Isaac Shelby

Isaac Shelby

Isaac Shelby (born December 11, 1750 in Frederick County , Province of Maryland , † July 18, 1826 in Lincoln County , Kentucky ) was an officer during the American Revolutionary War and the first and fifth governor of the US state of Kentucky.

Life

He was born near Hagerstown in 1750 to Eaan and Letitia Shelby, nee Cox. The family moved to western Virginia in 1772 , where the father ran a commercial post office. Shelby served as a lieutenant in the so-called Lord Dunmore 's War as early as 1774 . A year later he explored, acquired, and settled a land area in Kentucky. The governor Patrick Henry of Virginia, to which the then Kentucky area belonged, gave him the right to collect taxes for the army in the border area. In 1780 he was elected to the state Congress. Shelby performed with John Sevierthe American troops to victory at Kings Mountain in October 1780 . Now he settled in North Carolina , where he was twice elected to represent them. In 1783 he returned to Kentucky, only to marry Susannah Hart soon after. As one of the founding fathers, he laid the financial foundation for what would later become Transylvania University .

When Kentucky was declared a state, he was elected as Kentucky's first governor in 1792. One of his special concerns was to secure federal funds to secure the border. He also campaigned for the right to free navigation for the Mississippi River . After the end of his first term, he returned to his private life on his farm in Lincoln County . In 1812 he ran again and victoriously moved to the governor's house. After the end of this term in 1816, President James Monroe offered him the post of Secretary of War, which he refused.

Various administrative districts are named after him, such as Shelby County (Illinois) , Shelby County (Alabama) , Shelby County (Iowa) , Shelby County (Kentucky) , Shelby County (Ohio) and Shelby County (Texas) .

literature

• Sylvia Wrobel, George Grider: Isaac Shelby: Kentucky's First Governor and Hero of Three Wars. 1974
• Shelby, Isaac . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 24 : Sainte-Claire Deville - Shuttle . London 1911, p. 830 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).

Web links

• Isaac Shelby in the database of Find a Grave (English)