Jackson Purchase Historical Society

Ballard County is located in the northwest portion of the Jackson Purchase where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers meet.  It was created (93 in formation) in 1842 and named for Captain  Bland Ballard (1759-1853).  Born in Virginia, Ballard came to Kentucky in 1779.  He was a scout for George Rogers Clark’s Ohio expeditions, 1780 and 1882.  As a soldier, he fought in the Wabash Campaign of 1786 and in the battles of Fallen Timbers (1793), Tippecanoe (1811), and River Raisin (1813).  He was elected to the Kentucky Legislature for five (5) terms.  The first county seat, Blandville,  took its name from Captain Ballard’s christian name, Bland.

Fort Jefferson, located at Wickliffe, was erected by General George Rogers Clark in 1780 to protect the claim of the United States to a western boundary on the Mississippi River. During the Civil War, the fort was used as a Union supply base.

Wickliffe is also the location of a Woodlands Indians settlement which has been excavated.  Now a state park called Wickliffe Mounds, visitors can see the homes and burial grounds of these ancient Indians.

One Ballard County community which has attracted nationwide attention because of its unusual name is Monkey’s Eyebrow.  Exactly how the name was derived is unknown, but folklore has it that a traveling salesman was rounding a curve which had bushy banks in the community and exclaimed that the banks looked like a Monkey’s Eyebrow.

- adapted from articles in the Jackson Purchase Sesquicentennial Publication prepared by the Jackson Purchase Historical Society, 1969

The Ballard-Carlisle Historical-Genealogical Society meets on the fourth Monday of each month at 6:00 p.m. in the Ballard-Carlisle-Livingston Library at 134 North 4th Street, Wickliffe, KY; mailing address Box 279, Wickliffe, KY 42087.  Dues are $10.00 per year.  “The Roots Digger,” the Society’s newsletter is published twice a year.  The Society has many publications for sale and also maintains an historical/genealogical collection at the Ballard-Carlisle-Livingston Library.

Constance Alexander (at left)

Constance Alexander was the speaker at our Spring Meeting, April 17th, in the auditorium of the Wrather Museum on the campus of Murray State University.

She began by encouraging the audience to explore the possibilities of conducting oral histories of their family members stressing that a rigid method or a list of questions were not needed.    She also made practical suggestions for equipment that could be used for the oral histories and showed some samples.   At the end of her presentation, she provided a handout full of websites containing specific information about conducting oral history interviews.

Constance also read excerpts from her book, Kilroy Was Here, which was developed from letters of family-member soldiers to their families “back home”,  by conducting oral histories of other WWII families, and by researching aspects of popular culture of the time. A lively question and answer period followed her presentation.

You can hear more about Constance, her activities, and her “upbringing” by listening to the podcast elsewhere on this website.

Constance has been on the Board of the Kentucky Oral History Commission for three terms.  In addition, she is an award-winning columnist, author, poet, playwright, and public radio commentator.

Ms. Alexander lives in Murray, KY and currently serves as Faculty Scholar/Arts & Humanities at Murray State University’s Teacher Quality Institute and as columnist for the Murray Ledger Times.

We recently had a chance to talk with Constance Alexander, oral historian and lady of letters in advance of her presentation to the Society at the Spring Meeting this coming Saturday. She recounted her youth growing up in New Jersey, her time gathering and recording the history of the Jackson Purchase and the joys and difficulties of conducting oral history interviews. Constance has her own website at www.constancealexander.com. You can email her at constancealexander@newwavecomm.net.

The Spring meeting is this Saturday, April 17 at 10:30am at the Wrather Auditorium on the campus of Murray State University. Don’t miss this wonderful opportunity to hear Constance talk about our history.

This episode is available on iTunes or you can listen to the podcast here.

In this series, we are going to bring you voices from the past – recordings recently found of four of our speakers from the years 1973-1975.

This fourth voice is again that of historian Dr. James Hammack.  Dr. Hammack was on the Department of History faculty of Murray State University (MSU) for 30 years, 10 years of which he served as Department Chair.   Following his death,  a Scholarship Banquet has been held, for the past 8 years, at which the Dr. James W. Hammack, Jr. graduate scholarship is awarded.

Dr. Hammack was instrumental in creating the Kentucky Oral History Commission and he tells here of the original mission of collecting oral histories of the people in Kentucky government and politics including Governors Nunn and Ford.    His “adventures” collecting those oral histories are recounted in this speech given to the Society in June 1974.

This recording is the exclusive property of the Jackson Purchase Historical Society. It is made available for your personal use only and may not be used for any other commercial or non-commercial purposes, including any public performance, broadcasting, or copying of this recording. If you have any questions about how this recording may be used, please contact the President of the Jackson Purchase Historical Society at info@jacksonpurchasehistory.org.