Dr. Hiram Rutherford lived here and was involved in an 1847 case in which Abraham Lincoln represented a slaveholder. Rutherford and Gideon Ashmore harbored a family of slaves who had sought their help. The slaves belonged to Robert Matson, a Kentuckian who had brought them north to work on his farm. While they were being sheltered in Ashmore’s Tavern, Matson obtained a court order to have them jailed. Rutherford and Ashmore sued out a writ of habeas corpus for their release, and after a hearing the circuit court freed the slaves.