A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume III, Part 45

Author: Johnson, E. Polk, 1844-; Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 860

USA > Kentucky > A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume III > Part 45

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J. W. CHAMBERS .- No half a dozen agen- cies have done as much for the development of business life as the telegraph and the tele- phone. The information which formerly had to be brought through the slow processes of the mails can now be brought immediately to the employes and employers, and thus with- out delay are solved the problems which arise. There is perhaps no business so systematized as are these two branches in the great power of electricity, and therefore at the head of tel-

egraph and telephone offices are necessarily found men of knowledge to plan and perform, and men who not only recognize the exigen- cies of the moment but also the possibilities of the future and plan accordingly. To-day oc- cupying the important position of secretary, treasurer and general manager of the Old Kentucky Telephone & Telegraph Company, of Winchester, Kentucky, is J. W. Chambers, an acknowledged force in the business world and thoroughly identified with the develop- ment of this industry in the state.

Mr. J. W. Chambers was born in Gallatin county, Kentucky, October 18, 1863, a son of Dr. A. B. and Anna (Turpin) Chambers. The father was born in Shelby county, Kentucky, in 1820, and died near Warsaw, Gal- latin county, Kentucky, aged fifty-two years. The mother was born in Gallatin county in 1825 and lived to the age of sixty-eight years. Four children were the issue of this marriage, of whom two are living, Nannie, wife of E. E. Abbett, of Louisville, Kentucky, and J. W., our subject. Dr. Chambers was educated at Lawrence- burg, Kentucky, and then studied medicine at a Louisville medical school, graduated from the institution, located in Gallatin county, Kentucky, married and devoted himself to the practice of his profession until his death. He taught school when young, and educated two brothers in medicine besides educating himself. At the outbreak of the war between the states in 1861 he was elected state repre- sentative during the stormy time that pre- vailed in Kentucky at that period and, on ac- count of the active part he took and the free- dom with which he expressed his views, he was arrested and taken to Louisville, but on account of ill health was granted a parole to enter St. Joseph's infirmary for treatment. The Doctor was ordered to be shot by General Burbridge while in the infirmary and a friend informed him of the order and tried to induce him to break his parole and escape, but this he refused to do, saying that under no condi- tions would he do so. His life was saved by the intervention of the commanding general at Louisville, who advised Burbridge against the execution. He was afterwards put under a heavy bond and in that way kept from join- ing the Confederate army. Again Dr. Cham- bers was arrested and was put in prison at Camp Chase. Later he was nominated for state senator, but the polls were surrounded with Union soldiers, who kept people from voting for him, and in this way he was de- feated, but by only a few votes. He was an active man who never hesitated to speak out his views if he thought he was right. He

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was active in re-organizing the Democratic party after the war and came within a few votes of receiving the Democratic nomination for congressman from the Sixth Kentucky district, where the nomination was equivalent to an election. He and his wife were active members of the Baptist church. The paternal grandfather of our subject, Lemuel Cham- bers, was born in Shelby county, Kentucky, in 1800, and died at Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, in 1885.

The maternal grandfather of our subject was Horatio Turpin, who was born in 1755, in Virginia, and he was an ensign in "Light Horse Harry" Lee's command during the Rev- olutionary war. He came to Kentucky early, bought four thousand acres of land in Gallatin county and became a farmer on a large scale. He was a cousin of Thomas Jefferson.

J. W. Chambers, our subject, was reared in Gallatin county, Kentucky, and was educated in the common and private schools. He at- tended the Kentucky Military Institute, near Frankfort, graduating from there as a civil engineer in 1885. The following summer found him engaged with the United States Geological survey in New Mexico, after which he was engaged in railroad work in Kansas. In 1889 Mr. Chambers came to Winchester and for six years was engaged in the dry- goods business and then entered the telephone business, which has become his permanent oc- cupation. In 1896 he organized and built the Maysville Telephone Company, which he sold in 1906. He built the Winchester exchange and started with seventy-five 'phones. He was one of the pioneers in the independent tele- phone industry and went through many a hard fight with the Bell Company. In 1898 the present company was organized and incorpo- rated in Kentucky for one hundred thousand dollars. It has now seventeen hundred and fifty phones in operation in Clark and Mont- gomery counties, with long distance connec- tions. Mr. Chambers has accomplished much in the business world and his enterprises have been of such a character that they have bene- fited the community and advanced the general prosperity while contributing to his success. A man of strong force of character, deter- mined purpose and sound judgment he has had not only the ability to plan, but to exe- cute large business interests.

J. W. Chambers married, on October II. 1904, Orra Browne, a native of Robertson county, Kentucky, and a daughter of Dr. M. S. Browne, of Winchester, Kentucky, a Con- federate veteran who was educated for a law- yer but later studied medicine and has lived in Winchester, practicing his profession for

twenty-five years. Mr. and Mrs. Chambers have one child, Moreau B.

GEORGE W. MOORE, M. D .- A prominent physician and surgeon of Ashland. Boyd county, Kentucky, is Dr. George William Moore, who has been engaged in the active practice of his profession in this city since 1894. He was born in Bath county, Kentucky, on the 31st of December, 1857, and is a son of Toliver Y. and Mary (Denton) Moore, both of whom were natives of the Blue Grass state, the former having been born in Fleming county and the latter in Bath county. The Moore family is one of the oldest in the state, William Moore, the original progenitor in America, having come to this country from Scotland in the early Colonial days, the date of his immigration being 1730. He was the great-great-grandfather of the Doctor and he settled in Virginia, where he married and lo- cated in Halifax county, about twelve miles from the Halifax court house. Some years later, while he was clearing a piece of land, a tree which he was chopping fell upon and killed him. His widow, Sophia Moore, was a native of Germany, whence she had come to America on the same vessel with her future husband. She remained in Virginia for some time after her husband's death, finally remov- ing to what is now West Virginia, at a point opposite Catlettsburg, Kentucky. Later she removed to Little Salt Lick, Kentucky, now Vanceburg, Lewis county, in which place she continued to reside until her death. She reared a large family of children, one of whom was Jeremiah Moore, great-grandfather of the Doctor. Jeremiah wedded Mary Llewellyn Zoens, a daughter of Andrew Zoens, a native of Germany and a Revolutionary war vet- eran he having served as a gallant soldier throughout that strenuous conflict, holding the position of wagon master. It is recorded that be related to descendants stories of his per- sonal acquaintance with General Washington and Lafayette, having had many a handshake with these noted characters. He married Re- becca Llewellyn, who was born in Wales, a relative of Llewellyn, prince of Wales, third generation removed. Jeremiah Moore was a millwright and wool carder and was identified with these lines of enterprise in various sec- tions of Kentucky. He also owned and ope- rated a small farm in Greenup county, where he passed the closing years of his life. He was a gallant soldier in the war of 1812 and during the Civil war he espoused the cause of the Confederacy, serving throughout that san- guinary struggle. He and his wife became the parents of twelve children-ten sons and

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two daughters. Of the sons Hiram Moore remaining at that place for a period of seven became a Methodist minister and was long years, at the expiration of which he removed identified with missionary work in Eastern Kentucky and portions of West Virginia. He carried on that work for many years and be- came widely known, organizing churches and Sunday schools and performing the arduous formative religious work of those pioneer times. He was summoned to eternal rest at Ashland on the 12th of August, 1896, at the venerable age of eighty-seven years.

George Moore, the sixth child born to Jere- miah Moore and the grandfather of him whose name initiates this review, was born in Greenup county, where he was reared and where he maintained his home for a number of years. Like his father he was a mill- wright by trade and he built many of the pio- neer mills in this section of Kentucky. He was united in marriage to Miss Jennie Richie, by whom he became the father of several chil- dren, and he died in Fleming county, where he owned and resided upon a small farm in the vicinity of Hillsboro. One of his children was Toliver Y. Moore, father of Doctor Moore, and who was a native of Fleming county. He was engaged in carpenter work and stair building during the major portion of his active business career and he married Mary Denton. They resided in Bath and Montgomery counties and Mr. Moore was summoned to his reward at Mount Sterling in June, 1892, his cherished and devoted wife passing away at Lexington, Kentucky, in 1910. He was a Civil war veteran, having served as a member of Company C, Tenth Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, in the Union army. He participated in many important battles mark- ing the progress of the war and his devotion to the Union was of the most insistent order. His wife, a daughter of William Denton, was born in Bath county and was of English ex- traction. Toliver and Mary (Denton ) Moore became the parents of five children, three of whom are living.

Dr. George W. Moore was the eldest child and was reared to the invigorating discipline of the farm in Bath county, where he received a good common-school education. He learned the carpenter's trade and worked at the same for several years with his father. When twen- ty-five years of age he began the study of medicine under the able preceptorship of Doc- tors Bright and Jones, of Mount Sterling. Later he was matriculated in the University of Louisville, in the medical department of which he was graduated as a member of the class of .1889, duly receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine. He initiated the practice of his profession at Frenchburg, Kentucky,

to Olympia, Bath county. In 1894 lie located at Ashland, Boyd county, where he has suc- ceeded in building up a large and representa- tive practice, his work being of a general na- ture. He has gained distinctive prestige as a skilled physician and surgeon and holds prec- edence as one of the ablest practitioners in this county. In connection with his chosen profession he is a valued and appreciative member of the Boyd County Medical Society, The Kentucky State Medical Society, and the American Medical Association, in the first of which he served one term as president. For many years he has served as a member of the United States pension board, in which he has held the office of president. In politics he is a staunch advocate of the principles and poli- cies for which the Republican party stands sponsor and he is alert and enthusiastically in sympathy with all measures advanced for the general welfare of the community. In a fra- ternal way he is affiliated with the time-hon- ored Masonic order, the Knights of Pythias and the Improved Order of Red Men. His religious faith is in harmony with the teach- ings of the Christian church and his wife holds membership in the Protestant Episcopal church.

Dr. Moore has been thrice married, his first union being to Miss Cora B. Greer, a native of Floyd county, by whom he had two chil- dren,-Kelly H. and Maud. In 1895 he mar- ried Mrs. Ida Hopkins, widow of Charles Hopkins, of Bourbon county, and a daughter of Dr. H. H. Lewis, of Salt Lick, Kentucky. To this union was born one daughter,-Mary Marvin. In 1908 was solemnized the mar- riage of Dr. Moore to Miss Lucy Jones, a na- tive of Ashland and a daughter of Colonel Paul Jones, who is now deceased and who was for many years a well known farmer and citizen of Boyd county.

THOMAS RICHARD BROWN .- The name of Thomas Richard Brown is one which in Cat- lettsburg stood during his lifetime as the syn- onym of sterling worth and strict integrity. As such after death it endures as a precious legacy to his family and is held in lasting en- durance by the great body of his fellow citi- zens. It is the lesson of his life which enti- tles his name to a place in this work and makes the record honorable alike to him and to the community in which he lived.

Thomas Richard Brown was born in Pike- ville, Kentucky, on June 2, 1855, the son of George Newman Brown, lawyer and jurist, who was born September 22, 1822, on the banks of the Ohio river in Cabell county, West

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Virginian, on the present site of Huntington, and whose father, Richard Brown, was an early pioneer there, being accompanied by his brothers Henry and James from their native place, Prince William county, Virginia. They settled between the rivers Guyandotte and Great Tattaray, now the Big Sandy, the coun- try being then a dense wilderness. There Richard Brown built a log cabin in the forest and later, about 1810, built the first brick resi- dence in Cabell county. It was in this house that Judge George N. Brown was born, also two sisters and where his mother, grand- mother and Uncle Benjamin Brown died.

The Browns are one of the old Colonial families of Virginia of English descent. Will- iam Brown, one ancestor of Rappahannock county, Virginia, was a member of the Vir- ginia House of Burgesses in 1659-60 from Surry county, the son of Colonel Henry Brown, of Surry county, who was a member of the Virginia Council of State and of the Grand Assembly from 1642 to 1651 and who was the son of Sir William Brown, of Eng- land, one of the original granters and adven- turers in Virginia, the charter granted May 23, 1609, by King James I to Robert, Earl of Salisbury, and several hundred others named therein, of whom Sir William Brown was the fortieth on the list. Thus the Brown family became a fixture in the new world and founded a settlement in Virginia. Richard. Brown was a pioneer in the wilds of the west- ern part of Virginia, where he and his broth- ers settled on lands held by the three in the military survey of 28,527 acres as run by George Washington under Governor Dinwid- die's proclamation of 1754 and granted by Virginia to Captain John Savage and his com- pany of sixty men for military service ren- dered in Indian and French wars.

George Newman Brown, great-grandfather of our subject, was a Virginia soldier during the war of the Revolution and was at the siege of Yorktown. His wife, Sarah, was the daughter of Henry Hampton, of Prince Will- iam county, Virginia, and a near relative of the first General Wade Hampton of South Carolina. His sons, Captains John and Rob- ert of Calvary, William, George Newman, James and the son-in-law, Reno, were in the war of 1812 with Great Britain in the east. John and Robert were cavalry officers and Richard, a lieutenant and major under Gen- eral Harrison in the northwest and at Fort Meigs, while Benjamin in the same war was United States collector of internal revenue for Western Virginia, appointed by President Harrison.

George Newman Brown, the father of our

subject, was the oldest son and seventh child of Richard and Frances Brown, and was ed- ucated in the schools of the neighborhood, at Marshall Academy, Virginia, and Augusta College, Kentucky. After his return from college in 1840, he soon began to study law in the office of Judge James M. Rice, of Louisa, Kentucky, and was admitted to the bar Octo- ber 18, 1844. He practiced in Pike and the adjacent counties in Kentucky for sixteen years, during which time he was elected county attorney four times and represented Floyd, Pike and Johnson counties in the state legis- lature in 1849-50. In 1860 Mr. Brown moved to Catlettsburg and formed a law partnership with Judge Rice, which continued for several years. During the Civil war period he was a non-combatant, although his sympathies were with the South. In 1880, Mr. Brown was elected judge of the circuit court and served for six years, after which he returned to his practice with his son Thomas R., our subject, which was one of the leading firms in north- eastern Kentucky. During his residence in Catlettsburg he served repeatedly on the Board of Trustees of the city and took an ac- tive interest in every enterprise for the good of the city and county, and in conducting the management of his mercantile, agricultural and professional interests he displayed unu- sual executive ability. In fact he was recog- nized as one of the prominent men of busi- ness in this section of Kentucky, in which ca- pacity he was unusually successful. As judge on the bench he was courteous, patient and im- partial to both sides, firm and fearless in de- cisions according to mandatus law and on the bench had the reputation of being one of the ablest and purest in Kentucky. In 1874 Judge Brown had a warm and close contest for judgeship, his opponent, W. C. Ireland, being successful. Judge Brown was appointed by the state legislature one of the commissioners to expend seventy-five thousand dollars ap- propriated to the improvement of Big Sandy river navigation, which proved of great im- portance in the prosperity of that section of Kentucky.

Judge George Newman Brown was twice married ; first in 1847, to Sophia, daughter of Thomas Cecil, of Pike county, Kentucky, by which union five children were born, the wife and mother dying January 6, 1858. The sec- ond marriage was to Maria, daughter of Will- iam Poage, from the result of which seven children were born.

Thomas Richard Brown, the subject of our sketch, was five years old when he accompa- nied his parents to Catlettsburg, where he passed the remainder of his life. His prelim-

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inary education was pursued at the public schools of that city, supplemented by a course at the Danville Collegiate Institute. In 1872 he entered and later graduated with honor in the University of Virginia and from the Louisville Law School at Louisville, and soon afterward was admitted to the bar, later be- coming associated with his father in practice. Still later Mr. Brown became senior member of the well known law firm of Brown & Mar- tin, which firm conducted a very lucrative practice, and since the death of Mr. Brown it has been continued by the junior partner, Mr. Martin.

During Mr. Brown's very active career he became interested in many business enter- prises in the development of his home city and county, and among other things was one of the organizers and original stockholders of Big Sandy National Bank at Catlettsburg, now the Kentucky National Bank, and he served as president of that institution. He was very active in educational affairs and de- voted much time and thought to the improve- ment and upbuilding of schools, being a mem- ber of the board for many years and serving for a long period as president. Much of the present efficiency of the Catlettsburg schools is due in a large measure to Mr. Brown's gen- erous and untiring energy in their behalf. In remembrance and honor of his services the handsome new High school building has a brass inscription in the granite bearing the words "Thomas R. Brown." In religious affairs Mr. Brown was a member of the Presbyterian church, an elder for many years and an active worker and contributor. In fact in all mat- ters pertaining to improvement and develop- ment of northeastern Kentucky and educa- tional and moral uplift he was always found in the front ranks, ready to do his part. He died June 20, 1909, and was buried with Ma- sonic rites, of which order he had been a member for many years.

On December 11, 1878, Mr. Brown married Mary, the daughter of Greenville Lackey, of Louisa, Kentucky, born December 13, 1859, and educated at Wesleyan College, Cincinnati, Ohio. She is the mother of four children, as follows: Alexander Lackey, Nannie Mc- Clintock, Mary Quinn and Florence Houston.

Thomas Richard Brown entered upon his career educationally equipped to fill any pub- lic trust within the gift of the people. Being of a modest, retiring disposition, he not only 'refused to push forward in the political lime- light, but declined to accept any nomination for office of high importance where the people would have honored themselves by honoring him. In all acts guided by the stars of faith

and right, thoughtful, conscientious, conserv- ative, just in all things and helpful to all who sought his counsel, his every act was meas- ured by the strict line of duty and right.

ROBERT LEE THOMAS, who occupies a prom- inent position in connection with the lumber in- terests of Kentucky, has been engaged in this line of business all his life, and understands this industry in all its details. His life-long training, united with broad business views, makes him a very valuable man for the com- pany of which he is the president.

Robert Lee Thomas, resident of Winchester, was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, July 3, 1863. Mr. Thomas came from a fine line of ancestry, industrious, determined, and with the brains to plan and succeed. Space forbids that we make an extended account, but while a fuller sketch is embodied in the history of W. R. Thomas, the deceased brother of our sub- ject, which is included in this work on another page, we will add a few items of the history of his father, not included in that sketch. In 1865, the father of our subject, who was James Mason Thomas, was located in Windsor, Canada, where he was running a lumber yard, but four years later went to Paris, Kentucky, and ran a retail yard. Then the firm 'of Thomas & Norcross bought a lumber mill at Clay City and operated that a while. Mr. Thomas then went to Clifton, Tennessee, where he bought a two-thirds interest in a lumber mill with Norcross, sold out again and went to Ford, Kentucky, in 1889, and there established the Ford Lumber & Manufacturing Company. He was very successful and made a large for- tune, before he died at Ford. He owned 25,- 000 acres of timber land in Jackson and Rock- castle counties, Kentucky. The plant at Ford is a very large one and he owned a duplicate plant at Livingston on the Rockcastle river. James M. Thomas started at the bottom and was a self-made man, who never had a minute of idle time, and who went to school after his son, our subject was born. In 1870 he was one of the most active workers in the building of the Lexington and Eastern Railroad. He made several trips to New York City to in- terest eastern capitalists which he succeeded in doing.

Robert Lee Thomas, was reared in Bourbon county, Kentucky, on a farm and also with the advantages of town. He was educated at Bethany College in Virginia, then began his greater education of practical business with his father in the lumber interests. in which he has had an interest all his life. One of his duties, which is a very important one, and which he learned thoroughly. was to buy stock for the mill and in this capacity he acted for years.

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Mr. Thomas married the first time, Susan C. ty-six years of age, his widow surviving only Harcourt, in May, 1895, and she died in Febru- a short time, in fact dying that same year. She was the daughter of George N. Brown, a pioneer family of Kentucky, and the mother of two children, Elizabeth, the wife of G. H. Hampton, of Catlettsburg, and our subject, George B. Martin. ary, 1905, at the age of twenty-seven years. She was a native of Spencer county, Kentucky, and left no children. In 1908 Mr. Thomas married a second wife, Irma Trent, in Wash- ington, D. C., a native of Atlanta, Georgia, born on December 17, 1883. From this union there are two children: Irma Lee Thomas, born June 10, 1909, and Dorothy Trent Thomas, born June 17, 1910.

Mr. Thomas for several years owned a fine racing stable and lived in New York and the east, but at his brother's death he came to Winchester, Kentucky, in order to take charge of the lumber business at Ford, of which he is president. During the latter half of the season of 1910 Mr. Thomas owned the Win- chester Ball team.

GEORGE B. MARTIN .- It is a noticeable fact that the history of the world's progress is greatly due to the young men who are the leaders in business life and who are moulding public policy and shaping the destinies of the country, in which connection George B. Mar- tin deserves more than a passing mention.

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A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume III, Part 45

Author: Johnson, E. Polk, 1844-; Lewis Publishing Company Publication date: 1912 Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 860

Author: Johnson, E. Polk, 1844-; Lewis Publishing Company
Publication date: 1912
Publisher: Chicago, Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 860