Over four issues of The Pioneer-News in September and October of 1922, the editor shared what he had learned about those who had served as County Clerks for Bullitt County. We have transcribed these articles and share them here beginning with the first one published.
The Pioneer-News, September 15, 1922, page 1.
County Clerks
Turning the yellow timeworn pages of the record books in the county clerk's office; admiring the splendid specimens of penmanship found here and there as one hurries on in search of descriptions or parties, one is bound to think more or less of the men who made those records, and wonder if they differ much from the clerks who are recording deeds and mortgages there today.
We start on such a voyage of speculation certain of this. Those clerks of olden days could not have been much thinner than "June" and certain it is that they were not much thicker than "Lindsay."
Back in 1796, before the days of county courts, Thomas Speed was the clerk of the court Quarterly Sessions. He wrote a bold plain hand. There was nothing ornamental about it. We do not know where he was born. Possibly he came to Bullitt County about the time the Speeds came to Kentucky. He must have been an efficient and satisfactory clerk, for he held office from 1796 until 1803, a period of seven years.
Frederick William Grayson succeeded Thomas Speed and held the office from 1803 until 1815, a period of 12 years, which would be the equivalent of three terms of four years each, and this is considered pretty good office-holding nowadays. Mr. Grayson was not a good penman and kept a deputy during his 12 year tenure. There is no record of where Mr. Grayson came from, when he died, or as to his family. The name has long sense ceased to be familiar in Bullitt County.
James Halbert succeeded Mr. Grayson as clerk (now county clerk) and held the office until 1821. He did not write a good hand. There are Halberts in northeastern Kentucky, but it has been a long time since there were any people of this name in Bullitt County.
George F. Pope succeeded James Halbert as clerk and held the place from 1821 until 1826. Pope is a familiar and honorable name in this county, and has been for more than 100 years. The farm on which Bert Pope now resides has been in the possession of the family for years.
James Y. Pope died on that farm in 19__, age 95 years. George Pope wrote a fine hand and was evidently a fine clerk, for he was afterwards the deputy of Noah C. Summers who succeeded him as county clerk.
Noah C. Summers, who succeeded George F. Pope as County Clerk, held the office from 1826 until 1850, a period of 24 years, and longer than any other man has held it since or before. He was a member of the well-known Summers family of the Zoneton neighborhood, wrote a splendid hand, was wealthy and influential, and was a man of large affairs. During his term of office he had as deputies George F. Pope and later Benjamin Summers. We shall write of the deputies later on, and if anyone knows the history of Noah C. Summers, just where he lived, when he died and the names of his descendants, we shall appreciate it very much if they will send such information to us as we want to use it in subsequent articles. Below we give the names of all county clerks who served after Noah C. Summers from 1850 until 1890.
List of clerks since N. C. Summers: Robert F. Samuels, 1850 to 1861; Charles R. Samuels, 1861 to 1865; R. J. Meyler, 1865 to 1874; E. W. Hall, 1874 to 1890; R. F. Hays, year 1890; W. H. Ridgway, 1892 November 1892; R. F. Hays, November 1892 to November 1893; E. E. McCormick, November 1893 to January 1895; W. B. Tilden, 1895 to 1910; Lindsay Ridgway, 1910 until the present time.
We should like information concerning R. F. Samuels, Charles Samuels, R. J. Meyler and E. W. Hall, Noah C. Summers and any of the clerks before Noah C. Summers.
To be continued.
The Pioneer-News, September 29, 1922, page 1.
County Clerks (continued)
Noah C. Summers, clerk of the Bullitt County Court, was born near Walnut Hill, Fayette County, Kentucky, March 5, 1801. He was the son of William B. Summers who was born in Montgomery County, Maryland, July 22, 1768. William B. Summers and Benjamin Summers came from Maryland to Kentucky about the year 1800. [This information was furnished us by Miss M. V. Balee, and we certainly appreciate it.] Of Benjamin Summers, we shall have more to say when we give a sketch of the deputy clerks.
When Noah C. Summers retired from the office of County Clerk, in which he had rendered long and invaluable service, he was succeeded by Robert F. Samuels who served from 1850 to 1861, a period of 11 years. Robert F. Samuels was the father of Charles R. Samuels and the grandfather of Mrs. Louis Barrall and C. Louis Samuels of the Mount Eden vicinity. He wrote a splendid hand, kept his office in fine shape and was very popular. This is attested by the fact that he held the office for almost three four-year terms, and also by the splendid condition of the records during his stay in the office.
While he was clerk, Charles R. Samuels was deputy for a period of four years when he was elected clerk of the Bullitt County Court, and held that office until he succeeded his father as clerk of the county court.
In 1861 Charles R. Samuels assumed the duties of County Court clerk and it will not be disputed by those familiar with the deed books and that office when we state that his handwriting was the most splendid of all the clerks who had held the office to the date of his incumbency, and superior to any who have since held it. He used the old-fashioned goose quill for his pens, made his ink himself [we've been told] and left on the deed books in our clerk's office some specimens of handwriting which will stand to the end of time, or at least until time destroys the books which contain the writing as rare specimens of the art of penmanship.
Charles R. Samuels held the office until 1865, a period of four years, when he died and was succeeded by R. J. Meyler. He died at the age of about 33 or four years and the very noontide of his useful life. He came from a family which had always been wealthy and influential in this and adjoining counties, and it is generally conceded that he was the most gifted and brilliant of his entire family. As one turns the pages of the deed books which were being used while he was deputy clerk and then clerk and look with wonder and admiration upon the many pages of his plain, even beautiful handwriting, one is forced to the conclusion that he must have been a young man a very superior attachments, and we have often pictured him in our moments of musing as a tall, slender, smoothly shaven young man with deep dark eyes and a face which bore the marks of genius and great determination.
Those old deed books in which he wrote contain some of Bullitt's most illustrious names, names of men who have shed luster upon their state, their county, their families and themselves. When we have concluded this brief and imperfect history of our county clerks we propose just as briefly as is consistent with distinctness to take the old deed books, one by one, and print for our readers the names of some of the most prominent people who have owned land in Bullitt County, and then a short account of what those people did in war, in statesmanship, in law, in the ministry, in agriculture, and in finance and otherwise which was extraordinary.
In the meantime we wish some information on R. J. Meyler and the clerks who came after him. It will be most highly appreciated.
The Pioneer-News, October 13, 1922, page 1.
County Clerks (continued)
Robert F. Samuels was born in Nelson County, but was brought to Shepherdsville when quite young, and lived here the remainder of his life. His brother William Samuels lived in Harding County for many years and died in Elizabethtown. He was Auditor of Kentucky for years and held many other responsible positions.
Robert F. Samuels at one time represented Bullitt County in the General Assembly where he took high rank. He lived in what subsequently became the Field's house, later on the "Tot" Thompson house, and still later on the Buck Monroe house. The house, which is well remembered by many of our citizens, stood between the residence of G. S. Patterson and the brick house on the corner occupied by Jailer Quick. It was a large two-story frame house. Robert F. Samuels died there and the place afterwards became the property of A. H. Field, himself an able and very accomplished lawyer.
Charles R. Samuels, who succeeded his father as County Clerk, was a large man, handsome, blue eyed with light hair that rather inclined to reddishness.
R. J. Meyler
R. J. Meyler, who succeeded Charles R. Samuels as county clerk in 1865 and held the office until 1874, was born in Pennsylvania and was exceedingly well educated. He was a very intellectual man. For many years he practiced law at the Bullitt County bar where he enjoyed a large and lucrative practice. Soon after coming to Bullitt County he was married to Miss Swearingen, a member of one of the most prominent families in this section of Kentucky. Mr. Meyler wrote a very good business hand, but coming into office right after the death of that master of penmanship, C. R. Samuels, his writing looked rather common place by comparing it to the splendid writing of Mr. Samuels. However he was a splendid clerk, and being a good businessman, kept his office in first class condition.
He was a very courageous man, and on one occasion had a fistic encounter with the late G. W. Simmons in which Mr. Simmons was the victor. In the 80s he removed to Bowling Green where he became a wealthy distiller. He died many years ago leaving his wife and two daughters surviving. Judge W. T. Morrow, J. I. Rickerson, Lee Troutman, J. F. Combs and many other citizens remember him well. Mr. Meyler must have been a very sociable and attractive man. Coming here from a northern state, he succeeded in a few years in being elected to the very important office of County Clerk, and also in marrying one of the county's best and most intellectual young ladies.
He owned a great deal of real estate in the county and was a shrewd trader and land dealer. While engaged in the practice of law, he was connected with most of the large and important cases tried in this county. He came south to teach school, but soon discovered another field in which he could win fame and amass money more rapidly. In very many respects he was a remarkable man, and will always rank as one of the most accomplished of the many accomplished lawyers who claimed a membership at the Shepherdsville bar, and also has one of the best of the many good clerks who cared for the records in the county court clerk's office.
To be continued.
The Pioneer-News, October 20, 1922, page 1.
County Clerks (continued)
Below we publish a letter from Hon. Richard McConathy, now a resident of Ocala, Florida, but once an honored citizen and official of this county. We shall have much more to say about Mr. McConathy in our articles on deputy clerks and circuit clerks. We thank Mr. McConathy for his splendid article, and should like to receive more from him as he was a close student, good thinker and has a fine memory.
"County Clerks"
Editor, Pioneer News:
I have just received the issues of The Pioneer-News of September 15 and 29th and read with much interest the articles on the county clerks of Bullitt County. Since I became a deputy both the county and circuit clerks offices in 1868, I became acquainted with the manner with which the records and files of those officers were kept by Messrs. Samuels, and do fully endorse what you say concerning the efficiency of these gentlemen.
And my boyhood days I was personally acquainted with both of them.
Mr. Robert F. Samuels was a man of very decided conviction and unswerving in his advocacy of a cause that he espoused. He was an ardent Union man in the days of succession. In his last illness he directed that the United States flag should be cut into his tombstone and it was done; and doubtless may yet be seen in the Shepherdsville Cemetery. He left a widow, daughter of Mr. Thomas Joyce, the latter conducted the milling business in Shepherdsville just west of the hotel recently conducted by Mrs. Sarah O'Brien.
He lived for many years in the residence adjoining the red brick near the river. Mr. R. F. Samuels left two sons. Joseph, a fine youth died while a young man. He was one of my intimates, and after these nearly 60 years I crave to pay this brief tribute to his memory. Of the other son, Charles R. Samuels, you have well written. He left a widow, now Mrs. Christian Barrall, who still survives. Of her splendid qualities I need not write; they are well known.
I knew Mr. R. J. Meyler well. He gave me my first employment, deputy in his office, for which I can never cease to be grateful. Mr. Meyler was a Pennsylvanian, coming to Bullitt in about 1860. He taught school for a while in the room upstairs in the brick residence on the east side of Main Street next to the river (now owned by Judge W. T. Morrow, and occupied by Embra Deacon). Sectional feeling was then high and generally unreasonable. It was suggested, so I was told, that Meyler, being from the north, ought to be run out of town; but he was not of the running kind.
He was, in a few years, elected county clerk; and was also Superintendent of the county schools. He filled both offices efficiently and to the satisfaction of the people. Mr. Meyler began the practice of law while clerk, and a good reliable lawyer he was. He was engaged in most of the important litigation at the Bullitt County bar. It was in a suit that he brought that it was decided in his favor that the northern line of Kentucky extended to the Indiana shore.
Mr. Meyler's standing at the bar is fixed when we remember that he came to the front when such lawyers as William R. Thompson, R. H. Field and A. H. Field were his legal antagonists, say nothing of those that attended the court from adjoining counties.
About 1875 he quit the practice and moved to Warren County and engaged in farming. He died in Bowling Green. He left a widow who was a daughter of Mr. Swearingen, one of the early citizens of Bullitt County. He also left two daughters. Mr. Meyler was a fine man.
E. W. Hall succeeded Mr. Meyler as county clerk. When I come to speak of "Dock" Hall, with whom I was so closely thrown for years and whom I prized so highly, I feel that my pen is too feeble to do justice to his high character. He is remembered by many now living in Bullitt. E. W. Hall was a Bullitt County boy born and raised near Mount Washington. When a young man he secured a position as deputy clerk under Mr. Meyler and succeeded him as clerk in about 1874. The county never had a better clerk, nor a more popular man with the people. He suffered pretty much all his life with a physical infirmity that finally took him away in his early manhood to the deep sorrow of a multitude of friends.
Richard McConathy
October 11th 1922.
Notes: in our last article, we stated that R. J. Meyler moved to Warren County in the early 80s. We stand corrected by Mr. McConathy who says he went there about 1875, as Mr. McConathy was intimately associated with him and knows. Mr. Meyler farmed in Warren County, and was also in the distillery business.
To be continued.
The Editor may have continued this series, but we have not yet located it.
If you, the reader, have an interest in any particular part of our county history, and wish to contribute to this effort, use the form on our Contact Us page to send us your comments about this, or any Bullitt County History page. We welcome your comments and suggestions. If you feel that we have misspoken at any point, please feel free to point this out to us.
The Bullitt County History Museum, a service of the Bullitt County Genealogical Society, is located in the county courthouse at 300 South Buckman Street (Highway 61) in Shepherdsville, Kentucky. The museum, along with its research room, is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Saturday appointments are available by calling 502-921-0161 during our regular weekday hours. Admission is free. The museum, as part of the Bullitt County Genealogical Society, is a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization and is classified as a 509(a)2 public charity. Contributions and bequests are deductible under section 2055, 2106, or 2522 of the Internal Revenue Code. Page last modified: 14 Jun 2026 . Page URL: bullittcountyhistory.org/bchistory/countyclerks-pn1922-1.html
