In the early settlement of the county, the Newstead neighborhood, embracing the western part of the county, was considered one of the finest sections of the "Barrens", because Little River, being near, provided water and some timber along its course. It was quickly settled by a colony of pioneers from North Carolina and Virginia. Among these were William Means and his six sons, Robert, William, John, James, Joseph and Samuel. The last named was one of the surveyors, who laid out the future city of Hopkinsville. William Means built a school house, in 1806, where his son, William, taught and other teachers were Joseph Bozarth, Otho Graves, Addison Stevenson and John Mimms. At this old school house many boys attended school, who afterwards became distinguished men. Among them were, Judge Walter Scates, of Illinois, and Gustavus A. Henry, of Tennessee. Judge W. W. McKenzie, Young J. Means, Gano Henry and Nehemiah Cravens, who lived to old age in the county, were pupils.
Robert Cravens, John McDaniel, Samuel Alexander, Joel Nance, General William Henry, Colonel Arthur McGaughey, Colonel John W. Cocke, William Rascoe, Michael, William and Samuel Northington, Thomas Arbuckle, Samuel Harry, William Hoxie, William Lander, Jonathan Bozarth, Joseph Sively, Davis Harrison, and Edmund Calloway were other settlers. Later comers were: John H. Tadlock, Dr. James Wallace, Albert Wallace, Gabriel Corbin, who founded Newstead; Dr. J. C. Whitlock, Dr. P. W. Dryden, Dr. James H. Usher, Rev. James Payne, Dr. J. A. Steele, Jon W. Offutt, John W. Cook, Ben S. Campbell, Isaac Lewis, Robert McReynolds, O. McReynolds, Thomas Green, David Henry, Jesse McCombs, Joseph Kinkead, James Moore, Lindsay Kinkead, Dr. John D. Clardy, Gen. James S. Jackson, Hardy Boyd, Thomas Torian, Richard Caudle, Lucian Dade, and many others came and established homes in that part of the county. Newstead still has a country store, is a station on a small railroad, and has a good school near by, and a church still remains, but it is now only a small village.
Robert Cravens, who first acquired a mill site on the east or Barren fork of Little River, afterwards built a mill on the Sinking Fork, seven miles west of Hopkinsville. About 1820 Colonel John W. Cocke, of Virginia, settled on a large tract of land south of Hopkinsville and built a fine mill for that day on Little River. This mill was operated successfully for many years and the road leading out of Hopkinsville from south Main Street became know as the Cocke's Mill Road. The Cocke family finally left the county and moved to Tennessee, it is presumed, as a family of that name afterwards lived in Robertson County, Tennessee. One of the citizens buried in the Pioneer Cemetery in 1838 was Ephraim Cock, born in 1753. The spelling of the name is different, but he probably belong to the same family as the Colonel. The road south of town is now called Cox Mill Road, though for no reason other than that the name Cox is still quite common in Christian County, while the name Cocke is no longer present.
A History of Christian County
Charles M. Meacham, 1930
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