- 5 -
(First entry, p. 33)
1. HISTORICAL SKETCH
Laurel County, the eightieth to be organized in Kentucky, was estab-
lished by an act of the general assembly, December 12, 1825, from parts
of Rockcastle, Clay, Knox, and Whitley counties. However, the actual
operation of the county government did not begin until March 1826. John
8. Slaughter of Rockcastle County introduced the bill entitled "an act to
establish the County of Laurel" (Journal of the House of Representatives,
Frankfort, Ky., December 7, 1825, p. 25l);*1G:_CarrardT—from the select
conrittee to when this bill was referred, reported it to the Senate with-
out amendment, and the bill was passed (Journal of the Senate, Frankfort,
J Ky., December 9, 1825, p. 238). The ..t·s;..tisg·etrs county is, in part,
as follows: "All that part of the counties of Rockcastle, Clay, Knox, and
Whitley, contained in the following boundary: beginning at the south of
Cane Creek, on Rockcastle River, in Whitley County, thence a straight line
to the mouth of Lynn Camp Creek, thence up the same to the mouth of Horse
Creek, thence up said creek to the head of same; thence with the same to
the mouth of Horse Creek, thence up said creek to the head of the same;
thence with the dividing ridge between the Robertson's Creek and Lynn Camp
Creek - and continuing with said ridge, between Laurel River and Richmond
Creek, to the Clay County lines; thence with same line to the Widow Bunche's
(including her in said county), on Rockcastlc River; thence down said river
to the Crab Orchard state road; thence with said road to the Vhite Oak
branch; thence down the same to Little Rockcastle River; thence down the
same to Big Rockcastle River; thence down the same to the beginning, shall
be one distinct county - by the name of Laurel" (Acts of the General Assem-
ply gf the Commonwealth pf Kentucky, Frankfort, Ky., 1825,-21. 29, p. 28).
The act of creation in 1825 provided that Laurel County should be
entitled to nine justices of the peace, and Sanuel McHargue, William
Freeman, Jarvis Jackson, David Weaver, William Smith, James McNeil, John
Pearl, Jacob Boyers, and James Wood were appointed as the first justices
of the county by the governor (see Justices of the Peace, p. 128). They
met at the home of Jarvis Jackson on the first Monday in March 1826 and,
after taking the oath of office, appointed Lot Pitman, county court clerk;
William Stuart, James Elkins, John Elkins, and John Hood, eonstables; and
John Jackson, jailer. The following officers were also appointed by the
governor, in accordance with the provisions of the act creating Laurel
County: Thomas Buford, sheriff; Samuel S. Griffin, coroner; James McNeil,
surveyor; and Thomas J. Buford, attorney for the Cormonwealth. Lot Pitman
was also appointed circuit court clerk by the circuit court, over miich
Joseph Eve, as circuit judpe of the fifteenth judicial district, presided.
(Acts, 1825, ch. 29, pp. 28, 29; Order hook, 1828, vol. A. pp. 2-12, in
Laurel County Archives, entry 258; Order Book, 1826, vol. A., T. 1,
in Laurel County Archives, entry 150.)
In 1350 a bart of Hockcastle County was added to Laurel County (Agia,
1830, ch. 282, sec. 1, p. 119), and one year later a slight change wah araln
made in the boundary line between these two counties (Acts, 1851, ch. 478,
p. 84). A part of Knox County was added to Laurel in 1854 (Acts, 1854, ch.
271, p. 354), and in 1849 the boundaries between Laurel and Clay counties
mere altered (Acts, 1848-49, ch. 427, p. 22). A portion of Laurel County
las 1‘».‘ aisigned t5MJackson County in 1858 (Lots, 1857-58, ch. 18V, p. 1*) and