Flatboats Brought Pioneers into Kentucky on a Scary Path

Migrating to Kentucky on a Flatboat

Many of our ancestors were Kentucky pioneers who made their way down the Ohio river on a flatboat. They settled in one of the many river towns along the Ohio River. KYGS member and genealogy blogger, Barb LaFara, shares the story of the brave pioneers, David and Margaret McCash.

My ancestors arrived in North America using the only form of transportation then available for crossing the Atlantic: sailing ships. Once in America, they would have traveled by the various means of transportation for seventeenth-century and eighteenth-century Colonial Americans. Those modes of transport would seem slow and tedious compared to how we travel today. But one set of my immigrant ancestors used transportation after their arrival, which, although probably slow, sounds interesting to me: flatboats.

Kentucky Pioneers: David and Margaret McCash

My fourth-great-grandparents, David (1758-1807) and Margaret (1758-1804) McCash, arrived at the port of Philadelphia in 1787. [1] They had immigrated from Glasgow, Scotland, to make a better life for themselves and their children. Their three children, who traveled with them, were all under the age of five. After provisioning themselves, they joined a group traveling overland to Pittsburgh, PA.

Once there, they boarded a flatboat and went down the Ohio River to Limestone, KY, intending to acquire land and homesteading. In Scotland, David McCash had been a blacksmith but probably had some farming skills.

Making a Journey on a Flatboat

With a shed aft for horses and cattle and a cabin in the fore for people, a basic flatboat only had a sandbox fireplace. For navigation, all flatboats were propelled by sweeps which were mounted on the sides and used for directing the flatboat into the current. They also had a rudder and a short oar in front. The flatboat was often called the boat that never came back. Flatboats were typically broken up at the end of the journey and the lumber used for building houses for the homesteaders. [3]

Pioneers Settled in Limestone, Mason County, Kentucky

European-American settlers traveling down the Ohio River in the late 18th and early 19th century found a natural harbor at Limestone Creek on the Kentucky side of the river. At Limestone, the boats became so numerous they frequently were set adrift to make room for others.

In 1784, a man named Simon Kenton built a blockhouse at the site and founded Kenton’s Station. Then, in 1786, John May acquired the land at Limestone and renamed the place Maysville, as it is called today. [6]

Establishing a Kentucky Homestead in Maysville

My McCash ancestors, after surviving the river journey to Kentucky, became homesteaders. It was there, near Limestone, that my third-great-grandfather James McCash was born on August 26, 1788. The family evidently were successful farmers and traders. I discovered David McCash mentioned in a book about the early history of Cincinnati, OH.

In 1792, David arrived by small boat at the Stone Landing near present-day Cincinnati bearing all manner of fresh produce. The settlement was primarily Fort Washington. The arrival of quality foodstuff was very welcome. [7]

A year later David moved his young family to the north side of the river and established a homestead in present-day Cincinnati near the current intersection of Walnut and Third Streets. [8] (Steps away from the baseball stadium and probably beneath I-71.) There, the family continued to farm and supply provisions to the Army. [9]

Conclusion

I like to imagine my McCash ancestors arriving at their first homestead on a flatboat with just the necessities to begin a new life in America. Making the trip across Pennsylvania and then down the river with three very small children is hard to imagine, though. It must have taken determination and grit.

All three of their immigrant children survived well into adulthood. Their eldest son, William McCash (1783-1871) and their American-born son, James McCash (1788-1871), have thousands of descendants alive today.

Editor’s Notes

The Transportation post first appeared in the author’s blog in July 2021.

References

1. 1. Profile of David McCash, Website: Ancestry.com, Family tree: Osborne; https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/13493206/person/-60123635/facts
   2. Website, Wikipedia: Flatboat; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatboat
   3. Website, The Paths of Inland Commerce, by  Archer B. Hulbert, Chapter 5: Flatboat Age; https://www.history1700s.com/index.php/18th-century-history-the-basics/18th-century-e-text-archive/192-classic-historical-works/paths-of-inland-commerce/912-chapter-v-the-flatboat-age.html
   4. Website, Wikipedia: Josiah Harmar; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josiah_Harmar
   5. Website, Archive.org; Video, Flatboatmen of the Frontier, by ERPI Classroom Films, Inc., pub: 1941, run time: 10:18; https://archive.org/details/flatboatmen_of_the_frontier
   6. Website, Wikipedia: Maysville, Kentucky; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maysville,_Kentucky
   7. Book, Sketches and Statistics of Cincinnati in 1859, pg. 129, by Charles Cist, pub: 1859, Cincinnati, OH. Access online: https://archive.org/details/sketchesstatisti01cist
   8. Book, History of Cincinnati, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, pg. 46, by Henry A. Ford, pub: 1881, LA Williams and Co., Cleveland, OH. Access online: https://archive.org/details/cu31924032193520
   9. Book, Cincinnati, the Queen City : 1788-1912, pg. 81, by Charles Frederic Goss, Pub: 1912, S.J. Clarke Pub. Co., Chicago. Access online: https://archive.org/details/cincinnatiqueenc02goss