ALLEN COUNTY is situated in the southern part of the State, and is bounded on the north by Warren and Barren Counties, on the east by Monroe County, on the south by the State of Tennessee and on the west by Simpson County. It was formed January 11, 1815, from the counties bounding it on the north (Warren and Barren), and by the census of 1880 had a population of 12,089. The surface is rough and uneven, with a generally fertile soil; it is heavily timbered. The principle water-course is the Big Barren River, which is fed by a number of small streams that have their source in the county or flow through it, among which are Puncheon Camp Creek, Big and Little Difficult, Walnut, Big and Little Trammel, Drake, Long, Bay's Fork, Snake, John and Rough Creeks.

The name of Col. John Allen, a brave soldier of the war of 1812, and who fell at the battle of the River Raisin, is perpetuated in that of the county. He was a native of Virginia and born in Rockbridge County, on the 30th of December, 1772... He was educated principally at Bardstown. Among his classmates were Joseph Hamilton Daviess (prosecuting attorney in the celebrated trial of Aaron Burr, at Frankfort, and for whom Daviess County was named), John Rowan (one of the ablest advocates of the new court of appeals during the relief and anti-relief war), Felix Grundy, Archibald Cameron, John Pope, all eminent men and highly distinguished in after life. After completing his education he studied law with Col. Archibald Stewart, of Staunton, Va., and upon being admitted to the bar, he returned to Kentucky and located in Shelbyville. As a lawyer he had but few superiors at the Kentucky bar.

Col. Allen, upon the commencement of our second war with Great Britain, recruited a regiment of riflemen for Gen. Harrison's campaign in the Northwest. At the disastrous battle of Raisin his regiment formed the American left, and suffered severely. No battle of the war was so fatal to Kentuckians as Raisin; its sad termination carried mourning to many a Kentucky home. Col. Allen was killed, and nearly half his regiment were killed and wounded.

The settlement of Allen County extends back into the last century. As early as 1797 the white man erected his cabin within its present limits. Among its pioneers were Joseph Ficklin, Toliver Craig, Abraham Wood, David Monroe and Henry Collins. They were followed within the next decade or so by John Ragland, Hugh Brown, Elias Pritchford, David Harris, Thomas Cook, William R. Jackson and others. The settlement of the county and increase of population has been steady to the present time, and no county in this section of the State is better improved or more prosperous.

Allen County, in addition to the staple products of this section of the State--stock, grain and tobacco--yields salt and oil. With more extended railroad facilities, these industries would be more valuable than they have heretofore been. The salt works at Port Oliver have, when pushed to their full capacity, yielded 300 bushels of salt per week. They are not used now. On the Big Trammel and the Bay's Fork Creeks oil wells were sunk, which produced oil plentifully. The superior facilities, however, of Pennsylvania, both in means of transportation and improved machinery, have always prevented this valuable commodity from reaching any great commercial value in this section.

The county, until recently, has been without railroad facilities. The new road diverging from the Louisville & Nashville, at Gallatin, Tenn., has been completed to Scottsville, in this county, and no doubt will soon be built on north. To connect this road with the road at Greensburg would be a scheme of internal improvement of vast benefit to the portion of the State.

Scottsville, the seat of justice, is a small town of only some 400 inhabitants by the last census. It is situated near the center of the county, and was laid out in 1816, the next year after the county was organized. It was named in honor of Gen. Charles Scott, the fourth governor of the commonwealth. There are a number of other small towns in the county, of which the principal ones are Gainesville, Port Oliver, Motley, Butlersville, Allen Springs, New Roe and Mount Aerial.

Allen County, in common with the cavernous limestone region of Kentucky, abounds in caves. But few of them, however, have been explored to any great distance. Some peculiar shells were found in one of these caves. They resembled, somewhat, conch shells, only that they were larger. Other relics and curiosities are not wanting in the county. Some notable remains of the prehistoric period were found here, but have now almost entirely disappeared beneath the ravages of time. One of the most extensive was situated in the western part of the county, some twelve or fourteen miles from Scottsville. It is described by Collins, but some of the old citizens of the county say his description is a little extravagant. We give it for what it is worth. It is as follows: "The middle fork of Drake's Creek makes a horseshoe bend running one mile, and then with a gradual bend returning to within thirty feet of the channel, where the bend may be said to commence. The partition, which divides the channels of the creek at this point, is of solid limestone, 30 feet thick at the base, 200 in length, 40 feet high and 6 feet wide at the top. The top is almost perfectly level, and covered with small cedar trees. The area included within the band of the creek is to the east of the narrow pass, and contains about 200 acres of land, rising from the creek in a gradual ascent of 100 feet, where it forms a bold promontory. The top of this is leveled and forms a square area containing about three acres inclosed with walls and a ditch. The outer ditch is still perceptible, and the walls are now about three feet high around the whole circuit of the fort. In the rear of this are to be seen many small mounds. At the west side of the narrow pass, and immediately at its termination, there is a hill similar to the one east. Here is to be seen a small mound of forty feet in circumference and four feet high. Upon excavating one side of this mound a stone coffin was dug up, two and a half feet long, one foot wide and one foot deep, with a stone covering--the tip of the coffin projecting an inch beyond the sides. Upon opening the coffin, the arms and thigh bones of a infant were found. This coffin being removed, others of larger dimensions were discovered, but not removed. Many very large human bones have been exhumed from the mounds in this county, some of the thigh bones measuring form eight to ten inches longer than the race of men now inhabiting the country." The article from which this extract is taken, was written forty years ago, and, of course, the fortification and mounds described do not now appear as they did then, hence, the opinion of old citizens of the inaccuracy of the account.

The forest trees of Allen County proved to be depositories of historical facts, showing that white men visited the county more than a quarter of a century before a permanent settlement was made within its borders. The following inscription was found cut in the bark of a beech tree on the Bay's Fork of the Big Barren River, about seven miles northwest of Scottsville: "James McCall dined here on this way to Natchez, June 10, 1770." Another inscription was found on a large beech tree, on Long Creek, half a mile above its junction with the Big Barren River, as follows: "Ichabod Clark, mill site, 1779." On the opposite side of the tree was the inscription "Too sick to get over," without name or date. On the Big Barren, a half mile below the mouth of Walnut Creek, the name of "Daniel Boone," with the date "1777," was found on a beech tree. Boone's name was also found on a beech tree on the Big Barren, near the mouth of the Big Barren, near the mouth of the Big Difficult Creek, but without date.

Another early history, History of Allen County, by B.Y. DeWitt is available online (thanks to Hagans family researcher, William Lon Hagan Jr. for this link) and other material about this county can be found at Allen County Kentucky Genealogy on Roots Web.