USA > Kentucky > Jessamine County > A history of Jessamine County, Kentucky, from its earliest settlement to 1898 > Part 19
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"By long residence, abundant labors, eminent administrative ability, Dr. Welch is the Presbyterian Nestor of Arkansas, and no man in the state is held in higher esteem or wields a stronger in- fluence."
He died a few years since, deeply regretted by the people of the great denomination to which he belonged and sincerely mourned by the members of his own congregation at Little Rock.
Mrs. Sarah Withers, an aunt of Dr. Welch, and long a resi- dent of Bloomington, Illinois, was a most benevolent, charitable and earnest Christian woman. At her death, a few years since,
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she made the officers of the Nicholasville Presbyterian church her residuary legatees, and directed that the funds thus be- queathed should be used for the maintenance of a public library in Nicholasville. Quite a large sum, estimated at about $20,000, will be realized and it will be sufficient to equip and maintain a complete and efficient library in the city.
Maj. J. H. Hanly.
Maj. John Hay Hanly, born in Seville. Spain, in 1784, who settled in Jessamine county, in 1871, was the son of an officer of the British army.
On his arrival at his new home, in what was then the far west, he purchased a very large tract of land on the Kentucky river, six miles south of Nicholasville. His house, a frame cottage of liberal dimensions, located on a bluff many feet above the river, was appropriately named "Cliff Cottage." Its picturesque beauty of location excited the admiration of the distinguished painter. Healy, who visited Maj. Hanly, when sent by the king, Louis Phillippe, of France. to paint the portrait of Henry Clay. On entering the grounds, he is said to have exclaimed, "Grand and beautiful."
It was at this home of beauty that the generous proprietor and his estimable family dispensed old time Kentucky hospitality, dur- ing a period of more than half a century.
Maj. Hanly was a very positive character, highly intellectual, just in all his dealings, truthful, honest, and brave ; he was, in all the elements that constitute a gentleman of the old school, a man to be admired and trusted. He was a firm believer in the Roman Catholic faith and in the democracy of Andrew Jackson. He was a fine shot, and prided himself upon the accuracy of his aim.
On one occasion, Col. David Goodloe, who had been chal- lenged by Mr. White, M. C., of Madison county, to fight a duel. came to Maj. Hanly to practice with the major's dueling pistols. He became so expert, after considerable practice, astohit the bull's eye repeatedly. When the duel finally came off, his antagonist stood with his back to a barn. Both gentlemen were game and fired at the word. Neither were hit, and much to their disgust,
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Major Hanly, after a most diligent search, failed to find that the colonel's bullet had even struck the barn.
John A. Willis.
John A. Willis, son of Capt. W. T. Willis, while not a native of Jessamine, has resided within its borders for fifty-five years. He was born in Green county on the 5th day of August, 1820;
attended a seminary at Greensburg, and afterwards at Munfords- ville, and in 1839 attended St. Mary's College, near Lebanon. He joined the Presbyterian church in Greensburg in 1840, came with his father to Mercer county and studied law and obtained his license in 1843, and moved with his father to Nicholasville in 1844. He enlisted in his father's company, and was appointed a cor-
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poral. He followed the Second Kentucky Regiment in all its battles and marches, and was mustered out at New Orleans in 1847. While the regiment was stationed at Comargo, Mr. Willis was stricken with fever, and all thought that it was impossible for him to live. After the death of McKee and Clay and Captain Willis, the regiment were anxious to be mustered out of the service, and, at the expiration of twelve months, the time for which they were enlisted, they were brought to New Orleans and disbanded.
Mr. Willis, after taking a full course in the Commercial Col- lege, in Cincinnati, returned to Nicholasville and taught in Keene. After two years' service in the county schools, he became assistant in Bethel Academy, in Nicholasville. After this time he was ap- pointed Master Commissioner of the Jessamine Circuit Court by Judge William C. Goodloe, upon the unanimous petition of the entire bar, embracing both Whigs and Democrats. The place was given to Mr. Willis without any solicitation on his part, and he retained it for sixteen years. After the close of the civil war he was elected twice as County Clerk, both times without oppo- sition. A one-armed Confederate soldier was nominated against him in the last race, but withdrew.
U'pon retiring from the Clerk's office in 1871 with such citi- zens as Mr. George Brown, Dr. Brown Young, G. S. Shanklin, Samuel Muir, Charles Farra, Hervey Scott, and William H. Hoo- ver, he organized the First National Bank of Nicholasville, and acted as its cashier from 1871 until 1881, when he was elected president, and held this position until 1896. He was elected elder in the Nicholasville Presbyterian church at the same time with Robert Young, in the year 1859. In 1860 he was elected clerk of the session, shortly before the death of Maj. D. B. Price, and has been such clerk for thirty-two years.
Patriotic, honest, faithful, just, conservative and kindly, Mr. Willis has been a leading citizen of Jessamine county since his return from service in the Mexican War, to which he gave his father and one year of hard and trying service.
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William Brown.
William Brown, the youngest son of George I. Brown, was born in Nicholasville on the 23d of May, 1839; he died June I, 1890. He was a man of brilliant parts. He allied himself with the Republican party, and attained a high place in its councils. Senator James B. Beck said of him that he was the strongest man of his party with whom he had ever come in contact. He was a warm, personal friend of James G. Blaine, who had a great ad- miration for his talents and his ability. His mind was analytic, comprehensive and logical. At school he did not appear to study as other boys, but he always knew his lessons and fully under- stood every subject of which the text books treated. He was fearless and on many occasions eloquent. Had he devoted him- self to the law, his chosen profession, rather than to have entered the domain of politics, he would have become one of the first jurists of the country.
E. R. Sparks.
No history of Jessamine county would be complete without a sketch of Hon. E. R. Sparks. His enterprise, coupled with his faith in the future of Nicholasville, and his large investments, both in manufactories and in the laying out of additions and construc- tion of streets and houses, have been greatly instrumental in in- creasing the population of Nicholasville, and in widening its in- fluence and traffic. He was born about a mile east of Nicholas- ville on the 31st of January, 1840, and was the son of Isaac and Mary Ann Hendricks Sparks. His mother was a sister of the late Rev. John T. Hendrick, D. D., the distinguished Presbyterian di- vine. Mr. Sparks' father was born in Ohio and in early life moved to Jessamine county, where he lived until his death, on Jan. 28th, 1887, in his eighty-first year. Mr. Sparks was named for a dis- tinguished Methodist minister, Rev. Edwin Roberts. From his early manhood he has demonstrated himself to be the possessor of great sagacity, and his uniform success in all his financial trans- actions has given him a wide reputation for business capacity. He has held few public offices. In 1882, he was elected State
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Senator and served until 1886. In the Senate he was popular, conservative, and secured the confidence and the respect of those associated with him in that body. For years he was a council- man, and was prominent in the city government of Nicholasville. He has carried on a large manufactory for hemp in the county
seat, which gives employment to a number of hands. He is in the highest degree public spirited, and is always helpful to his town and his county in every public enterprise.
John Harrison Welch.
John Harrison Welch, although comparatively a young man, has held quite a number of public offices in Jessamine county and is at present Master Commissioner of the Jessamine Circuit Court. He was born in Nicholasville. His great grandfather,
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John Welch, early settled in Jessamine county, having removed from Virginia to that county in 1782. Mr. Welch was educated at Bethel Academy; was also a graduate of Kentucky Wesleyan College, at Millersburg, in 1877. He graduated from the Louis- ville Law School in 1881, located in Nicholasville, where he has since practiced his profession. At twenty years of age, he was elected Superintendent of common schools of Jessamine county.
He represented the county in the lower house of the General As- sembly of Kentucky, in 1889 and 'go, in '91, '92 and '93, and has been prominent in the county affairs since his majority.
Rev. George Stokes Smith.
Reverend George Stokes Smith was a Baptist preacher and was also a delegate to the convention, at Danville, in 1792, which
History of Jessamine County, Kentucky. 257
framed the first Kentucky Constitution. He was the maternal grandfather of the large and numerous family of Moseleys, Wal- lers and Smiths, who live in the Keene neighborhood. He has over 250 descendants in Kentucky, and was one of the men who lived in the limits of Jessamine county in the earliest days of its seitlenient.
He was a successful Baptist preacher, and served several churches in Woodford and Mercer counties, and at the old Mount Pleasant Church, at Keene. He led a useful, honorable and dis- tinguished life. His election to the Constitutional Convention in 1792, shows his wide popularity and his distinguished position. Fayette county had five members, and among them men of high standing, but none wielded more influence than their ministerial colleague.
CHAS, EVANS.
17
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Hon. Thos. J. Scott.
Jessamine county is at present in a judicial district, composed of Jessamine, Madison, Estill, Clark and Powell. The Circuit Judge is Hon. Thomas J. Scott, who was born in Madison county, but his father, Dr. John Scott, was a native of Jessamine county, whence his father removed, when quite a young man, to Richmond,
Ky. His mother was a descendant of Col. Estill, one of the most celebrated pioneers of Kentucky. He was educated at Mount Pleasant College, in Missouri, from which he graduated at the age of nineteen. Immediately he returned to Richmond, where he entered the law office of Maj. Squire Turner; in 1871 he was ad- mitted to the bar, and in 1875 was elected County Attorney, to which position he was re-elected twice without opposition. In 1886 he was elected Common Pleas Judge for the district com-
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posed of the counties of Madison, Clark, Bourbon, bath, and Montgomery ; and in 1892, he was elected Circuit Judge of the Twenty-ninth judicial district without opposition, and has been similarly re-elected for the second term. He is recognized throughout the state as one of the ablest Circuit Judges. His careful preparation, his studious habits and his sterling integrity render him a model circuit judge. Although genial and kindly in his personal relations, on the bench he knows nothing but the strictest justice, and this has won for him the respect and admira- tion of all the people of the district.
Rev. Stephen Noland.
This distinguished Methodist divine was born in Wayne coun- ty, Indiana, on the 13th of May, 1818. His ancestors came from Wales and settled in Virginia twenty-five years before the war of the American Revolution. In his seventh year, his mother died and he was brought to Kentucky, and made his home with his grandparents. In 1834 he entered the clerk's office in Richmond, Ky., where he remained five years, He used all his leisure mo- ments for the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in 1839. He began the practice of his profession in Richmond, and shortly removed to Irvine, Estill county, Ky., and there he sought licen- sutre in the Methodist ministry. In 1839 he married a sister of the late Samuel F. Miller, one of the Associate Justices of the Su- preme Court of the United States. Rev. Stephen Noland, who succeeded his father in the banking business, was the sec- ond son -- his other son, Samuel H. Noland, removed to Texas. Stephen Noland made the race for Commonwealth's Attorney in the district, which then embraced seven counties, against C. C. Rodgers, of Lexington, and defeated him by a majority of 800 votes. While holding the office of Commonwealth Attorney, he became a terror to evil-doers throughout the district. All sorts of influences were brought to bear to defeat Mr. Noland, but they were without avail. In 1854 he came to Nicholasville, and shortly afterwards assumed charge of the Methodist Episco- pal church, South. Notwithstanding the variety of his occupa- tions, he never gave up the preaching of the Gospel.
The first bank in Nicholasville was organized by Mr. No-
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land in 1864, it was known as the Bank of Noland, Wilmore & Co. He was a man of great sagacity and judgment in the con- duct of his business; of wide benevolence and charitable impulses, he has probably given away as much money in charity as any man who ever lived in Jessamine. His second wife, Miss Virginia Brown, daughter of Thos. J. Brown, who inherited the many
excellent traits of her family, survived him. He died on the 27th of January, 1890, after a lingering illness, and deeply regretted by the entire community, among whom he spent the last forty years of his life.
The Duncans.
Among the earliest settlers in Jessamine county were James Duncan and Charles Duncan. They located within the boundary of Jessamine early in 1788. Charles Duncan was born in Cul- peper county, Va., in 1761. He was the father of William Dun-
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can, so long known, who died at his home immediately above Nicholasville in 1863. William Duncan's mother was Margaret Burnside, sister of the Revolutionary soldier, Robert Burnside, the great uncle of Gen. A. E. Burnside. William Duncan was born near Barclay's old mill in 1788. In 1813 he married Nancy Blackford, daughter of Benj. Blackford.
James Duncan, the grandfather of S. M. Duncan, was born in Culpeper county, Va., July 18, 1763, and was among the last white men killed by the Indians. With two companions, John Huckstep and Joseph Burnside, he went to the mouth of Paint Lick to get salt. They had made the salt and were returning home, when suddenly the report of a gun was heard and Burnside fell with a bullet through his heart. James Duncan was shot by another Indian who had climbed up on a high bluff, and the bullet entered the head of James Duncan, killing him instantly. Huck- step escaped to Crab Orchard, where Col. Whitley sent out a party in pursuit of the Indians and followed them to near Cumberland Gap. They captured the horses of the two men who had been killed, but the Indians made their escape.
Alexander C. Duncan, the father of S. M. Duncan, was the oldest child of James Duncan, who was killed in his 28th year and left three small children. When a small boy James Duncan ran away from home in company with Nathaniel Harris, the dis- tinguislied Methodist minister, and enlisted in the army of Gen- eral Greene, and was at the battle of Guilford Court House and at the siege of Yorktown. James Duncan was born July 18, 1763, and was married to Mary Crockett, daughter of William Crockett, of Wythe county, in 1787. One hundred years after the death of Jan es Duncan, there came a great rise in the creeks which enter Paint Lick. They disclosed a skeleton. On examination of this skeleton a bullet hole was found in the head and the remains were identified as those of. James Duncan, who had been killed and buried at that point nearly a century before. Every bone was per- fect with the exception of the right foot. The remains were re- moved to Nicholasville cemetery and laid to rest amid kindred dust.
The descendants of James Duncan and his brother, who thus early made their home in Jessamine county, in large numbers still reside in the county and they have always been good citizens and patriots.
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S. M. Duncan.
Mr. S. M. Duncan, who has been one of the most diligent, and faithful of all the antiquarians in Kentucky, was a son of Alex- ander Crockett Duncan and Hannalı N. Williams, the latter be- ing a native of Mecklenburg county North Carolina. She was born March 8, 1793, and died in 1861. Mr. Duncan's father was
born in Fort Blackamore, Russell county, Virginia, and came to Jessamine county in 1788. He was an infant when his father, James Duncan, settled within the limits of Jessamine county. S. M. Duncan was born in Pulaski county, in 1830. He enjoyed limited advantages of education, but most wonderfully improved them-he only had three months' schooling. He worked for thirty years at his trade as carpenter, and learned cabinet-mak- ing, which he followed five years, but afterwards gave that up and
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returned to his original calling. He has gathered together an immense amount of material concerning not only the earliest his- tory of Jessamine county and its people, but in regard to the early history of Kentucky. He has always had a passion for acquir- ing old letters and documents, and, but for his patience and care and labor, not only in the finding, but in the preservation, of ma- terials, it would have been impossible for any one to write a his- tory of Jessamine county. Mr. Duncan began this collection of material when quite a young man. He talked with men who had been in the Revolutionary War, and to those who had in their minds fresh recollections of the struggles, trials and dangers of pioneer life in Kentucky. He has written a great deal on the sub- ject, and deserves the thanks of the people, not only of Jessamine county, but of Central Kentucky.
Andrew Hemphill.
Andrew Hemphill was one of the most scholarly men that lived in Jessamine county in its early days. He lived in the southern part of the county, settling there in 1823. He was born in Tyrone county, Ireland, in 1800. He obtained his education at Trinity College, Dublin, and came to American in 1819, landing at Philadelphia. In a very short time he was chosen as teacher of Latin in an academy in the city of Reading, in Berks county, and subsequently became principal of the academy, which posi- tion he held for two years. He settled in Jessamine county in 1823, and was married to Mildred Tapp. He came to Jessa- mine county through his uncle James Hemphill who had pur- chased a farm in that section of the county many years before. In 1823 James Hemphill died and made Andrew his heir, devis- ing to him 250 acres of land on Hickman creek six miles east of Nicholasville. Mr. Hemphill through all his life retained his scholarship. He read Latin and Greek with great fluency. He died in 1863.
It was his custom for many years to visit the schools in which the classics were taught. These comings were always regarded by the Latin and Greek scholars with fear and trembling. While he was there he would call upon them to read selections from the Roman and Grecian authors. The scholars imagined that
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they could never do the thing just as Mr. Hemphill would do it ; yet he was always kindly, helpful and suggestive in his examina- tions, and never went away from the schools without saying pleasant and agreeable words to the scholars. He was the father of a large family of children, many of whom are now resi- dents of Jessamine county, and are among its best and most sub- stantial citizens.
Mr. John Henry Glass.
Mr. John Henry Glass, who now owns Glass Mills, near Wil- more, was born in 1838, of German parentage, in Jessamine coun- ty. After going to school during his boyhood in Cincinnati, he learned the trade of cabinetmaker, with his father, who was one of the most skilled mechanics who ever lived in Jessamine county. In 1870 Mr. Glass erected a mill in Lancaster, Ky., which is still in successful operation. Afterwards he sold out to George Denny, the president of the national bank, and moved back to Jessamine and bought the property known as the old paper mill, on Jessamine creek, about three miles above its mouth. This mill had been operated for more than 100 years. After running it about three years he tore part of it down and erected a new building and put in new machinery, retaining, however, the water power, which had been in constant use for more than a century.
This mill is operated all the year round, has its office and switch at Wilmore, Ky., and is one of the best manufacturing enterprises in Jessamine county. It has a large trade up and down the Cincinnati Southern Railroad, and its brands of flour are considered among the very best manufactured in the West. The principal of these, "The Daniel Boone," shows Mr. Glass' patriotismn. Mr. Glass has been instrumental in building ten miles of turnpike in the western part of the county and in furnish- ing a constant and liberal home demand for grain, which has much increased land values in that section. Blessed with a large family, he has trained them both to industry and morality, and he is one of the useful men of the community.
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Benjamin A. Crutcher.
Benjamin A. Crutcher, the present Commonwealth's Attor- ney for the Twenty-fifth Judicial district, which includes Jessa- mine, Madison, Estill, Clark, and Powell counties, was born in Nicholasville, June 21, 1856. Elected County Attorney in 1884, he resigned to become a candidate for Commonwealth's Attor-
ney. He was re-elected Commonwealth's Attorney in 1897. He is a man of conservative instincts, careful preparation, unques- tionable honesty and great industry. He has proven a most ad- mirable Prosecuting Attorney, firm, faithful, yet considerate and just, he represents the commonwealth as if he were representing his own affairs, and the entire district recognizes his great effi- ciency and ability.
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Thomas B. Crutcher.
The Hon. Thos. B. Crutcher is now Police Judge of Nicho- lasville. He was born in Jessamine county in 1831. He is the father of Benj. A. Crutcher, the Commonwealth's Attorney for the district. For a long time he was one of the leading merchants in
Jessamine. He is a man of the old school, upright, conscientious, always considerate to others. For five years he has been Judge of the City Court of Nicholasville, and has made a most excellent record. He is a member of the First Baptist church and is one of its most earnest and enthusiastic supporters.
John Spears Bronaugh.
John Spears Bronaugh was born in the Keene neighborhood and spent his early years on his father's farm. With a vigorous constitution as well as a vigorous mind, he improved all his edu-
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cational advantages, and attended college at Transylvania Uni- versity, at Lexington. He read law with Judge James Prior, near Carrollton, Ky. Faithful, studious, patient and laborious, when admitted to the bar in 1847, at Nicholasville, he was well prepared for the practice of his profession. For more than half a century he has been prominent in all the litigation which af- fected the people of Jessamine, and by his good judgment, his
great learning and wise counsel, he has endeared himself to the whole community, and secured a high place in the estimation of his fellow-citizens. At a time when the government of Nicholas- ville needed a strong hand and an economical administration, Mr. Bronaugh was called by the voice of his townsmen to assume the duties of the Mayoralty. He evolved order out of chaos, sys- tematized all the affairs of the city government and as executive officer so conducted himself and the affairs of the town that it
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was with difficulty he could avoid the solicitations of the voters to hold the office always, and it was only his persistent refusal to accept the office which caused the people of the town to elect an- other man. He has always stood for the best interests of the county and town, and while conservative, he had been enterpris- ing and has been a leader in all that has brought the county to its present prosperity and splendid development. The county has trusted him in many important transactions and he has al- ways conducted them with prudence, skill and ability.
THOS. J. BROWN.
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