A History of Hodgenville's Mayors, Part I: 1950-Present

by Gary Dean Gardner, Independent Scholar and Historian

In communing with the dead, which for me equates to either walking through Red Hill Cemetery to visit our most content populace or perusing musty tomes of local record reflecting their long-ago anguish and joys, I’m generally rather quickly reminded that “history”, despite my personal proclivity toward the antebellum, can be a rather modern theme as well.  I suppose, at least, we all still experience anguish and joys!  For that very reason, to make a stronger connection between the living and the dead that might perk the ears of the eyes, I’m starting off this initial look at former Hodgenville elected administrations with some names mostly still remembered by the local citizenry they served.

In truth, until more recent times, the position of Mayor for small towns like ours wasn’t bestowed with significant power, authority, or at times even respect.  It was a part-time job generally held by a local business man old enough and established enough to be able to donate much of the time required in the oversight of the community.  As was, and is, typical in Kentucky, the entity of the county & its leaders took precedence in most matters.  Even the local paper at times come November failed to mention who won the race for mayor, while the winners for county positions were consistently reported. 

That period after World War II was a time of change and growth for Hodgenville, yet the voice of the Mayor was a rather weak one in those early years of the “Cold War.”  Always a man, even in a somewhat more progressive rural hamlet like ours when it came to matters of stereotypical gender bias, he seldom made the headlines, much less the news at all, but for rare moments of great crisis or valor.  A quick review of the Herald News from the 1950s might even lead the less astute scholar to wonder if the town had a mayor at all, much less an active council, but for the few brief mentions generally made only around election time. 

No, unlike the half-century before that was marked at times by destruction and graft, even a degree of backwardness and shame, the decades near the middle of the 20^th century constituted a quiet and peaceful time of recovery from war and the long-fluctuating debate over liquor.  The county had gone “dry” in November of 1919, wet again in May of 1934, then took up the local option in favor of prohibition once more in 1942.   That question seemingly settled, Hodgenville set its sights on its growing number of visitors.  Thanks to the post-War economy, America was becoming mobile and taking to the roads by the 1950s, with more and more travelers motoring to us thanks to a newly burgeoning United States tourist industry centered upon its roadway arteries.  It was a time of picnics, revivals, football games and Lincoln Luncheons, without much undue or unsettling friction.  To most of the town, the latest feature film at the Mary Anderson Theater was far more important than the lackluster motions of the Mayor and his Council.

But war came again, and along with it we saw overwhelming social change and greater exposure to the world at large.  Women, having had the vote for two generations, began to discover their first names, but somehow lost their gloves and hats along the way, yet they still feared to enter the world of male-dominated local politics.  Isolation of the early 1900s was virtually forgotten, and modern life, even in Hodgenville, was fast becoming a more homogenized American experience.  Leaders changed, but the political cycle persisted and represented the climax of social anticipation each fall.  The Mayor of Hodgenville was fast-becoming a leader and not just a part-week administrator presiding over haphazardly scheduled meetings.  The pace of life everywhere was rapidly mounting, and so were the responsibilities of a small city mayor.  Fast-forward forty years from the beginning of the “American Graffiti” era, and the candidate profile itself takes on a radical change and a marked loss of testosterone.

Despite the growing complexities of leadership, the Mayor of Hodgenville has remained an important ambassador to the community, and to the world, giving of themselves beyond compensation, answering calls in the late night hours, kissing babies, pressing the flesh, making promises, dodging failures, juggling needs with budgets, and proudly greeting the world each February turned October as they dust off their festival garb once again as Hodgenville’s beloved master of ceremonies.  From 1950 until the 21^st century began, our Mayors have instilled civility, provoked outrage, planned the future, and worked miracles with duct tape, pretty much as their predecessors did from the Civil War to the First World War.  In short, they’ve been but fallible men (and woman!), who have given of themselves to a community they loved.  For that, in the least, we thank them and, hopefully, remember them.

Dates referenced are the election year followed by the first year in office for a four-year term, generally commencing 1st January.  An asterisk denotes the subject is deceased.  As a caveat to the potential reader, this article is my own work, based upon my personal research, and is not sanctioned by or affiliated with in any shape, form, or fashion, our officially endorsed local history committee or amateur genealogy group. Neither am I personally affiliated with either group.  Comments are my own, as are the historical perspectives expressed herein.  While I derived no assistance from the aforementioned groups, I do give thanks to the LaRue County Herald News, which is a part of the county/city historical committee, for allowing me access to archived papers not currently in the holdings of the LaRue County Public Library.

1949/50                Mayor Claude Dixon Polley*

The son of Pleas & Emma Dixon Polley of Magnolia, Claude Dixon Polley was born 23 June 1898.  Claude was a local business man, owning and operating the C. D. Polley Motor Company in Hodgenville.  He served on the board of the Hodgenville Housing Authority and was the namesake of that agency’s address on Polley Avenue.  Claude was married to Willie Ree Brooks, and the had two children, Juanita and Robert.  Mayor Polley died 30^th December 1979 and is buried in Red Hill Cemetery.

1953/54                Mayor Claude Cundiff*

Claude was born 1 August 1914, the son of Felix Cundiff Jr. and Annie Lafollette of Nelson County.  Claude married Mattie Josephine Parrish.  He was a businessman in Hodgenville, owning and operating the Hodgenville Motel in addition to his being a self-employed building contractor.  It was there at the motel’s office, about half-way through his second term in office, that Mayor Cundiff had a heart attack and died on 20 January 1960.  Cundiff joined the Hodgenville Baptist Church after moving to LaRue County but maintained an active membership in the New Haven Masonic Lodge.  He and Mattie had two daughters, Mona & Myra. 

1957/58                Mayor Claude Cundiff*- 2^nd Term

Cundiff, and his city council, ran not as Democrats or Republicans, but rather on their own “Fair Deal Group” ticket.

Lincoln's 150th Birthday Celebration in Hodgenville 1959; Kentucky Museum collection

1960/61                Mayor Clayton Owens*

On 25^th January 1960, the Hodgenville City Council met and chose Clayton Owens as interim Mayor to fulfill the term of the late Claude Cundiff.  Mayor Cundiff, retired owner of Clayton Owen & Co department store in Hodgenville, had previous served on the City Council from 1954 until that date.  Clayton was born 25^th December 1906 in Carter County, the son of George Washington Owens and Florence Stallard.  He married Gladys Akers the 4^th December 1927 in Carter County, Kentucky, and had two sons, Dr. Jack W. Owens and Dr. Harold W. Owens, and a daughter Phyllis who died young.  The family moved to LaRue County from Muhlenberg County sometime after 1935 and resided on Greensburg Street in Hodgenville by the time of the 1940 US Census.  Mayor Owens died in Louisville on 17^th April 1991. 

1961/62                Mayor Clayton Owens*- 2nd term

Owens was elected as Mayor of Hodgenville for the next term.

1965/66                Mayor Cad Phelps Thurman*

Mayor Thurman was the quintessential businessman turned local politician.  Born 4 March 1895, son of Nancy Alice Phelps and George William Thurman, Cad learned the role of public servant early on from his father, who served as LaRue County Tax Commissioner, Magistrate, Police Judge & Chief, and Master Commissioner to the LaRue Circuit Court.  Cad first, though, as a young man entered into a profession in retail.  He was announced the “successor to Solomon Hardware and Supply Co.” of Hodgenville in the October 1917 edition of Hardware and House Furnishing Goods magazine.  Shortly afterwards Thurman went into the insurance business as an agent in Hodgenville and by 1922 he was “appointed special agent for the Continental (Insurance Company) in Kentucky with headquarters at Louisville” per The Insurance Field publication of 2 March 1922.   Cad was clearly a rising star in the insurance field, eventually becoming Kentucky State Insurance Commissioner in the late 1940s and serving during the administrations of Governors Clements, Weatherby, and Chandler.  It was a public position he used to the advantage of the people of Kentucky, bringing in the point system to lower consumer auto insurance premiums.  He married Suda Bess, the daughter of George Miles Slaughter of the Methodist church, who would join Cad as members of Hodgenville Baptist.  The raised a daughter Mary Alice.  His retirement from state service was marked in 1964 when Governor Waterfield conferred upon him the honorary title of “Squire of Hodgenville.”  In his race for Mayor in November 1965, Thurman defeated O. B. Peyton and Edwin Ochs.  Mayor Thurman died 18^th December 1972.  Our current mayor is, by the way, no relation to Mayor Phelps currently in office.  Mayor Thurman’s maternal ancestors were Revolutionary veterans hailing from Fort Boonesborough in Madison County who settled in LaRue County early in the 19^th century. 

1969/70                Mayor Robert Jewell Brown*

Running as a Democrat, Jewell Brown was unopposed in the fall 1969 election.  Brown was a native of far western Kentucky, born 18^th May 1909 the son of George Albert Brown and Lula Escue Brown of Livingston County, and married to Gladys Green, sister to Grace Green Middleton, also of Livingston County.  In fact, the Browns apparently followed Grace and husband Chester to Hodgenville where Mr. Middleton was from and where he established a grocery on the square.  During his tenure as Mayor, Brown garnered a choice mention in Billboard Magazine 11 Sept. 1971 when he proclaimed “Bobby Lewis Day” to celebrate the career of the hometown boy turned country music notable.  Jewell & Gladys had one daughter, Laura.  Mayor Brown died 6^th December 1994.

1973/74                Mayor Charles Ray “Red” Hazle*

Mayor Charles Ray “Red” Hazle was born 30^th of September 1926 to Albert Leslie and Ora Milby Hazle.   Albert was a merchant in Maxine, opening a store there in 1922, and later moving to Tanner and ultimately to Hodgenville where he sold Case farm implements and Purina Feed.  It was here on Water Street that most remember his son Charles, nicknamed “Red”, carrying on the old family establishment, Hazle Farm Supply, providing feed, seed, hardware and fresh vegetables to the farming families around Hodgenville from 1957 until 2013.  Per his obituary, Mayor Hazle as well, “proudly served his country as a Sergeant First Class in the United States Army during the Korean Conflict and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for heroic or meritorious achievement and service.”  “Red” was a former city councilman before being elected Mayor in 1973.  Mayor Hazle died January 13, 2017 at Sunrise Manor Nursing Home in Hodgenville at the venerable age of 90 and was survived by his wife of 62 years, Phyllis Wagoner Hazle, and three children, Kathy Ross, Connie Baker, and Dr. Charles Hazle, Jr.

1977/78                Mayor Charles “Red” Hazle*- 2nd term

Much appreciated and respected by the Hodgenville community, Mayor “Red” was re-elected to a second term in 1977.

1981/82                Mayor Robert (Ray) Kenneth “R. K.”  Keith*

The LaRue County Herald News sadly reported that, “R. K. Keith, (age) 84, passed away Saturday, May 16, 2009 at the Sunrise Manor Nursing Home in Hodgenville. The former three-term mayor of Hodgenville and two-term Kentucky State Representative was a member of the Buffalo Baptist Church, taught agriculture courses to veterans, co-owned and operated Hawkins & Keith Insurance Agency, served as treasurer for the LaRue County Fair Board, was past member of the Buffalo Lions Club and Buffalo Masonic Lodge, former LaRue County School Board member and past director of the Hodgenville Housing Authority. One of R.K.'s greatest joys was serving as a community volunteer at Sunrise Manor Nursing Home. He was also honored with the "Jean Bocko Humana Volunteer of Kentucky Award" in 1996. He was preceded in death by his parents, Oscar and Maude Vance Keith, three sisters, Thelma Parish, Helen Stewart, and Dorothy Johnson; and a brother, Dale Vance Keith. He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Norma Moore Keith; two sons, Dale Keith and Craig Keith, (both) of Hodgenville.”

Known affectionately to all since childhood merely as “R.K”, Mayor Keith had begun his leadership of the city as a non-partisan candidate defeating the Democratic incumbent Mayor “Red” Hazle in November of 1981.   He was a native of Buffalo, born there 4 January 1925, his father Oscar having operated the family’s Buffalo Roller Mill there.  The mill had been established by R. K.’s grandfather, William Dale Keith, sometime after the Civil War.  His mother was Maude Vance Keith.  Originally named “Rhea” per his birth record, he was called “Robert” briefly as a toddler before giving up all given names for his better known initials, and later legally went by Ray Keith, but would be known to all as simply “R. K.” 

courtesy Kentucky Museum, WKU Bowling Green

1985/86                Mayor R. K. Keith*- 2nd term

In November of 1985 Mayor Keith ran against and defeated Ned Bradshaw to win his 2^nd term in office.

1989/90                Mayor R. K. Keith*- 3rd term

Up against his Democratic opponent Wayne Morehead, Mayor Keith would become, in the fall of 1989, the first Mayor elected to three consecutive terms in office by the people of Hodgenville, a symbol of their great faith and trust in this man’s leadership.

1993/94                Mayor Glenda Perkins Wathen

With experience in leadership stemming from service on the City Council, Mayor Mrs. Paul Wathen firmly defeated Norman Copley 611 votes to 235 to become the first woman to lead Hodgenville as its Mayor, and the first Mayor to hail from the “holler”, that being the Ball Hollow section of the southern part of the county.  She grew up the only girl of the 8 children of Everett and Alva Mae Sprowls Perkins in the Pleasant Ridge Church community.  She would continue to serve her community on the City Council in the years following her time as Mayor, in addition to directing the Hodgenville Housing Authority.  Mayor Wathen made great advancements for the people of Hodgenville & LaRue County in gender equality and has left an important legacy for future generations of female politicians and civic leaders.  She & her husband, retired auto mechanic Paul, have one daughter, Tracy.

1998/99                Mayor Joseph Darrel Florence*

Hodgenville’s first woman Mayor was able to serve only a single elected term, losing overwhelmingly in the fall of 1998 to Darrel Florence by a final vote of 123 to 610 after belatedly choosing to run at all.   Disappointed at her failure as a “write-in” candidate, she would comment, “If that’s what the people want, then so be it.”  Florence was a true hometown boy, born in Hodgenville 25^th August 1937 to James Henry Florence & Mary Germaine Bartley Florence.  He married Judy Walters, and they were parents to daughter Dara Ann and son John David Florence.  Darrell Florence d. 1st Jan 2003- HODGENVILLE -- Darrell Florence, 65, of Hodgenville, died Wednesday, January 1, 2003, at Jewish Hospital in Louisville. He was beginning his second term as Mayor of Hodgenville, a retired administrator for the Barren County School System and a member of the First Baptist Church in Hodgenville. He was preceded in death by his parents, James Henry and Germaine Bartley Florence and two sisters, Joyce Phillips and Judy Fehrman. He is survived by his wife, Judy Walters Florence; daughter, Dara Ann Rogers of Hodgenville; son, John David Florence of Glasgow, KY; three grandchildren, Shelby Rogers, Kylie Rogers and Jill Taylor Florence; three sisters, Shirley Smith, Wilma Priddy and Sharon Florence, all of Louisville; and two brothers, George William Florence of Elizabethtown, KY and Kenneth Florence of Louisville. Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. EST Saturday, January 4, 2003, at the First Baptist Church in Hodgenville, with Rev. Duane Smith officiating. Burial will be in the Red Hill Cemetery in Hodgenville. Visitation will be from 2-9 p.m. EST Friday and after 8 a.m. EST Saturday at the Bennett-Bertram Funeral Home in Hodgenville. Bennett-Bertram Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Expressions of sympathy may take the form of contributions to the American Heart Association Ohio Valley Affiliate, Kentucky Region 333 Guthrie St., Suite 207, Louisville, KY 40202, American Diabetes Association, 1941 Bishop Ln. Suite 110, Louisville, KY 40218, or the Gideons International Hodgenville Camp, P.O. Box 25, Hodgenville, KY 42748.

2002/03                Mayor Joseph Darrel Florence*- 2nd term

If Darryl Florence was opposed by any other candidate for Mayor in the fall of 2002, it went unnoticed by the Herald News, much as his ultimate victory in November was apparently not worthy of mention but for the recording of the 500 votes he received.  Mayor Florence was sworn in for his second term in office on 30^th December 2002, but tragically suffered a heart attack and perished the following New Year’s Day.  Daphne Loyall, administrator for the Sunrise Manor nursing home, remembered that Florence had been, “a calm, soft-spoken person who went about trying to take care of the serious business of a city with limited resources.”

2003/03                Mayor Roger L. Truitt*

Mayor Truitt was chosen by his fellow city councilmen to complete the uncompleted term of Mayor Florence, resigning his position on city council on the 8^th of January to be sworn in as Hodgenville Mayor.    Roger was born in 1940 to George Benjamin and Doris Irene Dutton Truitt shortly after his parents and 3-year-old sister Loreyann moved from their home in Maryland to Delaware for George to accept work in the engine house of the Pennsylvania Railroad.   A native of Delmar, Sussex County, Delaware, Truitt settled in Hodgenville after a career in the United States Marine Corps.  Civic minded as he was, he was an active leader in his chosen home church at Hodgenville United Methodist as well as serving on the city council and ultimately as Mayor.  Truitt would accept leadership within our county schools, serving as Transportation Director and retiring as Superintendent.  He died Friday, April 13, 2012 at Avon Medical Center in North Carolina, being survived by his wife of almost 50 years, Ann Green Truitt, a son Larry and a daughter, Lori Truitt.

2006/07                Mayor Terry Cruse

Despite a term of professionalism in administering the business of the city, incumbent Mayor Truitt was defeated 396-433 by former LaRue County Deputy Sheriff Terry Cruse.  Many remembered Terry for having answered a call in Magnolia on the L & N Turnpike back in 1992 in which he was shot in the line of duty.

2010/11               Mayor Terry Cruse- 2nd term

Rita Williams ran against Mayor Cruse in the election of November 2010 but was soundly defeated 392-544 by the popular incumbent city leader.  Mayor Cruse would afterwards quip, “Four years ago I ran that I would run the city like a business within our means.  That’s what I said, and that’s what I did, and that’s what the voters saying they want again.”  “I’ll do my best to do what I’ve done in the past four years…”  And so, he did.

2014/14               Mayor Kenny DeVore

Selected from the current Hodgenville City Council upon which he had served for many years, DeVore, a "Louisvillian" by place of birth but more correctly by family heritage a Hart County native, was chosen 15 May 2014 to serve as interim Mayor after former Mayor Cruse was removed from office by the same administrative body.

2014/15             Mayor Kenny DeVore- 2nd term

A sense of solidity and permanency were required by the voters, and so Mayor DeVore was elected to a second term in the tradition of many of his predecessors.

2018/19             Mayor James Phelps

Mayor Phelps is certainly not new to city government, having many years of experience in service on the City Council.  Running on a platform of change, he will be relying his city administrative skills upon years of business savvy as owner & president of Phelps Heating & Cooling, Inc., a family business begun in 1933.

A Glimmer from the Past; Art of the Silversmith in Hardin & LaRue Counties of Central Kentucky

by Gary Dean Gardner, Independent Scholar of Southern History & Material Culture 

Beginning in the 1920s and continuing through the Depression and 2nd World War, Americans were becoming fascinated with their past, especially as increased pressures of immigration began to reshape our national identity.  Restoration came to the forefront with the efforts at Colonial Williamsburg in 1926, fostering a “Colonial Revival” movement that inspired research and sparked preservation enthusiasm across the country.  While Kentuckians had long treasured a rich oral history, accompanied by several good comprehensive history publications beginning in 1784 (John Filson) and followed in 1793 (Imlay) and 1812 (Humphrey Marshall), we had failed until this period of awakening to give just credit to the artists and artisans whose substantial impact upon the Commonwealth’s cultural development was nearly lost to time. 

June 1947 Issue of The Magazine Antiques featuring the decorative arts & antiques of Kentucky

In 1931, the landmark publication by Paul Burroughs, Southern Antiques, announced to the nation the significance of regional Southern furniture, igniting a fire of interest in long forgotten relics extending to silver, pottery, textiles and fine arts from below the Mason-Dixon Line.  Following in the next decade, the importance of Kentucky decorative arts in particular was first made known to the public at large during the 1940s through the New York publication The Magazine Antiques.  In July 1945 a preliminary list of Kentucky silversmiths was printed, followed in 1947 by a Kentucky issue which showcased portraiture, architecture, cabinetmaking, and silver making in early Kentucky.  This attention prompted the first generation of collecting and scholarship of coin silver in the Bluegrass, focusing primarily upon those well know, prolific smiths who worked in Louisville, Lexington, and a few other larger communities.  Interest became great enough that Noble and Lucy Hiatt published the first actual book on the subject, The Silversmiths of Kentucky, in 1954.  Their research, though incomplete and at times based on misinformation and faulty legend, gave legitimacy to a field of study that previously would have been dismissed by the academic world who for generations scoffed at the importance of any decorative arts crafted south of Baltimore.

April 1974's revisit of Kentucky art & antiques in The Magazine Antiques

Collecting of Kentucky silver would for the most part remain rather stagnant during the late 1950s and early 1960s, relegated to the activity of a few individuals and an even fewer dealers who sought out the gleaming juleps and ladles of generations past until the important coinciding “Southern Silveri” and “Southern Furniture & Silverii” exhibitions of 1968 in Texas and Louisiana that gave special attention to the work of Kentucky’s silversmith.  The Magazine Antiques once again brought attention to the state and this particular art with the publication of a new issue in 1974 dedicated solely to the antiques of Kentucky.  This issue featured two illustrated articles on Kentucky silversmiths and their products, and firmly established the romantic association of coin silver with the pre-war (antebellum) Bluegrass aristocracy.  Collecting and research became newly refreshed as a new decade was ushered in, as witnessed in 1980 with the Transylvania University milestone exhibition  “Silver In Kentucky Lifeiii” that coincided with the publication of Mark Boultinghouse’s most complete biographical reference to date,  Silversmiths, Jewelers, Clock and Watch Makers of Kentucky 1780-1900.  This 368 page work provided enthusiasts with comprehensive backgrounds on the craftsmen, along with photographs of marks and discussions of evolving styles and tastes of silversmiths and their patrons during the 19th century.  Here for the first time we find specific references to the work of small town smiths across the Commonwealth, many of which were previously unknown even to local historians.

Hodgenville Town Square with its antebellum Court House, much as it would have appeared before the Civil War

As with any such work, research is never truly completed.  Of the hundreds of craftsmen included, the most obscure ones simply were not easily found prior to printing.  This was the case with the silversmiths of Hardin County and her neighboring LaRue County.  Only those working as jewelers late in the 19th century were readily located and verified through business directories and advertisements of the day.  Those active in Hardin County and nearby communities prior to 1860 proved to be much more elusive, their stories being left to the work of succeeding scholars.  Actually, Boultinghouse only located one of the true artisans working silver by hand in Elizabethtown before the War.  That was D. H. Gardner, who was noted even earlier by local historian Samuel Haycraft where, in his 1869 history, it is recorded, pertaining to the great fire of August that year, the loss of “D. H. Gardner, silversmith, $500.”  This blurb might lead one to believe that Gardner was simply a jeweler, the common trend with the advent of industrialized methods of production by that period which made actual handwork by the silversmith inefficient and outdated.  Upon further research we find that “D. H.” stood for David Holmes Gardner, born July 29th, 1835 to Senator James Jefferson and Elizabeth (Spur) Gardneriv.  By the time of the destructive Elizabethtown fire, Gardner had been at work providing silver to the populace for over 20 years.  He had set up his business back in May of 1844 on the “south side of the public square formerly occupied by A. Fairleigh” per the “Kentucky Register” issue for May 14th of that year.  Not only does this advertisement give us a span for Gardner’s career, it also denotes the end of an earlier silversmith’s work in the community.

Downtown Elizabethtown, Hardin County's Seat, little changed from before 1861

Again, we turn to the advertisements of the early Elizabethtown newspapers for documentation of the other early Hardin County craftsmen such as the above mentioned “A” or, as we now know, Andrew Fairleigh, representative of an early and prominent family associated with Goodin’s Fort in Nelson County across the river from Lyon’s Station which fed the eventual settlement in and around Tonnieville, a railroad community in northern LaRue County.  Born in Elizabethtown in 1808 to Andrew Fairleigh Sr. and Letitia Swan, and a descendant as well of the famous Dubois family of silversmiths in New Yorkv, young Fairleigh had established a shop prior to 1830, as evidenced by his August 26th, 1830 ad in the “Western Sentinel” where he indicated he had “re-established himself in his business above Morris’ hatter shop.”  It is not clear where Fairleigh had been working prior to this date.  Per his date of birth, one might assume he completed his apprenticeship locally and then tried unsuccessfully to ply his trade away from Hardin County.  If he did learn his craft at home or nearby, there were few to whom he could have been apprenticed.  Only one man, J. R. Gardner (who still remains a bit of an enigma), might have been capable of becoming his master.  Otherwise he might have served his apprenticeship in Bardstown or Louisville.  Regardless, Andrew Fairleigh advertised regularly in Elizabethtown until April of 1837 when he took a partnervi.  That year he teamed up with another young local, James Phillips, of that revered old family that settled the southern portion of Hardin County which would become LaRue. 

James Phillips had left Hardin County in 1827 for Cincinnati where he was apprenticed to another local silversmith, Samuel Musgrovevii.  The partnership of Fairleigh & Phillips may have been short lived, as few surviving examples of their “silverwork manufactured by themselvesviii”, marked “A FAIRLEIGH & CO,” have come to light.  Fairleigh would go on to marry Jane Talbott of Elizabethtown the 2nd of March 1829, begin a family, and work as a silversmith until about 1843.  Fairleigh seems to have left his Kentucky business for good between then & 1845 to ultimately relocate in Savannah, Missouri.  The Fairleigh family would remain there only one year, relocating to St. Joseph, Missouri in 1846.

Some of this is confirmed by a brief biography of William & Jane's son, W. G., as provided by the St. Joseph Museums group taken from a History of Buchanan County, Missouri printed in 1881.  They preserved for us that:

William G. Fairleigh was born in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, on February 9, 1830, the son of Andrew Fairleigh and Jane Tolbert. The father was a silversmith, and examples of his work are still in the hands of his descendants. In 1843, when William was thirteen years of age, the family moved to Weston, Missouri, then a busy Missouri River port to which settlers of the new Platte Purchase were coming. William's first job was selling apples to the passengers on the steamboats. After a brief stay in Weston the family moved to Savannah, where William secured a job as hotel clerk, and later as clerk in the store of Felix Robidoux, the son of Joseph Robidoux, founder of St. Joseph.

In the spring of 1846 the Fairleigh family came to St. Joseph, a small town of eight hundred, which had been laid out by Joseph Robidoux only three years before....Gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in California in January 1848, and news of the discovery was first reported in the St. Joseph Gazette in October. Early in the spring of 1849 the gold rush was on. The files of the Gazette reflect the mounting excitement and traffic as the flood of emigrants began. They came by steamboat and bought their wagons and supplies here. The business of Tootles & Fairleigh boomed. Mr. Fairleigh's father was attracted by the gold excitement, so he took his family to Sacramento, California, where he died.

As mentioned in the anecdotes of his son, William Fairleigh would follow the infamous “49’ers” to California, but in his case he was shrewd enough not to pan for gold, but rather to set up a silver and jewelry store, only to die three months after opening it.  In the end he had forsaken his path as silversmith and succumbed to the lure of the gold mines.  Andrew Fairleigh’s son William George, while never trained as a silversmith, did work for a time as a jeweler in Missouri.  Andrew’s wife and two daughters would later operate a hotel in Sacramento, Californiaix.

A set of spoons made in Elizabethtown by A. Fairleigh & Co. prior to 1843

It is unknown if Phillips followed Fairleigh to Missouri, though the use of their mark on silver with handle forms reminiscent of styles from the late 1830s to the very early 1840s could indicate as such.  It is more plausible, however, that these rare surviving examples of their output were all crafted in Hardin County before his departure and the ultimate dissolution of Fairleigh and Phillip’s partnership.

Sauce Ladle by Fairleigh made for the McDougal family of Hodgenville

Fairleigh is known to have taken in only one apprentice during his tenure in Elizabethtown who went on to engage in the silversmithing and jeweler’s trade, that being James McClure.  This was logical, since McClure’s auntx was married to Andrew Fairleigh’s older brotherxi.  Born in Hardin (now LaRue) County August 15th in 1825 in the area around Mather’s Mill near Hodgenville, McClure came from Scotch-Irish stock with ties to Kentucky’s earliest days.   His father, Robert H. McLurexii, diedxiii when the boy was but 5 years of age.  His mother Lydia, daughter of LaRue County matriarch Mary Books LaRue Enlow, had been considered the most beautiful woman in Hardin County during her youth, and naturally remarried soon after Robert’s untimely deathxiv.  

April 23, 1861, The Louisville Daily Courier 

James McClure likely completed his training under Fairleigh around 1843.  The actual length of his career in Elizabethtown &/or Hodgenville can only be guessed at, though it might have been just a few short years as he would relocate to Bowling Greenxv in Warren County to become one of that town’s earliest & most prominent silversmiths and jewelersxvi.  

McLure would be active by himself and in several partnerships on Bowling Green’s squarexvii until his deathxviii. 

McLure's grave in Fairview Cemetery, Bowling Green, KY

Samuel Musgove, already mentioned, is generally associated locally with his native LaRue County and elsewhere with Nashville, but to keep in context with the period he was actually born (ca. 1797) & raised in Hardin County in that portion which would be cut off in 1843 to form the new county of LaRue.  His Loudon County, Virginia-born father, Cuthbert Musgrove, was a pioneer educator in the county, having migrated from Virginia to Hardin County at least by the 1790s, then moving to teach in Lexington by 1810, Warren County through the 1820s and 1830s, back to present day LaRue County by 1840 and into the 1850s, Edmonson County in 1860, and at some point Springfield, Kentucky in Washington County.  At age 78 the elderly educator was yet operating a school in Hodgenville.  Both Cuthbert and his wife Elizabeth Moore Musgrove would die near Brownsville in Edmonson County shortly after the 1860 Federal Census.

A spoon by Musgrove from the collection of the Metropolitan Museum, Gallery 774

 The young Sam completed his apprenticeship to an unknown master and went into partnership by 1820 in Cincinnati, inferring that perhaps he learned his trade in that city.  Musgrove remained active as a silversmith in Cincinnati until about 1840-41xix, at which time it has been alledged that he worked for a brief span in Maysville, KY where some of his distant paternal relations had settled. It should be noted, however, that the given name Samuel is common in the Musgrove family, even in Tennessee, which can cause confusion in determining the silversmith’s exact whereabouts prior to the late 1840s. In all liklihood Musgrove did wed a Mason County girl, Elizabeth R. Reed, and per the 1830 Mason County, Kentucky Census resided there for a scant few years, but soon after returned across the river to reside and keep shop in Cincinnati per tax assessment records from 1834 to 1838.

LaRue County Kentucky records indicate, though, that he had relocated his family back to the community of his birth by at least 1847xx.  This is substantiated by the Federal Census of 1850 which lists Samuel Musgrove as a gold and silversmith residing in LaRue County (Hodgenville).  His tenure in his old home was brief.  Records indicate he had moved again, this time to Nashvillexxi, Tennessee, by 1851xxii where he remained with his shop on Deadrick Streetxxiii until the beginning of the War Between the Statesxxiv.  From that point, city directories note his several moves to varied locations in the cityxxv.  (xxvi xxvii) The year 1867 marked his final entry in the Nashville City Directory.  His demise and final return to his native LaRue County in the autumn of 1867 was marked by the local paper: 

MUSGROVE Died in Nashville on 27th Oct [1867], Samuel Musgrove in the 70th year of his age. His remains were forwarded to Sonora, Ky., for interment. He was long and well known in this community, having been established in business here since 1852 and was held in high esteem by all who knew him as a worthy and industrious man whose word was his bond. He was truly "an honest man - the noblest work of God." He leaves an interesting family of four daughters and one son to lament his demise. May he who promises to be Father to orphans wmfort them in this great bereavement. -Nashville Gazette. 29 Ocl 1867

To have been an obscure small town smith, Musgrove was fairly prolific in his output during his 40+ year career as attested to by the surviving examples of silver bearing his mark of “S MUSGROVE.”  Samuel’s sister Nancy married George Thurman whose descendants remain in Hardin and LaRue Counties even now.  That branch would have collateral descent with the Phillips family that included James who had been sent to Samuel Musgrove to learn the “art and mystery” of the silversmithxxviii.

A "cartouche" mark used by Musgrove, who as well utilized an incised or intaglio mark.

Our final Elizabethtown silversmith, John R. Gardner, was likely the earliest to have worked in that community, though it seems very likely he could have as well kept a shop for a brief period early in his career to the south in Hodgenville.  In addition, the least is known about Gardner than any of his colleagues.  Even his lineage is undetermined, though he undoubtedly was associated with that family out of Chatham and Danville, Virginia near the North Carolina border that took up land grants for their Revolutionary War service in that part of Hardin County, Kentucky which later became Hart County just south of both LaRue and Hardin Counties.  His competitive advertisements in the “Kentucky Register” offering “engraving done on my work free of charge” started appearing in 1837xxix but either Gardner, or his father by the same name, were active locally much earlier than this as proven when their surviving output is examined stylistically.  Only a handful of teaspoons exist to mark Gardner’s career, all of a form indicating fabrication in the 1830s and earlier, though Gardner advertised “ladles, table, dessert, tea & salt spoonsxxx”.  One sole extant pair of teaspoons, bearing a variant initial mark of “JRG” was fashioned for the Owsley family of Hodgenville and sports a modified “coffin end” handle which had been in fashion ca. 1800-1810.  Gardner likely, though, was copying a style in vogue the generation before but still popular with his local customers in Hardin County.  The original owner, Epsworth Owsley, was active in land & slave transactions ca. 1819-1827xxxi, so it is logical to assume the spoons that Gardner crafted for his family date to ca. 1820, though likely not much later and maybe a few years prior.  All other existing spoons by Gardner reflect in design a date late in the 1820s or early 1830s, and bear his full script mark of “J R GARDNER.”  This would support an assumption that Gardner had died by early in 1840, the year his wife Margaret remarriedxxxii.  Of all the smiths, excepting Phillips & Gunning to whom no surviving example is attributed solely, J. R. Gardner’s work must be considered the rarest.

Like Phillips, no silver has yet been identified as having been made by Hugh Gunning of Elizabethtown, though as least one tall case clock exists in a private collection to document his work as a clockmaker in that communityxxxiii.  Gunning’s life & career remain a bit of a mystery.  He was born one of 6 children in Stranorlar, County Donegal, Ireland to John B. and Elizabeth Gunning.  The date of his migration to America remains to be found, but it would appear most of his immediate family remained in Irelandxxxiv.  There is indication that he followed the path of an earlier generation of his father’s family who had settled in Pennsylvaniaxxxv.  He perhaps detoured through New Jersey, as reference is found in the Pennsylvania Gazette of 28th March 1792 of a Hugh Gunning in a list of insolvent debtors in Salem County.  Gunning is definitely well established in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, however, by 1825.  In that year he ran for, and lost, an election for City Trusteexxxvi.  Little else is known of him until his deathxxxvii on November 14th, 1835 and the subsequent filing of his willxxxviii.  His estate inventory provides a fascinating glimpse into the shop of an antebellum central Kentucky craftsman.  The auction of Gunning’s personal property in January of 1836 included finished timepieces as well as parts and tools and was attended by other regional craftsmen including Andrew Fairleigh of Elizabethtown and John Simpsonxxxix, the esteemed Nelson County silversmith and surveying compass maker from Bardstownxl.  If one might judge from a man’s belongings, then Gunning must have been a fine dresser, or a “dandy” of the day per the prices paid for his clothing!  The amount of building materials sold would as well indicate that perhaps Gunning was preparing to erect a more substantial brick shop &/or private residence when his sudden death brought a halt to his construction plans.

Lot #3 on the Court Square of Elizabethtown, once owned by Hugh Gunning, later sold in 1827 to partners John Morris, a hatter, and Bardstown silversmith & clock maker Jonathan Simpson, upon which near a century later in 1922 the Joplin Hotel was constructed

One last craftsman can be included in this list due to his activity in the county on the eve of the War, after which virtually no silver would be crafted by hand again in Kentucky.  E. S. Kimber called himself a silversmith in his 1860 listing for the Kentucky State Gazetteer & Business Directory, but his advertisements locally in the Elizabethtown papers for 1859xli describing himself as a clock and watchmaker were likely more accurate.  In essence, Kimber was a jeweler who retailed coin silver made in Philadelphia or New York, along with clocks from Connecticut and jewelry purchased from the wholesalers in Cincinnati or Louisville.  Silver may someday come to light with his mark, but by the middle 19th century most silversmiths had evolved into retailing jewelers, buying cheaper, mass produced silver from large scale manufactures.  These large silver houses accepted orders directly from the small town jewelers, stamping spoons & other items with their name & sometimes their town as well, along with a name or logo for the manufactures.  (Numerous examples of coin silver are documented with names of Kentucky silversmiths like William Kendrick or J. B. Akin, along with the initial PLK for Peter L. Krider of Philadelphia.)  It was simply a more cost effective and efficient way to sell silver.  These local tradesmen could not compete with the northern manufacturers who fabricated rolled sheets of silver and stamped out decorative bands and parts to make silver in an assembly line-like fashion.  Even more damaging to silversmiths in towns like Elizabethtown were the larger silver shops in Louisville, who advertised in the local papers each week in direct competition with the small town smith or jeweler.  With the introduction of rail lines, commerce outside of Elizabethtown was a possibility not considered previously by consumers, and the small communities and counties to the south became a whole new target market for the Louisville wholesalers.  Thus, men like Kimber represented the last of their trade in central Kentucky.  With the approach of war and a devastated economy, there would never again be a demand for hand crafted coin silver.

These few men may not be the only ones to have worked in Hardin County as craftsmen in silver, but they are the sole representatives of their craft found so far that can be attributed with complete certainty to Elizabethtown and the surrounding area.  The research provided here is preliminary at best, and it is hoped by the author that future historians will delve further into this project to better develop the full story of their work and legacy to the cultural history of Hardin County and Kentucky.


 Following the War, the following jewelers are found associated with Hardin & surrounding counties (dates reference periods of advertisement in the communities onlyxlii):
J. H. Adams- Hudsonville, Breckinridge County, active 1859
Doctor H. Allen- Brandenburg, active 1879
John A. Allen- Grayson County, active 1876
George H. Casperke- Brandenburg, active 1887-1894
Virgil H. Churchill- Elizabethtown, active 1879-1892
Mrs. Virgil Churchill- Elizabethtown, active 1893-1894 (“Manufacturing Jewelers”)
W. H. Cooper- Hodgenville, active 1887-1894
Frederick N. D’Huy- Hardinsburg, active 1887-1892
Thomas F. Duncan- Elizabethtown, active 1876-1880
D. H. Gardner- Elizabethtown active until 1880 (jeweler)
A. A. Grief- Big Spring, active 1887-1892
D. P. Kasey- Vine Grove, active 1879-1880
P. R. Kasey- Big Springs
T. C. Lewis- Hardinsburg, active 1887-1894
L. C. Lock- Buffalo (LaRue County), active 1887-1892
J. A. Mahan- Brandenburg, active 1893
R. L. Marshall- Elizabethtown, active 1891
J. P. McClure- Leitchfield, active 1891
Carl Ruhl- Elizabethtown, active 1879-1888


                                                         
 i The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX 9/27-11/10 1968.
ii Anglo-America Art Museum, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 9/15-11/15 1968.
                                                                                                                                                                                           iii May 11-18, 1980.
iv Special thanks go to William Voss for his assistance and access to his expansive genealogical charts detailing the intricate and involved family relationships of so many American silversmiths.
v Voss files
vi The (Elizabethtown) Kentucky Register, 5/20/1837.
vii Jacob Deterly diary
viii Kentucky Register, 4/29/1837.
ix Biographical Record of Buchanan & Clinton Counties, Missouri, 1893.
x Elizabeth “Betsy” Enlow, sister to Lydia Enlow McLure, would marry William Fairleigh, brother to the silversmith.
xi Leckey, Howard L., The Tenmile Country & Its Pioneer Families, 1977.
xii Family records indicate the use of both McClure and McLure as correct spellings, as they were used interchangeably by the family.
xiii Born 1798, died in LaRue County 1830 age 32 years, 6 months, burial at historic Nolin Baptist Church graveyard.  Benningfield, Edward, LaRue County Kentucky Cemeteries, 1982, p. 98.
xiv She would marry George Read that next September 13th, 1831 and die in New Orleans May 14, 1856.  See Six generations of LaRues and Allied Families, pp. 97-99.
xv One might speculate that McLure opted for a larger patron base in Warren County when competition came to the very small community of Hodgenville with the opening of Samuel Musgrove’s shop toward the middle 1840s.
xvi Connelley, W. E. and Coulter, E. M., History of Kentucky, 1922, p. 532.
xvii Hawes, Ky. State Gazetteer & Business Directory of 1859-60.
xviii McClure’s death date is referenced both ca. 1875 per Judge Otis Mather in Six Generations of LaRues and Allied Families, and as May 26, 1881 in Bowling Green per Fairview Cemetery records and the stone for McLure that was erected there.  It must be assumed that the death year quoted by Mather was incorrect.
xix Shop at Post Office Alley between 3rd & 4th.  Deming, The Cincinnati Directory 1834.
xx Misc. Records of the LaRue County Clerk
xxi Listed as a silversmith residing at 118 N. Cherry St. in 1853/54.  Campbell, Rev. John P., The Southern Business Directory Vol. 1, 1854.
xxii He was listed briefly in 1855-56 on the Public Square, per Campbell’s Nashville Business Directory, Vol. 2.
xxiii King, E. Doug, compiler, Singleton’s Nashville City Directory, p. 250 reflected Musgrove as a watchmaker, residing at #32 S. Summer Street and shop at #17 Deadrick.
xxiv Williams, Nashville City Directory, 1860-61, cites Musgrove’s gold & silver workshop at #20 Deadrick.
xxv In 1867 he is found with a shop on #3 North Summer and residence on South High near Wilson’s Spring along with other members of his family.
xxvi Glasgow Times 8/25/1914.
xxvii Most of his remaining family members were then residing in Barren County, Kentucky until the War.  Afterward, Nashville City Directories would indicate some had moved to Davidson County, TN.
xxviii Many of these silversmiths like Musgrove, Phillips, & McLure have familial ties to the area around Sonora, Kentucky where present day Hardin and LaRue Counties meet and in fact share possession of this small community.
xxix April 8th, 1837
xxx Kentucky Register
xxxi Hardin County, Ky. Deed Books G, H, & K covering the years 1818-27
xxxii Marriage Records, Hardin County Clerk, 8/3/1837 John R. Gardner to Margaret Miller; 3/10/1840 Margaret Gardner (second marriage) to William Showers.
xxxiii This clock was in use for many years in a river town funeral home some miles to the west and down river from Hardin County.  It was offered for sale by its owners, thus the current whereabouts of the tall case clock are unknown.  
xxxiv As referenced below, notice of his death was published in the Irish papers.  No other siblings are found in records for Hardin County, KY, though it’s probable that nieces &/or nephews resided there.  Gunning’s only sister “Eliza” was living in County Donegal at the time of her marriage to James Moore 1/6/1838.  Hugh Gunning’s will references what might be a daughter born out of wedlock to a member of the locally prominent Enlow family.  This relationship would ironically have created a collateral family connection with James McClure.
xxxv An earlier Hugh Gunning in Pennsylvania may have been an uncle.
xxxvi 38 male citizens of Elizabethtown cast votes for 10 candidates.  Gunning received 7 votes.  Bits & Pieces, the Hardin County Historical Society Newsletter, Vol. XXIV #3, Fall 2005.  In addition, Gunning’s name was posted in the Western Herald edition of July 20, 1825 announcing an unclaimed letter to be picked up at the Elizabethtown Post Office.  
xxxvii Compilation of vital statistics of County Donegal, Ireland from published announcements and obituaries in the Strabane Morning Post, the Londonderry Standard, and the Londonderry Sentinel.
xxxviii Hardin County KY Will Book D-242 12/31/1834.  Gunning’s will lists his parents and siblings Elizabeth, John, Henry, Robert, and James Gunning.
xxxix MESDA recently acquired a fine compass by Simpson made for James Kerr McGoodwin, the father of another south central Kentucky silversmith/jeweler, Isaac D. McGoodwin who worked in Bowling Green as a contemporary of James McLure.
xl Hardin County, KY Estate Inventory Book “I” pp. 85-89.
xli Original issue in author’s collection.
xlii Boultinghouse, Silversmith, Jewelers, Clock & Watch Makers of Kentucky 1785-1900.