From: KyArchives [archives@genrecords.org] Sent: Thursday, December 28, 2006 1:49 PM To: Ky-Footsteps Subject: Chapter.I,.Early.History.Of.Ky.1884.Todd.HISTORY-Books Chapter I, Early History Of Ky 1884 Todd County KyArchives History Books Book Title: Counties Of Todd And Christian, Kentucky CHAPTER I. THE EARLY HISTORY OF KENTUCKY—ORIGIN OF ITS SETTLEMENT—PIONEER PROGRESS—FIRST SURVEYS—EARLY POLITICAL ORGANIZATION—CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY—MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT—COUNTY ORGANIZATIONS. IN preparing an historical sketch of Todd County, Ky., the logical impulse is to go back of the arbitrary limits of this subject, and trace somewhat of the remoter causes to which this county owes its origin. Within the narrow scope of this political division there is little to suggest the thrilling exploits, the noble endurance and tender romance which so richly embellish the historic annals of the "dark and bloody ground." Whatever his localities the true Kentuckian cherishes these pioneer legends as a priceless legacy and his rightful inheritance, and thus the writer is irresistibly led back to that undiscovered country in which the passing years have gathered this magnificent display of prosperous communities. In Kentucky the wilderness has indeed blossomed as the rose; the dark and bloody ground become the famed home of beauty and bravery. Nowhere else have the predominant traits of the sons and daughters of the land reached more perfect fruition: nowhere else does fatherland receive the devotion of more loyal hearts or a loftier patriotism from its children. But how shall the great transformation be measured? More facile pens than ours have made the attempt in vain. Past generations have labored, and the present has enterd into their labors; others have sown, and the present reaps the harvest of their sowing; the bold founders of this Commonwealth, whose deeds are emblazoned on every page of the Nation's early history, live again in the career of their children. Where could the pen of a ready writer seek grander inspiration, or the worthy sons of noble sires find loftier motives than in the annals of this fair land? Early Explorations.—Kentucky lies within the region granted by royal charter to the colony of Virginia. For a hundred years it remained unexplored, unnamed and unprovided for, save to be included in the outlying County of Virginia for judicial purposes. In 1776 it formed a part of the comprehensive County of Fincastle, Va., and on the 31st of December of this year it was erected into a separate county, under the Indian name signifying dark and bloody ground, which it still bears, though somewhat modified in spelling and pronunciation. The vast territory thus erected into a separate county contained at this time something less than two hundred white inhabitants. The natural beauty of the country and the rare advantages offered for settlement, however, had long been known. As early as 1735 John Sailing, who was captured by the Indians, had penetrated this region with his captors, and escaping had spread the story of its beauty throughout the frontiers. Some fifteen years later Dr. Thomas Walker, with a small party of Virginians, entered what is now the State of Kentucky, at Cumberland Gap, and had pushed his explorations to the discovery of the Cumberland, Kentucky and Big Sandy Rivers. Subsequently Christopher Gist, agent of the Ohio Company, and Capt. Harry Gordon, a Government Engineer, at different times made explorations along the course of the Ohio River. The land of promise thus discovered and duly described was too difficult of access to attract practical attention save from the hardiest of those times. It was not until 1769, therefore, that the pioneers of that immigration which eventually possessed the land entered this famous hunting-ground. In this memorable year John Findlay, who had been here previously on a trading expedition, piloted a worthy band of hunters, composed of Daniel Boone, John Stewart, Joseph Holden. James Mooney and William Cool, to this region. This party had come from the Yadkin River in North Carolina, and made the journey to a spot on "Red River, the northernmost branch of the Kentucky," in thirty-eight days. The party continued hunting with the greatest success until December 22, when Boone and Stewart, rambling apart from the rest, were captured by a party of Indians. Escaping after seven days' captivity, they returned to their camp to find it destroyed and their companions gone. Undaunted, the two determined to remain, and were soon joined by Squire Boone and another adventurer. Shortly afterward Stewart was killed by the Indians, which so alarmed the remaining companion of the Boones that he returned home alone. The brothers were thus left alone in the boundless wilderness. On May 1, 1770, Squire Boone returned to North Carolina for a supply of horses, provisions and ammunition, leaving Daniel alone, without bread, salt or sugar, and without the companionship of even a horse or dog. In the latter part of the succeeding July Squire Boone returned with the supplies, and the two brothers remained until March, 1771, when they returned to their home in North Carolina. In 1770 a party of forty hunters, organized for a hunting and trapping expedition west of the Alleghany Mountains, started from southwestern Virginia. Nine of them, under the lead of Col. James Knox, reached the country south of the Kentucky River in the vicinity of Green River and the Lower Cumberland. Here they remained some two years, without crossing any trail of the Boones, creating alarm among their friends for their safety, and gaining the sobriquet of the "Long hunters." Kentucky thenceforth became the favorite resort for the more adventurous hunters of the older settlements, and many who subsequently became prominent in the pioneer annals of the new State were among the number. Early Surveys and Settlements.—The first authorized survey made by an official surveyor in this Territory was in the northeast corner of the State, in what is now Lawrence and Greenup Counties. One plat covered the present site of the town of Louisa, and the other eleven miles from the mouth of the Big Sandy, on the river. These were made for John Fry, to whom the lands were conveyed by patents. The corners were marked with the initials "G. W.," and it is believed in the locality that the surveys were made by George Washington himself, although no documentary evidence can be found to sustain this belief. These surveys, however, were probably not induced by the reports of the hunters in the interior of this region, but in the following year the royal Governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore, dispatched a party of surveyors down the Ohio River to select and survey lands in the newly opened country for himself. One party, under Capt. Thomas Bullitt, selected lands under his warrant along the river from the falls to Salt River, and up that river to Bullitt's Lick; the other, under James McAfee, following up the Kentucky River, surveyed the flats about the present site of Frankfort. In August of 1773 Bullitt platted the village of Louisville, probably under the same authority, but the Revolution occurring soon afterward brought these schemes on the part of the representative of royalty to naught. In May of the following year Capt. James Harrod, with a considerable party, laid out Harrodsburg, and erected a number of cabins, constituting the first attempt to effect a permanent settlement in the new country. Soon after this, in the same year, Simon Kenton cultivated corn on the site of Maysville, but both points were abandoned the same year on account of the Indian hostilities. The savages noted the encroachments of the whites upon their hunting-grounds with alarm. Notwithstanding the fact that the Six Nations had assumed to dispose of all the territory south of the Ohio and west of the Tennessee Rivers to the English by the treaty made in 1768 at Fort Stanwix, the tribes in possession of the land refused to recognize the validity of such a treaty, and began to offer a vigorous .opposition to the settlement of the whites. In this year Col. Henderson projected a scheme by which, in consideration of £10,000, he should acquire the territory between the Ohio, Kentucky and Cumberland Rivers as far east as the Cumberland Mountains. While this negotiation was proceeding between Henderson, representing a syndicate of North Carolinians, and a chief of the Cherokees, Daniel Boone had been employed to cut out a road from Cumberland Gap s to the site of the projected capital of this new territory. His party consisting of thirty men was attacked by the Indians, principally of the Shawanese nation, and while the attack did not frustrate Boone's plans nor greatly hinder him it exhibited the short-sighted character of the scheme in which Henderson was engaged. Boone at once caused a fort to be erected on the south side of the Kentucky, and sent word to Henderson of the progress of the expedition. Having consummated the arrangements with the savages Col. Henderson brought a considerable colony to the new fort, raising the military force to sixty men. Encouraged by this acquisition to the pioneer strength, those who had abandoned Harrodsburg returned, and forts were soon erected at this point, and others at Georgetown, and near Stanford, called Logan's Fort. Henderson's scheme, while based upon a misconception of the temper of the whites as well as Indians, and in defiance of the proclamations of the Governors of Virginia and North Carolina, nevertheless did much to hurry forward and establish the early settlement of Kentucky. Henderson & Company at once opened a land office at Boonesboro, at which by December 1, 1775, some 560,000 acres of land were entered, deeds being issued by this company as "Proprietors of the Colony of Transylvania." A difficulty arose at the outset from the conflicting claims of the neighboring settlements established at Harrodsburg, Boiling Spring and at Logan's Fort. This was adjusted, and resulted in a call for a meeting of representatives chosen by the people of these settlements, who in pursuance to this call met at Boonesboro to agree upon a proprietary government. Eighteen representatives assembled and organized on the 23d of May, 1775. The session lasted some four days, which were devoted to the passage of nine acts: For establishing courts of judicature and practice; for regulating a militia; for the punishment, of criminals; to prevent swearing and Sabbath-breaking; for writs of attachment; for ascertaining Clerks' and Sheriffs' fees; to preserve the range; for improving the breed of horses; for preserving game; after which the body adjourned to meet in the following September. What might have been the outcome of this ambitious venture if the originators had been equal to the demands of the situation cannot well be determined. Some difficulty arose among the proprietors, which eventually wrecked the whole venture. Through this dissension the force at Boonesboro, which had reached eighty men, was reduced by June to fifty, and was steadily declining. In the meanwhile another difficulty presented itself. The terms offered to those first assisting in the venture were exceptionally liberal, but it appears that the proprietors, believing the project established beyond the fear of failure, began to show an eagerness to reap the advantages of their bargain with the Indians, and placed what was considered an exorbitant price upon the land, the cost of entry and surveying. This aroused the pioneers to a consideration of the grounds upon which the company based its claims, and resulted January 3, 1776, in a remonstrating petition to the Legislature of Virginia, signed by eighty-four men. Under the circumstances, with these remonstrants unpropitiated, there was no hope for the final success of the venture, and while the company exerted themselves to save the purchasers from loss, they seem to have been wholly unfitted to save the matter from total wreck. The Legislature did not act upon the matter until November 4, 1778, when it declared the company's purchase void on the ground that under the charter the Commonwealth alone had the right to purchase land of the savages, "but as the said Richard Henderson & Company have been at very great expense in making said purchase and in settling the said lands—by which this Commonwealth is likely to receive great advantage, by increasing its inhabitants and establishing a barrier against the Indians —it is just and reasonable to allow the said Richard Henderson & Company a compensation for their trouble and expense." This compensation was a grant of 200,000 acres at the mouth of Green River in Kentucky, and a similar grant in North Carolina, in consideration of the company's claim in Tennessee. The result of the "Transylvania" project, while not to the serious disadvantage of any individual, was greatly to the advantage of the pioneer settlements of central Kentucky. Indian Demonstrations.—The savages had not been inattentive to the activity of the whites. They met the very first organized party with slaughter, and up to 1775 had succeeded in disheartening and driving out all who had effected a temporary settlement. The cluster of settlements near and including Boonesboro seems to have impressed the natives with the necessity of better preparations to resist the encroachments of the whites which were growing more formidable in their character. In 1777 the attacks of the Indians, which had hithorto been made with very little concert of action, began to evince evidence of some guiding influence, and were so well directed that all settlements were soon abandoned save those at Boonesboro, Harrodsburg and Logan's Fort, which, combined, could barely muster 102 men. Early in the following year, Boone, with thirty men, was at the lower Blue Licks engaged in making salt, when he was surprised by a war party of some 200 Indians on their way to attack Boonesboro. The whole party was captured, but not before they had succeeded in gaining by parley very favorable terms of capitulation. By these terms, which were faithfully observed by their captors, the whites were taken to Detroit and turned over to the English Commandant. Boone, however, was reserved and taken by the Indians to Chillicothe, where his captors treated him with great kindness and permitted him to hunt with but little restraint upon his movements. While here he learned of an expedition forming for the attack of Boonesboro, and saw some 350 Indians assembled to take part in the movement. He determined to make his escape and warn the settlements of the danger, and was so fortunate as to effect it immediately. He made the journey of 160 miles in ten days, undergoing extraordinary privations and sufferings. His escape, however, had the effect to again defer the premeditated attack, and after putting the place in the best possible condition to resist the onslaught, the settlers waited for several weeks in vain expectation of the foe. Impatient of this delay, Boone and Kenton with some thirty men set out to destroy one of the Indian towns on Paint Creek. While on this expedition and in the enemy's country, Boone learned that the Indian army directed against Boonesboro had passed him, and hastily turning about he conducted his band with all speed, marching night and day, back to their starting point. The returned pioneers reached Boonesboro just before the appearance of the savages. The attacking force consisted of 500 Indians and Canadians under the command of Capt. Duquesne. Such an army had never before been seen in Kentucky, and the little garrison numbering barely fifty men, without hope of assistance from Harrodsburg or Logan's Fort, which were both strongly menaced, might well view the chances of successful resistance with despair. Every artifice which savage cunning could suggest or the skill of the white allies could render effective was employed, but in vain. For nine days the vigorous attack was resisted with steady fortitude, the keen marksmen of the fort inflicting a serious loss upon the unprotected assailants. On the tenth day the Indians withdrew, having lost thirty men killed, and many more wounded. The Kentuckians suffered a loss of two killed and four wounded, but the destruction of stock and improvements proved a very serious damage. Clarkes Campaign.—It was evident that these attacks were inspired, and munitions supplied, by the British stationed at Kaskaskia and Vincennes. George Rogers Clarke, who had visited Kentucky in 1775, had taken in the situation from a military standpoint, and had conceived a plan by which the infant settlements of Kentucky might be freed from this additional source of danger. He communicated it to Gov. Henry of Virginia, and had no difficulty in impressing him with the advantages of its successful prosecution. But the colony was then in common with the other twelve engaged in the stirring scenes of the Revolution. This struggle demanded every resource of the Revolutionists, and however attractive the plan might appear, the means for its accomplishment was felt to be a serious addition to the already great burden imposed by tho [sic] war. The Governor gave his support to the plan, however, and by June, 1778, Major Clarke had reached the Falls of the Ohio with 153 men composed of the Virginia line and Kentucky scouts. Proceeding down the river in the latter part of this month he disembarked on the Illinois shore and marched thence through the wilderness to Kaskaskia, a distance of 120 miles. The expedition was a complete success; the English force, completely surprised, surrendered without a shot on July 4, and two days later Cahokia furnished another bloodless victory. While engaged in securing the fruits of his victory here, Clarke learned that preparations were going forward to launch another expedition against the Kentucky frontier from Vincennes. Learning also that the post at that season was greatly weakened by the dispersion of the English forces, he by agents secured the voluntary capitulation of the post, and leaving a garrison he completed the occupation of the territory, which was erected into a county under the direction of Col. John Todd. Clarke then retired to Louisville where a fort was erected and his command rendezvoused. In December of 1778, Gov. Hamilton, the English Commandant at Detroit, made a descent upon Vincennes and captured it. In the following February, Clarke with 170 men recaptured the post together with eighty-one prisoners and $50,000 worth of military stores. This victory decided the contest in this direction, and with Clarke at Louisville, no further danger was apprehended from the Illinois country. But peace was not to be so cheaply gained. The Indian stronghold in northwestern Ohio was still accessible to the English, and the savages accurately forecasting the inevitable result of the advancing tide of immigration needed less incentive from without than ever before. Indian attacks were returned by counter invasions only to cease with the treaty of peace in 1782. In May, 1779, occurred the unfortunate expedition of Col. Bowman against Old Chillicothe; in October of the same year the savages avenged the attack by the surprise and slaughter of fifty out of a party of seventy men bringing military supplies down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh; June, 1780, Col. Byrd, of the English Army, with six pieces of artillery and 600 Indians and Canadians captured Ruddle's and Martin's Stations; in July Col. Clarke with two regiments of troops surprised and destroyed the Indian towns of Chillicothe, Piqua, and Laramie's store; in 1781 the Chickasaws and Choctaws attacked Fort Jefferson, in Ballard County, but were repulsed with terrible slaughter; in 1782, Indian hostilities were unusually early and active. In May, a party of twenty-five Wyandots invaded Kentucky and committed some shocking depredations in sight of Estill's Station some three miles southeast of Richmond in Madison County. Capt. Estill collected a force and pursued them, when ensued one of the most deadly encounters known to the annals of Indian, warfare. It resulted in a drawn fight, but is generally known as Estill's defeat. There were a number of other minor collisions between the two antagonizing forces, but these, though fatal to more or less engaged, were only the pattering drops which precede the tempest. In August, an army of 500 Indian warriors, made up of contingents from all the northwestern tribes, rapidly and secretly traversed northern Kentucky, and appeared before Bryant's Station, near Lexington, as unexpectedly as if they had risen by the hand of a magician from the soil. The garrison was about to march to the succor of a neighboring station and throw open the gates of the stockade to march out when the Indians discovered themselves. Aid was summoned from Lexington, which fell into an ambuscade and sustained a considerable loss. The garrison, however, protected by their palisades suffered little, while inflicting a terrible punishment upon the savages, who made an attempt to force one of the gates. Fearful that the whole country would rise and fall upon them, the Indians hastily decamped on the following morning without having effected, their object. Soon after their retreat, 160 men had assembled from the neighboring stations. Col. Boone headed a strong party from Boonesboro; Col. Trigg brought up a force from the neighborhood of Harrodsburg, and Col. John Todd commanded the militia around Lexington. Others who held rank in this flower of the frontier militia were Majors Harlan, McBride, McGary, Levi Todd; Captains Bulger and Gordon. Gen. Logan had collected a strong force in Lincoln Gounty, and the force assembled, assured that he would soon join them, began to clamor to be led against the retreating savages. The officers, quite as eager, decided to bring the Indians to bay, and regardless of facts which should have urged them to the greatest caution, the force moved on without waiting for the forces under Gen. Logan. Boone, who was outranked by others, held a subordinate command, but impressed by the evidences of the Indians' desire for a fight counseled caution, which, however, the eagerness of the officers and troops failed to regard. The whites were caught in an ambuscade and cruelly repulsed with the loss of sixty men, among whom were Cols. Todd and Trigg. The repulse became a disorderly rout, each man finding his way back to Bryan's Station as best he could. In the following November Col. George Rogers Clarke led 1,000 riflemen into the heart of the Indian country. No resistance was offered. Their towns were reduced to ashes, their corn destroyed and the whole country laid waste. From this time forward Kentucky was free from Indian invasions, and only occasional depredations of minor importance kept alive the fear and hatred of the redskins. Development of the Settlements.—The present State of Kentucky was visited by various parties at different times from 1747 to 1772. The first of these which gave promise of the return of the parties were those made in 1773 by surveyors sent out by Dunmore and others. An "improver's cabin," a square of small logs, but neither roofed nor inhabited, was erected this year in Bracken County, but there were none elsewhere in the country at this time. In May, 1774, Capt. James Harrod settled near Harrodsburg with thirty-one persons, and soon after Isaac Hite with ten men joined them. These men erected their cabins in various places in the immediate vicinity, and in the following year Harrod established another settlement at Boiling Spring, six miles south of Harrodsburg. These settlements were temporarily abandoned, but were resumed later in this year, when the Transylvania Company made its settlement at Boonesboro. These, with the settlement formed by Col. Benjamin Logan, in Lincoln County, formed the "Transylvania Colony," and the nucleus of the State's growth. A single cabin was built near the site of Maysville by Simon Kenton, and a similar improvement by Floyd near the site of Louisville in this year. Other similar outlying improvements were projected, but all were abandoned in the same year, save the colony settlements in the valley of the Kentucky River. In 1776 important permanent settlements were made at Georgetown, in Scott County, at Lees-town near Frankfort, and in Washington County. In 1777 Ruddle's Station was established in Bourbon County, and at the Falls of the Ohio in 1778. In the following year were established Bryan's Station, and a settlement by Robert Patterson at Lexington, in Fayette County; Bowman's Station in Mercer County; Brashear's Station in Bullitt County; and Martin's Station in Bourbon County. Each one of these stations and settlements was a center from which deployed an extended line of immigration, which chiefly confined the improvements to this valley. In this year the Virginia Legislature passed the celebrated Kentucky Land Law with very liberal settlement and pre-emption features, but out of which have grown some of the most difficult and vexatious land questions that have ever consumed the time of a court, or the substance of a litigant. The radical and incurable defect of the law was the neglect of Virginia to provide for the general survey of the whole country at the expense of the Government, and its regular subdivision, as was subsequently done by the United States. The plan of division by ranges and meridian lines had not then been suggested, but the Transylvania Company had conceived the idea of surveying "by the four cardinal points, except where rivers or mountains make it too inconvenient," and so far as this work proceeded was superior to what followed. By the Virginia law each possessor of a warrant was allowed to locate the same where he pleased, and was required to survey it at his own cost; but his entry was required to be so exact that each subsequent locator might recognize the land already taken up. To make a good entry, therefore, required a precision and accuracy of description which the early surveyors were not competent to make. All vague entries were declared null and void, and countless unhappy, vexatious lawsuits occurred, in which scant justice was secured to any one. In the unskillful hands of hunters and pioneers of Kentucky, entries, surveys and patents were filed upon each other, crossing each other's lines in inextricable confusion, the full fruition of which was not reached until the country became thickly settled. The immediate effect of the law was to cause a flood of immigration. The adventurous pioneer hunter was succeeded by the less generous-hearted hunter of land; in this pursuit they fearlessly braved the tomahawk of the Indian, and the rigid exactions of the forest. The surveyor's compass and chain were seen in the wilderness as frequently as the hunter's rifle, and during the years 1779-81 the absorbing object was to enter, survey and obtain a patent for the richest portions of the country. The year 1781 was distinguished by a very large immigration, and by prodigious activity in land speculation. The savages seemed to rightly appreciate the inevitable consequences of this activity on the part of the whites, and redoubled their efforts to successfully resist the wide-spreading encroachments. Every portion of the land was kept in alarm; Indian ambushes were constantly pouring death and injury upon men, women and children. Many lives were lost, but the settlements made great and daily advances in defiance of all obstacles. The rich lands of Kentucky were the prize of the first occupants, and thousands rushed to seize them. A noticeable feature of the earliest settlements was the great disparity in the number of the sexes. Callaway and Boone brought their families here in September of 1775, and the latter's wife and daughter were the first white females that stood upon the banks of the Kentucky. The wives and daughters of McGary, Hogan and Denton came about the same time, and were the first white women in Harrodsburg. In 1781 was a remarkable immigration of girls to Kentucky, and from that time onward few settlers came unattended by their families. In 1788 the Indians at first assumed a pacific attitude, and in the meantime the settlements made great advancement. Kenton, after a nine years' interval, reclaimed his settlement at Maysville, where he was subsequently joined by others, and the general course of immigration henceforth was by the Ohio River to Maysville and thence to the interior. Political Development.—Kentucky had been erected into a county of that name in 1776. In the spring of 1783 it was made a judicial district, and a court of criminal as well as civil jurisdiction was established, John Floyd, Samuel McDowell and George Muter being appointed Judges; John May, Clerk; and Walker Daniel, Prosecuting Attorney. The first session was held at Harrodsburg the same spring, Floyd and McDowell only being present, Muter not putting in an appearance until two years later. Seventeen cases were presented by the grand jury, nine for keeping tippling houses and eight for fornication, which probably illustrates the prevailing vices of the time. In the summer a log court house and jail, of hewed or sawed logs nine inches thick, were erected on the site of Danville, which subsequently became the seat of justice for the district. In the latter part of 1780 Kentucky County was divided into three counties—Jefferson, with John Floyd as Colonel; William Pope, Lieutenant-Colonel, and George May, Surveyor; Lincoln, with Benjamin Logan, Colonel; Stephen Trigg, Lieutenant-Colonel, and James Thompson, Surveyor; and Fayette, with John Todd, Colonel; Daniel Boone, Lieutenant-Colonel, and Col. Tom Marshall (father of the Chief Justice of the United States), Surveyor. In the summer of 1784 some Indian depredations were committed on the southern frontier, and the fear became general that a serious invasion was contemplated by the savages. Col. Logan, acting upon his information and belief, summoned a public assembly of the leading pioneers at Danville to consult on measures for the public safety. Upon examination of the laws then existing it was decided that no effectual expedition against the Indians could be legally carried into effect. There was absolutely no power known to the law capable of calling forth the resources of the country, however threatening the danger, and all legislation came from Richmond, separated from Kentucky by a long, tedious journey of many hundred miles over desert mountains and through interminable forests traversed by roving bands of hostile Indians. The situation was sufficiently serious to give rise to the feeling that the necessity for a nearer government was imperative. Under the circumstances, the calm, deliberative action of the Assembly is worthy of notice. Having no legal authority, this body published a recommendation that each militia company in the district should elect a delegate, who should repair to Danville on the 27th of December, 1784, and form a convention which should take into consideration the necessity of the situation. While there was no division of opinion as to the demands of the district, there was some as to the means to be employed in securing the necessary relief. The more judicious of the number assembled prevailed in council, and the convention, after setting forth the urgency of the case, recommended that a second convention be held in May, 1785, at Danville, to consider the advisability of a separation from Virginia. In the meantime this topic formed the great subject of discussion in primary assemblies. At the appointed time delegates, apportioned by counties, met at the seat of Justice and agreed upon five resolutions calling for a constitutional separation from Virginia, for a petition to the Legislature, an address to the people of Kentucky, and for another convention to which the action of this convention should be referred. A third convention assembled in the following August. In the meanwhile the situation became more alarming. Indian hostilities multiplied, and the people, thoroughly informed upon the subject, became exasperated, and demanded by numerous petitions that the only effectual remedy be applied without delay. Under such incitement the action of the new convention was speedy and direct. The petition to the Legislature was drawn up and placed in the hands of George Muter, Chief-Justice of the district, and Harry Innes, Attorney-General, to present to the Government at Richmond, while an address to the people of Kentucky, much less judicial in tone, was multiplied by ready pens and sent throughout the district. The Legislature received the petition with the best possible grace, acceded to the wishes of the petitioners, and by an act of January, 1786, required a fourth convention to be held at Danville in the following September which should determine whether it was the will of the district to become an independent State of the Confederacy. The convention which assembled under authority of this act found itself without a quorum in September, a majority of its delegates having joined an expedition under Gen. Clarke against the Indian towns in Ohio. It was therefore obliged to adjourn from time to time until the next January, 1787. But in the meantime, the minority present prepared a memorial to the Virginia Legislature informing it of the circumstances and suggesting some alterations in the provisions of the act under which the convention had assembled. This led to an entire revision of the act, by which it was required that a fifth convention be held in September, 1787, for the same purpose as proposed for the previous convention, and requiring a majority of two-thirds to effect a separation. The time at which the operation of Virginia laws should cease to operate was fixed on the 1st day of January, 1789, and the 4th of July, 1788, was fixed upon as the period before which Congress should consent to the admission of Kentucky to the Confederacy. This delay when the matter had seemed so urgent before this, while due largely to circumstances out of the control of both negotiating parties, nevertheless created a bitter state of feeling in Kentucky, which was further aggravated by National questions affecting the interests of the people. The fifth convention, however, quietly assembled and endorsed the action of its predecessors by a unanimous vote. An address to Congress was adopted praying that Kentucky might be admitted to the Confederation of States. Unfortunately this petition came before Congress in the transition period of the Nation when the Union was being evolved from the old Confederation, and the limitation set by the act of Virginia expired before Congress considered the question of admission, which was finally referred to the new Government. The filth convention had provided for another convention to assemble in the following year, by which it was hoped a Constitution could be formed and the machinery of Government at once put in motion. It met on the 28th of July, 1788, to learn that Congress had refused to act upon the petition for admission as a State. Anger and disappointment were strongly expressed in all quarters, and a proposition to form a Constitution without delay was strongly urged upon the convention. The net result of the convention's deliberations, however, was the adoption of a resolution calling for a seventh convention, to assemble in November of the same year, with general power to take the best steps for securing admission to the Union. The election of delegates to this convention developed a most exciting discussion, involving issues which threatened to seriously disturb the freshly laid foundations of the new Government. In November the seventh convention assembled and was at once launched upon the troubled sea of exciting debate. The disposition to seek separation and independence only through constitutional means was covertly but strongly assailed by a disposition to dispel the irritation and delay of repeated conventions by more radical measures. The convention was about equally divided in sentiment, though no one was ready to make a clear declaration of his intention. The friends of constitutional measures finally succeeded in passing a resolution addressed to the parent State, couched in temperate, respectful language, asking the good offices of Virginia in securing the admission of Kentucky into the Union. The convention then adjourned to meet again at a distant day. In the meantime the Legislature of Virginia, on receiving information of the action of Congress, passed a third act in relation to the separation of Kentucky, which required an eighth convention to meet in Danville in July, 1789, and giving this convention ample powers to provide for the formation of a State Government. The convention assembled under this act, and drew up a respectful remonstrance to certain of its provisions. This remonstrance was promptly acceded to and the obnoxious conditions repealed in an act which required the assembling of another convention in the following year. The ninth convention met in July, 1790, formally accepted the Virginia act of separation, memorialized Congress, asked Virginia's good offices in securing admission to the Union, and provided for the tenth convention to assemble in April, 1791, to form a State Constitution. On June 1, 1792, Kentucky became a State of the Union under the provisions of an act of Congress signed by the President February 4, 1791. Organization of Minor Divisions.—-During the period in which the public attention was concentrated upon the efforts to secure the independence of Kentucky as a State, the population and material prosperity of the district were rapidly increasing. In 1780 Louisville was chartered by the Legislature of Virginia; in 1783 Col. Broadhead established the first store there and the second in Kentucky, and this was followed the next year by another store established by Col. Wilkinson, who soon made the village the leading business point in the district. At this time there were in the village more than 100 cabins, 63 finished houses, 37 partly done, and 22 raised. This illustrates the rapid progress going on, and was proportionally true of the whole district. Nelson County was formed in 1784. In 1785 the counties of Bourbon, Mercer and Madison were erected, and the towns of Harrodsburg and Shippingport chartered. In 1786 Frankfort, Stanford and Washington were chartered, the latter having 119 houses four years later. In 1787 the first paper in the State, the Kentucky Gazette, was established at Lexington, and the towns of Beallsburg, Charleston, Maysville, Danville and Warwick were chartered. In the next year Bardstown was chartered, Columbia laid out, and the counties of Mason and Woodford organized. From this time forward the development of the country was so rapid and varied that no abstract which space will allow would give any adequate illustration. As the population increased towns sprang up and counties multiplied, the organization of which gives a pretty clear outline of the general development. The order of this expansion is gathered from the following list taken from Collins' Historical Sketches. Acts for the erection of new counties were passed in the order, at the dates and out of other counties, as below: NEW COUNTIES. FORMED FROM. YEAR. 1. Jefferson Kentucky 1780 2. Fayette Kentucky 1780 3. Lincoln Kentucky 1780 4. Nelson Jefferson 1784 5. Bourbon Fayette 1785 6. Mercer Lincoln 1785 7. Madison Lincoln 1785 8. Mason Bourbon 1788 9. Woodford Fayette 1788 10. Washington Nelson 1792 11. Scott Woodford 1792 12. Shelby Jefferson 1792 13. Logan Lincoln 1792 14. Clark Fayette and Bourbon 1792 15. Hardin Nelson 1792 16. Greene Lincoln and Nelson 1792 17. Harrison Bourbon and Scott 1793 18. Franklin Woodford, Mercer and Shelby 1794 19. Campbell Harrison, Scott and Mason 1794 20. Bullitt Jefferson and Nelson 1796 21. Christian Logan 1796 22. Montgomery Clark 1796 23. Bracken Mason and Campbell 1796 24. Warren Logan 1796 25. Garrard Mercer, Lincoln and Madison 1796 26. Fleming Mason 1798 27. Pulaski. Lincoln and Greene 1798 28. Pendleton Bracken and Campbell 1798 29. Livingston Christian 1798 30. Boone Campbell 1798 31. Henry Shelby 1798 32. Cumberland Greene 1798 33. Gallatin Franklin and Shelby 1798 34. Muhlenburg Logan and Christian 1798 35. Ohio Hardin 1798 36. Jessamine Fayette 1798 37. Barren Warren and Greene 1798 38. Henderson Christian 1798 39. Breckinridge Hardin 1799 40. Floyd Fleming, Montgomery and Mason 1799 41. Knox Lincoln 1799 42. Nicholas Bourbon and Mason 1799 43. Wayne Pulaski and Cumberland 1800 44. Adair Greene 1801 45. Greenup Mason 1803 46. Casey Lincoln 1806 47. Clay Madison, Knox and Floyd 1806 48. Lewis Mason 1806 49. Hopkins Henderson 1806 50. Estill Madison and Clark 1808 51. Caldwell Livingston 1809 52. Rock Castle Lincoln, Pulaski, Madison and Knox 1810 53. Butler Logan and Ohio 1810 54. Grayson Hardin and Ohio 1810 55. Union Henderson 1811 56. Bath Montgomery 1811 57. Allen Warren and Barren 1815 58. Daviess Ohio 1815 59. Whitley Knox 1818 60. Harlan Floyd and Knox 1819 61. Hart Hardin and Greene 1819 62. Owen Scott, Franklin and Greene 1819 63. Simpson Logan, Warren and Allen 1819 64. Todd Logan and Christian 1819 65. Monroe Barren and Cumberland 1820 66. Trigg Christian and Caldwell 1820 67. Grant Pendleton 1820 68. Perry Clay and Ford 1820 69. Lawrence Greenup and Floyd 1821 70. Pike Floyd 1821 71. Hickman Caldwell and Livingston 1821 72. Calloway Hickman 1822 73. Morgan Floyd and Bath 1822 74. Oldham Jefferson, Shelby and Henry 1823 75. Graves Hickman 1823 76. Meade... Hardin and Breckinridge 1823 77. Spencer Nelson, Shelby and Bullitt 1824 78. McCracken Hickman 1824 79. Edmonson Warren, Hart and Grayson 1825 80. Laurel Rock Castle, Clay, Knox and Whitley 1825 81. Russell Adair, Wayne and Cumberland 1825 82. Anderson Franklin, Mercer and Washington 1827 83. Hancock Breckinridge, Daviess and Ohio 1829 84. Marion Washington 1834 85. Clinton Wayne and Cumberland 1835 86. Trimble Gallatin, Henry and Oldham 1836 87. Carroll Gallatin 1838 88. Carter Greenup and Lawrence 1838 89. Breathitt Clay, Perry and Estill 1839 90. Kenton Campbell 1840 91. Crittenden Livingston 1842 92. Marshall Calloway 1842 93. Ballard Hickman and McCracken 1842 94. Boyle Mercer and Lincoln 1842 95. Letcher Perry and Harlan 1842 96. Owsley Clay, Estill and Breathitt 1843 97. Johnson Floyd, Lawrence and Morgan 1843 98. Larue Hardin 1843 99. Fulton Hickman 1845 100. Taylor Greene 1848 101. Powell Montgomery, Clark and Estill 1852 102. Lyon Caldwell 1854 103. McLean Daviess, Muhlenburg and Ohio 1854 104 Rowan Fleming and Morgan. 1856 105. Jackson Estill, Owsley, Clay, Laurel, Rock Castle and Madison 1858 106. Metcalfe Barren, Greene, Adair, Cumberland and Monroe 1860 107. Boyd Greenup, Carter and Lawrence 1860 108. Magoffin Morgan, Johnson and Floyd 1860 109. Webster Hopkins, Henderson and Union 1860 110. Wolfe Morgan, Breathitt, Owsley and Powell 1860 111. Robertson Nicholas, Harrison, Bracken and Mason 1867 112. Bell Harlan and Knox 1867 113. Menifee Bath, Morgan, Powell, Montgomery and Wolfe 1869 114. Elliott Morgan, Carter and Lawrence 1869 115. Lee Owsley, Estill, Wolfe and Breathitt 1870 116. Martin Pike, Johnson, Floyd and Lawrence 1870 Submitted by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com Additional Comments: Extracted from: COUNTIES OF TODD AND CHRISTIAN, KENTUCKY. HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL. EDITORS: J. H. BATTLE, TODD COUNTY HISTORY. W. H. PERRIN, CHRISTIAN COUNTY HISTORY. ILLUSTRATED. F. A. BATTEY PUBLISHING CO., CHICAGO AND LOUISVILLE. 1884. This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/kyfiles/