Timeline story
Jenny Wiley’s captivity and escape
On October 1, 1789, at Walker’s Creek in present-day Bland County, Virginia, a Cherokee–Shawnee party seeking revenge on Matthias Harman mistakenly hit Thomas Wiley’s cabin.
Jenny (Virginia Sellards) Wiley saw her brother and three children killed; she and an infant were taken captive.
Over nearly eleven months in the Big Sandy country the infant died and another child born in captivity was killed. She escaped by following a dream-path of creeks to Harman’s Station near present-day Paintsville, where men built a log raft and pulled her across. Reunited with Thomas in Virginia, the couple settled on Tom’s Creek in what became Johnson County in 1800; she died there in 1831. Jenny Wiley State Resort Park carries her name.
Cite this story
Published . Last revised .
Chicago
Snowden, Shannon. "Jenny Wiley’s captivity and escape." Kentucky History Drive. Published September 24, 2026. Last revised September 24, 2026. https://kyhistorydrive.com/stories/jenny-wileys-captivity-and-escape/.
MLA
Snowden, Shannon. "Jenny Wiley’s captivity and escape." Kentucky History Drive, published 24 Sept. 2026, last revised 24 Sept. 2026, https://kyhistorydrive.com/stories/jenny-wileys-captivity-and-escape/.
Report a correction for Jenny Wiley’s captivity and escape (opens in a new tab)
