HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT) – Hancock County, Kentucky has connections to a man who won a famous steamboat race and was where a former president won a case the state made against him.
The Kentucky Historical Society says the county was named for John Hancock, President of Continental Congress, 1775-77, and first signer of the Declaration of Independence. The society says the county was established in 1829. The county seat is Hawesville.
The Kentucky Historical Society says Abraham Lincoln won his first law case in Hancock County in 1827. The organization says he was charged by the state with operating ferry without license, and Lincoln pleaded his own case in trial at the home of presiding Justice of the Peace, Samuel Pate. The Hancock County Government website says Harry S. Truman stopped at the Hawesville railroad station to make a speech during his 1948 presidential campaign.
The historical society says Captain John W. Cannon, whose biggest achievement was the Robert E. Lee, which won in a steamboat race from New Orleans to St. Louis, was born in Hancock County. The historical society says Robert Costain Beauchamp was a farmer and businessman who was one of the first people to introduce the plantation system of farming to the county.
According to the Hancock County Development Complex, the manufacturing sector is anchored with four large aluminum manufacturing plants and a major paper-producing plant.
According to the United States Census Bureau, as of the 2020 census, the population of Hancock County was 9,095.
This is the sixteenth of a weekly twenty-one-part series that will help educate about each of the counties in the Eyewitness News viewing area. Check in every Tuesday at 9 a.m. for the next one! Last week’s story can be found here.
