This is the story of Kentucky's Purchase,
as experienced by a boy
in the 1940s and 1950s.
Where are you from? Telling someone where I grew up can be confusing; "from Kentucky is inadequate and misleading." Saying I am from Kentucky’s the Jackson Purchase, or Purchase, elicits glazed-over eyes. For people from the Purchase, the westernmost part of Kentucky, to say "I'm from Western Kentucky" is misleading because Western Kentucky is the official name of the state's region that lies a hundred-plus miles East of the Purchase. Confused, yes, most are.
The reason is that the word Kentucky evokes thoughts of "My Old Kentucky Home" plantations and thoroughbred farms in the beautiful bluegrass countryside, with Bourbon producers and the Derby nearby. The Kentucke County of Virginia was created by extending its plantation culture into the wilderness frontier, where in 1792, it became Kentucky, the first state west of the Appalachian Mountains.
At that time, the Indian lands that would become the Purchase lay hundreds of miles west and hadn’t been purchased. However, the state had already named the region to the East of these Indian lands—Western KY, sowing the seed of confusion.
In 1819, the US bought the Indian lands from the Chickasaw Indian Nation, and Kentucky annexed 2,534 sq m of it onto the state's western tip as its "Purchase." Comprising only 6% of the state's area, this appendix-like region, with the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers, like moats—isolated the Purchase from the older Kentucky (see map).
Thus, the Purchase was settled much later by yeoman farmers who evolved into a different economy, cultural values, and political views from the other 94% of the state. While many know of eastern Kentucky's coal-mining Appalachia region, few outside the state have even heard of the Purchase.
As a result, the Purchase region was similar and grew more like the neighboring parts of Illinois, Missouri, and West Tennessee than the other 94 % of Kentucky and its central plantation culture.
Kentucky and adjacent states, geography, regional differences.
Different People, culture, and politics! Settlers had been migrating west from the 13 Colonies for a long time; some came in starts-and-stops along the Great Valley Road, and not finding what they sought, they turned west on Avery's Trace and the Great Stage Road across Tennessee. Most were slash-burn farmers who had no intention of establishing a plantation—couldn't afford one, nor had they any desire to own slaves. These yeoman farmers were purists; they didn't want the aid of sharecroppers. Many had been swindled out of their meets and bounds surveyed lands back east; their goal was to own and work on their small farm in a community of small farmers. They did not want to be near plantations, fearing that plantation owners would try to acquire their land during a time of expansion.
It was great news to hear that Jefferson's rectangular survey system would be applied to lands in new states and territories, like the Jackson Purchase of Kentucky and Tennessee. At this point, those migrating west began to separate themselves into two groups. The yeoman farmers, including most of my ancestors, thought they could have everything they wanted by going North into the Purchase. In contrast, most other immigrants continued West or South into Tennessee. It was a bifurcation in the trail.
Cotton plantations in West Tennessee in 1850 were typically 500 to 1,000 acres or more. Today, West Tennessee's average farm is about 400 acres, while the 288 farms in Lake, Dyer, and Haywood counties of Tennessee average 964 acres each. In the 1850s, Purchase farms were typically 160 to 320 acres; today, they retain a footprint of about 300.
Enlarged map of the Purchase showing the twin moats of the Tennessee and
Cumberland River's role in isolating the Purchase from the rest of Kentucky as well as it interstate relations to Illinois, Missouri and Tennessee
After settling in West Tennessee, a few had second thoughts and resettled north into the Purchase; in contrast, almost none of the yeoman farmers resettled south into Tennessee.
Despite the Purchase's loyalty to Andrew Jackson's politics and its southern leanings in the Civil War, its most substantial ties were with Illinois and Missouri. Modern genetic studies show strong shared genetic markers between Purchase, Southern Illinois, and Southeast Missouri populations. Interestingly, a century later, Murray State University has more out-of-state students from Illinois than Tennessee, although Murray's location is less than ten miles from Tennessee.
Geography, a different economy, culture, politics, and isolation lead to estrangement These yeoman farmers began settling the Purchase in the 1820s and had not developed a thriving economy in their isolated region when the rumblings of the Civil War began.
The Purchase suffered greatly in the Civil War, primarily because the region's network of four rivers was the key to the Union’s victory in the Western theater. In the post-war years, its small farm economy, with no wealth or access to capital or help from Kentucky's government or progressive America, fared poorly. Backward, the region’s subsistence farmers missed out on the agrarian reforms of the 19th century and the advent of mechanized farming in the early 20th century. With a pair of mules pulling its plows, the Purchase languished into a century of generational poverty and poor education.
Land ownership, hard work, and outside influences bring progress to the Purchase Growing up in Marshall, the poorest of the Purchase's eight hardscrabble counties, I perceived life on a small subsistence farm to be like other regions of rural America. I had no idea we were poor—because our neighbors were like us—we were all poor. Having no better perspective, the old folks were unaware of their plight. The situation was a well-kept secret even though the Purchase was in the middle of America, close to St Louis and closer to Chicago than to Appalachia.
While poverty in the Purchase may have rivaled that of Appalachia in the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries, the Purchase found ways to change. Two internal factors enabled the region to pull itself up by its boots. (1) Residents of the purchase had secure land deeds, whereas those in Appalachia did not, and (2) the farmers' hard work ethic created a subsistence life in which they could feed themselves and keep a roof over their heads. They survived until a flicker of light was seen at the end of the tunnel.
External factors also benefited the Purchase. It is challenging to separate the roles of internal and external factors in improving the region's economy.
WWII ended the Great Depression and created a few wartime jobs. Concurrently but unrelated, the more progressive farmers acquired tractors, which inspired a revolution in mechanization. The grass was greener, and other farmers followed suit. Farm income grew a little.
In 1944, TVA built the Kentucky Dam, creating Kentucky Lake. The dam generated tourism and local employment opportunities, and since it was in Marshall County, it benefited more than other Purchase Counties.
Rural Co-ops brought hydroelectric power to the farm; houses could have electric lighting, indoor plumbing, refrigeration, and an indoor bath and toilet. Outhouses became obsolete! Bright lights at the barn enabled farmers to extend the workday. Farm income increased.
Industry flocked to riverbank locations below the dam to take advantage of cheap electricity and river transportation. Most importantly, they hired many locals; many men continued to farm after hours, increasing household income.
By the 1950s, farmers had replaced their mules with tractors and implements like combines, which enhanced the production of soybeans, corn, and wheat. As these better cash crops reduced dependence on tobacco for income, subsistence farming faded away. Today, the Purchase is thriving, and Marshall County has the highest household income, the least poverty in the Purchase, and one of the lowest poverty rates in Kentucky.
Jackson was one of several one-room, first-to-eight-grade schools
in Marshall County, Kentucky, where I was one of two in my class.
Better times and awareness lead to better schools Before 1940, most Purchase students' educational objective was an 8th-grade diploma. The hardships of helping dad on the farm caused many to drop out of school; some gained high school credits, few graduated, and scarcely any attended college.
In my generation, parents perceived a greater need for education. They advocated better schools, and education leaders reacted by consolidating small one-room schools and hiring a cadre of dedicated, inspirational teachers. All my one-room school classmates—both of us and most of the 11 other students in the building—acquired a high school diploma.
Murray State College grew to be Purchase's only university, offering quality education at a reasonable price to locals and students from other parts of Kentucky, Illinois, Tennessee, Missouri, Indiana, and other states.
As the seventh generation of my family to live in the Purchase, I learned that hard work and perseverance effectively overcome handicaps and barriers to create a sense of self-worth that instills the confidence to go forth in the world.
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