Henderson County KyArchives History - Books .....Chapter XII Tobacco As A Currency 1887 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ky/kyfiles.html ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com December 23, 2007, 5:33 pm Book Title: History Of Henderson County, KY CHAPTER XII. TOBACCO AS A CURRENCY-TOBACCO INSPECTION-RISE OF THE TOBACCO INTEREST-PRIMITIVE COURTS-INDICTMENTS, MARRIAGES, BRIDGES, ETC. THIS decade opened with all of the machinery of government running more smoothly and a greater disposition on the part of the people to improve the country, as they had their morals. The laws by which they were to be governed had become pretty generally understood, and a determination to obey and enforce obedience, if necessary, was a settled conviction of a large majority of the settlers. Larger crops ware grown, and the system of cultivating, tobacco particularly, had been adopted. No body of land offered superior quality of soil for the production of cerials and tobacco. In fact the low lands, as well as a greater part of the hill lands, were found to be superb in producing capacity. TOBACCO AS A CURRENCY. Tobacco, as far back as 1792, was the equal of money in every respect. All officers' fees at that time, fixed by law, were chargeable and receivable in tobacco. By an act of the Assembly, approved June 28 of that year, this law was repealed and all fees made chargeable and receivable in the currency of the State. This act went further, to wit: "And for every pound of tobacco allowed by any existing laws, to any officer, witness, or other person as a compensation for any service, they shall in lieu thereof be entitled to receive one penny current money of Kentucky. That for all forfeitures and fines, in tobacco, in force in this State, suits may be instituted and recovered in money at the same rate." An act approved December 21, 1792, revived the English law of 1745, so far as the same related to sheriffs, and gave them their fees payable in tobacco at one penny, half penny per pound. December 22, 1792, the old act was revived as to coroners, they to be paid their fees in specie, or transfer tobacco, at the rate of one penny, half penny per pound, at the option of the party charged therewith. Even up to 1813 and 1815 the penalty attaching to constables' bonds was made payable in tobacco. TOBACCO INSPECTION. Inspection warehouses having been established in many of the counties of the State, on the tenth day of February a general law was passed, regulating the handling of tobacco. Henderson being the largest tobacco growing county in the State at that time, those interested in the growth of the weed will doubtless be gratified to know something of this law and how it affected their ancestors and predecessors in selling and shipping. Such parts of the law as are deemed material for this purpose are here incorporated: " It was enacted, etc., That no person shall put on board or receive in any boat or vessel in order to be exported therein, any tobacco not packed in hogsheads or casks, to be in that or any other boat or vessel, exported out of this State, before the same shall have been inspected and reviewed, but that all tobacco whatsoever, to be received or taken on board of any boat for exportation, shall be received and taken on board at the several warehouses, or some one of them, and no other place whatsoever." Masters of boats were prohibited from carrying unstamped tobacco under a penalty of a fine of fifty pounds, while the servants had the following law to guide them: "And if any servant, or other person, employed in navigating any such boat or other vessel, shall connive at, or conceal the taking or receiving on board, any tobacco in bulk or parcel, he shall pay the sum of five pounds, and if such servant or other person shall be unable to pay the said sum, he or they, and every slave so employed, shall by order of a magistrate receive on his bareback, thirty-nine lashes, well laid on." The owners of tobacco were authorized to break any hogshead for the purpose of repacking or prizing for the convenience of storage, provided the original package had been stamped, and that the change was made at the warehouse where the same was inspected, weighed, marked and stamped. Owners of tobacco were allowed to carry the same in bulk or parcels on board of any boat to a licensed warehouse, or from one plantation to another for better handling or managing thereof, or they were allowed to bring their tobacco by boat to a warehouse to be repacked, sorted, stemmed or prized, provided it was packed in hogsheads or casks. The warehouse keeper was allowed as rent three shillings for each hogshead of tobacco received, inspected and delivered but of his house. In addition he was allowed on all tobacco remaining in the warehouse over twelve months three pence per month, to be paid by the owner. Inspectors were allowed four shillings and sixpence on each hogshead. This was their full fee and no salary or other fee was allowed. All tobacco that was brought to a warehouse was required to be inspected by two licensed inspectors, who were required to reject all tobacco that was not sound, well conditioned merchantable and free from trash. In case any tobacco was refused by the inspectors, the owner was at liberty to separate the good from the bad, but in case he refused or failed for one month to do this, the inspectors were to employ one of the pickers attending the warehouse to pick and separate the same, for which they were paid one-fifth part of the tobacco saved, and the tobacco adjudged unfit to save was placed in a "funnel" erected by law and burned. If any tobacco packed in any hogshead or cask by any overseer, or the hands under his care, was burned by the inspectors, by reason of its being bad, unsound or in bad condition, the overseer who had the care of making and packing the same, suffered the loss of the tobacco so burned. All tobacco brought to the warehouse for exportation by the owner was required to be examined and weighed, and if found good to be stamped and the owner given a receipt, stating whether the tobacco so received was sweet scented or Oronocko, stemmed or leaf, and whether tied up in bundles or not. For every hogshead exported by land or water the owner was required to pay seven shillings and six pence and find the nails for securing the same, or pay eight pence per hogshead for each hogshead so secured by the inspectors. On the twenty-first day of December, 1825, the following act was approved: "That from and after the passage of this act all purchasers of tobacco within this Commonwealth shall be at liberty to export the same without having the same inspected." Tobacco inspection warehouses were established by Jaw in Henderson, and from 1801 up to the passage of the act, December 21, 1825, all tobacco was handled by and passed through some legally authorized warehouse. In those days every planter packed his tobacco into hogsheads and boxes, and such a thing as bringing a crop to market loose was unknown. Subsequent to December, 1825, stem-meries were erected, and the business of inspecting and handling tobacco gradually grew less, until the warehouses were finally exterminated. They continued to do business, however, until 1835. After the establishment of stemmeries, planters ceased, to a very great extent, to pack in hogsheads, but begun the system of delivery of loose tobacco by wagons. RISE OF THE TOBACCO INTEREST. Henderson soon became the first strip market of the country, and those who engaged early in stemming made large fortunes. The Ohio and Mississippi Rivers furnished an outlet for all the produce of the country. Flat boats and barges being used before the introduction of steam machinery, many of the earlier citizens of Henderson engaged in floating merchandise to New Orleans where they, after disposing of their produce, would either sell their boats or else cordelle them back up the river. It was indeed a very common custom to float down the rivers and return overland on foot. General Samuel Hopkins having resigned his commission as Chief Justice of the Court of Quarter Sessions, Jacob Barnett was appointed by the Governor in his stead, and at the March term, 1801, took his seat upon the bench. Mr. Barnett served but a short time when he died. Abraham Landers resigned and the two vacancies were filled by the appointment of Dr. Adam Rankin and John Holloway in 1802. That court at this time was composed of Hugh Knox, Dr. Rankin and John Holloway. A PRIMITIVE COURT. This primitive court, as is the case with all such, was a sort of free and easy. The ordinary hanger-on considered himself the equal of the Judge, in point of legal intelligence, and reserved to himself the right to perpetrate jokes, prop his feet upon the window sill, and even at times to elevate them along side of the Judge on his puncheon bench, just as the humor moved him. Judge Knox, the Chief Justice, after the death of General Hopkins, was a man of many good points, an old bachelor, and one given to bachanalian frolics, sometimes social looseness, for which he was frequently indicted by the grand jury. Whenever an indictment was found against him he plead guilty, and was fined without a murmur, and then with commendable promptness would pay his fine. He was never known to ask mercy or favor, but having settled his own little difficulties, would return to the bench and administer similar justice to others who had violated the written law. The two assistant Justices, Dr. Rankin and John Holloway, were men quite unlike the Chief Justice; they were thorough business men, of settled habits and fine intelligence. They believed in upholding society and bringing it under the highest standard of morals, virtue and religious training. If one is to be justified in what he may read in the early records, it is safe to infer that society in the early days of the county was rather below par. It was a very common occurrence for men to sue for debt and fail ingloriously to make out a case, from the fact the debt had been previously paid, and the defendant fortunately for himself, held a receipt. In this case the order of the court would conclude: "It is therefore ordered that the plaintiff take nothing by his bill, but that he be in mercy of the court for his false clamor, etc." A peculiar, and perhaps unheard of proceeding, was had in one of the early courts A grand jury was empanneled composed of the required number of veniremen,, who returned to the court several indictments, found upon the evidence of members of the jury. The next day when the indictments were called for trial, there were not a sufficient number of legally qualified males in the house, or around the village from which to secure a petit jury, so a part of the jury was made up of the grand jury, who had found the indictments. It is perhaps the only case known where the same man served as grand juror in finding an indictment and petit juror in trying the same. At this term, to wit: May, 1801, Wm. B. Blackburn, who had made an efficient Commonwealth attorney for the county, resigned his office, and James Bell, Esq., was appointed to fill the vacancy. A DRUNK JURY. At the same time there was another rather strange procedure, at least it would be so regarded at this time. In the suit of William Dunn vs. John Lankford, after the jury had been sworn, and the evidence heard, and the case argued, it appeared as well to the court as the parties interested, that Thomas Houseley, one of the jurors, was very drunk, so much so as to be incapacitated to render any verdict; By consent of the parties and their attorneys and at the command of the court, Houseley was withdrawn and Jonathan Anthony, a bystander, who had heard the evidence, and the arguments of the attorneys of both parties, was called and his name affixed to the panel. He was examined, elected, and then sworn to try the issue. After awhile it was discovered that another juryman was too far gone, as to know whether he was sitting in a jury box or in a variety theatre. By this time the court became disgusted and ordered the case to be continued to the next court, not, however, without first placing the two jurymen under a two dollar obligation each, which they were ordered to make good else be locked in the dungeon. FIRST LIQUOR DEALER INDICTED. Mr. Hugh McGary, who figures in several parts of the early history of this work, was indicted for selling liquor without license, and was the first person found guilty of such an offense in the county. SQUIRE M'BEE AND MARRIAGE. In 1802, there being so few ministers, old Squire Silas McBee was authorized by the County Court to solemnize the rites of marriage, and from what can be learned from him, he was rather given to humor, and indulged the propensity frequently. Ministers were licensed to solemnize marital rites, according to the rules of the church to which they belonged, and required to return the license to the clerk of the County Court with his indorsement thereon. Many of these old-time returns are amusing, as much perhaps for their illiterate entierty as their originality. .The license sometimes directed the parties to be married according to the rules and rites of some certain church. Esquire McBee happened to be called in on one occasion and was given a license intended to be solemnized by a Cumberland Presbyterian. He, in his hurried way, joined the parties in marriage, and returned the license with the following indorsement: "I fined them according to the rites and ceremonies of the Cumberland Church, to which church, I say now, I don't belong." The old Squire was honest to say the least of it. FIRST MOB. Amos Kuykendall, of bare-back notoriety; Abner Kuykendall, and James Walton, concluded to take the village, and were arrested by the Sheriff. A short time afterwards, a mob (the first one ever organized), composed of Robert McGary, William McGary, Hugh McGary, Jr., Andrew Bratton, Thomas Fletcher and Solomon Nesler appeared in the presence of the Sheriff and demanded the surrender of the prisoners. Being overpowered, he had but one alternative left him, and that he exercised. The prisoners were given up. For this, at the May term of the Court of Quarter Sessions, each member of the mob was indicted, for rescuing with force and arms, said prisoners from the custody of the Sheriff, in the Town of Henderson, on the first day of August. BRIDGES. The County Court, during this year, turned its attention to the propriety of building bridges over several creeks at important fords, but nothing was done in the way of building until the year following, 1803. In this year, Edmund Hopkins and Dr. Adam Rankin were appointed commissioners, with power to bridge Canoe Creek, at the crossings on the Owensboro Road, Madisonville Road, and Morganfield Road, as now. This they did, paying for the bridges the sum of ninety dollars each. No spike nails were to be had at that time, so the poles were pinned down at each end with wooden pins. These were cheap structures, of course, and lasted but a short time; however, were far better than nothing, and correspondingly appreciated by the people. FIRST FELONY ON DOCKET. On the twenty-first day of April, 1803, the little village was completely upset by the arrest of Hugh McGary, charged feloniously stealing and carrying away nineteen English guineas, two half-eagles, thirty dollars in silver and six hundred dollars in bank notes, the property of Samuel Baker, a guest of McGary's Tavern and whisky shop. This was, perhaps, a greater bulk of metalic and paper values than McGary had ever seen before, and the temptation to grow rich, even at so great a risk, was more than he could withstand. The District Court met at that time at, Russellville, and what became of the prisoner the writer is unable to say. CHEAP SERVICE. As an evidence of cheap travel and cheap service, the April court, 1804, received and certified to the Auditor of Public Accounts, the account of John Bilbo, acting Sheriff, for the sum of seventeen dollars, for traveling three hundred and sixty miles on horseback, and attending to compare the polls of the election of a Senator of the State Assembly, and for a Representative in Congress. At this court the first indictments were returned against overseers of roads, but subsequent to this time it was a common custom to present at each court a majority, if not everyone of those unfortunate office holders. A TOWN ON PAPER. At the May County Court this year, John Gray and Willis Morgan executed bond to the County Court, in the penalty of one thousand pounds, for an order granted them for the establishing of a town on their lands purchased of Thomas B Evans. Where this town was to be located, the writer has been unable to learn from any source, only that it was to be on the Ohio River and in Henderson County. LOCATION OF COLLEGE LANDS. February 10 and December 22, 1798, the Legislature created a number of academies, and for the purpose of encouraging education, authorized and empowered the Board of Trustees, or their agents, to cause to be surveyed, on any vacant or unappropriated land to be found on the south side of Green River, six thousand acres each. Under the authority thus given, Bethel Academy, July 20, 1800, by Daniel Ashby, agent, located twenty-nine hundred and fifty acres, on Clear Creek Fork, and three thousand and fifty acres on Caney Fork of Tradewater. Livingston County, on December 20, 1802, by Justinian Cartwright, agent, located five thousand two hundred and fifty acres on Tradewater River. Pendleton County, on December 22, 1802, by Justinian Cartwright, located one hundred and ten acres between Pond River and Tradewater. Livingston Academy, April 10 and July 15, 1802, by Cartwright, agent, located three hundred and fifty and two hundred and fifty acres the North and Clear Creek Forks of Tradewater. Harrodsburgh Seminary, on July 2, 1804, by Peter Casey, agent, located three thousand acres on the North Fork of Tradewater River. This made a total of fifteen thousand seven hundred and sixty acres of Henderson County lands, given by the State, to counties and academies in other parts of the State. In October, 1804, the last Court of Quarter Sessions was held, the same having been abolished, and a Circuit Court substituted in its stead. 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/chapterx320gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/kyfiles/