From: KyArchives [archives@genrecords.org] Sent: Sunday, December 23, 2007 6:13 PM To: Ky-Footsteps Subject: Chapter.Xiv.Mistake.In.The.Census.1887.Henderson.HISTORY-Books Chapter Xiv Mistake In The Census 1887 Henderson County KyArchives History Books Book Title: History Of Henderson County, KY CHAPTER XIV. MISTAKE IN THE CENSUS-COTTON CULTURE-CONTEMPT OF COURT-HORSE RACING-WORKING GREEN RIVER-THE EARTHQUAKES-THE FIRST STEAMBOAT-FLOOD OF 1812-CUT MONEY- HURRICANE, ETC. THE year 1810 found the village of Henderson with a much smaller population than it was reported to have had in 1800. The census return for 1800 gave Henderson a population numbering two hundred and five souls; the census return for 1810 gave a population of one hundred and fifty-nine souls. There was evidently a mistake in the first enumeration, and this is to be accounted for on the ground of ignorance on the part of those employed to take the list. It is highly probable, and no doubt the fact, that the population of a greater part, if not the entire surrounding country, was accredited to the town in the census of 1800; certainly there was no falling off in the population from 1800 to 1810. The census return for 1800 gave Henderson County a population of one thousand four hundred and sixty-eight souls, and Henderson County at that time embraced all of the territory now embraced in the four Counties of Henderson, Hopkins, Union and Webster. The return for 1810 places the population at four thousand seven hundred and three souls, an increase of three thousand two hundred and thirty-five, and yet Hopkins County embracing a territory forty miles in length and twenty six in breadth had been taken from Henderson. It may be taken as a settled fact, therefore, that there is an important inaccuracy somewhere, and most positively certain that the village of Henderson did not contain a population of two hundred and five souls actual residents during the year 1800. It is very much to be doubted if the village of Henderson contained a legitimate population of one hundred and fifty-nine souls in 1810, for, by reference to the poll books of an election held on the first day of May, 1819, for the purpose of choosing five trustees of the village, only twenty-one votes were recorded. Estimating the population at seven to the voter, and assuming that the vote owing to its importance was pretty near a full one, the population of the place at that time would have been only one hundred and forty-seven. HEMP AND COTTON CULTURE. Hemp and cotton were both grown in the county this year, but with what success it is unknown. G. W. Warde, living on the Ohio River between Evansville and its mouth, cultivated both, and at the December term of the County Court made application for the establishing of an inspection warehouse. CONTEMPT OF COURT. At the July term of the Circuit Court Judge Broadnax had his temper and judicial courage thoroughly tested by Edward Cheatham, one of the venirmen, who was a man of some importance at that time. Mr. Cheatham engaged in conversation, and being rather strong of lung, interrupted the business of the court. He was admonished by the Judge and yet persisted. He was fined six dollars, and this seemed to incense him; he was fined ten dollars once, twice, and yet he refused to be quiet; he was fined thirty dollars, once, twice and three times, and still he defied his Honor, the Judge. Finally he was ordered to prison in the custody of the jailer, there to remain until his several fines, aggregating one hundred and sixteen dollars, were paid, or secured to the Commonwealth. He ranted and raved, as he journeyed on to the house of correction, and not until having slept one night a prisoner, and calculating the cost, did he come to a proper understanding of how foolishly he had acted, and the extent of his beligerency. He succumbed to the magesty of the law, and prayed pardon, which was granted next day. This determined course of Judge Broadnax ever afterwards secured him the respect due his position, and no more self-important men tempted his authority. HORSE RACING. Horse racing was extremely fashionable in 1810, and perhaps more than half a dozen tracks were located at different points in the county, where men would congregate and bet from a gill of cider to twenty-five, and even fifty dollars lawful money. Those men who frequented such places were, as a general rule, wild fellows, given to frolic and recklessness, and caring little for the Sabbath day. At the July term of court, Lewis Sellers and Willie Sugg, were both indicted for horse racing on the Sabbath and betting raccoon skins on the race. A PRIMITIVE TRAMP. About this time John Baptist Dezarno was quite a noted character in the county. He was able-bodied, but a notorious tramp, perhaps the first one ever known in this section of the country. He occupied his time in strolling through the county without any object in view, walking frequently from one end of the county to the other, in a day and night. The court directed General Samuel Hopkins to take possession of John Baptist, and deal with him as the law directed. This fact is mentioned for the benefit of the great army of tramps now beating over the country, particularly that they may sufficiently claim a starting point for their society. These "John Baptist Dezarnos" may in this, trace their history, and find a name agreeable to their organization. ANNUS MIRIBILLIS. To the people of Kentucky, especially those living in the Ohio Valley, 1811 was "annus miribillis"-a wonderful twelve month. It was the year of the great earthquakes, and the comet; of the Tippecanoe campaign, and of the first steamboat. Notwithstanding the whole earth was shaken from center to circumference, and great astronomical wonders fixed themselves upon the public mind, men continued to defy Divine Law in many ways. At the April court, Daniel Jones was indicted and fined for permitting a game (for money), commonly called "loo," to be played in his house. Horse racing was kept up, and the militia continued to drill three times a year. On the tenth day of January, the following act, amendatory to the act of 1808, was passed and approved: "Be it enacted, etc. That where Green River shall be the dividing line between two counties, it shall be the duty of the court of that county which is the oldest, or shall have first been established, to lay oft* so much of said river as shall bind thereon, into precincts and divisions, and to appoint a surveyor or overseer to each, and all the male tithables living within three miles, of the liver, shall be allotted to work thereon, and to keep the said river in repair. They shall, at least twice a year, and as often thereafter as shall be found necessary, proceed to clear out said river, as directed in the act of 1808. That the said river shall be considered, and is hereby declared navigable from the mouth of Knoblick Creek, in Casey County, to its junction with the Ohio." This system of improving and keeping clear the channel of the river was kept up until the State determined to lock and dam, an account of which will be found elsewhere. EARTHQUAKES. Mr. Collins, says: "The earthquakes of this year were the most alarming and extensive, and the most serious in effect, that ever occurred within the United States, east of the Rocky Mountains. The greatest force was spent in Kentucky, in Fulton County. After shaking the Valley of the Mississippi to its center, and extending its vibrations all over the Valley of the Ohio to Pittsburg and beyond, it passed the Alleghenies and their connecting mountain barriers and died away along the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. During the continuance of this appalling phenomenon, which commenced by distant rumbling sounds, succeeded by discharges, as if a thousand pieces of artillery were suddenly exploded, the earth rocked to and fro, vast chasms opened, whence issued columns of water, sand and coal, accompanied by hissing sounds, caused, perhaps, by the escape of pent up gas, while ever and anon, flashes of electricity gleaned through the troubled cloud of night, rendering the darkness doubly horrible. The current of the Mississippi River was driven back upon its source with the greatest velocity for several hours, in consequence of an elevation of its bed, but its accumulated waters came booming on, overtopping the barrier thus formed, and carried everything before them with resistless power. Boats then floating on the surface, shot down the declivity like an arrow from a bow, amid roaring billows and the wildest commotion. "A few days action of its powerful current sufficed to wear away every vestige of the barrier thus strangely interposed, and its waters moved on to the ocean. The day that succeeded this night of terror, brought no sollace in its dawn. Shock followed shock, a dense cloud of vapor overshadowed the land, through which no struggling sunbeam found its way to cheer the desponding heart of man. Hills disappeared and lakes were found in their stead. Numerous lakes became elevated ground, over the surface of which vast heaps of sand were scattered in every direction. In many places, the earth for miles was sunk below the general level of the country without being covered with water, leaving an impression in minature, of a catastrophe, much more important in its effects, which had preceded it ages before. "One of the lakes formed, is sixty or seventy miles in length, and from three to twenty miles in breadth-in some places very shallow-in others, from fifty to one hundred feet in depth." This was on the morning of December 16, 1811. Twenty-seven shocks, all distinct and violent, were felt and counted before daylight. They continued until the twenty-first of December, with decreasing violence, and were repeated at intervals until February, 1812. The shocks came from a little northward of east, and proceeded to the westward. An eye witness who was in a flat-boat loaded with produce, bound for New Orleans, thus narrated the scene: "In the middle of the night there was a terrible shock and jarring of the boats, so that the crews were all awakened and hurried on deck with their weapons of defense in their hands, thinking the Indians were rushing on board. The ducks, geese, swans and various other aquatic birds, whose numberless flocks were quietly resting in the eddies of the river, were thrown into the greatest tumult, and with loud screams expressed their alarm in accents of terror. "As soon as it was light enough to distinguish objects the crews were all up making ready to depart. "Directly a loud roaring and hissing was heard, like the escape of steam from a boiler, accompanied by a most violent agitation of the shores and tremendous boiling up of the waters of the Mississippi in huge swells, rolling the waters below, back on the descending stream, and topping the boats so violently that the men with difficulty could stand on their feet. The sand bars and points of the island gave way, swallowed up in the tumultuous bosom of the river, carrying down with them the cottonwood trees, cracking and crashing, while they disappeared beneath the flood. The water of the river, which the day before was tolerably clear, changed to a reddish hue, and became thick with mud thrown up from its bottom. The earth on the shores, opened in wide fissures, and closing again threw the water, sand and mud in huge jets higher than the tops of the trees. The athmosphere was filled with a thick vapor or gas to which the light imparted a purple tinge altogether different from the autumnal haze of Indian summer or that of smoke From the temporary check to the current by the heaving up of the bottom, the sinking of the bank and sand bars into the bed of the stream, the river rose in a few minutes five or six feet, and again rushed forward with redoubled impetuosity, hurrying along the boats, now set loose by the horror-struck crew, as in less danger on the water than at the shore, where the banks threatened every moment to destroy them by the falling earth. "Many boats were overwhelmed in this manner and their crews perished with them. Numerous boats were wrecked on the snags, and old trees thrown up from the bottom of the river where they had quietly reposed for ages, while others were sank or stranded on the bars or islands." Eneas McCallister, father of John E. McCallister, was in one of the flat-boats spoken, of, and witnessed the frightful scenes. He says the scenes which occurred for several days during the repeated shocks were horrible. The most destructive ones took place in the beginning, although they were repeated for many weeks, becoming lighter and lighter until they died away. The sulphurated gases that were discharged during the shocks tainted the air with their noxious effluvia, and so strongly impregnated the water of the river to the distance of one hundred and fifty miles below, that it could hardly be used for any purpose for a number of days. The bottoms of several fine lakes in the vicinity were elevated so as to become dryland and have since been planted with corn. New Madrid, which in 1805 contained between 300 and 400 inhabitants, was almost depopulated. The bluff bank upon which the town stood, fifteen or twenty feet above the summer floods, sunk so low that the next rise covered it to the depth of five feet. Reel Foot Lake, Fulton County, was formed by these successive shocks, and is now seventeen miles long, and from three-quarters of a mile to two and a half miles wide, and over twenty feet deep in places, Mr. Charles Joseph Latrobe, in the first volume of his "Ramble in North America," and who was a passenger on the "Orleans," the first steamboat that ever passed down the Ohio River, left an account of the earthquake as it appeared on the Ohio. The boat was between the Yellow Bank, now Owensboro, and the mouth of the Ohio, at the time of the great commotion. He says: "When we arrived about five miles below the Yellow Banks (Owensboro) the boat was moored to the opposite bank near a vein of coal. A large quantity was found already quarried, and conveyed to the shore by depredators who had not found means to carry it off, and with this they commenced loading the boat. While thus engaged the voyagers were accosted in great alarm by the squatters of the neighborhood, who inquired if they had not heard strange noises on the river and in the woods during the course of the preceding day, and perceived the shores shake, insisting that they had repeatedly felt the earth tremble. Hitherto nothing extraordinary had been perceived. "The following day they pursued their monotonous voyage. The weather was observed to be oppressively hot, the air misty, still and dull, and though the sun was visible like a glowing ball of copper, his rays hardly shed more than a mournful twilight on the surface of the water. "As they sat on deck they ever and anon heard a rushing sound and violent splash, and saw large portions of the earth tearing awa from the land and falling into the river, Everyone onboard the boat appeared thunderstruck. The comet had disappeared about this time, which circumstance was noticed with awe by the crew. "The second day after leaving the Yellow Banks, the sun rose over the forests, the same ball of fire, and the air was thick, dull and oppressive as before. "The portentious signs of this terrible natural convulsion continued and increased. The pilot, alarmed and confused, affirmed that he was lost, as he found the channel everywhere altered, and where he had hitherto known deep water, there lay numberless trees with their roots upwards. "The trees were seen waving and nodding on the bank, without a wind. Towards evening the officers of the boat found themselves at a loss for a landing place for shelter. They had usually brought to under the shore, but everywhere they saw the high banks disappearing, overwhelming many a flat-boat and raft, from which the owners had landed and made their escape. "A large island in mid channel, which was selected by the pilot as the better alternative, was sought for in vain, having disappeared entirely. "Thus in doubt and terror they proceeded hour after hour till dark, when they found a small island and rounded to, mooring at the foot of it. "Here they lay, keeping watch on deck during the long autumnal night, listening to the sound of the waters, which roared and gurgled horridly, around them, and hearing from time to time the rushing earth slide from the shore and the commotion, as the fallen mass of earth and trees were swallowed up by the river." During a great part of the time of which Mr. Latrobe has written he was floating along the northwest border of Henderson County. The earthquakes which prevailed during this year were very distinctly felt in this county, though not with much disastrous effects as elsewhere, and in no case extending to the loss of life The shocks were felt here at the same hours they were felt in other parts of Kentucky. The population at that time became intensely uneasy, and believed the end was nigh at hand. When the first shock came they became devout in one night, thus the matter rested until the second shock came, when another devout paroxysm came over them. It rested again until a third shock produced another devout fit. The earthquake did not return soon, and the people concluded the devil would not send for them for a few years more, and determined in the meantime to be merry. From the best information attainable, it is supposed that the shocks in and around Henderson were perhaps a little worse than they were at Louisville, simply because Henderson was much nearer the center of the violence. Mr. Jared Brooks kept a detailed and careful record of the shocks. EIGHTY-SEVEN SHOCKS In all were enumerated by him as occurring during the week-December 16, 1811. Three of the first rate, two of the second, three of the third, one of the fourth, twelve of the fifth and sixty-six of the sixth. The next week, the last of the month and year, one hundred and fifty-six shocks were observed, nearly all of the sixth rate, and none of the first, second, third or fourth. The following is the scale adopted by Mr. Brooks for the rating of the concussions or tremors: "First rate-Most tremendous, so as to threaten the destruction of the town, and which would soon effect it, should the action continue with the same degree of violence, buildings oscillate largely and irregularly, and grind against each other, the walls split and begin to yield, chimneys, parapets and gable ends break in various directions and topple to the ground. "Second rate-Less violent, but severe. "Third rate-Moderate, but alarming to the people generally. "Fourth rate-Perceptible to the feeling of those who are still, and not subject to other motion or sort of jarring that might resemble this. "Sixth rate-Although oftentimes causing a strange sort of sensation, absence and sometimes giddiness, the motion is not to be ascertained positively, but by the vibrators placed for that purpose." During these times when earthquakes were of hourly occurrence, it was customary to suspend some object to act as a pendulum in every room and judge from the length of its vibrations the degree of danger. THE FIRST STEAMBOAT To vex the waters of the Ohio, was the "Orleans," built at Pittsburg in the summer and fall of this year, by Robert Fulton and Robert M. Livingston. Her tonnage was from two hundred to four hundred, with low pressure engine. She was on her first voyage during the great earthquake. The Orleans lanrded at Henderson, and, in connection with the almost continued movement of the earth, created quite a commotion. The novel appearance of the vessel, looking more like the pictures of Noah's Ark, than a modern steamer, excited a mixture of terror and surprise among many of the settlers on the banks, whom the rumor of such an invention had never reached. The extraordinary sound which filled the air as the pent-up steam was suffered to escape from the valve on rounding to, produced general alarm, and many thought that the devil incarnate had actually arrived, and was shaking the earth with his great wheel. Some took to the woods, while others stood in motionless stupor, victims of absolute fright. Thus, in one year, the people of the new world were astounded by the appearance of unheard of earth shaking, a steamboat and a comet. "OTHER EARTHQUAKES." The shocks of earthquakes did not go away with the last hours of 1811, but continued during a large part of 1812, not wholly ceasing until the lapse of several months. During the week ending January 5, 134 shocks were noticed; during the next, 161; then in successive weeks, 65, 91, 209,175, 86, 292, 139, 58 and 221. During thirteen weeks, 1874 shocks end tremors were recorded, most of them, however, (1667) being of the sixth rate. On the seventh day of this year the most tremenduous earthquake yet experienced, preceded by frequent slight motions for several minutes, then gradually moderated by exertions of lessening strength, but continued a constant motion more than two hours. In January of this year, the river closed, and on the twenty-third day broke up suddenly, proving a most disastrous time for navigators of the Ohio. By an act of the Legislature, approved February 8th, Henderson, Muhlenburg, Hopkins and Union Counties were constituted the Nineteenth Senatorial District, and Henderson County again given one Representative. Hopkins and Union were made one Representative District, and given one Representative. John King, Robert Dixon and Colonel Robert Smith, of this county, were soldiers under General Samuel Hopkins in his Indian campaign in the northwest, and fought at the battle of Tippecanoe under General Harrison. FIRST LEGAL OUTLAWRY. April 6, 1812, Mary M. Taylor and Joseph Wendell, of whom notice has heretofore been made, were outlawed in three cases, this being the first instance of the kind in the court history of the county. FIRST INDICTMENT FOR A CHALLENGE. William Allen enjoyed the distinction of being the first person indicted for sending a challenge to fight a duel. . Record books prior to 1812 were made of the heaviest and best paper, unruled, and yet chirographers performed their work with as much evenness and accuracy as though well defined lines were drown for their guidance. The first book ruled, was used at this court, and such have been continued in use ever since. FIRST DIVORCE SUIT. The first suit for divorce was tried at this court-Joseph Vankirk, vs. Nancy Vankirk. FLOOD OF 1812. During the April term of the court, the Ohio overflowed its banks, and the Judge ordered the discharge of the grand jury in order that those living on the river might go to their homes and save their property from the flood. "CUT MONEY." For many years prior to 1813-indeed from the beginning, there was a recognized scarcity of small change, and men resorted to all sorts of means to remedy the difficulty. Silver pieces were cut into halves, quarters and even eighths, and passed current as though legalized by law. No trouble was experienced by this means, but on the contrary, everyone acquiesced in the custom, and received the pieces in exchange for goods, wares, merchandise and debts of every character whatever. The first recognition of this money was by act of the General Assembly approved January 21, 1813, as follows: "Be it enacted, etc., That when an agent of any non-resident is about to pay into the Treasury any cut money as revenue, such cut money shall be subject to a discount of three per centum, unless such agent shall verify on oath, that the cut silver then offered was received from such non-resident for the purpose aforesaid." At this session of the Legislature, Henderson County was granted an additional Justice of the Peace. HURRICANE OF 1813. During this year a furious hurricane swept with terrific violence across the lower part of the county, uprooting monster trees and hurling them right and left, as though they were playthings. It cut a swath, clean and clear, but left a tangled, confused mass of trees and underbrush, which, in after years, proved an insurmountable barrier to be crossed, even by men on foot. This was the first great blow of wind known at that time, and coming on the disappearance of the earthquakes, necessarily created considerable consternation among the early settlers. Outside of the fearful destruction of timber, no other damage was done. KILLED BY WOLVES. On a cold night, in November, a negro returning from a hog-killing, four or five miles out from the town, with a supply of fresh meat in his possession, was trailed by the wolves in large numbers, and attacked early in the night. He defended himself with all the power at his command, but before assistance reached him, was killed and literally torn to pieces by the hungered wild animals. His body was discovered the next day, a few paces from the pathway, horribly mutilated and torn. It was also in this year, that John Standley, father of Senator Standley, who departed this life a few years ago, had a brief but exciting experience with a large and finely proportioned bruin, on the banks of Canoe Creek, somewhere between the bridges on the Owensboro and Knoblick Roads. Fortunately for Mr. Standley, (it will be observed, that in early times, a "d" was used in his name), he was accompanied by old Tom Nigger, a colored man, who subsequently became quite noted in the county. Mr. Standley and the bear embraced one another, and in the hugging frolick the bear was so badly worsted that he retreated in haste to his den in the woods. In the summer of this year, the two-story brick occupied by Dr. Thomas J. Johnson, which stood on the corner of Main and First Streets, was built. The timbers used in this building were sawed by McCormick's Mill, above the mouth of Green River, and rafted from that point by Mr. Payne Dixon. Thomas Anderson was the contractor who built the house, and at that time, and for at least four decades thereafter, this building was by far the most imposing to be found anywhere in the town. It was a large, two-story brick, and considered a good building since the late war. Submitted by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com Additional Comments: Extracted from: HISTORY OF HENDERSON COUNTY, KENTUCKY, BY EDMUND L. STARLING, COMPRISING HISTORY OF COUNTY AND CITY, PRECINCTS, EDUCATION, CHURCHES, SECRET SOCIETIES, LEADING ENTERPRISES, SKETCHES AND RECOLLECTIONS, AND BIOGRAPHIES OF THE LIVING AND DEAD. ILLUSTRATED. HENDERSON, KY, 1887. This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/kyfiles/