Watersheds in Powell and Montgomery Counties, Kentucky

It is not too important to know which Creek someone lives on in today’s world, especially if that person lives in an urban area.  However, it is still important in some rural areas and it was very important in the past.  Why so?

Physical features are useful when you are surveying land.  It helps to have landmarks.  Lacking roads, our pioneering ancestors used, for the most part, watercourses to identify where their deeds were located.  In the mountainous regions of eastern Kentucky, it was doubly important.  These creeks usually were the early roads.  They were also surrounded by the most fertile and flat lands available.  As roads were built, they generally followed the early trails along these creeks.  Over time, with increased technology, roads soon cut thru mountains, so creek names became less important.  However, when researching your ancestor in eastern Kentucky, you really need to have a basic understanding of the watersheds.

When Kentucky was first formed there were few counties and they were quite large.  This was the time frame when land was warranted, surveyed, and patented.  These early “deeds” generally showed the watercourses involved.  I can tell you from experience, that it is easier to locate your ancestors’ plots in these large counties when specific watercourses were listed.

Now, for Montgomery and Powell there are several specific things you need to know.  The modern-day boundary between the two counties, for the greater extent, is a ridgeline that divides two watersheds.  Montgomery County, for the most part, consists of the Licking watershed.  All creeks, generally speaking flow north.  The actual river called Licking, is not in Montgomery County (the Licking eventually enters the Ohio River).  One creek is the exception, and that is the Lulbegrud Creek.  This creek flows south and west and is in the southwestern section of Montgomery County.  It flows into the Red River.  Powell County has only one watershed and that is the Red River.  The Red River starts in modern-day eastern Wolfe County and empties into the Kentucky River at the boundary of Madison and Estill Counties.  The Kentucky River eventually empties into the Ohio.  Lulbegrud, after it comes into modern-day Powell County, forms the boundary between Clark and Powell.  All creeks in Powell County flow into the Red River.

The Luke Martin family (and all the related families of Montgomery County) settled in the southern part of Montgomery.  Generally speaking, none of these Martins settled in or above the county seat of Mt. Sterling.  And this, I think, speaks volumes about this particular Martin family.  They liked (or could only afford) the rugged mountain area.  North and just south of Mt. Sterling consists of mostly “flat” land (small differences in elevation).  It really is the edge of the Bluegrass region.  The “mountains” begin near the modern-day northern border of Powell County.  (These are called the Knobs.  Based on whom you speak to, the Knobs are the edge of the Blugrass, or the beginning of Appalachia.)  And then some of these Martins moved to Powell County, an even more rugged landscape. 

Now a little more about watercourses and official records.  In earliest records, the small creeks were rarely mentioned and some were yet to be named.  Earliest records usually show, for example, Kentucky or Licking River, even if the settler was miles away from the actual main riverbed.  Sometimes, the next major tributary would be mentioned, for example, Red River or Slate Creek.  Eventually, later records, especially in the more rugged areas, generally mentioned even the smaller creeks and branches.  If your ancestors’ records mentioned a very small branch, you can usually find where they lived within a mile or two.  Sometimes, with more specific information, you can almost narrow it down to the actual spot.  For example, a deed may say that it was located where Spruce Creek empties into Slate Creek.

So, when looking for the Luke Martin family (and other related families) in early Montgomery County, you will probably find them on the following creeks or rivers: Brush, Harper, Spencer, Sycamore, Spruce, Greenbrier, Lulbegrud, and Red River.  (Note: very few early records ever showed the tributaries for Red River, except for Lulbegrud.  Lulbegrud gained some fame as being named by Daniel Boone and his party of travelers.)  All are located south, southeast, and southwest of Mt. Sterling.

Sometimes, when you find a deed that lists a watercourse, you may get the “wrong” impression as to where it is located.  Let me explain.  Spruce is a branch of Slate, which is a tributary of the Licking River.  Sometimes the document may state the location as Spruce, Slate, or even Licking…yet, that person’s land was always located at the same spot.  The same would go, for example, Morris Creek and Red River.  So let’s say two of your ancestors lived on Slate and Red River.  The named watercourses are, at times, miles apart.  But, if they both lived on the headwaters of Morris Creek and Spruce Creek, then they may actually be closer than one mile.  The headwaters of Morris are only separated from the headwaters of Spruce by the ridgeline (or “mountain”) called Morris Creek or Morris Mountain.  Now, remember, tax records generally list the “closest” watercourse.  It was not meant to mean that the person taxed actually lived on the watercourse.  So these two people, in the example cited, could have been close neighbors on Morris Creek mountain.  One lived on the south side, one lived on the north side.  This was the case for some of the Luke Martin descendants.  As an example, Elijah's land was sometimes located on Spruce and sometimes on Slate.  However, he never moved.  So, to describe the location of Elijah Martin, one may say: upper section of the north fork of Spruce Creek, a branch of Slate Creek, a tributary of Licking River.  He was only about 1/2 mile from the headwaters of Morris Creek.