Maysville Mason County Kentucky

2011-11-05T11:42:00.002-04:00

1940s Maysville Fishermen-Click Pic To Enlarge

2011-10-31T21:08:00.000-04:00

Credit to Kentucky Explorer Magazine

Maysville 50 Years Ago

2011-10-20T15:59:00.001-04:00

Maysville 50 Years Ago – One Man’s Recollections!
By: Ken Downing
Maysville was a thriving little town in the 1950s. Downtown flourished with a multitude of retail business. Stores stayed open on Friday night. There was no Sunday sales. No parking meters. No one way streets. On weekend nights they just “ rolled up the sidewalk” People came from miles around to shop in downtown Maysville. For entertainment there was the Russell Theater, the so called “ passion pits “ Riverside Drive In in Aberdeen, the Park Drive In on the Fleming Road, Beechwood Park in the summer, and, of course, Bulldog basketball. If you couldn’t make it to the gym, or you couldn’t get a ticket, ( every home game was standing room only ) you listened to the game on WFTM. Late spring and early summer meant Knothole league games in Wald Park. A real treat was a trip to Cincinnati’s Crosley field to watch the Reds play or the Cincinnati Zoo or Coney Island Amusement park.

There were several city schools. Fifth Ward, Forest Avenue, Woodleigh, and First District were all grades one through six. When you reached the seventh grade you got to go to the center building and in most cases had to face Miss Flossie Jones. A wonderful, no nonsense, teacher. The schools were segregated. Only white children attended these schools. The African American children ( colored to use a word of the times ) went to Fee High School. The Maysville swimming pool, on east Second Street, was for whites only. The Russell Theater had a “ colored” balcony. Integration came in the fall of 1956. Maysville did not experience the turmoil that had occurred in Little Rock, Arkansas or Clinton, Tennessee. Cooler heads of both races kept everything under control. Basketball became the common denominator. Unfortunately, prejudice would continue for many years.

There was nothing on top of the “new hill” except the WFTM tower (erected about 1946-47), the Maysville Country Club (reserved for the wealthy and the privileged) and Country Club Heights. In the early 50s through traffic coming off the bridge had to wind it’s way through town and up the “old “ 68 hill. On the weekends traffic got really backed up. The joke used to be that all those Buckeyes, who were really from Kentucky that had moved to Ohio to find work, had to go home every weekend to get a good meal.

There weren’t many restaurants in those days. Most folks couldn’t afford to eat out. Caps of course was in business, Elite’s, Porter Morgan’s EATS, The White Light, The Greek’s, The Avalon, soda fountains at the drug stores ( Ryans, Kilgus, Owl, Vance s and Parker s ) Frisch’s in Aberdeen and a couple of Mom and Pop operations were it.

Decent jobs were hard to come by. Besides working in retail there was factory jobs at Browning’s, Wald’s, Carnation, January and Wood and Parker Tobacco Company. A few families essentially controlled the economy. It was rumored for years that these families discouraged any new industry in order to control the labor base. It was difficult to get a job at Browning’s and Carnation but Wald’s and the cotton mill would hire the entire family. There was no minimum wage. The starting wage at the cotton mill in the mid to late 50s was about 35 cents a hour. My father worked there in 1939 and made 18 cents an hour. Some people would carpool and commute all the way to Dayton Ohio where they got jobs at National Cash Register or Wright Patterson Air force Base.
In the fall and winter tobacco sales were a tremendous boost to the economy. Over a dozen warehouses were in operation and they competed for the farmer’s business. The national tobacco companies sent teams of buyers to bid on the crops. Maysville was known as “ The Second Largest Tobacco Market In The World”. WFTM “ World’s Finest Tobacco Market “ Mr Jim Finch had to negotiate with some people in Buffalo NY to get the call letters. Jokingly people said it stood for “ Watch Finch Take Maysville.” Seasonal jobs were available at the warehouses and Parker Tobacco Company’s re-dryer. Parker worked for the national tobacco companies drying, packaging and shipping the tobacco they bought. Some industrious teenagers, no names mentioned, would follow tobacco trucks around picking up hands of tobacco that fell off the trucks. Once several were accumulated they would get a friendly farmer to include them in the sale with his crop. It was always worth a buck or two.

Maysville had two ( 2 ) daily newspapers. The Public Ledger owned by Bill Matthews and The Daily Independent owned by the Comer family. They competed for the advertising dollar. Ponto, the Office Dog, was a daily feature of the Independent taking “ shots “ at people and things. It was must read everyday.

Maysville was the regional center for health care in the 1950s. Several doctors come to mind. The Denham brothers, Mitchell and Harry, Dr. Cartmell, Dr. Parker, and Dr. Savage. Several had offices in the upper floors in what was then known as The State National Bank building. Hayswood Hospital was state of the art for the times and the only hospital in a seven county radius. Later the Denhams would open the Denham Clinic on Forest Avenue, which attracted several more well known and respected doctors to the area. You just didn’t go to the hospital on Wednesday. Doctors day off.

The Cochran family owned and operated the water company. You paid your water bill in the Cochran Building on Court Street. The original water plant is on east Second street at the end of Lexington Street. The paved over area was the swimming pool.

Maysville was surly one of the only towns of its size, during the 1950s, to have a public transportation system. The buses were owned and operated by the Duke family. The history of public transportation in Maysville goes back several decades. They ran on a regular basis from Carmel Street in the east to the Germantown road turn around in the west.
Parents purchased tokens for kids to ride back and forth to and from school.

The Meadow Drive apartments, at the end of Clark Street, was built in the early 50s. It provided adequate low income housing. Something the town had needed for years. Not sure of the year that the city annexed Eastland. Everything on the south side of Forest Avenue from the present Browning warehouse all the way to past Clark Street was in the county. No paved streets. No plumbing. In fact, Woodleigh School at that time was a county school. Mr Hume was the county school superintendent. He ran the school system, Woodleigh, Orangeburg, Mayslick, Lewisburg and Minerva, out of the trunk of his car.

Maysville had a “ town drunk”. It wouldn’t be appropriate to give his name but stories about him are classics. I was walking past him, sitting in a downtown doorway, and heard him say, “ The hold world is an S.O.B. but me “. Once when the jailer had him sweeping Market Street he sold his broom to a farmer and they had to go get him out of one of the bars. Another time police told him they weren’t going to arrest him and let him spend Thanksgiving in jail. He threw a brick through a plate glass window downtown and sit on the curb until they came and got him.

I left in June 1957. Mr Robert Hetrick, manager of the G. C Murphy store was instrumental in getting me a position on the Murphy Company Management Training Program. We returned in May 1968 and worked at January and Wood . We left again in 1978. Maysville will always be home. We try and visit at least once a year. With every visit there is a strange sensation. Everybody I know has gotten a whole lot older than me. Those that say nothing ever changes just didn’t grow up in Maysville in the 50s.

Historical Photo Slideshow

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Woodleigh School

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Credit Northern Kentucky Views

Simon Kenton

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Clift in his "History of Maysville and Mason County Kentucky" recounts:
'Kenton spent most of his time at the mouth of Limestone Creek where boats were appearing daily. He knew the trails of his beloved country, the distances and dangers: it was his self-appointed duty to guide, warn and welcome the various parties that edged their cautious ways into the creek that was beginning to be known at Fort Pitt as "the landing port" of northern Kentucky.'

Retired Maysville Fire Fighters

2009-06-29T06:17:00.001-04:00

Retired members attending the first dinner in 2007 were, sitting: Chief Stanley McGowan, Assistant Chief Stanley Gulley, Chief Fred Breeze. Standing: Assistant Chief Wayne Muse, Scotty Howard, John Stahl, Assistant Chief Jack Fultz, Dale Helphinstine, Doug Earls, Laddie Mitchell and Rusty Thomas.

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Biography of General William Yarnel SLACK

Born August 1 1816, Mason County KY
Died March 21 1862, Moore's Mill AR
Pre-War Profession Lawyer, Mexican War. War Service 1861 Brig. Gen. of Missouri State Guard, Carthage, Springfield (w), Elkhorn Tavern (w), died of wounds, promoted Brig. Gen. posthumously.

Mason County vs Simon Kenton 1981

2009-04-30T12:35:00.001-04:00

The largest crowd to ever watch a high school basketball game crowded into Rupp Arena to see Mason County and Simon Kenton play for the Ky. Boys' State Championship
Rupp Arena, Lexington, KY
March 22, 1981

Maysville Colored High School

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It was on 5th Street just east of Market Street

Washington, KY ca 1910

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Lewisburg School

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Washington School

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It was burnt down in the mid 70s

Traxel Restaurant & Jewelry Store History

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Click any photo to enlarge

The following was sent to me by long time friend Bill Traxel
The man in the Traxel's Bread Wagon photo is Uncle Frederick Traxel. He was my grandfather's uncle. Frederick was born in 1858, the youngest of six children and one of three who were born after the family left Germany. Frederick was the founder of Traxel's Restaurant around 1878. Frederick never married and he died in his late thirties. My grandfather joined him in the restaurant around 1891, and the restaurant prospered under his management. Grandfather died in 1925 and my grandmother was unable to run it. She sold it to Louis Cablish, a cousin of my grandfather's. Louis ran the restaurant until the late 1950's when it closed. Traxel's Restaurant was also a bakery. It was famous for its ice cream, made on the premises, and its cakes Traxel's Jewelry Store came into existence around 1912, when my Dad's Uncle Charlie bought the business from Rosemary's Grandfather Andrew Clooney and (John?) Perrine. Dad graduated from Ohio State in 1931 with a degree in civil engineering. He worked for the US Department of Interior in their Geodesic Survey until 1935. He returned to Maysville in 1935 to oversee his terminally ill mother, and he began a new career, working for his uncle in the jewelry store. When Dad died, my brother, Charlie, took over the store. Now my nephew, Drew, who represents the fourth generation of Traxels in the store, owns it.
Bill

"On the C. and O. Looking West"

2009-03-31T07:00:00.001-04:00

Looking down Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad railroad tracks in Maysville. C&O looking west toward the depot in the distance. Trestle is over Wall Street. The factory at the left is January and Wood Cotton Mill that was established in 1834
Date ca. 1899

Did You Know ?

2009-03-27T09:20:00.003-04:00

Long time Mason County jailer Lloyd Berry was a 6 times president of the Kentucky Jailer's Association. Lloyd was elected in 1973, 1975, 1976, 1978, 1979 and 1982

Allen Smith - Gone But Not Forgotten

2009-03-27T06:09:00.002-04:00

Allen “ Smitty “ Smith, Maysville High School class of 1958, is arguably the best all around MHS athlete ever. Basketball or baseball Smitty could do it all. A diminutive five foot eight inches and maybe a 140 pounds, his size gave no clues to his athletic ability. He could dunk a basketball with both hands. Shoot a left handed jump shot before jump shots became popular. Quick as a cat he could slash to the basket with the best of them. His scoring prowess places him number two ( 2 ) on the all time MHS scoring list with 1,975 points. As a baseball player he was nothing short of outstanding. I don’t have his high school baseball statistics but I can tell you that he probably hit for over .400 for his high school career. However, it was his pitching that drew raves. In 1958 he pitched the Dogs into the state baseball tournament and then pitched every game in the tournament to give the Dogs its only state baseball title. In 1959 Smitty attended LSU on a baseball scholarship. His pitching record, at LSU, is nothing short of sensational. 1960 he won 5 and lost 5 with an ERA of 2.31, 1961 he was 10 and 2 with an ERA of 1.34 and in 1962 he was 7 and 2 with an ERA of 1.93.
His three years total were: 22 wins and 9 losses. An ERA of 1.82 in 237 innings. He gave up 107 hits, 75 runs, 48 earned runs, walked 73 and struck out 175. In 1961 LSU went 22 and 5 and won the SEC Championship. Allen Smith was named 1st team All American.

Smitty grew up on Houston Avenue the only child of Mr and Mrs George Smith. He married Sandra Case the daughter of Mr and Mrs Linville Case. Allen Smith was a really, really, nice guy

1834 Earthquake

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View From Ohio

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East Third Street 1905

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Image found on Ebay

Maysville's KY Poet Laureates

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Maysville Produced Two of Kentucky's Poet Laureates
An article published by the Ledger-Independent in 1975 points out that Maysville was the home of two of Kentucky's poet laureates. Both Henry T. Stanton and Mrs. Eleanor Duncan Wood immortalized Kentucky scenes through their writings. Stanton was the editor for two early Maysville papers and contributed many articles to periodicals printed during the 1850s before becoming an Adjutant General under John C. Breckinridge and John Hunt Morgan. In the last years of his life, he devoted much of his time to writing poetry. Mrs. Wood, who wrote in the early 1900s, won a state award for her poem about soldiers during World War I. Her words are cast in bronze at the University of Kentucky. Ledger Independent Article
and Jeremy Parnell

Flood of 1907

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Elisha Winfield Green

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One of the Founders of the Kentucky Normal and Theological Institute--Now the State University at Louisville; Eleven Years Moderator of the Mt. Zion Baptist Association; Five Years Moderator of the Consolidated Baptist Educational Association and Over Thirty Years Pastor of the Colored Baptist Churches of Maysville and Paris.

Kentucky Boat

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This is a Kentucky Boat, the form of transportation most
early settlers used to get to Maysville. After reaching Maysville,
it was common to set them adrift, or sell them, cheaply, for the timber

Born In Mason County KY ca 1871

2009-01-20T05:57:00.001-05:00

Aaron Billstein was the son of Alexander Billstein and Louisa Loblein. He was the twin brother of Albert K Billstein. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia with a Medical Degree. He practiced medicine in Baltimore, MD and later joined his brother Nathan's publishing business. He died in Baltimore, MD on Nov 15, 1933.

2009-01-19T08:25:00.001-05:00

NELSON'S OLD BOURBON / MAYSVILLE.K.Y
BIM 7 1/4" barrel-shaped whiskey in olive amber coloration. Sold on consignment by Reggie Lynch to the Mason County Museum in Maysville, KY.

Earthquake In Kentucky

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Alexander Doniphan

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Bronze Statue of Alexander Doniphan on the Courthouse Square in Richmond, Missouri

Orator, jurist, statesman, soldier and Christian gentleman, was born in Mason County, Kentucky, July 9, 1808, and died in Richmond, Missouri, August 8, 1887. He was of immense stature, noble appearance, brilliant parts, fearless, of great moral courage,

Washington vs Maysville - 1846-1847

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A little over 160 years ago there arose a controversy in Mason County that pitted neighbor against neighbor and family against family.
Early in 1847 arose the issue to become all important to Mason County, that of removing the seat of county justice from Washington to Maysville. It is doubtful if any controversy ever held throughout the county created the tension and high feeling brought about by this issue.
Quite naturally it could not be regarded lightly. Bluntly to move the court house from Washington meant the political and active death of the town; to remove it to Maysville, meant proclaiming the importance of that town over it’s adversary – Washington. Washington had been the county seat since 1792.
The contention was at first general, then it became a matter of private war among individuals. And the battle was yet hardly begun.
One popular election was held to determine the sense of the people of the county relative to the removal, this at the annual election of 1846. By the vote it appeared that 1303 votes were in favor of the removal, which did not constitute a majority of the legal voters in Mason County. Following this election petitions were circulated and apparently every voter in the county was represented as favoring the removal. However, an act of the general assembly was procured by the minority, wherein was provided that it should be the duty of the Sheriff and several deputy sheriffs of Mason County at the next annual election to open the regular polls for a vote again relative to the change. The vote was in the hands of the judges of the election, who at the time of the voting the applicant, should ask his opinion concerning the removal and thereby place his vote for or against the move. The red tape connected with this election and the returns for the same would appall even hard boiled election officers of today.
However, the election came and the vote was taken: 1,426 voted to move the court house to Maysville, 1,194 against it. This majority closed the case so far as voting was concerned. But not yet was it ended.
Finally, on Tuesday, January 11, 1847, the bill to change the seat of justice was reported by the Committee of Propositions and Grievances in the Kentucky House of Representatives. Resolving itself into a Committee of the Whole the House on motion of Mr Merriweather, Mr Harrison Taylor, William R, Beatty and Thomas Y. Payne were permitted to discuss the bill. The whole of the day, Payne, Taylor and Beatty did not let the session rest. Beatty, without concluding his speech, giving way for adjournment.
Nest day Beatty concluded his stirring, if somewhat lengthy speech, and Waller began. His speech likewise was not concluded before adjournment at noon. His talk in behalf of the removal finished, the committee then rose and reported the bill to the House. The question being upon ordering the Bill to a third reading Mr McHenry and Mr Deveraux were the principals in opposition to the Bill. Sweeping all else before it, the Bill occupied the every attention of the House for days.
On January 14, a vote was taken on the final passage of the Bill and it was rejected by a vote of yeas 48, nays 52.
Waller saved the day. In the House he moved a reconsideration of the vote that he might introduce a substitute for the original bill, referring the matter for final consideration without subsequent Legislation, to the voters of Mason County, and again the matter went back to the Committee on Propositions and Grievances.
Finally, on the 28th of January, Mr Waller succeeded in securing an amendment so as to require Maysville to express and receive a majority of 150 votes cast at the election. The amendment was passed by a vote of 67 yeas to 30 nays. So did it pass to the Senate, where it came in for a share of debate hardly surpassed in the House. Here Ky of Mason County tried to have stricken out several clauses of the Bill and was successfully opposed by Boyd of Fleming County. And on the 16th of February 1847, came the moment in the Senate when the Clerk reported the Bill providing for the taking of a vote in August next upon removing the county seat. Mr James offered a resolution to lay the Bill on the table, which motion prevailed by a vote of 18 yeas, nays 15. And the struggle was ended. The colorful career of Washington was soon to belong to the realms of romance. Maysville had become the metropolis of Mason County.
Credit Cliff's History of Maysville and Mason County Kentucky

C&O Railroad Station/MAYSVILLE KY/Architectural Drawing

2008-12-30T05:58:00.001-05:00

Found on Ebay. Not sure of the year

John William Poe - Hunting Billy The Kid

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John William Poe (1851-1923) – Born at Maysville, Kentucky on October 17, 1851, Poe worked on his grandfather’s farm but yearned to go westward. In 1870, he made his way to Missouri where he worked as a farm hand and on a railroad construction crew. By 1872, he was making his living as a buffalo hunter at Fort Griffin, Texas, and by his own estimate killed some 20,000 buffalo. When the buffalo were finally gone on the southern Plains, Poe became the town marshal of Fort Griffin in 1878 and was soon commissioned as a U.S. Deputy Marshal.

The following year, Poe moved to Fort Elliott, Texas where he worked as a deputy sheriff and continued his duties as a U.S. Deputy Marshal. In 1881, Poe went to work for the Canadian River Cattle Association to help stop the rampant rustling activities taking place primarily at the hands of Billy the Kid and his gang of Rustlers. In March, he traveled to White Oaks, New Mexico, where he met with Lincoln County Sheriff, Pat Garrett and accepted an appointment as a deputy sheriff, while still holding his position for the stock association.

Just a short time after Poe had taken the position, Billy the Kid escaped from jail and when Poe received a tip that the “Kid” was hiding out in Fort Sumner, he urged Garrett to investigate. Soon, Poe, Garrett and another deputy named Thomas McKinney set out for Fort Sumner. Poe had been told that Billy was hiding out at the home of a woman named Duvelina, an Indian slave and former sweetheart. However, they didn't find him there and the trio soon called on Peter Maxwell, whose ranch headquarters occupied the former United States Army post. Poe was with Garrett when the Sheriff killed Billy the Kid.

In late 1882, Pat Garrett decided not to run for sheriff again, but rather than backing his deputy, John Poe, who was running, he instead backed a man named James Dolan, who had been one of the main perpetuators of the Lincoln County War.

This would seemingly indicated that there was some friction between the two lawmen. In any event, Poe won the election and served as sheriff of Lincoln County until December 31, 1885. After resigning as a lawman, he moved to Roswell, where he operated a mercantile business and then in 1890 founded the Bank of Roswell and ten years later, the Citizens Bank of Roswell in 1900. He wrote several articles for newspapers and a book about the death of Billy the Kid. Poe died at Roswell, New Mexico on July 22, 1923.

New L & N Railroad Depot

2008-12-10T08:27:00.002-05:00

Click to enlarge and read. Thanks to Northen KY Views for the photo

Maysville Academy

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Where General U.S. Grant attended school at Maysville. Ulysses S. Grant entered this academy in fall of 1836, at the age of 14. Grant's home was in Georgetown, Ohio; he stayed with his uncle nearby while attending school. One of the most famous institutions in Ohio Valley, it was taught by two eminent scholars, Jacob W. Rand and W. W. Richeson. This building erected circa 1829 by Thomas G. Richardson, contractor. It was located on west 4th street above the hospital
Thanks to Jeremy's Maysville Explorer

1913 Flood

2008-12-09T07:30:00.000-05:00

Maysville Broom Company 1913

2008-12-04T07:30:00.001-05:00

Maysville Colored High School 1911

2008-12-01T06:03:00.004-05:00

Found on Ebay. The school was located on 5th street just east of Market street

Layin Corner Stone Maysville High School 1908

2008-11-30T19:20:00.000-05:00

August 13, 1854

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On August 13, 1854, the Maysville Express reported the following:

"Last night at 2:15 a.m. the magazine situated on the Maysville & Lexington turnpike road at the lower end of the city was fired by miscreants unknown, and its contents, eight hundred kegs of blasting and rifle powder, were burned, causing a terrific explosion and great destruction of property. Not a house in the city of Maysville. East Maysville, or Aberdeen escaped injury. A stone weighing 43 pounds was found in Aberdeen 1 1/3 miles from the spot. The explosion was heard at Popular Plains, 22 miles distance; on a steamboat 42 miles up the river; at Hillsboro, Ohio, 40 miles away; the whole body of water in the Ohio River surged toward the Ohio shore, rising suddenly and deep on that shoreline; in the Maysville Cotton Mill, 1200 lights of glass shattered. Damage was in excess of $200,000. No one was killed and very few injuries."

West Third Street Looking East

2008-11-25T08:35:00.001-05:00

Year Unknown. Found on Ebay

History of the Baptist Church In Maysville

2008-11-21T06:50:00.002-05:00

Click title to read

Landscape of Maysville

2008-11-19T12:29:00.001-05:00

"Landscape of Maysville," a painting by Prof. Pinquely, a dance instructor at St. Frances de Sales Academy, Maysville, c. 1880

Maysville To Cincinnati 1845

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William H. Rees

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William H. Rees (1882-1952) Chief Justice, Kentucky Court of Appeals, 1933-35; 1941-42; 1945-47. b. Aug. 30, 1882 in Maysville, Ky. Graduate of Kentucky Wesleyan Coll., Vanderbilt U., and U. of Virginia. Began law practice in Maysville, Ky. in 1908. Served on Kentucky court of appeals from 1926 until his retirement in 1951. Mason. d. Aug. 2, 1952.

Charley Arnold & Allen Doyle Die In Plane Crash

2008-11-13T06:27:00.000-05:00

At Tyler Airport at the time of the take-off, which was about 8 A.M. on January 4, 1966, the weather was very foggy with visibility being approximately 100 to 150 feet, and the ceiling being about 50 feet. On the Kentucky side of the river at the place of the crash, which was about 3,000 feet from the northern end of the runway, where the plane became airborne, the weather was bad, cold and foggy. Visibility was about 50 feet, and the ceiling was about the same. It was not possible, at the place of the crash, to even see the Ohio River, and not possible to see across the river. In the town of Maysville, Kentucky, about two miles from the scene of the crash, it was so foggy that visibility was limited to less than one-half of a city block.

Tyler Airport has no contact tower or weather-reporting facilities. Lunken Airport, near Cincinnati, Ohio, is the closest airport with weather facilities, and Tyler Airport is within Lunken's flight control plan area.

At 7:24 A.M. on January 4, 1966, the pilot, Allen Doyle, called Lunken Airport and talked to Miss Virginia Allen, whose basic duty is to give pre-flight briefing to pilots using the federal airways. Doyle filed a flight plan for a trip from Aberdeen, Ohio, to Daytona Beach, Florida, with a fuel stop at Knoxville, Tennessee, and inquired as to weather conditions along the route. He was advised at approximately 7:30 A.M. on that day that the weather conditions at Lunken were ceiling zero, sky obscured and visibility 1/16 of a mile in a fog. Lunken is located on the bank of the Ohio River, as is the Tyler Airport.

2008-11-12T07:07:00.001-05:00

Elijah Conner Phister (October 8, 1822 - May 16, 1887) was a United States Representative from Kentucky. He was born in Maysville, Kentucky. He attended the Seminary of Rand and Richardson in Maysville, Kentucky and was graduated from Augusta College, Kentucky in August 1840. He studied law, was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in 1844.

Phister served as mayor of Maysville, Kentucky in 1848. He was a circuit judge 1856-1862 and a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives 1867-1871. He was appointed one of the commissioners to revise the Kentucky statutes in 1872 but declined. Phister was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh Congresses (March 4, 1879-March 3, 1883). After leaving Congress, he resumed the practice of law. He died in Maysville, Kentucky in 1887 and was buried in the City Cemetery.

Born At Jefferson's Monticello

2008-11-06T06:46:00.001-05:00

Lucy Cottrell was the daughter of Dorothea (Dolly) Cottrell, a house servant at Monticello who, after 1826, became the property of George Blaetterman, a professor at the University of Virginia. About 1850 Dolly and Lucy Cottrell went to Maysville, Kentucky, with the professor’s widow, who freed them five years later. In this daguerreotype Lucy Cottrell is holding Charlotte, daughter of Blaetterman’s foster son.

Pogue Distillery

2008-11-05T07:06:00.000-05:00

Academy Of The Visitation Nuns

2008-11-04T11:04:00.000-05:00

Early in the year 1864, preliminary steps were taken towards the opening of a house of the Visitation Order in Maysville, Ky., a small town removal from Maysville to Rock Island, 111., it was plainly seen that the community would never succeed in a small town, where opportunities were so limited. Therefore, after careful deliberation, the matter was laid before the Right Rev. C. P. Maes, early in the year 1899, and he, after a thorough consideration of existing conditions, reluctantly admitted that there was no future for such an institution in Maysville, and approved of a removal to a more promising field. Shortly after this decision matters were expedited for the Sisters by an invitation from the Right Rev. (now Most Rev.) John Lancaster
CONVENT AND ACADEMY OF THE VISITATION, MOUNT DE CHANTAL,
WHEELING, W.VA. — VISITATION NUNS

The Shuttle

2008-10-30T07:42:00.002-04:00

This is the April 1942 issue of The Shuttle published for the members of the Maysville Guild of Home Weavers. Members had looms in their homes and wove rugs to sell. The Guild was associated with January and Wood Company of Maysville makes of Maysville brand warp and filler, which was used by members for their rugs. The idea was to help offset the shortage of rugs due to the stoppage of imports from Japan

Do You Remember These

2008-10-29T07:25:00.000-04:00

Maysville Grocery Company, Inc. Paul Newson, Mgt.; Maysville Water Company; Jack Kirk and Co.; Hendrickson's; Germantown Milling Co.; Queen Chevrolet Sales, Inc.; The Bus Station Restaurant; Farris Service Station; Keith and Lykins Farm Supplies; G.C. Murphy; Keith and Keith Motor Car Co.; Mike Brown Co. Inc.; Merz Bros.; C.L. Mains and Son; Charles Traxel and Co.; Ellingtons; and Clover Leaf Dairy;

Train Wreck, Drownings June 1890

2008-10-24T06:43:00.001-04:00

SIXTEEN PERSONS DEAD.
THE FATAL WORK OF A KENTUCKY CLOUDBURST.
A TRAIN RUNS INTO A WASHOUT.
THREE OF THE CREW WERE KILLED -- A DOZEN PERSONS REPORTED DROWNED -- SIX BODIES HAVE BEEN RECOVERED -- BULL CREEK ROSE TWO FEET PER MINUTE.
Maysville, Ky., June 14. -- At Bull Creek, six miles above here, two dark clouds met and burst. The creek jumped over its banks and swept like drift several dwelling houses and their frightened occupants. The stone culvert on the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad over Mill creek was washed out into the river, and about midnight, while the storm was at its height, the west bound freight train ran into a washout, causing a fearful wreck.
Three Railroad Men Dead.
The engine and nine cars were piled on upon top of another, almost out of sight on the creek bottom. The killed were:
CHARLES FATON, brakeman.
MORRIS HONAKER, fireman.
C. C. ROADCAP, engineer.
They were buried beneath the wreck and their bodies have not been recovered. Conductor W. H. WATTS and Brakeman W. W. Love jumped from the hind car and escaped unhurt. The train was made up of thirty-two cars. Nine carloads of shoes and boots for Louisville went down in the wreck. A fast wrecking train, on the way to the scene, ran over FRANK SCOTT, a colored employe, and killed him.
A Dozen Reported Drowned.
About a dozen persons living on the banks of Bull creek are reported drowned. The following bodies have been found:
MISS BETTIE ESTLER.
MISS JULIA ESTLER.
MRS. LUCY ESTLER.
Two Sons of MRS. LUCY ESTLER.
JOHN RUGGLES, a well known fisherman.
Dashed Into Kindling Wood.
The nineteen cars down in the washout were deashed into kindling wood. The train was the first sectiosn of freight No. 38, drawn by engine No. 154, which is one of the largest as well as finest engines on the road. The engine is now out of sight in quicksand. The train was running over thirty miles per hour. A little later an east bound mixed passenger train would have passed over the fatal culvert, when the loss of life would have been appalling.
Rose Two Feet Per Minute.
JAMES IRWIN, had a portable sawmill located several hundred yards up Bull creek, above the railroad. The clouds suddenly bursting caused a rapid rise in the creek, already badly swollen since the storm. Farmers say that the creek rose two feet per minute, and the water looked like a wall twenty feet high when it got to the railroad fill. The sawmill was lifted from its fastenings and with over 100 big logs hurled violently against the railroad stone culvert. This is probably what caused it to give way. Huge stones weighing several tons were carried by the creek long distances. The creek rose two feet higher than it has been in forty years.
The Trenton Times New Jersey 1890-06-14

Carnation Summer

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“ Turning Milk “ and “ Forking Cans “
I got my first real paying job in the summer of 1955. It was at the Carnation Milk plant in Maysville, KY. My primary duties involved “ turning milk “ and “ forking cans. “ Both will need some explanation. Various trucks would pickup the milk at dairy farms all over the area and bring it to the plant for processing and canning. In the large room on the ground floor was the equipment used to fill small metal cans with evaporated milk. The empty cans would come in on a conveyor line gravity fed from the can factory next door and directed to a circular machine, referred to as the filler. The cans were sterilized, filled, and sealed. The filled cans were directed out into the warehouse where they had a label attached and were packed into boxes then on to a conveyor belt being directed into railroad cars. The loaded rail cars would be moved from behind the plant to a rail siding at a warehouse located on Wood street. Now this is where the “ turning milk “ took place. Wooden pallets of milk cases were only permitted to be stored a certain number of days and then the cases had to be turned over to prohibit the cream from settling in the cans. There were five cases per layer and eight layers per pallet. That is forty cases of milk per pallet. Each case weighed about forty pounds. We would place an empty pallet next to a loaded pallet and proceed to take a case off the top of a loaded pallet and turn it over as we placed it on an empty pallet. Usually two guys worked together. We would do this for 4 to 6 hours per shift or until we had turned all the pallets in the warehouse. Can't recall the exact hourly wage but it was around $ 5.00 per hour. Good money for a 17 year old in 1955.
The can factory only operated during the day feeding empty cans to the fillers. Depending on the amount of milk received in any given day the fillers sometimes had to keep operating well into the second shift. Empty cans were stored in bins. These bins were located high up in the ceiling above the fillers. When the gravity feed of cans stopped from the can factory cans were supplied from the can bins. This was done by “ forking cans “. The fork resembled a pitch fork except it was about four feet across with a three foot handle. It had 26 tines about 5 inches long. This enabled the laborer to pick up 24 empty cans at one time, turn to the right and place them on the gravity track to the fillers down below. Close to the roof and above the fillers made it extremely hot in the can bins. We were only allowed to “ fork cans “ for 30 minutes at a time. One guy would fork for 30 minutes and then another guy would take his place for 30 minutes. The air conditioned break room was a welcome relief. We also learned that if you forked real fast for 15 or 20 minutes you could back cans all the way up to the bin which would provide enough cans to the fillers for 15 or 20 minutes thus extending your break time. However, if you got to careless and knocked empty cans down on the floor you could end up knee deep in empty cans. This wasn't good because you had to pick them up 2 at a time until and put them back in the bin, until the floor was free of empty cans.
It was a good summer and a lesson learned. I did not want to spent my entire working life as a laborer at Carnation Milk Company “turning milk “ and “ forking cans “.
Ken Downing

The Gentleman from Ewing

2008-10-10T07:09:00.002-04:00

The Honorable Pete Worthington
1940-2000

Marvin Lewis "Pete" Worthington was born in Maysville, Kentucky on December 5, 1940, the eldest son of Marvin Lawrence "Buster" and Maude Graham Worthington. All of his life, he lived in the Ewing community in western Fleming County. Pete attended Ewing Elementary and Fleming County High School (1958). He attended Morehead State University and earned a B.S. degree from the University of Kentucky (1965) in mechanical engineering. After graduating from UK, Pete accepted a position with IBM as a mechanical engineer in Lexington. Cherishing the lifestyle in his hometown of Ewing, Pete decided to commute more than a hundred miles daily, rather than move. This enabled him to continue farming and raising tobacco. He was a life-long loyal "Yellow Dog Democrat."

Pete and his former wife, the late Linda Powers Worthington, had three children, two daughters and a son. Always a leader, Pete was deeply involved in his community. He was a member of the Ewing Baptist Church, the Favorite Lodge F.&A.M., and the Ewing Volunteer Fire Department. He served as a precinct worker for the Fleming County Democrat Party. In 1974 Pete made his first bid for public office and was elected to the Fleming County Board of Education. In the summer of 1976 a propane gas explosion leveled the Ewing Volunteer Fire Department. This small farming community could not afford to rebuild and purchase new equipment. Working with then Governor Julian Carroll and United States Senator Walter "Dee" Huddleston, Pete became intrigued with the process of government. Using what would later become Pete's trademark dogged determination, with a combination of funding sources, a new fire house soon rose from the rubble.

In 1977, Pete decided to seek the open 70th district seat in the Kentucky General Assembly representing Fleming, Mason, and Robertson counties. The district also included a portion of Rowan County. It was a widely accepted political view that he could not win. But the underdog and his supporters worked hard and smart. He ran on a pledge that he was "A young man willing to work!" Some political promises are forgotten after the election, but Pete's would become a shining example of a promise kept. On election night, he shocked the nay sayers with a stunning victory. His intellect, passion and savvy politcal skills were readily apparent. He was a stickler for detail. Pete quickly delivered public funding and policy victories for his district. These successes enabled Pete to be re-elected a remarkable ten times without opposition. During his twenty-three tenure in the Kentucky House of Representatives, he mastered the budgeting process. He also became a fierce advocate for the needs of his constituents. Pete served as Speaker Pro Tem from 1985 to 1992. His colleagues in the House in both political parties sought and valued his advice and counsel. At the time of his death, he was serving as Chairman of the influention budget subcommittee on transportation. Just three days before his death, he presided over the dedication of a new $37 million bridge spanning the Ohio River from his district. This project was the culmination of twenty years of methodical devotion to the budgeting process. He was unapologetic in the use of public resources to improve economic opportunity and the quality of life for the citizens of rural Kentucky.

Pete Worthington died on October 12, 2000. He was preceded in death by his parents and a brother, Michael Lee "Mickey" Worthington. He is survived by his children and grandchildren: Laura, a public school teacher and her husband Greg who have two children, Steely and Henry; Julie, an orthodontist; and Weston, an attorney. Pete was very proud of each of his children and their many successes. His two grandsons were also a pride and joy to him. In the end, they were what mattered and he will live on through them.
_______________________

Capt. A.M. Proctor, 35 Years In Navy

2008-10-08T06:36:00.003-04:00

Retired Officer Who Fought in Spanish and World Wars

Captain Andre' Morton Proctor, United States navy, retired, of the Hotel Windsor, veteran of the Spanish-American and World Wars, died on Thursday of a heart ailment at the Brooklyn Naval Hospital after a short illness. His age was 64.

Born in Maysville, Ky., Captain Proctor was graduated in 1893 from the United States Naval Academy. In 1898, with this country at war with Spain, he was stationed aboard the auxiliary cruiser Gloucester, formerly the yacht of the elder J. P. Morgan, when that vessel took part in the defeat of Admiral Cervera's fleet off Santiago de Cuba.

Captain Proctor won the Specially Meritorious medal, War with Spain, and "for eminent and conspicuous conduct in battle" was advanced five numbers in seniority. He served thereafter in Cuban and Philippine waters and served two tours in Chinese waters. During the Work War Captain Proctor commanded a flotilla of the First Destroyer Force of the Atlantic Fleet abroad. for his services he received the Victory Medal and the Mobile Base Clasp. In 1919 he was on duty in London.

He commanded the battleship Texas in 1922-24. After that he was attached to the New York Navy Yard until his retirement in 1928. Captain proctor was an expert on marine engineering. He belonged to the University Club and the New York Yacht Club. A brother, Colonel John R. Proctor Jr., United States Army, retired, now living in Paris, survives.

Captain Proctor will be buried in Arlington.

Jaycee War Memorial

2008-10-03T14:07:00.002-04:00

This memorial sets on the old court house lawn in downtown Maysville. It is inscribed with the names of the men from Mason County who died in World War 1 and 2. We raised the money from local merchants. It was dedicated on May 10, 1971 by Brig. General George S. Patton Jr who flew via helicopter from Fort Knox.

Banking History In Maysville

2008-10-02T07:21:00.003-04:00

About the time of the Civil war the firm of Pearce & Wallingford was established and a few years later, on the liquidation of the Farmers' Branch, its business was absorbed into the firm of Pearce, Wallingford & Company, — a business which subsequently was incorporated into the State National Rank, which is still conducted by some of the same interests. About the year 1870 the firm of
Wells, Mitchell & Company was established by a number of gentlemen of means living about May's Lick in this county. Later the
business was converted into the First National Bank, still operating in this city. Subsequently some of these parties withdrew and organized the bank of Mitchell, Finch & Company, an institution known to many. The Farmers' & Traders' Bank came as a later organization. This was started by the owners of the State Bank of Dover, whose business was removed to Maysville, and these
gentlemen with other interests organized the Farmers' & Traders' Bank. The Union Trust & Savings Company was established here many
years ago by the First National Bank people. All of these institutions have an active and influential clientage, enjoy a lucrative business, and it is but stating the truth to say that
no community in the state is afforded better accommodation at
more reasonable rates or on better terms.

Third Street Maysville 1899

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Photo by J.T. Kackley

History of A Building

2008-09-26T10:34:00.002-04:00

"If you know the history of Maysville, you would know that this building, as with so many buildings in Maysville, has its own history. Previous occupants included businesses such as a G.W. Blatterman's Drugs and Paint Store which was started in 1872 and lasted until the 1890s, Maysville Bank from the 1890s until 1925, and C.L. Vance's Drug which opened in 1925 and became a popular meeting place for all ages because of the new soda fountain that he operated and remained opened until its closure in the late 1960s. In 1989, Judy Pfeffer opened an attractive shoe store called the Fashion Footwear that remained there until the building was sold by the Traxel family. The Traxel family had owned and rented the building since early 1900s. The new owner purchased the building in 1997 and opened up the Izzy B's Restaurant that lasted until 2002 when the owner leased the retail space to Planet Earth Cafe. In 2004the building was sold to the Parnell family of South Carolina that then leased the retail space to the Homefront Cafe. Building is located at the corner of Second and Court Streets
Credit Jeremy Parnell

Mason County Deaths In Vietnam

2008-09-24T15:50:00.002-04:00

William Boyd Tully
Age 26
Died November 5, 1962
Cause of Death: Air Loss, Crash-land

Billy Eugene Snipes
Age 32
Died May 17, 1966
Cause of Death: Helicopter Crashed in South Vietnam

Ernie Wayne Rosser
Age 19
Died December 11, 1966
Cause of Death: Small Arms Fire

Donald Randell Lewis
Age 21
Died February 25, 1969
Cause of Death: Small Arms Fire

Billy Ray Lucas
Age 20
Died May 19, 1970
Cause of Death: Multiple Fragmentation Wounds

James Douglas Groves
Age 18
Died May 10, 1972
Cause of Death: CH 47 crash

Slavery In Mason County

2008-09-23T12:55:00.002-04:00

(5) Francis Fredric, Fifty Years of Slavery (1863)

From Welland we took boats to Maysville, Kentucky. My master had bought a farm in Mason County, about twenty miles from Maysville. When we arrived there we found a great deal of uncultivated land belonging to the farm. The first thing the negroes did was to clear the land of bush, and then to sow blue grass seed for the cattle to feed upon. They then fenced in the woods for what is called woodland pasture. The neighbouring planters came and showed my master how to manage his new estate. They told the slaves how to tap the sugar-tree to let the liquid out, and to boil it down so as to get the sugar from it. The slaves built a great many log-huts; for my master, at the next slave-market, intended to purchase more slaves.

7) Francis Fredric, Fifty Years of Slavery (1863)

Two slaves, who were perhaps not so completely cowed as the rest, said to my master, who was about to flog them, "No, massa, we not going to be flogged so much, we won't submit." "What is that you say?" my master said, starting back. They repeated, "We are not going to allow you to beat us as you have done." "How will you prevent it?" he said. "You'll see, you'll see, massa," speaking half threateningly. He was evidently afraid of them. When they went home at night he spoke mildly to them, and told them, "he only wanted them to do their work, that it would be better if they could get on in the fields without him. Don't hurry yourselves, my boys."

For two or three days he never went much among them, and when he did he spoke in a very quiet, subdued manner. But mounted negroes were sent with letters to all the plantations around. The slaves had been sent to a species of barn where they shell the Indian corn. Suddenly above a hundred slaveholders, armed with revolvers, marched from different points, and at one time, evidently agreed upon, surrounded the place where the negroes were. All the slaves were ordered out, and the two who had refused to be flogged were made to strip, and my master first had one tied up, and flogged him as hard as he could for some time, the poor slave calling out, "Oh, pray, massa! Oh, pray, massa!"

My master, pausing to take breath, one of the slaveholders said, "I would not flog him in that way, I would put him on a blacksmith's fire, and have the slaves to hold him until I blew the bellows to roast him alive." Then my master started again and flogged until the poor fellow was one mass of blood and raw flesh. The other was tied up and served in a similar manner, one of the slaveholders saying he ought to be tied to a tree and burnt alive. And now I would ask, How can an unarmed, an unorganized, degraded, cowed set of negroes prevent this treatment? The slaveholders can and do flog them to death, and nothing more is thought of it than of a dog being killed.

Winter Morning In Maysville

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Mefford's Fort

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Early photo of Mefford's Fort at it's original location
Click pic to enlarge

L&N STATION AT MAYSVILLE, KY CA 1910 PHOTO FROM OLD POSTCARD

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Some will recognize it as a firehall and former city building on Bridge Street

Mason county School Report 1899-1901

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The public schools in this county have progressed steadily until they can be reported in first class condition. Every school, with one exception is under control of a teacher holding a certificate of the first class. We have lengthened our school term to seven and eight months. The teachers are more and more wide awake. It is not unusual now, for teacher to spend his or her vacation at a good normal school. The attendance is much improved. The trustees system is a bar, in some cases, to progress. This year they will employ a good teacher, next year in inferior one, so that it is difficult to maintain a high and progressive standard. It would be a great improvement if the county superintendent could be made chairman of the report, with a veto power. He, necessarily, is well acquainted with the attainments of every

teacher. We have made fine progress with a county library, having accumulated 335 volumes, costing $266.30. We have some very valuable works. We had a fine and very interesting institute this year, conducted by Mr. R. M. Shipp of Winchester, Ky. He is a very intelligent and valuable instructor, and out institute was a grand success. I held a colored teachers institute August 20th, lasting four days. It was well attended and very interesting and instructive. Mr. T. Augustus Reed was the instructor.

The county school buildings and other property have increased in value greatly. We have now but one indifferent school house. We now have fifty-five good frame houses and seven brick, valued at $40,000. We paid out teachers from a state fund $2.42, and from the county tax fund $2.00 per scholar. I am unable to note any opportunity for improvement, except as herein stated.

The present superintendent has been in office steadily twelve years. Sore bereavement and increasing years seem to form a necessity for his retirement. He has the satisfaction of knowing that he carries with him the love and respect of all of the county teachers.

This report is from Legislative document number 5. The Biennial Report of the Superintendent of Public Instruction of Kentucky, for the Two years beginning July 1, 1899 and ending June 30, 1901, H. V. McChesney, Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Eight Hills of Maysville Year Unknown

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Click Photo To Enlarge

Early Look At The Way Front Street Was

2008-09-02T15:20:00.000-04:00

Kentucky Gateway Museum Center

2008-08-28T13:01:00.001-04:00

A World Class Museum Center

KENTUCKY GATEWAY MUSEUM CENTER
215 Sutton Street
Maysville, Kentucky 41056
606.564.5865
Fax 606.564.4372
Email museum@kygmc.org

Gayle McKay, Business Manager
businessoffice@kygmc.org

Joyce Weigott, Accounting
businessoffice@kygmc.org

Sue Ellen Grannis, Curator
curator@kygmc.org

Dawn Browning, Director
director@kygmc.org

James Shires, Ph.D., Curator of Education
education@kygmc.org

Mary V. Clarke, Registrar
registrar@kygmc.org

Myra Hardy, Researcher
myra@kygmc.org

Cay Chamness, Researcher
cay@kygmc.org

Lynn David, Communications and Visitor Services
communications@kygmc.org

Anne Pollitt, Reference Registrar
anne@kygmc.org

Susan Feil, Reference Registrar
susan@kygmc.org

Kaye Browning, Miniatures Curator
browningminiatures@kygmc.org

Kathy Peterson, The Big Read Coordinator
education@kygmc.org

Church of the Nativity

2008-08-27T14:36:00.001-04:00

The Church of the Nativity, completed in 1849, is one of the oldest churches in this Ohio River town. Nativity has a rich history and a heritage which it shares with Maysville. Located in an eight block long, three block wide Historic District (listed on the National Register of Historic Places), the church, is of Tudor Gothic design which contributes to the variety of styles found in the Historic District, ranging from Georgian to Greek Revival to Victorian. The brick and stone church, designed by the first Bishop of the Diocese of Kentucky, The Rt. Rev. B. B. Smith, remains essentially unchanged on its exterior, except for a large stained glass window added in 1891.

Weis Meat Store ca 1920s

2008-08-26T12:56:00.001-04:00

Lewisburg Ky Lodge 1878

2008-08-25T12:03:00.001-04:00

AN ACT to incorporate Hiram Basset Lodge, No. 395, Free and Accepted Masons, of Lewisburg, Mason County, Kentucky. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky
That J. T. Davis, Worshipful Master; R. M. Harrison, Corporators Senior Warden; D. C. Itoss, Junior Warden; H. T. Cord, Treasurer; G. F. Bateman, Secretary, of Hiram Bassett Lodge, No. 395, of Lewisburg, Kentucky, and their successors in office, be, and they are hereby, created a body-corporate and politic, to be known and designated as Hiram Bassett Lodge, No. 395, Free and Accepted Masons, of Lewisburg, Kentucky; with power to sue and be sued, in all courts of competent jurisdiction in this Commonwealth and elsewhere; plead and be impleaded, contract and be contracted with; and with power to acquire and hold real estate and personal property and choses in action not exceeding thirty thousand dollars in value. That said lodge shall have the power to borrow money May borrow money not on the credit of the corporation, not exceeding the sum of $2,000 two thousand dollars, at a rate of interest not exceeding seven per cent, per annum, and may execute bond or note; and to secure the payment of same, may pledge or mortgage all or any of the property, rights, income, profits, or franchises of the lodge. Said corporate body shall have and use a common seal, shall hare a common seal. Which they may alter or renew at pleasure. This act shall be in force from and after its passage.
Approved March 11,1878.

Maysville's Brick Streets

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John, James and Elizabeth STEPHENS came to America from Scotland and settled in Maysville, Ky. prior to 1850. The had their own brickyard in Maysville and the majority of the cobblestone streets where laid by John and his son James.

Main St Washington, Mason Co KY 1955

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Pre Flood Wall Photo

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Really nice enlarged

Older Local Business

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Click To Enlarge

The Town of Orangeburg

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By legislative act of February 29, 1836, the town of Williamsburg in Mason County became known thereafter as Orangeburg.

Legend says that the reason behind this name change was to avoid confusion between the town and the Williamsburg in southeastern Kentucky, now the county seat of Whitley County. However, further investigation sheds doubt on the legend, as that community was known as "Whitley Courthouse" until 1882, when it was changed to Williamsburgh. This was nearly fifty years after the name change for the Mason County town. The reasons behind the change may be lost to history, but apparently the town was renamed in honor of a prominent local citizen and landowner, Providence Orange Pickering.

Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, That the town now known by the name of Williamsburg, in Mason county, shall hereafter be known by the name of Orangeburg.

Sec. 2. Be it further enacted. That the name of the Williamsburg precinct, in Mason county, shall be changed to that of Orangeburg precinct.

Approved, February 29, 1836

The community of Orangeburg was incorporated by a legislative act of February 20, 1860.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky:

§ 1. That the town of Orangeburg, in Mason county, is hereby incorporated, the boundaries of which shall be the same as the original plat of said town.

§ 2. That there shall be elected, by the qualified voters of said town, five trustees, who shall, before they enter upon the discharge of their duties, take an oath before some justice of the peace of said county, that they will faithfully and impartially discharge the duties of the office aforesaid. That said trustees and their successors in office shall be a body politic and corporate, and shall be known by the name and style of "The Board of Trustees of the town of Orangeburg;" and by that name shall be capable of contracting and being contracted with, of suing and being sued, of pleading and being impleaded, answering and being answered, of defending and being defended, in all courts of this Commonwealth, and have and exercise all the powers, rights and privileges which incorporated bodies may lawfully do, for the purposes contemplated by this act.

§ 3. The trustees of said town shall keep a journal of their proceedings, which shall at all times be open to the inspection of the citizens of said town.

§ 4. The trustees may annually appoint one of their own body chairman, who shall preside at their meetings, and also a treasurer of said town, who shall be intrusted with the custody and safe-keeping of the money and other property of the corporation, subject to the order of the trustees.

§ 5. The trustees shall have the power and authority to impose a tax upon auction sales of others than residents, and upon shows and exhibitions of all sorts within said town, in any sum they may deem proper.

§ 6. The trustees of said town shall have the right to tax, and the exclusive right to license all taverns, groceries, victualers, confectioneries, retailers of spirituous liquors, alleys for nine or ten-pins, and all other houses of public resort in said town, except for gambling-houses or houses of ill-fame, and fix the tax for the same in a sum not exceeding one hundred dollars per annum, and to discontinue any of said licenses at pleasure: Provided, however, That the trustees shall pay to the trustee of the jury fund for said county the sum of ten dollars for each tavern license granted in said town each year; and any law giving the county court of said county authority to license taverns in said town, is hereby repealed. When any prosecution is instituted and carried on at the instance of the trustees, the warrant shall state that it was issued at their instance, in which case they shall be entitled to the fine or penalty recovered; but if the prosecution fail, the said trustees shall pay the costs of the same.

§ 7. Before the treasurer of said town shall enter upon the discharge of his duties, he shall execute bond to the trustees in their corporate name, with security, to be approved by the trustees, stipulating for the faithful discharge by the duties of his office; and for the violation of which, any person aggrieved thereby, shall have a remedy by the proper action or proceeding. All money derived from taxes, licenses, or otherwise, shall be expended for the benefit of said town.

§ 8. None but persons qualified to vote for State officers shall be permitted to vote at any election of trustees for said town.

§ 9. No person shall be elected to the office of trustee of said town, who has not been a resident within the limits of said town for at least six months prior to the election.

§ 10. The first election for trustees of said town shall be held on the first Saturday in April, 1860, and there shall be an election on the first Saturday in April in every year thereafter: Provided, That in case an election should not be held at the time herein provided for, the trustees then in office shall hold their office until their successors are elected and qualified.

§ 11. That W. H. Pollitt, Henry Brisfield, Benjamin P. Anno, D. P. Judd, and A. Caldwell, are hereby appointed trustees, who shall hold their office until their successors are elected and qualified as herein provided.

§ 12. This act to be in force from its passage.

Approved February 20, 1860

Though a thriving rural community by mid-century, Orangeburg had obviously not grown to a great extent, as it was incorporated within the original boundaries set in 1795-96.

Pioneer Grave Yard, Maysville

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John Young, Christian Church Pastor

2008-08-05T07:11:00.002-04:00

A native of Ireland, Young came to the United States as a missionary for the Baptist Irish Society. In the early 1840s he aligned himself with the views of the Campbell religious movement. Prior to coming to North Western Christian University (NWCU), Young served as a minister of the Christian Church in Maysville, Ky., where he also ran private schools.

July 27, 1980 Earthquake

2008-08-01T07:05:00.000-04:00

Maysville, Kentucky, located about 30 miles northeast of the epicenter, was particularly hard hit. Media reports issued a week after the tremor indicated damages of more than $1 million in Maysville; 59 homes and 27 businesses sustained major damage and 210homes and 10 businesses sustained minor damage. Few property owners carried earthquake insurance.

Henry Perviance Peers 1807-1846

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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

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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

2008-07-18T10:48:00.002-04:00

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

2008-07-18T07:19:00.000-04:00

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

2008-07-16T05:56:00.001-04:00

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

2008-07-15T12:49:00.002-04:00

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

2008-07-14T11:48:00.001-04:00

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

2008-07-09T10:41:00.000-04:00

Click to Enlarge

John M. Clay son of Henry Clay

2008-07-09T10:25:00.000-04:00

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

2008-07-08T11:25:00.004-04:00

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

2008-07-07T13:37:00.003-04:00

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

2008-07-07T07:20:00.001-04:00

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

2008-07-03T06:34:00.003-04:00

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

2008-07-02T12:29:00.000-04:00

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.

2008-07-02T07:53:00.002-04:00

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

2008-07-01T12:01:00.000-04:00

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

2008-07-01T08:20:00.001-04:00

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, '

Second Street, January 1978

2008-06-26T13:38:00.000-04:00

Early Mason County Settler

2008-06-26T13:32:00.000-04:00

Valentine Peers was born in Sisburn, Antrim County, Ireland in 1756 and emigrated to North America in 1773. He entered the Revolutionary Army of Virginia in 1776 and served as a brigade major under the command of General George Weedon. He served in the Battle of Brandywine, September 11, 1777, and he and his men were commended in the published orders of General George Washington and Major General Nathaniel Greene (see Saffell's Records of the Revolutionary War, pp. 339‑343). Valentine Peers was released from service November 19, 1777.He was granted 5,333 1/3 acres in compensation for commendable military service. Peers then settled in Loudoun County, Virginia but later moved his family to Mason County, Kentucky, where he was among the area's earliest settlers. Throughout his life he was a landlord, manufacturer of salt, cotton mill owner, and manager of other jobs relating to his land, properties, and legal duties. Peers died June 6th 1830. Peers was married to Eleanor Orr (d. May 28, 1817) and their children were:Mary Eleanor (m. Judge Lewis Collins), John D., Edward, Valentine J. (Sheriff in Lincoln County, Missouri, 1834-1838), Benjamin O. (graduated from Transylvania College, studied at Princeton University, and became President of Transylvania College), Henry P., Jane M. (m. Smith), and Susan E. (m. Garrard).

Maysville City Hall ca 1847

2008-06-20T06:47:00.001-04:00

Drawing is from 1847 Edition of Collins History of Kentucky

Ephraim Outten, Silversmith ca 1815-1820

2008-06-19T11:03:00.003-04:00

This sliver piece may have been made by Ephraim Outten in Maysville around 1815-1820. Perhaps some of his other pieces are still around the community

Remembering Arthur Pickens

2008-06-19T06:32:00.004-04:00

Arthur Pickens on 1908 Kentucky Derby winner Stone Street Click the title to read about Arthur Pickens connection to Maysville. Credit the Ledger Independent