Uncle Bob Heath shared his memories of the 1840 political campaign in the 21 May 1908 issue of the Crittenden Record-Press. He described it like this:
"The first man Uncle Bob ever voted for was Martin Van Buren in 1836. He plainly remembers the 'hard cider' campaign of 1840. In that year he attended a great political rally at Morganfield, Union County. He says it was one of the jolliest times of his life, a log cabin with coon skins nailed on its walls was rolled around on wheels, while hard cider was dispensed generously. At the conclusion of the great affair, the one single cannon of the town of Morganfield was brought and heavily loaded. A negro slave was commanded to light the fuse - sad to relate, the good old cannon was so heavily loaded that it burst into pieces."
Let's back up and tell you a little about Uncle Bob. In the above article, he was described as the "patriarch of the O'possum Ridge vicinity, who celebrated his birthday a few days earlier. He was born May 15, 1815, just a few months after the Battle of New Orleans and while James Madison was President of the United States. Henry Clay and Daniel Webster were young men and Daniel Boone was still living. The city of Chicago was not half as large as the present town of Marion.
"Uncle Bob's father, Rylan Heath, was a native of North Carolina. After the year 1800 young Rylan made a trip down south. While in Georgia he became acquainted with a young lady named Anna Gilbert with whom he soon fell in love and married. In 1809, Rylan immigrated to Kentucky and settled about three miles of the present side of Marion [Crittenden County]. A few years later he removed to what is now the Mt. Zion vicinity. His nearest neighbors, Tom Wilson and Thomas Hughes, were two or three miles away."
Watch for Uncle Bob Heath's Memories, Part II on Thursday.
Published 4 November 2014, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/
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