Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. II, Part 11

Author: Collins, Lewis, 1797-1870. cn; Collins, Richard H., 1824-1889. cn
Publication date: 1874
Publisher: Covington, Ky., Collins & Co.
Number of Pages: 1654

USA > Kentucky > Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. II > Part 11

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As a man, Judge Mills was never remarkably popular. Though kind and faithful in every relation of life, he aimed, by a course of firm and inflexible in- tegrity, rather to command the approbation than to win the affections of his fellow men. He was, to a very great exent, a self-made man, and affords a fine ex- ample of the ennobling tendency of republican institutions, and an encouragement to all meritorious young men who are struggling in obscurity and poverty.

As a practitioner of the law, by a profound and thorough knowledge of its principles, and the most approved forms of practice, he soon rose to eminence. As a public speaker, he was clear, logical and forcible ; but not possessing a fine voice, and seldom using the ornaments of rhetoric, he was less admired as an orator than many others.

BOURBON COUNTY.

As a legislator, he was zealous and active in the promotion of wise, and the resistance of injudicious measures. Some of the most valuable provisions of the statutes of the state, had their origin in his conceptions. His efforts on the exci- ting new election question in 1816, will be remembered by those familiar with the politics of that day, as having a great influence in settling a construction of the constitution, which, in several instances since, has been acquiesced in with happy effects by the people of the state.

As a circuit judge, he conducted the business of the courts with uncommon industry and energy. The promptness and general accuracy of his decisions, and the perfect impartiality of his administration of justice, gained for him the respect of the orderly portion of the community.

While on the bench of the court of appeals, his official acts tended not only to enlighten, but to enlarge the sphere of his profession, and to establish a sys- tem of legal polity alike favorable to the country and honorable to himself. His written opinions furnish abundant proofs of the clearness of his perceptions, the depth of his legal researches, the strength of his memory, his power of analysis, and the steadiness and sternness of his integrity.

For the last twelve years of his life, he was a member of the Presbyterian church, and for a considerable portion of that time a ruling elder. His life, during this period, was in a high degree consistent with his profession ; and the extent of his charities in the support of all the great benevolent enterprises of the day, was surprising to those who knew how limited were his means.

JESSE BLEDSOE was born on the 6th of April, 1776, in Culpepper county, Vir- ginia. His father, Joseph Bledsoe, was a Baptist preacher. His mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Miller. In early life, Judge Bledsoe's health was delicate, and from weakness in his eyes, could not be sent regularly to school. When his health and sight were restored, which was not until he had become quite a large boy, (having emigrated with an elder brother to the neighborhood of Lexington, Kentucky), he went to Transylvania seminary, and by the force of talent and assiduous industry, became a fine scholar. Few men were better or riper clas- sical scholars ; and to the day of his death it was his pleasure and delight to read the Grecian orators and poets in their original tongue. After finishing his collegiate course, he studied law, and commenced its practice with success and reputation.

Judge Bledsoe was repeatedly elected to the house of representatives of the Kentucky legislature, from the counties of Fayette and Bourbon ; and was also a senator from the latter county. He was secretary of state, of Kentucky, under Gov. Charles Scott ; and during the war with Great Britain, was elected a sen- ator in the congress of the United States from the state of Kentucky, for an unexpired term, serving in that capacity for two or three years. In 1822, he was appointed by Gov. Adair, a circuit judge in the Lexington district, and removed to Lexington, where he received the appointment of professor of law in the Tran- sylvania University. He held the offices of judge and professor for five or six years, when he resigned both, and again commenced the practice of law.

In 1833, he removed to Mississippi, and in the fall of 1835 or spring of 1836, he emigrated to Texas, and commenced gathering materials for a history of the new republic. In May, 1836, he was taken sick in that portion of Texas near the line of the United States, and not far from Nacogdoches, where he died.

At an early age, he married the eldest daughter of Colonel Nathaniel Gist, who survived him.

Judge Bledsoe possessed a strong and powerful intellect, and was surpassed in popular and forensic eloquence by but few men of his day.

JOHN ALLEN was born in James City county, Va., in 1749. When the revolu- tonary war broke out, he joined the American army, and devoted all his energies to the service of his country. He rose to the rank of major, and acted for some time as commissary of subsistence. At a tea party in Charleston, South Caro- lina, which was attended by British and American officers, the conduct of the former towards the latter became very insulting; and an officer named Davis repeated the insult so frequently as to provoke Major Allen to strike him with his sword, which instantly broke up the party. In the course of the war, Major Allen was taken prisoner by the same officer, (Davis), and what was most re-

BOURBON COUNTY.

markable in the history of the times, was treated by him with special kind- ness.

In 1781, Major Allen married Miss Jane Tandy, of Albermarle county, Vir- ginia, and engaged in the practice of the law, having studied his profession with Colonel George Nicholas, then of Charlottesville. He emigrated to Kentucky in 1786, in company with Judge Sebastian, and located in Fayette county. In 1788, he removed to Bourbon, and settled in Paris, then containing but a few log cabins-the ground upon which the town is now reared being then a marsh, springs of water bursting from the earth in great profusion. After the organization of the State government, Major Allen was elected one of the commissioners to select a site for the permanent seat of government. During the first term of Gov. Garrard, under the old constitution, Major Allen was appointed judge of the Paris district court, the duties of which he discharged with general acceptance. In 1802, after the adoption of the present constitution, and during the second term of Gov. Garrard, he was appointed judge of the circuit court, including in his district the county of Bourbon.

Judge Allen died in the year 1816, having devoted a large portion of his long life to the service of his country, and leaving behind him a name which will be held in grateful remembrance by his posterity.

For biographical sketches of Rev. Andrew McClure, Rev. Samuel Rannells, Rev. John Lyle, Rev. John McFarland, Rev. Barton W. Stone; Gov. James Garrard, and others, see those names in the Index. Also, for further inci- dents, see same-title Bourbon county.

JESSE KENNEDY-born on Kennedy's creek, in Bourbon co., Aug. 11, 1787, on the same farm where he had spent his life, and died April 3, 1863, aged nearly 76-was the son of Thos. Kennedy, who in 1785 settled on and re- deemed from the wilderness that farm. The latter came to Kentucky in 1776, lived for several years in the fort at Boonesboro, in 1779 assisted Capt. Strode in building "Strode's station," and in 1776 had helped Michael Stoner (a Ky. pioneer as early as 1774) to clear and plant "Stoner's field," at the mouth of Stoner's spring branch, noted in early times. Capt. Duncan, Michael Couch- man, and the Clays came soon after, and left their mark, with honored names and generations, near by. As a soldier in the war of 1812, as constable, jus- tice of the peace, representative in the Ky. legislature in 1829, 1831, 1832, and 1841, occasional contributor to newspapers, citizen and Christian, Jesse Kennedy was useful, intelligent, faithful, and will be long remembered.

JOEL REID LYLE, whose portrait appears in the group of distinguished editors and publishers, was born in Rockbridge county, Virginia, in Dec., 1764; was well educated in the schools of the day; in 1800 removed to Clark county, Ky., where he engaged in teaching school until 1807, when he married and settled in Paris; assisted his brother, Rev. John Lyle, as a teacher in the Bourbon academy for a time; purchased the printing materials of the Kentucky Herald (the second paper published in Kentucky), and in January 1, 1808, established the Western Citizen, continuing its editor and publisher until 1832; was succeeded by his son, Wm. C. Lyle, who was one of the editors and publishers until his health broke down in 1867. The Citizen is now the second oldest paper in the state, the Lexington Reporter having been established some time in 1807, and afterwards united with the Observer, which was established some years later. Joel R. Lyle, although not great, was distinguished for the ability, firmness and zeal with which ho maintained his principles in the political struggles through which he passed, and in the agitations of his church. He was for 27 years a ruling elder of the Presbyterian church, a useful Christian gentleman.

RICHARD HAWES, the most distinguished citizen of Bourbon county now living (Dec., 1872), was born in Caroline county, Virginia, Feb. 6, 1797. His father, Richard Hawes, a man highly esteemed for intelligence and integrity, and who was a delegate from that county for several years in the legislature of Virginia, cmigrated to Kentucky in 1810. The son completed his educa-

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BOURBON COUNTY.

tion at Transylvania university ; studied law with Robert Wickliffe, one of the great lawyers of the state, and became his co-partner in the practice for several years ; Nov. 13, 1818, married Hetty Morrison Nicholas (youngest daughter and child of George Nicholas, one of the most eminent lawyers and statesmen of America), who after more than 55 years of wedded life still lives to , bless the world around her. In 1824, he removed to Winchester, Clark county, to practice law; represented that county in the legislature in 1828, 1829, and 1834; represented the Ashland district-Clark, Fayette, Woodford, and Franklin counties-in congress for four years, 1837-41; in 1843, removed to Paris and continued to practice law until the fall of 1861; May 10-12, 1861, took a leading part in efforts to harmonize in favor of an armed neutrality, the action of the state (see pp. 89, 90, vol. i); failing in this, and becoming a mark for the bitterness of those who were inciting to mili- tary arrests, in the fall of 1861 he took refuge in Virginia to escape imprison- ment by the Federal authorities ; being too old (64 years) for active field duty, he was for eight or nine months brigade commissary in the Southern army ; after the death (April 6, 1862,) of Geo. W. Johnson, who had been chosen provisional governor by the convention of people .of Kentucky at Russellville, Richard Hawes was unanimously elected by the legislative council of the Confederate Provisional Government of Kentucky, his succes- sor, and served as such to the end of the war. Returning in the fall of 1865, to his home in Paris, he found his small possessions almost gone-his pro- perty having been occupied and devastated by the Federal forces; but his fellow-citizens, of all persuasions in the late struggle, greeted him with a hearty welcome. In August. 1866, they elected him, without any efforts of his own, by an almost unanimous vote, judge of the Bourbon county court for four years, and in 1870, re-elected him to the same office, which he still well and worthily fills.

GARRET DAVIS was born in Mountsterling, Ky., Sept. 10, 1801. His father, in early life a blacksmith, was a man of energy and good sense, gained a com- petency, and served one term in the legislature. Two of his brothers, Single- ton and Amos, were brilliant young men-the latter a member of congress, 1833-35, and dying, June 5, 1835, before he could be re-elected. Garret Davis in his boyhood was a deputy in the circuit clerk's office at Paris: ad mitted to the bar in 1823; a representative in the legislature in 1833, '34, and '35 ; elected to congress from the Maysville district in 1839-41, and was thrice re-elected, 1841-47, from the Ashland district, Bourbon county having been transferred to the latter; was a member of the Constitutional conven- tion in 1849, and so determinedly opposed to an elective judiciary that, soli- tary and alone, on Dec. 21, he voted against the new constitution, refused to sign it, and left the convention (Richard H. Hanson being elected to fill the vacancy, and who signed the constitution): was elected U. S. senator, 1861-67, and re-elected, 1867-73, but died Sept. 22, 1872, aged 71 years and 12 days. In congress he acquired distinction by his earnest advocacy of the principles and measures of the Whig party; and when about to retire in 1847, Henry Clay appealed to him as a personal favor to make the race for another term, but he had invited Chas. S. Morehead to take the field and could not honor- ably consent. He was a prominent leader in the "Native American" move- ment, as he was afterwards in the "Know-Nothing" or "American" party : and his anti-Catholic views, boldly and ably expressed in a speech in the Con- stitutional convention in 1849, gave him considerable notoriety ; he was nom- inated in 1856 as the American-party candidate for the presidency, but de- clined. He was nominated for lieutenant governor in 1848, on the Whig ticket with John J. Crittenden for governor, but declined; and when nomi- nated for governor by the American party in 1855, also declined; thus he declined more good positions, even when election was certain, than most am- bitious men succeed to. He was among the few leading Kentuckians who opposed secession in 1861 ; and up to the third year of the war, advocated the war policy of the Administration. But when it became apparent that the object of the war was less for the preservation of the Union, and more for the abolition of slavery, with characteristic fidelity to his own convictions of right

BOYD COUNTY.

he assailed the Administration and the conduct of the war as vigorously as he had supported them ; from that time to his death, he zealously represented his state in the senate, and bitterly denounced the infractions of the consti- tution by the Radical party. Mr. Davis was remarkable for the earnestness and pertinacity with which he pressed his opinions. However much they dissent from his views, all concede that he was candid and honest, bold and fearless, a ready debater, an able lawyer, an exhaustive thinker. His was undoubtedly a high order of intellect. His eldest son and law partner, ROB- ERT TRIMBLE DAVIS, has already represented Bourbon county in the legisla- ture, for four years, 1865-69.

BOYD COUNTY.

BOYD county, the 107th in order of formation, was organized in 1860, out of parts of Greenup, Carter and Lawrence counties, and named after Hon. Linn Boyd. It is the extreme N. E. county of the state, bounded N. by the Ohio river, E. by the Big Sandy river, s. by Lawrence, and w. by Carter and Greenup counties.

Towns .- Catletisburg, the county seat, on the w. bank of the Big Sandy river at its junction with the Ohio, is an important point, commanding the entire trade of the former river ; popula- tion in 1870, 1,019. Hampton City, adjoining and s. of Catletts- burg, is a small village where the Lexington and Big Sandy rail- road bridge is now (Jan. 1873) building over the Big Sandy river. Ashland, on the Ohio, 53 miles below Catlettsburg, is one of the most thriving manufacturing points in the state, the center of a large iron and coal business over a railroad (formerly the north- ern division of the Lexington and Big Sandy R. R.) extending 16 miles s. E .; population in 1870, 1,459, now about 2,000. Coalton is the southern terminus of the railroad from Ashland ; Cannonsburg, a village 6 m. from Ashland and 6 m. from the county seat ; both small.

STATISTICS OF BOYD COUNTY.

When formed See page 26 Tobacco, hay, corn, wheat ... pages 266, 268

Population, from 1860 to 1870 .p. 258 Horses, mules, cattle, hogs. .... page 268

whites and colored .. .p. 260 Taxable property, in 1846 and 1870 ... p. 270

towns .. .p. 262 Land-No. of acres, and value of .... p. 270

white males over 21 .p. 266

children bet. 6 and 20 yrs. p. 266

Latitude and longitude ... p. 257

Distinguished citizens. .. see Index.

MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE FROM BOYD COUNTY.

Senate .- Kenos F. Prichard, 1869-73.

House of Representatives .- John D. Ross, 1864-65; John H. Eastham, 1867-69; Mordecai Williams, 1871-73.

First Visitors .- The first white visitor of whom we have a precise account- disregarding those who passed down the Ohio river withont landing in any part of Boyd county-was the Rev. David Jones, of Freehold, New Jersey,* afterwards a chaplain in the Revolution, in the Indian wars under Gen. An- thony Wayne, and in the war of 1812. One of his companions on his first voyage from Fort Pitt, June 9, 1772, was George Rogers Clark, "a young gentleman from Virginia, who inclined to make a tour in this new world"-

# Cist's Miscellany, vol. i, op. 244, 252, 254.

BOYD COUNTY.

the first recorded mention of this great military chieftain. They came as far as the Great Kanawha, 51 miles east of the Kentucky line, and explored that stream for 10 miles; then turned back by canoe, 162 miles, up the Ohio, to Grave creek, and traveled through the country to Fort Pitt. On his next trip, leaving his home Oct. 26, 1772, in a covered wagon over the Allegheny mount- ains, he reached Redstone, on the Monongahela river (now Brownsville), on Nov. 17. At Grave creek, West Virginia, where he had been detained until Dec. 27, he embarked in a canoe, 60 feet long and 3 feet wide, manned by six hands and very deeply laden, belonging to John Irwin, an Indian trader at the Shawanese Town, (now Portsmouth, Ohio, ) but then controlled by James Kelly. Jan. 1, 2, 3, 1773, they spent in now Boyd county, at "Great Sandy creek"-on the head of which, he was informed, was " the most beautiful and fertile country to be settled that is any where in this new Province [i. e. east of the Scioto river], and most agreeable in all respects. Very convenient to this are the most famous salt springs, which are a peculiar favor of God. I have also seen in this country what the people call alum mines, though they rather appear to me as a mixture of vitriol and alum. Throughout this country we have a very great abundance of stone coal, which I have often seen burn freely ; the smiths about Redstone use no other sort of coal in their shops, and find that it answers remarkably well. This one article, in process - of time, must be of great advantage to this country. Another advantage it enjoys is abundance of limestone, with excellent quarries of freestone, fit to erect the best of buildings."

In the summer and fall of 1772, Simon Kenton,* John Strader, and George Yeager were hunting together, along the Ohio river, in the country between the Great Kanawha and Big Sandy rivers. It is probable, but not certain, that they were at times in what is now Boyd county. In the fall of 1771, they had passed down the Ohio as far as the mouth of Kentucky river, and on their return' examined the Little and Big Sandy rivers for cane lands, but found none. In July, 1773, Simon Kenton, Michael Tyger, and some others from Virginia, made some surveys of land, with "tomahawk improvements," along and near the Ohio river, in now Boyd and Greenup counties. The winter of 1773-4, Simon Kenton, Wm. Grills, Jacob Greathouse, Samuel Cartwright, and Jos. Lock spent around the mouth of Big Sandy, engaged in hunting and trapping. They sold their peltries, in the spring, to a French trader, and as an Indian war appeared inevitable, ascended the Ohio river. The remarkable battle of Point Pleasant, at the mouth of the Great Kanawha river, was fought Oct. 10, 1774. Shortly after Simon Kenton and Thos. Williams came down to the Big Sandy and " thence up that river some dig- tance, formed a camp, and remained during the winter of 1774-5, with good success in hunting."

Indian Attack .- In the spring of 1780, as John Fitch, the surveyor, who became famous for his steamboat invention, and others were descending the Ohio in boats, conveying cattle and horses, when at the mouth of Big Sandy they were fired upon by 30 Indians, wounding 2 men, killing 1 cow, and wounding 2 cows and 14 horses.t

LINN BOYD, in honor of whom this county was named, was born in Nash- ville, Tennessee, Nov. 22, 1800. His educational advantages were limited, but he was a man of great force of character and strong native intellect. In early manhood he removed to southern Kentucky, and soon engaged in politics. He was a representative in the state legislature in 1827, from the counties of Calloway, Graves, Hickman, and MeCracken, in 1828 and 1829 from Calloway, and in 1831 from Trige county. He represented the first district in congress 1835-37, and in 1839 was again elected, serving by re- gular re-elections until 1855-in all 18 years; during four years of which, Dec. 1851-55, he occupied the distinguished position of speaker of the house of representatives-an honor never conferred oftener or longer in 83 years, except upon Nathaniel Macon, Henry Clay, and Andrew Stevenson. In 1859, he was chosen lieutenant governor upon the Democratic ticket, but

* McDonald's Sketches, Life of Simon Kenton. pp. 202-8.

# Chas. Whittlesey's Life of John Fitch, Spark's Am. Biog., xvi., p. 105.

DEAF AND DUMB ASYLUM, DANVILLE, KY

BOYLE COUNTY.

when the senate met was too ill to preside over its deliberations, and died at Paducah, Dec. 17, 1859-aged 59. Mr. Boyd was distinguished in politics as a strict constructionist Democrat.

BOYLE COUNTY.

BOYLE county, the 94th in order of organization, was, after a struggle in the legislature for about thirty years, formed in 1842, out of parts of Mercer and Lincoln counties, and named in honor of ex-chief justice John Boyle. It is bounded on the N. by Mercer county, E. by Garrard, s. by Casey and Lincoln, and w. by Marion. The soil generally is very deep and rich, and lies well for cultivation.

Towns .- Danville, the county seat, is 3 miles w. of Dick's river, 36 m. s. from Lexington, and 40 m. s. by w. from Frank- fort, and near the geographical center of the state; has a new court house, S churches, several banks, Centre College, Danville Collegiate Institute, Caldwell (Female) Institute, and the Ken- tucky Deaf and Dumb Asylum, is the center of a wealthy and intelligent population, and a place of considerable business ; estab- lished by the Virginia legislature in 1787, and laid out by Walker Daniel ; population in 1870, 2,542. Perryville is 9 m. w. of Danville, established in 1817, population 479 ; Shelby City, called also South Danville, or Danville Station, on the Lebanon branch of the Louisville and Nashville railroad, is 5 m. s. of Danville, population in 1870, 223; Parkstille, population 173. Aliceton, Brumfield, and Mitchellsburg are railroad stations.

STATISTICS OF BOYLE COUNTY.

When formed. .See page 26 Hemp, corn, wheat, hay ..... pages 266, 268

Population, 1850, 1860, 1870 .p. 258

Horses, mules, cattle, hogs. ... p. 268

whites and colored. .. p. 260 Taxable property, 1846 and 1870 ... p. 270

towns .. .p. 262 Land-No. of aeres, and value ...... p. 270

white males over 21 p. 266 Latitude and longitude .. ... 257

children bet. 6 and 20. p. 266

Distinguished citizens .. . .... .. see Index.

MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE FROM BOYLE COUNTY, SINCE 1859.

Senate .- Chas. T. Worthington, 1861-69; Albert Gallatin Talbott, 1869-73.

House of Representatives .- Alex. II. Sneed, Jr., 1859-61 ; Wmn. C. Anderson, 1861- 63 (died Feb. 17, 1862) ; Joshua F. Bell, 1862-67 ; Jas. M. McFerran, 1867-69 ; Henry Bruce, 1869-71 ; Wmn. A. Hoskins, 1871-73; Jas. B. McFerran, 1873-75. [ See page 000.]

The KENTUCKY INSTITUTION FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB, or Deaf and Dumb Asylum-the fourth in order of time in the United States-was established at Danville, by act of the legislature of Jan. 7, 1823, and went into operation April 23d following. The legislature appropriated $3,000 to aid in its estah- lishment, and $100 for each pupil; in 1824, appropriated $3,000 towards buildings. In 1852, $3,000 per annum was appropriated for the support of the institution, and in 1865 this was increased to $6,000-which, with $200 annually for clothing for the indigent, and $140 for each pupil, embraces the present annual expense of this great charity. Prior to 1836. the number of pupils receiving state aid was limited to 25, then to 30, then to 35 ; after 1850, all mutes in the state, of proper age, were allowed to be received.

In 1826, at the instance of Thos. P. Moore, representative from the Dan- ville district, congress appropriated a township of land in Florida to the ben- efit of the asylum. The proceeds of that land judiciously invested, and of a donation in 1850 of $1,000 by Capt. Jas. Strode Megowan. of Montgomery

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Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. II, Part 11

Author: Collins, Lewis, 1797-1870. cn; Collins, Richard H., 1824-1889. cn Publication date: 1874 Publisher: Covington, Ky., Collins & Co. Number of Pages: 1654

Author: Collins, Lewis, 1797-1870. cn; Collins, Richard H., 1824-1889. cn
Publication date: 1874
Publisher: Covington, Ky., Collins & Co.
Number of Pages: 1654