USA > Kentucky > Henderson County > History of Henderson County, Kentucky > Part 13
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
" Their commander, General Packenham, and Generals Gibbs and Kean, next in command, had fallen. A host of inferior officers had shared the same fate, and their organization for the time was destroyed "
CAPTAIN PAYNE DIXON,
Who fought with undaunted courage throughout the entire battle, de- clared to the writer that at times his gun, from extreme heat produced by rapid firing, became unbearable to the hands. During the greater part of the firing, so dense was the smoke, the enemy could not be seen, and when the firing ceased and the British were found to be in full retreat, several of the Henderson boys mounted the breastworks and were about to rush out upon the field to secure a red coat, when they were peremptorily ordered back. The Henderson company fought on both sides of the Mississippi, having crossed over after the repulse of General Packenham to reinforce General Morgan, who was engaging the enemy with about 1,000 militia. On that side the Americans were repulsed.
After the battle the troops went into camp, and remained until April, when the Kentucky boys started on their journey home over- · land, on foot.
10
146
HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
AN OVATION.
In passing through New Orleans, the ladies and citizens cheered them lustily, the ladies showering upon them bouquets of beautiful flowers, as an evidence of their high appreciation of the bril- liant and self-sacrificing service rendered in behalf of the safety of their beautiful Southern home.
The march from New Orleans to Natchez was a terribly hard one, and by some means the commissary department had been neglected, and the soldiers were actually suffering from the want of something to eat. At Natchez, several of the soldiers traded for and purchased horses, which they rode home.
ARRIVAL HOME.
In the month of May the Henderson soldiers arrived at their home, and were received with shouts of joy by their friends and kins- men. They had performed a noble duty, and won for themselves the gratulations of their countrymen. They had been foremost in the battle, and had been chiefly instrumental in defeating, certainly one of the grandest armies the sun had ever shown upon.
FLOOD OF 1815.
In April of this year the flood in the Ohio River was higher than ever known since 1793.
FIRST COUNTERFEITER.
At the March term of the Circuit Court James Davis was in- dicted for felonously counterfeiting 'money. He was tried, and sent to the State prison for three years. A specimen of his work is on file in the Circuit Court Clerk's office, and is certainly the equal of any engraving done at this day. With the exception of the paper used, the work is very superior.
At this term of the court Assistant Judge Knox was again in- dicted for the exercise of one of his youthful indiscretions, which seemed to hang to him in his comparative old age.
Walter Alves, who had been commissioned to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Dr. Adam Rankin, Associate Judge, produced his commission and was qualified at the June term.
AN ACT CONCERNING CIRCUIT COURTS.
On the third day of February, 1816, the following act " to further regulate Circuit Courts " was approved :
" Be it enacted, etc., That so much of any and every law, as creates the office of Assistant Judge, shall be,and the same is hereby repealed, and the Cir-
147
HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
cuit Judge of each Circuit Court shall alone possess all the power and author- ity for the trial of criminal and civil cases as the Circuit Courts heretofore possessed."
In obedience to this act, Assistant Judges Hugh Knox and Wal- ter Alves stepped aside, and left Judge Broadnax alone in his glory for the first time.
In the early part of this year Benjamin Stevenson, of the Ter- ritory of Illinois, sold to Samuel Givens, of Union County, four hun- dred and five acres of land for one thousand gallons of whisky, esti- mated to be worth nine shillings per gallon. On the sixteenth day of January
THOMAS TOWLES
Was appointed and commissioned one of the judges of the Illinois Territory. Upon a superb piece of parchment and written in a bold, legible hand, appears the following :
" James Madison, President of the United States of America to all who shall see these presents greeting. Know ye. that reposing special trust and confidence in the wisdom, uprightness and learning of Thomas Towles, of Kentucky, I have nominated, and by and with the advice of the Senate, do appoint him one of the judges in and over the Illinois Territory, and do au- thorize and empower him to execute and fulfill the duties of that office according to law, and to have, and to hold the said office with all the powers, privileges and emoluments to the same of right appertaining, during his good behavior or during the existence of the government established by the act of the Congress of the United States, passed the third day of February, 1809, entitled an act for dividing the Indiana Territory into two separate governments, and the or- dinance of Congress passed on the thirteenth day of July, 1787, therein re- ferred to, he to reside in the said Territory. In testimony,
" By the President-
JAMES MADISON,
"JAMES MONROE, Secretary of State."
Subsequent to this, Mr. Towles qualified, as will appear from the following certificate :
" ILLINOIS TERRITORY-
"Personally appeared before me, Ninian Edwards, Governor of the Ter- ritory aforesaid, Thomas Towles, who took the oath of fidelity to the United States, and the oath of office as judge in and over the Territory aforesaid. Given under my hand and seal, this seventh day of March, 1816.
NINIAN EDWARDS.
"BOGUS CURRENCY."
While both population and business were increasing, and the town and county were otherwise steadily growing, great difficulty was experienced in the effort to get a satisfactory medium of exchange.
.
148
HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
This was the beginning of the period when the old banking system held sway. Paper money of all kinds and denominations began to flood the country, worthless bank-notes, private bills, and other shin-plas- ters, seemed determined to crowd out the specie currency, that had been common in use. Disaster came upon many of the business men, and a want of confidence limited all kinds of transactions in which money played the greater part. During the year, petitions were circu- lated over the counties of the State, praying for banking facilities. Every county wanted a bank, and Henderson, like the rest, was greatly excited over the proposition. As I go along through the years 1817 and '18, the reader will see what was the effect of this financial craze.
AUDUBON'S MILL.
On the sixteenth day of March John J. Audubon, who had been a resident of Henderson since 1812, and Thomas W. Bakewell, under the firm name of Audubon & Bakewell, made application to Daniel Comfort, William P. Bowen, Wyatt H. Ingram, Fayette Posey and Bennett Marshall, trustees of the Town of Henderson, to lease for the term of ninety-five years, a portion of the river front, for the purpose of locating and erecting a steam sawmill. The Trustees, after mature deliberation, and fully considering the premises, granted to the petitioners the margin of Water Street, beginning at a post two hundred feet from the upper corner of lot No. 4 on the cross street, (Second Street), thence down Water Street two hundred and twenty feet to a post, thence at right angles from each of said posts to the Ohio River, reserving the free and uninterrupted use of the front for navigation and landing of boats, etc., for, and in consideration of the sum of twenty dollars to be paid annually. During the year the mill was built, and is yet standing to-day, perhaps the strongest frame in the city. It is the second or far section of the David Clark factory, now standing on the corner of Water and Second cross streets, and is the oldest building now standing in Henderson.
" A GOOD SCHOOL."
Henderson, during 1817, enjoyed, as she had done for several years previous, the privileges of a good school. The Trustees of the old Seminary had in their employ one Elisha N. Plumb, of Philadel- phia, a man of fine training and considerable experience as a teacher. In the Seminary building religious services were held on the Sabbath, and all in all the religious and educational interests of the community were well provided for.
149
HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
The commercial advantages of the town had become more signifi- cant, and as a general thing all branches of trade then established were doing at least a living business. The crops of the county were larger this year, and indeed, had assumed magnificant proportions. The inspection warehouses during this year handled over fifteen hun- dred hogsheads of tobacco, of this number the Henderson house re- ceived three hundred and eighteen hogsheads, and Ingram and Posey six hundred and eighty-four.
FIRST STEAMBOAT BUILT AT HENDERSON.
The first steamboat built in Kentucky, and the fourteenth boat built on the Western waters was the "PIKE," built by J. Prentiss at Henderson. She was a twenty-five ton boat, and built for the trade from Louisville to St. Louis ; afterwards ran in the Red River trade, and was lost on a sawyer in March 1818.
This same year Samuel Bowen and John J. Audubon, built a small steamboat, and a short time after her completion, the officer in command ran her out of the Ohio, and Audubon thinking all was not well, followed on in a skiff, but failed to overtake her until his arrival at New Orleans. Here he seized the boat and rather than suffer fur- ther annoyance, sold the craft at a sacrifice.
ITEMS OF 1818.
The value of real estate in the growing village had considerably increased, and the future promised great things. Audubon and Bake- well had not only built, and were successfully working a large steam grist mill, but in addition had built and were successfully opera- ting a large sawmill. The old-fashioned whip-saw, with its long and tiresome stroke, had now to succumb to the work of machinery, driven by steam. A bank was promised, and before the end of the year was in full blast; brick yards had been established, and a strong disposi- tion to build, manifested itself among the inhabitants. The house in which Mr. James Graves and family now reside was built by Harris & Tobin. All of the interior wood work, and most of the weather- boarding, which was made of pine, is still intact, and better to-day than that which has been replaced within the last ten years. All of the brick work done at that time was laid in the Flemish bond, a more expensive', and far more substantial mode than is adopted at this time. Brick work done after the Flemish bond system, in after years be- came, it is said, as solid as stone and almost impossible to be torn to pieces. About midway of the same square, between Main and Elm on Clay, or Lower Third Street, Harris & Tobin built and operated,
150
HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
for years, the first tobacco stemmery known in this section of the country. This old house stood back from the street line and was only torn down when incapacitated by age, and inferiority of design and capacity to successfully compete with larger, and more conveniently located houses. In this house A. B. Barrett, first commenced the tobacco business, and continued there until he was better suited in another house, higher up-town.
A BOOM.
About this time there was one of those periodical booms, which Henderson has so often experienced, and by which up to this time she has been so little benefitted. Land and town lots-(to use a common expression), went clear out of sight, and wages out of all reason. The people seemingly went wild, and fully ten or fifteen houses were built during the year.
This was one of the years, for which the civil history of Kentucky is memorable, by the dreadful monetary derangement which lead to the passage of the relief laws, and gave rise to the most embittered and violent conflict of parties which has ever occurred in Kentucky. The financial affairs of the civilized world were in a painful state of disorder. The long wars of the French revolution had banished gold and silver from circulation as money, and had substituted an inflated paper currency, by which nominal prices were immensely enhanced. At the return of peace, a restoration of specie payments, and the re- turn of Europe to industrial pursuits, caused a great fall in the nom- inal value of commodities, accompanied by bankruptcy upon an enor- mous scale. In Kentucky the violence of this crisis was enhanced by the charter of forty Independent banks, with an aggregate capital of nearly ten millions of dollars, which were by law permitted to redeem their notes, with the paper of the bank of Kentucky, instead of specie. These banks were chartered at the Session of 1817-18. Every little town and village in Kentucky wanted a bank, and Henderson was among the foremost. On January 26, 1818, an act to establish inde- pendent banks in this Commonwealth was approved.
FIRST BANK.
Among the number is the following : " A bank, to be denom- inated the Bank of Henderson, in the Town of Henderson, with a capital of one hunded and fifty thousand dollars, to be divided into one thousand five hundred shares of one hundred dollars each, un- der the direction of Samuel A. Bowen, James Wilson, James Hillyer, Walter Alves, Nicholas C. Horseley, Leonard Lyne and Wyatt H. Ingram, or a majority of them, for the sale of stock, and continue
151
HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
open for sixty days, unless the stock is sooner taken up." The sub- scribers, their successors and assigns were made a corporation and body politic in law, and in fact, by the name and style of the President, Directors and Company, of the Bank of Henderson, and were au- thorized to continue until the last day of December, 1837.
This bank was given plenary, or full banking powers, and directed, as soon as one-fifth of the capital stock was actually received on ac- count of the subscriptions, to give notice in two newspapers, printed in the State, to notify a time and place in the town, giving at least thirty day's notice for proceeding to the choice of a president and eight directors. The Board of Directors were invested with all power usually given officers of such corporations. The bank notes thrown into circulation, were restricted to three times the amount of capital, over and above the moneys then actually deposited in the bank. and in case of excess, the directors shall be individually liable for the same. Under this act, the Bank of Henderson organized, with what amount of paid up capital, it has been impossible to ascertain. Cap- tain Samuel Anderson was elected the first president, and James Hill- yer the first cashier. Monied transactions were pretty heavy in those days, as is evidenced by old notes appearing here and there, in old- time papers, now worthless.
The Bank of Henderson commenced business in a two-story log house, which stood on the southeast corner of Main and Second Streets, and at the same time commenced the building of a brick bank- ing house on Main Street. As a great many corporations have foolishly done before, the directors of this bank concluded to furnish all mate- rials, and pay for all labor by the day, or by the job, as the case might be. Moses Morgan and John Mason were employed to do the wood- work, and Francis Hammill, the brick-work. The lumber was pur_ chased from the " Henderson Steam Mill, " operated by John Audu- bon & Co., and the brick manufactured by the company. As a conse- quence of this plan, the house cost a third more than it ought to have cost, and the building committee engaged in a continued dispute with the workmen. Francis Hammill's bill was disputed, and by agreement, submitted to John Lewis and Charles Peck, brick masons, who after calmly considering and investigating, gave Hammill more than he claimed. Another trouble, was the delay in getting work done. Most of the directors had a hand in the building, yet everyone of them charged liberally for all he or they did. This building, which is now known as the Kerr, Clark & Co. Counting Room, was begun in May, 1818, and completed the latter part of 1819. The following is the estimate made by Lewis and peck, of the number of brick used :
.
1
152
HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
Amount of brick in the Bank House, Henderson :
Basement story
32,410
First story 63,570
Second story 43,580
Parapet walls
10,136
Vault
19,800
Shaft of chimney
1,575
171,071
Deduction for chimney
3,000
168,071
" JOHN LEWIS.
" CHARLES PECK."
Francis Hammill's bill for brick work, which was allowed by the committee of arbitration, was three dollars per thousand for laying in the wall, twelve arches at three dollars each, and one arch at five dollars. This was the arch over the front door. The following is one of Audubon's bills :
" To the President and Directors of the Bank of Henderson, to Henderson Steam Mill. Dr
To three pieces of scantling, 56 feet, at 41%c
$2 52
To two pieces of scantling, 34 fcet.
To sixty rafters. 714 feet, at 4c.
28 56
To five pieces scantling, 40 feet, at 3c.
1 20
To fifteen joints, 27812 feet, 6c
16 71
$48 99
· J. J. AUDUBON & CO."
The putty-thirty pounds used in glazing, cost forty cents per pound, only thirty-six cents per pound more than the same material is worth at this time. In the same summer of 1818, when the Bank of Henderson commenced business, the State was flooded with paper money, and to add to this financial uncertainty, our bank turned loose a goods boxfull of her notes. With this, speculation sprung up in all directions, large loans were rashly made, and as rashly expended. Most of these financial bubbles exploded within one year, and only a few were alive at the end of two years. Following in the wake of the unfortunates, the Bank of Henderson, after two years of unsuc- cessful business, turned her toes to the daisies, and effected a settle- ment as best she could. In the meantime, the pressure of debt be- came terrible, and the power to replevy judgments was extended by the Legislature, from three to twelve months, by an act passed at the session of 1819-20.
The following bit of history, as much to be applied to Hender- son as any other county, is reproduced simply to give the reader a
153
HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
faint idea of the frightful condition of monetary affairs throughout Kentucky, after the forty banks had been incorporated and let out their circulating issue. During the year 1819, this monetary distress became more and more alarming, and in the summer of 1820, the cry for further relief became overwhelming. Vast majorities of both houses of the Legislature were pledged to some measure which should relieve the debtor from the consequences of his rashness. The reign of political quackery was in its glory. The sufferings of the patient were too acute to permit him to listen to the regular physician, who prescribed, time, industry and economy as the only honest and just rem- edy. He turned eagerly to the quacks, who promised him instantane- ous relief, by infallible nostrums, and specifics without pain, without self. denial, and without paying the penalty which nature always im- poses upon any gross violation of her laws. The great cry of the people was, more money, and their heaviest complaint was, debt. Therefore the Legislature of 1820-21 chartered the bank called the "Bank of the Commonwealth," which was relieved from all danger of suspension, by not being required even to redeem its specie. Its paper was made payable and receivable for public debts and taxes, and certain lands, owned by the State, south of Tennessee River, were pledged for the final redemption of its notes. Its business was to pour out paper in profusion, in order to make money plenty. The creditor was required to receive this bank paper in payment of all his debts, and if he refused to do so, the debtor was authorized to replevy the debt for the space of two years. By more mad legislation, the paper of the new bank sank rapidly to one-half its nominal value, and the creditor had his choice of two evils-one was to receive half of his debt in payment of the whole, and the other was to receive nothing at all for two years, and at the end of that time, do the best he could, running the risk of new delays at the end of that time, and the bankruptcy of his securities. The indignation of the creditor at this wholesale confis- cation of his property, can be imagined, and as a consequence, society rapidly arranged itself into two parties, called Relief and anti-Relief. The constitutionality of the Commonwealth Bank act was tested and decided against the State. This decision created intense indignation among the debtor class, which was at that time in a large majority. An appeal was taken to the Court of Appeals, and the question came di- rectly before them at the fall term, 1823. Their decision was awaited with intense anxiety by all parties. Terrible denunciations of popu- lar vengeance in advance, if they dared to thwart the will of a vast majority of the people, were intended to warp their judgments or
154
HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
operate upon their fears. The Judges had maintained an unbroken silence, but when called upon, delivered their opinion seriatim and at length, calmly concurring with their brethren of the Circuit Court, that the act was in violation of the Constitution of the United States and totally void. The opinion created an immense sensation through- out every county of the State, and the conflict of parties was renewed with redoubled fury.
The majority now determined to sweep from their path, and make an example to future ages, of the three calm and recluse stu- dents, who had dared to set up reason against rage, and the majesty . of truth and law against the popular will. The great majority had been accustomed to make and unmake, to set up and pull down at its sovereign will and pleasure. The judiciary, by the Constitution, held their offices during good behavior and nothing less than two- thirds of both houses could remove them.
The canvass of 1824 was conducted with the hope of obtaining this result. General Joseph Desha, candidate of the relief party, was elected by a large majority, a vast majority of both houses were of the relief party. At the following meeting of the Legislature the three Judges were summoned before the Legislative bar and assigned reasons at length for their decision. This was unsatisfactory to the crazed majority, and a vote was taken to remove the Judges of the Supreme Court, but a constitutional majority of two-thirds could not be obtained. They found they could not remove the Judges by im- peachment or address, because their majority, although large, was not two-thirds of each house, but they could repeal the act, by which the Court of Appeals had been organized and could pass an act or- ganizing a new court.
A bill to this effect was drawn up and passed by a large major- ity in the House of Representatives, and by a nearly equal majority in the Senate. No time was lost in organizing the new court, the old court, however, denied the constitutionality of the act, and still con- tinued to sit as a Court of Appeals. A large majority of the bar of Kentucky recognized them as the true court, and a great majority of the Circuit Court Judges obeyed the mandates as implicitly as if no reorganizing act had passed. The title of parties now changed from relief and anti-relief to old court and new court.
Great activity was exerted in the canvass of 1825, and never were the passions of the people more violently excited. The result was the triumph of the old court party by a large majority in the popular branch of the Legislature, while the Senate still remained at- tached to the new court.
155
HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.
In the canvass of 1826 both parties arrayed in final struggle for the command of the Senate, and the old court party again tri- um hed. At the ensuing session of the Legislature the obnoxious act was repealed, the opinion of Governor Desha to the contrary, and the three old Judges re-established de facto as well as de jure. Their salaries were voted them during their forcible and illegal removal from office, and all acts of the new court treated as a nullity. This certainly was one of the most signal triumphs of law and order, over the fleeting passions of people, which has ever been recorded in the annals of a free people.
The fate of the Commonwealth Bank, and its almost unlimited amount of worthless paper currency, and the replevin laws connected with it, was forever sealed by the triumph of the old court party. The replevin laws were repealed, and the bank extinguished by successive acts of the Legislature, which directed that its paper should be grad- ually burned, instead of reissued. In a few years, its paper disap- peared from circulation. New banks were afterwards chartered and another vast quantity of paper money put afloat to stimulate the wild- est spirit of speculation. Everybody rushed into the market to borrow money to carry out some pet thought or wild scheme, but this fabric was too baseless, and unreal to endure. In the spring of 1837, all of the banks of Kentucky suspended specie payment. In this state of things the Legislature of 1837 met and legalized the suspension of the banks. By the exercise of superior business tact, the financial condition of things was again brought to a satisfactory conclusion, and the coun- ties of the State again took on new life. During these troublous times Henderson County was fortunate to be represented by Leonard H. Lyne, Samuel G. Hopkins and Judge George Morris. Hender- son County's history during this time, and since, is so closely inter- woven with that of the State that it would be impossible to give a sat- isfactory view of the subjects which engrossed the attention of the people, without entering into details forbidden by the plan of an out- line sketch like this. It is safe to say, however, that political relief and anti-relief, old and new court, excitement ran as high in Hender- son as in any other county in the State, but from the character of men elected to represent the county during the time, we may safely con- clude that Henderson stood by the honor of the State, and was en- rolled with those, whose inherent attachment to sober and rational liberty, guided them in every action, public or private.
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.