USA > Kentucky > Madison County > Glimpses of historic Madison County, Kentucky > Part 5
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CHAPTER III
Madison County
ITS ORGANIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT
V' IRGINIA refused to recognize the existence of the Transylvania Colony and in December, 1776, created the county of Ken- tucky, which was later (1780) divided into Jefferson, Fayette, and Lincoln counties. In 1784 Nelson was created and in 1785 Mercer and Madison counties were provided for. The borders extended from Dix River to the banks of the Big Sandy and south of the Kentucky River. Madison County, however, was not organized until August 22, 1786, when commissioners of the peace and of "oyer and terminer appointed by his Excellency, Patrick Henry, governor of the commonwealth of Virginia met at the house of George Adams and proceeded to fulfill the governors orders. John Snoddy and Christopher Irvin administered the oath of fidelity to the commonwealth and the oath of Justice of the Peace to George Adams, who in turn administered oaths to John Snoddy, Christopher Irvine, David Gass, James Barnett, John Boyle, Archibald Woods, Nicholas George, and Joseph Ken- nedy. A commission was read appointing Joseph Kennedy sheriff and Lieut. Colonel of the county militia. William Irvine took the oath of county clerk and James French of surveyor.
Milford, a settlement on a ridge overlooking Taylor's Fork of Silver Creek about four and one-half miles southwest of the present town of Richmond, was chosen as the county seat and a temporary courthouse was provided at a cost of 880 pounds of tobacco. In 1788 a more permanent building of wood and stone was constructed. Most of the stone chimney of this building is stand- ing today. In order that the occupancy of the building might be controlled, the sheriff was ordered to purchase a key for it. More than a hundred years later that same key was found by a lad while playing about the old entrance and it may be seen . today in the museum at Eastern State College. Also the dog irons that served in the large fireplace are in the same institution.
In 1789 the court ordered that stocks, pillory, and whipping post be constructed at the cost of 1,280 pounds of tobacco. The sheriff,
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MADISON COUNTY
county clerk, and three county attorneys were each to receive 1,500 pounds of tobacco for his services. Milford, however, was not favorable for the county seat and consequently in 1798 the state authorities (Kentucky had been admitted to the Union in 1792) authorized the court to transact its business elsewhere. The court chose John Miller's barn, standing near the present courthouse, as the new county seat and secretly moved the records there.
The removal was bitterly opposed by citizens of the southern part of the county. On the day the court was expected to convene to determine the removal "Tom Kennedy at the head of about 300 excited men ... rode up to the door of the stone courthouse, and swore the judge should not open and adjourn court that day." On learning that the records had already been removed, David Ken- nedy "offered 'to whip anybody who was in favor of the removal.'" William Kerley offered to defend the action of the court and the contest was arranged to be held in the stray pen. With hair closely cut and heads greased the fight began. Kerley proved himself the better man, but finally in desperation Kennedy used his teeth with such force on a finger of his opponent that Kerley's second shouted "enough" and thus ended the bloody set-to. The county compensated citizens of Milford to the amount of $1600 for losses due to the removal of the seat of government.
The court purchased two acres of land on a hill near John Miller's barn and brick kiln as the site for the new county seat. This land was a part of a 1000 acre preemption of William Hoy but unfortunately he lost it to John Miller over a horse race. Fifty acres, with the exception of four lots reserved by Miller, were surveyed by John Crooke beginning on the East side of the branch for a town to be called Richmond. The sheriff was ordered to lay off ten acres for prison bounds with the jail in the center. Orders were given for the building of stocks, whipping post, and stray pen.
The first courthouse which stood for fifty years was built in 1799 by Tyra Rhodes, the artisan. It was built on the spot where earlier stood Mt. Nebo Church, the walls of which are still within the foundation of the present substantial courthouse. However, long before the church was built there, this high point was evidently an Indian burial ground since in places the earth was
Remains of Madison County's first courthouse at Milford.
The Madison County Courthouse, built in 1849, as it looks today. Part of it was used as a hospital for a time after the Battle of Richmond, August 30, 1862.
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MADISON COUNTY
almost white and some larger bleached bones were still in tact.
In 1810 the court appropriated a space 26 x 40 feet on the northeast corner of this public square for a market place and as such it remained until 1852 when the court ordered its removal. Evidently it was moved to First Street on the east side of the courtyard where it continued to function until recent years when it was removed to First and Waters Streets.
In 1806 the county court ordered that hitching horses to the post and rail fence around the courthouse would be considered a contempt of court and offenders would be punished.
In the fifties a beautiful iron fence was erected about the court- yard and remained there many years until it was removed and sold. Later it was purchased by Mrs. W. W. Watts for only $120. She soon learned that it was of Swedish-Norwegian make and much to be desired. In 1908 it was placed along the Main Street side of the cemetery and there adds much to the beauty of that institution.
Early Madison County produced a surprisingly large number of men who made their influence felt in local, state and national affairs. First class academies were established in the community at an early date and many of the young men found their way for more advanced study to Transylvania College, the University of Michigan and famous schools in the east. Such training brought able men into the courts and politics.
The second courthouse in Richmond was erected in 1849 at a cost of $40,000 and stands today as a proud and worthy monu- ment of the period that produced it. This structure is regarded today as one of the finest examples of classic architecture in the state of Kentucky. During its construction court was held in the little frame Methodist Church at the corner of Second and Irvine Streets. Here is a rich collection of records dating back to August 1786 and containing much valuable information relating to the early history of Kentucky and Madison County.
The circuit courtroom is a veritable art gallery of splendid portraits and busts of many prominent legalists and others who have been leaders in the county.
Prior to the constitution of 1849 all voters might cast their vote either at the courthouse or in one of the few precincts in the county. The election lasted three days, but with the new constitu-
40
GLIMPSES OF HISTORIC MADISON COUNTY, KENTUCKY
tion the county was divided into nine voting precincts which were magisterial districts with two magistrates each. The districts were named as follows: Richmond, Foxtown, Union, Elliston, Yates, Glade, Kirksville, Million, and Posey. This provided for twenty voting places. Election clerks received the sum of eight shillings or about one dollar per day. At the time of the organization of the county the sheriff, county clerk, and some others received 1500 pounds of tobacco per year for their services.
At a very early date tobacco became a very important crop in Madison County. As early as 1787-88 public warehouses for tobacco were constructed and the governor of Virginia appointed inspectors for the same. In 1789 the county levied a revenue tax of 24,840 pounds of tobacco.
"Benjamin Estill was the pioneer horse driver of Madison County; he drove twelve horses to Charleston in 1811 and made twelve hundred dollars profit. In 1812 he drove a hundred head of horses to the same city, and his stable bill was fifteen hundred dollars before he sold a single horse. The non-intercourse with England at that time cost him his rich farm and contents. I don't know who was the pioneer hog driver of Madison County. From 1830 to 1835 there was from seventy to seventy-five thousand hogs driven each year through Cumberland Gap to South Carolina and Virginia. Fat cattle and mules were coming into notice about that time which was an adjunct to a few farmers' income." -- Ac- cording to Brown I .. Yates in Tipton's Climax
In 1789-91 John Halley took two fleets of barges from Boones- borough to New Orleans freighted with tobacco, lard, flour and meal. It required forty days to make the 1500 mile trip and there were only three points that might be contacted on the route after passing Louisville and each of them was under the armed forces of a different nation and required passports of such voyagers. He and his men, after disposing of their goods, made their return voyage on foot in three or four weeks.
As early as 1783 some distilleries were operating on the south side of the Kentucky River. The Searcys had the first in Madison County. Distilleries seem to have become more numerous es- pecially from 1870 on. Extensive interests developed along Silver Creek. Perhaps the largest was that of W. S. Hume, which was constructed at the cost of $200,000 and its warehouse covered near
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MADISON COUNTY
unto an acre of space. There was also a large distillery at Paint Lick in Madison called the 'Warick" owned by Thompson Burnam, Sr. and Waller Bennett. For a time a distillery was also run in connection with Weddel's water mill on Muddy Creek. The grain taken as a toll for grinding meal was used in making whiskey. All these suspended business with the coming of prohibition and never have been restored.
Madison County had its trying as well as its peaceful and prosperous days. In the summer of 1840 cholera invaded Richmond; 600 of a population of 1000 people fled from the town; all business was suspended except that of an Irishman who was laying the foundation of the courthouse; and no funeral or church services were held; but the Presbyterian Church was open on afternoons at five o'clock for prayers. There were fifty deaths within two months. Then in the sixties the county was torn by bitter strife during the Civil War. Families and the closest of friendship ties were torn asunder by the war. Guerillas and State Guard kept those of both sentiments in constant fear and danger of arrest and even death. Madison soil was occupied by both the Federal and Confederate armies and she drank the blood of both sides in a two day battle that raged from Big Hill to Richmond. Federal prisoners were confined within the iron fence about the courtyard; many wounded of both armies were nursed in homes, churches, and schools of the community, some to be restored to health while others were soon temporarily buried in the beauti- ful Richmond cemetery through which the battle raged and where its evidence may still be seen on some of the older monuments.
The much traveled U. S. highway 25 bisects the county from Clay's Ferry bridge through Richmond and Berea to the south. At present a four-lane highway is being constructed on a 200 foot right of way on the route north of Richmond to the river. A similar road is being surveyed to continue on to Lexington.
Madison County has always been a prosperous agricultural section where meet the bluegrass and the knobs. Her fertility ranges from that of the lush blue grass where may be found the stately homes of pre-Civil War days to the rock bound knobs, where economic success is almost unknown. With all her con- trasts, still, Madison County is the noble elder daughter of the state of Kentucky and is worthy of high honors for her many sons and daughters who have given their best to the state and nation.
1. Silver Creek, not P.L.
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GLIMPSES OF HISTORIC MADISON COUNTY, KENTUCKY
EARLY SURVEYORS AND LAND TITLES
The first surveyors of land in Madison County were surveying to establish claims to bonus land for veterans of the French and Indian and Revolutionary Wars. Hancock Taylor was engaged in such work when he was mortally wounded in an engagement with Indians in 1774, before Virginia had created a county west of the Big Sandy River. His grave, as indicated elsewhere, is marked on the Lancaster pike a short distance west of Richmond.
There was no Virginia law regulating surveys of land in Ken- tucky. A man, guessing that he had a right to a body of land to which no one had a prior claim, proceeded, in compliance with his warrant for so many acres, to have his claim surveyed. This unregulated, loose system of surveying claims led to overlapping of claims that caused much confusion and litigation.
Virginia made an attempt to settle land claims in Kentucky in 1779. The legislature of the Old Dominion enacted a law pro- viding that where a man had settled on a track of land and raised a crop of corn prior to "January 1, 1778 he was entitled to 400 acres at the price of $2.25 per hundred acres, and was allowed the further right to pre-empt an additional 1,000 acres at $40.00 per hundred acres."
To settle claims Virginia appointed a commission of four "to examine claims and award titles of possession." This commission held sessions, in 1779, at Boonesborough and three other places. One example of a decision at Boonesborough might well be given. It is: "William Hicks by Dan'l Boone this day claimed a settlement & preemption to a tract of land in the district of Kentucky lying on a branch of Silver Creek including Hancock Taylor's grave and running No. & North W. for quantity, by making a settlement & raising a crop of corn in the Country in the year 1775 ... "
A comparison of a patent for land in Madison County, signed by Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia in 1783, with a patent for land granted a veteran of the Mexican War (1846-48) by Presi- dent Millard Filmore, in 1851, will illustrate the unsatisfactory method of surveying claims in Kentucky as compared with the satisfactory, methodical system applied by the United States Gov- ernment to public land under the land law of 1785. Most of the area of the United States came under this law.
The patent, signed by Governor Henry, to Thomas Welch, a
OĞLU
DUPA
Hunrady . .. 500
400
2.50
200
00.
24
300
A John Crooke Map illustrating the confusion in land claims. See "Early Surveyors," pp. 42-5. Note D. Boone, Hart, James Estill, B. Estill, Y. Peyton, J. Kennedy and other familiar names.
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GLIMPSES OF HISTORIC MADISON COUNTY, KENTUCKY
remote assignee of James Winn, is as follows: "A certain Tract or Parcel of Land containing Two hundred Acres by Survey bear- ing date Twenty-fourth day of April One Thousand Seven Hundred and Eighty-three lying and being in the County of Lincoln on the Kentucky River at the Mouth of Jack's Creek and bounded as followeth To wit Beginning at a sugar tree Standing on the bank of the River at the Mouth of Said Creek running from Thence up the Meander Said Creek South Seventy degrees East Sixty Poles to two Sugar trees and a hackberry thence South Sixty Poles to a double line corner to John Thurmond thence with his line South One hundred and forty-two Poles crossing Jack's Creek to a large sugar tree thence West One hundred and fifty-eight Poles crossing Jack's Creek to a Sugar tree Then north one hundred and eighty-two poles crossing two Branches to a Sycamore and Elm standing on the Bank of the Kentucky running up the meandering of this River North Seventy degrees East one hundred and twenty-eight Poles to the Beginning."
Of course, such a description made it most likely that another survey passing from tree to tree and running along streams until the line reached the starting point would cause overlapping of claims and court proceedings to determine the rightful owners of land. The following description of the patent signed by Presi- dent Filmore illustrates the superiority of the public land surveys under the law of 1785 over the haphazard method allowed by Virginia in Kentucky.
The Filmore patent is as follows: "Thomas Stiff assignee of said Nathaniel Stiff and to his heirs the South East quarter of the North West quarter the East half of the South West quarter, and the South West quarter of the South East quarter of Section Twenty in Township nine South of Range six East, in the District of Lands subject to sale at Shawneetown Illinois, containing one hundred and sixty Acres."
The "shingle claim" (overlapping claims) to land in Kentucky lead to numerous suits in the Madison County circuit court early in the nineteenth century to determine the priority of legal titles of lands. Five large volumes of the County's circuit court records contain only such cases. Thirty-two decisions of that court were appealed to the State's highest court at Frankfort. Green Clay, apparently had the largest number of cases in the circuit court
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MADISON COUNTY
and he seems to have won all of them. He had therefore more than 50,000 acres of land at the time of his death in 1828.
The law of 1785 under which the above title was given in 1851 established principal meridians running north and south from given points, and base lines running east and west and crossing the meridians at right angles. Paralled to the meridians, range lines six miles apart were surveyed, and paralled to the base lines township lines were surveyed six miles apart. The town- ships six miles square created in this manner were divided into thirty-six sections each a mile square and containing 640 acres. A section was subdivided as indicated in the patent (or deed) to land awarded Thomas Stiff, the assignee of Nathaniel Stiff, who was to receive the land as a bonus for service in the Mexican War.
The first four surveyors of Madison after the County's creation were James French, and John, Hezikiah, and Harrison Crooke .
James French came from Prince William County, Virginia, about 1780 to Boonesborough, where he married Keziah, one of the daughters of Col. Richard Callaway. He soon became deputy- surveyor for James Thompson, surveyor of Lincoln County. French became the first surveyor of Madison County on its organization in 1786. His work extended all over the county from Silver Creek to the Three Forks of the Kentucky River and the Rockcastle River. In 1795 he moved to Montgomery County where he became Associate Judge of the Circuit Court. He was active in the struggle between the Baptist and the Campbellites. He was known as a total abstainer, but when General Andrew Jackson was being entertained in Winchester, he responded to a toast by drinking two glasses and saying, "General Jackson doesn't come along every day."
John Crooke eame to Kentucky from Virginia in 1789 and became deputy surveyor for James French in 1792. When French went to Montgomery, he became surveyor of Madison, which position he held until his resignation in 1847. He made numerous maps with quill pens, and different colored inks, maps of Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and especially of Madison County, which then extended to the Virginia line. He made maps of Madison County showing diverse claims, laps and disputes. In fact, he had more to do with settling claims and titles in Kentucky than
2. Benjamin, not H.
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GLIMPSES OF HISTORIC MADISON COUNTY, KENTUCKY
any other man. He, with the aid of other pioneers, located all the old historic points in the County and left on record more information on the early history of Madison than any other man. He marked the trees in his surveys with J. C.
Crooke had little formal education, but he was fond of mathe- matics and prepared a manuscript text in arithmetic which is now in the College Museum in Richmond. He also produced an almanac and calculated eclipses with accuracy. He left many volumes of invaluable records and maps which are today in the possession of his descendents. Crooke, John White ( see elsewhere) and John Patrick were boon companions and called themselves the "Holy Trinity." But because of their many tall tales and their consumption of much tobacco and liquor some of their friends styled them "Hell's Trinity." Yet, John Crooke was not a drunkard, and late in life he became a local Methodist preacher. He died in 1849.
A son, Hezikiah, and a grandson, Harrison, succeeded John Crooke as surveyors of Madison County. These three Crookes, therefore, were surveyors of Madison for more than one hundred years. When they began the County extended from the Dix River to the Big Sandy, before the death of the third Crooke the boundary of the County had receded to its present limits of less than 500 square miles.
The compass which John Crooke used in laying out the town of Richmond, and in surveying many thousands of acres of land in early Madison, and also in surveying the Wilderness Road in 1812, is in the College Memorial Museum in Richmond.
THE KENNEDYS
John Kennedy, Jr. of royal Scotch descent was one of the thirty men who with Boone cut the Wilderness Road through to Boonesborough in 1775 and assisted in the erecting of the first fort. He and his father, John, were both surveyors from North Carolina and evidently they with two of his brothers, Thomas and Joseph, staked large claims for themselves through the Tran- sylvania Company title. There were two other younger brothers, Andrew and David and three sisters in the family.
Capt. John Kennedy, Jr.'s company under the command of Gen. George Rogers Clark was organized in 1780 under the Virginia
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MADISON COUNTY
laws as a part of the Kentucky County Militia. At the first session of the county court in the Kentucky territory in January, 1781, a commission from Thomas Jefferson, the governor of Virginia, was read appointing Capt. John Kennedy, Jr. one of the "13 gentlemen Justices of the Peace," but he was not there to hear it. He and two others had been killed the month previous at Cumberland Gap by the Indians as they were returning from North Carolina. At the same time, his younger brother, Joseph, was taken prisoner, although only twenty years of age Joseph had already had experience with the Indians and had served as a substitute for his elderly uncle in the Revolutionary War.
After his capture he was taken to a Cherokee village and there ordered to "run the gauntlet," which he refused to do. For this he was beaten to insensibility when an old Indian chief who had lost his own son at Cumberland Gap came to his rescue, saved him from being burned at the stake, and adopted him as his own son. With the death of the old chief, Joseph was sold for five pounds sterling and a new pair of leggings to a British fur trader, who in turn, sold him to the British in their post at Augusta, Georgia. There he saw the scalp of his brother John and his jacket with his name on it, both of which were taken at Cumber- land Gap the previous year. In the summer of 1781 this fort was taken by the American forces and prisoners were released. One of the first persons Joe saw was his old friend, Col. Evan Shelby, who had thought him to be dead.
Young Kennedy returned to Kentucky and resumed his military duties under Gen. Clark, participating in many Indian fights. Gov. Patrick Henry commissioned him one of the "gentleman Justices" of the first county court of Madison and he was chosen first high sheriff of the same. He served on the Land Boundaries Commission for several years and in 1792 Gov. Shelby appointed him major of the 7th Regiment of Kentucky. He served as a member of the Kentucky Legislature and was a delegate to the constitution convention of 1792. He was a "blue stocking" Presby- terian and his home was known for its hospitality. He died in 1845.
Thomas or Tom Kennedy was perhaps the richest of the five brothers. He had 2000 acres in one tract on Silver Creek and the branches of Paint Lick Creek in an early day. He built his own fort on Paint Lick Creek in 1780. Tom was a Capt. of
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GLIMPSES OF HISTORIC MADISON COUNTY, KENTUCKY
Dragoons during the Revolution and participated in several battles, having led his company in the Battle of King's Mountain. He was held as a prisoner by the British for several months during the war.
Kennedy was sent as a representative from Madison County to the Virginia Legislature in 1788 and again in 1791. He was a delegate of the convention at Danville, called in 1792 to frame the first constitution for Kentucky. He was one of a commission of five selected by the Legislature to choose a location for the Ken- tucky state capitol and was the first state senator elected from Madison County.
Thomas, as well as many others in that section, was bitterly op- posed to the removal of the county seat from Milford to Richmond in 1798. This dissension began with the creation of Garrard County in 1796 and the development of sentiment for a more central seat of government for Madison. Soon thereafter, Thomas Kennedy was elected Garrard's first Representative and continued as such for many years.
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