USA > Kentucky > A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume I > Part 84
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John Davies Jackson was born in Danville, Kentucky, on December 12, 1834, and died at that place December 8, 1875. His early edu- cation was received at Centre College from which he received the degree of A. B. in 1854. He was by nature a student of quick percep- tion, close application, and retentive memory. After graduating from Centre College he en- tered the office of his uncle, Dr. Thomas W.
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Jackson, of Danville, as a pupil. In the fall of 1854 he matriculated in the medical depart- ment of the University of Louisville. Grad- uating from here he attended a course at the medical department of the University of Penn- sylvania, where he graduated in 1857. He then returned to his native place and opened an office. Because of his modest demeanor, re- tiring disposition and his determination to avoid courting popular favor as a means of securing business, his bearing was frequently misinterpreted, and practice came slowly, but as soon as his ability was discovered his ser- vices were sought.
At the outbreak of the war he cast his lot with the South and entered the army as a sur- geon being with the army of the Tennessee, and later with the army of Northern Virginia. He retired at the close of the war with the rank of surgeon having served with honor and distinction. Ile declined an offer of high promotion, preferring to remain in the field with his command. He returned to Danville much depressed in spirits after the surrender and considered seeking a home elsewhere, but was urged by old patrons and friends to re- summe practice, which he finally elected to do. He studied French during this time. In 1869 he went to New York for a post graduate course, giving particular attention to the study of the diseases of the eye and ear. In May, 1872 he sailed for Europe and visited Eng- land as a delegate from the American Medical Association to the British Medical Associa- tion. Soon after his return he translated Far- abeuf's Manual on Ligation of Arteries, and later prepared a biographical sketch of Dr. Ephraim McDowell, the Father of Ovariotomy. He devoted himself with energy and deter- mination to the perpetuation of the memory of this great surgeon, and forcibly presented to the profession the claims of the originator of this grand operation for recognition and respect. Beginning with his County Medical Society, he pressed these claims and the exist-
ence of the McDowell Memorial Fund is al- most entirely due to his labors in this direc- tion. In 1873, while engaged in an autopsy, he accidentally scratched a finger. From this time on he was not well, although he was able to attend the meeting of the American Medical Association in St. Louis in 1873 and in De- troit in 1874. From Detroit he went to New York to seek advice about his physical condi- dition and gave up work for some months. After a winter in Florida, in April, 1875, while on his way home, from a sudden change in the weather at Nashville he took a violent cold which was followed by congestion of the lungs. He never fully recovered and died December 8, 1875.
Summing up the character, ability and at- tainments of Dr. Jackson, he possessed supe- rior talents, extensive learning and practical knowledge, decided ambition, untiring indus- try, a definite aim in life, a constant devotion to his profession, fidelity to friends and true philanthropy. As a surgeon he was deliberate, prompt and dextrous. As a writer he was clear, concise and elegant. As a practitioner he was obliging, generous and ethical and he was a model preceptor.
Dr. William Bailey was born in Bridgeport, Franklin county, Kentucky, November 4, 1833, his father being one of the pioneer settlers of the state and a prosperous farmer of that sec- tion. At sixteen he matriculated at the Ken- tucky Military Institute, then located near Frankfort, and was graduated with a degree of B. A. in 1853. One year later an honorary degree of M. A. was conferred upon him by the same college. For three years after his graduation he was Professor of Mathematics in the K. M. I. In 1856 he began the study of medicine in the University of Louisville, re- ceiving his degree from the Kentucky School of Medicine in 1857. He practiced medicine at Shelbyville, Kentucky, until the opening of the Civil war, when he enlisted in the Union army, in the Ninth Kentucky Cavalry, as a
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surgeon with the rank of major. At the con- clusion of the war he began the practice of medicine in Louisville, the University of Louis- ville about this time conferring the degree of M. D. upon him.
He was actively connected with medical col- lege work since 1869, having occupied chairs in the Kentucky School of Medicine, Hos- pital College of Medicine, being President of the faculty of this institution and in the Uni- versity of Louisville Medical Department. His last chair was Professor of Materia Med- ica and Therapeutics.
For many years he was interested in the question of sanitation and was an enthusiastic member of the American Public Health Asso- ciation having attended meetings of this body in Cuba and Mexico. He was President of this organization in 1894. He has been a member of the State Board of Health of Ken- tucky for twenty-six years and upon the res- ignation from the Board of Dr. J. M. Math- ews, he was elected President of the Board, which position he held at the time of his death. He was president of the State Medical Associa- tion and the local medical societies of which he was a member. He was a member of the local Board of Pension Examiners for years. Though honored by his professional confreres in every way possible, Dr. Bailey was a man of the most modest disposition ; he was clean in his profession and he was pure in his pri- vate life ; devoted to his family, he was loved by all who knew him.
In politics Dr. Bailey was a Republican. He was a member and Past Master of Falls City Lodge, F. and A. M., and served for a number of years on the official board of the First Christian Church, of which he was a most consistent member. Dr. Bailey's funeral was held from the First Christian Church on July 17. 1911.
Dr. Lunsford Pitts Yandell was born in Rutherford county, Tennessee on June 6, 1837. During his early youth he was a pupil of Pro-
fessor Noble Butler. Early in life he devel- oped a love for natural history. He began the study of medicine in the University of Louisville under his father, Austin Flint and S. D. Gross and graduated in medicine in 1857 when barely 20 years old. Shortly after his graduation he moved to Memphis and in 1859 was elected professor of Materia Medica and Therapeutics in the Memphis Medical Col- lege. At the outbreak of the Civil war he en- listed as a private in the Confederate army, but was ordered by General Polk to report to the Medical Director. He passed his examin- ation and was commissioned as a surgeon serving as such during the war. At the close of the war he returned to Louisville and was married in 1866 to Miss Louise Elliston of Memphis. He went to Europe on his wedding trip where he remained a year and his letters from the larger medical centers may still be read with great interest. In 1867 he was elected professor of materia medica, thera- peutics and clinical medicine in the University of Louisville. In 1877 he became the co- editor of the "Louisville Medical News," re- maining such until his death. In his know]- edge of geology he followed his father's dis- tinguished footsteps. He died suddenly on March 12, 1884.
John Lay Cook was born July 3, 1838, in Russell county. Kentucky, and raised near Jamestown. He was educated in the county schools and began teaching at the age of fif- teen years in a mixed public school. He com- menced study of medicine with Dr. Rowe, of Rowena, Kentucky, and began practice when nineteen years of age. In 1861 he enlisted in the Third Kentucky (Confederate ) Cavalry. Ile was captured with Gen. John H. Morgan and while in prison at Camp Douglas, Illinois. he ministered to comrades. After the war lie located at Bardstown Junction, Kentucky, and later attended the University of Louisville, Medical Department. He commenced the practice of medicine as a graduate in Shep-
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herdsville. In 1870 he graduated in Bellevue, and later located at Henderson. In 1871 he married Miss Annie B. Oldham. Dr. Cook was six feet, two inches in height and had an average weight of two hundred and fifteen pounds. He was a very handsome and fine looking man. He was a member of the Ken- tucky State Medical Society, of the McDowell Medical Society, and of the Henderson Med- ical Club. As a diagnostician he was very ac- curate. In light of present knowledge of yellow fever, to which he fell a victim, he was correct in his theory that it was not contagious and non-infectious. He was a frequent con- tributor to medical journals. Some of his writings are "Case of Athetosis," "Capillary Bronchitis," "Germs of Diphtheria," "Cura- ble and Incurable Diseases," "Pulmonary Tu- berculosis" and "Malarial Coma." When yel- low fever developed at Hickman, September 19. 1878, he left for that place at once and from then until his death, October Ist, he labored among the afflicted.
Edward Rush Palmer, son of Benjamin R. Palmer, M. D., was born in Woodstock, Ver- mont on November 18, 1842, and died July 5, 1895. His father came from Vermont to take the chair of anatomy in the University of Louisville in 1848. The son graduated from the public schools and in medicine from the University of Louisville. He was assistant surgeon in the army in 1864. In 1868 he had the chair of Physiology in the University of Louisville and in 1893 genito-urinary diseases was added.
Lunsford P. Yandell, Sr., was born July 4. 1806, and died February 4, 1878. He was born in Tennessee. He graduated in medicine at Baltimore, in 1825, and practiced six years in Tennessee. He then removed to Lexington and became connected with Transylvania, re- maining until 1837 when he removed to Louis- ville having been elected as a professor in the University of Louisville. In 1859 he removed to Memphis to teach in a school there, his
chairs in these schools being chemistry, materia medica, and physiology. In 1862 he entered the Presbyterian ministry. He returned to Louisville in 1867 to practice medicine.
Dr. Josiah A. Ireland was born in 1824, and died of arterio sclerosis in Louisville where he had practiced for 50 years, September 19, 1901. He was formerly a minister of the Baptist church, resigning to study medicine. He was one of the founders of the Louisville Medical College, and was president of the Mississippi Valley Medical Association in 1879, presiding at the meeting at Evansville, Indiana, that year.
Dr. George M. Warner was born in Lonis- ville in 1858 and died of angina pectoris March 16, 1902. He graduated from the Male High School in the early seventies and began his business career as a reporter for the Courier- Journal. After two years of this he began the study of medicine, at the Louisville Medical College graduating in 1880. He became con- nected with the faculty of the school shortly after and was its secretary to the time of his death. He was a member of the editorial staff of the "Louisville Medical Monthly" and was president of the Louisville Medical Col- lege Alumni Association and visiting physician to the City Hospital. He was a man of at- tractive personality, generous to a fault, open hearted and kind.
John Arvid Ouchterlony, A. M., M. D., LL. D. was born in the province of Smaland, Sweden. June 24, 1838. After having received thorough scholastic training in his native land, he came to America and began the study of medical science in the University of the City
of New York. He served as a surgeon in the Federal army during the war, being on duty in different hospitals in or near Louisville in 1863, and at the close of the struggle he made his home in Louisville. In 1864 he was a lecturer on clinical medicine in the University of Louisville, in which position he became conspicuous. In his practice he was regarded
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as a man of exceptional ability and of rare Dr. Ouchterlony went to his reward several skill. During his professional life he con- years ago. stantly held high positions in one or the other It will be observed that in this chapter only those physicians who have died are referred to, the distinguished living members of the medical profession being left to bide their time. Sooner than they wish, perhaps, those who are not named here, may qualify for ad- mission to succeeding editions of this work. Time and patience alike work wonders. of the medical colleges of the city. He was a prolific writer on medical subjects, his produc- tions being notable for their fine finish and the care with which they were prepared. He was chosen by his associates to the presidency of most of the leading local medical societies. After a life full of good to his fellow men,
CHAPTER LXIX.
"BONES OF OUR ANCESTORS"-SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI-VIRGINIA ANCESTORS-FORE- FATHERS OF CENTRAL KENTUCKY SETTLERS-DERIVATION OF SURNAMES-ORIGIN OF THE NAME QUISENBERRY.
So many Kentuckians trace their ancestry to Virginian families that the author has con- cluded that the following chapter on "The Bones of our Ancestors" written by Mr. A. C. Quisenberry of the War Department, and first published in the Lexington, Kentucky, Herald, will be of interest to many readers of this work :
"For at least a century, or from the date of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 to its centennial in 1876, the matter of preserving or searching out family history was almost entirely neglected by the people of the United States. The antagonismn felt towards the mother country during that time was so fierce that nearly all Americans made haste to forget all the connections that their families had ever had with England, and so radical was the new Democracy, established as a result of the war of the Revolution, that whoever took any pride, or even any interest, in his forefathers, or in his family descent, was looked upon with contempt as a vain fool or a proud-stomached, would-be aristocrat who was out of place in a free Republic founded upon the corner-stone fact that 'all men are created free and equal.' It was in this way that the preservation of family history fell into disuse in this country. "The Society of the 'Sons of the Cincinnati.' founded while the guns of Yorktown had hardly ceased to reverberate, was composed of officers of the American army, and eligibility for future membership was confined strictly to eldest sons by a system of primogeniture
similar to that by which estates descend in England. The fierce Democracy of the day condemned the Society of the Cincinnati as an aristocratic institution that contravened the principles upon which the Republic had been founded. The opposition to it was so pro- nounced that the Society was practically dis- banded and lay dormant for many years. It has been fully re-established only since the organization of the 'Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.' On October 22, 1875, this, the first of the modern Revolutionary War societies in the United States, was founded in far-off San Francisco, three thousand miles away from the scenes of the struggles for American Independence and it was composed entirely of lineal descendants of soldiers or statesmen of the American Revolution. The next year (1876), the centennial of American Independence was celebrated in Philadelphia.
"The celebration of our first national cen- tennial marked a great revival of interest in American history, and thousands of people, in all parts of the country, began to ask them- selves : 'What part did my own ancestors take in the war that established this great country ?' Fortunately, notwithstanding the loss of so many old records, it is still possible for nearly every one to find this out. The establishment of the patriotic societies-Sons and Daugh- ters-gave an added impetus to the work of research and in that way a general interest in genealogy was revived in every section of the land until now the family that is not intensely
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interested in its history as far back as it is possible to trace it, is an exception. The trac- ing of one's family back to the Revolutionary war is like the first taste of blood to the tiger -it awakens a fierce and unquenchable thirst for more and more and more.
"It is true that some people are still actuated by a desire to trace descent from some noble family, even if they have to 'fake' the pedigree and there are some who seem to take great pride even in tracing back to William the Con- queror, or some other illustrious bastard, but the obvious trend of the great mass of Ameri- can genealogy today is towards tracing the real descent of the family and proving that the general average of the preceding generations have been self-respecting, honest and honor- able men and women of clean lives and upright character in whatever walks of life their lot may have fallen, high or humble.
"One who has no previous history of his family is almost certain, when he sets out to trace its descent, to be met at the threshold of his inquiries among the older members of his family by three traditions, which appear to be practically universal in American fami- lies, to-wit :
"(1) That in his family 'three brothers' emigrated together from England. There will hardly be a divergence from this belief in any family which has only a traditional account of its origin in America ; yet it is now an almost proven fact that among the thousands of early emigrants of our colonial period there were not more than a dozen cases altogether of 'three brothers' coming together.
"(2) That his family in England was nobly connected, or in some unexplained way was descended from a royal family. Such descents are not unusual but they are very far from being anything like universal.
"(3) That somewhere in Great Britain, and in the keeping of the British government, there is an immense fortune pertaining to his family, and waiting distribution among its
American heirs. This idea is nearly always a stumbling block to one who is tracing a fam- ily, for many of the people of whom he makes inquiries imagine that the only conceivable object the searcher could have for hunting up his family history is to get this fortune; and so they shut up like clans, lest any clue they might give would enable the searcher to get ahead of them in the division of the spoils.
"Those who take stock in these transatlantic heirships and in the 'Family Associations' or- ganized for the purpose of securing the rights of American heirs, seem quite blind to the legal difficulties which hedge about dormant estates in England, and are also quite ignorant of the fact that any claims to such estates and their accumulations, now held by the crown, were -if the case is of any antiquity-long ago outlawed by the limitations of time. Many of the stories about dormant estates in Great Britain, now awaiting American heirs, are the purest fiction and never had any foundation in fact.
"It is safe to say that every one of the first thirty thousand families, of different names, that settled in Kentucky had among them one or more men who had served in the Revolu- tionary War in some capacity, either as sol- diers or sailors, or as civil officers, and all of them, practically, were families that had been in America an average of at least one hun- dred years when the Revolutionary War began. Of these thirty thousand families probably three-fourths were of families that had long been established in Virginia, the other fourth being mostly from North Carolina, Maryland and Pennsylvania in the order named, though there were some, also, from each of the orig- inal colonies. Therefore, most of the Ken- tuckians of today who begin to trace back their ancestry will have to begin with the records of the county in Virginia from which their first Kentucky ancestor came. Of course all of the Virginia counties were more or less represented ; but, after a study of the subject
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for many years, my opinion is that the bulk of the original settlers of Central Kentucky came from the Virginia counties of Orange, Spottsylvania, King George, Caroline, Han- over, Culpeper, Albemarle, Augusta, etc.
"Barring the Scotch-Irish settlers in Au- gusta, most of these Virginia counties had been themselves settled from the older Vir- ginia counties of Westmoreland, Northumber- land, Middlesex, Richmond, Lancaster, King William, King and Queen, Gloucester, York, Essex, Elizabeth City, Charles City, New Kent and James City. In some of these counties the records have been destroyed by 'the mor- dant tooth of time'; in others they were crim- inally destroyed or stolen or carried away by soldiers during the Civil War. In still others the records are intact from the date of the or- ganization of the county. The records of Westmoreland county are intact from the year 1653, when the county was organized. This is the county that gave to Virginia and to America the Washingtons, the Lees, the Mad- isons, the Monroes and the Marshalls. Vir- ginia owes it to herself to publish the records of Westmoreland county in the same style in which the records of Spottsylvania county have been printed.
"Being backed by the high authority of offi- cial sanction, the county records furnish the best possible genealogical data. In his will the father names his children, generally in the order of their ages: and frequently there is data by which the maiden name of his wife may be learned. In fact, there is hardly any limit to the genealogical information that may be gleaned from wills. The testator, espe- cially in the earlier wills, frequently mentions the name of his father and mother in England, or other kinspeople there, and where their homes in England were. Such data as this is of great importance when one has traced all there is to trace in Virginia and has trans- ferred his search to England.
"It often happens, however, that some of
your ancestors in Virginia left no wills; and in such an event the next best records for gene- alogical purposes are the land deeds. These will frequently disclose the names of your an- cestor's wife and children; and often give a clue as to where he last came from; as, for instance, when he burys land the deed will be likely to describe him as 'John Smith, late of the city of Bristol, in England;' or 'John Smith, late of Philadelphia, in the colony of Pennsylvania;' or 'John Smith, late of the parish of St. Marks, in Culpeper county, Vir- ginia,' etc.
"Every variety of county records-county court orders, depositions, civil suits, fiduciary accounts, poll-books of elections, etc., are likely to give data that will be of value to one who is searching out the history of his fam- ily. Next in value to the county records are the state records (land grants, military rolls, etc.) ; and the old church registers of bap- tisms, marriages and deaths. Comparatively few of the old church registers of Virginia are still in existence. Of those that do exist, a few have been printed.
"Assuming that the genealogical searcher has succeeded in tracing his ancestry back to its beginning in Virginia-which in some cases will be all of three hundred years ago-if he has patience and perseverance, and money to spare, he will now wish to trace it in England, from which country a vast majority of the old Central Kentucky families originally came -if not in all lines, at least in one or more lines. My personal investigations have shown that five hundred years ago, in one little sec- tion of County Kent, in England, there were families of the untistial names of Hickman, Brockman, Couchman, Haggard, Trussell, Eubank, Stubblefield. Questenbury, and Quis- enberry. Unusual as these names are, how- ever, for many years they were all numer- ously represented in Clark county, Kentucky ; and this fact serves to show how strong a strain of ancient Kentish blood now flows in
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the veins of the people of Central Kentucky. Of course, however, there are a great many Kentuckians who trace back to every shire in England.
"One snag the genealogical searcher will meet at every turn will be the changes that have taken place in the spelling of his name. Mr. Saffarans, for instance, will after a little investigation find that his name was originally spelled Severance and pronounced "Saver- ance." In like manner, Mr. Blockson will trace back to Bloxham ; Mr. Marcum to Mark- ham; Mr. Exum to Exham; Mr. Semple to St. Paul; Mr. Crothers to Caruthers; Mr. Sinkler to Sinclair and St. Clair; Mr. Polk to Paul, through the diminutive of Paul, which is Paulock, or Pollock, which has been euphonized into Polk, and so on, ad infinitum.
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