History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. I, Part 40

Author: Williams, L.A., & Co., Cleveland
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : L. A. Williams & Co.
Number of Pages: 814

USA > Ohio > History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. I > Part 40

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1798 -- JEFFERSON SEMINARY.

It is a specially interesting fact that the first public foundation for education in Louisville, and very likely in Kentucky, was made this year, February roth, by the State Legislature, in the grant of six thousand acres of land to eight leading citizens of the place, for the establish-

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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

ment of a school of learning here, to be called the Jefferson Seminary. December 7th next following, another act authorized the trustees to raise five thousand dollars by lottery, to aid in founding the school. This matter will be recited in fuller detail in our chapter on Education in Louisville.

THE FIRST FIRE COMPANY.

The General Assembly this year enacted a law allowing the formation of fire companies in Louisville, each to be composed of any number of persons not exceeding forty. Their member- ship was evidently considered a matter of much importance, since the names of all who became members had to be inscribed in the records of the County Court, with the amounts subscribed to the treasury of their company. They were graciously permitted to frame their own regula- tions, to impose any fine within the limit of £5, and to collect fines by suit before a single magis- trate. But any fines collected were to be ap- plied strictly to the legitimate purposes of the organization. It is believed that the provisions of the act were promptly availed of by the citi- zens of Louisville.

THOMAS PRATHER,

the renowned and wealthy Louisville merchant of a quarter of a century ago, came to the town this year. Dr. Craik, to whose Historical Sketches of Christ Church we are indebted for many of these notices, says he "did more to ad- vance the prosperity of the place than any other person." By his enterprise and foresight he ac- cumulated a large fortune, and at the time of his death, February 3, 1823, he occupied the large square bounded by Walnut and Green, Third and Fourth street. Fifty years ago this was still prettymnearly as he left it, a fine orchard only, with the homestead upon it. The old Prather resi- dence is still standing, and adjoins Macauley's Theater, on the Walnut street front.

A NEW STATE CONSTITUTION.

In May the people of Jefferson county had an opportunity to vote upon the question of calling already a convention to revise the State Constitution. The vote in the State is favorable -8,804 in 11,853 cast and reported-nearly one-third of the counties (7 out of 24) either having no election or making no returns. The convention meets at Frankfort July 22d of the

next year, with Alexander Scott Bullitt, of Jeffer- son county, as President.

1799-PORT OF ENTRY.

In this year, by an act of Congress passed in November, the village of Louisville was declared to be a port of entry, and a collector was ap- pointed to discharge his duties at this point. New Orleans was still, it must be remembered, in possession of the French, and no custom- house of the United States existed between it and Louisville; so that, until one was established at the latter place, there was absolutely no check upon the importation of goods from that direc- tion without the payment of duties. Subse- quently, February 13, 1807, by another act of Congress, after the purchase of Louisiana from Napoleon, the District of Louisville was incor- porated with the District of the Mississippi, with a general custom-house at New Orleans. The special importance of the former consequently declined, and the Louisville custom-house and . collectorship were abolished. Government in- spectors or surveyors were established, however, whose duty it was to survey all boats constructed in the district, and grant temporary licenses at discretion, which were to be surrendered at the New Orleans custom-house upon the arrival of the boat.

A NOTABLE NATIVE.

On the 8th day of January-afterwards "Bat tle of New Orleans Day"-in the house of his pioneer father, was born John Joyes. He was schooled in the village and at St. Mary's college; read law and was early admitted to the bar; was soon sent to the Legislature from the Jefferson and Oldham District; became the second mayor of the city (1834-35); continued the judicial functions then attached to the office, under a new law, as judge of the city court, from 1836 to the end of one term; practiced law, with an interval during the late war, until bad health and old age obliged him to retire; and died at his home in Louisville May 30, 1877, in his seventy- ninth year. He was greatly respected as a citi- zen and a lawyer-a true friend, and a liberal, kind-hearted gentleman.

HON. JAMES HARRISON.

This was also the year of birth, in this place,

James Harrisons

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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

of James, son of Major John Harrison, now the sole surviving connecting link of the last century with this, as a native of Louisville. He was born in the third brick house erected in the town -that put up by his father, on the southwest corner of Main and Sixth streets, upon the lot drawn by Thomas Bull in the lottery April 20, 1779, and after various transfers, becoming the property of Major Harrison April 9, 1810, for £600. It was owned by the Harrison family till 1832, when it was sold for $14,200. In 1879 it sold for $58,000.

ABRAHAM HITE, JR.

On the 18th of November was born, at a country home on the Bardstown road, in this county, Abraham Hite, a descendant of the fam- ous pioneer family, of which Captain Abraham Hite, his father, was the progenitor in this coun- try in 1782, and survived here just fifty years, dying in August, 1832. The younger Abraham was early placed by his father in the store of Robert Ormsby, a leading merchant in Louisville, and himself in due time became very prominent in mercantile business here. He began inde- pendent business here in 1828, as head of the firm of Hite, Ormsby & Hite, and two years afterwards opened a wholesale house. He re- tired in 1855, and accepted the post of Secretary of the Franklin Insurance Company, of Louis- ville, in which most of his later years were spent. He died here in a good old age.

AGAIN IN THE BOOKS.

Joseph Scott's New and Universal Gazetteer, published this year in Philadelphia, gives the young Louisville the following notice, in length almost as much as all of Louisiana receives in the same work:

LOUISVILLE, a port of entry and post-town of Kentucky, and chief of Jefferson county. It is pleasantly situated on a rich, elevated plain, at the rapids of the Ohio, of which it commands a delightful prospect, and of the adjacent country. It consists of three principal streets, one extending parallel to the bank of the river and the others due south, forming with the main street acute angles, which is occasioned by a bend in the principal street so as to correspond with the course of the river. It contains about a hundred houses, a jail, and court-house. It is forty miles west of Frankfort, and nine hundred and thirteen from Philadelphia.

A RETROSPECT.

And now at the century's close let us look back. Thirty years before the soil of Kentucky was broken for the first time by a white man.

Where this great city is now, at that day spread only a wilderness. On the Ohio's smooth sur- face were reflected only the waving branches of overhanging forest trees and the brown faces of the Indian. Bears, wolves, panthers, deer, and buffalo had an undisputed right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In a brief space of time, the old trees are gone, and streets of strongly built houses stand in their places. A civilized town of many hundreds of souls, enjoy- ing, thinking, growing humanity, under wise and good laws, have overcome material force by a stronger power, and barbarism has given place to civilization. Where shall the end of next cen- tury find the town ?

CHAPTER V. THE THIRD DECADE.

1800-Population-The Tobacco Trade-A Market House -Total Valuation-The First Ship-A New Mail Route- Chapman Coleman and Wife. 1801-More Legislation for Louisville-A Wife Sold-The Beargrass Bridge-First Masonic Lodge-First Newspaper, the Farmers' Library. 1802-Dr. Richard Ferguson-Norbonne B. Beall-An- other Map-Another Newspaper, the Louisville Gazette. 1804-The Ship Canal in Legislation-The Cosby Family. 1805-Still More Legislation for Louisville : The Famous Hog and Pond Law-Street Labor, Etc .- Arrival of the Nonpareil-The Spying of Espy-Aaron Burr's Visits- General Robert Anderson Born. 1806-Local Commerce -A New Postmaster-The First Authoritative Map- Brackenridge's Recollections-An Ashe that Made Lie- James McCrum. 1807-The Cold Friday-Another Tax List-The Traveler Schultz Here. 1808-The First Theater Building-Now Comes Mr. Cuming-Likewise John James Audubon-The Ornithologist Wilson a Visitor -James Rudd-Incidents. 1808-The Tarascon Mill- Antiquities Found. 1809-Clay and Marshall's Duel Near Louisville-The First Methodist Church-The Local As- sessment of 1809.

1800-LOUISVILLE'S POPULATION.

The Federal census of this year gave probably a correct statement of the population of the town -one far more trustworthy than the blundering estimate of but thirty in 1788, or the better one of two hundred in 1790, as reported in the unof- ficial returns of that year. The travelers in the last decade observed, one about one hundred, another about two hundred, houses here. It is probable that there were more than one hundred and less than two hundred. Allowing, then,

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that a number of these were either vacant, or used exclusively for trade or mechanical busi- ness, and a reasonable estimate of the inhabi- tants in the remainder makes exceeding probable the truth of the census figures, which give three hundred and fifty-nine as the total population of the town in the year of grace 1800 .* This was exceeded by four other towns in the State-by Paris, with 377; even by Washington, far off in Mason county, with 570 (Maysville had but 137, and Newport 106); by Frankfort, with 628; and by Lexington, which loomed up superbly as the metropolis of the State, with 1,795! But a small part of the population of Kentucky, however, was now in towns. Twenty-nine separately re- turned by this census did not together contain six thousand, or an average of more than two hundred people apiece. Their total popula- tion was scarcely one-fortieth that of the State, which was mostly now in the rural districts, freed from the terrors of Indian massacre. In ten years the State had had a magnificent growth, in- creasing almost exactly two hundred per cent .- 147,278, or from 73,677 to 220,955. The whites numbered 179,873, slaves 40,343 (an in- crease within the decade of 224.5 per cent.), and free blacks 739. Kentucky was already the Em- pire State west of the Alleghanies.

THE TOBACCO MARKET

was beginning to look up in Louisville. Colonel Campbell had a warehouse for the trade, which stood on or near the river-bank, opposite Corn Island.

A MARKET-HOUSE

was provided for by act of Assembly this year, . which appropriated £25 from the annual town tax for the building of the same upon public grounds, under the superintendence of the Board of Trustees, which body was also given exclusive jurisdiction over the harbor interests at the mouth of Beargrass. But behold, when the au- thorities began to cast about for a site for the market-house, it was found that the sales of lots had been so close-even the reserved strip across the town having by this time been sold-that not even space enough for a public building was

found still belonging to the town. The act of 1 800 had to be repealed a year or two afterwards, as to the location of the market-house, and the trustees were authorized "to fix upon some proper place, such as shall seem most conven- ient to the inhabitants of the town, and there to erect a suitable market-house."

THE TOTAL VALUATION

of the town this year, for purposes of taxation, was but $91, 183. This shows a good increase, however, from the petty tax-list of 1797, before reported. It was $254 for every man, woman, and child in the place.

THE FIRST SHIP

down the Ohio reached Louisville June 16, and made a proper sensation. She was built in Pennsylvania, at Elizabethtown, on the Monon- gahela river, and started on her first journey May 17, 1800, with a cargo of seven hundred and twenty barrels of flour. At Louisville she was detained by low water till the following Jan- uary. At Fort Massac, Illinois, two thousand bear-skins and four thousand deer-skins were added to her cargo, for the New Orleans market. After this time she made several voyages be- tween New Orleans and New York, once going from the latter city to Balize in twelve days, at that date, the year 1801, the quickest trip ever known.

In this connection an announcement of the Cincinnati Spy and Gazette of March 12, 1800, may be fitly noticed. It is of the opening of a new mail route between Louisville and Kaskas- kia, "to ride once every four weeks." Think of this, ye lively route-agents on the Ohio & Missis- sippi railroad !

MR. AND MRS. CHAPMAN COLEMAN .*

Chapman Coleman, son of James Coleman, was born in Orange county, Virginia, May 17, 1793. He came to Kentucky at an early age, and lived in Woodford county. He was a sol- dier of 1812, and at the battle of New Orleans. From there early in this century he removed to Louisville, where he passed the remainder of his life. He was a merchant and banker. He was twice United States Marshal for Kentucky, being appointed in 1823 by President Monroe, and in 1827 by J. Q. Adams. November 18, 1830, he was married to Ann Mary Butler Crittenden,

* Mr. Casseday, however, thinks Louisville had now a pop- ulation of eight hundred souls (History of Louisville, 107). But on page 247 he is content with six hundred. There is no sufficient reason in this case for invalidating the census re- port.

* By Patrick Joyes, Esq., of Louisville.

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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

daughter of the Hon. John J. Crittenden. They had seven children: Florence, married to Patrick Joyes, of this city; Cornelia, married to J. Mc- Kimm Marriott, of Baltimore; Sallie Lee, married to H. N. Gassaway, of Washington, District of Columbia; Judith Crittenden, married to Hon. Charles H. Adams, of Cohoes, New York, and Eugenia Crittenden, and two sons, John Crit- tenden and Chapman, both of whom served in the Confederate army, the elder dying of a fever during the War, and the young Chapman be- coming a lawyer, and is now Secretary of Legation at Berlin. C. Coleman, Sr., died in 1852, and is buried in Frankfort. The following sketch of Mrs. Coleman is from an article in the "Sunny South," written by the Hon. Alexander H. Steph- ens:

The subject of this notice is the daughter of the late J. J. Crittenden, of Kentucky, who was one of the ablest and purest of American statesmen. She was born in Russellville, Kentucky, the place of her father's then residence, on the 5th of March, 1813, while her father was in the war then rag- ing between Great Britain and the United States. . . The daughter is the very picture of her father physically as well as mentally. Mr. Crittenden's first wife was Sallie O. Lee, of the elder branch of the same family of General Robert E. Lee. Her grandfathers, John Lee and John Crittenden, were both majors in the Revolutionary war. Mrs. Coleman was married November 18, 1830, to Mr. Chapman Coleman, one of the most highly honored and distinguished merchants of that period. He resided in Louisville, Kentucky. Seven children were the fruits of this marriage, the youngest of whom was an infant daughter at the time of Mr. Coleman's death. Mr. Coleman left the entire control of his property and children to the surviving mother, showing how well she deserved his love and confidence. Soon after the death of her husband, Mrs. Coleman left the United States, and, with her children, took up a temporary residence in Germany, where she devoted herself not only to the education of her children, but to the acquisition of a thorough knowledge of the French and German languages. Of these she and all her children became masters before her return to her native land. She and her daughters have given to the literary public of the United States several admirable translations of French and German works. In 1871 Mrs. Coleman published a life of her father. It was published from the press of the Lip- pincotts, in Philadelphia, and consists of two volumes. These furnish abundant evidence, not only of her highly cul- tivated literary taste, but how thoroughly she is versed in the political history of her country. The work was at first got- ten up by subscription. The list sent on for copies contained the names of the most distinguished survivors of the golden day of the Republic. For the last three years Mrs. Coleman with her two unmarried daughters (one of whom since mar- ried), has resided at the seat of the Federal Government, where she has met with a warm reception from the old friends of her father and from many acquaintances of earlier days. It is certainly within proper bounds to say that she is now recognized as one of the queens of the literary society of Washington city.

Southland Writers, Vol. I., contains a sketch of Mrs. C. Coleman and her daughters.

The old Coleman house was on the north side of Main, near Floyd, and is still standing.

1801-SOME MORE LEGISLATION.

The market-house act contained sundry other provisions, the mention of which will furnish an appropriate introduction to the story of the im- portant public improvement now about to be undertaken.

The Legislature of the State, early in the fol- lowing year, after giving to the trustees of Louis- ville the power to make deeds and conveyances of the town lots, and providing abundantly for the levying and collecting of taxes, proceeded to exempt citizens from working on roads out of town, except the one road leading from Louis- ville to the lower landing. They also ordered the appointment of a street surveyor, whose duty should compel him, from time to time, to call the people to meet together "on a certain day, at a certain place, for the purpose of working upon the streets," and any person failing to obey such call should pay a fine of six shillings for every failure.

The prices of the half-acre lots on the princi- pal streets now ranged from $700 to $1,400. One fine lot, however, on Main near Fourth street, was carelessly sold at public vendue by the trustees at some time before this, for a horse worth but $20-a proceeding which excited some indignation.

A WIFE SOLD.

This, however, will cease to be so flagrant a . breach of trust, when we compare it with an- other incident recorded about the same period of time. Neither party in the transaction, how- ever, was acting in an official capacity, and the article sold was of far greater value-as com- monly estimated-than the land previously men- tioned. Among the visitors at the mansion of one of the first citizens of Louisville, came a person claiming to be a Methodist preacher "in good and regular standing." After enjoying the gentleman's hospitality for a space of several weeks, he departed one fine morning, carrying with him, perhaps by mistake, no less an article than his entertainer's wife. The host on his re-

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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

turn at once missed so valuable and important a portion of his household goods, and started after the thief in hot pursuit. The reverend gentleman was soon overtaken and the stolen property demanded. The visitor acknowledged the theft, but seemed unwilling to return the prize, offering instead to settle the matter in a way which seemed to him entirely just and satis- factory. The plan was that the injured party should give up all right to the article under dis- cussion and receive as compensation the mare on which he rode. To this the husband gave a rather reluctant consent, on condition that the bridle and saddle be thrown in the bargain. And for many years afterward the old man was seen ambling along on his mare-the two seem- ing to enjoy a much more quiet and congenial companionship than that which had existed be- tween himself and his former companion.

THE BRIDGE OVER BEARGRASS.

Returning from these digressions, we call now attention to a most valuable and needed public improvement. A subscription was made this year, by the good people of the village, to build a bridge over Beargrass, near the mouth. Two subscription papers appear to have been' circu- lated, the amount upon the first being $343, and upon the second $101, making a total of $444, all of which was collected except $10. The amount paid Mr. A. Linn, contractor for the bridge, was $430. The earliest of these sub- scription papers is still preserved in the office of the Clerk of the Board of Councilmen, in the City Hall, bearing the original autographs, and furnishing, probably, a good directory to the names of the citizens of Louisville and vicinity in May, 1801, when it was circulated. The names are :

Geo. Wilson ($20),

T. Gwathmey, Jno. B. Pray,

Thos. Prather ($20)

Jas. Patten ($10, and $10 in August Kaye.

smith work), Jno. Harrison,

William Sullivan,

Asahel Linn,

Richd Terrell,

James Macconnell,

Evan Williams ($20) H. Duncan, Worden Pope,

Richard Mosley, Alex. Ralston,

Forts Cosby,

Richard Taylor,

Jas. Hunter, Th. Henry Bullitt,

Allan Campbell,

John Bustard,

Thos. M. Winn,

W. Croghan ($25)

Author Campbell, by his agent, Jno. Harrison,

R. Dickinson,

Peter Bass,

J. Gwathmey ($15)

Wm. T. Simnell, Saml. Morhead,

John Collins,

Edw. Lightfoot.

The second subscription paper, dated May 18th, bears the following names :

Robert K. Moore,

A. Kaykondall,

William White, R. Clark Thayer,

William Clark,

P. B. Ormsby,

Richard C. Anderson,

Owen Gwathmey,

George Reedy,

Thos. Barbour, Jr.,

Samuel Oldham, Ro. Woolfolk,

John Thompson,

Edmd Woolfolk,

Nicholas Clark.

THE FIRST LODGE

of Free and Accepted Masons - Abraham's Lodge, No. ---- , was chartered in 1801 by the Grand Lodge of Kentucky. All the lodges in the State this year gave up the charters received from the Grand Lodge of Virginia, in order to take anew from the Grand Lodge of their own State.

THE FIRST NEWSPAPER

in Louisville was started this year. It was called The Farmer's Library. For a long time its ex- istence was only known by inference from an act of the Legislature relating to Louisville, passed in 1807, in which it is named; but Colonel Dur- rett has more lately resurrected a partial file of it, which now forms a part of his valuable collec- tion of Louisvillana.

1802-DR. RICHARD FERGUSON.

This year came the well-known physician of half a century here, Dr. Ferguson, then in his prime, a stout Irish gentleman of thirty-three. He staid but a short time before he became discouraged and sent his baggage to Portland to start for New Orleans and a new attempt at set- tlement. A friend remonstrated with him, how- ever, and the toss of a dollar decided that he should stay in Louisville. The next year he married Miss Aylett E., daughter of Colonel William A. Booth, an immigrant from Virginia to Kentucky in 1798. She died August 12, 1838. He survived fifteen years longer, dying April 10, 1853, in his eighty-fourth year.

NORBONNE B. BEALL.

This gentleman came in 1802 from Williams- bnrg, Virginia, to Louisville, in company with

Frederick Geiger,

John Nelson,

Nathl. B. Whitlock,

Robert Coleman,

Adam Wolfant,

Jno. Hare, Richd Taylor,

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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Dr. William Galt, of the same place. Mr. Beall's father already owned a very valuable tract of three thousand acres on the Shelbyville road, three miles from Louisville; and the son settled on that part of it known as Spring Station, where he built the fine, old-fashioned mansion-house so long occupied by the family. He became a very prominent citizen, and was sent several times to the lower House of Congress. Dr. Galt mar- ried one of his sisters, and another became wife of Richard Maupin and mother of one of the most famous Kentucky beauties of her day, who died young, of consumption. Mr. Beall's daughter Ann married Captain William Booth, then of the United States army, but for many years a farmer at the Horse-shoe Bend, on the Ohio.

STILL ANOTHER MAP

of the town was made this year, by Alex. Wood- row. It is not known what became of this old plat, and not even a copy of it is known to be in existence.

THE LOUISVILLE GAZETTE,

the second newspaper in the town, was started this year. It is also named in an act of the Leg- islature, but six years later. It speaks well for the intelligence and progress of the place that in two successive years two public journals could be hopefully started.

THE SHIP CANAL.

Probably no intelligent and thoughtful visitor, from the beginning of white visitation in the seventeenth century, had ever viewed the Falls of the Ohio without thinking of a canal, on one side of the river or the other, to obviate their difficulties and dangers. The time had now arrived, in the fullness of years, when the first important step toward its construction was to be taken, in the way of legislation. On the 19th of December, 1804, the General Assembly of Ken- tucky passed an act incorporating the Ohio Canal Company with a capital of $50,000, and the privilege of raising as much as $15,000 by lottery, if not subscribed. The act has been more fully detailed, in our chapter on the canal. It will suffice here to say that but little money was raised, although subscription books could be opened under the law in seventeen towns of the State, and, apart from some preliminary sur- veying and much discussion, nothing was done for twenty years.

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History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. I, Part 40

Author: Williams, L.A., & Co., Cleveland Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : L. A. Williams & Co. Number of Pages: 814

Author: Williams, L.A., & Co., Cleveland
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : L. A. Williams & Co.
Number of Pages: 814