Can anyone verify this information for me is accurate and that there was a real Smeathers Station in 1782...please email me personally, thanks fo much...Wm Smeathers..my gggg grandfather~~Nena Smothers I found this info under this Wm Downs FTM page. I would like to get a copy of that "History of Davies-McLean County Baptist Association" Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site: User Home Page Genealogy Report: Descendants of William Downs The first settlements made in the lower Green River Valley Kentucky were at Barnett's Station, near present day Hartford, Ohio County, by the brothers Joseph and Alexander Barnett, in Febuary 1783 or earlier. At about the same time in 1782or 83 Smeather's station, later called Fort Hartford, was erected on a high bank overlooking Rough River. This early stockade was erected under the direction of William Smeathers. He later erected the first know log cabn at the Yellow Banks (now Owensboro) about 1798-99. On May 11, 1784 Captain William Rowan led several families to build a fort at the Long Falls of the Green River. This group included the families of Henry Rhodes, and his brothers Soloman and David, Thomas Downs Sr. and others. Called Rhoadsville at first, the settlement's name was later changed to Fort Vienna. It was also called Vianna Falls. It is now called Calhoun, the county seat of McClean County. Hartford was a hamlet was founded at least twenty-six years before it ws incorporated. The ealiest dat of a settlement here is 1782, is based on the statement of Rev. Wendall Ron's " History of Davies-McLean County Baptist Association", that noted Baptist minister, Rev. William Downs, whose brother, Rev Thomas Downs, was also one of the "founding fathers" of that denomination in the Green River country, was born in the fort at Hartford in 1782. This statement is no dought based on credible evidence handed down in the families of the two brothers. The second church to be organized within the bounds of Davies county after it's creation was the Green Brier Baptist Church, organized on October 29, 1820, by Benjamin Tolbert and Thomas Downs. It is located in the extreme southeastern section of Davies coounty, near the intersection of present day Davies, Ohio and McLean counties. _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com