History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. II, Part 2

Author: Williams, L.A., & Co., Cleveland
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : L. A. Williams & Co.
Number of Pages: 680

USA > Ohio > History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. II > Part 2

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FAIRMOUNT PRECINCT.

This section of the county contains some good land, an abundance of water, and has the advan- tages of the Bardstown pike, which highway runs through it from north to south. It has also many good orchards, and all kinds of fruits are thoroughly cultivated. The yield of fruits and berries forms one of the staple products and con- stitutes one of the industries of the people. Lands once rich in alluvial soil have for a period of one hundred years been cultivated in corn and wheat, and other agricultural products, without rest or recuperation of the soil, and in some localities the exhaustion has been great. Other lands have been rested, crops of different kinds made to alternate in such a way that what was taken out by one kind of grain was, in part at least, restored in nourishment by the substitu- tion of some other kind. These natural ad-

vantages were, however, a detriment during the late war. Soldiers of either army were fre- quently on these grounds, not in battle array, but in camp. The citizens were between the two forces, and from the circumstances were com- pelled to support both. Food was abundant, and the art of cooking well understood, and it was not unusual for a squad of men, or an entire company, to march up to a house and make de- mands for subsistence. To refuse these requests was but to submit finally under terms more humili- ating. Raids upon orchards, whiskey, and horses, were of frequent occurrence, and the oft- repeated story will be handed down by tradition in time to come.

THE FIRST STORE

in this precinct was probably built in 1840 by A. C. Hays and his brother Charles. It was built at Hays' Springs, sixteen miles from Louis- ville. The partnership of these brothers contin- ued until 1860, their business flourishing dur- ing the time. At this time one of the brothers went out, and the business was continued by the other until 1870. Since that time different ones have had possession.

The post-office was for many years at Hays' Springs, for the accommodation of the public in this precinct. It is now Fairmount.

MILLS.

The first mill was built by John Smith on Cedar creek. He came to the county as early as 1780, bought a thousand acres of land, but afterwards went to Indiana, where he died in 1830. At the time this mill was in successful op- eration there was but one store and a bakery in Louisville, and Mr. Smith supplied the town with flour. He had an overshot wheel, plenty of water at that time (since then the stream has almost dried up), two run of stones-one for corn and the other for wheat, and a good patronage for many miles around. The city of Louisville needed but two sacks of flour each week for con- sumption at that time, which was usually supplied by strapping a bag of flour on a horse, mount- ing a boy on top of that, and sending through the thickets to the village. By starting early he could usually find his way there and back by nightfall. Mr. J. B. Smith, when a mere lad ten years of age, performed this journey twice a week and carried flour to Louisville for several

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

years. There was attached to this grist-mill a good saw-mill. The millwright, a Mr. Kirkpatrick, who was by the way, a good one, also attended to the saw-mill. The mill was finally purchased by Mr. Jacob Shaeffer, who run it very success- fully; but after he turned it over to his son-in- law, a Mr. John Berrie, for some reason it went down.

Mr. J. B. Smith erected a grist-mill on Cedar creek in 1851, and two or three years afterwards a saw-mill. The business was good, but the troublesome times of the war came on and the mills were both burned. In 1859 he again built both mills, putting in an engine and running by steam this time. But in 1867 the property suf- fered by fire the second time. Mr. Smith has been importuned many times by his neighbors to rebuild, but having suffered twice the results of incendiarism, at a cost of several thousand dollars, he declined to do so.

Mr. J. B. Smith married a Miss Nancy Bell, daughter of Robert Bell, who was one of the first shoemakers in the precinct. He had no shop, but would take his awl and last and go from place to place seeking work.

CHURCH.

The old Chenoweth Run Baptist church, es- tablished as early as 1792, was the original place of meeting in an early day for religious worship. The Revs. Waller, Gupton, and Jackson were some of the first preachers.

About 1820 the Reformed church was substi- tuted, and that church has now become the Christian church. The division that followed, however, caused a new building to be erected in this precinct on Cedar creek, and to which there have been additions and a growing membership up to this time. It now aggregates ninety-five members. Rev. Columbus Vanarsdall is their pastor; J. T. Bates, Sabbath-school superintend- ent; Vanarsdall, moderator; J. W. Maddox, clerk. Mr. Maddox has been clerk of this church for over twenty years. The deacons are: John T. Bates, W. V. Hall. Trustees are: R. W. Hawk- ins, W. V. Hall, J. W. Maddox. The old build- ing was erected some forty years ago. Mrs. Maddox, mother of J. W. Maddox, now dead, was an untiring Christian worker, both in and out of church work. She was a member of many years standing in this church.

The Presbyterian church is an old organization also, having a history that reaches back to 1800, when Rev. James Vance, one of the first preachers, ministered to this people. The Revs. James Marshall, Harvey Logan, James Hawthorne, William King, William Rice, and others since that time have preached here. The new building was erected in 1870. Rev. S. S. Tay- lor is the pastor in charge. The elders are : Wil liam Morrison, W. Johnson, Peter Baker, and Joseph Becker; the deacons are: Moses Johnson, Thomas Moore, Clarence Sprowl. William Mor- rison is the superintendent of the Sabbath- school. The membership is about seventy. This church has suffered in the bitter contest be- tween the North and the South, and the division caused in its membership then still continues to exist.

The Northern church still continues to hold services in the same house occasionally. A Rev. Mr. McDonald is their preacher. The elders are :. Noah Cartwright, William Berry, and Jef- ferson Rush.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

Francis Maddox was born in Culpepper county, Virginia, July 14, 1811. His father, John Maddox, came with his family to Shelby county, Kentucky, in 1816, where he remained until his death. He married Mary M. Suther- land, a Virginian. Francis was the fourth of six children, four boys and two girls. He received only a limited education in the subscription schools, and has always worked at farming. It was nearly thirty-two years ago that he moved to his present farm in Fairmount precinct, Jefferson county, Kentucky. In 1836 he married Harriet N. Craley, by whom he had ten children, three boys and three girls now living. John, the oldest of the boys, is now managing his farm as a fruit farm. John W. on October 7, 1862, married Lucretia J. Shaw, daughter of Robert W. Shaw, of Jefferson county. They have four children. Mr. John Maddox is one of the teachers of the county. He began teaching when nineteen, and has taught more or less since. He was born December 27, 1840, and his wife October 13, 1845.

L. T. Bates was born in Jefferson county on June 18, 1843. His father, a farmer, was born in the same county July 19, 1806. He married Rebecca Wells, a native of Bullitt county, by

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

whom he had seven children, five sons and two daughters. L. T. Rates is a farmer, at which he has always been engaged in Fairmount precinct. On October 3, 1868, he married Sarah M. John- son; she was born October 13, 1848. Her father, Jacob Johnson, was born on the White river, Indiana, August 6, 1809. He was a blacksmith by trade, but during later life was a farmer and nurseryman. Jacob Johnson died in 1875. He married February 21, 1823, Sarah Guthrie, who was born in Jefferson county May 4, 1805; she was the youngest daughter of James Guthrie, a native of Delaware. James Guthrie came to Kentucky in 1781. After residing a few years in Kentucky he returned to the East and married a Miss Welch, who lived but a short time. He, about 1786, married Eunice Paul, nee Cooper, a Jersey woman. They had nine children. She died in 1850.

J. B. Smith was born in Shelby county, Ken- tucky, on April 3, 1810, but was reared in Jeffer- son county. He is the oldest of thirteen chil- dren of Adam Smith, who was born at Lynn station. The father of Adam, John Smith, came from Pennsylvania, and was one of the first settlers of Jefferson county. Adam aided his father to erect and run a mill on Cedar creek. Adam married Sally Ballard in 1809. J. B. Smith, like his father, is a miller by trade, but has not milled any since his mills burned some fourteen years ago. On July 26, 1835, he mar- ried Nancy Bell, a native of Jefferson county, and daughter of Thomas Bell, of Virginia, who was a soldier in the War of 1812. Mrs. Smith died March 11, 1880.

Frank O. Carrithers was born in Sullivan county, Indiana, December 25, 1835. When about two years of age his father moved to Bullitt county, Kentucky. His father, Charles T. Carithers was born March 12, 1809, in Spen- cer county, Kentucky. He married Elizabeth Dunbar, who was born in that county, January 30, 1810, and died February 19, 1881. There were five children: John A., Frank O., Nancy J., Mary E., and Andrew T. Frank O. was edu- cated in the home schools and academies and has followed the calling of his father-farming. He moved to Fairmount precinct about sixteen years ago, where he has since managed a large stock and grain farm. On January 8, 1858, he married Sidney Ann Mills. She was born April

22, 1837, and was a daughter of Isaac Mills. Their children are-Charles I., William T., Al- fred, George E., Adam Clay, Sarah E., Robert F., and Mary J. He is a member of the Meth- odist Episcopal church, and his wife of the Re- formed.

· Dr. A. R. Grove was born in Jefferson county, Kentucky, June 5, 1835. He is the eighth of nine children of Isaac Grove, who was born August 7, 1796. In 1816 he married Celia Pierpoint. In 1826 they moved from Culpeper county, Virginia, to Kentucky. When quite young the medical profession presented attrac- tions to the doctor, and after receiving a first- rate academical education he began the study of medicine, meanwhile spending considerable time in teaching. His instructor was Dr. J. S. Seaton, of Jeffersontown precinct, with whom he re- mained two years, until 1857, attending lectures at the Kentucky School of Medicine, and gradu- ating in the spring of 1857. Immediately after, he was elected resident graduate of the city hos- pital, which position he held two years. In 1859 he began to practice medicine in Jefferson- town precinct, Jefferson county, Kentucky, where he remained until 1861, when he removed to Hay's Spring, in the precinct where he yet re- sides and is still engaged in professional duties. Besides his practice he is one of the largest farmers of the county. On August 26, 1843, was born Frances Hays, whom he married De- cember 3, 1861. This marriage has been blest with four children, three of whom are living- Mary .E., Charles I., and Lillie Belle.

R. W. Hawkins was born in Franklin county, Kentucky, March 10, 1822. His father, Moses B. Hawkins, was born in Orange county, Vir- ginia, in 1791, and when eighteen, moved to Franklin county, Kentucky. He, in 1816, married Lucinda Hawkins, by whom he had two children. In about two years she died, and in 1820 he married Pamelia Alsop, a native of Cul- peper county, Virginia. By this wife he had twelve children, R. W. being the second. When R. W. was a small boy his father removed into the woods near Memphis, where they remained for some time. When he was about of age he re- turned to his native county and attended the Kentucky Military institute. During these years he was engaged at teaching also. After leaving the institute and while teaching he began read-

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

ing law, but the business he was then engaged upon did not permit him to finish this profession. He after this was engaged in trade at Bridgeport, and afterwards founded the town Consolation. In 1852 he came to Jefferson county and has since been engaged as a fruit grower and farmer. On December 24, 1850, he was married to Martha J. Porter, daughter of Dr. James Porter, of Fair- mount. She was born June 13, 1826. They have had eight children-four boys and three girls liv- ing. Mr. Hawkins is of English descent, being a descendant of Sir John Hawkins, who wasadmiral of the British navy during Queen Elizabeth's reign. . His ancestors were among the first ac- cessions to the colonies of Newport and James- town.

H. H. Tyler was born in Jefferson county, Kentucky, August 20, 1854. He is the second child of Answell Tyler, who was born in Indiana in about 1815, and died in 1865. He was ap- prenticed to learn the wheelwright's trade, but ran away and came to Kentucky when about fifteen. Ile was a wheelwright and cooper by trade but worked principally at the first and at farming. He married Mary, daughter of Robert Welch, on May 9, 1850, and was the father of four boys, of whom three are living. H. H. Tyler married Rosa Funk, daughter of A. Funk, of Seatonville, on December 23, 1875. She was born February 25, 1855. They have two boys and one girl. Both are members of the Christian church.

MEADOW LAWN PRECINCT.

The general supposition has been that that portion of Jefferson county lying above Louis- ville is far more healthy and fertile than this por- tion. For want of drainage it has not been so conducive to health, but since the country has been undergoing a marked change in the way of improvement, the malarial and other noisome vapors are disappearing, the land is increasing in fertility and value, and the former peat bogs and swamp have become well cultivated farms that now bespeak prosperity.

The soil, generally medium or fair, can still be improved by drainage and many of the advan- tages are yet undeveloped. The precinct is very irregular in shape, has a breadth in one place of some eight miles and at the extreme or southern

end of this political division is but about a mile in width.

One hundred and fifty votes are polled here. The schools-of which there are some good ones-are patronized by a floating attendance of one hundred and fifteen scholars.

Mill creek flows through the northeastern por- tion of the precinct, but Pond stream, with its numerous little tributaries, drains most of its soil. It has also good highways, the Salt River road being the principal one. A branch of the Louis- ville, Nashville & Cincinnati Southern railroad traverses its entire length from north to south, affording good opportunities for reaching the city.

Some farms under a good state of cultiva- tion are found here and there; that of Alanson Moorman is very large, consisting of some twelve hundred acres. He also, as do some others, pays considerable attention to the cultivation of fruit.

The citizens of this precinct have ever been zealous of their spiritual welfare and have had organizations of a religious character since a time out of mind. The eldest religious society is probably the Methodist. This society has a building near Valley Station, erected some forty years ago. The membership is large, con- sisting of some eighty persons.

The Baptist society is not so old, the organi- zation having been effected only about fifteen years ago. Rev. Mr. Powers is yet, and proba- bly was their first minister. The membership is about one hundred and fifty. They have a good and handsome church building.

There is also a Campbellite church in the pre- cinct.

TWO MILE TOWN.

One of the most prominent and useful of the early settlers of this part of the county was Mr. George Hickes. Probably no man of Jefferson county did more for his part of the section of country, or was more public-spirited, than was this man. The history of Two Mile Town is, to a great extent, the history of his life. The first saw-mill, the first grist-mill, the first carding- machine and fulling-mill, as well as the first church organization, were established principally by his energy and perseverance. He it was who

THE TURRETS.

SUBURBAN RESIDENCE OF THOMAS S. KENNEDY. CRESCENT HILL (P. O.), ONE MILE EAST OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, ON SHORT LINE RAILWAY.

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

first saw the necessity of cultivating and encour- aging all varieties of the choicest fruits, and he early took the opportunity of visiting Pennsyl- vania to secure plants and trees for this pur- pose. He had a like desire to encourage the raising of the best of stock, and accordingly took measures in this direction, which to-day have reached results that point to the noble spirit manifested by a self-sacrificing man.

The people of Two Mile Town revere the name of this man. He was born in Pennsyl- vania in 1762; was without resources to gain a livelihood save his own hands; married in the course of time, and he and his wife Paulina moved to Ohio, where he afterwards purchased a farm, and after putting the same under repair sold it at a good round figure-such is the re- ward of industry-and moved to Kentucky and settled upon a four hundred acre tract of land, the homestead being where Mrs. Hickes now resides. He came to this region about 1790. The In- dians had been troublesome, but the block and station-houses of so frequent use previous to this time were less resorted to by the inhabitants. Buffaloes were still numerous and roved be- tween the cane brake and the prairie, but they all disappeared before the year 1817. Bears were plentiful, and as they made visits up and down Bear Grass creek, would occasionally pounce upon a hog. Wildcats and panthers often ex- hibited their fondness for young pigs, and it was difficult to preserve sheep from their ravages.

The division of land in this part of the county, the same as in all Kentucky, was irregular and always located with reference to the wish of the proprietor regardless of regularity or of the shape or form of other tracts adjoining. This not only occasioned crooked roads and ill-shaped tracts, but, owing to confusion of titles, much trouble. This was a matter of so much conse- quence that it deterred or retarded emigration rather more than the fertility of the soil hastened it for a time.

Mr. Hickes having purchased his land, built a stone house about the year 1796, the first of the kind in the county. It was built of stone taken from the creek and quarry near by, and was so substantially built as to withstand the storms of nearly a century of time, and is still standing as a monument to the enterprise and industry of that day. In later years an addition

was built to this structure, increasing its size.

The first business enterprise was a carding and fulling machine. The mill was built on Bear Grass creek, on land now owned by E. J. Hickes, Esq. Previous to this time this whole region of Ken- tucky, and probably the State itself, had not the advantages afforded by such a mill. The common hand-card was used, the spinning-wheel, and hand-loom. Flax was raised, each family raising a half-acre or an acre, as family necessity re- quired, the same pulled in season; then bleached, afterwards broke, hackeled, and the tow and flax separated-bags, pants, and coarse cloth made of one, while the more delicate, stringy fibers of the other were woven into bolts, out of which a finer quality of goods was made for sheets, shirt- ing, etc. This additional enterprise not only benefited the early settlers of this immediate neighborhood, but brought custom from other portions of the State.

The early settlers were also in much need of some device for grinding their corn and wheat. Previously the hand-mill was used. This con- sisted of many devices-any process in which sufficient friction could be brought to bear on the grain to pulverize or grind it was in use. Some · would own a pair of stones, and by a singular device would have one fastened to one end of a pole, the other end being so fastened into the crack of the wall or ceiling as to allow suffi cient motion for the upper stone to be revolved upon the lower. Sometimes a pestle attached to a swinging pole, was made to descend in a mortar made of a stone or stump, and sometimes the corn was parched, then eaten. Wheat was fre- quently boiled; in short, various were the methods devised to reduce the raw material to a palatable state. No greater improvement was needed at that time than that of a grist-mill, and Mr. George Hikes with his usual foresight erected a building on the south branch of the Bear Grass for this purpose.

This mill was patronized by citizens of the whole country-and yet in that early day the settlements were so sparse it was not kept busy. To economize time and at the same time further the interests of the new settlement in another and much needed direction a saw-mill was at- tached, being likewise the first of the kind in the country.

Previous to the erection of this mill, huts or

HISTORY OF THE OHIO FALLS COUNTIES.

houses were made of hewed logs or logs un- dressed and as they came from the forest. The cracks, if filled at all, were chinked with blocks of wood or chips, then daubed with mortar made of mud. The window spaces were rather longer than broad-there being the space of one log nearly the length of the house left for a series of glass, fitted in one continuous chain of window sash. Beds were improvised by the use of one forked stick at suitable distances from the sides of the room and from the corner, into the forks of which the ends of the railing and end board or stick were laid, with the other ends mortised into the side walls of the cabin. Upon these was laid a net work of wood, and upon the latter beds of such material as they then had to make.

The saw-mill furnished boards out of which not only frame houses were in part constructed, but all kinds of furniture-tables, chairs, benches, floors, etc .- assumed a neater, more tasteful form, and many were the uses made of lumber.

George Hikes had four sons: Jacob, John, George, and Andrew; and three daughters. Jacob, the eldest son, married and settled just . northwest of the homestead, and received as a .part of his patrimony the fulling machine; George, the grist-mill; John, the carding machine; and Andrew, land, it being part of the homestead place.

TAN-YARD.

No attempt was made in early days to dress and cure hides or skins, but in the course of time William Brown started a tan-yard near Jef- fersonville-the first probably in Kentucky. This yard was also of great use and marked an important event in the improvement of the age.

BREWERY.

From the day Noah got drunk the people of every clime have tippled at the glass. Whether or no, the sons of Kentucky would make no excep- tion to this rule. If they drank much whiskey, however, they said it was pure and would do no harm, besides there was no market for corn, save as it was made into liquor and that was made for drink. Their beverages were unadul- terated, and a tonic just before breakfast was a good incentive to rise early and work till 8 o'clock, and then it became a good appetizer for the morning meal when taken at that hour.

Colonel Doup, seeing the need of a brewery,

erected one on the Bardstown road, between 'Squire Hikes' and the city. Barley and hops unadulterated were used for making beer. In the course of time-civilization advanced-the inventive genius of man made rapid progress in the fine art of murder; why not improvement in the manufacturing of beverages? Conse- quently corn or oats was found to serve just as well, provided beech shavings were used to fur- nish the color. Corn and oats were not as good as hops or barley, but they were cheaper, and the eye was so pleasantly deceived by the appear- ance of the article that the excuse was substi- tuted for the taste. Colonel Doup was not successful, however, and the enterprise in all its purity went down. His beer was not intoxicating enough to supply the demands of the frenzied trade.

In later years George Hikes established a dis- tillery, but that also failed, for some cause or other, and since that time Louisville has been taxed for the miserable little quantity con- sumed in this precinct. It were better by far that breweries and distilleries such as were estab- lished by these men, had succeeded. There would have been less crime committed than there is now, in consequence of there being no poisonous beverages to indulge in. The pure whiskey then was used extensively and mixed with herbs and roots as an antidote to malaria, and the treatment was efficacious.

MAGISTRACV.

Each precinct of Jefferson county is under the official jurisdiction of two justices of the peace. It has ever seemed necessary to a true condition of peace that force be at hand. The one is the complement to the other, and can be used in enforcing obedience to the other.

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History of the Ohio falls cities and their counties : with illustrations and bibliographical sketches, Vol. II, Part 2

Author: Williams, L.A., & Co., Cleveland Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : L. A. Williams & Co. Number of Pages: 680

Author: Williams, L.A., & Co., Cleveland
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Cleveland, Ohio : L. A. Williams & Co.
Number of Pages: 680