Appalachian Community Histories – Welborn, Pulaski County: The 1898 Post Office, a Broom Factory, and Life on Rock Lick Branch
In April 1920, a correspondent for The Somerset Journal reported that Charles Burnett had erected a broom factory in Welborn, a small farming community in Pulaski County, Kentucky. The announcement appeared alongside reports of families moving to Indiana and Wayne County, a local farmer selling his property, and the remains of a deceased resident being returned home for burial. Although these were ordinary events to the people who lived there, the newspaper preserved a valuable record of a community whose history was closely tied to farming, family relationships, religious gatherings, and the rural postal system.
Welborn was situated along Rock Lick Branch in the Buck Creek watershed of eastern Pulaski County. Its documented postal history began on April 7, 1898, when Harvey Pleasant Welborn established a post office bearing his family’s name. Over the following decades, the settlement appeared on county maps and in newspaper correspondence that recorded the movements and activities of its residents. By the time the post office closed in 1955, Welborn had accumulated a documentary history extending from the nineteenth century into the middle of the twentieth.
Unlike larger Kentucky towns, Welborn did not leave behind an extensive municipal history. Much of its surviving story must instead be reconstructed from postal research, historical maps, contemporary newspapers, and records of the families who lived along the surrounding creeks and roads.
Harvey Pleasant Welborn and the Establishment of the Post Office
The earliest documented chapter of Welborn’s postal history centers on Harvey Pleasant Welborn, whose surname became the community’s name. Kentucky place-name researcher Robert M. Rennick identified him as the founder of the Welborn post office, established on April 7, 1898, approximately one mile up Rock Lick Branch from Buck Creek.
Rennick documented the community in his study of Pulaski County’s post offices, published in three installments in La Posta: A Journal of American Postal History in 2007. His research also established that the office moved short distances several times during the 1930s before closing in 1955. His earlier research on the county’s postal history is preserved in the County Histories of Kentucky collection at Morehead State University.
The opening of the post office gave families living along Rock Lick Branch a recognized postal address and a regular connection to the wider country. For a rural community at the end of the nineteenth century, that connection was particularly important because correspondence, newspapers, business transactions, and government notices depended heavily on the postal system.
A post office also provided a geographical identity that extended beyond the location of a single building. Families living on surrounding farms could identify themselves as residents of Welborn even if their homes were separated by considerable distances or lay along different branches of the creek.
However, the establishment of the post office should not be confused with the beginning of settlement in the area. The 1898 date establishes when Welborn received its documented postal identity, but earlier land records, tax lists, and census schedules would be necessary to determine how long the Welborn family and other settlers had occupied the surrounding countryside.
Wellborn on the 1911 Map of Pulaski County
By 1911, Welborn had become sufficiently established to appear on Rand McNally’s published map of Pulaski County. The map recorded the community under the spelling Wellborn, placing it among the numerous small settlements that occupied the county during the early twentieth century.
The map identified Wellborn in eastern Pulaski County near Valley Oak, Elrod, Shopville, and other communities that formed part of the county’s rural network. Although the settlement was relatively small, its inclusion on the map demonstrates that its name had become an established geographical reference beyond the families who received mail through its post office.
The difference between the spellings Welborn and Wellborn is an important consideration for historical research. The former appears in postal records and contemporary newspaper correspondence, while the latter was used on the 1911 map. Both spellings can therefore be useful when examining historical documents, particularly those produced by organizations unfamiliar with local naming conventions.
Welborn’s geographical setting is recorded in greater detail on the United States Geological Survey’s Shopville topographic map, surveyed in 1952 and published in 1954. The map documents Rock Lick Branch, Buck Creek, the surrounding ridges, local roads, schools, and churches, including Pleasant View Church. It preserves the physical landscape of the area near the end of Welborn’s independent postal history.
Together, the two maps provide a geographical framework for understanding the community. The 1911 map places Welborn within the wider network of Pulaski County settlements, while the later topographic survey offers a more detailed record of the waterways, roads, and institutions that shaped life in the area.
Charles Burnett and the Welborn Broom Factory
One of the most interesting surviving accounts of Welborn appeared in the April 9, 1920, edition of The Somerset Journal. In a short community column, the newspaper reported that Charles Burnett had erected a broom factory, providing evidence of a local manufacturing enterprise in a community otherwise documented primarily through agriculture and family activities.
The report did not identify the factory’s precise location, the number of people employed, or the quantity of brooms it produced. Nevertheless, its establishment is an important part of Welborn’s history because it demonstrates an attempt at small-scale manufacturing within the surrounding agricultural economy.
Broom manufacturing was an industry that could operate on a relatively modest scale, but the surviving announcement does not establish whether Burnett intended to serve local customers or distribute his products beyond the immediate community. Additional newspaper advertisements, census records, and business directories may provide further information about the enterprise and how long it remained in operation.
The same newspaper column that announced Burnett’s factory also recorded several changes among Welborn’s farming families. Tom Claunch had sold his farm to a man from North Carolina, while Shelby Griffin had held a sale on March 29 before moving to Wayne County. Jack Smith had relocated to Woodstock, another community in Pulaski County, and John Price and his family had departed for Indiana.
These announcements reveal a community experiencing the ordinary economic and personal transitions of rural life. Some families were purchasing property and establishing themselves in the area, while others were selling farms, moving to neighboring communities, or leaving Kentucky altogether.
The presence of a broom factory alongside these reports suggests that Welborn’s economic life extended beyond agricultural production, even though the surviving newspaper evidence does not establish the scale or long-term success of its manufacturing activities.
Farming and the Agricultural Economy of Welborn
Agriculture remained central to Welborn during the early twentieth century. The March 18, 1921, edition of The Somerset Journal reported that local farmers were busy sowing oats, an announcement that reflects the seasonal agricultural activities of the community.
The same column recorded that Stephen Gastineau had sold a gasoline engine to a man named Jenkins. Elsewhere in the newspaper, the Valley Oak correspondent reported that M. C. Jenkins had purchased a gristmill from Gastineau and moved it to his own property. Although the newspaper does not explicitly establish that the gasoline engine was intended to power the gristmill, the two transactions document the movement of agricultural equipment between residents of the surrounding communities.
The purchase and relocation of a gristmill was a noteworthy event for a rural farming area where grain production formed part of the local economy. Mills provided an important service to farming families, allowing harvested grain to be processed without requiring every household to possess its own milling equipment.
The newspaper’s account also illustrates the relationship between Welborn and nearby Valley Oak. Although the two communities appeared under separate headings in The Somerset Journal, their residents participated in overlapping agricultural, commercial, and religious activities.
Farm sales were another important part of the local economy. The April 1920 report of Tom Claunch selling his property and Shelby Griffin holding a sale before leaving for Wayne County demonstrates how landownership and migration could change the composition of a small community over a relatively short period.
While the surviving announcements do not establish the total number of farms in Welborn or the acreage under cultivation, they preserve evidence of a working agricultural landscape in which farming, machinery, property transactions, and migration were closely connected.
Pleasant View Church and the Religious Life of Welborn
Religious gatherings formed another important part of community life in Welborn, particularly those associated with Pleasant View.
On March 18, 1921, the Welborn correspondent for The Somerset Journal reported that Brother Keller had fulfilled his preaching appointment at Pleasant View the previous Sunday. The announcement appeared alongside reports about farming, machinery, and visits between local families, demonstrating the regular place that religious services occupied in the community’s social calendar.
Another correspondent writing from Valley Oak in the same edition identified Reverend John Keller as having preached at the Pleasant View schoolhouse that Sunday. The two announcements establish a connection between the religious activities reported in Welborn and the schoolhouse serving the surrounding area.
The use of a schoolhouse for preaching illustrates the multiple purposes that community buildings could serve in rural Kentucky. In settlements where a congregation might not have had a dedicated building, a schoolhouse offered a convenient location for worship and other neighborhood gatherings.
By the early 1950s, Pleasant View Church appeared on the USGS Shopville topographic map, preserving the institution’s name within the documented geography of eastern Pulaski County. However, the available records do not establish whether the church shown on that map occupied the same building or precise location as the schoolhouse mentioned in 1921.
Pleasant View’s appearance in both the newspaper and the later map demonstrates the importance of religious institutions in the area. For families living along Rock Lick Branch and the neighboring valleys, worship services provided opportunities to gather with relatives, maintain friendships, and participate in activities that extended beyond the boundaries of individual farms.
Families, Neighbors, and the Communities Around Welborn
The surviving newspaper correspondence provides an unusually personal record of Welborn because its residents regularly appeared in announcements describing visits between relatives and neighbors.
On January 9, 1920, The Somerset Journal reported that Maude Price of Welborn had visited her cousin Ella Randall during the Christmas holiday. Two months later, a correspondent from Mark reported that Lola and Maude Price of Welborn, accompanied by Elia Randall, had visited Lucy Whitaker. These announcements establish connections between families living in Welborn and Mark while preserving the names of women whose activities were seldom documented in other forms of public record.
The March 18, 1921, Welborn column provides further evidence of these relationships. Eugene Claunch and his wife had visited Tom Claunch, while Oliver Phelps, his wife, and their son had visited John P. Phelps. Eliza and Ida Keller had spent time with Maude Price, Doolin Smith of Bobtown had visited William Price, and A. H. Hubble had called on John P. Phelps.
These visits reveal the network of relationships connecting Welborn’s households, many of which appear repeatedly in the surviving newspaper record. The Claunch, Phelps, Keller, Price, and Gastineau families were among those documented through the activities reported in the community columns.
The connection between Welborn and Mark continued into the following spring. On April 15, 1921, the Mark correspondent reported that Mrs. Rome Randall and her daughter Ella had spent the previous Saturday and Sunday visiting relatives at Welborn. The same column described improvements to the Mount Vernon road between Mark and the Sixteen schoolhouse, where grading was being supervised by James A. Hansford.
Another announcement, published on February 4, 1921, recorded that Charles Phelps and his family had moved to Welborn. The same newspaper included a report from Elrod mentioning that Mrs. John Anderson and her daughter Della had visited relatives near the community. Such accounts demonstrate the movement of families between neighboring settlements and the geographical reach of Welborn’s social connections.
Taken together, these newspaper reports suggest that Welborn was not an isolated settlement whose residents interacted only with their immediate neighbors. Its families maintained relationships throughout eastern Pulaski County, while roads and established travel routes connected the community to Mark, Valley Oak, Woodstock, Elrod, and Somerset.
Migration Beyond Pulaski County
The movement of families away from Welborn is another recurring theme in its surviving history. The April 9, 1920, newspaper column reported that Shelby Griffin had moved to Wayne County after holding a sale, while John Price and his family had departed for Indiana.
Jack Smith’s move to Woodstock and Tom Claunch’s sale of his farm to a purchaser from North Carolina offer additional examples of changing residence and property ownership within the community. Although the newspaper preserved these movements, it did not explain the personal or economic circumstances that prompted each decision.
These reports place Welborn within a larger pattern of mobility in early twentieth-century Appalachia. Families could remain connected to their home communities even after relocating to other counties or states, particularly when relatives continued to live on nearby farms.
The surviving evidence does not establish how many families left Welborn during this period or whether migration produced a sustained population decline. Nevertheless, the movement documented in 1920 demonstrates that the community participated in regional and interstate migration long before its post office closed.
Death, Burial, and the Memory of Welborn’s Families
The newspaper also preserved the deaths of residents whose lives might otherwise be difficult to reconstruct.
On February 13, 1920, The Somerset Journal published an obituary for W. E. Gastineau, a resident near Welborn who had died earlier that week. The report described him as approximately 55 years old and stated that he had died from paralysis, leaving behind his wife and several children. His funeral and burial took place at a location identified in the newspaper transcription as Eaden.
The obituary provides an important genealogical record and confirms the Gastineau family’s presence in the Welborn vicinity. However, the surviving reports do not establish W. E. Gastineau’s precise relationship, if any, to Stephen Gastineau, whose machinery transactions appeared in the newspaper the following year.
Another death was recorded in the April 9, 1920, Welborn column, which reported that the remains of Clayton Thompson had been returned to the community for burial on March 28. The brief announcement did not explain where Thompson had died or provide additional details about his life, but it preserved his connection to Welborn and the return of his remains for burial.
Such notices are valuable because they document relationships between individuals and places that might not appear in conventional county histories. Even a brief announcement concerning a funeral or burial can provide a starting point for examining cemetery records, death certificates, family histories, and local property records.
The Closing of the Welborn Post Office in 1955
Welborn’s independent postal history continued for more than half a century after Harvey Pleasant Welborn established the post office in 1898.
During the 1930s, the office underwent several short-distance relocations, according to Rennick’s research. These changes suggest that the location of postal services shifted within the community, although the available published account does not establish the precise circumstances surrounding each move.
The United States Geological Survey’s 1952 Shopville map preserves the physical landscape surrounding Welborn shortly before the postal office closed. Rock Lick Branch, Buck Creek, Pleasant View Church, and other nearby landmarks appear on the survey, documenting the geographical setting in which the community had developed.
In 1955, the Welborn post office closed, ending the independent postal service that had operated under the community’s name since 1898. The dates are also recorded in historical post office listings compiled from postal records, while a surviving 1955 Welborn postal cancellation has been cataloged by a postal history dealer.
The closure did not necessarily mean that the settlement itself disappeared. Rural communities frequently continued to exist after their independent post offices were discontinued, with residents receiving mail through larger neighboring offices while maintaining their historical community identities.
For Welborn, the documented closure marks the end of an important institution rather than a proven date of abandonment. Its history continued in the surrounding farms, churches, roads, cemeteries, and families associated with Rock Lick Branch.
Preserving the History of Welborn
Welborn’s surviving history demonstrates how much can be learned about a small Appalachian community from documents that were never intended to serve as formal histories. Postal records preserve its establishment and changing administrative identity, historical maps identify its geographical location, and newspaper columns document the people and activities that gave the settlement its character.
The establishment of Charles Burnett’s broom factory in 1920 provides a glimpse of local enterprise, while contemporary reports about farming and machinery reveal the agricultural economy that supported the surrounding households. The preaching appointments at Pleasant View demonstrate the role of religious gatherings, and the many recorded visits between families illustrate the relationships connecting Welborn to neighboring communities.
There are still important gaps in the record. The precise date of Welborn’s earliest settlement, the full history of Burnett’s factory, the locations of the post office after its various relocations, and the community’s population during different decades require additional investigation. Original postal site reports, census schedules, land deeds, cemetery records, and photographs may eventually help answer those questions.
The written record nevertheless establishes that Welborn was more than a name on a county map or an entry in a postal directory. It was a community of farming families, local businesses, religious gatherings, and personal relationships whose activities were recorded in the ordinary correspondence of The Somerset Journal. More than a century after the founding of its post office, those surviving documents continue to preserve the names and experiences of the people who made their homes along Rock Lick Branch.
Sources & Further Reading
Rennick, Robert M. “The Post Offices of Pulaski County, Kentucky, Part 2.” La Posta: A Journal of American Postal History 38, no. 4 (September 2007): 58–67. https://www.lapostapub.com/Backissues/LP38-4.pdf.
Rennick, Robert M. “The Post Offices of Pulaski County, Kentucky, Part 1.” La Posta: A Journal of American Postal History 38, no. 3 (July 2007): 64 ff. https://www.lapostapub.com/Backissues/LP38-3.pdf.
Rennick, Robert M. “The Post Offices of Pulaski County, Kentucky, Part 3.” La Posta: A Journal of American Postal History 38, no. 5 (October–November 2007). https://www.lapostapub.com/Backissues/LP38-5.pdf.
The Somerset Journal (Somerset, KY). “Welborn.” April 9, 1920. Community correspondence reporting Charles Burnett’s broom factory, farm sales, migration, and local burials. Transcribed by Pulaski County KYGenWeb. https://kygenweb.net/pulaski/news/4_9_1920.htm.
The Somerset Journal (Somerset, KY). “Welborn.” March 18, 1921. Community correspondence concerning agriculture, Pleasant View, local families, and Stephen Gastineau’s gasoline engine. Transcribed by Pulaski County KYGenWeb. https://kygenweb.net/pulaski/news/3_21/3_18_1921_3.htm.
The Somerset Journal (Somerset, KY). “County Citizen Dies.” February 13, 1920. Obituary of W. E. Gastineau, a resident near Welborn. Transcribed by Pulaski County KYGenWeb. https://kygenweb.net/pulaski/news/2_13_1920.htm.
The Somerset Journal (Somerset, KY). “Mark.” January 9, 1920. Community correspondence documenting Maude Price’s visit to relatives during Christmas. Transcribed by Pulaski County KYGenWeb. https://kygenweb.net/pulaski/news/1_9_1920.htm.
The Somerset Journal (Somerset, KY). “Mark.” February 27, 1920. Community correspondence documenting Edgar Whitaker’s visit to Welborn. Transcribed by Pulaski County KYGenWeb. https://kygenweb.net/pulaski/news/2_27_1920.htm.
The Somerset Journal (Somerset, KY). “Mark.” March 19, 1920. Community correspondence documenting visits involving the Price, Randall, and Whitaker families. Transcribed by Pulaski County KYGenWeb. https://kygenweb.net/pulaski/news/3_19_1920.htm.
The Somerset Journal (Somerset, KY). “Valley Oak.” April 16, 1920. Community correspondence mentioning Millard Farmer of Welborn and the death and burial of Clayton Thompson. Transcribed by Pulaski County KYGenWeb. https://kygenweb.net/pulaski/news/4_16_1920.htm.
The Somerset Journal (Somerset, KY). “Hospital News.” October 29, 1920. Report documenting Quincy Jones of Welborn receiving medical treatment in Somerset. Transcribed by Pulaski County KYGenWeb. https://kygenweb.net/pulaski/news/10_29_1920.htm.
The Somerset Journal (Somerset, KY). “Coin.” February 4, 1921. Community correspondence documenting Charles Phelps and his family moving to Welborn. Transcribed by Pulaski County KYGenWeb. https://kygenweb.net/pulaski/news/2_21/2_4_1921_3.htm.
The Somerset Journal (Somerset, KY). “Mark.” April 15, 1921. Community correspondence concerning the Randall family’s visit to Welborn and road improvements near Mark. Transcribed by Pulaski County KYGenWeb. https://kygenweb.net/pulaski/news/4_21/4_15_1921_2.htm.
Rand McNally & Company. Pulaski County, Kentucky. Map. Chicago: Rand McNally & Company, 1911. Historical map identifying the community as Wellborn. Reproduced by My Genealogy Hound. https://mygenealogyhound.com/maps/kentucky-maps/KY-Pulaski-County-Kentucky-1911-Rand-McNally-map-Somerset-Burnside-Science-Hill.html.
United States Geological Survey. Shopville, Kentucky. 1:24,000 topographic map. Surveyed 1952, published 1954. Reproduced by Pastmaps. https://pastmaps.com/map/shopville-pulaski-county-ky-usgs-topo-1952-p1954.
Rennick, Robert M. “Pulaski County: Post Offices.” County Histories of Kentucky, no. 388. Morehead State University, 2000. https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/kentucky_county_histories/388/.
Works Progress Administration and Robert M. Rennick. “Pulaski County: Post Offices & Place Names.” County Histories of Kentucky, no. 284. Morehead State University, 1939. https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/kentucky_county_histories/284/.
Rennick, Robert M. “Pulaski County: Place Names.” Robert M. Rennick Manuscript Collection, no. 123. Morehead State University, 2016. https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/rennick_ms_collection/123/.
Rennick, Robert M. “Place Names Beginning with the Letter W.” Robert M. Rennick Manuscript Collection, no. 26. Morehead State University, 2016. https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/rennick_ms_collection/26/.
Works Progress Administration and Historical Records Survey. “Pulaski County.” County Histories of Kentucky, no. 56. Morehead State University, 1936. https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/kentucky_county_histories/56/.
United States Post Office Department. Record of Appointment of Postmasters, 1832–September 30, 1971. Record Group 28, microfilm publication M841, roll 49, Kentucky, Powell–Woodford Counties. National Archives and Records Administration. https://www.archives.gov/research/post-offices/postmasters-1832-1971.html.
United States Post Office Department. Post Office Reports of Site Locations, 1837–1950. Record Group 28, microfilm publication M1126, roll 231, Kentucky, Powell–Pulaski Counties. National Archives and Records Administration. https://www.archives.gov/research/post-offices/locations-1837-1950.html.
Pulaski County Public Library. Digital Archives of the Pulaski County Public Library. Historical newspapers, census schedules, county court records, deeds, wills, and tax lists. Somerset, KY. https://pulaskilibrary.advantage-preservation.com/.
United States Geological Survey. topoView: Historical Topographic Map Collection. Historical maps documenting Kentucky communities and changes in their geographical landscape. https://www.usgs.gov/tools/topoview.
Author Note: Small communities like Welborn rarely leave behind a single history, so this account brings together postal research, historical maps, and the everyday announcements preserved in The Somerset Journal. If your family lived along Rock Lick Branch or attended Pleasant View, your photographs, documents, and memories may help preserve more of Welborn’s story.