A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume III, Part 67

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 67

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

To Bishop Cheshire, of North Carolina, is acknowledged indebtedness for some informa- tion concerning the Gray family, from which he was descended. Governor William Blount, who was famous in the early history of the nation, was likewise descended from John Gray, the im- migrant. .

1470

HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS

lina. Colonel Hart was a member of the pro- vincial congress that met at Newbern, North Carolina, August 25, 1774; represented Or- ange county in the convention at Newbern, April 4, 1775; was a delegate to the assembly summoned by Samuel Johnston, at Hillsboro, in August, 1775; and later was an officer in the Revolutionary army. He was also a member of the famous Transylvania Com- pany, concerning which special mention is made in Wheeler's History of North Caro- lina. His wife, Susanna (Gray) Hart, was a daughter of Colonel John Gray, whose father, John Gray, Sr., a native of North Britain, came to America as a member of the suite of Governor Gabriel Johnston, in 1734, and set- tled in Bertie county, North Carolina. Col- onel Gray was in the royal army and refused, at first, to sanction the marriage of his daugh- ter to Colonel Hart, whom he regarded as a rebel.

James Brown Clay received his education at Transylvania University, Lexington, Ken- tucky, and historic old Kenyon College, at Gambier, Ohio. In 1841 he was graduated from the law school of Translyvania Univer- sity and after securing his license he imme- diately entered into a law partnership with his father. He continued in the active work of his profession until 1849, when he accepted the post of chargé d'affaires to Portugal, un- der appointment by President Taylor. He ac- cepted this mission not so much from his own wish for public life as from the desire of his father, who regarded the tender of the posi- tion to his son as a delicate compliment, if not an olive branch extended to himself.

That Mr. Clay displayed both sagacity and ability in this his first public service, is man- ifest from the fact that he was commended by President Fillmore in his message of 1851, and also from the private testimony of Mr. Clayton, secretary of state, who pronounced his first diplomatic note in the Armstrong case unanswerable. And, furthermore, Mr. Web- ster spoke of his whole conduct in the nego- tiation with Portugal in terms which the Hon. Henry Clay characterized as "bordering on ex- travagance."

In 1853 Mr. Clay bought "Ashland," his beautiful estate near Lexington, Kentucky, where he continued to reside until 1863, when he went south, and thence to Canada, where he died in exile.

Early in 1856 Mr. Clay, in conjunction with other leading Whigs, attempted to resuscitate the old Whig party. A preliminary meeting was held at Lexington, on the 12th of April, Henry Clay's birthday ; a platform was sug- gested and a convention was called to meet

at Louisville on the 4th of the following July. At that convention "it was, alas ! demonstrated beyond a doubt that the movement was hope- less, and James B. Clay, like every other old- line Whig, was compelled to look around him for a new field of duty and the formation of new party associations." The majority of the Whigs of Kentucky joined the American or Know-Nothing party, with Mr. Fillmore as its candidate for president, but Mr. Clay, fore- seeing the troubles that were coming upon the country, refused the solicitations of many friends to become a member of it. Alluring as was this rendezvous of many old-line Whigs, -the devoted friends and followers of his father,-he saw the inherent weakness of the party and that, with its "grips and signs" and puerilities, it was wholly inadequate to cope with the momentous issues of the day. There- fore, with a moral courage worthy of his il- lustrious father. in the face of calumny and detraction, he allied himself with the Demo- cratic party,-in his opinion the only national party in the country ; the only party that could oppose with any measure of success that pure- ly sectional party which had begun to loom up ominously in the east and in the north. Sec- tional animosity and exasperation were be- ginning to make the nation mad, and Mr. Clay, "overcoming all personal feeling in the matter, gave to the candidates of the Demo- cratic party a hearty and effective support. To him, to his position and efforts, as much as to those of any single man in the nation, were the Democratic party and Mr. Buchanan indebted for that turning tide in public senti- ment in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Penn- sylvania and New Jersey, which resulted in the election of Mr. Buchanan for the pres- idency."

On the 7th of March, 1857, three days after his inauguration, Mr. Buchanan, "appreciative and grateful for the eminent services Mr. Clay had rendered himself and the country, tend- ered him the appointment of minister pleni- potentiary to the kingdom of Prussia." With a full appreciation of the high and distin- guished honor, Mr. Clay, for reasons to him- self sufficient, declined the proffered appoint- ment.

Mr. Clay's speeches throughout the can- vass were eloquent, able and earnest. "It was when goaded by the villifications of the par- tisan press, charging him with insult to the memory of his father in supporting Mr. Bu- chanan, that he made the celebrated retort, in a speech at Philadelphia: 'The Know-Noth- ings set themselves up as the special avengers of Henry Clay for wrongs done him, as they assert and I deny, in 1825, by James Buchan-

1471

HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS

an. But if vengeance is to be taken we should begin with the last injuries first. If Henry Clay was stabbed by James Buchanan in 1825, he was hanged, drawn and quartered here in 1848, within sound of Independence bell.' Someone on the platform, unable to contain himself, rose and electrified the crowd by shouting, 'A slaughter-house convention !' The sobriquet cling to the convention of 1848 ever after- wards."

Soon after Mr. Clay declined the mission to Berlin he was nominated unanimously by the district Democratic convention to make the canvass for congress in the Ashland dis- trict. At the previous election the Demo- cratic candidate had been defeated by the large majority of sixteen hundred votes, but Mr. Clay still being assailed by the partisan press, but nothing daunted, decided to make the canvass. It was, indeed, a bold and haz- ardous venture, not only as against the fearful odds of sixteen hundred majority but also in opposition to Roger Hanson, the Know-Noth- ing nominee, one of the most accomplished and effective speakers in the state. After one of the most exciting, arduous and bitter cam- paigns ever made in the Ashland district, dur- ing which, however, the personal friendship of the rival candidates was not in the least impaired, Mr. Clay was elected by a majority of one hundred and sixteen. This he regarded as the greatest triumph of his life and the proudest vindication against the charges of his enemies. He received congratulatory let- ters from all over the country. Having at- tained to that end, he declined the nomination for the canvass of 1859. Nor did he appear again in public life, except occasionally as a speaker in the presidential campaign of 1860, until he was appointed a delegate to the peace conference in 1861, with a view to staying, if possible, the terrible civil war. This was a ser- vice in entire accordance with his own and his father's principles, for both had strug- gled earnestly to stay the progress of that fanaticism which they foresaw could result in nothing else than civil war. Trusting that wisdom and brotherly love might assert them- selves, Mr. Clay went to this conference, but he returned to Kentucky hopeless of any peaceable solution of the national difficulties. The Hon. Salmon P. Chase, at one time his tutor, a representative man of his party, said to him in a private conversation : "Mr. Clay, the south can never come back with her slaves." This being predetermined, a peace- able solution of the great problem was of course impossible, and in the great struggle that followed Mr. Clay cast in his fortunes with the south. His inheritance was a love

of the Union, but the contest was not a na- tional contest. It was section arrayed against section; north against south; free states against slave states. There was union, but it was sectional union ; the old Union was gone, and forever.

"On the inauguration of the reign of terror in Kentucky, by the lawless attack on ex- Governor Morehead, Mr. Clay very naturally concluded that there was no longer protection in the state for any prominent man of his views. He therefore determined-although the insidious disease, consumption, which brought him at last to the grave, had already fastened upon him,-to go to the south. Be- trayed by a guide, he was arrested by a party of 'home guards' in one of the mountain counties of Kentucky, and conveyed to Camp Dick Robinson; where he was brutally treated by the soldiers and his life imperiled. Being sent forward on his way to Fort Warren, as he passed through Louisville a warrant from the civil court took him out of the hands of the military. He gave bail for his appear- ance to answer the charge of treason and re- turned home. At the sitting of the court no evidence was found to sustain the charge, and the grand jury refused to find an indict- ment.

"When General Bragg invaded Kentucky Mr. Clay's disease had made such progress as to confine him for a time to his bed. He was worn and emaciated, but, being urged by Bragg to give his support to the government, then likely to be permanent in Kentucky, he finally consented to raise a regiment, and ad- vertised for recruits :

"(Special Orders, No. 9.) "Headquarters Department, No. 2,

Lexington, October 3, 1862. "Hon. James B. Clay, of Kentucky, is au- thorized to raise one or more regiments of in- fantry for service in the Confederate States army, and is nominated as colonel of the first regiment. He will report to Major General Buckner for duty.

"By command of General Bragg, "George Wm. Brent, "Chief of Staff & Adt. Genl.

"Within a day or two Bragg retreated, and Mr. Clay, feeble in health and fearing the confinement of a prison should he remain at home, took the opportunity to go southward. During the following winter his health contin- ued to decline; he ran the blockade to Havana and from thence went to Halifax. After a long detention there, by reason of his inability to travel except by water or railroad, he reached Canada, early in the summer of 1863. His disease continued to make rapid progress

1472

HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS

and shortly after settling with his family in Montreal, at the beginning of autumn, he took to his bed, never to rise again. It was a sad illustration of the 'epidemic lying' that had seized upon the self-styled 'loyal' press of the country, and in singular conformity with Mr. Clay's fate to be slandered during his public life, that while thus wasting away with disease, in exile and incapable of the least exertion. the poor sufferer, brave under his afflictions, should have been reported to the public now as playing the sportsman, and now as the conspirator, plotting invasions, piracies and all sorts of treasons against the government.

"For some time previous to his death Mr. Clay's attentions had been fixed on the great question of personal religion. His religious faith was marked by that beautiful and manly simplicity so conspicuous in his character.

"Of the intellectual ability of James B. Clay we, perhaps, make a higher estimate than the public at large, who seem to lose sight of the son in the overshadowing greatness of his father. Indeed, his own reverence and admiration for the greatness of his father seemed to render him unconscious of his own powers, and in a degree paralyzed their ex -. ertion. His entire freedom from selfish ambi- tion no doubt prevented the full development of his powers, by dissnading from exertion needful for their proper discipline. When ex- traordinary occasion cailed him to exertion he exhibited a power of reasoning, a states- manlike sagacity, and even a power of control over men, through speech that was not un- worthy the fame of his father. Had his cir- cumstances in early life been such as those that called into play his father's energies. he might probably have been as distinguished. His burly honesty, his unflinching steadiness to principle, and his contempt for all chican- ery and all maxims of selfish expediency might have prevented him from being a popu- lar idol, but good men would have honored him.

"In all the relations of private life Mr. Clay was a singularly attractive man. As cit- izen, neighbor, friend, son, husband and fath- er he possessed those qualities of mind and heart that caused him to live in the hearts of those around him. Frank, brave, fearless, honest. all who knew the man as he was hon- ored him. Companionable, humorous, well bred. brilliant,-everyone courted his society. Genial, generous, social, sympathetic,-every- one loved him. He was one of those native noblemen who are so rare now, in these days of rampant chicanery and elevated vulgarity."

James Brown Clay died in the city of Mon-

treal, Canada, on the 26th of January, 1864, aged forty-six years and two months.

October 12, 1843, Mr. Clay married Susan M. Jacob, a daughter of John I. Jacob of Louisville, Kentucky, and his second wife, Lucy Donald Robertson. (A sketch of John I. Jacob will appear in the History of Kentucky, so a concise account of the maternal ancestors will suffice.)

Mrs. Clay's grandfather, Isaac Robertson, a lawyer by profession, was descended from the "Clan Donachie" (Robertson) which traces its lineage to the ancient Earls of Atholl, etc. etc .* Her great-great-grandfather, Charles Robertson took part in the ill-fated battle of Culloden and was among those whose estates were thereafter confiscated by the crown. His second son, Donald Robertson, having de- spaired of advancement on account of po- litical conditions, determined to try his fortunes in the new world, and a few weeks before the death of his mother (Isabella MacDonald) who died March 5, 1753, he had sailed for Vir- ginia .; Here he resided until his death, January 30, 1783. Donald Robertson's first wife was Henrietta Maxwell, a daughter of Sir Peter Maxwell; his second wife, the great-grand- mother of Mrs. Clay, was Rachel Rogers, a daughter of John Rogers, of King and Queen County, Virginia. His daughter, Ann Rogers, was the mother of George Rogers Clark, and another distinguished member of the family was Col. George Croghan, the "Hero of Fort Stephenson." Giles Rogers, the grandfather of Rachel Rogers, emigrated from Worcester- shire, England, to Virginia in the year 1686. The Rogers family was of English origin, Protestant in faith and Presbyterian in doc- trine. The parents of Giles resided in Scot- land for awhile, and their son was named Giles in honor of the patron saint of his native city, Edinborough.

The late Joseph Rogers Underwood, United State Senator from Kentucky, spent consid- erable time and money in endeavoring to trace the antecedents of Giles Rogers, and for this purpose employed the College of Heraldry at London to prosecute the investigation. Much difficulty was encountered in tracing back an unbroken line, but enough information was discovered to warrant the claim that he was directly descended from the great reformer, John Rogers, "the Martyr," who was burned at the stake in Smithfield February 4, 1555, by order of "Bloody Mary." In token of Judge Underwood's descent from an ecclesiasti- cal ancestor, who suffered martyrdom, the Col-

* See Skenes History of Scotland.

t "Robertson and Taylor Genealogies," Will- iam K. Anderson.

1473

HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS

lege authorized him to add a crossed crosslet to the family arms." *

Mrs. Clay was connected by ties of blood, with many whose names have shed lustre upon the history of the country. Her great-grand- father, Commodore Richard Taylor, was a descendant of James Taylor of Carlisle, Eng- land. His son, James Taylor, Jr. married Martha Thompson, a granddaughter of Sir Roger Thompson of England, who was a prominent figure in Virginia at the time of Bacon's rebellion. Col. Thompson, the father of Martha Thompson, was an officer in the British Army, and a man of wealth and large influence. From James Taylor of Carlisle, the emigrant, were descended many who helped to make the history of this country-John Penn, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence; John Taylor of Caroline; Edmund Pendleton; President James Madi- son; Col. George Taylor, who had ten sons in the Revolutionary war; Gen. ( President) Zachary Taylor and others.

Mrs. James B. Clay died February 25th, 1905. eighty-two years of age. The Lexing- ton Herald of February 26 and February 28, 1905, had this to say of Mrs. Clay, just after her death.

"Our links with the past are breaking and more and more the Kentucky of today is be- coming separated from the Kentucky of splen- did history. So long as Mrs. James Clay lived it was impossible for those who came within the circle of her acquaintance to lose all the inspiration of the past. She was a link with that day and this; with an active interest in the life of today, with a quick sympathy for every worthy act and progressive move- ment, she combined so lively a remembrance of a noble past, so true an enthusiasm for the high qualities of that time, that it was impos- sible to come in contact with her, even briefly, without imbibing both knowledge and inspira- tion. Mrs. Clay who was a Miss Jacob of Louisville, married Mr. James B. Clay, the son of Henry Clay, and for many years of her married life lived at Ashland. She became not only the loved and loving daughter of the great statesman, but his friend and helper. Sometimes she wrote out his speeches for him -for this was before the time of the stenog- rapher and the typewriter-she knew and sympathized with his political aspirations and plans. In hearing Mrs. Clay speak of the great statesman, of the beauty of his home relations, of the tenderness and affection of the man, of the calmness and dignity, the com-

plete self-control and philosophy with which he received the news of political reverse, of wrecked plans, and disappointed confidence, we have been reminded of those words of St. Paul to the Corinthians, 'Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men.' The statesman could have had no tes- timonial written in tables of stone, so vivid, so convincing as that written in the fleshly tables of the heart of her who had spent the years of her young womanhood in close asso- ciation with him. The insinuations of the caluminators of his own day, the petty fault- finding of later biographers who have searched eagerly for the mote in the great man's char- acted, faded into insignificance before the di- rect testimony of the heart and inind of this eye-witness of his daily life. * *

Mrs. Clay's character stood the test of grief and adversity, of the loss of those whom she held dear, and of wealth, as it had stood the test of the favors of fortune-position, dis- tinction, beauty and means; throughout she showed the same gentleness and dignity, the same tender affection, and the same quickness to resent injustice or corruption, that makes her loss great to those who knew her, not only as a loving friend, but as an example and in- spiration.

"Her life was- beautifully rich in memories. Born in 1823, taking an active part in the social events of Kentucky and Washington from 1845 to 1860, with a memory which was rarely excelled, and an acute, active, analytical intellect, had she been a man, there is no eminence she might not have attained.

"It is the cause of profound regret that there is not a memoir of her and a history of her days written by her. Such as she have made Kentucky's name honored where they were known."

James Brown Clay and his wife Susan Ja- cob Clay, had ten children. Nathaniel Hart Clay, the youngest child, died in infancy, June, 1862. Lucy Jacob Clay, the oldest child, died in her nineteenth year, March, 1863. Susan Jacob Clay died September, 1863, in her ninth year. John Cathcart Johnston Clay died in 1872, in his twenty-fifth year. Henry Clay, a prominent lawyer of Louisville, Kentucky, and a member of the Howgate and Greely Arc- tic Expeditions, died September 22, 1884, in his thirty-fifth year. James Brown Clay, Jr., a lieutenant on the staff of Gen. John C. Breckinridge, Confederate States Army, died February 7, 1906, aged sixty. Four of the children are now living-Lucretia Hart Clay; Thomas Jacob Clay, officer U. S. Army, re- tired; Charles Donald Clay, officer U. S.

* Robertson and Taylor Genealogies, William K. Anderson.

1474

HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS

Army, retired; and George Hudson Clay, breeder of thoroughbred horses; all reside in Fayette county, Kentucky.

WILLIAM L. SCOTT .- Few names have been more prominently and worthily indentified with the civic and industrial development and upbuilding of Shelby county than that of the Scott family, of which William Leonard Scott is an honored representative of the third gen- eration in this county. He is the owner of a fine landed estate and is one of the most in- fluential exponents of agricultural and stock- growing interests in his native county, besides which he is ever alert in the support of mea- sures and enterprises tending to advance the general welfare of the community. He re- sides on his attractive homestead, "Locust Lane," and on the same is located the little hamlet of Scott's Station, named in honor of the family. He is a man of independent views and strong individuality, never lacks the courage of his convictions, and, withal, is tolerant in judgment and frank, kindly and unostentatious in demeanor, so that he is well entrenched in the confidence and esteem of the community that has represented his home dur- ing the major portion of his life.

William Leonard Scott was born in the home of his maternal grandfather, James Rob- inson, and the old house is still standing, in an excellent state of preservation. The home- stead in which Mr. Scott was born finally be- came the property of his sister, Mrs. Bell, now deceased, and her husband and children still reside there, as will be noted in a later para- graph. In this old-time residence William L. Scott was ushered into the world on the 26th of April, 1836, and he is a son of Archi- bald and Ann (Robinson) Scott, the former of whom was born in Fayette county, this state, and the latter in Shelby county, in which sections the respective families were founded in an early day. Archibald Scott was the only child of Robert and Julia (Lyle) Scott, and his wife was a daughter of James and Frances (Venable) Robinson. Both families came from Virginia to Kentucky in an early day.

Archibald Scott and his future wife were young at the time when the two families es- tablished homes on adjoining farms in Shelby county, in the pioneer days, and by the mar- riage of Archibald Scott and Ann Robinson, each an only child, the two estates were event- ually merged into one. Archibald Scott was reared to maturity in Shelby county, where his educational advantages were those afforded in the somewhat meager schools of the period, and after his marriage he erected his residence on the line between the two farms, which were

thus combined eventually, as has already been noted. The property has never passed out of the keeping of the representatives of the fam- ily, and the portion of the original estate on which the staunch old house stands is now owned by Henry Bell and his children. Mr. Henry Bell married Fannie, the only daughter of Archibald and Ann Scott, and she died in 1910. This house was erected in 1838, after the death of Archibald Scott's father, and his mother survived for several years thereafter. By the consolidation of the two farms Archi- bald Scott and his wife became the owners of a valuable estate of about three hundred acres, and it may be said that in his views, policies and progressive methods, Mr. Scott was far ahead of his day. He had initiative power, determination and dauntless energy, and he was ever found in the forefront of the march of progress, both as touching the opera- tions of his farm and the furthering of enter- prises for the general good of the community. He continued to reside on the old homestead until he was well advanced in years and he then, about the year 1870, after the death of his loved and devoted wife, went to Illinois, where he became the owner of a large farm and where he was also identified with bank- ing interests and other lines of enterprise. He continued to give an active supervision to his varied interests until his death, which occurred at Champaign, that state, when he was eighty- four years of age, his wife having been sum- moned to the life eternal in 1868, at the age of sixty years. Concerning their children the following brief record is entered: James and John moved to Illinois when young men, and the former was numbered among the represen- tative farmers of that state at the time of his death, in 1910. John eventually removed to Louisiana, where he was engaged in the prac- tice of law until his death, a number of years ago. William L., of this sketch, was the second of the four sons. Fannie became the wife of Henry Bell and continued to reside on the old homestead of her father until her death, in 1910, as previously noted in this con- text. Marshall is engaged in the cash-regis- ter business in the state of Florida.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume III, Part 67

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