One of my favorite discoveries is about a relative's ownership of Mammoth Cave in Kentucky almost 200 years ago.
My third great-grand uncle Franklin Gorin was born May 3, 1798, in Glasgow, Barren County, Kentucky, to John Gorin and Elizabeth Franklin. He is supposedly the first white child born in the county.
He married three times and had ten or eleven children.
In the 1830s, he served in the Kentucky legislature and in 1874, ran for U.S. Congress, representing Kentucky's 3rd District, but lost to Charles Milliken.
Also, for a short period of time, he owned Kentucky's Mammoth Cave, now known as Mammoth Cave National Park.
From the National Park Service: "Rolling hills, deep river valleys, and the world's longest known cave system. Mammoth Cave National Park is home to thousands of years of human history and a rich diversity of plant and animal life, earning it the title of UNESCO World Heritage Site and International Biosphere Reserve."
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| The Historic Entrance to Mammoth Cave is a natural opening that has been used by people for 5,000 years. Public Domain image by NPS, Wikimedia Commons. |
It is about 20 to 25 miles northwest of Glasgow, where Gorin resided with his family.
On March 7, 1838, Franklin Gorin purchased Mammoth Cave and about 1,600 acres of land from Hyman and Simon Gratz for $5,000 and improved the facilities in order to operate it as a tourist attraction. He placed one of his young slaves, Stephen Bishop, as a guide at the cave, and Bishop became famous as the most knowledgeable of the cave's tour guides until his untimely 1857 death.
Only a year and a half later, on October 8, 1839, Franklin Gorin sold Mammoth Cave, and about 1,610 acres to a Louisville physician, Dr. John Croghan, for $10,000. Dr. Crogham hoped to improve the cave, believing that the cave air had healing properties. He was more successful in making it a tourist destination. Stephen Bishop was retained as a guide when Dr. Croghan purchased the property.
See the National Park Service and Wikipedia for additional information about Mammoth Cave. It is on my list of places to visit!
Franklin Gorin wrote a series of newspaper columns about the history of Barren County. They were compiled into a book, which has been digitized and can be found at Ancestry (behind paywall) and at FamilySearch (with a free account). It is the definitive resource for early Glasgow and Barren County history.
Franklin Gorin died on December 10, 1877, in Kentucky, and is buried in Glasgow Municipal Cemetery. His third wife and three children survived him.
Several days after his death, the Louisville Courier Journal printed an appreciation of him.
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| The (Louisville) Courier Journal, 15 December 1877, p. 7, col. 6. |
The Times, speaking of the death of Hon. Franklin Gorin, of Glasgow, says: Franklin Gorin was the son of Gen. John Gorin, one of the first settlers of this part of Kentucky, and was born in this place on the 3d of May, 1798. Around him clustered many memories of the past, as he was the first white child born in Glasgow, if not in the county, and the best part of his long and eventful life was spent among the scenes of his boyhood and friends of his youth. He for a while lived in Nashville, and while there entered into a partnership with Judge Bell, who afterwards ran for the Presidency of the United States on the celebrated Bell-Everett ticket, and was by many thought to be even the sounder and able lawyer of the two. In the course of his long career at the bar he measured swords in forensic debate with some of the ablest of Kentucky's lawyers, and never with discredit to himself, and formerly was the peer of any lawyer in the State. He represented this county in the legislative halls more than once, and could have done so oftener had he wished, as he was at one time the most popular man in the district and as well known as any in Kentucky, and always until his retirement from active life took a leading position in the political struggles of the day.
I descend from Franklin Gorin's parents John Gorin and Elizabeth Franklin through their youngest son.
This week's theme is Favorite Discovery.
For Franklin to make a $5,000 purchase in those days, he must have had significant financial assets! Enjoyed your family's story.
ReplyDeleteYes, he must have been successful! Thanks for reading and commenting.
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