Franklin County, Kentucky - Chapter 1, 1912

Formation of Franklin County, Location, Organization of County Government, History of the (Jounty for seven years as shown by the early records of the County.

On December the 31, 1776, the Virginia Legislature passed an act establishing Kentucky County, -which included the territory now known as the State of Kentucky. In May, 1780, Kentucky was divided into three counties, to-wit: Jefferson, Fayette and Lincoln; these three counties cornered at Frankfort. What is now known as North Frankfort and that part of Franklin county north or east of the Kentucky river was in Fayette. Where South Frankfort now is, and the part of the county south or west of the Kentucky river and south of Benson Creek, was in Lincoln, and the territory now known as West Frankfort or Bell Point, and that part of the county west of the river and north of Benson Creek was in Jefferson.

Nelson county was formed from a part of Jefferson in 1784, Bourbon from a part of Fayette in 1785 ; Mercer and Madison were formed from portions of Lincoln, in the same year, Mason was formed out of Bourbon, and Woodford out of Fayette in the year 1788. These were the nine counties of the State when it was admitted into the Union on June the 1st, 1792. Franklin county was formed by the Kentucky Legislature in the year 1794 out of portions of WooSford, Mercer and Shelby, and on the 10th day of May of that year the act establishing the county went into effect. At that time its boundary was as follows, to-wit: "Beginning at the Scott line where it leaves the South fork of Elkhorn, thence a straight line to strike the Kentucky river, and crossing the same one mile above the mouth of Glenn's Creek; thence up the Kentucky river to the mouth of Cove Spring branch on the south side thereof ; thence up the said branch to the Cove Spring ; thence west to the Washington Une; thence with same down Salt river to the mouth of Crooked Creek; thence up the main fork of Crooked Creek- to the head thereof; thence with the dividing ridge at the junction of the forks of Benson; thence down Benson to where the old wagon road from Boone's old station to Harrodsburg crosses at the mouth of the most northerly fork of Benson; thence a direct line to the mouth of Elkhorn ; thence down the Kentucky river to the mouth thereof; thence up the Ohio to the Scott line; thence with the said line to the beginning."

Portions of Franklin were taken to from the county of Gallatin in 1798, Owen in 1819, and Anderson in 1827, and a portion of Gallatin was taken to form Carroll in 1838. One hundred years after its formation, its boundary included only about two hundred and twelve square miles, which is a very small part of its original territory; the county is now about twenty miles long at its greatest length, and about eighteen miles wide at its greatest width. Franklin is bounded on the south by Anderson and Woodford, on the east by Scott, on the north by Henry and Owen and on the west by Shelby; it is located in the north central part of the State, about thirtyeight and one-fourth degrees latitude and about eighty-five longitude; its mean annual temperature is 56 degrees. The Kentucky river runs through it from south to north the entire length of the county, dividing it into two nearly equal parts. The other streams of importance in the county are Benson, Glenn's Creek and Elkhorn.

On the 10th day of May, 1795, which day had been designated by the Kentuck}^ Legislature for the act establishing the county of Franklin to go into effect, Governor Isaac Shelby made the following proclamation and appointments, to-wit: ''The State of Kentucky: To all Avho shall see these presents, greeting. Know ye that reposing special trust and confidence in the knowledge, integrity and abilities of John Logan, Bennett Pcmberton, Anthony Crockett, Baker Ewing, Bichard Apperson, William Ware, Thomas Lillard and John Arnold,

Esquires, I have nominated and by and with the advice and consent of the Henate do appoint the said John Logan, Bennett Pemberton, Anthony Crockett, Baker Ewing, Richard Apperson, William Ware, Thomas Lillard and John Arnold, Justices of the Peace in and for the County of Franklin, of whom the three first herein named or any two of them are authorized to hold the Court of Quarter Session in said county and to discharge all the duties of Justices of said county; and the remaining Justices of the peace above named, or any three of them, are authorized to hold the County Court for said county, and to discharge all the duties of a Justice for said County Court in manner prescribed by law. In testimony whereof I liave caused these letters to be made patent and the seal for the Commonwealth to be hereto affixed.

This })oard of magistrates when organized into a Court, appointed Willis Lee, who by virtue of said appointment was the first County Clerk of Franklin county; and the Governor appointed and commissioned John Smith as the first Sheriff of the county; and the Governor also appointed Turner Richardson, Coroner. January 19, 1796, the Governor appointed and commissioned Stephen Arnold a Justice of the Peace, or Judge of Quarter Session. This completed the official organization of the county. These brave pioneers in whom the Governor of this Commonwealth reposed "special trust and confidence in their knowledge, integrity and abilities," connnenced the government and control of this large territory, then more than six times its present area. One of the first orders was "that the county levy be fixed at three shillings each tithable, for the present year."

rooms of the public jail until a prison be built by order of the Court for this county." James Arnold, who was a brother-inlaw of Anthony Crockett, and the father of John and Stephen Arnold, all three of whom were magistrates then in office, wtus ordered by the County Court to lay off a county road from the mouth of Glenn's creek to Frankfort; the public road entered Frankfort over the present right of way owned by the L. &. N. R. R. Co., but it was west of and below the present tunnel. Thomas Hickman was allowed thirty-five pounds for erecting a stray pen on tlie square allotted for the court house.

At the April term, 1796, it was "ordered that the gallows be erected at the intersection of the road leading from Saunders' mill with the Lexington old road, three-quarters of a mile from Frankfort." This is now the Feeble Minded Institute property near the intersection of the Georgetown and Millville turnpike roads.

At the August term, 1797, it was "ordered that William Trigg, Thos. Montague and Daniel Weiseger be appointed commissioners to have erected stocks, pillory and whippingpost on the public grounds near the jail, to be paid for out of the county levy."

Charles M. Bird, the first County Attorney, and who acted as both State and County Attorney, was allowed the sum of twenty pounds for his services for one year. During the first several years of this new county, the two most important questions before the Court were the destruction of wolves and the construction of public roads ; a bounty was offered for the scalp of each wolf that was over six months old; the county record shows that hundreds of wolves were killed and their scalps were paid for by the County Court.

Public roads were laid off and built in every direction from the city and a great many cross roads were also constructed; nearly all of the public roads leading from Frankfort were established prior to 1800.

Two bridges were built by Nat Saunders and Chas. Patterson across Elkhorn near the Forks in 1798; the contractors agreed to keep these bridges in repair for seven years; but before the expiration of that time they had gotten so much out

In 1798, Stephen Arnold and William Payne were appointed a committee of the Court to locate and superintend the erection of a large store-room for the reception of tobacco, flour and hemp. They located the house on the lots number 227 and a part of 226; these are the lots on which the city school now stands. The warehouse was large enough to store four hundred hogsheads of tobacco, five hundred barrels of flour and a large quantity of hemp.

In 1797, after two years of service, Willis Lee was succeeded by Wm. Trigg as County Clerk, and John Smith was succeeded by Nat Richardson as Sheriff of the county. James Roberts was the first Jailer and James Blair succeeded Cha.s. M. Bird as County Attorney.

On account of the extensive forests and the large amount of mast, the farmers were enabled to fatten their hogs at small expense, and in order to prevent the loss of their stock, they had their distinguishing ear marks recorded, as shown by the following orders :

''Ordered that William Payne's mark, which is as follows to-wit: A crop and two slits in each ear, be recorded. Also John Satterwhite's mark, which is a crop and overkeel in the right and a slit in the left, be recorded." This plan of having their "ear marks" recorded was followed by the farmers of this county for many years.

On Tuesday, November 25, 1800, the following order was entered: "It is ordered that the sheriff do bring immediately before this Court Nancy Hutton, to answer the contempt offered this Court by leaving a young infant on the Clerk's table." The sheriff returned after a short time, and reported that said Nancy Hutton could not be found, and it was thereupon ordered that Samuel Hutton be summoned to appear before the next Court to show cause, if any he could, why he should not support the infant left by the said Samuel's wife on the Clerk's table.

The first District Court for Franklin county was convened at the State House on Tuesday, the 9th day of February, 1796. Buckner Thurston and James G. Hunter were the Judges, Wilhs Lee was appointed Clerk during good behavior. The first Grand Jury failed to return any indictments and no cases were tried during the term.

On May 12, 1796, John Breckinridge, James Brown, William Murray, Chas. F. Bird, Samuel Irvine, John Allen, William McDowell, Isham Tolbett and Richard Lage were sworn in as attorneys of the Frankfort bar.

On Tuesday, the 6th day of August, 1799, on motion of Henry Clay and William Warren, they were admitted to practice a.s attorneys at law in this Court, who thereupon severally took the oath prescribed by law, also the oath to support the Constitution of the United States.

Catherine London, a spinster, was charged with murder; she was tried, and on April 3, 1798, was convicted and sentenced to be hung; and on Thursday, the 10th day of May, 1798, between the hours of ten and two o'clock, she was hung upon the gallows near the public jail in the town of Frankfort. Hugh Johnson was tried and convicted of a felony on August 6th, 1798, and on August the 9th was again brought to the bar in custody of the jailor; and it being demanded of him if he had anything to say why the Court should not proceed to give judgment and award execution thereof according to law, he said he claimed the privilege of the law concerning the benefit of clergy; ''Thereupon it is considered by the Court that the said Hugh Johnson be burned in the hand, and the Sheriff of the county do cause execution of this judgment to be done immediately upon the said Hugh Johnson in the presence of and at the bar of this Court, which being accordingly done and proclamation being made as the manner is, whereupon the said Johnson is discharged out of custody." "The benefit of clergy" was an arrest of judgment introduced in England early in its history ; it had its origin from the pious regard paid by Christians to the church in its infant state; the persons of clergymen were exempt from criminal process before the secular judge. At first no man could claim this benefit except clergymen, but in the course of time, in order to mitigate the severity of the law, the privilege was extended to a great many who were accused of crime; but the laymen were not put upon the same footing a.s the clergy, being subjected to a slight punishment and denied the privilege a second time. The punishment was by branding in the hand with a hot iron in order to distinguish them from the clergy, in case of a second application for the benefit.

Prior to the installation of the penitentiary system in the year 1800 all felons w^ere punished with death ; minor offenses were punished by branding in the hand, pillory, stocks, whipping post and by ducking stool.

Augustine Adams, a laborer, was charged with horse stealing; he was convicted April 2nd, 1799, and on Monday, the 29th day of April, 1799, he was hung near the public jail in the town of Frankfort.

William Dougherty, a laborer, charged with robljcry, was tried, convicted and sentenced to be hung April 2nd, 1799; the verdict was set aside and he was released on bail ; he was returned to the custody o^ the Court, but made his escape August the 5th, 1799.

James Mills was charged with a felony and convicted, and on April the 5th, 1799, he claimed the benefit of clergy, was burnt in the hand "and proclamation being made as the manner is," was discharged from custody. This was the last case where the benefit of clergy was granted in Franklin county. Henry Fields, a farmer from Woodford county, was charged with murdering his wife; he was defended by Henry Clay. After a long trial, which lasted several days, he was found guilty on August 10th, 1799, and on the same day, H. Clay, his attorney, filed a motion in arrest of judgment; at that time there was no appeal in a criminal rase. His first ground was "because he was indicted for the murder of Sallie Fields and was tried for the murder of Sarah Fields." 2nd.

"That his late wife, whom he was indicted for having murdered, was called and known by the name of Sallie Fields, and never by the name of Sarah Fields." 3rd. ''That the description of the manner of the death of the said Sallie in the said indictment contained, is repugnant and impossible." (On August the 12th the Court held that the grounds for the motion were not sufficient, and he was hung upon the gallows near the pubHc jail on Thursday, the 19th day of September, 1799;) $138.75 was paid by the county for guarding Fields from August 12th to September 19th.

The first public jail was located on the north side of Holmes Street, near the intersection of High, a few doors west of the entrance to the female department of the penitentiary, a small store room is now located there. The State House was used as a court house by the Franklin county officials until 1806.

Prior to 1800 there w^ere only four houses built on the ground now known as South Frankfort; there was a small log house near the large warehouse located on the ground now used for the public school. There was a house on Shelby Street just back of James Heeney's property, where the old brick seminary building was located, and there was another one where Miss Exum's property is located, on what is now Murray street.

On December 14, 1793, there w^as an act of the Legislature for clearing a Avagon road from Frankfort to Cincinnati; it was alleged that such a road would be productive of private convenience and public utility; seven years were given in which to complete the road.

There was also a law enacted on December 7, 1794, which gave free transportation across the ferry at Frankfort for all citizens living on the south side of the river ''on each county court day, days of holding court of quarter session, days of public elections and general musters." In December, 1798, a ferry was established across the Kentucky river "at the rope walks," one mile above Frankfort. The "rope walks" was the old-fashioned hand factory for spinning hemp, making rope, etc.

The Frankfort Bridge Company was incorporated December 29, 1799, for the purpose of building a bridge from the end of Ann Street to the south side. Prior to 1800 the Court caused to be located and surveyed six thousand acres of land and the same was vested in ''The Trustees of the Kentucky Seminary" for educational purposes. This was the first step in the direction of free public schools in the county.