Taft, Kentucky

Sexton's Creek is a creek in Clay County, Kentucky that is a tributary of the South Fork Kentucky River in neighbouring Owsley County, Kentucky.
It is long.

It was named for a Sexton family of settlers who arrived some time before 1815.

Basin, geology, and hydrology

The main Sexton's Creek itself lies in a syncline running from south-west to north-east.
South-east of the left hand tributaries of Sexton's Creek is the crest of an anticline that roughly parallels Pine Mountain further to the south-east.
Those tributaries dip generally to the north-west, with the right hand tributaries dipping down from a less-well-defined anticline crest that runs from south-east to north-west.

Tributaries and other locations

The creek mouth is on South Fork Kentucky River downstream of Road Run Branch at altitude above sea level.
Its headwaters (of Gum Fork) are into Jackson County, Kentucky, and its mouth is over the county line into Owsley County, the river itself spending in Owsley.The entire area is included in the Corbin KY Micropolitan area.

* Its major tributaries are:
** Bunion Branch upstream at altitude , mouth at headwaters at
** Anglin Branch upstream at altitude , mouth at headwaters at
** Booger Branch upstream at altitude , mouth at headwaters at
** Spivey Branch upstream at altitude , mouth at headwaters at
** Sadler Branch upstream at altitude , mouth at headwaters at
** Cool Spring Branch upstream at altitude , mouth at Upper and Lower Forks meet at
*** Upper Fork long, headwaters at
*** Lower Fork, headwaters at
** Little Sexton Branch upstream at altitude , mouth at
*** an unnamed right branch upstream
**** several forks upstream
*** Buncomb Branch upstream at altitude , mouth at headwaters at
*** Leger Creek, mouth at headwaters at
*** Falling Timber Branch, mouth at headwaters at
*** two headwaters forks with their headwaters at and
** Crooked Branch upstream at altitude , mouth at headwaters at
** Cradlebow Branch upstream at altitude , mouth at headwaters at
** Ells Branch upstream at altitude , mouth at headwaters at
** Cave Branch upstream at altitude , mouth at headwaters at
** Jim's Branch upstream at altitude , mouth at headwaters at
** Chestnut Branch (no connection to chestnut trees and a misspelling of the original Chesnut Branch) upstream at altitude , long, mouth at headwaters at
***a minor right branch upstream
****a minor left hollow upstream
** Sacker Branch upstream at altitude , mouth at
***left and right forks headwaters at and
** Gum Fork upstream at altitude
*** a minor right branch of Gum upstream
*** Right Fork at altitude , mouth at
**** Huckleberry Branch upstream, mouth at headwaters at
*** Robinson's Creek the Left Fork of Gum, upstream,
**** a minor left branch upstream
***** a minor left branch upstream
**** Pine Lick Fork mouth at forking at to headwaters at and on the side of High Knob mountain
**** twin forks upstream at its headwaters at
** Bray Fork upstream at altitude
*** Sandlin Branch upstream
*** Burning Springs Branch upstream at altitude , mouth at headwaters at
**** Brushy Fork upstream at altitude , mouth at headwaters at
**** Post Office Branch
*** Muncy Fork, mouth at headwaters forks at
*** Right Fork upstream at altitude , with headwaters at
*** Left Fork upstream at altitude , headwaters at

The two forks at the head end of Sexton's Creek into which it splits () are Bray Fork on the left and Gum Fork on the right in the KGS Fourth Survey report, with Gum forking left and right at the Malcom post office, and Right Fork Gum Fork being joined by Huckleberry Branch and going to the High Knob post office.
Bray Fork was at one point considered Sexton's Creek proper, and similarly the Gum Fork is sometimes nowadays considered Sexton's Creek proper.

Taft and Trust post offices in Etta

The Trust post office was established on 1905-02-24 by postmaster Maxie York.
Located upstream on Sexton's Creek it served an area that was named Etta.
It closed in April 1906.

The Taft post office was established on 1903-08-20 by postmaster Lucy Couch.
Although it ended up by 1953 where Taft had been, it was initially at the mouth of Anglin Branch in Owsley County, moved upstream along Sexton's over the county line into Clay some time in or after 1908, and then moved back downstream in 1913 to a site upstream of the mouth of Sexton's.
It closed, at the old location of Trust, in 1969.

Although the presumption is that Taft was named after William Howard Taft, who was only Governor of the Philippines at the time, because there were no Owsley or Clay county families by that name; the origins of the names Taft, Trust, and Etta are unknown.

Sexton's Creek post office in Clarkes

The eponymous postoffice was originally named Section Creek in error when established by postmaster Henry Clark on 1828-05-24.
This was rectified on 1843-03-15.
The community that it served from the Civil War era onwards was named Clarkes, and was on the main creek just downstream of the mouth of Little Sexton's Creek.

The post office moved around to several locations over the years, serving a mainly rural area with stores and mills, including onto Little Sexton's in 1899.
The post office is still on Little Sexton's at the junction of Kentucky Routes 577 and 1350 () and remains open to this day.

Sourwood post office on Leger and Bumcomb, and Ethal/Ethel on Little Sexton's

The Ethal post office was established on 1890-08-22 by postmaster William St John.
He had originally wanted the names Smith (after a local family), Poe, and Reese, but these were all rejected and the post office ended up named after his eldest daughter.
It served a rural community also named Ethal, located in Clay County on Little Sexton's Creek upstream of the then location of the Sexton's Creek post office.
It closed in November 1893.

Postmaster Ulysses S. G. Rice reestablished it on 1894-03-08, but this time in Jackson County, on the Buncomb Creek fork of Little Sexton's Creek.
It moved back to Little Sexton's Creek and Clay County in June 1925 under postmaster Isaac Pennington, who located it at the mouth of Leger Fork.
It closed again in December 1933.

After the need increased for postal service in the 1930s, it was reestablished a second time on 1941-05-15 by postmaster Willie Bond.
He tried several names, including Ethel, and they were all rejected until he tried Sourwood, after the fiddle and dance tune " Sourwood Mountain".
It was first located at Bond's store on Leger Creek, moved back to Buncomb Creek on 1944-10-22 under postmaster Isham Hensley, moved several more times between Bumcomb and Leger, and eventually ended up upstream on Bumcomb when it closed in June 1957.

Vine post office and Ivy on Little Sexton's

The Vine post office was established on 1902-07-01 by postmaster Elihu E. Estridge.
It served a rural area named Ivy and was located in various places around the mouth of Falling Timber Branch on Little Sexton's over the years, ending up upstream on Falling Timber.
It closed in June 1957.

Potters Choice and Choice

The first Potters Choice post office was established on 1876-09-13 by postmasters Andrew J. Sams and Millard W. Ramsey.
It was at the head of Bray Creek, at several different points over its lifetime.
The name comes from a local Potter family who owned a lot of land in Jackson and Clay Counties before the Civil War, although the exact meaning of "Choice" is unknown, with hypotheses ranging from the Potters choosing the location to it simply being a "choice" place to live.
It closed in August 1878.

The second Potters Choice post office was established on 1882-02-09 by postmaster Jesse Lewis as simply Choice, he having dropped "Potters" from the name some time after his first application in 1881.
It was located, according to the application form, southwest of the then location of the Laurel Creek post office on Falls Branch and west of Manchester.
It served a village that had several stores and other businesses, two mills, and a population of roughly 600 people.
It closed in September 1886, re-opened under Lewis again for the period 1890-04-29 to 1890-09-29, was re-established in a different location south-west of the Burning Springs post office by postmaster Cathern Cress, and finally closed in June 1904.

High Knob post office and Stringtown

The High Knob post office was established on 1876-10-24 by postmaster Jesse H. McWhorter.
Originally it served an area of some 200 people with several businesses including a wagon factory, a store, and some mills; and was located in Clay County just west of a peak () at the headwaters of Huckleberry Branch, a literally high knob.
Postmaster Margaret McGeorge moved it over the county line to Gum Fork/Sexton Creek in 1897, just north-west of its prior location, where it served a village named Stringtown, and closed in 1939.

Gum Fork and Malcom post office

The Malcom post office was established on 1891-01-15 by postmaster James H. Clark.
It was located at several places on Gum Fork over its lifetime between the confluence of Bray Fork with Gum and the mouth of Robinson's Creek (the left fork of Gum).
In 1918 it was on the mouth of the left branch.
It closed in January 1934.

In 1918, J. M. Wilson had a mine upstream on the left fork (Robinson's Creek) of Gum; and A. B. Read had two, one at the forks of a left branch of a left branch of the left fork of Gum, and another close by.

Cool Spring Branch and Alger post office

The Alger post office was established on 1900-08-10 by postmaster Lucy J. Hoskins.
She had originally wanted the name Cool Spring, which was rejected.
It moved up and down Upper Fork Cool Spring several times, eventually ending up just upstream of the confluence of Upper and Lower Forks, where it closed in August 1964.

In 1918, W. C. Campbell had a mine upstream on the Upper Fork of Cool Spring, and J. C. Clark was the local landowner at the site of another mine.
Other mines included R. A. Wood's upstream on Cool Spring and John Clay's into the same coal seam from Sexton's Creek upstream of the mouth of Cool Spring Branch.

Burning Springs and Napier post office

Burning Springs is a village located on the eponymous Burning Springs Branch, both located in the Corbin Kentucky Micropolitan statistical area. It is the second most affluent community in Clay County. Which take their names from the ground vents of flammable natural gas that used to be in the area.
The springs themselves no longer burn, as in the 20th century they were capped by the People's Gas Company and the gas was then piped to other places in the area rather than escaping to the open air.
The People's Gas Company, a subsidiary of Wiser Oil, was purchased by the Delta Natural Gas Company in 1981.
Tengasco bought the leases to the Burning Springs gas wells in 1995, which ran for a period thereafter, but decided to shut them down.

The village comprises several stores, churches, and a school and is today located at the mouth of Burning Springs Branch.
In 1918, the then town of Burning Springs was located upstream at Post Office Branch, a left fork that is now considered to be Burning Springs Branch proper, Burning Springs Branch originally going to the right.
Upstream of the town along Post Office Branch, J. H. Harret ( upstream) and Luther Webb ( upstream) were landowners.
upstream at the headwaters of Post Office Branch (), a gap leads to the Rader's Creek fork of Little Goose Creek.
The Macedonia Baptist Church was near to the post office.

The post office in Burning Springs originally had the name Napier and was established by postmaster John C. Napier on 1884-09-25 elsewhere in the Sexton's Creek basin.
When it came under the control of postmaster Lafayette M. Rawlings he moved it to his store that was in Burning Springs on 1888-01-17 and renamed it after the village.
It closed in December 1965.

Chesnut and Gum

The Chesnut Branch has no connection to local chestnut trees, and the letter was an inadvertent insertion into the name.
Rather, it is named for a local Chesnut family in the area, who were descendants of early settlers and brothers Samuel and Benjamin Chesnut, and their sons William, Granville, and Thomas.
Samuel and Benjamin were born in the then Nelson County of Kentucky in 1789 and 1793.
Samuel married a Rachel Gum from a local Gum family that is intertwined with the Chesnut family.

The Dory post office was established on 1886-08-05 by postmaster Susan Chesnut.
Chesnut had originally wanted either Chesnut or Chesnut Hill, but got the name Dory instead.
It was located south of the then location of the Sexton's Creek post office, on the west side of Sexton's Creek, and from the mouth of Chesnut Branch.
The succeeding postmaster, Thomas B. Murphy, moved it south, north of Manchester, in Autumn 1889 and it moved several more times after that.
It closed in February 1912.

The Chesnutberg post office (similarly, since misspelled Chestnutberg) was established on 1904-01-12 by the same Susan Chesnut.
This post office was located opposite the mouth of Chesnut Branch.
It closed in 1985.

In the meantime, Dory post office had been reestablished on 1930-05-06 by postmaster Albert Craft, and had closed again in November 1933.
In 1918, Leander Chesnut had a mine upstream on a left hollow that is upstream on a right branch that is upstream on Chesnut Branch.
John Pennington had one near to the headwaters of Chesnut Branch.

General

The Adela post office was established on 1902-07-05 by postmaster William H. Murray to serve the rural area initially known as Murray.

It was named after Murray's daughter.
It was located on Bray Creek at the mouth of Muncy Fork and later the area served by the post office was simply named Muncy Fork too.
It closed in July 1934.

The Sacker Gap post office was established on 1928-04-28 by postmaster Cornelious S. Sawyer.
The name "Sacker" is probably for a local family, otherwise unrecorded, and the "Gap" indicates its location on a gap between Sacker Branch headwaters and the Reed branch of Laurel Creek.
It closed in February 1935.

The Joshua post office was established by post master Elijah H. Begley on 1889-06-06.
It was located at the mouth of Sexton's Creek on South Fork Kentucky River.
Begley had originally wanted the name Goose Rock after a then local landmark.
It closed on 1895-07-11.

A road leads over the divide, from the forks of the Left Fork Gum Fork to Bray's Fork.

See also

*List of rivers of Kentucky

Footnotes

Cross-reference

Sources

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Further reading

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Rivers of Kentucky
Rivers of Clay County, Kentucky
Rivers of Jackson County, Kentucky