© Ed O'Rear 1999

Hi. I'm originally from KY, but live in the Netherlands now.

Heres the story again of how I came to look for it:
While researching info on my gr-gr-grandfather Samuel South and his 5 brothers who fought in the Orphan Brigade, I came across an odd fact:

Sam's brother Capt. Wm. Tyler Barry South was briefly Warden of the Ky Pen in Frankfort. During his term, construction began on the new prison at Eddyville. Convicts were sent to Muhlenburg Co. to quarry stone for the new prison. While there, they were housed in an old stone house (originally built as a machine shop) in Airdrie, a community which lay (or perhaps still lies) on the Green River about a mile or so from Paradise, KY. This is, of course, " the abandoned old prison down by A'drie Hill", immortalized by John Prine in his song,"Paradise" (which is sometimes erroneously called "Daddy won't you take me back to Muhlenburg County").Note: Barry South was dismissed from his job as KY Warden by the legislature for being too soft on the convicts: specifically, for not having them flogged frequently enough. Barry (one of 15 children from Breathitt Co.) fought for 4 years in the rebel army (raised his own company, in fact) , lost an uncle, a brother-in-law, and 2 brothers in the war (his brother Jerry was shot to death in front of his wife and 1 yr old child), and lost literally dozens of cousins in the Breathitt Co. feuds which followed. The fact that a man with this background might be considered too "soft" to be a prison warden says a lot about the prison conditions in those days!

photo was sent to me by Sue Tooley, who lives in M. Co.
I had posted a request at: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Ky/Muhlenberg and found the pic in my email when I woke up the next morning.
You can read about the feuds here: http://www.breathittcounty.com/BreathittFeuds.html