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It is not known if she willingly traveled to Kentucky or if she simply was doing her duty as a wife and mother. What is known, is that Anne is credited with being the first woman to bring a spinning wheel onto the
frontier, with being the first to make butter in Kentucky, with discovering that wild nettles could be used as a substitute for flax to make linen-like thread, and for combining that nettle thread with buffalo wool to make
linsey-woolsey cloth, which would become the staple from which most pioneer clothing was made. She is also credited with teaching the women of Fort Harrod to spin, weave, sew and make baskets.
And what else is known of Anne is that she exemplified THE frontier woman; full of grit, guts, strength and compassion. Less than three years after coming to Kentucky, her husband was dead, killed in an Indian ambush. She lived alone the next three years, raising her children without the assistance of a husband -a feat that was almost unheard on the frontier.
Her third marriage, to Joseph Lindsey would last little more than a year before she lost yet another husband at the hands of the Indians. Six years later she married again, this time to James McGinty, a man who
became abusive to her shortly after her marriage and whom she quickly learned had married her only for her land and her possessions. Their marriage would end in an agreed separation, but Anne would spend the next eighteen years
of her life in a legal battle with him for control of her property and assets.
She operated the first fulling mill in the area and the first tavern at Harrodsburg, made contracts and filed lawsuits, was named ``guardian of the public morals" at FortHarrod and raised seven children, all of
whom survived the ravages of the early frontier.
She walked among a circle of great men, men whom history has remembered as heroes. Daniel and Squire Boone, Richard Calloway, Simon Kenton, James Harrod, and George Rogers Clark were not only Anne's neighbors, but
her friends. And while reams of paper have been written praising their strength and courage, the story of Anne, and of the other pioneer women of Kentucky, has been almost forgotten.
Tonight's presentation is brought to you by Melanie Kuntz. After a 14-year career as a criminal prosecutor, she now prefers to call herself a ``recovery attorney." Now working as a probation officer, she
continues to interact within the legal system on a daily basis, with both juveniles and adults, and is the supervisor for her county's home incarceration program.
A weaver, spinner, seamstress and avid researcher, she has been a member of DAR for over a decade and has traced her family history to three patriots who fought in the Revolutionary War.
She happened upon the hobby of reenacting three years ago, through the invitation of a friend to attend a living history event. With only one trip she was hooked. The hobby soon became not only an obsession, but a
way of life. She is passionate about sharing the story of women in American history and believes the most important gift we can give the children of today is an appreciation and understanding of their past, and a desire to
learn about the history and sacrifices of our ancestors - especially the women of colonial America.
The setting tonight is Ft. Harrod, 1787. Five years ago, over 180 of the fighting men of Kentucky were killed by the British and Indians at the Battle of Blue Licks, the last battle of the American Revolution,
including Anne Lindsey's husband, Joseph. Mrs. Lindsey has only recently been granted the first license in Kentucky to establish an ordinary ``or inn"in which you now sit. This is her story.
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