History of Henderson County, Kentucky, Part 5

Author: Starling, Edmund Lyne, 1864- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Henderson, Ky.
Number of Pages: 892

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It was further enacted that each of the County Courts of the Commonwealth should have full power and authority, in their discre- tion, to surrender up to any widow, or poor persons, who might be unable to pay, and who had been a settler on the land, any balance due from him, her or them, and, without payment, grant a certificate to the Auditor in like form, as if the payment had been made in money or labor. Again on the seventh day of February, 1834, an act to amend an act concerning head-right certificates, was approved. In

HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.

this the owners of head-right certificates were given an additional twelve months, to file in the office of the County Clerk, their certifi- cate as required by the act of 1833. An act entitled an act to reduce the price of head-right lands on the south side of Green River, ap- proved December 13, 1831, was continued in force until the first day of January, 1835. From the foregoing acts of the Kentucky Legisla- ture, concerning the early settlement of the territory south of Green River, it will be seen that body was not alone active in the interest of the new comer, but solicitous that he should choose a safe beginning, and in choosing it, make sure of a prosperous future. No petition of the people went unheeded, and it is quite probable, through the liber- ality of the Representatives, they were often imposed upon and se- duced into doing things, which in their results, culminated in injury rather than good to the people.

In this chapter I have endeavored to give a brief history of the early laws, as applied to settlers, and from it may be gained a lesson of the trials and tribulations of our ancestors. They were poor and ignorant and thus necessarily, from surrounding inconveniences, fell heir to great anxiety of mind and body. We now, in this enlightened age, can but poorly estimate what was done by them for us.

CHAPTER V.

ESTABLISHMENT AND ORGANIZATION OF HENDER- SON COUNTY.

IN the early days of Henderson, when settlements were very few and far between, the country wild, no roads, no conveniencies, no mode of travel, save upon the back of a horse, or on foot, the means of obtaining information from other parts of the country were poor indeed. There were no mail facilities, no way of getting the news, only through the medium of one to another, who happened to be traveling from place to place. It is not strange, therefore, that the acts of the Legistature were a long time finding their way to the peo- ple, and the people then a long time complying with the law. Offi- cers of the law were distressingly few, and to institute legal proceedings to settle land rights, was an undertaking most of the settlers rather shrank from, than wished to undertake. The nearest courts were one hundred to two hundred miles away, with no roads or bridges. A nar- row passageway or trail beaten by wild animals meandering through the cane, pea-vine, prairie grass and forest undergrowth, offered the only highway, and to make this journey was both difficult and dangerous. For this reason, perhaps more than any other, many people failed to comply with the law, and what they had earned by honest hard toil was taken away by the more active settler of a speculative and unscrup- ulous turn of mind. There were few men in those days to counsel with, and matters could not be brought from shapeless confusion, with such comparative ease and reasonable expense as they were when the county became more thickly populated. During the nine- ties, settlements were made in the county and town until it was deemed

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HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.

advisable to establish another county ; therefore to aid in the more rapid developement of the Green River country, on the 21st day of December, 1798, the General Assembly of the State passed the fol- lowing act :

" SECTION I. Be it enacted, &c., That all of that part of the County of Christian, from and after the 15th day of May next, included in the following lands to-wit : Beginning on Trade Water, opposite the mouth of Montgomer- ies, thence to the head of Drake's Creek, thence down Drake's Creek to Pond River and down the same to Green River, and down the same to the Ohio River, and down the same to the mouth of Trade Water, and up the same to the beginning, shall be one distinct county, and called and known by the name of Henderson. But the County of Henderson shall not be entitled to a separ- ate Representative until the number of free male inhabitants therein contained, above the age of twenty-one years, shall entitle them to one representation, agreeable to the ratio that shall hereafter be established by law.

"SEC. 2. The Quarter Sessions Court for the County of Henderson shall be held annually on the first Tuesday in the months of March, May, July and October, and the County Courts for said county shall sit the same day in every other month, in which the Courts of Quarter Sessions are not herein directed to be held, in such manner, as is provided by law in respect to other counties within this State.

"SEC. 3. The Justices of the Court of Quarter Sessions and County Courts named in the Commissions for said county, shall meet at Samuel Bradley's Tavern, in the Town of Henderson, in the said county, on the first court day after said division takes place, and having taken the oath prescribed by law, and a Sheriff being qualified to act, the Justices of the said courts shall proceed to appoint a clerk, separately to their respective courts, as they may severally choose to do, and to fix on a place to erect the public buildings in said county where the courts for said county thereafter shall be held."

This act made it lawful for the Sheriff of Christian County to make distress for any public dues or officers' fees unpaid by citizens, within the bounds of the new county at the time the division should take place ; also, that the Courts of Christian County should have jurisdiction in all actions and suits depending therein at the time of said division, and should try and determine the same, issue process, and award execution. This act took effect May 15, 1799. Hender- son was now a full-fledged county, with established boundaries, includ- ing ample territory, one would think, for all practical and reasonable purposes, yet there was a disposition to claim the peninsula north- west of the Ohio River, and now known as the bayou in Union Town- ship, Indiana. Title Papers calling for lines in that territory which was claimed as a part of Christian County, are of record in the County Clerk's office at this time. For a long time this disputed question remained unsettled. On the 27th day of January, 1810, the Legisla-

FOLGER GLN

FIRST COURT HOUSE.

HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.

ture of Kentucky settled the question, by the passage of the following preamble and enactment :

"WHEREAS, Doubts are suggested whether the counties calling for the Ohio River in the boundary line extend to the State line on the northwest side of said river, or whether the margin of the southeast side is the limit of the county-to explain which- Be it enacted, &c., That each County of this Commonwealth calling for the river Ohio, as the boundary line, shall be con- sidered as bounded in that particular by the State line, on the northwest side of said river, and the bed of the river and the Islands thereof, shall be in their respective counties holding the main land opposite thereto within this State, and the several county tribunals shall hold jurisdiction accordingly ."

Subsequent to this in a suit of Handley's lessee, versus Anthony, concerning Kentucky's jurisdiction over the peninsula in Indiana, opposite the Town of Henderson, the Court of Appeals of Kentucky decided among other things-

" That the boundary of the State of Kentucky extends only to low water mark on the western or northwestern side of the river Ohio. and does not in - clude a peninsula or island on the western or northwestern bank, separated from the main land by a channel or bayou, which is filled with water, only when the river rises above its banks, and is at other times dry."

This decision has forever settled the boundary line of Henderson County, so far as her northwestern line is concerned. In pursuance of the act heretofore recited, creating the County of Henderson, the five Justices of the County Court and the three of the Court of Quar- ter Sessions, commissioned by his excellency, the Governor, met for the first time at Bradley Tavern, in the Town of Henderson, on the fourth day of June, 1799, and organized their courts according to law. The first record says :

" This being the day directed by an. act of the General Assembly, for the meeting of the Courts of Justices thereof aforesaid, for the purposes therein expressed, the said officers met as aforesaid, and constituted their courts in manner and form following: Present, Samuel Hopkins, Abraham Landers, and Hugh Knox, Gentlemen Justices of the Court of Quarter Sessions of Hen- derson County. Present, Charles Davis, Jacob Barnett, Daniel Ashby, John Husbands, Eneas McCallister and Jacob Newman, Gentlemen Justices of the Peace and County Court, for Henderson County. A commission from his excellency. the Governor of the State, bearing date December 22, 1798, di- rected to Charles Davis, Jacob Barnett. Daniel Ashby, John Husbands, Eneas McCallister and Jacob Newman, Esq's., appointing them Justices of the Pea s in this county, was produced and read. whereupon the said gentle- men took the oath prescribed by the Constitution, and were qualified accord- ingly . A commission from his excellency, the Governor, bearing date Decem- ber 22, 1798, directed to Andrew Rowan. Esq., appointing him Sheriff of the County, was produced and read, whereupon the said Andrew Rowan took the

HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.

oath prescribed by the Constitution, and with Daniel Ashby and Jacob New- man, his sureties entered into, and acknowledged their bond in the penalty of one thousand dollars for the said Rowan's duly and faithfully performing the said office of Sheriff according to law "

The Court of Quarter Sessions then proceeded to appoint a clerk and John David Haussman was appointed, whereupon the said Hauss- man took the oath, &c., and entered into bond, with General Samuel Hopkins his surety. The County Court proceeded to appoint a clerk, and John David Haussman was appointed, and with General Samuel Hopkins, his surety, entered into bond, &c. Edward Talbott produced a commission from the Governor, appointing him Surveyor of the county, whereupon he, with Isham Talbott, his surety, entered into bond in the penalty of one thousand pounds for the faithful perform- ance of his duties.

The Justices of the Court of Quarter Sessions, and the Justices of the County Court consociated, proceeded to consider and fix upon a place for the seat of Justice of Henderson County, and having con- sulted together, ordered and determined that the public buildings be erected on the Public Square in the Town of Henderson, and that the courts for the county be held in the said Town. The Justices having determined on such matters as were confided to them conjointly by law, dissolved their sitting. The County Court continued in session, all of the qualified Justices being present. The first business pre- sented to the court, was an indenture of bargains and sale from Henry Purviance for himself, and as an attorney in fact for others, the same was acknowledged and ordered to be recorded. The court then adjourned to the school house.

RATHER INDEFINITE.

The foregoing copy of the record is about as clear and compre- hensive as most of the orders to be found during the official term of Mr. Haussman ; evidently that gentleman never expected a history of the county from its beginning to be written, and had he kept his books with the view of furnishing as little information to the historian as possible, he could hardly have succeeded more thoroughly than he has done. It would be a hard matter at this time to tell from Mr. Haussman's books and papers where Bradley's Tavern and the school house stood at the time he was clerk. It would have been an easy matter, had he simply added the number of the lot or lots. After an extended research through the old records, and repeated conversa- tions with many of the oldest inhabitants, it is pretty generally settled that Bradley's Tavern stood on the east side of Main between First

HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.

and Second Streets, and the school house stood in the site now occu- pied by the store house of Thomas Evans, on the northeast corner of Main and Second Streets. These houses were built after the primi- tive style, unhewn logs being used for walls and logs hewn on one side for joists. The school house was a small affair, perhaps not exceed- ing fourteen feet square in the clear. To continue with the records of the first County Court, we find that the non-cupative will of Joseph Mason, deceased, was produced in court, proved by the oath of Rachel Thompson, and ordered recorded. In this will a portion of the peninsula lying on the Indiana side, of which we have spoken, was devised and the same mentioned as being a part of Christian County, lying in the northwestern part. The county being without a prison house, it was ordered that Samuel Hopkins, Eneas McCal- lister and John Husband, or any two of them, report to the next August meeting a plan whereon to erect a public jail, likewise what addition ought to be made to the present school house to make it more convenient for holding courts. Jonathan Anthom was appointed the first constable, executing bond and taking the oath prescribed by law. Court then adjourned ; signed, Charles Davis.

CHAPTER VI.

THE FIRST COUNTY COURT-HUMOR OF THE PEOPLE-SURVEYING AND OPENING THE ROADS.

HE meeting of the first court of Henderson County was the occa- sion of much rejoicing. The Justices and under officers imme- diately became sovereign lords, and were gazed at, upon the adjourn- ment of that imposing body, as though they were of shape curious, or had mysteriously inherited the power of relieving all ills. They were courted and feasted, and button-holed, as though they were new- comers, with all authority and power. In those early days the honor attaching to a commission signed and sealed by the Governor was as highly prized as though it was one of our modern papers, ornamented with variagated sealing wax, pink ribbons, or red tape, bearing upon its face the authority to draw upon Uncle Sam for six thousand or more dollars per annum. It was fortunate that there was but little use for money, as there was but little of it to be had. There were no expen- sive amusements, no extravagant social pastime, no glittering extrava- gancies, or cultured professionals, to draw from the buckskin wallet shining values for an hour's season with the great masters. But there was an abundance of good cheer ;- there was the rude, untutored, uncultured swing, of the wild woods fiddler, as he made the welkin. ring, tickling the souls of unblacked brogans with the inspiring har- monies of "Leather Breeches," "Molly Put the Kettle On," or " Buf- falo Gals." Little did those people know of your operas, grand recep- tions, or swell occasion. A puncheon floor, splintery and unadzed, wheron to dance ; a puncheon table, whereon to place their earthern or wooden tableware, a log-heap, sending its sparks up to the clouds,

HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.

whereon to broil the richest of meats, and then to swing corners with the rosy cheeked lasses of the wild West, was fashion and glory enough for them. They had their pleasures, and snuffed freedom from every breeze. The woods, barrens and the water courses were theirs ; all descriptions of wild game were in gun shot of their cabin doors. The land was susceptible of the highest culture, and thus the forefathers of many of us stood monarchs over wants, rejoicing, as they had a right to, in a promise of a bountiful plenty showered upon them with an unmeasured hand. To open up the country to travel, to clear out the undergrowth, to settle down to the realities of life, and to regulate the settlement according to the forms of progress and law, became the most important question. The State had been admitted into the Union of States, the county had been recognized by the State, and up to this time the strong arm of the law had seldem ever brought its protecting fold around the few hardy pioneers of the " Red Banks."

"BUT THE DAY HAD COME."

The settlement of the county was on the increase, and to keep step with their more advanced neighbors, was one of the determina- tions formerly fixed Backed by the authority of the young Common- wealth, they began in earnest to open up lands to bring an uninhab- ited wilderness from its rude originality to green fields of growing grain ; to substitute in place of wolves, herds of cattle and sheep, graz- ing upon a thousand hills; to bring civilization from a comparatively wild state of individual laxity, by organizing courts, building rude temples of justice, and prison houses-such as their limited means would allow-substituting public roads for the trails of wild animals, clearing up the land for cultivation, and such other things contem- plated by law, and the progress of the times in other parts of this great country. The second meeting of the County Court was held in the old log school house on the first Tuesday in August, 1799. The first business coming before the court was the proposition to establish pub- lic roads, whereupon the following order was passed :

SMITH'S FERRY ROAD.

" Ordered. that Samuel Hopkins, Jacob Barnett and Thomas Willingham, or any two of them, mark and lay off a road from the Public Square, in the Town of Henderson, to Smith's Ferry, on Green River, and Samuel Hopkins is appointed surveyor of that road from the Town of Henderson to the main fork of Lick Creek, and Thomas Willingham, from the main fork of Lick Creek to the ferry; and it is further ordered, that the said Samuel Hopkins, with his own hands ; Arend Rutgers, with his hands; Jacob Barnett, with his hands; Russell Hewett, with his hands; Joshua Fleehart, Thomas Smith and Robert Baird, open the said road and keep it in repair from the public square

HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.

in Henderson to the main fork of Lick Creek, and that John Kilgore, Thomas Freels, John Knight Nerod Franceway, Elijah Griffith, Lawrence Raw- lasson, Jr., William Rawlasson, Isaac Knight, Nathan Young. Jacob Van- kird, Michael Hog, Adam Hay, Alter McGlaughlin, Thomas Stoll, Charles Davis and his male laboring tithables, Adam Lawrence. Jr., John Lawrence, Isaac Lusade and Jesse Kimbell, upon the said road and keep it in repair from the main fork of Lick Creek, to Smith's Ferry."

This was the first road established in Henderson County. It ran to a point two miles beyond Hebardsville, where it bore to the right, and approached Green River at a point about one, or one and a half miles above the present Henderson and Owensboro Ferry. This was the crossing place for many years, but subsequently changed to Calhoun Ferry, the now crossing place. Under an act concerning public roads passed by the General Assembly, February 25, 1797, this road was surveyed and opened, yet we have no record of viewers even having been appointed. From this it is reasonable to conclude that this route had been opened prior to 1799 and recognized as a public road, considerably traveled. The distance from Henderson to Smith's Ferry was fully twenty miles, and mostly over a hilly, rugged country, hence the difficulties the few men who were required to mark, lay off and keep in repair the said road must have labored under. There were but two surveyors and twenty-eight whites, and four or five colored laboring tithables to do the work required over the whole line of twenty miles, a work which included clearing, grubbing, level- ing, filling and ditching thirty feet wide. From the list of men ap- pointed to do this work, the reader may form an idea of the popoula- tion of the county at that time, remembering, of course, that many of those named lived fully five and some eight miles from the line of the road. Under the law of 1797, all male laboring persons from the age of sixteen years or more, as well as colored male laboring tithables, were appointed by the court, to work upon some public road. This being the first and only public road in the county and only twenty-eight persons to be found within its whole length of twenty miles, it will necessarily be inferred that settlers at that early date were really few and far apart. These few men and boys were required to open and keep this road in repair. The road was to be kept well cleared and smoothed thirty feet wide at least. Bridges and causeways twelve feet wide were to be made and kept in repair, and for a failure to do any of the work required, the party failing to attend with proper tools for clearing the road, or refusing to work the same, subjected himself to a fine of seven shillings for every day's offense. To comply with the law, was either an impossibiltity, or else the surveyors were totally

HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.

incompetent, for it will be seen as this work progresses with the business of the Court of Quarter Sessions, that it was a certain feature of that court's business, at each session to find bills of indict- ments against a large majority of road surveyors of the county for failure to keep some parts of their road or roads in repair.

" CLEAR CREEK ROAD."

At the same County Court when the Smith's Ferry Road had been disposed of, it was ordered that Abraham Landers, John McCombs, John Seeper, William Stewart and John Rover, or any three of them, be appointed to mark out a road from the Public Square, within the Town of Henderson, in the direction of Clear Creek, and report the conveniences and inconveniences. At the September court, the Commissioners reported having performed their duty, and marked a road running through the lands of Dr. Adam Rankin, Captain Ed- mond Hopkins, John Slover, Sr., Isham Sellers, Jacob Newman, near Robinson Lick, John Slover, Jr., on a fork of Trade Water, where it was supposed the road must necessarily divide itself into several forks, viz : to Nashville, Lexington and Christian. They also reported the route nearly a direct south one, and from its direction would tend much to the convenience and utility of the present inhabitants of the county in general. A summons was directed to issue against the land own- ers, to show cause, if any, why the road should not be opened. At the following November meeting of the court, in obedience to sum_ mons, the land owners consented to the opening of the road, and thereupon it was-

"Ordered that the said road from the Town of Henderson to the mouth of Clear Creek be opened, and that Edmund Hopkins be appointed surveyor from the Square in the Town of Henderson to the line of the Henderson & Co. Grant, and that he, with his own male tithables ' Dr. Adam Rankin. Sher- wood llicks, James Worthington, Jocob Newman, Abraham Landers, John Landers. William Laurence, Rawland Hughes Joseph Worthington and their male tithable> open the road and keep it in repair. William Black was ap- pointed survevor from the line of the grant to the old trace from Cumberland to Robertson's Lick, and he, with John Leeper, Jacob Newman Matthew Kenny. John Christian, Matthew Christian, Nevil Lindsay, Philemon Rich ards. James Veach, Isham Sellers, Ephriam Sellers John Slover, Isaac Slover, John Slover, Jr., John McCombs. William McCombs. James Hopkins, Wil- liam M. Fullerton, Henry Smith. Asha Webb. Andrew Black. John Locks, William Hughes, David Hughes, Eneas McCallister, Eneas McCallister, Jr., Jesse McCallister. John Hancock, Robert Robertson, John Reyburn, John Reyburn. Jr, Peter Ruby, Joel Sugg, John Suttles, Joshua Kates, Martin Kates, and such male tithables as they may own, open and keep the said road in repair."

HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.

Since the establishment of this road, so many alterations have been made, and so many new roads established, that it is impossible to lo- cate it with any degree of accuracy. Enough is known, however, to justify the conclusion that that portion of the Knob Lick Road to a point six or seven miles out, was the original Henderson and Clear Creek Road. The same difficulties which attended the opening of the first road established, were found in the opening of this road. Those who now ride over the broad smooth roads of the county little know the trials, troubles and hard work the handful of early settlers had in opening and clearing these long lines of public thoroughfares. It is not the purpose of this work to attempt the history of each road in the county, for that would prove an endless task, and so multiply its pages as to make it not only uninteresting, but cumbersome. We take it that the location of the main roads of the county leading out of the city, and into which all of the other roads of the county run, will be all that is required and all that is necessary.

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History of Henderson County, Kentucky, Part 5

Author: Starling, Edmund Lyne, 1864- [from old catalog] Publication date: 1887 Publisher: Henderson, Ky. Number of Pages: 892

Author: Starling, Edmund Lyne, 1864- [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Henderson, Ky.
Number of Pages: 892