The record., 1911-09-21
Henry RhOadS

serving the public, Henry Rhoads
had, for a number of years, more
or less trouble esiablishu, lis claim
to the land to which he was entitled
and on which he lived after he
moved into what later 1ccame a
part of Muhlenberg county. This
land to which he fnally Gained pos
session lay in what was, up to 1893,
a part of Logan county. 1t was
part of a grant of almost 1000
acres which he had surveyed in I7o5
for himself and Gen. Alexander
McClanahan. 1t is possible that
1875 was the year Henry Rhoads
first settled in what IS now Mullen
berg county. In I7O, tle State of
Kentucky issued to Nee llanahan
and Rhoads a patent for inis survey.
In Ocrober, 1901, a commission of
six men was appointcd -o divide
this tract between the two and issue
deed to each for his share. On
der Book No. /, page /, gives the
names of these commissioners, all
of whom were promin-uJ pioneers:
John Dennls, Henry Keith, Mat
thew Adams, VIM. BE b,njamin
Tolbcrt and Solomon khoads.
Deed Book No. /, page o. shows
that they granted him 900 acres
OF the survey for which he received
deed on Oct 20, 1901. Thus,
after a long and auenlsstruggle,
Henry Rhoads held a title to land
against which no priority claim was
ever brought. In 1898 he bought
an adjoining survey of 500 acres
that had been granted to Gen. Geo.
Matthews.
Ii was on this $500 acre tract
that he built his home shortly after
his arrival from Hartford. The OF
iginal dwelling is still standing near
the Grecrville and Rochester road
about nine miles from GreenviIle.
The farm on which this house stands
has passed from father to son for
more than a century aad is now
owned by Prof. McHenry Rhoads.
Near this historic house is the old
family grave yard. In it, among
five generations Of Rhoads buried
there, is the grave of the Godfather
of Muhlenberg county.
When he settled on this tract
Muhlenberg was practically an un-
broken wilderness Many wild ami
mails, both large and small, held
sway. y number of stories are told
about the game ,hai rcared oyer
these hills in olccn times. I hcre
repeat two of these stories, not DE-
cause they are Characteristic Of life
IN the wilderness, but because they
are incidents from the life of Muhl-
euberg's first great pioneer, handed
down by local tradition.
When Henry Rhoads was build
ing his log house his neighbors were
few and far between, but all came
with helping hand and happy
heart to take part in his "house
raising These old time house
raislngs were attended as much for
the sake of their social features as
for the purpose of helping build
house.
One afternoon while the crowd
was bus;ly engaged on the roof of
this building, so runs the tradition,
large bear leisurely wandered into
sight. When the men saw the ami.
NAL they stopped work and imme-
dia;ely started on a bear chase.
Some ran after him with axes and
others with guns. The women of
the wilderness always lent helping
hand. In this instance one woman
followed in the bear chase with a
pitchfork. After an exciting time
old bruin was finally captured.
That night large bear skin was
stretched on the new log wall and
barbecued bear meat was served in
abundance at all the other meals
served to the house raising party.
But the noise made by the bear
chasers evidently did not scare all
the wild animals out of the neigh
borhoods About a year after that
great event, Henry Rhoads, while
walking in his wood, which is sull
standing 4 short distance north of
the old house, espied large drove
of Wild turkeys. He slowly raised
his lhut-lock rifle for the purpose
of shooting a fine gob.l1r strutting
under white oak an w!.hin close
range. When he VS. bout ready