Todd County, Kentucky History

There seems to have been no settled system in accordance with which the various counties of Kentucky were formed. The absence of a public, systematic form of survey has made it necessary to depend largely upon natural objects for fixed points, and county outlines are irregular and uncouth, enclosing areas of widely differing extent. Thus Todd County, in order of time the sixty-fourth county formed, erected as early as 1819, is a little parallelogram, imperfect in outline, wedged between and formed from the larger and wealthier counties of Logan and Christian. By its origin and location doomed for all time to labor under disadvantages in the race for prominence and distinction, it is likely never to emerge from the rural obscurity in which its early history has placed it. Lincoln County, formed in 1780, included all this portion of south-western Kentucky, and when Logan was formed in 1792, it included the western portion of Lincoln. In 1796 the outlying territory of Logan was divided into Warren and Christian County, and in 1819 Logan and Christian Counties were called upon to contribute to the erection of Todd. The moving cause of Todd’s origin is not far to seek. The early form of concentrated government made the presence of a large number of its citizens at the seat of justice a necessity, and social traditions more potent than law made it a pleasure to a still larger number. The character of the country and the meager internal improvements, made these long pilgrimages a frequent source of irritation and ripened a vigorous and influential demand for ” home government.” It was in response to this demand that the State Legislature by an act approved December 80, 1819, erected Todd County.

 

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