Priscilla “Priss” McCalley
Written by Justin D. Lamb
Above: Priscilla McCalley sitting on the porch of the Hardin Hotel.
(Photo courtesy of Marshall County Archives)
Born into slavery in Tennessee in May 1858 and freed in 1863 by the Emancipation Proclamation, Priscilla “Priss” McCalley first came to Kentucky shortly after the conclusion of the Civil War. When McCalley was 20 years old she became a domestic servant for the family of Joel Underwood in the Calloway County community of New Concord. Underwood was a wealthy farmer who had several hired hands and McCalley was a maid and cook in the Underwood home. McCalley worked for the Underwood family until 1894 when Joel Underwood died an untimely death.
McCalley moved to the infant town of Hardin in 1895 and took a job as a servant for the family of Eugene Irvan, a widower with two children. Irvan was a successful dry goods salesman and president of the Bank of Hardin. McCalley was hired as a maid, cook, and caretaker for Irvan’s two children and elderly mother-in-law. By 1908, the Irvan children were grown and Eugene Irvan passed away that April. With the death of her employer, McCalley went to work at the Hardin Hotel as a cook, a job she would hold for the remainder of her life. McCalley would ring the dinner bell every day when the food was ready at the hotel and McCalley was known as one of the finest cooks in Hardin. With the salary she made working at the hotel, McCalley rented a home of her own just across the Calloway County line in the community of Dexter just south of Hardin.
During the early years of the 20th Century, night riding was prevalent throughout western Kentucky and a few radical night riding groups would often harass the blacks in the area. On one occasion in August 1908, a group of night riders gathered in Hardin as the morning train made a scheduled stop in Hardin to pick up travelers going to the Eighth of August Celebration in Paducah. Approximately 1,600 blacks from throughout western Kentucky were on the train, including Priss McCalley, and the night riders harassed and threatened the blacks with harm if they returned to Hardin. As the train began to leave the station, shots were fired by the night riders with four bullets hitting the last station car. Fortunately no one was hurt. Despite the threats made against her life, McCalley returned to Hardin and for the next few months as the lawless night riding continued throughout the county, Sheriff Pete Ely had to accompany McCalley to the train station every evening after her work was completed at the Hardin Hotel so she could return safely to her home in Dexter.
Over the years, McCalley became an integral part of the Hardin community. She was a faithful Christian woman and regularly attended the Hardin Baptist Church where she sat on the back row every Sunday.
On May 18, 1930, Priss McCalley passed away at the age of 72. She was buried in the Wadesboro Cemetery just outside of Hardin. Despite a time period when racial prejudice was dominant, the entire community of Hardin respected and loved McCalley. Her tombstone which was purchased by her many friends in Hardin following her death reads, “Loved by many. Gone, but not forgotten.”