USA > Kentucky > Trigg County > Counties of Christian and Trigg, Kentucky : historical and biographical > Part 21
USA > Kentucky > Christian County > Counties of Christian and Trigg, Kentucky : historical and biographical > Part 21
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61
12
196
HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY.
rowdies that hung around his camp-meetings. They, too, sooner or later, were doomed to come to grief. He did not see the necessity of theologi- cal schools and an educated ministry, since, to use his own words, ' God, when He wants a great and learned man, can easily overtake some learned sinner, shake him awhile over hell, as He did Saul of Tarsus, knock the scales from his eyes, and without any previous theological training, send him to preach Christ and the Resurrection.' A powerful con- viction and a sound conversion were held in high estimation by him, and these might be begun and finished in a few hours, where the good work was progressing with energy and power."
Peter Cartwright finally removed to Illinois on account of his views upon the question of slavery. He there lived out a long and useful life devoted to the cause of his Master. He died only a few years ago, and calmly sleeps amid the scenes of his earthly labors. Requiescat in pace.
Judges Shackelford and Davidge were early settlers of Hopkinsville, but are noticed in a preceding chapter, and anything further here would be but repetition. Francis M. Dallam was also an early settler, and is noticed elsewhere. He was a man of considerable prominence, and raised a large family, many of whom attained to prominent positions. Thomas Allsbury was an early citizen of Hopkinsville, and one of the early tavern-keepers. He made up a company and went from here into the war of 1812, and joined the Northwestern army. A man named Howard kept bar for Allsbury, and is said to have been a man of the most unblemished character and unswerving honesty, so much so that when one wanted to make a comparison of somebody being very honest it became a saying that " he is as honest as Zeb Howard." Nehemiah and Jeremiah Cravens were here very early. They were an altogether different family to the Cravens family who settled early in the west part of the county- now Union Schoolhouse Precinct. Rev. James Nichols, a local Meth- odist preacher from North Carolina, settled in Christian a few miles from Hopkinsville, prior to 1800, and died many years ago. Laban Shipp was originally from Virginia, but settled in Bourbon County, and afterward came here and located near Hopkinsville.
Maj. Thomas Long came from Virginia, and with his father's family settled in Logan County in 1803, and three or four years later came to Christian County and located on the west side of Little River, where Mr. Jesup now lives. His father, Gabriel Long, was a Revolutionary soldier, but he did not live in this county. Maj. Long has one son now living in Hopkinsville, Judge A. V. Long, and a daughter, Mrs. Jesup. Mrs. Bell, sister-in-law of Bell of Bell's tavern, was an early settler of Hop- kinsville, and died in 1818, and rests in the old graveyard in the south- west part of the town. Joseph, Thomas and Benjamin Kelly were
197
HOPKINSVILLE CITY AND PRECINCT.
farmers, and settled south of Hopkinsville very early. James H. Mc- Laughlan, Young Ewing, Dr. A. Webber and Matthew Patton were early citizens of Hopkinsville, but have been extensively mentioned elsewhere. Many others who perhaps lay claim to being early settlers will be men- tioned in the particular departments where they figured, while others still are noticed in the biographical department of this volume.
Hopkinsville Precinct .- The Magisterial District in which the City of Hopkinsville is situated, and known as Hopkinsville Precinct No. 1, pos- sesses little of interest outside of the city except the mere fact of its set- tlement. And this is usually the case. In most counties the history of the district, precinct or township in which the county seat is located centers in the town, leaving the remainder of the precinct barren of his- torical incidents.
The Magisterial District or Precinct of Hopkinsville lies in the central part of the county, and topographically and geologically partakes of the same nature of the best part of Christian. The north part of the precinct extends into the thin, broken country, but by far the larger part is of the limestone soil, underland by red clay. The monotony is broken by gentle undulations, which render artificial drainage wholly unnecessary. Two branches of Little River meander southward through the precinct, and unite in the extreme south part; there are no other streams of any note. A large portion of the precinct was originally " barrens," but the north part and along Little River produced considerable fine timber. It has Hamby and Fruit Hill Precincts on the north, Mount Vernon and Casky Precincts on the east, Longview and Lafayette Precincts on the south, and Union Schoolhouse Precinct on the west. The early settle- ment of Hopkinsville Precinct in connection with the city has already been briefly given, and other allusions to the precinct will be made as we progress with our sketch of Hopkinsville, though, as already stated, there is little of interest beyond the fact of its settlement.
The Western Lunatic Asylum .- This institution, located in the Pre- cinct of Hopkinsville, some two miles from the city, should properly be noticed here. Though a State institution, the history of the county would not be complete without a sketch of it. The following is compiled from Collins' History of Kentucky : On the 28th of February, 1848, the Legislature of Kentucky provided for the location and erection of a second lunatic asylum. The Spring Hill tract of 383 acres of land (which proved to be of indifferent quality) on the turnpike road east of Hopkinsville, was purchased for $1,971.50 (only $5.14 per acre). This sum was refunded by the citizens, and $2,000 additional paid by them. There was expended upon the buildings and other improvements in 1849 $43,052; in 1850, $43,484; the additional outlays for these purposes do
198
HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY.
not appear in any documents before us. The Legislature appropriated $15,000 in 1848, $20,000 in 1849, $45,000 in 1850, $35,000 in 1851, $43,000 in 1852, $44,017 in 1854; total, $202,017. September 18, 1854, the first patients were received. By December 1, 1857, 208 had been admitted, but only 102 were then in the institution, the others hav- ing died, eloped, or been restored and discharged under the care of the Superintendent, Dr. S. Annan. The number admitted in 1858, 106; and in 1859 to December 1st, 129 ; total for two years, 235; during the same time 133 were discharged, of whom 65 were restored, 56 died, and 10 escaped.
On the 30th of November, 1861, the main building was destroyed at mid-day by fire, which caught from sparks from a chimney falling upon a shingle roof. The 210 patients escaped uninjured, except one, who fast- ened himself in his room, near where the fire originated, and perished in the flames. The court house and other buildings in Hopkinsville were kindly tendered for the use of the unfortunates ; twenty-three hewed log- cabins were speedily erected at about $90 each, and everything done that could well be to mitigate the sufferings of the patients. The walls being mainly uninjured it was estimated that $50,000 would replace the brick and wood work, and $67,000 more (including $3,856 for tin roof and gutters) would complete the building. In February, 1861, the Legislature made an appropriation to begin it, and before January 1, 1867, had appro- priated in all $258,930 to complete the rebuilding. This, added to the manager's probable net valuation of the property after the destruction by fire of the interior of the main building $145,420 (exclusive of the en- hanced value of the land itself), makes the total value of the improve- ments at that time (1867) $404,350, providing comfortably for 325 patients.
Some time in the year 1863 the present able and successful Superin- tendent, Dr. James Rodman, took charge of the asylum. The total num- ber of patients received and treated up to October 10, 1871, was 1,273, of whom 321 were then in the asylum. Calculated upon the number of patients received, 50.847 per cent were discharged restored, eight were discharged more or less improved, two were unimproved, one escaped and twenty-two died. There is (nearly) one insane person (October, 1871) in every 1,000 persons of the population, at least 1,400 in Kentucky, of whom there is room in the two asylums for only 850, and both are full.
Since the above article was penned for Collins' History, the asylum at Anchorage has been built, and some changes have been made in the one located here, so far as relieving it of a crowd of patients it was unable to accommodate. As a conclusion to this sketch, we give the officers and board, which are as follows : Dr. James Rodman, Superintendent ; Dr.
199
HOPKINSVILLE CITY AND PRECINCT.
B. W. Stone, First Assistant Physician; Dr. B. F. Eager, Second As- sistant Physician ; Frank L. Waller, Steward; John B. Trice, Treasurer ; George Poindexter, Clerk of Board. The present Board of Commis- sioners : S. E. Trice, Chairman ; S. G. Buckner, John N. Mills, James E. Jesup, J. C. Tate, George O. Thompson, R. T. Petree, John Feland and Charles M. Meacham. The commissioners are appointed by the Legislature-three at each session. The term of the first three mentioned will expire in 1886; that of the next three in 1888, and that of the last three in 1890. The institution bears the name of being one of the best- managed in the United States. The present Superintendent, Dr. Rod- man, has been in charge of it for over twenty years; no other words in his praise are needed-his long period of service denotes his fitness for the responsible position.
Laying out Hopkinsville .- The laying out of a town on the present site of Hopkinsville, as we have said, may have been prompted by the want of a town in the midst of a fertile region. The prime cause, how- ever, was more probably the necessity for a seat of justice for a newly- created county. At the November term of the County Court held in the year 1797, the records show that the court proceeded to "appoint a place to affix the seat of justice, and after deliberating thereon, do appoint and determine on the land whereon Bartholomew Wood now lives; therefore ordered, that the seat of justice be fixed at the said Wood's, he having agreed to give five acres of land for public buildings, timber for building the same, and half of the spring." Although this order was made in November, 1797, there is no record of the town having been laid off for nearly two years later, as the original plat is submitted to record Sep- tember 13, 1799. As shown by the records, it was surveyed and platted by John Campbell and Samuel Means, deputies for Young Ewing, Coun- ty Surveyor, and the plat recorded as above (September 13, 1799). The following entry appears upon the records soon after the recording of the plat : "The court proceeded to lay off the present bounds as follows : Beginning at the southeast corner of the court house, then a straight line to the east corner of Bartholomew Wood's house, including the house ; thence a straight line to the mouth of the public spring; then up Little River to the upper line of John Clark's three half-acre lots; then a straight line to the place of beginning." This seems to have been the original boundary of the town, though there is nothing in the record to designate that such was actually the case. The newly-created city was named "Elizabeth," but just how and why it was so called is a matter of some discussion. The name sometimes appears in the records as " Eliza- beth," sometimes as the "Town of Elizabeth," and sometimes as "Eliza- beth Town," but never as "Elizabethtown." At the April term of the
200
HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY.
court, 1804, is the first time the name Hopkinsville appears in the rec- ords, and then without any explanation as to the cause of a change of name.
General Hopkins .- From local authority it is ascertained that a change of the name of Christian's seat of justice was necessary on account of Hardin County having adopted the name of Elizabethtown for her seat of justice, and being some four years the senior of Christian, it naturally fell to the latter to make the change. The name "Hopkinsville " was then adopted in honor of Gen. Samuel Hopkins, a gallant officer of the Revolutionary army, and a native of Albemarle County, Va. No officer bore a more conspicuous part in the great struggle for freedom ; he fought in the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Monmouth, Brandywine and Ger- mantown, in the last of which he commanded a battalion of light infantry, and was severely wounded, after those of his command had nearly all been killed and wounded. He was Lieutenant-Colonel of the Tenth Vir- ginia Regiment at the siege of Charleston, S. C., and commanded that regiment after Col. Parker was killed until the close of the war. In 1797, Gen. Hopkins removed to Kentucky and settled on Green River. He served several sessions in the Legislature of Kentucky, and was a Member of Congress for the term commencing in 1813. In October, 1812, he led a corps of 2,000 mounted infantry against the Kickapoo villages in Illinois; but being misled by his guides, after wandering over the prairies for some days to no purpose, the party returned to the capi- tal of Indiana. After the close of the war Gen. Hopkins served one term in Congress, and then retired to private life on his farm near Red Banks.
To go back to the beginning of Hopkinsville, and give a true detail of every branch of business and industry, when it commenced and by whom, is a task beyond the power of any man to accomplish. There are very few persons now living in the county who were here when the town was laid out, and those few were too young then, or are too old now, to remember anything about it, and the chronicler is forced to depend mainly upon "hearsay evidence " for the first few years of the early life of Hopkinsville. Thomas Long, an old man now living in the north part of the county, says when his father came here in 1804, all the town there was of Hopkinsville was a blacksmith shop, a tavern kept by a man named Crow, and the court house, with a few cabins of settlers who then lived in the place. It is believed by those who have a pretty good chance of knowing, that Carter Wood, a son of Capt. Harry Wood, was the first merchant of Hopkinsville-the first at least who kept anything like a general stock of merchandise. Others who opened stores soon after, and are still remembered by some of the older citizens, were John Bryan,
201
HOPKINSVILLE CITY AND PRECINCT.
William Murrell, Charles Caldwell, etc. In those days goods were bought mostly in the East, and sometimes hauled in wagons all the way from Philadelphia, but generally to Pittsburgh, and shipped from there down the Ohio, and up the Cumberland River to Canton or Clarksville. Gro- ceries, such as sugar, coffee and molasses, were bought in New Orleans and brought up the river. sometimes being on the road (or rather on the river) three or four weeks. A merchant bought about two stocks of goods a year-spring and fall-and had no means of replenishing his stock every thirty days, as now, through the medium of traveling salesmen .. It is not known who erected the first brick house. Among the first remem- bered was one occupied by Strother Hawkins, where Hiram Phelps now lives ; one where Samuel Buckner lives-it had a Masonic lodge in the second story ; a small brick opposite the last named; another where John P. Campbell lives ; still another where Henry Gant lives, and another on a back street which belonged to the Glass estate, and several store houses in the main business part of the town.
Among the early tradesmen, some of whom afterward became the most prosperous merchants, were Daniel Safferance, Archibald Gant, Jeremiah Foster, Benjamin York, M. T. Carnahan, Jefferson Bailey, John Wilcoxson, etc. Daniel Safferance was a tin and coppersmith ; Archibald Gant was the first hatter in Hopkinsville. Hats were then made to order by men brought up to the trade, and a merchant thought as little of buying a stock of hats with his other goods as he would think now of keeping in stock railroad locomotives. Mr. Gant made a fortune in the hat business, and "Gant, the hatter," became known throughout the Green River country. He made hats of rabbit skins, with fur on them an inch long, sold them for $10 apiece (the hats, not the rabbit- skins), and one would last a man his life-time. In fact, the leader of the advertising troupe for the " Great Indian Remedy " was, upon a recent visit to Hopkinsville, supposed to be wearing one of them, still in an ex- cellent state of preservation. Mr. Gant bought a farm in the county for which he gave $5,000, and it is said paid the whole sum in hats, or in money made from their sale. Jeremiah Foster was the first silversmith in the town, and M. T. Carnahan the first gunsmith. The latter gentle- man went to Mount Vernon, Ind., and rose to considerable prominence : represented Posey County in the State Legislature several times, and was also a member of the State Senate. Bailey was an early bricklayer, and John Wilcoxson a carpenter; Benjamin York, one of the early black - smiths, if not the first one in the town. Of all the old mechanics who knew Hopkinsville in an early day, perhaps Kirtley Twyman is the oldest living representative. He has laid more brick and built more houses in the town doubtless than any man that has ever lived in it. The
202
HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY.
spectacle, it is said, has often been witnessed and commented upon of this veteran brickmason, his son and grandson, all laying brick upon the same edifice. It is a fact worthy of record, and withal, highly commendable, that he trained up his boys to follow in his footsteps, and it is nothing to their discredit that they have imitated their worthy sire in his honest calling.
Taverns .- At the first term of the County Court (March, 1797), Obadiah Roberts was granted a license to keep a tavern. Where this tavern was to be kept the records do not show, and as that was more than two years before Hopkinsville, or Elizabeth, rather, was laid out, it is not probable that it was for a public house here. Nothing is known of Mr. Roberts and his tavern beyond the fact that the court granted him a license for that purpose. A man named Vail was probably the first tav- ern-keeper of Hopkinsville. His tavern stood where the city bank now is. He was succeeded by a man named Crow, who was keeping a tavern upon the same site as early as 1804. Thomas Allsbury kept a tavern prior to the war of 1812. Another early tavern was kept by John Bur- gess ; another by a man named McGrew, and still others by Henry Haw- ley, Abraham Stites, John P. Campbell Sr., William Murrell, etc. The village tavern in those days was an important place, where the old men would meet at their leisure, sip their grog and swap stories. On the sub- ject of taverns, an incident of one kept for some time just beyond the city limits by Curtis Wood is appropriate. Curtis Wood was the youngest son of Bartholomew Wood, the pioneer of Hopkinsville. He was born in 1801, and is said to have been the first white child born within the limits of the present city, and is still living in the eastern part of the county, a feeble old man. He, for a long time, kept a tavern (on a very small scale) just beyond South Kentucky College, near where Wood's mill now stands. His unique sign is still remembered by many, and was as follows : " Rest for the weary, food for the hungry, liquor that is good, by C. D. Wood." This is only equaled by the Dutchman who opened a lager beer saloon in Carlinville, Ill., just after the close of the war, and mounted a tasty sign over his door-" You fights mit Sigel, and drinks mit me." The pertinency of the sign is seen when it is known, that a large propor- tion of the people around Carlinville are Germans, many of whom fought in the late war under the gallant old Franz Sigel.
Growth and Development of the Town .- Of the first few years of the existence of Hopkinsville, as we have said, but little or nothing is known. Whether it grew rapidly and developed into a town, or remained for years a straggling hamlet, none can say. It is not probable, however, that it grew with the rapidity that towns and cities spring up now in the great West. The country was much newer than it is now, and there was
203
HOPKINSVILLE CITY AND PRECINCT.
but little necessity for towns ; there was no market within hundreds of miles for what little produce the people had to dispose of, and equally as little demand for goods and merchandise. A few small stores and shops were all there was in the way of business for several years, and the growth of the place was naturally slow. But as population increased, business grew and developed with the demands of the time. Stores were opened, the number of shops were increased, and houses were built-a better class of houses than the original cabins of the first comers. Schools were established and churches organized, and the place began to wear the appearance of a town. Roads were laid out to the mills in different parts of the country, and as " all roads lead to Rome," so all the early roads centered in Hopkinsville, and the hopes of its friends and projectors for its future glory and prosperity were, if not extravagant at least flattering.
Bartholomew Wood, if not an energetic and wide-awake man in build- ing towns, seems to have evinced a spirit of liberality quite commendable in that early day. He not only gave five acres of land, and timber for the first public buildings, but when the wants of the community required it, he gave a lot of ground for a cemetery, and another lot for a Baptist Church. In his quiet, unassuming and unostentatious manner, he left his imprint upon many portions of the struggling town. Mr. Wood, from the traditions concerning him, seems to have thought a great deal more of hunting, fishing and trapping than of building up a town. He owned a great deal of land, however, and from the abundance of his acres did not hesitate to contribute of it to laudable and praiseworthy objects. We have no record of his religious inclinations or beliefs, yet the fact remains without question that he gave the ground for the first Baptist Church.
. The Postoffice .- It was a pathetic and strangely human sentence of Dr. Johnson, when he said, " we shall receive no letters in the grave." There is no power in that silent dominion to appoint postmasters ; there is no communication open, and no mail contracts can be made with the grim passenger boat. There were very little mail facilities or communi- cations here when the first postoffice was opened, eighty years ago. We learn that the postoffice was established in Hopkinsville, April 9, 1804, and by a strange coincidence, this portion of this article is penned April 9, 1884, just eighty years after the establishment of the postoffice. George Brown was the Postmaster, and no doubt his duties were light, particularly when we remember that the colored people did not then receive letters, and hence did not require half a dozen clerks to wait on them, as in this enlightened age. There were not half a dozen news- papers published west of the Alleghenies ; a letter from the old home cost 25 cents postage in coin, and when we remember how scarce 25-cent pieces were in those days, in a new and unsettled country, we find our-
204
HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN COUNTY.
selves wondering what use the people had for a postoffice. But all things must have a beginning, and the postoffice now, although a con- siderable institution, was, three-quarters of a century ago, a very small affair. The old citizens of to-day might apostrophize somewhat after this fashion :
" The postoffice, too, is wonderful now, With its lock-boxes and that ; Why, I can remember just how Brown carried the thing in his hat."
Postmaster Gen. Gowan would require a gross or two of Mr. Gant's hats in which to stow the mail that passes through the Hopkinsville postoffice now in a single day. No better illustration of the growth and develop- ment and of the changes wrought is needed than is seen in the postoffice. At one time the pony mails passed through the county weekly, or semi- monthly, when they were permitted by the streams to go through at all. There are no records by which it can be ascertained how much mail mat- ter now comes daily into the county, but an approximation might be reached by reference to the large bags of letters and papers received at Hopkinsville by every train, and by stage, and the old-fashioned horse- back mail. This increase in mail matter, however, is not merely the measure of the growth of population in the county, and a measure of the spread of intelligence or education, but it is a mark of the age, an index in the change of habits of the people, and applies to the whole nation.
The newspaper press is another illustration of the city and county's growth and development. A newspaper, the Kentucky Republican, was established in Hopkinsville in 1820. But as an extensive sketch of the press has been given in another chapter, upon the county at large, nothing additional need be given here. Reference is merely made by way of not- ing the growth and improvement peculiar to the age. The press of the county, comprising the New Era and South Kentuckian, are happy illus- trations of the county's growth, development and prosperity.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.