Beech Tree News Network

On January 3, 1829, Kentucky governor Thomas Metcalfe signed into law a statute forming Hancock County from parts of Breckinridge, Daviess and Ohio counties to become Kentucky’s 85th county.  The county was named in honor of Boston patriot John Hancock, who headed the Continental Congress and became the most notable signer of the Declaration of Independence.
As of the last census recorded in 2014, Hancock had a population of 8,753.  Historical marker #1756 in Hawesville(Hancock County) cites the birthplace of noted steamboat captain and builder John W. Cannon.  Cannon captained steamboats on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers during the 19th Century and became famous by guiding the Robert E. Lee to victory over the Natchez in a well-known 1870 steamboat race. 
Cannon was seemingly born for the river. Born in 1820 near the Ohio River in Hawesville, Kentucky, Cannon's family had migrated from Maryland to Kentucky two years earlier. As a young man, Cannon traveled by boat to visit his brother Elijah, who was a city marshal in New Orleans. At his brother's prompting, Cannon returned home to receive an education, but his brief time spent on the river ignited a passion. After an abbreviated season of schooling, Cannon returned to New Orleans and found valuable experience on several steamboat trips up the Red River. Through his work as a pilot and steersmen on a number of different steamboats he was able to save several thousand dollars.
By 1848, Cannon accumulated enough money to build the "Louisiana" in Jeffersonville, Indiana, at the famous Howard's Shipyard. In November 1849, while at dock in New Orleans awaiting departure, the "Louisiana" suffered a boiler explosion that killed a great number of the passengers, crew, and bystanders. Cannon was not on board at the time of the explosion. Although the disaster placed Cannon in deep debt, benefactors who knew the captain's skills helped him get started again.
Before the Civil War, Cannon had the "Vicksburg" and the "Gen. Quitman" built for the Mississippi River cotton trade. During the war the Confederates confiscated the "Vicksburg" and turned it into a gunboat. Cannon took the "Gen. Quitman" up the Red River where it was docked until after the war. In 1866, Cannon had his most famous steamboat, the "Robert E. Lee" constructed in New Albany, Indiana. It was a virtual floating palace. In 1870, the "Robert E. Lee" engaged in a famous race from New Orleans to St. Louis with the "Natchez," which was captained by Thomas P. Leathers, also a Kentuckian. The "Robert E. Lee" won this race, which became world-famous by making the trip in just three days and eighteen hours. The "Natchez" came up short by six hours and thirty-six minutes.
Cannon went on to captain other successful steamboats, including one he named for himself. In 1882, Cannon suffered an attack of pneumonia. He died on April 18 at his home in Frankfort and was buried in the Frankfort Cemetery. Hawesville is the county seat.
Hardin County, KY was formed in 1792.  Its county seat is Elizabethtown.  It was named for Colonel John Hardin, an officer in the Continental Army.  The county, when formed, contained 7,000 square miles.  All or part of the following counties were formed of territory which originally was contained in Hardin County: Breckenridge, Grayson, Green, Ohio, Meade, LaRue, Daviess, Hancock, Henderson, McLean, Hart, Edmonson and Butler.  Today, Hardin County consists of 616 square miles with a population of 105,543 as determined by the 2010 U.S. Census. 
Harlan County, KY was founded in 1819.  The county was named for Silas Harlan, a pioneer born on March 17, 1753 in Berkeley County, West Virginia(when it was still part of Virginia.   the son of George and Ann (Hunt) Harlan. Journeying to Kentucky as a young man with James Harrod in 1774, Harlan served as scout, hunter, and held the rank of Major in the Continental Army. Harlan assisted Harrod's party in Harrodsburg to deliver gunpowder to settlers in Kentucky, and to assist them against the British in the Revolutionary War.
With the help of his uncle Jacob and his brother James, Harlan built a log stockade near Danville known as "Harlan's Station". He served under George Rogers Clark in the Illinois campaign of 1778–79 against the British. He also commanded a company in John Bowman's raid on Old Chillicothe in 1779, and assisted Clark in establishing Fort Jefferson at the mouth of the Ohio River in 1780.
Silas Harlan died leading the advance party at the Battle of Blue Licks on August 19, 1782. At the time of his death, Harlan was engaged to Sarah Caldwell, who later married his brother James and was the grandmother of U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall Harlan.[6][7]
 
Harlan County Courthouse

The county has been the site of repeated attempts to organize labor and gain better deals from owners, beginning in the early 20th century, primarily related to the coal mining industry. Violent confrontations among strikers, strikebreakers, mine company security forces and law enforcement in the 1930s led to the county being referred to as "Bloody Harlan" for several years. After the Battle of Evarts, May 5, 1931, the governor of Kentucky called in the National Guard to restore order. Ballads sung on the picket line at the Brookside mine in Harlan County were captured on film by documentarian John Gaventa.[8] The county was the subject of the film Harlan County, USA (1976), which documented strikes and organizing during a second major period of labor unrest in the 1970s.
My daddy was a miner
And I'm a miner's son
And I'll stick with the union
Till every battle's won

They say in Harlan County
There are no neutrals there
You'll either be a union man
Or a thug for J.H. Blair
"Which Side Are You On?"
by Florence Patton Reece
In 1924, Condy Dabney was convicted in the county of murdering a person who was later found alive.
From the late eighteenth through the mid-nineteenth century, Harlan County and nearby counties were settled by numerous persons of multiracial descent, with African, European and often Native American ancestors. Descendants, some of whose members have been called Melungeon, have documented the racial heritage of Harlan's early settlers through 19th-century photographs, DNA analysis and historic records. In 2007, the Ridgetop Shawnee Tribe of Indians formed as a non-profit to work on improving the lives of multiracial families and preserving Native American heritage. It established the Kentucky Native American Data Bank, which has the names of 1,000 people of documented Native American descent related to this region.  Side note: Brad Paisley had a song called “You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive” on his Part Two album.