gold Medal. After leaving office, President James Monroe offered him a Cabinet position as Secretary of War, but he declined due to age. In 1818, he joined General Andrew Jackson in negotiating the Jackson Purchase. Governor Isaac Shelby, who had counties in nine states named in his honor, passed away in 1826. Isaac Shelby (1750-1826) Courtesy of The Filson Historical Society, Louisville, KY Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

4. Benedict Swope, Sr. (1731-1811) Born near York, Pennsylvania, Benedict Swope was a first-generation American—the son of a man who emigrated from Germany in 1727. His early profession may have been innkeeper. Swope relocated to Maryland in about 1756, with his wife and children. By the late 1760s, he had begun to preach in the High Dutch Church and was ordained in 1770. Reverend Swope was pastor of churches in both Westminster, Maryland, and Baltimore. He became friends and colleagues of Philip William Otterbein, Robert Strawbridge, Thomas Coke, and Francis Asbury—the men who established the Methodist Episcopal Church in America. In 1774, Swope purchased land in Kentucky but did not settle there permanently until the Revolutionary War had ended. By 1780, he was living near Logan’s Station. Reverend Swope amassed 3,500 acres of land along the Dick’s (Dix) River and was associated with several churches. He was one of seven ministers elected to serve as a delegate to the 1792 constitutional convention and was among the small minority (28%) of delegates who did not own slaves. Born near York, Pennsylvania, Benedict Swope was a first-generation American—the son of a man who emigrated from Germany in 1727. His early profession may have been innkeeper. Swope relocated to Maryland in about 1756, with his wife and children. By the late 1760s, he had begun to preach in the High Dutch Church and was ordained in 1770. Reverend Swope was pastor of churches in both Westminster, Maryland and Baltimore. He became friends and colleagues of Philip William Otterbein, Robert Strawbridge, Thomas Coke, and Francis Asbury—the men who established the Methodist Episcopal Church in America. In 1774, Swope purchased land in Kentucky, but did not settle there permanently until the Revolutionary War had ended. By 1780, he was living near Logan’s Station. Reverend Swope amassed 3,500 acres of land along the Dick’s (Dix) River and was associated with several churches. He was one of seven ministers elected to serve as a delegate to the 1792 constitutional convention and was among the small minority (28%) of delegates who did not own slaves. Benedict Swope Sr. (1731-1811) Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map Click here to return to the map

5. One of the earlier settlers on the Kentucky frontier, Benjamin Logan was an experienced Indian fighter, after years as a lieutenant in Virginia’s militia. In 1776, he built Logan’s Fort (later called St. Asaph’s) and was the community’s first sheriff and justice of the peace. He was one of four captains in the Virginia militia for Kentucky County as well, serving under General George Rogers Clark. They defended the Kentucky settlements against Indian attack and launched many campaigns against Shawnee villages north of the Ohio River. In 1781 Logan was given command of the militia in Lincoln County and was also elected to the Virginia Assembly, where he would serve three terms. In 1784, Colonel Logan led the efforts to assemble the very first convention, to discuss the frontier region’s grievances with the federal government and with Virginia and to take the first steps toward independent Kentucky statehood. He was a member of eight of the ten Kentucky pre-statehood conventions, was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives, and served as a state Senate and a presidential elector. After leading additional successful campaigns against the Shawnee, the state’s first governor, Isaac Shelby, promoted him to major general. On two occasions, Logan ran unsuccessfully for Governor of Kentucky himself. In the election of 1796, Logan received the largest number, but not a majority, of electoral votes. Although the 1792 Kentucky Constitution did not specify that a majority was needed, a second ballot of the top two candidates was called, and that time, James Garrard received the majority. Benjamin Logan returned as a delegate to the 1799 constitutional convention, with special interest in changing the law to provide for the popular election of governors. Logan died in 1802. Counties in Kentucky and Ohio are named in his honor. Benjamin McKinley Logan Sr. (circa 1741-1802) Benjamin McKinley Logan, Sr. (circa 1742-1802) Courtesy of The Filson Historical Society, Louisville, KY Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

6. Thomas Todd (convention Secretary-Clerk, not a delegate) (1765-1826) Born in Virginia, Thomas Todd graduated from Liberty Hall Academy (now Washington and Lee University) in 1783. He studied land surveying and law with his mother’s cousin, Harry Innes, and moved to Kentucky when Innes was named Kentucky’s first federal district judge. In the frontier state, Todd was admitted to the bar and began working as a court recorder. He also joined Innes as a member of the Danville Political Club, a group of men who met between 1786 and 1790 to debate various constitutional issues. Todd served as Secretary-Clerk of five pre-statehood conventions during the period 1784-1792, and the original copy of the 1792 Constitution is written in his hand. He also clerked for the 1799 constitutional convention, and for Judge Innes, the Kentucky Court of Appeals, the U. S. District Court, and the Kentucky House of Representatives. In addition, he rode the circuit as a lawyer. In 1801, Governor Garrard appointed Thomas Todd as Judge of the Kentucky Court of Appeals, and he became its Chief Justice in 1806. One year later, a new Associate Justice position was created on the Supreme Court of the United States—to represent the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio—and President Jefferson appointed him to this Supreme Court post. He served on the U. S. Supreme Court for nineteen years. Thomas Todd (1765-1826) Courtesy of The Filson Historical Society, Louisville, KY Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

7. William Montgomery Jr. emigrated from Virginia in the late 1770s, along with his father and brothers. While building their family cabins near the headwaters of the Green River in 1772, they stayed temporarily with his sister, Ann, wife of Benjamin Logan (who would later be a fellow 1792 convention delegate). (The Logans and Montgomerys were from the same area of Virginia.) Montgomery was a delegate to the statehood conventions in 1787, 1788, and 1792. When statehood was achieved, he served in the legislature and was sheriff of Lincoln County until his death in 1794. William Montgomery Jr. (circa 1750-1794) Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

8. A native of Northumberland County, Virginia, John Bailey began preaching in the Baptist church when he was just eighteen. As a young man, he gained a reputation as a fine orator. He moved to Stanford, Kentucky, in 1784, and within a year had established Rush Creek Baptist Church and McCormack’s Meeting House. Reverend Bailey was one of seven ministers to serve on the 1792 constitutional convention. Five of the seven ministers, including Bailey, owned slaves; but all tried, unsuccessfully, to exclude slavery from the Constitution. John Bailey was one of only ten delegates who served in 1792 to be elected to the 1799 constitutional convention as well. John Carroll Bailey (1748-1816) Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

9. Nelson County Click a name to learn more about the founding father Cuthbert Harrison Andrew Hynes William King Jr. Matthew Walton Joseph Hobbs Click here to return to the map

10. Originally from Prince William County, Virginia, Cuthbert Harrison settled in Nelson County, Kentucky. He was one of the first trustees of Beallsborough when that community was founded, and he was also a trustee of Salem Academy, Bardstown’s first school. Harrison served on the constitutional drafting committee and was an elector of the first state senators and governor. Cuthbert Harrison (1749-1824) Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

11. Andrew Hynes (also Hines) (circa 1750-1800) Colonel Andrew Hynes was born in Hagerstown, Maryland. In 1779, after his war service ended, he and two other men built forts in the Severns Valley (present-day Hardin County). Eventually, the community would become Elizabethtown, named after Hynes’ wife. In 1780, the Virginia legislature appointed Hynes as a surveyor, to lay off the town of Louisville. Hynes was later a trustee of Bardstown and served as its sheriff. He also established a mercantile in Bardstown with his nephew William Rose Hynes. Andrew Hynes was among the minority at the 1792 convention, voting to eliminate the slavery article. He did own a small number of slaves, but he emancipated one of them immediately after the convention, one not long after, and the rest, upon his death in 1800. Andrew Hynes founded Three Forts, later naming it Elizabethtown, after his wife. Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

12. William King Jr. (1745-1832) Born in Stafford County, Virginia, William King Jr. served in both the Virginia and the Kentucky militias and fought under General Isaac Shelby at the Battle of King’s Mountain. He received acreage in Kentucky as compensation for his military service. Following the 1792 convention, King was elected to the state legislature. Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

13. The date and location of Matthew Walton’s birth is uncertain, but he was likely born in Cumberland County, Virginia. Some of his family settled in Georgia, and first cousin John Walton was a Georgia delegate to the Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Matthew Walton was one of the largest landholders participating in the 1792 Kentucky convention, with tax records indicating that he owned more than 58,000 acres of land in Kentucky at the time. His holdings eventually rose to 200,000 acres, and he donated land to establish the county seat of Springfield, when Washington County was created in 1792. Walton was a member of the Danville Political Club, a group of men who met between 1786 and 1790, to debate merits of the proposed U. S. Constitution and the issues surrounding Kentucky statehood and the formation of the first state Constitution. Matthew Walton was elected a member of the Virginia ratifying convention for the U. S. Constitution in 1788. One of fourteen delegates representing the Kentucky District, Walton helped stir up Antifederalist sentiment on the frontier and was among the majorityof Kentucky delegates who voted against the ratification of the federal Constitution. Only two other men—Robert Breckinridge from Jefferson County and George Nicholas, who settled in Kentucky after statehood—were delegates to both the federal and the Kentucky constitutional conventions. Walton was elected to the first Kentucky state legislature, and he also served as a representative in the U. S. Congress from 1803 to 1807. Matthew Walton (circa 1759-1819) Picture? This historical marker designates the location where Matthew Walton’s home stood in Washington County. Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

14. Little is known about Joseph Hobbs except that he moved to Kentucky from Anne Arundel County, Virginia, around 1790. A Nelson County delegate to the constitutional convention, Hobbs and his brother Joshua were both elected to the first Kentucky House of Representatives. Joseph Hobbs (1740-1810) Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

15. Jefferson County Click a name to learn more about the founding father Alexander Scott Bullitt Benjamin Sebastian John Campbell Richard Lee Taylor Robert Breckenridge Jr. Click here to return to the map

16. Alexander Scott Bullitt (1761-1816) Alexander Bullitt was born to a prominent Virginia family and followed his uncle, Thomas Bullitt, to Kentucky. His uncle had surveyed the town site for Louisville, and Alexander bought 1,000 acres just south of this new town. His farm, called Oxmoor, became a profitable plantation growing tobacco, hemp, and corn. An officer in the militia and a trustee of Louisville, Alexander Bullitt was one of Jefferson County’s constitutional delegates in 1792, serving on the drafting committee. He owned more slaves than any other member of the convention (more than 50), but he did not cast a vote on the controversial slavery clause. After the convention, he was an elector for the senate and governor. Bullitt was one of twelve men elected to the first state Senate, and he was selected to be its Speaker, serving until 1804. He served as President of the 1799 constitutional convention as well and was elected the state’s first Lieutenant Governor in 1800 (a new office created by the 1799 Constitution). Bullitt County was named in his honor. Picture? Oxmoor Farm, Alexander Bullitt’s estate, photo courtesy of Library of Congress Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

17. Although he initially studied for the clergy and was an Episcopal minister for a brief time, Virginia-born Benjamin Sebastian was practicing law when selected for the 1792 constitutional convention. (Only three 1792 delegates were attorneys.) He had served on three previous Kentucky pre-statehood conventions, and in 1792, he was a member of the Constitution drafting committee. When statehood was granted in 1792, Sebastian was appointed one of the first judges of the Kentucky Appellate Court. He was forced from his post in 1806, however, when he was accused of taking part in the so-called Spanish Conspiracy. Sebastian and several other Kentucky leaders were allegedly cooperating with former U. S. Vice President Aaron Burr and Commanding General of the U. S. Army, James Wilkinson, to raise an army and form a separate government in the southwestern Spanish territories. The inquiries into the matter called his loyalty into question and ruined his political career. Benjamin Sebastian (1745-1834) Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

18. John Campbell was one of only two 1792 Constitution delegates not born in the United States. From Ireland, Campbell immigrated to America and became a frontier trader at Fort Pitt in the 1760s. While there, he laid out the city blocks that would form Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1773, he and a business partner secured 4,000 acres of land in the Kentucky District of Virginia, but he continued to reside in the Pittsburgh area. During the Revolutionary War, Campbell served as a justice of the peace and a colonel in the militia. While on a mission, we was captured and held as a prisoner of war for three years. During his period of captivity, surveyors began to layout the town of Louisville on his land. In time, he was compensated for some of his original land investment. He eventually settled in Kentucky, near the Falls of the Ohio, in a new community called Campbell Town (later known as Shippingport). In 1783, Campbell opened a tobacco warehouse, and two years later, launched the first public ferries servicing Louisville. After serving as a delegate to the 1792 statehood convention, John Campbell was an elector and was himself elected one of the first state senators. He became Speaker Pro Tem of the Kentucky Senate in 1798. He was also a trustee of Transylvania Seminary. Campbell County was named for him. John Campbell (circa 1735-1799) Campbell Town was founded by John Campbell near the Falls of the Ohio River. It was renamed Shippingport in 1803. Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

19. Richard Lee Taylor (1744-1829) A graduate of the College of William and Mary, Richard “Dick” Taylor explored the western territories as a trader, before joining the Virginia Continental forces during the Revolutionary War. He advanced to the rank of lieutenant colonel. In 1785, Taylor moved his family (including son Zachary, future United States President) from Virginia to land along Beargrass Creek, near Louisville. He established a large plantation, called Springfield; served on Louisville’s board of trustees; and was a delegate to three of Kentucky’s pre-statehood conventions, as well as both the 1792 and 1799 constitutional conventions. Colonel Taylor was elected to the legislature in both Virginia and Kentucky, served as a county judge, and was a presidential elector four times. Taylor voted for James Madison in 1813, James Monroe in 1817 and 1821, and Henry Clay in 1825. He did not live to see his son become the twelfth President of the United States. Picture? Monument marking the grave of Richard Taylor in Zachary Taylor National Cemetery. Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

20. Born in Augusta County, Virginia, Robert Breckinridge was a lieutenant in the Continental Army and was made general of the Kentucky militia after the war. He also became prominent in politics, first being elected to the Virginia House of Delegates. General Breckinridge moved to the Kentucky frontier, where he became involved in land surveying. He was elected a member of the Virginia ratifying convention for the U. S. Constitution in 1788. One of fourteen delegates representing the Kentucky District, Breckinridge was one of only three Kentucky members to vote for ratification of the federal constitution. After serving as a delegate for Kentucky’s 1792 Constitution, Breckinridge was elected to the Kentucky legislature and became the state’s first Speaker of the House, serving through 1795. He was also a trustee of the town of Louisville. Robert Breckenridge Jr. (later spelled Breckinridge) (1754-1833) Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

21. Mason County Click a name to learn more about the founding father Thomas Waring George Lewis Miles Withers Conway Robert Rankin John Wilson Click here to return to the map

22. Thomas Waring (1752-1818) A captain in the Maryland militia, Thomas Waring moved from Prince George’s County, Maryland, to the Kentucky frontier in 1784, originally settling in Mason County. In 1785, he established Waring’s Station near present-day Maysville. Waring was Mason County’s first sheriff and justice of the peace of the Court of Quarter Sessions. He was one of the first trustees of Franklin Academy. In 1799, Waring relocated to a tract of land along Tygarts Creek—one of the first settlers in what would become Greenup County. Thomas Waring helped establish the Greenup County government. He was named the first justice of the peace in that county in 1804 and was associate judge of the Circuit Court from 1806-1815. Picture? Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

23. Details of George Lewis’s life are largely a mystery, but he was born in Virginia and moved to the Kentucky frontier, becoming one of the founders of the community of Limestone in 1784 (three years later, Limestone was renamed Maysville). He and two other men constructed the first blockhouse at the site. In 1789, he resettled the fortified community previously known as Clark’s Station, calling it Lewis’s Station. In 1795, the town of Lewisburg (also called Lewisborough) was established there, on 70 acres provided by George Lewis. In addition, he was a trustee of the town of Washington, founded in 1793. After serving as a Mason County delegate to the 1792 Kentucky constitutional convention, Lewis was elected to one term in the Kentucky legislature in 1796. George Lewis helped establish the school, Franklin Academy, serving as one of its first trustees. George Lewis (life dates unknown) Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

24. Born in Stafford County, Virginia, Miles Conway moved to the Kentucky frontier by 1786. He was one of the original trustees of the town of Washington in Mason County. Conway became one of the first justices of the peace, and as a skilled surveyor, was named district commissioner to handle land claims. In 1790 and again in 1792, Conway was elected sheriff. Although he owned five slaves at the time, Conway was among the minority to oppose slavery at the 1792 Kentucky constitutional convention. In 1802, he was named an assistant judge of the circuit court. Judge Conway wrote Geodosia; or, A Treatise on Practical Surveying in 1805, describing modern equipment and methods in land surveying, based on his experiences on the frontier. The book was published in Lexington in 1807. Miles Withers Conway (1852-1822) Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

25. Robert Rankin (1753-1837) During the Revolutionary War, Robert Rankin served in the Virginia Line of the Continental Army, participating in the battles of Germantown, Brandywine, and Stony Point, as well as the siege of Charleston, where he was captured. He was elevated to the rank of lieutenant by war’s end. In 1784, Rankin settled in Kentucky. Two years later, he was one of the original trustees for the town of Washington in Mason County. It has been said that the first Mason County court met in his home in 1789. After serving Mason County as a delegate to the 1792 constitutional convention, Rankin helped establish a new school in the county—Franklin Academy. He was named one of its first trustees. In 1802, he moved to Logan County. Robert Rankin was a perpetual pioneer, it seems. In 1811, he emigrated to Mississippi Territory, and in 1832, he emigrated once again to Texas. There, he befriended Sam Houston and played a role in Indian diplomacy. His final move was to Louisiana in 1836, where he died, although he was returned to Texas for burial. Picture? Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

26. John Wilson (1739 -1823) John Wilson was the only 1792 Kentucky Constitution delegate born in New Jersey, in Hunterdon County. After losing all of his land holdings in that state during the Revolutionary War, he emigrated to Pennsylvania. By 1782, Wilson was settled in Kentucky and was participating in military expeditions to Shawnee villages, under the command of General George Rogers Clark. He was elected a Mason County delegate to the 1792 Kentucky constitutional convention, and was one of only sixteen delegates to oppose slavery. Later that year, Wilson was elected one of Mason County’s first representatives to the legislature. Soon after, John Wilson settled in Cincinnati, perhaps motivated to leave Kentucky by his strong abolitionist views. In 1796, he became one of the first settlers in the region that would, in 1803, become Greene County, Ohio. Wilson was elected a delegate for Hamilton County to the 1802 Ohio constitutional convention, drawing on his experience in Kentucky to help form another new state government. He served on the committee that drafted the Constitution’s article on county officers. In 1811, he was named an associate judge. John Wilson was one of only three 1792 constitutional delegates to help write constitutions in two different states (Kentucky and Ohio). Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

27. Bourbon County Click a name to learn more about the founding father James Garrard James Smith John Edwards Sr. John McKinney Benjamin Harrison Click here to return to the map

28. From Stafford County, Virginia, Garrard moved to the Kentucky frontier in 1783, establishing a farm, grist mill, lumber mill, and whiskey distillery. Elected to represent Fayette County in the Virginia legislature, Garrard worked on the committee to form additional counties and was chosen county surveyor and justice of the peace for the newly formed Bourbon County. He later served as magistrate and colonel of the county militia and was a trustee of the county seat, Paris. A minister, James Garrard helped found Cooper’s Run Baptist and other churches. Although he owned a number of slaves, he preached as an abolitionist and welcomed blacks to worship. A leader of the Elkhorn Baptist Association, he was also a trustee of Transylvania Seminary. Elected to five of the ten Kentucky statehood conventions, including the 1792 constitutional convention, Garrard actively debated the slavery issue and was the only abolitionist named to the Constitution drafting committee. He prepared a petition to the convention on the subjects of slavery and religious freedom, but the Elkhorn Baptist Association rescinded it. Garrard was encouraged to run for Governor in 1796. Candidate Benjamin Logan received the largest number, but not a majority, of electoral votes. The 1792 Kentucky Constitution did not specify whether a plurality or a majority was needed, so a second ballot of the top two candidates was called, and James Garrard won the electoral vote. While in office, Governor Garrard instituted the Court of Appeals and a system of lower district courts, reformed the land claims process, and approved acts to establish 26 new counties. One was named in his honor. He also condemned the Alien and Sedition Acts and supported the Kentucky Resolutions, authored by Thomas Jefferson, which argued that states had the right to nullify federal laws deemed to be unconstitutional. In 1799, a new constitutional convention was called to address issues from those first years of government. Due to protests over Garrard’s election, the revised Constitution specified that the governor would be elected by popular vote. Partially influenced by Governor Garrard’s frequent use of veto power and his conflicts with the county courts, delegates chose to reign in the governor’s power by modifying how gubernatorial vetoes and appointments would be handled. Term limits were also imposed on the office of governor, although Garrard was exempt from this and was reelected. In 1804, after his second term ended, Garrard focused on his farm and related interests. James Garrard (1749 -1822) Courtesy of the Kentucky Historical Society. Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

29. Born on the Pennsylvania frontier; at age eighteen, James Smith was captured by Delaware Indians near Fort Duquesne, while helping to cut a wagon road in 1755. Eventually adopted by a Mohawk family, he lived among them for five years before escaping. He built an appreciation of the culture and lifeways of native peoples that was later recounted in his 1799 narrative, An Account of the Remarkable Occurrences in the Life and Travels of Col. James Smith, published by John Bradford. In 1759, he returned to farming in Pennsylvania. During Pontiac’s War, Smith allied with British soldiers to battle the Indians, but when the British allowed trading to resume with the native nations, Smith led a group of rebel colonists who opposed British rule in North America. Smith’s unofficial band of “Blackboys”—colonists who darkened their faces and dressed as Indians when conducting vigilante raids—attacked and captured British forts several years before the start of the Revolutionary War. In 1776, James Smith served in the Pennsylvania Assembly and was a delegate to that state’s constitutional convention, making him one of only three Kentucky delegates who drafted constitutions for two different states. The following year, he was promoted to colonel in the Pennsylvania militia. After marrying a woman from Kentucky (his second wife), Smith settled near Cane Ridge, Kentucky, in 1788. As a delegate to the 1792 Kentucky constitutional convention, Smith voted against the article protecting slavery. An elder at the Cane Ridge Meeting House (which served as a key site of the Second Great Awakening in 1801), Smith later became a Presbyterian missionary to the Indians of the Ohio Valley. When the War of 1812 began, Smith wrote a manual for effective combat against the Indian Confederation, and he traveled with the army in an unknown capacity. He died returning to Kentucky in 1813. James Smith (1737 -1813) James Smith’s autobiography was published in 1799. Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

30. John Edwards Sr. (1748 -1837) In 1780, Stafford County, Virginia native John Edwards moved to the Kentucky frontier, securing 23,000 acres within the original boundaries of Lincoln County. He represented the district in the Virginia legislature from 1781-1783 and 1785-1786. In 1783, he became a justice of the peace in the Lincoln County court. He moved to Bourbon County when it separated from Fayette in 1785 and was named clerk of the first court held there. Edwards was a delegate to the statehood conventions held between 1785 and 1788, before representing his county at the 1792 constitutional convention. He and John Brown were elected Kentucky’s first United States senators when the independent state was created in 1792. He was on the committee to select Frankfort as the state’s permanent capital. In 1795, Edwards was elected to the state House of Representatives, and from 1796 to 1800, he served as a state senator. John Edwards was married to the daughter of Kentucky Governor and fellow constitutional delegate, James Garrard. Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

31. Originally from Augusta County, Virginia, John McKinney fought in the Revolutionary War and traveled to the frontier as a surveyor. He moved to Bryan Station, the fort that would become the town of Lexington, in 1780. He was the fort’s first teacher, continuing in this role when the first Lexington schoolhouse was built in 1783. McKinney married Mary (“Polly”) Trimble in 1785. He was an elder at Green Creek Church near Clintonville and a delegate to the 1792 constitutional convention. McKinney was in the minority opposed to Article IX, which protected the institution of slavery. He was elected one of the state’s first legislators in 1792. According to the Lexington History Museum, he survived a dramatic attack by a wildcat while working alone in his school, earning the nickname “Wildcat” McKinney. McKinney traveled frequently to Missouri as a surveyor and land speculator after 1805, but he died in Clintonville, Kentucky, in 1825. John McKinney (1750-1825) Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map John McKinney VA

32. Born in Orange County, Virginia, Benjamin Harrison was living along the Pennsylvania/Virginia border as a young adult. That territory was disputed at that time, with both states claiming jurisdiction over it. In 1775, Harrison led a squad of Virginia militiamen to break prisoners out of Pennsylvania jails in the area. He was commissioned a captain in the Virginia Line of the Continental Army and participated in several major campaigns. (He was not related to Benjamin Harrison V, the Virginian who served as legislator and governor and who signed the Declaration of Independence.) In 1780, Captain Harrison joined the regiment of General George Rogers Clark. He was promoted to major in 1781, as the Revolutionary War was winding down. According to tax records at that time, he had a 300-acre farm in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, with one horse, one cow, one sheep, and no slaves. Around 1785, Harrison migrated with a wife and small family party to Kentucky. He was elected the first sheriff of Bourbon County and served as a delegate to the 1787 and 1788 statehood conventions. In 1789, Harrison joined a project to settle American families in what was then a part of Spanish Louisiana. He spent some time surveying farms for the new community of New Madrid, on the Kentucky Bend of the Mississippi River in present-day Missouri. By the time of the 1792 constitutional convention, Benjamin Harrison was back in Kentucky. After working on the Constitution, he was chosen as an elector and was then himself elected a state legislator. Harrison County, Kentucky, was named for him in 1793, the same year he helped found the town of Cynthiana. Sometime after the Louisiana Territory was transferred to the French and then to the Americans in 1803, Harrison migrated permanently to Missouri, where he died in 1808. Benjamin Harrison (1750-1808) Harrison County is named for delegate Benjamin Harrison Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

33. Woodford County Click a name to learn more about the founding father Caleb Wallace William Steele John Watkins Sr.  Richard Young Robert Johnson Click here to return to the map

34. Caleb Wallace was born in Lunenburg, Virginia, and entered the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) while in his mid-twenties. While at Princeton, he developed a friendship with future U. S. president James Madison. He graduated in 1771, began to study theology, and was ordained a Presbyterian minister in 1774. Wallace was connected, through his marriages, to the families of celebrated surgeon Dr. Ephraim McDowell, U. S. Founding Father Patrick Henry, and Kentucky politician (and fellow convention delegate) Alexander Bullitt. He collaborated with another man who would also serve as a fellow Kentucky convention delegate, Rev. David Rice, to advance legislation condemning state-sponsored religion and to strengthen the separation of church and state in Virginia. Through his leadership with the Presbytery, Rev. Wallace was involved in the founding of two Virginia colleges: Prince Edward Academy (now Hampden-Sidney College) and Liberty Hall Academy (now Washington and Lee University). In 1782, Wallace left the ministry and moved to Kentucky to practice the law. Appointed to the commission for the adjudication of western accounts, he also briefly represented Lincoln County, Kentucky District, in the Virginia legislature. While in that capacity, he helped develop a land grant system to support the establishment of colleges on the frontier. This academy legislation resulted in the founding of Transylvania University, and Wallace was named one of its trustees. In 1783, Caleb Wallace was appointed to the Supreme Court of the District of Kentucky. He participated in the debates and conventions about Kentucky’s potential future as an independent state, and corresponded with James Madison about these efforts. Judge Wallace, however, also had a role in the so-called Spanish Conspiracy, supporting James Wilkinson who attempted to negotiate a potentially treasonous alliance of the frontier territory with Spain. Caleb Wallace was a delegate to the conventions to create both Kentucky’s first and second Constitutions. Although he was a former minister, he was also a slaveholder, and he voted to protect the institution of slavery in the text of the Constitution. From 1792 until 1813, Judge Wallace served on the Kentucky Court of Appeals. Caleb Wallace (1742-1814) Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

35. Revolutionary War veteran, Colonel William Steele, resettled from Virginia to Kentucky in 1783, claiming military land grants. He built a log home along the Kentucky River, a half-mile above what would eventually be lock No. 5, in an area that was known as Steele’s Landing. A surveyor by profession, he was one of only ten men to serve as a delegate to both of Kentucky’s earliest constitutional conventions, in 1792 and 1799. At the time of the first convention, he owned 3,280 acres and ten slaves. He was elected one of the four legislative representatives of Woodford County in the state’s first election. He was also an elector. In 1801, Steele was a charter member of the Kentucky River Company, a corporation devoted to removing obstacles in the navigational channel, to improve and promote travel on the river. The company sold stock and collected tolls to finance the improvements. These efforts would contribute much to the state economy, especially later, when coal became a major export. William Steele (1755-1826) Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

36. John Watkins was born in Goochland County, Virginia. During the American Revolution, he served in Captain Robert Bolling’s Troop of Light Cavalry. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1759 and was later advanced to captain. Between 1781 and 1783, Watkins accumulated land grants offered for military service, and by the time he moved to Kentucky in 1785, he had amassed 8,000 acres. Watkins was one of the founders of the town of Versailles and lobbied to have it named the county seat. After serving on the Kentucky Constitutional Convention of 1792, he was chosen to be an elector for Woodford County. In the 1792 election, he won a seat in the state House of Representatives. Governor Isaac Shelby appointed John Watkins as Woodford County justice of the peace, a position of greater legal authority in frontier times. John Watkins Sr. (1742-1807) Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

37. Colonel Richard Young was a native of Fauquier County, Virginia, and moved to the Kentucky frontier in 1783. His farm was located in a portion of Fayette County that became Woodford County in 1788. Young was a delegate to the Danville convention of 1792 and was one of the largest land owners at the convention, with 45,000 acres at that time. That same year, he served as an elector in the state’s first election, and he was chosen to be a state legislator. He served through 1803. In 1792, Young also helped establish the town of Versailles and was named a community trustee and commissioner. Richard Young (1745-1815) Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

38. Colonel Robert Johnson was born in Frederickburg, Virginia, and moved to the Kentucky frontier in 1779, settling initially at Bryan Station. Johnson participated in retaliatory campaigns against the Indians, including George Rogers Clark’s Ohio expeditions in 1782—the same year he was elected to serve Fayette County in the Virginia General Assembly. His wife, Jemima Suggett Johnson gained fame for bravely defending the fort during a siege by 400 Indians and British soldiers, while Johnson was away at the Virginia capital. In 1783, they settled near the great buffalo crossing of North Elkhorn Creek. He was an original trustee of Transylvania Seminary. Johnson participated in the early statehood conventions and was one of only ten men elected as a delegate to write Kentucky’s 1792 and 1799 Constitutions. When he served in 1792, he was the second largest landholder at the convention, with nearly 66,000 acres; but eventually his holdings would exceed 100,000 acres. From 1792 to 1795, Robert Johnson was a state senator, and he was elected to the state House of Representatives eight times between 1796 and 1813. A member of the Virginia-Kentucky Boundary Commission, he helped establish the state line in 1795. Robert Johnson was also a member of the 1806 grand jury that exonerated Aaron Burr, charged with treason. Three of Johnson’s sons were elected to the U. S. House of Representatives, and one—Richard Mentor Johnson—was also a U. S. Senator and the ninth Vice President of the United States. Robert Johnson (1745-1815) Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

39. Madison County Click a name to learn more about the founding father Thomas Kennedy Joseph Kennedy Higgason Grubbs Thomas Clay Charles Kavanaugh Click here to return to the map

40. Thomas Kennedy (1757 -1836) Born in North Carolina, Thomas Kennedy was a captain in that state’s militia during the Revolutionary War. He moved with his four brothers to the Kentucky frontier in 1776, and in 1779, he was named a trustee of the community of Boonesborough. Kennedy settled in Kentucky permanently in 1782, after retiring from the army. In 1788 and 1791, he was a Kentucky delegate to the Virginia Assembly, and then he helped to frame the Constitution for the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1792. His brother Joseph was also a delegate to that convention. Thomas Kennedy was elected the first state senator from Madison County in the subsequent election and would serve in that capacity for twenty-five years. He was a member of the committee to name Frankfort the permanent capital of the new state and was brigadier general of the 2nd brigade of the Kentucky militia, 1792-1793. In 1795, he helped found the town of Newport. Thomas Kennedy raised and trained some of the Commonwealth’s earliest racehorses. He continued to expand his landholdings, becoming one of the largest landholders and slave owners in Kentucky, leaving more than 100 slaves to his children at his death. Harriet Beecher Stowe’s observations of his Paint Lick estate and his slaves have been said to have inspired her celebrated novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. In 1793, Governor Isaac Shelby wrote this letter to General Thomas Kennedy, instructing him to organize the militia for a 6-month tour of the Wilderness Road region. Image: Special Collection Research Center, University of Chicago Library Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

41. HiggasonGrubbs’ year of birth is variously given as 1740, 1746, 1749, and 1750. Married to Lucy Harris in Albermarle County, Virginia, sometime prior to 1780, Grubbs was surveying land in Kentucky that year. He established settlements on the frontier, including Grubbs’ Station in 1781. A trustee of Boonesborough in 1787, Grubbs was listed in that community’s rolls as “Captain,” likely referring to his service in the Virginia militia. He was elected a delegate to the Kentucky statehood conventions in 1787 and 1788, and he represented Madison County in the Virginia Legislature, 1790-1791. At the time of his service to the 1792 constitutional convention, Grubbs owned over 13,000 acres, making him one of the larger landowners at the convention. Higgason Grubbs was an elector in the state’s first election, and he was elected one of the first state representatives for Madison County. Higgason Grubbs (17??-1830) Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

42. A captain in the Virginia Line (a formation within the Continental Army), Thomas Clay received Kentucky land through a military land grant dated 1784. Clay was one of only ten Kentuckians to serve as a delegate to both the first (1792) and second (1799) constitutional conventions. His brother, Green Clay, served with him at the 1799 convention. Future U. S. Speaker of the House, Henry Clay, was their cousin; and the extended Clay family produced many other prominent political leaders of future generations, including Brutus Clay, Cassius Clay, and Green Clay Smith. Cassius Clay would serve as president of the 1890-1891 Kentucky constitutional convention. Thomas Clay was elected one of the state’s first representatives and subsequently served as a state senator as well. Clay provides one of the more interesting stories in early Kentucky constitutional history. In 1799, when he signed his name to the new Constitution, he also wrote “I protest against it.” The clerk was ordered to erase the words and instead note his objection in the Journal of the Convention. This is Thomas Clay’s objection, as recorded: I enter my protest against this constitution, because it violates the general principles laid down in the said constitution and declaration of rights, because of the arbitrary extension of time in the first representatives of the general assembly in both branches, and because the absurd contravening of the natural rights, in preventing the use of them as laid down in the bill of rights. ---THOMAS CLAY Thomas Clay (1750-1824) Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

43. Younger brother of fellow delegate Thomas, Joseph Kennedy moved with his brothers to the Kentucky frontier in the 1770s. The Kennedy brothers were the only siblings to serve at the 1792 constitutional convention. In 1779, Joseph Kennedy established his own station along Silver Creek in Madison County. He served in the militia under the commands of Daniel Boone and George Rogers Clark. In 1780, his brother John was killed and he was captured in a battle with Indian warriors. He remained in captivity until freed during a later militia attack in 1781. Joseph Kennedy was appointed the first sheriff of Madison County in 1786. After serving in the 1792 constitutional convention delegation, Kennedy was named Madison County justice of the peace. Joseph Kennedy (1760-1844) Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

44. The details of delegate Charles Kavanugh’s life are uncertain, but he is believed to have hailed from Culpepper County, Virginia, settling in Kentucky in 1776. A Methodist minister, he was in the minority who tried to exclude slavery from Kentucky’s Constitution at the 1792 convention. At the time of statehood, he owned 1,400 acres in Kentucky. His date and place of death is most commonly given as 1795, in Madison County, Kentucky. Charles Kavanaugh (circa 1726-1795) Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

45. Mercer County Click a name to learn more about the founding father George Nicholas Samuel Taylor Jr. David Rice Harry Innes Samuel McDowell Jacob Froman Click here to return to the map

46. Considered the “Father of Kentucky’s Constitution,” George Nicholas was born to a politically prominent family in Williamsburg, Virginia. He attended the College of William and Mary and practiced law in Charlottesville. Nicholas served four terms in the Virginia House of Delegates and was a delegate to the Virginia Ratifying Convention of the U. S. Constitution in 1788. He voted for ratification and tried to persuade the 14 representatives from Kentucky District to abandon their Antifederalist views. Nicholas was very close to the man who would draft the U. S. Bill of Rights—James Madison—and the two worked together to establish religious freedom in the new nation. Nicholas wrote important letters on western affairs to Madison and to Thomas Jefferson, encouraging the federal government to increase military protection in the West and to secure access to the Mississippi River. President Washington appointed George Nicholas as the first United States Attorney for the District of Kentucky in 1789, and he settled near the territory’s new seat of government, Danville. His wealth allowed him to quickly establish a large estate of 20,000 acres. When delegates were chosen to frame Kentucky’s first Constitution in 1792, Nicholas became the chief draftsman. He led the convention proceedings, presenting a Constitution he had outlined in advance and defending it with a series of prepared speeches. He used the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1790 as his primary model, but he proposed a new concept in the young republic: universal free manhood suffrage. Therefore, Kentucky became the first state in the nation without a property requirement for voters. The second largest slaveholder at the convention, with 46 slaves, Nicholas strongly supported the right of Kentuckians to hold slaves as property. The only issue heavily debated at the convention, George Nicholas convinced the delegation to include Article IX, which protected the institution of slavery. Governor Isaac Shelby named Nicholas the state’s first Attorney General, and the inexperienced legislature called on him to oversee proceedings, draft bills, and try to raise revenue through taxes. He resigned six months later, discouraged by his critics. When Transylvania University founded the first law school in the West, George Nicholas was appointed its first law professor. To ensure his work on the 1792 Constitution would remain secure, he and John Breckinridge organized a slate of delegate candidates to run against the radicals seeking reform in 1799. Only four emancipationists were elected, and even though George Nicholas died just three days after the 1799 constitutional convention began, his platform succeeded, and the new Constitution continued to protect slavery. George Nicholas (circa 1754 -1799) Credit: Filson Historical Society, Louisville, KY Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

47. Samuel Taylor Jr. (circa 1747-circa 1812) Born in Virginia, perhaps in 1740 or 1747, Samuel Taylor served in the Virginia militia during the American Revolution. Captain Taylor and his wife Elizabeth moved to Harrodsburg, Kentucky, in 1779, and he became one of the town's first trustees. By 1787, Taylor was named justice of the peace for Mercer County. Although he initially opposed separate statehood for Kentucky, he was a delegate to the 1792 convention to draft the state’s first Constitution. At that time, Taylor owned 2,500 acres and was a slaveholder, but he was among the minority at the convention to oppose slavery. Samuel Taylor introduced the motion to delete Article IX from the draft—the section protecting slavery—but the motion failed. Following the convention, Taylor was elected one of the state’s first representatives. He is credited with helping to build the first Kentucky state house in Danville. One of only ten 1792 delegates to serve again when the Constitution was rewritten in 1799, Taylor was one of just three antislavery delegates elected to that second convention. In December 1805, Samuel Taylor was appointed the second keeper of Kentucky’s first prison, in Frankfort, serving until about 1810. His death is given, variously, as 1812, 1813, or 1814. Picture? Carved above what was the original front door of Taylor’s 1790 house in Harrodsburg is the motto: “Look to your laws rather than progenitors for inheritance.” Photo: Library of Congress Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

48. David Rice (1733 -1816) Born in Hanover County, Virginia, David Rice graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton) in 1761 and the following year was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Hanover. After his ordination, he preached to communities that included slaves, and he became a strong voice for abolition, believing the church should take a leading role in encouraging slavery’s end. In 1783, he tried to secure land in Kentucky for his family, but discouraged by land claim issues, he returned to Virginia. Three hundred Presbyterian pioneers signed a petition urging him to return to the frontier, and he moved to Kentucky permanently, bringing perhaps four slaves with him. Reverend Rice organized the first three Presbyterian congregations in Kentucky in 1784. He helped found Transylvania Seminary, serving as its chairman. Working with the Kentucky Abolition Society, Rice became the frontier’s strongest voice for immediate emancipation. He was elected one of five delegates from Mercer County to the 1792 Kentucky constitutional convention, and he delivered a powerful speech urging his colleagues not to sanction slavery in the Constitution. When it seemed clear that the majority favored protecting slavery, Rev. Rice resigned from the convention and was replaced by Harry Innes. Rev. Rice’s speech, “Slavery, Inconsistent with Justice and Good Policy” –first given at the 1792 constitutional convention– was published in 1804. Image: Library of Congress Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

49. From a prominent Caroline County, Virginia, family and a lifelong friend of James Madison, Harry Innes studied at the College of William and Mary and was admitted to the bar in 1773. By 1778, he was deputy attorney for Bedford County and subsequently held various other government posts, including collecting taxes and overseeing land claims. Innes relocated to the Kentucky frontier in 1782, to accept the appointment as judge of the Supreme Court of Virginia, representing the District of Kentucky. He was named the district’s attorney general two years later. Innes was involved in all aspects of frontier leadership, serving on the military board, as a trustee of Transylvania University, and as a delegate to eight of the ten statehood conventions. He tried to establish a cotton manufacturing factory in Danville, to boost the economy. In 1789, Innes was appointed Kentucky’s first federal judge, serving the United States District Court for the District of Kentucky until his death. Harry Innes was a founder of the Danville Political Club—a group of men who debated issues surrounding the establishment of Kentucky’s first government. In 1792, he joined the constitutional convention in progress, after the Constitution had been drafted, filling the delegate’s post vacated when Rev. David Rice resigned. Like Rice, Innes was an anti-slavery delegate, but his vote to remove the section protecting slavery was in the minority. Seven years later, he was one of only three anti-slavery delegates to the 1799 constitutional convention. Although Judge Innes was investigated for playing a role in the Spanish Conspiracy, Congress decided not to impeach him, and he retained his district judgeship until his death in 1816. Harry Innes (1752 -1816) Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map

50. Born in Pennsylvania but raised in Virginia, Samuel McDowell had a long career of military service—in the French and Indian Wars, Dunmore’s War, and the American Revolution. In 1773, he was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses, and when that legislative body was dissolved during the Revolution, McDowell served in two conventions to establish Virginia as an independent state and to instruct the delegates to the Continental Congress (in 1775 and 1776). As such, he was one of the few Kentucky statehood delegates to have such practical government-building experience. McDowell was also a trustee of Liberty Hall Academy (now Washington and Lee University) at this same time. In 1783, Samuel McDowell moved to Fayette County in the Kentucky District, to develop land granted to him for military service. He worked as a land surveyor on the frontier and was soon appointed one of the three judges in the region’s first district court. He would later serve as circuit court judge. Moving to Mercer County in 1784, Judge McDowell became a leader in the movement to create a separate state of Kentucky. A founder of the Danville Political Club and an experienced delegate, McDowell was, most significantly, elected president of nine of the ten pre-statehood conventions. As a Mercer County elector in 1792, he helped select Kentucky’s first governor and state senators. One of his sons was Dr. Ephraim McDowell, the pioneering surgeon. Samuel McDowell (1735-1817) The Filson Historical Society, Louisville, KY Click here to return to the delegate list Click here to return to the map