View source for Boston Precinct

[[File:Boston_Precinct.jpg|thumb|Boston Precinct Map from 1876]]
[[File:New_Boston_Map_-_1876.jpg|thumb|Detailed Map of Boston in 1876]]

==Extract from the ''History of Daviess County'' 1883==

This precinct by law is thus bounded: Beginning at Knottsville
Precinct at corner on Ohio County line, thence down North Panther
Creek to bridge on Leitchfield road, thence with the State road to
the Miller's Mill road, thence with Miller's Mill road to South
Panther Creek, thence with said Creek, Deserter's Fork and Ohio
County line to the beginning.

A large portion of the land in this precinct was surveyed and
sold by [[Robert Triplett]]. The farm lines are generally straight,
but are at an angle of ten degrees from the cardinal points of the
compass.

The land in this precinct will average about second and third
rate in quality. Very little of it is subject to overflow. It is
generally undulating, some of it hilly, and there are some very
high hills, in which there is considerable coal and fine building
stone. There is also a large quantity of lithographic stone in this
part of Daviess County, but at present it is rather inaccessible.

In the spring of 1882, a petition was drawn up by James F. Hite
and was signed by the citizens in this community and sent to Hon.
H. W. Scott, County Judge, who changed the voting precinct,
which was formerly held at Boston, to Whitesville, where the polls
are now held ; therefore it is generally known as Whitesville Precinct,
though the official name is still Boston Precinct, as recorded
in the poll books at the County Clerk's office in Owensboro.

===First Settler===
About the first settler in Boston Precinct was Bassett Burton,
father of Horace Burton. He came from Adams' Fork, near Harrodsburg,
Ky., about 1810, bringing help with him to raise a log
cabin. The nearest settlement was five or six miles distant. Other
early settlers were Elisha Burton, Cornelius Westerfield, William
Haynes, John Ward and John Cooper. The two latter came in the
fall of 1811, and settled near Mr. Burton. George Jackson settled
where James Miltoii now lives, in the southwestern part of the
precinct. Mr. Karn (whose given name may have been Josiah)
settled in the western part. William Holmark settled where Mrs.
Hinton now lives, William Sinnett whore George Mattingly now
lives, Joseph Hale on a place now owned by Thomas J. Monarch,
James Mathes where Joe Haynes now lives, and Jabe Luallen
where Thomas Ware now lives. A man named French settled here
at an early date. 

When the first settlements were made, others
came in and took up the land, and cleared the forests, and began
improvements. William P. Ellis, from Shelby County, came and
settled in 1829, in the extreme eastern part of the precinct.
The first physician who settled in the precinct was Dr. Richard
Lockhart, who lived here five or six years, and then moved into
Knottsville Precinct, although doing a large practice in this part
of the country for a number of years.

Bassett Burton was the first Magistrate who served in the neighborhood,
which was before it was organized as a precinct. After
Mr. Burton's death, his son, Creed Burton, was chosen to fill the
office. One of the first sheriffs who served was Simpson Stout.
Under the new constitution in 1851, the first Magistrates were
Benjamin F. Ramsey and John B. Hinton. The Sheriff was Thomas
Landrum, and the Constable, W. W. Church.

The oldest man now living in the precinct is Robert Ragsdale,
tt the age of eighty-nine years, a native of Nelson County, Ky.
Nancy Williams, widow of Alexander Williams, is about of the
same age.

The first school-house erected was in 1825, on the farm of Bassett
Burton; and the first school-teacher was an Irishman named William
Maxwell, a well-educated man. The next one was James
Jones.

In 1822, Bassett Burton built a horse-mill on his farm, for the
purpose of grinding corn and wheat. People from a distance of
fifteen miles came here to have their grain ground. The mill was
run by the family after Mr. Burton's death, and by Horace Burton
after he came in possession of the farm, till the beginning of the
war. With four horses hitched to the mill it would convert a bushel
of corn into the finest meal within six minutes.

A post office was kept at Boston until about 1859 or '60, and was
then moved to Whitesville. During the war, owing to the supposed
disloyalty of the postmaster, it was again established at Boston,
but remained only a short time, when it was returned to
Whitesville.
The Magistrate's Court is held the fourth Monday and third Friday
in March, June, September and December. The present Magistrates are
Horace A. Burton and Christopher Watkins; and the Constable is Granville Karn.

[[Category:Precincts]]