A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume III, Part 46

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 46

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George B. Martin was born at Prestons- burg, Boyd county, Kentucky, August 18, 1876, the son of Alexander L. and Nannie (Brown) Martin, the former a native of Floyd county, Kentucky, and the latter born in Pike county, Kentucky. The Martins are an old Kentucky family. John P. Martin, the grandfather of our subject, was a native of Virginia and when a young man came to Floyd county, where he settled and where he pros- pered financially and acquired large landed es- tates. Martin county, Kentucky, was named in his honor. He engaged in the mercantile business, which he carried on in Prestonsburg for a number of years and became wealthy. In politics he was a Democrat and in 1846 was elected to congress from his district and served one term. He died in Prestonsburg, as did also his wife, Elizabeth, who was the daughter of General Greenville Lackey.

Alexander L. Martin, the father of our subject, was born in Floyd county and be- came a lawyer. He was a graduate of Emery & Henry College, at Emery, Virginia, and be- gan practice in Prestonsburg, also practicing for some time at Catlettsburg, but maintaining his residence at his old hime. His sympathies were with the South in the war between the states, and he made an effort to enlist in the Confederate army, but was captured and held a prisoner for some time. In politics he was a Democrat and under that ticket served in the state senate and house at different times. He died at Prestonsburg in 1878, at about thir-

Mr. Martin, our subject, was reared in Cat- lettsburg by his grandfather, George N. Brown, having been left an orphan when an infant. He attended the public schools in that place and later the Central University at Richmond, Kentucky, graduating from this in- stitution in 1895, and he then entered the law office of Brown & Brown, his grandfather and uncle, and was admitted to the bar in 1900.

Mr. Martin began the practice of his pro- fession in Catlettsburg and has continued the same ever since. He was a member of the firm of Brown & Martin until the death of the former. The Brown law firm, consisting of father and son, was for many years one of the leaders in Kentucky and Mr. Martin is proving a worthy successor of the same since the death of his uncle and late partner, Judge Thomas R. Brown, of whom a sketch is given elsewhere.

In politics Mr. Martin is a Democrat and during 1904 served as county judge by ap- pointment for an unexpired term. His inter- est in politics has been active but strictly for the advancement of the party, as he is not an aspirant for office. Mr. Martin was a mem- ber of the Board of Elections Committee for ten years. He is a member of the Masonic Order and of the Elks, belongs to the Presby- terian church, is umarried, and, to sum him up generally, he is a young lawyer of undoubted ability, aggressive and ambitious, with every prospect in life before him. There can be no doubt therefore, that his pathway will lead to the highest points, for which he seems spe- cially fitted by natural predilection and per- sonal inclination.

JOHN H. CHANDLER .- This well known member of the bar of the city of Louisville has shown forth the elements of success in the educational field as well as in the practice of law, to which he is now devoting his atten- tion and in which he stands as one of the rep- resentative members of his profession in the Kentucky metropolis. He is a scion of old and honored families of the Blue Grass state and was born at Campbellsville, Taylor county, Kentucky, on the 18th of July, 1873. He is a son of Joseph H. and Araminta E. (Hiestan) Chandler, both of whom were born and reared in this state. The Chandler lineage is traced back to staunch English origin and the orig- inal progenitors in America were four broth-

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ers, one of whom settled in Virginia, where the paternal great-grandfather of the subject of this review was born. He figured as the founder of the family in Kentucky, whither he came at an early day and established his home in Green county. The section in which he thus took up his abode was later included in the new county of Taylor, where Joseph H. Chandler was born and reared. He has been an able and honored representative of the legal profession in that county for many years and still resides in the village of Camp- bellsville, being eighty-four years of age at the time of this writing, in 1910. He has been one of the influential men in connection with public affairs in his section of the state. He is a man of particularly strong individuality and has attained distinction as an effective campaign orator. He is a staunch Democrat in his po- litical allegiance and at one time served as a member of the state senate. His wife is like- wise a representative of a family that was founded in Kentucky in an early day. Of the eight children the subject of this sketch is the youngest.

John H. Chandler was reared to maturity in his native town and after completing the curriculum of the local schools he entered the Central University, at Richmond, this state, in which institution he completed an academic course and was graduated in 1895, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. In connection with the pedagogic profession he made an admirable record even before he had complet- ed his university course. He was principal of the public schools and high school of his native town for some time and later was prin- cipal of the preparatory department of his alma mater, Central University, retaining this in- cumbency for three years. For five summers he was traveling representative of the univer- sity and in this connection did much to fur- ther its growth and popularity. While en- gaged in teaching in the university he was a student in the law department of the institu- tion, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1899, and from which he re- ceived the degree of Bachelor of Laws. For the following year he was engaged in practice at Richmond and he then removed to Louis- ville, in September, 1899. Here he has since devoted himself assiduously to the work of his profession, in which he has so directed his energies and abilities as to attain a high de- gree of success and prestige. His first nota- ble victory in connection with the practice of law was one which gained him no little promi -. nence and which did much to subserve his success in his chosen profession. This was the case in which he vigorously attacked the

Kentucky vagrancy law, which he maintained was unconstitutional and in violation of the eighth and thirteenth articles of the United States constitution. His contention was up- held by the courts and the law was eventually repealed after having been on the statute books of the state for fully forty years. A new and meritorious vagrancy law was then passed by the legislature. From 1901 to 1905 Mr. Chandler held the position of county commissioner of Jefferson county. His exec- utive duties in this position afforded him val- table experience in connection with the set- tlement of estates and he has found this knowledge of much worth in connection with his private practice. He is a staunch Demo- crat in his political proclivities, is a member of the Kentucky Bar Association and the Louisville Bar Association, is identified with the Commercial Club of his home city and is a director of the local Young Men's Chris- tian Association. He is a master Mason and is affiliated with the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks, as well as with the Sigma Al- pha Epsilon college fraternity. Both he and his wife are zealous and valued members of the Highland Baptist church.

In December, 1901, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Chandler to Miss Agnita Clara Fleming, daughter of Judge William D. Fleming, a prominent lawyer and jurist of Louisville.

JOSEPH D. KENNEDY, who was the able and honored county surveyor of Kenton county at the time of his death, which occurred on the 16th of October, 1910, gained a secure place in the confidence and esteem of those with whom he came in contact in the various rela- tions of life and he was a scion of one of the sterling pioneer families of northwestern Ken- tucky, where his entire life was passed and where his career was marked by earnest and worthy endeavor. He was continuously in- cumbent of the office of county surveyor for nearly fifteen years prior to his demise, and he was also the owner of valuable farming property in Kenton and Boone counties.

Joseph Davis Kennedy was born on a farm three miles west of Covington, Kenton county, on the 13th of February, 1835, and was a son of Thomas D. and Nancy (Davis) Kennedy, concerning whom more specific mention is made in a sketch of the career of another son, Thomas H. Kennedy, on other pages of this work. The subject of this memoir was reared to the sturdy discipline of the home farm and his early educational training was secured in a private school, and after leaving the institution he continued his studies for a short time in a military school in Kentucky.

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Later he became a student in a business col- lege in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, but the outbreak of the Civil war interrupted his ed- ucational work and his sympathies were un- mistakably with the cause of the South. The old homestead farm upon which he was reared was ravaged by the conflicting armies, and he was compelled to go to Boone county, where he remained until the close of the war. He then returned to Kenton county, where he identified himself actively with agricultural pursuits and where he learned civil engineer- ing under the direction of his able and hon- ored father. Soon after the war he was elect- ed county surveyor of Kenton county, and he retained this office for one term, of two years. Thereafter he continued to be engaged in farming and surveying for several years in Kenton and Boone counties, and in 1896 he was again elected county surveyor of Kenton identified himself actively with agricultural bent, by successive re-elections, until the time of his death, his last election to the office hav- ing occurred in November, 1909, when he was chosen as his own successor for a term of four years.

Mr. Kennedy was the owner of two well improved farms, one of which is located in Kenton county and the other in Boone coun- ty, and he gave a general supervision to their operation until the close of his long and use- ful life. He was always a staunch advocate of the principles and policies for which the Democratic party stands sponsor and was a man of broad information and well fortified opinions. His course in life was marked by inflexible integrity and honor and to him was ever accorded the high regard of all who knew him. His wife still resides in the city of Covington.

In the year 1861 was solemnized the mar- riage of Mr. Kennedy to Miss Sallie Moore, who was born and reared in Boone county and who is a daughter of the late John H. Moore, a native of Kentucky. Mr. Moore was a successful farmer and stock-grow- er and at one time served as sheriff of Boone county. During the Civil war he served as colonel in the state mil- itia and he was an ardent supporter of the cause of the Confederacy. Mr. Ken- nedy is survived by one daughter, Lalla Moore. who is now the wife of Bernard Wright Southgate, of Covington. Mr. Kennedy left the record of an earnest. honorable and useful life, and he well merits this memorial tribute in a work touching the history of his native state.

JOHN E. SHEPARD, city solicitor of Coving- ton, Kentucky, was born in Mason county, this state, February 24, 1881, a son of Rev. E. L. and Rebecca C. (Jones) Shepard, na- tives respectively of Ohio and Virginia, but for many years residents of various places in Kentucky where Mr. Shepard's work as a Methodist minister has called him. He is low a presiding elder and is ranked with the most noted divines in the Methodist Episco- pal church in Kentucky. In their family were four children, John E. being the second born and one of the three now living, one having died in infancy. John E. spent his boyhood and received his early education in his native county, afterward he attended school at Frankfort, Lexington, and other places, and then he entered the Cincinnati Law School, of which he is a graduate with the class of 1904. He was admitted to the bar at New- port, Kentucky, February 24 of that year, and at once entered upon the practice of his profession at Covington, where he has since remained. Also for a time he maintained an office in Cincinnati.

Politically Mr. Shepard affiliates with the Republicans, and is active and enthusiastic in work for the party. In 1908 he was appoint- ed city solicitor for a term of four years; as the incumbent of this office he has rendered efficient service, and has now entered upon the last half of his term. Fraternally he is a Ma- son. He has advanced through the degrees of this ancient and honored order up to and including the York rite. His church is the one in which he was reared-the Methodist Episcopal.

DANIEL REED AMMERMAN .- One of the prominent farmers and stock breeders who have helped to give to this community the en- viable reputation that it can raise anything for which there is a market, is the subject of this review.

Mr. Ammerman was born on the farm upon which he now lives, March 2, 1831, the son of Joseph and Rebecca (Reed) Ammerman. The father came from Virginia, and his death occurred on August 29, 1849, at the age of fifty-nine years. The mother also came from Virginia, and she died in 1890, aged eighty years. They were the parents of nine chil- dren, of whom only two are living, as follows : The subject and Rebecca, the widow of Ed- ward McAdams, of Harrison county, Ken- tucky. The grandfather of Mr. Ammerman of this review came from Virginia to Bourbon county, Kentucky, and settled near Cane Ridge, where he bought wild land and followed

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ELIZABETH (ENGLISH) AMMERMAN DANIEL R. AMMERMAN GREAT-GRANDCHILD HARRIET LAWRANCE

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farming until he died. The maternal grand- father of the subject was Jonathan Reed, who came to Bourbon county from Virginia about the time they all came across the mountains in wagons. Mr. Ammerman's father was reared in Bourbon county, where he obtained a limited education. He came to Harrison county, mar- ried and started farming where the subject now lives. He prospered and at the time of his death was the possessor of four hundred acres of fine land. He built a large brick house in 1835 and was a breeder of Shorthorn cattle and mules. He was a good man as well as a successful one, and he and his wife were members of the Christian church.

Daniel Reed Ammerman was reared on the farm and received his education in the district school. He was eighteen when his father died and he farmed his mother's share and when he grew older he purchased his mother's part and that of some of the other heirs. He now owns and operates two hundred acres of the best land, on which he raises stock, tobacco and grain, and for years he has handled and bred good mules and jack stock.

On February 28, 1854, Mr. Ammerman married Miss Elizabeth English, who was born October 10, 1836, in Harrison county, Kentucky, and died April 10, 1910. She was a daughter of William and Sallie (Dickson) English, both early settlers in Harrison county. To Mr. and Mrs. Ammerman were born nine children, as follows: Phillip, living in Cynth- iana; Gans, whose sketch appears in another part of this work; Frank, of Georgetown, Kentucky; Wesley, of Harrison county ; Dan- iel N., who is at home; and Margaret, also at home. The three other children are deceased. William F. died at the age of fifty years, leav- ing a widow and five children in Grant county ; and Annabelle, who married Henry C. Cort- ney, died at the age of twenty-six years and left four children in Harrison county.

Mr. Ammermann is a Democrat and he and his wife were both members of the Chris- tian church, in which he is still active in in- terest. They were married for fifty-six years before they were parted by death. In spite of his years Mr. Ammerman is still active, look- ing after his farm, and he is one of the best citizens of Harrison county.

JASPER M. WELLS, M. D .- A man who has gained distinctive prominence in the medical world, both through practice and through im- portant contributions to the literature of the profession, is Dr. Jasper M. Wells, who has been an active practitioner in Vanceburg, Lewis county, Kentucky, since 1879. Dr. Wells was born near Mount Olivet, Nicholas county, Kentucky, on the 12th of October,

1846, and he is a son of William Wiggins and Matilda (Collins) Wells, the former of whom was a native of Maryland and the latter of whom claimed Harrison county, Kentucky, as the place of her birth. The father was a child at the time of his parents' removal to Ken- tucky, and he was reared to maturity in Nich- olas county, where he became a carpenter and farmer, with which lines of enterprise he con- tinued to be identified during the greater part of his active business career. He whipsawed lumber for windows, floors, etc., and built many houses in the early days for the settlers. With the exception of about three years spent in Ohio during the Civil war period, he passed practically his entire life in Nicholas county. He was a strong abolitionist and an ardent Union sympathizer during the Civil war. When eighteen years of age he was given two slaves by a relative but refused to retain them as such. He was born in 1800, was the third in order of birth in a family of seven children -five sons and two daughters-and was a small child at the time of his father's death. After attaining to manhood he became a stal- wart in the ranks of the Whig party and when that party ceased to exist he became a Demo- crat, later, however, transferring his allegi- ance to the Republican party. He was a large man, both physically and mentally; was six feet tall, very energetic and industrious and was a diligent worker throughout his life, only relinquishing his responsibilities a short time prior to his death, which occurred in 1872. He was the contractor and builder of many of the houses in Mount Olivet and during the epidemic of 1832 he and his wife were the only ones who cared for the cholera victims, dressing and burying many of them. They themselves escaped most miraculously from the plague. Mr. Wells was twice married, his first union having been with Miss Maria Collins, who bore him two children and who became suddenly ill and passed away after re- questing him to marry her sister, Matilda. This Mr. Wells did three months after the demise of his first wife. To the second mar- riage were born twelve children-five sons and seven daughters-and of the fourteen children of the two marriages all grew to ma- turity, none dying under sixty years of age, and several living to be past eighty years of age. Mrs. Wells survived her honored hus- band by several years and died when eighty years of age.

Dr. Jasper M. Wells, who was the ninth in order of birth of the above-mentioned chil- dren, was reared to adult age on the old home- stead farm in Nicholas county and he early became associated with his father in the work

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and management thereof. The father do- nated the ground for the Christian church at Mount Olivet and was the contractor and builder of that edifice. The Doctor helped to saw the timbers for the same with the old crosscut saw. As a youth Dr. Wells was af- forded but meager educational advantages, most of his studying having been done at home under the able tutorship of an older brother. While the family sojourned in Ohio during the war he attended public school and made splendid progress. His oldest brother was graduated in the medical department of the Eclectic Medical College, as a member of the class of 1857. Another brother, Nathan, graduated in 1858 and some time thereafter the young Jasper M. began to study medicine under his able preceptorship. Subsequently he attended and was graduated in the Eclectic Medical Institute, at Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1877, duly receiving his degree of Doctor of Medi- cine. He was admitted to practice at Mil- ford, Bracken county, Kentucky, where he was engaged in active practice for two and a half years, at the expiration of which, in 1879, be removed to Vanceburg, where he has main- tained his home and professional headquarters during the long intervening years to the pres- ent time, in 1911. He rapidly built up a large and representative patronage in this city and here he has gained distinctive prestige as an eminently skilled physician and surgeon.

In connection with his work Dr. Wells is a valued and appreciative member of the Na- tional Eclectic Medical Association, the Ken- tucky State Medical Society, the Eastern Aux- iliary, the Cincinnati Eclectic Medical Society, also of the college alumni, and he is an hon- orary member in the Wisconsin Eclectic Med- ical Society and the Lewis County Medical Society. He has made several valuable con- tributions to the literature of his profession, various of his articles having appeared in the leading medical journals. In his political ad- herency he is a staunch Republican and he has served, with the utmost proficiency, as a member of the county board of health, of which he is secretary at the present time, and is now county coroner. He is also secretary of the U. S. pension board, a position he lias held for many years. In the Masonic order he has passed through the circle of York Rite Masonry, holding membership in the Lodge, Chapter and Commandery of the same. He is a zealous member of the Christian church, which he joined when a lad of thirteen years of age, and he and his wife have ever been ac- tive workers in the different departments of church work. He has served in various offi- cial capacities in the local church and has been

choir leader for many years. He is specially talented as a musician, having written many of his own improvisations. Dr. Wells is a splendid type of American manhood, physi- cally, mentally and morally. No good meas- ure projected for the good of the community or of the general welfare ever fails to receive his most ardent support. He is broad-minded and is liberal in thought and action, ever con- siderate of others' opinions and of their feel- ings, and it may be said concerning him that the circle of his friends is only limited by that of his acquaintances.

On the 8th of March, 1877, was celebrated the marriage of Dr. Wells to Miss Anna Mains, who was born and reared at Augusta, Kentucky, and who is a daughter of the late John W. Mains. Dr. and Mrs. Wells have no children.

FRANK HILLS SOUTHGATE, M. D .- Conspic- uous among his professional brethren is Frank Hills Southgate, M. D., a physician already well-known in Kentucky and southern Ohio as an omniverous student and one whose achieve- ments in his specialty, the diseases of children, both in a practical and speculative way bid fair to make of him a benefactor to the race. He was born in Newport, Kentucky, April 12, 1869, and is the son of James M. and Emma (Hills) Southgate, a sketch of the former's career appearing elsewhere in this volume. He was reared in his native place and received the most of his early education in a private school in Cincinnati. He later entered the Chickering Institute, and upon its suspension entered Oxford College, where he spent three years. Upon finishing there he enrolled in the Medical College of Cincinnati and was graduated from that favorably known insti- tution in 1892. He re-entered it as a member of the faculty and for several years his services took the form of clinical lectures on the dis- eases of children. He became assistant to the chair of physiology and later to the chair of materia medica. In 1894 he went abroad and took a post graduate course in the University of Berlin and later acquired invaluable expe- rience in the hospitals of London and Paris.

After an absence abroad of nearly two years Dr. Southgate returned to Kentucky and for several years practiced in Newport. In 1907 he located in the Highlands district adjoining Newport and carries on a large general prac- tice, making a specialty of the diseases of chil- dren and winning great personal distinction.

Dr. Southgate is a loyal Democrat and is a man who takes a real interest in public affairs. During Cleveland's second administration he was appointed pension examiner and served in this capacity for four years. For three

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years he has been a member of the county board of health, in whose councils his advice funds great weight. His fraternal relations are several and important, extending to the Academy of Medicine of Cincinnati; the Amer- ican Medical Association; the Campbell-Ken- ton Medical Society; the Masons; Nu Sigma Nu, a medical fraternity of which he was a charter member; and Phi Delta Theta, a col- legiate fraternity.

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A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume III, Part 46

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