USA > Kentucky > A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume III > Part 24
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the Presbyterian church. His wife, Mary Jane Wilson, was a native of Scott county, Kentucky, a daughter of Captain John Wilson, and granddaughter of Richard Wilson, of Pennsylvania, a near kinsman of Hon. James Wilson, the "Signer" and Supreme Court Jus- tice.
John Wilson Bell, the eldest son of James Franklin Bell, became the father of General James Franklin Bell, the subject of this sketch. Born in Franklin county, Kentucky, on May 8, 1829, he died at Shelbyville, Kentucky, on January 3, 1904. He was twice married. His first wife, Sarah Margaret Allen, mother of General Bell, was a daughter of Dr. Joseph Fawcett Allen, by his wife, Sarah Anne Vena- ble, both of Shelby county, Kentucky. Sarah (Venable) Allen was a granddaughter of Colonel John Cowan of Lincoln and Mercer counties, Kentucky. Colonel Cowan was of Scotch-Irish descent and was a prominent leader among Kentucky pioneers. He came from Pennsylvania to Kentucky at a very early day, was a captain of militia in Lincoln county, Virginia, (now Kentucky), during the Revo- lution and later held the rank of Colonel in the Kentucky militia. John Wilson Bell married, secondly, Jane Hardin Logan, a granddaughter of Mark Hardin and a great-granddaughter of Governor John Adair of Kentucky. Preserv- ing the traditions of his family, John Wilson Bell, for many years before his death, was a Ruling Elder of the Presbyterian church at Shelbyville. His long and honorable career was devoted to the engrossing activities of farm and country life. Two of his brothers, Captain Joseph Nelson Bell and Captain David Brainard Bell, served during the Civil war, in the Confederate army, as also did their broth- er-in-law, Henry Simpson Halley. All three were ideal soldiers.
James Franklin Bell. the Major-General, was born near Shelbyville, in Shelby county, Kentucky, on January 9, 1856. Only a meagre summary of his arduous and eventful career can be given here. He received his prepara- tory education in the public schools of Shelby- ville, and, in 1874. entered as a cadet the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. From this historic institu- tion he graduated with honor in 1878. Was at once commissioned Second Lieutenant and, later, as First Lieutenant of Cavalry. He served on the plains in the Seventh U. S. Cav- alry, Custer's old command and a crack regi- ment, from 1878 to 1894. Captured a band of half-breed Cree Indians, near Fort Buford, South Dakota, in 1883. Served in the Sioux Campaign, around Pine Ridge, South Dakota,
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in 1891. Was Adjutant of regiment and Sec- retary of Cavalry and Light Artillery School, 1891-1894, and Aide to General J. W. For- syth, in California, Arizona, and the state of Washington, in 1895-1898. Served with marked distinction in the Spanish-American Campaign in the Philippine Islands and in the Philippine insurrection. Was promoted Cap- tain, U. S. A., in March, 1899. On March 7, 1899, was wounded in action at San Juan del Monte, P. I. On July 5, 1899, was appointed Colonel of Volunteers, and organized the 36th Infantry, U. S. Volunteers, in the Philippine Islands during the same month. He continued in command of this regiment until December, 1899. In 1899 he was awarded a congres- sional medal of honor for gallantry in action, near Porac, P. I. December 5, 1899, was ap- pointed Brigadier-General of Volunteers. Commanded the Fourth Brigade. Second Divi- sion, Eighth Army Corps, and 3rd District, Department of Northern Luzon, to July, 1900. Was Provost Marshal-General of the City of Manila, P. I., to February, 1901. Appointed Brigadier-General. U. S. A., in February, 1901. Commanded Ist District, Department of North- ern Luzon, to November, 1901, and the Third Brigade, Department of Southern Luzon, to December, 1902. Returned to the United States in 1903. Was Commandant of the Infantry and Cavalry School, Signal School and Staff College, to April, 1906. Became Major-Gen- eral, U. S. A., on January 3, 1907. Received the degree of LL. D. from the State University of Kentucky, at Lexington, on June 6, 1907. From April, 1906, to April, 1910, was Chief of Staff and, next to the President, the virtual head of the United States Army. In the spring of 1910, by his own request, he was relieved from this responsible and very exacting posi- tion by President Taft, and since December, 1910, he has been assigned to duty in the Philippines, over the military establishment of which he has supreme command.
On January 5, 1881, General Bell was mar- ried to Sarah Buford, daughter of Thomas Jefferson and Grace ( Bowers) Buford, of Rock Island, Illinois. Their married life has been an ideally beautiful and happy one, and Mrs. Bell, who is a woman of exceptional in- tellectual and social attractions, has been to her husband at all times both an aid and an inspiration. Her sister, Anna Buford, is the wife of Brigadier-General Ernest A. Garling- ton of the regular army. The Bufords, like the Bells, are a vigorous and valiant old Ken- tucky family of the best Virginia stock.
Besides the large infusion of Scotch-Irish
blood which fills his veins, General Bell may also claim a sturdy English lineage. This comes through the Venables, the Fawcetts, the Pollocks (or Polks), the Mortons, and the Woodsons. Through the marriage of . Abra- ham V'enable to Martha Davis, a granddaugh- ter or great-granddaughter of the Indian "Princess." Niketti ("She sweeps the dew from the flowers") it is possible for General Bell to claim descent from Opechancanough, the celebrated Chief of the Powhatans and uncle of Pocahontas. The prominent and powerful Virginia families who trace their descent in part from Niketti are, most of them, as proud of the fact as are the numerous de- scendants of Pocahontas of the high-bred In- dian strain which they owe to her. To the list of Scotch-Irish families found in General Bell's pedigree and already mentioned should be added the names of the Millers, McClel- lands, Hunters, Montgomerys, Gilchrists and Wilsons.
Certainly from the happy commingling of such sturdy and heroic ancestral strains, it is not strange that so perfect a specimen of phy- sical manhood, so fine a soldier, and such a whole-hearted, genuine Kentucky gentleman, clothed invariably with the modesty, which . one finds so becoming in an acknowledged master of the art of war, should have been produced. Kentucky has furnished to the na- tion no son of whom she has more reason to be justly proud.
GOVERNOR ISAAC SHELBY .- This great Ken- tuckian, first governor of the state, has been happily characterized as a "brave and mag- nanimous soldier, a sagacious statesman, and a patriot who counted no cost in his devoted service to the land which gave him birth."
Isaac Shelby was born December 11, 1750, in Frederick (now Washington ) county, Maryland, near the North Mountain and in the vicinity of Hagerstown, and was a son of Captain Evan Shelby. Until the age of twen- ty-one years he was chiefly employed in farm- ing and herding cattle for his father, but he took the pains to avail himself of the limited educational advantages which western Mary- land then afforded. Drawing his life-blood from the sturdiest of Welsh and English an- cestors, early disciplined in the woodcraft of the frontier, with his mind stored and teem- ing from childhood with the thrilling tales of border warfare, in which his father had been long and arduously engaged, it is not .surpris- ing that, on reaching man's estate, Isaac Shelby should have displayed a natural apti- tude for war and an exceptional capacity for
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leadership. Indeed, it has been truly said of him that he was a born soldier and a soldier born to command.
In 1771 young Isaac removed with the other members of the Shelby family to the. Holston region in southwest Virginia, where he shared the customary experiences and adventures of a pioneer and frontiersman. Shortly after this change, Lord Dunmore's war broke out and he received a lieutenant's commission in a company of Fincastle troops, of which his father was captain. . He fought valiantly at Point Pleasant on October 10, 1774, in the fierce, all-day, hand-to-hand encounter with the Indians under Cornstalk. Of this engage- ment, which has often been called the "first battle of the American Revolution," Lieuten- ant Shelby, in a letter to his uncle, John Shelby, written a few days after the battle, has left us the best account. He remained as second in command of a garrison at the mouth of the Great Kanawha until July, 1775, and for nearly a year following he explored, lo- cated and surveyed lands in Kentucky.
In July, 1776, Isaac Shelby, while in Ken- tucky, was appointed captain of a minute com- pany by the Committee of Safety of Virginia. In 1777 he was appointed by Governor Pat- rick Henry, of Virginia, a commissary of sup- plies, for an extensive body of militia guard- ing the frontier posts. In 1778 he was en- gaged in the commissary department, provid- ing supplies for the Continental Army and for an expedition, by way of Pittsburg, against the Northwestern Indians. He rendered sim- ilar service in 1779. In the spring of that year he was elected a member of the Virginia Legislature from Washington county and in the fall of the same year was commissioned a major, by Governor Thomas Jefferson, in the escort of guards to the commissioners for es- tablishing the boundary line between Virginia and North Carolina; and shortly afterwards he was appointed by Governor Caswell, of North Carolina, a colonel of the new county of Sullivan. On the 30th of July, 1780, he captured a formidable Tory stronghold on the Pacolet River. He was largely responsible for the victory in the battle of Musgrove's Mill, August 18, 1780; was one of those in chief command in the battle of King's Moun- tain, October 7. 1780, and contributed most largely to the success there achieved. A few months later, in command of a troop, he joined General Francis Marion and served under him until near the end of the war.
In 1781 he was elected a member of the North Carolina legislature ; in 1783 moved to Kentucky; was a member of three of the Kentucky conventions, held in 1787, 1788 and
1789, preparatory to its applying for statehood. In January, 1791, he was appointed with Gen- eral Charles Scott, Benjamin Logan and two others, a member of the local Board of War, created by congress for the District of Ken- tucky, with full discretionary power to pro- vide for the defense of the frontier settle- ments and the prosecution of the war with the Indians. He was made high sheriff of Lincoln county, Kentucky, and continued as such until his election as governor in May, 1792. Was a member of the convention which framed the first constitution of Kentucky in April, 1792.
Governor Shelby was one of the first trus- tees of Transylvania Seminary (afterwards Transylvania University), having been ap- pointed in 1783. He was also a member and chairman of the first board of trustees of Cen- tre College (now Central University), founded in 1819. He took his seat as first gov- ernor of the state June 4. 1792, his term con- tinuing until 1796. The Constitution making him ineligible to succeed himself, he was not re-elected. In 1812, however, when war with Great Britain was again declared, he was promptly summoned by his fellow citizens to serve once more as governor of Kentucky.
In this, our second War of Independence, Governor Shelby, now a major general of mi- litia and commander-in-chief, under General Harrison, of an army of four thousand Ken- tucky volunteers, demonstrated the vitality of his rugged manhood and the unfailing strength of his patriotism by winning, in the forefront of battle, at the head of his cour- ageous comrades-in-arms, fresh laurels both for himself and for his beloved Kentucky in the notable battle of the Thames. For his ser- vices in this battle, fought on the 5th of Octo- ber, 1813, on Canadian soil, and fast upon the heels of Perry's famous naval victory on Lake Erie, Governor Shelby, a few years later, re- ceived a handsome gold medal and the tinani- mous thanks of Congress. The grateful com- monwealth, whose destinies were entrusted to his guidance during this trying period, promptly recorded its appreciation and its gratitude in resolutions which declared "the high estimation in which they held the con- duct of their venerable chief magistrate, Isaac Shelby, in leading the Kentucky militia into Upper Canada to victory and to glory."
In 1817 Governor Shelby was selected by President Monroe as secretary of war, but declined the office on the score of age. He was one of the presidential electors for Ken- tucky in 1797. in 1801, and in 1805. In 1818 he was commissioned with General Andrew Jackson to hold a treaty with the Chickasaw tribe of Indians for the purchase of lands
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west of the Tennessee river, which service he performed with entire satisfaction to all par- ties concerned. The death of this great Ainer- ican occurred on July 18, 1826, at his historic home, "Traveller's Rest," Lincoln county, Ken- tucky, where he had first permanently settled in 1783. An evidence of his general popu- larity as a hero is the fact that counties in nine states have been named Shelby in his honor.
Governor Shelby was married at Boones- boro, Kentucky, in 1783, to Susannah Hart, daughter of Captain Nathaniel Hart, one of the proprietors of the Transylvania Company. Of this union were born eleven children, nearly all of whom grew to maturity and have themselves married prominently and left num- erous descendants.
When not serving his country as a soldier in the field or as a civil officer in legislative halls or in the executive chair, it was Gov- ernor Shelby's delight to occupy himself with the quiet pursuits of peace and his chief inter- est lay in the simple joy's of home and country life. His old Kentucky home, Traveller's Rest, was, until the end of his long life, an unrivaled seat and center of truly genuine and dignified hospitality. And the traditions of that earlier day, when every weary, way- worn traveler was welcome, have been handed down by successive owners of the estate, mem- bers of the Shelby family, even to our own time.
Governor Shelby has received high tribute from many distinguished pens. Says Theo- dore Roosevelt, in his "Winning of the West," referring to the battle of Point Pleasant, Octo- ber 10, 1774:
"One of Christian's captains was a stout old Marylander of Welsh blood, named Evan Shelby; and Shelby's son, Isaac, a stalwart, stern-visaged young man, who afterwards played a very prominent part on the border, was a subaltern in his company, in which Rob- ertson likewise served as a sergeant. Al- though without experience of drill, it may be doubted if a braver or physically finer set of men were ever got together on this continent . All the after-time leaders of the west were engaged in some way in Lord Dunmore's war. Their fates were various Shelby won laurels at King's Mountain, be- came the first governor of Kentucky, and when an old man revived the memories of his youth by again leading the western men in battle against the British and Indians."
Bancroft in his "History of the United States," says of Shelby, in the battle of King's Mountain, October 7, 1780: "The two center columns, headed by Campbell and
Shelby, climbing the mountain, began the at- tack. Shelby, a man of the hardiest make, stiff as iron, among the dauntless singled out for dauntlessness, went right onward and up- ward like a man who had but one thing to do, and but one thought to do it."
Says Shaler, in "Kentucky, A Pioneer Commonwealth," of the same engagement, "Although Shelby was not in name the chief in this action, there is no reason to doubt that the conception of the campaign and the vigor of its execution were his alone. His also was the scheme of attack which led to the battle of Cowpens."
General Shelby's service at the battle of the Thames, October 5, 1813, also received enthu- siastic praise from his contemporaries. In the official report of General Harrison to Gen- eral Armstrong, Secretary of War, the former says: "In communicating to the President through you, sir, my opinion of the conduct of the officers who served under my command, I am at a loss how to mention that of Gov- ernor Shelby, being convinced that no eulog- ium of mine can reach his merit." In his fifth annual message, President Madison, always a warm admirer of Governor Shelby, refer- ring to the war, makes honorable mention of "the chief magistrate of Kentucky, whose heroism, signalized in the war which estab- lished the independence of his country, sought, at an advanced age, a share in hardships and battles for maintaining its rights and its safety."
It can not be otherwise than appropriate to conclude this brief review with an extract from the tribute paid Governor Shelby by Governor James T. Morehead in his cele- brated Address delivered at Boonesboro, Ken- tucky, May 25, 1840.
"The life of Isaac Shelby," said Governor Morehead, "is a signal example of unblem- ished personal integrity and enlarged public usefulness, which may be safely imitated by all those who aspire to become benefactors of their country. Starting into active life with- out the aid of large fortune or a finished edu- cation, he pursued the gradations of military rank from the lieutenancy of a militia com- pany to the command of a regiment ; he rose from the inconspicuous but important station of a surveyor among the pioneers to the gover- norship of a great commonwealth, and was distinguished in all the posts to which he was called. His mind, like his body, was strong and vigorous ; boldness, energy, decision were its leading characteristics. Capable of think- ing for himself, he investigated every impor- tant subject that came within the range of his private or public duties, with candor and de-
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liberation; and having formed his opinions, he followed them with unshaken firmness. He spoke and wrote as he thought, with great force and vigor, always expressing his opinions with manly frankness and a lofty disdain of personal consequences. His manners were plain and simple, and commanded, without any affectation of dignity or superiority, the uni- versal deference of his associates. He was sincere, but not profuse, in his professions of attachment; faithful and steadfast to his friends when those attachments were once formed. Elevating himself in the discharge of his official duties above the influence of private considerations, he sought and re- warded merit for his country's sake. Such being his character as a public man, he main- tained all the relations of life with equal credit and success. His death produced a . sensation, which told with great emphasis of the loss of a public benefactor."
J. MILLER WARD .- An essentially progres- sive and public-spirited citizen and one who has contributed in no small measure to the development and upbuilding of this section of the fine old Blue Grass state, J. Miller Ward is successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits in Bourbon county, Kentucky, and he has gained distinctive precedence as a raiser of high-grade stock. He is a native Kentuckian, born in Harrison county on the 19th of December, 1866. His parents were Judge John Q. Ward and Mary Eliza Miller Ward, both now deceased, of whom more de- tailed information is contained on other pages of this work devoted to the lives and achievements of Kentuckians.
Mr. Ward was reared to adult age on the old home farm and after preliminary training in the common schools of his native county, he was matriculated in Central University, at Richmond, Kentucky, in which he was grad- uated as a member of the class of 1888, with the degrees of Bachelor of Science. Soon after completing his education he engaged with his grandfather in farming and the breeding of thoroughbred trotting horses, on Sunny Side farm, two miles west of Paris, Kentucky, on the Paris and Cynthiana pike. Mr. Ward is now the owner of this fine es- tate. Soon after his marriage, in 1893, he settled on the Sunland Stock Farm, near Paris, and later he removed to the city of Paris where he resided for three years, though he continued in business as a farmer and stock-raiser. In 1909 he inherited his present homestead, Sunny Side farm, on which he now resides. He has extensive land holdings. in different sections of the state and he and his wife own over two thousand acres
of fine, arable land. Mr. Ward is a stanch Democrat in his political proclivities and both he and his wife hold membership in the Presbyterian church, in whose faith they were reared. He is a member of the Sigma Nu college fraternity and of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Both are popular and prominent in the best social activities of their community and their spacious home is widely renowned for its gracious Kentucky hospitality.
On the 15th of November, 1893, Mr. Ward was united in marriage to Miss Belle Brent Clay, who was born in Bourbon county, Ken- tucky, on the 30th of August, 1872, a daugh- ter of James E. and Elizabeth (Alexander) Clay, of whom mention is made on other pages of this work. Mr. and Mrs. Ward be- came the parents of three children, namely, James Clay Ward, who was born on the 30th of August, 1894; J. Miller Ward Jr., born May 20, 1899; and Sam Clay Ward, born February 12, 1900.
JOHN F. McDANIEL .- An influential factor in connection with financial affairs in Bourbon county and a scion of one of the sterling pi- oneer families of Kentucky is John F. Mc- Daniel, who is incumbent of the important executive office of cashier of the Exchange Bank of Millersburg, one of the substantial and popular monetary institutions of this part of the state. Mr. McDaniel's career has been marked by energy, ambition and definite pur- pose, and his success and prestige represent the direct result of the application of his own energies and talents, the while his course has been so ordered as to gain and retain to him inviolable popular esteem. As one of the representative citizens and business men of Bourbon county he is well entitled to specific recognition in this work, as is he also by reason of his being a member of a family whose name has been worthily linked with the history of Kentucky for many years.
John F. McDaniel was born on a farm in Harrison county, Kentucky, on the 15th of April, 1856, and is a son of Elisha and Kiz- ziah (Coons) McDaniel, the former of whom was born in Clark county, this state, on the 28th of March, 1821, and the latter was born in Harrison county, on the ist of August, 1829. Elisha McDaniel was a son of George and Susan (McDonald) McDaniel, both of whom were likewise natives of Kentucky, where the respective families were founded prior to the opening of the nineteenth century, the lineage of both being traced back to staunch Scottish origin. George McDaniel established his residence in Har- rison county, Kentucky, in 1832, and there
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both he and his wife continued to reside until their death. In that county was solemnized the marriage of Elisha McDaniel and Kizziah Coons, in September, 1850. Mrs. McDaniel was a daughter of John and Rachel (Morgan) Coons, both of whom passed their entire lives in Kentucky. After his marriage Elisha McDaniel settled on the old Coons homestead, in Harrison county, and he eventu- ally became the owner of this property. There he continued to be actively identified with the agricultural and stock-growing industries until his death, which occurred on the 3d of No- vember, 1893. He was a man of impregnable integrity, and his career was marked by earn- est and worthy toil and endeavor. His de- voted wife survived him by nearly a decade and was summoned to the life eternal on the 12th of January, 1901. They were survived by four children : George S., who is a prosperous farmer of Harrison county ; John F., whose name initiates this sketch; Lillie M., who is the wife of George R. Burberry, of Center- ville, Bourbon county; and Charles M., who is. successfully identified with agricultural pursuits in Harrison county.
John F. McDaniel gained his early experi- ences in connection with the work and man- agement of the home farm, and his prelimi- nary education was secured in the common schools of his native county. Even as a boy he manifested definite ambition as a student and he made good use of the advantages af- forded him. For the gaining of advanced educational discipline he realized that he must depend upon his own resources, and his ambi- tion was one of definite action. When he was twenty years of age he passed the required examination and secured a teacher's certificate, and during the winter of 1879 he taught suc- cessfully in one of the district schools of his native county. For several years hereafter he devoted his attention to pedagogic work during the winter term and was employed in farm work during the summer seasons. By this means he secured the funds that enabled him to prosecute his higher academic studies in the Kentucky Wesleyan College, at Millers- burg, and later he attended the New Albany Business College, at New Albany, Indiana. As he made his own opportunities in the educa- tional field, he was fully appreciative of the same and applied himself with all of diligence, thus admirably fitting himself for the practical duties and responsibilities of life.
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