A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume III, Part 52

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 52

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JOHN W. VREELAND, like his brothers, is connected with the newspaper business, hav- ing made a great success of it in connection with the "Farm and Home Journal" of Louis- ville, of which he is president, general mana- ger and publisher. He has for many years been a moving force in every line of business with which he has been connected, the value of his opinions being widely recognized and their adoption followed by gratifying results. When he took charge of the paper he made progress a working force in the conduct of the journal. He familiarized himself with the business in every detail and has been not merely a follower of advancement in the field of newspaper publication, but a pioneer in in- augurating new methods and in meeting the wants of the public in this direction.

Mr. Vreeland was born in Washington county, Kentucky, the son of Charles Elmer and Ida · Belle (Quint) Vreeland, natives of

Louisville, Kentucky. The paternal grand- father, George W. Vreeland and the maternal grandfather Alden B. Quint, were both among the best known steamboat captains on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers in early days, each commanding some of the largest and fastest boats on the rivers. Charles Elmer Vreeland was born in 1838, serving during the Civil war as a captain in General John Mor- gan's command and afterward became en- gaged in merchandising in Washington county, Kentucky, and operated stores at Maude and at Bloomfield at the same time. In 1876 he removed to Dallas, Texas, where he spent eight years, and then went north to Colorado, where he owned a ranch on which he remained for two years. Mr. Vreeland changed loca- tion again by returning to Kentucky and en- gaging in merchandising at Glasgow for two years, making his final removal at the end of that time and settling in Louisville, where he was engaged in business for many years.

John W. Vreeland received his education in the public schools and came to Louisville in 1887 and became connected with the "Farm and Home Journal" as advertising manager. This was merely a starter, as a man of Mr. Vreeland's energetic and enterprising spirit could never be otherwise than a leader. Thus he passed from one position to another until he became the owner and publisher of the pa- per, which is one of the leading publications of its kind in the South, with a weekly circula- tion of fourteen thousand copies. He has seen its circulation increase and its sphere of influ- ence keep pace accordingly and has followed whatever he believed to be to its best interests, making the paper the champion of every plan and measure which works for general im- provement and upbuilding.

Mr. Vreeland would be a successful man had his efforts extended no further than his journalistic interests, but this represents but a portion of his business. One of the strongest evidences of public-spirited citizenship is the interest which the individual takes in politics. Mr. Vreeland has kept thoroughly informed upon the issues of the day and also has given earnest support to those which his judgment and careful consideration endorse. He was state central committeeman from the Fifth district from 1907 to 1910, and in 1909 was appointed city gas inspector of Louisville by Mayor Head, a position he still holds. From 1901 to 1905 he was a member of the Board of Public Works of the city of Louis- ville under Mayor Charles F. Grainger. He was the originator of the movement to place in Cherokee Park a monument to General John B. Castleman, which movement is an

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assured success, the popular subscription being almost complete. He is especially well quali- fied for the duties which devolve upon him, owing to his connection with and comprehen- sive understanding of the commercial and in- dustrial interests of the country, and through his journalistic interests he has been a close student of the signs of the times, and speaking many a word through the columns of his paper that has been a direct and effective force in molding public thought and action.

Mr. Vreeland married Lottie B. Trigg, the daughter of Colonel H. C. Trigg, a capitalist of Glasgow, Kentucky.

MAJOR WILLIAM C. ASH .- Persistency and energy, as coupled with integrity of purpose, are the factors which conserve success and make it consistent. To the larger and surer vision there is no such thing as luck. Through his own well applied endeavors William C. Ash made the most of opportunity and in ad- dition to other property, has a beautiful and substantial residence a short distance north of Shelbyville, the same being located in the midst of spacious and artistically arranged grounds. He is a director and vice president of the Peoples Bank and Trust Company, at Shelbyville, and has a splendid farm of three hundred and fifteen acres on Mulberry creek in Shelby county, this state.

William Clark Ash was born in Nelson county, Kentucky, near Bloomfield, the date of his nativity being the 18th of August, 1840. He is a son of Rev. Vincent and Mary A. (Downs) Ash, the former of whom was a son of John and Elizabeth (Clark) Ash, all natives of Kentucky. The parents of John Ash and one of his brothers and his wife were killed by Indians in Nelson county in the early pioneer days, as recorded in the old his- tories. At the same time John's brother George was captured by the savages and he lived with them for several years. As the result of a treaty between the government and the Indians he was finally allowed to go free and thereafter he spent a number of years in tilling a tract of land granted him by the government, the same being located near Carlton at the mouth of the Kentucky river. His demise occurred on that farm and it is still owned by his descendants. John Ash, grandfather of him whose name initiates this review, passed his entire life in Nelson county, where he was the owner of extensive tracts of land and a large number of slaves. He was summoned to the life eternal during the Civil war, having attained to the advanced age of seventy-five years, his death having been in large measure due to the war. Jack Ash, another brother of John Ash, was like-

wise a lifelong resident of Nelson county, and two creeks in that vicinity were named in honor of the brothers,-Jack's creek and Ash creek. John Ash was twice married, his sec- ond wife being Sarah Sawlsberry, and his wife Elizabeth Clark, was a relative of the wife of President Taylor. Clark Station, in Jefferson county, was named in honor of Elizabeth Clark's nephew, Randall Clark. John Ash had eight children, concerning whom the following brief data are here recorded,-William was a prominent attorney and judge at New Orleans, Louisiana, where he died in 1840; George passed away in 1892 on his farm in Jefferson county ; John, Jr., lived and died on the old homestead near Bloomfield, Nelson county, this state; Hall was a skilled physician and surgeon and he served with efficiency as such in the Mexican war. He died at Memphis, Tennes- see ; Sarah Ann married Wesley Downs and re- sided near the old homestead; Nancy became the wife of Wilson Downs and lived in Nelson county until called to the life eternal; Arabella married John McGee, who was a descendant of Patrick Henry and who was a prominent farmer in Spencer county; and Rev. Vincent Ash was the father of William C. Ash, of this review.

Rev. Vincent Ash was a minister of the Missionary Baptist church and served as such in various circuits in central Kentucky, Van Buren, Anderson county, having been his home for a number of years. In 1861 he was elected to represent Anderson county in the state legislature, but at the outbreak of the Civil war he entered the Confederate service as a member of General Morgan's command, as did also his sons John R. and Charles H. Rev. Ash was chaplain of his regiment and he was a valiant fighter too. He was finally captured in Kentucky and sent to Johnson's Island, at Sandusky, Ohio, where he suc- cumbed to the rigorous treatment and died in 1865. Lieutenant John R. Ash was killed by the home guards toward the close of the war and Charles H. Ash served throughout the war except for one year, which he spent as a prisoner in Camp Morton at Indianapolis, Indiana. Subsequently he became a promi- nent farmer in the vicinity of Van Buren, Anderson county, where he passed the resi- due of his life, his demise having occurred in October, 1908. Mary A. (Downs) Ash, wife of the Rev. Ash, survived her honored hus- band for nearly a quarter of a century and she was summoned to the great beyond in 1800. To Rev. and Mrs. Ash were born the following children :- Lieutenant John R. and Charles, previously mentioned; Benjamin W. was a farmer by occupation and he was

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sheriff of Anderson county for several terms ; he died in 1892; Lydia E., who became the wife of John S. Hedden, lived and died, in 1897, in Spencer county, Kentucky; Mary Frances died at the youthful age of eighteen years; William Clark, is the immediate sub- ject of this review ; and George V. Mrs. Ash, wife of Rev. Ash, was a daughter of Benja- min Downs, who was reared in the state of Kentucky, in Nelson county, whither he came in an early day. He was a farmer and dis- tiller by occupation and was the owner of considerable valuable property and a great number of slaves at the time of his death, in 1852, at the venerable age of eighty-five years. His wife, whose maiden name was Lydia Willson, was likewise a native of Maryland, and she survived her husband for a number of years, dying at a ripe old age.

On the old homestead farm in Nelson county William Clark Ash passed his boy- hood and youth and his preliminary educa- tional training consisted of such advantages as were afforded in the district schools, which he attended during the winter terms. After his father's death, in 1865, as already noted, he removed with his mother to Anderson county, remaining with her during the re- mainder of her life. He purchased the old homestead and at one time was the owner of some seven hundred acres of most arable land in Anderson county. He was a merchant at Van Buren for a number of years and has been interested, more or less, in mercantile affairs for the past forty-three years. He came to Shelbyville in 1893 and since 1900 he has successfully conducted a clothing store in this place. He also purchased a fine farm on Mulberry creek, the same comprising three hundred and fifteen acres, to which he gave an active supervision while in the store. At the present time, in 1911, he has one store at Clark Station, Jefferson county, and is in- terested in various financial enterprises of broad scope and importance. He is a direc- tor and vice-president of the Peoples Bank and Trust Company at Shelbyville, and in his political convictions he is a stanch supporter of the principles and policies promulgated by Jefferson, although he has never been an ac- tive participant in public affairs, preferring to give his undivided attention to his exten- sive business dealings.

On the 5th of October, 1868, was solem- nized the marriage of Mr. Ash to Miss Sally Green, who was born, reared and educated in Nelson county and who was summoned to eternal rest in 1904, after a period of thirty- six years of blissful married life. There were no children born to this union, but Mrs. Ash's

niece, Henrietta Shields, has lived with the family during practically her entire life. She is now the wife of Edward Gfroerer and they reside with Mr. Ash. Mr. and Mrs. Gfroerer have one son, William Edward, who was born on the 24th of September, 1909. Mrs. Ash was a woman of wondrously sweet personal- ity and she was highly esteemed and deeply beloved by all who came within the sphere of her gracious influence.

Mr. Ash resides in his beautiful home on Snow Hill, a short distance north of Shelby- ville. This residence, which is modern and attractive in every detail, is built on a tract of thirty acres of ground and here is dispensed that splendid hospitality for which southern homes are so noted. Mr. Ash has been affiliated with the time-honored Masonic order for the past forty years and he has been honored with many important offices in the organization. He is a thoroughly practical business man, has been successful in his va- rious undertakings and is widely renowned for his honorable and straightforward meth- ods. Because of his affable manners, genial disposition and genuine worth he has won and retains a host of warm personal friends. In religious matters he is an agnostic, and he is a man of broad and effective philanthrop- ical tendencies.

CHARLES W. DURHAM .- Among the repre- sentative agriculturists of Nicholas county, Kentucky, is Charles W. Durham, who was born and reared on the fine estate which now represents his home, the date of his birth be- ing September 7, 1841. His parents were John B. and Jane (Wilson) Durham, the former a native of Boyle county, Kentucky, where he was born on the 9th of March, 1818, and the latter of whom was born in Nicholas county in 1817. Mr. and Mrs. Durham be- came the parents of six children, three of whom are living, namely,-Charles W., of this sketch; William, a resident of Nicholas county ; and Emma W., who is the wife of Henry Graves, of Winchester, Kentucky. The paternal grandfather of him whose name in- itiates this review was Benjamin Durham and he married Margaret Robertson. They were Virginians by birth and came to Boyle county, Kentucky, about the year 1800. John B. Dur- ham was reared to maturity in Boyle county and in 1840 he came to Nicholas county, where his marriage was solemnized in December of that year. He was one of ten children, one of whom survives,-Milton Durham, who was comptroller of currency during Cleveland's first term and who is an ex-congressman, maintaining his home in the city of Lexington, Kentucky. John B. Durham was a Democrat

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in his political proclivities and he and his wife held membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, South. John B. Durham was sum- moned to the life eternal on the 5th of March, 1904, his wife having passed away in 1886. Mrs. Durham was a daughter of Charles Wil- son, who married a Mrs. Boyd, a native of Vir- ginia, whence she came to Nicholas county, Kentucky, about 1800. She was a widow with two children and she settled on a farm some two miles distant from Moorfield, on which estate William Durham, a brother of the sub- ject of this review, now resides. Shortly after his marriage the land speculators took the farm away from Mr. Wilson on account of a faulty title and he was forced to repurchase it, after which he was given a deed to the place.

Charles W. Durham, the immediate subject of this review, was reared to the invigorating discipline of the home farm and he received his educational training in the county schools and in the Kentucky Wesleyan College at Mil- lersburg, attending that institution for a period of two years, at the expiration of which, in September, 1862, he enlisted in the Confed- erate army, as a member of Company D, Ninth Kentucky Cavalry, Colonel Breckinridge's regi- ment, General Morgan's command. He was with Morgan until he started on his Ohio raid, at which time he was sent south to follow Sherman in his march to the sea. He was a most gallant and faithful soldier and continued in service until the close of the war, when he was paroled at Washington, Georgia, in April, 1865. After returning home he engaged in farming on a small estate of fifty-six acres, adjoining his present farm. In 1871 he es- tablished his home on the old farmstead on which he was born and reared and here he and his son operate one hundred and sixty-two acres of most arable land, devoted to diversi- fied agriculture. In connection with his farm- ing pursuits he has financial interests of broad scope and importance, being president of the bank of Moorfield and a director of the Hurst Home Insurance Company. Mr. Durham re- tains a deep and abiding interest in his old comrades in arms and signifies the same by membership in the United Confederate Vet- erans Assocation. He is also affiliated with B. F. Reynolds Lodge, No. 443. Ancient Free & Accepted Masons, at Moorfield, and in poli- tics he accords a stalwart allegiance to the cause of the Democratic party. He and his wife are devout members of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, at Moorfield, in which he is a member of the board of trustees, and district and recording steward. He is like- wise secretary and treasurer of the Sunday- school. Mr. Durham is a man of fine mental

endowments and broad human sympathy and it may be said of him that the list of his per- sonal friends is coincident with that of his acquaintances. He holds a secure vantage ground in popular confidence and esteem and he has done much to advance the general wel- fare of the community.

Mr. Durham has been twice married, his first union having been with Sallie Wingate, who was born in Boyle county, Kentucky, and who died in 1874, at the age of twenty-eight years. The ceremony was solemnized on the 8th of January, 1868, and to this union were born three children, all of whom are deceased. They were William, Albert and Nannie. The oldest son died leaving no issue; Albert was united in marriage to Anna Laura McCain December 27, 1897, and he died December 14, 1907; Nannie was married to Oscar Evans October 9, 1891, and died in November, 1901. She left two daughters, Mary D. and Wingate C. Evans, who are now living near Bethel, in Bath county, Kentucky.

On the 14th of February, 1877, Mr. Durham was united in marriage to Miss Eva M. Dickey, who was born in Fleming county, this state, in November, 1847, and who is a daughter of. William and Malinda (Quinn) Dickey. Mr. and Mrs. Durham became the parents of four children, two of whom are living, namely,- John, who married Miss Susan Gregory, re- mains at the parental home : He has three chil- dren, Louisa L., Charles and Harland B. Charles is engaged in farming at Twin Falls, Idaho. He was united in marriage to Susie Wingate January 16, 1908, at her home near Danville, Kentucky. Charles and Susie Dur- ham are the parents of one son, born October 21, 1910, Jack Garnett.

COLONEL WILLIAM D. PICKETT .- Though born in a more southern state, Colonel William D. Pickett was reared and educated and spent the earlier years of his life in the Blue Grass region of Kentucky, and is among those who earned an honorable record both in the arts of peace as well as in war. He was an active participant and established a laudable repu- tation in the events of two wars. For about twenty-five years as a civil engineer he was actively engaged in the construction of the railway systems of Kentucky and Tennessee; afterward he was for twenty-five years close- ly identified with the early settlement and de- velopment of one of the northwestern states; and now, in the golden twilight of a long, somewhat eventful, but honorable career, though still a citizen of the state of Wyoming, is spending his declining years among the friends and kindred of his youth. Colonel

William D. Pickett .

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Pickett was born in the famous Tennessee River Valley of Alabama, near Huntsville, on October 2, 1827, of substantial Virginia stock. His grandfather, Colonel Martin Pickett, of Fauquier county, Virginia, had been long a resident of that county, a prosperous mer- chant and land owner and had served as a soldier in the Continental army. Two of his brothers, John and Reuben, were at that date distinguished Baptist ministers. His third brother, George Pickett, was a prosperous merchant of Richmond, Virginia, and the grandfather of Major General George E. Pickett, whose division achieved imperishable fame at Gettysburg. Martin Pickett's wife was a Miss Blackwell, several of whose broth- ers were officers in the Continental army.

Martin Pickett left a large family of sons and daughters, all born in Warrenton, Vir- ginia, among them the father of the subject of this sketch, George Blackwell Pickett. About 1818 he intermarried with Miss Court- ney Heron, of Richmond, Virginia, the daugh- ter of James Heron, a native of Scotland, who settled in that city at an early day and after- wards became a prominent merchant. John E. Heron, a brother of Courtney Heron Pickett, was a midshipman of the U. S. navy during the war of 1812, subsequently serving as a captain of the Merchant Marine service for a number of years. After his retirement from that service he purchased a plantation in Hardeman county, Tennessee, near Bolivar, where he became a cotton planter. During a visit to his friend, Walter Dun, living near Lexington, Fayette county, Kentucky, he be- came ill and died in 1832.

About 1825 George B. Pickett and family, in company with a younger brother, Steptoe Pickett and family, migrated to Limestone county, Alabama, locating near Huntsville. making the long journey with their servants over the mountains on the only means of loco- motion in those days, mules and "dead axe" wagons. After engaging in cotton planting for several years and after the birth of their youngest child, William Douglas, George B. Pickett and family moved to the vicinity of Nashville, Tennessee, where he engaged in farming until his death, in 1829.

After the death of her husband, Mrs. Court- ney Pickett, with her servants, joined her brother, John E. Heron, at his plantation in Hardeman county and jointly engaged in cot- ton planting until five years after his death, or until 1837. She then, for the purpose of a more complete education of her children and on the advice of her friend, Walter Dun, for- merly of Virginia, but then of Fayette county,

Kentucky, disposed of her interests in Tennes- see and removed to the Blue Grass region of Kentucky. After spending several years near the schools of Richmond, Kentucky, and in Fayette county, she established a residence in Lexington for the advantages of educating her boys at Transylvania University. Here she resided until her death, in 1865. She reared five children-(Martin, the eldest, hav- ing died in infancy) ; Sarah T., who married Isaac W. Scott, died in 1900, aged seventy- nine, without living children; James, who died in 1845. was twenty-three years of age; Anne B. (who never married) died in 1906, aged eighty-two years; George B., of Los Angeles, California, who served with honor throughout the Civil war, attaining the rank of major of engineers of the C. S. Army, is now in his eighty-sixth year; and William Douglas, the subject of this sketch.

In the fall of 1846 William D. Pickett joined a party of land surveyors, of which his friend, I. W. Scott, was a compassman or chief, and during the fall and winter, as fore-chainman, assisted in surveying the lands of Peters Col- ony, located in Denton and Collin counties, Texas, now the seat of a dense population. In January, 1847, just before the battle of Buena Vista, the tocsin of war sounded for volun- tees for the Mexican war. Young Pickett dropped his chain, deserted his friend, Ike Scott, and enlisted for twelve months in Cap- tain William Fitzhugh's company of mounted volunteers or rangers, from February 2, 1847, to February 2, 1848. By the time this com- pany was fully equipped, information came of the routing of Santa Anna's army at Buena Vista by the American army under General Zachary Taylor, and that he needed no help. Fitzhugh's company of one hundred men was then assigned to protect from the depreda- tions of the Comanche and other hostile In- dians that part of the frontier lying between Preston, a trading post on the Red River, and a point on the south fork of the Trinity River, where was afterwards established Fort Worth, now a considerable city of that name, a front of about one hundred miles in extent.

The regiment to which Fitzhugh's company was assigned (understood at that time to be commanded by Colonel Jack Hays) never assembled as a regiment, and on the muster rolls at Washington it is known as Bell's regi- ment, afterward the Governor of Texas. This company served the twelve months of its en- listment in protecting the above described por- tion of the frontier between Red River and the South Fork of the Trinity against the in- cursion of the nomad tribe of Comanches and

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the several tribes occupying the then Kansas territory. The Comanches of that date were the "bosses" of the southwestern plains, occu- pying the high plateaus of that part of Texas between the frontier and the Rio Grande and New Mexico. They were a nomad tribe, fol- lowing the buffalo and other wild ani- mals for a subsistence, and dominated all Indian tribes in their vicinity, as did in after years (1873 to 1876) the great Sioux nation on the northwestern frontier, as will be noted farther along in this sketch. They were un- like the Sioux in one respect ; they were splen- did horsemen. Neither the Sioux or any of the northwestern tribes were good horsemen. They would not own a "bucking" horse very long. The Comanches being a "plains" In- dian, in battle fought from horseback. One of their feats was to "circle" their enemy, drop to the offside of their ponies, hang by their left leg over the horn of their saddle and fire from under their pony's neck. In those days they were the terror of the red man and the dread of the white man. This tribe, how- ever, was not so aggressive as the Kickapoo, Kechies and other tribes then occupying Kan- sas territory, as they had swept the herds of buffalo from the frontier and kept them far out on the western plains and were not so much in contact with the whites. The Kansas Indians above named were very active and aggressive during the Mexican war. They would spend the summers in large bands near the frontier south of the Red River, kill deer and other game, save the pelts and in the late fall would return with their ponies well packed with these pelts. When within a week's march of Red River the bucks would hide in the brush and by the time their squaws and old men had crossed Red River, they would make a dash into the nearest white settlements on a horse-stealing raid, killing and scalping every one in their path and then would disappear into the trackless plains to the west with their plunder.

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A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume III, Part 52

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