History of Owensboro - User contributions [en]

Curdsville, Kentucky

2016-10-17T14:18:42Z

Jsims: /* Notable Dates */

Perhaps the best description of Curdsville was by a Chicago railroad promoter, A.L. Frank, who was trying to drum up interest in building an interurban line from Owensboro to Calhoun early in the century. He described Curdsville in 1907 as having a population of 275, with a rural population in the area of 2,835. The town, he reported, “has 3 general stores, on drug store, a post office, hotel, 2 physicians, 2 churches, and a two story school house, a ferry across the Green River, a branch of State Bank of Kentucky of Owensboro and a tobacco factory.” The businesses were supplied “about evenly” between the Green River packets and hacks and wagons from Owensboro.[[File:Curdsville_Map_-_1876.jpg|thumb|right|Detailed Map of Curdsville in 1876]]

== Founding Families ==
Curdsville Precinct was first settled by William Glenn in 1797 on the north side of Panther Creek about 3 miles from the Green River. He raised a family of nine children. His son William was a Colonel of Militia, a representative in the Legislature and Sheriff of Daviess County.

Glenn was among the first men to settle in what became Daviess County. He bought 1200 acres of land and built a log cabin close by what is now called Glenn’s Bridge on Hwy. 56. He was a close friend of [[William Smeathers|Bill Smothers]]. Glenn was one of the six original commissioners appointed in 1815 by the governor of Kentucky to select a place for the permanent county seat for newly formed Daviess County.
Curdsville’s beginning dates back to 1818 when George Husk built a cabin where Panther Creek flows into the Green River. The town was named after H. T. Curd of the firm of H.T. Curd and Co. of Louisville, who gave Aprilla Spray a barrel of whiskey to name Curdsville in his honor. Spray settled there in 1842 and ran a shop several years and operated the first store in Curdsville. He became the first Postmaster when the Post Office opened in 1855. That same year a ferry was established across Green River at Curdsville by Madison Priest of Henderson County. Four years later John Eads came and cleared four acres. His wife died shortly and Eads decided to leave. John Traverse purchased his place. Mr. Spray and two men, a Mr. Allen and a Mr. Brown built houses and opened the second store. Six years later financial circumstances forced them to close. In 1852, the community had the first blacksmith shop built and owned by Calvin Bennett.
Situated on the Green River about 14 miles from [[Owensboro, KY|Owensboro]], Curdsville became a booming town because of the river trade and traffic.

== 19th Century Daily Life ==
In August, 1881 the old wooden Mattingly bridge, approximately one mile from Curdsville, was replaced by a one lane iron bridge and was over 200feet long crossing Panther Creek.
According to the 1883 history book, the town had four grocery stores, a drug store, hardware store, fire department, two saloons, a coffin factory, livery stable, a jail, a two story hotel and a tobacco factory. It had a physician, a lawyer, an undertaker, police judge, town marshal and five trustees.
In 1891, 340 people lived in Curdsville.

There was a lot of river traffic active in the town. The boats would stop and pick up tobacco raised in the area and store it in the tobacco warehouse. The hotel was a place where the traveling salesman could eat and stay while conducting his business. In those days, a trip to Evansville was faster than riding a wagon on a rough road going to Owensboro.

=== Church Life ===
The Pleasant Hill Cumberland was the first Protestant Church organized in the Curdsville precinct by C. C. Boswell. It was organized in 1840 at a meeting held at the house of Stephen S. Winstead, on the north side of Panther Creek. For several years services were held in a private home, and then the Knob Lick Schoolhouse was used. In 1846 the church was built. It was a log structure, 26 x 20 feet built on Beech Grove Road on Knob Lick, just beyond St. Joseph. St. Raphael’s Catholic Church was established in 1832 by Father Durbin.
The first schoolhouse in the precinct was built around 1820. It was a log structure with a clapboard roof. The chimney was in the center of the room. A log was left out for a window. Almost the entire length of the building, and the window, had a single sash with 60 panes of glass in it. It was the oldest school in Daviess County.
The Curdsville Baptist Church was established in 1869 with 24 members. Twelve of the members were black. The church was organized in the old Pleasant hill Cumberland Presbyterian house of worship and first took the name of “Green River Baptist Church”. The church later moved to the town of Curdsville and worshipped in the “Union” house of worship with other denominations until their own church was completed about the year 1875. When the church was completed the name was changed to “Curdsville Baptist Church”. It started with A. B. Smith and D. E. Yeiser who were the first two pastors. The building was replaced by a black building in 1956.

=== Civics ===
In March, 1887, a newspaper article reported that Curdsville had 275 inhabitants, one large tobacco stemmery with a capacity of 1,000,000 pounds of tobacco, two dry goods stores, two family grocery stores, two churches and a third one going up (which became St. Elizabeth) two saloons and a third one would be in operation, two livery and feed stables, two blacksmith shops, one corn mill, one brick yard, one town hall, and last but not least, no schoolhouse at that time.

== Local Points of Interest ==

=== Tobacco ===
It is said that the land south of town was level and rich for many miles. Mr. T.J. Reynolds had purchased the drug store in Sorgho, but was going to remain in the drug business in Curdsville. The tobacco stemmery was a large wood frame building that was designed so that the purchased tobacco could be placed on sticks and hung in the building to allow it to cure to a stage called “summer order” when it would be taken down and prized in hogsheads for storage or shipment to order markets. The buildings were often called factories. This was before tobacco started to sell at auctions around 1900.

=== Panther Creek Bridge ===
In October 1895, Press Moseley finished the stone work for the new bridge on the Panther Creek east of town. A new iron bridge was completed and levee was nearing completion. This bridge was the longest bridge in the county and was said to be the best looking anywhere. The bridge was a great advantage to the people of Curdsville and the vicinity. It would shorten the distance between Curdsville and Owensboro about two miles.

=== Local Businesses and Social Events ===
In 1896, Mr. Brady built a large livery stable on a lot south of Baird’s Dry Goods Store. Judge Erwin reported that there had not been a case in police court for a long time.
Near the crossroads of KY 456 and 500, about a mile south of Curdsville, was the site of Ellendale, home of William Rapier. In the summer of 1894, Rapier decided to promote the family’s livestock business by staging a fair at the Ellendale farm.
The Ellendale Fair became on the most popular attractions in the region over the next four years. No county fair anywhere could match it. The fairgrounds included a grandstand that held 5,000 people, a floral hall, livestock quarters and a half mile track for horse and bicycle racing. People could also stay at a three story hotel on the site, which was used as a business college during the winter.
The fair was always during the mid summer when school was in vacation and neither would interfere with the other.
The fair reached its peak in 1896, attracting 30,000 people during the five day run. It ended in 1898 when drought, storms and adverse economic conditions caused the attendance to drop. The company Rapier had formed to run the fair went bankrupt.

=== Ellendale Epidemic ===

==== College Foundation ====
W.F. Rapier completed arrangements for starting a college at Ellendale sometime before 1886. Over 100 pupils agreed to attend. He had a good faculty assured. The classrooms were in the floral hall and the hotel was used for the boarding department.

==== Epidemic ====
The Ellendale College stayed open for several years as a newspaper article reposted that the school had 22 students that had been afflicted with typhoid fever and had seven to die. The president, Professor Gardina, had closed the school and nearly all students returned to their various homes. A few days earlier, Professor Gardina was in Owensboro and admitted that his luck from the disease was extraordinarily bad for the year. The infection, which had amounted to be a local epidemic, was contributed to the water supply for the school. It also said that the St. Joseph Academy, which had 65 ladies in attendance and only one mile away, had a different water supply. They lost no students and had no serious illnesses.

=== Electric Railroad Proposal ===
The people from Curdsville questioned that if a daily stage from Curdsville to Owensboro was a paying thing, why wouldn’t they extend an electric car line to Hickman Park from Curdsville. The stage line was a convenience and they could not do without it and since they had built a new bridge and opened up a new road, it lessened the distance to the city. But what they needed was a more rapid and direct transit and something that would shelter them from the summer sun and the winter cold. Where such a line is constructed is it not reasonable to suppose that thousands of dollars annually that were spent in Evansville would go to Owensboro?
In April 1896, W.F. Rapier went to Henderson and got several capitalists interested in his Ellendale electric railroad scheme.

Rapier then started the Rapier Grain and Seed Company in Owensboro, which eventually became Owensboro Grain Company.

== 20th Century History ==
In the 1900 Gazetteer listed the following names of Curdsville residents:

{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
! Name !! Occupation
|-
|T.S. Abrams || General Store
|-
|William Bernard || bricks mason
|-
|Bethel and Bro. || brick mason
|- James Bethel || carpenter
|-
|Mack Brown || blacksmith
|-
|Freed Cask || shoemaker
|-
|J. F. Cummins || school teacher
|-
|Erwin and Bro. || saloon and livery stable
|-
|Emanuel Fenwick || livery stable
|-
|William Goodman || hotel
|-
|Heavrin and Bro. || physicians
|-
|Hugh Derr and Co. || tobacconists
|-
|Rev. G. W. Lathom || pastor ME Church
|-
|Layson & State || livery stable
|-
|Samuel Likens || grocery
|-
|John Litler || tinner
|-
|H. H. McCain || general store
|-
|Williams Moseley || blacksmith
|-
|J. B. Morse || Postmaster
|-
|Mrs. John Oldham || owner of the ferry
|-
|Finis Osborne || hotel
|-
|J. B. Osborne || sawmill
|-
|Henry Reynolds || silversmith
|-
|J. W. Reynolds || drug store
|-
|P. C. Steele || saloon
|-
|Rv. B. F. Swindler || pastor Baptist Church
|-
|J. M. Welden || weigh master.
|}

===== Martine Yewell Tompkins =====
Martine Yewell Tompkins moved to Curdsville in the 1960’s and was likely the most famous person to live in Curdsville to date. She had a riverfront house on First Street and made a habit of waving to the towboat crews who were pushing barges of coal heading down the Green River. She was the first woman in Daviess County to drive an automobile. Tompkins was also Assistant Secretary of State and Deputy State Treasurer under Governor A. B. “Happy” Chandler.
In 1974, the Governor, Wendell Ford, gave her the honorary title of Admiral of Green River. Martine Tompkins died in March, 1998 and lived to be 109 years old

=== Notable Dates ===
* In September, 1903, P. M. Whitt of Hanson organized a bank at Curdsville. It was called the Bank of Curdsville and had a capital stock of $15,000. Witt put up half and H. H. McCain, J. H. Cain, George Roberts, and J. W. Reynolds put up $5250 worth of stock. Witt became cashier of the bank. The Messenger noted that Curdsville was very wealthy vicinity and the bank would doubtlessly prosper.
* In 1904, Dr. William Tyler, Sr. practiced medicine in Curdsville with his brother in law, J.H. McCain. He also was the house physician for Mt. St. Joseph while living in Curdsville. He moved to Owensboro in 1923 and practiced with Dr. W.F. Stirman.
* On August 10, 1904, the Owensboro City Railroad filed amended articles of incorporation increasing its capital stock, and authorizing the extension of its line from Owensboro west to Curdsville by way of the Dean Coal Mine for a total of 16 miles. This was never built.
* R. K. Hagan, a tobacco buyer located in Curdsville, sold the season’s entire purchase of 800,000 pounds to three Owensboro dealers. Imperial Tobacco Company bought 70,000 pounds, American Tobacco Company bought 600,000 pounds and Richard O’Flynn 130,000 pounds. It was all shipped out on boats to Owensboro.
* On September 2, 1904, Tom Oldham was killed in Ed Orkeis saloon. According to the Messenger, the two had trouble of long standing. A few hours previous to the killing, Oldham and another man engaged in a fight. Orkeis went to Owensboro the next morning to turn himself in. Oldham kept a hotel and the ferry at Curdsville. Orkeis drove harness horses for a number of years before he got into the saloon business.
* Across Panther Creek was located about 30 acres of fire clay which would be interesting to tile and brick makers, he observed, while 2 miles from the town the Utopia Coal Mine furnished coal to the town and businesses for local merchants. The town, he concluded, was surrounded by “an exceptionally fertile and desirable agricultural section, even more productive than the $100 to $200 per acre land between Owensboro and Sorgho.

===== Fire of 1921 =====
In 1921, fire swept through the business block in Curdsville. Two business houses and a residence were lost along with several other businesses, including a large tobacco factory. The Messenger reported that the loss was only prevented from being heavier by the work of the bucket brigade of men, women and children who commandeered every bucket in the town and soaked nearby buildings. One of the buildings was the poolroom and the other was the barbershop and soft drink stand. Wallace Burns had a 5 room house burn down but the neighbors did get all the furniture out. J.M. Collger owned the poolroom. Andrew Allen owned a shop next to the pool room and had some small damage as well as Lucian Clements. The trees in front of the large tobacco factory helped to protect the factory. The store of W.T. O’Bryan which joined the two stores was saved by the work of the fire brigade. When the fire was discovered, those who arrived said there was a strong odor of coal oil. It was claimed that the building had been the hang out for a number of bootleggers who had been operating in and around Curdsville.

== Decline of Curdsville ==
When automobiles replaced the paddle wheelers, the trade shifted to Owensboro. Many stores closed and the population decreased.

The 1937 flood caused the last big decline in the growth of Curdsville; the record breaking flood water surrounded the town. Some people had to boat to Sorgho to get their supplies. Three underground mines across the river were put out of business. Several of the miners lived in Curdsville. The Curdsville Ferry closed in 1942.
.
By the 1970’s, Curdsville was more of a place to live in quiet times. The only business was the Calhoun Grocery along with the Post Office run by Mrs. Pauline Wahl for over 30 years.
In 1978, the one lane iron bridge at Panther Creek was replaced by a new two lane concrete bridge. It was moved several hundred feet towards the river and now come in on Dick Street and now is known as the Curdsville Delaware Road.
In the 1990’s, the Daviess county Fiscal Court wanted to change the name of the streets because of the 911 emergency telephone service. Two of the residences, Wendell Mattingly and Max Bishop wanted to keep the old names because of the history of the town. They took the town’s case to the Commission meeting.
In August 2008, another piece of history was done away with. The Post Office closed on August 1. The town had about 45 Post Office boxes. The nearest Post Office was at Maple Mount in Mount St. Joseph. In December, 2013, the old Ellendale racetrack ticket office was removed from the home where it started in 1894 and was moved to Owensboro.

== Curdsville Today ==
Today Curdsville remains as a small residential town with two churches, and one small grocery store. Few indications remain of its commercial past. Yet today, Curdsville stands as a reminder of a town that once was one of the first settlements of Daviess County and an important commercial center when the river packets steamed down the Green River.

'''Source:''' ''Article by Grady Ebehlar''
[[Category:Towns]]

Ravinia

2016-10-17T14:12:22Z

Jsims:

About a mile east of [[Curdsville, Kentucky|Curdsville]] there was a place once called Ravinia.

It received that name because of the three immense ravines that geologists claimed were once the bed of the Green River in prehistoric times.<ref>This was reported in the 1943 Messenger.</ref>
Ravinia was the site of the summer home of W.A. Steele along the Green River untouched by civilization for years. The Green River obtained its name from the green reflection of the tall trees that lined its banks.

In days gone by, Ravinia was the favorite spot of Owensboro society. The trees and vegetation were not native to this part of the county. Giant bald cypress native to southern states abound, seeds were probably brought here centuries ago in some great flood, according to naturalists who had visited the Green River.

Ravinia

2016-10-17T14:10:15Z

Jsims: Created page with "Ravinia About a mile east of Curdsville there was a place once called Ravinia. It received that name because of the three immense ravines that geologists claimed were once t..."

Ravinia
About a mile east of Curdsville there was a place once called Ravinia. It received that name because of the three immense ravines that geologists claimed were once the bed of the Green River in prehistoric times. This was reported in the 1943 Messenger.
Ravinia was the site of the summer home of W.A. Steele along the Green River untouched by civilization for years. The Green River obtained its name from the green reflection of the tall trees that lined its banks. In days gone by, Ravinia was the favorite spot of Owensboro society. The trees and vegetation were not native to this part of the county. Giant bald cypress native to southern states abound, seeds were probably brought here centuries ago in some great flood, according to naturalists who had visited the Green River.

Curdsville, Kentucky

2016-10-17T14:09:35Z

Jsims: Added heading and cleaned up organization of info

Curdsville, Kentucky

2016-10-17T13:58:44Z

Jsims: /* Electric Railroad Proposal */

[[File:Curdsville_Map_-_1876.jpg|thumb|right|Detailed Map of Curdsville in 1876]]

== Founding Families ==
Curdsville Precinct was first settled by William Glenn in 1797 on the north side of Panther Creek about 3 miles from the Green River. He raised a family of nine children. His son William was a Colonel of Militia, a representative in the Legislature and Sheriff of Daviess County.

Glenn was among the first men to settle in what became Daviess County. He bought 1200 acres of land and built a log cabin close by what is now called Glenn’s Bridge on Hwy. 56. He was a close friend of [[William Smeathers|Bill Smothers]]. Glenn was one of the six original commissioners appointed in 1815 by the governor of Kentucky to select a place for the permanent county seat for newly formed Daviess County.
Curdsville’s beginning dates back to 1818 when George Husk built a cabin where Panther Creek flows into the Green River. The town was named after H. T. Curd of the firm of H.T. Curd and Co. of Louisville, who gave Aprilla Spray a barrel of whiskey to name Curdsville in his honor. Spray settled there in 1842 and ran a shop several years and operated the first store in Curdsville. He became the first Postmaster when the Post Office opened in 1855. That same year a ferry was established across Green River at Curdsville by Madison Priest of Henderson County. Four years later John Eads came and cleared four acres. His wife died shortly and Eads decided to leave. John Traverse purchased his place. Mr. Spray and two men, a Mr. Allen and a Mr. Brown built houses and opened the second store. Six years later financial circumstances forced them to close. In 1852, the community had the first blacksmith shop built and owned by Calvin Bennett.
Situated on the Green River about 14 miles from [[Owensboro, KY|Owensboro]], Curdsville became a booming town because of the river trade and traffic.

== 19th Century Daily Life ==
In August, 1881 the old wooden Mattingly bridge, approximately one mile from Curdsville, was replaced by a one lane iron bridge and was over 200feet long crossing Panther Creek.
According to the 1883 history book, the town had four grocery stores, a drug store, hardware store, fire department, two saloons, a coffin factory, livery stable, a jail, a two story hotel and a tobacco factory. It had a physician, a lawyer, an undertaker, police judge, town marshal and five trustees.
In 1891, 340 people lived in Curdsville.

There was a lot of river traffic active in the town. The boats would stop and pick up tobacco raised in the area and store it in the tobacco warehouse. The hotel was a place where the traveling salesman could eat and stay while conducting his business. In those days, a trip to Evansville was faster than riding a wagon on a rough road going to Owensboro.

=== Church Life ===
The Pleasant Hill Cumberland was the first Protestant Church organized in the Curdsville precinct by C. C. Boswell. It was organized in 1840 at a meeting held at the house of Stephen S. Winstead, on the north side of Panther Creek. For several years services were held in a private home, and then the Knob Lick Schoolhouse was used. In 1846 the church was built. It was a log structure, 26 x 20 feet built on Beech Grove Road on Knob Lick, just beyond St. Joseph. St. Raphael’s Catholic Church was established in 1832 by Father Durbin.
The first schoolhouse in the precinct was built around 1820. It was a log structure with a clapboard roof. The chimney was in the center of the room. A log was left out for a window. Almost the entire length of the building, and the window, had a single sash with 60 panes of glass in it. It was the oldest school in Daviess County.
The Curdsville Baptist Church was established in 1869 with 24 members. Twelve of the members were black. The church was organized in the old Pleasant hill Cumberland Presbyterian house of worship and first took the name of “Green River Baptist Church”. The church later moved to the town of Curdsville and worshipped in the “Union” house of worship with other denominations until their own church was completed about the year 1875. When the church was completed the name was changed to “Curdsville Baptist Church”. It started with A. B. Smith and D. E. Yeiser who were the first two pastors. The building was replaced by a black building in 1956.

=== Civics ===
In March, 1887, a newspaper article reported that Curdsville had 275 inhabitants, one large tobacco stemmery with a capacity of 1,000,000 pounds of tobacco, two dry goods stores, two family grocery stores, two churches and a third one going up (which became St. Elizabeth) two saloons and a third one would be in operation, two livery and feed stables, two blacksmith shops, one corn mill, one brick yard, one town hall, and last but not least, no schoolhouse at that time.

== Local Points of Interest ==

=== Tobacco ===
It is said that the land south of town was level and rich for many miles. Mr. T.J. Reynolds had purchased the drug store in Sorgho, but was going to remain in the drug business in Curdsville. The tobacco stemmery was a large wood frame building that was designed so that the purchased tobacco could be placed on sticks and hung in the building to allow it to cure to a stage called “summer order” when it would be taken down and prized in hogsheads for storage or shipment to order markets. The buildings were often called factories. This was before tobacco started to sell at auctions around 1900.

=== Panther Creek Bridge ===
In October 1895, Press Moseley finished the stone work for the new bridge on the Panther Creek east of town. A new iron bridge was completed and levee was nearing completion. This bridge was the longest bridge in the county and was said to be the best looking anywhere. The bridge was a great advantage to the people of Curdsville and the vicinity. It would shorten the distance between Curdsville and Owensboro about two miles.

=== Local Businesses and Social Events ===
In 1896, Mr. Brady built a large livery stable on a lot south of Baird’s Dry Goods Store. Judge Erwin reported that there had not been a case in police court for a long time.
Near the crossroads of KY 456 and 500, about a mile south of Curdsville, was the site of Ellendale, home of William Rapier. In the summer of 1894, Rapier decided to promote the family’s livestock business by staging a fair at the Ellendale farm.
The Ellendale Fair became on the most popular attractions in the region over the next four years. No county fair anywhere could match it. The fairgrounds included a grandstand that held 5,000 people, a floral hall, livestock quarters and a half mile track for horse and bicycle racing. People could also stay at a three story hotel on the site, which was used as a business college during the winter.
The fair was always during the mid summer when school was in vacation and neither would interfere with the other.
The fair reached its peak in 1896, attracting 30,000 people during the five day run. It ended in 1898 when drought, storms and adverse economic conditions caused the attendance to drop. The company Rapier had formed to run the fair went bankrupt.

=== Ellendale Epidemic ===

==== College Foundation ====
W.F. Rapier completed arrangements for starting a college at Ellendale sometime before 1886. Over 100 pupils agreed to attend. He had a good faculty assured. The classrooms were in the floral hall and the hotel was used for the boarding department.

==== Epidemic ====
The Ellendale College stayed open for several years as a newspaper article reposted that the school had 22 students that had been afflicted with typhoid fever and had seven to die. The president, Professor Gardina, had closed the school and nearly all students returned to their various homes. A few days earlier, Professor Gardina was in Owensboro and admitted that his luck from the disease was extraordinarily bad for the year. The infection, which had amounted to be a local epidemic, was contributed to the water supply for the school. It also said that the St. Joseph Academy, which had 65 ladies in attendance and only one mile away, had a different water supply. They lost no students and had no serious illnesses.

=== Electric Railroad Proposal ===
The people from Curdsville questioned that if a daily stage from Curdsville to Owensboro was a paying thing, why wouldn’t they extend an electric car line to Hickman Park from Curdsville. The stage line was a convenience and they could not do without it and since they had built a new bridge and opened up a new road, it lessened the distance to the city. But what they needed was a more rapid and direct transit and something that would shelter them from the summer sun and the winter cold. Where such a line is constructed is it not reasonable to suppose that thousands of dollars annually that were spent in Evansville would go to Owensboro?
In April 1896, W.F. Rapier went to Henderson and got several capitalists interested in his Ellendale electric railroad scheme.

Rapier then started the Rapier Grain and Seed Company in Owensboro, which eventually became Owensboro Grain Company.

In the 1900 Gazetteer listed the following names of Curdsville residents:

{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
! Name !! Occupation
|-
|T.S. Abrams || General Store
|-
|William Bernard || bricks mason
|-
|Bethel and Bro. || brick mason
|-James Bethel || carpenter
|-
|Mack Brown || blacksmith
|-
|Freed Cask || shoemaker
|-
|J. F. Cummins || school teacher
|-
|Erwin and Bro. || saloon and livery stable
|-
|Emanuel Fenwick || livery stable
|-
|William Goodman || hotel
|-
|Heavrin and Bro. || physicians
|-
|Hugh Derr and Co. || tobacconists
|-
|Rev. G. W. Lathom || pastor ME Church
|-
|Layson & State || livery stable
|-
|Samuel Likens || grocery
|-
|John Litler || tinner
|-
|H. H. McCain || general store
|-
|Williams Moseley || blacksmith
|-
|J. B. Morse || Postmaster
|-
|Mrs. John Oldham || owner of the ferry
|-
|Finis Osborne || hotel
|-
|J. B. Osborne || sawmill
|-
|Henry Reynolds || silversmith
|-
|J. W. Reynolds || drug store
|-
|P. C. Steele || saloon
|-
|Rv. B. F. Swindler || pastor Baptist Church
|-
|J. M. Welden || weigh master.
|}
In September, 1903, P. M. Whitt of Hanson organized a bank at Curdsville. It was called the Bank of Curdsville and had a capital stock of $15,000. Witt put up half and H. H. McCain, J. H. Cain, George Roberts, and J. W. Reynolds put up $5250 worth of stock. Witt became cashier of the bank. The Messenger noted that Curdsville was very wealthy vicinity and the bank would doubtlessly prosper.

In 1904, Dr. William Tyler, Sr. practiced medicine in Curdsville with his brother in law, J.H. McCain. He also was the house physician for Mt. St. Joseph while living in Curdsville. He moved to Owensboro in 1923 and practiced with Dr. W.F. Stirman.
On August 10, 1904, the Owensboro City Railroad filed amended articles of incorporation increasing its capital stock, and authorizing the extension of its line from Owensboro west to Curdsville by way of the Dean Coal Mine for a total of 16 miles. This was never built.
R. K. Hagan, a tobacco buyer located in Curdsville, sold the season’s entire purchase of 800,000 pounds to three Owensboro dealers. Imperial Tobacco Company bought 70,000 pounds, American Tobacco Company bought 600,000 pounds and Richard O’Flynn 130,000 pounds. It was all shipped out on boats to Owensboro.
On September 2, 1904, Tom Oldham was killed in Ed Orkeis saloon. According to the Messenger, the two had trouble of long standing. A few hours previous to the killing, Oldham and another man engaged in a fight. Orkeis went to Owensboro the next morning to turn himself in. Oldham kept a hotel and the ferry at Curdsville. Orkeis drove harness horses for a number of years before he got into the saloon business.
Perhaps the best description of Curdsville was by a Chicago railroad promoter, A.L. Frank, who was trying to drum up interest in building an interurban line from Owensboro to Calhoun early in the century. He described Curdsville in 1907 as having a population of 275, with a rural population in the area of 2,835. The town, he reported, “has 3 general stores, on drug store, a post office, hotel, 2 physicians, 2 churches, and a two story school house, a ferry across the Green River, a branch of State Bank of Kentucky of Owensboro and a tobacco factory.” The businesses were supplied “about evenly” between the Green River packets and hacks and wagons from Owensboro. Frank reported that the town was an important shipping point. One stack buyer reported that between May 1 and October 7, 1905, he had shipped 1,260 hogs and 248 sheep to Evansville by packet. Two sets of wagons and stock scales were available at the buyer’s yard.
Across Panther Creek was located about 30 acres of fire clay which would be interesting to tile and brick makers, he observed, while 2 miles from the town the Utopia Coal Mine furnished coal to the town and businesses for local merchants. The town, he concluded, was surrounded by “an exceptionally fertile and desirable agricultural section, even more productive than the $100 to $200 per acre land between Owensboro and Sorgho.
In 1921, fire swept through the business block in Curdsville. Two business houses and a residence were lost along with several other businesses, including a large tobacco factory. The Messenger reported that the loss was only prevented from being heavier by the work of the bucket brigade of men, women and children who commandeered every bucket in the town and soaked nearby buildings.
One of the buildings was the poolroom and the other was the barbershop and soft drink stand. Wallace Burns had a 5 room house burn down but the neighbors did get all the furniture out. J.M. Collger owned the poolroom. Andrew Allen owned a shop next to the pool room and had some small damage as well as Lucian Clements. The trees in front of the large tobacco factory helped to protect the factory. The store of W.T. O’Bryan which joined the two stores was saved by the work of the fire brigade. When the fire was discovered, those who arrived said there was a strong odor of coal oil. It was claimed that the building had been the hang out for a number of bootleggers who had been operating in and around Curdsville.
When the new mode of transportation replaced the paddle wheelers, the trade shifted to Owensboro. Many stores closed and the population decreased.
The 1937 flood caused the last big decline in the growth of Curdsville; the record breaking flood water surrounded the town. Some people had to boat to Sorgho to get their supplies. Three underground mines across the river were put out of business. Several of the miners lived in Curdsville. The Curdsville Ferry closed in 1942.
Martine Yewell Tompkins moved to Curdsville in the 1960’s. She had a riverfront house on First Street and made a habit of waving to the towboat crews who were pushing barges of coal heading down the Green River. She was the first woman in Daviess County to drive an automobile. Tompkins was also Assistant Secretary of State and Deputy State Treasurer under Governor A. B. “Happy” Chandler.
In 1974, the Governor, Wendell Ford, gave her the honorary title of Admiral of Green River. Martine Tompkins died in March, 1998 and lived to be 109 years old.
By the 1970’s, Curdsville was more of a place to live in quiet times. The only business was the Calhoun Grocery along with the Post Office run by Mrs. Pauline Wahl for over 30 years.
In 1978, the one lane iron bridge at Panther Creek was replaced by a new two lane concrete bridge. It was moved several hundred feet towards the river and now come in on Dick Street and now is known as the Curdsville Delaware Road.
In the 1990’s, the Daviess county Fiscal Court wanted to change the name of the streets because of the 911 emergency telephone service. Two of the residences, Wendell Mattingly and Max Bishop wanted to keep the old names because of the history of the town. They took the town’s case to the Commission meeting.
In August 2008, another piece of history was done away with. The Post Office closed on August 1. The town had about 45 Post Office boxes. The nearest Post Office was at Maple Mount in Mount St. Joseph.
Today Curdsville remains as a small residential town with two churches, and one small grocery store. Few indications remain of its commercial past. Yet today, Curdsville stands as a reminder of a town that once was one of the first settlements of Daviess County and an important commercial center when the river packets steamed down the Green River.
In December, 2013, the old Ellendale racetrack ticket office was removed from the home where it started in 1894 and was moved to Owensboro.

Ravinia
About a mile east of Curdsville there was a place once called Ravinia. It received that name because of the three immense ravines that geologists claimed were once the bed of the Green River in prehistoric times. This was reported in the 1943 Messenger.
Ravinia was the site of the summer home of W.A. Steele along the Green River untouched by civilization for years. The Green River obtained its name from the green reflection of the tall trees that lined its banks. In days gone by, Ravinia was the favorite spot of Owensboro society. The trees and vegetation were not native to this part of the county. Giant bald cypress native to southern states abound, seeds were probably brought here centuries ago in some great flood, according to naturalists who had visited the Green River.

'''Source:''' ''Article by Grady Ebehlar''
[[Category:Towns]]

Curdsville, Kentucky

2016-10-17T13:58:08Z

Jsims: /* Electric Railroad Proposal */

[[File:Curdsville_Map_-_1876.jpg|thumb|right|Detailed Map of Curdsville in 1876]]

== Founding Families ==
Curdsville Precinct was first settled by William Glenn in 1797 on the north side of Panther Creek about 3 miles from the Green River. He raised a family of nine children. His son William was a Colonel of Militia, a representative in the Legislature and Sheriff of Daviess County.

Glenn was among the first men to settle in what became Daviess County. He bought 1200 acres of land and built a log cabin close by what is now called Glenn’s Bridge on Hwy. 56. He was a close friend of [[William Smeathers|Bill Smothers]]. Glenn was one of the six original commissioners appointed in 1815 by the governor of Kentucky to select a place for the permanent county seat for newly formed Daviess County.
Curdsville’s beginning dates back to 1818 when George Husk built a cabin where Panther Creek flows into the Green River. The town was named after H. T. Curd of the firm of H.T. Curd and Co. of Louisville, who gave Aprilla Spray a barrel of whiskey to name Curdsville in his honor. Spray settled there in 1842 and ran a shop several years and operated the first store in Curdsville. He became the first Postmaster when the Post Office opened in 1855. That same year a ferry was established across Green River at Curdsville by Madison Priest of Henderson County. Four years later John Eads came and cleared four acres. His wife died shortly and Eads decided to leave. John Traverse purchased his place. Mr. Spray and two men, a Mr. Allen and a Mr. Brown built houses and opened the second store. Six years later financial circumstances forced them to close. In 1852, the community had the first blacksmith shop built and owned by Calvin Bennett.
Situated on the Green River about 14 miles from [[Owensboro, KY|Owensboro]], Curdsville became a booming town because of the river trade and traffic.

== 19th Century Daily Life ==
In August, 1881 the old wooden Mattingly bridge, approximately one mile from Curdsville, was replaced by a one lane iron bridge and was over 200feet long crossing Panther Creek.
According to the 1883 history book, the town had four grocery stores, a drug store, hardware store, fire department, two saloons, a coffin factory, livery stable, a jail, a two story hotel and a tobacco factory. It had a physician, a lawyer, an undertaker, police judge, town marshal and five trustees.
In 1891, 340 people lived in Curdsville.

There was a lot of river traffic active in the town. The boats would stop and pick up tobacco raised in the area and store it in the tobacco warehouse. The hotel was a place where the traveling salesman could eat and stay while conducting his business. In those days, a trip to Evansville was faster than riding a wagon on a rough road going to Owensboro.

=== Church Life ===
The Pleasant Hill Cumberland was the first Protestant Church organized in the Curdsville precinct by C. C. Boswell. It was organized in 1840 at a meeting held at the house of Stephen S. Winstead, on the north side of Panther Creek. For several years services were held in a private home, and then the Knob Lick Schoolhouse was used. In 1846 the church was built. It was a log structure, 26 x 20 feet built on Beech Grove Road on Knob Lick, just beyond St. Joseph. St. Raphael’s Catholic Church was established in 1832 by Father Durbin.
The first schoolhouse in the precinct was built around 1820. It was a log structure with a clapboard roof. The chimney was in the center of the room. A log was left out for a window. Almost the entire length of the building, and the window, had a single sash with 60 panes of glass in it. It was the oldest school in Daviess County.
The Curdsville Baptist Church was established in 1869 with 24 members. Twelve of the members were black. The church was organized in the old Pleasant hill Cumberland Presbyterian house of worship and first took the name of “Green River Baptist Church”. The church later moved to the town of Curdsville and worshipped in the “Union” house of worship with other denominations until their own church was completed about the year 1875. When the church was completed the name was changed to “Curdsville Baptist Church”. It started with A. B. Smith and D. E. Yeiser who were the first two pastors. The building was replaced by a black building in 1956.

=== Civics ===
In March, 1887, a newspaper article reported that Curdsville had 275 inhabitants, one large tobacco stemmery with a capacity of 1,000,000 pounds of tobacco, two dry goods stores, two family grocery stores, two churches and a third one going up (which became St. Elizabeth) two saloons and a third one would be in operation, two livery and feed stables, two blacksmith shops, one corn mill, one brick yard, one town hall, and last but not least, no schoolhouse at that time.

== Local Points of Interest ==

=== Tobacco ===
It is said that the land south of town was level and rich for many miles. Mr. T.J. Reynolds had purchased the drug store in Sorgho, but was going to remain in the drug business in Curdsville. The tobacco stemmery was a large wood frame building that was designed so that the purchased tobacco could be placed on sticks and hung in the building to allow it to cure to a stage called “summer order” when it would be taken down and prized in hogsheads for storage or shipment to order markets. The buildings were often called factories. This was before tobacco started to sell at auctions around 1900.

=== Panther Creek Bridge ===
In October 1895, Press Moseley finished the stone work for the new bridge on the Panther Creek east of town. A new iron bridge was completed and levee was nearing completion. This bridge was the longest bridge in the county and was said to be the best looking anywhere. The bridge was a great advantage to the people of Curdsville and the vicinity. It would shorten the distance between Curdsville and Owensboro about two miles.

=== Local Businesses and Social Events ===
In 1896, Mr. Brady built a large livery stable on a lot south of Baird’s Dry Goods Store. Judge Erwin reported that there had not been a case in police court for a long time.
Near the crossroads of KY 456 and 500, about a mile south of Curdsville, was the site of Ellendale, home of William Rapier. In the summer of 1894, Rapier decided to promote the family’s livestock business by staging a fair at the Ellendale farm.
The Ellendale Fair became on the most popular attractions in the region over the next four years. No county fair anywhere could match it. The fairgrounds included a grandstand that held 5,000 people, a floral hall, livestock quarters and a half mile track for horse and bicycle racing. People could also stay at a three story hotel on the site, which was used as a business college during the winter.
The fair was always during the mid summer when school was in vacation and neither would interfere with the other.
The fair reached its peak in 1896, attracting 30,000 people during the five day run. It ended in 1898 when drought, storms and adverse economic conditions caused the attendance to drop. The company Rapier had formed to run the fair went bankrupt.

=== Ellendale Epidemic ===

==== College Foundation ====
W.F. Rapier completed arrangements for starting a college at Ellendale sometime before 1886. Over 100 pupils agreed to attend. He had a good faculty assured. The classrooms were in the floral hall and the hotel was used for the boarding department.

==== Epidemic ====
The Ellendale College stayed open for several years as a newspaper article reposted that the school had 22 students that had been afflicted with typhoid fever and had seven to die. The president, Professor Gardina, had closed the school and nearly all students returned to their various homes. A few days earlier, Professor Gardina was in Owensboro and admitted that his luck from the disease was extraordinarily bad for the year. The infection, which had amounted to be a local epidemic, was contributed to the water supply for the school. It also said that the St. Joseph Academy, which had 65 ladies in attendance and only one mile away, had a different water supply. They lost no students and had no serious illnesses.

=== Electric Railroad Proposal ===
The people from Curdsville questioned that if a daily stage from Curdsville to Owensboro was a paying thing, why wouldn’t they extend an electric car line to Hickman Park from Curdsville. The stage line was a convenience and they could not do without it and since they had built a new bridge and opened up a new road, it lessened the distance to the city. But what they needed was a more rapid and direct transit and something that would shelter them from the summer sun and the winter cold. Where such a line is constructed is it not reasonable to suppose that thousands of dollars annually that were spent in Evansville would go to Owensboro?
In April 1896, W.F. Rapier went to Henderson and got several capitalists interested in his Ellendale electric railroad scheme.

Rapier then started the Rapier Grain and Seed Company in Owensboro, which eventually became Owensboro Grain Company.

In the 1900 Gazetteer listed the following names of Curdsville residents:

{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
! Name !! Occupation
|-
|T.S. Abrams || General Store
|-
|William Bernard || bricks mason
|-
|Bethel and Bro. || brick mason
|-James Bethel || carpenter
|-
|Mack Brown || blacksmith
|-
|Freed Cask || shoemaker
|-
|J. F. Cummins || school teacher
|-
|Erwin and Bro. || saloon and livery stable
|-
|Emanuel Fenwick || livery stable
|-
|William Goodman || hotel
|-
|Heavrin and Bro. || physicians
|-
|Hugh Derr and Co. || tobacconists
|-
|Rev. G. W. Lathom || pastor ME Church
|-
|Layson & State || livery stable
|-
|Samuel Likens || grocery
|-
|John Litler || tinner
|-
|H. H. McCain || general store
|-
|Williams Moseley || blacksmith
|-
|J. B. Morse || Postmaster
|-
|Mrs. John Oldham || owner of the ferry
|-
|Finis Osborne || hotel
|-
|J. B. Osborne || sawmill
|-
|Henry Reynolds || silversmith
|-
|J. W. Reynolds || drug store
|-
|P. C. Steele || saloon
|-
|Rv. B. F. Swindler || pastor Baptist Church
|-
|J. M. Welden || weigh master.
In September, 1903, P. M. Whitt of Hanson organized a bank at Curdsville. It was called the Bank of Curdsville and had a capital stock of $15,000. Witt put up half and H. H. McCain, J. H. Cain, George Roberts, and J. W. Reynolds put up $5250 worth of stock. Witt became cashier of the bank. The Messenger noted that Curdsville was very wealthy vicinity and the bank would doubtlessly prosper.

In 1904, Dr. William Tyler, Sr. practiced medicine in Curdsville with his brother in law, J.H. McCain. He also was the house physician for Mt. St. Joseph while living in Curdsville. He moved to Owensboro in 1923 and practiced with Dr. W.F. Stirman.
On August 10, 1904, the Owensboro City Railroad filed amended articles of incorporation increasing its capital stock, and authorizing the extension of its line from Owensboro west to Curdsville by way of the Dean Coal Mine for a total of 16 miles. This was never built.
R. K. Hagan, a tobacco buyer located in Curdsville, sold the season’s entire purchase of 800,000 pounds to three Owensboro dealers. Imperial Tobacco Company bought 70,000 pounds, American Tobacco Company bought 600,000 pounds and Richard O’Flynn 130,000 pounds. It was all shipped out on boats to Owensboro.
On September 2, 1904, Tom Oldham was killed in Ed Orkeis saloon. According to the Messenger, the two had trouble of long standing. A few hours previous to the killing, Oldham and another man engaged in a fight. Orkeis went to Owensboro the next morning to turn himself in. Oldham kept a hotel and the ferry at Curdsville. Orkeis drove harness horses for a number of years before he got into the saloon business.
Perhaps the best description of Curdsville was by a Chicago railroad promoter, A.L. Frank, who was trying to drum up interest in building an interurban line from Owensboro to Calhoun early in the century. He described Curdsville in 1907 as having a population of 275, with a rural population in the area of 2,835. The town, he reported, “has 3 general stores, on drug store, a post office, hotel, 2 physicians, 2 churches, and a two story school house, a ferry across the Green River, a branch of State Bank of Kentucky of Owensboro and a tobacco factory.” The businesses were supplied “about evenly” between the Green River packets and hacks and wagons from Owensboro. Frank reported that the town was an important shipping point. One stack buyer reported that between May 1 and October 7, 1905, he had shipped 1,260 hogs and 248 sheep to Evansville by packet. Two sets of wagons and stock scales were available at the buyer’s yard.
Across Panther Creek was located about 30 acres of fire clay which would be interesting to tile and brick makers, he observed, while 2 miles from the town the Utopia Coal Mine furnished coal to the town and businesses for local merchants. The town, he concluded, was surrounded by “an exceptionally fertile and desirable agricultural section, even more productive than the $100 to $200 per acre land between Owensboro and Sorgho.
In 1921, fire swept through the business block in Curdsville. Two business houses and a residence were lost along with several other businesses, including a large tobacco factory. The Messenger reported that the loss was only prevented from being heavier by the work of the bucket brigade of men, women and children who commandeered every bucket in the town and soaked nearby buildings.
One of the buildings was the poolroom and the other was the barbershop and soft drink stand. Wallace Burns had a 5 room house burn down but the neighbors did get all the furniture out. J.M. Collger owned the poolroom. Andrew Allen owned a shop next to the pool room and had some small damage as well as Lucian Clements. The trees in front of the large tobacco factory helped to protect the factory. The store of W.T. O’Bryan which joined the two stores was saved by the work of the fire brigade. When the fire was discovered, those who arrived said there was a strong odor of coal oil. It was claimed that the building had been the hang out for a number of bootleggers who had been operating in and around Curdsville.
When the new mode of transportation replaced the paddle wheelers, the trade shifted to Owensboro. Many stores closed and the population decreased.
The 1937 flood caused the last big decline in the growth of Curdsville; the record breaking flood water surrounded the town. Some people had to boat to Sorgho to get their supplies. Three underground mines across the river were put out of business. Several of the miners lived in Curdsville. The Curdsville Ferry closed in 1942.
Martine Yewell Tompkins moved to Curdsville in the 1960’s. She had a riverfront house on First Street and made a habit of waving to the towboat crews who were pushing barges of coal heading down the Green River. She was the first woman in Daviess County to drive an automobile. Tompkins was also Assistant Secretary of State and Deputy State Treasurer under Governor A. B. “Happy” Chandler.
In 1974, the Governor, Wendell Ford, gave her the honorary title of Admiral of Green River. Martine Tompkins died in March, 1998 and lived to be 109 years old.
By the 1970’s, Curdsville was more of a place to live in quiet times. The only business was the Calhoun Grocery along with the Post Office run by Mrs. Pauline Wahl for over 30 years.
In 1978, the one lane iron bridge at Panther Creek was replaced by a new two lane concrete bridge. It was moved several hundred feet towards the river and now come in on Dick Street and now is known as the Curdsville Delaware Road.
In the 1990’s, the Daviess county Fiscal Court wanted to change the name of the streets because of the 911 emergency telephone service. Two of the residences, Wendell Mattingly and Max Bishop wanted to keep the old names because of the history of the town. They took the town’s case to the Commission meeting.
In August 2008, another piece of history was done away with. The Post Office closed on August 1. The town had about 45 Post Office boxes. The nearest Post Office was at Maple Mount in Mount St. Joseph.
Today Curdsville remains as a small residential town with two churches, and one small grocery store. Few indications remain of its commercial past. Yet today, Curdsville stands as a reminder of a town that once was one of the first settlements of Daviess County and an important commercial center when the river packets steamed down the Green River.
In December, 2013, the old Ellendale racetrack ticket office was removed from the home where it started in 1894 and was moved to Owensboro.

Ravinia
About a mile east of Curdsville there was a place once called Ravinia. It received that name because of the three immense ravines that geologists claimed were once the bed of the Green River in prehistoric times. This was reported in the 1943 Messenger.
Ravinia was the site of the summer home of W.A. Steele along the Green River untouched by civilization for years. The Green River obtained its name from the green reflection of the tall trees that lined its banks. In days gone by, Ravinia was the favorite spot of Owensboro society. The trees and vegetation were not native to this part of the county. Giant bald cypress native to southern states abound, seeds were probably brought here centuries ago in some great flood, according to naturalists who had visited the Green River.

'''Source:''' ''Article by Grady Ebehlar''
[[Category:Towns]]

Curdsville, Kentucky

2016-10-17T13:50:05Z

Jsims:

[[File:Curdsville_Map_-_1876.jpg|thumb|right|Detailed Map of Curdsville in 1876]]

== Founding Families ==
Curdsville Precinct was first settled by William Glenn in 1797 on the north side of Panther Creek about 3 miles from the Green River. He raised a family of nine children. His son William was a Colonel of Militia, a representative in the Legislature and Sheriff of Daviess County.

Glenn was among the first men to settle in what became Daviess County. He bought 1200 acres of land and built a log cabin close by what is now called Glenn’s Bridge on Hwy. 56. He was a close friend of [[William Smeathers|Bill Smothers]]. Glenn was one of the six original commissioners appointed in 1815 by the governor of Kentucky to select a place for the permanent county seat for newly formed Daviess County.
Curdsville’s beginning dates back to 1818 when George Husk built a cabin where Panther Creek flows into the Green River. The town was named after H. T. Curd of the firm of H.T. Curd and Co. of Louisville, who gave Aprilla Spray a barrel of whiskey to name Curdsville in his honor. Spray settled there in 1842 and ran a shop several years and operated the first store in Curdsville. He became the first Postmaster when the Post Office opened in 1855. That same year a ferry was established across Green River at Curdsville by Madison Priest of Henderson County. Four years later John Eads came and cleared four acres. His wife died shortly and Eads decided to leave. John Traverse purchased his place. Mr. Spray and two men, a Mr. Allen and a Mr. Brown built houses and opened the second store. Six years later financial circumstances forced them to close. In 1852, the community had the first blacksmith shop built and owned by Calvin Bennett.
Situated on the Green River about 14 miles from [[Owensboro, KY|Owensboro]], Curdsville became a booming town because of the river trade and traffic.

== 19th Century Daily Life ==
In August, 1881 the old wooden Mattingly bridge, approximately one mile from Curdsville, was replaced by a one lane iron bridge and was over 200feet long crossing Panther Creek.
According to the 1883 history book, the town had four grocery stores, a drug store, hardware store, fire department, two saloons, a coffin factory, livery stable, a jail, a two story hotel and a tobacco factory. It had a physician, a lawyer, an undertaker, police judge, town marshal and five trustees.
In 1891, 340 people lived in Curdsville.

There was a lot of river traffic active in the town. The boats would stop and pick up tobacco raised in the area and store it in the tobacco warehouse. The hotel was a place where the traveling salesman could eat and stay while conducting his business. In those days, a trip to Evansville was faster than riding a wagon on a rough road going to Owensboro.

=== Church Life ===
The Pleasant Hill Cumberland was the first Protestant Church organized in the Curdsville precinct by C. C. Boswell. It was organized in 1840 at a meeting held at the house of Stephen S. Winstead, on the north side of Panther Creek. For several years services were held in a private home, and then the Knob Lick Schoolhouse was used. In 1846 the church was built. It was a log structure, 26 x 20 feet built on Beech Grove Road on Knob Lick, just beyond St. Joseph. St. Raphael’s Catholic Church was established in 1832 by Father Durbin.
The first schoolhouse in the precinct was built around 1820. It was a log structure with a clapboard roof. The chimney was in the center of the room. A log was left out for a window. Almost the entire length of the building, and the window, had a single sash with 60 panes of glass in it. It was the oldest school in Daviess County.
The Curdsville Baptist Church was established in 1869 with 24 members. Twelve of the members were black. The church was organized in the old Pleasant hill Cumberland Presbyterian house of worship and first took the name of “Green River Baptist Church”. The church later moved to the town of Curdsville and worshipped in the “Union” house of worship with other denominations until their own church was completed about the year 1875. When the church was completed the name was changed to “Curdsville Baptist Church”. It started with A. B. Smith and D. E. Yeiser who were the first two pastors. The building was replaced by a black building in 1956.

=== Civics ===
In March, 1887, a newspaper article reported that Curdsville had 275 inhabitants, one large tobacco stemmery with a capacity of 1,000,000 pounds of tobacco, two dry goods stores, two family grocery stores, two churches and a third one going up (which became St. Elizabeth) two saloons and a third one would be in operation, two livery and feed stables, two blacksmith shops, one corn mill, one brick yard, one town hall, and last but not least, no schoolhouse at that time.

== Local Points of Interest ==

=== Tobacco ===
It is said that the land south of town was level and rich for many miles. Mr. T.J. Reynolds had purchased the drug store in Sorgho, but was going to remain in the drug business in Curdsville. The tobacco stemmery was a large wood frame building that was designed so that the purchased tobacco could be placed on sticks and hung in the building to allow it to cure to a stage called “summer order” when it would be taken down and prized in hogsheads for storage or shipment to order markets. The buildings were often called factories. This was before tobacco started to sell at auctions around 1900.

=== Panther Creek Bridge ===
In October 1895, Press Moseley finished the stone work for the new bridge on the Panther Creek east of town. A new iron bridge was completed and levee was nearing completion. This bridge was the longest bridge in the county and was said to be the best looking anywhere. The bridge was a great advantage to the people of Curdsville and the vicinity. It would shorten the distance between Curdsville and Owensboro about two miles.

=== Local Businesses and Social Events ===
In 1896, Mr. Brady built a large livery stable on a lot south of Baird’s Dry Goods Store. Judge Erwin reported that there had not been a case in police court for a long time.
Near the crossroads of KY 456 and 500, about a mile south of Curdsville, was the site of Ellendale, home of William Rapier. In the summer of 1894, Rapier decided to promote the family’s livestock business by staging a fair at the Ellendale farm.
The Ellendale Fair became on the most popular attractions in the region over the next four years. No county fair anywhere could match it. The fairgrounds included a grandstand that held 5,000 people, a floral hall, livestock quarters and a half mile track for horse and bicycle racing. People could also stay at a three story hotel on the site, which was used as a business college during the winter.
The fair was always during the mid summer when school was in vacation and neither would interfere with the other.
The fair reached its peak in 1896, attracting 30,000 people during the five day run. It ended in 1898 when drought, storms and adverse economic conditions caused the attendance to drop. The company Rapier had formed to run the fair went bankrupt.

=== Ellendale Epidemic ===

==== College Foundation ====
W.F. Rapier completed arrangements for starting a college at Ellendale sometime before 1886. Over 100 pupils agreed to attend. He had a good faculty assured. The classrooms were in the floral hall and the hotel was used for the boarding department.

==== Epidemic ====
The Ellendale College stayed open for several years as a newspaper article reposted that the school had 22 students that had been afflicted with typhoid fever and had seven to die. The president, Professor Gardina, had closed the school and nearly all students returned to their various homes. A few days earlier, Professor Gardina was in Owensboro and admitted that his luck from the disease was extraordinarily bad for the year. The infection, which had amounted to be a local epidemic, was contributed to the water supply for the school. It also said that the St. Joseph Academy, which had 65 ladies in attendance and only one mile away, had a different water supply. They lost no students and had no serious illnesses.

=== Electric Railroad Proposal ===
The people from Curdsville questioned that if a daily stage from Curdsville to Owensboro was a paying thing, why wouldn’t they extend an electric car line to Hickman Park from Curdsville. The stage line was a convenience and they could not do without it and since they had built a new bridge and opened up a new road, it lessened the distance to the city. But what they needed was a more rapid and direct transit and something that would shelter them from the summer sun and the winter cold. Where such a line is constructed is it not reasonable to suppose that thousands of dollars annually that were spent in Evansville would go to Owensboro?
In April 1896, W.F. Rapier went to Henderson and got several capitalists interested in his Ellendale electric railroad scheme.

Rapier then started the Rapier Grain and Seed Company in Owensboro, which eventually became Owensboro Grain Company.

In the 1900 Gazetteer listed the following names of Curdsville residents:

T. S. Abrams, General Store

; William Bernard, bricks mason; Bethel and Bro., brick mason; James Bethel, carpenter; Mack Brown, blacksmith; Freed Cask, shoemaker; J. F. Cummins, school teacher; Erwin and Bro., saloon and livery stable; Emanuel Fenwick, livery stable; William Goodman, hotel; Heavrin and Bro., physicians; Hugh Derr and Co., tobacconists; Rev. G. W. Lathom, pastor ME Church; Layson & State, livery stable; Samuel Likens, grocery; John Litler, tinner; H. H. McCain, general store; Williams Moseley, blacksmith; J. B. Morse, Postmaster; Mrs. John Oldham, owner of the ferry; Finis Osborne, hotel; J. B. Osborne, sawmill; Henry Reynolds, silversmith; J. W. Reynolds, drug store; P. C. Steele, saloon; Rv. B. F. Swindler, pastor Baptist Church; and J. M. Welden, weigh master.
In September, 1903, P. M. Whitt of Hanson organized a bank at Curdsville. It was called the Bank of Curdsville and had a capital stock of $15,000. Witt put up half and H. H. McCain, J. H. Cain, George Roberts, and J. W. Reynolds put up $5250 worth of stock. Witt became cashier of the bank. The Messenger noted that Curdsville was very wealthy vicinity and the bank would doubtlessly prosper.

In 1904, Dr. William Tyler, Sr. practiced medicine in Curdsville with his brother in law, J.H. McCain. He also was the house physician for Mt. St. Joseph while living in Curdsville. He moved to Owensboro in 1923 and practiced with Dr. W.F. Stirman.
On August 10, 1904, the Owensboro City Railroad filed amended articles of incorporation increasing its capital stock, and authorizing the extension of its line from Owensboro west to Curdsville by way of the Dean Coal Mine for a total of 16 miles. This was never built.
R. K. Hagan, a tobacco buyer located in Curdsville, sold the season’s entire purchase of 800,000 pounds to three Owensboro dealers. Imperial Tobacco Company bought 70,000 pounds, American Tobacco Company bought 600,000 pounds and Richard O’Flynn 130,000 pounds. It was all shipped out on boats to Owensboro.
On September 2, 1904, Tom Oldham was killed in Ed Orkeis saloon. According to the Messenger, the two had trouble of long standing. A few hours previous to the killing, Oldham and another man engaged in a fight. Orkeis went to Owensboro the next morning to turn himself in. Oldham kept a hotel and the ferry at Curdsville. Orkeis drove harness horses for a number of years before he got into the saloon business.
Perhaps the best description of Curdsville was by a Chicago railroad promoter, A.L. Frank, who was trying to drum up interest in building an interurban line from Owensboro to Calhoun early in the century. He described Curdsville in 1907 as having a population of 275, with a rural population in the area of 2,835. The town, he reported, “has 3 general stores, on drug store, a post office, hotel, 2 physicians, 2 churches, and a two story school house, a ferry across the Green River, a branch of State Bank of Kentucky of Owensboro and a tobacco factory.” The businesses were supplied “about evenly” between the Green River packets and hacks and wagons from Owensboro. Frank reported that the town was an important shipping point. One stack buyer reported that between May 1 and October 7, 1905, he had shipped 1,260 hogs and 248 sheep to Evansville by packet. Two sets of wagons and stock scales were available at the buyer’s yard.
Across Panther Creek was located about 30 acres of fire clay which would be interesting to tile and brick makers, he observed, while 2 miles from the town the Utopia Coal Mine furnished coal to the town and businesses for local merchants. The town, he concluded, was surrounded by “an exceptionally fertile and desirable agricultural section, even more productive than the $100 to $200 per acre land between Owensboro and Sorgho.
In 1921, fire swept through the business block in Curdsville. Two business houses and a residence were lost along with several other businesses, including a large tobacco factory. The Messenger reported that the loss was only prevented from being heavier by the work of the bucket brigade of men, women and children who commandeered every bucket in the town and soaked nearby buildings.
One of the buildings was the poolroom and the other was the barbershop and soft drink stand. Wallace Burns had a 5 room house burn down but the neighbors did get all the furniture out. J.M. Collger owned the poolroom. Andrew Allen owned a shop next to the pool room and had some small damage as well as Lucian Clements. The trees in front of the large tobacco factory helped to protect the factory. The store of W.T. O’Bryan which joined the two stores was saved by the work of the fire brigade. When the fire was discovered, those who arrived said there was a strong odor of coal oil. It was claimed that the building had been the hang out for a number of bootleggers who had been operating in and around Curdsville.
When the new mode of transportation replaced the paddle wheelers, the trade shifted to Owensboro. Many stores closed and the population decreased.
The 1937 flood caused the last big decline in the growth of Curdsville; the record breaking flood water surrounded the town. Some people had to boat to Sorgho to get their supplies. Three underground mines across the river were put out of business. Several of the miners lived in Curdsville. The Curdsville Ferry closed in 1942.
Martine Yewell Tompkins moved to Curdsville in the 1960’s. She had a riverfront house on First Street and made a habit of waving to the towboat crews who were pushing barges of coal heading down the Green River. She was the first woman in Daviess County to drive an automobile. Tompkins was also Assistant Secretary of State and Deputy State Treasurer under Governor A. B. “Happy” Chandler.
In 1974, the Governor, Wendell Ford, gave her the honorary title of Admiral of Green River. Martine Tompkins died in March, 1998 and lived to be 109 years old.
By the 1970’s, Curdsville was more of a place to live in quiet times. The only business was the Calhoun Grocery along with the Post Office run by Mrs. Pauline Wahl for over 30 years.
In 1978, the one lane iron bridge at Panther Creek was replaced by a new two lane concrete bridge. It was moved several hundred feet towards the river and now come in on Dick Street and now is known as the Curdsville Delaware Road.
In the 1990’s, the Daviess county Fiscal Court wanted to change the name of the streets because of the 911 emergency telephone service. Two of the residences, Wendell Mattingly and Max Bishop wanted to keep the old names because of the history of the town. They took the town’s case to the Commission meeting.
In August 2008, another piece of history was done away with. The Post Office closed on August 1. The town had about 45 Post Office boxes. The nearest Post Office was at Maple Mount in Mount St. Joseph.
Today Curdsville remains as a small residential town with two churches, and one small grocery store. Few indications remain of its commercial past. Yet today, Curdsville stands as a reminder of a town that once was one of the first settlements of Daviess County and an important commercial center when the river packets steamed down the Green River.
In December, 2013, the old Ellendale racetrack ticket office was removed from the home where it started in 1894 and was moved to Owensboro.

Ravinia
About a mile east of Curdsville there was a place once called Ravinia. It received that name because of the three immense ravines that geologists claimed were once the bed of the Green River in prehistoric times. This was reported in the 1943 Messenger.
Ravinia was the site of the summer home of W.A. Steele along the Green River untouched by civilization for years. The Green River obtained its name from the green reflection of the tall trees that lined its banks. In days gone by, Ravinia was the favorite spot of Owensboro society. The trees and vegetation were not native to this part of the county. Giant bald cypress native to southern states abound, seeds were probably brought here centuries ago in some great flood, according to naturalists who had visited the Green River.

'''Source:''' ''Article by Grady Ebehlar''
[[Category:Towns]]

Delaware, Kentucky

2016-10-17T12:51:28Z

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[[File:1886-Delaware.jpg|thumb|384x384px|1886 Directory Listing for Delware]]

==Early History==
Delaware The town was laid out in 1864 by Andrew Allen on his farm on the Green River. It is located on the extreme south western part of Daviess County 21 miles from Owensboro. It takes its name from Delaware Creek just a short distance from the town. The first settlers in the area were Colonel Samuel Harralson. He kept a store for a few years. He had the first blacksmith shop and built the first school. He also ran the ferry in the 1840’s.

==First Mill==
The first mill in Delaware was built by Hall, Moore and Burkhardt in 1868. It was a saw mill and corn cracker. For three years, the company sawed for the penitentiary in Jeffersonville, Kentucky. In 1881, Turner Day and Company of Louisville, built the Delaware Handle Factory and was run by Nathan Brumfield. It employed as high as 50 men during the peak period. It burned on November 17, 1882. The town had three tobacco factories, one owned by A. M. Allen, one by S.C. Cook and another by N. B. Cook. S.C. Cook also had a hotel and saloon.

==Post Office==
The Post Office was established in 1862 and A. M. Allen was the first Postmaster. Mr. Harralson was robbed and murdered on the road between Delaware and Calhoun in 1859. In 1888, the population was 80.

==Commerce==
The first store was opened in 1844 by Henry Fleming. H. C. Cosby opened one later and sold it to A. M. Allen. Dr. B.F. Harralson was the first physician. In the 1880’s, Delaware had one dry goods store, a general store, drug store, two groceries, two saloons, two churches, a blacksmith shop, two physicians, a saw mill and one flour mill owned by W. J. Lumpkin. There were three private boarding houses. Mrs. A.M. Allen was proprietor of one, Mrs. M. Harrison, another and Mrs. B.W. McFarland had the other. Mrs. M. Harrison was a seamstress. H. Hix, J.B. Jordan were farmers, W.H. Johnson was a blacksmith and miller. L. R. Jordan was the barber. F. May was a druggist. J. Yeiser was a physician. The Montague Brothers were the merchants. Mrs. B.R. Reeks was a seamstress. B.C. Hix was a saw logger. J. Travis and J. Davis were laborers. L. Piper and Seton Nichols, both blacks, were laborers. J. A. McDonald was a merchant and Postmaster. The first Post Office started in 1860 and Andrew Allen was Postmaster. It closed and was reopened four times by 1873 when Rob Harralson became Postmaster. John Faith, N.B. Cook, Joseph Carrico, Ben Harralson, Thomas Jennings all had the job by 1921 when it closed for 4 years and was reopened by Nora Sharp and then Louis Davis. Some of the Postmasters were Louis Davis, J. E. Carrico, and James Kennedy. Sallie Kennedy held the post for over 20 years until she retired and Mrs. Edna Hulsey held the position until June, 1966 when it was closed and mail moved to [[St. Joseph, Kentucky]]. In 1898, the population was put at 200. It had a good trade on the Green River of livestock and other products. It had more trade with Evansville than Owensboro by using the Green River. It was in the 1920’s and 30’s when [[Owensboro, KY|Owensboro]] got more trade from Delaware due to more roads being built out of town. By 1920, Delaware was starting to get smaller. H. C. Fleming was the physician and also owned a drug store with Alexander. King owned a saloon.

==Church==
The [[Delaware Creek Church]] was started in 1894. E. H. Maddox was the first Pastor. For a while the church met in the Hall School House and still later in the House of Worship of
the Methodist in Delaware until they built their own church in 1900. The church had a regular service thru the year but was unable to meet in the winter due to bad roads. The flood in 1937 caused much damage to the church. An effort was made to move the location of the church but the motion was lost and the building was finally torn down. All usable lumber was salvaged and was rebuilt with smaller dimensions. In 1971 there were only six families living in Delaware. Only one place of business existed, Adkisson’s Grocery, which was a general store with one gas pump.
[[Category:Towns]]

St. Joseph, Kentucky

2016-10-17T12:48:54Z

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== Early Days ==
Thomas Downs was the first man who lived in the vicinity of the St. Joseph area. His home was on a hill half a mile south of St. Alphonsus Church. The first log church was built on five acres donated by John Rodman in 1854. Some of the early settlers were J.E. Smith and Aquilla P. Blandford. He went to school in a log cabin. He came to Daviess County in 1856. He was a school trustee for several years as well as a trustee of St. Alphonsus Church. W.E. Clark, R.A. Merimee, B.B. Blinco, J.A. Thompson and Thomas Vowels were early settlers. William E. Rodman was a Justice of the Peace for the Curdsville district. John O. Warren was also an early settler. The first resident Pastor was Father Ivo Schacht who served the parish from 1861-1864.

== Civil War Era ==
The two young Confederate soldiers were buried under a single tombstone in the St. Alphonsus Cemetery. Charles W. Thompson, 18 and Pierman Powell, 25 were Confederates from the Curdsville precinct and St. Joseph area and were Union prisoners at Henderson when a Henderson man was shot and wounded by guerillas. Under a rule imposed by General Stephen Burbridge, they were executed. The two soldiers were selected for execution for every “outrage” perpetrated on unarmed Union citizens by guerillas.

Burbridge was a Union Commander of the Department of Kentucky and was greatly disliked for his harsh zeal in behalf of the North.

In the middle 1860’s a log school was built on land where the Ursuline Motherhouse now stands.

The log church burned down in 1868.

== Post Civil War and Civic Uses during 20th Century ==
The new church was built in 1870.
Patrick Pike opened up a general store in St. Joe in the mid 1885’s. The people in the area either had to travel to Curdsville or West Louisville for their supplies. Both were bigger towns. Dr. Patrick Pike died and Mrs. Pike opened up a general store, a blacksmith shop and had a telephone line. In July 1886, the first Post Office was opened in the Pike Store. Emma Pike became the first Post Master.

Victor Merimee and john Rodman were the next two Post Masters until the Ballard Bros. opened up a general store in St. Joe. In 1904 Joseph H. Ballard became Post Master. The mail was handled in the store until Joe Ballard retired in 1942.Since 1942; some of the Post Masters were Joseph O’Bryan, Bernard Abell, Mrs. Katherine Riney, Alvin Trogden, Bernard Dockemeyer, Mrs. Mary Clayton and Mrs. Mary O. Mattingly.
Carl and Norma Medley owned the grocery store until around 1960 and sold it to Wendell and Martine Calhoun. They sold it to Fuzz Brennan in 1969.

After a county water line was laid through the St. Joe area in 1969, a new fire station was built in the town in 1975. It had all volunteer fire fighters.
In 1976 there were two rural routes from St. Joe and the Post Office had 14 general patrons. The Post Office closed. The United States Postal Service moved to close down all fourth class Post Offices to economize. William Mattingly, Jr. was the rural mail carrier for Route 6 and would drop the mail off to be sorted. The mail was then run thru the Mt. St. Joe office and was discontinued to Owensboro in 1995.

Near the St. Joe area was a place called Possum Trot. It was referred by the older residents as Possum Trot and said to have been named by J.P. Waltrip who said that the narrow hallows which were located about two miles from St. Joe were full of possums.

Blue Ruin was another early settlement. It has long since vanished and New Macedonia Church is built on the exact site of Blue Ruin. Cleveland was still another small community of Curdsville precinct. It was a couple of miles south of West Louisville and St. Joe area.

[[Category:Towns]]

St Alphonsus Catholic Church

2016-10-17T12:44:32Z

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#REDIRECT [[St. Alphonsus Catholic Church]]

William Smeathers

2016-10-12T19:22:16Z

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'''William "Bill" Smeathers''' (c. 1767 – August 13, 1837), also known as '''Smithers''' or '''Smothers''', was a pioneer settler of Kentucky and later Texas.

==Early Life==
The name of this remarkable pioneer has been variously spelled and pronounced, as Smeather, Smeathers, Smither, Smithers, Smothers, etc., but Smither was probably correct; and "Bill" is
supposed, of course, to stand for William. The above is the name by which he was familiarly called. He was born on the western frontier of Virginia, near the Holston River. His father was a
hunter, and frequently took his son with him to assist in bringing home the game. One morning he started at daylight, telling his wife that he would take a little round and be back to breakfast.
As he did not return, a search was made for him. His body was found about two miles from home, nearly devoured by the wild beasts; but the narrow blade of an Indian tomahawk had been
driven deep into his brain. His wife was so deeply affected by his death that she lived only nine days, and was placed in death where she had been in life—close by the side of her husband. William
was so upset that he did not close his eyes in sleep during the night that followed her burial. Before day he went out, and standing by their graves, boy as he was, he raised his hand to
Heaven and swore that he would devote his life to the destruction of the Indian race. And well did he keep that vow, for he never saw an Indian that he did not shoot at, and he very seldom missed his aim.
He felt very conscientious about killing a squaw, and rejoiced that it was never his misfortune to meet with one.

William was twelve years old at the time of his parents' death. There were also two other children: James, aged nine, and Mollie, aged seven. One of the neighbors, a new-comer, having no place
of his own, proposed to take care of these orphan children for the rent of the farm. This was agreed upon and he moved in. During that same year, William went to live with an uncle in Virginia,
who agreed to give him a good education, and $100 in money when he became of age. This uncle, whose name was Chrisman, was a man who worshiped the rich and scorned the poor. He was so cruel and
overbearing to his orphan nephew that the latter ran away from him in a few years. He wandered through the country, stopping wherever he could find anything to do, but found his stock of money was growing less and less every
day. He was in a little town called Taylorville, near the Catawba River, when Colonel Shelby came through beating up for volunteers, and William joined him because he knew not what else to do.
At that time the British had a military post on King's Mountain, so named from the fact that it stands alone, overlooking the country on all sides. It was at this point that the battle of King's Mountain
was fought between the British and Colonel Shelby's men. The latter were successful, having killed Ferguson and a great many of his men, captured 1,000 prisoners, 2,000 muskets, and all their
military stores, and lost very few of their own men.

After his discharge, William again wandered around the country until the following spring, when he was taken by a squad of men belonging to General Green's command, who had been sent out to
press teamsters to drive the wagons. Although Smeathers was exempt from the duties of teamster, he was detained until after the battle of Guilford Court-House was fought, and was then discharged.
After this he could find no employment and concluded to return to James River and visit his uncle and friends in that vicinity. But his uncle forgot to give him the $100, although
he was twenty-one and had a very good education. He bade him good-bye, and started for his native town to visit his brother and sister. He found them still living with the man who
had taken the farm. This man had a daughter whom Smothers courted one Sunday evening, and married the next Thursday. He was very anxious to proceed immediately to Kentucky, but his
wife and sister insisted that the snow and ice on the mountains would endanger their lives; so the move was postponed until spring.

==Arrival in Kentucky==
On his arrival in Kentucky, he found the region around Lexington more densely settled than the country he had left on the Holston. He had come to fight the Indians, and did not feel like taking
wages as a hand on a farm. He met a party who were coming down to fortify in the Green River country, and joined them at once. They built a fort at Hartford, on Rough Creek. When
they were besieged they found that the Indians generally came from lower Kentucky, wading Green River at the falls. They established a fort there and called it Vienna. At first, of course, it
was only a fort; afterward a town was laid out there and it was named Vienna. It is now called Calhoun. The father of William and Thomas Downs, a Baptist preacher, was the last man killed by the
Indians here, which was between 1790-92, within a few hundred yards of the fort. The section of the country about Vienna was settled up fully ten years before Bill Smeathers came to Owensboro; the Indians
seldom came in great force afterward, and they soon scattered. Mrs. Smothers lived only a few years after moving to Kentucky, and died, leaving two daughters and one son. Miss Mollie Smothers remained with her brother many years.

==Settling at Yellow Banks==
Smeathers, not liking the dense settlements around Hartford and Vienna, came to the Yellow Banks and built a cabin on the banks of the Ohio. This was about the beginning of the present century.
The cabin was of round logs and had two doors; from one he had a view of the Ohio, and from the other he looked into his garden. On the lower side of the house there was a shed-room,
which was made by extending the main roof, being enclosed by slabs of timber planted in the ground. About four feet of a single log was cut out to make a passway into the room. In it he deposited
his peltries and groceries, and when he entertained a large company, which was frequently the case, it was converted into a bed-chamber, more agreeable in cold than warm weather, owing to
the abundance of deer and bear skins and buffalo robes which were kept there.

Nature had been liberal in her gifts to Smeathers. In personal courage he was inferior to no man, and he was endowed with a good understanding. The operations of his mind were quick, and
there was a sprightliness and point in his conceptions which never failed to interest the listener. In conversation, he rarely descended to vulgarity, and never affected the coarse manner or rude speech
of the ruffian. His voice, like his mind, was clear and distinct; and if he had received a thorough education he would have been a shining light in the land. But his love of fun was his controlling
passion, and led him into many improprieties and may have clouded his memory with crime. In person, he was five feet eleven inches high; his hair and beard were dark brown; his eyes were prominent
and a clear, deep blue ; his complexion was fair; and the expression of his countenance was playful and intelligent. Whatever he did seemed to be performed deliberately. He spoke the truth,
except when he was planning some mischief, and then his fertile imagination readily invented whatever was necessary to the success of his scheme. On these occasions he could invent the most
marvelous and miraculous lies, giving all the particulars and attendant circumstances. Incredulity itself would be silenced by his earnestness of tone and his minuteness of detail.

Smothers was delighted with his new home at the Yellow Banks. He was in search of a good hunting-ground for himself, and good range for his horse and cow; and in these respects his situation
could not have been improved. From Panther Creek to the Ohio River, and from Green River to Blackford, he was the only inhabitant. He roamed the forest alone and slaughtered the game
at pleasure. The necessaries and even the luxuries of life were furnished to him at his very door. The barges, as they were slowly cordelled by their armed crews, would stop and give him salt,
flour and groceries, in exchange for dried venison, bear-meat and buffalo robes. No man below the falls could furnish so sumptuous a meal, and no man ever entertained with more genuine hospitality.
The visitors had a general partiality for "old rye" and "flour bread," as these articles were unknown in the interior. At the conclusion of one of his repasts, a man called "Leather-legs"
wiped his mouth on the skirt of his hunting shirt, and remarked: "Smothers, I believe I will pull up stakes where I am, and come down here." This observation cast a shade over the countenance
of Smeathers, but he quickly replied, assuring his friend that the unhealthfulness of the climate would greatly endanger his life; "and besides," said Smothers, "I intend paying you a visit on
Pond River, and taking a long tramp in the hills; I like to hunt in the hills; the water is so much better than it is in the bottoms, and then you are clear of the black gnats, mosquitoes and gallinippers
that swarm in these flats." "Stop, Smeathers," said Leather-legs, "you are taking a great deal of pains to tell me that you don't want me here. I won't come; if I break up I will go to the
mouth of the Wolf, or to the Red Banks." "Well, then," said Smeathers, "we will be neighbors, and I will call and see you at either point."

==Reaction to Additional Settlement==
The remark of Leather-legs made a deep impression upon the mind of Smeathers. It proved to him that others were at least thinking of intruding themselves into the small boundaries
which he had assigned to himself; that the 150,000 acres of land which he had enjoyed as a hunting-ground would be occupied by other men; that settlements would be made, farms opened, and
the game driven away or destroyed, and that he would be left in his old age without the means of support, in the country from which he had expelled the Indians. He did not spend his time in
gloomy despondency, but, like a true man, resolved to make every effort to avert the awful train of calamities which he saw at no great distance before him. A surveyor's chain he regarded with
particular abhorrence, and, if opportunity presented, he would place it where it would never be stretched again; corner trees, he thought, ought not to stand, as they would be the starting points for subdivision.
It will not be stated that he ever cut one, but many were missing. He determined also that his house should present fewer attractions. His table, instead of luxuries, was supplied with
the simplest and coarsest fare of the hunter. He almost deserted his home, wandering weeks and months together in the woods. He hunted deer and bear on this side of the river, killing as many as
he wished, and twice a year he took an Indian hunt on the other side, where he was equally as successful. Sleepless days and nights would be spent to get a shot; and at every crack of his rifle an
Indian fell.

The melancholy and dreadful news, against which he would have gladly closed his ears, at last saluted Smeathers, that at least twenty families had arrived upon his territory, and were then preparing
to build houses and open plantations. The surveyor with his compass and chain was making new lines; the axe was busily plied in felling his trees; and the wedge lustily driven was riving his oaks.
His lines had been broken and he was surrounded. In anguish and bitterness of spirit he contemplated his situation, and no ray of light broke through the dark cloud which enveloped him. At
first he had almost resolved upon a hostile demonstration, but the number of the emigrants and the respectability of a portion of them, convinced him of the absolute folly and madness of such a course.
Like all brave men, when fairly driven to the wall, he made up his mind to meet his fate with fortitude, and, making a virtue of necessity, he determined to cultivate the good opinion of the new
comers by a friendly visit to them. Near Blackford he called upon Ely and Natty Bell. At the house of the latter he was agreeably surprised to find his brother James, who was laying siege to
Bell's sister-in-law; she capitulated shortly afterward and they were married. In his circuit he saw Barker and Killenbarger, Holmark and Holinhead, Jones and Jordan, Glenn and Gentry,
and on his return home he heard the axe of Felty Husk, who was cutting logs to build a house near the residence of Thomas H. Painter. Husk and Smothers afterward contracted a friendship which
closed only with their lives.

==Charged with Murder==
Until this point, there had been no legal tribunals in this section, and might had generally constituted right. But Anthony Thompson was commissioned and qualified as a Justice of the Peace for Nelson
County. He lived a few miles to the west of Vienna, and his district was about as large as six of our present counties. Thompson had a clear head, an iron will, and the kindliest feelings toward
the whole human family. The uneasiness which Smeathers experienced at the appointment of a magistrate in such close proximity to himself gradually faded away. Five years of impunity
convinced him that Squire Thompson was his friend; and although he had never seen him, he began to like the man, but rather preferred that Panther Creek should still continue to run between
them. One day Thompson called upon Smeathers and they were so well pleased with one another that they became great friends. One sultry evening as the last rays of the setting sun were playing
upon a bank of cloud, fringing its outline in purple and gold, Smeathers and his sister sat upon the doorsteps enjoying the cool air, and silently enjoying the splendors of the scene. Unnoticed by
them, a keelboat had made fast at the landing, and several of the men were already in the yard. The foremost, a man by the name of Norris, was of Herculean proportions, and it was the boast of the
crew that hee had never met a match in a fisticuff from Louisville to New Orleans. Miss Mollie left the side of her brother and entered the house. When they approached, Smeathers arose from
his seat and invited them to walk in. They indulged themselves in such freedom of remark that Miss Mollie concluded she could not remain with propriety and ran to the house of Felty Husk.
Smeathers, who had not observed the absence of his sister, remonstrated with them in mild but very decided terms upon their unbecoming and unworthy behavior. The firmness of his manner,
and the truth of what he said, made an impression upon the boatmen. Six of the number upon leaving the house called to Norris to come and go to the boat. He told them to go on and that he
would be along directly, but he never went. In the dim twilight Smothers saw ten or twelve of the crew ascending the bank in a line to his house. Retreating by the back door, he concealed himself
in a bed of strawberries which grew in his garden. When they entered and beheld the lifeless body of their comrade and friend extended upon the floor, with the warm blood still trickling
from two ghastly wounds, their rage and indignation knew no bounds. They threatened to hunt for Smeathers until they found
him, and to slay him at sight. Perceiving that they were searching and ransacking the house, and expecting them in the garden, he left his hiding place and spent the night in the woods. At daylight
the next morning he knocked at the door of Ben Duncan, Esq., who lived on Pup Creek, ten miles above Yellow Banks. He informed 'Squire Duncan of the nature of the charges which
had been made against him on the night previous and demanded a judicial investigation. 'Squire Duncan summoned the boatmen as witnesses and opened his Court of Inquiry. In answer to the summons,
the crew came in a body to the house of the justice. Many of them were armed, and declared it to be their intention to seize the prisoner and hang him to a tree. But the friends of Smeathers
were there, and no man had more friends or truer friends than he had. They told the boatmen if they opened the ball in blood that the sun of that day would shine on many a corpse; that Smeathers
had surrendered himself to the officers of the law and was a prisoner; that they could give their evidence if they had any, but if a hand was raised in violence they would resist it to the death. As
they were prepared to make their words good the examination went on smoothly and quietly. The court decided that the offense was available, and required Smeathers to give bond and security for
his appearance on the first day of the next term of the Ohio (now Daviess) Circuit Court. The bond was immediately filled by the prisoner and a number of securities, and after recognizing the witnesses
the court adjourned. Smeathers, with six of his chosen friends, returned to his home. The boat was still at the landing, but the war was not renewed.

==The Trial==
Smeathers was much perplexed in mind upon the subject of employing good counsel to argue his case before the Circuit Court.
For all minor offenses he had appeared in his own behalf, and had been uniformly successful; but in a case which involved the question of his life or death, he was unwilling to trust himself. But he was
poor, and lawyers' fees were high, and he knew not well what to do. His anxieties about the matter were happily relieved. The great advocate, Joseph H. Daveiss, knew Smeathers well, and admired him greatly
for that indomitable courage which never had been known to quail in the presence of danger. He heard, at Frankfort, of the affair, and sent Smeathers a message which was characteristic of the man:
"Don't ruin yourself hiring lawyers. I will be with you on the day of the trial." Smothers knew his man, and relied upon the promise with implicit confidence. The fame of Jo Daveiss as an orator and
the wide-spread acquaintance of the accused brought a concourse to court, such as had never been seen in Hartford before. The keelboatmen from Louisville were there, and strangers from a
circuit of 100 miles were in attendance, curious to see Bill Smeathers, and anxious to hear Jo Daveiss. The trial itself was likely to be one of surpassing interest and remarkable singularity.
Only two lawyers would appear, and they were brothers. As soon as the sheriff had made proclamation that the "court was open," Smeathers tendered himself in discharge of his bond, and took a
seat within the bar. [[John Daveiss]], the Prosecuting Attorney for the district, was much interrupted in his duties during the day by repeated questions concerning his brother: "Where is he?"
"When do you think he'll be here?" " Maybe he will not come at all." And a variety of inquiries and speculations saluted him wherever he went. On Monday night, Jo Daveiss stayed at the house
of Stephen Stateler, four miles from Hartford, and on Tuesday morning he and Stateler walked into town. Court was already in session, and was devoting the usual hour to motions. Stateler and
Daveiss sat upon a bench in a remote corner, engaged in conversation. Stateler was much the taller man of the two, but they were dressed alike in blue jeans, and to all appearances were a
couple of sensible farmers. Stateler had no idea that he was talking to Jo Daveiss, but still he was strangely fascinated by his company. When Judge Broadnax had disposed of the motions, he opened
the docket and called the case of the Commonwealth ''versus'' William Smither, ''alias'' Bill Smothers. John Daveiss was up stairs with the Grand Jury, and of course made no response to the call. Stateler's
companion left him and took a seat by the side of his client. Smothers, who was not in the least surprised at the course of his lawyer, shook him warmly by the hand. Broadnax becoming impatient
directed the sheriff to summon the attorney for the Commonwealth. John Daveiss walked down stairway, and with his papers in his hand stepped in the doorway where he had a
short conference with his witnesses. Broadnax repeated the call of the case with emphasis, and said he wished to be advised if the Commonwealth was ready. John Daveiss, stepping inside the bar,
said he believed he would not apply for a continuance, although one important witness had not yet arrived; that he might come during the progress of the trial, and he reserved the privilege of
taking his testimony. "What say you, Mr. Smothers?" said his honor. The shrill voice of Jo Daveiss answered, "We are ready for the defense."

John Daveiss, recognizing the voice of his brother, embraced him affectionately, and having introduced him to Broadnax and the bar, proceeded to impanel a jury. The evidence in the main was
in accordance with the fact already stated. Jo Daveiss made no labored effort at cross-examination, but permitted the witnesses to make their statements in their own way, sometimes putting a single
question to elicit an explanation. When the attorney announced that the testimony was closed in behalf of the Commonwealth, Jo Daveiss exchanged a few words with Smothers, and then rose
and said, that his client, from motions of delicacy, had positively refused to introduce his sister, who was the only witness that could state anything material to the defense; that the prosecuting attorney
might proceed with his argument to the jury. By the feeling manner in which he made this simple statement, he seemed already to have gained the vantage ground. But John Daveiss
was a man of no ordinary ability, and knowing that he had to cope with one of the greatest advocates of this country or the world, he put forth his full strength in his opening speech, endeavoring to
forestall the impression which had always attended the powerful efforts of his brother. The evidence was arranged in a masterful manner, and he closed by a spirited and strong appeal to the jury
to discharge their sworn duties honestly and faithfully, exhorting them to disregard alike the fame and passion of the orator who was to follow him, and assuring them that whilst the wicked might rejoice
at acquittal, all good men would say amen to the condemnation and execution of a marauder, an outlaw, an assassin and a murderer.

That wonderfully eloquent and strangely eccentric man, Jo Daveiss, then rose to address the jury. It was his ambition to do everything after a fashion that nobody else in the world ever had
attempted. He was never known to ride to a courthouse, but made his circuit on foot, whilst a negro boy accompanied him on horseback, carrying his papers and clothing in a pair of saddlebags.
His manner, his style, his tactics at the bar, were all his own, and they all lie buried with their master in the field of Tippecanoe. No fragment of a speech of his remains today; and from
the erring and fading memories of men we derive our only ideas of the inspiration that moved upon the feelings and swayed the passions, until he could drive his triumphal car over any obstacle
that might oppose his onward course. Tradition furnishes only a dim outline of his speech in defense of Smothers, which was probably the greatest forensic effort of his life. It was made for a friend,
without hope of reward, and the whole power of mind, body and soul were poured forth in his cause.

He commenced as if he had a fee to assist in the prosecution. He reiterated the strong points in the attorney's Speech, and offered
additional arguments in favor of conviction. Thee friends of the accused began to whisper that he was a snake in the grass, and
that he had come to help his brother, and the eyes of Smothers
were raised in calm surprise the face of his counsel. But Daveiss went on urging that an acquittal, under all the circumstances, would
be a monstrous outrage upon law and justice, and insisting that the jury ought, without hesitation, to hang the criminal. Adopting
all the epithets which had been so liberally bestowed, he called upon them to hang the marauder, hang the outlaw, hang the assassin,
hang the murderer. Proof or no proof, let the hangman proceed on his mission of strangulation.

That such, in effect, was the common reasoning of prosecuting attorneys, and lie had been repeating in substance what had fallen
from the gentleman who preceded him; but the law was established upon principles precisely of an opposite character. He
dwelt upon the tenderness and mercy of the law, and the safeguard it threw around the life and liberty of the citizen. That malice,
premeditated malice, was an essential ingredient in making out a case of murder, and without it there was no murder. That if the
killing was in sudden heat, it was manslaughter; and if the blow was given in self-defense, or in defense of family and home, then it
became a virtue, and was no crime at all.

Without a note he reviewed the evidence from beginning to end, calling the names of the witnesses as he went, and contended that the Commonwealth had tailed to prove that his client had slain the
deceased. That he was found dead in the house of the prisoner at the bar, but no man had seen the prisoner inflict the wound. That circumstances, however conclusive they might appear, were
frequently deceptive. He read a case in the English Reports where an innocent man had been executed upon circumstantial evidence even stronger than that before the jury, and took the position
that the unscrupulous and vindictive prosecutor was guilty of murder, and that the twelve jurors were his aiders and abetters, because they did not require that positive and undeniable proof
which leaves no room for a reasonable doubt. That if, in truth, it was the hand of Smothers that directed the blade, the facts in the case warranted the conclusion that the other was the aggressor.
That the prisoner was a man of sense and a man of prudence, and never would have sought an encounter with a giant, whose physical force was so great that he had never found an equal; and who
had a host of thirty comrades who would have rushed to his call and staked their lives in the quarrel. That the deceased was the aggressor in the beginning, and it was a fair inference that he so
continued to the end. That unbidden he had invaded the precincts of the prisoner's home, and in return for civility and hospitality, had offered insult and injury. That his foul, false tongue had
aimed to fix the seal of infamy upon the spotless tablet of a maiden sister's fame. That when his companions, impelled by repentance and remorse, had left the house, he lingered upon the spot. That
if Smothers had slain him, he slew him in the holy cause of religion and of virtue, and that the King of Heaven had strengthened the arm that drove the pointed steel to his heart.

He paid an eloquent and glowing tribute to the brave pioneers, who, by their toil, sweat and blood, had won the great valley ot the Mississippi from the Indians, and consecrated it to agriculture,
to commerce and to the arts. He denounced in terms of the bitterest indignation the deep ingratitude of the Government which suffered them to languish and die in poverty and neglect, whilst all its
favors and patronage were lavished upon fawning sycophants and cringing parasites and flatterers, who knelt and worshiped at the footstool of power. That a golden crown had been tendered to
Julius Caesar for his victories in Gaul, and for the addition of that province to the Roman territory. That these men had conquered an empire thrice as great and thrice as fertile as Gaul; and neither the
charity, nor the bounty, nor the justice of the Government had ever induced it to bestow upon one of them so much as an iron skillet. That a representative of that Government was here today appealing
to a jury of the country for the blood of one of the bravest, because he had stood upon the threshold of his rude hut, which was his castle in the eyes of the law, and had defended his family
against the licentious and wanton insults of a blackguard and ruffian. Were he in place of his client he would leave his Government, and seek "some boundless contiguity of shade, where the
rumor of oppression and of wrong might never reach him more."

That if Smothers had to die, it was meet and appropriate that he should die at Hartford. Hartford had been the theater of his valor, and Hartford should be the scene of his execution. That
he came with the party that erected the first fortification; that his hand dug the ditch and planted the palisade; and when the Indians besieged and fired upon you from stump, bush and tree, whose
aim was deadliest and whose rifle rang clearest in your defense? And when they were defeated and turned their backs in retreat, who was fleet-footed enough to lead the van in the pursuit? Who hovered
around them like a destroying spirit until he had died the waters of your rivers in their blood? Who trailed them to their homes beyond the prairies, and restored your stolen property without ever receiving
one cent in compensation? That whatever falsehoods may have been invented and circulated against his client, the forked tongue of slander itself had never charged that his soul had
been stained by the sin of avarice. That with ample opportunities of securing an immense landed estate, there was not a foot upon the earth that he could call his own. That while others had enriched
themselves by speculation, peculation, violence and fraud, the poverty of Smothers was a vindication of the sterling integrity of the man. That his public service needed no rehearsal. That
Isaac Shelby, in a conversation, had endorsed the heroic conduct of the "boy Bill Smothers" at King's Mountain. That he carried in his pocket an honorable discharge from General Green, after
the great battle of Eutaw. That after he came to the West, the hills and valleys and the rivers had witnessed activity that never tired, eyes that never slept, and courage that never flinched in the
hour of danger. That if they met the demands of the Governmcnt official by the sacrifice of the life of the prisoner, let the martyrdom occur on the mound on which we stand; let the last glance of
the departing soldier rest upon the scene where in the vigor of manhood he strove to give peace and security to your homes and firesides; and as his slender form swings in the air, take a long and
a last look at the truest and boldest man that ever raised an arm in your defense.

===The Verdict===
In his charge to the jury, Judge Broadnax himself approved the able lawyer and the upright man. Forgetting the many annoyances of Smothers, he exhorted the jury to look in mercy upon
the prisoner, and to give him the benefit of every reasonable doubt. The jury, after a retirement of ten minutes, brought in a verdict of "not guilty."

==Life After the Trial==
Smothers invited his counsel to go home with him, and Daveiss accepted the invitation. He was so well pleased with the country around Yellow Banks that he settled the place afterward owned by James Rudd, and planted the orchard which stands upon the slope of a hill. His brother, John Daveiss, not long afterward commenced opening the farm upon which the Crutchers subsequently resided, and now owned by Mr. Lostetter, and lived there for many years.

The speech of Jo Daveiss opened to the mind of Smothers a new field of thought and a new object of enmity. All his private and personal animosities were forgotten in the disgust and indignation
which he felt toward his Government. Hitherto he had regarded bear-hunting and Indian-fighting as the greatest pleasures of his existence; but he now reflected that he had expended the
flower of his youth and the strength of his manhood in destroying wild beasts and savages, that he might increase the power and resources of a Government which had sought his life; and that that
Government, with means beyond his power of computation, had failed to make the slightest provision for his wants, and would neglect him to the end. The voice of Jo Daveiss ever sounded in
his ears that he ought to seek some shade where he would be free from oppression and from wrong. Brooding in silence over such subjects, he came to the deliberate conclusion that a proper self-respect
required him to leave the territory of the United States.

When he arrived at this conviction he confided his purpose to no one, but began to make necessary preparations for his departure. He had always felt a strong partiality for Bob Tarlton and
other friends on Rough Creek, and he could not think of going without seeing them; and to make the visit as pleasant as possible he proposed a big bear-hunt. In company with Husk and Glenn,
he started with his dogs to go directly to the house of Tarlton. He found Tarlton and his friends in a grand spree. After spending a day with them, they all started on a hunt, which lasted several
days. They succeeded in killing a monstrous bear, which they quartered and took to their camp at the Falls of Rough.

===Leaving Yellow Banks===
On his return to his home, Smothers commenced making active preparations for his departure. About the first of February he went to the house of his brother James, who lived near Blackford,
to spend a night with him and bid him a last adieu. When he announced his intention, his brother, overwhelmed by the sudden shock, gave free vent to his sorrow. He considered their separation
the greatest calamity that could have befallen him. He clung to him and insisted on going with him. Bill remonstrated with him, "Jim, be a man. If I had been hung at Hartford, I should
not have drawn a sigh nor shed a tear, and I don't like to see you crying as if you were a woman or a child."

When Smothers had taken leave of his sister and embraced his brother's children, he stepped out of the door and saw his brother James leading a couple of horses from the stable, and informed him
that all hands were going to accompany him home. They remained with him several days. One day at dinner, Smothers informed his brother that he wished to start the next morning at
sunrise. Rising from the table they took an affectionate farewell. James and family returned home, and the next morning Smothers, with his three dogs, stepped into his skiff, and they were shoved off
by Husk.

===From New Orleans to Texas===
After a prosperous voyage of two weeks, Smothers landed at New Orleans. He spent one day in that city in purchasing ammunition and embarked on the next, descending the Mississippi
toward the delta. He passed through the right hand mouth of that river and entered the Gulf of Mexico; hugging the shore, he rowed along in the direction of Texas. After two or three detentions
he rowed into Galveston Bay about the first of May, and spent a month on the Island of Galveston—the only quiet month he had known for forty years. He again started on his journey
and this time landed at the mouth of Yeagna Creek, where he began to look about for a permanent home. He selected a place forty miles from the spot where he landed, a place combining more
advantages than any other in the country.

===Fifteen Years in the Wilderness===
For fifteen years, Smothers trod the wilderness alone, except an occasional meeting with an adventurer like himself who was willing to brave the dangers in order to enjoy the pleasures of the
chase; and then he made it convenient to separate as soon as possible, believing that it was safest to be alone. He was satisfied with his manner of life, but it was his destiny to return to the habits of
civilized life, and in view of his age he did not regret the change.

==His Last Years==
One of his daughters, Mrs. Berry, a woman of a kind and affectionate disposition, was devotedly attached to her father, and induced her husband to follow him to Texas, that she might at
least provide for some of his wants. The tears streamed from her eyes as she beheld his emaciated form and tottering steps. She made every effort and used every argument in her power to induce
him to make her house his home that she might care for him in his old age. But her importunate attentions wearied him, and he declared he would never go to see her again as he could have no
peace in her house. He was very fond of his grandchildren and spent a great deal of time in play with them. At last Smothers told his daughter that some friends from the Brasses had promised
to be at his house early in the fall and that no consideration would induce him to be absent on their arrival. A presentiment that she was seeing her father for the last time overwhelmed her with
sorrow at their separation. Even the fortitude of Smothers was shaken by this manifestation of filial affection.

Early in October, his friends started to take the hunt with Smothers. They hitched their horses near a spring, walked up the hill and got over the yard fence. The dogs sallied forth to resist
intrusion upon their prostrate master, but they were quieted upon hearing familiar voices. When they entered the house they saw the form of Smothers extended upon a bear skin. He wore a
white woolen cap, but his locks and his beard were whiter still. His tomahawk was belted to his side and his open palm rested gently upon the back of his gun which stood in the corner. The
active limbs were stiff and cold. The tongue that had urged on the strife was mute. The pulse that had beaten high in the van of battle had ceased to throb. The devoted friend, the implacable enemy,
the lion-hearted Smothers was no more.

The hero of the foregoing history is thus noticed by the celebrated Washington Irving in his "Experiences of Ralph Ringwood," who was Governor Duval, of Florida. The latter was
hunting in the wilds near Yellow Banks, when he saw a stranger, and the following conversation ensued: "What are you after?" cried he. "Those deer," replied I, pettishly; "but it seems as it
they never stand still." Upon that, he burst out laughing. "Where are you from?" said he. "From Richmond." "What! In Old Virginny?" "The same." "And how on earth did you get
here?" "I landed at Green River from a broad-horn." "And where are your companions?" "I have none." "What! All alone?" "Yes." " Where are you going?" "Anywhere." "And
what have you come for?" "To hunt." "Well," said he, laughingly, "you'll make a real hunter; there's no mistaking that! Have you killed anything?" "Nothing but a turkey; I can't get
within shot of a deer; they are always running." "Oh, I'll tell you the secret of that. You're always pushing forward, and starting the deer at a distance, and gaze at those
that are scampering; but you must step as slow and silent, and cautious as a cat, and keep your eyes close around you, and look from tree to tree, if you wish to get a chance at deer. But come, go
home with me. My name is Bill Smothers; I live not far off; stay with me a little while and I'll teach you how to hunt." I gladly accepted the invitation of honest Bill Smothers. "We
soon reached his habitation, a mere log hut, with a square hole for a window, and a chimney made of sticks and clay. Here he lived with a wife and child. He had "girdled" the trees for an
acre or two around, preparatory to clearing a space for corn and potatoes. In the meantime, he maintained his family entirely by his rifle, and I soon found him to be a first-rate huntsman. Under
his tutelage, I received my first effective lessons in "woodcraft."

After I had passed ten or twelve days with Bill Smothers, I thought
it time to shift my quarters, for his home was scarce large enough
for his own family, and I had no idea of being an encumbrance to
any one. I accordingly made up my bundle, shouldered my rifle,
took a friendly leave of Smothers and his wife, and set out in
quest of a Nimrod of the wilderness, one John Miller, who lived
alone, nearly forty miles off, and who I hoped, would be well
pleased to have a hunting companion.

{{1883}}

[[Category:People]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smeathers, William}}

William Smeathers

2016-10-12T19:16:30Z

Jsims: /* The Verdict */ changed 'inmates' to 'minutes'

'''William "Bill" Smeathers''' (c. 1767 – August 13, 1837), also known as '''Smithers''' or '''Smothers''', was a pioneer settler of Kentucky and later Texas.

==Early Life==
The name of this remarkable pioneer has been variously spelled and pronounced, as Smeather, Smeathers, Smither, Smithers, Smothers, etc., but Smither was probably correct; and "Bill" is
supposed, of course, to stand for William. The above is the name by which he was familiarly called. He was born on the western frontier of Virginia, near the Holston River. His father was a
hunter, and frequently took his son with him to assist in bringing home the game. One morning he started at daylight, telling his wife that he would take a little round and be back to breakfast.
As he did not return, a search was made for him. His body was found about two miles from home, nearly devoured by the wild beasts; but the narrow blade of an Indian tomahawk had been
driven deep into his brain. His wife was so deeply affected by his death that she lived only nine days, and was placed in death where she had been in life—close by the side of her husband. William
was so upset that he did not close his eyes in sleep during the night that followed her burial. Before day he went out, and standing by their graves, boy as he was, he raised his hand to
Heaven and swore that he would devote his life to the destruction of the Indian race. And well did he keep that vow, for he never saw an Indian that he did not shoot at, and he very seldom missed his aim.
He felt very conscientious about killing a squaw, and rejoiced that it was never his misfortune to meet with one.

William was twelve years old at the time of his parents' death. There were also two other children: James, aged nine, and Mollie, aged seven. One of the neighbors, a new-comer, having no place
of his own, proposed to take care of these orphan children for the rent of the farm. This was agreed upon and he moved in. During that same year, William went to live with an uncle in Virginia,
who agreed to give him a good education, and $100 in money when he became of age. This uncle, whose name was Chrisman, was a man who worshiped the rich and scorned the poor. He was so cruel and
overbearing to his orphan nephew that the latter ran away from him in a few years. He wandered through the country, stopping wherever he could find anything to do, but found his stock of money was growing less and less every
day. He was in a little town called Taylorville, near the Catawba River, when Colonel Shelby came through beating up for volunteers, and William joined him because he knew not what else to do.
At that time the British had a military post on King's Mountain, so named from the fact that it stands alone, overlooking the country on all sides. It was at this point that the battle of King's Mountain
was fought between the British and Colonel Shelby's men. The latter were successful, having killed Ferguson and a great many of his men, captured 1,000 prisoners, 2,000 muskets, and all their
military stores, and lost very few of their own men.

After his discharge, William again wandered around the country until the following spring, when he was taken by a squad of men belonging to General Green's command, who had been sent out to
press teamsters to drive the wagons. Although Smeathers was exempt from the duties of teamster, he was detained until after the battle of Guilford Court-House was fought, and was then discharged.
After this he could find no employment and concluded to return to James River and visit his uncle and friends in that vicinity. But his uncle forgot to give him the $100, although
he was twenty-one and had a very good education. He bade him good-bye, and started for his native town to visit his brother and sister. He found them still living with the man who
had taken the farm. This man had a daughter whom Smothers courted one Sunday evening, and married the next Thursday. He was very anxious to proceed immediately to Kentucky, but his
wife and sister insisted that the snow and ice on the mountains would endanger their lives; so the move was postponed until spring.

==Arrival in Kentucky==
On his arrival in Kentucky, he found the region around Lexington more densely settled than the country he had left on the Holston. He had come to fight the Indians, and did not feel like taking
wages as a hand on a farm. He met a party who were coming down to fortify in the Green River country, and joined them at once. They built a fort at Hartford, on Rough Creek. When
they were besieged they found that the Indians generally came from lower Kentucky, wading Green River at the falls. They established a fort there and called it Vienna. At first, of course, it
was only a fort; afterward a town was laid out there and it was named Vienna. It is now called Calhoun. The father of William and Thomas Downs, a Baptist preacher, was the last man killed by the
Indians here, which was between 1790-92, within a few hundred yards of the fort. The section of the country about Vienna was settled up fully ten years before Bill Smeathers came to Owensboro; the Indians
seldom came in great force afterward, and they soon scattered. Mrs. Smothers lived only a few years after moving to Kentucky, and died, leaving two daughters and one son. Miss Mollie Smothers remained with her brother many years.

==Settling at Yellow Banks==
Smeathers, not liking the dense settlements around Hartford and Vienna, came to the Yellow Banks and built a cabin on the banks of the Ohio. This was about the beginning of the present century.
The cabin was of round logs and had two doors; from one he had a view of the Ohio, and from the other he looked into his garden. On the lower side of the house there was a shed-room,
which was made by extending the main roof, being enclosed by slabs of timber planted in the ground. About four feet of a single log was cut out to make a passway into the room. In it he deposited
his peltries and groceries, and when he entertained a large company, which was frequently the case, it was converted into a bed-chamber, more agreeable in cold than warm weather, owing to
the abundance of deer and bear skins and buffalo robes which were kept there.

Nature had been liberal in her gifts to Smeathers. In personal courage he was inferior to no man, and he was endowed with a good understanding. The operations of his mind were quick, and
there was a sprightliness and point in his conceptions which never failed to interest the listener. In conversation, he rarely descended to vulgarity, and never affected the coarse manner or rude speech
of the ruffian. His voice, like his mind, was clear and distinct; and if he had received a thorough education he would have been a shining light in the land. But his love of fun was his controlling
passion, and led him into many improprieties and may have clouded his memory with crime. In person, he was five feet eleven inches high; his hair and beard were dark brown; his eyes were prominent
and a clear, deep blue ; his complexion was fair; and the expression of his countenance was playful and intelligent. Whatever he did seemed to be performed deliberately. He spoke the truth,
except when he was planning some mischief, and then his fertile imagination readily invented whatever was necessary to the success of his scheme. On these occasions he could invent the most
marvelous and miraculous lies, giving all the particulars and attendant circumstances. Incredulity itself would be silenced by his earnestness of tone and his minuteness of detail.

Smothers was delighted with his new home at the Yellow Banks. He was in search of a good hunting-ground for himself, and good range for his horse and cow; and in these respects his situation
could not have been improved. From Panther Creek to the Ohio River, and from Green River to Blackford, he was the only inhabitant. He roamed the forest alone and slaughtered the game
at pleasure. The necessaries and even the luxuries of life were furnished to him at his very door. The barges, as they were slowly cordelled by their armed crews, would stop and give him salt,
flour and groceries, in exchange for dried venison, bear-meat and buffalo robes. No man below the falls could furnish so sumptuous a meal, and no man ever entertained with more genuine hospitality.
The visitors had a general partiality for "old rye" and "flour bread," as these articles were unknown in the interior. At the conclusion of one of his repasts, a man called "Leather-legs"
wiped his mouth on the skirt of his hunting shirt, and remarked: "Smothers, I believe I will pull up stakes where I am, and come down here." This observation cast a shade over the countenance
of Smeathers, but he quickly replied, assuring his friend that the unhealthfulness of the climate would greatly endanger his life; "and besides," said Smothers, "I intend paying you a visit on
Pond River, and taking a long tramp in the hills; I like to hunt in the hills; the water is so much better than it is in the bottoms, and then you are clear of the black gnats, mosquitoes and gallinippers
that swarm in these flats." "Stop, Smeathers," said Leather-legs, "you are taking a great deal of pains to tell me that you don't want me here. I won't come; if I break up I will go to the
mouth of the Wolf, or to the Red Banks." "Well, then," said Smeathers, "we will be neighbors, and I will call and see you at either point."

==Reaction to Additional Settlement==
The remark of Leather-legs made a deep impression upon the mind of Smeathers. It proved to him that others were at least thinking of intruding themselves into the small boundaries
which he had assigned to himself; that the 150,000 acres of land which he had enjoyed as a hunting-ground would be occupied by other men; that settlements would be made, farms opened, and
the game driven away or destroyed, and that he would be left in his old age without the means of support, in the country from which he had expelled the Indians. He did not spend his time in
gloomy despondency, but, like a true man, resolved to make every effort to avert the awful train of calamities which he saw at no great distance before him. A surveyor's chain he regarded with
particular abhorrence, and, if opportunity presented, he would place it where it would never be stretched again; corner trees, he thought, ought not to stand, as they would be the starting points for subdivision.
It will not be stated that he ever cut one, but many were missing. He determined also that his house should present fewer attractions. His table, instead of luxuries, was supplied with
the simplest and coarsest fare of the hunter. He almost deserted his home, wandering weeks and months together in the woods. He hunted deer and bear on this side of the river, killing as many as
he wished, and twice a year he took an Indian hunt on the other side, where he was equally as successful. Sleepless days and nights would be spent to get a shot; and at every crack of his rifle an
Indian fell.

The melancholy and dreadful news, against which he would have gladly closed his ears, at last saluted Smeathers, that at least twenty families had arrived upon his territory, and were then preparing
to build houses and open plantations. The surveyor with his compass and chain was making new lines; the axe was busily plied in felling his trees; and the wedge lustily driven was riving his oaks.
His lines had been broken and he was surrounded. In anguish and bitterness of spirit he contemplated his situation, and no ray of light broke through the dark cloud which enveloped him. At
first he had almost resolved upon a hostile demonstration, but the number of the emigrants and the respectability of a portion of them, convinced him of the absolute folly and madness of such a course.
Like all brave men, when fairly driven to the wall, he made up his mind to meet his fate with fortitude, and, making a virtue of necessity, he determined to cultivate the good opinion of the new
comers by a friendly visit to them. Near Blackford he called upon Ely and Natty Bell. At the house of the latter he was agreeably surprised to find his brother James, who was laying siege to
Bell's sister-in-law; she capitulated shortly afterward and they were married. In his circuit he saw Barker and Killenbarger, Holmark and Holinhead, Jones and Jordan, Glenn and Gentry,
and on his return home he heard the axe of Felty Husk, who was cutting logs to build a house near the residence of Thomas H. Painter. Husk and Smothers afterward contracted a friendship which
closed only with their lives.

==Charged with Murder==
Until this point, there had been no legal tribunals in this section, and might had generally constituted right. But Anthony Thompson was commissioned and qualified as a Justice of the Peace for Nelson
County. He lived a few miles to the west of Vienna, and his district was about as large as six of our present counties. Thompson had a clear head, an iron will, and the kindliest feelings toward
the whole human family. The uneasiness which Smeathers experienced at the appointment of a magistrate in such close proximity to himself gradually faded away. Five years of impunity
convinced him that Squire Thompson was his friend; and although he had never seen him, he began to like the man, but rather preferred that Panther Creek should still continue to run between
them. One day Thompson called upon Smeathers and they were so well pleased with one another that they became great friends. One sultry evening as the last rays of the setting sun were playing
upon a bank of cloud, fringing its outline in purple and gold, Smeathers and his sister sat upon the doorsteps enjoying the cool air, and silently enjoying the splendors of the scene. Unnoticed by
them, a keelboat had made fast at the landing, and several of the men were already in the yard. The foremost, a man by the name of Norris, was of Herculean proportions, and it was the boast of the
crew that hee had never met a match in a fisticuff from Louisville to New Orleans. Miss Mollie left the side of her brother and entered the house. When they approached, Smeathers arose from
his seat and invited them to walk in. They indulged themselves in such freedom of remark that Miss Mollie concluded she could not remain with propriety and ran to the house of Felty Husk.
Smeathers, who had not observed the absence of his sister, remonstrated with them in mild but very decided terms upon their unbecoming and unworthy behavior. The firmness of his manner,
and the truth of what he said, made an impression upon the boatmen. Six of the number upon leaving the house called to Norris to come and go to the boat. He told them to go on and that he
would be along directly, but he never went. In the dim twilight Smothers saw ten or twelve of the crew ascending the bank in a line to his house. Retreating by the back door, he concealed himself
in a bed of strawberries which grew in his garden. When they entered and beheld the lifeless body of their comrade and friend extended upon the floor, with the warm blood still trickling
from two ghastly wounds, their rage and indignation knew no bounds. They threatened to hunt for Smeathers until they found
him, and to slay him at sight. Perceiving that they were searching and ransacking the house, and expecting them in the garden, he left his hiding place and spent the night in the woods. At daylight
the next morning he knocked at the door of Ben Duncan, Esq., who lived on Pup Creek, ten miles above Yellow Banks. He informed 'Squire Duncan of the nature of the charges which
had been made against him on the night previous and demanded a judicial investigation. 'Squire Duncan summoned the boatmen as witnesses and opened his Court of Inquiry. In answer to the summons,
the crew came in a body to the house of the justice. Many of them were armed, and declared it to be their intention to seize the prisoner and hang him to a tree. But the friends of Smeathers
were there, and no man had more friends or truer friends than he had. They told the boatmen if they opened the ball in blood that the sun of that day would shine on many a corpse; that Smeathers
had surrendered himself to the officers of the law and was a prisoner; that they could give their evidence if they had any, but if a hand was raised in violence they would resist it to the death. As
they were prepared to make their words good the examination went on smoothly and quietly. The court decided that the offense was available, and required Smeathers to give bond and security for
his appearance on the first day of the next term of the Ohio (now Daviess) Circuit Court. The bond was immediately filled by the prisoner and a number of securities, and after recognizing the witnesses
the court adjourned. Smeathers, with six of his chosen friends, returned to his home. The boat was still at the landing, but the war was not renewed.

==The Trial==
Smeathers was much perplexed in mind upon the subject of employing good counsel to argue his case before the Circuit Court.
For all minor offenses he had appeared in his own behalf, and had been uniformly successful; but in a case which involved the question of his life or death, he was unwilling to trust himself. But he was
poor, and lawyers' fees were high, and he knew not well what to do. His anxieties about the matter were happily relieved. The great advocate, Joseph H. Daveiss, knew Smeathers well, and admired him greatly
for that indomitable courage which never had been known to quail in the presence of danger. He heard, at Frankfort, of the affair, and sent Smeathers a message which was characteristic of the man:
"Don't ruin yourself hiring lawyers. I will be with you on the day of the trial." Smothers knew his man, and relied upon the promise with implicit confidence. The fame of Jo Daveiss as an orator and
the wide-spread acquaintance of the accused brought a concourse to court, such as had never been seen in Hartford before. The keelboatmen from Louisville were there, and strangers from a
circuit of 100 miles were in attendance, curious to see Bill Smeathers, and anxious to hear Jo Daveiss. The trial itself was likely to be one of surpassing interest and remarkable singularity.
Only two lawyers would appear, and they were brothers. As soon as the sheriff had made proclamation that the "court was open," Smeathers tendered himself in discharge of his bond, and took a
seat within the bar. [[John Daveiss]], the Prosecuting Attorney for the district, was much interrupted in his duties during the day by repeated questions concerning his brother: "Where is he?"
"When do you think he'll be here?" " Maybe he will not come at all." And a variety of inquiries and speculations saluted him wherever he went. On Monday night, Jo Daveiss stayed at the house
of Stephen Stateler, four miles from Hartford, and on Tuesday morning he and Stateler walked into town. Court was already in session, and was devoting the usual hour to motions. Stateler and
Daveiss sat upon a bench in a remote corner, engaged in conversation. Stateler was much the taller man of the two, but they were dressed alike in blue jeans, and to all appearances were a
couple of sensible farmers. Stateler had no idea that he was talking to Jo Daveiss, but still he was strangely fascinated by his company. When Judge Broadnax had disposed of the motions, he opened
the docket and called the case of the Commonwealth ''versus'' William Smither, ''alias'' Bill Smothers. John Daveiss was up stairs with the Grand Jury, and of course made no response to the call. Stateler's
companion left him and took a seat by the side of his client. Smothers, who was not in the least surprised at the course of his lawyer, shook him warmly by the hand. Broadnax becoming impatient
directed the sheriff to summon the attorney for the Commonwealth. John Daveiss walked down stairway, and with his papers in his hand stepped in the doorway where he had a
short conference with his witnesses. Broadnax repeated the call of the case with emphasis, and said he wished to be advised if the Commonwealth was ready. John Daveiss, stepping inside the bar,
said he believed he would not apply for a continuance, although one important witness had not yet arrived; that he might come during the progress of the trial, and he reserved the privilege of
taking his testimony. "What say you, Mr. Smothers?" said his honor. The shrill voice of Jo Daveiss answered, "We are ready for the defense."

John Daveiss, recognizing the voice of his brother, embraced him affectionately, and having introduced him to Broadnax and the bar, proceeded to impanel a jury. The evidence in the main was
in accordance with the fact already stated. Jo Daveiss made no labored effort at cross-examination, but permitted the witnesses to make their statements in their own way, sometimes putting a single
question to elicit an explanation. When the attorney announced that the testimony was closed in behalf of the Commonwealth, Jo Daveiss exchanged a few words with Smothers, and then rose
and said, that his client, from motions of delicacy, had positively refused to introduce his sister, who was the only witness that could state anything material to the defense; that the prosecuting attorney
might proceed with his argument to the jury. By the feeling manner in which he made this simple statement, he seemed already to have gained the vantage ground. But John Daveiss
was a man of no ordinary ability, and knowing that he had to cope with one of the greatest advocates of this country or the world, he put forth his full strength in his opening speech, endeavoring to
forestall the impression which had always attended the powerful efforts of his brother. The evidence was arranged in a masterful manner, and he closed by a spirited and strong appeal to the jury
to discharge their sworn duties honestly and faithfully, exhorting them to disregard alike the fame and passion of the orator who was to follow him, and assuring them that whilst the wicked might rejoice
at acquittal, all good men would say amen to the condemnation and execution of a marauder, an outlaw, an assassin and a murderer.

That wonderfully eloquent and strangely eccentric man, Jo Daveiss, then rose to address the jury. It was his ambition to do everything after a fashion that nobody else in the world ever had
attempted. He was never known to ride to a courthouse, but made his circuit on foot, whilst a negro boy accompanied him on horseback, carrying his papers and clothing in a pair of saddlebags.
His manner, his style, his tactics at the bar, were all his own, and they all lie buried with their master in the field of Tippecanoe. No fragment of a speech of his remains today; and from
the erring and fading memories of men we derive our only ideas of the inspiration that moved upon the feelings and swayed the passions, until he could drive his triumphal car over any obstacle
that might oppose his onward course. Tradition furnishes only a dim outline of his speech in defense of Smothers, which was probably the greatest forensic effort of his life. It was made for a friend,
without hope of reward, and the whole power of mind, body and soul were poured forth in his cause.

He commenced as if he had a fee to assist in the prosecution. He reiterated the strong points in the attorney's Speech, and offered
additional arguments in favor of conviction. Thee friends of the accused began to whisper that he was a snake in the grass, and
that he had come to help his brother, and the eyes of Smothers
were raised in calm surprise the face of his counsel. But Daveiss went on urging that an acquittal, under all the circumstances, would
be a monstrous outrage upon law and justice, and insisting that the jury ought, without hesitation, to hang the criminal. Adopting
all the epithets which had been so liberally bestowed, he called upon them to hang the marauder, hang the outlaw, hang the assassin,
hang the murderer. Proof or no proof, let the hangman proceed on his mission of strangulation.

That such, in effect, was the common reasoning of prosecuting attorneys, and lie had been repeating in substance what had fallen
from the gentleman who preceded him; but the law was established upon principles precisely of an opposite character. He
dwelt upon the tenderness and mercy of the law, and the safeguard it threw around the life and liberty of the citizen. That malice,
premeditated malice, was an essential ingredient in making out a case of murder, and without it there was no murder. That if the
killing was in sudden heat, it was manslaughter; and if the blow was given in self-defense, or in defense of family and home, then it
became a virtue, and was no crime at all.

Without a note he reviewed the evidence from beginning to end, calling the names of the witnesses as he went, and contended that the Commonwealth had tailed to prove that his client had slain the
deceased. That he was found dead in the house of the prisoner at the bar, but no man had seen the prisoner inflict the wound. That circumstances, however conclusive they might appear, were
frequently deceptive. He read a case in the English Reports where an innocent man had been executed upon circumstantial evidence even stronger than that before the jury, and took the position
that the unscrupulous and vindictive prosecutor was guilty of murder, and that the twelve jurors were his aiders and abetters, because they did not require that positive and undeniable proof
which leaves no room for a reasonable doubt. That if, in truth, it was the hand of Smothers that directed the blade, the facts in the case warranted the conclusion that the other was the aggressor.
That the prisoner was a man of sense and a man of prudence, and never would have sought an encounter with a giant, whose physical force was so great that he had never found an equal; and who
had a host of thirty comrades who would have rushed to his call and staked their lives in the quarrel. That the deceased was the aggressor in the beginning, and it was a fair inference that he so
continued to the end. That unbidden he had invaded the precincts of the prisoner's home, and in return for civility and hospitality, had offered insult and injury. That his foul, false tongue had
aimed to fix the seal of infamy upon the spotless tablet of a maiden sister's fame. That when his companions, impelled by repentance and remorse, had left the house, he lingered upon the spot. That
if Smothers had slain him, he slew him in the holy cause of religion and of virtue, and that the King of Heaven had strengthened the arm that drove the pointed steel to his heart.

He paid an eloquent and glowing tribute to the brave pioneers, who, by their toil, sweat and blood, had won the great valley ot the Mississippi from the Indians, and consecrated it to agriculture,
to commerce and to the arts. He denounced in terms of the bitterest indignation the deep ingratitude of the Government which suffered them to languish and die in poverty and neglect, whilst all its
favors and patronage were lavished upon fawning sycophants and cringing parasites and flatterers, who knelt and worshiped at the footstool of power. That a golden crown had been tendered to
Julius Caesar for his victories in Gaul, and for the addition of that province to the Roman territory. That these men had conquered an empire thrice as great and thrice as fertile as Gaul; and neither the
charity, nor the bounty, nor the justice of the Government had ever induced it to bestow upon one of them so much as an iron skillet. That a representative of that Government was here today appealing
to a jury of the country for the blood of one of the bravest, because he had stood upon the threshold of his rude hut, which was his castle in the eyes of the law, and had defended his family
against the licentious and wanton insults of a blackguard and ruffian. Were he in place of his client he would leave his Government, and seek "some boundless contiguity of shade, where the
rumor of oppression and of wrong might never reach him more."

That if Smothers had to die, it was meet and appropriate that he should die at Hartford. Hartford had been the theater of his valor, and Hartford should be the scene of his execution. That
he came with the party that erected the first fortification; that his hand dug the ditch and planted the palisade; and when the Indians besieged and fired upon you from stump, bush and tree, whose
aim was deadliest and whose rifle rang clearest in your defense? And when they were defeated and turned their backs in retreat, who was fleet-footed enough to lead the van in the pursuit? Who hovered
around them like a destroying spirit until he had died the waters of your rivers in their blood? Who trailed them to their homes beyond the prairies, and restored your stolen property without ever receiving
one cent in compensation? That whatever falsehoods may have been invented and circulated against his client, the forked tongue of slander itself had never charged that his soul had
been stained by the sin of avarice. That with ample opportunities of securing an immense landed estate, there was not a foot upon the earth that he could call his own. That while others had enriched
themselves by speculation, peculation, violence and fraud, the poverty of Smothers was a vindication of the sterling integrity of the man. That his public service needed no rehearsal. That
Isaac Shelby, in a conversation, had endorsed the heroic conduct of the "boy Bill Smothers" at King's Mountain. That he carried in his pocket an honorable discharge from General Green, after
the great battle of Eutaw. That after he came to the West, the hills and valleys and the rivers had witnessed activity that never tired, eyes that never slept, and courage that never flinched in the
hour of danger. That if they met the demands of the Governmcnt official by the sacrifice of the life of the prisoner, let the martyrdom occur on the mound on which we stand; let the last glance of
the departing soldier rest upon the scene where in the vigor of manhood he strove to give peace and security to your homes and firesides; and as his slender form swings in the air, take a long and
a last look at the truest and boldest man that ever raised an arm in your defense.

===The Verdict===
In his charge to the jury, Judge Broadnax himself approved the able lawyer and the upright man. Forgetting the many annoyances of Smothers, he exhorted the jury to look in mercy upon
the prisoner, and to give him the benefit of every reasonable doubt. The jury, after a retirement of ten minutes, brought in a verdict of "not guilty."

==Life After the Trial==
Smothers invited his counsel to go home with him, and Daveiss accepted the invitation. He was so well pleased with the country around Yellow Banks that he settled the place afterward owned by James Rudd, and planted the orchard which stands upon the slope of a hill. His brother, John Daveiss, not long afterward commenced opening the farm upon which the Crutchers subsequently resided, and now owned by Mr. Lostetter, and lived there for many years.

The speech of Jo Daveiss opened to the mind of Smothers a new field of thought and a new object of enmity. All his private and personal animosities were forgotten in the disgust and indignation
which he felt toward his Government. Hitherto he had regarded bear-hunting and Indian-fighting as the greatest pleasures of his existence; but he now reflected that he had expended the
flower of his youth and the strength of his manhood in destroying wild beasts and savages, that he might increase the power and resources of a Government which had sought his life; and that that
Government, with means beyond his power of computation, had failed to make the slightest provision for his wants, and would neglect him to the end. The voice of Jo Daveiss ever sounded in
his ears that he ought to seek some shade where he would be free from oppression and from wrong. Brooding in silence over such subjects, he came to the deliberate conclusion that a proper self-respect
required him to leave the territory of the United States.

When he arrived at this conviction he confided his purpose to no one, but began to make necessary preparations for his departure. He had always felt a strong partiality for Bob Tarlton and
other friends on Rough Greek, and he could not think of going without seeing them; and to make the visit as pleasant as possible he proposed a big bear-hunt. In company with Husk and Glenn,
he started with his dogs to go directly to the house of Tarlton. He found Tarlton and his friends in a grand spree. After spendinga day with them, they all started on a hunt, which lasted several
days. They succeeded in killing a monstrous bear, which they quartered and took to their camp at the Falls of Rough.

===Leaving Yellow Banks===
On his return to his home, Smothers commenced making active preparations for his departure. About the first of February he went to the house of his brother James, who lived near Blackford,
to spend a night with him and bid him a last adieu. When he announced his intention, his brother, overwhelmed by the sudden shock, gave free vent to his sorrow. He considered their separation
the greatest calamity that could have befallen him. He clung to him and insisted on going with him. Bill remonstrated with him, "Jim, be a man. If I had been hung at Hartford, I should
not have drawn a sigh nor shed a tear, and I don't like to see you crying as if you were a woman or a child."

When Smothers had taken leave of his sister and embraced his brother's children, he stepped out of the door and saw his brother James leading a couple of horses from the stable, and informed him
that all hands were going to accompany him home. They remained with him several days. One day at dinner, Smothers informed his brother that he wished to start the next morning at
sunrise. Rising from the table they took an affectionate farewell. James and family returned home, and the next morning Smothers, with his three dogs, stepped into his skiff, and they were shoved off
by Husk.

===From New Orleans to Texas===
After a prosperous voyage of two weeks, Smothers landed at New Orleans. He spent one day in that city in purchasing ammunition and embarked on the next, descending the Mississippi
toward the delta. He passed through the right hand mouth of that river and entered the Gulf of Mexico; hugging the shore, he rowed along in the direction of Texas. After two or three detentions
he rowed into Galveston Bay about the first of May, and spent a month on the Island of Galveston—the only quiet month he had known for forty years. He again started on his journey
and this time landed at the mouth of Yeagna Creek, where he began to look about for a permanent home. He selected a place forty miles from the spot where he landed, a place combining more
advantages than any other in the country.

===Fifteen Years in the Wilderness===
For fifteen years, Smothers trod the wilderness alone, except an occasional meeting with an adventurer like himself who was willing to brave the dangers in order to enjoy the pleasures of the
chase; and then he made it convenient to separate as soon as possible, believing that it was safest to be alone. He was satisfied with his manner of life, but it was his destiny to return to the habits of
civilized life, and in view of his age he did not regret the change.

==His Last Years==
One of his daughters, Mrs. Berry, a woman of a kind and affectionate disposition, was devotedly attached to her father, and induced her husband to follow him to Texas, that she might at
least provide for some of his wants. The tears streamed from her eyes as she beheld his emaciated form and tottering steps. She made every effort and used every argument in her power to induce
him to make her house his home that she might care for him in his old age. But her importunate attentions wearied him, and he declared he would never go to see her again as he could have no
peace in her house. He was very fond of his grandchildren and spent a great deal of time in play with them. At last Smothers told his daughter that some friends from the Brasses had promised
to be at his house early in the fall and that no consideration would induce him to be absent on their arrival. A presentiment that she was seeing her father for the last time overwhelmed her with
sorrow at their separation. Even the fortitude of Smothers was shaken by this manifestation of filial affection.

Early in October, his friends started to take the hunt with Smothers. They hitched their horses near a spring, walked up the hill and got over the yard fence. The dogs sallied forth to resist
intrusion upon their prostrate master, but they were quieted upon hearing familiar voices. When they entered the house they saw the form of Smothers extended upon a bear skin. He wore a
white woolen cap, but his locks and his beard were whiter still. His tomahawk was belted to his side and his open palm rested gently upon the back of his gun which stood in the corner. The
active limbs were stiff and cold. The tongue that had urged on the strife was mute. The pulse that had beaten high in the van of battle had ceased to throb. The devoted friend, the implacable enemy,
the lion-hearted Smothers was no more.

The hero of the foregoing history is thus noticed by the celebrated Washington Irving in his "Experiences of Ralph Ringwood," who was Governor Duval, of Florida. The latter was
hunting in the wilds near Yellow Banks, when he saw a stranger, and the following conversation ensued: "What are you after?" cried he. "Those deer," replied I, pettishly; "but it seems as it
they never stand still." Upon that, he burst out laughing. "Where are you from?" said he. "From Richmond." "What! In Old Virginny?" "The same." "And how on earth did you get
here?" "I landed at Green River from a broad-horn." "And where are your companions?" "I have none." "What! All alone?" "Yes." " Where are you going?" "Anywhere." "And
what have you come for?" "To hunt." "Well," said he, laughingly, "you'll make a real hunter; there's no mistaking that! Have you killed anything?" "Nothing but a turkey; I can't get
within shot of a deer; they are always running." "Oh, I'll tell you the secret of that. You're always pushing forward, and starting the deer at a distance, and gaze at those
that are scampering; but you must step as slow and silent, and cautious as a cat, and keep your eyes close around you, and look from tree to tree, if you wish to get a chance at deer. But come, go
home with me. My name is Bill Smothers; I live not far off; stay with me a little while and I'll teach you how to hunt." I gladly accepted the invitation of honest Bill Smothers. "We
soon reached his habitation, a mere log hut, with a square hole for a window, and a chimney made of sticks and clay. Here he lived with a wife and child. He had "girdled" the trees for an
acre or two around, preparatory to clearing a space for corn and potatoes. In the meantime, he maintained his family entirely by his rifle, and I soon found him to be a first-rate huntsman. Under
his tutelage, I received my first effective lessons in "woodcraft."

After I had passed ten or twelve days with Bill Smothers, I thought
it time to shift my quarters, for his home was scarce large enough
for his own family, and I had no idea of being an encumbrance to
any one. I accordingly made up my bundle, shouldered my rifle,
took a friendly leave of Smothers and his wife, and set out in
quest of a Nimrod of the wilderness, one John Miller, who lived
alone, nearly forty miles off, and who I hoped, would be well
pleased to have a hunting companion.

{{1883}}

[[Category:People]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smeathers, William}}

Daviess County, Kentucky

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Jsims: Created page with "There seems good authority for the claim that the first permanent settlement in what is now Daviess County was made by the celebrated William Smeathers, otherwise known by the..."

There seems good authority for the claim that the first permanent settlement in what is now Daviess County was made by the celebrated William Smeathers, otherwise known by the more popular name of Bill Smothers. This settlement was made on the site of the present city of Owensboro.

Dr. A. O. Ayer

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#REDIRECT [[A. O. Ayer]]

A. O. Ayer

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Jsims: Jsims moved page Dr. A. O. Ayer to A. O. Ayer: Remove Title

Dr. A.O. Ayer was born in 1804; died in 1876. He was a native of Kingston, Tenn., and married Esther Durham Johnson, near Knoxville. He moved to Kentucky in 1834. The years of his Kentucky life began with the early history of Owensboro, and extended through the eventful periods of prosperous slave times, disastrous war, and decline of public and private enterprise after the war. He was one of four physicians who in the early history of this part of Kentucky practiced in the large stretch of country now embracing the counties of Ohio, Mulhenburg, McLean, Daviess and part of Henderson counties.

== Travel to Kentucky ==
He came from Kingston by water, in the latter part of the winter of 1834, thus traversing almost the full length of the Tennessee River, and a large part of the Ohio, which was obstructed to a great extent by floating ice. The trip occupied several weeks, as it was made on a boat made by unskilled hands. One boat bearing his family and slaves, and a raft with stock, household, and farm articles, brought them safe to the new country. There was no place near here where they could get the necessary conveniences of every-day life, so they brought all they could with them. The now wealthy town of Henderson, when they floated past it, was known as the landing of “Red Banks,” and the county seat of Daviess, as “Yellow Banks.” The latter landing was found to be a marshy level, with a few houses on the bank of the river. Here they disembarked, and after a survey of the surrounding country, they concluded to move further into the interior, to the hills, where there was better water, and less chills and fever.

== Life in Owensboro ==
Here, within twenty miles of Owensboro, a plantation was cleared up, and after a few years a comfortable and pleasant home was established. His farm was for years one of the places for holding Daviess County elections, under the old dispensation of three days’ voting. The different musters were held here also, and magistrate meetings. Dr. Ayer’s home was known far and near for open-hearted hospitality and free welcome to all. During the war, though his four sons were all rebels, he was conservative. He lived to see the sad effects of the war in this part of Kentucky, all around him. The spirit of thrift seemed to have departed from that part of the country, and the condemned marshy land around Yellow Banks came to be the desirable part of the country. McLean was made, and the elections changed to Calhoon, its county seat. The plantation of slavery times came to be the quiet home of an invalid man, retired from active life. He ended his days in peace with God and man, in 1876, leaving a wife and six children, four sons and two daughters.

{{1883}}

Reuben M. Barker

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Jsims:

Reuben M. Barker, born in Daviess County, Ky., Nov. 8, 1818, was a son of Samuel Barker, a native of Maryland, who came to Kentucky when a boy, first locating in Nelson County, and afterward in Daviess County. The latter was a soldier in the war of 1812, and fought the Indians under General Hopkins. He died June 23, 1851. Reuben N. was reared on a farm and attended the log-cabin subscription schools, having to walk from three and a half to five miles. He was married June 26, 1845, to Mary E. Chappell, daughter of James Chappell, an early settler of Owensboro. He came to this county in 1816, when there was not a brick chimney in Owensboro, and kept a hotel and grocery there. Mrs. Barker has a bedstead that her father made out of walnut sixty-four years ago. Their daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth B. Hall, lives on a part of the old homestead. Mr. Barker’s residence is just across the county line, in Hancock County. He is a member of the Methodist church, South. A brother, Samuel Barker, born in Nelson County, Ky., Dec. 7, 1808, was married in 1831, to Rhoda Kallam. Of his eleven children but nine are living – James G., Catherine, Melissa, Rachel J., Mary A., Francis M., Nathaniel H.L., Martin K. and Louisa T.

{{1883}}
[[Category:People]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, Reuben M.}}

John H. Barret

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Jsims:

John H. Barret, a prominent business man and capitalist of Henderson, is a son of the late John H. Barret and Susan D. Rankin.

His father, for whom he was named, was born in Louisa County, Virginia, February 4, 1818; died in Henderson in 1890. He (father) received a good education in his native county, and followed the plow and endured the hardships and performed the rough labors incident to the life of a farmer’s boy, but he was dutiful, obedient, energetic and thoughtful, and developed a sound judgment, exhibiting traits which qualified him for the higher responsibilities which he assumed later in life; and at the age of seventeen he left the parental roof in Virginia and joined his elder brother, Alexander Barret, who had gone to Henderson, Kentucky, about two years before. It was in December, 1835, that he accepted employment with his brother, who was then engaged in purchasing and stemming tobacco. He soon became a valuable assistant to his employer, and was with him about four years, when, having married Susan D. Rankin (December, 1839), he formed a co-partnership with his brother-in-law, James E. Rankin, and engaged in the sale of dry goods, which continued until 1852, when the firm dissolved by mutual consent, Mr. Barret having been tendered a partnership with his brother and former employer in the tobacco business. This business relation of the brothers continued until the death of Alexander B. Barret in 1861. The settlement of an estate of between three and four million dollars devolved upon the surviving partner as executor of his brother’s will, and this he accomplished within five years ; hundreds of legacies were paid off, accounts settled, books balanced and the estate divided without a jar, and this was considered “one of the most brilliant and successful financial and business achievements known to the business world.”

The great stemming interest was carried on in the meantime by the surviving partner, John H. Barret, who eventually associated with him his sons, John H. and James R., and his son-in-law, James F. Rankin, the firm being known as John H. Barret & Co. For sortie years prior to his death (1890), the senior member of the firm took no active part in the details of the business of his firm, except by counsel and advice.

He was a leading spirit in the promotion and construction of the Evansville, Henderson & Nashville Railroad; the city authorities placed $300,000 worth of its bonds in Mr. Barret’s hands as custodian, without security; he purchased the first locomotive for the road with his own money; was one of the organizers of the First National Bank; was mainly instrumental in establishing the woolen and cotton mills, in both of which he was a large stockholder; owned and cultivated hundreds of acres of land in Henderson County, large tracts in Hopkins and Breckinridge counties, and four thousand, eight hundred acres in Delta County, Texas, upon which he cultivated cotton and corn and was largely engaged in stock raising; had branch tobacco stemmeries in Uniontown and Owensboro; was a liberal supporter of the cause of rehgion, giving liberally to all denominations and all charitable organizations; was a Mason, but seldom attended his lodge; was no politician or office seeker, but was interested in the election of good men to office; a man of warm personal attachments and generous impulses, but not effusive, he was a good and true friend and a generous enemy. His death was a public calamity, and there was mourning in many households where his kindness had endeared him to the humble, and his exemplary life had commanded the love and respect of the whole community.

He was married December, 1839, to Susan D. Rankin, a woman of affectionate disposition, even temper, strong, good sense, active benevolence and earnest piety. Their three children, John H.,

James R. and Susan, were quite young, when their mother died in 1851. Mr. Barret was married again in 1852, to Mary Augusta Haddock of Smithland, Kentucky, and all of his four children by this marriage died in infancy. Upon the death of Mr. Barret in 1890, his sons, John H. and James R., and son-in-law, James E. Rankin, continued the business—in which they had been interested under the old firm name of John H. Barret & Co., the subject of this sketch taking the place of his father as senior member of the firm.

Peter Straghan Barret, farmer, and his wife, Matilda (Wilson) Barret (grandparents of John H. Barret, Jr.) were natives of Louisa County, Virginia. John Barret, his paternal great-grandfather, and Henry Pendleton, his maternal greatgrandfather, were born, lived and died in Virginia.

Susan D. Rankin Barret (mother) was a daughter of Dr. Adam Rankin, an eminent physician of Henderson, whose first wife was Elizabeth Speed, daughter of Captain James Speed and Mary Spencer. She was born in Virginia, February 7, 1774, came to Kentucky in 1782, and from that date until she was grown her life was spent amid the trials, dangers and privations incident to early Kentucky history. She was married to Dr. Adam Rankin, one of the pioneers of Henderson, to which place they went soon after their marriage, and his name is connected with the earliest events of that place. For many years he was prominent as a physician and public spirited citizen, and no man stood higher in the estimation of his fellow men. The distinguished naturalist, Audubon, made his home with Dr. Rankin while he was sojourning in Henderson, and these two were personal friends.

An interesting sketch of the Speed family, of which Mr. Barret is a descendant, will be found elsewhere in this work.

John H. Barret, the principal subject of this sketch, attended the Henderson schools; was prepared for college in the celebrated school of B. B. Sayre at Frankfort, and graduated from the University of Virginia at Charlottesville in 1861. From that time he was associated in business with his father until the death of the latter in 1890, when he became senior member of the firm, as before stated.

The great tobacco stemmery was established about 1830 and has grown considerably during the sixty years of its existence. The present building covers an area of 230×60 feet, is four stories high, and its average annual output is 800 hogsheads, and this, together with the product of the branch houses, goes to the markets in the United Kingdom of Great Britain.

Mr. Barret is also president of the Henderson Woolen Mills, manufacturer of Kentucky jeans and jeans pants, a stockholder and director in the Henderson Cotton Mills; director in the Henderson National Bank, and the Ohio Valley Bank and Trust Company, and has interests in other enterprises of more or less magnitude. His business relations are virtually the same as were those of his father, and his reputation as a business man and citizen is that of a worthy successor to his honored father.

Mr. Barret was married September 15, 1863, to Henrietta Offutt, a member of the distinguished family of that name of Shelby County. He has two children, Mary, wife of Dr. James W. Heddins of St. Joseph, Missouri, and Augusta, who is at home with her father, Mrs. Barret having died June 27, 1895.

'''Source:''' ''Biographical Cyclopedia of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.'' John M. Gresham Company, Chicago, Philadelphia, 1896

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barret, John H.}}
[[Category:People]]

Bernhard Baer

2016-10-11T16:05:15Z

Jsims: Added category

== Early Life and Finding a Place ==
Bernhard Baer'','' son of Isaac and Sarah (Wanberg) Baer, was born in West Prussia, Dec. 22, 1825. He was educated in his native land. When twenty years of age, having lost both his parents, he emigrated to America; landed in New Orleans, and from there went to St. Louis, where he remained a few months; then went to Paducah, and remained nine months. In July, 1847, he went to Louisville, and two years later moved to Croft Creek Springs, Ky., where he was in business till 1852; he then removed to Hopkinsville, and remained till 1861, when he came to Owensboro, and started a dry-goods store.

== Business and Settled Life ==
In 1861 he started a Dry Goods Store upon arriving in Owensboro. Dec. 16, 1865, he lost all of his stock by fire, but started again, and continued till 1868, when he was obliged to close out his store, never having recovered from the effects of the fire. In November, 1868, he started a saloon and restaurant, which he continued six years, when he sold out, and engaged in the grocery business two years. He then went into the dry-goods business again, and was successful. After two years he sold out, and has since that time been dealing extensively in ice. He was married in 1850 to Fannie Kahn, a native of Guttenberg, Germany. They have had eight children, only six now living – Isaac, Abel, Louie, Mary, Rosa, and Tilla. Sarah and Benjamin died in infancy. Mr. Baer has been a member of the City Council four terms, the last term acting as Mayor ''pro tem.'' He is a member of the Masonic fraternity, I.O.O.F., Harigari, and B’nai Brith. Politically he is a Democrat. Mr. and Mrs. Baer are both members of the Jewish Synagogue.

{{1883}}
[[Category:People]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baer, Bernhard}}

John H. Clemens

2016-10-11T16:03:47Z

Jsims: Created page with "John H. Clemens, farmer, one mile west of Knottsville, was born in Spencer County, Ky., July 31, 1828, and is a son of Charles O. Clements (deceased)..."

John H. Clemens, farmer, one mile west of [[Knottsville, Kentucky|Knottsville]], was born in Spencer County, Ky., July 31, 1828, and is a son of Charles O. Clements (deceased), a native of Fredericktown, Md., who came to Kentucky when a boy. Our subject came with his parents to this precinct in 1844. He was raised on a farm and educated in a subscription school. He farmed till twenty-four years of age, when he engaged in general merchandising in Owensboro for two years. In 1854 he sold out and came to [[Knottsville, Kentucky|Knottsville]] and opened a general store, which he ran until 1862, when he sold to Robernett. In 1872 he opened another store in [[Knottsville, Kentucky|Knottsville]], which was burned eighteen months later. Since that time he has attended to farming. He was married March 11, 1855, to Miss Harriet E., daughter of Henry Wagoner (deceased). They have had six children born to them, of whom five are living – Charles H., Matilda A., John J., William B. and Ida Agnes. Mr. Clements was Postmaster for Knottsville for eight years. Mrs. Clements was born and reared in Spencer County, Ind., near Owensboro, and they were married in Owensboro. She was a Protestant, but embraced the Catholic faith a short time prior to their marriage. Mr. Clements and family are all Catholics.

{{1883}}
[[Category:People]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clemens, John H.}}

W. W. Chambers

2016-10-11T16:01:10Z

Jsims: Created page with "W.W. Chambers is a member of the Daviess County bar and a resident of Owensboro. {{1883}} Category:People {{DEFAULTSORT:Chambers, W. W.}}"

W.W. Chambers is a member of the Daviess County bar and a resident of Owensboro.

{{1883}}
[[Category:People]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chambers, W. W.}}

Andrew Jackson Casey

2016-10-11T15:59:34Z

Jsims: Created page with "Andrew Jackson Casey, President of the Inquirer Publishing Company of Owensboro, son of A. W. and Mary (Cagle) Casey, was born in Russellville, Kentucky, November 15, 1860. Hi..."

Andrew Jackson Casey, President of the Inquirer Publishing Company of Owensboro, son of A. W. and Mary (Cagle) Casey, was born in Russellville, Kentucky, November 15, 1860. His father was born in De Kalb County, Tennessee, August 19, 1827; married Mary Cagle August 19, 1846; was a farmer; served in the Confederate army and was colorbearer in Colonel J. W. Caldwell’s regiment, and was killed in the battle of Shiloh April 6, 1862.

His mother, Mary Cagle Casey, is a daughter of Charles Cagle, whose wife was Mary Demonbreun, daughter of Timothy Demonbreun, who lived near Nashville, and for whom Demonbreun street in that city was named. She was educated in the public schools; is now a resident of Russellville, Kentucky, and although past seventy-two years of age, still retains a vigorous intellect. Her grandfather, Timothy Demonbreun, was a soldier in the Revolutionary war.

Andrew J. Casey, after leaving school, which he did at an early age, found employment in the office of the Russellville Herald, and beginning as an office boy he was promoted step by step, learning the duties and how to perform them, in every department of the newspaper office, until, in 1885, he bought a half interest and became the editor of the Herald. He sold his interest in that paper in 1891 and purchased the Owensboro Inquirer, a daily and weekly Democratic newspaper, which, under his able management, has become one of the best papers published in the western part of the state, and a valuable property. Mr. Casey is of a retiring disposition, and has never sought political preferment or distinction, though he has numerous friends who would gladly thrust these honors upon him. His legion of admirers is the best evidence of his popularity. Mr. Casey was married April 17, 1894, to Lida Walker, daughter of the illustrious Judge E. Dudley Walker of Hartford, whose biography is given in this volume. She is of that type of woman who have made Kentucky famous. They have one son, Walker Casey.

'''Source:''' ''Biographical Cyclopedia of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.'' John M. Gresham Company, Chicago, Philadelphia, 1896.
[[Category:People]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Casey, Andrew Jackson}}

LaVega Clements

2016-10-11T15:55:46Z

Jsims:

LaVega Clements, a worthy descendant of a family of patriots, and a distinguished young attorney of Owensboro, is the eldest son of Samuel A. and Laura (Wagoner) Clements, and was born near [[Philpot, Kentucky|Philpot]], Daviess County, Kentucky, December 35, 1868. His father was born in Daviess County on March 31, 1839, and was educated in the county schools, and after reaching manhood engaged in merchandising at [[Philpot, Kentucky|Philpot]], but subsequently removed to Owensboro, where he now resides. His mother, Laura (Wagoner) Clements, is of German descent, and a daughter of Harry Wagoner, who in his day was a worthy and prosperous farmer of Spencer County, Indiana. She was born January 8, 1854, and had the misfortune to lose both of her parents in her early childhood. She was married to S. A. Clements in January, 1868.

La Vega Clements spent his early days in the country, receiving such educational advantages as could be had from the Kentucky public schools. To these and the public schools of Salisbury, Missouri, he is indebted for his education, his parents being unable to afford him any better facilities for his early training. But with this he entered the office of [[Wilfred Carico|Judge Wilfred Carico]] of Owensboro in March, 1887, as a law student. After diligent study for more than a year he was admitted to the bar in July, 1888, when only nineteen years of age. He remained with his preceptor until December, 1891, when he formed a law partnership with T. F. Birkhead, with whom he is at present associated. The firm enjoys a large practice, and both are prominent as members of the Owensboro bar. Mr. Clements was elected city attorney of Owensboro in November, 1893, for a term of four years, carrying over his opponent every voting precinct in the city, a compliment which was due to his personal popularity and an evidence of the high esteem in which he was held by the community as a lawyer of ability, a man of upright character and a Christian gentleman. He was married November 16, 1890, to Maggie Brown, daughter of Thomas Brown of [[Knottsville, Kentucky|Knottsville]], Kentucky. They have one child, Gerald S., born October 16, 1894.

Mr. Clements’ grandfather, Charles O. Clements, was born near Baltimore, Maryland, January 29, 1808, and emigrated to Kentucky at an early day and settled in Nelson County, near Bardstown; he soon afterwards removed to Daviess County, where he resided until his death, December 29, 1879. He was a soldier in the war with Mexico, and had the honor of serving with General Winfield Scott at the siege of Vera Cruz. His wife, Susan Philpott, was also a native of Maryland, and was born January 12, 1811, and died January 11, 1872. She was a daughter of John S. Philpott, who was born in 1780 and died in 1839, and who was a descendant of a family prominent in the early settlements of Maryland.

William Clements, the father of Charles O. Clements, lived and died in Maryland, and was a soldier in the Revolutionary war under General Marion. He and his brother Charles joined the patriot army at the beginning of the War for Independence, one leaving home one day and the other the next. Charles served under Washington, and, strange to say, they never saw each other during the entire struggle for independence, and at the end returned home as they had left, one day apart. William Clements married Winfred Hardy, a daughter of Frederick Hardy, who lived arid died near Baltimore. The Clements family have always been Democrats, and are of English descent, the progenitor of the family in this country being one of the party who accompanied Lord Baltimore in settling the first colony in the wilderness of Maryland.

{{BiographicalCyclopedia}}

[[Category:People]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clements, LaVega}}

Wilfred Carico

2016-10-11T15:53:24Z

Jsims:

Wilfred Carico is an attorney. Office in Court Row. He also is a native of this county, and has passed all his life here.<ref>''History of Daviess County, Kentucky.'' Chicago: Interstate Publishing Co., 1883. Print.</ref>

Wilfred Carico. Owensboro, Ky.; b. April 8, 1841; e. Oct., 1861; pr. Morgan’s Squadron: served 4 years; m. Rice E. Graves Camp No. 1121.<ref>''Well Known Confederate Veterans and Their War Records,'' William English Mickle, New Orleans, 1915.</ref>

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:People]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carico, Wilfred}}

Wilfred Carico

2016-10-11T15:52:49Z

Jsims:

Wilfred Carico is an attorney. Office in Court Row. He also is a native of this county, and has passed all his life here.<ref>'''Source:''' ''History of Daviess County, Kentucky.'' Chicago: Interstate Publishing Co., 1883. Print.</ref>

Wilfred Carico. Owensboro, Ky.; b. April 8, 1841; e. Oct., 1861; pr. Morgan’s Squadron: served 4 years; m. Rice E. Graves Camp No. 1121.<ref>'''Source:''' ''Well Known Confederate Veterans and Their War Records,'' William English Mickle, New Orleans, 1915.</ref>

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:People]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carico, Wilfred}}

Wilfred Carico

2016-10-11T15:50:57Z

Jsims: Created page with "Wilfred Carico is an attorney. Office in Court Row. He also is a native of this county, and has passed all his life here.<ref>'''Source:''' ''History of Daviess County, Kent..."

W. Lindsea Burton

2016-10-11T15:47:01Z

Jsims: Created page with "W. Lindsea Burton, attorney and counselor at law, is a native of Daviess County, and is now practicing his profession in Owensboro. He is a well-educated, Christian gentleman..."

W. Lindsea Burton, attorney and counselor at law, is a native of Daviess County, and is now practicing his profession in Owensboro. He is a well-educated, Christian gentleman, a strong advocate of temperance, and no lover of card-playing or novel-reading. His maxims of life, of his profession, and of liberal education are of the highest order.

{{1883}}
[[Category:People]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burton, W. Lindsea}}

Eli H. Brown

2016-10-11T15:45:27Z

Jsims: Created page with "Eli H. Brown, Corporation Attorney and prominent citizen of Owensboro, was born in Brandenburg, Meade County, Kentucky, November 13, 1843. He received his primary education fr..."

Eli H. Brown, Corporation Attorney and prominent citizen of Owensboro, was born in Brandenburg, Meade County, Kentucky, November 13, 1843. He received his primary education from private teachers in Hawesville, and attended the high schools of Lewisport, then taught by Professors Gregg and Trimble, and graduated in June, 1863. He studied law for two and a half years in the office of Judge George Williams, and was licensed to practice law by the judge of the Circuit Court. He located in Hawesville and practiced alone until 1878, when he became associated with Judge Williams, a partnership which continued until October 1, 1878, when he removed to Louisville and was a prominent member of the bar in that city for nearly ten years. During a part of that time he was in partnership with D. M. Rodman. He acquired a lucrative business and was one of the most energetic and prominent lawyers at the Louisville bar. In March, 1891, he removed to Owensboro, where he has been steadily and successfully engaged in the practice of his profession, and is now one of the leading attorneys of that city, which is so distinguished for legal talent.

During his residence in Hawesville Mr. Brown was prosecuting attorney for two terms, and has frequently served as special judge of the Circuit Court, but has never sought political preferment. He was presidential elector for his district in 1872 on the Democratic ticket and made a spirited canvass, but has not turned aside at any time from strictly professional work. During the past fifteen years he has devoted himself almost exclusively to the legal work of various corporations, and is at present the attorney for the Glenmore Distillery Company, the [[Eagle Distillery|Eagle Distillery Company]], the Daviess County Distillery Company, and the Owensboro Woolen Mills Company.

One of the most important cases in which he has been engaged was that of a railroad company against the taxpayers of Muhlenberg County, in which he won the suit for the railroad company. In 1868 bonds were voted by Muhlenberg County to the amount of four hundred thousand dollars to secure railroad facilities in the county. The taxpayers refused to pay their assessments and in order to prevent the collection of the tax all of the magistrates in the county were induced to resign. The railroad people employed some of the most prominent legal lights in the state to prosecute their claim, but they gave it up as a bad job. Finally Mr. Brown undertook the case for the railroad company and secured judgment for the tax with interest at seven per cent for five years. The case was decided in the United States Circuit Court by Judge Lurton, who issued an order to Marshal Blackburn to go into the county with an armed force and collect the tax from the people at the point of the bayonet if necessary. The amount of the bonds, with interest, was collected. This case attracted universal attention, especially among the lawyers of the state, as it was of exceptional interest.

Mr. Brown has been signally successful as a corporation attorney, being greatly devoted to his profession and always faithful to the interests of his clients. He is a man of fine personal bearing, dignified in appearance, but genial and cordial in his intercourse with others, and is an exceedingly popular citizen. He is a Mason of high degree and a most excellent member of the Christian Church.

Mr. Brown was married February 3, 1870, to Nancy W. Dorsey of Nelson County, daughter of Dr. Washington Dorsey, a native of Kentucky, and a very celebrated physician, who lived for many years at Yazoo, Mississippi. Mrs. Brown was born October 31, 1847, and died in Louisville, December 6, 1885, leaving four children: Horace Stone, born June 21, 1871, died March 6, 1894; Eli Houston, born May 3, 1875, graduated at the Kentucky University in the class of 1895; Washington Dorsey, born January 3, 1877, now in the senior class of the Kentucky University; and Sarah Ellen, born December 7, 1879, now studying under a governess in Nelson County.

At the time of his death Horace Stone Brown, eldest son, was city editor of the Louisville Daily Commercial, and the members of the press of that city paid a beautiful tribute to his worth and popularity.

Eli H. Brown is a son of John McClarty and Minerva (Murray) Brown. His father was born in Nelson County, May 7, 1799, and was educate in Bardstown. He was engaged in merchandising in Hardinsburg, in partnership with two of his uncles, Samuel and James McClarty, until 1823, when he married Minerva Murray and removed to Brandenburg and was the first merchant in that place. He was also interested in the tobacco business at Cloverport, Hawesville, and Leitchfield during the time of his stay in Brandenburg. In 1851 he removed to Hawesville and was secretary and treasurer of the Trabue Coal Mining Company until 1857. He was county judge of Hancock County for two terms, ending August 3, 1865. He was a man of splendid literary attainments, and was one of the best and most highly respected citizens of his county, a prominent Mason, and a leading member of the Presbyterian Church.

Robert J. Brown (grandfather), a native of Maryland, was one of the earliest settlers of Nelson County, where he was a farmer and trader. He married a Miss McClarty, and died when his son, John McClarty Brown (father), was an infant. His widow married a Mr. Hughes, and died in 1852. The Browns are of Irish descent, but have been in this country a long time. Minerva J. Murray Brown (mother) was born in Breckinridge County, November 23, 1807, and was educated at Hardinsburg. She was a member of the Methodist Church and a woman of the most noble traits of character, whose death in 1871 was mourned by a host of loving and devoted friends.

John Murray (grandfather) was a native of Washington County, where he was a merchant for a great many years. He subsequently removed to Rumsey, McLean County, and continued in active business until 1864, when he returned and spent the remainder of his useful life with his daughter, Mrs. (Brown) Hughes. He was quite a figure in politics and was known as a “Constitutional Union” man during the war and in the days of reconstruction. His wife’s name was Patsey Walker, who was a native of Washington County. She died, and Mr. Murray survived her until 1869, when he died in McLean County.

'''Source:''' ''Biographical Cyclopedia of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.'' John M. Gresham Company, Chicago, Philadelphia, 1896.
[[Category:People]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Eli H.}}

Edwin M. Brooks

2016-10-11T15:39:36Z

Jsims: Created page with "Edwin M. Brooks was born in Ohio County, Ky., April 24, 1844. His father, George Brooks, was a native of Virginia, and came to Kentucky when twenty-years of age. He was marrie..."

Edwin M. Brooks was born in Ohio County, Ky., April 24, 1844. His father, George Brooks, was a native of Virginia, and came to Kentucky when twenty-years of age. He was married in Ohio County, to Elizabeth Haynes. He moved to Daviess County in 1874, and settled in [[Whitesville, Kentucky|Whitesville]], where he still resides. They had six children, four of whom grew to maturity – Edwin M., Columbus Estelle, Arretus P. and Demetrus F. (twins). Edwin M. learned the carpenter’s trade, and worked at it eight years, five years of the time under other men. In 1871 he opened a livery stable at Whitesville, and contracted for taking the mail from Whitesville to Owensboro. June 1, 1882, he came to Owensboro and opened his livery stable, on East Main street. He was married in February, 1878, to Kate Bozarth, of Grayson County, Ky. They have three children – Lois F., Roy G. and Hattie L.

{{1883}}
[[Category:People]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, Edwin M.}}

Robert Brodie

2016-10-11T15:37:42Z

Jsims: Created page with "Robert Brodie, born March 6, 1847, in Nervelstone, County of Renfrew, Scotland, was a son of Robert and Mary (Fleming) Brodie. Mr. Brodie was educated in Scotland, and came to..."

Robert Brodie, born March 6, 1847, in Nervelstone, County of Renfrew, Scotland, was a son of Robert and Mary (Fleming) Brodie. Mr. Brodie was educated in Scotland, and came to the United States in 1868; landed at New York, and settled in Owensboro, Daviess County, Ky. He engaged in the tobacco business as clerk, with Hugh, Kerr & Co., remaining with them two years. In 1870 he formed a partnership with James Sawyer, and built the large tobacco house now occupied by them. In 1873 he returned to Scotland, and was married to Margaret Reid, and immediately returned to Owensboro. They have four children, two sons and two daughters. Mr. Brodie has been a member of the First Presbyterian Church since 1868.

{{1883}}
[[Category:People]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brodie, Robert}}

Daniel Breck

2016-10-11T15:35:19Z

Jsims: Created page with "Daniel Breck, civil engineer of Louisville, son of Rev. Robert L. Breck, was born in Richmond, Kentucky, July 27, 1861, and graduated from Central University in 1880. He went..."

Daniel Breck, civil engineer of Louisville, son of Rev. Robert L. Breck, was born in Richmond, Kentucky, July 27, 1861, and graduated from Central University in 1880. He went to Leadville, Colorado, and spent some time in prospecting and hunting before taking a postgraduate course in the California University, concluding in 1883. He made a special study of civil engineering in both of these universities, and while in California built a sea wall at San Luis Obispo; assisted in the construction of a railroad from Port Harford, Cal., and also a railroad in Oregon; returned to Kentucky and accepted a prominent position in the engineering department of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company with headquarters in Louisville; promoted to roadmaster on the Short Line Division; from that to superintendent of the Owensboro Division, and is at present in the office of the president of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company at Louisville.

His father, Rev. Robert L. Breck, D. D., was born in Richmond, Kentucky, May 8, 1827, and after graduating from Center College at the age of seventeen years, he attended Princeton College, New Jersey, graduating from the theological seminary and has since received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Princeton College. He preached his first sermon in the old church on “Woodburn Farm” in Woodford County, since which time his name and’ work have been identified with the history of the Presbyterian Church and with Center College and Central University as one of the leading ministers in the church and as an educator of young men; was moderator of the General Assembly when the sectional division took place; took an active part in the historic events of those stirring times; was the prime mover in the organization of Central University and was its first chancellor, wielding a great influence and occupying a prominent place in ecclesiastical bodies and especially in the educational work of the church.

Daniel Breck is a grandson of Judge Daniel Breck, a member of Congress and judge of the Court of Appeals of Kentucky; a great-grandson of Major-General Green Clay of the War of 1812; also a great-grandson of General Levi Todd of the Indian Wars. His ancestors were intimately connected with the early history of Kentucky.

'''Source:''' ''Biographical Cyclopedia of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.'' John M. Gresham Company, Chicago, Philadelphia, 1896.
[[Category:People]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Breck, Daniel}}

John W. Braun

2016-10-11T15:31:58Z

Jsims:

John W. Braun''''',''''' proprietor of sample room and restaurant, on Second, between St. Anne and Allen streets, was born in Huff Township, near New Boston, Spencer Co., Ind., July 12, 1843, son of John and Caroline (Herring) Brown, natives of Germany. They had a family of thirteen children, John W., being the third. He worked on his father’s farm, attending school in Spencer County, Ind., until eighteen. He was married Feb. 9, 1869, to Catherina Vogel, a native of Spencer County, Ind., and a daughter of Stephen Vogel. In 1870 he came to Daviess County, Ky., and followed farming three years in [[Upper Town Precinct]]. In 1873 he engaged in his present business. Mr. and Mrs. Braun are both members of the Lutheran church. They have four children – Emma, Sophia, Edward G. and Arthur. Mr. Braun is a member of the Knights of Honor, Lodge No. 2,525. In politics he is a Democrat.

{{1883}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Braun, John W.}}
[[Category:People]]

John W. Braun

2016-10-11T15:31:38Z

Jsims:

John W. Braun

2016-10-11T15:29:40Z

Jsims: Created page with "John W. Braun''''',''''' proprietor of sample room and restaurant, on Second, between St. Anne and Allen streets, was born in Huff Township, near New Boston, Spencer Co., Ind..."

John W. Braun''''',''''' proprietor of sample room and restaurant, on Second, between St. Anne and Allen streets, was born in Huff Township, near New Boston, Spencer Co., Ind., July 12, 1843, son of John and Caroline (Herring) Brown, natives of Germany. They had a family of thirteen children, John W., being the third. He worked on his father’s farm, attending school in Spencer County, Ind., until eighteen. He was married Feb. 9, 1869, to Catherina Vogel, a native of Spencer County, Ind., and a daughter of Stephen Vogel. In 1870 he came to Daviess County, Ky., and followed farming three years in Upper Town Precinct. In 1873 he engaged in his present business. Mr. and Mrs. Braun are both members of the Lutheran church. They have four children – Emma, Sophia, Edward G. and Arthur. Mr. Braun is a member of the Knights of Honor, Lodge No. 2,525. In politics he is a Democrat.

{{1883}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Braun, John W.}}

E. G. Adams

2016-10-11T15:25:59Z

Jsims:

E. G. Adams, attorney at law and Justice of the Peace, is a son of Elisha and Artemesia (West) Adams, and was born in [[Upper Town Precinct|Uppertown]], Oct. 7, 1849. He received a common-school education, and by close application was qualified to teach. In 1870 he went to Louisiana, but the climate did not agree with him and he returned after an absence of a year and settled on a farm in [[Lower Town Precinct|Lowertown]]. He taught school about a year, and in 1873 managed his farm, hiring the labor. In 1878 he was elected Justice of the Peace for a term of four years, and in 1882 was re-elected.

He was married April 15, 1869, to Mary Catherine, daughter of [[Richard C. Barrett]] and Sarah J. (Barrett) Fuqua. His wife died Aug. 16, 1879. They had three children – Mary Lou and Lou Ella, born Aug. 28, 1870, died in April, 1874; Helen Y., born July 28, 1878, is now living with Mr. Fuqua. After the death of his wife Mr. Adams moved into town and gives his attention to the duties of his office and the practice of his profession. He was admitted to the bar Jan. 20, 1883. He belongs to the I.O.O.F., K. of P., and I.O.G.T. He was also Master of Progressive Grange, and a member of the County and State Grange. He has delivered lectures on temperance; at the last one he had his horse stolen.

Mr. Adams is a member of Walnut Street Baptist Church, and was elected Deacon when twenty-six years of age.

{{1883}}
[[Category:People]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, E. G.}}

Whitesville, Kentucky

2016-10-11T15:24:19Z

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[[File:1886-Whitesville.jpg|thumb|846x846px|1886 Directory Listing for Whitesville]]
Whitesville is the second-largest town in Daviess County
with a population of about 700, an elementary school, a parochial
elementary school and high school, a 22-acre park, and its own
Chamber of Commerce.

==Early History==
Whitesville began when Robert Triplett of Owensboro, who
owned a large tract of land along the Leitchfield Road near the
Ohio County line, began laying out a town. Dr. William White
moved there in 1842, opened a store, and eventually, as the population
grew, resumed the practice of medicine.

Several businesses moved to the new town,
then known as“Cross Roads”, from the village of Boston, a short distance on
the road to Owensboro. Among the settlers were wagon maker
William Miller, blacksmith William Dillahay, and shoemaker J.T.
Kelly.

==Town Growth==
The town grew rapidly in the 1850’s, but did not have either
official charter as a town or a post office. The post office was
moved from Boston in 1859, moved back briefly during the Civil
War, and permanently relocated to Whitesville in 1865.
Finally, in 1867, Whitesville was incorporated, under its
present name, and “Cross Roads” was forgotten. By this time
Whitesville had a population of 320, with a fine dry-goods store,
a drug store, two saddling shops, two blacksmiths, and two
churches—Baptist and Christian. In 1868 Jesse Haynes opened
a flour mill which was later purchased by G.W. Mullen and expanded.
The larger mill could grind 150 bushels of wheat or corn
in ten hours, and accommodated farmers from both Daviess and
Ohio Counties.

Whitesville became an important station on the Owensboro,
Falls of the Rough and Green River Railroad when it was completed
through the town in 1889. Promotional literature for the
railroad noted that Whitesville’s population was 600. The opening
of the railroad gave Whitesville an all-weather transportation
link to Owensboro and the wider world, further stimulating the
town’s growth and business development.

==1911 Fire==
A disastrous fire broke out on May 8, 1911, and flames raged
through he downtown district. The fire began in the warehouse
of the A.P. Brooks store, and spread rapidly due in large part to
the lack of fire-fighting equipment. An entire block of businesses
fronting Main Street were destroyed. The losses included the
Brooks store, the R.E. Knox Drug Store, the Christian Church,
the town jail, and W.L. Miller’s Undertaking establishment.
One of Whitesville’s best economic periods occurred in the
1920’s when oil was discovered in that part of Daviess County
and Ohio County. The oil “boom” began in 1925 and lasted about
ten years.

==100-Year Anniversary==
When Whitesville celebrated its 100th anniversary on April
5, 1967, the town had a bank, a volunteer fire department, public
water system, 42 street lights, five miles of streets, 221 homes,
one police officer, four churches, four grocery stores, two restaurants,
a hardware store and a furniture store.

==Train Station==
Whitesville lost its passenger train service in 1941, but by
that time KY 54 was paved and the automobile had become the
main means of personal travel. Farmers and shippers also used
the new road system and freight trucks delivered. The railroad
was removed in 1981, and all that remains of the once-important
element of Whitesville’s history is the caboose in the city park.
Whitesville entered the 21st century as a still-vibrant community,
serving a growing retail area, and with pride in its schools
and sport teams, particularly those of Trinity High School.

''Reference to an article by Glenn Hodges''

==Extract from the ''History of Daviess County'' 1883==
Whitesville is situated in the eastern part of Boston Precinct and
is the second town of importance in the county. Its population is
in the neighborhood of 400 inhabitants, and is a good business
center for a large extent of country for a number of miles in all
directions. The village received its name from Dr. William Lee White.
It was laid out in 1844.

The first house built was by Dr. White and Ben. F. Ramsey,
and used as a store. They did business some two or three years.
The first wagon-maker was William Miller. Afterward, Martin
Shanker was here a few years and then moved to Texas. William
Miller remained here till his death. His son, William L. Miller, is
now working at the business.

Among the first settlers in the village was William Dillahay, the
first blacksmith, who used to carry his coal in his leather apron
from Ford's Knob to his shop. An apron full would last him a
week or thereabout. He did all the blacksmithing in the neighborhood.

Another early settler was John T. Kelley, who put up
a log house, which is still standing. Thomas and Joe Birkhead,
and Charles Brand, a German, all blacksmiths, came in an early
day. The first shoemaker was John T. Kelley, commonly known
as Terry Kelley, who carried on a shop in his house, remaining
here a few years.

The first school house was put up by Isaac E. Day, in 1853 or '4.
The land was given by James Eddy, and comprised two lots: one
was purchased for $15, for a church, and the other he donated for
a school house. It was the only school house in this neighborhood.
The first school teacher was Upton W. Hawkins, who taught a six
months' school. After him, James Nall, Mason Haynes and George
Bagott were teachers. The school building stood some five or six
years when the Templars of Honor removed it and substituted a
new building. They occupied the upper part of the building for
their lodge, and the lower part was taken in charge by a stock
company and used as a school room. It was used for this purpose
until the present Baptist church building was put up, when school
was held in the old church. The present number of pupils is in the
neighborhood of forty, and frequently many more; present school teacher,
F. P. Purcell.

The first physician who settled in the place was Dr. Wm. Lee
White, who came from the upper part of the State, and remained
for a few years. He is now a resident of Washington D. C.
Other physicians were two brothers, Dozier B. and Mars Lewis,
who lived here a number of years. Dozier Lewis died here during
the war, and his brother remained here a short time after that,
and then went back to Nelson County, where they came from, and
died there.

The first hotel here was built by James L. Stinnett, who kept it
as a tavern a few years, when it was converted into a store-room.
The present hotel was built by Dr. John Gillaspy, who used it as
a dwelling-house; it was afterward converted into a hotel, and is
now run by Joseph G. McCarty.

The first post office was established in Boston, which used to receive
mail once a week, via Owensboro. As Whitesville grew into
popularity, business being centered here, the post office was transferred
to Whitesville, where mail is now received three times a
week. The present postmaster is Thomas C. Floyd. The place
now contains five dry-goods and grocery stores, one drug store,
one saloon, three blacksmith shops, one shoemaker's shop, two
churches (Baptist and Christian), two tobacco houses, four physicians,
one Masonic lodge and one flouring mill.

Whitesville was incorporated in 1867, through the efforts of
[[Richard C. Barrett]] and Camden Riley, when Joseph "Veech was
Representative in the Legislature and aided the adoption of the
bill. In February, 1882, an amended charter was drawn up by Mr.
Barrett and submitted to the Board of Trustees, who endorsed it.
It was then sent to J. A. Munday, then a member of the Senate,
who took charge of it until it was adopted by the Legislature.

The first Board of Trustees, elected April 6, 1867, were: B. P.
Yewell, Chairman ; Hardin Gregory, G. W. Mullen, A. D. Mattingly
and "W. Cate; J. E. Haynes, Clerk; John Lyons, Treasurer;
and Henry Haynes, Marshal.

Present Board: C. Hale, Chairman; C. L. Haynes, G. W. Mullen,
A. D. Mattingly and A. P. Brooks; J. W. Haynes, Clerk; T. C.
Floyd, Treasurer; R. C. Barrett, Police Justice; J. F. Stockton,
Marshal.

[[Category:Towns]]

Richard C. Barrett

2016-10-11T15:23:30Z

Jsims: Created page with "Richard C. Barrett, born July 3, 1830, in Ohio Country, Ky., is a son of Richard W. and Mary (Wedding) Barrett, natives of Maryland, who came to Ohio in the latter part of the..."

Richard C. Barrett, born July 3, 1830, in Ohio Country, Ky., is a son of Richard W. and Mary (Wedding) Barrett, natives of Maryland, who came to Ohio in the latter part of the eighteenth century. They had a family of eight children, three sons and two daughters now living. Mrs. Barrett died in June, 1844, and Mr. Barrett in October, 1859. When Richard C., was six years of age his parents moved to Daviess County and settled a mile and a quarter south of [[Whitesville, Kentucky|Whitesville]]. His educational advantages were limited, being confided to the early subscription schools. Nov. 15, 1855, he married Sarah A., daughter of Thomas H. Henton. After his marriage he worked on his father’s farm about two years, and then, Feb. 14, 1858, moved to Whitesville. July 2, 1873, he went to Marshall County, Ky., returning to Whitesville, Feb. 22, 1874. In 1868 Mr. Barrett was admitted to the bar by Judge Martin H. Cofer, and has held a responsible position as a legal advisor in this part of the county, having considerable practice in the Magistrates’ Courts of Ohio and Daviess Counties. Politically he was an early Whig, then affiliated a short time with the Know-Nothing party, and since that time has been a Democrat. In 1859, he was elected Magistrate of Daviess County, serving until 1873. In May, 1881, he was elected Police Judge of Whitesville, and was re-elected in August, 1882. Mr. and Mrs. Barrett have had seven children, five now living- Searles D., Emmie D., Alaric, Sarah A. and Birchie. Their two eldest children died in infancy.

{{1883}}
[[Category:People]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrett, Richard C.}}

John H. Barret

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John H. Barrett

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Jsims: Jsims moved page John H. Barrett to John H. Barret

#REDIRECT [[John H. Barret]]

John H. Barret

2016-10-11T15:19:16Z

Jsims: Jsims moved page John H. Barrett to John H. Barret

John H. Barret

2016-10-11T15:18:29Z

Jsims: Created page with "John H. Barret, a prominent business man and capitalist of Henderson, is a son of the late John H. Barret and Susan D. Rankin. His father, for whom he was named, was born in..."

Henry P. Barret

2016-10-11T15:09:35Z

Jsims:

Henry P. Barret, tobacco exporter, of Henderson, Ky., was born in that city Sept. 2, 1865, his parents being James R. and Lucy F. (Stites) Barret (see sketch of James R. Barret). He was educated at the Central university, Danville, Ky., where he attended from 1880 to 1883. He then worked for the well known tobacco firm of John H. Barret & Co. for five years, and in 1888 embarked in business for himself as an exporter of tobacco. He first established himself at Roberts’ Station, but went from there to Owensboro, where he continued in business for several years. He then opened large rehandling establishments at Wickliffe and Providence, and it is said he now handles as much tobacco as any other individual buyer in the world, if not more. Mr. Barret’s success in his line is due to the fact that he keeps in close touch with his business, studies the market conditions, and is always to be relied on to carry out his agreements. He owns 2,500 acres of fine land and is reputed to be one of the wealthiest men in the county. Mr. Barret is a prominent Mason, being a thirty-second degree member of the Scottish Rite and a Knight Templar. On Oct. 20, 1904, he was elected Grand Junior Warden of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky. In 1901 he was united in marriage to Miss Marian Worsham, a native of California and a daughter of A. J. Worsham, now of Henderson.

'''Source:''' ''Memoirs of the Lower Ohio Valley'', Federal Publishing Company, Madison, Wis., 1905
[[Category:People]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barret, Henry P.}}

Henry P. Barret

2016-10-11T15:08:57Z

Jsims: Created page with "Henry P. Barret, tobacco exporter, of Henderson, Ky., was born in that city Sept. 2, 1865, his parents being James R. and Lucy F. (Stites) Barret (see sketch of James R. Barre..."

Reuben M. Barker

2016-10-11T15:03:30Z

Jsims: Created page with "Reuben M. Barker, born in Daviess County, Ky., Nov. 8, 1818, was a son of Samuel Barker, a native of Maryland, who came to Kentucky when a boy, first locating in Nelson County..."

James Madison Baird

2016-10-11T15:01:50Z

Jsims: Created page with "The city of Columbus has as one of its able and successful representatives of the medical profession Dr. Baird, who has been established here in general practice since 1898. H..."

The city of Columbus has as one of its able and successful representatives of the medical profession Dr. Baird, who has been established here in general practice since 1898. He was born on a farm in Daviess county, Ky., Sept. 6, 1869, and is a son of James and Lucinda (Murphey) Baird, both of whom passed their entire lives in that county, where the father was a prosperous farmer, his death there occurring in 1879, at the age of forty-four years. His wife long survived him, and was summoned to the life eternal in 1900, aged fifty-five years. Doctor Baird secured his earlier educational training in the schools of his native county and supplemented this by a course in the Northern Indiana normal school at Valparaiso, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1890. (Taking the degree of Bachelor of Science). In 1892 he was graduated in the Kentucky school of medicine at Louisville, and in the following year he was graduated in the Eclectic medical institute, of Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1898 he was graduated in the Homoeopathic medical college, of St. Louis, Mo., so that it may be seen that his fortification for the work of his profession is especially excellent, through the diversity and completeness of his technical training. In the meanwhile he had been engaged in the practice of his profession in his native county, for a period of four years. In 1896, he located in Eureka, Ind., where he followed the work of his profession until the autumn of 1898, when he moved to Columbus, Ga., where he succeeded to the practice of the late Dr. E. B. Schley, His success was pronounced from the start and today he controls a large and representative practice, being recognized as one of the leading physicians and surgeons of this city. He is a member of the American medical association, Georgia state medical association and the Muscogee county medical society. He is affiliated with the lodge, chapter and commandery of the Masonic fraternity, as well as the Mystic Shrine, and is a member also of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. He and his wife are valued members of the First Baptist church, in which he is a deacon, and in politics he gives his allegiance to the Democratic party. On Nov. 22, 1899, Dr. Baird was united in marriage to Miss Ellen Mason, of Rockport, Ind., and they have one son, James Mason Baird, who was born March 31, 1903.

'''Source:''' Georgia Comprising Sketches of Counties, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form, Edited By Ex-Governor Allen D. Candler and General Clement A. Evans, State Historical Association, Atlanta, 1906

Bernhard Baer

2016-10-11T14:59:33Z

Jsims: Created page with "== Early Life and Finding a Place == Bernhard Baer'','' son of Isaac and Sarah (Wanberg) Baer, was born in West Prussia, Dec. 22, 1825. He was educated in his native land. Wh..."

A. O. Ayer

2016-10-11T14:54:19Z

Jsims: Created page with "Dr. A.O. Ayer was born in 1804; died in 1876. He was a native of Kingston, Tenn., and married Esther Durham Johnson, near Knoxville. He moved to Kentucky in 1834. The years of..."

Benjamin T. Aull

2016-10-11T14:48:07Z

Jsims: Created page with "Benjamin T. Aull, farmer, Knottsville, was born in Nelson County, Ky., April 27, 1826, and is a son of Benjamin Aull, a native of Maryland, who came..."

Benjamin T. Aull, farmer, [[Knottsville, Kentucky|Knottsville]], was born in Nelson County, Ky., April 27, 1826, and is a son of Benjamin Aull, a native of Maryland, who came to Kentucky when a boy, and brought his family to this county in the fall of 1826, where the subject of this sketch was reared on a farm, and educated in the common or subscription schools. He was married Jan. 16, 1847, to Miss Joanna, daughter of James Carrico. They had twelve children, of whom but six are living – William, Thomas, Francis, Helena, Marshall and Anna. One daughter, Catherine, died in August, 1872, at the age of eighteen years. Mr. Aull recently sold his farm in this precinct, and now owns a homestead of but twenty-nine acres, at Knottsville, where he lives rather retired. Mr. Aull is a worthy member of the Catholic church.

{{1883}}

Ignatius A. Aull

2016-10-11T14:46:10Z

Jsims:

Ignatius A. Aull, farmer, [[Knottsville, Kentucky|Knottsville]] Precinct, was born in this precinct, on Pup Creek, two miles northeast of [[Knottsville, Kentucky|Knottsville]], Feb. 6, 1841, and is a son of Benjamin Aull (deceased), a native of Maryland, who came to Nelson County, Ky., in a very early day, and afterward to Daviess County. Our subject’s mother’s maiden name was Maria Drury. Mr. Aull was brought up on his father’s farm, and received a limited education in a subscription school, taught in a log cabin, with split poles for seats, and a puncheon writing desk. He was married May 2, 1865, to Miss Mary Melissa Long, daughter of Richard Long. They have eight children – Mary J., Edward, Annie, Teresa, Ellis, Emma, Josephine and Barnhard. Mr. Aull is engaged in farming and stock-raising on his farm of 200 acres, four miles east of Knottsville. On the 8<sup>th</sup> day of October, 1882, he purchased the general store of W.S. Hazel, in Knottsville, and the business is conducted by T.E. Aull, under firm name of I.A. Aull & Co. Mr. Aull is a member of the Catholic Total Abstinence Society.

{{1883}}
[[Category:People]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aull, Ignatius A.}}

Ignatius A. Aull

2016-10-11T14:43:57Z

Jsims: Created page with "Ignatius A. Aull, farmer, Knottsville Precinct, was born in this precinct, on Pup Creek, two miles northeast of Knottsville, Feb. 6, 1841, and is a son of Benjamin Aull (decea..."

Ignatius A. Aull, farmer, Knottsville Precinct, was born in this precinct, on Pup Creek, two miles northeast of Knottsville, Feb. 6, 1841, and is a son of Benjamin Aull (deceased), a native of Maryland, who came to Nelson County, Ky., in a very early day, and afterward to Daviess County. Our subject’s mother’s maiden name was Maria Drury. Mr. Aull was brought up on his father’s farm, and received a limited education in a subscription school, taught in a log cabin, with split poles for seats, and a puncheon writing desk. He was married May 2, 1865, to Miss Mary Melissa Long, daughter of Richard Long. They have eight children – Mary J., Edward, Annie, Teresa, Ellis, Emma, Josephine and Barnhard. Mr. Aull is engaged in farming and stock-raising on his farm of 200 acres, four miles east of Knottsville. On the 8<sup>th</sup> day of October, 1882, he purchased the general store of W.S. Hazel, in Knottsville, and the business is conducted by T.E. Aull, under firm name of I.A. Aull & Co. Mr. Aull is a member of the Catholic Total Abstinence Society.

{{1883}}
[[Category:People]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aull, Ignatius A.}}

William E. Aud

2016-10-11T14:41:17Z

Jsims: Changed spelling of Hillary T. Aud's name

William E. Aud , one of the talented young lawyers of Owensboro, was born in [[Knottsville, Kentucky|Knottsville]], Daviess County, Kentucky, March 19, 1870.

His father, [[Hillary T. Aud]], was also a native of Daviess County, and was educated at St. Mary’s College, graduating when quite young. He began as a clerk in a store in Knottsville, and after serving in that capacity for four years, in 1860 he and his brother purchased the property of his employer and established the firm of J. B. Aud & Brother, which is still in existence, and is the oldest mercantile establishment in that town. Mr. H. T. Aud was married September 29, 1863, to Victoria Jarboe, and they had seven children: Guy G., Henry T., William E., Regina, Mary Joseph, Mary Rock and Victoria. Of these Guy G., Regina and Victoria are deceased.

Thomas C. Aud (grandfather) was a native of Nelson County, Kentucky, a highly educated man and a practicing physician in Knottsville, Daviess County, where he died in 1853. He married Alice Birkhead of Nelson County, Kentucky, daughter of Abraham Birkhead, and had seven children: Joseph B., Ellen, Maggie, Hillary T., Charles Z., Atha Matilda J. and George, all of whom are living except George and Matilda.

Ignatius Jarboe (maternal grandfather) was born in Nelson County, Kentucky, about 1805, and was a farmer in that county until a short time prior to the Civil war, when he removed to Daviess County and located about three miles from Knottsville and was a farmer there until the time of his death in 1884. His wife was a Miss Martina Speaks of Nelson County, and they had six children: Raymond, Henry, Benjamin, Victoria, Josephine and Edward, all of whom are dead except Victoria and Edward.

The parents and grandparents of the subject of this sketch and their antecedents were members of the Catholic Church. His grandfathers were Democrats, but his father is a Republican and is very active and influential in his party.

William E. Aud was educated in Jasper College, which is a branch of St. Meinrad College, Indiana, and in Cecilian College, Hardin County, and also graduated from the commercial department of Cecilian College in 1890.

He began the study of law in the office of Powers & Achison in Owensboro, and was admitted to the bar in March, 1891, when twenty-one years of age, and began the active duties of his chosen profession in 1893, and in the same year was appointed public administrator for Daviess County. He at once met with encouragement and has enjoyed a young lawyer’s full share of business at the Owensboro bar; and being attentive to business, a diligent student and an industrious worker in behalf of his clients, he has the promise of a brilliant future. Mr. Aud is a Democrat in politics, but is modest in his ambition for political preferment.

'''Source:''' ''Biographical Cyclopedia of the Commonwealth of Kentucky''. John M. Gresham Company, Chicago, Philadelphia, 1896.
[[Category:People]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aud, William E.}}