The Doughertys of Kentucky

Submitted by Phyllis Hill


This is from the Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, April 1955, Vol. 53, No. 183. page 131 THE DOUGHERTYS OF KENTUCKY

"Captain John's (Dougherty, b. 1743, Va.) land was good, but the fever of frontier movement was in his blood, and he was restless. In 1806, he appointed his son George as his agent to sell his Mill Creek land and possibly in that year made his first trip into Indiana Territory, where settlement had begun the previous year. John's daughter Sarah was married to Michael Miller, son of J. Miller on April 2, 1807 and some of the Millers made a scouting trip into Indiana at about this period. The sale of Captain John's land went on through 1807 and 1808 and he returned from a trip to Indiana in August or September, 1809. His son John evidently had been with him, because on February 11, 1810 young John was married to Mary, daughter of John Hollowell, one of the Quaker settlers from North Carolina, in Harrison County, Indiana Terrritory. His son, George, was there, too, delivering two strayed horses to Justice of the Peace Dennis Pennington on March 30, 1810. Captain John's nephew, Robert Dougherty of Barren County, Ky., was seriously considering moving to Indiana.... Captain John and most of his family still were living in Jefferson County in 1810, but on March 7, 1811, he and Zachariah Lindley were appointed justices of the peace of Harrison County, Indiana Territory. Only Michael of his sons remained in Kentucky. On October 19, 1811, bond was issued for the marriage of Captain John's daughter Mary to William Charles, who was to be killed by Indians in Orange County, Indiana, in 1813, one of the last incursions by the redmen in the area. The Dougherty family began entering land in various parts of Orange County in 1812, most of them eventually came to live in Stampers Creek Township.... Captain John died on February 14, 1828, in his 85th year and was buried in a field in Section 26, Township 2 North, Range 1 East Orange County. By his side is buried his wife, Isabelle, who died on February 14, perhaps the same year; his son George, who died March 14, 1842 and his wife, Hannah Boyd Dougherty, who died July 11, 1846...."