Synopsis "The Life and Times of BenJamin Uhlen"
Benjamin Uhlen moved to Greenup County, Kentucky in 1800. His life personified the early frontiersman who was independent, resourceful, and knew how to survive under adverse circumstances. Benjamin's parents died when he was a young teenager in Mobile, Alabama. He ran away from his court-appointed guardian and eventually was captured by Creek Indians. The Creek Indians traded him to Isaac Zane who was married to a Wyandot Indian and lived near Lake Erie. After running away from Isaac Zane, Benjamin became a scout for the British Army during the American Revolutionary War. After the war he moved to Point Pleasant, West Virginia, where he met his wife Catherine and became a merchant. Seeking land of his own, he travelled down the Ohio River, eventually stopping at what would become Greenup County, Kentucky, where he raised his family. Lew Nicholls and Matthew Wixsom are both attorneys and re-enactors at the Wolf Pen Woods Pioneer Village, an historical eastern Kentucky pioneer village set in the 1780's and 1790's located on Bolts Fork in Boyd County, Kentucky, owned and operated by Dr. Roland Burns, Ph.D. During the 2014 season they became interested in learning whether the Uhlen log cabin at Wolfe Pen Village was authentic.Their legal backgrounds uniquely qualified them to perform a title search on the land where the Uhlen cabin was originally located in Greenup County. What started as a mere title search turned into a historical journey into the life of Uhlen. Nicholls and Wixsom built upon the research already conducted by Rev. Nancy Mayes, a Benjamin Uhlen researcher in her own right. Coupled with Dr. Roland Burns' editing abilities and his own research into the life of Benjamin Uhlen, this team produced a fascinating book about an early frontiersman who settled in Greenup County, KY, forging a home for his wife and children out the eastern Kentucky wilderness. His story is not unique but is representative of the sacrifices made by our forefathers to settle this land.
