[see Transcript:Descendants of Peter Casey and Nancy Waggener (p 46)]
2. Nicholas Casey, who died February 24, 1863,
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[see Transcript:Nicholas Casey, son of Peter (p 46-47)]
Nicholas, the second son of this couple, who was destined to play an important part in the development of Union County, was born in Harrod's Fort, Ky., in the year 1790. He attended such schools as Harrodburg afforded at that early day, and afterward attended the select school of Judge Marshall, in Mercer County, in company with such men as Letcher, Burrough, Bowen, etc. When his father was living in the vicinity of Uniontown, in 1814, he went to the Saline River, in Illinois, and filled the office of Government Clerk on the "Mineral Reservation."
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[see Transcript:Family of Nicholas Casey and Susan Finnie (p 47-48)]
While there he married Miss Susan G. Finnie, of Morganfield, in 1815. He returned to Union County in 1824 and prepared to go to Caseyville in 1825. He moved his family there in 1826 or 1827, and began to break the wilderness. His object in going there was to establish a woodyard, boat store and ferry. He dug the first ice house between Louisville and New Orleans, in 1828. In those days, a steamboat, in ascending the river, had to frequently stop at "Casey's Landing," as it was then called, and lay in a stock of provisions. They would often lay over an entire day, awaiting the slaughter of meat and arrival of other provisions from the country back of the landing. He was elected to the Legislature and secured the incorporation of Caseyville. He was a Magistrate for over twenty years. His rulings were not always satisfactory to the lawyers, but they were undoubtedly characterized by sound sense and native justice. Once a man was sued in his court for the possession of a cow. The defendant had bought the cow on credit, and when the plaintiff asked for his money he did not pay, and plead the benefit of a law, which allowed a man two cows, when he should be sued for debt. Judge Casey became satisfied in this man's case, that the intention had been to plead the benefit of this law from the first, and he accordingly awarded a verdict in favor of the plaintiff, saying : "It may not be strictly legal, but it is right that the defendant should return this cow for which he has never paid a cent."
