A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume III, Part 1

Author: Johnson, E. Polk, 1844-; Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 860

USA > Kentucky > A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume III > Part 1

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FORT WAYNE & ALLEN CO, IND.

M. L.

GENEALOGY COLLECTION

ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02524 7385

GENEALOGY 976.9 J63H v.3

A HISTORY

KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS

The Leaders and Representative Men in Commerce, Industry and Modern Activities

BY E. POLK JOHNSON

VOLUME III

ILLUSTRATED

PUBLISHERS: THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY CHICAGO-NEW YORK 1912

Саминый/ 67

481385

OCT 1 5 1941

Amin Albala Mix The .

History of

Kentucky and Kentuckians

DUNNING S. WILSON, M. D., Phar. D., whose name introduces this review, has gained recognition as an able and successful physician in Louisville, and by his labors, his high pro- fessional attainments and his sterling char- acteristics has justified the respect and con- fidence in which he is held by the medical fraternity and by the public at large. Dr. Wil- son is one of the few Americans, so migratory is the race, who make a permanent home in their native town. He was born in Louisville on November 24, 1876, the son of the late Rev. Samuel Ramsey Wilson, who was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1818, and died in Lou- isville, May 21, 1886.

The paternal grandfather was the Rev. Joshua Lacy Wilson, a pioneer preacher of Cincinnati. Rev. Joshua L. Wilson was a Marylander, the son of Dr. Henry Wilson, of that state, who removed from Prince Henry county, Maryland, to Chesterfield county, Vir- ginia, in 1764, where he married Agnes Lacy, a daughter of William and Elizabeth (Rice) Lacy, both natives of Hanover county, Vir- ginia. After marriage he removed to Bedford county, Virginia, and resided near Peaks of Otter. He served as a surgeon during the Revolutionary war. His son, the Rev. Joshua Lacy Wilson, became one of the early pastors of the First Presbyterian church of Cincin- nati, at a time when that was the only Pres- byterian church in that city, and the population of the city did not exceed one thousand. Pre-

vious to this he had served as pastor and teacher in Bardstown, Kentucky. He was deeply interested in church and school work, and at a session of the College or Teachers of Cincinnati, held in 1836, he delivered an ad- dress on the proposition that "A Thorough System of Universal Instruction is not only Necessary but Practicable." The Lancaster Seminary, Cincinnati's business college, was originated and organized by Rev. Joshua Lacy Wilson in 1815. Rev. Samuel Ramsay Wil- son, the father of our subject, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, June 4, 1818. He graduated from Hanover College, Indiana, in the class of '36 and from Princeton Theological Semi- nary, New Jersey, in the clas sof '41, receiving the degree of D. D. He was ordained and installed a pastor in 1842, for four years was a colleague of his father, then succeeded him as pastor of the First Presbyterian church, Cincinnati and so continued for sixteen years. In 1862-3 he had charge of Grand Avenue Presbyterian church, New York city, in 1863-4 was stationed at Mulberry, Kentucky, came to Louisville in 1864 and was pastor of the First Presbyterian church until 1880. At the end of this time Rev. S. R. Wilson went to Madison, Indiana, where he stayed two years, was then for a while at St. Louis, Mis- souri, and Scranton, Pennsylvania, finally re- turning to Louisville. He espoused the cause of slavery from 1843 until the north and south divided, and was the author of tlie "Declaration of Testimony" which divided the

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church in Kentucky in 1867. He turned to the church North, and belonged to the Cincinnati Conference at the time of his death. Rev. S. R. Wilson married Anna Maria, the daughter of Captain Robert Steel, who for many years ran steamboats between Louisville and New Orleans. Captain Steel was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, May 9, 1799, and came to Louis- ville in 1830, dying from cholera in 1850. He was the son of William Steel, who came from the north of Ireland and settled in Pittsburg, where he practiced law and served as justice of the peace and as county treasurer, and later kept an hotel at Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, dying in the year 1830, aged fifty-seven years. Captain Robert Steel married Margaret Har- ris McNair, who was born September 4, 1806, and died May 21, 1892, in Louisville, Ken- tucky. Their daughter, Anna Maria, the mother of our subject, was born in Louisville, Kentucky, September 21, 1842, and is still living in the city.

Dr. Dunning S. Wilson attended the Louis- ville public schools and graduated from the Louisville College of Pharmacy in 1894, and where he is now professor of pharmacy, then graduated from the medical department of the University of Louisville in 1899, and immedi- ately entered into general practice in Louis- ville, and has since here continued, having made the medical profession his life work. He has succeeded in every way and has also served in a number of most honorable posi- tions. The Doctor has served as vice-presi- dent of the Jefferson County Medical Society, and is secretary of the society at the present time. He has served as president of the Lou- isville Academy of Medicine, is a member of the Louisville Society of Physicians and Sur- geons, of the Kentucky State Medical Society and of the American Medical Association. Dr. Wilson has been a delegate to several state medical conventions and was the first physician in Kentucky to join the National Association for the study and prevention of tuberculosis. He was also one of the originat- ors of the Louisville Anti-Tuberculosis Asso- ciation and is physician in charge of the Anti- Tuberculosis Dispensary. He is a member of the Board of United States Pension Examin- ing Surgeons and is first lieutenant, medical department, First Regiment, Kentucky Na- tional Guard. Dr. Wilson has served as a member of the Louisville School Board, as delegate to several Republican State Conven- tions, is a member of the Commercial and Fil- son Clubs and the Masonic fraternity, and a member of the Phi Chi medical fraternity, in- corporated, which was organized in Louisville in 1894. He has been a member of the Grand

Chapter since 1900, and grand secretary and treasurer since 1903. This organization has grown to be the largest in membership of any medical fraternity in the United States. Its phenominal growth is due to the activity of Dr. Wilson more than to any other agency. He is a member of the Fourth Avenue Presby- terian church, which his father organized and which was known years ago as Central church.

Dr. Wilson was united in marriage to Mar- garet, the daughter of Philip Bonn, deceased, of Louisville, a soldier of the Confederacy. They have one child, a son aged two years, named Keith Singleton. The Doctor is ac- corded a position of distinction as a member of the medical fraternity, his talents and strong mentality making him largely master of the scientific principles which underlie the work of the profession. An energetic nature and stu- dious habits have enabled him long since to attain a high measure of respect as a citizen and physician.

H. GUNKEL, JR .- For H. Gunkel, Jr., a prominent attorney of the city, particular sen- timent must attach itself to his home sur- roundings, for not only was he born in New- port and lived here the most of his life, but his birth occurred in the very house in which he now resides. His parentage is German, that sound and sterling stock which has proved one of the most valuable elements in the new American civilization. The name of his grand- father was Henry Christian Gunkel. When he was a boy Napoleon's army passed through the village where he lived and confiscated all the property of value. Young Gunkel was forced to accompany the soldiers, and he secreted a pair of cuff buttons in his shoes. which were the only things he saved except the clothes he wore. After the downfall of Napoleon he returned home, and when his son, Mr. Gunkel's father, started for the United States he gave him the cuff buttons, which are still in the possession of Mr. Gunkel and which he values very highly.

The date of Mr. Gunkel's birth was January 13, 1871, and he was the son of H. C. and Catherine (Webber) Gunkel, the former of whom was born and reared in Germany and the latter in Newport, Kentucky. The father was thoroughly educated in Germany and was graduated in medicine and surgery in the Ber- lin universities. After coming to America he pursued his studies and also received a degree from the Cincinnati Eclectic Medical College. He located in Newport and there carried on his practice for nearly fifty-five years, or until his death, in May, 1909, at the age of eighty- four years. He was very successful and was well-known in Newport and its vicinity.

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While in his native country he did military service, having been a surgeon in the army. The mother died in her native place in Jan- uary, 1893. This estimable couple were the parents of six children, three being deceased and Mr. Gunkel being the youngest born.

H. Gunkel, Jr., was reared in Newport and attended the common and high schools, being graduated from the latter. He afterward took a course at St. Xavier College at Cincinnati and then entered the Cincinnati law school, where he finished in 1892, having been admit- ted to the bar a few months previous to that time. He has since carried on a successful

practice in Newport and has made an enviable record for himself, being particularly well fit- ted for the profession of his choice. He is a member of the Campbell County Bar Asso- ciation, which he assisted in organizing, and in politics is independent, believing that men and causes outweigh party loyalty.

A great deal of credit and honor is due to Mr. Gunkel for his organization of the New- port Foundry Company, a purely co-operative stock company owned entirely by the persons who are employed in it, with limitation of shares to each individual and no salaried offi- cers. It has been in successful operation for nearly ten years and gives employment to about one hundred and fifty men. It is one of the largest and most successful co-operative companies in this section of the United States and is probably the only one of its kind in the country.

RICHARD KNOTT MCCLURE .- One of the most prominent representatives of the mer- cantile life of Frankfort is Richard Knott Mc- Clure, who not only holds a secure position as a business man, but represents one of the lead- ing families of this part of the state. He was born at Owenton, Owen county, Kentucky, on September 16, 1847, his parents being John D. and Agnes (Todd) McClure.

He is of Scotch-Irish descent, his father having been born in the North of Ireland. The parents of John D. McClure recognized the opportunities presented by the new world and crossed the Atlantic to claim their share of them when he was but eight years of age. They located in Chillicothe, Ohio, and there John D. McClure remained until he was eighteen years of age, when he came to Ken- tucky and engaged in mercantile pursuits in Owenton. He married Miss Agnes Todd, of Frankfort, Kentucky, a member of an old and highly respected family of the Blue Grass state. Her father was a Virginian and of Scotch lineage and her mother was a Mon- tague. John McClure continued in the mer-

cantile business until his demise, which oc- curred at the age of fifty years. He reared a large family of children, nine of whom lived to maturity.

Richard Knott McClure was one of the younger children and at the time of his fath- er's death was a lad only about ten years of age. The mother removed with her family to Frankfort and it was in this city that Mr. Mc- Clure received his public school education. Very early in life he found it expedient to enlist himself among the wage earners and he followed in the footsteps of his lamented father by choosing a mercantile career. He began in the capacity of a clerk and in 1870 he and his brother, Albert H. McClure, en- gaged in the boot and shoe business, this asso- ciation lasting about fifteen years. The firm was subsequently changed to that of R. K. McClure & Sons, and in the meantime the line of merchandise had changed and become of a general character. Mr. McClure has en- countered the most thorough success. The R. K. McClure establishment is the most popular and substantial department store in Frank- fort. It occupies quarters in the seven-story office building known as the McClure building, a handsome edifice completed in 1908, the same having been built by Mr. McClure and his son, Albert H., the son being the prime mover of the enterprise. Albert H. McClure has indeed inherited the commercial sagacity of his father and grandfather, and a great measure of the success and prestige attending the McClure department store is no doubt due to his initiative.

In 1870, at Frankfort, Mr. McClure was united in marriage to Miss Sallie Hudson, a native of Franklin county, Kentucky, and to them have been born four children, namely : William H., Albert H., Harriet and Rich- ard K.

For more than thirty years Mr. McClure has been a ruling elder in the Presbyterian church, and he has given cheerful and effective furth- erance to many good causes. Although he takes an interest in public affairs, particularly in those questions effecting the general wel- fare, he has never been active in politics.

DR. JOHN ARVID O. BRENNAN, one of the well-known physicians and surgeons of Louis- ville, is a native son of the Blue Grass state, being born in Louisville on the IIth of March, 1880, and is one of the young members of the medical profession. He is the son of Thomas and Anna (Bruce) Brennan, the father a native of Ireland, who came to Louisville with his parents when a child and has been a citizen ever since, engaged in the manufacturing busi-

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ness. The mother was born on the Isle of Jersey, the daughter of Dr. Napoleon Bruce. She died May 13, 1908.

Dr. Brennan received his education in the public schools of Louisville and in the private school of Professor Waddell. He was gradu- ated from the medical department of the Uni- versity of Louisville in 1901 and completed his studies in medicine with three years in Vienna, Paris and Berlin. Having acquired a thorough education in the requirements of his chosen profession he returned to Louisville in 1904 and engaged in the practice of medicine and surgery, in which he has since continued, meet- ing with the success that his education, dili- gence and hard work deserves' and which is bound to come to those who have labored as Dr. Brennan has and does, for he is advancing constantly in knowledge and experience.

Dr. Brennan is a member of the Jefferson County Medical Society, the Louisville Society of Physicians and Surgeons, the Louisville So- ciety of Medicine, is visiting physician to St. Mary's and Elizabeth Hospital, and a member of the Kentucky State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. The Doctor is a member of the Louisville Lodge of Elks and a communicant of St. Paul's Episcopal church.

JOHN KRUCHTEN .- It would indeed be dif- ficult to find among the citizens of the thriving town of Dayton one who takes a truer or more active interest in its welfare than John Kruch- ten, president of the Bank of Dayton, a con- servative and substantial banking institution which he assisted in organizing in 1906 and which in the few years of its career has achieved a most gratifying growth. As an ef- ficient public servant Mr. Kruchten has a rec- ord comprising four years in the city council and eight years as mayor of the municipality. His loyalty to this section of Kentucky is not difficult to understand, for he was born on a farm in Campbell county, near Dayton, and has spent about all his life in this locality. The date of the nativity of John Kruchten was September 6, 1860, and his parents were Matt and Mary (Wagner) Kruchten. Both of them were natives of the picturesque old city of Luxemborg in Germany, where they were reared and educated in both the French and German languages. They were already ac- quainted when they left their native land and their marriage was solemnized in Dayton, Kentucky, whence they came soon after cross- ing the Atlantic, the year of their emigration and union having been 1857. The father en- gaged in agriculture, and was in the prime of his life and accomplishment when he was killed in 1867 by the kick of a horse. The mother survived for many years, thirty-five in

fact, and died in 1902 in Dayton, where many years before she had taken up her residence. Matt Kruchten was a member of the Home Guards during the Civil war and participated in the Kirby Smith troubles, his sympathies being with the Union cause. He and his wife were the parents of six children, four of whom are still living.

John Kruchten, who was the second child of his parents, was but seven years of age when death deprived him of his natural protector. The widowed mother brought her young fam- ily to Dayton and at an age when most boys have little concern in life other than play the actual burdens of life had begun to fall upon the shoulders of young John. There was little time for schooling, and had he been passive about it John Kruchten might have had an extremely limited education, for he was taken from the public schools to begin the business of wage earning not only for his own support but for contribution to the family exchequer. Fortunately he was zealous about learning and pieced out his interrupted mental dis- cipline most effectively by night attendance at the parochial schools. He is one of the bright- est examples of the self-educated and self- made man, and his career should serve as an inspiration to those of the coming generation to whom Dame Fortune has been chary in her gifts.

Mr. Kruchten set about learning the baker's trade and worked at this for about nine years, assisting materially in the support of his mother and young brothers and sisters. Emi- nently thrifty and industrious, he was able in 1885 to engage in business for himself, choos- ing the line of flour and feed, and making a thorough success of the enterprise of which. he is still the manager and proprietor. His interests have by no means been of a limited character, and among them have been enrolled the Citizens' Loan and Savings Association, which is one of the largest and most successful organizations of its kind in the county. For four years he was vice-president of the Citi- zens' Loan and Savings Association and for the past eight years has held the office of presi- dent. In 1906 he assisted in the organization of the Bank of Dayton, which opened for business on March 6 of that year, with Mr. Kruchten as president. This bank had a capi- tal stock of $25,000 at the time of its organiza- tion and has since experienced a substantial growth, its deposits now being about $150,000, its surplus and profits over $8,000, and its loans and discounts $135,000, with semi-an- nual dividends of three per cent paid and stock quoted at one dollar and thirty-four cents. In February, 1910, the bank of which

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Mr. Kruchten is the head, was housed in handsome new quarters. This is equipped with the most modern appliances in the way of safe deposit boxes and the like.

Mr. Kruchten gives his support to the men and measures of the Democratic party and plays an active role in home affairs. After serving two four-year terms as mayor he re- tired from the duties of this office in January, 1910. His fraternal relations extend to the Eagles and to the Jackson Club, the latter a Democratic organization.

Mr. Kruchten laid the foundation of a happy married life in 1887, on May 4th of which year he was united to Miss Anna B. Paul, a native of Newport and the daughter of Joseph Paul, a machinist residing in that city. Mr. and Mrs. Kruchten have two daugh- ters, named Alma Marie and Stella Magdaline. The family are consistent communicants of the Catholic church of Dayton and assist in the advancement of its good works not only with their means but with their sympathy and per- sonal effort.

WILLIAM B. BELKNAP .- Within the pages of this publication will be found mention of many of those representative citizens who have been the potent factors in the develop- ment and upbuilding of the city of Louisville, and among those meriting a place of special distinction is the late William Burke Belknap. He was one of the most prominent and influ- ential business men of the state and a citizen of recognized sterling character. He held com- manding vantage ground in the confidence and regard of the community in which were cen- tered for so long a period of years his various and important business interests. He was a man of forceful individuality and played a large part in the business and civic affairs of the Kentucky metropolis, with whose annals the family name has been most conspicuously identified, both through his own life and labors and those of his sons. The career of Mr. Belknap illustrated in a very marked degree the power of concentrating the resources of the entire man and lifting them to the plane of high achievement ; of supplementing un- usual natural endowments by close applica- tion and marked tenacity of purpose. Along the lines in which he directed his energies and abilities Mr. Belknap made of success not an accident but a logical result. There is no element of subtlety or obscurity, no manner of indirection in the record of his life, and so distinctive and beneficent was his in- fluence in connection with the material and social .progress of his home city and state that it is altogether proper that in this work be entered a tribute to his memory.

William Burke Belknap was born in Brim- field, Hampden county, Massachusetts, on the 17th of May, 1811, and was a son of Morris Burke Belknap and Phoebe Locke (Thomp- son) Belknap, the former of whom died at Smithland, Livingston county, Kentucky, on the 26th of July, 1837. The latter passed the evening of her life at DeWitt, Arkansas, where her death occurred on the 5th of February, 1873. Morris Burke Belknap was born in South Brimfield, Massachusetts, on the 25th of June, 1780, and was a son of William Belknap, who was the only son of Joseph and Mary (Morris) Belknap. William Belknap was born at Haverhill, Massachusetts, about the year 1740, and he was twice married, his first union having been with Elizabeth McNaul, who died soon after her marriage. He later wedded Anne Burke, and they became the parents of one son and six daughters. Joseph Belknap, father of William, was a son of Samuel Belknap, who removed from the vicinity of Lynn, Massa- chusetts, and settled at Brimfield colony, in a locality then known as the Holland district. He there secured a large tract of land around Holland pond and on the Quinebaug river. His wife was an aunt of Robert Morris, signer of the Declaration of Independence. Samuel Belknap was one of the four sons of Abraham Belknap and he settled at Malden, Massachusetts, whence he finally removed to Haverhill, that colony, where he took the oath of fidelity on the 28th of November, 1677. His father was the founder of the family in America, whither he came from Liverpool, England, in 1635 or 1637. He first settled at Lynn, Massachusetts, from which place he later removed to the historic old town of Salem, where his death occurred in the year 1643.

Morris Burke Belknap, father of the sub- ject of this memoir, was the founder of the western branch of the family. In 1807 he left Brimfield, Massachusetts, and made his way to Ohio. He located in the old town of Marietta, that state, and it may fairly be said that he was one of the pioneers in the develop- ment of the iron industry west of the Alle- ghany mountains. From Ohio he removed to Pennsylvania, and he established his resi- dence in Pittsburg in the year 1816. At this time was virtually initiated his successful career in connection with the iron industry. There he applied his theoretical knowledge to the practical development of the line of enter- prise mentioned and it was due to his progres- sive ideas and well directed efforts that some of the first rolling mills were built in Pittsburg. In 1827 he made an extended trip through

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the ore fields of the Cumberland and Tennes- see river district, and on horseback he made a careful exploration of this region. He ap- preciated the advantages here offered and, after enlisting requisite capital, he erected furnaces in Stewart county, Tennessee, and later at Nashville, that state. He died in Kentucky, as already noted in this context, and his name merits special prominence on the roster of those through whose construct- ive and initiative abilities was compassed the development of the great iron industry of the United States.

William Burke Belknap, whose name in- troduces this review, was reared in the city of Pittsburg, where he was afforded the ad- vantages of a well conducted private school, and he early gained experience in connection with the practical affairs of life. When he was but sixteen years of age his father in- structed him to assume charge of the trans- porting of the family's household effects from Pittsburg to Tennessee, and also to se- cure new machinery for the iron furnace which the father had established in Tennes- see, where he was located at the time. The boy selected the equipment required, and loaded the same, together with the household goods, on a flatboat, on which the family pro- ceeded down the Ohio river. At Louisville, where no canal had yet been constructed, it became necessary to unload the heavy ma- chinery, which was carted through the city to a point below the falls and then reloaded on the boat at Shippingport. After having been associated with his father in his iron opera- tions for three years Mr. Belknap, who was then nineteen years of age, decided to under- take his independent business career. With the consent of his father he severed his relations with the latter's affairs and proceeded to Hickman, Fulton county, Kentucky, a place then known as Mill's Point, on the Missis- sippi river. There he began a trading or gen- eral merchandise business, in which he soon became associated with two other young men. They established branches at Moscow and Vicksburg, and soon developed a prosperous trading business on the river. Serious finan- cial reverses were encountered by the firm, however, in the great panic of 1837, and this resulted in virtual bankruptcy. Mr. Belknap has none of the elements of impassivity or in- action, and his reverses but spurred him to renewed effort. In 1840, after having visited St. Louis and Cincinnati, as well as Louisville, he determined to establish his home in the city last mentioned-a decision which he nev- er had cause to regret. Here he engaged in business as agent for the firm of G. K. and

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A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume III, Part 1

Author: Johnson, E. Polk, 1844-; Lewis Publishing Company Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 860

Author: Johnson, E. Polk, 1844-; Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 860