USA > Kentucky > Trigg County > Counties of Christian and Trigg, Kentucky : historical and biographical > Part 38
USA > Kentucky > Christian County > Counties of Christian and Trigg, Kentucky : historical and biographical > Part 38
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No elections were held by the people except for President, Vice-Pres- ident, Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Members of Congress, and of the
47
HISTORY OF TRIGG COUNTY.
Senate and Legislature. The following candidates were before the peo- ple at the first election under the new Constitution :
Thomas Towles, Fay Henry and J. W. Waddill, for Commonwealth's Attorney ; Towles was elected.
Thomas C. Dabney, Mark M. Tyler and T. W. Hammond, candidates for County Judge ; Dabney elected.
The candidates for Circuit Clerk were Henry C. Burnett and James E. Thompson. Burnett was elected, and before the expiration of his term of office resigned the position, and was elected to Congress from this district.
A. S. Dabney and E. Vinson, Jr., were opposing candidates for County Clerk ; Dabney elected.
Candidates for Sheriff were Stanley Thomas, B. J. Wall, John Humphries, Thomas Ingram and Ira Ellis; Thomas elected. Otley Grace, John J. Dyer, Thomas Rogers, - Adams and - Layton were candidates for Assessor; Grace elected. James Richardson, A. Thomas, B. B. Mart and Kinchen Battoe for Surveyor; Richardson elected. Daniel Landes was elected to the Legislature, and George W. Barbour to the Senate.
After the Presidential election of 1848, there was no abatement of interest throughout the country until the passage of the celebrated " Om- nibus Bill" in 1850. The question of the admission of California into the Union had come up, and had stirred to intense bitterness the senti- ments of both parties in Congress, and in all portions of the country. And when Henry Clay came forward with his celebrated compromise, which provided among other things for the admission of California as a free State, and for the return of fugitive slaves to their masters, both Clay and his compromise were hailed by all except the Abolitionists with universal joy. The Free-Soil party was determined, and kept the South violently nettled. The Whigs nominated Gen. Winfield Scott, and the Democratic standard-bearer was Franklin Pierce. The vote in this coun- ty was as follows: Pierce and King, 629 votes; Scott and Graham, 560; Pierce's majority, 69 votes. This was the last political struggle of the old Whig party. The agitation of the great principles for which Mr. Clay had so aggressively contended tranquilly subsided, its organization was broken up, and the record of its achievements glided peacefully away into history.
The year 1856 was the first year the Abolitionists had ever attempted seriously to extend their views touching slavery into anything like na- tional proportions. The fugitive slave law was intensely odious to all the North except a few who were in sentiment favorably disposed toward slavery. The Republican party sprang into life and conducted one of the
48
HISTORY OF TRIGG COUNTY.
most exciting campaigns in the history of the nation. They called a national convention, which had a full representation from the Northern and Western States, and nominated Fremont and Dayton for President and Vice-President.
Buchanan and Breckinridge were the names presented by the Demo- cratic, and Fillmore and Donaldson by the American party. "The most prominent candidate for the office of Vice-President this year was a dis- tinguished citizen of Trigg County, and its old Representative in Congress, the Hon. Linn Boyd. Mr. Boyd would surely have been the nominee but for a successful ruse upon the part of the delegation from Virginia. It was pretty well conceded that Mr. Boyd was the strongest man whose name had been mentioned in connection with the office, and unless some- thing was done to arrest the tide in his favor, would most likely receive the nomination on the second or third ballot. Just then the name of John C. Breckinridge was proposed ; and after a number of ineffectual attempts to have his name withdrawn, with the purest motives, the gen- tleman himself, who was present, was called upon the stand for the pur- pose of withdrawing his name in person, which he did, but the fine appearance of the man, the dignity and elegance of his style and the pure disinterestedness of his patriotism and devotion to his party electrified the whole body, and each individual member appearing to rise at once to his feet, he was nominated by acclamation. This was the last election in which all the conflicting elements of the Democratic party have been thoroughly united." The vote of Trigg County was as follows :
Votes.
Buchanan and Breckinridge.
859
Fillmore and Donaldson
581
Fremont and Dayton. 0
The Presidential canvass of 1860 was contemplated from the begin- ning by all men of reflection with the most profound solicitude. For a few years preceding 1860 the sentiment on both sides had become so bitter, and the North, and especially the Republican party, had been so outspoken against slavery that the South instinctively felt that the elec- tion of the Republican candidate, Mr. Lincoln, meant serious interference with that institution. The November election was scarcely over ere ordi- nances of secession were passed, and preparations for war began on both sides. The war came, and the Republic was preserved in a modified form.
The vote of the county is given as follows by districts :
Breckinridge.
Douglas.
Bell.
Lincoln.
Cadiz
182
3
215
0
Canton.
65
39
82
0
Roaring Springs.
120
95
78
1
Ferguson Springs
51
23
58
0
Wallonia
104
1
75
0
Bethesda.
90
0
61
0
Futrell's
66
16
31
0
49
HISTORY OF TRIGG COUNTY.
It will thus be perceived that Breckinridge received 675 votes ; Bell, 600; Douglas, 175; and Lincoln but 1.
In 1864 the contest was really upon the question of continuing the war. As the Confederate States were out of the contest, the question was decided wholly by the Northern States. Lincoln's re-election devel- oped the fact that the North was in favor of continuing the war, and the struggle for supremacy was vigorously renewed. The vote of this county, if any at that election, is not accessible.
The Presidential election of 1868 placed Gen. Grant at the head of the nation. The election returns for Trigg show the following vote : Seymour and Blair, 1,199; Grant and Colfax, 108. In 1872, Grant came up for re-election. The Republicans who opposed him united with the mass of the Democracy and placed Horace Greeley in the field. The straight-out Democrats nominated Charles O'Conor. Trigg Coun- ty voted as follows : Greeley and Blair, 977; Grant and Wilson, 928; O'Conor, 71. In 1876 Tilden and Hendricks were the nominees of the Democratic party, and Hayes and Wheeler were selected as stand- ard-bearers by the Republicans. The events of that celebrated campaign have gone into history and need not be repeated here. The following result shows how Trigg County's vote was divided between the two tickets : T'ilden and Hendricks, 1,508 votes ; Hayes and Wheeler, 994 votes.
In 1880 three national tickets were put in the field-Hancock and English by the Democrats, Garfield and Arthur by the Republicans, and Weaver and Chambers by the Greenback party. The election in Trigg County gave the following return : Hancock, 1,262; Garfield, 873; Weaver, 48. Thus it will be seen that the county has been from the first Democratic, and that, too, by a majority which numerous disasters have been unable to overcome.
Roads and Trails .- The early lines of travel through this part of Kentucky were along the Indian trails. These were clearly defined paths about eighteen inches wide and worn into the ground, sometimes to the depth of eight or ten inches. They traversed the country in almost every direction, but no traces of them are to be found at the present time. An early trail known as the Buffalo trace, so called from its having been used by buffaloes as well as by the Indians, led from the Cumberland River to Cerulean Springs, passing through the intervening section of country in a northwesterly and southeasterly direction. This trace was well defined as early as 1790, and was used as a road by the first settlers in traveling to and from the points connected. As the country became more thickly populated and roads a necessity, it was legally established, and was one of the earliest prominent thoroughfares in Trigg County. Only portions of the original route are used at the present time, the B4
50
HISTORY OF TRIGG COUNTY.
greater part having been abandoned many years ago. Another early road, and one that was quite extensively traveled, led from Hopkinsville to the Saline Salt works in Illinois. It passed in a northwesterly course through the northern part of Trigg County, and for many years was one of the principal highways of this section of the State.
The most important highway in Trigg County is the Columbus & Bowling Green State road, better known in this part of the country as the Canton & Hopkinsville road, established by an act of the State Leg- islature about the year 1819 or 1820. It leads from Bowling Green to the Mississippi River, passing through this county in a northwesterly direction, and was for many years the principal stage and mail route for Trigg and Christian Counties. The most important section of the road is the part lying between the towns of Canton and Hopkinsville, over which all the merchandise for the two counties was freighted until the construc- tion of the railroad to the latter place.
Prior to 1860 Canton was the distributing point for a large area of territory, and on this road could be seen, almost any day, lines of freight wagons, extending a mile or more in length. In the year 1858-59 a stock company, composed of the leading business men of Cadiz and a few from Christian County was organized, for the purpose of constructing a turn- pike from the landing to Hopkinsville, and a charter for the road was accordingly obtained. The stock was placed upon the market in shares of $100 each, and work on the road went briskly forward until a section fourteen miles in length was completed. The part. finished extends from the landing to within a few miles of Montgomery Village, and cost the sum of $60,000. The road proved a paying investment, and returned a handsome profit until the completion of the railway to Hopkinsville, when, owing to the serious interference with the freighting interests, the stock began rapidly to decline. The present board of managers consists of the following gentlemen, to wit: J. S. Wharton, President and Collector ; Thomas H. Grinter, Secretary and Treasurer ; John L. Street, M. S. Thompson, W. J. Fuqua and R. Wilford.
" The same year the charter was obtained of the Kentucky Legislature to build the Hopkinsville, Cadiz & Canton Turnpike; one was also ob- tained to build a pike from a point on the Cumberland River, from what was then known as the Old Kelley Furnace Landing to Hopkinsville, and a town was chartered at the latter point. It being near Lineport, Tenn., a village through which the line dividing the States of Kentucky and Ten- nessee ran, the new town being near the old one, and also near the line of the two States, was consequently called Linetown on Linton. Sub- scription books for stock began to be circulated, not until some time after the Cadiz & Canton pike had been put under contract, but was prose-
51
HISTORY OF TRIGG COUNTY.
cuted with so much more energy that the two pikes were built and com- pleted to the Christian County line about the same time; Hopkinsville and Christian County refusing to give any assistance to continue the road through that county, the work was discontinued at the line between the two counties, nor has it ever been resumed. Dr. John C. Whitlock was the President, and it may be said of a truth that he built and established both the pike and the town." The road never proved a paying venture, and has not been kept up for several years.
Railroad .- Hopes of securing a railroad have been entertained by the citizens of Trigg County for a number of years, and several projected lines have been run through the country at different times. The Indiana, Tennessee & Alabama road was surveyed in 1879, and is likely to be completed within the next year. The projected route passes through the northeast corner of the county, and crosses the boundary at the Hopkins- ville road, near Henry Bryant's farm in Montgomery Precinct. This road, when completed, will be of great benefit to the country through which it passes, by affording markets within the easy reach of the citizens of eastern Trigg. It will also enhance the value of the lands lying con- tiguous.
To sum up, Trigg County needs railroads to properly develop its rich mines of wealth. With the requisite railroad facilities added to the water highways, Trigg would be fortunate above most of her neighbors. With all her tobacco, grain, stock, timber, rich ores, etc., railroads would soon make Trigg one of the richest counties in southwestern Kentucky.
53
HISTORY OF TRIGG COUNTY.
CHAPTER IV.
RELIGIOUS-SYNOPSIS OF THE CHURCH HISTORY OF TRIGG COUNTY-SOME OF THE PIONEER PREACHERS OF SOUTHERN KENTUCKY-THEIR PECUL- IAR CHARACTERISTICS - DUDLEY WILLIAMS - REUBEN ROSS AND OTHERS-NUMBER OF CHURCHES IN THE COUNTY-SCHOOLS-PAST AND PRESENT INSTITUTIONS OF LEARNING-TEACHERS-STATISTICS-THE PRESS-CANTON OBSERVER-YEOMAN-CADIZ ORGAN-THE TELEPHONE AND OLD GUARD-STANDING UPON A SOLID FOUNDATION-CRIME AND LAWLESSNESS-CONVICTIONS AND EXECUTIONS-" OBEY THE LAWS"- TRIGG COUNTY MEDICAL SOCIETY, ETC., ETC.
TN the early history of southern Kentucky it was not thought necessary that preachers should be educated men. It was sufficient for them to preach the Gospel from their simple understanding of the Bible alone. They have passed away, but they have left behind them the record of a mission well and faithfully performed, and may their sacred ashes repose in peace, in the quietude of their lonely graves until awakened by the archangel's trump in the last great day.
Among the earliest preachers in the county, of whom there is any record or knowledge, was Elder Dudley Williams, a member of the Bap- tist Church. He was one of the self-appointed missionaries of the fron- tier who went from place to place, intent only to show men the way to life everlasting. Elders Dorris, Brown and Thomas Ross were also early preachers in the county. They were Baptists, and held religious services from house to house during the early days of the county's history. Elder Reuben Ross was a distinguished preacher of the Baptist Church also, and a man of more than ordinary intellectual acquirements and eloquence. He was a man of generous mind, and co-operated freely with ministers of other denominations. He believed that in " things essential there should be unity," and in things not essential there should be liberty, and in all things charity. He was one of the founders of the Dry Creek Church, near Linton, one of the oldest church organizations in the county, and assisted in the establishment of the Donaldson Creek Church as early as 1814. Another Baptist Church, thought by some to be the first in the county, was formed in the year 1806, at Cerulean Springs. Elders Field- ing Wolfe, Reuben Rowland and Peyton Nance, zealous workers in the cause of the Master, ministered to this church for many years during its early history.
54
HISTORY OF TRIGG COUNTY.
Following close in the wake of the Baptists came pioneer missionaries of the Methodist Church, and established flourishing societies in various parts of the county. Later the Christians, or Disciples, as they are more familiarly known, obtained firm footing in the southern part of the State, and in Trigg are several of their oldest and most influential organizations. Thus a population increased, churches sprang up in all the different set- tlements of the county. At the present time every village and hamlet, and nearly every neighborhood has its church and Sunday-school. There is no lack of religious facilities, and if the people do not walk in the "straight and narrow way" they have but themselves to blame for any short-comings laid up against them. There are in the county at the present time fifteen Baptist Churches, and about the same number of Methodist. The Christians have five organizations; the Christian Union three ; the Presbyterians one, and the Catholics one. The above are all white churches. The colored people have several flourishing soci- eties, principally Methodist and Baptist.
Schools .- Scarcely second of the active forces that influence the de- velopment of society is the public school ; nothing adds so much to the prosperity of a community, or to its civilization and enlightenment as a thorough system of public instruction, and the cause of education should enlist the hearty support of every citizen irrespective of party affiliations. " The statutes of Kentucky show that the first experiments to extend the fostering aid and care of State patronage to the interests of general edu- cation were made nearly three-quarters of a century ago. An act of the Legislature, approved February 10, 1798, donated and set apart of the pub- lic lands of the Commonwealth 6,000 acres, for the support and benefit of Franklin, Salem and Kentucky Academies, and for Jefferson and Lex- ington Seminaries. Similar acts were approved December 21, 1805, and January 27, 1808, embracing like provisions, and extending them to all existing counties of the State."*
It would be impossible within reasonable space to trace the course of legislation upon this most important subject of public schools. Almost every session of the Legislature has witnessed the passage of some special or general law in relation to the school interests of the State. The diffi- culties in the way of the early progress of the system were numerous, and for a time insurmountable. Funds for the pay of teachers and for the erection of schoolhouses were lacking, qualified teachers could not be found, the school districts were sparsely settled, much of the legislation was impracticable, the funds were mismanaged, and more fatal than all, was the strange prejudice entertained by many against popular education under the name of " free schools." Against the various hindrances, how-
* From Collins' History.
55
HISTORY OF TRIGG COUNTY.
ever, the system has slowly made its way in spite of hostile judicial deci- sions, until now, though far from being perfect, and much inferior to the systems of other and newer States, it is accomplishing the great objects for which it was intended.
The early schools of Trigg County, like the whole of Kentucky, were of the commonest kind, and the cause of education for more than a gen- eration was in anything but a flourishing condition. For half a century or more the schoolhouses, books, teachers and manner of instruction were of the most primitive character, and very different from what they are at the present day. The buildings, as a general thing, were very small log structures, with puncheon or dirt floors, and furnished with rude benches made of the split trunks of trees. A wide board fastened to the walls by wooden pins extended around the room, and answered the purpose of a writing desk during certain hours of the day. The apartment was heated by a large fireplace which occupied almost an entire end of the building, and light was admitted through greased paper windows fitted into an opening in the wall. A few of these humble temples of learning-time-worn relics of the early days, are yet to be found in many portions of southern Kentucky-eloquent of an age forever past. The majority of the pioneer schools was maintained altogether by subscription, and it was not until within a comparatively recent period that any substantial good began to be realized from the general system of public instruction. The county is still somewhat backward in the cause of education, and has not made that pro- gress that it should have done, although much has been accomplished during the last decade toward bringing the common schools up to a higher degree of excellence. New and commodious houses have been erected, old houses have been repaired and refitted, better teachers employed, more liberal salaries paid, and many other needed improvements added.
There are in the county at the present time fifty-six public school- houses, only eighteen of which are framed, the others being log, and the majority of them very indifferent structures. During the school year of 1882 and 1883, 3,543 white and 1,395 colored pupils attended the public schools. Sixty-three teachers were employed, and the sum of $7,500 paid them for their services.
In addition to the public schools there are several private institutions of learning in the county, where the most thorough and systematic instruction is given by competent teachers. The most important of these schools is the Wallonia Institute. There are also excellent private schools at Cadiz, which are more appropriately mentioned in the history of that town.
The Press .- The newspaper is an important factor in American society, and its establishment marks an epoch in the history of a commu-
56
HISTORY OF TRIGG COUNTY.
nity. In the main, it reflects the character of its constituency; it leads to a union of sentiment and purpose, and thus renders the moral force of society more effective. Hand in hand with the church and the school, it comes in the van of civilization, and society in this age cannot afford to dispense with its power.
Ezekiel Vinson was the first man that had nerve to start a newspaper in this county away back in the fifties. This was a modest six-column long primer independent local sheet called the Canton Observer, from its having been published at that place. After issuing the paper one year at Canton, Mr. Vinson moved his office to Cadiz, and changed the name of his paper to the Cadiz Weekly Observer, under which head it made its regular appearance for about two years, at the end of which time T. N. Ingram & Co. became proprietors. Under their management the office was removed to Canton, and J. S. Spiceland secured as editor. Spice- land afterward purchased the office, which was again brought to Cadiz, and the paper in 1857 was merged into the Cadiz Organ.
Canton Yeoman .- This was venture number two in the way of news- paper enterprises in Canton. The Yeoman was Democratic in politics, and first made its appearance in 1857 under the editorial management of J. T. Ingram. Not meeting with sufficient patronage at Canton, Mr. Ingram, at the breaking out of the war, moved his paper to Mayfield, where it was afterward suppressed for its outspoken Southern senti ments.
The Cadiz Organ was published by John S. Spiceland, and was established about the year 1857-58-a seven-column weekly Democratic paper. Spiceland carried it on about two years, at the end of which time he sold out to J. W. Gobin, who several years later merged it into the Trigg County Democrat. Mr. Gobin published the Democrat about nine months, when he sold to C. T. Wilkinson, under whose management it was regularly issued until April, 1882, at which time it suspended. When Wilkinson became proprietor he secured the services of Judge J. H. Wilkinson as editor, who made it the strongest and ablest paper the county had had up to that time. Judge Wilkinson wrote and published a great deal of matter. His facile pen ran smoothly over the paper, and when he cared he could invest his subject in strong and glowing language. He died in 1882, and in his death the editorial fraternity lost an able and valued member.
A small sheet called the Union Democrat was started at Canton in 1861 by E. C. Spiceland. This paper was radical in its adherence to the Federal cause, and met with but little patronage in consequence thereof. Mr. Spiceland published the Democrat but a few months, when it died a natural and easy death.
57
HISTORY OF TRIGG COUNTY.
The Kentucky Telephone .*- The first number of the Kentucky Tele- phone was issued January 4, 1882. It was established by A. T. Wimberly, one of the present proprietors. It was a seven-column folio until October 27, 1882, when it was enlarged to eight columns, its patronage being such as to demand it. It is a weekly, and in politics Democratic. Matthew Mc- Kinney and A. T. Wimberly were the editors, the former being the prin- cipal editor until September 7, 1883, when he resigned. A. T. Wim- berly then took charge of the editorial department, and was sole editor and proprietor until January 1, 1884, when he sold a half interest in the office to Webb Watkins, who was at that time foreman of the printing department. It is now published under the firm name of Wimberly & Watkins, with A. T. Wimberly as editor and Webb Watkins as associate. The business of the paper has been very successfully managed. Its circulation has not been less than 950 since the end of the first year's existence, and it has reached 1,300. It now has a circulation of 1,200. Its advertising patronage is liberal, and everything considered, there is not a county paper in southern or western Kentucky that receives a more liberal patronage than the Telephone.
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