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 6
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John Pinkston was. an old-fashioned pioneer Methodist local preacher, earnest, zealous and efficient, and the early builder up of the Methodist church in this county. He lived, 1818-'34 and after. two or three miles from Owensboro, on the Litchfield road.
Jasper Bristow was an old-fashioned Baptist preacher, on the hard-shell plan, a clever, good, and industrious citizen, residing here 1829-'34. Some of his children and many grandchildren reside in the county.
Reuben Cottrell, from near Richmond, Va., of the United Bap- tists, was here in 1833 and afterward. He was a preacher of note, and bitterly opposed to Freemasonry. He was opposed to mem- bers of the church belonging to any secret organization. Some of his children and many grandchildren reside in Daviess County.
Samnel Calhoon lived about three miles out on the Henderson. until the time of his death. He was a member of the Cumber- land Presbyterian church; died within the last three years, nearly ninety years of age.
Jo Miller was of German origin. He had removed from Shelby County, Ky., and settled on North Panther Creek. Uncle Jo
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was a low, heavy, powerful man as to muscular strength. When he preached he put forth his whole physical and intellectual strength, and was more of an exhorter than preacher. He was fond of camp-meetings, where he was always in his element. He could do more crying, and have more crying done, and more tears shed, than any man of his day. He was an industrious and hard- working man. Uncle Jo seemed to have a passion for saw-mills and improvements of that character. He spent almost a fortune on saw-mills and mill-dams on both North and South Panther Creeks, but his creeks were without rocky bottoms or banks, were low, sluggish streams, and he had great difficulty in making his efforts remunerative. Jo Miller was a worthy and good man. Others and more prominent ministers have followed the old pioneer preachers, men of more learning, greater ability, and polished manners, but not more faithful, pions, or energetic than the old preachers who lifted up their voices in the wilderness to proclaim the tidings of salvation.
OTHER EARLY OFFICIALS.
From the records in the county clerk's office we obtain the fol- lowing names of ministers who solemnized matrimony in early day, in addition to those already mentioned : Daniel T. Pinkston, 1815-'20; Job Hobbs, 1815-'17; John Phipps, 1818 (probably lived in Hartford); Othello Williams, 1819-'24; Jesse Greene, Meth- odist Episcopal, 1819; William Allen, Methodist Episcopal, 1820; Reuben Owen, 1820; David Lowry, 1820-'21; Joseph Pearson, 1820-'23; W. Kincheloe, Methodist Episcopal, 1820; John Doris, Baptist, 1821-'35; William Barnett, 1822 (lived in what is now Ohio County); George Locke, Methodist Episcopal, 1824; William C. Long, Cumberland Presbyterian, 1829; Ancil Hall, 1830-'35; Stephen F. Ogden, Methodist Episcopal, 1830-'31; James Moore, same church, 1832-'33; William Morman, Baptist, 1829-'34; C.L. Cliffton, Methodist Episcopal; Richard D. Neale, same, 1833; David J. Kelly, 1834; Elisha J. Durbin, 1829 and onward; John C. Wathen, Catholic priest, 1834-'35; F. Tanner, Baptist (resid- ing between Panther Creek and Green River), 1834-'35.
The names of parties not indicated as ministers of the gospel, who solemnized matrimony in this county previous to 1835, we find to be these: Benjamin Peeplns, 1819; Benjamin Kelly, 1820; J. H. L. Moorman, 1820; Benjamin Talbot, 1820; Michael D. Neal, A. M., 1824; William Hart, 1830; T. W. Chandler, 1834.
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MISCELLANEOUS NOTES.
Mr. Meeks, the father of James and Charles Meeks, was killed across the river in Indiana in 1811, by an Indian named Sutty- house. The sons here mentioned then pursued the murderer until they found him, and then killed him. The incoming war of 1812 directly afterward frightened all the Indians of this region to other parts of the country, since which time no depredations have been committed by them in this part of Kentucky.
William Calhoon, the great-grandfather of George Calhoori, came to this country in a very early day. On one occasion, while surveying with another man, they were lost for forty days and nights, having nothing to eat except snakes and toads! They be- came so poor and weak that they had to lie down beside a sap- ling at night, so that they could raise themselves in the morning from the ground with the aid of their hands, as it were by climbing!
Mr. Calhoon's grandfather, with five pounds (sterling) of money and an old wreck of a gun, purchased 1,400 acres of land, which now is said to be worth $50 an acre.
The earthquake of 1811 was perceived by all the residents in this region. Articles suspended from the wall or ceiling were swing about like a bell on an animal's neck. The superstitious element of human nature was excited, and many are the amusing experiences witnessed on that occasion. For example, one An- thony Thompson, a pious Methodist, thinking that the world was coming to an end, met with his neighbors and prayed and sang and shouted. Byrd Wall, father of Banister, was appealed to by one of these excited believers, and he replied: "Oh, you needn't give yourselves any uneasiness. This earth is hung on axles like a horse-mill shaft, and I will insure its running safely for a thousand years yet to come. "
1811 .- This was a remarkable year in Kentucky,-comet, earth- quake, signs of war with Great Britain, first steamboat down the Ohio River, and the discovery of the Mammoth Cave! All these at a time when the people were superstitious,-no wonder they were frightened. It is claimed by one old resident, however, that the first steamboat on the Ohio River did not appear until 1814. The fint shock of the earthquake was perceived at 2:15 P. M., Dec. 16, 1811.
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A RETROSPECT.
And now, how natural to turn our eyes and thoughts back to the log-cabin days of less than fifty years ago, and contrast it with the elegant mansion of modern times. Before us stands the old log cabin. Let us enter. Instinctively the head is uncovered in token of reverence to this relic of ancestral beginnings and early struggles. To the left is the deep, wide fire-place, in whose com- modious space a group of children may sit by the fire, and up through the chimney may count the stars, while ghastly stories of witches and giants, and still more thrilling stories of Indians and wild beasts, are whisperingly told and shudderingly heard. On the great crane hang the old tea-kettle and the great iron pot. The hnge shovel and tongs stand sentinel in either corner, while the great andirons patiently wait for the huge backlog. Over the fire-place hangs the trusty rifle. On the right side of the fire-place stands the spinning wheel, while in the farther end of the room the loom looms up with a dignity peculiarly its own. Strings of drying apples and poles of drying pumpkin are overhead. Oppo- site the door by which yon enter stands a huge deal table; by its side the dresser, whose " pewter plates " and "shining delf" catch and reflect " the fire-place flame as shields of armies do the sun- shine." From the corner of its shelves coyly peep out the relics of former china. In a curtained corner and hid from casnal sight we find the mother's bed, and under it the trundle-bed, while near them a ladder indicates the loft where the older children sleep. To the left of the fire-place and in the corner opposite the spinning- wheel is the mother's work-stand. Upon it lies the Holy Bible, evidently much used, its family record telling of parents and friends a long way off, and telling, too, of children
Scattered like roses in bloom, Some at the bridal and some at the tomb.
IIer spectacles, as if but just used, are inserted between the leaves of her Bible, and tell of hier purpose to return to its comforts when cares permit and duty is done. A stool, a bench, well notched and whittled and carved, and a few chairs complete the furniture of the room, and all stand on a coarse but well-scoured floor. Let us for a moment watch the city visitors to this humble cabin .: The city bride, innocent but thoughtless, and ignorant of labor and care, asks her city-bred husband: "Pray, what savages set this np?" Honestly confessing his ignorance, he replies: " I do not know."
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But see the pair on whom age sits " frosty but kindly." First, as they enter, they give a rapid glance around the cabin home, and then a mutual glance from cyc to cye. Why do tears start and fill their eyes? Why do lips quiver! There are many who know why; but who, that has not learned in the school of experience the full meaning of all these symbols of trials and privations, of loneliness and danger, can comprehend the story they tell to the pioneer? Within this chinked and mud-daubed cabin we read the first pages of our history; and as we retire through its low doorway. and note the heavy battened door, its wooden hinges, and its wel- coming latch-string, is it strange that the scene without should seem to be a dream! But the cabin and the palace, standing side by side in vivid contrast, tell the story of this people's progress. They are a history and prophecy in one.
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CHAPTER II. BILL SMOTHERS.
The name of this remarkable pioneer has been variously spelled and pronounced, as Smeather, Smeathers, Smither, Smithers, Smothers, etc., but Smither was probably correct; and "Bill " is supposed, of course, to stand for William. The above is the name by which he was familiarly called. He was born on the western frontier of Virginia, near the IIolston River. Ilis father was a hunter, and frequently took his'son with him to assist in bringing home the game. One morning he started at daylight, telling his wife that he would take a little round and be back to breakfast. As he did not return, a search was made for him. His body was found about two miles from home, nearly devoured by the wild beasts; but the narrow blade of an Indian tomahawk had been driven deep into his brain. His wife was so deeply affected by his death that she lived only nine days, and was placed in death where she had been in life-close by the side of her husband. William was so excited that he did not close his eyes in sleep during the night that followed her burial. Before day he went ont, and standing by their graves, boy as he was, he raised his hand to Heaven and swore that he would devote his life to the destruction of the Indian race. And well did he keep that vow, for he never saw an Indian that he did not shoot at, and he very seldom missed his aim. He felt very conscientious about killing a squaw, and re- joiced that it was never his misfortune to meet with one.
William was twelve years old at the time of his parents' deatlı. There were also two other children: James, aged nine, and Mollie. aged seven. One of the neighbors, a new comer, having no place of his own, proposed to take care of these orphan children for the rent of the farm. This was agreed upon and he moved in. Dur- ing that same year William went to live with an unele in Vir- ginia, who agreed to give him a good education, and $100 in money when he became of age. This uncle, whose name was Chrisman, was a man who worshiped the rich and scorned the poor. He was so cruel and overbearing to his orphan nephew that the latter ran away from him in a few years. He wandered
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through the country, stopping wherever he could find anything to do, but found his stock of money was growing less and less every day. He was in a little town called Taylorville, near the Catawba River, when Colonel Shelby came through beating up for volun- teers, and William joined him because he knew not what else to do. At that time the British had a military post on King's Mountain, so named from the fact that it stands alone, overlooking the country on all sides. It was at this point that the battle of King's Mount- ain was fought between the British and Colonel Shelby's men. The latter were successful, having killed Ferguson and a great many of his men, captured 1,000 prisoners, 2,000 muskets, and all their military stores, and lost very few of their own men.
After his discharge, William again wandered around the country until the following spring, when he was taken by a squad of men belonging to General Green's command, who had been sent out to press teamsters to drive the wagons. Although Smothers was ex- empt from the duties of teamster, he was detained until after the battle of Guilford Court-House was fought, and was then dis- charged. After this he could find no employment and con- cluded to return to James River and visit his uncle and friends in that vicinity. But his uncle forgot to give him the $100, al- though he was twenty-one and had a very good education. He bade him: good-bye, and started for his native town to visit his brother and sister. He found them still living with the man who had taken the farm. This man had a daughter whom Smothers courted one Sunday evening, and married the next Thursday. He was very anxious to proceed immediately to Kentucky, but liis wife and sister insisted that the snow and ice on the mountains would endanger their lives; so the move was postponed unti! spring.
On his arrival in Kentucky, he found the region around Lexing- ton more densely settled than the country he had left on the Hols- ton. He had come to fight the Indians, and did not feel like taking wages as a hand on a farm. He met a party who were coming down to fortify in the Green River country, and joined them at once. They built a fort at Hartford, on Rough Creek. When they were besieged they found that the Indians generally came from lower Kentucky, wading Green River at the falls. They es- tablislied a fort there and called it Vienna. At first, of course, it was only a fort; afterward a town was laid out there and called Vienna. It is now called Calhoon. The father of Wm. and
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Thomas Downs, a Baptist preacher, was the last man killed by the Indians here, which was in 1790-'2, within a few hundred yards of the fort. The section of the country about Vienna was settled up fully ten years before Bill Smothers came to Owensboro; the In- dians seldom came in great force afterward, and they soon scat- tered. Mrs. Smothers lived only a few years after her removal to Kentucky, and died, leaving two daughters and one son. Miss Mollie Smothers remained with her brother many years.
Smothers, not liking the dense settlements around Hartford and Vienna, came to the Yellow Banks and built a cabin on the banks of the Ohio. This was about the beginning of the present cent- nry. The cabin was of round logs and had two doors; from one he had a view of the Ohio, and from the other he looked into his garden. On the lower side of the house there was a shed-room, which was made by extending the main roof., being enclosed by slabs of timber planted in the ground. Abont four feet of a single log was cut out to make a passway into the room. In it he depos- ited his peltries and groceries, and when he entertained a large company, which was frequently the case, it was converted into a bed-chamber, more agreeable in cold than warm weather, owing to the abundance of deer and bear skins and buffalo robes which were kept there.
Nature had been liberal in her gifts to Smothers. In personal courage he was inferior to no man, and he was endowed with a good understanding. The operations of his mind were quick, and there was a sprightliness and point in his conceptions which never failed to interest the listener. In conversation he rarely descended to vulgarity, and never affected the coarse manner or rude speech of the ruffian. His voice, like his mind, was clear and distinct; and if he had received a thorough education he would have been a shining light in the land. But his love of fun was his controlling passion, and led him into many improprieties and may have clouded his memory with crime. In person, he was five feet eleven inches high; his hair and beard were dark brown; his eyes were prom- inent and a clear, deep blue ; his complexion was fair; and the ex- pression of his countenance was playful and intelligent. Whatever he did seemed to be performed deliberately. He spoke the truth, except when he was planning some mischief, and then his fertile imagination readily invented whatever was necessary to the suc- cess of his scheme. On these occasions he could invent the most marvelous and miraculous lies, giving all the particulars and at- 5
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tendant circumstances. Incredulity itself would be silenced by his earnestness of tone and his minuteness of detail.
Smothers was delighted with his new home at the Yellow Banks. He was in search of a good hunting-ground for himself, and good range for his horse and cow; and in these respects liis situation could not have been improved. From Panther Creek to the Ohio River, and from Green River to Blackford, he was the only in- habitant. He roamed the forest alone and slaughtered the game at pleasure. The necessaries and even the luxuries of life were fur- nished to him at his very door. The barges, as they were slowly cordelled by their armed crews, would stop and give him salt, flour and groceries, in exchange for dried venison, bear-meat and buffalo robes. No man below the falls could furnish so sumptu- ous a meal, and no man ever entertained with more genuine hospi- tality. The visitors had a general partiality for "old rye" and "flour bread," as these articles were unknown in the interior. At the conclusion of one of his repasts, a man called " Leather-legs" wiped his mouth on the skirt of his hunting shirt, and remarked: "Sinothers, I believe I will pull up stakes where I am, and come down here." This observation cast a shade over the countenance of Smothers, but he quickly replied, assuring his friend that the unhealthfulness of the climate would greatly endanger his life; "and besides," said Smothers, "I intend paying yon a visit on Pond River, and taking a long tramp in the hills; I like to hunt in the hills; the water is so much better than it is in the bottoms, and then you are clear of the black gnats, mosquitoes and galli - nippers that swarm in these flats." "Stop, Smothers," said Leather- legs, "you are taking a great deal of pains to tell me that you don't want ine here. I won't come; if I break up I will go to the mouth of the Wolf, or to the Red Banks." "Well, then," said Smothers, "we will be neighbors, and I will call and see you at either point."
The remark of Leather-legs made a deep impression upon the mind of Smothers. It proved to him that others were at least thinking of intruding themselves into the small boundaries which he had assigned to himself; that the 150,000 acres of land which he had enjoyed as a hunting-ground would be occupied by other men; that settlements would be made, farms opened, and the game driven away or destroyed, and that he would he left in his old age withont the means of support, in the country from which he had expelled the Indians. He did not spend his time in
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gloomy despondency, but, like a true man, resolved to make every effort to avert the awful train of calamities which he saw at no great distance [before him. A surveyor's chain he regarded with particular abhorrence, and, if opportunity presented, he would place it where it would never be stretched again; corner trees, he thought, ought not to stand, as they would be the starting points for sub- division. It will not be stated that he ever cut one, but many were missing. He determined also that his house should present fewer attractions. His table, instead of luxuries, was supplied with the simplest and coarsest fare of the hunter. He almost deserted his home, wandering weeks and months together in the woods. He hunted deer and bear on this side of the river, killing as many as he wished, and twice a year he took an Indian hunt on the other side, where he was equally as successful. Sleepless days and nights would be spent to get a shot; and at every crack of his rifle an Indian fell.
The melancholy and dreadful news, against which he would have gladly closed his ears, at last saluted Smothers, that at least twenty families had arrived upon his territory, and were then preparing to build houses and open plantations. The surveyor with his com- pass and chain was making new lines; the ax was busily plied in felling his trees; and the wedge lustily driven was riving his oaks. His lines had been broken and he was surrounded. In anguish and bitterness of spirit he contemplated his situation, and no ray of light broke through the dark cloud which enveloped him. At first he had almost resolved upon a hostile demonstration, but the number of the emigrants and the respectability of a portion of them, convinced him of the absolute folly and madness of sucli a course. Like all brave men, when fairly driven to the wall, he made up his mind to meet his fate with fortitude, and, making a virtue of ne- cessity, he determined to cultivate the good opinion of the new comers by a friendly visit to them. Near Blackford he called upon Ely and Natty Bell. At the house of the latter he was agree- ably surprised to find his brother James, who was laying siege to Bell's sister-in-law; she capitulated shortly afterward and they were married. In his circuit he saw Barker and Killenbarger, Holmark and Holinhead, Jones and Jordan, Glenn and Gentry, and on his return home he heard the ax of Felty Husk, who was cut- ting logs to build a house near the residence of Thomas H. Painter. Husk and Smothers afterward contracted a friendship which closed only with their lives.
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Hitherto there had been no legal tribunals in this section, and might had generally constituted right. But Anthony Thompson was commissioned and qualified as a Justice of the Peace for Nel- son County. He lived a few miles to the west of Vienna, and his district was about as large as six of our present counties. Thomp- son had a clear head, an iron will, and the kindliest feelings toward the whole human family. The uneasiness which Smothers expe- rienced at the appointment of a magistrate in such close prox- imity to himself gradually faded away. Five years of impunity convinced him that Squire Thompson was his friend; and although he had never seen him, he began to like the man, but rather pre- ferred that Panther Creek should still continue to run between them. One day Thompson called upon Smothers and they were so well pleased with one another that they became intimate friends.
One sultry evening as the last rays of the setting sun were play- ing upon a bank of cloud, fringing its outline in purple and gold, Smothers and his sister sat upon the doorsteps enjoying the cool air, and silently enjoying the splendors of the scene. Unnoticed by them, a keelboat had made fast at the landing, and several of the men were already in the yard. The foremost, a man by the name of Norris, was of Herculean proportions, and it was the boast of the crew that he had never met a match in a fisticuff from Louisville to New Orleans. Miss Mollie left the side of her brother and entered the house. When they approached Smothers arose from his seat and invited them to walk in. They indulged themselves in such freedom of remark that Miss Mollie concluded she could not remain with propriety and ran to the house of Felty Husk. Smothers, who had not observed the absence of his sister, remon- strated with them in mild but very decided terms upon their un- becoming and unworthy behavior. The firmness of his manner, and the truth of what he said, made an impression upon the boat- men. Six of the number upon leaving the house called to Norris to come and go to the boat. He told them to go on and that he would be along directly. But he never went. In the dim twilight Smothers saw ten or twelve of the crew ascending the bank in a line to his house. Retreating by the back door he concealed him- self in a bed of strawberries which grew in his garden. When they entered and beheld the lifeless body of their comrade and friend extended upon the floor, with the warm blood still trickling from two ghastly wounds, their rage and indignation knew no bounds. They threatened to hunt for Smothers until they found
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him, and to slay him at sight. Perceiving that they were search- ing and ransacking the house, and expecting them in the garden, he left his hiding place and spent the night in the woods. At day- light the next morning he knocked at the door of Ben Duncan, Esq., who lived on Pup Creek, ten miles above Yellow Banks. He informed 'Squire Duncan of the nature of the charges which had been made against him on the night previous and demanded a judicial investigation. 'Squire Duncan summoned the boatmen as witnesses and opened his Court of Inquiry. In answer to the sum- mons the crew came in a body to the house of the justice. Many of them were armed, and declared it to be their intention to seize the prisoner and hang him to a tree. But the friends of Smothers were there, and no man had more friends or truer friends than he had. They told the boatmen if they opened the ball in blood that the sun of that day would shine on many a corpse; that Smothers had surrendered himself to the officers of the law and was a pris- oner; that they could give their evidence if they had any, but if a hand was raised in violence they would resist it to the death. As they were prepared to make their words good the examination went on smoothly and quietly. The court decided that the offense was vailable, and required Smothers to give bond and security for his appearance on the first day of the next terin of the Ohio (now Daviess) Circuit Court. The bond was immediately filled by the prisoner and a number of securities, and after recognizing the wit- nesses the court adjourned. Smothers, with six of his chosen friends, returned to his home. The boat was still at the landing, but the war was not renewed.
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