In the early days of Henderson, when settlements were
very few and far between, the country wild, no roads, no conveniencies[sic],
no mode of travel, save upon the back of a horse, or on foot, the means of
obtaining information from other parts of the country were poor indeed.
There were no mail facilities, no way of getting the news, only
through the medium of one to another, who happened to be traveling from
place to place. It is not strange, therefore, that the acts of the
Legislature were a long time finding their way to the people, and the
people then a long time complying with the law. Officers of the law were
distressingly few, and to institute legal proceedings to settle land
rights, was an undertaking most of the settlers rather shrank from, than
wished to undertake. The nearest courts were one hundred to two hundred
miles away, with no roads or bridges. A narrow passageway or trail beaten
by wild animals meandering through the cane, pea-vine, prairie grass and
forest undergrowth, offered the only highway, and to make this journey was
both difficult and dangerous. For this reason, perhaps more than any
other, many people failed to comply with the law, and what they had earned
by honest hard toil was taken away by the more active settler of a
speculative and unscrupulous turn of mind. There were few men in those
days to counsel with, and matters could not be brought from
shapeless confusion, with such comparative ease and reasonable expense as
they were when the county became more thickly populated. During the
nineties, settlements were made in the county and town until it was deemed
advisable to establish another county; therefore to aid in the more rapid
developement[sic] of the Green River country, on the 21st day of December,
1798, the General Assembly of the State passed the following act:
"SECTION I. Be it enacted, & c., That
all of that part of the County of Christian, from and after the 15th day
of May next, included in the following lands to-wit: Beginning on Trade
Water, opposite the mouth of Montgomeries, thence to the head of Drake's
Creek, thence down Drake's Creek to Pond River and down the same to Green
River, and down the same to the Ohio River, and down the same to the mouth
of Trace Water, and up the same to the beginning shall be one distinct
county, and called and known by the name Henderson. But the County of
Henderson shall not be entitled to a separate Representative until the
number of free male inhabitants therein contained, above the age of
twenty-one years, shall entitle them to one representation, agreeable to
the ratio that shall hereafter be established by law.
"SEC. 2. The Quarter
Sessions County for the County of Henderson shall be held annually on the
first Tuesday in the months of March, May, July and October, and the
County Courts for said county shall sit the same day in every other month,
in which the Courts of Quarter Sessions are not herein directed to be
held, in such manner, as is provided by law in respect to other counties
within this State.
"SEC. 3. The Justices
of the Court of Quarter Sessions and County Courts named in the
Commissions for said county, shall meet at Samuel Bradley's Tavern in the
Town of Henderson, in the said county, on the first court day after said
division takes place, and having taken the oath prescribed by law, and a
Sheriff being qualified to act, the Justices of the said courts shall
proceed to appoint a clerk, separately to their respective courts, as they
may severally choose to do, and to fix on a place to erect the public
buildings in said county where the courts for said county thereafter shall
be held."
This act made it lawful for the Sheriff of Christian
County to make distress for any public dues or officers' fees unpaid by
citizens, within the bounds of the new county at the time the division
should take place; also, that the Courts of Christian County should have
jurisdiction in all actions and suits depending therein at the time of
said division, and should try and determine the same, issue process, and
award execution. This act took effect May 15, 1799. Henderson was now a
full-fledged county, with established boundaries, including ample
territory, one would think, for all practical and reasonable purposes, yet
there was a disposition to claim the peninsula northwest of the Ohio
River, and now known as the bayou in Union Township, Indiana. Title Papers
calling for lines in that territory which was claimed as a part of
Christian County, are of record in the County Clerk's office at this time.
On the 27th day of January, 1810, the Legislature of Kentucky settled the
question, by the passage of the following preamble and enactment;
"Whereas, Doubts are
suggested whether the counties calling for the Ohio River in the boundary
line extend to the State line on the northwest side of said river, or
whether the margin of the southeast side is the limit of the county - to
explain which - Be it enacted, &c., That each County of this
Commonwealth calling for the river Ohio, as the boundary line, shall be
considered as bounded in that particular by the State line, on the
northwest side of said river, and the bed of the river and the Islands
thereof, shall be in their respective counties holding the main land
opposite thereto within this State, and the several county tribunals shall
hold jurisdiction accordingly."
Subsequent to this in a suit of Handley's lessee,
versus Anthony, concerning Kentucky's jurisdiction over the peninsula in
Indiana, opposite the Town of Henderson, the Court of Appeals of Kentucky
decided among other things -
"That the boundary of the State of Kentucky
extends only to low water mark on the western or northwestern side of the
river Ohio, and does not include a peninsula or island on the western or
northwestern bank, separated from the main land by a channel or bayou,
which is filled with water only when the river rises above its banks, and
is at other times dry."
This decision has forever settled the boundary line of
Henderson County, so far as her northwestern line is concerned. In
pursuance of the act heretofore recited, creating the County of Henderson,
the five Justices of the County Court and the three of the Court of
Quarter Sessions, commissioned by his excellency, the Governor, met for
the first time at Bradley Tavern, in the Town of Henderson, on the fourth
day of June, 1799, and organized their courts according to law. The first
record says:
"This being the day directed by an act of the
General Assembly, for the meeting of the Courts of Justices thereof
aforesaid, for the purposes therein expressed, the said officers met as
aforesaid, and constituted their courts in manner and form following:
Present, Samuel Hopkins, Abraham Landers, and Hugh Knox, Gentlemen
Justices of the Court of Quarter Sessions of Henderson County. Present,
Charles Davis, Jacob Barnett, Daniel Ashby, John Husbands, Eneas
McCallister and Jacob Newman, Gentlemen Justices of the Peace and County
Court, for Henderson County. A commission from his excellency, the
Governor of the State, bearing date December 22, 1798 directed to Charles
Davis, Jacob Barnett, Daniel Ashby, John Husbands, Eneas McCallister and
Jacob Newman, Esq's., appointing them Justices of the Peace in this
county, was produced and read, whereupon the said gentlemen took the oath
prescribed by the Constitution, and were qualified accordingly. A
commission from his excellency, the Governor, bearing date December 22,
1798, directed to Andrew, Rowan, Esq., appointing him Sheriff of the
County, was produced and read, whereupon the said Andrew Rowan took the
oath prescribed by the Constitution, and with Daniel Ashby and Jacob
Newman, his sureties entered into, and acknowledged their bond in the
penalty of one thousand dollars for the said Rowan's duly and faithfully
performing the said office of Sheriff according to law."
The Court of Quarter Sessions then proceeded to appoint
a clerk and John David Haussman was appointed, whereupon the said Haussman
took the oath, &c., and entered into bond, with General Samuel Hopkins his
surety. The County Court proceeded to appoint a clerk, and John David
Haussman was appointed, and with General Samuel Hopkins, his surety,
entered into bond, &c. Edward Talbott produced a commission from the
Governor, appointing him Surveyor of the county, whereupon he, with Isham
Talbott, his surety, entered into bond in the penalty of one thousand
pounds for the faithful performance of his duties.
The Justices of the Court of Quarter Sessions, and the
Justices of the County Court consociated, proceeded to consider and fix
upon a place for the seat of Justice of Henderson County, and having
consulted together, ordered and determine that the public buildings be
erected on the Public Square in the Town of Henderson, and that the courts
for the county be held in the said Town. The Justices having determined on
such matter as were confided to them conjointly by law, dissolved their
sitting. The County Court continued in session, all of the qualified
Justices being present. The first business presented to the court, was an
indenture of bargains and sale from Henry Purviance for himself, and as an
attorney in fact for others, the same was acknowledged and ordered to be
records. The court then adjourned to the school house.
RATHER INDEFINITE.
The foregoing copy of the record is about as clear and
comprehensive as most of the orders to be found during the official term
of Mr. Haussman; evidently that gentleman never expected a history of the
county from its beginning to be written, and had he kept his books with
the view of furnishing as little information to the historian as possible,
he could hardly have succeeded more thoroughly than he has done. It would
be a hard matter at this time to tell from Mr. Haussman's books and papers
where Bradley's Tavern and the school house stood at the time he was
clerk. It would have been an easy matter, had he simply added the number
of the lot or lots. After an extended research through the old records,
and repeated conversations with many of the oldest inhabitants, it is
pretty generally settled that Bradley's Tavern sootd on the east side of
Main between First and Second Streets, and the school house stood in the
site now occupied by the store house of Thomas Evans, on the northeast
corner of Main and Second Streets. These houses were built after the
primitive style, unhewn logs being used for walls and logs hewn on one
side for joists. The school house was a small affair, perhaps not
exceeding fourteen feet square in the clear. To continue with the records
of the first County Court, we find that the non-cupative will of Joseph
Mason, deceased, was produced in court, proved by the oath of Rachel
Thompson, and ordered recorded. In this will a portion of the peninsula
lying on the Indiana side, of which we have spoken, was devised and the
same mentioned as being a part of Christian County, lying in the
northwestern part. The county being without a prison house, it was ordered
that Samuel Hopkins, Eneas McCallister and John Husband, or any two of
them, report to the next August meeting a plan whereon to erect a public
jail, likewise what addition ought to be made to the present school house
to make it more convenient for holding courts. Johnathan Anthom was
appointed the first constable, executing bond and taking the oath
prescribed by law. Court then adjourned; signed, Charles Davis.
History of Henderson County, Kentucky
by Edmund L. Starling
pps. 47 - 51
published in 1887
public domain material
