USA > Kentucky > A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume III > Part 34
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home in Kanawha county. Accordingly the West Virginia. The result of this work was father with his family in 1863 set out for the the first money he had ever saved and while at home he presented his father with one hun- dred dollars of his earnings. He was then twenty-one years old. In 1877 he returned to Louisiana, making his home at Centerville for several years, there working at his trade and at building and contracting on a large scale, in which he was very successful. In 1878-9 an epidemic of yellow fever swept the district where he resided but he managed to escape the same. In the spring of 1880 he returned to Ashland, Kentucky, where he was engaged in the work of carpentry for five years, at the expiration of which he went to Florida, where he spent two years as master builder on the Jacksonville, Tampa & Key West Railway, which was in process of con- struction at that time, and in connection with which he built machine shops, round houses, bridges, depots, etc. He had about three hun- dred men under his management and made a decided success of the work entrusted to his care. state of Ohio, but on arriving at Mason City, West Virginia, where the Federal forces had a recruiting station, the family home was there maintained during the troublous days during and after the war. Mr. Bullington re- mained at Mason City, working at the carpen- ter's trade until 1875, when he returned to Kanawha county, where he passed the residue of his life, his death having occurred on the 2d of August, 1904, at the venerable age of eighty years. His cherished and devoted wife passed away on the 22d of March, 1904, at the age of seventy-seven years. She had lo- cated in West Virginia when a child, having come hither with her parents. Three broth- ers of David H. Bullington were gallant sol- diers in the Confederate army in the Civil war and two of them sacrificed their lives for the cause of the South. David and Matilda Bullington became the parents of six sons and four daughters, eight of whom are liv- ing, Thomas H., of this review, having been the fourth in order of birth.
Thomas H. Bullington was a child of about eight years of age when the family removed to Mason county, West Virginia, and he walked barefoot across the mountains, driv- ing a bob-tailed cow. He was associated with his father in the work of carpentering during the sojourn in that section, and, while he learned a trade, he received absolutely no ed- ucational training, having attained to his eighteenth year with no notion of reading or writing. The family was poor and the stren- tous war times made consistent schooling of any sort an utter impossibility. Later, how- ever, he attended a private school and for a time was a student in a night school. Through hard application and extensive read- ing he gradually managed to gain a practical education and to-day he is one of the best posted men in this section of the fine old Blue Grass state. When eighteen years of age he severed the ties which bound him to home and started out by himself down the Ohio river in a boat, finally locating at Ashland, Kentucky, where he worked for several months at any odd jobs he could find to do. In the spring of 1876 he was employed to take a load of hoop poles to New Orleans on a flat boat down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. So successful was he in his first venture that he was sent on another trip in the following all- tumn. While in New Orleans he secured a job working in the timber swamps in Louisi- ana and was identified with that line of enter- prise for the ensuing six months, at the ex- piration of which he returned to his home in
In 1887 Mr. Bullington returned to Ash- land, where he continued contracting and building until the panic of 1893, when all business subsided. During that period he built the First Presbyterian church, the Ma- sonic Temple, the Preston Block and some of the finest residences in the city. In the mean- time, in 1888, he had engaged in the under- taking business, hiring a manager for his es- tablishment. After retiring from his con- tracting and building business, however, he devoted his entire time and attention to this new enterprise, building up one of the largest and most profitable concerns of its kind in Boyd county. In 1890 he constructed a two- story brick block, where he conducts his busi- ness, and later he erected a fine modern resi- dence on the adjoining lots. In connection with his undertaking establishment he carries a large stock of picture frames, mouldings and decorations and for many years he has dealt in tents, awnings, etc. He is also the owner of a baggage and hack line in this city and he has extensive real-estate holdings which are most valuable.
In politics Mr. Bullington accords a staunch support to the Republican party in national affairs but in local matters he is non-partisan. He is a man of broad-minded and public- spirited tendencies and while he has never as- pired for public office of any description he has ever manifested a deep and sincere in- terest in all matters touching the general wel- fare of the community. Fraternally he is one of the most prominent Masons in Kentucky, holding membership in Poage Blue Lodge,
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No. 325, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons ; Apperson Chapter, No. 81, Royal Arch Ma- sons; and Ashland Commandery, No. 28, Knights Templars, of which he is a charter member. He is also affiliated with the ad- junct organization, the Ancient Arabic Or- der of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, El Hasa Temple, of which he is also a charter member. He is a valued and appreciative member of the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and he and his wife are zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
On the 15th of July, 1879, at Franklin, Louisiana, Mr. Bullington was united in mar- riage to Miss Ida P. Chambless, who was born and reared in Missouri and whom Mr. Bullington met while she was making a visit in Louisiana. She is a daughter of Grief Chambless, who was born in South Carolina and who is now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Bul- lington have one son, Henry Harrison, who was born at Ashland, to whose public and private schools he is indebted for his prelim- inary educational training, which was later supplemented with a course of four years in the Kentucky State Military School at Louis- ville, in which excellent institution he was graduated at the head of his class, May 25, 1910. He was commissioned on the 2d of July, 1910, second lieutenant and sent to the Philippines, leaving on the 20th of July, 1910.
ARGUS DAVID WILLMOTH, A. M., M. D .- Among the most successful physicians and sur- geons of the city of Louisville is numbered Argus David Willmoth, who is a native son of the "Blue Grass" state, having been born in Hardin county, Kentucky, on the 24th day of October, 1874, the son of William and Par- melia (Klinglesmith) Willmoth. His father was born in Hardin county, Kentucky, in 1851, the son of Louis Willmoth, a Virginian who came with his parents from Virginia, settling in Washington county, Kentucky. The Will- moths have been farmers and a few genera- tions back were noted as breeders and trainers of thoroughbred race horses. The parents of our subject are still residing on the old home farm in Hardin county. Their children are: Doctor Willmoth and Robert Lee, the latter residing on the home farm with his parents.
Dr. Willmoth passed the years of boyhood and youth on the farm engaged in the usual avocations of boys "around the farm," and at the same time laying in a splendid foundation of education on which to build his future pro- fession. His carly acquirements in the literary line were obtained in the public and private schools, and he was then matriculated in the University of Louisville, from which he was
graduated with the degree of A. M., and still later from the Louisville Medical College, with the degree of M. D., in 1896. After hav- ing passed through the regular collegiate courses the Doctor supplemented these with extensive post graduate courses in New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Chicago. That same year Dr. Willmoth established himself in Rineyville, Hardin county, and entered in- to the practice of medicine, meeting with re- markable success and securing a large prac- tice all over that community. His success en- couraged him to seek a larger field for his efforts, and with that in view he came to Louis- ville in 1899, located and established himself, and at once took rank with the successful physicians of the city. Since 1906 the Doctor has confined himself to the specialty of dis- eases of women and practice of surgery and his reputation is of the highest rank in this profession.
Upon the Doctor's locating in Louisville he was at once tendered the appointments of various professorships and has accepted the following : Appointed lecturer on surgery in the Kentucky School of Medicine ; in 1900 was appointed professor of surgery and clinical surgery in the Kentucky School of Medicine, holding that position for four years, resigning to accept the chair of surgery in the medical department of the Kentucky University, which position he held for two years and then re- signed. He is visiting surgeon to the Louis- ville City Hospital, and to St. Anthony's Hos- pital. He is an ex-president of the Louisville Clinical Society, and a member of the Jeffer- son County Medical Society, the Kentucky State Medical Society, the American Medical Association, the Muldraugh Hill Medical So- ciety and the Mississippi and Ohio Valley Med- ical Society. Dr. Willmoth is also a member of the Jefferson County Board of Health.
In social clubs and societies he takes an ac- tive and interested part, belonging to the Louisville Commercial Club. In the honorable order of Masons he belongs to Preston Lodge, No. 281, F. & A. M., Eureka Chapter, No. 101, R. A. M. and to DeMolay Commandery, Knights Templars.
Dr. Willmoth, with his manifold duties, still finds time to do considerable literary work. For three years he was owner and editor of the "American Practitioner and News," a medical publication of Louisville, and at the present time he is engaged in writing a text book on "Post Operative Treatment."
Dr. Willmoth's first wife was Maggie Brown, the daughter of William Brown of Meade county, Kentucky. She died in 1905, without issue. His second marriage was to
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Edna L. Cralle, the daughter of Shelby and Ella Cralle. As may be seen, the Doctor's life is a busy one, full of occupation with his professional duties, his clubs and lodge, his literary contributions and, not the least, the constant and incessant study that a good phy- sician and surgeon must necessarily devote to all the new discoveries, theories and inven- tion of appliances in order to keep up with the advance. That he does all this and more is shown by his splendid practice and the con- fidence and friendship of all those who are associated with him.
LEWIS FRANK ZERFOSS .- With a clear, well-trained mind and a large share of profes- sional enthusiasm, Lewis Frank Zerfoss, a well-known attorney of Ashland, Kentucky, has achieved distinguished success in his legal career and won prominence in social and po- litical circles. He was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, January 2, 1862, the oldest child in a family of eight children.
His father, Samuel Ernest Zerfoss, was a life-long resident of Hummelstown, Pennsyl- vania, his birth occurring in that city in 1839, and his death in 1906. He was engaged in the steam heating and plumbing profession, and carried on a substantial business for a number of years. He served as a soldier dur- ing almost the entire period of the Civil war, at the battle of Gettysburg being wounded by a rifle ball in the right leg. He married Fan- nie Bowman, who spent her brief life of twenty-seven years in Hummelstown, Penn- sylvania, passing away in 1878.
Reared to manhood in his native city, Lew- is Frank Zerfoss attended the graded and high schools, and after his graduation from the Lock Haven Normal School attended the Gettysburg College three years. Fitted for a professional life, he subsequently taught school in different capacities for twelve years, nine years of the time teaching in Pennsyl- vania. Locating in Bedford, Kentucky, in 1888, he was there engaged in educational work for three years, during which time he spent his leisure in reading law. Admitted to the bar in Bedford, Kentucky, in 1891, Mr. Zerfoss was there successfully engaged in the practice of his profession twelve years. In 1903 he transferred his residence to Ashland, Boyd county, where he has a large and remu- nerative practice and holds a position of note among the leading lawyers of the city. He is a member of the Kentucky State Bar Associ- ation, and interested in all of its progressive movements.
A loyal supporter of the principles of the Democratic party, Mr. Zerfoss is prominent in political matters, and is now chairman of
the Ashland Board of Health. In 1907 he was Democratic candidate for the state leg- islature in a district containing a Republican majority of nine hundred, and was defeated by only fifty-nine votes. This district com- prises Boyd and Lawrence counties, and he carried Boyd county, which has a Republican majority of eight hundred, by ninety-seven votes, the result of the election showing the popularity of Mr. Zerfoss as a man and a citizen. While living in Trimble county he served as county superintendent of schools for eight years. Fraternally he belongs to the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; and to the Knights of the Maccabees. Reli- giously he is a member of the Baptist church, while his wife belongs to the Methodist Epis- copal church, South.
Mr. Zerfoss married, in 1889, Lizzie S. Peak, a daughter of Hon. W. F. Peak, of Bedford, Kentucky, a well-known and re- spected man who has long been prominent in the public affairs of Trimble county. Three sons have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Zer- foss, namely : Karl, Tom and George.
EDGAR BROWNE HAGER .- One of the most accomplished and cultured men that ever graced the Kentucky bar, Edgar Browne Ha- ger, of Ashland, Boyd county, has won dis- tinguished prestige during his professional career, his vigorous mentality, scholarly at- tainments and comprehensive knowledge of the law winning for him an enviable record. A thorough master of the legal rules and rul- ings, his powers of expression are broad, keen and clear, while his judgment is clear and impartial, and his integrity is unim- peachable. He was born at Paintsville, John- son county, Kentucky, December 7, 1868, a son of Samuel Patton Hager, in whose sketch on another page of this work further parental and ancestral history may be found.
Obtaining the rudiments of his education in the public schools of Paintsville, Edgar B. Hager came with his parents to Ashland, Boyd county, Kentucky, in April, 1881, and in the schools of that county continued his studies for a few years, in 1884 becoming a student at the Beech Grove Academy. Go- ing to Millersburg, Kentucky, in September, 1885, he matriculated at the Kentucky Wes- leyan College, from which he was graduated with the degree of A. B. in June, 1888. Dur- ing the following fall and spring Mr. Hager served as superintendent of the city schools of Catlettsburg. Kentucky, a position that he resigned to take up the study of law, for which he was well adapted by nature and
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talents. Entering the Boston University Law School, in Boston, Massachusetts, in September, 1889, he pursued the full course of study, and in June, 1891, was graduated from that institution with the degree of LL. B. In the same month he was honored by his old alma mater, the Kentucky Wesleyan College, which conferred upon him the de- gree of A. M.
Admitted to the Kentucky bar in August, 1891, Mr. Hager immediately began the prac- tice of his profession in Ashland, Kentucky, and has since made rapid strides in his ca- reer, success having been his from the start. Becoming general counsel for the F. G. Ox- ley Stave Company in January, 1893, he was located in Chattanooga, Tennessee, until June, 1894, when he resigned the position and returned to Ashland, which has since been his home. His legal skill and ability be- ing already known and widely recognized, he soon controlled altogether the largest and best business of any lawyer in the vicinity, and during his practice here has been em- ployed on one side or the other with nearly every criminal case of importance in Boyd county. Talented and cultured, as a speaker Mr. Hager represents the best fruit of the higher civilization, being eloquent, logical and forceful in his utterances, and one to whom it is a pleasure and a profit to listen.
Mr. Hager married, June 21, 1898, Lucie Vinson Prichard, a Kentucky belle, the beat- tiful daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Richard J. Prichard, of Louisa, Kentucky. The union was a most happy and congenial one; but in the zenith of the wedded happiness the angel of death invaded their household, on January 20, 1902, bearing Mrs. Hager to the realms beyond. She left to her husband two bright and charming children, namely: Ed- gar Browne Hager, Jr., born December 2, 1899; and Virginia Patton Hager, born March 23, 1901.
A sound Democrat in his political affilia- tions, Mr. Hager takes an abiding interest in local, county, state and national affairs, and is one of the finest political orators and one of the best campaigners in all Kentucky.
Prominent in the business, fraternal and social life of the community in which he re- sides, Mr. Hager is widely known, and he has hosts of friends throughout the state. He is a Mason of high degree, and is a promi- nent member of the Elks. He is past master of Poage Lodge, No. 325, F. & A. M .; past high priest of Apperson Chapter, No. 8r, R. A. M .; past commander of Ashland Com- mandery. No. 28, K. T .; past potentate of El Hasa Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of which
he has recently been elected as imperial rep- resentative to the Imperial Council of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, which will meet in Rochester, New York, in July, 1911. He is likewise past exalted ruler of Ashland Lodge, No. 350, B. P. O. E.
Endowed with a splendid physique and a frank, open countenance, Mr. Hager com- mands attention wherever he goes; and by his genial nature and his cordial and mag- netic personality, wins friends among all classes of people. His natural endowments are conceded by all, and there is no more adroit and skilful lawyer in the state, and no more powerful and eloquent advocate in the state than he.
JOSEPH FRANKLIN STEWART .- A prominent figure in the legal circles of Ashland, Joseph Franklin Stewart has made the most of his opportunities, achieving distinction in his pro- fession and building up a remunerative prac- tice. A son of John Marshall Stewart, he was born at Boltsfork, Lawrence county, Kentucky, May 14, 1872. His grandfather, Absalom Stewart, came from Virginia, his native state, to Kentucky in the early forties. Settling in Lawrence county, he took up land" on the Bear Creek branch of the Big Sandy river, and on the farm which he redeemed from its pristine wildness spent the remainder of his days, passing away about 1878, aged three score and ten years. As a young man he was identified with the Whigs, but later in life became a stanch adherent of the Repub- lican party. He was a man of deep religious convictions, and an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South.
Born in Virginia, John Marshall Stewart was but a child when his parents migrated to Kentucky. Reared on the home farm, he learned the trade of a stone mason when young, and became very successful as a rail- way contractor and builder. He built many miles of railroad in his day, his work being chiefly with the Chesapeake and Ohio Rail- way, with the Big Sandy branch of that road, and on the Norfolk and Western Railway. He made his home for many years at Bolts- fork, but now, retired from active pursuits, resides at Rush, Boyd county, Kentucky. He married Martha Isadore Merritt, who was born in West Virginia, a daughter of Rev. Malachi Merritt, a Baptist minister, their marriage being solemnized November 1, 1870, at her home in West Virginia. She died Au- gust 16, 1908, aged fifty-seven years. Eight children were born of their union, seven of whom are now, in December, 1910, living.
The oldest child of his parents, Joseph F. Stewart attended the district schools as a boy,
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and early became initiated into the mysteries of agriculture. His father being away from home much of the time, the management of the home farm devolved to some extent on him from his boyhood days. He had ambi- tions, however, for a professional career. and for eleven years he taught school in Law- rence, Boyd or Carter counties. Turning his attention to the study of law in 1900, Mr. Stewart was graduated from the law depart- ment of the Southern Normal University at Huntingdon, Tennessee, in 1901, with the de- gree of LL. B. Locating soon after in Ash- land, Boyd county, he has been in active prac- tice here since, and by a systematic applica- tion of his abilities to his chosen profession has won splendid success as a lawyer. As a stanch Republican in politics, Mr. Stewart takes an intelligent interest in public affairs, having served as secretary of the Republican County Committee, and having at one time been his party's candidate for county judge. Fraternally he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and of the Knights of the Golden Eagle.
On March 2, 1897, Mr. Stewart was united in marriage with Cosa Shepherd, a native of Lawrence county, Kentucky. Her father, Da- vid Shepherd, was a native of Virginia. as was his wife, whose maiden name was Fran- ces Lambert. Mr. and Mrs. Stewart are the parents of two children, Paul K., born July 20, 1902; and Alphonsine, born April 4, 1905. Both Mr. and Mrs. Stewart are con- sistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and are bringing up their children in the same religious belief.
HON. WILLIAM WIRT CULBERTSON .- A man of undoubted ability and energy, with a broad capacity for commanding and directing large enterprises, Hon. William Wirt Culbert- son, of Ashland, Boyd county, Kentucky, has met with unlimited success in his various un- dertakings and is now enjoying a well-earned leisure in his declining days. A resident of that city for forty years, he has taken an ac- tive part in promoting and advancing its ma- terial growth and prosperity, filling positions of honor in the municipality and representing his constituents in the State Senate and in Congress. Honor and integrity are synony- mous with his name, and he enjoys the con- fidence, regard and esteem of his fellow-men. A son of Samuel Culbertson, he was born in Greenwood, Mifflin county, . Pennsylvania, September 23. 1835, and is a lineal descend- ant of a family of Scotch Covenanters.
During the reign of Charles the Second of England, who was styled the "Merry Mon- arch," three brothers named Culbertson,
faithful Covenanters, migrated from Scotland to the north of Ireland. A descendant of one of these brothers, one Samuel Culbertson, came to America in 1736, and settled in Ches- ter county, Pennsylvania. His son, Colonel John Culbertson, brigade inspector of the Pennsylvania Militia, was the grandfather of Hon. W. W. Culbertson.
Brought up and educated in his Pennsyl- vania home, Samuel Culbertson, Mr. Culbert- son's father, learned the details of the mer- cantile trade in his father's store while clerk- ing, and when ready to start in business for himself opened a store at Greenwood, Penn- sylvania. Selling out soon after his marriage he removed to West Union, Adams county, Ohio, where he continued as a merchant for a time. The panic of 1837 proved very disas- trous to his business, and in 1838 he migrated with his family to Washington county, Iowa, where he served as county judge for four years and continued his mercantile undertak- ings, selling goods to the Indians under the protection of United States troops. Going from there with his family to Greenup, Ken- tucky, in 1844, he assumed charge of the Greenup furnace. Subsequently returning to Adams county, Ohio, he spent his last days in West Union. On September 15, 1834, he married Ann Kennedy, and to them five chil- dren were born, four sons and one daughter, William W. being the youngest child.
But three years old when his parents re- moved to Ohio, William Wirt Culbertson ac- quired a practical education in the public schools of Ironton, and while yet in his teens clerked in his father's store at Greenup Fur- nace, later holding a similar position in Adams county, Ohio. He was afterwards a store- keeper at Clinton Furnace, subsequently be- ing clerk and manager of a store at Ohio Fur- nace, in Lawrence county, Ohio.
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