USA > Kentucky > Trigg County > Counties of Christian and Trigg, Kentucky : historical and biographical > Part 7
USA > Kentucky > Christian County > Counties of Christian and Trigg, Kentucky : historical and biographical > Part 7
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James H. McLaughlan was the second Clerk of the Circuit Court- really the first regularly qualified clerk. Young Ewing had served a year or so as clerk pro tempore, but had never been commissioned as such. Mr. McLaughlan was regularly appointed by the Court, examined by the Court of Appeals, and duly commissioned by the Governor, in March, 1804. He was a faithful and efficient officer, and his records, still to be seen in the Clerk's office, are models of neatness and elegance, and may be read with as much ease as print. He was a regularly licensed lawyer,
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but never practiced in the courts of Christian County. No disparage- ment of the efficient Clerks, who have held the office from time to time, is meant by the remark, that the county has never had a better one than James H. McLaughlan. He was an uncle of Joseph Duncan, who was, for a time, a Deputy Clerk under him, and who afterward was Governor of Illinois, and a famous soldier and politician.
The Galbraiths, McFaddens and Blues were from North Carolina and settled in the southeast part of the county in the immediate neighborhood where Davis and Montgomery built the block-house. Of the Galbraiths there were four brothers-John, Angus, Daniel and Duncan. As denot- ed by their names, they were of Scotch extraction, and it is said were North Carolina Tories, who had to leave that State after the close of the Revolutionary war. As settlements increased they sold out and removed to Missouri. The McFadden family comprised two brothers-Jacob and John; and the Blue family, three brothers-Neil, Sandy and John. They were all of Scotch descent, came here with the Galbraiths, and removed to Missouri with them. James Clark came from Pennsylvania in 1802, and first settled, with his parents, in Frankfort. The Bradshaws were from Virginia. There were Edward, Benjamin and William, and they came here early in the present century. They settled in the southeast part of the county. James Crabtree was from North Carolina, and set- tled in what is now Mount Vernon Precinct. He came soon after 1800, and brought some fifty slaves with him; also considerable fine fur- niture and silver plate, things hitherto quite scarce in the county. He was a prominent man, active and energetic, and farmed largely. He still has descendants living in the county. The Dulins settled in the north part of the county, and will be further noticed in the precinct history, as will be many others, whose names have already been given. The Cateses were early settlers in the county and were prominent citizens.
Joshua Cates .- A remarkable character and an energetic business man was Joshua Cates. Few now living remember him personally, or that he was once an influential citizen of the county. He was no common man in anything, not even in his eccentricities and peculiarities, for these were his most charming characteristics. It is said that he bore a strong resemblance to Napoleon Bonaparte, and that he was as great a man in his way as the little Corsican Lieutenant. He was not learned in the books, but he was rich and original in intellect, and rough sometimes in his speech, but still noble in a rugged way. He was as indifferent to fine dress as he was to the opinions of the world at large. He moved every- thing by his own promptings, and was as busy and energetic as the day was long. He did not eat or sleep like other people, but only indulged in these necessities (or luxuries) when nature compelled it, and whenever
4
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and wherever the feeling overtook him. He rarely sat down to his own table (or for that matter to any one else's) but took a lunch in his fingers and went about his business, and when sleep overcame him, like Sancho Panza blessing its inventor, he lay down and slept, whether in his own house, on his own grounds, or by the roadside, and when exhausted nat- ure was restored, he arose and resumed his work.
Joshua Cates was a native of South Carolina, and came to Christian County when its capital was the puniest of villages. One of his pecul- iarities was, and in this he differed from most of his contemporaries, he " touched not, tasted not, handled not," intoxicating drinks, and thus kept his head clear. Another peculiarity was an almost uncontrollable desire for land. He bought all the land he could get hold of, and it is said, did not always adhere strictly to the golden rule in his real estate transactions. An instance is related to the point : A man named Pursley, also a great land trader, was contemplating the purchase of a certain tract, when Cates went to him and said : "Pursley, the title to the land is not good ; not worth a cent, sir !" Thus warned, Pursley set about in- vestigating the matter, and while so doing Cates bought the land and se- cured a deed to it. A favorite expression of Cates' was : " You obsarve sir," and he used it on most all occasions. Meeting Pursley soon after the occurrence just noted, Pursley took him to task for what he consid- ered his injustice toward him. Cates replied ; " Mr. Pursley, you obsarve sir-" "Yes, Capt. Cates," said Pursley, " I obsarve it all now." Aside from his land speculations he was a great horse dealer and negro trader. He bought horses and drove them to the southern markets, and would buy up the vicious negroes and take them " down South " and thus rid the coun- ty of them. He was once shot by one of his own negroes and badly wounded, but eventually recovered, and ever after he carried holsters and pistols at his saddle-bow, like an army officer. He went to Judge Shackelford's one day, and while there, the Judge took his pistols out of the holsters to look at them, when he found that not only were neither of them loaded, but the bores were nearly closed up with rust. The Judge laughed at him for the neglected state of his arsenal, and told him that in the event of an attack they would not be of much service to him; but said Cates, "Judge Shackelford, you obsarve sir, everybody don't know that."
Mr. Cates has been dead many years, and is forgotten by most of the citizens of the county. His last days were peculiarly sad, and called forth the warmest sympathy of his relatives and friends. Too great an activity and too much mental strain, excited by his various business enter- prises, impaired and unsettled his mind to a great degree, and for some time before his death he was incapable of attending to any business. Few
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more stirring and active men ever figured in the county. His great forte was trading, and he exercised his talents in that direction to the full measure of his ability. He reared a large family of sons and daughters, and the latter are said to have been among the most beautiful women in the county. His wife is remembered by some of the old people as one of the best and noblest of women, and one whom everybody that knew loved and honored. Many representatives and descendants of the busy old man are still living in the county.
With the foregoing pages devoted to the early settlers, and a few words of their wilderness life, we will take leave of them until we meet with them again in the chapters on the election districts. These pioneers were a hardy, fearless, and a self-reliant people; they were rude and sim- ple in their habits and accomplishments, and devoid of all reckless extrav- agance. Fresh from the scenes-many of them-of the Revolutionary struggle, a free people, their manhood elevated, they shrank from no dif- ficulty ; but, with a stern, unflinching purpose, they went forth to subdue the wilderness, and subject it to the use of man. The women, too, bore their part in the great work, and did as much, in their way, as the men did themselves. They were the companions of the sterner sex, and their helpmeets, and quailed not before the hardships of the frontier. They believed it their highest duty-as it was their noblest aim-to contribute their part in the great work of life. In cases of illness, some young woman would leave her home for a few days to care for the afflicted house- hold, and her services were rendered without money and without price. The discharge of the sacred duty to care for the sick was the motive, and it was never neglected. The accepted life of a woman was to marry, bear and rear children, prepare the household food, spin, weave and make the garments for the family. Her whole life was the grand, simple poem of rugged, toilsome duty, bravely and uncomplainingly done. She lived history, and her descendants write and read it with a proud thrill, such as visits the pilgrim when at Arlington he stands at the base of the mon- ument which covers the bones of 4,000 nameless men who gave their blood to preserve their country. Her work lives, and her name should only be whispered in humble reverence. Holy in death, it is too sacred for open speech.
Pioneer Pastimes .- If the pioneers lived in a time of rude civiliza- tion, they enjoyed their scenes of fun and frolic quite as well as their descendants enjoy their more refined amusements. Their house-raisings, their log-rollings and corn-shuckings, were times enjoyed by every com- munity, particularly by the young people, when, as was often the case, a "quilting" was a part of the programme, and that followed by a dance when the work was done. Sambo, with an old, cracked, wheezy fiddle,
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but three strings on it as like as not, furnished music far more highly prized by these simple, rude people than would have been the sublime notes of Paganini or Ole Bull. Ah, those were enjoyable times !
But of all the gala days in the whole year, the great, glorious holiday was the day of "big muster," when the "cornstalk " militia turned out in force for annual training. What a glorious time that was for the boys and darkies ! The writer remembers well how he used to think he had lived a whole life-time in a single day, and how he would give-well, a half of his kingdom, only to be man enough to wear one of those long red plumes. They were gorgeous! When the generals and colonels and majors mounted their war horses, who "snuffed the battle afar," with plumes in their hats as long as stove-pipes-the men, not the horses- and swords equal to the broadswords of Roderick Dhu and his clan, belted around them, ah, how they excited our boyish envy ! James Weir, in his novel of "Lonz Powers," gives a most excellent description of those old muster days of the long ago-a description we have never seen equaled except in a speech made by Hon. Tom Corwin in the United States Senate years ago. Both of the descriptions referred to are as vivid as life, and no doubt many old gray-headed men, when they read these lines, will recall the picture, and the excitement of the militia mus- ter ; the rolling of the drum, the shrill screeching of the fife, the nodding plumes and gleaming swords; the prancing steeds (old plow horses), the words of command and the martial bearing of the Napoleons and Wel- lingtons, the Washingtons and Marions, the La Fayettes and Greenes and Jacksons as they marshaled their forces for the fray. They were dis- plays that had to be witnessed to be appreciated.
The muster-day served a multitude of purposes. It brought the peo- ple together from all parts of the county, and kept them acquainted, if nothing more. The day was an epoch in the county's chronology, from which all important events dated. National questions were discussed, State issues debated, neighborhood gossip ventilated, petty differences set- tled, often with "knock-down " arguments, and when the muster was over, it was usually found that all the cases had been cleared from the docket, and a new era had dawned. But the institution of the old militia muster, with its pomp and glory, its fun and frolic and its fights and excitements, has passed away with other relics of our earlier civilization. With the close of the Mexican war it began to wane in popularity, and soon passed out of existence.
Land Speculations and Troubles .- In the early history of Kentucky there was much trouble arising out of defective land titles, and settlers in every portion of the State suffered more or less from this cause. The old records of Christian County show more land litigation than any other
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kind. Collins says : "The radical and incurable defect of the law was the neglect of Virginia to provide for the general survey of the country, at the expense of the Government, and its subdivision into whole, half and quarter sections, as is now done by the United States. Instead of this, each possessor of a warrant was allowed to locate the same where he pleased, and was required to survey it at his own cost, but his entry was required to be so special and precise, that each subsequent locator might recognize the land already taken up, and make his entry elsewhere. To make a good entry, therefore, required a precision and accuracy of de- scription which such men as Boone and Kenton could not be expected to possess; and all vague entries were declared null and void. Unnum- bered sorrows, law suits and heart-rending vexations were the conse- quences of this unhappy law. In the unskillful hands of the pioneers and hunters of Kentucky, entries, surveys and patents were piled upon each other, overlapping and crossing in endless perplexity. In the meantime the immediate consequence of the law was a flood of immigration. The hunters of the elk and buffalo were succeeded by the more ravenous hunters of land; in the pursuit they fearlessly braved the hatchet of the Indian and the privations of the forest. The surveyor's chain and compass were seen in the woods as frequently as the rifle ; and during the years 1779-80-81, the great and all-absorbing object in Kentucky was to enter, survey and obtain a patent for the richest sections of land. Indian hos- tilities were rife during the whole of this period, but these only formed episodes in the great drama."
We have a sample of this in Christian County. John Montgomery, one of the first white men in the county, was a surveyor, and was killed by the Indians, as detailed in a preceding chapter, while surveying land. The troubles about land titles and litigation prevailed here as elsewhere, and many men lost their lands which they thought secured to them. Some of the early lawyers paid little attention to any other branch of the practice except land claims, and the litigation over such claims for years incumbered the dockets of the courts of the county. The pioneers were mostly simple and honest, and some have characterized them as stupid. They knew how to endure privations with constant and necessary activity, they lived in the free wilderness, where action was unfettered by law, and where property was not controlled by form and technicality, but rested on the natural and broader foundation of justice and convenience. They knew how to repel the aggression of the private wrong doer, but they knew not how to swindle a neighbor out of his acres, by declaration, demurrer, plea and replication, and all the scientific pomp of chicanery. Hence, in the broad and glorious light of civilization, they were stupid. Their con- fidence in men, their simplicity, their stupidity, by whatever name proper
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to call it, rendered them an easy prey to selfish and unprincipled specu- lators. There are many still living in Christian County who remember the trouble and ill-feeling caused by these defective land-titles.
Crime and Lawlessness .- As the rough and turbulent spirits of the pioneer period drifted away before the benign influence of civilization, society improved materially in the county. It is quite true that it was never worse here than it is in all new countries. But the history of our republic, from its earliest colonization, has shown bad men mingled among the first comers to a particular section, and that, as law and order are established, these characters are weeded out. So it was here. Shortly after the county was formed, and the different branches of the courts were organized and put in operation, Christian became as law-abiding a com- munity as any in the State. And with the great mass of the population this has ever been the case.
But there was a period, dating back perhaps to 1835-40, when not only this, but some of the surrounding counties were afflicted with a spe- cies of lawlessness, that to the better class of citizens was extremely annoy- ing. Horse-stealing became rather common, likewise barn-burning, and occasionally burglarious attacks, of an alarming nature, varied the monot- ony of the times, and led to the general belief that there was an organ- ized band of men who made robbery their chief occupation. The whole Mississippi Valley seemed to be troubled in pretty much the same way. Depredations were committed in rapid succession at points widely sepa- rated, and yet with such characteristic skill as to create the belief that they were done by the same inspiration, if not by the same persons. Such a conclusion involved a belief in a wide-spread conspiracy, which so cov- ered the territory with abettors and sympathizers that the ordinary offi- cials felt powerless to thwart its plans, or arrest the offenders against the law. At first this was worse in other counties than it was here, but it gradually became too common in this county to be longer borne, without efforts being made to check the evil. The achievements of this confeder- ated band of outlaws culminated, in 1845, in the murder of a man named Simon Davis, of which more will be said hereafter.
The Pennington Family .- In the north part of the county lived a family named Pennington, who were quite early settlers. The father, Col. Francis P. Pennington, was a man of considerable wealth, and intelli- gent beyond the majority of his neighbors. He owned a large farm, and some fifteen or twenty slaves ; was long a Justice of the Peace, and as such under the old Constitution of the State, succeeded in regular rotation to the office of High Sheriff of the county, in 1829. In this capacity, so far as is now known, he discharged his duties well and faithfully. In those days he was looked upon as a man of undoubted integrity, and of un-
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sullied honor. No shadow of suspicion touched him, until in later years, when the denouement which sent his son to the gallows directed attention to facts hitherto deemed of no significance, but now magnified into mat- ters of serious consequence. There was nothing absolutely wrong known of him, or traceable to him, yet when troubles came upon his house, then it was that many little things were remembered against him ; how stran- gers often came through the country, mounted on fine horses, and inquired for Col. Pennington, sought out his home, remained no one knew how long, and left no one knew when, as they traveled over by-paths, little used by anybody else, and held no communications with others in the neighborhood. These semi-occasional visits of unknown men excited dis- trust of Pennington, and aroused suspicions, and caused threats to be indulged in against him, but no violence was ever offered, and the old man was allowed to die in peace.
Col. Pennington had two sons, Alonzo and Morton, and possessing considerable wealth, as he did, he gave them good educations for that early day. They grew to manhood respected throughout the neighbor- hood, and were considered fine young men. "Lonz," as he was famil- iarly called, was the younger of the two boys, and in many respects a very remarkable man. He was intelligent, shrewd, of fine appearance, well educated, and with his natural faculties trained almost to the perfec- tion of the scent of the Siberian bloodhound. He was a good judge of men, and energetic enough to carry out any undertaking with money at the end of it. Had his talents been directed into the right channel, and his qual- ifications and accomplishments turned to the accomplishment of good, he might have become an ornament to society and a benefactor to his race, instead of a victim to the insulted laws of his country. Many crimes were attributed to him of which he was, perhaps, innocent, while no doubt he committed many the public generally knew nothing of. But his nefa- rious acts were found out, and his crimes brought home to him with vengeance.
Alonzo Pennington married when quite a young man, and settled down upon a farm in the northeastern part of the county, in what is now Wilson Precinct. He was a great lover of horses, passionately fond of racing, and soon became a large dealer in fast horses; he constructed a " track " on his farm, which became a general headquarters for that kind of sport, and of a class of men whose morals were not of the highest or- der. Pennington would make frequent trips, sometimes remaining absent from home for weeks, under the pretext of buying horses, and as he al- ways returned with a number, no one doubted the honesty of his trans- actions then. He managed to get hold of many fine racers, and, as they accumulated on his hands, he drove them South, where they were sold to
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planters and traders. He would then make another trip over into Illinois for a fresh supply, and thus he kept the business up for several years. But eventually rumors began to arise of questionable transactions in which "Lonz" Pennington bore a prominent part. He often had a number of strange men about him, shrewd and unscrupulous as he him- self proved to be, who looked after his horses and took them South for him. None knew who they were or whence they came, for they held aloof from the people. It was not unfrequently the case that about the time a drove of horses was taken South, a few likely negro boys would be missed from different sections of the country, and who were never heard of afterward. Southern Illinois was known to be infested with the most lawless characters, with a rendezvous about Cave-in-Rock, who operated in defiance of the Government and the courts to dislodge them. They counterfeited, stole horses, robbed and murdered with impunity, and the whole Western frontier was flooded with their spurious gold and silver coins and bank bills, until it became known far and wide as “ Cave-in- Rock money." It was soon noticeable that every time Pennington returned from Illinois with horses, a shower of counterfeit money fol- lowed. Though suspicion was rife, it was not easy to find a man suffi- ciently reckless to publish his convictions, and Pennington was shrewd enough to cover his trail. He was very quiet, a man of much dignity, held no communication publicly with the men in his employ, and acted as though he scarcely knew them. He was a great trader, and borrowed money largely from the farmers, who regarded him as a safe speculator and thriving business man, but who were not smart enough to discover any irregularity in his transactions. He was often involved in litigation, but his keen ability and knowledge of the law, in furnishing the "right kind of evidence," usually won him an easy victory. It was his ques- tionable dealings, and his numerous entanglements in the courts, that attracted the attention of those already on the alert. Then, too, there was the palpable fact that with every drove of horses from beyond the Ohio, counterfeit money increased, and that as the horses went South, negroes mysteriously disappeared. Of these negro disappearances the following incident is related: There was a man named Brown living in Hopkins County, three or four miles from Madisonville, who lost a negro man, and whom he supposed had "run away." Some time after the negro had disappeared, Brown was told by a man, suspected of being a tool of Pennington's, that for $100 he would show him his negro, but that he (Brown) would have to take him, as he could only show him where he was to be seen. Brown consented, and one night was conducted by the fellow to a certain place, a shrill whistle was given, and presently some one was heard approaching. A few moments, and the negro ap-
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peared sure enough, but when he saw them he leaped back exclaiming, " Massa Brown !" At the same time Brown discovered three men with guns in their hands, and, divining his danger, sprang away into the darkness and made his escape. He believed, and no doubt he was cor- rect, that he had been lured there for the purpose of being murdered. The man claimed the $100, on the ground that he had performed his part of the contract in showing him the negro, and Brown paid it. Not very long afterward, his tobacco barn was burned, and still a little later he was assassinated on his own premises, by the gang, as was supposed. These negroes that mysteriously disappeared were lured away from their masters under the promise of being sent across the Ohio to freedom, but were kept concealed by the gang until a drove of horses was ready for market, when they, too, were taken South and sold on the cotton and sugar plantations ; a fate looked upon by the negroes here with as much horror as the Russian criminal contemplates the mines of Siberia.
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