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1198642
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00826 9596 E
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Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/biographicalcycl00gres
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The property the late 9. Holzhauer Estate
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DANIEL BOONE, Frontispiece.
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA
OF THE
COMMONWEALTH
OF
KENTUCKY
EMBRACING BIOGRAPHIES OF MANY OF THE PROMINENT MEN AND FAMILIES OF THE STATE
COMPILED AND PUBLISHED BY THE JOHN M. GRESHAM COMPANY CHICAGO-PHILADELPHIA
1896
DONOHUE & HENNEBERRY, PRINTERS, ENGRAVERS AND BINDERS, CHICAGO.
1198642
PREFACE.
T HE greatest of English historians, Macaulay, and one of America's ablest and most brilliant writers of the Nineteenth Century, have said : The history of a country is best told in a record of the lives of its people. In conformity with this idea, the Biographical Cyclopedia of the Common- wealth of Kentucky has been prepared. Instead of going to musty records and taking from there dry statistical matter that would be appreciated but by few, our corps of writers have gone to the people, the men and women who have, by their force of character, brought the state to a rank, in many respects, second to none among those comprising this great and noble country ; and from their lips we have the story of their life struggles. No more interesting or instructive matter could be presented to an intelligent public. In this volume will be found complete sketches of many whose lives are worthy of imitation of generations yet to come. It tells how many with limited advantages and whose environments were of the simplest kind have become great men and women, and whose influence extends throughout the land. It tells of men who have risen from the lower walks of life to eminence as statesmen, and whose names have become renowned. It tells of those in every walk of life who have striven to succeed, and records how success has usually crowned their efforts. It also tells of many who, not seeking the applause of the world, have pursued " the even tenor of their way," content to have it said of them, as Christ said of the woman performing a deed of mercy-"they have done what they could." It tells of how that many, in the pride of strength of young manhood, left the plow and the anvil, the lawyer's office and the counting room, left every trade and profession, and at their country's call went forth valiantly " to do or die " for the land which gave them birth and, which next to their God, their highest homage was due.
Generations yet unborn will greatly appreciate this book and preserve it as a sacred treasure, and a precious souvenir of those who gave the best years of their lives in the interest of civilization and progress. Great care has been taken in the compilation of this volume, and every opportunity possible
given those who are represented to insure correctness in what has been written, and the publisher is giving to his patrons a work of few errors of consequence.
The sketches of many will be missed in this book. For this the pub- lisher is not to blame. Not having a proper conception of the work, some refused to give the information necessary to compile a biography, while others were indifferent. Occasionally some member of the family would oppose the enterprise, and on account of such opposition the support of the interested one would be withheld. In some instances men could never be found, though repeated calls were made at their places of business. For many sketches of the pioneers of the State and men of prominence we are indebted to Collins' carefully prepared and very excellent history of Kentucky, and for which we give full credit.
JOHN M. GRESHAM, PUBLISHER.
Chicago, May 18, 1896.
BIOGRAPHICAL CYCLOPEDIA
OF
KENTUCKY.
T HOMAS W. BULLITT, one of the leading attorneys of Louisville, was born at Ox- moor, Jefferson County, eight miles from Louis- ville, May 17, 1838. His father, William Chris- tian Bullitt, was born at the same place in 1793, and died at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. Henry Chenowith, near Oxmoor, August 28, 1877, at the age of eighty-four years. He spent his whole life on the farm, except a short time when he was engaged in the practice of law in Louisville, an occupation for which he was well equipped, but which he abandoned on account of ill health. He was a Whig in early life, but voted for President Franklin Pierce, and from that time until his death he was a pronounced Democrat. He was a member of the Constitutional Conven- tion of 1849-50, but was never an office seeker, although he was always earnest and active in the interest of his party. He was a man of great strength of character, with decided firmness and excellent judgment. His hospitality was pro- verbial, and in this kindness he heartily seconded his excellent wife, who loved all young people and loved to have her house well filled. They really kept "open house" at all times, entertaining friend and stranger in such a manner that through them and others like them the State of Kentucky became noted for its hospitality.
Alexander Scott Bullitt (grandfather) was a na- tive of Prince William County, Virginia, who
came to Kentucky in 1783, when about 21 years of age, and purchased a tract of one thousand acres of land lying on what is now the Louisville and Shelbyville turnpike, and called it Oxmoor. This valuable property has been in possession of the Bullitt family over one hundred years, no part of it having been sold.
A. S. Bullitt was president of the convention which framed the constitution of Kentucky in 1799, and was the first lieutenant governor under that constitution. In 1785 he married the daugh- ter of Col. William Christian, whose wife was a sister of Patrick Henry of Virginia. Col. Chris- tian came to Jefferson County in 1785 and was killed by the Indians in 1786. He was buried at Oxmoor, the oldest burying ground in Kentucky, where all the descendants of the families who have since died have been "gathered to their fathers." The burying ground is on what was Col. Christian's home, adjoining Oxmoor, and is scrupulously cared for by the family, a permanent fund having been provided for the purpose, and is in the form of a trust in the hands of the Fidelity Trust Co. Governor Bullitt died in 1816.
Cuthbert Bullitt (great-grandfather) was a Vir- ginia lawyer of renown, and was one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Virginia at the time of his death.
Benjamin Bullitt (great-great-grandfather) was a Virginia farmer whose father, Joseph Bullitt, a
2
KENTUCKY BIOGRAPHIES.
French Huguenot, came from the province of France and settled at Port Tobacco, Maryland, on the Chesapeake Bay, in 1685.
Mildred Ann Fry Bullitt (mother) was a native of Albemarle County, Virginia. She survived her husband about two years and died in 1879 in her eighty-second year. She was a faithful Christian and a member of the Presbyterian Church. Her father, Joshua Fry (grandfather), removed from Virginia when she was three years old and settled in Danville. His wife was the daughter of Dr. Thomas Walker of Albemarle County, Virginia, whose farm was, and is now, known as Castle Hill.
Thomas W. Bullitt received his early training at home and in the common schools near Oxmoor and at Centre College, graduating in 1858. He then went to Philadelphia and read law with his brother, John C. Bullitt, finishing his law course in the law department of the University of Penn- sylvania, and was admitted to the Philadelphia bar in 1861, where he commenced the practice of law with his brother. He remained only until the spring of 1862, when he returned to Kentucky and joined the Confederate army under Gen. John Morgan; and later accompanied that dashing of- ficer with seventy-five comrades in a raid upon the Ohio Penitentiary. He did not escape with Mor- gan and the others, but remained in the prison at Columbus about eight months, when he was transferred to Fort Delaware, and there he re- mained until about a month prior to the close of the war, when he was paroled for exchange and sent to Richmond.
After the war, Col. Bullitt returned to Louis- ville and commenced the practice of law, in which he has been vastly more successful than he was as a Confederate soldier. He has distinguished him- self by his remarkable industry, his good judg- ment and his careful study of legal subjects bear- ing especially upon corporations. In addition to his lucrative law business, he has been and is con- nected with a number of large corporations, banks, railroads and other enterprises in which he is a director as well as attorney.
He inaugurated the Fidelity Trust Company of Louisville, the first trust company organized west of the Alleghany mountains, and later organized
the Kentucky Title Insurance Company, in which he is a director.
He has been a Democrat ever since he became a voter, but has not aspired to office.
He is a member of the Presbyterian Church (South) and a liberal supporter of the church and its work.
Col. Bullitt was married in 1871 to Anna Pris- cilla, daughter of Hon. Caleb Logan of the Louis- ville Chancery Court. Her mother was the daugh- ter of Dr. Louis Marshall, who was a brother of Chief Justice John Marshall. They have six chil- dren living: William Marshall, James B., Agatha M., Alexander S., Keith L. and Myra L.
C! CHARLES BALDWIN POYNTZ, distiller "' of Maysville, late railroad commissioner, and an influential citizen, son of Samuel B. and Mary (Dewees) Poyntz, was born in Maysville, July 17, 1853. He was educated, principally, in Cincinnati, Ohio, to which city his father removed in 1865; and was employed in the accounting de- partment of the Indianapolis and St. Louis Rail- road for several years, and was made assistant paymaster of that company when he was twenty- five years of age. He was located in Indianapolis for eight years of the time that he was in the ser- vice of the railroad company. .
In 1881 he resigned and came to Maysville to engage in the distillery and jobbing business with his father and brother, Benjamin B. Poyntz, and was a member of the firm of Samuel B. Poyntz & Sons until the death of the senior member of the firm in 1890, when he and his brother took charge of the business, since which time the well known house has sustained its reputation as one of the most reliable and substantial establishments in the state.
In 1886 Mr. Poyntz was elected to the Mays- ville City Council and was made president of that body in 1887. In 1888 he was a delegate to the National Democratic Convention which gave President Cleveland his second nomination; in 1889 he was elected to the Kentucky Senate from Mason and Lewis Counties and was recognized as one of the ablest men in that body, being chair- man of the Finance Committee; was chairman of the Ninth Congressional District Democratic
3
KENTUCKY BIOGRAPHIES.
Committee for eight years; and at the same time chairman of the Appellate Court District Commit- tee, and was appointed Railroad Commissioner for the Third (Eastern) District in 1892, which of- fice he held until December, 1895. His record as a business man and as an official is one in which his friends indulge a pardonable pride. It is without spot, scratch or blemish.
Mr. Poyntz was married December 24, 1878, to Alice Craig of Crawfordsville, Indiana, an accom- plished and charming woman.
Samuel B. Poyntz, father of Charles B. Poyntz, was born in Mason County in 1819; died August, 1890. He was for some years engaged in the wholesale grocery business in Cincinnati, and for many years before his death he was similarly en- gaged-in connection with distilling-in Mays- ville. He was a gentleman of high character and standing, and one of the most successful business men in northern Kentucky.
Mary Dewees Poyntz (mother) was the eldest daughter of John Coburn Dewees, one of five sis- ters, all of whom were remarkable for their per- sonal attractions.
William Poyntz (paternal grandfather) was a native of Pennsylvania and one of the early set- tlers of Kentucky. His wife was a Miss Baldwin of Washington, Mason County.
John Coburn Dewees (maternal grandfather), a native of Lexington, Kentucky, was for many years a leading citizen of Mason County. His wife, Maria Bayless, was connected by marriage and blood with many of the principal families of this state, and was a sister of the late Dr. Benja- min Bayless, an eminent surgeon of Louisville.
L UCIEN CLAY DALLAM, a retired mer- chant and banker of Henderson, son of Nathan Smith and Sarah (Hicks) Dallam, was born in Princeton, Kentucky, May 17, 1829. He went to school only a few years and in 1842, when only thirteen years of age, went to work in the County Clerk's office in Livingston County, and served one year as deputy, and returned to Prince- ton and served four years there in a similar ca- pacity. He then began his mercantile career in partnership with his brother, William J. Dallam, and remained in Princeton until 1854, when they
removed to Henderson. The two brothers were in partnership in the dry goods business in Prince- ton and Henderson about eight years. The firm dissolved in 1856 and Lucien C. Dallam continued the business alone until 1859, when his brother- in-law, Thomas Soaper, who had been clerking for him, was admitted into partnership. This business relation continued under the most favor- able auspices until 1876, when Mr. Soaper pur- chased the interest of Mr. Dallam and the latter retired from mercantile pursuits.
He was one of the chief organizers of the Hen- derson National Bank in 1865, which was opened for business in January, 1866, and Mr. Dallam was elected president of that bank, a position which he held continuously until February, 1892, when he resigned. He is, however, still inter- ested in the bank, in which he is a leading stock- holder. This bank had an original capital of $100,000, which has been increased several times until it has been doubled, and has accumulated a surplus of $100,000. Its average annual divi- dends have been from ten to twelve per cent, and the bank examiners have pronounced it one of the best managed institutions of the kind in the state. It has never charged borrowers of small sums a larger per cent than it charged its patrons of larger means. Mr. Dallam was the leading spirit in this bank for more than twenty-six years, and its suc- cess was largely due to his excellent judgment and ability as a financier.
He was the first President of the Henderson Bridge Company; served many years as chair- man of the Board of Sinking Fund Commis- sioners of the City of Henderson and also served in the City Council. He is president of the Hen- derson Humane Society, and was Senior Warden of St. Paul's Episcopal Church for many years. In all of his business, official and church relations he has been governed by a wise and conservative policy and has endeared himself to the people of Henderson.
Mr. Dallam was married in 1855 to Elizabeth Soaper, daughter of William Soaper and sister of Thomas and R. H. Soaper, sketches of both of whom will be found in this work.
The children of Lucien C. and Elizabeth (Soaper) Dallam are: Susan Henderson, wife of
4
KENTUCKY BIOGRAPHIES.
Henry Burnett of Paducah; Clarence, born April 14, 1863, a graduate of the University of Virginia, class of 1886, now practicing law in Paducah, mar- ried Cantey McDowell Venable of Charlottes- ville, Virginia; Charles Edward, born in 1865, graduate of the University of Virginia, class of 1885, now assistant cashier of the Henderson National Bank; Elizabeth Soaper, wife of George Wadsworth Cobb of Chicago, and Sarah Hicks, wife of Muscoe Burnett of Paducah.
Nathan Smith Dallam (father) was born in Har- ford County, Maryland, December 19, 1782; mar- ried Sarah Hicks in 1807 at Winchester, Clark County, Kentucky, at which place he was located for a time after leaving Maryland. He soon re- moved to Hopkinsville, where he was clerk of the County and Circuit Courts for many years, and also represented his county in the legislature a number of terms; was a Whig and a personal friend of Henry Clay ; left Hopkinsville about 1825 and went to Princeton, then the "Athens of the West," and held various official positions of honor and trust until the time of his death, June 1, 1837.
He had ten children, whose names were James Lawrence, Mary Frances, Maria, Frances Henry, Jane Marian, Charles B., William J., Edward Winston, Lucien Clay and Virginia Josephine, all of whom are deceased except Lucien C. and Mrs. Mary Frances Duncan, a widow now eighty years of age.
Sara Hicks (mother) was born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1792. Her parents died, leaving her an orphan at a tender age and she came with her guardian to Winchester, Clark County, Kentucky, where she was married to Nathan Smith Dallam in 1807.
The original pioneer and ancestor of the Dal- lam family, Richard Dallam (great-great-grand- father), came from Wales, England, in 1680, and married Elizabeth Martin in Maryland, who was known in the colonial times as "Pretty Bettie Martin." Many interesting reminiscences of this remarkable woman are still cherished by her de- scendants. She lived to the advanced age of 114 years. William Dallam, son of Richard Dallam and "Pretty Betty Martin" Dallam, was the great- grandfather. Francis Matthews Dallam, who came to Kentucky from Maryland and married
Martha Cassandra Smith, was the grandfather, and Nathan Smith Dallam, who married Sara Hicks, was the father of the subject of this sketch, Lucien Clay Dallam of Henderson, Kentucky.
M ILTON JAMISON DURHAM, cashier of the Central Bank of Lexington, ex-Judge of the Circuit Court, ex-member of Congress, ex- Comptroller of the United States Treasury, etc., son of Benjamin and Margaret (Robinson) Dur- ham, was born in Boyle (then a part of Mercer) County, Kentucky, May 16, 1824. He was brought up on his father's farm, and at the age of nineteen entered Asbury University, Green- castle, Indiana, from which institution he gradu- ated in 1844, when Bishop Simpson was its presi- dent. He taught school at Perryville a short time and read law with the late Joshua F. Bell of Dan- ville; attended the Louisville Law School and was graduated in March, 1850; located the same year in Danville, which was the principal scene of his labors and of a remarkably successful career until his removal to Lexington in 1890.
In 1861 and the year following he was Circuit Judge of his district by appointment of Governor Magoffin; in 1872 he was elected to Congress by the Democratic party ; was re-elected in 1874 and again in 1876, representing the Eighth Congres- sional District. While in Congress he served on many important committees, including Banking and Currency, Coinage, Weights and Measures, Expenditures in the Department of Justice; Chair- man of the Committee on Revision of Law, and the Committee on Appropriations. In 1885 he was appointed First Comptroller of the United States Treasury by President Cleveland, and held that office until April, 1889.
In 1890, Judge Durham's health being greatly impaired by a serious attack of La Grippe, his physician advised him to abandon his law practice, and following this advice, he sought another field and assisted in organizing the Central Bank of Lexington, with a capital of 200,000, and was elected Cashier of the bank, in which position he has demonstrated his ability as a financier. He is also treasurer of the Blue Grass Building and Loan Association, one of the strongest organiza- tions of the kind in the State,
HON. M. J. DURHAM.
5
KENTUCKY BIOGRAPHIES.
From 1872 to 1876 he was Grand Sire of the Grand Lodge, I. O. O. F., of the United States.
Judge Durham is widely known throughout the state and country as an active, energetic busi- ness man, and for many years as a distinguished member of the Democratic party, while in his present sphere of action, he is universally recog- nized as a zealous friend of every effort for the elevation of the masses, especially the laboring community, and a willing helper in every good work; an honest and upright business man, and, what is more rare, an honest politician; has always taken an active and prominent part in politics, and in every relation in life, public and private, he has been noted for his uniform kindness and con- sideration for others. Few men have more stanch friends or enthusiastic admirers than Judge Dur- ham.
His history is an example of the possibilities, under the operation of our free institutions, that are offered to rising young men, who, with native talent, honorable purpose and industry, may sur- mount all difficulties and attain success and honor without the patronage of the influential or the arts of the demagogue. He is strictly a temperance man, having never taken a dram of spirituous liquors in his life, and never treated any person to liquor in any of his canvasses or at any other time.
Judge Durham was married in 1850 to Martha J. Mitchell, daughter of Judge James P. Mitchell of Boyle County. She died in 1879, leaving four sons and one daughter: Louis H., deceased; Benjamin J., James Wesley, Robert M. and Ora B., who married Albert Morris of Louisville.
He was again married in 1886 to Mrs. Margaret Letcher Carter, daughter of the late Dr. Samuel M. Letcher of Lexington.
Judge Durham is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church (South), as were all of his fore- fathers since their settlement in this country.
Benjamin Durham (father) was a native of the patriotic County of Mechlenburg, Va., which, in the days of the great struggle for American inde- pendence, furnished six hundred men to serve in the siege and capture of Lord Cornwallis at York- town, October 19, 1781. He removed to Ken- tucky with his father when four years of age, and
settled in what is now Boyle County in 1782, and made his home there until the day of his death, in 1847, at the age of sixty-nine years. He was a blacksmith and a farmer, and was highly esteemed by his neighbors. He was a class leader in the Methodist Church, and was known as a man of correct business principles, whose daily life was the best evidence of the sincerity of his religious profession. His aim in life was to do all the good in his power for his friends and neighbors. He had no ambition.to be great and the simplicity of his life was the source of his strength and true greatness. He was a believer in and a faithful advocate of the Jeffersonian democracy, but was not an office-seeker.
John Durham (grandfather), who removed from Mechlenburg County, Virginia, to Kentucky in 1782, organized the first Methodist Church west of the Alleghany Mountains, which was lo- cated seven miles from Danville. Humility was the distinguishing trait of his character; and if at any time he brought himself into prominence it was by an attempt to accomplish some good work. He was through life an honest and upright man. He was a farmer and a most excellent neighbor, who left his impress upon the community in which he lived. He died at the age of seventy-six years.
The Durham family was originally from Eng- land, and settled in Virginia about the close of the Seventeenth Century.
Margaret Robinson Durham (mother) was born in Virginia in 1776, and died in Boyle County, Kentucky, in 1854. She was a true and consistent member of the Methodist Church.
Jacob Robinson (maternal grandfather) was also a native of Virginia, most of whose useful and exemplary life was spent in Boyle County, where he died. The Robinsons are of English and Scotch descent, and were noted for their energy and thrift.
L EE H. BROOKS, Vice-President of the "Cincinnati Leaf Tobacco Warehouse Co.," and Manager of the Globe Warehouse, the larg- est establishment of the kind in the world, and recently President of the Chamber of Commerce of Cincinnati, but for eighteen years a resident of
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KENTUCKY BIOGRAPHIES.
Covington, was born in Bristol, Addison County, Vermont, May 18, 1840.
In this great country, abounding in opportuni- ties and rich resources, where so many men have risen from obscurity to eminence, a man's abili- ties are measured by the successes he has achieved. He is the architect of his own for- tune. Most men who start in life without capital -save their inherent talents, energy and enter- prise-and succeed, do so by force of their native endowments, and are not indebted to assistance from friends, capital or circumstances except as they have created them in making their way to position, wealth and honor. The subject of this sketch is an example of what a young man may do if he has the natural sagacity to discover opportunities and the ability and energy to ini- prove them.
Mr. Brooks received his early education prin- cipally in the High School of Shelby, New York, and began his remarkably successful career as a clerk in a grocery, when he was sixteen years of age. Not satisfied with the education he had re- ceived, he worked industriously during the day and studied at night, saving his earnings so that at the end of one year he had the means-which his father could not provide-to defray his ex- penses for two years in the Albion Academy in Orleans County, New York, and there completed his studies.
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