The Kentuckians

The Kentuckians #1

by Janice Holt Giles

The Kentuckians of Janice Holt Giles's title were that hardy band of angels who straggled through Cumberland Gap in the 1770s and carved their farms from the wilderness of Virginia's westernmost country. In her historical novel, first published in 1953, Giles invited the reader to experience the danger and beauty of life on the American frontier.Many of the frontiersmen were hunter in search of escape from an ever advancing civilization, seeking freedom and space.

Such a man was David Cooper, who had hunted the Kentucky wilderness with Daniel Boone before the first settlers crossed the Appalachians. No love of land or home or woman had been strong enough to hold David -- until he met Bethia. It was for her that he cleared his patch of forest, planted crops, and built a cabin. Too late, he learned that the girl he had dreamed of marrying was the wife of his enemy.

David and Bethia belonged to a generation that never knew or expected security, and the background of their story is one of outnumbered and ill-equipped, were hard put to defend their forts. And, although united in war against the British and their Indian allies, the settlers were at odds among themselves. Many, including Boone, held land grants from Judge Henderson's Transylvania Company.

Others, like David, based their claims on the authority of Virginia. Few today realize how close Henderson came to winning out.In her research, Giles studied the journals of the early Kentuckians and has retold their story in their own easy-flowing, cadenced prose. Only the three central characters are fictional. All subsidiary characters and historical events are authentic, set against the background of a country the author knows and loves.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, 18th Century, Historical, Classics, Southern

285 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1953

About the author

Janice Holt Giles was an American writer best known for her series of pseudo historical novels focusing on life on the American frontier, particularly within Kentucky.

Reviews

[Diane Barnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always thought Janice Holt Giles was a romance author, I guess because my grandmother had a lot of them on her shelves. I was mistaken, however, because it turns out she wrote some excellent well-researched historical fiction instead. This is about the settlement of Kentucky and the Indian wars and the Revolutionary War all at the same time. She used historical characters mixed in with some fictional ones to bring the time alive. She was no slouch at describing the natural world either. As I read, I kept thinking of Wendell Berry's forebears and feel pretty sure he would have liked this one too.

[Lori Keeton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was just perfect for this Kentucky girl and pioneer loving reader! This is a true American frontier story taking place in the 1770s when a group of pioneers made their way through the Cumberland Gap to settle and claim land for themselves. At this time, Kentucky was under Virginia, and no one had settled in the rich, bountiful land. David Cooper, a fictional long hunter, along with Daniel Boone hunted the wilderness and were among the first settlers in this part of the Appalachian Mountains. Many other important historical figures play a part in this story. These people belonged to a period and a generation that did not know what it meant to live in security. Indian raids abounded and many of these settlers were ill-equipped and outnumbered. Not to mention war with the British who allied with the Indians, they were at odds with themselves as well. Judge Henderson’s Transylvania Company made an illegal play for the land that was under the authority of Virginia. Land grants were held by settlers under each entity. This was a fascinating look at how Kentucky first became settled as a Virginia county with its own government. Within 20 more year, by 1792, Kentucky separates from Virginia becoming a state.

[Mitzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so happy to have discovered Janice Holt Giles! I'm researching my family tree, and one side of my family is pretty much Kentucky through and through. Even though she doesn't mention my ancestors specifically, they were there during the time period this book covers, so it was such fun to read about what life was like for the pioneers. If you have any interest in early Kentucky history at all, add this one to your to-read list!

[Celia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reminiscent of James Fenimore Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales, The Kentuckians is a historical novel set just before and during the early American Revolution in 1769-1777. America has come a long way since those early days. Yet, just as today, greed, dishonesty, and corruption always rear their heads wherever people go.

You'll find wilderness, horses, raids, romance, and tall tales in these pages. The people back then had their shortcomings and selfishnesses as we do, but they were also brave, hardworking, and visionary. Hopefully, other readers will also be able to see the good alongside the bad. After all, that's what we ask other people to do for us every day.

Warning: This novel is a fairly honest snapshot of its setting's time period, so be aware that there is racial and sexist bigotry in the book, because there was back then. For example, native Americans are called "redskins," a free black man is said to be an unsuitable mate for a white woman (and she had no say in the matter), and one family keeps slaves. Rather than sweeping these injustices under the rug or weaponizing them for division today, we can learn and be grateful for how far this country has come toward the goal of recognizing that all human beings are created equal.

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Originally reviewed Dec. 2009.


*I wish the cover I remember were here on the sight.* I read these (again) back in the 60s or 70s. This is the story of a man and the woman he loves as they settle in the frontier lands of Kentucky and the Cumberland Mountain region.

Janice Holt Giles works are sometimes considered more appealing to the tastes of the female of the species and I suppose that may be at least partly true. I read only 3 or 4 of her books but there is more to them than simply the romance angle. I grew up in the Smokies, the eastern area of Tennessee near the North Carolina and Virginia border. I loved (and really still love) the Appalachian Mountains.

Then why only 3 stars? That's for the romance...I like the book overall, but can live without so much of the love triangle. Ms. Giles books while well written and interesting do lean heavily on romance. Many of you know I'm not a fan of romance at all and still I like the book. So try it, see what you think.

*Originally reviewed 2009...updated 2014. They got the cover I had on the sight.

[Kathi · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was a wee lass growing up in southern Ohio, my mother used to take my sister and I on vacations. The destinations generally revolved around historical sites such as the Shaker village at Union Hill in Ohio. It was interesting. I liked the mules which were walking around in an endless circle to mash corn or reeds or some such crop like that. The old buildings with their separate entrances for men and women were quite the novelty for me. I had always enjoyed wandering through old cabins and rustic scenes and imagining pioneer days when Ohio was a new frontier and the Shaker village gave my imagination plenty of scope.

But the real takeaway was a book I found in the gift shop. It was called "The Believers", written by a woman named Janice Holt Giles. It told the story of a married couple who joined the Shakers and let me tell you, that book blew me away. It became an instant favorite, one I've reread numerous times over the years. As it turned out, it was book number five in a series of books she wrote about the settling of the area.

For one reason or another, I never read the other books in the series, until now. I just finished "The Kentuckians", the first book of the series and while it didn't reach inside me and tug at my soul the way "The Believers" did, it is a darn good book.

The two main characters, David and Bethia, are the parents of the husband in "The Believers", so it was interesting getting their backstory. It takes place in the mid 1770's, with the Revolutionary war a distant, almost insignificant background. Most of the action revolves around settlers crossing Cumberland Gap and clearing the land, hunting the game, building their cabins and planting their fields, all done with the constant threat of "injun" trouble.

A word of warning here; this book was written in 1953, a time when the notion of being politically correct or "woke" hadn't been thought of yet. The book is narrated by a white settler, so you can imagine the way the story is skewed towards the point of view of white men encroaching on indigenous territory. Manifest Destiny runs rampant. There is a brief mention of slavery, with a small family of slaves brought into the story line, and they are as stereotypically portrayed as you can imagine. The female characters are shown from the point of view of an unenlightened man in a male-dominated historical period (But what historical period isn't dominated by men?), although it is done with much kinder hand than that used to paint Native Americans and Blacks. I know there are some who are of the opinion that books written before the age of enlightenment (ie. the Civil Rights movement and women's liberation) should be scrapped because of their insensitivity to minorities and women, but I have always disagreed with that frame of mind. These stories have value as a part of our history, even if it is told from the period's dominant point of view. We can read these types of stories with the advantage of knowing how biased, bigoted, and ignorant the attitudes were and we can learn from them. If nothing else, it helps us to understand where today's bigots hail from, which may give us insight on how to deal with them.

At any rate, the book is full of dialect and colloquialisms which bring to mind phrases my extended family used to use. Outside of the main characters, the story is peopled with famous figures, from Daniel Boone to Simon Kenton and many others. For someone like me, who grew up near where these events took place, it's a fascinating tale. I believe all of Giles's work is out of print now, but the books can be found tucked away in musty used book shops or ferreted out from online sellers. None of them have been converted to ebook or audio format as far as I can find. For me, this was a must-read. I've already ordered the next two books in the series and will reread "The Believers" when I get to that point, something I'm really looking forward to. I definitely recommend these books for those who are interested in pioneer type stories, with the caveats I already mentioned about the limited viewpoint. I'm giving it four stars. If I could do halfsies, I'd give it a four and a half.

[Art · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great understanding of the trials and tribulations of those who came to KY after Daniel Boone.

[Marcia · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the things that struck me as I read this book was how much the author loved her country, especially Kentucky.

[Teresa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before reading my review of The Kentuckians, which I found especially interesting because I descend from several early Kentucky landowners and settlers as well as later arrivals, know that this exciting and well-researched historical fiction was written in 1953, not 2018, and the fictional narrator in this accurate historical depiction of events and attitudes in early Kentucky was recounting his experiences in Kentucky in the 1770s, from the point of view of of a young frontiersman speaking only of what he knew at that point of time about his encounters with indigenous tribes, his attitudes coming from personal tragedy and loss at their hands, and hopes for survival in a place he loved. His attitudes were practical and came from experience. Although the book touches on the massive Native tragedy that would only get worse, this is not from that perspective. The new settlers had, for the most part, no idea how tragically they were disrupting the lives of those who stole their livestock, burned their homes and killed their loved ones, although the reasons for the attacks were clear and touched upon in the text. The violence increased when the tribes became terrorists for the British, both causes sharing a similar goal during the Revolution. The narrator's attitudes toward women, which he admitted were based on his own ignorance, were also from his times, though the women depicted were clearly strong, capable, skilled and, out in the "country," respected...to a point. Though there were a few black characters, likely slaves, for the most part these frontier hunters and settlers were not slave owners, actually somewhat unusual in those days, when slave-owning was commonplace in all the colonies. These characters, most of them real (Daniel Boone, Jim Harrod, George Rogers Clark who is buried in the same cemetery as my great-great grandmother), are well-drawn as their actions carry the narrator through his entry into Kentucky history. If as you read you can take yourself in imagination back to the 1700s without dragging 21st century attitudes with you, you are interested in American history, and you didn't already read this book decades ago, I recommend this book, which is part of an historical fiction series about life on the frontier by Janice Holt Giles.

[Jeff Dickison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent frontier story about the settlement of Kentucky told from the viewpoint of a fictional woodsman/farmer. The problems with the Indians and the politics involved in establishing lands claims are both well highlighted. Their is a nice forbidden love story also woven into the narrative. Recommended.

[Molly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy to read and well written. I liked Hannah Fowler much better. Some things in beginning of book horrified me. I wasn’t crazy about main character. Liked the big reveal at end. Left some questions, though.

[Elizabeth Springer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The actual plot is quite good and the construction of the narrative using a fictional narrator and mostly historical supporting cast is really cool (especially as a Kentuckian recognizing all of the names), but my overall enjoyment was hampered by the fact that it comes across quite dated. Many plot points are spoiled by the writer herself and could have been left for the reader to discover naturally, so it takes much of the excitement out of the experience.

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good at animating the authentic history of early Kentucky before it was Kentucky. Not great characterizations but good enough. It was a pleasant way to learn a bit more of the real history of the time.

[S. Isaac · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve copied passages from this book. The depiction of the characters love and respect of the land, and how they settle their claims. The anguish when a huge oak tree was cut down for the cabin- I want to write like JHG.

[Sally H.]

Great book about the settling of Kentucky.

[Deanne Smithey · Rating 5 out of 5]

My husband and I vacationed in Kentucky this past summer and this book just helped to bring all the historical sites we saw to life.

[Corby · Rating 3 out of 5]

So much of historical fiction ends up filtering through the lens of the era in which it was written, so it was interesting to read this book with 1950s America in mind. There was plenty of cultural bias against Native Americans, that one might expect given the traditional conflict narrative of westward colonization efforts, but I was also pleased to see a bit of humanity for all people written into parts of the story. I was expecting the prose/writing style to be harder to read for someone used to reading fiction of the new millenium, but the story moved along. I originally picked this up to get a better sense of life in frontier Kentucky around the time of the Revolution and Civil War, as a branch of my ancestral tree were settled around Grayson/Edmonson/Hardin Counties during that period (with another branch in Eastern Tennesee/Shenandoah Valley, VA) until the run on Oklahoma Territory. To that end, it was an interesting read for me, though maybe not for others.

[Shelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm returning to a beloved author of my youth. Although this book is politically incorrect (copy-write 1953) and thus difficult to read at times, it gave an engaging and well researched look at early Kentucky (white) settlers at the time of Daniel Boone. The early settlers were amazingly brave, tough and resilient and I frequently caught myself comparing it to our anxiety-ridden, but relatively "safe". modern culture.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've always liked a good historical novel, but I find it more difficult to read some of them nowadays as I have realized how the stories are so often told from the viewpoint of the white pioneer, white pilgrim, white innovator, etc. I did like this book, and I intend to read the entire series, but I am more aware of the "problems" with the stories.

[Mary D · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have an interest in Kentucky and its history Janice Holt Giles will not disappoint. If you enjoy historical fiction you can trust JHG spin a story around facts from the settlers of the land to the food they ate.

[Melanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a historical account rather than a personal story. I would've liked more of the latter mixed in.

[Esther Pierce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting history but I found the story narrative a bit lacking.

[Laura Willyard · Rating 5 out of 5]

GREAT book. Love series, esp Hannah FOwler. Highly recommend!

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating and very accurate novel set in the earliest days of Kentucky settlement by whites.

[James Aura · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good, but not great book about the early Kentucky settlers.

[Kami S · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 4 stars is more for the author than the story on this one. A work like this takes a lot of research and Giles really has a way with telling her tale. It's very matter of fact, this is the way it was. I enjoy this period in our history and so I did like the story. However, it was really only maybe a 3 star story...the politics and things got a little boring at times and her romance really just was kind of in the back ground. I definately liked Hannah Fowler much better!

[Dianne Oliver · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Preferred Hannah Fowler and The Believers. This one moved a bit slow, and I was none too fond of the main character.

[Stephanie Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

The historically accurate (I guess?) voice and parlance really slowed me down but otherwise an enjoyable book. I was pleasantly surprised (perhaps unfairly) by the narrator's honest views of Native Americans. He alternated between unabashed hatred to compassion depending on the state of things in the new settlement. I imagine this ambivalence toward the "enemy" was fairly common among settlers. One thing I kept thinking about while reading of the settlers' struggles: They voluntarily chose a life of survival and deprivation while Europe was enjoying the first flushing toilets and gas lighting. Amazing.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about the settling of Kentucky. It is the first in a series someone thought I would enjoy. Janice Holt Giles was a popular author and her books are classics. The Kentuckians is an average read.

[Toesnorth's mom]

excellent