Fires, whether accidental or deliberate, were a constant threat in an era and locale where buildings were mainly of frame construction. The following account of a fire in Marion, Crittenden County, can be found in the 31 March 1876 issue of the Evansville Journal.
Marion, Ky., March 28, 1876 - Our sleeping citizens were roused up about 2 o'clock last Sunday night by the alarm of fire. The hotel building known as the Douglass Hotel, the largest hotel in town, kept by Mr. N.B. Douglass, proved to be on fire. The cause of the fire is not known, but supposed to be the work of incendiaries. The entire building, which was a large one, was consumed. Mr. Douglass' loss is heavy, probably $2,500. No insurance. The building was owned by Mr. W.C. Carnahan, who had no insurance. Mr. Carnahan's loss is probably $4,000.
The losers besides Messrs. Carnahan and Douglass, are Mr. George Short, who occupied a portion of the building as a photograph gallery. He lost everything but a few clothes. Messrs. Mays & Hammond, who had a lot of carpenter tools and materials in a portion of the building used as a carpenter shop, lost all they had.
Mr. Douglass still proposed to care for the weary and hungry traveler in his new abode, he having moved into the large residence of Mr. Carnahan, which he is fitting up to receive guests. The general public should remember Mr. Douglass in his misfortune and patronize him when they stop in town, for he proposes in the future, as in the past, to maintain the reputation of the popular landlord, which his industry and politeness has won for him in the past.
Monday, January 11, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
First United Methodist Church
A small group formed a Methodist Society in 1805 and, in 2005, the First United Methodist Church celebrated 200 years of heritage in Henderson, Kentucky. Sometime later, the Methodists, along with other congregations, worshipped in the Union Church in Central Park. Still later they built a church at Washington and Elm Streets.
The church is today located at the corner of Third and Green Streets on land formerly owned by John James Audubon and his wife, Lucy. The current church was erected in 1914, after a former building was destroyed by a tornado. Several additions have been made to the building.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
History of Princeton, Kentucky
The following article appeared in the now-defunct Evansville Press, Sunday, 26 January 1936. Things are just a bit different today - the current courthouse was built after this article was written and tobacco is not the important crop it was in the last century.
Princeton, Ky., Jan. 25 - The web of circumstance that brought about the settlement of this town in the closing years of the 18th century goes back 300 years and across a great ocean for its beginning.
It was in 1775 that the American colonies went to war for their independence and William Prince, a descendant of Edward Prince, shouldered his musket and marched off to battle the redcoats. William Prince, promoted to the rank of captain, received from a grateful government gifts of land westward beyond the mountains in the vast wilderness claimed by Virginia.
Sometime between 1781, the year the war ended, and 1797, when Gov. James Garrard appointed him justice of the peace for Christian County, Kentucky, Capt. William Prince, with his wife, Elizabeth, their children, and his brother, Francis, took the Wilderness Road across the Alleghenies to their new home.
According to best available records, Princeton was founded between 1797, when Capt. Prince first appears in Kentucky, and 1799, when tax lists name him as residing on the present site of the town. His house and farm were known simply as "Prince's Place."
Christian County was carved out of Kentucky wilderness in 1796; Livingston County was created in 1798 and, in 1809, another partition gave birth to Caldwell County, of which Princeton is now the county seat.
William Prince deeded the land for a town site and Princeton became a reality. Caldwell County was named for Gen. John Caldwell of the Revolution, a native of Virginia, who moved to Kentucky in 1781 and settled near Danville.
At least two settlers preceded William Prince in the county: John Montgomery, who was killed by Indians on Eddy Creek on March 21, 1792; and Obadiah Roberts, who opened a tavern in Elizabeth, now known as Hopkinsville.
Thomas Frazier was one of Princeton's first business men. He found the Big Spring underneath the town, now used for a sewer, and built a house and brick kiln across from the present side of the Courthouse. Princeton's first hotel was Frazier's Inn, located where the Farmers' National Bank now stands. He built the Commercial Hotel, the town's firs hostelry, in 1818, on the present site of Kevil's Mill.
In the early days, mail came overland from Caseyville, thru Cross Keys [in present day Crittenden County] to Prince's Place. Immense quantities of tobacco were shipped from Hopkinsville thru Princeton to the Ohio River. Warehouses stood at Princeton, Eddyville and Wilson's Place on the Tradewater River. Princeton flourished as a tobacco center.
The hordes of settlers who poured thru the town in the great migration of 1830-1860 going south and west, helped populate the country. Caldwell County, with 4268 persons in 1810, grew to 9022 in 1820, then lost 698 in the next 10 years. But, by 1840 the population reached a new high of 10,365 and continued to grow.
Early life in Princeton presented all the rigors of the frontier. Buffalo and wolves abounded and other game was plentiful. Forests were everywhere and the threat of Indians lingered for a number of years.
Education was one of the early interest of the settlers. In 1817, the Caledonia Academy, a private school for girls, was founded.
When President Andrew Jackson ordered the Cherokee Indian tribes of Georgia and Florida to move to new homes west of the Mississippi, they made their trek northward thru Kentucky. Thirty thousand of them passed thru Princeton. Four thousand died en route.
Princeton's first courthouse was burned during the Civil War by Hyland B. Lyon, a Confederate general. Union troops were using it for a hospital and ammunition base. The court records were carried across the street and saved. The present courthouse was built in 1866.
Today Princeton is a thriving tobacco center. The Eastern Dark-Fired Tobacco Association maintains a large floor. The Illinois Central Railroad has a roundhouse here.
Princeton, Ky., Jan. 25 - The web of circumstance that brought about the settlement of this town in the closing years of the 18th century goes back 300 years and across a great ocean for its beginning.
It was in 1775 that the American colonies went to war for their independence and William Prince, a descendant of Edward Prince, shouldered his musket and marched off to battle the redcoats. William Prince, promoted to the rank of captain, received from a grateful government gifts of land westward beyond the mountains in the vast wilderness claimed by Virginia.
Sometime between 1781, the year the war ended, and 1797, when Gov. James Garrard appointed him justice of the peace for Christian County, Kentucky, Capt. William Prince, with his wife, Elizabeth, their children, and his brother, Francis, took the Wilderness Road across the Alleghenies to their new home.
According to best available records, Princeton was founded between 1797, when Capt. Prince first appears in Kentucky, and 1799, when tax lists name him as residing on the present site of the town. His house and farm were known simply as "Prince's Place."
Christian County was carved out of Kentucky wilderness in 1796; Livingston County was created in 1798 and, in 1809, another partition gave birth to Caldwell County, of which Princeton is now the county seat.
William Prince deeded the land for a town site and Princeton became a reality. Caldwell County was named for Gen. John Caldwell of the Revolution, a native of Virginia, who moved to Kentucky in 1781 and settled near Danville.
At least two settlers preceded William Prince in the county: John Montgomery, who was killed by Indians on Eddy Creek on March 21, 1792; and Obadiah Roberts, who opened a tavern in Elizabeth, now known as Hopkinsville.
Thomas Frazier was one of Princeton's first business men. He found the Big Spring underneath the town, now used for a sewer, and built a house and brick kiln across from the present side of the Courthouse. Princeton's first hotel was Frazier's Inn, located where the Farmers' National Bank now stands. He built the Commercial Hotel, the town's firs hostelry, in 1818, on the present site of Kevil's Mill.
In the early days, mail came overland from Caseyville, thru Cross Keys [in present day Crittenden County] to Prince's Place. Immense quantities of tobacco were shipped from Hopkinsville thru Princeton to the Ohio River. Warehouses stood at Princeton, Eddyville and Wilson's Place on the Tradewater River. Princeton flourished as a tobacco center.
The hordes of settlers who poured thru the town in the great migration of 1830-1860 going south and west, helped populate the country. Caldwell County, with 4268 persons in 1810, grew to 9022 in 1820, then lost 698 in the next 10 years. But, by 1840 the population reached a new high of 10,365 and continued to grow.
Early life in Princeton presented all the rigors of the frontier. Buffalo and wolves abounded and other game was plentiful. Forests were everywhere and the threat of Indians lingered for a number of years.
Education was one of the early interest of the settlers. In 1817, the Caledonia Academy, a private school for girls, was founded.
When President Andrew Jackson ordered the Cherokee Indian tribes of Georgia and Florida to move to new homes west of the Mississippi, they made their trek northward thru Kentucky. Thirty thousand of them passed thru Princeton. Four thousand died en route.
Princeton's first courthouse was burned during the Civil War by Hyland B. Lyon, a Confederate general. Union troops were using it for a hospital and ammunition base. The court records were carried across the street and saved. The present courthouse was built in 1866.
Today Princeton is a thriving tobacco center. The Eastern Dark-Fired Tobacco Association maintains a large floor. The Illinois Central Railroad has a roundhouse here.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Tombstone Tuesday - John M. Cook
I.O.O.F.
Erected by
Strangers Rest Lodge
No. 13 of Henderson, Ky.
to the Memory of
Bro. John M. Cook
A Minister of the
M.E. Church
Who died
Jan. 25, 1848
Aged 39 yrs 5 mo.
28 days
Erected by
Strangers Rest Lodge
No. 13 of Henderson, Ky.
to the Memory of
Bro. John M. Cook
A Minister of the
M.E. Church
Who died
Jan. 25, 1848
Aged 39 yrs 5 mo.
28 days
Below I.O.O.F. is F.L.T. , the Odd Fellows' symbols for Friendship, Love and Truth. This tombstone is located in Fernwood Cemetery, Henderson, Kentucky and was photographed 1 January 2010.
Monday, January 4, 2010
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Smithland United Methodist Church
Smithland United Methodist Church, located on the corner of Court Street and Wilson Avenue, Smithland, Kentucky. The building dates from the early 1940s. The church was photographed 21 December 2009.
Friday, January 1, 2010
The Reasons Why ...
No one lives in total isolation. Events in our neighborhood, our town, our state and our country affect the way we live and define our place in the world. If there is a financial recession, the result may be the loss of our job or our home. If there is a war, we may take sides and fight on one side or the other. This was true years ago and is true today. To understand the lives of our ancestors, we need to know the events - good or bad - they faced.
Did the creation of a new county affect your ancestor? If he was living in Caldwell County in 1820, but is not there in 1830, did he actually move or did he live in the part that became Hickman County in 1821? Where will you find records of this ancestor before and after Hickman was formed?
Did your ancestor disappear in 1833 or 1849 or 1873? Could he have been a victim of one of the cholera epidemics that hit Kentucky?
Maybe your ancestor was in Kentucky in 1840, but, by 1850, he was in California. Was he infected by gold fever and went west to "strike it rich?" How might he have traveled to California? Did he go alone or with others? How was life in California different than life in Kentucky?
Babies are given names for a reason - maybe they were named for a member of the family or maybe they were named for a non-member, but someone your family admired. Was your ancestor one of the many men named Linn Boyd? Was he named for Linn Boyd, Speaker of the House of Representatives from Trigg County 1851 - 1855? Why were so many males named Lorenzo Dow?
The Civil War forced Kentuckians to examine their feelings about slavery and states' rights. How did Kentucky Governor Magoffin stand during the Civil War affect the neutrality of Kentucky? Which side did your ancestor choose? How was his life affected because of his choice?
Did your ancestor mortgage everything he had in 1873, only to lose it all? Was it due to the financial panic that year that caused hard and trying times throughout the state?
Genealogy is more than a list of names and dates. Events near and far affect our life choices and, coupled with our cultural, religious and political beliefs determine how we live our lives. To better understand why our ancestors made certain decisions, we must learn as much as possible about them, including the events they experienced.
Did the creation of a new county affect your ancestor? If he was living in Caldwell County in 1820, but is not there in 1830, did he actually move or did he live in the part that became Hickman County in 1821? Where will you find records of this ancestor before and after Hickman was formed?
Did your ancestor disappear in 1833 or 1849 or 1873? Could he have been a victim of one of the cholera epidemics that hit Kentucky?
Maybe your ancestor was in Kentucky in 1840, but, by 1850, he was in California. Was he infected by gold fever and went west to "strike it rich?" How might he have traveled to California? Did he go alone or with others? How was life in California different than life in Kentucky?
Babies are given names for a reason - maybe they were named for a member of the family or maybe they were named for a non-member, but someone your family admired. Was your ancestor one of the many men named Linn Boyd? Was he named for Linn Boyd, Speaker of the House of Representatives from Trigg County 1851 - 1855? Why were so many males named Lorenzo Dow?
The Civil War forced Kentuckians to examine their feelings about slavery and states' rights. How did Kentucky Governor Magoffin stand during the Civil War affect the neutrality of Kentucky? Which side did your ancestor choose? How was his life affected because of his choice?
Did your ancestor mortgage everything he had in 1873, only to lose it all? Was it due to the financial panic that year that caused hard and trying times throughout the state?
Genealogy is more than a list of names and dates. Events near and far affect our life choices and, coupled with our cultural, religious and political beliefs determine how we live our lives. To better understand why our ancestors made certain decisions, we must learn as much as possible about them, including the events they experienced.
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