My friends - Today, we are moving over to Marshall County for our posting. Rather than a usual data posting, I am going to discuss briefly the court battle which the Justices of the Marshall County Court launched against the Justices of the Calloway County Court in the 1850's, which was ultimately decided, as was proper procedure at that time, in the KY Court of Appeals. The case involved which county owned "seminary lands". This also has application in Graves County, where I questions now and then about the "Graves Academy". IN 1798, the KY General Assembly passed, "An Act for the Endowment of Certain Seminaries of Learning and Other Purposes", in which the county courts were authorized to allocate up to 6000 acres of vacant land that was to be used for county academies. This land would be exempt for taxes as long as it was kept and used for that purpose. Calloway County, in 1834, allocated some 6000 acres to establish a "Calloway Seminary". However, no such institution was ever established in Calloway Co. In 1842, Marshall County was formed wholly from Calloway County. The legislation which formed Marshall County dictated that Marshall should receive half of the 6000 acres originally allocated to Calloway. Calloway refused to transfer any land to Marshall, and continued to refuse to do so over the period of 1842 to 1855, even defying later acts of the KY General Assembly directing them to comply, claiming, in part, that they(the Calloway Justices) had, under later acts of the General Assembly, sold part of the seminary land, having only 2080 acres remaining of the original 6000, and Calloway County felt they were entitled to retain that acreage, also, since it was granted to Calloway before Marshall County existed. In 1856, Marshall County brought suit, as permitted under a further act of the General Assembly, against Calloway County on this issue, as they felt that they should receive the benefit of, at least, the 2080 acres that had not been disposed of by Calloway County. Philander Palmer and J.C.Gilbert prosecuted the case for Marshall County. The KY Court of Appeals found in favor of Marshall County in 1858, and, by about 1870, a "Marshall County Seminary" had been established in Benton. Like the other county seminaries in the state, the Marshall County Seminary was made a part of the regular school district, in legislation passed by the General Assembly in 1888. The original Trustees of the Marshall County Seminary were Thomas L. Goheen, Chairman, J.H.Johnston, J.W.Whitnell, W.C.Holland, J. Woods, C.Parker, and Samuel Mathis. The land, in part, used in Benton included a lot owned by Polly Pinner, former wife of J.J.Averitt, and lots and a house owned by John and Iowa Walpole, which were sold in 1869 to the County. This is an interesting instance in which the fierce independence of county residents, especially with regard to land, was demonstrated to the Kentucky General Assembly, which continued to pass acts directing Calloway County to transfer land to Marshall County - and Calloway continued to refuse to do so. The entire matter, from the inception of the problem to the final establishment of the seminary in Marshall County, required some 25 years to conclude. Tomorrow, we will visit Graves County. -B +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++