History of Henderson County, Kentucky, Part 9

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

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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).

But about the first clerk's office : it must have been a shabby af- fair, for we learn from the records that Mr. John D. Haussman, the first clerk of the county, presented a bill to the first Court of Claims in November, 1779, amounting to thirteen dollars and eighty-nine cents for office rent and clerk's services, from the time of his ap- pointment in the previous June. Twelve years after this, and some years after the death of Mr. Haussman, Ambrose Barbour, Clerk of the Court of Quarter Sessions and County Court, presented a bill to the court, then sitting as a Court of Claims, in November, 1811, which read as follows :

Ambrose Barbour vs. County-

To office rent since November 1, 1810, one year. $20 00

This account includes house rent and office articles, such as chairs, tables, etc.

To paper, ink, quills, etc. 17 00

From this it is reasonably safe to conclude that office rents, tables and chairs were cheap in those days, or else paper, ink and quills were reasonably enormous.

HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.

In 1813 the first Court House was built, and an order passed some time prior to that eventful year, was enforced-that is, that the office of the clerk of the court should not be over a square from the court building. Upon the application of Mr. Barbour he was per- mitted to remove his office into the second story of the new Court House.

Here he continued until his death in 1822. Harrison H. Grixby succeeded to the office and held this room until his death in 1824. William D. Allison succeeded to the office, and five years afterwards was successful in securing from the County Court an order directing the building of suitable offices for the purpose of the courts of the county. A committee consisting of Wm. D: Allison, Edmunds H. Hopkins and one or two others were appointed to draft a plan and report.

This was done, and the plan adopted by the court, with instruc- tions to the committee to receive bids and contract for said work.

A short time thereafter the contract was awarded to Mr. James Alves, and the work of building commenced. The building cost nine hundred and fifty dollars, and was completed a few months after it had been contracted for. A large majority of the readers of this book remember it, for it stood as an ell with two rooms extending out from the main building in the direction of the Public Square, and was used and occupied up to the year 1866, the time the Court House now standing was completely remodeled. When this old-time deposi- tory of record evidences was rased to the ground one of the principal land marks of the county was destroyed ; the prestine headquarters of social gatherings, the meeting place of jokers, the auditorium where gathered musicians and mirth-provoking masters, the seclude of con- vival hospitality, all of these and more too,, found a welcome pastime within the walls and beneath the roof of this primitive judicial addi- tament. If bricks could only talk, if they could only be interviewed, what a wealth of wit and humor now lost forever, would be disclosed. Each brick could a tale unfold, whose very telling would revive old memories and cause even the stoic indifferent to loosen the pegs of his boots in convulsive laughter. But it is too late, Old Time has consigned most of these humorous incidents to the tomb of the Capulets, while those yet remembered come in such a questionable shape as to render their accuracy a matter of very great doubt. Hun- dreds of men have gone from their old retreat happier than the sport- ing lamb, bearing with them the legal warrant to blend two souls into

HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.

one ; hundreds have gone therefrom confident in the justice of law, while there are others who have left it with broken purses, if not broken hearts. All of the vicissitudes of life have been witnessed there, and it is a pity that those old walls, for old acquaintance sake, might not have been permitted to stand for generations to come.

In 1866, when the internal design of the Court House had been completely changed, and the Circuit Court room and jury rooms re- moved into the second story of the building, the Circuit and County Clerks' offices were located in rooms on the first floor. Nine years afterward it was deemed necessary to make a change occasioned by the growing demands of the county, and thereupon, at the August meeting of the County Court, 1875, a committee appointed at a former court to consider the advisability of such change, and a suitable plan, reported. The report of the committee was adopted, and, “ upon motion of Thomas Spencer, a sum not exceeding three thousand dol- lars, to be appropriated out of the levy of 1874, was set aside for the purpose of building an addition to the Court House and improve the vaults for the safe-keeping of the records of the county. Judge P. H Lockett and P. B. Tribble were appointed a committee to procure plans and report. Judge P. H. Lockett, J. M. Stone, David Banks, Jr .; J. E. Denton and G. W. Smith were appointed a building com- mittee to contract for and superintend the building of said addition, and authorized to draw orders on the Sheriff of the county for the payment of the same as the work progressed."

The contract was let to P. B. Tribble, and a short time thereafter a handsome two-story wing was built, and the lower wing set apart for the office of the Circuit Court Clerk and the records of his office.

Adjoining this room was built, at the same time, a large, roomy and conveniently arranged brick vault for the safe-keeping of all the records and papers of the office.

This building, a two-story one, planned with an eye to symmetry of architectural design and harmony with the main building, added greatly to the appearance of Court Hill, but rather left it in an unfinished ap- pearance. It was said by many, who professed to possess a knowl- edge of architecture, and a taste for harmony in such matters, to resemble too closely, a cow with one horn.

PRESENT BUILDING.

This complaint, however, was soon remedied, and all causes for fault-finding was entirely removed. The office of the County Clerk

HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.

became cramped, the vault had rapidly filled up and was growing too small day by day; other offices were needed, and above all, a roon was badly wanted for the purpose of the sessions of the County Court and the semi-annual terms of the grand jury. To this end, therefore, and for the additional purpose of completing the original architectural design of having one handsome and roomy building for all purposes of the county, at the October court, of 1880, the following order was made :

"On motion it was ordered that the County Judge appoint a building committee to investigate into the necessity for building a wing to the Court House, for a County Clerk's office and grand jury room, said committee to report at the February term of this court, where- upon the following were appointed such committee : Samuel R. Hop- kins, J. M. Stone and J. W. Eakins. At the March, 1881, term, the committee reported that they considered the building of a clerk's office and grand jury room a necessity."

This report was received and approved, and by a unanimous vote of the court then sitting, it was determined to build the same.

The following order was then passed : " Ordered, that an addi- tional levy of five cents on the one hundred dollars be made to pay for the addition heretofore ordered, and that Samuel R. Hopkins, J. W. Eakins and J. M. Stone, be appointed a committee to procure a plan and let out the building of said addition. That Judge P. H. Lockett and J. M. Stone be appointed a committee to borrow a suffi- cient sum of money to pay for the same, until the amount levied at this term can be collected by the Sheriff of the county."

P. B. Tribble furnished the plan and specifications, and upon ex- amination, the same were adopted by the committee. John Mundo being the lowest bidder, the work of building was awarded to him, and W. H. Sandefur appointed superintendent of the work. This addi- tion cost the county a little over two thousand and two hundred dol- lars, and was completed and occupied by the County Clerk before the fall of 1881. It has been said of the County Clerk's office, that it has adjoining a magnificient fire-proof vault, large enough to accom- modate the business of the county for many years to come.

This completes the public buildings of the county, so far as the courts and their necessary adjuncts are concerned, and leaves the county at this time the possessor of an imposing structure, which it is presumed will serve all purposes for years to come. In the one main building and the two wings, are now located the offices of the Circuit and County Court Clerks; the County Judge, with a fire-proof vault

HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.

for all the records of his office ; the Sheriff, County Treasurer, Mas- ter Commissioner, and the two City District Magistrates. In the second story of the west wing is a handsome room fitted up for the use of the meetings of the County Court and grand juries. In the second story of the main building, are the Circuit Court and jury rooms.

CHAPTER X

COUNTY COURT PROCEEDINGS 1779-TAVERN RATES FIXED, ETC .- SOMETHING OF THE EARLIEST SETTLERS-FIRST STORES, SCHOOLS,

ETC .- THE COURTS.

AVING given a history of the main thoroughfares, Court Houses, jails and offices of the county from their beginning in 1799, to the present time, I return to the second meeting of the County Court held in August of that year. Having disposed of all road and public building matters brought before them, the court proceeded to enter- tain such motions of minor interest as any citizen or any member of the court may have thought for the general good, or legally required to come before it.

FIRST TAVERN RATES.

A motion was made to establish rates for the government of all taverns of the county. The following is a copy of the order:

TAVERN RATES AUGUST, 1779.

The court fixes the tavern rates in this county as follows:

Breakfast and Supper, each.

Dinner.

1s 6d

Lodging.

Corn per gallon, or Oats.

Hay or fodder. per night and stableage

1s 6d

Pastureage ..

4 d 12s

Whiskey per gallon.

12s

Drink, per half-pint.

Brandy per gallon.

18s

Beer and Cider, per quart.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE FIRST COURT.

Isaac Dunn, a poor orphan, and represented to be a bad boy, was apprenticed to John Sutton to learn a trade. This young man en- joyed the honor of having been the first person apprenticed in the

HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.

county. The first appeal from a Magistrate's Court was that of An. drew Burk, vs. Wiley Thornton, made to this term of the court. The first indenture of sale, Samuel Hopkins to John Husbands, was acknowledged in this court. The first record evidence of slaves was made at this court.

At the September court, Robert Hamilton produced a license from examiners appointed by law to practice as an attorney in the Courts of the Commonwealth. Mr. Hamilton was the first lawyer licensed to practice in the county.

FIRST EMANCIPATION.

A certificate of emancipation of a negro woman and a negro man, named respectively, Patience and Scipio, belonging to Joseph Mayes, of Henrico County, Virginia, was filed and ordered to be recorded. 'The county being without a record book, and also a seal, the follow- ing order was made : "Ordered, that the clerk furnish this county with the necessary record book, likewise procure a seal, with a devise of a man standing with a sickle in his hand, with words ' Henderson County,' for the circumspection of the court, and a chest to hold the record books and papers belonging to the county."

At the November term of the County Court there were present : Charles Davis, John Husbands and Jacob Newman, gentlemen Jus. tices. John D. Haussman, Clerk of the Court of Quarter Sessions for the County, made oath to, and filed an account amounting to two dol- lars and seventy-five cents, of taxes alienations and county sales from the commencement of his office, June, 1799, to the first day of Octo- ber last, which was ordered to be certified to the Auditor. This be- ing the first Court of Claims the court proceeded to lay the county levy and stated the accounts against the county as follows :

THE COUNTY.

For building the jail. $339.00

To the Clerk for his office and services as per account. 13.89

To the same for three record books and freight on same from the Falls of the Ohio. 30.75

The same for the County seal. 8.00

To the Sheriff. 30.00

To the same for his services in the County Court. 25.00

Sheriff commissions for collecting $499.50, at 6 per cent. 30.00

The County $476.64

By 333 tithables at $1.50 each, levied for the use of the County $499.86

Ball $ 23.22

HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.

" Ordered; that the Sheriff of this county collect from each tithable person in this county, one dollar and fifty cents, and therewith discharge the above allowances and account with the court for the balance."

From the foregoing it will be seen that the tax-paying population of the county in November, 1799, was only three hundred and thirty- three, and that the tax levied was one dollar and fifty cents per head. For some time the tax duplicates increased slowly, and the delinquent list was distressingly large. As has been said before, the records of the county from the beginning of the year 1800 to 1816, are lost, so for the time during that break, I have filled the gap as best could be, from such assistance as was to be obtained from old papers and scraps of evidence found bundled away in the County Clerk's office.

VIENGMAND COURTEIS, THE TRADER.

In 1792, Viengmand Courteis built him a small log hut on the river bank and traded in hides and skins of all kinds.

What he did with them, or where he found a market, we shall never know. He bought mostly bear and otter skins. What he ex- changed for these skins we do not know. In those days French trad- ers occasionally passed down the river and to these perhaps he ex- changed his merchandize for money or other articles of value.

In 1796 he was joined by Conrad Figis. At this time Captain Dunn was the only recognized officer of the law known in all of this territory, and owing to the increase of settlers the following order was sent him by the Senior Justice:

"CHRISTIAN COUNTY, STATE OF KENTUCKY.

"To Mr. John Dunn :

"SIR-You will raise three men to act under you as a patrol in said county at the Red Banks, to do your duty agreeably to law. September 20, 1796.

" Signed, MOSES SHELBY."

DUNN'S STORE.

Captain Dunn was a man of great importance at that time, from the fact of his official position, and also that he was the proprietor of the only store in the Red Banks. His house was located on the cor- ner of Fourth and Main Streets, where the old foundry now stands, and from record evidences it is to be adjudged that he did pretty much all the business at that time. The following is a copy of one of his accounts :

" Jesse Simmonds, Dr. to John Dunn :

" 1 1b. powder 7-6.

2 bear skins, loaned in exchange

£0 7. 6.

0.12. 0.

HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.

1 quart cherry bounce, 4-6.

. 4. 6.

£1. 4. 0. "SIR-Please to pay the above bill to Robert Simpson, and this shall be your re- ceipt."

"Attest: EBENEZER SIMPSON.

JOHN DUNN.

"June 24, 1794."

FIRST SCHOOL.

The first school, of which anything is known, was taught some- where in the neighborhood of Diamond Island, and whether this Dia- mond Island was either of the islands near Henderson, or Diamond Island sixteen miles below, no one can speak with any degree of cer- tainty. Captain Dunn was a patron of this school, as the following will show :

" Captain John Dunn:

" SIR-Please pay Mr. Russell Hewitt, or order, ten shillings, your quar- terly subscription to my school, at the Diamond Island, and this shall be your sufficient receipt. Signed, HENRY PATMERS

"October 26, 1794. Test: JOHN DEVRITT,"

In the year 1795 the following curious bill of sale passed title in a horse :

" Know All Men by these Presents :

" That I, Robert Simpson, do give, grant and sell, and convey to Jolin Dunn, one bay mare, about fourteen hands high, in consideration of twenty pounds paid to me in hand, the same creature I lent to John Patterson to hunt on. I likewise authorize John Dunn to take the same mare wherever he can find her, and at my risque.

"ROBERT SIMPSON.

"Attest: UEL LAMBKIN, DANIEL KERR

" 29, December, 1795."

HUGH KNOX AS A JOKER.

In this same year, Hugh Knox, who was appointed the the first Justice of the Court of Quarter Sessions, and a man of strong mind and great will-power, got himself into quite a financial trouble for those times, by indulging his ungovernable disposition for practical jokes. Mr. Knox was a man full of life and fire, and would be considered by the more settled people of this day, what is commonly denominated a "fast man." The following letter addressed to Peter Smith, near Louisville, is reproduced, more on account of its historical

connection, than as a literary curiosity. At that time our grand juries met in the town of Russellville, Logan County, in what was called the District Court, and residents of the Red Banks-now Henderson-had to ride through the wild woods, a distance of one hundred miles, when summoned, to attend as parties or witnesses, in criminal or civil actions. From this letter, also, will be seen the difficulties parties had to un-

FOLGER-CIN.

COURT HOUSE.

HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.

dergo in procuring legal service. This letter was sent to Louisville by hand :

COPY OF LETTER.

" DEAR SIR-I have hitherto neglected informing you what happened me at Logan Cort, in consequence of our Kuyckingdall frolick. The old Jezebel was there and presented me to the grand jury, by little Hugh White, making oath that Michael Sprinkle and I were the men that don the execution, upon which a Cort was Cauled in five days after, in which time I had to ride sixty miles for a lawyer, to which I had to give a fee of fifty dollars, and was acquit- ted with honor. With that and the other expenses of witnesses, amounts to ten dollars a man, which they have all agreed to bear an equal part of the bur- den, and the most of them has paid me. If you will be so good as to bear part of the burden with me, I shall be obliged to you, and shall take the amount of the ten dollars in corn or flour at Louisville, at the market price. I shall send an order by Captain John Dunn, which you will discharge at this time. as I stand in great need of bread at the salt works that I am opening. The favor shall be greatly acknowledged by your very humble servant.

" MR. PETE SMITH

"July 20. 1795."

H. KNOX

In order to get this ten dollor's worth of corn or flour, Captain Dunn went to Louisville and carried the same back to the salt works, on Highland Creek, for which he only charged the moderate sum of five dollars.

FIRST GRIST MILL.

The first grist mill of which anything is known, was built by Captain Dunn, in the year 1796, and was operated by him up to his death a few years afterwards. For several years this was the only mill in the settlement, and where it was located, or what character of a mill it was, the records fail to explain. In Captain Dunn's old account book, a little blank paper affair, with a thin, blue paper back, six inches long and four inches wide, is to be found seven accounts against the following persons, respectively : Richard Taylor, John Christian, Andrew Rowen, Walter Thorn, Hugh Knox, Michael Sprin- kle and Peter Thorn-all for grinding and packing. His usual charge for this work was three shillings sixpence per bushel. The charge for "packing " was taking the meal in sacks on horseback from the mill to the home of the purchaser. So, from this, it will be seen that the system of "delivering goods " was adopted at the Red Banks as early as the year 1796.

HANNAH DUNN.

While Captain Dunn was busy with his mill and official business, Mrs. Hannah Dunn, his efficient helpmate, was occuppied in watching the store and little tavern on the corner of Fourth and Main Streets.

HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.

She must have been a woman of indominable energy and great mus- cular strength. Oftentimes, in addition to her daily labors, she was known to do a man's work chopping cordwood, heavy lifting, and many other things nowadays men would consider too laborious, to say noth- ing of the women of 1887. She was as fearless as she was energetic, and during her husband's absence would go into the woods, attack bear, and most generally bring one home with her. Nor was this all, she was no more afraid of a man than she was of a bear, and many times she was known to take an overdosed, quarrelsome, wild, wild woodsman by the nap of his neck and lift him from the bar-room out of the tavern. She was boss, and never failed to impress her author- ity whenever occasion demanded it.

QUEER RECEIPTS.

At that time what is known as Henderson County, was called the " Big Barrens," from the fact that little timbers grew over the county, save along the water courses.

Owing to the scarcity of salt, that necessary commodity sold at an enormously high price, ten dollars per bushel being the regular price, while in many cases as high as fifteen and twenty dollars was paid.

People had a curious way of writing receipts. Here is a speci- men :

" Receipt from John McCallister, 8 bu salt on account of John Dunn, I say receipt by me this Jany 7, 1796.

ROBERT LANE. "

Most all receipts at that time were written in the same peculiar phraseology.

Much of the country immediately around Henderson was low and marshy, and stagnant water stood in ponds and low places, conse- quently the whole settlement suffered from ague and fever.

FIRST PHYSICIANS.

At this time there were few physicians, and from what can be learned they were uneducated and really knew but little more than any other observing or experimenting settler. Dr. James Hamilton, a man of fine natural and considerable acquired intelligence, prac- ticed, and was regarded as really the only physician of any respecta- bility, until the coming of Dr. Adam Rankin, in 1800.

EARLY MARRIAGES.

For sometime prior to the organization of the county, and for many years afterwards, Eneas McCallister, father of the lamented 'Squire John E. McCallister, did the duty of parson on marital oc-

HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.

casions. He was one of the first magistrates, and was authorized by the County Court to perform that service. In 1800 he married Cap- tain Daniel McBride and Mary Bennett, Jacob Sprinkle and Axy Mc- Lean, Moses Stegall (whose first wife was brutally murdered by Big and Little Harpe, and he himself afterwards killed) and Sally Vane. In 1804 he married Dr. Adam Rankin and Haney Gamble.

YOUTHFUL WEDLOCKS.

In primitive days men and women-if they could be called men and women-inter-married at an earlier period in life than they do now.

Oftentimes girls at fourteen and sixteen years of age were given in marriage to youngsters from nineteen to twenty-one, and in some instances to men of mature age. Instances were known, and are known to this day, of girls becoming mothers before arriving at the age of sweet sixteen.

It is also a fact that marriages, considering the population, were far more frequent than nowadays. Computing the number of mar- riages in 1797 and 1800, and up even to 1810, with a corresponding regard to numbers, the list of marriages annually at this modern day, to correspond with the list in those years, would reach fully fifteen hundred, if not more, per annum.

CHEAP LAND.

The finest lands in the county were insignificantly cheap, so that any man of ordinary industry could secure himself a home. For in- stance, in 1798 John Williams, Robert Burton and Archibald Hender- son, surviving executor of Richard Henderson, sold to General Sam- uel Hopkins and Mark Alexander, all of the land on the Ohio near the mouth of Green River, and one hundred acres adjoining the town of Henderson, amounting in the aggregate, to five thousand six hundred and fourteen acres, for the price of seventy-five cents per acre, and that on credit.

One year later, General Hopkins sold to Henry Purviance, four lots of one acre each, in the town of Henderson, and lots Nos. 4 and 5, containing ten acres each, for the round sum of one hundred and ninety dollars.

SLAVERY.

In 1799, settlers began to import slaves to the county. At the October Court of Quarter Sessions General Samuel Hopkins re- ported a bill of sale for record, which conveyed the title from John Hopkins, of Mercer County, to General Hopkins, of this county, in and to seven negro slaves, two men, one woman, one boy and four

L. of C.

100

HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KY.

small children, two sorrel horses and one black mare, for and in con- sideration of two hundred and forty three pounds, eleven shillings and eight pence.

THE COURTS.

The courts of Henderson County, as established and authorized by the Act of December 21, 1798, consisted of a County Court and Court of Quarter Sessions. The Court of Quarter Sessions was directed to sit annually on the first Tuesday in the months of March, May, July and October. The County Court the same day in every other month in which the Courts of Quarter Sessions were not directed to be held.

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History of Henderson County, Kentucky, Part 9

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