SUMMARIZATION OF COURT CASE

Williamson VS Chenoweth

Last updated 02/08/2006

Chenoweth Spring House

In the annals of Kentucky history, the Williamson name is barely known, yet this family was as much a part of the founding of Louisville as others with more illustrious names. From a daughter who was honored with a monument by the state of Kentucky for her heroism, to a son who was burnt at the stake in defense of his country, the Williamson family was an integral part of early Kentucky history. The following is a summarization of a court case that lasted ten years, from 1800 to 1810, but began far before that, and was to leave wide repercussions in early Kentucky…

 By 1776 the available land around the Falls of the Ohio, near present day Louisville, Kentucky, was almost completely taken. Land speculators back east had bought up large tracts, and the remaining land was being given as preemption warrants to military veterans of the French and Indian War. Many warrantees, however, sent others to “improve” on their land while they themselves stayed back east.

During the years 1776-1777, Richard Chenoweth, Nicholas McCarty, and Robert Jones all lived in the Monongehela country (southwestern Pennsylvania). Several times during those years, Chenoweth travelled down the Ohio River to the Virginia county of Kentucky near the Falls. He was making preemption improvements (clearing land and building on it as proof of ownership) on the west branch of Floyds Fork for Nicholas McCarty and another on Pottingers Creek for Robert Jones. Various descriptions described the Floyds Fork land as one of the finest in the area, with “rolling country bordering a small stream.” Chenoweth, seeing the richness of the surrounding country, began to clear land on the Fork, but for himself, not for McCarty the warrantee.

In 1778, once again in Pennsylvania and seeing a chance to bring his family down with a military escort, Chenoweth and his family joined with George Rogers Clark’s militia as it made its way down the Ohio to the Falls. Settling first on Corn Island and later on the shore where present-day Louisville now stands, Chenoweth was busy establishing his family in their new location at the Falls. It is not known if he continued making improvements for McCarty and Jones on their preemption lands, but it is quite likely he continued clearing land for himself, even if only sporadically.

It is during the following year of 1779 that Chenoweth began exhibiting what the courts later called his “repugnant” actions. He gave a bond to James Sullivan for land already under another warrant by a company back east. It was to be the first of several similar episodes.

By May 1780, after the coldest winter ever recorded in that area, numerous boatloads of immigrants from the east had begun arriving at the Falls. Chenoweth, John Swan and other early settlers went to the newly established land office at Harrodsburg to file claims, either for themselves or for absentee owners. The commissioners asked Chenoweth several questions about the land he had “improved”, which he evaded. Finally, upon being pressed to state if he was entering the preemption for McCarty or himself and where it should be, he told them he was entering the improvement in the name of  Nicholas McCarty for 1000 acres “in the brushy woods on the left branch of Floyds Fork.” Returning to Floyds Fork, he quietly continued clearing the land for himself.

Aerial view of Floyd's Fork Today

Later that year Chenoweth was chagrined to find that McCarty had come down from the Monongahela country to look over his preemption. When McCarty asked where his land laid, the court records show that Chenoweth deceived him and told him it was on Pottingers Creek, which was actually the preemption land for Robert Jones where Chenoweth had already made some improvements.

Meanwhile, that same year of 1780, John Williamson Sr., who was later described as “one of the group of early adventurers” in Kentucky, had either just arrived with his family or had already been there looking for available land. Court records show that Williamson, Nicholas McCarty, and Nicholas’s brother Thomas, were living at Linn’s station in 1780 and 1781. They were “intimately acquainted and freely and frequently conversed about land claims.” Frequent Indian attacks, however, kept most activity close to the forts or stations. While based at Linn’s station, Williamson began looking for acreage to buy.

In early 1781, Indian troubles were increasing in the area. Williamson began negotiations with Nicholas McCarty, who was anxious to return to the Monongahela country. McCarty agreed to sell him 500 acres, or one half of his preemption, which at this time McCarty, following the description given to him by Chenoweth, believed to be on Pottingers Creek.

After the hard winter of 1779-1780, and with Indian deprivations in the following year, there were few horses left in the region. It is not known how McCarty earlier travelled down to the Falls, but apparently, by early 1781, he needed a horse to leave, possibly because of Indians. Williamson had a black mare that had been described as “old, worth about L5” and  “apt to break away from anything she was tied with.” McCarty agreed to sell half of his preemption in exchange for a bond (promise of future payment) and Williamson’s black mare, some plow irons, and a few (variously described as 4, 5, or 20) bushels of corn. Later, in court, McCarty’s brother Thomas testified that McCarty, after receiving the mare, had at one point used his brother’s chains in lieu of rope to keep the mare from wandering off.

Unsuspecting that the land in question should have been on Floyds Fork rather than Pottingers Creek, Williamson asked McCarty and his brother Thomas to go with him to view the property. Indian forays prevented them from leaving, however. It is not known if Williamson later made any improvements on the property, or if he ever saw it at all.

Chenoweth would later claim that in 1780 he had told McCarty that Robert Jones’s preemption on Pottingers Creek would soon be for sale at a cheap price, and that McCarty, thinking he could purchase it, presold it to Williamson. McCarty denied this in court, and subsequent witnesses, including Robert Jones, the owner of the land on Pottinger’s Creek, corroborated his testimony.

In late summer 1781, Nicholas McCarty then left for the Monongahela, but the black mare either ran off or died before McCarty had gone very far, and he was forced to return to Linn’s station. Lack of transportation and increased Indian activity made further attempts to leave the area impossible.

September 1781 saw a massacre of settlers at Long Run Creek who were fleeing from Squire Boone’s Painted Stone station to the more secure Linn’s station. In later life, the grandson of Williamson recounted in The History of the Ohio Falls Counties that his grandfather and uncles were massacred at Long Run in 1781 and that Tecumseh’s father took Williamson's father, John Williamson Jr., prisoner. There is some doubt about the former, as court records show witnesses testifying that Indians killed Williamson Sr. in the summer of 1782. John Williamson Jr., an Indian captive for four years and then ransomed, also testified that his father was killed in 1782.

Whichever the date, the widow Williamson, sometime between the time her husband died and December 1782, asked Nicholas McCarty’s son, James, and Robert McKeown to view her husband’s supposed land on Pottingers Creek. During this time, Richard Chenoweth began building a house on the land he had cleared for himself on Floyds Fork.

By January 1783, Nicholas McCarty had decided to stay in the area. He appointed John May to survey McCarty’s preemption land. When May showed the results to McCarty, an angry McCarty realized that Chenoweth had lied to him about the location of McCarty’s preemption. John May, seeing a valuable and desirable piece of property, asked to buy the half of McCarty’s preemption that lay on Floyds Fork. This McCarty refused to do, stating that Williamson had already purchased it, and he had given the bond to Williamson’s widow. It was at this time that McCarty learned from May that Chenoweth was building a house and had cleared land on the Floyds Fork preemption. McCarty then made plans to reacquire the bond from the widow Williamson, since she had no menfolk left who could make improvements on the land so as to pay back McCarty for the bond.

Chenoweth was now in a quandry. McCarty had every legal right to throw him off the land and press charges against him for fraud. Chronically short of money, and by now having moved his family into the house on Floyds Fork, he began a series of what the court later termed “evasions” designed to let him keep the house and land and appease McCarty.

In the summer of 1783, on the same day he learned that McCarty was going to the widow Williamson to retrieve his bond, Chenoweth hurried to the widow and persuaded her to give up her bond to him by promising to exchange it with other land of comparable value. McCarty was furious, but could do nothing except demand payment from Chenoweth for the bond.

In Chenoweth’s court deposition he later stated he had given McCarty a “rifle and other articles”, with a promise of L40 in property and store goods, for the bond. He claimed that he and McCarty agreed to this, but neglected to get it in writing. Again, however, his statement was shown to be false by other witnesses. McCarty never received anything but promises from Chenoweth. During this period, Chenoweth was serving as sheriff of Jefferson County, and as Justice of the Peace in 1783-1784.

Chenoweth, now under pressure by McCarty, conceived a new scheme. Keeping 100 acres for himself where the house was built, he asked a relative, Thomas Curry, to become security for two bonds on the remaining 400 acres on Floyds Fork, which was to be divided between James Denny and Jasper Griffin. Curry agreed, paying almost L300 as the mortgagee. To complicate things further, Griffin then assigned his portion of the bond to James McHatton. Curry would claim in court that he knew nothing of the prior claim of Williamson’s, and that he later had to pay Denny and McHatton L300 due to Chenoweth reneging on the bonds. When he afterwards instituted a suit to get his money refunded, the court was unsympathetic, saying “it appears to the court that he was also a party to Chenoweth’s evasions, and relies on those evasions for his defense. This will not hold.”

In 1785 came another complication. John Williamson Jr. had been ransomed from the Indians and had come home. He was shocked to learn that his mother and siblings were living on the bounty of others, and were essentially landless, since Chenoweth had never followed through on his promise of other land in lieu of the original bond for Floyds Fork. Although now in the militia, at 15 he was still considered an “infant” (under 21 years of age) by law, and could not legally attack Chenoweth in court. He could, however, turn public opinion against him. Enlisting the aid of such well-known figures as Bland W. Ballard, Robert Tyler Sr., and Aquilla Whitaker, he began agitating Chenoweth to return the original bond to his mother.

Chenoweth, attacked from all sides for defrauding a widow, now took an extraordinary step. Unwilling to give up the Floyds Fork land, but pressured by public opinion to make things right with the widow Williamson, he concocted another “evasion”. On 5 August 1785, with Williamson away (possibly with the militia) and using Robert Tyler and Peter Young as security, he took out a bond with security amounting to the extraordinary sum of L3000. In it, in exchange for retaining the original bond for the Floyds Fork land, 500 acres elsewhere were to be given by Chenoweth to Williamson and his twin infant brothers, Moses and George, who had been born around the time their father was killed. 100 acres each would go to Moses and George, and 300 acres to John, with a dower for Williamson’s widow for the rest of her life. The 500 acres would be “well watered, well timbered, and situated inside the boundaries of the present settlement.”  The bond went on to say “the 500 acres of land [are] to be equal in quality to a certain tract of land situated on the middle fork of Pottingers Creek, now said to be the property of Robert Jones.” What was extraordinary about this was that Chenoweth was mortgaging land he didn’t even own, for McCarty steadfastly refused to consider Chenoweth’s claim for the Floyds Fork half of McCarty’s preemption. The 1810 Appellate court recorded, “It is proven that McCarty after that [1785] declared Chenoweth had no authority or permission from him to settle there.”

The widow Williamson accepted his bond however, possibly thinking she would finally receive some land for her family. Bland Ballard later testified that Chenoweth had told her he would “give her land elsewhere.” This turned out to be a forlorn hope, for as stated in Ballard’s second testimony, “[Chenoweth] always disappointed her.”

When Williamson returned, he was dismayed that his mother had fallen for Chenoweth’s promises a second time. He “applied himself to Chenoweth and Curry and represented to them his claim…and demanded of them that they should relinquish their nefarious [emphasis by court clerk--ed] claims…but they have further refused, giving out in speeches that the land on which Chenowith lives is not the one half of McCarty’s preemption…and other like & untrue suggestions.”

Chenoweth’s previous maneuvers had made him the subject of intense gossip. Robert Tyler testified that “he had never heard Chenoweth himself say where it [McCarty’s preemption] was, but had heard Chenoweth’s wife say, while her husband was present, that it was on Floyds Fork.” Chenoweth then angrily told her to hold her tongue, for “she did not know what she was talking about.” She did know, however, since she was formerly Margaret McCarty, Nicholas McCarty’s sister.

In 1789 at their house on Floyds Fork, Indians would scalp Margaret McCarty Chenoweth and some of her children would be killed. Chenoweth would escape, wounded, but both he and Margaret would survive.

During these years of 1786-1790, Williamson continued to demand the return of his father’s original bond from Chenoweth. Often away on military expeditions against the Indians with George Rogers Clark and Anthony Wayne, Williamson renewed his demands whenever he was home. Chenoweth steadfastly ignored him, and made no attempt to find other land for the widow.

Things began changing in 1791, when Williamson came of age. The militia in the area was readying to go with General Anthony Wayne on his Ohio campaign against the Indians. Nicholas McCarty came to Bland Ballard (who was by this time Williamson’s brother-in-law) and “observed he heard that John Williamson intended to sue for his father’s right. [Ballard] said he expected he would. McCarty then said he had left direct orders with his children that if he should never return, they should not make said Chenowerth a wright to the aforesaid land as he had never received the value of his land from Chenowerth.”  McCarty would later die on that campaign.

Trouble was looming for Chenoweth. Williamson’s mother married John McManus, and now had both a husband and a son to pursue her cause. Chenoweth tried another evasion. He now claimed that Williamson had come to him with his mother’s 1785 bond from Chenoweth. Williamson was supposed to have told Chenoweth that he was ready to accept the bond if Chenoweth would give it to him alone. Chenoweth said he agreed to this, but only if Williamson would indemnify him against Williamson’s two brothers. Williamson was then said to have agreed and stated he would be back shortly with some security, but never returned. However, after hearing the testimony of others, the court again did not believe Chenoweth.

Possibly because of his mother’s remarriage, Williamson did not initiate a court case against Chenoweth at this time. From 1792-1794, he was away fighting in General Wayne’s Ohio campaign, and survived the Battle of Fallen Timbers. Returning home, he married Charity Whitaker in August 1795, and began having children.  In June 1800, however, at age 30, Williamson finally brought suit against Chenoweth in Chancery Court. It was to be a ten-year battle.

Two years into the suit, both Daniel Curry and Aquilla Whitaker testified that on 6 February 1802, they heard Chenoweth say he had 400 acres of land at Opost (Vincennes, Indiana), which he had purchased from a man named Barragman [sic]. Chenoweth intended to give this land to Williamson in lieu of that on Floyds Fork, “for he meant to pay all his just debts.” The land had 10-15 acres of cleared land and a house. Whitaker testified that Chenoweth observed “that the said Williamson Jr. was justly entitled to the above mentioned 500 acres of land [of McCarty’s preemption]; and if Williamson would go with him to Vincennes, he {Chenoweth] would make him a general warranty deed for the said 400 acres of land lying in that country [Indiana].” This, however, was against the terms of Chenoweth’s former bond, which stated that the land must be “situated inside the boundaries of the present settlement [Louisville].”  Williamson declined.

The last time Chenoweth appeared in the court records was on 6 September 1802, when he paid two Justices for their attendance at Thomas McCarty’s deposition. He died shortly after that, harassed and destitute. His heirs and Thomas Curry were summoned to continue the suit.

On 12 April 1808, the Chancery Court found in favor of Williamson. Chenoweth’s heirs were ordered to “relinquish, release, and transfer by a deed of conveyance with special warranty…before the first day of December, all their legal and equitable claim…to the said land…being the one-half of McCarty’s preemption…on which…said Chenoweth in his lifetime resided and of which …his heirs…are now in possession.”

Williamson had no time to savor his triumph. Four days later, on 16 April, Chenoweth’s heirs appealed the decision to the higher Court of Appeals. It was not until April 1810 that the court made its final ruling. After summing up both sides of the case, the court chastised Chenoweth, saying, “The land he [McCarty] sold was well described as his preemption, and an additional repugnant [false] description [by Chenoweth]…ought not to void the certain & specific part of the contract [to Williamson]…But for one to become subsequently interested under as full a knowledge of the contract as Chenoweth seems to have had, and expect to take advantage of such a mistake in it contrary to the meaning & wish of the original contracting parties is what no Court ought to permit.”

Finally, after ten years and untold costs, the court awarded the decision to Williamson.

Williamson was again not allowed to enjoy the verdict. Several months later in October of 1810 he departed with his brother Moses to take part in the campaign that ended in the Battle of Tippicanoe. Afterwards, in 1811-1812, he was constantly riding on forays as part of Col. Allen’s first rifle unit, along with his brother-in-law, Bland Ballard. Then, in January 1813, both took part in the Battle of the River Raisin, near Detroit. In the terrible massacre that followed, Indians captured both Williamson and Ballard. Ballard escaped after being shot in the hip, but Williamson was burnt at the stake.

Williamson's siblings and relatives began leaving Kentucky the next year, although his wife and children remained. It is possible no one wanted to pursue the Floyd's Fork issue further, for Margaret Chenoweth continued to live on the Floyd's Fork homestead until she died around 1825. Further research is needed to trace the history of this land from 1825 to the present day.

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SUMMARIZATION OF COURT CASE.pdf

References for the preceding article can be found in Chancery Court records #302 in the Kentucky Department of Libraries and Archives:
1.) 10 Jan 1783 Plat Drawing by John May
2.) 5 Aug 1785 Bond Chenoweth/Williamson
3.) 17 June 1800 Deposition of John Williamson Jr.
4.) 6 Feb 1802 Deposition of Daniel Curry and Deposition of Aquilla Whitaker
5.) 17 Jun 1802 Deposition of Richard Chennoweth
6.) 6 Sep 1802 Deposition Of Thomas McCarty
7.) 6 Apr 1804 Separate answer of Thomas Curry to a Bill of complaint
8.) 17 Mar 1806 Deposition of Robert Tylor Sr.
9.) 21 Mar 1806 Deposition of James McKaig
10.) 25 Aug 1806 Deposition of John Mundle
11.) 31 Oct 1806 Deposition of Robert McKeown
12.) 31 Oct 1806 Heirs of Chenoweth Summons
13.) 15 Nov 1806 Deposition of Major Bland Ballard
14.) 16 Apr 1808 Appeal Bond by Chenoweth heirs
15.) 27 Jul 1810 Amended Bill Chenoweth heirs vs. Williamson

Anyone with further information should contact Sue@WilliamsonFamily.Info
It should be noted that Sue initiated this search and followed it to its long, detailed conclusion. For that, and all she has contributed over the years, we all owe her a debt of gratitude.
Karl Williamson, 2/2006

The box outlines the general area in question, just outside of Louisville, KY.