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REUBEN T. DURRETT.
President of the Filson Club.
FILSON CLUB.PUBLICATIONS NO. 8. —
THE CENTENARY OF LOUISVILLE
A Paper read before the Southern Historical Association, Saturday, May ist, 1880,
IN COMMEMORATION OF THE
ONE HUNDREDTH ANNIVERSARY
OF THE BEGINNING OF THE
CITY OF LOUISVILLE
AS AN INCORPORATED TOWN,
UNDER AN ACT OF THE LEGISLATURE OF VIRGINIA.
BY REUBEN T. DURRETT,
President of the Fllson Club.
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY: JOHN P. MORTON AND COMPANY,
to l§e Siteor; €fu&. 1893
COPYRIGHTED BY
REUBEN T. DURRETT,
1893
I
PREFACE.
THE historical paper read by Reuben T. Durrett, President of the Filson Club, to the Southern Historical Association, May i, 1880, in commemora- tion of the One Hundredth Anniversary of the birth of Louisville, is here issued as No. 8 of the Filson Club publications. Last year, 1892, the Club published "The Centenary of Kentucky" as Filson Club Publica- tions No. 7, and it is thought that " The Centenary of Louisville," the chief city of the State, will be a fitting companion. Mr. Durrett has revised this paper so as to free it from certain omissions and mistakes which appeared in the newspaper reports at the time it was delivered. It was too long for our daily papers to print in full, and the attempt to condense it not only de- stroyed its unity but marred it by important omissions. Its publication in full, with foot-notes and appendices, will restore an important historic document to what it was intended by the author. It can hardly fail thus published to be grateful to the descendants of the
4 Preface.
founders of the city whose names are mentioned, while it must be invaluable to the future historian. Indeed it is hardly too much to say that the future historian of Louisville and the biographer of its founders can not faithfully tell the story of the city and its pioneers without either this publication or the original sources from which its facts are taken, which sources are to a large extent in manuscript in the possession of the
author.
THOMAS SPEED,
Secretary of the Filson Club. LOUISVILLE, KY., 1893.
CORRESPONDENCE.
LOUISVILLE, KY., April 24, 1880. COL. R. T. DURRETT :
Dear Sir : At a meeting of the Southern Historical Association, held last night, the undersigned were appointed a committee to invite you to read before our association, on next Saturday even- ing, May i, 1880, at eight o'clock, a paper upon the settlement and early history of Louisville, that being the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of our city. This request has been made with a desire to preserve for our association and for history all the valuable facts and incidents upon the subject which you, with a taste for such matters, have collected during all the years of your residence in this city, eminently qualifying you for this duty. Earnestly hoping that you will accept the invitation it affords us so much pleasure to convey, we are, etc.,
Yours very truly,
E. H. MCDONALD,
JOHN S. JACKMAN, R. H. THOMPSON,
Committee.
LOUISVILLE, KY., April 24, 1880. MESSRS. E. H. MCDONALD, J. S. JACKMAN, R. H. THOMPSON :
Gentlemen : I have your communication of this morning, invit- ing me to read a paper before the Southern Historical Association next Saturday, the one hundredth anniversary of Louisville, as a
6 Correspondence.
centennial address. While I would have preferred, if your rules had permitted, to deliver an address to reading a paper, it never- theless affords me great pleasure to accept the flattering invitation with which I am honored.
Louisville for the last one hundred years is history, and yours being an historical association has very properly determined not to let its one hundredth anniversary pass without making it part of the society records. In the short time which I have I will, therefore, endeavor to prepare the best paper I can on Louisville for an hun- dred years, and read it before the Southern Historical Association next Saturday evening. Respectfully,
R. T. DURRETT.
The Centenary of Louisville.
A' its May session, one hundred years ago, the Leg- islature of Virginia passed an act, which took effect on the first of May, 1780, establishing the town of Louisville at the Falls of the Ohio. Previous to this date there was a settlement here known as the " Falls of Ohio," and indeed one known as Louisville, but to-day is the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Louisville as an incorporated town.
In the barbarous ages of the world, periods of an hundred years came and went without any remarkable changes in the condition of man. Even under the lights of early civilization centuries dawned and faded without the effects produced in modern times by such periods. We of to-day, with the arts and sciences to help, crowd into a single year what our ancestors could accomplish only in very long periods of time. The contrast between the Louisville of 1880 and the Louis- ville of 1780 is very great; but between our city of
8 The Centenary of Louisville.
to-day and what it may be in 1980 the contrast must be much greater. The lightning with which we speak and the iron horse on which we ride are but emblems of the rapid age in which we rush on to grand achieve- ments.
As we stand at the distance of one hundred years from the incorporation of the town of Louisville at the Falls of the Ohio, and look back upon the changes that have occurred, the space of time that is involved naturally divides itself into three periods: the first, anterior to the act of the Virginia Legislature giving Louisville legal existence; the second, the time during which the town was governed by trustees, and the third, the period in which as a city it has been sub- ject to mayors and councils under charters. Let us, in response to the suggestions of the occasion, recur to such events in each of these periods as may be worthy of the memory of the actors in them and explanatory of the changes which have brought our city from what it was to what it is.
FIRST PERIOD.
Enfmor io flje 3Tir»f of IDag, 1780.
PREHISTORIC RACES.
WERE we disposed to look deeply into the distant past, to peer into a time to the confines of which neither history nor tradition reaches, we have some evi- dence to show that when all was dark and unknown the place now occupied by the citizens of Louisville was possessed by a race of human beings who lived long upon the earth, progressed in some branches of the arts, and passed away without a history, a tradition, or a name. We call them Mound-Builders, and besides attributing to them certain tumuli and works found upon the surface of the earth, pieces of pottery for domestic use, stone hatchets, flint arrow-heads, and numerous articles of use and ornament supposed to have been made by them have been found mingled with human bones, in sinking wells and excavating cellars, deep down below the present plane upon which Louisville now stands. In a large mound * which stood
* St. Paul's Church, on the northwest corner of Walnut and Sixth streets, stands on the site of a mound which also extended to the old Graysou House
ro The Centenary of Louisville.
at the intersection of Walnut and Sixth streets, and in another* at the northeast corner of Main and Fifth streets, human bones, stone axes, flint arrow-heads, and different articles of use and ornament belonging to the paleolithic period were found. In cutting the channel of the canal around the Falls there were found in the alluvial deposit, twenty feet below the surface, a number of implements made of stone, and plummets made of the hematite of iron, and a hearth made of flat stones with the charred ends of wood upon it, and human bones near to it. In the lower part of the city, at the still greater depth of forty feet below the present surface, were found a stone hatchet and pestle near a hearth on which lay
on the north. This mound, though not more than fifteen feet in height when first known, had a circumference of more than one hundred feet at its base. In 182 . it was dug down by Frederick W. Grayson, and the material used for filling up what was known as Grayson's Pond. This pond extended from Walnut almost to Green and from Sixth to Center streets, and was one of the attractions of the city in early times, on account of its clear water filled with fish and the fine forest trees that shaded its margins. In winter, when cov- ered with ice, it was the skating-rink of the city. In digging down this mound many prehistoric relics, such as axes, arrow-heads, pipes, pieces of pottery, etc, were found, also human bones almost gone to decay The skull of a supposed "Mound-Builder" and a number of paleolithic specimens from s mound have been preserved and are now in the possession of the writer The ground on which the old Grayson House stands is considerably above the street level, and is the only survival of this mound.
'The mound at the corner of Main and Fifth streets was of less dimen- sions than the one at the corner of Walnut and Sixth, and yielded fewer s mound, however, was probably what determined the beginning
The Centenary of Louisville.
ii
a stick of wood burnt in the middle across the hearth ; and in a gravel pit at the corner of Fourteenth and Kentucky streets, at the depth of twenty-five feet below the surface, was found the tooth of a mastodon among human bones and implements of the Stone Age. Here we have facts from which the ethnologist might infer that man had been here cotemporary with the mastodon ; that a race of human beings dwelt where Louisville now stands, possibly before the Pyramids were built, and that we are now erecting a great city over the former habi- tation of men so long passed away that the dust of ages has accumulated to the depth of forty feet above the place that knows them no more forever.
of lot-numbering in the city. Lot No. I was located at the northeast corner of Main and Fifth streets, where this mound stood. It was at first regarded as a natural hill by the pioneers, but was of such regular form as to attract attention to the place, and to determine the point where the city should begin to be laid off. In its immediate vicinity were a large oak and a huge poplar, which cast their shadows upon it and added to the attractiveness of the locality. Michael Lacassagne, the first postmaster of Louisville, became the owner of lot No. I, after several previous owners had possessed it, and erected on it a beautiful French cottage, where he resided. He lived in lux- urious style and kept open house. It was his intention to preserve this mound as one of the picturesque features of his place, but he died in 1797, and in 1802 the last remains of the mound were removed by Evan Williams, and the material used in equalizing the grade of Fifth Street between Main and the river. In removing it the flint arrow-heads, stone axes, pieces of pot- tery, and human bones found in it decided that it was an artificial mound and not a natural hill.
12
The Centenary of Louisville.
THE INDIAN OCCUPANCY.
The Indians who claimed the possession of the land when the first settlers came to the Falls of the Ohio had dispossessed the first occupants at a period too remote for history, but their traditions tell us that the last great battle between the red men and the " long ago people " was fought on Sandy Island, at the Falls of the Ohio. Here and at Clarksville, on the opposite side of the river, the first settlers found great quantities of human bones in the confusion in which the last struggle for life would naturally have left them, and the Indians claimed that these were the bones of the " long ago people " extermi- nated by their ancestors.
THE INDIANS' GREAT PARK.
When the first settlers of Louisville came to the Falls of the Ohio the whole State of Kentucky, except that portion known as the Barrens,* was covered by the pri-
*The Barrens are laid down on Filson's map of 1784 as lying between Salt River on the north, Green River on the south, the knobs of the Mul- draugh range on the east, and the Ohio River on the west. Here was avast treeless region covered with coarse grass that grew as high as a man on horseback, and over which roamed great herds of buffalo and deer. It was thought to have been caused by the burning of the trees by the Indians for the purpose of securing pasturage for these animals. This would seem to
The Centenary of Louisville. 13
meval forest and set aside as the hunting-ground of the Indians. No wigwam stood within its boundaries and no crop of maize grew upon its soil. It was a park ded- icated to the different tribes for hunting and fishing, and no human habitation anywhere desecrated this com- mon right to the forest and stream. A great flood in the Ohio caused the Indians to erect a village * in Ken- tucky, opposite to the mouth of the Scioto, about the middle of the last century; but it passed away before Louisville was settled, leaving the great park undis- turbed. It was such a park as no civilized nation had ever set aside for angling and the chase. From the
have been the cause, from the fact that so soon as the Indians were driven from the country this region was covered with a new growth of young trees. The trees here are not so large as in other parts of the forests of Kentucky, because they have had but about a century of growth. Along the water- courses, however, where the original trees were protected from the fire, there are some of the giants of the original forest yet to be seen. It is difficult to understand how the Indians could have set fire to an original forest; but if this original forest had been once destroyed by drouth, insects, or any other agent, it is easy to conceive how they might have kept new trees from growing by the use of fire. Whatever may have been the original cause of the Barrens, they were there cotemporaneous with the Indians, and when the Indians were gone the trees began to grow.
When Christopher Gist was on his way down the Ohio to select lands for the Ohio Company, in 1750, he stopped at the mouth of the Scioto River and noted in his journal a Shawnee town on the Kentucky side of the Ohio, containing about forty houses. George Croghan, in his journal of 1765, says this town on the Kentucky side was built on the high lands of Kentucky by the Indians because of a great flood in the Ohio, which rose nine feet over the banks on the opposite side of the river and rendered uninhabitable the
14 The Centenary of Louisville.
rugged mountains, that walled it in on the east, to the mighty Mississippi and the lovely Ohio, which bound it on the west and north, there was a succession of lovely plains and gentle hills and smiling valleys and dark for- ests and sunny canebrakes in which game of every kind abounded. There were herds of buffalo and droves of deer and flocks of turkeys on the hills and plains and in the valleys such as mortal eye had not elsewhere seen, and in the rivers and streams winding through every part of the land there were shoals of fish that it seemed could never be exhausted.
old Shawnee town which stood there. The banks on which this old Shawnee town stood, on the north side of the river, were forty feet high, so that this flood must have risen to a height of about fifty feet at the mouth of the Scioto. Croghan says that during the French and Indian War the Indians abandoned their Kentucky town for fear of the Virginians, and rebuilt on the plains of the Scioto. James McAfee was there in 1773, and noted in his journal of that date that some of the houses built of logs, with board roofs, doors, and chim- neys, were yet standing, though not inhabited. He speaks of the houses as of the style usually built by the French, and it is probable that this Kentucky town was of joint French and Indian origin. Another Indian town in Ken- tucky is laid down on the Pownal edition of the Evans map of 1755. It is called Eskippakithiki, and is between the Kentucky and Licking rivers. The Shawnees at an early date no doubt had other villages in Kentucky, as indi- cated by the Indian Old Fields in Clark County and other remains elsewhere. Dr. Franklin, in his answer to the report of the Lords Commissioners, in 1772, stated that the'Shawnees had a large town on the Kentucky River in 1752, and another opposite to the mouth of the Scioto in 1755. All, however, had van- ished before our pioneers settled in Kentucky. Nothing remained to indicate previous occupancy that was so conspicuous as the mysterious earthworks of the Mound-Builders.
The Centenary of Louisville. 15
The work of the first settlers of Louisville was not therefore to dispossess a prior people of their ancestral homes, but to turn the barrens and forests in which they hunted into the farms and cities of civilization, and to make the noble rivers in which they fished the highways of commerce. Our ancestors found here in 1773, on the high bank of a noble river, a fine site for a city, with a genial sky above and a generous soil around, which was unoccupied, and at most only visited at long intervals by roving bands of savages in search of game, or on the lookout for beings of their own kind on whom to make war.
LA SALLE* THE DISCOVERER OF LOUISVILLE.
In the year 1808, while digging the foundation of the great flouring mill of the Tarascons in that part of Louisville known as Shippingport, it became necessary
* Robert Cavalier de La Salle was a Frenchman, born at Rouen in 1643. He was of an honorable Burgher family, possessed of both wealth and political influence. He was educated for the priesthood of the Jesuits, but when his education was completed, and he had reached the years of manhood, he found himself utterly unfitted for the duties of the followers of Loyola. There were blended in his nature an invincible inclination to think and to act for himself, and this was not compatible with the Jesuits' rule, which required all subor- dinates to follow the thoughts of their superiors. He left the Jesuits in early manhood and made his way to Canada, in North America, in 1666. He prob- ably came to this country for the purpose of being an explorer, and with the hope of finding a water-way across the continent to the Pacific Ocean. He
1 6 The Centenary of Louisville.
to remove a large sycamore tree, the trunk of which was six feet in diameter, and the roots of which penetrated the earth for forty feet around. Under the center of the trunk of this tree was found an iron hatchet,* which was so guarded by the base and roots that no human hand could have placed it there after the tree grew. It
made important discoveries, among which were the Ohio and Illinois rivers, and was the first to descend the Mississippi from the Illinois River to the Gulf. After a failure to find the mouth of the Mississippi by sea, he attempted to reach Canada by land, and was murdered by his own employes, in 1687, on a branch of Trinity River in Texas.
* This hatchet when found passed into the hands of Jared Brooks, an early engineer and journalist of Louisville. His plan of a canal around the Falls, drawn in 1806, was substantially adopted when the canal was made, a quarter of a century later. He was the author of two of the best maps of Louisville, one in 1806 and the other in 1812. We are indebted to him for the only scien- tific account we have of the earthquake of 1812, which formed Reelfoot Lake, and changed the face of the country in the southwestern portion of the State. He was for several years editor of the Louisville Gazette, and was noted for his learning upon almost every subject. He died in 1816, and after his death there were found among his papers crayon likenesses of many of our most eminent pioneers, and drawings of a number of the early buildings of the city. He seems to have contemplated and been at work upon an illustrated history of Louisville, but died before finishing it. He was a man of sufficient learning to know the value of this hatchet as an historic souvenir, and to him it is possible its preservation is due. He got it from Mr. Tarascon, on whose premises it was found, and afterwards passed it to Dr. McMurtrie, who men- tioned it in his history of Louisville. When Dr. McMurtrie returned to Phila- delphia it passed from him to William Marshall, who sold it to the present owner. It is seven inches long and five inches wide across the cutting edge. It is of light make, and seems to be of French manufacture. When found it was almost consumed by rust, but the flakes which came off when it was exposed to the air have been re-cemented with shellac, and the hatchet thus restored to its original appearance.
RENE-ROBERT CAVALIER. SIEUR DE LA SALLE.
The Discoverer of the Site of Louisville.
The Centenary of Louisville. 17
must have occupied the spot where it was found when the tree began to grow. The hatchet was made by bend- ing a flat bar of iron around a cylinder until the two ends met, and then welding them together and hammer- ing them to a cutting edge, leaving a round hole at the bend for a handle. The annulations of this tree were two hundred in number, thus showing it to be two hun- dred years old according to the then mode of computa- tion. Here was a find which proved to be a never-ending puzzle to the early scientists of the Falls of the Ohio. The annulations of this tree made it two hundred years old, and so fixed the date earlier than any white man or user of iron was known to have been at the falls. One thought that Moscoso, the successor of De Soto, in his wanderings up the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, might have entered the Ohio and left the hatchet there in 1542; another, that it might have come from the Spaniards who settled St. Augustine in 1565 ; another, that the Spaniards who went up the Ohio in 1669 in search of silver might have left it where it was found; and another, that Marquette, when he discovered the Upper Mississippi in 1673, or La Salle, when he sailed down to its mouth in 1682, might have given the hatchet to an Indian, who left it at the Falls. But from these reasonable conjectures their learning and imagination soon led these savants
3
1 8 The Centenary of Louisville.
into the wildest theories and conjectures. One thought that the Northmen, whom the Sagas of Sturleson made discoverers of America in the eleventh century, had brought the hatchet to this country; another, that Prince Madoc,* who left a principality in Wales in the twelfth century for a home in the western wilderness, might have brought it here ; and another, that it might have been brought here by those ancient Europeans whom Diodorus and Pausanius and other classical writers assure us were in communication with this country in ancient times.
X
One of these learned ethnologists finally went so far as to advance the theory of the Egyptian priests, as related by Plato, that the autochthons of our race brought it here before the Island of Atlantis, lying between Europe and America, went down in the ocean and cut off all further communication between the continents.f
*See Appendix A.
tThe philosophers of Louisville who so learnedly discussed the iron hatchet were men of the highest standing in their day. They were Louis A. Tarascon, the author of several pamphlets and newspaper articles published here in early years; Jared Brooks, an accomplished engineer, scientist, and journalist; Fortunatus Cosby, a learned lawyer and Judge of the Jefferson Cir- cuit Court; Richard Ferguson, an eminent physician and surgeon; Joshua Vail, associate editor and owner of the Farmers' Library, the first newspaper pub- lished in Louisville; John J. Audubon, the distinguished ornithologist and author; James C.Johnston, a learned physician and accomplished scholar, and William Marshall, an antiquarian. Dr. Johnston was the youngest of the party, but he made up in brains and learning what he lacked in years. William Marshall made no pretensions to culture, but he was an antiquarian, and got
The Centenary of Louisville. 19
This hatchet, however, really furnished no occasion for such strained conjectures and wild speculations. If the sycamore under which it was found was two hundred years old, as indicated by its annulations, it must have begun to grow about the time that Jamestown in Virginia and Quebec in Canada were founded. It would have been no unreasonable act for an Indian or white man to have brought this hatchet from the English on the James, or from the French on the St. Lawrence, to the Falls of the Ohio in 1608, just two hundred years before it was dis- covered by removing the tree that grew over it. The known habit of the sycamore, however, to make more than one annulation in years particularly favorable to growth suggests that two hundred annulations do not necessarily mean that many years. If we allow about fifty per cent of the life of the tree to have been during
admission to the learned circle by the curious specimens and souvenirs he was always finding and showing. He got hold of a translation of the Timseus of Plato, and became a convert to the theory of the Sunken Continent as related to Solon by the Egyptian priests. It was he who suggested that the hatchet might have come from the Island of Atlantis before it went down and cut off all communication between the Eastern and Western hemispheres. He lived to extreme old age, and supported himself in the pinching poverty of his last years by the sale of the souvenirs and specimens he had collected when in better circumstances. He managed to get possession of this old hatchet when Dr. McMurtrie returned to Philadelphia, and held it for a long time as the gem of his little collection. He finally sold it to secure, as he stated, bread to save him from starvation.
20 The Centenary of Louisville.
years exceptionally favorable to its growth, and assign double annulations to these favorable years, we shall have this tree to have made its two hundred annulations in about one hundred and thirty-nine years, and to have sprung from its seed and to have begun its growth about the year 1669 or 1670, when La Salle, the great French explorer, is believed to have been at the Falls of the Ohio. We have no account of any one at the Falls in 1608, or about this time, to support the conjecture that it might have come from Jamestown or Quebec ; but we have La Salle at this place in 1669 or 1670, and it is not unreasonable that he should have left it here at that time. In this sense the old rusty hatchet, which is fortunately preserved, becomes interesting to us all for its connec- tion with the discovery of Louisville. It is a souvenir of the first white man who ever saw the Falls of the Ohio. It is a memento of Robert Cavalier de La Salle, the discoverer of the site of the city of Louisville.*
'* There is no little confusion about the time that La Salle was at the Kails of the Ohio. That he was the discoverer of the Ohio River, and descended it to the Falls in 1669 or 1670, is generally conceded; but whether he was at the Falls in 1669 or 1670 is in doubt. Francis Parkman, the learned historian, with all the lights of modern research before him, was to the last in doubt whether it was 1669 or 1670. I have no means of positively determining whether it was in 1669 or 1670, but I want a fixed date for the discovery of the site of Louis- ville, and can afford to reason on the subject. I believe that La Salle was on the site of Louisville late in the fall or earl)' in the winter of 1669, and that the evidence that we have will justify this conclusion. He is known to have been
The Centenary of Louisville. 21
OTHER WHITE PERSONS EARLY AT THE FALLS.
After La Salle discovered the Falls in 1669 or 1670, no white man is known to have done more than to pass the site in ascending or descending the Ohio, as did the French in military movements, and the traders in going from place to place, for nearly one hundred years. In 1766 Captain Thomas Hutchins * was at the Falls of the
at the head of Lake Ontario on the last of September, 1669, on his way to the discovery of the Ohio River. This would allow him two months to find the Ohio and descend it to the Falls before the beginning of winter. What La Salle himself says of the Falls leaves the impression that he visited the rapids when the river was low. There have been years when the low water of the Ohio was prolonged through the fall and into the early winter for want of rains, and it is probable that 1669 was this kind of year. La Salle speaks of the Falls as a " tombe de fort haut," a sight which he could only have seen at low water, if indeed he could have seen it at all. The place where the hatchet was found was on the Shippingport point, from which, looking in a northwest direction above the head of Goose Island, a perpendicular fall of eight or more feet was to be seen, and was often seen at a later date and until the United States Government began to change the character of the falls. It is not likely that this fall could have been seen in the winter of 1670, when the water was presumably high, and La Salle was in Canada in the spring of 1670. I am of the opinion, therefore, that the discoverer of the Ohio and of the site of Louisville made his discovery late in the fall or early in the winter of the year 1669.
* Captain Thomas Hutchius was a native of New Jersey, where he was born in 1730. He was an accomplished engineer, and was the only official geogra- pher the United States ever had. He received the title of "Geographer Gen- eral " while with General Greene in South Carolina. In the Revolutionary War he promptly took sides with the Colonies, and on this account was impris- oned in England, and lost the greater part of his fortune while incarcerated,
22
The Centenary of Louisville.
Ohio, and made a .sketch of the place which was en- graved for his Topographical Description of Virginia, etc., published at London in 1778. This picture of the Falls did more to call attention to the future site of Louisville than all the previous descriptions of traders and adventurers and explorers combined. It was a strik- ing picture of a broad river, with sunny islands here and there in its midst, and noble forest trees standing upon its shores and casting their huge shadows in its crystal waters. It is a striking picture even to this day, pre- senting as it does the original Ohio, with its forest-clad islands and shores, and its ample waters rolling over the rocky wall that causes its rapids, before a tree has been cut on its shores or islands, or any thing done by man to mar its natural grandeur and beauty. This picture was copied by Imlay in his Topographical Description of the Western Territory of North America, published
Besides the book mentioned in the text, he was the author of a "Topograph- ical Description of Louisiana and Florida," published in 1784, and of several valuable articles in the "Philadelphia Transactions " and in the "Transactions of the American Society." His maps and drawings of different parts of the country were much used by the Colonial officers during the war of the Revo- lution. Before the rupture between the mother country and her colonies he was a captain in the Sixtieth Royal American Regiment. He was assistant engineer in Boquet's celebrated expedition of 1764, and furnished the maps and plates afterward used in the first published account of this expedition. He died at Pittsburgh in 1789, and his office died with him, as no Geographer General lias since been appointed by the United States.
The Centenary of Louisville. 23
at London in 1793, and in subsequent editions. It also appeared in the same year in the Stockdale edition of the History of Kentucky by John Filson. The dispatches of French officers, the letters of Indian traders, the jour- nal of Gist in 1750, of Croghan in 1765, of Gordon in 1766, and indeed the accounts of all early writers about the Falls of the Ohio are inefficient in comparison with this picture by Captain Hutchins and his description of the country which accompanied it.
CAPTAIN THOMAS BULLITT.*
In the year 1773 Captain Thomas Bullitt, of Virginia, set oiit for the Falls of the Ohio to survey lands at that point for Dr. John Connolly and others, and with the intention of himself becoming a permanent occupant of the new country. Feeling the necessity of some under- standing with the Indians, who claimed as their hunting-
* Captain Thomas Bullitt was born in Fauquier County, Virginia, in 1730. He was among the first to take part in the French and Indian War, as well as in the Revolutionary struggle which followed. He commanded a company in Washington's regiment at the Great Meadows in 1754, was with Braddock in 1755, and with Grant in 1758. After the defeat of Grant, it was Bullitt who saved the remnant of his army by a bold and well-conceived attack upon the pursuing victors. After the peace of 1763 he was retained in service as Adjutant-General of Virginia; and when the Revolutionary War began he was continued in this office for the Southern Department of the United States. He was at the battle of the Great Bridge in 1775, which drove Lord Dunmore
24 The Centenary of Louisville.
grounds the lands he was about to survey, he went to Chillicothe on his way down the Ohio for a conference with the Shawnees and Delawares. Captain Bullitt made known his wishes in the following speech to the Indians :*
" Brothers, I am sent by my people whom I left on the Ohio to settle the country on the other side of that river as low down as the Falls. We come from Virginia. The king of my people has bought from the nations of the red men, both north and south, all the land ; and I am expected to inform you and all the warriors of this great country that the Virginians and the English are in friend- ship with you. This friendship is dear to them, and they intend to preserve it sacred. The same friendship they expect from you, and from all the nations to the lakes. We know that the Shawnees and the Delawares are to be our nearest neighbors, and we wish them to be our best friends as we will be theirs.
" Brothers, you did not get any of the money or blankets given for the land which I and my people are going to settle. This was hard for you. But it is agreed by the great men who own the land that they will make a present to both the Delawares and the Shaw- nees the next year and the year following that shall be as good.
out of Norfolk. He afterwards was transferred to South Carolina in 1776, under Colonel Lee. This was his last service. He resigned because he did not think he received the prompt promotion to which he was entitled, and retired to his home in Fauquier County, where he died in 1778. His surveys at the Falls were under a commission from William and Mary's College, which Colonel William Preston, as County Surveyor of Fiucastle County, where the lands lay, refused to recognize, and the lands were resurveyed the following year by deputies of Colonel Preston. Lord Dunmore made a deed for the laud sur- veyed by Bullitt for his friend Connolly, without waiting for the approval of County Surveyor Preston. * See Appendix B.
The Centenary of Louisville. 25
" Brothers, I am appointed to settle the country, to live in it, to raise corn, and to make proper rules and regulations among my people. There will be some principal men from my country very soon, and then much more will be said to you. The Governor desires to see you, and will come out this year or the next. When I come again I will have a belt of wampum. This time I came in haste and had not one ready.
" My people only want the country to settle and cultivate. They will have no objection to your hunting and trapping there. I hope you will live by us as brothers and friends.
"You now know my heart, and as it is single towards you, I expect you will give me a kind talk, for I shall write to my Governor what you say to me, and he will believe all I write."
THE INDIANS' REPLY TO CAPTAIN BULLITT.
To this speech by Captain Bullitt the Indians replied as follows :
" Oldest Brother, we heard you would be glad to see your brothers, the Shawnees and Delawares, and talk with them. But we are surprised that you sent no runner before you, and that you came quite near us through the trees and grass, a hard journey, without letting us know until you appeared among us.
" Brother, we have considered your talk carefully, and we are made glad to find nothing bad in it, nor any ill meaning. On the contrary, you speak what seems kind and friendly, and it pleases us well. You mentioned to us your intention of settling the country on the other side of the Ohio with your people. And we are partic- ularly pleased that they are not to disturb us in our hunting, for we must hunt to kill meat for our women and children, and to have
26 The Centenary of Louisville.
something to buy our powder and lead with and to get us clothing and blankets.
"All our young brothers are pleased with what you said. We desire that you will be strong in fulfilling your promises towards us, as we are determined to be very straight in advising our young men to be very kind and peaceable to you.
" This spring we saw something wrong on the part of our young men. They took some horses irom the white people, but we have advised them not to do so again, and have cleaned their hearts of all bad intentions. We expect they will observe our advice, as they like what you said."
THE CONNOLLY SURVEY.
Having had the understanding with the Indians indicated by these speeches, Captain Bullitt returned to his boat on the Ohio and with his associates made his way to the Falls. At the mouth of the Kentucky River he met a large body of Delaware Indians and had an understanding with them like that at Chillicothe. Again, as he approached the Falls, he met a large body of Kickapoos, with whom he held a council and agreed upon the same friendly terms.
On the 8th day of July, 1773, Bullitt moored his vessel in the harbor of Beargrass. After erecting a cabin for shelter on the point near the mouth of Beargrass Creek he and his party* began the surveying of lands.
* Those known to have been in the surveying party of Captain Bullitt were James Douglas, James Harrod, John Smith, James Sodousky, Isaac Kite,
The Centenary of Louisville. 27
He ran the lines of two thousand acres lying imme- diately opposite to the Falls for Dr. John Connolly, for which Lord Dunmore issued a patent on the roth of December, 1773.* On the upper half of this survey, beginning on the river bank near the foot of First Street and running down the river to a point nearly opposite to Twelfth Street, thence in a southwesterly course to near the intersection of Broadway and Eighteenth streets, thence up Broadway to near the intersection of Shelby Street, and thence northwesterly to the begin- ning, the city of Louisville was laid out. Bullitt laid off a town on this Connolly survey in August, 1773; but none of his papers showing the plan of the town as laid out by him are known to have been preserved. The evidence, however, of his having surveyed this land and laid off a town upon it at the time named is sufficiently attested. In April of the following year Dr. John Connolly and Colonel John Campbell advertised lots for
Abram Haptonstall, Ebenezer Severns, John Fitzpatrick, and John Cowan. There may have been others whose names have not been preserved. All of them became permanent residents of Kentucky, and some of them lived long and rose to prominence in pioneer times. Douglas and others of the same party returned to Kentucky in 1774, and resurveyed many of the same lands surveyed in 1773. This was done because Captain Bullitt, the head of the surveying party of 1773, was not a deputy of Colonel William Preston, the surveyor of the county where the lands lay. Colonel Preston required the work to be done by his deputies before he would recognize it. * See Appendix C.
28 The Centenary of Louisville.
sale at the Falls,* presumably according to the Bullitt plan, and in 1775 Sanders Stuart and othersf were sent out by them to occupy their lands. But we know of nothing further that was really accomplished towards the development of the Bullitt town, or the laying of the foundation of Louisville, until 1778. Captain Bullitt went back to Virginia in the fall of 1773 with the inten- tion of returning himself and bringing others with him to settle in the country, but he was detained by the Revolutionary War, and was finally cut off by death and never saw his projected city again. Dr. Connolly busied himself while in command of Fort Pitt, in 1774, with schemes which led to the Indian war of that year and the murder of the family of Logan, the celebrated Cayuga chief; and after losing command of Fort Pitt he con-
* See Appendix D.
t There is some evidence that there were people living at the Falls of the Ohio as early as there were in any other part of the State— at least as early as 1775. Richard Henderson, in his Transylvania Journal of 1775, says that Captain Linn informed him in July, 1775, that Captain Bullitt and Dr. Connolly had sent five or six men to the Falls of the Ohio to occupy lands there. Hugh Hays, an old citizen of Louisville yet living and full of interesting memories of the past, assured me that Sanders Stuart told him he catne to the Falls of the Ohio in company with Peter Casey, David Williams, John Heaton, and Peter Philips, in June, 1775, and took up his abode on Corn Island. Daniel Boone, in his autobiography, published in Filson's History of Kentucky, says that Boonesborough, Harrodsburg, and Logan's contained all the white people that were in Kentucky in 1777, except those that were at the Falls of the Ohio. These statements, taken in connection with the fact that Dr. Connolly's land
The Centenary of Loiiisville. 29
tinned to busy himself with plots to unite the various Indian tribes against the Colonists until he was arrested and thrown into prison, from which he did not escape until others had undertaken and finished the work of founding the city of Louisville.
GENERAL GEORGE ROGERS CLARK.
In the bright month of May, 1778, General George Rogers Clark, under orders of the great Patrick Henry, then Governor of Virginia, set sail from Redstone, on the Monongahela River, with a few volunteer troops for the conquest of the British Posts in the territory of the Illinois. Some twenty families, who were emigrants for Kentucky, embarked on the boats which bore the General and his soldiers, and all came down the Ohio together. When they reached the Falls of the Ohio, which was on the 27th of May, 1778,* General Clark landed upon Corn
at the Falls was conveyed to him upon condition that he should clear and cultivate a portion of it before 1776, and that he would forfeit the whole unless he so cleared and cultivated it, make it reasonably certain that there were people living here at a very early date — as early possibly as at any other point in the State, and at least as early as 1775.
* This date, May 27, 1778, is not taken from the letter of General Clark to the Hon. George Mason, November 17, 1779, which became his journal of the expedition which brought him to the Falls of the Ohio on his way to the Illinois country. General Clark does not in this journal give the date of his arrival at the Falls, nor does he in his memoirs, which I have in manuscript, nor, so far as I have ever seen, give this date in any subsequent paper. The
30 The Centenary of Louisville.
Island and erected block-houses for the protection of his stores, and cabins for the habitation of the emigrants. Corn Island was not then the insignificant pile of rocks and sand that we now see under the great Ohio bridge. It was a large island, reaching nearly to the middle of the river and extending almost from Fourth to Four- teenth Street. On it grew large trees and rank cane. It had a rich soil above high water. The cane was cleared away and the trees cut down and the crop of corn was planted, which some have supposed gave name to the island. On the 26th of June, in the midst of an eclipse of the sun, General Clark started with his troops for his destined expedition, and left the families in the cabins which he had built for them on the island.* Here
date of his arrival at the Falls being an important one in the history of Louis- ville, I tried long to find it, without success. Finally, in examining the papers in case No. 531, in the old Chancery Court of Louisville, for the division of the estate of Colonel John Floyd among his heirs, I came upon the deposition of Captain James Patton, who stated that he reached the Falls of the Ohio May 27, 1778. Knowing that Captain Fatten was with General Clark when he reached the Falls on his expedition to the Illinois, this statement of his fixed the date of Clark's arrival. In this way I determined the 271)1 of May, 1778, as the day on which the families with General Clark landed on Corn Island and laid the foundation of the city of Louisville. Until I made this discovery this date was never known, though it could be easily approximated by allowing General Clark the usual number of days to float from Redstone, which he left May 12, 1778, to the Falls of the Ohio. This trip was made in fifteen days, but it ought to have been made in less time, and would have been but for the day or two spent at the mouth of the Kanawha.
* The cabins erected on Corn Island were on the lower end of the island where the land was highest and the island was narrowest. Here the water was
The Centenary of Louisville, 31
all of the families spent the summer and fall of 1778, and part of them the winter of 1778-79, not, however, without cheering news, for it was not long before it was announced to them that General Clark had conquered the posts against which he had gone, and that from these arsenals no more supplies would be furnished the Indians with which to make war upon the settlers.
From the arrival of these families with General Clark upon Corn Island on the 27th of May, 1778, the Falls of the Ohio was never without occupation by actual settlers. In the winter of 1778-79 and the spring of
deep and the banks high and steep on three sides of the island. By placing a row of pickets across the island on the east or upper side, which was done, the settlement was made safe from sudden assault. A short distance in the rear, to the west of these pickets, stood the block-houses for the soldiers and stores. They consisted of two triple cabins with a passway between, opposite to a gate in the picket line. In the rear of these, on each side of a passway between, was a row of three double cabins; so that there were eighteen cabins in all. The buildings as they stood upon the ground were in the form of an Egyptian cross, the block-houses forming the arms and the cabins the body. They were made of rails split from the cottonwood trees on the island, were covered with boards of the same material, and had dirt floors. The doors were simply openings caused by the absence of rails, as were the windows, and the chimneys were made of the same rails daubed with clay above the fire-bed, where flat stones protected the wood from the heat. These cabins were too far from shore for the rifles of that day, and the water was so swift around the island that it was difficult for any but the experienced to approach. The difficulty, however, of getting from the island to the shore to hunt and supply the settlement with game was so great that the islanders were glad to leave it so soon as it was deemed safe to do so. They preferred the freedom of the broad shore with all its dangers to the confinement of the narrow island with its safety.
32 The Centenary of Louisville.
1779 they moved to the main shore and occupied a fort which had been erected on the main land at the foot of the present Twelfth Street.* On the 25th of December, 1778, they celebrated their first Christinas in the wilder- ness with a feast and a dance in this Twelfth Street fort. They called it a house-warming, and every man, woman, and child of the settlement took part in it. A French- man, who happened there at the time, attempted to supply the music for the dance, but he was too scientific and was soon supplanted by an old negro named Cato Watts, whose fiddle gave them Virginia reels and Irish jigs, and such other lively tunes as they wanted.f
* This fort stood on the high bank of the main land at the foot of the present Twelfth Street. It was quite a large fort, in the form of a parallelo- gram, about two hundred feet long and one hundred feet wide, with eight double cabins on each of the long sides, and four single cabins on each of the short sides, and a block-house at each of the four corners. The cabins were built around a large open court which served for a parade ground, a place for storage, and an enclosure for horses and cattle. The cabins formed the walls of the fort, and there were no other defenses. It was built by Richard Chenowith, and was used by the first settlers until Fort Nelson was built. Being the first fortification on the main land, it formed the nucleus of the first settlement at the Falls. So soon as the settlers dared to do so they built their cabins near it, and a settlement called "White Home" soon grew up around it. Here the first church, the first school-house, the first blacksmith's shop, and the first log cabins for family habitation were built in the city of Louisville while it went by the name of " Falls of Ohio."
t This Frenchman was named Jean Nickle. He was on his way from Fort Pitt to Kaskaskia, and stopped at the Falls to repair his boat, and thus got into the celebration of the first Christmas in Louisville. After his failure to produce the kind of music that was wanted he went on to Kaskaskia, but
The Centenary of Louisville. 33
GENESIS OF THE TOWN OF LOUISVILLE.
The first official step toward establishing the town of Louisville at the Falls of the Ohio was taken on the 1 7th of April, 1779, when the inhabitants who were there, in conformity with the recommendations of the Court* of Kentucky County touching the establishing of new towns, held a public meeting and appointed trustees for that purpose. The Trustees selected were William Harrod, Richard Chenowith, Edward Bulger, James Patton, Henry French, Marsham Brashears, and
returned afterward and was the teacher of the first dancing-school in Louis- ville. Major Erkuries Beaty, in his journal, speaks of Monsieur Nickle as teaching a dancing-school here in 1786. He tried to introduce the dance known in Paris and Madrid as the Braille, the chief merit of which was leaping in circles; also the Minuet, which required graceful bowing and walking ; and the Pavane, in which the dancers strutted like peacocks. In the Branle the boys indulged in leap-frog, in the Minuet the girls held their linsey dresses out from their sides like sails, and skipped across the floor and bowed their heads like geese dodging stones thrown at them, and in the Pavane all strutted and cried like peacocks. The Frenchman in despair wished that, " if he had his hat, he were in hell," and yielded the fiddle to Cato, who soon had himself and the dancers in a paroxysm of joy. This negro fiddler was the property of John Donne, and was the first man ever hung in Louisville. He killed his owner as he claimed by accident, but was tried and hung for the crime. He was hanged to the limb of a large oak tree which stood on lot No. 275, opposite to the present jail on Jefferson Street. This lot was then a part of the public square on which the court-house now stands. The hanging was in 1787, and much to the sorrow of the young people who enjoyed his music at their dances.
* See Appendix E.
5
34 The Centenary of Louisville.
Simeon Moore. These Trustees then met and adopted rules for their government. They agreed upon a plan of the town to be called Louisville, laid off the ground they selected along the river into half-acre lots, made a map of their work, and appointed April 24, 1779, for each inhabitant to draw one lot in a public lottery. This drawing occurred according to appointment, and the citizens thus became owners of lots in a town formed under the common law of Virginia.*
THE FIRST MAP OF LOUISVILLE.
The first map of Louisville shows that the first lots laid off and occupied were along both sides of Main Street from First to Twelfth, and then along the river
* The following is a copy of an old manuscript in my possession, showing what these first Trustees of Louisville did at their first meeting :
"Falls of Ohio, April 24th, 1779. William Harrod, Richard Cheuowith, Edward Bulger, James Patlon, Henry French, Marsham Brashears, and Simeon Moore, Trustees chosen by the intended citizens of the town of Louisville at the Falls of Ohio, met the I7th day of April, 1779, and came to the following rules, to wit :
" That a number of lots, not exceeding 200 for the present, be laid off, to contain half an acre each, 35 yards by 70 where the ground will admit of it, with some public lots and streets.
" That each adventurer draw for only one lot by equal chance. That every such person be obliged to clear off the undergrowth and begin to cultivate part thereof by the loth of June, and build thereon a good covered house, 16 feet by 20, by the 25th of December. That no person sell his lot unless to some person without one, but that it be given up to the Trustees to dispose of to some new adventurer on pain of forfeiture thereof.
"MARSHAM BRASHEARS, Secretary."
The Centenary of Louisville. 35
in its northward bend as low down as Fourteenth Street. They were all half-acre lots, and were one hundred and sixteen in number. The numbering began with No. i, at the northeast corner of Main and Fifth streets, and proceeded up the river to First Street, and then returned on the south side of Main Street to Fifth. Here it began again on the northwest corner of Main and Fifth with lot No. 33, and proceeded down the river to Ninth Street, where it again crossed to the south side of Main and went back to Fifth Street. It then returned to the northwest corner of Main and Ninth, beginning with lot No. 65, and proceeded down the river to Eleventh Street, where it again crossed to the south side of Main and returned to Ninth Street. It then again began on the northwest corner of Main and Eleventh streets with lot No. 81, and proceeded down to Twelfth Street, where it again crossed over Main and went back to Eleventh Street. If the design had been by this numbering to produce a numerical puzzle the success was perfect, but how its authors expected such numbering of city lots to endure and be understood is more than a puzzle. The lots along Main Street were eighty-eight in number, and those below Twelfth, in the angle formed by the sudden bend of the river, were twenty-eight, making one hun- dred and sixteen in all.
36 The Centenary of Louisville.
On the lots laid down on Bard's map were the initials of the names of the parties who drew them, but it is no longer a certainty to arrive at the full names of all represented by these letters. Some are easily enough supplied by the names of known citizens at, the time, and yet others by the records of the Trustees, who required persons who sold the lots they drew to make written transfers before deeds could be gotten from the Trustees.* No lots are laid off in the space bounded by Main Street on the south, Twelfth Street on the west, the river on the north, and Tenth Street on the east, where the first fort was built on the main land, and it is possible that this space was left for the purpose of the fort, and intended to remain as public property. The numbering of the city lots was subsequently changed, and this old map is valuable only as a relic of antiquity. It was the work of John Corbly, an early surveyor at the Falls of the Ohio, whose name is attached to it with the date April 24, 1779. There was a similar map about the same time made by William Bard, but the Corbly map was the one adopted by the Trustees. Corbly's map was officially recorded in Kentucky County, and a copy of it is still preserved, certified by Levi Todd, the clerk.
The second map of the town was probably made by
* See Appendix F.
The Centenary of Louisville. 37
George May, the County Surveyor, in 1781, when the Trustees directed him at their first meeting to run the division line between the upper and lower half of the Connolly land. The third was the work of William Pope, by order of the Trustees in 1783. He laid off the town into half-acre lots as far as Jefferson Street. In
1785 William Shannon laid off the balance of the one thousand acres into five-acre lots between Jefferson and Walnut, ten-acre lots between Walnut and Chestnut, and twenty-acre lots between Chestnut and Broadway. In
1786 William Peyton was employed by the Trustees to lay off the town. In 1802 Alexander Woodroe, and in 1812 Jared Brooks, each made a map of the town. All of these early maps have perished except such as are in private hands. The city has no map earlier than that of Jared Brooks, in 1812.
FAMILIES WHO CAME WITH GENERAL CLARK TO THE FALLS.
The names of only a part of those who accompanied General Clark and became the first settlers of Louisville have been preserved. Indeed, much dispute has arisen as to the number who did accompany him. Mr. Marshall, whose history of Kentucky first appeared in 1812, makes
38 The Centenary of Louisville.
the number thirteen, and Doctor McMurtrie, the first historian of Louisville, whose book appeared in 1819, gives the number as six. Butler, Casseday, and subse- quent historians have followed McMurtrie, but it would seem more reasonable to take the number given by General Clark himself, who brought the families to the Falls and landed them on Corn Island. General Clark, in his letter to the Hon. George Mason, of Vir- ginia, dated November 19, 1779, when the facts were fresh in his memory, stated that about twenty families accompanied him and his soldiers to the Falls.
NAMES OF THE FIRST SETTLERS.
Of these first settlers of Louisville only the names of James Patton, Richard Chenowith, William Faith, John Tewell, and John McManness have been preserved by Doctor McMurtrie and subsequent historians. In 1852 an elderly gentleman by the name of Kimbley, then living in Orleans, Indiana, stated that his father, Isaac Kimbley, came to the Falls in 1778 with General Clark, and that he himself was born on Corn Island in the year 1779. The venerable Dr. C. C. Graham, still living in Louisville, in his ninety - seventh year, says that his father, James Graham, came to the Falls with
The Centenary of Louisville, 39
General Clark, and afterward lived at Worthington's Station, near Danville, where he was born. Dr. Graham is also authority for the statement that Jacob Reager and Edward Worthington, with their families, came to the Falls with General Clark. Thomas Joyes, an intel- ligent citizen and son of one of the earliest settlers, stated in 1842, on the occasion of the death of John Donne, jr., that the deceased came to the Falls with General Clark, in company with his father's family and the family of Joseph Hunter, his grandfather, Neal Dougherty, Samuel Perkins, John Sinclair, and Robert Travis. It is not likely that we shall ever know with a certainty who were all of the first settlers of L/ouisville who landed on Corn Island with General Clark and his soldiers May 27, 1778; but the follow- ing list will add many to the half dozen previously published, and be gratefully received by their descend- ants on this centennial anniversary of the city they founded :
James Patton, his wife Mary, and their three daugh- ters, Martha, Peggy, and Mary.
Richard Chenowith, his wife Hannah, and their four children, Mildred, Jane, James, and Thomas.
John McManness, his wife Mary, and their three sons, John, George, and James.
40 The Centenary of Louisville.
John Tewell, his wife Mary, and their three chil- dren, Ann, Winnie, and Jessie.
William Faith, his wife Elizabeth, and their son John.
Jacob Reager, his wife Elizabeth, and their three children, Sarah, Mariah, and Henry.
Edward Worthington, his wife Mary, his son Charles, and his two sisters, Mary (Mrs. James Graham) and Elizabeth (Mrs. Jacob Reager).
James Graham and his wife Mary.
John Donne, his wife Martha, and their son John.
Isaac Kimbley and his wife Mary.
Joseph Hunter and his children, Joseph, David, James, Martha (Mrs. John Donne), and Ann.
Neal Dougherty, Samuel Perkins, John Sinclair, and Robert Travis.
GENERAL CLARK, THE FOUNDER OF LOUISVILLE.
He, therefore, to whom we owe the honor of first selecting the Falls of the Ohio for the site of Louis- ville, is no less a personage than General George Rogers Clark. While on his way from Fort Pitt to Fort Massac, in 1778, he had hundreds of miles of river bank from which to choose a place for depositing his stores when he went to the attack of Kaskaskia. The wonder is
.he Oli
m Ger
GENERAL GEORGE ROGERS CLARK.
Founder of the City of Louisville.
The Centenary of Louisville. 41
that he did not at first move on down the Ohio to the mouth of the Wabash, or the Tennessee, or even to the Mississippi, as the base of his operations. He chose the Falls of the Ohio, however, and, having made the choice, fixed the location of the city which has since risen under the name of Louisville. To him belongs the honor of settling our city as clearly as belongs to him the glory of the capture of Vincennes, Kaskaskia, and Cahokia. From his conquests in the Illinois terri- tory he returned to the Falls of the Ohio, where he not only attended to military affairs, but assisted the settlers in their efforts to establish a town at the Falls. He found time to plan the new town and to make a map of it, which were far superior to the plan and map adopted by the early Trustees.* Here were
* When General George Rogers Clark returned from the conquest of the Illinois country in the fall of 1779, and took up his abode in Louisville, he drew a plan of the proposed town of Louisville, and made a map of the public and private divisions of the land as he thought they ought to be established. This map is still preserved, and it shows the wonderful sagacity of General Clark. From his little room in the fort, at the foot of Twelfth Street, he looked far into the future and saw the need of public grounds for breathing- places when the city should become populous. His map shows all the ground between Main Street and the river, from First to Twelfth streets, marked " public." Also a strip of ground half a square in width, just south of Jefferson Street, running the whole length of the town, marked " public." Also two whole squares, where the Court-House now stands, marked " public." If this plan of the town had been accepted by the Trustees and adhered to by their successors, Louisville would be one of the handsomest cities on the continent
6
42 The Centenary of Louisville.
his headquarters in the old Twelfth Street fort, in the midst of the first settlers, called "White Home," until Fort Nelson* was erected in 1782, north of Main, between Seventh and Eighth streets, on the site of the residence of the late Richardson Burge. He lived in Louisville and its vicinity until the i3th of February, 1818, when, in the sixty-sixth year of his age, he closed his career, and was buried at Locust Grove. On the 29th of October, 1869, his remains were re- moved to Cave Hill Cemetery.f He was a man of quick perception, strong mind, unmeasured courage, and untiring energy; and his capture of the British posts in the Illinois country with an inadequate number of undisciplined troops ranks him among the first captains of his age. None but a military genius of the first
to-day. The Trustees, however, either for want of capacity to see the advan- tages of holding this property for the public, or from necessity to pay debts against it, sold all this property except the Court-House square and the grave- yard. It brought but little when sold. It would be worth millions now in the shape of park property, with a number of grand old forest trees upon it. This map of General Clark only extends to Jefferson Street, but tradition says that it was a part of his plan to have the strip of ground it shows south of Jefferson repeated at intervals of every three squares as the city should enlarge.
* See Appendix G.
t The grave of General Clark had been so long neglected in the family burying-ground at Locust Grove that it was exceedingly difficult to find his remains for re-interment in Cave Hill Cemetery. The vicinity of his grave was known, but there were a number of unmarked graves close to it with nothing to indicate which was his. Eight graves were opened without finding
The Centenary of Louisville. 43
order could have planned and executed the capture of Vincennes in the winter of 1779. It required a bold and comprehensive military mind to see and determine that, unless he should capture Governor Hamilton at Vincennes during the winter of 1779, that same Gov- ernor Hamilton would capture him at Kaskaskia so soon as the spring opened. Having reached his conclusion, neither the drowned lands of Illinois, over which he had to march the one hundred and sixty miles from Kas- kaskia to Vincennes, nor the disparity of numbers could swerve him from his purpose. He and his soldiers had to wade through overflowed lands breast-deep and swim rivers raging with icy waters until they reached their object. It was one of the boldest, most trying, most difficult, and most hazardous expeditions ever under-
a skeleton with an amputated leg, which was the test of identity. At last a ninth grave was opened, and in it found a skeleton which answered the requirements, with the left leg amputated above the knee. This was the leg which Dr. Richard Ferguson had amputated in 1809, on account of its having been seriously burned when the General fell from his arm-chair into the fire. While this leg was being amputated Qeneral Clark had a drum and fife at the door of the house, making the kind of music he loved. These martial sounds seem to have put him in a state of feeling in which he was indifferent to the pains of amputation. His bones and hair and some brass buttons were all that were found in the grave. The coffin and cerements had all perished. The skeleton was perfect, however, except as to the part of the amputated limb. The hair of his head, which was white when lie was buried, had assumed a dull red color in the grave, possibly from being stained by the surrounding clay. Could it be that his hair in the grave was seeking the original sandy or red color which it had before it turned gray?
44 The Centenary of Louisville.
taken and pushed to a successful conclusion. Louisvil- lians are justly proud to be of a city which can assign its origin to such a hero.
ORIGINAL FOREST TREES.
But little was done by the pioneers of Louisville, beyond making a settlement at the Falls, before the close of the first of the three periods into which we have divided the time to be gone over. The plain on which the infant city was to grow was covered by a dense forest of oak, hickory, walnut, hackberry, locust, cherry, maple, buckeye, and gum, with here and there huge poplars and sycamores towering above the surrounding growth like giants of old. A few of these original trees are yet standing to connect us with the distant past. An oak in the back yard of Mr. Bottsford, on Chestnut Street, another in that of Mr. Lindenberger, on Fourth, and a honey locust in front of the residence of Mr. Brannin, on Broadway, have come down to us from olden times. In the yard of Mr. Caperton, the old Guthrie residence, on Walnut Street, there is the branchless trunk of a noble beech, which died a few years ago, which stood there when Louisville was founded ; and in Central Park are a few hoary sentinels which have watched over us for a century.
The Centenary of Louisville. 45
THE FISH-PONDS OF OUR FATHERS.
Besides subduing a forest of formidable growth before planting their gardens and cultivating their fields, the first settlers saw the necessity of filling up or draining a number of ponds, which gave the landscape the appear- ance of an archipelago of land filled with islands of water. One of these ponds extended from Sixth along Jefferson and Market to Sixteenth Street, and was so deep that horses swam in it, and its bed is yet visible in the alley between Market and Jefferson streets ;* another, known as Grayson's Pond, extended from Green Street almost to Walnut, and from Center to beyond Sixth ; another on Market from Third to Fifth, another on Third from Market to Green, and so on without number were they to be seen in every part of the plane of the contem- plated city. The waters of some of them abounded in excellent fish, which made them rather the friends than the enemies of the early settlers. Indeed it may be
*At the lower end of this pond was established, in 1815, the Hope Distil- lery. One hundred thousand dollars were expended in erecting this estab- lishment for making whisky; and the company which owned it, and which was incorporated by the Kentucky Legislature in 1817, had large expectations of making a fortune out of the enterprise. The establishment, however, was not financially successful; it was too big an undertaking for the times. Like the great Tarascon flouring-mill at Shippingport, it was in advance of the age. The little distilleries in different parts of the country, with their hand-made
46 The Centenary of Louisville.
doubted whether our city could have gone on in its un- interrupted habitation by the white man had it not been for the fish of the waters and the game of the woods. The Indians would not have permitted the raising of food enough to support the emigrant population until a much later period, without the supply which nature had lav- ished so abundantly in the waters and the forests.
COLD WINTER OF 1779-1780.
The terrible winter of 1779-80 came upon our fore- fathers when they were ill-prepared for it in their frail and open cabins. From the middle of November to the last of February the ground was covered with snow and the rivers bound fast with ice. The ponds and creeks were congealed to the bottom, and over the Ohio men and animals passed as if on dry land. No rain fell, and water for drinking and cooking had to be procured from melted ice. Snow-storms, accompanied by piercing north- west winds, constantly occurred, and the wild animals of
mash and copper stills heated by fire, made the whisky that was demanded, and made it better than this huge concern. Anyhow, the people who drank the whisky thought the product of the small distilleries best, and bought it and drank it to the neglect of the monster's product. This Hope Distillery lingered for a few years, aud was finally abandoned. The whole capital of $100,000 was sunk, and the New Englanders, who furnished most of it, went back to their rum and left Kentuckians to their whisky.
The Centenary of Louisville. 47
the woods came to the settlements to shelter themselves behind the cabins from the freezing storms. Thousands of buffalo and deer were found frozen to death, and the wild turkeys and birds dropped from the trees on which they had gone to roost.
LOUISVILLE AT THE CLOSE OF THE FIRST PERIOD.
A block-house and group of eighteen log cabins on Corn Island, a small fort at the foot of Third Street, erected by Colonel John Floyd in 1779, but already aban- doned ; a large fort on the east side of a ravine that entered the Ohio at Twelfth Street, and a few rude log cabins scattered through the woods near the Twelfth Street fort, all occupied by about one hundred * inhabit- ants, who had cleared and cultivated garden-spots around their humble cabins, was all there was of Louisville at the close of the first period into which we have divided the time to be gone over. All else was the primeval forest, with its panthers and bears and wolves and wild-
*Mann Butler, in his sketch of Louisville published in the Directory of 1832, estimated the population of Louisville at only thirty in 1788. It is pos- sible that 1788 was a misprint for 1778; but even if this mistake occurred, the estimate was still too low. There are sufficient reasons for believing that the population of Louisville was considerably above thirty in 1778, and still greater in 1788. The original citizens who landed on Corn Island May 27, 1778, including men, women, and children, numbered at least fifty. - The map of William Bard, showing the lots and those who drew them on the 24th of April,
48 The Centenary of Louisville.
cats. The familiar song of the Falls was sometimes dis- turbed by the yell of the savage, but all else bore the solemn silence of the deep, dark woods around. None of those who were then here are now known to be among the living. All have been laid to rest in the early bury- ing-grounds of the city, at the corner of Main and Tenth, and on Jefferson between Eleventh and Twelfth, or in foreign graveyards, and time has obliterated all indica- tions of the last resting-places of most of them. They sleep their last sleep, not in the hallowed graves of pio- neers, dear to the memory of the living, but, with the exception of Clark and Patton, as undistinguished com- moners, without even a head-stone to tell where their ashes repose. Captain James Patton rests in the old graveyard on Jefferson Street, between Sixteenth and Eighteenth, with a respectable stone monument over his remains, and his grave has not been forgotten to-day. Could we have gone to-day to the graves of all the others and strewn fresh May flowers over them, it would have
1779, has the initials of the names of one hundred and sixteen persons. The petition to the Legislature of Virginia, bearing date May i, 1780, has the names of thirty-nine citizens attached to it. While it will not be claimed that all who are represented by initials on this map of Bard were citizens, surely enough of them were citizens, after excluding such as were embraced in the families on Corn Island and those who signed the petition, to bring the num- ber up to one hundred — one inhabitant for every year of the existence of our city as an incorporated town, from the beginning to this centennial day.
The Centenary of Louisville. 49
been a fitting tribute to the memory of the pioneer dead. We know where repose all that is mortal of the greatest of them all, General George Rogers Clark, the real hero of our city ; and to - day garlands and wreaths of fresh flowers woven by tender hands have been laid upon his grave, and his illustrious deeds called back to memory. He was not only the founder of the city of Louisville, but his victorious arms conquered that vast territor}'- out of which the great States of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Mich- igan, Wisconsin, and that part of Minnesota on this side of the Mississippi were made. His wonderful insight into Indian character won hostile tribes to the Revolu- tionary cause in spite of the lavish gifts of the British; and if his splendid military genius had had the support it deserved, his victories on this side of the Alleghanies would have shortened the War of the Revolution. His remains repose in an humble grave on the lot of his nephew, Isaac Clark, in Cave Hill Cemetery, with noth- ing but a simple head-stone bearing this inscription :
GEORGE ROGERS CLARK : Born, O. S., Nov. 9, 1752; died, Feb. 13, 1818.
The time must come, however, when a grateful people will recognize his glorious deeds by erecting to his mem- ory a monument worthy of his fame.
SECOND PERIOD.
3Trom Mag 1, 1780, ID Sitoarg 13, 1828.
PETITION FOR THE TOWN OF LOUISVILLE.
AFTER the town of Louisville had been laid out under the general municipal laws of Virginia, its inhabitants began to fear that the titles they had got- ten to their lots were not as good as they might be. The land had been patented to Dr. John Connolly, and there was no conveyance from him ; but he was a loyal- ist, and his estate was liable to confiscation under an act passed for the punishment of just such enemies of the united Colonies. They therefore petitioned the Vir- ginia Legislature to confiscate the lands of Connolly to establish the town of Louisville thereon, and to confirm their titles to the lots they had drawn in the lottery of April 24, 1779. Their petition bore thirty -nine signa- tures,* and was dated May i, 1780. The legislature granted the prayer of the petition, and passed an act appropriating one thousand acres of the Connolly land for the town of Louisville.
* See Appendix H.
The Centenary of Louisville. 51
Just why this location at the Falls of the Ohio should have been selected for the town of Louisville will never be known, as General Clark did not disclose his reason for his choice. When the canal was being made, how- ever, the hack -drivers and dray -drivers contended that the selection had been made for the purpose of enabling them to haul passengers and freight around the Falls, and that the canal would deprive them of this right, and leave them nothing to do but to sell their hacks and drays and seek other employment.
THE ACT OF INCORPORATION.*
By this act of the Virginia Legislature, not signed by the Speakers of the Senate and House of Delegates till July i, 1780, but which by parliamentary rule became a law on May ist, the beginning of the session, the town of Louisville was established at the Falls of the Ohio and nine trustees appointed for its government. These trustees were John Todd, jr., Stephen Trigg, George Meriwether, George Slaughter, John Floyd, Will- iam Pope, Andrew Hines, James Sullivan, and Marsham Brashears. The act authorized the Trustees to lay off one thousand acres, the forfeited property of Dr. John
*See Appendix I.
52 The Centenary of Louisville.
Connolly, into half-acre lots, with convenient streets and public lots, and to sell them to the highest bidders, on condition that each owner was to erect a house thereon, sixteen feet by twenty, with a brick or stone chimney, within two years from the date of purchase. Those who had drawn in the lottery of April 24, 1779, were to retain their lots on paying thirty dollars for each half acre and improving them as required of others. Of course these thirty dollars for each half-acre lot made sixty dollars per acre, a very high price ; but it was paid in the paper money of the times, of which it required sixty of paper to equal one silver dollar. When the depreciated cur- rency was reduced to coin, each lot cost only fifty cents.* The Trustees were empowered to make deeds to the lots
* By an act of the Virginia Legislature at its November session, 1781, the following scale was adopted for the settlement of contracts made at different times in paper money. It will be found in Henning's Statutes at Large, Vol. 10, page 472 :
1777- January, one and a half; February, one and a half; March, two ; April, two and a half; May, two and a half; June, two and a half; July, three ; August, three ; September, three ; October, three ; November, three ; December, four.
1778. January, four; February, five; March, five; April, five; May, five; June, five ; July, five ; August, five ; September, five ; October, five ; November, six ; December, six.
1779. January, eight; February, ten; March, ten; April, sixteen; May, twenty; June, twenty; July, twenty-one; August, twenty-two; September, twenty-four; October, twenty-eight ; November, thirty-six; December, forty.
1780. January, forty-two; February, forty-five; March, fifty; April, sixty; May, sixty; June, sixty -five; July, sixty -five; August, seventy; September,
The Centenary of Lotiisville. 53
and to settle all disputes concerning boundaries and im- provements, and the owners were given all the rights, privileges, and immunities of other towns existing in Virginia without special legislative acts. If the lots were not improved as required, within two years, they might be reclaimed by the Trustees. But the time for improving the lots was again and again extended until 1801, when the restriction was annulled.
Such was the act under which our city began its chartered existence this day one hundred years ago. The act of incorporation, however, was not known at the Falls of the Ohio for some time after its passage, and the first meeting of the Trustees under it did not occur until the yth of February, 1781.* During the
seventy -two; October, seventy - three ; November, seventy -four; December, seventy-five.
1781. January, seventy-five; February, eighty; March, ninety; April, one hundred; May, one hundred and fifty; June, two hundred and fifty; July, four hundred; August, five hundred; September, six hundred; October, seven hun- dred ; November, eight hundred ; December, one thousand.
*The first meeting of the Trustees was held in the old fort at the foot of Twelfth Street, on the 7th of February, 1781, and was attended by John Todd, jr., Stephen Trigg, George Slaughter, John Floyd, William Pope, and Marsham Brashears. They resolved that the county surveyor should run a line sepa- rating the upper half of the Connolly land dedicated to Louisville from the lower half; that the owners of lots drawn on the 24th of April, 1779, should give thirty feet on the south side of Main Street, so as to make that street one hundred and twenty feet wide ; that the county surveyor should lay oft' the balance of the thousand acres taken from Connolly into town lots ; that Captain Meredith Price should be clerk, and give notice of a sale of lots at
54 The Centenary of Louisville.
succeeding forty -eight years the city was governed by Trustees either appointed by the legislature or elected by the people, and although its progress was slow under their rule its population increased from about one hun- dred to nearly ten thousand, and many measures had their origin, which not only served the purpose for which they were intended but exerted such a continuous influ- ence upon the growth of the city as to be worthy of notice on this occasion.
FORFEITURE OF THE CONNOLLY LANDS.
The land on which the city of Louisville was laid out had a double forfeiture from Dr. John Connolly, to whom it originally belonged. It was forfeited by the
the next April term of court; and that George Slaughter, William Pope, John Floyd, and Marsham Brashears should act as a committee to arrange with Jacob Myers for cutting a canal and erecting a grist-mill. If the Trustees had adhered to their resolve to make Main Street one hundred and twenty feet wide instead of ninety, they would have shown a broader sense of municipal wants than they did in certain other acts. Their resolve to lay off the balance of the thousand acres into town lots caused them and their successors much trouble. They appointed and paid no less than half a dozen surveyors to lay off the town and make maps of it; and when the work was finally done all the lots laid off were sold, except the court-house square and the graveyard, and they owned neither a lot in the town nor even a map of it. They resolved to have a sale of lots at the next April court; but the Indians had not been consulted, and they not only had no sale, but did not meet again until June 4, 1783. It does not appear what canal was to be cut for the mill of Jacob Myers, but tradition says it was a canal on the Shippingport point to utilize the fall of the rapids, as was done later by the Tarascons for their flouring- mill in Shippingport.
The Centenary of Louisville. 55
Virginia Legislature vesting it in Trustees for the town of Louisville, and it was forfeited by the verdict of an escheating jury on the ist of July, 1780. On this last named date George May, as escheator, assembled a jury at Lexington, Ky., consisting of Daniel Boone, John Bowman, Nathaniel Randolph, Waller Overton, Robert McAfee, Edward Gather, Henry Wilson, Joseph Willis, Paul Froman, Jerry Tilford, James Wood, and Thomas Grant, who, being sworn to try whether John Connolly took sides with the British against the Colonists in the Revolutionary War, and whether he had any lands at the time, rendered a verdict, that on the i9th of April, 1775, the said Connolly was a British subject, who of his own free will departed from the States and joined the sub- jects of His Britannic Majesty, and that on the Fourth of July, 1776, the said Connolly was possessed of two thousand acres on the Ohio opposite to the Falls.*
* Dr. John Connolly, who was the first owner of the land on which our city was laid out, must always be an interesting character to Louisvillians. He was a bold, shrewd, and unscrupulous man ; but neither for these nor for any other qualities can his connection with the origin of the city of Louisville be ignored. He was born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, toward the middle of the last century, and at an early age became connected with the Royal troops as Surgeon's Mate. For this service he was given two thousand acres of land, which he located at the Falls of the Ohio. He was an intriguer by nature, and when Lord Dunmore placed him in charge of Fort Pitt he soon got into quarrels which led to the Indian troubles of 1774 and the battle of Point Pleasant. In 1775 he undertook to organize a band of Indians, renegades, and tones, to be called the " Loyal Foresters," to be used against the revolting
56 The Centenary of Louisville.
This act of escheat by the jury was supposed to be in the County of Kentucky, but it was a mistake. Ken- tucky was originally a part of Fincastle County of Virginia, and on the 3ist of December, 1776. the County of Kentucky, comprehending the present State of that name, was carved out of Fincastle. On the ist of May, 1780, the act of the Legislature of Virginia dividing Kentucky County into Jefferson, Fayette, and Lincoln counties took effect, so that this act of confiscation really occurred in Fayette County. A singular coincidence was the final step of the legislature at Richmond confiscating the Connolly property and the verdict of the escheating jury at Lexington, five hundred miles distant, on the same ist of July, 1780.
Colonies in the West. He was arrested near Hagerstown, while on his way to the West to execute his plans, with his instructions from Lord Dunmore con- cealed in the handle of his portmanteau. He was imprisoned and kept con- fined until the Revolutionary War was nearly at an end. Under pretense of looking after his lands at the Falls of the Ohio, he was in Kentucky in 1788, and conferred with some of our leading citizens about help from Great Britain for the Kentuckians to take the Spanish possessions at the South and open the navigation of the Mississippi River. He was one of the best informed men of his times about western lands, and had in mind the seating of a colony in this region, with the Falls of the Ohio as headquarters. It was with this view that he located his two thousand acres at the Falls. Lord Dunmore was his strong friend, and there is no calculating what he might have accom- plished had not the Revolutionary War broken up his far-reaching and deep- scheming plans.
The Centenary of Louisville. 57
INDIAN CONFLICTS.
Our fathers at the Falls of the Ohio had no great Indian battles to fight, as did their brethren at Boones- borough, Harrodsburg, Bryant's, and other stations. The few savages who did mischief would come either singly or in squads, and generally the contest with them was man to man. The presence of General Clark, who was a terror to the Indians, may have had some influence in keeping off large parties of them, and hence they only approached the Falls by stealth instead of open battle; yet the annoyances they gave the early settlers were neither few nor trivial. The conflicts, however, were sometimes as much calculated to excite merriment as sorrow.
In the fall of 1780 two brothers, Adam and Jacob Wickersham, went to their garden to get a mess of pumpkins. Jacob had filled his bag and had it on his shoulder when an Indian sprang upon him, tomahawk in hand, with the purpose of making him a prisoner. Jacob at once threw his bag of pumpkins on the Indian, which brought the savage to the ground with the bag across his body. Before the Indian could get rid of his load Jacob was well on his way to the fort at the foot
58 The Centenary of Louisville.
of Twelfth Street, and could not be overtaken. In the mean time another Indian had taken in hand to capture Adam. They were on different sides of the fence that surrounded the pumpkin patch, and thus ran parallel with one another until they came to a deep ditch, which Adam cleared with a bound. The Indian could not make the leap, and, despairing of capturing his prisoner alive, threw his tomahawk at him on the other side of the ditch and struck him with the handle instead of the blade. The blow simply gave Adam an additional impe- tus in the way he was going to the fort, where he soon arrived in safety and joined his brother.
In March, 1781, quite a large party of Indians came over to Louisville and killed Colonel William Linn, Captain Abraham Tipton, Captain John Chapman, and several other persons. Captain Aquila Whitaker raised a company and went in pursuit of them. A part of them were trailed to the river below the Falls, and, it being supposed that they had crossed the river, Captain Whitaker and his men took canoes to cross in pursuit. They were scarcely out from the shore when the Indians, till then concealed on this side of the river, fired upon the boats and wounded nine of the party. The boats put back to the shore and the Indians were attacked and dispersed.
The Centenary of Louisville. 59
In 1781 the largest body of Indians that had yet threatened Louisville were hovering around Squire Boone's Station, where Shelbyville now stands. To aid the inhabitants of the beleaguered station to escape to the stronger forts on Beargrass Creek, Colonel John Floyd, with a company from his own and other stations on Beargrass, marched to the rescue. He was defeated by overwhelming numbers and lost half of his men. In this disastrous conflict some of the best citizens of Louisville and the adjacent stations lost their lives.
Two years afterwards, in 1783, while Colonel Floyd was riding from Spring Station to his own station on Beargrass Creek, he was shot by an Indian in ambush. His brother Charles, who was with him, abandoned his own horse and, leaping up behind the wounded man, held him in the saddle and spurred his horse to the station. Here Colonel Floyd soon afterwards died of the wound, and thus perished one of the most useful men of the infant settlement. He was a man of liberal education and of superior mind, and had he been spared would have helped Clark and Logan and Shelby and Innes to shape the destinies of young Kentucky.
In 1784 William and Asahel Linn, sons of Colonel William Linn, in company with William Wells and Nicholas Brashears, went out from the city to hunt. A
60 The Centenary of Louisville.
cub bear was killed, and, while William Linn was strap- ping the bear to his shoulders to carry it home, a party of Indians sprang upon him and the other boys and bore them all prisoners to White River in Indiana. Here they remained until the fall of the year, when Wells was carried to another town by his captors. The two Linn boys and Brashears now determined to make their escape. At night they rose and stunned by blows the old squaw with whom they were living. They traveled by night and hid by day until they reached the Ohio where Jeffersonville now stands. Here they hal- looed and made signs for help, but their friends on this side, thinking it was an Indian ruse, paid no attention to them. Fearing to be overtaken by their pursuers, the three boys bound some logs together with grape-vines, and the two Linn boys, not being able to swim, were placed upon the frail raft, while young Brashears swam and pushed it across the river.* Wells did not get home for several years afterwards, but his stay among the Indians taught him their language, which proved
* In the matter of the four Louisville boys captured by the Indians in 1784, I have followed the original account as given by Mann Butler in the Directory of 1832. I do not believe, however, that the Linn boys were not able to swim. They were raised on Beargrass Creek, near the Ohio, and it is not likely that they had not learned to swim in the waters so near to them. In fact I have heard from old citizens who knew them that they could swim like ducks, and the probability is that young Brashears rode on the raft for want of being
The Centenary of Louisville. 61
useful to General Wayne in his campaign of 1794 against the Indians.
In the following year, 1785, a man named Squires went out for a hunt in the suburbs of the town. A slight snow had fallen upon the ground, and an Indian tracked him to a sycamore tree, near the mouth of Bear- grass Creek, where Squires had treed a raccoon and was preparing to secure it. The Indian came suddenly upon Squires at the base of the tree, and then a race began around the tree, the Indian after Squires and Squires after the Indian. Finally both became weary of the chase, and each at the same time taking the idea of escape by leaving the tree, the Indian shot off in one direction and Squires in another, much to the satisfac- tion of both. Neither seemed disposed to renew the tread-mill chase around the tree, but pursued the course he had taken unmolested by the other. The Indian lost his prisoner and Squires his raccoon, but both no doubt were satisfied with the loss.
In 1793 a party of Indians captured a boy named
able to swim, while the I/inn boys swain by its side and pushed it across the river. I have also heard from old citizens that this Brashears boy was not named Nicholas, but was named Walter, and that it was he who afterwards became famous for amputation at the hip-joint in 1806. His father, Nacy Brashears, came from Maryland to this country the year in which this capture was made, and young Walter was then about the right age for being captured by Indians and ridden on a raft by his comrades.
62 The Centenary of Louisville.
Abram Keller at Eastern's mill, and by some strange fancy gave him a scalping-knife, a tomahawk, and a pipe and turned him loose with this equipment. What use the boy made of these instruments of war and peace in after years is not known. His father lost his life in the Illinois campaign, and the son, having thus felt the evils of war, may have preferred the friendly pipe to the hostile tomahawk and scalping-knife.
As evidence of the annoyance of the people of Louisville and its vicinity, and the late day at which it was kept up by the Indians, it may be stated that in 1795 a number of citizens of Louisville and Jefferson County bound themselves by a written contract to pay the sum set opposite to their names for Indian scalps taken within the vicinity. To this contract appear the names of some of our best known pioneers.*
Our first inhabitants, though comparatively little
* The following is a copy of an old manuscript contract by which our citizens bound themselves to pay for Indian scalps:
" We, the subscribers, promise to pay the sum annexed to our respective names for every Indian scalp taken in the County of Jefferson, on the west of the main road leading from Louisville to Shepherdsville, within ten months from date — loth March, 1795.
£ s £ s
James Asturgus, jr., Pd, ... 3 Joseph Brooks, if taken be-
James Isle, 12 tween the road from the
Con Cumins 12 Falls to Shepherdsville and
Perry Guld 2 8 the mouth of Salt River and
Isaac Laif, Pd i 10 the Ohio I 10
Math. Love, Pd, 12 John McKindo, 18
The Centenary of Louisville. 63
punished by the Indians, had more serious difficulties to contend with in establishing their town at the Falls than attended similar enterprises at other points. Be- sides clearing away a dense forest with thick under- growth, they had to fill up deep ponds and drain wet lands, and contend with malarial diseases which were more formidable than savages. The right men, however, for the work to be done came to the infant settlement and overcame all difficulties ; and we are here to-day to recall their hardy deeds and to pay fitting honors to their memories.
EARLY HOTELS AT THE FALLS.
Important persons in all new settlements which are to become permanent and prosperous are landlords, mechanics, preachers, doctors, lawyers, merchants, and manufacturers. The pioneers of Louisville had a double
£ S
James Quartimas, 12
Robt. McLeland, Paid 10
Joe Robb i 4
Thos. Donnohue 12
Joseph Boninun 12
Leonard Colland 12
James Kerlin, 12
John Kidd i 4
Garet Pendergrast, 15
W. Sullivan, for one scalp, paid, 12
£ s
Charles Beeler, Paid, 10
Alexander Graham, Paid, ... 12
James Adams, Paid, 12
Joseph Dannaker, i
Richard Parks, 12
Geo. Spaw, 6
John Quelim 12
Samuel Welsh, 6
Joseph Delany 6
Sept. Black-well, Pd 6
Thos. McKenney, Pd, 18
Thos. M. Winn, Pd 12
64 The Centenary of Louisville.
reason for having an abundance of hotels. By an old law of Virginia, which had existed since 1663, no charge could be made for entertainment in a private house without a special contract; and the emigrants, taking advantage of this law, often imposed upon the hospi- table settlers. The only remedy was to have a tavern license, which was authority for charging for food and lodging. The numbers of immigrants landing at the Falls as a starting point for other localities made numerous hotels absolutely necessary for their mainte- nance. Hence, as soon as the people left the forts and erected their dwellings outside of the stations, we find many good citizens turning their residences into hotels. Among the most distinguished landlords of Louisville in the infancy of the town were Mark Thomas, Patrick Joyes, Edward Tyler, John Harrison, Andrew Heth, Robert Elliott, William Pope, James Fontaine, and James Winn. Mark Thomas was probably the most famous of all our early hosts. His table was so entic- ing with its well -served game that even the Trustees of the town were on one occasion drawn out of their official way to enjoy a good meal at his table at the expense of the town.
The Centenary of Louisville, 65
OUR FIRST MECHANICS.
In the beginning of Louisville, as in the origin of other places, almost every man had to be a mechanic. Houses had to be built; and, as they required no par- ticular skill in the style and structure, all able-bodied citizens could join in their construction. Now and then, however, there was something for the professional joiner to do, and a carpenter by the name of Joseph Cyrus became famous. There was thought to be some- thing about the pitch of the board roofs and the location of the glassless windows and the elevation of the wooden chimneys of the log cabins built by Cyrus that favor- ably distinguished them from all others. All could not readily see these particular advantages, but whether they could or not Cyrus was the fashionable mechanic, and the fashionable emigrant had to have his fashiona- ble services about his fashionable house, even if it was nothing but rough logs.
EARLY PREACHERS.
There was no effort on the part of the pioneers to carry religion to the Falls, as did the Spaniards and the French to their missions. Nevertheless preachers
66 The Centenary of Louisville.
were early and abundant in Louisville. The names of Squire Boone and William Marshall, both Baptist preachers, appear to the petition of 1779 to the Legisla- ture of Virginia for establishing the town of Louisville at the Falls of the Ohio. And in a few years there- after William Whitaker, Tera Templiii, Elijah Craig, William Hickman, and sixteen others had preached in Louisville. They had no churches in which to preach, but first from platforms in the courts of the stations and then from stumps in the surrounding forests, as well as from the floors of private houses, they preached as earnestly and as proudly, and at as great length, it may be added, as if they had stood in paneled pulpits beneath gilded domes.
OUR FIRST PHYSICIANS.
Doctors also came early to the Falls, and there was need of them. George Hartt was among the signers of the petition in 1779 for the settlement of Louisville. He did not long remain in Louisville before going to Nelson County for permanent residence, but was here long enough to make some curious charges for practice. In May, 1780, he made out a bill against George Clear for $240 for eight doses of calomel, and $240 more for
The Centenary of Louisville. 67
four blistering plasters, making a total of $480 for eight doses of medicine and four plasters. Of course the pay for such charges must have been in continental money, then as sixty to one less valuable than silver. Dr. Alexander Skinner came soon after Doctor Hartt, and, besides being an excellent physician, bore himself as a wonderful stickler for professional terms. He was even so formal as to carry his Latin prescriptions into the bills he made out against his patients.* He was a fine doctor, but so given to cursing things in general and particular that in May, 1784, he was indicted by the grand jury for profane swearing. Soon after Hartt and Skinner came such physicians and surgeons as
* In 1784 Doctor Skinner made out an itemized account against James Whin for professional services. The account is too long for insertion here, but the following items taken from it will indicate a peculiarity of medical
practice at that early date :
£ s D
August 17. To Visit V S B & Hemit. Sudor febrif., 18
19. To Visit and pilul. Specif. No. X, II, I 10
20. To Visit and prescription, 12
20. To Advice & Anodyne Mixt., 12
21. To Visit & Attendance, 12
Sept. 2. To Advice & Bleeding, 12
6. To Visit & febrif. Mixture, 18
To Pilul. purg. Specif., 10
10. To Pulv. Linofic. Comp. No. X, 6
12. To Visit & pulv. Ipic., 18
13. To Laud. Liquid 6
14. To Visit, Pilul. Specif. No. IX & Elixer Vitriol, i 26
18. To Visit & pilul. Antidysont No. V, 1 15
19. To |iss Manna, 6
68 The Centenary of Louisville.
Richard Ferguson, W. T. Gait, James C. Johnston, and others worthy to lay the foundation for the great medical reputation the City of the Falls has since maintained.*
OUR FIRST LAWYERS.
There was need also for lawyers in early Louisville, and they were not slow in appearing. Besides the troubles which grew out of conflicting land titles, the pioneers would fight and sometimes bite off one another's ears and gouge out one another's eyes. They also amused themselves by talking about one another in any but complimentary terms when they had nothing else to do. The early records of our courts show suits for slander and libel as well as for assault and battery. Almost every immigrant who came to the Falls, whether to remain or to remove to another point, wanted legal advice about his real estate or his personal property, or his neighbors or himself, and the infant town was a rich field for lawyers. One of the first dozen suits brought was by Eli Cleveland against General George Rogers Clark. Andrew Scott was Cleveland's lawyer, while James Berwick appeared for Clark, and the suit was brought for the September term, 1781. Cleveland
*See Appendix J,
The Centenary of Louisville, 69
had a keg of whisky which General Clark wanted for himself and soldiers in the expedition of 1780 against the Ohio Indians. Cleveland liked his whisky too well to sell it, and General Clark impressed it. Cleveland afterwards sued General Clark for the whisky, and one of the amusing features of the suit was the old style pleadings used by Lawyer Scott. The declaration stated that Cleveland casually lost his keg of whisky and that Clark opportunely found it. Lawyer Scott was famous for substituting such names as Dreadnaught, Seekright, Badtitle, etc., for John Doe and Richard Doe in land suits. Other distinguished members of the Louisville bar were John Todd, jr., Benjamin Sebastian, Gabriel J. Johnston, Walker Daniel, Stephen Ormsby, and John Rice Jones. In these early times, however, lawyers went from one bar to another, and at one time or another most of the learned lawyers of the State prac- ticed in Louisville. The names of Christopher Greenup, George Muter, James Hughes, William McClung, Will- iam Murray, Buckner Thruston, Thomas Todd, Ninian Edwards, and others who made fame at other points, all appear upon the list of early lawyers sworn in at the Louisville bar. The first suits were tried in the old fort on the river-bank at the foot of Twelfth Street. In 1783 a court-house was ordered to be built, and in 1784
70 The Centenary of Loidsmlle.
it was ready for use. It was not much improvement, however, upon the rude rooms used in the fort. It was
a one -story log house, twenty feet long by sixteen feet wide, with board roof and puncheon floor. Two ells alike roughly built served for jury-rooms. It stood near where the present court-house stands, and within those rough walls the lawyers pleaded, the ministers preached, and the politicians harangued until 1788, when a new Temple of Justice, forty feet square and two stories high, was built of stone. The first court-house was burnt in 1787, and with it were consumed many of the early rec- ords of Louisville and Jefferson County.
FIRST DRY GOODS STORE.
In 1783 Daniel Broadhead opened the first dry goods store in Louisville. It was called a dry goods store, but it contained every kind of thing that was bought or sold. Most of the goods were carried from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh on pack-horses, and then in flatboats to Louisville. Here the belles soon began to appear in gor- geous calico dresses, with straw bonnets on their heads and cotton handkerchiefs in their hands. It must be said, however, that in this early store were to be found silks, satins, and broadcloths. When St. John de Creve-
The Centenary of Loiiisville. 71
couer landed at Louisville, in 1784, he saw a boat at the wharf bearing a party of seventeen persons on a pleas- ure excursion, and all the gentlemen wore silk stock- ings, while all the ladies had parasols over their heads. This Broadhead store was a double log cabin, with board roof and puncheon floor, on the north side of Main Street between Fifth and Sixth. Here the women from the surrounding country brought their home-made linen, linsey, jeans, and maple sugar, and the men their tobacco, corn, pork, and peltry, and exchanged them for such store articles as they wanted. Every thing needed by the pioneers could be had at this store — dry goods and groceries, china and glassware, hardware and medicines, pewter ware and wooden ware, liquors and trinkets, im- plements and furniture being sold over the same board counter. For some time Broadhead had a monopoly of the trade. The only opposition was from John Sanders, who had moored a flatboat on the corner of Third and Main and turned it into a store. Sanders, however, only dealt in peltry, while Broadhead traded in every thing handled by the merchant or produced in the country. His sugar, coffee, tea, etc., were brought from New Orleans, where a trade was kept up with the Spaniards. A flatboat would go down loaded with tobacco, corn, pork, skins, etc., and a keel would come up loaded with
72 The Centenary of Louisville.
groceries, hardware, and other articles too heavy to be brought from Philadelphia and Baltimore over the moun- tains.
THE FIRST GUNSMITH.
An all-important industry to a settlement which de- pended much on hunting for sustenance was that of the gunsmith. Hence in 1782 we find Michael Humble with his gunsmith's shop at the Falls of the Ohio, and a lad named John Stewart bound to him by order of the County Court to learn gunsmithing. Humble's shop was on Twelfth Street, under cover of the guns of the fort, and here in 1782 he made a rifle for Daniel Boone which still exists. It was a flint-lock gun with a ham- mered barrel almost as long as its owner. It was thought in those early times that the longer the barrel the more accurate the carrying of the bullet. Boone could stand up without bending and blow into the muzzle of his rifle when he wanted to clear it of smoke after firing.
FIRST SOCIAL PARTY.
Life in Louisville among the pioneers, though very different from what we see it now, had its enjoyments as well as we have ours. The first social party of which we have any record, except what was called a house-
The Centenary of Louisville. 73
warming at the Twelfth Street fort on the 25th of De- cember, 1778, to celebrate the first Christmas, was in honor of the first crop of wheat that was raised at the Falls, in 1783. The wheat when ripe was cut with a reap-hook, threshed with a flail, ground on a hand-mill, and bolted through a gauze handkerchief which Mrs. Martha Donne, wife of Captain John Donne, who gave the party, brought from Pennsylvania. The flour thus made was shortened with raccoon fat and baked upon a skillet, and the elite of the town invited to feast upon a flour cake. Of course they had a dance after the feast, and midnight found them cutting pigeon - wings and trotting jigs.
LEGISLATIVE ACTS OBTAINED BY THE TRUSTEES.
While Louisville was under the government of Trus- tees the legislature was called upon for but few laws to enable them to conduct the affairs of the city. The common law then in force seems to have afforded these early guardians of our municipal rights nearly all the authority they needed. All the laws they asked of the legislature during the forty-eight years they ruled would not cover the space upon the statute book of a few ordi- nary amendments to a modern charter. And they would
72 The Centenary of Louisville.
groceries, hardware, and other articles too heavy to be brought from Philadelphia and Baltimore over the moun- tains.
THE FIRST GUNSMITH.
An all-important industry to a settlement which de- pended much on hunting for sustenance was that of the gunsmith. Hence in 1782 we find Michael Humble with his gunsmith's shop at the Falls of the Ohio, and a lad named John Stewart bound to him by order of the County Court to learn gunsmithing. Humble's shop was on Twelfth Street, under cover of the guns of the fort, and here in 1782 he made a rifle for Daniel Boone which still exists. It was a flint-lock gun with a ham- mered barrel almost as long as its owner. It was thought in those early times that the longer the barrel the more accurate the carrying of the bullet. Boone could stand up without bending and blow into the muzzle of his rifle when he wanted to clear it of smoke after firing.
FIRST SOCIAL PARTY.
Life in Louisville among the pioneers, though very different from what we see it now, had its enjoyments as well as we have ours. The first social party of which we have any record, except what was called a house-
The Centenary of Louisville. 73
warming at the Twelfth Street fort on the 25th of De- cember, 1778, to celebrate the first Christmas, was in honor of the first crop of wheat that was raised at the Falls, in 1783. The wheat when ripe was cut with a reap-hook, threshed with a flail, ground on a hand-mill, and bolted through a gauze handkerchief which Mrs. Martha Donne, wife of Captain John Donne, who gave the party, brought from Pennsylvania. The flour thus made was shortened with raccoon fat and baked upon a skillet, and the klite of the town invited to feast upon a flour cake. Of course they had a dance after the feast, and midnight found them cutting pigeon - wings and trotting jigs.
LEGISLATIVE ACTS OBTAINED BY THE TRUSTEES.
While Louisville was under the government of Trus- tees the legislature was called upon for but few laws to enable them to conduct the affairs of the city. The common law then in force seems to have afforded these early guardians of our municipal rights nearly all the authority they needed. All the laws they asked of the legislature during the forty-eight years they ruled would not cover the space upon the statute book of a few ordi- nary amendments to a modern charter. And they would
74 The Centenary of Loitisville.
have been fewer still but for the efforts of Colonel John Campbell to get the Legislature of Virginia to pass acts in his own favor. Some of them, however, relate to sub- jects the benefits of which we yet enjoy, and they may be properly enough referred to here.
ORIGIN OF TOBACCO INSPECTIONS.
As early as the year 1795 an act was passed sup- pressing the tobacco warehouse owned by Colonel John Campbell,* in Shippingport, and establishing in its place a new one located near the mouth of Beargrass Creek, where inspectors were to be appointed by law and their inspections governed by law. From this time, therefore, we may date that policy which, protected by law and con-
* Colonel John Campbell was an Irishman by birth, but came to America when quite young. He became interested in the town of Louisville as early as the nth of February, 1774, when he and John Connolly jointly bought the Warrendorff tract of two thousand acres lying at the foot of the Falls. At the same time Campbell secured one half of the Connolly tract of two thou- sand acres immediately opposite the Falls. A town had been laid off on this Connolly land in 1773 by Captain Thomas Bullitt, and in 1774 Campbell joined Connolly in advertising lots for sale in this town. In 1779 Campbell was taken prisoner, while on his way from Louisville to Pittsburgh, by the Indians who defeated Colonel Rogers at the mouth of the Miami, and was detained in Canada until 1784. On being released he came immediately to Kentucky and made the work of the Trustees to establish Louisville hot and hard by compelling them to pay him the proceeds of the sales of lots, as fast as the lots could be sold, in liquidation of debts he held against Connolly and McKee. He was several times a member of the Virginia Legislature from Kentucky,
The Centenary of Louisville. 75
ducted on sound business principles, has made Louis- ville the largest and most important of tobacco mar- kets— a market in which no less than seventy thousand hogsheads of leaf tobacco are now annually sold.
THE BEGINNING OF FIRE COMPANIES.
In 1798 an act was obtained for the establishing of fire companies. Our first settlers had no idea of steam fire-engines, nor even of the old hand engines which immediately preceded them. The first companies used buckets only, and battled with fires as best they could by forming men in rows from the water to the fire and handing full buckets from one to another to pour upon it. Old things have passed away, and we now have ten steam engines, one chemical engine, and two hook-and-
and wielded such an influence in that body as to get all the acts that he wanted passed against Louisville and in his interest. He was a member of the convention which formed the Constitution of 1792, and had the honor of attaching his name to the celebrated Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 as Speaker of the Senate. He died in Payette County in 1799, and, being unmarried and without children, his large estate went by will to Allen Campbell, his half- brother. Allen Campbell next died, and at his death the property went to his half-brother, Robert Campbell, and his half-sister, Sarah Beard. Next Robert Campbell died, and his part of the estate going to Sarah Beard, she had the whole of it. Fortunatus Cosby in 1806 bought out Mrs. Beard and became the owner of all the estate that was left. He paid for it the sum of $10,000, and it placed him in possession of so many vacant lots that he is said by tradition to have sometimes put them up as stakes in a social game of poker, of which he was very fond.
76 The Centenary of Louisville.
ladder trucks, which render property comparatively safe from the ravages of fire. Our fire department costs the city about one hundred thousand dollars per year; but it controls fires so that it is seldom that a house is con- sumed, and still more seldom that the flame passes from one building to another.
FALLS PILOTS AUTHORIZED.
In 1797 the office of Falls pilot was established by law, and the authority given to the County Court to appoint none but competent men to the place. Captain James Patton was the first pilot to hold this office and to officially conduct a boat over the falls. The wisdom of this law was soon shown by the lives and property saved in the dangerous passage of the rapids.
ORIGIN OF OUR POLICE.
In 1 8 10 the Trustees awoke to the necessity of appointing policemen for the protection of the lives and property of the citizens, and John Ferguson and Edward Dowler, on a salary of $250 per year, were the first guardians of the city who ever acted in this capacity. From this humble beginning the police force of our city has grown into a chief at a salary of
The Centenary of Louisville. 77
$1,800, four lieutenants at $840 each, and a force of one hundred and forty-four sergeants and policemen, all costing the city about $100,000 per year, and affording our city protection equal to that of any municipality in the country.
BEGINNING OF STREET PAVING.
In 1813 an act was passed authorizing the paving of Main Street from Third to Sixth. Previous to this time there was no authority for a paved street in the city. Planks were laid along the sidewalks for footmen, but the streets were then knee deep in mud in winter and dust in summer, and passage through them by man or beast was often attended with great difficulty.
We now have about two hundred miles of paved streets, some of which are as well done as any in the country.
BEGINNING OF CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS.
In 1817 the legislature incorporated the Louisville Hospital, an institution which reflects much honor upon the charity of Thomas Prather and Cuthbert Bullitt, who donated the land on which it was erected. The many strangers without homes or friends whom it has
78 The Centenary of Louisville.
rescued from disease, or whose final struggles with death it has mitigated with kind attention, will forever reward the charity which established it.
CANAL AROUND THE FALLS.
In 1825 the canal around the Falls was authorized by the legislature, and thus a great obstruction to the navigation of the Ohio overcome. It required five years of heavy work and the expenditure of $750,000 to finish it sufficiently for the steamboat Uncas to make the first passage through it, December 21, 1830; but the benefits to commerce justified all the time and money spent. The necessity of such a work was understood by the first settlers of the city, and as early as 1793 a plan of the Falls, with the course of the canal nearly as it now runs, appears upon the map of Captain Imlay, published in London.
FIRST ENLARGEMENT OF THE CITY.
In 1827 the last act °f the legislature affecting our city under the rule of the Trustees was passed. It was an act to add Preston's enlargement to the city. The Preston tract from which this enlargement came was a thousand-acre survey, immediately to the east of the
The Centenary of Louisville. 79
Connolly forfeiture, which was patented to William Preston, grandfather of our present General William Preston, July 17, 1780. Since that time numerous en- largements have been made to our city, all of which have swelled its area many times beyond what it orig- inally was.
INTRODUCTION OF STEAMBOATS.
But the one great event which pushed forward the interests of Louisville while governed by Trustees was the application of steam to the propulsion of vessels on water. Previous to this discovery flats, barges, and keel-boats did all the carrying trade of our city, as well as that of others on the Ohio. One ship is recorded to have sailed upon the waters of the Ohio, and to have reached our city from the Monongahela River, where she was built in June, 1800. She went on her way down the Ohio and Mississippi with a cargo of peltry, meat, flour, etc., to the Gulf, and made a number of trips between New Orleans and New York. She was never suited, however, for the trade of the Ohio, and our commerce before steam navigation depended upon the old-fashioned keels, barges, and flats, which so often became the prizes of outlaws who dwelt in bands on the western waters and followed piracy as a pro- fession.
8o The Centenary of Louisville.
FIRST STEAMBOATS ON THE OHIO.
In 1811 the first steamboat that ever moved upon the Ohio was the Orleans,* built at Pittsburgh by Fulton and Livingston. In October she arrived at Louisville in the night, and aroused the inhabitants from their slumbers by the loud puffings of her steam. She was wrecked near Baton Rouge in 1814 by a sunken tree. The Comet appeared in 1813, the Vesuvius and the En- terprise in 1814, and the ^)tna, Dispatch, and Buffalo in 1815.
CAPTAIN SHREVE ANNULS FULTON'S PATENT.
In 1816 Captain H. M. Shreve, a citizen of Louis- ville, brought out the steamboat Washington and placed her in the trade between this city and New Orleans.
* The Orleans appeared at Louisville under the command of Captain Roosevelt, with George Baker as engineer, Andrew Jack as pilot, and six hands to serve as firemen and for all other purposes. She was a side-wheel, single- deck vessel, with a capacity of two hundred tons. She was built in the ship- yard of Fulton and Livingston, at Pittsburgh, and launched on the isth of October, 1811. She had but one boiler, and that was placed in the hull of the vessel. The paddle-wheels were without boxing, and in their revolutions reminded one somewhat of a windmill. Her smoke-stack rose from the center of the hull, and she had a mast in the front and rear. Her cabin covered about three fourths of the deck, leaving the other portion vacant at the stern. She had a low-pressure engine, made by Watt & Bolton, which
The Centenary of Louisville. 81
To the resistance which this gentleman made to the monopoly claimed by Fulton to the navigation of our western waters by steamboats we owe the rapid develop- ment of steamboat navigation. Captain Shreve launched his vessel in defiance of the patent of Fulton, and when he arrived at New Orleans his boat was seized, as he expected. He replevied his steamer and tested the valid- ity of the patent in the courts. He won the suit, and the patent of Fulton was gone forever. From this time forward navigation by steam was free to all, and steam- boats multiplied on the Ohio with wonderful rapidity.
FITCH THE INVENTOR OF STEAMBOATS.
The truth is, Fulton was not the inventor of the steamboat, and had no just right to the patent he claimed. The high honor of successfully applying steam
afforded power enough to drive her from Pittsburgh to Louisville in four days. She was built for the Mississippi between Natchez and New Orleans, but was delayed by low water when she reached the Falls and ran between Louisville and Cincinnati until the water rose high enough for her to pass the rapids, which was not until the middle of December. This delay gave her the opportunity of being in the midst of the greatest natural convulsion that has occurred in the Mississippi Valley during the historic period. She rode through the raging waters of the earthquake of December, 1811, which changed the face of the country in southwestern Kentucky and in parts of Tennessee and Missouri. A lake fifty miles in length and twenty in breadth was formed, and the banks of the Mississippi so changed by submerged portions that pilots had to learn anew their landmarks.
II
82 The Centenary of Louisville.
to the propulsion of vessels upon water belongs to John Fitch, one of the Kentucky pioneers. He came here as a surveyor of lands in 1778, and during that year secured one thousand acres for himself. As early as 1785 he showed models of his boat to different States, and asked exclusive privileges for his invention. In 1787, 1788, and 1789 he so far perfected his boat as to make passages between Philadelphia and Burlington. There were difficulties, however, which he had not over- come, and he had not the means to remove them. He became despondent, took to drinking, and left others to make fame and fortune out of a discovery which had only brought him poverty and disappointment. Having gone through with all of his property except his land, he bargained with his tavern-keeper to give him one half of it if he would board him the balance of his life and allow him a pint of whisk}' per day. The pint per day failing to quench his thirst, he bargained for more and increased the quantity of land to pay for it. He died in 1798, and was buried at Bardstown, Ky., where " unhonored and unsung" repose the remains of him whose genius did away with the old craft that crept lazily along the current of our rivers, and gave us in their stead those leviathans of the waves which rush along with unfelt burdens against wind and tide and current.
The Centenary of Louisville. 83
We claim, therefore, among those whose memory we would honor on this occasion, the pioneer, John Fitch, and the native-born citizen, H. M. Shreve — the first the inventor of the steamboat, and the second the destroyer of the monopoly which burdened its beginning with unjust imposts. Nor should we omit the name of James Rumsey, another of our inventive citizens, who as early as 1784 exhibited to General Washington the model of a steamboat for stemming the current of our rivers, nor Edward West, who in 1794 made a small steamboat which moved successfully upon the waters of the Elkhorn at Lexington, Kentucky. Wherever the armaments of war and the fleets of commerce move by steam upon the waters of the world, these distinguished names should not be forgotten. No discovery in modern or ancient times has made a mightier revolution in the carrying trade of the world and in the mode of travel. It has shortened the distance between continents and con- tracted the length of rivers. It has overcome the winds and the waves of the seas, and brought back the scat- tered nations of the earth into one family.
How OUR ANCESTORS LIVED AND DRESSED.
The first inhabitants of Louisville dwelt in cabins built of logs laid one above the other, with a space
84 The Centenary of Louisville.
between filled with clay, and the roof of boards held in place by poles across them. The light entered by a hole from which a section of one of the logs had been cut on the side opposite to another hole cut for a door, which was a larger opening sawed through several of the logs and closed by puncheons on wooden hinges. Occasion- ally four posts were planted in the ground, and the sides boarded up with planks cut by hand with the whipsaw or obtained from flatboats that had come down the river. But such houses were a luxurious scarcity. The furni- ture consisted of wooden spoons and forks and noggins and pails and plates and dishes made in the country, and ovens and case-knives of iron brought at great labor and expense from the old country. The dining-table was a slab set on four sticks, and the bed either a buffalo robe laid on the floor or on two poles with one end in a crack between two logs and the other in the prong of a wooden fork fastened in the floor, upon which boards were laid to receive the bedding. The rifle, the powder- horn, the bullet -bag, the tomahawk, and the hunting- knife were parts of the furniture of every house, and usually occupied the most conspicuous place on a rack made of the horns of the deer. Generally the floor of a house was the native soil leveled and well packed; and if there was a wooden floor, it was of logs split in half
The Centenary of Louisville. 85
and the flat sides hewed smooth with an adze or a broad- axe. The men hunted the game, cleared the land, raised the crop, pounded the grain in the mortar or ground it on the hand-mill, fought the Indians, and did the out- door work in general. The women milked the cows, spun the yarn, wove the cloth, knit the socks, made the garments, cooked the meals, and attended to all house- hold work. If a new house was to be raised in the neighborhood, all the men joined to help, and if a new quilt was to be made, all the women assisted in the stitching. The hunting-shirt, a kind of blouse reaching from the neck to the knees, with large sleeves, hanging cape, and a belt to fasten it around the waist, was worn by all the men. Breeches made of buckskin or linsey, a cap of raccoon skin, leggins and moccasins made of deer skin, and a shirt of such cotton or linen as could be gotten, completed the dress of the men. The women wore linen sunbonnets, linsey dresses, woolen stockings, cotton handkerchiefs, and home-made shoes ; and if now and then a ruffle or a buckle appeared, it was a relic of olden times brought from the mother country. Wool hats were a rarity to the men, and straw bonnets only worn by ladies who could afford something better than the home-made hood. The food of all were the game of the forest, milk, butter, cheese, cornbread, hominy, mush, the wild nuts and the wild fruits of the country.
86 The Centenary of Louisville.
FIRST BRICK HOUSE.
In 1789 the pioneers began to live better, and Fred- erick Augustus Kaye, weary of logs and boards, erected the first brick house in Louisville. It stood on the south side of Market between Fifth and Sixth streets, and the bricks of which it was constructed came from Pittsburgh. It was a two-story parallelogram, with two rooms above and two below on the side of a hall. It was pulled down in 1835, and some of the bricks are now in the pavement around the house of B. F. Rudy, on First Street.
FIRST NEWSPAPERS.
During the reign of the Trustees a number of newspapers were established in Louisville, but none of them now exists. In the year 1801 the Farmers' Library, the first newspaper in our city, was issued by Samuel Vail,* and continued until 1808, when it was succeeded by the Louisville Gazette. In 1806 the Western American, the second newspaper in our city, was begun by F. Peniston. It was of short duration, and its editor went to St. Louis the same year. In 1810 the Western Courier was established bv Nicholas
•/
*See Appendix K.
The Centenary of Louisville. 87
Clark. About the same time the Louisville Corres- pondent was started by Colonel E. C. Barry. On the first of July, 1818, the Public Advertiser was first issued by Shadrack Penn. In 1826 Doctor Buchanan and W. W. Worseley began the publication of the Focus, which was afterwards merged in the I/ouisville Journal. Not long after this started the first of the three great daily papers, which, on the 8th of November, 1868, were consolidated into the present Courier-Journal. These were the Journal, first issued November 24, 1830, the Courier, June 3, 1844, and the Democrat, July 17, 1844.* When George D. Prentice began the Journal, Shadrack Penn was at the head of the Advertiser, which he had established twelve years before. The war which was so fiercely waged between these two great editors began soon and lasted long. Prentice led the Whig party and Penn the Democratic, and no two editors in this country ever conducted their papers with more ability. They sparkled with wit, burned with satire, glowed with eloquence, and gave forth able specimens of as good English as had ever appeared in a daily paper.
* The newspaper men who conceived and accomplished this great combi- nation were Walter N. Haldeman and Henry Watterson. Mr. Haldeman had then been in the newspaper business ever since 1843, when he bought the Daily Dime to secure a debt due to him, and had had the experience which a quarter of a century at the head of the old Louisville Daily Courier had given
88 The Centenary of Louisville,
Each party, the Whig for Prentice and the Democratic for Penn, claimed the victory for its favorite ; but it may be doubted if Penn or any other writer for a daily political paper in this or any other country ever sur- passed George D. Prentice. His wit, his drollery, his humor, his satire, his logic, his eloquence, and his learning were equal to all occasions, and he wrote the English language with such purity, such precision and force as to express every thought with the best effect. Numerous other publications, daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly, some political, some literary, some religious, and some scientific, have since been started in our city, but the only dailies now issued are the Courier-Journal, the Commercial, and the Post, in English, and the Anzeiger and Volksblatt, in German. Of those now being issued bi-weekly, weekly, and monthly there are over forty, whose aggregate circulation is very great — a single one of them, the " Home and Farm," claiming a circulation of seventy thousand.
him. He was a veteran newspaper man and had the foresight to know that a combination of the Journal, the Courier, and the Democrat would prove suc- cessful. Mr. Watterson, not so old in years, had had sufficient experience as a journalist to feel and know that his brilliant pen would do its full share towards the success of the great combination. The twelve years which have passed since the Courier-Journal began from this combination are proof suffi- cient that Haldeman and Watterson did not miscalculate when these three daily papers were consolidated into one. The Courier-Journal now ranks great among the great newspapers of the world.
The Centenary of Louisville. 89
FIRST CHURCHES.
In 1811 the first Catholic Church was built in Louisville, at the northwest corner of Tenth and Main streets.* The lot on which it stood was used as a burying - ground, and years afterwards, in excavations for buildings on the adjacent streets, human skeletons were found in unknown graves. In 1812 the first Meth- odist Church was erected on the north side of Market between Seventh and Eighth streets. In 1816 the first Presbyterian Church was erected on the west side of Fourth Street between Market and Jefferson. In 1825 Christ Church, the first Bpiscopal edifice in the city, except a small house in which Williams Kavanaugh preached in i8o3,f was erected where it now stands on Second Street between Green and Walnut. All of its predecessors have passed away, and it stands to - day, though changed by modern art, as the oldest church in
* This first Catholic Church in Louisville was built on a lot which belonged to a Frenchman named Antoine Ganier, who lost his life in the expedition of Colonel Bowman against the Ohio Indians in 1779. At Ganier's death it descended to his only child, a daughter named Elinor, who knew nothing of it and never claimed it. Michael Troutman got what he thought was a good title to it from a man named Wiest, and then sold it to Father Badin for the Catholic Church. Father Badin afterwards learned that his title was bad, and
tSee Appendix L.
13
90 The Centenary of Louisville.
our city, with its venerable rector, the Rev. James Craik, full of pious years and Christian honors, a pioneer herald of the Cross. More recently noble church edifices have risen in different parts of the city, among which the Cathedral, the Synagogue, the Tabernacle, St. Paul's, the Baptist, on the corner of Walnut and Fourth, and the Christian opposite, the Second Presbyterian, and the Broadway Baptist may be named as fine specimens of ecclesiastical architecture. Louisville may not be entitled to the name of the City of Churches, but she has more than an hundred of these edifices within her limits, some of which have large congregations, presided over by the most gifted ministers of the age.
ISSUE OF SHINPLASTERS.
In 1822 the Trustees resolved to issue town notes in denominations from six and one fourth cents to one dollar. This was the age of shinplasters, and the Trus-
fortified it as well as he could through the Chancery Court. A brick chapel in the Gothic style was built on the lot in 1811, and completed far enough for the church to be opened for worship on Christmas day of that year. It was not finished, however, for some time afterwards. The money to build it came principally from the French Colony at the Falls, consisting of John A. and Louis Tarascon, James and Nicholas Berthoud, James and Morius Offand, Daniel and Samuel Raymond, John and Fortunatus Gilly, John A. Honore, M. DeGallon, M. Cirode, M. Dupont, Eugene Perot, John J. Audubon, and John D. Colinesnil.
The Centenary of Louisville. 91
tees seem not to have been able to resist the temptation to do as others were doing. The country was full of worthless fractional currency, and specie was unknown. Merchants, to attract customers, sometimes advertised that they would exhibit a Spanish dollar free of charge ; and when the show was made it was usually upon a pile of fractional currency, to indicate how many bad dollars one good dollar would weigh down.*
PORTER THE GIANT.
Louisville, among other great things, has produced one giant. James D. Porter, though born in Ohio, was brought to Louisville in 1811, when only one year old, • with his parents, who settled at Shippingport. Until he was seventeen years of age he was small and delicate, and for his diminutive stature he was employed to ride races at the old Elmtree Garden. His growth began
•On the 8th of March, 1822, the Trustees passed a resolution to issue $4,000 in fractional currency, ranging from six and one fourth cents to one dollar. They were to be received for taxes and town dues, and the property and credit of the town were pledged for their redemption. The paper of the Commonwealth's Bank was bought to print them on, and Shadrack Penn employed to do his best job of printing. The number of tickets printed was 14,360, and the cost of the paper, printing, signing, etc., $149.75. Other issues were afterwards made, but the Trustees soon found them a losing business. The paper issues were paid out at par for work and material, and it soon appeared that two prices were paid for each item. Then the
92 The Centenary of Louisville.
about the age of seventeen, and was so rapid that it could almost be seen. He was a cooper by trade, but soon grew too tall for making barrels and was put to work upon hogsheads. He finally reached the extraor- dinary height of seven feet nine inches, and weighed three hundred pounds. He had a sword and cane and gun proportioned to his size, the sword being five feet long, the cane four and a half, and the gun eight. He died April 24, 1859, after having followed the trade of race-rider, cooper, showman, hack-driver, and barkeeper.
HISTORIANS OF LOUISVILLE.
In 1819 Dr. H. McMurtrie* published his Sketches of Louisville, which was the first history of the city. Much of the book was devoted to other parts of Kentucky, and even to other States, and not a little to the geology, mineralogy, zoology, ichthyology, conchology, fossils, and
property owners bought up the issues at half price and paid their taxes with them at par; so that the city lost heavily both in putting out its shinplasters and in taking them in. On the i6th of January, 1824, the Trustees borrowed of the Commonwealth's Bank $2,000 with which to begin taking up these shinplasters, and by the 26th of November, 1826, all of them were redeemed and burnt.
* Dr. H. McMurtrie was born in Philadelphia in 1793. He was educated at William and Mary College in Virginia. After leaving college he graduated in the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania. During the war of 1812, while acting as Surgeon and Supercargo on the ship Penrose, he was captured with his vessel by the British and taken to the Isle of
The Centenary of Louisville. 93
flowers of the region, but it nevertheless contains the history of Louisville up to the time of its publication, and must always be a pleasing source from which the early history of our city is drawn. In 1832 the second history of our city was written by Mann Butler, in a scholarly and fascinating style, and published in the directory of that year gotten up by Richard W. Otis. In 1847 Lewis Collins, of Maysville, published a history of Kentucky, the plan of which required a separate history of each county in the State. Under the head of Jefferson County appeared a sketch of Louisville, and in 1874 his son, Richard H. Collins, published a new edition of his father's work, in which the sketch of Louisville was more fully drawn out. Indeed, this last work of Mr. Collins' is a rich store-house of his- toric facts, and but little is wanted outside of its pages for future writers to make up a history not only of Louisville but of almost any city or town in the State.
France, where he remained a prisoner for two years. After his release from prison he returned to Philadelphia, and in his twenty-second year married Miss Newnhatn. He then set out with his young wife for the Falls of the Ohio to make his fortune in the growing West. His scholarly accomplish- ments and scientific attainments soon brought him into notice, and he promptly took a high stand both socially and professionally. The climate did not agree with him, however, and he soon made up his mind that he would have to return to Philadelphia. While here he wrote his History of Louisville, which was printed by Shadrack Penn at the office of the Public Advertiser. It was the first book of any importance published in Louisville.
94 The Centenary of Louisville.
In 1852 Benjamin Casseday published his history of Louisville, which brought the story down to that date in a well-arranged plan and pleasing style. In 1875 M. Joblin, in a publication of the lives of the citizens of Louisville, living and dead, prefaced the work with a sketch of the city, and in several of the directories published before and since that time have appeared sketches of the city gotten up with more or less merit. And yet, among all these histories, it can not be said that there is one as elaborate as the subject would justify, or which traces the rise and progress of our city from its infancy onward with the elaboration and detail which the most important city in the Common- wealth demands.
EARLIEST NOTICES OF LOUISVILLE.
Other writers, earlier than any of our historians, have given accounts of Louisville which we find in none of their histories. St. John de Crevecoeur, a
While here, and confined to his house by malarial fever, he also translated Baron Cuvier's " Regne Animale." He was also the author of the " Lexicon Scientiarum," published at Philadelphia in 1847. When he returned to Philadelphia he became Professor of Anatomy, Physiology, and Natural History in the Central High School of that city. In this position he rose to prominence as an educator and made a lasting reputation for scientific learning. He died in 1865, much regretted by a community in which he was esteemed both for his moral and scientific worth.
The Centenary of Louisville. 95
Frenchman from Normandy, was in our city in 1784, and published a three-volume work at Paris in 1787, in which he stated that there were here in August, 1784, sixty-three finished houses, thirty-seven houses in proc- ess of construction, twenty-two houses with the walls up without being covered with roofs, etc. Captain Gilbert Imlay, a surveyor residing in our city in 1784, published a second edition of his Topographical De- scription of the Western Territory of North America, in London in 1793, in which he stated that there were then two hundred houses in Louisville. Captain Imlay accompanied his work with a drawing showing the Falls of the Ohio and the city as then located. It seems from this picture that the houses then in the city straggled along Main Street from First to Twelfth, and then ranged along the river in a kind of triangle formed by Main Street on the south, the river on the north, and Fourteenth Street on the west. In 1785 General Richard Butler was here, and recorded in his journal his delight at the river and its islands and rapids; but also noted that a boat with people in it got fast on the falls, and that the inhabitants of the town played cards and speculated in lots and drank whisky instead of promptly going to their relief. Major Erkuries Beatty was here in 1787, and wrote kindly
g6 The Centenary of Louisville.
in his journal of a dancing - school taught by a Mr. Nickle, and a barbecue on Corn Island, and the hospi- table treatment he received from General Clark and others ; but he also noted what he saw of the horrid practice of biting off ears and noses and gouging out eyes in a fight between two bullies.
THE PARK WE OUGHT TO HAVE HAD.
The original plan of Louisville, as well as the act establishing the town, provided for public lots, and but for a great neglect of the Trustees we should now have parks in which the noble trees of the original forest would be preserved, and in which the pure air of heaven could be breathed by our citizens. As the city after its incorporation in 1780 was laid out, a strip of land be- tween Green and Walnut streets one hundred and eighty feet wide, and extending from Floyd Street on the east to Twelfth Street on the west, where it connected with another large body of land of a triangular shape bounded on the north by Grayson, on the east by the Twelfth Street lots, and on the west by the old town line, were to have been public property. While the Trustees had not adopted General Clark's suggestion to hold the lands north of Main Street for public property, they had not
The Centenary of Louisville. 97
sold these lots as they had others, and this fine river front yet belonged to the city. What a noble system of intramural parks these lands would have made with the original forest trees upon them! Early in May, 1786, however, the Trustees passed a resolution for the sale of these public lands. This may not have been their own free choice, for Colonel John Campbell was pressing them without mercy for the sale of lots to pay his mortgage against the Connolly land. After getting about four hundred and fifty pounds for this mortgage, he brought in another debt of about six hundred pounds which he claimed the renegade McKee owed him, and the Legis- lature of Virginia allowed him to collect it from the sale of Louisville lots. There seemed to be nothing for the Trustees to do, therefore, but to sell lots and to pay Campbell with what they brought. The whole Connolly tract of one thousand acres had been laid off into three hundred half-acre lots and twenty five-acre lots and sev- enteen ten -acre lots and twelve twenty -acre lots, and a dozen or more fractional lots. All were sold before the close of the year 1786 at public auction, except the grave- yard on Jefferson between Eleventh and Twelfth and the court-house square on Jefferson between Fifth and Sixth. It all brought about one thousand pounds, which would
equal about thirty -three hundred and thirty -three dol-
13
98 The Centenary of Louisville.
lars.* And thus vanished all hopes of a park out of the original domain of Louisville. We have no park now except the House of Refuge grounds, used for other pur- poses, and are not likely to have one until wiser and better men get control of our city affairs. f
LOUISVILLE IN 1828.
At the close of the second period into which we have divided the time to be gone over, Louisville had added to her original territory the Preston enlargement, which consisted of a triangle bounded on the north by Wash- ington Street, on the east by Preston Street, and on the south and west by the dividing line between the Con- nolly and Preston survey. The population, increased from about one hundred to ten thousand, still preserved the old-fashioned, go-easy characteristics which they had brought from Virginia and other Colonies. They had not entirely recovered from the terrible effects of the mala- rial fever of 1822, but were earnestly engaged in the
* See Appendix M and Appendix N.
tin 1851, while Thomas Crawford was mayor, the city of Louisville bought of Thomas Brown eighty-two and one half acres of ground lying from D to K streets, north and south, and from Third to Brook, east and west, for $10,000. It was bought for the purpose of a public park, but in 1860, when a place was wanted for the House of Refuge, the city conveyed this eighty-two and one half acres to that institution, reserving only the right of having forty acres of it turned into a park. If this eighty-two and
The Centenary of Louisville. 99
various pursuits of life by which they hoped to rise from village conditions into cityhood. The entire one thousand acres of Connolly had passed under the com- pass and chain of the surveyor, and had been divided into streets and squares and laid off into lots, and the lots sold and the proceeds spent. The principal build- ings occupied the space between First Street on the east, Eighth Street on the west, Main Street on the north, and Jefferson on the south. Business had not yet asserted its exclusive right to locality, and residences were mingled with stores and factories on Main and Mar- ket and Jefferson and the principal cross-streets. Some of the original log cabins were still to be seen, but most of the buildings were of boards or brick, and the prevail- ing style of the best residences was a single two-story house with basement, and steps in front leading to the first story. The stores were not unlike those of the present day, except in the want of size and front orna- mentation. The Court-house, the third which had been built, was a two -story brick with somewhat imposing
one half acres had been made into a public park according to the original intention it would have been a very good beginning in that direction. Instead, however, of its becoming a place for the dwellers in the city to breathe pure air and sport among shady trees, it became a kind of prison to keep the bad boys and girls of the city out of mischief. This was the nearest our city fathers ever came to giving the people a public park, and it was certainly far enough from any thing of the public park kind.
ioo The Centenary of Louisville.
Corinthian columns, and in one of its upper rooms was the library of the "Louisville Library Company," con- sisting of about five hundred volumes. The other public buildings — the Marine Hospital, the Jefferson Seminary, the Post-office, the County Jail, and the Poor-house — were structures severely plain in their architecture, but answered the purposes for which they were intended. Such quasi public buildings as the Catholic, the Epis- copal, the Presbyterian, the Methodist, and the Baptist churches, the Washington Hall, the Columbian Inn, and the Union Hall, the United States Bank, and the Bank of the Commonwealth, the market-house, and the thea- ter, were unpretending in their architecture, but were substantial and well up to the fashion of their times. The entire taxable property within the city limits was assessed at about two million five hundred thousand dollars, and there was a total revenue therefrom of about thirty-five thousand dollars. There were sixty-five stores licensed as such, and as many small establishments, such as tin- shops, furniture factories, and hat stores, where the man- ufacturers sold what they made. Of manufactories upon a larger scale there were one woolen factory, one cotton factory, two potteries, one steam grist-mill, two foundries, one planing-mill, three breweries, two lead factories, four rope-walks, and fifteen brick-yards. There was a branch
The Centenary of Louisville. 101
of the Commonwealth's Bank, and also a branch of the old Bank of Kentucky; but both were in liquidation, and the principal banking business was done through a branch of the United States Bank, located where the Bank of Kentucky now stands, with a capital of $1,250,- ooo. There were six insurance companies, four turnpike companies, one theater, and three public gardens. There were six churches, one Bible society, five Sunday-schools, one temperance society, one musical society, three liter- ary societies, five benevolent societies, and five Masonic lodges. There were five engine companies and two mili- tary organizations. There were fourteen principal teach- ers with a number of assistants in the various schools to educate the children, and nine preachers in the dif- ferent churches to minister to the spiritual wants of the entire population. By a strange coincidence there were thirty-eight lawyers to attend to the unhealthful business of these ten thousand citizens, and the same number of doctors to look after their diseased bodies.*
*See Appendix O.
THIRD PERIOD.
Jrom 1828 to 1880.
THE FIRST MAYOR AND COUNCIL.
^ I \HE third period, embracing the last fifty-two years during which Louisville has been governed by mayors and councils under three different charters — the first adopted in 1828, the second in 1851, and the third in 1870 — is the time in which have been inaugurated and developed the leading characteristics of our city. It would not be practicable in going over this period to enter as nmch into detail as has been done in the other two periods. Should such an attempt be made, the length of this paper would far transcend the limits pre- scribed. We can only deal with generalities, and even these must be of the leading kind.
Our first Mayor was John C. Bucklin, and our first Council consisted of George W. Merriwether, B. G. Weir, James Guthrie, James Rudd, J. P. McClary, Jacob Miller, Robert Buckner, F. A. Kaye, J. M. Talbott, and W. Alsop, all elected on the first Monday in March, 1828. There was no Board of Aldermen until 1851. Under these and
The Centenary of Louisville. 103
subsequent mayors and councils have originated our gas- works, water-works, merchants' exchange, and clearing- house ; our sinking fund, and the various new depart- ments of the city government ; our Polytechnic Institute, Louisville Library, and Law Library; our courts, divided into Equity, Common Law, and Criminal ; our telegraph, telephone, steam fire-engines, large stores in which all kinds of articles are sold over the same counter as in pioneer times, elevators, cotton compress, extramural cemeteries, street railroads, daily mails, and our new system of architecture, which has improved and rendered metropolitan both our public buildings and our private residences.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS, COLLEGES, ETC.
Within this period have grown up our public schools, in which the learning of the past and the present is im- parted to our youth as free as the air and the light of heaven. The germ of our free school system was im- planted in our charter of 1828,* and the old Jefferson
* The earliest legislation in Kentucky for free schools was in the Louis- ville Charter of 1828. Several of our governors in their messages had something to say about educating those who were not able to educate themselves, but nothing was done by our State legislature until after Louisville had taken the initiative. At the close of the eleventh section of the Charter of 1828 the following will be found: "The Mayor and Councilmen shall have the power and authority to establish one or more free schools in
104 The Centenary of Louisville.
Seminary of that day has expanded into a male high school, a female high school, and twenty -nine ward schools, in which twenty thousand of our sons and daughters are now being annually educated and fitted for the important duties of life.* Our University, with its famous schools of law and medicine ; our three medical colleges, our Theological Seminary, and our numerous private schools and academies all had their origin within this period; and the young of the age, whom they are yearly fitting for professions and sending out into the world, whose future they are to help to shape, suffi- ciently attest the enviable reputation they enjoy at home
each ward of the city, and may receive donations of real and personal estate to erect the necessary buildings and to provide the necessary revenue for their maintenance, and may supply the funds from time to time by a tax on the ward where such school or schools shall be established." The next year, 1829, the first mayor, John C. Bucklin, an excellent citizen and a lover of education, in a special message called the attention of the Council to this provision of the charter, and recommended the adoption of some specific plan for the opening of free schools. The first fruit of this charter pro- vision was a free school on the monitorial plan in 1829. It was opened in the upper story of the old Baptist Church, on the southwest corner of Fifth and Green streets, with Mann Butler, the historian, as principal, and Edward Baker assistant. The school began with two hundred and fifty pupils, and the following year was moved to a house erected for it on the southwest corner of Fifth and Walnut. Such was the humble and imperfect beginning of the free school system, now the pride of our city.
*In 1798 the Legislature of Kentucky gave to the county of Jefferson six thousand acres of land to establish a seminary. Nothing of any consequence was done until 1813, when the Trustees purchased of Richard C. Anderson two and one half acres on the west side of Eighth between Green and Walnut
The Centenary of Louisville. 105
and abroad as institutions of learning. The lawyers, the doctors, the theologians, the scientists, and the scholars who yearly go forth from the various institutions in our city compare favorably with those of any in the land.
CHARITABLE INSTITUTIONS.
Our charitable institutions — all of which, except the City Hospital, had their origin in this period — extend their benevolence to the poor and afflicted of every age and clime who come within their broad reach. Helpless infancy and declining old age, the poor, the sick, the blind, and all on whom unkindly stars have shed their baneful beams, find in one or the other of our charitable institutions the home and help they need.
BANKS AND BANKERS.
All of the banks and banking institutions now doing business in our city are of recent origin. None of them dates back to the charter of 1828. They do business
streets, and erected a two-story brick building thereon, known as the Jefferson Seminary. In 1830 the trustees of the Seminary, pleased with the idea of free education as indicated in the charter of 1828, conveyed the seminary property to the city. The city, after trying a college for a number of years, with reg- ular professors and curriculum, at last reached the conclusion that the present Male High School was nearer what was wanted, and hence the old Jefferson Seminary and its successor, the Louisville College, finally disappeared in our Male High School.
14
io6 The Centenary of Louisville.
according to a theory and practice essentially different from the banks previous to 1828. In times of prosperity and in times of depression they have wielded a mighty influence upon the condition of our city. From the time they began they have continually increased in number and power. There are now as many as twenty-two * of them, holding in their vaults a capital of nine millions, with which the great commercial and manufacturing business of the city is principally done. In the times of our forefathers banks as we now have them were unknown, and so was credit. Every man generally paid as he went for what he bought, either in tobacco or some other commodity. The pioneer age was one of barter, and tobacco and beaver skins were a legal tender for almost every thing that changed hands. f The Bank of Louisville, chartered in 1833, is the oldest bank in our city, but the Bank of Kentucky and the Northern Bank
* See Appendix P.
tA crude kind of banking was conducted in Louisville in early times by a man named John Sanders. In the spring flood of 1780 a large flatboat was floated to the lot on the northeast corner of Main and Third streets. Sanders made the boat fast to a tree, and when the water subsided it rested on dry land. Sanders then put a roof on the boat, and prepared it with doors and windows for a kind of warehouse, which he called his keep. Here he would receive the skins of fur-bearing animals from the pioneers, and issue receipts for them, which we would call certificates of deposit. These certificates circu- lated as a kind of currency, and really did the work of modern bank-notes. As the skins would accumulate the stock was depleted by traders, who readily
The Centenary of Louisville. 107
of Kentucky came so soon after it that there is practi- cally no difference in their beginning. These venerable institutions have weathered financial storms that swept away others of their kind ; have risen superior to the robbery of individuals and the pillage of armies, and stand to-day clothed with hoary honors as models of sound and conservative banking.
MANUFACTURERS.
Manufactories of various kinds have sprung up in our city in the last half of the century with wonderful rapidity. Our ancestors, who found it difficult to make the hunting - shirts and buckskin breeches they wore with the simple instruments they used, would be startled at the number and quantities of the articles now man- ufactured here. We have the largest plow factory in the world, and in the making of furniture, wagons, and
bought them, or they were sent to the markets of the East or South as oppor- tunity offered. When the skins for which a certificate had been issued were sold, the certificate was called in and paid off. The skins of the beavers were the favorites, and these animals were abundant in the neighborhood of the Falls for many years. The remains of their work in enlarging some ponds and diminishing others, and in making dams across Beargrass and other creeks, are still visible in the neighborhood of Louisville. A beaver skin was the unit of value in those early times, just as a silver dollar is now. A horse, a cow, or any thing for sale was worth so much in beaver skins, and so understood by everybody.
io8 The Centenary of Louisville.
leather only a few others on the globe equal us. But besides these mammoth establishments we have millions of capital employed in the making of the various useful and ornamental things of life. There are no less than twelve hundred manufacturing establishments of various kinds now in our city, in which a capital of $21,000,000 is invested. They employ twenty-two thousand hands, and use raw material to the value of $22,000,000, and turn out manufactured articles to the value of $50,000,- ooo per year. Our ancestors had sometimes to take the skin of the animal with the wool on it to make a single garment. We now pass the fleece through one of our woolen mills and it comes out cloth enough to clothe a family. The tree from which Joseph Cyrus could only get puncheons enough for the floor of a cabin, we now pass through one of our saw-mills and it conies out boards enough to make a house. In most of our factories machinery is doing the labor of man. The steam engines at work in them are doing the labor which it would require more than our entire popula- tion to do without them. Nor do these engines weary of their toil ; they work on by day and by night, in sunshine and in storm, through heat and cold, and know not weariness. When they have toiled through the long day and night they are as fresh the next
The Centenary of Louisville. 109
morning as if young life had just begun with them. The work of man is but to guide the movements of these mighty laborers as they do the task of thousands. Our manufacturers have done their full share towards swelling our population to one hundred and twenty-five thousand, and our trade, as shown by the movements of banking capital through the Clearing - House, to $210,000,000.
RAILROADS.
Perhaps, however, no one thing has done more toward the growth and prosperity of our city than the locomotive. Our people were among the first to grasp the idea of railroads, and anticipate the wonders they were to perform. Indeed, a native - born Kentuckian was among the first of the great inventors to make a locomotive upon such principles as to prove successful. This was Thomas H. Barlow, whose invention was upon exhibition in this city in 1827. He was a man of wonderful inventive genius. He was the maker of the Planetarium now in our Polytechnic Institute. In 1830 the railroad from Lexington to Louisville was chartered, and work upon it was begun in the following year. In 1835 the cars were running at both ends, from Sixth Street to Portland at the Louisville end, and from
no The Centenary of Louisville.
Lexington to Frankfort at the other end, but the gap between was not closed and the locomotive driven over the whole line until 1851. The Portland end of this road, however, was but short lived. Our citizens showed such hostility to the passage of the locomotive through the lower part of the city that in a few years that portion of the road was abandoned and the depot established on Jefferson Street above Brook. Louisville has been liberal in her contribution to the railroads which she thought would be of benefit to her citizens. She has furnished $800,000 to the Louisville & Frankfort, $200,000 to the Jeffersonville, $2,000,000 to the Louis- ville & Nashville, $1,825,000 to the Lebanon Branch, $300,000 to the Memphis Branch, $190,000 to the Shelbyville Branch, $100,000 to the Richmond Branch, $2,000,000 to the Paducah road, $500,000 to the St. Louis Air Line, and $275,000 to the Louisville, Cincin- nati & Lexington — in all $8,190,000. Without the liberal aid thus given by our city some of these roads could not have been completed — and, indeed, all are not yet finished. While these and other roads of the State go rushing over the country, traversing great agricul- tural districts and penetrating rich mineral regions, stretching through forests of valuable timber and leap- ing over hills of inexhaustible coal and iron, they are
The Centenary of Louisville. 1 1 1
returning to our citizens good dividends upon their investments. None can foresee the ultimate end of the vast combinations of the Louisville & Nashville road, to which and its branches our city has contributed more than the half of all its railroad investments ; but it is to be hoped that instead of being weighed down by the pressure of the lines which its managers are trying to secure to carry it to the Lakes on the north and the Gulf on the south, to the Atlantic on the east and the Mississippi on the west, it may bear its burden nobly and with young and buoyant bounds rush on to all that its friends anticipate.
PRIVATE RESIDENCES.
In the year 1796 Michael Lacassagne,* a Frenchman, who fled from the storms of his own country to find repose in our own, was the owner of the property on the north side of Main Street, extending from Fifth to Bullitt. Here stood his typical French cottage, around which was a rich display of bluegrass and fruit trees
* Lacassagne was a man of superior mind and broad information, yet he was a dreamer. He owned many acres of wild lands in Kentucky and in other States, and attached to them a present value which they could only have in the future. He supposed himself immensely rich when he willed his prop- erty to Robert K. Moore, to be held for a long period. He, however, owed a few debts at his death, for which all of his lands were sacrificed. There was
ii2 The Centenary of Louisville.
and shrubbery and flowers. So much was he enamored of his ample lot and green grass and blooming trees and fragrant flowers that he bequeathed the property to his friend, Robert K. Moore, on condition that he was not to sell it until the year 1860, and in the mean time his trees, etc., were to be cared for with the same kind attention that he had bestowed upon them. This love of a home surrounded by airy grounds and beautified with green grass and trees and shrubbery and flowers found not a lodgment in the heart of the Frenchman alone. Indeed, this love of an attractive home was learned by this Frenchman from our people, and has constantly manifested itself in Louisville from that day to this. There is no city in our country that can present such a number of private residences with vacant grounds around them, rendered lovely by shade trees and shrubbery and flowers and bluegrass. In other cities the houses cover all the ground of the owners, and there is scarcely room to breathe between them, much less to look upon turf and foliage and flowers. But
one piece he owned, however, which did not pass from him, and that was Corn Island in the Ohio opposite to Louisville. This island descended to his heirs, and they could have recovered it at any time before the lapse of years made good the adverse possessor's title. He provided in his will that his body was to be carried to Richmond, Virginia, for burial ; but I have never been able to learn what became of it after its interment at Vincennes, Indiana, where he died.
The Centenary of Louisville. 113
here every one has his own park around him, and from his own window looks out upon the charms of the land- scape. Even the sidewalks of the streets outside of the principal business range are abundantly shaded with sycamores, maples, poplars, elms, and other beautiful trees from our native forests, and the famous Linden Street in the city of Berlin affords nothing more lovely than the square on Gray between Brook and Floyd, where the European Linden is seen in all the glory of its symmetrical form and ample shade. In many yards the magnolia grandiflora cheers the landscape with its green leaves during the winter and its glorious flowers during the summer, and everywhere may be seen the rose, the coleus, the geranium, the verbena, the phlox, the heliotrope, the petunia, the peony, and the chrysan- themum from the smiles of spring to the frowns of winter.
LOUISVILLE IN 1880.
At the end of an hundred years of progress Louis- ville proudly occupies the high bank of the noble Ohio, beyond the reach of destructive inundations, in the midst of a landscape of charming beauty and geological wonders. Beneath the deep foundations of its firm
houses the Ohio once ran in an ancient channel, which
15
ii4 The Centenary of Louisville.
had shifted from the south as its eroding waters cut their way to the north in the progress of countless ages. At this point an uplift in the strata in the far distant past presented a barrier to its further progress to the north, but in vain. Its waters cut through the rocky wall, and in rapids yet roll down the western slope of its anticlinal to the level below. To the north the Silver Creek hills alternate their misty peaks in a west- erly trend until, severed by the Ohio, they leap to the Bullitt County knobs and become lost in the Muldraugh range. Forbidden progress to the north by the Ohio, a vast plain expands to the east, to the south, and to the west, in which the great city of London might be laid down and yet leave room for indefinite extension in these directions. Its one hundred and twenty-five thou- sand inhabitants occupy twenty-five thousand houses, spread over thirteen square miles of territory, bisected at right angles by four hundred paved streets two hun- dred miles in length, along which shade trees from our native forests, robed in their emerald garb on this glori- ous May day, remind us of a gleam of Valombrosa. It stands in the midst of a vast domain of rich agricultural lands and inexhaustible forests of timber and mines of coal and iron, the natural center of the river system of the Mississippi Valley, with thirty-five hundred miles of
The Centenary of Louisville, 115
railroads binding it to every part. With such a location, and an exceptionally healthy climate that limits our death-rate to only twelve in the thousand,* our citizens can have none but bright hopes for the future. The marvelous health and prolonged life of its citizens are evidenced by the number of septuagenarians and octoge- narians and nonogenarians here present participating in this celebration.f
OUR OLD CITIZENS.
A few of these venerable citizens have lived lives which cover the whole period since our first charter in 1828, and some of them reach still further back toward the first settlement. From the first directory of the city, published in 1832, nearly fifty years ago, is taken the following list of names of those still living, most of whom are with us on this occasion: James Anderson, A. W. R. Harris, David L,. Beatty, Edward Hobbs, James Bridgeford, H. W. Hawes, Cuthbert Bullitt, James W.
* The following table will show the death-rate per thousand of other cities as compared with Louisville :
Louisville, 12.61 Boston 20.36
Cincinnati, 17.23 Pittsburgh 21.16
Philadelphia, 17. 97 New York 24.93
Baltimore 18.44 Washington 26.59
Providence 19-75 New Orleans, S0-1?
Brooklyn 20.15
tSee Appendix Q.
n6 The Centenary of Louisville.
Henning, T. M. Irwin, W. F. Bullock, Thomas Jeffer- son, James A. Barnett, G. P. B. Johnson, George H. Cary, Richard Lightburn, James L,. Campbell, John P. Morton, Jesse Christer, Hamilton Pope, Joseph Danforth, Samuel K. Richardson, George Davis, Edward Stokes, John M. Delph, W. P. Thomasson, Henry Dennis, George L. Douglas, Richard Ferguson, George Fetter, Aaron Foun- tain, James Harrison, William Talbott, Henry Woolford, Charles Woolford, G. A. Zeumna, and Talbot Vernon.
THE OLDEST BORN AMONG Us.
Among these the name of James Harrison stands as the representative of the first born citizen of Louisville known to be now living. Mr. Harrison was born in 1799, in the third brick house erected in Louisville, which stood on the southwest corner of Main and Sixth streets. He has filled many places of honor and trust without a stain upon his bright escutcheon. He was for eighteen years a magistrate, for ten years a member of the City Council, once in the State legislature, once sheriff of the county, and once judge of the City Court. In 1839 he published the first digest of the city laws that were ever collected, and he is now practicing his profession of law in the different courts of our city. In the long
The Centenary of Louisville. 117
life he has lived he has seen the original forest cleared away, and the population increase from 600 in 1800 to 1,357 in fSio, 4,012 in 1820, 10,341 in 1830, 21,210 in 1840, 43,194 in 1850, 68,033 in 1860, 100,753 i° T87O, and 125,000 in 1880. The house in which he was born has long since passed away, but it will be interesting to note the different owners of the lot on which it stood, and the various prices at which it has been conveyed at dif- ferent times as parts of the real -estate history of our city. This lot was drawn by Thomas Bull in the lottery of April 24, 1779. Bull transferred it to Jacob Reager, and Reager to Richard Eastin, and Eastin to Henry Reid before a deed was obtained from the Trustees. After Reid's death it was deeded to George Wallace, executor of Reid, by the Trustees, on the i6th of August, 1808. Wallace, as the executor of Reid, transferred it to John Harrison, the father of the -James Harrison of whom I am speaking, on the gth of April, 1810, for the consid- eration of six hundred pounds. It remained in the Har- rison family, and was conveyed backward and forward among them until the 26th of April, 1832, when it was conveyed to James Hewitt and L. L. Shreve for $14,200. On the 3ist of July, 1839, L,. L. Shreve conveyed his interest to James Hewitt, and on the I2th of November, 1839, Hewitt conveyed the whole to Jacob Beckwith for
u8 The Centenary of Louisville.
$55,000. On the 6th of June, 1853, Jacob Beckwith con- veyed it to William B. Reynolds for $65,000. At the death of William B. Reynolds it descended to his son, J. W. Hunt Reynolds, to whom J. W. New and others, on the 23d of April, 1874, conveyed the interest which they had acquired while it was in the Harrison family, and which they had not conveyed before, for $5,000. On the 24th of April, 1879, J. W. Hunt Reynolds conveyed it to H. Victor Newcoinb for $58,000. The lot is now owned by Mr. Newcomb, and has a front of sixty-three feet on Main Street by a depth of one hundred and forty feet on Sixth Street, covered by three handsome brick stores five stories in height.
OUR OLDEST CITIZEN.
We have among us some older citizens than James Harrison, but none of them has been so long in Louis- ville. They have gathered here from different parts of the State and from other States, in youth and in man- hood, while the whole life of Mr. Harrison extends in an unbroken chain its full length of eighty -one years in our city. We have venerable citizens dear to this occasion whose names are not in the directory of 1832. Among them may be named B. F. Avery, Dr. T. S. Bell,
The Centenary of Louisville. 119
Noble Butler, Rev. James Craik, David Frantz, James C. Ford, William Hurst, Samuel Hillman, A. G. Hodges, John Knox, Monroe Lampton, Thomas H. Martin, J. B. Mcllvain, J. S. Lithgow, R. A. Robinson, B. F. Rudy, James Trabue, B. H. Thurman, and J. B. Wilder. Our citizen oldest in years is Dr. C. C. Graham, whose remark- able life dates back to the icth of October, 1784, when he was born in Worthington's Station, near Danville. Four years more will make him a centenarian, and yet he moves along the streets every day with the elastic step of manhood's prime, and the eagle eye, which made him in youth the finest rifle-shot in the world, is shorn but little of its unerring sight. He was a practicing physician three quarters of a century ago, and is the author of several learned books of a professional and philosophical character. His health is yet good, his faculties well preserved, and he seems to-day more like a man of sixty-nine than ninety-six.*
May the kindly stars preside over the last years of these old citizens. They are the golden links in the chain that binds us to the hallowed past. With their
* The age of Dr. Graham has led to some dispute of late years. When the Doctor was no older than other people he cared but little for his age, and allowed himself to have been born in 1787. As years gathered upon him, however, and his birthday became a matter of curiosity to others as well as interest to himself, he made a search into the family records and found that
xao The Centenary of Louisville.
eyes we see the primeval forest, and with their ears hear the dying echo of the Indian's war-whoop. It will not be long before none of them is left to tell us how our city rose from a few log cabins to its present twenty -five thousand houses. Death has of late been busy among the little band, and soon all will be gone from among us forever. They have fought the good fight, they have finished their course, and the time of their departure is at hand. May their last days be peaceful, and when they are gathered to their fathers may the good lives they have lived and the good deeds they have done ever grow green in our memories.
he had been born in Worthington's Station, near Danville, Kentucky, on the loth of October, 1784. This made him three years older than he had been considering himself, especially while a widower, and the dates were corrected accordingly. If he lives four years more he will be a centenarian, and there is every reason for believing that he will not only live these four years but that he will add others to the burden which weighs other old men down, but which seems to be of no concern to him in his vigorous health.
APPENDICES,
16
APPENDIX A.
THE WELSH INDIANS IN AMERICA.
The belief of our pioneers in the old Welsh Chronicle, that Prince Madoc left Wales in the twelfth century and settled a col- ony in the Mississippi Valley, was widespread and deep-set. John Filson, the first historian of Kentucky, seems to have believed in it, and so did many of our wise and learned forefathers. As late as 1804 the Hon. Harry Toulmin, one of our most learned citizens, published in the Palladium, at Frankfort, Ky., December 22d, a long account of a visit made to the Welsh Indians on the Upper Missouri River, about the year 1784, by a man named Maurice Griffith. They were described as living like other In- dians, but had white skins and spoke the Welsh language. The veracity of Griffith was vouched for by John Childs, a prominent citizen of Jessamine County, and in turn Judge Toulmin vouched for Mr. Childs.
This account of Griffith is not unlike that of the Rev. Morgan Jones, published in the Gentlemen's Magazine, in London, in 1740. Jones, in an excursion from Virginia to Port Royal in 1660, got among what he called Welsh Indians, not on the Missouri River, but upon what he called the Pontigo River, near Cape Atros, both unknown names in modern geography. On an old map by Popples, in 1733, the river Pamticough, emptying into Pamti- cough Sound, in North Carolina, is laid down, and, as the direc-
124 Appendix A.
tion of the expedition was in this way, it is possible that Jones' colony of Welsh Indians were found upon this river, correspond- ing to the Pamlico and Tar rivers of modern geography. Espe- cially is this supposition reasonable when he mentions Cape Atros, which might easily be a Welsh or Indian pronunciation of Cape Hatteras, off Pamlico Sound. This locating of the Welsh Indians on the Upper Missouri by Griffith and on Pamlico River by Jones made the distance between them very great; but there was more than an hundred years between the two adventurers, and the roving Indians might have gone over much ground in that period. It is hard, however, from the similarity of the ac- counts, to avoid the suspicion that Griffith may have in some way become acquainted with the story of Jones, which got into print twenty-four years before Griffith dates his expedition. Both of the adventurers, according to their own accounts, would have been scalped except for their opportunely speaking the Welsh language, which the Indians understood. These Welsh Indians are reported by John Filson, the first historian of Kentucky, to have come from their distant Missouri homes to Kaskaskia, in Illinois, as late as 1779, and there to have conversed with Welsh soldiers in the company of Captain Chaplain. It is a pity that a story so full of romance should have been deprived of so much of its possibility by the expedition of Lewis and Clark up the Missouri River to its source in 1804. These explorers found no white Indians in that region who spoke the Welsh language.
In 1819, May i5th, there was published in the Louisville Public Advertiser an account of an interview with a Welsh Indian
Appendix A. 125
by Lieutenant Joseph Roberts. Roberts was a Welshman from Hawarden, in Flintshire, in North Wales, and held the rank of lieutenant in the British army. The interview occurred in Wash- ington City in 1801. The Indian and the Welshman were at home in the Welsh language, and many meetings and much talk are recorded by Roberts. The Indian located his tribe some eight hundred miles southwest from Philadelphia, and called them Asguaws.
The most startling of all accounts of Welsh Indians, so far as Kentucky and Kentuckians are concerned, are given in a letter of Thomas S. Hinde, written in 1842, to the editor of the Western Pioneer. The following is an extract from this letter:
I have a vast quantity of western matter, collected in notes gath- ered from various sources, mostly from persons who knew the facts. These notes reach back to remote periods. It is a fact that the Welsh, under Owen ap Zuinch, in the twelfth century, found their way to the Mississippi, and as far up the Ohio as the falls of that river at Louisville, where they were cut off by the Indians ; others ascended the Missouri, and were either captured or settled with and sunk into Indian habits. Proof: In 1799 six soldiers' skeletons were dug up near Jeffersonville. Each skeleton had a breastplate of brass, cast, with the Welsh coat of arms, the mermaid and harp, with a Latin inscription, in substance, " Virtuous deeds meet their just reward." One of these plates was left by Captain Jonathan Taylor with the late Mr. Hubbard Taylor, of Clark County, Kentucky, and when called for by me, in 1814, for the late Dr. John P. Campbell, of Chilli- cothe, Ohio, who was preparing notes of the antiquities of the West, by a letter from Hubbard Taylor, jr. (a relation of mine), now living, I was informed that the breastplate had been taken to Virginia by a gentleman of that State, I suppose as a matter of curiosity. Proof
126 Appendix A.
second : The late William Mclntosh, who first settled near this, and had been for fifty or sixty years prior to his death, in 1831 or 1832, a western Indian trader, was in Fort Kaskaskia prior to its being taken by General George Rogers Clark in 1778, and heard, as he informed me himself, a Welshman and an Indian from far up the Missouri speaking and conversing in the Welsh language. It was stated by Gilbert Imlay, in his History of the West, that it was Captain Abra- ham Chaplin, of Union County, Kentucky, that heard this conversa- tion in Welsh. Doctor Campbell visited Chaplin, and found it was not him; afterwards the fact was stated by Mclntosh, from whom I obtained other facts as to western matters. Some hunter, many years ago, informed me of a tombstone being found in the southern part of Indiana, with initials of a name and 1186 engraved on it. The Mohawk Indians had a tradition among them respecting the Welsh, and of their having been cut off by the Indians at the Falls of the Ohio. The late Colonel Joseph Hamilton Daviess, who had for many years sought for information on this subject, mentions the fact of the Welshmen's bones being found buried on Corn Island; so that Southey, the king's laureat, had some foundation for his Welsh poem.
APPENDIX B.
THE INTERVIEW BETWEEN CAPTAIN THOMAS BULLITT AND THE INDIANS AT CHILLICOTHE.
I have used the speeches of Captain Bullitt and the Indians, as given by Humphrey Marshall in his History of Kentucky, because Marshall says that he copied them from Bullitt's journal. At the same time I was aware of a fuller account of this inter- view in the journal of James McAfee, which has never been published, but which I have in manuscript. The speeches are substantially the same in Marshall's history and in McAfee's journal. Marshall, however, says that Girty delivered the Indian's speech interpreted by Butler, while McAfee says the Indian's speech was delivered by Chief Cornstalk. It seems to me that McAfee is more likely to be right, because if Girty had delivered the Indian's speech he would have needed no interpreter as stated by Marshall. He was a white man who well understood the Indian language by long residence among the savages. On the other hand, if Cornstalk had delivered the speech, he would have needed an interpreter as stated by McAfee. The McAfee account, moreover, contains a letter from Butler, which is an interesting part of the proceedings omitted by Marshall. I therefore here give McAfee's account of the proceedings from his journal :
128 Appendix B.
LETTER OF RICHARD BUTLER.
CHILLICOTHE, June 10, 1773.
GENTLEMEN : I have been present as a witness and interpreter between Captain Bullitt and the Shawanoes and a part of the Dela- wares. I believe (and not without some surprise that I acquaint you) that his progress in treating with these people has exceeded the expectation of most people, as they claim an absolute right to all that country that you are about to settle. That it does not lie in the power of those who sold it to give this land, and as I am a well- wisher to your undertaking, I can do no less in justice to Captain Bullitt than to acquaint you that it is in my opinion that it lies in your power to fulfill every engagement he has made in your behalf, by endeavoring to make good order amongst you and a friendly coun- tenance to your present neighbors, the Shawanoes. I do assure you it lies in your power to have good neighbors or bad, as they are a people very capable of discerning between good treatment and ill. They expect you will be friendly with them and endeavor to restrain the hunters from destroying the game, and that the young men who are inclined to hunt will be regulated by the law of the colony in the case. And as I dare say it is not to hunt the land but to cultivate it that you are about to settle it, it will be an easy matter to restrain those that would hunt and cause your infant settlement to be disturbed. Although I am at present a stranger to you all, I beg leave to subscribe myself your well-wisher and humble servant,
RICHARD BUTLER.
To the gentlemen settlers below the mouth of Sciota.
CAPTAIN BULLITT'S SPEECH TO THE CHIEFS OF THE SHAWANOE NATION, MADE IN THE COUNCIL HOUSE IN CHILLICOTHE, JUNE 9, 1773.
BROTHERS : I am sent with my people to settle the country on the Ohio River, as low as the Falls, the King has bought of the Northern and Southern Indians, and I am desired to acquaint you
Appendix B. 129
and all the people of this great country that the English are and intend to live in friendship with you all, and expect the same from you and them ; and as the Shawanoes and Delawares are to be our nearest neighbors, and did not get any of the pay given for it, it is proposed and agreed by the principals of those who are to be the owners of the land to contribute to make your two tribes a present, to be given you the next year and the year after. I am appointed to live in the country. I am sent to settle it in order to keep proper regulation, and, as I expect some more principal men out of my country in a short time, there will be something more to say to you. And the Governor was to come through this country last year had he not been taken sick, so that he may be out this or the next year, as he is desirous of seeing you and the country. I will have a belt of wampum when we have any thing more to say. As the King did not buy the country for any other purpose than his people to live on and work to supply his country, therefore we shall have no objections to your hunting or trapping on it. We shall expect that you will live with us as brothers and friends. I shall write what you say to my Governor and expect it to be a good talk.
THE ANSWER OF THE CHIEF CORNSTALK.
OLD BROTHER, THE BIG KNIFE : We heard you would be glad to see your brothers, the Shawanoes and Delawares, and talk with them. We are a little surprised that you sent no message before you, but came quite near us and them through the woods and grass, a hard way, without our knowledge, till you appeared among us quite unexpected. But you are now standing among your brothers, who think well of you and what you have said to us. We have considered your talk carefully, and we are pleased to find nothing bad in it or no ill-meaning, but what seems pleasing, kind, and friendly. You have mentioned to us your directions for settling of people over the river on the opposite side to us, and it is not the meaning of your
17
130 Appendix B.
King and Governor to deprive us of the hunting of the country as usual, but that your directions are to take proper care that we are not disturbed in our hunting for what we stand in need of to buy our clothing, all of which is very agreeable to your young brothers. Your young men we desire will be strong in the discharge of your directions toward us, as we are determined to be strong in advising our young men to be friendly, kind, and peaceable to you. This spring we saw some wrong by our young men in disturbing your people by taking their horses, but we have advised them to the contrary and have cleaned their hearts of bad intentions, and expect it will be hearkened to by them, as they are pleased with what has been said.
APPENDIX C.
THE CONNOLLY PATENT.
The following conveyance from Lord Dunmore to Dr. John Connolly, for the land at the Falls of the Ohio, is copied from an old manuscript which bears evidence of being genuine. It will be found to differ somewhat from the patent of record, and especially in the date it bears :
George the Third by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc. To all whom these presents shall come, Greeting : Whereas, by our royal proclamation, dated at Saint James' the seventh day of October, 1763, in the third year of our reign, for regulating the cessions made to us in America by the last treaty of peace, we did command and empower our gov- ernors of our several provinces in North America to grant without fee, as reward to such reduced officers as had served in North Amer- ica during the late war, and to such private soldiers as had been or should be disbanded in America and are actually residing there, and should personally apply for the same, certain quantities of land, subject, at the expiration of ten years, to the same quit-rents as other lands are subject to; and it being sufficiently proven to our Lieutenant and Governor General of our Colony and Dominion of Virginia that John Connolly, late a surgeon's mate in the General Hospital of our forces in America, is entitled to two thousand acres of land under our royal proclamation aforesaid, Know Ye, therefore, for the consideration aforesaid, we have given, granted, and con- firmed, and by these presents for us, our heirs, and successors, do give, grant, and confirm unto the said John Connolly one certain
132 Appendix C.
tract or parcel of land, containing two thousand acres, lying and being in the County of Fiucastle, on the south side of the Ohio River, opposite to the falls thereof, and bounded as follows, to wit : Beginning at a hoop-ash and buckeye, the lower corner of Major Edward Ward's land, on the bank of the same river, thirty-five poles above the mouth of Beargrass Creek ; thence down the said river south eighty-three degrees west thirty-five poles; thence north eighty- seven degrees west one hundred and twenty poles ; thence north fifty degrees west one hundred and ten poles ; thence north one hundred poles ; thence north thirty-three degrees west two hundred and twelve poles ; thence north twenty-two degrees west eighty poles ; thence north thirty-five, west thirty-one poles ; thence north sixty-three, west thirty-two poles ; thence north seventy-five degrees west twenty-five poles; thence south fifty-six degrees west one hundred and one poles ; thence south eighty degrees west one hundred and seven- teen poles to a beech and buckeye and black oak, the upper corner of Charles de Wahrmsdorff's land; and thence by his line south ten, east six hundred and ninety-three poles to a black oak, sugar-tree, and buckeye, the south corner of said land; thence by the lines of Laughlin McClain, Thomas Douglass, and Charles de Wahrmsdorff, south eighty -eight degrees east seven hundred and sixty -nine poles to a black oak and sugar -tree in Major Edward Ward's line ; then by the same north thirty-seven degrees west three hundred and ninety poles to the beginning. With all woods, under- woods, swamps, marshes, low grounds, meadows, feedings, and his due share of veins, mines, and quarries, as well discovered as not discov- ered, within the bounds aforesaid, and being part of the said quan- tity of two thousand acres of land, and the rivers, waters, and water- courses therein contained, together with the privileges of hunting, hawking, fishing, fowling, and all other profits, commodities, and hereditaments whatever, the same or any part thereof belonging or in anywise appertaining, to have, hold, possess, and enjoy the said tract or parcel of land and all the other before granted premises,
Appendix C. 133
etc., every part thereof, with each and every of their appurtenances, unto the said John Connolly and his heirs and assigns forever, to the only use and behoof of the said John Connolly, his heirs and assigns forever, to be held of us, our heirs and successors, as of our manor of East Greenwich, in the County of Kent, in free and common socage, and not in capite by knight's service, yielding and paying unto us, our heirs and successors, for every fifty acres of land, and so proportionably for a lesser or greater quantity than fifty acres, the fee rent of one shilling, to be paid upon the feast of St. Michael the archangel, next after ten years from the date of these presents; and also cultivating and improving three acres' part of every fifty of the tract above mentioned within three years after the date of these presents ; provided always that if three years of the said fee rent from and after the expiration of the ten years aforesaid shall at any time be in arrear and unpaid, or if the said Connolly, his heirs or assigns, do not within the space of three years next coming after the date of these presents cultivate and improve three acres' part of every fifty of the tract above mentioned, then the estate hereby granted shall cease and be entirely deter- mined, and thereafter . it shall and may be lawful to and for our heirs and successors to grant the same lands and premises, with the appurtenances, unto such other person or persons as our heirs and successors shall think fit.
In witness whereof we have caused these our letters patent to be made. Witness our trusty and well beloved John Earle of Dun- more, our Lieutenant and Governor General of our said Colony and Dominion of Virginia, being under the seal of our said Colony, the tenth day of December, 1773, in the fourteenth year of our reign.
DUNMORE.
APPENDIX D.
CAMPBELL AND CONNOLLY'S ADVERTISEMENT.
The following advertisement for the sale of lots in a town at the Falls of the Ohio in 1774 is copied from an old manu- script. It will be found, however, in the American Archives, fourth series, Volume i, page 278:
The subscribers, patentees of land at the Falls of the Ohio, hereby inform the public that they intend to lay out a town there in the most convenient place. The lots to be eighty feet front and two hundred and forty deep. The number of lots that shall be laid off at first will depend on the number of applications. The purchase money of each lot to be four Spanish dollars, and one dollar per annum quit rent forever. The purchasers to build, within the space of two years from the first day of December next, on each lot a log house not less than sixteen feet square, with a stone or brick chimney; and, as in that country it will be necessary the first settlers should build compactly, the improvements must naturally join each other. It is further proposed for the con- venience of the settlers that an out-lot of ten acres, contiguous to the town, shall be laid off for such as desire the same at an easy rent on a long lease.
Attendance will be given by the patentees at Pittsburg till the middle of June, at which time one of them will set off to execute the plan. The advantageous situation of that place, formed by nature as a temporary magazine or repository to receive the pro- duce of the very extensive and fertile country on the Ohio and its
Appendix D. 135
branches, as well as the necessary merchandise suitable for the inhabitants that shall emigrate into that country (as boats of fifty tons may be navigated from New Orleans up to the town), is suffi- cient to recommend it ; but when it is considered how liberal, nay, profuse, nature has been to it otherwise in stocking it so abun- dantly that the slightest industry may supply the most numerous family with the greatest plenty and amazing variety of fish, fowl, and flesh; the fertility of the soil and facility of cultivation that fit it for producing commodities of great value with little labour; the wholesomeness of the waters and serenity of the air which render it healthy ; and when property may be so easily acquired we may with certainty affirm that it will in a short time be equalled by few inland places on the American continent.
JOHN CAMPBELL, WH.LIAMSBURG, April 7, 1774. JOHN CONNOLLY.
There is an old map which shows lots laid off on the high bank of the river between Twelfth and Eighteenth streets. They are different from the lots on Main Street between First and Twelfth, as laid down on the Corbly map of 1779, and it has been thought that these lots below Twelfth Street may be the ones that Captain Bullitt laid off here in 1773. If this be so, it is quite likely that they are the same lots that Connolly and Campbell advertised in 1774. There is, however, no known copy of the map that may have been made of the town by Bullitt in 1773; neither is there any known map of the Con- nolly and Campbell lots advertised in 1774. Assigning these lots below Twelfth Street either to Bullitt in 1773, or to Con- nolly and Campbell in 1774, has nothing, therefore, to support it but conjecture. Every lover of Louisville would like to
136 Appendix D.
know of the Bullitt plan of the town in 1773 as the earliest starting point of the city, but historians can not afford to deal in conjectures. They should confine themselves to facts, and when this is done the Bullitt plan of the town and his map made in 1773 must be abandoned.
APPENDIX E.
DIRECTIONS OF THE COUNTY COURT FOR SETTLERS.
These directions, issued by the County Court of Kentucky County in 1779 to new settlers on the western waters, are copied from an old manuscript :
At a court continued and held for the County of Kentucky, April the 7th, 1779,
Ordered that the Clark of the Court send to the several Towns and Garrisons at least one attested Copy of the following Entry :
The Court of Kentucky doth recommend to the inhabitants that they keep themselves as united and compact as possible, one other year settling themselves in Towns and Forts; and that they may for their greater encouragement procure therein a permanent property to the soil and improvements, they recommend that the intended Citizens choose three or more of the most judicious of their body as Trustees, who shall be invested with authority to lay off such Town with regularity, to prescribe the terms of residence and building therein, to adjudge adequate and just compensation to any person who may necessarily be aggrieved thereby, and, to deter- mine all disputes among the Citizens in consequence thereof, that they return to this Court, to be recorded, a fair plan of their Town with their proceedings as soon as may be.
And, whereas, the new adventurers may be tempted to run too great risques in making new settlements under the resolve of the assembly made the 24th day of January, 1778, the Court doth recom- mend that they make on their new Claims only some moderate improvements, registering such place with the Surveyor of the County or in the Court thereof; they further recommend to the
18
138 Appendix E.
new adventurers that they be cautious of encroaching upon the right and property of the old Settlers who have in an exemplary manner defended that property during a bloody and inveterate war. The Claims of numbers who have long ago deserted their Claims, and in an unfriendly manner left but a few to bear the burthen of the war, will be more than sufficient for all the new adventurers. And we recommend to the old settlers that they give advice and assistance to the new adventurers in exploring the Country and discovering unappropriated lands.
A Copy, Teste, LEVI TODD, Cl. Court.
These instructions of the County Court of Kentucky em- bodied the rules by which most of the towns laid out in Ken- tucky had been governed. Nearly all of them had been started by adventurers who first selected the sites of their towns, laid them off into lots, drew for the lots, and then, having become the owners of town lots, afterwards applied to the legislature for acts of incorporation. Such was the origin of Boonesborough, incorporated in 1779; Lexington, 1782; Harrodsburg and Ship- pingport, 1785; Washington, Frankfort, and Stanford, 1786; Danville, Warwick, Beallsborough, Charlestown, and Maysville, 1787; Bardstown, 1788; Hopewell and Milford, 1789; and George- town, 1790. The County Court in its recommendation simply gave emphasis to rules which had been adhered to in all the early stations and towns. Louisville was a town by the act of the settlers on Corn Island in 1778, and it was a town by the act of the inhabitants on the main land in 1779, and it was nothing more than a town by the act of incorporation of the legislature in 1780.
APPENDIX F.
NAMES OF THOSE WHO DREW LOTS IN 1779, AND THE NUMBERS OF THE LOTS THEY DREW.
All of those who drew lots in Louisville on the 24th of April, 1779, were not probably citizens of the place. It was pretty well understood at the different stations that a permanent settle- ment was being made at the Falls, and the drawing for lots had been sufficiently advertised at Boonesborough, Harrodsburg, St. Asaphs, and other places to bring some of their citizens to the drawing.
All that a person had to do to entitle him to the privilege of drawing for a lot was to manifest his intention of becoming a citizen of the place. This was easily enough done in that changeful community where everybody was seeking a home, and but few, if any, could feel that they had one. It is not likely that there were lots enough to be drawn on this occasion to furnish every one at the Falls with a home. Those, there- fore, who were so fortunate as to draw and secure desirable lots had no difficulty in disposing of them to others who had none. Hence very few of the lots that were drawn were conveyed by the Trustees to the parties who drew them. In some instances there were half a dozen transfers between the original drawer of a lot and the party who got the deed. The Trustees also
140 Appendix F.
undertook to keep these transfers, which they required to be in writing; but many of them were lost, and for this reason it is by no means an easy task to determine who were the original drawers of the first one hundred and sixteen lots in Louisville.
The Trustees have preserved a paper purporting to contain the names of those who drew the first twenty-eight lots ; but beyond the information given by this paper there is no way of arriving at the names except by consulting Bard's map giving initials of the owner on each lot, and making a search of the records of the Trustees and of the Jefferson County Court. It is believed, however, that the following list will give, as accurately as it can be done, the names of those who drew the lots and the numbers of the lots they drew.
It must be stated, however, that most of the lots lying below Twelfth Street, in the bend of the river, were on the land of Colonel John Campbell, and those who drew them lost them. The line between the Connolly and Campbell land was about at Twelfth Street, and Campbell was not the man to give up any thing that he could hold. There were eighty-eight lots above Twelfth Street and twenty-eight below.
Those who drew these twenty-eight lots below Twelfth Street generally got their pains for their labors, and among them was my grandfather. After going through the Illinois campaign with General Clark he drew this lot which he did not get, and that was about the sum of his gains for his soldiering. There was quite a large pond on the lot he drew,
Appendix F.
141
and he consoled himself for the loss of it with the philo- sophical conclusion that he would not have to raise frogs for a living, as he might have done if he had held this lot.
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||
|
Thomas Bard .... |
I |
Thomas Moore, . . . |
28 |
8s |
|
|
Richard Wood, . . . |
2 |
, |
Isaac Bowman, . . . |
29 |
VO 84 |
|
Francis Daniel, . . . |
3 |
. . |
William Kincheloe, . |
30 |
83 |
|
Michael Wolf, .... |
4 |
. . |
Richard Chenowith, . |
31 |
82 |
|
Arthur Lindsay, . . . |
5 |
. . |
Wm. Anderson, . . . |
32 |
81 |
|
John Donne, .... |
6 |
. . |
Abraham James, . . |
33 |
21 |
|
John Shurrer .... |
7 |
Joseph Hunter, . . . |
^J. |
22 |
|
|
Stephen Archer, . . . |
8 |
Jonathan Boone, . . . |
O*r 35 |
23 |
|
|
Andrew Steele, . . . |
9 |
• • |
Thomas Whiteside, . |
36 |
24 |
|
Matthew Caldwell, . . |
10 |
. . |
Alexander Cleland, . |
37 |
25 |
|
Isaac McDonald, . . |
ii |
John Fleming, .... |
38 |
26 |
|
|
Jacob Light |
12 |
. . |
William Helm, . . . |
39 |
27 |
|
David Hunter, . . . |
13 |
• . |
Nicholas Merriwether, |
40 |
28 |
|
James Beatty, .... |
X4 |
. . |
George Wilson, . . . |
4i |
29 |
|
15 |
. . |
George Hartt |
42 |
30 |
|
|
Adam Grant, .... |
16 |
• • |
James Kenney, . . . |
43 |
31 |
|
John Dickey, .... |
17 |
96 |
James Patton, .... |
44 |
\2. |
|
Harmon Consella, . . |
/ 18 |
7 95 |
Benjamin Roberts, . . |
^T 45 |
o 33 |
|
IQ |
94 ™" |
William Toole, . . . |
46 |
^A |
|
|
Ash Emerson |
;/ 2O |
Q^ |
John Paul |
T"w 47 |
OT~ -1C |
|
Wm Bard |
21 |
"*? 92 |
Thomas Hughes, . . |
T-/ 48 |
<JJ 36 |
|
John Reburn, .... |
22 |
91 |
Meredith Price, . . . |
49 |
65 |
|
Hugh Thomson, . . . |
23 |
90 |
Marsham Brashears, . |
50 |
66 |
|
Robert Thomson, . . |
24 |
89 |
Squire Boone, .... |
5i |
67 |
|
James Bard |
25 |
88 |
Val. T. Dalton, . . . |
52 |
68 |
|
Joseph Archer, . . . |
26 |
87 |
Margaret Pendergrast, |
53 |
69 |
|
John Newell, . . . |
27 |
86 |
George Holman, . |
U |
70 |
142
Appendix F.
BY WHOM DRAWN.
Simeon Moore, . . . Peter Hildebrand, . .
John Tewell
Joseph Roberts, . . .
Josiah Phelps
Thomas Bull, . . . . George Payne, . . . . John Conaway, . . . Zebulon Headington,, Samuel McMullen, John Townsend, . . . John Crawford, . . . William Swan, . . , Samuel Harrod, . . . Antoine Ganier, . . . Waller Overton, . . . John McManness, . . Alexander Callender,
John Helm
George Owens, . . .
Jacob Pyatt,
William Harrod, . . . William Faith, . . .
Moses Morris
Charles Curd, . . . .
Benj. Pope
John Eaton
John Hawkins, . . . William Heth, . . . Samuel Strode, . . . John Baker,
NUMBERS.
OLD. NEW.
NUMBERS.
OLD. NEW.
72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80
37 38 39 40
55 56 57 58
59 60 61
62
63 64
65 66 67 68
69 41
70 42
71 43
72 44
73 57
74 58
75 59
76 60
77 61
78 62
79 63
80 64
81 45
82 46
83 47
84 48
54 55 56 49
BY WHOM DRAWN.
Edward Bulger, ... 86 John Crittenden, ... 87 Fred Honaker, ... 88 Jacob Myers, .... 89 William Linn, .... 90 50
James Harris 91
Henry French, ... 92 Thomas Christy, ... 93 James Withers, jr., .94 John Sanders, .... 95 Edward Worthington, 96 . . Isaac Kimbley, ... 97 Archibald Lockhart, .98 William Marshall, . . 99 Jacob Reager, .... 100 . . Adam Wickersham, . 101 . .
George Clews 102 . .
William McBride, . . 103 . . Andrew Scott, .... 104 . . Neal Dougherty, . . . 105 . . George Dickens, . . . 106 . .
William Rice 107 . .
Bland Ballard 108
Francis Durrett, . . . 109 . . Michael Humble, . . no
Joseph Cyrus in
Robert Travis, . ... 112 Jacob Wickersham, .113 Samuel Perkins, ... 114 James Graham, ... 115 John Sinclair, . . . . 116
Appendix F.
ALPHABETICAL ARRANGEMENT OF THE NAMES OF THOSE WHO DREW
THE FOREGOING LOTS WITH THE NUMBERS OF
THE LOTS DRAWN.
|
BY WHOM DRAWN. |
NUMBERS. |
BY WHOM DRAWN. |
NUMBERS. |
||
|
OLD. " |
NEW. |
OLD. " |
JNKW. |
||
|
Anderson, Wm., . . . |
32 |
81 |
Cyrus, Joseph |
III |
. • |
|
Archer, Joseph, . . . |
26 |
87 |
Dalton, Val. T., . . . |
52 |
68 |
|
Archer, Stephen, . . . |
8 |
• • |
Daniel, Francis, . . . |
3 |
• • |
|
Baker, John, .... |
85 |
53 |
Dickens, George, . . . |
1 06 |
|
|
Ballard, Bland, .... |
108 |
Dickey, John, .... |
17 |
96 |
|
|
Bard David, |
IS |
Donne, John, .... |
/ 6 |
:s |
|
|
Bard James .... |
<J 2^ |
88 |
Dougherty, Neal, . . |
1015 |
|
|
Bard, Thomas, .... |
*O I |
Durrett, Francis, . . |
±wo 109 |
. . |
|
|
Bard Wm |
21 |
Q2 |
Eaton, John, .... |
81 |
A^ |
|
Beatty, James |
14 |
ym |
Emerson, Ash, . . . |
20 |
TO 93 |
|
Bowman, Isaac, . . . |
29 |
84 |
Ervin, Joseph |
19 |
94 |
|
Boone, Jonathan, . . |
35 |
23 |
Faith, William, . . . |
77 |
61 |
|
Boone, Squire, .... |
5i |
67 |
Fleming, John, . . . |
38 |
26 |
|
Brashears, Marsham, . |
50 |
66 |
French, Henry, . . . |
92 |
|
|
Bull, Thomas, . . . . |
60 |
76 |
Ganier, Antoine, . . . |
69 |
4i |
|
Bulger, Edward, . . . |
86 |
54 |
Graham, James, . . . |
U5 |
|
|
Caldwell, Matthew, . . |
10 |
. . |
Grant, Adam |
16 |
. . |
|
Callender, Alexander, |
72 |
44 |
Harrod, Samuel, . . . |
68 |
40 |
|
Chenowith, Richard, . |
3i |
82 |
Harrod, William, . . |
76 |
60 |
|
Christy, Thomas, . . |
93 |
Harris, James |
9i |
. . |
|
|
Cleland, Alexander, . |
37 |
25 |
Hartt, George, . . . . |
42 |
30 |
|
Clews, George, . . . |
1 02 |
Hawkins, John, . . . |
82 |
46 |
|
|
Conaway, John, . . . |
62 |
78 |
Headington, Zebulon, |
63 |
79 |
|
Consella, Harmon, . . |
18 |
Q^ |
Helm, John . . . . |
77 |
C7 |
|
Crawford, John, . . . |
66 |
y J 38 |
Helm, William, . . . |
/ o 39 |
O/ 27 |
|
Crittenden, John, . . |
8? |
55 |
Heth, William, . . . |
83 |
47 |
|
Curd, Charles, . . . . |
79 |
63 |
Hildebrand, Peter, . . |
56 |
72 |
Appendix F.
BVWHOMORAWK.
BVWHOMDRAWN.
|
Holman, George, . . |
54 |
70 |
Perkins, Samuel, . . . |
114 |
• • |
|
Honaker, Fred, . . . |
88 |
56 |
Phelps, Josiah |
59 |
75 |
|
Hughes Thomas, • |
4.8 |
16 |
Pope Benj |
80 |
64 |
|
<r*J |
o^ |
^T |
|||
|
Humble, Michael, . . |
no |
Price, Meredith, . . . |
49 |
65 |
|
|
Hunter, David, . . . |
13 |
. . |
Pyatt, Jacob |
75 |
59 |
|
Hunter, Joseph, . . . |
34 |
22 |
Reburn, John, . . . . |
22 |
9i |
|
James, Abraham, . . |
33 |
21 |
Reager, Jacob, .... |
100 |
. . |
|
Kincheloe, William, . |
30 |
83 |
Rice, William, . . . . |
107 |
• • |
|
Kenney, James, . . . |
43 |
31 |
Roberts, Benjamin, . |
45 |
33 |
|
Kimbley, Isaac, . . . |
97 |
Roberts, Joseph, . . . |
58 |
74 |
|
|
Light, Jacob |
12 |
• • |
Scott, Andrew, . . . |
104 |
• • |
|
Lindsay, Arthur, . . . |
5 |
Sanders, John, .... |
95 |
. . |
|
|
Linn, William, .... |
90 |
50 |
Shurrer, John |
7 |
|
|
Lockhart, Archibald, . |
98 |
• • |
Sinclair, John |
116 |
. . |
|
Marshall, William, . . |
99 |
Steele, Andrew, . . . |
9 |
||
|
McBride, William, . . |
103 |
• • |
Strode, Samuel, . . . |
84 |
48 |
|
McDonald, Isaac, . . |
ii |
Swan, William, . . . |
67 |
39 |
|
|
McManness, John, . . |
7i |
43 |
Thomson, Hugh, . . . |
23 |
90 |
|
McMullen, Samuel, |
64 |
80 |
Thomson, Robert, . . |
24 |
89 |
|
Merriwether, Nicholas, |
40 |
28 |
Townsend, John, . . . |
65 |
37 |
|
Moore, Simeon, . . . |
55 |
7i |
Travis, Robert, . . . |
112 |
. . |
|
Moore, Thomas, . . . |
28 |
85 |
Tewell, John, . . . . |
57 |
73 |
|
Morris, Moses, .... |
78 |
62 |
Toole, William, . . . |
46 |
34 |
|
Myers, Jacob, .... |
89 |
Whiteside, Thomas, . |
36 |
24 |
|
|
Newell, John, .... |
27 |
86 |
Wickersham, Adam, . |
IOI |
|
|
Overton, Waller, . . . |
/ 70 |
42 |
Wickersham, Jacob, . |
113 |
. . |
|
Owens, George, . . . |
74 |
58 |
Wilson, George, . . . |
4i |
29 |
|
Patton, James, .... |
44 |
32 |
Withers, James, jr., |
94 |
. . |
|
Paul, John, |
4.7 |
^ |
Wolf, Michael |
A |
|
|
Payne, George, . . . |
T1/ 61 |
oo 77 |
Wood, Richard, . . . |
T- 2 |
. t |
|
Pendergrast, Margaret, |
53 |
69 |
Worthington, Edward, |
96 |
, |
APPENDIX G.
FORT NELSON AT THE FALLS OF THE OHIO.
Fort Nelson, so named in honor of Governor Nelson of Virginia, was the strongest fortification built by the pioneers in the western country. It was only surpassed in strength by Fort Chartres, built by the French on the Mississippi. It covered an acre of ground on the bank of the Ohio at the foot of Seventh Street, and was supplied with cannon as well as small arms. It was built by the soldiers stationed at the Falls, who were assisted by the citizens of L/ouisville and its vicinity. It was surrounded by a ditch ten feet wide and eight feet deep, in the middle of which was a row of sharp pickets. The dirt dug from the ditch was thrown into log pens, which formed the outer wall of the fort. In this outer wall was a row of pickets ten feet high. In 1850 one of the pickets of this old fort was dug up and made into canes, as souvenirs of the place. The fort was used until Fort Finney was established on the opposite side of the river, where Jeffersonville now stands. In 1785 Nicholas Meriwether wrote to the Trustees of Louisville that the fort was no longer used, and that he wanted to be put in possession of the lot on which it stood, as it was his property.
This fort was never attacked by the enemy, but it was the intention of the British and Indians to assault it in 1780. The attack was abandoned on account of the supposed strength of the place, and Ruddles' and Martins' suffered in its place.
19
146 Appendix G.
The little square fort at the mouth of Beargrass Creek, which was built by Colonel John Floyd in 1779, could not have resisted cannon for a moment. Neither could the fort at the foot of Twelfth Street have stood against cannon. Fort Nelson, how- ever, was supposed to be cannon - proof. The wall formed by pens filled with dirt dug from the ditch could not have been penetrated by any cannon-balls in use in the West at that time. It was never put to the test of cannon, and probably for the reason that it was deemed impregnable.
In this fort General Clark had his headquarters after he left the fort at the foot of Twelfth Street. The courts of Jefferson County were also held here until a court-house was built. It was also a receptacle for criminals until a jail was built. There was plenty of room in the fort for the garrison and for the other uses to which it was appropriated.
The following inventory of its armament, copied from an old manuscript of 1783, shows that it was pretty well supplied with cannon and small arms and ammunition for a frontier fort among the Indians at that early day.
INVENTORY OF ORDNANCE AND MILITARY STORES AT FORT NELSON, TAKEN
THE FIRST OF OCTOBER, 1783, BY CAPTAIN ROBERT GEORGE
AND LIEUTENANT RICHARD CLARK, PER ORDER
OF MAJOR GEORGE WALLS.
1 Brass Six Pounder. i Budge Bag.
2 Ditto Three Pounders. i Budge Barrel.
i Iron Two Pounder. 3 Covered Magazines.
8 Ditto Swivels. 2 Carrying Ammunition Boxes.
Appendix G.
80 Rounds Six Ib. Case Cart- ridges.
3 Ditto Ditto (Damaged). 239 Ditto Six Ib. Ball Cartridges.
26 Ditto Six Ib. Case, without
Powder.
60 Six Ib. Balls with Formers. 400 Six pound Balls.
27 Rounds Three Ib. Case Cart-
ridges.
ii Ditto Ditto (Damaged). 104 Ditto Three Ib. Grape Cart- ridges.
124 Ditto Three Ib. Ball Ditto. 96 Ib. Grape Shot. 34 Three Ib. Balls. 39 Royal Case for 5}4 Inch
Howitz.
132 Shells for Ditto. 13 Hand Grenades. 25 Two Ib. Cartridges without
Ball.
386 Swivel Cartridges. 6 Quire Ditto Ditto. y/3 Ditto Ditto (Damaged). 550 Sheets Cannon Ditto. 41 Ditto Ditto (Damaged).
22 Do. Meal Powder, i Elevating Screw.
Yz Ditto Ditto (Damaged), i Box Damaged Tubes. 30 Lbs. Slow Match.
23 Ditto Do (Damaged).
4 Pair Drag Ropes (Damaged). 3 Sets Men's Harness.
150 Muskets. 124 Ditto (out of repair). 123 Bayonets with Scabbards. 1556 Gun Flints.
74 Bayonets without Scabbards. 385 Bayonet Belts.
21 Ditto Ditto (Damaged).
20 Sword Belts. 313 Cartouch Boxes.
43 Rifle Guns (out of repair).
17 Rifle Barrels.
12 Light Horse Swords.
5 Ditto Ditto (Damaged).
13 Pair Pistol Holsters. 5 Ditto Pistols.
5 Pistols (out of repair). 57 Small Hangers.
14 Granadiers' Swords.
i Ditto Ditto (Damaged), i Stand of Old Colours.
3 Reams Musket Cartridges
Paper.
95 1/3 Dozen Musquet Cartridges. 3171 Lbs. Gun Powder. 33 Empty Cannon Cartridge
Cases.
io}4 Dozen Sticks Port Fire. 25 Melting Ladles. 14 Badges for Grenade Pouches.
4 Cart Saddles. 17 Pair of Haims.
148
Appendix G.
i Ladle for Six Pounder. 15
1 Charger for Ditto. <$%
2 Screws or Worms for Three 1 2
Pounders. 5
2 Spunges for Ditto (out of 2
repair). i
3 Worms for Swivels. i i Ditto for Two Pounders.
i Swivel Ladle. 2
3 Ditto Ditto (out of repair). 2
4 Spunges for Swivels (out of 2
repair). 2
7 Lin Stocks. 7^
6 Port Fire Stocks. 134
Horse Collars.
Pair of Chains.
Back Bands.
Belly Bands.
Cruppers.
Copper Hammer and Driver.
Pair Copper Scales and Set
of Weights. Pair Bullet Moulds. Ditto N.
Gunners' Belts, 8 Pickers. Priming Horns. Lbs. Twine. Lbs. Lead.
The foregoing is true Inventory of the Ordnance and Military Stores at Fort Nelson the date above mentioned — which, being com- pared with a former Inventory taken by Captain George and Lieu- tenant William Clark, the 3d of May last, and Mr. Miles' Book of Issues and receivals since that time, There appears to be a defi- ciency of four hundred and twelve pounds of Gun Powder, one hundred and sixteen pounds of Lead, twenty-one dozen of Musket Cartridges, twelve dozen and eight Ditto damaged, and thirty-three Gun Flints not accounted for by Mr. Miles.
ROBT. GEORGE, Capt.
R. CLARK, Lt.
APPENDIX H.
PETITION FOR ESTABLISHING THE TOWN OF LOUISVILLE.
The following petition of those who contemplated becoming citizens of the town of L/ouisville, to be established at the Falls of the Ohio, is copied from an old manuscript. It bears thirty- nine signatures, and among them will be found the names of some of those pioneers who were the founders of families here and whose descendants yet dwell among us. We do not find as signers of this petition a number of persons known to have been at the Falls of the Ohio at its date. Why these residents should have failed to sign the petition it is difficult to under- stand. Some of them are known to have been with General Clark in the Illinois campaign, and others may have been for one reason or another at different stations in the country. Whatever may have been the cause, it is clear that only a part of the then residents at the Falls signed the petition for the establishing there of the new town to be called Louisville.
To the Horible, the Speaker, and Gentlemen of the House of Delegates : The petition of the inhabitants of the County of Kentucky, liv- ing at the Falls of the River Ohio, humbly sheweth:
That your petitioners have, at great risque and expense, re- moved to this remote part of the State, and from the advantageous situation of the place, both for trade and safety, were induced to settle here, and having laid out a town under directions of persons
Appendix H.
appointed for that purpose by the Court of Kentucky (a plan of which we have sent to be laid before you), and when laid out we cast lots for the choice of the lots in the said town, have improved and settled on some of the lots, and some have sold their houses and lots to persons who have come here since the town was laid out, who are still adding to our improvements ; but the uncertainty of the title thereto prevents some from settling here that are in- clined, thereby making less secure from any attack of the Indians, for we are informed that the land we have laid out for a town above the mouth of a gut that makes into the river opposite the
Falls was surveyed and patented for Connolly, who we have
understood has taken part with the enemies of America, and agree- able to a late act of Assembly the land we expect will be escheated and sold.
We are well assured that a town established at this place will be of great advantage to the inhabitants of Kentucky, and think the plan on which the town is laid out will conduce towards its being a populous town and of great advantage to us, as many of us have built houses according thereto, and will render us secure from any hostile intention of the Indians, and will induce merchants to bring articles of commerce that the inhabitants of this western part of the State stand much in need of: Therefore, pray that an act may be passed to establish a town at the Falls of the Ohio River, agreeably to the plan sent, and that the present settlers and holders of the lots in the said town may have them confirmed to them on paying a composition that may be thought reasonable to any one having a right thereto (if thought requisite) or to the Commonwealth ; and not let us be turned out of houses we have built, and from lots we have improved and are about to build on, and thereby lose the labor we have performed at the risque of our lives.
All these several matters we, your petitioners, beg leave to lay before your Honorable House, and hope you will comply with our
Appendix H.
request in adopting the prayer of our petition, or some other method that you in your wisdom may think proper, that will conduce to the interest and security of this exposed part of the State, and we, as in duty bound, shall ever pray. May ist, 1780.
JOHN HAWKINS, JR., NICHOLAS MERIWETHER, WILLIAM POPE, JOHN HELM, BENJ'N. ROBERTS, JR., WILLIAM TOOLE, EDWARD BULGER, THOMAS CHRISTY, JAMES HARRIS, WILLIAM HELM, MARSHAM BRASHEARS, GEO. HARTT, JOSIAH PHELPS, JAS. PATTON, JOHN TOWNSEND, THOMAS HUGHES, ABRAHAM JAMES, HEN. FRENCH, JOHN TEWELL, SAMUEL HARROD,
Jos. ARCHER, WILLIAM L,INN, JOHN CRITTENDEN, WILLIAM KINCHELOE, JOHN FLEMING, JAMES WITHERS, JR., CHARLES CURD, SQUIRE BOONE, JONATHAN BOONE, JOHN CONAWAY, GEO. PAYNE, WALLER OVERTON, MER'TH PRICE, JOSEPH ROBERTS, WM. MARSHALL, WM. MCBRIDE, ALEXANDER CLELAND, THOMAS WHITESIDE, JAMES KENNEY.
APPENDIX I.
AN ACT FOR ESTABLISHING THE TOWN OF LOUISVILLE AT THE FALLS OF OHIO, MAY i, 1780.
Whereas sundry inhabitants of the County of Kentucky have, at great expense and hazard, settled themselves upon certain lands at the Falls of Ohio, said to be the property of John Connolly, and have laid off a considerable part thereof into half-acre lots for a town, and having settled thereon, have preferred petitions to this general assembly to establish the said town, Be it therefore enacted, That one thousand acres of land, being the forfeited property of the said John Connolly, adjoining to the lands of John Campbell and
Taylor, be and the same is hereby vested in John Todd, Jun.,
Stephen Trigg, George Slaughter, John Floyd, William Pope, George Meriwether, Andrew Hines, James Sullivan, and Marsham Brashiers, Gentlemen, trustees, to be by them, or any four of them, laid off into lots of an half acre each, with convenient streets and publick lots, which shall be and the same is hereby established a town by the name of Louisville. And be it farther enacted, That after the said lands shall be laid off into lots and streets, the said trustees, or any four of them, shall proceed to sell the said lots, or so many as they shall judge expedient, at publick auction, for the best price that can be had, the time and place of sale being previously advertised two months, at the court-houses of the adjacent counties, the purchasers respectively to hold their said lots subject to the condition of build- ing on each a dwelling-house, sixteen feet by twenty at least, with a brick or stone chimney, to be finished within two years from the day of sale. And the said trustees, or any four of them, shall and
Appendix I. 153
they are hereby empowered to convey the said lots to the pur- chasers thereof in fee-simple, subject to the condition aforesaid, on payment of the money arising from such sale to the said trustees for the uses hereafter mentioned, that is to say: If the money arising from such sale shall amount to thirty dollars per acre, the whole shall be paid by the said trustees into the treasury of this commonwealth, and the overplus, if any, shall be lodged with the court of the county of Jefferson, to enable them to defray the expenses of erecting the publick buildings of the said county. Provided, That the owners of lots already drawn shall be entitled to the preference therein upon paying to the said trustees the sum of thirty dollars for such half-acre lot, and shall be thereafter subject to the same obligations of settling as other lot-holders within the said town.
And be it farther enacted, That the said trustees, or the major part of them, shall have power from time to time to settle and deter- mine all disputes concerning the bounds of the said lots, and to settle such rules and orders for the regular building thereon as to them shall seem best and most convenient. And in case of death or removal from the county of any of the said trustees, the remain- ing trustees shall supply such vacancies by electing of others, from time to time, who shall be vested with the same powers as those already mentioned. And be it farther enacted, That the purchasers of the lots in the said town, so soon as they shall have saved the same according to their respective deeds of conveyance, shall have and enjoy all the rights, privileges, and immunities which the free- holders and inhabitants of other towns in this State not incorpo- rated by charter have, hold, and enjoy. And be it farther enacted, That, if the purchaser of any lot shall fail to build thereon within the time before limited, the said trustees, or a major part of them, may thereupon enter into such lot, and may either sell the same again, and apply the money towards repairing the streets, or in any other way for the benefit of the said town, or appropriate such lot
154 Appendix I.
to publick uses for the benefit of the inhabitants of the said town. Provided, That nothing herein contained shall extend to or affect or injure the title of lands claimed by John Campbell, Gentleman, or those persons whose lots have been laid off on his lands, but that their titles be and remain suspended until the said John Campbell shall be relieved from his captivity.
APPENDIX J.
COMBINATION OF EARLY LOUISVILLE DOCTORS.
In 1819 the doctors of L/ouisville, thinking that the pay they got for the medicines with which they fed their patients was not fairly proportioned to the prices they had to pay for what they bought to eat, formed an association for mutual pro- tection. It does not appear which of the learned doctors wrote the agreement they all signed and published; but it is plain from its wording that there was at least one doctor in Louis- ville in 1819 who had read the works of Dr. Samuel Johnson, and admired his style sufficiently to try to imitate it. The card proceeds on stilts over a rich mosaic of high-sounding words which no one but Dr. Johnson or his imitator at the Falls of the Ohio would be likely to have used on such an occasion.
The following is a copy, from an old manuscript, of the card they published in the Public Advertiser of February 24, 1819:
To THE PUBLIC.
The subscribers, resident Physicians in Louisville, have formed themselves into an association for the advancement of professional science — and for the purpose of regulating their fees, so as to grad- uate the scale of honorable remuneration proportionally to the ad- vance which has taken place in every item of human subsistence.
They solemnly disclaim the imputation of any avaricious mo- tive in this appeal to the justice of a high -minded and equitable
156
Appendix J.
community. They merely claim a participation in the general privi- lege enjoyed by every class of men who, if employed by a Physician in their various occupations, hold a mirror to his Eye, wherein he sees reflected the inequality of his ground with regard to the fruits of his own laborious avocations. While thus reluctantly announc- ing an advance of fees, created by the circumstantial necessity of the times, they unequivocally pledge themselves as a body to be equally prompt in retrograding to the ancient standard so soon as there shall gleam a vista of hope that circumstances may return to their ordinary level. Perhaps no portion of the western world so urgently requires the medical man to go forth on his walk of duty, fully accoutered in the Panoply of Charity — the handmaid of the science — as this town, the depot of many a sick and indigent mem- ber of the national family from different parts of the Union. If the circumstances of the Physician then are not honorably easy, it is in vain for him to profess, for he can not practice that celestial virtue.
They therefore trust that the foregoing exhibit will be met in the spirit which dictated it, and that a liberal Public will not ungenerously repine at an alteration so evidently founded on an
imperious necessity.
W. C. GALT,
W. H. HUGHES, H. OLDHAM, THOMAS BOOTH, N. RAGLAND, G. W. SMITH, W. M. TAYLOR, RICH. FERGUSON,
JOHN ROBERTSON, DANL. WILSON, WM. H. ALLEN,
W. E. N. BURRELL, J. MOSER,
J. C. JOHNSTON, J. L,. MURRAY.
APPENDIX K.
SAMUEL VAIL.
Samuel Vail, editor and proprietor of the first newspaper published in Louisville, was born in Pomfret, in the State of Vermont, June i, 1778. When he reached the age of manhood he was furnished with an outfit by his father, who charged the articles on his books as follows: i Hors, ^"24; i Sadil, ^*i IDS; i Bridal, IDS. On this horse young Vail rode to Windsor, where he learned the printer's trade in the office of the Vermont Jour- nal. He next went to Fair Haven, where he made the acquain- tance of the Hon. Matthew Lyon. Here Lyon was the editor and proprietor of a newspaper called "The Scourge of Aristoc- racy and Repository of Political Truth." He made from bass- wood the paper on which it was printed, and had himself cast the type. Vail made a contract with Lyon by which he got the use of Lyon's types and printing press to start a paper at the Falls of the Ohio. In 1801, having transported his press and types to the Falls, and bought his printing paper at George- town, Ky., and got his type set up in Louisville, on the i8th of January he issued the first number of the Farmers' Library. It was a little folio sheet, 19x11 inches, printed with long primer type on coarse paper more yellow than white. The Farmers' Library continued to be issued until 1808, when it gave place to the Gazette. Vail went from the newspaper business into
158 Appendix K.
the army. He began as an ensign in 1808, and was attached to the Seventh Regiment, stationed in the South. He partici- pated in the battle of New Orleans, and wrote a graphic account of it in 1815. He was promoted to second lieutenant in 1809, to first lieutenant in 1811, and to captain in 1814. For his gal- lant conduct at New Orleans he was breveted major in 1815, and the same year resigned. He then went to planting in Louisiana, where in 1821 he was married to Mary Bird at Baton Rouge. As a planter he was successful, but in merchandising, in which he also engaged, he was a failure. He attempted merchandising on too large a scale for a beginner, having one store in New Orleans, another on Mobile Point, another at Petite Coquella, and still another at Baton Rouge. The last known of him he was on his sugar plantation near Baton Rouge, where he probably died, but at what time is not posi- tively known.
He was a jovial companion and sought amusement in what- ever came along. He won some money of Charles Quiry, and not being able to collect it he sued Quiry on the following account: "Subscription to horse race, $i ; and cash won of you at Vantoon, $45." Of course he meant by Vantoon the French game at cards known as Vingt-et-une. In his next suit he fared worse than bad spelling. He sued Alfred Sebastian for $30, and went with the sheriff to take him. Sebastian was in a boat with a hickory stick in his hand, and invited Vail and the sheriff aboard. They declined to enter, and the sheriff re- turned the writ with this indorsement: "The within named
Appendix K. 159
Alfred Sebastian would not be taken but kept me off by force, namely, with a cudgel while in a boat."
In early times, as in later, newspaper men had sometimes to account for what they printed. On one occasion Vail gave in his paper an account of a fight between two bullies, and named as victor the one that got the worst of it. The next day the man who had been honored in the paper as victor came to the office of the Farmers' Library and demanded to see the editor. Vail made his appearance, and the bully began abusing him for printing that he had won the fight when he had lost it. Vail bore his abuse for a while and then ordered him out of the office. The bully then made a rush at Vail and struck at him with a fist that resembled a huge maul more than a human clenched hand. Vail, however, had anticipated him, and, dodg- ing the blow, retaliated with the barrel of an old horse -pistol which lay convenient. The bully was knocked down and given a beating more severe than the one which had been published in the paper. He went off satisfied, and told Vail he might
print what he d d pleased about it, even to making him
victor again if he liked.
APPENDIX L.
THE REV. WILLIAMS KAVANAUGH AND THE FIRST CHURCH IN
LOUISVILLE.
That Williams Kavanaugh was an Episcopalian minister, with a church in Louisville as early as 1803, there can be no doubt. The records of the courts show that in the case of Carneal against Lacassagne, Hite against Marsh, and in other suits, orders were entered in 1803 requiring notice to non-resi- dents, etc., to be read "At the Rev. Williams Kavanaugh's Meet- ing-house in Louisville, on some Sunday immediately after divine service." Williams Kavanaugh was the father of Bishop Kava- naugh, of the Methodist Church. He was at first a Methodist himself, but left that denomination and joined the Episcopal after reaching manhood and preparing for the ministry. He officiated in this church in Louisville until 1806, when he went to Henderson, Kentucky, where he died the same year in charge of the Episcopalian Church in that city. While it is easy to establish the fact that the Episcopalians had a church in Louis- ville as early as 1803, in charge of Mr. Kavanaugh, it is not so easy to show just where this church edifice stood. There was a pioneer church in Louisville, near the old Twelfth Street fort, which was used by all denominations in early times. It stood at the northwest corner of Main and Twelfth streets, on a lot which belonged to Jacob Myers. Its erection on this lot at an
Appendix L. 161
early date involved the title in a cloud which was not dispersed for many years. It was a simple structure, made of unhewed logs from the adjacent forest. It was thirty feet long by twenty feet wide, and had a board roof and belfry. The main door was in what would be called the gable end, which fronted on Twelfth Street, with one window over it and two windows on each of the long sides. A large wooden chimney occupied the other end. In Captain Imlay's Topographical Description of North America, published at London in 1793, and in subsequent editions, there is a picture of Louisville with a building resembling this church in this locality. It is possible that Mr. Kavanaugh, in 1803, got possession of this old church, and, after putting it in order, offi- ciated in it while he was in Louisville. There is no known account, either printed or written, of any other church at this early date, and tradition has handed down nothing relating to another. In 1812 the lot on which it stood was sold for taxes, and a sufficient title gotten thereto by William Kirkwood for the removal of the last remains of the old church. For some time before its final removal it was in such a dilapidated state as to be unfit for use.
The Rev. James Craik, in his sketch of Christ Church, pub- lished in 1862, states that an Episcopalian minister named Kav- anaugh came from Virginia with Abraham Kite in 1784. The probability is that Mr. Craik got this date wrong, as it is not likely that Williams Kavanaugh was an Episcopalian minister officiating here at so early a date. I have found no record of him here earlier than 1797, when, as a deacon of the Methodist
1 62 Appendix L.
Church, he was performing the marriage ceremony. If he was a deacon of the Methodist Church in 1797, he could hardly have been an Episcopalian minister in 1784. The family traditions are that he passed from the Methodist to the Episcopalian Church, and not from the Episcopalian to the Methodist; and in corrob- oration of this the records of our courts show that he was offici- ating as an Episcopalian during the last years of his life in Louisville and Henderson. The record of marriages in our county court shows that he was performing the marriage ceremony here in 1797 as a deacon of the Methodist Church, and afterward as an Episcopalian minister.
APPENDIX M.
A NUMERICAL LIST OF THE LOTS SOLD IN LOUISVILLE, AND TO
WHICH IS ATTACHED THE NAMES OF THE PURCHASERS
AND THE PRICES PAID FOR THEM.
This list is copied from an old manuscript made out in 1786 to show what lots the Trustees of Louisville had sold, to whom they had sold them, and what prices they had received for them. The lots sold were described in the sales as of seven different kinds, and were possibly so distinguished on the maps used at the sales.
The lots are here listed under seven different heads so as to correspond with the different kinds of lots, each kind of lot being under its descriptive head. This list can not fail to be interesting and instructive to the descendants of those who were the first owners of lots in Louisville. The list does not represent all who were lot owners in Louisville, for many owners trans- ferred their lots to others; but it does represent the first owners to whom deeds were made by the Trustees. Many of those who drew lots on the 24th of April, 1779, transferred their lots, and the parties to whom the transfers were made received the deeds. Hence the names of some of the original owners do not appear in the list at all. It is nevertheless a valuable and interesting list, which is well worth preserving for those who are to come after us.
164 Appendix M.
i. The twenty-acre lots between Broadway and Chestnut streets, beginning with No. i, near the intersection of Clay and Broadway :
|
NO. ACRES. |
PURCHASERS' NAMES. |
CONSIDERATION. |
|
£ S D |
||
|
I 18 |
Jacob Reager |
15 10 o |
|
2 20 |
James Sullivan, |
15 6 o |
|
3 20 |
James Sullivan, |
, 20 o o |
|
4 20 |
James Sullivan, |
20 5 o |
|
5 20 |
James Sullivan, |
20 o o |
|
6 20 |
Eliza Moore, , |
22 6 O |
|
7 20 |
Adam Hoops, |
20 6 o |
|
8 20 |
James Sullivan |
22 O O |
|
9 20 |
James Sullivan |
2O I O |
|
IO 20 |
James Sullivan, |
i? 3 o |
|
II 20 |
James Sullivan, |
16 i o |
|
12 20 |
James Sullivan, |
13 5 o |
|
13 8 |
James Sullivan |
710 |
|
2. The ten-acre lots between Chestnut |
and Walnut streets, |
|
|
beginning with |
No. i, near the intersection of Chestnut and |
|
|
Hancock streets |
: |
|
|
NO. ACRES. |
PURCHASERS' NAMES. |
CONSIDERATION. |
|
£ S D |
||
|
I» IO |
James Patton, |
6 12 O |
|
2 IO |
James Patton, |
720 |
|
3 10 |
Will. Johnston, |
6 i o |
|
4 10 |
James Sullivan, |
IO O O |
|
5 10 |
James Sullivan, |
14 i o |
|
6 10 |
David Meriwether, .... |
15 o o |
|
7 10 |
Edm'd Taylor, |
16 6 o |
|
8 10 |
Edm'd Taylor, |
17 5 o |
|
9 9 |
Adam Hoops, |
1600 |
Appendix M.
165
NO. ACRES. PURCHASERS' NAMES. CONSIDERATION.
£ S D
10 10 James Sullivan, 12 o o
11 10 James Sullivan, 16 o o
12 10 James Sullivan 13 i o
13 10 James Sullivan 15 o o
14 10 James Sullivan, 15 n o
15 10 James Sullivan, 15 3 o
16 10 James Sullivan, 13 o o
17 ii James Sullivan, 10 n o
3. The five-acre lots between Walnut and Green streets, beginning with No. i, near the intersection of Walnut and Jack- son streets :
ACRES.
|
I |
5 |
|
2 |
5 |
|
3 |
5 |
|
4 |
5 |
|
5 |
5 |
|
6 |
5 |
|
7 |
5 |
|
8 |
5 |
|
9 |
5 |
|
10 |
5 |
|
ii |
5 |
|
12 |
5 |
|
13 |
5 |
|
14 |
5 |
|
15 |
5 |
|
16 |
5 |
|
17 |
5 |
|
18 |
5 |
|
19 |
5 |
|
20 |
2 |
PURCHASERS' NAMES. CONSIDERATION.
£ S D
James Sullivan, 560
Richard Eastin 5 16 o
James Sullivan, 800
James Sullivan, 75°
Will. Johnston 77°
James Sullivan 7120
Andrew Hoops, 7 16 o
Edmund Taylor, 920
Edmund Taylor, ii n o
Samuel Kerby 6 10 o
Jacob Reager 6 10 o
Benj. Earickson 6 10 o
James Sullivan, 800
James Sullivan 800
James Sullivan, 800
John Dorrett 8 14 o
James Sullivan, 9 10 o
James Sullivan 9 19 o
James Sullivan, 810
James Sullivan, 250
1 66 Appendix M.
4. The out lots or commons, three of them making the slip of land between Jefferson and Green, and the fourth being a triangular lot at the west end of the city, bounded on the south by the five-acre range, on the west by the old town line, and on the east by the Twelfth Street lots from Portland Avenue to the range of five -acre lots.
NO. PURCHASERS' NAMES. CONSIDERATION.
£ s D
1 Out lot. Will. Johnston, 8 i o
2 Will. Croghan, 17 o o
3 George Rice 17 10 o
4 James Sullivan, 12 o o
5. The fractional squares between Main Street and the river, beginning with No. i, at the corner of Main and First streets:
NO. PURCHASERS' NAMES. CONSIDERATION.
£ S D
1 Fractional square. Buckner Pittman o o o
2 Andrew Heth, 470
3 James Sullivan 10 o o
4 James Sullivan 400
5 James Sullivan, 510
6 John Sinkler, 76 o o
7 Mark Thomas, 20 to o
8 James Morrison 130
9 James Morrison 410
10 James Sullivan, i o o
11 James Sullivan 200
12 James Sullivan 23 o o
6. The Point made by the river and Beargrass Creek. There was but one lot of this description, which was purchased by Daniel Broadhead, jr., for ^"5 93.
Appendix M. 167
7. The half-acre lots, three hundred in number, extending
from Main to Jefferson and from First to Twelfth streets:
NEW NO. OLD NO. PURCHASERS' NAMES. CONSIDERATION.
£ S D
1 i Levin Powell, 030
2 2 Jacob Myers, 030
3 3 Simon Triplett, 030
4 4 Levin Powell, 030
5 5 Lewis Myers, 030
6 6 John Todd, 030
7 7 William Pope, 030
8 8 Will Johnston 030
9 9 Will Johnston, 030
10 10 Isaac Bowman, 030
11 ii John Clark, 030
12 12 Daniel Broadhead, jr., 12 5 o
13 13 John Conway, 030
14 14 Meredith Price, 030
15 15 Simon Triplett, 030
16 16 James Patton, 73°
17 . . Buckner Pittman, 650
18 . . Buckner Pittman, 650
19 . . Buckner Pittman, 650
20 . . Buckner Pittman, 650
21 33 Michael Trouttnan, 030
22 34 Samuel Bell 030
23 35 William Christy, 030
24 36 Jacob Pyeatt 030
25 37 Edward Tyler, 030
26 38 Edward Tyler 030
27 39 Nico. Meriwether, 030
28 40 Nico. Meriwether, 030
29 41 George Wilson, 030
1 68 Appendix M.
NEW NO. OLD NO. PURCHASERS' NAMES. CONSIDERATION.
£ S D
30 42 George Wilson 030
31 43 John Todd 030
32 44 James Patton, 030
33 45 William Oldham 030
34 46 Heirs of Thos. McGee 030
35 47 Joseph Sanders, 030
36 48 Will Johnston i 16 6
37 65 Will Johnston 030
38 66 James Patton, 030
39 67 George Wilson 030
40 68 Will Johnston, . o 18 6
41 69 Will Johnston, 030
42 70 George Meriwether 030
43 71 Michl. Troutman, 030
44 72 Michl. Troutman 030
45 81 Michl. Troutman 030
46 82 Michl. Troutman 030
47 83 Edwd Holdman, 030
48 84 Kerby & Earickson, 030
49 85 Jacob Myers, 030
50 86 Will Johnston, 080
51 . . Parmenus Bullitt, o 13 6
52 . . James Sullivan, 060
53 . . James Sullivan, 080
54 . . Daniel Nead o 10 6
55 . . Daniel Nead, 066
56 . . Walter Ed. Strong 046
57 73 Walter Ed. Strong, 030
58 74 Henry Floyd, 030
59 75 Wm. Stafford, 030
60 76 Henry Floyd, 030
Appendix M. 169
NEW NO. OLD NO. PURCHASERS' NAMES. CONSIDERATION.
£ S D
61 77 Geo. Meriwether, 030
62 78 William Sevan, 030
63 79 Will Johnston, o 10 o
64 80 Geo. Wilson, 030
65 49 Andw. Hynes, 030
66 50 Will Johnston, o 16 6
67 51 Will Johnston o 14 6
68 52 Patrick Shone, 030
69 53 John Baker 030
70 54 Danl. Sullivan, 030
71 55 Will Johnston i 10 6
72 56 John O. Finn, 030
73 57 James McCawley 030
74 58 George Wilson, 030
75 59 George Wilson, 030
76 60 George Wilson, 030
77 61 Kerby & Earickson 030
78 62 Jacob Pyeatt, 030
79 63 Jacob Myers 030
80 64 Henry French, 030
81 32 Simon Triplett, 030
82 31 Simon Triplett, 030
83 30 William Heth 15 o o
84 29 Levin Powell, 030
85 28 Will Johnston 130
86 27 Will Harrod, 030
87 26 John R. Jones, 030
88 25 Will Johnston 030
89 24 Jacob Myers 030
90 23 Dan Broadhead, jr., 500
91 22 Levi Theel, 030
i jo Appendix M.
NEW NO. OLD NO. PURCHASERS' NAMES. CONSIDERATION.
£ S D
92 21 Levi Theel 030
93 20 Will Johnston o 15 o
94 19 Levi Todd, o 3 o
95 18 Will Johnston, i 6 o
96 17 Geo. Meri wether, 030
97 . . Richard Taylor, 220
98 . . Richard Taylor, 150
NO.
99 John Donne, 300
100 Will Johnston, 6 i o
101 John Donne, 170
102 John Donne i 10 o
103 John Belli, o 13 o
104 George Rice 150
105 Andrew Hare, 0160
106 Jas. Cunningham 160
107 Jas. Cunningham, i o o
108 Richard Taylor, i o o
109 Richard Taylor o 19 o
1 10 Jane Grant, 030
in Will Johnston, o 10 o
112 John Donne, 030
113 John Donne, 030
114 James Beard, 030
115 Will Johnston o 15 o
116 Will Johnston, 030
117 Will Johnston, o 10 o
118, Elisha L. Hall 030
119 Elisha L,. Hall, 030
1 20 John Reyburn, 030
121 Will Johnston, 030
Appendix M. 171
NO. PURCHASERS' NAMES. CONSIDERATION.
£ S D
122 Will Johnston, 0160
123 Richard C. Anderson, 500
124 Will Johnston, 030
125 Phil Waters' Assee., 030
126 Andrew Hare, ino
127 Daniel Henry, 106
128 Joseph Brooks, 030
129 William Croghan, 1160
130 Margaret Wilson, 030
131 James Morrison, 030
132 James Morrison 030
133 James Patton, 030
134 James Beaty, 030
135 Samuel Kerby, o 14 o
136 Jane Grant, 030
137 John Reyburn 030
138 John Reyburn, 030
139 Irwin's Heirs, 030
140 Jean Hambleton, 030
141 Samuel Kerby o 19 o
142 Samuel Kerby, o 14 6
143 Samuel Kerby, 076
144 Samuel Kerby o 13 o
145 James Sullivan, 080
146 James Sullivan, o 13 o
147 George Dement, 070
148 George Dement, 040
149 John Donne, 046
150 John Donne, 040
151 William Johnston 030
152 William Johnston 030
172 Appendix M.
NO. PURCHASERS' NAMES. CONSIDERATION.
£ S D
153 George Dement, 080
154 George Dement 040
155 Will Johnston o 3 10
156 Jas. F. Moore, 050
157 James Sullivan, 060
158 James Sullivan 080
159 James Sullivan, 060
160 Elijah Phillips, 060
161 Geo. Dement, 070
162 James Sullivan 030
163 Will Johnston, 036
164 William Beard 030
165 Burk Reager 180
166 Rice Bullock, 106
167 Benj. Price i i o
168 Benj. Price, 150
169 Edmd. Taylor, 112 o
170 Edmd. Taylor, 1120
171 Edmd. Taylor, 2 10 o
172 James Sullivan 300
173 James Sullivan, 300
174 James Sullivan, 700
175 Jenkin Phillips, 710
176 Richard Terrell 10 5 o
177 William Pope, 10 o o
178 Jenkin Phillips, 710
179 Wm. Payne 510
180 Philip Barbour, 710
181 Robert Neilson, 6 12 o
182 Robert Neilson, 4 13 o
183 Robert Neilson, 440
Appendix M. 173
NO. PURCHASERS' NAMES. CONSIDERATION.
f S D
184 Robert Neilson, ., 5 50
185 William Payne 520
1 86 William Payne, 400
187 William Payne 450
188 William Payne, 400
189 Dan Broadhead, jr., 300
190 Dan Broadhead, jr., 160
191 Dan Broadhead, jr., 140
192 Dan Broadhead, jr., i 18 o
193 Robert Neilson, 2 17 o
194 Robert Neilson 2 14 o
195 Robert Neilson, 2120
196 Jenkin Phillips 35°
197 Stepn. Ormsby 2 18 o
198 John Davis, 2 15 o
199 John Davis, 2 18 o
200 Stepn. Ormsby, 300
201 Archibald Lockhart, 2 15 o
202 Geo. Close, 2 14 o
203 Samuel Watkins 2 10 o
204 Thomas Brumfield, 2110
205 Jacob Reager, 120
206 Robert Neilson 200
207 Robert Neilson, 2 18 o
208 Robert Neilson 3 90
209 Jenkin Phillips, 520
210 Adam Hoops, 1110
211 Adam Hoops, in o
212 Richard J. Waters, 660
213 Jenkin Phillips, 5 17 o
214 Paul Blundell, 220
174 Appendix M.
|
NO. |
PURCHASERS' NAMES. |
CONSIDERATION. |
|
|
£ |
S D |
||
|
215 |
Edward Tyler |
3 |
5 o |
|
216 |
James Morrison, |
3 |
I 0 |
|
217 |
Edward Tyler, |
3 |
15 0 |
|
218 |
Lawc. Muse, |
3 |
I O |
|
219 |
Jacob Reager, |
2 |
19 o |
|
220 |
Edmd. Taylor |
3 |
12 O |
|
221 |
Will Johnston |
3 |
IO O |
|
222 |
Adam Hoops, |
4 |
II O |
|
223^1 |
|||
|
224 1 |
Public Square. |
||
|
225 1 |
|||
|
226 J |
|||
|
227 |
Adam Hoops |
4 |
2 O |
|
228 |
James Sullivan, |
4 |
0 0 |
|
229 |
Edmd. Taylor, |
3 |
I 0 |
|
230 |
Will Johnston |
i |
0 0 |
|
231 |
Will Johnston |
i |
o o |
|
232 |
Richard Taylor |
i |
0 0 |
|
233 |
Rice Bullock |
i |
6 o |
|
234 |
Benj. Price |
i |
I O |
|
235 |
Walter Davis |
i |
o o |
|
236 |
Walter Davis, |
i |
o o |
|
237 |
Robert Daniel, |
i |
2 0 |
|
238 |
Enoch Parsons, |
i |
I 0 |
|
239 |
George Slaughter |
0 |
19 o |
|
240 |
Charles Bratton |
i |
13 o |
|
241 |
James Sullivan |
o |
2 6 |
|
242 |
James Sullivan |
0 |
3 o |
|
243 |
James Sullivan, |
o |
9 6 |
|
244 |
James Sullivan, |
o |
5 o |
|
245 |
James F. Moore |
o |
12 O |
|
246 |
George Rice, |
o |
7 o |
Appendix M. 175
NO. PURCHASERS' NAMES. CONSIDERATION.
£ 3 D
247 George Rice, 076
248 George Rice, . . . o 15 o
249 Will Johnston, o 12 6
250 Will Johnston, o 13 i
251 Will Johnston, 046
252 Will Johnston, 056
253]
Burying Ground.
00
256]
257 Henry Pootzman, 070
258 Will Johnston, 068
259 Jas. Fr. Moore, 0120
260 Jas. Fr. Moore, 0151
261 Thomas Dalton, o 18 6
262 Thomas Dalton, i i o
263 Mark Thomas 100
264 Rice Bullock, o 19 o
265 Benj. Price . i i 6
266 Benj. Price, 126
267 Benj. Price, 100
268 Benj. Price, i i o
269 Burk Reager 130
270 Burk Reager, 106
271 Josiah Belt, 140
272 Josiah Belt, i 11 o
273 Richard Taylor, 2120
274 John R. Jones 300
275"]
Public Square.
278 J
279 John R. Long, 450
176 Appendix M.
NO. PURCHASERS' NAMES. CONSIDERATION.
£ S D
280 James Sullivan 320
281 Richard Taylor, 120
282 Richard Taylor 140
283 Will Johnston, i i o
284 Will Johnston, . . i o o
285 L,awc. Muse, 120
286 Lawc. Muse, i 10
287 L,awc. Muse i 2 6
288 Lawc. Muse i i 6
289 Charles Bratton, 150
290 Charles Bratton, 100
291 Will Johnston, o 18 6
292 Richard Eastin, 100
293 John Daveis, i 20
294 John Daveis, 0180
295 Daniel Henry i o 6
296 Daniel Henry, 120
297 David Morgan 0180
298 David Morgan, o 19 o
299 John Daniel, i i o
300 James Morrison, o 15 o
APPENDIX N.
AN ALPHABETICAL LIST OF THE PURCHASERS OF LOTS IN LOUIS- VILLE, TO WHICH ARE ATTACHED THE NUMBERS AND KINDS OF LOTS 'PURCHASED AND THE PRICES PAID FOR THEM.
|
NAME OF PURCHASER. |
DESCRIPTION. |
NUMBER. |
s. |
s |
D |
|
|
Anderson, Richard C., |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
123 |
5 |
O |
O |
|
Baker John .... |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
f new 69 ) 1 old 53 j |
o |
3 |
0 |
|
Barbour, Philip . . . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
1 80 |
7 |
I |
o |
|
Beard James .... |
Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
114 |
o |
3 |
0 |
|
Beard, William . . . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
164 |
o |
3 |
o |
|
Beaty James .... |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
134 |
o |
3 |
0 |
|
Belli, John |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
103 |
0 |
13 |
0 |
|
Belt Josiah ... |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
271 |
I |
4 |
0 |
|
Belt Josiah |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
272 |
J |
J J |
|
|
Bell Samuel |
Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
( new 22 ) (.old 34) |
o |
3 |
0 |
|
Blundell, Paul |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
214 |
2 |
2 |
o |
|
Bowman, Isaac . . . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
j new 10) { old 10 ) |
O |
3 |
o |
|
Bratton Charles . . . |
Lot, . . |
289 |
I |
5 |
0 |
|
|
Bratton, Charles, . . . |
Lot, . . |
2QO |
I |
o |
Q |
|
|
Bratton, Charles, . . . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
240 |
I |
13 |
o |
|
Broadhead, Dan, jr., . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
189 |
3 |
o |
o |
|
Broadhead, Dan, jr., . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
190 |
i |
6 |
o |
|
Broadhead, Dan, jr., |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
191 |
i |
4 |
0 |
|
Broadhead, Dan, jr., . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
192 |
i |
18 |
o |
|
Broadhead, Dan, jr., , |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
( new 90 ) ( old 23 j |
5 |
o |
o |
|
Broadhead, Dan, jr., . |
. . Beargrass |
Point, . |
5 |
9 |
0 |
|
|
Broadhead, Dan, jr., . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
( new 12 £ (old 12) |
12 |
5 |
0 |
|
23 |
i78
Appendix N.
|
NAME OF PURCHASE |
K. DESCRI |
PTION |
NUMBKI |
I. £ S D |
|
Brooks, Joseph, . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, |
. . 128 |
030 |
|
Brumfield, Thomas, |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, |
. . 204 |
211 O |
|
Bullock, Rice, . . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, |
. . 264 |
o 19 o |
|
Bullock, Rice, . . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, |
• • 233 |
I 6 O |
|
Bullock, Rice, . . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, |
. . 166 |
i o 6 |
|
Bullitt, Parmenus, . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, |
• • 5i |
o 13 6 |
|
Burying Ground, . . |
• • 253 |
|||
|
Burying Ground, . . |
254 |
|||
|
Burying Ground, . . |
• • 255 |
|||
|
Burying Ground, . . |
• • 256 |
|||
|
Christy, William, . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, |
( new 23 jold 35 |
030 |
|
Clark, John |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, |
| new ii \ old 1 1 |
030 |
|
Close, George, . . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, |
. . 202 |
2 14 O |
|
Conway, John, . . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, |
j new 13 1 ' told 13, |
030 |
|
Croghan, William, . |
. . . Out Lot, |
. . 2 |
17 i o |
|
|
Croghan, William, . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, |
129 |
I l6 O |
|
Cunningham, James, |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, |
. . 106 |
i 6 o |
|
Cunningham, James, |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, |
. . 107 |
I O O |
|
Daniel, John, .... |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, |
• • 299 |
I I 0 |
|
Daniel, Robert, . . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, |
• • 237 |
I 2 O |
|
Davies, John, . . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, |
• • 293 |
I 2 O |
|
Davies, John, . . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, |
294 |
0180 |
|
Davies, John, . . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, |
. . 198 |
2 15 0 |
|
Davies, John, . . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, |
• • 199 |
2 18 0 |
|
Davis, Walter, . . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, |
• • 235 |
I O O |
|
Davis, Walter, . . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, |
• • 236 |
I O O |
|
Dement, George, . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, |
147 |
070 |
|
Dement, George, . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, |
. . 148 |
040 |
|
Dement, George, . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, |
153 |
080 |
|
Dement, George, . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, |
154 |
040 |
|
Dement, George, . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, |
. . 161 |
070 |
Appendix N.
NAME OF PURCHASER. DESCRIPTION.
Dolton, Thomas, Half-acre Lot, . .
Dolton, Thomas, Half-acre Lot, . .
Donne, John, Half-acre Lot, . .
Donne, John, Half-acre Lot, . .
Donne, John, Half-acre Lot, . .
Donne, John, Half-acre Lot, . .
Donne, John, Half-acre Lot, . .
Donne, John, Half-acre Lot, . .
Donne, John, Half-acre Lot, . .
Dorrett, John, Acre Lot (5 acres),
Earickson, Benj., Acre Lot (5 acres),
Eastin, Richard, Acre Lot (5 acres),
Eastin, Richard, Half-acre Lot, . .
Finn, John O Half-acre Lot, . .
Floyd, Henry Half-acre Lot, . .
Floyd, Henry Half-acre Lot, . .
French, Henry, Half-acre Lot, . .
Grant, Jane, Half-acre Lot, . .
Grant, Jane, Half-acre Lot, . .
Hall, Elisha L-, Half-acre Lot, . .
Hall, Elisha L-, Half-acre Lot, . .
Hambleton, Jean Half-acre Lot, . .
Hare, Andrew, Half-acre Lot, . .
Hare, Andrew, Half-acre Lot, . .
Harrod, Will Half-acre Lot, . .
Heirs of Irwin, Half-acre Lot, . .
Henry, Daniel Half-acre Lot, . .
Henry, Daniel, Half-acre Lot, . .
Henry, Daniel, Half-acre Lot, . .
Heth, William, Half-acre Lot, . .
NUMBER. 26l 262
99 101 1 02
112
"3 149
150 16
12
2
292
j new 72
(old 56
( new 60
(old 76
new 58
old 74
new 80
old 64
136
1 10
118 119 140
105 126
f new 86 ] ( old 27 ) 139 295 296
127
f new 83 1 (old 30]
t S D
0 18 6
1 i o 300 i 7 o
I IO O
030 030
046 040 8 14 o 6 10 o 5 16 o
i
o
o o
3 o
030 030
030 030 030 030 030 030 0160
III O
030 030 i 6 o i 2 6
100
15 o o
i8o
Appendix N.
|
NAME OF PURCHASER. |
DESCRIPTION. NUMBER. |
£ |
s |
D |
||||
|
Heth, Andrew |
. . Square Lot, . . . |
2 |
4 |
7 |
O |
|||
|
Holdman, Edward, . |
. . Half-acre |
T . J new Lot' ' "told |
47 8* |
} |
o |
3 |
O |
|
|
Hoops, Adam |
. . Acre Lot |
(20 acres), |
7 |
20 |
6 |
0 |
||
|
Hoops, Adam, . . . . |
. . Acre Lot |
( 9 acres), |
9 |
16 |
5 |
o |
||
|
Hoops, Adam |
. . Acre Lot |
( 5 acres), |
7 |
7 |
16 |
o |
||
|
Hoops, Adam, . . . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . 210 |
i |
n |
o |
|||
|
Hoops, Adam, . . . . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . 211 |
i |
ii |
o |
|||
|
Hoops, Adam, . . . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . 222 |
4 |
1 1 |
0 |
|||
|
Hoops, Adam, . . . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . 227 |
4 |
2 |
o |
|||
|
Hynes, Andrew, . . |
. . Half-acre |
T . | new Lot' ' ' I old |
65 49 |
} |
o |
3 |
o |
|
|
Johnston, Will, . . . |
. . Acre Lot |
(10 acres), |
3 |
6 |
I |
0 |
||
|
Johnston, Will, . . . |
. . . Half-acre |
f new Lot' ' ' {old |
8 8 |
! |
o |
3 |
o |
|
|
Johnston, Will, . . . |
. . Out Lot, |
I |
8 |
i |
o |
|||
|
Johnston, Will, . . . |
. . . Half-acre |
T . f new Lot, . . 1 Qld |
9 9 |
\ |
0 |
3 |
0 |
|
|
Johnston, Will, . . . |
. . . Half-acre |
f new Lot' ' ' (old |
36 48 |
\ |
i |
16 |
0 |
|
|
Johnston, Will, . . . |
. . . Half-acre |
T , f new Lot' ' ' iold |
37 6s |
\ |
o |
3 |
o |
|
|
Johnston, Will, . . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . 291 |
0 |
18 |
6 |
|||
|
Johnston, Will, . . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
new old |
40 68 |
\ |
18 |
6 |
o |
|
Johnston, Will, . . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
new old |
4i 6q |
\ |
o |
3 |
o |
|
Johnston, Will, . . . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . 124 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
|||
|
Johnston, Will, . . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
new old |
63 79 |
\ \ |
o |
10 |
o |
|
Johnston, Will, . . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
new old |
50 86 |
\ |
o |
8 |
o |
|
Johnston, Will, . . . |
. . . Half-acre |
j new Lot' • • I old |
66 50 |
\ |
o |
16 |
6 |
|
|
Johnston, Will, . . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
new old |
67 5' |
\ |
o |
14 |
6 |
|
Johnston, Will, . . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
new old |
7i 55 |
\ |
I |
10 |
6 |
|
Johnston, Will, . . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
new old |
85 28 |
\ |
I |
3 |
o |
|
Johnston, Will, . . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
new old |
88 25 |
\ |
0 |
3 |
0 |
Appendix N.
181
|
NAME OF PURCHASER. |
DESCRU |
"TION. |
NUMBER. |
£ S J> |
|
Johnston, Will |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
new 95 old 1 8 |
i 6 o |
|
Johnston, Will |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
new 93 old 20 |
o 15 o |
|
Johnston, Will, |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
H5 |
o 15 o |
|
Johnston, Will, |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
116 |
030 |
|
Johnston, Will |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
in |
O IO O |
|
Johnston, Will, |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
121 |
030 |
|
Johnston, Will, |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
122 |
0160 |
|
Johnston, Will |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
117 |
O IO O |
|
Johnston, Will, |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
IOO |
6 i o |
|
Johnston, Will, |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
151 |
030 |
|
Johnston, Will, |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
152 |
030 |
|
Johnston, Will |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
230 |
IOO |
|
Johnston, Will |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
231 |
I O O |
|
Johnston, Will |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
283 |
I I O |
|
Johnston, Will, |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
284 |
IOO |
|
Johnston, Will |
. Acre Lot |
(5 acres), |
5 |
770 |
|
Johnston, Will, |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
249 |
0 12 6 |
|
Johnston, Will, |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
250 |
o 13 i |
|
Johnston, Will |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
251 |
046 |
|
Johnston, Will, |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
252 |
056 |
|
Johnston, Will |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
163 |
036 |
|
Johnston, Will, |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
155 |
o 3 10 |
|
Johnston, Will |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
221 |
3 10 o |
|
Johnston, Will |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
258 |
068 |
|
Jones, John R |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
274 |
300 |
|
Jones, John R., . . . . |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
( new 87 [old 26 |
[ 030 |
|
Kerby, Samuel |
. Acre Lot |
(5 acres), |
10 |
6 10 o |
|
Kerby, Samuel, . . . . |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
135 |
o 14 o |
|
Kerby, Samuel, . . . . |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
141 |
o 19 o |
|
Kerby, Samuel, . . . |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
142 |
o 14 6 |
|
Kerby, Samuel, . . . |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
J43 |
076 |
182
Appendix N.
|
NAME OF PURCHASER. |
DESCRIPTION. |
NUMBE |
*. £ S D |
|
Kerby, Samuel |
. Half-acre Lot, . . |
144 |
o 13 o |
|
Kerby & Earickson, . . |
. Half-acre Lot, . . |
new 48 old 84 |
030 |
|
Kerby & Earickson, . . |
. Half-acre Lot, . . |
new 77 old 6 1 |
• 030 |
|
Lockhart, Archibald, . . |
. Half-acre Lot, . . |
201 |
2 15 0 |
|
Long, John R., |
. Half-acre Lot, . . |
279 |
45° |
|
McCawley, James, . . . |
. Half-acre Lot, . . |
' new 73 ' .old 57 |
030 |
|
McGee, Thos., his heirs, |
. Half-acre Lot, • . • |
new 34 [old 46 |
030 |
|
Meriwether, David, . . . |
. Acre Lot (10 acres), |
6' |
15 i o |
|
Meiiwether, George, . . |
. Half-acre Lot, . . |
new 61 .old 77 |
030 |
|
Meriwether, George, . . |
. Half-acre Lot, . . • |
new 42 old 70 |
030 |
|
Meriwether, George, . . |
. Half-acre Lot, . . |
new 96 old 17 |
030 |
|
Meriwether, Nicholas, . . |
. Half-acre Lot, . . |
new 27 old 39 |
030 |
|
Meriwether, Nicholas, . . |
. Half-acre Lot, . . |
new 28 old 40 |
030 |
|
Moore, Eliza |
. Acre Lot (20 acres), |
6 |
22 6 O |
|
Moore, James F., . . . . |
. Half-acre Lot, . . |
156 |
050 |
|
Moore, James F., . . . . |
. Half-acre Lot, . . |
245 |
0 12 0 |
|
Moore, James F |
. Half-acre Lot, . . |
259 |
O 12 O |
|
Moore, James F., . . . . |
. Half-acre Lot, . . |
260 |
o 15 i |
|
Morrison, James, ..... |
. Square Lot, . . . |
8 |
I 3 0 |
|
Morrison, James |
. Square Lot, . . . |
9 |
4IO |
|
Morrison, James |
. Half-acre Lot, . . |
300 |
o 15 o |
|
Morrison, James, .... |
. Half-acre Lot, . . |
131 |
030 |
|
Morrison, James, .... |
. Half-acre Lot, . . |
132 |
030 |
|
Morrison, James, .... |
. Half-acre Lot, . . |
216 |
3 i o |
|
Morgan, David |
. Half-acre Lot, . . |
297 |
o 18 o |
|
Morgan, David, |
. Half-acre Lot, . . |
298 |
o 19 o |
|
Muse, Lawc., |
. Half-acre Lot, . . |
218 |
3 i o |
|
Muse, Lawc., |
. Half-acre Lot, . . |
287 |
I 2 6 |
Appendix N.
183
|
NAME OF PURCHASER. DESCRIPTION. |
NUMBER. t |
s |
D |
|||
|
Muse, Lawc., . . . |
. . . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
288 |
i |
I |
6 |
|
Muse, Lawc., . • • |
. . . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
285 |
i |
2 |
o |
|
Muse, Lawc., . . . |
. . . . Half- acre |
Lot, . . |
286 |
i |
I |
o |
|
Myers, Jacob, . . |
. . . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
j new 2 (old 2 |
o |
3 |
o |
|
Myers, Jacob, . . |
. . . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
( new 49 (old 85 |
o |
3 |
o |
|
Myers, Jacob, . . |
. . . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
j new 79 told 63 |
o |
3 |
0 |
|
Myers, Jacob, . . |
. . . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
inew 89 old 24 |
o |
3 |
o |
|
Myers, Lewis, . . |
. . . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
new 5 old 5 |
o |
3 |
o |
|
Nead, Daniel, . . |
. . . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
54 |
o |
10 |
6 |
|
Nead, Daniel, . . |
. . . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
55 |
o |
6 |
6 |
|
Neilson, Robert, . |
. . . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
206 |
2 |
o |
o |
|
Neilson, Robert, . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
207 |
2 |
18 |
o |
|
Neilson, Robert, . |
. . . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
208 |
3 |
9 |
o |
|
Neilson, Robert, . |
. . . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
193 |
2 |
17 |
0 |
|
Neilsou, Robert, . |
. . . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
194 |
2 |
H |
o |
|
Neilson, Robert, . |
. . . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
195 |
2 |
12 |
0 |
|
Neilsou, Robert, . |
. . . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
181 |
6 |
12 |
o |
|
Neilson, Robert, . |
. . . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
182 |
4 |
13 |
o |
|
Neilson, Robert, . |
. . . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
183 |
4 |
4 |
o |
|
Neilson, Robert, . |
. . . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
184 |
5 |
5 |
o |
|
Oldham, William, |
. . . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
f new 33 (old 45 |
t o |
3 |
0 |
|
Ormsby, Stephen, |
. . . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
197 |
2 |
18 |
o |
|
Ormsby, Stephen, |
. . . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
200 |
3 |
o |
o |
|
Parsons, Enoch, . |
. . . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
238 |
I |
i |
o |
|
Patton, James, . . |
. . . . Acre Lot |
(10 acres), |
2 |
7 |
2 |
o |
|
Patton, James, . . |
. . . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
j new 16 | old 16 |
7 |
3 |
o |
|
Patton, James, . . |
. . . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
j new 32 ( old 44 |
o |
3 |
o |
|
Patton, James, . . |
. . . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
133 |
o |
3 |
0 |
|
Patton, James, . . |
. . . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
j new 38 (old 66 |
i • |
3 |
o |
1 84
Appendix N.
|
NAME OF PURCHASER. |
DESCRIPTION. |
NUMBER. |
£ |
s |
D |
|
|
Patton, James, .... |
, . Acre Lot |
(10 acres), |
I |
6 |
12 |
O |
|
Payne, William, . . . |
Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
185 |
5 |
2 |
O |
|
Payne, William, . . . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
1 86 |
4 |
O |
o |
|
Payne, William, . . . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
187 |
4 |
5 |
o |
|
Payne, William, . . . |
. Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
188 |
4 |
o |
o |
|
Payne, William, . . . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
179 |
5 |
I |
o |
|
Phillips, Elijah, . . . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
160 |
o |
6 |
0 |
|
Phillips, Jenkin, . . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
209 |
5 |
2 |
o |
|
Phillips, Jenkin, . . . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
175 |
7 |
I |
o |
|
Phillips, Jenkin, . . . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
196 |
3 |
5 |
o |
|
Phillips, Jenkin, . . . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
213 |
5 |
17 |
o |
|
Phillips, Jenkin, . . . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
178 |
7 |
I |
0 |
|
Pittman, Buckner, . . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
17] |
|||
|
Pittman, Buckner, . . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
^ |
|||
|
Pittman, Buckner, . . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
25 |
12 |
0 |
|
|
Pittman, Buckner, . . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
2!i |
|||
|
Pittman, Buckner, . . |
. . Square Lot, . . . |
'] |
||||
|
Pootzman, Henry, . . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
257 |
0 |
7 |
0 |
|
Pope, William |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
177 |
10 |
o |
o |
|
Pope, William, .... |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . ] |
new 7 ) old 7 I |
o |
3 |
o |
|
Powell, Levin, .... |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . | |
new 84 [ old 29 ) |
o |
3 |
0 |
|
Powell, Levin, . . , |
Half-acre |
Lot, . . | |
new 4 I old 4 j |
o |
3 |
o |
|
Powell, Levin, ... |
Half-acre |
Lot, . . < |
new i ) old i j |
o |
3 |
o |
|
Price, Benjamin, . . . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
167 |
I |
i |
o |
|
Price, Benjamin, . . . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
234 |
I |
i |
0 |
|
Price, Benjamin, . . . |
Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
1 68 |
I |
5 |
o |
|
Price, Benjamin, . . . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
265 |
I |
i |
6 |
|
Price, Benjamin, . . . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
266 |
I |
2 |
6 |
|
Price, Benjamin, . . . |
Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
267 |
I |
O |
o |
|
Price, Benjamin, . . . |
. . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
268 |
I |
I |
0 |
Appendix N.
185
|
NAME OF PURCHASER. |
DESCRIPTION. |
NUMBER. £ s D |
|
|
Price, Meredith, . . . |
. . Half-acre Lot, . . i n,e,w '4 |
030 |
|
|
I oia 14 |
|||
|
Public Square, .... |
. . Lot, |
275 |
|
|
Public Square |
. . Lot, |
276 |
|
|
Public Square |
• - Lot |
277 |
|
|
Public Square, . . |
. . Lot |
278 |
|
|
Public Square |
. - Lot, |
223 |
|
|
Public Square |
. . Lot |
224 |
|
|
Public Square, .... |
. . Lot |
225 |
|
|
Public Square, .... |
. . Lot, |
226 |
|
|
Pyeatt, Jacob, .... |
. . Half-acre Lot, . . |
new 78 old 62 |
030 |
|
Pyeatt, Jacob, .... |
. . Half-acre L,ot, . . |
new 24 old 36 |
030 |
|
Reager, Burk, .... |
. . Half-acre Lot, . . |
165 |
i 8 o |
|
Reager, Burk, .... |
. . Half-acre Lot, . . |
269 |
i 3 o |
|
Reager, Burk, .... |
. . Half-acre Lot, . . |
270 |
i o 6 |
|
Reager, Jacob, .... |
. . Half-acre Lot, . . |
219 |
2 19 O |
|
Reager, Jacob |
. Half-acre Lot, . . |
205 |
I 2 O |
|
Reager, Jacob, .... |
. Acre Lot (18 acres), |
i |
15 10 o |
|
Reager, Jacob, .... |
. Acre Lot ( 5 acres), |
ii |
6 10 o |
|
Rice, George |
. Half-acre Lot, . . |
104 |
i 5 o |
|
Rice, George, .... |
. Out Lot |
3 |
17 10 o |
|
Rice, George, .... |
. Half-acre Lot, . . |
246 |
070 |
|
Rice, George |
. Half-acre Lot, . . |
247 |
076 |
|
Rice, George, .... |
. Half-acre Lot, . . |
248 |
o 15 o |
|
Reyburn, John, . . . |
. Half-acre Lot, . . |
120 |
030 |
|
Reyburn, John, . . . |
. Half-acre Lot, . . |
137 |
030 |
|
Reyburn, John, . . . |
. Half-acre Lot, . . |
138 |
030 |
|
Sanders, Joseph, . . . |
. Half-acre Lot, . . |
new 35 old 47 |
030 |
|
Sevan, William, . . . |
. . Half-acre Lot, . . |
new 62 old 78 |
030 |
|
Sinkler, John, .... |
. . Square Lot, . . . |
6 |
76 o o |
|
Shone, Patrick, .... |
. Half-acre Lot, . . • |
new 68 " .old 52 J |
030 |
i86
Appendix N.
NAME OF PURCHASER. DESCRIPTION.
Slaughter, George Half-acre Lot, . .
Stafford, William, Half-acre Lot, . .
Strong, Walter Ed Half-acre Lot, . .
Strong, Walter Ed., .... Half-acre Lot, . .
Sullivan, Daniel Half-acre Lot, . .
Sullivan, James Square Lot, . . .
Sullivan, James, Acre Lot (5 acres),
Sullivan, James Square Lot, . . .
Sullivan, James Out Lot,
Sullivan, James, Square Lot, . . .
Sullivan, James Acre Lot (5 acres),
Sullivan, James Square Lot, . . .
Sullivan, James Acre Lot (10 acres),
Sullivan, James, Acre Lot ( 5 acres),
Sullivan, James Acre Lot ( 5 acres),
Sullivan, James, Acre Lot ( 5 acres),
Sullivan, James, Acre Lot ( 5 acres),
Sullivan, James, Acre Lot ( 5 acres),
Sullivan, James Acre Lot ( 5 acres),
Sullivan, James, Acre Lot (10 acres),
Sullivan, James Acre Lot ( 5 acres),
Sullivan, James Acre Lot (10 acres),
Sullivan, James, Acre Lot ( 5 acres),
Sullivan, James, Acre Lot (10 acres),
Sullivan, James, Acre Lot (10 acres),
Sullivan, James, Acre Lot (10 acres),
Sullivan, James, Acre Lot (10 acres),
Sullivan, James Acre Lot (10 acres),
Sullivan, James Acre Lot (20 acres),
Sullivan, James, Acre Lot ( 8 acres),
Sullivan, James, ..... Acre Lot (20 acres),
NUMBER.
2.39
( new 59
(old 75
56
new 57 old 73 new 70 old 54
5 19
£ s J)
o 19 o
030 046 030
o
3 o i o
I O
|
4 |
4 |
0 |
o |
|
4 |
12 |
IO |
o |
|
ii |
2 |
o |
0 |
|
17 |
9 |
IO |
o |
|
3 |
IO |
o |
o |
|
13 |
15 |
I |
o |
|
15 |
8 |
IO |
o |
|
14 |
8 |
IO |
o |
|
13 |
8 |
10 |
o |
|
6 |
7 |
12 |
o |
|
18 |
9 |
19 |
o |
|
4 |
7 |
5 |
o |
|
14 |
15 |
ii |
o |
|
3 |
8 |
16 |
o |
|
ii |
16 |
5 |
o |
|
i |
5 |
6 |
o |
|
5 |
14 |
i |
o |
|
15 |
15 |
3 |
o |
|
4 |
IO |
i |
o |
|
IO |
12 |
5 |
o |
|
16 |
13 |
3 |
o |
|
12 |
13 |
5 |
o |
|
13 |
7 |
i |
o |
|
IO |
17 |
3 |
o |
Appendix N. 187
NAME OF PURCHASER. DESCRIPTION. NUMBER. £ S D
Sullivan, James, Acre Lot (n acres), 17 10 n o
Sullivan, James, Acre Lot (20 acres), n 16 i o
Sullivan, James, Acre Lot (20 acres), 2 1560
Sullivan, James, Acre Lot (10 acres), 12 1310
Sullivan, James, Acre Lot (20 acres), 9 20 i o
Sullivan, James Acre Lot (20 acres), 8 22 6 o
Sullivan, James, Acre Lot (20 acres), 5 20 5 o
Sullivan, James, Acre Lot (20 acres), 4 20 5 o
Sullivan, James, Acre Lot (20 acres), 3 20 6 o
Sullivan, James, Square Lot, ... 12 23 o o
Sullivan, James Square Lot, ... 10 i o o
Sullivan, James, Half-acre Lot, . . 228 400
Sullivan, James, Half-acre Lot, . . 162 030
Sullivan, James, Half-acre Lot, . . 280 320
Sullivan, James Half-acre Lot, . . 157 060
Sullivan, James, Half-acre Lot, . . 158 080
Sullivan, James, Half-acre Lot, . . 159 060
Sullivan, James Half-acre Lot, . . 145 080
Sullivan, James, Half-acre Lot, . . 146 o 13 o
Sullivan, James, Acre Lot (2 acres), 20 250
Sullivan, James Half-acre Lot, . . 52 060
Sullivan, James, Half-acre Lot, . . 53 080
Sullivan, James Half-acre Lot, . . 172 300
Sullivan, James, Half-acre Lot, . . 173 300
Sullivan, James, Half-acre Lot, . . 174 700
Sullivan, James, Half-acre Lot, . . 241 026
Sullivan, James, Half-acre Lot, . . 242 030
Sullivan, James, Half-acre Lot, . . 243 096
Sullivan, James Half-acre Lot, . . 244 050
Taylor, Edmund, Half-acre Lot, . . 229 3 i o
Taylor, Edmund, Half-acre Lot, . . 220 312 o
Taylor, Edmund Acre Lot (10 acres), 7 1660
1 88
Appendix N.
|
NAME OF PURCHASER. DESCRIPTION. NUMBER. |
t |
s |
D |
||||
|
Taylor, Edmund, . . |
. . . Acre Lot |
(10 acres), 8 |
17 |
5 |
O |
||
|
Taylor, Edmund, . . |
. . . Acre Lot |
( 5 acres), 9 |
ii |
II |
0 |
||
|
Taylor, Edmund, . . |
. . . Acre Lot |
( 5 acres), 8 |
9 |
2 |
o |
||
|
Taylor, Edmund, . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . 169 |
i |
12 |
o |
||
|
Taylor, Edmund, . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . 170 |
i |
12 |
o |
||
|
Taylor, Edmund, . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . 171 |
2 |
IO |
o |
||
|
Taylor, Richard, . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . 232 |
I |
O |
o |
||
|
Taylor, Richard, . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . 1 08 |
I |
O |
0 |
||
|
Taylor, Richard, . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . 109 |
O |
19 |
0 |
||
|
Taylor, Richard, . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . 97 |
2 |
2 |
o |
||
|
Taylor, Richard, . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . 98 |
I |
5 |
0 |
||
|
Taylor, Richard, . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . 273 |
2 |
12 |
o |
||
|
Taylor, Richard, . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . 281 |
I |
2 |
o |
||
|
Taylor, Richard, . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . 282 |
I |
4 |
o |
||
|
Terrell, Richard . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . 176 |
IO |
5 |
0 |
||
|
Theel, Levi, .... |
. . . Half-acre |
T , f new 91 Lot, . . < ,, ( old 22 |
} |
0 |
3 |
o |
|
|
Theel, Levi, .... |
. . . Half-acre |
f new 92 1-/OT., . . "i i j |
| |
O |
T. |
o |
|
|
old 21 |
\J |
||||||
|
Thomas, Mark, . . . |
. . . Square Lot, ... 7 |
20 |
IO |
o |
|||
|
Thomas, Mark, . . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . 263 |
I |
o |
o |
||
|
Todd, John |
. . . Half-acre |
T , ( new 6 Lot, • • -i u f ( old 6 |
} |
o |
3 |
0 |
|
|
Todd, John, .... |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
new 31 1 A |
| |
o |
3 |
o |
|
, old 43 |
i |
||||||
|
Todd, Levi, .... |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
new 94 old 19 |
} |
o |
3 |
o |
|
Triplett, Simon, . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
new 8 1 old 32 |
} |
o |
3 |
o |
|
Triplett, Simon, . . |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
new 82 ;old 31 |
j |
o |
3 |
o |
|
Triplett, Simon, |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
new 15 old 15 |
! |
o |
3 |
o |
|
Triplett, Simon, |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
new 3 old 3 |
1 |
o |
3 |
o |
|
Troutman, Michael, |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
new 21 old 33 |
i |
o |
3 |
0 |
|
Troutman, Michael, |
. . . Half-acre |
Lot, . . |
new 43 1 j |
| |
0 |
3 |
o |
|
old 71 |
) |
Appendix N.
189
NAME OF PURCHASER. DESCRIPTION.
Troutman, Michael, . . . Half-acre Lot, Troutman, Michael, . . . Half-acre Lot,
Troutman, Michael, . . . Half-acre Lot,
Tyler, Edward, Half-acre Lot,
Tyler, Edward Half-acre Lot,
Tyler, Edward, Half-acre Lot,
Tyler, Edward, Half-acre Lot,
Waters, Phil., Assignee, . . Half-acre Lot, Waters, Richard J., . . . . Half-acre Lot,
Watkins, Samuel Half-acre Lot,
Wilson, George, Half-acre Lot,
Wilson, George Half-acre Lot,
Wilson, George, Half-acre Lot,
Wilson, George, Half-acre Lot,
Wilson, George, Half-acre Lot,
Wilson, George Half-acre Lot,
Wilson, George, Half-acre Lot,
Wilson, Margaret, ... Half-acre Lot,
NUMBER.
|
new 44} old 72 j |
o |
3 |
o |
|
new 45 \ old 81 \ |
0 |
3 |
o |
|
new 46 1 old 82 J |
o |
3 |
o |
|
215 |
3 |
5 |
6 |
|
217 |
3 |
15 |
o |
|
j new 25 ) (old 37} |
o |
3 |
o |
|
j new 26 ) (old 38} |
o |
3 |
o |
|
125 |
o |
3 |
o |
|
212 |
6 |
6 |
o |
|
203 |
2 |
10 |
o |
|
1 new 39 ) ( old 67 j |
O |
3 |
o |
|
j new 29 j ( old 41 j |
O |
3 |
o |
|
1 new 30 [ ( old 42 | |
O |
3 |
o |
|
f new 64 ) |
|||
|
(old 80 j |
0 |
3 |
o |
|
( new 74 ) ( old 58 \ |
O |
3 |
o |
|
\ new 75 ) (old 59 j |
O |
3 |
o |
|
1 new 76 ) (.old 60} |
O |
3 |
o |
|
130 |
0 |
3 |
o |
APPENDIX O.
THE OLD TRUSTEES OF LOUISVILLE.
In taking leave of the Trustees who governed Louisville from 1780 to 1828, we bid good by to gentlemen of the old school, who did some queer things in an odd way, but who seem always to have aimed at the best they knew how to do. When the Jamestown weeds began to grow in the streets like trees, and they saw birds roosting in them, they employed men to cut them down. When a bridge was wanted over Beargrass Creek, to take the place of the decaying tree that had been fallen across for that purpose, and they had no money to make it, they put out a subscription paper and got the necessary funds con- tributed. For some unassigned reason they forbade the landing of millstones at the mouth of Beargrass Creek. They required the owners of houses that rented for forty dollars per year to furnish a pair of fire-buckets for each house, and thus drew upon themselves the curses of some misers, who charged that it was their intention to make the rich furnish the means of protecting the houses of the poor as well as their own from the ravages of fire. Drake, the proprietor of the first theater, was a good fellow and on good terms with the Trustees, and instead of making the showmen pay a license fee, they contracted with him for a benefit. How many of them went free to the benefit, or what
Appendix O. 191
returns were obtained for fees of entrance in lieu of the license tax, does not appear upon the record. They were opposed to fussy negroes, and inflicted a punishment of fifteen lashes on the bare backs of those who in numbers exceeding three should assemble at the market-house and make a noise. They must have considered the graveyard on Jefferson, between Eleventh and Twelfth streets, hallowed ground, as they forbade the bury- ing of any bodies there but those of citizens, and left the strangers who might die in the city to find other quarters for final repose. When money grew scarce, and they wanted it for many purposes, and could not get it by taxation, they fell into the fashion of the times and issued fractional currency. It is said that this fractional currency got the name of shinplasters from an unfortunate who, after accumulating a box full of it, injured his leg by getting stuck in the mud of an unpaved street. After extricating himself and getting home, he found no rag convenient to bind his leg, from which the skin had been rubbed from along his shin, and he used the fractional currency for that purpose, plastering his shin with it until it was well covered. In 1812 Jared Brooks made a map of the city, which was exceed- ingly well done, and the Trustees were so well pleased with it that they ordered copies of it to be made on parchment for their use. The map was large, and it required a number of skins to be pasted together to make a parchment sheet large enough for it. The rats became so annoying in the town that the Trustees offered one cent for the scalp of every one that was killed.
192 Appendix O.
When the Trustees first met they made up their minds that they would be a dignified body and be governed by fixed rules. Hence they adopted for their government the following set of rules :
1. The Board shall appoint a Chairman at every stated meeting, who shall (as far as it may be in his power) see that decorum and good order be preserved during the sitting of the Board.
2. When any member shall be about to address the Chairman, such member shall rise in his place, and in a decent manner state the subject of such address.
3. No member shall pass between another addressing himself to the C : M : and the Ch. M., nor shall any member speak more than twice upon the same question (unless leave be granted by the Board for that purpose).
4. No member shall (during the sitting of the Board) read any printed or written papers except such as may be necessary or rela- tive [to] the matter in debate then before the Board.
5. Any member, when in Louisville, absenting himself from a stated or called meeting of the Board, and not having a reasonable excuse therefor (which shall be judged of by the Board), shall forfeit and pay the sum of three shillings, to be collected by the Collector and applied as the Board may thereafter direct.
6. No species of ardent or spirituous liquors shall upon any pre- tense be introduced during the sitting of the Board. If it should be, it shall be the duty of the Ch : man to have the same instantly removed, and the person so introducing it shall be subject to the Censure of the Ch : man for so doing.
7. Upon the commission of the same act a second time by the same person, he shall, besides the censure af 'd be liable to pay the sum of Six Shillings, to be Collected and applied as af 'd, and shall moreover forfeit the liquor so brought in for the use of the Board after adjournment.
Appendix O. 193
8. No member shall when in debate call another by Name. If he should do so the Ch:man may call him to order.
9. If two or more members should rise to speak at the same time, the Ch: M. shall determine the priority.
10. All personal reflections and allusions shall be avoided. Any member guilty of a breach hereof shall be forthwith Called to Order, either by the Ch : man or by any other member.
11. No person shall be at liberty to address the Chairman but at a place chosen and allotted for that purpose by the Chairman or a majority of the Board then sitting.
12. No person belonging to the Board, or immediately concerned for them or under their notice, shall make use of indecent language or shall profanely swear. Any person who shall presume to act in any manner contrary thereto shall be subject to the censure of the Chairman and all members of good Order who may at such time be one of the members of the Board, and that no person shall absent himself from [word illegible] without permission first (for that pur- pose) obtained from the Chairman.
The seventh rule above given will strike any one as a little peculiar. The whisky that might be brought to a session of the Board by any one who had before brought some was to be con- fiscated for the use of the members after adjournment. A good joke has been handed down by tradition concerning the confis- cation of some whisky brought to the Board by Evan Williams. Williams was a distiller, and when he became a member of the Board of Trustees he thought he would do the handsome thing by bringing a bottle of his own make of whisky for the members to enjoy. He brought one bottle, and was not censured therefor under the sixth rule, as he probably would have been if William
Johnston, the clerk, had been present. At the next meeting he
25
194 Appendix O.
brought another bottle, and it was regularly confiscated under the seventh rule. When the members got to tasting it after the adjournment, and it came to Johnston's time for taking a dram, he declared it was too mean to be drunk, and that Williams ought to be expelled from the Board for making such villainous stuff. Johnston was surveyor of the port of Louisville, and used to having on his table the foreign liquors of an excellent grade that were imported. Williams tried to cover his mortification by suggesting that Johnston was an aristocrat, with taste too refined for the beverage of ordinary mortals ; but when Johnston so severely criticised his whisky no other member of the Board came to its defense. The bottle of whisky it must be said, how- ever, which Williams brought to the meeting, went home empty, and the inference is as strong as the liquor could have been that it was drunk by the members in spite of Johnston's con- demnation of it.
APPENDIX P.
BANKS NOW AND HERETOFORE IN LOUISVILLE.
The banks now doing business in Louisville are the fol- lowing :
The Louisville Clearing House ; the Bank of Kentucky, capital, $1,645,100; the Bank of Louisville, capital, $750,000; the Citizens National Bank, authorized capital, $500,000, paid-up capital, $344,000 ; the Falls City Tobacco Bank, capital paid in, $400,000, authorized capital, $1,000,000; the Farmers and Drov- ers Bank, capital, $319,000; the First National Bank of Louis- ville, capital subscribed, $500,000, privilege, $1,000,000; the Franklin Bank of Kentucky, capital, $200,000 ; the German Bank, capital, $232,000; the German Insurance Bank; the German National Bank, capital, $251,500; the German Security Bank, capital, $180,000; the Kentucky National Bank, capital, $500,000 ; the Louisville Banking Company, capital and surplus, $335,000; the Louisville City National Bank, capital, $400,000; the Masonic Savings Bank, capital $300,000; the Merchants National Bank of Louisville, capital, $500,000 ; the Peoples Bank of Kentucky ; the Second National Bank, capital, $400,000 ; the Third National Bank of Louisville, authorized capital, $500,000, paid in, $200,000 ; the Western Bank, capital, $250,000 ; the Western Financial Corporation, capital, $800,000.
The banks which previous to the year 1880 have done busi-
196 Appendix P.
ness in Louisville, and which for one cause or another have ceased, are the following :
The Old Bank of Kentucky, incorporated in 1806 with a capital of $1,000,000, afterwards increased in 1815 to $3,000,000; the Commercial Bank of Louisville, incorporated in 1818 with a capital of $1,000,000; the Bank of the Commonwealth of Ken- tucky, incorporated in 1820 with a capital of $2,000,000; a branch of the United States Bank, with a capital of $1,250,000, which was practically the only bank doing business here just before the Bank of Louisville, the Bank of Kentucky, and the Northern Bank of Kentucky were started.
To the above list of ancient banks that once did business here and ceased may be added the following formidable list of modern ones : A Branch of the Northern Bank of Kentucky, the Mechanics Savings Institution, the Louisville Gas Company Bank, the Mechanics Savings Bank, the Louisville Savings Institute, a branch of the Commercial Bank of Kentucky, the Franklin Bank of Kentucky, the Mechanics Bank, the Merchants Bank of Kentucky, a Branch of the Southern Bank of Ken- tucky, the Jefferson Savings Institution, the Franklin Savings Institution, the German Savings Bank, the Savings Bank of Louisville, the Citizens Bank, the Planters National Bank, the Falls City Bank, the Masonic Savings Institute, the Freedmen's Savings and Trust Company, the Central Savings Bank, the Bank of America, the Manufacturing and Financial Company, the Traders Bank and Warehouse Company, the Exchange Bank and Tobacco Warehouse, the Western German Savings Bank.
Appendix P. 197
Banking in Kentucky was the creature of fraud and imposi- tion. Our people had had enough of paper money during the Revolutionary War. The united Colonies, through Congress, had issued an enormous sum, and each of the Colonies had flooded the market with all it could get taken. Virginia alone had during the war issued nearly $100,000,000, and most of our people having come from Virginia were loaded down with these issues. Towards the end of hostilities it required one thousand of these paper dollars to equal one silver dollar, and finally they became of no value at all. Our people, with trunks full of these worthless paper dollars, went back to first principles and engaged in barter. Tobacco was a favorite medium of exchange, and was lawful also. Lands, houses, goods, implements, and every thing bought and sold were paid for in tobacco. Accounts were kept in pounds of tobacco instead of dollars, and everybody under- stood that mode of reckoning. Indeed, every article of produce was a medium of exchange by barter, and no one wanted paper money. A proposition to establish a bank of issue would have been repudiated by a very large majority of our citizens.
There were a few, however, who wanted banks, and they devised the means of securing them by fraud and deception. They applied to the legislature in 1802 for the incorporation of a company to insure cargoes on the western waters. They called their fraud the Kentucky Insurance Company, and fixed its capital at $150,000. This looked well enough on the face of the papers, because no one in the legislature or out of it could reasonably object to a strong company that was to insure against
1 98 Appendix P.
loss from the perils of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. In the act of incorporation, however, as it was drawn there were these words, hidden away in a dark corner as it were, "And such of the notes as are payable to bearer shall be negotiable and assign- able by delivery only." By this provision of their charter, which no one but themselves understood when it was before the legis- lature, they issued regular paper money so soon as they got their company incorporated. They issued their notes abundantly, and, finding them a good thing so far as their own profits were con- cerned, they got the privilege of going beyond their original capital and issuing notes to the amount of " The debts due them, the money in their vaults, the property real, personal, and mixed they might own, and their capital stock." This was banking with a vengeance, and it so turned out in the end. The Ken- tucky Insurance Company began in fraud and ended in bank- ruptcy. Many of its paper dollars are yet held by the descendants of those they defrauded as curiosities of the times. In fact a dollar note of the defunct Kentucky Insurance Company is worth more now as a curiosity than it ever was as money.
APPENDIX Q.
LIST OF OLD CITIZENS IN 1880.
The following list of our citizens who have passed the scrip- tural age of three -score and ten gives some indication of how long people can live in the genial climate of Louisville :
CITIZENS OVER NINETY.
Dr. C. C. Graham 96 Thomas L> Butler, 92
H. W. Wilkes 94 Wm. Givens, 92
Asa Emerson, 94 John P. Young 91
Stephen E- Davis, 94
CITIZENS OVER EIGHTY.
Joseph Danforth, 89 Joseph Irwin, 82
Wm. Talbot, 89 Wm. Hurst 82
Wm. Jarvis, 89 James C. Ford, 82
Joseph Swager 88 Samuel Campbell 82
E. E. Williams 86 Hon. D. L. Beatty 82
Wm. W. Williams 86 James Anderson, jr., .... 82
Rev. Joseph A. Lloyd, ... 84 James Harrison, 81
Joseph A. Barnett, 84 Samuel K. Richardson, ... 80
James Anderson 84 Dr. M. L. Lewis, 80
Joseph J. Sheridan, 83 I. R. Green, 80
Hon. Wm. P. Thomasson, . . 83 Rev. Wm. C. Atmore, .... 80
CITIZENS OVER SEVENTY.
B. F. Avery 79 Abraham Myers, 78
Samuel Hillman, 79 William Musselman, .... 78
J. B. Mcllvain 79 John Lamborne, 78
Edward Stokes, 78 A. G. Hodges, 78
200
Appendix Q.
John Felder, 78
Herman Eustis, 77
A. W. R. Harris, 77
James Hamilton, 77
Thomas Jefferson, .... 77
J. M. Monohan 76
S. S. English 76
W. H. Evans, 76
Dr. T. S. Bell, 75
Hon. John M. Delph, .... 75 Dr. R. W. Ferguson, .... 75
T. J. Hackney 75
R. R. Jones 75
William Kriel, 75
Christian Hatzel, 75
R. P. Lightburn 75
Luther Wilson, 75
R. K. White 74
Henry Wolford, 74
David Marshall, 74
C. C. Green, 74
John Christopher, 74
Rev. James Craik 74
John Adam 73
Hon. Wm. F. Bullock, ... 73
James Bridgeford 73
James M. Campbell, .... 73
H. W. Hawes, 73
S. G. Henry, 73
John P. Morton, 73
Zenos D. Parker 73
B. F. Rudy, 73
Francis Reidhar, 73
Christopher Steele, 73
James Trabue, 73
G. A. Zeuma, 72
I/. L. Warren, 72
L. A. Tripp, 72
George Shoemaker, . . . • .72
R. F. Orr, .72
Warren Mitchell, 72
Fount. Lochry, 72
Dr. Wm. H. Goddard 72
Thomas J. Gorin, 72
George L- Douglass, . . . .72
M. Lewis Clark, sr. 72
Charles N. Corri, 72
Henry Christopher 72
W. J. Cornell, 72
W. P. Benedict 72
R. M. Alexander 72
Archibald Chappell, . . . .71
Benjamin B. Hinkle 71
Rev. E. P. Humphrey, ... 71
M. W. Sherrill 71
B. H. Thurman, 71
Joseph Wolf, 70
Charles Wolford 70
G. T. Vernon, 70
L. D. Pearson 70
T. C. Pomeroy, 70
Daniel Lavielle, 70
Henry Kneaster 70
Conrad F. Keiser, 70
T. M. Erwin, 70
Rev. Hiram A. Hunter, ... 70
John L. Branham 70
Tarleton Arterburn, .... 70 Prof. Noble Butler, 70
no. 8
Filson Club, Louisville, Ky. Publications
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