The Madisonian. (Richmond, Ky.) 1913-1914, 1913-12-09
Mayor Cassidy's Address to
the D. A. R.

II 10 q SiSot tiOiiOI i'iio. SiSff
ault has conferred upon me in in
viting me to meet with the ID. A.
r. and | sincerely thank her. It's
with pleasure that bid you vel
come to the confines of Lexington
and assure you that the keys to
the City are now in possession of
your hostess; so you can 60 as far
and as fast as you wish, without
fear of molestation by the min
ions of the law.
The Daughters of Madison
county have reason to be proud
of the record of their forefathers
during the Revolutionary War.
1t was in that county the first
fort in Kentucky was established
by Boone in ITS, one year prev
iOus to The Declaration of Inde-
pendence. This fort, BOonesbor-
Oueh, being the first permanent
Settlement in Kentucky. 1t was at
BoonesborOugh that the first leg
islative assembly convened. In
deed this Legislature, or cOnven-
ton, as some of the later histOr-
ians prefer to call it, was the ear
liest popular body assembled
west of the eastern divide.
This part of Kentucky in IT'S
was called Pennsylvania, so nam
ed by Col. Richard Henderson,
president of a company that hal
purchased from the chiefs of the
Cherokee nation all that tract OF
country bounded on the east BY
the Cumberland Mountains; on
the south by the Cumberland
River and on the north by the
Kentucky and Ohio Rivers. This
purchase was subsequently anpdl'
! led By the Virginia Legisls&''ve
Nevertheless h.S.a. St.... 49,
that it was upon the soil of Mad)
ison county that the first popular
body assembled west of the Allie
ghanies and adopted the Kentuci
ky Magma Charta. This Magn3
Charta decreed: First, that tty
election of delegates should be
annual; Second, perfect freedom
of opinion in matters of religion;
Third, that the Judges should be
appointed by the proprietors of
Pennsylvania but answerable for
mal-cOnduct to the people and
that the delegates should have
the sole power of raising and
appropriating all moneys and
eleCting their treasurer; a
pretty fair democratic platform
for that cay.
This was a Declaration of Inde-
pendenCe in itself, so Madison
county, Kentucky, has the honor
of establishing a precedent that
was followed one year later when
the representatives of the Thir-
teen Colonies, at Philadelphia,
threw down the gauntlet to King
George.
During the Revolutionary War
there were many invasiOns by the
Indians and British soldiers from
Canada, the objective point of
attack being BOOnesbOrough Fort,
but the pioneer settlers of Mad
isOn county were equal to the
occasion and drove the savages
and their white allies back across
the Ohio River, though not with
out the loss of life.
The first marriage in Kentucky
occurred in BOonesbOrOugh, the
ceremOnv being performed by
Squire Boone, and here the first
white child of parents married in
Kentucky. was born. The first SER
mon in Kentucky was delivered
at Boonesborough on Sunday,
May 28, ITS. The first race track,
the first grist mill. and the first
distillery in Kentucky were in
Madison county. The first School
in Kentucky was established at
BoOnesbOrough.
AT the close of the Revolution.
AIRY War there were Is stati pms
in Madison county and | venture
the assertion that there is a larger
of the people of Mad.