Site of Casey Home

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Historical Marker #806 in Adair County notes the location of the home of Colonel William Casey, the namesake of Casey County.

Casey was one of the first explorers and settlers to venture into the Green River region of Kentucky. Born in 1754, he was a Revolutionary War veteran from Frederick County, Virginia. He first investigated the area of south-central Kentucky in 1779. Casey married Jane Montgomery in 1782, and the couple lived near Logan’s Station in present-day Lincoln County. Casey was the brother-in-law of Benjamin Logan, the fort’s namesake, as the men married Montgomery sisters.

In the early 1790s, Casey ventured further west on the Green River and established a fort called Casey’s Station near Casey’s Creek. He later moved to the Russell Creek area in what would eventually become Adair County.

Casey was civic minded and proved to be an active public servant. He helped establish educational academies in both Adair and Casey counties, and was a Columbia town trustee. Casey also dabbled in politics. He was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1795 and served as a member of Kentucky’s second constitutional convention in 1799. Casey died in 1816 at his Russell Creek home and was buried in the nearby Johnston Cemetery.

Casey’s pioneering legacy continued with his descendants. His granddaughter, Jane Lampton, was the mother of the famous Samuel Clemens, also known as Mark Twain, one of America’s most well known writers.