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TODAY IN KENTUCKY HISTORY

Kentucky Trivia ● Kentucky Tweets

February 10, 1763, the last French and Indian War in North America officially ended with the Treaty of Paris.  The war changed economic, political, governmental, and social relations among the three European powers, their colonies, and those who inhabited those territories.  France and Britain both suffered financially because of the war, with significant long-term consequences.

February 10, 1775, Governor Martin of North Carolina denounced Judge Henderson’s Transylvania enterprise in Kentucky.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to the Kentucky’s 15th governor, Robert Perkins Letcher, born in 1788.

February 10, 1797, Chief Red Bird, a Cherokee leader, and his friend, Will Emory, experienced a horrific death in what is now, Clay County.  Red Bird River, a tributary of the Kentucky River, was named in his honor.

February 10, 1798, Fleming County was created from Mason County.  The county was named in honor of John Fleming, frontiersman and one of the county’s original settlers.  The county seat is Flemingsburg.  Other localities include: Ewing, Elizaville, Bald Hill, Beechburg, Blue Bank, Colfax, Concord, Cowan, Craintown, Dalesburg, Fairview, Foxport, Fox Valley, Goddard, Grange City, Hillsboro, Hilltop, Johnson Junction, Mount Carmel, Muses Mills, Nepton, Pleasureville, Plummers Landing, Poplar Grove, Poplar Plains, Ringos Mills, Sherburne, Tilton, and Wallingford.  Fleming County was the 26th county created and covers 351 square miles.

1280px Map of Kentucky highlighting Fleming County.svg
By David Benbennick

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Cynthiana native Orville Hickman Browning, born in 1806.  Hickman was America’s 9th U.S. Secretary of the Interior.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Abraham’s older sister and Elizabethtown native Sarah Lincoln Grigsby, born in 1807.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Winchester native and sculptor Joel Tanner Hart, born in 1810.

Feb 10 MugnierClayStatueCanalB
Photo by George Francois Mugnier

February 10, 1814, Congress passed an “Act for the Relief of Daniel Boone,” which confirmed his title to land.

February 10, 1841, George W. Snyder died, a watchmaker and inventor from Paris.  He is credited with inventing the first American-made fishing reel in 1820, named the “Kentucky Reel.”

February 10, 1900, Governor William S. Taylor issued a proclamation stating that the General Assembly would no longer meet in London but shall now report to Frankfort on February 12 at noon.

February 10, 1908, Georgetown College hosted and defeated Kentucky State College (UK), 30-22.  A good crowd was in attendance, including a large group of girls from Rucker Hall.  Unfortunately, contrary to expectations, not many State College students made the trip.

February 10, 1922, the National Guard and Federal Prohibition Officers raided saloons in Newport, resulting in twenty people arrested, 400 rounds of ammunition seized, trucks and autos loaded with liquor seized, ten stills uncovered, and many gambling and slot machines confiscated.

February 10, 1923, Night Watchman Joseph M. Self, University of Kentucky Police Department, died while confronting occupants of a car in front of Mechanical Hall.  He had just told the occupants that he would take them to the police station when one of the men opened fire, striking him once.  The 21-year-old suspect, a university student, was acquitted.

February 10, 1927, Constable Jackson Kelly, Pike County Constable’s Office, died in Dorton while attempting to calm down a man whose dog was just killed in a mining camp.  As Constable Kelly returned to town, he encountered the subject riding a horse behind the railroad station.  Constable Kelly took the horse by the reigns and asked the man to go home quietly.  The man demanded that Constable Kelly release the reigns.  When Constable Kelly held the horse, the man pulled out his revolver and shot him in the chest.

February 10, 1940, Deputy Sheriff Elhanon Jones, Perry County Sheriff’s Office, was shot and killed after arresting a subject at a roadhouse near Duane.  The roadhouse operator was also shot and severely wounded.  The 34-year-old suspect was arrested and served 15 years.

February 10, 1942, Patrolman William Thomas Kinney, Louisville Police Department, succumbed to injuries sustained a week earlier while directing traffic at a fire scene.  Patrolman Kinney and Patrolman James Hedgepeth were struck by a drunk driver at 7:15 pm while attempting to keep fire lanes for a three-alarm fire.

February 10, 1949, Birmingham native Joseph Franklin “Jumping Joe” Fulks set the BAA/NBA single-game scoring record for the fourth and final time when he scored 63 points for the Philadelphia Warriors.

February 10, 1951, Army PVT George K. Jones from Metcalfe County and Army PFC Glenn R. Walker from Perry County, died in the Korean War.

February 10, 1953, the police arrested Reverend James Bays, a Middlesboro preacher, in the courthouse during the recount of Middlesboro’s hotly contested wet/dry elections returns.  His 2nd charge was possession of a deadly weapon when the sheriff took a rolled-up newspaper from his coat.

February 10, 1965, Army SP5 Robert S. Mosier from Louisville and Army PFC Floyd Wynn from Siler in Whitley County died in the Vietnam War.

February 10, 1971, a Scott County Grand Jury returned two separate indictments against Lexington for polluting the South Elkhorn Creek and Royal Spring.  Lexington’s wastewater discharge was the issue at hand.

February 10, 1980, trash in Eastern Kentucky is spotlighted in The Courier-Journal.  Almost every Judge-Executive in the mountains would say it’s a money problem, a geography problem, geology problem, a public-relations problem, and a “priorities” problem.  Illegal dumps are rampant.

February 10, 1992, Alex Haley, the author of Roots, died.

On February 10, 1993, Larry Collins resigned as Letcher Circuit Judge rather than be removed from the bench.  The Kentucky State Police arrested Collins for taking bribes three months earlier.

February 10, 2000, Lexington native and comedian Jim Varney dies.  Varney made “KnowhutImean?” part of our pop culture as fast-talking bumpkin Ernest P. Worrell.

On February 10, 2009, the Kentucky Horsemen of the AF2 league signed Jared Lorenzen but the team dissolved in October 2009 after bankruptcy.

February 10, 2010, the Interstate Interdiction Unit pulled over a tractor-trailer with 1,700 pounds of marijuana in Memphis.  The DEA wanted the load stored in Louisville.  However, when the feds retrieved the evidence from the tractor-trailer in Louisville, it was empty.

February 10, 2014, Army PFC Joshua A. Gray, 21, of Van Lear in Johnson County, died in Afghanistan, in a non-combat incident during Operation Enduring Freedom.

February 10, 2014, Army SPC Christopher A. Landis, 27, of Independence in Kenton County, died in Afghanistan fighting in Operation Enduring Freedom.

February 10, 2018, it was a Keeneland graduate superfecta in Tampa Bay Downs’s GIII $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes.  One starter goes onto the Derby.

February 10, 2020, the Kentucky Department of Agriculture approved 1,035 applications to cultivate 42,086 acres and 2.9 million square feet of greenhouse space of industrial hemp.  Growers secured 16,000 acres in 2019.

February 10, 2021, a panel of Kentucky lawmakers advanced a bill to protect utilities’ rights to charge late fees and terminate service to customers who fell behind during the declared state of emergency of the Covid-19 pandemic.