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 47
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As a neighbor, as an agriculturist, and as a polished gentleman in all the rel- tions of private and social life he was a model of his day and generation : and although his public career in the west. amidst its earliest difficulties, had always been one of high trust and confidence under all the changes of goverment. bis conduct in reference to the efforts to secure the navigation of the Mississippi. was the subject of envenomed caluinny at a subsequent period, when the pecunar condition of affairs in the early transactions in Kentucky was not fully appreci- ated. The proudest refutation of these misrepresentations, is found. however, in the repeated evidence of the approbation of Washington ; and the after intrigues attempted by Powers, as agent of the Spanish governor, but so promptly rejected by Innes and Nicholas, did not impair the public confidence in their devotion to the freedom and happiness of their country, of which a satisfactory proof is affor-
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ded in the refusal of Congress in 1808 to institute any measures for the impeachment of Judge Innes. The negotiations proposed by the Spanish agents, and listened to by the early patriots of Kentucky, had reference solely to commercial arrange- ments between the people occupying the same great valley. They occurred at a time when the Kentucky pioneers had, by personal exertion and peril, without aid from the mother state, conquered the forest and the roaming savage ; when neither Virginia nor the general government afforded them adequate protection, nor permitted them to exert their strength ; and, yet, no serious design was ever entertained in Kentucky of separating from the Union or accepting the protec- tion of Spain. The favorable progress of the subsequent negotiations entered into by the general government, rendering private efforts to secure the navigation of the Mississippi unnecessary, a corresponding reply by Innes and Nicholas was sent to Powers, and particularly rejecting the tempting monied offers made by that agent. In the language of Judge Hall, one of the most profound and polished writers of the west: " The motives of these early patriots stand unim- peached. They were actuated only by a zeal for the public good, and their names will hereafter stand recorded in history among those which Kentucky will be proud to honor. She has reared many illustrious patriots, but none who have served her more faithfully through a period of extraordinary embarrassment and peril, than Brown, Innes and Nicholas."
Judge Innes married, in early life, a daughter of Colonel Calloway, of Bed- ford county, Virginia, by whom he had four daughters, two of whom survive. Shortly after his removal to Kentucky, (having lost his first wife), he intermar- tied with Mrs. Shields, by whom he had one child, the present Mrs. Crittenden, wife of the Hon. John J. Crittenden. The venerable relict of Judge Innes sur- vives, at the age of eighty-seven-a noble specimen of the old school, in digni- fied courtesy and varied intelligence.
The Hon. THOMAS TODD, formerly chief justice of the State of Kentucky, and late one of the associate justices of the supreme court of the United States, was the youngest son of Richard Todd. He was born on the 23d of January, 1765, in the county of King and Queen, on York river, in the State of Virginia. His father was descended from one of the most respectable families in the colony, his ancestors being among the early emigrants from England. His mother was Eliz- abeth Richards. At the age of eighteen months, his father died, leaving a con- siderable estate, which, by the laws of primogeniture of that day, descended to the eldest son, William, afterwards high sheriff of Pittsylvania county in that State. This event rendered it necessary that his mother should exert herself to provide for the support and education of her orphan son. She repaired, for this purpose. to Manchester, opposite to Richmond, and, by the proceeds of a board- ing house under her care and management, she was enabled to give, at her death in 1776, a handsome patrimony to her son, in the care of his guardian and her executor, Dr. Mckenzie, of that place. . By the aid of his friends, Thomas Todd received a good English education, and advanced considerably in a knowledge of the Latin language, when his prospects were clouded by the unexpected em- barrassments of his guardian, which terminated in the loss of the patrimony be- queathed him by his mother.
At a tender and unprotected age, he was again thrown upon the world to de- pend for his support, education and character, upon his own efforts. To these contingencies, which seemed at the time to be remediless misfortunes, may be traced that energy and enterprise which afterwards signalized his character. Du- ring the latter period of the revolutionary war, he served a tour of duty for six months as a substitute ; and often. in after life. referred to the incident as being the first money he ever earned. He was afterwards a member of the Manchester troop of cavalry, during the invasion of Virginia by Arnold and Philips. Ha was shortly afterwards invited by his relative, the late Harry Innes, of Kentucky, who was a cousin of his mother, to reside in his family, then in Bedford county. By his friendship at that early period-a friendship cemented by forty years affectionate intercourse through life-he obtained a knowledge of surveying, and of the duties of a clerk. In 1795, Judge Innes visited Kentucky ; and having resolved to remove his family the following year, committed them to the care of his young friend, who arrived at Danville in the spring of 1786. Mr. Todd's
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pecuniary means were so limited, that, whilst residing in the family of Judge Innis at Danville, he was engaged during the day in teaching the daughters of his friend, and at night prosecuting the study of the law by fire-light.
This was an interesting period in the history of Kentucky. The people were actively engaged in measures to procure a separation from the parent State ; and such was the opinion entertained of his character for business, that he was cho- sen clerk of all the conventions held from that period until 1792, for the purpose of erecting the former into an independent member of the Union.
He commenced the practice of law very soon after he came to the State, and made his first etfort at Madison old court-house. His horse, saddle and bridle, and thirty-seven and a half cents in money, constituted his whole means at the commencement of the court : at the close of the term, he had made enough to meet his current expenses, and returned to Danville with the bonds for two cows and calves, the ordinary fees of that day. The high judicial stations he after- wards occupied with such reputation to himself, and such benefit to the country, are a proud commentary on the spirit of our institutions ; and form the noblest incentives to industry and perseverance in the prosecution of a profession.
Mr. Todd was appointed clerk of the federal court for the district of Kentucky, the duties of which he performed until the separation from Virginia, when he was appointed clerk of the court of appeals, under the new constitution. He held this office until December, 1801, when he was appointed by Governor Gar- rard fourth judge of the court of appeals ; an office created, it is believed, with the special object of adding some younger man to the bench, already filled by judges far advanced in life. In this station he continued until the resignation of Judge Muter. in 1806, when he was appointed, during the administration of Go- vernor Greenup, to be chief justice. During the session of Congress of 1806-7, the increase of business and of population in the western States, and the neces- sity of bringing into the supreme court some individual versed in the peculiar land law of those States. induced Congress to extend the judiciary system, by constituting Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio as the seventh circuit, and adding another member to the supreme court. In filling this new office, Mr. Jefferson adopted a mode somewhat different from that pursued in latter times. le re- quested each delegate from the States composing the circuit to communicate to him a nomination of their first and second choice. Judge Todd was the first or second upon the nomination of every delegate, although to some of them he was personally unknown. His appointment was the first intimation to him that he had been thought of for the office. In this high and arduous station he continued until his death, February 7th, 1826.
In 1788, he married Elizabeth Harris, a niece of William Stewart, from Penn- sylvania, an early adventurer to Kentucky, who fell in the battle of the Blue Licks. Five of their offspring, three sons and two daughters, arrived to maturity ; only two survived him, the youngest daughter and the second son, Colonel C. S. Todd, advantageously known as an officer of the late war, and as the first public agent of the United States in Colombia, South America. In IS11, Mrs. Todd died, and in 1812, Judge Todd married the widow of Major George Washington, a nephew of General Washington, and the youngest sister of Mrs. Madison, wifo of the late president. He left one daughter and two sons by this marriage.
Mr. Todd possessed, in an eminent degree, the respect and esteem of his friends. His stability and dignity of character, united with manners peculiarly amiable, left a deep impression on all with whom he had intercourse. Ilis deportment on the bench, as well as in the social circle, seenred him universal veneration. The benevolence of his character was manifested in the patronage and support he extended to many indigent young friends and near relations, whole families of whom he advanced in life by his friendly influence and means. There is one incident of this sort, which, being connected in some degree with his official career, deserves to be mentioned.
In 1805-6, some influential members of the legislature of Kentucky prevailed on chief justice Muter to resign, upon an assurance of being allowed a pension during life. He had devoted his property and the prime of his days to his country in the revolutionary war, and was now in indigent circumstances and far advanced in life. The pension was granted by the legislature at the next session, but repealed at the second session after the grant. In the mean time Judge Todd had
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succeeded his old friend as chief justice ; and about the time the legislature repealed the pension, he was appointed a judge of the supreme court of the Uni- ted States, with a salary more than double that of the chief justice of Kentucky. He proposed to his friend Muter to come and reside with him, especially as a better adverse claim had deprived Muter of his home. The offer was accepted ; and Muter, who had commanded a ship of war during the revolution, with the rank of Colonel ; and who had, without reproach, presided in the civil tribunals of the State from its early settlement, spent the remainder of his days upon the bounty of judge Todd. As a testimony of his gratitude and affection, Muter hav- ing no family, made Todd his heir and residuary legatee, though at the time his debts greatly exceeded his available means. But, as though heaven had decreed that an act so generous in an individual, when contrasted with the-ingratitude of the State, should not go unrewarded even in this world, the revolutionary claims of Judge Muter have been acknowledged by congress, and the proceeds have descended to the widow and younger children of Judge Todd.
The land law of Kentucky, originally an act of the assembly of Virginia of 1789, forms a peculiar system, and has been established chiefly upon principles of law and equity contained in decisions of the appellate court. To this result the labors of Judge Todd eminently contributed, as well in the state court as in the supreme court of the United States. His opinions had a prevailing influence in the decisions of the state authorities ; and his decisions on the circuit were rarely reversed in the supreme court at Washington-an exalted tribunal, whose character is illustrated by the genius and attainments of Marshall, Story, Wash- ington and Trimble. He was cherished with peculiar regard by his associates in the state and national tribunals ; his judgment and acquaintance with the prin- ciples of the land law having, in one instance in particular, (the Holland com- pany of New York,) rescued the reputation of the supreme court from the effects of an erroneous decision, which, at one time, nearly all of the judges would have pronounced, against his advice,
Mr. Todd entered upon the duties of judge of the supreme court at the age of forty-two; the station required an experienced head upon a younger man's shoul- ders. He possessed at that time, the abilities to act under the system which made it the duty of the judge to sit twice a year in the three western states, and once a year at Washington ; but no constitution could long survive under the operation of this incongruous system ; and the last years of Judge Todd were worn down with the duties of his office. A dyspepsia, which impaired his gen- eral health. gradually reduced his strength ; and for the last two years of his life he rarely attended court.
Judge Todd's person was finely proportioned, and his face a model of beauty and intelligence. The soundness of his judgment, the dignity of his manners, and the probity of his conduct, made him the esteemed associate of Shelby and other patriotic statesmen who adorned the early annals of the state ; as well as of those who, in latter days, have shed imperishable lustre on the genius and char- acter of the first republic in the wilderness of the great west. Posterity will long venerate the name of a citizen, who, among such contemporaries, by the force of his talents and the integrity of his heart, rose to the first offices of his country.
" Mr. Justice Todd possessed many qualities admirably fitted for the proper dis- charge of judicial functions. He had uncommon patience and candor in invest :- gation ; great clearness and sagacity of judgment ; a cautious but steady energy ; a well balanced independence ; a just respect for authority ; and, at the same time, an unflinching adherence to his own deliberate opinions of the law. His modesty imparted a grace to an integrity and singleness of heart, which won for him the general confidence of all who knew him. He was not ambitious of inn .- vations upon the settled principles of the law ; but was content with the more unostentatious character of walking in the trodden paths of jurisprudence-super antiquas rias legis. From his diffident and retiring habits, it required a long ac- quaintance with him justly to appreciate his judicial as well as his personal mei- its. His learning was of a useful and solid cast : not perhaps as various or as comprehensive as that of some men ; but accurate and transparent, and applica- ble to the daily purposes of the business of human life. In his knowledge i the local law of Kentucky, he was excelled by few ; and his brethren drew
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largely upon his resources to administer that law, in the numerous cases which then crowded the docket of the supreme court from that judicial circuit. What he did not know, he never affected to possess ; but sedulously sought to acquire. He was content to learn without assuming to dogmatise. Hence he listened to arguments for the purpose of instruction, and securing examination ; and not merely for that of confutation, or debate. Among his associates he enjoyed an enviable respect, which was constantly increasing as he became more familiarly known to them. His death was deemed by them a great public calamity ; and in the memory of those who survived him, his name has ever been cherished with a warm and affectionate remembrance."
No man ever clung to the constitution of the United States with a more strong and resolute attachment. And in the grave cases which were agitated in the supreme court of the United States during his judicial life, he steadfastly sup- ported the constitutional doctrines which Mr. Chief Justice Marshall promulga- ted in the name of the court. It is to his honor, and it should be spoken, that, though bred in a different political school from that of the chief justice, he never failed to sustain those great principles of constitutional law on which the secu- rity of the Union depends. He never gave up to party, what he thought belonged to the country.
For some years before his death, he was sensible that his health was declining, and that he might soon leave the bench, to whose true honor and support he had been so long and zealously devoted. To one of his brethren, who had the satis- faction of possessing his unreserved confidence, he often communicated his ear- nest hope that Mr. Justice Trimble might be his successor, and he bore a willing testimony to the extraordinary ability of that eminent judge. It affords a stri- king proof of his sagacity and foresight; and the event fully justified the wis- dom of his choice. Although Mr. Justice Trimble occupied his station on the beuch of the supreme court for a brief period only, yet he has left on the records of the court enduring monuments of talents and learning fully adequate to all the exigencies of the judicial office. To both these distinguished men, under such circumstances, we may well apply the touching panegyric of the poet :
" Fortunati ambo! Nulla dies unquam memori vos eximel ævo."
HUMPHREY MARSHALL, Esq., the father of the present Thomas A. Marshall of the court of appeals, and of the late John J. Marshall, of Louisville, was one of the early pioneers of Kentucky, and for many years was a distinguished citizen of Franklin county. He came to Kentucky about the year 1780, and from his undisputed talents soon assumed a high rank and a conspicuous position among the public men of the State. For many years no man was more actively engaged in the contests which agitated the political circles of Kentucky ; and however great the prejudice excited against him in the breasts of some, by party feeling. he was never denied the possession of brilliant talents and commanding force of character. He was a member of the convention of 1787 which assembled at Danville, preliminary to the formation of a constitution for the state. He was a prominent and influential member of the legislature for many years, and in 1995 he was elected to the senate of the United States, for the term of six years, end- ing on the 4th of March, 1801. Mr. Marshall was a federalist, and held : > sil the principles and measures of that party in their fullest extent. In 1824. he puh- lished a history of Kentucky, the first ever published. This work bears evident marks of high talent, and although occasionally marred by the introduction (! the personal prejudices of the author, is a most delightful and entertaining produe- tion. He died a few years ago, at an advanced age, at the residence of his son Thomas A. Marshall, in Lexington.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, from whom Franklin county received its name, one of the most eminent philosophers of modern times, and a distinguished statesman of the revolution, was born in the city of Boston on the 12th of Jannary, 1706. His father was a tallow chandler and soap boiler, one of those English non-conform- ists who emigrated to the wilderness of America to enjoy religious freedom. Benjamin was the fifteenth of seventeen children ; and being intended for the ministry, was sent to a common grammar school at the age of eight years. The
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design, however, of educating him for the ministry his father was compelled. by his straitened circumstances, to abandon. Young Benjamin was taken from school and employed in cutting wicks, filling moulds, and running errands, Dis- gusted with this occupation, he was soon after placed with his brother to learn the printing business. His apprenticeship does not appear to have been pleasant, and after he had been with his brother some time, he availed himself of an op- portunity which presented itself to terminate the connection between them, and went to Philadelphia, Here he obtained employment as a compositor, and hav- ing attracted the notice of Sir William Keith, the governor of Pennsylvania, was induced by his promises to go to England for the purpose of purchasing types to establish himself in business. Deceived in the promises of Sir. William Keith, he found himself in London without money, friends, or employment. But he soon succeeded in getting business, and became a model of industry and temper- ance. While in London he continued to devote his leisure hours to study. After a residence of eighteen months in London, he returned to Philadelphia, in the capacity of clerk in a dry goods shop ; but he soon returned to his trade, and in a short time formed an establishment in connection with a person who supplied the necessary capital. They printed a newspaper, which was managed with much ability. and acquired Franklin much reputation. It is impossible to trace all the steps of his progress to distinction. His industry, frugality, temperance, activity, intelligence ; his plans for improving the condition of the province ; and his municipal services, made him an object of attention to the whole community. His advice was asked by the governor and council on all important occasions, and he was elected a member of the provincial assembly. He engaged actively in various literary pursuits, and was the founder of the university of Pennsylvania, and of the American philosophical society, and one of the chief promoters of the Pennsylvania hospital. In the scientific world he is highly distinguished for his experiments and discoveries in electricity. In 1,5l he was appointed deputy post master general. In 1757, the disputes with the mother country occasioned him to be sent to Great Britain as the agent of the province of Pennsylvania. While in Great Britain, Oxford and the Scotch universities conferred on him the degree of I.L. D., and the royal society elected him a fellow. In 1762, he re- turned to America ; but in 1764 was again sent to England as a representative. not of a single province. but of the whole colonies. On the 3d of February, 1766, he was examined before the house of commons in relation to the stamp act. In 1775 he returned to America, and was immediately elected to Congress. He was a member of the committee appointed to prepare the declaration of inde- pendence, and his name is attached to that instrument as one of the signers. In 1:76 he was sent as minister to France. He remained in France until the close of the war, and was one of the commissioners to negotiate a treaty of peace with Great Britain. In 1785 he returned to the United States. On his return to his native country, before he was permitted to retire to the bosom of his family. he filled the office of governor of Pennsylvania, and served as a delegate in the con- vention of 1787, which formed the federal constitution. He died April 17th. 1790, with his faculties unimpaired, and in the full enjoyment of all his powers. after a career of usefulness and honor which it has fallen to the lot of few men to run.
FULTON COUNTY.
FULTON county was formed in 1845, and named in honor of ROBERT FULTON. It is situated in the extreme south-west corner of the State, lying on the Mississippi river-bounded on the north by Hickman, east by Graves, south by the Tennessee line. and west by the Mississippi river. HICKMAN, formerly Mills' Point, is the county seat. The face of the country east and south of
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Hickman is level and fertile; while in the south-west it is broken and only tolerably fertile. In the west, the land is low, and sub- ject to inundation for a distance of twenty-five miles along the river bank-but is very rich and, in dry seasons particularly, re- markably productive. The staples of the county are corn, hay and tobacco, the latter cultivated to great perfection-the exports are tobacco, cotton, corn, wheat, horses, mules, cattle, hogs, sheep, turkies, &c.
The taxable property of Fulton in 1846 was valued at $758,- 603; number of acres of land in the county, 87,177; average value of lands per acre, $3,97; number of white males over twenty-one years of age, 624 ; number of children between six and fifteen years old, 764.
HICKMAN, the county seat, and only town of Fulton, has a pop- ulation of five hundred inhabitants, is situated on the Missis- sippi river, thirty-five miles below the mouth of the Ohio, and 320 miles from Frankfort-contains two churches, (one Episco- pal and one free for all denominations), twelve stores, including several forwarding and commission houses, two drug stores, two taverns, four physicians, two dentists, six lawyers, one rectifying house, one tan yard, one plough factory, twenty other mechanical shops, and one newspaper (the Commercial Standard). This place was established by act of the Legislature in 1834-then called " Mills' Point"-and changed to its present name in 1837, in honor of Colonel Hickman, who fell at the river Raisin. It was originally settled by Mr. Mills in 1819. The exports of Hick- man in 1845, as furnished by an intelligent citizen, were- three thousand hogsheads of tobacco, two thousand bales of cot- ton, two hundred thousand bushels of corn, fifty thousand bush- els wheat, thirty thousand dozen chickens and turkies ; also, a great number of horses, mules, cattle, sheep, and hogs.
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