African-American Communities: Fraziertown and Stumptown

African-American Communities: Frazier Town and Stumptown

Pewee Valley has two primarily African American communities located on the outskirts of town: Frazier Town & Stumptown. Both developed shortly after the Civil War around black churches.

About Fraziertown

Fraziertown Road ca. 2007. Photo by Donna Russell.

Beginnings: Sycamore Chapel and Bartlett & Mary Frazier

Frazier Town is an historical African American neighborhood that sprang up in the 1870s. It lies just beyond Pewee Valley's city limits off Rollington Road close to the Jefferson County-Oldham County line. It appeared first on the 1879 Beers & Lanagan Atlas of Pewee Valley as a small collection of about nine homes clustered near a "Colored Church" -- Sycamore Methodist Chapel -- directly behind George Fisher's farm.

Sycamore Chapel in Frazier Town. Photo by Kate Matthews, probably taken in the early 1930s for the Fox Film Scrapbook put together for the "Little Colonel" movie starring Shirley Temple. The movie debuted in theaters in February 1935. Photo courtesy of the Oldham County Historical Society. The identity of the man in the photo is unknown, but Kate used him in another photo of a man doing yardwork at Clovercroft. That photo is part of the Kate Matthews Collection at the University of Louisville Photographic Archives.

Sycamore Chapel served as the nucleus of the new African American neighborhood. Originally, the black Baptist and Methodist congregations shared a combination church/school facility on Old Floydsburg Road in Stumptown, built and paid for by the Freedmen's Bureau in 1869. According to "Pewee Valley: Land of the Little Colonel," published in 1974 by Katie S. Smith:

In the early 1870s, members began to consider the possibility of constructing their own church building. Land was difficult to acquire. However, Mrs. Brenner of Louisville gave land for the new church. Sycamore Chapel was organized and built in 1873, and Reverend W. H. Evans served as first pastor. Officers included James Hinkle, Pollie Hinkle, Selby Lindsey and Rose Lindsey.

Local lore suggests that the Frazier Town community was named for Bartlett Frazier, a freedman who at one time owned land there. Originally born in Louisiana, his first documented presence in the Pewee Valley area occurs in the 1870 census. At that time, he was living at Clovercroft, then the home of Milton M. Rhorer, and was one of three servants/laborers residing on the estate's grounds:

Mary Canelton, white, age 14, domestic servant
Jane Caldwell, African American, age 24, domestic servant
Bartlett Frazier, African American, age 24, works in garden

It's possible that Frazier came to Kentucky with Rhorer. At the time of the 1860 census, Milton Rhorer was living on a large plantation in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, near the town of Alexandria, and owned land valued at $68,400. His brother, George, was working as his overseer. The area was twice occupied by the Union Army during the Civil War, first in spring of 1863 and then again in May 1864, during the Red River Campaign. When Union troops withdrew from

The Union occupation of Alexandria in Rapides Parish, Louisiana in the spring of 1863. From Harper's Weekly, June 20, 1863.

Alexandria on May 13, 1864, they set the river port on fire, burning down 90 percent of the buildings in a 22-block area. The decimation of Rapides Parish and the port of Alexandria during the war is described in "Rapides Parish Histories" by Sue Eakin:

In the spring of 1863, General Nathaniel P. Banks, who had over 40,000 soldiers in his Department of the Gulf, invaded the Red River Valley. Troops left Opelousas and marched up Bayou Boeuf to Alexandria, which was surrendered May 9th. Meanwhile, with an agreement between Admiral Farragut and General Banks to destroy public works and machinery at Alexandria, Admiral Porter went up the Red River with two gunboats and a tugboat. He found Captain John Kelso at Fort De Russy near Marksville, stripping guns from the fort for use on Confederate gunboats. The Confederate boats were fired on, and Kelso left for Alexandria with two disabled boats. Porter went up to Alexandria, and when Banks arrived, he returned back down the Red, dispatching Commander S. E. Woodworth to capture the "Webb" and "Queen of the West" (Woodworth did not capture the boats, but destroyed about $300,000 in farm produce.)

In the march of Banks' men up the Boeuf and through Rapides, and the movement of Confederate troops under General Mouton and Zachary Taylor, plantations were laid waste, houses were burned, fences were torn down, trees were cut for firewood, and sugar houses and barns burned. Both armies lived off the land, taking away food, livestock, and poultry, tearing down fences and cutting down trees, whenever they found them, for firewood.

At Alexandria, General Banks when sent the message of General Halleck, that he was supposed to be helping General Grant capture Vicksburg, ordered the army to retrace its steps toward the Gulf. Furthermore, the soldiers were ordered to go into all slave quarters, and make sure all able bodied Negroes went south to the Gulf with the army. Some of the Union soldiers were sent to Port Hudson, and the trail of slaves, riding in plantation carts, walking, on mules, or wagons, was described as extending for six to nine miles, depending upon the account of the observer. Many of the slaves were from Rapides Parish. Aside from the human factor, planters had their largest investment in slaves which, though freed by President Lincoln's January, 1863 proclamation, had mostly remained on the plantations...

... In 1863, many Rapides planters took everything they could move - furniture, poultry, livestock, farm equipment, slaves - everything, and moved to Texas. An exodus from the plantations was so nearly complete, that hardly any people were left in the big plantation houses. William Polk, taking his pregnant wife and children, stopped under a tree on the Texas line where his wife gave birth to a girl. Rapides citizens sometimes set themselves up on Texas farms, and one group of Boeuf planters worked at mining saltpeter fro the Confederacy with the government advancing money on the enterprise. Some rented their wagons and slaves for hauling cotton, the medium of exchange of the Confederacy, to Mexico. At least several from central Louisiana, hauled salt from salt mines near New Iberia to Texas, and to Confederate army camps.

Confiscation of the cotton of the rich Red River Valley was an important motive in both invasions. Cotton was used as a medium of exchange in place of Confederate money in buying supplies from foreign powers. It was, of course, valuable to the Union, as well.

Meanwhile, such planting as was carried on was an exception to the ordinary plantation, its fields largely under worked during the war. On the bayous, switch canes once more grew high, and the land seemed to revert back to the state in which it existed before Europeans arrived.

The second invasion of Red River Valley represented the joint effort of the United States Army and Navy. This time, Banks had the approval of Washington, the object being not only to capture the Red River Valley, but to move into Texas.

Admiral Porter had a sizable fleet of twenty gunboats, and a number of transports carrying many soldiers. Thirteen ironclads - the Eastport, Essex, Benton, Lafayette, Choctaw, Chillicothe, Ozark, Louisville, Carondelet, Pittsburg, Mound City, Osage, and Neosha - were in the fleet, and seven light-draft gunboats, the Ouachita, Lexington, Fort Hindman, Cricket, Gazelle, Juliet, and Black Hawk. Part of Sherman's 16th and 17th Army Corps were with the fleet which arrived in Alexandria, March 16, 1864, having come from the Mississippi, through Old River, and up the Red.

It was March 24th - more that a week - before Banks and advance troops got to Alexandria. They took the same route up the Teche and along both sides of the sinuous Boeuf as they had in 1863.

Although the rapids presented considerable difficulty, the fleet with the exception of six gunboats, which were left in Alexandria docks, managed to get above the rapids and on up the river.

The rest of Banks Army marched once more over the same route as had been followed the spring before. The Union Army set up two recruiting stations and training camps, one in Alexandria, and one at Fort De Russy on the river near Marksville. Jayhawkers, who had been avoiding the Confederate draft, showed up to join the United States Army; there were as many as 500 of them. Another 600 black men volunteered for army service and were accepted.

Banks was stopped at the Battle of Mansfield on April 8, 1864, with heavy losses in a bitter engagement. Next day, at Pleasant Hill, the Confederate troops almost suffered a rout. In the two engagements, both lost around 1500 men in casualties. The two armies had been of almost equal strength: The Confederates numbered a few over 12,000, and the United States troops were not more than 13,000.

Banks decided to retreat, returning to Alexandria on the morning of April 25th. The Red River Valley that had been brought from the wilderness to rich, plantations with comfortable houses, rows of slave cabins, barns, and other buildings, was left in ruins. Houses and fences were burned, crops destroyed, livestock confiscated.

General Taylor reported April 24th:
"The destruction of this country by the enemy exceeds anything in history. For many miles every dwelling - homes, every Negro cabin, every cotton-gin, every corn-crib, and even chicken houses have been burned to the ground; every fence torn down, and the fields torn up by the hoofs of horses and wheels of wagons. Many hundreds of persons are utterly without shelter." ...

Milton had family in Kentucky and slavery remained legal in the Bluegrass State during the war. Rather than fleeing to Texas like many of his planter neighbors, he probably headed to Louisville, where his brother Jonas was a respected banker. Milton and his family arrived in Pewee Valley about 1866. and he served as one of Pewee Valley's original trustees when the town was incorporated by the State Legislature in 1870.

After the war, former slaves who remained in Louisiana were often subjected to terrible treatment by whites, who were angry about the the loss of their slaves, land, wealth and way of life. These documents, excerpted from "Report of the General Assembly of La., Conduct of Late Elections, Condition of Peace and Order in the State, 1868," describe the brutal murders of two former slaves once owned by John Frazier and possibly kin to Bartlett Frazier. Small wonder that he left Louisiana to try his luck in the Bluegrass State.

Parish of Winn

D. M. White, being duly sworn, deposes and says, that he was an Assistant Sub- Assistant Commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau in the Parish of Winn. About the latter part of August, 1868, a party of armed white men went to the house of Hal Frazier and his son, Brantly Allen, colored, the latter teacher of the Freedmen's School, near Frazier's mill, and called them to come out; as they did not answer, these men went to the window and fired several times into the house, but fortunately without hitting them. They were compelled to leave the house and conceal themselves in the swamp in order to preserve their lives. The colored men are threatened with violence if they do not vote the Democratic ticket.

Smithfield, December 12, 1868
W. B. Phillips, Esq.

Dear Sir:
A most horrid murder was committed by two white men at Frazier's Mill, in Winn, fifteen miles from here. Two colored men by the name of Hal Frazier and Robinson, were sent to their final resting place without a moment's warning. Hal Frazier was an honest colored man, and owned a saw mill, but was a strong radical. Captain White has been driven away from Winn Parish and they tried to decoy me to Alexandria, for the purpose of assassinating me. The fact is, Phillips, if you were here I would not give two bits for your hide.
Yours truly,
W. S. Calhoun

S. B. Shackleford states, on oath, that he is a resident and duly registered voter of Rapides Parish, State of Louisiana; that previous to 1860, one Hal Frazier, colored, was a slave of one John Frazier, Winn Parish, and that said Hal Frazier bought and paid for himself and has since purchased a saw mill with machinery attached and about 2000 acres of land, of said John Frazier, his former owner. That about the eighth of December, 1868, a double murder was committed at said sawmill on the persons of said Hal Frazier and one Jesse Robinson. That (left blank in document), of Winn Parish, told witnesses that in conversation with John Frazier, about fifteen days previous to the murder, said John Frazier asked him (___________) to leave Frazier and come and work for him. He (____________) replied that he was working for Hal Frazier and could not leave. John Frazier then replied, " D__n you; you and Hal Frazier will both smell bullet packing in less than (10) ten days; we will break up that nest of radicalism." Witness is of the opinion that said John Frazier and one Doctor Cockrell, son in law of said John Frazier, were accessories to the murder of said Hal Frazier and Jesse Robinson.

Calhoun's Plantation Rapides Parish
December 10, 1868
General A. L. Lee, Editor New Orleans Republican

Dear Sir:
I write to inform you of the latest rebel outrage in Winn Parish, perpetrated on two colored men named Hal Frazier and Jesse Robinson. On the morning of the eighth instant, two strangers went to Hal Frazier's sawmill, as they said, to buy a bill of lumber. Not finding Hal at the mill, they left. Yesterday, at about twelve o'clock, they returned, and finding Hal there, engaged him in conversation about prices of lumber, etc. One of them took Hal from the mill to measure some lumber, while the other remained near Robinson. While Hal was kneeling down, drawing a plan for the house the stranger wanted built, the man pulled a pistol and when Hal raised his head, he was shot, the ball entering under the right eye and coming out at the back of his head. As soon as the pistol was shot the man in the mill drew his pistol and shot Robinson through the back and once through the head. As soon as they found Hal was dead, one of them took his pocket book, which contained some three or four hundred dollars in money and valuable notes. They then mounted their horses and rode off. Hal Frazier was a hard working man, and owned the saw mill and considerable property in land, stock, etc. No one had anything against him except that he was a thorough radical; it was on that account he was murdered. I left the parish as I know that I will be murdered in the same manner as Frazier was, as some parties have threatened to "fix" me the same way.

I am respectfully, etc.,
D. W. White Late Supervisor of Winn Parish

In 1874 -- eight years after moving to Pewee Valley -- the Milton Rhorer family picked up stakes and moved to California. By then, the Fraziers, who had been married since 1863, already owned land in what would become the Frazier Town neighborhood. On November 9, 1870, they had purchased an acre from William Hill (Deed Book P, pg. 303). On November 9, 1871, they bought an acre from Mary Wilhite, and in 1875, they bought a half acre from Thornton Cook (Deed Book R, page 119). On May 21, 1878, they purchased _______ from C&E Brown (Deed Book T, page 135).

By the time of the 1880 census, the Fraziers were living on their two-and-a-half acres. Bartlett was employed as a farm laborer and Mary as a laundress. His year of birth was estimated as 1840, and hers as 1836. Also living with them was eight-year-old Harrison Taylor, who took care of their house. He may have somehow been related to Mary. Her mother's maiden name was Cassandra Taylor.

The Fraziers owned that property until Mary's death on July 2, 1912. Bartlett had died before then. Mary was listed as a widow on the 1910 census and was working as a housekeeper. Although the Fraziers had two children, neither lived to adulthood. With no heirs, Mary decided to leave her land for the benefit of the community. A copy of her will, dated May 17, 1912, and witnessed by her physician, her neighbor Harriet Gibson, and several white neighbors in Rollington, is on file at the Oldham County Courthouse. Thanks to Oldham County Clerk Julia K. Barr for providing the Pewee Valley Historical Society with a copy:

Pewee Valley
May 17, 1912
I Mary Frazier being of sound mind and body hereby make my last will and testament leaving all my property consisting of two acres of land and house and all furniture upon to the May flower temple No 99 after the Mortgage and accrued interest has been paid holder of the Mortgage being Mrs. Lavenia Watson Cooper* of Louisville. The temple having liberty to dispose of all the remaining property as they see fit after a tomb stone has been placed over the graves of my husband and self and after all other expenses has been paid.

Mary (X) Frazier
her mark
(Harriet Gibson
(Garrett S. Foley
(Charles Compton Witnesses
(E.E. Owen M.D.

*Lavenia Watson Cooper and her husband John were black undertakers in Louisville, with an establishment located at 1005 Chestnut Street. Presumably Mary used their services to bury her husband.

The graves of Bartlett and Mary Frazier have not been found. Presumably, they are buried in Pewee Valley Cemetery East. Mary's death certificate shows she was buried in Pewee Valley and Milton Stoess of Crestwood served as the undertaker.

During their lifetimes, the Fraziers held important leadership roles in Pewee Valley's freedmen community. Bartlett Frazier was one of the three original black trustees for the Pewee Valley First Baptist Church and Freedmen's Bureau school in Stumptown in 1869. His connection with Milton Rhorer may have helped him win that role. Rhorer's brother, Jonas, was a founding member of the Pewee Valley Building Association and Charles Cotton, who was appointed white trustee of the First Baptist Church, was actively involved with the building association and real estate speculation in Pewee Valley. Henry Smith, also a member of the building association, sold the Freedmen's Bureau the acre of land for the church and school. Like Milton Rhorer, Cotton was also among Pewee Valley's original trustees when it was legally incorporated in 1870.

Whether or not Frazier was involved in the establishment and construction of Sycamore Chapel in 1873 is unknown. Mary was presumably active in the establishment and ongoing affairs of the May Flower Temple.

Before their deaths, the Fraziers sold part of their land to neighbors. On March 2, 1895, they sold Harriett Thompson, who was renting a house from them, the house and a half-acre for $250, recorded in Deed Book 29, page 299. On July 23, 1896, Mary sold a small tract to Letitia Berry for $15, recorded in Deed Book 30, page 106 at the Oldham County Courthouse.

Frazier Town was located behind George Fisher's farm on Rollington Road. This map, taken from the 1879 Beers & Lanagan Atlas, shows the Colored Church and a small collection of homes.

1880 Census

In 1880, a separate census was taken of Frazier Town. Nine different dwellings were shown with the following families and individuals listed in that census:

Dwelling
Number

125

126

127

128

129

130

131

132

133

Name

Cunningham, Frances
Cunningham, Lizzie
Cunningham, Thornton
Cunningham, Pirtle
Barry, Alphonso
Barry, Mary
Barry, S. Charles
Barry, Tilla
___________________________________
Frazier, Bartlett
Frazier, Mary
Taylor, Harrison
___________________________________
Parker, Edmund
Parker, Lucy
Parker, Delia
Parker, Abraham
Parker, Sally
Parker, Rena
Parker, William
Parker, Clara
___________________________________
Porter, Mary
Taylor, John
Smith, Pirtle
____________________________________
Williams, Georgiana
Hughes, Caroline
Hill, Eliza
Hobbs, Geoganne
Dickerson, Ben
_____________________________________
Davis, Thomas
Davis, Matilda
Davis, Anne
Davis, Henry
Davis, Guy
Davis, F. Thomas
Jackson, Margarett_____________________________________
Gibson, Landrum
Gibson, Harriette
Gibson, John
Gibson, Londen
Gibson, Blanche
Gibson, Landrum
______________________________________
Hill, William
______________________________________
Stafford, Rebecca
Maddox, Sarah
Stafford, Susan
Stafford, William

Relationship

Head of Household
Daughter
Son
Son
Boarder
Boarder
Boarder
Boarder
_______________________
Head
Wife
Takes Care of House
_______________________
Head
Wife
Daughter
Son
Daughter
Daughter
Son
Daughter
_______________________
Head
Grandson
Grandson
________________________
Head
Daughter
Grandchild
Grandchild
Grandchild
________________________
Head
Wife
Daughter
Son
Son
Son
Mother-in-law
________________________
Head
Wife
Son
Son
Daughter
Son
_________________________
Head
_________________________
Head
Daughter
Daughter
Son

Age

40
20
18
14
40
22
5
1
_______
40
44
8
_______
40
42
19
18
16
14
9
6
_______
65
14
8
________
50
28
10
4
1
________
30
27
7
5
3
9/12
63
________
30
27
8
6
3
1
________
36
________
40
22
20
19

Occupation

Domestic Servant
Keeping House
Farm Laborer
At School
Preacher
None

______________________________________
Farm Hand
Laundress

_______________________________________
Day Laborer
Laundress
Laundress
Day Laborer
Domestic Servant
At School

_______________________________________
Domestic Servant
At School

________________________________________
Domestic Servant
At Home
At School

_________________________________________
Laborer
Laundress

Assists to Wash
_________________________________________
Retail Grocer
Keeping House

_________________________________________
Farm Laborer
__________________________________________
Laundress
None
Laundress
Day Laborer

Fannie Craig, who lived in Edgewood, teaches the children of widowed Frazier Town resident Sylvia Gaines to read. This Kate Matthews photo depicts a scene out of Annie Fellows Johnston's book, "The Little Colonel's House Party," originally published in 1901. In the story, their surname is changed to Gibbs and "Aunt Allison" -- a.k.a. Fannie Craig -- taught them their letters an hour on Sunday afternoons, after the family was taken under the wing of the King's Daughters ladies aid group at the Pewee Valley Presbyterian Church.

1900 Census

By 1900, Frazier Town's population had grown. There were 45 people residing in the community in 1880. Twenty years later, there were nearly 80. The number of dwellings had also increased from nine to 16. Values of these structures, however, were in many cases very low. Some of the dwellings were doubtlessly little more than shacks.

Dwelling
Number
153

___________
153
___________
154

___________
155

___________
156
___________
157

___________
158

___________
159

___________
160

___________
161

___________
162

___________
163

___________
164

___________
165

___________
166

___________
167

Name
Fraser, Bartlett
Fraser, Mary
______________________________________
Thomson, Mary
______________________________________
Taylor, Jane
Tyler, Jennie
Taylor, Joseph
Taylor, Evans
Hinkle, Martha
Hinkle, Clarice J.
__________________________________________
Fraser, Archie
Fraser, Reddie Fibel
_______________________________________
Hill, William
______________________________________
Davis, Thomas
Davis, Tedee
Davis, Annie
Davis, Flournoy
Davis, Edith
Davis, Hattie
Davis, Bessie
Davis, Lohman
Davis, Geneva
Davis, Harry
Davis, Ellwood
______________________________________
Williams, George A.
Oglesby, Carrie
Oglesby, Gertrude
Oglesby, A.D.
Ogelsby, Mary
Oglesby, Jesse
_______________________________________
Gaines, Sylvia
Gaines, Willie
Gaines, Tilda
Gaines, Mahala
Gaines, Fannie
Gaines, Stella
Gaines, Harry
Gaines, James
_______________________________________
Porter, Henry
Porter, Rebecca
_______________________________________
Parker, Edmund
Parker, Lucy
Parker, Sallie
Parker, Bettie
Parker, Clara
Berry, Louvina
_______________________________________
Gales, Daniel
Gales, Jennie
Gales, Washington
Robinson, Emma
Gales, Charles
Gales, Hattie
Tyler, Evans
Robinson, Virginia
Robinson, Atheline
_______________________________________
Taylor, Celia
Taylor, Josh T.
Taylor, William
_______________________________________
Taylor, Robert
Taylor, Ethel
Taylor, Janey
_______________________________________
Statesman, William
Statesman, Rachel
Miles, Carrie
_______________________________________
Flournoy, John H.
Flournoy, Romania
Flournoy, Alex K.
Flournoy, Martha R.
Flournoy, Mary F.
Flournoy, John H.
Flournoy, Eugene M.
Flournoy, Martin
Flournoy, Louise
_______________________________________
Walker, Hardin
Walker, Laura
Walker, Oscar M.
Walker, Nannie P.
Walker, Thomas F.
Walker (no name given yet)

Relationship
Head
Wife
_________________________
Head - Widowed
_________________________
Head- Widowed
Boarder- Widowed
Son
Son
Daughter
Granddaughter
_________________________
Head
Wife
_________________________
Head
_________________________
Head
Wife
Daughter
Son
Daughter
Daughter
Daughter
Son
Daughter
Son
Son
_________________________
Head - Widowed
Granddaughter
Granddaugher
Grandson
Daughter
Son-in-law
_________________________
Head - Widowed
Son
Daughter
Daughter
Daughter
Daughter
Son
Son
_________________________
Head
Wife
_________________________
Head
Wife
Daughter
Daughter
Daughter
Niece
_________________________
Head
Wife
Son
Daughter
Son
Daughter
Boarder
Granddaughter
Granddaughter
_________________________
Head- Widowed
Brother
Son
_________________________
Head
Wife
Daughter
_________________________
Head
Wife
Servant
_________________________
Head
Wife
Son
Daughter
Daughter
Son
Son
Son
Daughter
_________________________
Head
Wife
Son
Daughter
Son
Son

Age

63
_______

_______

48
27
25
21
1/12
_______

_______

______

45
26
18
16
15
13
12
10
8
5
_______
71
8
2
2
26
32
_______
33
12
11
9
8
7
5
4
_______

_______
60
60
25
30
20
17
_______
55
45
25
21
13
4
26
2
1
_______
52
34
26
_______
28
24
11
_______
48
30
9
_______
38
36
14
12
10
8
6
3
2
_______
41

11
9
3
1/12

Occupation
Laborer (Farm)

_________________________________________

__________________________________________

Laborer (Farm)
Laborer (Farm)

__________________________________________

__________________________________________
Laborer (Farm)
__________________________________________

At School
At School
At School
At School
At School
At School

__________________________________________

__________________________________________

At School
At School

__________________________________________

__________________________________________
Laborer (Day)

__________________________________________
Laborer (Farm)

Tobacco Stemmer

At School

__________________________________________
Laundress
Laborer (Day)
Laborer (Day)
__________________________________________
Laborer (Railroad)

__________________________________________
Clergyman

At School
__________________________________________
Gardener

At School
At School
At School

__________________________________________

At School

Jane Taylor, known as "Aunt Jane" to her neighbors, poses with infant Billy Gatchel and his four-year-old sister Frances ca. 1908. Billy's mother, Alice Gatchel, died shortly after giving birth to him. Aunt Jane also cared for Alice at Edgewood when her own mother, Alice Craig Peay, died after giving birth to her in 1881. Jane Taylor lived in Frazier Town from 1900 or before until her death on March 6, 1936. She is buried in Pewee Valley Cemetery East. Photo courtesy of Susan Lawson.

1910 Census

By 1910, the number of dwellings in Frazier Town had decreased to 13 and the population had declined to 53. The Kentucky Confederate Home on Central Avenue, which had opened in 1902, had become a major employer. Two brothers were working at the home as waiters, and a mother and daughter duo from a different family were working in the laundry. There were also two schoolteachers residing in the neighborhood: sisters Hattie and Bessie Davis. Presumably, they were teaching at the Pewee Valley Colored School beside the First Baptist Church in Stumptown, about three miles away. Both had attended the school as children.

Dwelling
Number
41

___________
42

___________
43

___________
44

___________
45

___________
46

___________
47
___________
48

___________
49

___________
50

___________
51
___________
52

___________
53

Name
Taylor, Moody
Taylor, Emma
Taylor, William H.
Taylor, Forrest L.
Taylor, Hellen B.
Taylor, Milly
_______________________________________
Flournoy, Romania
Martha R.
Mary F.
_______________________________________
Flournoy, Martin L
Flournoy, Louise B.
Flournoy, Raymond E.
Flournoy, Clifford J.
Flournoy, Laura B.
_______________________________________
Oglesby, Jessie
Oglesby, Mary
Oglesby, Carrie
Oglesby, Gertrude
Oglesby, Wardell
Ogelsby, Henry
Ogelsby, Catharine
Williams, Georgia A.
_______________________________________
Gales, Danniel
Gales, Jennie
Gales, Charley
Gales, Hattie
_______________________________________
Davis, Thomas
Davis, Tea (Teedee)
Davis, Anna B.
Davis, Hattie L.
Davis, Bessie A.
Davis, Geneva J.
Davis, Elwood H.
Bridwell, Anna L
_______________________________________
Hill, William
_______________________________________
Fibel, John
Fibel, Eliza
_______________________________________
Parker, Lucy
Winrow, Betty
Parker, Abe
_______________________________________
Sutton, William
Sutton, Lillie
Sutton, Hallie
Sutton, Bessie
Sutton, Willie
_______________________________________
Taylor, Jane
_______________________________________
Johnson, Robert
Johnson, Golda
Johnson, Emanuel
Johnson, Bud
Johnson, John H.
Johnson, Clara
_______________________________________
Frazier, Mary

Relationship
Head
Wife
Son
Daughter
Daughter
Mother
_________________________
Head-Widowed
Daughter
Daughter
_________________________
Son
Son
Daughter
Son
Daughter
_________________________
Head
Wife
Daughter
Daughter
Son
Son
Daughter
Mother
_________________________
Head
Wife
Son
Daughter
_________________________
Head
Wife
Daughter
Daughter
Daughter
Daughter
Son
Granddaughter
_________________________
Head
_________________________
Head
Wife
_________________________
Head-Widowed
Daughter
Son
_________________________
Head
Wife
Daughter
Daughter
Son
_________________________
Head- Widowed
_________________________
Head
Wife
Son
Son
Son
Daughter
_________________________
Head-Widowed

Age
44
30
18
16
10
60
_____
46
22
20
______
16
13
9
4
1
______
41
37
17
13
8
7
2
78
______
65
57
23
14
______
64
50
33
25
23
19
15
7
______
70
______
50
35
______
70
40
38
______
38
37
17
15
13
______
42
______
27
27
6
4
3
1
______
67

Occupation
Gardener, Private Family
Laundress, Odd Jobs
Table Waiter, Ky. Confederate Home

Cook, Private Family
____________________________________________
Laundress, Odd Jobs

____________________________________________
Table Waiter, Ky. Confederate Home

____________________________________________
Laborer, Odd Jobs
Laundress, Odd Jobs

____________________________________________
Laborer, Odd Jobs

Laborer, Odd Jobs

____________________________________________
Gardener, Private Family
Seamstress, Working Out
Saleswoman, Dry Goods
Teacher, Public School
Teacher, Public School

____________________________________________

____________________________________________
Farm Laborer, Working Out
Laundress, Odd Jobs
____________________________________________

Laundress, Odd Jobs
Farm Labor, Working Out
____________________________________________
Laborer, Odd Jobs
Laundress, Ky. Confederate Home
Laundress, Private Family
Laundress, Ky. Confederate Home

____________________________________________
Maid, Saleslady
____________________________________________
Farm Laborer, Working Out

____________________________________________

1920 Census

The 1920 census data for the Frazier Town neighborhood is less clear than in prior years. All of the families below are listed as living on or near Fraziertown Road; however, a small number are shown as living in the Negro Settlement Reitsville. These included the Earnest Hinkles, the Walker Hardins, the Rev. W.M. Miles family, and the white Thomas Gilmore family.

Two school teachers were living in the neighborhood in 1920: Sallie Winrow of the Parker family and Romania Flournoy. Both presumably taught at the Pewee Valley Colored School.

The Kentucky Confederate Home was providing less employment, probably due to the March 1920 fire, which burned the main building down and damaged other structures on the property. More men were working as section hands for the railroad, either the Interurban, which had opened for service in 1901, or for the Kentucky & Indiana Railroad.

Dwelling
Number
132__________
133

__________
134

__________
135

__________
136
__________
137

__________
138
__________
139

__________
140

__________
141

__________
142

__________
143

__________
144

__________
145

__________
146

__________
147

__________
148

Name
Hall, W.B.
________________________________________
Smith, Ben O.
Smith, Mary Kate
Hinkle, Donald
Hinkle, Minnie Lou
________________________________________
Martin, Earnest
Martin, Adah
Martin, Charley B.
Martin, Mary E.
________________________________________
McCormick, Sim
McCormick, Annie
________________________________________
Taylor, Jane
________________________________________
Oglesby, Jesse
Oglesby, Mary
Oglesby, Catharine
________________________________________
Davis, Thomas
________________________________________
Gales, Dan
Gales, Jennie
Gales, Willie May
________________________________________
Parker, Abe
Parker, Lucy
Winrow, Bessie
Winrow, Sally
Jefferson, Arena
________________________________________
Fible, John
Fible, Eliza
Craig, Perry
Jackson, John
Thornton, Mamie
Thornton, Susie
________________________________________
Flournoy, Romania
Heuett, Abel N.
Heuett, Martha F.
Heuett, John F.
Heuett, Able N., Jr.
Heuett, William R.
Heuett, James C.
Flournoy, M.C.
Flournoy, Raymond
Flournoy, Clifford
Fournoy, Laura B.
________________________________________
Hinkle, Earnest
Hinkle, Mariah
Hinkle, Mary J.
White, Carrie Bell
Hinkle, Thlema
Hinkle, Dorothy
Hinkle, James
Grundy, Willie
Grundy, Adaline
Grudy, Witherspoon
________________________________________
Hardin, Walker
Hardin, Laura
Hardin, Oscar
Hardin, Nannie
Hardin, Thomas
Hardin, Matilda
Hardin, Maime L
Hardin, Walker
________________________________________
Miles, W.M.
Miles, Annie
Miles, L.T.
Miles, Svella
________________________________________
Gilmore, Thomas
Gilmore, Mary
Gilmore, Graeme
Taylor, Levy
________________________________________
Fournoy, John
Flournoy, Marie
Flournoy, John
Flournoy, Eugene
Flournoy, Mary L.
Flournoy, Raymond E.
________________________________________
Sanders, Sam
Sanders, Ora
Sanders, Daisy
Sanders, Glenna M.
Sanders, Josephine
Bradcheer, Josephine

Relationship
Head - Widowed
________________________
Head
Wife
Son-in-Law
Daughter
_________________________
Head
Wife
Son
Daughter
_________________________
Head
Wife
_________________________
Head-Widowed
________________________
Head
Wife
Daughter
_________________________
Head -Widowed
_________________________
Head
Wife
Daughter
_________________________
Head
Mother
Sister
Sister
Sister
_________________________
Head
Wife
Boarder
Boarder
Niece
Niece
_________________________
Head
Son-in-Law
Daughter
Grandson
Grandson
Grandson
Grandson
Son
Son
Son
Daughter
_________________________
Head
Wife
Daughter Widowed
Granddaughter
Daughter
Daughter
Son
Grandson
Granddaughter
Grandson
_________________________
Head
Wife
Son
Daughter
Son
Daughter
Daughter
Son
_________________________
Head
Wife
Son
Son
_________________________
Head-White
Wife
Son
Boarder-Black
_________________________
Head
Wife
Son
Daughter
Son
Son
_________________________
Head
Wife
Daughter
Daughter
Daughter
Mother-in-Law

Age
82
________
35
32
19
17
________
29
24
7
2
________
47
48
________
71
________
58
47
12
________61________70
64
17
_______
50
75
55
52
48________
60
59
70
65
35
28
________
56
43
31
6
5
3
1
23
18
14
11
_______
50
50
25
14
6
4
11
9
3
2
________
60
60
33
24
21
17
14
11
________
53
56
15
14
________
61
48
9
37
________
28
25
5
3
2
0
________
37
33
13
11
9
62

Occupation

_________________________________________
Laborer

Laborer, Farm

__________________________________________
Laborer

Laborer, Farm

__________________________________________
Laborer

__________________________________________

__________________________________________
Transfer, Works on Own Account
Laundress, Private Family

__________________________________________
Laborer
__________________________________________
Laborer
Laundress

_________________________________________
Laborer, Farm

Cook, , Family
School Teacher
Hairdresser
_________________________________________
Laborer
Laundress, Family
Blacksmith
Laborer, Farm
Cook, Family
Cook, Family
_________________________________________
School Teacher
Minister of the Gospel

Nurse, Ky. Confederate Home
Waiter, Family

__________________________________________
Section Hand, Railroad
Laundress, Family

__________________________________________
Painter
Laundress
Section Hand, Railroad
Cook, Family
Housework, Family

__________________________________________
Minister of the Gospel
Cook, Family

__________________________________________
Farmer, Own Account

Laborer, Farm
__________________________________________
Laborer, Section Railroad

__________________________________________
Garage Man

Laundress, Family

1930s and 1940s

Frazier Town ca. 1939 from a Plat Map created by the WPA. By this time, the area had two streets: Frazier Town Road, which connected to what is now Rollington Road, and Main Street.

By 1940, the Frazier Town neighborhood included 15 lots owned by African Americans and Sycamore Chapel. According to the ca. 1939 WPA Plat Map on file at the Oldham County Courthouse, the following blacks owned properties:

Tract Owner Acreage

2540 Walker Hardin 0.8 acres
2541 Romania Flournoy 1.55 acres
2542 Anita Flournoy 1.55 acres
2545 Lucy Berry 3.10 acres
2546 Sycamore Chapel 2.06 acres
2547 Herman Wood 1.05 acres
2548 Mary Oglesby 2.06 acres
2549 Mason Smith 1.32 acres
2550 Jennie Gales 3.67 acres
2551 Lucy Berry 1.83 acres
2552 Lucy Parker Heirs 3.67 acres
2553 Lillie & Will Sutton 2.06 acres
2554 Clarence Tinsley 1.83 acres
2555 Della Tinsley 1.55 acres
2556 Clarence Tinsley 1.83 acres

However, the largest landowner by far was local undertaker Milton Stoess, who owned Tract 2544, comprised of 21.63 acres. Stoess may have acquired title to the property as payment for services rendered by his funeral parlor in Crestwood.

Abraham Parker, shown here with his horse in a Kate Matthews photo, spent his entire adult life in Frazier Town. His parents were one of the neighborhood's original families. He was 18 years old in 1880, the first year Frazier Town was shown in the census. Abe died in 1951 and is buried in Pewee Valley Cemetery East. From "Pewee Valley: Land of the Little Colonel," published in 1974 by Katie S. Smith.

1930 Census

According to the 1930 census, one white, Samuel H. Lee, who was divorced and a gardener in a cemetery, lived in a rented home in the neighborhood. The rest of the residents were black. Abe Parker was the only resident left whose family had owned property in Frazier Town since its founding. He appears to have lived in Frazier Town until his death in 1951.

Dwelling
Number

182

__________
183

__________
184

__________
185

__________
186

__________
187
__________
188

__________
189
__________
190
__________
191

__________
192

__________
193

__________
194

__________
195

Name

Taylor, Jane
Tinsley, Della
________________________________________
Tinsley, Nathaniel
Tinsley, Jamie
Tinsley, Ruth M.
Tinsley, Nathan
Tinsley, Christine
Tinsley, William
Tinsley, Mary F.
Tinsley, Hattie A.
________________________________________
Woods, Herman
Woods, Willie
________________________________________
Smith, Mason
Smith, Hattie L.
________________________________________
Oglesby, Jessie
Oglesby, Mary
Oglesby, Waddell
________________________________________
Lee, Samuel H. (white)
________________________________________
Tinsley, Joseph C.
Tinsley, Laura F.
Tinsley, Romana E.
________________________________________
Fibel, John
________________________________________
Parker, Abraham
________________________________________
Sutton, William
Sutton. Lillie
Dorsey, Ella
Dorsey, Grace
Dorsey, Charles
Dorsey, Robert
Leachman, May E.
Leachman, Lucille
________________________________________
Tinsley, Clarence
Tinsley, Hattie
Tinsley, Frances
Tinsley, Foster
Tinsley, Robert
________________________________________
Flournoy, John H.
Flournoy, Mary E.
Flournoy, John H,
Flournoy, Eugene M.
Flournoy, Mary L.
Flournoy, Raymond E.
Flournoy, Florence V.
Flournoy, Bessie V.
Flournoy, Jennie G.
Flournoy, Anita J.
________________________________________
Flournoy, James C.
Flournoy, Romania B.
_______________________________________
Sanders, Samuel
Sanders, Ora

Relationship

Head-Widowed
Boarder
_________________________
Head
Wife
Daughter
Son
Daughter
Son
Daughter
Daughter
_________________________
Head
Wife
_________________________
Head
Wife
_________________________
Head
Wife
Son
_________________________
Head- Divorced
_________________________
Head
Wife
Daughter
_________________________
Head - Widowed
_________________________
Head - Widowed
_________________________
Head
Wife
Daughter
Granddaughter
Grandson
Grandson
Great-granddaughter
Great-granddaughter
_________________________
Head
Wife
Daughter
Son
Son
_________________________
Head
Wife
Son
Son
Daughter
Son
Daughter
Daughter
Daughter
Daughter
_________________________
Head
Mother
_________________________
Head
Wife

Age

70
13
____
28
28
10
8
6
5
3
0
____
27
27
____
42
42
____
70
56
28
____
67
___
21
18
2
____68
____
65
____
56
55
39
11
10
9
3
2____57
46
17
16
9
____
37
34
15
13
12
11
9
7
3
1
____
24
66
____
44
40

Occupation

Laundress

_____________________________________________
General Farm
Laundress

______________________________________________
Truckman, General Hauling

______________________________________________
Chauffeur, Private Home

______________________________________________
Laborer, General Farm

Porter, House
______________________________________________
Gardener, Cemetery
______________________________________________
Laborer, General Farm

______________________________________________
Laborer, General Farm
_____________________________________________
Laborer, Odd Jobs
______________________________________________
Laborer, Odd Jobs
Maid, Hospital

_____________________________________________
Laborer, General Farm

______________________________________________
Section Hand, Railroad

______________________________________________
Laborer, Odd Jobs

______________________________________________
Laborer, Odd Jobs

Frazier Town residents John H. and Mary E. Flournoy's daughters sang Negro spirituals at a silver tea held June 29, 1937 on The Beeches' front lawn by the Pewee Valley Presbyterian and St. James Episcopal churches. The girls were the great-granddaughters of Rebecca Flournoy Porter -- real life inspiration for Mom Beck, the Little Colonel's mammy, in Annie Fellows Johnston's "Little Colonel" stories. Clipping from a Little Colonel scrapbook at the Louisville Free Public Library's main branch.

1940 Census

By the 1940s, Frazier Town's population was aging. Many of the households were headed by people over 65, who were no longer able to work. The Kentucky Confederate Home had closed down, the Interurban was no longer running, passenger traffic on the L&N had declined with widespread use of the automobile, and there were fewer job opportunities available in Pewee Valley for younger men. Most of the people in the neighborhood were working as servants.

Dwelling
Number
213

___________
214

___________
215

___________
216

___________
217

___________
218
___________
219

___________
220

___________
221

___________
222

Name
Flournoy, Martin
Flournoy, Anita
_______________________________________
Flournoy, John
Flournoy, Marie
Flournoy, John
Flournoy, Eugene
Flournoy, Mary
Flournoy, Raymond
Flournoy, Florence
Flournoy, Bessie
Flournoy, Jennie
Flournoy, Anita
Flournoy, Rosie
Flournoy, Alice
Flournoy, Catherine
Flournoy, James William
Flournoy, John Raymond
_______________________________________
Tinsley, Clarence
Tinsley, Foster
Tinsley, Robert
Tinsley, Frances
Price, James Lee
_______________________________________
Greene, Earl
Greene, Della
_______________________________________
Sutton, Will
Sutton, Lillie
Gordon, Gus
_______________________________________
Parker, Abe
_______________________________________
Smith, Mason
Smith, Hattie
Johnson, Anna B.
_______________________________________
Woods, Herman
Woods, Willie May
_______________________________________
Greene, Will
Greene, Rose
Brown, Margaret E.
Brown, Charles J.
Brown, Earl Edward
Brown, Joyce Lee
_______________________________________
Oglesby, Jesse
Oglesby, Mary

Relationship
Head
Wife
_________________________
Head
Wife
Son
Son
Daughter
Son
Daughter
Daughter
Daughter
Daughter
Daughter
Daughter
Daughter
Son
Grandson
_________________________
Head- Widowed
Son
Son
Daughter
Grandson
_________________________
Head
Wife
_________________________
Head
Wife
Granddaughter
_________________________
Head- Widowed
_________________________
Head
Wife
Sister-in-law
_________________________
Head
Wife
_________________________
Head
Wife
Daughter
Grandson
Grandson
Granddaughter
_________________________
Head
Wife

Age
43
34
_____
47
47
25
24
22
20
18
17
13
11
9
6
4
3
11/12
_______
67
26
19
28
3
_______
34
24
_______
68
67
7
_______
75
_______
52
52
65
_______
38
36
_______
68
67
28
9
7
4
_______
80
67

Occupation
Housework
Housework___________________________________________
Carpenter Helper
Housework
Laborer
Yard Work
Home Housework
Laborer
Cook
Housework

___________________________________________
Unable to work
Dairyman
Laborer
Home Housework

___________________________________________
Plumbers Helper
Cook, Private Home
___________________________________________
Unable to work
Unable to work

___________________________________________
Unable to work
___________________________________________
Chauffeur
Home Housework
Unable to work
___________________________________________
Housework, Private Home
Housework, Private Home
___________________________________________
Laborer
Home Housework
Housework

___________________________________________
Unable to work
Housework

Old Cemetery

Within the Frazier Town neighborhood is a small cemetery in a heavily wooded area above the creek that runs through the back of several properties and crosses Rollington Road between Houston Lane and Bentbrook Place. The graves are shallow and marked by fieldstones. The cemetery's location was designated on a survey of the property conducted for the current owner by Logsdon Surveying in 2015 after the death of Della Tinsley and is on file at the Oldham County Courthouse:

Though people who have lived in Frazier Town were aware of it, the cemetery is located on private property which has been in the same family since the 1930s. It had never been reported to or investigated by historians or local developers, and therefore, was not included in the cemetery and grave census information compiled by the Oldham County Historical Society.

A neighboring property owner brought the cemetery's existence to the attention of the Pewee Valley Historical Society in May 2018, when a new sewer line was being planned by the OCEA (Oldham County Environmental Authority). The line was subsequently rerouted to leave the graves undisturbed.

The question of who is buried there remains.

It's possible that the graves contain people from the Frazier Town neighborhood; however, most of the people who lived in Frazier Town were buried in Pewee Valley Cemetery East, which was officially set aside as a section of Pewee Valley Cemetery for "the colored population of Pewee Valley and the neighborhood" in 1872. The Frazier Town neighborhood itself wasn't established until 1870 or so, within a few years of when Sycamore Chapel was built.

Buying a cemetery plot and using an undertaker were (and still are!) rather expensive propositions. Milton Stoess, who owned the funeral parlor in Crestwood, as well as black undertakers in Louisville, often took mortgages on families' land so they could pay for funeral expenses over a period of years. Stephen Schuler, who lived near Frazier Town, was instrumental in the cemetery's founding and was a long-time board member, noted in his report, "Division for Lots and Graves for Colored People," that:

"... There are now a few lot-holders, and more lots may probably be sold to them, but the greatest number of applications has been and will be made in the future is for single graves..."

May 2018 Photos of the Cemetery by Donna Russell

Prices for burial plots in the colored section were purposefully kept low: $1.50 for adults and children over 10 years; $1.00 for children under 10. Though a proper cemetery was available, the cost of a plot and burial expenses may have been beyond some people's means. Not everyone owned their land and homes. Some Frazier Town residents rented.

Schuler's report shows that no plots were sold in the cemetery's colored section between 1873 and 1882. Only two African American families bought plots when the cemetery opened in 1872: Moses Buckner and John Hinkle. It's hard to believe that no deaths occurred in Pewee Valley's African American communities for a decade. During the 1890s, average life expectancy in the U.S. was just 42.5 years.

The second and far likelier possibility is that the cemetery predates Frazier Town. Fieldstone grave markers were very common in early rural areas throughout Kentucky and Tennessee. The property on which the cemetery sits was originally part of the settlement that grew up along the Louisville- Brownsboro Pike (now Rollington Road) starting at the turn of the nineteenth century. In 1847, it was incorporated into the town of Rollington by the Kentucky State Legislature. Jacob Shake, who owned the cemetery property at the time, was one of the original town trustees.

The Shake family had owned the property since 1819 when they purchased it from Norborn B. Beall, whose father, Samuel Beall, had received it in 1784 as part of a 4,000-acre land grant from Patrick Henry. The initial sale of the property to the Shakes is noted in "Oldham County, KY deed book C, 1832-1836," pp. 97-98, when George and Jacob Shake divided the land between their two families down the Jefferson County-Oldham County line:

August 6, 1833
George Shake & Christina Shake his wife: To Jacob Shake for $1 and a further consideration of a division between sd parties of a tract deeded to them by Norborn B. Beall & Others on December 30, 1819, in Oldham & Jefferson Counties. On SW fork of Herrods cr. Corner to Benjamin Allan, near George Shake's stable, John Shrader line. 117 acres. Sig. George (X) Shake, Christina (X) Shake.

August 6, 1833
Jacob Shake & Nancy his wife and George Shake & Christina his wife of Jefferson Co. (Jacob in Oldham Co.) To John Shrader of Jefferson Co. for $70, on S fork of Herrods cr. Beg at stone in line of sd Shrader & heirs of Christopher Shake, 6 acres & 16 perches. Sig. Jacob (X) Shake, Nancy (X) Shake, George (X) Shake and Christina (X) Shake.

Jacob Shake's farm appears on the 1858 G.T. Bergmann Map of Jefferson County. The farm ran from the Oldham County line along Rollington Road to where Fraziertown Road is today and was bisected by the South Fork of Harrods Creek. While much of the land was arable, the section along the creek was too steep for plowing and planting.

Frazier Town was carved out of a small piece of the Shake farm, as shown on the ca. 1939 WPA Plat Map below. Tract 2557, once owned by George Fischer, is now the subdivision built around Old Mill Road.

Many pre-Civil War settlers in Oldham County had family graveyards located on their properties. The Shakes were no exception. In 1999, at the request of descendants, developer Bob Thieneman moved a Shake-Zaring family cemetery from what is now the Forest Springs North subdivision at the corner of Westport and Rollington roads in Jefferson County to Herrods Creek Cemetery in Brownsboro. Scott Wade wrote a story about the relocation plan for the April 6, 1999 Courier-Journal:

Family cemetery finding new home
Subdivision will be built on old site

After 137 years, the only things likely to be left in Jacob Shake's grave is some dark dirt, a button or two and some coffin nails.

The grave of Shake, who lived from 1790 to 1862, is among at least 21 in the small Shake and Zaring family cemetery off Rollington Road in far eastern Jefferson County. The cemetery will be moved grave by grave to a family plot in Oldham County rather than be fenced off in a 340-home subdivision.

Whatever is left in each grave site, even if it is only dirt, will be put into a new casket, transported to Harrods Creek Cemetery in Brownsboro and reburied after a Christian service.

As many graves as possible will be marked with headstones from the old cemetery. Graves without headstones will get new stones, which will say the grave has been moved from the Shake Zaring Cemetery near Rollington Road.

Robert Thieneman, who plans to develop the subdivision, has agreed to pay for moving the graves, which could cost $35,000. The move could happen next fall.

Al Matherly, a Zaring family descendant who runs a business that helps design small cemeteries, said yesterday that a very unusual family reunion will occur.

People who have never seen or heard from one another will gather to honor and rebury ancestors born before the Civil War.

Robert Thieneman, Jr., whose father is the principal developer in the project, said the company agreed to move the graves because it's what the family wants.

The Thinemans proposed fencing off the cemetery and having it cared for by a future homeowners association.

But Zaring and Shake descendants objected, citing fear of neglect or vandalism.

Two men, Kevin-Carman, a descendant of the Scotch Irish Shake family, and Claude Guyton, of the German Zaring family -- once Zehrung -- have known about the cemetery since they were teenagers, but didn't know they were related.

In 1974, Carman was working on an eighth grade class project at Oldham County Middle School when he discovered the cemetery with the help of an elderly man who lived nearby.

It was the beginning of his interest in genealogy. Today he researches genealogies for a living.

He didn't know that Claude Guyton, of the Zaring family, had been taken there as a teen-ager in 1959 by his grandmother, Cecil Zaring. For Guyton it was the beginning of a lifetime of amateur genealogical work.

His great-great-grandfather, Laurence Zaring, who lived from 1816 to 1881, is buried in the cemetery in a grave marked with a stone engraved with the tree of life.

Both Carman and Guyton have been watching over the cemetery for years and began taking steps to protect their ancestors after survey markers started going up recently.

Yesterday under the blue skies of a sunny spring day, Matherly walked around the old site, now in a grove of elms, cedars and hedge apples.

Squatting to push dirt from a headstone at the base of a tree, Matherly uncovered the name James Goin Shake, 1825 to 1890. He's buried beside his wife Zelda, 1829 to 1910.

Their remains will stay together in a different county about a century after they died.

"It's good to know they'll be in a good place," he said.

Original location of the Shake Zaring Cemetery within the proposed Forest Springs North subdivision. Courtesy of descendant Claude Guyton.

On July 20, 1999, the Searcy Monument Company, of Carrollton, Ky., began the process of moving the cemetery. Descendant Sam Tucker wrote the following description of the dis-interment to fellow descendant and family genealogist Claude Guyton on August 4, 1999:

... None of the remains had been buried in concrete vaults. Most of the bodies were buried in wooden caskets, but some may have been merely wrapped in a blanket. Where a casket had been used, small amounts of wood were found in some of the graves. In others, only the metal casket handles were found. Remaining body tissue ranged from complete skeletal remains to nothing more than a 3 to 4 inch depth of discolored materials where the body had been laid. Several of the caskets had a viewing glass covering the upper portion of the corpse, some of which remained intact and unbroken until the remains were moved...

... A total of 36 graves were moved from the Shake-Zaring Cemetery to the new location in Brownsboro cemetery. There were 19 graves that could be identified by stone markers, but 17 of the graves had mere field stones for markers, or else the markers had been destroyed through time and could not be identified...

... Below are listed the graves which were identified by some sort of an engraved stone marker...:

Sarah M. Shake: Relative of Jacob and Nancy Shake; Born April 25, 1837, died May 3, 1840.
Elizabeth Shake: Wife of Joseph Shake, who probably was a nephew to John Shake: Born October 7, 1822, died March 26, 1843.
Nancy Donaldson Shake: Wife of Jacob Shake; Born in 1791, died May 19, 1849.
William D. Shake: Son of Jacob and Nancy Shake; Born 1934, died May 14, 1853.
Nancy Anne Zaring: Daughter of Abraham and Catherine Zaring, Born 1845, died June 13, 1853.
Anne Elissa Austin: Relationship unknown; Born 1830, died November 5, 1854.
Jacob Shake, brother of John Shake: Born December 25, 1790, died April 3, 1862.
Catherine Shake Zaring: daughter of Jacob and Nancy Shake, wife of Abraham Zaring; Born July 6, 1818, died March 12, 1868.
Jane Shake Zaring: Wife of Laurence Zaring, Daughter of Jacob and Nancy Shake. Born September 21, 1821, died June 22, 1876.
Lawrence Zaring: Husband of Jane Shake Zaring, son of John Zaring. Born August 6, 1816, died September 17, 1881.
Henry Oscar Zaring: Grandson of Abraham and Catherine Zaring; Born June 20, 1882, died December 16, 1885.
John Hammond: Husband of Willmouth Hammond; Born April 7, 1814, died August 21, 1887.
Willmouth Hammond: Wife of John Hammond, Niece of Jacob and Nancy Shake; Born August 1, 1894.
James Goins: Husband of Zerelda Shake Goins; Born 1829, died 1890.
Jennie Zaring: Daughter of Abraham and Catherine Zaring; Born January 3, 1841, died August 4, 1894.
Abraham Zaring: Husband of Catherine Shake Zaring, Son of John Zaring. Born 1811, died Mary 30, 1895.
Zarelda Shake Goins: Wife of James Goins, Daughter of Jacob and Nancy Shake; Born 1829, died 1910.
J. Shake: Believed to be John Shake, owner of farm and cemetery; Dates unknown
Nancy Ingram: Daughter of Jacob and Nancy Shake; Dates unknown.

The Shake Zaring plot in Harrods Creek Cemetery, Brownsboro, Ky. Photo by Donna Russell, August 2018.

Scott Wade wrote a followup report on the cemetery's move for the December 29, 1999 Courier-Journal:

Cemetery's move stirs emotions

On a 96-degree day last July, as workers disinterred a family cemetery to move it from the path of a 340-home subdivision, Sam Tucker found himself looking at the skull of his great-great-grandfather, Abraham Zaring.

"I looked at it and said, kind of to myself, 'Sorry to do this to you, but it's best for everyone.'" Tucker said recently, fighting back emotion as he recalled the moment.

The Courier-Journal reported in April that descendants of the Shake and Zaring families were planning to move the cemetery, which had been found in woods off Rollington Road, near the Kentucky Truck Plant in eastern Jefferson County.

A surveyor for developer Robert Thieneman found the grave site. Thieneman later agreed to pay the cost of removing the remains and reburying them at Harrods Creek Cemetery in the small town of Brownsboro in Oldham County.

Between July 20 and 22, a father-and-son team at Searcy Monument Co. unearthed 36 graves, often sifting carefully for remains and keeping track of the location of graves and of which monuments and field stones went with the remains. The oldest grave was for someone born in 1791; the most recent burial was 1910.

In some cases, intact skeletons were found, but in most cases there was nothing but discolored dirt. In the gravesite of Anne Alisa Austin, whose relationship to either family is unknown, the Searcys found a small ceramic dog, a brown cream pitcher, a small bell with the clapper intact and 12 marbles. She had died in 1854 at age 24.

The unearthed remains were put into separate 4-foot-long pine boxes and buried with the appropriate monuments. Family members are now planning to put a family memorial at the site next spring, when there will be a family reunion.

In the meantime, excavation work on the Thieneman project has begun.

Tucker, a former Jefferson County police officer who lives in Middletown, said he felt composed while watching the work at the different sites on those hot July days. It's only in looking back that the feelings come pouring out.

"There's a whole lot of emotion there," he said. "When you look down and say, 'This is my great-great-grandmother or father.' It's hard to find words to describe the feelings."

Some of the Headstones at the Shake Zaring Plot at Harrods Creek Cemetery in Brownsboro

The relationship between the Shakes and the Zarings is by marriage. According to the 1860 census, Jacob was 66, and his son-in-law, Abraham Zaring, who had married Jacob's daughter Catherine on August 4, 1834, was running the farm.

On January 30, 1861, a year before he died, Jacob Shake divided his remaining property in Oldham County among his eight living children:

Daughter Nancy Amanda Shake & her husband William Arnold received 11 acres
Daughter Zeralda Ann Shake & her husband James Goings received 14 acres
Son John Shake received 11 acres
Daughter Mary "Polly" & her husband John Milton Shake received 37 acres, "observing the graveyard out to the line"
Son Joseph Shake received 16 acres
Son James Shake received 11 acres
Daughter Catherine Shake & her husband Abraham Zaring received 14 acres
Daughter Elizabeth Shake received 16 acres

Note that the 37 acres John Milton and Polly Shake received contained a cemetery that went to the western property line.

So why would Jacob Shake have had a second cemetery on his property, when he, himself, and many of his descendents were buried in the Shake-Zaring Cemetery?

One possibility is that the cemetery was used for slaves or freedmen. However, census records from 1820 and through 1860 show that Jacob Shake never owned any slaves. Nor were there any freedmen living on the farm. Everyone was free and white. However, Claude Guyton believes slaves or freedmen may still have been buried there. The reason? Jacob's mother, Elizabeth Davis Shake, remarried a year after Jacob's father, Christopher, died in 1803. The man she married was neighboring farmer Phillip Bowyers (Boyers), who owned slaves, but freed them at his death. Where did they go? Were any of them buried on Jacob Shake's land?

Another is that the crude cemetery near the creek predates the Shake-Zaring Cemetery and contains the graves of Christopher and possibly Elizabeth, who died before her second husband. Elizabeth's date of death is unknown other than that she probably died before 1823, because she was not mentioned when her second husband, Phillip Boyers, made out his will. Guyton notes that her grave was not identified among the remains at the Shake-Zaring Cemetery, although 17 of the graves were merely marked by fieldstones. The first identified burial in the Shake-Zaring Cemetery dated from 1840.

About Stumptown

The Road to Stumptown, by Kate Matthews. From the Fox Film Movie Scrapbook, Oldham County Historical Society.