One of the most difficult tasks for the early Barren County researcher is attempting to find out where their ancestor lived. As you know, deeds spoke of land lying on the nearest waterway and the boundaries marked by trees long gone and stones now plowed under. The Barren Co Order Books indicate that one of the first things necessary was laying out roads and appointing men responsible for keeping the roads "in order". This meant creating the road, maintaining it (keeping trees, grass or trash etc.) off the road and widening it as necessary. Those roads were not pretty! References are given in the order books of laying out a road, appointing supervisors of certain parts or precincts of the road and the "hands" to work under him. Fines were often imposed when a certain road was unpassable or when a land owner did not want a road cutting across his property. Roads were also altered in where they ran. Starting in 1820, a "roads" book was kept. In it is laid out the various precincts and the location of the road and the names of the supervisor plus hands. I'll be starting a series for 1820 that shows these precincts and those involved in maintaining the roads therein. 1st precinct: Pikesville Road. From town (Glasgow) to Bell's. James DODD surveyor. 2nd precinct: Preston CONLY. Surveyor - Pikesville Road from Sarah BELL's to Skaggs Creek near GILLOCK'S. 3rd precinct: William FISHER. Surveyor of the Pikesville Road from Skaggs Creek at Lawrence GILLOCK's to the Caney Fork of Peters Creek. 4th precinct: James BARTON. Surveyor from the Caney Fork of Peters Creek to the Monroe Co line. Now, let's look at various roads. All these roads were also broken into precincts and the supervisor and hands would have lived along this road or close to it. Lovings Mill Road. 1st Precinct: James WILLIAMS, Surveyor. He was responsible from the state road to Skaggs Creek at or near the mouth of Boyds Creek. 2nd Precinct: John TILFORD, surveyor from Skaggs Creek at HAMMON's old place. 3rd precinct: Jacob PECK, surveyor from Hammond's old place to Peck's cotton jim (gin). Russels Road: 1st: Erasmus TRACEY, surveyor from the Caney Fork of Peters Creek to Reubin HOGG's. 2nd: Reubin HOGG, surveyor from his place to the Monroe Co Line. Scottsville Road leading to Pikesville: 1st precinct: Hardin SULSER, surveyor from the Allen Co line to the Monroe Co line. ELLIS's Mill Road: George YOUNG, surveyor from the north end of Joshua CROSS's land to the Pikesville Road. Martin's Cabin Road: 1st precinct: George DAVIS, surveyor from the State road to Peters Creek near Alexander DAVIDSON. 2nd precinct: Alexander Davidson, surveyor from Peters Creek to the Big Barren River near WIdow BRIDGES. To be continued next week. Sandi To post to lists: [email protected] or [email protected] Sandi's Puzzlers: http://www.gensoup.org/gorinpuzzles/index.php Sandi's Website: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/