A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume III, Part 47

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 47

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Dr. Southgate was married in 1907 to Laura Donnaly, a native of Hartford, West Virginia, and two children are growing up beneath their roof-tree-Laura Frances and James M., Jr. Both Dr. and Mrs. Southgate are members of the Episcopal church of Highlands.

ANDERSON FLOYD BYRD .- The biography of the subject is that of a man who in the prime of life has won most honorable distinction for himself, is interested in many miportant pro- jects and has a large law practice, all of which he has gained by his own exertions.

Anderson Floyd Byrd, an attorney of Win- chester, Kentucky, was born in Wolfe county, Kentucky, January 22, 1864, the son of Ander- son C. and Lucinda (Stamper ) Byrd, the fa- ther of a native of Hancock county, Tennes- see, born in June, 1841, and the mother a na- tive of Harland county, Kentucky, born in Oc- tober, 1840, and both still living on a farm in Clark county, Kentucky. They are the par- ents of eight children, six of whom are still living: Matilda A., wife of G. W. Halsey, a resident of Montgomery county, Kentucky ; Lou Ellen, wife of Joseph Chambers, a resi- dent of Wolfe county, Kentucky; Sarah, wife of Ben Sewell, an ex-state senator of the thir- ty-fourth district, Wolfe county, Kentucky ; John G., of Montana; William Letcher, of Clark county, Kentucky ; and the subject, who is the eldest of the family. The father of our subject came to Kentucky in 1845 and located in what was then Morgan county. He was a son of John Byrd, a native of Virginia, who removed early to Tennessee, and thence to Kentucky in 1845. Our subject's father re- ceived a good education in public and private schools and spent years of his life teaching school. In 1872 he was county superintendent of schools of Wolfe county, serving one term. He removed to Clark county a number of years ago, where he now resides.

Anderson Floyd Byrd was reared on a farm in Wolfe county, attended the public and high schools of Campton, Kentucky, and began teaching when he was fourteen years of age, following that pursuit for eight years. He then entered mercantile business in Morgan county, Kentucky, married and removed to Campton, Kent icky, where he engaged in busi-

ness for a time, during which he read law and began practicing in July, 1887. In 1890 Mr. Byrd attended the University at Louisville, Kentucky, and graduated in 1891 in law and from that time on he has made steady advance- ment in business. In 1893 he was elected superintendent of schools of Wolfe county and held this position until January, 1898. In No- vember, 1897, he was elected commonwealth attorney of the twenty-third judicial district, comprising the counties of Wolfe, Lee, Estill, Breathitt and Magoffin which position he held for one term of six years. In October, 1893, Mr. Byrd removed to Winchester and formed a law partnership with E. S. Jouett, later be- came a member of the law firm of Jouett, Byrd and Jouett, but after two years the firm be- came Byrd and S. T. Davis, and in January, 1910, was changed to Byrd and Jefferies.

In August, 1910, Mr. Byrd received the Democratic nomination for congress from the tenth district. He is a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and he and his family are communicants at the Methodist Episcopal church, South. In politics lie has always been a Democrat. Mr. Byrd is inter- ested in various other concerns besides his at- tention to his profession. He owns and oper- ates two hundred and forty acres of farm land in Clarke county, is interested in Virginia coal land, is attorney for the Hartford Coal and Mining Company and for a time was inter- ested in developing oil and gas fields of Wolfe county.

Mr. Byrd, on March 3, 1887, married Emma Elkins, born in March, 1865, in Wolfe coun- ty, Kentucky, a daughter of Jeremiah and Es- ther ( Richmond) Elkins, both natives of Lee county, Virginia. To Mr. and Mrs. Byrd have been born six children: Bessie, Carl, Burnie, Herbert and Daisy J., all of whom are at home and one child, Clifford, who died in infancy. Mr. Byrd is to be congratulated upon his fine family and splendid prospects.

JOHN A. HALL .- One of the well ordered and distinctively successful real estate enter- prises in the city of Covington is that con- ducted by John Arnold Hall, and upon his books are represented at all times most desir- able investments, as well as properties for ex- change and rental. He is a progressive and energetic business man and his course has been such as to gain to him a strong hold upon popular confidence and regard.

Mr. Hall is a native of the county that is now his home, as he was born in the village of Independence. Kenton county, Kentucky, on the 24th of March, 1858, and he is a son of John A. and Ann ( Pickett) Hall, both of whom were likewise born in Kenton county-

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honored representatives of sterling pioneer families. John A. Hall, Sr., was one of the able exponents of the great basic industry of agriculture in this section of the state and he served eight years as county assessor, being held in unqualified esteem in the community and being influential in connection with local affairs. The Hall family, of staunch English lineage, was founded in Virginia in the Colo- nial epoch, and from the historic Old Domin- ion came the original representatives of the family in Kentucky in the latter part of the eighteenth century, settlement being made in the vicinity of Georgetown, Scott county. In that county was born Thomas Hall, grandfa- ther of him whose name initiates this review, and this honored ancestor served as a soldier in the war of 1812, as did also two of his brothers, each of whom sacrificed his life in this second conflict with England. Thomas Hall settled in Kenton county in an early day and he gained high reputation as one of the most able and popular schoolmasters of this section in his day and generation. A buckskin bag which was made by his wife and which was carried by him in the war of 1812 is now in the possession of his grandson, John A. Hall, by whom the quaint old heirloom, con- taining thread, needles, buttons, etc., is greatly prized.

When John A. Hall, of this sketch, was four days old his mother died and his father later contracted a second marriage. Of the first marriage were born three children, all of whom are living. John A. Hall, Sr., contin- ued to reside in Kenton county until his death, and his second wife also is deceased.

John Arnold Hall, the immediate subject of this review, was reared to the sturdy discipline of the home farm and was afforded the advan- tages of the public schools of Independence. He continued to be actively identified with ag- ricultural pursuits until he attained to the age of twenty-five years, when, in 1883, he secured a clerkship in a mercantile establishment in the city of Covington. 1. Later he became store- keeper in the United States internal revenue service, with headquarters in Harrison county. At the expiration of two years he resigned this position and returned to Covington, where he has since been engaged in the real estate business, in connection with which he has brought to bear marked discrimination and ex- ecutive ability, which, as coupled with fair and honorable dealings, have enabled him to build up a large and prosperous business, the while he has contributed thereby to the mate- rial upbuilding of Covington and its environs, as he has platted a number of sub-divisions, has erected many houses and handled many

excellent properties. In politics, while never an aspirant for public office, he accords a staunch allegiance to the Democratic party, and he is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Fraternal Order of Eagles. He and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, South.

In 1886 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Hall to Miss Letie Blewett, who was born at Ghent, Carroll county, Kentucky, and who is a daughter of Major Jefferson Blewett, who was major of the Twenty-fourth Kentucky Cavalry in the Confederate service during the Civil war and who later was engaged for a number of years as a traveling salesman for a leading wholesale house in Cincinnati, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Hall have one son, John Ar- nold, Jr.

BERNHARD BERNHEIM .- In no better way can we gain a conception of the diverse ele- ments which have entered into our social, pro- fessional and commercial fabric than to ob- serve in the series of biographical sketches ap- pearing in this volume the varying national origin and early environment of the men who have made their way to positions of promi- nence and trust in connection with the profes- sional and industrial activities of life. Ger- many has contributed a valuable element to our best class of men both professionally and commercially, and as a worthy member of this class we are pleased to direct attention to the gentleman whose name heads this sketch. He is a man whose integrity has ever been beyond question and his entire career, business and otherwise, has reflected credit upon him and showed the dominating elements of honor, steadfastness and marked ability.

Bernhard Bernheim was born in Germany on December 13, 1850, the son of Leon S. and Fanny (Dreyfus) Bernheim. His paternal grandfather, Solomon, was a soldier under the first Napoleon, while his maternal grandfather, Rabbi Moses B. Dreyfus, was a prominent Jewish minister. Leon S. Bernheim belonged to one of the old families and was a merchant of Schmieheim, Germany, where the Bern- heim family had lived for generations. In 1860 he removed to Freiburg in Breisgan, the capi- tal city of the district of Breisgan, Baden, in which city Bernhard Bernheim received the most of his schooling. At the age of fifteen years he began an apprenticeship in a dry goods store and later studied law, but did not com- plete his studies sufficiently to apply for ad- mission to the bar. When he was twenty years of age he crossed the Atlantic to the new world, believing that he might have better opportunities in this country, where every avenue is open to diligence and enterprise.

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It was in 1870 that Mr. Bernheim came to the United States and joined his brother Isaac W. at Paducah, Kentucky, where he entered the wholesale whiskey house of Loeb, Bloom & Company, as bookkeeper. In 1872 Bernhard and Isaac W. engaged in the wholesale whis- key business under the firm name of Bern- heim Brothers, at Paducah, Kentucky, where they continued until 1888, when they located in Louisville. Here their business increased and as they were progressive, wideawake and discriminating, the firm achieved a notable suc- cess through normal channels of industry and soon became among the largest distillers of Kentucky whiskies of the country. Later they completed a distilling plant near Louisville, which is one of the largest and most up-to- date distilling plants in the United States.

Mr. Bernheim holds prestige as one of the essentially representative business men of Louisville, being prominently concerned in en- terprises of marked scope and importance and having shown that inflexible integrity and hon- orable business policy which invariably beget objective confidence and esteem. He is vice- president of the Lincoln Savings Bank, a di- rector of the Board of Trade, trustee of the University of Louisville and vice-president of the Anti-Tuberculosis Association, and he and his brother Isaac W. presented to the city of Louisville the Jefferson monument."

Mr. Bernheim married Rosa Dreyfus, daughter of Samuel Dreyfus, who before the Civil war lived at Smithland, Kentucky, but about ten years ago returned to Germany, where he died. The children of Mr. and Mrs. Bernheim are as follows: Lyman B., ensign in the United States navy, having graduated from the Naval Academy in 1906; Frank D., in the Bernheim Distilling Company; and Gladys R .; Ethel F. and Samuel I.

RUFUS NASH WALTHALL is one of the most prominent real estate dealers in Covington, Kentucky. It has been truly said that the real estate dealer may make or mar a city. If he has a deep interest in the welfare and im- provement, not only because of the prosperity which may accrue to him, but also because of a loyal and progressive spirit, he will so con- duct his transactions that the beauty of the city will be enhanced and the improvements carried on along those lines which bring sub- stantial upbuilding and material progress. In this respect Mr. Walthall is an ideal citi- zen and his labors have been of much benefit to Covington. He is both widely and favora- bly known here and his life history cannot fail to prove of interest to many of our readers.

son of John Ascher and Amelia (Liverman) Walthall, both natives of Virginia, the Wal- thalls having been natives of Virginia for gen- erations past, numbered among the old Col- onial families. The father was a contractor in Richmond for many years, being in the building business as well, and later was locat- ed in Covington, where he was still engaged in the same business and which he continued for many years. In 1847, with his wife and chil- dren, he started for Texas, but owing to yel- low fever returned as far as Cincinnati, Ohio, and soon afterwards located in Covington, which then became his permanent home.

Mr. Walthall's brothers settled in Missis- sippi and Texas and a cousin, General Ed. Walthall, was a very prominent man, serving with distinction in the Confederate army dur- ing the time of the war between the states and was also a United States senator. Mr. Walthall's father died at the home of a daugh- ter in Paris, Illinois, aged eighty-seven years. During the war time Mr. Walthall's father was a member of the Home Guards and dur- ing his residence in Covington built houses and shipped them down the river in flat boats to places in Mississippi and Louisiana, but the war stopped the enterprise, at which time three houses were ready for delivery and final completion, but were confiscated in the South. Mr. Walthall's mother died in Paris, Illinois, aged sixty-eight. They were the par- ents of three children, all of whom are living, our subject being the youngest of the family.

Rufus N. Walthall was three years of age when he came to Covington with his parents. He was reared in that town and pursued his education in the public schools, the Hon. John G. Carlisle being the schoolmaster at that time. After his school days Mr. Walthall learned the carpenter's trade with his father and made trips down the Ohio river on flat boats to deliver houses to plantations in the South, the houses having been constructed by his father and himself. While on one of these trips the Civil war broke out and he joined the Confederate army at Bowling Green, Kentucky, serving most of the time under Forrest and until he was captured at Sweet- water Farm in 1863. From thence he was taken to Camp Chase and in January, 1864, to Rock Island, where he remained a prisoner until the close of the war and then returned home.

Mr. Walthall served in many engagements and among others those of Chickamauga, Stone River, Corinth and Iuka. He was a cavalryman and experienced much hard fight- ing. After the war Mr. Walthall located in

Mr. Walthall was born in Richmond, Vir- ginia, on the 22d day of February, 1844, the Covington and engaged in the real estate busi-

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ness in which he has continued ever since and with gratifying success, his deals having been quite extensive and yielding him a good finan- cial return. He has also been a most impor- tant factor in public affairs in the city and has done much for the public good. He votes the Democratic ticket and is a member of the Knights of Pythias.

Mr. Walthall was married in 1868 to Mary Getty, a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who came to Covington with her parents when very young and was there reared and edu- cated. They have five children, all living : Charley T., Anna F., Mary E., Fred N. and Samuel F. For many years Mr. Walthall has been known for his sterling qualities, his fear- less loyalty to his honest convictions, and his clearheadedness, discretion and tact. He ever places the general good before personal ag- grandizement, and Covington owes not a lit- tle to his efforts in her behalf.

ULYSSES C. THOROUGHMAN .- Examine the life records of self-made men and it will al- ways be found that indefatigable industry forms the basis of their success. While there are other elements that enter in-persever- ance of purpose and keen discrimination, which enable one to recognize business oppor- tunities-still the foundation of all achieve- ment is earnest, persistent labor. At the out- set of his career Ulysses Cravens Thorough- man recognized this fact and did not seek to gain any short or wondrous method to the goal of prosperity. He began, however, to work earnestly and diligently in the pursuit of an education, with the result that to-day he is one of the most learned lawyers in Vance- burg, Kentucky, being the present incumbent of the position of county attorney of Lewis county.

Ulysses Cravens Thoroughman was born in Lewis county, Kentucky, on the 12th of March, 1865, and he is a son of George W. and Nancy (Bonham) Thoroughman, the former of whom was likewise born in Lewis county and the latter of whom was a native of Fleming county, Kentucky. The Thorough- man family is one of old standing in the Blue Grass state. It is said that three brothers of the name, natives of Virginia, in the latter part of the eighteenth or early nineteenth cen- tury followed the tide of westward emigra- tion, two going to Ohio and one to Kentucky. The latter settled in the vicinity of May's Lick, Mason county, this state, and there made a home, was married and reared a family. Of his offspring William Thoroughman, grand- father of him to whom this sketch is dedi- cated, was born near May's Lick about the year 1808. As a young man he came to Lewis

county and established a home on Cabin creek, eventually acquiring a large plantation, which he reclaimed from the wilderness and he gained recognition as a man of prominence and influence in this section of the state. He married a Miss Ginn, a daughter of Isaac Ginn, an early settler in this county, and to them were born four sons and one daughter who grew to maturity, and four children who died in infancy. After the death of his first wife Mr. Thoroughman married Miss Mary Blanton, by whom he had eight children- four boys and four girls. William Thorough- man was summoned to the life eternal in 1892, at the age of eighty-four years, and his widow, who still survives him, now maintains her home at Ribolt, Kentucky.

Of the children by William Thoroughman's first marriage George W. was the third in order of birth and he became the father of Ulysses C., of this review. George W. Thor- oughman was reared to adult age on the home- stead farm, where his birth occurred on the Ist of April, 1842. He continued as an in- mate of the parental home until he had at- tained to the age of nineteen years, at which . time he was married, after which he located on a farm of his own in this county, to the conduct of which he devoted his attention for the remainder of his life. He died in 1905. His wife, who was called to her reward in April, 1885, in her thirty-seventh year, was a daughter of Nehemiah Bonham, who was for a number of years an expert cooper in Fleming county. When the Civil war was pre- cipitated upon a divided nation Mr. Bonham went to Ohio and enlisted in a Union regiment as a bugler. He was lost track of and it is supposed that he lost his life while in service. Mr. and Mrs. George W. Thoroughman be- came the parents of three children, two of whom died in infancy, Ulysses C. being the only one to attain to years of maturity.

Ulysses Cravens Thoroughman was reared to the invigorating influences of the home farm, in the work and management of which he early began to assist his father. He re- ceived but limited educational advantages in his youth, such training as he did receive con- sisting of attendance in a crude log school- house, which was but meagerly furnished with mere slabs for seats. Later he gained some private instruction, for which he raised pota- toes as tuition. Mr. Thoroughman himself states that much of his preliminary education was received under the old apple tree at home, where he used to read all the books which came into his possession. From earliest youth he was ambitious for an education, farming being particularly distasteful to him. Subse-

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quently he had occasion to attend school for a short time at Tollesboro and still later he pursued a course of study at the Vanceburg Normal school. In due time he secured a third-class teacher's certificate and armed with that he began to teach, at the age of twenty years. He was most successfully en- gaged in the pedagogic profession in Lewis county for a period of fifteen years, in the meantime studying law with William Fitch, at Vanceburg. He was admitted to the bar of the state in 1891, but continued to teach school until the spring of 1902, at which time he became a candidate for nomination on the Republican ticket for the office of county at- torney of Lewis county. After a closely con- tested primary he received the nomination by a majority of sixty-seven votes in Lewis county. His opponent was the former county attorney and is at present (1911) judge of the circuit court. Mr. Thoroughman has been twice re-elected to the positon of county at- torney and he is now serving his third term in that office, his last election having occurred in the fall of 1909, without opposition for nomination or in election. In politics he en- dorses the cause of the Republican party and he has ever manifested a keen interest in pub- lic affairs. He is an active politician and has made many campaign canvasses for himself and friends in this section of the state. He is very popular and influential as a citizen and no business man in Lewis county holds a higher place in the confidence and esteem of his fellow men than does Mr. Thoroughman. He is a man of brilliant mental attainments and is well learned in the minutia of the law. He has participated in many important litiga- tions in the state and federal courts and holds distinctive prestige as an able and versatile trial lawyer and as a well fortified counselor.

Mr. Thoroughman has been twice married, his first union having been to Miss Hattie Shaw, in 1892. She was a native of Lewis county, where she was reared and educated and where she was a popular and successful teacher in the public schools prior to her mar- riage. She was a daughter of the late Rich- ard H. Shaw, a farmer and tanner. No chil- dren were born to this union. After the death of his first wife, which occurred in 1903, Mr. Thoroughman was united in marriage, in 1908, to Miss Tacie G. Jones, who was born in Ohio but who was reared in Lewis county, Kentucky. Mr. and Mrs. Thoroughman have one son, Walter Crave.

Fraternally Mr. Thoroughman is affiliated with the time-honored Masonic order, in which he holds membership in Blue Lodge, No. 363, Free & Accepted Masons ; and Burns Chapter, No .: 73, Royal Arch Maons. He is

also connected with the Woodmen of the World and the Junior Order of the United American Mechanics. In religious faith his wife is a devout member of the Christian church at Vanceburg, and they are popular and prominent in connection with the best social activities of the community.

ROBERT DYE WILSON is an eminently suc- cessful and popular attorney at Vanceburg, Lewis county, Kentucky, where through well applied energy, unflagging determination and perseverance in the active affairs of life lie has won a high place for himself in the confi- dence and esteem of his fellow citizens .. Mr. Wilson was born on a farm in the western part of Lewis county, the date of his nativity being September 18, 1855. He is a son of George F. and Sallie A. (Wells) Wilson, the former of whom was likewise a native of Lewis county and the latter of whom claimed Mason county, Kentucky, as the place of her birth. Representatives of the Wilson family were numbered among the pioneers of Ken- tucky and they figured prominently in the his- tory of the American colonies, different ones having served as valiant soldiers in the war of the Revolution and in the war of 1812. John Wilson, great-grandfather of him whose name initiates this review, and George Wil- son, his brother, were born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, whence they came to Kentucky in 1795. They laid the first land warrant in the western part of Lewis county, on Crooked creek, the same being for a tract of twelve square miles of land, extending three miles along the bank of the Ohio river and four miles back from the river. Soon after they had laid this warrant one Samuel Beal laid claim to the tract by right of a grant from King George III of England. The con- troversy, however, was settled in favor of the Wilson brothers. The two oldest sons of John Wilson, Samuel and George, settled within one mile of each other on this tract, both becoming the fathers of large families and both being very prosperous and influen- tial citizens in this section of the county. Of them, Samuel Wilson was the grandfather of Robert D., of this review. He had ten chil- dren, of whom George F. Wilson, father of Robert D., was the fifth in order of birth. George F. Wilson was identified with agricul- tural pursuits during the major portion of his active business career, was an active and de- vout member of the Christian church, and he died on his home farm at the age of seventy- five years. His wife, who passed away about 1900, lived to the venerable age of eighty years. She was a daughter of John S. Wells, whose plantation was located four miles dis- tant from Maysville. The Wells family were

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A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume III, Part 47

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