A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume III, Part 56

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 56

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Affiliated during his entire life with the Re- publican party, Mr. Holmes invariably sup- ports its principles at the polls. Fraternally he is a member of Daugherty Lodge, No. 65, A. F. & A. M .; of Nicholas Chapter, No. 41, R. A. M .; and of Carlisle Commandery, No. 18, K. T.

ROBERT WALTER SWITZER is engaged in the great basic industry of agriculture in Harrison county, Kentucky, where he operates a fine farm of one hundred and seventy acres, eligibly located on Leesburg pike, two and one-half miles distant from the village of Leesburg. Mr. Switzer was born in Scott county, Kentucky, in the vicinity of Georgetown, on the 12th of December, 1856. He is a son of Nathaniel and Susan (Shropshire) Switzer, the former of whom is deceased and the latter of whom is

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now residing with her son, the subject of this review. Nathaniel Switzer was a native of Ireland, where his birth occurred on the 16th of August, 1814, and whence he came to America, alone, when a youth of sixteen years of age. He proceeded immediately to Bour- bon county, Kentucky, where he entered upon an apprenticeship at the saddlery trade. He was married on the 18th of September. 1838, to Miss Susan Shropshire, who was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, on the 21st of October, 1816. Nathaniel Switzer removed to Scott county, Kentucky, where he purchased a farm and where he passed the residue of his life, his death having occurred on the 14th of July, 1891. Mr. and Mrs. Switzer became the parents of eight children, and of the number but two are now living,-Howard, of Norfolk, Virginia, and Robert W., of this sketch. Mrs. Switzer is a daughter of Abner and Susan (Foster) Shropshire, both of whom were born and reared in Bath county, Virginia. Abner Shropshire, whose birth occurred on the 13th of May, 1761, enlisted as a soldier in the war of the Revolution when a youth of but seven- teen years of age and after the close of the war, in 1790, he came to Kentucky, where he met and married his wife. They reared a fam- ily of eight children, all of whom are deceased except Mrs. Switzer, who is the youngest child. Mrs. Switzer is a most remarkable woman for her advanced years. She is in her ninety-fifth year and still retains in much of their former vigor the mental and physical faculties of her youth. His vision is good, as is her hearing. and her memory is as bright as ever. She is a true "Daughter of the American Revolution."

Mr. Switzer, the immediate subject of this review, was reared to years of discretion on the home farm in Scott county and after com- pleting the curriculum of the common schools of that county he was matriculated in Versailles College, at Versailles, Kentucky, which he at- tended for one year, at the expiration of which he returned home and worked upon his father's farm until he had attained to his legal majority. In 1899 he purchased his present fine farm on Leesburg pike, the same being an estate of one hundred and seventy acres of most arable land. He devotes his time to diversified agri- culture and the raising of high-grade stock and is one of the most successful farmers in this section of the fine old Blue Grass state. In politics he accords a staunch allegiance to the cause of the Democratic party and in his reli- gious faith he is a member of the Silas Baptist church, his wife being connected with the Presbyterian church at Broadwell.

On the 15th of January, 1889, was recorded the marriage of Mr. Switzer to Miss Lydia

Urmston, whose birth occurred in Harrison county, Kentucky, on the 28th of August, 1865. She is a daughter of John W. and Nancy (Gray) Urmston, the former of whom was born in Bourbon county, this state, on the 28th of November, 1837, and the latter on Grays Run, Harrison county, on the 8th of June, 1840. The father is deceased, his death having oc- curred on the 22d of June, 1909, and the mother now maintains her home in Harrison county. Mr. and Mrs. Urmston were the parents of four children, namely,-Mrs. Swit- zer; Thomas D., of Harrison county, Ken- tucky; Nellie, who is the wife of Robert L. Shropshire, of Bourbon county, Kentucky ; and Stewart R., of Bourbon county. Mrs. Swit- zer's paternal grandfather was Thomas Duff Urmston, who was born near Chilicothe, Ohio, and who was the first white child to be born in that vicinity, the date of his nativity having been February 12, 1806. He died on the 23d of January, 1883. He was the youngest in a family of eight children, his parents being Benjamin and Ann ( McGee) Urmston, natives of New Jersey, who removed to Maysville, Kentucky, and who later removed to the state of Ohio. Thomas D. Urmston, when fifteen years of age, journeyed on foot to a point some four miles below Cynthiana, where he appren- ticed himself to learn the trade of tanning and currying. There was no church in Cynthiana at that early day but later he joined the Clays- ville church, November 17, 1817. He married Miss Elizabeth Harcourt, by whom he became the father of thirteen children. She was called to her reward in 1852. The maternal grand- parents of Mrs. Switzer were James and Mary (Kiser) Gray, the former a native of Harrison county and the latter of Bourbon county. To Mr. and Mrs. Switzer have been born two chil- dren,-Harcourt and John Walter, both of whom remain at the parental home.

COLONEL MILTON YOUNG .- Clear-headed, energetic, sound in his judgment and earnest in purpose, Milton Young, of Lexington, Fay- ette county, has been actively identified with numerous enterprises, in each of which he has manifested a definite knowledge of the re- sources and possibilities of his undertakings, and in the management of his affairs has met with signal success, his position among the solid men and larger capitalists of the city being worthy of note. A son of Hon. Milton Young, he was born January 10, 1851, in Union county, Kentucky, of Virginian an- cestry. His paternal grandfather, John Young, a native of the Old Dominion, migrated from Virginia to Kentucky in pioneer days, becom- ing one of the earlier settlers of Nelson county. Buying land that was in its pristine wildness,

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lie redeemed a farm from the forest and with the help of slaves managed his plantation suc- cessfully, residing on his estate until his death.

Hon. Milton Young was born on the pa- rental homestead in Nelson county, Kentucky, and was there brought up and educated. Choosing the occupation of a farmer as the one most desirable, he made his first pur- chase of land when a young man, buying a farm in Union county, where he was prosper- ously engaged in tilling the soil a number of years. Moving then with his family to Henderson, Kentucky, he purchased an estate lying at the edge of the city and embarked in the tobacco business, there also operating a stemery until his death, at the early age of forty-seven years. He was a man of great intelligence and much strength of character, and, as natural to one of his characteristics, occupied a position of influence in whatever community he formed a part. Active in public matters, he served as county judge in Union county, and at the time of his death was repre- senting Henderson county in the State Legis- lature. He was twice married, his first wife, Maria Thompson, having been born in Wash- ington county, Kentucky. The maiden name of his second wife was Catherine Berry. By his first union he had nine children, namely : Bettie, who married George B. Payne; John, a resident of Texas; Addison, now county judge of Henderson county; Thomas B., of Morganfield, Kentucky; Stanley, living in

Texas; Milton, the special subject of this sketch; Alice, wife of Robert Dixon; Belle, wife of Henry Harell; and Emma, deceased, was the wife of John W. Buckman. By his second marriage two children were born : Peter, who is a resident of Morgansfield, Ken- tucky, and Maggie, deceased.

But nine years of age when his parents moved to Henderson, Milton Young there ac- quired a practical education in the public schools, and on arriving at man's estate em- barked in the cigar and tobacco business, which he carried on for five years. Then, after spending five years as a hardware merchant, he turned his attention to the race course, ere long becoming owner of some of the fastest horses on the turf. He raced on all of the more prominent tracks to be found within the length and breadth of the United States dur- ing the ensuing five years, many of his horses being record winners. Investing his money then in land, Mr. Young purchased in Fayette county, the stock farm known as McGrathiana, formerly owned by H. P. McGrath, and in its management, as in his other ventures, he was eminently successful. He has continued his agricultural labors since, although much of his

time is now devoted to enterprises of an en- tirely different nature.

Mr. Young is president of the Hendricks- Moore-Young Company ; of the Skyo Manu- facturing Company ; of the Lexington Tobacco Hogshead Company ; a member of the Moore- Young Electric Company; and is one of the most extensive real estate owners in the city. He is likewise proprietor of Hampton Court, and owner of three of the largest apartment houses in Lexington. In the supervising of his many interests, he is kept busily employed. He is a Republican, and soon after Governor Will- son was elected he appointed Mr. Young on the Governor's staff. When the Kentucky Racing Commission was first formed, Mr. Young was appointed one of the five commis- sioners on the same by Governor Beckham, and reappointed by Governor Wilson, and he has served as vice chairman of that commis- sion since its formation. He is six feet one inch in height, and weighs 275 pounds, a jolly, big fellow, and has hosts of friends.

Mr. Young married, in 1882, Lucy Spalding, who was born in Union county, Kentucky, a daughter of Hon. Ignatius and Sue (Johnson) Spalding. To Mr. and Mrs. Young seven children have been born, namely: Spalding, Alice, Maria, Milton, Jack, Lucy and Tom- Brown. Mr. Young does not belong to any fraternal organization, but is a member of the Kentucky State Racing Commission. He is liberal in his religious views, and his wife and children are members of the Roman Catholic church.

CHARLES W. MATHERS .- A physician and surgeon and an agriculturist of prominence in Nicholas county, Kentucky, is Charles W. Mathers, who, in addition to his personal busi- ness matters is the present incumbent of the office of state senator, besides which he is also a director of the Exchange Bank of Millers- burg. He was born at Carlisle, this county, on the 5th of February, 1858, and is a son of Walker and Mary (Baskett) Mathers, the former of whom was born in Nicholas county in 1834 and the latter of whom was a native also of Nicholas county, the date of her birth having been November 18, 1837. The paternal grandfather of Charles W. was Barton Math- ers and he, like his father and grandfather, was a native of Nicholas county. The Mathers are of Irish descent and the early representatives of the family in Kentucky came hither from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, locating in Nicholas county, where they became prominent and well- to-do farmers. Walker Mathers was reared to the invigorating discipline of farm life and for a time after attaining to his legal majority he operated a farm, after which he removed to

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Carlisle, where he entered into the mercantile business. He was summoned to the life eternal in 1866, at the age of thirty-two years, his widow continuing to reside in Carlisle until her demise, which occurred on the 25th of Decem- ber, 1908, at the venerable age of seventy-one years.

Charles W. Mathers was but a child of eight years at the time of his father's death. He was educated in the public schools of Carlisle, after completing the curriculum of which he entered the Presbyterian College, at Hanover, Indiana, pursuing a literary course. He left that insti- tution in 1874, in his senior year, at which time he returned to Carlisle, where he put his scholastic attainments to good use by engaging in the pedagogic profession in order to obtain money with which to pursue a medical course. He studied medicine under the able preceptor- ship of Dr. Lindsey, at Carlisle, and was gradu- ated in medicine as a member of the class of 1879, receiving his diploma with the rest of the class, but before he had attained to his twenty- first birthday, for which reason the diploma was taken away from him and held until he had attained to his majority. He entered upon the practice of his profession at Cincinnati, Ohio, and for one and a half years he demonstrated anatomy at Miami College, at Cincinnati, Ohio, giving this work up on account of impaired health. In 1881 he returned to Carlisle, where he continued to be engaged in medical practice for the ensuing four years, at the expiration of which he removed to his present farm, four miles distant from Carlisle, on the Lexington and Maysville pike. This farm consisted of two hundred and eighty-five acres of land owned by his wife and he added to it a tract of one hundred and sixty-five acres. Some time later he purchased an additional tract of three hundred and ten acres and he now owns and operates a splendid estate of eight hundred acres, in Nicholas and Bourbon counties. He is engaged in diversified agriculture and stock- growing, making a specialty of exporting cattle.

In politics Dr. Mathers is aligned as a staunch supporter of the cause of the Demo- cratic party and in 1888 he was given proof of the high regard of his fellow citizens in that he was then elected to represent his district in the state legislature and was re-elected in 1890. In November, 1908, he was again hon- ored with public office, being then elected state senator. He is strictly a self-made man. He has ever contributed in generous measure to all movements projected for the general wel- fare of the community. He is affiliated with various professional and fraternal organiza- tions of representative character.

On the 8th of October, 1878, was solemnized

the marriage of Dr. Mathers to Miss Annie E. Orr, who was born and reared in Nicholas county, Kentucky, a daughter of Granville B. and Mary (Conway) Orr, both of whom were likewise born and reared in this county. Mr. Orr was a wealthy and prominent farmer and served for one term as deputy sheriff of Nicho- las county. He was summoned to eternal rest in 1878, at the age of sixty-two years and his cherished and devoted wife passed away in 1859, at the age of thirty-two years. They were the parents of three children, namely,- Margaret, who became the wife of William Layson, of Bourbon county ; John, who is de- ceased ; and Mrs. Mather. Dr. and Mrs. Mather have no children.

WILLIAM MORGAN BECKNER, of Win- chester, Kentucky, was born June 19, 1841, at Moorefield, Nicholas county, Kentucky. His father, Jacob Locke Beckner, was senior mem- ber of the merchandizing firm of Beckner and Blair, and a farmer. He came of Scotch- Irish stock and his father's mother, Mary Locke, was a kinswoman of Commodore Perry. W. M. Beckner's mother, Nancy West Lancaster, was the granddaughter of John Lancaster, killed at Brandywine, the niece of General Thomas Fletcher and the great-niece of Benjamin West, the great artist.

Jacob Locke Beckner was a good business man, but lost his money by reason of a trust- ful disposition, and died leaving his wife al- most penniless when our subject was six years old. She was an extraordinary woman and tackled the problem of rearing her son with such courage and intelligence that success was assured. Her ancestors had been Quakers and she inherited a strong dislike for slavery, so one of her first acts was to take the few remaining negroes left, after debts had been paid to Ohio. One or two voluntarily fol- lowed her back and worked for her until her death. Besides the subject of this sketch the Beckner children were: Martha, who mar- ried Samuel McKee, of Cincinnati : Mary, who married General Thomas W. H. Moseley, of Ohio, and Samuel and Joseph, who died in infancy.

W. M. Beckner attended the neighborhood schools of Bath and Fleming counties, where his mother moved after her husband's death, read books and learned to love them in the private library of his godfather and neighbor. William Morgan, father of the accomplished Boston editor ; and spent the year 1855 in the store of his cousin, Joe McAllister, at Bethel in Bath county. His ambition getting stirred about this time, he put in two years at the famous old Rand & Richeson Academy in Maysville, which was the most important edu-

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cational work of his career, although he spent five months at Centre College, Danville and did well, yet was not able financially to finish his course. While there he was the warm friend and roommate of his cousin, Claude Matthews, afterward to be the governor of Indiana. For two years he was tutor to two young men at the residence of Mr. Seth B. Shackleford, near Maysville, one of the boys being John R. Proctor, afterward state geo- logist and president of the Civil Service Com- mission. The three chief elements in his education were his mother's training, Mr. Morgan's library and the Rand & Richeson Academy. where he acquired an ambition for literary skill and polemic ability that marked his whole lifework. He taught school at Orangeburg, near Maysville, reading law mean- while under Judge E. C. Phister, of the Mays- ville bar, one of the most accomplished lawyers of his day and section.

In January, 1865, he located in Winchester, where he remained a devoted citizen until his death. Three months after his arrival he was elected police judge, which was no sinecure in the years succeeding the war when the sol- diers were returning demoralized with camp life. The following September he was put in charge of the local academy. In February, 1866, he reorganized the Democratic party and conducted its campaign for local offices with success. In the next winter he was appointed county attorney to fill a vacancy and then elected without opposition. In 1870 he was nominated without opposition for county judge and elected by a large majority.

In 1867 he established the Clark County Democrat which he owned for years, and edited with vigor, and always on the side of improvement and progress. He recognized the press as the most potent factor in our so- cial organization and loved newspaper work best of his many endeavors. During his last illness he was dreaming of how he could get back to it, and if he had recovered with his accustomed vigor he would have spent his last days in the editor's chair.

He hung out his shingle as soon as he came to Winchester and soon built up a lucrative practice that finally extended beyond the con- fines of his county and state. At one time he was attorney for every lumber mill on the upper waters of the Kentucky and Licking rivers. He was an authority on the much tangled subject of eastern Kentucky land titles, was throughout his career employed in every important suit in his local courts and took leading service in such cases as the Woodford Will case in Bourbon, the Hargis- Green Libel suit, and many others in every

part of the state. He was an ardent pleader and while not a flowery orator was a power in debate, prefering to put the energy and thought which some men put into acting and the flowers of speech into driving home points in the most persuasive, forcible and logical language. In his practice he amassed a large fortune but spent it with a lavish hand, car- ing nothing for the love of acquiring and in- creasing property which animates many. He gave liberally to his family and his life his- tory could almost be gleaned from the lists of benefactions to the institutions and worthy causes of his native state. The result of this was that he left little to his children save his name and a warm place in the hearts of those who understood him and appreciated his work.

In 1868 he married Miss Hettie Smith, of Boyle county, Kentucky, who died the follow- ing year, without children. In February, 1872, he married Miss Elizabeth Anne Talia- ferro, daughter of Major John Taliaferro, of Winchester, and his wife, who was Lucy Hickman. Major Taliaferro was the son of Hay Taliaferro, who came from Caroline county, Virginia, in 1809, and his wife, Eliz- abeth Tutt, the daughter of John Tutt of Culpeper county, Virginia, and his wife Mary Tutt, his cousin. Hay Taliaferro was the son of William Taliaferro, of Caroline county, Virginia, and his wife, Margaret Aylett, two families that have had much to do in shaping the character of the Old Dominion. On her mother's side Mrs. Beckner was descended from the Hickmans, Pearsons, Bacons, Parkes, Easthams, Lawsons, Lewises and other names prominent in Virginia and Ken- tucky. To this union have been born six children: Lucien Pearson, a lawyer at Win- chester, Kentucky, married to Marie D. War- ren, of Boyle county, and has two children, Elizabeth and Marie; Seth Shackleford, a clerk in the War Department, Seattle, Wash- ington, unmarried; Nancy West, the wife of Ed. Clark, of Lexington, Kentucky ; John Tal- iaferro, a retired naval officer living in Win- chester, married to Juliette Trietz. of New York City ; Phoebe, Mrs. John G. Worth, of New York and Colorado, who has two chil- dren, Betsy and Phoebe; and William Hick- man, unmarried, in the lumber business in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In 1880 Judge Beckner was appointed on the Prison Commission by Governor Luke Blackburn, and after visiting various prisons throughout the country he wrote the report which opposed leasing the prisoners, urged the abolishment of the lash, the dressing of female prisoners in feminine garb, and the

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general reformation of the entire convict sys- tem then in vogue. In 1882 he was appointed a member of the Railroad Commission and served for two years, again writing the report, but resigning finally because he could not spare the time from his private affairs. In 1889 he was elected without opposition to the convention to frame a new constitution. He had opposition at first of a very vigorous kind; but his opponents finally withdrew and Judge Beckner was nominated by the Demo- crats, endorsed by the Republicans, the Farm- er's Alliance, then active in politics, the local labor organizations and the negroes. H moved to Frankfort and gave the duties of his position all his time. He was a member of more committees than any other colleague, which argues the versatility of his talents, the breadth of his learning, the ripeness of his preparation, the esteem of his fellows and his capacity for work. His service as county and state official and his training as lawyer and editor peculiarly fitted him for such work and the catholicity of his spirit gave him influence, poise and effectiveness surpassed by none in that body. His chief interests were education -always first with him-the State College and mountain land titles.

On his return home he found his business affairs in sad confusion from long neglect, and on this account refused a nomination that would have been equivalent to election to a judgeship on the bench of the Court of Ap- peals, but had the satisfaction of seeing his kinsman, James H. Hazelrigg, elected. The next year, however, his people insisting, he again put aside his private affairs and was elected to the legislature, upon which de- volved many extraordinary and important duties because it was the first under the new constitution. Here he did much to shape legislation and was the author and champion of the married woman's property rights law, known as the Weissinger Bill, because the late Senator R. Weissinger had charge of it in the senate, where the hardest fight was made on it, and was so efficient in its defense.

In 1894 Hon. M. C. Lisle, congressman from the Tenth district dying, Judge Beckner was elected to succeed him and served from De- cember 3, 1894, to March 4, 1895. He entered upon his duties with a fund of experience and special training that gave him an influence rarely enjoyed by a first session member. He introduced the first resolution of sympathy with the suffering Armenians that won him favorable comment all over the world : made a speech on the Carlisle currency bill which was complimented by his leading colleagues and noticed by the press; wrote a minority com-

mittee report against the bill of Mr. McCall, of Massachusetts, which proposed to confer juris- diction upon Federal courts to say who shall sit pending a contest for a seat in the House of Representatives, which would have taken from the states the right to certify the re- turns from elections of their own officers; and -education ever uppermost in his mind-in- troduced a bill to equalize the states in the matter of land grants for education. From the entry of Ohio in 1803, to California in 1853, each state had been given one section and from then on two sections out of every township for school purposes.

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A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume III, Part 56

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