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.

Rance Steed: Black Hands Turning A White Tradition In North Carolina Pottery

by Gary Dean Gardner, Independent Scholar of Southern Material Culture

Chrisco jug perhaps turned by Steed, photo courtesy Case Auction 

 Examples of stoneware marked by William Henry Chrisco but perhaps turned by Rance Steed

image of pitcher courtesy Mac Whatley

It’s amazing the energy and motivation one can find in frustration, and I seem to deserve a lot of frustration of late.  That was especially the case this week when I foolishly decided to post a few notes I had on file regarding a nearly unknown African-American Southern potter working a century ago in North Carolina.  When you start sharing scholarship on a subject virtually no one else knows about, you expect a modicum of appreciation and even, perhaps, a little respect, but when you are dealing with the antagonistic world of social media, you’re a fool to think anyone truly respects your effort.  In this situation I posted on a rather generic pottery group page and was soon accosted by a pair of “expert” & elitist antique dealers who went on the attack and demanded to know whether the bit of scholarship I offered was “copied and pasted” as if I’d plagiarized the work.  Well, my esteemed carpetbagger friends, I can assure you my research is my own, else I’ll cite the source for another person’s ideas!

Enough said on that distasteful subject.  At least it prompted me to dig deeper and compile my notes.

The subject at hand is the nearly forgotten Seagrove potter Rance Steed, a mulatto African-American potter who turned for many bigger white factories in and around Randolph & Montgomery Counties in the early 20th century. He was born Ransom Steed, erroneously by a few accounts as early as between 1854 and 1858, but more correctly in  1864.  He died in Seagrove the 10th of August 1933.

A pitcher attributed to the production of Rance Steed, author's collection

Known locally as Rance, aka Ranzy to his immediate family as a child, Ransom was the son of slaves George Steed (b. ca. 1820) & a not clearly identifiable neighboring slave woman. Rance himself was technically born free, but due to his birth toward the end of the Civil War, for all practical purposes he actually gained his freedom with the ratification of the 13th Amendment in December 1865.

His paternal history is well documented in surviving records.  There is first discovered a distinct tie between George Steed and the widow Nancy W. Hearne Steed (white, b. 11 Jan. 1789, d. 5 May 1872), for in the early years following the Civil War and Emancipation George is found as a neighbor to the widowed Mrs. Steed and most probably her sharecropper.  The 1870 US Federal Census enumerates George Steed as, somewhat oddly, living alone at Dwelling #143/Household #150 immediately following the entry for Nancy Steed and her daughter Sabrina.

 It turns out from surviving Randolph County estate probate records that George Steed was born the slave of Samuel Lewis (before 1759-1826).  According to Lewis’ will, he directed that, “As to Negro George- (my) will is that he be sold and purchased by some of my children if they can, otherwise to sell him where he wishes.”  And that provision was honored.  Of Samuel Lewis’ children, his daughter Elizabeth Lewis, who had already died by 1802, was the first wife of Clayton Steed.  Referenced in his father-in-law’s 1823 will as Samuel Lewis’ “son”, Clayton purchased George in the settlement of the estate.  

An Excerpt From Samuel Lewis' Will Referring to the Slave Named George

Thus, George began his new life as the chattel property of Clayton Steed on his modest plantation of some 494 acres along the Wharrie [sic’] River in Randolph County.  Not long afterward, though the location and record are apparently lost to history (but ca. 1826 per the birth of daughter Sabrina), Clayton took his second bride, Nancy Hearne.   Per the 1850 US Census Slave Schedules, Clayton Steed owned a total of six slaves including a single 27-year-old black male. This is without question Ransom's father, George Steed.  

 Clayton Steed died 20^th October 1857.  Per his estate probate file and its estate inventory and settlement records, his widow Nancy acquired George for the sum of $200, along with Faney (Fancy) and her child for $301 on 7 Dec 1854.  Most likely Fancy was one of George Steed’s enslaved wives, though apparently not Ransom’s mother, a woman whose exact identity is difficult to discover in post-war records.  Thus far no county records have surfaced recording a prior slave-era marriage for George Steed.  Few slaves, even when given the opportunity, found it necessary to legally sanction a marriage that might have been decades old once freedom was won and African-American marriages were finally recognized by the state of North Carolina with the passing of An Act Concerning Negroes & Persons of Color or of Mixed Blood in 1866.  And too, the western European concept of marriage was not always adopted by African slaves in the American South, nor was it necessarily pushed by Southern slave owners.  It was never uncommon for slave men, separated sometimes by great distances from their partners on other plantations, to maintain marital-like relations with slave women in closer proximity. This idea of plural marriage for enslaved African-Americans makes it difficult to define households and lineage, even long after the Civil War.

Graves of Clayton & Nancy Steed @ New Hope Methodist Cemetery in Randolph Co.

These genealogical problems are most manifest with the evolving household of George Steed, who on the 8th of July 1875 legally married the 41-year-old Ann Reeves in Randolph County.   Their union would not last more than a decade.  Ann died, after which George would go on to marry Nany Russell of the Hills Store community on 10th of March 1886.

Six years prior, though, George and Ann Reeves Steed are found together in the 1880 United States Census for Randolph County parenting 5 children, Adam (b. ca. 1862), Ranzy (b. ca. 1864), Robert L. (b ca. 1872), Lecora (daughter b. ca. 1876), and George Jr. (b. ca. 1878).

These estimated dates of birth provide for us now a clear separation of “marital” unions for George Steed and the subsequent fathering of children.  Brothers Adam and Ransom were clearly the children of another slave woman, though not necessarily the same person.  Adam’s death certificate from the 16^th January 1912 reveals further confirmation of this fact.  It states that Adam Steed’s mother was named Eliza Steed.  Oddly, his father’s name was recorded on the certificate, but later obliterated with “unknown” written over the smudged masking of the original entry.

Now, recalling the 1870 Census in which George is found alone, this leaves a most pertinent question as to just where his sons Adam & Rance were in 1870?  The search for these boys provides additional confusion rather than concrete answers.  A search for them in Randolph County 5 years after the War seemingly results in failure, indicating George Steed’s common law wife may have migrated outside the county with her children, or perhaps was sold and taken away before the end of slavery.  Ransom’s death certificate offers no help in identifying his mother, though it does confirm his enduring vocation as “potter.”  The survey of records thus far concludes Ann Reeves was his step-mother, though a witness erroneously provided her name as his biological mother and was not aware of his father’s name.  Then, considering his brother Adam’s death certificate, we look for an Eliza Steed, a woman not included in the slave inventory for Clayton Steed, implying she lived enslaved on another plantation but took, perhaps, George’s chosen surname.

Unfortunately, the 1870 Census for North Carolina disappoints us with no enumeration for a household in which both Adam and Ransom are included.  Even more frustrating is the revelation that no boys by said names are discovered at all!  They seemingly, but not surprisingly, disappear in the chaotic years of the late 1860s as the initial wave of the great African-American Diaspora begins.  And, while there is no Eliza Steed to be found, either, there is found a Leasy Rogers, b. ca. 1829, working as a domestic for the Henry Grady family of Monroe, NC in Union County, just to the southwest of Seagrove and Randolph County.  With Leasy (Eliza?) is her 6-year-old son, Ransom.  Now, if this is the potter, which seems logical, it still leaves the whereabouts of his older brother a mystery, for there is no Adam Steed or Adam Rogers to be found in the household or in any close by.  If we have found Ransom, Adam remains unaccounted for until, perhaps due to the death of Eliza aka Leasy, the children are at last reunited with their father by the time of the 1880s Census.  Without the discovery of specific deeds of conveyance for the slave Eliza, who may have been the property of either Thomas or Russell Rogers of Monroe, NC, it may be impossible to ascertain with any certainty the maternity of Adam and Ransom Steed.

Ransom married Alice Brower (this maiden name given on the death certificate of son Hubert, but Alice was also referred to as a Garner per the death certificate of daughter Etter) (b. Oct. 1863) at an unspecified date prior to 1900.  Together they raised a family of six children consisting of Hubert (aka Herbert) b. Sept. 1886, Norma E. b. May 1889, Thomas J. Steed b. Feb. 1891, Corrina Steed Spinks b. Feb. 1893, John W. Steed b. Aug. 1894, and Etter (Etta?) Patterson Matthews b. 1897

Steed died the 9^th of August 1933 in Seagrove, North Carolina with burial in the New Zion (AME) cemetery in nearby Moore County southeast of Seagrove.

Another NC pitcher thought to have been turned by Steed

Regarding Steed’s 30+ years of work as a potter in the Seagrove area, it is documented that Steed worked as a turner for Wright Davis (1838-1928), though other white-owned potteries have been identified as Steed’s employers.  The best documentation of his work comes from Michelle Francis’ 17 May 1983 interview with Harwood Graves in Robbins, NC.   They were joined by Clyde Graves in a discussion of Steed’s contribution to North Carolina’s pottery tradition.  In the interview they identified Ruffin “Ruff” Cole as one employer early in the 20^th century.  Clyde Graves explained, “(Steed was turning) For Ruffin Cole and he made us a whole bunch of syrup jugs to hold the sauger molasses in, or the syrup.  And they were mostly 5-gallon, and I know he put two handles on ‘em- one opposite the other one.  I guess the one knocked off, you’d still have on handle.  But a lot of ‘em had two handles.  And those provided the containers for us for our whole lifetime.  We still have some of ‘em.”  Clyde reminisced further to recall Steed having worked for J. (John) M. Yow, and that one of the Yow pots in the collection of the Seagrove Museum had been turned by Steed.  The Graves brothers went on to say that Steed as well worked for William Chrisco and the Owenses.

Stoneware jug marked for John M. Yow, but perhaps turned by Rance Steed

image from Liveauctions; Little Auctions

In discussing the aforementioned syrup jugs, Harwood Graves gave his account of Steed’s skill.  He recounted, “And he could turn, he could pull up a stone jug that would hold five gallons and that, that, if his clay was good, it wouldn’t be a quarter of an inch think.  And you’ve got to be an accomplished pottery to take and turn that kind of a decent pot.  You can look at somebody turning a piece of pottery and you can tell how, how good they are by how think they leave the piece.  Now a amateur can get up most anything, but it’ll be thick.  But whenever it comes down to the delicate…,that just less than a quarter of an inch thick…You don’t find those, too many.”

Others apparently knew of Steed’s mastery, though they may have coupled appreciation with a lingering degree of racial disdain and animosity.  Michelle Francis’s companion interview of 17^th May 1983 with Jack Kiser with Dorothy Auman revealed a somewhat more disparaging record of Steed abilities.  Kiser remarked, “I know Walter Lineberry told me about this nigger that used to turn over at (Skeen’s??)    Mill.  He broke the record, he turned a hundred gallons of pottery one day. " Ms. Auman interjected for clarification, “That was Rance Steed you’re talkin’ about now.*”

Harwood Graves, in his interview, touched upon the need of many potters to subsidize their work with the illegal production of whiskey, explaining that men, including Rance Steed, became so associated with the distiller through the production of jugs for them that they toyed with distillation themselves.  Interestingly, this is substantiated in the 5^th April 1917 issue of Asheboro’s local The Courier newspaper in which it was announced on the front page, “State vs. Ransom Steed, illicit distillery, not guilty.”

Only the 1900 Federal Census denotes Ransom's true lifelong profession.  Unlike other Census entries, it states that Ransom Steed was born February 1864, and in that year of 1900 was working professionally as a “ware turner” in the Little River Township of Montgomery County, NC.  Future enumerations define him simply as a farmer, despite the understanding that he was most likely making stoneware up until the time of his death.

It was Clyde Graves who summed up the debt we owe to African-Americans like Ransom steed.  Without the prejudice of many of his peers, Graves was adamant in his conviction that “Somebody ought to look up and give that old black man more credit than he’s been given.  Mr. Graves, I hope I’ve begun to do just that.

*The Francis interviews may be found in the digital collections of East Carolina University, Jenkins Fine Art Center.

For additional reference see Zug, Charles G. III, Turners and Burners: The Folk Potters of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press.

Thanks to Mac Whatley who descends directly from W H Chrisco as well as collaterally from Wright Davis, two of the potters who enlisted Ransom Steed's services as a turner in their stoneware productions.  For clarification in regards to the spelling of the Chrisco surname, he explained that the "e" on the end was added by William Henry's children, thus the contradictory spellings found in print.  Per Mr. Whatley, Chrisco, sometimes spelled Crisco, was originally Christgau, a family name  of Hessian origin

I Yield, At Last

I just don't know.  Is it a sign of the times, or a symptom of a sickness yet to further rip apart the fabric of decorum and civility in our society?  Yes, I'm ranting a tad today.  Any other post from me would be far more positive and focused upon some historic food or personage, but today I don't have it in me.  I feel much too drained to think upon the highlights of history when I come out leveled low.

Now most of y'all reading, well, maybe a few folks are reading, don't know much more about my community than I've told you in my articles.  Those were subjective topics with a concentrated effort to share the best, not the worst, while in real life it seems I wind up battling a pervasive community spirit of hostility that ultimately brings out the negative aspects of my nature.  After a point, it's hard to conjure up a "Polly Anna" attitude in your writing when you feel knocked down and trampled on.

That's sort of where I am today.  It's a grey, gloomy, chilled-to-the-bone kind of fall morning and it just plain reflects my spirit of late.  I often compare myself to the town's own Don Quixote, charging windmills of outrage that most don't see or don't mind to tolerate. In other words, LETHARGY.  Often times for me the charge is to save and preserve our past, a daunting challenge in a town that gives lip service to tourism yet fights the notion of a tourism commission. Other times I see the blatant wrong-doings that others avoid by the blinders they wear which keep them in good standing and good grace with all of society.  And when I see, I say, and that, clearly, makes me the enemy.

Please remember, we're 2,700 people "strong" situated about 30 miles from the center of the state and about 7 miles from a major interstate and have two components of a national park with a declared "scenic highway" connecting us for some 20 miles with one of Kentucky's best known state historic parks.  Sounds bucolic, right?  Well, on the surface, perhaps, in dim light and if you squint real hard.  But look past the pretty veneer and you see a community that is pretty self-centered and lazy when it comes to recognizing potential or retaining its own cultural legacies, much less doing the right thing for all the people and not just our selfish selves.

Besides the refusal to properly promote ourselves through tourism, a result of an isolationist attitude developed from long-term jealousies of some surrounding counties, arrogant self-righteous superiority of some, and a kicked-dog, tuck-tail inferiority complex in the shadow of one, our people are "historically" lazy when it comes to history.  Back in 1909 we pretty much sat back and decided to fan our selves in the shade of the National Parks, letting them be the keepers of the gates to the past.  What a mistake!  By the 1940s the Department of the Interior went on a purge campaign to rid their parks of the influence of the local yocals.   They decided not to tell OUR story, but rather sterilize and spit back to us, and all the world, their own.  So, for over 70 years now we here have neglected our past, forgotten who we were, and passively swallowed a watered down version of things concocted by strangers in D.C. who cared naught for us.

Now mix in a Jim Crow era racism that became ever more subtle and simpler to accept & accommodate.  For you see, we present to the world our claim to fame as the place where Abraham Lincoln was born and in doing so trade off forever our birthrights of individuality, forsaking all  other history of our people, the good, the bad, the crazy, the genius, allowing Federal bureaucrats to dictate and extrapolate what they wish and throw out the proverbial baby with the bath water as good bureaucrats do.  We sit back and say "thank you!" for preserving "OUR" past without noticing that Washington's version of who we were is an all-white novelette of about one single chapter that neglects most any characters in the drama with any real interest, and cuts out anyone of color!

This is where a true historian feels the pain of obvious racist omissions.  Once a county of Virginia, our origins were never all white.  From the first day our beginnings were black & white, but we somehow let that fact slip our collective memories.  So, it's easy for the Parks to actually tell visitors there was no African-American presence in our community, and certainly no impact upon a future President.  No body is in the wood pile, for we burnt up the birthplace cabin that housed slaves longer than it did a future politician who left as a child and had virtually no impact upon this little burg's people.  But the Federal Government tells us we was white as snow, y'all, so it must be true, and the "Cradle of Emancipation" is somewhere off in Illinois or DC, 'cause nothing here took root in the memories of a child destined to end slavery in America.

So be it.  I have fought the NPS long enough, begging and pleading that they acknowledge a black and white, free & slave culture that shaped the earliest years of Lincoln.  Even their own African-American historian turns a deaf ear to the pleas that her own race be recognized as the rightful heirs of Lincoln's legacy.  In truth, you just can't fight anything alone, so it's no surprise that my solitary challenge was a failure.  But then I could never rouse the ire of our local black community to see and be indignant of this slight.  They are pacified with their entire local legacy being summed up and symbolized by a cheap pair of Taiwan-made reproduction slave shackles, the intent of National Parks, declaring to the world that their past is one of bondage and that no lasting contribution was ever made.  Well, if that's good enough for them, it's good enough for me.

And on that note, why keep up the fight anyone when no one, of any race, really cares?  Why continue when your own community leaders not only reject your contributions but even attack them?  What impetus is there to salvage the past for a people who continue to throw it away and refuse to support your dedication of retrieving it?  You sure can't shame the hot air out of a bragging politician, this I have learned.  Instead, I have to hold my head up as our local leaders shut their eyes to the truth given them and go on a campaign of attack of one of their own constituents, sometimes belittling me publicly, attacking my credibility and my ability, taking from me my solitary contribution to the place I make my home, my gift of a story salvaged from their own gutters.  These mock historians and their exclusive committees and boards used wrongfully to shun me are now far better read and articulate than I, finding fault and error at every page I might complete.

Do I seem bitter?  I am, of course, and hurt, as such was the intent.  But through all this personal affront  I maintain my sense of self and the understanding of my own talents, and I see these leaders for what they are, jealous, flawed and afraid.  So, I'll continue to do my own thing, for me, not them, not for my neighbors, not for those of a different complexion to wrong old rights, not for those whose story remains untold, only for me, for that is the Hodgenville and LaRue County way, selfish, self-absorbed, for me and my own.  And in rejecting a claim on this place, perhaps they will eventually stop their petty efforts to reject me.  But, then, it doesn't much matter.  They've cut the ties for me, and they can't be repaired.  I have no sense of place, but I do keep my esteem and sense of self.  So, a new introvert, I live the remainder of my days oblivious to the community and county in which I reside.  The history I seek will be entertaining for me, or perhaps my own people's saga without tie to this wretched little place and its wretched little people.  I assimilate to your selfishness, and give to you no more, Hodgenville and LaRue County, Kentucky.

gdg

RACING, AND THE RACES, at MY OLD KENTUCKY HOME

Racing and the Races at "My Old Kentucky Home";

An Examination of Slavery and the Thoroughbred Industry in Central Kentucky

by Gary Dean Gardner, Independent Scholar 

FEDERAL HILL PLANTATION, SEAT OF JUDGE JOHN ROWAN

 now My Old Kentucky Home State Park, as depicted in watercolor by Jim Cantrell

Very little tends to be known, commonly, of Kentucky’s early politicians and their preoccupation with racing.  History records their fiery oratory from the floors of the House & Senate, be they in Frankfort or in Washington D. C., but the personal passions of these public servants is generally omitted from historic narrative.  Such is certainly the case regarding John Rowan of Bardstown.  Even when touring his country home, Federal Hill, now a state historic site and shrine to the symbolism of Kentucky’s sense of place and home, we see in our mind’s eye a glorified town house set upon lush lawn rather than the seat of a 19^th century working plantation where crops grew, gardens were planted, and blooded horses were cared for by black grooms marked the success of the greater Bluegrass gentry.

Before now, the primary evidence we had for John Rowan’s participation in Kentucky’s Thoroughbred industry is recorded by Sanders DeWeese Bruce in his 1873 edition of The American Stud Book… (of)… Thorough-bred Stallions and Mares.  Here we find entries for two of Rowan’s later horses;

“RIFLE, ch. h., foaled 1840, bred and owned by John Rowan, Kentucky.  By John Richards.  Dam by Shakespeare”

 And

 “SLIPPER, b. m., foaled 1839, bred and owned by John Rowan, Kentucky.  By imported Barefoot.  Dam by Shakespeare.” (pp. 315 & 485)

Strangely, little else is mentioned of Rowan anywhere regarding his horse breeding endeavors until one makes a close examination of the local papers of the day.  In THE HERALD newspaper of Bardstown for the 14^th April 1836, John Rowan left scholars a vital clue as to his equine interests in the 1830s.  His advertisement there confirms not only his reliance upon Thoroughbred breeding at “My Old Kentucky Home” as a revenue source, but the influential socio-political ties of this important Kentucky family as well, ones that linked John Rowan to the highest of America’s political and horse racing societies.  John Rowan, then living primarily in Louisville rather than in Bardstown, posted this most remarkable and explanative narrative of an advertisement:

MASTER BURKE.

This fine young horse was raised by me, and will be kept for this season by my servant at my plantation adjoining Bardstown, and be let to mares at $10 the season- to be paid by the 1^st of August next- $15 for insuring the mare with foal, and $5 the single leap.  A note payable to me, must be left with the servant in each case.

In 1805 I bought Madison’s celebrated race mare.  She was said to be thorough bred and was believed to be the best racer for the four-mile heats in the State.  She had a mare colt by the imported horse Stirling- from her by a full-blooded horse of the Medley strain, came the dam of Master Burke, and he is sired by the old Aratus.

Master Burke is raising six years old- fifteen hands and a half high, as finely formed and I believe, as purely blooded, as any horse whatever.  JOHN ROWAN

So much voluntarily offered history is unusual in 19^th century stud advertisements, and while Rowan made known here his over 30 years of Thoroughbred breeding at Federal Hill in addition to his previously unknown connections to our nation’s fourth President, he left us with many, many unanswered questions.  The primary question involves the identity of his “servant.”  Rowan was living in his Louisville townhome when he published this advertisement.  In that year of 1836 he became one of 3 founders of the Louisville Medical Institute which would become the present-day University of Louisville Medical School.  The fast-growing commercial center of Kentucky at the “Falls of the Ohio” offered Rowan a substantial income base thanks to his legal clientele there and due to his substantial ownership of prime river frontage along the Ohio River that included the city wharf itself for which he received ½ of the proceeds, per the 1832 Louisville Directory.

We might reasonably conjecture that the beleaguered Rowan family had fled Federal Hill in Bardstown due to emotional distress, Judge Rowan having traumatically lost three children, a son-in-law, a daughter-in-law, a sister, brother-in-law, and a granddaughter all to Cholera in a short span of mere days, just 3 short years beforehand in the epidemic of 1833.  But more than one race of Rowans at Federal Hill succumbed to disease that year.  26 enslaved individuals at Federal Hill perished from the disease as well, most interred in the segregated burial ground to the rear of the house.

Judge John Rowan o/c by Matthew Harris Jouett

Despite his necessary if chosen absence during the 1830s focusing upon work and his lucrative financial investments in Louisville, Bardstown was still John Rowan’s seat, and he never let the fields of Federal Hill go fallow or its enslaved inhabitants sit idle.  His plantation, the expression of the day that was Rowan’s own choice of nomenclature (and a term spurned by 20^th century historians with an agenda to distance Kentucky culturally from slavery and the “Confederate” South as a whole), was home to an immense capital outlay in chattel, both animal and human, the latter of which was trained and assigned to tasks and duties that perpetuated the upkeep of his country home and the profits derived from it.

There remains today some speculation as to the degree of Rowan’s involvement in slavery past mere ownership. Like many Kentucky slave masters, John has been viewed in modern reflections as a passive participant in the “peculiar institution” merely for the lack of accounts of beatings or hushed recollections of mulatto Rowan children being sold downriver.  Yet thousands of children, with or without their natural parents, were ultimately sold and shipped further south beginning at Rowan’s wharf, where the count of each head, be it cow, swine, or slave, added coins to Rowan’s pockets.  Passive profit, we might now conclude.  The sale of slaves was an inherent part of the plantation experience at Federal Hill, too, but extant records preclude our full understanding of motivation.  Rowan’s directives for the sale of slaves in his will do infer, sadly, the view of enslaved labor as being much in line with livestock, “upgrading” stock for the benefit of the plantation as needed & required.  We must assume, too, that Rowan viewed the institution as a potential source of profits, as many Kentucky slave holders did at this time, liquidating hands as a part of the greater stream of labor sent through the complex slave market system to feed the ever-increasing demand for strong backs in the Deep South.  That he never replenished his labor force after the tragic loss of lives to disease at Federal Hill might indicate a shift from agrarian dependence for John Rowan, and growing sense of “disposability” regarding the enslaved that was become more and more prevalent in Kentucky as the Commonwealth grew into the South’s primary breeding source for slave labor.

And this market for the flesh of the enslaved was as vital and economically necessary in Bardstown as it was in Lexington and Louisville, or their co-dependent sister markets in Natchez & New Orleans.  The biography of Isaac Johnson provides a haunting vision of the regard for humanity in Nelson County when the skin tone harkened to Africa rather the England.  He chillingly wrote,

 “the sheriff came and took us all to Bardstown in Nelson county, about two days journey eastward, and here we were placed in the negro pen for the night.

The next morning, to our astonishment, a crowd gathered and took turns examining us. What it all meant we could not imagine till Louis was led out about ten o'clock, placed on the auction block and the auctioneer cried out: "How much do I hear for this nigger?" Allow me to say here, it was only the vulgar and low whites who used the term "nigger," the better classes always spoke of us as negroes or colored folks. The auctioneer continued his cry for bids and Louis was at last sold for eight hundred dollars. By this time we had taken in the situation, and it seemed as though my mother's heart would break. Such despair I hope I may never again witness. We children knew something terrible was being done, but were not old enough to fully understand.

Then the auctioneer called for Isaac and I was led out, the auctioneer saying, "Time is precious, gentlemen, I must sell them all before night; how much do I hear for this nigger?" We were instructed beforehand that we must answer all questions put to us by "Yes, sir," and "No, sir." I was asked if I had ever been whipped, or sick, or had had the toothache, and similar questions to all of which I answered. He then cried for bids. The first bid was four hundred dollars. This was gradually raised until I was struck off for seven hundred dollars, and sold to William Madinglay [sic Mattingly], who came forward and said: "Come along with me, boy, you belong to me." I said to him: "Let me go and see my mother." He answered me crossly: "Come along with me, I will train you without your mother's help." I was taken one side and chained to a post as though I had been a horse. I remained hitched to this post till late in the afternoon.

 The next one sold was Ambrose. I could not see him, but I could hear the auctioneer crying for bids and my little four-year-old brother was sold for five hundred dollars to William Murphy.

The next to be set up was my mother and our little baby boy Eddie. To the cry for bids no one responded for some time and it looked for a while that they were to escape being sold. But someone called out: "Put them up separately." Then the cry was: "How much do I hear for the woman without the baby?" The first bid was eight hundred dollars, and this was gradually raised till she was sold for eleven hundred dollars.

The next sale was of Eddie, my little brother whom we all loved so much, he was sold for two hundred dollars, to one John Hunter. Thus, in a very short time, our happy family was scattered, without even the privilege of saying "Good by" to each other, and never again to be seen, at least so far as I was concerned.”  [Johnson, Isaac, Slavery Days in Old Kentucky.  A true Story of a Father Who Sold His Wife and Four Children.  By one of the Children.  1901.

While it was not unusual for Kentucky slaves to be highly trained, there is yet little record of those special African-Americans who rose above their own fettered racial ranks to achieve mastery of arts & trades in which they were highly regarded by all races for their abilities.  A scant few of the Rowan slaves menially supported the social aspects of the Judge’s station in Louisville.  Per the 1840 Census, 3 were assigned to the running of the Louisville household, while the majority would have remained in Bardstown.  While some slaves learned only the basics of agrarian duty, others were trained to perform valuable service in the community.  One such enslaved man was Mack, a mulatto slave of Rowan’s who was trained as a cobbler, a profession that sustained him on the plantation and in the community after Emancipation.  Mack’s story, were we now privy to its details, would undoubtedly fascinate modern scholars for its dramatic twists of fate.  Born in Federal Hill’s basement ca. 1819-20, Mack Rowan was ultimately ordered sold per the directives of his master’s will, then late in life he returned to his birthplace to serve the plantation’s final mistress, Madge Rowan Frost. 

John Rowan clearly had immense trust in and reliance upon this particular, unidentified slave to whom he left full responsibility for breeding the valuable stock of clients and the collection of stud fees on his behalf.  Thus far, there is no concrete indication of his name, though it is highly probable it was either Ben or Andrew, the two enslaved men bequeathed to John Rowan Jr. by his father.  According to Judge Rowan’s will of June 1840, he makes exception to “a mare and colt, which he (John Jr.) bought of the late Abraham Smith” indicating his son needed to make payment himself as obligated rather than including the debt for the estate to cover.  As it becomes clear the younger Rowan was as well keeping horses at My Old Kentucky Home, it seems plausible that the elder statesman would leave his primary stable keeper on site.  Another clue is found in Judge Rowan’s contract with a new overseer in January of 1842.  In the hiring of William Maden, Rowan specifically assigns him oversight of the horses, including the Thoroughbred mare Magnatia and her two colts, to whom Maden was charged with special care.  As Andrew would have been nearing the age of 70 by this date, it makes sense his duties would have been significantly lessened, especially in the oversight of breeding.  Ultimately the search for the identity this obscure “servant”, like that of so many of Kentucky’s “nameless who toiled”, must continue.  It’s an obligation, not out of guilt, not for sake of reparations, but to attempt to provide a completeness of a common, combined and intertwined history for the generations of Kentuckians to come and to better tell the story of the Thoroughbred and those other than the owners and jockeys who have perpetuated the industry here.

Slavery at Federal Hill has never been adequately studied or understood, at least not formally by the Commonwealth, but the institution was vital to the economic wellbeing of John Rowan and his family.  Few public records offer adequate insight, though the 1830 Census provides at least a glimpse at the labor force at Federal Hill during the decade Rowan was apparently most active in Thoroughbred breeding.  That year 39 men, women & children were enumerated as the enslaved property of Rowan.  At least 3 adult men and 7 adult women lived and worked for the Rowan family, in addition to as many as 29 African-American children & adolescents of varying ages. We have no indication as to how many additional enslaved men Rowan may have periodically leased, a common practice on central Kentucky’s smaller plantations based upon seasonal agricultural need.  Such leased enslaved labor was especially practical in the outlying Bluegrass during this period in Kentucky’s economy when so many African-Americans were being sold and transported from the Commonwealth to sustain a constant labor supply to the cotton-dependent Deep South.

Eastman Johnson's "Life At The South" aka "My Old Kentucky Home"

As for Rowan’s Thoroughbred business interests with President Madison, the unnamed race horse (referred to henceforth as the "Madison Mare") he purchased from Madison in 1805 was among a rather large stable of animals that Madison maintained at Montpelier, horses that served the varied needs of a large Virginia plantation.  During his lifetime, Madison owned as many as few as 5 horses and as many as 43.  A survey of Presidential letters and records offers some vital clues regarding this singular mare in question, but sadly fails to ever provide us her name, if one was ever given her.  In fact, in studying the extant records of Madison’s horses and their breeding there was found a most tantalizing hint of Rowan’s far keener understanding of bloodlines and the fast-developing problems from extreme inbreeding by the established Virginia horsemen, an over-reliance that would soon enough be lamented in print by a contemporary Virginia Thoroughbred historian & genealogist.

Madison’s naivete and inexperience in Thoroughbred bloodline study is evident from several records.  Even he acknowledged his own failings in this art.   Underscoring Madison’s redundancies in breeding is an undated historical scrap out of the Montpelier archives in which Madison’s farm manager preserves for us an overview of James Madison’s rather limited Thoroughbred stud choices and an ultimate dependency upon early Virginia breeder Dr. William Thornton of near Georgetown.  Here we find an appraisal of Madison’s stock prepared by Montpelier’s overseer Gideon Gouch [sic} for what was likely the year 1809 [Madison, James, and G Gouch. G. Gouch to James Madison. Evaluation of mares. 1804. Manuscript/Mixed Material.  Dated 1804 by the Library of Congress, there is justifiably confirmed contention among scholars that the 1804 date assigned this document is too early and that it was certainly composed a few years later.  This correction is supported by a 5th December 1809 statement of accounts sent to Madison by Thornton in which he references an 1809 valuation by Gooch for foal values due Thornton, as well as a 29 April 1805 letter from Madison where he discusses having just seen Clifden but not yet chosen him to cover one of his mares.  The Library of Congress maintains the 1804 date for the document, however.  The erroneous date might at first lead one to conclude that Rowan’s mare was included, but sadly she would have already been stabled in Kentucky by 1809.   The document does show us the reliance that President Madison quickly gained for the Thornton stable that produced many foals by Clifden and Childers at Montpelier].  

Records maintained by Gooch (thought by some to be Madison’s brother-in-law, and at least a collateral relation by marriage) confirm the virility and popularity of two certain stallions from the Thornton stable, Childers and Clifden.  Quoting the notations of the National Archives pertaining to a December 1809 bill from Thornton to Madison, “Clifden had a spectacular season at Newmarket as a five-year-old in 1792, and Thornton imported the horse from England in 1799.  Thornton’s billing accords with the (1809) evaluation by Gideon Gooch, the Montpelier farm manager.” 

Modern Day View of the Stables at Madison's Montpelier

William Thornton was truly a renaissance man of America’s late Colonial and early Federal periods.  He is often referred to today as the “Architect of the Capitol” for his designs for the United States Capital submitted in 1793, based upon classical inspiration found in both the Louvre and the Pantheon.  He won Thomas Jefferson’s approval, commenting, “simple, noble, beautiful.”  Besides his excellence in architecture, Thornton was a physician, inventor, and painter in addition to one of America’s primary Thoroughbred enthusiasts, founding the Washington Jockey Club and designing its one-mile race track.  

Dr. William Thornton

James Madison had become introduced to Thornton by the mid-1780s per extant letters in the Madison archives, and had begun his equine correspondence with William Thornton at least by 1803, discussing proposed sales and breeding of horses.  It wasn’t until 1805 that he was made aware of Thornton’s horse Clifden, a stallion associated with Rowan’s Madison Mare, as recounted in Madison’s letter of 29^th April 1805 to Isaac Winston.  Madison wrote,

Dear Sir

I have been favored with yours of the 18th.1 but not in time to be acknowledged by the mail of last week. I am not in immediate want of Carriage horses, but probably shall in the course of a year or so. I had contemplated a further use of the pair I have, until I could provide a large & handsome pair to take their place, and until I could find in my resources a convenient surplus beyond the demands on them. The offer you make is very friendly and lays me under obligation: Whether I ought to accept it depends first on the degree of convenience with which you can await mine in making payment: Secondly on the ensemble of the horses, of which some allusion to the probable price would have better enabled me to judge. As to the first point I am unwilling to expose you to the risk of suffering from my delay, which tho’ I have reason to calculate that it would not be necessarily considerable, might prove so from unforeseen expenses of which I have had already sufficient experience. As to the second, the omission may easily be supplied by a few lines from you. In the meantime however I insist that if you have decided to part with your horses, that you do not lose or endanger any opportunity that may offer; it being so very unlikely that in any event I shall be led to avail myself of the kind proposition you have made me.

I take this occasion, whilst I beg you to excuse the delay, to thank you for the trouble and the terms by which you procured me the Mare Clio. I have learnt from Gooch that she got safe into his hands, and I shall put her with some others to the best horse to be found. Having seen Dr Thornton’s Horse Cliffden, and heard from good authority the reputation of his Colts, I propose to give him the preference. He stands near Manchester.  I have long regretted that in rearing horses I have so long made use of inferior brood mares, particularly those not thorough-bred, to which fancy & fashion attach so much value: and shall in future endeavor to repair the error.

Be so good as to present my affectionate respects to your father Mrs. W. and the family. I leave to my wife the account of mine. She writes by this mail. Very sincerely & respectfully I am Dr. Sir, Yours

James Madison 

[“From James Madison to Isaac Winston, 29 April 1805,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified June 13, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/02-09-02-0325. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Secretary of State Series, vol. 9, 1 February 1805–30 June 1805, ed. Mary A. Hackett, J. C. A. Stagg, Mary Parke Johnson, Anne Mandeville Colony, Angela Kreider, and Katherine E. Harbury. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2011, pp. 295–296.]

Thus was established a long course of breeding choices that involved Clifden & Childers, Clifden being the best known and proven racehorse of William Thornton’s stable that prolifically sired so many Thoroughbred foals throughout Virginia during the 1st quarter of the 19th century, including it would appear at least one by John Rowan’s Madison Mare.  Clifden, then a five-year-old in 1792, was heralded for his performance at Newmarket, capturing Thornton’s interest and prompting his purchase in 1799.  Childers is considered to be one of the Virginia stallions by the English horse by that named owned by the Duke of Devonshire.  Ultimately Madison became so enamored with the stallion Childers that he attempted to purchase him from Thornton through trade.

It is in the varied correspondences between Madison and Thornton that we do at last find the most telling clue to the identity of the horse that John Rowan purchased.  A letter from Thornton to Madison dated 19 November 1804 relates,

Novr: 19th: 1804.

The Terms on which I have let brood Mares are these—

The Person who takes them breeds from them by putting them yearly to the best Horses, and after rearing the foals till they are three yrs. old sets a price on each which he will either give or take; he being at all expense till then.

On the above Terms I will let two Mares; one by Driver1 out of the full sister of Nontocka2 by Hall’s Eclipse (imported)3 her grand Dam Young Ebony, by Don Carlos, gt. grand Dam Young Selima by old Fearnought; gt. gt. gr: dam old Ebony by Othello; gt. gt. gt. gr: dam Old Selima (imported) by the Godolphin Arabian.4

The above Mare in foal to Clifden.5

Another Mare by Old Medley, dam by Clockfast6—I have not yet got her Pedigree—but was assured of having it when Mr. Robinson returns from the Mediterranean—that she is thorough bred, and I know she ran successfully at Alexandria. She has a Colt by Wild Medley,7 & is in foal by Clifden. As the foal was rather late it was not weaned, and may go with the Mare on the same terms.

W: Thornton. 

[“To James Madison from William Thornton, 19 November 1804,” Founders Online, National Archives, last modified June 13, 2018, http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/02-08-02-0312. Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Secretary of State Series, vol. 8, 1 September 1804 – 31 January 1805 and supplement 1776 – 23 June 1804, ed. Mary A. Hackett, J. C. A. Stagg, Mary Parke Johnson, Anne Mandeville Colony, Angela Kreider, Jeanne Kerr Cross, and Wendy Ellen Perry. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2007, pp. 304–305.]

The Original Letter from Thornton to Madison

Here Thornton’s words virtually parallel those chosen by Rowan in his 1836 advertisement when the Virginia breeder made the sales pitch to Madison of his “thorough-bred” mare who “ran successfully at Alexandria.”  After an extensive combing of the letters and papers that might potentially identify Rowan’s “Madison Mare” I have concluded, despite the lack of any surviving sales record, that his was indeed the same racehorse acquired by Madison from Thornton in 1804 and ultimately sold again in 1805 to John Rowan of Bardstown, Kentucky.  It seems plausible that Rowan as well obtained her colt by Wild Medley when he purchased her as there is no indication of Madison’s retention of this horse, and perhaps even the Clifden foal out of the Madison Mare.

The lineage presented by John Rowan 31 years after his purchase of the Madison Mare may seem vague and incomplete to modern day Thoroughbred genealogists, but his summary was rather common for the early 19^th century in America where there was no established “stud book” or registry with which breeders could record the birth and pedigree of their foals, despite the preliminary efforts of Richard Mason in Virginia to lay out the primary bloodlines to assist breeders.  Many offspring of notable sires and dams went unnamed and undocumented but for simplistic citations like that of Judge Rowan until the advent of Kentuckian Sanders Bruce’s labor of love, The American StudBook in 1873, followed by the Thoroughbred industry’s support of foal registry by The Jockey Club.  In fact, it was customary in some cases during the early 19^th century to refrain altogether from naming a horse until it had proven his abilities on the track or in siring/foaling proven winners.

"Old" Medley

Referring to Bruce and his compilation of pedigree, it’s important to note that Rowan’s Master Burke shared a name with another contemporary Southern horse, one bred a year later by John D. Amis of North Carolina who owned the famed Thoroughbred Sir Archy.  Bruce was either aware only of Amis’ stallion, or confused the two horses.  The duplication was most likely entirely coincidental, as there is no indication Rowan and Amis knew each other, much less did business together regarding horses.  As Rowan recounts the bloodline in question, his Master Burke was the progeny of a respected “black line” pedigree.  Sired by Aratus with a damsire of Medley descent, Master Burke’s female tail was out of Madison’s noteworthy but apparently unnamed mare, she being his 3^rd dam.  This “Madison Mare” had been bred to:

STIRLING, Imported; a bay horse, by Volunteer, his dam Hariet by Highflyer, his grandam by Young Cade, his great grandam Childerkin by Second out of the dam of Old Snap.  Foaled 1792 Bowling Green, Va John Hoomes. [Mason, Richard, The Gentleman’s New Pocket Farrier, Fifth Edition, Richmond VA, 1830].

Mason, in his “American Stud Book” addendum, explains to us the development of racing in Colonial Virginia, chastising the contribution of Colonel John Hoomes and explaining the need for a concise Thoroughbred registry.  He wrote,

 “It was during this period that “races were established almost at every town and considerable place in Virginia; when the inhabitants, almost to a man, were devoted to this fascinating and rational amusement:  when all ranks and denominations were fond of horses, especially those of the race breed:  when gentlemen of fortune expended large sums on their stud, sparing no pains or trouble in importing the best stock, and improving the breed by judicious crossing.”  The effects of the revolutionary war put a stop to the spirit of racing until about the year 1790.  When it began to revive, and under the most promising auspices as regarded the breed of turf horses, for just at that time or a little previous, the capital stallion Old Medley was imported, who contributed his full share to the reputation of the racing stock, whose value had been before so well established.  Previous to the year 1800, but little degeneracy had taken place either in the purity of the blood, the form or performances of the Virginia race horse; and in searching for the causes of a change for the worse, after this period, the most prominent one was the injudicious importation of inferior stallions from England.  About the period of time last mentioned, Colonel Hoomes and many others, availing themselves of the passion for racing, inundated Virginia with imported stallions, bought up frequently at low prices in England, having little reputation there, and of less approved blood, thereby greatly contaminating the tried and approved stocks which had long and eminently distinguished themselves for their feats on the turf, their services under the saddle, and as valuable cavalry horses during the revolutionary was.  In recommending renewed efforts to the Virginians, for the further improvement and preservation of their stock of blood horses, the necessity and importance of the immediate publication of a Stud Book (and of a Racing Calender [sic] hereafter) cannot be overlooked."

Despite Mason’s somewhat negative opinions of Hoomes’ and other Virginians’ importation choices, Stirling was considered a “useful” stallion in the establishment of the overall racing stock in 18^th century Virginia.  Hoomes as well purchased and brought to Virginia in 1798 the famed English racehorse Diomed, winner of the inaugural Epsom Derby of 1780.  It was from Diomed, great grandsire of Aratus, that John Rowan’s Master Burke descended.  Thus, the colonial importer and Alpha horseman of Virginia played a vital role in the establishment of the Rowan stable at Bardstown.  

Diomed

Master Burke’s dam, the Madison Mare, was as previously mentioned most likely by “Old” Medley, just as John Rowan specifically attested to, with Clockfast the damsire (Medley and Clockfast being sibling stallions by Gimcrack). From a precursory review of Madison papers, there might appear a slightest possibility the Madison Mare was by Highflyer, for stud records in the Governor James Barbour Family account book record Madison’s stud fees paid for a “season of Mare to Highflyer” who was foaled in 1794 and acquired by James Barbour from William Newson.  The pedigree for Highflyer however negates that supposition.  Considering the dependence Madison had upon Thornton and his Clifden & Childers stallions, along with the strongly supportive letter from Thornton regarding his racing mare then in foal by Clifden, “odds are favorable” that she was in fact Thornton’s mare sold to James Madison and thusly to Rowan.  Interestingly, the sale to Rowan seems to have driven Madison to seek a replacement in 1805, the aforementioned Isaac Winston mare Clio.  In fact, Madison’s stable increased dramatically after the sale of the Madison Mare, surging from 22 horses in 1805 to 35 horses in 1806, peaking with 43 horses in 1809. [MRD-S44930.]  John Rowan was serving in Congress during this time, limiting his desires to breed and race Thoroughbreds.  His relationship with Madison may have waned, too, though Rowan remained well connected politically, hosting Presidents Monroe and Jackson as well as the Marquis de Lafayette before accepting an appointment as Judge of the Kentucky Court of Appeals followed by stints in the Kentucky House and the United States Senate.  Politics rather than Thoroughbreds clearly constituted the stronger calling for John Rowan, and while he stabled Thoroughbreds at Federal Hill until his death, it would seem they became more hobby than a source of revenue as the years passed.

Gimcrack

Special thanks to Katie Farmer at the Keeneland Library, and to Hilarie M. Hicks at Montpelier for access to their Research Database and her current research Plantation Life Project, Chapter 4: Livestock, “To Take Particular Care of the Horses & Stock;” Livestock, Vehicles, and Equipment At Montpelier.  Also retired University of Kentucky professor Dr. Joanne Pope Melish.  Thank you, ladies, for your kind attentiveness, assistance, and encouragement.  And this brief work certainly need encouragement.  John Rowan exemplifies for us today the symbiotic nature regarding horses and slavery in 19^th century Kentucky.  The subject warrants much more attention than I was able to give it in this rambling yet summary look that spiderwebbed along several filaments of discussion yet forbade a satisfactory examination of any.  We have much to learn about slavery in general, but especially regarding the particular peculiarities of the “Peculiar Institution” as it existed in Kentucky.  Too, the positions and actions of our 19^th century elected leaders call for scrutiny to better understand their relationships with slavery in the South, both personal and political.  And regarding the burgeoning American Thoroughbred industry of the Colonial and Federal Periods, there is insufficient scholarship, and what we’ve access to fails to credit the impact of slavery in the breeding and racing of the Thoroughbred.  There is much work to be done.

Additional reference citations and sources for additional data include the following:

Roberts, Ida M. K., Rising Above It All:  A Tribute to the Rowan Slaves of Federal Hill.

Capps, Randall, The Rowan Story:  From Federal Hill to My Old Kentucky Home.

Horton, James & Lois, Editors, Slavery and Public History:  The Tough Stuff of American Memory including the essay by Professor Joanne Melish, “Recovering (from) Slavery:  Four Struggles to Tell the Truth.”