Ellison Leslie had the only Carpenter's Shop in Town

My 3rd great-grandfather, Ellison Leslie, died in Albany, Kentucky on this day in 1917.

Born in 1822, Ellison was a carpenter. In 1892, the Albany Banner newspaper reported that, while there were several carpenters in the county, there was but one carpenter shop in town, and it was owned by Ellison Leslie.

After the Clinton County Courthouse was burned by guerillas during the civil war, the fiscal court paid him $200 to put a roof on the new one, and for making the windows, shutters and door shutters (see artist Jack Amonett's drawing here).

Ellison and his wife, Adaline Smith Leslie, are buried at Albany Cemetery. Ellison was the brother of Kentucky Governor Preston H. Leslie. His granddaughter, Della Craig Means, was the mother of my grandmother, Dimple Speck.

lWhen he died at the age 95, "Uncle Ellison," as he was known, was celebrated as being the oldest male resident in Clinton County.

Whack, the Barber

My great, great-grandfather, John Alex Craig, born in Albany, Kentucky in 1853, was one of the town's barbers. Appropriately, he was given the nickname, "Whack." If I had been the one to give him that nickname I would have included an exclamation point at the end of it...WHACK! to give it more character, not that he needed it probably.

The barbershop Whack operated from was located inside or near Huff Hotel, which was where Campbell New Funeral Home is today. One of his best customers who came in every day for a shave was a man they called Uncle Jim Vincent, and since he was such a good customer, Whack only charged him 5¢. That went on for years until one day, instead of a nickel, Whack kept a dime out of the coin Uncle Jim had handed him.

"Say," said Uncle Jim, "I thought you agreed to only charge me a nickel for a shave!"

"I did," replied Whack, "but when I told you that I didn't expect you to live forever!"

John Alex Craig died in 1927 and is buried at Peolia Cemetery alongside his wife, Analize Leslie Craig, who was the daughter of Ellison Leslie, a carpenter who put the roof on the new Clinton County Courthouse when it was rebuilt after the original one was burned during the civil war. He was also the brother of Kentucky Governor Preston H. Leslie. John Alex and Analyze had four daughters: Nora Talbott, Lela Smith, Della Means and Jennie Davidson.

In the photo made at Clear Fork Baptist Church, John Alex "Whack" Craig is on the far left. Beside him is Jim Pitman, Mariam Owens, Emmy Looper, Tressa Pitman, Jack Looper and Brooks Ferguson. Behind them is Robert Wood, Grant Dowell and Joe Denton. (A Lighthouse in the Wilderness, Morris Gaskins, 1971)

A Man, His Mule and John Barleycorn

Clinton County, Kentucky has had four courthouses in its nearly 200-year history. The first one was built in 1835-36, soon after the county was organized. It was burned by Confederate troops during the Civil War (1864). Construction of the second courthouse began in 1870 and was finished in 1873. The third Clinton County Courthouse was built in 1895. It burned on August 2, 1980, and the current courthouse was built shortly thereafter.

According to some who remembered it, soon after the third court­house was built in 1895, local resident Marion Gibbons, who coincidentally just happened to be the great-grandfather of the focus of my last story, Belknap Byers, Jr., loved his John Barleycorn. One day he consumed a little too much and rode his mule through courthouse from one end to the other. He was promptly arrested and taken before the judge, who fined him $10. Gibbons handed the judge a $20 bill. When the judge said he didn't have change, the man told him to keep the $20, that he enjoyed the ride through the courthouse so much he would just do it again. So, he hopped on his mule and back through the courthouse he went!

The late Eddie Lovelace, who was an eloquent speaker and always in demand at public events, loved to tell this story, and did so at many of his speaking engagements.

"From "Man Rides Mule Through Courthouse" (The New Era newspaper, 1952)