Kentucky Trivia

Localtonians wishes a Happy Birthday to Governor Joseph Desha, born in 1768.  Governor Desha was the 9^th governor and 8^th man to hold the office.  Desha endured much controversy throughout his adult life.

December 9, 1799, Breckinridge County was created from Hardin County and was named in honor of John Breckinridge, Kentucky statesman and U.S. Senator.  Hardinsburg is the county seat.  Other localities include: Cloverport, Irvington, Addison, Axtel, Bewleyville, Big Spring, (partially) Cannons Point, Clifton Mills, Constantine, Custer, Dyer, Fairfield, Falls of Rough, Fisher, Frymire, Garfield, Glen Dean, Harned, Hinton Hills, Hites Run, Holt, Hudson, Kingswood, Kirk, Locust Hill, Lodiburg, Madrid, Mattingly, McCoy, McDaniels, McQuady, Mook, Mooleyville, Mount Merino, Mystic, Raymond, Roff, Sample, Se Ree, Stephensport, Tar Fork, Union Star, Vanzant, Webster and Westview.  Breckinridge County was the 39^th county created and covers 586 square miles.

December 9, 1806, Hopkins County was created from Henderson County and was named in honor of Samuel Hopkins, Revolutionary War General.  Madisonville is the county seat.  Other cities and towns include: Dawson Springs, Earlington, Hanson, Mortons Gap, Nebo, Nortonville, St. Charles, White Plains, Manitou,  Anton, Ashbyburg, Barnsley, Charleston, Coiltown, Dalton, Dozier Heights, Ilsley, Richland, and  Wicks Well.  Hopkins County was the 48^th county created and covers 554 square miles.

Localtonians wishes a Happy Birthday to Harrodsburg native James Ben Ali Haggin, born in 1822 in Mercer County.  A graduated of Centre, he studied law at his father’s law office, passed the bar, moved to Mississippi, where he married and then moved to New Orleans.  From there he went west, investing in mines.  He was a major investor of San Francisco’s first infrastructure, his mansion was the anchor of Knob Hill and he accumulated almost 500,000 acres in CA, with another 980,000 acres in AZ, NM and Mexico.  He later moved to New York where he purchased large amounts of prime NYC real estate.  Haggin was a member of the Metropolitan Club one of the most elite private social clubs in New York City, formed by J. Pierpont Morgan, William K. Vanderbilt and James Roosevelt.  He started his Kentucky Farm, the 8,900 acre Elmendorf Thoroughbred Farm, at the age of 76.  His visits were always a top Kentucky headline.  At 85 he was said to be the third wealthiest American behind John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie.

December 9, 1839, William C. Allen, a young Kentucky artist, presents Kentuckians with a full-length portrait of Daniel Boone that hanged in the House of Representatives’ hall.

December 9, 1860, Governor Beriah Magoffin, sent a circular letter to other slave-state governors to persuade them not to leave the Union.
The Civil War in Kentucky by Lowell H. Harrison

December 9, 1899, Town Marshal Henry Hartford, Corbin Police Department, and another man were shot and killed by two brothers while investigating a saloon fight.  Both suspects, who were well known feudist from Clay County, were apprehended a short time later.  They said they shot the Marshal to show people how they have fun back in Clay County.  Both were tried and acquitted.

December 9, 1919, Edwin P. Morrow became the 40^th governor of Kentucky and the 4^th Republican to hold office.  He championed the typical Republican causes of his day, namely equal rights for African-Americans and the use of force to quell violence.  Morrow had been schooled in his party’s principles by his father, Thomas Z. Morrow, who was its candidate for governor in 1883.  His uncle, William O. Bradley, was elected governor in 1895.

Localtonians wishes a Happy Birthday to Owensboro native Clifford Oldham Hagan, born in 1931.

December 9, 1947, Earle Clements became the 47^th governor.  For three decades, he was the leader of a faction of the state’s Democratic Party that stood in opposition to a group led by two-time governor and Senator Happy Chandler.

December 9, 1950, Army PVT Jesse C. Meadows from McCreary County died fighting in the Korean War.

Localtonians wishes a Happy Birthday to Lexington native David Akers, born in 1974.

December 9, 1975, Governor Julian Morton Carroll takes his second oath of office, for the governorship, after defeating Bob Gable.  He took his first oath Lt. Gov. after Senator Ford resigned from Frankfort to go to D.C.  Governor Carroll is the 50^th individual to hold the office and the 54^th governor of the Commonwealth.

December 9, 1975, Thelma Stovall became the first woman Lt. Governor of Kentucky.

December 9, 1978, after forcing overtime, the Cats were down 66-60 with 31 seconds to go.  Back-to-back baskets by freshman Dwight Anderson cut the lead to two before he stole the inbounds pass and fed Kyle Macy for the tying jumper.  Macy completed the comeback by adding technical free throw when Kansas called a timeout it didn’t have.  Cats win 67-66 in OT.

December 9, 1980, a 25-year-old former mental patient and devoted Beatles fan was arraigned on second-degree murder in the slaying of John Lennon.

December 9, 1980, Trigg County defeated, by a 2-1 margin, a proposal to legalize packaged liquor sales in the county.  Each of the 11 precincts voted against the measure.  Trigg County, which has been dry since prohibition, voted to remain dry in 1940; it’s only previous wet/dry election.

December 9, 1991, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that Governor W. Wilkinson had the right to follow through on his self-appointment to UK’s board of trustees.  The decision came on Wilkerson’s last day in office.

December 9, 2000, Western Kentucky University beat the Louisville Cardinals 68-65 in Freedom Hall.

December 9, 2003, Ernie Fletcher became the 60^th governor of Kentucky.  When his term expired, he returned to the medical field as founder and CEO of Alton Healthcare.

December 9, 2010, in a cracked voice and through some tears, Senator Jim Bunning bids farewell to Congress.  His departing address, given to a near empty Senate chamber, was filled with references to his baseball and political careers and last warnings about government spending and Federal Reserve policies.

December 9, 2010, twenty people crammed into an old-style Volkswagen Beetle to break a world record.  The Asbury University Emancipation Project, at the Lexington Rescue Mission in Lexington, used a 1964 Beetle to draw attention to human trafficking.

December 9, 2019, Representative Cluster Howard from Jackson pre-filed Bill Request 272, an act relating to the regulation of cannabis.