A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume III, Part 5

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 5

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Edward C. Hoagland, Jr., was reared in Henry county and was educated at Fairmont College, Sulphur, Kentucky, and in the Na- tional Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio. In 1901 he entered the Deposit Bank in Sul- phur, Kentucky, to learn the banking busi- ness and in February, 1903, he organized the. Bank of Prospect, which opened for busi- ness February 15, 1903, with a paid up capital of fifteen thousand dollars and with William Johnston as president and Mr. Hoagland as cashier, which order has since been continued. In 1906 Mr. Hoagland organized the Bank of St. Matthews at St. Matthews, Kentucky, but after a few years sold his interests in that bank. Throughout all his business career he has been closely asso- ciated with monied interests, and his name in banking circles is one which carries with it weight and confidence, for he has always dis- played thorough understanding of banking methods and the progressive spirit which en- ables one to advance beyond existing conditions into fields giving a broader outlook and wider scope.

Mr. Hoagland is a member of the Masonic fraternity, a Master and Royal Arch Mason, and also an Odd Fellow. On April 29, 1899, he married Ola Mary, the daughter of William J. Johnston, president of the Bank of Prospect, To them has been born one daughter, Catherine Clay.

WILLIAM J. JOHNSTON, president of the Bank of Prospect and one of the leading men of Oldham county, Kentucky, was born near Crestwood, Oldham county, Kentucky, July IO, 1852, the son of James and Julia ( Speer ) Johnston, natives of Virginia. Mr. Johnston was reared on the farm and secured a common school education. He has followed agricul- tural pursuits all his life, meeting with de-

served success and now owns and occupies a fine farm in Oldham county, a minor part of the land lying in Jefferson county. Through practical, profitable and scientific farming he has become well equipped for the duties which devolve upon him in his official capacity. For a number of years he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Crestwood State Bank, at Crestwood, Kentucky, and was one of the organizers and incorporators and the first president of the Bank of Prospect. He is also president of the Orchard Grass-Seed Commission Company, which is an organiza- tion of agriculturists.

Mr. Johnston married Alberta Smith, who was born in Oldham county, Kentucky, the daughter of Isaac Clay Smith, a native of Vir- ginia, but whose parents were pioneers of Kentucky. To Mr. and Mrs. Johnston children were born as follows : Clay Smith, a farmer on the home place in Oldham county, and Ola Mary,, wife of Mr. E. C. Hoagland, Jr., cash- ier of the Bank of Prospect.

EZRA OFFUTT WITHERSPOON, M. D .- Dr. Witherspoon is a young and successful phy- sician of Louivsille, a man who has made his mark among older professional men, who has demonstrated that though his years are few his acquirements have preceded them to the extent that the future holds remarkable promise. His ancestry is one to be proud of, for he is the son of a line of professional men of intellect, education and success. Dr. Witherspoon was born in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, on October 3, 1878, the son of Oran H. and Mary Edmonia (Offutt) With- erspoon, the father born in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky, on June 14, 1842, and died Janu- ary 5, 1901, and the mother, born in Scott county, Kentucky, on February 4, 1845, is still living and now residing in Louisville. The grandfather was Dr. John Witherspoon, who was a pioneer physician of Lawrence- burg, Kentucky, where he practiced for many years and later established the J. & J. A. Witherspoon Bank, which afterwards became the Anderson County Deposit Bank and is now the Anderson National Bank. He was also associated with Mr. Saffel in operating a transportation business, carrying freight and passengers from Louisville to Danville via Frankfort. Dr. Oran H. Witherspoon, the father of our subject, was educated first in the common schools of the neighborhood and then entered the Kentucky Military Institute, finally being graduated from the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, and Bellevue Medical College, New York City, graduating from both in 1865. He then engaged in prac- tice in Lawrenceburg with his father, suc-

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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS

ceeded his father and continued there all his life. He was president of the Anderson County Medical Society and was health officer for Anderson county and also the city of Lawrenceburg.

Dr. E. O. Witherspoon, the subject of our sketch, was reared in Lawrenceburg and at- tended the public schools and later on the Georgetown (Kentucky) College. He was graduated from the Hospital Medical College, Louisville, in 1901 and for several years took post-graduate courses at New York, Phila- delphia and Baltimore. He was interne at the Gray Street Infirmary for one year, then engaged in general practice in 1902. The Doctor was appointed assistant health officer of the city of Louisville in November, 1909. He is ex-president of his Alumni Associa- tion of the Hospital Medical College. He taught in the college seven years, beginning as assistant in chemistry and attaining a professorship in that department. He re- signed to take a position as assistant in surgery in the same college, and attained a professorship in that branch. Dr. Wither- spoon is associated with the staff of the City Hospital and the Home for the In- curables. He is a member of the Society of Physicians and Surgeons, the Louisville Acad- emy of Medicine, the Jefferson County Med- ical Society, the Kentucky State Medical So- ciety and the American Medical Association. He is also a member of the Commercial Club, and state head physician for the Modern Woodmen of America.

Dr. Witherspoon married Nell E. Newman, who was born in Bardstown, and is the daugh- ter of W. H. Newman, of Louisville.

JOHN MASON MORRIS, M. D., is a native son of the Blue Grass state, born in Henry county, Kentucky, on the 25th day of April, 1861. He is a prominent member of the medical profes- sion of Louisville and his marked ability and careful preparation have gained him distinction in the line of his chosen work. He is the son of David Morris, who was a native of Woodford county, Kentucky. The great-grandfather Mor- ris and his brother came over from Ireland in Colonial days, one settling in the North and one in Virginia. The mother of the Doctor was Amanda Watkins, the daughter of John Wat- kins, a Kentuckian. The father of our subject died in 1896, at the age of seventy-six years, and the mother died in May, 1910, aged eighty- three years.

Dr. Morris was reared on the farm. He graduated from Fairmount College, Henry county, in 1886, and then taught in that insti- tution for two years. He was graduated from

the medical department of the University of Louisville in 1887, and began the practice of medicine in association with his brother, W. J., in Sulphur, Kentucky, and in 1891 he located in Louisville. He has been on the staff of St. Anthony's Hospital since the founding of that institution in 1904. He is a member of the Jefferson County Medical Society, the Ken- tucky State Medical Society, the Louisville Clinical Society, the Louisville Society of Med- icine, the Mississippi Valley Medical Society, the American Medical Association and the National Anti-Tuberculosis Congress.

The Doctor is a deacon of Frankfort Avenue Baptist church. He was married in June, 1891, to Fronia L. Shouse, who was born in Henry county, Kentucky, the daughter of Dudley L. Shouse. To this union three daughters have been born : Fannie Newton, aged sixteen years; Helen, aged eight years; and Edith Mason, aged four years. As a physician Dr. Morris ranks among the most skilled in this part of the state, and is constantly broadening his knowledge and promoting his efficiency as a practitioner by reading, investigation and ex- periment. By his skill he has attained high standing and is meeting with excellent financial success as well.

THOMAS LEWIS EDELEN .- It cannot be denied that the Kentucky bar is one which has more than its quota of sound and brilliant reasoners and forensic lights, whose reputation extends far beyond the limits of the state. Naturally the greatest number of these are to be found in the capital city and among the most able repre- sentatives of the profession in Frankfort is Thomas Lewis Edelen. He is a native of Ken- tucky and like all true Kentuckians, very loyal to the state which gave him birth. The scenes upon which he first opened his eyes were in Harrodsburg, Mercer county, and the date of his nativity was December 28, 1857. The par- ents of Mr. Edelen were James H. and Mary (Lewis) Edelen, the former a native of Leb- anon and the latter of Harrodsburg, and through their union the Scotch, English and Welsh elements are mingled in the veins of their son. The paternal grandfather, Leonard Edelen, was a native Kentuckian, and his wife hore the maiden name of Bruce. Her family was of Scotch origin, as is very evident by the name, and they had crossed the Atlantic at an early day, settling first in Virginia and sub- sequently coming over to Kentucky. The great- grandfather Edelen was.a native of Maryland and the tracing of the lineage discovers his forbears living in England. The Welsh ele- ment enters through the mother of Mr. Edelen, the Lewis family in Kentucky being an old and

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numerous one, coming originally from Virginia.

James H. Edelen, the father of Thomas Lewis Edelen, was a drug merchant, and in 1858, the year following the birth of the subject, he moved from Harrodsburg to Lebanon, and it was in the latter city that both he and his wife died. They were the parents of two children, Mr. Edelen's sister having become the wife of Mr. J. R. Gilkeson of Lebanon. Mr. Edelen passed his boyhood and youth in Lebanon and in private schools was prepared for college. In September, 1873, he entered what was then Centre College, at Danville, Kentucky, and in 1877 he was graduated from that institution with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. His un- usual ability was evident even in his student days, and he received the honors of his class. He had already come to a conclusion as to his life work and immediately took up the study of law at Lebanon under William B. Harri- son, and in January, 1879, was licensed to practice law. He hung out his shingle at Le- banon and practiced there until 1891, going through the usual experiences of the young lawyer, winning encouragement even from de- feat, possibly staring at a blank wall for a time in the fashion of the Hon. Peter Sterling, but eventually finding himself and winning the double benefit of prestige and practice. In 1891 he located in Frankfort and his subsequent career has been most gratifying. He was in partnership with former Governor Knott until that gentleman became dean of the law depart- ment of Central University, and for the first three years of his residence in the capital city he was state reporter of the Kentucky court of appeals and issued meanwhile volumes 104, 105, 106 and 107 of the Kentucky Reports. He eventually formed a partnership with the late United States senator. William Lindsay, with whom he was associated from 1908 until the death of Senator Lindsay in October, 1909. At present he is associated with Mr. W. O. Davis in the practice of the law and their partnership is one of recognized strength and reliability.

Mr. Edelen is one of Kentucky's prominent Republicans and is very active in the further- ance of the policies of the party. His lodge re- lations are confined to membership in the Bene- volent and Protective Order of Elks and he is Presbyterian in religious faith.

On November 19, 1884, Mr. Edelen forsook the ranks of the bachelors, taking as the lady to preside over his household Miss Eliza Bull, of St. Louis, Missouri. She is a native of St. Louis and a daughter of John C. Bull. They have three children : Lida P., J. Leonard and Mary Lewis Edelen. Another daughter, Ruth by name, died at the age of four years.

Mr. Edelen's activities are not confined to the

legal profession and among his other interests is the Capital Trust Company of Frankfort, of which he is president.

ROY LEWIS CARTER, M. D., a well-known physician of Louisville, Kentucky, was born on a farm in Oldham county, Kentucky, Septem- ber 14, 1873. He is the son of Joseph Wilson and Fanny (Ingram) Carter, both natives of Oldham county, Kentucky. The paternal grandfather was Stephen O. Carter, a native of Virginia, and his wife, also a Virginian, was Susan Maddex. The maternal grandfather was Colonel William Ingram, a native of Ken- tucky, who was a large farmer and slave owner. He married Rebecca Hitt, who was born in Oldham county, the daughter of Joseph Hitt. She is still living in Oldham county, in her eighty-sixth year. The parents of the Doctor were married on the old Ingram homestead in Oldham county, and they became the par- ents of the following children: James Scott, on the old home place in Oldham county, Ken- tucky; Dr. Carter, subject; Susan May, and Ingram. The mother was born July 31, 1851, and died October 24, 1903. The father of the Doctor was born July 21, 1846, and has fol- lowed farming all his life in Oldham county. The Carters have always been Baptists in their religious faith, while the Ingrams have been allied with the Christian church.

Dr. Roy Lewis Carter secured his early edu- cation in the Oldham county schools. He came to Louisville in 1890 and worked as a clerk for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Com- pany from 1890 to 1895. Having made up his mind to make the medical profession his life study he, in 1895, entered the Hospital College of Louisville, Kentucky, from where he was graduated in June, 1898. He entered into the practice of medicine in Louisville and found his ambitions were justified with the success of his endeavors, and if a successful and growing practice is an earnest of the fu- ture he has every reason to be satisfied with his outlook towards his future business life.

Dr. Carter is a member of the Jefferson County Medical Society, the Kentucky State Medical Society, the Masonic Order and the Junior Order of American Mechanics. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Baptist Orphan's Home, and a member of the Long Run Baptist Mission Board. In March, 1891, the Doctor joined the East Baptist church and was elected and ordained deacon of the church in 1898, also serving as church clerk from 1908 until he left that church on January 1, 1910. At the present time he is a member and Deacon of Highland Baptist church.

Dr. Carter married Miss Addie Matilda Plaster, who was born in Owen county, Ken-

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tucky, the daughter of William M. and Sarah E. Plaster, the marriage taking place on Octo- ber 4, 1892, in Louisville. They have two children, Weible Stewart Carter, born Octo- ber 18, 1893, graduated from the Louisville Male High School on June 16, 1910, receiving a gold medal in chemistry; William Taylor Carter, was born July 14, 1899.

WILLIAM JOSEPH BAKER, of the firm of W. J. Baker & Company, manufacturers of fly screens and sheet metal and wire special- ties, Newport, Kentucky, was born on a farm in Campbell county May 25, 1866, a son of William and Lucinda (Nicholson) Baker, the father a native of Campbell county, the mother a native of Bracken county, Ken- tucky. Matthew Baker, grandfather of the immediate subject of this notice, was born in Pennsylvania and came while yet a young man to Kentucky, locating in pioneer times in what is now Campbell county. It is re- called as an interesting incident in the family history that he made his way down the Ohio liver by means of a log raft, on which were packed such few things as he was enabled thus to bring to the new country. He located on a farm, became successful and prominent as a farmer and died at eighty-six, after a life of great activity and usefulness. His wife was Betsy Dye, a member of another pioneer family of Campbell county. She is well remembered by old residents in the vi- cinity of the old Baker homestead, where she died, deeply regretted by all who knew of her sterling character. William Baker, son of Matthew and Betsy (Dye) Baker, was reared and educated so far as was possible that he be- came a good and prosperous farmer, and the annals of his neighborhood show that he well met the expectations of his parents in that re- spect. He died on his homestead in 1904, aged eighty-four years. His widow is living at Clifton, a suburb of Newport. Of the four children of this worthy couple three are liv- ing.

William J. Baker, second in order of birth of the children of William and Lucinda ( Nicholson) Baker, was educated in common schools near his boyhood home and brought up as a farmer's hoy of all work. At nine- teen he entered the employ of the Standard Carriage Goods Company, of Cincinnati, ·which later became the Higgins Manufactur- ing Company of Newport. For this concern, under different organizations, he worked faithfully and intelligently for seventeen years, constantly gaining in usefulness and in earning capacity. On August 15, 1901, he engaged in business for himself in Cincinnati. The smallness of his beginning may be in-

ferred from the fact that his entire business in its first month amounted to only forty-two dollars. Its noteworthy growth is attested by the further fact that now its average monthly aggregate is eight thousand dollars, with a prospect of soon advancing to the ten thou- sand dollar mark. On August 15, 1904, he moved his enterprise to 'Newport, where he employs about sixty men the year round. The growth of this fine manufacturing busi- ness under his management speaks well for his ability as an organizer and promoter. He has taken his place among the leading manu- facturers in the Cincinnati district, the prod- ucts of his factory are sold throughout a wide territory and in some respects his enterprise has already attained to national reputation.

In other directions Mr. Baker finds time and inclination to be active and useful. He has long been interested in building associa- tions and is a director of two. He was one of the organizers of the Daylight Building and Loan Association and of the Clifton Building and Loan Association, and was a leading spir- it in the organization of the Citizens' Com- mercial and Savings Bank of Newport, of the board of directors of which he is a member. Of the town of Southgate, where he lives, he is one of the trustees. In his political affilia- tion he is a Democrat and it may be added that he is not without a recognized influence in important public movements of interest to his fellow citizens of Campbell county. It is of record that he was one of the promoters and organizers of the Newport Driving and Fair Association, of which he has been presi- dent during all its history, dating from 1909. To this now popular institution he gave five years of preliminary work, meeting objec- tions, overcoming obstacles, smoothing the way and pushing it gradually and with great effort to certain success. He is a Knight of Pythias, identified with Eureka Lodge, No. 7, and as such is widely known in that order.

In 1897 he married Miss Elizabeth Burke, born in Newport, a daughter of Gerhart Burke, a basket maker well known in busi- ness circles until his death, which occurred in Newport when he had attained to his fifty- second year.

JOHN MEANS .- "A truly great life," says Webster, "when Heaven vouchsafes so rare a gift, is not a temporary flame, burning bright for a while and then expiring, giving place to returning darkness. It is rather a spark of fervent heat as well as radiant light, with power to enkindle the common mass of hu- man mind ; so that when it glimmers in its own decay, and finally goes out in death, no light follows, but it leaves the world all light, all

John Meauf,

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HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS

on fire, from the potent contact of its own spirit." This quotation appeared in the me- morial tribute preached by Rev. William D. Ryan, pastor of the Christian church, at the time of Mr. Means' death, February 14, 1910, and it is particularly apropos of his life. Fol- lowing will be given a brief resume of Mr. Means' career with further extracts form the article referred to above.

John Means was one of the founders of Ashland, Kentucky, and was one of the most active factors in its subsequent upbuilding and development, besides which he was an es- sentially progressive business man, carrying successfully forward large industrial and fi- nancial interests. His ancestry was of Scotch origin, the name at one time having been pre- ceded by the syllable Mac. In America Mayne and Maynes are traceable to the same origin and the Irish are disposed to spell the name' Main or Mains. In Glasgow the name John Main appears in the record of 1666 among the "Martyrs of Covenant." Mr. Means' an- cestors settled in North Ireland about the time of the reign of William III and have always been Presbyterians in their religious faith. In America they appear in two or three branches, one of which originally settled in New England, another in Pennsylvania, mein- bers of which subsequently removed to South Carolina, and others having come to Carolina direct from Ireland. William Means settled on the Juanita river, in Juanita county, Penn- sylvania, in a early day, removing thence to South Carolina, where he became an earnest partisan of the colonies in their early troubles with Great Britain. Several of his sons par- ticipated in the Revolutionary war, the young- est of whom was Colonel John Means, grand- father of the subject of this review. Colonel Means was a native of Union district, South Carolina, where his birth occurred on the 14th of March, 1770. He was an extensive planter, an officer of the state militia and a member of the South Carolina state legislature during the session of 1815-16. He was strongly op- posed to slavery in principle and in 1819 he removed to Ohio, taking with him his twenty- four slaves, to whom he gave their freedom. He settled in Adams county, Ohio, and be- came a farmer and iron manufacturer, being one of the pioneers in the iron industry and being largely interested in the building and operating of the first iron furnace in the Buck- rye state. He was a member of the Ohio legislature 1825-27 and was an eminently in- Auential man in business and public affairs. He married Ann Williamson, who was a na- tive of South Carolina and whose maternal ancestry was traced back to Sir Isaac Newton.

Colonel Means died near Manchester, Ohio, on the 15th of March, 1837, his wife passing away on the 17th of August, 1840. Of their six children, Thomas Williamson Means, fa- ther of John Means, of this review, was born on the 23d of November, 1803, at Spartan- burg, South Carolina. He spent six years in a select school established by his father, chiefly for the education of his own children, and he secured not only a good English train- ing but also gained a respectable knowledge of the classics. After the family's removal to Ohio he spent some time on his father's farm and he also clerked in a store at West Union, in which his father had an interest. In 1826 he took a flat boat loaded with produce to New Orleans and after his return to Ohio he became storekeeper at Union Furnace, which his father and others were then building, some four miles distant from Hanging Rock, this being the first blast furnace to be built in Ohio in the Hanging Rock iron region; he had the pleasure of first firing this furnace. In 1837 he in company with David Sinton be- came the owner of the Union Furnace, which was rebuilt in 1844. In the following year was constructed the Ohio Furnace. In 1847 Thomas W. Means became interested in and helped to build the Buena Vista Furnace, in what is now Boyd county, Kentucky, and in 1852 he purchased the Bellefonte Furnace, in Kentucky. In 1854 he helped build the Vinton, Ohio, Furnace and in 1863, with others, bought the Pine Grove Fur- nace and Hanging Rock Coal Works; in the following year he became one of the own- ers of the Amanda Furnace, in Kentucky. In 1845 he and David Sinton built a tram road to the Ohio Furnace, this being one of the first roads of its kind in the country. In connec- tion with the Culbertsons he built the Prin- cess, a stone coal furnace, ten miles from Ash- land. Under the supervision of him and Da- vid Sinton the experiments for introducing the hot blast were first made and at their Union Furnace they put up the second hot blast in the United States, only a few years after its introduction in England, in 1828. He was longer engaged and doubtless more extensively and directly concerned in the growth and prosperity of the iron business than any other man in the Ohio valley. Be- sides his extensive furnace interests he had considerable real estate holdings, owning as much as eighteen thousand acres of ore, coal and farm lands in Ohio and nearly thirty thousand acres in Kentucky. He was the or- iginator of the Cincinnati & Big Sandy Packet Company and was a principal stockholder and one of the incorporators of the Norton Iron

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A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume III, Part 5

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