THE FIRST SETTLERS

The first settlers here were Michael SPRINKLE , John UPP , William SMITH , father of William Finley SMITH , John HUSBANDS , John HAUSSMAN , Jacob SPRINKLE , John KURKENDALL , Eneas McCALLISTER and John DUNN . During the year 1792 Captain John DUNN was appointed Constable for this territory. Eneas McCALLISTER , grandfather of the late John E. McCALLISTER , was detained here with his family by the ice, while enroute from the Cumberland River country to Pittsburgh, Penn. There were not more than half a dozen little log cabins on the bank, and two of these found vacant by Mr. McCALLISTER were taken possession of and occupied by him and his family.

There were no Indians at that time to be seen on this side of the Ohio, but on the Indiana side were to be found several tribes, among the number were the Shawnees, from whom Shawneetown derived its name. There were very troublesome at times, and as heartless as troublesome. A party of young boys, of whom were Michael and Jake SPRINKLE and John UPP , armed for the purpose of hunting, crossed the river in canoes, never once suspecting that Indians were in that vicinity, and upon landing were surprised by a party in ambush, two of them captured, one shot down, the fourth being an expert swimmer, and under providential favors, made his escape back to Kentucky. The two captives were tortured in many ways - they were made to walk force marches, then beaten with many stripes, and finally after having undergone a terrible journey, bare-foot and almost naked, march into Sandusky, on Lake Erie, from whence, after having lived a most frightful life, they escaped, and some time afterward arrived at the Red Banks, to the joy of their kin and comrades.

History of Henderson County, Kentucky, page 27