History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. I, Part 66

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 66

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race. The State Teachers' Association met in the city August 10-12th.

Colonel L. A. Whitely, formerly associate ed- itor of the Journal, and then connected with a number of Eastern papers, died in Washington City, July 20th.

The Louisville & Frankfort railroad was con- solidated, September 11th, with the Frankfort & Lexington road, under the name of the Louis- ville, Cincinnati, & Lexington railroad.

Mrs. Lucy Porter, daughter of ex-Governor Morehead, and widow of Judge Bruce Porter, of Covington, was appointed Postmistress at Louisville, September 25th.

A great commercial convention was held in Louisville October 13th, presided over by ex- President Fillmore. Five hundred and twenty delegates, from twenty-nine States, were present.

November 16th, there being already much suffering among the poor from the inclemency of the weather, the City Council makes an ap- propriation sufficient to distribute among them twenty thousand bushels of coal.

November 27th, Judge Samuel S. Nicholas died at Louisville, aged seventy-three. We are again indebted to the indefatigable Collins for a brief notice:

Samuel Smith Nicholas, a son of Colonel George Nicholas, after whom Nicholas county was named, was born in Lex- ington, Kentucky, in 1796, and died in Louisville in No- vember, 1869, aged seventy-three years. He studied law in Frankfort with Chancellor George M. Bibb; removed to Louisville, where he rose rapidly to a high position in his profession, and, on December 23, 1831, was commissioned a judge of the Court of Appeals-the highest in the State. Afterwards he served one term in the Legislature, and was for years chancellor of the Louisville Chancery Court. He was one of the commissioners to revise the statute laws of Kentucky, in 1850, and wrote a number of articles on con- stitutional law and State polity. He was one of the most distinguished lawyers of his day.

The State House of Reform was located at Anchorage, east of Louisville, December 7th.

December 16th, Judge Edwin Bryant, of Louisville, committed suicide, leaving a large property. He was a native of Massachusetts, but came to Kentucky while still young, founding the Lexington Intelligencer, was afterwards an editor of the Observer and Reporter, in that place, and was editor of the Louisville Daily Dime till 1847.

The Daily Commercial issued its first number December 20th, and has since been steadily published.

337

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

The Orphans' Home, under the patronage of the Baptists, was established herc this year. A building was erected to accommodate eighty in- mates, and handsomely furnished. By Novem- ber, 1871, seventy-six orphans had been received, and forty-six were then in the asylum. It was generously supported by the denomination, one Baptist lady giving it a large lot and $5,000; two other ladies $2,500 each, and others $10,000 more.

Statistics of assessment : Real estate, $53,- 521,300 ; personal property, $739,606; merchan- dise, $9,023, 195; total, $63,284, 101. Taxation -for municipal purposes, 1.89 per cent .; railroad subscriptions, . 15; and State tax, . 3.

CHAPTER XII. THE TENTH DECADE.

1870-Population-Assessments -- Imports-General Matters -Death of George D. Prentice and other Journalists-The Rest of the Year-Dr. Christopher C. Graham. 1871- The Public (Polytechnic) Library of Kentucky Founded- Fortunatus Cosby, Jr .- His Poem at the Dedication of Cave Hill Cemetery-Death of John D. Colmesnil-Of Chief Justice Thomas A. Marshall-General Jeremiah T. Boyle-General Robert Anderson-Other Events of the Year-Statistics-Comparative View of Business in 1819, 1844, and 1871-Bonded Debt of the City-Bills of Mor- tality. 1872-Statistics, Etc .-- The Boone Bridge Com- pany-Death of Generals Humphrey Marshall and John C. McFerran-Exposition Building Dedicated-An Inter- esting Incident-The Atwood Forgeries-Death of Virgil McKnight and the Rev. Henry Adams, and Rev. Amasa Converse, D. D .- Church of the Merciful Saviour Opened -Death of Thomas W. Riley, Esq. 1873-Buildings Built-Manufacturing-Assessments-Fire Department- The New City Hall-The Female High School Opened- Health of the City-Other Events of the Year-Death of Colonel Cary H. Fry, Hon. Edgar Needham, Judge New- man, Professor George W. Bayliss, and ex-Mayor Tomp- pert-Colored High School Dedicated-Macauley's Theatre Opened. 1874-Names on the Directory-The Masonic Widows' and Orphans' Home-Saints Mary and Elizabeth Hospital-The New Almshouse-Minor Events-Death of the Rev. Father Abell, Elisha Applegate, and D. S. Bene- dict. 1875-Summary of Events. 1876-Record of the Centennial Year. 1877-Its Story in Epitome. 1878-Its Local Doings. 1879-Haps and Mishaps.

1870-POPULATION, ETC.

Louisville now contained, by the Federal cen- sus, 100,753 inhabitants. It had grown to this from 68,033 in ten years-an increase of 3,272 per year, or 32,720 in the decade, a growth of 43

more than 48 per cent. This growth had been somewhat at the expense of the county at large, which now had but 18,200 inhabitants ouside of the city, while in 1860 it had 21,371. The county as a whole had grown 29,549 in the de- cade, or 2,955 per year (33 per cent.), and now had 118,953 people. The State had grown dur- ing the war-years, and the depressing years that followed, but 165,427, or 147/3 per cent. It had NOW 1,321,OII, of whom 142,720 were of im- mediate foreign descent. In this county 99,806 were whites, and 19,146 were free colored, the latter class, by the operation of war and the Fifteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitu- tion, having increased nearly tenfold. The colored population of the State had decreased 13,957, or six per cent.

The assessment of 1870 was-on real estate, $55,269,437 ; personal, $619,060 ; merchandise, $8,883,065 ; residuary, $6,085,150 ; total, $70,- 806,712, nearly double that of 1860, and about 612 millions more than in 1867. The tax was- for the city, $2.22 per $100 ; for railroads, 23 cents ; for the State, 45 cents.

The total imports at Louisville, by rail and river, for the year ending March, 1870, were $250, 176,000; total exports, $174,320,730 ; coal received, bushels, 25,600,000; lumber received, feet, 13,275,876; value manufactured products, $82,000,000 ; capital invested in manufactures, $31,650,000. The increase in the next three years was 18 to 20 per cent.

GENERAL MATTERS.

On the 2d of January occurred the heaviest snowfall ever known in Louisville or elsewhere in Kentucky. It reached three to four feet deep in some parts of the State.

January 7th, the Legislature votes a resolution calling on Congress to order payment for bridges burnt on the Bardstown and Louisville turnpike, by order of General Nelson, when the Confeder- ate army was moving toward Louisville in the fall of 1862.

Mr. George D. Prentice, editor of the Courier- Journal, died January 21st. His remains were buried with Masonic honors in the Cave Hill cemetery, at Louisville. His statue in marble, life-size, adorns the new Courier-Journal build- ing at the corner of Green and Fourth streets. His biography, with a choice selection of his poems, has been published.

338

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

Another journalist of some note died sud- denly February 17th-Mr. Charles D. Kirk, of the Daily Sun, who had a wide reputation as a brilliant correspondent under the signature "See De Kay."

Still another former Louisville editor departed this life this year-Mr. William E. Hughes, long a proprietor of the Democrat, who died Septem- ber 23d, in Arkansas.

February 18th, the new city hospital was opened, and the first passenger train was taken over the new bridge across the Falls. The members of the Legislature and most of the State officers participated in the celebrations of the day, and were entertained in the evening by a dinner at the Galt House.

March 11th, the Legislature appropriated $10,000 for improvements at the Blind Institu- tion, and increased the annual grant for its sup- port from $6,000 to $10,000. The next day, a new law was passed for the regulation of the inspection and selling of tobacco in Louisville.

The Board of Commissioners of Public Charities for the city was instituted April 18th.

On the 13th of October a great meeting of citizens was held in the Court-house, to express their sympathies in view of the recent death of General R. E. Lee. A beautiful book, "In Memoriam," was made of the proceedings, and published. At a similar meeting, held October 15th in Weisiger Hall, the Board of Trade sus- pended its session to attend the services in a body.

Public schools for colored children were opened on the Ist of the same month, in the Colored Methodist church on Green street, and the Colored Baptist church on Fifth street. A normal school was also instituted by the Board on Main street, between Jackson and Hancock. Fuller notice of these, and the reasons for them, will be made in our chapter on Education.

DR. C. C. GRAHAM.

Some time this year removed to Louisville one of the most remarkable old men in the State- now undoubtedly the oldest surviving native of Kentucky-Dr. Christopher Columbus Graham. He was born at Graham's Station, near Danville, October 10, 1784, of Irish and Virginia stock. This was nine years before the State was admitt- ed into the Union. Young Graham had his full share in the privations and perils of the pioneer

period, was at least twice brought to the very gates of death, and became a hunter and marks- man of such accuracy of aim that he was often named in print as the William Tell of Kentucky. While residing at Harrodsburg in later life, he was a member of the famous club of marksmen formed there and called the Boone Club of Ken- tucky, of which Governor Magoffin was also a member. He was a captain in the War of 1812-15, raising his company himself and drill- ing it most efficiently. He was in many actions, but escaped all safely except the battle of Mack- inaw, in which he was wounded, though not very seriously. He was then twice a prisoner in the hands of the British and Indians. He bore some part in the war for the independence of Mexico, taught school for a while in New Or- Jeans, returned to Kentucky, studied medicine at Lexington under Dr. Dudley and was graduat- ed at Transylvania University, the first alumnus in the profession west of the Alleghanies. Dur- ing the Black Hawk war in the Northwest Dr. Graham obtained a large mining interest in the Galena lead region, and during the winter of 1832-33 enjoyed there the companionship of a young lieutenant in the regular army named Jef- ferson Davis, of whom history had something to record thereafter. By 1852 the Doctor had ac- quired a very handsome property, including a beautiful estate at Harrodsburg, which he sold that year to the Federal Government for $100,000, as the seat of a Western Military Asy- lum. He then made a prospecting and invest- ment tour in Texas and Mexico, having numer- ous perilous adventures with the Indians of the wilder regions traversed. Returning to Ken- tucky, he founded the watering-place on Rock- castle river, known as Sublimity, or Rockcastle Springs, putting upon it the labor of ten years and a large sum of money. He was also pro- prietor of the Harrodsburg Springs for thirty-two years. Since his removal to Louisville he has devoted himself largely to historical matters and the interests of the Public Library, in which, in January, 1872, he deposited his very valuable cabinet of curiosities and specimens, estimated to have a cash value of at least $25,000. He has written much in his long and busy lifetime, among his published works being Man from his Cradle to his Grave, The True Science of Medi- cine, and The Philosophy of the Mind. Now

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HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

in his ninety-eighth year, he still manifests re- markable vigor of mind and body, and reason- ably expects to round out his century.

1871-THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.

The great event of this year was the initiation of the movements which culminated in the founding of the Public (now the Polytechnic) library. A full sketch of the history of this in- stitution will be given in Chapter XVIII.

FORTUNATUS COSBY, JR.

This gentleman was the son of Fortunatus Cosby the pioneer, whose story is told in one of the earliest chapters of these annals. The younger Cosby, the poet-editor, was born during the residence of the family on Harrod's creek, May 2, 1801. His higher education was received at Yale college and the Transylvania university. He became a teacher and later superintendent of public schools in this city. He was a fre- quent contributor to the columns of the Journal, from whose editor, Mr. George D. Prentice, he had frequent and high praise, and in 1847 be- came himself editor of the Examiner, an organ of the gradual emancipation movement. He became afterwards an employe in one of the departments at Washington, and was appointed by President Lincoln Consul to Geneva. He died June 14, 1871. No collection of his numerous poems has ever been published. A fine specimen of his style and powers was given at the opening of Cave Hill cemetery in 1848. One of his sons, Robert Cosby, was also a poet, but died in 1853; another, George, became a general in the Confederate army.

At the opening of Cave Hill cemetery the following poem was read by its author, Mr. Cosby. As he was a native of this county, a descendant of one of the oldest and most distinguished set- tlers, and long a resident of Louisville, we append it in full :

Not in the crowded mart, On sordid thoughts intent; Not where the groveling heart On low desire is bent ; Not where Ambition stalks And spurns the patient earth, Nor yet where Folly walks 'Mid scenes of idle mirth;

Not where the busy hum Of ceaseless toil is heard;

Nor where the thoughtless come With jest and careless word ;-

Not there, not there should rest, Forgotten evermore,

The weary, the opprest, Their tedious life-ache o'er.

Not there the hallowed form That pillowed all our woes On her pure bosom warm, Not there should she repose;

Not there, not there should sleep A parent's honored head; Not there the living keep Remembrance of the dead.

But where the forest weaves 1 ts ceaseless undersong, Where voices 'mid the leaves The sympathy prolong, Where breeze and brook and bird Their witching concert wake, Where nature's hymn is heard, Their resting-place we make.

Here where the crocus springs, The earliest of the year, And where the violet brings Its first awakening cheer; Where summer suns unfold Their wealth of fragrant bloom,

And autumn's ruddy gold Illumes the gathering gloom,

Here where the water's sheen Reveals the world above, And where the heavens serene Look down with watchful love, --

The loved ones here to earth We render dust to dust, To him who gave them birth, The Merciful, the Just.

GENERAL ROBERT ANDERSON

also died this year, October 26th, at Nice, France, whither he had gone for his health. He was a son of Colonel Richard Clough Anderson, the first Surveyor General of the Virginia Military Lands, and was born near Louisville June 14th, 1805. The following sketch of his life was con- tributed to the Reunion of the Army of the Cumberland, held in Detroit this year, and is published in the book of the Reunion :

His father, Richard Clough Anderson, had rendered good service to his country as a lieutenant-colonel in the Revolu- tionary army; his mother was a cousin of Chief Justice Mar- shall. He entered the army from West Point in July, 1825, as second lieutenant of the Third artillery. His first active service was in the campaign against the Sac Indians, known as the Black Hawk war; and here he distinguished himself for courage in the face of the enemy, and kindness to those

340

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

whom the fortune of war had thrown into his hands as pris- oners. He received the grade of first lieutenant in June, 1833, and for "gallantry and successful conduct" in the Florida war he was given the brevet rank of captain. He af- terward served as aid-de-camp to General Scott, while that officer was engaged in superintending the removal of the Cherokees. In 1840 he translated Instructions for Field Ar- tillery, which was adopted for the service of the United States. At the breaking out of the Mexican war he had reached the grade of captain, still in the Third Artillery. He served at the siege of Vera Cruz, and in the battles of Cerro Gordo and Molino del Rey. In the latter engagement he was directed to force his way, at the head of his company, acting as infantry, into the quadrangle of the Royal Mill; and this was accomplished, though at great cost, Captain Ander- son receiving wounds from the effects of which he never re- covered. This action was recognized by the brevet rank of major, and, after thirty-five years' service, he was rewarded with the grade of major in the First artillery.

In November, 1860, he was stationed at Fort Moultrie, in charge of the defenses of Charleston Harbor. His situation here was a most trying one; he knew that Fort Moultrie would be untenable in case of an attack from the mainland, and he feared that he might hasten a bloody civil war by removing his men into the stronger and better situated Fort Sumter. He received neither orders nor support from the Government, and finally his sense of duty called upon him to take the step, no matter what the result might be. During the night of December 26, 1860, he removed his command into Fort Sum- ter, destroying, as well as he was able, the battery of Fort Moultrie.

Months passed before Major Anderson received assurances that his action in this matter had received the approbation of the Government. The distress of mind consequent upon this state of affairs, and the appreciation of the heavy respon- sibility that rested upon him, produced the nervous disorder that resulted in his death. Fort Sumter was defended gal- lantly against a foe greatly superior in numbers, and was surrendered with honor.

In May, 1861, Major Anderson was promoted to the grade of brigadier-general, and placed in command of the Depart- ment of Kentucky. On the 15th day of August, of the same year, he was transferred to the Department of the Cumber- land, with Generals George H. Thomas and W. T. Sher- man as his lieutenants, but on the 8th day of the following October was compelled by his failing health to relinquish this command. He was retired from active service on the 27th of October, 1863, with the rank and pay of brigadier-general, and, on the 2d day of February, 1865, was brevetted to the grade of major-general for his services in Charleston Harbor.

In 1869 he went to Europe, in the hope of benefiting his health by travel, but gradually failed, and died at Nice, France, on the 26th day of October, 1871.

From an early age General Anderson was a professed fol- lower of Christ, and was distinguished throughout his life for his consistent piety. He was of modest demeanor, but firm in the course pointed out to him by his sense of duty. In no manner a politician, he was free from all hasty and sectional prejudices. He had a pure love for his country, and his highest ambition was to do that which was right.

GENERAL JEREMIAH T. BOYLE,

one of the noted men of Kentucky during the war, died in Louisville July 28th, of apoplexy, aged fifty-three. According to Mr. Collins, he

was "son of Chief Justice John Boyle, and born in what was then Mercer (now in Boyle) county, Kentucky ; graduated at Princeton College, New Jersey, and at the Transylvania Law School, Lexington, Kentucky; practiced law at Danville from 1841 to 1861; entered the Federal army, and in 1862 was made a Brigadier-General, and assigned to the command of the District of Ken- tucky. One of his orders, which will never be forgotten-assessing upon rebel sympathizers any damages done by rebel marauders-was taken advantage of by bad men, and used to op. press. He projected the street railway system of Louisville ; was President of the Louisville City Railway ; and also of the Evansville, Hender- son & Nashville Railroad, which owes to his great energy and abilities its timely completion."

Chief Justice Thomas A. Marshall was also among the dead of this year. We reserve a notice of him to the Bench and Bar chapter.

OTHER EVENTS OF THE YEAR.

Another heavy inundation visited Louisville this year, reaching its culmination January 24th, in a height of thirty-four feet at the head of the canal, and fifty-eight feet below the Falls.

A grand concert was given in Louisville Janu- ary 25th, by the celebrated Swedish prima donna, Mlle. Christine Nilsson. It was the great musical event of the winter.

The first number of the Louisville Daily Ledger was issued February 15th.

An act was passed March 3d, amending the new charter of the city. One of its provisions is that in all city elections the polls shall be kept open the entire time from 7 A. M. to 6 P. M.

The question of admitting the testimony of colored persons in the courts had been much agitated in this State for two or three years. On the 8th and the 11th of March, in this year, such testimony was admitted in two cases tried in Louisville, by mutual consent of parties.

April 26th, the Louisville, Cincinnati & Lex- ington Railroad agreed to a change of guage from five feet to four feet eight and a half inches, the same as that of the Eastern roads into Cincinnati, so as to cause a break of guage and compel transfers of freight at Louisville rather than Cincinnati. The change was effected

341

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

on the 6th and 7th of August, within twenty-four hours, by a force of eight hundred men, scat- tered in gangs over the entire distance of one hundred and seventy-four miles.

At the annual meeting of the Kentucky Press association this year, at Owensboro, the address and presentation were both by editors of the Louisville Daily Commercial-by Colonel Rob- ert M. Kelly and Benjamin Casseday, Esq, re- spectively.

July ist, returns were made of the practicing lawyers in the different counties of the State, showing two hundred and twenty-one in Jeffer- son county-all, or nearly all, of course, having their offices in Louisville.

On the roth of July there was a great sale of real estate in the vicinity of Louisville, for pur- poses of surburban residence-the Parkland sub- division, which sold at rates of $4 to $12 per front foot. At least two thousand people at- tended the sale.

October 28th the Chesapeake & Ohio railroad obtained a controlling interest in the Louisville, Cincinnati & Lexington railroad by the purchase of $1,000,000 of its new stock, at fifty cents on the dollar, and as much of the old stock, $r,- 600,000, as would be surrendered within sixty days, at sixty cents. The Chesapeake & Ohio Company at the same time put under contract the line of the new road surveyed from Lexing- ton to Mount Sterling.

The same month the citizens of Louisville contributed more than $110,000, and the Board of Trade $50,000, in relief of the sufferers by the Chicago fire. Liberal donations are made from many other parts of the State.

November Ist it was ascertained that the sales of tobacco at the seven warehouses in Louisville during the year ending that day, were forty-eight thousand six hundred and six hogsheads, for the sum of $4,681,046. During the preceding year, from November r, 1869, to 1870, were sold forty thousand and forty-seven hogsheads-eight thousand five hundred and fifty-nine less-but for higher figures, $4,823.330.

On the 5th of that month, at a meeting in the colored Baptist church, a pillar underneath the floor suddenly gave way, causing a great panic and rush to the doors, in which eight or nine persons, principally women and children, were trampled to death.

November 20th, the enlargement of the Louis- ville and Portland canal was finished, and opened to the passage of steamers and other river-craft.

Two colored men, Nathaniel Harper and George A. Griffiths, Esqs., were admitted to practice in Louisville and Jefferson county courts.

The Rev. Charles Booth Parsons, formerly an actor, died in Louisville December 15th. He has been noticed at some length in a previous chapter.

There were 34,446 names in the Directory of this year-a little more than one-third the popu- lation, of course. The assessments of 187 1 were: Real estate, $61,042,130; personal, $739,850 ; merchandise, $8,898,475 ; residuary, $5,724,500; total, $74,364,955. Taxation-city, $2.08 per $100; for railroads, 17c; State, 45c. The city tax for the year amounted to $774,089.

An interesting comparative view of the busi- ness of the city this year, in 1844, and in 1819, is presented in the following table, which we have from Collins's History :

1819

1844

1871

Wholesale and retail stores

162

276

Commission stores.

107

Book stores.

Printing offices

Drug stores

Hotels and taverns.

Groceries ..

138

681

Mechanics' shops, all kinds.

314

672

Lawyers.

205

Physicians

198

Steam factories or mills.

129

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History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. I, Part 66

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