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FROM across the ocean, the colonists of a new
and powerful people came and effected a lodgment
at isolated spots on the Atlantic coast.
They achieved in time their independence, but
could not pay their soldiers for their long and
faithful service in the war for liberty.
As a partial remuneration, wild lands were
donated to them in the distant territories of
the "far west," of which Kentucky was then the
frontier. These Revolutionary land grants
brought many adventurous individuals hither, and
Kentucky became at once the center of
attraction. More than a century ago the
whites took possession of the territory now
embraced in Bourbon and the surrounding
counties. The lands were wrested from the
savages with little regard for hereditary
titles. The Indians sought to hold their
favorite hunting-grounds, and for years held in
check the tide of immigration. The story
of this long and sanguiuary struggle is "an oft
told tale." The line of settlements firmly
established along the Ohio, from Pittsburgh to
the Falls, began to advance, and, with every
step, slowly pressed back to Indian race to
extinction.
Settlements were made in Bourbon County as early as
1776, but were not permanent. Collins
says in his history of Kentucky, that the first
corn raised in Bourbon County was by John
Cooper, near Hinkston Creek, in 1775.
That he lived alone there in his cabin, and was
killed by the Indians on the 7th of July, 1766;
also, in the same year, Michael Stoner,
Thomas Whitledge, James Kenny, and several
others, "raised corn, a quarter of an acre to
two acres each." Thomas Kennedy
built a cabin on Kennedy's Creek, a short
distance south of Paris, in 1776, but left in
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the fall, going back to Virginia, where he
remained until 1779, when he returned, and
settled permanently on the little creek which
still bears his name. While upon his first
visit, he assisted Michael Stoner,
who owned a large body of land on what is now
Stoner Creek, to clear a piece of ground and
build a cabin. During the time they were
thus engaged, they lived for three months
without bread or salt. Stoner was a
man of some prominence and wealth, and was among
the very first settlers of the county.
Hon. James Garrard was among the early settlers
of the county, and a man of considerable
prominence. He was twice Governor of
Kentucky, and held other important positions,
with honor and credit to the people whom he
represented. The following is inscribed
upon the monument erected to his memory by the
State: "This marble consecrates the spot on
which repose the mortal remains of Col. James
Garrard, and records a brief memorial of his
virtues and his worth. He was born in the
county of Stafford, in the colony of Virginia,
on the 14th day of January, 1749. On
attaining the age of manhood, he participated
with the patriots of the day in the dangers and
privations incident to the glorious and
successful contest which terminated in the
independence and happiness of our country.
Endeared to his family, to his friends, and to
society, by the practice of the social virtues
of Husband, Father, Friend and Neighbor; honored
by his country, by frequent calls to represent
her dearest interests in her Legislative
Councils; and finally by two elections, to fill
the chair of- the Chief Magistrate of the State,
a trust of the highest confidence and deepest
interest to a free community of virtuous men,
professing equal rights, and governed by equal
laws; a trust, which for eight successive years,
he fulfilled with that energy, rigor and
impartiality which, tempered with Christian
spirit of God-like mercy and charity for the
frailty of men, is best calculated to perpetuate
the inestimable blessing of Government and the
happiness of Man. An administration which
received its best reward below, the approbation
of an enlightened and grateful country, by whose
voice, expressed by a resolution of its General
Assembly, in December, 1822, THIS MONUMENT of
departed worth and grateful sense of public
service, was erected, and is inscribed."
Gov. Garrard died at his residence, "Mount
Lebanon," near Paris, on the 19th of January,
1822, in the seventy-fourth year of his age.
He was an exemplary member of the church, and a
man of great practical usefulness. His
death was sincerely mourned, not only by the
people of the county, but by those of the State
at large.
James Douglass, probably the first
surveyor in this region, and who visited Central
Kentucky as early as 1773, finally settled in
Bourbon. He is said to have been a member
of the first Grand Jury, of the first Court of
Quarter Sessions held after Kentucky was
admitted into the Union as a State. A
colony, consisting of the Millers,
McClellans, Thompsons, McClintocks
and others, settled in the neighborhood of
Millersburg in 1778; but, like many of the early
settlers of this section, they were forced to
leave on account of Indians. They
returned, however, the following year, and
erected a block-house where Millersburg now
stands. John Martin built a
cabin, which was afterward changed into a
block-house, about three miles south of Paris.
Ruddel's Station, of historic fame, is
supposed by many to have been in what is now
Ruddel's Mills Precinct, but Collins says
it was situated just over in Harrison County.
Houston's cabin, on the present site of
Paris, was also fortified, or changed into a
block-house, the better to afford protection to
the scattered settlers. Thus, amid dangers
and hardships, the whites obtained a foothold in
what now forms Bourbon County. In the
chapters devoted to the towns, villages and
election precincts, additional facts and
particulars will be given of the settlement of
each neighborhood.
Every age and land and country have had their great
men, whose names have been enshrined in poetry
and song, in history and romance. Britain
boasts of Alfred the Great,
and France of Henry the Fourth;
America sings the praises of Washington,
Franklin and Jefferson, and why
should not Kentucky embalm the name of Daniel
Boone? The laurels that bloom
around the tomb of this old pioneer should never
fade from the minds of Kentuckians. Though
it is not known that he ever had his abode in
either of the counties treated of in this
volume, yet there is not a spot of Central
Kentucky but he was familiar with, and in one of
the precincts of Bourbon County sleeps a brother
of the old Kentucky Indian fighter. We
deem it highly appropriate in this work to give
a brief sketch of the man, who, without violence
to the subject, might be termed the discoverer,
as well as the first settler of Kentucky.
He was born in Pennsylvania Feb. 11, 1731, and
was the first white man who ever made a
permanent settlement within the limits of the
present State of Kentucky. But little is
known of his early life, or of his career prior
to his emigration to Kentucky. His father
removed to North Carolina when he was but a boy,
and there Daniel remained until forty
years of age. The glowing descriptions
that reached the pine barrens of North Carolina,
of the rich lands beyond the Cumberland
Mountains, excited in him a desire to visit this
"favored clime." In 1769, he left his
home, and with five others, of whom John
Findlay* was
---------------
* Findlay had been on a hunting, trapping and
trading expedition to Kentucky prior to his
coming to Boone.
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958. The difference in population is
attributable to the change of territoral limits.
We find from an old record that the county was
assessed for £550 sterling in 1790. Its
annual assessment has increased since then.
At the time of its organization, the county,
although of large dimensions, had but few
inhabitants, and hence did not require many
divisions of its territory. As the poplation
increased, however, for the sake of convenience,
the county was divided into a number of
districts, for election and other purposes,
necessary to facilitate its business, and aid in
the administration of its affairs. But,
without going into a discussion of these
divisions and subdivisions made from time to
time, it is only necessary to add, that, at
present, the county is divided into eight
election precincts, as follows, viz.; Paris, No.
1; Millersburg, No. 2; Flat Rock, No. 3; North
Middletown, No. 4 ; Clintonville, No. 5;
Hutchinson, No. 6; Centerville, No. 7; and
Ruddel's Mills, No. 8. Each of these
precincts has two Magistrates and a Constable,
before and by whom the petty business of the
county is transacted. The magistrates from
the different precincts form the County Court,
and at present the board is composed of the
following gentlemen: Paris (No. 1), John M.
Daniels and Thomas Isgrigg;
Millersburg (No. 2), J. W. Miller and
N. A. Jameson; Flat Rock (No. 3), T. M.
Squires and B. F. Wilson; North
Middletown (No. 4), James W. Mitchell and
W. P. Schooler; Clintonville (No. 5),
John Cunningham and George W. Morrow
Hutchinson (No. 6), J. S. Kenney and
J. W. Beatty Centerville (No. 7), James
M. Barlow and H. Hawkins Ruddel's
Mills (No. 8), George W. Wyatt and W.
B. Smith.
In the early history of Bourbon County, as at the
present time, there was more or less of party
strife. Bourbon County was formed just
after the close of the Revolutionary war, when
the people had for some time been divided into
Whigs and Tories. Afterward came the "Old
Court," "New Court," "Federal" and "Republican"
or " Democratic" parties. These parties
had their day, and then had their time to - die.
The war of 1812, and the accompanying events,
wiped out the old Federal party that had so
bitterly opposed Mr. Jefferson.
The war measures of Mr. Madison,
and the then Republican party in Congress were
strongly supported by the citizens generally.
But as time passed on, and politicians became
better educated to the business of wire-pulling,
partyism grew, " and waxed strong." The
Presidential election of 1824 was attended with
unusual excitement. It was more exciting,
perhaps, than any election that had ever taken
place in the country. At this election the
Presidential candidates were Henry
Clay, Gen. Jackson, of
Tennessee, John Quincy Adams, of
Massachusetts, and William H. Crawford,
of Georgia. These candidates had each his
friends, who supported their favorite from
personal motives, as well as from party
consideration and party discipline. Mr.
Clay carried his State, but was
overwhelmingly defeated for the Presidency.
Neither of the candidates had a majority of the
votes in the Electoral College, according to the
constitutional rule, but stood, Jackson
in the lead, Adams second, Crawford
third and Clay fourth, the latter being
dropped from the canvass when it came to the
count. Upon the House of Representatives
devolved the duty of making choice of President.
Each State, by its Representatives in Congress,
cast one vote. Mr. Clay was
Speaker of the House of Representatives, and, it
is supposed, that, through his influence, the
Kentucky delegation cast the vote of its State
for Mr. Adams, instead of for
Gen. Jackson. By this little
stroke of policy, Mr. Clay was
instrumental in organizing political parties
that survived the generation in which he lived,
and ruled, in turn, the destinies of the
republic for more than a quarter of a century.
At the next Presidential election, party lines
were closely drawn, between Mr. Adams
and Gen. Jackson, and the result
of a hot and bitter contest was the election of
the hero of New Orleans, by both the electoral
and popular vote. For several years after
the political power and official patronage had
passed into the hands of Old Hickory, parties
were known throughout the country as Jackson and
anti-Jackson parties. These, with some
modification and changes, finally became the
Whig and Democratic parties, the latter of which
has retained its party organization down to the
present day, and is still one of the great
political parties of the period. In 1856,
upon the organization of the Republican party,
in which organization the Whig party lost its
identity, the county "has been Democratic.
Notwithstanding the great number of negroes
added to the voting population, by virtue of the
Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the
national Constitution, the county still rolls up
Democratic majorities. -
Perrin.
END OF CHAPTER
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