Michael T Tracy

David Ballingall (1801-1862) Michael T Tracy

The Licking River winds through the rolling hills of northern Nicholas County, Kentucky as it did when the area was first explored in 1773. This river, however, tells the story of a Scottish family who first settled in the area by the fall of 1796. David Ballingall (1758-1833) named the lands he first settled at as Ballingall's Mill and here in 1801 his eldest son, David, was born. David Ballingall spent his first four years here until October of 1805 when the growing family relocated to the Lower Blue Licks. The first settlement occurred around 1784 and the Blue Licks, which has been known as Salt Springs, Lower Blue Lick Springs and Blue Lick Springs and received its name from the blue-grey deposit left by mineral water between the original spring and the Licking River. By 1807 the family purchased 100 acres of land near Johnson's Fork and along the Licking River. David Ballingall did not follow his father in farming and milling but rather became the Postmaster of the Lower Blue Licks as early as 1828 although he might have been in the position much earlier than that. Ballingall would marry Mary Ann Paton in 1841 and they would have one child before Mary died leaving him a widower. In 1844 the residents of the Lower Blue Licks region elected him to the Kentucky State House of Representatives where he served for two terms in Frankfort. Ballingall, after serving in the House, came back home to the Lower Blue Licks region. With Kentucky declaring its neutrality at the beginning of the Civil War, the 59-year-old Ballingall decided to enlist in the Confederate Army in the fall of 1861. This decision would prove to be a fatal mistake in his life as he would not survive. This then is the narrative of the life and times of David Ballingall, the Kentucky gentleman of the Lower Blue Licks.