1. “William Ferrill came to Larue County, KY (then Kentucky County, VA.), from Culpepper, VA., in 1788. He came when a very small child with his mother, a young widow. His mother’s brothers, John and James Howell, accompanied them on horseback. The family came through the Cumberland Gap to the Rolling Fork River. Daniel Boone and George Rogers Clark were founding new settlements in Kentucky, at this time a part of Virginia. All land on what is now known as Nelson County side of Rolling Fork had been granted to the Wickliffes of Bardstown, and William and his mother and uncles were forced to settle on what is now known as the LaRue County side of Rolling Fork River. Kentucky was a lost wilderness, just opened to the first pioneers. The Revolutionary War had been over only a few years. Kentucky was still a part of Virginia, and George Washington had just been elected President of the united States of America. This was the Reconstruction Period between the Revolutionary War and the founding of our country.” [663]

“The first house built by the Ferrills was a small cabin of buckeye logs located near the bridge not far from the foot of Lewis Lick Hill. The next house was built shortly after the first. The wolves were so numerous there, all the stock had to be penned up, so about the year 1790 the large double log house (later weatherboarded) with puncheon floors and dog-trot between, was built on the Ferrill homestead. This house was in good condition when torn down in 1918. It is known as the Coakley Howell Farm now, but up to that date, one hundred twenty-eight years, it had been lived in by five generations of the Ferrill family. A rose bush over one hundred years old, a part of which was transplanted to Ferrill-land at Buffalo, is still growing.” [663]

“William’s favorite pet when a boy was a bear tamed by his uncle. The uncles were great hunters, and John Howell was a very good cabinet maker, as he made the old maple and cherry chest that stands in the hall at home. These uncles were the founders of the Howell family in Kentucky. The Mace Howell family are their descendants.” [663]

“William’s mother married a Goebel after coming to Kentucky, an ancestor of Governor Goebel.” [663]

“William Ferrill was known for his keen judgement and business acumen. In time he bacame owner of all the land (except the Bethel Farm) from Otter Creek, down the Rolling Fork River, to the Ferrill homestead, a tract of over 5,000 acres. He enlisted in the War of 1812. He joined the Kentucky and Tennessee Riflemen. He fought in the Battle of New Orleans. He told me (E.S. Ferrill) that his wife sewed his buckskin jacket full of dollar gold pieces to take with him and to protect him from bullets. He lived to be an old man. His death was due to a fall. He was one of the last of the old pioneers who settled Kentucky.” [663]

“Grandfather William Ferrill told me (E.S. Ferrill) that boats were made at the old boat landing (near the Dick Uptegrove Farm) on Rolling Fork River. These boats were crude flat boats that were launched when the spring freshets came. The boats, loaded with meat, corn, and whiskey, floated down the Rolling Fork River, to Salt River, to the Ohio River, to the Mississippi River, and on down to New Orleans, where these things were sold. After the things were sold, the men walked back. They were several months making the trip.” [663]