FIRST-COMERS
Sunday, July 9, 2006, 06:53 PM - Muhlenberg County
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Statistics show that from the
close of the Revolution to 1786 about 2,500 newcomers settled in
Kentucky every year. After 1786 the army of emigrants gradually grew
larger until 1795, when the inflow increased to about 25,000 annually
and continued at that rate for a number of years. In 1790 the
population of Kentucky was 73,677. By 1800 it sprang to 222,955. It was
during this big inflow of the last years of the Eighteenth Century that
many of the homeseekers drifted into the Green River country and became
its first permanent settlers.
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Under the heads of the various
counties bordering on Muhlenberg I gather, from Collins' History of
Kentucky, the data here given relative to their first settlements.
About a half-dozen stations were established between 1780 and 1784 in
what is now Logan County. Among them was one that, later, became
Russellville. In Ohio County the first settlements were Hartford and
Barnett's Station, both of which were settled "before 1790." As early
as 1794 a trading-post had been established at Berry's Lick, in Butler
County. "Hopkinsville was laid out in 1799." The beginning of
Madisonville, Morgantown, and Elkton dates back to the first years of
the Nineteenth Century. Under the head of McLean County, Collins says:
"The first fort or station was built, where Calhoon now stands, in
1788, by Solomon Rhoads, and called Vienna. In 1790 James Inman built
Pond station, a few miles southeast of Calhoon." That Caney Station was
what might be regarded as the first settlement in what is now
Muhlenberg County is only parenthetically stated by Collins, and
without the date of its beginning, which tradition says was about 1795:
"One mile north of Greenville, near old Caney Station--which was the
first settlement in the county--are several mounds."
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From the foregoing statements
it will be seen that a few settlements were made in this part of the
State as early as 1780, and that most of the places which became
permanent settlements were begun during the last few years of the
Eighteenth or the first of the Nineteenth Century.
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Tradition does not say who were
the first white people to come into what is now Muhlenberg County. It
is, however, probable that the first men who made this locality their
home were Revolutionary soldiers who wandered westward immediately
after that war. Tradition goes no further back than about 1784, to
which time a few of the families in the county can trace the arrival of
their ancestors.
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After Pond Station had been
started and after Henry Rhoads began inducing more German-Americans to
locate near that station and in other sections of the country, and
while Caney Station was being built by Virginians, the inflow of
newcomers began to increase rapidly. A number of pioneers from North
Carolina and Virginia settled along Pond River. John Dennis and a few
other North Carolinians, some of whom probably came as early as 1785,
settled in the Pond Creek country. Kincheloe's Bluff or Lewisburg, on
Green River, was settled and made a "port of entry" before the close of
the Eighteenth Century. It was there that Thomas Irvin and his party of
stone-cutters landed about 1797 and helped open up the Nelson Creek
country. Stum's Landing, now Paradise, was also a well-known river
point as early as 1798. It was during this period of the country's
history that the outlaw, Big Harpe, was killed near what has ever since
been known as Harpe's Hill.A Survivor of "the Forest Primeval"
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Jesse McPherson was one of the
earliest settlers in the Clifty Creek country. John Hunt and James Wood
were among the influential first-comers in the Mud River country. Among
the first to settle in the Long Creek country were the Drake, Duke,
Welborn, and Wells families.
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A number of the pioneers, as
already stated, were Revolutionary soldiers, but more of them were sons
of such veterans. The names of the Revolutionary soldiers living in the
United States in 1840 were compiled for the census of that year.
Collins gives the seven reported from Muhlenberg County: John Bone,
Joshua Elkins, Sihez Garriz, Andrew Glenn, William Hopkins, Benjamin
Neal, and Britain Willis. The average age of these seven in 1840 was
eighty years. They must therefore have been about twenty-one years old
at the close of the war. Life insurance statisties show that about 18
per cent of men who reach the age of forty are likely to reach the age
of eighty. At this rate, if seven Revolutionary soldiers aged eighty
were still alive in 1840, they represent what were thirty-eight men,
aged forty, in 1800. We may thus assume that there were thirty-eight
Revolutionary soldiers in Muhlenberg in 1800, who at the close of that
war were twenty-one years of age.
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On the supposition that the
number of older soldiers who came here after the Revolution and who
died before 1800 is equal to the number of younger soldiers who were
still alive in 1800 and represented by thirty-eight men, we may infer
that about seventy-six Revolutionary soldiers were among the first
settlers of Muhlenberg. If we assume that each soldier was the father
of five children, then there were 380 sons and daughters of
Revolutionary soldiers in the county in 1800. These children (380) with
their parents (twice 76) make a total of 532. According to Collins, the
population of Muhlenberg in 1800 was 1,443. That being the fact, we may
infer that about 5 per cent of the pioneers who settled in Muhlenberg
in the Eighteenth Century saw service in the Revolutionary War, and
furthermore, that about one fourth of the pioneers were children of
such soldiers.
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Although these figures, based
partially on statisties, may be wrong, and these conclusions be far
from representing the actual but unrecorded facts, these estimates
nevertheless are more likely to be nearer correct than any based on
mere supposition or a groundless guess.
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The first of the early settlers
of whom we have any tradition or history were Henry Rhoads and his
brothers, who settled Rhoadsville, which later beeame Calhoun. Of the
original party who began this station only a few remained permanently
in the immediate neighborhood. Henry Rhoads was probably the first to
leave it. After living a few years near what later became Hartford,
Ohio County, he settled in the neighborhood of what is now Browder,
Muhlenberg County. In 1790 James Inman left Rhoadsville and moved five
miles south, where he built Pond Station in the territory which, in
1798, became a part of Muhlenberg County, and in 1854, when McLean
County was organized, became in turn a part of that county.
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W. G. Strond, of Semiway,
McLean County, in a letter written to me in 1912, says: "There is a
tradition to the effect that at one time a party of Indians came to the
fort at Pond Station when it was occupied by only one man and several
women. The other men were out either hunting or at work. The Indians
made an attack on the fort, but were successfully repulsed by the
occupants. About the year 1850, when I was a boy of ten, Thomas
Worthington told my father that his grandfather was an inmate of the
fort and that he (Tom) when a small boy visited him there and saw fine
corn growing on the site of the old pond. The pond from which the
Station took its name was made by beavers closing a gap in a ridge with
a dam, causing the water to cover about twenty-five acres of ground.
Local tradition gives no dates, and I am not able to give you, even
approximately, the time when Pond Station was discontinued as a fort or
station."
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Pond Station was located on the
east side of the Greenville and Rnmsey Road, on the lands now owned and
occupied by J. W. West and R. D. H. Beasley. In 1840 the Baptists in
that neighborhood organized a congregation and called their church Old
Station Church, in honor of Pond Station. Many years later a new
structure was erected by that organization on a site about a mile from
the original, and since known as Station Church.
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About the year 1795--that is,
about five years after Pond Station had been started and about two
years after Henry Rhoads settled in Muhlenberg County--Caney Station
was started, near the present site of Greenville. This forerunner of
Greenville was established by Colonel and Mrs. William Campbell, who
with William Bradford and a few others, together with a number of
slaves, came from Lexington for the purpose of opening a settlement on
General William Russell's and Colonel Campbell's military grants. John
C. Russell and Samuel Russell, it seems, did not appear upon the scene
until after Caney Station had been begun by their brother-in-law and
sister.Site of Pond Station, McLean County
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Caney Station was located on a
stretch of elevated and rolling ground, semicircled by Caney Creek. It
was about a mile and a half northwest of where Greenville is now, and
near what later became the Earles and Lower Madisonville Road. A few
log houses were erected. According to one version of this tradition, a
stockade was also built. However, this spot was not decided on for a
permanent home or futnre town. So, when the place for the courthouse
had been selected (June, 1799), the people of Caney Station were all
more or less prepared to move to the new town site.
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A few years after Greenville
was started Caney Station was entirely abandoned. In the course of time
the few log houses began to tumble down, and finally all traces of the
old buildings disappeared. The only thing left to mark this historic
spot is an abandoned graveyard, which was used by a few of the pioneer
families for over half a century. Its dozen or more fallen tombstones
are almost hidden by briars and myrtle, running rampant under a few
walnut trees and old cedars.
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The square selected for the
courthouse and the lots facing it were presented to the county by
Colonel William Campbell. John Dennis, it is said, offered to donate
the same amount of ground if any of his survey (about three miles
southeast of Caney Station) were chosen for the county seat. The
pioneers objected to Caney Station as a town site because the locality
was then considered as lying too low for such a purpose. The place
selected for the county seat was chosen hecause it was high and
therefore more healthful, and because near it were two good springs,
and furthermore because two old trails intersected upon it or not far
from it.Old Caney Station Graveyard, Near Greenville
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There is a vague tradition to
the effect that an old trail ran from Hartford, crossed Green River at
Benton's Ferry (or Rockport), and running about two miles south of what
later became Central City, continued through or near Caney Station or
Greenville and crossed Pond River above Harpe's Hill, at what is now
called Free Henry Ford. At some point west of Greenville another trail
branched off the main route and extended through the Murphy's Lake
country to the southwest, and like the main trail connected with the
trail that became the Highland Lick Road. Another old trail started
from Owensboro, or Yellow Banks, went through Rhoadsville (Calhoun) and
Pond Station to Caney Station or Greenville, and passing the John
Dennis house, continued to Russellville. It is probable that these two
main trails intersected near the spot where the courthouse was built,
and that they were old trails used by the Indians up to the time they
stopped passing through this section of the country. 1
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General William Russell, to
whom was granted the land on which Caney Station and Greenville were
built, was an officer in the Revolution. His regiment formed part of
General Muhlenberg's brigade, which at times was in General Greene's
division. General Russell participated in the Brandywine, Monmouth, and
other battles, and was present at the surrender of Yorktown. He also
fought in the French and Indian War, and led several expeditions
against the Indians. General Russell was born in 1735 and died in 1793.
His first wife was Tabitha Adams; his second wife was Mrs. Elizabeth
Henry Campbell, widow of General William Campbell and sister of Patrick
Henry. General Russell was the father of sixteen children, many of whom
came to Central Kentucky shortly after the Revolution. His second son
was Colonel William Russell, after whom Russell County is named. Three
of General Russell's children by his first wife, after a short stay in
Fayette County, located, as already stated, in Muhlenberg: John C. and
Samuel Russell and their sister Mrs. Tabitha A. R. Campbell.
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Tabitha Adams Russell Campbell
was the wife of Colonel William Campbell, who was a son of Patrick
Campbell and a cousin of General William Campbell. General William
Campbell was the hero of King's Mountain, where he defeated the British
on October 7, 1780, and fought what proved to be "the turning in the
tide of success that terminated the Revolution." In the autumn of 1800,
shortly after Greenville's first courthouse was completed and the new
town started, Colonel William Campbell broke his leg and was obliged to
ride in a saddle to Lexington for medical treatment. There, in the home
of his friend, Colonel Robert Patterson, he died November 19, 1800,
aged forty-one years. Distance and transportation facilities were such
that the body could not be brought from Fayette County, and for that
reason the Father of Greenville is not buried in Muhlenberg.
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After Colonel Campbell's death
his family continued to live in Greenville. His widow, being a woman of
education and means, was in a position to give their five children many
advantages. She died in Greenville, July 26, 1806. Their only son,
Samuel Campbell, married Cynthia Campbell, but had no children. Their
daughter, Elizabeth, became the first wife of Elder Barton W. Stone,
and up to the time of her death in 1810 traveled with her husband, who
was then beginning his great evangelizing work in Western Kentucky. The
other three daughters became the wives of some of Muhlenberg's most
prominent men: Tabitha married Judge Alney McLean. Anna S. married
Charles Fox Wing, and Mary married Ephraim M. Brank.Mrs. Samuel
Russell, 1845
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John C. and Samuel Russell were
identified with the upbuilding of Greenville and Muhlenberg County.
John C. Russell, who married Anna Clay, died November 17, 1822; Samuel
Russell, who married Lucy Roberts, died October 23, 1835. 2
These two men were not represented in the county as long, nor as
numerously, as the descendants of Colonel William Campbell. The name of
John C. Russell, who in 1805 located three miles southeast of
Greenville, in what is now the Pleasant Hill neighborhood, is still
perpetuated in the traditions of the Russell Old Field. Samuel Russell,
in connection with other business, conducted the Russell House, which
after his death was continued by his widow, who was succeeded by their
son, Robert S. Russell. This well-known tavern was run until 1861, a
period of sixty-two years. It was a two-story log house, built in 1799,
on Main Street, due west of the Public Square. Samuel Russell's eldest
son, Robert S. Russell, was the last of the Russells to leave the
county. He moved to Paris, Tennessee, in 1865. 3
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William Bradford, as already
stated, accompanied Colonel William Campbell to the unsettled country
that later became Muhlenberg County, and helped to build Caney Station.
When Greenville was laid out, one of the streets was named after
Bradford. He was one of the first captains in the local militia, and
held various county offices in the early days, representing Muhlenberg
in the Legislature in 1801, 1803, 1810, and 1811. It is more than
probable that William Bradford was one of the most influential of the
first-comers in the county. His name, like the names of many of the
other pioneers, appears here and there on the pages of the old court
records, and like the names of a number of his contemporaries is now
seldom heard. As far as I am aware, he is forgotten by all the
repeaters of local traditions except two--William A. Armstrong and
Judge William H. Yost.Robert S. Russell, 1870
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William A. Armstrong told me
that about the year 1855 Charles Fox Wing, speaking of local men who
had died years before, referred to William Bradford as a man who had
spent the last years of his life trying to better the laws of the State
and improve the environment of the people of Muhlenberg. Captain Wing
also told him a story to the effect that Bradford showed heroism in
battle on one occasion. A bombshell had been thrown into a fort, and
Bradford, while the fuse was still burning, picked the shell up and
threw it on the enemy outside the fortification before it exploded, and
thus saved the day for the Americans. Armstrong's recollection as to
where Captain Wing stated that this took place was very vague. He,
however, was of the opinion that it occurred during the second war with
England, if not during the Revolution or during General Anthony Wayne's
campaign in Ohio in 1794. I failed to find William Bradford's name on
the roster of officers and privates who enlisted in Kentucky during the
War of 1812. However, since that list is far from complete, he may
nevertheless have served as a soldier from this State.
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Judge William H. Yost, in a
letter sent to me recently, writes: "Some time between the years 1870
and 1875, while the clerk's office in Greenville was undergoing some
repairs, Judge Charles Eaves and myself found in one of the old record
books two copies of a printed circular, written by William Bradford and
addressed to the voters of Muhlenberg County. It was headed 'In Prison
Bounds.' It announced his candidacy for the Lower House of the General
Assembly at the ensuing election. Judge Eaves told me Bradford was
elected and his election took him out of 'Prison Bounds.' Judge Eaves
also told me that the judgment fixed Bradford's 'Prison Bounds' to the
limits of the Courthouse Square. I remember how, in his circular, he
mercilessly flayed his creditors for confining him to 'Prison Bounds.'
I was told that their action resulted in his election, and that during
the rest of his life he did much toward repealing the old laws
inflicting imprisonment for debt."
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The old laws according to which
men were sentenced to the State prison or confined to local "prison
bounds" for debt were modified during the years that Bradford was a
member of the Legislature. All of these laws, with the exception of a
few, were repealed by 1821, which in all probability was after his
death.
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No one knows the place and time
of William Bradford's birth or death. I find no trace of any
descendants and therefore infer that he was a bachelor or a childless
man. In his day he undoubtedly worked faithfully for the betterment of
the life and laws of his fellow-men, and having done what he regarded
as his duty, he probably was indifferent whether or not he would be
remembered by posterity. Nevertheless, like many others who have gone
to their reward, if he were to return to his earthly haunts he could
but say, "How soon we are forgotten!"The "Cave Hut Cliff"
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Jesse McPherson was probably
the first of the first-comers who settled in the southeastern part of
the county. According to one tradition he arrived upon the scene before
either Pond or Caney stations were started. It is said that during
1790, or before, he left his wife and two or three children in Virginia
and came to Kentucky, and while looking for a place to settle selected
a tract of land three miles from what later became the town of Cisney
or Rosewood. He spent the winter and spring clearing two fields, one
near the foot of a cliff facing a valley leading to Clifty Creek, and
another on the top of the same cliff. In the meantime he lived in his
"cave hut" near his bottom field. This improvised house was made by
erecting two short walls of logs in front of a small cove at the foot
of the cliff, and placed in such a way that the top of the concave
opening in the cliff served as a roof and the rock wall of the cliff
and the two log walls served as walls to the "cave hut." The following
summer, after having set out a crop of corn in each of his fields, he
returned to Virginia for his family. He brought them to Kentucky and
they lived in the "cave hut" until a log cabin on the bluff was
finished. A few years later, or about 1800, he began building the
spacious house known as the Jesse McPherson house, now occupied by
William H. Pearson and his wife, the latter a great-granddaughter of
Jesse McPherson. The logs used in the construction of the "cave hut"
have long ago disappeared, but the rock-roofed cove in "Cave Hut Cliff"
has for more than a century been used as a hay bin.
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Jesse McPherson was one of
Muhlenberg's best-known pioneers. When the county was organized he was
appointed one of the justices of the peace. He ran a tanyard, horse
mill, and distillery for many years. Tradition says that he feared
nothing. On one occasion his neighbor Billings was attacked by a bear
whose cub he had taken. McPherson, hearing the cry for help, rushed to
the rescue and killed the animal with a hickory club. A few years later
McPherson took a trip to Arkansas, and upon his return showed Billings
some hickory nuts he had brought from that State. Billings suggested
that they plant one of the nuts where McPherson had saved his life from
the ferocious bear. This was done, and to-day a large hickory tree,
standing near the "Cave Hut Cliff," marks the spot where, as one of the
local oracles puts it, "Billings came near getting the stuffings
squeezed out of him by a big bear." 4
The Jesse McPherson House, Near Dunmor.
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Among other pioneers in the
southeastern part of the county were John Hunt and James Wood. Hunt, a
Revolutionary soldier, came to Muhlenberg from North Carolina about the
year 1806 and settled in that part of the Mud River country known ever
since as the Hunt Settlement. The house erected in 1825 near Gus by his
son, Jonathan Hunt, was later occupied by the latter's son, Jefferson
Hunt, and he in turn was succeeded by his son Amos L. Hunt, who now
lives in this well-preserved landmark.
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About the year 1816 James Wood,
also of North Carolina, settled a few miles above the Hunt Settlement,
north of what is now Dunmor. Many of the descendants of John Hunt and
James Wood still live in the Hunt Settlement and other parts of the Mud
River country, where they are highly respected farmers.The Jonathan
Hunt House, Near Gus
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Among the children of James
Wood was Zillman Wood, who was born in 1814 and died in 1859, and who
in his day was one of the most influential men in the Mud River
country. One of the sons of Zillman Wood is James Willis Wood, a
Federal soldier, who was born in 1841 and who all his life did much for
the good of the county. Among the sons of J. W. Wood is Ed S. Wood, who
was county clerk from 1898 to 1906. 5
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Richard C. Dellium and James
Forgy were among the pioneers of the Mud River country, in Butler
County. Forgy's Mill on Mud River was among the first mills built along
that stream. Dellium owned much land in Muhlenberg, and about 1815
built a large log house which, although no longer used as a residence,
is still standing, one mile west of Gus. Collins, in his "History of
Kentucky," under the head of Butler County, says: "Richard C. Dellium
carried on a trading station at Berry's Lick, and James Forgy settled
near there, about 1794. They had to go to Nashville to mill along a
footpath through a solid canebrake."
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Judge William Worthington was
one of the most influential firstcomers in that part of Muhlenberg
which later became a part of McLean County. He owned a large tract of
land on what, for more than a century, has been known as the
"Island"--a territory of about eight square miles, surrounded during
high water by back water from Green River, the Thoroughfare, Black
Lake, and Cypress Creek. His home was about a half mile north of what
is now the town of Island. The post-office for that section of the
country was at his residence for many years, and bore the name of
Worthington up to about 1860, when it was transferred to Point Pleasant
on Green River. When the Owensboro & Russellville Railroad was
built, a station was erected near the old Worthington place and a new
post-office established. This was appropriately called Island Station,
and formed the nucleus of the town now known as Island, which in 1910
had a population of 547. A more appropriate name, however, would have
been the former name of Worthington, for no pioneer in Muhlenberg was
more worthy of having his name perpetuated in that manner.
Worthington's Chapel, three miles west of Island, called so in honor of
his son Thomas, who gave the land on which this church is built, is now
the only place that bears the name of this pioneer family.Zillman Wood,
1850
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William Worthington came to
Muhlenberg about fourteen years before the county was organized. He
took part in many of the early county court meetings and often presided
over the court of quarter sessions and a number of the circuit court
meetings. He was a member of the State Senate from 1814 to 1826. About
the year 1830 his residence burned, and practically everything in it
was destroyed. Among the few things saved was the cane presented to him
a few years before by his fellow-members of the State Senate. This
walking-stick is now owned by T. M. Worthington, of Dallas, Texas.
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About the year 1845 Judge
Worthington moved to Point Worthington, a plantation in Mississippi
owned by one of his sons, and a few years later died there. His body
was packed in salt and shipped by boat to his old home in Kentucky,
where he had spent more than sixty years of his life, and was there
buried by the side of his wife. Two stone-walled graves, each covered
with a marble slab, mark the last resting-place of the old judge and
his wife. On one is carved, "Wm. Worthington, Died June 5, 1848, aged
87 years."--On the other, "Mary Worthington, Died August 25, 1827, aged
66 years."Graves of Judge and Mrs. William Worthington
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Judge and Mrs. Worthington were
the parents of a number of children. Two of them lived and died in
Muhlenberg or McLean counties, near Worthington's Chapel--Mrs.
Elizabeth Kincheloe and Thomas Worthington. One daughter, Mrs. Polly
Wickliffe, lived in the South. 6
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The Kincheloes, like the
Worthingtons, were among the most influential and highly educated
first-comers in the Green River country. Local tradition, however, is
very vague regarding the history and genealogy of this family, although
the name of Kincheloe, like that of Worthington, is very familiar to
those who are versed in local traditions. It is quite probable that
Lewis Kincheloe, who lived at Kincheloe's Bluff for many years and who
took part in the battle of the Thames, was a brother of Reverend
William Kincheloe, who married a daughter of Judge William Worthington,
and that he was also a brother of Thomas Kincheloe, whose son Jesse W.,
of Breckinridge County, was elected circuit judge in 1851 in the
district then embracing Muhlenberg County. One of the pioneer
Kincheloes, who lived in Muhlenberg, died, it is said, on his way to
Tippecanoe in 1811. He was probably a brother of Lewis, Reverend
William, and Thomas. One tradition has it that all the pioneer
Kincheloes were soldiers in the War of 1812 and were sons of Lieutenant
William Kincheloe, who fought in the Revolution and died in Western
Kentucky about 1798.Kincheloe's Bluff, Green River
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Among the many other
first-comers were Arington and Robert Wickliffe and their nephews,
Colone Moses Wickliffe and J. W. I. Godman. Arington and Robert
Wickliffe were sons of John Wickliffe, of Prince William County,
Virginia. They settled in northeastern Muhlenberg about 1800, where
Robert died in February, 1820. Both were influential pioneers.
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Arington Wickliffe was born in
Virginia in 1750. He was an officer in the Revolutionary army, and took
part in many of the battles. Shortly after the Revolution he married
Catherine Davis, daughter of Captain Jesse Davis, of Virginia. In the
winter of 1819-20 he rode from Muhlenberg to his old home in Virginia
on horseback and returned a few weeks later; he died, as a result of
the exposure, in March, 1820. He was the father of ten children, one of
whom was William B. Wickliffe, who was born near South Carrollton
February 15, 1808, and died in Greenville, July 12, 1892. William B.
Wickliffe was at one time a large landowner and slave-holder. He was
the father of William A. Wickliffe, of Greenville.
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Colonel Moses Wickliffe was
born in Virginia in 1779 and settled in Muhlenberg about 1795. A few
years later he made a trip to Virginia to report to some of his kinsmen
and friends the condition and prospects of the Green River country. In
1799 or 1800 he came back to Muhlenberg accompanied by his two uncles,
Arington and Robert, and their families. They brought with them J. W.
I. Godman, then a child about a year old. Colonel Pioneer Moses
Wickliffe Wickliffe did much toward encouraging not only some of his
kinsmen, but many others, to settle in Muhlenberg. His integrity and
his interest in the development of the community soon placed him among
the best-known men in the county. Tradition says that during the War of
1812 and again during the Mexican War he organized a company of
soldiers, but in each case, just as he was ready to leave with his men
for the scene of action, he received news that peace had been declared.
He often served as magistrate. He represented the county in the
Legislature from 1816 to 1819 inclusive. He was always ready to lend a
helping hand, and never hesitated to express his opinion when he
thought that by so doing he could benefit any one. It is related of him
that, although not a member of the Nelson Creek Baptist Church, he
often presided over the business meetings held by that congregation. On
one occasion he rebuked the members present, saying, "Unless you work
in peace and harmony the devil will never let loose his hold on this
church. I tell you the devil himself is in this church now, and right
here in your own pulpit this very moment!" One of the members called
the attention of the audience to the fact that Colonel Wickliffe
himself was at that moment occupying the pulpit. The Colonel,
nevertheless, finished his argument, and soon restored peace and
harmony in the congregation.
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In 1814 Colonel Wickliffe
married Nancy Young, of Muhlenberg. They were the parents of ten
children, all of whom were well-known citizens of the county. He died
in 1854 at his home near what is now known as Bevier. 7
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J. W. I. Godman was not only a
kinsman but a protege of Colonel Moses Wickliffe. Although an infant
when brought from the old settlements by the Wickliffes, the Godman
baby was nevertheless one of Muhlenberg's firstcomers. This baby boy
was carried in the arms of one of the women of the party who, in 1799
or 1800, rode horseback from Virginia to Muhlenberg. It is an
interesting fact that about fifty years later this infant first-comer
became Muhlenberg's first elected county judge.
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Judge John Wickliffe Israel
Godman was born in Virginia, December 8, 1798. He was the only child of
John Allen Godman and his wife Susan (Wickliffe) Godman, both of whom
died shortly after he was born. He was named for his two grandfathers,
John Wickliffe and Israel Godman. When his mother's family moved to
Muhlenberg he was reared by his grandparents and his cousin. Colonel
Moses Wickliffe. Young Godman's early education was limited to such
learning as the schools of his neighborhood then offered. This,
however, he supplemented with extensive reading, and became one of the
best read and most practical men in the county. He was universally
regarded as a superior man. Among other things, he read law and
medicine. At one time he intended to take up law as a profession. In
the absence of lawyers and physicians he practiced, gratuitously, both
professions among his neighbors. After his marriage he settled on a
large tract of land in the northeastern part of the county, near Green
River, where he spent most of his time farming and merchandising.
Through these he accumulated a good estate. He made trips to Louisville
to buy goods. and also to New Orleans to sell produce. Henry Clay, some
time between 1825 and 1830, visited him in Muhlenberg, and engaged him
to look after the Blackburn lands lying near the Godman farm and
belonging to a ward of Clay's. In this way the two men became the best
of friends and carried on an extensive correspondence. The letters
received from Clay, although preserved by the family for many years,
can not now be found.
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Godman was for long a justice
of the peace, and being skilled in the writing of legal documents he
was for many years the only man in his section on whom the people
relied for the preparation of their most important papers. At the first
general election held under the Constitution of 1850, which took place
on the second Monday in May, 1851, he was elected county judge, and
thus became the first man elected to that office in Muhlenberg. He was
devoted to his family, and when attending court at Greenville,
discharging his official duties, he made it a rule to ride home every
night, a distance of fifteen miles. In this way, through exposure to
inclement weather, he contracted a severe cold, from the effects of
which he died December 23, 1852. He was buried in the private
burying-ground near his home, where a large marble slab marks his
grave. That Judge Godman was "the right man in the right place" is a
statement made by those who are familiar with the lives of the county's
most influential men, and is verified by his record as a citizen and
judge. He left no portrait. He had one made a few years before he died,
but permitted it to be erased in order that the plate might be used to
make a portrait of one of his children.Mr. and Mrs. William J. Dean, in
1850
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Judge Godman married Elizabeth
Nicholls, who was born in Muhlenberg December 2, 1801, and died
February 6, 1891. She was a daughter of pioneer James Nicholls and his
wife Margaret Randolph, a daughter of Captain John Randolph, who was a
cousin of the celebrated John Randolph of Roanoke. Captain John
Randolph was also the father of pioneers Robert 8
and John Randolph, jr., and Mrs. John Reno. Judge and Mrs. Godman were
the parents of three children: Sarah Jane, who married Edmund M.
Blacklock 9
Mary Eliza, who married William Johnson Dean10;
and John Allen, who died in 1854.
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Andrew and Peter Shaver were
among the prime movers in what was for many years called the "Dutch
Settlement," now known as the Bremen country. These two pioneers did
not appear upon the scene until about twenty years after the county had
been organized. A number of German-Americans and other Virginians had
already settled in the northern part of Muhlenberg. Among the pioneers
who appeared during or before the coming of Andrew and Peter Shaver
were Benjamin Coffman, Reverend Samuel Danner, Jacob Garst, the seven
Gish brothers, John Gossett, Rudolph Kittinger, Jacob, Daniel, and
Doctor John Noffsinger, Lot Stroud, the three Vincent brothers, and
Jacob Whitmer. 11
Mr. and Mrs. John Noffsinger, about 1865.
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Andrew and Peter Shaver were
sons of Andrew Shaver, sr. (originally spelled Schaber), who was born
in Bremen, Germany, came to America shortly after the Revolution, and
died in Virginia from wounds received during the War of 1812, in which
war he had fought, together with his son Peter. John, Jonathan, and
David Shaver, sons of Andrew Shaver, sr., settled in Muhlenberg some
time between 1820 and 1825, but left the county before 1840. Parthenia,
who married John Kittinger, and Mary Magdalene, or Polly, who married
Jacob Garst, were daughters of Andrew Shaver, sr., and like their
brothers Andrew and Peter Shaver are to-day represented by many
descendants in Muhlenberg. Mrs. Andrew Shaver, sr., died in Muhlenberg
about 1840, and is buried near Shaver's Chapel.
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Andrew Shaver, jr., married
Susan M. Bower in Virginia, and came to Muhlenberg about the year 1820.
He was a successful farmer and did much toward encouraging others to
settle in the "Dutch Settlement." His career, unfortunately, was a
short one. One day two strangers, passing through the country, came to
the Andrew Shaver home and asked for supper and lodging. They were
admitted, for in the olden days strangers were welcomed in the homes of
the pioneers, if for no other reason than for the news they might bring
from the outside world. Although the wanderers complained of being ill,
they nevertheless gladly told the news they had heard along the road.
The next morning it was discovered, to the surprise of all, that one of
the men had smallpox. His companion nursed him through the siege, and
although every precaution was taken to prevent the disease from
spreading, Andrew Shaver contracted smallpox and died. He was born
November 5, 1793, and died June 13, 1837. His wife, Susan Shaver, was
born February 14, 1791, and died May 8, 1874. 12 Mr. and
Mrs. Peter Shaver, 1865.
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Peter Shaver was born in
Virginia January 18, 1790, and died November 17, 1866. His wife, Nancy
Peters, daughter of pioneer Christian Peters, was born December 25,
1798, and died September 21, 1879. Peter Shaver came to Muhlenberg
about 1815, and was regarded as one of the best educated men in the
"Dutch Settlement." He did much toward the moral, educational, and
industrial development of the northern part of the county. It was he
who, in honor of his father's birthplace, had the post-office called
Bremen, a name it still bears. He was a progressive farmer, and wielded
the axe, the hammer, and the pen with equal grace. A letter written to
his son, Benjamin J. Shaver, in 1861, is quoted elsewhere in this
volume. The day he and his wife celebrated their golden wedding they
had their portraits made. On the same day he recorded the following in
their family Bible: "November 30, 1865; Peter Shaver was married to
Nancy Peters November 30, 1815. We, the above-named Peter and Nancy
Shaver, have through the blessing of God, lived fifty years in the
state of matrimony and are this day in good health and able to take
care of ourselves. God be praised for his mercy and goodness." 13
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Such, as I have given it, is a
glimpse at some of the first-comers. But there were many other
prominent pioneers. The Muhlenberg men who fought in the War of 1812,
the first settlers in the Pond River country, the Paradise country, and
the Rhoads and the Weirs, were among the other first-comers. The part
taken by these pioneers in the settling and upbuilding of the new
county is recorded in some of the other chapters in this history. They,
like the men and women referred to in this chapter, helped to make
Muhlenberg what it is to-day.
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1. I am informed by Julian W.
Allen, of Ennis, that about two and a half miles above the mouth of
Rocky Creek are evidences of an old buffalo trail, three or four feet
wide, and that where it crossed the creek it is now worn down to a
depth of about six feet. This trail apparently led from the barrens in
Christian County through the Mud River country of Muhlenberg, crossed
Mud River about eight miles below Mud River Mine, into Butler County to
Conley's Lake, which, before the dam was built at Rochester, was a salt
lick. This salt lick, in the olden days, covered the ground (about
twenty acres) where the lake now is. It is said this worn-down area was
formed by buffaloes and other animals trampling and wallowing on the
ground while there for the purpose of licking salt. From a point on the
Muhlenberg side, near the Mud River crossing, the main trail followed
the general course of Mud River down toward its mouth. An old road that
led from Bowling Green to Owensboro followed this trail through the Mud
River bottoms from the lick, over the old Mud River crossing into
Muhlenberg, and then continued over the hills toward the north.
Evidences of this old buffalo trail can also be seen in some of the
woodlands between Dunmor and Penrod. There are indications that below
the Mud River country a trail led off from the main buffalo trail
toward Greenville, through what is now the Pallas Dwyer farm. Since
some of the old surveys refer to this main trail as the Old Buffalo
Trail, it is more than likely that traces of it were far more apparent
in the days of the first-comers than they are now. Evidences indicate
that another old trail ran from Berry's Lick, Butler County, crossed
Mud River about a mile below Mud River Mine, intersected the Old
Buffalo Trail south of Rocky Creek, and then continued over the
Muhlenberg hills toward Christian County.
2. After the death of Mrs. Tabitha A. R. Campbell in 1806, Mrs. Lucy Roberts Russell, wife of Samuel Russell, became "The Mother of Greenville." She died in The famous Russell House in 1851. A number of years later Mrs. Lucy Wing Short Yost became known as "The Grand Old Lady of Greenville."
3. Robert B. Russell was born in Greenville November 13, 1810. In 1839 he marries Celia McLean, daughter of Doctor Robert D. McLean. They were the parents of Lucy R Rebecca W. Samuel, and Edward M. Russell. In 1850 he was a member of the State Sesate. He represented Muhlenberg's southern sympathizers in the Confederate Legislature at Russellville in November, 1861. He died in Paris, Tennessee, October 4, 1873. Edward M. Russell, of Paris, Tennessee, in a letter to me, writes: "Except for the eyes, the enclosed photograph of my father, made in 1870, is a very good likeness. He had large gray eyes, but during the last few years of his life they were very much weakened by disease. ... I have often heard my father speak of the howling of the wolves in Greenville at night, so wild and unsettled was the country when he was a young man."
4. Jesse McPherson was born in Virginia February 15, 1765, and died May 14, 1849. His wife was born February 16, 1772, and died August 25, 1822. Both are buried near their old home near Rosewood. They were the parents of seven children, all of whom lived in the southeastern part of Muhlenberg County, where they were well-known citizens; Lewis, John, Alexander, Amos, Alney, and Jesse McPherson, and Mrs. Nancy (Samuel) Davenport.
5. Pioneer John Hunt and his wife, Charity Hunt, were the parents of Jonathan, John, Elijah, Owen, Daniel, and Gasham Hunt, Mrs. Charity Davis, and Mrs. Joan Whitnker. Pioneer James Wood and his wife, Susan Wood, were the parents of Mrs. Sally (Enoch, son of Jonathan) Hunt. Zillman, John, Mrs. Mary (Daniel, son of Elijah) Hunt, and Mrs. Elizabeth (J. S.) Hughes.
6. Elizabeth Worthington married Reverend William Kincheloe. They lived on a farm about two miles southeast of Judge Worthington's home. William Kincheloe was for many years one of the few preachers in that neighborhood. After his children became large enough to go to school he employed a teacher for them and extended an invitation to the boys and girls of his neighbors to attend this school at his expense. He ran a store for many years, and in that connection made a number of trips by boat to New Orleans and return. R. M. Kincheloe, of Sacramento, who represented McLean County in the Legislature in 1891 and 1892, is a grandson. Thomas Worthington, son of Judge Worthington, was born May 27, 1786, in Fort Vienna, now Calhoun. There is a tradition to the effect that his parents, with their two small daughters, had a few weeks before gone to the Fort for protection from the Indians. In 1808 he married Elinore Barnes, of Ohio County, and shortly after settled near Cypress Creek on a farm that had been presented to him by his father. He, like his brother-in-law William Kincheloe, was a preacher, and also maintained a school in his neighborhood at his own expense. He died near Worthington's Chapel in 1853. Shortly after his death his wife and all their children, except three daughters, moved to Mississippi. These three were Mrs. Matilda (W. B.) Lawton, the mother of Alexander Lawton, of Rumsey; Mrs. Caroline (James) Henry, the mother of Joseph G. Henry, of McLean County; Mrs. Emily (Joseph L.) Gregory, who is the mother of Reverend Thomas Gregory, now of Marshall County. Polly Worthington, the second daughter of Judge Worthington, married Aaron Wickliffe. They moved to Greenville, Mississippi, and there he became one of the wealthiest planters in the South. They had no children, and left their estate to one of Judge Worthington's grandsons, whom they had adopted.
7. Colonel and Mrs. Moses Wickliffe were the parents of (1) Aaron, (2) William Y., (3) Mrs. Susan Jane (William Y.) Cundiff, whose husband was a son of pioneer Bryant Cundiff, (4 and 5) Benjamin Singleton and Robert McLean, twins, the two well-known bachelors, (6) Moses, a bachelor, who resigned as sheriff of the county to join the Confederate army and who later often served as a magistrate, (7) Mrs. Agnes Elizabeth (John F.) Davis, (8) Charles Bryant, who served as sheriff and who represented the county in the Legislature in 1889-'91, (9) John Kincheloe, a Confederate soldier killed during the war, and (10) Miss Mary Frances Wickliffe.
8. Pioneer Robert Randolph died in 1817. He was the father of (1) Ashford D., who married Geraldine Oates, daughter of William Oates and among whose children are John R. and E. M. Randolph, (2) Elizabeth, who married Bayless Oates, son of William Oates, (3) Robert, jr., who married Harriet Oates, daughter of Jesse Oates.
9. Mr. and Mrs. Edmund M. Blacklock were the parents of seven children, all of whom spent the greater part of their lives in Muhlenberg: (1) Mrs. Elizabeth (Benjamin E.) Young, whose second husband was Judge Q. B. Coleman, (2) Mrs. Mary C. (Allison) Kincheloe, (3) Mrs. Sue M. (William) Leiter, (4) John A., (5) Mrs. Lena (Jacob) Kittenger, (6) Miss Jennie, and (7) Edmund Blacklock.
10. Although William Johnson Dean was born in Breckinridge County (January 17, 1827), where he spent his entire life and where he died (October 10, 1901), he was nevertheless identified with Muhlenberg County. He had an uncle (Charles F. Robertson) living in Muhlenberg, and often visited the county both before and after his marriage. He cultivated the acquaintance of the prominent men of the county, and always took much interest in its affairs. He supervised the farming and other business operations of Judge Godman's widow, and spent much time in the county. His wife was born (August 12, 1829) near what is now Moorman, and lived there until her marriage, November 14, 1849. Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Dean were the parents of nine children, all of whom lived to be grown: (1) Godman S., of Greenville, the father of Harry M. Dean, (2) John Allen, the well-known lawyer of Owensboro, (3) Summers, (4) William Johnson, jr., (5) Mrs. Mary Elizabeth (David C.) Herndon, (6) Miss Amanda R., (7) Mrs. Jennie L. (Charles M.) Reid, (8) Mrs. Margaret W. (Charles L.) Cornwell, and (9) Charles Wickliffe Dean. Of these, two sons, Godman S. and Summers, have lived in Muhlenberg for many years, and are among the best-known men in the county.
11. Benjamin Coffman came to Muhlenberg in 1803, where he died in 1847. He was the father of John L., Isaac, Benjamin F., Jacob, Joseph, Mrs. Katherine (Daniel) Plain, Mrs. Betsy (Peter) Johnson, Mrs. Nancy Stoghill, Mrs. Hannah (James) Nall, and Mrs. Sarah (Jefferson) Rust. Reverend Samuel Danner, a Dunkard preacher, was born April 1, 1784, came to Muhlenberg about the year 1800, and died near Bremen July 7, 1857. Reverend and Mrs. Danner were the parents of nine children: John and Samuel Danner, Mrs. Susan (John M.) Gish, Mrs. Nancy (Jacob) Hill, Mrs. Elizabeth (William H.) Kittinger, Mrs. Sallie (George) Branson, Mrs. Francis (David) Gish, Mrs. Mary (Jacob L.) Groves, and Mrs. Harriett (John) Hendricks. Jacob Garst was born in 1795 and died in 1865. His wife, Mary Magdalene (Polly) Shaver, was born in 1796 and died in 1871. They were the parents of eight children: Alfred, John, Philip P., Andrew, Jacob, jr., Mrs. Sarah (Samuel) Short, Mrs. Mary Jane (David J.) Fleming, and Mrs. Margaret (Rudolph) Kittinger. Christian Gish, during the year 1800 or earlier, while on his way to Muhlenberg from Virginia, was killed in the Cumberland Mountains by a team of horses. His widow, Elizabeth Stintz Gish, and her seven sons took the corpse with them and upon their arrival at their destination, near Bremen, buried the body. These seven sons were George, who was married to Betsy Peters, John, to Betsy Noffsinger; David, to Lydia Wiley; Samuel, to Elizabeth Wiley; Abraham, to Mrs. Francis Hill, Joseph, to Sarah Landies, and Christian, to Susan Knave. John Gossett, who was born in 1776 and died in 1854, married Mary Noffsinger in Virginia and came to Muhlenberg about 1812. They were the parents of ten children: Samuel, John, Isaac, Jacob, Daniel, Mrs. Betsy (Robert) Wright, Mrs. Rachael (John) Danner, Mrs. Polly (James) Miller, Mrs. Susan (Esquire John) Whitmer, jr., and Miss Kate Gossett. The Kittingers (six of the children of Jacob Kittinger, who was a native of Switzerland) came to Muhlenberg about 1820. They were Rudolph, Joseph, Martin, Jonathan, Mrs. Lucinda (Jacob) Miller, and Mrs. Bethena (Martin) Miller. Jacob and Martin Miller, who married Lucinda and Bethena Kittinger, were sons of pioneer Martin Miller, sr., who was a brother of Henry Miller, the great-grandfather of F. Marion Miller, of Bremen. Jacob Noffsinger married Susan H. Stoner, who was born in 1764 and died in 1836. They came to Muhlenberg about the year 1800. The following is a list of their children and to whom they were married: Nancy, to Mr. Cook, then to J. Thomas Hill, Mary, to John Gossett; Samuel, to Sallie Rhoads; Betsy, to John Gish, Jacob, to Mary Noffsinger; Catherine, to Reverend Samuel Danner, Hannah, to Samuel Reid; Susan, to Bradford Rhoads, jr.; Rebecca, to John Noffsinger; Sally, to George Humphry, Joseph, to Betsy Bowman, Miss Rachael Noffsinger, and John Noffsinger. John Noffsinger was born in 1803, farmed east of Bremen, married Harriet Reno, and died in 1872. Mrs. Harriet R. Noffsinger was born in 1807 and died in 1897. A picture of Mr. and Mrs. John Noffsinger appears among the illustrations in this chapter. Daniel and Doctor John Noffsinger were brothers of Jacob Noffsinger. Daniel Noffsinger's only child married Wilson Turner. Doctor John Noffsinger died about the year 1835, at the age of eighty. He was the father of a number of daughters, but only one son, John H. Noffsinger. Lot Stroud, who was born February 8, 1778, came to Muhlenberg about the year 1800, and died November 22, 1824. He settled in what was for many years called Stroud, and is now known as Brucken. There he died November 22, 1824. He was the father of six children: Mrs. Fanny (Richard) Morton, Reuben, Jesse, Asher, Mrs. Edna M. (Samuel M.) Ross, and Isaac Stroud. Three Vincent brothers came to Muhlenberg about the year 1800. They were John, Charles, and Thomas Vincent. John Whitmer was born June 24, 1752, came to Muhlenberg about 1795, and died December 10, 1828. He was the father of eight children: Jacob, John, Michael, Valentine, or "Felty"; Mrs. Eve (John) Phillips, Mrs. Susan (Martin) Miller, Mrs. Sally (Anthony) Donahue, and Mrs. Dossett.
12. Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Shaver, jr., were the parents of eight children: Peter, who was married to I. McIntire; Jacob B., to Ann McIntire, then to Harriett McIntire, then to Margaret Wilkins; Barbara Ann, to Michael Whitmer; Elizabeth Jane, to Bradford Noffsinger; Mary, to Felix Naul, then to Absalom Whitmer. Susan, to Joseph Hendricks; Caroline, to Wesley Hunt, and Nancy, to Martin Kirtley.
13. Mr. and Mrs. Peter Shaver were the parents of five children: Andrew, who was married to Theodosia A. Timmens, Benjamin J., to Susan Jagoe, and then to Ann Morehead; David, to Mildred Taylor, Polly, to Thompson Miller, and John M., to Catherine Welsh.
2. After the death of Mrs. Tabitha A. R. Campbell in 1806, Mrs. Lucy Roberts Russell, wife of Samuel Russell, became "The Mother of Greenville." She died in The famous Russell House in 1851. A number of years later Mrs. Lucy Wing Short Yost became known as "The Grand Old Lady of Greenville."
3. Robert B. Russell was born in Greenville November 13, 1810. In 1839 he marries Celia McLean, daughter of Doctor Robert D. McLean. They were the parents of Lucy R Rebecca W. Samuel, and Edward M. Russell. In 1850 he was a member of the State Sesate. He represented Muhlenberg's southern sympathizers in the Confederate Legislature at Russellville in November, 1861. He died in Paris, Tennessee, October 4, 1873. Edward M. Russell, of Paris, Tennessee, in a letter to me, writes: "Except for the eyes, the enclosed photograph of my father, made in 1870, is a very good likeness. He had large gray eyes, but during the last few years of his life they were very much weakened by disease. ... I have often heard my father speak of the howling of the wolves in Greenville at night, so wild and unsettled was the country when he was a young man."
4. Jesse McPherson was born in Virginia February 15, 1765, and died May 14, 1849. His wife was born February 16, 1772, and died August 25, 1822. Both are buried near their old home near Rosewood. They were the parents of seven children, all of whom lived in the southeastern part of Muhlenberg County, where they were well-known citizens; Lewis, John, Alexander, Amos, Alney, and Jesse McPherson, and Mrs. Nancy (Samuel) Davenport.
5. Pioneer John Hunt and his wife, Charity Hunt, were the parents of Jonathan, John, Elijah, Owen, Daniel, and Gasham Hunt, Mrs. Charity Davis, and Mrs. Joan Whitnker. Pioneer James Wood and his wife, Susan Wood, were the parents of Mrs. Sally (Enoch, son of Jonathan) Hunt. Zillman, John, Mrs. Mary (Daniel, son of Elijah) Hunt, and Mrs. Elizabeth (J. S.) Hughes.
6. Elizabeth Worthington married Reverend William Kincheloe. They lived on a farm about two miles southeast of Judge Worthington's home. William Kincheloe was for many years one of the few preachers in that neighborhood. After his children became large enough to go to school he employed a teacher for them and extended an invitation to the boys and girls of his neighbors to attend this school at his expense. He ran a store for many years, and in that connection made a number of trips by boat to New Orleans and return. R. M. Kincheloe, of Sacramento, who represented McLean County in the Legislature in 1891 and 1892, is a grandson. Thomas Worthington, son of Judge Worthington, was born May 27, 1786, in Fort Vienna, now Calhoun. There is a tradition to the effect that his parents, with their two small daughters, had a few weeks before gone to the Fort for protection from the Indians. In 1808 he married Elinore Barnes, of Ohio County, and shortly after settled near Cypress Creek on a farm that had been presented to him by his father. He, like his brother-in-law William Kincheloe, was a preacher, and also maintained a school in his neighborhood at his own expense. He died near Worthington's Chapel in 1853. Shortly after his death his wife and all their children, except three daughters, moved to Mississippi. These three were Mrs. Matilda (W. B.) Lawton, the mother of Alexander Lawton, of Rumsey; Mrs. Caroline (James) Henry, the mother of Joseph G. Henry, of McLean County; Mrs. Emily (Joseph L.) Gregory, who is the mother of Reverend Thomas Gregory, now of Marshall County. Polly Worthington, the second daughter of Judge Worthington, married Aaron Wickliffe. They moved to Greenville, Mississippi, and there he became one of the wealthiest planters in the South. They had no children, and left their estate to one of Judge Worthington's grandsons, whom they had adopted.
7. Colonel and Mrs. Moses Wickliffe were the parents of (1) Aaron, (2) William Y., (3) Mrs. Susan Jane (William Y.) Cundiff, whose husband was a son of pioneer Bryant Cundiff, (4 and 5) Benjamin Singleton and Robert McLean, twins, the two well-known bachelors, (6) Moses, a bachelor, who resigned as sheriff of the county to join the Confederate army and who later often served as a magistrate, (7) Mrs. Agnes Elizabeth (John F.) Davis, (8) Charles Bryant, who served as sheriff and who represented the county in the Legislature in 1889-'91, (9) John Kincheloe, a Confederate soldier killed during the war, and (10) Miss Mary Frances Wickliffe.
8. Pioneer Robert Randolph died in 1817. He was the father of (1) Ashford D., who married Geraldine Oates, daughter of William Oates and among whose children are John R. and E. M. Randolph, (2) Elizabeth, who married Bayless Oates, son of William Oates, (3) Robert, jr., who married Harriet Oates, daughter of Jesse Oates.
9. Mr. and Mrs. Edmund M. Blacklock were the parents of seven children, all of whom spent the greater part of their lives in Muhlenberg: (1) Mrs. Elizabeth (Benjamin E.) Young, whose second husband was Judge Q. B. Coleman, (2) Mrs. Mary C. (Allison) Kincheloe, (3) Mrs. Sue M. (William) Leiter, (4) John A., (5) Mrs. Lena (Jacob) Kittenger, (6) Miss Jennie, and (7) Edmund Blacklock.
10. Although William Johnson Dean was born in Breckinridge County (January 17, 1827), where he spent his entire life and where he died (October 10, 1901), he was nevertheless identified with Muhlenberg County. He had an uncle (Charles F. Robertson) living in Muhlenberg, and often visited the county both before and after his marriage. He cultivated the acquaintance of the prominent men of the county, and always took much interest in its affairs. He supervised the farming and other business operations of Judge Godman's widow, and spent much time in the county. His wife was born (August 12, 1829) near what is now Moorman, and lived there until her marriage, November 14, 1849. Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Dean were the parents of nine children, all of whom lived to be grown: (1) Godman S., of Greenville, the father of Harry M. Dean, (2) John Allen, the well-known lawyer of Owensboro, (3) Summers, (4) William Johnson, jr., (5) Mrs. Mary Elizabeth (David C.) Herndon, (6) Miss Amanda R., (7) Mrs. Jennie L. (Charles M.) Reid, (8) Mrs. Margaret W. (Charles L.) Cornwell, and (9) Charles Wickliffe Dean. Of these, two sons, Godman S. and Summers, have lived in Muhlenberg for many years, and are among the best-known men in the county.
11. Benjamin Coffman came to Muhlenberg in 1803, where he died in 1847. He was the father of John L., Isaac, Benjamin F., Jacob, Joseph, Mrs. Katherine (Daniel) Plain, Mrs. Betsy (Peter) Johnson, Mrs. Nancy Stoghill, Mrs. Hannah (James) Nall, and Mrs. Sarah (Jefferson) Rust. Reverend Samuel Danner, a Dunkard preacher, was born April 1, 1784, came to Muhlenberg about the year 1800, and died near Bremen July 7, 1857. Reverend and Mrs. Danner were the parents of nine children: John and Samuel Danner, Mrs. Susan (John M.) Gish, Mrs. Nancy (Jacob) Hill, Mrs. Elizabeth (William H.) Kittinger, Mrs. Sallie (George) Branson, Mrs. Francis (David) Gish, Mrs. Mary (Jacob L.) Groves, and Mrs. Harriett (John) Hendricks. Jacob Garst was born in 1795 and died in 1865. His wife, Mary Magdalene (Polly) Shaver, was born in 1796 and died in 1871. They were the parents of eight children: Alfred, John, Philip P., Andrew, Jacob, jr., Mrs. Sarah (Samuel) Short, Mrs. Mary Jane (David J.) Fleming, and Mrs. Margaret (Rudolph) Kittinger. Christian Gish, during the year 1800 or earlier, while on his way to Muhlenberg from Virginia, was killed in the Cumberland Mountains by a team of horses. His widow, Elizabeth Stintz Gish, and her seven sons took the corpse with them and upon their arrival at their destination, near Bremen, buried the body. These seven sons were George, who was married to Betsy Peters, John, to Betsy Noffsinger; David, to Lydia Wiley; Samuel, to Elizabeth Wiley; Abraham, to Mrs. Francis Hill, Joseph, to Sarah Landies, and Christian, to Susan Knave. John Gossett, who was born in 1776 and died in 1854, married Mary Noffsinger in Virginia and came to Muhlenberg about 1812. They were the parents of ten children: Samuel, John, Isaac, Jacob, Daniel, Mrs. Betsy (Robert) Wright, Mrs. Rachael (John) Danner, Mrs. Polly (James) Miller, Mrs. Susan (Esquire John) Whitmer, jr., and Miss Kate Gossett. The Kittingers (six of the children of Jacob Kittinger, who was a native of Switzerland) came to Muhlenberg about 1820. They were Rudolph, Joseph, Martin, Jonathan, Mrs. Lucinda (Jacob) Miller, and Mrs. Bethena (Martin) Miller. Jacob and Martin Miller, who married Lucinda and Bethena Kittinger, were sons of pioneer Martin Miller, sr., who was a brother of Henry Miller, the great-grandfather of F. Marion Miller, of Bremen. Jacob Noffsinger married Susan H. Stoner, who was born in 1764 and died in 1836. They came to Muhlenberg about the year 1800. The following is a list of their children and to whom they were married: Nancy, to Mr. Cook, then to J. Thomas Hill, Mary, to John Gossett; Samuel, to Sallie Rhoads; Betsy, to John Gish, Jacob, to Mary Noffsinger; Catherine, to Reverend Samuel Danner, Hannah, to Samuel Reid; Susan, to Bradford Rhoads, jr.; Rebecca, to John Noffsinger; Sally, to George Humphry, Joseph, to Betsy Bowman, Miss Rachael Noffsinger, and John Noffsinger. John Noffsinger was born in 1803, farmed east of Bremen, married Harriet Reno, and died in 1872. Mrs. Harriet R. Noffsinger was born in 1807 and died in 1897. A picture of Mr. and Mrs. John Noffsinger appears among the illustrations in this chapter. Daniel and Doctor John Noffsinger were brothers of Jacob Noffsinger. Daniel Noffsinger's only child married Wilson Turner. Doctor John Noffsinger died about the year 1835, at the age of eighty. He was the father of a number of daughters, but only one son, John H. Noffsinger. Lot Stroud, who was born February 8, 1778, came to Muhlenberg about the year 1800, and died November 22, 1824. He settled in what was for many years called Stroud, and is now known as Brucken. There he died November 22, 1824. He was the father of six children: Mrs. Fanny (Richard) Morton, Reuben, Jesse, Asher, Mrs. Edna M. (Samuel M.) Ross, and Isaac Stroud. Three Vincent brothers came to Muhlenberg about the year 1800. They were John, Charles, and Thomas Vincent. John Whitmer was born June 24, 1752, came to Muhlenberg about 1795, and died December 10, 1828. He was the father of eight children: Jacob, John, Michael, Valentine, or "Felty"; Mrs. Eve (John) Phillips, Mrs. Susan (Martin) Miller, Mrs. Sally (Anthony) Donahue, and Mrs. Dossett.
12. Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Shaver, jr., were the parents of eight children: Peter, who was married to I. McIntire; Jacob B., to Ann McIntire, then to Harriett McIntire, then to Margaret Wilkins; Barbara Ann, to Michael Whitmer; Elizabeth Jane, to Bradford Noffsinger; Mary, to Felix Naul, then to Absalom Whitmer. Susan, to Joseph Hendricks; Caroline, to Wesley Hunt, and Nancy, to Martin Kirtley.
13. Mr. and Mrs. Peter Shaver were the parents of five children: Andrew, who was married to Theodosia A. Timmens, Benjamin J., to Susan Jagoe, and then to Ann Morehead; David, to Mildred Taylor, Polly, to Thompson Miller, and John M., to Catherine Welsh.
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