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Rufus Goiter, his wife Lucy and their daughter Gertrude and his brother George Thomas Goiter in Los Angeles, Calif.
Bradley would buy a total of three acres and 13 poles on two lots. Lot 59 consisted of two acres and 62 had one acre and 13 poles.
That same day he sold one acre and one and a half poles of lot number 59 to Wyatt Mitchell for $220. Wyatt Mitchell then sold his interest to William Owen(s), an attorney in Russellville.
By 1826 William Owen(s) had sold the lot to George W. Cutton and a year later George Cutton traded the lot to John and Caldwell Breathitt.
The trade was for a claim on James Edgars in the state of Missouri of $180. The Breathitt brothers would keep the land for a couple of years and rent it out.
John Breathitt, the eldest of the Breathitt siblings, was the eleventh governor of Kentucky and also the first democrat to hold the office. He was born near New London, Henry County and Virginia on September 9, 1786.
His mother and father, William and Elizabeth (Whitsitt) Breathitt had four boys as well as four more girls. His brother George was a private secretary to President Andrew Jackson.
James, another brother, became Commonwealth Attorney for the state of Kentucky. Edward was a prominent doctor in Franklin, Tennessee and Caldwell was one of the leading merchants in Russellville.
John Breathitt came to Logan County with his family when he was fourteen years old in 1800. He received his early education in Virginia and continued on with it upon arriving to Kentucky. When he was a young man he was appointed deputy surveyor in the Illinois territory. He then returned to Kentucky to teach in a county school.
In 1811 he was elected to the first of several terms in the Kentucky House of Representatives. During this time he and his brother Caldwell invested their money in land purchases. They shortly amassed enough wealth to sustain them for a few years.
John used this opportunity to study law with Judge Caleb Wallace. In 1828 he was the democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor. Although his running mate William T. Berry lost the office for governor to Thomas Metcalf, Breathitt defeated his opponent for Lieutenant Governor.
In 1832, Breathitt ran for governor and won. he served until his death on February 21, 1834 caused by tuberculosis. before his death, he and his brother sold lot #59 to Lee Wayne Hendricks.
Lee Wayne Hendricks was the son of Moses Hendricks and Nellie Oversby. He was named after two Revolutionary War Generals; General Mad Anthony Wayne and Jenny “Light-Horse Lee”.
His father was born in Richmond, Virginia and enlisted in George Washington’s army when the Revolutionary War started. He fought until the war ended, and upon hearing of the fine land in the west, gathered his wife, kids and servants and left Virginia.
The trip through the mountains was very dangerous because of robbers and murderers. Despite the harsh realities of the trip, Moses armed himself with his rifle and continued on.
During the trip Moses spotted a well dressed stranger coming up the road behind them. He told the man to stop of he would be killed, but after a brief conversation found the man had already fell victim to robbers and meant no harm to him and his family. They decided it would be best to travel along together for mutual protection and strength in numbers.
Antony Butler was the name of the new companion and he had a long train of wagons and slaves in his possession. They traveled together as far as Nashville, Tennessee where they split up with the Hendricks family going to Franklin, Tennessee. Mr. Butler continued on to Russellville.
Around 1807 Colonel Butler wrote Mr. Hendricks and told him to come to Logan County. He moved to Logan County a few years later living on the Clarksville Road.
In 1817 he moved to Russellville and purchased a lot in the Hubert Sanders Addition. One of his daughters, Susan, married a John Batts, while another, Martha married a William G. Mason after the death of her first husband James Finney from Virginia. Martha and William would late buy part of Lot #59 in Sanders Addition.
In the mean time, their brother Lee Wayne Hendricks became a Methodist preacher, painter and not to mention a highly respected resident of Russellville. He would buy lot #59 on November 21, 1829 from John Caldwell Breathitt. John was Lieutenant Governor when they sold the land to them. The deed states that the Hendricks were to pay $150, $50 in common paper each December 25 from 1829 to 1831. This being the same land purchased from Cutton, which he purchased from Owen(s), and being the same lot #59 on which Hendricks now lives.
This shows that there was a building on the land when Breathitt sold it to Hendricks but we don’t know if the cabin is the same building.
Lee Hendricks owned the land for about 40 years and it was sold in the 1870s to Sam Felts. Felts would end up selling the land back to him about a year laster. Hendricks died about 1879 in Logan County. The land was purchased at a commissioners sale by Thomas A. Frazier, a lawyer and land speculator.
On 1880 Annie Hendricks, one of Lee’s daughters, purchased the land. She owned the land until she moved to Missouri in 1884 then sold it to A.C. and Mary Valandingham of Franklin, Simpson County. They received the title on July 18, 1884 and owned it until they sold it to C. Winn and his wife Emma Courts of February 4, 1886.
The courts owned the land for about 18 months and sold it on September 1, 1887 to George and Elizabeth “Lizzie” Meyers Goiter. They were the first African-American owners of the land. Their family would own the land for 113 years.
George Goiter and Amelia Meyers were married in Logan County on August 7, 1867. George was born about 1838 and Lizzie in 1852 and both were believed to be slaves in Logan County.
George was said to have fought with the United States Colored Infantry during the Civil War. When he returned to Logan County he and Lizzie started a family. They had nine children from 1873-1885; Leucippus, born in 1868, Rhonda, born July 1871, Mary L. born 1873, Hattie A., born September 1875, George T., born approximately 1878, Wilber C., born December 1879, Louis, born July 1885, Bennie, born June 1890 and Smiley on December 1881.
It seems that at one time over ten people lived in that cabin. By 1900 the eldest boy moved to St. Louis, Missouri and started the St. Louis branch of the Goiter family. Rhonda, Mary L. and Hattie Ann stayed in Russellville.
Rhonda married James Cooper in Logan County on October 1, 1894. They had four sons; George B., born 1898, Rufus, born 1898, James in 1901 and John H. in 1905. Rhonda and her family lived a few houses down from the home place.
By 1930 James dies and Rhonda moved back home with her sister Mary, niece Hattie B., nephew Charles Lewis and her son John Cooper who was a teacher in the colored schools of Logan County. He taught at Know City Colored School next door. John was born April 29, 1906 in Russellville. he attended Knob City Colored School graduating in 1924.
After graduation he attended Kentucky State University, graduating with a bachelor of art degree in biology, and received his master’s degree from the University of Chicago. He also enrolled in the doctoral program at Ohio State and later Harvard University.
John Cooper began his basketball career as a teacher and basketball coach at Booker T. Washington School in Ashland, Kentucky.
In 1946 he became a biology teacher at Wilberforce University. After a year he joined the faculty of Ohio Central State University where he served on the coaching staff, was chairman of the biology department and later became Dean of the Basic College. He was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha, and Sigma Boule’s Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity.
He retired from teaching in 1976 and died ten years later on January 20, 1986 in Cedarville, Ohio after 40 years as as educator.
Mary was the second oldest sister and the third child born to George and Lizzie. She worked for many years as a cook and laundress for a number of families in Russellville. After her sister’s death she raised her two children Hattie Bell and Charles Lewis. Mary was the last of the sisters to die, passing on March 13, 1961 in Russellville.
Hattie Ann Goiter was the fourth child and the third daughter born to George and Lizzie Goiter. She was born about 1876 in Logan County and married Slaughter Lewis. He was a nephew of Green Pinckney Russell, a president of Kentucky State from 1912-1923 and again from 1924-1929. Both of their children, Hattie Bell and Charles Lewis, attended Kentucky State and became teachers.
Charles taught in the Colored Schools of Kentucky for a number of years while his sister taught in the Colored Schools of Logan County for over 40 years. many people who attended Russellville School between 1960 and 1980 had her as a teacher. Her students knew to act right in her class for she was known as a stern disciplinarian.
Under her retirement she substituted for a number of years until she became sick and went into a retirement home. Passing away on June 15, 1986. Hattie Bell was the last of the Goiter family to live in the house (cabin). She cared for the home her grandmother bought in 1887 for over 50 years. This was the last family to live in the house.
Once they moved the house fell into disrepair, and by 2009 the City of Russellville issued an order for the house to be torn down. Dumpsters were p ordered and equipment was rented to start the process of tearing down the house.
The siding on the house was popular Lap Siding and we felt they could be used on the houses being restored in the Black Bottom Historic District. We began the removal process on the front of the Johnson Street side and after a few boards were removed dove tails of the end logs were revealed.
I knew then that there was a cabin under the boards. In two days all of the boards were removed and a treasure that was hidden from the public for years was uncovered. This is a piece of local history that dates back to a time and a way of life so many years has forgotten.
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