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SKETCHES OF PARIS
CHAPTER VI.
Pages 38 - 40
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.
While the location of Paris is as healthy as
must of Kentucky towns, it has been visited
several times by plagues and scourges that
have taken away some of her most useful
citizens. In 1816 Paris was visited by
what was then known as the "Cold Plague."
This disease was of a peculiar tendency, and
an innovation on the ills to which flesh is
heir; and on account of its not being
understood and its proper treatment known,
it was alarmingly fatal to the old people,
which class was mostly attacked by it.
Its victims were at first taken with a
chilly feeling, which was followed by
symptoms resembling cholera. Among the
deaths resulting from this disease were
those of John Hildredt. Capt.
James Kenney and Peter
Cline and wife. Before the dam
across Houston was taken away, the people of
Paris suffered considerably from ague.
In 1833 the cholera visited Paris, and was very fatal
in its workings. The town was a place
of mourning, and death was in most every
family. Business was suspended, and
those who were well were occupied din
tending the sick and burying the dead.
The following is a list of those who died at
that time:
Jonathan Willett;
Thomas Burdin;
Sophia, daughter of Dr. N.
Warfield;
Mrs. Lyon;
Thomas Hardwick;
a daughter of Maj. G. W.
Williams;
Mrs. Judith Bryan,
Mrs. Gaither,
Mrs. Wm. M. Samuel,
Mrs. Moore and son,
Mrs. Hinton Peter Sharrer, Sr.,
Mrs. Charles Brent;
Parker, son of Mrs. Andrews;
Jonathan Dearborn and son
William, |
Erastus Gill,
Isaac Avery,
Samuel D. Scott,
Samuel Beeler,
Mrs. Ann Kennedy,
Mrs. James McCann,
Peter Hizer,
Mr. Praul,
Richard Samuel,
Geo. Davis,
Mrs. Jas. Paton,
Richard turner,
Turnpiker (name unknown),
Richard Holmes;
a wagoner at John Mitchel's. |
COLORED PERSONS: -
Olivia, at
Wm. C. Lyle's;
Julia, at N. Warfield's;
Grace, at Mrs. Barbee's;
boy, at Jas. H. McCann's,
woman, at E. H. Harndon's,
Jennie Jackson,
Sarah Wallace;
woman, at Mr. Cummins';
Marshall's woman,
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David,
two men and one woman at S. Pyke's,
woman at Mr. Waggoner's;
Jenny, at Rev. Amos Clever's;
Phoebe, at Jonathan Massie's;
Gabriel, a stone mason;
woman at
David Cline's, |
Page 39 -
David Cline's,
girl at John Mitchell's;
thirteen at H. T. Duncan's
factory - eleven of his own,
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one of Marsh's
and
one of Rankin's. |
Citizens of town who died in the
country: -
G. P. Bryant,
Miss Susan Croxton,
Dr. Davis,
Geo. W. Williams' son,
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Mrs. John G.
Martin,
Elizabeth Leer,
Mary Ann, daughter of
Jonathan Massie;
Mrs. Berkley. |
Paris contained a population of 1,200 at the
time of the epidemic, and all who could
conveniently get away, sought safety by
flight. Considering the number of
deaths in so small a population, it is safe
to say that the scourge was as fatal in
Paris as it was anywhere in the United
States.
In 1839, a disease known as the "Paris Fever," not so
fatal and alarming as the other scourges
that had visited our city, made its
appearance and carried off several of the
people of Paris. It numbered among its
victims, Benj. Riggs, Hugh I. Brent,
Josh. Smith, Sallie Davis, James
Scott and others. This disease was
supposed to have been caused by the miasma
arising from the various ponds in the town,
and it was this that brought about the work
of filling them up.
Again in 1849
the cholera visited Paris, and the
following, taken from a slip which was sent
out from the Citizen office dated
August 4th, 1849, tells the story of its
workings:
"The
cholera has raged with great malignity and
frightful mortality in Paris during the
first days of this week, but we are
gratified to announce that the disease has
abated in the violence and number of its
attacks. The following is a list of
the deaths since Thursday noon. (July 26th)
to noon to-day:
A. S. Pomeroy,
Dyer Austin,
Mrs. Thomas Rule;
Old Cato, at Mrs.
Keiningham’s;
Mrs. Green McIntyre;
Aaron, son of N. B. Rion;
Mrs. Squirer Taylor,
James Gardner's child;
E. P. Watts, at A. Cummins';
negro woman at Mrs. Scott’s,
Squire Robinson;
Ned, negro man of C.
Talbutt's;
James H. Wood,
Old Mrs. Lovely,
Thomas R. Rule,
John H. Thurston,
Samuel McElroy,
Dr. John A. Ingels;
negro girl at Chas.
Talbutt's; |
George
Elliott,
James Heatherington,
William Finlay,
Mrs. Elizabeth Barker;
Mary, daughter of George
Northcutt;
old negro woman,
Smoot’s mother;
Charles, son of C. C.
Daugherty;
George, son of Dr. L. G. Raw.
Dr. Quisenbury,
Ezekiel Thurston (not cholera);
Mrs. Sarah D. Scott,
Chas. Snyder (consumption);
Mrs. Brent's negro
boy,
William T. Davis;
Henry, son of Mrs. Robinson;
Frank T., son of A. D. Sebree;
Mrs. Martha Potts (in
Millersbnrg);
Mrs. Barbara Lennox (in
Millersburg); |
Page 40 -
James Daugherty,
Mrs. Ann Mitchell,
Mrs. Israel N. Smith,
Jesse P. Kern;
negro girl of Mrs. Williams',
negro girl at David Kelly's,
Mrs. Samuel Clair, |
Mr. Sheppard
(chair maker),
John McIntyre (in the country),
Mrs. Catharine Hibler;
Judy Klizer, a free woman;
Stepney Barnett, free
black;
Old Davy, negro man, near
town; and
|James Scott, |
"The above is as accurate a list as we have
been able to obtain; but we believe it to be
very nearly correct. We hear of very
few new cases within the last twenty-four
hourse. The whole number of deaths,
since the 3rd of July (when the first case
of cholera occurred) to the 4th of August,
in town and vicinity, 65, which includes all
the deaths of cholera and five or six of
other diseases. Owing to sickness, we
have been unable to publish the Citizen this
week. We hope, however, that we shall
be able to renew our regular issues next
week."
In addition to
the above list numbers of others fell before
the grim monster. The following is a
partial list, but embraces those who have
friends and relatives now living here:
Mrs. Richard
Talbott,
child of Wm. M. Taylor,
Mrs. A. S. Pomeroy,
Mrs. Robert S. Morrow,
Mrs. Cheshire,
Roger D. Williams (son of
Maj. G. W.) of fever,
Thomas Rule, Jr., |
Mrs. Harriet
Robinson,
Mrs. John Crosby,
Miss Susan Daugherty,
Jno. Talbutt, (son of Chas.
Talbutt)
Wm. Scroggin,
Mrs. Willis Wills,
Mrs. Dr. Jno. A. Lyle,
Miss Mary Chambers and
others. |
In 1852-3 the cholera visited Paris again,
but was not so fatal as on former occasions.
Then again in the Fall and Winter of 1873-74, the
Cerebro Spinal Meningetis proved quite a
plague, and several of the foremost people
of Paris and vicinity, but more especially
the women, were numbered as its victims.
Mr. Wm. Lair
and child,
Wm. Clay,
Miss Katie Holliday,
Mrs. Mary Buckner,
three children of Mons. Merringer,
William Gaper, and Miss Ollie
Stoker. About this time Paris
lost several of her substantial
women, among whom we remember
Mrs. B. F. Pullen |
Mrs. J. S.
Sweeney,
Mrs. J. T. Hinton,
Mrs. O. P. Carter,
Miss Carrie Stuart,
Miss Mary Ingels,
Mrs. W. T. Poynter,
Mrs. G. W. Williams and
Mrs. Louisiana Rankins. |
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