History of the Property

The Brown Young house (Sycamore Hill Farm) is located south of the “Y” on Lexington Road in Wilmore, Kentucky.

Dr. Brown Young, the second child of Dr. Archibald and Martha Young, was born in Nicholasville, Jessamine County, Kentucky, on March 10, 1821 and died in the Brown Young house on June 19,1893. He was named for the famed early Kentucky doctors, Drs. W. and Samuel Brown, under whom his father had studied medicine. Young graduated from Transylvania University at age 19, with a degree in medicine, and practiced his profession for 53 years in Jessamine County.

Brown Young’s father, Dr. Archibald Young (born October 5, 1791 in Bourbon County, Kentucky; died September 21, 1860) married Martha Young, the daughter of Minor Young (no relationship) of Jessamine County in 1818.  They resided in Nicholasville until 1826 when they purchased and moved to a 193-acre farm on the Jessamine County and Pleasant Hill Turnpike, which is now Highway 29 (Lexington Road, Wilmore, Kentucky).  Their house was located on the east side of the road at the “Y”, on what is now the property of R.J. Corman.  The house sat back approximately 300 feet from the road, in front of the existing black barn and just off the joint property line.  The estate was called Cedarvale.

On March 27, 1845, Brown Young married Emeline Irvin Drake (born October 25, 1826; died September 28, 1906) who lived on the adjoining property.  Emeline was the daughter of Joseph Drake (Drake Lane). Their house was 1½ stories, made of brick and located in the curve of Drake Lane approximately 1/3 of a mile off of Lexington Road.  It is believed the Drakes had a deed to this property and settled on it very early in Kentucky’s history, possibly before Kentucky became a county of Virginia.  There is said to be charred records of the deeds on file in the Fayette County courthouse in Lexington, Kentucky.  I spent some time studying the records and found that a Ephram Drake did own a substantial amount of land in or near this area, but did not find the name of Joseph Drake.  These records are incomplete at best.  They had been burned on all four edges of each page. There have been a number of articles written about Joseph Drake’s tombstone and much speculation on him being a relative of Sir Frances Drake.

Brown was one of eight children born to Archibald and Martha; John, Brown, Minor, Jessamine, Archibald Logan, Sam, Thomas and Robert.  Robert died at about two months of age and Martha died shortly afterward on Oct. 30, 1834.  Archibald then remarried, this time to Eliza Jane Farrar and they had two children; Matthew Henry and Martha (named after the first wife) Foster.  All the children were very well educated.  In addition to Brown, three of his brothers were medical doctors (two were surgeons for the North during the civil war).  The boys are thought to have attended Bethel Academy where Archibald was a member of the Board of Trustees and the girls going to Jessamine Female Academy.

When Brown and Emeline married, Brown received his portion of the estate, and on this land they built their house.  This house is on the east side of highway 29 (our deed still gives the address as Jessamine County and Pleasant Hill Turn Pike) now known as the Lexington Road.  It sits on top of the hill just south of the “Y”.  The house was first called “Sugar Grove”, for the drive was lined with sugar maples.  Apparently, as these trees died, they were replaced with sycamore trees.  This is why the house and farm is now named “Sycamore Hill Farm”.

The Youngs had two children, Adelia Honeywood and Samuel.  Samuel was born in 1849 and died two months later.  Adelia was born January 6, 1846.  On December 9, 1868 she married Leonard Hodges Willis (born April 8, 1841).  They lived with Brown and Emeline at “Sugar Grove” and raised six children, Brown, William, Leonard, Thompson (lived only one year), Emeline and Adelia.

LAND
When Young's father died in 1860, his widow received 51 acres and the remainder of the property was divided among the seven children. Young had already received his portion.  His property and the fifty-one acres bordered on the Jessamine County and Pleasant Hill Turnpike (Lexington Road).  The other six plots faced Drake Lane.  By 1874, all but Young had sold their property.  Today, the farm is 142 acres and follows very closely the original boundaries, except 50 acres to the north (above the “Y”), which is owned by R.J. Corman.  The owner has spent many hours in the Jessamine County courthouse trying to track the deeds that separated the farm and then how they were brought back together.  Presently I am missing many pieces.

SEARCH FOR THE HISTORY
Much of the history of the property has been saved and appears in a book titled, John Young, Kentucky Pioneer and His Kin by Jessamine Young Wooton.  In Dr. Thomas R. Young's (Brown Young’s brother) latter years, he wrote to all his known relatives, requesting records of the family history.  He received approximately 250 replies.  Many of these documents were letters that had been saved throughout the years.  From these preserved records, the writer was able to compile the book.  

These letters, journals, pictures, documents, etc. have now been donated to the Margaret King Library at the University of Kentucky. The owner has spent many hours at the library reading this fascinating material.  He photocopied over 160 pages of information. He plans to use this information to compile a booklet about Dr. Brown Young, the house, his immediate family, and the life during the Civil War. The letters contain historical information about the Civil War, sickness, fires, weather and life in Jessamine County during Dr. Brown Young's lifetime (1821-1893).