Clovercroft
Kate Matthews photo of Clovercroft. From the Fox Film Movie Scrapbook, Oldham County Historical Society.
The Rhorer Years
Milton M. Rhorer, one of the Pewee Valley's original trustees, was the first owner of Clovercroft, described in 1871 as an Italianate villa. From the San Francisco Chronicle, December 31. 1896.
Clovercroft, the home where character Katherine Marks -- in real life Kate Matthews -- worked her photographic magic in the Little Colonel stories, was once located at the corner of Lagrange Road/146 and Ash Avenue next door to the Kentucky College for Young Ladies. The 14-room, frame, Italianate-style house was built ca. 1866 by Milton M. Rhorer (1830-1904), brother of Pewee Valley land speculator and banker Jonas H. Rhorer, and one of the seven original trustees of Pewee Valley when it was incorporated as a city in 1870. Both Rhorers were mentioned in James A. Miller's notebook as early citizens of Pewee Valley, following on the heels of the Millers, the Butlers, the Haldemans, the Smiths with Edwin Bryant, and the Walkers:
... Then came Jonas H. Rhorer who bought the Hugh Milkins tract of 120 acres, & his brother Milton Rhorer who built the house near the Station.
Milton had married Virginia Young in East Feliciana, Louisiana on March 27, 1855, and they had four children living with them at Clovercroft, according to the 1870 census:
- Kate, 14
- Florence, 13
- Yancey, 12
- Sydney J, 8
Rhorer was in the cement business with a number of Louisville's well-known and prosperous businessmen. He got his start in the industry with John Hulme, who founded the company in Shippingport when the Louisville & Portland Canal was under construction. By 1845, Hulme was selling cement beyond the Louisville area. Twenty-one years later, Milton Rhorer, James W. Henning, Jonas Rhorer, James Guthrie, Joshua Speed and Theodore Scowden purchased Hulme's company and in 1866 incorporated it as the Louisville Cement and Water Power Company. (From Acts Passed at the ... Session of the General Assembly for the Commonwealth of Kentucky J. Bradford, printer to the Commonwealth, 1866)
CHAPTER 113.
AN ACT, entitled “An act to incorporate the Louisville Cement and Water Power Company."
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky :
§1. That James W. Henning, Jonas H. Rhorer, James Guthrie, Joshua F. Speed, Milton M. Rhorer, and Theodore R. Scowden, be, and they are hereby, created a corporation-and body-politic, by the name and title of the “Louisville Cement and Water Power Company," for the purpose of manufacturing and selling hydraulic cement, cement pipes, lime barrels, shingles. and building materials; and of developing, leasing, and selling water power; and they, with their associates and successors, shall continue and have perpetual succession, and by that name are hereby made as capable in law as natural persons to contract and be contracted with, sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, answer and be answered, in all courts of law and equity in this Commonwealth and elsewhere; to use a common seal, and alter the same at pleasure, and to purchase and hold the Louisville cement works, with all the lands, buildings, and water power appurtenant thereto, and such other real estate as shall be necessary in the prosecution of their business.
§ 2. The capital stock of said corporation shall be one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, in shares of one thousand dollars each, and the company shall have power to increase the same to six hundred thousand dollars, to cover the cost and value of the investment.
§ 3. There shall be an election at least once in every two years. at such time and place as may be fixed by the by-laws, of a board of five directors, who shall be stockholders, and shall continue in office until their successors are chosen; and at such elections each share of stock shall entitle the holder to one vote. The board shall select one of their number to be president. and may fill any vacancies that may occur between regular elections.
§ 4. The stock of the company shall be personal estate, and only transferable by writing on the books of the company, as may be prescribed by the by-laws.
§ 5. The corporation shall be assessed, for State and city taxes, on its property; and its stock in the hands of'the holders shall not be liable to taxation for the same purposes. Approved January 13, 1866.
Louisville Cement & Water Power Company Advertisments: Source of the Speed Family Fortune
In 1869, the firm was renamed the Louisville Cement Company, the company that would eventually form the foundation for the Speed family fortune. "The Encyclopedia of Louisville," edited by James Klebner (University of Kentucky Press, 2001), page 538 tells the tale:
...In 1871 the firm opened a new plant at Petersburg in Clark County, Indiana. Located adjacent to the Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapolis Railroad, the plant grew quickly, attracting new residents in the process. By 1900, it was the largest producer of natural cement in the world, and Petersburg has been renamed Speed in honor of J.B. Speed, then the firm's president and chief stockholder... the discovery of nearby shale deposits, which provided essential minerals for (Portland cement), led to construction of a new Portland mill in 1905. Soon the Louisville Cement Co. was a leading producer of Portland Cement... In October 1984 Coplay Cement Co., a Pennsylvania firm, purchased it for about $112.2 million...
Unfortunately for Rhorer and his heirs, he sold his Louisville assets and moved to California, where he ended his career as Deputy Commissioner of Insurance. The upside was he left town long before his brother Jonas's embezzlement from the Savings Bank of Louisville -- where Milton had once been a director -- was discovered, plunging the institution into bankruptcy.
...In 1871 the firm opened a new plant at Petersburg in Clark County, Indiana. Located adjacent to the Jeffersonville, Madison & Indianapolis Railroad, the plant grew quickly, attracting new residents in the process. By 1900, it was the largest producer of natural cement in the world, and Petersburg has been renamed Speed in honor of J.B. Speed, then the firm's president and chief stockholder... the discovery of nearby shale deposits, which provided essential minerals for (Portland cement), led to construction of a new Portland mill in 1905. Soon the Louisville Cement Co. was a leading producer of Portland Cement... In October 1984 Coplay Cement Co., a Pennsylvania firm, purchased it for about $112.2 million...
Unfortunately for Rhorer and his heirs, he sold his Louisville assets and moved to California, where he ended his career as Deputy Commissioner of Insurance. The upside was he left town long before his brother Jonas's embezzlement from the Savings Bank of Louisville -- where Milton had once been a director -- was discovered, plunging the institution into bankruptcy.
Belknap Hardware & Manufacturing
The Allen Years
According to the Beers and Lanagan map of Pewee Valley, by 1879, Clovercroft was owned by Major C. J. F. Allen. Charles James Fox Allen was a native of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and attended Yale College, where he was took honors in Latin and joined the Psi Upsilon fraternity. He graduated from Yale in 1855 and served as commencement orator at his graduation. From 1855 to 1859, he studied law in Boston, where his parents, Charles J. F. Allen and Mary Willis, resided. In 1859, he was admitted to the St. Louis bar and practiced law in Missouri until 1862, when he joined the Union Army. During the Civil War, he served as a paymaster and earned the rank of major.
After the war ended, on June 6, 1865, he married Louisville native Caroline “Carrie” Richardson Belknap, and went to work for his father-in-law, William Burke Belknap, at the hardware company that would eventually become known as Belknap Hardware & Manufacturing. Started in 1840 on the banks of the Ohio River as a small iron works producing nails, spikes and horse shoes, Belknap grew to a 37-building complex with 37 acres of floor space under roof. By 1887, their company catalog offered 923 pages of merchandise. Major Allen worked at Belknap for years and by the time his brother-in-law, William R. Belknap, took the reins, was a vice president.
He and his wife, Caroline, had at least five children:
A July 9, 1882 Courier-Journal story called "Pewee Valley: Social Notes from Louisville's Summer Home" noted that:
...The lawn tennis parties at Maj. Allen's are another source of great pleasure that Pewee Valley can boast of. There are no open air entertainments given in the city that compare to them in exhilarating and healthful exercise. Mr. Morris B. Belknap, I understand, tried to introduce the Pewee lawn tennis in the city, but it wouldn't work, owing principally to there not being sufficient lawn for the tennis....
After the war ended, on June 6, 1865, he married Louisville native Caroline “Carrie” Richardson Belknap, and went to work for his father-in-law, William Burke Belknap, at the hardware company that would eventually become known as Belknap Hardware & Manufacturing. Started in 1840 on the banks of the Ohio River as a small iron works producing nails, spikes and horse shoes, Belknap grew to a 37-building complex with 37 acres of floor space under roof. By 1887, their company catalog offered 923 pages of merchandise. Major Allen worked at Belknap for years and by the time his brother-in-law, William R. Belknap, took the reins, was a vice president.
He and his wife, Caroline, had at least five children:
- William Belknap Allen (b. December 10, 1867)
- Lafon Allen (August 2, 1871-1952), who became a lawyer, served as a circuit court judge from 1922-34; was a delegate to the Republican National Convention from Kentucky in 1936; and was one of the original supporters of the Louisville Collegiate School.
- Ethel Allen (b. January 12, 1873)
- Charles Willis Allen (1877-1963?). He married Ellen Lindsay of Massachusetts in 1902 and worked for Belknap most of his life, retiring from there as General Manager.
- Arthur D. Allen (1879-1949), who also worked at Belknap, left the family business to become secretary-controller of the Fidelity Trust Company, and eventually joined his father-in-law’s Louisville company, C.C. Mengel & Brothers, the country’s largest manufacturer of wooden boxes.
A July 9, 1882 Courier-Journal story called "Pewee Valley: Social Notes from Louisville's Summer Home" noted that:
...The lawn tennis parties at Maj. Allen's are another source of great pleasure that Pewee Valley can boast of. There are no open air entertainments given in the city that compare to them in exhilarating and healthful exercise. Mr. Morris B. Belknap, I understand, tried to introduce the Pewee lawn tennis in the city, but it wouldn't work, owing principally to there not being sufficient lawn for the tennis....
Allenwood, also known as Eleven Hearths, on the bluffs above the Ohio River in Glenview. Photo from the National Register of Historic Places Nomination for Country Estates of River Road, 1999.
The Allens may have decided to part with their Pewee Valley summer home after purchasing a cotton plantation near Tallahasee, Florida in 1884. The 1,400-acre plantation was formerly owned by William D. Bloxham, who served two, non-consecutive terms as Governor of Florida, first from 1881 to 1885 and second from 1897 to 1901. The Allens paid $8,241 for the property, which had been in the Bloxham family since 1825.
Carrie Allen died in 1897 and is buried in Cave Hill Cemetery. After her death, her husband built a home on a 31-acre tract in Glenview. In 1900, he hired popular Louisville architect John Bacon Hutchings to design a “man’s house” for him and his sons. The result was Allenwood, later known as Eleven Hearths, an asymmetrical Shingle Style cottage with a limestone first story that remains in the Allen family today. Major Allen died in 1911 and is buried beside his wife.
Carrie Allen died in 1897 and is buried in Cave Hill Cemetery. After her death, her husband built a home on a 31-acre tract in Glenview. In 1900, he hired popular Louisville architect John Bacon Hutchings to design a “man’s house” for him and his sons. The result was Allenwood, later known as Eleven Hearths, an asymmetrical Shingle Style cottage with a limestone first story that remains in the Allen family today. Major Allen died in 1911 and is buried beside his wife.
Clovercroft's gate in summer. Photo by Kate Matthews. From "Pewee Valley: Land of the Little Colonel" published in 1974 by Katie S. Smith
The Matthews Years (1880s-1950s)
Clovercroft, from "Pewee Valley: Land of the Little Colonel" published in 1974 by Katie S. Smith.
The walkway to Clovercroft, from "Beautiful Pewee Valley" published in 1909 by George R. Washburne and Powhatan Wooldridge
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It was during the 1880s that the Matthews family moved to Clovercroft. Clovercroft's grounds during their residence were described in an article entitled "Pewee Valley Homes; Ideal Resting Places Owned by Fortunate Louisville People--Glimpses of Favored Spots" that ran in the August 11, 1895 Courier-Journal:
The residence of Mr. Matthews is greatly admired. The grounds are at the intersection of the railroad and Ash avenue, with its long line of shade trees...The grounds of Mr. Matthews' place are terraced into two parts with steps leading down into the lower. Around the upper crown are ornamental statues, and urns of growing flowers. Many vines and trees also add to the view and steal away the sunlight in many portions of the yard... The Matthews family haled from Indiana, where Lucien Gustavus Matthews (August 8, 1822-April 7, 1896) had worked as a journalist for many years. He married his wife, Charlotta Ann Clark (September 28, 1852-May 17, 1911), on December 2, 1852, in Bedford, Indiana and they settled in New Albany, where Lucien worked with his brother, Robert J. L. Matthews, at the New Albany Ledger. A brief history of the paper was published in “Industries of Louisville and New Albany” in 1896: In 1847, Messrs. Theodore Bosworth and John B. Norman commenced the publication of the New Albany Tri-Weekly Democrat, and at the close of that year Mr. Norman purchased the interest of Mr. Bosworth and established the New Albany Daily Democrat, continuing its publication until September, 1849, when he disposed of on-half interest in the office to Hon. Phineas M. Kent. Messrs. Norman & Kent changed the name of the paper to the New Albany Daily Ledger, and also established the Weekly Ledger. Mr. Kent, in 1851, disposed of his interest to Mr. Norman, who continued the Ledger as a sole proprietor until 1856, when a sold a one-third interest to James M. Morrison and another third to Lucien G. Matthews. The firm of Norman, Morrison & Matthews continued |
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the Ledger until December 1, 1855, when Mr. Norman retired and purchased one-half interest in the Indianapolis Sentinel, but in the spring of 1856 retired from the Sentinel and resumed his former interest in the Ledger. Mr. Morrison died in January, 1862, and Norman and Matthews purchased his interest and continued the publication of the paper until Mr. Norman’s death on the 30th of October, 1869, Mr. Matthews purchasing his interest and continuing the Daily and Weekly Ledger until 1872, when he sold the office to Messrs. Merrill & Motor…..
Lucien’s sale of his interest in the Ledger was due to the fact that he’d taken a one-third interest in the Indiana Sentinel in Indianapolis, according to the May 20, 1872 edition of the Memphis Appeal, which noted: The Sentinel has changed hands, and the new proprietors make their address to the public tomorrow morning. The articles of association, filed with the Secretary of State, are signed by John Fishback, Lucien G. Matthews and Thomas F. Ryan. The general management of the paper will be under the direction of Mr. Fishback, a highly respected citizen, and Mr. Matthews, who was for 20 years connected with the New Albany Ledger…. He had also started a Louisville version of the Ledger, which appears to have aroused the ire of a powerful competitor, according to this report, carried in the Knoxville Daily Chronicle on September 2, 1871: The Louisville Courier-Journal related the following feat of newspaper enterprise, as afforded by that city: Mr. Lucien G. Matthews is President of the Louisville Ledger Company. He is also publisher and proprietor of the New Albany Ledger. His name stands at the head of both papers. The New Albany paper is as sound a new departure paper as can be found in all the North or West. The Louisville Ledger is as zealous a Bourbon oracle as Mr. Toembs or Mr. Stephens could desire. Thus Mr. Matthews, like the Colossus of Rhodes, straddles both sides of the Ohio river and carries water on both shoulders, scattering light and gladness to the National Democracy of Indiana according the most advanced Vallandigham idea (editor’s note: Clement Laird Vallandigham was an Ohio politician, and leader of the Copperhead faction of anti-war Democrats during the Civil War), while he dispenses darkness to the Bourbons of Kentucky, and pours out defamation on the Courier-Journal, according to the gospel of Saint Isaac Caldwell. The Haldemans, who owned the Courier-Journal at that time, were well known for quashing their competition. The paper came into existence in 1867 through the merger of Walter N. Haldeman’s morning Courier with two competitors: the Louisville Journal and the Daily Democrat. Whether Lucien was hounded out by the Haldemans or wanted the challenge of turning the Indiana Sentinel around is unknown. Its readership and circulation had been in the doldrums since the Civil War. Exposing the powerful and privileged appears to have been Lucien’s and Robert’s stock in trade. The article in the Memphis Appeal noted that although the Sentinel was to be a Democrat paper, the new management intended to, “…independently discuss public and party measures, and be free to criticize the acts of party leaders and public officials.” True to their word, in 1875, the proprietors were charged with contempt after running negative press about Judge Allen W. Prather in Bartholomew County. The proceedings received front page coverage in the December 8 issue of the Indiana Sentinel, including this vivid and disparaging description of what occurred when they presented themselves at the courthouse: CONSTRUCTIVE CONTEMPT, THE BARTHOLOMEW BUSINESS. PRATHER AS A PURGER. Forty DoIIars Worth of Contempt for a Court that Needs Purging. THE SENTINEL'S CONTEMPT CASE. A PEN PICTURE OF PRATHER -- WHO WOULDN'T HAVE CONTEMPT FOR SUCH AS HE? The most memorable day in the history of Bartholomew county was Friday, December 3d, A. D. 1875. Early on that eventful morning the citizens of Columbus Jumped from their beds, broke the Ice in their domestic pitchers, bolted their breakfasts and then mounted their housetops to look out for the Indianapolis train. The idea had become general that some paper in Indianapolis had smutched the purity of Allen S W. Prather’s judicial ermine: that the court had thereupon realized that it might under some circumstances be an object of contempt, and acting upon that conviction, had summoned the managers of the Indianapolis Sentinel to appear and show |
Lucien G. Matthews
Portrait of Lucien Matthews from the University of Louisville Photographic Archives Kate Matthews Collection.
Lucien Matthews, from the University of Louisville Photographic Archives Kate Matthews Collection.
Charlotta Matthews
Charlotta Matthews from a photograph taken by her daughter Kate and printed on a post card. Courtesy Suzanne Schimpeler.
1910 portrait of Charlotta Matthews. From the University of Louisville Photographic Archives, Kate Matthews Collection.
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cause why they should not mount the stool of repentance for contemptuous deeds done in the flesh. The delegation arrived within the limits of Prather’s jurisdiction promptly at 9:15, and filed to the Court house, and there was lamentation and much crape in the ranks. The magnitude of the contempt was felt to be so immense that the parties summoned just thought they would remain at home and send down affidavits and replies to the blind and outraged goddess who rules the scales. The frigidity, as it were, of this proceeding rather checked, so to speak, public enthusiasm, and there was a feeling of sadness akin to pain in the breasts of the awe-stricken multitude at the court house. The Funeral procession, composed of two lawyers and a sixth of a dozen reporters, passed a few moments in silent meditation, commending their lives and property to Providence, and then passed mournfully into the temple of justice. The great contempted had previously carried himself, including his outraged dignity, into the room and his legal anatomy was arranged in negligee fashion on a plain chair in front of the bench. This was something of a shock. To find a man who was capable of being so grievously offended actually sitting on a level with the common herd rather smashed the exalted ideal. But the fleshy substance left for the fancy to dissect made some amends for the disappointment.
LORD CHANCELLOR PRATHER
partially opened one eye on the proxies sent by the offenders, then shut it and waited till the clock struck 10, then he arose from his lowly station, and on mounting the bench brought his physiognomy into bold relief. His legal spirit is now imprisoned in a fleshly tenement which weighs over two hundred pounds. A chance observer would conclude that some proprietor of a butcher shop had stolen behind the bench, so repulsive and stupid is the man. There are some stations in life, not too intellectual in their surroundings, which the present "lawyer" might adorn; but his heavy animal features (which nature has had the goodness to conceal partially by a growth of whiskers), his big, coarse, flabby lips; his dull, sleepy eyes, which be rolls up languidly ;like a walrus in the intervals of his torpor, combined with the crooked course of his legal conceptions, make a compound, physical and mental, which might easily be the object of contempt. His appearance on the bench of one of the most important courts in this state was a painful picture for the eye. Though attempting to buckle on dignity, his manners indicated that a sense of thinly disguised shame had tamed him into a feeling of wholesome respect for his critics, and this, in the absence of dignity, served partially to conceal the revenge he wanted to unbridle, but for fear it might like the boomerang, come back upon himself. His struggle after some legal brilliant that would give the audience a faint notion at least that he had a mind was extremely painful and it may be added, fruitless. Whatever he said told either of the weakness of an imbecile or the trickery of cross road quack. His elaborate bowl of legal mush about the dignity of his bench is given in full below, and will be found to conduce to his rapidly descending reputation. By the way, when the chancellor had heard the arguments made by Mr. Howe, and said he would take several hours to incubate on a decision, a very honored attorney of the Bartholomew bar, the Hon. Ralph Hill, begged the court not to dissolve into thin air till he could present a petition. He then proceed to drop
THE LAST STRAW
on the chancellor's judicial back he said. that by agreement of all the lawyers of the Columbus bar interested in case set for this term, both civil and criminal, he would request the court to file the proper records for their continuance till such time as Judge Hester could hear them. He alleged that Judge Hester had already made up the issues for most of them and that all parties concerned would be better satisfied to have the same judge continue through with the case. Then the chancellor rolled up his walrus eye, dropped it, and remarked, with stoical resignation, that the clerk might issue such a general order. Mr. Hill said they preferred a special record in each case. The chancellor opened his left orb again and observed that the petition would be honored as they wished. The unanimity of the bar in this matter will bear but one construction, and that the reader can draw at his leisure. On Tuesday next, after several cases have been disposed of, Columbus will quietly unbuckle the chancellor ermine and let it trail on the congenial ground, and Allen W. Prather will retire again to that obscurity from which he was called without the slightest provocation.
LORD CHANCELLOR PRATHER
partially opened one eye on the proxies sent by the offenders, then shut it and waited till the clock struck 10, then he arose from his lowly station, and on mounting the bench brought his physiognomy into bold relief. His legal spirit is now imprisoned in a fleshly tenement which weighs over two hundred pounds. A chance observer would conclude that some proprietor of a butcher shop had stolen behind the bench, so repulsive and stupid is the man. There are some stations in life, not too intellectual in their surroundings, which the present "lawyer" might adorn; but his heavy animal features (which nature has had the goodness to conceal partially by a growth of whiskers), his big, coarse, flabby lips; his dull, sleepy eyes, which be rolls up languidly ;like a walrus in the intervals of his torpor, combined with the crooked course of his legal conceptions, make a compound, physical and mental, which might easily be the object of contempt. His appearance on the bench of one of the most important courts in this state was a painful picture for the eye. Though attempting to buckle on dignity, his manners indicated that a sense of thinly disguised shame had tamed him into a feeling of wholesome respect for his critics, and this, in the absence of dignity, served partially to conceal the revenge he wanted to unbridle, but for fear it might like the boomerang, come back upon himself. His struggle after some legal brilliant that would give the audience a faint notion at least that he had a mind was extremely painful and it may be added, fruitless. Whatever he said told either of the weakness of an imbecile or the trickery of cross road quack. His elaborate bowl of legal mush about the dignity of his bench is given in full below, and will be found to conduce to his rapidly descending reputation. By the way, when the chancellor had heard the arguments made by Mr. Howe, and said he would take several hours to incubate on a decision, a very honored attorney of the Bartholomew bar, the Hon. Ralph Hill, begged the court not to dissolve into thin air till he could present a petition. He then proceed to drop
THE LAST STRAW
on the chancellor's judicial back he said. that by agreement of all the lawyers of the Columbus bar interested in case set for this term, both civil and criminal, he would request the court to file the proper records for their continuance till such time as Judge Hester could hear them. He alleged that Judge Hester had already made up the issues for most of them and that all parties concerned would be better satisfied to have the same judge continue through with the case. Then the chancellor rolled up his walrus eye, dropped it, and remarked, with stoical resignation, that the clerk might issue such a general order. Mr. Hill said they preferred a special record in each case. The chancellor opened his left orb again and observed that the petition would be honored as they wished. The unanimity of the bar in this matter will bear but one construction, and that the reader can draw at his leisure. On Tuesday next, after several cases have been disposed of, Columbus will quietly unbuckle the chancellor ermine and let it trail on the congenial ground, and Allen W. Prather will retire again to that obscurity from which he was called without the slightest provocation.
Lucien was never able to turn the Indiana Sentinel around. By 1880, he was out of newspaper publishing entirely and had moved into the railroad industry. The Caron Directory for that year listed him as an agent of the Ohio Falls Car Company in Jeffersonville, where his son, William, also worked as a mechanic. The company built electric street cars and passenger cars for narrow gauge railroads. In 1882, Lucien left Ohio Falls to take a position as a contracting agent of the Chicago-based Pullman’s Palace Car Company. He ended his business career as manager of a mine in Duluth, Minn.
The Matthews Family
Lucien and Charlotta had nine children:
- Lillian Matthews Fletcher
- Gustuvus C. "Gus" Matthews (?-January 15, 1906), who followed in his father’s footsteps and became a journalist. Like his father, he died of heart disease. An obituary from the January 17, 1906 Nashville Tennessean provided this overview of his career: "...He was a Kentuckian and served his apprenticeship on the Louisville Courier-Journal. Later, he was associated with Edgar L. Wakeman in the publication of the Current of Chicago, a weekly magazine whose brilliant life was all too brief. He was for a time editor of the Memphis Appeal, and later was the associate of E. W. Carmack, who was editor of the Commercial Appeal. The last dozen years of his life were spent in Macon, Georgia, on the editorial staff of the Macon Telegraph...He was president of the Tennessee Press Association in 1890..."
- William John Matthews (1856-1927), who became proprietor of The Matthews hotel on Sanibel Island with his wife, Harriet Wood Matthews.
- Michael M. Matthews (1857-October 15, 1921), who worked as a general agent for the Oliver Chilled Plow Works from 1882 until his death in 1921. He was placed in charge of the Pacific coast territory in 1907 and lived in San Francisco. He had two sons and a daughter.
- Charlotta Matthews Osborne (1862-1935), who, after she was widowed, lived in Pewee Valley at Twigmore with her niece, Lillian Fletcher, until her death in 1935.
- Florence Matthews (1865-1946)
- Jesse Matthews Joy (1868-1950)
- Kate Matthews (1870-1956)
- Edward Hubbert Matthews (1873-1932), who stayed in Pewee Valley and was Assistant Secretary and Treasurer of the U.S. Trust Company in Louisville.
By the time they purchased Clovercroft, their oldest children were grown and gone. Lucien's health for many of his years in Pewee Valley was fragile. On January 30, 1889, the Indianapolis Sentinel carried a short notice that, “Lucien G. Matthews, at one time one of the proprietors of THE INDIANAPOLIS SENTINEL, is reported dangerously ill at his home near Louisville.”
The Matthews Inn on Sanibel Island
The year before he died, his son, William, and William’s wife, Harriet, moved to Sanibel Island with their four children. Both Lucien and his youngest son, Ed, accompanied them on the long trek to Florida, according to this excerpt from “Shorebirds & Seagrapes: The Island Inn, Sanibel, 1895-1995” by Sharon M. Doremus (J.N. Townsend Publishing, Exeter, New Hampshire; 1995):
Fiddler crabs swarmed on the beach. Harriet Matthews clung to the bayside dock. Laughing, Will Matthews helped his reluctant wife inch onto the island. “It was,” she remembered years later, “a fairyland of graceful palm trees and lush citrus trees heavy with yellow fruit.” Such was Harriet’s arrival on Sanibel Island in 1895. Little did she realize she would settle here permanently and start a small hotel, now Island Inn, one hundred years old and thriving.
Who were Harriet and William Matthews, and how did they become one of Sanibel’s leading pioneer families? Natives of Kentucky, both were born in 1856. Harriet Wood, daughter of a Confederate soldier who died in action, grew up in Pewee Valley, outside of Louisville. She married William John Matthews, whose father was an executive with the Pullman Company in Chicago. William, one of nine children, lived in nearby New Albany, graduated from Kentucky Military Institute, and worked as an auditor for the Queen Crescent branch of the Southern Railroad. Eight children were born to the couple, four of whom survived early infancy.
Jobs were scarce during Reconstruction in post-Civil War Kentucky. Supporting a large family was a struggle. Will and Harriet dreamed of an easier life when they heard about Sanibel Island from the Reverend George O. Barnes, a spellbinding evangelist and a former Kentucky native. At revival meetings he rhapsodized about this “paradise on earth”…
…Will and Harriet were excited. They saw a chance for a better living…Success, they believed, was virtually assured. They rationalized that Will’s aging father, Lucien Matthews, would benefit from the balmy climate…
Will went ahead to scout, soon followed by an intrepid Harriet, their four children, ages five months to nine years, her sick father-in-law, and Will’s seventeen-year-old brother, Edward.
Fiddler crabs swarmed on the beach. Harriet Matthews clung to the bayside dock. Laughing, Will Matthews helped his reluctant wife inch onto the island. “It was,” she remembered years later, “a fairyland of graceful palm trees and lush citrus trees heavy with yellow fruit.” Such was Harriet’s arrival on Sanibel Island in 1895. Little did she realize she would settle here permanently and start a small hotel, now Island Inn, one hundred years old and thriving.
Who were Harriet and William Matthews, and how did they become one of Sanibel’s leading pioneer families? Natives of Kentucky, both were born in 1856. Harriet Wood, daughter of a Confederate soldier who died in action, grew up in Pewee Valley, outside of Louisville. She married William John Matthews, whose father was an executive with the Pullman Company in Chicago. William, one of nine children, lived in nearby New Albany, graduated from Kentucky Military Institute, and worked as an auditor for the Queen Crescent branch of the Southern Railroad. Eight children were born to the couple, four of whom survived early infancy.
Jobs were scarce during Reconstruction in post-Civil War Kentucky. Supporting a large family was a struggle. Will and Harriet dreamed of an easier life when they heard about Sanibel Island from the Reverend George O. Barnes, a spellbinding evangelist and a former Kentucky native. At revival meetings he rhapsodized about this “paradise on earth”…
…Will and Harriet were excited. They saw a chance for a better living…Success, they believed, was virtually assured. They rationalized that Will’s aging father, Lucien Matthews, would benefit from the balmy climate…
Will went ahead to scout, soon followed by an intrepid Harriet, their four children, ages five months to nine years, her sick father-in-law, and Will’s seventeen-year-old brother, Edward.
Lucien and Ed only stayed a short time before returning to Kentucky. Lucien died within a few months, on April 7, 1896. Charlotta passed away 15 years later, on May 17, 1911. Both are buried at the Matthews family plot in Pewee Valley Cemetery. Family records show that Charlotta purchased the plot on May 11, 1896 for $39.00. The deed was signed by H.M. Woodruff and witnessed by Stephen Schuler.
Lucien's obituary ran in the August 8, 1896 Courier-Journal:
L.G. MATTHEWS DEAD
Passes Away at His Pewee Valley Home
Active Career as Newspaper and Business Man.
SEVENTY-TWO YEARS OF AGE
A journalist, a businessman and a gentleman of the "old school," passed away early yesterday morning at Pewee Valley when death claimed Mr. Lucien G. Matthews. The deceased was at one time one of the best known figures in the newspaper business in southern Indiana and Kentucky, and was one of the originators of the Western Associated Press.
Lucien's obituary ran in the August 8, 1896 Courier-Journal:
L.G. MATTHEWS DEAD
Passes Away at His Pewee Valley Home
Active Career as Newspaper and Business Man.
SEVENTY-TWO YEARS OF AGE
A journalist, a businessman and a gentleman of the "old school," passed away early yesterday morning at Pewee Valley when death claimed Mr. Lucien G. Matthews. The deceased was at one time one of the best known figures in the newspaper business in southern Indiana and Kentucky, and was one of the originators of the Western Associated Press.
Fliss Guttenberger's photo on a valentine. Courtesy Suzanne Schimpeler.
Elizabeth Matthews Feagen or "Aunt Bet" from "Mrs. Annie Fellows Johnston's Real People" published in 1910 by Mrs. Henry Ware Lawton.
Hand-tinted Kate Matthews photo of Jesse Matthews Joy petting a sheep on the grounds of Clovercroft. Courtesy of Louise Herdt "Sis" Marker.
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Last September Mr. Matthews suffered a severe attack of angina pectoris, and since that time had never been in good health. Shortly after the attack, he seemed to rally, and for a time his condition changed slightly for the better, but gradually he succumbed to the ravages of the disease until death put an end to his suffering. Mr. Matthews was a man of wide and varied experience in all fields of labor, and was known as a man of great executive and administrative ability.
His first venture in the newspaper business was in 1844, when he went to New Albany and became part owner of the New Albany Ledger, of which John B. Norman had been, heretofore, sole proprietor. Under their joint management the Ledger became one of the most influential Democratic afternoon papers in Southern Indiana. About 1870, Mr. Norman died and Mr. Matthews was left in full control of the paper. Soon after, he sold out to Josiah Gwin and Jonathan Peters, which firm changed the name of the paper to that of the Ledger-Standard. Immediately after the sale of the New Albany paper, Mr. Matthews, emboldened by his former successes, came to this city and established the Louisville Ledger, a Democratic morning daily. This venture, however, was not successful and after a meteoric career of only a year and a half the paper ceased to appear. In this venture Mr. Matthews lost a good deal of money. In 1872 he removed to Jeffersonville and became a contracting agent for the Ohio Falls Car Company, which position he held for several years. Leaving the car company, he became associated with the Pullman Palace Car Company, and remained with them for about five years, when he became interested in a large iron mine in Duluth, Minn., and removed there. Shortly after his arrival he was made manager of the iron works, and he remained manager of the iron works until last summer, when ill health caused him to resign and return to Kentucky. He at once went to his old house at Pewee Valley, and shortly afterward was stricken by the attack that proved fatal. He leaves one son, Gus Matthews, a well-known journalist, who was formerly City Editor of the Courier-Journal and who is now the Washington correspondent of the Memphis Commercial Appeal. (Editor's note: In their gloating over driving Lucien Matthews out of the newspaper business in Louisville, the Courier-Journal inaccurately stated that Gus Matthews was Lucien's only son and neglected to list his other survivors. In addition, their history of his journalism career leaves a lot to be desired.) Lucien’s will, handwritten in New York in 1891, left his entire estate to Charlotta, and he appointed his son, Michael M. Matthews of South Bend, Indiana, and son-in-law Charles B. Fletcher of Indianapolis, as his executors. Charlotta left her entire estate to her youngest child, Ed, “in full faith and confidence that he will maintain and care for his sisters, Florence and Kate, so long as they remain unmarried.” Ed died in 1932, Florence in 1946, Jesse Matthews Joy (who lived with her family at Clovercroft after her divorce) in 1950 and Kate in 1956. At the time of her death, Kate was living with two nieces, “Fliss” or Felice Matthews Guttenberger and “Bet” or Elizabeth Matthews Feagin. Both were the daughters of Kate’s oldest brother, Gustuvus. Clovercroft Destroyed By Fire Living nearby at Twigmore was her niece, Lillian Fletcher Brackett, and at neighboring Peace Farm, her great-nephew, Matthews Fletcher. Clovercroft was sold after Kate died and on June 19, 1960, it burned to the ground. The next day's Courier-Journal reported on the fire: |
3 Jump Together
Dogs' Tugs Awaken Owner
In $75,000 Fire in Oldham
Two small dogs gave a life-saving tug on the pajamas of M.P. Paris early yesterday in Pewee Valley. In return, Paris leaped two safety from his burning home with his two pets underarm.
Fire Chief Luther Davis of the Pewee Valley Volunteers estimated damage at $75,000 to $100,000 for the two-story home and its stock of rare antiques.
Known as the old Matthews place, the 12- to 14-room home stood on a four-acre tract at Ash Avenue and LaGrange Road in the southern Oldham community.
Owner Paris told Chief Davis that the bedroom floor was hot when his dogs awakened him shortly before 4 a.m. He started for the hall stairs with the dogs but was blocked by fire. Then, holding the dogs, he jumped off the front porch room and landed uninjured.
Neighbors turned in the alarm, but "It was caving in all over the place when we got there," Davis said. South Oldham Volunteers were also called out.
The fire of unknown cause started in the center of the 125-year-old home. Paris recently had offered the place for sale.
Some of the antiques, bought from the Matthews estate, were saved, Davis believes. The house burned to the ground.
It was rumored arson was the cause of the blaze, although it was never proven. The late Marjorie Fletcher Thompson, Matthews Fletcher’s daughter, recalled, “I slept through the whole thing when Clovercroft burned. Of course, they called dad but it was a cracker box. It just went up in flames. Buford Renaker (editor’s note: the Pewee Valley sheriff at that time) and he were buddies. They both knew the guy who bought Clovercroft – he had a track record of collecting big insurance policies from fires. Daddy chased this guy all the way to Macon, Georgia. They just couldn’t prove it.”
Florence Dickerson, writing for the June 1974 Call of the Pewee, noted that bees also contributed to the blaze:
... The three story tower (at Clovercroft) was the home of many bees which became such a problem that Miss (Kate) Matthews had to call the county agricultural agent to get rid of them. The honeycomb remained and when the house burned..., the remaining wax increased the intensity of the fire.
The bees were evicted in September 1948. By the time the county agricultural agent was called in, they had been living in the tower a quarter of a century and had built one colony on the second level and two more that extended all the way to the third and fourth floors. Thompson recalled, “I was never allowed in the tower. I was told there were bees up there that would sting you to death!”
Florence Dickerson, writing for the June 1974 Call of the Pewee, noted that bees also contributed to the blaze:
... The three story tower (at Clovercroft) was the home of many bees which became such a problem that Miss (Kate) Matthews had to call the county agricultural agent to get rid of them. The honeycomb remained and when the house burned..., the remaining wax increased the intensity of the fire.
The bees were evicted in September 1948. By the time the county agricultural agent was called in, they had been living in the tower a quarter of a century and had built one colony on the second level and two more that extended all the way to the third and fourth floors. Thompson recalled, “I was never allowed in the tower. I was told there were bees up there that would sting you to death!”
The Matthews Family Plot at Pewee Valley Cemetery
Original Deed and Receipt for Payment, Matthews Plot at Pewee Valley Cemetery, Courtesy of Angela Lasseigne
Little Colonel Connections
Of Lucien and Charlotta’s nine children, their youngest daughter, Kate, was the only one to earn lasting fame – at least in Louisville and Pewee Valley! A turn-of-the century photographer, Kate is remembered for two things: her beautiful pictures documenting life in Pewee Valley and surrounding communities and as the inspiration for the character Katherine Marks in the Little Colonel stories. Katherine Marks was first introduced as a character in 1903, with the publication of the “Little Colonel at Boarding-School.” That's why Clovercroft is one of the Pewee Valley landmarks featured on the Little Colonel Game Board.
Clovercroft's gate in winter, photographed by Kate Matthews. From the Fox Studio Movie Scrapbook at the Oldham County History Center.
Life at Clovercroft
Original signed Kate Matthews print of the gates at Clovercroft, taken from inside the fence. Courtesy Richard Duncan, Jr.
Florence Dickerson wrote the following vignette, called “Christmas at Clovercroft” for the December 1975 edition of the Call of the Pewee. It illustrates what life was like at the Matthews family home during the holiday season:
Christmas at “Clovercroft,” the Matthews’ spacious family home, was always a very exciting and festive time of year. Weeks before the day there was an air of secrecy and much went on behind closed doors for everyone was making gifts. No one would even give a hint so that the recipient of each gift could be completely surprised.
Although the Matthews usually did not have a Christmas tree, the house was carefully decorated. Hemlock and holly were cut from the trees on the property and Kate, the photographer, would drive her pony cart into the woods and gather cedar. By the day before Christmas all the pictures, sconces and fireplace mantels were framed with evergreen boughs. The stairway to the second floor was twined with garlands and greens and even the gateposts had their holiday decorations.
Christmas eve the Matthews would go caroling to the houses of all their friends. Each year they and the neighbors stopped at Mr. Frank Gatchel’s to hear him read Dickens’ “Christmas Carol.”
The night before Christmas, whenever an adult awakened from his sleep, he jingled sleigh bells. This was to the delight of the children because they believed it to be Santa Claus going about visiting the homes in Pewee.
The year that Aunt Jay (Jesse Matthews Joy) returned from Berlin was the most exciting Christmas. She had been abroad studying piano with Thedor Leschetizky, the renowned teacher. When the doors to the parlor opened, there was a magnificent grand piano, a gift from her father.
Another year the husband of one of the granddaughters who lived in the East brought a radio. No one was to know about it until Christmas morning, so in the middle of the night he managed to open one of the parlor windows and put this marvel of the age on a table amid holly and hemlock decorations. Everyone was ecstatic when the radio, one of the first in the community, was revealed.
When Grandfather Matthews (Lucien) was unable to plan any unusual gifts, he would give everyone a gold coin. A marble top table was draped with velvet and the coins arranged on this. Grandmother Matthews always received the largest gold piece and the others received one of less value down to the youngest members of the family who were given the smallest.
Before the day of pre-tied bows and rolls of Christmas paper, gifts were wrapped in original designs. The gifts, too, were original endeavors, beautiful handmade creations, embroidery or paintings. Kate very often gave a photograph, one that was especially apropos. The gifts were not opened until Christmas morning and then there was much ceremony. It was a tradition that if you were to say “Christmas gift” to anyone, they were to give you a gift, although you were not required to give them one. Since much thought and preparation had been made for this occasion, no one was overlooked and there was a gift for everyone. The poems that accompanied the handmade remembrances were as cherished as the gift, and these were read aloud before the gift was opened.
Often during the holidays friends gathered in the parlor to hear the Matthews’ music and to sing the Christmas songs they liked so much. Jay played the piano or organ; Florence, the piano; Edwin, the violin; and Kate, the violin. ‘Tis said that Kate never played the violin very well and some would sing a bit “off key,” but all joined in heartily.
A typical Clovercroft Christmas dinner menu included Cornish hens, wild rice stuffing, artichokes and mushrooms, cranberry port mold, individual plum cakes flambé, hot rolls, coffee and well-chilled Chablis. Recipes for this dinner can be found in “History by Food: Recipes and Stories About the Food and Families of Oldham County, Kentucky,” copyright 2006 by the Oldham County Historical Society. The cookbook also includes the following recipe for Mrs. Jesse Joy’s Jelly Cookies:
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter
3 egg whites
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¾ cup sweet milk
Drop cookie batter by teaspoonful on greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees. When cookies are done and still warm, spread small amount of favorite jelly on one cookie and place other cookie on top to make a sandwich. Sprinkle with powdered sugar while still warm.
Marjorie Fletcher Thompson opening Clovercroft's gate.
Kate Matthews’ great-great niece, Marjorie Fletcher Thompson, spent a great deal of time at Clovercroft visiting her Aunties Kate, Fliss and Bet, and watching “Rin Tin Tin” on their television, while she was growing up at Pewee Valley’s Peace Farm during the 1940s and 1950s. She remembered that the front door opened into a large hall with an imposing staircase that led to the four bedrooms on the second floor and then climbed to the third floor tower, where her Aunt Kate’s photography studio was located.
On the left, at the front of the house, was the music room with an organ or upright piano and grand piano, where Kate’s divorced sister, Jesse Matthews Joy, gave local Pewee children piano lessons for many years. Jesse’s bedroom was in back of the music room. Locals say she could hear a piece of music once and play it.
On the right was the sitting room. “It was furnished with old oriental carpets and antiques, such as a Belter couch and chairs,” Thompson recalled. The dining room was located at the end of the hall and had a large table. “When my family would go there to eat dinner, the three Fletchers and the three aunties barely took up half the table,” she said. Behind the dining room was the kitchen.
Clovercroft Interiors
Thompson attended many teas at her aunties’ home. “They observed all the formalities, dressed for tea and wore white gloves,” she remembers. “They were very proper and always set the table correctly, from the placement of the silver, salad dishes and soup bowls to the candle arrangements.” One aspect of dining at Clovercroft Thompson fondly recalls is the oyster soup. “Aunt Fliss always dropped a pearl into mine,” she reminisces.
According to Thompson, the Matthews family fell on hard times financially before the Depression. “Her brother, E.H. (Ed) Matthews worked as a teller in a bank and he was their only source of income. They were just eking out an existence, but kept up the façade of a gracious lifestyle, while their home deteriorated,” she says. “They barely had enough money to pay their taxes. Lillian Fletcher (Kate’s niece and Marjorie’s great aunt) provided them with a stipend for food and helped them stay in Clovercroft.”
According to Thompson, the Matthews family fell on hard times financially before the Depression. “Her brother, E.H. (Ed) Matthews worked as a teller in a bank and he was their only source of income. They were just eking out an existence, but kept up the façade of a gracious lifestyle, while their home deteriorated,” she says. “They barely had enough money to pay their taxes. Lillian Fletcher (Kate’s niece and Marjorie’s great aunt) provided them with a stipend for food and helped them stay in Clovercroft.”
Afternoon tea on Clovercroft's beautiful grounds featuring the Matthews sisters. Kate is reclining in the foreground at left. Her dog, Hypo, is beside her. From "Pewee Valley: Land of the Little Colonel" published in 1974 by Katie S. Smith.
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