Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. II, Part 71

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 71

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Ex-Gov. JOHN W. STEVENSON was born May 4, 1812, in Richmond, Va., the only son of Andrew Stevenson and Mary Page White. His father was a member of the Virginia legislature for several sessions, and speaker of the house ; was a representative in congress from 1821 to 1834, and for the last seven years speaker; and minister to England, 1836-41. The son was edu- cated at Hampden Sidney college and at the University of Virginia ; read law with Willoughby Newton, a distinguished Virginia lawyer, agriculturist, and ex-M. C .; practiced for several years at Vicksburg, Miss. ; removed to Cov- ington, Ky., in 1841, and was the partner of Jefferson Phelps, one of the leaders of that bar, until the death of the latter. Nov. 11, 1843; represented Kenton county in the Ky. legislature, 1845, '46, and '48, and in the conven- tion which formed the present constitution, 1849; was a member of the Democratic national conventions of 1848, 1852, and 1856; chosen presidential elector in 1856 ; one of three commissioners to revise the Ky. code of practice, 1850-51; representative in congress for four years, 1857-61 ; on the Democratic ticket, and elected lieutenant governor, 1867-71, but in consequence of the death, five days after his inauguration, of Gov. Helm, was installed gov- ernor, Sept. 13, 1867 ; was elected governor to fill the vacancy, Aug., 186>, to Sept., 1871, by 88,965 majority over R. Tarvin Baker, the Republican candi-

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date ; Dec. 16, 1869, was elected U. S. senator for six years from March 4, 1871-77 ; Feb. 13, 1871, resigned the office of governor, and is now (Feb., 1873,) serving his term as U. S. senator. Gov. S. has for many years been a vestry- man of the Protestant Episcopal church, and repeatedly a delegate in the Ky. State Convention, and also in the General Conventions of that denomina- tion. He is one of the very ablest and most distinguished of the living lawyers and statesmen of Kentucky, and has worthily earned the high consideration which he has so liberally received.

MORTIMER MURRAY BENTON was born Jan. 21, 1807, in his ancestral town, Benton, Ontario co., New York, and emigrated in 1816 to Franklin co., Ind., with his father, Joseph Benton. The latter was afterwards a citizen of Ohio for some years, and died at the residence of his son in Covington, Ky., in June, 1872, aged 89; his venerable widow still survives (March, 1873,) at the ripe age of 86. The son's education, obtained in the schools of the neighborhood, was rather limited. One of his teachers in New York, Simeon H. Goss, became so noted for his severity in punishing his pupils as to give rise to the expression which has become almost a national by-word, "Give him Goss." Carefully improving his meager opportunities, young Benton began the study of law in Indiana with that eminent lawyer Andrew Wallace, and continued it in Cincinnati with Caswell and Starr. Removing to Coving- ton in 1828, he concluded his studies with and in 1831 became the law-partner of the late Jefferson Phelps. What Mr. Phelps was then, Mr. Benton for years past has been, the leader of the bar at Covington. Time has dealt gently with Mr. Benton. Of all his early cotemporaries, but one (James M. Preston, of Burlington, Boone county, ) still lives. The entire court-judges, lawyers, both resident and visiting, clerks, sheriff's, jailers, and their deputies- one by one has obeyed the summons of the inevitable sheriff, Death, and in solemn procession is moving on to the presence of the final Judge of all the earth !

In 1834 Covington became a city, with Mr. Benton as its first mayor. He resigned in 1835. In 1853, having been a director and its attorney from its commencement in 1850, he accepted the presidency of the Covington and Lexington railroad-resigning in 1856, after the great work had struggled to a glorious success. He was a representative in the Kentucky legislature, 1863-65, and by the same controlling Union element elected to the senate, 1865-69; but his seat having been contested by John G. Carlisle, now lieu- tenant governor, the senate declared his election the result of military inter- ference, vacated the seat, and ordered a new election in 1866, at which Mr. Benton was defeated. In 1864 he was the Union candidate in the second district for judge of the court of appeals-an office he would have adorned by his fine legal mind; but the indiscreet zeal of a few friends, backed by the high-handed tyranny of the military in ordering the peremptory withdrawal from the canvass of his opponent, Judge Alvin Duvall, the then incumbent, and attempting his arrest, worked the signal defeat of Mr. Benton. Many Union men revolted at this phase of military interference, and by the free use of the telegraph and horse expresses only a few hours before the election, sprung upon the track a great man, of undoubted Union antecedents, the former chief justice, Geo. Robertson, and accomplished his election-thus sacrificing, " in the house of his friends," their own chosen candidate. It was a painful alternative, but they could not brook the assumptions of military power.

Forty-two years constant and lucrative practice have not dimmed the ardor of Mr. Benton in the noble profession, and he bids fair to practice it a score of years longer, and then to wear out with the harness on.

Gen. THOMAS SANDFORD may be called the pioneer statesman of what is now Kenton county-being its earliest representative in high public positions. He was born in Westmoreland co., Virginia, in 1762; came to Kentucky about 1792, settling on the high lands back of Covington ; was the only member from Campbell county in the convention which framed the second constitu- tion of the state, Aug., 1799; was several times a member of the legislature ; representative in congress for four years, 1803-07; other and higher honors

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were in store for him, but he was drowned in the Ohio river, Dec. 10, 1808. when only 46 years old. His appearance was that of a distinguished gentle man of the old school; he wore the large ruffled shirt bosoms, and a queue; was 6 feet 3 inches high, straight as an arrow, bold, muscular, and powerful, of attractive and commanding person, of fine practical talents, and popular manners-"a native great man.'

His sons Alexander and Alfred were opposing candidates for the legislature in 18 -. The former. in the excitement of the canvass, vowed that if beaten he would leave the state ; his brother's majority over him was only 4, yet he kept his vow, removed to Missouri, and although a man of fine talent, aban- doned all ambitious views of life. The youngest brother, Cassius B., was mayor of Covington for several years.

. Lieut. Gov. JOHN GRIFFIN CARLISLE was born in Kenton county, Ky., Sept. 5, 1835; educated in the best schools of the neighborhood, and himself a teacher at 15 and for five years after ; studied law in Covington with ex-Gov. John W. Stevenson and Judge Wm. B. Kinkead; as the partner of the latter, began the practice in March, 1857, and took rank at once as one of the most analytical and clearest legal minds among the young men of Kentucky; was elected to the lower house of the legislature, 1859-61; took a "back seat " during the war of the rebellion, because of certain differences of opinion which were inconsistent with his promotion; but in Aug., 1865, again came to the front as the Democratic candidate for the state senate from Kenton county, but was beaten at the polls by Mortimer M. Benton. In Feb., 1866, the senate declared the seat of the latter vacant, because the election was " neither free nor equal in the sense required in the constitution, being regu- lated, controlled, and unduly influenced by armed soldiers in the service of the United States, in utter disregard of the law." Mr. Carlisle was elected to fill the vacancy, 1866-69, and triumphantly re-elected for another term, 1869-73, but resigned in 1871, to accept the Democratic nomination for lieu- tenant governor of the state-to which office he was elected, Aug., 1871, for four years, receiving 125,955 votes to 86,148 cast for the Radical nominee. In 1872, for a few months, he was the leading editor of the Louisville Daily Ledger. Few men, at the age of Mr. Carlisle, have received such continuous and marked evidences of popular favor. His views of public policy are lib- eral, conservative, and statesmanlike; as speaker of the senate, he is prompt, firm, dignified, and his rulings when appealed from always sustained ; as a lawyer, he is clear, forcible, logical, and convincing; he is universally re- garded as one of the strong young men of the state.

JESSE D. BRIGHT was born at Norwich, Chenango co., New York, Dec. 18, 1814. His father, David G. Bright, a merchant of Fincastle, Botetourt co., Virginia, was an intimate friend and earnest political associate of Gov. De Witt Clinton, of New York, through which partiality he was led to change his residence ; he removed to Plattsburg, N. Y., in 1800, and continued busi- ness there, turning aside to fill the office of sheriff for 4 years; in 1813, rc- moved to Chenango county, in the same state, of which he was clerk for 4 years, resigning in 1819 to remove west, to Shelbyville, Ky .; and thence in 1820 to Madison, Indiana-which was his home until his death in 1852, aged 76, except his temporary residence of 4 years at Jeffersonville, Indiana, while U. S. receiver of public moneys there, by appointment of President Tyler, continued under President Polk, until Mr. Bright resigned. His son Jesse, removing with his father, received the best education to be obtained in the academies of the neighborhood, studied law, and began the practice, 1834; wben in his 22d year, was elected probate judge for 7 years, 1836-43; but resigned in 1838, to become U. S. marshal for the district of Indiana, 1843-47; this office he resigned in 1841, and was elected state senator for 3 years, 1841-44; resigned this, and was elected lieutenant governor, on the Demo- cratic ticket, for three years, 1843-46; this he also resigned, being elected to the U. S. senate, and twice re-elected, 1845-51, 1851-57, 1857-63 (18 years in all),* but was expelled in 1862, under the administration of President

# Lanman's Dictionary of Congress.

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Lincoln. In 1864, he removed to Carroll co., Ky .; was chosen elector for the state at large of Kentucky, upon the Seymour and Blair ticket, Nov., 1868; and for four years represented the counties of Carroll and Trimble in the Ky. legislature, 1867-69 and 1869-71; removing during the latter term, to Cov- ington, Ky., where (March, 1873) he still resides.

During his service in the U. S. senate, he was elected president of that body, Dec. 3. 1855 to March 4, 1857-thus being acting vice president of the United States, rice Wm. R. King, of Ala., deceased. In case of the death of President Pierce during that time, he would have succeeded to the presidential chair. It is well understood that, during his long service in the senate, Mr. Bright declined both missions abroad and cabinet appointments under the adminis- trations of Presidents Pierce and Buchanan.

In the last year of Mr. Bright's third term in the U. S. senate, after the senators from eleven of the Southern states had withdrawn or been expelled, in the second year of the war, he was arraigned for declaring that " he would never vote a man nor a dollar to prosecute a war waged in fraud and viola- tion of the Constitution ; nor would he sanction, in any form, a law to declare paper money a legal tender, or to compel any American citizen to accept it as money." His speech delivered on the day of his expulsion, is too long to form a part of this sketch, but ought to be read by all lovers of truth and in- dependence.

When Mr. Bright left the U. S. senate, he did not leave a senator whom he found there on his entrance into that august body, 17 years before. He was the Nestor, young man as he was-having entered the senate in his 31st year. Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, Thomas H. Benton, Lewis Cass, John J. Crittenden, Levi Woodbury, Silas Wright-the pride of the senate-the great men of the nation-were gone; some dead, others retired. He had been a part of the senate in the days of its greatest renown and use- fulness. when it commanded general admiration and veneration as the wisest and the greatest representative body the world had ever seen. Those were, indeed, the "better days of the republic."

In politics, Mr. Bright is well known, where he is known at all, to be Democratie states-rights; and it is well understood belongs to the class of statesmen that is always willing to fearlessly give the reason of the faith within him, and to defend with his hand what his tongue utters. We happen to know that there are few men of his prominent antecedents who now take less interest in political affairs than he. "True, he accepted a place on the Ken- tucky electoral ticket for the state at large in 1868; but his heart was not in the struggle-having no confidence in the courage of the candidates, and not believing they had the most remote chance of success. In the last presiden- tial struggle between Grant and Greeley, he took no part and declined to vote. He is possessed of ample means, and is apparently as youthful and as active as at any period of his life. His devotion to friends, and contempt and defiant tone toward enemies, is one of his ruling characteristics.

Hon. Oliver H. Smith, in his reminiscences of " Early Indiana Trials, and Sketches." published in 1857-himself but recently a United States senator from Indiana, a prominent lawyer, and Whig politician, of the opposite polit- ical party to Mr. Bright, whose competitor he had repeatedly been-said of him (page 373) : "Jesse D. Bright is emphatically a self-made man. By the force of his native powers, he has risen, step by step, to the high position of president of the senate of the United States. In person he is large and mus- cular, a strong physical formation, full breast, large expanded chest, full face, large square forehead, hair and eyes dark, five feet ten inches high, mouth wide, head large. Ile possesses great energy of character, with good common sense, and an iron will giving a strong impetus to his movements. Nature has done much for him, and he has done much for himself. Ile stands, perhaps. first among the leaders of the Democratic party in the state. It is understood that he was offered and declined a seat in the cabinet of Mr. Buchanan. As a speaker, Mr. Bright is strong, loud, forcible, impulsive, sometimes eloquent ; his forte, however, is in dealing with facts, and in pre- senting them in a strong, common-sense point of view to his bearers He always commands attention, by his earnest manner and strong array of facts He has been rather a business than a speaking member of the senate."

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Maj. J. Galloway, Sen. (father of the late eloquent Samuel Galloway, of Columbus, Ohio)-who spent eight months in Kentucky in 1775, and in 1780 removed with his family from Pennsylvania into the fort at the Falls of the Ohio-in a letter dated Green county, Ohio, Dec. 23, 1833, says he was in Gen. Clark's expedition against the Piqua and Loramie's towns; and was " within a few feet of the lamented Capt. Virgil MeCracken, when he re- ceived the wound of which he died on the return, while descending the hill near where Cincinnati now stands, and was buried near a block-house oppo- site the mouth of Licking. He was a brave man and an accomplished officer. On the morning we left the Ohio river opposite the mouth of Lick- ing, on our outward march, he related a remarkable dream he had, the night previous-which he interpreted as a warning that he would be killed before the army returned to that place; and made a request, which was generally agreed to, that all who should then be living would meet upon that ground, on that day fifty years-as a mark of respect to his memory, and to witness the changes which should have taken place there by that time. To myself and the few who have survived, it is a matter of deep regret that the cholera prevented our meeting on the 4th of November, 1832."

Maj. ELLISTON E. WILLIAMS, who died about 1859 at a very advanced age, on his farm near Covington, was one of the few pioneers of northern Ken- tucky living in 1845; and as such, one of the pall-bearers, at the re-inter- ment of the remains of Daniel Boone and his wife, in the state cemetery at Frankfort. (See under Franklin and Harrison counties.)

The Lettonian Springs, a weak sulphur, is situated four miles from Covington, on the Bank Lick road. The springs are well kept, and being a pleasant ride from Covington, they have become a place of considerable resort in the watering season.

Dry Creek, in this county, is remarkable for the fact, that, after a heavy rain, it is so flush and high, that it cannot be forded, but in a few hours it runs dry, or so nearly so, that hogs will be seen where it was deepest, turning up the rocks in search of craw-fish.

Captain CRUISE encamped with his company (belonging to Wayne's army) on the creek bearing his name, in 1784. He strayed from camp, and was found dead, the next day, in the creek, bearing marks of savage violence. He was buried by his company on this creek, which rises in Boone, and running across Kenton, empties into Licking, about twenty miles above its mouth. The old residents disagree about the spot " where they buried Cruise." 'The testimony, as to his grave, is so contradictory, that gentlemen land-jobbers have several times gone there in order to find it, but without success. Their patents called for Cruise's grave as a beginning. The old settlers, it is thought, may have had some design in making it uncertain "where they buried Cruise."

Kenton county takes its name from one of the most celebrated pioneers of the west. General SIMON KENTON was born of obscure parents, in Fauquier county, Virginia, April 13, 1755. His father was an Irishman; his mother of Scotch descent. 'The poverty of his parents caused his education to be neglected, most unfortunately for his future prosperity. His life, until he was sixteen years of age, appears to have run smoothly enough, distinguished by no uncommon events from that of the neighboring boys. About that age, however. a calamity befell him, which, apart from its irreparable nature, in the opinion of all young gentle- men of sixteen, gave a direction to his whole future life. He lost his sweetheart ; not by death, or anything of that kind-for that could have been endured-but by means of a more favored rival. The successful lover's name was William Veach. Kenton, in utter despair and recklessness. having gone uninvited to the wedding, and thrust himself between the happy pair (whom he found seated cosily on a bed), was pounced upon by Veach and his brothers, who gave him, in the lan- guage of such affairs, "what he wanted." They, however, had mistaken his wants for, meeting with William Veach a short time afterwards, in a retired

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place, he informed him that he was not satisfied. A severe fight ensued, which, after varied success, terminated in the complete discomfiture of Veach. In the course of the contest, Kenton succeeded in entangling his antagonist's long hair in a bush, which put him entirely in his power. The desperate young man beat his rival with a severity altogether foreign to his subsequent amiable character. His violence appeared to be fatal ; the unhappy man, bleeding at mouth and nose, attempted to rise, and fell back insensible. Kenton was alarmed ; he raised him up, spoke kindly to him, and receiving no answer. believed him dead ! He dropped his lifeless body and fled to the woods. Now, indeed, he thought him- self ruined beyond redemption. He had lost the girl he loved, and had killed his former friend and companion, and therefore the society of civilized man must be not only repulsive, but dangerous. The Alleghanies, and the wilderness of the unexplored west offered him a secure asylum, and he plunged at once into the woods. Traveling by night, and lying concealed by day, after many sufferings he arrived at Ise's ford, on Cheat river, some time in April 1771. Here he changed his name to "Simon Butler." Thus, at the age of sixteen, this man, who, in the hands of the Almighty, was so instrumental in redeeming the great west from the savage, and opening the way for the stream of civilization which has since poured over its fertile plains, desolate in heart, and burdened with crime, was thrown upon his own resources, to struggle with the dangers and privations of the wilderness.

After some monthis' stay on Cheat river, Kenton, having earned a good riffe by his labor, joined a party, with whom he proceeded to Fort Pitt. Here, while hunting in the employ of the small garrison at that place, he made the acquaint- ance and formed a friendship with Simon Girty, afterwards so infamous as a rene- gado. In the fall of 1771, he fell in with George Yeager and John Strader. Yeager it was who first mentioned to Kenton the "cane land," called by the Indians, Kain-tuck-ee, and fired his imagination with his descriptions of its soil and scenery, and the numbers and extent of the game.

- In company with Yeager and Strader, Kenton proceeded down the Ohio river as far as the mouth of the Kentucky river, looking for the cane, which, according to Yeager, covered the country. It is a remarkable fact, that cane nowhere grew on the banks of the Ohio, above the month of the Kentucky river, although the interior was covered with it. The party, not finding land answering the descrip- tion of Yeager, returned up the Ohio to the mouth of Big Kanawha; examining the creeks and rivers on the southern shore without success. Abandoning the search, in the winters of 1771-2, they built a camp on a branch of the great Ka- nawha, and hunted and trapped with considerable success. Here they lived a free and unrestrained life, and a very happy one, engaged in the pursuits of the hunter, until the spring of 1773. The troubles with the mother country beginning to thicken about this time, the Indians were excited against the colonists. One evening in March, while the three hunters were quietly reposing in their rude camp, they were fired upon by the Indians. Yeager was killed, and Kenton and Strader fled to the woods. Night setting in, they effected their escape, though barefooted and naked, having on nothing but their shirts, and without food ; they suffered dreadfully, during the six days they wandered, famished, and torn by the briars through the wilderness. On the sixth day they often laid down to die, so completely were they exhausted. Their feet had become so sore that they were unable to perform but six miles during the day. At last they reached the Ohio, where they found a party of hunters. who fed and clothed them. With this party Kenton returned up to the mouth of Little Kanawha. Here he employed himself with Dr. Briscoe, until he had bought a rifle, and other necessaries. In the sum- mer, he joined a party going down the Ohio in search of Captain Bullitt. The party. not finding Bullitt, and alarmed by the Indians, abandoned their canoes at the 'Three Islands, and under the guidance of Kenton proceeded by land through Kentucky to Virginia.

Kenton spent the winters of 1773-4, on the Big Sandy, with a hunting-party, and in the spring, when the war broke out with the Indians, he retreated into Fort Pitt, with the other settlers. When Lord Dunmore raised an army to punish the Indians. Kenton volunteered, and was actively employed as a spy, both under the capedition of Dunmore and that of Colonel Lewis. In the fall, he was discharged from the army, and returned, with Thomas Williams, to his old hunting-ground

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on Big Sandy river, where they passed the winter. In the spring of 1775, having disposed of their peltries to a French trader, whom they niet on the Ohio. for such necessaries as their mode of life required, they descended the Ohio in search, once more, of the "cane land." Although Yeager was now dead, the impressions left upon the mind of Kenton, by his glowing descriptions of Kain-tuck-ee, which Yeager had visited with the Indians, when a boy and a prisoner, were still fresh and strong ; and he determined to make another effort to find the country. For this purpose, he and Williams were now descending the Ohio. Accident at last favored them. While gliding along down " la belle riviere" (as the French had christened it), night overtook the young adventurers, and they were compelled to land. They put in with their canoe, at the mouth of Cabin creek, situated in the present county of Mason, and about six miles above Maysville. Next morning, while hunting some miles back in the country, the ardently-sought "cane" burst upon Kenton's view, covering land richer than any he had ever seen before. Overjoyed at this piece of good fortune, he returned, in haste, to communicate the joyful intelligence to Williams. Sinking their canoe, the pioneers, par excel- lence, of north Kentucky, struck into their new domain. In the month of May, 1775, within a mile of the present town of Washington, in Mason county, having built their camp, and finished a small clearing, they planted about an acre of land, with the remains of the corn bought from the French trader. The spot chosen by them, for their agricultural attempt, was one of the most beautiful and fertile in the State of Kentucky. Here, in due season, they ate the first roasting ears, that ever grew by the care of a white man, on the north side of the Kentucky river.

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Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. II, Part 71

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