[Published originally in the Glasgow Weekly Times in the 1870s. (an exact date would be nice)]
SKETCH OF JUDGE JOHN HALL. John Hall was the first or nearly the first pioneer that entered the wilderness of Barren County while it was in Warren County. He settled on the north side of Beaver Creek below the Elk hole. His selection of a home was made with a view to the advantages of a fine spring which was on the north side of Beaver Creek, and the good land lying near the Barrens. When he came he brought several of his children. We believe his wife was dead. Not many years after his settlement he built on the bank of the creek a large, fine, hewn log house, with near stone chimneys. It was commodious, and for years remarkable for its beautiful
finish. It was destroyed by fire, years after his death, after it had passed into the hands of strangers. He entered and took up, besides his home place, one thousand acres of land two or three miles east of his house. It was a rich tract of land known and called Hall's rich grove, which, together with his home, he owned at his death. He was a Welshman, and we suppose and believe his wife was also from Wales, Great Britain.
He was one of the Judges of the Quarter Session Court of this County for ten or twelve years, showing by his good sense and strict integrity that he was worthy of his office. He resigned it and his son, Michael W. Hall, succeeded him and discharged the duties of Judge with approval of the presiding Judge and his associate Judge until the office was abolished. Father and son were strong minded, sensible and honest men, deservedly esteemed and respected.
Judge John Hall was a remarkable man in many respects. He was always engaged in some profitable employment, he knew not idleness. He had a room in his house no person but himself had entered for years. It was known he had in that room a bench and mechanical tools; he was often heard at work, and it was supposed by his family he had made and had his coffin in the room ready to receive him at his death, but it was a mistake, he had merely reserved the room for the sake of privacy. Another instance of his eccentricity, he had a daughter who died single [and was] placed in a coffin and put upon a ledge of rocks in a cave, where she
remained for years without interment, until his death.
His son, Michael W. Hall, was a remarkable, discreet and temperate man. He was firm as a rock. He represented this county several years in the Kentucky Legislature. He was a member of the
Baptist church, and clerk of its meetings and of the Green River Associations.
James Hall, another son, was a merchant, a farmer, Captain of a volunteer company raised to assist Gen. Harrison in the Wabash county, after the battle of Tippecanoe, and a member of the Kentucky Legislature. He and his brother, Michael W. Hall, married sisters, daughters of the
Rev. Robert Stockton.
Another brother, Edmund, was Lieut. of his brother's company above stated, a commissioned officer of the U. S. Army. He married Nancy Burnam of Warren County, a beautiful and estimable lady.
John C., another brother, was a merchant, farmer, and constable. He married first, Miss Wilson; secondly, Elizabeth Garnett, a daughter of Judge John Garnett.
A daughter of John Hall, Jane, married John Dodd. Another, Fanny, married Wm. D. Harlow.
