USA > Kentucky > Irish pioneers in Kentucky : a series of articles published in the Gaelic American > Part 3
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In 1797, he again returned to Kentucky with his father and family, and settled down in Lebanon. He was a member of the Convention which framed the first constitution of the State of Ohio and a member of the first Legislature under the State Government, which met in 1803.
AN EARLY IRISH-AMERICAN JUDGE.
When the Judiciary was first organized he was appointed Presiding Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, which , office he held for 14 years, during all which time he is said never to have missed a single court in any of the counties comprising his circuit. "No obstacle prevented his at- tending to his duties," says the historian, McBride. "There were few roads or bridges in those days, and many a time he crossed the swollen streams, swimming either on his horse or by its side, rather than fail to be at his post." When his term on the bench expired, he practiced law for 15 years, after which he retired to private life.
In 1703 Reilly gave up his interest in the school to Dunlevy, and de- voted himself to the more extensive cultivation of his land in Butler County, O. On September 16, 1799, he was elected Clerk of the first Gen- eral Assembly of the Territorial Legislature. He was appointed by the Governor one of the first Trustees and Clerk and Collector of the town when Cincinnati received its charter on January 1, 1802. He promoted the establishment of the first library in Cincinnati on February 13, 1802, and was one of the representatives from Hamilton County at the Con- vention held at Chillicothe to form a Constitution.
In 1803, he was appointed Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, one of the Judges was James Dunn. He held the office of Clerk of the Court until March 14, 1840, a period of nearly 37 years. He was also Clerk of the Supreme Court, holding both offices concurrently. One of his predecessors in the latter office was Hugh Boyle.
FIRST JUDGE OF BUTLER COUNTY.
Between 1803 and IS11, he was Recorder of Butler County, having been the premier occupant of that office. In 1804 he was appointed by President Jefferson first postmaster of Hamilton, which office he held until 1832, when he resigned. In 1809 he became one of the Trustees of Miami University and was President of the Board until the reorganization of the College in 1824.
Notwithstanding all his multifarious business, he took an active in- terest in everything that made for the improvement and advancement of the settlements, particularly in the education of their youth. The old pioneer was one of the most beloved men in the State. Young and old
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worshipped him. He was a man of the most strict and uncompromising integrity, and when he died at Hamilton on June 7, 1550, the Courts ad- journed in respect to his memory.
SON OF AN IRISH IMMIGRANT.
And John Reilly, be it remembered, was the son of a poor Irish immi- grant who had been exiled from his native land by the ever benign British Government.
Colonel Robert Reilly of the 75th Ohio Infantry, who distinguished himself in several battles of the Civil War, was his youngest son. He died of his wounds at the battle of Chancellorsville. His regiment has been highly praised by the historians of the war. Reid's "Ohio in the War," says: "To Colonel Reilly, more than to any other, belongs the credit of the fine discipline, conduct and efficiency of the regiment."
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Irish Blood in Kentucky.
The County Histories Teem With Gaelic Names-Several of the Counties Called After Irish Pioneers.
In the county histories of Kentucky are mentioned a great number of Irish names, and the descendants of many of the early settlers from Ire- land are shown to have become prominent in the history of the State. Collins takes up each county separately and goes into much detail concern- ing their early history. Several of the counties were named in honor of Irish pioneers or their sons.
Allen County is called after Colonel John Allen, who emigrated from Virginia with his father in 1780, in which year they made their first settle- ment at Dougherty's Station in Boyle County. The first white man mentioned in connection with Allen County is James McCall. Butler says that the following inscription, cut in a tree near Big Barren River in that county, southeast of Bowling Green, had been seen by many old settlers of that region. even during the lifetime of the historian him- self: "James McCall dined here on his way to Natchez, June 10, 1770." McCall, no doubt, was one of the Indian traders already referred to.
In Green's "Historic Families of Kentucky" are found some inter- esting references to the family which gave its name to Allen County.
"James Allen was born in Ireland and was the son of James Allen, who lost his life in one of the political uprisings in that country. After his death, his widow and children determined to emigrate to the Colonies. She sold the small property which belonged to the family and transmitted the proceeds -by an agent, to be invested in a new home in Pennsylvania, near the Virginia line. When the arrived here, they found that no deed had been taken for the land they had bought, and the widow and her offspring were without home or money among strangers. They were of the self-reliant sort, however, and, refusing to succumb to adverse fortune, with brave hearts and stout arms they all set out to win a new home and to wrest success from the hands of chance. In time, they found their way to the Valley of Virginia, where so many of their country-people had set- tled, and where they prospered, took root and put forth branches. Some of their descendants yet remain in Augusta and Rockbridge Counties.
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MANY VIRGINIA FAMILIES OF IRISH ORIGIN.
"There are numerous other families that trace their origin to ancestors who emigrated from Ireland to the Valley. who have the same given names and physical attributes, similar to those of the descendants of the Irish widow. but no connection is known to have existed between them.
"James Allen, attracted by the fame of the richer lands and wider field for enterprise afforded by Kentucky, converted all his property in Virginia into money, and in the year 1779, with his family in a wagon, set out across the mountains, braving the perils of the wilderness, and proceeded along the old road over which the earlier hunters and settlers had preceded him. He ended his toilsome journey at Dougherty's Station, a few miles from Danville. There he remained several months, where he formed a warm friendship for Joseph Daviess, who, like himself, was the son of an Irishman.
"Tiring of the confinement of a station, and anxious to remove their families from its rude associations, Allen and Daviess determined to hazard the perils of an exposed and isolated location further down Clark's Run, where they built two cabins, the first erected in that section of Ken- tucky outside a fort or station. There the stout-hearted friends lived for three years, remote from neighbors and in the midst of constant dangers from savage warfare. Seldom; if ever, have there sprung from two ad- joining log cabins six more remarkable men than the sons of Joseph Daviess and James Allen-Joseph, Hamilton. Samuel and Judge James Daviess, and Colonel John, Joseph and James Allen.
PRIVATIONS OF THE ALLENS.
"About the year 1784, James Allen bought a large tract of land near the present town of Bloomfield, Nelson County, and after building upon it a comfortable dwelling. returned to his cabin in Lincoln County for his family: but. when he had conveyed his wife and children to his new pos- sessions, he found their intended home in ashes. the Indians during his absence having burned it and the sheltering fort near which it was built.
"With indomitable energy and unyielding will, another home soon oc- cupied the site of the one destroyed, a commodious residence which stands to this day, and was until recently owned by his great-grandson, who bears his name. Here he lived to an extreme old age, in the midst of broad acres his rifle had helped to redeem from the Indians, and which had been converted by his labor from a wild canebrake into a blooming and fruitful garden; blessed with abundance, far beyond the rosiest dreams of the Irish lad who had crossed the ocean with his widowed mother nearly a century before; respected by all for the courage, strong sense. and in- corruptible integrity which were his distinguished characteristics. and with the public praise of his offspring making sweet music for his ears."
Thus Green briefly describes the struggles and the fortunes of the Irish family which gave its name to Allen County, Kentucky.
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COL. ALLEN, LAWYER, LEGISLATOR AND SOLDIER.
Colonel John Allen, the son of the Irish immigrant, was born in Rock- bridge County, Va., in 1771. He was a lawyer, and, "in the practice of his profession, he outstripped all competition and almost immediately placed himself in the front rank of the brilliant generation which then gave the Commonwealth a fame which still clings to her in tradition." He married the daughter of General Benjamin Logan, and was a Representative of Shelby County in the State Legislature. In ISO7, he was elected to the Kentucky Senate from Franklin County. In IsIl, he commanded as Colonel the First Kentucky Ritlemen, the first regiment raised in that State to fight the British. His military career was short, for he fell mortally wounded at the battle of the River Raisin on January 22. 1513.
Among the first settlers of Ballard County is mentioned Daniel Doolin, who came there in ISIS, and settled in Barlow City. In this county was Fort Jefferson. the scene of a battle with the Chickashaw Indians in 1782. Among the soldiers who defended the fort are mentioned Curry, Doyle, Montgomery, Piggot and Hughes.
In Barren County a family named McFerran settled at an early date, two of whose descendants were Judge W. R. MeFerran and General John C. MeFerran of Louisville, who distinguished himself in the Mexican War. Edmund Rogers, one of its pioneers, was born in Virginia in 1762 and came to Kentucky in 1783. He served in the campaign of 1781 which re- sulted in the capture of Lord Cornwallis. His brother, Captain John Rogers, also of the Revolutionary Army, "rendered valuable services to the State in locating and surveying lands." Butler says that James McCall passed through Barren County in 1770, where he cut his name in a tree on the Green River.
Francis Downing is mentioned among the early settlers of Bath County, where he lived in a fort in the year 1786.
In the early history of Bell County we find references to several Irish Pioneers. In 1769, we are told that John Rains, Robert Crockett and Humphrey Hogan, at the head of a company of 20 men from Virginia and North Carolina, passed through that region. They hunted through the neighborhood for a year and then returned home via the Cumberland and Mississippi Rivers. In the Fall of 1771, William Lynch, David Lynch, John Montgomery, William Allen, one Hughes and several others, com- prised a hunting party that passed through this county, where some of them settled down permanently. They are described as daring men. who knew no hardships, and who maintained their position only by constant and unceasing vigilance.
KIDNAPPED FROM IRELAND.
In Bourbon County were James MeDowell in 1774, and James Kenny in 1776. Both came from Virginia. There were also McGuires, MeCon- nells and McClanahans. Thomas Kennedy came there in 1776 and built a cabin on Kennedy's Creek. Collins says that his father, James Kennedy, lived for several years at Boonesborough Fort. He relates that when a
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boy of seven years he was kidnapped in Ireland with several other boys, brought to Maryland and sold for a term of years, which they served out. In 1781, he was in practice as a medical doctor in Bedford County, Va., and in February of that year he was summoned to join a British draft for regular soldiers. He refused and was taken prisoner shortly after the battle of Guilford Court House, placed on board of prison-ship, and "liter- ally starved to death." His son, Thomas Kennedy, was one of the first County Court Justices of Campbell County, and became a prominent member of the Kentucky Legislature. In 1792, he was appointed one of the five Commissioners to fix upon Frankfort as the seat of Goverment.
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Irish Pioneers in Kentucky.
Butler County Takes Its Name From an Irish Family-Four of the Kilkenny Butlers Were Officers of the Revolutionary Army.
Boyle County was named in honor of Chief Justice Jolin Boyle, who was born on October 28, 1774. at a place called Castlewoods on the Clinch River, in Virginia. In 1779 he went with his father, an Irish immigrant. to Whiteley's Station, Ky., from where he afterwards moved to a small es- tate in Garrard County.
He became a lawyer at Lancaster and was elected member of Congress in 1802. As a National Legislator, he is described as "dignified, vigilant and useful, commanding at once the respect and confidence of his associates." . President Ma lison appointed him first Governor of Illinois. In 1809 he was elected to the Kentucky Court of Appeals. and in 1810 became Chief Justice, which exalted office this brilliant son of an Irish immigrant oc- cupied until 1826. Chief Justice Boyle is referred to by Kentucky his- toriaus as one of the ablest lawyers that State has ever produced.
Breckinridge County is called after the distinguished lawyer and states- man, John Breckinridge, son of Colonel Robert Breckinridge of Augusta County, Va., who was born there in 1760 of Irish parentage. The date of his father's arrival from Ireland is not given. His ancestors came over from Scotland to Ireland in the early part of the seventeenth century. As a statesman, very few men of his generation occupied a more commanding position than John Breckinridge or had more to do with all the great questions of the day.
In Bullitt County lived a family named O'Bannon, one of whom. Colonel John O'Bannon. is mentioned as taking part in a fight with Indians near Jeffersonville, Ind., in 1786. One Kelly fought under him.
The O'Bannons are mentioned in the history of several of the Kentucky Counties. The town of O'Bannon in Jefferson County was named after this family. There are also places of that name in Ohio and Tennessee. Colonel John O'Bannon. as well as Presley B. O'Bannon, fought in the Revolutionary War. The latter was the engineer who surveyed the lands owned by George Washington on the Ohio and Miami Rivers, and which are now, and have been for many years. the subject of litigation before the Supreme Court of the United States.
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BUTLER COUNTY CALLED AFTER A DUBLIN MAN.
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Butler County was named after General Richard Butler of Revolu- tionary War fame. The family was from Kilkenny, but Richard was born in St. Bridget's Parish, Dublin, on July 1, 1743.
In previous papers, we have had something to say of this distinguished family of soldiers, and we shall now quote what Judge Collins had to say of them in his "History of Kentucky."
"Few of the prominent families of Kentucky have been so generously distinguished as this for their high military bearing and gallantry, genuine good sense and longevity; while no other is so singularly retiring and modest, and so free from political ambitions and desire for public position. The family is of Irish descent. The first Butler, most of whose descendants now live in Carroll County and in the cities of Covington and Louisville, was Thomas Butler, who was born in Kilkenny, April 8, 1720. Of his five sons who attained eminence in America, Richard, William and Thomas were born in Ireland, Percival (or Pierce) and Edward were born in Penn- sylvania. All of them were officers of the Revolutionary Army, except Edward, who was too young, but who entered it before its close.
"Richard was Lieutenant-Colonel of Morgan's celebrated rifle regiment and helped to give it its high character and fame. He was afterwards Colonel of the Ninth Pennsylvania Regiment, and commanded the left wing in the memorable attack on Stony Point.
"After the war he became Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and in 1788 was appointed Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. In 1790 he was made a Major-General, and was placed second in command of an army organized by General St. Clair for an expedition against the Western Indians. He was killed while leading his forces at Fort Recovery, Ohio, on November 4, 1791."
DIED IN THICK OF THE FIGHT.
McBride's "Pioneer Biography of Butler County, Ohio." states that when a body of volunteers from the neighborhood of Columbia was formed by General Wilkinson in January, 1792, to proceed to the scene of St. Clair's defeat for the purpose of burying the dead that had been left on the field and to bring away valuable property, "they found the body of General Butler, where it lay in a group of slain where evidently had been the thickest of the carnage." Truly a fitting place for an Irish soldier to die.
Among the officers of the "Regulars" who were killed at Fort Recovery are mentioned Major McMahon, Capts. Doyle and Phelon. Lieutenants Cummings and Hart. Among the wounded wore Major Thomas Butler and Captain Malarkie. In Howe's "Historical Collections of Ohio" we find the following reference to the gallant Major McMahon: "McMahon was a famous Indian fighter and Captain and was classed by the borderers of the upper Ohio with Brady and the Wetzels. He lost his life at Fort Recovery while gallantly defending the fort." (The Brady here referred to was the famous partisan, Captain Thomas Brady of Pennsylvania, of
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whose romantie career we gave a brief description in our papers on Pennsylvania.) Major McMahon is described by other historical writers of Ohio as a splendid type of the Celt, six and a half feet tall, of "magnificent proportions," "great daring." and "a terror to the Indians." All the immediate descendants of the Butlers were engaged in the military service of the country in all the wars before 1800. while the survivors were in the War of 1812 and not less than nine of a younger generation were in the Mexican War.
THE IRREPRESSIBLE THOMAS BUTLER.
An anecdote is preserved in a sketch written by General Findlay of Cincinnati, which shows the character of the race and that its military instinct was an inheritance. While the five sons were absent from home in the army, the old man took it into his head to go also. The neighbors collected to remonstrate against it, but his wife said: "Let him go! I can get along without him, and raise something to feed the army in the bargain. and the country wants every man who can shoulder a musket."
This extraordinary zeal did not escape the observation of Washington, and hence the toast he gave at his own table while surrounded by a large party of officers: "The Butlers and their five sons." General Lafayette too was an admiring observer of this house of soldiers, and in a letter now extant paid them this handsome tribute: "When I wanted a thing well done I ordered a Butler to do it."
General Percival Butler was born at Lancaster, Pa .. in 1760. At 18 he entered the Revolutionary Army as a Lientenant, was at the battle of Monmouth, passed through the rigors of Valley Forge and was at the taking of Yorktown. For a short time he was attached to a light corps under Lafayette. who presented him with a sword. In 1784 he settled as a merchant in Jessamine County, Ky., where he became Adjutant-General of the Army. He served in the War of 1812.
His son, Colonel Thomas L. Butler, who was born in Jessamine County in 1789, was aid to General Jackson at the battle of New Orleans, and because of his coolness and prudence was left by Jackson in command of the city to protect it against outbreaks. He became a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1826 and also in 1848.
A FAMILY OF SOLDIERS.
Another son, General William O. Butler, also born in Kentucky. joined the army when very young. He fought in several battles of the War of 1812 and at the two battles of the River Raisin. in January, 1813, he signal- lized himself by his great bravery. He was wounded and taken prisoner. After his release he served as Captain of the 44th U. S. Infantry in the attack on Pensacola, General Jackson. in referring to his conduct at the battle of New Orleans, said: "He displayed the heroic chivalry and calm- ness of judgment in the midst of danger which distinguished the valiant officer in the hour of battle."
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After his return to Kentucky he studied law, became a member of the Legislature, and was elected Member of Congress in 1839. In 1844 he was Democratie candidate for Governor, and subsequently received the honor of the nomination for Vice-President of the United States on the Democratic ticket with General Cass, but they were defeated by Taylor and Fillmore. In the Mexican War he was Major-General of Volunteers, and on February 18, 1848, succeeded General Scott in chief command of the United States Army.
The third son of General Percival Butler, Richard P. Butler, was Assistant Adjutant-General in the War of 1812. His fourth son, Percival, studied law and became eminent in his profession. He represented Fayette County in the Kentucky House of Representatives, and later as Senator from Louisville.
Of such were the Butlers of Kentucky, the sons and grandsons of the Butlers from "the old marble town of Kilkenny." They were the types of men who. like many of their countrymen and their sons, helped to wrest Kentucky from the savage, redeemed her waste places, carried the torel of learning into the wilderness. founded the State, and left the impress of their own characteristics upon the people. If in this country there are any families which can properly be called "historic," surely the Butlers, "the fighting Butlers." as they are sometimes called-may well be regarded as constituting one of those families.
Footsteps of the Gael in Kentucky.
A Remarkable Series of Papers, Showing That Irishmen and Their Sons Occupied a Prominent Place in the Early Days of the Blue Grass State.
Campbell County was named in honor of Colonel John Campbell, a native of Ireland. who. Collins says, came to Kentucky at an early period. He received a grant of 4,000 acres from the Commonwealth of Virginia and where Louisville now stands. He was a member of the Convention which formed the firm Constitution of Kentucky and was a Senator from Jefferson County in the State Legislature. He was the owner of a very fine estate.
The first Sheriff of Campbell County was Captain Nathan Kelly, who, in 1795, was also a Justice of the County. The City of Newport is in Campbell County, and Major A. M. Dunn was Postmaster there in 1795. The first charter of Newport was adopted on December 14 in that year. When the city was first planned, certain property was parcelled out into lots and streets and was vested in eight Trustees, among whom were Thomas Kennedy, Nathan Kelly, James McClure and Daniel Duggan.
Carroll County was named in honor of the famous Charles Carroll of Carrollton. The first white man who trod its soil was James McBride, the premier explorer of Kentucky.
Casey County was named in memory of Colonel William Casey, who was member of the House of Representatives from this district. Later representatives in the Legislature from this County were named Coffey and Murphy.
Colonel Casey was born in Frederick County, Va., of Irish parents. In company with two or three families, who pushed their fortunes with him, he removed into the district in 1779, and located and built a station on the Green River, near Russell's Creek. "Though feeble in numbers," says Collins. "the hardy band of pioneers by whom he was surrounded. and who reposed in Casey unbounded confidence as a leader, maintained themselves gallantly and victoriously against several attacks by the Indians. Casey's station was subsequently reinforced by several families whose presence was instrumental in preventing any further assault on the part of the Indians."
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JAMES FLANAGAN, PIONEER
In Clark County. James Flanagan is mentioned as the builder of the first mill. That was in 1800. One of the pioneer's sons, William Flanagan, graduated at the West Point Military Academy in 1827, "standing first in the class with General Albert Sidney Johnston, General Joseph Johnston, and other men who won such brilliant reputations in later years." Flan- agan died in early life, "leaving," says Collins, "an enviable reputation for brilliancy. wit and repartee." For several years he was official sur- veyor and school commissioner in Clarke County. There is a town called Flanagan in that county which was named, no doubt, after the Irish miller or his son.
The first white man known to have entered into the present bounds of Clay County was James Collins, who came there in 1798. He built his cabin upon the headwaters of Collins' Fork, and in 1800, from a salt spring which he had discovered while following a buffalo trail some time previous- ly, he made the first salt ever made in that section.
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