Another Harrod''s Creek KY Story

[rvdu...@aol.com]

To:    fasola-di...@googlegroups.com

5/7/12

My favorite Harrod's Creek story might be appropriate as a personal follow-up to the enthusiastic letter about the recent singing that was contributed by Janet Fraembs of Illinois.  We have not been to many out of state singings in recent years, but have strong memories of spring trips to Brownsboro for two-book singings in past years.  Let me tell the story.

One theme of my retirement has been to explore my family history in terms of where my Indiana Dunagans came from and what did they sing when they migrated from North Carolina and Kentucky.   Although I learned early on that my great-great grandfather had lived somewhere near Louisville, Kentucky - I did not at first know his name or exactly where he had lived.

When we met Bob Meek at the Midwest Convention in Chicago about 1997 or so, we decided to pick up on his invitation to sing in the Harrod's Creek Chapel in Brownboro, Kentucky.  As a retired history teacher, I appreciated his desire to preserve the old singing traditions in an 1820 location.  I was doing a family history newsletter called "Dunagans of All Spellings" at the time, and invited any Dunagans in the KY-IN-IL area to attend the singing.  And said that I would be glad to exchange family genealogy details with them.

Distant cousin Karen Dunagan Smith of Louisville responded and Val & I met her and her son in a local Cracker Barrel restaurant near the chapel.  She knew what Sacred Harp singing was and thought it would be a good time to meet us and also to introduce her son to shaped note singing.  I explained to her that I had learned my great-great grandparents had been somewhere in the area - but I did not know where they had lived.  It was a good singing and a good visit.

We picked up on our family correspondence the next year with some additional details.  I had learned that my GG.grandfather had died in 1846 in Missouri, but did not know his name - - - until I got help from a distant cousin in Gainesville, Georgia.  He told me that  my GG.grandparents were Solomon and Eliza Lacey Dunagan, but I still did not know where they had lived in Jefferson County, Kentucky.  As it came close to April of that year, Karen Of Louisville suggested that I might take a look at the membership list on the wall of the 1820  Harrod's Creek Chapel where we had the singing.

Between singing segments of the day I examined the somewhat faint hand-written pencil list of church members in the framed document on the chapel wall.  There among the 3 listed Dunagan members of 1820 were my GG.grandparents - Solomon and Eliza  Dunagan!  And a note about their departure.  These were not signatures (all of the names were apparently done by the same clerk), but I had  evidence of when Solomon & Eliza lived there and when they left for Indiana.  

I later learned that a group from the chapel had left the Harrod's Creek location for south-western Indiana (soon after a regional recession) where they bought land newly available about 1822 because of a treaty with a local Indian tribe.  Probably the Miami tribe of Indiana.  This was near Gosport on the White River in Owen County, Indiana. By the time he moved to the adjacent county of Morgan County, IN Solomon was known as a local blacksmith and lay Baptist minister.  To my surprise I found a copy of one of his sermons for 1824 titled, "Brotherly Love" in  an old Baptist  pioneer "round robin" newsletter, but found it hard to follow the theological interpretations - and still did not know what songs he would "raise" at their meetings.

My family story continues, of course.  The next generations in the 1800s brought more Dunagan blacksmiths and Baptist ministers in Kentucky, in Indiana, in Missouri.  Several were remembered for their singing of the "old songs" when they rode the Baptist circuits.  Back in the Midwest, I learned that my great grandfather, my grandfather, and my father were all born in the area of Terre Haute & Brazil, Indiana.   And some of my distant cousins "disappeared" to distant western places like Oregon, Washington, Iowa and Arkansas. I suspect that other families from  Brownsboro KY had a similar pattern of migration.

Val and I hope to attend the 2013 singing at Harrod's Creek and join more of you in singing in thiat fascinating location.  I'll bring a flashlight so you can read the names.

Best wishes, 

Dick (& Val) Dunagan in Wisconsin

PS

If you happen to explore genealogy details for yourself, you may be interested to know that my search had been confused partly because the county lines had been changed. The chapel that used to be in Jefferson Co KY is now in Oldham Co KY.