USA > Kentucky > Trigg County > Counties of Christian and Trigg, Kentucky : historical and biographical > Part 12
USA > Kentucky > Christian County > Counties of Christian and Trigg, Kentucky : historical and biographical > Part 12
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The County Patronage .- The scramble for office in the early period of the county compared with later years, was almost nothing. But few offices were sought for their emoluments, and much oftener then than now the office sought the man. The most lucrative offices were filled by ap- pointment, and not by popular vote, as they are under the present Con- stitution. It was more than fifty years after the formation of the county that local offices were made elective, and even now it is a question admit- ting of wide discussion, whether the latter is the best policy. In most cases offices were filled by faithful and competent men. The appointing power conferred by the Legislature upon county boards and the courts, although anti-Republican in principle, seems to be, judging from the experience of the past, the best calculated to secure efficiency and compe- tency in office. Take the Sheriff, for instance : he is allowed to hold the office but for two consecutive terms, and in that time he only becomes familiarized with its duties, and prepared to discharge them with facility and intelligence. He must then give place to a new man who has all the duties to learn over again. Experience has shown pretty conclusively that the less frequently changes are made the better it is for the public service, notwithstanding the present political war-cry of " turn the rascals out." Chancellor Kent said that the great danger to this country is "the too frequent recurrence to popular election." The early records of the county show, under the appointing power, but few changes. Abraham Stites, a very exemplary man, held the office of County Clerk for more
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than thirty years, and in a preceding chapter a beautiful tribute is paid him by those who knew him best. And James H. McLaughlan for many years filled acceptably the office of Circuit Clerk. These remarks, how- ever, are not to be construed into reflections upon those who have held office under the elective system. The county has been highly favored in her selection of public servants, as much so, perhaps, as any county in the State.
The political history of Christian County shows the finger-marks of many of Kentucky's distinguished sons. Of those who have been, at some time or other residents of the county, and have served in Congress and other high and responsible positions, may be mentioned Charles S. Morehead, Edward Rumsey, Joseph B. Crockett, John P. Campbell, James A. McKinzie, Winston J. Davie, James S. Jackson, Benjamin H. Bristow, Robert P. Henry, John F. Henry, Walter B. Scates and others, who have attained distinction in other States. Sketches of Gov. More- head, Judge Crockett, Edward Rumsey and Robert P. Henry, are given in the bar of the county, of Gen. Jackson in the war and military history, and of Mr. McKinzie and Mr. Campbell in the biographical department.
John F. Henry was a son of Gen. Henry, and was born January 7, 1793. He was a surgeon in the war of 1812, and afterward located at Georgetown, Ky., where he engaged in the practice of medicine. He married Miss Mary Duke in 1818, and soon afterward removed to Mis- souri. His wife died there in 1821, and dissatisfied with the country, he came to Hopkinsville, Ky., and here continued the practice of the pro- fession he had chosen. In January, 1828, he married Miss Lucy Ridgely, of Lexington, Ky., and soon after was elected to Congress to fill the un. expired term of his deceased brother, Robert P. Henry. After his retirement from Congress he removed to Cincinnati, afterward to Bloom- ington, Ill., and then to Burlington, Iowa, where he died in 1873 in the eightieth year of his age.
Winston J. Davie was born in Christian County, and is a son of Hon. Ambrose Davie, a native of North Carolina, and an early settler in this county. Winston Davie graduated from Yale College in 1845 among such men as Henry Day and W. A. Lord, of New York; Hon. S. D. Nickerson, of Boston ; Col. James Redfield, who fell at Chickamauga; Maj. William Conner, of Mississippi, who was killed at Gettysburg; Hon. Carter Harrison, present Mayor of Chicago; Hon. Daniel Chad- wick, of Connecticut ; Gen. Richard Taylor, of Louisiana, and a number of others since distinguished throughout the country. Mr. Davie studied law and obtained license to practice, but abandoned it for agricultural pursuits, milling and banking, in which he accumulated a large fortune. As was the case with thousands of others, his wealth melted away dur-
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ing the late war, leaving him at its close almost entirely without means. He was always an active politician and a Democrat of the Jeffersonian school. In 1850 he was elected to the Legislature from Christian County, and in 1853 was a candidate for Congress, but was defeated by Hon. Ben. Edwards Grey, his Whig competitor. He was placed at the head of the Bureau of Agriculture and Horticulture of the State by Gov. McCreary, a position he ably filled, and for which his long experience in agriculture eminently qualified him. He was twice married-in 1845 to Miss Sarah A. Philips, of Georgia, and who died in 1859, leaving two sons-Iredell P. and George M. In 1861 he married Miss Addie E. Kalfus, of Louisville, by whom he had one son-Southern K. Davie.
Benjamin H. Bristow was born in Todd County, Ky. His father was Francis M. Bristow, and well known as a lawyer of considerable ability. Benjamin received a thorough education, which was completed at Jefferson College in Pennsylvania. He studied law with his father, and practiced at Elkton, Todd County, until 1857, when he removed to Hopkinsville, and formed a partnership with his brother-in-law, Judge Petree. At the breaking out of the late war he entered the Federal army as Lieutenant-Colonel of the Twenty-fifth Kentucky Infantry, Col. Shackelford commanding, and participated in the battles of Fort Henry, Fort Donelson and Shiloh. He assisted in raising the Eighth Ken- tucky Cavalry in 1862, and after serving for a time as Lieutenant- Colonel, became its Colonel. In 1863 he was elected to the State Senate from the Hopkinsville district, and after the close of the term located in Louisville, where, in 1866, he was appointed United States District Attorney for Kentucky; resigned in 1870, and shortly after was ap- pointed Solicitor-General of the United States. This position he re- signed after two years and returned to the practice of law in Louisville, and in 1874 became Secretary of the Treasury under President Grant. He filled that important office with great distinction, gaining for him- self a national reputation, which brought him prominently forward in 1876, by the reform element of the Republican party, as a candi- date for the nomination for President in the National Republican Conven - tion at Cincinnati, a nomination, however, he failed to obtain. Since then he has remained in private life, and at present resides in New York City.
Walter B. Scates was born in Virginia, and when but a child his parents removed to Tennessee, and soon after to Christian County. Here he received his early education, with a finishing course at Nashville, Tenn. Upon arriving at maturity he read law with Hon. Charles S. Morehead, and in 1831 was admitted to the bar. He immediately after went to Illinois, and as a lawyer soon rose to prominence. In 1836 he
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was appointed Attorney-General of the State, and the next year was elected a Judge of the Circuit Court by the Legislature. In 1840 he was elevated to the Supreme Bench, and with a short interval, remained in that exalted position until 1857, when he resigned and removed to Chi- cago, where he still resides, broken down in health, and his once large fortune considerably impaired.
The political history of the county since the close of the late war- since the enfranchisement of the "man and brother "-is too modern to be treated in this work. Space will not admit of it. The new order of things has given a color to politics, and an interest to State and national questions unknown to our fathers, and never dreamed of by the sages who were wont to cross swords on Whig and Democrat platforms, and stand or fall by the principles they involved. To the future historian is left the task of recording the modern political history and the acts of modern politicians. As a matter of some interest to the general reader we append in this connection a list of the members of the State Legislature from the organization of the county down to the present incumbents.
State Senators .- The first member of the State Senate from this county was Young Ewing, elected in 1808; he was re-elected in 1812, in 1820 and in 1824; Matthew Wilson in 1816; James Gholson in 1832; Ninian E. Grey, in 1843 ; Ben Edwards Grey, in 1847 ; James F. Buck- ner, in 1855 ; Benjamin H. Bristow, in 1863; W. W. Mckenzie, in 1865; E. P. Campbell, in 1871; Walter Evans, in 1873; C. N. Pendleton, 1875, and Austin Peay, in 1883, the present Senator .*
Representatives .- James Kuykendall, 1799; Young Ewing, 1800, 1801, 1802, 1806, 1807 ; Jacob W. Walker, 1803; John Boyd, 1809; Matthew Wilson, 1809, 1810, 1811; Abraham Boyd, 1810, 1811, 1819; Benjamin W. Patton, 1812 to 1815, and 1817 and 1822; Benjamin H. Reeves, 1812, 1814, 1817; Samuel Orr, 1813; Na- thaniel S. Dallam, 1816, 1818, 1824; Morgan Hopson, 1816, 1817; James Breathitt, 1818, 1819 ; William Jennings, 1818; Robert Cole- man, 1819; Daniel Mays, 1825; John P. Campbell, 1826; William Davenport, 1827; Charles S. Morehead, 1828, 1829; David S. Patton, 1830, 1834 ; - Gustavus A. Henry, 1831, 1832; John Pendleton, 1833; James C. Clarke, 1832; Joseph B. Crockett, 1833 ; William Morrow, 1834, 1837 ; Roger F. Kelly, 1835, 1836, 1845; Livingston L. Leavell, 1835, 1837; George Morris, 1836; Ninian E. Grey, 1837; Benjamin Bradshaw, 1838; James F. Buckner, 1839, 1840, 1842, 1847; Robert L. Waddill, 1839, 1843, 1844; Daniel H. Harrison, 1840 to 1849, ex- cept 1843, 1845 and 1847; James Gholson, 1841; John McLarning, 1843 and 1848; Isaac H. Evans, 1845; Joab Clark, 1846; James F.
*In the list of Senators the names of those from this county are alone given.
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY.
Buckner and Lysias F. Chilton, 1847 ; Daniel H. Harrison, 1849; Ed- mund Wooldridge and Winston J. Davie, 1850 ; John J. Thomas, 1851, 1853 (this was first Representative under the new State Constitution); Drury M. Wooldridge, 1853, 1855; Benjamin Berry, 1855, 1857 ; James S. Jackson, 1857, 1859 ; William Brown, 1859, 1861 ; George Poindexter, 1861, 1863 and 1865, 1867 ; E. A. Brown, 1863, 1865; James A. Mc- Kenzie, 1867 to 1871; Walter Evans, 1871, 1873 ; O. S. Parker, 1873, 1875; John Feland, 1875 to 1881; James Breathitt, 1881, 1883; Lar- kin T. Brasher, 1883, 1885, and the present Representative.
There are a number of Christian County men, natives as well as tem- porary citizens of the county, who afterward rose to high political and military distinction. Notably among these are Hon. Jefferson Davis, ex- President of the Confederacy ; Gen. John M. Palmer, and Joseph Dun- can. The two latter have served as Governors of Illinois, and Gen. Palmer is still a distinguished citizen of that State, and holds a prominent posi- sion among Democratic Presidential possibilities.
John M. Palmer was born in Scott County, Ky., September 13, 1817, and soon after his birth his father, who had been a soldier in the war of 1812, removed to Christian County, where lands were then cheap. John M. is still remembered by many of the old citizens as a bright, intelligent boy, fond of reading, and who lost no opportunity to improve his mind. He received such education as the new and sparsely settled country afforded, and in 1831 his father removed to Illinois. Shortly after a col- lege was opened at Alton on the " manual labor system," and in the spring of 1834 young Palmer entered the institution, where he remained for eighteen months. He commenced the study of the law in 1838, and the next year was admitted to the bar, when he opened an office at Carlinville. In the early years of his professional life he mingled in local politics more or less. In 1843 he became Probate Judge; in 1847 he was elected to the Constitutional Convention and in 1852 to the State Senate. His father, although a strong Jackson Democrat, was opposed to slavery, and removed to Illinois to escape its influences, like many others of similar ideas. In 1854 John took ground in opposition to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and when the Nebraska question was made a political issue, he declined a nomination to the Senate at the hands of the Democracy. When the civil conflict broke out, he was among the first to offer his services, and was made Colonel of the Fourteenth Illinois Vol- unteers. He rose to the rank of Major-General and commanded the Fourteenth Army Corps in the Atlanta campaign, but when Gen. Mc- Pherson fell, and Gen. Howard, a junior officer, was promoted to the command of the Army of the Tennessee, Gen. Palmer asked to be relieved.
In February, 1865, Gen. Palmer was assigned to the military admin-
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istration of Kentucky. The writer knew him personally while in this capacity, with headquarters at Louisville, and notwithstanding he differed from him on political and war issues, and the many objections urged against him, yet it can but be conceded that he blended a conspicuous respect for municipal law consistent with his functions as a military com- mander. His post was a delicate one, and he said himself that he trem- bled at the contemplation of his extraordinary power over the persons and property of his fellow men, vested in him, in the capacity of military Gov- ernor. The history of many other of the Southern States, oppressed and ground down by their military Governors, will show us the blessings we possessed in having placed over us a man of the unswerving integrity and high sense of honor of Gen. Palmer. And since he has returned to his old political faith (Democrat), his fellow-citizens of Christian County, among whom he spent his boyhood days, should bury the last shade of feeling of resentment, and present him, metaphorically, the right hand of fellowship and brotherly love.
Gen. Palmer was elected Governor of Illinois in 1868, over Hon. John R. Eden, Democrat, by 44,707 majority. His administration was characterized by rare capacity as the executive head of a great State. His business life has been the pursuit of the law, and few excel him in an ac- curate appreciation of the depth and scope of its principles. Without brilliancy, his dealings are rather with facts and ideas, which he leads to invincible conclusions. He is a statesman of a high order; he is social in his disposition, democratic in his manners, correct in his deportment, and truly, a man of the people. During his term as Governor of Illi- nois, he took rather broad States' rights ground, which offended some of the Republican leaders. A portion of the Republican press attacked him, and the final result was to return him to the Democratic camp, and to-day 'John M. Palmer, Lyman Trumbull, Carter H. Harrison and Will- iam R. Morrison are perhaps, four of the ablest and most popular men in the State of Illinois.
Joseph Duncan .- Some of the older citizens of Hopkinsville still re- member a bright and intelligent young man named Joseph Duncan, who was Deputy Circuit Clerk here for several years under James McLaugh- lan. He was a nephew to Mr. McLaughlan, and was born in Paris, Bourbon Co., Ky., February 23, 1794, and came to Christian County as a Deputy Clerk to his uncle, who had been appointed Circuit Clerk of the county. Though young, he took an active part in the war of 1812, and was with Col. Croghan at Fort Stephenson. Having emigrated to Illinois, he first appeared to the public as Major General of the Militia. In 1826 he was elected to Congress over Hon. Daniel P. Cook, a prom- inent politician of that day, and who had never before been defeated for a
7
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HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY.
public office. From this time until his election as Governor, he retained his seat in Congress. In the Black Hawk war of 1832, he was appointed by Gov. Reynolds a Brigadier-General. He was elected Governor of Illi- nois in 1834, over ex-Lieut .- Gov. Kinney, by more than 17,000 majority.
Gov. Duncan was a man of limited education, but with naturally fine abilities. A portrait of him, which the writer once saw in the State House at Springfield, presents him with swarthy complexion, high cheek bones, somewhat like Abraham Lincoln, broad forehead, piercing black eyes and straight black hair. His administration was an able one, though to a large extent unpopular, owing to the fact that he deserted the Jackson party, to which he had belonged, and which was largely in the ascend- ancy in Illinois. As President, Gen. Jackson had shown such a decided hostility to several Western measures in which Mr. Duncan was greatly interested, he refused longer to act with the party. Gov. Duncan died in Illinois a number of years ago.
Jefferson Davis .- An appropriate conclusion to this chapter is a brief sketch of the ex-President of the Confederate States. Mr. Davis was born June 3, 1808, in the village of Fairview, just over the line in the present County of Todd, but in what was then Christian County. His father, Samuel Davis, removed to Mississippi when the future great states- man was but a child. The latter soon returned to Kentucky, and was for a time a student in Transylvania University at Lexington. He entered West Point Military Academy in 1824, and graduated from it in 1828, and served in the army until 1835, when he resigned. He participated in the Black Hawk war, and in other campaigns against the Indians. His political career commenced in 1844 as Presidential Elector for Mr. Polk; he was elected to Congress in 1845, but resigned the next year to take command of a Mississippi regiment in the Mexican war ; he was promoted Brig .- Gen. for his gallant conduct at Buena Vista, where it was claimed his regiment, by its valor and steadiness, turned the tide of battle and won a great victory. Mr. Davis entered the United States Senate in 1847, by appointment, to fill a vacancy, and upon the expiration of the term was unanimously elected by the Legislature his own successor. He resigned in 1853 to accept the position of Secretary of War under Pres- ident Pierce. In 1857 he was again elected to the United States Senate, but withdrew in January, 1861, in consequence of Mississippi having seceded from the Union. Since then, Mr. Davis' public career is so well known to the American people as to require no mention here.
A few years ago Mr. Davis, through a special invitation, visited Hop- kinsville, and delivered an address at the opening of the agricultural fair, to the largest assemblage of people, perhaps, ever seen in Christian County, on any public occasion. While here he visited his old home-
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the house in which he was born-in Fairview. The old house is still standing, and Mr. Davis went and took a look at it. A large number of people had congregated to see the great Southern statesman. While in the house with a number of his friends, an old lady stepped up to him, and shaking him by the hand, said, " Mr. Davis, I am glad to see you. I knew your mother. Do you see that bed ?" pointing to a bed in the corner of the room, "just where that bed stands, there stood one then, and upon it you were born, for I was present." Mr. Davis, with a courtly bow and a benignant smile, replied, "No doubt, my dear madam, what you say is true; you remember the event far more vividly than I do." His visit here, and at Fairview, are well remembered, and all who came in contact with him were charmed with his courtesy and dignity, and his kindliness of manner .- Perrin.
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CHAPTER V.
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS-TRAILS AND PATHS THROUGH THE FOREST- LEGISLATIVE ENACTMENTS FOR BUILDING HIGHWAYS-BRIDGES-SOME OF THE RUDE STRUCTURES OF THE PAST-STONE BRIDGES AND THEIR COST-TURNPIKES-EFFORTS TO BUILD THEM IN THE COUNTY-THE HOP- KINSVILLE & CLARKSVILLE PIKE-RAILROADS-ESTIMATED ADVANTAGES OF THEM-EVANSVILLE, HENDERSON & NASHVILLE-OTHER RAILROADS -AGRICULTURE-ITS RISE AND PROGRESS-INFLUENCE OF NEGRO SLAVERY-GRAIN, MILLS AND STUCK-TOBACCO-ABERNATHY'S SKETCH OF IT-AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIATIONS-LIST OF OFFICERS-THE FAIR GROUNDS, BUILDINGS, ETC., ETC.
N O doubt when John Montgomery and James Davis, the avant- couriers of the present civilization of Christian County, first stood upon the wooded heights and looked out on the broad expanse of barren or prairie land that spread out to the east and south at their feet, they were so entranced by its quiet loveliness as then and there to decide upon its adoption as their future home. A vast plain rising and falling in gentle undulations, and covered with a luxuriant growth of grass, stretched out on either hand, reaching into the dim distance till lost in the blue haze of the horizon. Herds of deer and buffalo here and there basking in the genial sunlight or lazily feeding on the rich pasturage, flocks of geese, ducks, pigeons and other and brighter plumaged birds wheeling their circling flight above, made a scene of rare lovliness that at once and irresistibly appealed to their highest sense of the beautiful, rude, rough pioneers though they were. And in all these vast plains not a tree or bush to obstruct the vision, except here and there an occasional grove of timber ; not a house, wigwam, tent or camp-fire to mark or hint at the presence of that higher species of the animal kingdom-man. Only here and there a trail, made by the moccasined feet of the red man, told to their practiced eyes that this was a part of the " hunting-ground " of his aboriginal foe, and that his foot had been here.
Indian Trails .- These trails, the highest effort of his genius at internal improvements and the type of his highest civilization, were the highways along which he migrated or took his stealthy march from point to point. The nearest of them passed from Nashville, through the pres- ent site of Hopkinsville, then deflecting more to the northwest, crossed the Ohio River at Shawneetown and penetrated to the Saline Works on Saline Creek in the State of Illinois. Another trail off to the northeast
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was that leading from Russellville, Logan County, then the oldest town south of Green River in Kentucky, in a northwesterly direction toward the Highland Lick in Lincoln, now Webster County. Near these cele- brated licks, about two miles distant, and at a fork of the trail, there long stood a lone, solitary tree, like a grim sentinel of the desert, on which the head of Micajah, or "Big Harpe," the noted desperado and horse- thief, was hung after his decapitation by Stagall and the citizens who pursued and captured him.
Another trail was that from Russellville to Hopkinsville, where it fell into the trail first mentioned, that leading from Nashville to the Saline Works, in Illinois. And still another passed through the southwest por- tion of the county, and leading from the Cumberland River, near Pal- myra, to join, at Pinceton, the trail crossing the Ohio River at Ford's Ferry. This ferry, some ten or twelve miles below Shawneetown, was long reputed to be a very dangerous place, on account of a gang of coun- terfeiters, horse-thieves and cut-throats, who made it their chief rendez- vous. They were finally suppressed by the Regulators after committing many depredations upon the defenseless citizens. Judge A. V. Long, when a boy, made several trips over these trails, then established as roads, to the Salt Works in Illinois, and was looked upon by his less favored comrades as something of a modern Marco Polo or Henry Stanley, of travel. These trails, ready made to the hand of the pioneer, and generally trend- ing to the north or northwest, to some noted saline deposit, are only inter- esting to the reader now from the fact that they were long used by the early settlers as their thoroughfares in traveling to and from salt works, or from one settlement to another. As soon as the tide of immigration began to set in more freely, and the different communities became more densely populated, they were no longer sufficient for the purposes of travel and had to be supplemented by other trails or roads. At first these, as all other public improvements, were the joint, voluntary effort of the people, but in the course of time it became necessary to build additional roads by public enactment.
The Legislature of Kentucky, in 1797, first enacted a general road law, "providing for the opening of new roads and the alteration of former roads" under surveyors appointed by the courts. All male laboring persons, sixteen years old or more, were required to work the roads, except those who were owners of two or more male slaves over said age, or else pay a fine of 7s. 6d. ($1.25) for each day's absence or neglect thus to work. In the absence of bridges, mill-dams were required to be built at least twelve feet wide, for the passage of public roads, with bridges over the pier-head and flood-gates. The surveyors were authorized to impress wagons, and to take timber, stone or earth for building roads, and a mode of paying
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