A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume III, Part 69

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 69

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The sons of Angus McDonald IV have several of them figured prominently in the history of the state. William N. was prin- cipal of the Louisville Male High School and later of the Rugby School, and was one of the most scholarly and distinguished of the ed- ucators of Kentucky. Edward McDonald was formerly a prominent member of the bar and the founder of the Kentucky Title Com- pany of Louisville, and he is now one of the extensive farmers of Virginia. Few names are better and more favorably written on the pages of the history of Kentucky in the last fifty years than that of Harry McDonald. When sixteen years of age he assumed the gray as a soldier in the Confederate army and the record of the gallant youth was thrill- ing in the extreme, telling of many adven- tures and remarkable bravery, particularly for one of his years. He was educated in the Washington and Lee University and while a young man came to Kentucky where he as- sumed the responsible position of resident en- gineer in the construction of the Elizabeth-

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town & Paducah Railroad. He subsequently became senior member of the firm of McDon- ald Brothers, architects of Louisville, to whom many of the state's handsomest and most notable buildings are due. He was elected to the Kentucky state legislature and died in 1904, while a member of that body.

Alan McDonald joined his brother, William N. McDonald, in the founding of Rugby School, a private preparatory school at Louis- ville in which many men afterward prominent in Kentucky affairs were pupils. Roy Mc- Donald, now a citizen of Pittsburg, Pennsyl- vania, was a member of the Louisville Legion and gave particularly valuable service during the troublous times of the mountain feuds. Hunter McDonald came to Kentucky on leav- ing college and accepted employment with the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, later becom- ing assistant engineer of the Nashville & Chat- tanooga Railroad of which he is now chief engineer. Donald, one of the associates of the subject in business, was educated in Wash- ington and Lee University and came to Louis- ville in 1876. After an experience of some five years as an employee of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad he resigned to become a member of the architectural firm of McDonald Brothers, of Louisville. He is also president of the Kentucky Heating Company and is one of the most influential and public-spirited of the citizens of Kentucky's chief metropolis. Nellie McDonald, the only daughter by the second marriage, is the wife of J. H. Lyne of Henderson, Kentucky.

Kenneth McDonald received his education at the Virginia Military Institute, graduating in .1873, and came to Louisville from his native state when about twenty-one years of age. His first adventures as an active factor in the world of affairs was in the capacity of an arch- itectural dranghtsman. In 1878 he and his brothers, Harry and Donald, established the architectural firm of McDonald Brothers, and their association in business has been of the most satisfactory character. Many of the most notable erections in the state have been planned in their offices and their reputation extends far beyond the boundaries of Ken- tucky.

On the 20th day of November, 1879, Mr. McDonald established a household of his own by his marriage with Miss America Moore, daughter of Joseph A. Moore and Parthenia (Graham) Moore. In fraternal affilations Mr. McDonald is a Mason and politically he has always been a Democrat.

JAMES WATT WOMACK, actively identified with mercantile and political interests in Greenup county, Kentucky, maintains his

home in the city of Greenup, the judicial cen- ter of the county of the same name. He is deeply interested in community affairs and his efforts have also been a potent element in the business progress of this section of the state. He has with ready recognition of op- portunity directed his labors into various fields wherein he has achieved success and the firm of Womack Brothers, of which he is the senior member, is the largest and best equipped concern of its kind in this place. At the present time, in 1911, he is giving most efficient service as county judge of Greenup county, in discharging the duties of which office he is acquitting himself most creditably.

Judge Womack is a native son of Greenup county, his birth having occurred at Oldtown, on the 24th of November, 1852. He is a scion of a fine old pioneer family in the Blue Grass commonwealth and is a son of William A. and Ann E. (Lyon) Womack, the former of whom is deceased and the latter is now liv- ing at Oldtown. Archer Womack, grand- father of the Judge, was born in the state of Virginia and accompanied his parents to Ken- tucky when he was a mere youth, settlement having been made at Oldtown, in the early years of the nineteenth century. After at- taining to years of maturity Archer Womack directed his energies to agricultural pursuits and in due time he became the owner of ex- tensive lands and a large number of slaves. He was decidedly successful in farming and stock-raising and figured prominently in pio- neer public affairs. William A. Womack, father of Judge Womack, was the second in order of birth in a family of ten children and he pursued his academic education in the com- mon schools of the locality and period. Fol- lowing in the footsteps of his honored father he likewise turned his attention to farming but with the passage of time he included within the scope of his operations the conduct of a general store at Oldtown. In his political adherency he was a stanch Democrat and dur- ing the Civil war he was an ardent sympa- thizer of the cause of the Confederacy. His aggressive ideas, however, led to his arrest by federal authorities and for one year he was held in duress at Camp Chase. He was nat- urally an intellectual and brilliant man and his early training was effectively supplemented by extensive reading. He was a man of good judgment and exerted a potent influence in all affairs affecting the general welfare. He was summoned to the life eternal at Oldtown, the date of his demise being the 3d of March, 1900, at which time he was a man of seventy- two years of age. His cherished and devoted wife, whose maiden name was Ann E. Lyon,

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survives him. She is a daughter of Resin Lyon, a native of Virginia and an early settler in Greenup county, where he passed the res- idue of his life as an agriculturist. Mr. and Mrs. William A. Womack became the par- ents of twelve children-six boys and six girls-of whom the subject of this review was the first born.

. Judge James Watt Womack was reared to adult age under the invigorating influences of the home farm and he was afforded the ad- vantages of an excellent common-school edu- cation. He continued to reside at the paternal home until he had reached the age of twenty- one years and while still a youth he became associated with his father in the work and management of his store, thus laying a sub- stantial foundation for his later business pro- jects. In 1871 he came to Greenup, where he opened a general store, which he conducted with most gratifying success for a period of three years, at the expiration of which he was appointed deputy sheriff of Greenup county, serving in that capacity for some eight years. In 1882 he was further honored by his fellow citizens in that he was then elected to the of- fice of sheriff of Greenup county, continuing incumbent of that important position for two terms, of two years each. In March, 1886, after retiring from the office of sheriff Judge Womack formed the firm of Womack Broth- ers, which has since carried on a general mer- chandise business at Greenup. This concern has been built up to extensive proportions and it is now the largest and best equipped estab- lishment of its kind in the place. The store occupies two floors and a large basement, each of which is twenty-four feet by one hundred and forty-one feet in lateral dimensions. The brothers included in the firm are: Judge Wo- mack, of this notice; and John T. Womack.

In his political proclivities Judge Womack endorses the cause of the Democratic party and he has ever been an active and interested factor in politics in a normally Republican county. As previously noted, he served most creditably both as deputy sheriff and as sheriff of Greenup county and in the fall of 1909 he was prevailed upon to become a can- didate for the office of county judge. In the ensuing election he was successful at the polls, his victory well indicating extensive popularity among his fellow citizens. In a fraternal way he is affiliated with the time-honored Masonic order, in which he has passed through the circle of the York Rite branch, holding mem- bership in Blue Lodge, No. 89, Free & Ac- cepted Masons; Greenup Chapter, No. 132, Royal Arch Masons; and Ashland Comman- dery, No .. 28, Knights Templars. In his re-

ligious faith he is a devout member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, to the various departments of whose work he has contributed liberally of his time and means.

February 7, 1883, was recorded the mar- riage of Judge Womack to Miss Ida M. Osen- ton, who was born and reared at Springville, Greenup county, and who is a daughter of the late Thomas Osenton, long a prominent and representative citizen of Greenup county, and later of Scioto County, Ohio. Judge and Mrs. Womack are popular in connection with the best social activities of their home com- munity and their beautiful and spacious home is recognized as a center of most gracious re- finement and generous hospitality.

COLONEL RICHARD C. MORGAN .- Note- worthy for his long and useful career as a private citizen, and honored for his military services as an officer in the Southern Army during the Civil war, Colonel Richard C. Morgan of Lexington, is eminently worthy of representation in a work of this character. A son of Calvin Cogswell Morgan, he was born on a farm in Fayette county, Ken- tucky, September 13, 1836. His grandfather Luther Morgan, was a son of Gideon Mor- gan, the earliest ancestor of whom we have certain knowledge. Gideon Morgan the founder of the town of Waterford, New York, moved from the Empire State to Vir- ginia in colonial days, and there spent his last years of life. He married Patience Cogswell, who was born in New England, of excellent ancestry.

On July 4, 1776, an eventful day in American history, the birth of Luther Morgan occurred in Saratoga, New York. He accompanied his parents to Virginia, and after attaining man- hood was for a number of years a commis- sion merchant in New Orleans, being a dealer in cotton. He subsequently settled in Hunts- ville, Alabama, where he founded a substantial mercantile business. He was an ardent sports- man, and while on a hunting trip in Texas died near Nacogdoches. He married Ann Cameron Dold, whose father was a planter near Charlottesville, Virginia. She survived him several years, dying while en route to Hot Springs, Arkansas, whither she was being taken by private conveyance in order to be treated for rheumatism, with which she suf- fered severely. Of their union three sons were born, as follows: Samuel Dold; Alex- ander Gatewood and Calvin Cogswell, twins.

Samuel Dodd Morgan, in early manhood, went to Boston with a cargo of his father's cotton. Returning to New Orleans by way of Virginia, he there married the sweetheart of his youth, and took her to the home of his

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parents. He afterwards removed to Nash- ville, Tennessee, where he amassed a fortune as a merchant. He became prominent in pol- itics, and was recognized as Nashville's fore- most citizen. His remains now repose within the walls of the State House, and one of the principal parks of the city was named in his honor. The maiden name of his wife was Matilda Rose Grant. She was born in Al- bemarle county, Virginia, where her father, George Grant, who married the daughter of a wealthy planter, settled on resigning his po- sition as a surgeon in the British Navy.

Alexander Gatewood Morgan came to Ken- tucky when young, and later married Annie Higgins, of Lexington, where he was for many years engaged in farming and stock raising. When war with Mexico was de- clared, he was offered a commission in a Ten- nessee regiment, but refused it, preferring to serve as a private in a Kentucky regiment. He went to the front, and was killed at the Battle of Buena Vista. His son, Alexander Gatewood Morgan, Jr., married Margaret Russell, of Fayette county. At the breaking out of the Civil war he enlisted in the Con- federate service, was commissioned major, and subsequently died at Green Cove Springs, Florida.

Calvin Cogswell Morgan was born in Charlottesville, Albemarle county, Virginia, December 16, 1801. Attending the Montgom- ery Bell Academy at Nashville, he received a liberal education, and became noted as a geologist. He spent a few years of his earlier life in Lexington, Kentucky, and was after- wards for a time engaged in the mercantile business at Blountsville, Alabama. Return- ing to Kentucky, he bought land in Fayette county, and for a number of years was a suc- cessful tiller of the soil. His last years, how- ever, were spent in the city of Lexington, where his death occurred May 12, 1854. He married Henrietta Hunt, a daughter of John Wesley and Catherine (Grosh) Hunt, and sister of the late Hon. Charlton Hunt, of whom a brief biographical sketch may be found on another page of this volume. She survived him nearly a half of a century, passing away September 7, 1891.

Mr. and Mrs. Calvin C. Morgan reared six children, namely: John H., the noted Con- federate General; Calvin Cogswell, Jr .; Kit- tie G., who married first her cousin, Calvin M. McClung, and married second Lieutenant- General A. P. Hill, who won fame as an of- ficer in the Confederate Army; Richard C., the special subject of this brief personal rec- ord ; Charlton H .; and Henrietta, who became the wife of General Basil Duke.

Forming an intimate acquaintance with the three "R's" in the public schools of Lexing- ton, Richard C. Morgan completed his early studies at the Kentucky Military Institute, in Frankfort. Subsequently, in company with his brother, John H. Morgan, he was engaged in the manufacture of woolen jeans and lin- seys until the breaking out of the Civil war. Enlisting then in the Confederate service, he was commissioned lieutenant, and placed on the staff of Gen. John C. Breckinridge. After the battle of Shiloh, he was sent to Virginia as adjutant general on the staff of his brother- in-law, Gen. A. P. Hill. Placed in command of a regiment of cavalry in 1863, Colonel Mor- gan participated in the famous Morgan raids through Indiana and Ohio, and was captured at Buffington's Island by the enemy. Sent to Columbus, Ohio, he was there confined as a prisoner of war for eight months, when he was transferred to Fort Delaware. From there, he, with five general officers, and forty- five field officers, was taken to Morris Island, Charleston Harbor, where he was for a while confined-under Federal guns. Being subse- quently exchanged, the Colonel once more en- tered active service, and at Kingsport, Ten- nessee, was again captured, and from that time until the close of the war was a prisoner at Fort Delaware. Returning then to Lexing- ton, Colonel Morgan started in business as a manufacturer of hemp, and continued in that line of industry for about forty years. He is now identified with the extensive oil interests of this part of Kentucky, being special repre- sentative of the Indian Refining Company.

In 1898, Colonel Morgan married Mrs. Alice Bright, who was born in Lexington, and was the widow of Captain William Bright, of the Federal Army. Colonel Morgan is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Or- der of Elks. In politics he is independent.

HENRY M. SKILLMAN .- Among the native- born citizens of Lexington, Kentucky, who have spent their lives within its precincts, aid- ing as far as lay in their power its growth and development, is Henry M. Skillman, whose birth occurred here February 4, 1863. A son of Dr. Henry Martyn Skillman, he comes of distinguished pioneer stock, and is of Eng- lish ancestry, being a lineal descendant in the eighth generation of Capt. Thomas Skillman, the line of descent being as follows: Capt. Thomas (I), Thomas (2), Isaac (3), Thomas (4), Thomas (5), Thomas T. (6), Henry Martyn (7), and Henry M. (8).

Capt. Thomas (I) Skillman, an officer in the English Army, came to America in 1664, with the Duke of York's expedition. Honor- ably discharged from the army in 1668, he

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settled at Newtown, Long Island, where he married Sarah Pettit, a daughter of John and Sarah (Scofield) Pettit. He died there in 1669, and his widow afterwards became the wife of Cornelius Breese. Thomas (2) Skill- man, the only child of his parents, married Annette Aten, a daughter of Hendrickse Aten, and granddaughter of Hendrickse and Greitje (Warnarts) Aten, who settled in New Am- sterdam in 1662. He acquired large tracts of land on Long Island, and there lived until his death, in 1740. Isaac (3) Skillman removed to Raritan, New Jersey, settling near Rocky Hill, and there spent his remaining days. Thomas (4) Skillman married Mary Beek- man, and having inherited the parental home- stead, near Rocky Hill, there spent his life of eighty-two years, passing away in 1809. Thomas (5) Skillman, a life-long resident of New Jersey, married Elizabeth Stryker, and two of their sons, Abraham and Thomas T., were Kentucky pioneers.

Thomas T. (6) Skillman was reared in New Jersey, where he served an apprenticeship at the printer's trade. In 1808 he came to Lex- ington, and with the assistance of some of the leading clergymen of that time established the "Evangelical Record and Western Re- view," a monthly magazine, and later founded, and published, the "Western Luminary," a re- ligious weekly newspaper. He likewise estab- lished an extensive publishing house, from which numerous standard religious works were issued. In 1823 several thousand copies of the Bible, bearing the imprint of Thomas T. Skillman, publisher, were issued from his es- tablishment, he having printed them from the stereotype plates sent out from New York by the American Bible Society. He was an influential citizen and an elder in the Presby- terian church. He died from cholera in June, 1833, at a comparatively early age. He mar- ried Elizabeth Farrar, whose father, Ebenezer Farrar, a native of New Hampshire, settled in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1798. She was a woman of culture, an earnest religious worker, and was the founder of the Lexington Female Bible Society, and for many years served as president of the Lexington Female Benevolent Society. She survived her husband many years, passing away in 1872.

Henry Martyn (7) Skillman was born in Lexington, Kentucky, September 4, 1824, and received his collegiate education at Transyl- vania University, and in 1844 began the study of medicine under the study of such eminent physicians and surgeons as Drs. B. W. Dudley, J. M. Bush, and E. L. Dudley. In 1847 he was graduated from the Medical Department of that institution, and the following year was

made demonstrator of anatomy by his alma mater. Being subsequently transferred to the chair of Physiology and Pathology, Dr. Skill- man was connected with the Transylvania Uni- versity as a professor until the Civil war, when the building was burned, and the school sus- pended. For two years of the Civil war he was a contracting surgeon in the Union Army, and from its close until his death, in 1902, he was actively and successfully engaged in the practice of his chosen profession in Lexing- ton. He was very prominent in medical cir- cles, in 1869 serving as president of the Ken- tucky State Medical Association, and in 1876 going as a delegate to the International Med- ical Congress, which met in Philadelphia. Dr. Henry Martyn Skillman married Margaret Scott, who was born in Lexington, a daughter of Matthew T. and Winy (Webb) Scott, and they reared four children, namely: Matthew T., Ethelbert D., Thomas T., and Henry M.

Henry M. (8) Skillman was educated in Lexington, under private tutorship, and in 1888, upon the organization of the Lexington Bank and Trust Company, he was made keeper of. the Safety Vaults, and has retained this responsible position until the present time, his efficient services, fidelity and trustworthiness being recognized by all concerned.

Mr. Skillman married, in 1890, Laura Win- ston, who was born in Lexington, a daughter of Avery S. and Amanda (Frazer) Winston, Two sons have been born of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Skillman, namely : Henry Martyn and Avery Winston. Religiously Mr. Skillman belongs to the Presbyterian church, while Mrs. Skillman is a member of the Episcopal church.

J. WILSON BERRY .- A descendant on both sides of the house of some of the earlier pioneers of Fayette county, J. Wilson Berry, of Lexing- ton, is a worthy representative of the leading agriculturists of Fayette county, where, prac- tically, his entire life has been spent. Among his ancestors on the paternal side was James McLeary, his great-great-grandfather, one of the first permanent settlers of Kentucky.

In colonial days James McLeary came with Daniel Boone, the famous backwoodsman and trapper, to Kentucky, which was then a part of Fincastle county, Virginia, becoming one of the original settlers of the western part of the colony of Virginia. He was possessed of considerable means, and secured land in what is now Fayette county, Kentucky. He was a man of strong mental caliber, and of a vigor- ous physique, and lived to the remarkable age of one hundred years. Prior to his death he freed his slaves, at the same time providing each one with the means for obtaining a live- lihood, and entailed his estate to his grandchil-

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dren. He had but one child, a daughter, Re- becca McLeary, who married Major William Berry, Mr. Berry's great-grandfather.

Major William Berry, a native of Virginia, served as a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and at its close came to Kentucky, locating in one of the Ohio River counties, where he lived a few years. Going then to Missouri, he spent his last days in that state, his home being in the vicinity of St. Louis. His first wife, the daugliter of James McLeary, died at a com- paratively early age. He married a second time, and all of the children by that union remained in the West, the children by his first wife coming back to old Kentucky to claim their share of their maternal grandfather's estate.

George Berry, one of the children of the Major's first wife, was born in Fayette county, Kentucky, January 20, 1780. On attaining his majority, he located on the Nicholasville pike, five miles from Lexington, on land willed him by his Grandfather McLeary, and began the improvement of a farm. He first erected a substantial log house, which is still in a good state of preservation, and is used as a granary and stock barn. He was there a resident un- til his death at the good old age of eighty- three years. He married Nancy Pettit, who was born January 10, 1784, being a daugliter of Nathaniel and Rebecca Pettit, pioneer set- tlers of Fayette county. She lived to the age of four score years, and reared seven chil- dren, as follows: Rebecca, who married Asa McConathy, a Fayette county farmer; New- ton, Nathaniel, William, John P., father of J. Wilson; James M .; and Lizzie, who married Jolın A. Price, one of the leading business men of Lexington.

John P. Berry was reared to habits of in- dustry and thrift, and began his career as an independent farmer on rented land. Upon the death of his father, he succeeded to the ownership of the ancestral homestead, and there spent the remainder of his long and useful life of eighty-one years. A skilful and progressive farmer, he was very successful in his operations, and acquired a large estate. He married Catherine Wilson, a native of Fayette county. Her father, John Wilson, was a teacher in his earlier life, but later engaged in agricultural pursuits in Fayette county, of which he was a resident until his death at the age of at about fifty-five years. His wife, whose maiden name was Catherine Clanahan, lived to the age of eighty-six years. John P. Berry and his wife reared two sons, namely : George, who died in 1876; and J. Wilson.

J. Wilson Berry acquired his first knowl- edge of books in the common schools of Fay-

ette county, and subsequently attended George- town University. He remained on the home farm, caring tenderly for his parents in their closing years, and at their deaths succeeding to the ownership of the old home, which was originally owned by his great-great-grand- father, James McLeary. It was entered about 1790, and has since remained in the possession of his descendants. Here Mr. Berry carries on general farming and stock raising on a somewhat extensive scale, spend- ing a portion of each year on his farm, the remainder of the time, with the exception of the few weeks which he spends each win- ter in the South, at his city residence in Lex- ington.

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A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume III, Part 69

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