Annotated Bullitt County 1850 Census

We continue the Bullitt County 1850 census written by Mrs. W. V. Mathis, Wallace A. McKay and W. C. Barrickman. Betty Darnell shared this in The Pioneer Newson 8 Sep 1993.

---

17 November 1950

Dr. Samuel A. McKay

In 1809 three events of importance to many people happened in Kentucky. In that year on a Sunday morning in Danville, while the church bells rang and the pastors in their pulpits denounced him, and a howling mob surrounded his home, demanding his blood, Dr. Ephraim McDOWELL calmly proceeded to perform the first ovaiotomy in medical history. If Jane CRAWFORD, of Greensburg, had died, the mob would have hung Dr. McDOWELL. Three years before at Bardstown, Dr. Walter BRASHEAR had successfully removed a leg at the hip joint, a very rare operation. There were skilled physicians in Kentucky even in those early days, and another was born in that same year at Bloomfield — Dr. Samuel A. McKay, on Aug. 8, 1809. For fifty years he practiced medicine successfully at Shepherdsville. A few months before Dr. McKay's birth, in Hardin County, Abraham LINCOLN was born. Most of the people of the South have heard of him, and while he lived, hated him. Today he is recognized as the best friend the South had during the troubled years in which he lived. Each of these men — McDOWELL, BRASHEAR, McKAY, and LINCOLN, were great Americans because they prepared themselves by hard work for the jobs they were destined to do.

Samuel McKAY acquired such education as he could in those days in the common schools available, studied medicine by such reading and demonstrations as could be had in the offices of local physicians, and at the age of 25, located at Shepherdsville.

Soon after that he married Dorcas Ann NEAL, a daughter of a pioneer Spencer County family. In the course of time Dr. McKay bult up an extensive practice at Shepherdsville, and in Bullitt and adjoining counties. He was especially noted for his ability in diagnosis, and was frequently called into consultation by other doctors.

There are those still living who can recall Dr. McKAY as he appeared on the streets of Shepherdsville or at his home a mile east of the town on the old Mount Washington road. He was tall, erect, spare, over six feet in height, with typically Scotch sandy, red hair; muscular and raw-boned, and of superb physical vigor and endurance. His practice was large, he was industrious and thrifty, and accumulated a comfortable estate.

The late Tom COCHRANE farm, sold recently at auction, was a part of Dr. McKAY's real estate holdings. Only one of Dr. McKAY's children lived to maturity, Charles W. McKAY. Like his father, he, too, studied medicine, but under far more advantageous circumstances. He graduated from the Medical School of Vanderbilt University at Nashville, and practiced both in Tennessee and Kentucky, joining his father at Shepherdsville a few years before his death.

During the War between the States, Charles McKAY was an officer in the Union Army; he was engaged in the Battles of Stone River, Chickamauga, Kenesaw Mountain, Chattanooga, and on other battlefields.

Notwithstanding his life-long friend, Col. Phil LEE, was a solider of the Confederacy, Captain McKAY and Col. LEE remained friends, and after the war frequently enjoyed reminiscent talks of the thrilling experiences as soldiers.

In 1865, Dr. Charles McKAY married Ella M. HARRIS of LaVeren, Tenn., and they had six children, only one of whom, Wallace McKAY, is now living.

Wallace, who spent his younger years in Shepherdsville, is now an active, practicing lawyer in Louisville. He has a fondness for writing intimate stories about his old-time Bullitt County friends, among whom numbered hundreds who were contemporaries of his father and grandfather. For thirty years or more he contributed articles on many different subjects to the old Bullitt Pioneer, the material for which he secured from personal interviews with prominent lifetime residents of the county, such well-informed citizens as Judge Wm. R. THOMPSON, Abram H. FIELD, W. Jeff LEE, Prof. Sam SIMMONS, Angereau GLENN, Jack CROAN, the Rev. W.G. GWINN, and many others.

Fire and flood have destroyed the valuable old files of the "Pioneer," the "Salt River Tiger," and early issues of the "Pioneer-News", and Mr. McKAY wants to rewrite many of these stories during the present year. This is a labor of love, and not for any compensation. His interest in Bullitt County and his affection for its people are lasting and fully justify, in Wallace's opinion, the time, research and study needed to do this work. He would be grateful indeed if he could obtain the loan of any old copies of the publications mentioned, that will assist him in his undertaking.

Wallace married Margaret STROTHER KENNEDY of Elizabethtown, and they are the parents of Frances Jean, now the wife of A. Herndon FRANKE, and of Charles W. McKAY Jr., associated with his father in the practice of law.

Wallace is a valued member of the Crescent Hill Baptist Church, a Mason, belongs to the Bullitt County Society of Louisville, the Filson Club, is afiliated with several other fraternal and civic organizations, and has just recently applied for membership in the "Royal Bengal, Order of Salt River Tigers."

---

This project is presented here with the kind permission of Betty Darnell, and The Pioneer News.

If you, the reader, have an interest in any particular part of our county history, and wish to contribute to this effort, use the form on our Contact Us page to send us your comments about this, or any Bullitt County History page. We welcome your comments and suggestions. If you feel that we have misspoken at any point, please feel free to point this out to us.