Jessamine County KyArchives History - Books .....Nicholasville 1898 ************************************************ 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 August 5, 2007, 1:22 pm Book Title: A History Of Jessamine County, Kentucky Nicholasville. On Saturday, September 16, 1798, Rev. John Metcalf took the initial steps to locate Nicholasville. At the time of the location of the town he called it after Hon. George Nicholas. At that time several roads, well-located, converged at the point. The settlers from Jessamine and Hickman creeks, which were then the most thickly populated parts of the territory embraced in Jessamine county, were in the habit of traveling" between these two creeks. The road which then ran to Lexington ran substantially on the line of the turnpike and its traces are still distinctly visible to the eye at various points along the turnpike. This was true of the roads which ran from Nicholasville and what is known as Russell's tavern. In the location of the turnpike, very little of this old line was used. This was equally true of the road to Sulphur Well, but the roads crossed at that time north and south and east and west, exactly where Main street and Maincross street now intersect each other. The inducing causes which led to the location were, first, four large springs, which were presumed then, to be never-failing. These all were within the limits of the twenty-five acres laid out into the town, and second, to the fact of the road passing from Lexington and Danville, and from East Hickman to Jessamine, crossing at right angles at the point. Little Jessamine, or East Jessamine, was then a stream of more importance than now. Rising about a mile above and fed by other streams along the line, it became quite a volume for a creek by the time it passed through the borders of the newly laid out village. It was quite a while after the town was established before much trade centered within its limits. The people who first lived in the town wore farmers in the immediate neighborhood. There was no post-office in Nicholasville for several years after its location. The mails were carried on horseback between Lexington and Danville and Lancaster and Harrodsburg. Its location was not made without clashes of personal interest Samuel H. Woodson, who was then a lawyer, desired to establish the town where the Shely place now stands, about one mile south of the present location, while Frederick Zimmerman sought to have the town established about three-quarters of a mile north, on top of the hill, just beyond the Duncan farm. It required several years to get the matter finally settled, and it was largely due to the great influence as well as the persistent efforts of Rev. John Metcalf that the town was laid out in its present location. A large proportion of the settlers in Nicholasville were from the state of Virginia, and a few from North and South Carolina. Nathaniel McLean, who married Catherine Blackford in Morris county, New Jersey, was a brother-in-law of Benjamin Blackford. McLean built the first log cabin in Nicholasville on the lot now owned by Mr. Burdine. Blackford himself had settled on the farm just north of Nicholasville, now owned by his grandson, Robert Duncan, in 1783. John McLean, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, lived for quite a while in his youth on the Duncan farm. When four years old his father moved to Morgantown, Va., and thence came to Nicholasville, Ky., and subsequently moved to Warren county, Ohio. He remained in Jessamine until he was about sixteen years of age. In 1812 he was eected [sic] to Congress from the Cincinnati district. He refused the nomination for the United States Senate in 1815, but was elected a Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio, in 1816. In 1821 he was appointed postmaster general and in 1829 he was appointed Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was a man of great ability and great force of character. He delivered a dissenting opinion in the Dred Scott case, declaring that slavery was contrary to right and that it had its origin in power alone, and that in this country it was sustained only by local law. He died in Cincinnati on the 4th of April, 1861. .Within the memory of persons living, there was an old well dug by Judge McLean's father on the Duncan place. It was east of the house about 200 yards. The next settler in the town was Maj. Benjamin Netherland. Shortly after the battle of Blue Licks, in J 782, he put up a log cabin on the lot now occupied by the county jail, and adjoining it shortly afterwards, another log cabin. This was subsequently replaced by the Mingo tavern. The tavern house he erected in 1793, and it was still used by him as a hotel at the time of his death, in 1838. Previous to October, 1801, there was no post-office nearer to Nicholasville than Lexington. On the first of September of that year Major Netherland wrote to the postmaster general urging the establishment of a mail road from Lexington, Nicholasville Lancaster and Harrodsburg, and by way of Frankfort and Richmond. Joseph Habersham, of Georgia, was postmaster-general. He wrote the following letter to Major Netherland: "Your letter was received. Enclosed you have an advertisement, inviting proposals for carrying the mail from Nicholasville to Lexington, Frankfort, Lancaster and Richmond, and I shall be glad to receive yours. Mr. Clay has recommenced your appointment to the office of postmaster of Nicholasville, and I have decided upon your appointment unless you decline, and wish to avoid the trouble. I am "Your obedient servant, "J. HABERSHAM, P. M. G." This letter Major Netherland answered as follows: "Nicholasville, Ky., Sept. 21, 1801. "Your favor of the 4th of August came to hand while I was in Lexington, with enclosed advertisement for carrying the mails from Nicholasville to Lexington, Frankfort, Richmond, Harrodsburg and Lancaster. It is the earnest wish of all the inhabitants of this county that a postoffice be established in Nicholasville, which is twelve miles from Lexington, over a totorous mud road, in winter. If it should be thought expedient to establish a post-office in the village and my name annexed to it, I will accept. I am, sir, "Your obedient servant, "B. NETHERLANDS In answer to this Major Netherland received the following letter: "Washington City, Sept. 20, 1801. "Major Benjamin Netherland: "From information I have received I conclude it will be agreeable to you to accept the office of postmaster at Nicholasville. You will receive herewith two packets containing a copy of a law for regulating postoffices, with forms and directions, a key for unlocking the mail portmanteau, a table of postoffices, and the necessary blanks. The enclosed bond you will be pleased to execute with sufficient surety or sureties and then return the same together with a note, after they have been duly certified by the Justice of the Peace, before whom you shall take and subscribe them. When they are received at this office a commission will be duly forwarded. You can commence business as soon as your bond is executed and forwarded, if you think proper Your obedient servant, " J. HABERSHAM, P. M- G-M It is evident that these two letters crossed each other on the post road, between Washington and Nicholasville. Major Netherland remained postmaster at Nicholasville for more than twenty years, and kept the postoffice in the Mingo tavern. Col. George Nicholas and Rev. John Metcalf were close friends. Four years before Nicholasville was located he wrote Colonel Nicholas the following letters: "January 14, 1794. "Hon. Geo. Nicholas: "I have lately received from you two of your kind letters and would have answered them before now, but I have taken charge of Bethel Academy, and have been so confined for the last two weeks in fitting up suitable places of abode for some of my pupils that I have greatly neglected my private affairs, and especially that portion of them which you are attending to in Lexington." "Jessamine county, Ky., Sept. 16, J798. "Hon. Geo. Nicholas: "It afforded me great happiness to hear that you had returned in safety and health to your family and friends. I expected to hear from you more frequently, but, I suppose, the multiplicity of care and busines prevent your devoting much of your time to letters, save what you wrote to me and Joseph Crockett. But now that you have arrived at home I shall expect to hear from you soon and as often as usual. I must inform you that I have named our county seat Nicholasville in honor of you. I was all day laying off three streets to-day, and my nerves are very much affected by the severe labors in the wet weather. These being the circumstances under which I write you this hasty note, I fear it will have but poor claims upon your time, but I can not help it. "Your friend, "JOHN METCALF." The contest about the location of the county seat must have been carried on for some time and quite vigorously. On the 7th of October, 1803, Mr. Metcalf wrote the following letter: "Charles West High Sheriff, "Jessamine county: "My Dear Sir—I write to assure you that we have succeeded, amid much foolish opposition from Samuel H. Woodson, County and Circuit Court Clerk, and Mr. Frederick Zimmerman, County Surveyor, in locating our county seat. Mr. Woodson wanted to locate the town near his residence, one mile south of the first survey, which I made six years ago, including twenty-five acres. Mr. Zimmerman wanted the town to include the residence of Fisher Rice, which is one mile north. I am now convinced that through your efforts and Mr. Caldwell's and mine, I have defeated Mr. Woodson and Mr. Zimmerman in their foolish opposition to the present location, which is more suitable and more convenient to roads east and west to the Kentucky river. A supply of good water was another great advantage which we had over the other two places. There are four good springs of water that never run dry. This convenience to good water, more than any other consideration, caused me to select this location in preference to the other places. I thank you for the assistance you gave me in defeating a claim as foolish as it was selfish. I am pleased to learn that Mr. Zimmerman, as 'legal surveyor,' has surveyed the present site, which was legally recorded last year (1802). We have twenty heads of families erecting houses on a number of lots. Come and see me soon." Additional Comments: Extracted from: A HISTORY OF JESSAMINE COUNTY, KENTUCKY, FROM ITS EARLIEST SETTLEMENT TO 1898. By BENNETT H. YOUNG, PRESIDENT POLYTECHNIC SOCIETY; MEMBER FILSON CLUB; MEMBER CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION, 1890; AUTHOR HISTORY OF THE CONSTITUTIONS OF KENTUCKY, OF "BATTLE OF BLUE LICKS, ETC, ETC. S. M. DUNCAN, ASSOCIATE AUTHOR. Every brave and good life out of the past is a treasure which cannot be measured in money, and should be preserved with faithfullest care. LOUISVILLE, KY.: COURIER-JOURNAL JOB PRINTING CO., 1898. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ky/jessamine/history/1898/ahistory/nicholas259gms.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/kyfiles/