According to an obituary for his granddaughter, Abigail Strode, John Strode "built Strode's Station, in this county, one of the first settlements in Kentucky."
Strode's Station was built in 1779 by Capt. John STRODE, grandfather of William Clinkenbeard's (1725-1823) granddaughter-in-law, Sally STRODE, and was located about 2-1/2 miles from Winchester, Clarke Co., Ky., in the Lexington Road, at the northeast corner of the present juncture of Lexington Rd & Clintonville Rd. In 1926, excavations showed the chimney rocks were still there, covered by the sod. [G.Glenn Clift, KENTUCKY IN RETROSPECT: NOTEWORTHY PERSONAGES & EVENTS IN KENTUCKY HISTORY, 1792-1967 (Frankfort, Ky: The Kentucky Historical Soc., 1967) pp. 206-207.]
Monument commemorating Captain John Strode. Thanks to Richard Martin for the picture.
JOHN D. SHANE'S INTERVIEW WITH PIONEER JOHN HEDGE, BOURBON COUNTY
TRANSCRIBED FOR PUBLICATION
By OTTO A. ROTHERT
Louisville, Kentucky
INTRODUCTION: Every year during the past thirteen years, with one or two exceptions, THE FILSON CLUB HISTORY QUARTERLY has published one of Reverend John D. Shane's interviews. Shane was born in 1812 and died in 1864. He spent much of his time interviewing Kentucky pioneers and sons and daughters of pioneers. His notes on his several hundred interviews are preserved: some in the Wisconsin State Historical Society, Madison, and some in the Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia. Photostat copies of all the notes on Shane's interviews now in the Wisconsin Society are in the archives of The Filson Club. A sixteen-page biography, "Shane the Western Collector," by Otto A. Rothert, appears in the January, 1930, number of the HISTORY QUARTERLY.
Shane's interview with Hedges: Stroud's Station. Stroud's Station was the most prominent point in all that section. Was on the head of Stroud's Fork of Stoner. [Strode's was less than a mile from Constant's. Shane spells pioneer John Strode's name both "Stroud" and "Strode." The correct spelling always has been Strode. The Strode family is still prominent in Clark and neighboring counties.] (Note: See John Constant)
In 1779, Colonel William Morgan, one of Richard Morgan's sons, led a party of twelve through the Shenandoah Valley to Boonesborough, Kentucky that included Thomas and Benoni Swearington and two of their slaves, and John Strode and John Constant Jr. Major Thomas Swearingen was married to Mary Morgan, sister of Col. William Morgan. Thomas went to back to Kentucky in 1780 with one of the Vans, probably his son Van (1762-1793), John Constant, Jr., John and Evan Morgan, and others. Strode built Strode's Station, about 2.5 miles south of Winchester in what is now Clark County, All of these people were listed among the residents of Strode's Station when it was attacked in 1781. Van served with John and Peter Popeno in a company of Kentucky rangers that was called up in 1783. Indian Van and his nephew Van were in General St. Claire's abortive expedition against the Indians in 1973; the younger Van was killed during the fighting.
Came from Va. to Boonesborough, 1776. Builder of Strode's Station, 1779, the largest and most important fortified area in Clark County during the early settlements and bloody Indian wars. Indians attacked station 1781, and later. Two men killed first attack, none in later ones. Old burial ground unearthed, 1965, and the remains reinterred in Winchester Cemetery.
"Jacob Spahr was a brother-in-law to Abram VanMeter. VanMeter had known Daniel Boone and was aware of his scouting in Eastern Kentucky, despite the prohibition of the British. He persuaded brothers Jacob, Matthias and Theodorus to travel to Kentucky in 1885. There they met an old friend from Virginia named John Strode who convinced them to accompany him to a new location which became known as "Strode's Station." This was a palisaded fort with the homes circling the walls of the fort.
In the spring of 1781 the station was attacked by indians lasting from 7/8 am until 3/4 pm. Jacob Spahr, alarmed by the indians, attempted to run and was shot and scalped within 40 yards of the fort."
Nancy O'Malley has a description of John Strode's Station in her book,
Stockading Up, with names of inhabitants who moved quite often.
They had 12 children.
