A Magazine For Kentuckians Everywhere -- Still Only $2.50
ENTUCKY K XPLORER E 112 Pages All About Kentucky
Volume 28, Number 6 -- November 2013
The Pike Saloon In Kenton County, Kentucky, ca. 1900. The Pike Saloon was operated by William H. and Theresa McClanahan. Shown in the photo are the McClanahans and an unknown patron. See page 95 for further information.
Thanksgiving Was No Piece Of Pie -- Page 30 County Court Days In Kentucky -- Pages 56-59 Various Stories Of Kentucky Veterans 11
7
74470 19508
4
Old-Time Recipes To Enjoy
Much More!
Featuring Things Old & New About Kentucky
Page 2 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013
The Kentucky Explorer, P. O. Box 227, Jackson, KY 41339; 606/666-5060; www.kentuckyexplorer.com
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 3
The Kentucky Explorer A Magazine Published For Kentuckians Everywhere
Charles Hayes, Jr. - Founder & Publisher Elesha Richardson - Editor Darlene Johnson - Manager Price Per Year - $18.00 Plus $3.00 Postage Hello, from your friends here at The Kentucky Explorer. Since Veteran’s Day is approaching, The Explorer would like to salute all Kentucky veterans. Inside this issue there are various stories regarding veterans and their service during the wars These articles have been submitted over the last few months. Also, there are several individual photos of veterans. You are invited to send in materials to share in our magazine. We need stories from every section of Kentucky. Requirements are that each submission must have a Kentucky
FOUNDED 1986 -- ISSUE 286 - VOLUME 28, NO. 6
Renew Now, If Your Mailing Label Reads 11/13 Or Earlier. Thanks! connection. We depend so much on our readers. So, no matter where you live, please help us. Don’t be left out. Please, plan on sending in your stories and photos soon, so they will be preserved. We would like to wish everyone a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving. It’s time to start your Christmas shopping. Remember The Kentucky Explorer makes a great gift, for any occasion. We send gift cards. See specials on page 2 and ordering information on page 112.
TABLE OF CONTENTS -- November 2013 Kentucky Explorer On CDs ............................................ 2 Table Of Contents ........................................................... 3 Letters To The Editor ..................................................... 4 E. Dudley Scrugham: Drummer Boy In The Civil War. 10 WWII Soldier’s Letters Relate War Experiences........... 12 Lt. William H. Peters: A True American Hero ............. 13 The Wild Turkey In 1837: A Most Interesting Bird ..... 16 Indian Summer Meant Danger To Pioneers ................. 19 Sgt. George Miniard Awarded The Silver Star ............. 19 Fire-Engine Horses Were As Smart As Racers ............. 20 The Viceroy Butterfly: Ky.’s Symbol of Loveliness ....... 22 Gardening, Nature Study Were Passions For Pace ......... 23 Part 3: The Bloody Record Of “Bad” Tom Smith ............. 24 Kentucky Roadside History Markers ............................ 27 Grandma Hobbs Was A Special Lady ........................... 28 Indian School At Blue Springs, Scott County .............. 29 Thanksgiving Was No Piece Of Pie .................................. 30 Berea Musicians: Joan Toliver: A Ky. Folk Singer .......... 32 Down The Backroads: An Old House Is A History Book.. 34 A Look At Pikeville’s Businesses In Years Gone By ......... 36 Uncle Carl Osborne: A Sailor From Lewis County ...... 39 Cold Months Bring Hog-Killing Time To Kentucky........ 41 Cpl. Edward Ward Received Final Tribute ..................... 43 Kentucky Philosopher ..................................................... 44 Ohio River Once Wider And Took Different Course ......... 45
Amos C. Houk: Flight Officer And Pilot, WWII ................ 46 Strange Facts About Kentucky ........................................ 48 A Look At The Life Of Actress Mary Nolan ................. 49 Wit & Wisdom ................................................................. 52 Kentucky’s 1895-96 State Gazetteer .............................. 53 Vintage Views From Carl Howell’s Collection............56-59 Readers Share Photos ................................................ 60-61 Letters (Conclusion) ........................................................ 62 Ky. Genealogy From Dr. John J. Dickey’s 1898 Diary ...... 66 Family Reunions & Other Special Announcements ...... 70 Genealogy From The Long Ago ....................................... 72 Strictly Kentucky Genealogy .......................................... 75 “I Remember” By Our Readers ........................................ 78 Kentucky Genealogy Help Line ...................................... 94 Songs Kentuckians Were Singing 100 Years Ago ......... 96 Old-Time Recipes To Enjoy ............................................. 98 Collins Historical Sketches Of Kentucky ....................... 99 Kentucky Kinfolks ......................................................... 102 Kentucky Explorer Book Page ...................................... 104 Word Puzzle: Names Of Lot Owners In Elizabethtown.. 105 November Events To Enjoy............................................. 106 Kentucky Explorer Classified Ads................................. 109 Answer To Word Puzzle.................................................. 111 Story Location Map......................................................... 112 Subscription/Renewal/Gift Forms ..................................112
The Kentucky Explorer is published ten times each year (monthly except for combined issues for December/January and July/August). Annual rates are $21.00 anywhere in the USA. Editorial Offices, P. O. Box 227 (1248 Highway 15 N.), Jackson, KY 41339. Phone 606/666-5060. Copyrighted, all rights reserved. (Not responsible for unsolicited materials of any kind).
Periodical Class Mail Paid at Jackson, Kentucky, and additional mailing offices. USPS-00248 --ISSN-08908362. Postmaster, send address changes to The Kentucky Explorer, P. O. Box 227, Jackson KY 41339-0227.
In Memory of John Scott Hays, 1965-2003
Jesse Stuart became Kentucky's best-known author.
Page 4 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013
Letters To The Kentucky Explorer We enjoy hearing from our readers. Write us soon! P. O. Box 227, Jackson, KY 41339 Editor's Note: Readers, please feel free to write any of the following, if you can help them. Our readers are so kind, and many of you do help. For this, we are thankful! Searching For Article On Dynamite Shack Explosion Dear Editor: I enjoy The Kentucky Explorer very much. I look forward to each issue. A few years ago there was an article in the magazine about a dynamite shack exploding. Along with the article was a photo of Mary Alexander and some of her children. I think there was a building, maybe a barn, shown in the background. There was also a small photo of the dynamite shack prior to its being destroyed. Two of Mary’s sons were in the shack when it exploded. This lady was related to my mother, Rose Margaret Alexander Jackson. I think Mary lived in the Jackson County area. My issue that contained this article came up missing. Perhaps someone borrowed it and forgot to bring it back. I would really appreciate a copy of the issue that contains this article. I will gladly pay the costs. Thanks for a great magazine. Keep up the good work. Gwendolyn Isaacs 91 Davidson Road McKee, KY 40447 More On Colonel W. R. Cook, A Notorious Counterfeiter Dear Editor: In the September 2013 issue of The Kentucky Explorer was an article by an unknown author written in 1879, regarding Col. W. R. Cook. The author says Colonel Cook was a Lieutenant Colonel of the
Joseph Dalton, 6501 Germantown Road, #402, Middletown, OH 45042; dalton2011 @cinci.rr.com, shares this photo of five sons of Rev. John Frank Powell. They are (l-r) Lemon, Bill, Paul, Willard, and James. There were also some girls in this family and possibly another son, Joe. Reverend Powell was from Nada, Powell County, Kentucky. He was a Baptist preacher and spread Godʼs Word all over Kentucky. He was called to hold a revival meeting not long before the flood of 1939 at Frozen Creek in Breathitt County. Mrs. Prater had a daughter who was married to Josephʼs uncle, Prody Tolson, who was a brother to Josephʼs grandmother, who was married to George W. Dalton, Josephʼs grandfather. The photo is thought to have been taken in Powell County, Kentucky, ca. 1950s.
Eighth Tennessee during the War Between the States. This is not correct. Lt. Col. W. R. Cook was in the Second East Tennessee Cavalry Regiment. He was enrolled September 1, 1862. After service at the Battle of Stones River, Tullahoma, and the Battle of Chickamauga (Georgia), he was placed in charge of a detail escorting prisoners and wagons to Bridgeport (Alabama) in September 1863. Col. D. M. Ray of the Second Tennessee Cavalry filed charges against Lieutenant Colonel Cook in November 1863, stating that Cook had provided whiskey to the troopers
during the escort to Bridgeport in September. Colonel Cook was dishonorably discharged briefly for gross neglect of duty and general inefficiency by Special Field Order No. 295 on November 6, 1863. This order was revoked November 10, 1963, by Special Field Order No. 310. During the Battle of Okolona (Mississippi) Lt. Colonel Cook was severely wounded in the back of his neck and was captured, while commanding the rear of the rear guard. He was paroled at Charleston, South Carolina, on August 3, 1864. He reported to Nicholasville, Jessamine County, Kentucky, as ordered
You cannot conceive the many without the one. --Plato
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 5 by General Foster on August 12, 1864. He rejoined the regiment in time for the Battle of Nashville (Tennessee) which took place December 15-16, 1864. He served until he mustered out on July 6, 1865. Stewart Cruickshank 95 Lutie Street Nashville, TN 37210 Recalling Mountain Life Dear Editor: Thanks for the history of our lives in the mountains. Some folks call the mountains hills. Well, they can call it what they want, but where I lived in Lawrence County, Kentucky, the hills were more like mountains. I now live in the hills and Kentucky people call these hills banks which border the river valley in Springfield, Ohio. I lived in the mountains until I was 18 years old. We dug our own coal. We grew our food and made our clothes. If we ate it, we grew it. If we wore it, we made it. What helped me was that I did alterations for 20 years. I liked altering cloth, so that helped my kids through school and college. Thanks to The Kentucky Explorer I have located a girl I hadn’t seen in 71 years. Thanks so much for keeping the history of Kentucky true. Those who are city born and reared in another state cannot know what it was like to be reared in Kentucky. Nancy Fyffe 543 E. County Line Road Springfield, OH 45512 Editor’s Note: Nancy Fyffe will turn 92 years old on December 30, 2013. The Explorer appreciates her contributions throughout the years to the magazine. Old Recording Wanted Dear Editor: Years ago I heard a recording of “What It Was, Was Football” by Andy Griffith before he became famous. I would like to obtain a copy of this recording or a copy of the reading. I lived for six years at Elkatawa in Breathitt County, while I was a
Triple Wedding... These three Salyersville, Magoffin County, Kentucky, couples were married on January 31, 1931, at Louisa in Lawrence County. James E. Allen, 447 Kentucky Street, Salyersville, KY 41465, shares this photo of (l-r) Buck and Lillie Mae Carpenter Patrick, Howard and Rebecca Reed Prater, and Forrest “Cricket” and Alma Arnett Frazier. James says that when he started grade school in the fall of 1936, Rebecca Reed Prater was his first grade teacher. In 1937 Alma Arnett Frazier was his second grade teacher. Howard Prater died in military service in Europe on December 21, 1944. Another photo of Howard Prater appeared in the September 1999 issue of The Kentucky Explorer on page 43.
student at Asbury Seminary in Wilmore. Later I lived a total of 20-plus years at Scottsville in Allen County. Although I was born and reared in South Dakota, I feel that I am a naturalized Kentucky citizen presently living in Virginia. I am looking forward to hearing where I can get this material. I really enjoy The Kentucky Explorer. Brian Bonney 32 New Brunswick Road Fischerville, VA 22939
Vintage Quilt-Top Pattern Wanted Dear Editor: My husband and I have been subscribing to The Kentucky Explorer since 1988. We have always been pleased with all the articles and photos in the magazine. Several times when I have needed information on something, Explorer readers have come through and helped me. Now I need help in locating a pattern or instructions for a Vintage
Charles Dickens, the famous English novelist, visited Louisville in 1842, and stayed at the Galt House.
Page 6 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013
Harold Onkst, 44 Onkst Drive, Pineville, KY 40977; har7741@bellsouth.net, shares this photo taken in 1949 of the students at Burchfield Grade School located at the mouth of Long Branch on Route 66 at Rella, Bell County, Kentucky. Those numbered in the photo are 1. Elmer Clark, 2. Carson Broughten, 3. Jeanette Messer, 4. Ruth Estep, 5. Carl Napier, 6. Edna Clark, 7. Jack (or Joe) Clark (?), 8. Arnold Lee Elliott, 9. General Bingham, 10. Elzo Bargo, 11. Joe (or Jack) Clark, 12. Corine Holland, 13. Koffaline Broughton, 14. J. D. Jones, 15. Roma Jean Asher, 16. Don R. Elliott, 17. Gordon Messer, 18. Lorrine Estep, 19. Goldie Bargo, 20. Harold Jones, 21. Billy Wells, 22. Marvin Messer, 23. Jackie D. Wagner, 24. Don R. Miller, 25. Berry Smith, 26. Jimmie Potter, 27. Faye Broughten, 28. Phyllis Onkst, 29. Barbara Asher, 30. Harold Onkst, and 31. Juanita Wells. Haroldʼs brother, Frank, and his sisters, Billa and Phyllis, all attended this school through the eighth grade. The Onkst residence was located beside the school. Harold says his favorite teachers were Orville and Dorothy Engle who became life-long friends of his family.
Paragon Baltimore Bride’s bed-size quilt top (No. 01167) to be cross stitched. I purchased a bag at a yard sale with the quilt stamped cross stitched panels and all the thread kit, but it did not have the pattern with it. Any help would be appreciated in finding this pattern. Also, I’m looking for a pattern for a crocheted thimble/needle holder, which looks like a mini sombrero. I will pay for copies of these patterns. Inge Grant 2935 Yoder Tipton Road Taylorsville KY 40071 Bradfordsville Native Dear Editor: I surely do enjoy The Kentucky Explorer.
I was born in Bradfordsville, Marion County, Kentucky, and lived there much of my life. I also lived in Casey County during my younger years. Since I am of the “older” generation, I can relate to those things written about in the magazine. I have been in Bowling Green for many years. I still enjoy going back home to the Knobs region and seeing the people there. Juanita Wilcher 205 Cedar Ridge Road Bowling Green, KY 42101 Facts On Lake Beshear In Hopkins County Dear Editor: I would like to share a few facts about Lake Beshear located Caldwell and Christian Counties within the
Pennyrile Forest State Resort Park. First, Lake Beshear was not always here. Not many people know that Fred Beshear lobbied Gov. A. B. “Happy” Chandler’s administration to build a lake and dam near Dawson Springs. During one of the hearings in Hopkinsville, Christian County, Fred stood up and would not sit down until Governor Chandler pledged to build the lake. The Pennyrile and Kentucky Lakes were located nearby, and the administration argued that it would not be feasible to build another so close to the others. Fred insisted and asked Governor Chandler to promise that he would build the dam and lake. The Governor finally agreed. The dam was to be slightly longer but was trimmed back to what it is now. Fred continued to spearhead the effort to get the state to build the
A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom. --Frost
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 7 beautiful 957-acre lake. Fred was mayor in Dawson Springs in 1919 and later served as a state representative on two separate occasions, once in 1932 and again in 1948. He worked on getting the lake from 1946 until his death in 1956. Members of the legislature tried to get Governor Chandler to halt the project, but he would hear none of it. He said, “I made a promise to Fred, and even though he died, I intend to keep my promise; therefore, the ruling stands.” The lake and dam became a reality in 1960 and was officially dedicated on September 1, 1962. The area will forever be in debt to Fred Beshear for his work. The lake is equipped as a water reservoir to supply fresh water to Dawson Springs and the South Hopkins Water District. The lake is famous for its abundance of bluegill, catfish, crappie, and bass. Water skiing, fishing, and boating are encouraged and Lake Beshear is one of the most beautiful lakes in the nation. We still enjoy the fruits of Fred’s labor, and Mayor Jennie Beshear Sewell is carrying on the family tradition to make Dawson Springs a better place to live. Ray Bochert 870 Industrial Park Road Dawson Springs, KY 42408 270/797-8605 Relates To Old Stories Dear Editor: Thanks so very much for The Kentucky Explorer. My wife and I both enjoy it so much. When it arrives we both want to read what’s new. I enjoy all the old stories from the olden days. I am 80 years old and relate to many of them. I was born at Barbourville, Knox County, Kentucky. Robert Smith 12520 Noonan Court Utica, MI 48315 Subscriber For Years Dear Editor: I would like to thank the staff of The Kentucky Explorer for a great
Janice Farmer, 148 Morgan Street, Berea, KY 40403, shares this photo of her mother, Vola Burnell Neeley, with one of her plants. Janice is hoping someone can identify the plant. Vola passed away at the age of 90 in 2008. Date and place of photo was not provided.
magazine. I have been a subscriber since the magazine’s early years. I have all the magazines and miss some of the early writers like my neighbor, Dan Stansbury. I would like to hear more from the counties of Knox, Laurel, and Whitley. Keep up the good work. God bless. Mary E. Aurandt 5076 HWY 830 Corbin, KY 40701
Family Members Connected Dear Editor: I would like to thank The Kentucky Explorer for all the help I received from a genealogy query published in the July-August 2013 issue. I was looking for information regarding my great-grandparents, Irvin and Susan Steward Wombles. I received a call from one of Susan Steward’s great-grandson’s wife, Lina
John Fox, Jr., the great writer of Kentucky mountaineers was born in 1863 near Paris (Bourbon Co.).
Page 8 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 Steward. She lives in Hamilton, Ohio, and she gave me one of Susan’s greatgranddaughter’s email address. I also heard from an Alma June Jones from Franklin, Simpson County, Kentucky. She was kind in sending me a lot of information on Irvin and Susan. I also heard from Retha Wombles Jones. We’re no kin, as far as we can tell, but we’re just going to say we are kin and maybe somewhere along the way we might find a connection. Keep up the good work. The magazine really does connect a lot of families and friends. Alma Hays 1110 W. Adrian Circle S. W. Conyers, GA 30094
Paul C. Preston, 3461 Board Drive, Dayton, OH 45414, shares these photos. In the photo above is Paulʼs parents, Frank and Dora Ann Hall Preston. The photo was taken ca. 1923 at Charley, Lawrence County, Kentucky. In the photo below is Paulʼs brother, Howard, standing behind the rocking chair. Seated in the chair is Paulʼs little sister, Amanda, and beside her is Goldia Rae. This photo was taken in 1925 at Thealka, a coal mining camp in Johnson County, Kentucky.
Still Misses Kentucky Dear Editor: Greetings to my Kentucky friends who work so hard to get my favorite magazine, The Kentucky Explorer, to me every month. I haven’t missed an issue yet. I started getting The Explorer in the 1986, and I have enjoyed every one of them. I am now 77 years old and hope to get it until I pass away. I miss Kentucky. I came to Florida in 1954, got sand in my shoes, and have stayed since I was 17 years old. Stella M. Ethridge 120 Lincoln Road, N. W. Lake Placid, FL 33852 Old-Fashioned Buttermilk Biscuit Recipe Wanted Dear Editor: My husband, Marvin D. Badger, has been gone now for four years. He passed away September 14, 2010. I still miss him. If any reader has an oldfashioned buttermilk recipe, I would like to have a copy. Beatrice Badger 8964 E. Georgetown Road Columbus, IN 47201 Varieties Of Apples Dear Editor: In answer to the query by Mike Combs in the September 2013 issue of
There is nothing new under the sun but there are lots of old things we don’t know. --Bierce
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 9 The Kentucky Explorer, I can name some apples which were grown on my grandmother’s farm and those of some of her children. These farms were in southern Whitley County, abutting the Tennessee line. I’m doing this from memory. It’s been more than 60 years since I encountered some of these apples. First of the season to ripen was the June apple. It had yellowish green skin and white flesh. It is good for eating raw and cooked. I never heard the term applesauce back then. Next to ripen was an apple called a Limber-twig. The name described the tree. It had lots of long, slender, vertical, sucker-like twigs which bore the fruit. As the fruit became heavier the twigs would bend over and point toward the ground. This apple had yellow-green skin with black dots which we called “fly specks.” It was used for cooking and drying, if I recall correctly.
There was the Stayman and the Grimes Golden. The Grimes was a very good all-purpose apple. I think these and all the following varieties ripened in late summer or in the fall. One called the Black Ben had a very dark red skin. It looked black from a distance, the flesh was white, turning pinkish near the skin and with red “threads” running through the flesh. This one was mainly used for drying or for eating raw. Another unique variety was the Spice apple, which actually tasted as if it had spices in it. I remember my grandmother baking this one, and also drying it with the skin on. One variety, called the Ounce Pippin, had huge fruit, maybe four inches in diameter, with yellow-green skin and white flesh. Grandma would cut them “around the equator” and bake them. They were very good with a bit of sugar stirred in after baking.
One of my aunts had a tame Crab apple which wasn’t very big, but which had a delicious sweet-tart flavor and made wonderful preserves. The Crab apple and one called a Striped apple, from the appearance of the skin, were good keepers and would last through the winter, if stored in hay to maintain proper humidity and prevent freezing. Dried apples would be cooked until they became smooth, or maybe just a bit lumpy, and used in stack cakes and apple turnovers for the winter holidays. I wish I had one of those turnovers now, just thinking of them makes me hungry. Jim Harp 3217 Wessel Road Shively, KY 40216 LETTERS CONTINUE ON PAGE 62
Hounshell Family, 1947 Maxine Back, 1220 Lick Branch Noctor Road, Jackson, KY 41339, shares this photo of family members. Back row, l-r: Robert Hounshell, Remus Hounshell, Louise Hounshell, Elizabeth Hounshell, and Cleda Hounshell Caudill. Middle row, l-r: Kate Hounshell (Robertʼs wife), Loreda Hounshell, and Maxine Caudill Back. Front row, l-r: James Edward Caudill, Eddie Hounshell and Nannie Bell Back Hounshell. All in the photo are deceased, except for Maxine who is now 79 years old. She was 13 when this photo was taken in 1947 at Lick Branch in the community of Noctor, Breathitt County, Kentucky.
The first major battle of the Civil War on Ky. soil was at Middle Creek (Floyd Co.) on January 10, 1862.
Page 10 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013
E. Dudley Scrugham: The Little Drummer Boy In The Civil War This Teen Spent His 14th Birthday In A Union Prison By Frieda Curtis-Wheatley 2013 thelbert Dudley Scrugham was born June 23, 1849, in Fayette County, Kentucky, to Joseph and Panthea Ewing Scrugham. In the year 1860 Dudley was living with his maternal grandparents. The Confederate States of America’s Second Kentucky Infantry Regiment, a part of the First Brigade, was organized July 13, 1861, at Camp Boone in Tennessee. They were encamped for three months undergoing strict military training. The men served on foot until 1864 when they were mounted on horses. E. Dudley Scrugham enlisted in 1862, at the age of 13, in the Second Kentucky Infantry Co. I, as a musician. He is listed as a drummer on the Company Muster Roll, as being present August 1, 1862, to October 31, 1862, at Camp Murfreesboro. He is also listed as being in the same place for the next four months. During this time he enlisted for a period of three years. Young boys, too young to fight, were allowed to join the Union and the Confederate Armies during the Civil War as drummers. Drums were used daily for communication. Each series of drum beats had a special meaning and were used to announce reveille, assembly, breakfast, sick call, guard duty, drill duty, lights out, etc. Part of the drummer’s duty was to march alongside to keep the men in step while on a march. His important job began during the noise and confusion of battle. With the shells bursting, cannons firing, and the horses and wounded screaming, it was impossible for the soldiers to hear the spoken orders. Keeping near his commander, the drummer began beating out his signals of maneuvers. The “long roll” was the signal to attack. He had a signal for the soldiers to load their weapons and a signal to fire their weapons. The drummer also sounded retreat. The young boys were expected to help carry the injured off the battlefield. The drummer boys played an important and dangerous part during the war. Pvt. Dudley Scrugham accompanied Gen. Braxton Bragg on his raid into Kentucky in 1862. Dudley was present at the Battle of Murfreesboro (Stones River) in Tennessee on December 31, 1862, until January 2, 1863. General Bragg was stationed on the east bank of Stones River with his Rebels, while Gen. William Rosecrans converged with his Union soldiers from the northwest. Both armies slept New Year’s night with the greater part of the field in the possession of the Confederates. The cold morning of January 2nd showed the Union still entrenched instead of on the road to Nashville as General Bragg expected. Between the Confederate attacking lines and the Federal posi-
E
This is the grave marker of Ethelbert Dudley Scrugham (1849-1906) who is buried in the Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville, Kentucky. He was honored with military rites performed by Orphan Brigade veterans. (Photo courtesy of Frieda Curtis-Wheatley) tion lay open grounds of fields and pastures, in full view of the Union batteries on the opposite side of the river. At the Battle of Murfreesboro (Stones River), located a mile east of Murfreesboro, 12,906 Federals and 11,739 Confederates became casualties. A grateful Lincoln thanked Rosecrans and his men for “a hard earned victory,” but other opinions were that few battles had cost more and gained less. Brig. Gen. Roger W. Hanson was injured in the charge at Stones River, and later died. Hanson’s Second Kentucky lost 108 men out of 422 engaged. The battle ended with neither side a winner. Pvt. Dudley Scrugham was injured in the Battle of Murfreesboro (Stones River) and left a cripple but remained in service until the close of the war. As General Breckinridge rode through the carnage, with tears in his eyes, he was heard to say, “My poor Orphans. My poor Orphans.” With these words he gave the little band of men everlasting immortality throughout the annals of time. The Orphan Brigade moved on to Manchester and Tullahoma, Tennessee, to spend three months. The music of regimental bands, including the drummers, provided diversion during this time of inactivity. On March 20th a brigade was sent to guard warehouses at McMinnville, Tennessee. On April 22, 1863, Pvt. Dudley Scrugham, a 13-year old
A precedent embalms a principle.. --Disraeli
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 11 drummer, was taken prisoner along with 127 other Orphans at Morrison, located south of McMinnville. Union Captain Stone was ordered to proceed to the Tennessee capital of Nashville with the prisoners. The prisoners arrived at Market House in Nashville, and from there they were transferred to the large wooden Military Prison in Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky, located on the north side of Broadway between 10th and 11th Streets. The prisoners arrived in Louisville on May 2, 1863. The little drummer boy would spend his 14th birthday in a Union prison. It is unknown if Dudley was released from this Louisville prison and paroled back to his regiment or The Confederate Home at Pewee Valley in Oldham County, Kentucky, is shown above. The if he was held prisoner until the end Confederate Home was formerly known as the Villa Ridge Inn which was built in 1889. The Inn of the war. His obituary states that became an important part of the community after opening as the Kentucky Confederate Home although he was crippled he served in 1902. The photo below shows the old walkway from the home to the railway station. Ethelbert until the end of the war. It also Dudley Scrugham resided at the home between 1902 and 1906. states that Scrugham was the (Photos courtesy of Frieda Curtis-Wheatley.) youngest member of the Orphan Brigade. By the year 1875, E. Dudley Scrugham, was living on Chestnut Street in Louisville. In the ensuing years he is listed as a clerk/druggist. In the year 1900, Dudley, 50 years old and single, lives with his sister, Mary E. Anderson, and her husband, Jasper, a storekeeper, in Jefferson County. Between the years of 1902 and 1906, Dudley Scrugham moved to the Confederate Home at Pewee Valley in Oldham County, Kentucky. The Confederate Home, the former Victorian-style summer resort Villa Ridge Inn built in 1889, opened for the veterans on October 23, 1902. The three-and-one-half story building, surrounded by extensive verandas, contained 92 rooms. The Confederate and the United States flags were unfurled to fly above the home. The ornate sign, now at the Pewee Valley husband. (Section 5 Lot 63). The Orphan Brigade veterans Confederate Veterans Cemetery, graced the main gate to the participated in the service as the former drummer boy was home. A walkway led from the home down to the railroad laid to rest. tracks. Fire destroyed most of the Confederate Home buildings on March 25, 1920. Information: Confederate records, Box 319, Roll 87 LPL; E. Dudley Scrugham, 57-years old, died September 10, Courier Journal 9-10-1906; History of the Orphan Brigade by 1906, of tuberculosis at Louisville’s City Hospital, after a stay E.P. Thompson 1898; Reminisces of a Soldier by Lt. LD. Young. of four months. He had been taken to the hospital from the Confederate Home for an operation. He is buried in Jefferson Frieda Curtis-Wheatley, 600 Hatherleigh Lane, County’s Cave Hill Cemetery next to his sister, Mary, and her Louisville, KY 40222, shares this article with our readers.
A subscription to The Kentucky Explorer makes the perfect gift. Call us today 606/666-5060.
Page 12 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013
WWII Soldier’s Letters Relate War Experiences Honored For Bravery; Returns Safely Home To Hazard, Perry County, Kentucky By Cynthia Long - 2013
businesses, just like there was no war going on, even though in the distance one could hear the guns. He mentions the towns’ people wearing their wooden shoes and stuffing straw in them to make them fit better. In Holland, John spent as much time as he could with an artist named Martin Koblo. John loved art and had his picture painted by the artist. At the request of the artist, my grandfather was asked to wear civilian clothing instead of military. When the war was over and John was about to be released, he sent a final letter from France to his wife to tell her of the good news that he would be coming home soon. He was mustered out of the service at Camp Atterbury in Indiana. My grandmother went to bring her brave soldier back home that day. It was a grand homecoming for all the men who came back, especially to the little town of Hazard, Kentucky. John’s parents were Rev. John Walker and Margaret Baker Walker. John and Winnie (Stacy) had three children JoAnne, Margaret, and Louise.
ohn Walker volunteered for service in WWII. He was in the Battle of Normandy and completed boot camp at Camp Croft in South Carolina. He was in Army Infantry Division 115. While in boot camp he recalled marching in the rain at night for hours and digging a fox hole so deep that a tank could drive over and no one got hurt. He spoke of sleeping, eating, and celebrating his birthday in one of these fox holes with his entire troop around. John, my grandfather, was stationed in Germany, Holland, and France. While in France he wrote in one of his many letters to his wife, Winnie Stacey Walker, back in Hazard, Perry County, Kentucky, about him and his troop sitting in a cow pasture listening to Dinah Shore sing and described the farm homes around him. An excerpt from one of John Walker’s letters to his Winnie reads: “Today is such a beautiful day here in Germany. Right now, I am on a beautiful farm which has been untouched by the war. I am sitting out in the sun all alone writing this letter. All kinds of birds are Cynthia Long 3355 E. John Hinkle Place, Bloomington, IN singing. People are working on their fields, as if there is not a 47408; hzrdky@att.net, shares this article and photos with our war going on. This farm is much like one of our Bluegrass readers. farms, except there is no sign of tobacco or races horses. All the horses are very large work horses. There are some fine flocks of white leghorn chickens and several hogs and sheep. The houses on these farms are regular mansions.” In 1944 in Germany, John earned a medal for bravery. His bravery was reported in his hometown newspaper for crossing the front lines, to take men supplies, four times, being over 2,000 yards, during a heavy gun battle. My grandfather also received a Sharp Shooter medal for excellent marksmanship. In Germany John speaks of not being able to take a bath or to have sheets to sleep on. He and other soldiers looted bombed-out buildings to find furniture to create a makeshift church for all the men. On Sunday mornings he noticed the people of the town on their way to church walking past those who were homeless in the street, acting as if they weren’t there. He thought it was terrible for Christian people to not stop and help those less fortunate. While in Holland, John spoke quite fondly of the people. He said they would come John Walker was stationed in Germany at the time these photos were taken in 1945. out every morning to sweep and wash down He was born in 1923, the son of Rev. John Walker and Margaret Baker Walker. He died the walks in front of their homes and in 2008 at the age of 95. The Walker family were from Hazard, Perry County, Kentucky.
J
The secret of success is constancy of purpose. --Disraeli
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 13
Lt. William H. Peters: A True American Hero He Learned The Meaning Of Sacrifice At An Early Age By Michael Crabtree - 2013 Author’s Note: Although I never met him, one of the great inspirations in my life has been my uncle, William H. Peters. He was born on September 28, 1921, and lost his life at the age of 22 when his B-24 Liberator was shot down in Germany during WWII on May 8, 1944. I was born in 1946. As a child I saw photos of “Uncle Buddy” and often heard my parents speak of him, but it wasn’t until later in my life that I realized how remarkable this young man was. Several years ago, I gathered all of the photos, newspaper clippings, letters, etc. that documented his life and began piecing the story together. I would like to share this story of my uncle. By Michael Crabtree - 2013 n Owensboro, Daviess County, Kentucky, William Howard Peters was the second child born to Howard and Beulah Peters. He had one older sister, Reba; one younger sister, Mary Ruth (my mother); and three younger brothers: Dennie, Billy, and Bobby. He and his family were typical for that time period in the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Great Depression years. William’s mother and father were very religious, hard-working people. In 1936, when William was 13 years old, he had to become the man of the household. His father died suddenly at the age of 37 after suffering a paralytic stroke. William dropped out of school (he had finished one year of school at Owensboro Technical High School) and began working at Murphy Chair Company in Owensboro, to support his family. Being a minor, he obtained a worker’s permit to work full time, giving his paycheck to his mother each week. In 1943 a tribute to William was written in the The Factory Chairman, a Murphy Chair newsletter. This tribute to William Howard Peters provides an idea of what life was like for this amazing kid of 14. “If you had walked through this plant about seven years ago you probably wouldn’t have noticed a bewildered kid of 14 whose father had died a few weeks before, struggling at a man’s work in the upholstery department. You probably wouldn’t have known that he largely supported his widowed mother, his two sisters, and his three brothers. It probably wouldn’t have occurred to you that this kid had been robbed of his youth and most of his laughter. “If you had seen the generosity of this boy, faithfully bringing home his pay check each week to his over-burdened mother, I’m sure your heart would have had some sort of sympathetic admiration. “If you had looked deeply into the character of this boy,
I
William H. Peters is shown ready for his first solo flight. He later enlisted in the U.S. Army where he went into pilot training in the Air Corps. Young William along with a crew of nine lost their lives on May 8, 1944. you would have known that in his quiet way he was converting his wishful, boyish thinking into a plan to fly, to live, and breathe aviation. “If you had known this boy you would have known that he would fly. Nights over books to make up for his lack of opportunity to get an education, his task was revealed by the tenseness in his face symbolizing his determination of purpose to succeed in his chosen field. “America has a way of life that rewards effort and intelligence, so William Peters combined efforts and intelligence and began to collect what he had paid for so dearly. First, he had a chance at Civilian Pilot Training. The competition there was mostly among college graduates, but effort and intelligence stood up. Then he enlisted in the Army. Effort and intelligence passed William Peters into Pilot Training, and effort and intelligence brought William Peters his wings in the Air Corps. “During his training he lost his mother. We all felt this loss with him because we knew the closeness they felt in their common struggle to hold their family together. Each of them, and they together, had gained the highest respect in their community. “There is no tribute too high to pay this boy who became
Baseball games between Louisville and Cincinnati were played as early as 1867.
Page 14 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 a man at 14 and an officer at 22. If any credit is due for his success let’s place it where it belongs, to his mother, who gave him so much inspiration, and to his country, for its profound philosophy of government that all men are created equal and that the restrictions placed on men are, for the most part, self-imposed. “With pride we salute Lieutenant William Peters, a gentleman and an officer. “By the way, the next time you see a guy who tells you he can’t succeed because his luck is bad, tell him this story!” Uncle Buddy got his civilian pilot’s license on November 26, 1941, and joined the Army Air Force on December 21, 1941. He was then 21 years old and taking the next step in pursuit of his aviation dream. The next major blow to Uncle Buddy William H. Peters is shown to the left, Marion F. Crabtree (the authorʼs father) in the was on October 11, 1942. His mother died middle, and Cliff Henry, a family friend, standing at right. In the photo below, Lt. William when a kerosene can, from which she was H. Peters is shown standing beside his sister, Mary Ruth. In front are his brothers (l-r): pouring the fluid into a stove to hurry a Billy, Bobby, and Dennie. This was the last family photo William shared with his family fire in her modest little home, exploded. which was taken before he went overseas ca. 1944. William was in an Army Air Force class in Texas, when told of his mother’s accident. While attending his mother’s funeral in Owensboro, he was interviewed by the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer. The following is taken from that interview. “Fate has dealt harshly with the young man, ‘But I guess it helped me get where I am,’ he said modestly. Tall, well built, deeply tanned, and with keen, bright, yet sad eyes, for the load has been heavy at times, the young man does not speak boastingly of his success, and only insistent questioning will bring forth a meager account of his past. “William was only 13 years of age when his father, long an employee of Murphy Chair Company died, leaving the widow of six children, William being the oldest. ‘I left school and went to work to help support my mother and brothers and sisters. The Murphy Chair Company gave me a job. I had just finished one year at Technical High School. I don’t remember when I wasn’t interested in aviation.’ The young cadet’s eyes gleamed. ‘All my life I have wanted to be a flyer. And when I had to quit school and go to work, because I wanted to help my mother, I kept saying to myself that somestudy, fully aware that a cadet must have a high school educaday I’m going to fly. I worked at the plant in the daytime and tion, and, at that time, even a two-year college education. after work I’d hurry out to the airport, fly until dusk, then dash ‘Somehow I just knew I could do it. I worked at Murphy’s until back to senior high school at 7:00 p.m. After classes closed at I completed the course in December of last year. Then I enlisted 9:00 p.m., I’d hurry home to study my lessons for the next and was sent to Sheppard Field in Texas to an aviation menight.’ chanics school. I graduated from there in May; then I tried to “Month after month the young man kept up the intensive get in as a cadet. The examinations, both mental and physical,
The company of just and righteous men is better than wealth and a rich estate. --Euripides
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 15 were very strenuous, but on May 8th I received an appointment as an aviation cadet.” In June of 1943, Aviation Cadet William H. Peters became Lt. William H. Peters. He was a pilot in the United States Army Air Force. Lieutenant Peters was offered a position to be a trainer for new pilots by the Army Air Force, but chose instead to travel to the European War Theater, joining his fellow airmen in combat. He was assigned to the Eighth Air Force, 445th BG, 701st Squadron stationed in England, arriving in Great Britain on February 21, 1944. He wrote this letter to his former fellow employees at Murphy Chair in 1944, while he was in England. The letter appeared in the company’s newsletter The Chairman: “Dear Friends: “Just received The Chairman which was addressed to one of my last stations in the U. S. A., so I thought I had better get ‘on the ball’ and inform you as to where yours truly is hanging out these days. For your information, when I am not flying around over Germany and France dropping bombs and dodging ‘flack’ and Enemy Fighters, I settle down here in our little old hut affectionately known as ‘The Shaft Club’ and either write letters or read some of the books kindly donated by the one and only American Red Cross. “The best way to figure out where I am is to get a map of the British Isles and put your finger on it and say there. Sounds a bit crazy doesn’t it? This fighting does something to you--no kidding! The raids I went on to Berlin scared the ‘holy hell’ out of me. There’s no use kidding you and saying it was just like flying around in the States, just joy riding. But really, it is very exciting if you live through it. “In The Chairman I noted that Steve [Steve was the owner of Murphy Chair] had left you to go into the Navy. I am sure that he will be missed greatly. I know to me he is one of the finest persons I have ever known, and I feel the same about the whole gang at Murphy’s. You’re all really swell, and I hope I will be able to come back to see you when this mess is over. “Any of you who care to write would receive great consideration at this end. I would greatly enjoy hearing from any of you from time to time. Also, I want to thank you for your kindness in sending me The Chairman. /s/ Your friend, Lt. Williams H. Peters.” Lieutenant Peters didn’t “live through it” as he had hoped. Piloting a B-24 bomber with a crew of nine, he was making his ninth bombing run over Germany on May 8, 1944. His plane encountered hostile fire at 10:40 a.m. and sustained damage. The plane headed back toward England. The plane crashed in the Netherlands, killing all of the crew. It wasn’t until 1949, after WWII ended, that Lieutenant Peters remains were found and returned to Owensboro and buried with full military honors at Elmwood Cemetery. I have the flag that was draped over his casket. Hopefully readers can see why this man, who died two years before I was born, is my hero. He lived only 22 years but accomplished so much in that short time. He didn’t have much of a childhood. He never married, though he was engaged to a young lady named Irene (I could never find out her last name) whom he had met while he was stationed in Texas. In 1948 Irene made a trip to Owensboro to visit my mother. Uncle Buddy never had children or grandchil-
dren, but because of his and his fellow WWII servicemen’s sacrifices, we as citizens of the U. S. A. are living in a free country. Michael Crabtree, 937 Fawn Drive, Owensboro, KY 42303; mcrabtree60@yahoo.com, shares this article and photos with our readers.
This black marble monument stands in Mayfield, Graves County, Kentucky, and honors Col. Herschel H. “Herky” Greenʼs heroism. Colonel Green served during WWII in the 317th Fighter Squadron, 325th Fighter Group, 15th Air Force. He was top ace of the “Checkertail Clan” with 18 air victories: three in P-40s, ten in P-47s, five in P-51s, plus ten destroyed on the ground. Herschel was born July 3, 1920, at Mayfield to Ted and Deltrice Green. He received his education at Mayfield High School and Vanderbilt University in Nasvhille, Tennessee. Green earned the following decorations during his service: Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster (OLC), Air Medal with 25 OLC, Purple Heart, French Croix de Guerre with Palm. He remained in service during post-war, logging 4,000 plus flying hours until his retirement as a Colonel on April 1, 1964. He was employed by the Hughes Aircraft Corporation until his retirement in 1982. Colonel Green passed away August 16, 2006. He is buried in the Green Hills Memorial Park near Rancho Palos Verde, California. Bobby E. McBee, 9343 Lamerton Street, San Antonio, TX 78250; bemcbee@satx.rr.com, shares this photo and information with our readers.
The first tax-supported school for the deaf in the U. S. was founded in Danville (Boyle Co.) in 1823.
Page 16 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013
The Wild Turkey In 1837: One Of The Most Interesting Birds Many Wonderful Stories Have Been Told Of The Immense Size This Bird Attains The Family Magazine - 1837
T
his bird, on account of its great size and beauty, its value as a rich and delicate article of food, and the circumstance of its being the origin of the domestic race, which is now dispersed over America and Europe, is one of the most interesting to be found in the United States. When fully grown, the wild turkey measures nearly four feet in length, and more than five in the expanse of its wings. The head of the male, which is very small in proportion to its body, is covered with a naked bluish skin, which is continued over the upper half of its neck. On this skin are placed wart-like elevations, red on the upper portion and whitish below, interspersed with a few scattered blackish hairs. On the under part of the neck and the skin is flaccid and membranous, and extends downward in the shape of large wattles. The lower part of the neck, at is junction with the breast, is ornamented with a singular tuft of black rigid hairs, separating themselves from the feathers, and reaching as much as nine inches in length. The feathers of the body are long and truncated, and, generally speaking, may each be subdivided into four parts. Their base is formed by a light fuliginous down, which is followed by a dusky portion. This again is succeeded by a broad shining metallic band, changing to a copper color or bronze, to violet or purple, according to the incidence of the light; while the tip is formed by a narrow black velvety band, which last is wanting on the neck and breast. From this disposition of the colors results most beautiful changeable metallic gloss over the whole body of the bird, which, however, is less marked on the lower part of the back and tail-coverts. The female is considerably smaller; her legs are less robust, and her head and neck are covered by short feathers of a dirty gray. Those of the back of the neck have brownish tips, producing a longitudinal band on that part. The fascicles on the breast is not present as early as in the small and in the barren hens and does not appear till they are very old. The experienced hunter knows them at once in the flock and shoots them by preference. The prevailing tinge of the plumage is dusky gray, and all the parts, without exception, are duller than those of the male. The wild turkey has been found native from the northwestern territory of the United States to the isthmus of Panama. Towards the North, Canada appears to be the limit of its range; but from this country, as well as from the more densely peopled parts of the Union, where it was once extremely abundant, it is gradually disappearing before the encroachments of man. To the west, the Rocky Mountains
seem to form a barrier that it has never passed, if indeed it has reached them; but the wooded districts of the western states are still plentifully supplied with this valuable game, which there forms an important part of the subsistence of the hunter and traveller. In the northeastern states it is now become extremely rare. It is still occasionally found in mountainous parts of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland; while in the south, there is still a small supply in Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas, where a century ago it was most plentiful. Many wonderful stories have been told of the immense size which this bird attains. Turkeys of 60 pounds and upwards in weight are spoken of as uncommon. The author of the article in the continuation of Wilson’s ornithology, on the contrary, states the weight of a hen to average about nine pounds, and that of a male bird 15 or 20. He adds, however, that males of 30 pounds are not very rare, and that he has ascertained the existence of some weighing 40. Beyond this he is not disposed to go, and he considers those relations in which a greater weight is mentioned as fabulous. He quotes Mr. Audubon’s authority for having shot barren hens, in strawberry time, weighing 13 pounds, and for having seen a male in the Louisville market that weighed 36 pounds and had a pectoral tuft of more than a foot in length. The specimen figured by M. Bonaparte weighed 22 pounds, and was killed during the lean season. The wild turkeys do not confine themselves to any particular food. They eat maize, all sorts of berries, fruits, grass, and beetles; and even tadpoles, young frogs, and lizards, are occasionally found in their crops. Where the pecan nut is plentiful, they prefer it to any other kind of nutriment; but their more general predilection is in favor of the acorn, on which they rapidly fatten. When an unusually profuse crop of acorns is produced in particular section of the country which they inhabit, great numbers of turkeys are enticed from their ordinary haunts in the surrounding districts. About the beginning of October, while the most still remains on the trees, the turkeys assemble in flocks and direct their course to the rich bottomlands; and so constant is their appearance, that the season of this eruption is known to the Indians by the name of the turkey month. At this time the males, which are usually termed gobblers, associate in parties numbering from ten to a hundred; while the females either move about singly with their young, then nearly two-thirds grown, or in company with other females and their families from troops of 70 or 80 individuals. The object of this arrangement is to avoid coming in contact with the old males, who, whenever opportunity offers, attack and destroy the young by repeated blows upon the skull. They
Never discourage anyone who continually makes progress, no matter how slow. --Plato
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 17 travel, however, in the same direction, and on foot, unless when diverted by circumstances from their unusual course. When they arrive at a river, they select the highest eminences on its bank, and there remain for a day or more, the males gobbling obstreperously, and strutting with more than the usual importance, when the females, and even the young, assume somewhat of the pompous air of the males. The attitudes and note of the domestic turkey, when excited, must be sufficiently familiar to our readers to render superfluous any more particular description of this curious display. At length, when fully recruited and animated for the task, they mount, altogether, to the tops of the highest trees, and at a signal from the leader, wing their way towards the opposite shore. The old and fat birds cross without difficulty, even if the river should be a mile in breadth; but many of the young, especially if the banks are steep, fall into and perish in the stream. When the main body has reached the other side, they ramble about some time, without any apparent unanimity of purpose; and in this forlorn state many of Turkey hunting has brought family and friends together for many years in Kentucky. In them fall victims to the hunters, our stateʼs early years, the wild turkey provided a delicious meat for the table. although at the season when they are least valuable. On their arrival in the land of abundance, they disperse themselves in small flocks, or even polecat, dare approach it. When the eggs are near composed of individuals of all ages and of both sexes, hatching, the mother will not forsake them while life remains. intermingled, and devour the mast as they advance. After On first quitting the shell, the young are covered only these long journeys, which are generally concluded about the with a soft, delicate, hairy down, which affords them no middle of November they become so familiar as to venture even protection against humidity. Hence, after a very rainy season, into the farmyards in search of food; and great numbers are wild-turkeys are always scarce, because, when completely killed by the inhabitants, who preserve them in a frozen state, wetted, the young rarely survive. At the expiration of about a in order to transport them to a distant market. fortnight they quit the gourd, on which they had previously About the middle of April, when the weather is dry, the reposed at night under the female, and follow her to some low female selects a proper place to deposit her eggs, secure from branch of a tree, where they nestle under her broadly curved the encroachment of water, and, as far as possible, concealed wings. The time then approaches in which they seek the open from the watchful eye of the crow, the most destructive enemy ground during the day, in search of strawberries, and of the unhatched brood. The nest is composed only of a few afterward of dewberries, blackberries, and grasshoppers. dried leaves, placed on the ground, either on a dry ridge, in the After this, the young birds grow rapidly, and by the month of fallen top of a dried leafy tree, under a thicket, or by the side August, when several broods flock together, and are led by of a log. In this receptacle the eggs, which are whitish, spotted their mothers to the forest, they are quite able to secure with reddish-brown, like those of the domestic bird, are themselves form the attacks of wolves, foxes, lynxes, and even deposited, sometimes to the number of twenty, but more panthers; by rising quickly format he ground, and reaching usually from nine to fifteen. The female always approaches her with ease the upper limbs of the tallest tree. These animals, nest with great caution,a nod conceals it so artfully with dry especially the lynxes, together with the larger birds of prey, the leaves that it is extremely difficult to discover it during her hawks, the eagles, and the owls, are among their most deadly absence. When laying or sitting she is not readily driven from enemies. her post, which she seldom quits on account of its having been In regard to taking the wild-turkey Audubon remarks as discovered by man; but should a snake or any other animal follows, in his magnificent work on the birds of suck one of the eggs, she abandons them altogether. Several America:“During spring, turkeys are called, as it is termed, by females sometimes associate, deposit their eggs in the same drawing the air in particular way through one of the secondnest, and rear their broods together. In such cases, the nest is joint bones of a wing of these birds, which produces a sound constantly guarded by one of the party, so that no crow, raven, resembling the voice of the female, on hearing which, the male
Claiborn Farm, near Paris (Bourbon Co.), is famous for its thoroughbred horse breeding.
Page 18 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 comes up, and is shot. But the most common method of tame turkeys, but regularly betook itself, at night, to the roof procuring wild-turkeys, is by means of pens. They are placed of the house, where it remained until dawn. When two years in parts of the woods where turkeys have been frequently old, it began to fly to the woods, where it remained for a considerable part of the day, and returned to the enclosure as observed to roost, and are constructed in the following manner: night approached. It continued this practice until the following Young trees of four or five inches in diameter are cut down and divided into pieces of the length of 12 or 14 feet. Two of these spring, when I saw it several times fly from its roosting-place to the top of a high cotton-tree, on the bank of the Ohio, from are laid on the ground parallel to each other, at a distance of 10 which, after resting a little, it could sail to the opposite shore, or 12 feet; two other pieces are laid across the ends of these, at the river being there nearly half a mile wide, and return right angles to them; and in this manner successive layers are towards night. One morning, I saw it fly off at a very early hour added until the fabric is raised to the height of about four feet. It is then covered with similar pieces of wood, placed three or to the woods, in another direction, but took no particular notice of the circumstance. Several days elapsed, but the bird did not four inches apart, and loaded with one or two heavy logs to return. I was going towards some lakes near Green River, to render the whole firm. This done, a trench, about 18 inches in shoot, when, having walked about five miles, I saw a fine large depth and width, is cut under one side of the cage, into which gobbler cross the path before me, moving leisurely along. it opens slantingly and rather abruptly. It is continued on its Turkeys being then in prime condition for the table, I ordered outside to some distance, so as gradually to attain the level of my dog to chase it and put it up. The animal went off with great the surrounding ground. Over the part of this trench within rapidity, and as it approached the turkey, I saw, with great the pen, and close to the wall, some sticks are placed so as to surprise, that the latter paid little attention. Juno was on the form a kind of bridge about a foot in breadth. The trap being point of seizing it, when she suddenly stopped, and turned her now finished, the owner places a quantity of Indian corn in its center, as well as in the trench, and as he walks off, drops here head towards me. I hastened to them, but you may easily conceive my surprise when I saw my own favorite bird, and and there a few grains in the woods, sometimes to the distance of a mile. This is repeated at every visit to the trap, after the discovered that it had recognized the dog, and would not fly turkeys have found it. Sometimes two trenches are cut, in from it, although the sight of a strange dog would have caused which case the trenches open on opposite sides of the trap, and it to run. A friend of mine happening to be in search of a are both strewn with corn. No sooner has a turkey discovered wounded deer, took the bird on his saddle before him, and the grain of corn, than it communicates the circumstance to the carried it home for me. The following spring it was accidentally flock by a cluck, then all of them come up, scratching for the shot, having been taken for a wild bird, and brought to me, being recognized by the red ribbon which it had around its neck. grains scattered about, and at length come upon the trench which they follow, squeezing themselves one after another through the passage under the bridge. In this manner the whole flock sometimes enter, but more commonly six or seven only, as they are alarmed by the least noise even by the cracking of a tree in frosty weather. Those within, having gorged themselves, raise their heads and try to force their way through the top or sides of the pen, passing and repassing on the bridge, but never for a moment looking down or attempting to scratch through the passage by which they entered. Thus they remain until the owner of the trap arriving, closes the trench, and secures his captives. I have heard of 18 turkeys having been caught in this manner at a single visit to the trap. I have had many of these traps myself, but never found more than seven in them at a time. One winter I kept an account of the produce of a pen which I visited daily, and found that 76 had been caught in it in about two months.” Mr. Audubon relates many interesting anecdotes of the wild turkey, among them the This grave marker of W. L. Murdock has been maintained by Jerry Asher for many following: “While at Henderson, on the Ohio,” years. Jerry never knew Mr. Murdock, but knows he has relatives in the New says he, “I had among other wild birds, a fine male England area. One of Mr. Murdockʼs relatives contacted Jerry in the past. The turkey, which had been reared, from its earliest relative had no knowledge of where Murdock was buried or if he had a marker. youth, under my care; it having been caught by Mr. Murdock was a coal miner, and he and a friend were both killed in a Harlan me when probably not more than two or three County coal mine by a rock fall. During WWII half as many Harlan Countians died years old. It became so tame that it would follow in the mines as did those in the war. Mr. Murdockʼs widow lived a long life any person who called it and was the favorite of somewhere near Middlesboro, Bell County, Kentucky. He also had a daughter. the little village. Yet it would never roost with the Jerry Asher, P. O. Box 1703, Harlan, KY 40831, shares this photo.
Time is the rider that breaks youth. --Proverb
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 19
Indian Summer Meant Danger To Pioneers The Kentucky Reader - 1984
W
ith the coming of the cold winter months usually near the beginning of November, a sudden warm period known as Indian Summer gives one last feel of summer. Today, the term Indian Summer does not mean much, except that it is time for warm days. However, at one time it was a dreaded and dangerous time for our pioneer settlers. Indians did most of their raiding and killing in the hot days of summer. In winter they stayed close to their villages and did little damage to the white settlers. For this reason, the little forts that dotted early Kentucky were filled during the hot summer months. Pioneers stayed trapped inside afraid of the danger of Indians outside. Summer was not a good time for these frontiersmen. Then in October cold winds of the North brought cold weather, sometimes snow. It was when the settlers rejoiced. They knew the cold meant freedom from the deadly Indians. Slowly they would leave the forts and return for the winter to their little log cabins on their farms. Much work had to be done quickly to get ready for winter. Gathering the corn, digging potatoes, fattening hogs, and
repairing the cabin were things that had to be done. It seems that the dark, gloomy days of winter were more pleasant to early settlers than were the bright sunny days of summer, simply because of the Indians. However, sometimes just like it does yet, after the beginning of the winter weather, the days became warm for several days. This, then, was the Indian Summer because it gave the Indians a new time to attack the isolated settler. It is easy to see that Indian Summer was not a time of enjoyment as it is today. Many settlers lost their lives during the shortlived period. After the long cold winters, near the end of February the settlers would once again box up their cabins and move inside the forts for protection during the warm summer months. Just as the Indian Summer was named for warm weather in late fall, the settlers called the first warm days of spring the “Pawwawing Days.� These were the days Indians were holding their war councils planning their spring raids into the settlements. So, when Indian Summer comes in a few weeks, think about it and what it really meant to the people of early Kentucky.
Korean War Soldier
Sgt. George Miniard Awarded The Silver Star In 1951 Sgt. George Miniard enlisted in the Army at the age of 19 and served in Korea for 11 months. He was born February 15, 1930, to Mr. and Mrs. Delano Miniard of Delphia in the Leatherwood area of Perry County, Kentucky. The Silver Star was awarded to Sergeant Miniard on June 16, 1951, as written: "Distinguished himself by gallantry in action on May 18, 1951, in the vicinity of Kojimal, Korea. On that date Sergeant Miniard was leading a section of 75 mm recoilless rifles attached to a rifle company in the defense of a high ridge. At about 0030 hours (midnight), the enemy attacked the hill in force and was moving up the hill toward the positions
occupied by Sergeant Miniard's section. Sergeant Miniard jumped out of his hole, running from position to position with complete disregard for his own safety, and directed the fire of his men against the onrushing force. Despite the intense fire delivered by the enemy, Sergeant Miniard continued calmly to expose himself in order to control the fire of his men. When the enemy fire was the heaviest and the situation seemed almost hopeless, Sergeant Miniard stumbled over a radio in the darkness. Quick to realize the possibility of getting supporting fire, Sergeant Miniard immediately turned to the artillery channel and called for fire to be brought on his own position in order to disperse the enemy who had advanced to that point. Again and again he called for this fire, and, finally, when the enemy was completely dispersed by the fire, Sergeant Miniard gathered his men and joined the support of a platoon of the rifle company in a counterattack to complete the removal of the enemy from the hill. The gallantry in action and inspiring leadership displayed by Sergeant Miniard on this occasion reflect great credit upon himself and the military service. He entered the military service from Kentucky." Additional medals were awarded including the Purple Heart, Soldiers Medal for Heroism, National Defense Service Medal, Korean Service Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge 1st Award, and the United Nations Service Medal. George died due to a car accident on April 16, 1972. His children are Karen Fields, Labraida Sparkman, George Miniard II, and John Miniard. Dr. and Mrs. Marion D. Miniard, 412 Lakeshore Drive, Lexington, KY 40502.
The first licensed woman airplane pilot in Louisville was Anne Lincoln.
Page 20 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013
Until the mid-19th century most fire engines were maneuvered by men, but the introduction of horse-drawn fire engines considerably improved the response time to incidents. The fire engine shown above was used in the early 1900s in Warsaw, Gallatin County, Kentucky. It was on display at what could have been a Fourth of July celebration ca. 1940s.
Fire-Engine Horses Were As Smart As Racers When The Old Retired Horses Heard The “Bell Toll" They Were Off And Running At High Speeds Author Unknown - ca. 1930
I
t is peculiar how fads come and go. A few years ago the fireengine horse was a common subject of conversation and every one had his or her favorite horse or department. It was seldom that a crowd of men sat down together to enter into a general discussion that someone in the crowd did not bring up the subject of fire-engine horses. There were some exciting discussions, too. Every hook and ladder company claimed to be the fastest in the city, and it was the same with the engine companies. As it is now, a remark about the engine horse is seldom made, except a passing word on its beauty or graceful appearance as it skims along the ground pulling a heavy engine. The time was when every little newsboy in the city, to
say nothing of the businessmen, knew the names of nearly all the fire horses. They could tell how long the different horses had been in the department, and their age. When the fire bells sounded, people could be heard questioning as to whether their favorite engine would pass that way. If it should happen to be the case, such expressions as, “I’ll tell you those horses are hard to beat; they are the fastest in the city,” or “Say, ugly, dem dere horses is de right kind ’re stuff.” One of the best horses known to the service was old “Davy Crockett.” He was a flyer and was a beautiful animal. He was a jet black and unusually well built. When the “joker” would sound, he would seem to go mad, and when released he was the first to be under the harness. He attracted a great deal of attention throughout the city and nearly everybody knew of
Truth like roses often blossoms upon a thorny stem. --Odd Comparison
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 21 him. He was driven to the No. 2 engine and was in the service over 12 years. Charles Boss, the old veteran driver, was proud of him and felt like he had lost an old friend when “Davy” died. Two other horses that were well-known and much talked about were Billy Balley and Dick Watts. They were both graceful sorrels and were driven to the No. 1 engine 12 years. They were also driven to the water tower two years. “Buckskin” was also considered a fine animal. He was driven to the No. 3 engine about 12 years. He was finally sold to a man in Shippingport, and the man who owns him still uses him for light work. “Tip,” the animal now driven by Major Hughes, and “Old Lily,” Assistant Chief Ben Bache’s famous old mare, are the oldest animals now in the service. Some of the old members of the Fire Department say they have found horses in many respects like men. A sluggish horse may be worked with for weeks, and it seems they will never learn to get swiftly into the harness, and they have no snap or fire about them. On the other hand a wiry, high-strung animal will learn in a few days and they cannot be quieted when an alarm sounds. They will see the older horses running from their stalls and under the harness, and they will follow. It takes only a short time for them to get accustomed to taking their stand under the harness. It is remarkable how few animals used for this purpose meet with serious accidents. They are at all times required to go at rapid speed on the way to a fire, and they almost invariably turn swiftly around every corner. Occasionally a horse is thrown violently to the ground, but it is seldom that a serious delay is caused. Among the horses that have been killed in this manner was a fine animal which was worked to the No. 1 trucks. This horse and its mate were drawing the trucks swiftly around the corner of Eighth and Main Streets, when it slipped and fell heavily to the ground. When examined it was found that the animal’s leg was broken. It was found necessary to kill it. Most of the animals used in the fire department are geldings. There was a time when several mares were in use, but it has been years ago. The gelding is much preferable. The horses have to be watched closely and blanketed after each run, unless a false alarm is sounded and the engine or hooks return immediately. Should this be neglected the animals would last but a short while as fast horses. An old horse that had seen much service was sold to a milkman. Every day the owner of the horse would drive from town for a short distance out in the country to deliver milk to his customers. The horse had grown old and stiff, and the old German would spend half his time muttering oaths against the fallen animal. He
tried in every way to get him to move along faster, and failing in this he had about come to the conclusion the animal could not go fast if he wanted to. One day while he was jogging along on Jefferson Street the fire bells were suddenly heard. In a few moments engines and hooks were rushing down the street from every direction. The old horse in the milk wagon pricked up his ears, and he appeared as if a memory of old associations had flitted through his mind. The old German was half asleep. He was suddenly aroused from his listless attitude by feeling his wagon lunge forward. He began drawing in the lines, but it was too late. An engine passed by, and then began a race that will long be remembered by those who were witnesses to it. The old horse in the milk wagon lunged forward, as he had done in his younger days, and the old man in the wagon lunged forward faster than he had ever done before. He sawed at the reins with all his might, but the horse only ran the faster. The street was being well sprinkled with milk. The old man and a can of milk rolled out of the wagon just in time to avoid a smash-up against a telephone pole. This small incident, however, did not stop the horse. He kept on to the fire, dragging a small portion of the shattered wagon after him. He arrived at the fire a few moments after the first engine had reached it. Another horse that had seen much service in the fire department was sold to a butcher. The man’s house was near a Catholic church, and he placed the animal in a stable in the rear of his house. Early one morning the large bell in the church began to toll. The owner of the horse suddenly heard a great noise. He located it in the direction of his stable and ran there at once to see what was the matter. He found that the animal had almost completely demolished one end of his stable and was then clearing a high fence next to the street.
Civil War Soldier Pvt Christopher Columbus Jones (November 22, 1855December 25, 1923) served in the War Between the States with Company D, 49th Kentucky Mounted Federal Infantry. He is buried in the Elmwood Cemetery in Rockcastle County, Kentucky. David Owens, 85 Chestnutridge Road, Mt. Vernon, KY 40456; scoopowens24@yahoo.com; 606/256-9870, shares this photo with our readers.
Many Kentuckians left Kentucky in 1824 for Illinois and Missouri. The new West was calling.
Page 22 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013
The Viceroy Butterfly: Ky.’s Symbol Of Loveliness “Limenitis Archippus” Designated Official State Butterfly In 1990 By Jonathan Jeffrey - 2013
any Kentuckians purchase license plates that sport a colorful butterfly, the Viceroy “Limenitis Archippus” but only a few can probably identify the fluttering beauty as one of the Commonwealth’s state symbols. Even fewer would know that two Warren County women led the effort to obtain that designation from the Kentucky General Assembly. In 1987 the State Garden Club of Kentucky (GCK) president and Warren County resident, Jo Jean Scott, asked fellow Warren Countian, Lillian Pace, to serve as the organization’s chairman of Conservation and Preservation of Butterflies, knowing that the fluttering creatures held “a special place” in Pace’s heart. Within a year, Scott asked Pace for a nomination of a butterfly, for the state insect, to present for approval at GCK’s 1988 October board meeting. By December 1988, after contacting several state offices about the matter, Lillian Pace, left, and artist Nellie Meadows, right, present a Viceroy butterfly print to John Pace and Scott, with the help of R. A “Eck” Rose for assisting with the legislation that designated the Viceroy as Kentuckyʼs Scheibner, an entomologist at the state butterfly. University of Kentucky, and Herbert E. Of lesser rank is the Viceroy Shadowen, a biology professor at WKU, had selected the That mimics it as a protective ploy. Viceroy as the best candidate. Scheibner championed the He noted: “It could be implied from the rhyme that the Viceroy saying: “It occurs more commonly throughout the state Viceroy is less noble than the Monarch, but that is in name than does the Monarch, so it has the same aesthetic appeal. only. I would like to think that we Kentuckians recognize The caterpillar stage feeds on the leaves of willows and poplars, things for their worth irrespective of what it’s called. A rose but not to the extent that it is considered a pest insect. We by any other name would be as sweet.” might object to some insects, because they are pests of plants When Scheibner mentions that the Viceroy mimics the we value, or if they feed on weed plants; we have to tolerate Monarch “as a protective ploy,” he reveals something quite some weeds for the sake of the insect. We humans can live unusual about the “oranged dressed” insect. It coloration happily with the Viceroy and its required foods plants, so we actually apes the Monarch as a survival strategy, as birds are less apt to do things to endanger the Viceroy. The Viceroy avoid eating the later due to their unsavory taste. The is a survivor in agreeable harmony with humans.” American Museum of Natural History in New York tried to Earlier Scheibner had even composed an ode to the clever disprove this myth by conducting tests in which blackbirds creature: were offered only abdomens of Viceroy, Monarch, and Milkweeds are on what it feeds, queen butterflies, which are known to be bitter tasting, Only this—no other weeds. with several species that have reputations for being tasty. Nothing else will suit its needs. Birds that tasted a Viceroy abdomen commonly showed It’s a butterfly, oranged dressed, distress by shaking their heads and becoming agitated. And a Monarch ranked o’er the rest.
M
Her voice was ever soft, gentle, and low; an excellent thing in woman. --Shakespeare
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 23 When they did eat them, they generally did so only hesitantly. Only 41 percent of the Viceroy abdomens were completely eaten, compared with 98 percent of the abdomens from the tasty species. The birds rejected 35 percent of the Viceroy abdomens after a single peck. Monarchs fared about as poorly. Pace ultimately concluded, “The Viceroy is a survivor in agreeable harmony with humans.” The later part of her conclusion was based on the fact that the Viceroy caterpillar did not forage on important cash crops or flowers.” By January 1989, the GCK had approved the Viceroy nomination and state senator and physician Nick Kafoglis of Bowling Green advised Scott and Pace to contact Senate President Pro Tem John “Eck” Rose of Clark County to sponsor the legislation. Pace finally made contact with Rose’s office with the help of garden club members from Winchester, the largest community in Rose’s district. The legislation was quickly drafted and read poetically, “The Viceroy butterfly is named and designated as the state butterfly.” The Act’s Lillian Pace takes a rest from cleaning out the beds for the wildflower garden at the rationale was poetic: “Whereas, the red-brown Kentucky Museumʼs Felts Log House on the campus of Western Kentucky or orange Viceroy butterfly, found throughout University. the Commonwealth, is widely admired by butterfly holds a special charm for gardeners, hikers, and Kentuckians; and whereas, the Viceroy butterfly in its other nature lovers; and whereas, it is therefore fitting that a caterpillar stage does not harm the foliage of the poplars and state noted for its natural beauty and its great outdoors should willows upon which it feeds and is therefore no threat to have a state butterfly; now, therefore the Viceroy butterfly is human interests; and whereas, the Viceroy butterfly thus lives named and designated as the state butterfly.” in appealing harmony with its required food plants and with Rose was successful in guiding the legislation through humans; and whereas, the Viceroy is known for its imitation of the General Assembly. Senate Bill 29 was signed into law by the Monarch butterfly, which is distasteful to predators; and Governor Wallace Wilkinson on March 16, 1990. whereas, the delicate and evanescent beauty of the Viceroy
Gardening, Nature Study Were Passions For Lillian Iona Tynes By Jonathan Jeffrey - 2013
L
illian Iona Tynes was born on August 25, 1925, in Russellville, Logan County, Kentucky, the youngest of seven children of Oscar Franklin Tynes and Euva Hightower Tynes. She attended the public schools in Russellville, graduating from Russellville High School, and later from Western Kentucky University (WKU). Lillian married Dr. Robert N. Pace, a dentist, and they lived on a large wooded lot on Nashville Road in Bowling Green, Warren County, Kentucky. Mrs. Pace was active in a number of civic, religious, and philanthropic organizations. Her chief hobby was gardening, thus she was a member of the Ruth Rabold Garden Club as well as other state and national garden clubs, where she always assumed leadership roles. She served on the board of directors for Friends of Lost River, Mammoth Cave National Park Association, and the Friends of the Warren County Public Library. She served for nine years on the Bowling Green Beautification Commission. Lillian also enjoyed handwork, reading, and singing and was an active
member of Bowling Green’s First Christian Church as well as the Landmark Association. Gardening and nature study were passions for Pace. She planted a variety of flowers and trees in her expansive lawn, but her passions were tempered by the other. “We don’t do formal landscaping,” she once noted. “We don’t cut our trees or move our rocks. We just landscape around them.” In her yard, you were likely to find small weed patches in the corners, because as she said: “The butterflies need a place to rest and birds need somewhere to get off by themselves. You don’t see butterflies much in manicured yards.” Mrs. Pace died on October 9, 2010, and was interred beside her husband in Bowling Green’s Fairview Cemetery. Her children donated her papers to the Special Collections Library at Western Kentucky University, making this information available for a larger audience. Johnathan Jeffrey, 110 Riverwood Avenue, Bowling Green, KY 42103, shares these articles and photos with our readers.
Henry Clay was given a public dinner in Lexington on June 17, 1824..
Page 24 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013
Conclusion, Part 3:
The Bloody Record Of “Bad” Tom Smith And His Outlaw Gang Including A Brief Account Of The French And Eversole Feud Editor’s Note: In the last two issues we have traced the events surrounding the hanging of Tom Smith on June 28, 1895, in Jackson, Kentucky. We conclude this three-part story in this issue of The Explorer. Most of the following is actually a brief look at the French Eversole Feud of Perry and Knott Counties in which Smith played a deadly part. From about 1884 until 1895 “Bad” Tom Smith and his gang rode wild through the mountains of Kentucky. They left a crimson trail while committing the most horrible of crimes. Finally Smith was captured, tried for the murder of Dr. Rader of Jackson and sentenced to hang. This month we end our story with a recount of some of the better documented crimes he committed. His is a bloody tale, indeed. By Charles Hayes, Jr. - 1969 hat makes some children grow into beasts? Why are some children destined for long and bloody lives? Of course, the answers are not clear, but we can assume family life has a great effect on the youngster. But in the days of Tom Smith no one cared to give a helping hand to a mean brat, just a scowl and a whipping. Is it then unusual that Tom Smith, after losing his father at an early age, grew up into a less-than-average citizen? From an early age he had shown general characteristics of a boy with deep trouble within. In fact, at the age of 14, these internal strifes erupted and “Bad” Tom Smith was finally seen. For it was in this year that Smith was first attacked by fits of an indescribable nature. Many doctors spoke of these attacks, but none knew what to do. Old people of his tiny Knott County community spoke of these fits as signs of the devil, but still Tom suffered. Indeed, the fits grew steadily worse and very soon not only was he taken to fits, but Smith spat blood. This really raised comment in the neighborhood. Many wanted to run Smith out and many wanted to kill him. But Smith’s mother helped her son through the worse part of these troubles and for awhile all seemed quiet. That Tom was regularly kidded concerning his “fits” probably helped shape his future. Smith would remember these boys and what they said. Many would meet Tom Smith again. However, not too many boys actually picked on Tom since, even as a youngster, he was noted for his strong body and quick temper. Each of these traits would be of aid in his adopted profession in coming years. “Bad Tom” started his career in crime by stealing almost anything he could get his hands on; however, it was not until
W
1884, when Tom was only 20 years old, that his real reputation began. He was walking into Hazard, the county seat of Perry County, one election day. As he approached the voting house, Smith heard shots. Quickly he saw that several of his friends were being fired upon from outside of the building. He quickly sneaked behind the nearest man shooting at his friends. Smith picked up a large rock and knocked the man out cold. Picking up the downed man’s gun, Smith was able to shoot two more men from behind, thus ending the battle. He left three very badly wounded men in the streets of Hazard that day, and “Bad Tom” Smith was really born. From this time Smith’s fame spread like fire. Not only was he strong, but his aim was the best to be found anywhere in the mountains; so it was only natural that the stronger, more powerful men of the community saw fit to tempt Tom Smith into a local war, the French Eversole feud. Neither side had any luck for a short while until Smith got in trouble with the law again. Very simply he stole a horse from Joe Eversole’s brother-in-law, and when the Eversoles prosecuted him for this crime, Smith became their bitter enemy from that point on until the end. However, if the Eversoles were a strong family of the community, the Frenches were stronger. It was nothing that they got Smith a pardon from court. Furthermore, nothing was ever done to him over the horse theft. So Smith became a French man, and soon he was regarded the most dangerous of that cut-throat gang. To prove his valor he next met and held up James Davidson, another Eversole man, robbing him of his watch. Now this might not seem like much of a crime, but in 1885 a good watch was as valuable as two or three hundred acres of land. Again Smith was protected by the French clan and the Eversole party could only loathe over these actions. Indeed, Davidson did try to bring Smith to justice, but again the Eversoles failed. Not only did they fail in getting Smith, but very shortly afterwards the house of Davidson’s mother was set aflame and it burned down. Rumors all through Hazard were that Smith was openly bragging of this, his latest deed. But now even if this man Smith, bragged, the power of the Frenches was so supreme that nothing could be done either in court or out of it. And so it was from this time, 1885, Smith became the real leader of that group of men known today as the “Fult French Gang.” These men left a trail of crime and vice throughout many mountain counties. Many of their deeds are so grim they defy description. Not only were political enemies disbanded and killed but such fates were freely dealt to any person
Vengeance has no foresight. --Napoleon I
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 25 The city of Hazard is shown on this old postcard. This Perry County town was the scene of many of Tom Smith's crimes. During the Civil War, the city was subject to guerrilla depredations and raids by small bands of soldiers. The FrenchEversole Feud, which peaked in 1889, left many Hazard inhabitants dead. (Postcard from The Kentucky Explorer archives, courtesy of Reva M. Crabtree, 737 Grand Avenue, Beattyville, KY 41311.)
disagreeing in any slight manner to the gang’s views. In 1887 Smith killed Joe Hurt. Hurt had gone to Smith’s house just above Hazard to discuss some crime or vice when the two men disagreed. Smith pulled a gun and Hurt spoke no more. Since both men had bad names in the community, people were heard to say it was really good to get rid of one of these bad men. Others could not understand why Smith had lived. As in days past, Smith did not receive the slightest reward from the law for his slaying of Joe Hurt. Instead the people feared him even more. In 1888 another more indescribable murder occurred. Again Smith was the principal. However, on this job he had three members of the French gang to aid him in carrying out a double killing. The gang tracked Joe Eversole for several days trying to get him within range, but always they found Eversole well-protected. However, since Eversole was unaware that four man hounds were on his trail, his usual carefulness slipped one bright summer morning. He and young Nicholas Combs were riding from the Eversole stronghold into Hazard this fair morning when sharp sounds hushed the birds’ songs. As the bullets sank into their intended targets, both men slumped to the ground. At once Smith jumped from his ambush hiding place and began searching the dead body of Eversole. He took everything from the dead man’s pockets worth having and turned to search young Combs’ body. However, when he began searching the pockets of the young man’s coat, Combs regained consciousness and recognized Tom Smith. Very weakly he asked Smith why he had shot him (Combs), since the two were somewhat distant friends. Smith answered by shooting the boy through the head, killing him instantly. Even his comrades in crime turned away from this foul deed. However, Smith was heard to say in an undertone that he could not afford to leave any living witness. As it happens so often when there are more than one
person involved in a crime, news of Smith’s deeds leaked out. Again the Eversole clan tried to bring justice to Smith. They succeeded in bringing him before a magistrate, but again they failed to convict Smith. Later it was found that Smith had threatened the witnesses with death should they appear against him. This is the way men like Smith thrived, on people’s fear, fear for the truth and consequences. About a month later Smith saw fit to even up a long standing fight with Shade Combs. He trailed Combs several days until finally Combs became aware of Smith. From that point Combs remained inside his log house most of the daylight hours. Even so, one evening he stepped out in the front yard to play with his little children, and while he was standing next to a daughter, a gun boomed. There in front of his family, Shade Combs died, killed by Tom Smith and his gang. Luckily the children ran inside as the outlaws made their way to view the remains of the dead man. Again Smith was arrested, but as always justice miscarried and he was set free. Just a few days after he was released from the Perry County jail he and his brother, Bill, traveled to Hindman, the county seat of Knott County. There they had a predestined mission. French had ordered the death of Ambrose Ambury (Amburgey), long an Eversole man. Everyone knew Ambury would be in Hindman that day, since important business had called him there. Thus, Smith and his younger brother hid in the cellar of a house on the main street of the small village and waited. When the intended victim passed the small open window, three shots rang out. Smith thought he had added another notch to his gun. Yet, Ambury, badly wounded in the neck, would recover. Of course, again Smith escaped without any punishment. However, under new and more courageous leadership the grand jury met in the fall of 1889 and brought many indictments against Smith for his dark record. Everyone in the
A line of stages was established between Maysville and Louisville in April 1824.
Page 26 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 community finally thought that Smith had reached the end of his road. But as was typical, Smith would again escape this attempt of justice. Shortly before the final court decision was reached, “Bad” Tom Smith and several friends set fire to the Perry County Courthouse and the whole structure burned to the ground. Of course, all records of his crimes were burned or destroyed, and again Smith laughed at the law. The people of Hazard eagerly indicted Smith for this crime, but he was never tried. The burning of the courthouse brought Tom Smith to the apex of his power. Smith and the French gang now had Perry County and Hazard in a deep panic. Several families saw fit to pack what few belongings they could carry and flee in order to save their lives. Perry County was certainly under a reign of terror. Even the county judge, who had headed the attack on Tom Smith, was fearful of the French gang. To prevent harm from coming his way he actually disguised himself as a woman and remained indoors at all times. Even then he was fearful for his life. But he was not alone. Other members of the community also showed good sense in fleeing and hiding from this merciless gang. Ira Davidson, a brother-in-law of Joe Eversole, was the Circuit Clerk. Tom Smith openly threatened to kill him, and Davidson fled with his family. Another example was Abner Eversole, the county school superintendent, who was also threatened and fled to prevent death. One by one all the friends of the Eversole clan were driven out of the county either by threats or by force. However, one Eversole man refused to leave. For his stubbornness, Robin Cornett met his death by way of Smith’s trusty rifle. He was shot from ambush one day near his home. Again the grand jury brought indictments against Smith. But Smith ignored the court orders to appear and nothing else was said concerning the Cornett death. So complete was the French control over Perry County. It was at his same meeting of the Perry County Circuit Court in the fall of 1889 that the celebrated “Battle of Hazard” took place. Both the Eversole and the French clans had gathered all the men that could be mustered and a huge crowd of men filled Hazard. The Eversoles were determined to see justice done and the French clan was determined to close court and rule Perry County by force. However, each seemed scared to start the dreaded battle. But finally with the help of a barrel of applejack, a dispute arose between Westly Whitaker, of the Eversole clan, and Henry Davidson, of the French gang. Hot words were spoken and both men wanted to start something. However, before Whitaker could draw his gun Davidson had escaped to the home of Jesse Fields. Reaching the safety of a house, Davidson quickly fired on Whitaker. Neither of these men were shot, both were drunk. But the fight they had started quickly spread until both sides were fully engaged. Firing could be heard all day long. Any moving thing became a target. Night came and the French gang received reinforcements, but still the Eversoles stood their ground. This was the case for 18 long hours. However, after this long engagement the Eversoles were finally forced out of town due to lack of anymore bullets. In fact, over 2,000 shots were fired that fateful night. In almost a miracle, only two men fell in this battle. Jake McKnight and Ed Campbell both Eversole men, were killed. McKnight was killed by “Bad Tom,” according to a later confession made by Smith. The French clan did not lose a single man or were any
of them wounded. It is then evident that again the Frenches were victorious over the Eversoles. Complete terror was soon found in Hazard. In fact Circuit Judge Hurst, who had been holding court, was threatened with death if he did not ride out of Hazard within a five-minute time period. Very quickly dust was seen heading northward; it was the judge. Hearing of these actions in a remote section of the state, the governor in Frankfort sent troops to Hazard to restore law and order. Many of the members of the fight were rounded up and tried for their crimes. Tom Smith was again indicted and removed to Pineville, Bell County, Kentucky, where he was finally found guilty of murder in the first degree, and sentenced to the penitentiary for life. When the case was appealed, however, the Court of Appeals reversed the decision, and the case was never tried again. Strange to relate, Smith actually settled down and his criminal life had come to a slow stop by 1893; however, he had troubles with his wife and left her because as he put it, “She was an Eversole woman.” Thus he left Perry County in late 1893, leaving his wife and two small children behind. He headed toward Jackson, Breathitt County, Kentucky. He had traveled many times through Jackson, and he knew it was a rough boomtown. Even Hazard could not stand up to “Bloody Breathitt” and its capital, Jackson. For where there was boom there were also evil forces, quick money, and trouble. Smith, moreover, thought himself capable of taking care of “Bad Tom,” and he was, as long as he stayed in Hazard and Perry County. But the folks in Jackson could handle themselves, too. Only a few years before hadn’t they torn Hen Kilburn and his servant friend from the county jail and lynched them from the courthouse tower? Yes, two giant evil forces were about to meet as Tom Smith rode on toward Jackson. Tom Smith entered Breathitt County in late 1893. He quickly took up with the more rowdy gang of that county. He was involved in many minor fights, but he killed only one more man that, of course, being Dr. Rader. He also became acquainted with Mrs. Catherine McQuinn, a woman of a shady nature, living at the mouth of Smith’s Branch on the South Fork of Quicksand. This woman, it seems, had somewhat of a tragic background. Rumors states that she fooled around with a clerk at the Day Brothers’ Store in Jackson and the two carried on quite an affair. One day, however, Mrs. McQuinn’s husband came home early and caught the two. This so affected Mr. McQuinn that he became a raving maniac, and he was in turn sent to the Eastern Kentucky Lunatic Asylum. Being caught in this act and the madness of Mr. McQuinn so preyed on the mind of the young clerk that he committed suicide. Of course, this caused no small scandal. But Tom Smith seemed not to care. He immediately became acquainted with Mrs. McQuinn. Very soon afterwards Smith moved in with his new found friend and lived with her as wife, although he still was married to the woman in Perry County. This relationship went on until January 1895. At this time Smith once again became affected with his old fits. He called on Rader, then the leading doctor of Jackson, for a cure. Rader thus took Smith as a patient. Treatment went on for about two months. Then on the night of February 25, 1895, Rader went to Smith’s house and was killed. Dr. Rader’s body was found in the bed of the McQuinn
Her voice was ever soft, gentle, and low; an excellent thing in woman. --Shakespeare
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 27 house with a bullet hole through his heart. There were several stories about what actually happened that night, but the truth is not yet known. However, Smith and Mrs. McQuinn were arrested and tried for the crime. Dr. Rader had a number of close friends, and they prosecuted the case most vigorously. The great Col. Alfred Howard, Commonwealth Attorney of Salyersville, known throughout the mountains for his sweeping voice, hailed Smith and McQuinn for the criminals they were. His speech had a lasting effect on the jury, who heeded his recommendation, that “Bad Tom” Smith be punished by death. The jury debated for only a few minutes and the sentence was death to Tom Smith. In a trial immediately after, Mrs. McQuinn received a life’s sentence for her part in the killing of Dr. Rader. Thus ended the bloody record of one “Bad Tom” Smith, long the terror of the mountain counties of Eastern Kentucky. An Unsuccessful Escape Tom Smith tried, but in vain, to escape from the Breathitt County Jail on May 26, 1895. Many do not realize how hard it actually was to bring “Bad” Tom to justice. Not only were outside forces hard at work to undermine the law, but internal actions by Smith were also sighted on an eventual escape. That the time for an escape as far as Tom Smith was concerned had come could not be questioned. Less than a month away he was to feel the end of a hangman’s rope. The jail at Jackson was new, and an escape of a prisoner was Jailer H. W. Center’s last worry; however, Smith was not so convinced of the jail’s impregnable cells. Thus, Centers was shocked one evening after supper when Ike Montgomery, another resident at the jail, serving a short sentence, handed a small well-folded note to him. As he read the contents, Centers hardly believed it. But it was his duty to check out this report of Smith attempting to make an escape. Centers moved slowly toward “Bad Tom” Smith’s cell. He took two deputy sheriffs for company. He knew and respected Tom Smith’s reputation. Centers warned Smith to remain seated on a wooden chair in the corner of the cell. This Smith did. He gave Centers no reason to believe that he (Smith) knew anything of his betrayal, but when the jailer asked him about the rumor, Smith’s ordinary coolness wagged just enough to let Centers know he was on a right trail. Quickly, he had Smith transferred to another cell while he began to search the room for whatever this criminal had in his cell. He searched for several minutes before he looked into a tube near the window. Here he found a small saw and several steel blades. If this was not enough, Centers then found the result of Smith’s efforts. Filled with soap as if to hide the holes in the bars, two bars had been sawed almost in half. Finding this, Centers decided to keep Smith in a cell without windows so that saws might not be supplied again. Thus, if the jailer had not been warned, and had he not found Smith’s saws, the man, Tom Smith, probably would have again escaped justice. However, as it stands, the man was stopped, and the sentence was carried out. Charles Hayes, P. O. Box 227, Jackson, KY 41339, is the founder and editor of The Kentucky Explorer. (First issue of The Kentucky Explorer was June 1986.)
Kentucky Roadside History Markers They Tell The Story Of Our State
This Kentucky history marker is located in the Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky, where Clark is reinterred in 1869. The outpost he founded grew into Louisville.
This Kentucky history marker is located at the entrance of My Old Kentucky Home State Park in Bardstown, Nelson County, Kentucky.
Henry Clay was given a public dinner in Lexington on June 17, 1824..
Page 28 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013
Remembering Mary Louretta Hobbs Arnold Of Wolfe County, Kentucky
Grandma Hobbs Was A Special Lady By Genevieve Summers - 1996
was located in the back of the house below the garden field. Grandma always had two milk cows and a good team of y grandma, Mary Louretta Hobbs Arnold, was built like horses. She raised a few pigs to eat and a few chickens. She had a rain barrel. Everyone called her “Cub” because she a beef to butcher for meat. was cuddly like a little bear; round, soft, and snugly. She She would take a hoe and her cane to the spring house. had apple cheeks and dimples; beautiful blue, twinkly eyes; There were copperhead snakes around. There was a natural and a warm, loving smile that would melt one’s heart. I always spring that ran out of the ground into a scooped out rock. She felt safe with her. She wore her hair on top of her head in a knot. kept her fresh-churned butter and milk down there, where it Her dresses touched the floor. She always wore a full apron to was cool. Uncle Newton would carry the fresh water to the keep her dress clean. She wore brown, cotton stockings and house for her every morning. The spring house was built before high-topped shoes. I got to sleep with her when we visited her the Civil War. once a year. Lord, how I loved her. Grandma would cook a big breakfast of bacon or sausage, She would wake up about 5:00 a.m. and sit on the side of eggs, hot biscuits and butter, and gravy. She always had plenty the bed, brush her hair, and fit it. Then of homemade jams and jellies made, she would slip into the dining room and hot coffee for the adults, and milk for get dressed. The table with the wash the kids. pan and water bucket was in the She had a homemade fly shooer kitchen. There was a dipper in the water she made from strips of paper and tied bucket, and a big mirror hanging above it around a short handle cane pole. She the table. would wave it back and forth to “shush” There was one door which led to the the flies away, while we ate. She never outside in the kitchen and one in the ate until we all finished. She was a very dining room. There was a fireplace in clean person in everything she did. the front room and two big beds. There After the mess was cleaned up, she were two big beds in the adjoining room. would take a cup of water and sprinkle There was a big, long porch all the way the floor before she swept it. The water across the front of the log cabin. At one kept the dust down, as it was a board end, there were stairs to go up to the floor with no rugs. She made her broom second floor. There was a big bookcase out of broom sage, which she grew, and full of good school books and McGuffy dried cane poles. After she swept all the Readers. There was a big spinning floors and porch, she swept the dirt wheel in the second room. path clean to the spring house and to Once when we went to visit in the chickenhouse. Her face would get February, Grandma had her quilting very red, and her head would shake frames set up. She was making a patch(like Parkinson’s). She wore wirework quilt. She had a treadle sewing rimmed glasses. She was all bent over machine in front of the window. from years of hard work. Mom would The log cabin was built, I think, by make her sit down on the porch and fan her father Granville Hobbs. Grandma herself and rest. had gardens all around the house and a For the evening meal, Grandma tiny, little front yard with a picket fence. would have fried chicken, mashed potaThere were flowers blooming everytoes, green beans, cornbread or biswhere. A big apple tree (crab tree) was cuits, and gravy. She was known for her located just outside the yard. Another good cooking. Dad (Curtis E. Williams) big tree was inside the left side of the and Mom (Elsie Mae Arnold Williams) yard by the smokehouse. She had peach would break up the green beans for her trees outside the dining room. She grew and peel the potatoes. Grandma made about everything the family ate. Grand- Mary Louretta Hobbs Arnold was born and the best peach pies I have ever eaten. pa and Grandma had a tobacco crop and reared on the Hobbs farm beyond Mary and Flat Mom would insist on Grandma lya cane (sugar) crop every year. They outside Campton, Wolfe County, Kentucky. ing down after supper. I would lie down made molasses to use and sell. The boys Genevieve Summers, a granddaughter of Mary, on the other bed to make sure no one had a sawmill up in the woods when is the daughter of Curtis E. Williams and Elsie disturbed her. After supper, when it they were young. There were 85 acres to Mae Arnold Williams. Genevieve resides in was dark, Robert, Newton, Dad, Mom, the place. A big creek and waterfalls Lakeland Florida. and Herbert would play music. Newton
M
A fit of anger is as dangerous to dignity as a dose of arsenic is to life. --Odd Comparison
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 29 and Herbert played fiddles. Robert and Mom played guitars. Dad played a squeeze-box accordion (cajun kind). They really made good music for a long time. When we were leaving for home, Grandma would let me help her make big, fat, puffy vanilla sugar cookies. She would pack us a basket dinner of biscuit and sausage sandwiches, peaches, apples, or fried chicken and baked sweet potatoes in the skins. She always gave me a big hug and kiss, and a little syrup bucket of milk. I knew she loved me, and I always wished she could go home with us so I could love her every day. She would tell me stories, and we’d laugh. She always had a cat and a good watch dog. The outhouse usually had a wasp nest to be torn down before one could go inside. It was a two-seater. There was a Sears catalog to use for paper, or a box of clean corn cobs. Uncle Newton would make a paste of flour and water. He would paste magazine pages on the walls every spring. One
could read the magazine on the wall while trying to go to sleep or eat. The house was always clean. Grandma made dotted swiss curtains for her windows. I always wanted to be like Grandma Arnold, and I am in every way. Dad, Mom, Robert, Newton, Clay, Brack, and Grandpa are all together in Heaven now. By the grace of God, I mean to join them someday. These are my fond memories of Grandma Arnold. A woman filled with love, and a heart of pure gold. She loved life, and she worked hard to rear her children. She cleaned Uncle Doug Hobbs’ house and cooked for him during the day to rear her children. Genevieve Summers, 2918 Drewery Avenue, Lakeland, FL 33803, shares this article with our readers. Genevieve was 61 years old in 1996 when she wrote these memories. This article is from the archives of The Kentucky Explorer.
Indian School Was Located At Blue Springs In Scott Co. History of Kentucky - 1922 ot directly connected with Kentucky, but still of considerable interest to the people of the state was an Indian school set up at Blue Springs in Scott County, known as the Choctaw Academy. By a treaty with the Choctaws in 1825 the United States agreed to give them annually forever a sum of $6,000, which for 20 years should be devoted to the education of the Choctaw youths. Richard M. Johnson was interested in the project, and it was largely through his efforts that the school was set up in Kentucky, near his home. The direct management of the institution was vested in the Baptist Church, which made its reports of the work directly to the United States Indian Office. It was the desire of the Indians that their boys should be educated away from the tribe itself, and that they should be taught things that would fit them for ordinary American citizenship. The regulations for the management of the school states that “The system of education shall embrace reading, writing, arithmetic, English grammar, geography, practical surveying, astronomy, natural philosophy, and vocal music.” In line with the idea of making Americans out of the youths, they were given in addition to their tribal names wellknown American names. John C. Calhoun, Thomas H. Benton, Richard M. Johnson, Andrew Jackson, and Henry Clay, were all Indian boys at the Choctaw Academy, striving, no doubt, to emulate the lives of the men whose names they bore. Other tribes made arrangements to patronize this school. In 1826 the Creeks prepared to send 20 of their boys, and in the same year the Pottawatomies set aside $2,000 from the amount due them from the United States, for the purpose of sending youths to the school. In 1826 there were 53 Choctaw youths in attendance, and their “examination exercises” were attended by 500 people, who were much pleased at the progress being made. The academy was soon in a thriving condition with 174 boys of the various Indian nations there in 1835; this being the greatest number ever in attendance at one time. But by the early 1840s the school had begun to decay, and it soon ceased to exist. The
N
This Kentucky history marker is located near Georgetown, Scott County, on US HWY 460 near the junction of US HWY 227 near what was once the site of the thriving Choctaw Indian Academy. Indians, themselves had by this time lost interest in the academy, as they now believed that the education received by their boys made them lose their tribal customs and attachments, and caused them to become effeminate. Also many Americans, who disagreed with the policy of removing the Indians to the regions west of the Mississippi and thereby disrupting their homes and civilization, believed that no good could come from educating the Indians to be again turned loose in a wild life. Hezekiah Niles said, “If these children, when educated, are to be driven into the wilderness, remote from the seats of civilized life, they had better be discharged from school before they are disqualified to enjoy the small portion of solid comfort that belongs to the hunter-state.”
In October 1824, Mingo Punchshunubbe, chief of the Choctaw Indians was accidentally killed at Louisville.
Page 30 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013
An Army Of Foddershocks Awaited
Thanksgiving Was No Piece Of Pie For Bumpkins By Jonas Hollon - ca. 1985 ost folks recognize the phrase “Over the river and through the woods...” as the beginning of a nostalgic poem about Thanksgiving Day. The poem romanticizes the joys of going over the river and through some pretty dense woods, not to mention some fairly wide half-frozen creeks to spend the holiday at Grandmother’s house. (I often wondered where Grandpap was. Reckon he was dead?) It said something about hurrahing for the fun and the pumpkin pie, and the pudding being done. Actually, I never did like the taste nor the texture of pumpkin pie, nor pudding either, for that matter. All that fun was well and good for city younguns, but to us bumpkins, Thanksgiving was not really all that wonderful. In order for us to survive, my family tended several acres of corn each year and we had the exalted privilege of cutting and shocking that corn during late September, often by the light of a harvest moon, the beauty of which has been over stressed in story and song. To people nowadays that might seem like it was bushels of fun but, let me tell you, it was not. They would not think so either if they had had to go to school all day, come home, change into their work clothes, do their evening chores, eat a hurried supper, and head for the cornfield with a sharp corn cutting knife in their hands and red bandannas tied around their necks to keep the sharp edged corn blades from sawing their heads off. As the corn was cut, it was placed in large shocks and tied with a grapevine or a tall stalk of corn. There it was left to the elements and rodents and woolly worms until that now yearned for holiday, Thanksgiving. Some of the more fortunate kids in the community got to go rabbit hunting with their fathers and older brothers on Thanksgiving Day. Afterwards, they would brag for weeks about how their bone-poor hound dogs had chased a poor frightened rabbit up and down the overgrown hillsides until some brave hunter shredded it with a handful of buckshot from a double-barrelled shotgun. Since Pa was definitely a firm believer in a youngun’s right to work, whether it wanted to or not, we didn't get to have all that much fun at our house during the Thanksgiving holiday. Unless it was raining, we had to brave the frosty morning air and follow our breath as we plodded through the naked woods to the river bottoms, where an army of cold foddershocks stood in long brown rows waiting for us. When the work began, we would take an armload of fodder, place it on the frozen ground, and kneel down on our knees and would strip the ears of corn, nubbins and all, from the stalks. Once the corn was pulled and tossed into the appropriate pile, nubbins in the cow feed pile and good sound corn in another, the fodder was tied into smaller bundles and placed in larger shocks
M
which later were carried or hauled to the barn to be used for feed. Remaining in a kneeling position for hours at a time allowed the toes of our shoes to freeze and point upwards to the leaden sky when we got up to stretch a bit. Of course, if the shoe toes were frozen, you can imagine how our real toes fared. They were stiff as pokers. This grueling work would continue all day long while the booms of shotguns and the resonant barks of hungry hound dogs resounded from the hills and fields around us. When the work day ended, we limped home to do our evening chores. Yet at least we were thankful that the “holiday” was over, and we would get to spend the next day near the warmth of a potbellied stove in the center of the buzzing schoolroom. I remember one Thanksgiving Day in particular, because Brother and I didn’t have to go to the cornfield. We were too young. In fact, Brother didn’t even know what Thanksgiving was all about. The day before Thanksgiving we had been allowed to walk all the way to the post office which was located on the side of the river where we lived. At that time there was a three-span steel bridge linking our community to the other part of the world. As we crossed the bridge, Brother and I were amazed at how large and strong it was. Of course we had to be careful not to fall through some good-sized holes where the floor planks had rotted away and the elected county officials had conveniently forgotten to replace them. I remember that we stuck our heads out over the rusting guardrails and spit big globs and watched as they drifted down and splattered on the clear water 50 feet below. We liked to do that so well that we spit ourselves dry before continuing on to get the mail. We were so awed by the bridge that we promised ourselves that we would build us one the next day across the creek which trickled through the center of our garden. Thanksgiving Day dawned bright and clear and the ground was frozen hard as a bone when Brother and I, with a gooseneck hoe in hand, stood surveying the site we had chosen on which to build our bridge. Satisfied that this was the perfect spot, we went to the barn and found a fairly flat sawmill slab long enough to reach across the creek and dragged it to our purposed location. Then we set to work preparing the foundation for our bridge. We found out that gooseneck hoes didn’t make much headway with frozen ground, but that was the best that we had. The mattock’s handle was broken and Pa had somehow never got around to making a new one. The shovel was worn so thin that we were afraid to use it, and we couldn’t find the “sproutin’ ” hoe anywhere. We went to work digging and grunting like our lived depended on it. Finally we chipped out a place on each side of the creek which we thought would be good enough to hold our
We are usually the best men when we are worst in health. --Proverb
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 31 hog grease, then smeared it on Brother's half-scalped head. It "bridge" securely. To our dismay, when we managed to get the stopped the bleeding, but for the rest of his life after the wound slab into place, it wasn’t at all level and one side didn’t even fit healed poor Brother carried an ugly, black scar across his head. into the hole. After I tiptoed across the unsteady slab to the I hid out in the dense pine thicket behind the barn for the other side and looked the situation over, I told Brother that we rest of the day. Once I got up the nerve to sneak to the house would simply have to do some more digging. and peep through the window and saw Brother sitting By this time Brother was getting tired and had lost much comfortably on Ma’s lap while she tenderly fed him big bites of of his zeal to become a great bridge engineer. When I resumed chicken and dumplings. A saucer sitting near Ma’s elbow digging, he just piddled around whacking at some dried corn contained small bits and pieces of a ravaged pumpkin pie. stalks and pretending they were great redwood trees plunging Every now and then, Ma would touch Brother’s greasy head, to earth. He always dreamed of going to “Californey,” although part his hair carefully and say something to him. I don’t know he had only a vague idea where it was. Soon losing interest in whether she was soothing him, or telling him how I was going the timber industry, he squatted beside me, as I tried to level to catch it when she got hold of me. I decided to run away from the troublesome end of the bridge. home, but changed my mind later on. I didn’t get any chicken When Brother decided to be a pain, he could be a pain, and and dumplings, no pudding, nor pumpkin pie, and when Pa at that time he had decided to be one. When I would raise my came in from the cornfield, I didn’t have anything to be hoe to strike a lick, Brother would toss a big rock right in the thankful for, except maybe that the razor strap made more hole. When the hoe struck the rock sparks would fly and the jolt noise than pain. The bridge remained unfinished. would jar my elbows good. I warned him several times to stop, but he kept right on. Finally, I picked up one of his rocks and Jonas Hollon was a long-time contributor to The bounced it off his noggin and he stopped bothering me long Beattyville Enterprise and The Three Forks Tradition enough to cry a spell. newspapers in Beattyville, Lee County, Kentucky. His articles Peace didn’t reign long. Brother came back and when I are published in The Explorer from time to time. would dig a lick, he would wrap me with one of his downed “redwood trees.” I ran him off and warned him that I'd beat the tar out of him if he fooled with me one bit. Directly he returned and sat down on the other side of the “river.” Every time I started to hit a lick, just as the hoe started down, Brother would stick his big fuzzy head right in the way. “Stop that!” I shouted. “Make me,” Brother countered. I drew back for another try. Brother stuck his head right in the path of my hoe. “I’ll bust you,” I warned, my patience wearing rather thin. “Dare you,” Brother teased confidently. I tried again, only to stop a fraction of an inch from his head. “Anybody that’d take a dare would kill a hog an' eat its hair,” Brother needled. “Now, datdimmit, you’d better stop it, or I’ll whack you!” I threatened. “No you won’t. Pa’d whup you good. Ha, ha.” I came down hard with another lick. Brother confidently stuck his head right in the way. I made good my threat. With a dull thud, the hoe struck him squarely on top of the head. Luckily for him, and me, I had dulled the hoe quite a bit when I hit the rock he had tossed into the hole. Still, blood and hair flew every which way, and Brother took off screaming like a wounded pig. As he scampered toward the house, screaming and taking steps at least six feet part, I tossed my hoe to the ground and sprinted off towards high timber yelling, “I told you I’d do it!” The blow cut a four-inch gash right across Brother’s skull. For once Grandma, who had come to our house for Thanksgiving instead of our going to hers, came in handy. She was known throughout the Long rows of foddershocks such as this one awaited many young boys in the area for her ability to stop blood. She raked a handful 1930s. The ears of corn had to be stripped from the stalks and hauled to the or two of soot from the chimney and mixed it with some barn. Many families of Kentucky spent Thanksgiving working in the fields.
The Kentucky Explorer, P. O. Box 227, Jackson, KY 41339; 606/666-5060; www.kentuckyexplorer.com
Page 32 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013
Berea Musicians: No. 10 In A Series (Conclusion)
Joan Toliver: A Ky. Folk Singer Was A World-Class Performer Author's Note: This series, about the musicians from the Berea, Madison County, Kentucky, area, has been a pleasure researching and writing. These musicians have contributed in some way or another to today’s music. My thanks to The Kentucky Explorer for allowing these stories to be shared. I have been contacted by many readers who have shared their personal stories of the subjects in this series, and my thanks is extended to all. The Berea and Madison County musicians, who have shared their talents throughout the years, are numerous, and much of their work can be found at the Hutchins Library at Berea College (Digital Library) under the direction of Harry Rice. Following is the final installment of the Berea Musician series featuring Joan Moore Scrivner Clark Sommer. By Joe Fothergill - 2013 ay Scrivner, featured in Berea Musicians: No. 9, was known more as a songwriter and music publisher than pure musician, but the discovery of his Berea born daughter, Joan, surfaced while researching his life. She was another important musician who was part of the music of Berea, Madison County, Kentucky, and the Center Street music community. Joan Moore Scrivner was the first born to Raymond Ford Scrivner and Louise Moore on February 16, 1932. The second daughter, Phyllis Rae, arrived three years later. The music life at 49 Center Street was not as prevalent in the mid-1930s as it had been when Ray was growing up, but a guitar and music would always be staple in the Scrivner household. Although her music history doesn’t surface until Berea Foundation School, we can presume it was a vital part of her younger days in Berea, especially with her gifted musician father in the house. Her picture appears in the 1949 Berea College yearbook, The Chimes, as music school editor and in 1950 with the college studio ensemble. Joan’s discography mentions her in conjunction with Let the People Praise Thee album by the Berea College Chapel Choir. Her future collaborator and friend, Billy Edd Wheeler, is also mentioned. Rolf Hovey was music director for harmonica and formed the Berea College Chapel Choir in 1950 or the last year Joan attended the Berea Foundation School. Liner notes on her 1963 Joan Toliver album suggested she continued studying English at the University of Kentucky and Columbia University. Phyllis Rae Scrivner, followed her sister’s educational path by attending the University of Kentucky, Indiana
University, and University of Delaware. She also sang alto in the choir and ensemble of Berea Foundation School. Her career path was directed toward education, but music remained in her heart. Singing in various venues in the Berea area continued to be an important part of Joan’s life even with the birth of her three sons. In 1955 Indian Fort Theatre was built near the Pinnacles as part of Berea College’s centennial celebration. The outdoor amphitheatre in the College Forest served as venue for Wilderness Road, a drama that originally ran as a major part of Berea’s Centennial Celebration. Dramatist Paul Green was hired to write the script. The drama told of the entry into Kentucky through the Cumberland Gap by the Boone party and its journey along
R
This photo of Joan Moore Scrivner Clark Sommer, aka Joan Toliver, appeared on her album entitled Joan Toliver in 1963. This Berea musician delighted audiences wherever she performed.
Truth needs no flowers of speech. --Bacon
(Photo courtesy of Joe Fothergill.)
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 33 Wilderness Road. The founding of Berea College and the effects of the Civil War in Kentucky were major themes. This musical play was an immediate success and ran four summers beginning in 1955. One show stopping part of the drama was Joan’s singing of “Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley.” The hush of the audience was deafening at every performance. The early 1960s found Joan in New York City. She married actor Josef Sommer and was working at a publishing company. She also attended Columbia University at this time and had a daughter, Maria. The beginning of the folk music generation began at a small club, The Bitter Inn, in Greenwich Village, New York. Many unknown artists were featured on open microphone night. Joan was known as a Kentucky folk singer and was a regular on these nights along with The Weavers, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Peter Paul and Mary, plus many other future stars. A very successful TV show called “Hootenanny” evolved around the folk music being played. Joan Sommer was a regular, singing the songs she learned from the people of Kentucky. Berea friend, Billy Edd Wheeler, was also experiencing the folk revival in New York City while attending Yale University. He and Joan connected to partner on his first album, Billy Edd: USA, in 1961 with “Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley” as a solo for her. Twelve of the fifteen songs were written by Billy Ed, and many were sung as duets with Joan. One of the regulars who came to the Bitter End to hear Joan and the other folk singers was actor, recording artist, and political activist Harry Belafonte. Belafonte was forming a nationwide 1963 summer tour and Joan was chosen to be an integral part of the folk musicians. Her first solo 33 1/3 vinyl album in 1963 was titled Joan Toliver. The album featured folk song genre, but two of the 11 songs were very unlike her contralto voice and almost a soprano. She perhaps was displaying the range she learned while touring with Belafonte. No one is sure why the name Toliver was chosen, but changing a birth name is common practice by managers to protect their client’s privacy or for convenience. For example, Ernest Cornelison’s name was changed to Ernie Lee. He was featured as Berea Musician No. 3 in this series. A Kapp Records album titled Midnight Hoot in 1964 featured Joan Toliver on two songs, along with other popular folk singers from the “Hootenanny” show. “The Most Unusual” was Joan’s final solo recording in 1965. It was indeed unusual work for her. Music styles were changing rapidly by 1965, and this offering in a jazzy tempo is so unlike her prior offering that it suggests her managers may have been trying to change her musical style by leaving the dwindling folk music market and exploring the jazz genre. Jim Aylward wrote on her 1963 album, “If Joan Toliver had her way, there would be no biographies, no liner notes, no obvious promotion for Joan Toliver. There’s a direct, honest, and refreshing quality about Joan Toliver that no amount of show-biz hoopla could possibly enhance.” Joan’s voice styling and professionalism became known worldwide. In 1964 she was chosen as the United States
Joan Toliver is shown with Harry Belafonte in 1963. Belafonte formed a nationwide summer tour in 1963 and Joan was an essential part of the folk musicians. (Photo courtesy of Joe Fothergill.)
representative at the International Light Music Festival in Sopot, Poland. Although she came in second in the folk song category, Joan, the perfectionist, was not happy. She summed up her adventure with the following: "My performance was a success artistically and with the critics, but as entertainment for the Polish audience, it was a flop. They don’t understand folk songs or style, so I was at fault for coming with the wrong material and arrangements. Joan was her harshest critic, but she awed audiences wherever she performed. The Seattle Daily Times hit upon it by saying, “Miss Toliver makes a distinct impression, because she has absolutely no intention of making a distinct impression.” The 1960s was a productive decade for Joan and perhaps she was on a cusp of a new career in 1965. The “Johnny Carson Show” was still in New York City and invited her for an appearance on November 9, 1965. The shows were aired at 11:30 p.m., but taped in the afternoon around 3:00 p.m. At 5:27 p.m. a blackout occurred in several northeastern states and parts of Canada by a series of power failures that lasted for 13 hours. This area did include New York City. The show was never shown, and the tape is presumably stored somewhere in “The Tonight Show” archives. Joan Moore Scrivner Clark Sommer Toliver was definitely a world-class Berea musician with her most unique and hauntingly beautiful voice. References: Berea Citizen; liner notes from personal record collection, Berea College Archives; Berea College Yearbooks; U. S Census; Billy Edd Wheeler; Billboard Magazine; Newsweek; Phil Collins; and Joan’s sister, Phyllis. Joe Fothergill, 200 E. Franklin Street, Dayton, OH 45459; 937/435-3062; jf201@aol.com, shares this article with our readers.
The Capitol at Frankfort burned on November 4, 1824.
Page 34 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013
Down The Backroads
An Old House Is A History Book Comprised Of Many Stories By Bob Smith - 2013
A
s I stared at the crumbling, decaying logs of the old cabin, I knew I was looking at the gradual disappearance of one of the most prominent symbols of Kentucky’s pioneering spirit. The hewn, yellow poplar logs, lying in disarray before me, were finally returning to the dust from whence they came to long ago. The rotting logs now serve as a haven for scores of insects that tunnel through the wood, oblivious to the fact that their hungry little jaws were devouring history as it was lived by families across Kentucky as well as the nation. The decaying logs had once stood as the walls of a large four-room cabin, believed to have been built sometime in the 1820s. The first time I saw the old cabin as a boy, I discovered it had portholes from which the inhabitants could shoot. “What for?” I had asked my grandfather. “Indians had probably been gone from Kentucky for 20 years or so,” I added. “Old habits are hard to break,” Grandpa replied. “There were lots of outlaws roaming around back then, and at that time, there was always the fear that the Indians would come back,” he said. What he said made sense, I thought, as I recalled our conversation back in the early 1950s. The old house had been in pretty good shape back then, although Grandpa said no one had lived there since the 1930s. The shingle, or “shake,” roof still offered a measure of protection for the old house, but the white oak boards were partially covered with moss and nature patiently awaited a time when they would no longer keep out the rain and snow. In places the clay mortar between the wall’s logs had crumbled and had fallen out, and the winter winds had been whistling through for several years. Grandpa had declined my offer to walk through the old cabin and explore its interior. “Reckon I still recall how it looked when folks used to live here,” he answered. Nevertheless, I wanted to see the inside. The door was made from heavy boards and stood ajar as though the owner had opened it only moments before. I noted that the hinges appeared to have been made from horseshoes as I entered the structure. When my eyes adjusted to the room, I looked around. I discovered the room was sizable and a large fireplace dominated an inside wall. The glass pane was gone from the room’s only small window and dust covered the boarded floor which creaked and groaned whenever I moved. A combination of smells assailed my nostrils, but the only distinct smell I could pick out was that of kerosene which had once furnished the house’s only light besides the fireplace. Everything else simply smelled very old and musty. A couple of old corked bottles and a green fruit jar sat on the roughly hewn mantel. Not much else remained in the room except for a few odds and ends, pieces of clothing, and some broken bottles and jars. There was a small,
crude wooden table off to one side. On it sat a coffee pot that had outlived its usefulness and had been left behind when the owner had moved on. I decided this room must have been the kitchen. I discovered a trapdoor in the floor and after some grunting and heaving I was able to open it. I was half expecting to find a treasure chest or skeletons or no telling what down in the hole. Instead, I only saw a few old scattered fruit jars and some wooden shelves. Surprisingly the hole must have been eight feet deep and a wooden ladder allowed one to descend into what must have been the family’s root cellar. I consoled my sense of adventure by telling myself that the people must have used it as a hideout from outlaws or soldiers during the Civil War. After I emerged from the root cellar, I passed through another door and discovered that it had a fireplace back to back with the first fireplace, sharing a common chimney. The blackened dog irons still remained inside the fireplace and the wood and ash smells made me believe that coon hunters had enjoyed a warm fire there not so long ago. Except for a scattered piece of paper or two and lady’s small shoe, this room was empty. Its other door led into a smaller room that, too, was virtually empty. I picked up a tiny brown bottle from the floor and read
Old cabins such as this one held enormous amounts of history of our state and its people. This cabin was used as a school in an area called Hell-For-Sartin (Certain) in Leslie County, Kentucky. Many cabins served both as a school and church for the community in which it was located.
As every thread of gold is valuable, so is every minute of time. --Mason
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 35 the words embossed on the side. Apparently the contents had been used to treat “hog cholera.” I chuckled as I moved into yet another large room. This one was at the rear of the house and had a fireplace, too. This room was more cluttered than the others. A few old wooden boxes lay round about. Near the fireplace was a straight-back chair with a broken leg. Beside the fireplace stood a badly cracked brown churn. It was no telling when the crockery vessel had last been used, but I could very well imagine some towheaded boy like myself sitting by the fire in the hickory-bottomed chair, churning the cow’s milk until it turned to butter and buttermilk. It was a ritual I knew only too well from recent experience. Before leaving the room and the old cabin through the rear door, I picked up an interesting object from the hearth of the fireplace. It appeared to be pliers of some sort with wooden handles. It was nothing quite like anything I had ever seen. “What’s this?” I inquired, as I stepped out of the old cabin and handed Grandpa my find. “Well, I’ll be. That there is a bullet mold for an old hawg rifle,” he proclaimed. At my puzzled look, he explained that a “hawg rifle” was a muzzle-loading caplock rifle, common in the 1800s. “Folks used them to kill
hogs with when I was a boy,” Grandpa elaborated. Later study told me the rifles were used to kill a lot more things than hogs. They were the bridge between the flintlock and the first cartridge firing weapons. They had been carried west by the mountain men and were used primarily to fight the Civil War. Now, nearly a half century after first seeing the old cabin, I stood practically in the same place, remembering my reactions so long ago. Grandpa has been dead for 35 years and I’ve seen my own better days. What a shame someone had not sought to preserve the old cabin. It had been a living history lesson before the elements and the ravages of time had brought it down. Today, I, and others like me, try to preserve small bits and pieces of such local history. History that we have let slip through our fingers. Bob Smith, Editor-Publisher of The Three Forks Tradition newspaper, kindly shares a little part of Kentucky's history with our readers each month. He is a native of Fleming-Neon and would appreciate any historical information from that area. He can be reached at The Three Forks Tradition, P. O. Box 557, Beattyville, KY 41311; 606/464-2888.
This old photograph was taken ca. 1915 and features the John B. and Margaret Hobbs family who lived in the Big Andy Ridge area of Lee County, Kentucky. Front row, l-r: George Earnest, Margaret Spencer Hobbs, Lillie, John B. Hobbs, Tona, Naomi, and Bess. Back row, l-r: Sterling, Ellar, Paul, Corbett, Henry, and Elizabeth. Everyone shown in the photo have passed away. This photo appeared in the 2000 Three Forks Historical Calendar published by the Three Forks Tradition, P. O. Box 557, Beattyville, KY 41311.
The State Legislature invited General Lafayette to pay a visit to Kentucky on November 17, 1824.
Page 36 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013
Faulkner Super Market, owned and operated by Johnny Faulkner, was located on Hibbard Street in Pikeville, Pike County, Kentucky, in the 1940s, near where Quest Auto Parts is today. Marie Bevins says she remembers, as a child, going to the neighborhood store for her mother. (Photo courtesy of Appalachian News-Express, Pikeville, Kentucky.)
A Look At Pikeville’s Businesses In Years Gone By Do You Remember Things Differently? Do You Remember More? By Marie Bevins - 2010 lot of people my age and older will remember a lot of this, but it is as much for the benefit of all the new people we have in Pikeville, Pike County, Kentucky, who never knew that the train ran down Hambley Boulevard. I’m sure it’s hard for people to visualize that we had so many businesses downtown. I remember when we had C&O Rail Service for both passengers and freight. The depot was where the Heritage Museum is today, and it was a very busy place. On Sundays our family would ride the train from Pikeville to Betsy Lane to visit our grandparents. Pikeville had two drive-in theaters; the Pollyanna at Millard and the New on the North Mayo Trail.
A
Pikeville Methodist Hospital was on the hill near Pikeville College. Saundra, my daughter, was born there in 1955. There was a home for orphans located at Poor Farm Hollow on the lower end of town. I remember it being a two-story, dark red brick building. We would walk from Julius Avenue where I lived, down the railroad track, to play with the kids. Pikeville once had three bridges: the Upper, Middle, and Lower. There were two coal loading docks. One was located near the Upper Bridge, which is now Baird Avenue, and one was located at the lower end of town; both were near where Hambley Boulevard is today. Pikeville Livestock Market was located where the Town & Country Shopping Center is now. There were two bus services, the Black & White and Trail-
The tongue is the ambassador of the heart. --Lyly
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 37 ways. Greyhound buses also stopped in Pikeville, and we had a taxi service on Main Street. When the circus/carnival came to Pikeville, it was held at Fiddlers Field near where Jerry’s Restaurant is located. Jerry’s was once a drive-in restaurant. The Pike County Fair was held beside the Pikeville College Gym on Bank Street. The Elswick Hotel was located on College Street. While I was walking from school one day, I found a $50 bill in front of the hotel. The Pikeville Public Library was once located where the Main Street Church of Christ is today. I remember the devastating flood of 1957. As a child, it seemed like Lower Cline Street was flooded almost every year. George Prater was the door-to-door Fuller Brush salesman. The city park had a wading/swimming pool, and on the Fourth of July there would be games such as the greasy pole, greased pig, and three-legged races. Also, there were carnival rides, including the ferris wheel. I remember when Pikeville College had a Maypole Dance on the first day of May, Pikeville High School had a Sadie Hawkins Day Dance on Main Street (from Al Capp’s “Lil Abner” story), and Pikeville Elementary had a Tom Thumb Wedding. I was born at Zebulon in Pike County, but grew up on
Julius Avenue and lived there from the time I was three until I finished the seventh grade at Pikeville Elementary. Then we moved back to Zebulon. I finished the eighth grade in a little two-room school at Zebulon. I went the first semester of high school at Pikeville and then graduated from Johns Creek High School. That’s where I met my husband, Clay. We got out of school in May and married in June. I worked as the bookkeeper at Watson’s for 16-1/2 years, and then we moved to Huntington, West Virginia, and I worked for Guaranty National Bank. When we moved back in 1978, I went to work for Pikeville National Bank, where I worked for about 16 years before retiring in 1995. Clay and I have been married 60 years. Clay grew up a few hundred feet from where we live today. He sold mine supplies for other companies and eventually owned his own business, Williamson Supply Company. He is also retired. I remember many of the businesses that were located in Pikeville and have listed them according to the street where they were located. Main Street: Kroger’s, Smith Service Station, Louie’s Cafe, Hatcher Hotel, Watson's Department Store, Pollack's Jewelry (Paul May was the owner), Mildred’s News, Standard Drug Store (corner of Main and Division Streets), Lester Adkins (blind man who sold sandwiches and drinks in the county courthouse), Home Furniture Company (near the old jail behind the courthouse), Gene and Mike’s Record Shop, Call
The old Pikeville Stock Market was once located where the Town and Country Shopping Center now stands in Pikeville, Pike County, Kentucky. The market drew farmers from all over the area, where they met and bought and sold their stock and supplies.
The first railway train ran between Lexington and Frankfort on January 25, 1835.
Page 38 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 end of Middle Bridge), Bobby Hall’s Wrecker Service, Brothers (lighting and electrical), Howell Drug Store (corner of Main and Division Streets), children’s clothing store (can’t reHonaker’s Drive-In (near where Community Trust Bank is on member the name), Pat Keene Used Car Lot (corner of Main South Mayo Trail), A&P Grocery (where KFC is now), U. S. and Pike Streets), Johnson Motor Sales (near Middle Bridge), Post Office (next to Jerry’s), Pikeville Airport (location of WalSouthern Bell (where switchboard operators took calls), Wells Mart, post office, etc.), Womwell’s Auto Parts, Tackett’s MarMotor Company (sold Chrysler vehicles), Norton Floral (where ket (near Blue Goose Gym, this is where I saw my first TV), Chirico’s is today), and a hardware store (near Middle Bridge). Huffman Supply (near Signature Nursing Home), Starlite Second Street: Tom Maynard’s Grocery, Standard Drug Bowling Lanes, Helen’s Flower Shop (end of Upper Bridge), Store (corner of Second and Division Streets), Weddington Willis Furniture (where J. W. Call Funeral Home is located. It Theater, Bert Allen’s Barber Shop, Pinson Hotel, Jet Onewas owned by the Rev. Raymond and Dorothy Willis, who were Hour Cleaners, Cox’s Auto Parts, Dollar Store, C&R Office missionaries to Haiti all their lives, and now their daughter Supply, Minta Perry’s Dress Shop, Dawahare’s Department and son-in-law, Carol and Melvin Huber, continue their work Store, Call’s Hardware, Smart Shop (Dickie Brewer and Jufor Haiti), Kelly’s Drive-In (South Mayo Trail), Carter & Sadler nior Hut), Justice Shoe Store, Radwan's Shoe Store, Sandwich Wholesale (close to where Jerry’s). My uncle, Lester Phillip, Shop (Mrs. Roberts, owner), a whiskey store, a news stand near was the nightwatchman when a burglar shot him point-blank Anderson’s Department Store (where we traded comics in the in the mouth. Kelly Daniels found my uncle outside in the snow 1940s), Charlie’s Hardware (corner of Second and Caroline and took him to the hospital, and he survived. Newsom GroStreets), Sanitary Cleaners, Mari Dru Shop, Clothes Tree cery (near Upper Bridge), Sportsman Service Station (Second (ladies clothing), Reynolds Service Station (corner of Second Street and Scott Avenue), Pikeville High School and Grade Street and Huffman Avenue), Fuzzy Duck Restaurant, School (where Blue Goose, Hardee’s, and First Baptist Church Pasquale’s Pizza, D. R. Newsom Grocery (Second and Caroline parking lot are today), Chicken-in-a-Basket (end of Cline Streets), and Merchant's Grocery Wholesale (where parking Street near Lower Bridge, where I took my driver’s test), Pat’s garage is, my father died here at work at 48 years of age). Sandwich Shop, Betsy Ross Bakery (where J. W. Call Funeral Pike Street: County Kitchen Restaurant. Home is located), R. T. Greer Herb House (near where the Call Division Street: Army-Navy Store, Collins’ Department Funeral Home is located), and King’s Grocery (near where the Store, Short’s Drug Store, Dinner Bell Restaurant (Toni, Faye, hospital parking lot is today). and Hazel), Whizz Auto Parts, and Saad Studio. Grace Avenue: Charlene Adkins’ Beauty Shop and Marie Bevins, 11596 Bent Branch Road, Pikeville, KY Goff’s News Stand. Caroline Avenue: Coleman’s Jewelry, Shivel’s Drug 41501, shares this article with our readers. Store, Faith’s Dairy Bar, Liberty Theater, The Ruth Shop (corner of Second and Caroline Streets), Daryl’s Dress Shop, and Hobb’s Snack Bar. College Street: Perry Compton Service Station, Barry Huffman Grocery and Big Sandy Wholesale were all located where the Pikeville Public Library is now. Ice Plant (where ice came in big blocks and was delivered to houses and placed in an ice box), Farley’s Grocery, Doc Matney’s Grocery, Matney’s Snack Bar, Greer’s Grocery, Williamson Brothers TV and Appliances, Libby’s Restaurant Elliott’s Grocery, and Bowling Motors (sold Packard cars; owners were killed on Buckley's Creek in a plane crash). Hibbard Street: Roy Goff Furniture, Noah May’s Grocery, Faulkner’s Supermarket, and Slushers Gift Shop. Around Pikeville: York Furniture (North Mayo Trail), Blackie’s Service Station (near A rare old view looking up the river at Pikeville, Pike County, Kentucky, in the townʼs early days.
He is most free from danger, who, even when safe, is on his guard.. --Syrus
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 39
Uncle Carl Osborne: A Sailor From Lewis County, Kentucky He Saw The World And Its Leaders During His Duty In WWII By Danny Osborne - 2013 y uncle, Alvin “Carl” Osborne, was born on Kinnikonick Creek in Lewis County, Kentucky, in 1923, the third son and fourth child born to Bruce and Esta Osborne. The Osborne family roots extend back to the earliest residents of Kentucky. Some of our ancestors came from the Yadkin Valley in North Carolina and were neighbors and partners in business with the Boone family. Some of our family came down the Ohio River on flatboats and were descended from the earliest Virginia tidewater families (one of Uncle Carl's paternal great-great-great-grandmothers was Betty Washington, a sister to President George Washington.) The history of the family and the wealth of their past ancestors meant little, if anything, to their descendants in Eastern Kentucky. Carl was reared on a farm where hard labor was the norm for that day and time. He and his brothers (including my father, Roy) worked from daylight to dusk tilling the crops in the bottoms and on the hillsides of the family farm on Clarks Branch. The Great Depression of the 1930s left a permanent mark on every person of the working class who lived through it. The economic depression didn’t really end until the advent of WWII and, in those days, working a farm in Lewis County was not the most romantic line of work a young man could desire. The labor was long and excruciating by today’s standards. One started out in the morning before daylight by milking the cows, collecting the eggs, and feeding the horses. One then ate breakfast and went to the fields to work. Work continued till mid-day when one returned to the house for dinner. After dinner one returned to the fields to work until sundown. It is no wonder that young men who were reared on the stories of Veterans of WWI, the Spanish American War, the Indians Wars, and, occasionally an ancient veteran of the Civil War, would want to join the military. Carl first signed up for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCCs) using his older brother’s identity. (Carl’s older brother was Roy, my father). Carl was only 16 years old. However, before time came to report to the CCCs induction center, his parents reluctantly agreed to sign for him to join the Navy. He signed up on his 17th birthday on December 8, 1940. He reported to the Navy on January 14, 1941. Upon returning from the log woods of the upper peninsula of Michigan and finding himself already signed up, Roy decid-
M
Alvin “Carl” Osborne is shown sitting on the front porch at the old Osborne homestead on Oval and Lora Osborneʼs front porch in Lewis County, Kentucky. Carl served in the U. S. Navy during WWII. (Photo courtesy of Danny Osborne.)
ed to go ahead and join the CCCs. Roy went all the way to Alaska with the CCCs but that is a different story for a different time. Carl went to the Great Lakes Training Center near Chicago, Illinois, for basic training. He became ill with pneumonia and could not graduate with his classmates, all of whom were assigned to the Pacific and many to the USS Arizona. After his release from the hospital, he not only passed the next basic training course, but he did well enough to have a choice as to which kind of assignment he wanted. He felt the battleships and aircraft carriers were too big, and he felt the frigates and destroyers were too small, so, he chose the middle-sized ships. By pure fate he was assigned to the USS Augusta, a heavy cruiser, as a gunner’s mate. When he joined The Augusta she was in the
In July 1835, Kentucky suffered an outbreak of the deadly cholera disease which killed thousands.
Page 40 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 Atlantic Ocean. Built in 1935 in Newport News, Virginia, the USS Augusta was a flag ship, which means she carried the commanding Admiral of the fleet and hence his flag. Prior to WWII she was the flagship for the Pacific fleet. She was present when the Japanese shelled and bombed American ships in China, an event that almost propelled America into WWII prematurely. Shortly before the war, The Augusta was transferred to the Atlantic, again as a flagship. She is one of the more storied ships in all U. S. naval history. During WWII she hosted President Roosevelt; British Prime Minister Winston Churchill; President Harry S Truman; General George S. Patton, Jr.; General Omar Bradley; and numerous other powerful people involved in the war effort. Off Newfoundland during the signing of the Atlantic Charter the King of England brought his two young daughters (Elizabeth, now the Queen, and Margaret) aboard The Augusta. Carl saw them all. The war became very personal to Carl when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. At Pearl Harbor he lost several personal friends from basic training when The Arizona went down. By his ironic good fortune of catching pneumonia during basic training, he had been assigned to the Atlantic and, unfortunately, his friends had been assigned to the Pacific. In November 1942, The Augusta led America’s first major counterattack on the Axis powers when she led the Allied fleet in the invasion of North Africa. General Patton was on The Augusta at that landing. Carl related the following story of his experience with General Patton as The Augusta was shelling the North African coast. As the fleet was landing troops onto the shore and as the supporting ships were shelling the beach, General Patton was stalking the deck, cursing the Germans and firing his ivory handled pistols at the German planes. Carl, a gunner’s mate, made what he thought to be the biggest mistake of his young life, when cleaning the barrel of his gun he pulled the swab stick back from the breach of the gun and hit an officer in the butt. He turned around, and, to his great horror, realized he had hit General Patton with his swab stick. He immediately apologized and saluted the General, expecting to be at least arrested, if not worse. The General, in spite of the modern Hollywood perception of this man, immediately apologized to Carl and said “Son, you were doing your job; I got in your way, it was my fault, not yours.” Carl’s oldest brother, Glenn, served with Patton in Africa and went with that army all the way to Germany. But that is another story for a different time. The Augusta went on to fight in the Atlantic throughout the war. She carried the flag (and the president) when President Roosevelt met with Churchill and Stalin at Yalta. She carried the flag at the Normandy Invasion. She also carried President Truman when he met with Churchill and Stalin at Potsdam. It was at Potsdam that Truman made the decision and gave the final order to use the atom bomb on Japan.
Truman was returning to America on The Augusta when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. Carl said it was a great relief when news of Japan’s surrender arrived. He said The Augusta had been ordered to the Pacific and after almost four years of total war, he was glad it was over. Uncle Carl was honorably discharged January 26, 1947. Carl married Jeanne Testerman, a beautiful darkhaired girl from English, West Virginia, in 1944 while on a short shore leave. During the war his parents (Bruce and Esta) had moved to Baltimore where Bruce worked in the ship yards and Esta worked at a Big Bear grocery store. Bruce introduced Jeanne, who worked as a welder in the ship yards, to his son. After the war, Carl worked in construction in Southern Ohio and Eastern Kentucky until he moved to Northern Ohio in the early 1950s. He worked as a millwright with Ford in the large assembly plant in Lorain. He retired from Ford in 1987. After retirement he and Jeanne traveled extensively. He was even able to attend a reunion in Hawaii of sailors who had served on The Augusta. He and Jeanne had four daughters: Trish, Sandra, Beverly, and Debbie. The first two daughters live in Florida, and the two younger daughters live in Northern Ohio, so they spent a lot of time traveling between the daughters in Florida and the daughters in Ohio. In 1997 my son, Steven Osborne, a midshipman at the U. S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, gave Carl and Jeanne a personal tour of the Academy. The tour culminated with a visit to Memorial Hall where an original flag flown on The Augusta during the North African invasion was proudly on display. It meant so much to Uncle Carl to see the flag he had served under in such a place of honor. (Ironically, Steven later served on the aircraft carrier the USS Harry S. Truman named after the President who had crossed the Atlantic Ocean on the USS Augusta during the war.) Carl lost Jeanne after almost 60 years of marriage in 2004. He still lives in Vermillion, Ohio, near two of his daughters. He most recently traveled to the Osborne family reunion in July of 2007 held in Lewis County on the old family homestead. His nephews, Oval and Dennis Osborne, currently live on the old homeplace. Most of the old timers are gone now, but Uncle Carl had the chance at the reunion to reminisce with his cousins, Eugene Osborne and Merrill Osborne, and his sister in law, Helen Cooper Osborne (my mother). To this day Uncle Carl is justifiably proud of his service to his country, and he is also proud of his country. His patriotism is obvious when he talks about the war. He feels proud to have played a part when the United States rose to the occasion and saved the world from tyranny and oppression. He truly is one of “The Greatest Generation.” Danny Osborne, 4541 Old Route 100 Road, Draper, VA 24324; Osborne333@comcast.net, shares this article with our
Wisdom is the talent of buying virtuous pleasures at the cheapest rate. --Fielding
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 41
Johnny Haddix with help from his sons-in-law, Robert Epperson and Danard Prater, were preparing to butcher this big hog in November 1955. These men and their families were from Lost Creek, Breathitt County, Kentucky. Bessie Haddix Burnett, 6675 Canoe Road, Jackson, KY 41339; 606/295-3166, shares this photo with our readers.
Cold Months Bring Hog-Killing Time To Kentucky Farms By Gordon Wilson, Ph.D. - 1940 Western Kentucky Teachers College s I begin this article in November, it is hog-killing weather. The air is brisk, cold, and the skies are clear with the promise of several days of the same sort of temperature. However, it is not late enough in the season to kill more than one small hog to furnish fresh meat for the family. I must admit that I do not know how much the science and art of hog-killing has changed since my last contact with it. I do know that some neighborhoods have a central slaughtering place, but I would guess that the standardized festival of my childhood is much the same. Sleeping was hardly necessary the night before this great annual event. We had spent the day before in making preparations; cutting sticks, putting up a scaffold, shar-
A
pening the knives, placing a barrel for scalding, getting the big kettles ready, and building the heap of wood that was to form the fire, with several old bits of scrap iron on it. We got up, like the women in Proverbs, while it was yet dark and started our fire. Soon after an early breakfast the neighbors with whom we were swapping work came to help, often bringing their wives or daughters with them. Quite early in the morning, as soon as we felt the water was hot enough and the irons hotter still, the slaughter began. Killing the hogs and sticking them were arts that every farm boy and man knew. The sun would be still far toward the east when the scalding actually began. We poured some of the hot water into the scalding barrel and then threw in some of the superheated irons, causing a great sputtering and popping. It takes great skill to scald hogs properly. The skillful scalder, who is always
In February 1836, the Louisville, Cincinnati & Charleston Railroad was formed.
Page 42 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 represented in each neighborhood, tests the effectiveness of the water, a common way being to try the tail first; if the hair slips off well, then the hog is well scalded. I recall how we sometimes made a poor scald and had to cut the hair off portions of the hogs rather than pull it out. People always apologized for meat that had hair that had been cut. Scraping the scalded hog left a black deposit on our hands that only time would remove; soap, even homemade lye soap, was powerless with this blackness. We hung the scraped hogs on our scaffold and proceeded to gut them. Then the bodies hung and chilled through and through while we stopped for dinner. After dinner came the cutting-up process. The whole hog soon was divided into lard, sausage meat, spare ribs, backbones, heads, hams, shoulders, and middlings. I have seen great artistry displayed in cutting up the meat, artistry that was so common that no one realized that it was artistry. The small boys could be useful for storing the joints away, until the salting down would take place in the smokehouse after supper. The afternoon and much of the night, with often adjourned sessions the next day, were spent in grinding sausage and rendering lard. The neighbors usually departed after the meat was cut up, taking, as a matter of course, some backbones, ribs, livers, and hearts for their own use. And on into the night turned the sausage grinder, a vicious machine that contained fearful knives and a heavy metal core. The modern food choppers had not then arrived. Rendering lard required the patience of Job or any other famous character; it was a fearful thing to burn the supply of lard. Sausage was sacked and later smoked in the smokehouse.
Robert and Lena Helen Haddix Epperson are shown in this photo taken in the 1950s when they were with the U. S. Army at Las Cruces, New Mexico. Robert is now deceased, and Lena is living in Lawton, Oklahoma. Lena is the daughter of the late Johnny and Millie Haddix of Lost Creek, Kentucky, in Breathitt County. Bessie Haddix Burnett of Jackson shares this photo.
Harvesting Tobacco In Old Kentucky... These workers, probably family members, are shown harvesting tobacco in late September in the Bluegrass region of Kentucky, ca. 1900. Following this step was the curing, stripping, and marketing. Tobacco was, and still is, a labor intensive crop.
Woman’s natural mission is to love, to love but one, to love always. --Michelet
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 43
Cpl. Edward “Eddie” Ward Received Final Tribute With Full Military Honors Kentucky History Marker To Be Placed At Pine Knot, McCreary Co. By Peggy Wilson - 2013
serve as engineer of the U. S. Army dirigible and further assignments with the Signal Corps, including service abroad. In 1914 Ward, now a commissioned First Lieutenant, was assigned to the Signal Corps First Balloon Squadron at the onset of WWI. Cpl. Edward Ward retired from the military in 1930 as
n October 31, 2012, Cpl. Edward “Eddie” Ward, the Nation’s First Enlisted Airman, received a final tribute with distinction at the Dayton Memorial Park and Cemetery in Dayton, Ohio. The ceremony, with full military honors, was attended by several dignitaries, including Ohio Congressman Mike Turner, U. S. Rep. Michael Turner, The Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Honor Guard, Cpt. Eric Clinton, 88th Aerospace playing the bagpipes, and the “Four Feet” Equestrian Team; a Miami Valley area nonprofit organization which was established to increase public awareness of men and women past and present and honor them for their courage and dedication. The WrightPatterson Air Force Base Honor Guard lowered the U. S. Flag, one that had flown in Iraq, carefully folded it, and presented it to Sue Greene DeBusk, a cousin of Corporal Ward’s great-niece, Jean Blevins, who was unable to attend. A cousin, Donald Walker, was also in attendance. Edward Ward was born in Pine Sue Greene DeBush, a cousin of Edward “Eddie” Wardʼs great-niece, was presented, by Knot, McCreary County, Kentucky, in a member of the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Honor Guard, the U. S. Flag that had 1881, and enlisted in the U. S. Army at flown in Iraq. The ceremony was held at the Dayton Memorial Park and Cemetery in (Photo courtesy of Peggy Wilson.) the age of 19 in 1901. In 1907 Corporal Dayton, Ohio, in October 2012. Ward became the first enlisted serviceman in the Aviation Branch of the U. S. Army. Mark a Master Sergeant, having spent most of his career with the Grapin, Senor Aviation Officer with the Kentucky Army Aeronautic Branch of the Signal Corps. He retired and lived National Guard, stated that Cpl. Edward Ward (under the in Dayton, Ohio, the Wright brother’s hometown, spending directions of the Signal Corps) helped to take charge of all time at the museum that honored the famous flyers and the matters pertaining to military ballooning and all air mabeginnings of military aviation. chines. Cpl. Edward Ward was honored in McCreary County The Army sought out the Wright brothers at the onset for his many achievements. County Judge-Executive of the program and advertised for a heavier-than-air maBlaine Phillips declared March 31, 2009, as Edward Ward chine. Young Corporal Ward was able to assist the Wright Day. Mark Grapin, Senior Aviation Safety Officer, led the brothers with the uncrating of their craft at Ft. Myer, Virefforts to recognize Ward. Grapin said, “Ward’s accomplishginia, for a flight demonstration to the Army and was inments have escaped recognition.” In addition to the honors strumental in coaxing their fickle engine to life for history. bestowed on Ward that day, senior family member Dorothy Corporal Ward was also a master electrician and phoTimmons, 98, from Louisville, Kentucky, and several other tographer. His military service later sent him to detail at a relatives were in attendance. Grapin said Ward would be balloon air station to train pilots and ground crews and to installed in the Army Aviation Hall of Fame. CSM Donald
O
The first train wreck in Kentucky occurred near Frankfort on March 16, 1836. Three people were killed.
Page 44 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013
Thoughts To Ponder From The
Kentucky Philosopher It is possible that a man can be so changed by love that one could not recognize him as the same person. --Terence A manʼs worth is estimated in this world according to his conduct. --La Bruyere The grave marker for Cpl. Edward “Eddie” Ward is located at his gravesite in “The Soldiers Circle” along with the remains of 317 other veterans in the Dayton Memorial Cemetery in Dayton, Ohio. (Photo courtesy of Peggy Wilson.)
Sanders, Command Sergeant Major of the U. S. Army Aviation Branch, offered remarks during the closing of the ceremony, “Eddie Ward was part of the most exciting day in the nation's history, but he must have thought it was just another day on the job.” A Kentucky history marker will be placed near where Ward grew up. Senator Mitch McConnell honored Ward’s services on the floor of our nation's capitol and entered into the congressional record. Additional honors, including Ward’s achievements, will follow his induction into the Honorable Order of St. Michael, a luncheon by the McCreary County Historical Society, and McCreary County Public Library with several dignitaries in attendance. Grapin told the group that Ward’s tunic is displayed at the USAF Museum. Finally, on May 6, 2013, Ward was honored by the unveiling a marker for his grave. Airman Ward is in the “Soldiers Circle” where the remains of 317 veterans rest. “Corporal Ward was a true American hero,” said David Studebaker, president of the Dayton Memorial Park’s board of trustees. “It was our honor to provide the final resting place of Corporal Ward.” Peggy Wilson, P. O. Box 553, Whitley City, KY 42631; Wilson@highland.net, shares this article with our readers.
The Kentucky Explorer Makes The Perfect Christmas Gift. Be Appreciated All Year! Order Today For Family And Friends! Call 606/666-5060. Visit our website at www.kentuckyexplorer.com
When young, we trust ourselves too much, and we trust others too little, when old. Rashness is the error of youth; timid caution of age. Manhood is the isthmus between the two extreme; the ripe and fertile season of action, when alone we can hope to find the head to contrive, united with the hand to execute. --Colton It is not only paying wages and giving commands that constitutes a master of a family, but prudence, equal behavior, with a readiness to protect and cherish them, is what entitles a man to that character in their very hearts and sentiments. --Steele Use your memory; you will sensibly experience a gradual improvement while you take care not to overload it. --Watts Small miseries, like small debts, hit us in so many places, and meet us at so many turns and corners, that what they want in weight, they make up in number, and render it less hazardous to stand the fire of one cannon ball, than a volley composed of such a shower of bullets. --Colton Misunderstanding and inattention create more uneasiness in the world than deception and artifice, or, at least, their consequences are more universal. --Goethe The moral law is written on the tablets of eternity. For every false word or unrighteous deed, for cruelty and oppression, for lust or vanity, the price has to be paid at last.. --Carlyle
A lover is like a hunter--if the game be got with too much ease, he cares, not for it. --Mead
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 45
Geologist Says Ohio River Was Once Wider And Took A Different Course Kentucky's Climate Was Quite Suited For the Mammoths And Mastodons Author Unknown - March 1935 mbling down from the heights of Iroquois Park, the elephant herd raced across Churchill Downs and waded into the Ohio River at Third and Oak. Out they swam to mid-stream a mile away. Only a few million years ago this might have been a perfectly accurate, though somewhat anachronistic chronicle of events in Louisville. The climate here in those days, before glaciers came to Oldham County, was considerably warmer and quite suited to the mammoths and mastodons roaming Kentucky. The site of the Federal Building was 90 or 100 feet under water. The Ohio River, twice or thrice its present width, was south of Portland, cutting straight across the city from Towhead Island toward Cane Run. Skeptics who choose not to believe that all of Louisville’s business district and great portions of its industrial and residential sections were once the bed of a far mightier river than the Ohio of today are referred to Col. Lucien Beckner, consulting geologist for the Louisville Gas & Electric Company. Old Swimming Hole Gone Much of the gravel now being taken from the river commercially for concrete and other work originated in Canada, Colonel Beckner says, and was brought down by the glaciers. Crystalline, granitic rocks, not indigenous to any region between Louisville and the Great Lakes, are found in the river in quantities. Some of them are identified as having come from Hudson Bay. The ice sheet which brought them drove the elephants away from their swimming holes here. With years of studying in the practice of his profession, Colonel Beckner has located the original course of the river between the dotted lines shown on the accompanying map. In the pre-glacial ages, he explained, the bluffs paralleling the River Road formed the south bank of the river which extended in an almost straight line southwest, curving gradually southward and coinciding with the present bank in the neighborhood of Kosmosdale. “The river was a more impressive stream in these
A
days,” Colonel Beckner remarked. “I’m not sure just how wide it was but it must have been about two miles. There is no doubt, though, that it was 100 feet deep in some places.” A Few Eons Overnight If geologic changes suddenly reversed themselves, carrying Louisville back a few eons overnight, the foot of Fourth Street would be at the north bank of the river and the street would not emerge until it reached Central Park. Broadway would be inundated from Shelby to Twenty-fifth. The circus grounds at 28th and Broadway would be partly submerged with the north river bank cutting off their southeast corner. Fishermen living in the Highlands would need to go no farther than the foot of Baxter Avenue to cast in their lines. The changes that resulted in the present course of the Ohio and Louisville's modern topography began 30,000 or 40,000 years ago, Colonel Beckner estimated. “In the Ice Age,” he explained, “the glaciers pushed enormous quantities of stone and gravel into the river not far north of here.” Another Course Found “This material was washed down by the water and gradually settled until it filled the part of the stream where the city stands now. Naturally, the river had to find another course so it curved off to the northwest, cutting its channel where the falls are now, looping around past New Albany and joining its old bed more than ten miles south. “Whenever we drill in the downtown section we find evidence of the way the material pushed down by the glaciers choked the old river. We find only sand near the surface, but as we go deeper, embedded pebbles become larger and larger. At one level they will be the size of hickory nuts. A little further down the sand thins out and the pebbles are the size of eggs. As we approach the old river bed, we find no sand and the biggest-sized pebbles, some of them bigger than your fist.” Colonel Beckner explained that as the river carried down this glacial outwash, the heavier pebbles sank more rapidly, leaving the lighter gravel and sand to fill in the top and make the surface of the city’s site.
On March 19, 1836, the state arsenal at Frankfort burned.
Page 46 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013
Amos C. Houk: Flight Officer And Pilot During World War II Is Thankful That He Traveled The World And Returned Home By Martin R. Brauchle - 2013
advanced training was 147 hours and 25 minutes. On November 20, 1944, he was on his first leave in 18 months. He was eager to return home to visit his family. Houk arrived at Bergstrum Field, Texas, for his first look at the C-46 Commando Cargo plane that he was to fly in December. He completed this training in June 1945. Here he departed for Savannah, Georgia, and wondered
mos Christopher Houk was born February 15, 1925, on his family’s farm in Hardyville, Hart County, Kentucky. He served in the United States Army Air Force from July 15, 1943, to May 15, 1946, during WWII. Houk was indoctrinated and sworn into the service at Fort Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, on July 15, 1943. He began basic training at Miami Beach, Florida, four days later. On September 10th, Houk arrived at Cedar Falls, Iowa, for primary training and departed a full-pledged pilot in November. He arrived at Santa Ana, California for Classification Training on November 10, 1943. There he officially became an aviation cadet. He departed Santa Ana on March 11, 1944. On March 12th, Houk arrived at Hancock College of Aueronautics. His orientation flight was in a Stearman PT-13 Trainer, and he managed to solo with eight hours and 20 minutes of training under his belt. Houk says, “During my solo take off, you will never guess what got in my way. How did that telephone pole end up in my flight path? Needless to say my poor Stearman was all ‘cracked up,’ the telephone pole and wires were knocked down, and me, I The C-47 was the last plane that Amos C. Houk flew in the U. S. Army Air Force. His military journey circled the globe. He served from July 1943 to May 1946 during WWII. walked away without a scratch.” (Photo courtesy of Martin R. Brauchle.) Houk completed in satisfactory manner the courses prescribed for Civil Elementary Flying Schools and was what the future and overseas duty held for him. On July 18, recommended for further military flight training on May 1945, Houk arrived at Hunter Field where the men were 22, 1944. He arrived at Cal-Aero Flight Academy in processed, given overseas equipment, and a brand new Ontario, California, two days later. He graduated and was C-46F with only eight hours in the air. The plane was given certified. On August 22nd, he completed his first solo flight a check flight, and then the crew received orders to proceed in a twin-engine plane. to Karachi, India. Houk was part of the 12th Combat Cargo In November he was raised to flight officer and received Squadron Unit. his Silver Wings from the Advanced Two-Engine Pilot July 26, 1945, found the crew in Bangor, Maine, then School at Pecos Army Air Field in Texas. His flying time in they departed on July 30, 1945, to Goose Bay, Labrador,
A
A good man enlarges the term of his own existence. --Martide
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 47 In November 1945, the squadron was down to six then to Greenland, and finally to Iceland. On the trip from planes and 74 pilots. There was not much flying time so the Greenland to Iceland, Flight Officer Houk and his crew played plenty of Ping-Pong, checkers, and hearts and squadron got their heaters going, donned their electrically got plenty of sack time. December brought another heated flight suits, and settled down for a nice cozy trip. Christmas away from home. Shortly after takeoff one of the engines decided to cut out. In January 1946, Houk says, “I was trying to get my They were all immediately awakened, and after some required four hours of flying time, which proved to be a doing, they got the ice out of the carburetor and the engine challenge at times. Without the required time, I would lose was once again running smoothly. my $125 per month flight pay. I declined a request to In August Houk departed Iceland for London, England, become a commissioned officer, as part of and from there to Marseille, France, my squadron was going home. Had I after a propeller governor was replaced accepted a commission, I would have had on the plane. From there the squadron to stay another six months in China. So quickly departed for Tripoli, Libya, then on February 21, 1946, I signed a Cairo, Egypt. The crew traveled halfway statement refusing to accept a around the world and had reached commission. The U. S. Government Karachi, India. Here they rested and moved all the C-46s and C-47s at the air departed for Burma and were careful not base at the end of war into Kiangwan. to hit one of the sacred cows on takeoff. Between 1,000 and 1,500 of them were After a much enjoyed and interesting sealed and stored and turned over to the sightseeing tour, they departed Agra, Chinese Government. In March, I was Burma, for Calcutta, India. They unlucky to get on a mail run in order to keep loaded their cargo and picked up some my flight pay. I drew a flight in a beat-up freight at Karachi, and then ate lunch and C-47 to Peiping, stayed overnight, went departed immediately. up to Farludden City, had a nice time and On September 6, 1945, Houk made got back to Kiangwan the next his first flight over the “Hump” into afternoon. This was to be my last trip and China. He took off at 10:30 p.m. and got my last time at the controls of an back at 5:00 a.m. the next day. Most airplane. flights were between Myitkyina and On April 13, 1946, Houk was on his Kunming, hauling 100 octane gasoline way home. He boarded the USS General for the Chinese. Flight Cadet Amos Houk is shown In late September, orders came following his successful solo flight. A R.M. Blatchford and says, “We loaded through to close Myitkyina and what white scarf was awarded to pilot cadets 1,514 passengers, and we cast off on Easter Sunday. After 18 days at sea we couldn’t be moved was burned and what after their first solo. couldn’t be taken with the crew was (Photo courtesy of Martin R. Brauchle.) finally arrived in San Francisco, California. We were very thankful to be dumped into the Irrawaddy River which back to the good old U. S. A. We boarded included new airplane engines and a ferry for Camp Stoneman, California, where we were airplane parts. This was a small fortune in American taxes. greeted with a steak dinner and spent the night. The next September 30th the “Hump” was closed and the unit was morning I headed for Camp Atterbury, Indiana, by train. pulled out. During Houk’s stay in Myitkyina, he had logged “My military journey covered 34 months and I 15 round trips and one on the way out over the “Hump,” completely circled the globe. I achieved 748 hours and 15 hoping he would never have to see it again. minutes flying time with nine months and eight days On October 3, 1945, the unit landed at Kiangwan overseas. I was thankful that God had spared me to come Airfield in Shanghai, China, and couldn’t wait to get into back home.” the city and do some sightseeing. After proudly serving during WWII, Mr. Houk came Houk says, “I was now in the 333rd Troop Carrier back to Hart County and settled down. He attended the Squadron of the 513 Troop Carrier Group. Much to my Bowling Green Business Community School. On June 18, surprise, since we were the first airborne outfit into China 1948, he married Helen Frances Dowell. They have two after the Japanese surrender, we found the Japs still armed sons, Leslie B. and Robert Dale. and planes and trucks on the field full of gasoline and It has been an honor and privilege to compile this loaded with ammunition. Our mission was to move some of information for a very good friend and neighbor. the Chinese Army to Peiping, a 20 to 30 day job, and then we would be through in China. We hauled everything from Martin R. Brauchle, 108 Yancey Avenue, Horse Cave, Chinese Soldiers to baled hay. One load was supposed to be KY 42749; Martin.Brauchle@gmail.com; 270/786-5469, 30-40 fully-equipped soldiers, and we finally ended up shares this article with our readers. hauling 50.”
In January 1842, beautiful raw silk was produced in Somerset.
Page 48 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013
STRANGE FACTS ABOUT KENTUCKY
He who does not look forward finds himself behind other men. --Proverb
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 49
A Look At The Life Of Actress Mary Nolan Was This Graves County Native Too Beautiful? By Ward Harrison - 2013 n 1922, New York Daily News columnist Mark Hellinger wrote, “Only two people in America can bring every reporter in New York to the docks to see them off: One being the President of the United States, the other Imogene ‘Bubbles’ Wilson.” Imogene Wilson? Who in heaven’s name was she? She was none other than blond Mary Imogene Robertson, born in Hickory Grove, a mere spot in the road, adjacent to Mayfield, (Graves County) in Southwestern Kentucky, on December 17, 1905, to Alfred and Viola Pittman Robertson. At age three, Mary’s mother passed away, then her father a few years later. Mary and her older brother, Ray Robertson, youngest of the Robertson children, were placed in St. Joseph’s Orphan Asylum in Louisville, Jefferson County, Kentucky. There she remained doing various chores every day, including washing dishes while standing on a wooden soda carton. With no mother and no father, she endured such hardships until she found an opportunity to run away to the bright lights of New York City. Once she arrived, she soon found herself living on the streets at the age of 14. Mary’s good looks and sad tales of childhood would eventually open doors to a surprising career that required many interviews by the press, resulting in exaggerations and falsehoods being written about Mary Imogene Robertson, much of which became juicy fodder for the paparazzi. One article printed in Motion Picture magazine stated that Mary had been born to an Italian father and Irish-American mother. Upon migrating from Rome, the father deserted his family in America when Mary was 18 months old. All of this journalistic nonsense was dismissed by Mary’s older brother, Ray, who also declared on Mary’s death certificate years later that Mary had been born in Hickory Grove, Kentucky, as were her parents. Aside from the mystery of Mary’s childhood, she did, with little effort, become one of the loveliest faces ever to grace the stage of the Ziegfeld Follies. Discovered by Florenz Ziegfeld, she had just turned 16 when Ziegfeld tagged her with the stage name of Imogene “Bubbles” Wilson. (To ease confusion she will be referred to as Mary Nolan from hereon.) Mary Nolan’s natural beauty and air of innocence would captivate the young and elderly men alike, whom showered her with an over abundance of adulation. One middle-aged man had been Mary’s idol long before she appeared with him in Ziegfeld Follies. His name was Frank Tinney, a famous comedian of stage and screen who was 27 years older than Mary when they began a highly-publicized relationship. He
I
Actress Mary Nolan was born Mary Imogene Robertson at Hickory Grove, Graves County, Kentucky. She was the daughter of Albert and Viola Pittman Robertson. This photograph of the actress was taken before 1930.
was married and had a young son. Tinney, an alcoholic, became enraged one evening upon finding Mary in the arms of a young reporter, which led to a violent physical altercation and Mary’s attempted suicide. Soon after, on May 28, 1924, Mary filed a complaint, charging Tinney had beaten her, that resulted in his arrest. When the case was presented before a grand jury, Tinney was not indicted. Unfortunately, the sordid details had been covered by the media prompting Ziegfeld to terminate Mary’s stage appearance in an attempt to prevent a more serious scandal developing in the Follies. Now unemployed, Mary was beside herself with anxiety
In February 1842, the Institution for the Blind was established in Louisville.
Page 50 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 when an offer came from Germany, asking her to engage in making cinema there. In September Mary sailed for Germany, ready to perform under the name Imogene Robertson. There was no language barrier, since sound films were still a few years in the future. Film was a new experience for Mary. Even so, her silent acting garnered excellent reviews after her first German film, Verborgene Gluten, was shown. Mary’s second film Die Feuertanzerin for Universum Film AG continued with excellent reviews prompting UFA to make an offer of a $1,500 a week contract. From 1925 to 1927 Mary’s additional 16 films drew offers coming from Hollywood. Mary, in fact, was still in throes of learning acting techniques and turned each offer down. As Imogene Robertson, she finally relented when film mogul Joseph Schenck (1878-1961) offered a contract with United Artist. Attempting to cover up Mary Nolan’s scandalous past, Schenck insisted however Nolan change her name to Mary Nolan before arriving in New York City. Mary’s arrival had the press and paparazzi anxiously awaiting her appearance. Finally, Mary appeared, attired in a flamboyant flapper dress with a flowing feather boa floating around her neck, as she gleefully sashayed down the gangplank to greet the waiting crowd. By late 1927, Mary Nolan had had a supporting role in Sorrell and Son, left United Artist, and signed with Universal Pictures. The following year she was loaned out to MGM for the major film West of Zanzibar, starring Lionel Barrymore and Lon Chaney, with Mary Nolan cast as Chaney’s tarnished daughter, Maizie. Mary’s favorable reviews continued, resulting in her being loaned out for Desert Nights, a romantic drama costarring with heartthrob John Gilbert. Shining again in the cinema limelight, Nolan unfortunately became romantically involved with Metro-GoldenMayer vice-president, Edward J. Mannix, a married man. For reasons unbeknownst, as with Tinney, in July 1930 he had beaten Nolan so severely that she required several operations. Pain medication was prescribed as necessary, which ultimately led to drug addiction, and later her career decline when Mannix declared Mary to be a drug addict with loose morals, thus preventing her from obtaining engagements either in pictures or stage. In retrospect Nolan sued Mannix for personal and professional damage to the tune of $500,000. She won, but with Mannix’s clout in the higher echelon of Hollywood circles, she became blackballed as a troublemaker. Nolan, a major silent picture actress appeared in Universal Pictures silent films Hidden Fires, The Adventuress, The Honorable Mrs. Warrington, Five O’Clock Tea, and When We Were Young. During viewing of one of these films Joseph Schenck once again became enamored with Nolan and searched her out in order to take her under his protective wing. However, familiar with her dubious track record he convinced her that he could promote a new career for her if she agreed not to change her Mary Nolan moniker. Once this was agreed upon Schenck put into action his plans for her starstatus buildup. Mary would star and co-star in approximately 20 films with Lionel Barrymore, Johnny Mack Brown, Lon Chaney, Reginald Denny, John Gilbert, William Powell, Edward G Robinson, and other like actors. In the 1930 talkie Outside
The Law, Nolan had top billing as Edward G. Robinson’s costar. Kentuckian, Tod Browning wrote and directed this film. In March 1931, Mary Nolan married stockbroker Wallace T. Macrery, Jr., at Christ Church in Brooklyn, New York; she was 25, and he 23. The following month, Mary starred in the Broadway play Strong Stuff, depicting youth and its propensities for alcohol and drugs. From then on Nolan’s life became a roller coaster of ups and downs with tough breaks continuing to dog her footsteps. On August 1, 1931, she filed bankruptcy for debts totaling $92,079, claiming her assets as being $2,998. She starred in film X Marks The Spot, starring Wallace Ford and Lew Cody this same year. In May 1932, Mary Nolan and Regis Tooney starred in The Midnight Patrol. Nolan was arrested December 17, 1932, for being a fugitive from justice after endorsing a check for $304.48, drawn on the Citizen’s Trust & Savings Bank of New York. Since no such bank existed, she was taken into custody at Loew’s Eighty-Sixth Street Theatre where she was appearing in a vaudeville sketch. Arresting officers from Minneapolis accused Mary of issuing this worthless check to the Hotel Raddison there. After spending several hours behind bars, she was released following a $1,500 bail bond being issued. In February 1933, she, William Collier, Jr., and Clara Kimball Young starred in Nolan’s final film appearance in File No. 113. On the 11th day of March this same year, Mr. and Mrs. Macrery, Jr., were jailed for withholding wages from their employees working at Mary Nolan’s Gown Shop located on Wilshire Boulevard. Mary and Wallace were sentenced to 30 days for violating the California State Wage Law. Five years later Mary Nolan was once again behind bars. This time for ignoring a $405 dress bill for four years. While incarcerated Nolan was transferred to a psychiatric ward at Bellevue Hospital. After release she told reporters that the shock of her arrest brought on a nervous breakdown which required hospitalization. Sick and broke, she was admitted at the Actor’s Fund Home in Amityville, New York. With Mary’s health regained, in 1939 she returned to Hollywood living in obscurity with her older sister, Mrs. Mabel Rondeau. With looks fading, unable to gain work, and suffering a chronic gallbladder condition, Nolan received treatment at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital. Before the year had expired, Mary had become addicted to heroin to ease her pain. Because of this, she no longer lived with her sister. She lived alone at 1504 South Mansfield Avenue in Los Angeles County in a tiny furnished apartment. Nolan, accustomed to the finest, was now surrounded by mundane furnishings, except for a grand piano, formally owned by Rudolph Valentino. On October 31, 1948, Nolan, weighing less than 100 pounds, was found dead in her bed of barbiturate poisoning brought on by overdosing Seconal. At age 42 years, 10 months, and 14 days, Mary Imogene Robertson’s flame had flickered out. In Hollywood Memorial Park (now known as Hollywood Forever Cemetery) Mary Nolan was interred in wall-crypt
He who loves you will make you weep, and he who hates you may make you laugh. --Proverb
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 51 594, adjacent to the crypt of her sister, Mrs. Mabel Rondeau. In 1933, Joseph Schenck was the first president of United Artists when he partnered with Darryl F. Zanuck creating 20th Century Pictures before they merged with Fox Film Corporation in 1935, creating 20th Century Fox. As president, Schenck became one of the most influential people in the film industry. Anita Loos’s Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: Diary of a Professional Lady was originally published in 1925 as a magazine series prior to the book’s first edition becoming a runaway best seller earning the praise of “The great American novel of 1927.” The following year the book won additional merit after being adapted for a stage audience; the greatest praise of all would follow after Gentlemen Prefer Blondes was released in 1928 as a silent movie. (No copies are known to exist.) Schenck had always envisioned Mary Nolan playing Lorelei Lee, but his friend, author Anita Loos, was leery of such an idea with the outcome of the role going to lovely natural blond actress, Ruth Taylor (Taylor died in Palm Springs in 1984, aged 79. She was the mother of actor and writer Buck Henry). Disappointed by such turn of events, Schenck, nonetheless, retained his fixation on the Lorelei Lee character, hoping one day he would find that special actress who would bring Lorelei to life in sound. In 1946 that day occurred when Joseph Schenck noticed Marilyn Monroe walking down a sidewalk of 20th Century Fox. Telling his chauffeur to pull over, he waited until Marilyn was passing alongside his vehicle. He smiled, then she smiled before a conversation ensued. Schenck was 68-years-old when he took an immediate liking to Marilyn. As an unknown actress, and sort of recognizing Schenck as a prominent Hollywood figure she had seen around, she accepted an invitation to a dinner party at his home the following week. As time passed, Marilyn became a regular at Schenck’s small intimate dinner parties, and a friendship grew. Schenck remained Monroe’s friend, mentor and promoter until his death in 1961, a year prior to Marilyn
dying from acute barbiturate poisoning on August 5, 1962, at age 36. Ironically, Mary Nolan died in 1946 two years prior to the meeting of Schenck and Monroe, so whether Nolan and Monroe’s paths ever crossed is very questionable. Marilyn Monroe surely filled the shoes of Lorelei Lee and Schenck realized this shortly after Monroe became a regular at Schenck's cozy dinner parties. He chose Monroe’s birthday party at his home June 1, 1952, to inform her that she had won hands-down the role of Lorelei Lee, making both of their dreams a reality. Marilyn and Mary shared many passages in life and death: Both were orphaned at a young age, had mental problems, had psychiatric counseling, were difficult to work with, became international stars, died at home in their beds, were single at that time, appeared on covers of motion picture magazines, and both supposedly committed suicide from barbiturate poisoning. Mary was born in Kentucky, whereas Monroe’s mother married a Kentuck-
ian and lived in Louisville a brief spell. Contrary to what’s been published, Marilyn was named for Norma Jeane Cohen, a Louisville child; not Norma Shearer and Jean Harlow. Reference: My Sister Marilyn by Berniece Baker Miracle, 1994. Robert and Berniece Baker, halfsiblings of Marilyn Monroe, lived at Pineville, Bell County, Kentucky. Eighteen German silent films credited Mary as Imogene Robertson. Seventeen American films billed Mary Robertson as Mary Nolan. Marilyn Monroe appeared in 28 films, her first being Dangerous Years, filmed in 1948. Monroe played bitparts in her first 14 films, when in 1952 she received top billing in the film Niagra with Joseph Cotton, launching her career as a serious actress. Her final film, in 1961, was The Misfits with Clark Gable; which also served as Gable’s final film.
Ward Harrison, 1800 Dutch Lane, Lot 21, Jeffersonville, IN 47130, shares this article with our readers.
Nickell Family, Menifee County, Ky.
Linda Nickells Hollon, 500 Santa Barbara Drive, Middletown, OH 45042, shares these photos. In the left photo is Ruth Lawson Nickell holding her daughter, Linda Nickell Hollon, ca. 1948. In the right photo, Ruth is holding her daughter Phyllis Nickell Hurt, ca. 1957. These photos were taken at Wellington, Menifee County, Kentucky.
The oldest bank in Kentucky is the Bank of Maysville which opened for business in 1835..
Page 52 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013
Laziness travels so slow that poverty soon overtakes it. --Proverb
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 53
Kentucky’s 1895-96 State Gazetteer A Look At Kentucky Towns And Their Establishments 117 Years Ago Editor's Note: In 1895-96 a state gazetteer was published for the entire state of Kentucky. The book included a description of most every community from the smallest to the largest. Agents for the book must have traveled to all parts of Kentucky collecting names and advertisements. The book does not contain any photographs. (Just think of the scenes they could have photographed!) Most every month The Kentucky Explorer reprints portions of this very interesting book. Different communities, some now extinct, are featured just as they appeared in the 1895-1896 State Gazetteer.
Alonzo A small post office in the southwestern part of Allen County, 11 miles from Scottsville, the county seat; and 14 miles from Franklin, its banking and shipping
point. Population, 20. Tri-weekly mail stage to Franklin and Scottsville; fare: 65 and 35 cents, respectively. C. H. Mayhew, postmaster. Business Directory Borders John, blacksmith. Cook James H, blacksmith. Mayhew C H, notary Mayhew Rev F A. Mayhew F C, general store.
Ballard In Anderson County, six miles from Salvisa, its shipping point, and 10 miles from Lawrenceburg, the county seat and banking point. Population, 75. A. G. Caldwell, postmaster. Business Directory Bowman W M, sawmill. Caldwell A G, physician. Caldwell James W, livestock.
Caldwell M L, general store. Caldwell R J, schoolteacher. Edwards T H, lawyer. Strutton F M, flour mill. Strutton H B, constable. Strutton J C, carpenter.
Camargo In Montgomery County, five miles southeast of Mt. Sterling, the county seat, shipping point, and nearest bank location. Population, 150. J. T. Richetts, postmaster. Business Directory Botts George N, wagonmaker. Horton I N & Bro, general store. Jameson B F, gunsmith. Mearns Andrew, shoemaker. Meyers J H, hotel. Pendleton & Withers, blacksmiths. Rieketts J T, general store. Rye J W, blacksmith. Spratt J B, physician.
Depoy On the C., O. & S. W. R. R. in Muhlenberg County, three miles from Greenville, the judicial seat and banking point. J. T.
Wheelwright, Floyd County, Kentucky The Wheelwright Moving Picture Theatre in Wheelwright, Floyd County, Kentucky, is shown in the early ca. 1930s. Wheelwright was founded by the Elk Horn Coal Company in 1916 and was named for the companyʼs president at that time, Jere H. Wheelwright.
Cayce (Fulton Co.), Kentucky, was the hometown of Casey Jones, the famous railroad man.
Page 54 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013
A view of the railroad depot at Williamsburg, Whitley County, Kentucky. Williamsburg is nestled in the foothills of Daniel Boone country and was first known as the Spring Ford after a nearby ford crossing the Cumberland River. Spurlin, postmaster. Business Directory Adkins & Reed, gristmill. Evitts J T, blacksmith. Farbes Bros, sawmill. Spurlin J T, general store and Railroad Agent.
Emberton In Monroe County, seven miles west of Tompkinsville, the county seat and banking point; and 23 miles from Glasgow, the nearest railroad approach. Population, 100. P. W. Proffitt, postmaster. Business Directory Box J W, stone mason. Goode F S, carpenter. Isenberg H D, gristmill. Isenberg J P, blacksmith. Irvin W J, millwright. Potter A W, physician. Proffitt P W, medicine. Proffitt T W, livestock. Proffitt Wm T, draftsman. Russell John, shoemaker. Strickler Abijah, justice.
Faywood In Woodford County, seven miles northeast of Versailles the county seat;
and four miles south Payne始s Depot, its shipping point. W. B. Daniel, postmaster. Business Directory Daniel W B, general store, blacksmith, and wagonmaker. Malone Merriott, shoemaker. Mitchell Frank, blacksmith. Peak N C, carpenter. Risgue Wm, physician.
Green Grove In Cumberland County, nine miles southeast of Burkesville, the county seat, banking and shipping point. T. C. Ashinhurst, postmaster. Business Directory Ashinhurst T C, general store. Brake S P, livestock. Ewing B F, carpenter. Ewing M C, schoolteacher. Gardener Isaac, flour mill. Parrigen Eliza, cooper. Thrasher J B, flour mill. Vincent J A, blacksmith. Vincent Thomas, wagonmaker.
Higdon In Grayson County, 10 miles southeast of Leitchfield, the county seat. Population, 25. W. C. Keller, postmaster.
Business Directory Keller W C, general store and gristmill. Witten C F, blacksmith.
Independence The county seat of Kenton County, on the L. & N. R. R., 97 miles from Louisville. Population, 300. Adams Express. R. W. Jones, postmaster. Business Directory Hallam H C, circuit clerk. Jones R W, general store. Schoberg W H, general store. Shine M T, county judge. Wilson Thomas P, sheriff. Wilson W B, county clerk.
Jeffersonville In Montgomery County, 7 1/2 miles from Mt. Sterling, the judicial seat, banking and shipping point, to which a daily mail stage runs; fare, 50 cents round trip. Population, 150. E. E. Matherley, postmaster. Business Directory Alfrey Henry, blacksmith. Anderson Miller, distiller. Bolling John, blacksmith. Condiff J, blacksmith. Denton Rev L D. Denton L S, professor.
Judging is balancing an account and determining on which side the odds lie. --Locke
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 55 Dore Robt M, attorney. Knox W O, physician. Matherley E E, shoemaker and jeweler. Salyer John, hotel and flour mill. Wills Judge, general store.
Kennedy On the L. & N. R. R., in Christian County, 15 miles south of Hopkinsville, the judicial seat. Population, 25. Business Directory Watts F W, general store.
railroad approach. Population, 150. Business Directory Gaines J J, grocer. Gaines T H & Co, general store. Hill J T, grocer. Hubbard L R, Agent Electropoise, DuBois & Webb General Agents.
Nehemiah In Magoffin County, eight miles north of Salyersville, the county seat. G. P. Wheeler, postmaster.
Lindsay
Ordinary
In Knox County, 10 miles from Barboursville, the county seat, banking and shipping point. O. Williams, postmaster. Business Directory Beckett Thomas, carpenter. McCabe Eli, mason. Sexton Fred, coal mine. Sexton James, general store. Vaughn Smith, music teacher. Williams John T, blacksmith.
In Elliot County, five miles south of Sandy Hook, the county seat. Population, 100. L. L. Pennington, postmaster. Business Directory Albert H L, railroad agent. Brown W D, physician. Candill E L, teacher. Egan Nelson, flour mill. Pennington L L, general store. Schart T M, blacksmith.
Montgomery
Prosperity
In Trigg County, six miles east of Cadiz, the county seat and banking point; and four miles west of Gracey, the nearest
In Lawrence County, 14 miles southwest of Louisa, the county seat, banking and shipping point.
Business Directory Haws L C, general store.
Quality In Butler County. Ship to Rochester, 12 miles north. Population, 75. Business Directory Caldwell D, general store. Forgy H H, general store. Forgy J N, blacksmith. Greenwell J R, grocer. Harper Richard W, physician. Mayhugh E N, blacksmith.
Rice Station On the R. N., I. & B. R. R., in Estill County, four miles from Irvine, the county seat. Adams Express. Business Directory Welch S E Sr, general store. Winn James, general store. Witt W M, general store.
Scotts Station In Shelby County, on the L. & N. R. R., four miles west of Shelbyville, the county seat. Population, 50. W. Henry Bell, postmaster. Business Directory Bell W Henry, livestock. Crary J M, general store. Morris J H, general store. Simrall W N, railroad agent. Whitehouse J W, blacksmith. Yager C S, livestock.
Terrill In Madison County, seven miles east of Springsfield, the county seat, banking and shipping point. Business Directory Burnett Bruce, blacksmith. Settles A P, general store.
Union Mills In Jessamine County, three miles east of Nicholasville, the judicial seat, banking and shipping point. Business Directory Ogden Robert, general store. This is a birdseye view of Middle Burnside in Pulaski County, Kentucky. Burnside was a center for shipping by rail and steamboat packet. Its lumber mills sent products around the world. The town boasted retail stores, saloons, a post office, restaurants, churches, a bank, hotels, and even Burnside Academy, the first Wesleyan preparatory school in the state. In the early 1950s, the entire town was relocated to higher ground due to the impounding of Lake Cumberland.
Viola In Graves County, eight miles north of Mayfield, the county seat and banking point. Ship via Hickory Grove. C. C. Adams, postmaster.
The most powerful earthquake ever recorded in North America occurred near Western Kentucky in 1811.
Page 56 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013
No. 7 In A Series: Top 100 Favorite Photo Postcards From The Collection Of Carl Howell
County Court Days In Kentucky
By the late 1890s and into the postcard era of the 1900s, county court day had become an impressive marketplace throughout Kentucky —a local institution without counterpart. This real photo postcard depicts county court day activities in Lebanon, Marion County, Kentucky, ca. 1907.
By Carl Howell - 2013 entucky’s county courts routinely regulated many aspects of the lives of Kentuckians throughout the 19th century and well into the 20th century. During most of the 1800s, people depended exclusively on their county governments for many matters. These included road building, tax collecting, assistance and approval as to probate matters, permission to construct milldams for gristmills, guardianships of orphans and homeless children, and inden-
K
tures of apprenticeship, which related to the training of youth in skilled trades. Monday was the day on which all county courts in Kentucky convened their monthly meetings. Many courts met on the first Monday of the month; others met on the second, third, or fourth Monday. This day was devoted to governmental matters, trials and other judicial business and was known throughout the state as court day. County courts were not circuit courts and were required to hold their sessions at the county seat towns.
As famed Kentucky author, James Lane Allen, noted in the Bluegrass Region of Kentucky (1892), the legal character and intent of county court day was its primary and dominant feature. But citizens soon discovered other diverse reasons for coming to town on that one Monday of each month. They came to interchange opinions about local and national politics, to observe the workings of their laws, to pay and contract debts, to acquire and transfer property and to discuss all questions relative to the welfare of the community—holding, in fact, a county
How much better it is to weep at joy than joy at weeping. --Shakespeare
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 57
Provided Attractions For Many
For many years, livestock dealers, merchants and purchasers gathered on the public square in a section of Lexington, Fayette County, known as Cheapside. Farmers often herded their cattle, swine, and sheep to market on roads surrounded by clouds of dust or, during rainy days, on muddy streets that soon turned into quagmires. City residents eventually asked the Fayette County Court to eliminate auctions of such livestock and they were ultimately banned permanently. The horse shows and sales, however, continued well into the 20th century. Over the years, they gained in popularity and attendance and remained a staple at every county court day. This colorized tri-fold postcard measures 5-1/2” x 10-1/2” and was postmarked in Lexington on September 11, 1908.
court day much like the one in Virginia in the middle of the 17th century. County court day evolved into a monthly event during which farmers met near the courthouses to swap or sell horses, mules, and other livestock. Farmers herded their cattle and sheep onto roads and highways and drove them to court day auctions. Practically anything that could be transported— produce, corn, tobacco, liquor, leather goods, etc.—was hauled to town to be sold by individuals and families who resided in rural areas.
Kentuckians conducted so much of their business on court day for such a lengthy period that it took a Court of Appeals ruling to acknowledge the validity of foreclosure sales that were occasionally not held on the traditional Monday. People came to town on horseback and in their horse-drawn wagons which they parked in vacant lots around the court square. They unhitched the teams, tied them to the wagons, and left a bale of hay in the back of the wagons so the horses could
eat throughout the day. Lexington, in Fayette County, and Paris, in Bourbon County, were the principal stock centers of the Bluegrass Region. Lexington’s court day, which was the largest in the state, also attracted countless commercial and social activities. Many horse owners and breeders regularly attended three or four court days in various counties each month. They sold and swapped horses and, in a few counties, formal shows and sales were conducted. Fayette County boast-
One of the world’s largest clocks can be seen from Louisville. It is located in Clarksville, Indiana.
Page 58 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013
In many county seat towns, there would be at least 50 to 100 people assembled on court day for the purpose of buying, selling or swapping horses, mules and jacks. Evident in this postcard image of county court day in Carlisle, Nicholas County, Kentucky, are several unsaddled horses and men on horseback prior to the horse show and sale that day. This postcard was postmarked in Carlisle, Kentucky on July 6, 1910.
ed the most elaborate exhibits of horses and was especially noted for its fine trotters. Court day became a major social event in which rural and urban residents alike met and spent the day engaging in various athletic events. Men of all ages frequently gathered to race and participate in various physicallydemanding contests. Wrestling and bare-knuckle fighting drew the most attention in the early years; there was also foot-racing and arm-wrestling. During election years, politicians, attorneys, and various other officeseekers frequently enthralled the spectators. Well-known orators found captive audiences on court days for their long-winded efforts to persuade voters. With a broad stroke of his pen, James Lane Allen set forth in his refer-
enced book views and observations he had formed over many years as to the significance of county court day in Kentucky. He said, “For a Kentuckian, this one day was the most social of all his days—a day that has long had its observance embedded in the structure of his law, is invested with the authority and charm of old-time usage and reminiscence, and still enables him to commingle business and pleasure in a way of his own… In the open square around the courthouse of the countyseat he has had the centre of his public social life, the arena of his passions and amusements, the rallying-point of his political discussions, the marketplace of his business transactions and the civil unit of his institutional history.” In addition to staged publicity shots, real photo postcards often cap-
tured the candid, personal side of political campaigns during the candidates’ visits. Some people now collect vintage postcards of practically all political candidates who appeared at county court days. There are also collectors who concentrate solely on images of presidential campaigns. Images of William Jennings Bryan who ran unsuccessfully for U. S. President three times, are in great demand. I have learned during my years of collecting that some rare postcards of losers in certain elections are in greater demand than those of winning candidates. Many serious collectors actively pursue images of minor and little-known candidates who ran for offices in state-wide races as well as in national elections. Sometimes the allure and appeal seems to be
Thy words have darted hope into my soul and comfort dawns upon me.. --Southern
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 59
The one essential “tool of the trade” used by most serious postcard collectors is a magnifying glass. This is especially true when the image on the postcard reveals an area in which a large number of people, animals, objects, or buildings is shown. Such is the case with this compelling view of a cold February county court day in Marion, Crittenden County, Kentucky, ca. 1909. Notice, in particular, the auction block in the right center portion of the scene.
in the unique and intangible way the photos capture the local flavor of an election. During the early 1900s, picture postcards taken of scenes on court days provided commentary and insight as to attitudes Kentuckians had about a wide range of social issues, such as women’s suffrage, labor-organizing, prohibition and drinking, hate-groups, and political campaigns. The introduction of the automobile gradually brought about the decline and ultimate demise of county court day as a major institution in the lives of Kentuckians. In November 1924, the Fayette County Judge ordered its court day discontinued. While some magistrates voiced their disapproval about not being consulted and several farmers grumbled about the demise of their monthly gatherings, the judge’s order was not challenged.
Before farm machinery became commonplace, mules were relied upon by farmers, on a daily basis and for hours at a time, to help plant and harvest their crops. This court day postcard shows a mule market scene in Mayfield, Graves County, Kentucky.
In 1806 Dr. Beshear removed a leg at the hip joint. This was a very rare and dangerous operation.
Page 60 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013
Emmett Stapleton, 1119 Mutton Run Road, Chillicothe, OH 45601, shares this photo of Steven Stapleton, left, and his grandson, Ulmont Stapleton, the oldest son of Henry and Aretta Ison Stapleton. Emmett is a grandson of Henry and Aretta. The Stapletons are from Rocky Branch Elliott County, Kentucky.
Terry Harris, 1095 Paces Creek Road, Manchester, KY 40962; tlh1252@hotmail.com, shares this photo of his aunts, Eva (left) and Opal Gibson (right), holding his cousin, Ronnie Stacy, and his sister, Judy Ann Harris, on Paces Creek, Clay County, Kentucky. Eva and Opal are the daughters of Joe and Lillie Jones Gibson. Ronnie is the son of Alfred and Freida Gibson Stacy, and Judy is the daughter of Chester and Virginia Gibson Harris. The photo was taken in 1950.
Readers Share Photos! You Can, Too! Mail Photos and Information to: Ray Gilbert is shown holding a huge catfish taken from the Cumberland River in Bell County, Kentucky. The photo was taken ca. 1961 at Elcomb in Harlan County and is from the collection of David Gilbert, P. O. Box 1143, Harlan, KY 40831.
The Kentucky Explorer P. O. Box 227, Jackson, KY 41339 kyexp1@gmail.com, kyexp2@gmail.com
The most successful knaves are as smooth as razors dipped in oil and as sharp. --Colton
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 61
Dewey D. Partin is shown when he was a teenager riding a hay rake on his father始s farm at Swan Lake in Knox County, Kentucky. Dewey is the son of Gordon and Lillie Mae Jones Partin. He was born April 26, 1934, at Swan Lake, where he grew up and attended Engle School. Dewey left Kentucky at an early age and went to Michigan to work. He married Juanita Faye Campbell, and they had three children: Johnny, Donna, and Denise. Dewey and Juanita still reside in Michigan. Mary Alice Jones Siler, 2785 HWY 904, Williamsburg, KY 40769, shares this photo and the photo below.
On The Farm In Knox County, Kentucky
Mary Alice Jones of Williamsburg, Kentucky, shares this photo of herself on the family farm at Swan Lake, Knox County, Kentucky, when she was about three years old. Mary is the daughter of Robert Rutherford and Mary Nancy Partin Jones. She was born January 13, 1949, and was reared by her greatuncle, Gordon Partin, and his wife, Lillie Mae Jones, due to the death of her mother. Mary grew up at Swan Lake and graduated from Engle Elementary School and Knox Central High School in Knox County. Mary Alice married Roy Siler, a Vietnam War veteran and now resides in Whitley County, Kentucky. Mary and Roy have two children, Roy Steven and Regina Brown. Readers are invited to share photos. Mail them to: The Kentucky Explorer, P. O. Box 227, Jackson, KY 41339; email them to: kyexp2@gmail.com.
John Fitch was never given the real credit he deserved for inventing the first steamboat.
Page 62 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013
This photo was taken in the summer of 1961 at the Ruggles Youth Camp during a camp meeting in Lewis County, Kentucky. Rev. Sewell Woodard was the camp counselor. The boy seated to the extreme right is Steve Rumbord and next to him is the late Wayne Fyffe. If any readers know any of the other youth, please contact Rev. Bob G. Ray, 182 John Stan Street, Owingsville, KY 40360; 606/336-0367; both3740@hotmail.com. Reverend Ray would appreciate any help.
LETTERS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9
Curious About Old Mansion Dear Editor: When I was a young child I was treated to a visit to an old mansion in the countryside about 45 minutes to an hour from my home in Louisville. The family that I went with was named Miller, but I am not sure about their relationship to the property. I believe that the house was either in Shelby County or in one of the surrounding counties. It was a three story house on a large tract on the top of a hill with a small gravel driveway leading up to it (this was in 1968). The house had several features that I can remember. It was red brick, rectangular in shape, and had somewhat of a
front porch around the front door. The trim was peeling white paint and the house was definitely pre-Civil War, slave fired brick for sure. The one feature that got me was the Civil War cannon ball hole in the chimney about five feet up. It was patched with concrete and had the date and some details etched in the patch. The other detail was an old sliding wooden door around back in the basement, where the family at the time reportedly kept their slaves. At the time I was there, it had been used for coal storage. There was coal all over the back yard. There was also supposedly gold hidden somewhere on the farm. This was an old legend at the time. The story about the cannonball was that it was a single shot fired at the house. No other particular battle activity happened, which makes this a very strange, unique, and isolated
event. However, I did see the concrete patch and read the inscription, so this apparently really did happen during the war. At the time of my visit, the interior walls were mostly wooden joists and no plaster, there was a family living there, but it was really a strange mess of a place with little kids sitting on the floor around an elderly lady in a rocking chair up on the second floor. There were several staircases about the big old house, and I remember the kitchen was in the back on the first floor, with a stairway going straight down in the back. I do not remember any other buildings in the immediate area, except a small perhaps white outhouse or shed-type structure in back. My research has turned up only a couple of things. Supposedly a Col. William Sims Martin moved to a large slave-built house in Oldham County
To be proud of learning is the greatest ignorance. --Taylor
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 63 around 1862, and this house had apparently been hit by a cannon ball during the War. See: http://newspaperarchive.com/kingsport-news/1950 -11-24/page-20. See the text reprinted at the bottom. The article is a little confusing about dates and locations, but it is all that I could find. I have wondered about this house over the years but need help with my research. If any one has any clues, let me know. I will help with any questions that I may be able to answer. I lost touch with the Miller family during my childhood, so I have no way of getting in touch with them. I really have no way of knowing whether this place is still standing. It may be long gone by now, or it may still be there, I do not know. Scott Thielen Dioptix PMB 215 12620-3 Beach Boulevard #215 Jacksonville, FL 32246 904-254-2052 dioptix@comcast.net Formerly Of Wooton, Leslie County Dear Editor: I enjoy The Kentucky Explorer and look forward to each issue. I would like to see more photos of Wooton, Leslie County, Kentucky, from 1956 to 1966. This is the time I lived up a little hollow called Bailey’s Branch. My family lived in the first house situated after the school. There was the house, a chickenhouse across the creek, and a log barn. We got our water from a spring. Along the creek was Mitchell Joseph’s mine. He used mules to haul the coal out of the mines to the one-room school. At Wooton there were two service stations; a drive-in movie theater; a little restaurant run by a lady named Ossie Maggard (I think that was her name); Bill Muncy’s general store, with a shoe store on the end; the post office; and around the curve was the W. B. Muncy Elementary School. The school was built when I was in the third grade. We were the first kids to attend the new school. The last time I
Vernon Dean (left), 81 years old, of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, and Lloyd Dean, 83 years old, of Morehead, Rowan County, Kentucky, attended the 39th Annual Dean and Creech Reunion at Morehead on September 1, 2013. They took a moment to display a 1931 Grit newspaper, plus a recent copy of Grit magazine of which Lloyd has a subscription. Lloyd and Vernon sold Grit for years when they were teenagers in the 1940s. Lloyd is holding the bag in which he once carried his Grit newspapers. Lloyd Dean, 6770 US HWY 60 E., Morehead, KY 40351, shares this photo with our readers.
was in Wooten another school had been built at a new location. I would like to see photos and a history of Wooton and the area in The Kentucky Explorer. Ann Lewis 692 Blue Lick Road Berea, KY 40403 bahlewis@yahoo.com Tobacco Wars In Western Kentucky Dear Editor: I really enjoyed the article written by Peggy Hobbs of Fort Wayne, Indina, about the tobacco wars in Graves County in Western Kentucky. I have never heard anything about the wars in that county. I live in Caldwell County, which was the heart of the Black Patch and the Night Riders. The leader of the Night Riders was a D. R. Amoss, who was from the Cobb area of Caldwell County. I encourage the author of this arti-
cle to read On Bended Knees by Judge Bill Cunningham of Lyon County, Kentucky. It is a very interesting book that tells all about the tobacco wars. Martha Bynum 80 HWY 902 Fredonia, KY 42411 Cemetery Upkeep Needed Dear Editor: My great-great-great-great-grandfather, Thomas Lewis, a Revolutionary War patriot, is buried in the Lewis/McClure Cemetery (formerly Green Lewis Cemetery) at Pomp, Morgan County, Kentucky, next to his wife, Hannah Hopkins Lewis. Thomas and Hannah had old fieldstone gravemarkers until a government marker was installed for Thomas many years ago in commemoration of his service. Three years ago, I erected a monument on Hannah’s grave. Since then, two gentlemen, who had been caring for the cemetery,
Early Kentuckians enjoyed making moonshine whiskey.
Page 64 -- The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 have both died and are also buried there. The graves of Thomas and Hannah have been in neglect since then and are grown over with weeds and small saplings. I live in Tennessee and age, health, and distance prevent me from taking on the job. Last year I sprayed the area around the graves which only helped temporarily. I am making inquiry of anyone in the area of this cemetery located on Route 519 at Highway 7, just outside West Liberty, Morgan County, Kentucky, to contact me regarding mowing it. The cemetery is on a steep hill. A few of the other graves there are being mowed, and I would like to arrange for the care these graves deserve. Delmar Law P. O. Box 248 Waverly, TN 37185
Searching For Hooper Relatives Dear Editor: I am having trouble with my family connection to Visa Hooper. I need to know who Visa’s parents were. I think Visa might have been born in Kentucky, or possibly Indiana, between 1836-1850. Her name could possibly be Rebecca Visa. She was married to George Hillard. They had a son, John Hillard, who married a Catherine Clark who was born in 1854. John and Catherine’s child was Rebecca, and she married Orville Long. Their son was Alfred Long. I have looked everywhere and can’t find any information. If someone has similar family members, feel free to contact me. Cindy Clarke 3355 E. John Hinkle Place Bloomington, IN hzrdky@att.net Madelene M. Wasson, 229 Broadway Street, Apt. 107, Irvine, KY 40336, shares this photo of Virgil McIntosh taken in 1951. Virgil was a soldier of the Korean War stationed at Camp Cook, California. He is the son of Floyd and Mary McIntosh, a brother of Madeline. The McIntosh family is from Irvine, Estill County, Kentucky.
Delmar Law of Waverly, Tennessee, shares this photo. He is shown in 2010 at the gravesite of Hannah Hopkins in the Lewis/McClure Cemetery in Morgan County, Kentucky. (See letter beginning on page 63.)
Potato-Onion Seeds Available Dear Editor: I have heirloom potato-onion seeds available. These seeds will grow into an onion, and each onion will grow five to six green onions. One can save some of the onion seeds after they have dried and plant them each year. I have grown these onions in my garden for many years. I would like to swap some of these seeds for heirloom vegetable or flower seeds or bulbs. If readers don’t have any heirloom seeds available to share, please send $1 and a self-addressed, stamped envelope, and I will share my seeds. Virginia Southard 5275 Rochester Road Beaver Dam, KY 42320
Wanted: Old Back Issues Of The Kentucky Explorer Dear Editor: I just recently received my first subscription copy of The Kentucky Explorer. I really like it. I also got the 25 back issues. Now, I’m looking for some of the older issues of The Explorer. I’m just a Tennessee gal who likes to read about Kentucky. I especially enjoy reading about the “old-timey” ways. The magazine is chock-full of good things. I am anxious to hear from readers. Betty J. Bailey 9840 Horton HWY Greeneville, TN 37745 423/234-9822 Book Wanted Dear Editor: I’m interested in finding a copy of the book entitled High On A Windy Hill. Any help would be appreciated. Freda Tomlison 149 Bumgardner Road Waverly, OH 45690 Towles Book Wanted Dear Editor: I am looking for a copy of the book The Towles Family of Virginia, by
To cultivate kindness is a great part of the business of life. --Johnson
The Kentucky Explorer -- November 2013 -- Page 65
James West, 1929 N. San Marcos de Niza, Sierra Vista, AZ 85635, 520/458-4044; jameswest1030@gmail.com, shares this photo of his uncle, A. J. Harrison taken in February 1945 at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center. A. J. Harrison is the son of Green Franklin Harrison and Lillie Ann Hardin of Garrard County, Kentucky.
Ella Kirk France. I am working on a supplemental for NSDAR. My patriot is Cpt. Joseph Towels, Jr., the son of Joseph Towles. He married a Martha, and they had a son, Mannering or Manning Towels, who married a Mary Swift. Cpt. Joseph Towles has not been recognized by NSDAR. Since we are related, I would like to prove he was a Revolutionary War patriot. Bess H. Darby 3908 Tocowa Road Courtland MS 38620 662/578-3949 darbybss@yahoo.com
James E. Allen, 447 Kentucky Street, Salyersville, KY 41465, shares this photo of Salyersville, Magoffin County, Kentucky, Court Day in May 1933. The view is of Maple Street. The buildings on the right are across the street from the Magoffin County Courthouse. The building on the extreme right is a restaurant operated by Warren and Dora Cooper Long at that time. Attached to the bottom of their restaurant sign is a notation “New Beer.” The national prohibition of alcoholic drinks had just ended (in 1933) and beer was then available. Next was a brick building which was the Albert Carpenter Dry Goods Store. Bus tickets were sold there. The next building was a liquor store and restaurant. The next building was a general store operated by M. W. Marcum. The last building on that side, which was constructed of stone, was The Salyersville National Bank with the post office located next to it.
Bill Webb, 26212 Buster Drive, Warren, MI 48091, shares this photo of his motherin-law and father-in-law, Alabam and Archie Root, and their son, Edward Clifton. Alabam and Archie are now deceased and Edward lives in McComb, Mississippi. The Roots had seven boys and six girls. At this time 11 are still living. Archie worked for U. S. Steel in the coal washing plant, first in Lynch in Harlan County, Kentucky, and then in Corbin, Kentucky. The Roots are shown standing by their vehicle at Lynch in 1927. Readers are invited to share photos with The Kentucky Explorer.
Washington, now a tiny village, was once Mason County’s most important settlement.