USA > Kentucky > A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume III > Part 23
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On November 30, 1865, was solemnized the marriage of Judge Ward to Miss Mary Eliza Miller, who was born in Harrison county, this state, on the 8th of January, 1843. She was a . daughter of James and Ann F. ( Boyd) Miller, prominent citizens of Harrison county. Mrs. Ward survived her honored husband for a number of years and was summoned to the life eternal on the 5th of September, 1908. They were both earnest members of the Pres- byterian church, in which the judge served for many years as elder and to the charities and benevolences of which he was a most liberal contributor. He was elected moderator of the synod of Kentucky in 1893, by acclama- tion, and was the first layman ever chosen to that office in the state. In a fraternal way Judge Ward was a valued and appreciative member of Blue Lodge, Free & Accepted Masons, in whose charitable work he was deeply and actively interested. He was also a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He ever manifested a keen insight in educational matters and for a number of years served as curator of the Central Uni- versity at Richmond, Kentucky. He was one of the most earnest and active friends of the public school system and did much to raise its standard in Kentucky. He was a strong Union man during the Civil war, being opposed to secession under any and all circumstances. He was broadly informed on all matters con- cerning the political situation of the country and frequently advanced his views from the campaign platform, where his eloquence, logic and forceful arguments always carried con-
Jau RWilson
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viction. He was foresighted enough to look beyond the interests of the moment to the splendid possibilities of the future. Upright in his dealings with his fellow men and in all relations of life, his record will bear the search- light of fullest investigation. His mind was of giant strength. He was broad-minded and liberal in thought and action, was charitable towards others' opinions and was ever mind- ful of their rights and sensibilities. In public life he was fair, honorable and outspoken,- in private life he was true, kind and tender and at all times, under all circumstances, he was just, loyal and markedly courteous.
Judge and Mrs. Ward became the parents of three children, concerning whom the follow- ing brief data are liere incorporated : J. Miller Ward of whom mention is made on other pages of this work; Ann Cary Ward, who became the wife of E. F. Clay Jr., was sum- moned to eternal rest on the 9th of May, 1900; and Jay Q. is engaged in the great basic industry of agriculture in Harrison county.
REV. SAMUEL R. WILSON, D. D .- One of the ablest divines of the Presbyterian church dur- ing the most critical years of its growth in the nineteenth century was the Reverend Samuel R. Wilson, D. D., of Louisville. For fourteen years, from March 12, 1865, to December 9, 1878, he was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in that city. His high character, un- flinching courage, varied learning, masterful in- tellect, and extraordinary oratorical and argu- mentative powers, as well as his entire devo- tion to the exacting duties of his high calling, have been universally recognized by all who knew him or felt the influence of his com- manding personality during his long and useful ministry. Richard H. Collins, the Kentucky historian, has said of him that he was "one of the ablest men in the pulpit and one of the greatest in controversy in the State of Ken- tucky," and that "he and his co-laborers in the same city made the Presbyterian pulpit of Louisville for years by far the ablest in any city in the United States, New York possibly excepted."
His grandfather, Dr. Henry Wright Wilson, was a native of Annapolis, Maryland, born about 1720 ; educated as a physician, and died near New London, Bedford County, Virginia, in the winter of 1777-78. His death was occa- sioned by typhus, or "camp fever," contracted while attending the sick soldiers of the Revo- lutionary army.
If the genealogist traces his lineage back three generations farther he meets James Wil- son, of Calvert County, Maryland, whose an- cestors are supposed to have come from Eng-
land, or Scotland, about 1660, and first settled in Virginia. Major Josiah Wilson, son of James, was long a man of public influence. He served as high sheriff of Prince George's and of Anne Arundel counties, Maryland ; was an alderman and incorporator under the first charter of Annapolis, granted by Queen Anne in 1708; and for several terms, and at the time of his death in November, 1717, was a member of the Lower House of the Maryland General Assembly. He married Martha Lingan, daugh- ter of George and Anne Lingan, and their son, Josiah Wilson, Jr., wedded Elizabeth Sprigg, daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Sprigg and his wife, Margaret (Mariartee), all of Calvert and Prince George's counties, Maryland. The son of Josiah Wilson, Jr., be- came the Dr. Wilson who lost his life, from disease, contracted while in attendance upon the soldiers of the Revolution.
Joshua L. Wilson, son of Dr. Henry Wright Wilson was born in Bedford County, Virginia, September 22, 1774, and died in Cincinnati, Ohio, August 14, 1846. His mother, who was born Agnes Lacy, was a native of Hanover county, Virginia, a sister of Rev. Drury Lacy and first-cousin of "Father" David Rice, both Presbyterian clergymen of prominence and the latter widely known as the leading pioneer apostle of that church in Kentucky. Dr. Jos- hua L. Wilson was closely identified with the establishment and progress of Presbyterianism in Ohio, by virtue of his long connection with the First Presbyterian church of Cincinnati, of which he was pastor for thirty-eight years (1808-46). Before moving to Ohio, he resided in Kentucky for nearly twenty-seven years, from October, 1781, to May, 1808. In 1839 he officiated as Moderator of the General Assem- bly of the Old School Presbyterian church. His maternal uncle, Rev. Drury Lacy, and his cousins, Rev. Dr. John Holt Rice, Rev. Dr. Benjamin H. Rice, Rev. Dr. Nathan L. Rice. and Rev. Dr. Moses D. Hoge, have all filled the Moderator's chair. Owing to his unusual height and imposing presence, Dr. Wilson was commonly known as "the pulpit giant." In his book of "Personal Memories," Hon. E. D. Mansfield, of Cincinnati, has said of him,- "After making due allowance for generals, lawyers, and merchants, there was no man in the Cincinnati of that day more noted, more respected, or more remarkable than Rev. Dr. Joshua L. Wilson. His name and acts in soci- ety were known to everybody. He was a man amiable in character, just in life, of great an- thority, and scarcely less pugnacity. With strong opinions and strong character, he thought what was worth preaching was worth
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fighting for. So, though no Ishmaelite, his hand was uplifted against the Ishmaelites when they came in his way. He was a beloved pas- tor in his own congregation, respected by the people, and died much lamented." He mar- ried Sarah B. Mackay, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, and the only child of George and Margaret Mackay.
His son, Samuel R. Wilson, D. D., the sub- ject of this sketch, was born June 4, 1818, in Cincinnati, and died at Louisville, Ky., March 3, 1886. He was named for a favorite family physician, Samuel Ramsay, M. D., long an act- ive and prominent practitioner of medicine in Cincinnati. Through his mother he could trace a French and Scotch-Irish descent, his maternal grandmother being a Marylander of Huguenot origin, and his grandfather, George Mackay, being a native of Belfast, Ireland. On his father's side, his ancestry was English, Norman-French, and Welsh.
Samuel Ramsay Wilson attended a school at .Oxford, Ohio, conducted by Rev. Robert H. Bishop, D. D., later entered Hanover College, Indiana, as a Junior in the fall of 1834; and graduated from that institution, with the A. B. degree, September 27, 1836. After a year's in- termission, he became a student at the Prince- ton Theological Seminary and, after complet- ing the full three years' course, graduated in 1840. The degree of A. M. in course, was con- ferred upon him by Hanover College, in 1843, and the degree of Doctor of Divinity by Miami University, Ohio, in 1856. He was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of New Brunswick, N. J., August 5, 1840. The same year he be- came Assistant Pastor of his father in the First Presbyterian Church, Cincinnati. On April 26th, 1842, he was ordained by the Pres- bytery of Cincinnati, and about the same time was made full co-pastor with his father of the First church. This relation continued until the latter's death in 1846. From 1846 to March 2, 1861, Dr. Samuel R. Wilson was sole pastor of the same church. Upon resigning this charge, he accepted a call from the Grand (now the Fourth) Street Presbyterian church, of New York City. Impaired health, however, neces- sitated his resignation in January, 1863. For about fifteen months, while recuperating, he occupied the pulpit of the Mulberry Presby- terian church in Shelby County, Kentucky. This period was probably the happiest of his life and to this famous country church and the noble people in the neighborhood, of which it is the center, he remained always devotedly at- tached.
Coming to the City of Louisville in the prime of his manhood and in the full maturity
of his splendid abilities, he found, in the pastor- ate of one of its leading churches, a field of ac- tivity and usefulness worthy of his great pow- ers. It was during his connection with the First Presbyterian Church of Louisville that he wrote the celebrated "Declaration and Testi- mony," an ecclesiastical document which fig- ured so largely in the reconstruction annals of the Presbyterian Church in Missouri and Ken- tucky. Collins, the Kentucky historian, previ- ously quoted, pronounced this remarkable pa- per "one of the noblest defenses of true Pres- byterianism and of the crown rights of the Head of the Church ever penned," and others, equally qualified to speak, have concurred in this judgment.
Of his printed sermons, one of the most noteworthy was that delivered December 20, 1868, on the occasion of the funeral of Mr. William Garvin, an elder of the First Presby- terian Church and one of the leading mer- chants and citizens of Louisville, who, on the night of December 4, 1868, met a tragic death in the burning of the Ohio River mail steam- boat "United States," on which he was a pas- senger. Another notable address was that on "The Causes and Remedies of Impending Na- tional Calamities," delivered in Cincinnati,. Ohio, November 18, 1860, on the eve of the Civil war. A fitting sequel to this sermon was his speech on "Loyalty," delivered in Pitts- burg, Pennsylvania, May 26, 1865, before the Old School General Assembly, in which he de- fended the memory of his friend, Dr. James Henley Thornwell, of South Carolina. A par- allel to this brilliant performance was the speech delivered by him in vindication of "The Declaration and Testimony" and the Louisville Presbytery, made before the Synod of Ken- tucky at Louisville, October 16, 1865. All in all, this was one of the best efforts of his life, rendered in a contest with adversaries worthy of his steel.
Quite a number of his sermons and ad- dresses, besides those above mentioned, found their way into print, and at various times he was associated in the editorship of certain re- ligious periodicals. In 1872 he also edited and published a volume of "Hymns of the Church," to which is prefixed a most excellent discourse on "Music."
Dr. Wilson was a member of Presbyterian General Assemblies a great number of times; was Clerk of the Presbytery of Cincinnati, for nine or ten years, and presided as Moderator of the Synod of Cincinnati repeatedly. His unremitting and diversified labors earned for him a high place among those whose lives have been given to the advancement of the
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Presbyterian Church and the promotion of the cause of Christianity and education in the West and South. He was a delegate to the World's Protestant Convention, in London, England, in 1846, but, for reasons satisfactory to himself and his church, did not attend or take part in the convention. He traveled in Great Britain and on the continent on this trip abroad. He made a second trip to Europe in 1851, and a third in 1873.
Rev. Dr. Alfred Nevin, editor of the "Pres- byterian Encyclopaedia," published in 1884, has put upon record this concise and very just tribute to his superiority as a pastor and preacher --- "Dr. Wilson is a strong and able theologian, and an earnest gospel preacher. Strongly conservative in his theology, thor- oughly Presbyterian in his feelings. and hav- ing the courage of his convictions, he has fre- quently been engaged in controversy in regard to church polity and doctrine. In his prime he was one of the ablest preachers in the Presby- terian Church."
The "Herald and Presbyter," of March 10, 1886, appearing just after his death, gave a lengthy editorial notice of his career and char- acter and, among other things, said-
"Dr. Wilson was naturally endowed with talents of the highest order. He was a natural logician, and his acquirements within the bounds of his profession were exact and thor- ough. As a speaker, he was fluent and free 'from faults in modulation, emphasis and gest- ure. In exegesis and doctrinal theology, he was acute and profound. As an ecclesiastic, whether as a debater or as a moderator, he had few equals. He bore a conspicuous and effi- cient part in the settlement of most of the great questions that came before the Church and the world, even from the beginning of his ministry."
Dr. Wilson was thrice married. His first wife was Nancy Campbell Johnston, of Cin- cinnati, who was survived by a daughter, Rhuy H. Wilson. His second wife was Mary C. Bell, a daughter of James Franklin Bell, of Scott County, Kentucky, grandfather of Ma- jor-General James Franklin Bell, late Chief of Staff of the United States army and himself a native of Shelby County, Kentucky. One of the sons born of this marriage is Samuel M. Wilson, a leading lawyer of the City of Lex- ington. Dr. Dunning Steele Wilson, a son by the third marriage, is a prominent physician of Louisville. His mother was a daughter of the late Captain Robert Steele, of Louisville.
SAMUEL M. WILSON .- To have advanced to the front rank of Kentucky lawyers and be in logical succession to a circuit judgeship before reaching the age of forty is what might have
been expected of a member of the Wilson family of Kentucky, the members of which, as appears from the foregoing sketch of them, have for generations made an enduring im- press on the professional life of Virginia, Ken- tucky and the West. Samuel Mackay Wilson, son of Rev. Dr. Samuel R. Wilson, and tlie subject of this reference, comes of a fine line of Maryland and Virginian forebears, who have generally achieved distinction in the pub- lic and professional walks of life.
Mr. Wilson was born in Louisville, October 15, 1871, and received his early education in private schools and under the careful training of his father. Entering the preparatory de- partmert of Centre College, Danville, Ken- tucky, October 1, 1886, he spent two years therein, and in the fall of 1888 became a fresh- man in the college proper. He left that insti- tution at the end of his junior year, and after teaching a year and a half, spent a year at Williams College, Massachusetts. Another season of teaching, for a year and a half (the last six months in the preparatory department of Centre College), enabled him to enter the law department of Centre College. During his professional course he had the advantage of instruction under such men as ex-Governor J. Proctor Knott, Hon. R. P. Jacobs, and Hon. John W. Yerkes, and during his college career, both in Kentucky and in Massachusetts, he won several first prizes in oratory.
On the 17th of June, 1895, Mr. Wilson be- came a student in the law office of the late Judge Jere R. Morton, at Lexington, and there continued his reading until October 14, 1895, when he was admitted to practice as a member of the Fayette county bar. That city has since been the scene of his efficient activities as a lawyer, acting judge and participant in pub- lic affairs. For the first seven years of his residence in Lexington he practiced alone ; then, for a year, was a member of the firm of Morton, Darnall and Wilson ; and from April. 1903, to Judge Morton's death in December, 1908, was of the firm of Morton, Webb and Wilson. Since January, 1909, he has again followed an independent practice. From 1903 to 1908 Judge Wilson served as deputy com- missioner of the Fayette Circuit Court, and on a number of occasions in 1908-10 acted as special circuit court judge. His high profes- sional standing is further evidenced and em- phasized by his service, since 1908, as profes- sor of Elementary Law, Common Law Plead- ing and Real Property, in the law department of the Transylvania University, Lexington. He is chief counsel and general manager of the Lexington and Central Kentucky Title Com-
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pany, of which he was the principal founder ; director of the Lexington Law Library Asso- ciation and vice president of the Kentucky State Bar Association ( 1910-1I). In Novem- ber, 1901, Judge Wilson assisted in the re-or- ganization of the State Bar Association, and in 1902-04 compiled its Code of Ethics.
From a literary standpoint he is the author of the "Early Bar of Fayette County," 1901 : "George Robertson," 1908 (in "Great Ameri- can Lawyers") ; "The Old Maysville Road." 1908; and "Year Book of Kentucky Society of Sons of the Revolution," 1911. In 1898-99 he was editor and manager of the Kappa Alpha Fraternity Journal, published during that per- iod at Lexington. The only public offices, out- side of his professional field, ever held by Judge Wilson have been as a member of the Lexington Board of Education, in 1904-05 and again in 1910, and as one of the Perry's Vic- tory Centennial Commissioners for Kentucky, the term of his latter appointment covering 1910-13.
Judge Wilson was vice president and direc- tor of the Lexington Commercial Club in 1910, and holds membership in the following, as well as in the other organizations mentioned : Lex- ington, Country, and New Ellerslie Fishing Clubs, and the Civic League, of Lexington ; Tavern and Filson Clubs, Louisville; Kappa Alpha fraternity and Sons of the Revolution in Kentucky ; and the Maryland, Ohio Valley, Mississippi Valley and Kentucky Historical Societies.
When the last word has been said, however, Judge Wilson's mind and heart are really wrapped up in the engrossing activities of his professional work. This, the most earnest and striking phase of his broad life, is well de- picted by one of the leading publications of his state in the following extracts: "Mr. Wilson was associate counsel for Caleb Powers in his last trial at Georgetown and gained a state- wide celebrity by the able manner in which he assisted in the defense of that noted state pris- oner. His extensive knowledge of the law, his clear conception of the fine constitutional points involved, his forceful presentation of these points from the standpoint of his client, and his brilliant final speech in defense of the prisoner, are still fresh in the mind of the pub- lic and stamp Mr. Wilson as one of the braini- est of the galaxy of brilliant attorneys en- gaged in the many trials of the case. He was one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs in the recent Water Works litigation, and his able ex- position and defense of the people's rights in this controversy greatly strengthened him with the general public. He is chief counsel and
general manager of the Lexington and Central Kentucky Title Company, and enjoys besides an extensive general practice.
"Although a Democrat, Mr. Wilson stands high in the estimation of Governor Willson, and in recognition of his legal ability he has several times been appointed as special judge by the Governor to sit in important cases ; and each time that this honor has been conferred upon him he has acquitted himself creditably.
"Mr. Wilson not only takes high rank as a lawyer, but is regarded as one of Lexington's most brilliant orators, possessing gracefulness of delivery, fluency of speech and earnestness of manner that renders him a most attractive public speaker."
On October 26, 1899, Mr. Wilson married Miss Mary Bullock Shelby, of Lexington, Kentucky, youngest daughter of Edmund Pendleton and Susan Goodloe (Hart) Shelby, of "Grassland," Fayette County, that state. Mrs. Wilson is a great-granddaughter of Gen- eral Isaac Shelby, hero of King's Mountain and the first governor of Kentucky ; is a gradu- ate of Sayre Institute (1894) and attended Dana Hall and Wellesley College (1894-96), and is not only highly educated, but is one of the most accomplished and attractive of Lex- . ington's young matrons.
MAJOR-GENERAL JAMES FRANKLIN BELL .- Of the many notable Kentuckians who have been conspicuous in the naval and military. service of their country, there is none, whether volunteer or regular, who has achieved higher distinction as a soldier than Major-General James Franklin Bell, late Chief of Staff of the United States army. His rise to eminence was not the result of fortuitous circumstances or of personal or official favoritism, but was the as- sured reward of thorough preparation, hard and faithful work, patient waiting, and proved capacity. His elevation to the chief command of the army of the United States caused no envious murmurings and no adverse comment, open or suppressed, because of the unanimous recognition, throughout all branches of the service, of his superior merit and of his abso- lute fitness. Moreover, his frank, open nature and sunny, warm-hearted, generous disposition have won and bound to him a host of friends both in the army and out of it. To such friends and to his numerous kindred and "cou- sins" throughout Kentucky, his official titles and trappings are of far less moment than his own loyal, lovable, big-hearted manhood, and with these, his own home people, he is even to this day simply but affectionately plain "Frank Bell."
General Bell comes of a race of warriors.
James Franklin (Beel
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His great-great-grandfather, Captain David Bell, of Augusta County, Virginia, served both in the French and Indian war and in the War of the Revolution. His son, John Bell, in all likelihood, also saw service in the Revo- lutionary army of Virginia, and many of their kindred in Augusta County and throughout the Valley of Virginia went forth to swell the patriot forces in the field.
William Bell, the immigrant ancestor, and father of Captain David Bell, mentioned above, was a member of the large Scotch- Irish colony settled in the North of Ireland. Here he was born about the year 1685. With many of his name and kindred, he emigrated to America about 1735, probably entering the Delaware Bay and river and landing first in Pennsylvania. He settled in Augusta county, Virginia, about eight miles northeast of the site of Staunton, in 1738-40, certainly prior to 1746. Was a staunch Presbyterian and founded the family locally known as "The Stone Church Bells," by which name they have always been distinguished from other families of the same name in Augusta county. The Bell family was closely allied, by blood and marriage, to the Andersons, Allens, Craigs, Trimbles, Hendersons, Millses and other prominent Augusta county families.
John Bell, son of Captain David Bell by his wife, Florence Henderson, and grandson of William, the progenitor of the family, was born in Augusta county, Virginia, about 1758; mar- ried in Botetourt county, Virginia, about 1788, Jane Mills, a daughter of John Mills, Sr., and sister of Captain John Mills, of the Rev- olutionary army. John Bell removed from Virginia to Fayette county, Kentucky, about 1790. By the will of his father, Capt. David Bell, a military survey of 2,000 acres, for serv- ices in the French and Indian war, located on Shannon's Run, a branch of Elkhorn Creek, in Fayette (originally Fincastle) county, was devised to him and his brother, James Bell. They secured this land almost in its entirety, and James Bell continued to reside on a por- tion of it until about the year 1840. John Bell farmed on an extensive scale and raised a large family of children. He died in March, 1835, at "Stoneleigh," his handsome estate near Lex- ington, and his widow, Jane ( Mills) Bell, also died there in 1836.
James Franklin Bell, son of John, was born in Fayette county, Kentucky, September 13. 1803, and died near White Sulphur, in Scott county, Kentucky, November 13, 1866. He farmed successfully in Fayette, Franklin, Scott and Woodford counties, and, like his father before him, was long a Ruling Elder in
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