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 74
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488
OLDHAM COUNTY.
child from its almost exhausted mother, and ran with it to the fort, a distance of three hundred yards. During the chase, she was twice shot at with rifles, when the enemy were so near that the powder burned her, and one arrow passed through her sleeve; but she escaped uninjured. The young woman who was wounded almost reached the place of safety, when she sunk, and her pursuer, who had the hardihood to attempt to scalp her, was killed by a bullet from the fort.
OLDHAM COUNTY.
OLDHAM county was formed in 1823, and named in honor of Colonel WILLIAM OLDHAM. It is situated in the north middle part of the State, and lies on the Ohio river : bounded on the north by Trimble, east by Henry, south by Jefferson and Shelby, and west and north-west by the Ohio river, and contains a surface of about one hundred and seventy square miles. The face of the country along the Ohio river and Eighteen Mile creek, and in the upper part of the county, adjoining Trimble, is hilly and broken. The remainder of the county is gently undulating, and generally good, arable land-based on limestone. The principal products and exports consist of wheat, hemp, tobacco, hogs and cattle. The principal streams of the county are Harrod's creek and Curry's fork of Floyd's fork, both having their source in Henry county.
The taxable property of Oldham in 1846 was assessed at $2,- 517,505 ; number of acres of land in the county, 102,423 ; aver- age value of land per acre, $13.13 ; number of white males over twenty-one years of age, 1,066 ; number of children between five and sixteen years of age, 1,169. Population in 1840, 7,380.
LAGRANGE. the county seat, contains a court-house and other county buildings, one church, six lawyers, three physicians, five stores and groceries, twelve or fifteen mechanics' shops, and about 300 inhabitants. Masonic College, under the supervision and sustained by the funds of the grand lodge of Kentucky-located in LaGrange-is quite a flourishing institution. LaGrange took its name from General Lafayette's residence in France. Ballards- ville is a small village four miles south-east of Lagrange, and contains one church, one physician, two stores, and several me- chanics' shops. West-Port, formerly the county seat, is a small town on the Ohio river, containing two physicians, two mer- chants, with several mechanics. Brownsborough, a small village. has two physicians and two merchants -- and Floydsburg has one physician and three merchants. LaGrange, the seat of justice. is about forty miles from Frankfort.
Oldham county was named in compliment to Colonel WILLIAM OLDHAM, who was killed by the Indians at St. Clair's defeat, on the 4th of November. 1771. Colonel Oldham was a brave and experienced officer, and commanded a regiment of Kentucky militia in that memorable battle.
He was a native of Berkely county, Virginia, and entered the revolutionary army in 1775, as an ensign, and continued in active service until the spring of
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OWEN COUNTY.
1:79, when he resigned, (being then a captain), and came to the Falls of the Ohio, where he remained until his death in 1791.
Col. Oldham was a chivalrous and enterprising man, and was very efficient in defending the country against the incursions of the Indians ; and in other respects contributed much to advance its settlement.
The following incident we find in Cist's " Cincinnati Miscellany " for 1816. It is from the " Recollections of the Last Sixty Years." by J. Johnston, Esq .. of Piqua, Ohio. The writer, in speaking of the celebrated Indian chief, Little Turtle, says :
" The Little Turtle used to entertain us with many of his war adventures, and would laugh immoderately at the recital of the following :- A white man, a pris- oner for many years in the tribe. had often solicited permission to go on a war party to Kentucky, and had been refused. It never was the practice with the In- dians to ask or encourage white prisoners among them to go to war against their countrymen. This man, however, had so far acquired the confidence of the In- dians, and being very importunate to go to war, the Turtle at length consented. and took him on an expedition into Kentucky. As was their practice, they had reconnoitered during the day, and had fixed on a house recently built and occu- pied, as the object to be attacked next morning a little before the dawn of day. The house was surrounded by a clearing, there being much brush and fallen tin- ber on the ground. At the appointed time, the Indians, with the white man. be- gan to move to the attack. At all such times no talking or noise is to be made. They crawl along the ground on their hands and feet ; all is done by sigus from the leader. The white inan all the time was striving to be foremost, the Indians beckoning him to keep back. In spite of all their efforts. he would keep foremost ; and having at length got within running distance of the house, he jumped to his feet and went with all his speed, shouting at the top of his voice, " Indians ! In- dians !" The Turtle and his party had to make a precipitate retreat, losing fir- ever their white companion, and disappointed in their fancied conquest of the un- suspecting victims of the log cabin. From that day forth, this chief would never trust a white man to accompany him again to war."
OWEN COUNTY.
OWEN county was formed in 1819, and named in honor of Col- onel ABRAHAM OWEN. It is situated in the north middle part of the State, and lies on the Kentucky river, which borders it on the west : bounded on the north by Carroll and Gallatin ; east by Grant and Pendleton ; south by Scott and Franklin : and west by Henry. The face of the country is undulating and the soil good -- producing fine tobacco, corn, oats, buckwheat, &c. Sheep are raised in large numbers, and do well. The county is watered by the Kentucky river and Big Eagle creek, with many smaller streams. Big Eagle rises in Scott, and flows through the south- ern part of Owen into Grant in a northern direction : then, ma- king a sudden bend, takes a direction somewhat south of west, and running parallel with the Ohio river, flows into the Kentucky in Carroll, skirting the northern boundary of Owen in its fo- gress. Many valuable mineral springs are found in the county, the medicinal virtues of some of which are supposed to be equal to any in the State.
Valuation of taxable property in Owen in 1846, $2,014,066;
490
OWEN COUNTY.
number of acres of land in the county, 185,462 ; average value of lands per acre $6.28 ; number of white males over twenty-one years old, 1,602 : number of children between the ages of five and sixteen years, 1,963. Population in 1830, 5,792-in 1810, 8,232.
The towns of the county are-Owenton, the seat of justice, Marion, New-Liberty and Williamsburg. OWENTON is about thirty miles from Frankfort-and contains a court-house and the usual county buildings, three churches, three lawyers, five - physicians, five stores and groceries, two taverns and nine mechanics' shops. Established in 1828-population 200. Marion is a small village, with but few houses. New-Liberty has four lawyers, four physi- cians, seven or eight merchants, fourteen mechanics' shops, two taverns, with a population of 400. Incorporated in 1827. Wil- liamsburg is a small village with one tavern, one store, one phy- sician, and about fifty inhabitants. The whole county contains fourteen Baptist, six Methodist, and five Christian churches, and one Presbyterian church.
There are several remarkable places in Owen, which merit a description. The "Jump Off," on the Kentucky river, is a perpendicular precipice, at least one hundred feet high, with a hollow passing through its centre about wide enough for a wagon road. The " Point of Rocks," on Cedar creek, just above its mouth, and near Williamsburg, is a beautiful and highly romantic spot, where an im- inense rock, about seventy-five feet high, overhangs a place in the creck called the " Deep Hole," to which no bottom has ever been found, and which abounds with fish of a fine quality. "Pond Branch " is a stream of water which flows from a large pond in a rich. alluvial valley, which. from its general appearance, is supposed to have been at one time the bed of the Kentucky river. It is about a mile and a half distant from Lock and Dam number 3. The water flows from the pond and empties into the river, by two outlets, and thus forms a complete mountain island, two and a half miles long and a mile and a half wide in its broadest part.
Colonel ABRAHAM OWEN, in honor of whom this county received its name, was born in Prince Edward county, Virginia. in the year 1769, and emigrated to Shelby county, Kentucky, in 1785. The particulars of his early life are not , known, and his first appearance on the public theatre and in the service of the country, was upon Wilkinson's campaign, in the summer of 1791, on the White and Wabash rivers. He was a lieutenant in Captain Lemon's company in St. Clair's defeat, November 4th, 1791, and received two wounds in that engagement -- one on the chin, and the other in the arm. He was in the expedition ied by Colonel Hardin to White river, and participated in the action which routed the Indians in their hunting camps. His brother John, James Ballard and others of Shelby county, were his associates on this occasion. It is not known th .t br was in Wayne's campaign ; but in 1796, he was surveyor of Shelby county. 2. afterwards a magistrate. He commanded the first militia company raised on; county, and the present venerable Singleton Wilson, of Shelbyville, brother the late Dr. Wilson of Cincinnati, was the lieutenant. They had been ciates in Wilkinson's campaign, And the humane efforts of Colonel Oweu te In- vide for the wants and promote the comforts of his companion, were ausfall: ' of his general good character. Owen was soon promoted to be a major, and 'na colonel of the regiment. Lieutenant Wilson was promoted to the rank of rap .... having served with distinction as a spy in the campaign led by General Wasel.
Col. Owen was, soon after, elected to the legislature. by the largest voll ... before pelled in the county ; and, in 1799, was chosen a member of the envir :- tion which framed our present constitution. Shortly before his death, he is member of the senate of Kentucky. No man in the county had a stronger hold on the affections of the people, whom he was always ready to serve in peace "
491
OWSLEY COUNTY.
in war. In 1811, he was the first to join Gov. Harrison at Vincennes, for the purpose of aiding in the effort to resist the hostile movements of the Indian bands collected by the energy and influence of Tecumseh and his brother, the Prophet. He was chosen by Cien. Harrison to be one of his aids-de-camp; and, at tha memorable battle of Tippecanoe, fell at the side of his heroic chief, bravely fight- ing for his country. deeply regretted by the whole army and by his numerous friends in Kentucky. In battle he was fearless-as a citizen, mild and gentle- manly. He was esteemed an excellent officer on parade, and possessed a luigh erder of military talent.
In the following December, the legislature of Kentucky went into mourning for the loss of colonels Daveiss and Owen, and others who had fallen at Tippecance ; and, in 1819-20, the memory of Col. Owen was perpetuated by a county hearing his name. McAfee, in his history of the late war. says : "His character was that of a good citizen and a brave soldier ;" which Butler. in his history of ken- tucky. speaking of him, pronounces to be " no little praise in a republic and in a warlike State."
He left a large family to unite with his country in deploring his premature fall. ITis daughters intermarried with the most respectable citizens of Henry county. and his son Clark is a distinguished citizen of Texas, having won a high rank in her civil and military annals. His brothers, Robert and William, survive him, and are highly respectable citizens of Shelby county. His father was an early settler, of high standing and marked character. His fort, near Shelbyville, was the resort of intrepid families of that day, and may be said to have been the foun- dation of the capital of the flourishing county of Shelby. The chivairie patriot- ism of Col. Owen. in leaving a position of ease and civil distinction at home, to volunteer his services against the north-western savages, is truly illustrative of the Kentucky character ; and after ages will look back upon the deeds of heroism at Tippecanoe, with the same veneration with which the present generation re- gards the memory of those who fought and fell at Thermopyla.
OWSLEY COUNTY.
OWSLEY county was formed in 1842. and named after Gov. Wir .- LIAM OWSLEY. It is situated in the eastern part of the State. on each side of the Kentucky river,-the three forks of that river- the north fork, the middle fork, and the south-east fork, -- forming a junction within the territory of the county : bounded on the north by Montgomery and Morgan ; east by Breathitt : south by Clay; and west by Estill. The soil along the river valleys is rich and remarkably productive ; but the face of the country is gone. rally broken. and the soil not sufficiently strong for profitable cul- tivation. Corn is the staple production-but rye, wheat and out -. are also raised. At the confluence and on the banks of each fick of the Kentucky, there are inexhaustible supplies of bituminons coal, in strata of from three to six feet thick. The cannel or Eng- lish coal. of a very superior quality, is also found in great abun- dance along the banks of these rivers.
In 1946, the valuation of taxable property in Owsley county amounted to $238,396 ; number of acres of land in the county, 153,141 : average value of land per acre, $1.20 ; number of white males over twenty-one years old, 512 : number of children be- tween five and sixteen years of age, 669.
492
OWSLEY COUNTY.
The county seat bears the name of OWSLEY COURT-HOUSE. It contains one Methodist church, four stores, two physicians, two lawyers, one tavern, school, &c. Population, 75. Proctor is a very small village, containing about 20 inhabitants.
WILLIAM OWSLEY, the present governor of Kentucky, was born in the State of Virginia, in the year 1782. In 1783, his father, ( William Owsley). left that State and moved to the then "county of Kentucky," and settled on the waters of Drake's creek. near where the town of Crab Orchard. in Lincoln county, now stands. It was but fourteen years previous that Daniel Boone had first penetra- ted this western wilderness, so that William Owsley can date his citizenship in the State over which he presides, with the very first settlement made in her borders.
The father of William Owsley was one of eleven children, and the family be- ing in very moderate circumstances in life, his share of fortune and education was meagre enough. But being of an adventurous disposition, he struck out boldly. resolved to find a home and fortune in this wild land. With his young family he sat down in the woods where the tomahawk and scalping knife of the stealthy savage still frequently gleamed and bathed itself in the white man's blood. In the midst of such periis, common to all the early settlers of Kentucky, our emigrant lived, labored and throve ; and, in worthy imitation of paternal ex- ample, he had in due time surrounded himself with ten or twelve children, a nia- jority of whom were daughters.
William and Joel, two of the sons, by their devotion to study, succeeded in getting a better education than was common for boys at that day. Joel studied medicine, and he is now living, a highly esteemed physician, in Cumberland county. in this State.
William Owsley taught for a while a country school, and, while thus engaged, improved his education and learned plain surveying. He shortly after became deputy surveyor, and afterwards deputy sheriff, his father being high sheriff of the county.
It may be proper to add, just here, that among the pupils of William Owsley, the young school master, was a young Miss of near seventeen, whose name was Elizabeth Gill. It so fell out that the lessons taught and learned between this pupil and teacher soon pertained to other matters than books. In a short time William Owsley. being about twenty-one years of age, married his young and blooming scholar: and this connexion, thus early and happily commenced, has. by a kind Providence, been full forty-four years continned-the wife as much dis- tinguished for all the virtues and devotion of a Kentucky housewife, as the mad for the plain, unostentations manners of the olden time.
It was whilst William Owsley was engaged in his early official pursuits as deputy sheriff. &c., that he attracted the attention of John Boyle. afterwards chief justice of Kentucky. Judge Boyle, perceiving the promise that was in young Owstry, offered him the use of his library, and the advantage of las in- structions in the study of law. The offer was accepted, and by perseverance and close application, Owsley soon obtained license and commenced the practice of law in Garrard county. His success was immediate. He ranked Ingh at the bar, and became the intimate and firm friend of Judge Boyle. He afterwards represented Garrard county several years in the legislature, and became so faver- ably known to the public as a legislator and lawyer. that. in 1×12. when he was only thirty-one years of age, and had been but few years at the bar, Governor Scott appointed hira to the supreme bench of the State, as the colleague of Judge Boyle, who had been honored by a seat on the appellate bench three years pre- vionsly. Judge Owsley resigned this ofhere in a short time. in consequence of the passage of a law reducing the number of judges of the court to three. But a vacancy occurring in 1813. he was immediately re-appointed by Governor Shelby.
During the service of Boyle. Ousley and Mills, on the supreme bench. that ever memorable controversy between the old and new conrt parties was waged. The annals of Kentucky's history will attest the momentous character of that struggle, and duly counnemorate the virtues of the men that were then in.de conspicuous. Never before did the fires of discord burn more fiercely in any civil community. Never before was a State so near anarchy, revolution and ruin.
PENDLETON COUNTY. 493
Firmness, wisdom and coolness alone could save the country in that time of dread and peril. All these qualities were pre-eminent in the judges who then sat upon the bench. They were equal to the crisis. They withstood the storm of popular tumult, careless of the rage of disappointed partisans, flushed with temporary triumph, but crossed in the enjoyment of victory. It seems Providential that such men were on the bench to save the State in that stormy trial.
Having seen the constitution of his country safe through the dangers that beset it, Judge Owsley remained at his high and honorable post till the year 1 -2 -. when, after having served upon the bench longer than any man in the State, except Judge Boyle, he resigned his office, and retired to private life on his farm in Gar- rard county, which he had held and cultivated as a successful practical farmer, for about twenty-five years. Sometime after this, he again represented his old county, Garrard, in the legislature. But finding it inconvenient to attend to his circuit court practice and his growing practice in the court of appeals. he gave up the former. and having parcelled out his farm among his children. (of whom he has five. ) he removed to Frankfort. Here he resided until 1843, when, out of the gains of his practice, he purchased himself a splendid farm in Boyle county, to which he removed. giving up his practice altogether. In 1844, after one of the most exciting and hard fought contests ever witnessed in the State. Wil- liam Owsley was elected governor of Kentucky over Colonel William O. Butler, by far the most popular and formidable candidate the democratic party has ever run in the State. The vote received by Governor Owsley was 59.680. which is larger by 1,191 than the great vote received by General Harrison in 1810.
Governor Owsley's administration is not yet ended, and therefore can not now have the verdict of history. But his friends confidently look to the future for as full justification of all his present and recent acts as the present has already awarded to his past acts. As governor of the State, he is distinguished for his devotion to the duties of his office-his laborious and faithful examination into the affairs of the State, particularly its public debt-and his clear and coneise statements thereof in his annual messages ; and for his unshaken determination to bring every officer up to his duty, and as far as in him lies, to have the laws " faithfully executed " in every department of the government.
But his friends claim, as the chief glory of his administration, that the public debt has been checked in its fearful and rapid increase, and for the first time since the debt was created, has been from year to year, during his administration, sen- sibly diminished. Already has Governor Owsley paid off upwards of one hun- dred thousand dollars of the public debt, and he has all the means in constant operation for the continued payment and reduction of the State debt.
In person, Governor Owsley is very tall, being about six feet two inches high, and is slender for such height. His disposition is reserved, and he talks very little. His deportinent is ever calm and quiet, and in times of greatest excite- ment, when he might be supposed to be intensely anxious, there is no perceptible change in his spirits or demeanor. He is proverbial for honesty, firmness and impartiality, and making the principle of right the ground of every action. He seems wholly indifferent to falsely raised popular clamor or the present judgment of men, and relies with unshaken confidence on the calm afterthought of the pro- ple. His manners are very plain. simple and purely republican, and he has ever been the sturdy foe of all new fangled fashions in social intercourse, and new notions in law and politics.
PENDLETON COUNTY.
PENDLETON county was formed in 1798, and named for the Hon- orable EDMUND PENDLETON, of Virginia. It is situated in the nor- thern section of the State, nearly square in shape, and embraces about three hundred square miles. Bounded on the north by
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494
PENDLETON COUNTY.
Kenton and Campbell ; on the east by Bracken ; south by Har- rison ; and west by Grant and Owen. Pendleton is drained by Main and South Licking rivers, which flow into the county on the south-eastern and southern borders, form a junction near its centre, and passing out near the middle of its northern bor- der-having, as their tributaries, Fork Lick, Kincade, Flour and Grassy creeks. Along the rivers and smaller streams, there are many thousand acres of fine bottom lands, which produce rich and luxuriant crops of corn and grasses. Receding from the streams, the surface is undulating and hilly, but the soil, based upon limestone, is comparatively good, and yields excellent crops of tobacco, wheat, oats, rye, &c. A large portion of the lands, although within from twenty to thirty miles of the fine markets of Cincinnati, Covington and Newport, are yet in a state of nature. In the hands of enterprising men, these lands might be converted into beautiful and profitable stock farms, being well adapted for grasses of all kinds, and particularly the blue grass, the favor- ite of stock raisers-Licking river affording a safe downward navigation through the year, except at very low water. The timber along the water courses in some of the up-lands, is remarkably luxuriant, and well adapted for all the purposes of civilized life-embracing the oak, the walnut, the poplar, the ash, ứcc.
Valuation of taxable property, in Pendleton county, for 1846, $927,469 ; number of acres of land in the county, 180,760 ; average value of lands per acre, $3.95 : number of white males over twenty- one years old, 1,128 ; number of children between the ages of tive and sixteen years, 1,156. Population in 1830,3,886-in 1840, 4.455.
FALMOUTH is the seat of justice, and only town of Pendleton county. It is situated on an elevated and very beautiful and ex- tensive bottom, at the confluence of main Licking and the south branch of Licking river, about sixty miles from Frankfort: con- tains a court-house and other county buildings, four churches, (Baptist, Presbyterian, Methodist and Christian.) two lawyers, two physicians, male and female school, four stores, two taverns, one wool factory, and ten mechanics' shops. Population, 300. Es- tablished in 1793 ; and being settled by Virginians, was named after Falmouth, Virginia.
There are several salt and sulphur springs in Pendleton ; iron ore abounds, and some coal has been discovered.
Within a few hundred yards of the boundaries of Falmouth, the remains of an ancient fortification are yet distinctly visible. It is situated upon elevated and commanding ground, near midway between the two rivers, and commanding tue junction, and some distance up both streams. In forin, it is a regular circle, with four apertures or openings, opposite to each other. and corresponding very nearly to the four cardinal points of the compass. Twenty years ago, " trees, from two and a half to three feet in diameter. were standing upon the circular embankment of earth which formed the fortification ; while the enclosure, covering probably up- wards of a quarter of an acre of ground, was grown up in trees, bearing the sulle
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