Return to People

Haviland

In 1832 New York City-born Robert S. Haviland (1796-1858) opened the first store in the Travellers Rest area and in 1838 built a woolen factory. On Apr 8, 1842, he became Postmaster and renamed the Post Office Havilandsville.

There have been Havilands in Harrison County since the early 1800s. Robert S. Haviland’s family came to America in the mid 1600s and settled in Rhode Island.


From The History of Harrison County, Kentucky. It says that Robert S. Haviland taught the first school in the Richland Precinct in 1819. Richland Precinct is a collection of villages and Havilandsville is the most pretentious of them all. It is located about fifteen miles northeast of Cynthiana and was named for Robert Sheffield Haviland, father of the present judge of Harrison County. He was one of the most enterprising men ever in the precinct. The first store was kept by him where the village now stands, as early as 1832-33. He also put up a woolen and cotton factory in 1838 and manufactured jeans and lindseys, for the Southern trade, which were transported in wagons and raw cotton brought back in return. He manufactured and shipped tobacco to New York and also operated a large porkpacking establishment, butchering from eight hundred to two thousand hogs annually. These were made into bacon and, together with manufactured goods, were shipped in flat boats, the cargoes of which were often worth sixty thousand dollars.


From The Chonicles of Cynthiana, by Lucinda Boyd.

The Havllands.–The lineage of the Haviland family has been traced in England back through the centuries. The descendants of that family who live in this country have a record extending only to 1799, but the New York Havilands have the annals complete.

James Haviland was born in New York, May 15, 1740, married Ann Hunnawell, and died in New York, November 25, 1786. His children were Thomas, born July 8, 1763; Israel, born March 12, 1765; Abigail Jane, born Marcy 20, 1767; Phoebe, born March 3, 1769; Stevenson, born February 26, 1773.

Israel Haviland was born in “Harrison Purchis,* Westchester” county, New York, March 12, 1765, married Jane Anderson, October 12, 1788, and died October 23, 1819. The children born to him in New York City were James G., born October 12, 1790, married Margaret Marsh, March 21, 1816, in New York City; Robert S., born November 11, 1796, emigrated to Kentucky in 1818, married Mary C. Stewart, April 6, 1820, died at Havilandsville, Kentucky,

August 8, 1858; George Elvin, born August 9, 1792, died May 9, 1807; Susan Ann, born October 19, 1794, died January 21, 1796; Jane Ann, born December 1, 1798, married William Bolmer, August 16, 1823; Susan Maria, born September 22, 1803, died September 20, 1804; Thomas L. and Eliza H., born November 18, 1805, died August 16, 1806; Henry T., born August 9, 1807, married Lillias G. Leonard, March 29, 1829; Abraham A., born January 8, 1810, married Abbey C. Power, June 1, 1858, died June 14, 1864; Hannah M., born April 3, 1812, married James G. Bolmer, May 30, 1838; Charles E., born November 14, 1814.

Robert S. Haviland, son of Robert S. Haviland, was born November 11, 1796, died August 8, 1858. Robert S. Haviland was a soldier in the War of 1812. The children of Robert S. and Mary Stewart Haviland, James A., born May 6, 1821; William S., born March 26, 1823; Henry H., born March 16, 1825; Malinda Jane and Jane Ann, born March 26, 1830; Martha Jane, born June 26, 1830; Margaret, born April 17, 1835.

William S. Haviland, born March 26, 1823, in Harrison county, Kentucky, married Mary E. Whitehead, December 30, 1845, she died April 13, 1849; married the second time Mary Ellen Jones, June 13, 1854. The children of the first wife were Mary and Bettie; children of the last marriage are Charles B., Robert S. and Carrie.

Judge Henry H. Haviland, born March 16, 1825, married Susan Scrogin, who is descended from grandsires of Revolutionary fame. Her father and uncles were in the War of 1812. Charles Scrogin, an uncle of Mrs. Haviland, was a patriot spy in time of the War of 1812, and was captured by Indians and put to death near Blue Licks, Kentucky. Judge H.H. Haviland has one child–Sydney.

Jane Anderson Haviland, who was married to Israel Haviland, 1788, was in New York City, and was present when Washington was inaugurated President of the United States, April 30, 1789. She embroidered a pair of slippers for Martha Washington, and presented them to her, and had the pleasure of seeing her wear them. The Havilands are related to the Van Rensselaers of New York and the Havilands who are residents of that city.

Haviland