USA > Kentucky > Jessamine County > A history of Jessamine County, Kentucky, from its earliest settlement to 1898 > Part 18
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Jacob Kreath Robinson, in the official list spelled Robertson, was one of the youngest men in this company. He was born in 1829. The oldest man in the company. John Hunter, was born in 1804. and was the son of John Hunter, the first settler. He was severely wounded in the leg at the battle of Buena Vista and died in 1881. Robinson was also a soldier in the late war, passed through all its hardships and dangers, endured its privations, and now resides at Harrodsburg, Ky.
This company was ordered to report at Louisville to be mus- tered into service. They assembled at Mundy's Landing on the
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Kentucky river; some came on horseback, some in carriages, and they were ordered there to meet the steamboat Blue Wing. When the company reached the river the steamboat was at Brooklyn, and while coming down to Mundy's Landing ran into a sandbar and stuck. Capt. Philip Thomson's company from Mercer county, was also on the way to Louisville. With ropes the soldiers pulled the steamer from off the sandbar twice, and. after it had stuck the third time, Capt. Thomson went to Salvisa and obtained wagons and drove through to Louisville, while Cap- tain Willis's company took coalboats at Mundy's Landing, rowed themselves down to Frankfort, and arrived there the next day. After taking breakfast in Frankfort, the steamer arrived at the landing and they took passage and reached Louisville, and were mustered in by Col. George Croghan. From Louisville they were transported to New Orleans by steamers, and after re- maining there a few days, they. crossed the Gulf of Mexico in some old British sailing vessels, and arrived at Brazos on the Rio Grande river. A part of the regiment was engaged in the bat- tle of Monterey. Shortly after this the regiment was ordered to the city of Saltillo, and from thence, marching with General Tay- lor, they engaged in the battle of Buena Vista. This was one of the most brilliant battles that crowned American arms, and it was the only battle in which the entire regiment, with which Cap- tain Willis' company was connected, was engaged. This regi- ment was commanded by Col. William R. McKee, from Lancas- ter ; Henry Clay, Jr., was Lieutenant-Colonel, and Cary H. Fry. Major. The company was enrolled on the 21st of May, 1846, in Nicholasville, and was mustered in at Louisville June 9. 1846. and was mustered out at New Orleans June 9. 1847.
The story of this battle has always reflected great credit and renown on Kentucky courage. The second Kentucky Regiment was on the right flank of the army and held it throughout the battle, defeating the enemy opposite to them, which was twice their number. At this time the left flank gave way, and its retreat was only stopped by General Taylor and Jefferson Davis and the cavalry, who drove them back to face the enemy. It was then that Colonel Hardin, of the First Illinois, and Colonel McKee, of the Second, made a disastrous charge against an overwhelming force. This charge was made against the earnest protest of Colonel Mc-
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Kee and Captain Willis, but Hardin insisted upon making it, and Lieutenant-Colonel Clay urged it, and the Kentucky boys, fear- ing that the Illinois men would get the glory, McKee then united in the charge and was killed. Col. Henry Clay, Jr., was wound- ed, and Captain Willis, with the high courage and noble generos- ity which marked his whole career, was urging his men to take the Lieutenant-Colonel from the field, when the Mexican Lancers came rapidly down and killed both Colonel Clay and Captain Willis. Harvey Trotter, a soldier from Jessamine, was killed at the same time. James O. Hervey succeeded Captain Willis, and only four of the men who were engaged in the battle of Buena Vista in this company, now remain in Jessamine: John A. Willis, William C. Lowrey, William Hamilton and David Switzer. Cap- tain Willis' remains, as well as those of Trotter, were removed by the State of Kentucky, and reinterred in the state ground in Frankfort cemetery. It was upon the occasion of the reinter- ment of these soldiers that Theodore O'Hara wrote his immortal poem of " The Bivouac of the Dead," commencing as follows :
"The muffled drum's sad roll has beat The soldier's last tattoo ; No more on Life's parade shall meet That brave and fallen few. On Fame's eternal camping-ground Their silent tents are spread, And glory guards, with solemn round, The bivouac of the dead."
Robert Young.
Robert Young, a resident of Jessamine county for more than sixty-four years, was born in Fayette county, on Elkhorn creek, not far from the Jessamine line, in 1803. His father, John Young. was a Revolutionary soldier and served three years under General Greene. At the breaking out of the war he was only sixteen years of age. He was engaged in the battles of Eutaw Springs, Monk's Corner, Guilford Court House, and at York- town. Robert Young was the son of John Young by his second wife, Cynthia Mccullough.
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He learned hat manufacturing with his brother-in-law, Mr. Fritzlen, at Versailles, and in 1825 established himself in Nicholas- ville. He accumulated a moderate fortune and in 1848 purchased a farm and retired from business as a manufacturer.
He married Josephine Henderson, a granddaughter of Col. Joseph Crockett, and reared a large family. His oldest son, Rev. Daniel P. Young, was one of the leading Presbyterian min- isters of Kentucky; his two sons, Robert and Melanchthon, two of the county's most substantial and successful farmers and most respected and loved citizens, while his other son, Col. Bennett H. Young, resides in Louisville and is the author of this book. His eldest daughter married Dr. Charles Mann and his youngest daughter, Josephine, now resides in Nicholasville.
Robert Young was a man of high integrity and possessed all the best and noblest qualities of citizenship. His word was better than his bond. Just, generous and conscientious in all his deal- ings, he commanded, as he deserved, the respect and confidence of his friends and acquaintances. He was an earnest, faithful member and officer of the Presbyterian church and was an hon- ored member in many of its councils. No one ever questioned the reality of his religion ; he carried it into all the dealings of his life. He died November 29th, 1889, beloved and deeply mourned by the entire community. He never failed to help those who were in want and the grateful remembrance of those who had received of his liberality and kindness is a rich legacy for any man.
Albert Gallatin Talbot
Was born in Jessamine county, in the Keene neighborhood, where his father at that time resided. He subsequently removed to Boyle county, and represented that county in the Legislature in 1869-73, and in 1850 he was a member of the Thirty-fourth and Thirty-fifth Congresses, and of the Constitutional Convention of 1849.
He was a man of idomitable energy, agreeable manners. and was a successful politician.
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David Crozier.
David Crozier was a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1795, and came to Jessamine county when he was quite a young man. He built what is known as Crozier's Mill, which is half stone and half wood, on Jessamine creek. In 1845 he carried on a cotton factory at his mill. He worked about forty hands, mostly boys and girls, and manufactured cotton cloth and jeans. With the in- troduction of railroads, and with the difficulty in getting materials (for by this time Jessamine county had ceased to grow cotton, and the supply of wool was never large enough to run the mill), this mill was closed. Thereafter Mr. Crozier became associated with Dr. A. K. Marshall in carrying the mails from Lexington to Bean Station, Tenn.
He was energetic and enterprising and did much to foster and maintain the earlier manufacturing establishments of the county.
Dr. Francis Marion Jasper.
Dr. Francis Marion Jasper, who died at Cincinnati on the 22nd of June, 1892, while not a native of Jessamine county, was long one of its most successful physicians, and his descent entitles him to more than passing notice. His Revolutionary ancestors came from Wales. His great-grandfather, Abraham Jasper, was born in Wales in 1728 and settled in Georgetown, South Carolina. From there he moved to a residence on Cooper river, near Charleston. His oldest son became a prominent Tory, while his other sons, Nicholas Jasper, John Jasper and William Jasper, were brave and devoted soldiers in the cause of their country during the Revolutionary war, having served under General Sumter in North and South Carolina.
After the Revolutionary war, Nicholas Jasper settled in Pulaski county, Ky., and became the father of a large family of brave and patriotic sons. Nicholas Jasper was born near Charleston, South Carolina, in 1752. Sergt. William Jasper was the youngest child, born in 1757. He was not quite twenty years old during the siege of Fort Moultrie, near Charleston, when the flagstaff was broken by a shot from the British. On seeing the flag thus lowered by a shot, Sergeant Jasper immediately sprang down
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and replaced the flag amid a tremendous fire from the British fleet, commanded by Sir Peter Parker. For his bravery on that oc- casion Governor Rutledge, in the presence of the regiment, took his sword from his side and presented it to Sergeant Jasper. He offered the brave soldier a commission, which he refused. He was killed in the assault on Savannah, Oct. 7. 1779. when he was not quite twenty-two years of age.
Capt. Thomas Jasper, who was the father of Dr. Francis Marion
Jasper, represented Pulaski county in the legislature of Kentucky in 1833, '34 and '35, and when the War of 1812 was declared he enlisted in the company commanded by Capt. Harry James. He was in the regiment of Colonel Simrall. He was at the battle of the Thames and fought with splendid courage on that occasion.
Dr. Jasper practiced his profession in Jessamine county more than thirty years. He answered every known call for his ser-
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vices. He was kind, tender and gentle, and the question of remuneration affected neither the length nor the ability of his services. He was one of Jessamine's best citizens.
Henry Metcalf
Was the oldest son of Rev. John Metcalf, who surveyed Nicholas- ville. He was born in the year 1800, and died at his home in
Nicholasville, January 18, 1879. He passed his entire life in Nicholasville. He was a useful citizen and a manufacturer of ropes and bagging. He had a large factory which he operated for a long time successfully. He was a man of extraordinary sweetness of temper, and also of high character. He did the right as he knew it. He opened the first Sunday-school in the Southern Methodist Church in Nicholasville in the spring of
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1843. and was for long years one of the stewards in that church and was liberal in the support of his church and earnest in its cause. He married a daughter of John Fishback, who settled in Kentucky in 1790. in Jessamine county, where he died in 1845. Mr. John Metcalf, who still survives and lives in Nicholasville, was his eldest son. George Metcalf, another son, now resides in Lexington, and was a gallant soldier in the Fifth Kentucky In- fantry, C. S. A., while Charles Metcalf, the youngest son, is one of the leading lawyers in Tennessee, and President of the Tennessee State Bar Association. John Metcalf and James Metcalf, two of his sons, are still living, while two of his daughters, Miss Sallie and Miss Alice, now reside in Nicholasville at the old home place of their grandfather, who laid out and named the town.
Louis H. Chrisman.
Among the men of Jessamine who were prominent in the first fifty years of its existence was Louis H. Chrisman. He was born in 1813 and died in 1866, at his home two miles north of Nicholasville on the Lexington and Danville pike. He was al- ways active in politics, was a warm partisan, and after a heated contest was elected sheriff of Jessamine county in 1858. He was the youngest son of Joseph Chrisman, brother of Gen. Hugh Chrisman. Joseph Chrisman was born in Rockingham county, Va., in 1776, and came to Kentucky with his brother and settled in Jessamine county in 1790.
Mr. Chrisman served as a volunteer aid on the staff of Gen. Win. R. Terrell, of the Federal army, who was killed at Perry- ville. He was one of the leaders of the Whig party in Jessamine county and was always a delightful companion wherever he went on account his fine social qualities. He was an extraordinary whistler. He could carry the several parts while whistling a tune and this made him a welcome guest at every political meeting. He was a kind neighbor, a sincere friend, a generous opponent and a patriotic citizen. Mr. A. L. and George Chrisman, his sons, still reside on the old homestead.
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Daniel P. Young.
Rev. Stuart Robinson, in speaking of Rev. D. P. Young, said : "Mr. Young was perhaps the most successful of all the min- isters of the Presbyterian church in Kentucky in winning souls to Christ. His greatness consisted in his wonderful skill in en- gaging the attention, alike of the converted and unconverted, in the Gospel way of salvation, and his eminent ability in expound- ing the Scriptures, setting forth that way, and beseeching men in Christ's stead to be reconciled to God. The secret of his suc- cess was in large part that his heart was in his work ; and he was a man who had a very large heart, filled with the love of Christ and the love of souls. Nobody who knew him ever doubted the earnestness of his piety and holy zeal in the service of his Master. The many people all over Kentucky, who these twenty years after his death, grasp the hands of his children with a warmer clasp when they know who they are, and who speak their affection for him with tears in their eyes, is the greatest evidence of the warm place he held in the hearts of those who came under his influence."
Daniel P. Young was the oldest child of Robert and Josephine Henderson Young, and on the lot where Jessamine Female In- stitute now stands, was born on February 22d, 1833.
Under his mother's influence he early consecrated his life to Christ and resolved in his boyhood to devote himself to the gospel ministry.
After passing through the home schools he entered Hanover College, at Hanover, Indiana, and graduated in the class of 1852. After finishing his course there, he prepared to attend Transyl- vania University to pursue the study of law, but while on his way to Lexington he was induced by his conflicting emotions to change his mind and turned back to Danville, Ky., where he entered the Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
His first charge was at Georgetown, Ky., where under his ministry the membership of the church was largely augmented and in an unusual degree he won the love and affection of his congre- gation.
From there he removed to the renowned Providence church, in Mercer county, and from there he was induced by the insistence
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of friends to accept the charge of the Nicholasville church. In both success crowned his efforts and he was blessed in the up- building of these churches.
In 1878, he was called to the charge of the Presbyterian church at Anchorage, and in conjunction with it the principalship of Bellewood Seminary and Kentucky Presbyterian Normal School. His eminent fitness for this position was recognized on every hand, but, within a few months after he removed to Anchorage, on June 30th. 1878, he ended the labors of his earnest, useful and faithful life.
John Lafon.
The Lafons who came to American were refugees from France during the Huguenot persecution. The founders of the family settled in South Carolina and Virginia, and their descendant, Richard Lafon, married Miss Anna Maxey, removed to Ken- tucky and settled in Jessamine county in 1793. They came over the Wilderness Road, with their herds and household effects and slaves and settled, through a patent, a thousand acres, comprising the original Fountain House tract, being the lands now occupied by Burrier, Phillips, Bryants, and Elkins and others, about two and a half miles from Keene, toward Lexington. Richard Lafon was, a man of unusual education for that period. He left a reason- able fortune. although he died a comparatively young man. He built one of the first brick dwelling houses in the county.
His son, John Lafon, was born December 4, 1800. He early had every social and literary advantage, and traveled not only in the United States but abroad. He was a man of unusual energy. great ju igment, broad and comprehensive views, and was a born leader of men. As a result of his trading and manufacture he spent his winters in Cuba and New Orleans and his summers in Kentucky on his farm. At one time he leased all the hemp factories in three counties and shipped their product to the South by way of the Kentucky and Ohio rivers.
He was a close friend of Henry Clay and in many important matters his adviser. He was the moving spirit and the president of the Lexington & Harrodsburg Turnpike Company at the period of its completion. The road was commenced in 1834, by
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the state, then abandoned and then leased by the state to Lewis Singleton for twenty years. Singleton died shortly after the acquisition of the road, and it was then taken up by John Lafon and completed through to Perryville in 1847. The work near the Kentucky river was done under Mr. Lafon's administration, and required very large outlay and a high order of engineering skill. He had tremendous difficulties, both physical and financial,
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to overcome, but with his master mind he worked out a mag- nificent success and in the completion of this turnpike rendered Fayette, Jessamine, Mercer and Boyle counties an incalculable benefit.
Backed by his energy and financial ability, this great thorough- fare was built in the face of great difficulties. Such improve. ments in those days could only be carried on at large expenditure, relatively much larger than now, and to undertake the construc-
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tion of a graded road such as this pike, through the country on either side contiguous to the Kentucky river, demonstrates that he was a man of a high order of moral courage as well as the possessor of great sagacity and unyielding will.
He married Mary Ann Barkley, whose grandfather had been compelled to leave Ireland, where a price had been placed on his head. And in the struggle for Irish independence he was the friend of Robert Emmett and devoted to the liberty of his country. Mrs. Lafon was also a descendant of the Higbees and they came from New Jersey. In early days they built boats on South Elk- born and hauled them to Brooklyn and other landings on the Kentucky and launched them, from whence they were floated to New Orleans.
A man of culture himself, possessed of a large estate, in- herited both from his father and his mother, he made a home in every way attractive and delightful. His hospitality was un- bounded; he accumulated one of the best libraries in Kentucky, collected curios, and by his intelligence, his enterprise and his talents became associated with and was the friend of many of the leading men of the state. Ilis home at one time almost rivaled Chaumiere. He built a beautiful house, he laid out handsome grounds, erected bath houses and spring houses, built laundries with hot and cold pipes, constructed artificial lakes, and im- proved charming drives. There was on his land an apparently bottomless spring from which boiled up a great volume of water. This, by a splendid circular stone basin, he changed into a most attractive fountain and called his home after it-Fountain House. With these surroundings he founded an elegant and ideal home. He secured rare flowers and adorned his yard with every variety of tree that could be grown in the locality. He died in 1848 in the very meridian of his career. His early demise was a great loss to his native county in its social, physical and educational interests.
Dr. John W. Holloway.
Dr. John W. Holloway, who represented Jessamine county in the Constitutional Convention of 1890, and who took a promi- nent part in the deliberations of that body, was a son of Spencer Holloway, and was born in the county on the 30th of April. 1823.
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His grandfather, James Holloway, was a native of Virginia, and was a captain in the Revolutionary war, and settled in Jessamine county very early in its history. His son, Spencer Holloway, was born in 1792, and died at the advanced age of 89, in the year 1883. His son, John W. Holloway, passed his early life on a farm. At 23 years of age he went to Louisville and undertook the study of medicine under Dr. John L. Price and remained there three years, and finally graduated in 1850, from the Medical Depart- ment of the University of Louisville.
From that time on to the present he has practiced medicine at Keene. He has met with unqualified success in his profession as well as in his conduct of a large farm. He is a man of strong mental vigor, truest friendship, unflinching courage and highest integrity.
In the Constitutional Convention he earnestly advocated equal property rights for women and bitterly opposed the ballot system. While the convention did not adopt his views they all respected his sincerity, his integrity and his unusual courtesy.
Letcher Saunders.
Mr. Saunders was born in Nicholasville on October 29, 1864. His father, C. B. Saunders, died in Nicholasville in 1874. Mr.
Saunders was educated in the common schools of Nicholasville. He is one of the most expert penmen and careful clerks that have ever served the people of Jessamine. He was a pupil of Prof. A. N. Gordon, while principal of Bethel Academy, and when six-
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DR. J. W. HOLLOWAY.
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teen years of age, he entered the Circuit Court Clerk's office as deputy of Lewis D. Baldwin. Subsequently he became clerk in the general freight offices of the Louisville & Nashville R. R. Co., at Louisville. He returned to Nicholasville in 1885, and one month after his return he was nominated for Circuit Clerk at the Demo- cratic primary, defeating his competitor by a handsome majority. His conduct of the office was such that he was nominated without opposition for a second term. As Circuit Clerk he took the front rank in Kentucky. He married the daughter of Jas. W. Glass, of Garrard county, January 1, 1887. His grandfather, Austin Smithers, during the epidemic of cholera in 1855 went through the tents visiting the sick and caring for the dead and dying. White and black alike received his attention, and he never wearied in waiting on those who needed his services during that terrible scourge. Mr. Saunders comes of an ancestry full of humane and noble characteristics, and his popularity is undoubtedly the result of these inherited qualities.
G. W. Lyne.
Few men have done more for Jessamine county than Mr. G. W. Lyne. He has been engaged in the real estate business, and his enthusiasm and energy have enabled him during that period to dispose of $2,000,000 worth of property and he has been in- strumental in inducing a large number of strangers to settle in the county. Mr. Lyne is comparatively a young man, only thirty- one years of age. He is a successful auctioneer and is the only man who ever made the real estate business in Jessamine county a success.
William W. White.
William W. White, who died at his residence, in Nicholasville, on January 5, 1887, in the 80th year of his age, was one of the most earnest supporters of the doctrines of Alexander Campbell and was instrumental in building up several congregations of that faith in the county. He organized what is known as the Little Hickman church on the 27th of January, 1841. He was a son of William G. White, who came from Culpeper Court House,
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Va. He became impressed with the doctrines propounded by Mr. Campbell and from the time of his uniting with that denomi- nation until the end of his life gave his time and talents and energy to building up the church which adopted them. His membership was in the Nicholasville Christian church. How- ever people might differ with Mr. White in his theological views, none ever doubted the earnestness and the faithfulness of his Christian service and of the unselfishness of his ministration. He was plain, simple-hearted and earnest. While engaged in other business, he preached always as occasion offered and never failed to respond to such calls as his church made upon him.
Rev. Thomas R. Welch, D. D.
Rev. Thomas R. Welch, D. D., one of the leading Presby- terian ministers of the Southern Presbyterian church, the son of John Welch and B. J. Rice, was born near Nicholasville, Sep- tember 15th, 1825. Most of his ministerial life was passed in Arkansas, where he removed in 1851. and took charge of the church in Little Rock. After a course in Bethel Academy, he graduated from Center College in 1844, and in 1870, his Alma Mater conferred upon him the degree of Doctor of Divinity. Dr. Welch was singularly honored by his church. He held many positions of trust in its courts and institutions. He led a busy and successful life. Possessed of a fine presence, genial manners and ready sympathy, he found a welcome everywhere. Another has said of him :
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