Henderson County KyArchives History - Books .....Chapter XIII Establishment Of Ferries 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, 5:53 pm Book Title: History Of Henderson County, KY CHAPTER XIII. ESTABLISHMENT OF FERRIES-THE FIRST BOAT-FARMING THE SHERIFFALITY-MANLY COURSE OF JUGE TOWLES-WHIP-SAWING-COLD FRIDAY-HOPKINS COUNTY FORMED-AUDUBON-WORKING GREEN RIVER, ETC., ETC. THE year 1800 was ushered in with a greatly increased population and still brighter hopes of the future. A number of families, composing the best people of the States, had found their way to the new land, and were actively engaged with the earlier settlers in opening up the wild woods, clearing the barrens and preparing the lands for an intelligent cultivation. FERRIES. Ferries were established at Henderson and several points in the the county along the Ohio and Green Rivers. Roads were opened and bridges built and while the revenue was yet very small and the delinquent list correspondingly large, still every dollar of the peoples' money was judiciously expended with a view to the ultimate good of the county. General Samuel Hopkins established the first public ferry at the mouth of Green River, from the Kentucky to the Indiana shore. The first ferry at Henderson was established by Jonathan Anthony in 1802. AN OHIO RIVER SHIP. The first vessel of any magnitude, or even respectability, which passed Henderson en route to the Mississippi, was a ship built at Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, in May, 1800. She started on her first journey with seven hundred and twenty barrels of flour. At Louisville she was detained on account of low water, till the following January, but during that month, while the river was clear of ice, she came sailing on down, passing Henderson two days after leaving Louisville. At Fort Massac, Illinois, she added to her cargo, for the New Orleans market, two thousand bear skins and four thousand deer skins. In the spring of 1805, a beautiful little sailing vessel, of seventy tons burthen, fitly called the "Nonpariel," passed down for New Orleans. In this year two warehouses were established for the inspection of beef, pork, flour, hemp and tobacco. Philip Barbour and Meridith Fisher were appointed inspectors. On the first day of April, 1805, the first Circuit Court held its sitting, with Judge Henry P. Broadnax upon the bench, assisted by Dr. Adam Rankin and Hugh Knox. William Featherston, Samuel Work, Christopher Tompkins, James Bell and John Daviess were authorized and admitted to practice as attorneys in this court. William Featherston was appointed Commonwealth's Attorney for the county. At the July term of this court, John Grey, Alney McLean, Charles Henderson, Henry Delano and John Campbell, were admitted as attorneys. FARMING THE SHERIFFALTY. The Sheriffs of the county, prior to 1805, and for sometime afterwards, were extremely loose in their mode of doing business, and in more than one instance came to grief from their own negligence and that of their deputies. Under the old constitution, the oldest serving Magistrate was entitled, by rotation, to the office of sheriff, and was invariably appointed as such by the Governor, and yet there is not more than one, perhaps two instances, wherein the legally appointed sheriff performed the duties of the office. It was the custom of the Magistrate receiving the appointment, even up to the adoption of the new constitution, to farm out the office-that is to say, sell the office to some one or two parties, and take from them bond to secure him from loss. There was no objection urged to this system until 1835, at which time Judge Thomas Towles was entitled to the office, but waived his right, and consented to remain on the bench. The county then, as now, had its meddlers and office-seekers, and of course there were men to insinuate and complain. Judge Towles at that time failed to be apprised of what was said, but hearing of it afterwards, determined to exhonorate himself from any degree of discredit. At the next meeting of the County Court, he called the attention of the Court to certain objections to his longer serving, and at the same time tendered his resignation as magistrate. There was a determination not to accept it, but the Judge was positive upon that point, and the court very reluctantly consented to his resignation, not, however, without passing the following order. "Some years ago the County Court, having failed at the proper court to recommend a sheriff to the Governor, the said Thomas Towles, being the oldest and senior justice of the said county, waived his right to the sheriffalty, and by general consent John Green was appointed sheriff for the term to which said Towles would have been entitled, and the said Towles, by request, continued in office as a justice, and did not resign until this day, when some objections being made to the practice of justices selling the sheriffalty and holding on to the office of magistrate, he, the said Towles (although urged not to do so), thereupon resigned. The Justices present reposing entire confidence in the integrity, judgment, legal knowledge, skill and ability of the said Thomas Towles, Sr., and believing his assistance as a member of the County Court to be important to the interest of the county, have therefore recommended him to the Governor to fill the vacancy occasioned by his resignation." In a month afterwards Judge Towles was reappointed and reassumed his labors as before, and this forever hushed any complaints. On the twenty-third day of February, 1805, the Harrodsburgh Seminary, by Peter Casey, agent, made another grab of Henderson County land, locating at this time on Highland Creek three thousand acres. BRIDGES. Early in the fall of 1806 the first bridges built commenced giving way, and how to repair them or rebuild them was a question the County Court found considerable difficulty in determining, from the fact of the smallness of the levy and the greatness of the delinquent list. Finally, after considering the matter thoroughly, it was determined to rebuild the bridge leading to Tradewater River over Canoe Creek, on the now Madisonville Road, and one over the Town Fork of Canoe leading to Owensboro, by subscription, if possible, if not, to raise by that means as great an amount as possible and to pledge the county for * the remainder. A contract was entered into with William Anthony to build a new bridge over the crossing Leading to Tradewater at a cost of two hundred and twenty-two dollars, one hundred and thirty-two dollars more than the first bridge cost, and with John Stanley and William Kavanaugh to bridge the crossing leading to Owensboro at a cost of ninety dollars, the same cost as the first bridge. As has been said in a previous chapter, the original bridges were cheap structures, mostly built of poles. To give an idea of the second structures the specifications of the Town Fork bridge are here inserted: "The bridge is to be twelve feet wide in the clear, with two arches, the first across the stream 27 feet, the second to where it lands on the west side to be 23 feet, the two trussels to be 3 feet high from the top of the mud sill, the mud sills to be hewn 20 inches by 16, the cap sills 18 by 14, the trussel posts 15 by 12, braces 14 by 6, sleepers 16 by 6, to be laid in sixteen inches of each other, the plank to be sawed a foot or more inches and 3 inches thick." WHIP SAWING. From this the reader would judge that such a thing as a sawmill had been established in the county, but that is a mistake; there were no sawmills. Planks were ripped from hewn logs by a system denominated "whip sawing," an upright saw, working perpendicularly, with one man above the other, to do the work now done by engines and steam. This was a tedious process, yet the weather-boarding and framing timbers for all of the houses built in Henderson prior to 1818, was sawed in this way. There are at the present time, three houses standing in the city with the same weather-boarding which was nailed on at the time of their building, between 1810 and 1818. These buildings will be noticed in their proper order. The April, 1806, Circuit Court came on, and with it that pests of all pests, the grand jury. Judge Knox, one of the Associate Justices, was once again made a victim on account of his passionate indiscretions, and with his usual adamantine face and limitless cheek, confessed the corn and paid his fine. Henderson County was now eight years old by legislative recognition, and yet the morals of the people had not been reduced to that beautiful simplicity and religious standard the punctilious so devoutly wished. Some men would profanely take the name of the Lord in vain and yet punishment was as certain as taxes. The grand jury was no respector of persons, on the contrary they rather took a delight in making examples of the leading men whenever the opportunity presented itself. Henry P. Broadnax, Judge of the Circuit Court, William Featherston, Commonwealth's Attorney, Joel Lambert and • Thomas G. Walker were each indicted at this term for profane swearing and fined the round sum of five shillings each, which they paid without a word. It is just to say, however, that the morals of the young county were far better, considering the character of the population as a whole, than well could be expected of a similar settlement composed of men of these days. There were but few indictments brought in by the grand jury, and they were mostly confined to minor offenses. SEMINARY LANDS. In the month of April the trustees of the Hartford Academy located on the north fork of Tradewater two hundred and forty-four acres of land. On the twentieth of Semptember Bethel Seminary, by David Ashley, agent, entered one thousand acres on some small branches emptying into the Ohio River. On the eleventh day of February Henderson and Hopkins Counties were declared by law one Senatorial district, and at the following election Daniel Ashby, of Hopkins, was elected. COLD FRIDAY. Nothing particularly interesting occurred during 1807, except the ever memorable "Cold Friday," which was the subject of talk for years among those who felt its piercing chills. Mr. Collins says: "On Thursday, February, 1807, the mercury was caused to fall sixty degrees within twelve hours by the cold winds. At nightfall it was mild and cloudy. After night it commenced raining with a high west wind. This rain soon changed to a snow, which continued to fall rapidly to the depth of six inches, but the wind, which moved at the rate of a hurricane, soon lifted and dispersed the clouds, and within the short space of twelve hours from the close of a very mild Thursday, all Kentucky, was treated to a gentle rain, a violent snow storm, and a bright sunshine morning, so bitterly cold that by acclamation it was termed "Cold Friday," On the morning of this day the trees in the forests were cracking like the report of guns, and everything was bound in the fetters of ice." The County of Hopkins was formed during the early part of this year, although the act of the Legislature sub-dividing Henderson County was approved December 9, 1806. The first case under an act to permit debtors to confess judgment in a summary way, was heard at the July term of the Circuit Court. Assistant Judge Hugh Knox, who also held the distinguished office of surveyor of one of the roads, was indicted and fined during this court for non-performance of duty. AUDUBON. Mr. Collins, in a short biographical sketch of the life of the renowned ornithologist, John J. Audubon, places his arrival in Henderson during 1807, but Mrs. Audubon, in her book of his life, places it during the year 1812. From the most reliable testimony attainable, it is most probable that his arrival dates from 1810 or 1812. On December 22, 1813, he purchased from General Samuel Hopkins, agent of Richard Henderson & Co., lots Nos. 95 and 96, half of the square lying on the west side of Third Street, between Green and Elm. On the third of September, 1814, he purchased lots Nos. 91 and 92, half of the square lying on the west side of Second Street, between Green and Elm. EARLY HENDERSON STREETS. The first mention of High Street is made in this year, and that in connection with an order from-the County Court, appointing Meridith Fisher, John Husbands, Joseph Fuquay and Jacob Sprinkle commissioners to view a roadway from High Street, in the Town of Henderson, and such other streets and lots as to them may seem best to intersect the roads leading to Highland and Green River, at the mouth of Lick Creek. From the best information, the present First Street was originally called High Street, as Second Street was originally known as Mill Street. A tobacco, hemp, flour and pork inspection warehouse was established at Perryville, Henderson County, tand one" in the Town of Henderson, on the lot of Philip Barbour, to be called and known by the name of Henderson Inspection. Nothing of importance occurred during the year 1808 save it be the building of common board warehouses for the reception of tobacco and articles of general merchandise. It is evidently true, however, that the people were distressed for money during that year, for out of a depositum of ninety-seven dollars and ninety-eight cents, reported by Fielding Jones, acting Sheriff, he also reported a delinquent list amounting to seventy-five dollars and thirty-seven and one-half cents. "WORKING" GREEN RIVER. On the sixteenth day of February the following act was approved: "Be it enacted, etc., That it shall and may be lawful for the County Courts of the several counties through or by which so much of Green River may run as is navigable, to cause the same to be cleared out and kept in a situation fit for navigation, and for that purpose shall annually in the months of July, August or September, lay off said river into precincts and appoint an overseer to each precinct, and allot a sufficient number of hands of the male titheables of the county to keep the same open for navigation. That it shall be the duty of the overseers respectively, to call on the hands, to each of them alloted and within one month thereafter, or as soon thereafter as practicable, to proceed with such hands and remove all fish pots and dams of every description, remove all logs, cut and clear away all timber projecting over said stream, shrub all points of islands, and remove such other obstructions in the channel as may impede the navigation of said river. Any overseer failing to do his duty shall be subject to the same penalties as are provided against overseers of roads, and every titheable failing when called on, shall forfeit and pay the sum of seventy-five cents for each day. All titheables working on the river shall be exempt from-working on any of the public roads, and the number of days he shall be required to work on the river shall not exceed three in any one year." For many years men were appointed to work Green River as regularly as they were appointed to work the roads of the county. FIRST HABEAS CORPUS. The first writ of habeas corpus was granted at the April term of the Circuit Court, 1809, to Joseph and Sarah Wendell, and they were discharged from the custody of the jailer. CIRCUIT COURT RULES. The first Circuit Court rules were read, recorded and established at the July meeting, and are as follows: " First.--There shall not more than two lawyers appear in any civil suit or motion, nor shall any lawyer speak more than once, unless where he appears alone for the plaintiff, or by leave of the court " Second.-The counsel for the defendant shall always have his pleas ready when his suit shall be called, if not, the writ of inquiry shall forthwith be executed. " Third.-The plaintiff shall not put his suit at the end of the docket, until he has first shown by legal grounds for a continuance, then the clerk shall put it at the end of the docket. " Fourth.-A party obtaining a leave to amend (if any amendment operates as a continuance) shall pay the whole cost of the term. • " Fifth.-On motion for a new trial, the grounds upon which such motion shall be made, shall be stated in writing, and affidavit filed where proof is necessary. " Sixth.-No motion shall be made for a continuance until an affidavit is filed, stating the grounds for such, continuance; and where a witness lives out of the State, or a second motion is made on account of the absence of the same witness, the affidavit must state what the witness will swear. "Seventh.-Whenever any suit shall be laid over by consent, it shall be put at the end of the docket. " Eighth,-No motion will be heard after the business of the day is taken up." At this time, and prior to this time, it was frequently the case to render judgment-especially in cases where the plaintiff was nonsuited-payable in tobacco, one hundred and fifty pounds or more. At this term of the court William B. Smith was indicted and fined one hundred dollars for assaulting Uriah Blue, High Sheriff. DANGEROUS WOMEN OR A COWARDLY MAN. There were dangerous women in those good old days, or else there was one great coward. Joseph Wendell, a hard character, who had, with his wife been confined in jail and released under a writ of habeas corpus, came into court and made affidavit that he feared great bodily harm would be done him by Lydia Johnson, Mary Ann and Sarah Horton, and prayed that they be recognized to keep the peace. This was done, and General Sam'l G. Hopkins, to give emphasis to his extreme disgust, or to show his keen appreciation of the female sex, volunteered security, which was accepted. Immediately thereafter at the instance of Mrs. Wendall, the aforesaid Joseph was placed under similar bond, but there was no General Hopkins to volunteer security, and Joseph was once again placed behind the bars. The County Court contracted with John Williams to bridge Lick Creek at the Owensboro crossing, and at that time the floor sills were only required to be twenty-four feet long. The depositum reported by the Sheriff for this year, was two hundred and thirty-eight dollars and twenty cent. The delinquent list thirty-three dollars. By an act of the General Assembly the whole of Richard Henderson & Co.'s grant of land was taken into Henderson County. This was done by an act entitled, "An act to add part of Ohio County to the County of Henderson," approved January, 1809, and is as follows: "Be it enacted, etc., That from and after the first day of April next, all that part of Ohio County comprised within the following bounds, shall be added to, and considered a part of the County of Henderson, to wit: beginning on the Ohio at the mouth of Green River and running up the Ohio to where the line of Henderson & Co.'s grant strikes the same, thence with said line to Green River, thence down the same to the beginning." By this act, what is now known as the Point Precinct, was added to Henderson County. During this year, Mr. Phillip Barbour was largely interested in the manufacture of salt, at the United States Saline Territory, of Illinois, and while that necessity was not so unreasonably high in price as it was a few years prior to that time, it was yet too high for the convenience of the ordinary pocket-book. It was now manufactured in greater quanities, from the fact, with the opening up of the country, larger supplies of water had been discovered, and greater convenience secured for boiling and evaporating. From an old letter found, the following is taken, to give a limited idea of the salt trade, and how it was carried on from this section at that time. Only a few years before, it was a difficult matter to supply Henderson and the surrounding country, but the discovery of the Saline Wells overstocked this market, and directed the attention of dealers to other and more populous markets. On July 25, 1809, Stephen Cantrell, Jr., & Co., Nashville, Tenn., wrote Mr. Barbour, acknowledging the receipt of a quantity of salt, and stating that the general price of salt in that town had been for some weeks past, steady at two dollars per bushel, but in order to effect a ready sale of his shipment, they had disposed of the entire lot at one dollar and seventy-five cents per bushel; further, that the price would likely fall the approaching season, owing to the exportation of large quantities looked for. In this letter was an account of sales in which they charge up 5 per cent, commissions for handling and selling. In Mr. Barbour's old papers, the following bills of lading were found: "Shipped in good order and well condition, in and upon the good boat called, the 'Nancy,' 31 bbls. salt, for account James Wilson, bound to Nashville, Tennessee, Charles Stewart, Master." "April 10, 1809. Shipped in good order, by Philip Barbour, in and upon the good boat called, the 'Ohio Packet,' James Barbour, Master, bound for Louisville, eighty-four bbls. salt; freight to be paid at the rate of sixty-six cents per hundred weight" CORDELLING. The "Nancy" and "Ohio Packet," were keelboats or barges, propelled by hand, for it is well known that there were no steamboats at that time. These were drawn up stream by ropes in the hands of men trudging on shore by the water's edge. The immensity of this undertaking can hardly be realized at this time, for it is something fearful nowadays to move an empty barge a few hundred yards upstream, but in early days, before the introduction of steam, men cordelled heavily ladened barges, unconscious of the enormity of the undertaking, and plodded along in quite as good humor, as will usually be found displayed by the crew of one of the largest and finest Ohio River steamers. 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/chapterx321gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/kyfiles/