The Frontier
In the wilderness they hunted, trapped, worked to clear their land, build cabins and establish defenses. Buffalo, bear, elk, deer and other game were plentiful. There were no roads. The forests were filled with a dense undergrowth, thickly interspersed with river cane and a wild “pea-vine.” The only chance to passage through the vegetation was by following buffalo traces. Luckily, they were numerous.
Background Photo: Pioneer village, Boonesboro, Kentucky.
Our Ancestors
Frances Jane Coomes, 1745-1816
Merchant, military supplier, visionary leader
William Coomes Sr., 1734-1824
Frontiersman
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Interior of Harrod's Fort, built around
a active spring due to the critical importance of a reliable water source for survival, protection, and development in this frontier area.
Reproduction of Jane Coomes classroom.
Some of William and Jane Coomes' youngest ancestors imagining a lesson within her 18th century classroom.
Short video of Jane Coomes provided by the Kentucky History Channel.
1928 post card reenactment depicting Jane Coomes and her students standing outside Fort Harrod classroom.
Frances Jane Coomes, 1745 to 1816
First to manufacture salt, teach school, and serve as female physician in what is now Kentucky
Joseph Ferdinand Hayden's great grandmother's great aunt
Mary Borgia (Higdon) Hayden's great grandmother's great aunt
Robert Wheeler's direct ancestor (6 generations)
She is listed in the history books as Mrs. William Coomes, but her contribution to early Kentucky history is renowned. Our research attributes her maiden name to Greenleaf, but there is disagreement among genealogists. She is commonly referred to as "Jane." The use of the name Frances only appears on formal records. Her husband, William Coomes Jr., 1734-1824, is recognized as one of the first Catholics in Kentucky in 1775 via a flatboat on the Ohio River. There is a discrepancy as to whether Jane and their family joined him on this initial trip or followed a year later using the Wilderness Road through the Cumberland Gap. By 1776, the entire family was in Kentucky. It is noteworthy that at their first permanent camp at a place called Drilling’s Lick near present-day Frankfort, she began manufacturing salt—the first for any Anglo in Kentucky.
On arriving in Harrod’s Station—later
called Fort Harrod, Jane became
Kentucky’s first teacher. The school
was open four months of the year.
They used the New Testament as a
text and crude wooden paddles on
which the letters of the alphabet and
figures were printed. It was a blab
school where all lessons were studied
aloud, the student’s swaying bodies
keeping time to the tune of their
ABCs. The classroom had a dirt floor and cut logs for seating. There was a very large fireplace at one end of the room, but no chinking in the wall because fresh air was thought to keep students alert and healthy. Jane taught all the years her family lived in Fort Harrod.
Jane Coomes is, also, credited with being the first female physician in Kentucky. Though she never attended any formal medical college her impact was acclaimed:
From Maryland, Frances Jane Coomes brought with her a supply of calomel. This was a mercury chloride chemical used as a purgative and fungicide and was also quite expensive. She developed a substitute from an extract of the bark of white walnut by boiling the bark into a syrup-like form and was then made into pills. During battles with the “Indians” it was noted that Coomes would probe for and extract bullets when she could. During the 18th century, her grandchild was born with congenital talipes calcaneus which was the rarest of all forms of club foot. Coomes treated the child surgically and cured the child quite rapidly of its ailment. She made hickory splints and kept in position with bandages that were changed every few days. Another “celebrated” case was that of a man from Virginia who specifically sought out the woman doctor’s services. The man had a chronic ulcer on his lower extremities which had developed into a severe lesion. Coomes warned the man that, if he could withstand the pain that he would have to endure, she would be able to cure him. Her operating table was primitive and made out of a piece of timber that was hewn for that purpose and allowed her to strap the patient down to immobilize them. The man from Virginia was strapped to her operating table and she created a ‘dam’ of clay around the wound in order to protect the healthy tissues. This would involve applying an escharotic which is a corrosive salve in order to produce a thick and dry scab. Coomes poured hot boiling lard over the affected surface. The procedure was incredibly painful, but the cure worked. (From the Courier-Journal, Louisville, Kentucky, 15 June 1906)
After 9 years at Fort Harrod, the family moved to Nelson County, Kentucky because they wanted to be near other Catholic families who had established themselves by then. There they acquired several tracts of land, one of which they donated to the Catholic Church. Jane’s accomplishments are many, not the least of which is getting her name recorded in history books authored by men. Children of William and Jane Coomes:
William Coomes Jr., 1769-1844
Charles Coomes, d abt. 1843
Walter P. Coomes, abt. 1758 - abt. 1844
Elizabeth "Betsy" Coomes, abt 1760 - abt 1819
Enoch T. Coomes, 1765-1828
John Coomes, 1778-1848
Nancy Ann Coomes, m 1789
Jane became kentucky's first teacher and is credited with being the first female physician.
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In 1775 dense forests covered all of what is now present day Kentucky. There were no roads. The only possible travel was to follow buffalo traces.
A living history demonstration of firearms usage at Old Fort Harrod State Park.
The outside stockade of Fort Harrod. It was the only fort in Kentucky that was not breached by Indians during its active years of service.
This map of Kentucke, drawn from actual observations, is inscribed with the most perfect respect, to the Honorable the Congress of the United States of America; and to His Excellcy. George Washington, late Commander in Chief of their Army. (1784)
William Coomes Sr., 1734 to 1824
Frontiersman
Joseph Ferdinand Hayden's great grandmother's great aunt
Mary Borgia (Higdon) Hayden's great grandmother's great aunt
Robert Wheeler's direct ancestor (6 generations)
William Coomes Jr., his wife Frances Jane Coomes, and their family moved from Charles County, Maryland to Virginia, where they first heard the glowing reports of “Kain-tuck-ee,” and determined to move there. The area’s first Catholics, they traveled by flatboat on the Ohio in the spring of 1775 and settled near Fort Harrod. It was the only fort in Kentucky that was never breached by Indian attacks. To put the danger in perspective, the family arrived the same year Daniel Boone's daughter, Jemima, was captured by Indians and rescued by her father.
The new colonists resided in crudely constructed log cabins with no glass in the windows and dirt floors or, for better dwellings, floors of split timber roughly hewn with an axe. Once they wore out the clothing they brought with them both men and women wore buckskin or homespun; moccasins made of buckskin replaced shoes; blankets thrown over the shoulder provided warmth. Furniture was primitive. Stools were used instead of chairs; tables were crudely put together slabs of timber; wooden vessels and platters were used as plates; and a tin cup was almost as rare as an iron fork. The beds were either placed on the floor, or built hammock style connected to the cabin walls. Bear and buffalo skins constituted bed coverings. Game was plainly dressed and often served with an indian dish known as hominy. Corn was ground with great difficulty using hand mills.
Two descriptive episodes of William Coomes were told many years later to Mann Butler in his “History of Kentucky” by Coomes’ son, Walter Coomes. Walter was approximately 18 years old when this adventure happened. One of two:
A party of choppers—including William Coomes was clearing land at the Shawnee Springs. The other two went to visit a neighbouring sugar-camp to drink leaving Coomes alone. After awhile Coomes was about to start searching for them when he spied a body of Indians coming towards him. He concealed himself behind the trunk of the tree he had just felled at the same time seizing and cocking his rifle. Fortunately, the Indians had not observed
him, owing to the thick canebrake
and undergrowth. When he could
escape, he set out to find what had
become of his companions. Finding
no trace of them, he concealed
himself amidst the boughs of a
fallen hickory tree, the yellow leaves
of which were of nearly the same
color as his garments. From his
hiding place he had a full view of
the sugar-camp and a party of
Indians. They tarried for a long time, drinking the syrup, singing their war-songs, and dancing their war-dance. Coomes was a breathless spectator from the distance of only fifty or sixty yards. Finally a detachment from Harrod's Town reached the sugar camp which had been abandoned by the Indians. Coomes still in his hiding place ran towards the men, exclaiming: "They haven't killed me, by Jove! I'm safe!" The party buried the dead, rescued Coomes, and returned in safety to Harrod's Town.
During the War of Independence there were three companies of volunteers from what was known as Kentucky County, Virginia. William Coomes earned the title of “Sergeant of the Continental Line” in Captain John Holder’s company. One of William and Jane Coomes son's narrowly escaped with his life in the Battle of Blue Licks. It was one of the final battles of the Revolutionary War and occurred 10 months after Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown which effectively ended the war in the east.
After the War, William Coomes and his family settled in Bardstown, KY. They wanted to be near other people of their Catholic faith and they were wise to select land with a large cave on the farm to protect them from Indian raids. From this 1,000 acre farm, the Coomes family gave 105 acres for a new church. Children of William and Jane Coomes:
William Coomes Jr., 1769-1844
Charles Coomes, d abt. 1843
Walter P. Coomes, abt. 1758 - abt. 1844
Elizabeth "Betsy" Coomes, abt 1760 - abt 1819
Enoch T. Coomes, 1765-1828
John Coomes, 1778-1848
Nancy Ann Coomes, m 1789
fortunately, the indians had not observed him, owing to the thick canebrake and undergrowth.