Muhlenberg County, Kentucky - The whole text, 1913 (part 6 of 13)

According to some tellers of the story, the negro was not killed by the hanging, but showed signs of life after he was placed in his coffin ; whereupon his head was chopped off with the same ax he had used on liuckner, and placed on the end of a hickory pole at the side of the Uussellville road, where it remained exposed to the public for a number of days. This statement is not true. However, a circumstance of that nature took place some years later, when a atlette habtswell BUCKNER, IN 1824 iK-gro hv tlic name of Gray was

Shortly following his trouhle with Isaac, Huckner had another narrow escape. A well was being dug north of The Stack. ,\fter reaching a depth of alxnit twenty-five feet one of the charges of powder placetl in the bottom did not explode, although a rea.sonahle time was allowed for that purpose. .Suspeiding carclcssnc.ss on the part of the man who did the work. Buckner directed one of the negroes to let him down in the hox attached to the windlass. He had descended only a short distance when the fuse began to sir./.. Buckner immediately commandeil the slave to pull him up, but the negro became excited, lost his grip on the winch, and ran away. By the time Buckner had dropped half-way down the well the explosion took place, throwing him and the hox up through the opening, landing him some ten feet from the rim.

' This was the first of the legal hangings that have taken place In the county, and is referred to In the chapter on "Slavery Days." The second, as there stated, took place in 1850, and the third in 1853. The fourth and last was the hanging of Alexander Harrison on August 9, 1906. All were negroes, and all but Isaac were convicted of criminal assault.

The Stoby Op The Stack

into the furnace. One day while Buckner was inspecting that part of the works the negro sprang upon him, intending to throw him into the burning oven. Suspecting the slave, Buckner was on his guard. After a short struggle the negro discovered stronger resistance than he had anticipated. Having nothing but death and revenge on his mind, he decided to jump into the furnace, pull Buckner down with him, and thus cause both to perish together. He clutched at his master's arm, but instead caught hold of a loose shirt-sleeve. As he made the fatal leap Buckner's sleeve was torn, and the negro, with his hands clutching a bit of rag, fell into the fiery furnace alone. One version of this incident goes on to say that immediately after the negro fell into the furnace a long white flame gushed out of the top and the

Simon Bouvab Buckner

The local trade on dog-irons and other domestic utensils made at the Furnace was far more extensive than was anticipated, but in the meantime the operating expenses grew greater, month after month, while the net receipts from the sale of pig iron increased comparatively little. However, Buckner and Churchill did not give up hope of success. In 1840 they mortgaged the works and their forty-five hundred acres of land to the Bank of Kentucky and various individuals. It is a well-known fact that about this time Eastern mines became better equipped, and being located in more accessible sections were able to place their material on the market at a lower figure than Buckner and Churchill could. The Stack's long road to Green River led to its financial grave. The hauling of the pig iron to Kincheloe's Bluff or South Carrollton, a distance of eighteen miles, over new and rough roads, involved an enormous expense that could in no way be reduced. So the Furnace was abandoneil in 1842. Many families connected with it returned to their native towns, while others bought farms and remained in the county. No man in southern Muhlenberg did more to assist Buckner and

The discontinuance of the operations of the Buckner furnace was not due to any deficiency or defect in the ores, but for want of capital, and from the bad condition of the stack, which was entirely too large a diameter for the blast. . . . The gray lime-stone used as a flux was obtained one mile south of the furnace. . . . Both the analj'sis of the ore, the thickness of the ore beds, and proximity of all the nece.ssary materials, with an ample supply of forest timber, all indicate a favorable position for iron works; especially if by the constniction of a railroad through Muhlenberg County to the Ohio River a more direct line of communication to a market were established.

in Hart County April 1. 182.3. In the spring of 1839, after finishing a course of studies at a private school in Hopkinsville, he was given a position as clerk at his father's furnace. Here he worked for about two years, during which time he made many trips to Greenville, then a town of about three hundred people. It was in this way that he met Charles Pox Wing, who took a fatherly interest in him. In fact the two kept up a correspondence for twenty years, until the time of Captain Wing's death, which, as stated in the ehapter on the Civil War, look place the da.v before General Buckner passed through Greenville with his army.

In June, 1840, Charles McLean, son of Judge Alney McLean, returned from West I'oint heeause of his dislike for militarj' di.scipline and his longing to he at homo with his brother Alney, jr. These twin brothers were bachelors and inseparable companions all their life long. Charles died in GreenWlle in May, 1895, at the age of seventy-six, and was followed ten years later by Alney, jr. Cpon Charles McLean's return from West Point, Simon Bolivar Buckner, then employed at The .Stack, was appointed a

* Squire John Jenkins was one of twelve rhildren of pioneer Amos Jenkins, who Is now represented In the county by many descendants. Pioneer Amos Jenkins was born In 1784 and came to Muhlenberg In 1810, where he died In 1839. His wife, Grace Dearing, was horn In 1788 and died near Olive Grove Church In 1883. They were the parents of (1) Mrs. Kllsabeth (Henry) Hivlns, (2) John, (3) Henry, (4) Robert. (5) Mrs. Parky (Joseph) Gates, (6) Mrs. Sally (Henry) Gates, cadet to succeed him at the military school. He was graduated from the Academy on July 1, 1844, and, as is well known, was immediately assigned to the army. A daguerreotype, made in 1846, represents him as brevet captain, aged twenty-three; another picture, also here reproduced, is a copy of a portrait made sixty years later.

Although General Buckner lived in the county only two years, Muhlenberg has since that time regarded him more or less as a son, and the General looks upon Muhlenberg as the place when* his d(>stiny was shaped. This feeling he not only expressed in public when, in 1861, he marched through the count.v with his army, but again showed in 1887, when he visited Greenville as a candidate for Governor, to which office he was elected ; and again in 1896, when as a candidate for Vice-President on the National Democratic Gold Standard ticket he stopped in town for a short time.

Colonel .-Kylette llartswell Buckner, the father of General Buckner, was a .son of Philips Buckner. lie was born in Albemarle County, Virginia, in 1792. and came to Kentucky in 1808 with his parents, who settled in Hart County. A. II. Buckner was in his twenty-hrst year when, in 1813, he enlisted in Colonel James Simrall's regiment. He was present during the siege of Fort Meigs and also took part in the battle of the Thames. Like his friend Charles Fox Wing, he was always greatly interested in the soldiers of the War of 1812. In his day he was one of the liest-known men in the State. About the year 1832 he built the Henry Clay furnace in Hart Count.v, and about five years later left Hart I'ount.v for Muhlenberg, where he erected the Buckner Furnace, or The Stack. As early as 1832 he prophesied that within a hundred years ever.v county in the State would be reached b.v lines of railroad and that pt'ople then would travel in iron cars and sleep in beds at night while traveling, and that iron would in many things take the place of wood. During his four years' stay in .Muhlenberg he did much toward the advancement of the count.v 's interests. In 1842, when The Stack was abandoned, he moved to his plantation at Beech land, near Camden.

When the Buckners came to Muhlenberg they brought with them the cradle in which their son Simon Bolivar and their older children had been rocked as babie.s. When they left the count.v Mrs. Buckner presente<I the old cradle to her friend Mrs. John Adair Alli.son, who handed it down to her daughter, Mrs. W. Britton Davi.s, in whose family it has since remained. It is thirt.v-nine inches long, sixteen inches wide and

John Jenkins, better known as Squire Jenkins, was born July 7, 1807, and died May 11, 1885. He was one of the best-known and most progressive men in the southern part of the county, where he owned large tracts of land. He was frequently called the Lord of the Long Creek Country. Among his ten children is Amos M. Jenkins, who was born December 22, 1832.

The Buckner Cradle

about fifteen inches deep. It seems to be of yellow poplar, put together with wrought iron or "shop" nails, and is typical of the cradles of the olden days. The rockers are off, and a stool that went with it has been lost.

A few years after the Buckner Furnace had been abandoned and the Buckners had vacated the large house, it was occupied by Alexander Hendrie, known as "Scotch Henry," who was then looking after the interests of R. S. C. A. Alexander. On a piece of land he cleared north of The Stack, about 1853, and on which he raised several crops of corn, the original ridges can still be easily traced in spite of the heavy second growth of timber now scattered over them. For a short time "Scotch Henry" was associated with J. Jack Robert- -son in tlie milling business. Their grist and saw mill was located on Pond Creek, on what is known to-day ns the Welborn farm or the Jack Robertson old place. The well-known "Jack Ford" in this immediate neighborhood, now used by Carter's Creek Church as a baptizing place, derives its name from the fact that in olden times the farmers forded the creek there on their way to Jack's Mill. This mill was in operation until 1864, although Alexander Hendrie had withdrawn about ten years before.''

The Buckner house was next occupied by Joseph Turner. He was followed by Alfred Johnson, the famed stone-mason and chimney builder. At the age of eighty "Uncle Alf," or "Old Honesty" as he was called, was baptized in "Jack Ford." In his later days, although he had grown old in

'James Jackson Robertson was bom In South Carolina in 1802 and died at bis borne on Pond Creek July 31, 1871. About the year 1810 he came to Muhlenberg with his father, pioneer Robert Robertson, who died near Carter's Creek Church in 1843. Robert Robertson was the father of (1) John, who married Charlotte Wright: (2) Thomas, who married Elizabeth Craig: (3) James Jackson, who married Susanna W. Campbell: (4) Mrs. Rachael (T. P.) Morton: and (5) Mrs. Jane (Ell) Jackson. James Jackson Robertson was the father of seven children, among whom are Thomas C. Robertson, Mrs. Nancy A. (Thomas M.) Finley, and Mary Lura Robertson, whose first husband was W. 0. Claggett.

John Robertson's wife, Charlotte, was a daughter of pioneers John and Eltzaheth Grigsby Wright, who came to Muhlenberg about 1808, where they died In 1864. Although John Wright left no son to perpetuate his name, he nevertheless Is a forefather of more people in southern Muhlenberg than any other pioneer. All of bis six daughters, except Lucy, became mothers of large families. (1) Charlotte, as Just stated, married John Robertson: (2l Winnie married Alfred Johnson: (3) Lourana married John Jenkins: (4) Elizabeth married Isaac Bodine: (51 Jane, whose first husband was Moses Smith and her second Peter Smith: (6) Lucy married Lewis McCown.

The Storv Of The Stack

years he remained young in spirit. A peculiar thing about him was that up to the time of his death (1896, aged eighty-five) his mustache remained black, although the hair on his head had been white for a quarter of a century.®

Among those who occupied the famous old Buckner house after Alfred Johnson were James P. Drake, Isaac, Joe, and Ben Mitchell, James Dune, Eli Skipworth, Ferney and Hutson Driskell, Plunket Parnham, William Warren, and J. F. Driskell. Stanford IjCC was the last man to make this noted hous<> his home. lie left al>out 1875, after which the deserted place soon began to collai>se. The last of the old logs and chimney rocks were removal in 1890, and since that tini(' nothing but a few broken stones have marked this historic spot. In 1880 Tom B. Johnson built a substantial log house on the Furnace land near The Stack, for the erection of which he procured much material from the abandoned Buckner bouse.

There it .stands to-day. "The Stack House," as it is called, is by no means as large as the original or of the same design. Although put up many years after the days of the early settler, it is a good type of the log house built in olden times.

The ground on which The Stack was built was part of a six-hundred-acre survey patented by James Weir, sr., and sold to Buckner and Churchill, who at the same time purchased all the land iu the neighborhood, making a total of forty-five hundred acres. After they disposed of this tract it INUkSed through .several hands and in 1851 was bought by R. S. C. A. Ale.\ander, who shortly after procured about twelve thousand acres on Green River

* Alfred Johnson was one of the six sons of pioneer Jacob Johnson, who Is the forefather of nearly all the Johnsons In southern Muhlenberg, some of whom spell the name Johnston. Pioneer Jacob Johnson came to Muhlenberg with bis father Joslah Johnson about the year 1810, and died In 1845. Jacob and bis wife Elixabeth (Wells) Johnson were the parents of (1) Alfred, (2) John, (3) Jacob, Jr., or "Proctor"; (4) Burt H., (5) Hines, and (6) James.

Alfred Johnson, or "Old Honesty," was bom in 1811 and died October 25, 1896. During his life he was one of the best-known farmers and stone-masons In the county. Although he was never a soldier, other than a member of the old militia, bis interest in military affairs was such that during the Civil War some of bis friends persuaded him to have his picture taken while wearing a Federal officer's uniform, which they borrowed for that purpose. This picture is here reproduced.

near Paradise. In 1854, as is told in another chapter, Alexander opened up the Airdrie mines. In 1865 General Buell leased the mineral rights to all the Alexander lands for forty years, including the Buckner Furnace tract. However, the mineral on the Buckner land was not developed, for General Buell devoted his time to the Airdrie mines and furnace on Green River, which had been abandoned ten years before. In 1890 all the Alexander lands in Muhlenberg County were deeded to Alexander's sister, Mrs. Lucy A. Waller, who in 1893 sold the Buckner Furnace tract, then about three thousand acres, to Koerner Brothers, of Indiana, who cut staves off it for a few years. It was while connected with this company that Alvin L. Taylor and a number of others came from Indiana and settled in the county.'*' The land has since changed owners a number of times, and is now the property of the Rothert family, of which I am a inendM^r. Although the place is reduceil sonu'what in size, the original six-hundri*d-aere survey on a portion of which the ruins of The Stack stand is still a part of what for three (piarters of a century has been known as the Buckner tract or Furnace land, this history of which it has given me pUm-sure to write.

'Alvin L. Taylor was born near Adeyville. Indiana. August 25. 1862. and moved to Muhlenberg In 1893, since which time he has been regarded as one of the most Influential citizens in the southern part of the county. After spending a few years In the stave and saw-mill business he opened up some ground near The Stack, where he has since lived and maintained a good farm. Mr. Taylor Introduced many of the up-to-date farming methods and much of the newer agricultural machinery now used In the county.

Muhlenberg Men In The Mexican War

Mexico Imd never acknowledged the independence of Texas, which had been declared by the people of that State in 18:16 ; so when, in 1845, the new republic was annexed to the United States, war with Mexico followed. Kentucky was called on for twenty-four hundred men. Volunteers were promptly organized everywhere in the State. Ten thousand oflfered their services, but less than half were accepted. The others were not needed. History also siiys that by far the greater number of Kentuckians who fought in the Mexican War came from the central sections of the State, and that comparatively few lived in the western part. Muhlenberg's repre.sentation, as far as 1 can learn, w!us very small ; no smaller, in proportion to its population, however, than the other counties of the section.

The story of Muhlenberg's connection with the Mexican War is a brief one. Tradition docs not .say whether a company was organized in the county during the beginning of the war, but in the latter part of 1847 Colonel Moses WicklifTe formeil a company and was prepared to leave, but his commission was delayed and not delivered to him until after the news that peace had been declared reached Greenville. It is probable that the few men who enlisted and saw service, while citizens of Muhlenberg, became members of companies in the Kourth Hegiment Kentucky Foot Volunteers, organized at Owenslmro, Princeton, and Smithland.

As far as I am aware General S. B. Buckner is the only soldier of the war who lived in the county before hostilities but not after. More than half the veterans of the Mexican War who made Muhlenberg their home became citizens of the county after the conflict ; most prominent among these were Colonel S. P. Ijove, who moved into the county in 184!), and General Don Carlos Buell, who came in 1866. Veterans of the Mexican War residing in Muhlenberg and some of the adjoining counties held several reunions under the leadership of Colonel li(>ve. No record of these nus'tings was kept, at lea.st none is now to la- found. 1 compiled the following list of fifteen names of Muhlenberg men who were in the Mexican War and who were citizens of the county when the war began or became citizens later. This list, notwith.standing the fact that I devoted much time to it, is probably far from complete: Richard Ayeock, Don Carlos Buell, Perry Clemmons, Harrison Cliflford, Granville Corley, Arthur N. Davis, Mosley Collins Drake, jr., Richard Bayless Earle, Henry Greenwood, S. P. Ijove, .Tames Nnnan, Raisin Pool, Levi Pruitt, Isaac R. Sketo, and .Jonas Walker.

I have no memoranda on the lives of Ayeook, Clemmons, Clifford, Drake, Earle, and Walker, beyond the fact that they were Mexican War soldiers. Arthur N. Davis, Raisin Pool, Levi Pruitt, and Isaac R. Sketo fought in both the Mexican War and the Civil War. (Iranville Corley, S. P. Love, and Don Carlos Buell were also veterans of the two wars. Elsewhere in this Iwok arc given the biographies of S. P. Love and of General Don Carlos Buell.

Henry Greenwood, while still living in North Carolina, enlisted as a soldier in the Mexican War. He came to Muhlenberg about 1855, and lived in the Cisney neighborhood, where he died July 15, 1907. James Nunan, while a boy in bis early teens, became a member of a compan.v organized in I>ouisville which shortly after saw service in the Mexican War. lie was born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1832, and nine years later came to this country with his parents. His father, James Nunan, sr., was a well-known educator in the Bluegrass region. James Nunan moved to South Carrollton about the year 1873, while engaged on the construction of the Owenslwro & Rus-sellville Railroad, and continued to live there until his death. May 12, 1909. One who knew him well says: "James Nunan was one of the foremost civil engineers and railroad contractors in the State. He built and at one time owned the Owensboro & Russellville Railroad. He was noted for bis extensive travels and superior mental attainments. During bis eventful career be made and lost several fortunes.''

S south of Greenville, by the falling of the bough of a tree under which he and his family chanced to be driving. Raisin Pool, it is said, was captured by tbe Mexicans, and was also among the soldiers liberated from Libby Prison at the close of the Civil War. Levi Pruitt, although seriously wounded in the .Mexican War, was among the first to enlist in the Federal army after volunteers were called for. Captain Sketo fought through the greater part of the Mexican War and was ikillcd at Shiloh on April 7, 1862.

to Muhlenberg in 1847, and in 1861 helped organize Company D, Tliird Kentucky Cavalry, and became the company's first captain. He took part in a number of battles in both wars, and about 1872 was killed on bis farm, three miles

Abthur N. Davis, 1870

Muhlenberg lost one of its eldest and most widely known citizens Tuesday morning, when Mr. Granville Corley died at the home of his grandson, Mr. Thaddeus E. Corley, about two miles west of Earles, on the Madisonville Road. Mr. Corley was liorn July 9, 1822. The afflictions of age, coupled with an accident in which he fell and broke his leg a year ago, caused his death. His death removed the last of the veterans of the county who saw service in the Mexican War; he was also a veteran of the Civil War, a distinguished member of Company K, Eleventh Kentucky Infantry. He has lived to see many of his comrades fall before that unconquerable enemy, the Death Angel, after having endured the rigors of war. Mr. Corley was one of the county's pioneers, and a gentleman of the old school. His wife had been dead more than a score of years. They had only one child, Mr. James Corley, who died August 9, 1909. Interment was in the family graveyard near Graham, and was largely attended by people from all over the county. The funeral was conducted by the ^lasons of the John T. Crandall Ixidge, of Earles, of which he was one of the charter members. Several old soldiers were also in attendance, and a silk flag was placed at the head of the grave after the mound had been covered with flowers. The ceremony was a very impressive and affecting one.

Isaac Bard

The Reverend Isaac Hard came to Muhlenberg in 1823, then in his twenty-sixth year, and from that time for almost a half century led a very active life in the community. No local preacher was _ better known in his day than "Preacher Bard." It is quite probable that during his more active ministerial career he was heard by every citizen then residing in the county. Those who listened to his sermons evidently remembered that fact, for although he died thirty-five years ago all the older native-born citizens now living, and to whom I have mentioned the name of Isaac Bard, inv'ariably remarked that they had heard him preach.

He devoted about half his time to ministerial work; much of the remainder he gave to his farm on Bard's Hill, south of Depoy. He owned extensive tracts of timber lands in the Pond River country, on which he ranged his stock. It is said he was often heard calling his hogs with a fo.x-horn. He was a tall, muscular man, kind and generous to every person with whom he came in contact, and extremely gentle to all animals. One who knew him well says: "Preacher Bard was a scholar and a gentleman of the old school. He was one of the most sober looking and at the same time most pleasant men I ever met. I remember he always had cold feet and usually kept them wrappeil up in heavy cloth, and frequently complained of the discomfort."

Isaac Bard was a son of William and Mary (Kincaid) Bard, and was Imrn in Nelson County, Kentucky, near Bardstown, January 13, 1797. He died at his home, seven miles west of Oreeiiville, June 29, 1878. After spending a few years in Transylvania University, Lexington, he began, in 1817, a cour.se in Princeton Theological Seminary, New Jersey, and on April 27, 1820, was licensed to preach. During the sjime year he entered in the Senior class of Union College, .Schenectady, New York, from which school he was graduated in 1821, and shortly after returned to Keutueky.

On July 26, 1823, he was ordained in Greenville by the .Muhlenberg Presbytery and immetliately took eharge of the Pre.sbyterian Church at Greenville and the congregation at Mt. '/Aon, near Green River. In autumn of the same year he organizwl Mt. Pleasant Church, near Pond River. These throe congregations remained in his eharge until alxuit 1833. During this period he built a brick church in Greenville on a lot presented by pioneer James Weir. The old brick house was long ago abandoned as a place of worship, and is now used as a warehouse.

After the year 1833 no congregation was solely under his supervision, for from that time, and continuing for many years, he extended his minis- terial work among many of the Presbyterian churches in Muhlenberg and all the adjoining counties. In 1862, when the division of the Presbyterian church took place, Mr. Bard adhered to the Southern General Assembly.

On March 15, 1827, he was married to Matilda Miranda Moore, daughter of pioneer Maurice Moore. They were the parents of five children : Henry Clay Bard, Luther Bard, Mrs. Verona .Mary (Carrol) Larkins, Mrs. IMartha Amaryllis (R. P.) Howell, and Doctor LaPa^'ette Bard, all of whom made Muhlenberg their home.

Isaac Bard, 1850

When, in 1828, Isaac Bard first came to Muliicnberg, many of the Revolutionary soldiers and other pioneers were still alive. He was a college man, who from childhood had been in toueh with the progress made in various cities and centers of culture and refinement. His constant as.soeialion with the pioneers and their children undoubtedly had an influence in modernizing their habits and practices; and on the other hand, living among these people, many of their charaeterislie manners and customs became his own.

Farms, in tliose days, were few and far between. The county was still regarded as a new country. Most of the sermons then heard by the local people were delivered by men who, although deeply interested in religious work and well versed in the Itible, had a limited knowledge of theology and of logic. When Mr. Bard appeared on the scene he found a good field for the exercise of his college education and religious training. The uneducated as well as the educated recognized his ability as a "sermonizer."

He kept pace with the times at home and abroad, and in some respects was ahead of his day. He lived during that period of the country's history when "freedom and liberty'' were known to be permanently established, and fighting for them was therefore no longer one of the principal objects in life. Local political questions, although discussed from the time the county was organized, were raj)idly becoming more and more the leading topics of the day. Among some of the citizens the acquiring of land and wealth was gradually becoming the sole object in life. I.saac Hard was swayed by these times. He not only performed the duties of a preacher and a doctor and looked after his farm, but also took an active interest in national and local polities, and in the meantime, like some of the other eitizen.s, invested in land. He was the first man to advocate the draining of the Pond River Imttoms, and alamt the year 1850 made an attempt to redwmi some of the rich soil he owned below Murphy's Lake; but owing to the abundance of other good land, not subject to overflow, and owing to the scarcity of lalmr, he alaindoned the work. When, a few years after the Civil War, the building of a railroad was proposed, Mr. Bard was enthusiastically in favor of a bond issue, for he realized that such means of transportation was necessary for the upbuilding and advancement of the county.

As already stated, he was always in touch with his times. The following letter quoted from "The Private Correspondence of Henry Clay," compiled and published in 1856 by Calvin Cotton, t'incinnati, shows that Mr. Bard was on admirer of good and influential men, and that if he so desired he could write in a style that showed he was a man of literary ability :

1 know you will not think it strange if an unknown friend should address a letter to you. Have you not given yourself to your beloved country, devoted yourself to her cause, and may not the citizen claim you as his property and inheritance? If so, why should an humble citizen be shy and .stand aloof from him whom he has long lovetl and admired ?

Will you be so kind as to indulge me in some desultory remarks? When I was pursuing my education in Lexington, I first heard you deliver an oration at the laying of the corner-stone of the Hospital. As a student and boy I was much pleased. Once on Poplar Row. on the pavement, 1 met you and there were none else on the whole street, and you spoke to me so politely and friendly, it. though a little thing, made no small imprcs.sion. The next time I saw you was when I was at College and the Divinity School, you passed through Princeton, sitting by the driver on an outside seat of the stage, spoke to Mr. William Warfield, who was with me coming up street. To say the least, the way .you spoke to him (an acquaintance) impressed me that you, in no ordinary degree, were a man of friendly feeling, of openness and urbanity of manner.

But it is not merely the pleasing qualifications and attractions of private character, your eloquence and ratiocination, the lioon of God, but your political course, and those important national principles of internal improvement, smiling on rising republics, that enhance you in the approbation and give you such a scojic in the affections of your fellow-citizens. You have already established an imperishable reputation. A wreath of evergreens encircles your brow, and will entwine around your name while time shall last. Your reputation the storms of persecution have tried to carry away; but it is built on a basis that wondering ag»>s can not wa.ste. Ethiopia will remember your colonization efforts. South America and Greece will couple your name with liberty and independence. Your Tariff speech of 1824 has opened the eyes of the American people and they will not forget you. Roads and canals and manufactures, in fine, the American system, will hail you as their founder and father. Sir, if I understand flattery, it is stating what is false, but I believe I am tolling the truth. Truth that is already written in American history - written in the hearts and affections of the American people, more indelible than letters engraven on adamant.

For many years 1 have read with pleasure your speeches and observed your public course. I have witnes.sed with heartburning and disgust the vituperation and slander of ambitious, wicked men. In private conversation I have often pleaded your cause and that of the President, and of your policy. I approve heartily of your course. When my friend told me that Mr. Adams was President and you had voted for him, a sudden e.xultation of joy fla.shed through my bosom.

We (of Greenville) had a large nuiidter of your defenses printed at Russellville, and I have spread them from my store far and wide (for I am a meisdiant and Presbyterian preacher). Be assured they are operating powerfully. It is the best antidote against lying and slander that has ever been used. Many of the Jackson men of this county (Muhlenberg) have turned completely' around. We are decidedly Administration here, by a very large majority. I hope you and Mr. Adams will not he discouraged, but keep up good spirits.

In writing you this letter I mean no more than an e.xpression of my friendship for you, my country, the prosperity of the nation and the welfare of civil and religious liberty. I am in the habit of praying for you in secret and in public. If I have an interest at the court of Heaven. I have tried to make it for .vou. Think; they didn't say, at Hopkinsville, they knew I was an Administration man from my prayer, as I prayed for the President, etc. But it is not a cause 1 am ashamed or afraid of ; for if even "Old Hickory'' should be elected, we will not give up you. You must come next. You are consecrated to your country and you are ours.

Permit me to say, I have named my first-lMirn son Henry Clay Bard. I did it for two reasons: 1. As a mark of affection and friendship for you; 2. That .vour character might .stimulate him to worthy deeds.

Will you be so good as to grive my respects to Mrs. Clay? Will you be so good as to give my respects to the President, Mr. .Adams? Tell him I pray for him and his cabinet. May Ood bless Mr. Clay. May God ble.ss the President. May God guide and direct liiiu and his counsellors. May you all fear God, pray to him, keep his "commandments that it may be well with you."

Mr. Bard was always interested in good books, and in the course of years accumulated a large library. He was very systematic and kept a written record of many of his transactions. Ilis residence burned in 1876, two years before he died, and all his books and papers were destroyed except two of his own documents. One of these is a diary and the other contains some notes on local history. Isaac Bard probably never expected that these records would some day form a contribution to a printed history of Muhlenberg County.

The first of these personal documents is Bard's Diary. This is a leatherbound book of two hundred pages, written with a quill pen. Although many pages are faded, the records are still legible. The greater part of this journal is devoted to the years 1848 to 1851 ; but it extend.s, with occasional entries, down to 1855, after which date about a dozen more records are added, bringing it to May, 1872. The diary evidently was written for his own gratification and convenience, and was not intended for publication. I have gone over it carefully, and here give verbatim alt that bears on the history of those communities referred to in Muhlenberg County and also all such other items as. in my opinion, will interest the reader. The extracts quoted comprise about one tenth of the whole:

July, Thursday, 13, 1848. ily commission |as colporteur and missionary minister, probably], dated January 1. 1848, now begin.s, and 1 .started to-day. Rode to South Carrollton and thence to John Baxter's. Staid all night, thence rode to .McCrearysville, Mouth of Muddy River, and preached at Ellzy Hamilton's to an attentive audience. Then rode to Caneyfork Church, Butler County, and preached Saturday, Sabbath, and Monday, three days and four sermons to large and attentive audiences, visited seven families. 'Phen rode and preached at Salem, 'rhursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sabbath to large and attentive audiences. Preached six sermons, visited seven families, then came home. Gone twelve days and rode 126 miles. . . .

Friday, Saturday, Sabbath, and .Monday, including first Sabbath of September, 1848, at Mt. Zion and South Carrollton. Preached three sermons and 1 shoveled the first dirt so that John Morgan and John Clark laid the corner-stone of the Presbyterian Church of .South Carrollton. I made a short address and prayed standing on the corner-stone, which was the northwest corner for the building, ... on September 4th, 1848. . . .

Tuesday, November 7th, 1848: Rode to Rumsey and voted for Gen. Taylor to be president, ilay the Lord deliver our country from despotism and monarchy under the false name and disguise of Democracy. O Isird, have mercy on us as a nation, give us the grace of repentance that we may see our wickedness, turn from our national sins and seek forgiveness of Thee through the hloo<l of atonement. 0 laird, choose our rulers, preside in our destinies and make us a great people, distinguished for righteousness, love for pure civil and religious liberty and that we may grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Ixird and Savior Jesus ('hri.st.

1848, Kovendier 22. The news has come by Lightning, by tbe Telegraph Line.s, that Gen. Taylor is elected. If this lie so what a change for the good of our country ! 0 Ixird, Thou knowest, to Thy name be the glory. . . .

Soon after November 7, 1848, preached at Win. Keith's on Cypn*ss in JIuhlenberg at a night meeting, also at Mr. Arnold's a few days after and als<i a night meeting. Both liberal Bapti.sts, and had good and attenti%'e audiences. 1 was surveying some land on Cypress and Green river. Tbe people were very kind and attentive to me. . . .

March, Tuesday, 27th, rode to Livingstone (Luther Hard was with me) one mile of OwensboTO. WiMlne.sday, ilarch 28tb, got on lioard General Worth Steam Boat. Went over the Falls of Ohio River while asUnip and got to Louisville brJore light Friday morning. .Much talk of cholera. It exists below on the coast of .Mississippi River. . . . Went to Bardstown, . . . returned by stage to Ixiui.sville, and thence by General Worth home. Preached two sermons, visited eighteen families and traveled 400 miles.

Preached and lectured at South Carrollton on the Uni Sabbath of June. Went and staid at the Bluff with Col. Wilson (old school) Baptist. They treated me kindly, had worship night and morning. We debateil Emancipation. My great suriirise is how any true Whig or true Democrat should oppose it. I have heard men oppo.se it which said nothing for their Republieani.sm or piety. Vet the Colonel is an exception to the aliove remark. Yes, there are men who op|)os** Emancipation who are influenced by low, sordid and selfish notions, whose public spirit reaches no higher than the length of their arm or lower than their belly. . . . They .say if Kentucky should emancipate her slaves we would be ruined. Bob Wieklitfe .said: ''The Darkies are the best shade I have ever seen." Perhaps some think they will be ruined if they can not sit in the shade quite so mueb. Indeed. I think some more sunshine would be better for health and as a cure for empty corn-cribs and barns as well as a good euro to ignorant, idle and dissipated youth. . . . And if our daughters were more trainerl in the science of cooking, washing, and the wheel and the loom, they would have better health and constitutions, less liable to vanity and extravagance. . . .

1st Sabbath of July, 1849. I preached to-day on Pas.sover and Lord's Supper, Ex. 12-8-11. A good attention was paid. Some young men staid out in the church yard and talked. 1 had to reproach and talk plainly of such bad conduct. Brother Baxter talked of cutting the tree down they sat under; that if they were so ill mannered and reckless to stay out they must go further. It is far worse than heathen to do so to the House of God, to stay out during Divine Service and interrupt a worshipping congregation. It is in keeping with the worst conduct or vice. . . .

Augu.st, Monday, 7, 1849. Mr. Donaldson and I went up to Greenville. I voted for Edward R. Weir, the Emancipation candidate. While here 1 met with Col. Wm. McNarj: and we got info an argument on Emancipation. At last we got on the Scriptures on this .subject anil he said he would go and get a Bible and read it and show I was in error. He got the Bible and read it and I answered him by reading several verses, Kx. 21 eh. and Leve. 25 eh. on jubilee and extended my remarks on the .scope of the Old and New Testaments. Some private questions, not manly, were asked me by G. C. and J. E., and also H. R. made an unbecoming remark of private nature. The Rev. John Donaldson was present and heard what passed, which took place came up. The former opened his Bible and the latter drew out a written paper. Both were about to answer me and some person remonstrated and got them to go away. Mr. Donaldson, standing on the outer edge of the crowd, said he heard several say, "They had better let Bard alone." When I saw Jones and come up and ready to speak, 1 got on a bench and remarked publicly: "I wish it understood I do not seek controversy, but I do not care how many come and speak, I will answer them." Maj. McNary said: "Well, 1 do not think that that remark is called for." So terminated this little debate. Several told me afterwards: "They made nothing off of you. You outdone them and you are able to do it." Donaldson said some of them said: "When they go to the Scriptures they have no business with Mr. Bard." O Lord, bless my speech and may much good and no evil come of it. Help us to love our neighlmr as ourself.

funeral I preached by request, and I rode forty miles to do so, made me a present of $10. I thanked her and also feel thankful to the Lord, for my expenses, though we live frugal and economical, have increased my debt for several years. When a man's expenses at the end of a year are not paid by his income, and expenses and income prudently managed, it proves that his income is less than his expenses. It is often so with us preachers, and our preaching often brings us in debt to men. God, our surety, may relieve us, but no other.

February 20, 1850. Rode last Friday to Greenville and assisted Rev. A. Ilousley in a .sacramental meeting. Delivered two lectures and two sermons. There was solemn attention botli times. Delivered an address and administered sacrament. I took subscriptions for a Presbyterial Academy to near .$8,000 in two day.s. Attended the burial of my old and dear friend, Mrs. Taliitha McLean, who was buried at old Caney Station Grave Yard, with a large concourse of citizens. Delivered two nddres.ses at the burying and a prayer. Sister McLean was an extraordinary woman, distinguished for talents, orthodoxy and genuine piety. "Precious in the eyes of the Lord are the death of his .saints."

Saturday, March 2 (1850). Left home early and rode to Mt. Zion . . . lectured on a chapter and then preached on Education and urged the importance and utility of a Presbyterial Academy and some prospects of having it in Greenville. . . .

Friday, 15th March, 1850. ... In my tour to Elkton as Agent Committee of the Muhlenberg Presbytery and also mi.ssionary, I was gone six days, visited four families and rode about seventy miles. I wrote a subscription and got tliree names to it for $200; but it put down payable so far in the future and partly in trade that I gave it back and declined it at present.

Attended Presbytery April 11, 1850, and Presbytery adjourned Saturday evening (April 13). ... I delivered about a dozen speeches on the Presbyterial Academy. 1 preferred and besought other ministers to advocate and make -speeches for the Academy, but none except Mr. ITousle.v at the end of the dehate made a little speech for it. Mr. McCullough, elder of

Henderson, made several speeches against its location at Greenville, to whom I had to reply and also to make speeches in favor of having such an institution. Such are facts, and I am sorry I have to speak myself in reference to them. Again, I have spent much time in getting subscriptions and arguing and pleading with individuals for the Academy, when in that time I could have preached several sermons; besides I had to take some time to prepare the people; to get them to think about it before subscribing. . . . Also delivered one address. After an interesting address of Brother .McCullough on Sabbath afternoon at 3 o'clock before the ineinbers of our Presbytery and the congregation in the Presbyterian Church at Greenville. At this meeting we made Mr. Charles F. Wing Life Member of the America Sunday-School. On this occasion I gave one dollar and fifty cents to Prof. James Grayham because he gave fifty cents. 1 said we ought to raise it and give it to him because he gave it for Mr. Wing. "A cup of cold water" will not lose its reward.

Saturday, May 11, 1850. As trustee I visited T'nity Church, opened the meeting with singing, delivered a short lecture on 2 Sam. 7-1-2. . . . Unity Church is a frame house about 25 by .36, and half finished, no stove, no glass, no ceiling, and the que.stion was to hnish it. After much debate and settling other questions, we, the four sects to whom Maurice Moore deeded the land (Baptists, Presbyterians, .Methodists and Cumberland Presbyterians), agreed to try and finish the hou.se and get a stove. Brother Stephen Harris and I drew a subscription each and I got $34.50, subscribed on May 12, 1850. ... 0 Lord, bb'ss inv poor labors and take all the glory to Thyself. ...

July 29, 1850. Vernal Orove, my home, in Muhlenberg County, six miles from Greenville, Ky. Having bought a buggy, a one-horse carriage, at $40, and received two boxes of the books of the Board of Publication from Hopkinsville, I took the books of the smaller box and j)ut them in a trunk and new box in my buggy, and started on my tour, the upper end of Muhlenberg Presbytery. According to a list of appointments published in the Presbyterian Herald at Louisville, I went first to Unity Meeting House three miles. One-fourth of said house belongs to the Presbyterian Church. Here I lectured on the First Psalm and sold two books of tbe Board of Publication and received the first money, fifty cents, from Mr. E. R. Dillingham. Distributed some Tracts. . . .

July 31, 1850. Wednesday I went to tbc Brick Church, preached to an attentive audience, sold a few Iwuks, and got only $2.50 subscribed to the Presbyterial Academy. This afternoon went up to Greenville and put up with Br. Wing.

fever when I got there. Caught cold by sleeping on straw bed, thin covering and windows up. Then went and dined with .lames Sawyer; ate too hearty, too much milk. Then went to Bro. Ben Sawyer's; James went with me. Fever was now very high, very, very sick. Got better and better until Wednesday morning. Took Cook's pills every night . . . but now, August 30, I am much better and hope, by the Lord's blessing, to set out for home on to-morrow. Blessed be God for his mercies, and I thank him it is no worse.

September 1, 18.50. The places I have preached during the la.st four months are as follows; Mt. Zion, Brick Church, Greenville. Unity, Ruinsey, Edward f'ombs. Rochester, Caneyfolk, Cochran's and Salem* ; delivered thirty-four lectures, twenty-four sermons, visited fifty-nine familic.s, traveled 369 miles, collected .$9.70 for the Board of .Missions.

Mount Zion Presbyterian Ohuboh

' Unity Church, near McNary Station, Is now a Missionary Baptist church. Tbe Brick Church, referred to by Isaac Bard, was located a mile southwest of Earles; It was torn down about the year 1897. Mount Pleasant Church, now known as Pleasant Hill Church. Is also in the Pond River country below Harpe's Hill. Mt. Zion Is east of Central City. This congregation had a nominal existence as early as 1804, but was not organized until 1823, when Mr. Bard appeared on the scene. The building now occupied by the Mt. Zion congregation was erected In 1900. It stands on the site of the old church, and near one of the oldest church hurylnggrounds In Muhlenberg.

1851, April 1. Went to Greon\'ille and took my daughters, Verona and Mary Bard and Martha Amaryllis Bard, to Mr. Green's Female Academy. Then engaged in selling and distributing books.

May 16, 1851. The Rev. A. C. DeWitt, a Methodist minister of Muhlenberg County, and the Rev. James Bennett, a Baptist minister of Ohio County, held a debate on Baptism in Greenville on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, the 13, 14, 15 and 16th of .May. Hon. Robert S. Russell, Isaac Bard and Rev. Kinchen Ilay were moderators. There was a good deal of shrewdness, talent and reading manifested by the debate. . . . Baptism is not settled and must he more fully studied by Pedo-Baptists so as to keep the Baptists from most dangerous delusion.

June, 1851, Thursday, 19th, at 4 o'clock. I, chairman of the Building Committee, laid (the other members assisting) the corner-stone of the Presbyterial Academy. I stood on the corner-stone and made a short speech and a prayer, asked the blessing of the great Jehovah on the enterprise. 0 Ivord, cause this house to be built and make it a great blessing to the church and State.

July 1, 1851. I have just reported to the Rev. W. W. Hill, from March 1 to July 1, 1851 - four months. The places I have preached at are as follows: Jit. Plea.sant, Antioch, Jeflferson, Martin's, Mrs. Rebecca Summers', West Salem, Rumsey, Greenville, Cnity and Myers' Chapel. Visited sixtynine families, rode 462 miles, preached thirty-three sermons and lectures and delivered fourteen nddres.ses. Labored ten months on this Mission and resigned in order to act for the Academ,v. O Ixjrd, bless my labors, Isaac Bard. . . . On Saturday, July 5th, got to Judge Broadnax's of Russellville.

Tuesday, July 15. Brother J. Williamson went with me down to Allensville, 8 miles .southeast of Klkton. Here we organized the Allensville Church of nine members, ordained two elders, Messrs. James Bibb and John W. Glass. Lectured and preached on two occasions in the Baptist Church in Allensville and on one occasion at the school house near there. Sold books one day as colporteur. . . .

This day, July 20, 1851, attended the Campbellite Church near Allensville, Todd County, because I never before had attended a meeting of that order. . . .

1851, November 1st. . . . Lost my saddle-bags from my buggy on ray way to Rumsey. Had some cholera medicine in them and .some reported and insinuated that it was brandy, etc., etc. I explained and denounced publicly at Jit. Pleasant and Antioch the error and slander.

1853, April, Thursday, 28th. Left home to-day to visit the upper part of the State to collect funds for our Presbyterial Academy. Staid all night in Greenville with E. M. Brank.

29th, started to Russellville and on way staid all night with Rev. A. C. DeWitt. 30th, arrived in Russellville. . . . Stopped at Shakertown . . . and then put for Bowling Green. . . . Also when at Bowling Green I visited the tomb of the Rev. Joseph B. La.ssle.v. Ilis tomb of white limestone is on the ground where the pulpit of the old church formerly stood. When he stood there and I stood there and preached, little did he think, or yet I. that that was to be the place of his tomb I think of the unconverted and converted state of the sinner; but hell with its horrors was more associated in my mind. Gorin's Dome, Fat Man's Misery, Bottomless Pit, River Sty.x, Cyclop's Tomb and the Star Chamber were grand and interesting objects.

Went to Glasgow. . . . Munfordsville . . . Red Mills Church on Nolin Creek. . . . June 4, 1853, 1 went to Elizabethtown. . . . June 7th. Left Ilodgensville, the county seat of LaRue County . . . and went out to the Glasgow Turnpike Road, passed the high and terrible Muldrow Hill and arrived at my niece's, Mrs. Jonathan Rogers, in Bardstown, ray native town. . . . The road on Muldrow Hill is a magnificent work and does credit to Kentucky. May God bless the spirit of improvement in our country .so that railroads may pass through our country between all important points, so as to facilitate, equip and promote civilization and the Gospel. . . . Returned home.

July 15, 1855. The Democratic Party are fraternizing or forming a league with two other great parties, the Aliolitioni.sts of the North and the Foreigners, so as to make a great and strong Party to carry the election, and if the American Party, who di.scards Abolitionism and Foreignism, does not prevail, what will become of our Union T

July 30, 1855. . . . The next day I went to Henderson, dined with Robert Beverly and there met at dinner Gov. Powell. We had a debate about Popery. His arguments were the subterfuges of Papists; nothing solid, but declamation.

January, 1st Sabbath and 6th day, 1856. Rode to the Brick Church, Preached to an attentive audience on Ps. 103-2, "Bless the Ijord. O my soul, and forget not all his benehts.'' In afternoon dined with Col. Wm. McNary and rode to .Madisonville with a view to preach, but was loo late; dark when 1 got there and extremely cold. Monday, 7th, it snowed. 1 staid all day there. In the meantime got my buggy mended. January 13, 1856. Rode to Rumwy, enwsisi Pond River at the mouth on the ice. . . .

Total of whole service from May 1, 1855, to May 1, 1856; Preached 187 sermons and lectures, vi.sitod 270 families and received ten persons, and traveled 1997 miles, Amen.

June 1, 1864. It seems that from Julj' 21, 1861, te June 1, 1864, near three years, I had no commission from the Board of .Missions, owing to the War and our Presbytery not meeting. Indeed, we can not now, or since the War, travel thirty miles without serious damage. . . .

May 1, 1865. I have labored three months since D("cember 1, 1864 (excepting January and February). The bad weatber, high water and guerrillas preventwl ray preaching. 1 have labored in said churches since above report. There has been increased attention and large audiences.

(1865) ... 1 preached a funeral sermon of a distinguished man. Dr. A. M. Jackson, at which there was the largest and most solemn audience I have ever seen in Muhlenberg County ... I have concluded to spend

> Doctor Alfred Metcalf Jackson was born in Shelby County, January, 1816. After finishing a course In the I-oulsville Medical College he moved, about the year 1842, to South Carrollton and there followed his profession. He soon became one of the best-known practitioners in Muhlenberg. Ohio, and McLean counties. In 1849 he represented the county In the State Constitutional Convention. He died February 16, 1865. In 1845 he married Martha S. Fentress, daughter of John Fentress. Their children now living are Mrs. Carrie A. (Charles A.) Robertson and Ursulas Jackson, of Muhlenberg, John M. Jackson, of Logan County, and Honorable Alfred M. Jackson, of Winfield, Kansas.

The next to the last entry is dated December 1, 186.5. The last entry was made six and a half years later, when Mr. Bard had reached the age of seventy-five, and from it 1 quote:

As well as I recollect, 1 resigned the care of Mt. Zion, Brick Church or Mt. Pleasant and South Carrollton churclies early in 1868 . . . Sometimes 1 visited them. . . .

My health has been so delicate 1 could not go abroad. ... Recently I attended Presbytery at Paradise and delivered three sermons (being six ministers and six elders). We had a pleasant time 1872, May 17.

The second of Isaac Bard's documents that has been preserved is what he designates a "Lecture on Muhlenberg County." This is a sketch that seems to have been prepared for a lecture delivered some time after 1870. He digres-ses into national history so frequently that "Our Countj' and Our Country" would have been a more appropriate title for his lecture. Much of what he records was obtained by me from other sources and woven into various parts of my manuscript before I learned of the existence of his interesting paper. Nevertheless 1 quote all that he gives bearing on local history, omitting only such statements as do not pertain directly to Muhlenberg County:

Greenville is the name of the county seat of Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. Greenville was named after Gen. Greene of the Revolutionary War, and Muhlenberg ('ounty was named after General Muhlenberg, another officer of the Revolution. The gentlemen and fathers who gave the names to our town and county indicated their patriotic sentiments by perpetuating the names of Greene and Muhlenberg to time and posterity. . . .

John Bone and Hugh Martin, elders of the Greenville Church, and Andrew Glenn, elder of Mt. Zion Presbyterian Church, were Revolutionary soldiers. They lived and die<l in Muhlenberg County.

In order to get at the history of Muhlenberg County we must say a few words about the fir.st families who settled in this county, the churches and preachers of the different sects, the lawyers and doctors, the part our citizens took in the English-lndian War, the Mexican War and our late Civil

When I came here in 1823 I became acquainted with certain respectable families who had been, I suppose, in the county long before, namely. Judge Alney McLean, James Weir, Charles F, Wing, lion. Edward Rumsey, Hon. Edmund Watkins, Samuel Russell, John January, John Bryant, John Rothrock and John Campbell. Th.e.se included nearly all the men of Greenville There were also some leading families in the country, namely, James Me- Caleb, Maurice Jloore, Maj. Jesse Oates, Jesse Murphy, Hugh Martin, Col. Wm. MeXary, Hugh McNary, Charles Summers, Stephen Harris, Capt. John Smith, Robert Branseome, Andrew Glenn, John Culbertson, Thomas Irvin, David Rhoads, Solomon Rhoads, Wm. Martin, John Bone, Hutson Martin, Samuel Allison and Richard D. Re.vnolds.

The Presbyterian Church was organized in Greenville at an early date The Reverends Nelson, Wm. Gray and James McCready wore her first preachers. They acted as stated siipiilies and missionaries. More late were Reverends Isaac Bard, McAfee, Templeton, Ilmisley, and Morton, who acted as pastors ami supplies. The Pre.sbyterian Church was first built, with I.saac Bard its pastor. After the Metliodist. Cumlierland Presbyterian and Baptist churches were built. The Presbvterial Male Acadeni}' and Female Collegiate School were built by Presb\'terians. old school.

The first Bapti.st churches in Muhlenberg were Hazel Creek. Bethel and Unity; Reverends Benjamin Tolbert, Daring Allcock and John Bowling were their first preachers. They were pious, liberal, good men; evangelical and eloquent, the most so of any I ever heard to have so little education. It was remarkalile what good language they used. . . . But all the helps of their native genius and i>iety did not supersede Education, for if they had had it they would have shone out still brighter and as stars of the first magnitude.

The first circuit court judg(>s of our county were Judge Broadnax and Judge McLean. The.y were Wh eminent men, able in the law and stood high as jurists. Charles F. Wing and Jes.se II. Reno were our first county clerks; the former acted in that capaeit.v some fift.v years. Both stood high in office and preserved an untarnished reputation. Dr. Robert McLean and Dr. Thomas Pollard were our first doctors. After them came Dr. W. H. Yost. All of them were very respectable ; so much so that I cannot add laurels to their fame. . . .

. . . These were the causes of the last British War . . . and this was why Judge McLean, Ephraim Brank, Edward Jarvis, Mike Severs, Joseph McCovvn, John Shelton, Lsaiab Hancock and others of Muhlenberg fought tlie British. It is said that Ephraim Brank and Edward Jarvis mounted the breastworks and there fired into the British army, as they marched up, ns fast as their friends could load the rifles for them. I see it stated lately in a highly respectable paper that Mr. Brank brought down several Briti.sh officers in their march up to our breastworks at the battle below New Orleans.

During our Civil War or war of four years, when brother was arrayed against brother. North against South, in bloody conflict, the citizens of Muhlenberg Count.v were honestly divided and took sides, and now we stand ns parties Radicals and Democrats. . . . The old question is a bygone thing and the constitution is the umpire. . . .

tliat any of our neighbors do excel us. We are certainly capable of making hay, another important staple, as we have the best bottom lands to suit the purpose; and as our hills get more worn and washed off, for want of grass, our farmers will have to betake themselves to the bottom lands to feed their stock and save half their corn. But what does all our coal lands and staples amount to when we have been beguiled and are about to be forced to pay $400,000.00 and interest f

Whisky was once a staple of this county. Thousands of bushels of corn and thousands of bushels of apples and peaches have been used to make whisky and brandy. . . . But, I forbear. I have said more about busthead whisky as a "filthy lucre" than 1 intended. I am talking to-day on the history and the future of Muhlenberg County.

I would hereby call your attention to two very important cardinal laws that ought to be amended. They now form part of our history. I mean, fellow-citizen.s, the District School Laws and the Law of Suffrage. . . .

When parents are so ignorant, .stupid and criminal that they will not or do not send their children to school when the teacher or tuition is paid by the State, we positively advise as a remedy that the history of Muhlenberg may be disgraced no longer, that such parents and guardians be fined an amount equal to what their tuition would have been by the State.

The Law of Suffrage in these United States ought certainly he so amended that no man ought to be allowed to vote who cannot read and write the English language. . . .

The day will come in the Millennium, not far away, when the Jews and all the Gentile nations of all the earth will be so many republics. When that bright day comes the pillars of tho.se republics will not t>e built on Ignorance and Vice. No, those rei)uhlics will be built, so to .s|)cak, figuratively, on the Granite Rocks of Virtue, Intelligence, the Bible and Christianity. . . .

Post-Primary Education In Muhlenberg

SOME of the pioneers of Muhlenberg were men and women of edueation and refinement ; some were not; others occupied an intermediate position. All, however, with very few exceptions, were respectable people. The sons and daughters of educated and well-bred parents, of course, had an advantage over tho.se children whose parents, owing to a lack of education or to a lack of hereditary instincts of refinement, were not qualified to teach their offspring better manners than they themselves pos.ses.sed. Many of those who were members of such families ac(|uired some polish through their association with those whose education and home training were of a higher order. On the other hand, those who continued to associate with their moral and intellectual inferiors drifted to a lower level. Those who, during their leisure time, sought the companionship of good books and mingled with honest and progressive people rapidly became citizens for whom the community had the greatest respect. Then, as now, a man was judged by the company he kept.

Representatives of some of the better pioneer families, owing to a lack of education, deteriorated in the course of a generation or two, but comparatively few such sons or daughters ever lost all traces of their better blood. One citizen, now past seventy-five, informs me that he did not learn to read or write until after he was married. He is the son of a religious man, whose education was limited, but the grandson of a pioneer whose education, judging from all reports and from documentary evidence, was of a superior order. Each of the children of this old man spent about six years in a country school, and his grandchildren attended school until they reached the age of about eighteen. Thus, in the course of five generations, this family went down the hill of education for a half century, and in about an equal length of time - from 1850 to 1900 - climbed back to the starting point. Religion held a firm and constant grip on each generation, but not until education again took hold did the family return to its original plane. Commenting on the essentials of a happy life, this grandson of a pioneer said to me :

"I have noticed, again and again, that from 'shirt sleeves to shirt sleeves' is often a matter of only three generations, and that from silk stockings back to silk stockings is usually a matter of at least five generations. In my opinion there are three essentials to a happy life. From the days of my youth and down to the present, I have heard the preachers preach on the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and I have always believed in the Trinity.

But 1 must say my father and my grandfather failed to realize that there is a trinity in the right way of living, and that unless each part is practiced in about equal proportions, life is Ixnind to he a failure. Tliis is the trinity of Learning, Labor, and liove of the I>ord. My labor has given me a comfortable home on earth, and my religion, I feel, has prepared me for the next world, but my life has been a failure for want of education. From as far back as I can remember, and down to the day of her death, my mother sang a song I shall never forget. It went like this:

Teaokeb And Pupils, Mcclelland School

"It is a beautiful hymn, but if I could write 1 would weave into this old song education and work along with religion, and make this trinity the source of the 'sweetest pleasures while we live.' ''

It is not my piirpo.se to argue the question as to whether "Learning, Labor, and Ixive of the Lord'' are the three essentials of a happy life. IIow- ever, it is an indisputable fact that where any one or any two of these essentials existed without the others - that is, where the "trinity" was incomplete - life to the citizen of Muhlenberg in the Nineteenth Century was seemingly a failure. When all three were missing, life was a deplorable failure. Such men as "didn't have no lamin','' "done a heap of nothin'." and wont to church "just to devil the preacher," were, fortunately, few.

It was the lack of better education and not the lack of sincere religion and honest occupation that began to tell on a number of the citizens who were born in the county during the first half of the last century. During that same period some of the families living in various sections sent their children to Lexington, Danville, and other cities to be educated. Among such pioneer families as the Allisons, Hells. Campbells, Eaves, McLcaas, McNarys, Randolphs. Renos, Russells, Shorts, Weirs, Wickliffes, and Worthingtons were found some of the best educated people in the county. Their training indirectly helped to educate many of the local people witli whom they came in contact but who were not in position to attend any but local schools.

In the meantime, the s<'liool bouses throughout the county were open only a few months each year. A short time after Greenville was founded the pioneers built a one-story, two-roomed brick schoolhouse on the cast side of Cherry Street north of Main Cross Street. This house was used many years, both as a .schoolhouse and as a place of worship. It was usually known as the Greenville Academy, but is sometimes referred to as the Greenville Seminary. It was established by an act of the Legislature approved January 18, 1810. For many years it was used as a district school and later also as a county school, it being a higher graded school than any other in the county. It served ns a district schoolhouse until about 1890, when it was torn down and another building secured elsewhere for that purpose. M. J. Roark taught school in the old house for a number of years, including the early sixties.

None of the schools in .Muhlenberg County went Iteyond primar.v work until about lO.'iO, when post-primary clas-ses were first taught by Professor William Lewis Green, who is regardetl as the first teacher of higher education in the county. During the course of the second half of the last century five colleges were organized, all of which have since passed out of existence. Professor Green's school, the Greenville Female Academy, although started in the fall of 1850, was not establisheil by an act of the Legislature until

February 11, 1854. The Presbyterial Academy of Greenville was established by an act approved January 7, 1852. The Greenville College, which was practically the successor of the Female Academy, was started in 1880 by Professor E. \V. Hall, who for a few years during the si.xties had taught a private school in Greenville. The South Carrollton Male and Female Institute, which in 1886 became known as the West Kentucky Classical and Normal College, was established by an act approved February 23, 1874. The Bremen College and Perryman Male and Female Academy was incorporated April 3, 1890.

Residence Of Henry O. Lewis. Obeenville

"During the year 1850, one William L. Green began the e.stablishmcnt of what was called the Greenville Female Academy. He built houses upon a site perhaps not excelled anywhere in the State for beauty and attractiveness. South of the brick .study hall, which faeetl College Street, he erecteil a large frame dormitory and east of it a brick cottage, all shaded by large forest trees. Profe.s.sor Green married Susan M. Weir, daughter of pioneer James Weir. He was a man of high intellectual attainments, a Presbyterian preacher and a fine sermonizer. The whole tenor of his life seemed based and centered upon education. He spent a fortune of .iibO.OOO for the betterment of education in Greenville and Muhlenberg County. He not only erected the buildings now owned b.v the Greenville School District, but

"Professor Green organized the Greenville Female Academy under the very best diseipline and regulations and supplied it with competent teaehers, some of whom came from the East. He offered all the necessary comforts required of a good school, lie soon had a large attendance of young lady students from different parts of the State, and his Academy rapidly gained a widespread reputation. Rut after a few years his means failed him, and he was unable to further conduct the school successfull.v. So, after having spent his time and money in procuring educational advantages for his town and county, he dispo.sed of his school property to the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, left the State a poor man. and never returned. He spent a long, eventful, and useful life in other States.'

"When, alanit 18.58. the Cumberland Presbyterian Church came into pus.session of Profe.s.sor Green's .Academy, they continued the school under the same discipline and regulations and employed many of the teachers who had served under him. For the first few years this institution was placotl under the care of Mi.ss Susan M. Anthony and Miss Ablioft. Ixith experienced eilucators. It was next placed under the superintendeney of William C. McNary, who in turn was succeeded by Reverend J. C. Bowden. William C. McNary, Reverend W. L. Casky, Reverend James Morton, and Reverend Azel Freeman, shortly after which, or about 1878, the property was purchased by Reverend AV. L. Casky, who conducted the college a few years and in 1880 sold the property to 1'rofes.sor E. AV. Hall, of the Methodist Ephseopal Church. Thus ended the life of the Grt>enville Female Academy, sometimes called the Greenville Female Collegiate Institute or Greenville Female College, and thus also began a new school conducted by Professor and Mrs. Hall.

' Professor William Lewis Green was born near Danville. Kentucky, In 1825. After being graduated from Centre College he continued his education In the East and in 1850 came to Greenville, where during his stay of more than six years he devoted his time and all his money to higher education In Muhlenberg. He was the first man In the county to establish a post-primary school. After leaving Greenville he and his wife resumed educational work in Wisconsin. He was a widely known Presbyterian minister, an orator and an exceedingly well-informed man. After preaching in Illinois and Kansas for a few years, be returned to Wisconsin in 1882 and established a Presbyterian school at Poyenette, of which institution he had charge up to about the time of his death, July 28, 1903.

Wiu.Iam I.. Green

"About the time Professor Oreen established the Greenville Female Academy he, together with others, urged the importance of establishing a male school. So, in the earlj' lifties, the Presbyterians, with outside help, erected a two-story brick building on the north end of Cherry Street, near a fine spring. This was called the Presbyterial Academy of Greenville. It was first placed under the charge of Professor John Donaldson, who conducted it until 1856, when Profes.sor James K. Patterson became president and was assisted in his work by his brother, William Patterson. The Pattersons were young men of fine education and were gifted educators. They soon estahlished a school of considerable reputation.

Voting men, not only from .Muhlenberg and adjoining counties but from many other parts of the State, came to Greenville to attend the Patterson school. The Academy grew rapidly until the Civil War broke out, when many of its students joined the army and the school closed. Professor James K.

After the Presbyterial Academy closed the Pattersons continued their educational careers elsewhere, and Professor James K. became one of the most celebrated educators in Kentucky.

K. W. Iliill, of New York State, were employed by some of the citizens of Greenville to teach a .school in the old Presbyterial Academy building. They taught there until 1866. During the two years following they conducted a school in a building on Main Street known as Temperance Hall. Mr. and Mrs. Hall were succeeded in the old Presbyterial Academy building by Profe.ssors Crow, llagcman. O'Flaherty, and Helm, after which, about 187.3, the schotil was discontinued and the place became the property of Doctor T. J. Slaton, who in 1885 sold

- Professor James K. Patterson was born in Glasgow, Scotland, March 26. 1833. He came to America in 1842 and in 1856 was graduated from Hanover Coliege, Indiana. From 1856 to 1859 he was at the head of the Greenville Presbyterial Academy, in which school he was succeeded as principal by his brothers William K. and Andrew M. Patterson. He taught In Stewart College, Clarksville, Tennessee, from 1859 to 1861, and from 1861 to 1865 was principal of Transylvania High School, Lexington. He was Professor of History and Latin in the Agricultural and Mechanical College, Lexington, from 1865 to 1869, and President of the State University from 1869 to 1910. In 1910 he retired from the educational world, after an active career of more than half a century devoted to higher education.

it to R. T. Martin and D. E. Rhoads, by whom the building was used as a tobacco manufacturing establishment for two years. In 1887 it was sold to the Greenville School District and used for school purposes a number of years. It was next purchased by a few citizens who lived in the immediate neighborhood. In 1904 it w'as bought by II. C. Lewis, who remodeled the building and now occupies it as a rc.sidence.

Oreenviixe Oolleoe

The Halls were a.ssisted by a go<Hl faculty, among their li>aeliers being Professor W. S. Hall, a brother of Profe.s.sor E. W. Hall. Their college opened in September, 1880, and soon gained a wide reputation for the efflcieney of its management and the tliorougline.ss of its courses. In February, 1889, after a very brief illness. Professor Hall died of pneumonia. His widow, .Mrs. Sarah T. Hall, continued the schools, acting as President for eight years. She was as.sisled by her son. Pnifessor Elmer T. Hall, and a competent faculty. In 1897 Mrs. Hall retired from school work and sold her college property to the Greenville School District, since which time it has been used for public school purposes. TIk! outside walls of the old frame dormitory were stuci-oed and the entire building remodeled and equipped in modern style.^

- The Reverend Edwin Waller Hall was born In .lefferson County, New York. March 4, 1838, and died In Greenville Kebriiary 27. 1889. He was graduated from Genesee College (now Syracuse University) In 1863, and shortly after received the degree of A. M. from his alma mater and also from Wesleyan University. Middletown. Connecticut. In August, 1863, he married .Miss Sarah D. Trowbridge, of

Al)out six years before Professor and Mrs. Hall returned to Oreenville, Professor Wayland Alexander e.stablished a eollege in South Carrollton, whieh was eondueted for about twenty years. One of the frame buildings ereeted by Professor Alexander is now used as the South Carrollton publie school. When the South Carrollton Male and Female Institute was chartered in 1874, the citizens of South Carrollton were entliusia-stic about their new venture. It brought many young men and women to the town, and the place seemeti destined to become the Athens of the Oreen River country.

Its course of -studies was of a high order. firaduates were given license to teach in any of the public schools in Kentuek.v without passing an examination before the State board or the superintendent of public schools of the county in whieh they had been chosen to teach. When the In.stitute was ineorjiorated in 1874, many unlimited scholarships were sold at the rate of three hundred dollars eaeli. good for an indefinite period and transferable. A number of men invested in these s<»holarships and sold them to students at the rate of about forty-five dollars a year, thus realizing (ifteeii per cent on the investment.

The students who attended this sc-hool during its early career reeeivetl the benefit of all the capital derived from the paiil-iip scholarships, hut in the course of a few years all the money derived from the sale of these scholarships was tised to pay teachers' salaries, and the scholarships that had been sold became the source of obligations involving expen.se whieh the Institute had made no provision to meet. Financial aid was occasionally given, and the school was thus temporarily revived. This state of its finan-

Edwin W. Hall, 1888

Ulnia, New York, who was also educated at Genesee rollege. They taught together In the Watertown High School. New York, until 1864. when they went to Greenville to teach. In 1869 they removed to Missouri, where Professor Hall had accepted the position of President of Macon College. A few years later he became President of Craddock College. Quincy. Illinois. In 18T8 he was placed at the head of Cazenovla Seminary, one of the oldest schools in Central New Y'ork. In 1880. at the Bollcitatlon of many old friends and former students, he returned to Greenville. where he established a college for young ladies and one for young men. and continued as their President up to the time of his death. Though his special work was that of an educator, he was nevertheless considered one of the best preachers in the Louisville Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of which body he was an honorary member. One of his old pupils said of him: "Professor Hall did much toward the Intellectual improvement of Greenville and the surrounding county. He did as much, if not more, for the morality of Greenville than any other man."

History Op Ml'Hi-Enbebc County

By an act of the Legislature approved April 7, 1886, the name of the Institute was changed to the West Kentucky Classical and Normal College. However, it was usually called the West Kentucky College. With the exception of a few years, the place was constantly under the charge of Professor Alexander. Notwithstanding its financial and other difficulties, the enrollment often reached two hundred. Its popularity was due greatly to the reputation of Profe.s.sor Alexander, whose scholarly attainments and ability ns an instructor were well known, and to the fact tliat he always employed well-trained college men and women for instructors.^

The Bremen College and Perryman Male and Female Academy was opened September 9, 1889, with .Milton T. Brown as President. The first trustees were Joseph A. Shaver, .John J. Humphrey, Peter Shaver, Reverend John B. Perryman, and Joseph Whitmer. The object of the school was to offer a preparatory course to those intending to enter the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church, anil also to give a general education to any others who wished to take advantage of the scholarships.

Reverend John B. Perryman, an Eastern man, was the original promoter of the .school. lie devised a scheme whereby scholarships were sold to such persons as wished to buy them without using them and thus con-

- Professor Wayland Alexander was born In Jefferson County. Kentucky. June 26, 1839. He taught his first school at Sacramento, McLean County. In 1858, and fifteen years later became Identified with educational work In Muhlenberg. He also taught In Hartford and Owensboro. During bis many active years he was one of the best-known educators In Western Kentucky. He died In Hartford. Ohio County, August 28, 1911.

Public School Building. Central City, Erected 1909 Public School Building, Greenville

tribute a speciKed amount toward the cause, and to such prospective students as might desire to procure scholarships with the expectation of attending school during part or all of the time specified in the contract.

Perpetual scholarships were sold for one hundred dollars each, eightyear scholarships for seventy-five dollars each, and four-year scholarships for fifty dollars each. Warranty deeds were issued for the paid scholarships which expired four or eight years from date, or never, as the case might be. In this way three thousand dollars was raised the first year, but this amount was not sullicient to meet the teachers' salaries and to pay Joseph A. Shaver for erecting the new building. Although the time and price of scholarships was changed, and although Mrs. Fannie Speed, of Louisville, and a number of local citizens, contributcii much toward the support of the institution, the truste<>s. for lack of funds, were obliged to discontinue the school in the spring of lltOO, since which lime the college building has been useil for a public .school. .Vmong the teachers were: Professor J. C. M. Ellenbcrger of Pennsylvania. Profcs.sor Peter 0. Shaver of Uremen, and Profcs.sors Brown. Gordon, and Garhart. From fifty to one hundred students attended the .school every year, over half of whom lived in Muhlenberg County.

Thus, from 1850 to 1900, five colleges were opened and closed in .Muhlenberg. At the time these institutions were in progres.s, the best public schools in the county were not much aliove what is now a common graded school. These five colleges not only included many of the post-primary studies in their eourse.s. hut also a number of primary studies that are today confined to primary .schools.

Many of the country schools are now better supplied with desks, charts, and libraries than were some of the town schools during the time of the colleges. There are at present one hundred and two school buildings in Muhlenberg, in which one hundred and twenty-six teachers are employed to teach the nine thousand children in the county, of whom about sixty-eight hundred are enrolled. Six towns have graded schools : Central City, Greenville, Drakesboro, South Carrollton, Dunmor, and Bremen. There are high schools at Central City, Greenville, Drakesboro, and South Carrollton, with a total attendance of one hundred and sixty-eight pupils. Any one who now is graduated from any Muhlenberg County high school receives an education equal to any that was given by tlie minor colleges of fifty or even twentyfive .years ago.

The schools in the count.v are progressing with the times. Modern methods have been introduced, and in most instances new and well-equipped hou.ses are used. Even the five or six old log schoolhou.ses still occupied are equipped with comparatively modern furniture. That the children themselves are becoming more and more interested in their schools and school work was manifested on November 15, 1912, when Muhlenberg held its first School Fair and Corn Show. Six thousand people, of whom two thousand were school children, came to Greenville that da.v to see the exhibit of drawings, paintings, needlework, carvings, inventions, etc., made by the school children who were attending the common, the graded, and the high schools in the count.y.

Paradise Country And Old Airdrie

home in 1866, and continued to live there until his death in 1898. In the course of years Airdrie's twenty-five or more frame houses have all been abandoned. The Di*serted Village heeame a demolished village, and to-day little is left to mark the site of this once-flourishing town. No trace of the buildings that stimd on Airdrie Hill can now be found. Some of the homses were carried off in the shape of lumber, others tumbled down years ago and rotted away. The Buell residence, erected by William McLean many years before Airdrie was started, was not only the largest and oldest residence in the place but wa.s also the last to pa.ss away. It burned in 1907. This historic mansion stood in a beautiful park near the top of Airdrie Hill, on which the town was built. The lands<-ape viewed from this spot, up and down Green River and aero.ss the stream and overlooking the farms and forests in Ohio County, is an unusually beautif\d one. This riverside park, so well kept by General Buell during his lifetime, is now almost a jungle. The winding paths are rampant with ivy and honeysuckle, the foot-bridges are tottering, and what wa.s once a shaded lawn is now overgrown with wild weeds and run-wild shrubbery.

On the narrow strip of land between the water's e<ige and the top of the hill, and running parallel with the river, are now found the only evidences of the old iron works and old mine.s. Among the cedars and sycamores are the ruins of a large brick chimney, and near it lie two nisty boilers. Here and there, protruding from the ground, can be seen traces of old stone walls that remind one more of the work of prehistoric mound-builders than of a foundation laid by mill-builders. Two of the old shafts look like longabandoned wells, and another like a mere hole in the ground. The opening on the hillside leading into the abandoned drift mine, known as the ''Mc- Lean Old Bank," looks like the entrance to a cave that has never been e.\plored.

The .stack of the furnace still stand.s. a majestic old pile, fifty-five feet or more in height. But the days of this picture.sque landmark are evidently numbensl. Near the stack is the Stone House, whose massive walls seem able to defy storm and sunshine for many years to come. This house, used in former times for machinery, is a sandstone structure three stories high, fifty by twenty feet. The wooden floors and window frames have long ago fallen away. This fortlike building was at one time covered with a slate roof, which was ruined by visitors throwing rocks on it from the top of the bluff at the foot of which the house stands. The shingle roof placed on it by General Buell has since met with the same fate. About half-way up the wall of the Stone House, between two windows, the thoughtful architect placed a large stone bearing the inseription, "AIRDRIE, 1855."

The hillside stone steps leading from a point just beyond the Stone House to the top of Airdrie Hill, where the town stood, are most picturesque. Virginia creeper has found its way up the solid stone foundation, and the drooping branches of the nearby trees shade the beds of heavy moss and

Paradise And The Highway Thereto

The stack of the old furnace, together with the Stone House and the stone stops, as they stand to-day (about fifty yards from the river), suggest a bygone time with which one's imagination could as.sociate any longpast age in the world's history, if the "18.55" chiseled deep into its ancient walls did not keep the mind from wandering back further.

Such, as I have tried to describe it, is the Airdrie of to-day. Although Airdrie's history does not begin until 1855, the traditions of that neighborhood go back to the end of the Eighteenth Century. Airdrie Hill is about one mile below Paradise. Paradise is one of the oldest places in the county, and is built on land first settled by pioneer Leonard Stum (or Stom), who opened up a farm and with his sons .Jacob and Henry conducted the first store where the town now stands. Their boat landing was for many years known as Stum's Landing, and it is very probable that before their death, along in the '40s, the name of the settlement was changed to Paradise.

Jacob Stum, it is said, was "long, lean and lank," weighed only .seventy pounds, and measured about six feet in height. He was never known to be ill but once. On that occasion, while confined to his room with "the slow fever," a new doctor, who was unacquainted in the neighliorhood, was sum- moned to liis bedside. The physician had never seen his patient "stand on his pegs," so tradition says, nor had he ever heard of his feathery weight. When, therefore, he stepped into Jacob's room be asked to be shown the sick man. At the sight of the "skin and bones" the frightened doctor rushed from the house, saying Jacob was even less mortal than a living skeleton, lie informed the family that the patient, although "able to sit up and eat a snack," must have died some months ago. but owing to the absence of flesh the worms made no attack on him, and that the voice they heard was the voice of Jacob's spirit "talking through his hide." Nevertheless, the sick man recovered from the attack of typhoid fever and, says tradition, continued to "play hookey from the graveyard" for many years.

His brother Henry, on the other hand, was a man of normal proportions, but never enjoyed the best of health. Both were upright and highly re.spected men and lived to a ripe old age, and are now represented in the county by many descendants. Pioneer Leonard Stum was the father of Henry, Jacob, and George Stum, Mrs. ,Iudith (Aaron) Smith, and Mrs. Frank Kirtley.

iMatthew or Mattheis Hamm was among the early settlers who lived near Pond Creek, in the Paradise country. He came to Muhlenberg from North Carolina in 1797, accompanied by bis wife and what was then their only child, and also by his mother, Barbara Hamm, who died three years later. He was a well-to-do fanner and at times served hi.s community as a preacher. The German Bible he brought with him is now the properly of

J. Luther Hamm, .son of Ueverend Jacob Hamm. I'nfortunately. the title page of this old and heavily lanind volume is among the few leaves that have disappeared, and the time and place of its publication are unknown.

In 1S02, wlien pioneer Peter Shull (or Scholl) came to Paradise from Pennsylvania, he found no one living in the immediate vicinity but the Stum families. Peter's father served seven years in the Revolutionary War; Peter himself served two years in the War of l.'<12, and Peter's son.

K. K. C. Shull, the well-known hotel-keeper at Paradis<', served four years as a Federal soldier in the Civil W'ar, making a total of thirteen years of active military service in three generations of Shulls.

Among other first-comers in this neighlKirhood were three of the sons of Peter Smith, of North ('arolina - Aan>n, James, and Elias Smith, who have many descendants in Ohio and Muhlenberg counties. W'illiam H. Smith, the old Fe<leral soldier, is a grandson of Aaron and Judith (Stum) Smith. Isaac llunsacker ami Josejih Heck were early settlers there.

Five members of the Yonts (or Yontz) family came to the Paradi.se country from North Carolina alanit 1S12 and became well known in Muhlenberg County, 'riiey were Philip, Rudolph, and Lawrence Yonts, Elizabeth, who married William Heltsley, and Susan, who married Michael Heltsley. All of them settbal near the home of Eli Smith, who vran a kinsman of the Elias Smith jii.st referred to.

Abraham Roll, although not one of the carlii'st settlers in the Paradise country, was one of the most influential men in that section. He was Imrn in Virginia May 27, 1798, came to .Muhlenberg from Hardin County in 1826, and died on his farm, near Paradise. January 30, 1838. He was the father of Mrs. ElizalH>tli (Philip) Heltsley, David H., Michael F., and Thos. J. Roll, Mrs. Sally Ann (A. L.) Depoyster, and Mrs. Tiney (Henry) Moore.

None of the first-comers in the I'aradise country were better known than Oliver Cromwell Vanlandingham, sr., who in his day was one of the most polished and liberal self-made men of the county. lie was Ixirn in Northumberland County, Virginia, in 1784. While still a small boy he, with his parents and his sister Elizabeth, left Virginia for JIuhlenberg. The father on the way. After burying her husband Mrs. Vanlandingbani and the other members of tbe party resumed their trip and finally arrived near Paradise, where she procured some land There she and her two children worked hard and soon placed themselves in comfortable circumstances. Sbe was a wcll-edueated woman, and up to about the time her children were married devoted practically all her evenings to their education. Her daughter Elizabeth married Samuel Weir, a prominent farmer, brother of pioneer James Weir. Her son, 0. (^