General Notes

Richard was a surveyor. He went to what is now Kentucky in 1775, one of
the young men from Virginia, to survey between the Ohio River and the
North Fork Licking River. Between Well's Creek and Mill Creek. That land
is now in Mason and Lewis Counties. They erected a cabin for each member
of the party and deadened trees. thus meeting the requirements for
claiming land. (Collin's "History of Kentucky"). Richard came back the
next year and claimed more land for himself, his brothers John and Thomas
and his brother-in-law, Joseph Farrow, on both sides of the fork. These
land pre-emptions were registered with the court in Harrodsburgh,
Kentucky. In 1780, John, Thomas and Joseph were thought never to have
been in Kentucky; they just owned the land and left it to their wives and
children, some of whom came later.
Richard is listed as a Revolutionary War soldier on the Romney and
Winchester payroll, (this is now Grant and Hardy Counties in West
Virginia).
In the middle 1780's, he bought land five miles northwest of Lexington,
and with the families of Shore, Morin, Taylor, Simpson and maybe others,
founded Masterson's Station. Though the marker says the home belonged to
James Masterson, it was Richard who was on Masterson Creek and the
Elkhorn, James was in Lexington and on Hinkston's Fork, northeast of
Lexington. The house was torn down while part of the U.S. Narcotic
Hospital property. Later they gave the land to the city of Lexington and
is now Masterson Station Park.
Richard and Sarah became quite active in the early Methodist Church.
"Methodism was planted in Kentucky in 1783 at Masterson's Station in
Fayette County." (Collin's "History of Kentucky.") Richard built the
First Methodist Church in Kentucky. There in 1788. It was in their home
at Masterson's Station that the First Methodist conference west of the
Appalation mountains was held.
About 1792, Richard and his family moved up to Gallatin County, Kentucky.
He built a house on the Ohio river and his parlor hosted both church
services and meetings of the town and county officials. The men who
incorporated Port William, now Carrollton,  in Carroll Co., Ky. In his
house and in 1799 the first court of Gallatin Co. convened there. He was
one of the first trustees of the county. This house is now on the
National register of Historic Places as one of the "oldest standing
two-story structures along the Ohio River." It is now used for meetings
of the Carroll Co. historical society. ("History of Kentucky"-Lewis
Collins-town of Port William, now Carrollton, formed 1794.)