I have in my possession an affidavit of an official of the War Department at
Washington, certifying (that my grand-father) Michael O'Hair, was on the
pay-roll of the Revolution-ary War, which will make all of his female
descendants eli-gible to the Daughters of the American Revolution.
The State of Kentucky was admitted into the Union as an independent State in
1792, and, divided by act of Congress into three counties - Fayette,
Jefferson, and Lincoln. The county of Fayette embracing all the territory
East of the Kentucky River, beginning at its mouth and running up same to
the Virginia line,
The county of Clark was made of parts of Fayette and Bourbon by an act of
the Legislature to take effect from and after the 1st day of February 1793,
and bounded as follows:
Beginning at the mouth of Boone's Creek on the Kentucky River; thence up
same to the mouth Welch's Fork; thence a direct line to Bourbon line, such
a course as will leave the house of JOHN MCCREARY, SR., one quarter of a
mile to the Westward; thence a straight line to Stone's Fork of Licking,
such a course as will leave Bourbon Court House eleven miles from the
nearest point of said line; thence a straight line to the line of Mason
County, so as to leave the Blue Lick two miles to the Northwest thereof;
thence up the main branch of Licking along the line of Mason County to the
head thereof; thence along the said line, a direct course from the head of
Licking to strike the nearest point of Cumberland mountain; thence along
said mountain Southward to the present line of Bourbon county to the head of
Kentucky; thence down the same to the beginning.
After the formation of Clark County, my grandfather immediately removed to
and settled in the vicinity of Mt. Sterling which was then in Clark County,
where he formed a second matrimonial alliance by marrying Miss Elizabeth
Tribbett, who was an orphan, born in Virginia and brought from that state by
a widow Cooper, and did not have a relative in that state. He continued to
reside in this county until Montgomery County was made, which was four years
and one month after the formation ofClark.
Clark County when first established was about 200 miles in length and with
an average width of over 40 miles and included all the territory between
Licking and Kentucky rivers, from two miles above the Blue Lick Springs on
Licking and the mouth of Boones Creek on the Kentucky River to the Virginia
line; besides a large territory in the Big Sandy Valley and embracing all,
and a part of what is now the following seven-teen counties: Montgomery,
Nicholas, Bath, Rowan, Menifee, Morgan, Magoffin, Floyd, Pike, Estill,
Powell, Lee, Wolfe, Breathitt, Knott, Perry and Letcher.
My Grandfather O'Hair by his second marriage had ten children, five sons and
five daughters, named as follows:
John, William, James, Michael, and Washington. (Note--Information gathered
by Frank T. O'Hair indicates Washington had a twin by the name of Harrison,
who died in infancy).
Nancy, Polly, Sibley, Rose Ann and Eleanor, (the latter being my mother)
with all of whom I was well acquainted, they were all married, and all
except one reared large families of children; consisting of from six to
fourteen in each family. I had fifty uncles and aunts, which was increased
to fifty-four by the second marriage of three uncles and one aunt. They
have all long since departed this life, having died at ages ranging from
58, the youngest, to 95 years.
My grandfather continued to live in the vicinity of Mt. Sterling until the
beginning of the nineteenth century, when he moved with his large family and
located in the moun-tainous part of Montgomery County, on the farm upon
which Hazel Green was afterwards located, which was then in the wilderness
and sparsely populated, not more than a dozen families living in twenty
miles square. The county at that time was bountifully supplied with wild
game of every des-cription, including deer, bear and wild turkeys, with
which the assistance of his trusty rifle he kept his table bounti-fully
supplied. The county was also infested with hundreds of wolves and a few
panthers....."
