General Notes

The Reverend John Franklin Young, his wife, Susan Elizabeth Parker, the
ir children and household migrated from Greenville, South Carolina to Laur
el County, Kentucky in 1812. Following the Daniel Boone Trace they arriv
ed in the area that is now known as Wood Creek Lake Boundary. With a partn
er, John Phillips, they owned forty thousand (40,000) acres of land the
re since the days of George Washington, 1785, according to the Peck Survey
.
Considering the land not suitable for habitation at that time, the famili
es moved on beyond McWhorter to Pond Creek. The party awoke the morning af
ter their move to find themselves blanketed under four inches of snow.
Their hardships were as many and varied as those endured by pioneers of a
ll times. They hewed farms, homes, schools and church houses out of the wi
lderness. Revered Young gave the land, built the building and became the f
irst pastor of the Rockcastle Church of Jesus Christ as is recorded in t
he minutes of the meetings signed by Frankie Seborn Young, the secretary a
nd daughter-in-law of Reverend Young.
The sons, grandsons and great grandsons of Rev. John Franklin Young and Su
san Elizabeth Parker became ministers, teachers, attorneys, physicians a
nd respected citizens of the community through these six generations.
NOTES:
Per Mrs. JOHNSON, John Franklin YOUNG moved from the area near
Greenville, SC with his family about 1818, perhaps earlier. She does
not specify Rev. YOUNG's church affiliation, but later members of this
family were active in the Baptist church.
Mrs. JOHNSON reports that three of the YOUNGs' daughters married
JOHNSON brothers, William, Joseph and Aaron. Marriage records have
not been found in Laurel County; however Mrs. JOHNSON suggests the
possibility that the couples may have been married by the girls'
father, and the marriages never recorded at the court house.
The time of death of John Franklin YOUNG is not known, but Mrs.
JOHNSON states that "within 3 days of (John Franklin YOUNG's) will,
Phoebe (one of the daughters) married James WYATT" (her second
husband.) Using the 1850 ages of her youngest son by Joseph JOHNSON
and her first daughter by James WYATT, compiler has placed John
Franklin YOUNG's death at about 1840. His place of death and burial
are not known by compiler as of 18 July 1995.
Bruce Nichols reports that the Young family moved to north Greenville
District, SC about 1796 probably from North Carolina. Then they migrated t
o
Laurel County, KY about 1812. "...Rev. Young became a Primitive Baptist
minister in Clay County (the part that later became LCK) not long aft
er he moved
there. he had numerous slaves and died about 1840. His estate among
his nine known children was disputed and final settlement was not made unt
il 1846.
John's wife had some connection to the large parker family of LCK in SC a
nd later in KY,
but we are unsure where they all fit.
John F. Young and his wife Susan Elizabeth probably had another daughter w
ho
is not listed on the family group sheet. There are reports of a "Sarah" be
ing a daughter
of this couple, but compiler has been unable to find the documentation whe
re this child
was first mentioned in her research.
Being the owner of slaves and seeing the result of man's inhumanity to ma
n, Rev. Young advocated the abolition of slavery twenty five years befo
re the Emancipation Proclomation. A man of rank of the community having pi
erced with a sword one of the twin colored boys playing on the Rev. Young
's lawn, and having killed the child, was challenged to a duel by the ag
ed minister who killed him.
This information obtained from "Reverend John Frank Young" 1760 - 1850 Lon
don, Kentucky 1972