Henry Perviance Peers 1807-1846

Henry Perviance Peers (1807-1846) of Maysville, Kentucky, was the younger brother of Benjamin O. Peers, president of Transylvania University. H.P. Peers attended Transylvania University, but did not graduate. He assembled materials for, and wrote a draft of, a planned publication A complete gazetteer of the state of Kentucky. Peers did not complete this work before he died in March of 1846. After his death, his brother-in-law, Lewis Collins (1797-1870, newspaper editor and judge of Mason County, Kentucky) used Peers' work as a basis for the county and town information for Collins' 1847 publication, Historical sketches of Kentucky. Collins' history was the first illustrated history of Kentucky and the most complete work to date.

Kentucky State Guard, Mason County 1861

Mason Artillery, Maysville, Kentucky, was commissioned on April 27, 1861. Officers were J. Nelson, Captain; Jerry F. Young, 1st Lieutenant; William Forman, 2nd Lieutenant; and Henry E. Pogue, 3rd Lieutenant.

Mason Rifles, Maysville, Kentucky, commissioned on March 1, 1861. Of- ficers were: Charles C. Cady, Captain; H. N. Cox, 1st Lieutenant; George W. Sulser, 2nd Lieutenant; S. T. Foreman, 3rd Lieutenant.

Ringgold Artillery, Mayslick, Mason County, Kentucky, was commissioned on May 10, 1861. Officers were: Thomas W. Wheatley, Captain; John Small, 1st Lieutenant; Joshua H. Watson, 2nd Lieutenant; and Charles Clarke, 3rd Lieutenant.

Lee's General Store, Lewisburg, KY


Lee’s General Store was a thriving business. It was also “ the local hangout” for men and boys alike. Charley Frank Lee was the operator. Charley Frank, his two children ( Barbara and Charley Burns ) his brother Bud and his mother ( Ms Rose ) all lived in the apartment above the store. Empty pop bottles were worth a penny, a pack of Marvel cigarettes was a dime, pop was a nickle. RC Cola and Moon Pies. Yum Yum. Gas probably sold from 19 to 25 cents a gallon. After supper in the evening local farmers would begin gathering at the store to loaf and play euchre in the back of the store. Usually in attendance were Gus Tolle, Ed Brannen, Russell Muse, and other locals. Jr. Muse and I were allowed to play some evenings. If you won, you kept on playing, if you lost you got up and others took your place. At exactly 9 p.m. Charley Frank “pulled the plug”. Everybody got up and went home.

Re-printed from Lewisburg 50 Years Ago

Mason County Cold Case

State Police Request Help Resolving Ralph Bigelow Murder

April 27,1989

On Thursday April 27,1989 at approximately 0900 hours, Ralph Bigelow was killed at his barn while feeding his horses, by a person or persons unknown. The barn was located on Ky. 596, Salem Ridge Road in Mason County. An investigation of the scene revealed that Mr. Bigelow had been shot multiple times by a shotgun, and robbed of approximately $3000.00 in cash.

Detectives are requesting help from the community or anyone who might have information on the robbery and homicide of Ralph Bieglow. Anyone with information can contact the case officer Detective Sherman Royse with the Kentucky State Police Post 8 Morehead, Kentucky at (606) 784-4127 or e-mail him at sherman.royse@ky.gov.

The Whatsits


Patrick Fogel Recalls The Whatsits

In high school, I had a part-time job at WFTM Radio in Maysville, Kentucky, where I grew up. I was the remote producer at all the sock hops and was the DJ that spun the platters. I recorded from the dances and then had a one-hour program on Wednesday evenings to play it back. In between, I would take requests and play as many (songs) as I could. It was my feedback as to who was listening and how many. I got to be well known. The station wanted me to get an FCC license and although station manager, Roy Redmond, was very good to me, I declined. I went to the sock hops to have fun and dance with the girls! Thanks to Ron Bailey for sending this piece
Click Title To Read Entire Article

Colonel Charles D. Young


Born in Mays Lick, Kentucky, Colonel Charles Young was an African American cavalry officer who held important intelligence assignments in the early years of the 20th century. He was the third black to graduate from West Point, and the only one to endure the racial injustice of the times and still made the Army his career. Colonel Young overcame open hatred and disrespect by mastering his profession and leading by example. He did not become a leader by virtue of his commission in the U.S. Army-he earned it by working harder than any other officer and by displaying
courage and intelligence in combat. He was an accomplished linguist and, when he was not serving with one of the Black Regiments, he worked in intelligence.

Kentucky vs. Xavier, February 14, 1955

A reader sent this interesting article

Two ( 2 ) Maysville guys playing against each other in college.
Francis Stahl of St Patrick and Gerry Calvert of Maysville
Xavier at Kentucky
Monday, February 14 1955 –
Xavier - 55 (Head Coach: Ned Wulk) - [Unranked]

Player FG FT FTA PF Pts
Richard Schneider 2 2 6 1 6
Charles Hofmann 3 0 0 2 6
John Albrinck 0 0 0 1 0
James O'Connell 0 0 0 0 0
Dave Piontek 6 3 4 2 15
James Boothe 0 0 0 0 0
Louis Vonderbrink 2 1 1 1 5
Francis Stahl 8 5 6 4 21
William Veith 1 0 0 0 2
Totals 22 11 17 11 55

Kentucky - 66 (Head Coach: Adolph Rupp) - [Ranked 2nd by AP]
Player FG FT FTA PF Pts
Phil Grawemeyer 6 0 0 3 12
Jerry Bird 7 0 4 0 14
Ray Mills 0 0 0 0 0
Bob Burrow 6 2 4 0 14
Billy Evans 7 3 4 1 17
Gayle Rose 3 3 7 4 9
Gerry Calvert 0 0 0 2 0
Totals 29 8 19 10 66

Halftime Score: Kentucky 41, Xavier 28
Officials: Bob Forsythe and Jack Keys
Attendance: 10,000
Arena: Memorial Coliseum
References: Lexington Herald and Xavier University

Democrat Party Meeting Invitation 1840


Click to Enlarge

John M. Clay son of Henry Clay

In 1844 John M. Clay, of Lexington, the youngest son of the great orator and statesman, was challenged by a Philidelphian named Hopkins, and both proceeded to Maysville to fight. Clay had a letter from his father to Mitchell, who at once proceeded to put him in training. The next morning Clay remarke'd to Mitchell that were it not for his age and probable unwillingness to participate in such an affair, that he would prefer him as a second to any one living.

"Oh, no," said Mitchell, firing under his left leg and peeling a two- inch sapling at twenty yards, "By Gad, sir, not too old yet to enjoy life." This idea of enjoying existence was quite a novel one to young Clay, whose blood ran cold at the suggestion. Hopkins withdrew his challenge, and the fight did not come off.

In his later years he was sent to the legislature from Mason County and served one term. He died in June, 1861, of heart disease. He rwas a strong Union man, and his last days were spent in lamenting that 'he was not at Fort Sumter with Major Anderson and been buried bet ,neath the ruins. He wanted to die amid the storm and whirlwind of battle instead of on a bed of a painful and lingering disease.

Mefford's Fort


Photo from the Louisville Courier Journal date unknown
This is a rare photo, click to enlarge
The "Frontier Service" of George Mefford has been accepted by the National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution - National Nos. 431610 and 431611.

"The first settler with his family near Maysville and out side of a blockhouse was George Mefford, who lived in a cabin where his son, John Mefford lived until his death on April 7, 1872, two miles due south of Maysville. The "Boathouse" as it is called was constructed from the timbers of the old broadhorn George Mefford steered down the Ohio River. The spot was known in 1787 as "Mefford's Station." George Mefford was one of the first trustees of Maysville in 1787, and his son John was the third child born in Mason County, born December 4, 1787." (From: "History of Maysville and Mason County," by G. Glenn Clift, page 55)

MEFFORD'S FORT - Historic landmark, on the Maple Leaf Road a half mile from its junction with historic U.S. 68, it is the only original fort of the Revolutionary War left standing in Kentucky, and it is the last of the flatboat houses. Early settlers so constructed their flatboats that after they floated down the Ohio to Limestone (now Maysville) they could take them apart and use the materials to build better houses on the forest-clad hillsides of Kentucky. This old fort is being restored under the sponsorship of the Mason County Historical Society and will be one of the states greatest tourist attractions and the children of this and coming generations can behold the wide cherry flatboat boards that form the walls.

The cabin has been moved to Main Street in Washington, KY

Milton C. Russell


The late Milton Culbertson Russell, who died at his home in Maysville on the 21st of July, 1902, was long numbered among the representative business men and most highly honored citizens of his
native county, and he contributed in generous measure to the social and material progress and upbuilding of Maysville, in which his varied interests were centered and in which he wielded much influence as a public-spirited citizen and enterprising business man. His life was signally true and earnest in all its relations and left the heritage, of worthy thoughts and worthy deeds. Milton Culbertson Russell was born in Maysville on the 6th of April, 1844. He was a son of Christopher and Mary M. (Maulei Russell, the former of whom was born near the city of Leeds. England, and the latter of whom was born at Westchester, Pennsylvania. Christopher Russell was reared and educated in his native land and was but sixteen years of age at the time of his emigration to America. He landed in the city of New Orleans and thence made his way by boat up the Mississippi anil Ohio rivers to Kentucky. He established his residence in Maysville in the year 1830, and here engaged in the work of his trade, that of a brick mason, in which connection he built many of the prominent buildings in the town and surrounding districts.
In Maysville there are still standing a number of substantial buildings that remain as enduring monuments to his technical skill. He continued to reside in Maysville until his death and was one of the well known and highly esteemed business men of the city for many years. His wife was a girl at the time of her j-arents' removal from Pennsylvania to Cincinnati, Ohio, and there is ample authority for the statement that she was the first woman to be employed as clerk in a mercantile establishment in that city. She passed the closing years of her life in Maysville, and both she and her husband held membership in the Christian church. They became the parents of eight children, all of whom are now deceased. Milton C. Russell attended the private school conducted by Rand & Richardson in Maysville until he had attained the age of fifteen years, when he secured a position as clerk in the wholesale grocery establishment of John Richeson, in whose employ he continued until 1864, when he became a salesman in the wholesale house of !l. A. Richardson, dealer in groceries, liquors and seeds. He eventually made himself virtually an indispensable factor in connection with the business, as he thoroughly familiarized himself with all details thereof and showed marked discrimination and executive ability. In 1881 he purchased an interest in the enterprise, after having been long identified therewith, and in 1886 he became the sole proprietor of the business. In 1890 he admitted his eldest son, J. Barbour Russell, to partnership, and thereafter the enterprise was conducted under the firm name of M. C. Russell & Son until his death. The business is now conducted under the title of the M. C. Russell Company. He gave his splendid energies to the upbuilding of this important commercial enterprise, and the house has long held leadership in its specific field. The annual transactions have now reached large proportions and the house does an exclusively wholesale trade in the handling of groceries, seeds, liquors, etc. A large corps of traveling salesmen is retained and the concern has contributed in large measure to the commercial prestige of Maysville. The building occupied is a substantial structure of brick, is five stories in height and fifty-seven and one-half by eighty-seven feet in lateral dimensions. This building v.as erected by Mr. Russell and is one of the best business blocks in the city. The company also utilizes two large warehouses, in which surplus stock is kept.

Note: The M.C. Russell building is located at the corner of Third and Market Streets. Shown on the left in the above photo

Maysville, KY ca 1899


New South" run by the Memphis & Cincinnati Packet Co., with decks full of passengers.
Description A family stands on the C&O railroad tracks running down Front Street. There are a couple of landings on the opposite shore. The far left road down to the river on the Aberdeen side is where Zane's Trace (1797) met the ferry to cross the river to connect with the Limestone Road to Lexington..
Date ca. 1899
Places Maysville (Ky.)
Mason County (Ky.)

Henry Cutter Died In Maysville, KY

To the Memory of Henry Cutter.
Died September 29, 1840, at Maysville, Kentucky, Mr. HENRY CUTTER, aged about forty years. Among the many victims who have been suddenly prostrated in the flower of their years and the fulness of their strength by that fell destroyer, the cholera, there was
none whose inoffensive life, whose active usefulness and unassuming worth were more generally recognized, or whose death is more deeply deplored as a common calamity by the community of which he was so valued a member. Amiable in his disposition, urlmne and social in his intercourse with the world, an open hand and a liberal heart, punctual and scrupulously correct in all his business transactions, of stern integrity and a high and delicate sense of honor ; he was a man very dearly beloved bv his friends and sincerely respected by all who knew him. Emigrating to this city many years ago from another State, he so lived as to draw to himself the warm
affection and unshaken confidence of a community into which he came a stranger from a distant land ; and while, by his energy and enterprise, he became a most important and useful member of the business community, the attractive virtues of his character rendered him no less an ornament of the social circle of which he was the life. Having by his industry and energy amassed a large property, he was ever liberal and free m his contributions to works of public utility as well as private charity. We understand that he has left a large circle of relatives in Massachusetts, his native
State, who will feel his death as a calamity not to be repaired.

Maysville Eagle

Richard Henry Stanton 1812-1891

A Representative from Kentucky; born in Alexandria, Va., September 9, 1812; completed preparatory studies; attended Alexandria Academy; studied law; was admitted to the bar and began practice in Maysville, Ky., in 1835; editor of the Maysville Monitor 1835-1842; postmaster of Maysville; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-first, Thirty-second, and Thirty-third Congresses (March 4, 1849-March 3, 1855); chairman, Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds (Thirty-first and Thirty-second Congresses), Committee on Elections (Thirty-third Congress); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1854 to the Thirty-fourth Congress; State’s attorney 1858-1861; delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1868; district judge 1868-1874; resumed the practice of law until his retirement in 1885; died in Maysville, Ky., March 20, 1891; interment in Maysville Cemetery.

A dam-p frozen spot."
Description Interior burned building. Charred timbers covered with icicles.
Date ca. 1899
Places Maysville (Ky.)
Mason County (Ky.)

Subjects Ruins
Ice
Fires
Winter scenes

Creator Kackley, J. T., fl. 1889-1900 -- Photographer

Mason Co Library Sculpture


This bronze sculpture is in honor of Jean Moyer Akin at the Mason County Public Library in Maysville, Kentucky. The book that she holds contains a short biography of her life.

Illegal Arrests 1861, Mason County

General William "Bull" Nelson
No more flagrant outrage upon the rights of citizens was perpetrated during the war, than the arrests made at
Maysville, Kentucky, on the 1st of October, 1861, by General. William Nelson. They were not made because the exigencies of the military service or the safety of the country demanded them, but because a few political leaders, to whom General Nelson had surrendered himself, expected to promote their party interests, by getting rid of the most influential Democrats in the community. General "William Nelson was at that time recruiting his brigade in Mason, and the adjoining counties, and had established a camp a short distance from Maysville. His headquarters
were in the city, where he was surrounded by his counsel of advisers, a few men who had been the life-long
enemies of the Democratic party. These men made out a proscription list for General Nelson, embracing about twelve of the leading and most influential Democrats of the city, and urged their arrest and departure from the State.
On the morning of the 2d of October, 1861, two hundred armed soldiers, from the camp, under General Nelson's orders, were marched into the city, and stationed at the market- house. Squads were sent out, and the following gentlemen, whose names had been selected by the political coterie who controlled General Nelson, were suddenly seized and placed in custody of the armed force at the market-house : the Hon. Richard H. Stanton, James H. Hall, Washington B. Tottle, Benjamin F. Thomas, Wm. Hunt, Isaac Nelson, George Forrester, and William T. Costoe.
Mr. Stantou had been an influential and leading Democrat, who represented his district in Congress, from 1849 to 1855, '
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