History of Providence, KY
Part 3
by Frances Bassett Price

William Jenkins was said to have been taken prisoner by a band of Indians, probably long before the settlement of Providence. The Indians learned to love him and kept him with them for several years. And it is told that to guard against his being captured and scalped by rival Indian bands they painstakingly kept his hair plucked out.

He later built an Inn "Halfway House", a log hostelry which served game, corn pone, hominy and pork. It had shuck mattresses in the rooms and an ironclad rule that not more than four persons could occupy one bed.

First Names Recalled

The following poem gives the first names of the town we today call Providence. It is self-explanatory. It was written by an early teacher of the town to a former pupil.

SIXTY ONE YEARS AGO

Jenkinstown and Savageville.
Sixty-one years ago I taught school on Providence Hill.
I then read the Bible page
And was eighteen years of age.
I then had many joys,
Johnny Barnhill was one of my school boys.
On the school ground we did play you know.
Just sixty-one years ago.
Our parents were true and brave
But now each is in his grave.
Johnny, just as sure as I love you
We will soon be there too.
We once did play on Providence Hill
But now we live in Madisonville.
Johnny, I always loved you well
For I taught you how to read and spell.
Those sweet days are gone you know,
Just sixty-one years ago.
I have run down the stream of time
Until my age is seventy-nine.
Let us our Savior love,
and try to meet in Heaven above.
For we very well know
It will not be long until we must go.
    ----------N. A. Hibbs, Sr.

 
The man to whom the poem was written was John Daniel Barnhill who was born in North Carolina in 1829 and came with his parents to the Providence vicinity about 1834 where he attended school "on Providence Hill" taught by his friend, Hibbs. Jenkinstown was evidently the name for the northwestern group of hills with several houses clustered on the sides; Savageville for the hill where Main St., and Broadway now cross then the site of Savage's residence and store.

Tavern License Granted

The Hopkins county records show that in 1837 a tavern license was granted to both Richard Savage and Daniel Head. The Head brothers, Daniel, William and Mayberry came to the locality in the early 1830's from Chester county, South Carolina. W. O. Head, mayor and politician of Louisville, was a grandson of William Head. Daniel built a store opposite of Savage's on the south side of Main Street. William built a store on the corner of Broadway and Main southwest of Savage. Wiley Ledbetter at about the same time built on the northeast corner of Main and Broadway and N. S. Long built a store south of Wm. Head.

The voting precinct was called "Harralson's Precinct" and was in the Fifth Constable's District. Newton Headley and Lorenzo D. Orr were election officers in Harralson's Precinct in 1838 and 1839.

Viewers were appointed Nov. 12, 1838 to lay out or revise the road from Madisonville to Providence and provide for building a bridge on same. This bridge over Weir's Creek on the road to Providence is mentioned in the records as being in a bad condition Nov. 14, 1837.

An appropriation was made for a whipping post Dec. 9, 1833. On Nov. 13, 1836 the records mention the bad condition of the Providence-Princeton road. John Cargile, James Johnson and Wm. R. Baker were early constables. John Dobyns was first city judge; Ross Givens the first mayor.

Roster of Early Families

A roster of the families of Providence and vicinity at the time of its incorporation and the early years of its history would include in addition to families already mentioned, the names of Headley, James, Parker, Barnhill, Withers, Woodson, Wynns, Marlin, Edmondson, Martin, Palmer, Christian, Montgomery, Sugg, Leeper, Kennedy, Williams, Llewelllyn, Jett, Cargile, Pullam, Jennings, Stalion, Sanders, King, Wetzel, Foxwell, Givens, Head, Harmon, Hunter, Rice, Skinner, Lovan, Dobyns, Blackwell, Lewis, Northern, Taylor, Richards, Browning, Kane, Coleman, Walker, Orr, Laird, Stevenson, Henderson, Trader, Bailey, Cullen, Land, Baker, Price, Bassett, White, Rudy, Sigler, Sisk, Brown, Thomas, Fugate, Gray, Cook, Brooks, Howard, Harral.

Biographical sketches are given elsewhere of some of the best known early settlers, where sufficient material can be secured.

Some time in the 1840's Louis Marlin of Paris, France came into the community, having left his native land to escape military service. He married Miss Scythia Edmondson, daughter of John Edmondson who had come into Hopkins county at an early day from North Carolina. He soon after built a large inn or hotel just below Wiley Ledbetter's store on Main street, where he did a thriving business for many years.

First Coal Mine

Ambrose Lovan at about the same time opened a coal mine on the western slope of the steep hill now know as Big Hill Cemetery. This was the first mine in the locality. Many others were opened on various hillsides soon afterwards.