Annotated Bullitt County 1850 Census

We continue the Bullitt County 1850 census written by Mrs. W. V. Mathis, Wallace A. McKay and W. C. Barrickman. Betty Darnell shared this in The Pioneer Newson 24 Mar 1993.

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6 October 1950

Bench and Bar Now that Judge Wallace McKAY has about reached the time when three figures are required to denote his age, he seriously contemplates retiring from active practice and devoting his days and nights to writing his recollections of the Bench and Bar. Wallace is affectionately sometimes called "Judge" by his friends because they believe he would make a first and upright jurist.

During his "earliest childhood," he says he remembers Judge William R. THOMPSON, and lawyers Richard H. FIELD, R.J. MYLER, and visiting lawyers from other counties, among whom were Major William KINNEY and Judge Asher CARUTH of Louisville, Col. Wm. WILSOM of Elizabethtown, and Enoch MCKAY of Bardstown.

In those days there were many railroad cases, and the railroad was always represented by able counsel, sometimes by Judge H.W. BRUCK, Littleton COOK, General Basil DUKE, of Louisville, or by John A. FULTON or Judge John S. KELLEY of Bardstown.

The last Circuit Court Judge in Bullitt County, under the "Old Constitution" (1849), was Samuel E. DeHAVEN of LaGrange. During that period the Commonwealth's Attorney was James S. MORRIS, also living at LaGrange. He was a tall, slender gray-haired man, with a flowing mustache. After his term of office expired, Judge MORRIS practiced law with success at LaGrange and Shelbyville.

During Judge DeHAVEN's last term of office, Richard McCONATHY was Circuit Clerk of Bullitt. He married Amelia Smith, youngest sister of County Judge James F. SMITH. Mr. MCCONATHY, highly educated, was a most efficient clerk, and his beautiful, legible penmanship in the records of the Circuit Court, is greatly admired. Judge McCONATHY and his wife later settled at Ocala, Flordia, where he was elected County Judge.

1850 Census:

[966/966] W.B. HAMILTON 34 hog merchant (son of Edward H. and Susan CRIST HAMILTON), Sarah A. 31 (she was his second wife, daughter of Joseph WILSON and his wife ---- SWEARINGEN, of Shelby County), Ann 9, William 7, Samuel W. 1 month.

[968/968] Henry C. HAMILTON 29 farmer (son of Edward H. and Susan CRIST HAMILTON), Rachel 26 (daughter of Joseph and Frannie SWEARINGEN); Henry married second, Mallie LEE, daughter of Charles and Letitia SIMMONS LEE; they were the parents of Henry and Lee HAMILTON.

(By his first wife, Rachel SWEARINGEN, Henry C. HAMILTON had a daughter, Kate; she married an AVERY, a member of the well-known agricultural implement manufacturing firm of B.F. AVERY and Sons, of Louisville.

(Rachel SWEARINGEN's father, Joseph, was a son of Obed and Rachel SWEARINGEN, who were born in Maryland; her mother, Frannie CONGLETON, married Henry HAMILTON in 1916.

(Elizabeth Bowen HAMILTON, a daughter of Wm. B. HAMILTON and his first wife, married ---- ANDERSON; they were the parents of Elizabeth B. and Margaret- S. ANDERSON. Margar.et ANDERSON was well knowa -in Louisville as a poet and literary critic.

Some time before the Civil War the brothers, Wm. B., Samuel, and Henry HAMILTON, established a packing plant in Louisville MVO thrived during the war and made fortunes for the brothers.)

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This project is presented here with the kind permission of Betty Darnell, and The Pioneer News.

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