History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. I, Part 41

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 41

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THE COSBYS.

Among the permanent residents who settled in Louisville this year were the elder Fortunatus Cosby and wife, who had been married in their native Louisa county, Virginia, seven or eight years before, and had come to this country with her father, Captain Aaron Fontaine. They set- tled in the spring of 1798 with him on Harrod's creek, nine miles above the village, and resided in his house, though Mr. Cosby opened a law office in Louisville, and practiced here for some years before his removal. He was born on Christmas day, 1766, was graduated at William and Mary College, where the eccentric John Randolph, of Roanoke, was a fellowing-student. He then took a course of law readers under able practitioners in his native State. The house they first occupied in Louisville was an unfin- ished log cabin, and Mrs. Cosby long afterwards related that she was obliged, in the absence of doors to it, to hang up blankets and also make a blazing fire within to keep the wolves away. Her husband's lucrative practice enabled him by and by to put up a brick residence, an early one of that material in the place, known subsequent- ly as the Prather House, and standing on the square between Green and Walnut, Third and Fourth streets. In July, 1810, Mr. Cosby was appointed circuit judge by Governor Scott. He became very wealthy, holding at one time a single tract of three thousand acres, from Tenth street westward, and other parcels of land in the place, altogether estimated to be now worth $30,000,000 to $40,000,000. He was a fine scholar and a generous entertainer, numbering among his warm friends, though a political op- ponent, the great Commoner, "Harry of the West." Mr. Cosby lived to the advanced age of eighty-two, dying at his residence here October 19, 1847. His wife, though but little younger, survived him several years longer, when she also passed away, greatly lamented. Their children have also been numbered among the most notable residents of the city. It is quite need- less to add that among them was Fortunatus Cosby, the poet, who is the subject of a notice elsewhere.

1805-MORE LEGISLATION.

The famous hog and pond law was passed for the benefit of swinc-infested and swamp-infected

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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Louisville this year. The preamble thereof and part of the act reads as follow :

WHEREAS, As it is represented to the present General As- sembly that a number of the persons residing in the town of Louisville are in the habit of raising, and are now possessed of large numbers of Swine, to the great injury of the citizens generally; and that there are a number of ponds of water in said town, which are nuisances, and injurious to the health of the city and the prosperity of the town. Be it therefore enacted, That the present trustees of the said town, and their successors, or a majority of them, shall have full power and authority to remove the same, etc., etc.

A very comical incident, with which a Louis- ville hog is not altogether unconnected, will be found hereafter, in our annals of the Seventh Decade, related by no less a personage than the late Charles Dickens.

STREET LABOR, ETC.

By other provisions of the same act the trus- tees were clothed with power to levy a sum not exceeding $800 for the purpose of repairing the streets. It also exempted those citizens from working on the streets, who should pay a commu- tation of seventy-five cents in money. It gave the trustees power to make further regulations and by-laws for the proper preservation of order, to appoint a tax collector, etc., and extended the privilege of voting for trustees to the residents of the ten- and twenty-acre out-lots, thereby extend- ing the limits of the town to the present line of Chestnut street.

THE NONPAREIL COMES.

In the previous year a beautiful little sailing vessel of seventy tons burthen, fitly called the Nonpareil, was constructed for himself by the veteran shipwright of the upper Ohio, Captain Jonathan Devoll, one of the advance party sent out by the Ohio Company in the fall of 1787, who built the large boat called the Mayflower, with which the famous landing was made at Ma- rietta the following April. In the spring of 1805 the Nonpareil was finished and freighted for New

Orleans by her owner and his sons, Charles and Barker Devoll, with whom Richard Greene was also a partner, and started from Marietta on the 2 Ist of April, with General Mansfield, Surveyor- General of the United States, and family, re- moving to Cincinnati, as passengers. Nearly forty years afterwards the story of the trip was elegantly and most graphically written by Dr. S. P. Hildreth, of Marietta, and contributed to the American Pioneer. The vessel reached Cin-

cinnati on the 8th of May, remained there two days, and arrived at the Falls on the 10th. Dr. Hildreth gives a sketch of the history of this locality, and adds of Louisville:

At the period of the visit of the Nonpareil, quite a brisk little town had sprung up and had grown more rapidly since the upward navigation of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers had commenced, this spot being the carrying place for the merchandise intended for the country above, as the obstruc- tion to navigation by the Falls made it necessary for the barges to land a part if not all their freight before attempting the ascent of so rapid a current. Aided by the rise in the river and the help of a skillful pilot, the little schooner passed down the middle chute with the rapidity of an arrow, and it was safely moored in the harbor at the foot of the Falls, now called Shippingsport. At that day not one of the towns which cluster about the Falls was in existence, and what is now Louisville sat solitary and alone on the rocky shore of the Rapids, with the exception of a few log cabins and one or two store-houses at the foot of the Falls. At the head, on the Indian shore, were a few cabins, called "Clark's Grant."

Another passenger of some distinction was taken on board here-John Graham, Esq., late secretary to Mr. Monroe, American Minister at Paris. Mr. Graham had recently returned from France, and was now on his way to New Or- leans, to take a similar position with the Hon. C. C. Claiborne, appointed Governor of the new Territory of Louisiana. Dr. Hildreth says:

Mr. Graham was in the prime of life, of a noble and com- manding person, prepossessing countenance, and agreeable manners. He was a great acquisition to the owners of the Nonpareil, and beguiled the wearisome length of the voy- age by his instructive conversation and anecdotes of foreign travels. '

THE SPYING OF ESPY.

On the 2d of October, from across the Ohio, where he had been visiting Jeffersonville and "Clarksburgh," as he calls it, came Josiah Espy, son of a Kentucky immigrant, but himself a resident of Pennsylvania, making a tour through Ohio, Kentucky, and the Indiana Territory, of which he left interesting "Memorandums." They have been published at Cincinnati in the Ohio Valley Historical Series, from the closing volume of which we extract the following:

Louisville is one of the oldest towns of the State of Ken- lucky, and is certainly beautifully as well as advantageously situated on the bank of the river immediately above the Falls ; but on account of the prevalence of the fever and ague during the autumnal months, it has not risen to the wealth and population which might have been expected. It contains about two hundred dwelling houses, chiefly wooden. However, since the Legislature of Kentucky have incorporated a company for opening a canal around the fall on this side of the river also, this place has taken a tempo-

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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

rary start, and some large and elegant buildings are now erecting of brick and stone ; and it is to be presumed that its great natural advantages will finally get the better of the prejudices now existing against it on account of its being so sickly, and that it will yet at no distant day become a great and flourishing town. Two shipvards are now seen here, the one above and the other immediately below the town, but are yet in their infancy.

Whether the Kentuckians seriously intend opening their canal, or whether it is only intended to impede the process of opening one on the other side, is uncertain ; but it is gen- erally supposed that the situation is not as eligible for that purpose as the one on the opposite shore.

Mr. Espy had had some strange notions put in his head while tarrying in Hoosierdom. He would certainly revise his opinions, could he see the splendid work which now allows the largest river-steamers to pass rapidly and safely around the rapids.

AARON BURR'S VISITS.

The most extraordinary visitor to Louisville this year, however, was the then Vice-President of the United States, the notorious Aaron Burr. It was the year after he had slain Hamilton in the duel at Weehawken. He was the object of general odium throughout the land, had lost an election as Governor of New York, was at vari- ance with his party and the President, and was now meditating the revolutionary and unlawful scheme against the Spaniards in Mexico and Texas. He appeared this year in Louisville and Lexington, and in the next, which was spent chiefly upon Blennerhasset's island, he was oc- casionally seen here, in Lexington and Nashville, and at other points where he desired to enlist men of influence in support of his expedition, which was now preparing and equipping on the Muskingum. In November, after its ruin through the energetic measures taken by Governor Tiffin, of Ohio, with the co-operation of the Federal Government, Burr was brought before the United States District court at Frankfort on a charge of high misdemeanor, in organizing, upon the soil of the United States, an expedition against a friendly power. The grand jury refused to find a bill of indictment, however, and a grand ball at the State capital about Christmas celebrated Burr's acquittal.

GENERAL ANDERSON.

The distinguished soldier and hero of Fort Sumter, General Robert Anderson, was born in Louisville June 14th of this year, son of Colonel Richard Clough Anderson, Sr. He became suc- 28

cessively a graduate of West Point, a lieutenant of artillery, serving in the Black Hawk war as In- spector-General of the Illinois volunteers, with the rank of Colonel; instructor in artillery at West Point; a brevet captain in the Flori- da war; aid to General Scott; captain of artil- lery; was wounded in the Mexican war and breveted Major; commanded the Military Asy- lum at Harrodsburg, Kentucky; Major of the First artillery in 1857; defended Fort Sumter four years later; was made Brigadier-General in the regular army in May, 186r; commanded for a time the Department of Kentucky and then of the Cumberland; resigned through ill-health in the fall of 1863, and died at Nice, France, Oc- toher 26, 1871. His remains are buried at West Point.

1806-COMMERCE.

The river-trade of Louisville had grown some, but was not yet large. According to Dr. Mc- Murtrie's Sketches, two barges, one of forty tons, owned by a Mr. Instone, of Frankfort, and one of thirty, owned by Mr. Reed, of Cincinnati, with six keel-boats, were all-sufficient for the traffic of Louisville and Shippingport upon the Western waters. A wondrous change, however, was soon to come.

A NEW POSTMASTER.

Mr. John T. Grey, who had already spent some years here as a deputy clerk, under the administration of Worden Pope, was appointed Postmaster this year and remained in the posi- tion for twenty-three years. He also became a large business man here, and was among the first to put steamers on the river in the Louis- ville and New Orleans trade.

THE FIRST MAP OF AUTHORITY.

Mr. Jared Brooks, who seems to have been a very useful man here in the early day, made this year a careful survey of the Falls and the adja- cent lands, which was reduced to a map, and printed under the title, "A Map of the Rapids of the Ohio River, and of the counties on each side thereof, so far as to include the routes con- templated for Canal Navigation. Respectfully inscribed to His Excellency Christopher Green- up, Governor of Kentucky, by his very obedient servant, J. Brooks. Engraved and printed by John Goodman, Frankfort, Kentucky, 1806." Upon this early, if not the first authentic map is

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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

delineated the line of the canal, pretty nearly as constructed before the enlargement, and also a plan of extensive "water-works" - which was considerably discounting the future. It exhibits all the prominent rocks, currents, and eddies at the Falls, and the forests on both sides of the river as they then stood.

The Rev. Richard Deering, who had a copy of the map of 1806 before him while preparing his pamphlet of 1859, says that Mr. Brooks's plan of "water-works" consisted of a pair of races taken out, one on each side of the main canal, just above the upper lock, and running parallel with the river bank upward and down- ward, from which races short side-cuts were to be made at convenient distances for mills, and the water discharged into the river after it left the wheels. The race was to be extended down the river to any distance that might be required, thus furnishing room and power for an indefinite number of mills.

Mr. Deering says, what is no doubt the exact truth, that had Mr. Brooks's plan been carried into execution, Louisville would have been one of the greatest manufacturing cities in the coun- try.

A REMINISCENCE.

Mr. Brackenridge, author long afterwards of a book of Recollections of Persons and Places in the West, after a notice of Cincinnati in 1806, in- dulges in the following reminiscence concerning this place :

Louisville had also become a handsome town, and, thus far the curtain of the wilderness may be said to have been lifted up; but farther down the Ohio was still the abode of solitude and gloom.

AN ASHE THAT MADE LIE.

In 1806 the Falls cities enjoyed the doubtful honor of a visit from the English traveler and would-be scientist, Thomas Ashe, who, under the guise of a Frenchman named D'Arville, was taking in the people of the Ohio Valley in vari- ous ways, and especially preparing to swindle that fine gentleman of the old school, Dr. Goforth, of Cincinnati, out of his large and costly collection of fossils from the Big Bone lick. Ashe was a great liar, as may be seen from the first sentence quoted below; but his book of Travels in America is all the more entertaining in places for that reason, and we need offer no apology for presenting in this place some extracts

from his Munchausen narrative, without omitting any of their embellishments :

The first intimation 1 had of the approach to Louisville was the roaring of the Falls, which reached me at a distance of fifteen miles. Four miles further on gave me a fine view of the town, which stands about two miles above the Falls, on the Kentucky shore. The entire coup d'œil is very grand, but the disposition to admire is drowned in the murmur of the water and the danger it announces to the mind. As the Falls cannot be passed without a pilot and a number of ex- tra hands to govern the helm and the oars, it is always neces- sary to look out within five or six miles and pull in for the left shore before there is a possibility of getting into the suction of the full stream, and from thence into the vortex of the flood. By my not attending to this in time, I was very near perishing. The velocity of the water increased, the uproar of the Falls became tremendous, and nothing but the con- tinual and vigorous exertions of the oars saved us from sud- den and violent perdition. We rowed one hour across the stream and got into dull water, but five minutes before our deaths must have been certain ; whereas, had 1 pulled in on seeing the town, I might have dropped quietly down along the bank and enjoyed the grandeur and sublimity of the general scene, in the place of experiencing so much labour and appre- hension.

Having secured the boat in the mouth of Beargrass creek, I walked up to the town of Louisville, which is situated on a high and level bank of the Ohio, about two hundred poles above the commencement of the rapid descent of the water, and contains about eighty dwellings, besides the court-house ol Jefferson county and other public buildings. The pros- pect from the town is very extensive, commanding a view up the river for some distance above what is called Six Mile Island ; and on the opposite shore, which is the distance of one mile and a quarter, the eye is carried over an extent of level country, terminated by the hills of Silver creek, which are five miles distant, and down the river to Clarksville, about two miles below. Here the magnificence of the scene, the grandeur of the Falls, the unceasing brawl of the cata- ract, and the beauty of the surrounding prospect, all con- tribute to render the place truly delightful, and to impress every man of observation who beholds it with ideas of its future importance, till he enquires more minutely and dis- covers a character of unhealthiness in the place which for- bids the encouragement of any hope of its permanency or improvement.

A shipyard is erected below the rapids by the company of Tavascon [Tarascon ] Brothers, & James Berthand | Berthoud] the latter of whom now resides here. This certainly is the most eligible place on the river Ohio, and a greater prospect of the advantages of such an establishment now opens, since the vast territory of Louisiana has become the property of the United States.

The inhabitants are universally addicted to gambling and drinking. The billiard-rooms are crowded from morning till night, and often all night through. I am the more concerned to see the prevalence of these vices, as 1 experience a liber- ality and attention in the town which has given me an inter- est in the general welfare of its people. .

Notwithstanding the low state of the water and the immi- nent peril of the passage, I determined on taking the chute without further delay, and lay my boat up below the Falls, while I returned to the town and made a short excursion through the country. I accordingly sent for the head pilot. He informed me that he feared a thunder gust was collecting.

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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

The late violent heats, and the prognostics declared by the noise of the Falls and the vapour suspended over them, were strong portentions of a storm, and made the passage too hazardous to be taken at the pilot's risk. Whenever I have determined on acting, I have not easily been turned from my intentions. This habit or obstinacy made me persist in going, and I told the pilot to prepare immediately and that I would take the consequence of any loss upon my own head. He agreed, and repaired to my boat with six additional hands, and I shortly followed him, accompanied by two ladies and a gentleman, who had courage to take the fall out of mere curiosity, notwithstanding the great peril with which the act was allied. We all embarked. The oars were man- ned with four men each. The pilot and I governed the helm, and my passengers sat on the roof of the boat. A profound silence reigned. A sentiment of awe and terror occupied every mind and urged the necessity of a fixed and resolute duty. In a few minutes we worked across the eddy and reached the current of the north fall, which hurried us on with an awful swiftness and made impressions vain to de- scribe. The water soon rushed with a more horrid fury, and seemed to threaten destruction even to the solid rock which opposed its passage in the center of the river, and the terrific and incessant din with which this was accompanied a!most overcame and unnerved the heart. At the distance of half a mile a thick mist, like volumes of smoke, rose to the skies, and as we advanced we heard a sullen noise, which soon after almost stunned our ears. Making as we proceeded the north side, we were struck with the most terrific event and awful scene. The expected thunder burst at once in heavy peals over our heads, and the gusts with which it was accon- panied raged up the river. and held our hoat in agitated sus- pense on the verge of the precipitating flood. The lightning, too, glanced and flashed on the furious cataract, which rushed down with tremendous fury within sight of the eye. We doubled the most fatal rock, and though the storm in- creased to a dreadful degree, we held the boat in the chan- nel, took the chute, and following with skillful helm its nar- row and winding bed, filled with rocks and confined by a vortex which appears the residence of death, we floated in uninterrupted water of one calm, continued sheet. The instant of taking the fall was certainly sublime and awful. The organs of perception were hurried along and partook of the turbulence of the roaring water. The powers of recol- lection were even suspended by the sudden shock, and it was not till after a considerable time that I was enabled to look back and contemplate the sublime horrors of the scene from which I had made so fortunate an escape.

Mr. Casseday places the visit of the English- man Cuming in this year, and thinks him the first European traveler who passed through Louisville of whose record we have any knowl- edge. But Mr. Cuming (not "Cumming") was certainly not here until 1808, and Mr. Schultz and several other foreigners, as we have already seen in part, were here before him.

JAMES MCCRUM

was an immigrant of this year. He had come from the North of Ireland, where he was born, to New York a few years before. He here married Miss Eliza R., daughter of Captain George Gray,

became a prosperous and notable merchant, and died in 1856, aged seventy-seven. Among their children were Mrs. Annie M. Johnston, died September 1, 1852, and Mrs. Eliza R. Ormsby, both of Louisville. Mrs. McCrum survived her husband for a number of years.

1807-THE COLD FRIDAY.

A remarkable change of temperature occurred on the night of the 6th of February, resulting in what is historically known as "Cold Friday." Mr. Collins gives the following account of it:

On two occasions only, since the commencement of the present century, the mercury has been caused to sink sixty degrees within twelve hours by these cold winds. The first occurred on the evening of the 6th of February, 1807, which was Thursday. At nightfall it was mild, but cloudy; after night it commenced raining, with a high west wind. This rain soon changed to snow, which continued to fall rapidly to the depth of some six inches; but the wind, which moved at the rate of a hurricane, soon lifted and dispersed the clouds, and, within the short space of twelve hours from the close of a very mild Thursday, all Kentucky was treated to a gentle rain, a violent snow-storm, and a bright, sunshiny morning, so bitterly cold that by acclamation it was termed "Cold Friday."

Colonel Durrett, in one of his historical essays, says the old residents "were full of talk about this terrible day." On the morning of the 7th, he continues, the trees in the forest were crack- ing like the report of guns, and everything was bound in fetters of ice.

ANOTHER TAX LIST,

for this year, has been preserved, and is published by Mr. Casseday, as follows :

$74,000 value of lots at 10 per cent .$740 00

113 White Tythes at 50c ... 56 50

82 Black over 16 years, at 25c. 20 50

83 under 16 " at 12%c. 10 38

II Retail Stores at $5. 55 00

3 Tavern Licenses at $2. 6 00

30 Carriage Wheels at 1272c per wheel .. 3 75

2 Billiard Tables at $2.50. 5 00

131 Horses at 121%. 16 37

Total. .$913 50

This compares very favorably with the list of ten years before, which amounted to little more than $100.

MR. SCHULTZ HERE.

In the course of this year Louisville was vis- ited by an intelligent foreigner, Mr. Christian Schultz, Jr. He left the following account of his observations in this locality :

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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

After leaving Westport we descended twenty miles and found ourselves at the head of the Falls of the Ohio, before the town of Louisville, six hundred and thirty miles below Pittsburgh. This town is very handsomely situated on an elevated bank on the left side of the river, in the State of Kentucky, about eight hundred yards above the commence- ment of the rapids, and contains one hundred and twenty bouses ; it is the county-town, and carries on ship- and boat- building with considerable spirit; several large vessels have already been built, and the many advantages which it enjoys in this respect over all the the towns above the Falls bids fair to give it all the encouragement it can wish. The country around Louisville is perfectly level for some miles, and the elevation of the town commands a beautiful prospect of the smooth and gentle stream above, as well as the rough and foaming billows of the Falls below. Louisville has lately been erected into a port of entry and clearance, and lies in latitude 38° 14' north and 85º 29' west.

The river at this place appears to have acquired a breadth of about one mile and a quarter, and, as the passage of the Falls is dangerous to strangers unaquainted with the navigation, the court appoints able and experienced pilots, who conduct you over in safety. Our pilot informed ns that be received the same pilotage for a ship of three hundred tons as for a canoe, which you may carry on your shoulder ; for, according to the act, "every boat shall pay $2 for pilotage."

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History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. I, Part 41

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