USA > Kentucky > Historical sketches of Kentucky : embracing its history, antiquities, and natural curiosities, geographical, statistical, and geological descriptions with anecdotes of pioneer life, and more than one hundred biographical sketches of distinguished pioneers, soldiers, statesmen, jurists, lawyers, divines, etc. > Part 29
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The towns of Boyle are Danville and Perryville. DANVILLE is situated three miles west from Dick's river, forty miles south by west from Frankfort, and thirty-tive miles from Lexington-lati- tude thirty-seven degrees thirty minutes north. It contains a new and capacious court-house and other public buildings, - churches-Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist. Reformed or Chris- tian, Episcopal and African,-a branch bank of the Bank of Ken- tucky, twelve dry goods stores, one book and drug store. two he- tels, ten physicians, nine lawyers, one weekly newspaper, (the Kentucky Tribune), several mills and factories, and about forty mechanics' shops and manufacturing establishments. Centre College, the Deaf and Dumb Asylum, and a fine Female Seul- nary, are also situated in Danville. Danville was established by
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BOYLE COUNTY.
the: Virginia legislature in 1787, and was for many years the wat of government of Kentucky. The first court-house and jail built in Kentucky was erected here, and here the first constitu- tion of the state was formed; but owing to some freak of for- tune, the seat of government was moved to Lexington in 1793, where it enjoyed but a brief sojourn, and was removed from thence to Frankfort. The town was laid out by Mr. Walker Daniel, who gave it its name. Population about 2,000. PERRY- VILLE is a small village twelve miles west of Danville-contains one Presbyterian church and one Cumberland Presbyterian church, seven physicians, two taverns, five stores, one wool fac- tory, and eight mechanical trades. Established in 1817.
The Deaf and Dumb Asylum located at Danville was chartered in 1822, and went into operation the spring following. The plan of instruction pursued in this institution is based upon the system invented and successfully used by the Abbe Sicard, of Paris, in France, with such improvements as experience has pointed out. The average number of pupils is about thirty. Two instructors attend thein all the time. The other officers of the institution are a physician, superintendent and matron, in whose family all the pupils reside and receive their constant attention. The terins of admission are $105 per year for board and tui- tion to those who can afford to pay ; but ample provision has been made by the state for those who are in indigent circumstances, which fact must be certified to by a magistrate in the county where they reside. Persons in comfortable cir- cumstances at home. but unable to educate their children without ruinous sacrifi- ces, receive the public assistance. in part or in whole, as may be necessary. The buildings consist of two substantial plain brick houses, which are ample and comfortable, situated in a retired part of the town, with a superintendent who is eminently qualified to discharge the duties of his station. ' The number of popiis in the institution from January 1, 1846, to January 1, 1847, was fifty-three, and provis on is made by law for the support of forty indigent pupils.
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CENTRE COLLEGE, DANVILLE, KY.
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CENTRE COLLEGE.
CENTRE COLLEGE is located in Danville, a pleasant town near the centre of ... state, with a very intellectual and intelligent population. The college was char- tered by the legislature of Kentucky in 1819. Jeremiah Chamberlain, D. D .. the first president, went into office in 1823. In 1821. the board of trustees, ac- cording to an arrangement with the Presbyterian synod of Kentucky, procured an act of the legislature modifying its charter so as to secure to the synod, co its payment of twenty thousand dollars to the funds of the institution, the right of appointing the board of trustees. This condition having, in 1830. bren com- pletely fulfilled on the part of the synod, all the members of the board have since that period been appointed by the synod, as their terms of office, from the to time, have expired. One third of the board are appointed each year.
Dr. Chamberlain resigned his office in 1826, and the Rev. Gideon Blackburn. D. D., succeeded him in 1827, the office having, in the meantime, been tempora- rily filled by the Rev. David C. Proctor. On the resignation of Dr. Blackbura in 1830, JOHN C. YOUNG, D. D., the present president, was elected.
The number of students varied in the earlier period of the existence of the institution, from fifty to one hundred and ten, and a very large proportion of those in attendance were pursuing only a partial and irregular course. In 1530. the number of students had been reduced to 33 of all classes, including those in tin grammar school, as well as those in the college proper. Since that period, the number has been, with slight temporary variations, steadily, but slowly increasing. until it has ranged, during the last three years, from one hundred and sixty-fiv. to one hundred and eighty-five. The number of those pursuing a full course, h. increased in a much greater ratio. The graduating classes, formerly very small, have been steadily enlarging. The graduates of the first twelve years amount d to 55. This number the last ten years has enlarged to 224. About 1200 students have been connected with the institution, nearly all of whom have received all their higher education from its instructions.
The syned determined to raise $100,000 as a permanent endowment. Fonds have been already contributed, by the liberality of varions individuals, which, as vested by the board, yield an annual income of about $3.000. Of this amount. twelve thousand dollars were given by Mr. Samuel Laird, of Fayette county, to endow a professorship. Measures have been adopted which, it is hoped, will secure the full amount contemplated by the synod.
The course of instruction varies but slightly from that pursued by those colleges which have the oldest and most established reputation. An equal amount of the ancient languages and mathematics is taught. In the natural sciences, the want of equal facilities for illustration and experiment renders the course somewhat less complete than theirs ; while, on the other hand, in the moral and mental sciences, it is somewhat more extensive.
The moral and religious culture of the youth under their care, has been always regarded by the officers of the college, as their most important object. Their a.mu is not to inculcate the peculiarities of any religions sect, but to fix in the mit .* and hearts of their pupils those great and controlling truths of revelation, which influence the happiness, and shape the character of men for time and eternity ; and while no parent of any other religious denomination has ever had his son proselyted here, many have rejoiced to find him return, at the close of his college course, deeply impressed with those religious principles which give strength an! consolation to man in the duties and trials of life. The college has been remirk. able for many years, for the moral and religious habits of its students. and for the rare occurrence of such disorders as are frequent in many institutions.
The tuition fre is thirty dollars per session of ten months. The erniedr charges in town, for board. washing, lodging, fuel and lights, vary from two d . lars to two dollars and fifty cords per werk ; and in the country, at from one ! two miles distant, from one dollar and twenty-five cents to two dollars per week Young men pursuing their studies with a view to the ministry, and receiving au! from any society, pay only ten dollars per annum for tuition.
In the libraries connected with the college, there are between five thousand and six thousand volumes, and among them, some rare and valuable works. T. course of sindy embraces the customary period of four years ; and instructions given in all the branches of learning usually taught in the colleges of the country.
There is but one term during the year, with a short vacation in the spring.
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Commencement on the third Thursday in July. The session begins on the third Thursday in September.
Among the early settlers of Danville, was a young man, named Tom Johnson, possessed of a good education and some genius, and withal a poet. He became, however, an inveterate drunkard, his intemperance hurrying him to a premature grave. On one occasion, when Tom's poetical inspirations were quickened by his devotions at the shrine of Bacchus, he came into Gill's tavern to procure his dinner ; but too many hearty caters had been in advance of him at the table, and Tom found nothing but bones and crumbs. He surveyed the table for some minutes quite philosophically, and then offered up the following prayer :
"O! Thou who blest the loaves and fishes, Look down upon these empty dishes ; And that same power that did them fill, Bless each of us, but d-n old Gill."
A man in the neighborhood, bearing the christian name of John, had become largely indebted to the merchants and others of Danville, and like many of the present day. left for parts unknown. Tom consoled the sufferers by the following impromptu effusion :
"John ran so long and ran so fast, No wonder he ran out at last ; He ran in debt, and then to pay, He distanc'd all, and ran away."
WALKER DANIEL, a young lawyer from Virginia, came to Boyle, then Lincoln, in 1781. and entered upon the practice of his profession. His ouly competitor at that period, was Christopher Greenup, afterwards governor of the State. Mr. Daniel was the original proprietor of the town of Danville, and succeeded in lay- ing the foundation of an extensive fortune. He was killed by the Indians in August, 1784, after the short residence of three years. From an old pioneer of Mercer, we learn that Mr. Daniel was a young gentleman of rare talents, and gave promise of great distinction.
JOHN BOYLE, for more than sixteen years chief justice of Kentucky, was born of humble parentage, October 28, 1774, in Virginia, at a place called " Castle Woods," on Clinch river. in the then county of Bottetourt, near Russell or Taze- well. His father emigrated, in the year 1779, to Whitley's station in Kentucky. whence he afterwards moved to a small estate in the county of Garrard, where he spent the remainder of his days.
Young Boyle's early education, notwithstanding the limited means of obtaining scholastic instruction, was good, and his knowledge of what he learned thorough. In the rudiments of the Greek and Latin languages. and of the most useful of the sciences, the Rev. Samuel Finley, a pious Presbyterian minister of Madison county, was his instructor. Energetic and ambitious. Mr. Boyle readily settled upon the law as the calling most congenial to his feelings, and most certain and gratifying in its rewards. He studied under the direction of Thomas Davis, of Mercer county, then a member of congress, and whom he succeeded as the repre- sentative of the district.
In the year 1797, just after he had entered upon his professional career. he married Elizabeth Tilford, the daughter of a plain. pious, and frugal farmer. ind moved to the town of Lancaster. In the following year. upon an out-lot of the town, which he had purchased, he built a small log house, with only two rounv, in which not only himself, but three other gentlemen-who successive y fotos him as a national representative, and one of whom succeeded him in the chief of .... ship. and another served a constitutional form in the gubernatorial chair of his" .. . v. -began the sober business of conjugal life. Here the duties of his profession engrossed his attention until 1802, when he was elected, without oppositi n, to the house of representatives of the United States.
As a member of congress. Mr. Boyle was vigilant. dignified, and useful, com- manding at once the respect and confidence of the Jeffersonian. the then 4 min- and party, with which he acted, and the hearty approbation of a liberal conduta- they. He was twice re-elected without competition. and refused a fourth canvas, because a political life was less congenial to his taste, than the practice of his
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JOHN BOYLE.
profession amid the sweets of his early home. The same feeling compelled him to decline more than one federal appointment. tendered him by President Jetterson, President Madison, among his earliest official acts, appointed him the first gny- ernor of Illinois, a position doubly alluring, and which Mr. Boyle conditionally accepted .. On his return to Kentucky, he was tendered a circuit judgeship, and afterwards a seat upon the bench of the court of appeals. The latter he accepted. and entered upon its onerous and responsible duties on the 4th of April, 1809. Ninian Edwards, then chief justice of the court, solicited and obtained the relin- quished governorship.
On the 3d of April. 1810. Judge Boyle was promoted to the chief justiceship, which he continued to hold until the 8th of November, 1826. The decisions of the court, while he was upon the bench, are comprised in fifteen volumes of the State Reports. from Ist Bibb to 3d Monroe, and are marked with firmness and purity.
Chief Justice Boyle was the head of the " Old Court" of appeals, during the intensely exciting contest of three years duration, between the " Relief" or " New Court," and the " Anti-Relief" or " Old Court" parties. The notes of "The Bank of the Commonwealth," issued upon a deficient capital, were ne- cessarily quite fluctuating in value-at one time depreciating more than fifty per cent. A serious revulsion in the monetary interests of the State. opened the way for a system of popular legislation, designed to satisfy temporarily the cry for re- lief. The two years replevin law-prolonging from three months to two years the right of replevying judgments and decrees on contracts, unless the creditor would accept Commonwealth bank money at par-was the crowning project of the system. The court of appeals unanimously decided the statute unconstitu- tional, so far as it was designed to be retroactive-a step that brought upon them the full torrent of popular abuse and indignation. The relief party carried the day at the election soon after. (1823), and on the meeting of the legislature. an address was voted-by less than heo-thirds, as the constitution required. to re- move by address-calling upon the governor to remove the appellate judges. and setting forth their decision as unauthorised. ruinous and absurd. This bold effort at intimidation failing in its end. at the succeeding session the majority, grown more determined rs the echo of the popular will became louder, "re-organized" the court of appeals. or abolished the court established by the constitution, and instituted a new court, for which purpose commissions were issued to other per- sons. Matters now reached a crisis, and Kentucky was required either to take her stand by the broad fundamental law which had so powerfully contributed to her progress, or to yield to the inconstant, unreasonable and selfish clamor that rang hoarsely through the State. The struggle was. as it were, for the life of the State-involving the stability of a constitutional government, and the effi- ctency and independence of an enlightened judiciary. In August, 1826, the appeal to the ballot box decided the contest. The " Old Court" party triumphed, and confidence was gradually restored in the ability, integrity and purity of Chief Justice Boyle and his associates.
In the November following, the earliest day at which it could be done consis- tently with his determination to ride out the judicial storm the memorable deci- sion of the court had hrewed. Boyle resigned the chief justiceship of Kentucky. But his services upon the bench were too highly appreciated to he dispensed with. The federal government, anticipating his resignation, tendered him the office of district judge of Kentucky, which he accepted, and was induced to hold, although his better judgment prompted him to give it up, until his death, which occurred on the 25th day of J ingarv. 1-35. His estimable lady preceded him a year and a half. having fallen a victim to that scourge of the nations, the cholera. in 1833.
The appointment of associate justice of the supreme court of the United States was twice within ins reach ; but he loved retirement, and distrusted his qualifi- cations for a position so responsible. Upon the death of Judge Todd, he refused to be recommended as his successor; and. subsequently, expressed the same un- willingness upon the demise of Judge Trimble. of the same court.
For one year, in the litter part of his life. he was sole professor in the Train- sylvania law school. Numbers of young men followed him to the quiet of this home, where his pleasures were divided between teaching law, miscellaneous reading, and the cares of his family and farm.
دهنلاتر
الماء الداف دمشق
3, 4, . USTA, KY.
AvicETA
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BRACKEN COUNTY.
His dying ejaculation-"I have lived for my country"-is the best calegiem that could be written upon his life and public services. In all the relati.4: father, friend, representative and judge, his conduct and conversation marked with as a man, tender and sympathising, generous and disinterested, faithful and vigi- lant, deliberative and incorruptible.
BRACKEN COUNTY.
BRACKEN county was formed in 1796, lies in the northern part of the state, on the Ohio river, and bounded as follows: North by the Ohio river, east by Mason, west by Pendleton, south-west by Harrison, and south-east by Nicholas. Brooksville is the county seat-Augusta the principal town and landing place or depot. The lands of the county are high, and the surface rolling and hilly, such as usually border on the Ohio river, the south-west resting upon the Licking river. The upper part, bordering on Mason, is rich and fertile. The staples are tobacco, wheat, corn and pork. The finest " Mason county tobacco" is raised in Bracken ; the wheat crops are good, and the land, when new, produces good corn.
Number of acres of land in Bracken 124,844; taxable property in 1846, $1,750,242 ; average value of land per acre, $7,99 ; num- ber of white males over twenty-one years of age, 1,421 ; number of children between five and sixteen years old, 1,675. Popula- tion in 1830, 6,392-in 1840, 7,053.
AUGUSTA lies on the Ohio river, six miles below the Mason line, and immediately below the mouth of Bracken creek. The town includes three hundred acres of land, and is one of the most beautiful situations on the Ohio river, with a fine harbor. It is eighteen miles below Maysville, and forty-five miles above Cin- cinnati-has three lawyers, four physicians, and contains three brick churches. (Methodist, Presbyterian and Baptist), the town hall, a large brick building fifty feet square, the spacious and el- egant edifice of the Augusta college, large steam saw and mer- chant mills, an extensive tannery, ten stores and groceries, one book and drug store, three tobacco warehouses, a large number of mechanics' shops, and 1,200 inhabitants. A letter from Gen. JOHN PAYNE, who has resided many years in Augusta, and who was an active, brave, and efficient officer under Harrison at the Mississinaway towns, and on the north-west frontier during the last war with Great Britain, gives the following interesting ac- count of the ancient remains discovered in that place :
The bottom on which Augusta is situated, is a large burying ground of the ancients. A post hole cannot be dug without turning up human bones. They have been found in grat numbers, and of all sizes, every where between the months of Bracken and L. cust creeks, a distance of about a mate and a half. From the cellar under my derile. .. Hast by seventy feet, one hundred and ten skeletons were taken. I numbered them to the shins ; and there might have been many more, whose skulls had crumbled into dust. My asplen was a cemetery ; it is full of bones, and the richest ground I ever saw. The skeleton were of all sizes, from seven feet to the infant. David Kilgour (who was a tall and very large
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BREATHITT COUNTY.
man) passed our village at the time I was excavating my cellar, and we took him down and applied a thigh bone to his -- the owner, if well proportioned, must have been some ten or twelve inches taller than Kilgour, and the lower jaw bone would slip on over his, skin and all. Who were they ? How came their bones there ? Among the Indians there is no tra- dition that any town was located near here, or that any battle was ever fought near here. When I was in the ariny, I inquired of old Crane, a Wyandott, and of Anderson. a Dele- ware, both intelligent old chiefs, (the former died at camp Seneca in 1813.) and they could give no information in reference to these remains of antiquity. They knew the localities at the mouths of Locust, Turtle and Bracken creeks, but they knew nothing of any town or village near there. In my garden, Indian arrow heads of flint have been found, and an earthen ware of clay and pounded muscle. Some of the largest trees of the forest were growing over these remains when the land was cleared in 1792.
Augusta College, one of the best literary institutions of the west, is located here. It is under the patronage of the Methodist Episcopal church, and was the first college ever established by that denomination in the world. The college was founded in 1822-has six professorships, and a preparatory and primary school attached to it. The number of students varies from one hundred to one hundred and fifty. The library contains 2,500 volumes. Commencement on Thursday after the first Wednesday in August. Rev. Joseph S. Tomlinson, D. D. President.
BROOKSVILLE, the seat of justice, is nine miles from Augusta, and about sixty-five miles from Frankfort-contains a commodious brick court-house and other public buildings ; three taverns, three stores, three lawyers, two physicians, and four mechanics' shops. Population about seventy-five. Named after David Brooks. Pou- ersville, is a small village, three miles south of Brooksville, con- taining but few inhabitants. Germantown, a handsome village, lies on the line between Mason and Bracken,-the greatest portion in Bracken.
The soil of Bracken is based on yellow clay, with limestone foundation. Tim- ber, in some parts, sugar tree, buckeye, black walnut and hickory ; in others, white and black oak. Gold has been found in the county, and it is believed by some of the most intelligent citizens that. upon a strict examination, by competent persons, this precious metal might be found in great abundance.
This county derived its name from two creeks : Big and Little Bracken, and these creeks were called for an old hunter, named Bracken, who settled on the banks of one of them, and is supposed to have been killed by the Indians at an early period of the settle- ment of Kentucky.
BREATHITT COUNTY.
BREATHITT county was formed in 1839, and called after the late Governor Breathitt. It is situated in the eastern part of the State. on the head waters of the Kentucky river ; and is bounded on the north by Morgan county ; east by Floyd ; south by Perry, and west by Owsley. Jackson is the county seat and only town. The surface is hilly, interspersed with rich and productive vallies-the soil based on red clay, with sandstone foundation. The county abounds in bituminous coal, large quantities of which are sent to market annually, down the Kentucky river. Iron ore is also found in abundance ; and salt is manufactured to some extent. The
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principal articles of export are coal, timber, beeswax and ginseng. Taxable property of the county in 1846, $323,479. Number of acres of land in Breathitt 162,121; number of white males over twenty-one years, 528 ; number of children between the ages of five and sixteen years, 868. Population in 1840, 2,195.
JACKSON, the county seat, received its name in honor of the late president Jackson. It contains the county buildings, one Metho- dist church, one Reformed church, two schools, five stores and groceries, two taverns, three lawyers, one doctor and five me- chanical trades. Population, 150.
JOHN BREATHITT, late governor of Kentucky, (for whom this county was called) was a native of the state of Virginia. He was the eldest child of William Breathitt, and was born on the ninth day of September, 1786, about two miles from New London, near the road leading to Lynchburg. His father removed from Virginia, and settled in Logan county, Kentucky, in the year 1800, where he raised a family of five sons and four daughters. The old gentleman was a farmer, possessed of a few servants and a tract of land, but not sufficiently wealthy to give his children collegiate educations. The schools of his neighborhood (for it should be remembered the Green river country was a wilderness in 1800), afforded but few opportunities for the advancement of pupils. John, the subject of this notice, made the best use of the means for improvement placed within his reach, and by diligent attention to his books, made himself a good surveyor. Before he arrived at age, he received an appointment as deputy surveyor of the public lands, and in that capacity. surveyed many townships in the state of Illinois, then a territory of the United States.
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