For those of you who do not have this information. I copied this from
the book exactly as it was
written word for word. I have a problem with the marriage of Rachel Ann
Casey the writer says she
married in 1867, however he has her death as 1850.
Enjoy.
Page 43
HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY KENTUCKY
THE CASEY FAMILY
Among the names that are indissolubly connected with Union County, is
that of Casey. A hundred years ago a man of that name (the subject of
this sketch), came to Union county and surveyed lands within it's
limits. His connection with the after history of the county makes him a
conspicuous figure.
Peter Casey's ancestry were Irish. Three brothers, Benjamin, Nicholas
and another, whose name is not known, came to America before the
Revolutionary war. The oldest brother, Benjamin, was a soldier and
killed on the War for Independence. The next oldest moved west, and the
family lost sight of him. The third was Nicholas, the ancestor of the
Union County family. He settled in Virginia, and was the father of
Peter Casey.
Peter Casey was born in Virginia early enough to participate in the
Revolution. About the close of the war he married Nancy Waggener, a
daughter of Andrew Waggener, who lived near Fredricksburg in
Spottsylvania County, Va. Mrs. Casey was born in 1762.
An old scrap from the New York Herald gives the origin of the name
Casey; and compliments the three older Casey's very highly, and pursues
their genealogy back several generations.
In 1785 Peter Casey superintended a survey of lands in Union County, a
grant to which he had been allowed by the
Page 44
Government for his services in the Revolution. He located lands at the
mouth of Highland Creek, below where Uniontown now stands; on Casey's
Creek, a branch of Highland Creek; and at the mouth of Tradewater, on
both sides, some 15,000 acres in all. These lands, at his death, were
divided, each of the children 200 or 250 acres, and the balance was sold
on joint account. He located the Tradewater lands because he thought
there was coal in that vicinity. He told Samuel Casey, in 1827, that
from the resemblance to Virginia coal fields, he suspected the presence
of coal on that neighborhood.
After his survey he returned to Virginia, and soon moved to Harrod's
Station, Ky., where he was engaged in fighting the Indians sometimes.
He held the office of Captain at that time, and farmed some land and
operated a mill. He finally moved to Union County, and first settled at
Carthage, or "the rocks," below Uniontown, but afterward went to
Morganfield and kept hotel. The exact date of his death is not known.
His widow survived him many years, and lived to the advanced age of
eighty-two. She had forty grand children, most of whom were present at
one reunion. Twenty-five were young men and women grown; and yet she
never saw a great-grandchild of her own, The following tribute to her
memory is from the pen of John C. Rives, the founder of the
Congressional Globe:
Died.--- Near Caseyville, Union County, Kentucky, on Monday, the 12th
day of July, 1847, Mrs. Nancy Casey, widow of Judge Peter Casey, in the
eighty-fourth year of her age. She was born on the 8th of October,
1763, near Fredricksburg, Spottsylvania County, Virginia, and about two
years afterward her parents moved to Mill Creek, Berkley County, in the
same state.
Her life affords another example in proof of the influence on character
of great and interesting events in a country. Although this excellent
lady was distinguished for her kind and feminine nature, yet her zeal
for the public cause in every crisis of difficulty rose above the weaker
feelings of the sex, and made patriotism the most remarkable trait in
her character. She was reared in the midst of the struggles of the
Revolutionary War, and passed from them into the most sanguinary scenes
of the Indian warfare of Kentucky; and in those fearful times she
acquired the spirit which taught her, though the fondest of
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mothers, to give up one of her sons in the War of 1812; and prompted
her, in her feeble old age, to go forth and urge the young men of her
neighborhood to engage in the present war against Mexico. She even
attended their drills, to stimulate their zeal. When this was remarked
on by some as exhibiting a want of Christian feeling, she replied:
"These young men who are preparing themselves to fight for their
country, will do it more good than some who preach against the sin of
war." She did not inquire by whose fault the war was brought on, nor
whether it existed "by the act of Mexico," when war was declared by
Congress. She looked only to the duties and sacrifices which the
occasion demanded, to conclude it well for the country.
Mrs. Casey was the daughter of Major Andrew Waggener, who was an
officer (first a captain, and then a major) in the Continental Army of
the Revolution. During the greater part of his service he was under
the immediate command of Washington, and fought well in many well-fought
fields, especially at the important battle of Brandywine, which was the
key to Philadelphia. All the accounts of that battle agree that the
troops "led" by Captains Waggener and Porterfield behaved more gallantly
than any others. Indeed, none but those troops are named as having
fought bravely; and it is believed if all---or even a moiety---of the
army had shown the desperate valor which distinguished the little corps
of Waggener and Porterfield, the battle of Brandywine would have been
won by Washington, and Philadelphia saved.
Miss Waggener married Peter Casey about the close of the Revolutionary
War, and soon after emigrated to Harrod's Station, now Harrodsburg,
Kentucky. This was then the most exposed point of Indian attack in
Kentucky. The place was besieged again and again; and when these
formidable attempts were intermitted, lurking parties of savages were
continually breaking in upon the settlements; insomuch as the
inhabitants took their rifles to the fields as regularly as they did
their implements of husbandry, and had often to fight their way back to
the fort.
Mr. Casey lived in the neighborhood of Harrodsburg, until about the
year 1810, when he moved with his family to Union County, Kentucky, then
very thinly and rudely settled. Here the influence of Mrs. Casey's
example was soon felt in teaching the comforts of good housekeeping and
kindly intercourse. In a few years it became obvious to everyone that
there was amelioration of manners and improvements ascribed to the
active
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benevolence and intelligence of Mrs. Casey. She was loved, and admired,
and imitated. She did her utmost to give relief in every case of
distress, although it often stinted her own means of comfort, and she
gave her personal exertions when her health and strength would hardly
justify it. She took orphans into her own family, reared them, and
treated them as kindly as she did her own children; and there never was
a more affectionate or devoted mother.
Her husband died nearly twenty years before her; and although widowhood
generally circumstances the efforts of the mother of a family to its
immediate circle, it had no such affect on her. She still went about
doing good. She was looked up to by all around her as one who lived
more for others than for herself; and hence throughout her life she had
the love of everybody as the recompense for the absence of self-love. I
knew her for thirty-seven years, and knew most of the persons who lived
in her vicinity during that time, and I never heard her spoken of but in
the most exalted terms. I cannot say his of any other person.
Mrs. Casey belonged to no religious sect, but always attended the
worship of any denomination of Christians, when in her power to do so;
and advised an encouraged others to go to church. Her religion was,
like her charity, universal and practical, and made her happy. A friend
writes to me that her life passed gently away from the gradual
exhaustion of vitality, as a fire goes out for want of fuel.
This tribute to her memory is written by one of the orphans raised by
her, who, though no blood relation, feels as if he had lost a natural
parent. He as little expects to "look upon her like, " as upon her
face, again, on this earth; and hopes and prays that she may be happy
eternally.
The children of this couple were Samuel Casey, who was born in 1787,
and died December 22,1859; Nicholas Casey, who died February 24, 1863,
and John Casey, who died December 25, 1867, aged sixty-seven years.
Nicholas, the second son of this couple, who was destined to play an
important part in the development of Union County, was born in Harrod's
Fort Ky., in the year 1790. He attended such schools as Harrodsburg
afforded at that early day, and afterward attended the select school of
Judge Marshall, in Mercer County, in company with such men as Letcher,
Burrough, Bowen, etc. When his father was living in the vicinity of
Uniontown, in 1814, he went to the Saline River, in Illinois,
Page 47
and filled the office of Government Clerk on the "Mineral Reservation."
While there he married Miss Susan G. Finnie, of Morganfield, in 1815.
He returned to Union County in 1824 and prepared to go to Caseyville in
1825. He moved his family there in 1826 or 1827, and began breaking the
wilderness. His object in going there was to establish a woodyard, boat
store and ferry. He dug the first ice house between Louisville and New
Orleans, in 1828. In those days, a steamboat, in ascending the river,
had to frequently stop at " Casey's Landing," as it was then called, and
lay in a stock of provisions. They would often lay over an entire day,
awaiting the slaughter of meat and arrival of other provisions from the
country back of the landing. He was elected to the Legislature and
secured the incorporation of Caseyville. He was a Magistrate for over
twenty years. His rulings were not always satisfactory to the lawyers,
but they were undoubtedly characterized by sound sense and native
justice. Once a man was sued in his court for the possession of a cow.
The defendant had bought the cow on credit, and when the plaintiff asked
for his money he did not pay, and plead the benefit of the law, which
allowed a man two cows, when he should be sued for debt. Judge Casey
became satisfied in this man's case, that the intention had been to
plead the benefit of this law from the first, and he accordingly awarded
a verdict in favor of the plaintiff, saying: "It may not be strictly
legal, but it is right that the defendant should return this cow for
which he has never paid a cent."
Susan Gibson Finnie, the wife of Nicholas Casey, was the daughter of
John and Rachel Finnie, was born September 18, 1797. Her father was a
Colonel in the Virginia line during the Revolution. Her mother, Rachel
Taylor, before marriage, was a resident of Clark County, Ky., when she
met Col. Finnie. Her parents moved to Woodford County, and afterward to
Union County in 1810 or 1812. She died in Conway County, Ark., August
6, 1871.
The children of Nicholas Casey and Susan G. Casey were John Gibson and
Andrew Benjamin, who died in infancy; Ann Trapnall, who was born in 1819
and died in 1834; Samuel Lewis, born February 18, 1821, whose biography
will be found in the
Page 48
Chapter on Coal; Peter, born February 13, 1823, died at Vicksburg,
Miss., February 8, 1875; Nicholas Waggener, born August 3, 1826, now
living in New Orleans; James Finnie, born March 22, 1830; Susan Gibson,
born December 29, 1831, died August 6,1871; Rachel Ann Casey, born
november 5, 1835, and died in Harrodsburg, Ky., June 17, 1850.
The married children of this family are as follows: Peter Married
Sarah Attoway Finnie, daughter of James W. and Eliza Finnie, December
17, 1851; Nicholas W. married Eliza McCall Taylor, daughter of John
Gibson and Elizabeth Lee Taylor, December 13, 1853; Susan Gibson married
Charles Arthur Carroll March 11, 1858; James Finnie married Emma Dent,
of St. Louis. February 14, 1861; Rachel Ann married Dr. John H. Carroll,
in Little Rock, Ark., May 5, 1867.
Samuel Casey, the oldest son of Peter and Nancy Casey, was a man of
considerable ability, and held the office of United States Treasurer at
the time of his death. John C. Rives, editor of the Congressional Globe
says of him:
He was born in Mercer County, Kentucky, in the year 1788, I believe.
He studied law under John Rowan, a very celebrated lawyer of Nelson
county, Kentucky. Soon after he obtained a license to practice law, he
moved to Union County, Kentucky, if I recollect aright, in the year of
1811, and there commenced the practice of his profession. In that year
he was elected Clerk of the Circuit and County Courts of that county.
He found me there an orphan boy---a foundling, I may say, though I had
not been laid at any person's door---without father, mother, sister, or
brother, and without a farthing to live on. He took compassion on me,
and took me into the Clerk's office in the fall of the year 1812. I
then wrote a tolerably plain hand, and assisted him in recording deeds.
That was all the service I was able to render him. Two years
afterwards, in the year 1814, a United States land office was
established in Shawneetown, Illinois. A clerk was needed in the land
office, and Mr. Casey recommended me as a competent person to fill the
place, and I obtained it. I may here say I never had the means to
support myself until Mr. Casey took me to live with him, and I have
never been without means to support myself since. I have continued to
prosper, regularly, ever since the day I entered his office. I feel
that I am indebted to him for all I am worth, and therefore, shall
regret more to hear of his death than I ever done to hear of the
Page 49
Death of any man that ever lived. When I cease to remember him
gratefully, daily, I should die. I have known him for forty-seven
years, and never heard any person speak disparagingly of him. He was, I
think, among the best men, if not the very best man, that has lived in
my days.
Mr. Samuel Casey died in Caseyville on December 22, 1859.
Of the sons of Nicholas Casey, Samuel Casey attained distinction as a
mining engineer; served a term in Congress, and is now living in
Evansville. His biography is in the chapter on coal.
Peter Casey is thus described in the Vickburg Herald of February
9,1875:
Death of Postmaster Casey.---The sudden and very unexplained death of
Peter Casey, Esq., which occurred at the Prentiss House, about one
o'clock yesterday morning, created a profound sensation throughout the
city, and called forth a universal expression of sincere and unfeigned
sorrow.
Mr. Casey had been a resident of this city for nearly twelve years, and
had made the whole community his friends. Coming here in 1863, Mr.
Casey engaged actively and extensively in commercial pursuits, and his
honorable bearing, coupled with a manly nature, a kind heart, and a
gentle and genial disposition, soon won him the respect and friendship
of all who had the good fortune to make his acquaintance.
A warm personal friend of Mr. Grant, Mr. Casey was appointed
postmaster of this city soon after his old friend became President, and
held that position to the hour of his death. How he performed the
duties of postmaster, the whole community knows. No man has ever filled
that responsible position in this city who brought to the discharge of
his duties a higher sense of honor or a more sincere and ardent desire
to deal fairly and justly with all men. Actuated by such motives, it is
not wonderful that he gave universal satisfaction to the public, while
he commanded the entire confidence of the Government. In the six years
during which he held the office of postmaster we do not believe there
was one well-grounded cause for complaint against him.
The death of Peter Casey will create a void in society here that will
not be soon or easily filled. A fond husband, an affectionate father, a
warm-hearted, generous, faithful and steadfast friend, a conscientious
and upright officer, a liberal and public-spirtited citizen, he combined
in himself as many noble and desirable qualities as usually fall to the
lot of man. Sincerely
Page 50
Mourned by all who were honored with his friendship, his memory will be
fondly cherished by those who knew and appreciated his many manly and
honorable traits of character.
Nicholas was appointed Auditor of Customs at New Orleans in February,
1873. He was made Receiver of the New Orleans Banking Association, June
30, 1874, and now holds that office.
James F. Casey married the sister of Mrs. Grant, and was appointed
Collector of the Port of New Orleans by General Grant.