By
Melinda Cohenour
Intro: Our family's history began for
most of our surname lines in the Appalachian region of America:
Kentucky, Virginia, the Carolinas...
I was thrilled, therefore, to hear last week that my
daughter would be dispatched to Kentucky to become acquainted with her
new client, assess their needs, tour the factory, meet the Engineering
staff, and begin building the vendor relationships that new client will
require. A flight from DFW to Nashville, a short drive up to Franklin,
Kentucky, for her Home-away-from-Home in the spacious Suite reserved for
her use. The company client is located in Bowling Green north of
Franklin and just a few minutes drive from Glasgow, Barren County,
Kentucky - the site of what remains of Killian Kreek's Mill, listed
among that State's sites honored on the National Register of Historic
Places. "Wonderful," I thought, "she will be able to visit the ancient
mill site, view the incredible handwork of her 6th Great-Grandfather, a
gifted stonemason whose works include two noted sites!" Little did I
know Mother Nature had a nightmarish surprise in store.
GLASGOW EVENING TIMES, July 29, 2022:
'Torrential rains have unleashed devastating floods in Appalachia
as fast-rising water killed at least eight people in Kentucky and sent
people scurrying to rooftops to be rescued.
'Water gushed from hillsides and flooded out of streambeds,
inundating homes, businesses, and roads throughout eastern Kentucky.
Parts of western Virginia and southern West Virginia also saw extensive
flooding. Rescue crews used helicopters and boats to pick up people
trapped by floodwaters."
'Flash flooding and mudslides were reported across the
mountainous region of eastern Kentucky, western Virginia, and southern
West Virginia, where thunderstorms dumped several inches of rain over
the past few days.
'There are a lot of people in eastern Kentucky on top of roofs
waiting to be rescued,” Mr. Beshear [Andy Beshear, Democrat, Governor of
Kentucky] said earlier on Thursday. “There are a number of people that
are unaccounted for and I’m nearly certain this is a situation where we
are going to lose some of them.”
'Rescue crews worked throughout the night helping people
stranded by the rising waters in eastern Kentucky’s Perry County, where
Emergency Management director Jerry Stacy called it a “catastrophic
event”.
“We’re just in the rescue mode right now,” Mr Stacy said,
speaking with The Associated Press by phone as he struggled to reach his
office in Hazard. “Extreme flash flooding and mudslides are just
everywhere.”
* * * * *
The world would soon learn the flood would be called 'a 1000-year
event' for its devastation. Up to 14" of rain poured down ceaselessly
over a 24-hour timeframe in nearby Eastern Kentucky, in the mountainous
region. More than two dozen people are now known dead, with that number,
heartbreakingly, expected to rise. Gov. Beshear has indicated it may
take weeks to recover all the victims. The damage to homes and families
may never be restored. Worse yet, the forecast is for more stormy days,
stretching over an even wider area.
Yesterday evening FEMA Search and Rescue crews began arriving
at the Suites where Melissa is staying. The entourage included
refrigerated morgues. Displaced families who have lost everything but
the clothes on their backs are being housed in the Suite hotel as well.
Death toll for Kentucky floods climbs to 28, with more storms coming
By Maria Sacchetti
Updated July 31, 2022 at 9:15 p.m. EDT|Published July 31, 2022 at 2:00 p.m
The death toll from severe flooding in eastern Kentucky has
risen to 28 people, including several children, and the governor said
more fatalities are expected as search-and-rescue teams go door-to-door
in the Appalachian foothills to assess the damage.
Because of hazardous conditions such as downed power lines, as
well as spotty cellphone service, he said some affected areas are
inaccessible and the state doesn’t have a “firm grasp” on the number of
missing.
“With the level of water, we’re going to be finding bodies for
weeks, many of them swept hundreds of yards, maybe a quarter-mile-plus
from where they were lost,” Beshear told NBC News’s “Meet the Press.”
The Lexington Herald-Leader put the death toll at 33 on Sunday
night, based on reports of additional deaths from two county coroners’
offices.
In some families, everyone in their household perished, the
governor said. The state was doubling the National Guard to search for
victims, he said.
* * * * *
A review of published maps delineating the flood area shows it to
be East of Glasgow by some distance, in the mountainous region of
Eastern Kentucky. That being said, weather reports continue to warn of
sequential days of heavy rain and thunderstorms over a wide area of the
state including Bowling Green, Franklin, and Glasgow. That could create a
roadblock for Melissa to visit Killian Kreek's Mill, as localized flash
floods figure prominently in the forecasts.
* * * * *
Having mentioned my 6th Great-Grandfather Killian Kreek (Creek),
it seems appropriate to provide some genealogical history for our
esteemed ancestor.
Harry Lantrip provided an outstanding treatise for Rootsweb
some years ago which I shared widely upon discovering his work. Many
researchers have since then picked up the material and posted all or
portions of his study. His is the most comprehensive timeline I've found
for Killian. I shall share portions of Lantrip's material hereafter.
* * * * *
Killian CREEK, was born about 1750 to unknown parentage. The saga
of Killian Creek is a fascinating tale, but it is fraught with the
problem of establishing the facts, and eliminating the fiction. For that
reason, I will first bring to light some of the misconceptions that
have hindered my research. It is evident that Killian Creek of German
descent, determined by the fact that he was known to speak German
throughout his life. Killian Creek is the anglicized version of the name
Gillian or Guillaum KREIG or GREIG which he uses on occasions when
signing documents.
Although most researchers seem to agree on 1750 as a date of
birth, I was not able to document either the date or place of his birth.
Further confusion results from the fact that there was yet another
Killian Creek living during this same time frame. He came from
Pennsylvania into Frederick County, Virginia; married a Margaret
Weitzell, and had male children with the same given names as our Killian
Creek.
The area of Virginia where we first find Killian in the late
1700s was the southwestern corner of the Isle of Wight, one of the
original eight shires of the Colony of Virginia. In 1752 Halifax County
was formed and included all that is now Pittsylvania, Henry, Franklin,
and Patrick counties. Most of the settlers seeking to make homes on this
western frontier were, for the most were Scotch-Irish and Germans, like
Killian Creek. In the spring of 1757, the Cherokee War erupted when the
Indians became disaffected toward the Virginians through the French
influence. In Halifax County, they became bolder in their defiant
attitude, robbed the inhabitants of their horses, and plundered their
homes, and offered brutal insults to their persons. The settlers
hesitated to offer too much resistance for fear of provoking them to
all-out war. In 1767 Pittsylvania County was formed.
In the tax lists for the year 1774 John Donelson was listed
at the Bloomery with Hugh Henry overseer, Thomas Bolton, John Holloway,
Aaron Tredway, and seven slaves. It was about 1770 that Killian Creek
married Margaret Holloway, the daughter of John and Eleanor Holloway of
Pittsylvania County. When the Continental Congress made a call for
volunteers at the start of the Revolution, the Minute Men of the
up-counties came clad in buckskin hunting shirts, and were referred to
as "the shirtmen", and feared for their deadly aim. When Lord Dunmore,
the British governor of Virginia, heard the cry, "The shirtmen are
coming!" he deserted his post at Gwyan's Island, and fled to a
mon-of-war on the river.
The first record of Killian Creek is in the Pittsylvania County, Virginia Deed Book;
"This indenture made the twenty-fifth day of February in the year
of our Lord Christ one thousand seventy-nine Between Hugh Reynolds of
Pittsylvania County and Colony of Virginia of the one part and Killian
Creeke of the said County and Colony of the other part ... Witnesseth
that the said Hugh Reynolds for and in consideration of the sum of one
hundred pounds... him in hand paid said Hugh Reynolds, sold ... and
confirm unto the said Killian Creeke his heirs ... forever a part of
that piece parcel or tract of land which was granted to the said Hugh
Reynolds by way of Patent and bearing date the third day of August one
thousand seven hundred and seventy-one Situate Lying and being in the
County and Colony aforesaid on the waters of Tomahawk Creek.
May Court 1790, p. 275:
"Ordered that Thomas Donald be recommended as above for Captain, Killian Creek lieutenant, and John Petty as an Insign."
Report of Killian Creek's Mill Seat, dated 1 May 1798:
"In Pursuance of writ of Adquodanum in behalf of Killian Kreek
respecting his mill we the Jury being first Impanneled and Legally
charged on the Premises by the Sheriff to condemn Lay off and value acre
of Land where the above Dam abuts and have and do say the said Kreek
shall Pay the Proprietor the sum of fifteen Shillings for the same. We
likewise have taken into consideration the Damages that the Proprietor
will sustain by the waters overflowing the Land and have and so say that
the said Creek shall pay the sum of Six Shillings for the same and we
do moreover say that the above is all the Damages that any Person or
Persons will Sustain by the said Creeks Erecting a water Grist mill
given under our hand and seals this 20th of March 1798. Read Examined
Allowed of and Established and Ordered to be Recorded."
Thus, we have a date certain when Killian laid plans to erect
his grist mill. Other tidbits from Lantrip's materials furnish a
glimpse into the life of the Kreek family: settling near the Holloway
family, wedding the Holloway daughter, joining the militia, active in
the court (several entries pertaining to various lawsuits, naming
Killian typically as plaintiff, have been omitted here). And now, the
first steps toward earning his place in history as a gifted and
knowledgeable stonemason.
The mill is believed to have been completed about 1799 or
1800. We know from a historic photograph that the mill was complete and
still standing Circa 1910 when the photograph below was taken:
Buford's Mill is how the Mill was referred to after Killian and his wife sold it to the Buford family.
Bufords Mill built by Mason Killion Creek or Gullian Grieg
Killian Creek built a grist mill located on Beaver Valley Road on
the Beaver Creek, Glasgow in Barren County, Kentucky. It was built in
1799-1800, it is still standing. When selling the property they signed
their German names, Gullian and Margaret Greig. The mill was on the
cover of the South Central Kentucky Historical and Genealogical Society,
"Traces of South Central Kentucky" Glasgow, KY: Volume 10, Issue 3,
Fall 1982. "On the Cover. Our cover picture...is of the old mill
that stands on Beaver Creek...three miles west of Glasgow. The mill site
was approved by the Warren County Court on May 1, 1798, and the mill
was built shortly thereafter by stone mason Killian Kreek.
The county boundaries changed. On May 10, 1799, Barren
County, Kentucky was formed from Green and Warren Counties. Glasgow
became a part of Barren Co., and no longer Warren Co., so the mill with a
'Warren Co., building permit' was now in the new Barren Co. When
Killian sold the mill to Simon Buford in October of 1799, Killian
and Margaret signed the deed with their German names 'Gullian Grieg and
Margarett Grieg.' The mill has been known as Kreek's Mill, Buford's
Mill..."
The mill is historically significant because it is 1799
architecture and was of a high quality. It is listed in the National
Register of Historic Places. Unfortunately, the top of the mill was
deteriorating by the late 1950s. Because of this, the top floors were
removed and a new roof was installed, making the building much shorter.
It is a shadow of its former self.
Two recent photographs (in color) show how the stonework has
been protected after the wooden superstructure either rotted away or was
removed for safety's sake. The interior photograph permits the viewer
to appreciate the intricacy of this hand-built foundation. Killian Creek
is believed by other family researchers to have done many other
stonemasonry projects which led to his being asked to "lay the walls" as
the contractor for the courthouse in Gibson County, Indiana:
In 1815 a Courthouse was built by Killian Creek. It was 1st Gibson County Courthouse in Princeton, Indiana.
Gibson County's 1st Court House
"The board of county commissioners ordered the county agent, Robert
M. Evans, to let the contract for making brick for the construction of
the first court house, at a cost of not to exceed five dollars and fifty
cents per thousand. These bricks were made on the public square, near
where they were needed.
The general plan of this first temple of justice for Gibson
county was about as follows: The walls were of brick, thirty-three by
forty feet in size; the foundation was laid eighteen inches below the
surface of the ground; the height of the lower story was twelve feet;
above the bottom of the sleepers, which were one foot above the round,
the wall of the lower story was two and a half brick thick and the upper
story two brick; there were two chimneys, with fire-places. The brick
and all the material for the construction of the building were furnished
by the county. Work was commenced September 1, 1814. The contractor was
Killion Creek--that is, he laid the walls--and Samuel Hogue built the
roof of this building and furnished timber for the window frames, etc.,
while John Decker had the contract for all inside finishing work. The
painting was done by the brush of Samuel Boicourt. This structure stood
and did good service for the new county for a quarter of a century, or
until 1841, when it was thought wise to provide better quarters for the
various county officials and the courts."
[The first court house was occupied June of 1815.]
from: HISTORY OF GIBSON COUNTY INDIANA: HER PEOPLE, INDUSTRIES AND INSTITUTIONS BY GIL R. STORMONT, B. F. BOWEN & CO, Inc.
Indianapolis, Indiana, 1914
* * * * *
With all this wonderful history about Melissa's 6th
Great-grandfather Killian Kreek (Creek), whose German name was Guillaume
Grieg, it is my sincere hope Mother Nature and corporate demands make
it possible AND SAFE for her to visit the historic Mill site in Glasgow,
Kentucky!
Click on author's byline for bio and list of other works published by Pencil Stubs Online.
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