Micah Taul memoir

34

according to the fighting phrase of the day - that - was after a hard fight - fist & skull - biting gouging &c I came off victorious. It was a long time before Mr Jones got over his defeat. He was unfriendly to me for several years - but ultimately became a [warm?] friend; he was a member of a very numerous , & respectable family, who did not sympathise with him, in his hostility to me, although before the occurrence, a portion of the family became displeased with me, On account of naming the town, at the seat of justice. James Jones was a member of the County Court, his father Joshua Jones was a venerable & respectable old gentleman & County surveyor. The Jones family & their friends, wanted the "County town" called Jonesboro. A majority of the members of the Court wanted some other name, & one of them asked me, from the bench, to propose a name. "Monticello" the name of Mr. Jefferson's County occurred to me, & I proposed it. The vote being taken, a majority voted for it & it was called "Monticello." The family threw the blame on me, & were sore about it, for a while but ultimately became entirely friendly - We had a second son, born the [blank space] day of October 1804 and called his name Algernon Sidney - At the time of the ratification of the Treaty for the purchase of Louisiana, I had the command of a Company of Militia, & the President having been authorized by Congress to call into the services of the U.S. a number of volunteers, not exceeding [blank space] thousand for the purpose of taking possession of the Country, if it was not surrendered pursuant to the treaty called upon Kentucky to furnish her quota 5000. Pursuant to the call, the Governor, issued his proclamation, & the requisite number was raised without difficulty. I raised a full Company in Wayne County; but no portion of them were ever called for possession of the

35 country, having been given up, to the United States. We had a third son born on the day of 180 , but as he died in a few days afterwards he was not named. There was nothing out of the usual course of business & every day life occurred for several years. I kept my office at my residence, half a mile from the Court house - did all the writing myself until the fall of 1807, when I took into the office Daniel Mays, a very handsome, sprightly boy, born & raised in my fathers neighborhood in Fayette County, Ky. He continued in the office, less than a year, & becoming dissatisfied with the county, I permitted him to return to his father & family. He subsquently became a distinguished lawyer - was appointed a Circuit Judge, & afterwards removed to Mississippi, where he at present resides, being one of the leading members of the bar of that state and a gentleman of fine moral & religious character. He has been for many years a member of the Methodist Church. Anthony Dibrell, the present Treasurer of the state of Tennessee, wrote in the office, & lived with me some time about the years 1803 & 4. He was an excellent & very agreeable boy, & made a valuable & useful man.

In 1803, Matthew Lyons, was elected to Congress from our District in Kentucky, in opposition to Maj. David Walker. The District was very large, embracing the whole of the Green River Country. Colo. Lyon, was a rough, strong minded uneducated Irishman; he had been elected to Congress from Vermont, during the administration of John Adams - was a decided Republican, & addressed a circular letter to his constituents, containing severe strictures on Mr. Adams & his administration, for which he was indicted under the Sedition Law, tried, found guilty & sentenced to pay a fine of one thousand

36 Dollars & to be imprisoned 12 months: He suffered the punishment, & was re-elected to Congress while in jail, afterwards emigrated to Ky was elected to the State Legislature from Livingston County in 1802 & in 1803 was elected to Congress beating Maj. David Walker by a small majority. He was a man of Herculean frame & constitution - could drink grog all the day long without getting drunk; tell pretty good rough anecdotes & take him altogether was a good "electionierer". His having been a victim to the Sedition Law, however, did more for him than every thing else. His opponent was an accomplished Virginia gentleman - a man of respectable talents & attainments - a good speaker, but old Lyon, generally got him drunk before dinner time & in that way triumphed over him. It was no objection to a man in those days that "he drank". I will not assert that it would have been an insuperable objection to a candidate for office if he "did not drink" for I don't remember that there was any such character then - but I can say with perfect truth that a "temperance man" would not have been likely to succeed at a popular election. All tho' a great change has taken place, I am not sure that they are very popular, at this day. Colo. Lyon was re-elected to Congress in opposition to Maj. Walker in 1805. I think it was in this year, possibly in 1803, they were drinking in a Whiskey Tavern at Somerset in Pulaski County, at the July Court the day was very warm & Walker fell early in the action. Lyon got him on a bed in the room, called for a fan, & sat by him & fanned him requesting the people, as the day was very warm to give him as much air as possible, saying that the Major was an excellent man, but unfortunately he sometimes drank too much

37 The good people of Pulaski, who witnessed the attention of the "old sinner" to his competitor was completely imposed upon, by this trick - sounded his praises & voted for him, because they believed he was a kind hearted, good old man. Lyons majority was very small, & but for this ["?] trick" he would probably have been beaten. In 1807, he was opposed by Gen. Hopkins, but was re-elected by superior Generalship. In 1809, he was beaten by Colo. Anthony New. Colo. Lyon was not afterwards in public life, except in the war, sub office of an Indian agent. As before noticed Colo. Lyon was a rough, uncouth Irishman. I was intimately acquainted with him; believed him to be talented & patriotic, & being myself an ardent Republican as he had been a martyr in a good [cause?] I supported his election with zeal up to the year 1809. I have heard a great many anecdotes about his rough, uncouth manners, that were perfectly charcteristic of the man. The following happened at my house in Monticello. Colo. Lyon arrived there on Saturday evening before the May Court in 1803, his first visit & put up at a very humble tavern, the only one in the place kept by Roger Oatts. I was notified of his being there, early on Sunday morning & called to see him & invited him to dine with me. My young wife, prepared the best dinner she could on such short notice. Strawberries then grew spontaneously in the barrens about Monticello & were just getting ripe. She went out herself & perhaps gathered a quart of them, which constituted the chief article of desert at dinner. We had at the table Colo. Lyon, & Mr. & Mrs Hadon (my wife's sister) & their little daughter, 2 or 3 years old. Colo. L. dined heartily on the meats &c and when his plate, was changed, he was furnished with a saucer & spoon & asked if he would take some cream & strawberries; he answered in the affirmative & said

38 [Top half of right side of page partially covered by page 39] he would help himself. The strawberries had been put on the table, in a deep plate which was near. He seized on the plate - placed it immediately before him, & eat up all the strawberries to the amusement of Hadon & myself - to the amazement of the ladies, & to the infinite distress of the child, who looked on with intense interest, while the fruit was being devoured, that when she saw the last of them, disappear, she screamed out lustily - to the great annoyance of her mother, but without disturbing the equanimity of our ill mannered guest. Haden & myself told the affair the next day to the plain, honest racy people of the county, who were delighted with it. They swore by their Maker that "Matthew Lyon was their man" and they were as good as they said. His majority in the county was large. Colo. Lyon resorted to all sorts of means to get votes as before noticed he drank with the people all day. Spent his money freely at the tavern. Was attentive to forewarding newpapers & public do comments to prominent & influential men - in travelling thro' his district he would distribute Almanacs by thousands, gratis. Gave little pieces of money to children. Sometimes present a valuable book to a particular friend (he had a large bookstore in Russellville). Tho' an illiterate man, he became a well informed politician, & had the reputation of wielding a strong pen. In 1807, I was a candidate for the clerkship of the House of Representatives & received the votes of the members, from the "Green River" county generally but was not elected. The candidates were Gabriel Jones Johnson of Louisville. Thos. Dougherty of Fleming, Isham Talbot of Frankfort, Thomas Montgomery of Lincoln & myself. Mr. Dougherty was elected. He was some years afterwards, (1813 or 14) elected Clerk of the House of Reps. in Congress. Mr. Johnson was a distinguished