THE HOUCHINS OF SOUTHERN KENTUCKY
The Houchins who settled in southern Kentucky along the Green River in the latter part of the eighteenth century and the early part of the nineteenth century were of the family of John Houchins of Amherst county, Virginia. (4)John, son of the above(3)John just mentioned, was the first Kentucky Houchin to leave Amherst to seek new lands in the rugged country of Augusta county, Virginia. Soon to follow, however, were brothers, William, Francis and Moses; and later to Kentucky came Charles.
Augusta county in an early day was made up of most of the present western counties of Virginia and eastern counties of West Virginia, and when Bath county, Virginia, was formed in 1791 from part of Augusta that portion which was cut off included the land of these Houchins, by which action they were made residents of Bath county.
(4)John Houchins, son of John(3) had settled along the banks of Back Creek of the Greenbriar River by 1780, where he continued to live until his removal to Kentucky. Augusta county records state that in 1790 he moved to Kentucky, and records in Bath county reveal that September 10, 1791, he and wife, Patty, sold to Jacob Warrick 130 acres of land on East Branch of Greenbriar River called Back Creek for "35 current money of Virginia".
In 1796 John Houchins entered land in Logan county, Ky. Prior to 1797 only soldiers of the Revolution were permitted to take up land south of the Green River in Kentucky. After 1797 any head of family twenty-one years or over could file claim for this land. The fact that he was granted land in 1796 indicates that John Houchins was a Revolutionary War soldier.
In 1799 John Houchins took up 200 acres of land in Warren county, Ky., and in later years he acquired other tracts. When Edmonson county was formed from Warren county in 1826, that placed the residence of John Houchin in Edmonson county.
The following is taken from a historical article of the Houchin family of Edmonson county by the Hon. Charles E. Whittle, attorney of Brownsville, Kentucky.
"Two John Houchins came from Virginia in the early days and settled on Green River. They were cousins and neighbors, and to distinguish them from one another each had a nickname. One of them was called Johnny Dick Houchins. (NOTE: Since this article was written it has been found that the two Johns were father and son, Johnny Dick being the son.)
He is said to have come to this section directly from Richmond, and is known to have built his cabin on the Green River hills as early as 1797, for on July 3rd of that year a public road was opened from Bowling Green to his place. Like the other settlers of that time he built his cabin where nature beckoned him regardless of who owned the land on which it was located. Five years later, however, he went down to the little village of Bowling Green and had 200 acres of land around his "improvement" entered and surveyed. This land was on the south side of Green River, from about the Stice Island down strean a half mile of so. From the river it extened back about three quarters of a mile, including the Big Valley and the level upland where the E.E. Whittle homestead stands. Cane brakes and cliffs, valley and upland, virgin timber, and at least a half dozen fine springs combined with Green River to make this spot a paradise for the hunter. Bear and deer abounded, and perhaps the buffalo had not quite all gone when this young pioneer settled here. Wild turkey and the smaller game were everywhere. Wolves, too, were numerous and annoying. In his older days, for Johnny Dick lived to the rope old age of Ninety odd. and died after the Civil War, he enjoyed relating to his children his hunting experiences in the early days when he was young. One of his stories centered around a camp fire he built at the upper end of the shoals where Sander's Ferry is now located, and related how a pack of wolves came up to within the shodows of the firelight and growled and scolded much to his discomfort through the night.
With him from "Ol' Virginny" came his older brother, Charles Houchin, who built his cabin nearby and in 1801 laid claim to 400 acres, including his "improvement", and adjoining his brother's farm. Charles Houchin was a Revolutionary soldier and lived to be old. The records at Brownsville as late as 1836 show that he was preparing papers to get the pension allowed all Revolutionary Soldiers. Among their neighbors were Ezekial Hambrey, Nathan N. Whooten and William Miller.
Johnny Dick Houchins spent much time on the River. He established a ferry across Green River at his place as early as 1815, for in that year he was appointed road overseer from his ferry to Dripping Spring. A article appearing in the "News" concerning the early roads in The Forks indicated that the first road leading out of that section of Edmonson county crossed Green River at the old Houchin Ferry where Sander's Ferry is now kept.
All of this occurred some years before the establishment of Edmonson county, and in what was then Warren county. He did not remain for many years on his original settlement, but crossed into the Forks and moved down stream a few miles near to the mouth of the Nolin. Here he made his home on the great tongue-shaped promontory which thrusts itself out between the two rivers near their confluence. In his old age he continued to live there with his son, Jesse Houchins, the father of Jesse I., Robby; Asa; and Dude(John D.), who are as well known, or remembered, by the present generation.
Johnny Dick Houchins was one of the best flatboat steersmen, or pilots, on the river from here to New Orleans according to O.P. Shackleford who knew him.
He frequently piloted a flatboat, with its cargo of tobacco, from the warehouse at the Turnhole, or from Brownsville, down Green River and the Ohio and the Mississippi to the international market at New Orleans. It was a long, hazardous trip, and none but a careful and experienced river man could steer the craft safely passed the shoals and bends which challenged him. One of the danger spots was a large, jutting rock in the big bend of the Green River above the mouth of Nolin, and opposite Johnny Dick Houchins home, Many a flat boat, and in later years, many a raft of saw logs, have run aground and gone to pieces on Johnny Dick's Rock, as the point was known to river men.
According to his grandson, Jesse Houchin, however, Johnny Dick Houchins was not so experienced or so good a pilot as his Cousin, Johnny Frank Houchins, the other immigrant who lived further up Green River on the south side about where Garrett Davis lived. Johnny Frank is reputed to have made forty-nine trips down the River by flatboat to New Orleans, and to have said that he was going to make the trip once more "in the spring" and quit. But, alas, his last trip was made in the spring, not down the River to New Orleans, but across "The River" into Eternity.
Johnny Frank Houchins was the father of Capt. Frank Houchin, and grandfather of Pate Houchin, and other yet living here. He was a brother to another old pioneer immigrant, (Will) Dave Houchin, the father of Willis C. Houchin, the Surveyor, many of whose descendants yet live in Edmonson county.
"Benjamin Houchin, Cedar Springs Valley, and James Houchin had their homes in Edmonson county at the time it was established. Each lived in The Forks, and were closely akin to those already mentioned."
It is here that it is necessary to explain the statement which is contained in parenthesis at the beginning of the above article. John D. Houchin was the son of an elder John as stated. But the John or Johnny Frank, of Mr. Whittle's narrative was a cousin of John D. as he asserts. Johnny Frank, however, was not an immigrant; be was born in Kentucky, and was the son of Francis Houchin, an immigrant brother of Johnny Dick's father, John. John D. Houchin was an immigrant, as Mr. Whittle states, but he came with his parents as a young man when this family emigrated to Kentucky, and the John of Mr. Whittle's article who entered land in 1797 was John the elder. The Benjamin and James mentioned at the close of the above narration were brothers of Johnny Dick and sons of John Houchins, senior.
