Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1909-09-25
A VISIT TO CHRISTIAN
COUNTY KENTUCKY

NIX EDITOR.
Forty-One years ago Gn 1869
ushere was break in family Of Jas.
q. Smithson, ST.. in the old county
of Lunenburg, Va, when from the
NSery farm on which now reside and
Cslaca from which am now writing.
airs James A. Smithson inspired by
reports of the productiveness of
niyour country and acting nodoubt up
n on the advice of Horace Greeley
tS'young man go west" fitted out q
ehcovered wagon and with her five
srboys Thos A., Jas. A. Jr., Luther
sH., Jno. O. and Charlie w. Smith
v,son and three girls, Emma (now
e-Mrs. w. E. Adcock) Mollie (now
wsMrs. N. L. Turner and Matte (now
MRS. Chas. Bagby) babe farewell to
arrelatives in Virginia and drove forth
fin search of western home; after
e.meaudering for eight weeks or more
Through fields and woodlands, hills,
,mountains and valleys they drew the
rein and cast their fortune with
e.the good people of your county, 10
Fcating finally near Church Hill. The
NEAR binding ties that have held us
. to these people have now been most
Wy severed by the hand of death. but
I the same feelings have been fostered
by their posterity we have frequent
! ly exchanged visits, kept up a cor
respondence and there is yet a
Il strong chord that holds near and
l dear to us our cousins beyond the
Blue Ridge mountains At Black
stone, in Nottoway county, Virginia
Ga point we'll recognized by the Vir-
ginians in your midst as blacks and
whites on the Norfolk & Western
Railroad we took train on May 10,
and procured tickets to Hopkinsvile,
KY. stopping first at Petersburg
where President Taft and party
were doing the honors of the day
and where again was being enacted
the famous battle of the Crater,
We proceeded on to Richmond and
thence by way of c. & O., by Uni
versity of Virginia CHARLOTTESVILLE
Charleston, w. Virginia, Ashland,
Ky, Lexington and on further
through the heart of the great Blue
Grass State by Frankfort to Louis
vile where we took passage on the
Illinois Central and arrived on May
23rd at 6:30 p. M, in your beautiful
city of Hopkinsville.
The impression first made on my
mind was that apart from our rela-
tives we are by no means "a
stranger in a strange land was
accompanied by my little niece "a
girl Of fifteen summers) who in pass
ing through your streets remarked, |
these store names are as familiar |
as though we were in our home |
town." and most assuredly they
were. We see and hear of Ander-
son, a name familiar in Pottsylvanial
county, Va, Dennis, Charlotte Coun-
ty;Edmunds, Halifax county; Forbes, |
Buckingham county Jones, Smithson, |
Adams, Caudle, Knight, Fords, whose !
names are most familiar in the old !
counties of Nottoway. Lunenburg !
Dinwiddie. Brunswick and Prince
Edward in Virginia. Since this
time it has been our pleasure and
privilege to meet a great many of
these people and about the first
question they would ask would be
Can you tell me something of my
kin folks from Virginia." Mr.. Edi-
tor; l never had a better time in
my life, found myself at home and
among the best and most hospitabe
people on earth. To tell you that |
was in a measure surprised would
hardly express it. / had read in
magazines and newspapers a great
deal of the night riders of Kentucky,
the whippings given citizens, scrap
ing of plant beds, shooting up towns
and last but not least the burning Of
warehouses in your city, and being
actively engaged in the tobacco bus.
mess in Danville, Va. naturally APP
cached you with a degree of care.
visited your loose sale. however.
where the greatest harmony seemed
to prevail between planter, seller {
and buyer and everything seemed
pleasant. business like and profit
able | was also amongst the planters