Henderson County KyArchives History - Books .....Chapter VI The First County Court 1887
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Book Title: History Of Henderson County, KY

CHAPTER VI.
THE FIRST COUNTY COURT-HUMOR OF THE PEOPLE-SURVEYING AND OPENING THE ROADS.

THE meeting of the first court of Henderson County was the occasion of much
rejoicing. The Justices and under officers immediately became sovereign lords,
and were gazed at, upon the adjournment of that imposing body, as though they
were of shape curious, or had mysteriously inherited the power of relieving all
ills. They were courted and feasted, and button-holed, as though they were
newcomers, with all authority and power. In those early days the honor attaching
to a commission signed and sealed by the Governor was as highly prized as though
it was one of our modern papers, ornamented with variagated sealing wax, pink
ribbons, or red tape, bearing upon its face the authority to draw upon Uncle Sam
for six thousand or more dollars per annum. It was fortunate that there was but
little use for money, as there was but little of it to be had. There were no
expensive amusements, no extravagant social pastime, no glittering
extravagancies, or cultured professionals, to draw from the buckskin wallet
shining values for an hours season with the great masters. But there was an
abundance. of good cheer;-there was the rude, untutored, uncultured swing, of
the wild woods fiddler, as he made the welkin ring, tickling the souls of-
unblacked brogans with the inspiring harmonies of "Leather Breeches," "Molly Put
the Kettle On," or "Buffalo Gals." Little did those people know of your operas,
grand receptions, or swell occasion. A puncheon floor, splintery and unadzed,
wheron to dance; a puncheon table, whereon to place their earthern or wooden
tableware, a log-heap, sending its sparks up to the clouds, whereon to broil the
richest of meats, and then to swing corners with the rosy cheeked lasses of the
wild West, was fashion and glory enough for them. They had their pleasures, and
snuffed freedom from every breeze. The woods, barrens and the water courses were
theirs; all descriptions of wild game were in gun shot of their cabin doors. The
land was susceptible of the highest culture, and thus the forefathers of many of
us stood monarchs over wants, rejoicing, as they had a right to, in a promise of
a bountiful plenty showered upon them with an unmeasured hand. To open up the
country to travel, to clear out the undergrowth, to settle down to the realities
of life, and to regulate the settlement according to the forms of progress and
law, became the most important question. The State had been admitted into the
Union of States, the county had been recognized by the State, and up to this
time the strong arm of the law had seldem ever brought its protecting fold
around the few hardy pioneers of the "Red Banks."

"BUT THE DAY HAD COME."

    The settlement of the county was on the increase, and to keep step with
their more advanced neighbors, was one of the determinations formerly fixed
Backed by the authority of the young Commonwealth, they began in earnest to open
up lands to bring an uninhabited wilderness from its rude originality to green
fields of growing grain; to substitute in place of wolves, herds of cattle and
sheep, grazing upon a thousand hills; to bring civilization from a comparatively
wild state of individual laxity, by organizing courts, building rude temples of
justice, and prison houses-such as their limited means would allow-substituting
public roads for the trails of wild animals, clearing up the land for
cultivation, and such other things contemplated by law, and the progress of the
times in other parts of this great country. The second meeting of the County
Court was held in the old log school house on the first Tuesday in August, 1799.
The first business coming before the court was the proposition to establish
public roads, whereupon the following order was passed:

SMITH'S FERRY ROAD.

    " Ordered, that Samuel Hopkins, Jacob Barnett and Thomas Willingham, or any
two of them, mark and lay off a road from the Public Square, in the Town of
Henderson, to Smith's Ferry, on Green River, and Samuel Hopkins is appointed
surveyor of that road from the Town of Henderson to the main fork of Lick Creek,
and Thomas Willingham, from the main fork of Lick Creek to the ferry; and it is
further ordered, that the said Samuel Hopkins, with his own hands; Arend
Rutgers, with his hands; Jacob Barnett, with his hands; Russell Hewett, with his
hands; Joshua Fleehart, Thomas Smith and Robert Batrd, open the said road and
keep it in repair from the public square in Henderson to the main fork of Lick
Creek, and that John Kilgore, Thomas Freels, John Knight Nerod Franceway, Elijah
Griffith, Lawrence Rawlasson, Jr., William Rawlasson, Isaac Knight, Nathan
Young. Jacob Vankird, Michael Hog, Adam Hay, Alter McGlaughlin, Thomas Stoll,
Charles Davis and his male laboring tithables, Adam Lawrence, Jr., John
Lawrence, Isaac Lusade and Jesse Kimbell, upon the said road and keep it in
repair from the main fork of Lick Creek, to Smith's Ferry."

    This was the first road established in Henderson County. It ran to a point
two miles beyond Hebardsville, where it bore to the right, and approached Green
River at a point about one, or one and #a half miles above the present Henderson
 and Owensboro Ferry. This was the crossing place for many years, but
subsequently changed to Calhoun Ferry, the now crossing place. Under an act
concerning public roads passed by the General Assembly, February 25, 1797, this
road was surveyed and opened, yet we have no record of viewers even having been
appointed. From this it is reasonable to conclude that this route had been
opened prior to 1799 and recognized as a public road, considerably traveled. The
distance from Henderson to Smith's Ferry was fully twenty miles, and mostly over
a hilly, rugged country, hence the difficulties the few men who were required to
mark, lay off and keep in repair the said road must have labored under. There
were but two surveyors and twenty-eight whites, and four or five colored
laboring tithables to do the work required over the whole line of twenty miles,
a work which included clearing, grubbing, leveling, filling and ditching thirty
feet wide. From the list of men appointed to do this work, the reader may form
an idea of the popoulation of the county at that time, remembering, of course,
that many of those named lived fully five and some eight miles from the line of
the road. Under the law of 1797, all male laboring persons from the age of
sixteen years or more, as well as colored male laboring tithables, were
appointed by the court, to work upon some public road. This being the first and
only public road in the county and only twenty-eight persons to be found within
 its whole length of twenty miles, it will necessarily be inferred that settlers
at that early date were really few and far apart.  These few men and boys were
required to open and keep this road in repair.  The road was to be kept well
cleared and smoothed thirty feet wide at least. Bridges and causeways twelve
feet wide were to be made and kept in repair, and for a failure to do any of the
work required, the party failing to attend with proper tools for clearing the
road, or refusing to  work the same, subjected himself to a fine of seven
shillings for every day's offense.  To comply with the law, was either an
impossibility, or else the surveyors were totally incompetent, for it will be
seen as this work progresses with the business of the Court of Quarter Sessions,
that it was a certain feature of that court's business, at each session to find
bills of indictments against a large majority of road surveyors of the county
for failure to keep some parts of their road or roads in repair.

"CLEAR CREEK ROAD."

    At the same County Court when the Smith's Ferry Road had been disposed of,
it was ordered that Abraham Landers, John McCombs, John Seeper, William Stewart
and John Rover, or any three of them, be appointed to mark out a road from the
Public Square, within the Town of Henderson, in the direction of Clear Creek,
and report the conveniences and inconveniences. At the September court, the
Commissioners reported having performed their duty, and marked a road running
through the lands of Dr. Adam Rankin, Captain Edmond Hopkins, John Slover, Sr.,
Isham Sellers, Jacob Newman, near Robinson Lick, John Slover, Jr., on a fork of
Trade Water, where it was supposed the road must necessarily divide itself into
several forks, viz: to Nashville, Lexington and Christian. They also reported
the route nearly a direct south one, and from its direction would tend much to
the convenience and utility of the present inhabitants of the county in general.
A summons was directed to issue against the land owners, to show cause, if any,
why the road should not be opened. At the following November meeting of the
court, in obedience to summons, the land owners consented to the opening of the
road, and thereupon it was-

    "Ordered that the said road, from the Town of Henderson to the mouth of
Clear Creek be opened, and that Edmund Hopkins be appointed surveyor from the
Square in the Town of Henderson to the line of the Henderson & Co. Grant, and
that he, with his own male tithables Dr. Adam Rankin, Sherwood Hicks, James
Worthington, Jacob Newman, Abraham Landers, John Landers. William Laurence,
Rawland Hughes Joseph Worthington and their male tithables open the road and
keep it in repair. William Black was appointed surveyor from the line of the
grant to the old trace from Cumberland to Robertson's Lick, and he, with John
Leeper, Jacob Newman Matthew Kenny, John Christian, Matthew Christian, Nevil
Lindsay, Philemon Richards, James Veach, Isham Sellers, Ephriam Sellers, John
Slover, Isaac Slover, John Slover, Jr., John McCombs, William McCombs, James
Hopkins, William M. Fullerton, Henry Smith, Asha Webb, Andrew Black, John Locks,
William Hughes, David Hughes, Eneas McCallister, Eneas McCallister, Jr., Jesse
McCallister, John Hancock, Robert Robertson, John Reyburn, John Reyburn, Jr ,
Peter Ruby, Joel Sugg, John Suttles, Joshua Kates, Martin Kates, and such male
tithables as they may own, open and keep the said road in repair."

    Since the establishment of this road, so many alterations have been made,
and so many new roads established, that it is impossible to locate it with any
degree of accuracy. Enough is known, however, to justify the conclusion that
that portion of the Knob Lick Road to a point six or seven miles out, was the
original Henderson and Clear Creek Road. The same difficulties which attended
the opening of the first road established, were found in the opening of this
road. Those who now ride over the broad smooth roads of the county little know
the trials, troubles and hard Work the handful of early settlers had in opening
and clearing these long lines of public thoroughfares. It is not the purpose of
this work to attempt the history of each road in the county, for that would
prove an endless task, and so multiply its pages as to make it not only
uninteresting, but cumbersome. We take it that the location of the main roads of
the county leading out of the city, and into which all of the other roads of the
county run, will be all that is required and all that is necessary.

SPOTTSVILLE ROAD.

    In 1817 the road, which is now known as the Henderson and Spottsville Road,
was established twenty-five feet wide from the Town to Race Creek, and from
thence to Hopkins' Ferry on Green River.

EVANSVILLE ROAD.

    During the same year Richard Hart, John Weller, Enoch Sevier and John
Stayden were appointed to view a road from Henderson to Evansville. In July,
1818, one year after, John Weller, John Upp, Daniel Smith and Samuel Buttler
were appointed to view the same route. In 1819, Daniel Smith, Daniel McBride,
William Smith, John Williams, and Robert Terry, were appointed for the same
purpose and every report made by the viewers proved objectionable to the land
owners along the line. At the August term, 1822, a writ ad quod damnum issued
and was tried by the following jurors: Robert Terry, W. R. Bowen, Walter C.
Langley, Joel Lambert, W. H. Ingram, John Weller, Samuel H. Davis, Robert G.
Slayden, James H. Lyne, Obediah Smith, Leonard H. Lyne and Thomas Herndon, who
returned the following verdict.

    "We, of the jury, find that John Smith, one of the contestants, is entitled
to five dollars and seventy-five cents, John Hart, to fifty dollars."

    An order was then made by the court, establishing this a public road, and
the damages awarded by the jury to be paid out of the county levy for that year.

MORGANFIELD ROAD.

In 1822 it was-

    " Ordered by the court that the road leading from the Town of Henderson to
the county line enroute to Morganfield, in the direction of Davis Mill, on
Highland Creek, be opened twenty feet wide, cleared, smoothed and established as
one of the public roads of this Commonwealth, and that Charles Walden be
appointed surveyor, and directed to open the same,"

    Davis' Mill was located about one mile below the present crossing on the
Smith Mills route. Some time after the location of this road, Clementine Wimsatt
and others procured an order changing the crossing from Smith Mills to the Union
County line, to the one used at the present time. For several years there was no
bridge built across Highland Creek, and during the dry months it was easily
forded. In times of high water, and during the winter and spring months, Mr.
Wimsatt kept a ferryboat, which was used in crossing by stage and other
vehicles. Since that time there have been many changes made in this road.

DIAMOND ISLAND AND KNOB LICK ROAD.

    In 1823, a road from Diamand Island to the Knob Lick Road, fifteen feet
wide, was established. This road followed the Ohip River to a point two miles
below Alves Bluff, where it diverged at right angles, passing and crossing the
Henderson and Morganfield Road at the present site of the Town of Geneva, from
thence to Corydon and Cairo, and thence to the Knob Lick Road.

CORYDON ROAD.

    In 1824 an order was passed to view a road fifteen feet wide, from the
bridge on the Henderson and Morganfield Road, to intersect the Diamond Island
Road beyond Grixon Brown's. This was done and Grixon Brown appointed surveyor.
This road is now known as the Corydon Road, and leaves the Henderson and
Morganfield Road just below the bridge over Canoe Creek, three miles from the city.

VACANT LANDS APPROPRIATED.

    In the year 1831, an act of the General Assembly of Kentucky was passed
appropriating all vacant lands in Henderson County to the improvement of roads.
By this act the Register of the land office was directed to issue to Henderson
County, free of costs, two hundred and fifty dollars worth of land warrants,
containing five hundred acres each, which said warrants the County Courts were
authorized to have surveyed upon any vacant or unappropriated land lying in the
county, and carry the same into grant, and to then dispose of the same or any
part thereof, and apply the proceeds to the improvement of the mail road, from
Smith's Ferry, on Green River, to the Union County line. These lands were
designed to be sold agreeably to that act, and for that purpose William D.
Allison, clerk of the County Court, at its January meeting, was appointed agent
for the county to dispose of the land warrants granted to the said court, with
full power to locate said warrants, or sell or transfer the same. Subsequent to
this act the County Court passed the following order:

    "Ordered that the land warrants granted to the County of Henderson by the
Legislature be appropriated to the road from the Town of Henderson to the Union
County line on the road leading to Morganfield, and that Thomas Towles be
appointed Superintendent of the works."

    In the year 1834 the road from Henderson to the mouth of Green River was
established fifteen feet wide, with John Weller, Sr., surveyor, who was directed
to open the same and keep it in repair. In 1835, February 18, the Legislature
passed an act, providing that all the lands within the Commonwealth east and
north of the Tennessee River, vacant and unappropriated on the first day of
August, 1835, should be vested in the respective County Court of the counties in
which said lands might lie, to be sold at five dollars per one hundred acres,
and that the proceeds arising therefrom be appropriated to a fund constituted
for the improvement of the roads and bridges of the county, and for no other
purpose.

STATE ROADS.

    In the same month of the same year another act was passed declaring the
Smith's Ferry and Henderson, and Henderson and Morganfield Roads a State road in
connection with the road running from the mouth of Salt River to Shawneetown,
Illinois. By this act, the court was directed to lay off the road from Green
River to the Union County line, into convenient precincts, and to allot to each
Surveyor a sufficient number of hands to keep the road in good repair thirty
feet wide and free from stumps. The County Court, under the provision of this
act, was not allowed to alter or change this road. It seems the Commissioner of
the County Court experienced some difficulty in finding vacant lands at that
time, for at the October meeting of the Court the following order was passed:

    "All persons finding and informing the court of this county of any vacant
and unappropriated lands in this county, shall have a pre-emption right of
buying the same from the court at ten per cent, less than the assessed value."

    The revenue accruing to the county from this source, while not large, was
nevertheless a considerable help, going towards the object for which it was
intended. Aside from this, the court was not punctilliously particular in
appropriating the money arising from the sale of vacant lands, as the
Legislature intended, for we find in 1836 the following order passed at the
October Court of Claims:"

    "Ordered that the sum of five hundred dollars heretofore appropriated be
placed to the order of the Board of Internal Improvements to be applied, in
addition to the sum of one thousand dollars, appropriated by the Legislature at
their session of 1835 and '36, for the improvements of the roads of Henderson
County to be used for the purpose of building a county poor house."

    However, in 1838, the following appropriations for the improvements of
roads, were made: Three hundred to improve what was known as Robinson's flat,
two and a half miles out on the Knob Lick Road, one hundred dollars to the road
to Calhoun's Ferry, on Green River, the ferry having been changed from Smith's,
four hundred on the road leading to Madisonville and four hundred on the road
leading to Morganfield. For these amounts the Commissioners appointed by the
County Court to superintend the work were authorized to draw upon the agent of
the Internal Revenue Fund.

STATE ROAD TO HOPKINSVILLE.

    In 1841, an act, entitled an act to establish a State Road from Henderson
through Madisonville to Hopkinsville, was approved January 26. In obedience to
this act, the County Court of Henderson County appointed Willie Sugg and Levin
W. Arnett Commissioners for the county, to meet Mark A. Bone and Frederick Wood,
of Hopkins County, and Reading Barfield, of Christian County, for the purpose of
viewing the old road. At the October court the Commissioners reported having
viewed the route, and at the November court following, they, together with
Samuel Morton, Surveyor; William H.Thomasson and William Morton, chain carriers,
and James Bishop, marker, were allowed such fees as the law prescribed should be
paid. Mr. Morton was allowed for three days' work, the time spent by him in
surveying the route through Henderson County. The report of the Commissioners
was adopted and the road established and recognized as a State road, although a
route from Henderson to Madisonville had been established many years prior to
that,time, yet this was the first important recognition of the road.

FLOYD AND LOCKETT ROAD.

    In 1855 application was made by Dr. W. B. Floyd and Thomas J. Lockett, for
the opening and location of a public road from Thomas W. Royster's to intersect
the Madisonville Road at a point between the old homestead of John T. Hopkins
and Canoe Creek. On this application it was ordered by the court, that Enoch
Spencer, William G. Denton, Joseph McMullen, and John D. Weller, be appointed
viewers; to this John T. Hopkins and S. J. Hawkins, through a portion of whose
land it was proposed to locate the road, objected, and on their motion another
set of viewers, to-wit: James Alves, Madison M. Denton, John A. Randolph, Wyatt
H. Ingram and W. R. Rudy, were appointed to view the road from Thomas W.
Royster's to intersect the Madisonville Road at a point two or three miles
further on toward Madisonville. .The route, as proposed by Floyd and Lockett,
began at Thomas W. Royster's and ran thence through the lands of Joseph McMullin
and Thomas Spencer, thence on the lines of Elizabeth Denton, John H. Spencer,
Thomas B. Higginson, Samuel D. Denton, William G. Denton and Enoch Spencer,
thence over the lands of Madison M. Denton, Thomas D. Talbott, Mary S. Talbott,
Thomas J. Lockett, and on to the old Slover Flat Road, thence over the lands of
Mrs. Chinoe Smith, to Sugg's corner on Alves' line, thence on this line to his
corner, thence on Edgar Sugg's line to the corner of the horse-lot on the Edgar
Sugg's farm, now owned by Gabe D. Sugg, thence over the land of S. J. Hawkins to
what is known by the name of the Agnew route, thence with said Agnew's route to
the Madisonville Road leading to Henderson. On the twenty-fifth day of February,
1856, the viewers reported and summons was directed to issue against the land
owners, a writ of ad quod damnum was issued and tried as to all except Hopkins,
in whose case the jury hung. June, 1856, the applicants and J. T. Hopkins
entered into agreement that Y. E. Allison, Judge of the County Court, might go
upon the land of said Hopkins and assess the damages. This the Judge very
sensibly declined to do. August, 1856, Hopkins and Hawkins moved to quash the
returns. This motion was overruled and the road ordered to be opened and
established as a public road thirty feet wide from Thomas W. Royster's to the
Henderson and Madisonvilie Road at John T. Hopkins', and over and along the
route reported by the viewers. It was further ordered that the expense of
building five bridges reported to be necessary, was too great for the precinct
or precincts of the road. To all of this Hopkins and Hawkins objected and prayed
an appeal to the Circuit Court, which was granted At the December term of the
Circuit Court, a decree was rendered reversing for sufficient reasons, the
proceeding of the County Court, so far as Hopkins and Hawkins were concerned. On
the twenty-ninth day of October another writ of ad quod damnum was awarded by
the higher court and was tried upon the premises by the following jurors: J. E.
Jackson, Larkin White, R. E. Moss, Thomas McFarland, P. D. Negley, W. S.
Pamplin, James S. Hicks, E. T. Cheatham, John Walden, James White, W. B. Smith
and J. W. Tapp. This jury returned the following

VERDICT:

    "John Hopkins, for damages, one thousand and seventy-seven dollars; S. J.
Hawkins, for same, two hundred and eighty-one dollars and seventy-five cents."

    April, 1858, Thomas J. Lockett, Wm. Lockett and Andrew Agnew agreed with the
County Court to have three of the five bridges built at no expense to the
county, whereupon it was ordered that the road be opened as first directed. This
proceeding was still resisted by Hopkins and Hawkins, but finally compromised.
Then the road was established and laid off into one precinct, with Thomas
Spencer as overseer. There was never, perhaps, a public county road established
which engendered so much bitterness of feeling and had such a bill of costs
attaching to it as was the case in this Floyd and Lockett Road. For three years
it was fought in the courts, and a host of witnesses summoned to testify.
Eminent lawyers were employed 6n both sides, and every technicality known to the
law was taken advantage of by both parties. The road cost the county a large
amount of money; nevertheless, it has been a blessing greatly enjoyed by the
inhabitants of "Frog Island" and others adjacent to the line.

A NUISANCE.

    The old road service, or system, established by law for road-working, was
always regarded by most persons as one faulty in the extreme, and not more than
one remove from a nuisance. All male laboring persons of the age of sixteen
years or more, except such as were masters of two or more male laboring slaves,
of the age of sixteen years or more, were appointed by the court to work on some
public road. Every person so appointed was required, upon notice of the
Surveyor, placed over him, to attend with proper tools for clearing the road, or
do such work as might be allotted him, or to find some other person equally able
to work in his room. In case of his failure to attend when summoned, he was
required to pay the sum of seven shillings, sixpence for every day's offense. If
the delinquent was an infant or minor, the sum was to be paid by his parent,
guardian or master, or, if a slave or servant, by his overseer or master. The
amount could be recovered by the overseer of the road before any Justice of the
Peace within his county, and one-half of the fine was to go to the overseer of
the road. For this work the laborers were entitled to credit on their account of
good citizenship. This continued until 1821, when payments were then made for
the use of teams and implements.

DUTY OF ROAD SURVEYORS.

    The surveyors of roads occupied an unenviable position, for to him, and him
alone, did the traveling public look for a good and safe foundation to travel
over. It was made his duty to superintend the road in his precinct and to see
that the same was cleared and kept in good order and repair, and upon his
failure to do this, he was subjected to a fine of any sum not exceeding ten
dollars, nor less than two dollars and fifty cents, to be recovered by
indictment. For years and years, at each term of the Court of Quarter Sessions,
and then the Circuit Court, it was the custom, whether from the force of habit,
or spite, for at least two-thirds of the road surveyors to be summoned to answer
an indictment or indictments found against them, for neglecting some part of the
road under their charge.

    Road overseers, as they were called, were subjected to an ordeal in early
times that would hardly hold these piping times of limitless civilization. Yet,
those people who paved the way to a glorious and uri-thought of future, we must
bow our heads in humble acknowledgment, that while public matters are at this
day more systematically arranged, there is more wealth behind, more of
everything conducive to success; yea, more, that had we to-day, as a people, to
undergo what was their lot, we should miserably fail. We must confess that the
children and grandchildren have not inherited the hardy, indomitable spirit of
pioneer manhood.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KENTUCKY,
BY
EDMUND L. STARLING,

COMPRISING HISTORY OF COUNTY AND CITY, PRECINCTS, EDUCATION, CHURCHES, SECRET
SOCIETIES, LEADING ENTERPRISES, SKETCHES AND RECOLLECTIONS, AND BIOGRAPHIES OF
THE LIVING AND DEAD.

ILLUSTRATED.

HENDERSON, KY, 1887.


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ky/henderson/history/1887/historyo/chapterv314gms.txt

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