History

A Southern Household during the Years 1860 to 1865

Ellen S. Elmore Columbia, S. C, December, 1901 I am told it is my duty to write what I can personally recall of the days of our hard struggle with fate, and because it is so considered, I shall make the effort to penetrate the dark chambers of my heart and brain for what I know lies there, hidden away from even my present consciousness. To bring it back, I must take myself to the beginning of events that bore immediately upon the grand tragedy of the century, to the summer of i860, the last time our whole family was … Read more

Early Educational Interests in Todd County, Kentucky

Under the social influence described in these pages it will be easily understood that popular education must be attended by many difficulties. Its value and importance were certainly under-rated by all classes, and it gained a foothold in Kentucky only through the strenuous exertions of a far-sighted few. Education was at first entirely in the hands of the church, which established seminaries at various points, primarily for the preparation of the clergy for ministerial work, but which were at once accepted by the wealthy portion of the church membership as a convenient means to give their children such accomplishments as … Read more

Early Church Influence in Todd County, Kentucky

The people who laid the foundations of society in Todd County were a religious people. The great revival movement which originated in Logan County in 1800, spread over the new settlements of the State like a prairie fire, and set the whole land in a flame of religious ardor. It was a time when pious ardor broke through the restraining forms of the church, and expressed itself in the wildest ecstasy and most extravagant manifestations. There were but few church buildings of any character in this region, and the people came together in large camp-meetings, where the Spirit of the … Read more

Social Development of Todd County, Kentucky

THE early society of Todd County was derived from Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee. The natives of the latter State largely preponderated in the northern part of the county, while the Virginians and North Carolinians were found in about equal proportions in the southern part. The greater part of those who came here early were in limited financial circumstances, though the cheapness of the land and the opportunity of profitable speculation attracted a few who. were remarkably well-to-do for that period. There were few, if any, of outward marks of difference, and neighbors were too highly prized in the sparsely … Read more

Todd County, Kentucky Courts and Bar

Under the Constitution of 1799, there were three inferior courts, the Circuit Court, the County Court and the single Magistrate. The first was the same as at present, though in the scarcity of lawyers, the fashion was to travel the circuit, the Judge leading and the bar following as escort. Hopkinsville, Elkton, Russellville and Greenville were the principal points to which the practice of the time led the leading lawyers of the Todd County bar. The County Court was the great local arbiter of county interests, and was composed of a “competent number” of justices appointed from the county at … Read more