A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume III, Part 60

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 60

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Mr. Kinsolving was married March 24, 1888, while a member of the Kentucky Legislature, his wife having been formerly Miss Bessie Benton, of Montgomery county, Kentucky, a daughter of John H. and Willie (Ragan) Benton, also natives of that county and state. The father of Mrs. Kinsolving died in 1906 and the mother in 1901. In the September after their marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Kinsolving made their home at Mount Sterling, to which the former thereafter transferred his law prac- tice. There they have since resided with their children, three of whom have been given to them-Herbert B. Jr., who is a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute; and William R. and Elizabeth Vitula, both at home.

ROBERT J. SHIPMAN .- Among the leading agriculturists of Shelby county is Robert J. Shipman, who is profitably engaged in general farming on the homestead where his birth oc- curred, January 9, 1861, and on which he has since lived. A son of the late Wesley A. Ship- man, he comes of pioneer stock, his grand- father, John Shipman, having migrated from Virginia to Arkansas in the earlier part of the last century, locating in Shelby county, which he subsequently made his permanent home.

Wesley A. Shipman was born in 1823, in Shelby county, and succeeded to the occupa- tion in which he was reared. During his agri- cultural labors he cleared a fine farm, on which he spent his remaining years, a re- spected, honored and prosperous citizen. He married Mary N. Moxley, a life-long resident of Shelby county, and after a happy wedded life of many years they passed to the life be- yond at about the same time and were buried in the same grave, in Grove Hill Cemetery, Shelbyville. her death occurring April 13.

1890, and his April 14, 1890. Children were born of their union as follows: Frances E., who became the wife of C. E. Fullenwieder, died in July, 1910; Edmonia C. married Alex- ander T. Hagin and died in Shelby coun- ty ; George D .; David I .; Samson I .; Florence S., wife of R. T. Brown; Charles W., who died in Shelby county; Mattie F., wife of James D. Cooper ; and Robert J.

Brought up on the parental homestead. Rob- ert J. Shipman gleaned his early education in the common schools, in the meantime obtain- ing a practical knowledge of agriculture under his father's tuition. Succeeding to the owner- ship of the old homestead, Mr. Shipman has met with eminent success as a general farmer and stock raiser, and in the improvement of his valuable farm of four hundred and thirty acres spares neither time nor expense, his es- tate being one of the most attractive and de- sirable in the vicinity.

Mr. Shipman married, in Shelby county, May 25, 1891, Ella J. Wise, who was born in Jefferson county, Kentucky, July 17, 1863, a daughter of Thomas and Rebecca Wise, of whom a brief personal history may be found elsewhere in this volume, in connection with the sketch of H. T. Wise. Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Shipman, namely : Charles Wise, born July 9, 1897; Anna F., born March 28, 1899, and Robert D., born November 4, 1901. Politically Mr. Ship- man has always supported the principles of the Democratic party, and religiously he is an act- ive member of the Methodist Episcopal church, while his wife is a member of the Presbyterian church.

DR. NEHEMIAH CLIFFORD DILLE, who was summoned to the life eternal on the evening of Thursday the 30th day of December, 1880. was a physician and surgeon of note in Harri- son county, Kentucky, and he was also a man of broad human sympathy and sterling integrity of character. He was born in Euclid, Cuyahoga county, Ohio, near the City of Cleveland, on the 21st of May, 1819, and was a son of Cal- vin Dille, whose birth occurred in Virginia, on the LIth day of April, 1785, and who was summoned to eternal rest on the 31st of May, 1875. Calvin Dille was twice married, his first union being to Naomi Hendershot, who was likewise a Virginian by birth; she was born August 15, 1784, and died September 16, 1830. This marriage was prolific of eight children, all of whom are now deceased, the subject of this review having been the fourth born.

For his second wife Calvin Dille wedded Sarah S. Avery, who was born October 30. 1831, and who passed away October 21, 1861 , to the latter union were born two children, one

R.J. Shipman

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of whom is now living, Avery B., a prominent farmer and a man who was largely influential in having the Agricultural Industrial Colony established at Starksville, Mississippi, where he has long maintained his home. David, the paternal grandfather of Dr. Dille, was born in Virginia, in 1773, and in 1803 he removed with his family of six children, of whom Calvin and his twin brother Luther, were the third in order of birth, to what is now Euclid township, from Belmont county, Ohio, that section be- ing known then, as now, as Dille's Bottoms. Calvin Dille removed to near Cleveland, Ohio, when that city was a mere village. The name Dille is French, and the original progenitor of the family in America came from France to the Colony of Virginia, about the year 17 -.

When a small boy Dr. Nehemiah C. Dille went to West Virginia, where he resided in the home of an uncle for a number of years. He returned to the paternal homestead on the beach of Lake Erie, which is remembered as "The Dille Road," a popular and beautiful drive, and from this place in the year 1842, he came to Kentucky and entered the high school at Bardstown, where he received his literary education.

He decided upon the profession of medicine, as his life work, and accordingly entered the medical department of the University of Louis- ville in which he was graduated with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He entered upon the practice of his profession at Indian Creek, January 27, 1849, where he took up his abode in a house, one-half of which was in Harrison county, and the other half in Bourbon county. Subsequently he removed to the vicinity of Sylvan Dell, Harrison county, where he was engaged in the active practice of medicine, and at the same time he followed the occupation of farming, carried on a distilling business, and running a sawmill in connection with a grist mill; the latter was cleverly called "Jennie Lind" by the Swiss weaver, John B. Legler, who was a weaver of some note and who sold his goods in Bourbon and adjoining counties, and there are still in many families of the Bluegrass region substantial relics of his faith- ful toil. He was identified with the Varnon and Dille families from the time of his arrival in the U. S. A. from Canton Glarus, Switzer- land. in the year 1816, till his death on March 5, 1887. He lived and died a Lutheran. His remains were laid to rest in the family lot of his benefactors at Battle Grove Cemetery.

In 1865, Dr. Dille purchased a small farm at the junction of Leesburg and Connersville pikes, near Cynthiana, naming the same Mount Ida, this estate he improved and enlarged un-

til he finally owned a tract of two hundred and seventy-four acres of fine Bluegrass land.

He rapidly gained recognition as a skilled physician and surgeon in the territory nor- mally tributary to his home, and in addition to his professional work he was a prominent and successful farmer. In politics he accorded a stalwart allegiance to the principles and poli- cies of the Democratic party, and in 1869-1871 he represented Harrison county in the general assembly of the Kentucky Legislature. He believed in and was a liberal patron of educa- tion, and he was ever on the alert to do all in his power to advance the general welfare of the community in which he resided. He was a man of many friends, and was widely renowned for his many acts of kindness and his charity.

In a fraternal way he was affiliated with the Masonic Order, in which he had completed the circle of York Rite Masonry, holding mem- bership in the lodge, chapter and commandery ; at the time of his death the funeral services were conducted under the auspices of the Knights Templars. He was summoned to eternal rest on the 30th of December, 1880, and his loss was felt and mourned throughout the county.

On the 14th of July, 1849, was celebrated the marriage of Dr. Dille to Miss Mildred Frances Varnon, who was born August 14, 1826, in Bourbon county, Kentucky, and who was a daughter of John and Elizabeth ( Wil- liams) Varnon. The father, John Varnon, or Vernon, as they were named in their native country, Normandy, France, was born April I, 1778, in Delaware, and in 1794, he emi- grated with his parents, John and Mary Var- non and family, Mary his twin sister, Eliza- beth and Benjamin, to Kentucky, and settled in Bourbon county midway between Millers- burg and Cynthiana.

On Sunday, January 1, 1804, he married Elizabeth Williams, who was born in Charlotte county, Virginia, December 22, 1784, and re- moved with her parents, Hubbard and Nancy (Jones) Williams, and' family to Bourbon county, Kentucky, in the year 1798. Thirteen children were born to them, of whom they raised twelve, with the advantages of education at Millersburg and Georgetown. Ten mar- ried : Panlina W., born October 23, 1804, married Tarlton W. Roland, November 22, 1823, died September 16, 1834; Maria W., born January 22, 1806, married Isaac Wright, December 28, 1826, died June 27, 1854; Laura L., born March 2, 1808, married James Bat- terton, January 2, 1827, died March 25, 1843; Nancy J., born January 14, 1810, married Orris

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Miller and moved to Boone county, Missouri ; Jane A., born December 24, 1811, married Elijah Christman and moved to Boone county. Missouri; Hubbard W., born February 15. 1814, married Elizabeth Kerfoot Griffith, nee Spears, November 24, 1836, died September 26, 1873; Elizabeth D., born November 26, 1816, married Alvin West Miller, April 17, 1834, and moved to Millersburg, Missouri; Mary Griffith, born February 25, 1818, married Henry E. Shawhan, September 16, 1836, died December 17, 1842; Jolin Samuel, born April 24, 1820, died April 10, 1839; Thomas Fletcher, born May 10, 1822, died February II, 1845; Jarrotte Williams, born July 10, 1824, married Emma Ryan H. Jump, August 22, 1844. died March 24, 1904; Sarah Jane, born January 4, 1829, died October 24, 1829.

For fifty-four years they lived in sight of her father's old homestead, where he settled when he came from Virginia. The residence of John Varnon, "The Stone House," near Endicott's, the old log meeting-house at Indian Creek, was the home of hospitality, and its mistress knew well how to dispense its gen- erous hospitality. In 1858, they removed to Georgetown, Scott county, where in their old age church privileges were more accessible to them, and some of their children were near them; here they were taken from the scenes of time, Mrs. Varnon, March 20, 1862, and Mr. Varnon, January 27, 1865. In the beauti- ful cemetery, at Georgetown, sleep the re- mains of these good people. They with some of their children were charter members of the Indian Creek Christian church, one of the old- est congregations in the country.

John Varnon was a successful business man, a good financier and left a large estate. "The Stone House," was a typical Southern home, before the war, young misses and youthful masters with colored waiting maids and errand boys, each having his or her favorite, and at the time of her marriage Mrs. Dille was pre- sented with two little choice darkies, bright and comely, as a bridal present, Rhoda and her brother Isom. He a soldier as Isom Dille died in the Civil war, and his pension supported his old mother till 1909. "Mammy Rhoda" is now living at Lexington, Kentucky, having attained to the age of seventy-five years, and is faithfully looked after by the oldest daughter of "Mrs. Frances."

To Dr. and Mrs. Dille were born four chil- dren, namely: Lycurgus who died in infancy ; Adelaide Moody, who is now the wife of F. J. Brinker a farmer of a goodly number of good acres in Harrison county ; Elizabeth Wil- liams, who resides on the old home farm; and Eugenie M., who married J. M. Douglas, pro-

prietor and owner of the oldest grocery in Cynthiana, Kentucky, and he is also engaged in farming.

On the evening of Thursday the twenty- fourth day of November, 1910, Mrs. Frances Dille passed to her reward, and joined the welcoming assembly of kindred spirits in the promised home. Mrs. Dille was a lady of ex- emplary character, and having superior judg- ment was a good counselor, with a charming modesty and sweet dignity always. She was a life long member of the Christian church and her three daughters follow their mother.

After the death of Dr. Dille, until her mar- riage, the oldest daughter Adelaide, conducted the affairs of the home farm, then it was run by Miss Elizabeth, with the aid of John Floyd Lair, who has been a member of the Dille family since 1895. He is a young self-made man, whose ancestors are the pioneer Lair family of Harrison county. After receiving his education at Smith's Classical School, he assumed charge of the Dille estate, in which connection he has been employed during the long intervening years to the present time, in 1911. By industry and clever management he now owns a fine farm of more than two hun- dred acres.

LLEWELLYN JONES .- The superintendency of the admirably conducted poorhouse and farm of Jefferson county is entrusted to Lewellyn Jones, and his administration has been marked by utmost efficiency as well as by kindly solicitude for the unfortunate wards of the county. Mr. Jones is a native of Ken- tucky and is a representative of a family whose name has been identified with the his- tory of this favored commonwealth for vir- tually an entire century.

Llewellyn Jones was born in Spencer county, Kentucky, on the 25th of June, 1852, and is a son of George R. and Emerine (Collins) Jones, both likewise natives of Spencer county, where the former was born on the 8th of May, 1827, and the latter on the 19th of November, 1829. The lineage of the Jones family is traced back to Welsh origin and that of the Collins family to stanch Irish stock. George R. Jones passed his entire life in Spencer county, where he became a prosperous agricul- turist and stock-grower and a citizen of prominence and influence in his community. He died on the 13th of May, 1902, secure in the high regard of all who knew him, and his widow, now venerable in years, still resides on the old homestead. Concerning the five chil- dren, the following brief data are given : Sarah A. is the wife of Edmund T. Carlin, of Spencer county; Miranda F. is still living at the old homestead; Llewellyn, of this sketch,

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was the next in order of birth; Angeline C. died in infancy ; and John C. B. is a resident of Jefferson county, where he is engaged in agricultural pursuits.

The initial experiences gained by Llewellyn Jones were those incidental to the work of the old homestead farm, and he early learned the lessons of practical industry, the while he duly availed himself of the advantages of the local schools. He continued to reside in his native county until 1881, when he removed to Jeffer- son county, where he continued to be identified with the great basic industry of agriculture until 1905, when he established his home in the village of Jeffersontown, where he was engaged in the hotel business for a period of about two years. In January, 1910, he was appointed superintendent of the county farm and poorhouse and he assumed the duties of the office on the Ist of February. He has shown much energy and discrimination in handling the industrial department of the poor farm and has instituted many improvements in the general affairs of the institution, in which cleanliness and good order are maintained in all departments and the service conducted with economy. His administration has met with marked approval and he is proving one of the best executives in this office that the county has had. The institution has a capacity for the accommodation of about fifty inmates. In addition to his official duties Mr. Jones also gives a general supervision to his well im- proved farm of one hundred and seventy acres, located near Jeffersontown and about twenty miles distant from the city of Louisville.

In politics Mr. Jones has ever given an un- qualified allegiance to the Democratic party and he has been an active worker in behalf of its cause. He is a member of the Baptist church and his wife held membership in the Christian church. He is a man of sterling in- tegrity and of generous nature, so that he has never been denied the fullest measure of popu- lar confidence and esteem.

In Bullitt county, Kentucky, on the 12th of June, 1879, Mr. Jones was united in marriage to Miss Sarah C. Baird, who was born in Spencer county, this state, on the 24th of May, 1859, and who was a daughter of Jacob W. and Catherine (Wells) Baird. Mrs. Jones was summoned to the life eternal on the 29th of July, 1910.

WILLIAM P. SHANKLIN .- It is most inter- esting at this point to accord recognition to a native son of the fine old Blue Grass state, William P. Shanklin having been born and reared in Mason county, the date of his nativity being September 20, 1847. He is a son of James Hopkins and Agnes ( Pogue) Shanklin,

the former of whom was born on the old home- stead of the Shanklin family situated in East May's Lick precinct and the latter on the pres- ent site of Ashland, in Boyd county. The father was born in 1820 and he was identified with agricultural pursuits during the major portion of his active business career, his death having occurred in 1886. He was a man of broad general information and one who kept in close touch with the progress of the times. His religious faith was in harmony with the tenets of the Presbyterian church which has represented the faith of the family for many generations. For a number of years he was a deacon in the church and as he was excep- tionally gifted in a musical way he had charge of that branch of the church work. His father, John Hopkins Shanklin, was born in 1796 on the same old estate as was the son and there he continued to reside until his death, which occurred in 1874, at the venerable age of seventy-eight years. His father, James Shank- lin, great-grandfather of him whose name ini- tiates this review, was the first of the family to locate in Kentucky, he having possessed himself of the homestead of the Shanklins in Mason county, in 1794. One hundred acres of the original Shanklin estate is still retained by direct descendants of James Shanklin, in fact for one hundred and sixteen years this tract of land has passed from father to son with un- broken title and it is the only farmstead in this locality to be thus handed down.

This James Shanklin was born in Rocking- ham county, Virginia, in 1766. He married Hannah Hopkins and with her, a plucky pi- oneer helpmeet, emigrated to Kentucky, in 1794. The original progenitors of the Shank- lin family in America were three brothers, one of whom was John Shanklin, from whom this branch is directly descended. These brothers came to America from the north of Ireland many years prior to the Revolutionary war. They first located in Albany, New York, but afterward went to Baltimore, Maryland, and thence to the valley of Virginia, taking up homes in Greenbriar county, now incorporated in the state of West Virginia. The Indians were extremely troublesome and dangerous in those days and in 1734 the brothers, whose names were John, Richard and Archibald, re- moved to the western part of Rockingham county, Virginia, Rockingham being at that early day a part of Augusta county, Virginia, and it was from that district that the family of Mr. Shanklin's mother came. Thomas, the father of Tames Shanklin, the founder of the family in Kentucky and the great-great-grand- father of William P. Shanklin, was one of the founders of the Cook's Creek (Virginia)

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church, this having been established in 1759 and the edifice in which worship was held in those far-away days is still standing.

The mother of James Shanklin was a Miss Gordon, a sister of the wife of John Hopkins, whose sister in turn married Archibald Hop- kins and whose brothers, John and William, located in the Shenandoah Valley prior to 1749, setting up their homes in Rockingham county, Virginia, of which section they and the Gordons, also Mr. Shanklin's forbears, were the pioneer settlers. The Gordons, the Hopkins and the Shanklins intermarried and the blood of these three families courses through the veins of William P. Shanklin. John Hopkins and Thomas Shanklin married sisters, the daughters of Thomas M. Gordon. On the maternal side Mr. Shanklin possesses many ancestors of distinction. His mother, Agnes V. (Pogue) Shanklin, is a cousin of the father of James S. Pogue, a history of whose career appears elsewhere in this work. She was born on the present site of Ashland, in Boyd county, as previously noted. The date of her birth was 1824 and she has now attained to the venerable age of eighty-six years. She resides on the old place in East May's Lick precinct and is a most gracious old lady, much beloved by all who have come within the sphere of her gentle influence. Her parents were Thomas Pogue and Nancy Allen (France) Pogue, the former a son of George and Ann (Allen) Pogue, natives of Augusta county, Virginia, and the latter a daughter of Captain James Allen, a Revolutionary soldier. The great-grandfather of William P., of this sketch, was George Poage and he came with his wife to Greenup county, Kentucky, at an early date in its history and there lived and died. James Pogue, a brother of George, was a member of the First Kentucky legislature, representing Clark county, then his home. Robert Breckinridge, of Louisville, married a Miss Pogue, daughter of John Pogue, Mr. Breckinridge having been speaker of the first house of representatives in the state. Former Governor Trimble, of Ohio, and former Gover- nor Wilson, of West Virginia, were cousins of William P. Shanklin's maternal grand- parents. His gubernatorial lineage does not end here for his paternal grandmother, Sally Metcalf, was a nicce of Governor Metcalf, of Kentucky. War Governor Jackson, of Mis- sonri, who was born in Fleming county, about a mile from the Shanklin homestead, was also her cousin.

James Hopkins and Agnes ( Pogue) Shank- lin became the parents of five children, of whom William P. was the second in order of birth. John T. Shanklin is a farmer in Flem-

ing county; this state ; S. Albert is a prominent politician in Mason county, representing his district in the state legislature at the present time, in 1910; Nannie became the wife of Will- iam L. Piper and she was summoned to the life eternal in August, 1907, at Carlisle; and Miss Sallie remains at home with the aged mother.

William P. Shanklin was reared to the sturdy discipline of the home farm and his education consisted of the advantages afforded in the district schools of Mason county. In 1876, when twenty-eight years of age, he left home and went to Dallas county, Texas, where he purchased a farm of one hundred and twenty acres of wild prairie land, which he gradually improved and operated with success until 1887, in which year he disposed of his property and returned home, his father having died in the meantime. After his return to Kentucky he and his elder brother, John T., operated the old family homestead for a period of two years, at the expiration of which Wil- liam P. sold his interest in the same and re- moved to Shelby county, Kentucky, where he bought two hundrd acres of land, operating that estate until 1900, when he sold out and purchased his present fine farm of two hun- dren and fifty-five acres, eligibly located two . miles distant from Millersburg, Nicholas county, on the Lexington and Maysville pike. He is engaged in diversified agriculture. In addition to his other interests Mr. Shanklin is vice-president of the Exchange Bank of Mil- lersburg, to whose substantial status he has contributed in generous measure. He holds a secure place in the confidence and high regard of his fellow men and has gained a reputation for good judgment, for fair dealing, for truth and for rectitude. In politics he has ever been aligned as a stalwart supporter of the Demo- cratic party and though he is not a seeker of the honors and emoluments of public office he accords a hearty allegiance to all projects ad- vanced for the general welfare of the com- munity. He and his family are devout mem- hers of the Presbyterian church, in which he is an elder.

While a resident of the Lone Star state, Mr. Shanklin met and married Miss Clara Ann McAllister, the date of the ceremony being March 4, 1885. Mrs. Shanklin was born in Dallas county, Texas, on the 22d of February, 1864, and is a daughter of J. J. and Mary ( Marsh) McAllister, the former of whom was born in the Isle of Wight county, Virginia, and the latter is a native of Jackson county, Missouri. Mr. and Mrs. McAllister now re- side at Dallas, Texas, the father having at- tained to the age of seventy-five years and

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A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume III, Part 60

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