Gum Fork
Gum Fork is an unincorporated community in northeast Scott County, located between Winfield and Jellico Creek. It is a gateway to the remote mountain valley communities of Jellico Creek and Capachene.
See Also: Communities of Scott County
Geography
Gum Fork is located in northeastern Scott County, between Pleasant Grove and Jellico Creek. It can be loosely defined as the area along Gum Fork Creek from where Gum Fork Road crosses over Chitwood Mountain at Pleasant Grove to where Gum Fork Creek empties into Jellico Creek at the base of Dennis Ridge. For the purposes of this entry, we’re including the areas of Jellico Creek, including Angel Valley, and Capuchin Creek, which is located across Dennis Ridge from Jellico Creek.
Gum Fork was traditionally called Ketchen, as well — though Ketchen historically referred specifically to the area where Gum Fork Creek empties into Jellico Creek.
The elevation where Gum Fork Creek empties into Jellico Creek is roughly 1,050 feet. However, the elevation exceeds 2,000 feet at the tops of the surrounding mountains. The mountains are uninhabited, with residences located generally in the creek valleys.
Gum Fork is part of the 37892 (Winfield) zip code.
Nearby communities include Pleasant Grove and Alderville to the west, the Tennessee-Kentucky border to the north, the Scott-Campbell county line to the east, and Pine Grove to the south.
Commerce & Business
Gum Fork has never been a business community. Rather, it has always been made up of small farms and residences. The most productive farm, historically, is Angel Valley, located at Ketchen, where Gum Fork Creek empties into Jellico Creek. In the mid 20th century, coal mining was prevalent in the hills surrounding Gum Fork. More recently, the timber-cutting industry has been a major activity.
Post Offices
The Gum Fork Post Office opened in March 1884 with George W. King serving as postmaster. It closed in September 1893 and moved to Isham. William Trammell was the last postmaster there. (The Isham Post Office, meanwhile, closed in September 1926 and moved to Winfield. Its last postmaster was Hubert Trammell.)
Separately, the Capuchin Post Office opened in October 1882 with Hiram Trammell serving as postmaster. It closed in May 1914 and moved to Newcomb.
Today, the entire Gum Fork area is served by the Winfield Post Office.
Schools
Historically, one-room schools were scattered throughout these mountain valleys. In 1935, schools that were in operation included Gum Fork Mountain, as well as Jellico at Ketchen, Honeycutt and Chitwood Mountain to the west, Lower Capuchine and Upper Capuchine to the east, and Baird Creek and Adkins to the north (Adkins was located at Pine Grove).
Today, students from the Gum Fork community are served by Winfield School (K-8) and Scott High School (9-12).
Churches
The Gum Fork community was traditionally served by Gum Fork United Baptist Church. More recently, a split in the church led to the establishment of the Gum Fork Community Baptist Church across the road. There is also the Zion Baptist Church at Ketchen.
Several miles east on Jellico Creek is the Upper Jellico Creek United Baptist Church.
Origin & First Families
The first families to settle at Gum Fork included the Angels and the Trammells, who were connected.
Archibald Angel (1775-1847) married Nancy Ann Trammell, the daughter of Revolutionary War veteran Dennis Trammell (1759-1849), in about 1804.
It is not known exactly when the two families arrived in present-day Scott County, but it was between 1807 and 1810. Court records indicate that Dennis Trammell was living in Knox County, Ky. in 1805. One year earlier, in 1804, Col. Return Jonathan Meigs sent a letter naming Archibald Angel and others as “intruders on Indian Lands on the West Side of the Cumberland Mountain.” It is not clear exactly where Angel lived at the time. Meigs’ letter ordered them to remove themselves or be forcibly removed by the U.S. military. In 1807, Angel and Trammell both appeared on a tax list in Knox County, Ky.
By 1810, survey records indicated that Angel owned 298 acres of land on Pine Creek, while Trammell owned 216 acres of land on Pine Creek. Pine Creek was located in the Oneida area. At some point after that, the Angel and Trammell families both moved to Jellico Creek, settling in a lush valley that would become known as Angel Valley. It is still known as Angel Valley today.
James Trammell, a brother of Nancy Trammell Angel, died in 1826 and was buried on a small knoll at Angel Valley, which would come to be known as the Angel-Wright Cemetery. This is the oldest original identifiable headstone found in Scott County.
When Nancy Trammell Angel died, Archibald Angel remarried to James Trammell’s daughter. He had a total of at least 11 children — six with Nancy and five with Charlotte Trammell.
Angel was one of the few slaveowners in Scott County, owning five slaves in 1830 and seven slaves in 1840.
Angel died in 1847 and it is believed that he was buried in the Angel-Wright Cemetery. Dennis Trammell died in 1849 and was buried at Trammell Cemetery near Pine Grove.
There are additional Trammell Cemeteries on Jellico Creek and on Capuchine Creek.
The Trammell family remains very prominent in the greater Winfield area today.
Another early family of Gum Fork was the King family. William King (1785-1841) was born in what is now Washington County, Tenn., and later moved to present-day Scott County with his wife, Elizabeth. They’re both believed to have been buried at Angel-Wright Cemetery. Thomas Murray King, William’s brother, made the move to the Winfield area with them. His son, Jackson King, married Archibald Angel’s daughter, Elizabeth Jane.
Another early family was the Blankenship family. Camilla Blankenship (born about 1830) was the daughter of Archibald Blankenship and Sarah Richardson. She had a child outside of wedlock with Dennis Trammell, named Ewell Blankenship. His second wife appears to have been Lucinda Trammell, one of Dennis Trammell’s great-granddaughters.
Living nearby Gum Fork was the Baker family. Mary “Polly” Baker (1811-1873), the daughter of Samuel Baker, married Dennis Trammell (1815-1891), a grandson of the original Dennis Trammell. She was blind. They lived on Jellico Creek, and their home was burned by Confederate soldiers during the Civil War, forcing them to spend the winter that followed in a cave.
The Bakers moved to the area sometime prior to 1809, when Samuel Baker was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Campbell County militia. He was later elected the first coroner of Campbell County. They lived on Jellico Creek.
Further east, on Capuchin, early families included the Longs and the Bairds, in addition to the Trammells. Henry Long was the first wife of Lucinda Trammell, who later married Ewell Blankenship. Travis Baird, the son of Samuel C. Baird and Anna Doelin, married Dinah Trammell.
Later, the Lay, Maxey, and Ryan families came to Gum Fork. They were all there by the late 1800s and early 1900s.