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JOSEPH HORNSBY: AN EARLY SHELBY COUNTIAN

Following the lead of his father-in-law, Joseph Hornsby played a significant role in the development of Shelbyville. In the first of a 3-part series, he becomes a very wealthy Virginian.

The Peyton-Williams House in Williamsburg, Va., (above) owned by Joseph Hornsby after the death of his brother, Thomas. “Castle Hill” (left) in Albemarle County, Virginia, the home of early Kentucky explorer Dr. Thomas Walker.

In 1797 or early 1798, a prominent Virginian departed Williamsburg and settled his family in Shelby County. He was Joseph Hornsby, who, in his few years in Kentucky, was to make a significant contribu-

tion to his new home.When he arrived in Shelby County,

Kentucky had been a state only five years. According to the 1800 census, Shelbyville,

with a population of 262, was the seventh-largest town, and Louisville had only 359 residents.

The county restricted tavern prices: Whisky was 6 shillings per gal-lon, breakfast or supper, with tea or coffee, 1 shil-ling 3 pence; warm din-ner, 1 shilling 6 pence; cold dinner, 1 shilling; and lodging, ‘with clean sheets,’ 6 pence.”

Those were the times when Hornsby came to Shelby County, but how he became one of those 262 residents is the story at hand, a yarn about the early days of our state and county

and a man who was a strong thread of their history.

The County restricted tavern prices: Whisky was six shillings per gallon, break-fast or supper, with tea or coffee, one shil-ling three pence; warm dinner, one shilling six pence; colddinner, one shilling; and lodging, ‘with clean sheets,’ six pence.”

Hornsby had been born on May 24, 1740, in Great Yarmouth, a seaport in Norfolk County, England, but at age 17, he traveled to America to join his father’s brother, Thomas, in Williamsburg, Va., and to learn his business.

And, in 1769, at the age of 28, Joseph Hornsby married Mildred Walker, daugh-ter of famed explorer and surveyor Dr. Thomas Walker of Albemarle County, Virginia.

Historian Robert S. Cotterill has stated that “determining who was the first man to explore Kentucky is as unprofitable as it is difficult.” It was his belief, however, that the history of Kentucky began with Dr. Thomas Walker’s expedition in 1750.

Dr. Walker had been guardian of young Thomas Jefferson and commissary gen-eral to Washington in the French-Indian wars. He had also negotiated land treaties with the Indians and defined a part of the Virginia–North Carolina border.

Father-in-law was an explorerCommissioned by the Loyal Land

Company, which had been given 800,000 acres to be located in the West, Walker entered Kentucky with five companions by way of a mountain pass, which he named the Cumberland Gap, after the Duke of Cumberland.

Although the party did not view the Bluegrass, they did, however, reach the Kentucky River, which Dr. Walker named the “Milley.”

Conventional wisdom is that he named the river after the Indian name, “Millewakane.”

To the contrary, it is my belief that he named this river after his wife, Mildred (Milley) Thornton Walker, whose first hus-band, Nicholas Meriwether, had left her an estate of 15,000 acres near Charlottesville, Va., where Walker erected his famous mansion, Castle Hill, which still stands as one of the principal landmarks of that area.

Inherited wealthThomas Hornsby, a planter in the gen-

erally agrarian society of the day, was mar-ried and had no children, but he obviously was pleased by his young nephew and impressed with his capabilities, for he left him practically his entire estate.

In his will, probated on June 15, 1772, he gave “unto my nephew Joseph Hornsby all my houses and lotts in Williamsburg, where I now live, with all the household furniture, all my store goods, my stock of horses and cattle and Negroes. I likewise give him all my plantations in James City County with all the Negroes....I also give unto Joseph Hornsby all my estate both real and personal that is not already bequeathed....”

Thomas Hornsby must have been one of the wealthiest of Williamsburg’s citizens, for the inventory of the estate constituted eight pages when typed and included a number of houses, well furnished with high quality furniture. Its appraised value was 6,413 pounds sterling, 16 shillings and 5 pence, a huge sum in today’s dollars.

He had a house in Williamsburg, a plantation in York County, and three plan-tations in James City County.

Joseph, 32, when he inherited his uncle’s estate, became instantly a very wealthy man. He would put his inheritance to productive use, and business prospered for Joseph Hornsby, between his uncle’s death and the outbreak of the Revolutionary War.

In a newspaper advertisement on Dec. 15, 1774, he wrote of an intended trip to England in the following February, in prep-aration for which he would be having sales: “The subscriber has on hand about 1200

pounds sterling worth of European goods, which he would sell wholesale, at a low advance, and allow credit; also 500 acres of land, in James City county, to dispose of very cheap, and on long credit.”

Uniquely powerfulIn 1774, he was serving as one of

the twelve justices of the peace for York County, and the following year was elected as major of the Williamsburg Militia and named vestryman of his parish church.

Chris McManus, a direct descendant of Hornsby, has cited noted historian Daniel Boorstin as indicating that such a combina-tion of civic roles was not uncommon for prominent citizens in those times.

Three of his children were born before the revolution, three during and three after. Five lived to marry and have fami-lies.

In 1783 he bought at public auction, the Peyton Randolph house, now on public tour in Colonial Williamsburg.

A big piece of KentuckyThomas must have been one of the

wealthiest of Williamsburg’s citizens, for the inventory of the estate constituted eight pages when typed and included a number of houses, well furnished with high quality furniture. Its appraised value was 6,413 Pounds Sterling, 16 Shillings and five Pence, a huge sum in today’s dollars.

He had a house in Williamsburg, a plantation in York County, and three plan-tations in James City County.

Joseph, 32, when he inherited his uncle’s estate, became instantly a very wealthy man. He would put his inheritance to pro-ductive use.

Business prospered for Joseph Hornsby, between his uncle’s death and the outbreak of the Revolution. In a newspaper adver-tisement on December 15, 1774, he wrote of an intended trip to England in the fol-lowing February, in preparation for which he would be having sales: “The subscriber has on hand about 1200 pounds sterling worth of European goods, which he would sell wholesale, at a low advance, and allow credit; also 500 acres of land, in James City county, to dispose of very cheap, and on long credit.”

In 1774, he was serving as one of the twelve justices of the peace for York County, and the following year was elected as Major of the Williamsburg Militia and named vestryman of his parish church. Chris McManus, a direct descendant of Hornsby, has cited noted historian Daniel Boorstin as indicating that such a combina-tion of civic roles was not uncommon for prominent citizens in those times.

Three of his children were born before the Revolution, three during the Revolution and three after. Five lived to marry and have families. In 1783 he bought at public auction, the Peyton Randolph house, now on public tour in Colonial Williamsburg.

This had been the home of Peyton Randolph (1721-1775), speaker of Virginia’s House of Burgesses in the years leading to the American Revolution and the presiding officer of the First Continental Congress at Philadelphia in 1774.

His widow, Betty Randolph, had opened her home to the French general, comte de Rochambeau, when he arrived in Williamsburg with Gen. George Washington to prepare for the siege of Yorktown in 1781. The house served as the French headquarters until troops moved to the field.

On June 11. 1790, Hornsby’s wife, Mildred (Milley), died, leaving him eight children, between the ages of 1 and 19.

Before selling his Williamsburg house in 1798, Hornsby probably moved to Albemarle County to join his father-in-law at Castle Hill.

But McManus has reported that, according to one family tradition, Joseph Hornsby, in association with Walker and his children, had purchased 125,000 acres in Kentucky.

Next: A man to be trusted

Joseph Walker Hornsbyand his diary

Chris McManus, a direct descendant of Joseph W. Hornsby (1740-1807), visited Shelbyville years ago, leaving in the Shelby County Public Library a copy of a transcript of his ancestor’s diary, together with significant biographical information.

Later, I initiated correspondence with McManus in the hope of finding out more about Ann Allen, his ancestor who happened also to be my late wife Susanne’s great, great, great grand-mother. Ann Allen died in 1805 and is buried in the Allen Dale Farm graveyard.

McManus sent me copies of some of the research papers he had prepared concerning the Allen and Hornsby fami-lies. I was impressed with the quality of his research.

While president of the Filson Club, now the Filson Historical Society, in Louisville, I suggested that McManus entrust the original diary to the club’s Manuscript Department, and he per-

suaded his mother, Mrs. George McManus, to part with this significant document.

Jim Holmberg, manuscript curator at the Filson Club, established direct contact with McManus, and the Joseph Hornsby Diary is now safely ensconced in Filson’s archives and available to family and to researchers.

Parenthetically, the existence of this diary had been known for some time. In his History of Shelby County, Kentucky, originally published in 1929, George L. Willis, Sr. refers to “a diary written in ink between April, 1798 and August, 1804 by Joseph Hornsby at his home in Southwestern Shelby County near where Clark’s Station on the Southern Railway now stands . . .”

In preparing my column about Joseph Walker Hornsby, I have relied heavily upon the meticulous research conducted by McManus.

After a lapse in our contact over many years, I have reached him again, in Washington, D.C. , by E-mail in order to verify some of my facts.

– Ron Van Stockum

Making it bigin Williamsburg

History researched and recalled

Brig. Gen. Ron Van Stockum

Photo courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg

More onlineGen. Ronald Van Stockum, a resident

of Shelby County, is the author of two books, most recently about Shelby County pioneers Squire Boone and Nicholas Meriwether. Read more of his history col-umns at www.SentinelNews.com/history.

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