USGenWeb Archives Project Breckinridge County, Kentucky

THESE ARCHIVES BUILT BY YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS.
PLEASE CONTRIBUTE TODAY!
New Easy to use Submission Forms!

This Page Updated Saturday, 11-Oct-2008 17:23:22 EDT

          The first white man to set foot upon Breckinridge County soil was at Sample.  Colonel Hardin and his party of settlers landed in Sample at the falls of Sinking Creek in 1780.  Sample is antique little community within itself, lying mostly in the little valley of Sinking Creek.  Mystic is up the railroad tracks about four miles at the head of Dry Valley.  Union Star is about four miles north east of Sample on the road from Stephensport to Webster.

          Union Star was settled in 1809. Lieutenant Adam Barr was one of the earliest settlers in this section of the county.  He was an officer in the Revolutionary War.  Mr. Barr was born in Virginia in 1757, and moved to Breckinridge County soon after the war was over.

          Adam Barr was with William Hardin when he went with eighty men to dislodge the Indians in the Saline Creek section of Illinois.  This was only a short distance below Evansville, Indiana.

          He bought a large tract of land at the head of Sugar Tree Run between Union Star and Mystic.  His oldest son, Adam, Jr., along with Peter Cashman were in the War of 1812.  They traveled to New Orleans and fought with Andrew Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans.  After the war was over they walked all the way back to Union Star.

          Joseph Allen fought in the War of Independence with Adam Barr and came with him to Kentucky.

          The Joseph Allen family settled in this county in 1799.  More will be said about Joseph and John Allen later.

          Union Star, like all the rest of the frontier communities, gave early attention to their religious and education well-being.

          The first few years of the settlement found its people primarily interested in staying alive and clearing the forest and building homes.

          In the year 1845, Thomas D. Helm donated a plot of land in Union Star, upon which to build a school house and a church.

          The first school house was built out of logs.  Several years later a new and larger school was built on the same ground.  This one was a frame building with weather-board siding.  This old school building may be seen there today even though it is slightly dilapidated.

          In 1848, Mr. Ed McGlotham left a sum of money in a trust fund for the school.  The interest amounted to $100.00 per year, which was used to hire a teacher for two extra months.  This made Union Star the only nine-month school in the county and apparently it paid off.  Mr. Horace McCoy taught there for six years, from 1911 to 1916.  In his 1916 class, he had forty-two students.  Ten of these became school teachers.  These were Gertie Barger, Grace McCoy, Ruellma Dowell, Ernest Hesler, Goldie Stewart, Ora Kellems, Ruth Wagner, Katherine Curry, Ruby Dowell, and Orville McCoy.

          During the spring term many of the more educationally-minded students from the neighboring schools would enroll after their schools were closed.  One such student was Sherman Beauchamp, who lived at Sample.

          I chose him because he is well known and admired in every crack and crevice of the county.   He is the Chief Maintenance man for the County School System.  In any school or bus route in the county, Beauchamp may be seen within minutes following any type of mechanical breakdown.

          During the Depression of the Thirties, the money left the school by Mr. McGlotham was lost when the bank failed, and the Union Star school was forced to return to its seven-month term.

          The last classes were held in this old school in 1945, at which time the new consolidated Miliner School was erected at the Cross Roads.

          The Union Star Methodist Church was organized about the same time, and services are still being held there.

          In 1887, when the railroad came through the north end of our county, it completely revolutionized the community.  Up until this time all produce was hauled to Stephensport to be shipped to market by river.  With the coming of the railroad, a store was established at Sample.  This little community soon established a unique reputation, something akin to Las Vegas.  There was a race track, the remains of which may still be seen.  It was about one half mile north of Sample.

          There is a ten or fifteen-acre field that is level, with the land rising sharply around three sides forming a perfect and natural stadium.  The hills surrounding the field or race track was heavily wooded, making it ideal for spectators.  Camp Ground Hollow lies at the end toward Sample.  This is so named because it was used for camping by those staying at the races.

          In the earlier days of Sample following the coming of the railroad, it was probably more widely known for its chicken fights.  Cock pits were arranged at different places from Pierce, a little station about two miles above Sample, to Hog Pen Hollow, on Shot Pouch Creek.  Shot Pouch Creek intersects with Sinking Creek just below the falls.

          Sample went by the name of Chicken Bristle for several years.  It was so named by the railroad men because of the chickens that were brought there to the fights.

          In the latter part of the eighteen hundreds, people came from Louisville, Cincinnati, Owensboro, Evansville, and St. Louis, to fight roosters here.

          Mr. Bud Beauchamp, who lives at the junction of Dry Valley and Sugar Tree Run, tells of having seen many of the fights with his father, John W. Beauchamp.

          W. K. Riley, Cam Riley, Kerry Applegate, and Mr. Pegturl from Owensboro were frequent visitors.

          Mr. Bill Hook, Finley Miller, John Beauchamp and others from Breckinridge County, had some of the best fighting chickens in the United States.

          Old Yellow Legs, raised by Bud Beauchamp, was about as famous in the cock fighting world, as was Man O War in the race horse world.  Old Yellow Legs was a cross between a Blue Naragansett Hen and a Red English Cock.  Yellow Legs was abnormally large, weighing 8 ½ pounds and was a deep red with long yellow legs.  Mr. Bud Beauchamp trained him by throwing him down hard on his feet on the ground or against a wall, where he would land on his feet and strengthen his legs.  Yellow Legs was too big to be in most paired fights, so he was usually in shakebag matches.  Old Yellow Legs fought in Chicken Bristle, Louisville, Cincinnati, Evansville, Owensboro, Canelton, and St. Louis without losing a fight.

          A lot of big money came and went from Sample.  At both the race track and the cock pits there were some “jim-dandy” crap games.

          The quality of character of the men who frequented this little sporting world was superb.  Never was there record of any violence or ungentlemanly behavior.

INDEX HOME