History

Public Buildings of Todd County, Kentucky

The general description of the first court house is contained in the order of the County Court quoted on a preceding page. Maj.. Gray undertook his part promptly, pushing it forward with great vigor. He made the brick on the public square, and completed it early in 1821. The finishing of the inside was delayed some time for lack of funds, and was not finally completed until September, 1822. The first story was devoted to the court, and the upper story to a large room which served the various purposes of jury room, Masonic lodge room, etc. The county officers … Read more

Political Development of Todd County, Kentucky

THE final act of State authority in forming and organizing Todd County was the location of the seat of justice. Several points, New-burg, Old Elkton and the present site were in competition for the location. The competition was not very active, and there was but little difference in the advantages offered. At Newburg, James Kendall had established a hotel, the ” half way house ” between Russellville and Hopkinsville, and proposed this location as the most central point eligible for the county seat. Old Elkton had the merit of a good start on the banks of the river, but the … Read more

Courtship and Marriage in Early Kentucky

Attending church had other merits to the young gallants of long ago than vigorous preaching. It was quite the thing if a young man had the means to escort his lady to church on horse back. The less fortunate walked and then ” went home ” with his girl after services. On such occasions it was no uncommon thing after getting out of sight of the church for the young lady to remove her morocco slippers and fine stockings and walk home with her escort barefooted. If Kennedy is to be trusted ” the general custom was to see your … Read more

Early Kentucky Amusements

The early sports were allied to useful occupations. Quiltings, wool-pickings and spinning-bees were made up by the women, when the afternoon was given to work and the night to games, the young men coming in to share the entertainment and escort the girls home. House-raisings, log-rollings and husking-bees were occasions when the men after a hard day’s work would spend, the evening with the young women invited in. As society developed, however, the times showed “smart signs of wickedness ” in place of these earlier amusements. Horse racing, shooting matches, raffling and dancing came in to disturb the staid people … Read more

The Log-Cabin

The log-cabin was the universal residence for years. But there are distinctions even in this simple class of structures, and the majority of those found here were of the better sort. While the larger number of the first settlers were not wealthy for even that day, there were some that were well-to-do, and there was manifested a disposition to secure all the comforts to be had at the cost of labor simply. The cabins therefore were as neat and comfortable as the rude carpentry and materials at hand would afford. The roof was made of clapboards; boards were supplied by … Read more

A Kentucky Barren

The name popularly applied to the region embraced within the limits of Barren, Warren, Simpson, Logan, and the lower part of Todd, Christian and Trigg Counties, is very misleading to the modern ear. To the pioneers of the early part of this century, impressed by the stern experiences of frontier life, it meant a land ” where every prospect pleases” the eye only to dupe the understanding. They had been brought up in a timbered country, and had been educated to believe that it was necessary not only to their comfort but to their very existence. They had an exaggerated … Read more

The Pioneers of Todd County, Kentucky

The early immigration to the State of Kentucky, as has been noted, came to the blue grass region and upper Kentucky Val-ley. A few of the more adventurous spirits pushed out to the southwest in the upper valley of Green River, and of these were the founders of Davis Station in Christian County, and Justinian Cartwright, in Todd County, in 1792. It is to be regretted that the sketches of the Hon. Urban Kennedy, published in a county paper, have not been preserved in-tact. Through the care of W. P. Stephenson, a few fragments have been secured to which the … Read more

The Indians of Todd County, Kentucky

The relation of the Indians to the Mound-Builders has not been satisfactorily determined by scientists. Indian traditions are so vague, and so utterly lacking in the prime essentials for a scientific basis, that few archaeologists have taken them into the account. Some, how-ever, have hazarded an hypothesis in accordance with the traditions mentioned above, while others (among whom the late Mr. Morrison, an account of whose researches in New Mexico have been published by the Smithsonian Institute), have taken the ground that the Indian is a degenerate descend-ant of these ancient people, and that the famed Montezuma, whose halls have … Read more

Traces Of The Earliest Kentucky Inhabitants

IT is an interesting suggestion of the archaeologist, that this land, which on the coming of the whites was too forbidding for the habitation of the Indian, centuries before was the home of a race of beings possessing some approach to civilization. The discovery of footprints upon his deserted island by Robinson Crusoe was not more startling than the discoveries of archaeologists to the followers of Petarius and Usher, who place the operations of creation and the whole evolution of civilization within the narrow limits of a few centuries. But science has multiplied its evidence until there is no room … Read more

Todd County, Kentucky Geological Speculations

No geological survey has been made of Todd County, and the State work is of such a general nature as to forbid the gathering of anything approaching a particular review of the geological features of this county from its pages. A brief general review is all that can be attempted in the time and space assigned to this topic here. The geological formations of Kentucky, in common with those of the other Western States, generally belong to that great system which extends from the Alleghanies on the east across the Mississippi and to the Rocky Mountains on the west. Throughout … Read more

Geography of Todd County, Kentucky

The county thus organized and named is situated in the southern part of the State, on the Tennessee line, and in the eastern border of that section of Kentucky arbitrarily called the Southwest. It is bounded on the north by Muhlenburg County, east by Logan, south by Montgomery, in State of Tennessee, and west by Christian, and contains about 330 square miles. The county lies partly in the Green River Val- ley, and partly in that of the Cumberland River, and represents the characteristics of both valleys. The dividing line between these valleys passes in a northwesterly direction through Todd … Read more

Biography of Col. John Todd

Col. John Todd, whose honored name this county bears, was the eldest of three brothers, and a native of Pennsylvania. He was educated in Virginia, at his uncle’s-the Rev. John Todd-and at maturity entered upon the study of the law, subsequently obtaining a license to practice. He left his uncle’s residence, and settled in the town of Fincastle, Va., where he practiced law for several years; but Daniel Boone and others having explored Kentucky, Col. Todd, lured by the descriptions given him of the fertility of the country, about the year 1775 came first to Kentucky, where he found Col. … Read more

Act Forming Todd County, Kentucky

The text of the act is as follows : SECTION 1. Be it Enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, That from and after the first day of April next, all that part of said counties of Logan and Christian, contained in the following boundary, to wit: Beginning on the Tennessee State line, at the present corner of the counties of Logan and Christian, on said State line; thence on a straight line to the Muhlenberg County line, two miles east of the present corner of said counties of Logan and Christian, on said Muhlenberg County line; … Read more

Development of the Kentucky 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 … Read more

George Rogers Clarke’s 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 … Read more

Indian Demonstrations at Boonesboro, Kentucky

The Indians 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 hitherto been made with very little concert of action, began to evince evidence of some guiding influence, … Read more

Early Surveys and Settlements of Kentucky

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 … Read more

Early Explorations of Kentucky

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 out-lying 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 … Read more

The Firm of Dunn & Connolly

Dunn & Connolly, attorneys at law, Charleston; this firm was established in November, 1878, and is composed of two young attorneys, but gentlemen possessing the requisite qualifications of success. Frank K. Dunn was born in Mt. Gilead, Ohio, Nov. 13, 1854, being a son of Hon. A. K. Dunn, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas; he graduated at Kenyon College, Ohio, in 1873; read law in his father’s office; entered Harvard Law School in 1874, graduating in 1875; he was admitted to practice the same year, and practiced with his father until November, 1878, when he came to Charleston, … Read more

Castle Dome Mining District

At a meeting held at La Paz on the 8th day of December 1862 by persons claiming interests in mineral veins near the Castle Dome range of mountains Col Snively was requested to act as Chairman and H. Ehrenberg as Secretary of the meeting and the following resolutions were adopted. “That the District wherein said veins are situated be called the Castle Dome District and be bounded as follows: Beginning at the peak known as Castle Dom – Thence 10 miles south – Thence East 10 miles – Thence north 10 miles – Thence West 10 miles to the starting … Read more