Greenup County was formed by an act of the General Assembly of Kentucky on December 12, 1803, from Mason County. One of the earliest court cases involving an enslaved person took place in the summer of 1806 when Robert "Robin" Johnson (1745-1815), a well-known pioneer who was prominent in social and political circles in Kentucky, filed suit against one Adam Kline for mistreating Reuben, one of his slaves.
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| Anderson Munsell Map (1818) |
On August 7, 1806, Robert Johnson, the plaintiff, went to the office of John Hockaday, clerk of the Greenup Circuit Court, and filed a
writ of capias ad respondendum "against the body of Adam Kline."
A writ of capias ad respondum was typically filed when a defendant failed to appear in court to answer a civil action against them.
The writ stated, "The Commonwealth of Kentucky to the Sheriff of Greenup County, Greeting and command you to take Adam Kline if he be found within your bailwick and him safely keep so that you have his body before the Judges of our Circuit Court for the Circuit and County aforesd at the Courthouse on the sixth day of this present August term to answer unto Robert Johnson of a plea of trespass with force and arms for beating a negroe man the property of the Plaintiff Damage Sixty pounds, and have then there this writ witness John Hockaday Clerk of our said Court at the Courthouse this 7th day of August 1806 and in the 15th year of the Commonwealth
John Hockaday
On the foregoing writ is the following endorsement to wit, Memo. This is an action of Trespass with force and arms for beating a negroe man and no bail is required.
Also, the following return to wit, Executed, Reuben Rucker S. G. C. (Sheriff, Greenup County)
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| Robert "Robin" Johnson (1745-1815) |
After Kline's arrest, Johnson's attorney Thomas Daugherty appeared in the Greenup County Clerk's office in August 1806 and filed the
following declaration on Johnson's behalf.
Greenup Circuit, County of Greenup Sct : Robert Johnson Complains of Adam Kline in Custody of a plea of trespass with force and arms, for that whereas on the day of in the year 1806 at the parish of Circuit & County afsd. the Plt. was possessed of a certain negro male slave named Reuben as of his own proper slave, and being so thereof possessed the said Deft afterwards to wit on the same day & year afsd., at the Circuit and County afsd., with force and arms, towit, sticks, Stones, Cowskin whips, handspikes &c. the said negro same (?) Slave, so in the possession of the said Plt. as afsd. did beat, wound, grievously hurt, mistreat and abuse and other injuries to him the said Plt. through the medium of his slave afsd. he the Deft then & there did against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth of Kentucky and to the damage of the Plt, £60, and therefore he sues &c,
£60 pounds in 1806 equaled $266. Today the average value would be $8020.00
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Declaration of Thomas Daugherty for Plaintiff
Greenup County Circuit Court Order Book 1, p. 119 |
After filing Johnson's declaration, the proceedings were continued until September 1806, when Johnson was given the opportunity to plead his case. A pleading which set forth a claim for relief, usually consisted of a short and plain statement of the claim, showing that the pleader was entitled to relief, as well as a demand for judgment for the relief to which he deemed himself entitled.
When Kline failed to respond or submit a defense by the following court hearing in November 1806, the judge ruled a judgment by nihil dicet, meaning Johnson obtained a judgement in his favor by default. The court then issued a writ of inquiry, directing the sheriff, with the aid of a jury, to inquire into the amount of the plaintiff’s demand and assess his damages.
At the next Circuit Court on December 4, 1806, Johnson's suit was ordered "to be Continued until the next Court for the want of a Jury."
When the Greenup County Circuit Court met again on May 6, 1807, both parties appeared by their attorneys. On motion of Adam Kline by his attorney, the judge ordered that the Judgment and writ of enquiry awarded against Kline be set aside "and the said Defendant by his attorney now comes and defends the wrong and injury when &c. and says that he is not Guilty in manner and form as the Plaintiff against him hath Declared of this he puts himself upon the County and the Plaintiff likewise."
Therefore, the court commanded the Sheriff to assemble "immediately twelve good and lawful men by whom &c. and thereupon also a Jury ..."
Members of the jury were Hugh Jackson, William Kelly, William Warnock, Josiah Davisson, John Chadwick, George Hord, with Richard During, Samuel Davis, Christopher Stump, Alexander Catlett, James McGuire & Rowland Cornelius who being elected & sworn the truth to speak upon the Issue Joined." However, James McGuire withdrew as juror and the case was continued once again until the next Court."
After another continuation on August 5, 1807, the Circuit Court finally met on December 8, 1807. A new jury had been selected, namely Seraiah Stratton, Jr, Eli Williams, Christopher Stump, Jacob Cain, Benjamin Ulin, Rezin Davis, William Lowry, Thomas Hood, John Lowry, William Throckmorton, Edward Gilkey and Richard Deering.
Present were the attorneys for both Johnson and Kline who made their arguments in court. The jury "being elected tryed and sworn the truth to speak upon Issue, came to a decision and "Joined upon their oaths do say that the said Defendant is not guilty in manner and form as the Plaintiff against him hath declared and as in pleading he hath alledged."
The Court directed Robert Johnson to "take nothing by his bill but for his false Clamor be in mercy &c., and instructed Adam Kline to "go hence without day and recover of the said Plaintiff his costs by him about his defence in this behalf expended."
Nothing further is known about Reuben. Robert Johnson passed away eight years after the trial on October 15, 1815. His estate appraisal names several enslaved persons, but Reuben was not listed.
Robert Johnson and Family
Robert Johnson was born in Orange County, Virginia, in 1745. During the Revolutionary War he served as captain under George Rogers Clark in the Ohio expedition. Captain Robert Johnson served with Clark's Illinois Regiment, Virginia State Troops during the American Revolution. Johnson and his family were early settlers of what became Scott County. Robert Johnson represented then — Fayette County in the Virginia House in 1782. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention at Danville, KY in 1785. In 1796 Robert became a member of the Kentucky State Legislature, and in 1797 he was appointed commissioner to determine the boundary between Virginia and Kentucky. Robert was a candidate for Congress in May of 1799, but was defeated. Robert, however, was a member of the state legislature in 1802 and from 1810 to 1814.
Johnson was also a founding trustee of Transylvania University. Like many early pioneer settlers, he was a land speculator. Although he primarily lived in Scott County, Kentucky, Johnson had acquired thousands of acres of land, including 3500 acres in Greenup. He built and operated a small tub mill at the Falls of Little Sandy. He also owned several town lots in Greenupsburg, namely lots 1, 2, 8, 10, 11 and 35.
Johnson and his wife Jemima Suggett were the progenitors of a family that became prominent in the political and social life in Kentucky. Three sons served in U.S. Congress in 1825: Rep. James & John T. and Sen. Richard Mentor Johnson, who became the 9th U.S. vice president in 1837.
Robert Johnson was a slave holder. In 1806, he was enumerated in Scott County with 28 slaves, 12 of whom were over the age of 16, which would have included Reuben as well as Julia Chinn (ca.1790-1833), who would later become Richard Mentor Johnson's reputed common-law wife. Her parents and exact date of birth are unknown, but she was raised and educated in Johnson’s household by Robert's wife Jemima Suggett Johnson. Julia also had a brother named Daniel Chinn who later escaped to London, Canada. In the early 1810's, Julia gave birth to two children who Richard openly acknowledged as his own.
When Robert Johnson died in 1815, Richard M. Johnson legally inherited Julia Chinn. Although illegal at the time, the two were married in a ceremony at Great Crossing Baptist Church. When Johnson was away from his Kentucky plantation, he authorized Chinn to manage his business affairs. She died in the widespread cholera epidemic that occurred in the summer of 1833. Tragically, Julia was still enslaved at the time of her death since Richard M. Johnson never liberated her from human bondage.
Links of Interest
Leland Winfield Myer, Register of Kentucky State Historical Society 30, no. 90 (1932): 21–36.
Marker No. 2363. 2089 Frankfort Road, Georgetown, Kentucky
Leland Winfield Myer, New York: Columbia University Press, 1932
THE FREEMAN. Developments of the "Peculiar Institution."
Newton Craig, Frankfort, Kentucky, to Daniel Chinn, London, U.C.
by Amrita Chakrabarti Myers (2023)
Researched, transcribed and written by Marlitta H. Perkins, June 2025. Copyright © 2025, All Rights Reserved.
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