Huguenots of Kentucky

Daniel Trabue, 1760-1840, was a descendant of French Huguenots who came to America.  He was a soldier and sutler in the Revolutionary War, an early explorer in Kentucky, and one of the founders of Columbia and Adair County.  He first settled in Kentucky in 1795, in rural Green County, Kentucky.  A few years later, in 1800, Trabue and two other early settlers, bought the land that became early Columbia. In the early 1820s he built a house on Jamestown Street hill overlooking downtown Columbia.  He was a variously a sheriff, businessman, and early leader in Columbia.

Trabue kept a journal of his life experiences that was passed on to his grandson.  His journal later came into the hands of historian, Lyman Coleman Draper (1851-1891), who donated his collections, including the Trabue journal to the Wisconsin Historical Society.  Chester Raymond Young (1920-1999), a Columbia native and later a history professor, grew up knowing about Trabue and some of his ancestors. In 1981, he published the Trabue journal in his book, Westward into Kentucky: The Narrative of Daniel Trabue (UK Press, 1981).  Some years later, in 1998, Marco Sioli, an Italian historian, learned of Chester Raymond’s book on Trabue and published an article on him in Journal of American History (March 1998) entitled: Huguenot Traditions in the Mountains of Kentucky, Daniel Trabue’s Memories.  In early 1999, Marco Sioli visited Columbia, the Trabue Home and the Anderson cemetery where he and his wife are buried, and gave a talk at Lindsey Wilson College on Daniel Trabue.  While there, he met Vonnie Kolbenschlag, who had written and published a 24-page booklet, on Trabue, entitled The Other Dan.  Daniel Trabue, was very much, an early part of Columbia’s history and his house on the Jamestown Street hill serves as a historical home and setting for special events to this day. 

Phil Hanna