Continued

There's a little article in the book called Popplewell: A

Pioneer Family. Here's what it said:

 

"The Popplewell family first moved to Kentucky after the

Revolutionary War. Isaac Popplewell, son of Hack Popplewell, took

possession of his father's land grant prior to 1803. The land grant

was issued to Hack Popplewell for services rendered in the

Revolutionary War. The area of the land grant was in the Wolf Creek

area of what is now Russell County, but was at that time Adair County.

 

Isaac and his wife, Elizabeth Flint, had nine children and 50 or

so grandchildren that helped to settle the county. Their children

were: Judith (b. 1785) m. William Meek; Soverign (b. 1878) m. first

Nancy Denton and second M. Collett; Simco (b. 1790) m. Sinthi

Chamberlain; Sarah (b. 1704) m. J. Barron; Nancy (b. 1796) m. John

Fry; John (b. 1801) m. Sally Dunbar; Josiah (b. 1802 d. 1811); Isaac

Jr. (b. 1804) m. Susannah Chamberlain; and Barrett (b. 1806) m. first

Elizabeth Hart and second ? Henlinger.

It took great effort for these men and women to clear the land

near the waters of Wolf Creek where they made their homes. The trees

were first cut with crosscut saws, the smaller limbs were but from

the big trees and placed on slides to later split for firewood. The

main trunk of the tree was dragged to the potential homesite to be

used for building. The stumps were butned the burned remains dug out.

The roots of the tree had to be located the dug out so they wouldn't

break the point of the plow. This process would often take more than

two years before a crop could actually be planted.

Simco Popplewell (b. 1790, d. 1873) married Sinthi Chamberlain in

1811. They had 11 children. Simco was the second son of Isaac and

Elizabeth. He became a Justice of the Peace in Russell County and his

name is found on many marriage bonds in the early records of the

county. He was also a coffin maker and a whiskey maker according to

records. Simco had skills as a surveyor and served on the committee

to find suitable locations for new roads as the county began to

expand.

The early members of this family had various skills that they used

in their communities. It appears they were talented musicians.

Simco's grandson, Cornelius, even worked on riverboats as a singer.

The men were skilled hunters and fishermen. One of the early settlers

made whiskey barrels, another was a store keeper, still another was a

lay doctor. Many of the women were said to have the "gift," being the

skill to blow out the fire from a burn and to rub a wart to make it

disappear, among others things that were almost supernatural. Some

were said to have a sixth sense that foretold disasters. While these

things were unusual, they certainly made for an interesting family.

Many descendants of these early settlers remained in the county

and continue to follow the tradition of serving their community in

various ways. One descendant served as deputy sheriff for many years,

one began the tourism industry here, two serve as dentists, one

served as mayor of one of our local communities for several years,

one serves as county clerk, many are merchants, a few are ministers,

dozens served and continue to serve as school teachers or

administrators and several continue the tradition of farming. They

continue to be a large and vital part of our community."

'Deb Zimmerman'