By Helen Price Stacy
No one was happier than Elder Daniel Williams when he saw Richard Mentor Johnson riding through the woods. If the Baptist preacher happened to be working in his fields or in the river bottom below his cabin he might have called in a loud voice, "Violet, get the stew on, here comes Dick Johnson on his way to Washington."
The Williams cabin was built in 1804 near a spring on the side of a hill that sloped gently to the Licking. Daniel, his Bible on one side and his long gun on the other, had come preaching and scouting through the country and had stopped at the spring to drink.
When finally he was persuaded to leave Montgomery County and settle near the river, he chose the spring site as a place to build. Early settlers, anxious to have a preacher near, helped clear five acres of land and raise the cabin. Lending assistance were Francis Lewis, the eldest son of Thomas and Hannah Hopkins Lewis, and Robert Caskey, kinsman of pioneer Thomas Caskey. Thomas Caskey in Orange County, New York had married Hannah Lewis' niece Lydia Hopkins. Their son Robert, born October 15, 1800, had been named for the older Robert.
Williams and Edmund Wells were near neighbors in that far end of Floyd County. Both had built their cabins on a line, the Wells home one-half mile north on land that decades later would be called the Luther Blair property. Thomas Lewis was four miles North near the mouth of Elkfork.
One hundred years later Daniel Williams cabin would be gone, maybe a chimney rock or two on the ground. Standing just above the cabin site would be a tall white frame house occupied by Dr. R. D. Sparks and his wife Florence Hutchinson. About 50 years beyond that the doctor's wife would be gone, then the doctor and finally the house, and a motel would crown the rise of the small hill. The motel would be owned by a descendant of pioneer Thomas Caskey, Georgia Caskey Stamper and husband Woodrow L. Stamper and would be a haven for travelers as was the Williams cabin in those early days when Richard Johnson stopped.
The Scott Countian, along with Henry Clay of Lexington, had been elected to Congress in 1810 and timed his visits to Washington so he would have a day or so to visit in the Williams home. When he left to continue his journey to Washington, the Elders' sons would ride along as far as King Salt Works in Tazewell County, Virginia to bring back a load of salt.
Talk around the Williams hearth had turned to war, and with the trips to and from the capital, it seemed involvement was imminent. The congressman from Georgetown would distinguishing himself in many ways, not only as a figure in the nation's capital but had volunteered to collect a regiment of soldiers in answer to a request from Governor Shelby. Johnson was to lead a select group of 19 men on a suicide mission in the Battle of the Thames north of Detroit that would aid the main force but in the end would see 15 of 19 dead or dying and the rest, including himself, wounded. Johnson is said to have fired the shot that killed the Indian Chief Tecumseh, but he himself declared that many soldiers fired many shots in that battle.
David and Violet Crouch (some say Couch) were in a setting of peace and pastoral beauty at their cabin on the Licking. They had come from Montgomery County. Before that Daniel had been at the Falls of Ohio, at Fort Harrod, at Boonesborough (with Daniel Boone) where he and Violet were married and had fought in the Battle of Blue Licks. In the early 1790s he was organizing Lulbegrud Church in Montgomery County along with Thomas Ammons and Andy Tribble. In 1794 Daniel Williams, John Treadway and Anthony Griffith were appointed church messengers to attend the South Kentucky Association at Gilbert's Creek. In 1799 he was named pastor of the Lulbegrud Church that was named for the creek and the creek from Gulliver's Travels.
Though his heart was with the church, settlers in the far end of Floyd were luring him to the banks of the Licking. In later years, when his last son was born, the Elder named him for the great revilalist Jeremiah Vardeman who was pastor at Lulbegrud in 1810.
Daniel himself in 1808 had organized Sourth Fork Baptist Church at Malone in the later Morgan County and would establish 10 other churches. He would continue to perform marriages and ride to the county seat at Prestonsburg but would not live to see Col. Richard Mentor Johnson become vice president under President Martin Van Buren. He would not see his end of Floyd and part of Bath County become Morgan or a neighbor county Johnson be named for his friend from Scott.
In the years after Johnson's visits to what in time would become West Liberty, Daniel and Violet moved a few miles south to Caney where he had a large church following.
"When he first moved to Caney he built his house of cannel coal," the Rev. Wardie Craft of Caney said. "He thought it was the prettiest stone he had ever seen. I have never heard just how it happened, but the house caught fire and burned."
Between building a new house and performing marriages (about 100) he was calling his flock together for preaching service.
In talks with Mrs Alice Frisby (who would be 110 if still living) Craft learned that Elder Daniel Williams often preached beneath a tall oak or on the side of the mountain overlooking Caney Valley. Oldtimers at Pinhook (Caney) estimated the tree's age at 300 years. When it was preaching day, according to Mrs. Frisby, Daniel would stand on the hillside near the tree and placing a large horn to his lips send blasts heard up and down the valley.
In 1819 Daniel became ill of fever, a condition that continued until his death July 3, 1820. When it came time to open a grave for the pioneer, a spot was chosen near the oak beneath which he had preached and almost at the exact place where he stood when he blew on his horn to summon the congregation.
Hand cut on an old stone at the pioneer's grave are the words: "Elder Daniel Williams died July 3, 1820 age 57 y 4 mo. The decd imigated to Ky May 1775 and served as pastor of various churches of United Baptist during his life." Violet is buried beside him. She died June 20, 1830.
If you have any corrections or would like to add to the information above, please contact:
Helen Price Stacy 555 Prestonsburg Street West Libery, KY 41472-1141