Full text of "History of Kentucky"

History of Kentucky 



JUDGE CHARLES KERR 
Editor 




WILLIAM ELSEY CONNELLEY 
Author of "Eastern Kentucky Papers" 

and 

E. M. COULTER, Ph. D. 

Department of History, University of Georgia 



IN FIVE VOLUMES 



VOLUME V 



THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 

CHICAGO AND NEW YORK 
1922 



-L 1 



TO NEW YC 

PUBL 

180784 A. 



- 



Copyright, 1922 

BY 

THE AMERICAN HISTORICAL SOCIETY 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



John Todd Shelby. Human life is like the waves 
of the sea; they flash a few brief moments in the sun- 
light, marvels of power and beauty, and then are dashed 
upon the remorseless shores of death and disappear 
forever. The passing of any human life, however 
humble and unknown, is sure to give rise to a pang 
of anguish in some heart, but when the "fell destroyer" 
knocks at the door of the useful and great and removes 
from earthly scenes the man of honor and influence and 
the benefactor of his kind, it means not only bereave- 
ment to kindred and friends, but a public calamity as 
well. 

In the largest and best sense of the term the late 
John Todd Shelby, of Lexington, was distinctively one 
of the notable men of his day and generation, and as 
such his life record is entitled to a conspicuous place 
in the annals of the State of Kentucky. As a citizen. 
he was public spirited and enterprising to an unwonted 
degree ; as a friend and neighbor, he combined the qual- 
ities of head and heart that won confidence and com- 
manded respect; as an attorney who had a comprehensive 
grasp upon the philosophy of jurisprudence and brought 
honor and dignity to the profession he followed with 
such distinguished success, he was easily the peer of 
any of his brethren of the Kentucky liar. 

To refer to him as a lawyer in the phraseology which 
meets requirements when dealing with the average 
member of the legal profession would not do him jus- 
tice. He was, indeed, much more than eminently suc- 
cessful in his legal career, as was indicated by his 
long, praiseworthy record at the tor. He was a master 
of his profession, a leader among men distinguished for 
the high order of their legal ability, and his eminent 
attainments and ripe judgment made him an authority 
on all matters involving a profound knowledge of 
jurisprudence and of vexed and intricate questions of 
equity practice. His life and labors were worthy be- 
cause they contributed to a proper understanding of life 
and its problems. 

John Todd Shelby, the only child of Thomas Hart 
Shelby and his first wife, Frances Stuart Todd, was 
born in Springfield, Illinois, on the 25th day of Janu- 
ary, 1851, while his mother was on a visit to her 
parents, Doctor and Mrs. John Todd, of that city, 
where they had located in 1827, after migrating from 
Kentucky to Illinois ten years before, Doctor Todd 
having been a surgeon with the Kentucky volunteers 
in the War of 1812 and present at the battle and 
massacre of the River Raisin, where he was captured. 
Mr. Shelby's mother, who was a granddaughter of 
Gen. Levi Todd, one of the early settlers of Fayette 
County, whose son, Robert S. Todd, was the father 
of Mary Todd, who married Abraham Lincoln, died 
a week after his birth and he was brought to Ken- 
tucky, where he grew to manhood at his father's 
home, "Bel Air," a beautiful country seat in the 
Walnut Hill section of Fayette County. 

His father, Thomas Hart Shelby, who at the time 
of his death in 1895 was collector of United States 
internal revenue for the Seventh District of Kentucky, 
was a grandson of Isaac Shelby, the first governor of 



Kentucky and one of the heroes of the King's Moun- 
tain campaign and battle, often referred to as the 
turning point of the Revolution in the South, in the 
autumn of 1780. "And without venturing into any 
controversy respecting this important event in the 
War of the Revolution and the history of our coun- 
try) it may be fairly said that he conceived the cam- 
paign and was one of the main spirits in its prosecu- 
tion to a successful termination." There is no figure 
more familiar to the reader of Kentucky history than 
•Isaac Shelby, who, again chosen governor, after an 
interim of many years, upon the commencement of 
hostilities with Great Britain in 1812, is no less famed 
for his distinguished services in that conflict than for 
his valor in the days of the Revolution, leading in 
person the dauntless Kentucky volunteers on the battle- 
field of the Thames, October 5, 1813, and winning for 
himself lasting renown by the part he played in the 
achievement of the sweeping victory over Proctor 
and Tecumseh, which resulted in the rout of the allied 
British and Indians by the Americans under Gen. 
William Henry Harrison and the death of Tecumseh, 
an event which practically marked the close of British 
and Indian operations in the Northwest. Governor 
Shelby, who was a son of Gen. Evan Shelby, also a 
Revolutionary soldier of note, and his wife, Laetitia 
Cox, married Susanna Hart, daughter of the well- 
known Capt. Nathaniel Hart, one of the first settlers 
of Kentucky and one of the proprietors of the Colony 
of Transylvania. Thomas Hart Shelby, the elder, son 
of Governor Isaac Shelby and grandfather of Mr. 
Shelby, owned about 2,000 acres of the very best land 
in Fayette County, it being located west of the Rich- 
mond and Lexington Turnpike and near Walnut Hill 
Church. 

Mr. Shelby's paternal grandmother was Mary Ann 
Bullock, daughter of Edmund Bullock, the second, 
speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives, 
whose wife was Elizabeth Fontaine, of Jefferson Coun- 
ty, while his maternal grandmother, Mrs. John Todd, 
was before her marriage, Elizabeth Fisher Blair Smith, 
a daughter of Rev. John Blair Smith, D. D., one of 
the eminent Presbyterian divines of the eighteenth 
century, who was the second president of Hampden- 
Sidney College, Virginia, and later the first president 
of Union College at Schenectady, New York, and 
who died in 1799 as pastor of the old Pine Street 
Church, Philadelphia. Doctor Smith married Eliza- 
beth Fisher Nash, of Prince Edward County, Vir- 
ginia. His brother, Rev. Samuel Stanhope Smith. 
D. D., was the first president of Hampden-Sidney 
and afterwards president of Princeton College. 

Gen. Levi Todd, great-grandfather of Mr. Shelby, 
was a prominent figure in the early military and civic 
annals of Kentucky, and a brother of Col. John Todd 
and Gen. Robert Todd, both conspicuous in its early 
history, the former having been killed at the battle 
of the Blue Licks in 1782 and having theretofore been 
appointed colonel commandant and county lieutenant 
of Illinois, with the civil powers of governor, upon 
its erection as a county of Virginia in 1778. These 
three brothers were nephews of Rev. John Todd, of 

3 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



Louisa County, Virginia, long a leading spirit in Han- 
over Presbytery, who, deeply interested in the early 
immigration to Kentucky, was, like Col. John Todd 
himself, one of those most influential in obtaining 
from the Legislature of Virginia the charter and 
endowment of Transylvania Seminary, and who was 
instrumental in furnishing to that institution a library 
that became the nucleus of the present invaluable li- 
brary of Transylvania University at Lexington. 

Mr. Shelby's preliminary education was obtained 
principally in the schools of Fayette County. In 1866-7 
he was a student at Centre College, Danville, Kentucky, 
and in 1867-8, attended Kentucky (now Transylvania) 
University at Lexington. In the fall of 1868, he entered 
Princeton, from which he was graduated with high 
honors, though one of the youngest members of his 
class, in 1870, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Arts. 
In 1873 Princeton conferred upon him the degree of 
Master of Arts, and in 1904 the Agricultural and Me- 
chanical College of Kentucky (now the University of 
Kentucky) conferred upon him the degree of Doctor 
of Laws. 

After leaving college Mr. Shelby applied himself to 
the reading of law under his uncle-in-Iaw, Judge Wil- 
liam B. Kinkead, of Fayette County, and on March 2, 
1872, was admitted to the bar at Lexington, during the 
incumbency of Hon. Charles B. Thomas as Circuit 
Judge. He entered the office of Breckinridge & Buckner, 
at Lexington, a firm composed of Col. William C. P. 
Breckinridge and Judge Benjamin F. Buckner, where he 
practiced alone until he formed a partnership with 
Judge J. Soule Smith, the style of the firm being Smith 
& Shelby, an association which lasted until September 

1, 1875, when he entered into partnership with Colonel 
Breckinridge under the firm name of Breckinridge 
& Shelby, a relation that continued unbroken until 
the death of Colonel Breckinridge on November 
19, 1904. Thereafter Mr. Shelby was alone in 
practice until December 1, 1907, when with his son, John 
Craig Shelby, who had that year graduated from the 
Harvard Law School, he formed the firm of Shelby & 
Shelby. On July I, 1910, R. L. Northcutt became a 
member of the firm, the name of which was changed on 
December 1, 1913, to Shelby, Northcutt & Shelby, and 
as thus constituted it continued until Mr. Shelby's 
death. During his early practice he taught equity and 
pleading, and somewhat later, pleading, evidence and 
practice in the Law College of Kentucky (now Transyl- 
vania) University. 

Mr. Shelby's active practice at the Fayette County 
bar covered a period of forty-eight years, to the day, 
his death occurring at his home in Lexington on March 

2, 1920, after an illness of comparatively short duration. 
His life was to a remarkable degree intertwined with 
the history of Central Kentucky, and there is absolutely 
no question but that he ranked with the greatest who 
have honored and adorned the legal profession in Ken- 
tucky. During this period there were few notable cases 
in which his services were not engaged and few public 
movements in which he was not an influential factor. 

Though a Presbyterian in early life, Mr. Shelby had 
been for nearly twenty-seven years a communicant of 
Christ Church Cathedral at Lexington, the oldest Pro- 
testant Episcopal parish in Kentucky, and continuously 
during the same period an active member of the vestry, 
being junior warden of the cathedral from 1903 until 
1907, and senior warden from 1907 up to the time 
of his death. He was chancellor of the Diocese of 
Lexington from 1898 until his death. 

In politics he was originally a Democrat, but during 
the first McKinley-Bryan campaign, in 1896, he changed 
his support to the Republican party, with which he was 
afterwards affiliated. For three years, from 1908 until 
1910, during the administration of Governor Augustus 
E. Willson, he was the Republican member of the State 
Board of Election Commissioners. 

On November 7, 1872, in Christ Church, Saint Louis, 



Missouri, Mr. Shelby married Miss Elizabeth Morris 
Brooking Craig, of that city, who was born in Carroll 
County, Kentucky, near Ghent, and who had spent 
much of her girlhood in the Walnut Hill neighbor- 
hood of Fayette County, near Mr. Shelby's boyhood 
home. She was a daughter of Robert Edward Brook- 
ing and his wife, Elizabeth Morris Craig, but was 
adopted in early childhood by her maternal uncle, 
John Anderson Craig, whose name she thereafter bore. 
To this union were born four children, Thomas Hart, 
Francis Todd. John Craig and Christine, the second 
of whom died in infancy. Mrs. Shelby died in Lex- 
ington on December 12, 1917, and their three children, 
Thomas Hart, who married Mary Agnes Scott, of Jessa- 
mine County. John Craig and Christine, and a grand- 
son, John Todd Shelby, who married Virginia Berenice 
Lindsey, of Roanoke, Virginia, and Lexington, son of 
their son Thomas Hart, survive, residing at Lexington. 
Mr. Shelby is also survived by his half-brothers, Thomas 
H. Shelby, of Lexington, Wallace M. Shelby, of Fayette 
County, and Edmund B. Shelby, of Charlotte, North 
Carolina, and his half-sisters, Mary C. Shelby, of 
Lexington. Elizabeth S. Post, of Kingston, New York, 
Fanny S. Matthews, of Lexington, Florence M. Shelby, 
of Lexington, Alice S. Riddell, of Irvine, Rosa S. 
Richardson, of Lexington, Kate S. Scott, of Lexing- 
ton, and Willie I. Shelby, of Charlotte, North Caro- 
lina, children of his father's second marriage, to Flor- 
ence McDowell. Another half-brother, George S. 
Shelby, of Lexington, predeceased him. 

In many ways Mr. Shelby had an important part in 
the development of his section of Kentucky and was 
financially and otherwise interested in a number of 
important enterprises. He was one of a group of 
citizens who built the Belt Line Railroad, which after- 
wards passed under the control of the Chesapeake & 
Ohio Railway Company. He also helped to organize 
the Belt Electric Line Company, the Central Electric 
Company and the Hercules Ice Company, predecessors, 
respectively, of the present Lexington street railway 
system, electric lighting system and ice plant, and was 
at one time president of the First National Bank of 
Lexington. 

For a long time he was attorney for the Lexington 
Waterworks Company and at the time of his death bad 
for many years been counsel for the Chesapeake & 
Ohio Railway Company. He was a director of the First 
and City National Bank of Lexington, and of the 
Fayette Home Telephone Company, attorney for both, 
and one of the organizers of the latter. He was also 
attorney for the Adams Express Company and the 
Southern Express Company. For over thirty-five years 
he had been attorney for the Louisville & Nashville 
Railroad Company in Fayette and adjoining counties, 
and for many years attorney for the Southern Railway 
Company in Kentucky. In his early practice he served 
as city attorney and later was a member of the Board 
of Aldermen of the City of Lexington. 

He was for many years a director of the Young Men's 
Christian Association at Lexington, and served for many 
terms as vice-president of the Kentucky Society of 
Sons of the Revolution, and for one term was its 
president. From 1890 until 1895 he was a member of 
the Board of Commissioners of the Eastern Kentucky 
Lunatic Asylum at Lexington, and from 1910 until 1913, 
a member of the Board of Trustees of the Lincoln In- 
stitute of Kentucky at Simpsonville. 

Probably no better review of Mr. Shelby's personal 
characteristics and mental qualities could be written than 
was embodied in the splendid tributes paid him in the 
press at the time of his death and also at a memorial 
meeting of the Lexington Bar Association by those 
who had known him long and intimately, as well as in 
resolutions adopted by various bodies of which he was 
a member, and from which excerpts are freely made as 
follows: 

"No lawyer of his generation stood higher in the 
estimation of this bar than did the distinguished 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



jurist whose passing we are this day called upon to 
lament. For nearly fifty years past he has borne an 
unsullied reputation as a leading exemplar of the highest 
civic virtues as well as of the noblest ethics and tradi- 
tions of the legal profession. His abilities and his at- 
tainments were such as to excite admiration and com- 
mand respect from friend and foe alike. No lawyer 
in any era of Kentucky's history has ever surpassed him 
in acuteness of intellect, in clarity of thought, or in 
lucidity of expression. From the beginning to the end 
of his busy career he met and mingled on equal terms 
with those whom this bar and the bar of Kentucky 
generally have accounted greatest in the profession of 
the law, and we can recall no instance when he can 
fairly be said to have been overmatched. His knowl- 
edge of the law was varied, accurate and profound, 
and his powers of logical analysis in presenting any 
question or in advocating any cause were at all times 
the despair of his adversaries as they were the subject 
of enthusiastic and unqualified praise by his associates 
and colleagues. * * * As a counselor, Mr. Shelby 
was remarkably free from any appearance or sugges- 
tion of aggressive self-assertion, and even when his 
advice was most eagerly solicited he seemed to invite 
the views of those who sought his guidance rather than 
to impose upon them any opinion of his own. His 
gracious, tactful and considerate manner toward all 
who approached him has been a matter of constant 
comment by every thoughtful member of this bar. * * * 
"Be It Resolved, That in the death of Honorable 
John Todd Shelby, this bar has suffered a grievous 
and irreparable loss ; that his long and honorable career 
has conferred imperishable lustre upon this bar, the 
consciousness of which is not confined to this city and 
county, but is widely recognized throughout our own 
and other states; that his eminence as a laywer, his 
leadership as a citizen, and his worth as a man are 
most keenly appreciated by those of us who have en- 
joyed the privilege of daily contact and association and 
personal acquaintance with him ; that none know better 
than ourselves or can better appraise his studious habits, 
his unflagging industry, his large experience, and his 
absolute fidelity to his profession, and none can more 
truthfully or more emphatically testify to his sterling 
character, his liberal culture, his extraordinary legal 
attainments, his public spirit, his unfaltering courage, 
his flawless courtesy, and to that rare combination of 
qualities, both of mind and temperament, which have 
stamped him as a shining example of the Christian 
gentleman, the erudite scholar, the upright counselor, 
the faithful advocate, and, above all, as the exemplary 
citizen ; and that, while none had a better right to boast 
of an illustrious ancestry, no man who has ever graced 
the bench or bar of Kentucky had less occasion or need 
to rely upon pride of birth or the blazon of lineage to 
justify his title to distinction." — (From resolutions 
adopted at a meeting of the Lexington Bar Association, 
held on March 4, 1920.) 

"As an expounder of equity jurisprudence (referring 
to his teaching in the Law College of Kentucky, now 
Transylvania, University), neither Yale nor Harvard, 
nor any other great university of our country, could 
produce his superior. * * * 

"I believe I can say in all sincerity that of all the 
lawyers with whom I have been thrown in contact, 
Mr. Shelby had no superior in learning, in acuteness 
of intellect, and especially in splendid powers of dis- 
criminating analysis. His arguments in this court were 
to my mind models of legal argument. He was always 
courteous to the other side, though maintaining his own 
position with firmness and force, never letting go a 
proposition that he believed sound. We all know with 
what great success he met in his practice. * * * 

"Mr. Shelby was tenacious of every opinion which he 
believed to be valid, and presented it with an acuteness 
of intellect, a power of logic, a lucidity of expression 



that very few in my memory or knowledge equaled. 
Not only that, but, above all, Mr. Shelby was a Chris- 
tian. For many years he had been connected with 
Christ Church, was senior warden of the church, a 
member of the vestry for many years; and every one 
who knew him in his daily life, in all his conduct, saw 
that there ran through all his actions the faith that he 
had in his belief in the precepts of the Christian re- 
ligion. This bar has lost a great man, modest and un- 
pretentious as he was. I desire to pay this tribute of 
admiration for his character, this testimony of my 
respect for him, and of my profound reverence for his 
learning and ability. To the younger members of the 
bar I can only say that they could have no brighter 
example of all that is best in our profession than the 
life and character of Mr. Shelby, and no young man 
could do better than to follow, as far as he can, his 
footsteps and his example."— (From remarks by Col. 
John R. Allen at the meeting of the Lexington Bar 
Association.) 

"He was a man who had the tenderest and most 
loving sympathy and solicitude for his friends when 
they were in trouble or distress that I have ever known. 
His simple, childlike, unwavering faith in the efficacy 
of the redeeming blood of the crucified Christ was the 
most beautiful thing I have ever seen. My talks with 
him along this line, his abiding hope, his confident ex- 
pectation to meet and be reunited with the loved ones 
that had gone on before gave me stronger hope and 
belief in a future existence and a happier state for man 
than all the sermons of all the preachers I have ever 
heard."— (From remarks by Hon. W. C. G. Hobbs.) 

"Measured by all of the standards of human excel- 
lence, he was a well-rounded and unusual man. All of 
us, I trust, possess in some degree his great qualities 
of mind and heart, as exemplified in his long, active 
and useful life. But without intending to depreciate 
the ability and character of this bar, it may be safely- 
said that no one of its living members possesses in the 
same high degree all of his great qualities."— (From 
remarks by Hon. W. P. Kimball.) 

"I cannot realize that from this stand I shall never 
again call from your number the name of John Todd 
Shelby; that I can never again ask his counsel or 
advice; that I can never again counsel with him con- 
cerning the things that are nearest and dearest to me. 
I might, indeed, say of him as Horace, the old Latin 
poet, said of his friend Varus, 'He was modest, true, 
just; he is mourned by all good men, and who is there 
to take his place?' 

"The silver cord has indeed been loosed, the golden 
bowl been broken. I know, except for the memories, 
the sweet associations of thirty-six years, that he has 
gone forever out of a life into which he came at its 
most critical period. Without education, without ex- 
perience, with nothing to recommend me to the con- 
sideration of one who possessed all the graces which 
education and culture supply, I went into his office and 
introduced myself to him and his partner Colonel 
Breckinridge, and asked them if they would lend me 
some law books. From that moment until the very last 
conversation I had with him, only last week, there was 
never a time when I did not feel that I could go to 
him with anything that troubled me, that I could ask 
from him advice upon any subject, and never did 1 go 
when he did not receive me kindly, courteously, sweetly. 
In all the vicissitudes through which I have passed, 
many of which have been purely personal, I always re- 
ceived just that encouragement I needed, that sympathy 
I craved. I might say, too, on those occasions when 
he knew I was perplexed, that I was bearing some un- 
disclosed burden, he has, with gentle, sweet concern 
sought me. This to me is one of the most perfect 
forms of true, enduring friendship."— (From remarks 
by judge Charles Kerr.) 
"A Christian without reproach, a gentleman without 



6 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



fear, a Kentuckian of Kentuckians, John T. Shelby 
typified the loftiest traditions, exemplified the noblest 
aspirations of his people. 

"A lawyer who met as equal the greatest of his gen- 
eration, whose mind entitled him to be ranked in the 
first flight of the great lawyers of the State, whose 
erudition made him the cherished companion of the 
most learned, John Shelby was greater as a man than 
as a lawyer or scholar. With the utter courage of 
absolute honesty he had the gentleness of a woman ; 
with the transparent veracity that is the companion of 
perfect fearlessness, he never had thought, even, of 
expressing a harsh or bitter word. Only those priv- 
ileged to be admitted to his intimacy could have full 
appreciation of the combined elements of strength and 
gentleness, of courage and kindliness, of duty and gen- 
erosity, that made him long since aptly and justly- 
described as the 'First Gentleman of Kentucky.' 

"Simple of life, forgetful of self, he never sought 
nor desired place or power, nor would accept public 
position. He would have graced and have lent dis- 
tinction to the Supreme Court, for which he was most 
eminently fitted, to which he might have been appointed 
had he but indicated his desire to have a position thereon 
tendered to him. 

"From early manhood he carried with never flickering 
courage and ever present cheerfulness burdens that 
would have crushed a weaker man. Frail of body, his 
mind worked with unceasing and never flagging in- 
dustry. But there was no labor so great, no bodily 
frailty so poignant that could dim his sense of humor 
or cloud his wit. No grief, it mattered not how des- 
perately it wrung his heart, could make him lose mas- 
tery of himself." — (From editorial by Desha Breckin- 
ridge in the Lexington Herald of March 3, 1920.) 

"Man may approach the perfect, but he cannot attain 
it. And yet the late John T. Shelby did not fail in 
any of the essentials which bring us within an appre- 
ciable nearness of the ideal. His antecedents, his rear- 
ing, his education, his innate sense of refinement and 
culture, all lent their influence in producing the com- 
pleted whole. His ancestry carried him back to a gen- 
eration that was conspicuous in laying the foundation 
of the State; in overcoming the vicissitudes of a fronter 
community; in establishing homes for their descendants, 
and founding a stable society. Whatever profession he 
might have chosen, he would have adorned ; whatever 
pursuit might have won his endeavors, he would have 
been recognized among its leaders. The legal profes- 
sion was congenial to one of his inquiring mind. Rea- 
son and logic were to him the coefficients of truth, and 
no matter where truth led he followed it with relent- 
less exactitude. He reduced every proposition to a 
syllogism. His conclusions were reached through a de- 
ductive rather than through an inductive process of 
reasoning. When his advice was sought he reasoned 
from the facts presented to a determination that was 
as accurate as a problem in Euclid. His was not a 
mind that could predetermine what a result ought to 
be and then construct a theory that would reach the 
end desired. The final determination with him came 
as the result of laying his premises in truth. In nothing 
did he seem to delight more than an a priori argument. 
Given the antecedent, he reached the consequent with 
a skill and lucidity that baffled his most astute adver- 
saries. So clear was he in statement that nothing was 
left for argument. * * * 

"Every branch of the law yielded at his approach, but 
in pleading and equity jurisprudence he had no su- 
perior among the lawyers of Kentucky. With him 
pleading was a science. As such he studied it, as such 
he practiced it. Had he lived in the days of Chitty 
and Mansfield he would have been, par excellence, one 
of the most skillful among the English pleaders. For 
an ill-prepared and loosely-drawn pleading he had a 
repugnance that amounted almost to a contempt. He 



delighted to parry in this branch of the profession with 
one that was worthy of his own skill. Simple, quiet, 
unobtrusive, many an adversary was forced to suffer 
all the torments of that discomfiture that comes from 
lack of skill or preparation, when he stood before the 
bar with him as opponent. * * * 

"With him equity was that branch of the law which 
supplied all the deficiencies of the common law. It 
was a system of common justice as well as common 
morals. He did not believe there could be a wrong 
without a remedy. Any system for the adjustment of 
human relationship that did not accept this as a truism 
was inherently defective. His innate sense of justice 
was, therefore, naturally and irresistibly drawn towards 
that branch of the profession which was founded on 
the spirit rather than the letter of the law. * * * 
But whether he followed the letter or the spirit, it 
was justice, in the end, that determined his course. One 
of the last acts of his professional life was to refuse 
participation in an action which he conceived to be 
wrong and wholly lacking in moral substance. 

"And thus it was he approached the ideal, not alone 
in character, not alone in being the Shakespearian pos- 
sessor of all those attributes that unite in making the 
man, but in the ethics and practice of his profession, as 
well. Of him it might be said, as it was said of another 
distinguished member of the Lexington bar, 'He was a 
man before whom temptation fled.' So high was his 
sense of honor, so correct the standards which he had 
erected for his own conduct, that he never had to 
combat those seductive influences to which so many 
of the profession have fallen victims. He was the 
embodiment of the best traditions of the bar. He per- 
sonified a type that is passing. As Horace said of 
Varus, there is none to take his place. He ennobled 
a profession that could not ennoble him. His was a 
nobility begotten of Nature." — (From an appreciation 
by Judge Charles Kerr in the Lexington Herald of 
March 7, 1920.) 

"He was a director of this company from its organ- 
ization to the date of his death, was its vice-president 
and general counsel, and in all those capacities he served 
it with that intelligence, wisdom and fidelity which char- 
acterized his performance of every duty. 

"Those who knew him best loved him most, and 
we are grateful for the privilege of association with 
him for so many years. We feel that any attempt 
on our part to eulogize him would be — to use a 
phrase which he frequently employed with refer- 
ence to others — an effort to 'paint the lily' ; and yet 
we cannot forbear to record our admiration for the 
gentleness and purity of his life, for the unfailing 
courtesy and consideration for others which was as 
much a habit with him as breathing, for the strength 
and elevation of his character, for the upright- 
ness and nobility of his conduct. The clearness of 
his intellect, the vigor of his reason, were not more 
remarkable than the directness and disinterestedness of 
his action. His lofty ideals were not marred by in- 
consistency of conduct. He had the faith of Lincoln 
that might makes right ; he sought the truth, and, hav- 
ing found it, he dared to follow where it led. With 
the gentleness of a woman he combined the courage 
of a lion, and being true to himself, could not be 
false to any man." — (From resolutions adopted by the 
Directors of the Fayette Home Telephone Company.) 

"A man of unusual mental ability, of the highest 
sense of honor, of keen appreciation of the service 
which he should render to his fellow-man, of rare 
Christian character, he brought to the discharge of 
every duty a determination to give his very best efforts. 
His counsels were wise, his judgment sound, and his 
integrity above reproach. In the death of John T. 
Shelby this community has lost one of its best citizens, 
this bank a wise and safe counselor, his church a 
Christian gentleman, and his friends one of their 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



choicest spirits." — (From resolutions adopted by the 
Directors of the First and City National Bank, of Lex- 
ington.) 

"As a man, he was gifted, highly trained, of incor- 
ruptible integrity; as counselor and adviser, clear- 
visioned and wise; as a friend, loyal and true; as a 
Christian, humble, devout and consistent. We honored 
him, we loved him, we shall miss him sorely. The 
Church is better because he lived and worked in it. 
It is poorer now because he has gone from us. While 
our sense of bereavement is so fresh and vivid, we 
shall not attempt to make a balanced estimate of his 
life and work, or pay complete and fitting tribute to his 
character. We would only express our thankfulness to 
God for what Mr. Shelby was and for what he did 
among us, and our sense of bereavement in his loss."' — ■ 
(From resolutions adopted by the Vestry of Christ 
Church Cathedral, Lexington.) 

Chilton Wallace Elliott. The younger business 
element of the thriving little city of Rochester, Ken- 
tucky, has a worthy representative in Chilton Wallace 
Elliott, who within a short space of time has established 
himself thoroughly in public confidence. A product 
of the agricultural districts, in his former environment 
he came into contact with matters that gave' him a 
knowledge of connections affecting the milling business, 
and during his connection with the Rochester Ice and 
Milling Company he has used this information to good 
effect in his position as secretary and manager. 

Mr. Elliott was born July 12, 1892, on a farm in 
Ohio County, Kentucky, a son of Luther and Mary 
(Brown) Elliott, and a member of a family which has 
been well and favorably known in Ohio County for 
several generations, his grandfather having been a 
lifelong farmer in that county, although dying at 
Hopkinsville. Luther Elliott was born in Ohio County 
in 1864, and throughout a long and uniformly success- 
ful career has followed the pursuits of farming and 
raising stock. At this time he is the owner of an ex- 
tensive property, well improved and highly cultivated, 
ships many cattle and hogs annually, and is accounted 
one of the substantial agriculturists of his community, 
as well as a good and dependable citizen. In politics 
he is a democrat, and his religious connection is with 
the Baptist Church, of which he is an active and gen- 
erous supporter. Mr. Elliott married Mary Brown, 
who was born in 1866, in Arkansas, but reared in Ohio 
County, and five children were born to them : Otie, 
who died young; Hallie, the wife of Audrey Taylor, a 
merchant of Ohio County; Charles, a coal miner of 
Muhlenberg County ; Nola, who died at the age of eight 
years ; and Chilton Wallace. 

The education of Chilton W. Elliott was gained in 
the rural schools of Ohio County, and until he was 
twenty-one years of age he was associated with his 
father in the cultivation of the home farm. At that 
time he went to Butler County, where he commenced 
farming on his own account, and this enterprise en- 
gaged his attention until 1918, when he came to 
Rochester and became manager and secretary of the 
Rochester Ice and Milling Company, a position which 
he has held to the present time. His associates in this 
venture are W. M. Brown, president, and Carl Willis, 
treasurer. The flour mill, an up-to-date structure, is 
situated just off Main Street, and its capacity is fifty 
barrels per day, while the ice manufacturing plant has 
a daily capacity of five tons. In the performance of 
his duties with this concern Mr. Elliott has shown a 
thorough understanding of the business, good judgment, 
foresight and acumen, and has so deported himself in 
his various transactions as to gain the confidence of his 
associates and the good will and respect of those with 
whom he has come into contact in a business way. 

Mr. Elliott is a democrat and is rendering Rochester 
valuable services in the capacity of member of the 
Board of Town Trustees. His religious faith is that 



of the Christian Church. He resides in his own home 
on Russellville Street, one of the comfortable residences 
of Rochester, in which town he has formed and held 
many friendships. Like other loyal and public-spirited 
citizens, during the World war he gave freely of his 
time and means in supporting the various movements 
inaugurated for the support and relief of America's 
fighting forces, and all worthy enterprises in times of 
peace have also met with his approval and cooperation. 
Mr. Elliott married in 1912, in Ohio County, Ken- 
tucky, Miss Nannie Tanner, daughter of Will and 
Novella (Brown) Tanner, farming people of this 
county who reside at Rochester. One child has come 
to Mr. and Mrs. Elliott: Barbara, born April II, 1913. 

William Fayette Owsley, M. D. The profession 
of medicine has been notably prominent in the wonder- 
ful scientific discoveries of the past and present cen- 
turies. Through the bequests of men of large means 
trained medical men are concentrating their efforts in 
laboratories equipped with every possible adjunct for 
research and investigation, to the solving of the prob- 
lems which so definitely concern humanity, its be- 
g'nning, existence and end. Not every physician is 
granted these opportunities, however enthused he may 
be with professional zeal and ardor, but the discoveries 
which come to him and the achievements which are his 
in his consideration of daily practice are, perhaps, quite 
as creditable, and certainly they are frequent enough 
to demonstrate great ability. Since 1901 Dr. William 
Fayette Owsley has been numbered among the efficient 
physicians and surgeons of Cumberland County, and 
during that period has proved his skill as a professional 
man and his worth as a citizen of Burkesville, where 
he has always made his home. 

Doctor Owsley belongs to one of the oldest families 
of Burkesville, and was born at this place July 22, 1879, 
a son of William Francis and Sallie A. (Alexander- 
Owsley. His paternal great-great-grandfather, William 
Owsley, was a pioneer from Virginia to Burkesville in 
the early history of this community, and here was born 
the great-grandfather of Doctor Owsley, Dr. Joel 
Owsley, who was an early physician and surgeon and 
followed his profession here throughout his career. He 
was likewise an early believer in the Christian or Camp- 
bellite faith, and preached the doctrines of that church 
even before the arrival of. Alexander Campbell. Dr. 
Joel Owsley married Mary Ann Lewis, who was born 
and died at Burkesville. 

William Francis Owsley, the elder, the grandfather 
of Dr. William Fayette Owsley, was born in 1812 at 
Burkesville, -and was reared to mercantile pursuits, in 
which he was engaged until reaching his thirty-fifth 
year. At that time, in partnership with Fayette W. 
Alexander, the maternal grandfather of Doctor Owsley, 
he established a branch house of the Louisville Bank, 
which was conducted until into the '70s. When he sev- 
ered his connection with this institution Mr. Owsley 
turned his attention to the brokerage business, and from 
that time forward concerned himself with the handling 
of mortgages, farms, etc. He married Mary Agnes 
Bledsoe, who was born in 1834 at Burkesville, and 
died in 1881. He survived her for many years and 
passed away while on a trip to Louisville, in June, 1908. 

William Francis Owsley, the younger, father of Dr. 
William F. Owsley, was born August 2, 1852, at Burkes- 
ville, and as a young man elected to make farming his 
life work. That he made a wise choice has been dem- 
onstrated in his subsequent career, for he has been a 
leading and successful agriculturist, and at the present 
time is the owner of a valuable property in Cumber- 
land County. In addition to his general farming 
activities he was a raiser and handler of horses, having 
an extensive stock farm, and his horses, particularly 
the Red Squirrel breed, are known all over the United 
States. While somewhat retired from active pursuits, 
having reached the psalmist's three-score-and-ten years, 



8 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



he supervises his large enterprises and take a keen in- 
terest in business affairs, as well as in matters which 
affect the community life. He is a democrat in politics, 
but has never been an aspirant for public honors. 
Reared in the faith of the Christian Church, he has 
always been a liberal supporter of its movements. Mr. 
Owsley married Miss Sallie A. Alexander, also a mem- 
ber of an old and honored family of Burkesville, who 
was born here in 1852, and died in March, 1904. They 
became the parents of the following children : Susie 
King, who died in 1916, aged thirty-six years, at Burkes- 
ville, the wife of Dr. John G. Talbot, a physician and 
surgeon of Burkesville, a sketch of whose career ap- 
pears elsewhere in this volume ; Dr. William Fayette, 
of this review ; Mary Agnes, the wife of Dr. R. C. 
Richardson, a dental practitioner of Leitchfield, Ken- 
tucky; Grant A., a resident of Burkesville, who during 
the World war was stationed at Camp Taylor, subse- 
quently was sent to other training camps, commissioned 
a first lieutenant, and was ready for overseas duty 
when the armistice was signed; and Helen, the 
wife of S. M. Young, vice president of the Bank of 
Cumberland, Burkesville. 

William Fayette Owsley attended the public schools 
and Alexander College, Burkesville, following which 
he entered Center College, Danville. He lacked only 
three months of graduation when ill health forced him 
to leave that institution, and upon his recovery entered 
the Hospital College of Medicine at Louisville, where 
he spent three years. Following this he pursued a 
course in the medical department of the University of 
Kentucky at Louisville, from which he was graduated 
in 1901 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. In 
that same year he graduated from the Louisville School 
of Pharmacy with the degree of Graduate Pharmacist. 
In 1902 he took two post-graduate courses at the Uni- 
versity of Kentucky, one in the spring and one in the 
fall, specializing in diseases of women and diseases 
of children. 

Doctor Owsley began his practice at Burkesville in 
1901, and since that year has built up a splendid prac- 
tice. A man of unusual ability, he has always taken a 
progressive stand upon matters pertaining to his pro- 
fession. Always devoted to his work, he is constantly 
endeavoring to add to his store of knowledge and 
widen his field of action. Having devoted so many 
years to his calling he has been liberally rewarded by 
the bestowal of confidence and the enjoyment of praise 
honestly won. Doctor Owsley is the owner of his 
modern residence and offices on Glasgow Street, one of 
the most desirable and comfortable homes in the city, 
an old Colonial brick structure. He is likewise the 
owner of a farm of 250 acres, part of which extends 
into the city limits, and carries on general farming and 
stock raising thereon. 

In politics a democrat. Doctor Owsley is a profes- 
sional man rather than a politician, but has accepted the 
responsibilities of public office on occasion. In 1906 he 
was appointed a member of the Board of Town Trus- 
tees to fill out an unexpired term, and in the following 
year was elected to that post for a full term of four 
years. At the present time he is United States ex- 
amining surgeon for Cumberland County, and formerly 
for six years was health officer of the county. He be- 
longs to the Cumberland County Medical Society, the 
Kentucky State Medical Society and the American 
Medical Association, and is a deacon of the Christian 
Church. During the World war he was very active in 
local matters, being examining surgeon for the Cumber- 
land County Draft Board, food administrator of Cum- 
berland County and chairman of the civilian relief 
committee, in addition to helping every drive be put 
"over the top." With Mrs. Owsley he organized every 
local chapter of the American Red Cross in the county. 
On October 25, 1905, Doctor Owsley married at Lex- 
ington, Kentucky, Miss Annie Pearl Owings, a daugh- 
ter of W. A. and Nannie (Rue) Owings, residents of 



Lexington, where Mr. Owings is a well known trotting 
horse owner, breeder and developer. Mrs. Owsley 
was graduated from the public schools of Danville, 
Kentucky, at the age of thirteen years, and four years 
later graduated from Caldwell College, now the 
Woman's College of Danville, with the degree of 
Bachelor of Arts. She took a postgraduate course at 
the Kentucky State University, and finally pursued a 
course at the Western College for Women. She is a 
woman of superior intellect, graces and accomplish- 
ments, and is a leader in the club and social life of 
Burkesville. To Dr. and Mrs. Owsley there has come 
one son, William Fayette, Jr., born August 16, 1906, 
who is now a student in the Burkesville High School. 

Frank Crim, whose death occurred on his home 
farm, on the Haley Turnpike in Fayette County, May 
30, 1888, was but forty-eight years of age at the 
time of his demise, but had left a distinct and worthy 
impress as one of the vigorous and successful repre- 
sentatives of farm industry in this county and as a 
citizen of sterling character and marked civic loyalty. 
He was born in Kentucky in the year 1840, and was a 
son of Lewis and Susan (Duvall) Crim, who were 
residents of Woodford County, this state, at the time 
of thejr deaths. Lewis Crim removed with his family 
to Texas, but after remaining in the Lone Star state 
for a period of three years he returned to Kentucky, 
accompanied by his wife and all of their children ex- 
cept James, who there remained until his death. Wood- 
son, another of the sons, later returned to Texas, where 
he passed the remainder of his life, and Clifford and 
Samuel were bachelors at the time of their deaths, in 
Kentucky. 

Frank Crim was reared and educated in his native 
state and here passed his entire life with the exception 
of the period of three years in Texas. He was twenty- 
six years of age at the time of his marriage, in 1866, 
to Miss Mary Haley, who was at that time nineteen 
years of age. She was born on her father's old home- 
stead farm in Fayette County, the same being situated 
on the Haley Turnpike, which was named in his honor. 
Mrs. Crim, who now resides in the city of Lexington, 
is a sister of W. W. Haley of Bourbon County, in 
whose personal sketch, on other pages of this work, 
is given adequate record concerning the Haley family. 
After his marriage Mr. Crim established his residence 
upon the farm given to his wife by her father, on the 
Haley Turnpike, and after his death his widow re- 
mained on this farm more than thirty years. Mrs. Crim 
finally sold the property and has since maintained her 
home at Lexington. While on the farm she was an 
active member of the Baptist Church, on David's Fork, 
her parents likewise having been zealous members of 
this church. She is now a member of the church of 
this denomination in the City of Lexington, and the 
religious faith of her husband likewise was that of the 
Baptist Church. He was a man of strong mentality, 
was vigorous and resourceful in his farm activities, and 
commanded the high regard of all who knew him. 

Of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Crim the eldest is 
Etta, who is the wife of Thomas Hagan, a skilled 
mechanic residing at Winchester, Clark County, he be- 
ing a brother of the wife of William L. Crim; Susie 
is the wife of James A. Liter, a prosperous farmer in 
Bourbon County; William L., the next in order of birth, 
will be more specifically mentioned in later paragraphs; 
Miss Mary Ella remains with her widowed mother in 
their attractive home at Lexington ; Stanley married 
Miss Leila Smithey, and is successfully engaged in 
farm enterprise in Bourbon County; and Thomas, who 
married Miss Willie Mai Bruce, is engaged in the auto- 
mobile business in the city of Lexington. 

William L. Crim, who resides on his well improved 
farm nine miles east of Lexington, was born on the old 
homestead farm mentioned in a preceding paragraph, 
and the date of his nativity was August 3, 1873, and he 
was a lad of fourteen years at the time of his father's 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



death. He was reared on the home farm, received the 
advantages of public schools and has never severed his 
allegiance to the basic industries of agriculture and 
stock-growing, in connection with which he has 
achieved noteworthy success. In 191 3 he purchased his 
present farm, which comprises 116 acres of the fine 
Blue Grass land of Fayette County, the place being a 
part of the old landed estate of George Daraby, and 
the house on the farm having been erected by a former 
owner, David Ware. Mr. Crim has made numerous 
improvements upon his farm, including the erection of 
modern barns and a silo of large capacity, and he is 
known as one of the progressive exponents of agricul- 
tural and live-stock industry in Fayette County, with 
special attention given to the raising of cattle. Both 
he and his wife are members of the Baptist Church. 

The year 1903 recorded the marriage of Mr. Crim 
to Miss Rose Hagan, daughter of J. F. and Anna (Tal- 
bott) Hagan, a personal sketch of her father being 
given on other pages of this work. The Hagan home- 
stead is situated two miles east of Clintonville, Bourbon 
County, and the widowed mother of Mrs. Crim still 
resides on this place. The male representatives of the 
Hagan family are remarkable for mechanical ability, 
and of the ten sons of the late J. F. Hagan there is not 
one who lacks such ability, while four or more of the 
number are or have been identified with the manu- 
facturing of gas engines and other machinery, at Win- 
chester, Clark County. Mr. and Mrs. Crim have a 
winsome daughter, Mabel, who is the light of the at- 
tractive home. 

William A. Ward, the efficient and popular post- 
master of Paintsville, county seat of Johnson County, 
naturally shows unqualified loyalty to his home town, 
for he is a native son of this county and a representa- 
tive of a sterling family whose name has been worthily 
linked with the history of this section of Kentucky 
since the pioneer days. 

William Anderson Ward was born at River, Johnson 
County, on the Big Sandy River, and the date of his 
nativity was October 1, 1863. He is a son of John M. 
and Pauline (Meek) Ward, both likewise natives of 
this county, the father having been born in the vicinity 
of the little village of River and mother at Ward City, 
a place now known as Whitehouse. John M. Ward 
died in 191 2, at the venerable age of eighty-one years, 
his wife having passed to eternal rest in 1891 and both 
having been earnest members of the United Baptist 
Church. 

William A. Ward, grandfather of the postmaster of 
Paintsville, was born and reared in Virginia, of Col- 
onial ancestry, and was one of the venerable and hon- 
ored pioneer citizens of Johnson County, Kentucky, 
at the time of his death. He developed one of the pro- 
ductive farms of the county and in the early days gave 
attention each year to the trapping and hunting of 
the wild game, which was then plentiful in this section. 
John M. Ward was for years actively engaged in the 
navigation trade on the Big Sandy River, he having 
operated a push boat, by means of which he trans- 
ported merchandise, produce, etc., to the various river 
points between Catlettsburg and Pikeville. His asso- 
ciation with this enterprise continued thirty-five years 
or more. He was in full sympathy with the cause of 
the Confederacy in the Civil war, was a democrat in 
politics, and both he and his wife were active in church 
work, he having aided in the erection of the building 
of the United Baptist Church at Ward City, a place 
named in honor of the family of which he was a mem- 
ber.' Of their five children two died in infancy; Trin- 
vella, who died at Whitehouse at the age of thirty-five 
years, and the wife of Washington Brown ; Sallie, the 
wife of Wallace Borders, was twenty-six years of 
age at the time of her death, at Whitehouse ; and the 
subject of this sketch is thus the only surviving mem- 
ber of the immediate family. 



William A. Ward attended school at River and also 
the rural school at the mouth of Two Mile Creek, it 
having been necessary for him to walk the five miles 
between his home and the latter school each day. At 
the age of thirteen years he initiated his service as cook 
for his father in connection with the latter's transporta- 
tion business on the Big Sandy River, and he continued 
his active association with the river trade for a full 
quarter of a century, twenty years of this period hav- 
ing found him in service as pilot and captain on steam- 
boats. For fourteen years of this time he was asso- 
ciated with John C. G Mayo, and among the boats 
with whose operation he was identified were the Sipp 
Bayes, the Beulah Brown, the Argyle, the Andy 
Hatcher and the Thelka, the last mentioned having 
been named in honor of Mrs. John C. C. Mayo, the 
owner. Mr. Ward was associated with Mr. Mayo also 
in all of the latter's trips through the Big Sandy Valley 
and the mountains when he was investigating and buy- 
ing coal leases. 

In 191 s Mr. Ward was appointed postmaster at 
Paintsville, and his administration has been signally 
efficient and satisfactory. He is a staunch advocate of 
the principles of the democratic party, is affiliated with 
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and both he 
and his wife are members of the Mayo Memorial 
Church, Methodist Episcopal, South, at Paintsville. 

As a youth of eighteen years Mr. Ward was united 
in marriage with Miss Mittie Ellen Borders, who was 
born in Lawrence County, a daughter of John Borders. 
She was born in 1865, and her death occurred on the 
9th of July, 191 1. Of the five children of this union 
four are living: Hester is the wife of J. T. Powell, a 
merchant at Grahn, Carter County ; John is in the em- 
ploy of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Company ; 
McGuffy is his father's assistant in the postoffice at 
Paintsville; Smith is in the service of the Chesapeake 
& Ohio Railroad Company; and Carrie B. died at the 
age of nineteen years. On the 8th of August, 1914, was 
solemnized the marriage of Mr. Ward with Miss Effie 
Casady, a daughter of Samuel Casady, of Martin 
County, and she is the popular chatelaine of the 
pleasant home at Paintsville. 

As the owner of a fine farm on the Big Sandy River 
Mr. Ward is deeply interested in the advancement of 
the agricultural and live-stock industries in his native 
county, and in his civic attitude he is essentially pro- 
gressive and public-spirited. 

G. E. Garth. The Garth family has contributed able 
and influential men to the agricultural, business and 
civic affairs of Todd County since pioneer times. One 
of the family is G. E. Garth, a well known banker 
at Trenton. 

His grandfather, founder of the family in Todd 
County, was William Edward Garth, a native) of 
Virginia, who came west when the district beyond the 
Alleghenies was still new, and cleared up and de- 
veloped a good farm in Todd County, living on it, near 
Trenton, until his death. He married Betsy Saffrons, 
who was born in Virginia in 1810 and died at the old 
homestead near Clinton in 1885. 

Their son, G. E. Garth, Sr., was born near Trenton 
December 4, 1839, and died January 16, 1920, having 
spent all of his long and useful life in the one com- 
munity. He became successful as a farmer and wide- 
ly known as a breeder of Jersey cattle and saddle 
horses. He was a democratic in his political affiliations. 
G. E. Garth, Sr., married Miss Louise Ware, who was 
born near Trenton in 1842 and died on the homestead 
in 1917, at the age of seventy-five. She was the mother 
of six children : Nora, of Nashville, Tennessee, widow 
of N. K. Allensworth, who was a farmer near Guthrie, 
Kentucky; Ella, who became the wife of S. E. St' 
and both died at Trenton, where Mr. Steger was 
ly known as the founder of the Bank of Trenton 
farmer; William Edward, an attorney by educa 



r\ 




HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



11 



October 10, 1911, was formerly Miss Elizabeth Archer, 
a daughter of George P. and Emma J. Archer, Mr. 
Archer being cashier of the Bank Josephine at Pres- 
tonsburg. Mrs. Wells, who survives her husband, lives 
at Prestonsburg with their two daughters, Emma Alice 
and Elizabeth Jane, is a devout member of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church, South, and a woman of many 
graces and accomplishments. 

William Wallace Jones. It is generally accepted 
as a truism that no man of genius or acknowledged 
ability can be justly or adequately judged while still in 
the heyday of life, chiefly because time is necessary to 
ripen the estimate upon work which can only be viewed 
on all sides in the calm atmosphere of a more or less 
remote period from its completion. This is in no way 
inappropriate to the life accomplishments of Judge 
William Wallace Jones, who has long occupied a con- 
spicuous place in the history of Adair County. No 
man in the community has had warmer friends or is 
more generally esteemed. He is a man of refinement 
and culture, deeply read, a leader of the county bar, 
president of the Bank of Columbia, and one who has 
achieved success in his affairs. 

Judge Jones was born January 19, 1855, in Cumber- 
land County, Kentucky, a son of Levi and Nancy 
Obedience (Gearhart) Jones. His great-grandfather, 
Charles Jones, was born in Wales, and as a young 
man immigrated to America and settled in Virginia. 
Shortly thereafter the colonies began their fight for 
independence, and Charles Jones joined the Patriot 
Army under the leadership of Patrick Henry in his 
first enlistment. Later he re-enlisted and was with the 
forces of General Lee. He married Fannie Thorpe, 
a native of Virginia, and shortly thereafter came to 
Adair County, Kentucky, as a pioneer, here spending 
the remainder of his life in the pursuits of agriculture. 
William Thorpe Jones, the son of Charles and Fannie 
Jones, was born in 1798, in Adair County, Kentucky, 
and as a young man went to Cumberland County, 
where he married Mary E. Baker, a native of that 
county. Mr. Jones farmed in Cumberland County for a 
few years and then moved to Casey County, where he 
spent the rest of his life as a tiller of the soil and 
died in 1868. 

Levi Jones, the father of Judge Jones, was born 
in 1835, in Cumberland County, where he was educated, 
reared and married and where he farmed for a few 
years. About 1859 he removed to Casey County, where 
he continued his agricultural operations during the re- 
mainder of his life and died at the age of forty years, 
in 1875. He was a Union sympathizer during the war 
between the states, but a democrat in his political al- 
legiance. His religious faith was that of the Baptist 
Church, and as a fraternalist he belonged to the 
Masons. He married Nancy Obedience Gearhart, who 
was born in 1839, in Cumberland County, and died in 
Casey County in 1907. They became the parents of 
five children, as follows : Maude, who died in in- 
fancy; William Wallace, of this notice; Mary E., who 
died at the age of eight years; C. C, who is engaged 
in agricultural pursuits in Casey County ; and Quincy 
R., a farmer of Glendale, Arizona. 

William Wallace Jones acquired his early education 
in the rural schools of Casey County, and in 1874, 
when not yet nineteen years of age, began teaching in 
the country districts of Casey County. During 1874 
and 1875 he taught two free schools, following which 
he pursued a course at Columbia Male and Female 
School, Columbia. Next, at home, he finished a course 
of study equivalent to graduating from Center Col- 
lege, Danville, Kentucky. From that time to the pres- 
* ent he has continued his studies and it is safe to say 
■tthat Judge Jones is today one of the best-rounded 
f scholars in the state. He reads Virgil, Tacitus and 
c Ovid, is a thorough Latin anad Greek scholar, and is 
J well versed in both ancient and modern literature gen- 



erally. In 1877 Judge Jones was admitted to the bar 
and at once engaged in practice, having since had a 
constantly increasing general civil and criminal prac- 
tice at Columbia, where his offices are located in the 
Jones Building, a business structure owned by him 
on the southwest side of the Public Square. He is 
also the owner of a modern residence on Greensburg 
Street, one of the most desirable homes of Columbia. 

In politics a republican, Judge Jones has long been 
before the public, but rather in an official than a po- 
litical capacity. W. W. Jones was elected judge of 
the Twenty-ninth Judicial District of Kentucky in 1892 
and re-elected without opposition in 1897, serving until 
January 1, 1904. He was nominated by the republican 
party as its candidate for judge of the Court of Ap- 
peal of Kentucky in 1898. His only fraternal con- 
nection is with Columbia Lodge No. 96, F. and A. M. 
While his profession and his public duties have en- 
grossed a large part of his attention, Judge Jones 
has also been a leader in financial affairs in this section 
for a number of years, and has been president of the 
Bank of Columbia since 1905. In 1900 he assisted in 
the organization of the Bank of Jamestown, of which 
he was vice president and a member of the Board of 
Directors until 1914, at which time he was elected 
president. He resigned the presidency in 1918. In 
1895 Judge Jones was one of the main factors in the 
organization of the Monticello Banking Company, of 
which he was vice president and a director until 1905, 
at which time he disposed of his quarter interest in 
the bank and retired therefrom. During the World 
war he took an exceptionally active part in all local 
war activities. He was chairman of the Adair County 
Chapter of the American Red Cross all through the 
war period and retains that position at the present time. 
He was likewise chairman of the first two Liberty 
Bond drives in Adair County, and assisted in all the 
campaigns for all purposes, likewise buying bonds and 
contributing to the various organizations to the limit 
of his means. In addition he worked helpfully and 
unremittingly during the epidemic of the influenza. 
From the elevated plane of public service down through 
the fields of its usefulness to the community and into 
the privacy of his family circle the track of the life 
of Judge Jones has been characterized by a constant 
and consistent uprightness born of high principles. 

He married at Columbia, Kentucky, in 1885, Miss 
Loulie Wheat, a daughter of Sinclair and Fannie 
(Garnett) Wheat, both deceased, Mr. Wheat having 
been a merchant and farmer at Columbia. Judge and 
Mrs. Jones have one daughter, Fannie, the wife of 
George R. Reed, an insurance man residing at the 
Jones' home on Greensburg Street. 

Marcus Alvin Dodson, for a number of years was 
engaged in educational work. It was congenial, and a 
profession where his qualifications showed to the best 
advantage. However, about ten years ago he accepted 
a call to the cashier's desk of the leading bank at 
Science Hill, and has found in banking a satisfactory 
substitute for a scholastic career. 

The Dodson family of which the Science Hill banker 
is a representative is of Danish descent. From Den- 
mark it was transplanted to Scotland, and from Scot- 
land to England. One branch of those in Scotland 
changed the name to Dotson and carried it to Ireland 
and from Ireland to America. Hence the Dotsons of 
this country are of the qriginal family of Dodsons but 
are of immediate Scotch-Irish descent. The Dodsons 
came from England to America, hence their immediate 
descent is Scotch-English. They were among the earli- 
est settlers of Virginia at the Jamestown Colony. 

From Culpeper County, Virginia, Thomas, Leonard 
and Robert Dodson moved over the mountains while 
Kentucky was still a part of the old Virginia. The 
title to the lands they bought in what is now Madison 
County was very soon contested, and from there 



12 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



Robert moved to what is now Warren County, Ken- 
tucky, where he reared a large family, while Thomas 
and Leonard Dodson came to what is now Wayne 
County, making settlement there while Kentucky was 
still an Indian battle ground. Leonard took up land in 
the community known as Cedar Hill. He had two sons, 
Eli and Stogdon, Eli moving to Missouri, while Stog- 
don went to Danville, Indiana, where his family be- 
came prominent. 

Thomas D. Dodson, the other of the three brothers, 
saw service as a minute man of the Revolutionary war. 
His place of settlement in Wayne County was on what 
is now known as Roily Creek, a tributary to Sinking 
Creek. Here he reared.a large family, six sons, named 
George Teaman, John, Jesse, James, Rollo C. and 
Leonard, and five girls : Mrs. John Robinson, who 
settled at Danville, Indiana ; Mrs. Thompson, who also 
went to Danville ; Mrs. Rheuben Sloan, Mrs. I. Burnett 
and Mrs. Mathew Denney, all of whom remained in 
Wayne County. The two oldest sons, George Teaman 
and John, were volunteers in the War of 1812 and rifle- 
men in the Battle of New Orleans. From Kentucky 
they settled at Marion, Missouri. When John left 
Kentucky for Missouri he had a family of ten boys. 
The oldest of these, Ishmael, graduated from the Kirks- 
ville Normal School of Missouri, became a Confed- 
erate colonel in a Texas Regiment in the Civil war, 
and was one of the framers of the Texas Constitution. 
George Teaman left two boys in Wayne County, James 
and Josiah Dodson, Josiah settling on what is known 
as Dry Fork of Sinking Creek, and his sons were 
Andrew, George, Aaron and Thomas. James Dodson, 
the other son of George Teaman, married Manervia 
Tuttle, settled on Fall Creek, and reared a family of 
four boys and six girls, the boys being : Thomas, who 
moved to Texas ; Josiah, who settled on Meadow 
Creek: Marshall and Teaman, who settled on Fall 
Creek; while the girls were: Rhoda, who married 
James Morrow and settled on Cumberland River in 
Wayne County ; Polly, who married James McCoin, of 
Edmonson County ; Jane, who married Job Morrow 
and settled on Cumberland River in Wayne County; 
Anna, who never married; Nettie, who married John 
Dodson and settled in Beach Valley near Monticello; 
Neatha, who married Junes Taylor and settled on 
Cumberland River in Wayne County. 

Jesse Dodson, the third son of the Revolutionary 
her. 1. settled on Sinking Creek. He reared two sons, 
Thomas and John. Thomas, who later became known 
as Big Tom Dodson. had two sons, Jesse and John, 
who settled at Wichita, Kansas. John, known as Jack 
Dodson, settled at Steubenville and reared three sons, 
Thomas, John and ' ieoi 

James, fourth son of Thomas D. Dodson, settled on 
Sinking Creek and reared one son, known as Miller 
George, who also had a son George, called little George. 

This brings the family account down to Rollo C, 
the fifth son of Thomas I). Dodson. Rollo C, who 
died in 1884, spent his life in Wayne County. He 
settled on what is known as Roily Fork of Sinking 
Creek. He married Mi^s Burnette, sister of Rev. Isom 
Burnette, a Baptist minister. He reared five sons and 
four daughters, the sons being Isom, George, Leonard. 
Jesse and James. Of the daughters the oldest was Mr>. 
Carl Gholson. who settled in Cincinnati, Ohio. Ruth, 
the second daughter, married Ximrod Morrow, and her 
oldest child was Joseph Moifow, who grauated from 
the Kentucky State University in 1899, later attended 
the Baptist Theological Seminary at Louisville and be- 
came a Baptist minister. The third of the daughters, 
Mrs. Elizabeth Denney, is the mother of Jerry Denney, 
a Baptist preacher. Mrs. Mary Simpson, the fourth 
daughter, had four children, the youngest, Rhoda, being 
now in the Baptist Bible Institute at New Orleans 
training for missionary work. 

Isom Dodson, oldest of the sons of Rollo C, settled 



on the Dry Fork of Sinking Creek, and reared three 
sons, Floyd, James and William. 

Leonard Dodson, the third son, settled on Sinking 
Creek, married Elizabeth Tuttle, sister of Ivan Tuttle, 
and reared a son George, who in turn had three sons, 
Elmer, Emory and Leonard, Elmer graduating from 
the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary at Fort 
Worth, Texas, in 1918, and is now a Baptist minister. 
Jesse Dodson, the fourth son, settled at Frazer, Ken- 
tucky and reared a family of three sons and two 
daughters. James Dodson, the youngest son, settled in 
what is known as Wright Valley, near Steubenville, 
married Harriet Simpson, reared a large family there 
and later moved to Foss, Oklahoma. His second son, 
George, became a Baptist minister, graduating from 
the Baptist Theological Seminary at Louisville in 1015. 

The second son of Rollo C. Dodson was George Dod- 
son, who was born in Wayne County in 1834, settled 
in Beach Valley near Monticello and spent his active 
life on that farm, where he died in 1010. He married 
Dorcas Young, who was born in Wayne County in 
1835 and died at Monticello in 1919. They reared a 
family of two boys and three girls, John and William 
being the sons. William died in early manhood un- 
married. The daughters were : Mary, who married 
Floyd Dodson, son of Isom Dodson, and moved to 
Texas ; Ann, who married Bascom Ballou and later 
moved to Texas with her family ; and Emma, who 
married Frank Smith and settled in Beach Valley. 

John M. Dodson. oldest of the sons of George, and 
a grandson of Rollo C, was born at Monticello in 
1859, settled in Beacli Valley and lived in that one 
community during his youth and mature years. He 
is noted as one of the largest land owners and most 
successful farmers and stock raisers in Wayne County. 
He has 1700 acres and has done an extensive business 
with cattle and hogs. He serv'ed a term of five years 
as assessor of Wayne County, is a democrat, one of the 
leading members of the Baptist Church and is a Mason. 

John M. Dodson married Nettie Dodson, daughter 
of James Dodson of Fall Creek, above referred to. 
She was born near Monticello in 1859. Of the five 
children born to their marriage two. Martin and James 
T., died in infancy-. The three living are : Marcus 
Alvin, cashier of the People's Bank of Science Hill; 
Walter Cleveland, cashier of the First State Bank of 
Eubank; and Flora Elizabeth Jane, a graduate of the 
Training School of the Baptist Theological Seminary 
at Louisville and who went as a Baptist missionary to 
Canton, China, in August, ['917, 

Marcus Alvin Dodson was born at Monticello 
October 5, 1882, and passed most of his youthful years 
on his father's farm, attended rural schools, graduated 
from the Monticello High School in 1900, and in 1904 
received the A. B. degree from the Kentucky State 
College at Lexington. For one year he was a teacher 
in the graded schools of Bell County, and during part 
of the year 1905 was a surveyor in the oil fields of 
Wayne County. Beginning in 1906 he was for a year 
principal of the graded school of Science Hill, during 
1907 was grade school principal at Greenwood, and 
was principal of the high school at Princeton, Ken- 
tucky, in 1908. During 1909 he was head of the 
department of mathematics at Dixon College at Dixon, 
Tennessee, and during 1910-11 was professor of mathe- 
matics and Latin in the Elk Creek Training School at 
Elk Creek, Virginia. 

In the fall of 191 1 Mr. Dodson entered the Peoples 
Bank of Science Hill as cashier, and has been steadily 
with that institution, serving it faithfully and promot- 
ing to the best of his ability its advancement and suc- 
cess for ten years. The Peoples Bank was established 
with a state charter in 1006, and has capital of $15,000 
surplus and profits of $18,000, and deposits of $150,000. 
Silas G. Adams is president, Dr. G. W. Plimell is vice 
president, with Mr. Dodson as cashier and in executive 
management. 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



13 



Mr. Dodson is a democrat, a deacon in the Baptist 
Church, is a past master of Mount Gilead Lodge No. 
255, F. and A. M., at Science Hill, a member of Somer- 
set Chapter No. 25, R. A. M., Somerset Commandery 
No. 31, K. T., Pulaski Lodge No. 75, I. O. O. F., at 
Somerset and of Crescent Lodge No. 60, K. P. Dur- 
ing the World war he was chairman of all local com- 
mittees for sale of Liberty Bonds and raising of funds 
for Red Cross purposes, and he deserves not a little 
personal credit for the successful issue of the later 
Liberty Loan drives in the Science Hill precinct. Mr. 
Dodson owns a modern home on Sandford Street. He 
married in Science Hill in 1907 Miss Lucy Denton, 
daughter of Alexander and Mary E. (Young) Denton, 
the latter a resident of Science Hill, where the father 
died in 1919. He was a retired farmer. Mrs. Dodson 
attended the State College at Lexington and also 
Georgetown College. They have one daughter, Flora 
Lucille Dodson, born August 4, 1918. 

Hon. Frank M. White, state senator representing 
the Sixteenth Senatorial District, is a resident of 
Tompkinsville and for many years has been prominent 
in Monroe County as a lawyer, farmer and man of af- 
fairs. 

He was born on his father's homestead in Monroe 
County and represents one of the oldest families in 
this section of the state. John White, his great-grand- 
father, was a Virginia soldier of the Revolution, a 
follower- of General Marion, and immediately after the 
war settled in Monroe County, Kentucky, where he 
took up farming. Recently the Government marked 
the grave of this Revolutionary patriot in the White 
Cemetery at Sulphur Lick. John White, Jr., his son, 
was born in Kentucky in 1801, and lived on his farm 
at Sulphur Lick until his death in 1871. His wife 
was Betsy Payne, a native of Kentucky, and they were 
the parents of a large family of children. 

Their son, Jordan White, father of Senator White, 
was born at Sulphur Lick in 1829, was a member of 
the Home Guards during the Civil war, and soon after- 
ward married and located at Tompkinsville, where he 
was elected sheriff of Monroe County. After his term 
in office he engaged in farming near Tompkinsville, and 
thus continued until his death on July 19, 1902. He 
was a republican for many years, later became a popu- 
list, and was a faithful member of the Christian 
Church. He married Martha L. Monroe, who was 
born in Cumberland County March 8, 1834, and is still 
living. 

Frank M. White, whose brother, Dr. James A. White, 
is represented on another page of this work, grew up 
on the old home farm, and remained there until he 
was twenty years of age. In acquiring his early educa- 
tion he walked two miles from the farm to attend 
school in Tompkinsville. Later he attended Liberty 
College at Glasgow, Kentucky, and Valparaiso Uni- 
versity in Indiana and took his law course in the South- 
ern University of Huntington, Tennessee, where he 
graduated in 1895. He was admitted to the Tennessee 
bar in May of that year, and soon afterwards returned 
to Tompkinsville and entered the law offices of Judge 
D. R. Carr at Glasgow. He was admitted to the Ken- 
tucky bar in 1898 and thereafter until 1906 devoted his 
time almost exclusively to his law practice at 
Tompkinsville. During all those years he has like- 
wise kept in close touch with farming, and now owns 
the old homestead of 230 acres two miles south of 
Tompkinsville. 

Senator White has done his part in the educational 
work of the state, and taught in public schools from 
1888 until 1897. He is a stanch republican in pol- 
itics. He was first elected to the State Senate in 1898 
from the Nineteenth District, comprising Barren, Met- 
calfe and Monroe counties. He served until the begin- 
ning of 1904. In 1915 he was elected a member of the 
Lower House of the Legislature, serving in the ses- 

Vol. V— 2 



sions of 1916-18. On November 8, 1921, he was elected 
a member of the State Senate for the Sixteenth Dis- 
trict, comprising the counties of Monroe, Cumberland, 
Clinton, Russell and Wayne. At this election he had 
a magnificent majority of 9,000 votes. Senator White 
is a real public leader, a thoughtful student of public 
affairs, a gifted orator, and his political success is due 
to his deep sincerity and personal integrity. He was 
also a trustee of the town of Tompkinsville for six 
years, 1906-12, and has been a member of the Board 
of Education. 

In 1898 he married Miss Mollie Kidwell, daughter of 
I. D. and Sallie A. (Williams) Kidwell. They have 
two children, Jordan Sam and Eva, the former a 
teacher and the latter a student in the high school at 
Tompkinsville. Senator White is affiliated with the 
Modern Woodmen of America, and he and his family 
are members of the Christian Church. 

Richard Landrum Hale, cashier of the Inez De- 
posit Bank, and one of the men of Martin County 
whose names stand for reliability and sterling in- 
tegrity, is a native son of the county, having been born 
on Wolf Creek in this county January 28, 1872, a son 
of George W. and Sallie (Parsley) Hale, both mem- 
bers of old and honored families of the country. 

The birth of George W. Hale took place on John's 
Creek in Floyd County, Kentucky, in 1840, and he died 
in 1903. His wife was born in what is now Mingo 
County, West Virginia, and she died in 1904. George 
W. Hale's parents came to Floyd County, Kentucky, 
from Virginia, and were there engaged in farming, 
becoming prominent in the local Baptist Church, of 
which both were consistent members. After the close 
of the war between the states George W. Hale came 
to Martin County. During the war he had served in 
the Fourteenth Kentucky Volunteer Infantry as a 
Union soldier, and participated in the battle of Cynthi- 
ana, during which engagement he was shot through 
the thigh, and this injury crippled him for a long 
period. Upon coming to Martin County he located on 
Wolf Creek, at Pilgrim, and began to take an active 
part in politics as a republican, was elected on his party 
ticket county clerk in 1882, and again in 1886, following 
which he served two terms as circuit clerk. The duties 
of these offices necessitated removal to Inez, and here 
he spent the remainder of his life, which he made a 
useful one in spite of his serious injuries received in the 
defense of his country. Early united with the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South, he long served it as a trus- 
tee, and for years was a teacher in the Sunday school. 
He was also a member of the Board of Stewards of 
the church. Made a Mason, he maintained member- 
ship with Crescent Lodge No. 672, F. and A. M., and 
served it as worshipful master. He also belonged to 
the Odd Fellows. Five sons were born to him and 
his wife, namely: John W., who is serving Martin 
County as assessor, is a farmer of Pilgrim; Richard 
Landrum, whose name heads this review ; Wiley M., 
who is cashier of the Kermit State Bank at Kermit, 
West Virginia, was cashier of the Inez Deposit Bank 
from the time of its organization until he was suc- 
ceeded by his brother, Richard Landrum ; Julius C, 
who is a merchant at Pilgrim, Martin County, Ken- 
tucky; and Wallace B., who is a merchant at Blocton, 
West Virginia. 

Richard Landrum Hale attended the public schools 
of Inez, and Morris-Harvey College at Barboursville, 
West Virginia. For the subsequent thirteen years he 
was engaged in teaching school in Martin County, be- 
coming principal of the Inez schools. For a long time 
he was also deputy clerk under his father. Judge A. J. 
Kirk appointed him master commissioner, and as such 
he took an active part in the gas and oil development 
in this county. For a time Mr. Hale was with the 
lease title department of the Tripple-State National 
Gas & Oil Company, which later became the United 



14 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



States Gas Company, and still later was merged into 
the United Fuel Gas Company, Mr. Hale continuing 
with these several companies for fifteen years, for three 
years of the time being at headquarters at Huntington. 
In 1918 he was made cashier of the Inez Deposit Bank, 
where he has found congenial work and has won the 
appreciation of his associates and the depositors of the 
bank. 

In 1906 Mr. Hale married Lucy Cassady, a daughter 
of Philip Cassady. She died in 1916, leaving two 
children, namely: Mildred Esther and Richard C. 
Mr. Hale subsequently married Mrs. Josephine (New- 
berry) Roach, a daughter of S. W. Newberry, .and 
they have one son, Samuel N. Mr. Hale is a steward 
and trustee of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 
and is active in Sunday school work. During the late 
war he was chairman of the sales committees for the 
Liberty Bonds, and was otherwise active in war work. 
He is now worshipful master of the local Blue Lodge 
of the Masonic fraternity, and maintains membership 
with the Odd Fellows, being treasurer of its local 
lodge. In politics he is a republican. Quietly and 
capably he has pursued the even tenor of his way, 
doing his full duty in each position he has occupied, 
and rising steadily from one to another with increas- 
ing responsibilities with each change. As a citizen he 
has been loyal to local interests, and has lived up to 
his conception of civic duty. 

Green Feeback. In the country districts around 
Carlisle, Green Feeback has enjoyed a high reputation 
as a good farmer and a good citizen for upwards of 
half a century, and his career is in every way worthy 
of record among the representative ctizens of Nicholas 
County. 

Mr. Feeback's farm home is on the Carlisle and 
Sharpsburg Pike, two miles northwest of Carlisle. This 
is not far away from' where he was born January 1, 
1856. His parents were John T. and Rachel (Mc- 
Daniel) Feeback, both natives of Nicholas County, 
where they were reared and educated, and after their 
marriage settled eight miles north of Carlisle. Subse- 
quently they lived on a farm two a half miles north- 
east of Carlisle, and were in that locality until the end 
of their days. They were active and devout members 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, while the father 
was a Mason and a republican. Of their six children 
three are now living: Lucy, wife of W. S. Feeback, 
of Carlisle; Mary J., wife of George Kennedy, of Car- 
lisle; and Green. 

Green Feeback up to the age of twenty-one lived 
with his parents, helped them run the farm, and ac- 
quired a common school education. For several years 
he hired out his labor to other farmers, but for the 
past quarter of a century has been doing for himself. 

November 12, 1896, he married Pearl Ross, who was 
born in Fleming County, Kentucky, August 23, 1870, 
daughter of John W. and Edna (Robertson) Ross, also 
natives of Fleming County. Mrs. Feeback was reared 
in Nicholas County aand had a high-school education. 
Mr. Feeback takes an active part in the Methodist 
Church, while Mrs. Feeback is a Baptist. He is a re- 
publican voter. His farm home comprises forty-eight 
acres, and he has earned his prosperity out of the soil. 

Willard Rouse Jillson, director and state geologist 
of the Kentucky Geological Survey, is the accepted 
authority on the economic geology and mineral re- 
sources of Kentucky. Only thirty-one years of age, 
and at the time of his appointment the youngest state 
geologist in the United States, Doctor Jillson has a 
list of honors and achievements to his credit which 
place him among the leading American scientists of 
the present generation. He is both a scholar and a 
man of action who has inherited his gifts to some 
degree at least from a line of notable English and 
Scotch-Irish ancestrv. 



He is a member of the Sons of the American Revo- 
lution, the Jillson and Willard families going back to the 
first settlements of Massachusetts. It was in the year 
1635 that one of his great-great-grandfathers, Maj. Simon 
Willard, an English emigrant, bought the land from the 
Indians and established the Concord (Mass.) Colony. 
His grandfather, Robert Dalzell Jillson, was born at 
Stockbridge, New York, in 1830, and died at Binghamp- 
ton, that state, in 1904. Most of his life was spent 
at Hornellsville and Syracuse. He was a printer dur- 
ing his youth, and later occupied positions of trust in 
railroad and express service in New York. At one time 
he was mayor of Hornellsville and for several years was 
publisher of a paper at Goshen, Indiana. His wife 
was Grace Meloy Rogers, a very gifted and talented 
woman, who has a national reputation as a public enter- 
tainer in native dialects. She is now, though seventy- 
five years old, actively engaged in her profession in the 
Yosemite Valley and Pasadena, California. 

Willard Rogers Jillson, father of the Kentucky 
geologist, was born at Chenango Forks, New York, in 
1867, and is a resident of Syracuse. He was reared 
in his native town and at Hornellsville. For twenty- 
five years he was connected with the Associated Press 
and at the same time carried on operations as a 
practical farmer in Onondaga County. Since then he 
has been director, sales manager and part owner of the 
Onondaga Photo-Engravers in Syracuse, New York. 
In early life he learned telegraphy, and during the 
World war, though over fifty years of age, he volun- 
teered and served in the Army of the United States 
in the Signal Corps. He is superintendent of the 
Sunday School of the First Presbyterian Church of 
Syracuse, one of the very old churches of Central New 
York. He is a republican and a member of the Masonic 
fraternity. At Syracuse he married Anna Delle Bailey, 
who was born in that city in 1868. Willard Rouse is 
the oldest of their six children. Edward Landfield is 
an oil operator at Okmulgee, Oklahoma. Frederick 
Fellows is a lawyer at Syracuse, and the younger chil- 
dren, at home, are Ruth Bailey, Alma Elizabeth and 
Helen Ann. 

Willard Rouse Jillson was born at Syracuse, May 28, 
1890. The family removing a few years thereafter to 
the small yet historic village, Onondaga Hill, he came 
to spend practically all of his youth in the country on 
his father's farm. He attended the rural schools, and 
found in a rather exceptionally good library there great 
interest in books on natural science, geography and 
travel. At the same time the rich physical features of 
the countryside afforded him many opportunities to ob- 
serve for himself while at play with his fellows the 
fundamental points of elementary geology. This he 
did to good account, for his record at Syracuse High 
School, from which he graduated in 1908, shows that he 
excelled in the physical sciences. While in high school 
he was editor of the Syracuse High School Recorder, 
a sixty-page monthly publication. Dependent upon his 
own resources for the funds for his schooling, he early 
came to feel the necessity of this editorial work and 
much outside newspaper reporting as a means of making 
his way through high school and college. He received 
the Bachelor of Science degree from Syracuse Uni- 
versity in 1912, and while there specialized in geology 
and mineralogy. He was prominent in the various 
student activities, being editor of the Syracuse Daily 
Orange for two years, and president of his class, two 
of the highly coveted student honors. At the same time 
he was a reporter for the Syracuse Herald. The year 
following his graduation Doctor Jillson was employed 
in publicity work by the well known Syracuse shoe 
manufacturing company of A. E. Nettleton & Company, 
and later went to New York City as assistant advertis- 
ing manager for Pathe Freres. But the old love for 
the great out-doors he had known as a boy caused him 
to resign and go to Seattle, Washington, where he tool: 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



15 



up graduate studies which led to his life work. He 
became later an instructor in geology at the University 
of Washington, from which he received his Master 
of Science degree in geology in June, 1915. During 
the summer of 1915 Doctor Jillson was one of a party 
of topographic engineers of the United States Geological 
Survey engaged in mapping the Mount St. Helens' 
quadrangle in the Cascade Mountains. In the fall of 
1915 he accepted a Fellowship in Geology in the Uni- 
versity of Chicago, where he continued his research 
work in geology under Professors Chamberlin, Salis- 
bury, Williston and Weller. In the spring of 1916 he 
was given a traveling Fellowship to the Permian Red 
Beds of Texas, where he collected vertebrate rep- 
tilian fossils. During the summer of 1916 he was em- 
ployed as field geologist by the Carter Oil Company 
and mapped the oil geology of the northern portion of 
the Osage Nation in Oklahoma. During 1916-17 Doctor 
Jillson had a graduate Fellowship in geology at Vale 
University, where he studied under a very notable 
group of American geologists, including Professors 
Schuchert, Barrell, Lull, Pierson and Gregory. 

Doctor Jillson did his first professional geological work 
in December, 1912, when he examined for New York 
parties several gold-sulphide properties in the north 
Temiscaming Lake region of Ontario, Canada. He be- 
gan his real work as a consulting geologist for various 
oil and gas corporations in Oklahoma in 1916, but his 
investigations also took him into Kansas, Oklahoma, 
Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Georgia. 
One of his engagements led him from the Mid-Conti- 
nental oil field to Prestonsburg, Kentucky, and for the 
past five years practically all his work has been done 
in Kentucky and adjoining states as consulting geologist, 
teacher and as state geologist. During the war Doctor 
Jillson was assistant professor of geology in the Uni- 
versity of Kentucky, giving instruction in geology in 
the Reserve Officers Training Corps. In 1918 he was 
also employed as a valuation geologist on oil and gas 
properties in Kentucky by the United States Depart- 
ment of Treasury. 

In the fall of 1918 Doctor Jillson was made assistant 
state geologist of Kentucky and given charge of the oil 
and gas investigations of the state. In February, 1919, 
Governor A. O. Stanley appointed him state geologist 
of Kentucky in the department of geology and forestry. 
At the session of the Legislature in March, 1920, the 
state department of geology and forestry was abolished, 
and the (Sixth) Kentucky Geological Survey reorgan- 
ized. In April, 1920, Governor Edwin P. Morrow 
chose Doctor Jillson for the post of director and stale 
geologist of the new Kentucky Geological Survey. This 
is one of the admirable appointments under the present 
governor, an appointment based on the preeminent at- 
tainments of Doctor Jillson as a scientist. His head- 
quarters are in the old Executive Building at Frank- 
fort. Syracuse University, his alma mater, honored 
him with the degree of Doctor of Science at its fiftieth 
commencement in June, 1921. 

The results of Doctor Jillson's scientific investigations 
in Kentucky and elsewhere are available in a large num- 
ber of books and pamphlets, the chief of which are: 
The Oil and Gas Resources of Kentucky, 630 pages, 
1st and 2d ed., 1919, 3d ed., 1920; the Geology and Coals 
of Stinking Creek, Knox County, Kentucky, 103 pages, 
1919 ; Contributions to Kentucky Geology, 264 pages, 
1920 ; Economic Papers on Kentucky Geology, 304 pages, 
1921 ; Production of Eastern Kentucky Crude Oils, 100 
pages, 1921 ; The Sixth Geological Survey, 286 pages, 
1921 ; Conservation of Natural Gas in Kentucky, 215 
pages, 1922; The Coal Industry in Kentucky, 86 pages, 
1922; and Oil Field Straigraphy of Kentucky, 1922: ; 
besides about one hundred pamphlets, maps, and printed 
reports bearing on the geology of Kentucky and other 
states. Doctor Jillson is also author of a biography 
of the present governor of the state, entitled, "Edwin 



P. Morrow — Kentuckian," and a book of poems, "Songs 
and Satires," which has been widely read. 

He is a Fellow of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science, and the American Geographi- 
cal Society, is a member of the Kentucky Academy of 
Science, the American Association of Petroleum Geolo- 
gists, the Southwestern Geological Society, the American 
Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, the 
American Mining Congress, the Kentucky Mining 
Institute, the National Drainage Congress, the Associa- 
tion of American State Geologists, the Kentucky His- 
torical Society, the Filson Club, the National Geographic 
Society and the Frankfort Chamber of Commerce. 

Doctor Jillson served three years as a member of 
Troop D of the First Cavalry of the New York 
National Guard while living in Syracuse. He is a mem- 
ber of the Syracuse Chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon, 
the Yale Chapter of Gamma Alpha, graduate scientific 
fraternity, and Theta Nu Epsilon. His religious views 
are Unitarian and in politics he is a Republican. Doctor 
Jillson owns and lives in a modern home at 120 East 
Campbell Street in Frankfort. He married at Prestons- 
burg in Floyd County, Kentucky, September 10, 1917, 
Miss Oriole Marie Gormley, daughter of Louis Henry 
and Marie (Smith) Gormley. On her mother's side 
Mrs. Jillson is a direct descendant of the gifted and 
affluant John Graham, the original Scotch-Irish Vir- 
ginian emigrant of the upper Big Sandy Valley of 
Eastern Kentucky. He it was who pioneered, surveyed 
and settled in what is now Floyd County many years 
prior to statehood. Mrs. Gormley is now residing in 
Frankfort, Mr. Gormley having died May 4, 1911, in 
Ironton, Ohio. A native of New Castle, Pennsylvania. 
he was one of the first real oil operators of this state 
and was successful in opening up the Beaver Creek 
pool in Eastern Kentucky in 1891. Doctor and Mrs. 
Jillson have three children, two girls and a boy. They 
are : Marie Gormley, born May 7, 1915 ; in Prestons- 
burg ; Oriole Frederika, born September 3, 1918, in 
Prestonsburg ; and Willard Rogers, born August 20, 
1920, in Frankfort, Kentucky. 

Covington U. Bramblett is one of the veteran busi- 
ness men of Nicholas County, and for a quarter of a 
century has been located at Carlisle in the real estate 
and insurance business. 

Mr. Bramblett was born in Bourbon County, Decem- 
ber 10, 1854, son of Henry and Malinda (Utterbach) 
Bramblett. His father was born in Nicholas County in 
1832 and his mother in Bourbon County in 1831, both 
grew up on farms, were educated in local schools, and 
were married in Bourbon County. Henry Bramblett 
spent his active life as a farmer in Bourbon and Nicho- 
las counties. He began voting as a whig. His wife 
was a member of the Christian Church. They had a 
family of five sons: John W., deceased; Covington U. ; 
B. H., a retired farmer at Carlisle; Thomas S., a re- 
tired farmer at Mount Sterling; and George W., a 
farmer in Clarke County. 

Covington U. Bramblett spent the first eighteen years 
of his life on his father's farm, and while there ac- 
quired a common school education. For three years 
he was in business as a country merchant, and in 1882, 
nearly forty years ago, moved to Carlisle, where he 
established a livery business and a horse sales stable. 
From 1893 for several years he was a trainer of trot- 
ting and pacing horses for the track, and among others 
he owned Investigator, a trotter with a record of 
2:1754, which for several seasons was a popular favor- 
ite on the tracks of Kentucky, Indiana and Texas. 
Mr. Bramblett sold his racing interests in 1896, and has 
since been engaged in his present business as a real 
estate and insurance operator. He also has the local 
agency for the Overland automobile. His home is a 
beautiful residence a quarter of a mile east of Car- 
lisle on Main Street, where he has three acres of land. 



16 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



He is a stockholder in the local tobacco warehouse, 
and for twenty-four years has served as election com- 
missioner of Nicholas County. He is a republican. 

December 9, 1897, Mr. Bramblett married Laura B. 
Thomas, who was reared and educated at Carlisle. She 
is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

Robert A. Atkinson, whose home is eight miles 
southeast of Carlisle and a mile and a half north of 
Sharpsburg, went on that farm as a renter early in 
his married life, and such prosperity^ has attended his 
labors and good management that he now owns one 
of the highly productive and attractive farm homes of 
Bath County. 

Mr. Atkinson was born near Moorefield, Nicholas 
County, October 9, 1861, and his birth occurred in the 
same house where his father was born. He is a son 
of James A. and Maria (Templeman) Atkinson. His 
father was born in March, 1835. and his mother was 
born in Bath County, Kentucky, October 25, 1840. The 
father died April 30, 1865, four years after the birth 
of Robert. The mother survived until 1909, and was a 
very devout member of the Christian Church. There 
were three children, only one now living, William S., 
born August 2, 1858. who married Florence E. Stephen- 
son ; Robert A., and James F., born November 30, 1863, 
and married Lida Sledd. 

Robert A. Atkinson lived out his youth on a farm 
near Moorefield, where he had a common school edu- 
cation. On November 20, 1884, at the age of twenty- 
three, he married Emma Coons. They started house- 
keeping at Moorefield, but on March 1, 1886, moved to 
their present place, where for several years they rented 
and then bought and have since paid out on a fine farm 
of 150 acres. 

Mr. and Mrs. Atkinson have had six children : Al- 
bert, born December 22, 1886, married Pearl Coons 
and lives in Lexington; Ollie C, born August 30, 1889, 
married Blanche Crouch and lives on the home farm ; 
Robert A., Jr., born June 8, 1892, is a graduate of 
Sharpsburg High School and of Smith's College at 
Lexington, is married and lives in North Carolina; 
William H. and Ila are both deceased ; and Ella, a 
graduate of the Sharpsburg High School, lives at home. 
The family are members of the Christian Church and 
Mr. Atkinson is an elder. He is affiliated with Ramsey 
Lodge, F. and A. M., two of his sons are Masons, and 
Mrs. Atkinson is a member of the Eastern Star. 
Robert A., Jr., is also affiliated with the Knights of 
Pythias. The family are democrats in politics. 

Thomas Terry. The banking interests of any com- 
munity are naturally among the most important, for 
financial stability must be the foundation-stone upon 
which are erected all great enterprises. The men who 
control and conserve the money of corporation, coun- 
try or individual must necessarily possess many qual- 
ities not requisite in other lines of endeavor, and along 
these high commercial integrity, exceptional financial 
capacity, poise, judgment and foresight may be men- 
tioned. Public confidence must be with them, and this 
fact has been demonstrated on numerous occasions 
when panics that threatened even the stability of the 
Government have been averted by the wisdom, sa- 
gacity and foresight of men whose whole training has 
been along the line of finance. A citizen who has 
been prominently identified with the banking interests 
of Grayson County for a number of years and who 
has done much in the effective building up of his 
county and town along additional lines is Thomas 
Terry, president of the Bank of Clarkson. 

Mr. Terry was born near Big Clifty, Grayson County, 
Kentucky, on his father's farm. May 25, 1885, a son 
of J. W. and Bettie (Hatfield) Terry. The family to 
which he belongs is of Scotch-Irish origin and was 
founded in America during Colonial times, when the 
first immigrant established his home in Virginia. In 



that state in 1809 was born the grandfather of Thomas 
Terry, John S. Terry, who became a pioneer into Gray- 
son County, Kentucky, in young manhood and here 
applied himself to agricultural pursuits. He became 
a well-to-do man through his industry and good man- 
agement, and also wielded an influence in local public 
affairs, serving for some years as sheriff of the county. 
He died near Big Clifty in 1884. Mr. Terry married 
for his second wife Eliza Wooldridge, who also died 
near Big Clifty, and among their children was J. W. 
Terry, the father of Thomas Terry. 

J. YV. Terry was born in 1855, near Big Clifty, and 
early in life decided to follow in his father's footsteps 
and devote his energies to agricultural pursuits as the 
work of his career. He has followed this course and 
in so doing has found prosperity and contentment, be- 
ing at this time the owner of a valuable farm two 
miles east of Big Clifty, on which he now makes his 
home. He is a democrat in his political views, and in 
religion is a member and active supporter of the Chris- 
tian Church. Mr. Terry married Miss Bettie Hatfield, 
who was born in 1857, near Big Clifty. Four children 
were born to this union : John, a merchant of Clark- 
son, who died in 1918, aged thirty-nine years ; Ward, 
a mechanic in the car shops at Louisville ; Thomas ; 
and Sam, a farmer and dealer in feed and fertilizer at 
Big Clifty. 

Thomas Terry received his primary educational train- 
ing in the country district school in the vicinity of his 
father's farm, and was reared on the home place, where 
he remained until reaching the age of eighteen years. 
At that time he pursued a course in the normal school 
at Clarkson, after his graduation from which he be- 
gan teaching school in the rural districts, and continued 
to be thus engaged for three years. He was next 
located at Louisville, where for one year he was a 
teacher in the Bryant & Stratton Business College, a 
position which he left in 1906 to enter the Bank of 
Clarkson, with which he has continued to be identified. 
When he entered this institution it was as assistant 
cashier, from which position he was promoted to the 
cashiership in 1909. In 1916 he was elected president, 
a position which he has held to the present time. Mr. 
Terry is an example of the type of banker who par- 
ticularly deserves success because he persistently uses 
his position of power for the safe-guarding of the 
interests of the community. Bankers of this type are 
invaluable protectors of the public prosperity from sud- 
den storms or injurious attacks. The Bank of Clark- 
son was founded in 1904 as a state bank, and has 
shown a healthful development and growth, its present 
capital stock being $15,000; surplus and profits, $16,000, 
and deposits, $425,000. The banking house is located 
on Main Street, and the officers are : President, Thomas 
Terry; vice president, W. C. Keller; cashier, E. R. 
Keller ; and Board of Directors, J. N. Higdon, a re- 
tired farmer of Clarkson; R. L. Pulliam, a railroad 
agent of that city; Daniel Downs, a farmer of Millers- 
town, and H. R. Jones, a wealthy citizen of Leitchfield. 

Mr. Terry is an adherent of the principles of the 
democratic party, and formerly was chairman of the 
Board of Trustees of the Town of Clarkson, a posi- 
tion which he resigned January 3. 1920. He is a mem- 
ber and generous supporter of the Christian Church, 
and as fraternalist holds membership in Wilhelm Lodge 
No. 720, F. and A. M., and. Leitchfield Chapter No. 143, 
R. A. M., in which he has numerous friends. He owns 
a modern and comfortable home on Patterson Street. 
Mr. Terry took an active part in all local war work 
in Grayson County and was county chairman of the 
Third Liberty Loan drive, in addition to taking an active 
part in the various other movements, to which he con- 
tributed liberally. 

On April 22, 1916, Mr. Terry married at Louisville, 
Kentucky. Miss Eula Keller, a graduate of the Leitch- 
field High School and a woman of many graces and 
marked accomplishments. Her parents, W. C. and 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



17 



Allie (Graham) Keller, are residents of Clarkson, Mr. 
Keller being vice president of the Bank of Clarkson. 
Mr and Mrs. Terry have one child, Nell, born Sep- 
tember 20, 1921. 

John G. Roberts. The men who faithfully and suc- 
cessfully discharge the onerous duties pertaining to 
the office of sheriff of a county are rendering their 
communities a service that, while generally recognized, 
is not always appreciated as it should be, for these men 
take their lives in their hands the day they go into 
office and for the remainder of their lives are not safe 
from attack from the men they succeed in placing 
within the power of the law because of serious in- 
fringement of the statutes. The criminal of today is a 
highly specialized worker, and when interrupted in his 
nefarious calling seeks to avenge himself upon the 
one he deems responsible for the failure of his care- 
fully laid plans. To meet and thwart such a criminal, 
to capture him and place him in confinement, and to 
secure the evidence necessary to convict him requires 
qualities of no mean order, and ones not possessed by 
every person. There must be grit and courage; de- 
termination and perseverance; a knowledge of men, 
and especially those of the underworld, so as to out- 
guess and out-plan the man against whom the move- 
ment is inaugurated, and an unflinching honesty and 
an unfaltering resolution to uphold the oath of office 
no matter what the temptation may be to deviate from 
the line of duty. When the citizens of Montgomery 
elected John G. Roberts their sheriff they felt convinced 
that he would live up to the highest conceptions of the 
office, and his subsequent career has more than justified 
their expectations, for he is one of the best men in 
this office the county has ever possessed. 

John G. Roberts was born in Montgomery County, 
March 7, 1866, a son of James H. and Sallie (Guy) 
Roberts, natives of Bath and Clark counties, respec- 
tively. She died in the fall of 1866, leaving four chil- 
dren, of whom two are now living: Nannie, Edward 
Martin, John G. and Bettie, the latter of whom is a 
milliner of Mount Sterling. Subsequently James H. 
Roberts was again married, and John G., then only a 
little over one year old, was taken and reared by his 
stepmother. When he was ten years old the family 
moved to Mount Sterling, and for four years he at- 
tended its schools, but when only fourteen years of age 
he began life on his own account. For the first year 
he received 25 cents per day. The second year he was 
paid $10 per month, and the third his remuneration 
was $16.67 per month. Going with Childs, Bean & 
Company as a salesman when he was eighteen years 
old, he received $25 per month for his services. After 
four years with this company, during which period 
his salary was raised, Mr. Bean sold his interests, and 
Mr. Roberts went with the Childs-Thompson Grocery 
Company, and remained with that organization for 
twenty-five years as a salesman. Leaving it, he spent 
one year with Steward Henley & Company of Cincin- 
nati, Ohio, and then returned to Mount Sterling and 
ran for the office of county assessor, for which he was 
defeated by only thirteen votes. Four years later he 
again made the race, and was elected by a large ma- 
jority and held the office of county assessor for a term 
of four years. Returning to the employ of the Childs- 
Thompson Grocery Company, he continued with it for 
about six years, and then purchased the retail depart- 
ment of the company, the new organization becoming 
Roberts, Young & Duff, and this association continued 
for two years and then became known as Roberts & 
Ringo. Five years later Mr. Roberts sold to his partner, 
and went into the wholesale grocery business, and op- 
erated it alone under his own name. Too close appli- 
cation to business resulted in a breakdown nine months 
later, he was forced to seek a more bracing climate 
and went to Colorado and there spent seven months. 



Returning with health restored, he was nominated by 
his party for sheriff, made a splendid campaign, and 
was elected by a gratifying majority. 

Sheriff Roberts married in April, 1901, Miss Nora 
Daugherty, who was born in Fleming County, Ken- 
tucky, and educated in the public schools. There are 
no children. Sheriff Roberts belongs to the Christian 
Church, and is serving as deacon of his congregation. 
Fraternally he maintains connections with the Odd Fel- 
lows. In politics he is a democrat. After assuming 
the duties of his office he installed Mrs. Roberts as his 
assistant in the office work. She is a very proficient 
business woman, an expert bookkeeper and a great 
aid to her husband not only in his office, but also in 
the seed business they are carrying on with such ex- 
cellent results. Both stand very high socially, and are 
recognized as being among the leading and represent- 
ative people of the county. 

John W. Letton. All the seventy odd years of his 
life John W. Letton has kept his home and his inter- 
ests centered on the farm where he was born. This 
farm is on McBride's Run, three miles northeast of 
Carlisle, in Nicholas County. 

Mr. Letton was born there September 22, 1848, son 
of William W. and Lucy A. (Williams) Letton. His 
father was born in Nicholas County, November 25, 
1809, and his mother in Indiana, May 1, 1809. They 
were married October 17, 1833, and the mother died 
December 19, 1863, and the father March 31, 1883. The 
community knew William W. Letton as a very success- 
ful farmer and as a citizen of worth in all his rela- 
tionships. He was frequently honored with public 
office at the hands of the democrats, and was affiliated 
with Daugherty Lodge No. 65, F and A. M. Both he 
and his wife were active church members. They were 
the parents of seven children, of whom John W. is 
the only survivor. He was the youngest. The others 
were: Berton R., born September 26, 1834, married 
Eliza N. Baldwin, and of his nine children six are still 
living, several of them with their uncle, John W. Let- 
ton, who has never married ; Martha I. Letton, born 
November 1, 1836, was the wife of Silas W. Willett ; 
Mary E., born October 28, 1838, married L. C. Jones; 
Laura, born March 21, 1841, died in infancy; Elton K. 
was born January 1, 1844; Abitha, born February 3, 
1846, died in girlhood. 

John W. Letton acquired a public-school education 
and for half a century or more his activities have been 
taken up with the home farm of seventy acres. He is 
a democrat in politics. The six living children of his 
brother, Berton R., are : Robert E., a Bourbon County 
farmer; Maude E., wife of Ed Alexander; Charles G., 
Thomas J. and Lucy M., all at home ; and Bertie, wife 
of Carl D. Payne. 

Leon Lewis Miles is president and manager of the 
Louisville Taxicab & Transfer Company, one of the 
largest corporations of its kind in the South, operating 
a complete taxicab, touring, baggage and trucking sys- 
tem covering the city of Louisville. 

Mr. Miles is a practical mechanic and leajned his 
trade and worked at it until he took an increasing share 
in executive responsibilities. He was born at Eminence, 
in Henry County, Kentucky, September 17, 1877. His 
father, J. M. Miles, is also a native of Henry County 
and is still in business as an agricultural dealer at 
Eminence. The mother of L. L. Miles was Lydia 
Jones, daughter of Thomas Jones of Shelby County. 

L. L. Miles finished his education in Eminence Col- 
lege and soon afterward came to Louisville and obtained 
employment at the Henry Vogt Machine Company. 
He also worked as a mechanic for the Kentucky Auto 
Company, and subsequently operated the Miles Auto 
Company until 1912. In 1913 he became president of 
the Southern Motors Company and continued as active 
head of that corporation until 1918, and from that 



18 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



date until August, 1921, he was one of the directors. 
In August, 1921, he became vice president of the Han- 
nah Miles Company, this company being distributors for 
the Dodge cars. In 1918 Mr. Miles became president 
and manager of the Louisville Taxicab & Transfer 
Company. At that time the stock was increased to 
$500,000. The present extensive buildings and plant 
of the company were erected in 1918. The business 
furnishes storage for a hundred and ninety cars. The 
Brown and Yellow Taxi system of a hundred cars is 
owned by the Louisville Taxicab & Transfer Company. 
There are 200 employes and in 1920 the cabs covered a 
total of 2,000,000 miles. For the transfer department 
of the business the equipment comprises twenty-five 
vans and trucks. Among other directors of the Louis- 
ville Taxicab & Transfer Company are Judge R. W. 
Bingham, Otto Seelbach and the late A. T. Hert. 

L. L. Miles is a member of the Rotary Club, Presi- 
dent of the Louisville Safety Council, and is affiliated 
with the Masons, Independent Order of Odd Fellows 
and Elks, and belongs to the Juniper Hunting Club, 
Pendennis Club, Louisville Country Club, and Audubon 
Country Club. 

At the age of thirty Mr. Miles married Florence 
Long, daughter of Dennis Long and widow of Jno. D. 
Taggert. Dennis Long was founder of the Long 
Iron Foundry at Louisville. Mr. and Mrs. Miles have 
a son Irving Long and he has a stepdaughter Mary 
Catherine Taggert, who is a graduate of high school 
and finished her education in the Finch School in New 
York. 

Hubert Prentice Myers, district manager of the 
Central Home Telephone and Telegraph Company, is 
one of the business men of Bowling Green who has 
worked his way from small beginnings to a position of 
independence and importance. In no period of his 
career has he been specially favored by fortune or cir- 
cumstance, but through the ready recognition and use 
of ordinary opportunities he has been able to rise stead- 
ily and his life is therefore one of typical self made 
manhood. 

Mr. Myers was born in Warren County, Kentucky, 
October 12, 1882, a son of \V. H. and Helen (Kirby) 
Myers. He belongs to a fam'ly which is of Scotch- 
Irish origin and the American progenitor of which immi- 
grated to this country some time in early colonial days, 
settling in Virginia. In that state, in 1822, was born 
the grandfather of Hubert P. Myers, George W. Myers, 
who became a pioneer in Allen County, Kentucky, near 
Allen Springs, where he died in 1897 after many years 
passed in agricultural pursuits. He married Miss So- 
phia Barrick, who was born in Barren County, Ken- 
tucky, in 1823, and died near Allen Springs, in October, 
1920. 

W. H. Myers was born near Allen Springs, Warren 
County, Kentucky, where he was reared and married 
and became the leading citizen of his community, where 
he was not only an extensive and successful farmer, 
but a successful distiller, a sawmill owner and a gen- 
eral merchant. When he was elected deputy sheriff 
of Warren County, in 1904, he moved to Bowling 
Green, and served in that capacity until 1910, in which 
year he was elected county assessor. This office he held 
until 1914, when he was made deputy county assessor 
for four years, and in 1918 was again made deputy 
sheriff, for a period of four years. Mr. Myers has won 
the complete confidence of the people of Bowling Green, 
where he resides in a pleasant home at No. 741 Twelfth 
Street. He is a democrat in his political views and his 
church affiliation is with the Methodist Episcopal con- 
gregation. Fraternally he holds membership in the Ma- 
sons, Bowling Green Lodge 320, B. P. O. E., and 
the Improved Order of Red Men. Mr. Myers married 
Miss Helen Kirby, who was born in 1862 at Alvaton, 
Warren County, and to this union there have been born 
four children : Hubert Prentice ; Willie, who is the wife 



of W. C. Brownfield, a teacher of penmanship in the 
public schools of Cincinnati, Ohio ; Essie, a teacher in 
the high school at Elizabethtown, Kentucky ; and Rodes, 
professor of languages at Ogden College, who resides 
with his parents. 

After attending the public schools of the rural com- 
munity of his birth, Hubert S. Myers pursued a course 
in the Southern Normal and Bowling Green Business 
University, from which he was graduated in 1902. In 
the latter part of that year he began working for the 
Bowling Green White Stone Company, as stenographer, 
but March 1, 1903, resigned his position and entered the 
employ of the Southern Electrical Construction Com- 
pany, where he was timekeeper and paymaster until 
July 1, 1903. Mr. Myers then entered the service of 
the Home Telephone Company, starting as collector 
and bookkeeper and gradually working his way upward 
by industry, fidelity and ability, until in January, 1908, 
he was made manager for the company. On January 
I, 1919, he was advanced to district manager of the 
Central Home Telephone and Telegraph Company, a 
position which he holds at this time. Mr. Myers' 
district comprises the exchanges at Bowling Green, 
Russellville, Morgantown, Woodburn and Lewisburg, 
and toll lines from Elizabethtown to Hopkinsville and 
from Scottsville to Rochester, Kentucky. Under his 
supervision there are eighty employes, his offices and 
immediate exchange being located at 804 College Street, 
Bowling Green. 

Mr. Myers is a stockholder in the Kankakee Auto- 
mobile Company of Kankakee, Illinois, the Comet Au- 
tomobile Company of Illinois and the O. K. Giant 
Battery Company, of Gary, Indiana. He owns a mod- 
ern residence at No. 1217 High Street, one of the com- 
fortable homes of Bowling Green. A citizen of public 
spirit and loyalty during the World war, he was a 
generous contributor to all movements inaugurated for 
the assistance of our fighting forces and assisted the 
various drives in Warren County. Mr. Myers is a dem- 
ocrat in politics, and with his family belongs to the 
Baptist Church. Fraternally he affiliates with Bowling 
Green Lodge No. 51, I. O. O. F., and Bowling Green 
Lodge No. 320, B. P. O. E., and is president of Post 
I of the T. P. A. at Bowling Green. 

Mr. Myers was united in marriage in 1906 at Bowling 
Green to Miss Sarah Hendricks, daughter of Mr. and 
Mrs. J. W. Hendricks of this city, the latter of whom 
is deceased, while the former has held the post of city 
assessor for many years and is one of this locality's 
most highly respected citizens. Mr. and Mrs. Myers 
are the parents of one child: Sara Katherine, who was 
born September 24, 1920. 

John T. Sims, who has passed the age of three quar- 
ters of a century, has spent most of his long and useful 
life in Nicholas County. He has been identified with 
business and industry as a merchant and also as a 
farmer, and the home of his later years has been an 
attractive country place a quarter of a mile south of 
Carlisle, on Plum Lick Pike. 

This home is not far from his birthplace. He was 
born May 29, 1845, son of William A. and Anna 
(Campbell) Sims. His father was born about six miles 
north of Carlisle in 1817, a son of Ambrose Sims, who 
came to Kentucky from Virginia in 1793. Ambrose 
Sims married Rachel Adair, who died in 1871. Their 
children were Mary A., William A., Robert, Margaret, 
Willis, Rachel and Lucinda. William A. Sims grew 
up in Nicholas County, and after his marriage to Anna 
Campbell, who was born in 1818 and died in 1875, he 
settled on the Maysville Pike at Forest Retreat, and 
conducted a country store there. Later he was in busi- 
ness as a merchant at Carlisle, then lived on a farm 
two years, and became an extensive dealer in livestock. 
At one time he had invested $10,000 in hogs, and while 
they were being shipped to market, but before he had 
received the proceeds, the entire lot was destroyed by 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



19 



fire. This practically ruined him, and he began build- 
ing up his fortune by renting a farm. Later he bought 
128 acres, and was gradually making his way back to 
prosperous circumstances when he died in Iowa, Jan- 
uary 5, 1894. He was the father of six children, two 
of whom are still living, John T. and Miss Juliet, the 
latter of Indianapolis, Indiana. 

John T. Sims spent some of his boyhood in the 
home of an uncle. He was educated in common 
schools, and at the age of twenty-three started out for 
himself. He clerked in stores at Carlisle, was also for 
a year a timekeeper on the Kentucky Central Railroad, 
and spent the winters of 1872-73-74 in Georgia with 
his uncle, Robert Sims. For several years he was in 
the saddlery and harness business. He still owns three- 
quarters of an interest in a business house at Carlisle, 
and his homestead farm comprises twenty-eight acres. 

Mr. Sims was made a Mason in 1875, and has had 
an active affiliation with that order for forty-five years. 
He is also a member of Nicholas Chapter No. 41, R. 
A. M. He is a democrat and a member of the Chris- 
tian Church. 

On November 16, 1875, he married Virginia Maston, 
who died October 15, 1882. Of her three children two 
are still living, William and Anna, both unmarried. 
February 21, 1884, Mr. Sims married Georgiana Wil- 
liams, who was born in Bath County, Kentucky, Jan- 
uary I, 1859. They have two children: Georgia, wife 
of O. H. Crouch and living at Lebanon, Indiana ; and 
Lida, wife of Russell Kinkingbeard, of Kenton County, 
Kentucky. 

James Miller by his purposeful life and character 
gained a notable place in the community of Millers- 
burg, where for many years he was successfully identi- 
fied with farming and other interests. His family 
still live there, on the old homestead a mile and a half 
out of Millersburg on the Maysville Pike. 

James Miller was born on a farm adjacent to his 
homestead May 6, 1854, and died there August 29, 1897. 
at the age of forty-three, but with substantial achieve- 
ments to his credit. He was a son of William Mc- 
Miller and Susan (Collier) Miller, and a grandson of 
Alexander Miller. William McMiller married Susan 
Collier, who was born January 14, 1804, daughter of 
James H. and Elizabeth H. (Jones) Collier. Both the 
sons of William McMiller, Charles and James, are now 
deceased. 

James Miller was reared in the country, attended dis- 
trict schools, and graduated from a school at Catletts- 
burg. After leaving school he returned home, and 
thereafter his time and energies were fully bestowed 
upon his business as a farmer. 

June 27, 1875, he married Miss Elizabeth B. Howe 
Mrs. Miller was born at Covington, Kentucky, October 
6, 1856, daughter of Robert and Catherine (Merring) 
Howe. Her father was a native of Canada and her 
mother of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Her father 
had some pioneer experiences in the California gold 
fields. Her parents were married in Cincinnati and 
then moved to Covington, Kentucky, where for many 
years her father was successfully identified with busi- 
ness. He was a member of the Methodist Church, a 
Knight Templar Mason and a republican. In the Howe 
family were three children : Elizabeth B., Julia I., who 
graduated from the Millersburg Female College and 
lives in Covington ; and Robert H., who died at the 
age of fourteen. 

Elizabeth B. Howe grew up at Covington, attended 
the Wesleyan College of Cincinnati and the Female 
College of Millersburg, from which she graduated with 
the A. B. degree. Since the death of her husband she 
has shown an apt business ability in handling her in- 
terests. She owns 265 acres in the home farm near 
Millersburg and is also a stockholder in the Liberty 
National, the First National and the Citizens National 
banks of Covington. 



Mrs. Miller is the mother of eight children: Robert 
H. married Gertrude Whaley and lives in California. 
Charles K. graduated from the Bowling Green Busi- 
ness College, married Cornelia Bootsman and lives in 
Alberta, Canada. Alexander graduated from the 
Millersburg Military Institute and married Ethel John- 
son. Joseph H. is a graduate civil engineer from Pur- 
due University at Lafayette, Indiana, and married 
Lucille Dailey. James W, who graduated from the 
Millersburg Military Institute and spent two years in 
Kentucky University, was a volunteer in the World 
war, serving as second lieutenant of infantry, and had 
seven months of service in France. He married Frances 
Oney, a graduate of the Lexington High School. 
Katherine S. Miller is a graduate of the Millersburg 
Female College, where she taught music until her mar- 
riage to William A. Butler. Julia H. Miller was also 
a graduate of the college at Millersburg, was a spe- 
cial student of English at Transylvania University, took 
the Library course in Iowa, and was at Somerset, Ken- 
tucky, teacher in the high school, and also catalogued 
the Carnegie Library there. She died in 1915- Lliz- 
abeth B., the youngest of Mrs. Miller's children, is a 
graduate of the Millersburg College, and has the Mas- 
ter of Arts degree from Transylvania University. Mrs. 
Miller besides her own accomplished children has four 
grandchildren. 

James M. Berry. No name stands higher in the 
Moorefield community of Nicholas County than that 
of Berry. It is a name that has been associated with 
agriculture, with banking, with the important work of 
the locality, and a sturdy and upright good citizenship 
through a long period of years. 

The stalwart -example and fine character of the late 
James W. Berry still exert an impressive influence over 
that community. James W. Berry was born near 
Moorefield, August 5, 1859, grew up on a farm, but 
acquired a good education, at first in the public schools 
and later in the college at North Middletown, where he 
graduated with the A. B. degree. The following year 
Pattie Evans graduated from the same college with 
the same degree. The friendship begun in college 
ripened into marriage, but when they made their start 
they possessed a capital of only $27.50. Fames W. 
Berry with the aid of his good wife enjoyed increasing 
good fortune, and at the time of his death owned 400 
acres of land and was president of the Frst National 
Bank of Carlisle. He was in every sense a gooA citi- 
zen and a liberal supporter of church and other good 
movements. He died December 10, 1919. His wife, 
who was born at North Middletown, September 12, 
1865, died October 5, 1903. They were active mem- 
bers of the Christian Church, in which he was an elder 
and was a democrat in politics. The three children of 
these honored parents are : Evans, who is unmarried, 
Pansy, a graduate of Hamilton College of Lexington 
with the A. B. degree, who died December 10, 1910, and 
James Milford Berry. 

James Milford Berry, who has successfully en- 
deavored to follow in many ways the honored foot- 
steps of his father, is a banker and farmer, living on 
his farm a quarter of a mile east of Moorefield. He 
was born there September 5, 1889, and that has al- 
ways been his home. He is a graduate of the Sharps- 
burg High School, received his A. B. degree from the 
Kentucky Military Institute, and graduated in law 
from Transylvania University at Lexington. Mr. Berry 
practiced law at Carlisle one year, but then retired from 
his profession to take charge of his farming interests. 
He owns a highly improved general and stock farm 
of 325 acres, and is president of the Moorefield De- 
posit Bank and vice president of the First National 
Bank of Carlisle. Mr. Berry is an active member of 
the Christian Church, is affiliated with B. F. Reynolds 
Lodge No. 443, F. and A. M., Nicholas Chapter No. 41, 
R. A. M., Adoniram Council, R. and S. M., Carlisle 



20 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



Commandery No. 18, K. T., and Oleika Temple of the 
Mystic Shrine at Lexington. He is a democrat in pol- 
itics. , 

John W. Knox belongs to the prosperous farmers of 
the Blue Grass section of Bourbon County, has achieved 
prosperity through his close attention to business over 
a long period of years, and still enjoys the comforts 
and fruits of his fine farm two miles from Millers- 
burg. 

He was born near Boyd Station in Harrison County, 
May 14, 1855, son of Isaac N. and Lucinda (Ingles) 
Knox. His mother was a native of the same locality. 
His father was born in Illinois, and was left an orphan 
at the age of one year and was then taken into the 
home of his uncle, Harvey McNice, and grew up on 
a farm in Harrison County, Kentucky. After com- 
pleting his common school education and after his mar- 
riage he settled on a farm near Boyd Station, where 
he lived out his life and where he was known as a 
good farmer and a substantial citizen. He was a 
democrat in politics. There were four children : Nan- 
nie, wife of Albert Colvin ; John W. ; James H., a 
farmer near Boyd Station ; and Thatcher, a miller at 
Boyd Station. 

John W. Knox lived on the farm of his father dur- 
ing his youth, attended the common schools, and at 
the age of twenty-one started an independent career 
as a farmer, soon afterward purchasing twenty-five 
acres at Boyd Station. He farmed there and later at 
Cynthiana for six years, and in 1912 moved over the 
line into Bourbon County, where he still conducts his 
farm, comprising 140 acres. 

Mr. Knox married Ida Roberts, who died leaving 
three children : Emma, wife of Luke Goodman, of 
Berry Station; Anna, wife of John Fogle, living near 
Boyd Station ; and Miss Nannie. February 4, 1897, 
Mr. Knox married Miss Frances Childers. They have 
three children: George B., Ella G. and Esta. The 
family are all members of the Baptist Church, and Mr. 
Knox in a democrat. 

Mrs. Knox was born near Boyd Station, Kentucky, 
April 7, 1867, daughter of Archibald R. and Mahala 
Byrd Childers. Her father was born in Virginia, April 
8, 1828, and her mother on January 9, 1827. Archibald 
Childers was a son of Elisha and Elizabeth (Hurst) 
Childers, both natives of Virginia, where they lived 
for several years after their marriage, and on coming 
to Kentucky settled in Wolfe County. Archibald 
Childers married in Wolfe County, and later moved 
with his family to the vicinity of Boyd Station in Har- 
rison County, where he spent the rest of his days de- 
voted to agriculture. He was a member of the Metho- 
dist Church and a republican in politics. 

Alfred Bradley, M. D. A physician who has found 
his work in a congenial country environment, and looks 
after a large professional clientage while living on his 
country place seven miles south of Carlisle, Doctor 
Bradley is a graduate of the University of Louisville, 
and has practiced in his present home community for 
the past ten years. 

He was born at Mount Olivet in Robertson County 
June 21, 1875, son of J. W. and Elizabeth (Hitt) Brad- 
ley. His parents were native Kentuckians, his father 
born at Little Rock in Bourbon County. Both are now 
deceased. They spent their active lives on a farm in 
Robertson County. They were members of the Metho- 
dist Church, and the father was a Mason and republi- 
can. Of their eight children six are still living. 

Dr. Alfred Bradley grew up on the farm in Robert- 
son County and was educated in the common schools 
and Mount Olivet Academy. For several years he was 
a successful teacher in his native county, and he edu- 
cated himself for his profession. He was graduated 
M. D. from the University of Louisville Medical School 
in 1909, and for three years practiced at Blue Lick in 



Nicholas County. In 1912 he moved to his country 
home on the Maysville Pike, on rural route No. 3 
out of Carlisle. He has eight acres of land, which he 
uses for agriculture on a modest scale. Doctor Brad- 
ley is a member of the County, State and American 
Medical Associations, and he and his family are mem- 
bers of the Christian Church. He is affiliated with 
Blue Lick Lodge No. 295, F. and A. M., Nicholas 
Chapter No. 41, R. A. M., and is a past chancellor 
commander of the Knights of Pythias. In politics he 
is a republican. Doctor Bradley in 1902 married Miss 
Pearl McDowell who was reared and educated in 
Robertson County. They have two daughters, Gloid 
and Hazel, both of whom have completed their public- 
school courses. 

James Guthrie, who was secretary of the treasury 
during the administration of President Pierce and one 
of Kentucky's United States senators following the 
close of the Civil war, was a native of Kentucky, and 
the state is justly honored by his many brilliant 
achievements. 

He was born in Nelson County, Kentucky, December 
5, 1792, of Scotch ancestry. His father, General Adam 
Guthrie, came from Virginia to Kentucky and as a 
pioneer developed one of the large plantations of Nel- 
son County. He participated in some of the Indian 
campaigns in the early history of Kentucky, and was 
a member of the Legislature from 1800 to 1805 and 
again in 1808. 

His son James Guthrie was reared on his father's 
farm and finished his early education in McAllister 
Academy at Bardstown. For several years he was in 
the flatboat trade on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. 
He studied law under Judge, later United States Sena- 
tor, John Rowan of Bardstown, and began practice in 
that city. At the age of twenty-eight, following his 
appointment as commonwealth attorney by Governor 
John Adair, he moved to Louisville, and his subse- 
quent career is identified with that city. He was many 
times honored to a seat in both Houses of the Legisla- 
ture. His influence as a lawyer and citizen and also 
in the Legislature made him instrumental in the found- 
ing of three great institutions of the state, the Uni- 
versity of Louisville, the Louisville & Nashville Rail- 
road and the State Bank of Kentucky. He helped 
secure the charter of the bank in 1834, and for many 
years was one of its directors. He promoted the con- 
struction of the railroad from Louisville to Frank- 
fort in 1833, and when the Louisville & Nashville 
Railroad was organized and incorporated its property 
he became president of the company. It was through 
James Guthrie that the City of Louisville voted a dona- 
tion in 1837 for the University of Louisville, and for 
thirty-two years he was one of the trustees of the 
institution. 

James Guthrie was elected a member of the Con- 
stitutional Convention of 1849, and was presiding offi- 
cer of the convention. He became secretary of the 
treasury in President Pierce's cabinet in 1853, and was 
the most influential member of that President's cabi- 
net, and many students have testified to his reputation 
that he was "the ablest secretary of the treasury since 
Alexander Hamilton." In i860, at the Democratic 
Convention in Charleston, he was Kentucky's favorite 
son for the nomination for president. He was a 
Union democrat during the war, and as president of 
the Louisville and Nashville Railroad made that road 
an instrument of great service and value to the Federal 
government. It is said that President Lincoln offered 
him the post of secretary of war, which he declined 
on account of age and infirmity. He was a delegate 
to the Peace Convention held in the city of Washingto 
in February, 1861, and a delegate to the Democrati 
National Convention at Chicago in 1864. He remainei 
loyal to the traditions of his old party, and befor^ 
the close of the war the Legislature elected him t> 



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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



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the United States Senate, in which he took his seat 
March 4, 1865. He was then past seventy, and in 
1868 resigned his seat and died on March 13, 1869, at 
his home in Louisville. 

In 1821 he married Miss Eliza Prather. They were 
the parents of three daughters, the oldest, Mary, be- 
coming the wife of John Caperton of Louisville, and 
her son is John Hays Caperton of that city. The 
other two daughters were Mrs. J. Lawrence Smith and 
Mrs. William B. Caldwell. The former was the wife 
of the distinguished American chemist and scientist, 
J. Lawrence Smith, whose achievements gave him an 
international reputation but whose home for a number 
of years was in Louisville where he died October 12, 
1883. 

John Caperton. Lives worthily lived and worthily 
ended have made in America noble records and tradi- 
tions in the Caperton family, which has been one of 
special distinction in connection with the history of 
Kentucky. 

The Capertons were identified with the frontier of 
Western Virginia prior to the Revolutionary war, and 
from what is now the State of West Virginia came 
over into Kentucky. The following account can note 
only briefly some of the deeds of a great importance 
in which the Capertons have been figured. While the 
history of Kentucky is in part a record of the Caper- 
ton family, the story of the family in complete detail 
must also be abbreviated. 

According to a tradition held by the several collateral 
branches of the Caperton family, both in the United 
States and Great Britain, it had its distinctive origin 
in the south of France during the Middle Ages, the 
first emigration occurring over 200 years ago, when 
Capertons settled near Melrose, Scotland, and in Eng- 
land on the Wales border, where some are reported 
still to reside. 

It was probably about the year 1725 that John Caper- 
ton came by the way of the north of Ireland and within 
a short time established his residence in Virginia, near 
the present dividing line between Monroe and Summers 
counties, West Virginia. On the voyage across the 
Atlantic came also a young Englishwoman, Polly 
Thompson, and upon arriving in America she became 
the wife of her fellow passenger, John Caperton. They 
passed the remainder of their lives in what is now 
West Virginia, and there they reared their family of 
three sons and one daughter. The sons Adam and 
William were the founders of the family in Kentucky. 
Adam served as a soldier in the war of the Revolution, 
as did also his brother Hugh, who remained in Vir- 
ginia, and the first engagement in which they par- 
ticipated was the battle of Point Pleasant, October 10, 
1774, both having been members of Colonel Preston's 
command. Adam Caperton served as deputy sheriff of 
Greenbrier County, Virginia, in 1780. He married Eliza- 
beth Miller, and they became the parents of three sons 
and one daughter — George, John, Hugh and Elizabeth. 
In 1782 Adam Caperton came with his family to Ken- 
tucky, and here he was killed by the Indians, in the 
historic battle of Little Mountain, or Estill's Defeat on 
the 22d of March of that year. Of this battle the 
general history of Kentucky in another volume gives 
ample record. 

Hugh, youngest son of Adam and Elizabeth (Miller) 

aperton, returned to Virginia several years after the 
leath of his father and made his home with his uncle, 
"apt. Hugh Caperton, near the old homestead of his 
grandparents. He eventually, in 1805, was elected sheriff 
of Monroe County and established his official residence 
at Union, where he married Jane, daughter of Michael 
and Margaret (Paulee nee Handley) Erskine. Of 
Hugh Caperton the following record has been written : 
"Hugh Caperton of the third generation appears to 

ave been a man of large physique, quite handsome 

resence, and both forceful and agreeable personality. 



He built 'Elmwood,' on the outskirts of Union, and 
after many years' service in the Virginia Assembly 
represented Virginia in the Thirteenth United States 
Congress. His second wife was Delila (Alexander) 
Beirne. Both wives predeceased him. There were no 
children by the second marriage. Of the ten children 
surviving the first marriage of Hugh Caperton, with 
Jane Erskine, there were four daughters and six sons." 

This embraces the record of the family down to John 
Caperton, whose name is given at the beginning of this 
article. John Caperton became a widely known citizen 
of Louisville, where he lived for many years. He was 
born in Virginia, January 15, 1817, and was educated 
in the University of Virginia. In early life he was 
given to some of the adventures and undertakings 
which attracted young men of that time. About the 
close of the war with Mexico he went to Texas, was 
engaged in some expensive land transactions there, and 
about the time gold was discovered on the Pacific coast 
he started overland by way of El Paso for California 
A most interesting record of this period of his life is 
found in some letters that have been preserved, written 
chiefly to Allen P. Caperton at Richmond. They de- 
scribe the incidents of his trip across the plane and 
the exciting life of early San Francisco. He served as 
a deputy sheriff at San Francisco, and had a rather 
prominent part in the affairs of that remarkable city. 

After returning East he located in Kentucky and 
married Mary Guthrie, daughter of the distinguished 
Judge James Guthrie, whose career as an eminent Ken- 
tuckian is sketched on other pages. After his marriage 
John Caperton lived in Louisville, and died in that city 
July 18, 1900. Mrs. John Caperton was born January 16, 
1823, and died April 23, 1901. Of the four children 
born to their marriage, only one, the oldest, John Hays 
Caperton, is still living, and the account of his life is 
presented in a following sketch. 

John Hays Caperton has been a prominent factor 
in the real estate business at Louisville for forty 
years, and the business established and built up by 
him is conducted today, with offices in the Taylor 
Building by himself and his son Hugh. 

John Hays Caperton was born at Louisville, Septem- 
ber 12, 1858, son of John and Mary (Guthrie) Caperton. 
The history of his father and the Caperton family has 
already been told. There is also an article on the 
career of his maternal grandfather, James Guthrie. 
John H. Caperton was educated in the public schools 
of Louisville. As a young man he entered the real 
estate business, and to that profession has devoted the 
best years of his life. He is an acknowledged authority 
on property values and business interests of his native 
city, and has been satisfied with the substantial success 
coming to him from his knowledge and practice and 
the service he has been able to render as a progressive 
citizen. 

In 1892 John H. Caperton married Miss Virginia 
Standiford, daughter of E. D. Standiford, a former 
president of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, 
whose life history is also contained in this publication. 
The only son of John H. Caperton is Hugh J. Caperton. 

Hugh J. Caperton, only son of John Hays Caperton, 
and actively associated with his father in business at 
Louisville, was born in that city July 16, 1893. He at- 
tended the public schools of his native city, graduated 
from the Hill School of Pottstown, Pennsylvania, in 
1913, and soon afterward entered his father's business. 
During the World war he was in the army stationed 
at Camp Joseph E. Johnston at Jacksonville, Florida. 
After his honorable discharge he resumed his business 
connections at Louisville. 

June 6, 1918, he married Dorothy Bonnie. They have 
two children: John Hays, second, born May 15, 1919; 
and Dorothy Bonnie, born April 12, 1921. 



22 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



J. Lawrence Smith. In the realm of scientific 
thought and discovery J. Lawrence Smith was one of 
the foremost Americans of the last century. Man} 
publications concerned with the history of the progress 
of economic chemistry and medical science make record 
of his work. For the last thirty years of his life his 
home was at Louisville, and the city reaped some of 
the benefit of his widely extended fame. He married 
the daughter of one of Kentucky's foremost statesmen. 
While his life and work came to an end nearly forty 
years ago, there is still importance and significance 
indicating that the fame he enjoyed during his life- 
time was well deserved. 

J. Lawrence Smith was born at Charleston, South 
Carolina, December 17, 1818, and died at Louisville 
October 12, 1883. As a brief sketch ihat contains the 
principal facts in the several lengthy published biog- 
raphies, one published in the Cyclopaedia of American 
Biography a few years after his death contains the 
information needed to fulfill the purposes of the bio- 
graphical section of this History of Kentucky. 

He entered the university of Virginia in 1836. and 
devoted two years to the study of chemistry, natural 
philosophy and civil engineering, after which for a 
year he was assistant engineer in the construction of 
a railroad line between Charleston and Cincinnati. 
Abandoning civil engineering, he studied medicine and 
was graduated, at the Medical College of the State of 
South Carolina in 1840. After studying in Paris 
he determined in 1841 to devote himself to chemistry, 
and thereafter spent his summers in Giessen with Baron 
Justus von Liebig and his winters in Paris with Theo- 
phile J. Pelouze. He returned to Charleston in 184^, 
began the practice of medicine, delivered a course 
of lectures on toxicology at the medical college, and 
in 1846 established the "Medical and Surgical Journal 
of South Carolina." Meanwhile he had published in 
the "American Journal of Science" several papers, in- 
cluding one "On the Means of detecting Arsenic in 
the Animal Body and of Counteracting its Effects," 
(1841), in which certain of the conclusions of Orfila 
were shown to be erroneous and one on "The Composi- 
tion and Products of Distillation of Spermaceti" (18423 
which was the most elaborate investigation on organic 
chemistry published by an American up to that time. 
Doctor Smith's fondness for chemistry led to his ap- 
pointment by the state of South Carolina to assay the 
bullion that came into commerce from the gold fields 
of Georgia and the Carolinas. About this time his 
attention was directed to the marl-beds in the vicinity 
of Charleston, and his investigations of the value of 
these deposits for agricultural purposes were among 
the earliest scientific contributions on this subject. He 
also investigated the meteorological conditions, soils 
and modes of culture that affect the growth of cotton, 
and made a renort of these subjects. In 1846 he was 
invited by the Sultan of Turkey, on the recommenda- 
tion of James Buchanan, to teach Turkish agriculturists 
the proper method of cotton culture in Asia Minor. 
On reaching the East he found the proposed scheme 
to be impracticable, and was then appointed by the 
Turkish Government to explore its mineral resources. 
For four years he devoted his energies to this work, 
and the Turkish Government still derives part of its 
income from his discoveries. Besides the chrome ore 
and coal that lie made known, his discovery of the 
emery deposits of Asia Minor was of great value, for 
the island of Naxos was at that time the only source 
of simply, and in consequence of the opening of new 
denosits the use of the substance was extended. The 
subsequent discovery and application of emerv in this 
country is due to his publications on the subject. In 
i8sO he severed his relations with the Turkish author- 
ities, spent some time in Paris, and protected there the 
inverted miscroscope, which he completed after his 
return to the United States in October. Doctor Smith 
then made New Orleans his home and was elected to 



a chair in the scientific department of the university 
of that city, but in 1852 he succeeded Robert E. Rogers 
in the professorship of chemistry in the University of 
Virginia. While Idling this chair with his assistant, 
George J. Brush, he undertook the "Re-examination 
of American Minerals," which at the time of its com- 
pletion was the most important contribution to mineral 
chemistry by any American chemist. He resigned 
this appointment in 1854 and settled in Louisville, Ken- 
tucky. On June 24, 1852, in Louisville he married Sarah 
Julia Guthrie, daughter of James Guthrie, Secretary 
of the Treasury in 1853-57. Doctor Smith filled the 
chair of chemistry in the medical department of the 
University of Louisville till 1866, and was superin- 
tendent of the gas works in that city, of which he 
also acted as president for several years. He estab- 
lished a laboratory for the production of chemical 
reagents and of the rarer pharmaceutical preparations, 
111 which he associated himself with Dr. Edward R. 
Squibb. From the time of his settlement in Louisville 
he devoted attention to meteorites, and his collection, 
begun by the purchase of that of Dr. Gerald Troost, 
became the finest in the United States. It is inferior 
1 mly to those of London and Paris and is now owned 
by Harvard. His interest in this subject led to the 
study of similar minerals with the separation of their 
constituents, and while investigating smarskite, a min- 
eral rich in the rare earths, he announced his discovery 
of what he considered a new element, to which he 
gave the name of Mosandrum. Doctor Smith was ex- 
ceedingly ingenious in devising new apparatus and 
standard methods of analysis. He was a chevalier of 
the Legion of Honor, and received the order of Nichan 
Iftabar and that of the Medjidieh from the Turkish 
Government, and that of St. Stanislas from Russia. 
In 1874 he was president of the American Association 
for the Advancement of Science, and he was presi- 
dent of the American Chemical Society in 1877. In 
addition to membership in many foreign and American 
scientific bodies he was one of the original members 
of the National Academy of Sciences of the Institute 
of France to succeed Sir Charles Lyell. The Baptist 
Orphan Home of Louisville was founded and largely 
endowed by him. In 1S67 he was one of the com- 
missioners to the World's Fair in Paris, furnishing 
for the government reports an able contribution on 
"The Progress and Condition of several Departments 
of Industrial Chemistry," and he represented the United 
States in Vienna in 1873, where his report on "Chem- 
icals and Chemical Industries" supplements his ex- 
cellent work at the earlier exhibition. At the cen- 
tennial exhibition in Philadelphia in 1876 he was one 
of the judges in the department relating to chemical 
arts, and contributed a valuable pacer on "Petroleum" 
to the official reports. His published papers were 
about 150 in number. The more important of them 
were collected and published by him under the title 
of "Mineralogy and Chemistrv. Original Researches" 
( Louisville, 1873: enlarged, with biographical sketches. 
[884). Mrs. Smith transferred to the National 
Academy of Sciences $8,000. the sum that was paid 
bv Harvard University for Doctor Smith's collection 
of meteorites, the interest of which is to be expended 
in a Lawrence Smith medal value at $200 and pre- 
sented not of tenet" than once in two years to any person 
that shall make satisfactory original investigations of 
meteoric bodies. 

As to the personal side of his life and character 
perhaps nothing more suggestive could be added than 
the following tribute from the editorial columns of 
the Courier-Journal : "No record of archives or sta- 
tistics could do justice to the charming simplicity, the 
childlike modestv and sincerity, the flower-like aroma 
of his private life. Eminent in his profession, he was 
more than eminent in his home. He was a gentleman 
truly, but he was a man of affairs, a man of convic- 
tions, a man among men, who though absorbed in 





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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



23 



scientific pursuits took a sincere and profound inter- 
est in public questions and events. Though the pos- 
sessor of a large fortune, he was singularly unostenta- 
tious, dispensing his hospitality bountifully but with 
reserve, and doing his charity, which was liberal and 
constant, in his own quiet way. He had not an enemy 
on earth despite the positivity and transparency of his 
opinions, and he goes to his last rest leaving the people 
with whom he was so long identified to mourn the loss 
of a citizen of whom all were proud and whom every- 
body loved and honored." 

Elisha David Standiford, in a lifetime of less 
than sixty years, became one of the foremost men of 
achievement and constructive leadership in business and 
public affairs in Kentucky. In his early life he had 
earned success as a physician, and turned from his 
profession to other interests with even greater success. 
He served a term in Congress, was a banker and for 
several years was president of the Louisville and Nash- 
ville Railroad. 

Doctor Standiford was born in Jefferson County, 
Kentucky, December 28, 1831, and died at his home in 
' Louisville, July 26, 1887. His birthplace was a farm 
within a few miles of the city where he spent all the 
active years of his life. He was a son of Elisha and 
Nancy (Brooks) Standiford, his father being a success- 
ful farmer. The Standi fords came to Kentucky from 
Maryland and settled in that colony from Scotland. The 
Brooks family were of Irish descent and were estab- 
lished in Kentucky early in the last century. Nancy 
Brooks was born in Pennsylvania and was brought by 
her parents to Louisville, but she grew up in what was 
then a frontier settlement near Shepherdsville in Bullitt 
County. Brooks station in that county was named for 
her father who had large landed interests there. Sturdi- 
ness of character, thrift and progressiveness were 
marked characteristics of both the Standiford and 
Brooks families, and the boy who was to become in 
later years a power in politics and in the business and 
financial world, was richly endowed by nature with 
those qualities which wrest favors from fortunes and 
win success for their possessor in any field of effort. 

Elisha D. Standiford was educated principally in the 
schools of Jefferson County, completed an academic 
course in St. Mary's College near Lebanon, Kentucky, 
and began the study of medicine with Dr. J. B. Flint 
of Louisville. After graduating from the Kentucky 
School of Medicine, he began practice at Louisville, and 
was soon profitably engaged. 

Preferring, however, a more stirring and varied busi- 
ness, he abandoned his profession and engaged in agri- 
cultural and other enterprises of larger and more public 
character. One writer said of him that "he was in the 
broadest sense the best and most successful farmer in 
Kentucky," though farming as a matter of fact was 
largely incidental to his other activities. He invested his 
means somewhat heavily in manufacturing and banking, 
and for a number of years was president of the Red 
River Iron Works, which developed into one of the 
greatest operations of the kind in the West or South- 
west. The Louisville Car Wheel Company, while he 
was its president, was the largest concern of its kind 
in the valley of the Ohio. He was also president of 
the influential and strong Farmers and Drovers Bank 
on Market above Fourth, then the leading bank of 
deposit in the state. 

In 1873 an election by the directors of the Louisville 
and Nashville Railroad added to his numerous duties 
the responsible relations of vice president of that cor- 
poration. Two years later he was promoted to the 
presidency of the road, an office he held until 1879. 
One familiar with railroad activities wrote during his 
. lifetime: "Under his management the commercial im- 
f ortance of that road has been greatly advanced, its 

itire working thoroughly systematized, many of its 

iperfluous officers dispensed with, the running ex- 



penses of the road largely reduced, its actual condition 
greatly improved, its local business increased, its gen- 
eral earnings greatly augmented, and the standing of 
the road permanently fixed in public confidence." 

It is probably no exaggeration to say that the way 
was prepared by the presidency of Doctor Standiford 
for the present power and far-reaching influence of the 
Louisville & Nashville. He was also prominently asso- 
ciated with the project of the Louisville Southern Rail- 
road, and for some dozen years before his death was 
president of the Louisville Bridge Company. 

A more general estimate of his life and character is: 
"He is a man of uncommon business and executive 
ability; is ready for any emergency; is remarkably clear 
sighted; is possessed of uncommon energy; turns almost 
everything he touches to advantage and is emphatically 
one of the most active and enterprising public-spirited, 
successful and valuable business men of Louisville. 
Doctor Standiford is attractive in manners, genial and 
companionable ; is over six feet in height, in the very 
prime of life, and is a splendid specimen of physical 
manhood." 

A man of such power and indubitable success could 
never look upon politics in any other light than as an 
opportunity for community service. He served faith- 
fully for several years on the Louisville Board of 
Education, and by the suffrages of his fellow citizens 
was sent to the State Senate in 1868, and was returned 
to the same body in 1872. While in the Senate he was 
instrumental in securing important legislation looking 
to the large and permanent benefit of the state. Be- 
fore the close of his second term he was chosen by the 
democrats of the Louisville district to represent that 
constituency in Congress. He was elected and entered 
Congress and went to Washington at the opening of 
the forty-third Congress. Here, says one authority, he 
was distinguished as an active worker and a debator 
of great ability, and was influential in the passage of 
the bill authorizing the Government to take possession 
of the Louisville and Portland canal, a measure greatly 
beneficial to the interests of commerce on the Ohio 
River, his speech on the subject exciting favorable 
comment throughout the country. He also appeared 
prominently in the debates opposing the reduction of 
wages for revenue agents, the reduction of certain 
tariffs, the repealing of the charter of the Freedman's 
Savings and Trust Company, and in favor of granting 
a charter to the Iron Moulders' National Union, these 
and other activities constituting an honorable and valu- 
able congressional record. At the close of his term he 
was tendered the renomination by both parties, but de- 
clined, believing that in his large business and home 
interests he could better serve the people. He will long 
be remembered as a man who helped to make much of 
the history of the City of Louisville and the State of 
Kentuckv. He accumulated a vast amount of property 
and at his death left one of the largest estates ever 
probated by a citizen of Louisville. 

Doctor Standiford was reared a Presbyterian, but 
later in life inclined to the Methodist faith, although 
not a formal member of any church. He married first 
Miss Mary A. E. Neill, who died in 1875, leaving four 
daughters and one son, the latter of whom died in early 
manhood unmarried. Daughters Florence, Mary, 
Nannie and Virginia became the wives respectively of 
George L. Danforth, Murray Keller, James G Cald- 
well and John Hays Caperton, all of Louisville. In 
1876 Doctor Standiford married Miss Lily Smith, who 
died ten years later, leaving two children. Less than 
three weeks before his death he married Miss Lorena 
Scott of Paducah, Kentucky. 

Carl L. Long. One of the farms in the noted Blue 
Grass section of Nicholas County that has responded 
to the intelligent care and cultivation of one family 
for more than half a century is that occupied and 
owned by Carl L. Long. The farm is his birthplace. 



24 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



and it is situated eight and a half miles west of 
Carlisle, on the Headquarters and Hooktown Pike. 

Mr. Long comes of a family of scholars, and his 
brothers and sisters have achieved distinction in the 
world of education and letters, while he has been 
satisfied with the substantial honors of service in the 
role of an agriculturist. 

He was born September 7, 1874, son of James Riley 
and Armilda (Cheatham) Long. His parents were 
also born in Nicholas County, his father in May, 
1848, and his mother November 9, 1851. They grew 
up in the same neighborhood, attended the same 
schools, and after their marriage began housekeep- 
ing at the place where their son Carl now lives. Here 
they spent their honored lives in industry and in the 
discharge of their duties and obligations as church 
members and home makers. The father was a past 
master of Orient Lodge No. 500, F. and A. M., and 
stood high in democratic politics in Nicholas County, 
filling the office of county assessor. Of their family 
the oldest is O. Floyd, who was born in 1870, gradu- 
ated A. B. from the Kentucky Wesleyan College in 
1890, A. M. in 1893, a "d received his Doctor of Philos- 
ophy degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1897. 
He is one of the prominent American scholars in 
classical languages, and since 1897 has been connected 
with Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois, 
holding the chair of Professor of Latin since 1910. 
Carl L. is the second son. The third of the family, 
Eva, attended the Millersburg Female College and is 
the wife of Ora H. Callier. The fourth, Orie Wil- 
liam, who was born at Millersburg in 1882, graduated 
from Center College at Danville in 1903, holds the 
Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees 
from Harvard University, and has been a teacher of 
modern languages and is now assistant professor in 
Williams College at Williamstown, Massachusetts. The 
fifth of the family, Mamie, graduated from the Mil- 
lersburg Female College, received another degree at 
Northwestern University, and is teacher of English 
at Sweetbrier, Virginia. 

Carl L. Long grew up on the home farm, attended 
the district schools and the Kentucky Wesleyan Col- 
lege, took a course in telegraphy and for a time 
had charge of the Postal Telegraph Company's busi- 
ness at Cynthiana. He also had some further com- 
mercial experience as a bookkeeper at Louisville, but 
finally returned to the farm and has been very suc- 
cessful in the role of an agriculturist, managing the 
177 acres in the old homestead. He is a democrat 
and a member of Orient Lodge No. 500, F. and A. 
M., and is an elder in the Indian Creek Christian 
Church. 

In October, 1897, Mr. Long married Miss Eula 
Snodgrass, of Cynthiana. She was born near Shady 
Nook in Harrison County July 17, 1874, daughter of 
William and Kate (Bowen) Snodgrass. She is a 
graduate of the Kentucky Female Orphans School 
and for sixteen years was a teacher. 

John Breckinridge Castleman during his active 
years achieved a high place on the roll of eminent 
Kentuckians. He was a Confederate officer and loyal 
Southerner during the period of civil strife. He 
inherited the estates of one of the oldest families 
of the Blue Grass region. After the war though he 
studied law his years were chiefly devoted to the in- 
surance business at Louisville. His name is also 
interestingly associated with the history of Kentucky 
thoroughbreds. He was born at the historic family 
homestead of Castleton in Fayette County June 30, 
1841, son of David and Virginia (Harrison) Castle- 
man. His great-grandfather Lewis Castleman was 
born, reared and educated in England and on coming 
to America in 1720 established a home in Virginia. 
His son Lewis was born and reared in Virginia and 
came to Kentucky about 1780. On the land he ac- 



quired in the Blue Grass region he developed a home- 
stead known as the "Old Mansion" in Woodford 
County about five miles from Versailles. His son 
David Castleman was born at the Old Mansion in 
1786 and was the father of the late Gen. John B. 
Castleman. His long life was given to the manage- 
ment of his extensive landed estates. He was twice 
married. His first wife was Mary Ann Breckinridge 
and his second wife Virginia Harrison. They were 
first cousins. Virginia Harrison represented the fa- 
mous old Virginia family of that name. Her father 
Robert C. Harrison was a son of Carter Harrison 
of Clifton, Virginia, who married Susannah Randolph, 
daughter of Isham Randolph of Dungeness. Carter 
Harrison was a brother of Benjamin Harrison, a 
signer of the Declaration of Independence, and father 
of Gen. William Henry Harrison, and they were sons 
of Gen. Benjamin Harrison, one of the early gov- 
ernors of Virginia. These Harrisons were descend- 
ants of Benjamin Harrison who was born in 1599 
in Surrey, England. Robert C. Harrison was an 
intimate friend of the elder John Breckinridge and 
they married sisters, members of the famous Cabell 
family of Zion Hill, Virginia. Robert C. Harrison 
and John Breckinridge came to Kentucky and acquired 
about 8,000 acres of land adjoining in Fayette County. 
The homestead on the Breckinridge plantation was 
called Cabellsdale and that on the Harrison place Elk 
Hill, from the name of the Virginia home of the 
Harrisons. 

John Breckinridge Castleman was educated at Fort 
Hill Academy in Fayette County and was a student 
in Transylvania University at Lexington when the 
war broke out between the states. He left Lexington 
soon after it was garrisoned by the Federal troops 
and joined the forces of Gen. John H. Morgan as 
captain of Company D in what was later known as 
the Second Kentucky Cavalry. He was with General 
Morgan in many of his campaigns and commanded 
the regiment in several battles. He had the rank of 
major at the close of the war. Early in 1864 the 
Confederate Government gave him a commission to 
effect the release of Southern prisoners in the Northern 
states. During this hazardous venture he was captured 
at Sullivan, Indiana, and was held in solitary con- 
finement in the Federal prison at Indianapolis from 
September, 1864, until July, 1865. He was then re- 
leased on parole after giving his promise to leave 
the United States and never return. He remained 
in exile in Europe until December, 1866. President 
Johnson gave him authority to return. On returning 
to Kentucky General Castleman studied law, graduated 
LL. B. from the University of Louisville in 1868. 
but instead of embarking on the routine of his pro- 
fession accepted the management of the business of 
the Royal Insurance Company of Liverpool for the 
Southern states. That was the beginning of the old 
established insurance firm of Barbee & Castleman at 
Louisville. After the death of Mr. Barbee the firm 
name was retained with General Castleman as the 
executive and administrative head, and largely due 
to him it became one of the largest insurance organ- 
izations in the South. 

The death of General Castleman on May 23, 1918, 
closed a career of half a century of business activity. 
The grateful memory of this distinguished Kentuckian 
survives for many important services rendered in civic 
affairs as well. For twenty or more years he was 
president of the City Board of Park Commissioners 
of Louisville. His influence was conspicuously directed 
to the institution of modern street paving. The mili- 
tary experience of his youthful years he turned to 
the advantage of his state in its military establish- 
ment. In 1878 he organized the Louisville Legion, 
in its day undoubtedly one of the best disciplined 
and best known military bodies in the United States, 
and of which for many years he was commander. 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



25 



Under appointment from Gov. J. Proctor Knott he 
served as adjutant general of Kentucky four years 
until 1886. In 1898 lie promptly tendered his services 
and those of his regiment to the Government at the 
time of the Spanish-American war and was com- 
missioned a brigadier general. For many years he 
was actively identified with the United Confederate 
Veterans Association. 

General Castleman was chosen to represent Ken- 
tucky in 1888 as a delegate to the dedication of the 
Washington Monument in the National Capital. He 
was a member of the Kentucky Commission to the 
World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. 
During 1891-92 he was chairman of the Democratic 
State Central Committee, and in 1892 was delegate 
at large to the National Convention at Chicago. For 
his many distinguished public services General Castle- 
man had the unique honor of having erected during 
his lifetime by his fellow citizens in Kentucky an 
equestrian statue dedicated to him. General Castle- 
man was in command of the Kentucky troops during 
the troubles following the assassination of Governor 
Goebel. 

In 1892 General Castleman organized the American 
Saddle Horse Breeders Association, with the object 
of breeding and perpetuating the highest type saddle 
horses in the United States. He was made presi- 
dent of that association and held that post of honor 
for many years. November 24, 1868, he married Miss 
Alice Barbee of Louisville, daughter of John Barbee. 
To their marriage were born five children : David, 
•Elsie, Breckinridge, Kenneth and Alice. 

Edward S. Jones, secretary and treasurer of the 
Hazard Insurance Agency, Incorporated, is one of the 
alert young business men of Hazard who is devot- 
ing his time and talents to protecting the interests 
of his fellow citizens against unforeseen losses by 
means of desirable policies in reliable companies. He 
is also a veteran of the World war, and together 
with his associates in this war, is deserving of special 
consideration at the hands of his community, because 
of the service he rendered when his country had need 
of him. 

Mr. Jones was born on a farm near Kirksville, 
Madison County, Kentucky, December 4, 1888, a son 
of Woodson Stewart and Fanny (Lafoon) Jones, the 
former of whom was born in Madison County, and 
the latter in Jessamine County, Kentucky. He is now 
sixty-three and she is fifty-nine, and their home is 
now on a Fayette County farm near Lexington. All 
his life he has been an active democrat. Both are 
devout members of the Christian Church, and he is 
a Mason. The Jones and Lafoon families are both 
from Virginia. Edward S. Jones is one of four sons. 
His brothers, George and Charles are Madison County 
farmers, and Armer is with the First National Bank, 
Hazard, Kentucky. 

Although he attended the Transylvania College, de- 
fective eyesight necessitated Edward S. Jones leaving 
school before his graduation. He went into business 
at Lexington, Kentucky as a tobacco merchant, with 
the W. L. Petty Company, and was doing well when 
he left his affairs to go into the service, and was 
sent to France with the Barrow Hospital Unit. Mr. 
Jones entered the service in December, 1917, and went 
overseas in March, 1918, returning home in March, 
1919, with the rank of sergeant. He was stationed 
at Southampton, England, and had a strenuous service. 

Not long after his discharge Mr. Jones came to 
Hazard as manager of the Hazard Insurance Agency. 
His business associates are J. A. Roan, cashier of 
the First National Bank, and L. F. Brashear, cashier 
of the Perry County Bank, both gentlemen of un- 
questioned financial solidity and high standing in the 
community. 

On March 8, 1921 Mr. Jones was married to Jeanette 



Kinzie of Blueficld, West Virginia. They are mem- 
bers of the Presbyterian Church and popular in the 
congregation. Mr. Jones is a Master Mason and 
belongs to Lexington Lodge No. 1, A. F. and A. M. 
An aggressive business man and well-versed on in- 
surance matters Mr. Jones has brought the affairs 
of his agency into prime conditions and is doing an 
excellent line of work. He regards his exertions 
with reference to writing policies as a public service 
as well as a plain business proposition for he realizes 
the prime necessity which exists for everyone to be 
properly protected, and has found it obligatory to 
do a vast amount of educational work in this line 
in order to create a proper appreciation of insurance 
in the average citizen. That he is succeeding the 
volume of business he is writing distinctly proves, 
and while he is doing this he is also winning the 
place in his community to which he is justly entitled. 

John P. Cozine for many years enjoyed a place 
of leadership among Kentucky newspaper men. He 
was in the newspaper business in Indiana, but his 
best work was done at Shelbyville, Kentucky, where 
for many years he was editor and publisher of the 
News. 

He was born in Mercer County, Kentucky, May 
3, 1843, son of Harvey and Mary (Snyder) Cozine, 
both natives of Virginia. After their marriage the 
parents came to Kentucky, about 1820, and were 
pioneers in Shelby County, but later moved to Mercer 
County, where they spent the rest of their days. 

John P. Cozine was reared in Mercer County, ac- 
quired a common school education, and as a youth 
at the outbreak of the Civil war moved to Indiana 
and enlisted in Company I of the First Indiana Heavy 
Artillery. He was with his regiment in active service 
until the close of hostilities. He then returned to 
Indiana, and had his first active associations with the 
newspaper business at Salem and later at Leaven- 
worth in the same state. For a time he did news- 
paper work at Louisville and in 1873 moved to Shelby- 
ville. Here he had several associates in the newspaper 
business, and eventually established the Shelby News, 
of which he remained editor and publisher until his 
death on January 27, 1897. 

John P. Cozine was a republican in early life, but 
later a democrat, and published the News as a demo- 
cratic newspaper with great and far-reaching influence. 
He was a member of the Methodist Church, and was 
affiliated with the Masonic Order, Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows, and the Knights of Pythias. 

At Leavenworth, Indiana, in 1869, he married Miss 
Nannie C. Bell, a native of Kentucky and daughter 
of John and Mary (Weather) Bell. They became 
the parents of seven children, six of whom are still 
living. 

Benjamin Bristow Cozine, son of the late John 
P. Cozine, has followed in the footsteps of his honored 
father and really acquired his education in the news- 
paper business. He has been the proprietor and editor 
of the Shelby News for the past quarter of a century. 

Mr. Cozine was born in Shelbyville June 21, 1877, 
and while he acquired an education in schools the 
chief source of his knowledge was his father's print- 
ing plant. In July, 1896, he took active charge of 
the business, and a year later, when his father died, 
he succeeded to the ownership of the plant and news- 
paper and has continued it with steadily increasing 
success. Mr. Cozine for many years has been actively 
identified with the Kentucky Press Association. He 
is a democrat, a progressive citizen, and during the 
World war was local director of the Liberty Loan 
Sales. He is a Master Mason, Knight of Pythias 
and Elk and is treasurer of the Christian Church. 

May 23, 1901, Mr. Cozine married Miss Mason Rice, 
daughter of Captain James H. and Nannie Elizabeth 



26 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



(Middelton) Rice, of Shelby County. She is a grand- 
daughter of Anthony Middelton, whose career as a 
pioneer is published in the preceding sketch. 

Mat. Foxhall A. Daingerfield. Some of the great- 
est horses that ever contributed to the sire fame of Ken- 
tucky on the turf and in the show ring were assembled 
at one time or another at Castleton near Lexington, and 
that famous place was under the management and direc- 
tion of the late Maj. Foxhall A. Daingerfield for James 
R. Keene. 

The late Maj. Foxhall A. Daingerfield was born in 
Rockingham County. Virginia, at Westwood, February 8, 
1839. He was educated at Washington and Lee Univer- 
sity in Virginia, in the class that was broken up at the 
beginning of the war between the states. During that 
war he served as captain under General Stuart in the 
Eleventh Virginia Cavalry, was promoted to major of 
the regiment and was five times wounded. Following the 
war he practiced law at Harrisonburg, Virginia, for a 
quarter of a century, and then, to get the benefit of out- 
door life he took up the breeding of trotting horses at 
Culpeper. Virginia, remaining there three years until 
he accepted the invitation of his brother-in-law James 
R. Keene of New York, to take charge of his thorough- 
bred horses at Castleton near Lexington, Kentucky. 

Maj. Foxhall A. Daingerfield on November 4, 1863, 
married Miss Nettie Gray of Harrisonburg. Virginia. 
She was the mother of eight children: William Parker. 
who died at nine years of age; Algernon, secretary of 
the Jockey Club of New York City; J. Keene. an at- 
torney of Lexington ; Bessie Parker, and Elizabeth 
Pinkney: Henderson, now Mrs. A. C. Norman of 
Seattle, Washington; Juliet Parker; and Mary J., wife 
of A. C. Van Winkle, a Louisville attorney. Mrs. Dain- 
gerfield the mother of these children died August -'. 
1921, at the home in Haylands, where the family have 
resided since 1918. 

James R. Keene established Castleton in the fall of 
1893, leasing the land from A. J. Ford. When the 
lease expired five years later the ground was purchased 
and also the adjoining place of Gen. Joseph Breckin- 
ridge, giving a total of 1,000 acres. The residence at 
Castleton was built by David Castleman, whose first 
wife was a Miss Breckinridge, who inherited a part of 
the old Breckinridge estate called Cabels Dale. 

It was under the ownership of Mr. Keene and the 
management of Foxhall A. Daingerfield that Castleton 
achieved its world wide fame for the production of thor- 
oughbreds. All of Mr. Keene's thoroughbreds were col- 
lected there at one time or another, and at the end of 
twenty years of breeding the production took first place 
in the world. Up to that time the greatest winners for 
any one year were owned by the Duke of Portland. 
All of Mr. Keene's greatest winners except one were 
linil at Castleton Foxhall A. Daingerfield kept his in- 
terests centered in the breeding and not in the racing 
end of the business. He constantly advised Mr. Keene 
in the purchase and selection of the horses that came 
to Castleton. Among the noted horses bred on this 
property may be mentioned : Colin, who retired un- 
beaten. Ultimus. Disguise. Ballot. Commando. Celt. Peter 
Quince, Peter Pan. Castleton, Superman, Von Tromp, 
Delhi, Sysonby (raised, not bred), Cap and Bells (who 
won the English Oaks). Maskette. Pope Joan. Noonday. 
Melisande. Gretna Green, Veil, Sweep. Cataract. Court 
Dress. Wild Mint, Restigouche. Philander, Novelty, 
Dazzling and many other notable horses which were 
bred and raised at Castleton by Major Daingerfield. 

James R. Keene died January 3, 1913, and Major Dain- 
gerfield followed him in death on the fifth of the same 
month. 

Elizabeth Daixgerfielp acquired a thorough 
knowledge of Kentucky thoroughbreds under her 
father, the late Foxhall A. Daingerfield, and her 



work has been a continuation of Iter father's career, 
and her independent achievements probably rank her 
as the foremost woman in the world as an authority 
on thoroughbred horses. 

The Daingerfield family now own and reside at 
Hayland's Farm, three miles northeast of Lexington, 
on Maysville Pike. Any horseman in the world would 
appreciate the compliment paid Miss Elizabeth recently 
when Samuel D. Biddle of Philadelphia, owner of 
the "super-horse" Man o' War, the world's greatest 
racer, chose Miss Daingerfield to manage this famous 
horse, which lias been brought to the Hinata farm, 
leased by Miss Daingerfield. Miss Daingerfield's sole 
energies and interests are concentrated in the work 
of thoroughbred breeding. She is not essentially a 
racing woman, and has never been active in politics 
or society. Some of her own horses are mentioned 
in the "History of Churchill Downs." published in 
icjjo, by Dan O'Sullivan, a Louisville attornev. 

Miss Daingerfield began her work at Castleton, and 
afterwards she succeeded her father as manager of 
this, the greatest stud the world has known. Castle- 
ton was owned by the late James R. Keene of New 
York, the millionaire mine owner and stock broker, 
wdio married Sarah Jay Daingerfield, a sister of the 
late Foxhall Daingerfield. 

James R. Keene established Castleton in the fall 
of 1893, leasing the land from Mr. Ford. When the 
lease expired five years later the ground was pur- 
chased and also the adjoining place of Gen. Joseph 
Breckinridge, giving a total of 1,000 acres. The resi- 
dence at Castleton was built by David Castleman. 
whose wife was a Miss Breckinridge, who inherited a 
part of the old Breckinridge estate. The present 
proprietor of Castleton is David Look of New York. 

It was under the ownership of Mr. Keene and the 
management of Foxhall A. Daingerfield that Castleton 
achieved its world-wide fame for the production of 
thoroughbreds. All of Keene's thoroughbreds were 
selected there at one time or another, and at the end 
of twenty vcars of breeding the production took lir-t 
place in "the world. Up to that time the greatest win- 
ners for any one year were owned by the Duke of 
Portland. All of Keene's greatest winners except one 
were bred at Castleton. Foxhall A. Daingerfield kept 
his interests centered in the breeding and not in the 
racing end of the business. He constantly advised Mr. 
Keene in the purchase and selection of the lior-es that 
came to Castleton. Among the noted horses bred on 
this property may be mentioned: Colin, who retired 
unbeaten ; Ultimus. Disguise. Ballot. Commando, Celt. 
Peter Quince, Peter Pan. Castleton. Superman, Von 
Tromp, Delhi. Svsonbv (raised, not bred). Caps and 
Cells (who won" the English Oaks). Maskette, Pope 
loan. Noonday, Melisande. Gretna Green, Veil, Sweep. 
Cataract. Court Dress. Wild Mint. Restigouche, Phil- 
ander, Novelty, Dazzling, and many other notable 
1 • were bred and raised at Castleton by Major 
Daingerfield. 

James R. Keene died January 3. 1013. and Mr. 
Daingerfield followed him in death on the 5th of tin- 
same month. Miss Elizabeth Daingerfield then suc- 
ceeded her father as manager, and the stud was kept 
complete at the Kingston farm on the Russell Cave 
Pike, on leased land, by Miss Elizabeth Daingerfield. 
The stud was sold the September after Mr. Keene's 
death, almost as a whole to Price McKinney and kept 
together by him with Miss Daingerfield as manager 
for four years. The final disbursal sale of the Keene 
horses occurred January 15, 1918. 

In the spring of 1918 Miss Daingerfield moved to 
the Haylands Farm, where she continues her opera- 
tions in the breeding of thoroughbreds, and she also 
leases other lands for her business, including the 
Hinata farm. Miss Daingerfield bred Step Lightly, 
the Futurity winner of 1920. During her first year's 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



27 



independent operations she sold four fillies at Sara- 
toga for $26,000, one of these being Step Lightly, 
whose dam, Tripping, she still keeps, together with a 
number of other brilliant animals. 

The late Foxhall A. Daingerfield was born in 
Rockingham County, Virginia, at Westwood, February 
8, 1839. He was educated at Washington and Lee 
University in Virginia, in the class that was broken 
up by the outbreak of the war between the states. 
During that war he served as captain under General 
Stuart in the Eleventh Virginia Cavalry, was pro- 
moted to major of the regiment, and was five times 
wounded. Following the war he practiced law at 
Harrisonburg, Virginia, for a quarter of a century, and 
then took up the breeding of trotting horses at Cul- 
peper. He remained there until he accepted the invita- 
tion of his brother-in-law, Mr. Keene, to take charge 
of Castleton. He was largely responsible for Castle- 
ton's fame as a thoroughbred selection center, and he 
also made the home widely known for its hospitality, 
and during his life entertained many prominent people 
there. 

Foxhall A. Daingerfield married Miss Nettie Gray, 
of Harrisonburg, Virginia, who is still living. She 
was the mother of eight children : Algernon, secre- 
tary of the Jockey Club of New York City ; J. Keene, 
an attorney at Lexington; Bessie Parker; Miss Eliza- 
beth ; Henderson ; Mrs. A. C. Norman, of Seattle, 
Washington; Juliet Parker; and Mary J., wife of A. C. 
Van Winkle, a Louisville attorney. 

Some interesting comments on Miss Daingerfield's 
work and achievements were recently made in the 
columns of the New York Herald following the an- 
nouncement of her taking charge of Man o' War : 

"Miss Daingerfield was the chief assistant to her 
father, the late Major Foxhall A. Daingerfield, when 
that distinguished expert in horse breeding had charge 
of the Castleton Stud for his brother-in-law, the late 
James R. Keene, in Fayette County. There was no 
more profound student of blood lines in the United 
States than Major Daingerfield, who before he moved 
to Kentucky bred both thoroughbreds and trotters in 
Virginia. His daughter Elizabeth absorbed much of 
his knowledge, which was responsible for a galaxy of 
magnificent performers, including Ballot, St. Leonards, 
Disguise and Commando and the sons of Commando, 
among them Colin, Peter Pan, Celt and Superman, 
with such mares as Disguise's daughters Maskette and 
Pope Joan. These raced with great distinction here, 
and when taken to France by the late William K. 
Vanderbilt helped found a great stud, which has re- 
cently passed to the ownership of A. K. Macomber, 
who is racing abroad as well as in the United States. 

"It is an unusual occupation for women, but Miss 
Daingerfield has a neighbor, Mrs. Elizabeth Kane, who 
has managed the Nursery Stud of August Belmont 
most capably since the death of her husband a few years 
ago, while Mrs. Herbert Wadsworth, directing the 
Ashantee Stud at Avon, in the Genesee Valley in this 
state, has been the chief ally of the Breeding Bureau 
of the Jockey Club in its work of general purpose horse 
improvement in that fruitful region. 

"There are reasons why women should succeed in this 
line of endeavor. The motherly impulse prompts them 
to see that mares and foals are comfortable at all times. 
Those who have ever seen Miss Daingerfield in the 
paddocks or pastures with her charges have a picture 
they recall with pleasure. Mares and foals crowd 
about her, eager for some token of affection or recog- 
nition until her progress is actually impeded. It is the 
same way with the yearlings which have been reared 
by her; they are gentle in the extreme. One of her 
rules is that there shall be no blows or harsh treatment. 
As a result few bad tempered horses have come from 
her nursery. 

"Man o' War, the greatest horse of his day on the 
race track, could not be entrusted to more capable 

Vol. V— 4 



keeping. At Haylands he will have his old companion, 
the superannuated hunter, Major Treat, for company. 
His surroundings will be congenial, and if he fails to 
send to the races children gifted with his own marvelous 
speed and undaunted courage it will not be the fault 
of those who are to administer to his well being." 

Anthony Middelton was an honored old time resi- 
dent of Shelby County and member of one of the. 
first families to locate in that section of Kentucky. 

He was born in Shelby County March 27, 1808, 
and his entire life was spent on the farm that was 
his birthplace. This farm, known as Cross Keys, was 
located by his father in 1800, when he came to Ken- 
tucky from Virginia. 

Anthony Middelton was a son of Adam and Mary 
(Fulton) Middelton. His father was born in Virginia 
August 2, 1770, and his mother, February 20, 1775- 
They were married in 1794, and in 1800 removed to 
Shelby County and began the development of the farm 
that has been so long in the family. Adam Middelton 
was a blacksmith by trade. 

Anthony Middelton married Madeline Mason, who 
was born" in Shelby County August 6, 1816, daughter 
of Peter Mason, a pioneer of Shelby County from 
Virginia. Anthony Middelton died at his country home 
August 16, 1879, and his wife on August 22, 1870. 
They had four children: Adam M., Georgia, William 
P. and Bettie. 

George Washington Gosnell has been a resident 
of Louisville seventy-five years, and his active life 
has been given to the contracting business and also 
in later years to stock farming. He is now prac- 
tically retired, and lives at 120 East Ormsby Avenue. 

Mr. Gosnell was born at Louisville February 22, 
1845, son of Edward and Elizabeth (Baxter) Gosnell. 
His father who was born near Baltimore, Maryland, 
came to Louisville when a young man. He was in 
business as a merchant tailor at Louisville for some 
fifteen or twenty years. His wife Elizabeth Baxter 
died in 1855. She was a native of Louisville. Of 
their seven children three sons and one daughter 
survive. After the death of his wife Edward Gosnell 
went out to California, locating at Sacramento, and 
for many years was in the mining industry. He lived 
to the age of eighty. He was a democrat and a 
member of the Methodist Church. 

George Washington Gosnell was ten years of age 
when his mother died. He acquired his early edu- 
cation at Leitchfield, and Louisville, Kentucky, and as 
a youth learned the saddler's trade. He worked at 
this trade and also on the farm until 1863, when at 
the age of seventeen he enlisted in the Eighth Ken- 
tucky Cavalry in the Confederate army. He was in 
several skirmishes and battles and at Green River 
in Muhlenberg County was captured and for some 
months was a prisoner of war at Camp Morton, Indi- 
anapolis. He was then exchanged and taken to City 
Point near Richmond, Virginia, and after rejoining 
his command was with the cavalry forces engaged in 
skirmish duty until the close of hostilities in 1865. 

The war closed before he reached his majority and 
Mr. Gosnell then returned to Louisville and for about 
nine years was employed in the city engineer's office. 
Having in the meantime acquired a comprehensive 
knowledge of city public work, he began contracting 
for the construction of streets and sewers, and for 
many years handled much of the contracting of that 
kind at Louisville. He owns a beautiful farm near 
Louisville, where he breeds horses and Angus cattle. 
Mr. Gosnell has always been affiliated with the demo- 
cratic party, though a man of independent leanings. 
He is a Presbyterian. May 10, 1870, he married Katie 
Yates, a native of Leitchfield, Kentucky. They had 
two children : Martha Y. and Horace S., who mar- 
ried Anna Pearl Pollard, of Batesville, Mississippi. 



28 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



Hart M. Boxley, M. D., a prominent physician at 
Millersburg, has been steadily engaged in his pro- 
fession for twenty years and was formerly an esteemed 
member of the community of Kirksville in Madison 
County. 

Doctor Boxley was born in Christian County, Ken- 
tucky, September 15, 1870, son of John C. and Judith 
(Hart) Boxley. His parents were natives of Louisa 
County, Virginia, were reared and married there, and 
his father served in the Confederate army with the 
famous cavalry organization under General Stuart. In 
1866 the family came to Kentucky and located in 
Christian Count}', where the parents spent the rest 
of their lives on a farm. They were members of 
the Christian Church and the father held the post 
of deacon and elder. He was a stanch democrat in 
politics. Of five children three are now living: How- 
ard and O. D. Boxley, both farmers in Christian 
County ; and Hart M. 

Hart M. Boxley grew up on the home farm, attended 
the rural schools, and spent two years in McLean 
College in Kentucky. After some varied experiences 
he entered the medical department of the University 
of Louisville, and graduated M. D. in March, 1901. 
Doctor Boxley at once located at Kirksville in Madison 
County and had his home and practice in that locality 
for fifteen years. In 1915 he removed to Millers- 
burg and is now a member of the Bourbon County 
Medical Society. . He is also a member in good stand- 
ing of the State and American Medical Association. 

In 1914 Doctor Boxley married Emma Fry of Madi- 
son County. She is a graduate of the Richmond 
Female College. Doctor Boxley is a member of Amity 
Lodge No. 40, F. and A. M., and is a stockholder 
in the Farmers Bank at Kirksville. 

Dock Baisden Stephens. As the demand for only 
sound banking institutions increases and the value of 
such concerns to the community is being more and 
more appreciated, the character of the men who ad- 
minister their affairs is receiving closer attention, and 
when these individuals have been proven efficient and 
worthy, confidence in their financial institutions is in- 
creased. The influence of a conservative and practical 
banking house is wide and its results for the attain- 
ment of beneficial conditions is far-reaching. With- 
out such a concern in its midst no community can 
hope to take its place among the progressive cities 
and towns, and it will lose the valuable assistance of 
outside capital, which is such a big factor in develop- 
ment. Therefore it may be truly said that the growth 
and development of a town or city depend largely 
upon the quality of its banks, which means the sagacity 
and integrity of the men who stand at their heads. 
In this connection, Allen may be said to be one of 
the fortunate communities of Floyd County, in that 
it possesses as an asset the Floyd County Bank, the 
president of which is a man of proved ability and 
integrity. Dock Baisden Stephens. 

Mr. Stephens was born at Alphoretta, Floyd County, 
Kentucky, August 5, 1877, a son of Samuel A. and 
Sarah (Osborn) Stephens, both of whom were born 
at the forks of the Beaver in this county. Samuel 
A. Stephens, who was born in 1824 and died in 1887, 
was a son of Samuel Stephens, who came to Kentucky 
from Virginia in 1820. and received a patent to 5,000 
acres of land at the forks of the Beaver, a property 
which was covered with the finest of timber and under- 
laid with coal. On this farm there is also a wide 
acreage of bottom land, said to be the finest on the 
Big Sandy. Here Samuel Stephens passed his life 
in the pursuits of agriculture, and died in 1885, when 
ninety or more years of age. He was the father of 
a large family of children. One son went to Cali- 
fornia; another, Alexander, an attorney, rose to the 
rank of lieutenant-colonel in the Union army during 
the war between tin- Males. 



Samuel A. Stephens, father of Dock B. Stephens, 
was a teacher in his younger years in the Beaver 
Valley, but later gave his entire time and attention 
to his farming operations, in which he greatly pros- 
pered. Edward Lou Osborn, the maternal grandfather 
of Dock B. Stephens, was born in Virginia, whence 
he came in young manhood to Kentucky and settled 
on the left Beaver, about a mile above the forks. 
There was born his daughter, Sarah, who died in 
1903, aged fifty-seven years. Samuel A. and Sarah 
Stephens had seven sons and six daughters : Susan, 
the wife of T. G. Allen, of Northern, Kentucky; E. 
L., first a school teacher, later a collier in Magoffin 
Count}', subsequently a banker at Salyersville, and 
now engaged in oil development at that place ; Bascom 
B., a merchant at Langley, Floyd County; Rhoda, the 
wife of S. B. Osborn, of Northern; F. C. and E. M, 
twins, the former a farmer at Northern, and the 
latter engaged in the same vocation in Greenup County, 
this state; Sydney, who is the wife of Logan Dingus, 
a merchant at Martin, Floyd County; D. C. a farmer 
and stock raiser at Salyersville; Dock Baisden, of 
this review ; Irvine, who is engaged in oil operation 
at Tulsa, Oklahoma; Mary, the wife of J. T. Johns, 
of Northern; Flora, the wife of William Flannery, 
a farmer of Martin ; and Dolly, the wife of E. S. 
Pratt, a farmer of Drift. 

When a lad, Dock B. Stephens went to live with 
his brother, E. L. Stephens, and also received his 
education under the preceptorship of his brother, who 
was then teaching school. Dock B. Stephens also 
started his career as an educator, teaching his first 
school when he was but sixteen years of age in Knott 
County, where he spent one year. He then taught 
two schools at Alphoretta, Floyd County, after which 
he went to the West and for the next four years 
lived at Colorado Springs and other places, being 
variously engaged. Returning to Kentucky, he secured 
a position in the bank at Salyersville. and later be- 
came assistant cashier of the First National Bank 
of Prestonsburg, remaining in that capacity for four 
years. He was also, for one year, bookkeeper in the 
Bank Josephine, and then became chief clerk of con- 
struction for the Bell Telephone Company in Kentucky 
and North Carolina, but resigned after one year. In 
1912 he organized the Sandy Valley Hardware Com- 
pany and became secretary-treasurer and manager, posi- 
tions which he still holds, and November 8, 1920, 
organized the Floyd County Bank of Allen, of which 
he has since been president. Mr. Stephens' success 
has been his own and his record illustrates the fact 
that opportunity is open to all. With a nature that 
could not be content with mediocrity, his laudable 
ambition has prompted him to put forth untiring and 
practical effort until he has long since left the ranks 
of the ordinary many and taken his place with the 
successful few. 

In 1907 Mr. Stephens was united in marriage with 
Miss Myrtle Hall, daughter of Judge Malone Hall, 
of Allen, and a graduate of the schools of Prestons- 
burg. Mr. and Mrs. Stephens have one daughter : 
Oriole. They are faithful members of the First Baptist 
Church of Beaver Creek, the movements of which 
they support actively and generously, and in which 
Mr. Stephens is serving as a member of the board 
of trustees Fraternally he is affiliated with the local 
lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and 
the Knights of the Maccabees. He is a democrat in 
his political convictions, but takes only a good citi- 
zen's interest in political affairs. 

William L. Cannon. While his home for the past 
thirty years has been in the country on a large and 
attractive farm near Midway, William L. Cannon bears 
a name that suggests the history and romance of the 
old time river traffic. He was for years associated 
with his father as a river man, and his father, the 



\ 







HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



29 



late Capt. John W. Cannon, was perhaps Kentucky's 
greatest pilot and river captain, and his exploits and 
his boats were known all up and down the Mississippi 
and its tributaries both before and after the Civil war. 
William L. Cannon was born at the old Capitol 
Hotel in Frankfort, August I, 1856, son of Capt. John 
W. and Louisa Hickman (Stout) Cannon and grand- 
son of John H. and Ann (Coston) Cannon. John 
H. Cannon died in 1846, and had come to Kentucky 
in 1818" from Maryland. Capt. John W. Cannon was 
born at Hawesville, Kentucky and lived on a farm 
until he was fifteen. His brother Elijah had in the 
meantime gone to New Orleans, where he served as 
United States Marshal, and through his friendship 
with the captain of the Mediterranean, then the big- 
gest Mississippi steamboat, John W. Cannon secured 
passage on that vessel to the Southern city in 1833. 
He rapidly mastered the mysteries, the art and the 
science of river navigation and by 1838, when he 
was twenty years of age he was steersman for the 
Diana. After returning to Kentucky he cut a load 
of hooppoles and after making up a cargo of hoop- 
poles and coal he made another trip to New Orleans 
in 1840. He was steersman on the Velocipede, and 
all through the '40s was a pilot and captain on the 
Mississippi, Red River and Ouchita River. Out of 
his earnings he saved $4,000, and with this sum bought 
four negro slaves, one of whom died and the others 
ran away. The first boat owned by him was the 
Dallas. In 1848 he built the Louisiana at Jefferson- 
ville. She blew up at New Orleans, killing many, 
including his partner, and this disaster left him $20,000 
in debt. He then secured credit and built the Downs, 
at a cost of $17,000, which left the shipyard in the 
spring of 1851. Others threatened to build a faster 
boat, but he never knew a rival individual or organ- 
ization with whom he could not compete on even 
terms. The Bella Donna was built by him at a cost 
of $41,000. He made money rapidly, though he lost 
in many ventures. He paid $40,000 for the Rocka- 
way, and made it all back in one season of operation. 
The McRae was built for $40,000 and the W. W. 
Farmer, for $17,000, but low water prevented naviga- 
tion for eighteen months and at the end of that time 
he was practically bankrupt. Later he built the Vicks- 
burg and the General Quitman. The Vicksburg suc- 
cessfully ran the blockade at the siege of Vicksburg 
where she was turned over . to the Confederate gov- 
ernment, her machinery to be used in a gunboat being 
built on the Yazoo River. Captain Cannon took the 
Quitman up the Red River and held it until after 
the war. Perhaps his most noted achievements are 
associated with the Robert E. Lee. He built the first 
vessel of that name, at a cost of $223,000, and was its 
captain for ten years. He then built the second boat 
of that name. The first Robert E. Lee was the fastest 
boat ever on the river and was a steamer of palatial 
accommodations. He finally built a splendid, boat, 
which he owned personally and which bore his name, 
John. W. Cannon. This was the finest boat except 
the White, built by another party about the same 
time, of any of the craft that ever plied on the rivers. 
In the files of the Courier-Journal under June 8, 
1878, may be found a description of the John W. 
Cannon. He also built at the Howards Shipyards 
at Jeffersonville, Indiana, at a cost of $135,000 The 
Ed Richardson. Before the war in 1856 the Princess 
had the first fast time to Natchez, and the record 
of that boat was never beaten until 1870, when the 
Robert E. Lee became a contender for the honor. 
Then ensued a race between the steamers Robert 
E. Lee and Natchez, long celebrated in song and story 
from New Orleans to Saint Louis on July 4, 1870. 
The Lee won the contest handily, and throughout the 
entire course thousands of people thronged the banks 
of the stream and a great multitude witnessed the 
finish at Saint Louis. The elks horns, one set given 



for the race in 1856 and the trophy for the race in 
1870, being also a magnificent twelve point set of horns 
are now in possession of W. L. Cannon and used for 
ornamental purposes in his home. A large number 
of vessel owners at a meeting in Saint Louis planned 
to consolidate the Mississippi River steamboat traffic, 
and gave the general management to Capt. John W. 
Cannon. However, he died at Frankfort, April 18, 
1882, and never took this post of responsibility. He 
had two homes, one at New Orleans and one at Frank- 
fort, and is buried in that Kentucky city. 

William L. Cannon gained his first experience on 
the river with the first Robert E. Lee as an office 
man, and later was captain of the John W. Cannon 
on its first trip. He was also captain of the Laura 
Lee and the Clinton, but most of his work was in 
the business management. He succeeded his father 
as manager of his extensive affairs, and continued to 
make his home and business headquarters at New 
Orleans until 1889. 

In 1891 Mr. Cannon moved to his present home on 
a 364 acre farm a mile north of Midway. In 1880 
he married Miss Florence Berry, daughter of Hiram 
and Eleanor Berry. Her father was connected with 
W. A. Gaines & Company, makers of the Old Crow 
whiskey at Frankfort. Mr. Berry had bought the 
farm near Midway from Captain Kidd, the famous 
auctioneer. He died after owning it only a few years, 
and it then came into the possession of Mr. and Mrs. 
Cannon. The residence was erected by a Mr. Buford 
in 1835. The brick and lime were burned on the 
farm, and two other similar homes in the same vicinity 
were built about the same time. That stately old 
country place was the home of the Bufords for many 
years. Mr. and Mrs. Cannon have a family of three 
sons and two daughters : Eleanor, wife of Isaac F. 
Starks, of Louisville; John W., connected with the 
Walworth Manufacturing Company of Boston, Massa- 
chusetts; Hiram B., superintendent of the Perfection 
Stove Works at Sarnia, Ontario; George B., sales- 
man with the Walworth Manufacturing Company; and 
Miss Florence B., at home. Mr. Cannon, outside of 
his extensive business affairs, has been rather prom- 
inent in republican politics. He made the race for 
the State Legislature and also for Congress and was 
a delegate to the national convention at Chicago when 
Roosevelt was nominated for a second term. He has 
served as local magistrate. 

Hon. Hillard Hagan Smith represents the fifth 
generation of his family in Eastern Kentucky, and is 
one of the strongest and ablest of the entire line of 
strong and resourceful men, whose power and prestige 
seem to have increased with each successive generation. 
As a family they have lived close to the soil. In a race 
of farmers H. H. Smith is an exception through the suc- 
cess he has achieved in the profession of law, though 
he has not divorced himself altogether from the char- 
acteristic interests of his ancestors, since he is one of the 
large landowners in Knott County. 

His pioneer ancestor in Eastern Kentucky was his 
great-grandfather, Richard Smith, a native of Old Vir- 
ginia. A number of years prior to 1800 he came into 
Eastern Kentucky and settled at Troublesome Post Office 
in Perry County. He became one of the largest land 
owners in the state, and at one time owned most of the 
land included in what is now Perry, Knott, Letcher 
and Breathitt counties. His wife was Lishia Combs, 
and their large family of children were : William, 
Thomas, Nicholas, Joshua, James, Isaac, Samuel, Ander- 
son, Kissin (Catherine) Elizabeth, Polly, Hannah and 
Nancy. The second generation of this Kentucky family 
was headed by William Smith, who was born in Perry 
County, and maintained the traditions of the family by 
his success as a farmer and stockman. His extensive 



30 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



property was located on Carr's Forks, above the mouth 
of Irishman Creek, in what is now Knott County. He 
died there in 1873. His wife was Millie Combs, a daugh- 
ter of Jeremiah Combs. Their children were John, 
William, Alexander, Richard, Thomas, Jeremiah, Sarah, 
Matilda and Malvira. 

The grandfather of the Knott County lawyer was 
William Smith, better known as "Med" Smith, who 
was born in Perry County, now Knott County, in 1825, 
and owned most of the old homestead farm, on which 
he engaged in farming and stock raising until his death 
in 1891. Perhaps the best picture of this old time citi- 
zen is presented by recalling the fact that in his day he 
was known as the "Bully" of this section, a term" not 
used so much in disparagement as a tribute to his re- 
markable physical strength and ability and his prowess 
in all physical sports. He was the champion wrestler, 
and his grandchildren used to hear from his lips many 
interesting stories about his meeting with other strong 
men, when each would strip to the waist to find oul 
who was the best man. He was a Union soldier in the 
Civil war in Company L of the Fourteenth Kentucky 
Cavalry, enlisting December 15, 1862, and was mustered 
out March 22, 1864. He was once wounded, and foi a 
number of years drew a pension. 

Mr. Smith married Martha Ashley, who was born 
in North Carolina. Her father. Rev. Jordan Ashley, wa 
a native pioneer preacher of the United Baptist Church 
and carried his religious messages all over Eastern Ken- 
tucky. He was very gifted both in intellect and in 
eloquence, and ranked with the best preachers of his 
day. The children of "Med" Smith and wife were 
Mary Ann, John A., Hillard, Barbara. Millie, Laurania. 
Nancy Jane, Granville C, Melvina and Lucinda. 

John Ashley Smith, father of Hillard Hagan Smith. 
was born in Knott County in 1852, and in a business 
way never had any interests outside of those of the 
old homestead farm on which he remained. He wa a 
successful stock man. Served a number of times as 
deputy sheriff and magistrate, and had a place of lead 
ership in his community. His death occurred Decem- 
ber 2, iqoi. His wife, Elizabeth Jane Hagan, still liv- 
ing at Hindman, was of a family that originally spelled 
the name Higgins. Their children were: William, who 
died in infancy: Hillard H. ; Martha, wife of John M. 
Smith, of Knott County; Barbara Alice, "wife of lames 
V. Maggard, living on part of the original homestead 
of her great-grandfather Smith in Knox County; John 
1). \\ .. who has served as commonwealth's attorney of 
his district and lives at Prestonsburg. 

Hillard Hagan Smith was born at Carr's Forks on the 
north branch of the Kentucky River December 31, 1X75, 
and he learned to appreciate and to emulate the strong 
characteristics of his forefathers. He acquired a liberal 
education in the public schools of Hindman and in 
Buckner Academy, graduated in 1899 from the Bowling 
Green Normal School and was a student in Washington 
and Lee University at Lexington, Virginia, during 1902- 
3. Mr. Smith was admitted to the bar in June, 1899, 
and for over twenty years has carried on a successful 
practice at Hindman, where he is a member of the 
firm Smith & Combs. Mr. Smith is attorney for a 
number of large corporations doing business in Eastern 
Kentucky. He was appointed police judge of Hindman. 
master commissioner, and in 1907 was elected a member 
of the State Senate, serving from 1908 to 1912, from the 
Thirty-third District, comprising ten counties. Mr. 
Smith is a republican, and has served several terms as 
master of Hindman Lodge No. 689, F. and A. M., and 
belongs to a number of other social and civic organiza- 
tions. He is the largest stockholder and is one of the 
organizers of the Bank of Hindman, and is chairman 
of its board of directors and was formerly vice presi- 
dent, an office now held by Mrs. Smith, his wife. 

December 31, 1903, Mr. Smith married Miss Leodicie 
Francis, daughter of Hiram H. and Sarah (Day) 



Francis. Her father, now deceased, was the foremost 
merchant and man of affairs at Hindman, and at the 
time of his death was the wealthiest citizen of the 
county. In personal influence he was one of the best 
known men in Knott County. The children horn to 
Mr. and Mrs. Smith were: Ruth, who died in infancy; 
Hillard H, Jr.; Leo Dale; Lois Gay; Miriam Melvira; 
Dorothy Day, who died at the age of two years; Carol 
Hope; and Major Andre. The family are members of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

The rugged physique of his ancestors has come down 
to Mr. Smith. He took an active part in sports while 
in college, and was the champion runner of every school 
and college he attended. He is liberally equipped by 
natural gifts and training for the place of leadership 
he enjoys in that county. A successful lawyer, a large 
land owner, he has prosecuted his affairs with excep- 
1 '.< mal credit, and has a breadth of interest and sympathy 
that keep him in touch with every vital movement 
effecting the welfare of his part of the state. Mr. Smith 
lias been one of the very prominent men in the Hind- 
iran Settlement School, and is head of the Local Ad- 
visory Board. During the World war he served as 
chairman of the Draft Board and chairman of all the 
drives for Liberty Loans. 

Ben F. Wright, M. D. A physician and surgeon 
with an extensive practice at Seco in Letcher County, 
is Doctor Wright who lives today in the same environ- 
ment where he was born, an environment in which 
the Wright family has played an interesting and his- 
torical part for generations. 

The Wrights came from Virginia to Kentucky in 
ifoo, and settled around the Gap at the head of Elk- 
horn Creek at the head of Big Sandy, and on Boone 
Fork or the head of the Kentucky River, in the same 
I cality where the Consolidation Coal Company and 
the South East Coal Company are now operating. 

The father of Doctor Wright was the late W. S. 
Wright, known as Bill Wright. He was born in [855 
on Wright's Fork of Boone Creek, where the Town 
of McRoberts now stands. Without educational ad- 
vantages until after his marriage, by a rigid course 
of self instruction he fitted himself for the perform- 
ance of all the duties of his business career. He 
was a prosperous farmer and for some years Letcher 
County representative for the Asher Lumber Com- 
pany. For sixteen years he was a magistrate. He was 
a man of liberal sympathies, tolerant in a broad range. 
but when aroused to a sense of right and justice he 
was unyielding and active in the suppression of law- 
ss. It is said that the Wrights never forgot 
e ther friend or foe. W. S. Wright like every other 
strong man had his enemies and in January, 1900, a 
shot from ambush brought him death. He was a 
leader in the Methodist Church and every morning 
saw his family gathered together under his leader- 
ship to bow the head in reverent worship. Though 
little more than a child at the time of the Civil war 
he did some scout duty for the Confederate Govern- 
ment. During his own youth the country in which 
he lived was the scene of one feud after another and 
after his death at the hand of a hidden foe bis son 
William was shot from ambush wdiile in an official 
capacity under John Wright. He was pursuing the 
men who had slain his father. William Wright, the 
son, was then only eighteen. 

W. S. Wright at one time was democratic candi- 
date for county judge, losing the election in a strong 
republican county by a few votes only. He married 
l.ettie Bates, whose father James Bates was a Con- 
federate soldier and was killed during the war while 
at home doing farm work. The Bates family came 
from Virginia about 1800 and settled at the head 
of Millstone and Rockhouse creeks near Knott County. 
Lettie was born at the head of Millstone in 1851 and 
now lives at her old home near Seco. Of her eleven 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



31 



children all are living except the son William. Nancy 
is the wife of James Johnson, living on Robinson 
Creek in Pike County; Henrietta is the wife of L. B. 
Tolliver at Democrat on Rockhouse Creek ; Martha 
is the widow of William Venters and lives at Seco ; 
Samuel Tilden Wright is a real estate dealer, magis- 
trate and Baptist minister at Millstone; Mary is the 
wife of W. W. Craft, a farmer at Millstone; William 
is the son previously mentioned; Dr. T. G. Wright 
is a dentist at Lynch, Kentucky, and is interested in 
the ownership and operation of a number of moving 
picture houses in that and adjoining towns; Dr. J. F. 
Wright is also a dentist, practicing at Russell near 
Ashland; John W. is a merchant at Seco; the next 
in age is Ben F. ; Lettie Dallas is the wife of A. C. 
Craft, a farmer and real estate dealer at Thornton, 
Kentucky. 

Ben F. Wright grew up at the old home in Letcher 
County and beyond the limited education he acquired 
in home schools his higher training was the result of 
his own efforts and earnings. He attended the East 
Kentucky State Normal at Richmond and the high 
school at Clintwood, Virginia. For six years he taught 
in Letcher County, Kentucky, and in Wise County, 
Virginia. In 1913 he entered the Medical Department 
of the University of Louisville, graduating in 1917. 
He stood high in his classes at the university, but 
the strain of continuous labor left him at the time 
of graduation so impaired physically that when he 
volunteered his services to the Government they were 
rejected. Failing in his effort to get into the army 
he returned home, and has since built up a very ex- 
tensive practice. During the influenza epidemic he 
treated over 3,000 cases. Doctor Wright has a large 
practice for the mining companies at Seco and Mill- 
stone, and' a large clientage outside as well. He is 
a very skillful surgeon. 

In 191 1 he married Miss Fannie Hall, daughter of 
L. M. Hall of Wise County, Virginia. Two children 
were born to their marriage the only one living being 
Eva Irene. The deceased son was named Edgar Allen 
Poe. Doctor Wright is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church South at Richmond. In Masonry 
he is affiliated with the Lodge at Jenkins, the Chapter 
at Whitesburg, the Commandery at Winchester and the 
Shrine at Lexington. He is Deputy Grand Chancellor 
of the Knights of Pythias and a member of the Im- 
proved Order of Red Men. Doctor Wright was in- 
strumental in securing the establishment of the post- 
office at his old home town, known as Seco Postoffice, 
and has been postmaster there from the inception of 
the office. He is also a trustee of the local schools. 

Stanley Forman Reed is a member of the Mays- 
ville law firm of Worthington, Browning & Reed, and 
in the decade since he was admitted to the bar has 
achieved an influential place in association with some 
of the most prominent men and interests in that sec- 
tion of Kentucky. 

Mr. Reed was born in Mason County, Kentucky, 
December 31, 1884, son of Dr. John A. and Fannie 
(Forman) Reed. He is a member of the Kentucky 
society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and 
his patriotic ancestry includes some historic characters 
of the great west in the colonial period. He is de- 
scended from Tolliver Craig, who was born about 
• 1705 and came to Kentucky prior to the Revolution. 
He was a lieutenant in the Revolutionary war. His 
wife was Polly Hawkins, whom he married in Bote- 
tourt County, Virginia, in 1730. She was one of the 
water carriers at Bryant Station. Another ancestor 
was Lewis Craig, a famous Baptist preacher whose 
life is told in G. W. Ranck's "The Traveling Church," 
and in Thompson's "Lewis Craig." He removed to 
Kentucky in 1781 and continued his labors in this 
western wilderness until his death in 1828. He was 
head of the "Traveling Church" and founder of many 



of the churches existing today. His wife was also 
a Bryant Station water carrier. Two other ancestors 
of the Maysville attorney were Gen. David Chiles, a 
brigadier-general of Kentucky Militia at the battle 
of Thames in the War of 1812, and Capt. Richard 
Soward, who was in the Third Regiment of Poage's 
Mounted Kentucky Volunteers in the same war. The 
father of Mr. Reed, Dr. John A. Reed, graduated in 
medicine from the University of Pennsylvania in 1865, 
and spent his entire active career as a practicing 
physician in Mason County, Kentucky, where his name 
is still held in the highest esteem. Stanley F. Reed 
graduated in the classical course from Yale College 
in 1906, and from 1906 to 1909 was a law student 
of the University of Virginia and Columbia Uni- 
versity. The year 1909-10 was spent in travel and 
in following courses in law at the University of Paris, 
the Sorbonne. He was admitted to the bar in July, 
1910, and since that date has practiced at Maysville, 
except for the time he was a lieutenant in the Army 
Service Corps, receiving his honorable discharge at 
Camp Upton, New York, December II, 1918. 

Mr. Reed is president of the Maysville Warehouse 
Company and a director of the Bank of Maysville, 
the Sphar Brick Company and other corporations. He 
is regarded as one of the ablest leaders in the demo- 
cratic party jn Eastern Kentucky, and represented 
Mason County in the Lower House of the Legis- 
lature from 1910 to 1914. He was a delegate to the 
Democratic National Convention in 1920. Mr. Reed 
is a member of the Lexington Club at Lexington, 
the Pendennis Club at Louisville, Southern Society of 
New York, and Delta Phi Fraternity. May 11, 1908, 
he married Winifred Elgin of Maysville. They have 
two children: John A., born December 31, 1910, and 
Stanley F. Reed, Jr., born August 5, 1914. 

Major Solomon B. Casebolt, M. D. Earning the 
rank of major during his service in the Medical Corps 
of the American Army, Major Casebolt soon after 
his return from abroad began practice in Pike County 
at Virgie, where he is physician to one of the large 
mining companies operating here and also has an 
extensive general practice. 

Solomon B. Casebolt was born on Shelby Creek in 
Pike County October 21, 1885, son of Harvey G. and 
Arminda (Tackett) Casebolt. His father is a prom- 
inent old time farmer and business man is Pike 
County, and was formerly actively engaged in the 
timber business on the Big Sandy and also a lumber 
manufacturer. He is now in business as a merchant 
on Robinson Creek. 

Doctor Casebolt is a man who to a large extent 
has achieved his own opportunities and has been re- 
sponsible for his own advancement. He acquired his 
preliminary education at Pikeville, where two of his 
best instructors were Philip Bevins and T. M. Riddle. 
For seven years he was one of the successful teachers 
in the schools in Pike County and he continued teach- 
ing while doing his preliminary work in medicine. 
From 1907 he attended the Medical School of the 
University of Louisville, graduating in 191 1, and in 
1913 returned to Louisville for post-graduate work. 
His first regular work in his profession was done at 
Elkhorn City, where he was physician and surgeon 
in charge of the hospital during the construction of 
the railroad through the breaks of the mountain. This 
gave him valuable experience. He practiced for a 
time at Pikeville and was then physician and surgeon 
two years for the Rock Castle Lumber Company in 
Martin County, Kentucky, with office at Offutt. Early 
in 191 7 Doctor Casebolt returned to Pikeville and in 
June, 1917, received a commission as first lieutenant 
in the Medical Reserve Corps. After six weeks in 
the Medical Officers Training School at Fort Ogle- 
thorpe, he was sent to Syracuse, New York, and as- 
signed to active duty with the Forty-ninth Infantry. 



32 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



For ten months he was at one of the chief army em- 
barkation camps, Camp Merritt, New Jersey, and spent 
one month also at Camp Upton, New York. He saw 
twelve months of service in France with the Eighty- 
third Division. Doctor Casebolt was promoted to cap- 
tain in February, 1918, and received his commission 
as major in March, 1919. He was in the service 
over two years, receiving his honorable discharge and 
returning home in July. 1919. Since then his home 
has been at Virgie, where in addition to an extensive 
general practice he is physician in charge of the Rogers 
Brothers mines. 

In December, 1919, Doctor Casebolt returned to 
France and on the 16th of that month married Mile. 
Simone Pineau, a charming and cultured French girl 
whom he had met while in the service. They have 
one daughter, Claire. Doctor Casebolt is a member 
of Pike County, Kentucky, State and American Medical 
associations, is affiliated with the Masonic Lodge at 
Pikeville and is a democrat in politics. 

Robert C. Gatewood. The Gatewood family is one 
of the long-established ones in Montgomery County, 
and among those of the name to attain to prominence 
who are still living are Robert C. Gatewood, a pros- 
perous farmer, residing on the old Magown farm, 
and A. J. Gatewood. also a farmer, residing at Mount 
Sterling. Both are sons of James W. and Janella 
(Ewing) Gatewood. James W. Gatewood was born 
in Montgomery County, Kentucky, in the vicinity of 
Mount Sterling, May 8, 1832. and his wife was born 
August 28, 1847. Her parents. Andrew J. and Lydia 
W. (Connor) Ewing, were natives of Virginia, who 
came to Kentucky after their marriage and settled 
on a farm in Bath County. James W. Gatewood and 
his wife had five children, namely: Robert C, who 
was born February 3, 1867 ; A. J., who was born 
September 15, 1868; Elva, who is the widow of Ben 
Gay; Mary, who is the wife of David C. Fox; and 
Colonel, married Miss Laura Gager, Chatanooga, Ten- 
nessee. The death of James W. Gatewood occurred 
December 26, 1918. His father, Harvey T. Gatewood, 
married Mary Stoner, the former a native of Mont- 
gomery County and the latter of Bath County, Ken- 
tucky, both families being farming people. Following 
their marriage Harvey T. Gatewood and his wife 
settled on a farm near Mount Sterling, and they be- 
came large landowners and had many slaves. It was 
on this farm that James W. Gatewood was reared, 
and he acquired his educational training in the dis- 
trict schools, but after his own marriage he purchased 
a farm near Ewington, and there he spent the re- 
mainder of his life, and there his children were born. 
Both he and his wife were Episcopalians in religious 
faith, while in politics he was a democrat. 

Robert C. Gatewood grew up on the homestead, 
received but a limited educational training. Until 
he was married he remained with his father, but then, 
at the age of twenty-five, June 1, 1892, was united 
in marriage with Mary Magown, and they moved to 
the old Magown farm, where they have since resided. 
This property was acquired by Mrs. Gatewood's great- 
grand father, James S. Magown, who came to Ken- 
tucky from Virginia at a very early day. Mr. and 
Mrs. Gatewood began with 200 acres which she had 
inherited from her father's estate, and have added 
to it until they now have 1,000 acres, all of their 
present ample means having been earned through farm- 
ing operations. They have no children of their own, 
but have given a home and parental love to an adopted 
daughter, Laura Williams, great niece of John S. and 
Sarah (Gorden) Williams, the former of whom at 
one time represented Kentucky in the United States 
Senate. Mr. and Mrs. Gatewood are consistent mem- 
bers of the Christian Church. Fraternally he belongs 
to Mount Sterling Lodge, B. P. O. E., while politically 
he is a democrat. For some years Mr. Gatewood 
has been interested in the Montgomery National Bank 



of Mount Sterling, which he helped to organize in 
1902, and he is now a member of its board of di- 
rectors. This is one of the solid banks of the county. 
A. J. Gatewood was reared on the farm near Ewing- 
ton, and attended the public schools of his district 
and a private school at Mount Sterling. At the age 
of fifteen years he went to live with his grandfather, 
A. J. Ewing, in Bath County, and resided there until 
he was twenty-eight \ears old. At that time, Decem- 
ber 16, 1896, he married Virginia Gathright, of Louis- 
ville, Kentucky. She is a graduate of the public 
schools of her native city and finished her education 
in the East. For the following four and one-half 
years Mr. Gatewood continued to reside at Louis- 
ville, where he was engaged in the milling business 
with his father-in-law, but then returned to Mont- 
gomery County, and, locating at Mount Sterling, for 
ten years was occupied with selling life insurance. 
He then took up farming, and has been occupied with 
this line of work ever since, but continues to reside 
at Mount Sterling. His farm is on Wayne Street, 
at Maysville. and his residence is within the city limits. 
A. J. Gatewood and his wife have one daughter, 
Mildred E., who was born September 10, 1903. They 
belong to the Christian Church, in which both are 
active. Like his father and brother, Mr. Gatewood is 
a democrat. 

Howard L. Burpo, president of the Adamson Coal 
Company and passenger engineer of the Baltimore 
& Ohio Railroad, is one of the substantial business 
men of Jenkins, and one who has a wide circle of 
warm, personal friends. He was born at Martins- 
ville. Morgan County, Indiana, October 7, 1886, a son 
of John and Elizabeth (Stotts) Burpo. John Stotts 
was a blacksmith, who died when his grandson was 
four years old. and the lad lost his mother when he 
was eleven. He continued to live with his grand- 
mother until he was sixteen years old, and in the 
meanwhile attended the public schools at Martinsville. 
Leaving school at the age of sixteen, he went to Cin- 
cinnati. Ohio, where he found employment with the 
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and first worked in the 
roundhouse. Later he was made a fireman, and still 
later an engineer, his run taking him out of Cincinnati. 
In 1912 he had the distinction of running the first 
engine over the Shelby branch of the Baltimore & 
Ohio, this trip taking four days for a distance of four 
miles, as his train was doing construction work. Later 
Mr. Burpo went into coal production, and had charge 
of the construction and opening of the Adamson 
mine, September 8, 19^0, and he is now president of 
the company controlling and handling its produce. He 
is also the owner of an orange grove at Fort Pierce, 
Florida. In addition to his other duties Mr. Burpo is 
still taking his run on the Shelby branch, and is one 
of the most reliable men in the employ of the road. 

On December 23, 1914, Mr. Burpo was united in 
marriage with Miss Eunice, a daughter of George M. 
Hackney, of Fort Pierce, Florida. Mr. and Mrs. Burpo 
have one son, Howard L., Jr. Mr. Burpo belongs to 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, but his wife is a 
Baptist, and both of them are interested in the im- 
provement of the moral standards of their community. 
Fraternally Mr. Burpo is a Thirty-second Degree Ma- 
son, maintaining membership with the Consistory at 
Covington, Kentucky. He also belongs to the Blue 
Lodge at Cincinnati, Ohio; the Chapter at Jenkins, 
and the Mystic Shrine at Ashland, Kentucky. A re- 
publican, Mr. Burpo is deeply interested in the suc- 
cess of his party and takes a very active part in civic 
affairs. A practical man, he knows how to handle 
the various problems which arise, especially in com- 
munity work, and his fellow citizens have come to 
look to him for guidance in many matters for they 
know that he keeps himself well informed and that 
his judgment is excellent. 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



33 



Hon. Ferdinand Thomas Hatcher. Still a young- 
man, with the best years of his career before him, 
Hon. Ferdinand Thomas Hatcher, president of the 
Day and Night National Bank of Pikeville, and from 
January, 1916, to January, 1920, a member of the Ken- 
tucky State Board of Control, has achieved a success 
that" might well be envied by many individuals, even 
after a full life of earnest effort. Mr. Hatcher, who is 
popularly and familiarly known as "Tom" Hatcher 
throughout the community, was b rn at I ikcville, Jan- 
uary 31, 1880, and is a son of Ferdinand C. and Jane 
(Mayo) Hatcher, natives of this state and members of 
families long identified prominently with Kentucky 
affairs. 

The Hatcher family was founded in Kentucky in 
1800, when James G. Hatcher migrated to this state 
from Virginia and settled at the mouth of Mud Creek, 
where he spent the rest of his life as a store-keeper 
and farmer. His son, Ferdinand C. Hatcher, who was 
born in Floyd County, Kentucky, in 1848, followed in 
his father's footsteps and was engaged in agriculture 
and merchandising in Floyd County until 1879, in which 
year he came to Pike County and settled at Pikeville. 
Here he continued his activities as a merchant and tiller 
of the soil, and rounded out a long and honorable 
career, passing away December 31, 191 1. His public 
services included his capable discharge of the duties 
of deputy county clerk of Pike County, and for one 
term he also served in the office of county clerk. In 
politics he was a stalwart democrat, and his fraternal 
affiliation was with the Masonic Blue Lodge at Pres- 
tonsburg, Kentucky. He belonged to the Methodist 
Church, South, which is also the faith of Mrs. 
Hatcher, who was born in 1848, in Floyd County, and 
who survives him as a resident of Pikeville. They 
were the parents of nine children, of whom seven are 
living, all being residents of Pike County. _ 

Ferdinand Thomas Hatcher received his education 
in the public schools of Pikeville, and even as a youth 
displayed a marked predilection for public affairs. He 
was only eighteen years of age when he was made 
deputy county clerk of Pike County, and from that 
time to the present has been known as an earnest 
worker and a constantly growing influence in the 
ranks of the democratic party. He served as deputy 
county clerk for six years, and subsequently was com- 
missioner of the County Court, under Judge Roberson. 
In the meantime, for years he was engaged in buy- 
ing land and abstracting titles of the Northern Coal 
and Coke Company, and eventually became one of the 
organizers of the Day and Night National Bank of 
Pikeville, of which he is president, and in the suc- 
cess of which he has played a leading part. Mr. 
Hatcher is also president of the Pikeville Bottling 
Company, and has various other interests. A man of 
sound judgment, foresight and acumen, he possesses 
the ability of instantly recognizing opportunities and 
readily grasping them, but his transactions have ever 
been carried through in an honorable and straightfor- 
ward manner, and his standing in the confidence of 
his associates and the general public is of the highest. 
During the four years that he served as a member of 
the Kentucky State Board of Control, he labored con- 
scientiously and with effect in behalf of the interests 
of his fellow-citizens and his native state, thereby 
adding to a reputation for public-spirited and con- 
structive citizenship. 

On February 12, 1902, Mr. Hatcher was united in 
marriage with Miss Delia L. Leslie, daughter of Jack 
Leslie, of Pikeville, and to this union there have been 
born two children : Jack L. and Julia Virginia. Mr 
and Mrs. Hatcher are consistent members of the Meth- 
odist Church, South, in which Mr. Hatcher is serving 
as a member of the board of trustees and the board 
of stewards. He is a Mason of high standing and a 
Noble of the Mystic Shrine at Ashland, Kentucky. 



He has friends throughout the state and well-wishers 
in every community in which he is known. 

Burton Egbert Wyman. A native of Graves 
County, Burton Egbert Wyman after a number of 
years of business connections with Paducah has re- 
turned to his native county and is cashier of the Bank 
of Lowes. He is one of the active men in the man- 
agement of this well-known financial institution, and 
is a citizen always ready to work for the welfare of 
his community. 

Mr. Wyman was born at Lowes, February 20, 1882. 
He comes of an old Kentucky family. His great- 
grandfather, Adam Wyman, was born in Germany 
and was five years old when his parents came to this 
country and settled in Kentucky. He lived for many 
years in Meade County, where Milton Wyman, grand- 
father of the Lowes banker, was born. Milton Wy- 
man at an early day moved to Graves County. He 
combined with farming an active interest in the Bap- 
tist Church, as a circuit rider and preacher. He died 
in Graves County many years ago. His wife was a 
member of the Thorpe family of Meade County. 
Thomas D. Wyman, father of Burton E., was born in 
Graves County in 1855, and has spent his active life 
as a farmer. He moved to the Lowes community in 
1875, and is still living there. He has been deeply 
interested in the church in which he was reared, the 
Baptist, and for many years has been a deacon. Po- 
litically he casts his vote independently. Thomas D. 
Wyman married Susan Virgin, who was born in 
Graves County in 1855, and she and her husband re- 
side at Lowes. They had a large family of ten chil- 
dren : Wilbur, a traveling salesman with home at 
louesboro, Arkansas; Ernest L., a farmer at Lowes; 
Edwin, a farmer at Guthrie, Kentucky; Birdie, wife 
of Will Ford, a traveling salesman with home at 
Mayfield ; Burton E. ; Vonie, wife of Dr. I. C. Young, 
a physician and farmer at Hickman, Kentucky ; Elyer 
M., cashier of the Bank of Lovelaceville in Ballard 
County; Myrtle, wife of V. Allen, who is connected 
with a transfer company at Paducah; Leta, wife of 
R. L. Bishop, assistant cashier of the First National 
Bank at Paducah ; and Ferrell, who lives with her 
parents at Lowes. 

Burton E. Wyman acquired a public school educa- 
tion in his native village, and later spent a year in 
the Southern Normal University at Bowling Green, 
one term in the Hall Moody Institute at Martin, Ten- 
nessee, and was in the Southern Normal University at 
Huntingdon, Tennessee, until 1903. 

On leaving college Mr. Wyman located at Paducah, 
where for three years he was clerk in the transpor- 
tation department of the West Kentucky Coal Com- 
pany, for three years was bookkeeper for the Rhodes- 
Burford Furniture Company, for a similar period was 
bookkeeper with the Paducah Brewing Company, and 
for two years was bookkeeper and confidential man 
for M. Michael & Brothers. 

December 1, 1919, Mr. Wyman came to Lowes as 
cashier of the Bank of Lowes. The president of this 
institution is T. H. Barriger and the vice president, 
J. E. Breckinridge. The bank, located on the main street 
of Lowes, has a capital of $15,000, surplus and profits 
of $10,000, and average deposits of $125,000. 

Mr. Wyman is a member of the State Bankers 
Association. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows and the Improved Or- 
der of Red Men. He married at Paducah in Septem- 
ber, 191 1, Miss Alma E. Adams, daughter of Mr. 
and Mrs. C. L. Adams, the latter deceased. Her 
father is now living at Los Angeles. Mr. and Mrs. 
Wyman have two daughters, Dorothy, born October 4, 
1912, and Susan, born October 15, 1915. 

W. F. Peebles, M. D. Accepted by his associates 
and fellow citizens as one of the skilled and depend- 



34 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



able physicians and surgeons of Hickman County, Dr. 
W. F. Peebles, of Clinton, holds an enviable position 
in his profession and community. He is a Kentuck- 
ian by birth, having been born near Milburn, Carlisle 
County, this state, September 13, 1877, a son of John 
S. Peebles, and grandson of John Peebles, a native of 
Virginia. His father, the great-grandfather of Doc- 
tor Peebles, was a soldier in the American Revolution 
from Virginia, in which colony his ancestors had set- 
tled when they came to this country from Scotland. 
John Peebles served as a soldier during the War of 
1812, at its close returning to Virginia and continuing 
to live there until 1838, when he migrated to Carlisle 
County, Kentucky, and there became a very success- 
ful farmer and man of affairs. He was married to 
Mary Frazier, a native of Virginia. His death oc- 
curred in Carlisle County before his grandson was 
born. 

John S. Peebles was born at Cynthiana, Kentucky, 
in 1834, and he is still living, making his home at 
Paducah, Kentucky. His parents located in what is 
now Carlisle County, but was then Ballard County, 
Kentucky, in 1838, and there he was reared, educated 
and married, and there he resided for many years. 
Later on in life, after having been eminently success- 
ful as a farmer, he went to Arkansas and lived at 
Pine Bluff, that state, for six years and then moved 
to Paducah. In him the democratic party has a stanch 
supporter. A man of religious tendencies, he has 
always been an earnest and effective member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. During the war between 
the North and the South he espoused the cause of the 
latter section and enlisted in the Third Kentucky In- 
fantry, C. S. A., and when his regiment was shot to 
pieces he was transferred to General Forrest's cav- 
alry, with which organization he remained for two 
years, or until the close of the war, when he returned 
home and resumed the occupations of private life, 
and in spite of the hardships and discouragements of 
reconstruction days was able to achieve a more than 
ordinary success. He was married to Sallie Ferguson, 
born in Kentucky in 1839. She died at Milburn, Ken- 
tucky, September 16, 1877, having borne her husband 
the following children : Jeff, who lives at Banks, Ar- 
kansas, is foreman of a railroad crew on the Yazoo 
& Mississippi Valley Railroad; Mollie, who married 
Jack Wilkerson, a farmer of Graves County, Kentucky, 
resides near Hickory Grove, that county; Thomas, who 
was a mechanic and woodworker, died in December, 
1918, at Pine Bluff, Arkansas ; Fannie, who married 
John Graves, a farmer of Carlisle County, Kentucky; 
Samuel, who is a farmer of Graves County, Ken- 
tucky; Scytha, who died in infancy; Ora, who mar- 
ried George Graves, a carpenter and builder, lives at 
Bardwell, Kentucky ; and Doctor Peebles, who was the 
youngest born. 

Doctor Peebles attended the rural schools of Graves 
and Carlisle counties, and was reared by his aunt, 
Mrs. Mary Killough, from the time he was three days 
old. Later on he attended Clinton College at Clinton, 
Kentucky, and then entered the Hospital College of 
Medicine at Louisville, Kentucky, and was graduated 
therefrom in 1905, with the degree of Doctor of 
Medicine. Immediately thereafter he began the prac- 
tice of his profession at Springhill, Hickman County, 
where he remained until January, 1918, when he went 
into the service of his country during its participa- 
tion in the great war. He had enlisted in June, 191 7, 
in the medical corps, but was not called until January 
of the following year, at which time he was commis- 
sioned a first lieutenant and sent to the training camp 
at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. After six weeks there 
he went to Garden City, Long Island, and remained 
there until July 15, 1918, when he went overseas and 
landed in England. He was first at Camp Flower- 
down, near Winchester, for a few days, and then for 
fifteen days was at Rendcomb Aerodrome. From there 



he went to Northhold, near London. He was returned 
to the United States, December 11, 1918, and was mus- 
tered out at Camp Taylor, January 9, 1919, as first 
lieutenant. On August I, 1919, he established himself 
in a general medical and surgical practice at Clinton, 
with offices in the Clinton Bank Building, and in addi- 
tion to the duties pertaining to his private practice he 
is serving as county physician for Hickman County. 
As a member of the Hickman County Medical Society, 
the Kentucky State Medical Society and the Kentucky 
Southwestern Medical Association he keeps abreast 
with the advance made in his profession. In politics 
he is a democrat. He is a member and steward of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church. A Mason, he belongs to 
Springfield Lodge No. 574, A. F. & A. M. 

On May 30, 1908, Doctor Peebles was married first 
to Miss Erne Caldwell at Springhill, Kentucky. She 
was a daughter of James and Mary (Chester) Cald- 
well. Mrs. Caldwell is deceased, but Mr. Caldwell sur- 
vives and lives at Springhill, where he has farming 
interests. Mrs. Peebles died December 18, 1910, leav- 
ing one daughter, Effie, who was born December 15, 
1910. On March 20, 1912, Doctor Peebles married 
Miss Ada Avey at Columbus, Kentucky. She is a 
daughter of John Avey, a merchant of Columbus, 
Kentucky, who is now deceased, as is his wife, who 
was a Miss Miller before her marriage. Mrs. Peebles 
is a skilled musician in both vocal and instrumental 
music, and was graduated in her art from one of the 
leading conservatories. Doctor and Mrs. Peebles have 
one son, Richard, who was born March 16, 1913. 

As one of the men of his profession public-spirited 
enough to sacrifice personal interests to a sense of 
duty and intense loyalty, Doctor Peebles is entitled 
to the confidence and support of his fellow citizens. 
In the stress of the days following the signing of the 
armistice the people of this country hove to a certain 
extent neglected to give open expression to the grati- 
tude which is at heart entertained for the men, who 
beyond the draft age and with home needs holding 
them back, went into the service and ministered to the 
soldiers, saving many thousands of young lives and 
healing the wounds of the stricken. When the Ameri- 
can people are a little further away from the numb- 
ing effects of the great conflict they will awaken to 
their duty toward the returned service men and ren- 
der to them the appreciation which they have so richly 
earned and to which they are certainly entitled. 

Roy P. Clark. Recognizing the fact that business is 
the very life blood of national health and prosperity, 
Roy P. Clark, one of the successful business men of 
Hickman, is doing his part to promote the welfare 
of his locality as secretary, treasu-er and general 
manager of the Hickman Milling and Feed Company, 
Incorporated. He was born in Fulton County, Ken- 
tucky, April 27, 1880, a son of Alonzo P. Clark, and 
grandson of Obadiah Clark. The latter died in Ful- 
ton County, Kentucky, in 1882, and there his wife, 
Mrs. Helen (Tyler) Clark, also died. They were 
farming people who came to Fulton County at an 
early day. 

Alonzo P. Clark was born in Fulton County in 1850, 
and died at Oakton, Hickman County, in 1889. He 
was reared, educated and married in his native county, 
and there he became a farmer and saw-mill owner 
and operator. In 1883 he moved to Hickman and re- 
mained there the rest of his life. In politics he was 
a democrat. Very religious, he found in the creed 
of the Missionary Baptist Church the medium for the 
expression of his faith and early joined it and re- 
mained one of its stanch supporters. He was a Mason. 
Alonzo P. Clark was married to Lizzie Adams, who 
was born in Fulton County, Kentucky, and died in this 
county in 1902. Their children were as follows : C. L., 
who is a merchant of Hickman ; Roy P., whose name 
heads this review ; Lizzie Gage, who married Burrus 






HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



35 



Brasfield, is now deceased, but her husband lives at 
Dumas, Arkansas ; and L. G., who married C. M. Bras- 
field, a farmer of Dumas, Arkansas. 

Roy P. Clark attended the rural schools of Fulton 
County, and added to his store of knowledge by taking 
a commercial course at Draughon's Business College 
of Nashville, Tennessee, from which he was graduated 
in September, igoi. For the next sixteen years he 
was engaged in farming in Hickman County, Ken- 
tucky, and then sold his farm and bought the flour 
and feed mill owned by E. E. Reeves at Hickman and 
organized the Hickman Milling and Feed Company, 
Incorporated, with the following officials: H. C. Helm, 
president ; A. J. Walker, vice president, and Roy P. 
Clark, secretary, treasurer and general manager. The 
capacity of the plant is fifty barrels per day. The 
mills are located near the Chicago, Memphis &; Gulf 
Railroad tracks. Like his father, Mr. Clark is a 
democrat and a member of the Missionary Baptist 
Church. Fraternally he belongs to Elm Camp No. 3, 
W. O. W. He owns a modern residence just at the 
edge of the city on the south side, where he has a 
comfortable home and spacious grounds. 

In 1907 Mr. Clark married at Hickman, Kentucky, 
Miss Louise Warren Rogers, a daughter of J. W. and 
Lou (Cowgill) Rogers, residents of Hickman, where 
Mr. Rogers is living in retirement, although formerly 
he was one of the leading merchants of the city. Mrs. 
Clark was educated at Hickman College, of which 
she is a graduate. Mr. and Mrs. Clark became the 
parents of three children, namely : John Newlin, who 
was born December 20, 1912; Adrian Louise, who was 
born in August, 1914; and Tansil, who was born in 
1917. Mr. Clark not only possesses experience and 
business ability, but the will and resourcefulness which 
bring about gratifying results. He stands well with 
his associates and competitors, and is recognized as 
being one of the men of moment not only at Hick- 
man but throughout Fulton County. 

Edward Thomas Bullock, district counsel for the 
Mobile & Ohio Railroad, is one of the leading corpora- 
tion lawyers of Hickman County, and a representa- 
tive citizen of Clinton. He was born at Hickman, Ken- 
tucky, September 13, 1847, a son of E. I. Bullock, and 
a member of one of the old established families of the 
country, the Bullocks having come to the American 
Colonies from England long before the Revolution and 
settled in Virginia. 

E. I. Bullock was born in Culpeper County, Virginia, 
in 1808, and died at Columbus, Kentucky, in 1883. 
He was graduated from William and Mary College at 
Lynchburg, Virginia. In 1841 he was married at Jim- 
town, Kentucky, where he had located in 1840, and 
established himself as a lawyer and surveyor of public 
lands, but left Jimtown for Mill's Point, as Hickman 
was then called, and was there engaged in the practice 
of his profession until 1855, when he moved to Clinton. 
There he remained for two years, and then, in 1857, 
moved to Columbus, Kentucky, where he continued in 
an active practice until his death. He was a democrat, 
and was honored by his party, serving as attorney of 
Fulton County for one term, being the first to hold 
that office, and he was circuit judge of the First Judi- 
cial District and a member of the committee that re- 
vised the statute laws of Kentucky, then called the 
general statutes, but now called the Kentucky statutes. 
During President Buchanan's administration he was 
United States attorney, and discharged every obligation 
laid upon him with dignified capability. All of his ma- 
ture years he was a communicant of the Episcopal 
Church, and was a very strong churchman. He was also 
a Mason. His landed property interests were heavy. 
In every way he measured up to the highest standards 
of manhood and good citizenship. E. I. Bullock was 
married to Maria Emerson, who was born in Cum- 
berland County, Kentucky, in 1810, and died near 



Columbus, Kentucky, in 1880. Their children were as 
follows : Maria, who married R. W. Walker, an attor- 
ney, now deceased, resides at Clinton, Kentucky, where 
she is held in high respect. John M., who died at 
Hickman, Kentucky, was an attorney of note, although 
only twenty-four years old at the time of his demise. 
Hettie, who was married first to Col. M. B. Harris, 
an attorney, who died at Clinton, Kentucky, a colonel 
of the Twelfth Mississippi Infantry, C. S. A., wounded 
in 1865 and never recovered. She was subsequently 
married to Richard Sneed, a farmer, who died at Jack- 
son, Tennessee, and she was then married to William 
Hall, a farmer and extensive landowner, now de- 
ceased. Edward Thomas was fourth in order of 
birth. Pinkie, who is the widow of John G. Samuels, 
of Bardstown, Kentucky, a farmer, and at one time 
sheriff of Nelson County, Kentucky, resides at Clin- 
ton, Kentucky. Mary is the widow of Kit Rudd, a 
steamboat and railroad man, and resides at Greenville, 
Mississippi, during the winters and at New York City, 
New York, during the summer months. 

Edward Thomas Bullock attended the rural schools 
of Hickman County, Kentucky, and then entering the 
State University of Missouri at Columbia, Missouri, 
was graduated therefrom in 1867. He then read law 
in the office of L. D. Husband at Paducah, Kentucky, 
and was admitted to the bar in 1868, beginning his 
practice at Paducah and remaining in that city for 
three years. He then moved to Columbus, Kentucky, 
where he remained until 1881, continuing his prac- 
tice, but in that year came to Clinton, and has con- 
tinued to reside in this city ever since. His offices 
are located on Clay Street, in the postoffice building. 
Mr. Bullock is district counsel for the Mobile & Ohio 
Railroad, with jurisdiction all over the State of Ken- 
tucky, and is now police judge of Clinton, which 
office he has held for the past eight years. He is 
a stanch democrat in his political affiliations. The 
Methodist Episcopal Church holds his membership, 
and he is very active in church work, having been 
a delegate to the district conference held at Lone Oak 
Kentucky, in 1920. He belongs to the Clinton Bar 
Association, and is now its president. The family 
residence is at 117 Washington Street, and Mr. Bul- 
lock is a property owner in Columbus, Kentucky. 
He took a very active part in all of the local war 
activities, including the Red Cross and Liberty Loan 
drives, and was one of the most effective of the "Four 
Minute Men," making speeches all over Hickman 
County. 

In 1871 Mr. Bullock was married at Princeton, Ken- 
tucky, to Miss Bettie Pettit, a daughter of Mr. and 
Mrs. Thomas Pettit, both of whom are deceased. Mrs. 
Bullock died at Columbus, Kentucky, in 1873, leav- 
ing one son, E. T., Jr., who lives at Louisville, Ken- 
tucky, where he is connected with the Avery Manu- 
facturing Company. In 1891 Mr. Bullock was mar- 
ried at Clinton, Kentucky, to Mrs. Delia (Cobb) Reid, 
born at Hickman, Kentucky, and they have one daugh- 
ter, Delia, who married H. D. Hendren, editor of the 
Hickman County Gazette. Mr. and Mrs. Hendren are 
residents of Clinton, Kentucky. 

Mr. Bullock comes of sturdy and religious stock, 
and inherits from his forebears a high character and 
decisive ideas about the duties of a citizen. He is 
upright in his principles, practical in his methods, 
and an authority in matters of law. On the bench he 
is noted for his practicality, and his judgments are 
almost without exception sustained by the higher 
courts. His originality of thought, his independence 
of action, and his fearlessness in defending his posi- 
tion on any subject and in advocating the principles 
for which he stands have won for him the confidence, 
the admiration and respect of both his political friends 
and foes. As a corporation lawyer he has few peers, 
and in his connections with one of the great railroads 
of the state he has opportunity to utilize to the utmost 



36 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



the knowledge of this branch of the law which he has 
gained through years of study and wide experience. 

James Luther Moss. Although now retired from 
the strenuous requirements of former years, James 
Luther Moss of Clinton is still a representative citi- 
zen of Hickman County, and a man whose influence 
is felt and recognized. His holdings are extensive, 
and he retains stock in several institutions of the city. 
The record he made as a business man reflects credit 
upon his ability and integrity, and sets a standard for 
younger men to follow. 

James Luther Moss was born at Greensburg. Ken- 
tucky, April IS, 1S47, a son of George B. Moss, and 
grandson of Thomas S. Moss, who was a capta.n in 
the War of 1812, and a pioneer physician of Greens- 
burg, Kentucky, where he died in 1851. He married 
Julia C. Bullock, who was born in Green County, 
Kentucky, in 1793. and died at Clinton, Kentucky, in 
1868. Four of their sons, James W., Luther C, 
Thomas E. and William, served in the Confederate 
army during the war between the North and the 
South. James W. Moss was colonel of the Second 
Kentucky Infantry, C. S. A., and was killed at Jones- 
boro. Luther C Moss was a lieutenant of a company 
in his brother's regiment. Thomas E. was major of 
the same regiment, and William H. served as a 
private. 

George B. Moss was born in Green County, Ken- 
lucky, in 1818, and died at a mineral spring resort 
in Tennessee in 1882, although he was a resident of 
Hickman County, Kentucky, his farm being located 
near Columbus. He was reared, educated and mar- 
ried in Green County, Kentucky, where he was en- 
gaged in business as a mule trader. In 1856 he came 
to Hickman County, settling then on the farm he 
bought in the vicinity of Columbus, and became one 
of the extensive landowners of this region, having 
about 600 acres in his homestead. He was a demo- 
crat. The Presbyterian Church held his membership, 
and he was an elder in it and very active in the 
church work. The Masonic fraternity also had in 
him a faithful member. George B. Moss was married 
to Elizabeth Marshall, who was born in Green County, 
Kentucky, in 1823, and died at Greensburg. Kentucky, 
in 1847. Their children were as follows: John Luther, 
who died in infancy in Green County; and James 
Luther, whose name heads this review. 

Growing up in his native county, James Luther 
Moss attended its schools and those of Hickman 
County, and later St. Mary's College of Montreal, 
Canada. He was also a student of Bethel College at 
Kussellville, Kentucky, but left college when he was 
nineteen years of age and returned to the home farm, 
and there spent eight years. However, he was too 
ambitious to be satisfied to remain a farmer, and so 
accepted the appointment which made him deputy clerk 
of Hickman County and brought him to Clinton. After 
serving as such for a couple of years he was elected 
county clerk, and held that responsible office for six- 
teen years. In 1896 he took over the machinery sup- 
plies and agricultural implement business in which 
he had been interested for the preceding ten years 
in partnership with his uncle, L. C. Moss, and con- 
ducted it until 1809, when he withdrew his capital 
from the business. About this time he was made 
president of the Clinton Bank, of which he has been 
a director since its organization, and served for two 
years, and then resigned and retired from active par- 
ticipation in business life. He owns one of the finest 
modern residences in Clinton, which, is on Washington 
Street, and another dwelling in the city as well as a 
very valuable farm of 200 acres near Columbus, Ken- 
tucky. At one time Mr. Moss belonged to the Odd 
Fellows, Knights of Pythias and Knights and Ladies 
of Honor, but of late years has withdrawn from these 
fraternities. 



In 1883 Mr. Moss was united in marriage with Miss 
Love Beeler, a daughter of Dr. George and Viola 
(Wayne) Beeler, both of whom are now deceased. 
Doctor Beeler was the pioneer physician of Clinton, 
Kentucky, and was a man widely known and univer- 
sally beloved. Mrs. Moss attended Clinton College. 
She died in 1892. at San Antonio, Texas, having 
borne her husband the following children: Blanche, 
who married Jerry R. Johnson, and they live with 
her father, Mr. Johnson being actively engaged in 
extensive agricultural operations in the county ; and 
Jenola, who married Ernest C. Carter, a farmer. Mr. 
and Mrs. Carter reside on their farm ij4 miles south- 
east of Clinton. During the many years he has lived 
at Clinton Mr. Moss has been connected with much 
of the constructive work of his community, and while 
he was county clerk he made the acquaintance of prac- 
tically all the people of Hickman County, and In them 
all he is held in high regard, for he earned their re- 
spect and confidence for the efficient and dependable 
manner in which he discharged the duties ut his 
important office. 

James C. Prestox, M. D. A very competent physi- 
cian and surgeon in Kentucky, who since his reli ase 
from duty in the medical corps has practiced at Hel- 
lier in Pike County, has chosen as a field for his 
professional career a portion of Kentucky with which 
his family have been identified for many years. 

Doctor Preston was born at Alphoretta in Floyd 
County, Kentucky, September 24, 1890, son of M. Lee 
and Amanda (Dingus) Preston, the former a native 
of Johnson County and the latter of Floyd County. 
His father is now sixty-two and his mother titty years 
of age, and he is a Methodist while she is a Baptist. 
M. Lee Preston has been for many years a practical 
farmer, but is widely known in Eastern Kentucky as 
a musician and musxal instructor and has taught many 
singing classes in the Big Sandy district. His address 
is now Smalley Postoffice, or the Town of Martin, 
which was built on his farm. 

Doctor Preston is one of a family of four sons and 
lour daughters. His brother Oscar was in the navy 
(luring the World war. Doctor Preston gained h s 
early education in the home schools, later began his 
medical studies in Valparaiso University in Indiana, 
and in 1917 graduated from the Chicago School ot 
Medicine and Surgery. 

Almost immediately he joined the med'eal corps as 
a first lieutenant, was trained at Camp Greenleaf, 
Chickamauga, and was in the army service until tne 
close of the war. He then chose as the scene of his 
professional activities the Town of Hellier where lie 
lias an extensive general practice and is also physi- 
cian to the Greenough Coal Mine and the Edgewaier 
Coal Company. He is a member of the Pike County, 
Kentucky State and American Medical association-, 1- 
affiliated with Pikeville Lodge of Masons and El I Lisa 
Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Ashland, and is a 
republican in politics. In 1919 Doctor Preston mar- 
ried Miss Mary Douglas Porter, daughter of J. M. 
Porter of Prestonsburg, Floyd County. 

John S. Cline. Faith in the future of his com- 
munity, ability to look ahead and visualize conditions 
as they were to be in the coming years, and patience 
in waiting for his dreams to materialize have been 
important factors in the success of John S. Cline, of 
Pikeville. An attorney by profession, Mr. Cline has 
traveled far in his chosen calling, but it has been as 
an investor in Pike County land that he has found 
the greatest measure of material prosperity. 

Mr. Cline was born in what is now Mingo County. 
West Virginia, near Dolorme, July 10, 1869, a son oi 
Perry A. and Martha (Adkins) (."line, a grandson of 
Jacob Cline, and a great-grandson of Peter Cline. 
Liter ("line came from Eastern Tennessee in I7<m and 



sc\ 




HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



37 



settled at the mouth of Peter's Creek, named in his 
honor, a small stream in the western part of West 
Virginia. Perry A. Cline, a noted character in West 
Virginia and Eastern Kentucky, was born on a farm 
at the mouth of this stream, in 1845, and at one time 
was the owner ot the home property, which he traded 
for a farm on the west side of the Tug River, in Ken- 
tucky. He had the advantages of only about three 
months of schooling, but was blessed with good com- 
mon sense, and through reading, observation and the 
use of his inherent qualities never allowed his early 
educational disadvantages to handicap him. He was 
elected sheriff of Pike County for two terms and 
served capably in that offce from 1876 to 1880, was 
school commissioner two terms and a member of the 
State Legislature in 1886 and 1887. He then studied 
law and was admitted to the bar, but his career was 
cut short in 1891, when he was only forty-three years 
of age. His widow, a native of Pike County, survived 
him until March 2, 1920, and was seventy-three years 
of age at the time of her demise. In politics, Perry 
A. Cline was a Union democrat. While he was too 
young for service at the outbreak of the war between 
the states, he was an ardent Union sympathizer, and 
his brother served in the Federal Army. Mr. and 
Mrs. Cline were the parents of eight children : John S. ; 
A. D., a minister of the Methodist Church in Pike 
County: Roxana, the wife of P. F. Preston, of Leb- 
anon. Ohio; Myra, who died at the age of thirty years 
at Pikeville, as the wife of Watt Curnutte ; Ella, the 
wife of William A. Richards, of Columbus, Ohio ; 
W. O. B., a farmer at Oak Hill, Ohio; Jacob P., an 
engineer on the C. & O. Railroad; and Maude, the 
wife of W. L. York, of Pikeville. 

The early education of John S. Cline was secured 
in the public schools of Pikeville, following which he 
pursued a course at the Agricultural and Mechanical 
College, at Lexington. Having determined upon a 
career in the law, he took up the study of that pro- 
fession under the preceptorship of his father, and in 
1887 was admitted to the bar, after an examination 
before the Kentucky Court of Appeals. When Mr. 
Cline began his law practice he had for two years as 
his partner W. K. Steele, but at the end of that time 
the association was dissolved, and Mr. Cline has since 
practiced alone. While he is a general practitioner, 
much of his law business has ' been identified with 
land titles, for this is a field in which he is greatly 
interested personally, and has naturally made a close 
study of the subject. Mr. Cline belongs to the various 
organizations of his calling, and is held in respect by 
his fellow-members in the profession, who have always 
found him an observer of the highest ethics of the 
calling. He is capable, learned and shrewd, and has 
a great capacity for industry in his profession, his 
success in which has been fairly earned and is well 
deserved. 

Years ago, even before the possibility of a railroad 
had been brought up, Mr. Cline began buying land in 
east Kentucky, for the most part coal land. During 
the time that he has been thus engaged, it is said that, 
at different times, he has owned a greater acreage of 
coal property than any other one individual. He had 
the vision and patience, could see success at the end 
of a long period of time, and was content to wait for 
his award. The pioneer in this line of endeavor, he 
has continued therein to the present time, and as Pike- 
ville has extended its boundaries it has spread con- 
stantlv over Cline land. Mr. Cline donated the ground 
at Pikeville occupied by Grace Avenue, which was 
named in honor of his daughter Grace, who died in 
tqi6. at the age of twenty-seven years, as the wife of 
William H. Vest, of Lynchburg, Virginia. 

In 1891 and 1892 Mr. Cline served as sheriff of Pike 
County and made an efficient and conscientious official 
in that position, as he did also in the office of county 
attorney, which he filled for two terms. He is a mem- 

Tol. V— 5 



ber of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, 
and a Mason of high standing, being a member of the 
Commandery at Ashland, as well as a noble of the 
Mystic Shrine. He and his family are faithful mem- 
bers of the Presbyterian Church. 

In 1887 Mr. Cline was united in marriage with Miss 
Rebecca Scott, daughter of William M. Scott, of Pike- 
ville, and of the five children of this union, Grace is 
deceased, as before noted, the others being : Octavia, 
the wife of J. H. Smith, Jr., of Lynchburg, Virginia; 
Thelma, the wife of Sid Trioette, of Pikeville; Gene- 
vieve, who is unmarried and resides with her parents; 
and John S., Jr., also at home. 

W. M. Hays succeeded his deceased brother in the 
office of county superintendent of schools of Bell 
County, on the 1st of May, 1921, and is most effectively 
carrying forward the progressive scholastic and execu- 
tive policies initiated by his brother, the while the 
excellent success of his administration is being fur- 
thered materially by the loyal co-operation of the 
Bell County Board of Education and the people of the 
county in general. Mr. Hays is a native of Bell 
County, where he was born September 13, 1880. His 
father, Samuel Hays, was born in Claiborne County, 
Tennessee, in 1856, and there was reared and educated. 
About the year 1876 he came to Kentucky and estab- 
lished his residence on a farm on Straight Creek, 
Bell County, where he continued as one of the exten- 
sive and successful exponents of farm industry until 
1909, when he removed to his present well improved 
farm, near Barbourville, Knox County. He is a man 
of progressiveness and broad views, and has brought 
to bear in his farming operations a large measure of 
energy and good judgment, with the result that sub- 
stantial success has attended his well-directed activi- 
ties. He is a loyal supporter of the principles of the 
republican party, is affiliated with the Junor Order of 
United American Mechanics, and both he and his 
wife are earnest members of the Baptist Church. 
Mrs. Hays, whose maiden name was Alice Hendrick- 
son, was born in Bell County, in 1861, and in this 
county her marriage was solemnized. Of the children 
W. M., of this review, is the eldest ; R. B., who had 
been a popular teacher in the schools of Bell and 
Knox counties, Kentucky, died at Boulder, Colorado, 
in 1917; Alvers died at the age of nine months; John, 
who died at Ashbury, North Carolina, March 16, 
1920, was at the time county superintendent of schools 
for Bell County, Kentucky, a position to which he was 
elected in November, 1917, by the largest majority 
ever accorded a candidate for this office in the county, 
he having been previously a specially successful teacher 
in the public schools of his native county, and his 
administration having been notably successful, while 
his fine attributes of character made his untimely 
death a cause of deep regret in his home county; 
Mattie is the wife of Charles G. Cole, who is engaged 
in the wholesale grocery business at Barbourville, 
Knox County; and Marcellus J. remains at the parental 
home. 

The rural schools of Bell County gave to W. M. 
Hays his preliminary education, and thereafter he con- 
tinued his studies in Williamsburg Institute, now 
known as Cumberland College, at Williamsburg, Whit- 
ley County, until 1907, though, at the age of eighteen 
years, he had initiated his successful career as a 
teacher in the rural schools of his native county. His 
effective service as a teacher in the public schools 
of Bell County covered a period of twenty-one con- 
secutive years, and from the second year of his work 
he held a first-grade certificate. When his brother 
John died and left a vacancy in the office of county 
superintendent of schools Mr. Hays was recognized as 
a most logical successor in this important office, to 
which he was appointed May 21, 1921, to fill out the 
unexpired term which ends in January, 1922. So 



38 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



well is he discharging his official duties and co-ordi- 
nating the educational work of the Bell County schools 
that his re-election to office will virtually be a mat- 
ter of his own acceptance of renomination. On ac- 
count of the illness of his brother, the regular incum- 
bent, he assumed full charge of the office in August, 
1920, and thus his record had been well established 
when he was formally appointed as successor of his 
brother. 

Mr. Hays is a republican in political allegiance, he 
and his wife are members of the Baptist Church. He 
is affiliated with and is past chancellor of Mountain 
Lodge No. 189, Knights of Pythias, at Arjay, Bell 
County, in which village he maintains his home, though 
his official headquarters as county superintendent of 
schools are in the courthouse at Pineville. At Blanche, 
this county, he is a member and past sachem of 
Delaware Tribe No. 157, Improved Order of Red 
Men ; and in his home village he is affiliated with 
Evening Star Council, Daughters of America, as is 
also his wife, and with Arjay Council No. 233, Junior 
Order of United American Mechanics, of which he 
has served as recording secretary since 1917. He is 
an active member of the Kentucky Educational Asso- 
ciation, is a stockholder in the Bell National Bank at 
Pineville, and in addition to his official service he is 
engaged in business as a broker in real estate and 
government bonds. He ascribes great credit to the 
members of the Bell County Board of Education for 
the successful and progressive work being accom- 
plished in the schools of the county, the members of 
this board, in addition to himself, being as here desig- 
nated: W. T. Robbins, of Wasioto; M. F. Knuckles, 
of Beverly; J. C. Hembree, of Tinsley; J. W. Par- 
sons, of Calloway; and Chesley Thompson, of Calvin. 

In the various works in support of the nation's 
war activities in connection with the great World war 
Mr. Hays was active and loyal in patriotic service in 
the various campaigns in his home county, where 
he helped in all of the drives for the sale of Govern- 
ment war bonds and savings stamps, besides making 
his personal subscriptions as liberal as his available 
resources permitted. 

In Claiborne County, Tennessee, in the year 1910, 
was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hays to Miss 
Katherine Howard, daughter of F. B. and Hannah 
(Smith) Howard, the former of whom died on his 
farm near Clear Creek Springs, Bell Count}', Kentucky, 
where his widow still maintains her home. Mr. and 
Mrs. Hays have one son, William Curtis, who was 
born November 23, 1915. 

William Hays, grandfather of W. M. Hays, was 
born in Tennessee, in 1833, and became a pioneer far- 
mer in Claborne County, that state. He represented 
Tennessee as a gallant soldier of the Union in the 
Civil war. In later years he was for twenty years a 
resident of the west, having passed a portion of the 
period in Kansas and California, and the closing years 
of his life having been spent near Barbourville, Knox 
County, Kentucky, where he died in 1916. His wife, 
whose maiden name was Laura Dodson, was a native 
of Tennessee and died in the City of Topeka, Kansas, 
her ancestors having come from Ireland to America 
in the Colonial days, and the Hays family, of English 
lineage, having been founded in North Carolina in the 
Colonial period of our national history, representatives 
of later generations having been pioneers in both Ten- 
nessee and Kentucky, as previous statements in this 
context duly intimate. 

Cumpton I. Mahurin is one of the prominent old 
residents of Webster County, long identified with the 
farming interests of that section and now carrying the 
important responsibilities of county sheriff. 

Mr. Mahurin was born in Grayson County, Ken- 
tucky. November 22, 1872, a son of Joel H. and Mary 
(Edwards) Mahurin, of a prominent and well known 



family of Grayson County, where his father was 
also born. His paternal grandfather came to Ken- 
tucky from Virginia. Joel H. Mahurin spent his 
active life as a farmer and died in 1885. His brother, 
Isaac Dean Mahurin, was at one time sheriff of 
Grayson County. The maternal grandfather of Sheriff 
Mahurin was William Edwards. Sheriff Mahurin's 
maternal grandmother is one of the oldest women in 
Kentucky at this writing, being 101 years of age. 

Cumpton I. Mahurin grew up on his father's farm 
and acquired a common school education. He was 
one of a family of ten children, five of whom reached 
mature years. When he was seventeen he started 
out to battle life alone, coming to Webster county in 
1889. His first employment here was as a farm hand, 
and after several years he married and began farm- 
ing for himself, his hard work and good manage- 
ment keeping him steadily in the road of progress 
until he had acquired a good farm of his own, and he 
is still interested in the practical side of farming so 
far as his official duties permit. 

Mr. Mahurin was elected sheriff in 1917 on the demo- 
cratic ticket. His qualifications for that office were 
well known, since for four years he had been deputy 
sheriff under L. B. Vaughn. Mr. Mahurin is affiliated 
with the Masonic Order, Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows and is a member of the Methodist Church. 

In 1892 he married Alice V. Coffman, who died in 
1916, leaving five children. In 1919 Mr. Mahurin mar- 
ried Miss Naomi Mayme Shown, of Hartford, Ken- 
tucky. She had for several years been a popular 
teacher in the Dixon schools. 

Leslie L. Hindman. Brilliant in intellect, noble in 
character, great in high aims and lofty purposes, Les- 
lie L. Hindman, county attorney of Hickman County, 
is one of the leading attorneys of this part of Ken- 
tucky, and a dependable citizen of Clinton, where he 
has other interests outside of his profession. He is 
logical in thought, clear in expression, and courageous - 
in following his convictions. Responsive to the popu- 
lar will, he is, nevertheless, honest with himself and 
true to his settled convictions of duty, and is an ideal 
official, loyal to his constituents, faithful to his trust, 
able and fearless in expressing and advocating his 
views, and devoted to those policies which he believes 
to be for the good of all. 

Leslie L. Hindman was born in Hickman County, 
Kentucky, January 30, 1882, a son of James M. Hind- 
man, grandson of Mark Hindman, and a member of 
one of the old-established families of the country. 
The Hindman family originated in Scotland, from 
whence its representatives came to America at an early 
day in its history. Mark Hindman was born in Hick- 
man County, Kentucky, in 1822, and died in Missis- 
sippi County, Missouri, in 1912. He was one of the 
prosperous farmers of Hickman County, but when he 
retired he moved to Mississippi County, Missouri, and 
there rounded out his days in ease and comfort. Dur- 
ing the war between the North and the South he 
served in the Confederate army, and although he par- 
ticipated in some of the most bitterly contested bat- 
tles of that unhappy conflict, he was spared for many 
years of usefulness. 

James M. Hindman was born in Hickman County, 

:entucky, in 1849, and died near Water Valley, Graves 



County, Kentucky, although his home was over the 
line in Hickman County. The year of his demise was 
1912, the same year of the death of his father. He 



was reared in his native county, and spent his entire 
life within its confines, and was very successfully en- 
gaged in farming. In politics a democrat, he never 
swerved in his allegiance to that party. The Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church, South, held his membership 
and had his active and effective support, for he was a 
very religious man. He was married to Susie Hicks, 
a native of Hickman County, Kentucky, where she 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



39 



was born in 1853. She died in that same county in 
1880, having borne her husband the following children : 
M. L., who died in June, 1920, was a farmer of 
Graves County, Kentucky; and Edward, who lives at 
Dallas, Texas, is a traveling salesman. After the death 
of his first wife James M. Hindman married Frances 
Walker, who resides on the home farm in Hickman 
County, near Walter Valley. She was born in this 
county in 1856. By his second marriage James M. 
Hindman became the father of the following children: 
Leslie L., whose name heads this review ; Ernest, who 
lives on the old farm in Hickman County with his 
mother; Ina, who married J. H. Stephens, a farmer 
of Clinton, Kentucky; Ella, who married B. O. Walker, 
a farmer of Beelerton, Hickman County, Kentucky ; 
and Lewis, who is employed in an automobile plant at 
Detroit, Michigan. 

Leslie L. Hindman attended the rural schools of his 
native county, and then became a student of the State 
College at Lexington, Kentucky, now known as the 
State University, and completed the sophomore year 
in the literary course, but left that institution in 
1902 and for the subsequent five years was engaged 
in teaching school in Hickman County. Having saved 
the necessary money, he entered Cumberland Univer- 
sity Law Department, at Lebanon, Tennessee, and was 
graduated therefrom in 1907, with the degree of Doc- 
tor of Laws. That same year he entered upon the 
practice of his profession at Clinton, and built a 
valuable connection in civil and criminal practice. He 
is a democrat, and has several times been his party's 
choice for local offices. For one term he was city 
judge of Clinton, and then, in November, 1913, was 
elected county attorney, taking office in January, 1914. 
After four years he was re-elected to succeed him- 
self, in 191 7, and is the present incumbent of the office. 
He is to be found in the courthouse. Mr. Hindman 
owns a modern residence on Washington Street, which 
is recognized to be the best in the city. It was com- 
pleted in 1920 and is equipped with all conveniences 
and comforts, and the house is surrounded by large, 
beautifully kept grounds. He also owns a farm in 
Hickman County, and is secretary and treasurer of the 
Federal Land Bank of Louisville, Kentucky. 

In 1912 Mr. Hindman was married at Paducah, Ken- 
tucky, to Miss Ruby Samuel, a daughter of Reuben 
T. and Ida CWellingham) Samuel, both of whom are 
deceased. Mr. Samuel was one of the early agricul- 
turalists of Hickman County, Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. 
Hindman have no children. 

Mr. Hindman belongs to Clinton Lodge. I. O. O. F., 
of which he is a past grand ; to Mayflower Camp, 
W. O. W. ; and to Cameo Camp, M. W. A. Profes- 
sionally he is a member of the Hickman County Bar 
Association, which he is now serving as secretary and 
treasurer. Although in the very prime of useful man- 
hood, Mr. Hindman has traveled far on the road to 
success, and, judging the future by the past, other 
honors without doubt lie in store for him, as his con- 
stituents recognize his ability and fidelity and feel that 
their interests will be safeguarded if placed in his 
capable hands. 

Michael Bohan is one of the older residents of 
the Town of Burlington in Hopkins County, was for 
a number of years in the railroad service, both as 
engineer and conductor, but about twenty years ago 
established himself in a small way as a merchant and 
has made his business grow and prosper with the pass- 
ing of time until he has one of the best appointed 
and best patronized stores in Hopkins County. 

Mr. Bohan was born in Springfield, Tennessee, Au- 
gust 8, i860. His father Michael Bohan was born in 
Cork, Ireland, in 1811, married his first wife in Ire- 
land and they came to this country and settled at 
Springfield, Tennessee. He spent many years in rail- 
road service. He was employed in the railway station 



at Springfield and while there he enlisted and served 
in the Confederate army with a Tennessee regiment. 
He was all through the war. In 1871 he moved to 
Gallatin, Tennessee, continuing as a railroad man, and 
in 1878 came to Earlington, after which he lived prac- 
tically retired until his death in 1893. He was a demo- 
crat and a faithful Catholic. By his first wife he 
had one son, Dennis, who for many years was con- 
nected with circus organizations and died at Earling- 
ton. Michael Bohan, Sr., married for his second wife 
Honora Shey, who was born in County Kerry, Ire- 
land, in 1833, and died in Earlington, Kentucky, in 
1908. Her children were five in number : James who 
died at Springfield, Tennessee, at the age of nine 
years ; Dan, a railway employe who died at Sebree, 
Kentucky, in 1884; Michael, Jr.; Cornelius, a railway 
engineer living at Earlington ; and John, who died at 
Springfield, Tennessee, in childhood. 

Michael Bohan, Jr., acquired some education in pri- 
vate schools in Springfield, Tennessee, but the neces- 
sities of the family were such that he early had to get 
out and make his own way and the best part of his 
education has come from reading, experience, and 
unceasing contact with men and affairs during a busy 
lifetime. He was practically earning his own living 
when only ten years of age as a mule driver during 
the construction of a railroad grade. He worked 
at that two years, then became a section hand at 
Prospect, Tennessee, and before he gave up that work 
five years later had achieved the responsibilities of 
section foreman. Coming to Earlington in 1878 Mr. 
Bohan found employment in the local railway shops, 
later earned a run as a locomotive fireman, and even- 
tually became a locomotive engineer with the Louis- 
ville and Nashville Railway. For a time he had a 
run as an engineer for the Southern Railroad between 
Chattanooga and Atlanta. He finally gave up his posi- 
tion at the throttle of an engine to work up to an- 
other line of railroading, beginning as a brakeman 
with the Louisville and Nashville, and in the meantime 
returning to Earlington in 1893. After three years as 
brakeman he was promoted to freight conductor, and 
continued in the railroad service in that capacity until 
1901. 

In that year Mr. Bohan made his modest start as a 
local merchant at Earlington, and has enjoyed a stead- 
ily increasing patronage. He owns both the store 
and the store building at Railroad and Clark streets 
and has much other local property including his home. 
Mr. Bohan, who has never married, is a democrat in 
politics, member of the Catholic Church, and is af- 
filiated with Henderson Council of the Knights of 
Columbus. To the extent of his influence and abili- 
ties he assisted all the local committees in raising funds 
and prosecuting other war activities and is a citizen 
of stanch Americanism. 

Joseph Carlyle Carter is one of the prominent 
lawyers of the Mayfield bar, whose work, based on 
sound talents and liberal education, has brought him 
a measure of success promising a broad career of pro- 
fessional and public usefulness. 

Mr. Carter was born at Dukedom, Tennessee, Janu- 
ary 3, 1893. He has Revolutionary ancestors. The 
Carters were Scotch-Irish and were Coionial settlers in 
North Carolina. His grandfather, Isaiah Carter, was 
a native of North Carolina, an early settler and farmer 
in Weakley County, Tennessee, and left his farm 
to volunteer in the Confederate army and died on the 
battlefield. He married Martha Jones, who was born 
in Tennessee and is still living, in Weakley County, at 
the age of eighty-five. M. L. Carter, father of the 
Mayfield attorney, was born in Weakley County in 
1858, was reared and married in that section of Ten- 
nessee, was a successful merchant at Dukedom a num- 
ber of years, and from 1900 continued his merchan- 
dising at Mayfield until he retired in 1919. He is a 



40 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



democrat in politics. M. L. Carter married Sallie Ann 
Williams, who was born in Graves County, Kentucky. 
They have two children, Jean and Joseph C, neither 
of whom is married, and both living with their parents 
on South Seventh Street. Jean is a graduate of West 
Kentucky College. 

Joseph C. Carter attended public school at Mayfield, 
West Kentucky College, the Union City Training 
School in Tennessee, and finished his liberal and pro- 
fessional education in the University of Kentucky at 
Lexington. He spent three years in the academic de- 
partment and three years in the law course, receiving 
his LL. B. degree in 1915. He is a member of the 
Sigma Nu college fraternity and the Mystic Thirteen 
College Society. 

Mr. Carter began practice in 191 5 at Mayfield, in 
the office of Robbins & Robbins, and the following 
year was appointed assistant county attorney. In the 
fall of 1917 he was elected city attorney, and has per- 
formed the duties of that responsible office since Jan- 
uary, 1918. On November I, 191S, he joined the Cen- 
tral Officers' Training School at Camp Zachary Taylor, 
Louisville, to train in the Field Artillery, but was mus- 
tered out December 31, 1918. Mr. Carter. is a demo- 
crat, a member of the Baptist Church, and is affiliated 
with Mayfield Lodge No. 151. Independent Order of 
Odd Fellows, and Mayfield Lodge No. 565 of the Elks. 

Jerome B. White, mayor of Williamsburg, the judi- 
cial center of Whitley County, is giving a most pro- 
gressive administration of the municipal affairs of this 
thriving little industrial and commercial city of South- 
eastern Kentucky and is amply justifying the popular 
confidence and esteem which led to his selection for 
this office. He is a man of exceptional initiative and 
executive ability, and this has been shown not only 
in the splendid work which he has achieved during his 
regime as mayor of Williamsburg, in which position 
he is serving, in 1921, his third consecutive term, but 
also in the success that has attended his various busi- 
ness and industrial enterprises. At Williamsburg he 
owns and conducts the leading wholesale grocery busi- 
ness in Whitley County, and he established and suc- 
cessfully conducts a similar enterprise at Jellico, Ten- 
nessee. 

Mr. White was born in Hardin County, Kentucky. 
September 14, 1870, and thus is in the very zenith of 
his strong and resourceful manhood. His father, F. H. 
White, was born at Tazewell, Tennessee, in 1825, 
was there reared to manhood and there his marriage 
was solemnized. He was a carpenter by trade and 
vocation and in i860 he came to Hardin County, Ken- 
tucky, where he became a successful contractor and 
builder, and where he continued his residence until 
1893, when he retired from active business and estab- 
lished his home at Williamsburg. Whitley County, 
where he remained until his death, in 1910. His wife, 
whose maiden name was Mary Perry, likewise was a 
native of Tazewell County, Tennessee, and she preceded 
him to the life eternal by about two years, her death 
having occurred in 1908. Jennie, the eldest of their 
children, died in 1916, at Joplin, Missouri, in which 
city her husband. Thomas Heady, is still engaged in 
the meat-market business; John R. resides on his farm 
near Ramsey, Indiana, and was formerly engaged in 
the mercantile business; Mollie became the wife of 
Charles L. Burch, who is a merchant at Bowling 
Green, Kentucky, and there her death occurred in 
1906; James D. is superintendent of the Illinois Cen- 
tral Railroad terminals at East St. Louis, Illinois; 
Jerome B., of this review, was the next in order of 
birth ; and Florence died at the age of eighteen years. 

The present mayor of Williamsburg attended the 
rnral schools of Hardin County until he was fourteen 
years old, and he then served an apprenticeship to the 
trade of telegraphist. After becoming a competent 
operator he was employed as such for thirteen months 



at the station of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad 
at Bonnieville, Hart County, and during the ensuing 
two years he was telegraph operator for this railroad 
at Lebanon Junction, this state. In 1890 he was ap- 
pointed station agent of the Louisville & Nashville 
Railroad at Williamsburg, and after retaining this of- 
fice seventeeen years, he resigned in 1907 and here 
engaged in the general merchandise business, in which 
he continued until 1913, when he established a whole- 
sale grocery business both in Williamsburg and at 
Jellico, Tennessee. He has directed these enterprises 
with characteristic ability and progressiveness and 
both have precedence as leading concerns of the kind 
in the territories covered by their operations. The 
dual enterprises are conducted under the corporate 
title of the White Grocery Company, and the founder 
is president of the company. The Williamsburg estab- 
lishment of the company is situated on Depot Street, 
is well stocked and equipped and controls a large and 
substantial business, as does also the comany's equally 
modern establishment on Main Street in the City of 
Jellico, Tennessee. Mr. White owns the buildings thus 
utilized, and at Williamsburg he owns and occupies 
one of the city's most modern and attractive residences, 
on Pine Street. He is the owner of 800 acres of val- 
uable coal land in Whitley County, and holds an inter- 
est in two farms in the State of Oklahoma, one of 
these being already leased for oil-productive ex- 
ploitation. 

Of the administration of Mr. White as mayor of 
Williamsburg too much commendation cannot be given, 
and the citizens pay high tribute to him for the splen- 
did results that have been achieved under his regime 
as executive head of the municipal government. He 
has brought about excellent improvement of the streets, 
including the construction of one mile of asphalt pav- 
ing, has carried vigorously forward the construction 
of cement sidewalks, and under his administration the 
city's effective sewer system has been installed, at an 
expenditure of $100,000. He has been loyal to his con- 
stituency in every way and has endeavored to con- 
serve economy in municipal affairs, though not at the 
sacrifice of needed public improvements. Mayor White 
was associated with three other citizens in the financing 
and building of the Williamsburg telephone plant and 
system, and aided also in financing the company that 
began the development of the Williamsburg water- 
works system. In both of these public utilities he has 
since sold his interests 

Both officially and in a private capacity Mayor White 
was foremost in the promotion of World war patriotic 
service in Whitely County, where he gave effective 
aid in the campaigns which caused the county to sub- 
scribe its quota to the Government war-bond issues, 
savings stamps. Red Cross service, etc., besides which 
his individual financial contributions were limited only 
by his available resources subject to such application. 
Further than all this, he gave his eldest son to the 
nations' military service in the great war, as will be 
more fully noted in a later paragraph. In politics he is 
a staunch democrat, and he has been a leader in the 
local councils and campaign activities of his party. 

In the year 1892, at Williamsburg, was solemnized 
the marriage of Mr. White to Miss Florence McVey. 
daughter of the late William and Lou (Smith) Mc- 
Vey. the father having been a substantial farmer near 
Williamsburg for many years prior to his death. Of 
the children of Mr. and Mrs. White the eldest is 
Jerome P., who was born May 29, 1894, arid who is 
now serving as city judge at Jellico, Tennessee. He 
was a gallant young soldier with the American Expe- 
ditionary Forces in France, where he participated in 
the great conflicts of the St. Mihiel and Argonne For- 
est sectors, where in the front lines he "went over the 
top" seventeen times, and where he thus endured the 
full tension of the greatest war in the world's history, 
his rank having been that of sergeant at the time when 






.nd 

jerry, 

rlington, 







years 

trade 01 iv~ 

operator lie was eni 4 . 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



41 



he received his honorable discharge. At Jellico he is 
associated with the business of the White Grocery 
Company, of which his father is president. Mary is 
the wife of A. S. Logan, bookkeeper and clerk in the 
commisary department of the Paint Cliff Coal Com- 
pany and the St. Michael Coal Company at Paint Cliff, 
McCreary County, he being a stockholder in each of 
these coal-mining companies. Maude is the wife of 
T. C. Llewellyn, principal of the high school at Brasel- 
ton, Georgia; Hubert, who was born September 20, 
1901, is, in 1921, a student in Cumberland College, at 
Williamsburg; Robert, born March 28, 1904, is in the 
employ of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, at Wil- 
liamsburg; Dolores was born July 23, 1907, and is a 
student in the Williamsburg high school; and Lucile, 
born August 9, 1910, is attending the graded schools 
of her native city. 

George W. Greer. The value in business of con- 
centrating one's forces upon a given line of activity, 
of correctly gauging its importance among the needs 
of the world, and keeping pace with the ever-changing 
conditions surrounding it, is confirmed anew in the 
success of George W. Greer, of Pikeville, identified 
with the firm of R. T. Greer & Company. Mr. Greer 
has been studying the herb question ever since boy- 
hood, and it is in this connection that he has won his 
worth-while success. 

George W. Greer was born in Watauga County, 
North Carolina, February 8, 1866, a son of Shadrach 
and Louise (Winkler) Greer, natives of the same 
county. Shadrach Greer, a carpenter whose activities 
were devoted largely to the building of farm homes in 
the rural communities, served as a member of the 
Home Guards during the war between the states, and 
was a supporter of the Confederacy. He and his 
wife were faithful members of the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church, South, in the faith of which both died, 
the father in 1895, at the age of seventy-one years, 
and the mother in 191 1, when eighty-five years of age. 
Of their large family, only three grew to maturity; 
Laura, who died in 1914 as the wife of L. G. Maxwell, 
whose farm was on the county line separating Watauga 
and Ashe counties, North Carolina; and Alice, de- 
ceased, who was the wife of John Holdway. 

George W. Greer attended school in Watauga and 
Ashe counties in his youth and began his career as a 
school teacher, twenty years being passed in this voca- 
tion, in Watauga, Ashe and Wilkes counties, North 
Carolina, during which time his salary ranged from 
$•5 to $30 per month. When he was a boy his parents 
were poor, and, in order to help out the family income, 
he made a study of the herbs of a monetary value, 
which he would collect during his spare time and sell 
to whoever had use for them. With the knowledge 
thus gained, after he gave up his work as an edu- 
cator, he became associated with A. D. Cowles, a 
dealer in herbs, and subsequently traveled over South- 
ern Virginia, Eastern Kentucky and Western North 
Carolina, buying herbs from country merchants for 
J. Q. McGuire. Eventually, Mr. Greer formed a part- 
nership with J. T. Laurence, under the firm style of 
Greer & Laurence, and two years later there was formed 
the firm of McGuire, Greer & Co., with headquarters 
at Marion, Virginia, in 1904. In 1905 the firm opened 
a place of business at Pikeville, with Mr. Greer in 
charge, and of this business he remained the head 
until 1908, when there was organized the firm of R. T. 
Greer & Company, with which concern Mr. Greer has 
been identified ever since. During this time he has 
built three large warehouses, and is now paying to the 
people of Pike County something like $100,000 annu- 
ally, the annual business of the concern being in ex- 
cess of $600,000 each year. Places of business are 
located at Marion, Virginia, Brownwood, North Caro- 
lina, Pikeville, Kentucky; and Knoxville, Tennessee, 
and the herbs of this concern are shipped all over the 



world. The company also does a profitable side line 
business in hides and wool. 

Mr. Greer and his family belong to the Methodist 
Church, in which he is a member of the board of trus- 
tees and of the board of stewards. He is a democrat 
in politics and is fraternally affiliated with the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows. He is truly a self- 
made man, climbing from the bottom round of the 
ladder without other aids than a kindly and courteous 
nature and large capacity for painstaking industry. 
He is public-spirited and progressive, and always has 
advocated those worthy undertakings which were cal- 
culated to advance the community in which he lives. 
In the past he has served as a member of the town 
council and the board of public works, and was a 
member of the city council when the street paving 
was inaugurated. 

In 1890 Mr. Greer married Emily Yates, daughter 
of Squire Yates of Ashe County, North Carolina, and 
to this union have been born five sons and four daugh- 
ters, who are being given excellent educational advan- 
tages. Guy Greer, the eldest son, a graduate of West 
Virginia University, attended the First Officers Train- 
ing Camp, at Fort Benjamin Harrison, and subse- 
quently supplemented this by training at Fort Leaven- 
worth, where he received a first lieutenant's commission. 
Sent overseas, he was on the battle line in France, 
and at the end of his service was appointed to the 
Reparation Commission and is still in France. Mar- 
shall Raymond Greer, second son, is a graduate of the 
United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, and dur- 
ing the World war was assigned to duty on the United 
States battleship "North Dakota," which, at the sign- 
ing of the armistice was in dry dock. He is now a 
junior lieutenant on that vessel. The other children, 
all of whom reside with their parents at Pikeville, 
are attending school. 

William Lindsay Mosby, M. D., one of the leading 
physicians and surgeons of Carlisle County, is engaged 
in a general medical and surgical practice at Bard- 
well, where he is greatly beloved. He was born in 
Carlisle County, one mile south of Bardwell, on his 
father's farm, November 30, 1861, a son of William 
W. Mosby, and grandson of Daniel Boone Mosby, who 
was born in Boone County, Kentucky, in 1792, and 
died near Bardwell, Kentucky, in 1877. He lived the 
greater part of his life in McCracken County, Ken- 
tucky, which afterward became Ballard County and 
later Carlisle County. His wife, Elizabeth (Stewart) 
Mosby, was born in Kentucky, and died in Carlisle 
County when she was fifty-five years old. The Mosbys 
are of Scotch ancestry, the family having been founded 
in America during Colonial times by its representa- 
tives from Scotland. 

William W. Mosby was born in McCracken County, 
Kentucky, in 1825, and died at Bardwell, Kentucky, 
in 1908. He was reared in McCracken and Ballard 
counties, and was married in that portion of Ballard 
County which later became Carlisle County. Until 1905 
he resided at Arlington, but in that year moved to 
Bardwell, where he lived in retirement until his death. 
He was a farmer upon an extensive scale and was 
very successful, becoming wealthy in the course of his 
operations. He also raised and bought and sold stock, 
and was well known as a stockman over a wide area. 
The democratic party had in him an active worker 
and supporter, although he never cared to enter the 
arena for public honors. His religious views made 
him a Methodist, and it was his duty and pleasure to 
donate very liberally of his time and money to the 
advancement of his church. An Odd Fellow, he took 
an active part in the work of the local lodge of that 
order. It is interesting to note that all of his sons 
and sons-in-law were also democrats, Methodists and 
Odd Fellows. His wife was Matilda Frances Berry, 
and she survives her husband and lives at Arlington, 



42 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



Kentucky, with her daughter, Mrs. Minnie Stanley. 
Mrs. Mosby was born in Ballard County, Kentucky, 
in 1834. She and her husband had the following chil- 
dren : James, who died at the age of thirty five years, 
was engaged in farming near Arlington in Hickman 
County; Jack, who died at the age of seventeen years; 
Robert D., who is a prosperous farmer living near 
Arlington ; Doctor William L. Mosby, who was the 
fourth in order of birth; Sallie L., who married Albert 
G. Elsey, a traveling salesman residing at Bardwell ; 
Henry L., who died near Arlington in 1917, was a 
prosperous farmer; Bedford, who is a successful 
farmer living near Arlington; and Minnie, who mar- 
ried R. E. Stanley, a substantial farmer, vice presi- 
dent of the Arlington Bank, and a resident of Arling- 
ton. There were also three children who died in in- 
fancy. 

Dr. William L. Mosby attended the rural schools of 
Carlisle County and Milburn Academy, where he was 
prepared for college. He then entered the Washing- 
ton University at Saint Louis, Missouri, from which 
he was graduated March 6, 1883, with the degree of 
Doctor of Medicine. Since then he has taken post- 
graduate courses in the polyclinics of St. Louis, Mis- 
souri, Chicago, Illinois, and New Orleans, Louisiana. 
In 1883 he began the practice of his profession at 
Arlington, Kentucky, and remained there for a period 
of eighteen months, when, in 1884, he came to Bardwell, 
and since then has built up a fine and remunerative 
general practice. He owns a modern residence on Elm 
Street, corner of Elsey Avenue, which is one of the 
finest in the city, and his office adjoined his residence 
until the year 1921, when he assisted in establishing 
the Bardwell Clinic, of which he is a senior member. 
He is also a stockholder in six business houses at 
Bardwell, and owns 300 acres of valuable farm land 
\ l />. miles north of Bardwell, and did own three or 
four other farms, but has sold them. He is a director 
in the Bardwell Deposit Bank, a strong local financial 
institution of Bardwell. A democrat, he has served 
on the county Board of Health for many years, and 
has long been its chairman. For ten years he was a 
member of the Bardwell Board of Trustees of the 
high school, and the greater portion of that time was 
chairman of the board. He took a very active part 
in all of the war activities, was a member of and 
examiner for the Carlisle County Draft Board, was 
chairman of the Carlisle County Council of Defense dur- 
ing the war, and assisted in putting over all of the Lib- 
erty Loan drives. Doctor Mosby is a Mason and an 
Odd Fellow, and belongs to the Carlisle County Med- 
ical Society, of which he has been president for three 
terms ; the Kentucky State Medical Society, of which 
he is vice president; the Southern Medical Association; 
the American Medical Association ; the American As- 
sociation of Railway Surgeons ; the Illinois Central 
and Y. M. V. Railway Surgeons Association, being 
surgeon to this system, and the Southwestern Ken- 
tucky Medical Association, which he has served as 
president. He assisted in organizing the Southern Na- 
tional Life Insurance Company of Louisville, Ken- 
tucky, serving it as vice president and director. This 
concern was later merged with the Inter-Southern Life 
Insurance Company. 

In February, 1885, Doctor Mosby was married at 
Cairo, Illinois, to Miss Mattie Pauline Petrie, a daugh- 
ter of Dr. J. S. and Martha (Henderson) Petrie. The 
father was a physician and surgeon who died at Bard- 
well, Kentucky, in 1912. The mother survived him 
until 1919, when she passed away at Clinton, Kentucky. 
Mrs. Mosby was educated in the Cairo, Illinois, High 
School, graduating therefrom. Doctor and Mrs. Mosby 
became the parents of two sons: William E., who 
was born February 5, 1887, was graduated from the 
Kentucky State University, class of 1910. He is a civil 
engineer of the Illinois Central Railroad, and now 
assistant engineer of tests and resides at Chicago, Illi- 



nois. Hazel Petrie is a physician and surgeon now 
connected with the Rockford Clinic, Rockford, Illinois. 
He was graduated from the University of Louisville, 
medical department, class of 1910, and for the subse- 
quent year was an interne in the Augustana Hospital 
at Chicago, Illinois. Coming to Bardwell, he was en- 
gaged in practice with his father for two years, and 
then for 2V2 years was with Mayo Clinic at Rochester, 
Minnesota, completing his fellowship. Like so many 
of the younger members of his profession, Dr. H. P. 
Mosby entered the United States service in the Med- 
ical Corps as a lieutenant and was sent overseas. He 
saw service in England, Scotland and France, and 
after eighteen months was mustered out early in 1919, 
with the rank of captain, and located with the Rock- 
ford Clinic, where he is doing splendid work. 

Roy M. Shelbourne, county attorney for Carlisle 
County, and one of the leading lawyers of this part 
of the state, is a forceful factor in his profession and 
politics, and has the support of the best element at 
Bardwell, where he resides, as well as throughout the 
county. He was born at Bardwell, November 12, 1890, 
a son of M. T. Shelbourne, and grandson of Moreau 
Thomas Shelbourne, who was born near Owensboro, 
Kentucky. His death occurred in Ballard, now Car- 
lisle County, Kentucky, before his grandson, R. M. 
Shelbourne, was born. He was the pioneer of the 
family into Ballard County, and here developed im- 
portant farming interests. His wife, who bore the 
maiden name of Mary Ann James, was born in Ver- 
mont in 1797, and died in Ballard County, Kentucky, 
in 1867. The Shelbourne family is of English descent, 
representatives of it having come to the American 
Colonies from England at a very early day in the his- 
tory of this country. 

M. T. Shelbourne was born in Ballard, now Car- 
lisle, County, in 1851, and is now a resident of Bard- 
well. He was reared in this county and here he re- 
ceived his educational training. Mr. Shelbourne is an 
attorney, and practiced his profession in Ballard County 
before Carlisle was created, and, following that act, 
he moved in 1887 to Bardwell, where he has built up 
a fine civil and criminal practice. Very active as a 
democrat, he has been called upon to accept of office, 
and was the first commonwealth attorney of the First 
Judicial District, composed of Graves, Hickman, Car- 
lisle, Ballard and Fulton counties, under the present 
constitution. He is a member of the county, state and 
national bar associations. Recently he has been living 
somewhat retired. He owns a modern residence on 
Chatham Street, and one farm one-half mile south of 
Bardwell, which comprises fifty acres, and another 
farm of 150 acres which is six miles east of Bardwell, 
both valuable properties. In addition he owns the 
Shelbourne-Mosby Block on Front Street, in partner- 
ship with Dr. W. Q. Mosby, and the hotel building on 
Front Street. 

The first wife of M. T. Shelbourne was Cora Hen- 
drix, who was born in Ballard County and died in Car- 
lisle County. They had children as follows : Claude, 
who died in infancy; and Arthur Lee, who was an 
attorney and later a lumber dealer of Bardwell, died 
in this city when he was forty-three years of age. As 
his second wife Mr. Shelbourne married Jennie Lynn 
Dennis, who was born at Memphis, Tennessee, May 
22, 1861. She died at Saint Louis, Missouri, May 25, 
1902, having borne her husband the following children : 
Lillian, who married H. A. Porter, member of the 
hardware firm of Harlan, Porter & Walker, of Colum- 
bia, Tennessee; and Roy M., whose name heads this 
review. As his third wife M. T. Shelbourne married 
Mrs. Sallie (Smith) Waggoner, born at Blandville, 
Ballard County, Kentucky. There are no children by 
this marriage. 

Roy M. Shelbourne attended the public schools of 
Bardwell, including the high school, and then entered 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



43 



Union University of Jackson, Tennessee, from which 
he was graduated in 1912 with the degree of Bachelor 
of Arts. He then entered Cumberland University at 
Lebanon, Tennessee, from which he was graduated in 
1913 with the degree of Doctor of Laws. He is a mem- 
ber of the Greek Letter fraternity Kappa Sigma. In 
1913 Mr. Shelbourne began the practice of law with 
his father at Bardwell, and this partnership continued 
until January, 1918, when it was dissolved on account 
of the election of the son to the office of county at- 
torney in November, 1917. He assumed the responsi- 
bilities of his office in January, 1918, for a term of four 
years, and is ably discharging them. His offices are 
in the Shelbourne-Mosby Building on Front Street. 
He is a democrat and was elected to office on his 
straight party ticket. Fraternally Mr. Shelbourne 
maintains membership with Bardwell Lodge No. 499, 
A. F. and A. M., and Rosewood Camp No. 38, W. 
P. W. He is a stockholder in the Bardwell Deposit 
Bank, owns a modern residence on Elsey Avenue, and 
has a half interest in the hotel building on Front 
Street which houses one of the best managed hotels 
in Western Kentucky. 

On October 8, 1914, Mr. Shelbourne was united in 
marriage with Miss Edith Richardson at Paducah, 
Kentucky. She is a daughter of William and Elizabeth 
(Gray) Richardson. Mr. Richardson was proprietor 
of the Bardwell Hotel and died at Bardwell. His 
widow succeeded him, and is now conducting the hotel 
in a thoroughly efficient manner. Mrs. Shelbourne at- 
tended McLean College of Hopkinsville, Kentucky. 
Mr. and Mrs. Shelbourne have two children : Mahlon, 
who was born September II, 1915, and Mary Jane, who 
was born March 10, 1919. 

A man with broad vision and a strong sense of civic 
responsibility, Mr. Shelbourne is giving to the duties 
of his office the benefit of his skill and knowledge of 
the law, and is safeguarding the interests of the peo- 
ple of the county. He is a young man of marked 
ability, and is likely to go far on the road of popular 
esteem, to judge from present conditions, for his con- 
stituents realize that in him they have an able and 
conscientious representative, and one in whom the 
utmost trust may be implicitly placed. 

Thomas Juett Marshall, M. D. When the history 
of this century is written by those yet unborn, due 
credit will be given to the efforts of the physicians 
and surgeons of this country who labored long and 
faithfully not only to cure the ailments of mankind, 
but to bring about a decrease in mortality, and to gain 
definite control of diseases formerly believed incurable. 
Among the men who belong to this noble profession 
in Southwestern Kentucky, Dr. Thomas Juett Marshall 
ranks in a foremost place in the phalanx of those who 
accomplish much. His career is one of useful and 
helpful endeavor, and his name is honored at Bardwell 
and throughout Carlisle County, in which he is engaged 
in a general medical and surgical practice. 

Doctor Marshall was born at Blandville, Ballard 
County, Kentucky, August 9, 1883, a son of Jacob Cor- 
bett Marshall, and grandson of Charles Sims Mar- 
shall, who was born at Lexington, Kentucky, in 1830, 
and died at Clinton, Kentucky, in 1893, after a long 
and useful career. The greater part of his life he 
lived at Paducah, and was one of the early attorneys 
of that city. A man of unusual ability, he was elected 
judge of Ballard County and later circuit judge of the 
First Judicial District of Kentucky. In politics he was 
a republican, and consequently his election was a 
tribute to his personal popularity and an appreciation 
of his qualifications for these offices, for this region 
is strongly democratic. Judge Marshall was married 
to Emily Corbett, who was born in Ballard County, 
Kentucky, in 1832, and died at Clinton, Kentucky, in 
1915. The Marshalls came from England to Virginia 
during the Colonial epoch of this country. 



Jacob Corbett Marshall was born in Ballard County, 
Kentucky, in 1857, and died at Wickliffe, Kentucky, in 
1901. A man of high character, he followed his father's 
example and studied law, was admitted to the bar, and 
was engaged in an active practice at Wickliffe for a 
number of years. He was also interested in farm lands 
in the vicinity of Wickliffe, and was active along sev- 
eral other lines. He, too, was a republican. The 
Christian Church held his membership, and to it he 
gave a strong support, being very generous of his time 
and money in its behalf. He was a Mason. Jacob 
Corbett Marshall was united in marriage with Addie 
Utterback, who was born in Ballard County, Kentucky, 
and she survives him and resides in her native county. 
Their children were as follows: Doctor T. J., who 
was the eldest born; Charles Sims, who is a lumber 
dealer, lives at Meridian, Missisippi ; George Utter- 
back, who is a farmer and lives at Wickliffe ; Emily, 
who died at the age of sixteen years ; Humphrey, who 
is -connected with the Ford Motor Company, lives at 
Detroit, Michigan; and Mary, who resides with her 
mother. 

Doctor Marshall was reared at Wickliffe by careful 
parents, and attended its schools. Early deciding upon 
a medical career, he bent every energy to properly 
prepare himself for the hard toil before him. Going 
from the public schools to Blandville College, he took 
a four years' course, and then spent a year in the 
State University at Lexington, Kentucky. Following 
this he entered the Hospital Medical College of Louis- 
ville, Kentucky, from which he was graduated in 1906, 
with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. That same 
year he entered upon the practice of his profession 
at Blandville, but two years later came to Bardwell, 
and has here since remained. He is now associated 
with Dr. William L. Mosby and Dr. George William 
Payne, in the Bardwell Clinic. He owns his modern 
residence on Elm Street. He is a democrat, has been 
very active in party matters, and has been the success- 
ful nominee of his associates for councilman of the 
City of Bardwell. He has also been president of the 
Carlisle County Board of Health, and has been health 
officer of Carlisle County. Reared in the faith of the 
Christian Church, he has found in it his religious home 
and has long been a member of it, and is now serving 
it faithfully as a deacon. As a Mason he maintains 
membership in Bardwell Lodge No. 499, A. F. and 
A. M. Professionally he belongs to the Carlisle County 
Medical Society, the Kentucky State Medical Society, 
the American Medical Association and the Southwest 
Kentucky Medical Association. 

In 1909 Doctor Marshall was married at Blandville, 
Kentucky, to Miss Essie Sheets, a daughter of J. C. 
and Eva (Wyman) Sheets, who reside at Baton Rouge, 
Louisiana, where Mr. Sheets is a train dispatcher. 
Doctor and Mrs. Marshall have three children, namely : 
Thomas Juett, Jr., who was born October 4, 1910 ; 
Joseph Corbett, who was born January II, 1912; and 
Humphrey, who was born July 30, 1913. 

A close student, Doctor Marshall has kept fully 
abreast of the spirit of the times not only in his pro- 
fession but along many lines. A man of public spirit, 
he has always devoted considerable thought to civic 
problems, and both in a private and public capacity has 
effected many reforms, especially in sanitary matters. 
While in the council he was constantly urging upon 
his colleagues the importance of installing proper equip- 
ment for a pure water supply and sewerage disposal, 
and has never relaxed his efforts to bring Bardwell 
up to the highest standards and to maintain all im- 
provements already secured. 

As a physician and surgeon Doctor Marshall is 
skilled and capable. His patients are his friends, and 
have learned to rely on his judgment, so that he exerts 
a beneficent influence. During the late war, as one 
of the real Americans whose roots reach back into 
the very beginnings of this country, he took a deep 



44 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



and effective interest in forwarding all of the local 
activities, and has also been equally useful during the 
reconstruction period, whose problems have been even 
more trying than those of war times. It is such men 
as Doctor Marshall who raise and maintain high stand- 
ards of citizenship and professional ethics, and it 
would be difficult to find one who is held in higher 
esteem anywhere than he, or one who is more deserv- 
ing of the confidence and support of his fellow citizens. 

Urev Woodworth Patrick, secretary, treasurer and 
general manager of the Star Milling Company, Inc., 
is one of the sound and reliable business men of Clin- 
ton, and is a veteran of the great war. Although yet 
in the very prime of active young manhood, Mr. Pat- 
rick has traveled far on the road to success, and is 
accepted as one of the rising young men of South- 
western Kentucky. 

Mr. Patrick was born at Madisonville, Kentucky, 
August 28, 1896, a son of W. H. Patrick, and grand- 
son of E. W. Patrick, who was born in 1838, and died 
at Evansville, Indiana, in 1908. By profession he was 
a physician and surgeon, and he spent the greater 
part of his life at Evansville. The Patricks were orig- 
inally from Ireland, but the family was founded in 
this country long before the American Revolution. 

W. H. Patrick was born at Columbus, Ohio, in 1861, 
and is now a resident of Evansville, Indiana. He was 
reared at Vincennes, Indiana, but after his marriage 
moved to Evansville. At the time of his marriage he 
was a traveling salesman for a large drygoods house 
of St. Louis, Missouri, and while at Princeton, Ken- 
tucky, on business, he met Alva Kevil, who was born 
in that city in 1869, and later they were married. Mr. 
Patrick then became auditor for the Hercules Buggy 
Company. He is a member of Saint Paul's Episcopal 
Church of Evansville. A Mason in good standing, he 
has attained to the thirty-second degree in that fra- 
ternity. The children born to W. H. Patrick and his 
wife are two in number : Urey W. and his sister, Caro- 
line. She was graduated from the Evansville High 
School and Lennox Hall Seminary for young ladies, 
class of 1919, and is most accomplished and charming. 

Urey Woodworth Patrick attended the public schools 
of Evansville, and was graduated from its high school 
in 1916. Immediately following that event he came 
to Mayfield, Kentucky, and was employed in the flour 
mills of R. U. Kevil & Sons, and there learned the 
flour milling business from start to finish, remaining 
there until September, 1917, when he came to Clinton 
and became secretary and treasurer of the Star Milling 
Company, Inc. 

He was nicely started on his business career when, 
like the majority of the young men of the country, 
he cheerfully left it to enter the service of his country 
in the fall of 1917 as a cadet in the aviation branch, 
and in January, 1918, went overseas to France. After 
his arrival abroad he was stationed at Colombey Les 
Belles in the Nancy Toul sector, and was there until 
August, 1918, when he was called back to train for 
flying, and completed this training just before the 
armistice was signed. On May 10, 1919, he was hon- 
orably discharged with the rank of cadet, Aviation 
Corps. Mr. Patrick returned to Clinton in June, 1919 
and upon his arrival he was promoted to general man- 
ager of his company in addition to the two offices he 
was already holding, and he is acting in the three 
capacities today. This company is incorporated, and 
its officers are, in addition to Mr. Patrick : J. W. 
Kevil, of Mayfield, Kentucky, president ; and R. W. 
Kevil, vice president. The mills are located by the 
Illinois Central Railroad tracks. They have a capac- 
ity of 200 barrels per day. 

Reared in the faith of the Episcopal Church, Mr. 
Patrick is one of its communicants. He belongs to 
Hickman Lodge No. 131, A. F. and A. M.; Calvert 
Chapter No. 85, R. A. M. ; Fulton Commandery No. 



34, K. T.; and Rizpah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of 
Madisonville, Kentucky. He is also a member of May- 
field Lodge No. 565, B. P. O. E., and also of the 
American Legion, being vice commander of Clinton 
Post. 

On March 18, 1920, Mr. Patrick was united in mar- 
riage with Miss Ida Scott Flegle at Clinton, Kentucky. 
She is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. E. C. Flegle, resi- 
dents of Memphis, Tennessee, where Mr. Flegle is 
distributing agent for storage batteries. Mrs. Patrick 
was graduated from Marvin University of Clinton, 
Kentucky, and she also took a three years' course in 
the Conservatory of Music at Cincinnati, Ohio, and is 
recognized as one of the most talented and skilled 
musicians of Hickman County, her specialty being in- 
strumental music. Mr. and Mrs. Patrick maintain 
their residence on West Washington Street and are 
delightful entertainers, their numerous friends enjoy- 
ing their hospitality upon many occasions. Mrs. Pat- 
rick is the center of a congenial circle of music lovers, 
and her remarkable talent is a source of great pleasure 
to those who have the privilege of hearing her exer- 
cise it. 

Thomas Joseph Stroud, one of the skilled veterinary 
surgeons of Hickman County, is a valued resident of 
Clinton, where he has been living since 1916 and which 
he makes his headquarters, his practice extending all 
over the county. Doctor Stroud was born in Mc- 
Cracken County, .Kentucky, February 19, 1875, a son 
of Thomas Stroud, who was born in Tennessee and 
died in McCracken County in 1876. 

Thomas Stroud was reared and married in Ten- 
nessee, but while still a young man came to McCracken 
County, Kentucky, where he bought a farm and carried 
on farming in addition to working at his trade of shoe- 
making. In politics he was a democrat, but he never 
aspired to public honors. The Methodist Episcopal 
Church had in him one of its earnest and devout mem- 
bers. During the war between the North and the 
South he served as a soldier in the Confederate army. 
Thomas Stroud was married to Ann Craig, born in 
Tennessee, and their children were as follows: Henry, 
who is a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
lives in Oklahoma; Ella, who married R. H. Barclay, 
a farmer of Hickman County, Kentucky; Emma, who 
married J. W. Bone, a farmer of Hickman County ; 
J. W., who is also a farmer of Hickman County; and 
Dr. Thomas Joseph, who was the youngest born. 
After the death of Mr. Stroud his widow was married 
to John Kell, who survives her and lives on his farm 
ten miles east of Clinton, she having died in Hickman 
County in 1906. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Kell 
were as follows: J. M., who is a farmer of Hickman 
County; M. R., who is a traveler; O. L., who is a 
machinist of Detroit, Michigan; and Willie, who died 
at the age of three years. 

Doctor Stroud attended the rural schools of Hick- 
man County, and was reared to be a farmer by his 
mother, with whom he remained until he was twenty 
years of age. He then began farming on his own 
account and was occupied with agricultural matters 
until 1916. In the meanwhile he studied veterinary 
surgery and began to practice his profession in 1912, 
carrying it on in conjunction with his farming, but by 
1916 it grew too heavy for him to divide his interests, 
and he left the farm, moved to Clinton and since then 
has given his undivided time to its duties, being now 
recognized as the leading veterinarian of Hickman 
County. His offices and livery barns are at no North 
Jefferson Street, and he resides on this same street. 
In politics he is a democrat. For some years he has 
belonged to Baltimore Lodge No. 361, A. F. and A. M. 

In 1898 Doctor Stroud was married in Fulton, Ten- 
nessee, to Miss Radie Latham, a daughter of William 
and Rhoda (Rambo) Latham, both of whom are de- 
ceased. For some years prior to his death Mr. Latham 




-' 




/^^^ca^ ^^ 




HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



45 



was a farmer of Hickman County. Doctor and Mrs. 

Stroud have one daughter, Vera, who married Claude 

A. Piller, and they reside east of Clinton, where he 
is engaged in farming. 

Col. George Washington Bain. It is not in Ken- 
tucky alone but in practically every state of America 
that memories and associations are kindled anew in 
the hearts of thousands of the old and middle-aged 
at mention of this name of one of Lexington's oldest 
residents. Colonel Bain forty years ago began trav- 
eling and appearing on the popular lecture platform, 
usually in the role of a pleader in the temperance cause, 
and he carried his thrilling messages to literally thou- 
sands of audience's 'from coast to coast and from the 
Rio Grande border to the limits of civilization in 
Canada. 

Colonel Bain was born in the City of Lexington, 
Kentucky, September 24, 1840. He retired from the 
lecture platform only very recently, and has the dis- 
tinction of being the oldest lecturer with the Redpath 
Company. The president of that company offered to 
continue Colonel Bain on the active force of lecturers 
as long as he lived. Colonel Bain is a son of George 
Washington and Jane E. (West) Bain. His father 
was born on the eastern coast of Maryland, while his 
mother was a native of Lexington, Kentucky. The 
lather from Maryland moved with his parents to Vir- 
ginia, was educated in that state, and when about 
twenty years of age came to Lexington, Kentucky. 
He was a merchant tailor, and had a very successful 
business in Lexington. Later he moved to Moreland 
in Bourbon County, where he had a general store as 
well as a tailoring business. He died there in i860, 
at the age of forty-three. He was one of the prom- 
inent Odd Fellows of Kentucky, having held all the 
important offices in the order, including grand warden 
of the Grand Lodge. He was also a leading layman 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and in pol- 
itics was a democrat. His widow survived him a great 
many years and died at Lexington at the age of eighty- 
three. Of the four children, George W. is the only 
survivor. The oldest was Warren, while the third and 
fourth were Harvey W. and Frederick. 

Col. George Washington Bain was educated in the 
public schools of Bourbon County, attending school 
there from 1848 to 1858. His various experiences 
were those of a farmer and in connection with a dry 
goods house at Lexington. He early became interested 
in the temperance cause as represented by the organ- 
ization of Good Templars, and from 1870 to 1875 
served as grand counselor of the Good Templars of 
Kentucky, and from 1875 to 1880 as grand chief tem- 
plar. He was also editor of the Good Templar Advo- 
cate, and as an organizer he went all over the State 
of Kentucky and instituted lodges of Good Templars 
and personally gave the pledge to over 40,000 people 
in his home state. He was a powerful force in giving 
solidity to the local option law, and caused that law 
to be invoked in a great many Kentucky towns. Forty 
or fifty years ago, when his work of this nature was at 
its height, his was a dangerous mission. Again and again 
his life was threatened, especially in the mountainous 
district of Eastern Kentucky, and it required all the 
courage of the militant Christian to carry out the mis- 
sion Colonel Bain set himself to perform. Beginning 
in 1880, his services were more and more required for 
the popular lecture platform, and for a number of 
years a Lyceum or Chautauqua course was hardly con- 
sidered complete without George W. Bain being in- 
cluded as a speaker. For twenty-two successive years 
he lectured in Canada, and he delivered thirty-six lec- 
tures on the Ocean Grove platform at Ocean Grove, 
New Jersey. 

Cokmel Bain has been a devoted member of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, since he was fifteen 
years of age. Politically he has supported parties and 



candidates that promise the greatest good and effi- 
ciency in government. 

On August 30, i860, Colonel Bain married Anna M. 
Johnson, of Bourbon County. They were happily mar- 
ried more than half a century. She died January 9, 
1917. Her father, Jackson Johnson, was a farmer and 
trader in Bourbon County and widely known as a 
citizen in that section of the state. Mrs. Bain was the 
fourth in a family of seven children. Five children 
were born to Colonel and Mrs. Bain : George A., now 
vice president of the Union Bank 8? Trust Company of 
Lexington ; John, who is an auctioneer by profession ; 
Edward, who died in infancy; Laura, wife of Dr. H. 
C. Morrison, president of Asbury College in Kentucky; 
and Anna, wife of Calvin T. Roszell. 

Hon. Fonse Wright. The modern educator has to 
meet and overcome many obstacles of which those of 
an older day knew nothing. The enlarging of the 
curriculum of the public schools, with the demand 
for the practice of pedagogy, necessitates a long and 
careful training and constant subsequent study and 
reading on the part of those to whom is entrusted 
the training of the plastic mind of youth. Popular 
demand has resulted in the development of a class 
of men who have had no superiors in history in their 
various fields of educational labor. Their knowledge 
of their work and of matters in general is extensive 
and profound, and at the same time they possess sound 
judgment and a keen insight into human nature that 
make it possible for them to arrange for each pupil 
to receive the individual attention now regarded as so 
necessary for the full development of character. 
Among those who have thus distinguished themselves 
in a broad and comprehensive way is Fonse Wright, 
superintendent of schools of Pike County. 

Mr. Wright was born on Island Creek, near Pike- 
ville, Kentucky, May 26, 1886, a son of Samuel H. 
and Nannie (Huffman) Wright. The family origi- 
nated in Wales, whence it came to America at an 
early date in this country's history, and was probably 
established first in Virginia, where was born Samuel 
Wright, Sr., the great-great-grandfather of Fonse 
Wright. He was the founder of the family in Ken- 
tucky, where he spent the rest of his life in agricul- 
tural pursuits, a vocation that was also followed here 
by his son, Samuel Wright, Jr. Joel Wright, the 
grandfather of Fonse Wright, was born in 1848, on a 
farm in Pike County, Kentucky, and was little more 
than a school boy when he enlisted in the Thirty- 
ninth Regiment, Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, for 
service during the war between the states. During 
his service, he contracted illness, from which he never 
fully recovered, and his death occurred in 1888, when 
he was only forty years of age. During the war pe- 
riod, some members of the family were in the Union 
service and others in the Confederacy, and the political 
opinions have also been at variance at times, but the 
religious faith of the family has been principally that 
of the Methodist Church. 

Samuel H. Wright was born in Pike County, in 1869, 
and has passed his life in agricultural pursuits. He 
has been prominent and influential in public affairs, 
having served six years as master commissioner of the 
Circuit Court, and at the present time is serving his 
second year as field representative of the Kentucky 
State Tax Commission. He is a republican in his po- 
litical allegiance. Mr. Wright is also well known in 
fraternal circles, being noble grand of the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows, in which he has represented his 
local lodge in the Grand Lodge of the state, having 
taken the Grand Lodge degree. Mr. Wright and his 
wife, who was born in Pike County in 1870, are the 
parents of the following children: Fonse; Arthur, who 
is identified with the Consolidation Coal Company, at 
Jenkins, Kentucky ; Bertie, who is the wife of Wilbur 
White, a railroad locomotive engineer of Fort Pierce, 



46 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



Florida; and William, who is still attending school at 
Pikeville. 

The early education of Fonse Wright was secured 
in the public schools of Pike County, following which 
he attended Pikeville College for three years. With 
this preparation, he entered upon his profession, and 
for ten consecutive years taught school in his home 
district, and one year on Greasy Creek. In 1918 Mr. 
Wright was elected superintendent of schools of Pike 
County, a position which he has held to the present 
time and in which he has done much to advance and 
elevate educational standards in his part of the state. 
The extent of his responsibilities may be seen when 
it is noted that under his supervision, Mr. Wright has 
200 rural schools, six graded schools and three high 
schools, each of which he visits once a year. He has 
the esteem and respect of his co-workers, the teachers, 
and is a general favorite with teachers, parents and 
pupils alike, which assists him greatly in his labors. 
Mr. Wright is an interested and active member of the 
Kentucky Educational Association, and a constant and 
tireless student. During the World war period he 
gave up much of his time to supporting the various 
movements inaugurated for the support of our fight- 
ing forces, and served as chairman for Pike County 
of the Committee on Publicity. He made a countless 
number of speeches in behalf of war work, and in 
many other ways rendered meritorious service. He 
has not lost interest in the Red Cross, which continues 
to profit bv his labors. 

Mr. Wright was married July n, 1918, to Miss Grace 
Hackney, daughter of Henderson Hackney, of Mouth- 
card, Kentucky, and they are the parents of one daugh- 
ter : Marian. Mr. and Mrs. Wright are members of 
the Methodist Church, in which he serves as an offi- 
cial. In politics he is a republican, and his fraternal 
connections are with the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows and the Masons, in the latter holding mem- 
bership in the Blue Lodge at Pikeville, and the Chap- 
ter and Commandery at Ashland. Mr. Wright is the 
owner of the home farm upon which he was born, 
but makes his residence at Pikeville, where he has a 
comfortable and attractive dwelling. 

Joe Ely, postmaster of Benton, is one of the best 
known men in Marshall County, and is very active in 
the councils of the democratic party. He comes of 
one of the old families of this region, and is proud 
of his family and the record it has made among the 
substantial people of the state. Joe Ely was born at 
Benton, March 4. 1802, a son of Pete Ely, and grand- 
son of W. B. Ely, who was born in Middle Tennessee 
in 1834, and died" at Benton in October. 1879. 

When he was a young man W. B. Ely came to the 
vicinity of Benton, Kentucky, and bought land, which 
he farmed, and he was not only successful in that 
calling but also as a saw-mill operator, manufacturing 
buggies and wagons. He also was a blacksmith, and 
was one of the pioneers in that industry in Marshall 
County. Taking an active part in local affairs as a 
democrat, he was elected on his party ticket sheriff 
of Marshall County, and served ably as such. He 
belonged to the Masonic fraternity, and in every way 
measured up to a fine type of manhood. His first wife, 
who bore the maiden name of Susan Stallings, was 
born near Benton, Kentucky, in 1834, and she died at 
Benton in 1863, having borne her husband the follow- 
ing children : Joe, who died at Benton at the age of 
seven years ; Pete, who was second in order of birth ; 
Ellen, who died in infancy; and another daughter who 
also died in infancy. As his second wife W. B. Ely 
married Miss Ollie Riley, who was born in Kentucky, 
and she died at Benton. The only one of the children 
living of this marriage is Mary Elizabeth, who is the 
widow of Henry Wilson, a mechanic, and lives at Pa- 
ducah, Kentucky. As his third wife W. B. Ely mar- 
ried Katie Barry, who was born in Kentucky in 1850, 



and died at Mayfield, Kentucky, in iqiS- .The only 
child of this marriage who is living is Willie May, 
of Paducah, Kentucky, who married Jesse Cooley now 
deceased. 

Pete Ely was born at Benton, Kentucky, September 
1, 1855, and he still resides here, having always lived 
in this locality. He has been active as a stock dealer, 
but is now retired. As the other members of the fam- 
ily. Mr. Ely is a democrat, and served as jailor for 
two terms and as sheriff of Marshall County for two 
terms, being elected to the latter office on the demo- 
cratic ticket. Fraternally he maintains membership 
with the Odd Fellows. Pete Ely was married to Mary 
F. Barnes, born at Benton, Kentucky, in 1862. Their 
children are as follows: Nina. who married Clint 
Strow, a merchant of Benton; Will B., who is con- 
nected with the Foreman Automobile Company ; and 
Joe, who is the youngest. 

Growing up in his native city, Joe Ely attended its 
public schools and completed the junior year of the 
high school. He then took a commercial course at 
the Bowling Green Business University at Bowling 
Green, Kentucky, which he completed in 1912. From 
then until 1916 he was engaged in buying and selling 
cattle at Benton, but in the latter year was appointed 
postmaster of Benton and after four years was re- 
appointed in 1920. Brought up in the doctrines of 
democracy, it was but natural that he should adopt 
them for his own, and his natural inclinations led him 
into politics. He belongs to Benton Lodge No. 701, 
A. F. and A. M.; Benton Chapter No. 167, R. A. M.; 
and Paducah Commandery No. n, K. T. He owns a 
modern residence at Benton, which is one of the finest 
in the city, and here he and his charming wife welcome 
their many friends and enjoy a pleasant home life. 

In 1915 Mr. Ely was married at Benton to Miss Lala 
Lovett, a daughter of John G. and Laura (Frizzell) 
Lovett, residents of Benton, where Mr. Lovett is in 
practice as an attorney. Mrs. Ely was graduated from 
the Benton High School, and then attended a young 
ladies' seminary in Virginia, being a very accomplished 
and cultured lady. Mr. and Mrs. Ely have a son, John 
Lovett, who was born July 17, 1917. Under Mr. Ely's 
capable administration the affairs of the Benton Post 
Office have been well managed, the volume of busi- 
ness has increased very materially, and he is handling 
the various problems of his position with dependable 
efficiency. 

John M. Weddle. On the basis of his two terms of 
efficient service as sheriff, John M. Weddle is undoubt- 
edly one of the most widely and favorably known cit- 
izens of Pulaski County. He has a particularly loyal 
following in the agricultural districts, since he is him- 
self a practical farmer, most of his years when not in 
public office having been devoted to the tilling of the 
soil. 

Mr. Weddle was born on a farm near Waterloo in 
Pulaski County, March 30, 1859, grandson of John M. 
Weddle, a native of Virginia and a pioneer in the 
agricultural districts of Pulaski County, where he lived 
out his life. Solomon Weddle, father of Sheriff Wed- 
dle, was born in Pulaski County in 1822, and from 
the time of his marriage until his death, in 1889, lived 
on his farm a mile south of Waterloo. He cultivated 
a large farm, was extensively engaged in crop raising, 
and the ability with which he prosecuted his private 
affairs also distinguished him as a citizen. For a num- 
ber of years he served as magistrate and for eight 
years was deputy sheriff. In politics he was a repub- 
lican. Solomon Weddle married Patsy Tartar, who 
was born in Pulaski County in 1822, and died on the 
homestead near Waterloo in 1906. She was the mother 
of thirteen children: Jeanette, deceased wife of Jacob 
Warner, a blacksmith and farmer near Faubush in 
Pulaski County ; Galen, who was a Union soldier and 
a farmer, died in Pulaski County; Mollie, wife of 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



47 



John A. Jasper, a retired farmer at Somerset and also 
a veteran Union soldier; Elizabeth, wife of Joseph 
Rainwater, who fought on the Union side during the 
Civil war and is now a farmer in Texas ; Jacob T., 
formerly a merchant and now a farmer at Somerset; 
Maggie, of Somerset, widow of Jerome T. Tartar, an 
attorney; Emely Esthan, a farmer in the northern part 
of Pulaski County; Lucy, living in Russell County, 
widow of David Cooper, who was a merchant for 
some years in Pulaski County and later in Russell 
County; John M., ninth among these children; Helen, 
wife of C. C. Compton, a farmer in Casey County, 
Kentucky ; Abraham Lincoln, a farmer in Mississippi ; 
Andrew Johnson, a merchant in Lincoln County, Ken- 
tucky; and Doretta, wife of Hannibal Gosser, a farmer 
in Russell County. 

John M. Weddle was reared on the home farm until 
he was nineteen, attending in the meantime the rural 
schools and after leaving home farmed independently 
until 1891. For six years he was store keeper and 
gauger at Somerset in the internal revenue service, 
then went back to his farm. In November, 1909, he 
was first elected sheriff and served a four-year term, 
beginning in January, 1910. During the next four- 
year period he looked after his farming interests and 
in November, 1917, was again a successful candidate 
for the office of sheriff, and his present term began 
in January, 1918. He lives on Monticello Street in 
Somerset, but still owns a well-improved farm of 
ninety acres three miles southwest of the county seat. 
Part of Sheriff Weddle's official term coincided with 
the war period, and he was active as an official and 
also as a patriotic citizen in all war movements. He 
is a republican and is affiliated with Crescent City 
Lodge No. 60, Knights of Pythias. 

In 1879, in Pulaski County, he married Miss Elvira 
Brown, daughter of Floyd and Hannah (Pennington) 
Brown. Her mother is still living near Somerset, and 
her father is a farmer in Pulaski County. Mr. Weddle 
lost his wife in 1915, after they had been married more 
than thirty-five years. There are four children. The 
first two are Achilles and Cornelius, twin brothers, 
the former a graduate in medicine from the Univer- 
sity of Louisville and now practicing his profession in 
Harland County. Cornelius is a farmer in Pulaski 
County. Andrew, the third son, is a farmer at Hazen, 
Arkansas, and Mollie is the wife of Adam Adams, a 
farmer in Pulaski County. 

Hugh Edward Prather, M. D. Possessing the will 
and energy to serve, the ability to accomplish, the per- 
severance to overcome obstacles, an intimate and thor- 
ough knowledge of the science and practice of medi- 
cine and surgery, there is little wonder that Dr. Hugh 
Edward Prather, of Hickman, has reached a com- 
manding position among the men of his profession in 
Southwestern Kentucky. 

Doctor Prather was born in Fulton County, Ken- 
tucky, on the Prather military grant, May 2, 1878, a 
son of Dr. Hugh Logan Prather, grandson of Richard 
Cox Prather and great-grandson of Thomas Prather. 

Thomas Prather was born in Jefferson County, Ken- 
tucky, March 28. 1795, a son of Basil Prather, a soldier 
under General Morgan during the American Revolu- 
tion. Thomas Prather served as a soldier in the War 
of 1812, serving under General Tackson in the battle 
of New Orleans, Louisiana. He married Elizabeth 
Cox, born July 19, 1794, in Powhattan County, Vir- 
ginia, the ceremony taking place in Jefferson County, 
Kentucky. February 24, 1818. She died in Jefferson 
County July 21, 1864, and he had passed away in the 
same locality December 25, 1843. 

Richard Cox Prather was born December 25, 1818, 
in Jefferson County, Kentucky, and died at his home 
in Fulton County, Kentucky, January 27, 1904. He 
married, October 27, 1840, at La Grange, Kentucky, 
Miss Martha Jane Givens, daughter of Alexander and 



Nancy (Logan) Givens, born January 22, 1819, in 
Trimble County, Kentucky, and she died in Fulton 
County, Kentucky, December 29, 1891. Coming to 
Fulton County in 1840, Richard Cox Prather located 
on the Prather military grant, which was given to his 
grandfather, Capt. Basil Prather, for service in the 
Revolutionary war. For many years he was engaged 
in farming, and he later became cashier of the old 
Southern Bank. From 1848 to 1854 he served as sheriff 
of Fulton County. Although he was otherwise inter- 
ested at times, he always maintained his residence on 
the farm. 

Dr. Hugh Logan Prather was born on the Prather 
military grant August 9, 1854, and died at Hickman, 
Kentucky, of yellow fever during the terrible epidemic, 
September 27, 1878. His early training was received in 
his native county, which he left when appointed to a 
cadetship at the naval academy at Annapolis, Mary- 
land, and he later took a course in the University of 
Louisville, Kentucky, to secure his medical knowledge, 
and was graduated therefrom with the degree of Doc- 
tor of Medicine. This brilliant young man had only 
been practicing a year when he was stricken with what 
was then the scourge of the South, and left a young 
widow with their only child in Mississippi County, 
Missouri, where he had located. 

On July 11, 1877, Dr. Hugh Logan Prather was mar- 
ried to Miss Mary Lavinia Morrow, who was born 
September 23, 1855, in Newton County, Missouri, and 
she survives him and makes her home at Hickman. 
She is a daughter of William Lindsey Morrow, born 
April 26, 1831, and died May 16, 1874, and Sarah Ann 
(Glenn) Morrow, daughter of Daniel and Mary 
(Bransford) Glenn, born March 20, 1836, in Sumner 
County, Tennessee, and died April 17, 1909, at Cedar 
Rapids, Nebraska. Mrs. Prather is a granddaughter 
of Dr. William Isaac Irvine Morrow, whose mother, 
Priscilla (Doherty) Morrow, was the daughter of 
Gen. George Doherty of the American Revolution. 
Doctor Morrow was born in Jefferson County, Ten- 
nessee, November 25, 1802, and died March 4, 1875, 
at Neosho, Missouri. His educational training was 
obtained in the Eastern Tennessee University. On 
June 15, 1826, Doctor Morrow was united in marriage 
with Lavinia Lee Jarnagin, a granddaughter of Capt. 
Thomas Jarnagin, who was a member of Harry Lee's 
celebrated Light Horse Brigade in the Revolutionary 
war. Doctor Morrow took a medical course in Tran- 
sylvania University at Lexington, Kentucky, during 
1829 and 1830. In 1834 he was a member of the con- 
vention which framed the constitution of Tennessee. 
Two years later he was surgeon for the United States 
army, and in 1838 he came west with the Cherokees 
in that capacity. During 1843 and 1844 he was a mem- 
ber of the General Assembly of Tennessee, and dur- 
ing 1849-50 he was clerk of the Senate of Tennessee. 
In 1851 he was appointed by President Fillmore agent 
for the Quapaw, Seneca, Shawnee and Osage tribes 
of Indians on the western borders of Missouri. Hon- 
ors were accorded this distinguished man in his new 
home, for during 1856 and 1857 he was engrossing 
clerk of the House of Representatives of Missouri, 
and he also served for many years as clerk of the 
Circuit Court and County Court of Newton County, 
Missouri. His wife was born January 7, 1808, and 
died on March 24, 1886. Her brother, Spencer Jar- 
nagin, was United States senator from Tennessee from 
1844 to 1850. She was a niece of Senator Barton, the 
first United States senator from Missouri. Both the 
paternal and maternal grandfathers of Dr. William 
Isaac Irvine Morrow served in the Revolutionary war. 

Dr. Hugh Edward Prather was graduated from the 
University of Louisville, Kentucky, with the degree of 
Doctor of Medicine, and was first honor man of his 
class. He was interne in the Louisville Hospital, and 
then became assistant to Dr. Ap Morgan Vance, of 
Louisville, but following the severance of that asso- 



48 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



ciation he has carried on a general practice in med- 
icine and surgery at Hickman. He owns a modern 
residence at 306 East Moulton Street. His offices 
are located in the Farmers & Merchants Bank Building. 
He is a democrat, and has been health officer of Fulton 
County. A member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
South, he takes an interest' in the work of his church, 
and is a member of its Official Board. Doctor Prather 
belongs to Hickman Lodge No. 761, F. and A. M. ; 
Hickman Chapter No. 49, R. A. M., of which he is 
past high priest; Louisville Council No .4, R. and S. M. ; 
DeMolay Commandery No. 12, K. T., of Louisville, 
Kentucky; and Rizpah Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., 
of Madisonville, Kentucky. Professionally he belongs 
to the Fulton County Medical Society, the Kentucky 
State Medical Society, the American Medical Asso- 
ciation, the Southern Medical Association, and to the 
Association of Military Surgeons of the United States. 
He also belongs to the Kentucky State Historical So- 
ciety, to the Southern Historical Society, and to the 
Louisville Literary Club. In addition to his private 
practice, Doctor Prather is surgeon for the Mengel 
Box Company of Hickman, which employs goo peo- 
ple, and he is examiner for the United States Public 
Health Service. 

Doctor Prather is one of the men of his profession 
who volunteered his services to the Government during 
the great war, and is entitled because of that alone to 
special consideration on the part of the public. No 
physician who willingly laid aside his practice, built 
up through hard work, left his family and gave of his 
skill and knowledge to serve the sick and wounded 
soldiers of his country during the period it was at war 
will be forgotten by the right-thinking people of his 
community. Such self-sacrificing service is a mar- 
velous carrying out of the highest conception of the 
oath of Hippocrates. His first work in behalf of the 
Government was done as a member of the Draft Board 
of Fulton County, he being its medical examiner, and 
then, on July 26, 1917, he was commissioned a captain 
in the Medical Corps and was on active service in the 
United States Army Base Hospital No. 5Q at Rimau- 
court, France. He received his honorable discharge 
at Camp Dix, New Jersey, February 23, 1919, and 
returned home to gather up the threads of his former 
peaceful occupation. 

On February 8, 1900, Doctor Prather was married 
to Miss Sue Elizabeth Murphey. of Fulton County, 
Kentucky, a daughter of James Knox Murphey, who 
was born in Obion County, Tennessee, September 27, 
1839, and died in Fulton County, Kentucky, December 
?7, 1881. During the war between the North and the 
South he served as a lieutenant in the Fourth Tennes- 
see Infantry, C. S. A., from May 1861, to April 1865, 
under Generals Cheatham and Johnston, and partici- 
pated in the battles of Perryville and Nashville, was 
one of the first over the breastworks at Franklin, and 
was at Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge and in the 
fighting around Atlanta. Georgia. After the close of 
the war he settled in Fulton County, Kentucky, and 
became an extensive farmer and stock-raiser. He was 
a democrat, a member of the Christian Church and a 
Mason, and lived up to the highest conceptions of all 
three organizations. He married Miss Elizabeth Miles, 
who was born in Fulton County. Kentucky, September 
5, 1846, and died in Fulton County November n, 
1881. Doctor and Mrs. Prather became the parents of 
the following children : Richard Givens, who was born 
Tuesday, August 6, 1901, at 615 West Broadway, Louis- 
ville, Kentucky, is a cadet in the United States Mil- 
itary Academy at West Point, New York ; Hugh 
Logan, who was born Wednesday, February 4, 1003, 
in Hickman, Kentucky, is a cadet in the Virginia Mil- 
itary Institute at Lexington, Virginia; and James 
Murphey, who was born Tuesday, June 12, 1906, in 
Hickman, Kentucky. 



L. K. Hickman. Immediately on leaving school 
L. K. Hickman went to work acquiring experience and 
knowledge in mercantile affairs, by a dozen years of 
faithful service earned a partnership, and for several 
years past has been a member of the firm Baker & 
Hickman, whose department store in Madisonville is 
one of the leading concerns of its kind in Hopkins 
County. 

Mr Hickman was born on a farm in Hopkins County 
December 9, 1882. His grandfather, William Harrison 
Hickman, was a native of Virginia, but in early life 
came west to Tennessee, and for several years was a 
farmer and hotel proprietor. He lived at Paris and 
in Union City, Tennessee, and died at the latter place 
when thirty-eight years of age from pneumonia. He 
married Miss Martha Jenkins, a native of North Caro- 
lina, who died at the home of her son, H. H. Hick- 
man, in Hopkins County, Kentucky. H. H. Hickman 
was born in Paris, Tennessee, in 1858, lived there until 
early manhood, and about 1878 moved to Hopkins 
County, Kentucky, where he married and where for 
forty years he was a substantial member of the farm- 
ing community. Since 1905 he has lived on his farm 
two miles east of Madisonville. He is a democrat, an 
active worker in the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
South, and is a man highly esteemed in his community. 
He married Miss Cammie Browder, who was born in 
Hopkins County in 1863. They have two sons, L. K. 
and Herchel. The latter is an employe of the Victoria 
Coal Company at Madisonville. 

L. K. Hickman was educated in the rural schools to 
the age of sixteen and about that time he went to work 
as clerk for E. J. Ashby, and later the firm of Ashby 
& Baker. He made himself valuable to this firm for 
a period of twelve years, then acquired a partnership 
interest, and since 1912 the business has been con- 
ducted as Baker & Hickman, the name that appears 
over their large department store on East Center 
Street, opposite the Court House. 

Mr. Hickman has also had other interests, both in 
a business and political way. He is one of the stanch 
democrats of Hopkins County, served as city tax com- 
missioner of Madisonville, and is a member of the 
Steering Committee of the Democratic County Central 
Committee. For several years he owned a farm, but 
sold this property in 1918. He is a member of Mad- 
isonville Lodge No. 738 of the Elks. 

Mr. Hickman, whose home is on Scott Street in 
Madisonville, married at Mortons Gap in 1908 Miss 
Lula Edwards, daughter of A. J. and Lizzie .(Sisk) 
Edwards. Her parents now reside at Sturgis, Ken- 
tucky, her father being connected with the Western 
Kentucky Coal Company. Mr. and Mrs. Hickman 
have one daughter, Helen Morton, born August 25, 
1910. 

Ernest Newton has been one of the chief business 
men and citizens of Earlington for the past twenty 
years, and is the present postmaster of that important 
business and industrial center of Hopkins County. 

Mr. Newton was born in Ohio County, Kentucky, 
October 12, 1878, of English ancestry. His family 
first settled in Virginia, and came to Kentucky in 
pioneer days. His father, Isaac Newton, was also 
born in Ohio County in 1836, was reared and married 
in that locality, and was a graduate in medicine from 
the University of Louisville. He practiced his pro- 
fession at Buford in Ohio County until 1884, and in 
that year removed to Clarksville, Arkansas, where he 
continued his able work as a physician and surgeon 
until his death in 1900. He was a Confederate veteran, 
having served as a surgeon in the Southern army. He 
was a very devout Christian, an active member of the 
Missionary Baptist Church, a democrat and a Mason. 
Doctor Newton married Jennie Hinchee, who was born 
near Hartford, Ohio County, Kentucky, in 1854, and 




?fcU£</ $cu&y f^U^ u 




HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



49 



is now living at Fort Smith, Arkansas. She is the 
mother of five children : Rosa, wife of C. H. Flynn, 
in the restaurant business at Fort Smith, Arkansas; 
Ernest; James H., a locomotive engineer living in 
Texas ; George, a farmer near Fort Smith ; and Edwin, 
salesman in a general store at Fort Smith. 

Ernest Newton was about six years of age when 
taken to Northwestern Arkansas, attended the rural 
schools of Johnson County and graduated in 1896 
from the Clarksville High School. The following four 
years he worked at Webbers Falls in old Indian Terri- 
tory, first as a ranch hand and later as clerk in a dry 
goods store. In 1900 Mr. Newton returned to his 
native state, and for about a year clerked in a store 
at Owensboro. He has been a resident of Earlington 
since the spring of 1901. The first eighteen months 
here he was manager of the grocery store of John 
M. Victory. He then set up a shop as a general black- 
smith and wagon maker, and has developed a very pros- 
perous business in that line, still owning the shop on 
West Main Street. 

Mr. Newton was appointed postmaster of Earling- 
ton after a competitive examination, and entered Upon 
his official duties for a term of four years February 1, 
1919. He also served as city judge of Earlington two 
years. He is a democrat, is chairman of the Board of 
Stewards of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 
is past chancellor commander of Victoria Lodge No. 
84, Knights of Pythias at Earlington, and a member 
of Eureka Camp No. 25, Woodmen of the World, at 
Madisonville. Mr. Newton got out and worked and 
took the lead in securing Earlington's quota in the 
several campaigns for funds during the war, and spent 
his own personal resources and credit in the purchase 
of bonds and war savings stamps. Mr. Newton owns a 
comfortable home on West Main Street in Earlington. 
He married in this Hopkins County town in May, 1902, 
Miss Nannie Stokes, daughter of Judge A. J. and 
Fannie Stokes. Her mother is still living at Earling- 
ton. Her father, the late Judge Stokes, was city judge 
of Earlington and for many years was head carpenter 
for the St. Bernard Mining Company and one of the 
early settlers of Earlington. Mr. and Mrs. Newton 
have three children : Louise, born in 1903, and Virginia, 
born in 1906, both students in the Earlington High 
School; and Earnest, Jr., born in 1914. 

Charles C. Wyatt. While his early life was de- 
voted chiefly to merchandising, for the past seventeen 
years Charles C. Wyatt has been actively engaged in 
banking at Mayfield, where he is cashier of the First 
National Bank, one of the largest and strongest finan- 
cial institutions in Western Kentucky. 

Mr. Wyatt, who is also an extensive farm owner, 
was born in Graves County March 23, 1879. He comes 
of a family that was identified with the early Colonial 
settlement of old Virginia. His grandfather, Harry 
Wyatt, was a native of that commonwealth, as was 
his father, Roll Wyatt. Roll Wyatt was born in Vir- 
ginia in 1824 and came to Kentucky when a young 
man, was married in Christian County and at once 
moved to Graves County, where he spent many years 
successfully engaged in agriculture. He died in Graves 
County in February, 1917, at the venerable age of 
ninety-three. He was a stanch democrat, and an active 
worker in the Christian Church. Roll Wyatt married 
Nancy Elizabeth Payne, who among her family was 
alwavs known as "Jack." She was born in Christian 
County in 1833 and died in Graves County in 191 1. 
They had a large family of children: John H., a 
farmer, who died in Graves County in June, 1920 ; 
Fannie, wife of J. D. Pullen, a farmer of Graves 
County; B. S., well known in the agricultural district 
of Graves County; J. D. and J. T., both prosperous 
farmers of this county; Nellie, wife of J. R. Usher, a 
farmer and tobacco broker at Mayfield; W. D., who 
operates an extensive farm and landed interests at 



Troy, Texas; G. L., a farmer of Graves County; 
Roll, Jr., who died when seventeen years of age ; and 
Charles C, the youngest of the family. 

Charles C. Wyatt spent his early life on the farm. 
He attended rural schools, the high school at Sedalia 
and was a student in a business college at Hornbeak, 
Tennessee, until 1896. After teaching school in his 
native county for a year he became associated with 
his brother-in-law, J. R. Usher, in the mercantile busi- 
ness at Sedalia. He remained there until he sold out 
six years later, and at the time of the organization of 
the Farmers National Bank of Mayfield in 1903 ac- 
cepted the post of cashier. In March, 1919, the Farm- 
ers National Bank and the First National Bank was 
combined, and Mr. Wyatt continued as cashier of the 
consolidated institution, known as the First National 
Bank. This bank has a capital of $150,000, surplus and 
profits of $200,000, while its deposits aggregate $1,600,- 
000. Of the other officers some account is made on 
other pages. They are Ed Gardner, president, and 
N. A. Hale, vice president. 

Charles C. Wyatt is almost the only member of his 
family who has found business dominating his agri- 
cultural interests, though he has always been associated 
with farm management and ownership, and at the pres- 
ent time is owner of five complete farms in Graves 
County. He is also president of the Hinkle Capsule 
Company of Mayfield and the Mayfield Home Tele- 
phone Company. He owns one of the business build- 
ings on the Public Square and a modern home on 
South Seventh Street. 

Mr. Wyatt is now serving in his second four-year 
term as county treasurer of Graves County. His term 
of office expires in May, 1922. He has long been prom- 
inent in democratic politics, serving as secretary of the 
Democratic County Central Committee eight years and 
as chairman two years. He is a deacon of the First 
Christian Church, treasurer of the Missionary Board, 
and has served as superintendent of the Sunday 
School. Fraternally he is affiliated with Mayfield Lodge 
No. 679, A. F. and A. M., and Mayfield Lodge No. 
159, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he 
is a past grand. 

On December 17, 1902, in Graves County, he married 
Miss Mary Wilson, a member of an old and prom- 
inent agricultural family of that section. Her father, 
the late G. M. Wilson, gave his life to farming in 
Graves County. Her mother now lives with Mr. and 
Mrs. Wyatt. Three children have been born to Mr. 
and Mrs. Wyatt : Tighlman, born September 13, 1904, 
in the second year of the Mayfield High School; Geor- 
gia May, born in April, 191 1; and Charles, Jr., born 
in February, 191 5. 

Wallis B. Taylor. Honored by his fellow citi- 
zens in election to public office for a longer period 
than any other man now at the courthouse of Pike 
County, Hon. Wallis B. Taylor is capably discharg- 
ing the duties of circuit clerk, and enjoying the full 
confidence of all with whom he comes in contact. 
He belongs to one of the old and honored families 
of this region, and his relatives have been connected 
with much of the constructive citizenship of Pike 
County. He was born in a log house on the Rock 
House fork of Big Creek, in Pike County, August 
4, 1868, a son of Kelsey and Mary (Collinsworth) 
Taylor, whose useful lives were spent in Pike County, 
where he died, January 6, 1901, when sixty-six years 
old, and she September 20, 1894, at the same age. 

The Taylor family originated in Virginia, from 
whence Allen Taylor, grandfather of Wallis B. Tay- 
lor, migrated prior to the birth of his son, Kelsey. 
He lived to the unusual age of ninety-three years, 
passing away in 1900, having passed the greater part of 
his life in this vicinity. He and his sons were all 
farmers and large landowners. Kelsey Taylor be- 
came a man of large means and developed into one 



50 



HISTORY' OF KENTUCKY 



of the largest stockraisers of the county. He, like his 
father and brothers, was very law-abiding, holding 
the laws of his country and community in great re- 
spect and honoring them by strict observance. All of 
the family belonged to the Regular Baptist denomi- 
nation. 

Kelsey Taylor and his wife became the parents of 
six children, namely: James M., who is engaged in 
farming near Ashland in Boyd County, Kentucky; 
Joseph A., who is a farmer of Pike County, lives near 
the mouth of Coon Creek; Mina Jane, who married 
Allen Cassady of Martin County, Kentucky, died at 
the age of fifty-three years; Wallis B., who was the 
youngest, and two others who died young. 

Wallis B. Taylor attended the private school taught 
by T. J. Kendrick. of whom mention is found on other 
pages of this work. Completing his schooldays in 1889 
Mr. Taylor began to be self-supporting by working 
in the timber woods, and, forming a partnership with 
\Y. S. Litteral and J. F. Pauley, was engaged in the 
lumber business for four years. These partners had 
saw mills, but also floated timber out on the Big 
Sandy to the Ohio River to the extent of millions 
of feet of logs. He worked very hard and prospered, 
being in all in this line of endeavor for twenty years. 

In 1906 Mr. Taylor received the republican nomina- 
tion for county clerk, and was elected. After his first 
term in office he was again the successful candidate 
of his party for the same office, and then was placed 
in the office of circuit clerk as the successful nominee 
of his party, which office he still holds. His long 
occupancy of an official positon at the courthouse 
makes him the dean of all of the incumbents. Dur- 
ing the late war he rendered a very efficient service as 
food official. 

In 1802 Mr. Taylor was united in marriage with 
Miss Harriet Stepp, a daughter of Aaron Stepp. 
Mrs. Taylor was born at the mouth of Big Creek. 
Mr. and Mrs. Taylor have one son, Kelsey, who was 
horn in Pike County, October 20, 1894. He was gradu- 
ated from Pikeville College, and is now one of his 
father's deputies. During the war he served for 
eleven months in France, and participated in some of 
the most important of the drives, but was fortunate 
enough to escape uninjured after making a very credit- 
able record as a soldier. Mr. Taylor is a Royal Arch 
Mason. In politics he is a republican, and has long 
been one of the leaders in his party in Pike County. 
A man of reliable character, steadfast and honor- 
able he has ably discharged every obligation of life, 
and won the approval of all with whom he has been 
associated. 

C. E. Graham, a native son of Green County, Ken- 
tucky, is a young man whose career has been varied 
in its activities, and he has developed in his native 
county a large and substantial real-estate and insur- 
ance business, his agency being one of the most impor- 
tant of the kind in this county and his office headquar- 
ters being maintained in the Wilson Building at 
Greensburg. the county seat. Mr. Graham is a scion 
of a family whose name has been worthily linked with 
the history of Green County since the early pioneer 
days, his grandfather, Joseph Graham, having been 
horn in this county in 1820 and having here passed 
his entire life. Joseph Graham was here successfully 
associated with farm industry during his entire active 
career, and here his death occurred in the year 1895. 
His father was born in Virginia, a representative of a 
family, of German origin, that was founded in the 
Old Dominion Commonwealth in the Colonial period 
of American history, and he it was who became the 
pioneer settler in Green County, Kentucky, where he 
reclaimed a farm and where he continued to reside 
until the close of his long and useful life. 

C. E. Graham was horn on a farm in the Brush Creek 



district of Green County, July 24, 1889, and is a son 
of Judge Elliott Graham and Nannie (Marcum) Gra- 
ham, both likewise natives of the Brush Creek neigh- 
borhood of Green County, where the former was born 
in 1853 and the latter in 1856. After their marriage 
the parents established their residence on their present 
homestead farm twelve miles west of Greensburg, 
where their children were born and where they have 
resided continuously save for the period from 1901 to 
1913, during which they maintained their home at 
Greensburg, Judge Graham having been county judge 
during this interval and his service in this important 
office having been for three consecutive terms, of four 
years each. He has one of the large and well-improved 
farm estates of his native county, and is a citizen of 
prominence and influence, his having been loyal serv- 
ice in furthering the civic and industrial progress and 
prosperity of Green County. The judge is a staunch 
democrat, is affiliated with William B. Allen Lodge No. 
704, Free and Accepted Masons, at Summersville, of 
which he is past master, and both he and his wife 
are zealous members of the Baptist Church. L. V., the 
eldest of their children, is one of the prosperous farm- 
ers of the Brush Creek section of his native county; 
Lee is proprietor of a hotel at Campbellsville, Taylor 
County; Minnie is the wife of R. L. Cantrell, a farmer 
on Brush Creek ; C. E., of this sketch, was the next in 
order of birth ; Grover is successfully engaged in the 
poultry business at Denton, Texas; Mollie is the wife 
of Professor Leslie Miller, who is now a member of 
the faculty of a college in South Dakota ; Lura is the 
, wife of Ezra Gumm, a farmer near Summersville, 
Green County; and James and Coy remain at the 
parental home, where their assistance is given in the 
operations of the extensive farm. 

As a boy C. E. Graham began to lend his aid in 
the work of the home farm, and his early scholastic 
advantages were those of the rural schools of the 
locality. He remained at the parental home until he 
had attained to the age of sixteen years, when he 
became a locomotive fireman on the Big Four Rail- 
road. After having been thus employed one year he 
went to Springfield, the capital of Illinois, near which 
city he was employed at farm work until he had at- 
tained to his legal majority. He then returned to his 
native county and spent eighteen months as a clerk 
in the general store of Woodson Lewis at Greensburg. 
He then resumed his association with railroad work, 
as a brakeman in the service of the Louisville & Nash- 
ville Railroad, but after six months he so injured his 
right arm when engaged in coupling cars that the 
amputation of the arm was imperative. This physical 
handicap did not discourage him, but tended to in- 
crease his resourcefulness, as shown by the fact that 
in 1913 he established himself in the real estate and 
insurance business at Greensburg and that in this im- 
portant field of enterprise his success has been notable. 
Mr. Graham is found loyally aligned in the ranks of 
the democratic party. He served one year as police 
judge at Greensburg. He was elected county judge of 
Green County in November, 1921. This county usually 
goes republican by about 600, but Mr. Graham won by 
293 over F. E. Wilson, the republican candidate. Mr. 
Graham and his wife are members of the Presbyterian 
Church, as was also his first wife, and his fraternal 
affiliations are here briefly noted: Greensburg Lodge 
No. 54, Free and Accepted Masons ; Greensburg Chap- 
ter No. 36, Royal Arch Masons; Marion Commandery 
No. 24, Knights Templars, at Lebanon ; and Greens- 
burg Camp No. 560, Woodmen of the World. He 
owns an attractive home property on North Cross 
Street. The loss of his arm made Mr. Graham ineli- 
gible for military service in the World war, but he 
showed his patriotism through loyal support of the 
various war activities in his native county, throughout 
which he made spirited speeches in the drives for the 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



51 



sale of the various issues of Government war securities, 
besides making personal subscriptions to the limit of 
his means. 

In the city of Louisville, in December, 1912, Mr. 
Graham wedded Miss Catherine Hatcher, whose par- 
ents, Mr. and Mrs. B. H. Hatcher, are both deceased, 
the father having been a successful farmer in Taylor 
County. Mrs. Graham passed to the life eternal on 
the 1st of June, 1916, and is survived by one son, Gar- 
nett Davis, who was born July 3, 1914. 

In December, 1918, was solemnized, in the City of 
Louisville, the marriage of Mr. Graham to Miss Pearl 
Thompson, who likewise was born and reared in Green 
County, where her parents, Joseph B. and Mollie 
(O'Banion) Thompson, still reside on their fine farm 
on Little Byron River Mr. and Mrs. Graham have 
one son, C. E., Jr., born February 14, 1921. Their 
pleasant home is known for its generous hospitality. 

John W. Crenshaw, M. D. To assure authority and 
consistent comprehensiveness in the various family re- 
views appearing in this work, it has been found not only 
consistent but also imperative to avoid repetition of 
family data in all personal sketches. Thus, in connec- 
tion with Doctor Crenshaw's career reference may read- 
ily be made to the adequate family history appearing 
on other pages, in the personal sketch of his older 
brother, Judge Robert Crenshaw, of Cadiz. 

Doctor Crenshaw, who has long been established in 
active practice at Cadiz, as one of the representative 
physicians and surgeons of Trigg County, is a scion of 
one of the old and honored families of this county. 
John Walden Crenshaw was born in the Casey Creek 
precinct, Trigg County, on the 24th of September, 1849, 
and his preliminary education was received in the rural 
schools, this being supplemented by his attending the 
Oak Hill Seminary, in Christian County, where he was 
a student when the late Rev. George P. Street, a clergy- 
man of the Christian Church, was the executive head 
of the institution. While attending the seminary he also 
gave earnest attention to the study of medicine, under 
the preceptorship of Dr. William McReynolds, and later 
he entered the celebrated old Jefferson Medical College, 
in the City of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in which he 
was graduated as a member of the Class of 1870. The 
doctor has been insistent in keeping at all times abreast 
of the advances made in medical and surgical science 
and has conserved this purpose materially by post- 
graduate courses in the Bellevue Hospital Medical Col- 
lege, New York City, and in the Chicago Polyclinic, 
where he specialized in the study and treatment of dis- 
eases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. On the 1st of 
May, 1870, shortly after receiving his well earned de- 
gree of Doctor of Medicine, Doctor Crenshaw engaged 
in practice at Hopkinsville, Christian County, but on the 
first of the following January he returned to his native 
county and established his residence and professional 
headquarters at Cadiz, the county seat. Here he has 
continued in active and successful general practice dur- 
ing the intervening period of nearly half a century, and 
his high standing as a physician and surgeon attests 
alike his professional ability and his unqualified personal 
popularity. He is to-day, in point of years of continuous 
practice, the dean of the medical profession in Trigg 
County, and he maintains his offices in a building oppo- 
site the court house, on Main Street, this business build- 
ing being owned by him. It is needless to say that Doc- 
tor Crenshaw controls a large and representative prac- 
tice and that he is held in affectionate esteem in the 
many family homes in which he has ministered with 
all of ability and earnest solicitude. He has been for 
the past twenty years chairman of the Board of Health 
of Trigg County, and he holds membership in the 
American Medical Association, the Kentucky State 
Medical Society, and the Trigg County Medical Society. 
He was a member of the Trigg County examining 



Board at the time when young men were here drafted 
for service in the World war, and he was otherwise 
active and influential in the support of war activities in 
his home county. In politics the doctor classifies him- 
self as an independent democrat, and he has taken loyal 
interest in community affairs and in furthering the civic 
and material advancement and prosperity of his home 
city. He served a number of years as chairman of the 
Municipal Board of Trustees of Cadiz, and as a citi- 
zen he has given his influence and support to enterprises 
that have been of marked benefit to the community. He 
is the owner of valuable real estate in Cadiz, including 
his beautiful residence property and the building in 
which his office is established, as previously noted. In 
1891 Doctor Crenshaw became associated with his 
brother-in-law, E. R. Street, in the organization of the 
Trigg County Farmers Bank. He served as president 
of this private banking institution, and Mr. Street as 
its cashier, -until it was consolidated with the Bank of 
Cadiz, in 1900, the title of the Trigg County Farmers 
Bank being retained in the consolidation. At the time 
of this merger Doctor Crenshaw resigned the position 
of president, but he continued a member of the Board 
of Directors of the institution until 1919, when he sold 
his interest in the same. In 1920, in association with 
his son, John S., and others, the doctor obtained the 
charter for the Peoples Bank of Cadiz, but this charter 
was later surrendered, when a consolidation was effected 
with a new institution, the Cadiz Bank, which took pos- 
session of the People's Bank Building on Main Street, 
opposite the court house. Doctor Crenshaw and his son 
retain stock in the Cadiz bank. 

Doctor Crenshaw and his wife are zealous and in- 
fluential members of the Christian Church at Cadiz, in 
which he is serving as an elder. He was for seventeen 
years president of the South Kentucky Sunday-school 
and Missionary Association of the Christian Church. 

September 23, 1873, recorded the marriage of Doctor 
Crenshaw to Miss Julia Street, daughter of the late 
John L. and Mary (Roberts) Street, the father having 
long been engaged in business as one of the leading 
merchants of Cadiz. Mrs. Crenshaw, a popular figure 
in the representative social life of Cadiz, is a graduate 
of the South Kentucky College, at Hopkinsville, Chris- 
tian County. Doctor and Mrs. Crenshaw became the 
parents of eight children, two of whom died in infancy ; 
John S., who resides at Cadiz, will be more specifically 
mentioned in a later paragraph; Miss Mary S. remains 
at the parental home and is a talented teacher of instru- 
mental music ; Berta S. is the wife of A. P. White, 
manager of the Cadiz Milling Company ; George W. 
is a stockholder and general manager of the J. H. 
Anderson Dry Goods Company, in the city of Hopkins- 
ville ; Katie S. is the wife of Rev. George H. C. Stoney, 
a clergyman of the Christian Church and also a repre- 
sentative business man at Winston- Salem, North Caro- 
lina ; and Miss Gertrude remains at the parental home. 

John S. Crenshaw was for several years cashier of 
the Trigg County Farmers Bank and is one of the most 
progressive and influential citizens and business men 
of Cadiz at the present time. He is president of the 
Williams Coal Company, of Christian County; is na- 
tional treasurer of the Farm Bureau Federation and 
treasurer of the Kentucky Farm Bureau Federation; 
and at the time of the World war he was most active 
and influential in the furtherance of governmental 
agencies in support of war activities. He is an able 
public speaker, and as such his services were much in 
demand in the campaign for food conservation and in 
the various drives in support of the government war 
loans. He and his wife were, and still remain, at the 
head of the Red Cross Chapter in Christian County, 
his wife having been before her marriage Miss Goldie 
Rice, of Louisville. Mr. Crenshaw is an enthusiast and 
potent factor in the work of the American Farm Bureau 
Federation, of which he is treasurer, and in a recent 



52 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



interview, he gave voice to the following well taken senti- 
ments : "The Kentucky Farm Bureau stands for the 
elimination of politics from the control of educational 
affairs. The farmer boy and girl of Kentucky are 
entitled to the best mental training it is possible to 
secure. The question for years past has been, how can 
this be accomplished? Now the solution is presented in 
the new school laws. The Kentucky Farm Bureau 
endorses unqualifiedly the law creating the new county 
boards of education, and will wholeheartedly give its 
aid in any county asking for assistance in advising the 
people of the great opportunity it offers, for happier 
homes, for more prosperity, for the greater service, and 
for the bigger living. The lives of people can not be 
greater than their ability to live, and their ability to 
live is measured by their knowledge of life. If we are 
saved to serve, and born into the world to render serv- 
ice, to make the world a better place because of our 
having lived in it, then we must look to the public 
schools for preparation for life; for the intellect of a 
people will never rise higher than its public schools." 

Troilus Melcoy Radcliffe, M. D. Like all other sec- 
tions of Kentucky, Livingston County has located in its 
midst a number of skilled and dependable physicians 
whose lives are spent in ministering to the sick and con- 
structive working for the prevention of disease. These 
men of medicine are worthy citizens of their great state, 
and fully entitled to the prestige which they enjoy. One 
of them who is making a specially enviable record is 
Dr. Troilus Melcoy Radcliffe of Tiline, who was born 
at Hampton, Livingston County, Kentucky, October 6, 
1875, a son of M. E. Radcliffe, grandson of Thomas 
Radcliffe, and a member of one of the old and aristo- 
cratic families of the South, the Radcliffes having come 
to the American Colonies from England and settled in 
North Carolina many generations ago. 

Thomas Radcliffe was born in North Carolina in 1828, 
and died near Lola, Kentucky, in 1888. He moved into 
Kentucky in young manhood and for a time lived in 
Lyon County, but after his marriage, came to Living- 
ston County, and from 1866 to his death, was engaged 
in farming in the vicinity of Lola. He was married to 
Laura Church, who also died in Livingston County. 

M. E. Radcliffe was born in Lyon County, Kentucky, 
in 1850, and is now a resident of Lola, Kentucky. Until 
he was sixteen years of age, he lived in Lyon County, 
but at that time came to Livingston County, and has 
here spent the remainder of his life. For many years 
he was very profitably engaged in farming upon an ex- 
tensive scale in the vicinity of Hampton, but is now 
retired. In his political views he has always maintained 
an independent attitude. The Methodist Episcopal 
Church holds his membership, and has in him one of 
its most earnest and generous supporters, and he is a 
man who carries his religion into his everyday life. M. 
E. Radcliffe was married to Maggie D. Hunter, who 
was born at Hampton, Kentucky, in 1855, and they be- 
came the parents of the following children : Doctor Rad- 
cliffe, who is the eldest ; Bertha, who married Alexan- 
der Workman, lives near Lola, where he is engaged in 
farming ; Yulee, who is engaged in farming in the vicin- 
ity of Lola; and Orville H., who is an oil operator of 
Tulsa, Oklahoma. 

Doctor Radcliffe attended the rural schools of Liv- 
ingston County, Kentucky, and later took his medical 
course in the University of Louisville, from which he 
was graduated in 1904, with the degree of Doctor of 
Medicine. Immediately thereafter he began the prac- 
tice of his profession at Lola, Kentucky, but within four 
months moved to Tiline, where he has since remained, 
and here he has built up a very desirable connection in 
the general medical and surgical practice for which he 
is so well fitted. His offices are located on Main Street. 
In politics he is a democrat, and he is now serving as 
health officer of Livingston County. During the late 
war Doctor Radcliffe took an active part in all of the 



war work of his locality, and did everything in his power 
to assist the administration in carrying out its policies. 
He owns 500 acres of very valuable land three and one- 
half miles south of Tiline, and a modern residence on 
Main Street, which is the best in Tiline. 

Fraternally Doctor Radcliffe belongs to Dycusburg 
Lodge No. 232, A. F. & A. M., of which he is past 
master ; Paducah Lodge No. 217, B. P. O. E., while pro- 
fessionally he maintains membership with the Livingston 
County Medical Society, the Kentucky State Medical 
Society, the Southwestern Kentucky Medical Society and 
the American Medical Association. 

On August 21, 1901, Doctor Radcliffe was married 
near Hampton, Kentucky, to Miss Josie Morris, a daugh- 
ter of James and Sophronia (Bryan) Morris. Mr. Mor- 
ris was a farmer, but is now deceased. Mrs. Morris 
is living and resides at Carrsville, Kentucky. Doctor and 
Mrs. Radcliffe have two children, namely: Jesse Glenn, 
who was born September 30, 1905; and Hallie, who was 
born August 30, 1907. A sincere man, devoted to his 
profession, and endeavoring to give to it the best of his 
efforts, Doctor Radcliffe has earned and retains the 
respect and affection of a wide circle of personal friends 
and no man stands any higher in his neighborhood than 
he. 

R. Lee Stewart, assistant secretary of state, one of 
the best known and most efficient men of Kentucky, won 
distinction as a member of the State Assembly before 
his appointment to his present office, and proved his 
worth as a dependable business man. The common- 
wealth now has in office some of the most dependable 
men of the state, and its affairs are being admirably 
administered. Mr. Stewart's interests have always been 
centered in Kentucky for it is his native state, he hav- 
ing been born in Letcher, now Knott County, February 
4, 1873, a son of Dr. A. H. Stewart. 

The Stewart family was founded in this country by 
the great-great-grandfather of R. Lee Stewart, Alex- 
ander Stewart, a native of Scotland, who located in the 
Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, at a very early day, and 
became a prosperous planter of that region. He married 
a Miss Sheets, a native of Virginia. Their son William 
Stewart, was born in the Shenandoah Valley, but moved 
to Knox County, Kentucky prior to 1806, and there 
developed valuable agricultural interests. He married a 
Miss Crank, a native of Virginia. The grandfather of 
R. Lee Stewart, Dr. Jasper Stewart, was born near 
Barbourville, Knox County, Kentucky, in 1829, and died 
near Hindman, Kentucky, May 3, 1914. He lived in 
Perry and Knott counties the greater part of his life 
and was actively engaged in practice as a physician 
and surgeon, attaining to distinction in his profession, 
and he was also engaged in farming. He married Nancy 
Mullins, who was born in Virginia in 1829. 

Dr. A. H. Stewart was born in Perry County, Ken- 
tucky, December 7, 1852, and is now a resident of Law- 
ton, Oklahoma. He was reared in Perry and Letcher 
counties, and for a number of years was engaged in 
teaching school in the latter county. Studying medicine, 
he was graduated from the Ohio Medical School of 
Cincinnati, Ohio, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, 
and he later took post graduate courses in Bellevue Hos- 
pital, New York City. Doctor Stewart began the prac- 
tice of medicine at Prestonsburg, Kentucky, where he 
remained until 1892, when he moved to Richmond, Ken- 
tucky, and was there married. Going to Lawton, Okla- 
homa, in 1901, he soon established himself in a valuable 
practice, which he has since continued. He is a republi- 
can and was sent to the State Senate from Floyd County, 
Kentucky, representing the Twenty-third Senatorial Dis- 
trict, and served for two terms, or from 1887 until 1893. 
From 1896 until 1898 he was physician at the Frankfort 
penitentiary. During the Spanish-American war, he was 
captain of Company K, Fourth Kentucky Volunteer In- 
fantry, under Colonel Colson. Doctor Stewart was mar- 
ried to Margaret Pigman, who was born in Letcher 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



53 



County, Kentucky, in l8S4. and died in that county in 
1876, having borne her husband two children, namely: 
R. Lee; and Burt. The latter has been a clerk in the 
post office at Lawton, Oklahoma since 1905. 

R. Lee Stewart attended the rural schools of Floyd, 
Letcher and Knott counties, Kentucky, and then, during 
1891 and 1892 was a student of the Kentucky State Uni- 
versity. For six terms he was engaged in teaching 
school in Knott County, and then during 1896 and 1897 
was enrolling clerk of the General Assembly. Mr. Stew- 
art then attended law school at Danville, Indiana, and 
was graduated from the Central Normal College there 
in 1898, with the degree of Bachelor of Law. From 
January 1, 1900 until December I of that year he was 
storekeeper and gauger in the Internal Revenue service, 
residing at Hindman, Kentucky, and from the latter 
date until July 1, 1905, was deputy collector of Internal 
Revenue. On July I, 1905, he was again made store- 
keeper and gauger and so continued until the fall of 
1906, when he went to Oklahoma and was in the vicinity 
of Lawton until the fall of 1908, having gone there on 
account of ill health. 

Returning to Hindman, Kentucky, he was made gen- 
eral storekeeper and gauger, and had charge of ten 
counties for the Internal Revenue department during 
1910 and 191 1, at which time he became private secre- 
tary to Congressman John W. Langley of the Tenth 
Congressional District and spent some time in Washing- 
ton. During 1912 and 1913 Mr. Stewart was deputy 
United States marshal, with headquarters at Jackson, 
Kentucky, although he still maintained his residence at 
Hindman. Resigning from office, Mr. Stewart then 
went upon the road, representing first Swift & Company 
of Chicago, then the Ouerbacker Coffee Company of 
Louisville, and finally the Emmons-Hawkins Hardware 
Company of Huntington, West Virginia. He left the 
road when he was elected to the General Assembly in 
November, 1919, as a representative of the Ninety-ninth 
Legislative District comprising Knott and Magoffin coun- 
ties. While serving, he was chairman of the Redisrict- 
ing Judicial Committee, and a member of the Rules, Cir- 
cuit Courts, Criminal Law, Charitable Institutions, Min- 
ing and Mining and State University committees, and 
was connected with some of the most important legisla- 
tion of that session. On March 23, 1920, Mr. Stewart 
was appointed clerk in the office of the Secretary of 
State, and was further honored by being appointed As- 
sistant Secretary of State May 1, 1920, and assumed the 
duties of the office, May 17th. His offices are in the 
new state capitol. Mr. Stewart lives at No. 612 Shelby 
Street, but maintains his legal residence at Hindman. 
He is a republican and has been elected to office on his 
party ticket. In 1899 ne was a candidate for the State 
Assembly from the Ninety-first District, but was de- 
feated in a strongly democratic community and was 
again the nominee of his party for the same office from 
the same district, and once more met with defeat from 
the same cause, in 191 1. 

Well known in fraternal matters Mr. Stewart belongs 
to Hindman Lodge No. 689, A. F. & A. M., of which 
he is past master ; Hindman Lodge No. 163, I. O. O. F., 
of which he is past grand; Hindman Camp No. 43, 
K. O. T. M., in which he has passed all of the chairs ; 
and Rhoda May Council No. 164, Junior Order, United 
American Mechanics, Jackson, Kentucky. He owns a 
modern residence at Hindman, which is a comfortable 
one and a farm in Knott County. 

On December 23, 1901, Mr. Stewart was married at 
Hindman, Kentucky, to Miss Lucinda Everade, a daugh- 
ter of Joseph and Sarah (Tate) Everade. Mr. Everade 
died at Hindman in 1890, after a life spent in agricul- 
tural activity, but his widow survives and makes her 
home at Hindman. Mr. and Mrs. Stewart have two 
children, namely : Mary, who was born November 12, 
1909; and Mattie, who was born February 12, 1916. 

In every office Mr. Stewart has held he has shown 
a conscientious conception of his duties and a willing- 



ness to exert himself which have gained added honors 
for him. While he considers Hindman his home city, he 
is deeply interested in Frankfort, as are all good Ken- 
tuckians, and having spent considerable time in the 
capital city, understands its needs, and recognizes its 
advantages. Such men as he are bound to travel far 
on the road which leads to political distinction, and his 
journey is in no way completed. 

James D. McClintock has been a resident of Paris, 
judicial center of Bourbon County, from the time of 
his birth, is a representative of an old and honored 
family of this section of the Blue Grass state, and in 
the varied relations of life he has well upheld the pres- 
tige of the name which he bears. He is now engaged 
in the general insurance business in his native city, and 
his agency receives a large and substantial supporting 
patronage. 

James Davis McClintock was born at Paris on the 19th 
of August, 1855, and is a son of James and Margaret 
G. (Todd) McClintock. The father was born in Bour- 
bon County in the year 1812, and he was eighty-five 
years of age at the time of his death, in 1898. The 
father of James McClintock was numbered among the 
early settlers of Bourbon County, where he developed a 
productive farm and where he continued to reside until 
his death. James McClintock was reared to the sturdy 
discipline of the home farm, and in early manhood he 
continued his active association with agricultural indus- 
try. For the long period of sixty-five years he was 
engaged in the general merchandise business at Paris, 
where for fully half a century he was senior member of 
the firm of McClintock & Davis, the junior member of 
the firm having been his nephew, J. T. Davis. After the 
death of his honored coadjutor in this representative 
business establishment Mr. Davis closed out the business, 
and from that time forward he lived virtually retired 
at Paris until his death, when nearly eighty-four years 
of age. The old store building of the firm, on Main 
Street, was several times remodeled, and here the firm 
of McClintock & Davis long conducted a large and pros- 
perous business. James McClintock was a man of fine 
mind and noble character, he was loyal and liberal as a 
citizen, with a high sense of personal stewardship, and 
he was generous and considerate in his association with 
his fellowmen. He was a zealous and devoted member 
of the Presbyterian Church, as was also his wife, and in 
the same he served in turn as deacon and elder. His 
gracious characteristics showed forth most fully in the 
ideal relations of his home life, and he did all in his 
power to promote the contentment and happiness of 
his family, his devoted wife having been eighty-three 
years of age at the time of her death. Of their seven 
children one died in early childhood, and the other six 
were all present at the funeral of the father. Elizabeth, 
the eldest of the children, became the wife of Joseph 
Croxton, and is now deceased. John J., was for thirty- 
six years cashier of the Agricultural Bank at Paris, 
a position which he retained until the consolidation of 
the institution with the Bourbon Bank, when he resigned 
and effected the organization of the Farmers & Traders 
Bank, of which he served as cashier until failing health 
compelled his retirement, about one year prior to his 
death, which occurred in 1919. He was for twenty 
years a deacon and also the treasurer of the Christian 
Church of Paris and was a citizen of prominence and 
influence in the community. His only child, Belle Pal- 
mer, died when about twenty years of age. Laura Bell, 
the second daughter of James and Margaret G. (Todd) 
McClintock, is deceased, she having been the wife of 
George W. Judy, an ex-deputy sheriff of Bourbon 
County and now a member of the police department of 
Paris. William L. was for many years a gauger in the 
internal revenue service, and was a stockholder in the 
Agricultural Bank of Paris, in which he served for a 
number of years as clerk. He became a zealous com- 
municant of the Protestant Episcopal Church and was 



54 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



a member of the vestry of the church at Paris for a 
number of years prior to his death. Margaret is the 
wife of Archibald Paxton, who is engaged in the mer- 
cantile business at Paris. 

James D. McCIintock acquired his youthful educa- 
tion in the schools of his native city and was a lad of 
fifteen years when he began to assist in the service 
in his father's mercantile establishment, with which he 
continued his active association thirty-two years — until 
the death of his honored father. For the major part of 
this long period he had the active management of the 
business. He now conducts a well ordered and success- 
ful insurance business in his native city, and is a citizen 
whose high standing in the community sets at naught 
any application of the scriptural aphorism that "a prophet 
is not without honor save in his own country." For 
thirty years Mr. McCIintock has been the local agent 
for the Cincinnati Enquirer, a paper that has a sub- 
stantial circulation in Bourbon County. 

The year 1906 recorded the marriage of Mr. McCIin- 
tock to Miss Margaret Rogers, daughter of Warren and 
Louise Rogers, of Scott County, where her father was a 
representative farmer. Mr. and Mrs. McCIintock have 
one daughter, Rachel, who is attending the public schools 
of Paris at the time of this writing, in 1920. Mr. Mc- 
CIintock is an earnest member of the First Presbyterian 
Church of Paris, and he is serving as an elder in the 
same. 

Joshua W. Meshew, M. D. Distinguished not only 
because he is the oldest practicing physician of Barlow, 
but also on account of his experience, skill and kindly 
sympathy, Dr. Joshua W. Meshew is one of the lead- 
ing men of his profession in Ballard County. In ad- 
dition to carrying on his large practice. Doctor Meshew 
is connected with a number of the interests of his com- 
munity, and is relied upon as one of its most public- 
spirited citizens. 

Doctor Meshew was born at Lovelaceville, Ballard 
County, Kentucky, September I, 1863, a son of James 
N. Meshew and grandson of Benjamin Meshew, a 
native of France. Coming to the United States in 
young manhood, Benjamin Meshew located in Hick- 
man County, Kentucky where he became a prosperous 
farmer, and where he died in 1843. He married 
Martha D. Swain, and she, too, passed away in Hick- 
man County. 

James N. Meshew was born May 15, 1844, in Hick- 
man County, Kentucky, and he died in Marshall 
County. Kentucky, in 1875. Reared and educated in 
Hickman County, he became a physician and surgeon, 
and after his marriage he moved to Ballard County, 
Kentucky, where all of his children were born. There 
be continued to reside until 1874, when he went to 
Marshall County, Kentucky, but his death occurred a 
year later. In politics he was a democrat. The Bap- 
list Church held his membership, and he lived up to 
its highest ideals and took an active part in the coun- 
cils of his denomination. He was a Mason. During 
the war between the North and the South he served 
under General Forrest, and was in the battle of Gun- 
town, where his brother Charles was killed. Dr. J. N. 
Meshew was married to Martha Elizabeth White, who 
survives him and lives with her son, Doctor Meshew. 
She was born in October, 1845, in Ballard County, 
Kentucky. She and her husband had the following 
children : Doctor Meshew, who was the eldest ; Francis 
M , who died at Fulton, Kentucky, in 1887, was a 
teacher in the public schools although only twenty-one 
years old at the time of his demise; Charles A., who 
lives at Barlow, is superintendent of the water plant 
of Barlow : Ben C, who is employed in a factory at 
Muncie, Indiana ; Mary S., who married a Mr. Wilson, 
of Akron, Ohio, associated with the Goodyear Rubber 
Company of that city; and Jimmie Newton, who died 
in infancy. 

Doctor Meshew attended the rural schools of Ballard 



County, and for two years was engaged in teaching 
school in his native county, and for two years more 
taught in McCracken County. He then entered the 
medical department of the University of Louisville, 
Kentucky, September 23, 1886, and was graduated 
therefrom March I, 1889, with the degree of Doctor 
of Medicine. Immediately thereafter he established 
himself in a general practice at Barlow, where he has 
since remained, building up a connection which is very 
valuable. He owns a modern residence and offices at 
the corner of Main and Maple streets, which is one 
of the finest in Barlow, and he owns other real estate 
in this city, as well as two farms north of Barlow, 
comprising 142 acres. He erected and owns the water 
plant of Barlow, which he completed in 1905; is a 
stockholder and director of the Bank of Barlow, which 
he helped to organize, and served it as president for 
twelve years. Like his father, he is a democrat, and 
he is now serving as a member of the county Board of 
Health. He belongs to the Ballard County Medical 
Society, the Kentucky State Medical Society, the 
American Medical Association and the Southwestern 
Kentucky Medical Association. Well known as a 
Mason, he belongs to Hazelwood Lodge No. 489, A. F. 
and A. M., of Barlow, which he served as worshipful 
master from 1900 to 1901 ; to Hesperian Chapter No. 
74, R. A. M., and Fulton Council, R. and S. M. During 
the period this country participated in the great war, 
Doctor Meshew was very active in local war work, and 
served for a time as food commissioner of Ballard 
County. 

On March 6, 1890. he was united in marriage with 
Miss Mattie Hinkle at the home of her parents, George 
and Tina (Clampete) Hinkle, who were then residing 
near Hinkleville, Kentucky, but who are now deceased, 
he passing away in 1905. Mr. Hinkle was one of the 
early settlers of that locality, where he engaged in 
farming, and Hinkleville was named in honor of his 
brother, Charles Hinkle. Doctor and Mrs. Meshew 
became the parents of the following children : Hinkle, 
who was born in 1891, died at the age of four months; 
Opal, who was born in 1892, died at the age of one 
year; Stella, who was born in 1894, died in infancy; 
Gladys, who was born in 1896, married Clayborne 
Finch, principal of the Kenton High School, lives at 
Kenton, Tennessee ; Joshua W., Jr., who was born 
in 1898, is in the employ of the Goodyear Rubber Com- 
pany and resides at Akron, Ohio ; Merle, who was 
born in 1900, married Dewey Girard, a saw-mill 
operator and lumber dealer, and lives at Lovelaceville, 
Kentucky; George, who was born in 1907. is the 
seventh in order of birth; and Frank, who was born 
in October, 191 1, is the youngest. 

Doctor Meshew is a man who holds his friends in 
good account and likes to have them about him. He 
has great mental resourcefulness, and has accomplished 
surprising achievements, not only in his calling but in 
other lines. Always holding the good of his com- 
munity at heart, he has generously worked for it, 
and has found at Barlow his inspiration and congenial 
surroundings, which have aided him in his life work. 
He is a man of personal charm, culture and wide in- 
tellectual interests, and his fellow citizens are very 
proud of him and the principles for which he has 
always stood. 

George Washington Plimell, M. D. A Union sol- 
dier during the Civil war, a graduate in medicine at 
Cincinnati some years after that struggle, Doctor Pli- 
mell has been in practice in the interesting rural and 
mountainous section of Eastern Kentucky at Science 
Hill for the past thirty-five years, and both in his pro- 
fession and as a citizen ranks as one of the foremost 
men of influence in that locality. 

Doctor Plimell was born on a farm in Madison 
County, Ohio, September 14. 1839- His grandfather, 
John Plimell, was a Virginian, born in 1761, and in 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



55 



1818 moved to Madison County, Ohio, where he lived 
out his life as a farmer and where he died in 1845. 
His son, John Plimell, was born in Virginia in 1800, 
was a young man when he went to Ohio, and he was 
a resident of Madison County for nearly sixty years. 
He owned a large tract of land, was successfully en- 
gaged in farming and stock raising, and was also a 
leader in community affairs, serving as township 
commissioner, was a democrat and Methodist. John 
Plimell, who died in Madison County in 1877, married 
Winnie Lewis, who was born in Virginia in 1808 and 
died in Madison County in 1892. Her children were 
eight in number : William Lewis, a farmer who died 
in Madison County at the age of twenty-three; James, 
a farmer who died in" the same' county when eighty- 
two years of age; Elizabeth, who died at the age of 
seventy, wife of Isaac Canada, a farmer who also 
died in Madison County ; Martha, who died aged sixty- 
two, wife of John Ayle, a farmer in Madison County; 
Abram, who died when nine years old; John T., who 
became a physician and surgeon and died in Cali- 
fornia at the age of eighty-two ; Winnie S., who lived 
to be seventy, was the wife of Carleton Gregg, a trader' 
and farmer who died in Madison County; and George 
Washington Plimell, the eighth and youngest of the 
family. 

Doctor Plimell, who has passed the age of four- 
score, acquired his early education in country schools 
while living on his father's farm in Madison County. 
September 5, 1861, he enlisted and was mustered in 
September 10th in the Fortieth Ohio Infantry. He 
served three years until the fall of 1864, and in the 
meantime participated in the battles of Chickamauga, 
Lookout Mountain, being with the Army of the Cum- 
berland. At Lookout Mountain a spent ball wounded 
him in the right breast and the wound subsequently 
became infected and caused much suffering, so that 
after the battle of Rocky Face Gap, during the cam- 
paign of Northern Georgia, he became disabled and 
was mustered out October 13, 1864, at Pine Top Moun- 
tain. Returning home he taught school in Madison 
County three years, studied medicine privately, and in 
the spring of 1877 received his M. D. degree from the 
Eclectic Medical Institute at Cincinnati. For- nine 
years Doctor Plimell practiced his profession in Union 
County, Qhio. Then on account of ill health he de- 
cided to seek the advantages of the mountain regions 
of Kentucky, and in April, 1886, moved to Science 
Hill, a community that has known and esteemed him 
for thirty-five years. All this time he has enjoyed 
a very successful medical and surgical practice and he 
made a living from his profession at the very begin- 
ning, owing to the fact that a number of families from 
his section of Ohio had preceded him to this Ken- 
tucky locality. In earlier years Doctor Plimell, like 
most old time physicians, compounded his own medi- 
cines in the absence of a drug store or apothecary, 
and carried his stock of medicines about with him 
when he rode or drove over the country. Doctor Pli- 
mell owns his office building and a modern home at 
the corner of Main Street and Railroad Avenue. He 
has done much work and interested himself in numer- 
ous activities that are vitally associated with the wel- 
fare of the community. He helped organize the Peo- 
ples Bank of Science Hill in 1906, and is its vice 
president. He has served as local health officer and 
for several terms was a member of the town board. 
He votes independently, is a trustee of the Methodist 
Church, is affiliated with Mount Gilead Lodge No. 
255, F. & A. M. ; London Chapter, R. A. M., at Lon- 
don, Ohio; a member of the Modern Woodmen of 
America; and is affiliated with the State Medical 
Association. He gave generously of his means and 
influence to all war causes. 

In 1868, at Tradersville, Ohio, Doctor Plimell mar- 
ried Louisa E. Lee, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Enoch 
Lee, deceased. Her father was a farmer in Madison 



County, Ohio. After they had been married nearly 
fifty years Mrs. Plimell died of heart trouble sud- 
denly in 1916. She is survived by one daughter, at 
home with her father, Clara G., wife of Edward Webb, 
postmaster of Science Hill. 

William Henry Dunbar is one of the capable 
county officials of Caldwell County, and a widely and 
well known citizen of that section of the state, where 
he has lived all his life and where his people have 
been closely identified with the most substantial affairs 
of the community for several generations. 

He was born near Princeton July 20, 1888. His 
grandfather, William Dunbar, was of Irish ancestry, 
and gave a good account of his life as one of the 
practical farmers of Caldwell County. He died be- 
fore the birth of William Henry Dunbar on the old 
Dunbar farm, ten miles north of Princeton. George 
W. Dunbar, his son, was born in Caldwell County in 
1862, and likewise gave the devotion of his years, 
strength and abilities to farming and the responsibili- 
ties of private citizenship. He died on his farm in 
1905. He was a republican and a very persistent 
worker in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. He 
married Miss Johnnie Cash, who was born near Du- 
laney in Caldwell County in 1868 and is now living 
on the old homestead ten miles north of Princeton. 
William Henry is her oldest child; Miss Maggie lives 
at home; Ola is the wife of Price Morse, a farmer 
near Liberty, Kentucky; Bessie, Nellie and Pyron all 
live at the home farm with their mother. 

William Henry Dunbar made the best possible use 
of his advantages in the rural schools of Caldwell 
County and stayed on the farm with his mother until 
he was twenty-one years of age. After leaving the 
farm he clerked in a store at Providence, Kentucky, 
three years and then resumed his work on the home- 
stead until 1916, when he came to Princeton. Here he 
followed the carpenter's trade until 1918. In Novem- 
ber,' 1917, he was elected county tax commissioner, 
and began his term of four years in January, 1918. 
His offices are in the Lisanby Building on West Court 
Square. 

Mr. Dunbar owns one of the most desirable of the 
homes of Princeton, a modern residence surrounded 
with well kept grounds and made conspicuous by many 
handsome old shade trees. Mr. Dunbar is a republi- 
can in politics, is a deacon and active member of the 
Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and is affiliated with 
Clinton Lodge No. 82, A. F. and A. M., is a past grand 
of Princeton Lodge No. 50, Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows, a member of Silver Leaf Camp No. 92, Wood- 
men of the World, Princeton Camp No. 12962, Modern 
Woodmen of America. 

October 3, 1906, he married Miss Ella M. Boitnott, 
daughter of J. F. and Lou (Phelps) Boitnott. 
Her parents still live on their farm two miles north 
of Princeton. Mr. and Mrs. Dunbar have no children 
of their own, but have an adopted daughter, Virginia 
Berry, who was born June 6, 1918. 

Ira Z. Barber, M. D. A physician of high standing 
who has practiced at Princeton for the past fifteen 
years, Doctor Barber is a specialist in eye, ear, nose 
and throat, and as such his skill and abilities have 
been sought by a large clientage all over that section 
of the state. 

Doctor Barber was born in Calloway County, Ken- 
tucky, September 7, 1877. His grandfather Ira Barber 
was born in Wilson County, Middle Tennessee, in 
early life moved to Calloway County, Kentucky, and 
lived as a farmer on the place where several years 
after his death his grandson, Doctor Barber was born. 
Alfred A. Barber, father of Doctor Barber, was born 
in November, 1844, in Calloway County, and is living 
today a mile and a half from his birthplace on what 



56 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



is known as "Barber Farm" five miles southwest of 
Murray. He has lived in that locality since early 
manhood and has practiced agriculture on a rather 
extensive scale. In politics he is a republican and early 
in life united with the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
and that has been one of the strong attachments of 
his life. He married Margaret A. Jackson, who was 
born in the same vicinity of Calloway County in 1855 
and died there December 5, 1917. Ira Z. is the oldest 
of their four children ; May is the wife of W. W. 
Paschal, a farmer near Crossland, Kentucky ; Raleigh, 
a daughter, died at the age of three years; and Alfred 
LaFayette lives on and operates the old homestead. 

Ira Z. Barber attended rural schools near the Barber 
farm, and completed his general education in the Uni- 
versity of Tennessee at Nashville, where he spent two 
years. He received his Doctor of Medicine degree in 
1905 from the University of Louisville. In the course 
of his general practice for several years he found his 
work more and more congenial and satisfactory in 
certain lines, and preparatory to exclusive devotion to 
his specialty he spent the year 1919 in the Chicago Eye, 
Ear, Nose and Throat College, and received a special 
diploma for his work there. He began practice at 
Princeton in 1905. His home and offices are in the 
Moore Building. 

Doctor Barber is a member of the County, State and 
American Medical associations, and served as city 
health officer of Princeton from 1916 to 1919. As a 
private citizen he was a worker in behalf of the various 
causes for the promotion and successful prosecution 
of the war. He is a stanch republican, and is a mem- 
ber of Princeton Lodge No. 1115 of the Elks. 

April 28, 1909, Doctor Barber married at Princeton 
Miss Anna B. Hunter, a daughter of Oscar and Alice 
(Wylie) Hunter both now deceased. Her father was 
a Caldwell County fanner. 

Frederick O'Brien See is one of the youngest min- 
ing captains in Eastern Kentucky, an expert in every- 
thing connected with the equipment of mines and their 
operation, and his present post of responsibility is as 
superintendent of No. 30 mine for the U. S. Coal & 
Coke Company at Lynch. 

Mr. See is a native of Eastern Kentucky, born at 
Louisa in Lawrence County December 11, 1896. His 
people have lived there since pioneer times and since 
his grandfather, David See, came out of Virginia to 
Lawrence County, where during his active life he was 
a timber dealer. David See was of Scotch Irish an- 
cestry and of a Colonial Virginia family. His wife 
was a Miss Goff, a native of Mississippi, who died in 
Lawrence County, Kentucky. F. M. See, father of 
Frederick See, was born near Roanoke, Virginia, in 
1851, but lived nearly all his life in Lawrence County, 
with home at Louisa, where he died in 1919. He was 
a contractor in the building of railroads and also 
owned a large amount of farm land. For eight years 
he was sheriff of Lawrence County and one of the 
most influential men in the democratic party there. 
He gave liberally of his time and means to the Baptist 
Church, and was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity. 
F. M. See married Tennie Shannon, who was born in 
Lawrence County in 1865 and is living at Louisa. She 
is the mother of six children: Andrew David, a build- 
ing contractor at Louisa ; Ira, connected with a large 
coal company at Beaver Creek, Floyd County; Fred- 
erick O'B ; J. B., assistant mine foreman for the 
U. S. Coal & Coke Company at Lynch; Miss Madge 
Ray, at home; and Scott, a student in the Kentucky 
Normal College at Louisa. 

Frederick O'Brien See acquired his early education 
in the public schools of Louisa, graduating from high 
school in 1913. Following that he pursued the mechan- 
ical engineering course in the Ohio State University 
at Columbus, where he completed his junior year, but 
during the fall of 1916 remained at home assisting his 



father, and early in 1917 joined the Elkhorn Piney 
Coal & Mining Company on Beaver Creek in Floyd 
Count3 r , as superintendent of construction. The way 
in which he handled his work there attracted atten- 
tion to him from the U. S. Coal & Coke Company, 
and on September 1, 1918, he entered the service of 
this subsidiary of the U. S. Steel Corporation as 
assistant superintendent of construction at Lynch. He 
was for much of the time the man in charge of the 
great undertaking involved in planning and building 
this model mining community and the equipment of 
the mines at Lynch, and when the construction work 
was completed on October I, 1920, he remained as 
superintendent of No. 30 mine. 

Mr. See who is unmarried,, is a democrat and is 
affiliated with Benham Lodge No. 880, F. and A. M., 
at Benham, Kentucky. He is a member of the Ameri- 
can Association of Engineers. During the World war 
he was a leader in his community in behalf of 
patriotic causes, and as foreman was largely respon- 
sible for the success achieved in the local Red Cross 
drive. 

Orie S. Ware, commonwealth's attorney for the 
Sixteenth Judicial District of Kentucky, is a lawyer 
by profession, in which his achievements rank him as 
one of the foremost members of the Kenton County 
Bar, and he is also one of the most prominent Masons 
of the state. 

Some four or five generations of the Ware family 
have been identified with Kentucky since pioneer times 
to the present. Isaac Ware, a Virginian, came to Ken- 
tucky at a very early day and developed a large planta- 
tion in Campbell County, where he lived out his years. 
His son, Daniel Ware, a native of Campbell County, 
became a Baptist minister, and did much for the up- 
building of that denomination over a large section of 
Kentucky. William Ware, a son of this Baptist min- 
ister, was the grandfather of Orie S. Ware. William 
Ware was born in 1818 and died in 1888, spending all 
his life in Campbell County, Kentucky, where he had 
large farming interests and was one of the influential 
citizens of his day. William Ware married Nancy 
Grizzell, who was born and reared in Kenton County 
and died in Campbell County, on the old homestead. 
Her father was Solomon Grizzell, who died in Kenton 
County. 

The name of this Kenton County pioneer was be- 
stowed upon his grandson, Solomon Grizzell Ware, 
who was born near Alexandria in Campbell County, 
July 4, 1855, but later became a well known business 
man of Covington. He died March 30, 1916. He was 
reared and educated in his native county, attending the 
celebrated seminary at Cold Spring conducted by 
Doctor Pettit. After his marriage in Kenton County 
he moved to Peach Grove in Pendleton County, where 
he operated a farm and also a general store. In 1886 
he moved to the old homestead where he was born, 
near Alexandria, living there three years, and in 1889 
located at Covington, where he was employed in com- 
mercial lines for five years. The next three years he 
lived on the home farm of his wife's people in Ken- 
ton County, but for a number of years before his death 
was a salesman for the Moore Oil Company at Cov- 
ington. He served as city auditor of Covington two 
years, 1912-14. He was a democrat, for many years a 
deacon in the Baptist Church, and was a Royal Arch 
Mason. 

Solomon G. Ware married Ida Petty, who is still 
living, at Covington. She was born near Independence 
in Kenton County in i860. She became the mother of 
seven children. William Haden, the oldest, is a farmer 
in Kenton County, and Orie S. is the second in age. 
Vernor Edwin has an extensive business as a con- 
tractor and builder at El Paso, Texas. His next 
younger brother, Howard Thomas, associated with him 
in business at El Paso, is a graduate of Yale University 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



57 



in civil engineering, and during the World war was a 
first lieutenant in the Quartermaster's Construction 
Department. Beulah, the fifth of the children, is the 
wife of Norbert H. Gainey, a salesman, advertiser and 
commercial artist living at Lakeland, Florida. Elmer 
Petty Ware, a lawyer and law partner of his brother 
Orie S., was a second lieutenant in the National Army 
during the World war period. Arthur Eugene, the 
youngest, now a traveling salesman for a wholesale 
paint house at Dallas, Texas, was attending the naval 
training school at Lexington when the armistice was 
signed. 

Orie S. Ware was born on a farm at Peach Grove 
in Pendleton County, Kentucky, May II, 1882, but the 
greater part of his life has been spent in Covington, 
where he attended public schools. He finished his 
literary education in the private academy at Inde- 
pendence of Professor George W. Dunlap. Leaving 
this well known school at the age of seventeen, he 
clerked in a store at Covington a year and then be- 
came stenographer in the law office of W. McD. Shaw, 
who later was Circuit judge of Kenton County. He 
was then with Judge Shaw as stenographer and law 
student for four years, and during the same time com- 
pleted a three year course in the Cincinnati Law 
School, where he was graduated LL. B. in June, 1903. 
Since that year Mr. Ware has been engaged in law 
practice at Covington. On January 1, 1910, he formed 
a partnership with Judge W. McD. Shaw, a congenial 
relationship that was continued until the death of the 
judge on November 27, 1912. After that Mr. Ware 
practiced alone until January 1, 1919, when his brother, 
Elmer Petty Ware, became his partner and took over 
a large part of the duties of the firm, while the senior 
member was postmaster. Their law offices are in the 
First National Bank Building. 

Mr. Ware was for five years clerk of the Board of 
Election Commissioners. He was appointed postmaster 
of Covington in July, 1914, beginning his official duties 
September 1st of that year. In July, 1918, he was re- 
appointed for a second term of four years, resigning 
this office July I, 1921, to make the race for Common- 
wealth's attorney of the Sixteenth Judicial District of 
Kentucky, which comprises Kenton County, and on 
November 8, 1921, by the unprecedented majority of 
6,104, he was elected to this office. He assumed his 
duties January 2, 1922. 

Mr. Ware was prominent in all war activities in Ken- 
ton County, cheerfully assuming the additional burdens 
imposed upon him as a Federal official, also cooperat- 
ing with local organizations for the raising of funds 
and other purposes. He was secretary of the Kenton 
County Council of Defense and was general campaign 
chairman of the War Savings Stamps drive. Mr. 
Ware is a director of the First National Bank of La- 
tonia, Kentucky. He owns one of the very comfort- 
able modern residences in Covington, at the corner of 
Fifth and Garrard streets. 

On September 19, 1906, at Covington, in the Madison 
Avenue Presbyterian Church, he and Miss Louise Cul- 
bertson were united in marriage. Mrs. Ware, who is 
a graduate of the Covington High School, is a 
daughter of Louie and Kate (Huffman) Culbertson. 
Her mother, who is still living at Covington, was born 
in Lincoln County, Kentucky, and is an art teacher 
in the Covington public schools. Mr. and Mrs. Ware 
have three children: William Orie, born September 25, 
1908; Louise, born February 8, 191 1 ; and James Cul- 
bertson, born February 3, 1913. 

Mr. Ware's record in Masonry lends special distinc- 
tion to his name in the state. He served two terms as 
worshipful master of Covington Lodge No. 109, F. 
and A. M., is a past high priest of Covington Chapter 
No. 35, R. A. M. ; is past thrice illustrious master of 
Kenton Council No. 13, R. and S. M., past commander 
of Covington Commandery No. 7, K. T., is a member 
of Kosair Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Louisville 



and Indra Consistory No. 2 of the Scottish Rite bodies 
at Covington. He has been honored with the degree 
Knight Commander of the Court of Honor and in 
1913 was elected grand master of the Grand Lodge of 
Kentucky and at present is chairman of the committee 
on jurisprudence in the Grand Lodge. He is also a 
member of Covington Lodge No. 314 of the Elks, of 
Myrle Lodge, No. 5, Knights of Pythias, Old Kentucky 
Lodge No, 1359 of the Moose, and Covington Aerie 
No. 329, Fraternal Order of Eagles. 

Mr. Ware is a deacon in the First Baptist Church 
of Covington and has the responsible office of president 
of the Kenton County Children's Home Society, an 
organization of 2000 members, each of whom pays five 
dollars annually to carry on the work of this splendid 
auxiliary to the Covington Protestant Children's Home. 
Mr. Ware is a member of the Kenton County and 
State Bar Associations, Kenton County Historical 
Society, Covington Industrial Club and the Fort 
Mitchell Country Club. 

Breckinridge Viley. The achievements of the Viley 
family through several generations would represent a 
number of contributions to the history of Kentucky 
thoroughbreds, racing and agricultural affairs. It is a 
noted Blue Grass family, and Breckinridge Viley lives 
at the old homestead that has been the center of the 
family life and achievements for the past seventy 
years, and before that time was one of the rendezvous 
for good Kentucky society. This homestead is the 
Stonewall Stock Farm, located three miles north of 
Versailles and in Woodford County. 

The old house which shelters him today was the 
birthplace of Breckinridge Viley, where he was born 
March 5, 1854, son of Warren and Catherine Jane 
(Martin) Viley. His grandfather, Captain Willa 
Viley, was one of the noted Kentuckians who gave 
special prominence to the thoroughbred racing stock, 
and was a contemporary of General William Buford, 
father of General Abe Buford. Stonewall Stock Farm 
lies adjacent to the old farm owned by General Abe 
Buford. Just one horse owned by Captain Willa Viley 
may be mentioned to indicate his prominence as a 
thoroughbred owner. This was Richard Singleton, 
which was a starter in fourteen four-mile-heat races, 
and the winner of all but two. This wonderful achieve- 
ment was made in 1832 or 1833. In one noted race he 
ran sixteen miles, winning three heats out of five. A 
picture of Richard Singleton, painted in 1833, still 
adorns the walls of the Stonewall residence. At that 
time he was undoubtedly the greatest racing horse in 
Kentucky. 

The Stonewall residence was erected in 1839-40 by 
Captain Shouse, who was a partner with James Coie- 
man, owner of the farm. Coleman operated a hemp 
factory, making rope bagging and furnishing an im- 
portant market for local hemp growers. The farm 
then passed to Chapman Coleman, of Louisville, 
Shouse remaining as overseer until 1852, when the 
place became the property of Warren Viley. It then 
comprised 366 acres, and the name Stonewall Stock 
Farm was selected by Warren Viley's wife. Captain 
Willa Viley had his home in Stock County, and that 
was also the home of Warren Viley until 1852. War- 
ren Viley continued the interests of the family in the 
thoroughbred industry and was breeder of King Al- 
phonso, a noted racer and sire, and also of Capitola, 
dam of King Alphonso. He bred many other noted 
animals. Captain Willa Viley had helped lay out the 
race track at Lexington in 1826, and was a charter 
member of the association, his son Warren continuing 
in the same relation, as has also Breckinridge Viley. 
John R. Viley, a brother of Warren Viley, was for 
years president of the Lexington Racing Association, 
and owned a farm on Leestown Pike near Lexington. 
Warren Viley was a man of exceptional powers and 
vigor, and continued active in affairs until past four- 



58 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



score. He finally retired from his farm to Midway 
and died at the age of eighty-four. He probably never 
appeared as a candidate for public office, but was in- 
fluential in politics and wielded a great deal of power 
in his time. He was a great friend of Joe Blackburn, 
and in a barbecue held on the Viley farm introduced 
Blackburn, then making his first campaign for the Leg- 
islature. He was also a friend of John C. Breckin- 
ridge, a friendship commemorated in the name of his 
son, though the two families were related by marriage 
as well. Another intimate friend of Warren Viley was 
Senator Beck, and the late Stoddard Johnston frequent- 
ly enjoyed the old southern hospitality of Stonewall 
Farm. Many of the barbecues, formerly an indis- 
pensable feature of politics, were held in the grove of 
the Viley homestead. Mrs. Warren Viley was a social 
leader, and the open hospitality of that generation has 
been modified very little by the present owner, Breck- 
inridge Viley. 

Breckinridge Viley remained with this father as a 
lad and young man, and attended Georgetown College 
until failing health compelled him to give up his 
studies. He returned home to take charge of the 
establishment, and now, as years are advancing upon 
him, he has the satisfaction of seeing his own sons 
perform a like service. Besides King Alphonso whose 
record is associated with the Stonewall Stock Farm, 
Breckinridge Viley bred other splendid racers whose 
records swelled the distinctions of Stonewall Farm, 
among them being Hospadar, W. Overton, Bab, winner 
of the Kentucky Oaks stakes, Tenpenny, also a Ken- 
tucky Oak winner, Miss Galop, Belmar, Buckvidere, 
winner of the Tennessee Derby, Joe Frey, who won 
the California Derby, Elkhorn, Crockett, a winner of 
the Kentucky Oak stakes. Mr. Viley has sold his 
yearlings at Saratoga and Sheeps Head Bay, and. his 
string of horses have followed the grand circuit from 
Sheeps Head Bay to New Orleans. Two of his noted 
sires were Belvidere and Linden, and the present head 
of the stud is Vandergrift, with many winners to his 
credit. 

Mr. Viley is one of the men who have never deviated 
in an important degree from the thoroughbred indus- 
try in spite of the obvious handicaps and difficulties 
imposed by events in recent years. In politics he is 
strictly independent, and has voted for the man that 
appeals best to his judgment. He served four years 
as captain of a State Guards Company. At the age 
of twenty-six he married Flavilla Surles, of New 
Orleans. She died twenty years later, leaving no chil- 
dren. For his second wife he married Mary Phil 
Parrisli. of Woodford County. They have three sons, 
Warren and Breck, both students in the Versailles 
High School, and Philemon. Mr. Viley has been a 
Mason since he was twenty-one, has passed the chairs 
in the Chapter and Commandery and is a past grand 
commander of the Versailles Commandery. He en- 
joys all the outdoor sports, has kept a pack of hounds 
and hunted coons and foxes and has gone to Mis- 
sissippi for deer and other big game, and on hunting 
excursions has usually taken his sons along. 

Walter Anderson Wilson, manager of the Kentucky 
Leaf & Transit Company, is one of the dependable and 
alert business men of flopkinsville, who not only has 
built up a solid reputation for his ability, but also has 
gained the respect and confidence of all with whom he 
comes in contact. Mr. Wilson was horn in Trigg 
County, Kentucky, August 3, 1871, in the little village 
of Wallonia, where the family had been located for 
many years. He is a son of William A. Wilson, and a 
grandson of John F. Wilson, who was born in Halifax 
County; Virginia, in 1808. He brought the family into 
Trigg County. Kentucky, and was a solid farmer of that 
region. His death occurred at Wallonia in 1862. His 
wife, who was Augusta Foard prior to her marriage, also 



died at Wallonia, passing away in 1875. She was born 
at Churchill, Christian County 1 , Kentucky. 

William A. Wilson was born eight miles west of Hop- 
kinsville, on a farm in Christian County, Kentucky, in 
1848, and he died at Wallonia, Kentucky, in February, 
1875. He was only a boy when his parents located at 
Wallonia, and there he was reared, educated and mar- 
ried, and there he developed into an extensive farmer. 
In politics he was a stalwart democrat. He was a mem- 
ber of the Masonic fraternity. When only sixteen years 
old he enlisted in the Confederate army during the war 
between the states, and served until the close of that 
conflict. William A. Wilson married Lucy Boyd, who 
was born at Wallonia in 1852, and died there in 1873. 
They had two children, Walter Anderson and his sister 
Lucy, who died at the age of nineteen years. 

Walter Anderson Wilson attended the schools of Wal- 
lonia, the private school conducted by Maj. J. O. Fer- 
rell at Hopkinsville, and Bethel College at Russellville. 
but left the latter institution after a year, in 1892, and 
then spent four years on the home farm. In 1896 he 
came to Hopkinsville and dealt in tobacco until 1909, 
when he became a buyer for the American Snuff Com- 
pany. These various activities made him a well-known 
figure in the tobacco business, and in the fall of 1912 
the Kentucky Leaf & Transit Company made him a very 
flattering offer, which he accepted, and he has continued 
to be their manager for the past eight years. The large 
new rehandling house and offices of this company are 
located at the corner of Fourth and Clay streets. This 
building is a modern brick structure and the most com- 
plete rehandling house in the city. The headquarters of 
the Kentucky Leaf & Transit Company are at New York 
City, and the}' have a local central office at 1107 Broad- 
way, Paducah, Kentucky. Mr. Wilson is, like his father, 
a democrat. He maintains membership in the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. He resides on East Ninth Street. 

In 1895 Mr. Wilson was married at Cadiz, Kentucky, 
to Miss Sudie Bacon, a daughter of Dr. T. L. Bacon, 
formerly a physician and surgeon of Hopkinsville, where 
he died in 1918. Mrs. Bacon survives and still resides 
at Hopkinsville. Mrs. Wilson was graduated from 
Logan College at Russellville, Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. 
Wilson have four children, namely : Lucy, who married 
Rev. D. M. Spears, a clergyman of the Methodist Epis- 
copal Church, South, resides at Bowling Green, Ken- 
tucky; Thomas, who is engaged in an automobile busi- 
ness at Hopkinsville, lives at home; Emma, who was 
graduated from the Hopkinsville High School, lives at 
home ; and Susan, who is a student in the public schools. 

Mr. Wilson discharges the duties pertaining to his 
business and civic responsibilities without the bias of 
prejudice or narrowness that is the penalty of restricted 
horizons, and demonstrates in every way his broad- 
mindedness and ready sympathies, and at all times 
maintains a high standard of good citizenship and a 
proper conception of good government. 

William Walker Barrett. Within the present gen- 
eration there has not arisen in Kentucky a more able 
lawyer or a finer citizen than William Walker Bar- 
rett, county attorney of Pike County. Beside note- 
worthy powers of both a professional and public na- 
ture. Mr. Barrett is a scholar, and is recognized as a 
polished and eloquent orator on national and local 
issues. He was born in Tazewell County. Virginia, 
July 28, 1892, a son of Isaac C. and Harriet L. 
(Walker) Barrett. 

Isaac C. Barrett and his wife came to Pike County 
in 1893, and became farming people of this locality. 
Her death occurred in May, 1918, but he survives and 
now lives at Draffin, this county. Early uniting with 
the Methodist Episcopal Church. Isaac C. Barrett and 
his wife became very devout Christians, and he has 
long been one of the stewards of the local congrega- 
tion of his denomination. His home has always been 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



59 



open to the circuit riders to whom a hearty hospi- 
tality is shown. In politics Isaac C. Barrett is a strong 
republican. He and his wife became the parents of 
ten children, eight of whom are still living, and all 
are residents of Pike County. 

William W. Barrett attended the Phelps High School 
and the Phelps Military Academy, Pikeville College, 
Transylvania University at Lexington, Kentucky, and 
the Jefferson School of Law at Louisville, Kentucky, 
being graduated from the latter institution in IQI5- 
During the period he was attending school, he taught 
school for seven years, in this way earning the funds 
to prosecute his educational training. In 1915 Mr. 
Barrett went into partnership with the present assis- 
tant attorney general of Kentucky, William P. Hughes, 
which association continued until Mr. Hughes became 
an ensign in the United States navy for service during 
the World war, in which he was a member of the 
transport service. In 1917 Mr. Barrett was elected 
county attorney, being opposed by Judge J. M. York 
and A. S. Ratliff. During the period of the war Mr. 
Barrett rendered a very effective service by serving 
on the various local committees, as a member of the 
draft board and as government appeal agent. 

In 1912 Mr. Barrett was married to Miss Martha 
Thornberry, a daughter of Rev. James Thornberry, a 
minister of the Baptist denomination. Mr. and Mrs. 
Barrett have two children, namely: Ruth Darrell and 
William Prentice. Mr. Barrett is a Ihirty-second de- 
gree Mason, and he and Mrs. Barrett belong to the 
Baptist Church. He has always been prominent in 
Masonry, both as a York and Scottish-Rite, and main- 
tains membership with the Blue Lodge and Chapter 
at Pikeville ; the Commandery and Shrine at Ash- 
land, and the Consistory at Covington. He also belongs 
to the Elks at Catlettsburg, Kentucky. In politics he 
is a republican. Although one of the younger lawyers 
of this part of the state, he has won ever-increasing 
distinction as a professional man, influential citizen 
and public official. The promptness and ability he has 
always displayed in both his private practice and the 
conduct of the affairs of the county have marked him 
as a lawyer of unusual parts, and convinced his 
fellow citizens of his wisdom and efficiency. Compan- 
ionable, warm-hearted and generous, admiration of his 
masterful abilities is combined with the warmer recog- 
nition of the man. 

The Bowman Family. Among the honored residents 
of Fayette County, Kentucky, living three miles west of 
Lexington, on the Gunn Pike, are Henry C, Jr., Anna 
Belle and Sally Bowman, each a representative of a fam- 
ily which has been held in high esteem for many years 
in this state. These three are children of Henry C. Bow- 
man, Sr., and Sally (Bowman) Bowman, and grand- 
children of Abram and Nancy (Trotter) Bowman. 
Abram Bowman was born at Elkhorn, Fayette County, 
Kentucky, a son of Col. Abram Bowman, an officer of 
the Continental line during the Revolutionary war. He 
married Mrs. Sarah (Henry) Bryant, the widow of Col. 
David Bryant, who met a soldier's death while serving 
with Colonel Bowman. Colonel Bryant had lived on 
what is now the Phelps farm in Fayette County, and 
Colonel Bowman was a near neighbor, to whom Colonel 
Bryant entrusted the care of his family at the time of 
his death. Colonel Bowman and wife were buried orig- 
inally on what is now known as the Helm farm, but 
recently his remains were transferred by his three great- 
grandchildren, Henry C, Jr., Anna Belle and Sally Bow- 
man, to the cemetery at Lexington. 

Abram and Nancy (Trotter) Bowman passed their 
entire lives near what is known as the Helm farm, Mr. 
Bowman having attained the remarkable age of ninety- 
six years. He and his wife were the parents of five 
sons : Thomas, who died in Mercer County, Kentucky, 
where the parents had settled originally; William, 
Abram and Andrew, who went to Missouri, the last- 

Vol. V— 7 



named locating near St. Joseph ; and Henry C. Henry 
C. Bowman, Sr., was married first to Sally Bowman, a 
daughter of William Bowman, son of the first Abram 
Bowman. Mr. and Mrs. Bowman lived on Parker's Mill 
road, where both died, she when about thirty years of 
age and he when eighty-two. His second wife bore the 
maiden name of Elizabeth Reed. By his first union Mr. 
Bowman had four children : Lou, who became an artist, 
taught art in Hamilton College for eight years as well 
as in the public schools of Lexington, and died in 1910; 
Anna Belle, Sally and Henry C, Jr. In his second fam- 
ily there were the following children : William, a re- 
tired farmer living at Lexington; Lee, a banker of Bel- 
lairs, Ohio ; Bush H., a real estate and oil operator of 
Perry, Oklahoma; Andrew, deputy sheriff, residing at 
Lexington ; and John, a breeder and ranchman of Mcin- 
tosh, New Mexico, specializing in Hereford cattle, who 
holds sales in the East as well as the West, which are 
largely attended, buyers coming from everywhere. 

Anna Belle, Sally and Hal C. Bowman, Jr., reside on 
their farm, located three miles west of Lexington, a 
community in which they have maintained the family 
reputation for integrity, probity, clean citizenship and a 
clear conception of an individual's responsibility in the 
way of charity and education. They have long taken 
an active part in the work of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, although their parents belonged to the Christian 
Church. Their acquaintance is extensive and their 
friendships are numerous and sincere. 

Meredith Woodson Hyatt, M. D. The work of 
Doctor Hyatt as a physician and surgeon has been 
performed in Washington County, Kentucky, through 
a period of a quarter of a century. From 1904 to 1917 
on entering the army Doctor Hyatt was the county 
health officer of Washington County. 

Doctor Hyatt was born in Shelby County, Kentucky, 
May 21, 1867, son of Joseph Martin and Amanda Meri- 
field (Moore) Hyatt and grandson of Meredith and 
Judith (Easley) Hyatt, the former a native of Virginia 
and the latter of North Carolina. Doctor Hyatt's father 
was born in Shelby County and his mother in Washing- 
ton County. When he was a small child his parents 
moved to Anderson County and he grew up on their 
farm and acquired his early education in country schools. 
Doctor Hyatt also attended the Kentucky Normal Col- 
lege at Lawrenceburg, receiving a diploma in the Spe- 
cial Science Course in that institution in 1889, and in 
1894 he received his M. D. degree from the Kentucky 
School of Medicine at Louisville. He practiced two 
years in Anderson County and since then his name and 
reputation have been favorably known in Washington 
County. His home has been in Springfield since 1901. 

Upon his return from the army in 1919 he with Dr. 
J. N. Mudd, Springfield, Kentucky, founded the Lincoln 
Hospital, an institution with twenty-four beds. This 
firm was dissolved August I, 1921, and since that date 
Doctor Hyatt has resumed his private practice at Spring- 
field, Kentucky. 

He is a member of the Washington County, Kentucky 
State and American Medical Associations. He is a 
democrat, a Knight Templar Mason, being affiliated with 
Springfield Lodge F. & A. M. and the Commandery at 
Lebanon. He is a member of the Christian Church. 
In 1899 he married Miss Margaret Motch Durrett, of 
Bloomfield, Kentucky. Their two children are Mere- 
dith R. and William D., twin boys. 

Since October, 1917, Doctor Hyatt has had much of 
his professional talent engaged in Government work. 
He was the medical officer of the Draft Board of Wash- 
ington County from June until October, 1917. In May, 
1917, he was commissioned a captain in the Medical Re- 
serve Corps and he reported for active duty at Camp 
Zachary Taylor, Louisville, October 6, 1917, being as- 
signed as Regimental Surgeon of the Three Hundred 
and Thirty-fourth Infantry. He was with the army 
fifteen months. In February, 1919, he was appointed 



GO 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



War Risk Insurance Examiner and in September, 1921, 
was appointed Attending Specialist for Tuberculosis on 
the War Risk Insurance Board, affiliating with the War 
Risk Insurance Unit at Lebanon, Kentucky. 

Charles Irvin Ross. While his active career covers 
little more than twenty years, Charles Irvin Ross is 
widely known over Eastern Kentucky, especially in his 
home county of Pulaski. He enjoys well deserved 
prominence as a leader in the republican party, and 
for a number of years has filled with every degree of 
capability the office of Circuit Court clerk of Pulaski 
County. 

Mr. Ross was born at Mount Savage in Carter County, 
Kentucky, September 14, 1879. He is a son of Charles 
Ross, who was born at Cincinnati April 14, 1844. He 
grew up in Eastern Kentucky, in the vicinity of Ashland. 
was married in Greenup County and for a number of 
years was a worker in iron furnaces, and continued that 
employment and also did mining in Carter County. 
Since 1906 his home has been at Barrenfork in Mc- 
Creary County, where he has charge of the stock and 
feed for a large mining company. He was a Union 
soldier in the Civil war, enlisting in 1861 and serving all 
through the struggle with the Twenty-second Kentucky 
Infantry. He was at the siege of Vicksburg. Charles 
Ross has been married three times. His first wife was 
Mary Coffey, a native of Eastern Kentucky, who died in 
Greenup County. They had four children : the oldest, a 
son, was scalded to death when three years of age ; 
Pearl, living with her father, is the widow of W. H. 
Moore, a carpenter; Minnie, of Barrenfork, is the widow 
of John Skene, who was superintendent of the Eagle 
Coal Company at Barrenfork and widely known as one 
of the most skillful mining men in that section of the 
state ; and Ed, the youngest, who died at the age of 
twenty years. 

The second wife of Charles Ross was Sophia Baker, 
who was born in Greenup County in 1859 a "d died at 
Mount Savage in 1892. Charles Irvin Ross, of Somer- 
set, is the oldest of her three children ; May is the wife 
of R. H. Rhonk, of Somerset, a fireman for the South- 
ern Railway Company and also owner of a farm in West 
Virginia ; John, the youngest, died at the age of seven 
years. The third wife of Charles Ross was Laura Law- 
son, who was born at Willard in Carter County in 1878 
and died at Barrenfork in 1918. She was the mother 
of five children: Oliver, employed in the coal mines 
at Hazard, Kentucky; Christine, with her father; Tem- 
perance, who died at the age of fifteen years; Florence, 
who died in infancy ; and Harry, also in the coal mines 
at Hazard. 

Charles Irvin Ross acquired his early education in the 
public schools of Mount Savage and a grade school at 
Denton, but his educational advantages ended when he 
was fifteen, and even before that he had clerked in 
stores evenings and on Saturdays. When he left school 
he took charge of a small store at Music in Carter 
County for the Lexington & Carter Mining Company. 
He was at that work two years, and then under the 
same company was employed for six months managing 
the tipple and weighing crews at Mount Savage. For 
another six months he was brakeman and weighman on 
the short line railroad running from Flatrock to the 
Eagle Coal Company's mines at Barrenfork. For two 
years he was bookkeeper for the Eagle Coal Company, 
and thereafter was the company's general purchasing 
agent until 1907, when his growing prominence and in- 
terest in politics brought him the appointment of Cir- 
cuit Court clerk of Pulaski County to serve the one year 
of unexpired term of Napier Adams, who had been 
elected clerk of the Court of Appeals. In November, 
1909, Mr. Ross was elected Circuit Court clerk, begin- 
ning his six year term in January, 1910. He was re- 
elected in 1915, and his present term expires January I, 
1922. On November 8, 1921, he was elected sheriff of 
Pulaski County. When America entered the World war 



there was a special need for his experience in the coal 
mining industry, and at the request of the coal admin- 
istration he turned over the duties of his office to Napier 
Adams, and for three years was general manager of the 
Eagle Coal Company. He resigned this office in Decem- 
ber, 1919, and was then engaged in the retail coal busi- 
ness at Somerset until December, 1920. 

Mr. Ross has won all his political battles and at the 
same time has given much strength to the republican 
organization of Pulaski and adjoining counties. He was 
chairman of the Republican County Committee from 
191 2 to 1920, when he resigned. 

Mr. Ross is a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, South, is affiliated with Burnside Lodge, F. and 
A. M., at Burnside, is a past grand of Somerset Lodge 
No. 238, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, a member 
of Somerset Lodge No. 1021 of the Elks, of Somerset 
Council No. 193, Junior Order United American Me- 
chanics; Queen City Camp No. 11494, Modern Wood- 
men of America; and Crescent Lodge No. 60, Knights 
of Pythias. 

__ He and his family have their home on Mount Vernon 
Street in Somerset. He married at Barrenfork April 
2, 1902, Miss Madge Craynon, daughter of John and 
-Mary Craynon. Her mother lives at Barrenfork. Her 
father was a locomotive engineer and died at Barren- 
fork. Mr. and Mrs. Ross have five children. Paul, 
born December 24, 1902, is an apprentice machinist in the 
Ferguson shops of the Southern Railway Company at 
Somerset. John Sherman, born in October, 1904, is a 
high school student in Somerset and very prominent in 
high school athletics. Norma, born in 1906, and Grace, 
born in 1908, both attend the graded school, and the 
youngest of the family is Kate Crawford, born June 4, 
1917. 

William Curtis Travis, D. V. M., of Kuttawa, the 
only veterinary surgeon of Lyon County, and a veteran 
of the great war, is one of the substantial men and 
highly-respected citizens of his locality. He was born in 
Marshall County, Kentucky, in the town of Birming- 
ham, December 31, 1889, a son of Thomas Anderson 
Travis, and grandson of Thomas Travis, a native of 
Tennessee, who died at Maple Spring, Kentucky, in 
1891. He was the pioneer of his family in Kentucky, 
locating in Marshall County and there following the call- 
ing of a farmer as well as his profession as a clergyman 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, both of 
which occupied him in his old home near Cottage Grove, 
Tennessee. He was first married to a Miss Collie, and 
afterward to a Miss Howard, the latter being the grand- 
mother of Doctor Travis. She died at Maple Spring, 
Kentucky. The Travis family originated in Ireland, but 
its representatives came to this country during its Colo- 
nial epoch. 

Thomas Anderson Travis was born in Marshall 
County, near Maple Spring, Kentucky, in 1858, and was 
there reared, educated and married. He developed into 
one of the prosperous and extensive farmers of his 
county, and still owns his farm, which is located one- 
fourth of a mile west of Birmingham, Kentucky, al- 
though he is now living retired at Birmingham. A 
democrat, he has always been interested in local affairs 
and has served as city judge of Birmingham. The 
Methodist Episcopal Church, South, holds his member- 
ship, and he is an active supporter of his local con- 
gregation. Fraternally he belongs to T. L. Jefferson 
Lodge No. 622, A. F. and A. M., of Birmingham; 
Red Oak Camp No. 71, W. O. W., and Birmingham 
Chapter, O. E. S. Thomas Anderson Travis was mar- 
ried to Mary Jane Collie, who was born near Maple 
Spring, Kentucky, in i860, and died on the farm in 
August, 1909. Their children were as follows: Walter, 
who resides on his farm north of Birmingham; Lula, 
who married Luther Goheen, a farmer, but formerly a 
merchant, and resides at Birmingham ; Florence, who 
married Tom Nunley and lives on her father's farm ; 



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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



61 



Ethel, who died in infancy ; Doctor Travis, who was the 
fifth in order of birth ; Roy, who lives on the home 
farm ; Helen, who married Rennie Cornwell, a farmer 
of Birmingham ; and Terrel, who is a farmer of Lyon 
County. 

Doctor Travis attended the rural schools of Marshall 
County and was reared on his father's farm and re- 
mained there until he was twenty-three years old. Leav- 
ing the farm, he went to Birmingham and for two years 
was engaged in clerking in a store, but not being satisfied 
with this line of work he decided to enter a profession 
and became a student in the Terre Haute Veterinary Col- 
lege at Terre Haute, Indiana, taking the regular veter- 
inary course, and was graduated therefrom in April, 
1918, with his degree. He began the practice of his pro- 
fession at Birmingham during his vacations, and was 
at Morganfield, Union County, Kentucky, for two 
months after his graduation. On August 13, 1918. Doc- 
tor Travis enlisted in the Veterinarian Medical Re- 
serve Corps, and was called to duty immediately and 
sent to Camp Greenleaf, Georgia, where he remained 
for four months, and then was honorably discharged 
December 14, 1918. 

In January, 1919, Doctor Travis established himself 
at Kuttawa, and has built up a very large practice, and 
is also serving as livestock inspector of Lyon County. 
In politics he is a democrat. His fraternal connections 
are those which he maintains as a member of T. L. Jef- 
ferson Lodge No. 622, A. F. and A. M., of Birmingham, 
and Cumberland Camp, W. O. W., Kuttawa. 

On May 28, 1919, Doctor Travis was united in mar- 
riage with Miss Faylyne Johnson at Elizabethtown, Illi- 
nois, a daughter of John and Eva (Doom) Johnson, 
of Kuttawa. Mr. Johnson is a retired farmer. Doctor 
and Mrs. Travis have one child, William Curtis, Jr., 
who was born April 2, 1920. 

Thomas E. King, commonwealth's attorney for the 
Eighteenth Judicial District, has been a practicing lawyer 
at this bar for over twenty years, and success and high 
standing in his profession has been accompanied by 
many public relationships. He was born in Bourbon 
County, Kentucky, April 13, 1876, a son of William and 
Mary (Griffin) King, the former a native of Ireland 
and the latter of Bourbon County. His father was 
reared and educated in Ireland, and at the age of nine- 
teen came to the United States, spending some time at 
Cincinnati and then removing to Kentucky. After his 
marriage he settled on a farm in Bourbon County, and 
the rest of his life was identified with agricultural pur- 
suits. He died in 1914. He was a stanch democrat in 
politics. 

Thomas E. King, one of seven living children, grew 
up on his father's homestead. He attended the public 
schools, also N. F. Smith's private school at Cynthiana, 
and finished his literary education in the State Univer- 
sity. He read law in the office of W. T. Lafferty, and 
was admitted to the bar in 1898. Until January, 1906, 
he practiced with his law preceptor, the partnership being 
dissolved when Mr. King was elected county judge. He 
as such administered the fiscal affairs of the county for 
two terms, eight years. Resuming private practice for 
four years he was again called to the office he had so 
creditably filled. Mr. King received the democratic 
nomination for commonwealth's attorney for the Eigh- 
teenth Judicial District for a six year term, beginning 
in January, 1922, and was elected to the office November 
8, 1921. This district comprises the counties of Harrison, 
Pendleton, Nicholas and Robertson. 

Mr. King is one of the directors of the Harrison 
Memorial Hospital. In November, 1905, he married 
Ruth Addams, daughter of William Addams, whose 
sketch is found on another page. 

Paul- Martin Basham, County Judge of Breckin- 
ridge County, is a young man who is proving the advan- 
tage of acquiring a broad and liberal education, for he 



is an attorney as well as a highly educated man, and 
made a name for himself as an educator of the county 
before he went into politics. As one of the active re- 
publicans of this region he has received the rewards 
to which his party service entitles him, and is recog- 
nized as one of the strong elements in the political 
life of this part of the state. 

The birth of Paul Martin Basham occurred on a farm 
in Breckinridge County, near Stephensport, July 25, 
1891, and he is a son of Winston L. and Malissa Belle 
(Shellman) Basham, both of whom were born in Breck- 
inridge County and descended from Virginian ancestors. 
The paternal grandfather was George Basham, who was 
also born in this county. The maternal grandfather 
James Shellman, was born in Breckinridge County. The 
parents have spent their lives on their farm. The father 
was reared a Presbyterian and the mother as a Metho- 
dist. In politics he is a republican. He had a brother 
Thomas Basham, who was a soldier in the Union army 
during the war of the '60s, and who was killed at the 
battle of Knoxville, Tennessee, while in the service. An- 
other brother, Joseph Basham, now nearly ninety, was 
also a Union soldier. There were four children born 
to Winston L. Basham and his wife, namely: James T., 
who is county attorney of Grayson County; Mary Belle; 
Paul M. ; and Eva, all of whom except Paul M. are 
married. 

Growing to manhood on his father's homestead, Paul 
M. Basham attended the rural schools, and then took a 
course at the Western Kentucky State Normal School, 
Bowling Green, Kentucky, from which he was graduated 
in 1914. For eighteen months thereafter he was engaged 
in teaching school, and if he had so desired might have 
remained indefinitely in that profession, for he showed 
ability and won the approval of the parents and the 
affection of the pupils of his schools. In 1915, however, 
he was elected Circuit Court clerk, which office he held 
till his election, on the republican ticket, without oppo- 
sition, as county judge of Breckinridge County, being 
only twenty-nine years old at the time. He studied law 
under a private preceptor, and was admitted to the bar 
in 1916. He was assistant sergeant-at-arms of the na- 
tional convention of the republican party held at Chi- 
cago in 1920, and for the past four years has been cam- 
paign chairman of his party in Breckinridge County. 
Mr. Basham is a Knight Templar Mason and a Noble 
of the Mystic Shrine. Admittedly one of the most bril- 
liant young men of this part of Kentucky, he has a 
bright future before him, and' his friends expect great 
things of him both in politics and in his profession, and 
judging by his past achievements they are not liable to 
be disappointed. 

Ebenezer B. Hemphill, county superintendent of 
schools for Knox County, has the scolastic and execu- 
tive ability that have enabled him to give most loyal 
and effective service in this important office, in which 
he has done much to co-ordinate and advance the 
standard of public-school work in his native county, 
he having been born on his father's farm, five miles 
south of Barbourville, the county seat, on the 5th of 
November, 1866. His father, the late James L. 
Hemphill, was born in McMinn County, Tennessee, 
in the year 1834, and died at Barbourville, Kentucky, 
in 1890. He was six years of age at the time when 
his parents established their home in Knox County, 
where he was reared and educated and where his mar- 
riage was solemnized in his young manhood. He gave 
loyal service as a soldier of the Union in the Civil war. 
in which he was a member of Company H, Seventh 
Kentucky Volunteer Infantry. During a period of 
3V2 years his military career was virtually co-incident 
with the gallant record of his regiment, with which he 
took part in many engagements, including a number 
of the important battles of the war — Shiloh, Chicka- 
mauga, Lookout Mountain, Stone's River and the siege 
of Vicksburg. In one engagement he received a bul- 



62 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



let wound in his left side. After the close of the 
war he served three consecutive terms, of two years 
each, as sheriff of Knox County, and thereafter his 
productive energies were given to his extensive farm 
enterprise, five miles south of Barbourville, during the 
remainder of his active career. His sterling character 
and fine mentality made him well equipped for leader- 
ship in community affairs, and commended him to the 
high esteem of all who knew him. He served thirty 
years as a deacon of the Baptist Church, of which his 
wife likewise was a devoted member, and lie was affili- 
ated with Mountain Lodge, No. 187, Free & Accepted 
Masons, and with the Grand Army of the Republic, 
his political faith having been that of the republican 
party. His wife, whose maiden name was Amanda 
Ingram, was born in Bell County, Kentucky, in 1X48, 
and she survived him by more th?n a quarter of a 
century, her death having occurred at Barbourville. 
in 1918. Of the children, Ebenezer B., of this review, 
is the eldest ; Thomas died at the age of two years ; 
Dora H. is the wife of W. M. Tye, of Barbourville, 
who is a leading merchant in this city, a representa- 
tive farmer of Knox County and now county agricul- 
tural agent; Carrie A. is the wife of Prof. W. C. 
Faulkner, former superintendent of the Barbourville 
High School and now an executive in the John A. 
Black National Bank at Barbourville. 

The public schools of Barbourville afforded the pres- 
ent county superintendent his earlier education, and 
in 1888 he was graduated in the high school depart- 
ment of Union College, this state. He thereafter con- 
tinued his higher academic studies in Centre College, 
at Danville, in which he was graduated as a member 
of the class of 1892 and with the degree of Bachelor 
of Science. As a boy he had proved an exception- 
ally receptive and ambitious student, and he was only 
fourteen years old when he initiated his successful 
career as a teacher in the rural schools of his native 
county. His active pedagogic career as a teacher in 
the public schools covered a period of twenty years, 
within which he taught in Knox, Bell and Mercer 
counties, and established a specially high reputation in 
his profession. He was for one year principal of the 
high school at Salvisa, Mercer County, and gave a 
similar period of service as principal of the Pine- 
ville High School in Bell County. His work as a 
teacher continued until 1917, in November of which 
year he was elected to his present office, for a term 
of four years. The Board of Education has appointed 
him to the same position beginning with January I, 
1922, so he continues as county superintendent. He 
first assumed his executive duties as county superin- 
tendent of schools of Knox County in January, 1918, 
with offices in the court house at Barbourville, and it 
may readily be understood that with his liberal educa- 
tion and the experience gained in many years of active 
and effective school service, he was admirably fortified 
for the responsible duties of the new office, in which 
he has made an admirable record. Under his super- 
vision are the ninety-four schools of the county, in- 
cluding the city schools of Barbourville, and lie has 
the earnest co-operation of a corps of no efficient 
teachers, the while the enrollment of pupils in the 
schools of the county is 7,000, Knox being one of the 
most populous and important counties in Southeast 
Kentucky. Mr. Hemphill has been appointed county 
superintendent. 

The republican party receives the loyal allegiance of 
Mr. Hemphill, he and his wife are active members 
of the Baptist Church, and his fraternal relations afe 
here briefly noted : Mountain Lodge, No. 187, Free & 
Accepted Masons, at Barbourvile ; Barbourville Chap- 
ter, No. 137, Royal Arch Masons ; Barbourville Coun- 
cil, No. 77, Royal & Select Masters ; LaBelle Lodge, 
No. 159, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in his 
home city, he being past grand of this lodge ; Wau- 
kesha Tent, No. 156, Improved Order of Red Men, of 



which he is past sachem; Swan Pond Council, No. 39, 
Junior Order of United American Mechanics, of which 
he is past counselor. He is an active and honored 
member of the Kentucky Educational Association. Mr. 
Hemphill owns the attractive residence property which 
represents his home, at Barbourville, and takes deep 
interest in all things touching the welfare of his home 
city and county. During American participation in the 
World war he was chairman of the Knox County cam- 
paigns for the sale of war savings stamps, aided in all 
of the drives in support of the Government war bond 
issues, and made his personal subscriptions as liberal as 
his means justified. 

April 19, 1906, recorded the marriage of Mr. 
Hemphill to Miss Eva Parker, daughter of W. M. and 
Emily (Bryant) Parker, who now reside in the State 
of Idaho, where Mr. Parker is a successful farmer 
and also follows the profession of surveyor. Mr. and 
Mrs. Hemphill became the parents of seven children, 
whose names and respective years of birth are here 
recorded: Parker Tye, 1908; James Blaine, 1910; Alice, 
'913; William, 1914; Love, 1916; Hazel, 1918; and 
Ebenezer B., Jr., 1920. All of the children are living 
except the last mentioned, who died at the age of 
fifteen months. 

Thomas Hemphill, grandfather of Ebenezer Hemp- 
hill, was born in Virginia, in 1803, and died in Knox 
County, Kentucky, in 1870. Thomas Hemphill was a 
scion of a sterling family of Scotch origin, the origi- 
nal American progenitor having settled in Virginia in 
the Colonial period of our national history. Upon 
coming to Kentucky, when a young man, Thomas 
Hemphill first settled in Bell County, and there was 
solemnized his marriage to Miss Tinsley, a native of 
that County. He was engaged in farm enterprise in 
Bell County until he came, many years ago, to Knox 
County and continued his productive activities in this 
same line of industry, both he and his wife having 
here passed the remainder of their lives. 

An interesting chapter in the career of Ebenezer B. 
Hemphill is that which gives record of his service as 
a soldier in the Spanish-American war. At the in- 
ception of this conflict he enlisted, in February, 1898, 
in Company A, Fourth Kentucky Voiunteer Infantry, 
and with his command he was in training at Lexington, 
Kentucky, until the regiment was sent to Anniston, 
Alabama, where he continued in service until he re- 
ceived his honorable discharge in February, 1899, his 
regiment not having been called to the stage of active 
conflict but having been brought up to a high standard 
of military efficiency. He was discharged with the 
rank of sergeant. 

Ambrose Dudley Leach. The life of Ambrose Dud- 
ley Leach is an illustration of the possible control over 
early limitations and of the wise utilization of ordinary 
opportunities. His career has been identified with Bour- 
bon County for half a century, during which time he 
has accumulated a large and productive property, while 
at the same time attracting to himself through integrity 
and fair dealing the esteem and confidence of those 
among whom he has lived. 

Mr. Leach is a native of Harrison County, born near 
Lee's Lick December 27, 1858, his parents being Ambrose 
Dudley and Frances (Forsythe) Leach. Hezekiah 
Leach, his grandfather, was born in Virginia, came as a 
young man to Kentucky, and spent the rest of his life 
in farming in Harrison County, where he died October 
20, 1827. He was married February 16, 1800, to Millie 
Bentley, who died May n, 1857. Ambrose Dudley 
Leach, the elder, was born June 3, 1818, in Harrison 
County. He had a common school education and started 
to work at an early age, and June 15, 1846, married 
Frances Forsythe, who was born September 7, 1826, in 
Harrison County, a daughter of Augustus Forsythe, who 
was also a native of that county, where he passed his 
life as an agriculturist. Ambrose D. Leach and his wife 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



G3 



and children came to Bourbon County about 1870, first 
settling on the Clay and Keyser Turnpike, where, be- 
cause of his modest finances, the elder Leach at first 
rented land. Later he purchased a property near Center- 
ville, on the county line of Bourbon and Scott coun- 
ties, mainly in the former county, and there rounded 
out his career. This is the same land that is now owned 
and operated by his son Ambrose D. of this review. 
The father was a democrat in his political allegiance, 
but did not care for public affairs and took only a 
public-spirited citizen's interest in public matters. His 
death, which was mourned as the loss of a good citizen, 
occurred November 16, 1897, his widow surviving until 
February 20, 1900. This worthy couple had a family of 
ten children : Ann Eliza, who married Joseph May, of 
Bourbon County; Emily Frances, who married William 
Sageser and lives near the old home place ; Jesse A., 
a leading farmer of the Centerville community; James 
W., who died September 14, 1894, at the age of twen- 
ty-eight years; Augustus, who was the same age when 
he passed away, January, 3, 1897; Ambrose Dudley; 
Joseph L., who is engaged in farming five and one-half 
miles northwest of Paris ; John, who is farming in the 
locality of Centerville ; Mollie, who died soon after her 
marriage to Sam Sageser; and George Thomas, who 
farms near his brother Joseph L. 

Ambrose Dudley Leach was given the advantages of a 
common school education, and his boyhood and youth 
were passed on the home farms in Harrison and Bour- 
bon counties. When about thirty-one years of age, 
March 26, 1890, he was united in marriage with Miss 
Sophia Sageser, who was born May 20, 1863, one of 
three sisters to marry three brothers, and a daughter 
of James and Margaret (Jones) Sageser. James Sage- 
ser was born in Fayette County, Kentucky, and passed 
his life in farming, dying near Centerville in 1897, 
when seventy-two years of age. Mrs. Sageser was 
born in Kentucky, of Virginia parentage, was married 
in her 'teens, and survived to the age of eighty-three 
years, her last years being passed with her daughter, 
Mrs. Sophia Leach. In the Sageser family there were 
eleven children, of whom eight reached maturity : Sarah 
Elizabeth, who married Lee Cox and resides near Paris ; 
Mary, who married Elza Harp, and after his death 
Stephen Shipley, and died while in middle life ; Wil- 
liam Henry, residing on the old home place in Bourbon 
County ; Lucinda, who married Thad Cummings and 
lives on the old home place ; Noah, a resident of Scott 
County; Margaret, the wife of Joseph L. Leach, a 
brother of Ambrose D. Leach ; Sophia ; and Florence, 
the wife of George Thomas Leach, a brother of Am- 
brose D. Leach. The old Sageser farm is on the Haw- 
kins and Cummings Pike. 

Ambrose D. Leach secured the old Leach farm in 
company with his brother George Thomas, and four 
years later bought out his brother's interests in the 
home property, of which he is still the owner. After 
his marriage he spent six years in renting in Bourbon 
County and three years on a small farm which he 
bought in Fayette County. About 1900 he bought the 
Reverend Gano farm of 140 acres, and to this later 
added the 280 acres adjoining, south of Centerville, in 
addition to which he has the old home farm of 104 
acres in Fayette and Scott counties and another tract 
in the latter county. He has paid as high as $175 per 
acre for some of his land, all of which has been 
brought to the highest state of productiveness. Mr. 
Leach applies his energies to general farming and stock 
growing and feeding, and in all lines of agricultural 
work is conceded to be thorough, progressive and highly 
capable. He has never held office and has not sought 
public preferment, but always supports movements of 
a character beneficial to his community. 

Mr. and Mrs. Leach have had two sons, both now 
deceased. Clifford, born September 25, 1895, died 
January 19, 1910. Charlie, born December 10, 1897, 
was killed April 20, 1916, in a premature explosion 



while blasting in a cistern. These were both excep- 
tionally bright boys who gave promise of brilliant 
futures. They were popular with all, and their deaths 
were sincerely mourned in the community, where they 
were general favorites. Clifford played the violin, as 
his favorite instrument, and was a gifted musician. 
Charlie was a gifted mechanic and loved the profession. 

Robinson Swearincen Brown is an electrical engi- 
neer by profession, but for many years his interests 
have been closely identified with his large and attractive 
farm and stock breeding enterprise at Harrods Creek 
in Jefferson County. He represents a family that has 
been in Kentucky since earliest pioneer times, and the 
name has long been one of commercial distinction at 
Louisville. 

Mr. Brown was born at Louisville March 30, 1886. 
His grandfather was J. T. S. Brown, who was born 
in Virginia in 1792. The first of the family to come 
to Kentucky were two brothers who came over the 
mountains in the expedition commanded by George Rog- 
ers Clark. One of these western pioneers and soldiers 
was James, who was killed in the battle of Tippecanoe. 
The other was William, who also lost his life in the 
western wilderness. William Brown kept a diary, and 
that valued document is now in possession of one of 
the descendants of the Brown family, a distinguished 
Chicago physician, Dr. William A. Pusey, who is a na- 
tive of Kentucky. J. T. S. Brown came to Kentucky 
when twelve years of age, and he spent his active life 
at Munfordville, where he was a merchant and farmer. 

The father of Robinson S. Brown was George G. 
Brown, who was born at Mumfordville September 2, 
1846, and died at Louisville February 27, 1917. He lived 
in Louisville from the time he was sixteen, and com- 
pleted his education in the high school of that city. 
As a young man he entered the wholesale drug store 
of John Chambers, and in 1874 became a member of 
the company Chambers, Brown & Company, whole- 
sale liquor dealers. This business was later Brown, 
Thompson & Company, and since 1886 has been a cor- 
poration, Brown, Foreman & Company. After the death 
of George Foreman, George G. Brown succeeded as 
president, and since his death his son Owsley has been 
president. For a number of years this company operated 
a distillery at St. Mary's, and manufactured the famous 
brand "Old Forrester." George G. Brown helped or- 
ganize the Model License League, and served as its 
president. He was a democrat, a member of the Pen- 
dennis Club and the Country Club at Louisville. 

George G. Brown married Amelia Owsley, who was 
born at Danville, Kentucky, a daughter of E. Boyle and 
Elizabeth Owsley. Her grandfather was the noted 
Kentucky governor, William Owsley. He lived at Dan- 
ville, his old home being built there in 1803. The resi- 
dence of Mrs. G. G. Brown at Harrods Creek contains 
the mantle taken from the old Governor Owsley home. 
Mrs. Brown was twelve years of age when her parents 
moved to Louisville. Her father was a member of the 
firm Owsley & Craddock, pork packers, operating the 
O K pork packery. E. Boyle Owsley died in 1882. The 
children of George G. Brown and wife were : Mary Gar- 
vin, who died at Los Angeles in 1910, the wife of Hill 
Hastings ; Owsley, president of Brown, Foreman & Com- 
pany; Elizabeth, wife of Howard Hammond, a real 
estate dealer at Stockton, California; Robinson S. ; 
Innes ; and Amelia B., wife of Thomas H. Payne, vice 
president and manager of the Winnipeg Oil Company 
in Canada. 

Robinson S. Brown finished his studies at the Uni- 
versity of Virginia in 1910, and began his career as an 
electrical engineer with the Bland Electric Company at 
Louisville, and later did similar work at Los Angeles. 
In January, 1913, he took possession of his Woodland 
farm, comprising 280 acres of the old Barrickman and 
DeHaven estates at Harrods Creek in Jefferson County. 
The attractive old country home was erected by Jack 



G4 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



Barber about the time of the Civil war. This is a stock 
farm, specializing in Hereford cattle and Berkshire hogs. 
Mr. Brown for the past six years has been superintend- 
ent of the swine department at the State Fair. He is 
also vice president and a director of Brown, Foreman 
& Company. Mr. Brown is a member of the Pendennis 
Club and the Presbyterian Church. 

On June 10, 1913, he married Miss Mary Rogers 
Lyons, of Louisville. Her father, W. L. Lyons was head 
of the W. L. Lyons & Company, Louisville brokers. 
Mr. and Mrs. Brown have one son, Robinson, Jr., born 
in 1917. 

William Wilson Broaddus is one of Richmond's 
leading business men, and from an experience be- 
ginning as a clerk for a local coal and feed firm lias 
developed an enterprise of his own that is one of the 
largest of its kind in Madison County. 

Mr. Broaddus was born in Madison County Janu- 
ary 17, 1876, and bears the same name as his grand- 
father who was a lifelong resident and prominent 
farmer, and before the war a slaveholder in Madison 
County where he died in 1879. His father was one of 
the very early settlers of this section of Kentucky. 
William W. Broaddus, Sr., married a Miss Ballew, a 
native of Madison County who died in 1882. George 
S. Broaddus. father of the Richmond merchant and 
now living with his son at Richmond was born in Sep- 
tember, 1854, and during his active years conducted 
an extensive farm in the eastern part of Madison 
County on the Speedwell pike. He was a demo- 
crat, a member of the Baptist Church and the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows and Improved Order 
of Red Men. George S. Broaddus married Mary 
Tyree, who was born in Lincoln County, Kentucky, in 
1857. Of their three children William W. is the oldest. 
Charles is an insurance man at Nashville, Tennessee. 
Floyd has for twenty-five years been in the railroad 
service, is a conductor for the Louisville & Nashville 
Railroad and lives at Nashville. 

William Wilson Broaddus was born in Madison 
County January 17, 1876, grew up on his father's farm, 
and attended rural schools until he was sixteen. Soon 
after leaving school and the home farm he came to 
Richmond and entered the employ of L. R. Blanton, a 
coal and feed dealer. He was with that concern four- 
teen years, familiarizing himself with every detail of 
the business and was well equipped in every way when 
he established himself independently in 1909 as a re- 
tail dealer in coal, feed and building materials. Ik- 
owns his office building and yards on Orchard Street, 
also a warehouse and yards on Orange Street, and 
leases 300 acres of farm lands where he conducts 
farming operations as a means of using profitably and 
to the best advantage the teams required by his busi- 
ness in the winter season. 

Mr. Broaddus also owns one of the most attractive 
homes of Richmond, a complete modern residence. 
built in 1921, in a fine residential section on Sunset 
Avenue. As a man interested in the w'elfare of his 
community he served two terms on the City Council, 
is a democrat, a member of the First Christian Church, 
and is affiliated with Madison Lodge No. 14, Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, Floating Canoe Tribe 
No. 76. Improved Order of Red Men. and Richmond 
Lodge No. 581, B. P. O. E. He kept his time and 
means and influence generously at the disposal of the 
government throughout the period of the World war. 

In 1896 at Richmond Mr. Broaddus married Miss 
Mattie McCollum, daughter of Isaac and Sarali (Par- 
son) McCollum. Her father died at Richmond and 
her mother is now living at Lexington. 

William David Laswell, M. D. A highly compe- 
tent and well trained physician and surgeon, Doctor 
Laswell is also a thorough business man and has com- 
bined medical practice with the ownership and opera- 



tion of some extensive farming interests. Doctor 
Laswell has practiced in several localities, but for half 
a dozen years his home has been at Kings Mountain. 

He was born at Orlando, Rockcastle County, Ken- 
tucky, October 7, 1875. His paternal ancestors were 
Scotch-Irish and located in America in Colonial times. 
His grandfather, Jerry Laswell, was born in Indiana 
in 181 8 and as a young man moved to Rockcastle 
County, Kentucky, where he married and where he 
followed farming until his death in 1842. His wife 
was Mrs. Elizabeth (Taylor) McClure. She was born 
in Green County, Kentucky, in 1800, and died at Rock- 
castle County in 1875. 

David Laswell, father of Doctor Laswell, was born 
at Orlando in 1838 and died there in 191 1, having spent 
all his life on one farm. He had the qualifications of 
a good farmer, and made a more than ordinary suc- 
cess of his business. As an Eastern Kentuckian he 
was a republican in politics. David Laswell married 
Flury Jane Clark, who was born at Johnetta, Kentucky, 
in 1844, and died at Orlando in 1913. Her father was 
Wallace Clark, who was born in Madison County, 
Kentucky, in 1801 and died in Rockcastle County in 
187;, having lived in Rockcastle County from the time 
of his marriage. He was a hatter by trade, but during 
the greater part of his active life followed farming. 
He was a member of the same family as Gen. George 
Rogers Clark. Wallace Clark married Mary Abney, 
who was born in Rockcastle County in 1812 and died 
there in 1852. 

The children of Mr. and Mrs. David Laswell were : 
Wallace, a farmer in Rockcastle County; Mary Eliza- 
beth, wife of William Adams, an oil operator and 
farmer at Tulsa, Oklahoma ; Nancy Jane, wife of B. G. 
Mullins, a farmer in Rockcastle County; Oliver Pres- 
ton, who died at the age of twenty-one: Manilla, wife 
of Isaac A. Chastine, farmer and school teacher in 
Rockcastle County; Jerry R., of Tulsa County, Okla- 

1 ; Celia. wife of Wilmor Chesnut, a farmer in 

Rockcastle County; Dr. William David, who is the 

nth in this large family; Flury Hays, wife of 

George Evans, a bridge carpenter in Rockcastle 

ty; Lillie Belle, whose first husband was Dr. H. 
Hundley, a physician and surgeon, and she is now the 
wife of Henry L. Smith, an oil field worker in Tulsa 

ty, Oklahoma; Effie, a trained nurse living at 
Mount Vernon, Kentucky, wife of Bennett Ballard; 
and Jack Moore, a farmer in Rockcastle County. 

William David Laswell grew up on his father's farm 
in Rockcastle County, and while there attended rural 
schools, supplementing these advantages by attending 
Mount Vernon Collegiate Institute and Berea College 
af Berea. For seven years of his younger life he 
taught in rural districts of his native county. On July 
4. tooj. lie graduated with the M. D. degree from the 
Hospital College fit Medicine at Louisville, and for the 

;eventeen years has given his time and energies 
almost completely to his practice. For three years he 
practiced at Orlando, another three years at Wildie. 
located at Kings Mountain in 1910. remained there i'j 

. then for 2^2 years practiced at Mount Vernon, 

and in 1015 resumed his professional interests and 

at Kings Mountain. His residence and offices are 

on Stanford Street, and he is a member in good stand- 

>f the County, State and American Medical as- 

; His. 

Doctor Laswell owns and with the assistance of his 
sons carries on productive operations on several farms. 
one. of 7854 acres, in the Highland section on the 
Stanford and Somerset Pike in Lincoln County, another, 
of eighty acres, near Kings Mountain, and one, of 176 
acres, on Green River in Lincoln County. Doctor Las- 
well is a republican, a member of the Baptist Church, 
is affiliated with Waynesburg Lodge, F. and A. M., is a 
Royal Arch Mason, a member of Mount Vernon Lodge, 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Kings Moun- 
tain Camp, Modern Woodmen of America. His time 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



65 



and means were freely disposed to aid the Government 
during the World war. 

In 1899, in Rockcastle County, he married Miss Leta 
Cuemile Reams, daughter of George and Mrs. 
(Hickey) Reams, the latter deceased. Her father is 
now a farmer and blacksmith at Trenton, Missouri. 
Mrs. Laswell, who died in 1912, was the mother of 
five children : Edith, wife of J. C. Venson, a farmer at 
Arabia, Kentucky; Orville Preston, assistant to his 
father on the farms; Harrison Edward, William 
David, Jr., and George Sheldon, all attending public 
school. In 1913, at Berea, Kentucky, Doctor Laswell 
married Miss Eunice Parker Ball, daughter of Mr. and 
Mrs. Haskeu Ball. Her father is a farmer and cabinet 
maker at Honaker, Virginia, and her mother is now 
deceased. Dr. and Mrs. Laswell have three children : 
Mary Elizabeth, born October 26, 1915; Wallace Has- 
keu, born August 29, 1917; and Margaret, born' April 
18, 1920. 

Corydon F. Mantz. Even as he has proved his 
success-winning powers in connection with farm in- 
dustry in Taylor County, so has Mr. Mantz demon- 
strated his ability in his effective, administration in 
the office of high sheriff of the county, a position of 
which he is the valued incumbent at the time of this 
writing, in the summer of 1921. 

Sheriff Mantz was born in Medina County, Ohio, on 
the 30th of January, 1861. His father, F. R. Mantz, 
was born in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, in 1838, and 
was a representative of a family that was founded in 
the old Keystone State in the pioneer days. He was 
a resident of Logan County, Ohio, at the time of his 
death, in 1910. He was a son of Reuben Mantz, who 
was born and reared in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, 
where his marriage was solemnized and whence he 
removed to Medina County, Ohio, about the year 1842, 
he having there become a successful farmer and hav- 
ing there passed the remainder of his life. The orig- 
inal American progenitors of the Mantz family immi- 
grated from Switzerland and established residence in 
Pennsylvania in the Colonial period of our national 
history. 

F. R. Mantz was reared to manhood in Medina 
County, Ohio, there his marriage occurred and he de- 
voted his entire active life to farm enterprise. In 1886 
he came to Taylor County, Kentucky, and here he 
continued his activities as a farmer until 1908, when 
he retired and established his residence in Logan 
County, Ohio, where his death occurred about two 
years later, his wife having died within the period of 
their residence in Taylor County, Kentucky. Mrs. 
Mantz, whose maiden name was Phoebe Edson, was 
born in Medina County, Ohio, in 1840. Of the chil- 
dren the present sheriff of Taylor County is the eldest; 
Cassius was a representative physician and surgeon in 
the City of Toledo, Ohio, at the time of his death ; 
Charles, a lawyer by profession, died at Colville, Wash- 
ington. The father was a staunch republican, and 
prior to coming to Kentucky had served six years as 
county recorder of Medina County, Ohio. During the 
last three years of the Civil war he served as a valiant 
soldier of the Union, he having been a member of 
the Forty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was 
affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and the Grand 
Army of the Republic, and both he and his wife were 
zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

The district schools of his native county in the 
Buckeye State afforded Corydon F. Mantz his early 
education, and he continued to be associated with the 
activities of his father's Ohio farm until 1S85, when 
he came to Taylor County, Kentucky, and engaged in 
independent farm enterprise. He remained on his 
farm until 1902, and thereafter he owned and operated 
a flour mill at Campbellsville until 1918, when he sold 
the mill and business and resumed his activities on his 



farm, which he still owns. He continues to give a 
general supervision to his well improved farm, situated 
three miles north of Campbellsville and comprising 160 
acres. The place is devoted to diversified agriculture 
and the raising of good types of livestock. 

Always inflexible in his allegiance to the republican 
party, Mr. Mantz has been one of the influential repre- 
sentatives of the same during his residence in Taylor 
County, and in 1919 he was elected and assumed the 
office of sheriff of the county to fill out two years of 
an unexpired term. He became a candidate for re- 
election in 1921. The sheriff is a deacon of the 
Presbyterian Church at Campbellsville, and his wife 
likewise is an earnest member of the church. He is a 
director of the Taylor County Milling Company, and 
at Campbellsville is affiliated with Pitman Lodge, No. 
124, Free and Accepted Masons, and both he and his 
wife are members of the Eastern Star. He took an 
active part in the furtherance of Governmental agen- 
cies working in support of the nation's participation in 
the World war, and subscribed liberally to the various 
Government bonds and the war savings stamps. 

July 28, 1883 recorded the marriage of Mr. Mantz 
to Miss Belle Elmer, who was born in Massachusetts. 

P. V. Ellis, M. D. To sptak from the intelligent 
standpoint of a physician, that greatest of human bless- 
ings, health, is the harmonious adaptation of the body 
to its environment, and no one but an experienced 
medical man understands how seldom is this harmony 
maintained. It is his beneficent office to bring it about, 
if within the scope of his skill, and, if this be im- 
possible, then to ease pain and apply every remedy 
known to medical science to ameliorate further suffer- 
ing. In no profession is the responsibility greater than 
that of medicine, and in no profession are found higher 
types of sterling manhood and conscientious bene- 
factors of humanity. A prominent member of this 
noble profession in Carroll County, Kentucky, is Dr. 
P. V. Ellis, physician and surgeon at Ghent, where 
he has been established in practice for a quarter of a 
century. 

Doctor Ellis was born in the pleasant little City of 
Ghent, March 16, 1865, the eldest of three sons born to 
Dr. P. C. and Drusilla (Tandy) Ellis. His one living 
brother, Gen. James Tandy Ellis, is a prominent resident 
of Lexington, Kentucky. He served as adjutant- 
general of the State of Kentucky under the adminis- 
trations of Governor McCreary and Governor Stanley, 
retiring in 1918. Dr. P. C. Ellis, for many years a dis- 
tinguished physician and surgeon at Ghent, was born 
in 1818, in Bourbon County, Kentucky. His parents 
were David and Nancy (Clarkson) Ellis, descendants 
of pioneers from Virginia, farming people who lived 
near Paris, Kentucky. Dr. P. C. Ellis was graduated 
from the medical department of the University of 
Louisville in the class of 1844, settled at Ghent when 
it was but a village and spent his life here, retiring 
from active practice in 1870 and dying in 1892. He 
was held in great esteem all over Carroll County, was 
staunch in his adherence to the democratic party, al- 
though never an office holder, was one of the early 
Masons, and for years was active in the Christian 
Church. He married Drusilla Tandy, who was born 
at Ghent in 1834 and died here in 1884. 

Dr. P. V. Ellis received his primary and his college 
education at Ghent, a feature being made of the 
classics, and then spent two years in college at George- 
town, Kentucky, before entering the medical depart- 
ment of the University of Louisville, from which he 
was graduated in 1886, with his medical degree. Al- 
though he immediately began practice, Doctor Ellis 
has never felt that he, with all his years of study and 
experience, has ever reached the limit of knowledge in 
his beloved profession. He dedicates some months 
every few years to post-graduate work in the different 



66 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



great medical centers of the country, and has taken 
courses in the Chicago and also in the New York 
Polyclinics, working under the supervision of some of 
the most eminent physicians and surgeons in the world. 

In 1886 Doctor Ellis opened his first practice at 
Augusta, in Hancock County, Illinois, and remained 
there five years, removing then to Marshalltown, Iowa, 
and five years later, in 1896, came to Ghent, and has 
remained here. He is the present health officer of 
Carroll County, and his professional services are highly 
valued both publicly and privately. He is a valued 
member of the Carroll County and the Kentucky State 
Medical Societies, and the American Medical Asso- 
ciation. 

In 1887, at Augusta, Illinois, Doctor Ellis was 
married to Miss Nancy Skinner, who was born at 
Augusta in 1871 and died at Ghent, Kentucky, in 1901. 
At Ghent, in 1904, Doctor Ellis was married to Mrs. 
Hallie (Howard) Bailey, daughter of the late John 
and Mary (Scott) Howard. Doctor Ellis has three 
children, born to his first marriage: Lawrence, who 
now lives at Tucson, Arizona, enlisted for service in 
the World war in an artillery corps in September, 1917, 
spent one year in training at Camp Shelby and was 
then mustered out of service on account of disability ; 
Victor, who served in the United States Navy all 
through the World war, in American waters, is now 
operating one of his father's farms in Gallatin County, 
Kentucky ; and Ruth, who resides at home. Doctor 
Ellis and his family belong to the Christian Church 
at Ghent, in which he is a trustee. 

In politics Doctor Ellis has been a life-long demo- 
crat, but professional and other interests have too 
closely claimed his time for him to become active in 
the political field. During the World war he served 
as medical examiner for the Carroll County Draft 
Board, and otherwise did his full duty in all the local 
war activities. He has always lent encouragement to 
home business enterprises, is president of the Ghent 
Electric Light Plant, and owns and conducts in part- 
nership with Dr. J. S. Brown, the leading drug store 
in this part of Carroll County. In addition to this 
property he owns his office building, also on Main 
Street, a handsome modern residence and other im- 
proved realty. Doctor Ellis also has 400 acres of rich 
farm land in Gallatin County. He is a member of 
Ghent Lodge No. 344, F. and A. M., of which he has 
been master several times. 

Andrew J. Grundy. There is much of interest at- 
taching to the personal career and ancestral history of 
this now venerable and honored citizen of Marion 
County, where he resides upon the fine old homestead 
farm of 300 acres and where he is living virtually re- 
tired after many years of earnest and effective asso- 
ciation with business and industrial enterprise. 

Andrew January Grundy was born at Maysville, 
judicial center of Mason County, Kentucky, on the 
18th of October, 1842, and is a son of Rev. Robert 
Caldwell Grundy and his second wife, Sarah Ann 
(January) Grundy. He was the only child of this 
union and was six years of age at the time of the 
death of his mother, who was born May 8, 1822, and 
who was but twenty-six years of age at the time of 
her death, in 1848. The father first married Hannah 
Maria Canfield and they had one daughter Elizabeth 
who is deceased. The second Mrs. Grundy was 
a daughter of Andrew McConnell January, of Mays- 
ville. 

Rev. Robert C. Grundy was born in the year 1807 
and his death occurred in 1865. He was one of the 
five sons of Samuel R. Grundy, who was a prominent 
business man and influential citizen of Washington 
County, Kentucky, where he owned a large tract of 
land. Hon. Felix Grundy, a brother of Samuel R. 
Grundy, was born on his father's farm in Washington 
County, Kentucky, and became one of the most dis- 



tinguished lawyers and jurists of the Blue Grass State, 
with high reputation as an eloquent orator and re- 
sourceful criminal lawyer, besides which he served as 
a member of the United States Congress, as United 
States senator from Kentucky and as attorney-general 
of the United States. 

Rev. Robert C. Grundy was a man of high in- 
tellectual attainments and became one of the repre- 
sentative Presbyterian clergymen of his native state, 
his first pastoral charge after his ordination having 
been at Maysville. In 1857 he became pastor of the 
Presbyterian Church at Memphis, Tennessee, and in 
the climacteric period leading up to the Civil war he 
courageously and loyally opposed the secession of the 
southern states. He was the only Union clergyman 
in the City of Memphis at this time, and after the war 
was precipitated and the city was occupied by Con- 
federate troops they compelled him to close his church, 
besides which he suffered other indignities by reason 
of his adherence to his convictions. When the Union 
forces under General Grant occupied Memphis Mr. 
Grundy was requested to reopen his church, and this 
he did — to both soldiers and citizens. His position be- 
came untenable at Memphis as the war progressed, and 
in 1862 he accepted" a call to the pastorate of a church 
in the City of Cincinnati, Ohio, where he continued 
his zealous and faithful ministrations until his death, 
in 1865, about the time of the close of the Civil war. 

After the death of his mother Andrew J. Grundy 
was taken into the home of his maternal grandparents 
at Maysville, and with them he passed the major part 
of the period of his childhood and early youth. He 
was afforded excellent educational advantages, and in 
June, 1863, was graduated from Center College, at 
Danville. Thereafter he taught one year in the cele- 
brated Maysville Seminary, and he was then appointed 
principal of the high school at Maysville, he having 
been the first to receive this appointment, which came 
through the medium of the City Council. There he 
continued his residence until 1868, when he removed 
to the City of Terre Haute, Indiana, where lie estab- 
lished a book and stationery store and developed a 
prosperous business. On the 26th of December, 1871, 
he was united in marriage to Miss Willie Josephine 
McElroy, daughter of the late John and .Lou Ann 
(Skiles) McElroy, whose home was a fine farm on the 
Bradfordville Turnpike, nine miles from Lebanon, 
Marion County. Mr. and Mrs. Grundy thereafter con- 
tinued their residence at Terre Haute, Indiana, about 
one year, and they then came to the home of Mrs. 
Grundy's parents, who were in much impaired health. 
Under these conditions Mr. Grundy sold his business 
at Terre Haute and assumed the active management 
of the old McElroy homestead, which then comprised 
700 acres of Marion county land. This was known as 
the old McElroy homestead. On the site of the 
original house has been erected a commodious and 
substantial modern building, which constitutes one of 
the most attractive homes of this locality. Mr. Grundy 
has diversified property interests in addition to his 
valuable real estate holdings in Marion County. He is 
one of the principal stockholders of the Citizens 
National Bank of Lebanon, of which he was vice- 
president, and was elected president in October, 1921, 
upon the death of the late president Robert E. Young. 
Mr. Grundy is also the owner of a one-fourth interest 
in the Maysville Cotton Mills, which base operations 
on a capital stock of $200,000. He is one of Marion 
County's most honored and influential citizens, his busi- 
ness career has been marked by vigor and by suc- 
cessful achievement, and he has so ordered his course 
in all the relations of life as to merit and receive the 
high regard of his fellow men. Both he and his wife 
are zealous members of the First Presbyterian Church, 
and though he has had no desire to enter the arena of 
so called practical politics he is well fortified in his 
convictions concerning economic and governmental 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



67 



affairs and is a loyal supporter of the principles of 
the republican party. 

Of the eight children born to Mr. and Mrs. Grundy 
six are living: John, Andrew, born October 17, 1872, 
and James Caldwell, born April 28, 1890, who are 
bachelors and maintain a partnership alliance in the 
control and management of the old home farm, with 
secure place as representative agriculturists and stock- 
raisers of Marion County. Sarah January Grundy is 
the wife of William Russell Deemer, a prominent 
lawyer and bank president at Williamsport, Pennsyl- 
vania, and a son of Hon. Elias Deemer, who for three 
terms represented that district of Pennsylvania in the 
United States Congress. Bessie May Grundy is the 
wife of Roy Ford Clary, a successful broker and real 
estate operator in the City of Great Falls, Montana. 
Louise, the next younger daughter, is the wife of 
John J. Baucus, who likewise is one of the representa- 
tive business men of Great Falls, Montana. Miss 
Harriet Cochran Grundy, remains at the parental 
home, is a young woman of high attainments and 
gracious presence, and she was graduated at the 
National Park Seminary, an exclusive school for young 
women at Washington, D. C, and one which all of 
her sisters likewise attended. She completed her edu- 
cation in a college in the State of New York, and she 
is a popular figure in the leading social activities of 
the home community. 

Charles Lincard Cecil, whose death occurred on 
the 2d of March, 1921, was an honored veteran of 
the Confederate army and spent his life except for 
the war period on the old Cecil estate at St. Mary's. 
This is a home of many interesting associations, and 
has been continuously in the Cecil family, handed 
down from one generation to another, for more than 
a hundred years. 

Mr. Cecil was born there October 28, 1841. His 
grandfather, Mathew Cecil, came from Maryland to 
Kentucky, and as a pioneer acquired 100 acres 
on Hardin's Creek, adjacent to the present site of St. 
Mary's. He married a Miss Howard, member of a 
very distinguished family of Marion County and 
Kentucky. Mathew Cecil and his son Mathew J. Cecil 
were both planters and slave owners. Mathew J. Cecil 
married Angeline Hagan, and they had nine children. 
Three sons, Wallace, Mathew and Mathew died in 
infancy. Six grew to maturity : Sallie ; Charles L. ; 
John H., who volunteered in the Confederate army in 
1861 as a member of Capt. John B. Castleman's 
Company in Morgan's Command, was captured during 
one of the raids into Ohio, and while a prisoner of 
war at Camp Douglas, Chicago, was shot and killed 
as he attempted an escape; Flagie ; Mary Victoria; and 
Emma. 

Charles L. Cecil grew up on the old homestead 
and was about twenty years of age when the war 
broke out. He was educated in St. Mary's and in i860 
graduated in the classical course from Cecilian College 
in Hardin County, Kentucky. This college was 
established and conducted for many years by his first 
cousins, Henry, Thomas, Ambrose and Charles Cecil. 
Charles L. Cecil and his brother John, both volun- 
teered in 1861 in Company B of the 9th Kentucky, in 
what was known as the Orphan Brigade. They en- 
listed at Bowling Green. The brigade was composed of 
boys or very young men, but displayed all the qualities 
of great soldiers in some of the hardest fighting of 
the war. Mr. Cecil participated in nine big battles in 
the Western army, beginning at Shiloh and ending 
with the campaign in Northern Georgia. For three 
months during the Atlanta campaign he was under 
constant fire and was wounded in front of Atlanta, on 
the Augusta Road, at the extreme right of the Con- 
federate army on July 22, 1864, while participating in 
a charge against the Federal army. For several 
months he was retired on account of his wounds, and 



was then put in charge of the Tax in Kind Commissary 
Department in Northern Alabama. Subsequently leav- 
ing for the Mississippi River, he found the Confed- 
erates had surrendered, and then started home. At 
that time there was much hostile feeling in some dis- 
tricts against returning Confederate soldiers, and he 
did not reach home until July 12, 1865. His' father 
had died April 7, 1865, and the farm was stripped of 
all its movable property, the negro slaves had gone, 
and there was no money to aid in reconstructing the 
home and property. Mr. Cecil showed the courage of 
a soldier in resuming civilian duties under these 
obstacles and handicaps, and in later years found ample 
prosperity and did much to renew the substantial repu- 
tation the Cecil family has always enjoyed in this 
community. The Cecils are Catholics in religion. Mr. 
Cecil during the later years of his life, lived retired 
at St. Mary's. 

_ On April 7, 1874, he married Miss Susan M. Mat- 
tingly, of St. Mary's. Her father at that time was 
the largest individual distiller in Kentucky. Three 
children were born to their marriage. Bennet D., the 
oldest, born in 1886, operates the old homestead. He 
married Elizabeth Johnson and has three sons and 
three daughters. John M. Cecil, born in 1890, lives at 
Akron, Ohio, is conductor on an interurban electric 
line, and by his marriage to Florence Mills has a son, 
Joseph C, born in 1918. The youngest, Angela, born 
in 1894, is the wife of Everett Wingfield, of Daviess 
County, Kentucky. They were married September 28, 
1919, and have one daughter, Dorothy Cecil, born in 
July, 1920. Everett Wingfield was through the World 
war under General Dickens, commander of the Third 
Division, saw some of the heaviest fighting on the 
western front, and was wounded in the hip, receiving 
a permanent injury and partial disablement. 

William Oglesby Sovars was born at Slaughters- 
ville, Webster County, Kentucky, April 22, 1892, a son 
of Dr. James Thomas Soyars and Medora Oglesby 
Soyars. His father, Doctor Soyars, was born in Chris- 
tian County, Kentucky, January 11, 1838, and died in 
Webster County, Kentucky, February 7, 1896. In 1847 
he removed with his father to Hopkins County, Ken- 
tucky, where he was reared. In 1858 he commenced the 
study of medicine with Dr. D. A. DeForest of Ashby- 
burgh, Kentucky, and in 1859 attended lectures at Star- 
ling Medical College, Columbus, Ohio, from which he 
was graduated in 1861. 

When war was declared between the two sections of 
the country he enlisted in Company A, First Kentucky 
Cavalry, C. S. A., and for a time served on the staff of 
General Helm. Later he was transferred to the secret 
service of the South, in which organization he was cap- 
tured, to be released in 1864. 

Following his release from military prison he located 
at Slaughtersville, Kentucky, and there built up a lucra- 
tive practice of his profession, in which he continued 
until his death. A zealous Mason, he was advanced ten 
degrees, and served as high priest of the Slaughtersville 
Chapter, R. A. M. In politics he was a staunch demo- 
crat and became a leader of his party, and for many 
years was chairman of the Democratic Central Commit- 
tee of Webster County. He married Medora Oglesby, 
who was born in Daviess County, Kentucky, July 20, 
1850. She survives her husband and lives at Hopkins- 
ville, Kentucky. Their children were as follows : Mary 
Thomas, who married Edmund Starling, resides at Hop- 
kinsville ; lone, who married Holland Garnett, a farmer, 
lives on the Clarksville Pike in Christian County ; 
Martha Ellis, who married William C. Peterman, lives 
in Brooklyn, New York ; and William Oglesby, the 
youngest, who is the subject of this sketch. 

The paternal grandfather, Col. John Soyars, was born 
in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, in 1805, but moved to 
Christian County, Kentucky, in 1831. He was a son of 
James Soyars, also a native of Pittsylvania County, Vir- 



68 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



ginia, who entered the American Revolution when only 
sixteen years of age and served through the war, being 
at Valley Forge with General Washington in the ter- 
rible winter of that campaign. He was wounded and 
captured, but paroled toward the close of the war, and 
returned to his home, where he died in 1845. He was 
twice married and was the father of nine sons and seven 
daughters, all of whom reared families. James Soyars 
was a magistrate, high sheriff and representative of his 
county for sixteen years. Having served under General 
Lafayette, he was one of the committee of reception 
during that French general's last visit to America in 
1824. 

Col. John Soyars was married to Elizabeth Cannon, 
a daughter of Enoch and Elizabeth Cannon, of Halifax 
County, Virginia, born in 1805, and died in 1844. Enoch 
Cannon was one of the first preachers of the Methodist 
faith in America. Their children were as follows : 
Edward C, Mary F., who married William A. Orten 
and Dr. James Thomas. 

The maternal grandfather, William Alonzo Oglesby, 
was born in 1816 in Jefferson County, Kentucky, and 
died in Daviess County, Kentucky in i860, shortly 
before the outbreak of the war between the states. He 
married Katherine Harding, daughter of Alexander and 
Louisa Hite Harding, of Virginia, and she died in 
Webster County, Kentucky, in 1875. 

William Oglesby Soyars attended the public schools 
of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, his mother having moved to 
this city in 1898, and was graduated from its high- 
school course in 1910. He then entered Swarthmore 
College, at Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, and was gradu- 
ated therefrom in 1914, with the degree of Bachelor of 
Arts. Following his graduation Mr. Soyars continued 
his reading of law in the ofHce of Trimble & Bell of 
Hopkinsville, Kentucky, and was admitted to the baf 
in 191 S, since which date he has been engaged in a gen- 
eral civil and criminal practice. In 1917 he was ap- 
pointed city prosecutor by the City Commissioners of 
Hopkinsville, Kentucky, which office he held for four 
years. In 1921 he was nominated without opposition 
by the democratic party for the office of county attorney 
of Christian County, and was elected by a majority of 
548 votes, overcoming the republican majority of 1518 
at the election of the preceding year. He is a member 
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of the Greek 
letter college fraternity Phi Kappa Psi and Book and 
Key, honorary society ; an officer of the Hopkinsville 
Lodge of the B. P. O. E. ; a member of the American 
Academy of Political and Social Science ; a charter 
member of the American Legion, St. Louis Convention, 
and has served on the State Executive Committee of the 
same. 

During the first month of the World war Mr. Soyars 
entered the United States service, enlisting in the First 
Reserve Officers Training Corps at Fort Benjamin Har- 
rison near Indianapolis, Indiana, May 8, 1917. He was 
stricken with appendicitis soon afterward, and sent home 
where he underwent an operation. Twice thereafter he 
volunteered and was rejected on account of the recent- 
ness of this operation, and for a time served as Govern- 
ment appeal agent for Christian County. In April, 1918, 
he re-enlisted in the United States Marine Corps as a 
private, was trained at Parris Island, South Carolina, 
and assigned to ship duty with the marine detachment of 
the U. S. S. "Cincinnati," first Atlantic Patrol Division. 
He was discharged March 29, 1919, holding ship war- 
rant as a corporal, and returned home to resume his 
practice. 

George W. Calhoun who since 1918 has represented 
some of the very extensive interests of his family in 
Kentucky, is president of the Frankfort Elevator Coal 
Company and a resident of the capital city. Mr. 
Calhoun is a great-grandson of the great southern states- 
man John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, whose eminent 
position in American history is too well assured to re- 



quire any reference here. It should be stated merely to 
establish the lineage that John C. Calhoun was born in 
South Carolina in 1782 and died at Washington in 1850. 
He was a grandson of James Calhoun, who came from 
Ireland to Pennsylvania in 1733. The father of the 
South Carolina statesman was Patrick Calhoun, who 
married Martha Caldwell. The Calhouns established 
the Calhoun settlement in the upper part of South 
Carolina in 1756, and the name has been prominently 
identified with that state and with other southern states 
for more than a century and a half. 

A son of John C. Calhoun was Andrew Pickens Cal- 
houn, grandfather of the Frankfort business man. 
Andrew P. Calhoun was born at Fort Hill, South Caro- 
lina, and spent his life there as a planter. He married 
Margaret Green, who also died at Fort Hill. 

Patrick Calhoun, father of George W. Calhoun, was 
born at Fort Hill, South Carolina, in 1857, and is now 
living practically retired at Calhoun Falls in South Caro- 
lina. He grew up at the old Calhoun family seat until 
the death of his father, studied law in St. Louis, and 
at the age of twenty-eight was general counsel of the 
Southern Railroad. He was a member of the firm 
Calhoun, King & Spaulding at Atlanta, Georgia, where 
he lived for a number of years. Alexander King, of 
this firm, was solicitor general during Wilson's second 
administration. Giving up law practice, Patrick Calhoun 
for several years was an extensive operator in Wall 
Street, New York, handling real estate investments and 
coal. He was president of the United Railroads in 
San Francisco, and maintained offices both in New 
York City and San Francisco and also at Cleveland. He 
gave up his railroad interests a few years after the 
San Francisco earthquake and fire. He also had large 
property interests in Cleveland. In 1916 he returned to 
his large plantation at Calhoun Falls in his native state, 
where he owned 15,000 acres, including a portion of the 
old Calhoun estate. He also has a large property at 
Fort Royal, South Carolina, and is owner of some val- 
uable coal properties at Beattyville, Kentucky. Captain 
Calhoun is a stanch democrat. He married Sallie Wil- 
liams, who was born at Charleston, South Carolina, 
in 1866. Of their eight children Martha, the oldest, 
is the wife of Wilson B. Hickox, of the firm Hamil & 
Hickox, steel merchants and real estate owners at Cleve- 
land ; Margaret, wife of Paul Scott Foster, who has 
charge of the Foster Company and lives at San Rafael, 
California; Patrick, Jr., vice president of the Beattyville 
Coal Company at Beattyville, Kentucky ; George W. ; 
John C, in charge of the southern interests of his 
father's estate and a resident of Port Royal, South Caro- 
lina ; Andrew Pickens, of Frankfort, secretary of the 
Frankfort Elevator Coal Company and treasurer of the 
Jett Coal and Transportation Company at Carrollton, 
Kentucky; Miss Mildred, who lives with her brother 
John at Port Royal ; and Sallie W., whose home is with 
her brother George W. at Frankfort. 

George W. Calhoun was born in New York City 
October 5, 1892. He was prepared for college at Pom- 
fret, Connecticut, and attended Yale University to the 
middle of the junior year. He is a member of the Psi 
Upsilon college fraternity. Leaving Yale in 1916, Mr. 
Calhoun spent a few months with the great Cleveland 
steel and coal firm of M. A. Hanna Company, follow- 
ing which he took charge of his father's plantation at 
Port Royal one year. He took the summer agricultural 
course at Cornell University, and then resumed charge 
of the South Carolina plantation. When America en- 
tered the war with Germany his brothers enlisted for 
service, and George felt in duty bound to assist his 
father. In June, 1918, he came to Frankfort to take 
charge of the Frankfort Elevator Coal Company, a 
business he is active in managing today. He and his 
father and his brothers Andrew and Patrick are behind 
a great development work in improving transportation 
facilities on the Kentucky River, chiefly for handling 
coal. They own an extensive fleet of coal vessels and 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



69 



are now building a shipyard at Frankfort. The Cal- 
houns are pioneers in this development and have already 
done a great deal for Kentucky in that line. Of the 
brothers Patrick, Jr., has charge of the mines at Beatty- 
ville, Andrew has charge of the transportation facilities, 
while George Calhoun is sales manager for the busi- 
ness, his offices being at the foot of Steele Street in 
Frankfort. 

Mr. Calhoun, who is unmarried, lives in the Crom- 
well Apartments in Frankfort. He is a democrat, a 
member of the Episcopal Church, and is affiliated with 
Frankfort Lodge, No. 530, of the Elks. Among other 
business interests he is vice president of the Jett Coal 
and Transportation Company and is secretary and treas- 
urer of the Calhoun Falls Company. 

Wilford Monroe Rice is one of the youngest bank 
executives in Kentucky. He received his early training 
as a banker in one of the metropolitan banks at Cin- 
cinnati. On March 1, 1920, the Hebron Deposit Bank 
was established, and Mr. Rice was called to his present 
duties as cashier, being at that time only in his twentieth 
year. This bank has made a splendid record during its 
first year. It has capital of $20,000, an earned surplus 
of $1,000, and deposits of about $65,000. Joel C. Clore, 
postmaster of Cincinnati, is president of the bank, and 
the vice president is J. B. Cloud. 

Wilford Monroe Rice was born at Newport in Camp- 
bell County, Kentucky, September 13, 1900, and is a 
member of one of the old and prominent families of 
the state. The Rices have been Kentuckians for more 
than a century and through four generations. Mr. Rice's 
great-great-grandfather was a native of England and on 
coming to America located at Kalamazoo Springs, near 
Erlanger in Boone County, where he developed a farm 
and where he lived the rest of his life. His son, James 
Rice, was born at Kalamazoo Springs July 16, 1812, 
and also spent his life there as a farmer. He died in 
Boone County in 1870. December 10, 1829, he married 
Judieth Carpenter, who was born in Boone County Feb- 
ruary 13, 1814, and died in 1868. Their children were 
John Milton, Lucy Ann, Elizabeth Rebecca and 
Theopolus. 

Theopolus Rice, grandfather of the young Hebron 
banker, was born in Boone County and spent practically 
all his life as a livestock trader and butcher at Walton, 
but died while visiting in Louisville in 1896. He mar- 
ried Elizabeth Records, a native of Boone County, who 
died at Walton. 

William Felix Rice, their son, was born at Walton 
in 1874, was reared and educated in his native town, and 
for a number of years has lived at Latonia in Covington. 
He is a flagman for the Louisville & Nashville Rail- 
road Company. In politics he votes as a democrat, is a 
member of the Baptist Church at Walton, and is 
affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows 
and the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. 
William F. Rice married Pearl Snethen at Newport. 
She was born at Knoxville, Kentucky, in 1880, and died 
at Latonia in 1901. 

Wilford Monroe Rice, only child of his mother, was 
reared at Walton, where he attended the public schools, 
finishing his sophomore year in high school. He took 
the course in commercial law and bookkeeping at Mil- 
ler's Business College in Cincinnati and in December, 
1917, began his active career. For seven months he was 
assistant postmaster at Walton, and then became book- 
keeper in the Fifth-Third National Bank of Cincinnati, 
and had been advanced to the auditing department when 
he resigned early in 1920 to give his time and talents to 
the Hebron Deposit Bank. 

Mr. Rice was only seventeen when America entered 
the war with Germany, but he proved the value of his 
patriotic services by doing some splendid work as a sales- 
man, particularly in the War Savings Stamps drive. 
One day he sold $90,000 worth of these issues and on 
another day $70,000. He is an active member of the 



Baptist Church at Walton and superintendent of its 
Sunday school. April 24, 1920, at Walton, Mr. Rice 
married Miss Grace Gladys Dudgeon, daughter of 
W. T. and Mattie (McCormick) Dudgeon. Her father 
is postmaster at Walton. 

W. M. Merriman. A successful figure in business 
affairs at Moreland for a number of years, W. M. Mer- 
riman has had a life of work and gradually accumulating 
influence and prosperity, all earned by reason of his 
earnest and determined ambition to achieve something 
worth while for himself and his family. 

Mr. Merriman was born on a farm near Nicholas- 
ville in Jessamine County July 24, 1875. His grand- 
father, Milton Merriman, spent most of his life as a 
farmer in Jessamine County. He was born in 1823 and 
died in Mercer County in 1897. W. M. Merriman, Sr., 
was born in Kentucky in 1858, was married in Fayette 
County, where he farmed for several years, and after 
1883 had his home on a farm in Boyle County until 
1896, when he moved to Mercer County and entered 
the scrap iron and hide business. He continued active 
in that line until his death at Burgin September 5, 
1920. He took a prominent part in local democratic 
politics and his membership in the Baptist Church was 
one of the strong ties of his life. He married Lizzie 
Goss, who was born in Jessamine County in 1858 and 
is now living at Burgin. W. M. Merriman, of More- 
land, is their oldest child ; Lula is the wife of Phil 
Hendron, a farmer at Burgin ; Walter is a farmer 
at Harrodsburg; Maggie is the wife of Clyde Noel, 
who assists W. M. Merriman in the business at More- 
land; Annie is the wife of Will Stone, a factory em- 
ploye at Cincinnati ; Ephraim lives at Harrodsburg and 
with his brother Thomas, whose home is at Burgin, 
succeeded to their father's scrap iron and hide business ; 
Ethel is the wife of William Baker, connected with the 
wholesale poultry business at Moreland. 

W. M. Merriman learned the lessons of industry at a 
very early age, and he acquired his education principally 
while employed in practical pursuits. From the time 
of his marriage until he was twenty-seven, for six years, 
he was associated with his father in the growing of 
hemp in Boyle County. He then bought a farm in 
Lincoln County, lived on it a year, and in January, 1906, 
came to Moreland, where he has since been in the gro- 
cery business, in the scrap iron and hide business, and 
up to 1916 he also operated a poultry plant, but sold 
this branch of his interests. His residence, his poultry 
house and stores occupy the entire block of land he owns 
on Main Street. His business is one of the largest com- 
mercial assets of the Moreland community. He is a 
director in the Bank of Moreland, gave liberally of his 
time and funds to support the war, is a democrat and 
a member of Moreland Camp No. 11663, Modern Wood- 
men of America. 

In Mercer County, at the home of the bride near 
Harrodsburg in 1896, Mr. Merriman married Miss Annie 
Watts, daughter of Uriah and Malinda (Sholt) Watts, 
the former now deceased, and her mother now lives in 
Anderson County, Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Merriman 
have an interesting family of nine children : Florence, 
wife of Arthur Wilkinson, in the wholesale poultry busi- 
ness at Lebanon, Kentucky; James, business assistant to 
his father ; Miss Lottie, at home ; Eva, wife of Estill 
Price, a rural mail carrier at Moreland; Esther, in the 
Moreland High School; Erma, Harry and Lee, all at- 
tending grammar school ; and Roy, the youngest. 

James H. Glasscock, who resides in his pleasant 
home on a small farm adjoining the City of Lebanon 
and who has long been a successful exponent of agri- 
cultural and livestock industry in Marion County, is 
a representative of the fourth generation of the Glass- 
cock family in this county. His great-grandfather, Hor- 
ton Glasscock, was born and reared in Culpeper County, 
Virginia, and became the founder of the family in 



70 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



Marion County, Kentucky, where he settled in the early 
pioneer days and instituted the reclamation and de- 
velopment of a farm. He served as a private in the War 
of 1812 and took part in the battle of New Orleans. 
His son, Elijah, grandfather of the subject of this re- 
view, passed his entire life in Marion County, where he 
became a substantial farmer and where he was an hon- 
ored pioneer citizen at the time of his death. 

James H. Glasscock was born in what is now known 
as the Haysville District of Marion County, on the 16th 
of August, 1853, a "d is a son of Chaffin and Susan 
Glasscock, both of whom remained on their farm in this 
county until their deaths. The father began his inde- 
pendent career with no financial resources or backing, 
and it was by the most arduous application, self-denial 
and economy that he and his devoted wife eventually ac- 
quired a good farm and enjoyed the prosperity and 
comfort that were eminently their due. Concerning their 
children the following brief record may consistently be 
entered at this juncture: Sallie was born in 1851 and 
died in 1894; James H, of this sketch, was the second 
child; Elijah was born in 1855 and died in 1913; Vir- 
ginia was born in 1858 and died in infancy; George, 
who was born in 1861, resides on his father's old home 
farm near Lebanon; Winnie, who was born in 1863, is 
the wife of William Canghnangher, of Lebanon ; Frank 
W. died in infancy; and Buenavista, who was born in 
1871, died in 1894. 

Owing to existing exigencies and conditions, James 
H. Glasscock received but limited educational advan- 
tages in his youth, but through self-discipline and 
through his active association with the practical 
affairs of life he has effectively overcome this youthful 
handicap and is a man of business ability and mature 
judgment. He continued to assist in the work of his 
father's farm until he had attained to his legal ma- 
jority, and on the 26th of January, 1875, he gained a 
worth}' helpmeet by his marriage to Miss Elizabeth 
Hays, who was born in Marion County on the 14th of 
January, 1855, a daughter of John and Augusta (Cox) 
Hays, the former of whom was born in Marion 
County, February 22, 1833, and the latter was born in 
Washington County, July 15, 1833. Her father was 
born in the old fort at Frankfort, this state, and his 
parents later established their home in Washington 
County, .where he was reared to manhood and proved 
himself worthy of his sterling pioneer ancestry. John 
and Augusta (Cox) Hays became the parents of five 
children, of whom Elizabeth, wife of the subject of 
this sketch, is the eldest ; James A. was born March 
10, 1858, and his death occurred October I, 1874; 
Virginia was born July 15, 1864, and died July 11, 
1865 ; Samuel was born August 7, 1867, and his death 
occurred April 28, 1888; Mary Lee was born April 
25, 1870, and now resides in the southern part of the 
State of Kansas. 

After his marriage Mr. Glasscock established his 
residence on a farm of sixty acres on North Rolling 
Fork, and to this tract he later added at intervals until 
he had accumulated a valuable property of 288 acres, 
this land being still in his possession. On this farm 
Mr. and Mrs. Glasscock maintained their home for 
twenty years, and both were indefatigable in their 
labors, even as they conserved economy by every pos- 
sible means in order to place themselves in a position 
of financial independence and to provide advantages 
for their children. In that period prices for farm 
products were low, and Mr. Glasscock recalls that he 
received for hogs raised on his place at one time only 
zVi cents a pound. For the decade between 1875 and 
1885 Mr. and Mrs. Glasscock considered they were 
doing well if they could add $100 annually to their 
savings. After applying himself vigorously to work 
all of the daylight hours Mr. Glasscock would wait till 
evening to make his trip to the mill for necessary flour 
and feed. With the passing years increasing pros- 
perity attended his efforts, and upon leaving the farm 



he removed to Bradfordsville in order to afford his 
children the advantages of the schools of that place. 
He remained at Bradfordsville sixteen years, and then 
sold his residence property in that village, in 1910, 
and purchased twenty-eight acres adjoining the City 
of Lebanon on the north. The house on this place 
was destroyed by fire in 1916, and for the following 
month he and his wife lived in the barn on the tract, 
as they did not wish to invade the homes of the neigh- 
bors, all of whom offered them generous hospitality 
and urged them to accept the same. Finally Mr. Glass- 
cock purchased an adjoining five acres from J. F. Bar- 
ber, and the modern house on this place has since 
represented the home of himself and his wife. In 
1919 he became associated with his son, Joseph, in the 
purchase of a valuable farm of 107 acres, facing two 
modern turnpike roads and constituting one of the 
choicest farm properties in Marion County, both by 
reason of fertility and on account of its excellent im- 
provements and eligible location for platting as a sub- 
division of Lebanon. This farm is under the manage- 
ment of Joseph Glasscock and is devoted to diversified 
agriculture and stock-growing. Mr. Glasscock has 
achieved success entirely through his own efforts and 
the effective co-operation of his wife, who has shared 
in his labors and responsibilities and who with him 
enjoys unqualified popularity in the county which has 
been the stage of their productive endeavors. Both are 
active members of the Baptist Church at Lebanon, and 
in politics Mr. Glasscock is a staunch democrat. 

In this concluding paragraph is given brief record 
concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Glasscock. 
James R., who was born February 6, 1876, married 
Miss Nellie Thornton, and they have two children : 
Imogene, born November 23, 1902, and Hugh, born 
May 17, 1905. Imogene is the wife of John Beard, 
of Lebanon, and they have two children : Elizabeth 
and Caroline. John C, who was born December 11, 
1877, married Miss Ella Dehoney, and they have two 
children: Elizabeth and John C, Jr. Benjamin T., 
who was born May 29, 1880, is a bachelor and resides 
at Birmingham, Alabama, he being a postal clerk in 
the railway mail service. Verna, who was born Feb- 
ruary 6, 1884, first married James E. Willis and is 
now the wife of Lawrence Walker. She has two chil- 
dren by the first marriage : Madelyn, born March 6, 
1902, and Hall G., born January 3, 1906. Samuel H., 
who was born January 26, 1888, married Miss Nora 
Isaacs, and their one child, Leland James, was born 
July 28, 1917. Joseph, the youngest of the children, 
was born December 3, 1893, and represented the fam- 
ily and his native state in the nation's military servii e 
in the late World war. On the 24th of July, 1918, 
he entered service and at Camp McClelland, Alabama, 
was assigned to Battery C, Thirty-fourth Artillery. Of 
his company of 196 men all except ihirty-four were 
confined to the hospital during the epidemic of in- 
fluenza in 1918, but he was one of those who escaped 
this affliction. The epidemic caused the revocation of 
the order for his command to sail for France, and 
when a second order was later given this, too, was re- 
voked, owing to the signing of the armistice two days 
prior to the date set for sailing. Since receiving his 
honorable discharge Joseph Glasscock has become as- 
sociated with his father in the ownership and opera- 
tion of the farm mentioned in a prior paragraph. 

Roy E. Rader. A number of young men of ex- 
ceptional initiative and executive ability are enlisted 
in the directing of large and important industrial and 
business enterprise centered about the Village of Bond, 
Jackson County, and among the number is Mr. Rader, 
who is assistant general manager of the Bond-Foley 
Lumber Company and vice president of the Bond State 
Bank. Further interest attaches to his rise in the local 
business field by reason of the fact that he is a native 
of Jackson County and a representative of an hon- 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



71 



ored and influential family of this section of the 
state. He was born at Annville, Jackson County, June 
21, 1888, and his father, Dr. John E. Rader, who was 
born in Owsley County, this state, in 1858. In his 
native county Doctor Rader was reared to the age 
of twenty years, and he then established his residence 
at Annville, Jackson County. After his graduation in 
the old Hospital College of Medicine, at Louisville, 
he continued in the practice of his profession at Ann- 
ville until 1892, when he removed to Jackson, Breathitt 
County, where, as a leading physician and surgeon of 
exceptional talent, he continued in active general prac- 
tice until 1894, when he met a tragic death, at the 
hands of a cowardly assassin, who had consistently 
become known as "Bad Tom" Smith. This dastardly 
murderer expiated his crime through legitimate legal 
action, and was hanged by the authorities of Breathitt 
County, the only man ever thus legally executed in that 
county. Doctor Rader "was a man of fine character and 
he manifested his personal and professional steward- 
ship in his effective service to his fellow men. He 
was a democrat in political adherency, was affiliated 
with the Masonic fraternity, and both he and his wife 
held membership in the Baptist Church. His wife, 
whose maiden name was Armina Bowling, was born 
in Jackson County, in 1863, and this gracious woman 
likewise met a tragic death, in 1899, when she was 
murdered by her second husband, who then killed him- 
self. Of the children, Roy E., of this sketch was 
the second in order of birth ; the eldest, Oscar M., re- 
sides at Berea, Madison County, and is a traveling 
salesman for the Belknap Hardware & Manufacturing 
Company, of Louisville; Jessie is the wife of F. W. 
King, a conductor on the line of the Rockcastle River 
Railroad, and they reside at Bond. 

Roy E. Rader, who was but six years old at the 
time of his father's death, was reared in Jackson 
County, to whose public schools he is indebted for 
his youthful education. Thereafter he was for four 
years a student in the Kentucky University, at Lexing- 
ton, and in 1912 he was graduated in the Bryant & 
Stratton Business College in the City of Louisville. 
In the meanwhile, when eighteen years of age, he 
began teaching in the rural schools, and he followed 
this vocation six years, in Jackson and Rockcastle 
counties. In 1912 he became a teacher of bookkeeping 
and penmanship, as well as rapid calculation, in the 
Bryant & Stratton Business College at Louisville, and 
he continued his effective service in this capacity until 
1914. After about a year's period of rest and recrea- 
tion he entered the employ of the allied corporations, 
the Bond-Foley Lumber Company and the Rockcastle 
River Railway Company, and through faithful and 
able service he has won advancement in this connec- 
tion, as attested by the fact that he is now assistant 
general manager of the lumber company and secre- 
tary and treasurer of the railway company, besides 
being vice president of the Bond State Bank. 

Mr. Rader is aligned in the ranks of the republican 
party. He is affiliated with Bond Lodge No. 105, 
Knights of Pythias, of which he is past chancellor; 
and with Annville Council No. 190, Junior Order of 
United American Mechanics, of which he is a past 
counsellor. He took a vigorous part in the local war 
activities during the nation's participation in the World 
war, and his individual subscriptions to the Govern- 
ment bonds were most liberal and loyal. 

May 14, 1913, at Bond, recorded the marriage of Mr. 
Rader to Miss Minerva Cornelius, daughter of Frank 
and Nancy (Edwards) Cornelius, the father being now 
a prosperous farmer near Amelia, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. 
Rader have four children, whose names and respective 
dates of birth are here noted : Howard D.. March 3, 
1914; Vernon C, October 6, 1915; Lucille Helen, Sep- 
tember 11, 1918; and Fred P., March 5, 1921. 

Reverting to the ancestral history of Mr. Rader, it is 
to be recorded that his grandfather, William Rader, 



was born in Jackson County, Kentucky, in 1832, and 
died at Welchburg, Jackson County, Kentucky, in 1918, 
where he became a pioneer farmer and where he was 
for many years a citizen of much prominence and 
influence. He was a leader in the local ranks of the 
democratic party, served as United States marshal in 
his district, as well as county sheriff, and was a gal- 
lant soldier of the Lhiion in the Civil war. He married 
Sallie Chesnut, who was born in 1833 and who passed 
her entire life in Kentucky, her death having occurred 
shortly after that of her husband, in 1918. 

Clinton F. McAfee for many years was prominent 
in the affairs of Lebanon, was a representative and 
descendant of that famous McAfee family which came 
to Kentucky in the early part of 1773, about the same 
time as Daniel Boone and other noted pioneers, and 
made their settlement not far from Harrodsburg in 
Mercer County. All authorities agree in giving them 
a conspicuous place in early Kentucky history, not only 
because of their early arrival, but on account of their 
courage, resolution, their ability to defend and make 
homes in the hostile wilderness, and certain qualities 
in leadership that have been continued through their 
descendants. 

The late Clinton F. McAfee was born in Mercer 
County December 10, 1845. His remote ancestor was 
John McAfee, Sr., of Scotland, who married Elizabeth 
Montgomery. Later in the seventeenth century, when 
James II ascended the throne of Scotland and began 
the persecution of Protestants, John McAfee, Sr., was 
one of the leaders in the emigration to the North of 
Ireland, accompanied by members of the Montgomery, 
McMichael and McCown families. His son, John, Jr., 
went with him to Ireland and both of them enlisted 
in the army of the Prince of Orange and fought at the 
battle of the Boyne. John McAfee, Jr., at the age of 
thirty married Mary Rogers, and they had four sons 
and six daughters. The second son, James McAfee, 
was born in 1707 and in 1737 married Jane McMichael, 
who was termed the "flower of Erin." She was Irish 
and he was Scotch, and their children were real Scotch- 
Irish. This is the Jane McAfee, who is buried at 
Harrodsburg, from whom many of the McAfees are 
descended. James McAfee on coming to America 
brought three children, John, James and Malcolm. 
Malcolm was named for the highland chief, Malcolm 
McAfee, one time King of Scotland. Malcolm, Jr., 
died during the voyage. John and James arrived 
safelv in America, and their brothers and sisters born 
in this country were George, Margaret, Robert, Mary, 
William and Samuel. 

The pioneers in Kentucky in 1773 were James, 
George and Robert McAfee. The story of their com- 
ing and their location at McAfee Station or McAfee 
Springs, in Mercer County, where much of the land 
is still owned by their descendants, is part of the gen- 
eral history of Kentucky, upon which this sketch will 
not encroach. Of the brothers, George McAfee was 
the father of William McAfee, and William was in 
turn the father of Clinton F. McAfee. 

Clinton F. McAfee attended school at Selvisa, and 
at the age of sixteen went to work in a drug store in 
that village, thoroughly mastering the business. Sub- 
sequently, at Harrodsburg. he owned and operated a 
drug store for a number of years. 

In 187s Clinton McAfee married Miss Minnie Shuck, 
nf Lebanon, daughter of John and Lucretia Shuck. 
Her father was a very talented and prominent Ken- 
tucky lawyer, born in 1808 and died in 1873, and the 
record of his work in the profession appears in many 
of the court records of Central Kentucky. His wife, 
Lucretia Finley, was born in 1812, was a woman of 
wonderful vitality and faculties and lived to the age 
of ninety-seven. 

In 1876 Clinton McAfee removed to Lebanon, where 



Vol. V— 8 



72 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



he established a drug business and continued one of 
the leading merchants of that city until his death on 
February 4, 1890. He was very progressive in his 
citizenship, seeking whenever possible to advance the 
interests of his community as well as his own, and 
exemplified many of the strong characteristics of his 
ancestry. 

His only child, Lucia, was born August 30, 1876, 
graduated from Potter College in Bowling Green, 
Kentucky, and on April 17, 1901, became the wife of 
Hugh Murry. Mr. Murry was also a druggist, and for 
many years conducted the leading business of the kind 
in Marion Count)', at Lebanon. He died August 8, 
1920. Surviving him is his widow, Mrs. Murry, and 
their only daughter, Margaret Coleman, who was born 
March 28, 1902. This daughter seems to inherit much 
of the beauty ascribed to her remote Irish ancestor 
known as the "flower of Erin." She is a graduate of 
Sayre College at Lexington, and on June 30, 1920, 
became the wife of James E. Durham. Mr. Durham 
was born at Lebanon June 20, 1898, son of John R. 
and Maggie (Mayes) Durham. Maggie Mayes Dur- 
ham descended from the Forsythes, who were allied 
with the McAfees in early generations, and the 
Forsythes were also among the earliest Kentucky pio- 
neers. James E. Durham is a successful business man 
of Lebanon, and is associated with his father in the 
management of a hardware and plumbing establish- 
ment at Lebanon and extensive farming interests. 
James E. Durham was educated at Center College, 
Danville. 

Johx Richard Barber. One of the very prominent 
families of Washington County has been that of Bar- 
ber, represented by the late John Richard Barber, who 
was one of the county's wealthy citizens and who 
shared much of his individual prosperity with the 
community. 

He was born in Jefferson County, Kentucky. June 5, 
1841, son of Philetus Swift and Cecelia (Smith) Bar- 
ber. Philetus Swift Barber was a native of Buffalo, 
New York, and had a youth of struggle and adversity. 
As a young man he removed .to the City of Louisville. 
He had an expert knowledge of the hatter's trade, 
and followed that occupation at Louisville for several 
years. Later he became a furrier, and bought and 
gathered furs over a wide extent of country, even in 
Canada. The surplus from his business he invested 
wisely in real estate, and in course of years was pros- 
pered, so that his fortune was estimated at more than 
$300,000, an amount that spelled wealth at the time. 
His wife, Cecelia Smith, was a native of Washington 
County, Kentucky, was of humble parentage, but pos- 
sessed of strong intellect and force of character, and 
her keen business judgment was largely responsible 
for her husband's success. He was not a man of edu- 
cation, but was actuated by high purpose and had won- 
derful resources of both mind and body. His wife 
was of Catholic parentage, and throughout life was a 
devout Catholic, winning her husband over to the same 
faith and, of course, her children. When they married 
and for several years afterward they lived near Louis- 
ville, removing then to a farm in Washington County. 
Their final years were spent at Bardstown, where both 
died at advanced age. 

John Richard Barber completed his education at St. 
Mary's College in Washington County. In 1861 he 
entered the Confederate army and served in the famous 
Orphan Brigade. He was captured and for months 
was held a prisoner of war at Rock Island, Illinois. 
After the return of peace he identified himself with 
the old home in Kentucky, soon married and settled 
on a farm in Washington County. While farming was 
his life occupation, he had various extensive interests. 
He was a builder of a fine hotel building and an opera 
house at Springfield, and his time and means were 
always at the disposal of progressive interests. 



John Richard Barber, who died at his country home 
near Springfield February 14, 1920, married first Miss 
Piety Yancy, of Clarksville, Tennessee. She was sur- 
vived by four sons, Philetus S., Jr., and John L., of 
Springfield, and Thomas Yancy and Kent C, of Bards- 
town. In 1885 John R. Barber married Miss Mary 
Anderson. She is the mother of three sons and two 
daughters, Joseph Alexander, Samuel L., Richard O., 
Marie Cecilia, wife of Dr. H. J. Boone, a dentist, and 
Mrs. Sarah Louise Dudley. The family are Catholics, 
and Mrs. Barber and several of her children still live 
at Springfield. 

James Thomas Prather. During an active life of 
nearly forty years Mr. Prather has become prominently 
known in Washington County as a teacher, farmer, a 
positive influence in politics and civic affairs, and dur- 
ing the past four years as county clerk. 

Mr. Prather was born on a farm in Washington 
County, March 22, 1864, a son of Isaiah and Elizabeth 
( Sutton) Prather, natives and life-long residents of 
Washington County, and a grandson of Thomas W. 
and Elizabeth (Colter) Prather. Isaiah Prather, who 
lived to the age of seventy-two, devoted his years to 
farming, but was also active in republican politics and 
for nearly twenty-five years a justice of the peace. He 
was a member of the Baptist Church. His first wife, 
Elizabeth Sutton, was a daughter of James Sutton, 
who married a Miss House. Elizabeth Prather died at 
the age of thirty years, the mother of three children: 
Amanda F., deceased; James Thomas; and Preston 
Bramlett, one of the leading farmers of Washington 
County. Isaiah Prather's second wife was Fannie 
Hardin, and they reared two daughters. Flora and 
Lula. 

James Thomas Prather acquired a good education 
in rural schools and in the high school at Perryville, 
and as a young man began teaching, a vocation he 
combined with increasing interests as a farmer. His 
home was in the country until he moved to Springfield 
to take up his duties as county clerk. Mr. Prather 
was elected on the republican ticket to this office in 
1917. He is a member of the Baptist Church and is 
a Master Mason. On August 28, 1883, he married Miss 
Elizabeth Scruggs, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William 
Pearson Scruggs. 

Sawyer A. Smith is a leading member of the bar of 
Knox County, is engaged in the practice of his pro- 
fession at Barbourville. the county seat, with offices in 
the Hoskins Building, on East Knox Street, has served 
as a member of the Kentucky Legislature, and from 
1909 to 1913 he held the position of assistant United 
State district attorney, with official headquarters in the 
City of Covington. Kentucky. 

Mr. Smith was born on the family homestead farm. 
twelve miles north of Barbourville. Knox County, on 
the 9th of April, 1883. His paternal grandfather, Rob- 
ert Smith, was born and reared in North Carolina, 
where he passed his entire life and became a pros- 
perous farmer, and where his death occurred when his 
snn. George W.. father of Sawyer A., was a child. 
The founders of the Smith family in North Carolina 
came from England in the Colonial period of Amer- 
ican history- 
George W. Smith, who now resides at Pineville. 
judicial center of Bell County, Kentucky, was born in 
North Carolina in 1851 and, as already noted, was a 
child at the time of his father's death. He came 
with his widowed mother to Knox County._ Kentucky, 
where he was reared to manhood, where his marriage 
occurred, and where he developed the fine old home- 
stead farm on which his son, Sawyer A., was born. 
There be continued his constructive activities as one of 
the successful agriculturists and stock-growers of 
Knox County until 1915. since which year he has lived 
virtually retired at Pineville. He is a man of strong 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



73 



individuality, was influential in community affairs dur- 
ing the long period of his residence on his Knox 
County farm, is a republican in politics, and is an 
active member of the Baptist Church, as was also his 
wife. Mrs. Smith, whose maiden name was Sarah 
McKinney and who was better known by the personal 
name of Sallie, was born in Knox County in 1851, 
and here her death occurred on the heme farm, twelve 
miles north of Barbourville, in the year 1898. Eliza- 
beth, eldest of the children, became the wife of Joseph 
Hammons, who now is engaged in farming five miles 
distant from Lancaster, Garrard County, and she died 
in Knox County when only twenty-seven years of age. 
Robert was serving as deputy sheriff of Knox County 
at the time of his tragic death, on the 2.4th of Decem- 
ber, 1919. In pursuit of his officials duties he was 
striving to effect the arrest of two negro thieves, one 
of whom shot and killed him at Artemus, this county, 
on the date above noted, his home having been at 
Barbourville. Sawyer A., of this sketch, was the next 
in order of birth and is the youngest of the children. 

Reared under the invigorating influences of the home 
farm, Sawyer A. Smith initiated his educational work 
by attending the rural schools, and thereafter he con- 
tinued his studies in the Baptist Institute at Barbour- 
ville and Cumberland College, at Williamsburg. In 
preparation for his chosen profession he entered the 
law department of Valparaiso University, at Val- 
paraiso, Indiana, and in this institution he was grad- 
uated as a member of the class of 1906. After thus 
receiving his degree of Bachelor of Laws he returned 
to Barbourville, was forthwith admitted to the bar 
of his native state, and he has since continued in active 
and successful general practice at the judicial center 
of his native county, the broad scope and importance 
of his law business bearing definite assurance of his 
professional ability and his unqualified personal pop- 
ularity. He is official attorney for the First National 
Bank of Barbourville, in which he is a stockholder, 
and is local attorney for fully fifteen large coal-mining 
corporations operating in Southeastern Kentucky. He 
owns and occupies one of the modern and attractive 
residences of Barbourville, at 324 East Knox Street. 
He is a member of the Kentucky State Bar Association, 
is a vigorous advocate of the principles and policies for 
which the republican party stands sponsor, and has 
been influential in the ranks of his party in this sec- 
tion of Kentucky. In November, 1907, he was elected 
representative of the Sixty-ninth Legislative District in 
the Lower House of the Kentucky Legislature, his 
district comprising Knox and Whitley Counties. The 
campaign of 1908 was that in which Hon. W. O. Brad- 
ley, republican, defeated Hon. J. C. W. Beckham, dem- 
ocrat, in the election to the office of United States 
senator, and Mr. Smith was Senator Bradley's floor- 
leader in the Kentucky House of Representatives dur- 
ing the legislative session of 1908, in which also he 
made an effective record in the furthering of wise 
legislation and in advancing the interests of his con- 
stituent district. It has already been stated that he 
served as United States district attorney at Covington 
from 1909 to 1913. 

Local activities in connection with the nation's par- 
ticipation in the World war received the effective and 
loyal co-operation of Mr. Smith, who gave material 
assistance in the Knox County drives in support of 
the Government war loans, savings stamps, etc., as a 
member of the executive committees, and who was a 
member of the committee which directed the Red Cross 
campaign in Knox County. In ■■- furtherance of these 
war measures he made many patriotic speeches through- 
out his home county, and his financial contributions to 
the loans and other war objects were of liberal order. 
Without asking any compensation he served as a mem- 
ber of the Knox County Exemption Board during the 
entire period of America's association with the war. 

December 29, 191 3, recorded the marriage of Mr. 



Smith to Miss Effie Barton, daughter of the late George 
and Mary (Sevier) Barton, who were residents of 
Knox County at the time of their death, Mr. Barton 
having long been engaged in the merchandise business 
at Gray, this county. Mrs. Smith was graduated in the 
Kentucky State Normal School at Richmond, and for 
four years prior to her marriage she was a successful 
and popular teacher in the high school at Middlesboro, 
Bell County. Both she and her husband are active 
members of the Baptist Church at Barbourville. They 
have no children. 

William A. Waters. The public service Judge 
Waters has rendered during his many years of resi- 
dence in Springfield and Washington County entitles 
him to a high position of honor in the community 
and demands some representation in a volume of rep- 
resentative Kentuckians. 

He is a native son of Washington County, born Jan- 
uary 23, 1856, a son of Alexander and Nancy (Trow- 
bridge) Waters. His father, a native of Lincoln 
County, was a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Souther- 
land) Waters, who came to Kentucky from Maryland 
and moved to Washington County when Alexander, 
their son, was two years old. Nancy Trowbridge was 
born and reared in Washington County, daughter of 
Alexander and Eliza (Johnson) Trowbridge. She 
lived to the age of seventy and her husband to sev- 
enty-five. Of their five children one died in infancy 
and four are still living. The family are Baptists, and 
Alexander Waters was a staunch republican in pol- 
itics. He spent his life as a farmer, and it was on a 
farm that William A. Waters grew to manhood. 

William A. Waters acquired a country school edu- 
cation, and as a young man left the farm and became 
a drug clerk. Later for a number of years he was in 
business for himself as a druggist at Springfield. In 
1897 President McKinley appointed him postmaster. 
That office he held for sixteen years, and made it an 
opportunity for complete and effective service to all 
the patrons of the office. He resigned to become su- 
perintendent of Grundy's Orphanage Home, a Presby- 
terian institution, and that was his post of duty for 
four years. 

Long active in republican politics, Mr. Waters had 
a very unusual honor, one significant of his personal 
standing and popularity as much as his political affili- 
ation when in 1917 he was elected county judge, being 
the first successful republican candidate for this office 
in twenty-five years. He is giving a well-ordered and 
efficient administration of county affairs. 

Judge Waters is a Royal Arch Mason and a mem- 
ber of the Presbyterian Church. In 1881 he married 
Miss Lula N. Lee, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thorn- 
ton Lee, of Washington County. Their four living 
children are Elizabeth, William A., Jr., Robert Allen 
and Thornton Lee Waters. 

William Caldwell McChord, of Springfield, has 
been a member of the Kentucky bar for practically 
half a century. His name ranks high among Ken- 
tucky lawyers, though doubtless he will be longest re- 
membered on account of the leadership and the spe- 
cial services he has rendered in public affairs and the 
public life of his home county of Washington and the 
state at large. 

His early life was one of struggle, the necessity of 
self-support interfering with the rapid achievement of 
his ambition to become a lawyer. His boyhood fell in 
the troublous period of the Civil war and reconstruc- 
tion, when the family fortune had been shattered, and 
he represents some old and distinguished names in 
Kentucky history. 

The founder of the Kentucky branch of the family 
was John McChord, who came to this state from 
Maryland. He was of Scotch-Irish lineage and his 
religious faith that of the "old blue stocking" Presby- 



74 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



terian Church. He was one of the pioneers of 
Washington County. His son, Rev. James McChord, 
attained a distinguished name as a Presbyterian minis- 
ter at Lexington. However, the line of descent to the 
Springfield lawyer was through his son, John McChord, 
Jr., who married Lydia Caldwell. Lydia Caldwell was 
a daughter of William T. and Mary (Wickliffe) Cald- 
well. Mary Wickliffe was the oldest sister of Gov- 
ernor Wickliffe of Kentucky. Their father, Charles 
Wickliffe, married a Miss Hardin, a sister of Ben 
Hardin, the great Kentuckian, and was an early pio- 
neer of Kentucky. The Hardins, Wickliffes and Cald- 
wells all came from Virginia. William T. Caldwell was 
identified with the beginning of history in Washington 
County. His place of settlement is still referred to 
as the Caldwell farm. On his land there in 1794 he 
built a brick residence, one of the finest structures of 
that kind in the state. 

It was in this historic home that William Caldwell 
McChord was born July 3, 1S50. He was a son of 
Robert Caldwell and Laura (Hynes) McChord. His 
father, who was born in Washington County Decem- 
ber 24, 1824, and died in Marion County at the age 
of eighty-two, had inherited the old Caldwell home- 
stead. The land of the Caldwell farm was patented 
to William T. Caldwell by Patrick Henry, then gov- 
ernor of Virginia. It remained in the hands of some 
members of the Caldwell family until 1863, when the 
ravages of the Civil war scattered the fortunes of 
Robert Caldwell McChord, then the owner, and he was 
compelled to sell and transfer his title to the property. 
For a brief period Robert Caldwell McChord and his 
family resided in Boyle County and then removed to 
Marion County, where he lived out his years. His 
wife had died in 1879, at the age of fifty. She was a 
woman of great strength and beauty of character, and 
was born and reared at Bardstown. She and her sis- 
ter were small children when her parents, Mr. and 
Mrs. Abner Hynes died, and she grew up in the home 
of her uncle, Dr. Alfred Hynes. 

William Caldwell McChord spent his early life in 
the country, and was thirteen years of age when his 
parents moved from Washington County to Boyle and 
thence to Marion County. With only the advantages 
of the ordinary country schools, he at the age of 
seventeen became a clerk in the store of Mr. Phillips, 
then and for many years the leading merchant of 
Lebanon. Not long afterward he arrived at the im- 
portant decision to become a lawyer. His purposes 
were communicated to Mr. Phillips, who tried to dis- 
courage him, partly because he did not want to lose 
a good clerk and also because of Mr. McChord's lim- 
ited education. Fortunately the young clerk was not 
to be turned aside from his decision, though there fol- 
lowed some years of struggle with adversity that might 
have discouraged one of less determined temper. 
Leaving Lebanon, he secured a clerkship in the office 
of the circuit clerk of Washington County, at a salary 
not enough to live on. While there he studied law, 
and in 1872, at the age of twenty-two, was admitted 
to the bar. He continued to serve as deputy in the 
Circuit Court clerk's office and in 1874 was elected 
county attorney and in September of the same year 
appointed master commissioner of the Washington 
County Circuit Court. He discharged the duties of 
commissioner six years and for eight years was county 
attorney, doing the work of both offices part of the 
time. Through these official positions he gained rec- 
ognition for his abilities as a lawyer, and on leaving 
office had an extensive business awaiting him as a 
private practitioner. In 1887 he was elected from 
Washington County to the Lower House of the State 
Legislature. During the following session the Legis- 
lature provided for the calling of the Constitutional 
Convention of 1890-01. In that convention Mr. Mc- 
Chord was a delegate, and when the work of formu- 
lating the organic law was completed, Governor John 



Young Brown appointed Mr. McChord, John D. Car- 
roll and James Sims as a committee of three to revise 
the Kentucky statutes to conform to the new consti- 
tution. That was a labor of a year. 

In 1908 Mr. McChord was again returned to the 
Legislature. He took a conspicuous part in the delib- 
eration of that body, particularly toward securing leg- 
islation favorable to the interests of tobacco growers. 
Subsequently he became counsel for the Burley tobacco 
growers of Kentucky, and was instrumental in secur- 
ing some of the legal relief from the oppressive con- 
ditions under which the growers had labored, and 
also did much to educate public opinion through a 
concise statement of economic conditions which he pre- 
pared and had circulated. 

To Mr. McChord is due much credit for the improve- 
ment of Washington County's transportation service. 
He took the lead in building what is now known as the 
Louisville & Springfield branch of the Louisville & 
Nashville Railroad. For many years he has been at- 
torney for that railroad. 

In addition to an extensive law practice Mr. Mc- 
Chord for many years had had important farming 
interests. He is a stanch democrat, and his name has 
been one of great prestige and influence in the party. 
He has been affiliated with the Masonic Order since 
1872, is a Knight Templar, and in 1900 was elected 
grand master of the Grand Lodge of Kentucky Masons. 
He is a member of the Presbyterian Church. 

In 1875, while a young and struggling lawyer, Mr. 
McChord married Miss Nannie McElroy, and their 
home throughout their married life has been in Spring- 
field. Five children were born to their marriage, one 
of whom died in infancy. The four living are: 
Charles M. McChord, a lawyer at Springfield ; William 
C, Jr., assistant cashier of the First National Bank of 
Springfield; Annie, wife of Rev. W. H. Williams, a 
Baptist minister at St. Joseph, Missouri; and Jack 
Hynes McChord, also an attorney, now connected with 
the law department of the Louisville & Nashville Rail- 
road at Louisville. Jack Hynes McCord was a vol- 
unteer for service during the World war, received his 
commission as a captain in the Officers Training School 
at Fort Benjamin Harrison, and was sent overseas to 
France, but had no opportunity to get into front line 
duty before the signing of the armistice. 

Leslie W. Morris is a Frankfort lawyer of many 
substantial business connections and interests, is a 
former state senator, and for a number of years his 
name has been one of exceptional note in the state, 
and he is one of Kentucky's honored sons. 

He was born in Woodford County December 3, 1885. 
The family were settled in Woodford County in pioneer 
times by his grandfather, John R. Morris, a native of 
Virginia, who prior to the Civil war owned extensive 
tracts of land and many slaves in Woodford County, but 
lost much of his fortune as a result of the war. He died 
in Woodford County. He married a Miss Deering, 
a native and lifelong resident of old Woodford. E. H, 
Morris, father of the Frankfort lawyer, was born in 
Woodford County in 1845, grew up and married and 
became a farmer in that section, and was identified 
with agriculture until he retired in 1904 and has since 
lived in Frankfort. He is a democrat and a member 
of the Catholic Church. His wife was Eddie V. Ste- 
phens, who was born in Franklin County, Kentucky, 
in 1857 and died in Frankfort June 6, 1915. She was 
the mother of four sons, Leslie being the third in age. 
All the others followed commercial careers as travel- 
ing salesmen. William L. lives at Charlestown, West 
Virginia; Ralph H. died at Frankfort in 1908 at the 
age of thirty-three, while Chester D. lives at Frank- 
fort and represents the Florsheim Shoe Company of 
Chicago in Alabama, Florida and Georgia. 

Leslie W. Morris during his youth attended the rural 
schools in his native county, and for six years was a 




lO ^yiA^s~-2x^-<s 







,^„„.„ _ n the 1 

lating the organic law was completed, uovernor juim 3v 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



75 



student in the Excelsior Institute, a noted educational 
institute of Franklin County, where he was prepared 
for college. He left this school in 1902, graduated 
in 1903 from the Frankfort Business College under 
Professor H. C. McKee, and in the fall of 1903 began 
his law studies and was employed as stenographer in 
the office of John W. Rodman at Frankfort. Mr. 
Morris was admitted to the bar December II, 1906, 
and for fifteen years has been a leading lawyer both 
in the civil and criminal branches of practice. His 
offices are in his own buildings at 226 St. Clair Street. 
Mr. Morris is an extensive property owner at Frank- 
fort, some of his holdings including two stores and 
apartment buildings on Broadway, two brick build- 
ings on Bridge Street used for commercial and resi- 
dence purposes, two dwelling houses on Steel Street, 
and a half interest in five residences at the foot of 
Fourth Street and also a warehouse property there. 
He lives in a modern home owned by his father at 
212 Campbell Street. Mr. Morris is a stockholder 
in the Frankfort Oil Company, is attorney and stock- 
holder in the Farmers Deposit Bank of Frankfort, and 
attorney for several local corporations. 

He is vice president of the Frankfort Bar Associa- 
tion and a member of the State Bar Association, and 
was chairman of the Legal Advisory Committee in 
Franklin County under the selective service law ap- 
pointed by Governor Stanley and did a great deal of 
work during the war in behalf of the various patriotic 
movements, making many speeches for the Y. M. C. A. 
and Red Cross. 

As a member of the State Senate he represented 
the Twentieth District, comprising Franklin, Ander- 
son and Mercer counties, and was in the special ses- 
sion of 1917 when the new tax law was adopted. He 
also gave the strength of his influence toward a tax 
on coal production, a measure that was defeated. _ Mr. 
Morris is a democrat, a member of the Christian 
Church, and is affiliated with Capital Lodge No. 6, 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Franklin Lodge 
No. 530 of the Elks, Frankfort Aerie No. 923 of the 
Fraternal Order of Eagles, and the Masonic Order. 

In 1918 at Louisville he married Miss May Hocken- 
smith, daughter of Albert and Bettie (Holton) Hock- 
ensmith. Her mother is still living, with home at the 
Forks of Elkhorn and Franklin County. Her father 
was a farmer and an extensive breeder of trotting 
horses, a business which to a considerable degree is 
still carried on by Mrs. Morris and her sister, Miss 
Daisy Hockensmith, who own a number of trotting 
horses and brood mares. Mrs. Morris finished her 
education in Georgetown College at Georgetown, 
Kentucky. 

Jefferson Henry may consistently he designated as 
the honored dean of the bar of Green County, and 
during the course of his long and successful profes- 
sional career he has been identified with much of the 
important litigation in the various courts of this sec- 
tion of the state. Though he is not a native of Ken- 
tucky, he is a scion of one of the old and honored 
families of Green County, this state, his paternal 
grandfather, Belfield Henry, a native of Virginia, hav- 
ing been comparatively a young man when he came 
to Kentucky and numbered himself among the pioneer 
settlers of Green County, where his death occurred a 
number of years prior to the birth of the subject of 
this review. He became one of the extensive land- 
holders and farmers of the county, and prior to the 
Civil war owned a large number of slaves. He was 
of Scotch-Irish lineage, and the original representa- 
tives of the family in America came from Ireland to 
Virginia in the Colonial era of our national history. 
Belfield Henry married Miss Elizabeth Kirtley, like- 
wise a native of Virginia, and both were well ad- 
vanced in years at the time of their deaths. 

Jefferson Henry, who is familiarly known by the 



abbreviated name of "Jeff," was born in Cedar County, 
Missouri, on the 26th of February, 1849, and is a son 
of James L. and Margaret (Brownlee) Henry, both 
natives of Green County, Kentucky, where the former 
was born in 181 1 and the latter in 1810. The father 
died at Canehill, Arkansas, in 1871, and the mother 
subsequently passed to the life eternal at Burnet, Texas. 
James L. Henry was reared and educated in Green 
County, and here became a successful agriculturist and 
stock-grower. In 1840 he removed to Cedar County, 
Missouri, where he became the owner of a large farm 
estate, including a stock ranch, and where he main- 
tained a force of thirty or forty slaves in his extensive 
operations as an agriculturist and stock-grower. He 
continued his residence in Missouri until 1862, when 
he removed with his family to Grayson County, Texas, 
where he became the owner of a large ranch near 
Kentuckytown, and where he took, his slaves, who there 
remained with him until the close of the Civil war, 
which effected their emancipation. In 1865, shortly 
after the close of the war, Mr. Henry removed to 
Canehill, Arkansas, with the primary object of giving 
his children the advantages of Canehill College, and 
there he remained until his death, in 1871. He was 
an uncompromising advocate of the principles of the 
democratic party, was more or less active and influ- 
ential in political affairs in Kentucky, Missouri and 
Texas, and served as county judge of Cedar County, 
Missouri, from 1840 until i860. Both he and his wife 
were zealous members of the Cumberland Presbyterian 
Church. Of their children the eldest was C. M., who 
was a prominent and extensive agriculturist in the 
vicinity of Canehill, Arkansas, for many years prior 
to his death, which there occurred when he was sev- 
enty-three years of age. He served as colonel of a 
Confederate regiment in the Civil war, near the close 
of which he received the brevet rank of brigadier 
general. Elizabeth became the wife of James T. Moore 
and both passed the remainder of their lives in Texas, 
where Mr. Moore was a prosperous farmer. He was 
captain of his company in a Confederate regiment in 
the Civil war, and was severely wounded in an en- 
gagement at Froggy Bayou, Louisiana. Martha died 
at Burnet, Texas, when forty years of age. Malvina 
became the wife of Dr. A. J. Culberson, a leading 
physician at Burnet, Texas, and there her death oc- 
curred. Jefferson, immediate subject of this review, 
was the next in order of birth. Malvina became the 
wife of William E. Culberson, and both died at Burnet, 
Texas, where he had been engaged in a mercantile 
business for a long period. William was drowned in a 
cloudburst in Wyoming when twenty-five years of age. 
T. A., who was for many years successfully identified 
with the banking business, died in 1919, at Red Fork, 
Oklahoma. The above record shows that the subject 
of this sketch is now the only surviving member of 
this family of children. 

The rural schools of Missouri and Texas afforded 
Jefferson Henry his preliminary education, and after 
the removal of the family to Canehill, Arkansas, he 
there attended the high school two years and the Cane- 
hill College for an equal period. In the meanwhile he 
had applied himself also to the study of law, and on 
the 22d of January, 1872, he was admitted to the bar 
of Kentucky. In that year he established himself in 
practice at Greensburg, where he has since continued 
as one of the leading members of the Green County 
bar and where he has long controlled a large and rep- 
resentative law business, which has extended into both 
the civil and criminal departments of law and re- 
corded the winning of many court victories of impor- 
tant order. Mr. Henry is a man who has ever been 
a student, and his reading and study have covered a 
remarkably wide range, with the result that his cul- 
tural powers are of the finest type and his intellectual 
horizon very wide. At his pleasant home, known for 



76 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



its generous and unpretentious hospitality, he has one 
of the best private libraries in Kentucky. His law 
offices are maintained in the Henry Building, of which 
he has been the owner since 1S78, and which is situ- 
ated on the west side of the courthouse square in 
Greensburg, his modern residence being at the corner 
of Main and Cross streets and being one of the finest 
in the city. In addition to these urban properties Mr. 
Henry is the owner of a well-improved farm on the 
rich bottom lands at the mouth of Big Russell Creek, 
Green County. He has always adhered to the ancestral 
political faith and is a leader in the ranks of the dem- 
ocratic party in this section of the state. He served 
eight years as county attorney of Green County, but 
in the main has had no desire for public office, as he 
has preferred to give his undivided attention to his 
large and representative law practice. Both he and 
his wife are active members of the Presbyterian 
Church in Greensburg. 

The perennial youth of Mr. Henry has been largely 
due to his vital interest in men and affairs, and the 
questions and issues of the hour receive his appre- 
ciative attention. Thus it was to be naturally assumed 
that he would take a prominent part in the various 
local war activities when the nation became involved 
in the great World war. He was chairman of the 
advisory board of Green County, served on other war 
committees in the county, aided in the various cam- 
paigns in the sale of war bonds and savings stamps, 
and to the full limit of his means he subscribed to these 
issues and gave earnest support to Red Cross and Sal- 
vation Army service. 

December 12, 1872, recorded the marriage of Mr. 
Henry to Miss Josephine L. Perry, daughter of 
Joseph and Elizabeth (Tebbs) Perry, of Green County, 
where both continued to reside until their deaths, Mr. 
Perry having long been a substantial capitalist and 
leading banker of Greensburg. Mr. and Mrs. Henry 
have but one child, Claudia, who is the wife of Early 
Vaughan, a successful farmer near Greensburg. 

T. H. Hardesty, M. D. A prosperous physician and 
well-known citizen of the St. Mary's community, Doc- 
tor Hardesty earned his earfy reputation and success 
in his profession by performing the arduous service 
of a country doctor in a district where he attended 
calls night and day, over bad roads, and many miles 
from home. He has exemplified the fine type of char- 
acter, the self-sacrificing, devoted and able physician, 
and to an unusual degree has been able to mold life 
according to his own ambitions and effort-. 

Doctor Harde'-ty was born in Meade County, Ken- 
tucky, November 4, 1862. son of John S. and Sarah 
(Stephens) Hardesty. His father was a native of 
Kentucky and his mother of Indiana. The Hardestys 
came to Kentucky from St. Mary's County. Maryland, 
and were of Irish ancestry. John S. Hardesty spent 
his life as a farmer in Meade County. Four of his 
children reached mature years: Ida L., wife of T. M. 
Knott, of Meade County ; Frank, who lives at Tulsa, 
Oklahoma, and married Nora Squires ; Augustus, who 
married Daisy Payne, of Meade County. 

Dr. T. H. Hardesty grew up on a farm and shared 
in the heavy toil of a country district with only com- 
mon school advantages. He earned all his higher 
education, and put forth strenuous efforts to achieve 
his early ambitions. For a time he was a student in 
the Theresa Academy in Meade County. Being unable 
to acquire the means for a professional education in 
his home environment, he went West, to Colorado, 
and became a laborer in the mines. He earned $3 a 
day at regular wages, and then by work after hours 
unloading ore wagons added substantially to his pay 
envelope, and by living very economically acquired 
the capital that enabled him to enter the School of 
Medicine of Louisville University, where he graduated 
with the M. D. degree in 1894. Doctor Hardesty be- 



gan practice in his old home locality in Paynesville. 
It was a rugged country, with bad roads, and there 
are few physicians still in practice who braved the 
elements and did more physically exhausting labor in 
looking after their practice in early years than Doctor 
Hardesty. His sound talent and ability supplemented 
this professional zeal, and it is not strange that at 
one time he had the largest practice any physician 
ever enjoyed in that county. 

In 1916 Doctor Hardesty removed to Stithton, Har- 
din County, where he practiced from December of 
that year until September, 19.18. The Federal authori- 
ties located Camp Knox in that section of Kentucky, 
and his property with others, was appropriated for 
Government use. He was called upon to perform hos- 
pital duty for the army until February 10, 1919, when 
he removed to St. Mary's and bought a beautiful and 
sightly home adjoining the town, where he has thirty- 
five acres in his estate. From here he continues his 
work as a physician. 

Doctor Hardesty in 1881 married Mary A. Clark, 
who died October 26, 1S94. By this union he had four 
children: Edith, born February I, 1885, is the wife of 
Oscar Burch, a well-known farmer in Meade County, 
and they have four sons and three daughters; Lena is 
the wife of John E. Flaherty, a Meade County farmer, 
and has five sons and two daughters ; C. Alonzo, a 
farmer in Hardin County, who married Blanche Brown 
and is the father of two boys ; Emma O., born Feb- 
ruary 24, 1892, completed the eighth grade course of 
the public schools, attended Bryant and Stratton Busi- 
ness College, for one year was a bookkeeper and 
stenographer, and then joined the Sisters of the Good 
Shepherd and is now located at Carthage, Ohio. Octo- 
ber 3, 1896, Doctor Hardesty married Miss Ada Har- 
rison, of Meade County. She died in June, 1898, leav- 
ing one daughter, Mattie L., who died May 10, 1913, 
at the age of sixteen. On January 9, 1900, Doctor 
Hardesty married Mrs. Dorothy (Campbell) Pollock. 
The three children of their union are : Louise, born 
October 15, 1903, a high school student ; Thadeus, born 
December 20, 1908, now in the sixth grade ; and Clar- 
ence, born in 1910. Doctor Hardesty, as this record 
shows, has a large family of children and grandchil- 
dren, and much of the impelling force of his early 
professional work was to provide "properly for his chil- 
dren, and he thoroughly educated them and helped 
them to start in business. He is a public-spirited and 
broad-minded citizen and a faithful Catholic. 

Joseph M. Mattingly, whose home is three miles 
from Lebanon, on St. Mary's Pike, is a member of 
a very prominent family long socially identified with 
the agricultural, business and religious affairs of 
Marion County. Mr. Mattingly started his career as 
a banker, but after his father's death became a farmer, 
and is one of the men who have made for progress 
in Marion County agriculture. 

He was born in Marion County July 27, 1865, son 
of Edward H. and Althair (Spalding) Mattingly. His 
father was born in 1818 and died in 1891, and his 
mother was born in 1822 and died in 1890. Both were 
natives of Marion County. The grandfather was Basil 
Mattingly. Edward H. "Mattingly and wife had eight 
children. 

The oldest was the late Dr. W. E. Mattingly, a dis- 
tinguished physician and philanthropist of Marion 
County. He was educated in St. Mary's College, studied 
medicine, graduated from Louisville University, began 
practice at Lebanon, and earned the gratitude of an 
entire community by his courage and faithfulness dur- 
ing the cholera epidemic of 1873, when he remained 
at his post of duty and then, as always, gave his serv- 
ices and abilities without distinction as to rich or poor 
or any other class. While much of his practice was 
among the poor and gratuitous, he amassed a fortune. 
He married Capitola Buckler, of a prominent family 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



77 



of Owensboro, Kentucky. Doctor Mattingly died Feb- 
ruary i, igio. He was devoted to the Catholic Church 
and at the time of his death made some generous be- 
quests to church causes in his locality and also set 
aside a fund of $5,000 income which was to be devoted 
to the welfare of the worthy poor in Lebanon. 

The second child in this interesting family is Mary 
Susan, wife of Charles Beaven, of St. Mary's. The 
third, Florence Elizabeth, is the widow of James J. 
O'Sullivan, a man of brilliant talents, a great math- 
ematician, and he was associated editor of the Nash- 
ville Banner at Nashville, Tennessee. He died in 1875. 
The second son and fourth child, Thomas Basil Mat- 
tingly, for many years was an extensive mule dealer 
over the South, has always lived in Lebanon and is 
now retired. He married first Teresa Twyman, of 
Scott County, and for his second wife, Eliza Polin. 
Julia Mahala, the fifth child, is the wife of Edward 
M. Roney, of St. Mary's, and now lives at Lebanon. 

George Mattingly, the sixth in the family, was born 
October 14, 1852, and is a prosperous farmer on a 
portion of his father's estate. His first wife was Mattie 
Clark, and on January 28, 1898, he married Delia Mills, 
who was born at Calvary, March 25, 1869. George 
Mattingly and wife had four children. The oldest, 
Annie Josephine, born December 31, 1899, after a 
four years' course graduated with the last class of 
the noted Loretta Academy in 1918. The younger 
children are : George L., born August 8, 1902, finisheo. 
his education in St. Mary's and is a farmer; Joseph 
Alphonsus, born July 2, 1903, who attended school at 
St. Mary's and is preparing for the priesthood; and 
William Earnst, born September 3, 1904. 
_ Ben S. Mattingly, the seventh child, is a prosperous 
livestock commission merchant living at 920 Cherokee 
Road in Louisville. His first wife was Annie E. Twy- 
man and his second marriage was to Lela Elkin. 

Joseph M. Mattingly was the eighth and youngest 
of the family. He was educated in St. Mary's, worked 
according to his increasing strength on his father's 
farm, and on leaving the farm became associated with 
the Marion Bank in Lebanon. His father prior to 
his death in 1891 had requested that the old home- 
stead remain in the family, and in order to do his 
part toward carrying out that request Joseph M. Mat- 
tingly left the bank and he and his two brothers bought 
from the other heirs the old homestead of 365 acres 
and then divided it. Joseph M. Mattingly lives in 
the comfortable old home erected by his father in 
1857, and has given his best energies to agriculture 
for the past thirty years. 

On February 16, 1898, at St. Mary's, he married 
Eliza Catherine Mattingly, of the same family name 
but not related. She was born January 10, 1870, a 
daughter of John A. and Teresa (O'Daniel) Mattingly. 
To their marriage were born seven children : Mahala, 
born December 15, 1898, died at the age of four years. 
Joseph M., Jr., born September 10, 1900, was educated 
in St. Mary's College, and on his eighteenth birthday, 
September 10, 1918. became subject to the draft and 
two days later was called. He was anxious to get 
into the service, but the armistice was signed before 
his preliminary training had been completed. The 
third child, Mary Cecelia, born June 17, 1902, was edu- 
cated in St. Catherine's Academy, and is a finished 
musician, having a great deal of technical ability as 
a pianist. She lives at home. Imelda C, born June 
6, 1904, is a student in the St. Cnarles High School; 
Edward H., born August 4, 1905, also in the St. Charles 
High School ; Richard F., born January 20, 1907, at- 
tends school at St. Charles ; and Mary Teresa, born 
March 17, 1910, died in infancy. 

Mrs. Joseph Mattingly had three nephews, sons of 
F. X. and Annie (Mattingly) Rapier, who were dis- 
tinguished young soldiers in the American forces over- 
seas. Their names are John Mattingly, H. Claude 
and Julian Rapier. John and Julian saw some of the 



heaviest fighting on the western front, were "over 
the top" many times, and frequently in the very storm 
center of warfare. Both returned to civilian life after 
the armistice. Their brother, Claude, who was also 
abroad, did not have the fortunate to get into the front 
lines during the war, and his ambition as a soldier not 
being satisfied by that experience he re-enlisted, waiv- 
ing his privilege of returning home, and spent a year 
with the Army of Occupation at Coblenz, Germany. 

As these records show the Mattingly family have 
long been prominent in the Catholic Church. An aunt 
of Joseph M. Mattingly was the noted Sister Generose, 
who began her career in the Church of St. Charles, 
and lived to celebrate her diamond jubilee as a sister. 
The Loretta Sisterhood was founded at St. Charles. 

Aaron G. Moss erected and equipped in 1909 the 
modern flour mill which he owns and operates at 
Greensburg, judicial center of Green County, and the 
enterprise is one of much importance in connection 
with the industrial activities and general civic life of 
the community. In addition to operating this mill 
Mr. Moss is engaged also in the lumber business, 
though not on so large a scale as in former years. He 
was born at Gradyville, Adair County, Kentucky, July 
28, 1864, and in the same county his father, P. A. 
Moss, was born in the year 1835, and he passed his 
enlire life in that county, in the vicinity of Gradyville, 
where he was long the most extensive landholder and 
successful farmer of the community. He was a 
staunch republican, and served a number of years as 
a magistrate in his home district. Both he and his 
wife were earnest members of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, South. P. A. Moss was a son of Clark and 
Nancy (Read) Moss, both of whom continued their 
residence in Adair County until their deaths. The 
father of Clark Moss was a native of Virginia and 
became one of the pioneer settlers and substantial farm- 
ers of Adair County, Kentucky. The death of P. A. 
Moss occurred in the year 1902, and his widow met 
an accidental death in 1907, when she was drowned in 
Big Creek at Gradyville. Her maiden name was Mary 
Pickett and she was born near Gradyville in 1840. Of 
the children the eldest is N. H., a prosperous farmer 
near Gradyville; Theora is the wife of P. H. Davis, 
who is a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal Church, 
South, and they maintain their home in the City of 
Louisville ; A. G., of this sketch, was the next in order 
of birth ; C. O. is cashier of the Gradyville State Bank ; 
R. D. is the owner and operator of a public automo- 
bile garage at Greensburg; W. M., a flour-miller by 
vocation, died in the City of Louisville, at the age of 
forty-seven years ; H. A. is one of the interested prin- 
cipals of the Louisville Cooperage Company and re- 
sides in the Kentucky metropolis; C. F. died at Grady- 
ville when twenty-six years of age. 

The public rural schools of his native county af- 
forded A. G. Moss his early education, and he was 
reared to the sturdy and invigorating discipline of the 
old home farm, with the activities of which he con- 
tinued his association until he had attained to his 
legal majority. Thereafter he became a lumber in- 
spector, and he continued his services in this capacity 
until 1891, when he engaged in the retail lumber busi- 
ness at Greensburg, where he still conducts this enter- 
prise, though he has curtailed the same to a large 
extent since engaging in the operation of his flour 
mill, which, as previously stated, was erected by him 
in the year 1909, this being the most important mill in 
Green County and having a capacity of fifty barrels 
a day. The products of the mill are of high grade 
and command ready sale, the trade being largely of 
localized order. The mill is eligibly situated between 
Water and East Main streets, near the railway station, 
and on West Main Street is located the modern resi- 
dence of Mr. Moss. 

Mr. Moss is not only one of the leading business 



78 



HISTORY OF KENTU( k\ 



men of Greensburg but is also one of its most liberal 
and progressive citizens. He is a republican in political 
allegiance, and served a number of years as a mem- 
ber of the City Council. He and his wife are active 
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 
and he is a trustee of the church of this denomination 
in his home city. He is a past master of Greensburg 
Lodge No. 54, Free and Accepted Masons; past high 
priest of Greensburg Chapter No. 36, Royal Arch Ma- 
sons; and is affiliated with Marion Commandery No. 
_'4. Knights Templars, at Lebanon, and with Kosair 
Temple of the Mystic Shrine in the City of Louisville. 
He was active and liberal in support of all local war 
measures and campaigns during the nation's participa- 
tion in the World war. 

In Metcalfe County, Kentucky, in the year 1889. was 
solemnized the marriage of Mr. Moss to Miss Viola 
Hodges, daughter of B. A. and Susan (Frazier) 
Hodges, both of whom are now deceased, the father 
having been for many years one of the representative 
farmers in Metcalfe County. In conclusion is given 
brief records concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. 
Moss : Virgil Otis, who was born in 1890, is bookkeeper 
in the office of his father's mill; Addie G. is the wife 
of C. J. Vaughan, of Greensburg; Susan is the wife 
of T. Z. Leachman, a farmer and stock-trader residing 
at Greensburg; Mattie Lee is the wife of James 
Buchanan, a traveling salesman, and they reside at 
Campbellsville, Kentucky; and H. L. and Hodges A. 
are, in 1921, students in the Greensburg High School. 

Robert Boggs Lyle, of Lebanon, ttntil his retirement 
was one of Kentucky's foremost farmers and stock- 
raisers, and helped develop and train some of the great 
Kentucky horses of his time. A successful business ' 
man and honored citizen, he is also held in high esteem 
for his prominent family relationships, the Lyles and 
their kin having been identified with Kentucky since 
almost the first settlements. 

Mr. Lyle was born in Fayette County August 9, 1843. 
His first American ancestor was John Lyle, who came 
from Ireland to America and located in Rockbridge 
County, Virginia, where he died in 1758. Though he 
came from Ireland, his forefathers were Scotch, and 
the family is therefore what is known as Scotch-Irish. 
A son of John, the immigrant, was John Lyle. born 
in Rockbridge County in 1746. His son, Rev. John 
Lyle, was born in 1769 in Rockbridge County, and was 
a distinguished character in Kentucky religious and 
educational history. He was one of the first Presby- 
terian ministers in the West, and taught the first board- 
ing school for girls in Kentucky, this school being 
located at the old Ryan House at Paris. He was 
also editor of the pioneer newspaper, the Paris Ken- 
tuckian. Rev. John Lyle married Margaret Irvin. 
widow of the noted Doctor Lapsley. 

John Reed Lyle, son of Rev. John and father of 
Robert Boggs Lyle, was born at Winchester, Ken- 
tucky, August 8, 1800, and died in 1866. In early life 
he studied medicine, though he never practiced, then 
became a lawyer, and had many cases in the courts of 
Bowling Green, and was also an extensive farmer and 
planter. He was a man of kindly and most generous 
character. When the Civil war came on he was the 
owner of forty slaves, and when they were freed by 
the Emancipation Act the loss was estimated at $40,- 
000. Had he been willing to exercise his legal rights 
over his property he might have avoided the loss. 
However, he would never sell a slave or in any way 
break up the families, even though he had no use for 
forty darkies on his farm. In order to keep his slaves 
busy he contracted his surplus labor, some eight or ten, 
to other planters for food and clothing and a hundred 
dollars a year, not for the sake of profit, but to insure 
good treatment of his blacks. 

John Reed Lyle married Sarah Martin Irwin, who 
was born in 1809 and died in 1887, daughter of Robert 



Irwin, who was born in Virginia in 1768. Two other 
generations of American residents separated Robert 
trom Abram Irwin, who was a Scotch-Irishman, com- 
ing direct from Ireland to Virginia. John Reed Lyle 
and wife had nine children, eight sons and one daugh- 
ter, the three reaching maturity being William Joel, 
Robert Boggs and Edwin Reed. 

Robert Boggs Lyle spent his early youth in a man- 
ner befitting the son of a prosperous planter and farm 
owner. He had advanced his higher education to the 
junior year of Center College at Danville when, in 
1863, as a result of the emancipation of the slaves, 
he left his studies and assisted his father in operating 
the farm. After his father's death in 1866 he, with 
his two brothers, continued the farming operations 
until 1874, when he sold his interest in the estate to 
his brothers; 

On November 26, 1873, be married Miss Mary Eliza 
McElroy, of Marion County. In 1874 he bought 447 
acres near Bradfordsville, and that was the scene of his 
prosperous operations as an agriculturist for some fifteen 
or twenty years. While lie conducted a general farm, he 
always specialized in blooded stock, and raised many 
thoroughbreds and for about fifteen years had his horses 
on some of the noted Kentucky courses, gaining their 
full share of honors. Mr. Lyle sold his farm and in 
1906 bought the old picturesque home of Doctor Shuck 
in Lebanon. There is no other home in this city with 
so many features of beauty and interest. The home 
itself is surrounded by ten acres of ground, laid out 
like a park, and altogether is an ideal environment in 
which to spend the declining years of life. Mr. Lyle 
has three children. 

John Robert Lyle, the oldest, born November 25, 
1874, has never married. He attended the grammar 
schools of Lebanon, graduated from Center College 
in 1896, with the degree Bachelor of Science, and for 
two years was a teacher in the schools of Lebanon. 
For ten years he was secretary to Federal Judge Coch- 
ran at Maysville, Kentucky, then for a time was in the 
revenue service and has since been connected with the 
Louisville offices of the United States engineers. 

Lucy Underwood, the second child, was born De- 
cember II, 1877, was educated in the public schools of 
Lebanon, at the noted Thane Miller School in Cin- 
cinnati, following which she took a two-year course 
and graduated as a trained nurse from the Norton 
Infirmary. Her first duties in her profession were as 
director of physical training and head nurse at St. 
Mary's College, an Episcopal institution at Dallas, 
Texas. According to her plans and specifications the 
college hospital was built, and she remained in active 
charge for several years. On October 30, 1907, she 
became the wife of Judge Samuel C. Blackburn, of 
Lebanon. His uncle, the late Senator Joseph C. S. 
Blackburn, appointed him a Federal judge in the Canal 
Zone, and he lived on the Isthmus of Panama and 
continued his duties on the bench for ten years, finally 
resigning in the spring of 1918, on account of ill health 
and returning to Lebanon. Judge and Mrs. Blackburn's 
two children were born in the Canal Zone, Henrietta 
Lyle on August 4, 1908, and Samuel E., Jr., on August 
9, 1910. 

Evelyn Brown Lyle, the third child, was born Sep- 
tember 21, 1879, was educated at Lebanon, spent three 
years in the Conservatory of Arts at Cincinnati, and 
is a well-known Kentucky artist, excelling in crayon 
and water color work. Some of her work has been 
awarded prizes in competition with the leading artists 
of the country. The Lyle family are all devout Pres- 
byterians of the old school. 

Thomas P. Hamilton, whose death occurred on the 
18th of June, 1898, passed his entire life in Marion 
County, Kentucky, where he was born in May, 1844, 
and where he achieved substantial success and a posi- 
tion of prominence and influence as a progressive ex- 






ASTOtt, LENOT ANP 
TILX.EN i 





(TL+^as*—c& > r 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



79 



ponent of agricultural and livestock industry. He was 
a son of Charles and Mary (Turner) Hamilton, who 
were honored citizens of Marion County at the time 
of their deaths, the father's active career having been 
marked by close and effective association with farm 
enterprise in this county. Mrs. Hamilton was a sister 
of Rev. Jeremiah Turner, who entered the Dominican 
order of the Catholic Church and who gave in the 
priesthood many years of earnest and consecrated 
service in the missionary field, with headquarters in 
the City of St. Louis, Missouri. Father Turner was 
self-abnegating in his arduous and saintly labors in 
the vineyard of the Divine Master whom he served, 
and was one of the revered priests of the great mother 
church of Christendom. 

Charles and Mary (Turner) Hamilton were devout 
communicants of the Catholic Church, in the faith of 
which they carefully reared their children. The sub- 
ject of this memoir was the second in a family of 
twelve children and was reared on the old home farm 
of his parents in Marion County. He continued to 
remain at the parental home until 1870, in which year 
was solemnized his marriage to Miss Frances John- 
son, daughter of Patrick L. and Elizabeth (Carrico) 
Johnson, who passed their entire lives in Kentucky 
and who died on the farm now representing the home 
of their widowed daughter, Mrs. Thomas P. Hamilton. 
For six years after his marriage Mr. Hamilton con- 
ducted farm operations on rented land, and he then 
purchased the old homestead farm of his wife's mother, 
this being a part of the Carrico landed estate in 
Marion County. Here Mr. Hamilton devoted the re- 
mainder of his life to vigorous and successful enter- 
prise as an agriculturist and stock-grower, and he so 
ordered his course as to merit and retain the unquali- 
fied confidence and esteem of all who knew him. He 
was a zealous communicant of the Catholic Church, 
as are also his widow and children. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton became the parents of five 
children : Johnson, who was born in 1871, married Miss 
Allie O. Daniel, and his death occurred in 1903, no 
children having been born of the marriage; Virginia, 
who was born in 1874, is the wife of James Mudd, a 
prosperous farmer in Marion County, and they have 
ten children. Elizabeth, who was born in 1878, is 
the wife of James William Spalding, of Lebanon, and 
they have two children. Henry W., the fourth child, 
was born June 6, 1884, and remains with his widowed 
mother on the home farm, of which he has the active 
management. In his youth Henry W. Hamilton met 
with _ a fall that resulted in the splintering of bones 
of his right arm, and after years of intense suffering 
as a result of this injury he found it necessary to sub- 
mit to the amputation of the arm at the shoulder. In 
his activities since that time he has refused to look 
upon this affliction as a handicap, and has applied him- 
self successfully to all manner of work in connection 
with the farm, including mechanical work that requires 
no little manual skill and dexterity. He received ex- 
cellent educational advantages, including those of 
Ellendale College, at Owensboro, the Southern Ken- 
tucky Normal School, at Bowling Green, and 
Draughon's Business College, in the City of Nashville, 
Tennessee. Though he is an expert bookkeeper and 
accountant, he has preferred to give his attention to 
farm enterprise, and in this important industrial field 
his success has been unepuivocal. Henry W. Hamilton 
is a renowned shot with rifle and pistol. He began 
shooting when a child only nine years old, and is one 
of the best shots known. Several times he has been 
written up in Field and Stream sporting magazine, in 
which his likeness also appeared. January 14, 1914, 
recorded his marriage to Miss Euzabie Blanford, 
daughter of Edward C. Blanford, a representative 
farmer of Marion County, and the names and respective 
dates of birth of the four children of this union are 



here recorded: Marie, December 27, 1914; Magdalene, 
February 27, 1916; Florence, December 28, 1919; and 
Endocie, August 21, 1921. Mr. Hamilton, his wife and 
his mother are communicants of the parish of St. 
Augustine Catholic Church at Lebanon. Mary Eliza! 
the youngest of the five children of the subject of 
this memoir, is the wife of Richard Blanford, a pros- 
perous farmer of Marion County, and they have five 
children. The Hamilton homestead farm is situated 
three miles north of Lebanon and one mile west of the 
St. Rose Turnpike. 

Richard Harrison Sowards, sheriff of Pike County, 
is one of the best-known men of this part of Ken- 
tucky, and one who has won the approval of his fellow 
citizens through his personal courage and faithful per- 
formance of the duties of his responsible office. He 
was born August 15, 1881, on the property at the fork 
of the rivers in Pike County, now the home of Judge 
Ford. His parents, William H. and Linchie (Price) 
Sowards were also born in Pike County, the former 
in 1847, a son of Capt. Lewis Sowards. 

William H. Sowards and three brothers served under 
their father in the Union army during the war between 
the states, and the latter survived his military service 
for many years, dying on the farm where he had lived 
for sixty years, at the advanced age of ninety-two 
years. His farm was located at the mouth of Shelby 
Creek, eight miles above Pikeville. His wife was a 
member of the Morgan family of Virginia. Until 
1902 William H. Sowards lived in Pike County, and 
was occupied with agricultural activities, but in that 
year went to Washington, and is still a resident of 
that state. During the administration of President 
Benjamin Harrison, he served as postmaster of Pike- 
ville, and he was continued in that office by President 
McKinley. All of the Sowards have been republicans 
since the organization of that party. In religious faith 
he is a Presbyterian and his wife is a Methodist. They 
are the parents of seven sons and five daughters. 

Growing up in Pike County, Sheriff Sowards at- 
tended the Pikeville public schools, having among 
others David Blythe as a teacher. He was a very 
bright pupil, and as soon as the law permitted, passed 
his examination and received a first grade certificate, 
following which he was engaged in school teaching for 
two years. At the close of that period he became 
foreman of the construction work of Johnson, Briggs 
& Pftts on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, holding 
this position for five years. For the subsequent five 
years he was deputy United States marshal for Pike 
County, and for three years was the Government dep- 
uty for the counties of Pike, Floyd and Knott. Leav- 
ing the Government service he became walking boss 
for Pitts & Burgess on the Sandy Valley & Elkhorn 
Railroad, but three years later bought the old Sowards 
farm on Shelby Creek, and was engaged in operating 
it until his election to the office of sheriff in the fall 
of 1917. Since assuming the duties of this office he 
has made a fine record as one of the most efficient 
and fearless officers Pike County has ever had, and he 
has made his name feared by the criminal class, 
although at the same time he has established a reputa- 
tion for positive fairness in all of his dealings. 
_ In July, 1899, Sheriff Sowards was united in mar- 
riage with Miss Rebecca Moore. They are consistent 
members of the Christian Church. Fraternally Sheriff 
Sowards belongs to the Benevolent and Protective 
Order of Elks, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows 
and Improved Order of Red Men, and is very popular 
in all of these organizations. His long experience in 
the Government service, as well as in railroad work, 
fitted him in an unusual degree for the onerous duties 
of his present office, for in these connections he learned 
to understand human nature and the motives govern- 
ing the actions of all classes of men. Broad in his 
views, tolerant in his beliefs, he knows how to make 



80 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



due allowances, while at the same time insisting upon 
a strict enforcement of the law and the maintenance 
of order. Such men as he are rare in office, and their 
abilities are appreciated when they are found and their 
services are secured. 

R. A. Alexander. One of the enterprising and pro- 
gressive representatives of the business interests of 
Eddyville, R. A. Alexander, has been the architect of 
his own fortunes, and the large ice manufacturing 
plant of which he is now the sole proprietor repre- 
sents the results of years of industry and close appli- 
cation to honorable and straightforward business pol- 
icies. Like a number of other substantial business 
men, Mr. Alexander is a product of the agricultural 
districts of Kentucky, having been born on a farm near 
Cadiz, in Trigg Cpunty, February 2, 1881, a son of 
E. F. Alexander, and is descended from an old Vir- 
ginia family which located in the Old Dominion dur- 
ing Colonial times. 

E. F. Alexander was born in 1852, on the farm on 
which he now makes his home, 4^2 miles southwest of 
Cadiz, and on which he has passed his entire career. 
He has devoted himself uninterruptedly to the pursuits 
of agriculture, and industry and good management have 
brought him worth-while and honorable success, for, 
in addition to his home property, he is the owner of 
four other farms in Trigg County, all valuable and 
productive. In spite of advanced years he is still 
actively engaged in operating his various properties 
and is known as one of the leading farmers and stock- 
raisers of his locality. He is a democrat, although not 
a politician, and is a consistent member of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church at Siloam. Mr. Alexander 
married Ada Elizabeth Hendrick, who w : as born in 
i860, in Trigg County, and nine children have been 
born to them: Viola, who died at the age of thirty- 
two years as the wife of T. B. Stone, a farmer of 
Trigg County ; R. A. ; George Earl, a general work- 
man of Henderson, Kentucky ; Ira, who is engaged in 
farming near Cadiz ; Vallie, the wife of Garnett 
Atwood, a farmer near Gracey, Kentucky; Hewlett, 
who is engaged in farming near Cadiz ; Bertie, the wife 
of Earl VanZandt. a farmer near Cadiz; Beulah, the 
wife of Tandy Mitchell, carrying on farming on one 
of Mrs. Mitchell's father's farms; and Harvey, who 
lives with his parents on the old home place. 

R. A. Alexander received his early education in the 
district schools of the rural community of his birth, 
following this by a course at the high school at Cadiz. 
Leaving school at the age of nineteen years, he as- 
sisted his father on the home place until he was twenty- 
four years of age and at that time began to learn the 
trade of blacksmith near Rockcastle, in Trigg County, 
where he remained seven years. Mr. Alexander then 
invested his earnings in a mercantile and ice manu- 
facturing business at Cadiz, which was carried on for 
one year under the style of Alexander Brothers & 
Company, and in 1913 removed to Kuttawa. where he 
followed ice manufacturing for one year. In 1914 he 
came to Eddyville and established his present ice plant. 
as Alexander Brothers & Company, and in 1915 dis- 
posed of his holdings at Cadiz and became the sole 
owner of the business at Eddyville, of which he has 
been the proprietor to the present time. The modern 
plant is located on Levy Street, corner of Main, just off 
Wall Street, in a building owned by Mr. Alexander, 
the capacity beint; six tons every twenty-four hours. Mr. 
Alexander has built up a splendid and paying business 
and has established a reputation among his associates 
and the general public as a man of sound integrity. 
He is the owner of one of the most attractive and mod- 
ern homes at Eddyville. His political belief is that of 
the democratic party and his religious connection with 
the Methodist Episcopal Church at Siloam. Frater- 
nally he is affiliated with Hill City Camp No. 20. Wood- 
men of the World, and Cadiz Camp, Modern Wood- 



men of America, in both of which he is very popular 
and has numerous friends. 

On September 14, 1905, Mr. Alexander was married 
in Trigg County to Miss Pearl Dyer Holland, a daugh- 
ter of Mr. and Mrs. S. M. Holland, the latter of whom 
is deceased, while the former still resides on his farm 
near Rockcastle. Mr. and Mrs. Alexander have one 
child; Lawrence Jackson, born May 13. I9°8. 

Basil M. Taylor, M. D., has not only gained dis- 
tinctive prestige in his exacting profession but has 
also been prominent and influential in connection with 
public affairs in his native state, as is evidenced by the 
fact that he has served with characteristic ability and 
loyalty as a member of the Kentucky State Senate. 
He is established in the successful practice of his pro- 
fession at Greensburg, judicial center of Green County, 
and is a representative citizen who specially merits a 
tribute in this history. 

Dr. Basil Mitchell Taylor was born in Taylor County, 
Kentucky, on the 5th of November, 1869, and both his 
paternal great-grandfather and his maternal great- 
grandfather were numbered among the sterling pioneer 
settlers of Green County, this state. The paternal 
great-grandfather, John Y. Taylor, was born and reared 
in Virginia and, as before stated, became one of the 
pioneers of Green County, Kentucky, where he played 
a large part in early civic and industrial development 
and where he had the distinction of serving as first 
circuit judge of the county. His son, Dr. Richard 
Aylett Taylor, was born at Greensburg, Kentucky, in 
1797, and here his death occurred in the year 1872, 
he having passed his entire life in his native county 
and having long been one of its leading physicians and 
surgeons — a man of fine mentality, sterling character 
and conscientious civic and professional stewardship, 
so that he wielded large influence in community life 
as a leader in popular sentiment and action. 

Aylett Taylor, father of Doctor Taylor of this re- 
view, was born at Greensburg in 1830, was here reared 
and educated, and he passed the greater part of his 
life in Green County, where he became extensively en- 
gaged in farm enterprise. He removed to Taylor 
County in i860, and was there engaged in farming 
until 1881. when he returned to Green County and here 
resumed his active alliance with farm industry, with 
which he continued to be successfully identified until 
his death, March 17, 1897. In all of the relations of 
life he fully upheld the prestige of the honored fam- 
ily name. His political allegiance was given to the 
democratic party, and he served twenty years as an 
elder of the Presbyterian Church, of which his wife 
likewise was a devoted member. Mrs. Taylor, whose 
maiden name was Adne Mitchell, was born at Har- 
rodsburg, Kentucky, in 1848, and her death occurred 
at Danville, this state, April 27, 1920. Thomas W., 
eldest of their children, is engaged in the insurance 
business at Campbellsville, Taylor County ; Elizabeth 
is the wife of Rev. A. W. Crawford, a clergyman of 
the Presbyterian Church, and they reside at Greens- 
boro', North Carolina, where he has a pastoral charge 
at the time of this writing, in the summer of 1921 ; 
Dr. P.asil M., of this sketch, was the next in order of 
birth ; Dr. W. W. is a dentist by profession and is 
engaged in practice in the City of Lexington ; Fannie 
is the wife of Scott Buchanan, a prosperous farmer 
near Burdick, Taylor County; Virginia is the wife of 
Charles Caldwell, a successful farmer near Danville, 
Boyle County. 

Reared under the vitalizing influences of the home 
farm, Dr. Basil M. Taylor gained his early education 
in the rural schools of Taylor and Green counties, and 
in the former countv he attended also the private 
school conducted by W. M. Crenshaw. In 1800 he was 
graduated from Taylor Academy, at Campbellsville, 
and he then entered the medical department of the 
University of Louisville, in which he was graduated 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



81 



as a member of the class of 1892 and from which he 
received his degree of Doctor of Medicine. In 1898 
he further fortified himself for the work of his pro- 
fession by completing an effective post-graduate course 
in the celebrated New York Policlinic, in the national 
metropolis, where he gave special attention to surgery, 
as did he also in his post-graduate work in the same 
institution in the following year. The doctor is a close 
student and keeps insistently in touch with the ad- 
vances made in medical and surgical science, in the lat- 
ter branch of which he specializes and has attained to 
high reputation, with many successful major and minor 
operations to his credit. In connection with his pro- 
fessional work he makes yearly observations in the 
leading medical schools and hospitals of Louisville, 
and in 1919 and 1920 did special post-graduate work 
in the Lankenau Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

On the 21st of March, 1892, almost immediately after 
his graduation from medical school, Doctor Taylor 
opened an office at Greensburg, and here he has since 
continued to be successfully established in the general 
practice of his profession, with special attention given 
to surgery. He now maintains his well appointed 
offices in the building of the Greensburg Deposit Bank, 
and he is the owner of one of the attractive residence 
properties of the judicial center of the county in which 
his ancestors settled more than a century ago. The 
Doctor is retained as a member of the surgical staff 
of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, a position of 
which he has been the incumbent for the past fifteen 
years. He maintains active affiliation with the Green 
County Medical Society, the Kentucky State Medical 
Society and the American Medical Association. 

Doctor Taylor and his wife are zealous members of 
the Presbyterian Church in their home city, and he 
is serving as elder of the same. He has thrice been 
elected master of Greensburg Lodge No. 54, Free and 
Accepted Masons, and was master of this lodge in 
1921. His affiliations include also his membership in 
Greensburg Chapter No. 36, Royal Arch Masons, and 
Marion Commandery No. 24, Knights Templars, at 
Lebanon. 

The democratic party claimed the allegiance of 
Doctor Taylor until 1896, when he found the free- 
silver policy of the party at variance with his ideas 
and therefore transferred himself to the ranks of the 
republican party, in which he has become much of a 
leader in this section of the state. In November, 1915, 
he was elected to represent the Thirteenth Senatorial 
District in the Kentucky Legislature, in which he 
served during the regular assemblies of 1916 and 1918, 
as well as in two special sessions. He proved a loyal 
and influential representative of his constituent dis- 
trict, comprising Green, Hart and Larue counties, and 
as an active and influential working member of the 
State Senate. The Doctor introduced a bill to pro- 
hibit the transportation of intoxicating liquors into 
local-option districts of the state, and this bill, enacted 
with only minor changes, continued an effective law 
of Kentucky until national prohibition rendered its 
functioning unnecessary. He also introduced and ably 
championed the bill abolishing the office of county 
assessor and creating county tax commissions in each 
of the counties of the state, and this bill, as enacted, 
is proving of great value in making for efficiency in 
the fiscal affairs of the state and its counties. The 
Doctor was influential in the advancing of other pro- 
gressive legislation, and made an admirable record as 
a member of the Upper House of the Kentucky Legis- 
lature. 

Doctor Taylor's patriotism and loyal stewardship 
were manifested effectively during the period of the 
nation's participation in the World war, for he took 
a vigorous part in all war activities in Green County, 
assisting in the various drives for subscriptions to 
the Government war bonds, Savings and Thrift 
Stamps, etc., was liberal in his own subscriptions, and 



was the organizer of the Green County Chapter of 
the Red Cross. 

On the 18th of January, 1905, was solemnized the 
marriage of Doctor Taylor to Miss Cora Cort, 
daughter of Rev. A. B. and Nellie (Bartlett) Cort, 
who now reside at Shelbyville, Missouri, where the 
father is pastor of the Presbyterian Church. Mrs. 
Taylor was graduated in the college at Maryville, 
Tennessee, and her culture and gracious personality 
have made her a popular figure in the social activities 
of her home community, even as she was also in those 
of the Kentucky capital during the period of her hus- 
band's service in the State Senate. Doctor and Mrs. 
Taylor have a winsome little daughter, Adne Eugenia, 
born January 9, 1920. 

Romulus Skaggs, president of Russell Creek 
Academy, is one of the leading exponents of his pro- 
fession in this part of Kentucky and a man whose 
earnestness and sincerity, combined with his natural 
qualifications for his work and his careful training, 
make him a very important factor in the cultural life 
of Campbellsville. He was born at Pennington Gap, 
Virginia, December 25, 1885, a son of J. F. Skaggs, 
and grandson of Jeremiah Skaggs, who was born in 
Lee County, Virginia, and died in a federal prison in 
1864 during the war between the North and the South, 
in which he participated as a Confederate soldier. He 
was a planter and slaveholder, and a man of large 
means when the war broke out. His capture by the 
Union forces took place at Cumberland Gap, Vir- 
ginia. 

J. F. Skaggs was born at Turkey Cove, Lee County, 
Virginia, in 1857, an( l is now living at Pennington Gap, 
in Lee County, having spent his life in this county. 
He has been an extensive farmer and leading mer- 
chant at Pennington Gap. where he was the first man 
to open a store, and he is still engaged in these lines 
of business. For four years he served as a county 
commissioner of revenues of Lee County, and for two 
terms was a justice of the peace. As a member of 
the Baptist Church he is a strong supporter of his 
denomination, and an earnest and devout Christian 
man. Fraternally he maintains membership with the 
Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He was married 
to Evaline Jane Howard, who was born in Harlan 
County, Kentucky. Their children have been as fol- 
lows : E. E., who resides at Pennington Gap, is an 
attorney-at-law ; J. H., who is store manager at Nor- 
ton, Virginia, is also interested in the coal mines of 
that vicinity; Minnie Belle, who married Jasper Bryant, 
a coal miner, lives at Norton, Virginia; Professor 
Skaggs, who was the fourth in order of birth ; Remus, 
a twin brother of Professor Skaggs, is with his 
parents; Birdie Lee, who married William Kauffman, 
lives near Pennington Gap ; W. C, who is a public 
school teacher and lives at Bernardsville, North Caro- 
lina; G. C, who is an electrician of Burnsville, North 
Carolina; Bessie, who is married, lives at Saint 
Charles, Virginia, where her husband is a coal miner ; 
Alpha, who is a teacher at Dante, Virginia; Ruby, 
who is a teacher of Dante ; Marvin, who is a student 
of the Richmond University at Richmond, Virginia ; 
Jesse and Virgil, both of whom live with their parents; 
Oscar, who died in infancy; and Mervin, who also 
died in infancy. J. F. Skaggs had been previously 
married to a Miss Andis, and there was one child by 
this marriage, C. A., who is an electrician, living at 
Ben Hur, Virginia. 

Professor Skaggs attended the rural schools of Lee 
County, the Lee Baptist Institute for his high-school 
training, and then matriculated at Wake Forest Col- 
lege, North Carolina, from which he was graduated 
in 1913 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In the 
meanwhile he had been engaged in teaching in the rural 
schools of Lee County for three years, beginning at 
the age of eighteen years. For two years while at- 



82 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



tending Wake Forest College he taught in the high 
school, and also in the night mission school of the 
cotton mill while in college. Following his gradua- 
tion he was elected principal of the Watauga Academy 
of Butler, Tennessee, and held that position for five 
years, when, in 1918, he was elected president of the 
Russell Creek Academy at Campbellsville and entered 
upon the discharge of his duties. This is a Baptist 
denominational institution, founded in 1906. There are 
four buildings, the administration building, the two 
dormitory buildings, and the president's residence, all 
being surrounded by grounds of eighteen acres, sit- 
uated in the northwestern part of Campbellsville. 
Professor Skaggs has twelve teachers and 300 pupils 
under his supervision, and has placed his institution 
in the front ranks of its grade in this part of the 
state. He is a democrat. The Baptist Church holds 
his membership. A Mason, he belongs to Butler Lodge 
No. 679, F. and A. M. He also belongs to the Modern 
Woodmen of America and the Junior Order United 
American Mechanics. During the late war he took 
an active part in all of the local war work, and bought 
bonds and stamps and contributed generously to all of 
the war organizations. 

On May II, 1915, Professor Skaggs was married at 
Fayetteville, North Carolina, to Miss Bernice Olive, 
who was born in Wake County, North Carolina. She 
was graduated from Oxford College, Oxford, North 
Carolina, with the degree of Bachelor of Science. Pro- 
fessor and Mrs. Skaggs have a son, Romulus, Jr.. 
who was born December 6, 1919. 

Carter L. McDowell. In the East Bernstadt district 
of Laurel County coal mining represents an industrial 
enterprise of marked importance, and as an owner and 
operator of a mine in this district Mr. McDowell has 
a secure place as one of the influential business men of 
this section of the state. He was born in Laurel 
County, on a farm, eight miles east of East Bernstadt, 
and the date of his nativity was December 2, 1882. 
His paternal grandfather, Dr. H. F. McDowell, was 
born in Lee County, Virginia, and became a pioneer 
farmer and physician in Kentucky. He came to this 
state when a young man and first settled near Boone- 
ville, Owsley County, where his marriage was solem- 
nized and whence he and his wife later removed to 
Laurel County, where he continued his pioneer ac- 
tivities as a farmer and where he gave many years 
of earnest and able service as a physician and surgeon, 
he having been ever ready to respond to calls upon him, 
no matter how great the distance or how inclement 
the weather, so that he did a noble work in the allevia- 
tion of human suffering in his community and gained 
the high regard of all who knew him. He passed the 
closing years of his life on his farm eight miles east 
of East Bernstadt, and his widow survived him by 
many years. Her maiden name was Roberts, and she 
was born in Owsley County in 182.-;. The closing 
period of her life was passed in Jackson Count}', where 
she died in 1908. 

James M. McDowell, father of Carter L. of this re- 
view, was born in Owsley Count}', near Booneville, in 
the year 1848, and was a boy at the time of the family 
removal to Laurel County, where he was reared to 
manhood on the old homestead farm which was the 
birthplace of his son Carter L, his educational ad- 
vantages having been those of the common schools of 
the locality and period. In this county his marriage 
was solemnized, and here he continued his activities 
as a farmer until 1886. In that year he removed to 
the vicinity of Annville, Jackson County, where he 
continued his farm enterprise until 1801. removing then 
to a farm near Tyner, that county. There he was en- 
gaged in successful farm enterprise until 1904, when he 
became proprietor of a general store at Livingston, 
Rockcastle County. A year later he returned to Jack- 
son County, where he has since given his active super- 



vision to his well improved farm near the Village of 
Bond. He is a stalwart democrat, is affiliated with the 
Masonic fraternity, and is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South, as was also his wife. As a 
young man James M. McDowell wedded Miss Mary E. 
Pennington, who was born in Jackson County in 1852, 
and whose death occurred at the family home near 
Annville, that county, on the 1st of June, 1890. Of 
the children the eldest is Syrena, the wife of A. J. 
Simson, a farmer and school teacher in the Moore's 
Creek district of Jackson County; Lillie is the wife 
of T. C. Powell, and they reside at Bond, Jackson 
County, Mr. Powell being master mechanic for the 
Rockcastle River Railroad; W. P. is a successful con- 
tractor and builder at Overpeck, Ohio; H. F. is a 
rural mail carrier at Nicholasville. Kentucky ; Carter 
I., of this sketch, was the next in order of birth; and 
James A. is the owner and operator of a moving- 
picture theater at Ravenna, Estill County. 

The rural schools of Jackson County gave to Carter 
I.. McDowell his early education, which was supple- 
mented by an effective course in the Bowling Green 
Business University, in which he was graduated as a 
member of the class of 1905. For eighteen months 
thereafter he held the position of assistant station 
agent for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad at Liv- 
ingston, Rockcastle County, and for the ensuing six 
months was station agent at Fariston, Laurel County. 
In 1007 he established his residence at East Bernstadt, 
this county, where in the service of the same railroad 
company, he was assistant station agent three years, 
at the expiration of which he was advanced to the 
office of station agent, of which he there continued 
the incumbent eight vears. In 1918 he engaged inde- 
pendently in coal-mining operations in this locality, his 
coal mine being situated i l /i miles east of East Bern- 
stadt, on the A. & M. division of the Louisville & 
Nashville Railroad. Here he has developed a sub- 
stantial and prosperous mining industry, and the mine 
produces an excellent grade of bituminous coal, an 
average force of fifty men being employed and the 
output capacity being 125 tons a day. Mr. McDowell 
maintains his office in a building opposite the Louis- 
ville & Nashville Railroad station at East Bernstadt. 
He owns an interest also in the McCarthy Coal Com- 
pany of East Bernstadt, which operates a mine with 
an output capacity of fifty tons a day. 

Mr. McDowell is aligned in the ranks of the demo- 
cratic party, he is a steward of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. South, in his home village of East 
Bernstadt, and his Masonic affiliations are as here 
noted : Tohn Pitman Lodge No. 690, Free and Ac- 
cepted Masons; Mount Vernon Chapter No. 140. Royal 
Arch Masons: London Commandery No. 20. Knights 
Templars ; and Kosair Temple, Ancient Arabic Order 
Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, in the City of Louis- 
ville. At London he holds membership in Lodge No. 
249 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he 
has served as chancellor of East Bernstadt Lodge No. 
163. Knights of Pythias, his service in this capacity 
having covered four terms. Mr. McDowell is the 
owner of a well improved farm of 2355^ acres near 
Paint Lick, Madison County. 

The local war activities in Laurel County gained the 
earnest and Inval co-operation of Mr. McDowell dur- 
ing the nation's participation in the great World war, 
and his financial contributions were in consonance with 
his resources. 

At Mi ■unt Verncfti, Rockcastle County, in 1009, Mr. 
McDowell wedded Miss Martha V. Daily, daughter 
of S. S. and Belle (Bowman) Daily, who reside on 
their farm near that place. Mrs. McDowell was sum- 
moned to the life eternal on the 25th of February. 
70i8, a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, South, and she is survived by four children, 
whose names and respective dates of birth are here 
recorded: Overton, July 26, 1910; Gordon Lay, Janu- 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



83 



ary 2, 1912; Glenn Daily, August 30, 1916; and Carter 
Neal, January 2, 1918. 

On the 26th of January, 1920, was solemnized the 
marriage of Mr. McDowell to Miss Nannie B. Bow- 
man, daughter of James and Elizabeth (Pennington) 
Bowman, who reside at Manchester, Clay County, 
where Mr. Pennington is jailer of the county jail. 
Of this marriage has been born a fine little son, James 
Wayne, the date of whose nativity was November 22, 
1920. 

John O. Polin. One of the leading law firms of 
Washington County is Polin & Polin, composed of 
Joseph O. and John A. Polin, both sons of John O. 
Polin, long and prominently known in the county, 
where the family was established more than seventy 
years ago. 

The Polins are of Irish ancestry and have long been 
prominently identified with the Catholic Church in 
Washington County. One of the first of the name 
here was Thomas Polin, who came to America and 
settled in Washington County as early as 1819. He 
became a priest of the Dominican Order at St. Rose 
in Washington County. Still another member of the 
family was Dr. John H. Polin, who identified himself 
with Washington County in the early part of the 
nineteenth century. His two sons Daniel O. and 
Francis E., took up medicine, and Francis E. Polin 
achieved high rank as a surgeon. 

The grandparents of the Springfield lawyers were 
John and Margaret (O'Prey) Polin. The former was 
born in County Down, Ireland, in 1816 and the latter 
in the City of Belfast. They were married in Ireland, 
and in 1849 immigrated to the United States, landing 
in New York City and coming on direct to Washing- 
ton County, Kentucky, where they arrived on the 29th 
of April. This county was destined to be their home 
the rest of their lives. John Polin died in 1897, at the 
age of eighty-one, and his wife died in 1899, aged 
eighty-nine. Of their three "children Enos was born 
in Ireland, and the other two Mrs. Rosa McAlister and 
John O., in Washington County. 

John O. Polin was born in Washington County 
October 19, 1850, and his career has been that of a 
very successful farmer. He is a bank director at 
Springfield, and for sixteen years held the office of 
justice of the peace. He is a stanch democrat. John 
O. Polin married Julia Scannell. She was Born in New 
York City, February 16, i860, daughter of Michael and 
Joanna (Fitzgerald) Scannell, both of whom were 
born in the City of Cork, Ireland, in 1S16. They were 
married in Ireland, and they crossed the ocean in the 
ship George Washington, reaching New York in the 
early '50s. They were naturalized in New York, and 
after a few years came to Kentucky and settled in 
Washington County. Michael Scannell reached the 
age of eighty, while his wife was in her hundredth 
year when she died. She was remarkable not only for 
her great age but for the strength and gentleness of 
her character and intellect and her devotion to her 
chosen religion. One of her daughters became Sister 
Benedicta at St. Catherine's in Washington County, 
and the son, Patrick Joseph Scannell. a priest of the 
Dominican Order of St. Rose. This Dominican priest 
in 1878 answered the call for volunteers to care for 
the sick during the yellow fever scourge at Memphis. 
and while in the performance of duty himself fell a 
victim to the malady. 

John O. and Julia Polin reared four children, Joseph 
O., John A., Emma, who was born August 20, 1891, 
and married P. Hubert Simms January 20. 1915, and 
Julia Belle, who was born December 28, 1894, and is 
now known as Sister Julia of the Dominican Order at 
St. Catherine's. 

Joseph O. Polin, senior member of the law firm of 
Polin & Polin, was born in Washington County April 
28, 1883. He holds the degree of Master of Arts from 

Vol. V— 9 



St. Mary's College, Kentucky, graduated in law from 
the University of Louisville in 1907, was admitted to 
the bar in the same year, and for fourteen years has 
practiced with growing success and prestige at Spring- 
field. He was elected on the democratic ticket as 
county attorney in 1913 and re-elected in 1917. He is 
a member of the Knights of Columbus. In 1910 Joseph 
O. Polin married Miss Pearl Edelen. The Edelens 
are an old and prominent family in Kentucky, and the 
first of the name came to America from England, 
either in the ship Ark or Dove. That was in Colonial 
times. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph O. Polin have six chil- 
dren. 

John A. Polin, the junior member of Polin & Polin, 
was born in Washington County October 16, 1884. He 
holds the degree of Master of Arts from St. Mary's 
College, Kentucky, and graduated in law at the Uni- 
versity of Louisville in 1909. Except when absent 
during the World war he has steadily practiced at 
Springfield. In 1912 he was elected on the democratic 
ticket to represent Washington County in the Lower 
House of the Legislature, and was re-elected in 1914, 
giving a highly creditable and capable service to the 
county and state. He volunteered early in the war, 
entered the Officers Training School at Fort Benjamin 
Harrison, was commissioned a second lieutenant, was 
on duty at Camp Zachary Taylor and Camp Sherman, 
Ohio, until August 30, 1919, when he was sent overseas 
with the 84th Division. In France he and others of 
this division became replacement troops in the 26th 
Division. He received his honorable discharge at Camp 
Devon, Massachusetts, in 1919, at once returning home 
and resuming his law practice. At present he is cap- 
tain of Troop A, 53 M. G. Squadron, Kentucky Na- 
tional Guard. He is unmarried, and, like his brother, 
is a Knight of Columbus and a member of the Cath- 
olic Church. 

Jack E. Fisher. One of the distinguished yet un- 
assuming members of the Kentucky bar, Jack E. 
Fisher, of Paducah, commonwealth attorney, has 
achieved his splendid success through a systematic 
application of his abilities to the profession of his 
choice, a profession that is peculiarly exacting in its 
demands. A native of Kentucky, he was born March 
24, 1884, in Benton, Marshall County, which was like- 
wise the birthplace of his father, the late James M. 
Fisher. He is of English extraction, his great-grand- 
father on the paternal side having immigrated from 
England to America in Colonial times, settling first in 
Virgmia and later moving to Tennessee. 

John J. Fisher, grandfather of Jack E. Fisher, was 
born in 1833. in Davidson County, Tennessee, and was 
there trained to agricultural pursuits. Coming to 
Marshall as a young man, he bought land near Benton, 
and on the farm which he improved spent the re- 
mainder of his life, dying in 1909. He married in 
Benton, Susan Gatlin, who was born in Marshall 
County, Kentucky, in 1832, and died in Benton in 1904. 

Born in 1856, James M. Fisher spent his entire life 
in Benton, passing to the life beyond in 1907. A man 
of talent and ability, he entered the legal profession 
when young, and by means of industry and skill, built 
up an extensive patronage. He served as county at- 
torney of Marshall County three terms and as county 
judge one term. A sound democrat in politics, he was 
county commissioner of Marshall County schools for 
some time, but otherwise was not active in public 
affairs. A consistent member of the Christian Church, 
he was one of its active supporters. Fraternally he 
belonged to the Ancient Free and Accepted Order of 
Masons, and to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. 
He married Ida Eley, who spent her brief life in 
Benton, her birth occurring in i860 and her death in 
1889. Four children were born of their marriage, as 
follows : Bessie, widow of the late C. R. Holland, a 
former merchant of Benton, where she now resides; 



84 



rliSlUKY Uf KtlN 1 UIKi 



Reece, who was employed as a clerk, died in Benton in 
1908; Jack E., of whom we write; and Georgia, wife 
of R. D. Wolfe, of Owensboro, Kentucky, chief clerk 
of the Hodge Tobacco Company. 

Having received his elementary education in the 
public schools of Benton, Jack E. Fisher continued his 
studies for one term at Bethel College in Russellville, 
Kentucky. Beginning his career at the age of nine- 
teen years, he taught school at Sanders Ridge, Mar- 
shall County, for a year, and the following year had 
charge of the Canada district school near Calvert City. 
In the meantime, having devoted all of his leisure time 
to the study of law, he was admitted to the bar in 
1905, when but twenty-one years of age, and has since 
continued in the practice of his profession at Benton, 
where he resides and still has an office. Elected com- 
monwealth attorney for a term of six years in the 
fall of 1915, he assumed the duties and responsibilities 
of the position in January, 1916, his offices being at 
814 City National Bank Building, Paducah, county 
seat of McCracken County. 

Prominently associated with various legal organiza- 
tions, Mr. Fisher is vice president of the Common- 
wealth Attorneys' Association ; and belongs to the 
McCracken County Bar Association ; the State Bar 
Association ; and to the National Bar Association. Re- 
ligiously he is a valued member of the Baptist Church. 
Fraternally he is a member of Benton Lodge No. 401, 
Ancient Free and Accepted Order of Masons; of 
Benton Chapter, Royal Arch Masons ; of Benton Camp, 
Woodmen of the World ; of Benton Camp, Modern 
Woodmen of America ; and also the Sigma Nu frater- 
nity. 

Mr. Fisher married, iii 1910, Evalie G. Martin, a 
daughter of G. W. and Sue R. (Ramsey) Martin, who 
reside in Birmingham, Kentucky, where Mr. Martin is 
engaged in business as a tobacco exporter. Mrs. Fisher 
received exceptionally fine educational advantages 
when young, having graduated from the Princeton, 
Kentucky, High School, Lebanon College, at Lebanon, 
Tennessee, and Tennessee College, at Murfreesboro, 
Tennessee, after which she took a post graduate course 
at Kroeger's School of Music in St. Louis, Missouri, 
her talent and accomplishments, combined with her 
native good sense and congenial disposition, rendering 
her a most desirable companion and a general favorite 
in social circles. Mr. and Mrs. Fisher have one child, 
Emma Jean, born July 5, 1912. 

Robert Yandell Shepherd, M. D. In the pro- 
fession of medicine Doctor Shepherd is continuing at 
Taylorsville the service formerly rendered by his father 
in the same community. He is a talented physician 
and surgeon, was a captain in the Medical Corps dur- 
ing the World war, and is one of the valued citizens of 
Spencer County. 

Doctor Shepherd was born at Chestnut Grove in 
Shelby County, Kentucky, February 14, 1879, son of 
Dr. William Ellis and Mary (Campbell) Shepherd. 
His paternal grandparents were Absalom Waller and 
Emelina (Clark) Shepherd. His grandfather was born 
in Virginia in 1812, son of John Shepherd, a native of 
Culpeper County, Virginia, who founded the family in 
Kentucky in pioneer times. Dr. William Ellis Shepherd 
was born in Shelby County, Kentucky, January 3, 1851, 
and after graduating in medicine from the University of 
Louisville, located at Chestnut Grove, also spent eight 
years at Atchison, Kansas, practiced at Southville, Ken- 
tucky, and in 1898 moved to Taylorsville, where he 
continued his splendid work as a physician until his 
death December 30, 191 1. His wife, Mary Campbell, 
now lives with her son, Doctor Shepherd, at Taylors- 
ville. She was born at Nashville, Tennessee, daugh- 
ter of Robert Campbell and of Scotch-Irish lineage. 
She is the mother of three children. 

Robert Yandell Shepherd was given liberal educa- 
tional advantages. He graduated Bachelor of Science 



from Center College at Danville in 1902, and in 1904 
entered the Medical Department of the University of 
Louisville, from which he received his degree July 30, 
1907. He at once returned to Taylorsville, and that 
community has been the scene of his professional work 
ever since except for the period of the war. He volun- 
teered in the Medical Reserve Corps and was com- 
missioned a captain April II, 1918. In June of that 
year he reported for duty in Maryland, where he was 
stationed for ten months. He received his honorable 
discharge March 5, 1919. Doctor Shepherd organized 
and is commander of Spencer Post No. 51 of the 
American Legion. He is unmarried, is a Baptist, a 
democrat, and belongs to the Spencer County and Ken- 
tucky State Medical associations. 

Hon. Joe F. Bosworth. former state senator and 
speaker of the House of Representatives in 1920, has 
been in the public eye in Kentucky for thirty years, 
and perhaps no one individual has done more to pre- 
pare the way for the great industrial uplift and prog- 
ress of Eastern Kentucky than this Middlesborough 
lawyer, coal operator and legislator. 

Mr. Bosworth was born near Lexington in Fayette 
County October 3, 1867. His birthplace at that time 
bore the colloquial name of Slickaway, but is now 
called Fort Spring. His father, Benjamin Bosworth, 
was of an old Kentucky family, though at the time 
of his birth on July 6, 1834, his mother was visiting 
at Philadelphia, Tennessee. Otherwise his life was 
spent at the Fort Spring community in Fayette County, 
where he owned a fine Blue Grass farm and was iden- 
tified with its work and management. He died there 
in 1906. He was a democrat, and a very faithful Bap- 
tist in religious affiliations. His wife was Miss Mary 
Cloud, who was born in Fayette County in 1841 and 
died at Lexington in 1919. Several of their children 
have achieved distinction. Henry, a farmer living at 
Lexington, is former state treasurer and former state 
auditor of Kentucky. The second of the family, 
J. Cloud, is a prosperous farmer in Fayette County. 
Miss Hattie lives at Lexington. Hon. Joe F. is the 
fourth of the family. Doctor Lewis is one of the able 
men in the medical profession at Lexington. Clifford. 
a Lexington business man, was formerly state fire 
marshal of Kentucky. Powell, a farmer living at Lex- 
ington, was at one time deputy sheriff of Bell County 
and was elected sheriff of Fayette County, November 
8, 1921. Ben, of Lexington, former assistant state fire 
marshal and in a business way is identified with a 
large tobacco warehouse. Miss Mary, the youngest 
of the family, lives with her sister at Lexington. 

Joe F. Bosworth grew up on his father's farm, and 
the first country school he attended was taught by 
the distinguished Kentucky novelist. James Lane Allen. 
He also spent three years in Kentucky State Univer- 
sity at Lexington, and pursued his law studies in the 
University of Virginia at Charlottesville and in the 
office of Judge Joe D. Hunt at Lexington. He was 
admitted to the bar in 18P9. and for a brief time 
was located at Omaha, Nebraska. September 4, 1889, 
he began his practice at Middleshorough, and for ten 
years was busily engaged in handling a general law 
practice, but since then business and public affairs 
have taken precedence over his distinctively professional 
work. Mr. Bosworth is general manager and a direc- 
tor of the Yellow Creek Coal Company, with head- 
quarters at Middlesborough. operating mines with a 
capacity of a thousand tons per dav. These mines are 
situated near Middlesborough in Bell County. He is 
also vice president and director in the Mingo Coal & 
Coke Company, whose general offices are also at Mid- 
dlesborough. The mines are in Claiborne County, Ten- 
nessee, and have a capacity of 800 tons a day. Mr. 
Bosworth is a director and secretary of the Middles- 
borough Coal Land Owning & Leasing Company, a 
company holding 5,000 acres of coal and timber lands 





^7 ^^v^^ tA7> ^y^ 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



85 



in Bell County; and he is also president of the Appa- 
lachian Indemnity Insurance Company, with headquar- 
ters at Louisville, Kentucky. 

Mr. Bosworth has made his public record as a re- 
publican in politics. While his public record has been 
a source of incalculable good and benefit to the entire 
state, he has recognized as the first call of duty 
the welfare of his home town. He was a member of 
the first city council in 1890, and in November, 1893, 
was elected city judge, being re-elected in 1897. He 
held that office for eight years, beginning in 1894. 
He was city attorney in 1902-03. In 1905 he was 
elected to the Lower House of the Legislature as rep- 
resentative of the 94th, the largest district in the 
state, comprising Bell, Harlan, Leslie and Perry coun- 
ties. In November, 1907, he was elected to the state 
senate to represent the 17th Senatorial District, com- 
prising Bell, Jackson, Knox, Laurel, Pulaski, Rock- 
castle and Whitley counties, and in November, 1911, 
was re-elected, so that he was in the senate for eight 
years until 1916. In November, 1919, Mr. Bosworth 
was again chosen to the legislature as representative 
of the 84th District, comprising Bell County. In the 
session of 1920 he was chosen speaker of the House 
and in 1921 became a candidate for re-election without 
opposition, which office he now holds. He has also been 
elected republican minority and floor leader in the Lower 
House of the Kentucky Legislature. Mr. Bosworth 
earned the complete admiration and confidence of the 
House on both sides for the dignified and impartial 
manner in which he exercised his powers as speaker. 

In protective and progressive legislation it is doubt- 
ful if any Kentuckian could point to a record sur- 
passing in quantity and value that of Mr. Bosworth. 
His friends have frequently pointed out that of the 
various amendments made to the present state con- 
stitution, four are directly due to his leadership and 
influence. Altogether there are twenty-two measures 
to his credit in legislative enactment, some of them 
affecting in some way the interests and welfare of 
Bell County and Eastern Kentucky. During his first 
term in the Legislature following his election in 1905 
he was instrumental in securing the repeal of the 
Roundtree Bills. Those bills had been passed by the 
previous Legislature and had completely tied up all 
available and prospective revenues of Middlesborough 
to the benefit of the municipality's creditors. By the 
repeal of these Roundtree Bills by Mr. Bosworth, ar- 
rangements with the bond holders were made permit- 
ting a graduated payment of the obligations and 
resulting in a saving of hundreds of thousands of dol- 
lars, and, more important still, permitting the town to 
begin a hopeful task of recreating its financial and 
material prosperity. 

Mr. Bosworth helped secure the law by which Mid- 
dlesborough became a third-class instead of a fourth- 
class city and thus gave it a session of the Circuit 
Court, and he also had passed the law giving the city 
and all third-class cities of the state a commission 
form of government. He had passed the bill creating 
the 33rd Judicial District, composed of Bell, Harlan 
and Whitley counties, and later the bill creating tht 
34th District, composed of Bell and Harlan counties. 
Among other laws credited to him were those per- 
mitting property owners of Middlesborough to pay for 
street improvement on the ten-year installment plan ; 
Kentucky's Pure Food and Drug Law ; the appropria- 
tion bill that completed the beautiful State Capitol 
at Frankfort ; and secured the constitutional amend- 
ment preventing the employment of convict labor in 
competitive industries and making convicts available 
for labor on the public highways. 

Mr. Bosworth is perhaps most widely known as au- 
thor of a Kentucky Modern Good Roads movement. 
This was a work carried on over eight years, during 
which the constitution was several times amended, the 
first measure being what is known as "The Bosworth 



and Wyatt Good Roads Constitutional Amendment," 
permitting the state to lend its funds and credit to sup- 
plement the enterprise of counties and road districts 
in the building of permanent highways. As a result 
of Mr. Bosworth's eight years of untiring effort in 
behalf of the cause of Good Roads in Kentucky, his 
first Good Roads measure putting his constitutional 
amendment into effect became a law, thus creating the 
Department of Good Roads and the office of state road 
commissioner at the 1912 session of the Legislature. 
And by his efforts these laws were further perfected 
and beneficially revised in 1914, by reason of which 
■ laws together with his efforts as a member and speaker 
of the House of Representatives and the efforts of 
other Good Roads enthusiasts, in 1918 our present 
road laws became a reality. In recognition of the 
splendid pioneer service he thus rendered Mr. Bos- 
worth was elected in 1909 the first president of the 
Kentucky Good Roads Association, and was known 
the "Father of Good Roads in Kentucky." 

Mr. Bosworth is prominent in the Order of Elks, 
being past exalted ruler of Middlesborough Lodge No. 
119, B. P. O. E., and was president of the Kentucky 
Elks Association in 1920. He is a member of the 
Baptist Church. During the war he was constantly 
active in committee works and otherwise for the Lib- 
erty Loan, Red Cross and other drives in Bell County. 

In August, 1890, at Tazewell, Tennessee, Mr. Bos- 
worth married Miss Elizabeth Veal, daughter of Cap- 
tain James and Eleanora (Chorn) Veal. Her father 
is a retired farmer now living with Mr. and Mrs. Bos- 
worth, and was a Confederate soldier under General 
John Morgan during the Civil War. Mrs. Bosworth 
completed her education in the Bellewood Seminary 
at Anchorage, Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Bosworth have 
two children: Joe F., Jr., born in August, 1891, is 
bookkeeper at the Yeliow Creek Coal Company's mine 
in Bell County. He married Miss Bennie Johnson 
of Bell County, and their two children are Paralee 
and Joe F. III. The daughter, Eleanora, born in Sep- 
tember, 1897, is the wife of Richard Ramey of Mid- 
dlesborough. Mr. Ramey is chief bookkeeper and man- 
ager of all the offices of the Yellow Creek Coal Com- 
pany, the Mingo Coal & Coke Company, and the Mid- 
dlesborough Coal Land Owning & Leasing Company. 
Mr. and Mrs. Ramey have two children : Frances 
Bosworth, born in 1917, and J. Richard, Jr., born 
in 1919. 

Clement V. Hiestand, M. D., is a representative of 
the third generation of the Hiestand family in Taylor 
County, and here has gained secure status as one of 
the leading physicians and surgeons engaged in practice 
at Campbellsville, the county seat of his native county. 
The original American progenitors of the Hiestand 
family came from Switzerland and settled in the beau- 
tiful Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in the Colonial 
period of our national history, three brothers of the 
name having been the founders of the American 
branch, and later generations having been identified 
with civic and industrial development in various other 
states of the union. Doctor Hiestand was born after 
the death of his grandfather, Jacob Hiestand, who was 
born at Hillsboro, Ohio, and who came to Taylor 
County, Kentucky, shortly after his marriage to Miss 
Eva Landis, a native of Virginia. He became one of 
the pioneer farmers and distillers in Taylor County, 
and during the period of the Civil war he served as a 
colonel in the local organization of the Kentucky State 
Guards. He was one of the sterling citizens who did 
a worthy part in the development and upbuilding of 
Taylor County, and his name merits place on the roster 
of the honored pioneers of this section of the state. 
Both he and his wife continued their residence in this 
county until their deaths, and they became the parents 
of nine children, all of whom are now deceased, name- 
ly : Ferdinand, Josiah, an M. D. ; Matthew ; Allen, an 



86 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



M. D.; Felix, Oliver P., an M. D.; Araminta; Isabelle 
and Demarius. 

Dr. Clement V. Hiestand was born at Campbells- 
ville, Taylor County, his present place of residence, 
and the date of his nativity was May 26, 1871. His 
father, Ferdinand J. Hiestand, was born at Campbells- 
ville in the year 1820, passed his entire life in Taylor 
County, and was one of its venerable and honored 
citizens at the time of his death, in October, 1898, In 
earlier years he was a distiller, but his major work was 
in connection with farm industry, of which he long 
stood as one of the extensive and influential exponents 
in his native county. His political allegiance was given 
to the democratic party, and he was called upon to 
serve in various public offices of local order. He was 
postmaster at Campbellsville four years, and gave an 
equal period of service as county sheriff, besides which 
he was county tax commissioner two terms, of four 
years each. He was a leader in the local councils and 
campaign activities of the democratic party, and was 
a man whose character and achievement marked him 
as worthy of the unqualified popular esteem in which 
he was ever held. He served as master of Pitman 
Lodge No. 124, Free and Accepted Masons, at 
Campbellsville, and was affiliated also with Taylor 
Chapter No. 90, Royal Arch Masons. His wife, whose 
maiden name was Mary Rucker, was born in Taylor 
County in 1837, and she survived him by nearly twenty 
years, her death having occurred at Campbellsville in 
April, 1917, and both she and her husband having been 
earnest members of the Baptist Church. Of their chil- 
dren the eldest is Leora, who is the wife of James 
Crittenden, a prosperous farmer of Taylor County; 
Viola is the wife of Alexander Smith, likewise a 
farmer of this county; Sallie is the wife of C. W. 
Ramsey, former clerk of Taylor County, and he is now 
engaged in farm enterprise in this county ; Nellie is 
the wife of G. W. Hord, another of the progressive 
farmers of this county ; Dr. Clement V., of this review, 
was the next in order of birth; Daisy is the wife of 
D. O. McGee, a merchant in the City of Birmingham, 
Alabama; and S. Bruce is a successful farmer in 
Taylor County. 

After having availed himself of the advantages of 
the public schools of Campbellsville Doctor Hiestand 
here entered Taylor Academy, in which he was gradu- 
ated in 1892. He taught in one of the rural schools 
of the county during the school year of 1892-3, and in 
the autumn of the latter year entered the medical de- 
partment of the University of Louisville, in which he 
was graduated as a member of the class of 1896 and 
with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. For one year 
thereafter he was engaged in practice at Mineola, 
Wood County, Texas, and he then returned to his 
native county and established himself in practice at 
Merrimac, in which village he maintained his pro- 
fessional headquarters until January, 1918, when he 
returned to the county seat, his native place, where he 
has since controlled a large and representative general 
practice and has secure status as one of the successful 
and popular physicians and surgeons of his native 
county. His well appointed offices are established in 
the Taylor National Bank Building, and he owns and 
occupies one of the fine modern residences of Camp- 
bellsville, the house being situated in a seven-acre tract 
that is adorned with fine trees and shrubbery and witli 
the lawns of the best type of the famous Kentucky Blue 
Grass. The Doctor is the owner also of a well im- 
proved farm in Casey County. He is serving as secre- 
tary of the Taylor County Medical Society at the time 
of this writing, in the summer of 1921, as is he also 
as secretary of the County Board of Health and as 
health officer of Campbellsville. He holds membership 
also in the Kentucky State Medical Society and the 
American Medical Association. He is a close student 
of the best standard and periodical literature of his 



profession and insistently keeps in touch with the ad- 
vances made in modern medical and surgical science. 

Doctor Hiestand is found staunchly arrayed as an 
advocate and supporter of the cause of the democratic 
party, in the faith of which he was reared, and he is 
one of the liberal and progressive citizens of Taylor 
County. He served eight years as a member of the 
County Board of Education, and was its secretary dur- 
ing this entire period. He has given effective service 
also as chairman of the county democratic committee, 
in which capacity he had much to do with the directing 
of political forces in the county. The doctor is a past 
master of Pitman Lodge No. 124, Free and Accepted 
Masons, and in the time-honored fraternity his affilia- 
tions include also his membership in Taylor Chapter 
No. 90, Royal Arch Masons, at Campbellsville, and 
Marion Commandery No. 24, Knights Templars, at Leb- 
anon. He took active part in all local war service, 
helped in all of the drives in support of subscriptions 
to the various Government bond issues in connection 
with the World war. and was himself a liberal sub- 
scriber, with a loyal sense of personal stewardship. 
He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episco- 
pal Church, South. 

At Merrimac, Taylor County, on the 5th of January, 
1898, was solemnized the marriage of Doctor Hiestand 
to Miss Mattie Hogan, who likewise was born and 
reared in Taylor County and who is a daughter of 
Thomas and Lydia (Rhodes) Hogan, her father hav- 
ing been one of the representative farmers and to- 
bacco growers of the county at the time of his death 
and the widowed mother being now a member of the 
home circle of Doctor and Mrs. Hiestand. In con- 
clusion is entered brief record concerning the children 
of Doctor and Mrs. Hiestand: Nydia is a graduate of 
the local high school, remains at the parental home 
and is a popular factor in the social life of her native 
place. Val, who was graduated in the Campbellsville 
High School, enlisted in the United States Army in 
January, 1921, and is at the time of this writing sta- 
tioned at San Antonio, Texas; Clemmie Vera and 
Fannie Ena are students in the home high school; and 
the younger children are Regina Elizabeth, Johnnie 
Lucile, Zara Blanche, Harriet Enid, Grace Hogan, 
Thomas Ferdinand and Richard Stewart. 

Omar H. Shively, M. D. The central district of 
Kentucky claims its full quota of able and successful 
physicians and surgeons, and among the number _ is 
Doctor Shively, who is established in general practice 
at Campbellsville, judicial center of Taylor County. 
The Doctor was born in Green County, Kentucky, on 
the 16th of August, 1871, and is a son of Dr. Alexander 
Shively, who was born in Taylor County in 1839, and 
who now resides at Campbellsville. The greater part 
of his life has been passed in his native county, though 
he was for a time engaged in practice in Green County, 
and he long held a secure place as one of the leading 
physicians of Taylor County, where he controlled a 
large and representative practice for many years. Since 
1917 he has lived virtually retired at Campbellsville. 
He was graduated in the medical department of the 
University of Louisville, and in his character and 
service has honored and dignified alike his profession 
and his native state. He is a staunch democrat, well 
fortified in his convictions concerning economic and 
governmental policies, has long been a zealous mem- 
ber of the Baptist Church, in which his first wife like- 
wise held membership, and he is affiliated with the 
Masonic fraternity. In 1861, shortly after the incep- 
tion of the Civil war, Doctor Shively enlisted in a 
Kentucky regiment that entered the Union service, and 
he continued a member of this command during one 
year, at the expiration of which he received his honor- 
able discharge. His wife, whose maiden name was 
Jennie Massie, was born in Adair County, Kentucky, 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



87 



and she was forty-five years of age at the time of her 
death, which occurred on the home farm five miles 
south of Campbellsville, on the Columbia-Campbells- 
ville turnpike, Dr. Omar H., immediate subject of this 
review, being the only child of this union. For his 
second wife Dr. Alexander Shively wedded Miss Annie 
Miller, who was born and reared in Taylor County 
and whose death occurred on the old homestead farm 
mentioned above, no children having been born of the 
second marriage. 

The rural schools of Taylor County afforded Dr. 
Omar H. Shively his preliminary education, which was 
supplemented by his attending Taylor Academy, at the 
county seat. Thereafter he was for two years a 
student in the old Kentucky University at Lexington, 
and in preparation for the profession of his choice he 
entered his father's alma mater, the medical depart- 
ment of the University of Louisville, in which institu- 
tion he was graduated as a member of the class of 
1893 and with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He 
has insistently held himself in touch with the advances 
made in medical and surgical science, and to thus 
fortify himself he completed a special post-graduate 
course in the Baltimore Medical College, Baltimore, 
Maryland, in 1804, and in 1896 a special course in 
surgery in the celebrated Chicago Polyclinic, in the 
great metropolis of the West. Upon his graduation he 
engaged in practice in Taylor County, but two years 
later removed to Greensburg, judicial center of Green 
County, where he continued in successful practice for 
the ensuing twenty-two years, during which he won 
and maintained precedence as one of the leading phy- 
sicians and surgeons of that county and was prom- 
inently identified with the Green County Medical 
Society. In IQ17 Doctor Shively returned to Taylor 
County and established his residence and professional 
headquarters at Campbellsville, and he has since de- 
veloped and controlled a most substantial and repre- 
sentative practice, in which his able services have added 
new distinction to the professional honors attaching 
to the family name. The Doctor has his well appointed 
office in the Davis Building, on Main Street, and owns 
and occupies an attractive modern house on Depot 
Street, this being one of the best residence properties 
in the thriving little city. Doctor Shively is actively 
affiliated with the Taylor County Medical Society, the 
Kentucky State Medical Society and the American 
Medical Association. While a resident of Greensburg 
he served as a member of the Board of Health of 
Green County. 

When the nation became involved in the late World 
war, Doctor Shively manifested his patriotism and 
professional loyalty by enlisting, on the 16th of Sep- 
tember, 1918, for service in the medical corps of the 
United States Army. He was sent to Camp Greenleaf, 
Georgia, for preliminary instruction in the Officers' 
Training Camp, and there he received commission as 
captain in the medical corps. After there remaining 
three weeks he was transferred to Camp Mills, Long 
Island, New York, and December 14, 1918, was assigned 
to service at the Debarkation Hospital in New York 
City, where he continued in specially active service until 
Tuly 3, 1919, when he received his honorable discharge. 
Since that time he has given himself earnestly to the 
work involved in his large and important general prac- 
tice in Taylor County. 

Doctor Shively is a staunch democrat, takes a lively 
interest in community affairs but has had neither time 
nor inclination for political office. While living at 
Greensburg he there served as a member of the Board 
nf Education and also as a member of the Board of 
Pension Examining Surgeons for Green County. He 
and his wife are members of the Baptist Church, and 
he is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity. 

In 1894 was recorded the marriage of Doctor Shively 
to Miss Mattie Smith, daughter of the late Pilson 
Smith, who was a prominent farmer and influential 



citizen of Green County, where both he and his wife 
died. Doctor and Mrs. Shively have but one child, Vir- 
ginia, who was born January 31, 1902, and who is, in 
1921, a student in Shorter College at Rome, Georgia. 

Rev. Samuel Shively, grandfather of the Doctor, was 
born in Taylor County in the year 1800, and here he 
passed his entire life, having been a clergyman of 
the Baptist Church and having given many years of 
earnest service in the work of the ministry. He died 
on the old home farm of his son Dr. Alexander Shive- 
ly, in 1883, and there also occurred the death of his 
wife, whose family name was Penn and who likewise 
passed her entire life in Taylor County, where both 
the Shively and Penn families settled in the early 
pioneer days. The father of Rev. Samuel Shively came 
to this county from Virginia, and became one of the 
pioneer exponents of farm industry in this now favored 
section of the state, where he endured his full share 
of hardships and vicissitudes incidental to the frontier 
and where he finally met his death at the hands of 
hostile Indians. 

Reuben Hale Falwell has made singular good use 
of his time and opportunities to incorporate his energy 
and influence into the civic and business affairs of 
Murray and that section of Calloway County. He is 
owner of a prosperous business, and his energies are 
readily enlisted in every movement undertaken for the 
general welfare of his town and county. 

His grandfather was born at Philadelphia, Pennsyl- 
vania, and his name was Joseph W. Bertran. He was 
an infant when his parents died, and he was then 
placed in the care of a guardian named Caleb Scatter- 
good. At the age of four he was stolen from his 
guardian, was taken West and grew up and was reared 
by the widow Folwell at Nashville, Tennessee, when 
that city was a small hamlet in the western wilderness. 
Later he spelled his name Falwell, a spelling that has 
been followed by his descendants. He became a 
plasterer by trade, and lived near Nashville, Franklin, 
and in Memphis, and late in life came to Calloway 
County, Kentucky, where he died. He married a Miss 
Ford, a native of Tennessee, who died at Memphis. 

Monroe Falwell, father of the Murray business man, 
was born at Franklin, Davidson County, Tennessee, in 
1837, grew up in that community, and at the age of 
twenty-one came to Jackson's Purchase and acquired 
a new farm fourteen miles east of Murray, in Callo- 
way County. Later he sold this place and bought an- 
other, seven miles east of Murray, and on that home- 
stead reared his family of seven children. He finally 
retired and spent his last days at the home and farm 
of his son Reuben, two miles south of Murray, where 
he died in 1915. He was a democrat in politics and at 
the age of twenty-five united with the Missionary Bap- 
tist Church at Elm Grove, and was one of the stanch 
upholders of that church all the rest of his life. He 
married Sarah S. Futrell, who was born six miles east 
of Murray December 20, 1840, and is still living in 
Calloway County. Her father, Joseph Winburn Fu- 
trell, was born in North Carolina in 1812 and was one 
of the early residents of the farming district of Callo- 
way County, and died on his farm seven miles east of 
Murray. He married Elizabeth Vinson, who was born 
in Tennessee in 1813, and died in Calloway County in 
1890, the same year as her husband. Monroe Falwell 
and wife had a family of seven children : Joseph W., 
a farmer on the old place seven miles east of Murray; 
Kiltie, wife of W. A. Vance, a Calloway County 
farmer at Blood ; Bettie, wife of John Sellars, also a 
farmer in the Blood community; Noah H, who is a 
foreman in the mechanical department of the Foreman 
Automobile Company at Paducah ; Mary Jane, wife of 
B. F. Caraway, a farmer seven miles east of Murray; 
Ina, wife of Herman Young, a street car motorman 
at Detroit, Michigan ; and Reuben Hale, youngest of 
the family. 



88 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



Mr. Falwell's early memories are associated with the 
old farm east of Murray, and his first advantages 
were acquired in the nearby country schools. For two 
years he attended Fairview Academy at Centerville, 
Tennessee, finishing there in 1908. In the meantime 
he had qualified as a teacher and for six years was 
more or less actively identified with the teaching pro- 
fession in Calloway County. He also spent one year 
at Duck River, Tennessee. 

Mr. Falwell entered politics in 1908 as candidate for 
the nomination for County Court clerk, was nominated, 
was elected in November, 1909, and began his official 
term in January, 1910. He was in office four years, 
and in 1914 engaged in the real estate business at 
Murray. After nine months he bought a half interest 
in a general fire and life insurance agency from W. F. 
Jordan in September, 1914, and since March 5, 1917, 
has been sole owner of a business, which, largely due 
to his sagacity and enterprise, has become the leading 
fire and life insurance business of the town. On Feb- 
ruary 1, 1921, he took in as a partner and associate 
in this business J. K. Matheny. Their offices are in 
the First National Bank Building. Mr. Falwell is vice 
president of the First National Bank of Murray and 
is interested in considerable real estate, owning one 
of the very attractive and well located homes of the 
town at the corner of Twelfth and Main streets. 

Mr. Falwell was a speaker and otherwise active 
worker in all the local war campaigns, in behalf of 
Liberty Loans and Red Cross and other causes. He is 
choir leader of the Sunday school of the Missionary 
Baptist Church, member of the church, is a democrat 
in politics and is affiliated with Faxon Camp, Wood- 
men of the World, Murray Lodge No. 95 of the Odd 
Fellows, and is a past chancellor commander of Murray 
Lodge, Knights of Pythias. 

On December 23, 1908, at the Elm Grove Church in 
Calloway County he married Miss Frocie J. Outland, 
daughter of Andrew W. and Alpha C. (Parker) Out- 
land, her parents being farmers four miles east of 
Murray. Mrs. Falwell was liberally educated, and be- 
fore her marriage held a first class teacher's certificate 
and taught in Calloway County three years. They 
have one son, Reuben Hale, Jr., born October 29, 191 5. 

James R. Sanders, who resides at Campbellsville, 
county seat of Taylor County, is a native son of this 
county and is the efficient incumbent of the office of 
deputy collector of internal revenue for the Kentucky 
revenue district in which he resides. 

Mr. Sanders was born on a farm five miles south- 
east of Campbellsville, on the 21st of August, 1866, and 
he is a representative of one of the old and well known 
families of this section of the state. His father. 
Lafayette Sanders, was born at Clay Hill, Taylor 
County, in 1841, and he passed his entire life in his 
native county, his death having occurred on his home 
farm in 1886. He established his residence on this 
farm in 1869, and gained precedence as one of the ex- 
tensive and successful exponents of agricultural and 
livestock enterprise in Taylor County. He was a man 
of fine mentality and in his youth had prepared him- 
self for the legal profession, though he never engaged 
in active practice. He was graduated in a college at 
Hanover, Indiana. Mr. Sanders was a democrat in 
politics, was influential in the directing of community 
affairs of public order, was affiliated with the Masonic 
fraternity, and he and his wife held membership in 
the Presbyterian Church. During the Civil war he 
gave evidence of his loyalty to the cause of the Con- 
federacy by serving in the command of Gen. John 
Morgan, the famed Confederate raider, for whom he 
acted as a scout. He was wounded by guerrillas in an 
engagement on Little Muldrough Hill, Taylor County, 
and as the shot struck him in the forehead, the wound 
was a severe one and caused him trouble during the 
remainder of his life, which was undoubtedly shortened 



by this injury. Mrs. Sanders, whose maiden name was 
Ann Mary Patterson, was born in Green County, Ken- 
tucky, in 1846, and she passed the closing period of her 
life at Campbellsville, where she died in 1907. Of the 
children the first born, Nora, died in infancy; James 
R., of this review, was the next in order of birth; 
C. P., who died at Jonesboro, Arkansas, at the age of 
forty-six years, was a traveling salesman for the 
Belknap Hardware Company of Louisville, Kentucky, 
and was the organizer of the Farmers Deposit Bank 
at Campbellsville, though he sold his interest in this 
institution some time prior to his death ; Dr. H. G. is 
a representative physician and surgeon at Campbells- 
ville; Dr. R. A. is successfully established in the prac- 
tice of dentistry in Campbellsville ; Mary M. died in 
infancy; W. B. is a farmer near Glasgow, Montana; 
S. M. is engaged in the hardware business at Camp- 
bellsville; Cary, who died at the age of forty-five years, 
was the wife of J. D. Edwards, who still resides on 
his farm in Taylor County; Nellie is the wife of 
George Barbee, a druggist at Syracuse, Nebraska; and 
Bettie is the wife of Harry T. Edwards, who con- 
ducts a feed store at Campbellsville. 

James R. Sanders undoubtedly has his share of pro- 
test against the study and confinement that attended his 
boyhood application in the rural school near his home, 
but he profited duly by the advantages there afforded 
and later was graduated from the high school at 
Campbellsville as a member of the class of 1886. By 
this time he was fully alive to the value of education 
and had so advanced himself as to prove eligible for 
pedagogic honors, in connection with which he gave 
one year of effective service as principal of the high 
school of Campbellsville. In 1890 he was graduated in 
Central University at Richmond, Kentucky, from 
which institution he received his well earned degree of 
Bachelor of Arts, and in which he became affiliated 
with the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. It was after his 
graduation that he held the position of principal of the 
Campbellsville High School, and he had initiated his 
second year of effective service in this capacity when 
the work was interrupted by the burning of the high- 
school building. In this emergency he accepted the 
position of teacher of mathematics in Pike College, 
Bowling Green, Missouri, where he remained thus 
engaged for three years and where also he studied law, 
under the preceptorship of the firm of Clark & Demp- 
sey, the senior member of which was the distinguished 
Missourian, Hon. Champ Clark, later member of Con- 
gress from that state. Mr. Sanders was admitted to 
the Missouri bar at Bowling Green in 1895, and soon 
afterward he assumed academic and executive charge 
of the S. W. Buchanan Collegiate Institute at Camp- 
bellsville, Kentucky, which had been recently 
established under the auspices of the Presbyterian 
Church. He retained this incumbency two years and 
del excellent work in building up the institution. In 
1897 he was made master commissioner of the Taylor 
Circuit Court, and in this capacity he continued his 
service until 1910, the while he also was engaged ac- 
tively in the practice of law at Campbellsville. In 1909 
he was elected county attorney, and he assumed this 
office in January, 1910. Re-election continued him in 
office after the expiration of his first term, of four 
years, but after serving about six months of his second 
term he resigned the office, in July, 1914, to assume 
that of deputy collector of internal revenue, to which 
position he had been appointed by T. Scott Mayes, the 
United States collector for the Fifth Revenue District 
of Kentucky. He continued his effective service under 
such jurisdiction until July, 1919, when the various 
revenue districts were consolidated into one, known as 
the District of Kentucky, and he then received ap- 
pointment as deputy collector of the state district, 
with headquarters in the City of Louisville. 

Though his official headquarters are in the metropolis 
of Kentucky, as noted above, Mr. Sanders still main- 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



89 



tajns his home at Campbellsville, where his fine sub- 
urban residence occupies a tract of thirty-four acres 
and constitutes one of the attractive homes of his 
native county. In addition to this fine property he 
owns a one-third interest in a farm of no acres, four 
miles south of Campbellsville. 

Mr. Sanders is a stalwart in the ranks of the demo- 
cratic party. He is a member of the Presbyterian 
Church at Campbellsville, and his wife a member of 
the Baptist Church. In his home city he is affiliated 
with Pitman Lodge No. 124, Free and Accepted 
Masons, besides which he retains membership in 
Quiver Lodge No. 242, Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows, at Bowling Green, Missouri. Mr. Sanders 
played a loyal and vigorous part in furthering the vari- 
ous campaigns for subscriptions to the Government 
loans and Savings Stamps in connection with the 
nation's participation in the World war, and he per- 
sonally subscribed to the limit of his means. 

In 1896 Mr. Sanders wedded Miss Minnie Graves, 
who likewise was born and reared in Taylor County, 
and in their home her father now resides, the loved 
wife and mother having passed to the life eternal. Mr. 
Graves is a retired farmer and is one of the highly 
esteemed citizens of Taylor County. Mr. and Mrs. 
Sanders have three children : Ellen was graduated 
from the University of Louisville with the degree of 
Bachelor of Arts, and is, in 1921, taking a post-gradu- 
ate course in that institution ; Fayette, who remains at 
the parental home, is a student in the Russell Creek 
Academy at Campbellsville, and the same conditions 
apply to Elizabeth, the youngest of the children. 

Henry Sanders, great-grandfather of the subject of 
this review, was born and reared in Virginia and be- 
came a pioneer farmer and distiller in Taylor County, 
Kentucky, where he was a prominent and influential 
citizen of the early days and where he and his wife 
continued to reside until their deaths, their son James, 
grandfather of James R. of this review, having been 
born in this county, though the same had not been 
organized under this name at that time. He devoted 
his entire active career to farm industry in his native 
county, and his death occurred in the Muldrough Hill 
district of the county prior to the birth of his grand- 
son, James R. He married Mary Griffin, who was born 
in Adair County, this state, and who survived him by 
several years. 

William O. Wear, proprietor and publisher of the 
"Calloway Times," is one of the newspaper men of 
this region who has fairly earned the right to domi- 
nate public opinion, and is responsible for much of the 
progress which has been made of recent years in this 
section of the state. He is an experienced man in his 
line and understands the grave responsibilities resting 
upon him. He was born at Murray, Kentucky, Janu- 
ary 21, 1847, a son of A. H. Wear, and a member of 
one of the aristocratic Southern families. The name 
was originally spelled Weir, and those bearing it came 
to the American Colonies from Scotland, locating first 
in Virginia, from whence migration was later made to 
Alabama and thence to Kentucky. 

A. H. Wear was born at Tuscumbia, Alabama, in 
1817, and died at Murray, Kentucky, in November, 
1903. His parents came to Calloway County, Kentucky, 
when he was a lad, and here he was reared, educated 
and married. After the Town of Murray was organized 
A. H. Wear settled in it and continued to make it his 
home until his death. He was the pioneer druggist of 
the place and of Calloway County, and two of his 
sons still conduct his original store. He was a strong 
democrat. The Christian Church had in him one of" 
its earnest members and generous supporters. A 
Mason, he was a member of Murray Lodge No. 105, 
A. F. and A. M., for many years, and for fifty years 
served it as treasurer. He was married to Sallie 
Meloan, who was born at Mount Sterling, Montgomery 



County, Kentucky, in 1830, and died at Murray, in 1910. 
Their children were as follows : William O., who is the 
eldest; Samuel, who died at Murray when still a boy; 
Emily J., who died at Murray when she was seventy 
years of age, was the wife of Edrnond Starks, a 
farmer, now deceased; Lucy, who died in Florida, was 
the wife of the late D. W. Jones, a merchant while 
living at Murray, but a farmer after going to Florida, 
where he, too, passed away; Andrew M., who is a 
saddler and harnessmaker, lives at Jackson, Tennessee; 
John M., who died at Los Angeles, California, was also 
a saddler and harness maker; D. M., who was a 
farmer, died at Murray in 1918; H. P., who is engaged 
in conducting his father's old drug store at Murray; 
Mattie E., who is unmarried, resides at Murray ; J. V., 
who died at La Center, Kentucky, was a newspaper 
publisher; B. B., who is a partner of his brother, H. P.; 
and E. W., who is the publisher of the "La Center Ad- 
vance," lives at La Center, Kentucky. 

William O. Wear attended the public schools of his 
native city and was graduated from its high school in 
1867. Upon leaving school he went into his father's 
drug store. In 1875 he established the "Calloway 
Times," and has been its sole proprietor ever since. 
This is the official democratic paper of Calloway 
County, and is the leading pioneer newspaper still in 
existence in this part of the state. The plant and 
offices are on Fifth Street, and the former is equipped 
with modern machinery and appliances for the proper 
conduct of a first-class newspaper. This journal circu- 
lates in Murray and Calloway and surrounding coun- 
ties. Mr. Wear is a strong democrat, and has served 
in the Murray City Council, and was elected to succeed 
himself. He is a member of the Christian Church, and 
belongs to Murray Lodge No. 105, A. F. and A. M.; 
Murray Chapter No. 92, R. A. M. ; and Murray Coun- 
cil, R. and S. M. His residence on Fifth Street, which 
he owns, is one of the finest in the city. During the 
late war Mr. Wear used his paper to promote all of 
the local activities, and through its columns and per- 
sonally was an effective participant in all of the drives 
in behalf of the Liberty Loans, the Red Cross and 
similar organizations. 

In 1869 he was married at Murray to Miss Mary 
Linn, a daughter of R. C. Linn and his wife Jane 
(Irvan) Linn, farming people, both of whom are now 
deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Wear became the parents of 
the following children : Sallie, who married W. E. 
King, a machinist, resides at Baton Rouge, Louisiana; 
Reubie, who is unmarried, lives with her parents ; and 
Boyd, who lives at Murray, is assisting his father on 
the paper. At one time he belonged to the Kentucky 
National Guard. Mr. Wear's grasp of public affairs is 
clear and comprehensive, and he knows how to present 
them and local topics of special interest in such a 
manner as to meet with the approval of his readers. 
He has always been fearless in his support of those 
measures he deemed to be for the good of the ma- 
jority, and has never failed to put his shoulder to the 
wheel of progress whenever there was necessity for 
such exertion. 

F. L Peddicord, M. D. A former superintendent of 
the Central State Hospital, Doctor Peddicord is a 
specialist and recognized authority in nervous diseases, 
and is now engaged in private practice at Covington. 
His varied experience and services have given him a 
high place in the medical fraternity of Kentucky. 

Doctor Peddicord was born in Bracken County, Ken- 
tucky, November 22, 1871. The Peddicords lived in 
Ireland until they came to the United States in Colonial 
times and settled in Maryland. Doctor Peddicord's 
grandfather Nelson Peddicord was a native of Mary- 
land and married a girl of the same name and a dis- 
tant relative. They came West and settled in Mason 
County, Kentucky, where he followed farming the rest 
of his life. The father of Doctor Peddicord was F. 



90 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



M. Peddicord, who was born in Mason County in 1841. 
He was reared and married in Bracken County, where 
for a long period of years he conducted his operations 
as a farmer on a large scale. He died in Bracken 
County December 23, 1918. During the war between 
the states he was in the Home Guards, and was once 
captured and imprisoned at Lexington. He was a 
democrat and very devout and regular in his worship 
as a member of the Christian Church. His wife was 
Susan Feagan who was born in Bracken County in 1S56 
and died there in 1912. Doctor Peddicord is the oldest 
of their children. H. O. Peddicord was a teacher and 
died in Bracken County at the age of thirty. Pearl 
Grace died unmarried at the age of twenty-eight. 
Lillie the only surviving daughter is the wife of Taylor 
Fraysur, a farmer in Bracken County. 

Doctor Peddicord spent his useful years on a farm 
in Bracken County, gained most of his education 
through his own efforts, and at his own expense, and 
was a successful teacher before he achieved his am- 
bition of becoming a physician. He attended rural 
schools, a graded school at Johnsville in Bracken 
County, and for one year was a student in the Ken- 
tucky State University at Lexington. He finished his 
literary education in the Northern Indiana Normal 
College of Valparaiso, where he spent seventy-two 
weeks. He graduated in the commercial and pen art 
courses and also completed the work of the scientific 
and classical department. Leaving college in 1893 
Doctor Peddicord returned to Bracken County and for 
about ten years directed his talents to teaching. In 
1903 he entered the University of Louisville Medical 
School and received his M. D. degree in 1906. Fol- 
lowing his graduation he practiced fourteen months in 
Pendleton County, and for six years was a physician 
in Boone County. He was called to the Central State 
Hospital at Lakeland as first assistant physician, but 
after i l / 2 years was delegated with the full responsi- 
bilities of superintendent of this institution. He was 
superintendent 6 l / 2 years, and after retiring he moved 
to Covington in October, 1920, and has since confined 
his attention to his specialty in Neuro-Psychiatry. His 
offices and residence are at 1017 Madison Avenue. 

Doctor Peddicord is a member of the American 
Medical Psychological Association, and is also affiliated 
with the Campbell-Kenton Counties Medical Society, 
Kentucky State and American Medical Association and 
the Southern Medical Association. So far as his 
official duties permitted he lent all his personal in- 
fluence and aid to the success of the various war drives 
in Jefferson County. Doctor Peddicord is a democrat, 
a member of the Christian Church, is affiliated with 
Burlington Lodge Knights of Pythias at Burlington, 
Kentucky, and was formerly a member of the Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, Modern Woodmen of 
America and Improved Order of Red Men. In 
Bracken County in 1898 he married Alice Moorhead. 
Her parents J. A. and Biddy (Poe) Moorhead are resi- 
dents of Brooksville, Kentucky, where her father is 
a merchant. 

Roy C. Snyder is one of the expert and practical 
oil men in Eastern Kentucky, and for many years has 
been connected with the Wood Oil Company in Wayne 
County, and is now state superintendent for that com- 
pany's interests in Kentucky, with headquarters at 
Monticello. 

Mr. Snyder acquired his training in the oil fields 
of Pennsylvania and was born in Millerstown in that 
state March 26, 1874. This is an old Pennsylvania 
family. His father, Truman K. Snyder, was born in 
Bradford in 1843, was reared and married in that city, 
and entered the oil contracting business at an early 
date in the history of petroleum. In 1872 he moved 
to Millerstown, where he conducted a custom boot and 
shoe business until the store was burned in 1874. He 
then resumed oil contracting at Bradford, and in 1882 



went to Astatula, Lake County, Florida, where for fiv» 
years he was a carpenter contractor. Returning to 
Bradford in 1887 he followed the vocation of a farmer 
the rest of his life, and in 1896 removed to Limestone, 
New York, living on a farm there until his death in 
1898. He had to his credit an honorable record of six 
years as a soldier — the first three years with the noted 
Bucktail Regiment of Pennsylvania, and the last three 
years in the United States Cavalry. At the close of 
the Civil war his regiment was sent to the West and 
he was in many campaigns against the Indians, being 
finally mustered out in Idaho. He participated in 
thirty-three major engagements during the Civil war 
and on the frontier. He was a steadfast republican 
in politics, was a member of the Presbyterian Church 
and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Truman 
K. Snyder married Agnes Tait, who was born at Mof- 
fat, Scotland, in 1850 and died at Bradford, Pennsyl- 
vania, in 1905. Her father, Thomas Tait, was born 
in Scotland in 1807, brought his family to the United 
States in 1856, and spent the rest of his life on a farm 
near Bradford, Pennsylvania, where he died in 1890. 
Roy C. Snyder is the oldest of three children. His 
sister Elizabeth is the wife of W. B. Heck, connected 
with the C. E. Daugherty & Company, oil contractors 
at Monticello. His other sister, Mabel E., is the wife 
of C. E. Daugherty, of the firm C. E. Daugherty & 
Company at Monticello. 

Roy C. Snyder acquired his early education in the 
public schools of Bradford, Pennsylvania, and Asta- 
tula, Florida. While in Florida one of his teachers 
was Charles P. Summerall, now well known to fame 
as one of the major generals of the American forces 
during the World war, and one of the ablest soldiers 
and leaders in the Regular Army. Mr. Snyder left 
school at the age of seventeen and then followed an 
extended experience as a worker in the oil fields of 
Virginia and Ohio. In 1905 he located at Monticello, 
Kentucky, and there he had charge of the Wood Oil 
Company's property and has since been advanced to 
the company's state superintendent. He is also senior 
member of the firm C. E. Daugherty & Company, and 
he and Mr. Daugherty have been engaged in business 
as oil contractors siuce 1910. They have maintained 
a complete organization for drilling oil wells, and 
have brought in much oil production on their own 
account in Wayne County. Mr. Snyder is also a 
partner in the W. B. He.ck & Company, an oil pro- 
ducing firm at Monticello, owning some production 
in Wayne County. 

Mr. Snyder is the present mayor of Monticello, hav- 
ing been elected for an unexpired term in 1919, while 
in 1920 he was commissioned mayor by Governor 
Edwin P. Morrow and again commissioned in 1921. 
He is a republican, a member of Monticello Lodge 
No. 431, F. and A. M. : Monticello Chapter No. 152, 
R. A. M. ; Somerset Commandery No. 31, K. T. ; Kosair 
Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Louisville, is past 
grand of Monticello Lodge No. 361, Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows. During the World war he was chair- 
man of the War Chest Fund campaign in Wayne 
County and otherwise helpful on other committees. 
In January, 1897, at Limestone, New York, Mr. Snyder 
inarried Miss Margaret McKelleb, daughter of H. E. 
and Eliza (Barber) McKelleb. His father was a farmer 
and oil producer at Limestone, and Mrs. Snyder is a 
graduate of the high school of that city. To their 
marriage have been born three children: Emroy G. is 
the wife of H. A. Tate, on the engineering force of 
the Wood Oil Company and a resident of Monticello ; 
Milton F. was a student in the Culver Military Acad- 
emy at Culver, Indiana, now in business in New York 
City; Marcia, the youngest, was in the Monticello High 
School, now attending school in New York City. 

R. D. Simpson. While statesmen play a prominent 
part in the directing of the affairs of any community 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



91 



or country, yet the men of paramount importance in 
the history of their times are those who carry on the 
everyday business, performing the duties resting upon 
them to the best of their ability and seeking to make 
their part of the world a little better for their having 
passed through it. Murray is not different from other 
municipalities, and is proud of the fact that it has in 
its midst some of the most substantial and depend- 
able men of Western Kentucky, among whom may be 
mentioned R. D. Simpson, proprietor of the granite 
and marble works he is conducting under his own 
name. He was bo,rn in Ballard County, Kentucky, 
October 28, 1862, a son of Judge S. P. Simpson, and 
grandson of Erasmus Simpson, who was born in Shelby 
County, Kentucky, in 1799. He died in Ballard 
County, Kentucky, in December, 1886, although he was 
reared, educated and married in Shelby County, Ken- 
tucky, from whence he went to Christian County, Ken- 
tucky, in 1846, and to Ballard County in 1855. All of 
his mature years he was engaged in farming. Eras- 
mus Simpson was married to Martha Taylor, who was 
born at Louisville, Kentucky, and died in Ballard 
County. She was a direct descendant of Zachary Tay- 
lor. The Simpson family was founded in Kentucky 
by the great-grandfather of R. D. Simpson, who moved 
into Shelby County from Virginia. His wife was a 
niece of Daniel Boone, and in this connection with the 
great frontiersman and pioneer of Kentucky no doubt 
influenced Mr. Simpson in making his advent into the 
then wilderness of Kentucky. 

S. P. Simpson was born in Shelby County, Ken- 
tucky, October 20, 1835, and died at Murray, Kentucky, 
August 20, 1918. Until 1855 he continued to live in 
Shelby County, where he was reared, received his edu- 
cational training, and was married, but in that year 
moved to Ballard County, and was there engaged in 
farming until October 18, 1892, when he moved into 
Calloway County, and was elected city judge of Mur- 
ray, which office he held for twenty years, and then 
retired from active participation in business or pro- 
fessional life. In politics he was a democrat. The 
Baptist Church held his membership. He was married 
to Fannie Washburn, who was born in Shelby County, 
Kentucky, May 28, 1840. She survives her husband 
and makes her home at Murray. They became the 
parents of the following children : R. D., whose name 
heads this review; Florence, who was born in 1865, 
died at Murray in 1916, unmarried. 

R. D. Simpson attended the public schools of Bland- 
ville, Ballard County, at the time it was the county 
seat of Ballard County, and there finished the high- 
school course. Leaving school at the age of eighteen 
years he began farming on his own account in Bal- 
lard County, and was thus engaged until he went to 
McCracken County, and continued his agricultural ac- 
tivities there until 1892, in which year he located at 
Murray. In 1894 he became manager of the Murray 
Milling Company, and held that position until 1903, 
when he bought the marble and granite business owned 
by Rufe Downs, taking into partnership with him 
Messrs. Boyce and Lassiter, he being the senior mem- 
ber and general manager. This is the only granite 
and marble concern in Calloway County, and is one 
of the leading ones of its kind in Western Kentucky. 
The firm owns another marble and granite yard at 
Paris, Tennessee. The Murray plant and offices are 
located on Maple Street. The work done by this firm 
is exceptionally artistic, and orders come to it not 
only from all over Calloway, but adjoining counties. 
Mr. Simpson is a democrat, but has not entered actively 
into politics, his time and attention having been ab- 
sorbed by his business. He belongs to the Christian 
Church and is a strong supporter of religious work. 
Fraternally he is a member of Murray Camp No. 50, 
W. O. W. He owns a modern residence, one of the 
beautiful ones of the city, which is located on one of 
the most desirable sites. The house is surrounded by 



tastefully kept grounds, in which are some fine shade 
trees. 

Mr. Simpson was married at Paris, Tennessee, in 
1905, to Miss Lula Morris, a daughter of W. L. and 
Anna (Brown) Morris, residents of Henry County, 
Tennessee, where Mr. Morris is engaged in farming. 
Mr. and Mrs. Simpson became the parents of two 
children, namely : Katherine, who was born May 2, 
1910; and R. D., Jr., who was born May 9, 1912. 

Henry Scott Robinson. In noting the representa- 
tive members of the bar of Taylor County it is grat- 
ifying to designate Mr. Robinson as one of the num- 
ber, especially in view of the fact that he is a native 
son of the county and a scion of one of the old and 
honored families of this section of the Blue Grass State. 
He is engaged in the successful practice of his profes- 
sion at Campbellsville, the judicial center of his native 
county, and has appeared in many important cases in the 
various courts of this section of Kentucky, with a rec- 
ord of many victories won in both the criminal and 
civil departments of law. 

Mr. Robinson was born at Campbellsville on the 6th 
of June, 1861, and thus made his appearance shortly 
after the Civil war was initiated. He is a son of 
Capt. John R. Robinson, who was born in Taylor 
County February 23, 1823, and whose death here oc- 
curred on the nth of March, 1899. His father, Robert 
Robinson, a native of Randolph County, Virginia, and 
a member of a family founded in the Old Dominion 
State in the early Colonial period of our national his- 
tory, became one of the pioneer settlers of Taylor 
County, Kentucky, whither he came as a young man. 
He here developed a productive farm, which he re- 
claimed from the virtual wilderness, and here he 
passed the remainder of his life. His wife, whose 
maiden name was Nancy Rice, was born and reared 
in Taylor County and here remained until the close 
of her life. The names of both the Robinson and Rice 
families have been prominently concerned in the early 
development of Taylor County. 

Capt. John R. Robinson was reared under the con- 
ditions and influences that marked the pioneer period 
of Taylor County history, and his vigorous and alert 
mentality enabled him to gain a liberal education and 
to attain status as one of the most distinguished mem- 
bers of the bar of his native county, at whose judicial 
center he was actively engaged in the practice of his 
profession many years, with specially high standing as 
a land lawyer, in which field of practice he specialized. 
In his earlier life he served as a justice of the peace 
at Campbellsville, and he also filled the office of county 
attorney one term. He was a stalwart democrat and 
a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. 
He was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity for many 
years prior to his death. When the Civil war was pre- 
cipitated he promptly raised a company for the Union 
service, and became captain of Company E. Twenty- 
seventh Kentucky Volunteer Infantry. He proceeded 
with his command to the front, took part in numerous 
engagements, including a number of major battles, and 
continued in active service from 1861 until 1864, when 
he resigned his commission as captain and returned 
home on account of the impaired health of his wife, 
whose death occurred in that year. Her maiden name 
was Malvina Scott, and she was born at Greensburg, 
Kentucky, in 1838. Of their children, Henry S. ( of 
this review, is the elder, and the other child, Malvina, 
died in infancy. For his second wife Captain Robin- 
son married Miss Lydia E. Barbee, who was born in 
Ta3'lor County and who here remained until her death, 
which occurred at Campbellsville. Of the children of 
this union the eldest is Nannie, who is the wife of 
W. L. Young, a successful lawyer engaged in practice 
at Campbellsville; Miss Bettie is principal of the high 
school at Lancaster, Kentucky ; P. S. is a successful 
representative of the lumber business at La Grande, 



92 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



Oregon; and Joseph E., who resides at Campbells- 
ville, is in the United States internal revenue service 
in his native county. 

Henry S. Robinson is indebted to the public schools 
of Campbellsville for his early education, and after 
leaving school he read law under the effective and 
punctilious preceptorship of his father, who saw to it 
that he was firmly grounded in the involved science 
of jurisprudence. He was admitted to the bar of his 
native state in January, 1882, upon examination before 
Judge R. S. Montague and Judge Drury Hudson. Dur- 
ing the long intervening years Mr. Robinson has been 
actively engaged in the practice of law in his native 
city, and the broad scope and importance of his law 
business attest alike his ability and his secure hold 
upon popular confidence and esteem. He maintains 
his offices in the building of the Taylor National Bank, 
and is the owner of his modern residence property on 
Depot Street. 

While Mr. Robinson has never wavered in allegiance 
to the democratic party and his given effective service 
in behalf of its cause, he has had no desire for political 
preferment, though in direct line with his profession 
he gave 8H years of specially efficient service as county 
attorney. He is an active member of the Baptist 
Church of Campbellsville, and a member of its Board 
of Trustees. During the World war he was active 
and characteristically loyal in the furtherance of the 
local activities in support of the nation's war work, 
and by Governor Stanley he was appointed legal ad- 
visor or counsel of the Taylor County Draft Board. 
He gave valuable aid in the furtherance of the various 
local drives in behalf of the Government loans, Red 
Cross work, etc., bought his full quota of war bonds 
and Savings Stamps, and was zealous in the promo- 
tion of all such work in his native county. 

The year 1883 recorded the marriage of Mr. Rob- 
inson to Miss Hattie Taylor, daughter of the late 
D. G. and Lou J. (Cowherd) Taylor, Mr. Taylor hav- 
ing been one of the representative farmers of Taylor 
County. Mrs. Robinson passed to the life eternal in 
1889, and was not survived by children. In 1892 Mr. 
Robinson wedded Miss Minnie Sharp, a daughter of 
William and Sue (Pruett) Sharp, both now deceased, 
Mr. Sharp having" been a successful farmer in Taylor 
County. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson have one child, Mol- 
lie, who remains at the parental home and is a popular 
factor in the social activities of the younger genera- 
tion at Campbellsville. 

Joe Lancaster. The legal profession has always at- 
tracted the young Southerner, and some of the most 
talented sons of Dixie have devoted their energies and 
talents to the practice of this most exacting calling. 
Many of them have attained to national reputation, 
and some have been known the world over because 
of their knowledge of the law and their flaming elo- 
quence. Joe Lancaster, county attorney of Calloway 
County and a distinguished member of the bar at 
Murray, is one of the young men of Kentucky who is 
finding his life work in the practice of his profession 
and reaping laurels as a result of his ability and skill. 

Mr. Lancaster was born in Humphreys County, Ten- 
nessee, January 9, 1881, a son of S. M. Lancaster, and 
grandson of Paschall Lancaster, a native of North 
Carolina, in which province the founder of the fam- 
ily in the American Colonies located when he came 
here from England. Paschall Lancaster was married 
to a Miss Holbrook, also a native of North Caro- 
lina, and with his wife journeyed into Tennessee, 
where he became one of the very early settlers 
and farmers of Hickman County, and there he died 
before his grandson was born. 

S. M. Lancaster was born in Hickman County, 
Tennessee in 1843, and is now living at Murray. 
He grew up in Hickman County, where he became 
a farmer, but after his marriage moved to Hum- 



phreys County, of that same state, and there all his 
children were born. In 1895 he came to Murray, 
Kentucky, where he is living in a well-earned retire- 
ment. His political convictions have been such as to 
make him cast his vote for the candidates of the dem- 
ocratic party. A very religious man, he has long been 
an earnest member of the Missionary Baptist Church 
and generous in its support. He is a Mason. During 
the war between the North and the South he served 
in the Confederate army, under General Bragg, and 
participated in the battles of Chickamauga, Lookout 
Mountain, Missionary Ridge, Murfreesboro and other 
important engagements, and was severely wounded at 
the battle of Murfreesboro. S. M. Lancaster was mar- 
ried to Nancy Sharp, who was born in Hickman 
County, Tennessee, in 1847, and they became the par- 
ents of the following children : Addie, who married 
R. L. Scholes, a guard in the state prison, lives at 
Eddyville, Kentucky; Joe, who was second in order 
of birth. 

Joe Lancaster was educated in the rural schools of 
Calloway County, and later attended the Southern Nor- 
mal University at Huntingdon, Tennessee, from which 
he was graduated in 1907 with the degree of Bachelor 
of Arts and the degree of Bachelor of Laws. That 
same year he came to Murray and established 
himself in a general practice. In the fall of 1907 
he was elected clerk of the Circuit Court of Callo- 
way County, taking office in January, 1908, and he 
filled that office for six years. His practice is a gen- 
eral civil and criminal one, and he is recognized 
as one of the eminent members of his profession in 
Calloway County. Having made such an enviable rec- 
ord as circuit clerk, his admirers in the democratic 
party, as well as those outside, recommended his ap- 
pointment to the office of county attorney, and he has 
been filling that office since August, 1919. His offices 
are in the Court House. 

Mr. Lancaster is a democrat. He belongs to Mur- 
ray Lodge No. 105, A. F. and A. M. ; Murray Chapter 
No. 92, R. A. M.; Paducah Commandery No. 11, K. 
T. ; and Kosair Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S. of Louis- 
ville, Kentucky. He owns a modern residence on West 
Poplar Street, which is one of the finest ones in the 
city. During the great war he took an active part 
in all of the local war activities, serving as food ad- 
ministrator of the county and assisting in putting all 
of the Liberty Loan and other drives "over the top." 
He was one of the "Four Minute Men" and one of 
the most effective talkers of this region, for he is an 
impressive speaker and commands attention through 
his flaming sincerity. 

In 1901 Mr. Lancaster was married in Graves County, 
Kentucky, to Miss Clemmie Paschall. a daughter of 
W. H. and Victoria (Cole) Paschall, the former of 
whom is now a farmer of Calloway County, but the 
latter is deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Lancaster have no 
children. A man of personal charm, culture and wide 
intellectual attainments. Mr. Lancaster has a brilliant 
future before him. He has always had a broader 
sense of responsibility with reference to civic matters, 
and his connection with an important office is giving 
him a knowledge of men and affairs which registers 
the sharp, resonant impressions of the vibrating needle 
of experience and will prove very useful to him in 
the years before him. 

James Monroe Johnson. In the business and legis- 
lative history of the City of Benton and the County 
of Marshall the name of James Monroe Johnson ap- 
pears frequently in connection with reliable transac- 
tions in commercial circles and valuable services ren- 
dered in the line of public duty. The proprietor of a 
prosperous coal and feed business, built up through his 
own industry and ability, he is also an ex-representa- 
tive, having served in two regular and one special ses- 
sions of the State Legislature. 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



93 



Mr. Johnson was born on a farm near Hamlet, Mar- 
shall County, November 26, 1856, a son of William H. 
and Hulda Jane (Hamilton) Johnson. His father, 
born in 1831 in this county, passed his entire life here 
as an industrious and prosperous agriculturist and 
died in 1913. He was a democrat in his political alle- 
giance and served at one time as road supervisor of 
Marshall County, and was a strong churchman of the 
Baptist faith. He married Miss Hulda Jane Hamil- 
ton, who was born in 1840 in Marshall County and 
died here in 1916. Their children were as follows: 
B. F., who is engaged in farming in Marshall County ; 
James Monroe; Eliza Jane, who died in 1918 as the 
wife of Mort Reynolds, a farmer of Marshall County; 
P. T., who is engaged in the granite and marble busi- 
ness at Independence, Missouri; Callie, who is the wife 
of D. A. Provine, a farmer near Gilbertsville, Mar- 
shall Count}', and also engaged in the tobacco buying 
business ; Bertie, who married J. J. Chambers, a farmer, 
and after his death married Thomas Fezier, a farmer 
of Graves County, this state ; Vira, the wife of Doc 
Inman, the proprietor of a grain elevator at Paducah ; 
and Henry, a mill operator and owner and proprietor 
of a granite and marble plant in McCracken County, 
this state. 

James Monroe Johnson was educated in the rural 
schools of Marshall County and was reared on his 
father's farm, where he resided until reaching the 
age of twenty-three years. At that time he embarked 
upon farming operations on his own account, and for 
ten years devoted himself industriously to the tilling 
of the soil. When he gave up farming temporarily he 
purchased a flouring mill at Wadesboro, Kentucky, 
which he operated two years, and then, coming to 
Benton, he secured a mill of like character. He had 
a quarter of a century's experience as a successful 
mill owner, but in 1919 disposed of this property and 
since then, for the most part, has devoted his atten- 
tion and abilities to the operation of his coal and feed 
business, which has grown to such proportions as to 
make him one of the leading business men of his 
community. For a time he had important farming 
interests also, but has recently disposed of his farm. 
He is the owner of his modern residence on Bearden 
Street, which is one of the comfortable and attractive 
homes of Benton, with four acres of highly improved 
land surrounding. 

Politically a democrat, Mr. Johnson has long been 
prominent in the ranks of his party and has been 
uncompromisMig in his support of its candidates and 
principles. He served as jailer of Marshall County 
for eight years, and in 1913 was elected a member of 
the Lower House of the Kentucky Legislature, a posi- 
tion to which he was re-elected in 1915. He served 
in the sessions of 1914 and 1916, as well as in the 
special session of 1917, and his entire record in that 
body is one that speaks of constructive and conscien- 
tious work on behalf of his constituents, his district 
and his state. He was chairman of the Warehouse 
Committee during both sessions, and served also on 
a number of other important committees. Mr. John- 
son is a member of the Baptist Church, and as a fra- 
ternalist is affiliated with Benton Lodge No. 701, A. F. 
and A. M. ; Elm Camp No 717, Woodmen of the 
World ; and the local lodge of the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows. He took an active part in all local 
war activities, helped in the various drives, and bought 
generously of Liberty bonds. 

In 1880, in Marshall County, Kentucky, Mr. Johnson 
was united in marriage with Miss Augusta Heath, 
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Mart Heath, both deceased, 
Mr. Heath having been an attorney. Mrs. Johnsen 
died in 1004, leaving six children : Cora, who married 
Clarence McGregor, a merchant of Benton, and after 
his death married Thomas Woods, a clerk in the Rudy 
Department Store, Paducah; Gillard B., engaged in 



the feed and grain business at Benton ; William, a 
flour miller at Golo, Graves County, this state ; May, 
the wife of Hayden Drafton, a farmer and rural free 
delivery mail carrier of Marshall County ; Veleda, the 
wife of William Ely, bookkeeper for the Ford Garage 
at Benton ; and Bettie, who married Herbert Cole, of 
Detroit, Michigan, connected with the Foreman Auto- 
mobile Company. In 1912 Mr. Johnson married Mrs. 
Bettie (Washum) Ivey, a native of Marshall County. 

Milton DilTz Holton, district manager of the 
Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company, is one of the 
distinguished men of Calloway County, and one who 
has taken a constructive part in the civic as well as 
business life of Murray, which he has served with 
dignified efficiency as mayor. Mr. Holton was born 
at Mount Sterling, Montgomery County, Kentucky, Oc- 
tober 27, 1869, a son of Henry E. Holton, grandson of 
Thomas Holton, and a member of one of the aristo- 
cratic families of Virginia, where his family was es- 
tablished during the Colonial epoch of this country 
by ancestors who came from England. One of his 
ancestors served in the American Revolution, and all 
of them were citizens of merit and high standing. 

Thomas Holton, the paternal grandfather, was born 
in Kentucky, whither the family had migrated in pio- 
neer days, and he died at Covington, this state, at a 
time antedating the birth of his grandson. A man of 
strong personality, he took an active part in local af- 
fairs wherever he was located, and at one time served 
as sheriff of Pendleton County, Kentucky. During a 
portion of his life he was a steamboat man, and he 
also attained to a well-merited success as proprietor 
of a popular hotel. During the early '50s he was a 
resident of Memphis, Tennessee, from which city he 
moved to Covington, Kentucky. Thomas Holton was 
married to a Miss McCarty, who died at Paducah, 
Kentucky, in May, 1891. Her father, a great-grand- 
father of Milton D. Holton, was a veteran of the 
War of 1812. 

Henry E. Holton was born at Falmouth, Pendleton 
County, Kentucky, in 1838, and died at Los Angeles, 
California, in 1910. He was reared at Covington, Ken- 
tucky, and educated at West Point Military Academy, 
where he remained until the outbreak of- the war be- 
tween the North and the South. Espousing the cause 
of the South, he resigned and coming back home en- 
listed in the Confederate army, as a member of Com- 
pany D, Eighth Arkansas Regiment. He was wounded 
and captured at the battle of Chickamauga, and spent 
nineteen months in prison on Johnson's Island. Dur- 
ing the war he served as a commiss'oned officer. His 
cause lost, he bravely shouldered the responsibilities 
of the reconstruction period, and for two years taught 
school in Harrison County, Kentucky, and from there 
went to Mount Sterling, Kentucky, where he owned 
and conducted a private school until 1871. In that 
year he moved to Ghent, Kentucky, and spent a year 
as one of the professors in a school at that place. The 
subsequent year he spent at Milton, Kentucky, and. 
going to Moscow, Ohio, was superintendent of its 
schools until he left that city for Germantown, Ken- 
tucky, and for a year was superintendent of its schools 
Coining to Murray, he served as principal of its school 
for five years, and then went to Paducah. Kentucky, 
and conducted a private school from 1886 to 1892, 
and also owned a dairy and fruit farm in the vicinity 
of that city. In 1892 he went on a farm near Rich- 
mond, Virginia, and was there occupied with agri- 
cultural pursuits until 1900, when he went to Saint 
Louis, Missouri, and there conducted a flourishing real 
estate business for six years. In 1906 he moved to 
Portland, Oregon, and continued his operations as a 
realtor until he retired and moved to Los Angeles, 
California. He was a strong democrat. The Chris- 
tian Church had in him an active member and gen- 



94 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



erous supporter, and he was for many years a lay 
preacher. Fraternally he was a Mason and Odd 
Fellow. 

Henry E. Holton was married to Harriet Broadwell 
Diltz, a daughter of Milton L. and Nackie (Penn) 
Diltz, the latter being a lineal descendant of John 
Penn, a brother of William Penn. Her uncle, Louis 
Broadwell, was a congressman from Ohio. Mrs. Hol- 
ton was born in Bracken County, Kentucky, in 1842, 
and died at Paducah, Kentucky, in 1891, having borne 
her husband the following children : Sue, who married 
Judge T. P. Cook, an attorney and formerly circuit 
judge of the Third Judicial District of Kentucky, lives 
at Hopkinsville, Kentucky; Milton D., who was sec- 
ond in order of birth; Henry E., who is in the insur- 
ance business at Murray, is serving that city as mayor ; 
and Carrie, who is the widow of Rufus Ward, for- 
merly actively engaged in an insurance business at 
Hopkinsville, Kentucky, where he died, and where she 
is still living. 

Milton D. Holton attended the public schools of 
Moscow, Ohio; Germantown and Murray, Kentucky, 
and left school when he was sixteen years old and 
was employed on his father's farm near Paducah, 
Kentucky, until 1888. In the latter year he became 
shipping clerk for a tobacco warehouse at Paducah, 
Kentucky, and remained with that concern for two 
years, leaving it to go with a dairy and creamery 
house at Paducah, and then, in 1892, he went to Ara- 
arillo, Texas, when it was a cow town with less than 
1,000 population, and worked in a general store for a 
year. Returning to Kentucky, he had charge of a 
creamery for a year. In 1894 he came to Murray. 
and was admitted to the bar, having been studying 
law during his leisure moments for some time. For 
a year he was engaged in the practice of his profes- 
sion, but did not find in it any more than he had 
in his former occupations, the proper outlet for 
his talents, and finally, in 1905, he embarked in the 
insurance business, which is essentially his forte. He 
went to Fort Worth, Texas, and carried on a flourish- 
ing business for several years. In the meanwhile he 
became interested in a mining proposition at Sweet- 
water, Nevada, and spent several years looking after 
it, but in 1909 went to Chicago, Illinois, and from 
December of that year until March, 1910, was repre- 
sentative on the road out of Chicago for the Trav- 
elers Insurance Company. Returning to Murray, he 
resumed his insurance business here, and is now dis- 
trict manager for the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance 
Company, one of the sound and dependable organiza- 
tions, his territory covering Calloway, Trigg and Mar- 
shall counties. His offices are conveniently located in 
the Ryan Building on Court Square. Mr. Holton is 
very active as a democrat, and was the second mayor 
of Murray, was city clerk for one term, and for six 
years was master commissioner of Calloway County. 
A Mason, he belongs to Murray Lodge No. 105, A. F. 
and A. M.; Murray Chapter No. 92, R. A. M. ; Pa- 
ducah Commandery No. 11, K. T. ; and Kosair Tem- 
ple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Louisville, Kentucky. He 
is an ex-member of Paducah Lodge No. 217, B. P. 
O. E., and an ex-member of the Knights of Pythias. 
For ten years he served as secretary of the Calloway 
County Fair Association and as secretary of the Mur- 
ray Building & Loan Association. Mr. Holton owns 
a modern residence on Olive Street, which is one of 
the fine ones of Murray, and is surrounded by admir- 
ably kept and extensive grounds, in which are some 
magnificent shade trees. 

On January 25, 1899, Mr. Holton was married at 
Murray, Kentucky, to Miss Julia Kelly Hamlin, a 
daughter of Judge R. F. and Laura (Boggs) Hamlin, 
both of whom are now deceased. He was county judge 
and county clerk of Calloway County, and early in 
life was prominent as an educator at Murray. Dur- 



ing the war between the North and the South he served 
gallantly in the Confederate army. Mrs. Holton was 
graduated from the National Normal University at 
Lebanon, Ohio, and for a year prior to her marriage 
was engaged in teaching school in Calloway County. 
She is a lady of charming personality and fine edu- 
cational talents. Mr. and Mrs. Holton became the 
parents of four children, namely: Hattie Laura, who 
was born December 2, 1899, was graduated from the 
Murray High School, after which she attended Ham- 
ilton College at Lexington, Kentucky; Robert, who 
was born in November, 1903, graduated from the 
Murray High School and is now at Transylvania Col- 
lege, at Lexington, Kentucky; Annie Diltz, who was 
bom December 18, 1905, is attending the Murray High 
School ; and Juliet Milton, who was born November 
26, 191 1. 

Mr. Holton has been eminently successful in his in- 
surance work, and is actuated by high motives in 
carrying out his policies. His experience prior to his 
entry on his present line of endeavor he feels to have 
been of great value to him, as it taught him much 
with regard to human nature and the motives which 
govern men. His present connections not only give 
him an agreeable and profitable occupation, but he 
feels that in educating the public to the necessity of 
providing protection for their families and their own 
old age he is rendering his kind a service of great 
value. Possessing as he does liberal views and a 
public spirit, he has been able to give much to Murray 
and has quickened into intense activity a local pride 
that is having remarkable results. 

Mrs. George Washington Martin, one of the highly 
cultured ladies of Marshall County, Kentucky, is re- 
siding at Birmingham, where her husband has ex- 
tensive interests as a tobacconist and financier. George 
Washington Martin was born in Muhlenberg County, 
Kentucky, in 1854, a son of Felix J. Martin, and grand- 
son of Hutson Martin, who died in Muhlenberg County 
before the birth of his grandson. 

Felix J. Klartin was born in Muhlenberg County, 
Kentucky, in 1825, and died at Greenville, that county, 
ing 1902, having been a farmer and tobacconist upon 
an extensive scale. He was married to Caroline 
Eaves, born in 1829, who died in Muhlenberg County 
in August, 1919. She was a sister of Judge Charles 
Eaves, a prominent lawyer of Greenville, Kentucky. 
Felix J. Martin was a democrat, a Methodist and a 
Mason, and was very conscientious in his discharge 
of the obligations entailed by his beliefs. He and his 
wife had the following children: John, who was a 
farmer, died at Greenville, Kentucky, in 1920; George 
Washington, who was the second in order of birth; 
William S., who was a tobacconist, merchant and 
prominent business man and farmer of McLean County, 
Kentucky, where he died ; Rufus, who was a tobac- 
conist, merchant and .successful business man of Green- 
ville, died there in 1903; Jennie, who married E. J. 
Puryear, a tobacconist and ex-merchant of Greenville ; 
Joseph, who is a tobacconist and farmer of South 
Carrollton, Kentucky; Annie, who married T. R. 
Smith, a farmer and flour-mill owner of Elizabethtown, 
Kentucky ; Betty, who married William Hanna, a 
farmer of Hopkins County; Charles E., who is a 
tobacconist, coal operator, banker and one of the most 
prominent business men of Greenville; and Dovie, who 
married W. H. Coffman, died at Itasca, Texas, and 
he died in 1919, having been a banker for years. 

George Washington Martin attended the public 
schools of Muhlenberg County and the Cave Springs 
College near Russellville, Kentucky, leaving school at 
the age of twenty-three years. For the subsequent 
ten years he was engaged in a timber business, and 
continued to reside in Muhlenberg County, and then 
began to handle tobacco, buying and exporting, main- 



"to ?s 





\y^n ■,>?? e-ri^t ^/> 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



95 



taining his headquarters at Sacramento, McLean 
County, Kentucky, until 1904. In that year he came 
to Birmingham, where he had already established a 
tobacco business, and for a time maintained branch 
houses at Sacramento and Hartford, Kentucky, but 
now confines his operations to Birmingham and Gil- 
bertsville. He has a large warehouse of his own at 
Birmingham, and rents another at Gilbertsville, and 
is the most extensive tobacco dealer in Marshall 
County. Mr. Martin has many other interests and is 
a director of the Sacramento Deposit Bank, which he 
served as president, and which he assisted in organ- 
izing, but after the bank was firmly established and 
he had been its chief executive for fifteen years, he 
resigned. He is also a stockholder in the Itasca Na- 
tional Bank of Itasca, Texas, owns a modern residence 
on Washington Street, several other dwellings at Bir- 
mingham, a second warehouse in the city, a farm of 
fifty acres 3J4 miles north of Birmingham, a second 
farm of thirty-five acres one-half mile east of Bir- 
mingham, and a third one of thirty acres one-quarter 
of a mile south of Birmingham, and is extensively 
interested in valuable farm land in other parts of the 
state. Mr. Martin is a democrat. He belongs to 
T. L. Jefferson Lodge No. 622, A. F. and A. _M. 

In 1890 occurred the marriage at Centerville, Mis- 
sissippi, of George Washington Martin and Sue Ram- 
sey, and they became the parents of the following 
children : Evalie Fisher married Jacke E. Fisher, a 
commonwealth attorney residing at Benton, Kentucky, 
with offices at 814 City National Bank Building, Pa- 
ducah, Kentucky, and a sketch of whom appears else- 
where in this work; Joseph Ramsey, who was born 
July 30, 1894, is now with his parents. He attended 
the Tennessee National Institute Military College at 
Sweetwater, Tennessee, and Bethel College of Russell- 
ville, Kentucky, for two years. With the entry of this 
country into the great war he felt it incumbent upon 
him to offer his services to his Government, and en- 
listed in August, 1917. He was commissioned a sec- 
ond lieutenant and sent to the Officers Training Camp 
at Fort Benjamin Harrison, and was advanced to the 
rank of first lieutenant. He was mustered out of the 
service at Greenville, South Carolina, in February, 
1919. The third child, Charles E., died at the age 
of 2^2 years ; and the fourth, John Hudson, who was 
born September 28, 1901, is a junior in Georgetown 
College, at Georgetown, Kentucky. 

Mrs. Martin's grandfather, Willis Ramsey, was born 
in Sumpter County, South Carolina, and died in that 
county before the birth of his granddaughter. For 
his times he was a very extensive planter and wealthy 
man. Willis Ramsey was thrice married, and his sec- 
ond wife, who was a Miss Odell before her marriage, 
was the grandmother of Mrs. Martin. She, too, was 
born, spent her life and died in Sumpter County, 
South Carolina. 

Mrs. Martin was born in Sumpter County, South 
Carolina, a daughter of T. J. Ramsey, who was born 
in Sumpter County, South Carolina, in 1840, and died 
at Centerville, Mississippi, in 1890. He was reared in 
his native county, where he lived for many years and 
was there engaged in farming and teaching school. 
Later he went to Texas, and for a year was engaged in 
teaching there, and then, in 1885, located at Center- 
ville, Mississippi, where he was editor and publisher 
of a newspaper. A man of strong convictions, he gave 
a valued support to the democratic party. The Bap- 
tist Church held his membership and had his generous 
and effective support. During the war between the two 
sections of the country he served in the Confederate 
army for four years and was a brave and gallant soldier, 
under General Buell for a time and during the last year 
of the war was under the command of General Morgan. 
T. J. Ramsey was married in Richland County, South 
Carolina, to Janie Scott, who was born in that county 
in 1839. She survives her husband and makes her 

Vol. V— 10 



home at Birmingham. Mr. and Mrs. Ramsey had the 
following children : William, who died in Sumpter 
County in 1882 and was a farmer; Scott, who died 
young; Frank, who died at the age of twelve years; 
Mrs. Martin, who was fourth in order of birth ; Les- 
lie, who is connected with a tobacco lactory and lives 
at Birmingham, Kentucky; John, who is a clerk in a 
store at El Centro, California; Albert, who is a mem- 
ber of the fire department of Denver, Colorado; 
Pauline, who married W. H. Wright, general fore- 
man for the Illinois Central Railroad at Haleyville, 
Alabama; and Miles W., who served as a member of 
the United States Marines, and is now stationed at 
Chelsea, Massachusetts, is a veteran of the Spanish- 
American war and of the great war. He enlisted in 
the United States army in 1898, and about twelve years 
ago was transferred to the marine branch of the 
service. He has served in Cuba and in the Philippines 
twice, and is an experienced soldier. 

Mrs. Martin is a lady who is held in the highest 
esteem in her community. She and her husband de- 
light to gather their friends about them at their beau- 
tiful home, where they dispense a charming Southern 
hospitality. A lady who has cultivated her natural 
talents, Mrs. Martin is the center of many community 
activities of an intellectual and cultural character, and 
she exerts a strong influence in her circle of acquaint- 
ances. Mr. Martin is one of the leading business men 
of Marshall County, and his remarkable operations, 
especially in tobacco, have made him a well-known 
figure in this part of the state. It would be difficult 
to find a family more representative of the best ele- 
ments in Kentucky than this one bearing the name 
of Martin. 

James M. Morell. There are several reasons why 
James M. Morell, proprietor and owner of the well-estab- 
lished mercantile business at Prestonburg which bears 
his name, has succeeded in life, and these may be stated 
to be energy, system and practical knowledge. The 
range of his activities is now large, as his establish- 
ment is the largest of its kind in Floyd County; but 
from the beginning of his career Mr. Morell has sought 
to work steadily and well for substantial results and 
has never been content to labor merely for the present. 

Mr. Morell was born November 23, 1871, at Laynes- 
ville (now Harrold), Floyd County, Kentucky, a son 
of Frank H. and Belle Christina (Hatcher) Morell, 
the former a native of Tennessee and the latter of 
Kentucky. Frank H. Morell came to Kentucky when 
about twenty-one years of age and subsequently en- 
tered the mercantile business. In addition to being 
prominent in business affairs, he took an active part in 
public life, and in 1889 served as judge of Floyd County, 
later being county superintendent of schools for two 
terms and also serving for some time as county sur- 
veyor. 

James M. Morell attended the public schools at 
Laynesville and spent one term at Prestonburg, follow- 
ing which he adopted the vocation of teaching school 
and for about four years was an instructor in the rural 
districts of Floyd County. He then entered the lum- 
ber business, logging timber at the head of the Big 
Sandy River, a business in which he was engaged for 
about eight years. Coming to Prestonburg, in 1903, 
he established himself in the mercantile business, 
handling heavy hardware, furniture, rugs and all kinds 
of house furnishings, and has developed his business 
from the initial small concern it was to the flourishing 
enterprise that it is today. This house is now the largest 
in its line in Floyd County, and its financial _ strength 
is equal to the volume of its business, meeting fully 
the demands of the developing country in which it is 
situated. A man of unusual business capacity, Mr. 
Morell's years of orderly and abundant work have 
resulted in acquired prosperity and the sane enjoyment 
of it, and he has at the same time maintained his inter- 



96 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



est in securing and preserving the welfare of his com- 
munity. He has given strict attention to his business, 
conducting it with a thoughtful and intelligent manage- 
ment which could not help but bring about satisfactory 
results. A well-read man, he keeps himself thoroughly 
posted on public events and matters of general interest, 
and is highly esteemed as a forceful, substantial man 
and excellent citizen. His religious connection is with 
the Baptist Church, and fraternally he is affiliated with 
the Masonic Blue Lodge and the Odd Fellows. 

June 28, 1905, Mr. Morell was united in marriage 
with Miss Mattie Lee Rice, daughter of Samuel Rice, 
an agriculturist, and a member of families which have 
long been residents of Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Morell 
are the parents of two children : James Morton, who 
was born in 1909; and William Franklin, born in 1917. 

Charles H. Wilson. Tracing the lives of the prom- 
inent men of Livingston County, it is easy to see that 
progressive characters have never lacked for oppor- 
tunity, and that opportunity has not signified so much 
as the man himself. In this great country of ours, 
where the valuable prizes of life are awarded for 
merit, rather than because of the accident of birth or 
fortune, the men of high character, courage, pluck 
and ambition are the successful ones. The highest 
places in the learned professions are filled with and 
the greatest commercial enterprises are conducted by 
just such men — men who at the outset of life placed 
a just valuation upon honor, integrity and determina- 
tion, for these are the qualities that insure the great- 
est emoluments and, what are still better than any 
mere accumulation of riches, the confidence and re- 
spect of their fellows. With these qualities as his 
capital, combined with great natural ability and a 
carefully trained capacity, Charles H. Wilson has long 
been engaged very successfully in the practice of the 
law at Smithland, where he is recognized as one of 
the leading men of Livingston County, as well as one 
of its ablest attorneys. 

Charles H. Wilson was born in Livingston County, 
Kentucky, August II, 1872. His grandfather, Charles 
Wilson, came to the United States from Sweden in 
1826, locating at Smithland, where he died in 1864. 
His wife, Martha Ann (Walker) Wilson, whom he 
married in 1840, lived until 1903. They had a family 
of eleven children, of whom four are now living, 
namely: George Martin, who is the father of Charles 
H. Wilson ; C. O., who is a farmer of Livingston 
County, Kentucky ; Jane, who married J. F. Robertson, 
now deceased, who was a farmer of Livingston County, 
and after the demise of her husband she moved to 
Akron, Ohio, where she is now residing : and Isaac 
Walker, who is a mine operator living near Chicago, 
Illinois. 

Charles Wilson became a democrat after he secured 
his papers of citizenship. By calling he was a farmer, 
and he owned a large tract of land. He and his wife 
identified themselves with the Baptist Church. The 
maternal grandfather of Charles H. Wilson was Reu- 
ben Coffer, who was born May 5, 1789, in Virginia, 
from whence he came to Lyon County, Kentucky, 
where he died June 20, 1853. On February 19. 1824, 
he married Elizabeth Ann Brewer, a native of Christian 
County, Kentucky. In politics Reuben Coffer was iden- 
tified with the whig party. By occupation he was a 
farmer, and was successful in his operations. Both he 
and his wife were members of the Baptist Church. 
They had seven children, all of whom are deceased. 

George Martin Wilson was born in Livingston 
County, Kentucky, October 17, 1841 and is now in his 
eightieth year and resides at Smithland, Kentucky. 
He was educated in the public schools of Livingston 
County, one of his teachers having been Capt. J. W. 
Bush. His life work was farming and stock-raising, 
and he was remarkably successful in everything he 
undertook, but he is now retired. At one time he 



owned about 1,000 acres of land, but divided it among 
his children. In politics he is a strong democrat, and 
served as constable and coroner of Livingston County. 
When war broke out between the North and the South 
he espoused the Southern cause and enlisted in the 
Confederate army, serving bravely as a soldier. George 
Martin Wilson married Millie Frances Coffer, who was 
born in Christian County, Kentucky, February 9, 1844, 
arul died in Livingston County June 2, 1896. Their 
children were as follows : Elizabeth, who married 
L. H. Cothron, a farmer of Livingston County; Charles 
H., whose name heads this review; George M., Jr., 
who is a farmer of Livingston County; Thomas H., 
who is also a farmer of Livingston County; Hattie 
May, who married G. A. Rudd, a farmer and produce 
commission merchant of Smithland ; Martha, who is 
living with her brother, Charles H.; Harry Winfred, 
who is in partnership with his brother-in-law, G. A. 
Rudd, at Smithland; and four others who died young. 
In November, 1806, George M. Wilson married Mrs. 
Delia Fort, and they have one son, Floyd A., who is 
in an insurance business and lives with his father. 

Charles H. Wilson received his common school edu- 
cation in the public schools of Livingston County, and 
in 1894 was graduated from the Princeton Collegiate 
Institute at Princeton, Kentucky, and his wife was 
graduated from the same institution in the same class. 
Beginning the study of law in the office of Col. J. C. 
Hodge, of Smithland, Mr. Wilson completed it and 
was admitted to the bar December 5, 1895. For two 
years he served as city attorney of Smithland, and 
then was elected attorney of Livingston County. In 
1901 he was re-elected to the same office, and served 
as such until 1905, or eight years in all. His record 
as a public official marks him for a man of unusual 
caliber and integrity, and stands to his credit for all 
time. Mr. Wilson is carrying on a general civil and 
criminal practice at Smithland, with offices on Court 
Street, and is recognized as one of the ablest members 
of his profession in the county. In politics he is a 
democrat. The Baptist Church holds his membership. 
He belongs to Smithland Lodge No. 138, A. F. and 
A. M., and Smithland Tent No. 120, Knights of the 
Maccabees, of which he is past commander. In addi- 
tion to4iis professional interests he is president of the 
Smithland Light and Power Company, and has served 
as a director of the Smithland Bank. He owns a 
modern residence on Wilson Avenue, which is one of 
the finest at Smithland, and several farms, aggregating 
in all some 46=; acres, located along the banks of the 
Cumberland River. 

On August 26, 1896, Mr. Wilson was married to 
Miss Sadie Eliza Polk, who was born at Louisville, 
Kentucky, April 21, 1873. She is the daughter of Dr. 
Edward Theodore Polk and his second wife, Emma 
Sophronia (Hooten) Polk, who was born at Louisville 
October 19, 1853, and died August 19, 1875. By his 
first wife, Elizabeth (Marshall) Polk. Doctor "Polk 
had three children, namely: Elizaheth Marshall, who 
married George Fulton, a bookkeeper of Louisville, 
Kentucky, now deceased, was born January 4, 1843. at 
Anchorage, Kentucky, and she d ; ed August 30, 1899; 
Betsey Marshall, who was born January 6, 1845, mar- 
ried Capt. Alexander Lawson. in the Government em- 
ploy, but now deceased, his widow living at Louisville, 
Kentucky : and John R. M. Polk, who was born Sep- 
tember 19, 1851, and died December 24, 1894, was an 
attorney of Louisville, Kentucky, and a member of 
the firm of Polk & Hulsewede.- He married Addie 
Rice, who survived him and died in 1899. After the 
death of his second wife Doctor Polk married her 
sister, Mrs. Eliza Hooten. the widow of Captain Fris- 
bee, and bv her marriage to him she has one daugh- 
ter, Ella Frisbee Coleman, wife of Benjamin Tyler 
Coleman, of Middletown, Kentucky, where he is em- 
ployed by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. Mrs. 
Coleman was born May 9, 1872. Mr. and Mrs. Cole- 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



97 



man have two sons : Frisbee and Charles Tyler, both 
of whom are employes of the Louisville & Nashville 
Railroad Company, and reside with their parents at 
Middjetown, Kentucky. 

Doctor Polk was born in Woodford County, Ken- 
tucky, June 12, 1813, and died February 27, 1891, in 
Jefferson County, Kentucky. His third wife was born 
September 23, 1843, and died October 30, 1917, at Mid- 
dletown, Kentucky. 

Mr. and Mrs. Wilson became the parents of the fol- 
lowing children : Ruby, who died in infancy ; Ella 
Christine, who was born May 13, 1898, is secretary 
of the Red Cross Chapter of Henderson, Kentucky, 
was graduated from the Livingston County High 
School, following which she took a year's course at 
the Georgetown College, attended Hamilton College 
at Lexington, Kentucky, and the Indiana State Uni- 
versity at Bloomington, Indiana, where she specialized 
in Red Cross work ; Mildred Kathleen, who was born 
December 25, 1901, was graduated from the Livingston 
High School, then took a course at Shorter College, 
Rome, Georgia, for a year, and is now teaching school 
in Livingston County ; Sarah Pauline, who was born 
August 27, 190-I, was graduated from the Livingston 
High School, is now a student at college ; Emma 
Ayleen, who was born in Februry, 1906, is attending 
the Livingston County High School ; Edward Polk and 
Charles Polk, twins, who were born February II, 1909; 
James Polk, who died in infancy; and Theodore Mar- 
tin, who was born September 18, 1913. 

During the great war Mr. Wilson served as legal 
advisor for the Livingston County Draft Board, was 
chairman of the Livingston County chapter of the 
Red Cross, and was food administrator of the county 
during 1917 and 1918. He was chairman of the United 
War Work campaign in 1918, which was a drive for 
funds for seven allied associations, namely : the Young 
Men's Christian Association, the Young Women's 
Christian Association, National Catholic War Council, 
Jewish Welfare Board, American Library Association, 
War Camp Community Service and the Salvation 
Army. Mr. Wilson devoted his time and money to 
helping put over all of these drives, and during all 
of the period of activity was one of the speakers 
throughout the county. The Council of Defense of 
the county had in him one of its most watchful mem- 
bers, and, in short, he was probably one of the most 
active workers in behalf of the cause Livingston County 
produced. 

John Bunya'n Gardner. Agriculture today con- 
tinues as essential to peace as it was to war, and con- 
sequently now more than ever must the farmer receive 
all possible encouragement and assistance. He must 
be taught the structure, composition and physiology of 
farm crops and their environment, that is, climate, fer- 
tilizers, soil, etc., and made to realize that the vital 
interest of the whole community is centered in the 
success of his work as the great basic industry. In 
order to bring about these results there have been 
established various agencies for the promotion of ag- 
riculture, and one of great use to the agriculturist is 
the local one in each county. The Calloway County 
Agricultural Agency is one of the best in Western 
Kentucky, especially since its affairs have been under 
the capable management of John Bunyan Gardner, 
county agricultural agent. 

John Bunyan Gardner was born at South Hill, But- 
ler County, Kentucky. February 21, 1888, a son of 
George W. Gardner, and grandson of Edward Gard- 
ner, who was born near Huntsville, Kentucky, and died 
at South Hill, Butler County, Kentucky, in 1900. His 
parents were among the pioneers of South Hill, where 
he was reared, and after he reached manhood he taught 
school for a time, but later became a farmer. He 
married Cary Arnold, who was born near Huntsville, 
and died at Earlington, Kentucky, in 1916, while on a 



visit. They had fourteen children, and Edward Gard- 
ner was one in a family of sixteen children, all of 
whom reached maturity. The Gardners came from 
England to Virginia during the Colonial period of this 
country; and the Arnolds arrived in Virginia during 
the same epoch from the North of Ireland. 

George W. Gardner was born at South Hill, Ken- 
tucky, in i860, and died there in 1914. His entire life 
was spent at South Hill, and there he developed val- 
uable interests as a farmer. In politics he was a dem- 
ocrat, but never took an aggressive part in public 
affairs. In the Baptist Church he found his religious 
home, and from youth was one of its strong supporters 
and constituent members. Fraternally he belonged to 
the Independent Order of Red Men. George W. Gard- 
ner was married to Laura Jean Flewallen, who sur- 
vives him and makes her home on the farm at South 
Hill, Kentucky. She was his junior by three years, 
as she was born at South Hill in 1863. Their children 
were as follows : Bertha Lee, who married A. L. Crabb, 
lives at Bowling Green, Kentucky, and he is a profes- 
sor of psychology in the Western Kentucky State 
Normal School ; John Bunyan, who was the second in 
order of birth ; George Gratton, who lives in Chicago, 
Illinois, is appointing salesman for the Marmon Auto- 
mobile Company ; Harry Joe, who is a farmer of Mor- 
gantown, Kentucky; Morgan Obie, who is living on 
the homestead at South Hill; and Mona Belle, who 
married Leland Hocker, lives at Morgantown, Ken- 
tucky, where her husband is engaged in farming. Of 
these children George Gratton entered the United 
States service on the second call during the great war, 
was sent overseas, and served until the close of the 
war, being mustered out with the rank of" second lieu- 
tenant. Harry Joe served as a regular in the United 
States Army for four years before the war and two 
years during that conflict. He was along the Mexican 
border, serving in the commissionary department as a 
non-commissioned officer, and was also in the mail 
service for a time. Morgan Obie was the first man 
called into the service from Butler County, was sent 
overseas, and remained in France for about a year. 

John Bunyan Gardner was educated in the public 
schools of Butler County, the Morgantown High 
School and the Western Kentucky State Normal 
School at Bowling Green, Kentucky, from which latter 
institution he was graduated in the spring of 1911. He 
then went to Rosedale, Louisiana, as principal ot the 
Rosedale Agricultural and High School, and remained 
there for a year. Rosedale is located in Iberville Parish, 
an important agricultural region. The subsequent year 
Mr. Gardner was principal of the Lake High School 
of Ascension Parish, and from there went to Bernice, 
Clayborne Parish, Louisiana, where for one school year 
he was principal of the Weldon High School. For the 
subsequent three years he was principal of theMillerton 
High School of the same parish, and then went to 
Webster Parish, and for a year was principal of the 
Shongaloo High School. For two years following, he 
was county agent at Crowley, Acadia Parish, Louisi- 
ana. On April 1, 1920, he came to Murray as county 
agricultural agent, and is still holding that position, 
with offices in the Court House. During the summer 
months of 1916 and 1917 Mr. Gardner had supervision 
of the construction of the dipping vats for the Louisi- 
ana State Livestock Sanitary Board in Southwestern 
Louisiana, and is a man fitted for his present position 
through special training and wide and varied ex- 
perience and is a recognized authority on all matters 
pertaining to his work. Like his father, he is a demo- 
crat and a Baptist. He belongs to Millerton Lodge 
No. 245, A. F. and A. M. 

On September 14, 1915, Mr. Gardner was united in 
marriage at Bernice, Louisiana, to Miss Rubie Belle 
Thompson, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Milton 
Thompson, the former of whom is a retired farmer 
living at Bernice, Louisiana, the latter being now de- 



98 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



ceased. Mrs. Gardner was graduated from the Weldon 
High School of Weldon, Louisiana, under the princi- 
palship of Mr. Gardner. Mr. and Mrs. Gardner have 
two children, namely: Adele, who was born July 15, 
1916; and Doris Lee, who was born December 14, 

1917- 

Mr. Gardner is a firm believer in the value of proper 
instruction in agricultural matters. He holds that the 
main reasons for American preeminence in agriculture 
are to be found in the fine quality of the soil and the 
high class of men engaged in its cultivation and he be- 
lieves in keeping up the standards of both. Among 
the good influences accruing from a proper apprecia- 
tion of the dignity and value of this important in- 
dustry may be mentioned the opening up and redemp- 
tion of large areas of new land and the employment 
of inventive genius in the production of labor-saving 
machinery ; the development of transportation by land 
and water; the further establishment of government 
and other institutions and agencies for the promulga- 
tion of agricultural information and the co-operation 
among the farmers, and the adoption of such im- 
portant aids as irrigation, dry farming, selective plant 
and animal breeding and the specialization in crops 
and stock. Although he has many plans for future 
work, Mr. Gardner is enthusiastic in the wonderful 
transition which has taken place from the crude be- 
ginnings to present methods and appliances, and as he 
demonstrates them the contrasts are remarkable. 

Judge Edward Pinckney Phillips has earned a dis- 
tinguished place at the bar and on the bench of Callo- 
way County. It is forcibly illustrative of his legal 
solidity and versatility that he should have made a 
high record as a private practitioner and a learned, 
impartial jurist. The present county judge was born 
in this county, November 13, 1862, a son of A. C. and 
Belinda E. (Hood) Phillips. 

The Phillips family is of Scotch-Irish origin and 
came to Virginia at about the time of the arrival of 
Capt. John Smith, the English adventurer, in that 
colony. From Virginia the family removed to Tennes- 
see, in which state was born Clayborn Phillips, the 
grandfather of Judge Phillips. He was the pioneer of 
the family into Kentucky, settling in Calloway County, 
where he engaged in farming until his early death, at 
the age of forty-five years. He married a Miss Stilley, 
who was born in Tennessee and died in Calloway 
County. 

A. C. Phillips was born in 1830, in Calloway County, 
and was still a child when his father died. As a youth 
he engaged in teaching school, but later turned his 
attention to agricultural pursuits and continued to 
center his activities and abilities therein until his death 
in 1875. He was a democrat in politics and a leader in 
the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Phillips married 
Belinda F. Hood, who was born in 1832 in this county, 
and died here in 1889. They became the parents of 
six children: R. A., a prominent merchant, who died 
in Calloway County in 1907 : James R.. a physician 
and surgeon of this county; Edward P.; John R., post- 
master and a merchant at Hardin. Marshall County; 
Mary A., who died in 1008 as the wife of W. W. 
Hood, of Calloway County, who is now engaged in 
agricultural operations in Arkansas; and Joseph M., a 
merchant and farmer of Calloway County, who died 
in 1897. 

In his boyhood the education of Edward P. Phillips 
was confined to attendance at the local schools and his 
rearing was along agricultural lines. His father died 
when he was thirteen years of age, but he remained 
on the home farm until he reached the age of twenty, 
at which time he commenced teaching in the rural 
schools, a vocation which he followed for nine years. 
In the meantime Mr. Phillips had interested himself 
in public matters, and in 1892 was elected clerk of the 
Circuit Court, the duties of which office he assumed in 



1893. Reelected to that office in 1897, he served there- 
in eleven years in all, and established a splendid record 
for efficient performance of duty. While still teaching 
school he had commenced to read law, and after his 
first election to the clerk's office he applied himself 
more assiduously to his studies, with the result that 
he was admitted to the bar in 1895. He began the 
active practice of his calling at Murray in 1903, and 
devoted himself diligently to his calling, with a con- 
stantly increasing practice, until 1917, when he was 
elected judge of the County Court of Calloway County. 
On January I, 1918, he entered upon his four-year term 
and maintains offices in the Court House. A brief 
analysis of Judge Phillips' traits of character is ex- 
planatory of his success. While keen and logical, 
earnest and eloquent, he is also careful in the develop- 
ment of his legal plans and has the faculty, strongly 
natural and persistently trained, of piercing to the 
foundation principles of any contention. Thus it is 
that Judge Phillips, whether as private practitioner or 
judge, always has his case firmly in hand and is never 
to be diverted to side issues. 

In his political allegiance Judge Phillips is a demo- 
crat. A pillar of the Methodist Episcopal Church, he 
has filled every lay office therein. In Masonry he be- 
longs to Murray Lodge No. 105, A. F. and A. M., 
the first lodge organized west of the Tennessee River, 
of which he is a past master and of which he was 
worshipful master four years. He owns a comfort- 
able home on North Fourth Street, modern in every 
respect. He has several important business connec- 
tions, and owns a one-third interest in the Murray Ice 
Company. 

In January, 1919, Judge Phillips was united in mar- 
riage with Miss Beatrice Scarborough, daughter of 
John W. and Velina (Waterfield) Scarborough, farm- 
ing people who are both deceased. Mrs. Phillips, a 
lady of numerous charms and accomplishments, is a 
graduate of the Murray High School, and prior to 
her marriage to the Judge was a teacher in the local 
schools for several years. 

M. W. Tucker. The bankers of the country have 
carried a heavy load of responsibility for some years 
past, and to their far-seeing sagacity and wise con- 
servatism is due the stability of the credits of the 
United States. At a time when the whole world is 
gradually recovering from the effects of the greatest 
war the human race has ever known ; after years of 
paralyzing in action in industry in Europe as a result 
of the conflict; with millions of workers dead or dis- 
abled, the problems confronting those having the 
finances of their home community in their charge have 
seemed at times almost too great and complicated for 
solution. Quietly and deliberately, without any pub- 
licity, the hankers have gone about their constructive 
work. By exercising a little care and much thought 
they have been able to restrict the orgy of extravagance 
which during a brief period threatened the country, 
and have gradually brought things back to normalcy. 
To be sure they have been met in their well-intentioned 
and effective actions by unjust criticism on the part 
of agitators and the uninformed, but the results today 
justify them, and in the years to come proper credit 
will be accorded them for their public spirit and wis- 
dom. One of these sage and level-headed men of 
finance of Taylor County is M. W. Tucker, cashier 
of the Farmers Deposit Bank of Campbellsville, one 
of the best-known men in this section. 

M. W. Tucker was born in Taylor County, March 
1, 1871, a son of G. W. Tucker, and grandson of Bar- 
nett Tucker, a native of Virginia. Soon after reach- 
ing his majority Barnett Tucker left the Old Dominion 
to seek his fortune in Taylor County. Kentucky. After 
his arrival he met and was married to a Miss Wooley, 
a native of Taylor County, and both died in this county 
after many years of happy wedded life. The Tucker 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



99 



family is one of the old ones of Virginia, having been 
established there during the Colonial epoch of the 
country by representatives of it from England. From 
then on until the exodus of Barnett Tucker those 
bearing the name were connected with the fortunes of 
Virginia. 

G. W. Tucker was born in Taylor County in 1842, 
and all of his life was spent within its confines. He 
was reared on his father's farm, and, displaying a 
liking for agriculture, adopted that calling for his life 
work. In the course of time through hard work and 
good management he became the owner of a large 
acreage of farm and timberland, and was a man of 
independent means. Although but a lad when the 
republican party was born, he was so impressed with 
the importance of the principles it supported that when 
he came to voting age he cast his first ballot for the 
republican candidates and continued to follow that 
practice until his death in 1911. A practical Christian, 
he set an excellent example, and long was a con- 
sistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
Equally zealous as a Mason, he was active in the 
local lodge of that fraternity. During the great con- 
flict between the North and the South he espoused the 
cause of the Union and fought in its defense all 
through the war as a member of the Sixth Kentucky 
Cavalry. He was in the battles of Chickamauga, 
Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge and others of 
importance. Having the misfortune to be taken 
prisoner in Mississippi not long before the close of 
the war, he was exchanged without suffering a long 
confinement in the enemy's prisons. G. W. Tucker was 
married to Miss Virginia Pruitt, who was born in 
Taylor County in 1845, and died in this county in 1902. 
The children born to them were as follows : W. T., 
who is a farmer of Bradfordsville, Kentucky; M. W., 
whose name heads this review ; D. A., who was a farmer 
in the State of Oklahoma, is now United States mar- 
shal and lives at Hydro, Caddo County, Oklahoma; 
and Cassie, who married F. H. Durham. Mr. Durham 
is in the wholesale grocery and produce business at 
Columbia, Kentucky, and is also a member of the 
firm of F. H. Grinstead & Company of Lebanon, 
Kentucky. 

M. W. Tucker attended the rural schools of Taylor 
County and the high school of Mackville, Washing- 
ton County, Kentucky, where he had the good fortune 
to be under the able instruction of Prof. A. O. Stanley, 
who later became governor of Kentucky, and is one 
of the distinguished men of the state. Subsequently 
Mr. Tucker was a student of a subscription school, 
where he completed what was an equivalent of the 
modern high-school course. At the age of twenty 
years he began teaching school in Taylor County, but 
after one experience decided that he preferred an- 
other line of work, and so entered the commercial 
field and for ten years was connected with the sales 
force of one of the leading dry-goods stores of 
Campbellsville. In the meanwhile he bought and 
operated a farm, but the opportunity arising, he dis- 
posed of it at an excellent price in 1915. In 1910 Mr. 
Tucker entered the Farmers Deposit Bank of Camp- 
bellsville as cashier, and still holds that responsible 
position. This bank was established in 1902 as a state 
institution. It has a capital of $15,000, surplus and 
undivided profits of $20,000, and deposits of $250,000. 
The bank occupies appropriate banking quarters on 
Main Street. The present officials of the bank are: 
J. R. Davis, president; R. L. Hill, vice president; and 
M. W. Tucker, cashier. 

Mr. Tucker is a republican. For a number of years 
he has been a member of the Baptist Church, and is 
now serving it as a deacon. Fraternally he belongs to 
the Knights of Pythias and to Green River Tent No. 
45, K. O. T. M., both of Campbellsville. He owns his 
residence on Press Avenue, which is a comfortable 
modern home. During the late war Mr. Tucker took 



an effective part in the local activities, serving as a 
member of the committees on the various Liberty 
Loans and assisted in all of the drives. He bought 
bonds and saving stamps and made liberal contribu- 
tions, in fact did everything to the full extent of his 
means to aid the administration to carry out its policies. 
In 1901 Mr. Tucker was married at Campbellsville 
to Miss Nannie Davis, a daughter of John P. and 
Laura (Chandler) Davis, both of whom are deceased. 
Mr. Davis was a merchant and prominent citizen of 
Campbellsville for many years. Mr. and Mrs. Tucker 
have no children. Mr. Tucker has always taken a 
public-spirited interest in the affairs of his city and 
county, and can be depended upon to give an earnest 
support to all measures having for their object the 
betterment of existing conditions or the furtherance of 
proposed improvements, provided they are needed and 
practical, for he recognizes the necessity of safeguard- 
ing the taxpayers' money. , 

John Kenneth Matheny.. Jr. While practically a 
newcomer in the business life of Murray, John 
Kenneth Matheny, Jr., is no stranger to the interests 
of this community, having been identified with a num- 
ber of financial concerns here and also possessing some 
experience in public affairs. Since December, 1919, 
he has been the proprietor of a general insurance busi- 
ness, a field of endeavor in which he has made rapid 
strides, and the success which he has already gained 
is the result of inherent ability, pushing enterprise, a 
clean and honorable record and a wide acquaintance. 

Mr. Matheny was born February 15, 1889, on the 
banks of the Tennessee River in Calloway County, 
Kentucky, a son of John Kenneth and Telitha C. 
(Roberts) Matheny. The family is of Scotch-Irish 
origin, and its earliest American ancestor settled in 
Virginia during Colonial times. Abner Matheny, the 
grandfather of John K. Matheny, Jr., was born in 
1823 in Tennessee, and as a young man became a 
pioneer farmer into Trigg County, Kentucky, where 
he married Lydia Ross. They passed the rest of their 
lives there, the grand father dying in 1900 arid his 
widow surviving until 1919, when she passed away at 
the remarkable age of ninety-six years. 

John Kenneth Matheny, the elder, was born in Trigg 
County, in 1859, and was there reared and educated. 
He was still a young man when he migrated to Callo- 
way County, and following his marriage here embarked 
in the mercantile business at Highland. In 1891 he re- 
moved to Shiloh, where he followed the same line of 
effort for four years, and in 1895 came to Murray and 
established a livery business. He continued this ven- 
ture for a time and also was engaged in activities as 
a carpenter and contractor until 1903, when he was 
elected clerk of the Circuit Court, assuming the duties 
of that office in January, 1904, and continuing their 
discharge for six years, with excellent ability. At the 
expiration of his term of office he went to Liverpool, 
Texas, where he has since been engaged in business 
as the proprietor of a leading mercantile establish- 
ment. Mr. Matheny is a democrat, a member of the 
Baptist Church and belongs to the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows. He married Miss Telitha C. Roberts, 
who was born in Kentucky in 1870, and nine children 
have been born to them : Lillie, the wife of E. E. 
Callahan, a farmer in the vicinity of Liverpool, Texas ; 
John Kenneth, Jr. ; Cleland, unmarried, an oil operator 
at Burkburnett, Texas ; Luna, the wife of R. R. 
Reamer, a farmer near Houston, that state ; Lola, un- 
married, who is a teacher in the public schools of the 
Lone Star State ; Sanford and Catherine, who reside 
with their parents and are attending the Liverpool 
High School ; and Abner and Headier, attending the 
graded schools of that city. 

John Kenneth Matheny, the younger, attended the 
rural schools of Calloway County and then entered the 
Murray High School, which he left at the age of 



100 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



sixteen years to take up the duties of deputy clerk of 
the Circuit Court under his father, a position which 
he occupied during the time his father held the clerk- 
ship. In 1910 he entered the Murray Post Office, 
where lie worked as a clerk for several months, and 
then went to Liverpool, Texas, where for eighteen 
months he was associated in the mercantile business 
with his father. Returning then to Murray, he again 
was employed in the Post Office for a few months, 
after which he accepted a position as bookkeeper in 
the Citizens Bank of Murray. In 1915 he resigned his 
position and became bookkeeper for Coleman & Wells, 
attorneys, and in January, 1918, entered the Bank of 
Murray, where he tilled the position of assistant cashier 
for one year. In January. 1919, he left that institu- 
tion to accept a like post with the First National Bank 
of Murray, but in Decemeber of the same year re- 
signed to embark in his present line. Mr. Matheny is 
carrying on a general insurance agency business and is 
a representative of a number of old, reliable and well- 
known companies. He maintains offices in the First 
National Bank Building, and since its inception his 
business has shown a gratifying and healthful growth. 

In politics Mr. Matheny is a democrat, and in the 
fall of 1917 made the race for clerk of the County 
Court, but was defeated in a close contest. He is a 
member and assistant secretary of the Baptist Church, 
and is fraternally affiliated with the Masons, holding 
membership in Murray Lodge No. 105, A. F. and A. M., 
and Murray Chapter No. 92, R. A. M. He owns a 
comfortable modern residence on Twelfth Street. Mr. 
Matheny took an active part in local war work activi- 
ties and served as chairman of the War Savings 
Stamps Committee, in addition to which he assisted 
materially in having his count}' make up its quota in 
Liberty Bonds and Red Cross funds. 

On December 25, 1912, Mr. Matheny married at 
Murray Miss Jessie Irvan, a daughter of W. R. and 
Matilda (Gilbert). Irvan, the former of whom, a 
tobacconist, is deceased, while the mother makes her 
home with Mr. and Mrs. Matheny. One child has 
come to Mr. and Mrs. Matheny : John Kenneth III., 
who was born March 1, 1920. 

John Robkrt Wells. Unless the modern lawyer is 
a man of sound judgment, possessed of a liberal edu- 
cation and stern training, combined with a keen in- 
sight into human nature, there is not much chance of 
his meeting with what the world terms success. The 
reason for this lies in the spirit of the age, with all 
of its complexities. Modern jurisprudence has be- 
come more and more intricate because of new con- 
ditions and laws, and the interpretation of them is 
relegated to the bar and bench. Years of experience, 
constant reading and natural inclination must be super- 
induced upon a careful training for success at the bar, 
and if these conditions are met, high honors often- 
times come to the members of this learned profession. 
An instance in question is afforded by the career of 
the Brilliant young attorney. John Robert Wells, of 
Smithland. county attorney of Livingston County. 

John Robert Wells was born in Livingston County, 
Kentucky, in the vicinity of Tiline, March 17, 1882, a 
son of J. P. Wells, and grandson of Jesse Wells, a 
native of South Carolina, in which state the first of 
the family in the New World settled upon coming to 
the American Colonies from England, where the family 
originated. Jesse Wells brought the family into Ken- 
tucky and established large agricultural interests in 
Livingston Count} - , where he died at a time prior to 
the birth of his grandson. He was a man of distinc- 
tion and served as county judge for two terms. First 
a whig, he later became a democrat. He married Polly 
Caldwell, a native of North Carolina, who died in 
Livingston County, Kentucky. One of their sons, 
David Wells, served in the Confederate Army, and 
died while a member of it. 



J. P. Wells was born in Livingston County, in 1847, 
and died in this same county in 1904, after a career of 
usefulness as a farmer, in which line he attained to a 
remarkable success. A man of strong convictions, he 
found in the principles of the democratic party the 
expression of his own political views and was a 
stanch supporter of them during all of his mature 
years. He was married to Josephine Cash, who was 
born in Lyon County, Kentucky. She survives her 
husband and makes her home at Tiline, Kentucky. 
Their children were as follows : Fred, who died in 
Livingston County when thirty-three years old, was 
a farmer ; Henry, who is a machinist and farmer, lives 
near Tiline; Lawrence, who died at tht age of twenty- 
two years ; and John Robert, who was the youngest. 

After attending the rural schools of his native county 
and the Grand Rivers High School, at Grand Rivers, 
Kentucky, Mr. Wells entered the Southern Normal 
School at Bowling Green, Kentucky, leaving it at the 
age of twenty years. When he was nineteen he had 
begun teaching school, and for ten years he was in 
the educational field, winning laurels as a teacher in 
Livingston and Crittenden counties, and at the same 
time he carried on considerable farming in Livingston 
County, and still owns a valuable farm of 200 acres 
near Tiline. While he was engaged in teaching, Mr. 
Wells studied law under the Chicago Correspondence 
School of Law. was admitted to the bar in May, 1914, 
and since then has carried on a general civil and 
criminal practice in Livingston. In December, 191 5, he 
established his residence at Smithland, and his offices 
are located in the Smith Building on Court Street. 
Wry active in the democratic party, Mr. Wells was 
elected on his party ticket as county attorney to fill an 
unexpired vacancy in November, 191ft, and re-elected 
for a full term of four years in November, 1917, and 
his new term began in the following January. His 
record is such as to win approval from his constitu- 
ents and the profession, and without doubt further 
honors await him in the future, if he cares to accept 
them. It may be, however, that he will prefer to 
devote all of his attention to his rapidly increasing 
private practice, for his ability as an attorney is widely 
recognized. 

On July 18. 1904. Mr. Wells was united in marriage 
at Metropolis, Illinois, to Miss Nina Bennett, a 
daughter of H. B. and Rola J. (Brown) Bennett, both 
of whom are deceased. Mr. Bennett was a farmer, 
merchant and tobacconist, and a man of considerable 
prominence. Mrs. Wells attended St. Vincent's 
Academy of L'nion County, Kentucky, and is a finely 
educated lady, of great charm and lefinement. Mr. 
and Mrs. Wells have two children, namely : Payton, 
who was born October 5, 1905 ; and Josie Kathleen, 
who was born January 4. 1914. Mr. Wells belongs to 
Dycusburg Lodge No. 232, A. F. and A. M., and has 
served as secretary of the lodge, and he also belongs 
to Smithland Camp, W. O. W. During the period 
that this country was a participant in the World war 
he was keenly interested in securing the success of 
local activities, and gave generously of his time and 
money to bring this about. He served as Government 
appeal agent and organized the first Red Cross Chapter 
in Livingston County. A young man of unusual 
abilities, Mr. Wells has traveled far on the road which 
leads to success, and his achievements are all the more 
commendable in that he has risen through his own 
efforts, and won popular approval because of his genu- 
ine sincerity and willingness to work for the good of 
his community. Such men uphold the standards raised 
by the forefathers of this country, and set an example 
the rising generation would do well to emulate. 

Hox. Columbus Borders Wheeler. A member of the 
East Kentucky bar thirty years, the many important 
interests he has represented in local, higher state and 
Federal courts, have brought Mr. Wheeler a well de- 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



101 



served prominence among the lawyers over this part 
of Kentucky. He practiced for a number of years at 
the Ashland bar, but is now a resident of Prestonburg. 

He knows the people of Eastern Kentucky as a birth- 
right. He is a member of one of the oldest families in 
this section of the state and was born on Hoods Fork 
of Blaine in Johnson County, November 2, 1870, son 
of Martin V. and Sarah (Justice) Wheeler. The 
founder of his family in Eastern Kentucky was his 
great-grandfather William Remy Wheeler, who was a 
son of Stephen Wheeler who came to Kentucky from 
Norfolk, Virginia. In the various generations the fam- 
ily has produced many farmers, though also some 
professional men. Before and during the war they 
were active Union sympathizers. A son of Stephen 
was William Remy Wheeler, who was born at the 
mouth of Buffalo and was at one time county surveyor 
of Johnson County. His son, John Borders Wheeler, 
was born in Johnson County and for many years was 
a prominent minister of the United Baptist Church. 
He lived to the venerable age of eighty-three. Dur- 
ing the Civil war he was called out near the end of 
the struggle to serve as a home guard on the Union 
side. His son, Martin V. Wheeler, was born on 
Laurel Fork of Blaine in Johnson County, August 29, 
1850. His wife, Sarah Justice, was born on Hood's 
Fork of Blaine. They are still living in Johnson 
County. Her father was Samuel Layne Justice, who 
was born on Beaver in Floyd County and died in 191 1 
at the age of ninety-three. His father was John Jus- 
tice, and Samuel was a young man when the family 
passed down the valley on their way to Indiana, Samuel 
remaining in Johnson County. A number of the Jus- 
tice family were also in the Union army. 

Martin V. Wheeler and wife had eleven children, and 
all are still living but one. Some of them were teach- 
ers and through teaching paid the expenses of their 
higher education. Their father assisted them so far 
as possible with financial aid, but he also encouraged 
their spirit of enterprise by securing them opportuni- 
ties to work and earn their education. A brief record 
of this notable family of eleven is as follows : Colum- 
bus Borders ; C. C, a physician at Hazard ; John W., a 
Paintsville attorney; Alice, who died at the age of 
eighteen, wife of D. J. Wheeler of Paintsville; W. H., 
a practicing physician at Ashland; W. Franklin, a 
farmer on the old place on Hoods Fork; J. Clinton, 
a physician at West Liberty in Morgan County; Julia, 
wife of Aid Dempsey of Wellston, Ohio ; Louisa, wife 
of D. May of Solyersville; Martin O., an attorney at 
Paintsville ; and Samuel Layne, a teacher now living 
in Detroit, Michigan. 

Columbus Borders Wheeler, as a boy attended rural 
schools, later the Blaine High School, and at the age 
of sixteen began teaching. After teaching for a time 
he entered the Law School at Louisville, where he 
graduated in 1891. For the first ten years he prac- 
ticed at Paintsville and from 1901 to 1918 was a lead- 
ing member of the Ashland bar and then removed to 
Prestonsburg. He has practiced in all the courts of 
the Big Sandy Valley including the Court of Appeals 
and the Federal Court. While at Paintsville he was 
associated for a time with W. H. Vaughan and for 
five years was police judge of that town. In 1898 he 
was a member of the Legislature representing the 
Ninety-sixth District composed of Johnson and Martin 
counties. While in the Legislature he was on the 
Judiciary Committee, and the Committee on Kentucky 
Statutes. Mr. Wheeler was elected county attorney in 
1001. He was for three years editor of the Paintsville 
Post, and has to his record some able work as an edi- 
tor as well as a lawyer and public leader. 

March 4, 1890, Mr. Wheeler married Elizabeth Wal- 
ters, daughter of W. H. Walters. She was born at 
what is now Offutt Station, and as a girl her family 
mo^ed to Flat Gap. Mrs. Wheeler died in 1902, the 
mother of three children. Elizabeth is now employed 



in the Workman's Compensation office at the State 
House in Frankfort. The son, W. H. Wheeler, volun- 
teered at the age of eighteen, as a private, was assigned 
to the hospital service, was in training at Fort Scrivens, 
Georgia, and went to France with the rank of second 
lieutenant and came home a first lieutenant. He is 
now in Los Angeles, California. The youngest of the 
family, Madaline, is the wife of Sterling Berger of 
Catlettsburg. On December 11, 1918, Mr. Wheeler mar- 
ried Mrs. Grace (Martin) Turner, daughter of Joel C. 
Martin of Prestonsburg. Mr. Wheeler is a Royal Arch 
Mason and republican and is a member of the United 
Baptist Church, having received the rite of Baptism 
from his grandfather. 

H. R. Sanders. It is a recognized fact that no man 
can come before the public as the candidate of his 
party for an office of importance without his character 
being thoroughly canvassed and his career subjected 
to the utmost criticism. Therefore when such a gamut 
has been run, and he is elected by a gratifying ma- 
jority, the proof has been afforded that he is a man 
worthy of the confidence and respect of his fellow 
citizens. In addition to this, when he has served ca- 
pably and conscientiously in such an office he is further 
entitled to the support of his associates in both politics 
and business. H. R. Sanders, owner of the high-class 
confectionery store at Campbells ville and an ex-state 
senator, illustrates the above, and is recognized as one 
of the best types of Kentucky manhood the state 
affords. 

Mr. Sanders was born in Taylor County, October 
2 3. 1855, a son of Durham Sanders, and grandson of 
John Sanders, a native of Virginia, who came to Ken- 
tucky in 1802 and settled in what is now Taylor 
County. Here he became a heavy landowner, 
possessed many slaves, and developed an important 
connection as a road contractor. Among other con- 
tracts held by him was the construction of the turn- 
pike through Moldrough's Hill. He was married to 
a Miss Durham, who was born in Virginia and died 
in Taylor County. 

Durham Sanders was born in Virginia in 1800, and 
died in Taylor County, Kentucky, in 1874. At the 
time his father came to this locality, in 1802, what is 
now Taylor County was included with Green County. 
Here Durham Sanders was reared, educated and 
married, and here he became a farmer and merchant 
of high standing in the community. A leading republi- 
can of his district, he was elected to the office of sheriff 
at the time Taylor County was organized, and after 
his term of office expired, was elected a magistrate, 
and continued to serve as such until his death. Con- 
necting himself with the Baptist Church, he lived up 
to its creed and teachings, and gave it a hearty support. 
Durham Sanders married Lucy E. Smith, who was 
born at Culpeper Courthouse, Virginia, in 1810, and 
died in Taylor County in 1890. Their children were 
as follows : Eliza Belle, who died at Louisville, Ken- 
tucky, at the age of seventy-two years, married Dr. 
Joseph Putnam, of Maine, a physician and surgeon 
who died in Indiana ; Dr. J. M., who was a physician 
and surgeon, died in Arkansas at the age of seventy- 
five years ; J. H., who was a merchant, died in Taylor 
County at the age of forty-seven years; Ann, who is 
deceased, married Joseph Wade, a farmer, also de- 
ceased; Elizabeth, who marreid E. L. Green, formerly 
circuit court clerk of Taylor County, is deceased, and 
so is her husband, both of them dying in Taylor 
County; Virginia, who married a Doctor Williamson, 
a physician and surgeon, is deceased, as is her husband, 
both of them dying in Arkansas; Pattie, who married 
Daniel Eastes, a physician and surgeon, is deceased, 
as is her husband, both of them dying in Green County, 
Kentucky ; Nannie M., who resides at Lebanon, Ken- 
tucky, is the widow of John Walls, a carpenter; R. D., 
who is a fruitgrower of Missouri; C. C, who died 



102 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



in Taylor County at the age of forty-four years, was 
a farmer; G. A., who was a merchant, died in Arkan- 
sas at the age of forty-two years ; and H. R., who is 
the youngest of the family. 

H. R. Sanders attended the rural schools of Taylor 
County, and was reared to useful manhood on his 
father's farm until he was sixteen years old, at which 
time he received the appointment of deputy county 
clerk of Taylor County, and held that office for four 
years. In 1876 he was elected coroner of the county, 
and held that office for one term of four years. He 
then embarked in a mercantile business in Green 
County, and conducted it for two years. Coming back 
to Campbellsville, he was bookkeeper for Hoskins, 
Bryant & Company for two years, and then moved on 
the farm he had previously purchased and conducted it 
for two years. Once more he returned to Campbells- 
ville, and for four years served as deputy assessor of 
the county. For a time he was engaged in different 
ventures, still owning his farm, and then for four 
years managed the millinery and fancy goods establish- 
ment owned by his wife. This connection resulted in 
his going on the road as a traveling salesman for a St. 
Louis hat house, and he continued with it for six years, 
or until 1913. In the meanwhile his health had be- 
come somewhat impaired by his exertions, and he was 
induced to retire for a time, but in 1915 was elected 
to the Upper House of the State Assembly and served 
during the sessions of 1916 and 1918. His record in 
the Senate shows that he worked in the interests of 
his constituents and endeavored to carry out their 
wishes. Senator Sanders served as chairman of the 
committee which prevented the sale of the old state - 
capitol, and he also was on several other important 
committees. He was appointed receiver of the Lake- 
land Asylum, but resigned after serving for four 
months. Coming back to Campbellsville, he and his 
sons, S. B. and P. H., established the leading con- 
fectionery and grocery business in Taylor County, 
opening it in October, 1918. The confectionery parlors 
are located in the Taylor National Bank Building. 
Senator Sanders owns his desirable and comfortable 
modern residence on Depot Street, and in partnership 
with his sons, S. B. and P. H., owns the Alhambra 
Theatre and Apartment Building on Main Street. He 
is a republican, and one of the most active members 
of his party in this part of Kentucky. Both by in- 
heritance and conviction he is a Baptist, and is equally 
zealous as a Mason. During the late war Senator 
Sanders was one of the effective participants in all 
of the local war work, assisting in all of the drives and 
maintaining booths for the Red Cross drives in his 
confectionery store. He also contributed to all of the 
organizations to the full extent of his means. 

In 1878 Senator Sanders was married at Campbells- 
ville to Miss Maggie E. Chandler, a daughter of Dr. 
S. T. and Eliza J. (Hotchkiss) Chandler, both of 
whom are deceased. For many years Doctor Chandler 
was a physician and druggist of Campbellsville, and 
one of the best-known men of Taylor County. Mrs. 
Sanders was graduated from Cedar Bluff College of 
Warren County, Kentucky. The children of Senator 
and Mrs. Sanders are as follows: J. H., who was born 
in 1882, at Campbellsville, is president of the high 
school of Bullitt County, Kentucky, and resides at 
Shepherdsvitle ; S. B., who was born November 26, 
1885, is in partnership, with his father in the confection- 
ery business, and is also managing the Alhambra 
Theatre Apartments ; Robert B., who was born in 1888, 
resides at Louisville, Kentucky, where he is engaged 
in an insurance business ; Ella, who resides at Camp- 
bellsville, married George H. Wilson, a traveling sales- 
man for the Vick Chemical Company of Greensboro, 
North Carolina; and Paul H„ who was born luly II, 
1895, is also in partnership with his father. Senator 
Sanders has every reason to be satisfied with what 
he has accomplished, for not only has he made a record 



for himself as a business man and public official which 
does him credit, but he and his wife have reared a fine 
family, all of the children having been successful in 
life, and are additions to the several communities in 
which they are now residing. Such men as the Senator 
form the great backbone of true Americanism. They 
live according to the standards of this country and 
bring up their children in pleasant, intellectual home 
surroundings, give them proper advantages, so that 
when the time comes for them to go out into the 
world they are fully prepared to do their part ca- 
pably and honorably. No family is held in greater re- 
gard than the one bearing the name of Sanders, and 
the connection of any member of it with an enterprise 
is a guarantee of its good faith and probable success. 

Edwin Lee Gowdy, M. D. From the earliest periods 
of recorded history the physician has been recognized 
as a man worthy of regard and a most necessary and 
important factor in the life of his community. It is 
a far cry, however, from the first faint beginnings of 
a science as understood by the "medicine" men of the 
savage or semi-savage tribes to the carefully trained 
physician and surgeon of today, whose every action 
is the result of absolutely accurate science, and who 
devotes quite as much time, if not more, to the pre- 
vention of disease as he does to curing the patient 
from ailments already contracted. The majority of 
these modern men of medicine have not only studied 
their profession in one or another of the great uni- 
versities of the country, but have perfected themselves 
in it by a practical application of what they learned 
in the wards of a hospital. Therefore, when the 
physician and surgeon of today enters upon his prac- 
tice he is far better fitted for his work both by train- 
ing and experience than those of an older generation 
were after years of visiting the sick. This rigorous 
and thorough training has other results, for it so 
develops the character and brings out the best in a 
man that he becomes, as a matter of course, one of the 
leading factors in the community in which he perma- 
nently locates, and generally has a determining influence 
upon the lives and affairs of his fellow citizens. Such 
a vital force in his profession and the life of Camp- 
bellsville is Dr. Edwin Lee Gowdy, physician and 
surgeon and mayor of the city. 

Doctor Gowdy was born at Campbellsville, January 
2, 1884, a son of J. E. Gowdy, grandson of Alfred F. 
Gowdy, and a member of one of the old families of 
Virginia, where the Gowdys were established by an- 
cestors from Scotland during the Colonial epoch. 
Alfred F. Gowdy was born in Virginia, and died at 
Louisville, Kentucky, in 1866, while on a visit to that 
city. Coming to Campbellsville in young manhood, he 
became one of the early merchants of the city, and a 
man well known all over Taylor County. He married 
Lois Hotchkiss, who died at Campbellsville in 1868. 

J. E. Gowdy was born at Campbellsville in 1852, 
and is still residing in the city, where his life has been 
spent. All of his mature years he has been engaged 
in manufacturing and handling lumber, and is one of 
the leading lumbermen of this region. He is a demo- 
crat and is active in his party, having served his city 
as alderman for a number of terms. Well-known in 
Masonry, he belongs to Pitman Lodge No. 124, F. and 
A. M. ; Taylor Chapter No. 90, R. A. M., both of 
Campbellsville ; Marion Commandery No. 24, K. T., of 
Lebanon, Kentucky; and Kosair Temple, A. A. O. N. 
M. S., of Louisville, Kentucky. J. E. Gowdy married 
Anna B. England, who was born at Lebanon in 1856. 
They have two children, Doctor Gowdy and his sister, 
Mary Lois. The latter is married and lives at Camp- 
bellsville. Her husband, L. M. Bailey, is connected 
with her father's lumber yards. 

Doctor Gowdy attended the graded and high schools 
of Campbellsville, and was graduated from the latter 
in 1901, following which he entered Center College at 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



103 



Danville, Kentucky, and was graduated therefrom in 
1907, with the degree of Bachelor of Science, and as 
a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon Greek Letter 
fraternity. He then entered the Hospital College of 
Medicine of Louisville ,and was graduated with the 
degree of Doctor of Medicine, and as a member of 
the medical college fraternity Phi Mu. Doctor Gowdy 
then entered upon the practice of his profession at 
Campbellsville, and has since built up a very valuable 
connection in a general medical and surgical practice, 
and is associated in it with Dr. J. L. Atkinson, they 
owning the fine office building on Main Street in which 
their offices are located. Doctor Gowdy also owns a 
comfortable modern residence on Jackson Street. Like 
his father, he is a democrat, and is also very prominent 
in party circles. From 1910 to 1918 he was a member 
of the City Council, and in November, 1917, was 
elected to the office of mayor, taking office in January 
of the following year for a term of four years. Dur- 
ing his occupancy of this office he has made many im- 
provements, and among other things has secured the 
erection and completion of the large new graded and 
high-school building on Main Street. He has improved 
the fire department, and it has been equipped with a 
new electrical truck and hose operated by motor. In 
every particular Doctor Gowdy has looked after the 
best interests of Campbellsville and given it a sane 
and businesslike administration. He is a member of 
the Presbyterian Church. A Mason, he belongs to 
Pitman Lodge No. 124, F. and A. M. ; Taylor Chapter 
No. 90, R. A. M. ; Marion Commandery No. 24, K. T., 
of Lebanon, Kentucky; and Kosair Temple, A. A. O. 
N. M. S., of Louisville, Kentucky. Professionally he 
belongs to the Taylor County Medical Society, the 
Kentucky State Medical Society and the American 
Medical Association. Like so many of his profession, 
Doctor Gowdy enlisted in the medical corps of the 
United States Army, in September, 1918, after having 
given a valuable service to the administration as a 
member of the Local Draft Board and in buying bonds 
and making heavy contributions to all causes. He was 
sent to Camp Greenleaf, and was to sail for France 
on November 14, 1918, but the signing of the armistice 
made that unnecessary, and he was mustered out and 
honorably discharged and returned home in January, 
1919, with the rank of a first lieutenant, which com- 
mission he had received in September, 1918. 

On January 12, 1909, Doctor Gowdy was married 
to Miss Flora Finucan, a daughter of Michael and 
Susan (Abell) Finucan, both of whom are deceased. 
Mr. Finucan was a merchant at Lebanon, Kentucky. 
Doctor and Mrs. Gowdy have one daughter, Lena, who 
was born December 4, 1909. In every walk of life 
Doctor Gowdy has proven his worth as a man and 
skill as a physician, and no man in the county stands 
any higher in public esteem. When his country had 
need of him he did not hesitate, although he held 
an important public office and was the family physician 
of many, but left a good practice and civic honors at 
a great personal sacrifice and rendered an efficient 
service that would have terminated on foreign soil if 
a halt had not been made in the hostilities. Such men 
as Doctor Gowdy are rare. When they are found their 
soundness of heart, ready sympathy, broad vision and 
sterling characteristics win them warm friendships 
which are only terminated by death. In the very prime 
of vigorous manhood and professional achievement, he 
has a bright future ahead of him as well as a brilliant 
and constructive past, and may be depended upon to 
add further laurels to the ones he already possesses 
and has so richly deserved. 

James Pleasant Boling, superintendent of the city 
schools of Campbellsville, is one of the most highly- 
trained and thoroughly competent educators in Taylor 
County, if not in this part of Kentucky. He is a man 
who has devoted himself to the profession of teaching, 



has a deep love for his work, as well as a natural apti- 
tude for it, and under his wise and conscientious care 
the children of this community are developing into 
students that are a credit to their preceptor and their 
state. 

Professor Boling is a native son of Kentucky, for 
he was born in Boyle County, February 10, 1877, a son 
of Evan Boling, grandson of William Boling, and a 
member of one of the old families of Virginia, 
established in that colony by ancestors who came here 
from Scotland long before the Revolution. William 
Boling was born in Virginia in 1804, and died on his 
homestead in Boyle County, Kentucky, in 1888. After 
coming to Kentucky in an early day he spent some 
time as a resident of Lincoln County, and then, in 1856, 
moved to Boyle County, where he bought his home- 
stead, located four miles southeast of Perryville, that 
is now owned by Professor Boling. William Boling 
married a Miss Duncan, who died in Boyle County. 

Evan Boling was born in Lincoln County in 1836, 
and died near Perryville, Boyle County, in 1918. Until 
he was eighteen years old he lived in Lincoln County, 
and then accompanied his parents to Boyle County, 
and lived on the homestead his father there bought 
until his marriage, after which he resided on the ad- 
joining farm that he had purchased. For twenty-five 
years he continued to reside on this farm, and made 
a success of operating it, but then sold his farm and 
moved on the homestead, a portion of which he had 
inherited from his father's estate. The remainder he 
bought from the other heirs so as to keep this farm 
intact. It comprises 125 acres of valuable land, and 
this is now being operated by Professor Boling, he 
carrying on general farming and grazing. Evan Bol- 
ing was a democrat, but although he sturdily supported 
the candidates of his party by voting for them, he never 
cared to enter public life. An earnest member of the 
Christian Church, he sought to live up to its teachings 
and carried his religion into his everyday life. He 
married Miss Martha Frances Tucker, who was born 
in 1838, near Stanford, Lincoln County, Kentucky, and 
died on the home farm in the fall of 1903. Their chil- 
dren were as follows : An infant daughter which died 
unnamed ; Artiemacie, who died unmarried at the age 
of twenty-six years ; Ben, who is a farmer, resides near 
Parksville, Boyle County ; Professor Boling, who was 
fourth in order of birth ; Mary, who married J. W. 
Overstreet, deputy sheriff of Boyle County and a farm 
owner, lives at Perryville, Kentucky ; and Sarah 
Catherine, who lives at Perryville, married J. L. Pres- 
ton, a merchant of Perryville, operating under the firm 
name of Debaun, Preston Company. 

Professor Boling attended the rural schools of Boyle 
County, the Ewing Institute of Perryville, and Center 
College Academy of Danville, Kentucky, receiving his 
high-school instruction in the latter institution. He 
then took a four-year course at Center College, from 
which he was graduated in 1903, with the degree of 
Bachelor of Science. In the meanwhile, however, he 
had begun, at the age of twenty-one years, to teach 
school in the rural districts of Boyle County, but after 
five years in the country schools was appointed to the 
Danville public schools, and taught in them for two 
years. By this time he had so impressed his ability 
upon his community that he was tendered the appoint- 
ment to the position of principal of the school at Brad- 
fordsville, Marion County, Kentucky, and, accepting, 
entered upon two years of constructive work there, 
leaving that school to become principal of the one at 
Arlington, Carlisle County, Kentucky, and remained 
there for one year. For the subsequent four years he 
was principal of the school at Vanceburg, Lewis 
County, Kentucky, and was then elected superintendent 
of the city schools of Campbellsville, and has remained 
here ever since. Professor Boling has under his super- 
vision twelve teachers and 450 pupils. When he came 
here in 1913 he found that what was most needed was 



104 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



a new high and graded school building, and began at 
once to agitate for it, and in 1919 and 1920 saw his 
hopes realized in the erection of the handsome, modern 
brick structure on Main Street, one of the best in this 
part of the state. Imbibing his political and religious 
views from his esteemed father, Professor Boling has 
embraced them as his own and votes the democratic 
ticket, and belongs to the Christian Church he is now 
serving as a deacon. A Mason, he belongs to Pitman 
Lodge No. 124, F. and A. M., of Campbellsville ; and 
to Taylor Chapter No. 90, R. A. M. He is also a mem- 
ber of Parksville Tent No. 45, K. O. T. M., and to the 
Kentucky Educational Association. Professor Boling 
owns his modern residence on Maple Avenue, where 
he maintains a comfortable home, and, as before stated, 
owns and operates the home farm of his family. Like 
all loyal Americans he exerted himself in behalf of 
the local activities during the late war, served on the 
local draft board of Taylor County, and devoted a 
great deal of his time to the questionnaires of the re- 
cruited men. He was also one of the legal advisors 
of the Draft Board, assisted in all of the drives, and 
bought bonds and stamps and contributed very liberally 
to all of the war organizations. 

On November 6, 1905, Professor Boling was united 
in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Cox, a daughter of 
F. M. and Martha (Zachary) Cox, the latter of whom 
is now a resident of Junction City, Boyle County, but 
the former is deceased. During his lifetime he was a 
contractor and builder in Boyle County. Mrs. Boling 
was graduated from the Junction City High School, 
and has the distinction of being the first pupil to be 
graduated from that school. Professor and Mrs. 
Boling became the parents of the following children : 
Martha Frances, who was born September 5, 1906, is 
a student of the Campbellsville High School; Louise 
Porter, who was born May 1, 1910, is attending the 
graded schools ; Sara Catherine, who was born August 
11, 1914; and James Pleasant, who was born February 
4, 1917. Professor Boling is a scholar, and also a 
practical man of affairs. He keeps thoroughly abreast 
of the modern trend of thought and the new methods 
introduced into his calling, and also knows how to put 
his knowledge to use in such a manner as to yield the 
best results for him and those under his supervision. 
Taking the pride that he does in his schools and 
pupils, he is constantly striving to stimulate all con- 
cerned, and his enthusiasm and whole-hearted efforts 
are inspiring. As a citizen he is equally helpful. 
Recognizing the need for an awakening on the part of 
the average citizen to his civic responsibilities, Pro- 
fessor Boling endeavors through precept and example 
to bring home to the parents, through their children's 
needs, the necessity for co-operation to bring about the 
proper regulations in the community. Such men as he 
are almost invaluable, and the people of Campbells- 
ville are fortunate in being able to retain in their midst 
a man of his attainments and character. 

James Ernest Fox, M. D. is a physician and surgeon 
of Smithland, who is so living that his memory de- 
serves to be perpetuated by his contemporaries, and 
his usefulness in his day and generation called to mind 
as an inspiration to generations yet to come. He is 
the ideal physician, irradiating the sickroom with the 
light of his cheerful presence, his word and smile fre- 
quently banishing the clouds which gather around dis- 
couraged sufferers. He is enthusiastic in the follow- 
ing of his profession, is an eager student, and possesses 
the well-poised understanding that enables him to weigh 
fairly and make a settled decision concerning new 
scientific discoveries. 

Doctor Fox was born in Hopkins County, Kentucky, 
September 25, 1877, a son of Daniel F. Fox, and 
grandson of Crittenden Fox, a native of Hopkins 
County, Kentucky, who passed away in 1887, aged 
seventy-five years, having been a farmer all of his 



life. He married Ann Russell, who was born in Hop- 
kins County, and there died. The Fox family came 
from England to North Carolina in Colonial times, 
and from there went on west into Kentucky at a very 
early day. 

Daniel F. Fox was born in Hopkins County in 1855, 
and was there reared and embarked in farming on his 
own account. For four years after his marriage, which 
occurred in Caldwell County, he continued to reside in 
his native county, and then bought his present farm 
in Caldwell County, which is in the vicinity of Shade 
Grove in Crittenden County, where he has since been 
very successfully engaged in farming and stockraising. 
He is a republican in his political faith. For many 
years he has been an earnest member and generous 
supporter of the Baptist Church. Daniel F. Fox was 
married to Victoria Davis, who was born in Caldwell 
County, Kentucky, in 1855, within one-half a mile of 
their present farm, and they became the parents of 
the following children : Lula, who married O. F. 
Towery, an extensive farmer, lives at Shady Grove, 
Kentucky ; Doctor Fox, who was the second in order 
of birth ; Pennie, who married Dennie Hubbard, a 
general merchant of Shady Grove; Lena, who married 
Thomas Dodds, a carpenter and contractor of West 
Frankfort, Illinois ; Roy, who died in infancy ; Bessie, 
who married Clarence Sipes, lives at Washington, Dis- 
trict of Columbia, where both of them are in the Gov- 
ernment employ under civil service; and Ross W., 
lives at Hartsville, South Carolina. 

Doctor Fox attended the public schools of Shady 
Grove, Kentucky, and the high school at Princeton, 
Kentucky, and completed the literary course and also 
a normal school course there. In the meanwhile, when 
only eighteen years of age, he had commenced teach- 
ing school, and for five terms was thus engaged in 
Caldwell County, and one term in Crittenden County. 
While he was teaching school in the fall and winter 
months he went to school in the summer. Having de- 
cided to become a physician, he entered the Hospital 
College of Medicine at Louisville, Kentucky, from 
which he was graduated in 1904, with the degree of 
Doctor of Medicine, and immediately thereafter 
entered upon the practice of his profession at Levias, 
Crittenden County, Kentucky, where he remained for 
six years, leaving there for Marion, Kentucky, where 
another six years were spent. In 1916 Doctor Fox 
established himself at Smithland, where he has since 
maintained a general medical and surgical practice, 
and has firmly enshrined himself in the confidence of 
his fellow citizens. His offices are on Court Street. 
He owns a modern residence on the same street, and 
here he has one of the most comfortable homes in the 
city. Doctor Fox is a progressive republican, and for 
two and one-half years served as health officer of Liv- 
ingston County. For two years he was a member of 
the Smithland City Council, and he was also in the 
council of Marion for the same length of time. The 
Baptist Church holds his membership, and he is one of 
its trustees and its treasurer. Professionally he be- 
longs to the County, State and National Medical As- 
sociations. During the late war he took a keen interest 
in all of the local war activities. He tried to enter the 
service, but owing to the fact that he was serving as 
the physician on the local Draft Board at Smithland 
at that time, the war department would not accept him, 
and so he doubled his efforts at home. For a time 
was chairman of the local chapter of the Red Cross, 
later was commissioned captain in the Medical Re- 
serve Corps. In all of the drives in behalf of the 
Liberty Loans and other issues he took a dominating 
part, and stimulated others to follow his example in 
no small degree. 

Doctor Fox was united in marriage in 1907, at 
Pinckneyville, Livingston County, to Miss Gratia Par- 
sons, a daughter of James and Julia (Gibbs) Parsons. 
Mr. Parsons is deceased, but Mrs. Parsons survives 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



105 



and lives at Smithland, Kentucky. During his life- 
time Mr. Parsons was a farmer and tobacconist of Liv- 
ingston County, and one of its representative men. 
Doctor and Mrs. Fox have no children. In every com- 
munity in which he has lived Doctor Fox has been the 
moving spirit for progress along all lines, and Smith- 
land is to be congratulated in having in its midst a 
man of Doctor Fox's intellect and courage. 

William Herbert Mason, M. D. Those who have 
resided at Murray for several decades will remember 
vividly the year 1900 by reason of the visitation of a 
virulent smallpox epidemic. In this crisis the State 
Board of Health called upon the services of a young 
physician practicing then at Hazel, and an appointment 
was made placing the situation in charge of Dr. Wil- 
liam Herbert Mason. Under his direction prompt, 
energetic and effective measures were taken, and the 
scourge was lifted from the little city. Doctor Mason 
then settled down to practice at this place, and with 
the passing of the years has become one of the most 
distinguished members of his profession in Calloway 
County and the surrounding territory, and in 1920 
added a distinctive touch to his greatly appreciated 
services to his fellow-men by the erection and equip- 
ment of one of the finest institutions of its kind in 
the state, a hospital and sanitarium, built of brick and 
concrete, which will be found to compare favorably 
with institutions in any of the large cities of the 
country. 

Doctor Mason comes of a line of skilled physicians 
and was born September 29, 1875, at Hazel, Calloway 
County, Kentucky, a son of Dr. William Mason and 
Amanda E. (Perry') Mason. His great-grandfather, 
Richard Mason, was born in England, whence in young 
manhood he immigrated to America, settling at Balti- 
more, Maryland, in which city he established a jewelry 
business and became a wealthy and influential citizen. 
He married Hannah Glenn, also a native of England, 
and the only one of their children to be born in the 
United States was William Morris Mason. 

Dr. William Morris Mason was born at Baltimore, 
Maryland, in 181Q, and was educated for the medical 
profession, graduating from the University of Mary- 
land with the degree of Doctor of Medicine and from 
Washington University with the degree of Bachelor of 
Arts. He commenced practice at Baltimore, where he 
subsequently married Miss Mary Priscilla Hicks, a 
daughter of John Y. Hicks, of Raleigh, North Caro- 
lina, a niece of Hon. Nathaniel Macon, for thirty-six 
years a member of the United States Senate and the 
House of Representatives from North Carolina, and 
an own cousin of Thomas H. Benton, former governor 
of Missouri. Some time after his marriage Doctor 
Mason went to North Carolina, where he practiced 
for a time, subsequently followed his profession at 
St. Louis, and finally settled in Henry County, Tennes- 
see, where he carried on a large professional business 
until his death, which occurred at Conyersville in 1884. 

William Macon Mason, son of Dr. William Morris 
Mason and father of Dr. William Herbert Mason, was 
born in 1844, at Raleigh, North Carolina, and was 
seven years of age when his parents located in Henry 
County. Tennessee, where he was reared and educated 
primarily. He later graduated from the University 
of Louisville, as honor man of his ciass, receiving a 
gold medal and the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and 
in 1875 removed to the present site of Hazel, Kentucky, 
where he became a pioneer physician and where he 
continued in practice until his death, June 7,_ 1920. 
Doctor Mason was one of the honored men of his pro- 
fession and served for thirty years as president of the 
County Board of Health. He was a member of the 
Tallowav County Medical Society; the Tennessee State 
Medical Society, of which he was president one term ; 
the Kentucky State Medical Society, the Southwest 
Kentucky Medical Society and the American Medical 



Association. In politics he was a republican and his 
religious faith was that of the Seventh Day Advent 
Church. Doctor Mason married Miss Amanda E. 
Perry, daughter of Col. William E. Perry, who com- 
manded a regiment in the Confederate Army during 
the war between the states. Mrs. Mason, who was 
born in 1850, in Calloway County, survives her husband 
and is a resident of Hazel. There were eight chil- 
dren in the family: Bettie, the wife of E. D. Miller, 
of Hazel, a traveling salesman and an ex-merchant ; 
Dr. William Herbert; Dr. Edgar Perry, a graduate of 
Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, degree 
of Doctor of Medicine, who practiced his calling at 
Hazel until his death in 1908; Ruby, the wife of R. R. 
Hicks, of Hazel, a traveling salesman ; Ruby's twin, 
Pearl, the wife of R. B. Chrisman, cashier of the bank 
at Henry, Tennessee ; Bertha, residing with her mother, 
and the widow of C. C. Maddox, a contractor of Hazel, 
who died in 1916; Doctor Robert, who pursued his 
literary work at Union College, Lincoln, Nebraska, and 
is a graduate of Vanderbilt University, degree of 
' Doctor of Medicine, who is now associated in practice 
with his brother. Dr. William H. ; and Everard Morris, 
a merchant at Hazel. 

William Herbert Mason secured his primary educa- 
tion in the rural schools of Calloway County, and at 
the age of thirteen years entered the Murray Male and 
Female Institute, where he spent one year. He then- 
took a three-year course at Conyersville Academy, 
Conyersville, Tennessee, this being followed by three 
years of literary work at Union College, Lincoln, Ne- 
braska. For one year after his graduation therefrom 
he was principal of the school at Hazel, and then for 
a like period taught Latin and history in the Murray 
Male and Female College. Entering Vanderbilt . Uni- 
versity, he had a brilliant college career, being honor 
man in his junior and senior years and receiving gold 
medals, and in 1899 was duly graduated with the de- 
gree of Doctor of Medicine. Since his graduation he 
has taken four post-graduate courses. At the Chicago 
Polyclinic and the Chicago Post-Graduate School, Chi- 
cago, Illinois ; Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, 
Maryland ; and Battle Creek Sanitarium, Battle Creek, 
Michigan. Fifteen years ago he visited the famous 
Mayo Brothers' Clinic at Rochester, Minnesota, and 
has returned nearly every year since that time, special- 
izing in surgery. 

Doctor Mason began practice in association with his 
father at Hazel in 1899, but one year after entering 
upon his professional duties the call came for his ser- 
vices during the smallpox epidemic. He responded 
promptly thereto, as noted before, and after stamping 
out the epidemic settled down to practice. He has 
specialized in surgery, a field in which his reputation 
has extended far beyond the bounds of his immediate 
community. Doctor Mason belongs to the Calloway 
County Medical Society, the Southwestern Kentucky 
Medical Society, the West Tennessee Medical and Sur- 
gical Society, the Kentucky State Medical Society and 
the American Medical Association, belongs to the 
Clinical Congress of Surgeons of North America, and 
is a life member of the Surgeons Club, with head- 
quarters at Rochester, Minnesota. He is medical 
referee of Calloway County for the State Board of 
Health, served as health officer of Calloway County 
for ten years and as county physician for a like period, 
and has been local surgeon for the Nashville, Chat- 
tanooga & St. Louis Railroad Company since 1900. 
During the war period he volunteered for service in 
the LTnited States Army Medical Corps and was ac- 
cepted, but the armistice was signed before he was 
called to the colors. 

In 1920 Doctor Mason realized the ambition of years 
when he erected on Poplar Street his new brick and 
concrete hospital and sanitarium, which accommodates 
100 patients. It has so far realized the expectations of 
its founder and gained its hold upon the public confi- 



106 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



dence as to suggest its future recognition among the 
leading institutions for healing in the state. Its facili- 
ties for the care of the sick are modern and complete, 
the equipment being such as is to be found in the 
largest and finest hospitals in the metropolises ; its 
rooms are sunny and well ventilated, and the most 
scientific and experienced care is promised those who 
entrust themselves to its benefits. The operating room 
is a facsimile of Worrell Hospital, the new hospital 
of the Mayo Brothers at Rochester. 

Doctor Mason is a republican in his political allegi- 
ance and has long been influential in the ranks of his 
party. He was a delegate to the Republican National 
Convention held at Chicago in 1916. In 1909 he was 
chairman of the Republican County Central Committee, 
which succeeded in electing a complete republican 
county ticket. How much of an achievement this was 
may be seen when it is considered that Calloway 
County normally has 4,000 democratic voters to 800 
republican supporters. As a fraternalist Doctor Mason 
is affiliated with Murray Lodge No. 105, A. F. and A. 
M., and the Knights of Pythias. With his family he 
belongs to the Seventh Day Advent Church. 

On June 18, 1017, Doctor Mason was united in 
marriage at Washington, D. C, with Miss Ora Kress, 
daughter of Dr. D. H. and Dr. Loretta (Edy) Kress, 
the former of whom is superintendent of the Wash- 
ington Sanitarium and the latter head physician of 
the ladies department of that institution. Mrs. Mason 
is a lady of numerous graces, talents and accomplish- 
ments, and is a graduate of the Women's Medical 
College, Philadelphia, degree of Doctor of Medicine; 
the Royal College of Music, Sidney, Australia, and Sid- 
ney University. To Doctor and Mrs. Mason there has 
come one daughter, Patricia Grace, who was born at 
Murray, Kentucky, January 9, 1919. 

J. W. Kerr, one of the substantial citizens of Camp- 
bellsville, is finding profitable and congenial employ- 
ment for his faculties in handling real estate and 
selling insurance, and is recognized as one of the 
prominent men of his community. He was born on a 
farm in Taylor County, ten miles north of Campbells- 
ville, January 5, 1869, a son of R. L. Kerr and grand- 
son of James Kerr. The great-grandfather, William 
Kerr, died in Taylor County and is buried - on Robin- 
son Creek. He was one of the pioneer farmers of 
what is now Taylor County. James Kerr, his son, 
was born on his father's farm in Taylor County, and 
died in the county in 1880, having spent his entire life 
in it. All of his life he was a farmer and he became 
a man of independent means. He married Polly Hill, 
who was born in Taylor County, and here died. 

R. L. Kerr was born in Taylor County when it was 
still a part of Green County. September 9, 1835, and 
he spent his entire life in this county, dying at Camp- 
bellsville. May 24. 1921, For many years he was very 
successfully engaged in farming, but afterward lived 
retired. Both as a democrat and Baptist he lived 
up to the highest conceptions of politics and religion, 
and was always a strong supporter "of "ihe church. Dur- 
ing the war between the North and the South he served 
in the Union Army for three years and six months, 
as a member of the Twenty-seventh Kentucky Volun- 
teer Infantry, and participated in the battles of Shiloh, 
Chickamauga, Lookout Mountain, Missionary Ridge 
and the siege of Vicksburg. He was wounded in the 
hand, but not so as to seriously incapacitate him. 
R. L. Kerr was married to Malinda Mardis, who was born 
in Taylor County in 1837, and died in this same county 
in 1909. Their children were as follows: S. E., who is 
in partnership with his brother in the real estate and 
insurance business, lives at Campbellsville ; Mary F., 
who married John R. Stearman, a farmer of Hooker, 
Oklahoma; Martha, who died in Taylor County in 
1896, when she was twenty-seven years old, was the 
wife of W. R. Caulk, a farmer who died in Taylor 



County in 1906; J. W., who was fourth in order of 
birth ; Robert M., who died in 1899, was a school 
teacher in Taylor County; Barrett O., who died in 
Taylor County in 1898, was a public school teacher ; 
Virgie, who died in Taylor County in 1903, was the 
wife of James E. McFarland, now a resident of Louis- 
ville, Kentucky, and connected with a prominent lum- 
ber firm of that city; and Howard, who was a farmer 
of Taylor County, died at the age of twenty years. 

J. W. Kerr attended the rural schools of his neigh- 
borhood and then for two years was a student of the 
Campbellsville High School, but left it when he at- 
tained his majority. In the meanwhile, when only 
nineteen years old, _ he had begun teaching school, and 
remained in the educational field for six years, teach- 
ing in the rural schools of Taylor County and in the 
Taylor County public school at Campbellsville, of 
which he was principal for two years. In 1897 be 
embarked in his present business at Campbellsville, and 
has continued to conduct it, this being by far the lead- 
ing concern of its kind in the county. The business 
grew to such an extent that Mr. Kerr found it ex- 
pedient to take his brother, S. E. Kerr, into partner- 
ship with him in 1917. The offices are located in the 
New Merchants Hotel on Main Street. Mr. Kerr 
owns a comfortable modern residence on Lebanon 
Street, opposite the Christian Church, and he and his 
brother own a business building on Main Street and 
three cottages in the city. A democrat, Mr. Kerr 
served as police judge of Campbellsville for two years. 
He is a consistent member of the Baptist Church. A 
Mason, he belongs to Pitman Lodge No. 124, F. and A. 
M. ; Taylor Chapter No. go, R. A. M., of which he is 
a past high priest, and is zealous in behalf of his 
fraternity. During the late war he took an active 
part in local war work, assisting in all of the drives, 
buying bonds and stamps and making generous con- 
tributions to all of the war organizations. 

On May 24, 1894, Mr. Kerr was married to Miss 
Ella Coffey, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C. R. Coffey, 
both of whom are deceased. Mr. Coffey was a harness 
and saddlery dealer of Campbellsville. Mr. and Mrs. 
Kerr have had two children, namely : Jane, who died 
in infancy; and William, who died at the age of ten 
months. Having been in the realty business for so 
many years, Mr. Kerr is fully competent to handle 
any kind of property and render a very efficient ser- 
vice. He represents some of the best and most re- 
liable insurance companies in the country, and writes 
an immense amount of business annually. 

Thk Turk Family of Bardwell has long been con- 
nected with the financial history of this community, 
and this supremacy was inaugurated by the late J. W. 
Turk, father of John Wesley Turk. He was born near 
Camphellsburg, Henry County, Kentucky, and died Feb- 
ruary 11, 1916. He came to Carlisle (then Ballard) 
County with his parents at an early age and was reared 
upon a farm, gaining his education in the country 
schools. In 1874 he and his brother, W. R. Turk, 
formed a partnership, to establish a general store at 
Bardwell. By honorable business methods and sagac- 
ity they prospered. In 1879 J. W. Turk sold his inter- 
est to his brother, and in a short time began a busi- 
ness of his own. The story of his financial success 
is told in a few words, from an humble beginning his 
fortune grew steadily until, at the time of his death, 
he >vas one of the wealthiest men in Western Kentucky. 
He was president of the Bardwell Deposit Bank, which 
he helped to organize ; president of the Bardwell Hard- 
ware Company; president of the Turk-Wilson Whole- 
sale Grocery Company of Paducah, Fulton, and Hick- 
man, Kentucky, also interested in the McElroy Shoe 
Company of St. Louis, Missouri. From youth he in- 
vested his savings in lands until he was the largest 
landowner in his community. Mr. Turk was a mem- 




1 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



107 



ber of the Christian Church, and was a member of 
the Bardwell Lodge No. 449, A. F. & A. M., and had 
attained to the thirty-second degree in that order. 
Bardwell Lodge No. 179, I. O. O. F., also held his 
membership. . 

In 1876 Mr. Turk was married to Alice Bodkin of 
Carlisle County. Mrs. Turk survives her husband and 
still makes her home at Bardwell. Mr. and Mrs. Turk 
became the parents of the following children: Nona, 
who died in 1904; Mary, who died at the age of four; 
Stella; Daniel, who died when two; Lucian; Maurice; 
Ruth; Edith; and John Wesley. 

The grandfather of the above children was Thomas 
Robert Turk, who came to Ballard County as one of 
its early pioneers, and there developed important farm- 
ing interests. He died when his son, J. W. Turk, was 
a small child. 

The father of Mrs. Turk was Daniel Bodkin, who 
came to this locality when about twenty years of age 
from Virginia, and became an active dealer in real 
estate and timber, and was also the most extensive to- 
bacco dealer in Carlisle County. 

William M. Wright is one of the men much to be 
envied in the degree of prosperity that has attended his 
efforts in the famous Blue Grass region of Bourbon 
County. He is proprietor of the Lone Oak Farm, 
situated on the Millersburg and Cynthiana Pike, four 
miles northwest of Millersburg. 

Mr. Wright, it is said on reliable authority, had only 
$200 in capital when he came to Kentucky thirty-five 
years ago and with the aid of his good wife has been 
the builder and architect of his good fortune. He was 
born in old Virginia, February 20, 1859 but grew up in 
West Virginia. His parents were Joseph A. and 
Martha J. (Peebles) Wright, the former a native of 
Nelson County, Virginia and the latter of Greenbrier 
County, West Virginia. Joseph Wright was a graduate 
of the University of Virginia, an ordained Baptist min- 
ister, and for many years practically until the close of 
his life, he was engaged in his ministerial labors in 
West Virginia. Of his eleven children five are still 
living: D. S. Wright, of Tampa, Florida; F. A. 
Wright, of Norfolk, Virginia ; William M. ; Sarah S., 
wife of Charles Hanger ; and Maggie, wife of Adam 
Lutz, of Memphis, Tennessee. 

William M. Wright grew up in West Virginia, had 
a public school education, and when he came to Ken- 
tucky in 1885 he found employment as a farm laborer 
in Bourbon County. In September, 1888, he married 
Miss Hettie M. Pollock, who was born in Bourbon 
County in July, i860, and was prior to her marriage 
a successful and popular teacher in the county, being 
a graduate of the Millersburg Female College. Her 
parents were William and Virginia C. (McConnell) 
Pollock. 

Mr. and Mrs. Wright after their marriage rented a 
farm in Bourbon County and lived at several places 
for a dozen years or more. In 1901 they were so 
far advanced toward the goal of their ambition as 
to purchase eighty acres, and with this as a nucleus 
they have extended their holdings until the Lone Oak 
Farm now comprises 368 acres. It is a general pur- 
.pose farm, but has some first class livestock, and 
Mr. Wright has had much success in breeding South- 
down sheep. He is a deacon in the Baptist Church, 
and Mrs. Wright is a Presbyterian. In politics he 
is a democrat. 

R. M. Jones, M. D. Through study and practice 
Dr. R. M. Jones has gained a profound knowledge of 
his profession and human nature, but back of all this 
he had the qualities which bring to men success in 
business, professional distinction or leadership of any 
kind, perseverance being the most important of them 



all. With his progress in his calling Doctor Jones has 
gained a better understanding and greater tolerance 
of human frailties, and gives of the best in himself 
to bring about a better condition of things in his com- 
munity. For many years he has been engaged in the 
active practice of his profession at Calvert City, and 
has the distinction of being the oldest living physician 
of Marshall County now in practice. Doctor Jones 
was born in Bath County, Kentucky, near Owingsville, 
November 6, 1857. 

The Jones family originated in Wales, from whence 
its representatives came to the American Colonies and 
established themselves in Pennsylvania. It was from 
that state that the great-grandfather of Doctor Jones 
moved into Kentucky, and his son, William Jones, 
grandfather of Doctor Jones, was born in Bath County, 
of the latter state in 1800, and he died in that county 
thirty years later, having been engaged in farming for 
some years. He married Elizabeth Chastaine, who 
also died in Bath County, Kentucky, but who was a 
native of Virginia. One of their children James Madi- 
son Jones, father of Doctor Jones, was born in Bath 
County, Kentucky, in 1830, and he died there in 1871. 
His entire life was spent in Bath County, and he gave 
his efforts to developing and operating a large farming 
property. Politically he was a democrat, but he never 
cared to enter the public arena. Outside of his home 
the strongest influence in his life was his church, and 
for many years he was an earnest member and sup- 
porter of the Christian denomination. James Madi- 
son Jones was married to Martha Estill, who was 
born in Fleming County, Kentucky, in 1833, and died 
in Bath County in 1873. Their children were as fol- 
lows: William, who is a farmer of Bath County; 
Nannie, who is the widow of W. W. Goodpastor, a 
farmer, and resides in Bath County ; David, who re- 
sides at Hillsboro, Texas, is one of the leading demo- 
crats of his region, and is now a prominent office- 
holder ; Doctor Jones, who was fourth in order of 
birth ; Samuel, who is a minister of the Christian 
Church of Sturgis, Union County, Kentucky ; John T., 
who is an extensive farmer, stockraiser and stock- 
dealer of Boone County, Indiana; James, who holds 
a state government position, resides at Marion, In- 
diana; Silas, who is a minister of the Christian Church, 
is professor of philosophy and psychology in Eureka 
College, Eureka, Illinois ; and Lou, who died at the age 
of forty-two years in Bath County, married C. Jones, 
a distant relative, who survives her and is engaged in 
farming in Bath County. 

Doctor Jones attended the rural schools of Bath 
County and the State Normal School at Ladoga, In- 
diana, which he left at the age of twenty-two years. 
When he was eighteen years old he had begun teach- 
ing school, and he remained an educator until he was 
twenty-eight, holding positions in Kentucky and In- 
diana. He then matriculated in the medical depart- 
ment of the University of Louisville, and was 
graduated therefrom in June, 1889, with the degree of 
Doctor of Medicine. Immediately following his 
graduation Doctor Jones established himself in general 
practice at Calvert City, where he has since remained. 
He owns his office and residence building on Railroad 
Street, and he also owns two dwellings in Calvert City 
and one of its store buildings, also a farm which is 
located two miles south of the corporate limits. He is 
a democrat. In 1908 he assisted in organizing the Cal- 
vert City Bank, and has served it as vice president 
ever since. Well known in Masonry, he belongs to 
Calvert City Lodge No. 543, A. F. and A. M., of which 
he is a past master; and Paducah Chapter No. 30, R. 
A. M. He is also a member of Oakwood Camp, W. O. 
W., and the Marshall County Medical Society, the Ken- 
tucky State Medical Society, the American Medical 
Association and the Southwest Kentucky Medical Asso- 
ciation. During the late war he assisted in every way 



Vol. V— 11 



108 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



in his power to promote the local activities, contributing 
both time and money to the work, and buying bonds 
and war stamps and certificates up to his limit. 

In 1883 Doctor Jones was united in marriage with 
Miss Lillie C. Jagoe, a daughter of William and 
Miranda (Rush) Jagoe, both of whom are deceased. 
Mr. Jagoe was a pioneer farmer of Muhlenberg County, 
Kentucky. Mrs. Jones died at Calvert City in 1912, 
having borne her husband the following children : Es- 
telle Rush, who married S. V. Johnson, traveling agent 
for the American Railway Express Company, resides 
at Memphis, Tennessee ; James W., who is in the em- 
ploy of the United States Government at Arlington, 
Massachusetts, having just returned from the Philip- 
pine Islands, where for six years he held a position 
under the civil service of the Government, is a gradu- 
ate of the Kentucky State University, agricultural de- 
partment, Lexington, Kentucky ; Ruth, who is her 
father's housekeeper. 

During the many years Doctor Jones has responded 
to the calls made upon his skill and experience in 
Marshall County he has not only won the appreciation 
of his patients, but he has raised a standard of service 
which sets the pace for the younger generation of 
physicians and stimulates them to do their best. His 
interest in the welfare of this region is unflagging, and 
no demand is ever made upon his time or purse with- 
out his giving it due consideration. He has borne his 
part in the expansion of Calvert City, wisely tendering 
professional advice as to its sanitary arrangements, and 
many of the improvements which have been made have 
been carried out in response to his suggestions. Such 
men as Doctor Jones sustain the high reputation his 
honored calling has earned in the past, and it would 
be difficult to find a man more widely known or deeply- 
respected and liked than this pioneer physician of 
Marshall County. 

James Horace Churchill, one of the highly trained 
funeral directors of Western Kentucky, is firmly es- 
tablished in the confidence of the people of Murray, 
where he is rendering a dependable service in times of 
greatest bereavement. Those securing his ministrations 
are certain of receiving a dignified and satisfactory 
conduct of the last rites. 

Mr. Churchill was born in Henry County, Tennessee, 
January 9, i860, a son of John E. Churchill, and grand- 
son of Samuel Churchill, who was born near Eliza- 
bethtown, Kentucky, and died in Calloway County, Ken- 
tucky, before the birth of his grandson. During the 
boyhood of his son, John E. Churchill, he moved to 
Calloway County, and became one of the pioneer farm- 
ers of this region. He married Sarah Moore, who was 
born near Louisville. Kentucky, a daughter of Arme- 
stead Moore, who became a pioneer farmer in the 
vicinity of Elizabethtown, Kentucky. The Churchills 
came from England to the Masachusetts colony at a 
very early day in the history of the country, from 
whence they migrated to the Virginia colony. 

John E. Churchill was born at Elizabethtown, Ken- 
tucky, in 1833, and died at Murray in 1890. Having been 
brought to Calloway County when still a lad, he was 
reared within its confines, but went to Henry County. 
Tennessee, for his bride. However, practically all of 
his life was spent in Calloway County, and his talents 
found employment as a carpenter and builder, in which 
he was very successful. Later on in life he became a 
funeral director. For fourteen years he served Callo- 
way County as jailor, and he was very active in local 
democratic politics. Mr. Churchill was an entered ap- 
prentice Mason at the time of his demise, death inter- 
vening before he had been raised in that order. He 
was married to Fannie Olive, who was born in Calloway 
County in 1837, died at Murray in 1881. Their chil- 
dren were as follows : James Horace, who was the 
eldest born ; E. E., who is an architect and contractor, 
lives at Fort Worth, Texas ; William S., who is also a 



resident of Fort Worth, Texas, is a contractor and 
builder; A. M., who is a house carpenter, lives in Texas; 
R. E., who is also a house carpenter, lives at Iowa Park, 
Texas ; and John O., who died at Birmingham, Alabama. 

After attending the public schools of Murray, James 
Horace Churchill began working for himself, although 
then only twenty years of age, and after teaching school 
in his native county for one term he began learning 
the cabinetmaking trade at Hickman, Kentucky, con- 
tinuing his apprenticeship at St. Louis, Missouri. In 
1886 he returned to Murray and established himself here 
as a funeral director and embalmer, being the leading man 
in his profession in Calloway County. He owns a new 
brick business house and residence on Third and Maple 
streets, which he erected in 1918, and he also owns three 
warehouses, which he uses in connection with his busi- 
ness. His equipment is of the most modern, and not 
only does he understand embalming thoroughly, but he 
also possesses that sense of the fitness of things and 
that quiet, ready sympathy which enable him to render 
such service as wins him the approval of the most 
exacting. The principles of the democratic party are 
in accord with his personal ideas, and he gives its can- 
didates his hearty^ support. For the past ten years he 
has served Calloway County as coroner. The Baptist 
Church holds his membership, and he is clerk of the 
local congregation. A Mason, he belongs to Murray- 
Lodge No. 105, A. F. and A. M. ; Murray Chapter 
No. 92, R. A. M. ; and Murray Council No. 31, R. and 
S. M., and is secretary of all three. He is also a mem- 
ber of Murray Camp No. 50, W. O. W., the Golden 
Cross and the Columbia Woodmen. 

On June 3, 1891, Mr. Churchill was married in Cal- 
loway County, Kentucky, to Miss Maude Brandon, of 
Hico, Kentucky, a daughter of N. C. and Elizabeth 
( Gardner) Brandon, both of whom are now deceased. 
Mr. Brandon was a merchant at Hico for many years. 
Mrs. Churchill died at Murray in 1914, having borne 
her husband the following children : Frances, who mar- 
ried J. W. Shelton, superintendent of the ice plant of 
Murray ; Ronald W., who is his father's assistant ; 
Ralph Dees and Max, who are at home. Mr. Churchill 
was married on August 25, 1918, in Calloway County, 
to Miss Mattie Rogers, a daughter of James W. and 
Miranda (Jones) Rogers. Mr. Rogers was a farmer, 
but is now deceased. Mrs. Rogers survives her husband 
and is living with Mr. and Mrs. Churchill. 

Patrick Calhoun Irvan. Among the younger gen- 
eration of business men whose large interests have caused 
them to occupy prominent positions and to assume re- 
sponsibilities which in former years were borne only by 
men many years their seniors is Patrick Calhoun Irvan, 
junior member of the Hughes & Irvan Lumber Com- 
pany at Murray. He belongs to a family which has 
been well and favorably known in this locality for three 
generations, and his career has been passed in this 
section, where he has won success by inherent talents, 
backed by persistent industry. 

Pat C. Irvan, as he is best known, was born at Wades- 
boro, Kentucky, January 10, 1891, a son of John Thomas 
and Rhoda Virginia (Brown) Irvan. His grandfather, 
Hardin Davenport Irvan, was born in Virginia in 1809, 
and was the pioneer of the family into Kentucky, where 
he took up his residence at old Wadesboro. He was a 
merchant and farm owner and a man held in high 
esteem, and he died at Wadesboro in 1895, when he 
had reached the advanced age of eighty-six years. He 
married Amanda Ellison, who was born in Virginia in 
1826, and who died at Murray, Kentucky, at the age 
of ninety- four years. 

John Thomas Irvan was born in 1847 at Wadesboro, 
and was reared, educated and married in Calloway 
County. As a young man he applied his energies and 
abilities to merchandising at Wadesboro, and continued 
to be engaged in the same line of endeavor until 1892, 
at which time he transferred his interests to Hardin, 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



109 



where he continued his business activities until his death 
in 1897. In politics he was a democrat, and his religious 
faith was that of the Baptist Church, whose faith he 
lived and whose movements he conscientiously supported. 
As a fraternalist he affiliated with the Masons. Mr. 
Irvan married Rhoda Virginia Brown, who was born 
in i860 at Wadesboro, and who survives him as a resi- 
dent of Hardin. They became the parents of the fol- 
lowing children : Oscar Brown, D. D. S., a dental prac- 
titioner of Murray ; William Guy, who is engaged in 
agricultural pursuits in the vicinity of Hardin ; Hardin 
Davenport, M. D., a physician and surgeon of Tulsa, 
Oklahoma ; Robert Ellison, D. D. S., a dental practi- 
tioner of Detroit, Michigan; Katie, the wife of Dr. E. 
D. Covington, a physician and surgeon of Hardin ; and 
Patrick Calhoun, who is a twin to his sister, Katie. 

Pat C. Irvan attended the public schools of Hardin, 
following which he spent one year at Bethel College, 
Russellville, Kentucky, and a like period at the academy 
at Castle Heights, Lebanon, Tennessee. During this 
time he had been engaged in supervising the work on 
his mother's farm at Hardin. In September, 1913, he 
came to Murray and engaged in the lumber business, 
securing a position with the firm of Hood, Hughes & 
Rowlett. Subsequently Mr. Irvan bought Mr. Rowlett's 
interest in the business, which at that time became Hood, 
Hughes & Irvan, and in 1915, when Mr. Irvan bought 
Mr. Hood's interest, the style was changed to its pres- 
ent form of Hughes & Irvan Lumber Company. This 
is now one of the leading lumber concerns of West- 
ern Kentucky, with offices and plant on Main Street. 
Mr. Irvan is justly adjudged one of the progressive, 
capable and enterprising young business men of Murray, 
and has the full confidence of his associates in the 
business world. He is the owner of a number of real 
estate properties at Murray, including his pleasant mod- 
ern home on Main Street. Politically he supports dem- 
ocratic principles and candidates, while fraternally he 
is prominent in Masonry, belonging to Hardin Lodge No. 
781, A. F. and A. M. ; Murray Chapter No. 92, R. A. 
M. ; Paducah Commandery No. 11, K. T. ; and Kosair 
Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., Louisville, Kentucky. 

Mr. Irvan was married in 1915, at Paducah, Kentucky, 
to Miss Emma Rose, daughter of J. H. and Annie 
(Darnall) Rose, who reside at Hardin, Mr. Rose being 
the owner of a farm. To this union there have come 
three children: Katie, born May 7, 1916; John Thomas, 
born September 29, 1917 ; and Robert Ellison, born 
June 12, 1920. 

Herman T. Carter, M. D. During the late war 
many of the members of the medical profession proved 
their sincerity, as well as their patriotism, when, living 
up to the letter of the oath of Hippocrates, they entered 
the medical department of the United States service. It 
made no difference to these devoted men that some of 
them were beyond the limit set by the draft. They 
knew that the soldiers would need their services more 
than any other citizens of their county, and, therefore, 
although many of them had to make heavy sacrifices to 
do so, they cheerfully offered their services to their 
Government and worked with unflagging energy both 
in this and foreign countries to minister to the sick 
and wounded, and also rendered an equally important 
service in investigation work carried on at that time. 
One of these veterans of the mightiest conflict the world 
has ever known is Dr. Herman T. Carter, physician and 
surgeon of Gilbertsville and one of the efficient mem- 
bers of the Marshall County medical fraternity. 

Doctor Carter was born at Spring Lick, Grayson 
County, Kentucky, September 13, 1877, a son of John S. 
Carter, and grandson of Alfred T. Carter. The birth 
of Alfred T. Carter occurred August 6, 1813, in Ohio 
County, Kentucky, and it was his father who brought 
the family into Kentucky, and was one of the pioneer 
farmers of Ohio County. Alfred T. Carter died in 
his native county November 10, 1842, having devoted 



all of his efforts to farming interests. He participated 
in the development of his locality during his period, 
and was recognized as a man of sterling worth and 
reliability. 

John S. Carter was born in Davis County, Kentucky, 
July 2, 1836, and his death took place at Whitesville, 
Kentucky, June 26, 1919. Like his father and grand- 
father, he had the love of the soil in his blood, and 
became one of the most successful and extensive farm- 
ers of Davis County, where he continued to reside until 
January 1, 1870, when he moved to Spring Lick, Gray- 
son County, and there, too, he was very active in agri- 
cultural matters, but in 1905 went back to Davis County, 
and lived in retirement at Whitesville until claimed by 
death. His final home was within three miles of the 
place on which he was born and reared. A Jeffersonian 
democrat, he was stanch in his support of party prin- 
ciples, and served very ably as city judge of Whites- 
ville, which office he was holding at the time of his 
demise. For sixty-four years he was a member of the 
Missionary Baptist Church, which he served as a deacon 
for half a century, and lived up to his conception of 
its creed. He was a man who took his Christianity into 
his everyday life, and endeavored to act according to 
his religion in whatever he undertook. He was a man 
of unflinching honest'/, and while he asked much of 
others he never demanded one-half as much from them 
as he exacted from himself. For many years he main- 
tained membership in the Odd Fellows, and was much 
honored in the local lodge. 

The first marriage of John S. Carter was solemnized 
with Miss Millie B. Harrison, October 7, 1858. She 
was born in Davis County, Kentucky, April 15, 1840, 
and died in that county September 5, 1866. They had 
four children, three who died in infancy, and Nancy E., 
who first married Robert R. Proctor, a farmer, who 
died at Spring Lick, Kentucky, and she then married 
John H. Heath, a blacksmith, who is also deceased. On 
August I, 1867, John S. Carter was married to Miss 
Delia D. Chapman, who was born in Ohio County, Ken- 
tucky, April 23, 1845. She survives her husband and 
is now living with Doctor Carter. They became the 
parents of the following children : Jesse T., who was 
born November 11, 1868, died July 21, 1870; Susan 
G., who was born in Ohio County, Kentucky, No- 
vember 11, 1868, died there February 16, 1869; James, 
who was born September 4, 1870, in Ohio County, 
resides at Whitesville, Kentucky, where he is a prac- 
ticing physician and surgeon, being a graduate of the 
Memphis Hospital Medical College at Memphis, Ten- 
nessee, which conferred upon him his degree of Doctor 
of Medicine ; Ira, who was born in Ohio County, De- 
cember 27, 1873, died in that county September 25, 
1874; Dr. Herman T., who was the fifth in order of 
birth : Flora D., who was born in Grayson County, Ken- 
tucky, October 1, 1879, married Claude C. Morrison, a 
traveling salesman, and they reside at Elizabethtown, 
Kentucky ; and Maggie J., who was born in Grayson 
County October 16, 1883, married Ben J. McKinney, a 
traveling salesman, and they reside at Eldorado, Illinois. 

Doctor Carter was accorded the educational advan- 
tages offered by the rural schools of Grayson County 
and the Spring Lick High School, but after a term at 
the latter he left and entered the Hospital College of 
Medicine at Louisville, Kentucky, and was a student 
of that institution for three years. He completed his 
medical course at the Memphis Hospital Medical College 
at Memphis, Tennessee, and after a year there was grad- 
uated, April 29, 1903, with the degree of Doctor of 
Medicine. On May 4 of that same year he entered 
upon the practice of his profession at Gilbertsville, where 
he has since maintained a general medical and surgical 
practice, with the exception of six months when he 
was at Mound Valley, Kansas, during 1909-10. 

In his political faith Doctor Carter is a democrat, 
having been brought up in the doctrines so heartily 
espoused by his father, and he is also following that 



110 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



excellent man's example to a further degree by being 
a member of the Missionary Baptist Church of Gilberts- 
ville. A Mason, Doctor Carter belongs to Gilbertsville 
Lodge No. 835, A. F. and A. M., of which he was wor- 
shipful master in 1917- He also belongs to Gilberts- 
ville Lodge No. 345, I. O. O. F. ; Rosewood Camp No. 
116, W. O. W. ; and Robinson Crusoe Camp No. 3516, 
M. W. A., of Gilbertsville. Professionally he is a mem- 
ber of the Marshall County Medical Society, the Ken- 
tucky State Medical Society, the American Medical 
Association and the Southwest Kentucky Medical As- 
sociation. For several years he has been on the Gil- 
bertsville Board of Education, and is now its treasurer. 
He owns his office building and a modern residence on 
Brien Street. 

On November 4. 1903, Doctor Carter was married at 
Gilbertsville to Miss Beulah E. Covington, a daughter 
of Dan D. and Nancy E. (Ellis) Covington, both of 
whom are now deceased. Mr. Covington was a pio- 
neer merchant at Gilbertsville. By his first marriage 
Doctor Carter had two children: Claudine, who was 
born September 28, 1505; and Lionel C, who was born 
November 23, 1908. On April 14, 1912, Doctor Car- 
ter was married at Gilbertsville to Miss Eureka Beasley, 
a daughter of J. B. and Lucy (Stringer) Beasley. Mr. 
Beasley served in the Union army during the war be- 
tween "the North and the South, and his health was 
so injured by his four years of service that he received 
a pension from the Government. He is now deceased, 
but his widow survives and lives with Doctor and Mrs. 
Carter. One child was born of this marriage, Delia 
E., on March 13, 1914. 

On January 22, 1918, Doctor Carter entered the med- 
ical department of the United States service and was 
commissioned a first lieutenant. He was sent to Fort 
Riley, Kansas, and was honorably discharged March 
18, 1919. Doctor Carter has a real capacity for his 
calling, and is a man who enjoys his work. He and his 
wife have many friends whom they like to have about 
them, and are model host and hostess. Both as a 
physician and a man Doctor Carter is accessible and 
sympathetic to those who seek his help, and he is re- 
ceiving an honorable reward for the services he has 
rendered in both peace and war. He is a nobly gifted 
man, sincere and unselfish, patriotic and courageous, 
and is proud of the fact that he was given an oppor- 
tunity to participate in the late war and of the won- 
derful response made by his profession to the country's 
call. 

Hon. Leonos C. Starks. Among the leaders in busi- 
ness and civil life at Hardin, few have been as actively 
identified with the affairs of the city as Hon. Leonos 
C. Starks. Mayor of Hardin for the past twelve years, 
he is likewise owner of the telephone system and owner 
and publisher of the Marshall County Enterprise, one 
of the leading weekly newspapers of this part of the 
state. His large competency, his valuable property in- 
terests and his high and substantial standing as a citizen 
and official have been acquired by individual force of 
character, by industry, intelligence and personal effort, 
founded upon the strictest honor. 

Mr. Starks was born November 14, 1871, in Marshall 
County, Kentucky, a son of Reuben W. Starks. The 
founder of the family in Kentucky was the grandfather, 
Spencer Starks, who was born in 1821 in Virginia and 
was a young man when he migrated to Marshall County, 
where he passed the remainder of his life as an agri- 
culturist, dying near Hardin in 1903, at the advanced 
age of eighty-two years. He was married in Mar- 
shall County to Mary Skeggs, who was born in 1823 
in Calloway County, Kentucky, and who survived her 
husband some years, being ninety-six years of age at 
the time of her death, which also occurred near Hardin 
in 1919. They were people who were greatly esteemed 
and respected in their community. 

Reuben W. Starks was born on the home farm in 



Marshall County in 1848, and died at Hardin in 1897. 
He was reared, educated and married in his native 
community, and in addition to carrying on agricultural 
pursuits on an extensive scale was engaged in the mer- 
cantile business, having been a pioneer merchant of Har- 
din. A republican in politics, he was devoted to the 
interests of his party, in which he also had some in- 
fluence, and served as county magistrate of the First 
and Fifth Magisterial Districts of Marshall County for 
some years. A member of the. Christian Church, he 
was active in its work, and for a number of years acted 
in the capacity of deacon. He belonged to Jefferson 
Lodge, A. F. and A. M., Birmingham, Kentucky, and 
to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. Starks 
married Rebecca Hurt, who was born in 1853 in Mar- 
shall County, and she still survives and is a resident 
of Hardin. Three children were born to them : Leonos 
C. ; Nina Pearl, who married Jesse Starks, a farmer of 
Hardin; and Ola Petrinilla, the wife of W. G. Irwin, 
a farm owner of Hardin. 

Leonos C. Starks was educated in the rural schools 
of Marshall County and was reared on the home farm, 
where he began assisting his father in agricultural work 
when he was a lad of but sixteen years. He continued 
to be his father's helper until the latter died, at which 
time Mr. Starks took over the mercantile business, 
which he conducted with some success until 1901 and 
then disposed of it advantageously. In the meanwhile 
he had been postmaster at Hardin for eighteen years, 
having been appointed under the administration of Presi- 
dent McKinley and serving until 1912. When he dis- 
posed of the mercantile business Mr. Starks embarked 
in the grocery trade, but after two years disposed of this 
business. He was subsequently the builder of the tele- 
phone system, lines and exchange at Hardin, and is 
still the owner of this system, which gives the people 
of this community excellent service. 

In 1913 Mr. Starks established the Marshall County 
Enterprise, of which he has since been the sole pro- 
prietor and editor. This is a weekly paper which main- 
tains an independent political policy and circulates 
largely through Marshall and the surrounding counties. 
Among the papers of its kind in this region it is looked 
upon as a leader, and is a clean, reliable and trustworthy 
sheet, presenting the news, both national and local, with 
common-sense editorials on timely subjects and a num- 
ber of interesting features. Mr. Starks owns his own 
printing plant and offices, and in addition to publishing 
his newspaper does a large and profitable business in 
first-class job press work, for the consummation of 
which bis plant is admirably equipped. 

Politically an independent republican, Mr. Starks was 
first elected mayor twelve years ago, and has occupied 
that office through successive re-elections to the pres- 
ent time. He wields much influence in his party, being 
an acknowledged leader in his part of the county, and 
has the confidence of his associates as well as that of 
the public. His administration of the affairs of his 
city in the mayoralty has been one that has resulted 
in much civic betterment and in placing Hardin upon a 
sound foundation as to finances and improvements. 
Fraternally the mayor is identified with Hardin Lodge 
No. 781, A. F. and A. M. ; Hardin Lodge No. 73, 
I. O. O. F., and is a charter member of the Hardin 
Commercial Club. He has served as a director and is 
a stockholder in the Hardin Bank, and is the owner 
of a modern and comfortable residence on Main Street 
and a valuable farm located one-half mile north of Har- 
din consisting of 100 acres. During the great struggle 
in Europe he took a leading part in all war activities, 
and used his personal influence and that of his news- 
paper to assist in the various drives. 

Mr. Starks was married in 1892, at Benton, Kentucky, 
to Miss Lillie Green, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C. M. 
Green, the latter of whom is deceased, while the former 
is a farmer in the vicinity of Benton. Two children 
have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Starks : Pansy, who 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



111 



died at the age of 3^-2 years; and W. Loraine, born 
January 30, 1898, a graduate of the Hardin High School 
and his father's able assistant in the production of his 
newspaper. W. L. Starks was in the last draft during 
the World war, and had been examined and passed for 
service when the signing of the armistice put a stop 
to hostilities and made it unnecessary for him to be 
called to the colors. 

John W. Wade. The grocery and hardware inter- 
ests of Murray are worthily and ably represented by 
John W. Wade, whose abilities and energies have been 
concentrated in building up this enterprise to one of the 
leaders in its line in Calloway County. His career has 
been one in which he has been interested in a variety 
of pursuits, in all of which he has displayed capability, 
business acumen and a high conception of ethics. Both 
as business man and citizen he is held in sound confi- 
dence by the people among whom he has made his home 
since November, 1916. 

Mr. Wade belongs to a family which _ originated in 
England, whence the original progenitor immigrated to 
America and settled in Virginia during Colonial times. 
Robert Wade, the grandfather of John W., was born 
in Virginia in 1814, and as a young man came to Trigg 
County, Kentucky, where he became a pioneer farmer. 
About 1848 he came to Calloway County, where the 
remainder of his life was passed in agricultural pur- 
suits, his death occurring in 1905. Mr. Wade was a 
most consistent church member, and worked con- 
structively in behalf of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
He was a Royal Arch Mason. His wife, who bore 
the maiden name of Katherine Brandon, was born in 
Trigg County in 1818, and died in Calloway County 
in 1882. William Thomas Wade, the father of John 
W. Wade, was born in 1841 in Trigg County, Kentucky, 
and passed his entire life in Calloway County as an 
extensive and successful farmer. While he lived to be 
only forty-eight years of age, dying on his farm in 1889, 
he accumulated a large and valuable property, and at 
the same time won the respect and esteem of those 
with whom he was associated. He was a democrat in 
politics and a strong churchman of the Methodist Epis- 
copal faith, while in Masonry he belonged to the Royal 
Arch Chapter. Mr. Wade was a veteran of the war 
between the states, having served in the army of the 
Confederacy under the intrepid Forrest, and participated 
in such hard-fought engagements as Shiloh, Lookout 
Mountain, Missionary Ridge, siege of Vicksburg, Brice's 
Crossroads, Corinth and Franklin, at which latter battle 
he was wounded. Mr. Wade married Miss Margaret C. 
Keys, born in 1848 in Calloway County, who survives 
him and makes her home with her son, John W. There 
were five children in the family: Nettie B., who died at 
the age of twenty-three years as the wife of H. P. 
Hicks, a merchant of Cherry, Kentucky ; John W. ; 
Eunice, who died as a child ; and two children who died 
in infancy. 

John W. Wade acquired his education in the rural 
schools of Calloway County and was reared on the home 
farm, where he remained until reaching the age of 
twenty years. At that time he went to Almo, Ken- 
tucky, where he was engaged in the mercantile and 
tobacco business for four years, following which he 
returned to the home farm, and he remained there with 
his mother until 1916. In November of that year he 
sold the farm and came to Murray, where he founded 
his present grocery and hardware business, which, as 
before noted, has grown and developed under his able 
management until it is now one of the prominent estab- 
lishments in its field in Calloway County. The modern 
store, with its well-kept, carefully selected and popularly 
priced stock, is situated on Court Square. Public con- 
fidence has been won by Mr. Wade through his straight- 
forward manner of dealing, while a courteous and oblig- 
ing manner has served to make him many warm friends 
among his patrons. He has other interests and is a 



director in the First National Bank of Murray. He 
owns a modern residence at 714 Poplar Street, one of 
the fine homes of the city, with well-kept grounds and 
stately shade trees, and is likewise the owner of a farm 
of 4214 acres of valuable land V/z miles southeast of 
Murray. 

Politically Mr. Wade is a democrat, and for nine years 
served as peace officer of the district of Wadesboro. 
He was one of the promoters of the movement and a 
member of the building committee which erected the 
fine new courthouse of Calloway County, one of the 
very finest public edifices in the state. His name is in- 
scribed on the corner-stone of this building as a member 
of the building committee. Mr. Wade is a member of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, of the work of which 
he is a generous supporter, and in which he has held all 
the lay offices. He belongs to Temple Hill Lodge No. 
276, A. F. and A. M., of which he is a past master, 
having served as worshipful master thereof for seven 
years, and to Murray Chapter No. 92, R. A. M. 

Mr. Wade married in 1890, at Paris, Tennessee, Miss 
Allie J. Gilbert, daughter of W. L. and Elizabeth 
(Penny) Gilbert, both now deceased. Mr. Gilbert was 
a farmer and tobacconist of Murray, Kentucky. Mrs. 
Wade died on the farm in Calloway County, April 29, 
1916, having been the mother of the following children: 
John Grogan, who entered the United States Army serv- 
ice April 27, 1918, after intensive training was sent over- 
seas June 8, 1918, saw active fighting at the front while 
with the Field Artillery in France, subsequently went 
with the Army of Occupation into Germany, and then 
returned to the United States and was honorably dis- 
charged and mustered out in May, 1919, and at present 
"is a resident of Allisona, Tennessee, where he is iden- 
tified in an official capacity with the Louisville & Nash- 
ville Railroad; Cobert G., who is a window trimmer for 
the big firm of Brys, Block & Company at Memphis, 
Tennessee ; Bernice, who is unmarried and resides with 
her father ; John Mason and Nell, who are attending the 
Murray High School ; and Mary G. and Will H., who 
are attending the graded schools. 

William Francis is giving a signally able adminis- 
tration as county judge of Taylor County, an office to 
which he was elected in 1918, and as one of the pro- 
gressive and representative citizens and influential 
officials of this county and its judicial center, Camp- 
bellsville, he is properly accorded definite recognition 
in this history. 

Judge Francis was born in Russell County, Kentucky, 
on the 7th of August, 1872, and is a son of James 
and Julia (Lockhart) Francis, both natives of Fentress 
County, Tennessee, which borders on Kentucky. Of 
their children, the first born was Jane, who died in 
Russell County, unmarried, when twenty-five years 
of age ; Sarah Elizabeth is the wife of J. C. Hale, a 
successful farmer in Russell County ; Lucinda is the 
wife of William Pinder, who is engaged in farm enter- 
prise in the state of Missouri; and Judge Francis, of 
this review, is the youngest of the number. 

The preliminary education of Judge Francis was ob- 
tained in the rural schools of Russell and Adair coun- 
ties, and was supplemented by a course in the high 
school at Columbia, county seat of the latter county. 
He worked his way through school doing odd jobs. 
At the age of twenty-one years he began teaching in 
rural schools of Adair County, and to his credit- stand 
eleven years of effective service in the pedagogic pro- 
fession. For four years he was teachers examiner of 
Adair County. In 1904 he became storekeeper and 
gauger in the United States internal revenue service, 
with headquarters at Campbellsville, in the Fifth Rev- 
enue District of Kentucky. He retained this position 
eight years and after retiring from the same he was 
successfully engaged in the insurance business at Camp- 
bellsville until 1916. In November, 1917, he was elected 
county judge of Taylor County, and the duties of this 



112 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



office were assumed by him in January, 1918, for a 
term of four years. He has given a most careful and 
progressive administration and has done much to ad- 
vance the civic and material welfare of his constituent 
district. Taylor County was over $300,000 in debt at 
the time Judge Francis was elected, and no county 
taxes had been collected for three years. Since he 
took office the debt has been cleared off and there is 
money in the treasury. His prerogatives extend be- 
yond mere judicial functions, as he is ex-officio mem- 
ber of the board of county commissioners and thus 
has definite influence in ordering and directing the 
county government and its policies. He is a staunch 
advocate and supporter of the cause of the republican 
party. His wife and children are members of the 
Baptist Church. The judge owns a well improved farm 
of ninety acres, two miles east of the county seat, and 
this place is equipped with a modern house and other 
buildings of substantial type, the farm being de- 
voted to diversified agriculture and the raising of good 
grades of live stock. At the time of the World war 
Judge Francis served as a member of the draft board 
of Taylor County, and gave a large part of his time 
to the work of this board and to the furtherance of 
other phases of war activity, including the campaigns 
in support of the various government-bond issues, war- 
savings stamps, Red Cross work, etc. He loyally sub- 
scribed his maximum quota to the purchase of the 
bonds. 

In 1898, at Cane Valley, Adair County, was solem- 
nized the marriage of Judge Francis to Miss Laura 
Flowers, whose parents are now deceased, her father, 
James Flowers, having long been numbered among the 
substantial farmers and representative citizens of 
Adair County. Of the children of Judge and Mrs. 
Francis, the first born, George, died in infancy; James, 
who was born February 4, 1902, completed the work 
of the sophomore year in Russell Creek Academy, at 
Campbellsville, and is now employed in one of the 
county offices of Taylor County, the while he remains 
at the parental home ; Ernest, who was born March 
29, 1903, is a student in the Russell Creek Academy, 
as is also Paul, who was born April 14, 1905. 

Judge Francis was but sixteen years of age when 
his mother's death occurred. He received no financial 
heritage and his advancement and success in life have 
been won entirely through his own ability and efforts 
while he has so ordered his course as to hold inviolable 
vantage-ground in the confidence and good will of 
those with whom he has come in contact in the varied 
relations of life. 

Robert Macon Mason, M. D. Aside from any con- 
sideration which might arise from his association with 
one of the honored and distinguished families of Cal- 
loway County, Dr. Robert Macon Mason has erected 
around him a solid wall of professional and general 
confidence, and as a practicing physician and surgeon 
of Murray in less than nine years has built up a pat- 
ronage ofttimes not acquired in a score of years of close 
application to professional duties. In addition to carry- 
ing on a private practice he is associated with his 
brother, Dr. William Herbert Mason, in the proprietor- 
ship of the Murray Hospital and Sanitarium, one of the 
leading institutions of healing in this part of the state. 

Doctor Mason was born at Hazel, Calloway County, 
Kentucky, July 26, 1887, a son of Dr. William Macon 
and Amanda £. (Perry) Mason. The family originated 
in England, whence the great-grandfather of Doctor 
Mason, Richard Mason, immigrated in young manhood 
to America, taking up his residence at Baltimore, Mary- 
land. In that city he established himself in business 
as the proprietor of a jewelry establishment, and rounded 
out a long, useful and honorable career, becoming a 
wealthy and influential citizen of his adopted community. 
Hp married Miss Hannah Glenn, also a native of Eng- 
land, and the only one of their children to be born in 



the United States was the grandfather of Doctor Mason, 
Dr. William Morris Mason. 

Dr. William Morris Mason was born at Baltimore, 
Maryland, in 1819, and was educated for the medical 
profession, graduating from Washington (D. C.) Uni- 
versity with the degree of Bachelor of Arts and from 
the University of Maryland with the degree of Doctor 
of Medicine. He commenced the practice of his calling 
in the City of Baltimore, where he was subsequently 
united in marriage with Miss Mary Priscilla Hicks, 
who was a daughter of John Y. flicks, of Raleigh, 
North Carolina, and a niece of Hon. Nathaniel Macon, 
for thirty-six years a member of the United States Sen- 
ate and the House of Representatives from the Old 
North State. She was also an own cousin of Thomas 
H. Benton, former governor of Missouri. Some time 
following his marriage Doctor Mason went to North 
Carolina, where he practiced for a time at Raleigh, 
subsequently following his profession at St. Louis, Mis- 
souri, and finally settling in Henry County, Tennessee. 
There he carried on a large practice until his death, 
which occurred at Conyersville in 1884. 

William Macon Mason, son of Dr. William Morris 
Mason and father of Dr. Robert Macon Mason, was 
born at Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1844, and was seven 
years of age when his parents located in Henry County, 
Tennessee. In that community he was reared and 
secured his primary education, and later graduated from 
the University of Louisville. He was honor man of his 
class and received a gold medal with his degree of 
Doctor of Medicine. In 1875 he removed to the pres- 
ent site of Hazel, in Calloway County, Kentucky, where 
he became a pioneer physician and where he continued 
in practice until his death, June 7, 1920. Doctor Mason 
was one of the honored men of his profession and 
served for thirty years as president of the County Board 
of Health of Calloway County. He was a member of 
the Calloway County Medical Society, the Tennessee 
State Medical Society, of which he was president for 
one term, the Kentucky State Medical Society, the South- 
west Kentucky Medical Society and the American Med- 
ical Association. In politics he was a republican, and 
his religious faith, which he lived, was that of the 
Seventh Day Advent Church. Doctor Mason married 
Miss Amanda E. Perry, daughter of Col. William E. 
Perry, who commanded a regiment in the Confederate 
army during the war between the North and the South. 
Mrs. Mason, who was born in 1850 in Calloway County, 
survives her husband and resides in the old home at 
Hazel. There were eight children in the family : Bettie, 
the wife of E. D. Miller, of Hazel, a traveling sales- 
man and former merchant ; Dr. William Herbert, who 
pursued his literary college work at Union College, Lin- 
coln, Nebraska, and was gold medal man during his 
junior and senior years at Vanderbilt University, from 
which he was graduated in medicine in 1899, since 
which time he has been engaged in practice at Murray 
and is one of the proprietors of the Murray Sanitarium 
and Hospital ; Dr. Edgar Perry, a graduate of Vander- 
bilt University, Doctor of Medicine, who practiced his 
calling at Hazel until his death in 1908; Ruby, the 
wife of R. R. Hicks, of Hazel, a traveling salesman; 
Ruby's twin. Pearl, the wife of R. B. Chrisman, cashier 
of the bank at Henr3 r , Tennessee; Bertha, residing with 
her mother, and the widow of C. C. Maddox, a con- 
tractor of Hazel, who died in 1916; Dr. Robert Macon, 
of this notice ; and Everard Morris, a merchant at Hazel. 

Dr. Robert Macon Mason attended the public school 
at Hazel, following which he pursued a course at the 
Hazel Industrial School, from which he was graduated 
in 1903. He next entered Union College, Lincoln, Ne- 
braska, where he pursued a literary course of two years, 
and then enrolled as a student at Vanderbilt Uni- 
versity, from the medical department of which excel- 
lent institution he was graduated with the class of 
1912, receiving the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He 
has never ceased to be a close student of his calling, and 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



113 



in 1914 took a post-graduate course at the Chicago - 
Policlinic, this being followed in 1919 by a post-grad- 
uate course at the clinic of Mayo Brothers at Rochester, 
Minnesota, where he specialized in surgery. Doctor 
Mason began the practice of his calling at Hazel, but 
after eight months transferred the scene of his profes- 
sional activities to Murray, where he has since remained, 
his offices being located in the Gatlin Building, on Main 
Street. He has built up a large and gratifying gen- 
eral medical and surgical practice, numbers among his 
patrons many of the oldest and best families, and is ac- 
counted one of the thorough, wide-awake and progres- 
sive medical practitioners of Calloway County. He 
belongs to the Calloway County Medical Society, the 
Southwest Kentucky Medical Society, the Kentucky 
Medical Society and the American Medical Association. 
Doctor Mason is one of the owners of the Murray 
Hospital and Sanitarium, a large, modern, brick and 
concrete structure located on Poplar Street, which ac- 
commodates 100 patients. The facilities of this insti- 
tution for the care of the sick are modern and complete, 
and the equipment follows closely that of the leading 
hospitals of the largest cities of the country. During 
its short period of existence (it was built in 1920) it has 
largely realized the expectations of its founders, and 
has gained such a hold upon the confidence of the public 
that it will probably be recognized in the near future 
as being among the leading institutions of healing in 
the state. Its rooms are sunny and well ventilated, the 
most scientific and experienced care is promised those 
who entrust themselves to its benefits, and the operat- 
ing room is a facsimile of the Worrell Hospital, the 
new institution of the Mayo Brothers at Rochester. 

Doctor Mason has a pleasing and confidence-inspiring 
personality, and his professional and general equipment 
has led him far toward a realization of a broad and 
exceptionally useful life. He is a republican and takes 
an interest in public affairs, without caring for the hon- 
ors of public office. His chief interests are centered 
at Murray, where he has his family established in a 
pleasant modern home. 

In December, 19 IS, Doctor Mason was united in mar- 
riage at Murray with Miss Mary Conner, daughter of 
C. T. and Ambie (Gilbert) Conner, residents of Mur- 
ray, where Mr. Conner is a successful dealer in tobacco. 
Mrs. Mason is a lady of numerous graces and talents, 
and is a graduate of the Conservatory of Music, Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio. She and the doctor are the parents of 
one bright and interesting son, Robert Macon, Jr., who 
was born October 12, 1917, at Murray. 

John D. Houston. During a period of nearly eleven 
years John D. Houston has been almost constantly before 
the public of Calloway County in positions of public 
trust, and at all times has evidenced an ability and 
spirit of fidelity that have combined to gain him the 
confidence and support of his fellow-citizens. At the 
present time he is acting as sheriff of Calloway County, 
having entered upon the duties of that office in January, 
1918, for a four-year term. 

Mr. Houston was born July 21, 1883, in Calloway 
County, Kentucky, a son of John T. and Sallie F. (Out- 
land) Houston. The family is of Irish origin, the 
original American emigrant having come from Erin to 
Virginia during Colonial days. From the Old Dominion 
State one of the early ancestors went as a pioneer to 
Tennessee, where, in 1815, in Montgomery County, was 
born Henry Houston, the sheriff's grandfather. Henry 
Houston was a farmer in the eastern part of Tennessee 
until about 1870, at which time he came to Calloway 
County, and here rounded out his career, dying in 1875. 
He married Eliza Whitworth, who was born in 1821 
in Tennessee, and she survived him until 1905, when 
she passed away in Calloway County. 

John T. Houston, the father of John D., was born 
in 1858, near Dover, Stewart County, Tennessee, and 
was about twelve years of age when brought to Ken- 



tucky by his parents. His education was completed in 
the district schools of Calloway County, where he was 
reared to manhood and married, and here has been 
engaged in extended farming ventures all his life. At 
the present time he is living on his valuable and well- 
cultivated property near Cherry, four miles southeast 
of Murray, a community in which he is held in the 
highest esteem because of his business integrity, per- 
sonal probity and good citizenship. Mr. Houston is a 
democrat and an influential man in his locality. He is 
an active and generous supporter of the Baptist Church. 
Mr. Houston was first married to Miss Sallie F. Out- 
land, who was born in i860, near Potterstown, Calloway 
County, and died in this county in 1886, having been 
the mother of four children: Dr. E. B., formerly a physi- 
cian of Hazel, but recently arrived at Murray, where 
he is engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery 
in association with Dr. B. B. Keys ; Lottie, who died 
at the age of nineteen years, as the wife of Samuel 
Downs, a progressive farmer of Calloway County; 
John D., of this notice ; and Frankie, the wife of E. H. 
Thompson, a farmer near Buchanan, Henry County, 
Tennessee. John T. Houston took for his second wife 
Miss Annie Hart, who was born in Calloway County, 
Kentucky, in 1858, and died in this county in 1904. 
They became the parents of three children : Lois, the 
wife of J. Hardy Yarbrough, a merchant of Cherry, 
Kentucky; Buford, who resides on a part of the old 
home farm ; and Hillman, who married Eula Lassiter 
and lives with his father. After the death of his sec- 
ond wife Mr. Houston married Miss Iona Outland, who 
was born near Pottertown, Calloway County, and they 
have one child, Cecil, who is still a child. 

John D. Houston was given the advantages of an 
educational training in the public schools of the rural 
districts, and was reared on his father's Calloway County 
farm, on which he made his home until he reached 
the age of twenty-one years. At that time he em- 
barked upon an agricultural career of his own, but 
after two years of tilling the soil disposed of his farming 
interests and turned his attention to mercantile affairs. 
For four years he was the proprietor of a general store 
at Penny in this county, and in 1908 came to Murray, 
where he secured employment in the department store 
of Nat Ryan. During this time Mr. Houston had in- 
terested himself to some extent in public affairs, and 
after he had resigned his position at the close of 191 1 
he was appointed deputy sheriff, a position in which he 
served during 1912 and 1913. In 1914 and 1915 he 
served as deputy assessor of Calloway County, and in 
1916 was variously employed, as he was until November, 
1917, when he was elected sheriff of Calloway County. 
He took up the duties of that office in January, 1918, 
for a term of four years, and has discharged his respon- 
sibilities in a highly efficient and satisfactory manner. 
He maintains offices in the courthouse. Sheriff Houston 
is a man of courage and discretion, and has maintained 
strict law and order in the county since taking over the 
reins of office. Since casting his first vote he has 
been a democrat, and has unreservedly supported 
the candidates and principles of his party. He is 
a member of the Baptist Church. Fraternally he is 
affiliated with Murray Lodge No. 105, A. F. and A. 
M. ; Murray Chapter No. 92, R. A. M. ; Paducah Com- 
mandery No. II, K. T. ; Kosair Temple, A. A. O. 
N. M. S., Louisville, Kentucky ; Murray Camp No. 50, 
Woodmen of the World ; and Murray Camp, Modern 
Woodmen of America. He owns a modern and com- 
fortable residence on West Main Street. During the 
World war period he assisted in the success of the 
Liberty Loan, Red Cross and other drives, and at all 
times has demonstrated his loyalty and public spirit. 

Mr. Houston was married in 1904, in Calloway County, 
to Miss Bonnie Fulton, daughter of C. B. and Mary 
(Boyd) Fulton, who reside at Murray, where Mr. 
Fulton is connected with the First National Bank. Two 
children have come to Mr. and Mrs. Houston : Buell, 



114 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



born in 1907, and Charles Boyd, born in 1912, both 
attending the Murray schools. 

Patrick Henry Thomson. Since the death of her 
husband, the late James B. Stevenson, one of the prom- 
inent farmers of Fayette County, Mrs. Nellie T. Ste- 
venson has returned to the ancestral home, "Hurricane 
Hall," endeared to her by the associations of her youth 
and by family traditions reaching back to pioneer times 
in Kentucky. Mrs. Stevenson is a daughter of Patrick 
Henry Thomson and a great-granddaughter of Col. 
Roger Quarles, a prominent Kentucky pioneer who 
came from Virginia in 1801 and subsequently acquired 
a tract of land of about 1,000 acres. Col. Roger Quarles 
had no sons to bear his name and his only daughter was 
Anna Eliza, who became the wife of William Z. Thom- 
son, and their only daughter married Dr. Thomas War- 
ren, while the only son was Patrick Henry Thomson. 

Patrick Henry Thomson was born in Fayette County, 
Kentucky, August 31, 1819, and lived much of his life 
on the ancestral Quarles estate, where he owned the 
original home, in which he dispensed a liberal and 
typically Southern hospitality. He studied medicine in 
his youth but never practiced, and devoted his energies 
to the farm and spending his life in doing good to 
others. He also owned a plantation in Mississippi. 
He lived to be eighty-two years of age, passing away in 
1901. Patrick Henry Thomson was an ardent friend 
of Henry Clay and one of the last survivors of a gen- 
eration of Kentuckians who knew that great statesman. 
Mr. Thomson served for many years as clerk of the 
Cane Run Baptist Church, of which church he was for 
much of his life an ardent member and most liberal in 
his contributions. The land for that church and also 
for the Berea Christian Church was donated by Colonel 
Quarles. Colonel Quarles, the first clerk of Cane Run 
Church, was succeeded in that office by Mr. Thomson, 
and the latter by his daughter, Amelia, and her successor 
is her nephew-in-law, J. Morton Wood. Except for a 
temporary interval the office has continued in this fam- 
ily from the establishment of this historic old congre- 
gation in 1828. Colonel Quarles also was one of the 
promoters of the Lexington and Georgetown turnpike, 
contributing $1,000 per mile for its construction of more 
than twelve miles, and he and his grandson, Patrick 
Henry Thomson filled the office of president contin- 
uously. Patrick Henry Thomson for thirty-five years 
maintained a private school on his estate, bringing teach- 
ers from New England, and he opened the advantages 
of this excellent school to the children of his neighbors, 
especially those unable financially to obtain an education 
elsewhere. His wife, Julia Maria Farnsworth, was 
born July 6, 1821, at Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and 
they were married May 9, 1839. Her father, Benjamin 
Franklin Farnsworth, was founder of a college in Louis- 
ville, also of one or more seats of learning in New Eng- 
land and for a short time was president of Georgetown 
College. This noble Christian wife survived her hon- 
ored husband and passed away September 8, 1916, at 
the age of ninety-four. They were married sixty-two 
years. Of their children, nine reached maturity. Anna 
Eliza became the wife of Squire Gaines and died at 
the age of sixty; Rodes was a farmer near the old home 
and died at the age of fifty-five; Franklin died while a 
member of the graduating class of Georgetown College, 
at the age of twenty-one ; William Z. is a retired farmer 
living at Georgetown; Sarah, who died at the age of 
sixty, was the wife of Dudley H. Bryant, and one of her 
sons, Thomson Bryant, is a member of the faculty of the 
State University; Roger Quarles is a traveling salesman 
with home at Columbia, South Carolina; Mrs. Nellie 
Stevenson is the next in age ; Miss Amelia, former 
clerk of Cane Run Baptist Church, now lives at Orlando, 
Florida; Patrick Henry is secretary of the Chamber of 
Commerce in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. 

Miss Nellie Thomson was born in the house where 
she now resides and where she was married March 28, 



1889, to James B. Stevenson. James B. Stevenson, who 
died June 8, 1905, at the age of fifty, was the third in a 
family of six children. His father was one of the 
successful and well-to-do farmers of Fayette County, 
the old Stevenson home being on Newtown Pike, five 
miles northeast of Lexington, near Mount Horeb Pres- 
byterian Church, with which the Stevensons were actively 
identified as members. The father of James B. Steven- 
son served as county judge for some years and achieved 
prominence as a breeder of saddle horses. One of his 
horses was the famous "Washington Denmark," sire of 
some of the greatest saddle horses known and whose 
wonderful qualities as a breeder made his subsequent 
owner, William Vincent Cromwell, distinguished among 
American horsemen. James B. Stevenson's brothers 
and sisters were Vincent, who died unmarried at the 
age of sixty-five; John, a retired resident of Lexington; 
Richard, a physician in Fayette County ; Lizzie, Mrs. 
William Craig, who was killed in an automobile accident 
October 2, 1920, at the interurban crossing while leav- 
ing the home of Mrs. Nellie T. Stevenson; and Charles, 
a Lexington insurance man. 

Mr. and Mrs. James B. Stevenson spent their mar- 
ried life on their farm on Newtown Pike, eight miles 
from Lexington. Mrs. Stevenson, after the death of her 
husband and her mother, bought the old homestead, 
formerly owned and occupied by her ancestor, Roger 
Quarles. This is a place that may well inspire affection 
and sentimental interest, and the house contains much of 
the old furniture and many of the heirlooms of her 
ancestors. 

Mrs. Stevenson has two children : John Atkins and 
Tulia Farnsworth Stevenson. John Atkins, an attendant 
of State University for a short term, married Lucile 
Brooks, daughter of Samuel Brooks, and has one son, 
James Thomson Stevenson. They and his mother live 
at the old home place. Julia Farnsworth is the wife of 
James Morton Wood, and they occupy her father's 
farm on the Newtown Pike. Mr. and Mrs. Wood have 
a son, J. Morton, Jr. 

Jolly Barnett Pharis. Lying nine miles east of 
Winchester and some ten miles from Boonesboro, is 
found the Village of Schollsville, a community con- 
sisting of a number of residences, two stores, a feed 
mill and a blacksmith shop, which was founded at an 
early date in the history of Kentucky by members 
of the Scholl family, friends of Daniel Boone. A 
spring nearby is pointed out to visiters as marking 
one of the camping-places of the great American 
hunter, trapper, guide and frontiersman, and in addi- 
tion to its historical importance the little hamlet pos- 
sesses prestige as being a trading center for a large 
contiguous farming community. 

Located at Schollsville as one of its leading citizens 
and business men is Jolly Barnett Pharis, a general 
merchant, who was born in this county June 7, 1865, 
a son of William Morgan and Hester Cummings (Par- 
rish) Pharis, and a grandson of John and Rachael 
(Brookshire) Pharis, natives of Clark County. Hes- 
ter C. Parrish was a daughter of Barnett Jolly and 
Tacy Parrish, Mr. Parrish being a stone mason by 
trade. It is said that he and two of his sons, William 
and Meredith Parrish. laid the foundations for the 
present courthouse at Winchester about 1845, and for 
the Court Street Christian Church on the site of the 
present postoffice. Barnett Jolly Parrish was born in 
1793, came to Kentucky about 1800 with his parents, 
and died in 1857, while his wife, Tacy, died in 1880, 
when past ninety years of age. Hester Cummings 
Parrish was born in 1824, near Ruckerville, where her 
father died, and was married in 1848 and died in 
1913, on the home farm of William M. Pharis, near 
Ruckerville. William Morgan Pharis was born within 
one mile of Ruckerville, December 28, 1823, and died 
at the age of sixty-four years, in 1887. During his 
early life he worked as a carpenter, but subsequently 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



115 



turned his attention to agricultural pursuits and 
through industrious work and good management ac- 
cumulated a valuable property, became prosperous and 
highly respected and was considered one of the sub- 
stantial and reliable men of his community. While 
his land was rather hilly, it was kept in good con- 
dition and made productive, and he also kept a good 
grade of livestock, having good breeding stock, par- 
ticularly in horses and jacks. While he was a man 
who had no great educational advantages, he was well 
posted upon important topics and could speak intelli- 
gently regarding worth-while subjects. He and his 
wife had six children who grew to maturity: Clinton 
H., who spent twenty-five years in Missouri and Kan- 
sas, but now makes his home at Winchester ; Celia 
K., who married Robert Bush, with whom she went 
to Missouri, but after his death in that state returned 
to Kentucky and died at Winchester ; Meredith Allen, 
who spent his active career as a farmer in Clark and 
Fayette counties, but is now living in retirement at 
Louisville; Sidney, who was first a merchant and later 
a farmer in Clark County and died at the age of forty- 
two years in 1900; Tacy, the widow of Elder William 
S. Gamboe, of the Christian Church, now residing at 
Lexington ; and Jolly Barnett, of this notice. 

Jolly Barnett Pharis acquired his educational train- 
ing in the public schools of Clark County, and when 
still a youth entered the store in company with his 
brother, Sidney, who was already the proprietor of 
an establishment at Ruckerville. This partnership con- 
tinued for two years, when their brother-in-law, Wil- 
liam S. Gamboe, took over Sidney Pharis' interest, but 
two or three years later this was purchased by Jolly 
B. Pharis, who continued as sole proprietor until 1892. 
In that year he removed to Winchester, where he 
bought a grocery stock and continued in business until 
1893, and then entered the office of the Chesapeake & 
Ohio Railroad at Winchester, remaining in the service 
o-f that road until 1901. At that time Dick Ware, an 
old merchant at Schollsville, died, worth $500,000, and 
Mr. Pharis, sensing an opportunity, purchased his. 
old location and his large stock. Four years later he 
bought the present store, including forty-five acres of 
land, and enlarged store and stock, since which time 
he has been successful in increasing his trade each 
year. He has also secured an adjacent residence, where 
he makes his home. 

In 1908 Mr. Pharis became railroad agent at Hedges, 
which is the name of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad 
station and the post office for the old Village of Scholls- 
ville, the station of the railroad being a quarter of a 
mile distant from the store. He is also engaged 
successfully in farming and has raised a nice bunch 
of hogs annually for the past several years. While 
at Ruckerville, Mr. Pharis served as postmaster, as 
he has also at Hedges, the post office being located in 
the railroad station, but he is entirely without aspira- 
tion for public position and has merely accepted office 
as a part of the duties of citizenship and not as a 
means of attaining public or political prominence. In 
his political views he inclines toward republicanism, 
and for several years served as secretary of the Repub- 
lican County Central Committee of Clark County. 

At the age of twenty years Mr. Pharis was united 
in marriage with Miss Florence Fox, who was reared 
in the home of her grandmother, Mrs. Polly Bush, her 
mother having died when she was five years of age, 
and her father, Dillard Fox, being also deceased at 
this time. The following children have been born to 
Mr. and Mrs. Pharis : Alma, who is the wife of H. W. 
Stevenson, an agriculturist in the community of Kidd- 
ville, Clark County; William Dillard, a street railway 
employe of Detroit, Michigan, who served in the 339th 
Regiment and was nine months in Northern Russia 
during the great World war ; Oscar Harding, in the 
employ of a wholesale house at Detroit; Anna Car- 
lisle, who resides with her parents and assists in the 



conduct of the store as a stenographer; Loula, who is 
a stenographer of Detroit, Michigan; Jolly Brown, 
connected with a manufacturing concern at Detroit; 
and Floyd Fox, who resides with his parents. 

Mr. Pharis possesses in ample degree those qualities 
that combine to make up the character of a successful 
merchant, extending accommodation readily, being 
ever ready to serve customers in a courteous way, and 
carrying a modern stock that appeals to the demands 
of his trade. The steady growth of his business evi- 
dences its success and indicates in its development that 
Mr. Pharis has chosen well in his life work. 

Dr. Arthur Weir Johnstone. The Johnstone fam- 
ily, as represented by the late Dr. Arthur Weir John- 
stone and his sisters, Mary Johnstone and Alice 
Johnstone, have for many years been identified with 
the social and historical life of Danville and other 
parts of the State of Kentucky, and before entering 
on the more immediate features of the life and achieve- 
ments of Dr. Arthur W. Johnstone, who died on Sep- 
tember 28, 1905, a brief sketch of the family descent 
will not be inappropriate. 

Arthur Weir Johnstone was descended through Dr. 
Thomas Walker, Lieutenant Willis Green, and Joshua 
Fry, Jr., and was a son of Rev. Robert Alexander and 
Anna (Peachy) Johnstone, and was born on July IS, 
1853. A grandson of Judge John Green and Sarah 
Adams Fry; great-grandson of Willis Green and Sarah 
Reed and of Joshua Fry, Jr., and Peachy Walker ; 
great-great-grandson of Thomas Walker and Mildred 
Thornton Merriweather. 

Thomas Walker was born in 1715 and died in 1793; 
he was a member of the last House of Burgesses and 
served on the Committee of Safety. 

Joshua Fry, Jr., was born in 1760 and died in 1839. 
He enlisted at the age of fifteen ; he was placed on 
the pension roll of Garrard County, Kentucky, for 
services in the Virginia Militia. 

Willis Green was born in 1752 and died in 1813. He 
served as ensign in Grayson's Continental Regiment ; 
he was promoted to second lieutenant and resigned in 
1788. Willis Green was born in Fauquier County, Vir- 
ginia, and died in Lincoln County, Kentucky. He rep- 
resented Jefferson County in the Virginia Assembly. 

Dr. Arthur W. Johnstone, of this sketch, was, at the 
age of nineteen years, a graduate of Center College, 
Danville. He then took up the study of medicine and 
was a student of Dr. John D. Jackson, of Danville, 
for one year, and spent a similar period in New Or- 
leans, later going to Philadelphia. Finally, he grad- 
uated from the New York College of Physicians and 
Surgeons, and following his graduation he moved to 
Danville, where he practiced his profession for a time. 

In the early part of 1886, Doctor Johnstone, desir- 
ing to extend the scope of his medical research, made 
a trip to Birmingham, England, and there for a period 
of six months he studied with Dr. Lawson Tait, well 
known as an eminent surgeon. During that time Doc- 
tor Johnstone appeared before the British Gynaecolog- 
ical Society in London, where he read a valuable arti- 
cles on microscopical work, which was the outcome 
of original research on his part. Because of his work 
along the line indicated he was made a member of the 
British Gynaecological Society and also was made a 
member of the same society in America the same year, 
being only thirty-three years old. These two honors 
were extended to him for his efforts, to advance the 
science of his profession. 

Doctor Johnstone returned to America in July, 1886, 
and in the following year he built a private hospital 
in Danville, Kentucky. In 1890 he formed a partner- 
ship with Dr. Thaddeus Raemy, of Cincinnati, Ohio, 
and at the end of one year he established his own hos- 
pital at Walnut Hills, Cincinnati, and he continued to 
maintain and guide this establishment up to the time 
of his death. Under Doctor Johnstone's management 



116 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



the hospital became noted over a wide area, and here 
he specializes in abdominal surgery with remarkable 
success, the fame of his surgical operations extending 
beyond the confines of the state of Ohio. With the 
passing of Doctor Johnstone, surgical science suffered 
a loss, leaving a gap to be filled by some other mem- 
ber of the noble profession, to the advancement of 
which he had given all the active years of his worthy 
life. 

On May 27, 1897, Doctor Johnstone was united in 
marriage to Miss Ethel Ann Chamberlin, of Cincinnati, 
Ohio, and to this union two children were born : Ethel 
Ann, born on June 23, 1898, and Roberta Alexander 
born on September 27, 1899. 

Here it is fitting to introduce the name of John 
James Hogsett. a native of Grant County, Kentucky, 
where he was born on June 16, 1849. He was gradu- 
ated from Center College in 1872 and was a member 
of the Kappa Alpha fraternity, a member of the 
Chamberlin Literary Society, attached to the college, 
and was valedictorian of his class. After his gradua- 
tion, Mr. Hogsett returned to his home and taught 
school in Crittenden, Grant County, until 1879. 

In June, 1879, Mr. Hogsett was married to Mary 
Johnstone, of Danville, eldest sister of Dr. Arthur 
Weir Johnstone, whose name introduces this biog- 
raphical sketch. In 1882 Mr. Hogsett and his wife* 
moved to Harrodsburg, where he took charge of the 
academy at that place and there remained in the 
scholastic training of youths for five years. At the 
end of that period he opened a school at Danville, 
known as the Hogsett School, and of which he con- 
tinued as head until his death, which occurred on 
January 31, 1891. The school, following Mr. Hogsett's 
death, was continued as a military academy — continu- 
ing to bear his name— until June, 1901, when it was 
closed. Mr. Hogsett was an earnest member of the 
Presbyterian church, of which he was an elder for 
many years. Mr. and Mrs. Hogsett became the parents 
of two children, Robert Alexander, born on July 29, 
1882, and Mary Griffith, born on June 22, 1887. Robert 
Alexander Hogsett graduated from Center College in 
1901, following which he entered business at St. Louis, 
Missouri, and is now in Cleveland, Ohio, where he 
manages the liability department of the Travelers In- 
surance Company of Hartford, Connecticut. He was 
married in November, 1914, to Miss Mary Jane Reid, 
of Danville. Mary Griffith Hogsett was educated 
privately in Danville and at Washington, D. C. On 
the death of her mother she returned to Danville, 
where she lives with her aunt and where she fills a 
clerical position with the Electric Light Company. 

Mary Johnstone, who became the wife of John 
James Hogsett and mother of the children just men- 
tioned in the preceding paragraph, was educated in 
Caldwell College (now Kentucky College for Women) 
at Danville, Kentucky, and from that institution she 
was graduated in 1867. In 1901 she moved to Wash- 
ington, D. C, and there her last days were spent. 

Miss Alice Johnstone, second child of Robert Alex- 
ander and Anna (Peachy) Johnstone, was born on 
August 13, 1851, and was educated at Caldwell College. 
She is now living in the old ancestral home at Dan- 
ville, regarded and esteemed as one of Danville's most 
estimable citizens. Miss Johnstone is known to be a 
veritable storehouse of historical memories in con- 
nection with the growth and development of Kentucky 
from its earliest days up to the present, and she readily 
places at the disposal of all interested her valuable 
and authentic knowledge of the people and the times 
in which she has lived, having seen, as she did, Ken- 
tucky grow from small proportions to a state of large 
importance in the vast commonwealth comprised in 
the United States. 

Abram Renick. A man of splendid initiative, pro- 
gressiveness and constructive genius was the late 



Abram Renick, of Clark County, Kentucky, who marked 
the fleeting years with large and worthy achievement 
in the sphere of productive industry and loyal and lib- 
eral citizenship. He became one of the foremost 
figures in the breeding of short-horn cattle in America, 
in which field he was a pioneer, the Renick herd of fine 
short-horn cattle being still maintained on his fine old 
landed estate in Clark County, and being, in point of 
continuity, the oldest herd in the United States. In 
his activities as a breeder of short-horn cattle Mr. 
Renick achieved a financial success and a reputation 
that have not been equalled by any other breeder in 
this country. The same ability and sterling qualities 
of character that enabled him to accomplish a great 
work along this line marked his course in connection 
with all other relations of life, and gave to him prom- 
inence and influence in community affairs, as well as 
inviolable place in popular confidence and esteem. The 
fine estate which this honored citizen accumulated 
passed as a heritage to four brothers, his great-nephews, 
and the prestige of the Renick herd of short-horns 
is being specially well maintained by his namesake, 
Abram Renick, Jr., one of these four brothers, of whom 
specific mention is made in the sketch following. 

George Renick, father of the subject of this memoir, 
was a scion of a sterling family that was founded in 
Virginia in the early colonial period of our national 
history, and there he was reared to manhood. In 1793 
George Renick came from Greenbriar, Virginia, to 
Kentucky, and girded himself for the pioneer activities 
that had been previously the portion of his American 
forebears. The original progenitors came from the 
Rhine Province of Germany fully 400 years ago and 
first settled in Pennsylvania, whence emigration was 
soon afterward made to Virginia, the original German 
orthograph of the family name having been Reinwick. 
In coming to Kentucky, then on the frontier of civil- 
ization, George Renick transported his little supply of 
personal effects on pack horses, and he was accom- 
panied by his wife, whose maiden name was Magda- 
lene Reid, and by their two children, John and James. 
George Renick thus became one of the very early set- 
tlers in Clark County, and the land which he here 
obtained has continued, to a large extent, in possession 
of the Renick family to the present day. The substan- 
tial old house which he erected on the farm now owned 
by Abram Renick, Jr., six miles northwest of Win- 
chester, is still in an excellent state of preservation 
and is one of the interesting landmarks of this section 
of the state. George Renick was in middle life at the 
time of his death. Of his six children four were born 
after the removal to Kentucky. The son, John, was 
one of the pioneer gunsmiths in this section of Ken- 
tucky, and it may readily be understood that there 
was ample demand for his productions in this line, as 
weapons of that sort were an essential equipment in 
all pioneer homes, in which wild game supplied a large 
part of the provender. John Renick found satisfaction 
in the work of his shop and in hunting expeditions, 
and seems to have manifested no special desire to 
accumulate property. In possession of the family are 
still found one or more specimens of handicraft, the 
gun-stocks being inlaid with shells. John Renick reared 
a large family of children, and two of his sons, George 
and Felix, emigrated, in 1840, to Independence, Mis- 
souri, in which section of the state are to be found 
today many of their descendants. James, the second 
son of George Renick, remained in Kentucky and be- 
came an influential figure in political and general public 
affairs. He was a man of strong intellectuality and 
broad and accurate information. He familiarized him- 
self with the record of every member of Congress, 
and his counsel was frequently sought by Shankland, 
who at the time represented this district of Kentucky 
in the United States Congress. James Renick was an 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



117 



effective public speaker and was at all times ready to 
defend his well fortified convictions relative to economic 
and governmental affairs, besides which he was a close 
and appreciative student of the Bible. He was a man 
of powerful physique and continued vigorous and active 
until he was eighty-eight years of age, even then show- 
ing his ability to cut his own wood. He volunteered 
for service in the War of 1812, under Captain Isaac 
Cunningham, of Clark County, and proceeded with his 
command into Michigan, where he was assigned to the 
guarding of the horses of the American troops on the 
occasion of the battle of Perry's victory on Lake Erie. 
In later years he recalled his experience in this con- 
nection and related how fish were crowded out of the 
water inlet of the lake by the heavy cannonading, and 
out of a nearby and diminutive inlet of Lake Erie. 
Mr. Renick endured the full tension and experience 
of the pioneer days and continued his vital interest 
in men and affairs until the close of his long and worthy 
life. He married Miss Elizabeth Renick, a daughter 
of Felix Renick, of Chillicothe, Ohio, a brother of 
George Renick, the founder of the family in Clark 
County, Kentucky. James Renick and his wife thus 
were first cousins. James and Elizabeth Renick had 
but one child, William H., of whom more specific men- 
tion will be made in a later paragraph. William Renick, 
third son of George, the Kentucky pioneer, resided for 
a time in Southwestern Kentucky, but he eventually 
returned to Clark County, where his death occurred. 
Family traditions and records mark him chiefly as an 
ardent devotee to the sport of hunting deer, foxes and 
other wild game, with the aid of his well trained 
hounds. Abram Renick, to whom this memoir is dedi- 
cated, was the youngest of the sons of George Renick, 
and was born about the year 1803, as indicated by the 
fact that he was eighty years of age at the time of his 
death, in August, 1883. Matilda, daughter of George 
Renick, married Robert Hume and they established 
their home in Bourbon County, Kentucky. Magdalene, 
the other daughter, became the wife of Dillard Hazel- 
rigg, of Montgomery County, and one of then- descend- 
ants is Judge Albert Hazelrigg, of that county. 

Abram Renick was reared under the conditions and 
influences marking the pioneer period in this history of 
Clark County, and here he became a remarkably suc- 
cessful agriculturist and stockgrower, he having re- 
mained a bachelor until his death. About the year 
1836 he initiated his activities as a pioneer in the breed- 
ing of short-horn cattle, and no other man in the 
United States achieved so great and valuable a work 
in this special field of enterprise. He gave deep study 
to the records of the earlier English breeders, the 
Booths, the Callings and the Bates, the last mentioned 
of whom was still living at that time, and he spared 
neither time nor expense in bringing his herd of short- 
horns up to the highest standard. In 1846, he purchased 
fine breeding stock at the sale of the Ohio Importing 
Company, at Chillicothe, Ohio, his uncle, Felix Renick, 
of that place, having been agent for this company. 
Abram Renick did a splendid service in the furtherance 
of the cattle industry in his native land, and many of 
his records and letters, of surpassing interest, as touch- 
ing his progressive operations as a stock breeder, are 
retained as valued heirlooms by representatives of the 
family at the present time. His famous short-horn 
cow purchased at the sale above noted was "Tames," a 
descendant of the imported "Rose of Sharon." This 
animal became the founder of the Renick herd of the 
Rose of Sharon family of short-horn cattle, a herd 
known to cattle breeders throughout the entire world. 
Mr. Renick was insistent in maintaining the purity and 
integrity of his short-horn blood, and it was largely 
due to this policy that he achieved such remarkable 
success. In the '60s he began to win honors for his 
exhibits at fairs and stock shows, and in the following 
decade he began to appear as a competitor for world's 



honors, by exhibiting at state fairs and fat-stock shows 
in Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, Iowa, New York and other 
commonwealths. On each exhibit he won high pre- 
miums and added to the reputation of his herd and 
incidentally of his home state. His exhibits usually 
included a herd of several head, together with individual 
exhibits, and through his well ordered efforts he lived 
to see his stock exported to every country where the 
best type of live stock is appreciated. He was one 
American breeder whose stock was exported for the 
purpose to improve foreign herds. His fine stock farm 
was visited by leading breeders and other men of distinc- 
tion, including members of the foreign nobility and 
aristocracy, including Lord Dunmore and the Earl of 
Bective. In 1876, his stock was exhibited at Smithfield, 
England, where it won the world's first honors, over 
Queen Victoria's champion cow. 

Mr. Renick was an enthusiast in his chosen sphere 
of endeavor, and while he won large financial success 
he had no special desire for wealth, but was unassuming, 
generous and considerate in his association with his 
fellow men, loyal and liberal as a citizen, and ever ready 
to do all in his power for his friends, to many of 
whom he presented valuable breeding stock from his 
celebrated herd. His fine stock farm, of 2,500 acres, in 
Clark County, has been pronounced one of the finest 
bodies of land in Kentucky, and he made upon the 
same the best of improvements. He delighted to extend 
to his host of friends the gracious hospitality of his 
beautiful home, in which were found frequently on 
Sundays dinner guests to the number of twenty or more. 
He sold stock simply on representation, as his reputation 
was such that stock-growers had implicit confidence 
in him. Often his bull calves would be sold before 
they were born, for $500. For one bull he refused a 
price of $20,000, and at one time he sold six yearling 
heifers for $40,000. Mr. Renick was a recognized au- 
thority in stock-breeding, especially in his special line, 
and he was secure and independent in his judgment, with 
the self-confidence born of long and successful experi- 
ence. He lived a sane, kindly and benignant life, and 
his memory is revered by those who were drawn to 
him in bonds of close and appreciative friendship. He 
continued his active interest in his fine herd to the time 
of his death, and had on exhibit representatives from 
the herd at the very time when his life came to a 
close. 

William H. Renick, son of James and Elizabeth 
Renick. mentioned in a preceding division of this review, 
married Miss Martha A. Morris, of Scott County, and 
she survives him, his death having occurred in 1914. 
His four sons who inherited the fine estate of his 
bachelor uncle, the late Abram Renick, were Morris W., 
who is president of the First National Bank at Middle- 
town, Ohio, where he is engaged also in manufacturing; 
James Scott Renick (deceased), to whom a personal 
memoir is dedicated on other pages of this work ; 
Abram, Jr., whose personal sketch immediately follows 
this article ; and Brinkley Messick Renick owner of the 
business conducted under the title of the Paris Milling 
Company, at Paris, Kentucky. 

Abram Renick, Jr. Of the four brothers, his grand- 
nephews, upon whom the late Abram Renick, subject 
of the foregoing memoir, bequeathed his large and 
valuable estate, his namesake,' of this sketch, is the 
one upon whom has devolved the continuance of the 
great industrial enterprise in which Abram Renick, Sr., 
gained so great success, celebrity and distinction, as is 
adequately shown in the preceding article. Abram 
Renick, Jr., who was born in Bourbon County Kentucky, 
November 10, 1863, is a son of William H. Renick, who 
is mentioned in the preceding sketch. Abram, Jr., had 
grown up in close association with his grand-uncle, in 
whose honor he was named, and had learned under his 
direction the latter's policies in the furtherance of the 
short-horn cattle industry, so that there has been singular 



118 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



consistency in the fact that both in his name and his 
work he is perpetuating the fame of his honored kins- 
man. At the death of Abram Renick, Sr., the subject 
of this review assumed the practical management of the 
estate, of which adequate description is given in the 
preceding article, and after requisite sales had been 
made and the property had been apportioned in accord- 
ance with the wishes of the former owner, Mr. Renick 
assumed control of his heritage, which included the fine 
old homestead of his grand-uncle, together with 750 
acres of the landed estate. Here he has continued 
successfully and with appreciative energy and progres- 
siveness the breeding of the finest type of short-horn 
cattle from the original stock for which the estate has 
become world-famed, and thus his herd of short-horn 
cattle retains prestige as the oldest continuous herd of 
the kind in the United States, even as it is one of the 
most important. Mr. Renick has continued to make 
exhibits at the leading fairs and stock shows, including 
the great International Stock Show at Chicago, the 
largest and most important in the world. 

Mr. Renick was president of the American Shorthorn 
Breeders Association in 1911 and prior to that had been 
a member of the board of directors and the executive 
committee for twenty years. He was instrumental in 
organizing the Pedigreed Livestock Association of 
America, was its first president and was unanimously 
elected to succeed himself in that office for a second 
term. 

In addition to being one of the prominent figures in 
the industrial life of his native state Mr. Renick has 
been influential in political affairs, as a vigorous advocate 
of the principles of the Democratic party. He rep- 
resented Clark County in the Kentucky Legislature in 
the sessions of 1900 and 1902, and there made a splendid 
record, especially in the promotion of legislation tending 
to advance agricultural and live-stock industry in the 
state. It was primarily through his efforts that the 
Legislature made" its first appropriation in support of 
the Kentucky State Fair, and the result has been a 
distinct impetus to the adoption of better and more 
scientific methods and policies in connection with farm 
enterprise in all parts of the state. Mr. Renick was 
instrumental also in effecting the passing of several 
bills for the further benefit of the farmers, and he was 
specially vigorous in representing the interest of his 
constituent district. 

In February, 1889, was recorded the marriage of 
Mr. Renick to Miss Julia Fry, of Clinton County, Mis- 
souri, and her death occurred in 1904. Of this union 
were born three children : Virginia remains at the 
paternal home; Cornelia is the wife of Lindsay L. 
Cockrell, of Winchester, judicial center of Clark 
County; and Felix is secretary and treasurer of the 
New York Petroleum Exchange. Felix Renick was but 
eighteen years of age when he was graduated in old 
Centre College, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, 
and in the following year he received the degree of 
Master of Arts from Princeton University, New Jersey. 
Thereafter he completed the curriculum of the law 
school of the University of Kentucky, in which he was 
graduated with highest honors and from which he re- 
ceived the degree of Bachelor of Laws, with virtually 
coincident admission to the bar of his native state. In 
1905 was solemnized the marriage of Abram Renick, Jr., 
to Bessie McGee Fry of Clinton County, Missouri. 

Samuel G. Robinson, one of the able attorneys of 
Monroe County, who is engaged in a general criminal 
and civil practice at Tompkinsville, has had a broad 
and varied experience in many legal lines, involving the 
trying of many causes, and is a fine example of the 
self-made men of this region, having secured the 
money for prosecuting his education by teaching school. 
As a citizen he has displayed a broad-gauged appre- 
ciation of the responsibilities resting upon the consci- 
entious man and has given a constructive support to all 



measures which have had for their object the better- 
ment of the public service. 

Mr. Robinson was born on a farm near Fountain 
Run, Monroe County, Kentucky, September 9, 1886, a 
son of James G. Robinson, and grandson of Theodore 
Lewis, who was born in Tennessee in June, 1820, and 
died near Fountain Run, Kentucky, March 11, 191 1. 
He was one of the very early settlers of Fountain 
Run to which he came in young manhood, and there 
he was married to Eliza T. Newman, a native of the 
vicinity, who died there in 1905. Their daughter, 
Louisa T. Lewis became the wife of James G. Robin- 
son, and the mother of Samuel G. Robinson. Mr. 
Lewis was a very extensive farmer of Monroe County. 
During the war between the states he served in the 
Union army. 

James G. Robinson was born in Tennessee in 1827, 
and died near Fountain Run, Kentucky, in 189(5. He 
was reared in his native state which he left after he 
had attained his majority, and coming to Kentucky 
found congenial surroundings and ample opportunities 
near Fountain Run, and here he continued to reside, 
being engaged in farming and working at the carpen- 
ter trade. His vote was always cast tor candidates of 
the republican party. Early uniting with the Baptist 
Church he continued a member of that denomination 
until his death, and was a very strong churchman. 
Louisa T. Lewis was his second wife, and she was 
born near Fountain Run in 1849, and died at Tompkins- 
ville, April 19, 1920. Their children were as follows: 
Lemuel, who lives at Scottsville, Kentucky, is a clergy- 
man of the Baptist Church; Andrew Jackson, who is 
a farmer, resides near Flippin, Monroe County, Ken- 
tucky ; W. T., who is a farmer, resides near Tompkins- 
ville; Alice, who married George Overstreet, a farmer, 
lives four miles east of Tompkinsville; T. J., who is 
a farmer, lives three miles east of Tompkinsville, and 
he also officiates as a clergyman of the Baptist Church ; 
and Samuel G., who is the youngest of the family. 

Growing up in his native locality Samuel G. Robin- 
son attended its rural schools, the Fountain Run High 
School and the Tompkinsville High School, com- 
pleting the latter when twenty-four years old. In 
the meanwhile he began teaching school, having charge 
of the one at New Design, Monroe County, and at the 
same time read law in the office of Edwin Lawrence 
at Tompkinsville. In 1915 he passed the state examina- 
tions and was admitted to the bar. Immediately there- 
after he began the practice of his profession, with 
offices in Room 8, Deposit Bank Building. 

In politics he is a republican, but confines his service 
in this respect to supporting his party candidates. The 
Baptist Church holds his membership. He belongs to 
Tompkinsville Camp No. 13476, M. W. A. Mr. Robin- 
son owns a modern residence on Cherry Street, where 
he maintains a comfortable home. As a loyal citizen 
of his country, when it was at war, he took an active 
part in the local war work, specializing on assisting 
the recruited men of Monroe County to fill out their 
questionnaires, and was unremitting in his efforts. He 
also helped to put over all of the drives, making 
speeches in Monroe County in behalf of the Red Cross 
and Liberty Bonds, his eloquence and sincerity result- 
ing in very gratifying returns. 

In 1914 Mr. Robinson was married at Tompkinsville, 
to Miss Mary Woods, a daughter of Andy and Sallie 
(Fisher) Woods, both of whom are deceased. Mr. 
Woods was one of the prosperous farmers of Monroe 
County. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson became the parents 
of the following children : Mildred, who was born 
June 16, 1914; Ammon J., who was born December 16, 
1915; Oline, who was born December 13, 1916; Thelma, 
who was born August 3, 1918; and Lawrence Carter, 
who was born March 29, 1920. In his various cases 
Mr. Robinson has proven that he is a lawyer of broad 
and practical ability, thorough, determined, alert, ver- 
satile and resourceful, and these qualities have given 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



119 



him a substantial standing in the community where 
he has passed all of the years of his professional 
career. 

Benjamin F. Denham is one of the able lawyers of 
Tompkinsville, and also one of its versatile, broad and 
strong citizens, who is recognized as one of the lead- 
ing men of Monroe County. He was born in Clay 
County, Tennessee, January 19, 1862. He was reared 
in this county on a farm. His preliminary educational 
training was received in the rural schools of Monroe 
County, and he later attended the Summer Shade In- 
stitute at Summer Shade, Metcalfe County, Kentucky. 
Still later he was a student of the Monroe Normal 
School at Flippin, Monroe County, Kentucky, leaving 
it when he was twenty-six years old. In the mean- 
while, when twenty-four years old he had begun teach- 
ing school in Monroe County, and for twenty-five years 
remained in the educational field, but the last twelve 
years of this period he was employed as a teachers' 
trainer, and went about the county visiting the various 
schools in order to properly instruct the teachers. A 
man of high ambitions while he was thus engaged, he 
read law, and in 1909 was admitted to the bar, and 
entered into another phase of his career. In 1910 he 
established himself in a general civil and criminal 
practice at Tompkinsville, and has built up very valu- 
able connections. His offices are in Room 5, Deposit 
Bank Building. He owns a modern residence just 
west of the corporate limits of Tompkinsville, where 
he maintains a comfortable home. He is a democrat. 
The Christian Church affords him an expression for 
his religious creed, and he is equally zealous as a 
Mason, maintaining membership with Flippin Lodge 
No. 647, F. & A. M. During the late war he was one 
of the active workers in behalf of the local activities, 
serving as chairman of the Speakers Bureau of Monroe 
County, and rendered very valuable aid in all of the 
drives. He bought bonds and contributed to all of 
the war organizations to the full limit of his re- 
sources. 

In 1894 Mr. Denham was united in marriage with 
Miss Margaret Denham, a distant relative, a daughter 
of Thomas and Jennie (Dalton) Denham, both of 
whom are now deceased. Mr. Denham was a farmer 
of Barren County, Kentucky, but Mr. and Mrs. B. F. 
Denham were married in Monroe County. Their chil- 
dren are as follows : Homer, who was born in 1896, 
served in the Forty-sixth Infantry, Headquarters Com- 
pany during the World war, was stationed first at 
Indianapolis, Indiana, was then transferred to Louis- 
ville, Kentucky, then to Camp Gordon, Georgia, and 
thence to Camp Dix, New Jersey, and was ready to 
sail overseas when the Armistice was signed, and he 
is now at Fort Travis, Texas, having remained in the 
service, and Ethel, who is unmarried, lives at home. 

During the years that he was engaged in teaching 
Mr. Denham won the affection of his pupils and the 
appreciation of their parents, and so successful were 
his methods that they attracted the attention and met 
the approval of the school authorities to such an extent 
that tbey decided to have him impart them to other 
teachers. In the latter capacity Mr. Denham rendered 
such valuable service that all were loath to have him 
resign, and so insistant were they that he continue, that 
he remained in the work for a year after he was quali- 
fied to enter upon the practice of the law. Since be- 
coming an attorney, Mr. Denham has gained a well- 
earned reputation for careful preparation of his cases 
and an earnest attention to detail which have resulted 
in his winning a number of his suits. He has never 
lost his sense of responsibility to the younger genera- 
tion which lives in the heart of every successful edu- 
cator, and is always striving to work for the future 
of those coming after him in his home community. 
Personally he has many enthusiastic friends, who 



appreciate his many excellent qualities and are proud 
of the distinction he has gained. 

Walter William Hillenmeyer is a member of the 
firm H. F. Hillenmeyer & Sons, Nurserymen at Lex- 
ington, a successful and widely patronized business 
that has been conducted by members of the Hillen- 
meyer family in Fayette County for eighty years. Mr. 
Hillenmeyer is a son of H. F. Hillenmeyer, whose 
career as an honored citizen of Fayette County is 
sketched on other pages. 

Walter W. Hillenmeyer was born on his father's 
farm in Fayette County, August 27, i8yi. He was well 
educated, attending private schools in Cincinnati, St. 
Mary's College at Lebanon, Kentucky, and the Ken- 
tucky University. He was nineteen when in 1910 he 
and his brother Louis E. Hillenmeyer took over the 
active management of the nursery business established 
and for many years conducted by their father. Walter 
Hillenmeyer is the office manager while his brother 
Louis is outside superintendent, and together they have 
worked steadily for the enlargement, the better quality 
of stock, and the increasing prestige of this business. 

Mr. Hillenmeyer is a Catholic and in politics in- 
dependent. He is a member of the Lexington Kiwanis 
Club. September 21, 1915, he married Marie C. Reil- 
ing, who was born in Louisville, Kentucky, daughter 
of William D. and Mary (Gerst) Reiling. Her mother 
is still living. Her father was born in Louisville in 
1865 and died July 6, 1897. He was founder of the 
Louisville Girth & Blanket Mills at Louisville, estab- 
lishing that industry when a young man and was also 
secretary and treasurer of the Crystal Springs Dis- 
tillery Company. He was a republican and a member 
of the Lutheran Church. Mrs. Hillenmeyer is the 
oldest of three children. Her brother is Henry B. 
and her sister Adelia is the wife of James A. Means 
of Louisville. Mr. and Mrs. Hillenmeyer have three 
sons, Walter William Jr., Herbert Francis and Henry 
Reiling H. 

Thomas F. Cleaver, M. D., whose residence and 
professional headquarters are maintained at Lebanon, 
the judicial center of Marion County, is in every sense 
one of the representative physicians and surgeons of 
this section of his native state, and such is his ability 
and reputation in his profession that he is frequently 
called into counsel in connection with critical cases in 
several other counties in Central Kentucky, including 
Washington, Taylor, Green and Adair counties. His 
professional prestige and high standing as a citizen 
are specially pleasing to note, in view of the fact that 
as a physician and surgeon he has effectively continued 
the humane service that engaged the attention of his 
honored father in this immediate section of the state 
for a period of more than half a century. Like his 
father, he has maintained a high sense of personal 
and professional stewardship, has never failed to re- 
spond to the call of suffering and distress, no matter 
how inclement the weather, poor the condition of the 
roads to be traversed, often in the night hours, _ or 
how problematical his compensation for services 
rendered. The poor and unfortunate have received 
from him the same kindly and able ministrations, with- 
out question of his reception of a fee, as have those 
of wealth and influence. Under these conditions it 
is needless to say that he has inviolable place in the 
confidence and affectionate regard of the community 
in which he has maintained his home from the time 
of his birth to the present. 

Doctor Cleaver was born at Lebanon, on the 25th of 
November, 1865, and is a son of Dr. William W. and 
Joana (Grundy) Cleaver, the former of whom like- 
wise was a native of Marion County, and the latter 
was born on her father's farm near Bardstown, Nelson 
County. Her father was a brother of Felix B. Grundy, 



Vol. V— 12 



120 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



of Bowling Green, who gained repute as one of the 
foremost criminal lawyers of Kentucky, his apprecia- 
tion of professional ethics being such that he would 
never consent to appear as counsel for the defense of 
any accused person until he was convinced that that 
person was innocent. His sole aim was to make the 
law the conservator of justice. 

Dr. William W. Cleaver was reared on his father's 
farm and received the advantages of the common 
schools of Marion County. At the age of nineteen 
years he began reading medicine in the office and under 
the preceptorship of the late Dr. John Mike Shuck, of 
Lebanon, and later he entered the medical school of 
the Louisville University, in which institution he was 
graduated as a member of the class of 1854. He was 
continuously engaged in practice at Lebanon for fifty- 
seven years, save for the period of his service to the 
Confederacy in the Civil war. He became a surgeon 
in the command of General John Morgan, the cele- 
brated raider, was captured by the enemy and was 
thereafter held a prisoner at Fort Delaware until the 
close of the war, when he was paroled. He was thus 
a prisoner of war at the time of the birth of his son 
Thomas F., subject of this review. After the war 
he continued in the active and successful practice of 
his profession at Lebanon until his death, July 4, 191 1, 
at the venerable age of eighty-four years. No man in 
this section of Kentucky held more secure vantage- 
place in popular confidence and esteem, and his ability 
in his profession led to his being called into counsel 
at frequent intervals in several counties adjacent to 
or near that in which he maintained his home. He 
kept in close touch with the advances made in medical 
and surgical science, was affiliated with leading pro- 
fessional organizations, including the American Medi- 
cal Association, and was influential in community af- 
fairs. He represented Marion County in the State 
Legislature during one term, in 1889, and served sev- 
eral years as mayor of Lebanon. His wife was 
seventy-nine years of age at the time of her death. He 
was a staunch advocate of the principles of the demo- 
cratic party, was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity 
of Lebanon, Kentucky, and he and his wife held mem- 
bership in the Presbyterian Church. Of the children 
the first born was James F., who became a skilled 
physician and surgeon and who was engaged in active 
practice at Lebanon at the time of his death, about 
thirty-five years ago. George H. died in the City of 
New Orleans as a victim of the yellow fever epidemic 
of 1890, he having been the owner of a plantation in 
Louisiana. Esther, the eldest daughter, became the 
wife of Dr. Archie Rose, who thereafter was engaged 
in practice at Lebanon about five years, at the expira- 
tion of which he established his home at Vernal, Utah, 
where he continued in the work of his profession until 
his death, in April, 1919, and where his widow still 
resides. Willie, the second daughter, is the wife of 
Rev. George A. Blair, a clergyman of the Presbyterian 
Church, and they now reside at Santa Barbara, Cali- 
fornia, where Rev. Blair holds a pastoral charge. 
Lucy H., who died when thirty-six years of age was 
the wife of George W. McElroy, a prominent farmer 
and stock-grower of Marion County, who resides at 
Lebanon. Mrs. McElroy showed exceptional literary 
talent and was the author of several novels that have 
had extended circulation, including 'Answered," and 
"Juliette and Mary." Mr. and Mrs. McElroy became 
the parents of four sons and two daughters. Dr. 
Thomas F. Cleaver, of this review, was the next in 
order of birth. David Irvine, the youngest of the 
children, died at the age of six months. 

After completing the curriculum of the public 
schools of Lebanon and having received preliminary 
instruction in the office of his father, Dr. Thomas F. 
Cleaver entered the medical department of the Uni- 
versity of Louisville, and from this institution, his 
father's alma mater, he received his degree of Doctor 



of Medicine in 1887. He was graduated with the hon- 
ors of his class, and upon him was conferred the Yan- 
dell medal. During his three years in the medical 
school he never missed a lecture and was never late 
in appearing in the lecture room. From the time of 
his graduation to the present he has been actively en- 
gaged in general practice at Lebanon, where he has 
not only upheld the paternal prestige of the family 
name in this exacting profession but has also added 
materially to the honors of the name which he bears — 
both as a skilled physician and surgeon and as a loyal, 
liberal and progressive citizen. His practice extends 
throughout the county, and in its scope and character 
attests the high estimate placed upon him as a physician 
and as a man. The Doctor has never deviated from 
the line of strict allegiance to the cause of the republi- 
can party, but has subordinated all else to the demands 
of his profession and has had neither time nor inclina- 
tion for public office. During the late World war he 
did all in his power to uphold the Government in its 
war activities, and was a member of the medical ad- 
visory board for the counties of Marion, Washington, 
Adair, Taylor and Green. Many of the meetings of 
this important board were held in his offices and here 
examinations were made of those called into the na- 
tion's military or naval service from the counties 
of the Presbyterian Church in their home city, and 
he is affiliated with the American Medical Association, 
the Kentucky State Medical Society and the Marion 
County Medical Society. 

The year 1898 recorded the marriage of Doctor 
Cleaver to Miss Mamie A. Nutting, of Indianapolis, 
Indiana, she being a representative of an old and in- 
fluential family of the Hoosier State. Since her mar- 
riage Mrs. Cleaver has invented the Cleaver Horse 
Blanket, and of these remarkably superior blankets 
the sales had reached an aggregate of $20,000 before 
Mrs. Cleaver had obtained her patent on the invention. 
She is also a chicken fancier and grower, and has 
devised and placed on the market a valuable poultry 
remedy, known as "Stopsit," the sale of which has 
been large and is constantly expanding. The remedy 
is now sold to poultry raisers in many different states 
of the Union. She is the inventor, manufacturer and 
sole sales agent for this remedy. During the nation's 
participation in the World war, Mrs. Cleaver was tire- 
less in her loyal service in support of the Government's 
war activities. She was the executive head of the 
Victor Loan Committee of Marion County, was zealous 
in Red Cross work, and by Herbert Hoover, head of 
food conservation service, she was made the chairman 
of the committee in charge of this service in Marion 
County. Under her vigorous direction the women of 
Marion County gained for the third Government war 
loan subscriptions considerably in advance of the as- 
signed quota for the county. Mrs. Cleaver was also 
chairman of the National Defense Committee for 
Marion County. In church work she has been most 
zealous and influential, and for some time held the 
position of state secretary of the home-mission work 
of the Presbyterian Church in Kentucky. She has 
been a leader in movements for civic betterment and 
also in the representative social life of her home com- 
munity. She was chairman of the Woman's Republi- 
can Club of Marion County in the campaign of 1920, 
and in her home city she has organized two literary 
clubs — the Thoreau Club, in 1895, and the Monday 
Study Club, in 1915. Dr. and Mrs. Cleaver have no 
children. 

Hon. Andrew Comer Pinckley. When it is taken 
into consideration that the great majority of people 
never rise above the ordinary, but live out their lives 
in obscurity and, dying, are forgotten, all the more 
credit should be accorded those who have demon- 
strated the worth of individual endeavor, discharged 
the duties of high office with conscientious fidelity and 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



121 



enriched the community in which they have lived. In 
this connection, mention is made of the career of Hon. 
Andrew Comer Pinckley, County Judge of Monroe 
County, and an individual who, as agriculturist, citizen 
and guardian of a public trust, has been true to his 
own principles and to the faith reposed in him. 

Judge Pinckley was born in Macon County, Tennes- 
see, August IS, 1863, a son of John F. and Ann 
(Crawford) Pinckley, and belongs to a family which 
originated in England and was founded in this country 
in North Carolina, prior to the Revolutionary war, 
Judge Pinckley's great-grandfather being the immigrant. 
Silas Pinckley, the grandfather of Judge Pinckley, was 
born in Tennessee, where he followed farming and 
served as County Clerk of Macon County for a number 
of years, in later life going to Denton, Texas, where 
he likewise was engaged in agricultural operations. 
He died while on a visit to Carroll County, Tennessee, 
in 1871. Silas Pinckley married a Miss Comer, who 
passed her entire life in her native state of Tennessee. 

John F. Pinckley was born in 181 8, in Macon 
County, Tennessee, where he was reared, educated and 
married. After being engaged in farming there, he 
went to Texas and followed the pursuits of the soil, 
but returned to Macon County, and in 1879 came to 
Monroe County, Kentucky, where he rounded out his 
industrious and honorable career as a farmer and died 
in 1899. He was a republican in his political allegiance 
and was a strong churchman of the Christian faith. 
Mr. Pinckley married Ann Crawford, who was born 
in 1822, near Gamaliel, Monroe County, and died in 
Macon County, Tennessee, in 1868, and they became 
the parents of the following children : Mary Jane, who 
died at the age of forty-six years, as the wife of W. T. 
J. Rhodes, now a farmer of Gamaliel ; Elizabeth Ann, 
who died at Salt Lick, Tennessee, as the wife of Elias 
McDonald, now deceased, who was a farmer of that 
locality; Susan, who died aged forty years, as the wife 
of William Harlin, a farmer of Macon County, Tennes- 
see; Sarah, the wife of John C. Pedigo, a farmer of 
Spivy, Macon County; Samuel, who died at the age 
of twenty-three years ; Martha, who died as the wife 
of the late James S. Jones, a farmer of Flippin, Mon- 
roe County, Kentucky; Frances, who died at the age 
of seventeen years ; Haskell, who died when twenty- 
five years of age ; Tipton, who died aged forty-seven 
years, as a farmer of the Flippin community; Annis, 
residing on her farm near Cave City, Barren County, 
Kentucky, the widow of the late J. B. Johnson, a 
farmer of that community; Judge Andrew Comer, of 
this record; and Thomas A., a farmer near Sellers- 
burg, Indiana. John F. Pinckley married for his sec- 
ond wife Miss Mary E. Jones, who was born at 
Turkeyneck Bend, Monroe County, Kentucky, and 
died in Macon County, Tennessee, and they had two 
children : David J., who is engaged in farming in 
California ; and Maggie, who died at Flippin, Ken- 
tucky, aged thirty-five, as the wife of Robert Howard, 
now a farmer at Fountain Run, Monroe County. 

Andrew Comer Pinckley was educated in the rural 
schools of Macon County, Tennessee, and Monroe 
County, Kentucky, and the normal academy at Flippin, 
and at the age of twenty years became a teacher in 
the Monroe County rural schools. After seven years 
of work as an educator he took up farming, in which 
he was engaged uninterruptedly until January, ioiS, 
when he assumed the duties of County Judge of Mon- 
roe County, an office to which he had been elected the 
preceding November. His term continues until Janu- 
ary, 1922. Judge Pinckley has an excellent record on 
the bench, and the manner in which he has discharged 
the responsibilities of his mportant office has gained 
him general confidence. His offices are in the Court 
House at Tompkinsville. Judge Pinckley still owns 
his valuable farm of 326 acres, situated at Flippin, but 
resides in his own comfortable home on Third Street, 
Tompkinsville. Politically he is a republican, but has 



never allowed his political opinions to influence his 
judicial decisions. He is a member of the Christian 
Church, and while farming in the vicinity of Gamaliel 
served as elder. Judge Pinckley was active in all war 
movements during the recent great conflict, and was 
secretary of the Monroe County Chapter of the Ameri- 
can Red Cross, in addition to which he contributed 
much of his time in assisting the recruited men of the 
county to fill out their questionnaires. He likewise was 
a generous contributor to all movements, and took a 
personal part in assisting to put over the big drives. 

Judge Pinckley was married in 1884, at Flippin, to 
Miss Lettie Belle Denham, daughter of Isaac and 
Amanda (Button) Denham, farming people of Monroe 
County, both of whom are now deceased. To this 
union there have been born the following children: 
Jennie, unmarried, a teacher in the public schools of 
Monroe County, who resides with her parents ; May, 
who died at the age of thirteen months ; Bessie, the 
wife of C. J. Hicks, a farmer of Austin, Barren 
County; Dora, twin of Bessie, who died at the age of 
six months ; Fred, who served in the United States 
Navy from July, 1918, to February, 1919, and is now 
engaged in assisting his father in the operation of the 
home farm, married Hattie Ross of Monroe County, 
Kentucky; W. Henry, who volunteered for limited 
service during the World war, was stationed in the 
state of Washington, taught school in Monroe County 
before entering the war, but now assists in the opera- 
tion of his father's farm, married Mae Bratton of 
Monroe County, Kentucky; Annie, a student of the 
Western Kentucky State Normal School at Bowling 
Green, and a teacher in the rural schools of Monroe 
County; and Guy, who was a student of the Kentucky 
State University, at Lexington, is now attending the 
Louisville Medical College. 

Alexander B. Thompson. Strength of purpose, in- 
telligently directed, results in almost every case in 
material advancement. The man who fluctuates from 
one line of endeavor to another seldom achieves last- 
ing or worth while success. It is the individual who, 
knowing well what he desires to accomplish, forges 
ahead, undeterred by obstacles, undismayed by the 
chances and changes of life, who reaches his ultimate 
goal. The entire life of Alexander B. Thompson has 
been devoted to the vocation of the educator, and in 
his career he has made marked progress. While his 
connection with his calling does not cover many years, 
he has forged steadily onward, and at present is Super- 
intendent of Schools of the City of Edmonton. 

Mr. Thompson was born at Evansville, Indiana, 
October 23, 1875, a son of Rev. Shadrach F. and Sallie 
(Veech) Thompson. The Thompson family originated 
in England, whence it came to America during colonial 
times, the pioneers of this branch of the family locat- 
ing in North Carolina. In that state at Mount Airy 
was born Alexander B. Thompson's grandfather, 
Isaac Thompson, who passed his entire career in the 
locality of his birth and was a large planter and slave 
owner. He married a Miss Cleveland, who was also 
born and passed her life at Mount Airy, and they were 
the parents of four sons and four daughters, all of 
whom are now deceased. 

Shadrach F. Thompson was born at Mount Airy, 
North Carolina, in 1830, and was reared in his native 
community, where he made his home until reaching the 
age of twenty years. At that time he entered George- 
town (Kentucky) College, from which he was duly 
graduated in 1853, with the degree of Bachelor of 
Arts, and in 1855 was granted the degree of Master 
of Arts by the same institution. At that time he 
became pastor of the Baptist Church at Shelbyville, 
Kentucky, where he remained for ten years, and was 
then made secretary of state missions of the Baptist 
Church, with headquarters at Louisville, where he re- 
sided until 1874. In that year he was transferred to 



122 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



Evansville, Indiana, as pastor of the First Baptist 
Church, and continued during that and the two follow- 
ing years, his next charge being Anderson, Indiana, 
where he remained two years. For one year there- 
after he filled the pulpit at Ghent, Kentucky, and for 
a like period was stationed at Warsaw, this state. 
Going then to Louisville, he spent two years as a 
student at the Baptist Seminary, and in 1883 went to 
Elizabethtown, Kentucky, as pastor of the Baptist 
Church, remaining until 1884. For two years there- 
after lie was located at Nicholasville, Kentucky, as 
pastor, and then went to Shelby County, where he re- 
mained, preaching and operating his farm, until 1892. 
Mr. Thompson then went to the state of Missouri, 
where he preached for two years, after which he re- 
turned to Louisville, and from that time until his death 
in 1907, lived a practically retired life. He was a 
democrat in his political views, but never sought office. 
During the Mexican war he enlisted in the United 
States Army, but the officers, considering him too 
young, would not permit of his being sent to Mexico. 
Shadrach F. Thompson married for his first wife Miss 
Sallie Veech, who was born in Shelby County, and 
died there in 1884. Her grandfather, George Veech, 
was born at Cork, Ireland, and was the immigrant of 
the family to the United States, becoming a pioneer 
at Shelby County. Kentucky, where he established the 
old Veech homestead near Finchville. There he 
carried on agricultural operations during the remainder 
of his life, and died on his farm. He married a Miss 
Faulkner, also a native of Ireland, from which country 
they came shortly after their union. Among their 
children was A. B. Veech, the maternal grandfather of 
Mr. Thompson, who was born in Shelby .County and 
passed his entire life in the Finchville community. He 
was an extensive operator, being the proprietor of 
1,000 acres of land, and at his death, in 1884, was 
accounted one of the wealthy men of his locality. He 
married a Miss Stephens, who was born and passed her 
whole life in Shelby County. To Shadrach F. and 
Sallie (Veech) Thompson there were born the fol- 
lowing children: Martha, who died at Louisville, aged 
forty-five years, as the wife of M. T. Sherman, a 
bookkeeper ; Mary, who died at the age of twenty 
years; Inis, who died at Louisville, at the age of forty- 
eight years, as the wife of L. E. Maurer, a stationary 
engineer of Lexington, Kentucky ; Effie, the wife of 
J. S. Harris, engaged in the insurance business at 
Houston, Texas ; August and Emmett, both of whom 
died young; Frances, who is a teacher in the public 
schools of Louisville; and Olive, the wife of William 
Locke, a banker of Houston, Texas. Shadrach F. 
Thompson, after the death of his first wife, married 
Miss Bettie Powers, who was born in Shelby County. 
Kentucky, in 1855, and they became the parents of 
three children : Walter, a veteran of the World war, 
who is a member of the United States Regular Army, 
and is stationed at Fort Snelling, Minnesota; Ruth, 
who is unmarried and a teacher in the public schools 
of Louisville; and Frankie, who died young. 

Alexander B. Thompson received his early education 
in the public schools of Kentucky, and in 1892 gradu- 
ated from the McCune High School, Louisiana, Mis- 
souri. In 1897 he entered Georgetown College, but 
his career was interrupted by the Spanish-American 
war, for service in which he enlisted in July, 1898, and 
was sent to Porto Rico, where he was assigned to 
the Quartermaster's Department. Upon his return, 
he was mustered out of the service in December, 1898, 
and again entered Georgetown College, from which he 
was graduated with the class of 1902, receiving the de- 
gree of Bachelor of Arts. Mr. Thompson next entered 
the Southern Baptist Seminary, and was graduated 
therefrom in 1907, receiving the degree of Bachelor of 
Theology, and at that time was elected principal of the 
Hazard Baptist Institute, a position which he retained 
one year. He then became teacher of mathematics in 



the Rhandal University School, Hernando, Mississippi, 
and remained two years, and in 1910 came to Edmon- 
ton as Superintendent of City Schools, a position which 
he still retains. He has effected many changes in the 
educational system here and has succeeded in elevat- 
ing standards to a considerable extent. Under his 
supervision are five teachers and 100 pupils, and Mr. 
Thompson is popular with instructors and students 
alike. He is a member of the Kentucky Educational 
Association. 

In politics Mr. Thompson is a democrat. His re- 
ligious connection is with the Baptist Church, in which 
he is serving as superintendent of the Sunday school. 
He has always been a supporter of worthy movements, 
and this was particularly evident during the World 
war, when he was a helpful worker in all the drives 
and a generous contributor thereto, in addition to 
which he was chief registrar for the recruited men of 
Metcalfe County during the first registration, and 
chairman of the Victory (fifth) Loan drive, and spent 
much time in making speeches throughout the county 
in behalf of the various movements. Mr. Thompson 
is not married. 

James Tudor. While some men achieve success 
along certain lines and in certain professions because 
of sheer industry, intense application and concentra- 
tion, and a long period of training, there are those who 
are born to them, their natural leanings and marked 
talents pointing unmistakably to the career in which 
they subsequently attain distinction. With some, the 
call of commerce cannot be denied, to others the 
science of healing appeals, the political arena engages 
many, while still others early see in their visions of 
the future achievement in the law as the summit of 
their ambition. To respond to this call, to bend every 
energy in this direction, to broaden and deepen every 
possibly highway of knowledge and to finally enter 
upon this chosen career and find its reward worth 
while, such has been the experience of James Tudor, 
County Attorney of Metcalfe County, residing at Ed- 
monton. 

Mr. Tudor was born on a farm near Knob Lick, 
Metcalfe County, Kentucky, January 23, 1882, a son 
of P. P. and Alice (Terry) Tudor, and a member of 
a family which originated in England and was founded 
in America in colonial times, the early members of this 
family locating in Virginia. In that state was born 
the great-grandfather of James Tudor, Henry Tudor, 
who became a pioneer planter and slaveholder of Met- 
calfe County, to which community he came shortly 
after his marriage, and died at Slimmer Shade. Among 
his children was Joseph M. Tudor, the grandfather, 
who was born in 1831, at Summer Shade, Kentucky, 
and in 1870 removed to Knob Lick, where he engaged 
in farming and became one of the substantial men of 
his community- Late in life he retired from active 
pursuits and went to Alvord, Texas, where his death 
occurred in 1915. He married Eliza Huffman, who 
was born in 1836 near Knob Lick, and died in the same 
community in 1891. 

P. P. Tudor, now a resident of Knob Lick, was born 
March 16, 1855, at Summer Shade, and has been a life- 
long agriculturist, having owned and operated his 
present Knob Lick farm for more than thirty years. 
He is a republican in his political allegiance, and is an 
active supporter of the Cumberland Presbyterian 
Church. Mr. Tudor married Alice Terry, who was 
born October 6, 1856, near Edmonton, and to this union 
there have been born twelve children : Dan, a carpenter 
and builder of Louisville; James, of this record; Kate, 
the wife of Ed Reynolds, a farmer and live stock 
trader near Elizabethtown, Kentucky; Lou Ellen, the 
wife of Hardin Rennick, a farmer and live stock 
trader of Hardyville, Hart County ; Elzie, who is un- 
married and resides with his parents; Leslie P., who is 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



123 



engaged in farming near Milf ord, Illinois ; Willie, 
who is engaged in farming at Sonora, Hardin County ; 
Lucy, the wife of Willie Lee Ball, a hardware and 
grocery merchant of Horse Cave, Kentucky; Lizzie, 
the wife of J. L. Steele, a merchant of Knob Lick; 
Mary Alma, the wife of Joe Lockett, a farmer of Park, 
Metcalfe County; Irene, who is unmarried and re- 
sides with her parents ; and Hazel Vern, who is also 
unmarried and living at home. 

James Tudor received his preliminary educational 
training in the rural schools of Metcalfe County, fol- 
lowing which he attended the normal school at Summer 
Shade for one term. Later he spent two years at the 
Western Kentucky State Normal School at Bowling 
Green, which he left in igu. In the meantime, at 
the age of twenty-four years, he had commenced teach- 
ing in the rural schools of Metcalfe County, and for 
ten years followed the work of an educator. In 1913 
he began to apply himself to the study of law, and in 
1915 was admitted to the bar. He began practice at 
Edmonton while still engaged in teaching school, but 
after a short time had built up a sufficiently remunera- 
tive practice to allow him to give all of his attention 
thereto, and this has now grown to large proportions. 
He follows a general civil and criminal practice, and 
is generally acknowledged as one of the reliable and 
forceful members of the Metcalfe County bar, his 
progress in his profession indicating that he has the 
qualities necessary for the attainment of a worth while 
success. A republican in politics, Mr. Tudor was ap- 
pointed Deputy County Clerk in 1912 and occupied 
that office until 1916. In November, 1917, he was the 
candidate of his party for County Attorney, and, being 
elected, took office in January, 1918, for a term of four 
years. In Nov. 8, 1921 Mr. Tudor was re-elected 
County Attorney. His offices are situated in the Court 
House. Mr. Tudor has an excellent record for con- 
scientious public service and has gained the confidence 
of the people of his community. He is fraternally af- 
filiated with Bragg Camp, Modern Woodmen of Amer- 
ica, at Edmonton, in which he has numerous friends. 
Reared in the faith of the Cumberland Presbyterian 
Church, he has retained that belief all of his life. He is 
the owner of a farm of sixty acres, in Metcalfe County, 
but applies himself strictly to the duties of his office 
and the responsibilities of his profession. During the 
World war, Mr. Tudor subscribed liberally to all move- 
ments and served in the Red Cross and Liberty Loan 
drives in his county. He is unmarried. 

Willis Staton, senior member of the law firm of 
Staton & Stump of Pikeville, has been for some time 
one of the leaders of the bar of Pike County, and is a 
man learned in his profession, and well-informed on 
general topics. Successful as have been his professional 
labors, they have not absorbed his energies to the exclu- 
sion of the general interests of the community. Being 
a man of scholarly attainments and broad culture, he 
has been especially interested in politics, and, although 
not belonging to the party now in the majority in this 
region, has received such a whole-hearted support in 
his candidacy for several offices for which he has 
come before the public, as to demonstrate his personal 
popularity, and to prove his standing among his fellow 
citizens. 

Willis Staton was born on the same place as his father, 
at Canada, Pike County, Kentucky, May 29, 1875. He 
is a son of Joseph and Matilda (Scott) Staton, the 
former of whom was born November 26, 1854. The 
latter was born at Gulnare, Pike County, January 21, 
1851. Joseph Staton was a son of Richard Staton, who 
was born on Pond Creek, Pike County, a son of Charles 
Staton. Charles Staton was born in Logan County, 
Virginia, now Mingo County, West Virginia, and there 
he was married. He came to Pike County and located 
on Pond Creek, Pike County, and here his son, grand- 
son and great-grandson were born, and here Joseph 



Staton still resides. The Statons have long been farm- 
ers as a general rule, although there have been some 
exceptions. Joseph Staton was for many years one of 
Pike County's popular educators, and his brother, 
J. M. Staton was county surveyor, being elected to that 
office just after he had attained his majority. Later 
he was deputy county clerk of Pike County. The mem- 
bers of the family have always been democrats, but 
have usually confined their participation in politics to 
giving the candidates and principles of their party an 
earnest support. Joseph Staton and his wife became 
the parents of ten children, namely : Willis, who is the 
eldest; Willard, who resides on the homestead; Ballard, 
who lives at Canada, Pike County ; Ora, who is the 
wife of a Mr. Tolbert West of Canada, Pike County; 
Ella, who is the wife of James A. Maynard, a farmer 
of Canada, Kentucky ; James M., Junior, who is super- 
intendent of the mine near Warfield, Martin County, 
Kentucky ; Roland T., who is on the homestead ; Grover 
and Cleveland, twins, the former of whom is on the 
homestead, the latter having died at the age of nineteen 
years ; and Malinda, who died in childhood. 

Willis Staton attended the home schools, and later 
those of Pikeville, in the former being under his father's 
instruction, and in the latter had Professor Kendrick 
for his preceptor. Completing his courses in the Pike- 
ville schools in 1889, he taught school for two years in 
Logan County, West Virginia, and in Pike County. 
Having determined to fit himself for the legal profession 
he saved every penny he could, and paid his own way 
through a law school of Louisville, Kentucky, where 
he spent three years, being graduated therefrom in 1894. 
In spite of his university training Mr. Staton feels that 
the best and most lasting instruction he received was 
that acquired by attending a debating society which 
met during a number of years each month, and which 
became noted all over that part of the state for its 
debates. 

After his graduation Mr. Staton in order to gain a 
knowledge first hand of men and affairs, traveled out 
of Louisville as a salesman, but in 1896 formed a 
partnership with A. E. Hyde, which lasted for only 
a short period. Later he and George Pinson, Junior 
went into partnership, and continued their connection for 
seven years. Once more he practiced alone, and then 
he and O. A. Stump formed their present partnership 
of Staton & Stump. They are carrying on a general 
practice, and are very successful. Mr. Staton's great 
personal popularity was evidenced when he was the 
candidate on the democratic ticket for the office of 
county attorney, when he was only defeated by sixty- 
four votes in a county which has a republican majority 
of over 1,200. In 1917 he was the democratic candidate 
for Congress in the Tenth Congressional District of 
Kentucky, which is also overwhelmingly republican, and 
he cut down the majority very considerably. 

On November 10, 1910, Mr. Staton was married to 
Josephine Newberry Crum, a daughter of Tivis New- 
berry of Martin County. Mr. and Mrs. Staton are 
members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South. 
He is an Odd Fellow. 

Elmer D. Stephenson, member of the strong law 
firm of Stratton & Stephenson is at once a fine pro- 
duct and worthy representative of the best forces that 
have made Kentucky what it is. Born of one of the 
old and honored families of the state, he grew to man- 
hood's estate amid ideal home conditions and has a 
strong hold upon the people of Pikeville. He is ad- 
mired for his manly conduct, his ripened judgment, 
mental vigor and intimate knowledge of the law and 
its application to everyday life, especially in those 
matters which pertain to civic cases. His ability as a 
lawyer is unquestioned and his character as a man is 
unblemished. Such a man reflects credit upon his pro- 
fession and community, and sets an example others 
will do well to follow. 

Mr. Stephenson is a native son of Kentucky, born 



124 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



in Greenup County, December 30, 1877, but he springs 
from the Old Dominion, for his father, Robert J. 
Stephenson was born in Tazewell County, Virginia, 
from whence, in 1869, he moved to Greenup County, 
Kentucky, and there met and married Mildred Thomp- 
son, a native of the latter county. Here they have 
since resided, his activities being directed toward farm- 
ing, which calling has been followed by the majority 
of his family. When war broke out between the North 
and the South, his grandfather, John M. Stevenson, then 
past the half -century milestone, and nine brothers volun- 
teered and served in the Confederate army and par- 
ticipated in many of the most important engagements of 
the war. After the close of the war the survivors of the 
Stephenson family returned home and resumed their 
peaceful occupations. Robert J. Stephenson has been a 
man of note in Greenup County, serving for many years 
as a justice of the peace, and from 1892 to 1895 was 
county commissioner. Both he and his wife are con- 
sistent members of the Christian Church. Politically he 
has always worked for and with the democratic party. 
The Thompson family came to Greenup County, Ken- 
tucky, from Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, settling 
opposite to Portsmouth, Ohio, in 1781, but later re- 
moved to land on the old State Road where Elmer D. 
Stephenson was later born. There were six children 
in the family of Robert J. Stephenson and his wife, 
namely: Elmer D., who is the eldest; James C, who 
recently retired from the navy as a gunner after six- 
teen years in the service, the latter portion of that 
period being in the World war on a submarine chaser 
in the North Sea, around the Irish Coast, and in the 
English Channel, and also in the transport service, and 
he is now living at Los Angeles, California; Dr. J. \V., 
who is a practicing physician at Ashland, Kentucky, 
was stationed at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, with the 
rank of lieutenant-colonel, during the World war, where 
he did his full duty as a member of the medical brancli 
of the service until his honorable discharge in Decem- 
ber, 1918; Emma and Ethel, who are at home; and 
Pauline, who is the wife of Lorenzo Austin, lives at 
South Portsmouth, Greenup County, Kentucky. The 
two elder sons and the eldest daughter, have all taught 
school. 

Elmer D. Stephenson attended the district schools 
of his home locality, and later those of Greenup. He 
then, during 1898-9 attended the Kentucky State Uni- 
versity at Lexington, Kentucky, and in 1900 became a 
student of the University at Lebanon, Ohio. When 
only eighteen years old he began teaching school and 
was connected with five different schools during the 
time he was acquiring his collegiate training. Return- 
ing to Greenup, he read law and was admitted to the 
bar at Greenup, in 1902, and in 1904 came to Pikeville, 
where he was engaged in practice alone until 1910 when 
he formed his present partnership with P. B. Stratton. 
This is one of the strongest legal firms in this part of 
Kentucky, and, while carrying on a general practice, 
specialize in civil cases. 

On December 12, 1915, Mr. Stephenson was united 
in marriage with Emabel Bennett, a daughter of J. B. 
Bennett of Greenup. They have two sons, namely : 
James Bennett and Joseph Elmer. Mr. and Mrs. 
Stephenson are members of the Christian Church. A 
Mason, Mr. Stephenson belongs to the Commandery 
and Mystic Shrine at Ashland, Kentucky. In politics 
he follows in his father's footsteps, and is a democrat. 
During the World war Mr. Stephenson took a very 
active part in the local war work, and his firm was 
also zealous in promoting the cause in every way 
possible. Mr. Stephenson's is a genial personality. 
Home, friends, the public weal, good government, the 
larger interests of humanity, education, charity, mor- 
ality, religion, all these find a generous welcome in his 
heart and life. 



Marvin Davidson Beard. The family bearing the 
name of Beard has played a very important part in 
the development of Breckinridge County, and one of 
its present representatives at Hardinsburg, Marvin 
Davidson Beard, is sustaining the high reputation 
earned by his father, and operating extensively as a 
merchant and banker. He was born at Hardinsburg, 
September 25, 1876, a son of Benjamin Franklin and 
Margaret James (Hensley) Beard, the former of 
whom was born in Virginia, and when still a very 
small boy was brought to Breckinridge County by his 
parents. They died when he was about ten years old 
and he was bound out to Morris Hensley, who in after 
years became his father-in-law. 

Growing up at Hardinsburg, Benjamin Franklin 
Beard learned the tailoring trade with Mr. Hensley, 
but when he reached his majority, because of, ill health, 
decided to join in the westward rush to the coast after 
the discovery of gold in California, and was one of the 
original forty-niners. He drove with a couple of ox 
teams from Kentucky to California, and was one of a 
party that went from Breckinridge County on the long 
and dangerous trip across country. After some twelve 
or fourteen years in California, he decided to visit his 
old home, and returned to Hardinsburg by way of the 
Isthmus of Panama and Gulf of Mexico, purposing 
to return to California, but marrying, he decided to 
settle permanently at Hardinsburg. At first he was in 
a drug business, but later expanded his business to 
include the handling of a general line of merchandise, 
and this store founded by him, is now operated by his 
son, Marvin Davidson Beard. This large concern is 
operated under the name of B. F. Beard & Company. 
He was the organizer of the Bank of Hardinsburg, 
now the Bank of Hardinsburg & Trust Company, the 
name being changed when, a trust department was 
added, and continued as its president until his death. 
His son, Marvin Davidson Beard succeeded him in 
the presidency of this bank. For some years another 
son, Morris Hensley Beard, was cashier of the bank, 
but he died in October, 1913. The father died March 
19, 1915, being then eighty-seven years old. In early 
life he was a democrat, but later on voted independent- 
ly of party ties. He was a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, South, and served for years as su- 
perintendent of its Sunday school. Beginning his 
struggle with the world, a poor man, he rose through 
his own efforts to be one of the leading factors in the 
business life of his community, and when he died he 
left a large estate. He and his wife had the following 
children : Margaret, Morris Hensley, Charles L., Percy 
M., Gertrude, Daisy, Marvin D., and Bessie. The 
mother died in the spring of 1880. She was of the 
same church faith as her husband, and was an active 
worker in her church. 

Growing up in his native city, Marvin Davidson 
Beard was given an excellent education, attending first 
the public schools of Hardinsburg, later in the Van- 
derbilt Training School at Elkton, Kentucky, and com- 
pleted his studies at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, 
Tennessee. His mercantile training was secured in 
his father's store, and he and his brother, P. M. Beard, 
succeeded to the business, but since 1905, he has been 
the sole proprietor. In 1913 in a disasterous fire which 
destroyed the entire block, the store of B. F. Beard & 
Company was burned, but Mr. Beard immediately re- 
built, erecting the present handsome brick structure 
his business occupies. This is one of the largest mer- 
cantile establishments in this part of Kentucky, and 
none is more reliable. 

Mr. Beard was married April 5, 1900, to Annie M. 
De Jarnette, who died September 19, 1914, leaving two 
children, namely: Marvin D., Junior, and Ralph M. 
There were two other children who died before their 
mother passed away. On June 23, 191 7, Mr. Beard was 
married second to Miss Eleanor Robertson of Louis- 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



125 



vilie, Kentucky. Mr. Beard is a member of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal Church, South. In politics he is a demo- 
crat, but he is not a partisan. His value to his com- 
munity is appreciated and he ranks among the leading 
men of Breckinridge County both from a business and 
personal standpoint. 

Nathaniel W. Miller, who maintains his residence 
and business headquarters at Campbellsville, judicial 
center of Taylor County, is one of the leading ex- 
ponents of the real estate and insurance business in 
this county and through his operations has done much 
to advance civic and material progress in his home city 
and county. 

Mr. Miller was born at Brandenberg, Meade County, 
Kentucky, on the loth of December, i860. His father, 
W. K. Miller, was born near Strasburg, in the beauti- 
ful Shenandoah valley of Virginia, in 1836, and died 
at Lebanon, Kentucky, in 1909. The parents of W. K. 
Miller removed from Virginia to Harrison County, 
Indiana, about the year 1849, and he was reared to 
maturity in the Hoosier state, where he became a pros- 
perous farmer and where was solemnized his marriage 
to Miss Rebecca Baltis, who was born in that state, in 
1836, and whose death occurred at Boston, Kentucky, 
in 1908. About the year 1857 W. K. Miller established 
his residence on a farm near Brandenberg, Kentucky, 
and there he continued as one of the representative 
agriculturists and citizens of Meade County until I9°7, 
when he established his home at Lebanon, where his 
death occurred about two years later. He carried on 
farm enterprise on a large scale and in connection 
therewith achieved substantial success. His political 
allegiance was given to the democratc party and both 
he and his wife were zealous members of the Baptist 
Church. Of their children the eldest was Melvina, who 
became the wife of Bufford Watson, who was a farmer 
near Mauckport, Harrison County, Indiana, and there 
her death occurred when she was sixty years of age, 
her husband likewise having died in that section of 
Harrison County ; Edward is a blacksmith and general 
mechanic at Brandenberg, Kentucky; Lizzie, who died 
at the age of fifty years, at Mauckport, Indiana, was 
the wife of Hugh Trotter, who there became a suc- 
cessful buyer and shipper of potatoes and who sur- 
vived his wife by several years; William is a prosper- 
ous farmer in the state of Oklahoma; Sallie is a resi- 
dent of Indianapolis, Indiana, and is the widow of 
Oscar Enlow, who has been a successful farmer near 
Jeffersonville, that state. Nathaniel W., of this re- 
view, was the next in order of birth ; Emmett was in 
the employ of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad 
Company at the time of his death, at Springfield 
Tennessee, when he was forty-five years of age ; Chris- 
tina, who resides near Mauckport, Indiana, is the 
widow of Lyman Fleshman, a druggist. 

Eli Miller, grandfather of Nathaniel W. of this 
sketch, was born and reared near Strasburg, Virginia, 
and became a pioneer settler in both Kentucky and 
Indiana, his death having occurred in the latter state, 
near Mauckport. He was a cabinetmaker by trade and 
followed this vocation after his removal to Indiana. 
His wife, whose maiden name was Chandler, like- 
wise was born near Strasburg, Virginia, and she died 
near Mauckport, Indiana. It is a matter of family 
record that the founder of the Miller family in 
America came from England with the colony founded 
by William Penn, and this indicates that earlier gen- 
erations of the family were identified with the Society 
of Friends, or Quakers. 

The rural schools of his native county, afforded 
Nathaniel W. Miller his early education, and there- 
after he continued his studies one year in Georgetown 
College, at Georgetown, Scott County, Kentucky. He 
next entered the National Normal University, at Leb- 
anon, Ohio, and in this institution he was graduated 
as a member of the class of 1892. In the meanwhile, 



at the age of eighteen years, he began teaching in the 
district schools of his native county, and he thus con- 
tinued his pedagogic activities five years. After his 
graduation he became assistant principal of the M. & 
F. High School at Columbia, Kentucky, and after thus 
serving two years he was elected principal of this 
school. He made an excellent record of service in 
this position and after holding the place three years he 
was elected principal of the public schools of Brad- 
fordsville, Marion County. He retained this position 
three years and for seven months thereafter he was 
in charge of a private school at Madisonville, this state. 
He then sold his interest in the school and engaged in 
the insurance business at Madisonville, where he re- 
mained until April 1, 1910, when he removed to 
Campbellsville and purchased an old-established in- 
surance business, to which he has since added a real- 
estate department. He has here developed one of the 
leading real-estate and insurance agencies of Taylor 
County, with offices in a building at the corner of 
Press and First North streets. His ability, progres- 
siveness and personal popularity have conserved the 
success of his business career at Campbellsville, and his 
real-estate operations have been of appreciable scope 
and importance, while as an insurance underwriter he 
controls a substantial and representative business. He 
has identified himself fully and loyally with his home 
city, and owns his attractive residence property on 
Depot Street. Mr. Miller is a democrat, and as such 
was elected a member of the City Council of Camp- 
bellsville. He retained this office three years, during 
two of which he filled also the office of City Clerk. He 
and his wife are zealous members of the Baptist 
Church, in which he is serving as deacon. Characteris- 
tic loyalty and vigor marked the course of Mr. Miller 
during the period of the nation's participation in the 
World war, and it was his to give specially effective 
service as registrar of the Taylor County draft board, 
in which connection he gave much time to the filling 
out of questionnaires for the recruited soldiers from 
the county. To the full limit of his financial re- 
sources he subscribed for the various government 
bonds issued in support of war activities, and his 
support was earnestly given in connection with all 
phases of war work in his home city and county. 

At Columbia, Kentucky, was solemnized the mar- 
riage of Mr. Miller to Miss Minnie E. Willis, daughter 
of William and Catherine (Reynolds) Willis, the 
former of whom is deceased, he having been a prosper- 
ous farmer near Columbia, Adair County. The 
widowed mother now resides in the home of Mr. and 
Mrs. Miller, who have no children and who thus find 
her gracious presence in the home doubly grateful. 

George W. Bushong. M. D. Of the men devoted 
to the science of healing at Tompkinsville, few bring 
to bear upon their calling greater gifts of scholarship 
and resource than Dr. George W. Bushong, president of 
the Monroe County Medical Society. When he entered 
upon the practice of his chosen profession it was with 
a mature mind, trained by some years of work as an 
educator, and with a full realization of the possibili- 
ties and responsibilities which confronted him. Dur- 
ing the quarter of a century that he has practiced at 
Tompkinsville, he has added to a thorough profes- 
sional equipment a kindly and sympathetic manner, a 
genuine liking for his calling and a ready adaptation 
to its multitudinous and exacting demands. 

Doctor Bushong was born at Tompkinsville, July I, 
1872, a son of Jacob and Mary (Headrick) Bushong. 
His grandfather, George Bushong, was born in 1807, 
in Virginia, and as a young man came to Kentucky and 
located in Monroe County, founding the old home- 
stead upon which Bushong postoffice now stands. 
There he was engaged in agricultural pursuits and 
blacksmithing until his death, which occurred in 1892, 
at which time his community lost a man who was held 



126 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



in high esteem and one who had proven himself a 
worthy and useful citizen. He first married a Miss 
Parker, the grandmother of Doctor Bushong, who 
died when her son, Jacob, was a small child. He was 
next married to a widow, Mrs. Maxey, and after her 
death took his third wife, also a widow, Mrs. Thomp- 
son. 

Jacob Bushong was born in the state of Mississippi, 
in 1838, but when a lad was taken by his father to 
Monroe County, where he received his education and 
was reared to manhood on his father's farm. In 1861, 
when the War between the States came on, he enlisted 
in the Fifth Regiment, Kentucky Volunteer Cavalry, 
with which organization he served until the close of 
the struggle. He participated in numerous hard-fought 
engagements, including Shiloh, Chickamauga, Lookout 
Mountain, Missionary Ridge and Stone River, and was 
promoted from private to sergeant, which rank he held 
during Sherman's March to the Sea. His military 
record was a splendid one and at the close of his ser- 
vice he returned to Monroe County and again engaged 
in farming, and also turned his attention to flour mill- 
ing, in both of which vocations he achieved a success. 
His mill was located at the present site of Bushong, 
which community was named in his honor. He died 
there in 1905, respected and esteemed by all who knew 
him. Mr. Bushong was a republican and a faithful 
member and active supporter of the Christian Church. 
He was married in Monroe County to Miss Mary 
Headrick, who was born in 1849 at Tompkinsville and 
still survives him as a resident of Monroe County. 
They became the parents of the following children : 
Ella, the wife of Jarrett Dickerson, a farmer of 
Piano, Texas; Dr. George W., of this record; W. D., 
who owns and operates the old farm and mill at 
Bushong, and who is a prominent republican of Mon- 
roe County; and Nancy, who died at Tompkinsville, in 
December, 1914, aged thirty-seven years, as the wife 
of Dr. J. F. Marrs, a physician and surgeon of Tomp- 
kinsville. 

George W. Bushong acquired his early education in 
the rural schools of Monroe County, and when only 
seventeen years of age began to teach in the country 
districts. For five years he was thus engaged, in the 
meantime studying medicine during his leisure hours, 
and July 1, 1897, was graduated from the Hospital 
College of Medicine, Louisville, with the degree of 
Doctor of Medicine. He did not cease being a student 
at the time he left college, for he has always applied 
himself assiduously to his medical library, and in 1903 
took a post-graduate course at the University of Louis- 
ville, in general medicine and surgery. Each year 
since, he has visited some institution, and in 1915 took 
a post-graduate course at the Cook County Hospital, 
Chicago, specializing in surgery. In 1921 he spent two 
months at post-graduate work in Illinois Post-Gradu- 
ate Medical School of Chicago, taking special courses 
in surgical diagnosis and operative surgery, and also 
ear, nose and throat. 

In 1897 Doctor Bushong began practice at Tompkins- 
ville, where his skill in diagnosis and his successful 
treatment of complicated cases of long standing soon 
created a gratifying demand for his services and laid 
the foundation of what has proved to be a career of 
exceptional breadth and usefulness. His offices are 
in the Baptist Hospital, on Main Street, Public Square. 
Doctor Bushong has been health officer of Monroe 
County for twenty years, and is a member of the 
Monroe County Medical Society, of which he is presi- 
dent, the Kentucky State Medical Society and the 
American Medical Association. Aside from his prac- 
tice, he has been prominent in republican politics, and 
from 1898 to 1918 was chairman of the republican 
County Executive Committee. For thirteen years, dur- 
ing the administrations of President McKinley, Roose- 
velt and Taft, he served capably as postmaster of 
Tompkinsville. He was a member of the Monroe 



County draft board during the World war, and did 
much to assist the various drives inaugurated to assist 
America's fighting forces during the great overseas 
struggle. His fraternal connections are numerous, in- 
cluding membership in Tompkinsville Lodge No. 753, 
F. and A. M.; Glasgow Chapter No. 45, R. A. M. ; 
Glasgow Commandery No. 36, K. T. ; Kosair Temple, 
A. A. O. N. M. S., of Louisville; Tompkinsville Lodge 
No. 400, I. O. O. F. ; and Tompkinsville Camp No. 
13476, M. W. A. In a number of these orders he has 
held office, and in all he is popular with his fellow- 
members. Doctor Bushong's career has been attended 
by financial success, due to his industry and to the re- 
wards that his skill has brought him, and at this time 
he is the owner of two farms in Monroe County, aggre- 
gating 300 acres of valuable land ; and a modern resi- 
dence on Jackson Street which is one of Tompkins- 
ville's desirable homes. He is also a stockholder and 
member of the board of directors of the Deposit Bank 
of Monroe County. 

In February, 1898, at Tompkinsville, Doctor Bushong 
was united in marriage with Miss Pearl Eagle, a 
daughter of Henry and Lucy (Maxey) Eagle, both of 
whom are now deceased, Mr. Eagle having been a lead- 
ing merchant and trader of the county seat. Mrs. 
Bushong, who is a graduate of Bethel College, Hop- 
kinsville, where she took a special course in music, is 
a talented musician and skilled pianiste, as well as a 
woman of other accomplishments and graces. Six chil- 
dren have been born to Doctor and Mrs. Bushong : 
Lucille, a graduate of the Louisville Conservatory of 
Music, who inherits her mother's talent and is teacher 
of music, having charge now of the musical depart- 
ment of Lindsay Wilson Training School, Columbia, 
Kentucky; George Eagle, a member of the class of 
1922, University of Louisville, where he is pursuing 
a medical course ; Joe Ed, a member of the class of 
1921, Tompkinsville High School, and a teacher in 
the graded school; Will Randall, born in 1906, Irvin, 
born in 191 1, and Corinne, born in 1913, all attending 
the graded school. 

Hon. James M. Jackson. The monotony which 
often ensues from the continuous following of a single 
line of activity has never been a feature of the career 
of Hon. James M. Jackson, ex-police judge and ex- 
mayor of Tompkinsville. Gifted with versatile talents, 
during his life he has been a school-teacher, a miner, 
a miller and a druggist, and at this time is accounted 
one of the leading members of the Monroe County bar. 
In each of his numerous personal capacities, as well as 
in public life, he has displayed the ability to make the 
most out of his opportunities and to discharge his 
responsibilities in a highly honorable manner that has 
gained him public good will and confidence. 

Judge Jackson was elected County Judge of Mon- 
roe County, Nov. 8, 1921 and took his office Jan. 1, 1922. 

Judge Jackson was born on a farm in Washington 
County, Tennessee, November 11, 1852, a son of Joseph 
and Elizabeth (Walker) Jackson. His grandfather, 
James Jackson, who was a pioneer of Washington 
County, passed his entire life there as a tiller of the 
soil, and died in 1873, one of the greatly respected 
men of his community. He did not enter public life, 
hut was content with the labors of his farm and the 
surroundings of his home, although he wielded some 
influence in his locality and was known as a man of 
public spirit and general worth. 

Joseph Jackson, the father of Judge Jackson, was 
born in 1836, in Washington County, Tennessee, and 
was reared and educated in his native community, 
where he was married. Shortly after his union lie 
moved to Keokuk, Iowa, where he spent one year, and 
in 1854 went to West Point, Kentucky, where he con- 
tinued until 1856. In that year he located in Monroe 
County, four miles west of Tompkinsville, where he 
was engaged in operations at the time of the outbreak 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



127 



of the War between the States. Mr. Jackson enlisted 
in the Union Army, becoming a private in the Ninth 
Regiment, Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, with which 
he served until after the battle of Shiloh, when he was 
stricken with a severe fever and was honorably dis- 
charged because of disability. He was a brave and 
faithful soldier and won the friendship of his com- 
rades and the respect of his officers. At the close of 
his service he returned to his Monroe County farm 
and after his recuperation again engaged in agricul- 
tural pursuits in which he continued until his death, in 
1918. Mr. Jackson was a farmer primarily and did 
not care for public life, although he discharged the 
duties of citizenship faithfully and was a strong advo- 
cate of the principles of the republican party. He was 
a member of the Baptist Church, the movements of 
which he supported liberally. Mr. Jackson married 
Miss Elizabeth Walker, who was born in 1827, in 
Washington County, Tennessee, and died in Monroe 
County, Kentucky, September 20, 1898, and they be- 
came the parents of the following children : Mary, a 
resident of Monroe County, the widow of Sam Fox, 
who was a farmer and mechanic in this county; Elijah 
W., who is engaged in agricultural pursuits in Barren 
County, this state; Jasper, who is engaged in farming 
in Monroe County; Mahala Jane, the wife of Will 
Rickert, also a farmer of this county ; and James M. 

The eldest of his parents children, James M. Jackson 
was reared on the home farm and attended the rural 
schools of his home locality, off and on, until he 
reached the age of twenty-three years. He was brought 
up as a farmer's son, but agricultural work did not 
appeal to him, and when he was twenty-three he 
adopted the vocation of teaching school, an occupation 
in which he was engaged for four years. He then 
went to Southwestern Missouri, where for 2j/£ 
years he worked in the lead and zinc mines, then 
returning to Monroe County, where he embarked 
in business as the proprietor of a sawmill. Mr. Jack- 
son continued in this line for eight years, with a 
modest degree of success, and in 1895 established him- 
self as a merchant at Flippin, where he conducted a 
drug business for three years. In the meantime, with 
the desire to carry on a professional career, he had 
applied himself to the study of law, and in June, 1898, 
was admitted to the Kentucky bar. Prior to this, from 
1891 to 1898, he had served as a justice of the peace, 
and had become widely known for his fair-mindedness 
and judicial capacity in settling the disputes brought 
before him. 

In 1898 Judge Jackson commenced the practice of 
his profession at Flippin, and in 1904 came to Tomp- 
kinsville, where he has since carried on a general civil 
and criminal practice, with offices situated at Room 5, 
Deposit Bank Building. Two years after his arrival 
he was elected police judge of Tompkinsville, an office 
in which he served for four years, and for a like 
period occupied the office of mayor, giving the people 
of his community an excellent administration. Judge 
Jackson has risen to a place among the leaders of his 
profession in Monroe County, and his success in much 
important litigation has caused him to have the con- 
fidence of the community, while his observance of the 
ethics of his profession has gained him the good will 
and regard of his fellow-practitioners. He belongs to 
the various organizations of his calling and is a deep 
and careful student of the law. Politically, he advo- 
cates the principles and supports the candidates of the 
republican party, and his religious connection is with 
the Christian faith, he being an elder in the church of 
that denomination at Tompkinsville. He is the owner 
of a modern residence at the corner of Second and 
Spruce streets, one of the comfortable homes of his 
adopted community. Judge Jackson has always been 
known for his public spirit and loyalty, and these char- 
acteristics were particularly noticeable during the 
period of the World war, when he was a generous and 



active supporter of all of the measures promulgated in 
advancing the interests of American arms. 

On August 18, 1876, in Monroe County, Judge Jack- 
son was united in marriage with Miss Sinah C. Bran- 
don, daughter of Arthur C. and Martha Ann (Lee) 
Brandon, farming people of Monroe County who are 
both deceased. Judge and Mrs. Jackson have one 
daughter : Lucy May, who is the wife of W. A. 
Cravens, a painter and decorator of Tompkinsville. 

Dixie McKinley. The agriculturists of Harrison 
County have won a name for themselves because of 
the intelligence with which they have cultivated their 
farms and developed the natural resources of this 
region, and among them one who has been unusually 
prosperous is Dixie McKinley, of Poindexter. He was 
born in Colemansville, Kentucky, December 2, 1861, 
a son of Calvin and Georgiana (King) McKinley, both 
of whom were natives of Harrison County, he having 
been born in 1817, and she in 1819. During the Civil 
war Calvin McKinley served in the Confederate Army 
and gave his life in defense of the cause. His widow 
survived him many years, having spent her entire life 
in Harrison County. She was the second wife, her 
sister Sallie having been Mr. McKinley's first wife. 
By the first marriage there were six children, two of 
whom survive, William, a retired farmer of Louis /ille, 
and James C, a farmer of Harrison County. By the 
second marriage there were two children, Dixie, and 
Sallie, who is the wife of Ira Blackburn, of Lawrence- 
burg, Indiana. 

Dixie McKinley was reared amid strictly rural sur- 
roundings, and sent to the local schools. He remained 
with his mother until marriage, when he rented a farm 
for five years, buying the 132 acres on which he still 
resides. He is specializing in breeding Short Horn 
cattle in which he has met with a gratifying success. 
Besides these interests Mr. McKinley owns a half in- 
terest in a'geueral store at Poindexter. 

On March 5, 1890, he was married to Eva Dunaway, 
who was born in Harrison County, November 2, 1872, 
daughter of T. J. and Amanda (Bagby) Dunaway, 
natives of Kenton County. They were married in 
that county, but moved to Harrison County, prior to 
the birth of Mrs. McKinley, and here both died, being 
widely known and respected. They became the parents 
of the following children : Anna C, wife of John R. 
Wigglesworth ; Virgie, wife of Henry Mullen ; Eva D., 
wife of Ross McKinley; Joy F. ; Mary, is the wife of 
Felix E. King; Mack S. ; Helen and Frances. Mr. 
McKinley is a democrat, and has served as constable. 

Frank H. Bassett, M. D. From the earliest period 
of statehood to the present the Bassett family has been 
a prominent one in the western counties of Kentucky. 
Several of the name have lived in Hopkinsville, which is 
the home of Dr. Frank H. Bassett, formerly a merchant 
of that city, in later years a practicing physician, and 
now the vigorous and capable mayor of the city. 

Doctor Bassett was born at Stephensport, Kentucky, 
November 1, 1873. His paternal ancestors were Welsh 
and Colonial Americans. His grandfather, Jeremiah 
Vardeman Bassett, was born in 1797 at Cynthiana, Ken- 
tucky, this date establishing the fact that the family's 
settlement in Kentucky was some years before the close 
of the eighteenth century. Grandfather Bassett was a 
saddler by trade, spent most of his active life at 
Cynthiana, but finally moved out to Northwest Missouri 
and died at Plattsburg in 1887. His wife, Tryphenia 
Wellesley Birch also died at Plattsburg, in 1889. 

James H. Bassett, father of Doctor Bassett, was born 
in Cynthiana in 1828. He spent his early life in his 
native town, and after his marriage in Breckinridge 
County lived on his farm there for a number of years. 
He was a graduate of Transylvania College at Lexing- 
ton, and on leaving college went to work in the Louis- 
ville post office and some years later, in 1877, he returned 



128 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



to Louisville and again resumed work in the post office. 
That was his business connection until 1890, when he 
was appointed postmaster of Parkland, now part of the 
City of Louisville. He held that post of responsibility 
four years, and then removed to a farm in Grayson 
County, and was active in the agricultural affair-, of 
that vicinity until his death, which occurred near Litch- 
field in 1914. He was a stanch democrat of the old 
school. James H. Bassett married Georgia Houston, 
who was born in Washington, D. C, in 1832 and died 
at Litchfield in Grayson County, Kentucky, in 1904. She 
was closely related to the same family that produced 
Sam Houston, a governor of Texas. Her mother, Mary 
(Frank) Houston, was the State of Georgia's official 
flower girl delegated to strew flowers in front of Gen- 
eral Lafayette on his second visit to the United States 
in 1825. Mary S. Bassett, oldest of the children of 
James H. Bassett and wife, is a resident of Litchfield, 
Kentucky, and is the widow of John H. Kenny, who 
was a dentist practicing at Paducah for many years and 
who died in 1896. Julia B. Bassett, the next in the 
family, lives at Louisville and is the widow of Carroll 
C. Chick, who was owner and operator of a flour mill 
at Mt. Sterling, Kentucky. Georgia B. Bassett lives at 
Birmingham, Alabama, widow of Samuel R. Dent, who 
for many years was engaged in merchandising at Litch- 
field, Kentucky. Robert J. Bassett is president of the 
Grayson County State Bank at Litchfield. James H. 
Bassett, Jr., who was born in 1863, had only one busi- 
ness association in all his active life, spending thirty- 
three years with the Hegan Mantle Company, and while 
traveling representative of that house he was killed, 
being hit by an automobile, and he died at Lynchburg, 
Virginia, in 1913. Edmund Rufifin Bassett, who was a 
retired banker when he died at Louisville in 1918, a 
victim of the influenza, was named for Edmund Ruffin, 
the Confederate soldier who fired the first shot at Fort 
Sumter at the beginning of the Civil war. The seventh 
of the Bassett children is Col. Erskine B. Bassett, the 
oldest merchant of Hopkinsville in point of continuous 
service, and who was an active member of the Kentucky 
State Bar from 1884 until he was mustered into the 
National Army at the beginning of the World war, and 
was colonel of the One Hundred and Fiftieth Infantry 
in France. Florence B. Bassett, who died at Louisville, 
Kentucky, in 1903, was the wife of J. Y. Johnson, who 
now lives in St. Louis, Missouri, being a civil engineer 
with the St. Louis Street Railway Company. 

Frank H. Bassett was the tenth and youngest of this 
notable family. He spent most of his boyhood in Louis- 
ville, attending the Sacred Heart parochial school and 
graduating from St. Xavier's College in Louisville in 
1887. For four years he was employed in the dry goods 
department of Colonel Bassett's store, and from 1891 
wae employed for two years by J. M. Robinson & 
Company at Louisville. In 1893, returning to Hopkins- 
ville, he resumed work in his brother's dry goods busi- 
ness until 1898, and following that was an associate 
member of the hardware firm of Thompson & Bassett 
until 1905, when he sold out and used his means to 
carry out a long cherished purpose of becoming a physi- 
cian. He entered the medical department of the Uni- 
versity of Nashville, and received his M. D. degree 
in lino. For one year he practiced as an interne in 
the Tennessee Hospital of Nashville, and then carried 
on a general practice at Hopkinsville six years. Since 
then his work has been largely as a specialist in anes- 
thesia and as medical examiner for various insurance 
companies. He is a member of the County, State and 
American Medical associations. 

Doctor Bassett has always been a stanch democrat, 
but his political work has been entirely confined to the 
government of his home city. When Hopkinsville was 
given a new charter under the commission form of 
government he was one of the first city commissioners 
elected in 1915, beginning his duties in 1916. In that 



year he announced his intention of becoming a candidate 
for mayor in November, 1917, two years away, and when 
his name was presented as candidate for that office there 
was no opposition and he entered upon his career as 
mayor in January, 1918, and during the past two years 
has done much to dignify the office in the eyes of 
citizens and has given an administration of municipal 
affairs efficient and competent in every respect. 

Doctor Bassett is a member of the Presbyterian 
Church, and is a past exalted ruler of Hopkinsville 
Lodge No. 545 of the Elks. He has been duly pros- 
pered in his business and professional career, and is 
owner of four business houses and several dwellings in 
Hopkinsville, his own home at 145 Alumni Avenue 
being one of the best residences in Western Kentucky. 

On February 23, 1898, at Hopkinsville, Doctor Bassett 
married Miss Mamie Elizabeth Thompson. Her father, 
the late Charles A. Thompson, was one of the early 
hardware merchants of Hopkinsville. Mrs. Bassett 
finished her education in the Mary Sharp College of 
Winchester, Tennessee. To their union were born three 
children : Charles Thompson, who died at the age of 
sixteen ; Florence Marshall, born November I, 1902, 
now a student in an eastern college ; and Frank H., Jr., 
who was born August 15, 1906. 

Timoleon Bradshaw Cravens. Steady application 
to the development of an idea has brought about the 
success of Timoleon Bradshaw Cravens, of Tomp- 
kinsville, who conducts the largest insurance business 
in Monroe County. On the paternal side he is des- 
cended from Irish ancestry, and from forefathers who 
tilled the soil under discouraging conditions inherits 
an obliging nature and a keen sense of humor which 
bring him in touch with the pleasures of life; while 
on the maternal side he inherits from Scotch fore- 
bears a rigid code of business integrity, as well as 
acumen and canny foresight in matters of business 
import. For the rest, his industry and a peculiar adapt- 
ability for his chosen calling have sufficed to win him 
success in material affairs and numerous friends and 
wellwishers. 

Mr. Cravens was born at Columbia, Adair County, 
Kentucky, May 13, 1886, a son of Montgomery and 
Man,' (Bradshaw) Cravens. The Cravens family 
originated in Ireland, whence its members immigrated 
to the colony of Virginia, prior to the Revolutionary 
war. In the Old Dominion was born the grandfather 
of Mr. Cravens, Timoleon Cravens, who was educated 
for a legal career and on coming to Columbia became 
one of the leading Kentucky attorneys of his day. He 
was likewise prominent in public life and on one occa- 
sion served as a presidential elector. Believing firmly 
in state rights, he was a great Southern sympathizer 
and during the War between the States endangered his 
life by his outspoken propounding of' his views. He 
died at Columbia about 1870. Air. Cravens married 
Mary Waggoner, who was born in Adair County and 
died at Middlesboro, this state, although buried at 
the side of her husband at Columbia. 

Montgomery Cravens was born in 1855, at Columbia, 
where he has made his home throughout life. He 
received a good education in his youth, in the public 
schools, and on attaining his majority entered business 
affairs, eventually becoming proprietor of a drug store. 
This he conducted for many years, but in the evening 
of life disposed of his interests therein and has since 
lived in retirement. Mr. Cravens has long taken an 
active interest and prominent part in public affairs. A 
democrat in politics, he was the youngest man to ever 
occupy the position of county clerk of Adair County, 
an office which he held prior to his marriage. For seven 
years prior to the beginning of the enforcement of 
prohibition, he was a deputy stamp officer in the Inter- 
nal Revenue Department, under President Wilson, and 
for eighteen years, ever since the establishment of a 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



129 



graded and high school system at Columbia, he has 
been chairman of the board of education at that place. 
Mr. Cravens is a stalwart member of the Presbyterian 
Church, and as a fraternalist holds membership in the 
Masons. Mr. Cravens married Miss Mary Bradshaw, 
who was born in 1865, at Columbia, Kentucky, and to 
this union there have been born two children: Timo- 
leon Bradshaw; and Edwin, who is the proprietor of 
a plumbing establishment at Columbia. 

The Bradshaw family, which had its origin in Scot- 
land, was introduced into America during colonial 
times, when the first emigrant of this branch settled 
in Virginia. The great-grandfather of Mr. Cravens 
was born in Culpeper County, Virginia, and came as a 
pioneer farmer to Russell County, Kentucky, where he 
passed the remainder of his life. Timoleon Bradshaw, 
the maternal grandfather of Mr. Cravens, was born in 
1837, in Russell County, Kentucky, and as a young 
man moved to Columbia, where he was married and 
became a leading merchant, engaging in business for 
many years prior to his death in 1907. He served as 
sheriff of Adair County for one term, and was a man 
well and favorably known throughout the community. 
Mr. Bradshaw married Miss Sallie Wilson, who was 
born in 1847, in Adair County, and died in November, 
Kji7, at Columbia, and they became the parents of a 
family of four children: Bettie, who died at the age 
of twenty years; Mary, who became Mrs. Montgomery 
Cravens; Effie, the wife of W. F. Hancock, chief 
bookkeeper for the Kentucky Distillers and Warehouse 
Company, at Louisville; and W. F., a conductor for 
the Pullman Company, residing at Louisville. 

Timoleon Bradshaw Cravens attended the public 
schools of Columbia and the Presbyterian College of 
that place, following which he pursued a course at the 
Bowling Green Business University, from which he 
was graduated in 1904. Thus equipped he secured a 
position as court reporter of the Twenty-ninth Judicial 
District, and for six years held this position at Colum- 
bia, resigning therefrom to embark in the insurance 
business. He remained in that line at Columbia until 
1915, when he removed to Tompkinsville, and since his 
advent in this city has built up the largest insurance 
business in Monroe County. Mr. Cravens maintains 
offices in the Deposit Bank Building and is the repre- 
sentative of a number of leading companies. Pos- 
sessing the peculiar abilities needed for success in this, 
his chosen line of work, he has written some large 
policies and has gained the business of some of the 
principal men and leading concerns of Tompkinsville 
and the surrounding country. He is popular among 
the people of this community, who have found him 
business-like, courteous and at all times honorable in 
his dealings. 

Mr. Cravens is the owner of an attractive, desirable 
and modern home on Main Street. His religious con- 
nection is with the Presbyterian Church. In politics 
a democrat, he has been prominent in his party for 
some years, and at present is chairman of the demo- 
cratic executive committee of Monroe County for 1921, 
having served as secretary of that committee for the 
four previous years. He was appointed colonel on Gov- 
ernor A. O. Stanley's staff in 1916. He is also serving 
his fourth year as democratic election commissioner. He 
was a member of the Monroe County draft board dur- 
ing the World war period, assisted in all the drives 
for all purposes and was a generous contributor per- 
sonally to all movements and activities. Fraternally, 
he helds membership in Tompkinsville Lodge No. 753, 
F. & A. M. ; Glasgow Chapter No. 45, R. A. M. ; Glas- 
gow Commandery No. 36, K. T. ; and Kosair Temple 
A. A. O. N. M. S. of Louisville; Tompkinsville Camp 
No. 13476, M. W. A.; the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows and the Brotherhood of American Yeomen. 

Mr. Cravens was married in 1912, at Tompkinsville, 
to Miss Tabitha Richardson, a daughter of W. K. and 
Martha (Smith) Richardson. A review of the career 



of Mr. Richardson will be found on another page of 
this work. Mrs. Cravens is a graduate of the Ward- 
Belmont College, Nashville, Tennessee. She and her 
husband have had two children : William Montgomery, 
who died in infancy; and Timoleon Richardson, born 
July 17, 1920. 

Otto Earle Johnson, M. D. The medical profes- 
sion includes in its membership men ol marked ability, 
thorough training and other qualifications, who, more- 
over, possess a love of their calling and a definite 
appreciation of its heavy responsibilities. In this class 
is found Dr. Otto Earle Johnson of Denver, Johnson 
County, whose able services to his community have 
been supplemented by the service which he rendered 
his country during the World war. 

Doctor Johnson was born at Lebanon Junction, July 
23, 1884, a son of the late Dr. John Elias and Drusilla 
Ellen (Froman) Johnson. Hiram Johnson, the grand- 
father of Dr. Otto E. Johnson, was born in Scotland 
and as a young man immigrated to the United States 
and located in Hardin County, Kentucky, where he 
was engaged in farming during the remainder of his 
life and also operated a tar kiln. He married Ellen 
Napper, who was born in Pennsylvania, of Holland 
ancestry and came to Kentucky with her parents when 
a girl. John Elias Johnson was born near Pitts Point, 
Hardin County, Kentucky, October 2, 1844, and was 
reared on the home farm, in the meanwhile securing 
his early education in the public schools. He had not 
yet reached his seventeenth birthday when, in 1861, he 
enlisted in Company D, Fifteenth Regiment, Kentucky 
Volunteer Infantry, and served in the Union army 
three years, eleven months and four days. He partici- 
pated in a number of the leading engagements during 
the War between the States, has a splendid record for 
bravery and faithful performance of duty and at the 
close of the war was honorably discharged with the 
rank of corporal. Shortly after his return home, the 
young soldier took up the study of medicine, which 
he pursued at the University of Louisville and the 
University of New York, at the latter institution being 
a classmate of the late Dr. William O. Roberts, of 
Louisville, with whom he ever afterward maintained a 
close friendship. Doctor Johnson commenced his prac- 
tice at Pitts Point, whence he went to Bowling Green 
and in 1882 came to Lebanon Junction, where he fol- 
lowed his profession until his death, June 12, 1912. In 
addition to his private practice he acted for many years 
as a railroad surgeon. He was not only prominent 
and proficient in his regular calling, but was active in 
other avenues of activity, being vice-president of the 
Lebanon Junction Bank and for a number of years 
engaging in commercial affairs as proprietor of a drug 
and general merchandise store. He was a republican 
in his political views, and as a churchman was a faith- 
ful Baptist. He took an interest in Masonic affairs 
and was a past master of his lodge. Doctor Johnson 
married first a Miss Joyce, who bore him five children, 
of whom one survives. After her death he' married 
Drusilla Ellen Froman, who died in 1906. They became 
the parents of five children, of whom one is Dr. Otto 
Earle of this review, and one is deceased. The third 
marriage of Doctor Johnson was to a Miss Wise, and 
they had six children, of whom one is deceased. 

Otto Earle Johnson attended the common schools 
of Lebanon Junction, after graduation from which he 
pursued a course at Gethsemane College and supple- 
mented this by attendance at Lynnland College. He 
prosecuted his medical studies at the University of 
Louisville, from the medical department of which insti- 
tution he was graduated with his degree March 25, 
1004, and immediately engaged in practice at Lebanon 
Junction. Here, in tiie community where he had been 
known from boyhood, he soon impressed his abilities 
upon his fellow-townsmen, and he acquired a good 
practice, and also acted as a railroad surgeon. His 



130 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



career, like those of so many other young men, was 
interrupted by the entrance of the United States into 
the great World war, and April 17, 1917, he gave up 
his practice and his railroad connection to enlist in the 
United States army, in which he secured a commission 
as first lieutenant in the Medical Corps. He was sent 
overseas in January, 1918, and served in England five 
months and in France eleven months, returning home 
in May, 1910, to receive his honorable discharge at 
Camp Dix, New York, on the 20th of that month. He 
still holds a commission as captain in the Medical 
Reserve Corps of the United States Army. 

Upon his return, Doctor Johnson resumed his inter- 
rupted practice, which is now of a size and nature to 
make him one of the leaders of his calling in his part 
of Johnson County. He is a member of the Johnson 
County Medical Society, the Kentucky State Medical 
Society and the American Association of Military Sur- 
geons, and belongs also to the American Legion. He 
is a Past Chancellor of the Knights of Pythias, and 
Past Sachem of the Improved Order of Red Men. 
Doctor Johnson is a republican in his political alle- 
giance, and has been a member of the Baptist church 
since he was nine years of age. 

Doctor Johnson's marriage was the result of a war- 
time romance. While going overseas, in 1918, he met 
Miss Annie Smith Eastland, a native of Lax, Alabama, 
who was a Red Cross Nurse of the Vanderbilt Unit. 
They were married upon their return to the United 
States, in 1919. By a former marriage, Doctor John- 
son is the father of three children : James Earle, 
Gladys Juanita and Wallace Dillon. 

John Emerson Leslte. It is not given to every man 
to excel in more than one line of endeavor. Every 
avenue of activity demands certain specific charac- 
teristics and few there are who either have so many 
differentiating ones or are able to adapt those they 
possess so as to make them eminently fitting for diver- 
gent highways of progress. An exception to this gen- 
eral rule is found in John Emerson Leslie, a leading 
attorney of the Monroe county bar, the successful pub- 
lisher of the Tompkinsville News and a man prom- 
inent in republican politics and public life generally. 
In each of his several fields of activity his efforts have 
been crowned with success of a kind that makes him 
a natural leader in his community. 

Mr. Leslie was born at Tompkinsville, March 7, 1867, 
a son of Emerson and Jemima (Harlan) Leslie. His 
grandfather, Veachel Leslie, was born in Kentucky, 
and during the greater part of his life was engaged 
in agricultural pursuits in Clinton County. In the eve- 
ning of life he went to Missouri, where he was pre- 
paring to make a new home when his death occurred. 
He married Mary Hopkins, who died at Tompkins- 
ville, and they reared a family of seven sons and two 
daughters. Among their sons was Preston H. Leslie, 
who was born in 1826, in Clinton County, where he 
was reared, and as a young man came to Monroe 
County and prepared for the law. Going to Barren 
County, he engaged in the practice of his profession, 
in which he made rapid strides, and became influential 
in public life, being elected to the State Senate. Upon 
the death of Governor Stephenson, he was appointed 
to complete the unexpired term of three years, and 
was then elected Governor for a term of four years, 
defeating John M. Harlan for the Governorship by a 
majority of 70 votes. His terms of office were charac- 
terized by able service and numerous advancements. 
Mr. Leslie was a democrat. He died at Helena, Mon- 
tana, in 1007. 

Emerson Leslie, the father of John Emerson Leslie, 
was born in 1829, in Clinton County, where he was 
educated" and reared, and as a young man came to 
Tompkinsville and established himself in business as 
a wagon maker. During the Civil War he was em- 
ployed by the United States Government in wagon fac- 



tories at Munfordville and Bowling Green, in making 
wagons for the Army, and at the close of the war 
resumed his business interests at Tompkinsville, where 
he resided until his death in 1906. He was a republi- 
can in his political views, and served one term as 
jailer of Monroe County. His religious faith was of 
the Methodist Episcopal Church, and he was a strong 
churchman, and for a number of years he was a mem- 
ber of the Masonic fraternity. Mr. Leslie married 
Jemima Harlan, who was born in 1859, in Monroe 
County, and died at Tompkinsville, in 1901, and nine 
children were born to them, of whom three survive : 
Mattie, of Humboldt, Tennessee, the widow of the late 
M. S. Barr, who was a photographer of that place ; 
John Emerson, of this record ; and Julia, the wife of 
Jack Ford, a farmer of Roachdale, Indiana. The other 
six children died when young, in the scarlet fever 
scourge of 1866, when two of them died in one day. 

John Emerson Leslie acquired his education in the 
public schools of Tompkinsville, which he attended at 
intervals until reaching the age of twenty-two years. 
His first business experience was acquired as clerk in 
a store at Tompkinsville, and this employment he fol- 
lowed until resigning to attend to his duties as a mem- 
ber of the State Legislature, having been elected to 
that body as the representative of Monroe and Met- 
calfe counties, in 1899. He served during the stormy 
session of 1900, when the murder of Governor Goebel 
was causing much excitement and stirring up much 
political rancor. On his return to Tompkinsville, in 
1901, he purchased the equipment of the old Tomp- 
kinsville Enterprise, a newspaper which had been 
founded many years before, but which had been dis- 
continued for some years. His new paper he named 
the Tompkinsville News, and he at once placed it upon 
a paying basis. Durng the twenty years it has been 
in existence it has attracted a large circulation through- 
out Monroe and the surrounding counties, and also 
has names on its lists from all over this country and 
in foreign lands. Mr. Leslie is the sole proprietor and 
publisher of this republican organ and owns the plant 
on Mill Street, which is well equipped as both a news- 
paper and job printing plant. This is a clean and 
reliable newspaper, printing the world's news, local 
matter, feature articles and stories and timely edi- 
torials, and contains much of interest for its large 
army of readers. After starting this paper, Mr. Leslie 
began the study of law, and was admitted to the Ken- 
tucky bar in 1905. He has built up a large and lucra- 
tive practice and is now one of the acknowledged lead- 
ers of the Monroe County bar. 

A stanch republican in political sentiment, Mr. Leslie 
has shown a marked interest in public affairs, and has 
occupied several positions of public trust. In addition 
to having served in the lower house of the State Legis- 
lature, in 1914, he was elected the first mayor of Tomp- 
kinsville and occupied that office for two years, during 
which he was able to accomplish much for the good of 
the city. During the World War period he was greatly 
active in all war movements, making speeches all over 
the county, acting as food administrator of Monroe 
County, devoting much space in his newspaper for all 
patriotic purposes, and helping materially in all the 
drives. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, in which he is a deaoon, and his fraternal 
affiliations are with Tompkinsville Camp No. 1347°, 
Modem Woodmen of America, and the Royal Neigh- 
bors. He owns one of the most desirable homes of 
the city, a modern residence on Mills Street. 

In 1903, at Bolen, Monroe County, Mr. Leslie was 
united in marriage with Miss Pattie Taylor, a daugh- 
ter of William J. and Jane (Billingsley) Taylor, the 
latter of whom is a resident of Tompkinsville, where 
the former, a retired agriculturist, died. Mr. and Mrs. 
Leslie have an adopted son : Clifton, who was born in 
March, 1913. 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



131 



William Kirkpatrick Richardson, M. D. A man 
devoted to the highest ideals of his humane profession, 
of prominence and wealth, yet unspoiled by his posi- 
tion and prosperity, whose life has been filled with 
kindly thoughts and generous deeds, a man of sterling 
integrity and probity, is Dr. William Kirkpatrick Rich- 
ardson, of Tompkinsville. Reared on a farm, he early 
adopted medicine as the field of his activities, and so 
faithfully and assiduously has he labored in his chosen 
noble calling that he has risen to the very forefront 
of Monroe County's physicians, while as a citizen he 
is no less honored and respected. 

Doctor Richardson was born on a Cumberland river 
farm, near Center Point, Monroe County, October 5, 
1849, a son of R. H. and Margaret (Kirkpatrick) 
Richardson. His grandfather, John Richardson, was 
born in 1801, in the State of Virginia, and as a young 
man migrated to Fentress County, Tennessee, where 
he became a pioneer farmer. He was a man of good 
business ability and much industry and acquired a 
large and valuable property through legitimate busi- 
ness channels, and as a citizen was held in high esteem, 
being called by his fellow-citizens to occupy several 
county positions of trust and responsibility. He died 
in 1861, in Fentress County, where passed away also 
his wife, who had been a Miss Hildreth. 

R. H. Richardson was born in Fentress County, 
Tennessee, in 1823, and was reared and educated in 
his native community. As a young man he came to 
Monroe County, settling on the banks of the Cumber- 
land River, a community in which he was married. 
Primarily a farmer, he was successful in his agricul- 
tural operations, and subsequently extended the scope 
of his activities, becoming a leading merchant, a live 
stock dealer and an extensive trader in tobacco, a field 
of activity in which he became widely and_ favorably 
known. Having acquired a large property, in 1900 he 
retired from active pursuits and moved to Tompkins- 
ville, where his death occurred in 1904. Mr. Richard- 
son was a man of the highest business integrity and 
his standing in commercial and financial circles was 
an excellent one. In politics he was a democrat, but 
political matters only had for him the interest that 
is shown by every good and public-spirited citizen, 
for he was not a seeker after public preferment. He 
was a strong churchman of the Christian faith, and for 
many years was a member of the Masonic fraternity. 
He married Miss Margaret Kirkpatrick, who was born 
in 1829, in Monroe County, and died at Tompkinsville, 
in 1913. They became the parents of the following 
children : Henry M., who was engaged in farming in 
Hardin County, Kentucky, until his death at the age 
of seventy-one years; Dr. William Kirkpatrick, of this 
record ; John H., a banker of Munf ordville, this state ; 
Alonzo, who is engaged in farming in Barren County ; 
Lucy, the wife of T. L. Humble, engaged in the timber 
business at Glasgow ; Tabitha, a resident of Glasgow, 
who married James H. Maxey, and after his death a 
Mr. Grissom, who is also deceased; Serilda, the wife 
of Perry Summers, a farmer of Hardin County ; Basil 
Duke, a leading attorney of the Kentucky bar and a 
former member of the State Senate, residing at Glas- 
gow ; and Gertrude, the wife of J. H. Gillingwater, a 
farmer of Barren County. 

The early education of Dr. William Kirkpatrick 
Richardson was secured in the rural schools of Mon- 
roe County, and after his graduation from the Tomp- 
kinsville high school, in 1868, he spent one year work- 
ing on a farm. In 1869 he entered the Miami Medical 
College, at Cincinnati, from which he was graduated in 
!873, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine, and in 
t877 Ipok a post-graduate course at Vanderbilt Uni- 
versity, Nashville, Tennessee. Doctor Richardson be- 
gan practice at Black's Ferry, Monroe County, on the 
Cumberland River, and remained in that community 
until 1904, when he came to Tompkinsville, where he 
has since had a large general medical and surgical 



practice, his office being located in his modern home 
on Third Street. Doctor Richardson, in addition to 
being a student of his calling, studies deeply upon the 
great questions of the day, and finds entertainment in 
books, travel and congenial companionship. His pro- 
fessional service has ever been discharged with a keen 
sense of conscientious obligation, and his work has 
brought him ample recompense. He is the owner of 
a business building on the Public Square, of a farm 
of 365 acres located six miles south of Tompkinsville, 
and of thirty-five acres of very valuable land adjoining 
the city on the east. He is likewise vice-president, a 
director and majority stockholder of the Deposit Bank 
of Monroe County. Politically, he is a democrat, and 
his religious connection is with the Christian Church. 
He has been a supporter of all worthy civic enter- 
prises, and during the World War was liberal in his 
subscriptions and donations to the various wartime 
movements and activities. 

In 1890, in Monroe County, Doctor Richardson was 
united in marriage with Miss Martha E. Smith, daugh- 
ter of the late William S. Smith, a farmer of Monroe 
County, and to this union there were born five chil- 
dren ; Tabitha, the wife of T. B. Cravens, engaged in 
the insurance business at Tompkinsville; Frank, who 
assists in the operation of his father's farm ; Minnie, 
the wife of M. K. Stephens, a farmer of Wellington, 
Texas ; Lovey, the wife of C. W. McPherson. a travel- 
ing salesman of St. Louis, Missouri ; and Mary, who 
died at the age of eighteen years. 

James Harlin Newman. It may be that inherent 
genius forms the motive power of success, but many 
who have studied the lives and principal traits of the 
men of various communities who have taken leadership 
believe that experience and sound judgment must be 
combined with natural inclination to produce the best 
results. In the majority of cases where a man has 
risen above his fellows, it will be found that this rise 
has come gradually through persistent effort. There 
are many qualities which help to form the character, 
such as self-reliance, conscientiousness, energy and 
honesty, and all work together in bringing about the at- 
tainment of the ambitious man's goal. The above may 
be said to apply to James Harlin Newman, president 
of the Deposit Bank of Monroe County, at Tompkins- 
ville. 

Mr. Newman was born near Gamaliel, Monroe 
County, Kentucky, December 29, i860, a son of John 
J. and Lucy A. (Harlin) Newman. The family was 
founded in this state by Mr. Newman's great-grand- 
father, a native of Virginia, who was a pioneer farmer 
here and spent the greater part of his life in Monroe 
County. In that county, in 1800, was born Josiah New- 
man, the grandfather of James H. Newman. He was 
reared and educated in his native county, where he 
spent some years in farming, but in middle life 
removed to Simpson County, this state, where he 
rounded out a career of industry and usefulness and 
died in 1891 on his farm. He married Edie Manion, 
who was born in Allen County, and died on the Simp- 
son County farm. 

John J. Newman was born near Akersville, Monroe 
County, Kentucky, in 1836, and was reared and 
educated in that vicinity, where he early adopted the 
vocation of farming. He was engaged in farming near 
Gamaliel for forty years, and for five years was also 
engaged in merchandising at that place, where his 
death occurred in 1915. He was a man of industry and 
integrity who well merited the esteem and confidence 
in which he was held by his fellow-citizens. In politics 
he was a Republican. Mr. Newman married Miss Lucy 
A. Harlin, who was born in 1840, near Salt Lick, Ten- 
nessee, and died near Gamaliel, in February, 1898, and 
they became the parents of the following children : 
Texie A., the wife of Dr. R. F. Crabtree, a physician 
and surgeon of Gamaliel ; C. C, an attorney at law of 



132 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



Helena, Montana; J. C, a traveling salesman with 
headquarters at Bowling Green ; Joe, who followed 
farming near Glasgow until his death at the age of 
fifty-three- years; Mary E., the wife of W. H. Reeves, 
a farmer near Bowling Green ; James Harlin, of this 
review; John W., a farmer near Versailles, Kentucky; 
William H., who has left this part of the state and 
of whom nothing is known at this time; R. E., a real 
estate agent of Texas ; and Dr. Herbert, a dental prac- 
titioner of Versailles. 

James Harlin Newman attended the rural schools of 
Monroe County and the high school at Flippin, Ken- 
tucky, which he left at the age of seventeen years. 
Until he was nineteen years old he worked on the 
home farm, then receiving his introduction to busi- 
ness methods as a clerk in the store of his father at 
Gamaliel. He remained there for a little more than 
two years, leaving in March, 1888, when a little past his 
majority, to take up the duties of deputy sheriff of 
Monroe Count}', to which he had been appointed, and 
an office in which he served three years. In August, 
1890, he was elected County Court Clerk, taking office 
the same month, and after serving four years and five 
months, was reelected to the same office and served 
three years more from January, 1895. In 1898 he was 
appointed division deputy collector of 'internal revenue 
for the Third Division of the Second District of Ken- 
tucky, and acted in that capacity for three years, at 
the end of which time he was promoted to be general 
field deputy in the United States Revenue service. 
After three years he served notice of his resignation, 
and in 1903 was candidate for clerk of the Court of 
Appeals of Kentucky, but met defeat with the rest 
of the republican ticket. 

In 1904 Mr. Newman entered the Deposit Bank of 
Monroe County, at Tompkinsville, as cashier, and in 
the following year was elected president, a position 
which he has held to the preesnt time, his fellow 
officials being: Dr. W. P. Richardson, vice president; 
A. B. Strickler, cashier ; and S. C. Ray. assistant 
cashier. This institution was founded in 1889, as a 
state bank, and is now one of the strong and substan- 
tial institutions of the county, with an excellent stand- 
ing in banking circles, its capital being $50,000, surplus 
and profits, $22,000, and deposits. $500,000. Mr. New- 
man is known as a safe and conservative banker, able 
in his handling of affairs and of ripened experience 
and good judgment. He is a stanch republican in 
politics and his religious connection is with the Chris- 
tian Church, in which he is an elder. He is a partner 
in the lumber firm of Holcomb, Clark & Company, of 
Tompkinsville, and has several other business interests, 
in addition to which he owns property at Tompkins- 
ville, including his comfortable cottage home on Cot- 
tage Street. Mr. Newman was selected as chairman 
of the bankers' organization of Monroe County for the 
Liberty Loan campaigns during the World war, and 
in that capacity led the work that put all of these 
over the top. Personally, he contributed liberally to 
all movements. 

On January 22, 1890, at Tompkinsville. Mr. Newman 
was united in marriage with Miss Kirk Maxev, daugh- 
ter of Dr. E. D. and Nancy J. (Kirkpatrick) Maxey, 
both of whom are now deceased. Doctor Maxey was 
for many years a leading physician and surgeon at 
Tompkinsville and a citizen who was held in high 
esteem. To Mr. and Mrs. Newman there have been 
born two children : Ada N.. the wife of C. C. Smith, a 
life insurance agent of Tompkinsville ; and Daisy, a 
graduate of the high school at Tompkinsville, and a 
graduate in elocution of the Western State Normal 
School, of Bowling Green, Kentucky, a young lady of 
unusual accomplishments, who makes her home "with 
her parents. The family is widely known at Tomp- 
kinsville and the surrounding localities, and its mem- 
bers have numerous warm and appreciative friends. 



Jesse Alexander Leach. That the pursuits of farm- 
ing can be made one of the most congenial and satis- 
fying occupations of human life, that industry, good 
judgment and perseverance transform one's ambitions 
into realities, and that integrity and straightforward 
dealing are among the most useful of human assets, 
are facts emphasized in the career of Jesse Alexander 
Leach, whose life has long been identified with Bour- 
bon County, and who is at present the owner of a 
splendid farm nine miles northwest of Paris. 

Mr. Leach was born at Lee's Lick, Harrison County, 
Kentucky, March 24, 1852, a son of Ambrose Dudley 
and Frances (Forsythe) Leach. His grandfather, 
Hezekiah Leach, was a native of Virginia who came 
in young manhood to Kentucky and engaged in farm- 
ing in Harrison County, where he passed the rest of 
his life and died October 20, 1827. He was married 
February 16, 1890, to Millie Bentley, who died May 
11, 1857. Ambrose Dudley Leach was born June 3, 
1818, in Harrison County, where he grew to manhood 
and began to make his own way early in life, due to 
the death of his father when he was still a lad. He 
was married June 15, 1846, to Frances Forsythe, who 
was born September 7, 1826, in Harrison County, a 
daughter of Augustus Forsythe, who was born also in 
Harrison County and passed his life there as a farmer. 
About 1870 Ambrose D. Leach came to Bourbon 
County and first settled on the Clay and Keyser turn- 
pike. His means were limited and at the start he 
rented, but later purchased some land near Centreville 
on the Bourbon and Scott County line, the farm being 
mainly in Bourbon County. There Mr. Leach con- 
tinued to be engaged in agricultural operations during 
the remainder of his life, and his son, Ambrose D., is 
now the owner of the land. Mr. Leach was a democrat 
but took only a good citizen's part in politics and pub- 
lic affairs and never sought public office. He died, 
highly respected and esteemed, November 16, 1897, and 
was followed to the grave by Mrs. Leach, February 20, 
1900. These honest, God-fearing people were the 
parents of ten children : Ann Eliza, who married 
Joseph May of Bourbon County; Emily Frances, who 
married William Sageser and lives near the old home 
place; Jesse A.; James, who died at the age of twenty- 
eight years, September 14, 1894; Augustus, who died 
at the age of twenty-eight years, January 3, 1897; 
Ambrose Dudley, on the old home farm at Centreville; 
Joseph L., who farms five and one-half miles north- 
west of Paris ; John, farming in the Centreville com- 
munity; Mollie, who died soon after her marriage to 
Sam Sageser ; and George Thomas, who farms near 
his brother Joseph L. 

Jesse A. Leach grew up in a home in which the 
financial resources were modest during his boyhood 
and youth, and was compelled to be content with a 
common school education. He remained at home 
assisting his father until he was twenty-three years of 
age, at which time he embarked on a career of his 
own as a renter. One year later he married Miss 
Carrie Houston, daughter of John Kenney and Eliza- 
beth (Schooler) Houston, of near Newtown, Scott 
County, the latter of whom died when her daughter 
was a child. For some years after her mother's death, 
Mrs. Leach resided with her father and then went to 
live with her sister, with whom she remained until 
her marriage to Mr. Leach at the age of nineteen years. 

After his marriage, Mr. Leach continued as a renter 
for about thirty years, working industriously and care- 
fully saving his earnings, and in March, 1907, secured 
his present farm, the Joseph Hawkins property of 
ninety-six acres, which he has since increased to 150 
acres. General farming has been his business, for 
while he raises a few acres of tobacco he a1k> has 
large crops of corn, wheat and oats, and has met with 
success as a raiser of live stock. In addition, Mr. 
Leach operates considerable outside land, so that he 



"to new vow 
PUBLIC LIBRAE 






HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



133 



may be called one of the larger farmers of his county. 
He is a democrat, but like his father has preferred the 
peaceful pursuits of the soil to the turmoil and doubt- 
ful honors of the political arena. 

Ten children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Leach : 
Fred and Earl, who work with their father for a 
share of the crops ; Frank, who is farming in Scott 
County; Stephen, farming in Harrison County; Dud- 
ley, operating a property near the home farm ; John 
and Ora, who farm for a part of the home crops ; May, 
who married Otis Washburn, but resides with her 
parents and has three children, Gladys, Thomas and 
Cecil ; Lulu, the wife of Oliver Sharon, of Newtown, 
Scott County; and Ada Belle, the wife of O. T. 
Sharon, operating a part of the Leach farm, who has 
two children, — Selma and Dorsie. 

Lloyd Elmore Foster. Though not one of the older 
residents of Hopkinsville, Lloyd Elmore Foster is 
widely known over that section of Kentucky, partly on 
account of his business record but especially as an 
educator. His name was on the state democratic ticket 
in 1919 as candidate for state superintendent of public 
instruction. For seven years he directed the destiny of 
the school system of Christian County as county superin- 
tendent, and was recently made secretary of the Cham- 
ber of Commerce. 

Mr. Foster was born at Swannanoa, North Carolina, 
July 25, 1883, in the same locality where his father, 
Ben F. Foster, spent his life. The Fosters were of 
English ancestry and were Colonial settlers in North 
Carolina. His grandfather, Frank Foster, was born in 
that state in 1823, and for many years was a farmer 
near Beaver Dam, where he died in 1893. Ben F. Foster, 
father of the Kentucky educator, was born in 1844 and 
died in 1909, having spent practically all the years of 
his life at Swannanoa. He left that community when 
a youth to serve the last year of the war in the Con- 
federate Army. He was a farmer, a democrat and a 
member of the Baptist Church. The maiden name of 
his wife was Henrietta White, who was born in 1845 
and died in 1888, and Swannanoa was her life-long resi- 
dence. Their children were six in number : John, a 
farmer at Greer, South Carolina ; Nora, unmarried, 
living at Swannanoa ; Georgia, who died unmarried at 
the age of twenty-two; Lloyd Elmore; Chalmers, a 
farmer at Swannanoa ; and Jerome, a representative of 
the Armour Packing Company at Jacksonville, Florida. 

Lloyd Elmore Foster attended the rural schools of 
Buncombe County, North Carolina, acquired his high 
school training in the "Farm School" of that county, 
and after a varied experience as farmer and otherwise 
he entered Maryville College at Maryville, Tennessee, 
and graduated with the A. B. degree in 1907. In 1910 
the same institution conferred upon him the Master of 
Arts degree. While in college he made some reputa- 
tion as an athlete and during the summer of 1907 played 
professional baseball with the team of Johnson City, 
Tennessee, playing the left field position and doing some 
of the heaviest hitting in that particular minor league 
that season. For one year Mr. Foster was employed 
by the S. A. Lynch & Company grocery house of Ashe- 
ville, North Carolina, and then, in 1908, came to Hop- 
kinsville as professor of history and Latin in McLean 
College. He was one of the faculty of that institution 
until 1913, in which year he was elected county super- 
intendent of schools for Christian County, beginning his 
term of office in January of the following year. Being 
re-elected for a second four-year term, beginning in 
January, 19 18, he completed seven years in office. His 
responsibilities were very heavy, involving supervision 
of 130 schools, a staff of 150 teachers, and an enroll- 
ment of 7,000 scholars. His offices were in the Court 
House at Hopkinsville. In August, 1920, he resigned 
his position as superintendent of schools and accepted 



the position of secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, 
which position he now holds. 

Mr. Foster is a democrat, is a member of the Board 
of Stewards of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 
is active in the Christian County and State Teachers' 
Association, and is a member of the Travelers Pro- 
tective Association, Evergreen Lodge No. 38, Knights 
of Pythias, and among other business interests is vice 
president of the Coward-Foster Motor Company of 
Hopkinsville. 

He owns a comfortable modern home on East Ninth 
Street. Mr. Foster married at Maryville, Tennessee, in 
1908, Miss Minnie McGinley, daughter of Joseph and 
Fidelia (McConnell) McGinley, residents of Maryville, 
her father being a retired farmer. Mrs. Foster took 
her junior year in the Maryville College. To their mar- 
riage were born two children, Fidelia Mary on Sep- 
tember 28, 1915, and Lloyd E., Jr., September 20, 1917. 

The Winchester Sun, a six- and eight-page, seven 
column democratic daily newspaper, edited and pub- 
lished by C. C. Robbins at Winchester, Kentucky, was, 
in its infancy, called the Smooth Coon, assuming its 
present title in 1878, when Anderson Quissenberry be- 
came its owner. Shortly thereafter John E. Garner 
became associated with Mr. Quissenberry, but in 1881 
they sold out to Will Adams. The latter was succeeded 
by John L. Bosley and Major Kinsey Hampton, and 
upon the tatter's retirement it was owned by Mr. Bos- 
ley. J- J- Adams and J. R. Broadhurst, the last-named 
of whom is still connected with the paper. 

Judge J. Dell Mitchell owned the paper for a short 
time in the '90s, his successor being R. R. Perry, who 
consolidated it with the Sentinel, as the Sun-Sentinel, 
until 1908. At that time it was a Republican sheet. 
In 1908 it was made a daily, the Sun, with W. A. 
Beatty as president of the company and editor. In 
April, 1912, it was purchased by Capt. Lucien Beckman 
and C. C. Robbins and became independent, but in the 
same year, November 12, Mr. Robbins purchased the 
interest of Mr. Beckman. Mr. Robbins changed it to 
a democratic paper, discontinuing the Sun-Sentinel 
with its first issue, but carrying out the Sun-Sentinel's 
subscription list on the daiiy. It has never failed to 
stanchly support the principles of the democratic party, 
in addition to advocating all movements helpful to the 
community. The Sun was one of the first to espouse 
the commission form of city government for Win- 
chester and circulate the petition, its support thereof 
being one of the main factors in its acceptance. Bet- 
ter public improvements such as the Federal Roads 
on the Mt. Sterling and Lexington Roads have also 
come as a result of its persistent agitation, miles of 
paved streets and more miles in course of construc- 
tion testifying effectively to its power for good. The 
main purpose of the Sun is that of a local newspaper 
and one that can be, and is, read in almost every home 
in the city, with a circulation of approximately 3,800. 
The Sun is also a member of the Associated Press. 
Its circulation has more than quadrupled under its 
present management, and this result has been obtained 
without the use of contests or other demoralizing in- 
fluences. 

C. C. Robbins was born at Little Rock, Bourbon 
County, Kentucky, September 9, 1885, a son of a 
farmer, Demillion L. Robbins, who died in 1911, at 
the age of fifty-four years. His father, Laban Landon 
Robbins, was born on the same farm and in the same 
house (built in 1820), in 1829, being a son of John 
Robbins, the pioneer settler of the family in Ken- 
tucky. Laban L. Robbins spent his life on the farm 
and died at the age of seventy-seven years, in 1906. 

The early education of C. C. Robbins was secured 
under the tutorship of Prof. E. M. Costello, a noted 
educator. Later he took a classical and business course 



134 



HISTORY OF KENTUCKY 



at North Middletown, and this was supplemented by a 
course in stenography. In 1909 he became stenog- 
rapher for the general yardmaster of the Chesapeake 
& Ohio Railroad at Ha'ndley, West Virginia, whence 
he came in ioio to Winchester to the office of the 
agent of the Chesapeake & Ohio and Louisville and 
Nashville Railroads. The weather conditions of that 
memorable winter were too much for him, his work 
necessitating much tramping through deep snows, and 
he soon gave up his position and accepted one in the 
business department of the Sun. with no idea or expec- 
tation of becoming a newspaper man. The life grasped 
him. however, and journalism has since held him fast. 
In it he has achieved a noteworthy success. 

Mr. Robbins married Miss Mae Belle Bramblette of 
Bourbon County, Kentucky. Fraternally he is a Pythian 
and Mason, and belongs to the Knights Templar and 
the Mystic Shrine. 

Among the achievements of the Sun under die 
present management was the securing of the adoption 
of the Commission Form of Government for Winches- 
ter, in which it took the initiative. The Commission 
Form was ushered in on January 2, 1922, with George 
E. Tomlinson as Mayor. Messrs. N. A. Powell, W. B. 
Lindsey, J. T. Stokely and J. W. Crone, as Commis- 
sioners, the candidates who were supported and named 
as the Sun ticket during the election. 

Roy Burgess Speck was born at Bowling Green, 
Kentucky, on December 8, 1895, at which place he was 
reared and educated, graduating from the public schools 
in 1909, academic department of Ogden College in 
191 2, and receiving his A. B. degree from that college in 
K)i5. Immediately thereafter he became connected witli 
the Times Journal Publishing Company as advertising 
manager. 

In June, 1916, he, as a private, went to the Mexican 
border with the Third Kentucky Infantry and was 
mustered out as a sergeant in March, 191 7. A few da