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 64
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JAMES MADISON, the fourth president of the United States, in honor of whom this county received its name, was born in Port Royal, a town on the south side of the Rappahannock, in Virginia, on the 5th of March, 1751. The house of his
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MARION COUNTY.
parents, however, was in Orange county, where he always resided. Mr. Madi- son received the very best education the country afforded, having graduated at Princeton college, during the presidency of the celebrated Dr. Witherspoon. Upon leaving college, he studied law, not, however, with a view of making it a profession. In 1776 he was elected to the legislature of Virginia. At the snc- ceeding county election he was not returned, but when the legislature assembled he was appointed a member of the council of State, which place he held until he was elected to Congress in 1779. Whilst a member of the council of State, be formed an intimate friendship with Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson, which was never afterwards interrupted. He continued in Congress from 1780 till the expiration of the allowed term computed from the ratification of the articles of confederation in 1981. During the years 1780-81-82-83, he was a leading, ac- tive and influential member of that body, and filled a prominent part in all its deliberations. In the years 1784-85-86, he was elected a delegate to the State legislature. In 1786 he was a member of the convention at Annapo- lis, which assembled preliminary to the convention at Philadelphia, which forned the federal constitution. Of the latter convention he was also a member, and assisted to frame the present constitution of the United States. He continued a member of the old Congress by re-appointment until its expiration in 1786. On the adoption of the constitution. he was elected to Congress from his district, and continued a member from 1789 till 1797. He was the author of the celebrated resolution against the alien and sedition laws passed by the Virginia legislature in 1798. When Mr. Jefferson was elected president in 1801, he appointed Mr. Madison secretary of state, in which office he continued during the eight years of Jefferson's administration. In 1809, on the retirement of Mr. Jefferson, he was elected president, and administered the government during a period of eight years. At about sixty years of age, he retired from public life, and ever after- wards resided on his estate in Virginia, except about two months, while at Rich- * mond as a member of the convention in 1829, which sat there to remould the con- stitution of the State. His farm, his books, his friends, and his correspondence, were the sources of his enjoyment and occupation during the twenty years of his retirement. On the 28th of June, 1836, he died, as serene, philosophical and calm in the last moments of his existence as he had been in all the trying ocea- sions of life. When they received intelligence of his death, the Congress of the United States adopted a resolution appointing a public oration to commemorate his life, and selected the Hon. John Q. Adams to deliver it.
MARION COUNTY.
MARION county was formed in 1834, and named after General FRANCIS MARION, a distinguished partizan officer of the revolution- ary war It is situated in the central portion of the state, and lies on the head waters of the Rolling fork of Salt river : Bounded on the north by Washington ; east by Boyle and Casey; south by Greene ; and west by Larue. The face of the country, in the greater portion of Marion, is gently undulating ; but there are several chains of hills or " knobs," as they are called. run- ning partially or entirely through the county. The soil, gener- ally, is of a superior quality and very productive ; but in a small portion of the county is comparatively poor. Horses, mules and hoge are exported in large quantities-and tobacco and corn are extensively cultivated. Iron ore, in small quantities, is found in the hills of the county.
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FRANCIS MARION.
Number of acres of land in Marion, 194,117 ; average value per acre, $5.93 ; total value of taxable property in the county in 1846, 52,650,401 ; number of white males over twenty-one years of age, 1,648 ; number of children between five and sixteen years old, 2,002. Population in 1840, 11,032.
There are four towns in Marion, viz : Lebanon, the seat of jus- tice, Bradfordsville, New Market and Raywick. LEBANON is a handsome town, about sixty miles from Frankfort-containing a court-house, three churches, (Roman Catholic, Methodist, and Presbyterian,) one male and one female seminary, six physicians, eight lawyers, three taverns, fourteen stores and groceries, one steam saw mill, fifteen mechanics' shops, and about 750 inhabi- tants : Incorporated in 1815, and took its name from the surround- ing growth of cedars. Bradfordsville is a small village, nine miles south of Lebanon, containing two churches, (Methodist and Christian,) one tavern, and 120 inhabitants : Named after Peter Bradford. New Market lies six miles south of Lebanon, on the Rolling fork-contains a Presbyterian church, tavern, store and post-office, with about 50 inhabitants. Raywick is also situated on the Rolling fork, twelve miles west of Lebanon-containing 80 inhabitants, a Catholic church, post-office, &c. Named for Mesers. Ray and Wick-litle.
ST. MARY'S COLLEGE, a Roman Catholic institution, is situated five miles from Lebanon, in this county. The college buildings are extensive and handsome, and the domain embraces about seven hundred acres of first rate land. W. S. MURPHY, president, assisted by eight instructors. Number of students about one hundred and twenty-five. Library contains 5,000 volumes. Commencement on the last week in July.
GENERAL FRANCIS MARION, one of the most celebrated partizan officers of the revolution, was born near Georgetown, in South Carolina, in 1732. In early life he engaged in sea-faring, but from the solicitations of his mother, was soon induced to abandon it. He then engaged in agricultural pursuits. In the year 1775, he was elected to the provincial Congress of South Carolina. In the same year he was made captain in the second regiment of troops raised by South Car- olina on the breaking out of the war. He bore a conspicuous part in the engage- ment which ensued in the attack made on Sullivan's Island, by the British. He had been previously promoted to the rank of major, and for his conduct in this affair was made a lieutenant colonel. Upon the arrival of Count D'Estaing, Marion, with the second regiment, joined General Lincoln before Savannah :. The united French and American forces, after a siege of three weeks, assaulted the works, and suffered a repulse with an immense loss. The fatal battle of Cami- den left South Carolina in the possession of the British, with Marion. Horry. and only thirty men to oppose their victorious and disciplined hosts. On hearing the result of the battle of Camden, Marion collected his little band of patriots around him, and having addressed them, they took an oath never to serve a tyrant, or be the alaves of Great Britain, and to fight to the last for liberty.
From this time until the close of the war in South Carolina, he continued actively engaged, with variable success against the British. In this dangerous and exciting service, he proved himself one of the most efficient partizan officers of whom history gives any account. His little party continually received acces- sions from the resolute and decided whigs, and in 1980 he was made a brigadier general, and was invested with the command of the military district extending from Charleston to Cam-len, and along the coast eastward to Georgetown. Hu commanded the front line of General Greene's army in the snecessful and deci- sive battle of the Eutaw. In this battle his marksmen did great execution, and
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MARSHALL COUNTY.
bebaved with their accustomed gallantry. General Marion's services in this action received the particular acknowledgments of Congress. In 1782 In was elected to the senate of the State; but in February of the same year he regimed his regiment, He served in the convention which framed the constitution of the State, in 1790, after which he declined all public service. Ile died on the 27th February, 1795. In person he was below the middle size, thin and swarthy. His nose was aquiline, his chin projecting, his forehead was high, and eyes dark and piercing.
MARSHALL COUNTY.
MARSHALL county was formed in 1841, and named in honor of JOHN MARSHALL, chief justice of the United States. It is situated in the western part of the State, lying on the Tennessee river, which skirts it on the north and east-bounded on the north by Livingston, east by Caldwell, south by Calloway, and west by Graves and M'Cracken. Indian corn and tobacco are the staple products.
Number of acres of land in Marshall, 162,193 ; average value per acre, $1.62 ; total value of taxable property in the county in 1846, $405,107 ; number of white males over twenty-one years of age, 827 ; number of children between five and seventeen years old, 1,326.
BENTON, the seat of justice and only town in the county, con- tains three stores, one grocery, one tavern, one lawyer, one doc- tor, one tan-yard, and a blacksmiths' shop-population not given. Named after the Hon. Thomas H. Benton.
JOHN MARSHALL, chief justice of the United States, was born in Virginia, on the 24th of September, 1755; and as early as the summer of 1775, received a commission as lieutenant of a company of minate men, and was shortly after- wards engaged in the battle of Great Bridge, when the British troops under Lord Dunmore were repulsed with great gallantry. He was subsequently engaged in the memorable battles of Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth, and in !7c0 obtained a license to practice law. He returned to the army shortly after, and continued in the service until the termination of Arnold's invasion.
In the spring of 1782, he was elected a member of the State legislature, and in the autumn of the saine year a member of the executive council. He married in 1793. In 1789 he was elected to represent the city of Richmond in the irgis- lature, and continued to occupy that station during the years 1;89, 1790. 1791. and upon the recall of Mr. Monroe as minister to France, President Washington solicited Mr. Marshall to accept the appointment as his successor, but he fe sport. fally declined. In 1799 he was elected and took his seat in Congress, and in 1800 was appointed secretary of war.
On the 31st of January, Is01, he became chief justice of the supreme court of the United States, which distinguished station he continued to fill with erslied dignity and pre-eminent ability until the close of his mortal career. He died at Philadelphia on the 6th of July, 1937.
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MASON COUNTY.
MASON COUNTY.
MASON county was established in 1789, being formed out of all that part of the then county of Bourbon which lay to the north- east of Licking river, and was bounded by the main stream of Licking, from its mouth to its source ; thence, by a direct line to the nearest point on the State line of Virginia, and county line of Russell; thence, along said line, to Big Sandy river, down that river to the Ohio, and down the Ohio to the mouth of Lick- ing : comprehending all the present counties of Bracken, Camp- bell, Carter, Fleming, Greenup, Johnson, Lawrence, and Lewis, and parts of Floyd, Morgan, Nicholas, Pendleton, and Pike.
It was named in honor of GEORGE MASON, a distinguished states- man of Virginia, whom Mr. Jefferson described as a man " of the first order of wisdom among those who acted on the theatre of the revolution ; of expansive mind, profound judgment, cogent in argument, learned in the lore of our former constitution, and earnest for the republican change on democratic principles. His eloquence was neither flowing nor smooth, but his language was strong, his manner most impressive, and strengthened by a dash of biting sarcasm, when provocation made it seasonable." Mr. Mason was the framer of the constitution of Virginia, and a mem- ber of the convention which formed the federal constitution, al- though he did not sign that instrument. He opposed it in the Virginia convention, believing that its tendency would be to mon- archy. He also opposed the slave trade with great zeal. He died at his country seat, Gunston Hall, on the Potomac, in the autumn of 1792, aged sixty-seven years.
The present county of Mason lies in the northern section of the State, and is bounded on the north by the Ohio river, east by the counties of Lewis and Fleming, south by Fleming and Nicho- las, and west by Bracken. Bordering the Ohio river with a bold range of hills, it runs back into the interior, maintaining, gener- ally, the same high and healthy elevation, and presenting a sur- face usually uneven-sometimes abrupt and broken-most fre- quently gently undulating-but always a varied and beautiful landscape. It is intersected by the north fork of Licking river ; by Lawrence, Lee's, Limestone, Beasley's and Cabin creeks ; and is otherwise abundantly watered by smaller stream- and springs. The soil rests upon limestone, and is deep, rich, and highly pro- ductive, except in the north-eastern and south-western angles of the county. The staple productions are Indian corn, hemp, and tobacco ;- wheat, barley, rye, horses, hogs, beef cattle and sheep being produced also in considerable quantities. Its agriculture is good, and steadily improving ; it is probably the most extensive hemp growing county in the state ; and " Mason county tobacco" is famous for its excellence, in the markets of Europe. The county is small in extent and compact in shape, skirting about seventeen miles on the Ohio, and running back about the same
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MASON COUNTY.
distance ; it measures 236 square miles, and contains 151,017 acres, averaging, according to the commissioner's returns for the year 1846, $22.78 per acre, and giving an aggregate value of 83.439,960. In that year, its taxable wealth amounted to St .- 968,326 ; the number of white males over twenty-one years old to 2,875 ; and the number of white children, between five and sixteen years old, to 2,967. In 1840, its entire population was 15,719.
The towns of Mason are Washington, Mayslick, Minerva, Do- ver, Germantown, Lewisburg, Orangeburg, Helena, Murphysville, Mount Gilead, Sardis, and the city of Maysville.
In the spring of 1775, Simon Kenton passed down the Ohio river, and landed at the mouth of a small creek called, after- wards, Limestone, and which runs through the present city of Maysville. The morning after, he shouldered his rifle and went back into the hills to look for game. After traveling two or three miles, to his great joy he found abundance of cane growing upon the richest land he had ever seen. Finding a spring of good wa- ter, he and his companion, a young man by the name of Thomas Williams, made themselves a comfortable camp. and, with their tomahawks, cleared a small piece of ground. Their clearing was finished in May, and from the remains of some corn which they had got from a French trader, for the purpose of parching. they obtained seed, and planted, perhaps, the first corn ever planted in that country, on the north side of the Kentucky river. Here, tending their corn with their tomahawks, they remained the un- disputed masters of all they could see, till they had the pleasure of eating roasting ears, and of seeing their corn come to perfec- tion. This place, which was called Kenton's station, is about one mile from where the town of Washington stands, and is now owned and cultivated by Mr. Thomas Forman.
In 1784, after an absence of several years, Kenton returned ; and from this period may be dated the real commencement of the village.
WASHINGTON is the present county seat, and was established as a town in 1786 by the Virginia legislature, but was laid out the year previous, by William Wood, a Baptist preacher, and Arthur Fox, Sr. It seems to have improved very rapidly after its establish- ment, for Judge Goforth, the first justice of the peace for the county of Hamilton, Ohio, states in his journal under date sth of January 1790, as published in the first volume of Cist's Mis- cellany, page 173, that Washington at that date had 119 hours. In the years 1797-8, the "Kentucky Palladium." one of the earliest papers in the State. was published in Washington by Hunter & Beaumont, who afterwards removed to Frankfort. For many Years Washington was the principal place of trade for a very large scope of country around, comprehending many of the pres- ent northern counties, and at one time it contained fifteen or twenty flourishing mercantile houses; but within the last thirty years it has greatly declined, owing principally to its proximity
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MASON COUNTY.
to the city of Maysville, which has, during that time, sprung into considerable importance as the commercial agency of this sec- tion of the State. Washington is beautifully situated in the heart of a rich and highly cultivated country, three and a half miles from Maysville, and contains a court-house and public offi- ces, three churches, (Baptist, Methodist and Presbyterian,) four retail dry goods stores, four grocery stores, two taverns, three rope walks, one of which is in operation, ten mechanics' shops and a post-office. There are five lawyers and four physicians living in the place, and a population of between six and seven hundred.
Mayslick, situated twelve miles from Maysville, on the Lexing- ton turnpike road, in a fine section of the county, was named after Mr. May, of Virginia, the former proprietor of the soil, and a famous lick near the place ; and contains two churches (Baptist and Christian), four stores, one tavern, a rope-walk and seven mechanics' shops. There are four physicians resident in the vil- lage, and a population of about 400.
The village of Minerva lies in the lower part of the county, about ten miles west of Maysville, in the centre of the tobacco region ; and contains two churches (Baptist and Methodist), one tavern, two dry goods stores, six mechanics' shops, and four physicians. Dover, four miles from Minerva and ten or twelve from Maysville, is situated on the Ohio river, and is a thriving village, with two churches (Methodist and Christian), two taverns, six stores and groceries, three large tobacco warehouses, a large brick flour-mill, one steam saw-mill, and ten mechanics' shops. It has three resident physicians and a population of five or six hundred. This is a place of considerable business, being the point whence much of the tobacco raised in the counties of Ma- son and Bracken is shipped. Germantown, seven or eight miles south of Dover, lies partly in Mason and partly in Bracken county, the smaller portion lying in Mason. It has two churches, two taverns, five stores, several mechanics' shops, three physicians, and a population of two or three hundred. Orangeburg is eight miles from Maysville, Lewisburg seven miles, (on the Flemings- burg turnpike road.) Mount Gilcad eleven or twelve miles, and all in the eastern section of the county ; Helena is about eleven miles south-east from Maysville ; Murphystille about nine miles south, and Sardis fourteen miles south from Maysville. They are all small country villages, with one or two stores each, a church. a . few mechanics, a physician, and a population varying from fifty to one hundred.
Maysville, known for many years as Limestone, from the creek of that name which crapties in the Ohio at that place, is situated on the Ohio river, sixty miles above Cincinnati, and was named after John May, the owner of the land, and an intelligent and highly respectable gentleman from Virginia. In 1784 the first settlement at this place was made, and a double log cabin and block housse built by Edward Waller, John Waller and Georg" Lewis, of Virginia. Colonel Daniel Boone resided there in the
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CITY HALL OF MAYSVILLE.
year 1786. During his residence there, a party of seventy-five Indians came to the mouth of Fishing Gut, on the Ohio river, op- posite Maysville, to treat for the exchange of prisoners. Colonel Boone, Jacob Boone, Colonel Sharpe and Colonel Logan went over to meet them. The wife of Colonel Sharpe was one of the prisoners released. Colonel Boone killed a fat beef, and the In- dians had a feast and a dance. They were under the chief Blue Jacket, of the Shawanee tribe, and were so delighted with Col. Boone and the entertainment he gave them, that they made a solemn pledge to him that if ever they met with a citizen of Maysville in suffering or captivity, they would do all in their power to relieve him. This pledge they religiously kept. Samuel Blackburn, of Maysville, was afterwards taken prisoner, the In- dians having ascertained that he was from Maysville, treated him with every mark of attention, released him from captivity and restored him to his friends.
In 1788 the town was established. In 1790 the first school was opened in Maysville by Israel Donaldson, who had been held in captivity for a long time by the Indians. It was the principal
CITY HALL, MAYSVILLE, KY.
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MASON COUNTY.
point where the immigrants to Kentucky landed, and through which the merchandize and supplies for the interior passed. There also, as well as at Logan's Gap, four miles below, the pre- datory hands of the warlike Indians of the north-west frequently crossed the Ohio in their hostile incursions into the white settle- ments of the interior. Its frontier and exposed position retarded its progress for many years, and kept it in the rear of towns alto- gether inferior to it in natural commercial advantages; and it was not until about the year 1815 that its steady and permanent im- provement may be said to have fairly commenced.
Maysville was incorporated as a city in 1833, is well and com- paetly built, contains a handsome and imposing public edifice called the City Hall. five churches (Presbyterian, Baptist, Christian, Methodist Episcopal south, and Catholic), and one building in progress for the Methodist Episcopal church; two seminaries, one (that of Rand & Richeson), very large, well established and Hour- ishing ; two public free schools, seven private schools, six taverns, one large new and substantial stone jail, one hospital and alms house, one bank with a capital of $450,000, two printing offices, each publishing weekly and tri-weekly papers, the "Maysville Eagle" the fourth oldest paper in the state, and the " Maysville Her- ald" recently established, two steam cotton factories, one large power loom bagging factory with an actual capital paid in of $80,000, one wool carding factory, two founderies, five rope-walks, two steam saw-mills, one large steam flour-mill, one tallow and candle factory, twelve plow factories, three wagon factories, two coach manufactories, two stone cutting establishments, five tin-ware manufactories, three tobacco manufactories and ware- houses, one saddle-tree manufactory, one large tannery, four sad- die, harness and trunk manufactories, three wooden ware manu- factories, twelve storage and commission ware houses, fourteen wholesale groceries, thirty retail groceries, three wholesale dry goods stores, twenty-three retail dry goods stores, two wholesale and retail hard-ware houses, one wholesale and retail China, glass and queensware store. one cotton store, five stove and hollow- ware stores, two iron stores, three drug stores, three shoe stores, two book stores, two hat stores, three pork houses, four lumber yards, twelve lawyers, eleven physicians, three resident dentists, one Daguerrean artist, three principal cabinet makers, three jew- elers, one gunsmith, ten blacksmith shops, fourteen carpenters' shops, five principal stonemasons, tive principal bricklayers, two mattress makers, eight shoe shops, one hatters' shop, fifteen prin- cipal milliners and mantua inakers, ten principal tailors, tive bakeries and confectionaries, eight painters, glaziers and paper hangers, five coopers shops, and five livery stables.
The progress of Maysville has been slow but steady. The capital she now wields, which is very considerable, has been gradually realized and accumulated within the city, by her own citizens, by a long course of persevering and enterprising indus- try. Within the last six years her improvement has been much
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VIEW OF THE CITY OF MAYSVILLE, FROM GERMANTOWN ROAD.
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EARLY SETTLEMENT.
more rapid than for years back. Twenty years ago her whole grocery business did not equal the half of what is singly done by several of the larger houses, and within the last two years that branch has more than doubled, so that during the present year (1847) more than half a million will be realized for groceries. The sales of hardware, which in 1838 amounted to not more than $15,000, will this year reach $75,000. A few years since, there was but a single tinware manufactory and stove ware- house, now there are five large establishments, doing a lucrative and greatly extended business. Maysville is the largest hemp market in the United States, and this year her purchases will amount to 6,500 tons. She is the point of reception, storage and transhipment of all the merchandise and produce imported and exported by the north-eastern section of Kentucky. And although the slackwater improvements on the Kentucky river had the effect for a time of diverting the trade of some of the midland counties, yet her superior position and facilities, united to the energy of her citizens, are compelling its return. As a corporation, she has expended seventy thousand dollars in the con- struction of the different turnpike roads which concentrate upon her as a terminus, in addition to the individual subscriptions of her citizens. In the midst of one of the most extended, imposing and attractive landscapes of the ' beautiful river,' surrounded by a fertile and highly cultivated country directly dependant upon and tributary to her, herself the commercial agent for north-eas- tern Kentucky, with great manufacturing advantages from her proximity to many of the most important of the raw materials, and from her facilities of transportation, Maysville, with a labori- ous, substantial, energetic and enterprising population of near 5,000, must continue, with an increasing progression, to advance in prosperity, population and wealth.
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