Category:Isaac Ruddell's Station

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Isaac Ruddell's Station (1775-?) - This station had a short but colorful history. John Hinkston first established a settlement here in 1775 with fifteen cabins but Indians caused its abandonment fifteen months later (1). John Townsend on Townsend Creek and John Cooper on Cooper's Run reportedly raised corn to supply the station's seed for the 1776 crop. Some other early inhabitants included William Kennedy and Thomas Dunn (2). Simon Kenton and Thomas William spent the winter of 1776-1777 and helped to build a blockhouse here (3).

The site was enlarged and fortified by Isaac Ruddell in April, 1779 and became known as Ruddell's Station. A great many people lived here and at Martin's Station in 1780 when both sites were captured by the British and Indians under Captain Byrd. Drake (4) lists the following settlers who were among the residents at the time of the attack:

To this list can be added John Conovery (possibly Conway) and Capt. John Smith (Staples 1934:1-22, 265), both of whom were captured. William McCune deposed that the station had 30-40 men, women and children in 1780 (Staples 1934:156-158), meaning probably 30-40 families. A large number of settlers were taken prisoner and marched to Detroit. Lafferty (1957:13) indicates that twenty were killed on the spot. These victims were later buried in a mass grave by piling stones over their bodies. Matthias Lair and his brother, John, settled on the property after the Revolutionary War. In 1845, a Lair descendant gathered the bones of the massacre victims and placed them in the Lair family crypt where they remain today.

The location of the station site is well established as it was used as a landmark on many surveys and other maps for years after its abandonment. It was located on the east bank of the South Fork of the Licking River along the buffalo road from McClelland's Station to Lower Blue Licks. It was also very near the Lair's house called "The Cedars" which still stands, although now in partial ruins. An 1800 survey plat (M. I. King Library, Special Collections: Map 148) also notes its location and that of the buffalo road. Based on various sources and a visit to the site itself which is marked by a monument placed by one of the Lairs, the station location is indicated in Figure IV-70 (see below).

The survey of the site (designated 15Hrl9) revealed only ephemeral remains of a former settlement. It is located on a broad, flat ridgetop which was in a recently mown hay pasture, allowing about 25% ground visibility. A faintly perceptible rectangular shape characterized by a slight mounding may indicate the walls of the stockade. This "enclosure" measures 100 feet north-south and 250 feet east-west roughly. Limestone rock is scattered through the field but appears to be slightly more concentrated in the approximate center of the "enclosure" where the soil also is slightly darker. Unfortunately, no artifacts were found to further verify that an historic settlement had existed here.

However, its location is further supported by the survey calls for John Hinkston's 1400-acre settlement and preemption which mentions the site. According to entry, the 1000-acre preemption was to include "the lands of Ruddle's Station" (Virginia Survey Book 1, p. 306).

Source: Nancy O'Malley, Stockading Up, pages 241-244

References: (1) Ardery, Julia Spencer. Bourbon Circuit Court Records. Register of the Kentucky Historical Society. 1939:11; Lafferty, 1957:13; Perrin, William Henry. History of Bourbon, Scott, Harrison and Nicholas Counties, Kentucky. O.L. Baskin & Company, Chicago. 1882 (2) Staples 1934 (3) Kenton, Edna. Simon Kenton, His Life and Period. Doubleday, Doran and Co. Garden City, N.Y. 1930:76 (4) Drake 1942:2115-216