USA > Kentucky > Jessamine County > A history of Jessamine County, Kentucky, from its earliest settlement to 1898 > Part 15
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"Jessamine county, Ky. "Four miles east of Nicholasville, Feb. 13, 1843. "Hon. Tucker Woodson :
"Dear Sir: Your esteemed favor of Ioth is received, and having a little leisure I hasten to answer it. I was not aware of the fact stated by you, that the roads I named to you were under the control of the local boards. I knew that there was a law of last session, authorizing the state board to take the management of all the roads, and had understood that they had generally done so. On the subject of the proposed bank, I am greatly at a loss to give you my opinion, and can not exactly see and appreciate your present position on this, only I know that you were elected as opposed to relief measures. I am greatly astonished at the news this morning from Nicholasville. There is a great revival going on at the Methodist church; more than thirty have been added to the church. Among the converts are Thomas H. Bal- lard, Stephen Spragens, Moreau Brown, Mrs. Keene, Mrs. Wil- more (wife of T. D. Wilmore), Jacob Wilmore, Jr., Sandy Wake, James Buskett and Wm. B. Payne. The Rev. Rice Harris was greatly assisted in this meeting by his brethren from other cir- cuits.
"We must ourselves watch and avoid the careless side of life. "Your friend,
"D. CROZER."
Mr. Crozer was mistaken as to Judge Wake. He never joined the Methodist church.
African Methodist Episcopal Church.
This church is situated on East street in Nicholasville, and was organized September 15, 1845, by Rev. Samuel Miller, who then erected the first house of worship that this congregation ever had. The present beautiful structure was built through the labors of Rev. James Turner. This church has a very active membership and a large, successful Sunday-school, which exerts a fine influence throughout the members of the church. The minutes show that it is one of the most liberal of the colored churches, and that in thirty years it has contributed to benevolent
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objects about $18,000. Its membership includes a very large list of names. It present pastor is Rev. P. A. Nicholas, a native of Harrison county, Ky.
Colored Christian Church.
One of the handsomest colored churches in the county or state, is the Colored Christian Church, Nicholasville, which was crected in 1843 and for several years used as a house of wor- ship, being then known as the Union Church, where all the colored people from time to time held their services. It was not until the year 1867 that the officers of the church bought the Union Church and became a separate organization. The pres- ent pastor, the Rev. W. H. Dickinson, came to the congregation on the first of September, 1896. He is a native of Virginia. The church building now in use was erected in 1890. It has a large membership and is one of the most prosperous of the colored churches in Central Kentucky.
Colored Baptist Church.
The first colored Baptist church in Nicholasville was organ- ized in 1846. Few of its records have been preserved. Rev. Robert Irvin was the first pastor, who remained in the church four years. The present membership is 356. It has been pros- perous and particularly so under the ministrations of its present pastor. Rev. John William Clark.
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Biographical Sketches of Prominent Citi- zens of Jessamine County.
James Irvin.
The last Revolutionary soldier to die in Jessamine county was James Irvin. He was born in Mecklenburg county, Va., in 1754, and died in Jessamine county in 1851, at ninety-seven years. He served seven years in the Revolutionary war and was badly wounded at the Battle of Guilford Court House, March 15, 1781. He was shot in the left hip. He came to Jessamine county in 1793 and raised a large family of daughters who all lived to be over eighty-seven years of age.
He is the only Revolutionary soldier who very many of the people in Jessamine county ever saw. When Gen. William O. Butler was a Democratic candidate for Governor of Kentucky in 1844, James Irvin and four other Revolutionary veterans rode in the carriage with General Butler from the place of Mr. John Butler, on Jessamine creek, on the Danville pike, to Nicholasville, where General Butler was to speak, in the field adjoining the colored cemetery, close to the line of the R., N., I. & B. R. R.
When Irvin was wounded in battle he was left at the house of the father of William A. Graham, the distinguished politician of North Carolina, and Secretary of the Navy under Millard Fillmore. While sick he cut his initials on a stone and the date of his wounding and brought this stone with him to Kentucky when he emigrated to the state. He lived on the place now owned by Mr. Dean, near Sulphur Well, and was buried in the Hickman neighborhood.
Frederick Zimmerman.
One of the strong characters in the early history of Jessamine county was Frederick Zimmerman, its first surveyor. His ances- tors came from Salzwedel, Germany. His forefathers emigrated
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to New York. After a passage of six weeks over the Atlantic they settled on the Hudson river, at the village of Rheinbeck, in Dutchess county. Remaining in New York four months two brothers settled in Culpeper county, Virginia, where was born Frederick Zimmerman. He moved to Jessamine county prior to 1792, and lived in the Marble creek district. He married Judith Bourne, daughter of Henry Bourne. His work in the surveys of Jessamine county shows that he was a competent and faithful offi- cial. His sons and daughters have been industrious, upright citizens and have performed well the duties devolved upon them. John Zimmerman, Daniel Zimmerman, Augustus Zimmerman and Morton Zimmerman, long and favorably known in the county, were sons of Frederick Zimmerman. A numerous posterity still reside in the county which their ancestor helped to redeem from the savages, and in the earlier history of which he was a strong and influential factor.
Francis Phipps
Was born on the 21st of October, 1751, and was for a long time a resident of Jessamine county. He was engaged in surveying the Lexington and Danville pike, by Col. W. R. McKee in 1829- 30. He resided at Mr. Thos. Scott's house for several years, at which place the letter, copied below, was found. References are made to Rev. John Price, who, afterwards, came to Jessamine county, and was long a Baptist minister in this locality, and the letter is otherwise full of interesting matter :
In Mess, No. 10, Colonel Hamilton's Regiment, Little York, 12 miles from Williamsburg, Oct. 21st, 1781.
My Dear Parents : I have only time to inform you that the British army, under old Cornwallis, surrendered to General Washington on the 19th. Capt. Charles Johnston, who will leave for Mecklenburg to-morrow, will give you full particulars of this great and glorious achievement.
On the 25th of September our army, led by the beloved Wash- ington, reached the headquarters of General La Fayette, at Wil- liamsburg, and on the 30th, our army marched in a body to attack York and Gloucester. On the 7th of October, Washington opened the attack on Cornwallis with 100 pieces of cannon. It
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was a most beautiful sight to see our bomb-shells bursting in the midst of the enemy, tearing down whole companies of our ene- mies-as we could see them from the high ground near the river. During the siege, which lasted 17 days, two strong redoubts were stormed by our regiment, led by Col. Hamilton. We were as- sisted in the charge by the French. When within a few yards of the redoubt, Col. Hamilton rode up to the regiment, and said in a voice like the bursting of a shell: "Charge those men, my brave comrades, who wish to make slaves of our people." We rushed at them with a loud shout, and captured over two hundred-kill- ing and wounding about fifty. We lost about seventy-five of as brave men as ever pulled a trigger at an enemy of our liberty. Our French soldiers lost as many as we did. It would have done the heart of every lover of liberty good to have seen the red-coated rascals surrender to our army on the 19th-old Cornwallis and his army-numbering 8,000 muskets ; I counted fifty brass and one hundred and sixty iron cannon.
At about 12 o'clock our army was drawn up in two lines, ex- tending more than a mile in length. Our French fellow-soldiers were placed on our left and headed by their General. At the head of our ragged, but brave soldiers, I saw the noble Washington, on his horse, looking calm and cool as he was when crossing the Delaware river a few years before. Many of the rustic people of this part of Virginia, consisting of old men, women and chil- dren, assembled in numbers equal to the military, to witness the surrender of the old murderer, Cornwallis. Every face beamed with joy and gladness-but a profound silence prevailed : no talk- ing, no noise of any kind, save the slow, measured step of our enemies, was heard. General Tarleton's troops at Gloucester surrendered at the same time to our French soldiers. Everything was done in a quiet manner.
After the surrender, I saw our beloved Washington and Col- onel Hamilton talking with all the British officers. Old Corn- wallis and Tarleton were very polite to our officers, and it was a surprise to see old Cornwallis treating our beloved commander and Colonel Hamilton with so much consideration: Cornwallis is a large man, with dark brown hair, a ruddy face, good nose and has the appearance of a man of kind heart and good intentions. General Tarleton is also a large man. but not so big as old Corn-
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wallis. His countenance is hard and tyrannical; and his mean, dark eyes are full of cruelty. Some few of the Carolinians saw him after the surrender was over, and cursed him as he passed up the road on his way to the ship that was to take the British to New York. When the boys cursed him he never made any re- ply, but rode away, showing no high temper, that he was known to have by some Carolinians who remembered his cruelties in South Carolina.
The Rev. John Price preached for the soldiers on Sunday last. His sermon was listened to by many officers, such as General Lincoln, Cols. Henry Lee, Hamilton and Woodford. My health is good, and my wound in the arm is well. I can not tell you where to send me a letter, as I have no means of knowing where our regiment is ordered to. Some say we are to go to New York, and the rumor is that we are to remain in Virginia, or at the town of Trenton, in "the Jersies." Present my love to my youngest sister, also to Mr. Watkins and family, and tell Mr. Watkins his son is truly a self-denying soldier, one who loves his country and is willing, if need be, to die in her defense. Pray for me that I may be spared to see you once more alive.
Your loving son,
FRANCIS PHIPPS.
Gen. Henry M. Chrisman.
General Chrisman, who received his title from the militia service, was the youngest son of Hugh Chrisman and was born in the old stone house on the Hickman creek in 1800, and died in Nicholasville, in 1876. His mother was a Mckinney, and his grandmother was a sister of Jas. McDowell who was in a com- pany of Colonel Dudley's regiment in the war of 1812.
One of the most pleasant traits of General Chrisman's char- acter was his hospitality clothed with kindness and benevolence. He was fond of company and his house was thronged with young and old friends, and they made that part of Jessamine happy by their constant courtesies to their neighbors. His wife died in 1852, he in 1876, and they are buried on the cliffs near the old stone building. This house was put up by Thomas Metcalf, who was known as "the old stone hammer" governor, for which posi-
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tion he offered himself twenty-eight years afterward, when he was elected, defeating Maj. Wm. T. Barry by a majority of only 709. It is related of Governor Metcalf that at one time, when working at Chaumiere, he was invited to take dinner with David Meade. but he declined upon the ground that Mr. Meade had not asked his hands to dine with him. Colonel Meade then predicted that the stone mason would become governor of Kentucky, and he lived long enough to see this prophecy verified.
Peter Simpson
Was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, in 1758. He served two years in the Revolutionary war under General Wayne, was in several battles and skirmishes in New York and New Jersey, and at the battle of Monmouth was slightly wc inded. He was visiting Jessamine county in 1794, and was present at Colonel Price's Fourth of July celebration that year. He re- turned to Virginia, and in 1802 removed from the valley in Vir- ginia and settled in the Marble creek neighborhood, where he lived until his death in 1835.
Col. John McKinney
Was one of South Carolina's contributions to Jessamine county. He was born on the Pedee river, South Carolina, in 1756, and served in the Revolutionary war, first under General Patterson, and also under Gen. Francis Marion, Colonel Sumter, and Gen. Harry Lee.
He first settled on what is known as the Butler farm, in 1790, and that year he erected a log house on that place which was only torn down a few years ago, and in this house most of his children were born. His daughter, Mrs. Sallie Cloke, who died in Ver- sailles some years ago, at an advanced age, was born on this farm in 1794, while Mrs. Catherine Brown, wife of George I., was born in 1802.
Colonel Mckinney was a gentleman of the old school, an enterprising farmer and a patriotic citizen. He removed to Woodford county, where he spent the remaining years of his life, and died at an advanced age.
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Col. John Mosely.
This gentleman was born in Buckingham county, Virginia, in 1760, and settled in Jessamine in 1793. He served in the Revolutionary war, and was a gallant soldier. He enjoyed the distinction of having reared the largest family every known in Jessamine-he had three daughters and eighteen sons. He was extremely popular in his neighborhood, and his descendants in Jessamine are very numerous and still live in the immediate neighborhood where their brave and prolific ancestor settled.
Com. Daniel Boone Ridgeley.
Com. D. B. Ridgeley, who served with distinction in the United States navy, was born in Jessamine county on the 30th of August, 1813, and died in Philadelphia, May 5, 1868.
He entered the navy as midshipman April 1, 1828. He par- ticipated in the bombardment and capture of Vera Cruz and other Mexican ports, and was connected with the Naval Observa- tory at Washington in 1850-52. He commanded the steamer "Atlanta" in the Paraguayan expedition. He volunteered for active service in the Civil war, and commanded the steamer "San- tiago de Cuba." He commanded a steamer in the North Atlantic squadron, and assisted in the bombardment of Fort Fisher, North Carolina. He was a member of the Board of Naval Examiners at Philadelphia, in 1868, at the time of his death. His mother was a daughter of Col. John Price, who was chiefly instrumental in organizing Jessamine county, and was born on the farm of his grandfather in the Hickman neighborhood. He purchased the Mckinney farm in Jessamine in 1850, and passed his vacations there. He always spoke with great pride of his native county, and held the old home place as a sentimental investment.
John Speed Smith
Was born on the Caspar Harbaugh place, Jessamine county, July 31, 1792. He esrved with distinction in the War of 1812- was at the battle of Tippecanoe, and was Aide to General Har- rison at the battle of the Thames.
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He removed to Madison county in his early manhood, where he became a distinguished lawyer. He represented Madison county in the legislature in 1819, '27, '30, '39. '41, and '45, and the Senate in 1846 and '50. He was speaker of the House of Rep- resentatives in 1827. He was a member of Congress in 1821-23, and was Secretary to the Legation of the United States Commis- sioners sent to the South American colonies. Jackson appointed him United States District Attorney for Kentucky. In 1839 he was made joint Commissioner with Gov. Jas. T. Morehead to visit the Ohio legislature to secure the passage of laws to pre- vent the enticement of slaves and to provide a more efficient means of returning slaves who had escaped ; the Commissioners were successful in this work.
For several years prior to his death he was State Superin- tendent of Public Works. and through his life was one of the most prominent and popular men in Kentucky.
William T. Barry
Was one of the most brilliant and eloquent men who made Kentucky so famous in the first thirty years of its ex- istence. He was in his childhood a resident of Jessamine county. Born in Virginia in 1783, he came, with his father, when a child to Kentucky, and lived for a short while in Fayette, and then moved to Jessamine county, where he lived several years, when the family returned to Lexington. After attending school at the Woodford Academy he graduated at Transylvania University and commenced the practice of law when twenty-one years of age, in Lexington.
From 1805 to 1835, his life was a wonderful series of successes. Fortune appeared to lavish upon him all of its choicest blessings.
He was, very early in his professional career, appointed At- torney for the Commonwealth in Fayette county. His learning, eloquence and industry at once gave him both popularity and prominence. He was elected to fill a vacancy in the Legislature from Fayette in 1807. He was again elected in 1809; chosen to represent the Ashland district in Congress in 1810, he was again elected representative in the Legislature in 1814. In the dis- cussion of the matters which led up to the War of 1812, no man
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was more eloquent, earnest or wise, and by his brilliant, patriotic speeches he won the admiration and confidence of all parties. In the war he exhibited a high degree of courage and gallantry whnie serving on the staff of Governor Shelby, who, disregarding pre- cedents, took the field as the Commander-in-Chief of the Ken- tucky forces. He was in the battle of the Thames, which added such splendid lustre and renown to Kentucky and her soldiers.
He became Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representa- tives in 1814, and was elected to the United States Senate while holding that place. He represented Kentucky in the Senate for two sessions, and then resigned to accept the Circuit Judgeship upon a meager salary. In 1817, he was forced to stand as a can- didate for the State Senate, and it was his magnetic power and influence which enabled him while in the Kentucky Senate, to secure large aid to Transylvania University and afterwards he became a lecturer in the Law Department. His name gave the Law School prestige and magnificent success. In 1820 he was elected Lieutenant Governor by an overwhelming majority of 11,000 votes in a total of 55,000, and at this time was unquestion- ably the most popular man in Kentucky.
Henry Clay, in 1825, accepted the place of Secretary of State and identified himself with the Adams administration. This cost Mr. Clay many friends in Kentucky, where the recollection of New England's opposition to the admission of Kentucky into the Union, had left great prejudice against it. Barry sided with those opposed to Mr. Clay.
Mr. Barry was appointed Chief Justice of "The New Court" in January, 1825, and held the place until a repeal of the New Court Act, in 1826. He was a candidate for Governor in 1828, and was defeated by only 709 votes, but his wonderful canvass and superb eloquence caused the state in the following year to cast its vote for Andrew Jackson, by a majority of 7,934. Mr. Barry was ap- pointed Postmaster General by Jackson, and held the office until declining health forced him to surrender it.
In the hope that a change in location and a milder climate might restore his health, the President nominated Mr. Barry to be Minister to Spain. He sailed for his post, but died at Liver- pool, England, in 1835.
Nineteen years later (1854), by an act of the Legislature, the
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remains of Mr. Barry were disinterred, brought to Kentucky and buried in the state lot, at Frankfort. His friends erected a mon- ument to his memory in the court house yard in Lexington.
Theodore O'Hara, the brilliant poet, delivered an oration upon this occasion (Nov. 8, 1854), concluding with these thrilling words :
"Let the marble like a minstrel rise to sing to the future genera- tions of the Commonwealth, the inspiring lay of his high genius and lofty deeds. Let the autumn wind harp on the dropping leaves, her softest requiem over him. Let the winter's purest snow rest spotless on his grave. Let spring entwine her brightest garland for his tomb, and summer gild it with her mildest sun- shine, and let him sleep embalmed in glory till the last trump shall reveal him to us, all radiant with the halo of his life."
Jessamine, as the scene of his earliest youth, claims a part in the history of this child of most auspicious fate, whose career, for splendid achievement, superb eloquence, courageous contest, 1111- varying success, unchanging popularity, and wondrous influence has no equal in the past of Kentucky and will have none in its future.
Rev. John Metcalf.
To Rev. John Metcalf belongs the honor of laying off the county seat of Jessamine, and also of naming the town. He was a native of Southampton county, Virginia, and came to Kentucky in the spring of 1790, bringing with him not only his credentials as a minister, but also a heart full of love to God. Bethel Acad- emy was established in 1790, and was opened for the reception of pupils in January, 1794. It was the second institution of learn- ing ever established by the Methodist church in the United States, the one at Cokesburg being the first. The labors of Mr. Metcalf were confined largely to Jessamine county. He traveled a few circuits in Fayette and Mercer, but his life work was connected with Jessamine. He took charge of Bethel Academy at the re- quest of Bishop Asbury. He began his work as founder and con- tinued his labors there as the principal of this school in the "wilder- ness." He infused his own earnest and enthusiastic spirit into the institution. He labored under tremendous disadvantages in
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his work, but he overcame most of them, and brought success where other men would have had only failure.
He was the first Methodist minister who ever preached a sermon in Lexington. Pastoral work in those days was done un- der great difficulties, traveling on horseback through the traces with no well-defined roads, and hunting up the pioneers in their cabins, and far removed from neighbors in their loneliness and their surrounding dangers, this man of God was ever ready to discharge his duties. He was compelled to ride through the canebrakes and woods and pathless forests, but he had the spirit of his Master, and he never faltered in the work which the Head of the Church had given him to do. In his studies, in his pastoral work and at the head of the school, he found enough in those days to occupy the heart and hands of any man. Plain, practical and earnest, he attracted attention and won hearts, and he gen- erally drew large crowds of people, who were glad to hear him. He was largely instrumental in building up the Methodist church in Jessamine county. He was born in 1758 and died at his home in Nicholasville, in 1820, having reached his 61st year. It was through his labors that the white frame Methodist church, was first erected in Nicholasville, in 1799.
Rev. Nathaniel Harris.
Few men have ever been better known in Jessamine county than Rev. Nathaniel Harris. He was born in Powhattan county. Va., in 1759, of Presbyterian parentage. Being an only son, he was indulged in many things, which in the end proved hurtful. His intercourse with what were then known as the gentlemen of the day, caused him to become both profane and wicked.
Shortly after his father removed from the old home place he became a volunteer in the American army, and was in the battle of Guilford Courthouse, North Carolina.
He was converted in August, 1783, and joined the Methodist church, and the conviction forced itself upon his mind that he was called to preach. He settled in Jessamine county in 1790, and he was principal of the English department in the Bethel Academy.
He preached in the various towns in Central Kentucky, and in administering to the afflicted and the sick none ever excelled him.
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At marriages and funerals his presence was always sought, be- cause of his tender sympathy and because of the love and con- fidence manifested towards him. He founded several Methodist churches in Jessamine county.
The last years of his life were spent in Versailles, where he purchased a home for himself and his two maiden daughters. He died on the 12th day of August, 1849, lacking only a few days of ninety years of age. He had been in the Methodist ministry for more than sixty years. On the 26th of August, 1843, he entered in his journal, "I am this day eighty-four years old. I stand to iny engagement to be holy for the Lord."
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