USA > Kentucky > Daviess County > History of Daviess County, Kentucky, together with sketches of its cities, villages, and townships, educational religious, civil military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, biographies of representative citizens, and an outline history of Kentucky > Part 19
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82
In April, 1882, a meeting of the directors was held in Owens- boro, which determined to push the survey of the route to a point opposite Shawneetown, Ill., and to facilitate the survey and provide for the maps and profiles and necessary expenses; subscriptions to the stock were ordered to be opened at once at Henderson, Union- town, Morganfield, Owensboro, and along the rest of the proposed route, five per cent. of this subscription to be payable on demand after ten days, and the remainder upon the completion of the road.
As to the location of the line between Cloverport and Owensboro, there were (and are still, February, 1883) two rontes of equal ad vantages-one by Pellville and Knottsville, and the other along
Digitized by Microsoft®
196
HISTORY OF DAVIESS COUNTY.
the river. The first mentioned is the shorter route by seven miles, but the location of the line will probably be made dependent upon the liberality of the citizens along the respective routes.
Since the year 1872 the question of building a track from Owensboro to Vincennes has been considerably agitated, James C. Rudd, of this city, taking a leading part. In 1973 a company is organized, and the advantages of such a road set forth, by articles in the newspapers, accompanied with maps, etc., showing the mutual benefit to Owensboro and Chicago that would certainly acerne. Tobacco, whisky, coal, etc., would by it find an outlet to foreign ports by way of the lakes; and even Chicago itself would by a considerable consumer of Davies County produce. It is, steel, a much needed road, but there is a " hitch" somewhere, perhaps male by rival cities.
A line has been talked of running from Richmond, Va., through Owensboro to Cairo, Ill. ; also, from Owensboro to Rockport. In I'mA the latter was a part of the line called the " Owensboro, Rockport & Seymour Railroad." which was designed to run on to Pobefontaine, O. Indeed, a great deal was done toward commenc- For work, but local aid was not sufficiently forthcoming.
For finthier industrial enterprise. see the chapter on Owensboro o i he several precinct histories.
Digitized by Microsoft®
CHAPTER VIII. THE PRESS.
DEFUNCT NEWSPAPERS.
Owensboro Bulletin .- The first newspaper in Daviess County was the Owensboro Bulletin, started in 1844 as a Henry Clay Whig paper, by Thornton C. Pattee, and continued for several years.
Owensboro Gazette -The next was the Owensboro Gazette, a Democratic organ, established abont April 10, 1852, by George G. Vest, from Frankfort, Ky., now United States Senator from Missouri, and Robert S. Triplett, of Owensboro, still a well-known business man of this place. Mr. Vest brought with him from Frankfort a good printer named Joseph H. Mayhall, and their paper was therefore a very fine-looking sheet. The first year it had an average of abont ninety advertisements in it, from the busi- ness men of Owensboro, -among them Tyler & Mayo, Moorman & Bros., Allen & Daveiss, W. H. Kerney & Co., J. Hyman &. Co., Adams & Shmutte, Wing & Weir, Megill & Bro., and Sim- mons & Millett. The proposed Henderson & Nashville Railroad was much talked of then, and was therefore a prominent topic in its columns.
Within a year after its commencement Mr. Vest sold the paper to Mr. Mayhall, who employed Alfred B. Johnson as editor. This man was a brother of Hon. James L. Johnson, and died in Owensboro, before the war. In the fall of 1854 Mr. Mayhall was thrown ont of a buggy and killed, and his widow continued the. paper for a short time and sold it to a Mr. Hawkins; but it prob- ably did not survive long.
National American, The Shield, and Ford's Southern Shield .- During the Know-Nothing excitement of 1856 the National Ameri- can was started in Owensboro by Joshua G. Ford, proprietor, and George H. Yeaman, editor. The first number was dated Aug. 6, 1856. A. G. Botts succeeded Mr. Yeaman as editor, and Colonel John H. McHenry was the next, in 1857-'8; and, about this time, Mr. Ford changed the name to The Shield, and soon after the out- break of the war to Ford's Southern Shield, which name it
(197)
Digitized by Microsoft®
198
HISTORY OF DAVIESS COUNTY.
sustained until its discontinuance in 1875. For a year or so, how- ever, during the war, it was located at Hartford, Ky.
" Colonel" Joshua G. Ford was born, it is said, in Caldwell County, Ky., about 1831. When twelve years old he came to Owensboro on foot and learned the printer's art in the office of the Bulletin. In 1858 he married Miss Eliza Imbler. June 10, 1862, he was arrested by order of General Boyle, Adjutant-General of Kentucky, and conveyed to Louisville, but was shortly afterward released. In 1875 he was elected to the Legislature and his paper discontinued. A few months after his term expired he removed, with the materials of his office, to Lacon, Ill., where he edited the Marshall County Democrat a number of years. He is now edit. ing the Souk County Democrat, in Baraboo County, Wis., which county, since his arrival there, has changed from Republican to Democratic, apparently by his influence.
A. G. Botts was County Judge 1858-'66. He died in this county about twelve years ago.
For biographical sketches of Messrs. Yeaman and MeHenry see chapter entitled " Sketches of Public Men."
Owensboro Democrat .- This paper was started a short time before the war, by Isaac P. Washburn, an illiterate man. It did not long survive the commencement of the war.
Owensboro Times .- This paper, started early in 1882, by T. P. Getz & Co., is already discontinued.
Owensboro News .- This was an eight-column folio, commenced in 1881, by Thomas Collins, as a Republican local paper; but in a few months it died and the office material was mostly sold to the Post. Mr. Collins next endeavored to establish a paper at Mt. Vernon, Ind., but failed.
The Owensboro Monitor was started in 1862 by Hlenry M. Wood- ruff, a strong Union man, who spoke ont boldly in the face of war. The size of the paper at first was a twenty-inch six-column folio, and the first number is dated Ang. 13, 1862. In the last week ot May, 1864, Thomas S. Pettit became a part owner, fand changed the political tone of the paper, and spoke out as boldly against Lincoln's administration as his predecessor did against secession, although for the Union. Soon afterward Mr. Woodruff retired from the paper altogether. In the autumn of this year Mr. Pettit was taken away by military authority, as more fully described a little further on, and the paper was discontinued for about six months, except a few weeks, when it was run by Rev. Richard C.
Digitized by Microsoft®
199
HISTORY OF DAVIESS COUNTY.
Gardner, a Methodist Chaplain of the Twenty-seventh Kentucky Infantry, who had for his aid a few soldiers who could set type. During these changes considerable damage was done to the material of the office.
The following May, Mr. Pettit returned from " Dixie Land " and resumed his old position, bought new press and type, and battled away on the same old principles for which he was banished, and increased the circulation to more than 2,000 within a year. In the summer of 1869 he purchased a power press.
The local department of the paper he always kept open to.all parties, and the news was given without partisan bias.
A. L. Ashby, from Mt. Sterling, Ky., was admitted as associate editor from May 27, 1868, to Aug. 7, 1872. He was afterward Secretary of the Owensboro & Nashville Railroad Company, and is now living at Louisville. IIe has accumulated considerable prop- erty. July 21, 1869, the Monitor was enlarged to eight twenty- six inch columns to the page.
In 1874 Mr. Pettit sold the Monitor to Robert Campbell, a native of Texas, who was educated at Baton Rouge, La., and served in Hood's Texas Brigade during the war. He was admitted to the bar in Texas, but in 1871, at the age of twenty-six, he com- menced journalism in Mississippi.
The Monitor was suspended about the 1st of March, 1877, and the material of the office sold afterward to J. A. Munday, who started the Messenger the following August.
Henry B. Woodruff, proprietor and editor of the Owensboro Monitor during the first years of the war, was a man of fair abil- ity and of zealous Union sentiments. Ile came to Owensboro as a school-teacher, and taught school a number of terms. He mar- ried Miss Sallie Elam, a daughter of Mrs. John S. McFarland. He left Owensboro in 1863, when he sold out the Monitor, being appointed by Governor Bramlette tobacco inspector in Louisville. He now has charge of the railroad station at Anchorage, on the Louisville & Frankfort Railroad.
Thomas S. Pettit was born in Frankfort, Ky., Dec. 21, 1843, the son of Franklin Duane and Elizabeth (Zook) Pettit; father a native of Virginia and mother of Kentucky. He attended Georgetown College, and before he was grown up learned the printer's art, which came natural and easy to him, and he became an adept. In 1864 he came to Owensboro and purchased the Monitor of Mr. Woodruff, and began the publication of a lively local paper, ad-
Digitized by Microsoft®
200
HISTORY OF DAVIESS COUNTY.
voeating Democratic principles. Unlike his predecessor, he freely eritieised the acts of the Republican party and their conduet of the war, and consequently in a few months (Nov. 17, 1864) he was arrested by order of General Stephen G. Burbridge, imprisoned and banished sonth, under the general charge of being "notoriously disloyal." He was hurried away, and was sent under an escort to Memphis, Tenn., where he was transferred across the lines within the Confederacy, in whose territory he traveled until the following May, when he returned and resumed the publication of the Moni- tor, as already noted. He was the first to establish a successful, paying paper in Owensboro, which he did before he was twenty- five years of age; and he was the first to bring Gordon and power presses to Owensboro. In this paper he published, in several successive numbers, his "Trip to Dixie," giving his experiences during the whole of the "round trip." These exciting annals helped the circulation of his paper to a wonderful degree, as al- ready mentioned. In the South he underwent the many hard- ships and privations incident to a common soldier.
Subsequently he was elected Assistant Clerk of the House of Representatives of the State Legislature, whiel position he held for six years, when he was appointed Private Secretary to James B. McCreary. This position he afterward resigned, to accept the situation of Reading Clerk of the House of Representatives at Washington, D. C., for which duty he has extraordinarily good voice and articulation. On the death of llon. John S. MeFarland, in 1869, and through the influence and personal popularity of Senator T. C. McCreery, he was appointed by President Johnson Assessor of this Internal Revenue Distriet, the duties of which position he filled with conscientious fidelity to the elose of the term.
Mr. Pettit has ever been recognized as a true Democrat. He has attended a number of State conventions of his party, and at every one of them he was elected secretary; and at the last National convention, which nominated Hancock and Hendricks, he was one of the secretaries. IIe is still active in the political field. Last fall (1882) he was a candidate for Congress against James B. Clay, of Henderson, but, after an exciting race, he was defeated in the pivotal county of Union, by less than 150 votes.
With all this political work Mr. Pettit has also engaged heavily in industrial pursuits. (See account of Marble & Pettit's stave factory and lumber mills in the History of Murray Precinet. ) He
Digitized by Microsoft®
201
HISTORY OF DAVIESS COUNTY.
has been active in many local and philanthropie enterprises too numerous to mention here. He is a Freemason of high degree. Within four years after he entered the State Grand Lodge he was elected Past Grand Master, a distinction never before accorded to a member so young in that body. In December, 1870, he married Miss Margaret Blair, a native of this county, and a daughter of James Harvey Blair, formerly a merchant of Owensboro. Their only child is named Harvey Blair Pettit.
LIVING NEWSPAPERS.
The Messenger and Examiner .- This is a combination of the Messenger and the Owensboro Examiner.
Owensboro Examiner .- This was started Jan. 1, 1875, and con- dneted five years by L. Lumpkin, sole editor and proprietor. It was a quarto of six columns to the page. Democratic. In 1880 it was consolidated with the Messenger.
Lee Lumpkin was born in King William County, Va., in 1833. He lived there until the last war, in which he served, on the Confederate side, throughout the great struggle. He then came to Owensboro and entered into partnership with W. T. Courtney as a drnggist. In 1866 he married Miss Florence Coffey. In 1868 he opened a book store, which he conducted successfully until he sold out to the Messenger in 1880, along with the Examiner. Ile is now a member of the firm of W. J. & L. Lumpkin, merchant millers at the north end of Crittenden street.
The Messenger .- Ang. 7, 1877, was the date of the first num- ber of this paper, an eight-column folio, started by J. A. Munday, who, for the purpose, had bought the material of the old Monitor office, as before mentioned. C. W. Bransford was admitted as partner in 1878. In March, 1880, these gentlemen bought out the Examiner, consolidating it with the Messenger, still retaining Mr. Lumpkin, the proprietor of the former, as business manager. The latter, however, soon left to carry on a flouring mill. The Messen- ger und Examiner has since been issued both as a weekly and a semi-weekly. The semi-weekly was commenced as a seven-column folio, and in 1882 enlarged to an eight-column. In the spring ot 1881 Mr. Bransford purchased Mr. Munday's interest, and was alone until October. when he admitted to partnership Mr. Wrey Woodson. The former is senior and the latter junior editor.
This is a model local paper in respect to typography, make-up. quality of paper, and more than all, editorial and business manage-
Digitized by Microsoft®
202
HISTORY OF DAVIESS COUNTY.
ment. It is remarkable what old heads these young gentlemen have.
The Messenger was issued also as a daily for abont two months in the fall of 1879, as a six-column folio. Inability to obtain the Associated Press dispatches, and the consequent necessity of print- ing the paper at Evansville, led the proprietors to abandon the enterprise.
In connection with the above is a large and nice job office, said to be the largest in the State west of Louisville, possibly the largest in the State ontside of Louisville. The material is the con- solidation of two considerable offices. Their large power press, the Cottrell & Babcock, is run by hydraulic force from the city water.works, conal to four horse-power. A grammar has just been printed at this office.
C. W. Bransford was born in Owensboro, Ky., Jan. 24, 1858, a son of Benj. and Mary E. (Athy) Bransford; attended schools here but graduated in the literary course at Cumberland University Lebanon, Tenn., in June, 1877. He then attended the law school at Louisville, where he completed the junior course, and was elected salutatorian from this class, as a testimonial to his profi- ciency. He next accepted a temporary position in Clarke & Crutcher's stemmery. At the close of the tobacco business for the season of 1878 he became sub-editor of the Messenger, under J. A Munday. Within two months he was offered a partnership in the paper. which he accepted, in September, 1878, etc., as above noted.
Dec. 21, 1832, Mr. Bransford married Virgie Lee Finley, of Lebanon, Tenn., a daughter of Dr. W. M. Finley, a native of Clarksville, Tenn., and a niece of Congressman Finley, of Florida. Mr. Bransford is a young man of remarkable business and execn. tive talent, and if he lives will make a bright mark in the world. If he should rise to political prominence, he will not be a " bark- ing dog," and he therefore might " bite," where there is occasion in some contest. The Hopkinsville South Kentuckiun truly says of him: " His style of writing possesses a degree of profundity far beyond his years when he is handling editorial subjects. He is very temperate. and is a model young man in his habits, although he does not belong to any charch. Concerning his physical ap- pearauce the South Kentuckian thus words it: " His hair is a bright atbarn, and he has a fine red mustache and brown eyes.
Digitized by Microsoft®
203
HISTORY OF DAVIESS COUNTY.
He is very quiet in his demeanor, and loves his profession more than he does his sweet-heart!"
Urey C. Woodson was born at Madisonville, Ky., Aug. 16, 1859, the son of S. C. and R. J. (Hawthorn) Woodson, the former a native of Hopkins County, Ky., and the latter of Anderson County, Ky. When he was about five years old his parents moved to Ev- ansville, Ind., where he grew to manhood, attending school, etc. At the age of sixteen he entered the newspaper business in that city first on the Evening Herald, afterward on the Sunday Argus, and later on the Evansville Daily Courier. He then went to Green- ville, Ky., in the fall of 1877, and published the Muhlenburg Echo, a weekly, which he enlarged and made prosperous. In the autumn of 1881 he sold this paper and became connected with the Messenger.
Hon. James A. Munday, born in Hancock County, Ky., Aug. 14, 1843, was a son of Redmond and Martha L. (Hamilton) Mun- day. His father was a descendant of Reuben Munday, one of the first settlers of Virginia. He came to Kentucky when a young inan, and was married here. He had a family of two daughters and one son, the daughters both deceased. He died when his son was two years old. After the death of his father James A. and his mother moved to Hawesville, where he attended school till fourteen years of age. He then entered Greenville Academy, at that time flourishing under the presidency of Hon. Edward Rum- sey, and superintendence of James K. Patterson, present President of the Kentucky State College. He afterward attended the Georgetown College, his junior year being interrupted by the political troubles preceding the war, on account of which the school was discontinued. Mr. Munday then returned home. and in August, 1862, after several unsuccessful attempts, succeeded in reaching the Confederate lines and enlisted in Company II, Tenth Kentucky Confederate Cavalry, under command of Captain II. C. Meriweather. The regiment was afterward assigned to General Morgan's command, in all the engagements and movements of which he took an active part. He was in a few months promoted to a Lieutenancy for soldierly conduct, and when Captain Meri- weather was detailed for other duty, he took charge of the com- pany, in which capacity he did much service as a scout. His company and another under his command were assigned to the advance of the Second Brigade on General Morgan's memorable invasion of Indiana and Ohio, and were among the first to charge
Digitized by Microsoft®
204
HISTORY OF DAVIESS COUNTY.
and carry the breast-works of Corydon. After the most remark- able ride on record his command was foiled in its attempts to recross the river at Buffington Island, Ohio, and in attempting to rally a few men and assist in covering a retreat, he with several of his regiment were surrounded and captured, and taken to John- son's Island. The Government having determined on special severity with those who had dared to invade "the sacred soil," sent half of General Morgan's officers to the Ohio penitentiary, and the other half to the western penitentiary of Pennsylvania at Allegheny, holding them as exempt from the cartel of exchange. After eight months of close confinement, Mr. Munday with his fellow officers were transferred to Point Lookout, and afterward to Fort Delaware. At the close of the war he returned to Hawes- ville, and soon after his mother was killed by being thrown from a buggy. Mr. Munday attended a course of lectures at the Louis- ville Law University. On his return home he took charge of the Circuit Clerk's office as Deputy, and the following summer was eleeted Circuit Clerk -- the youngest clerk ever elected in the State. He held the office two years. During the time he was elected Assistant Secretary of the Kentucky Senate. After the expiration of his term of office he commenced the practice of law in Hawesville. In 1870 he came to Owensboro and formed a partnership with Judge George W. Williams. In 1871 he was made Master Commissioner of Daviess County Circuit Court; re- signed that office in 1875 and formed a business partnership with Thomas S. Pettit in the manufacture of staves. He sold out in 1879 and became the owner of the Owensboro Monitor office, and established. the Owensboro Messenger, a weekly Democratic newspaper, a half interest in which was sold in 1878 to C. W. Bransford. After beginning the publication of the daily Messenger, in the fall of 1878, it was consolidated with the Ewaminer, a weekly paper then owned by L. Iannpkin, forming the Owensboro Messen- ger and Examiner, published weekly and semi-weckly. Mr. Munday continued in editorial charge of these papers until the spring of 1881, when he severed his connection with them and engaged in the canvass for Senator in his district, comprising Daviess and McLean counties. He was elected Senator in August, 1881. and took an active part in the legislation of the session of 1881-'52. He is a member of the Star Lodge, No. 19, K. of P .; Owensboro Lodge. No. 130, A. F. & A. M., and Owensboro Lodge, I. O.O.F
Digitized by Microsoft®
205
HISTORY OF DAVIESS COUNTY.
The Saturday Post .- This sprightly gazette was established by A. T. Craycroft and Geo. V. Triplett, the first number appearing Sept. 3, 1881. Mr. T. is the business manager and editor. The paper is an eight-column folio, the columns a half-em wider than the standard measure, and it is issued every Saturday morning. It is sincerely and purely Democratic in politics, as the party has attested by sending its editor as their Representative to the Legis- lature. Jan. 26, 1883, Mr. Craycroft retired from the firm, leaving Mr. Triplett alone. The typography and make-up of the paper is magnificent, its editorials spicy, and its selections rich. Mr. T. has a high degree of originality as well as of literary ability. See chapter entitled "Authors and Artists."
In connection with the Post is a fine job department. The ed- itorial and composition rooms are models of neatness. Office in Hill's new block, a few doors north of the Planter's Hotel.
George Vest Triplett was born in Frankfort, Ky., Jan. 30, 1856, and is a son of Robert S. and Lonisa M. (Vest) Triplett. When he was two or three years of age the family moved to Louisville, Ky., and soon afterward (which was about the beginning of the war) they came to Owensboro, where they have since made it their home. The subject of this notice has taken a course of study at Transylvania University, and also Central University, Richmond, Ky., finishing both an academic and a law course. His law pre- ceptor was Wm. Chenault, one of the finest instructors of law in America. He was admitted to the bar at Richmond, and on his return to Owensboro he commenced the practice of law in the office of Williams & Brown, remaining there about two years, 1877-'9, when he became assistant editor of the Examiner. When this paper was consolidated with the Messenger, Mr. Triplett went to Washington City to accept a position on the Daily Post. In the beginning of the summer of 1880, he formed a partnership with Camden Riley, Sr. In August, 1881, he was elected to the Legislature and immediately started the Saturday Post, as above mentioned.
As a lawyer Mr. Triplett still takes such business as will not interfere with the interests of his paper. He is a member of the order of Knights of Pythias, and is still one of "ye jolly bache- lors," whose doings in their club room (?) he so wittily writes up in his paper.
A short sketch of Mr. Craycroft is given in Chapter V.
Digitized by Microsoft®
206
HISTORY OF DAVIESS COUNTY.
Methodist Standard .- This was started in February, 1882, by Revs. J. S. Scobee, G. II. Mays, D. D., and B. F. Orr. It is a four-page monthly, with four wide columns to the page. A sketch of Mr. Scobee appears in another part of this volume. Mr. Orr is a resident of Owensboro, and Mr. Hays of Cloverport. The paper is printed by O. T. Kendall & Co.
Home and School .- This is a local educational monthly started in January, 1883, by O. T. Kendall & Co. It has eight pages four columns to the page.
An effort was made in 1866 to establish the Baptist Herald in Owensboro, but in vain.
The Press Association of Kentucky met in Owensboro, June 7 and 8, 1871, when a good delegation was welcomed by the citi- zens. They met first in the court-house and then at the Baptist church, when Colonel R. M. Kelly, of the Louisville Commercial. delivered a very amusing address, and Benjamin Casseday read an original poem. In the evening a sumptuous banquet was given at Allen Gilmour's, and also at Bransford's hall,-the latter given by the citizens. A large share of the credit for the success of the occasion is due R. II. Taylor, J. HI. McHenry, T. C. Jones and J. G. Ford. The tables were supplied by F. T. Guenther. Kelly's address and Casseday's poem were published in full in the next number of the Monitor.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.