USA > Ohio > History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. I > Part 49
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123
ceeded by Casseday, Raney & Gamble; this in 1859 by Cas- seday & Hopkins; this in turn by Casseday, Sons & Gates; this in 1865 by Casseday & Sons. The senior member of the firm retired from business in 1870, separating from what was then the oldest house in Louisville. From this retirement to the date of his death he was occupied in connection with his real estate, or the charities for which he was concerned, and to which he gave liberally. Indeed, his name is closely asso- ciated with all the great Louisville charitable institutions commenced during his lifetime-the Blind Asylum, the Or- phanage at Anchorage, the Cooke Benevolence, the Presby- terian School,-destroyed during the war -all these came under his fostering care.
In November, 1824, Mr. Casseday was married to Miss Eliza McFarland, daughter of Patrick and Rosanna McFar- land, of Louisville. Ten children resulted from this union, all these in one form or another marked by the genms of their father. Ben Casseday wrote the History of Lonisville and was distinguished as a poet, journalist, and elocutionist. He had brilliant conversational powers. S. Addison Casseday was a man of rare scientific attainments; a geologist with a European reputation, who died at the age of twenty-six. Mrs. Mary Casseday Gates was noted in her time as a grace- ful story writer. Miss Jennie Casseday, physically an invalid for many years, mentally very bright, organized at her bedside in 1878 and 1881 the Flower Missions of Louisville and Port- land. These beautiful missions, admirably organized as they are, must from year to year cause many to speak of the sufferer who conceived them, as blessed. It is believed that Miss Fannie B. Casseday resembles her father more than any other of his children in mental comprehensiveness and bal- ance. A grand, true woman, in every relation of life, as he was a splendid man. Joined, in her case, to good business is good literary ability and taste. Miss Fannie Casseday has written largely and on a variety of subjects, chiefly religious and theological; and on all hands she is esteemed as one of Louisville's favorite and most accomplished ladies. Mrs. Casseday died in 1849. Immediately after this Miss Mary Ann McNutt, Mrs. Casseday's half sister, took charge of Mr. Casseday's household, so continuing in anthority as long as Mr. Casseday lived; afterwards, until her own death, keeping the family together, and proving faithful beyond most mothers to their own. But three out of the ten chil- dren born to Mr. Casseday are now living-Miss Jennie, Miss Fannie, and Mrs. McElroy, wife of Rev. William T. Mc- Elroy, a Presbyterian preacher. In politics Samuel Casseday was a genuine independent, in religion a Presbyterian. As early as 1818, under the preaching of the Rev. John R. Moreland, he joined the Tinkling Springs church. For almost half a century he was a teacher in the Sabbath-school, and as a Presbyterian elder his self-elected duties, in this and kindred directions, were almost those of a pastor. And so, as one might say, still busy with his master's work below, on short notice, the summons coming July 6, 1876, he was called to the higher work above. And he went leaving an honored name.
253
HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
have found his favorite occupation gone, and to have departed for the far Northwest, where he soon fell by the hand of an avenger. Mike was undoubtedly a typical character. The following description of his person is given by a writer in the Western Monthly Review for July, 1829:
His weight was about one hundred and eighty pounds; height about five feet nine inches; broad, round face, pleasant features, brown skin, tanned by sun and rain; blue, but very expressive eyes, inclining to grey; broad, white teeth, and square brawny form, well proportioned; and every muscle of the arms, thighs, and legs, was fully developed, indicating the greatest strength and activity. His person, taken alto- gether, was a model for a Hercules, except as to size.
Mike's favorite boast was: "I can out-run, out-hop, out-jump, throw down, drag out, and lick any man in the country. I'm a Salt-river roarer; I love the wimming, and I'm chock full of fight." A great many stories are related of his prowess, most of which are familiar to readers of Western literature, and we use only the following, whose scene is laid in Louisville, and which is very well told by Mr. Casseday :
In all his little tricks, as Mike called them, he never dis- played any very accurate respect to the laws either of pro- priety or property, but he was so ingenious in his predations that it is impossible not to laugh at his crimes. The stern rigor of Justice, however, did not feel disposed to laugh at Mike, but on the contrary offered a reward for his capture. For a long time Mike fought shy and could not be taken, un- til an old friend of his, who happened to be a constable, came to his boat when she was moored at Louisville and represented to Mike the poverty of his family; and, presum- ing on Mike's known kindness of disposition, urged him to allow himself to be taken, and so procure for his friend the promised reward. He showed Mike the many chances of es- cape from conviction, and withal plead so strongly that Mike's kind heart at last overcame him and he consented- but upon one condition ! He felt at home nowhere but in his boat and among his men; let them take him and his men in the yawl, and they would go. It was the only hope of pro- curing his appearance at court, and the constable consented. Accordingly a long-coupled wagon was procured, and with oxen attached it went down the hill at Third street for Mike's yawl. The road, for it was not then a street, was very steep and very muddy at this point. Regardless of this, however, the boat was set upon the wagon, and Mike and his men, with their long poles ready, as if for an aquatic excursion, were put aboard, Mike in the stern. By dint of laborious dragging the wagon had attained half the height of the hill, when out shouted the stentorian voice of Mike calling to his men, " Set poles !" and the end of every long pole was set firmly in the thick mud. " Back her !" roared Mike; and down the hill again went wagon, yawl, men, and oxen. Mike had been revolving the matter in his mind, and had concluded that it was best not to go; and well knowing that each of his men was equal to a moderately strong ox, he had at once conceived and executed this retrograde move- ment. Once at the bottom; another parley was held and Mike was again overpowered. This time they had almost
.
reached the top of the hill, when " Set poles !" "Back her !" was again ordered and again executed. A third attempt, however, was successful, and Mike reached the court-house in safety; and, as his friend the constable had endeavored to induce him to believe, he was acquitted for lack of sufficient evidence. Other indictments, however, were found against him, but Mike preferred not to wait to hear them tried; so, at a given signal he and his men boarded their craft again and stood ready to weigh anchor. The dread of the long poles in the hands of Mike's men prevented the posse from urging any serious remonstrance against his departure. And off they started with poles " tossed." As they left the court- house yard Mike waved his red bandanna, which he had fixed on one of the poles, and promising to "call again ', was borne back to his element and launched once more upon the waters.
JUDGE HALL'S REMARKS.
Judge James Hall, a pioneer of Southern Illi- nois, and then for many years a prominent busi- ness and literary man in Cincinnati, author of many books of Western life and history, was in Louisville this year, and wrote the following observations in one of his Letters from the West :
On the 28th of April we arrived at Louisville, at the Falls of the Ohio, and landed at Beargrass creek, ahove the town, Boats usually stop here to take in a pilot, without which it is unsafe to descend the rapids. I remained but a few hours -strolled through the streets-saw some very fine houses and some very busy people-eat an elegant dinner at Allen's hotel-took a hack and rode to Shippingsport, where I vis- ited several fine steamboats, and returned. 1 was pleased with what I saw, but saw too little to justify any comment.
It is worth a voyage down the Ohio to pass the rapids. They are two miles in length, with a descent of twenty-two feet and a half in that distance, and are formed by ledges of rock, which extend quite across the river. The current is said to have an average velocity of thirteen miles an hour, which of course is increased or diminished by high or low water.
To the voyager who is about to venture into this headlong current, three roads are presented, the Indian chute, which is not passable in low water, the Kentucky chute, which is only passable in high water, and the Middle chute, which at any time is the best. The word " chute " may puzzle you as much as it has puzzled me, but it is the very identical word used by most of the writers on this subject. Whether it be a Greek, an Indian, or a Kentucky phrase, I cannot inform you-I have sought its derivation in all the languages with which I ani conversant, without effect. In point of fact, it is applied to channels through which a boat may be said to shoot with the swiftness of an arrow.
As you approach the head of the rapids, the mighty stream rolls on in a smooth, unbroken sheet, increasing in velocity as you advance. The business of preparation creates a sense of impending danger ; the pilot, stationed on the deck, assumes command; a firm and skilful helmsman guides the boat ; the oars, strongly manned, are vigorously plied to give the vessel a momentum greater than that of the current, without which the helm would be insufficient. The utmost silence prevails among the crew ; but the ear is stunned with the sound of rushing waters, and the sight of waves dashing, and foaming, and whirling among the rocks and eddies be- low, is grand and fearful. The boat advances with incon- ceivable rapidity to the head of the channel-"takes the
254
HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
chute "-and seems no longer manageable among the angry currents, whose foam dashes upon her deck, but in a few moments she emerges from their power and rides again in serene waters.
1823-THE PONDS DRAINED.
The Legislature had authorized the raising of so large a sum as $40,000, by lottery-drawings, for use in draining the ponds upon the site of Louisville not only, but all those upon the plateau between Louisville and the mouth of Salt river. The wheel of fortune (or misfortune) was accordingly set in motion this year, and a sum realized sufficient to drain the ponds in town, but not those in the country, for which, very likely, no great amount of enthusiasm was developed. Under a later and similar act, how- ever, the desired work was done,
A NOTEWORTHY ARRIVAL.
This year young Dr. Coleman Rogers removed to Louisville, in whose affairs he was destined thenceforth to play a prominent part for a third of a century. He was a native of Culpeper county, Virginia, but was only six years old when his father, in 1787, brought him to Ken- tucky. He studied medicine at the University of Pennsylvania; practiced medicine with Dr. Drake in Cincinnati and was there a professor and vice-president of the Ohio Medical college, of which he was one of the original corporators; removed to Newport in 1821, and to Louisville two years afterwards. Here he practiced with great industry and success for thirty-two years, during more than ten years of which he was sur- geon of the Marine hospital. While thus en- gaged he originated, with two others, the plan of the Louisville Medical institute, which, after some difficulties, was successfully founded, though he declined, after one appointment as Professor of Anatomy, to take any position in it. He rendered many other public services, which need not be here enumerated, and died at last, Feb- ruary 17, 1855, in the seventy-fourth year of his age, lamented by the entire community.
THE REV. JOHN JOHNSTON.
This year, also, the eccentric and able John Johnston was assigned to the charge of the Methodist congregation in Louisville. This re- markable man was a child of the hardest poverty, but his widowed mother was of the deepest piety. In 1803 they emigrated from Virginia, his native
State, to Tennessee, a cart drawn by one horse being their only conveyance for themselves and goods. He was converted in May, 1807, and with great difficulty learned to read the Bible sufficiently well to undertake the office of preacher. The people who heard him said "it was painful to hear him read; but that he talked so earnestly they loved to hear him talk." The next year he was regularly admitted on trial, and in time became one of the most powerful speak- ers in Tennessee or Kentucky. His appearance at the age of thirty, as described by the lady who afterwards became his wife, must have been ex- ceedingly grotesque. She says:
He wore a wool hat which had once been white, and which he afterwards told me he had worn for seven years-a drab overcoat, with very wide cape and arm-holes, bat no sleeves, and short, of the heaviest and roughest kind. His pants were of bottle-green corded cloth, with a patch of black broadcloth on each knee, one a foot and the other a foot and a half long, with the legs slit up at the bottom for about eight inches, and the corners lapped over and pinned very tight around the ankles. His hair was nearly a foot and a half long, his face dark and weather-beaten, his brows black and heavy, and his countenance the most solemn I ever beheld."
This was only ten years before he was ap- pointed to the important charge in Louisville. Meanwhile he had won his position by severe study, not only of the Bible and theology, but of polite literature and even the classic tongues, and by some of the most remarkable pulpit and controversial successes recorded in church his- tory. By the time he was appointed to Nash- ville station, in 1818, he ranked among the ahlest men of the denomination in the West. He remained in Louisville but one year.
EDWARD SHIPPEN,
of the widely-known old Philadelphia family, came to Louisville from that city about this time, to take a place in the Branch Bank of the United States as cashier. He made a good bank officer, and was also much esteemed for his social quali- ties. He died here about eight years after his arrival.
ANOTHER GAZETTEER NOTICE.
The following view of the city in 1823 appears in Darby's edition of Brookes's Universal Gazet- teer, or New Geographical Dietionary :
Louisville, post-town and seat of justice of Jefferson county, Kentucky, stands on the left bank of the Ohio river, below the mouth of Beargrass creek, and at the head of the Rapids. In 1810 it contained only 1,357 inhabitants; its population now no doubt exceeds five thousand, and is rap-
255
HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
idly increasing. It contains a jail, court-house, and other necessary buildings for judicial purposes, with a theatre, three banks, one a branch of that of the United States, a market-house, several places of public worship, and three printing-offices.
Many flourishing manufacturing establishments have been found at this place, amongst which that erected by the Hope Distillery company is one of the most extensive of its kind in the United States, producing twelve thousand gallons.
BELTRAMI'S NOTES.
These are the remarks of that very garrulous and credulous writer, J. C. Beltrami, Esq., "form- erly Judge of a Royal Court in the ex-Kingdom of Italy," as he describes himself upon the title- page of A Pilgrimage in Europe and America. He was here in 1823 :
Louisville is the principal key to the commerce of the State of Kentucky. If Pittsburg be the Tyre, and Cincinnati the Carthage of the Ohio, Louisville is its Syracuse.
A short time before the beginning of this century, it was only a small fort of observation, built by General Clark, who was the terror of the Indians. He was one of the first who drove back these savage tribes to the North and West, or rather, one of the first who invaded and usurped their lands. This town contains already more than eight thousand inhabi- tants. What renders the population more astonishing is that a great number of the inhabitants yearly fall a sacrifice to the pestilential exhalations of the surrounding marshes, as well as to the contradictory systems of the swarm of medical men by whom it is infested. On first entering the city, I in- ferred, from the bills which these gentlemen post up in every corner of the streets, that the country must be a dangerous one; just as the traveler who had long wandered in deserts and among. barbarous nations, perceived that he was got back to civilized lands by the appearance of a man hanging on a gibbet in the square of the first town he came to. Such, however, is the thirst for gold that it daily attracts new vic- tims, who die off in regular succession.
Shippingport is not more healthy than Louisville, and is much smaller; for the speculators of this place prefer living upon the right bank of the river in the pretty little town of Clarksburg, Albany, and Jefferson, the elevation of which above the river affords them delightful views and salubrious air; to which may be added that there are only two gentle- men of the faculty-that their theories are in complete unison -and consequently do not compel them to try experiments upon their patients.
1824-A STAGE LINE.
This year was mainly signalized, locally, by the establishment of a line of stage-coaches from Maysville, sixty miles above Cincinnati, through Lexington and Frankfort to Louisville. Two days were allowed for the trip either way, and six days for the whole journey to Washington City or Philadelphia.
The most stiring local event seems to have
been the erection of Christ Church edifice on Second street, which went on during the build- ing season, and was pushed to completion the next winter.
A powder-mill was built this year, and for iso- lation and safety was located on Corn Island, which had been almost or quite abandoned by permanent residents. A sad disaster to this en- terprise will be recorded in our annals of 1830.
John P. and Robert N. Smith, brothers, came this year, or the next, from Virginia. Both were teachers. The latter took a farm on the Shelby- ville road, about seven miles from Louisville, and opened thereon a boys' boarding-school, which in time had wide celebrity. John was tutor in the family of Judge Miller, at the Pond Settlement, for many years. He died March 30, 1859.
1825-THE SHIP CANAL AGAIN.
The promoters of the Louisville & Portland Ship Canal were now gathering up their energies for a final and successful dash upon the difficul- ties that hindered the prosecution of the great enterprise. January 12th of this year, still an- other company was incorporated, with a capital of $600,000, in shares of $100 each. This is the company which, in the original corporators and their successors, existed for about half a century-until a recent day, or until the canal was transferred to the custody of the General Government. By this company contracts for the work were let in December, and the work was actually begun the ensuing March. Its history has been written so fully in the chapter specially devoted to that work, that we need pursue it no further here.
STILL, MORE LEGISLATION.
The municipal authorities appear still to have been dependent on the General Assembly for authority to do anything outside their routine duty, even when the occasion for it arose. Mr. Casseday gives the following summary of the special legislation of this period:
The Legislature of these years made very considerable additions to the power of the trustees, allowing them to borrow money on the credit of the town; to purchase and hold real estate for erecting market-houses, wharfs, etc .; to levy a tax on exchange brokers; to tax hacks, drays, etc .; to appoint harbor- and wharf-masters, and make mules govern-
256
HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.
Ing the lading and unlading of vessels; to collect wharfage fees; to appoint inspectors of flour; etc.
The first use made of this new power was the purchase of ground for a wharf. Rowan owned a slip of ground lying north of Water street, commencing at Second and terminat- ing at Seventh street. A similar slip, lying between Seventh and Eighth streets, was already the property of the city. . This slip the city agreed to add to Rowan's, and also to pave the whole as a wharf. using the stone in Rowan's quarry, situated on the premises; and for the wharf so constructed they agreed to give to Rowan and to his heirs forever, in semi-annual payments, one-half the receipts of this wharf. They also agreed that, if at any time Gray's wharf, lying east of Second street, should be bought, both parties might unite in the purchase, and Rowan should receive as before one-half the profits of the entire wharf. This contract, made with but a single dissenting voice on the part of the trustees, that of Jeremiah Diller, must have been the result of either a very low slate of finances or of very injudicious precipitation. Rowan's heirs, it is understood, now [1852] get but one-fourth of the wharfage, but even this would have been a sum better gained to the city than lost by a want of proper judgment or foresight.
LAFAYETTE VISITS LOUISVILLE.
The Marquis de la Fayette, one of the idolized heroes of the Revolution, was received here May 8th, in the course of his tour through the United States, which was one continuous and splendid ovation. Some months before, on the the 17th of November, 1824, while Lafayette was still in the East, a formal invitation to visit Kentucky was sent to him by the Legislature and Governor, in the name of the people of the State. He touched its soil at Louisville, went from this place to Frankfort, where he was suitably welcomed, and thence by Versailles, Lexington, and other points, he reached Cincin- cinnati, where another most enthusiastic demon- stration awaited him. His son, Colonel George Washington Lafayette, accompanied him in the tour. The authorities and citizens here made ample preparation for a welcome. A sufficient sum of money was placed by the Trustees in the hands of Mr. John Rowan, chairman of the Committee of Arrangements, and subject to the order of the committee. Only one voice, that of Trustee Richard Hall, opposed this appropria- tion of the public funds. When Lafayette and his party arrived, " his reception here, as every- where else, was enthusiastic in the extreme. The whole city turned out to receive this distinguished patriot; processions were formed, arches erected, bevies of young girls strewed his pathway with flowers, and the whole town was a scene of festivity and rejoicing." The General's interviews with some of his forn-
er comrades of "the times that tried men's souls "-particularly with Richard C. Anderson- were very touching. It was a memorable day in the annals of the Falls City.
Demonstrations of sadness and grief were equally general and profound, as we shall pres- ently see, when news of the great Frenchman's death was brought to the city.
1826-THE CONFERENCE AGAIN.
The conference of the Methodist Episcopal church-now no longer the Ohio, but the Ken- tucky conference-met once more in Louisville, after the lapse of eleven years. Bishops Soule and Roberts were present, and presided alter- nately over the deliberations of the conference.
A NEW NEWSPAPER.
This is the year from which the short-lived Focus, a weekly paper, dated its origin. It will be noticed more fully in the Press chapter.
JUDGE HENRY PIRTLE.
During this twelve-month a young lawyer re- moved to the city from Hartford, Ohio county, where he had been a practitioner for about five years. He was as yet in but the twenty-seventh year of his age, but such was the reputation he had gained, and the confidence felt in his abili- ties and integrity, that he was in a few months unanimously recommended to the Governor for appointment as judge of the circuit court in the Fifth district. He was appointed accord- ingly ; again in 1846 to the office of circuit judge; and in 1850 and 1862 chancellor of the Louis- ville chancery court. He thus became eminently entitled to the designation by which he is best remembered, ot Judge Henry Pirtle. He was also, for twenty-seven years, professor of constitu- tional law, equity, and commercial law in the law department of the University of Louisville; compiler of a Digest of the Decisions of the Kentucky Court of Appeals; and author of a valuable historical introduction to the Journal of General George Rogers Clark, published in Cin- cinnati some years ago, as a number of the Ohio Valley Historical Series. He was diverted into political office but once, in 1840, when he con- sented to an election to the State Senate. His influence upon politics and legislation, however, was great ; and to a letter of his, addressed about
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.