A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume III, Part 7

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 7

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1. R. Carbonell

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his staff as aide-de-camp for a period of four years, with the rank of colonel, and he was also incumbent of this position during the short administration of Governor Taylor.

During the Civil war Mr. Ahlering per- formed guard duty as a member of the Ken- tucky state troops. He participated in the en- gagement at Cynthiana against General Mor- gan. Here he was captured and later paroled, in June, 1862. In 1863 he became connected with the commissary department of the Mis- sissippi fleet, and after serving nine months he was discharged on account of disability. In September, 1864, he enlisted in Company F, Fifty-third Kentucky Mounted Volunteer In- fantry, and served as orderly sergeant about six months. Later he served in the same ca- pacity under Colonel True, until his honorable discharge, in September, 1865. He saw much active service during the memorable Saltville raid. Mr. Ahlering has ever retained a deep interest in his old comrades in arms and the same is shown by his membership in William Nelson Post of the Grand Army of the Repub- lic. In a fraternal way he is affiliated with Eureka Lodge, Knights of Pythias.

Mr. Ahlering has been thrice married. He first wedded Miss Nannie Niles, in 1868, who was born and reared in Campbell county and who bore him two children-Walter H. and Daisy G., the latter of whom is the wife of Thomas Waters, of Kansas City. Mr. Waters is a traveling freight solicitor for the Pennsyl- vania Railroad Company. The second mar- riage of Mr. Ahlering was solemnized in the year 1883, at which time he was united to Miss Mary Moore, a native of Lexington, this state. She is survived by three daughters, namely-Nettie E., who remains at the pater- nal home; Lucy E., who is the wife of Harry O. Power and who resides in Zanesville, Ohio; and Viola, who is attending school at Fort Wayne, Indiana. His present wife, to whom he was married in 1895, was the widow of Fred Nash at the time of her marriage to Mr. Ahlering. Her maiden name was Minnie Perry and she is a native of Newport. Her mother was a direct descendant of William Washington, brother of General George Wash- ington. No children have been born to the last marriage, but Mrs. Ahlering was the mother of two children by her first marriage, one of whom is living-Bettie Nash, who re- sides with her mother. Colonel Ahlering is a member of the Lutheran church, while his wife holds membership in the Methodist Epis- copal church. The only son of Mr. Ahlering enlisted in the Second Kentucky Infantry dur- ing the Spanish-American war and served

during the entire campaign in Porto Rico. He is now engaged in farming at Dupont, Indi- ana.

THOMAS RODMAN CARTMELL .- Among the able practitioners at the Louisville bar is numbered Thomas Rodman Cartmell, who was born on the old Rodman homestead, the home of his maternal grandfather, on May 10, 1869, at a time when his parents were residents of Union county, Kentucky. The father of our subject was the late John Van Cartmell, who was born in Bullitt county, Kentucky, in 1830, the son of Henry Christ Cartmell, a native of Bullitt county, living about twenty miles from Shepherdsville, Kentucky, where he was a justice of the peace and a leading man, but he died early in life. His father was Nathaniel Cartmell, a native of Winchester, in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Henry Christ Cartmell married Mary Aud, a Kentuckian by birth, whose people came to Kentucky from Mary- land.

The mother of our subject was Annah Rodman, who was born in Oldham county, Kentucky, in 1838, the daughter of the late Judge Thomas A. Rodman, who for thirty years served as county judge of Oldham county. Judge Rodman was a native of Old- ham county, Kentucky, and was descended from the old Quaker family of Rodmans, who settled originally in Pennsylvania. In 1849 John Van Cartmell, then a young man under twenty, came to Louisville, but subsequently removed to Caseyville, Kentucky, where he resided for a period of ten years, removing thence into Union county, Kentucky, where for many years he was a prominent man. serving two terms as deputy sheriff and one full term as sheriff of that county. He be- came a capitalist, and returning to Louisville in the spring of 1883, engaged in the whole- sale tobacco business and so continued for a number of years, but retired from active business before his death, which occurred in Louisville July 31, 1889, his widow surviving him until June 11, 1899.

Thomas Rodman Cartmell was reared in Union county, Kentucky, and attended the public schools in Union county. Upon com- ing to Louisville with his parents in 1885, he attended the Cincinnati schools for three years, following this with a course at Rugby school in Louisville, then the Louisville Law School, where he received his degree of B. L. and finally supplemented this with a course in the law department of the University of Virginia. Mr. Cartmell, having thus equipped himself with a thorough grounding

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in the requirements of his professional edu- cation, began the practice of law in Louisville, in March, 1896, and so continued until 1906, when he became connected with the legal department of the Kentucky Title Company of Louisville.

Mr. Cartmell's social tendencies find alle- giance with the Masonic fraternity, in which he is a past master of Daylight Lodge, No. 760, F. & A. M. He married Mrs. Nellie E. Melton, daughter of John Wagner, of Harri- son county, Indiana.

BENJAMIN GARDNER WILLIAMS .- A strong and able lawyer and a leader among the rep- resentatives of the legal profession of the cap- ital city of Kentucky is Benjamin Gardner Williams. The possessor of unusual attain- ments and capable of inspiring the confidence of all with whom he comes in contact, Mr. Williams has upon more than one occasion been recognized by the people as the "Man of the Hour" and has fulfilled numerous impor- tant duties with which he has been intrusted with signal success. He is an unwavering sup- porter of the principles of Democracy and has held several public offices of importance, serv- ing as county attorney from 1886 to 1890, and as county judge for the terms including the years between 1890 and 1898. In 1900, when the state of Kentucky became clothed with the dark habiliments of tragedy and mourn- ing. Mr. Williams was chosen by the Goebel family to assist in the prosecution of the as- sassins of Governor Goebel.

Benjamin Gardner Williams was born in Morgan county, Kentucky, August 7, 1859, his eyes first opening to the light of day upon his father's farm. His parents were Mason Hol- ly Prather and Priscilla (Patrick) Williams, both of them of North Carolina nativity and stock. The paternal grandfather, Mason Williams. was a Baptist preacher and farmer, who lived and labored to bring to healthy frui- tion both Kentucky's fertile acres and the souls of men, in what is now Magoffin county. He came from North Carolina at a very early day. He became well known in that section of the new state, and at different times was sheriff of Morgan county and representative of the county in the state legislature. He was of Scotch-Irish descent and possessed in high degree the sturdy characteristics of that stock.

Mr. Williams' father and his brother Dial S. Williams, enlisted in the Confederate army at the time of the Civil war, serving in the Fifth Kentucky Infantry. The latter was killed in June, 1864. At the close of the con- flict the father returned to Morgan county and in 1865 sold his farm and moved to Mason county, where he remained for about two

years. In March, 1867, he came to the capital city, Frankfort, and began keeping hotel, a new vocation, which he pursued for a good many years. He was elected sheriff in 1876 and again in 1878, serving until 1880. He was subsequently appointed jailor to fill an unexpired term. He died in October, 1908, at the age of eighty-eight years, his birth hav- ing occurred November 15, 1819. His wife preceded him to the Great Beyond by a num- ber of years, her death having occurred in October, 1896, at the age of seventy-six years. The family consisted of the following eight children : Dial S., Sarah Margaret, Mary J., Wiley C., Mason H. P. Jr., Rebecca, John B. and Ben G. In the matter of religious faith Mason Williams and his wife belonged to the Christian church, as indeed did his entire fam- ily.

Benjamin Gardner Williams was about eight years of age when his father moved to Frankfort, and within the pleasant limits of the capital city he has ever since resided. He attended the public schools and later the Ken- tucky Eclectic Institute, conducted by Mr. J. W. Dodd. Being drawn by natural inclination to the legal profession he began to read law and pursued a one year's course in law at the University of Virginia, being licensed to prac- tice in 1884. He entered upon his active ca- reer almost immediately, and in evidence of the speedy recognition he won in professional circles in Frankfort is the fact that two years later, in 1886, he was elected county attorney, in which capacity he served until 1890. In the latter year he was elected county judge and was re-elected in 1894, his second term expiring in January, 1898. He then retired from public life to devote his entire attention to his practice, which has assumed large pro- portions, and is of an important character.

In 1892 Mr. Williams was united in mar- riage to Miss Rose Whitworth, of Louisville, daughter of John and Elizabeth (Howard) Whitworth. Within the walls of their home are growing to manhood and womanhood the following eight children, by name Priscilla, Virginia, Rose, Ben G. Jr., Jane, John, Ann Howard and Ruth. Mr. Williams belongs to the Christian church and is affiliated with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.

WILLIAM CHRISTIAN HILES, retired mer- chant and tobacco broker, is a descendant of an old Virginia family, his great-grandfather, William Gates, having emigrated to Kentucky, where he became a pioneer settler in Mason county prior to 1800. Mr. Hiles was born on the old homestead farm in Mason county, Kentucky, on the 7th of December, 1846, and is a son of Randolph and Elizabeth (Gates)

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Hiles, both of whom were likewise natives of Mason county. Christian Hiles, paternal grandfather of the subject of this review, was born in Pennsylvania and moved to Kentucky early in the nineteenth century. He estab- lished his home in Mason county, near Dover, where he reclaimed a farm from the virgin wilderness. Both grandfathers served with distinction in the war of 1812 and were pres- ent at the time the great Indian chief, Tecum- seh, was killed in the battle of Thames. In 1833 William Gates removed to Bracken county, this state, where he spent the residue of his life, his death having there occurred at the yenerable age of seventy-eight years. Christian Hiles was a staunch Union man dur- ing the Civil war and served with efficiency in the recruiting department for the United States government. His son, Randolph Hiles, father of him whose name initiates this review, was a farmer and tobacco buyer in Bracken county, where he died, in 1849, at the early age of twenty-nine years. His wife, Elizabeth (Gates) Hiles, survived him by more than half a century and subsequently married James Stairs, by whom she became the mother of four children. She was summoned to the life eternal in Bracken county, in 1905, at the age of eighty-four years, deeply mourned by all who had come within the sphere of her gracious influence. Her grandfather, William Gates, was numbered among the sterling pio- neers who came from Virginia to Kentucky in the latter part of the eighteenth century. He settled in Mason county, where he pur- chased one thousand acres of government land, at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, and he became an extensive planter and slave holder. He also erected a distillery, in which connection he carried on a successful business. He shipped produce by flat boat to New Or- leans and frequently made the return trip on foot. He gained wide notoriety in his tobacco dealings. His regulation price for this article was six cents a pound, which was considered high in those days. Whenever asked in regard to the price received he always replied "six" and eventually became known by the sobriquet "Old Billy Six," which appellation was handed down through the succeeding generations, the subject of this review being commonly known as "Six Hiles" in connection with his tobacco operations. William Gates Jr., grandfather of William C. Hiles, of this sketch, was born in 1794, in Virginia, and at an early age accom- panied his parents to the Blue Grass state. He followed in the footsteps of his father and he served in the battle of Thames in the war of 1812. He likewise saw Tecumseh killed and always maintained that a man by the name of

White killed the chief and not General John- ston. William Gates Jr, died on his plantation in Bracken county in 1878. His wife, whose maiden name was Theodosia Collins, was a consin of Simon Kenton, the well known Ken- tucky pioneer.

Elizabeth (Gates) Hiles had four children by her first marriage, and of this number Will- iam C. was the third in order of birth and he is the elder of the two now living. He was reared to the sturdy discipline of the home farm and attended the district schools of Ma- son and Bracken counties during the winter terms, assisting in the work of the farm dur- ing the summer seasons. When eighteen years of age he showed his intrinsic loyalty to the cause of the Union in the war between the states by enlisting as a private in Company C, Eighty-second Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was mustered out at Cincinnati and served with valor during the remaining six months of the war. When twenty-one years of age he initiated his independent career as a merchant at Berlin, Kentucky. One year later he dis- posed of his store in Berlin and removed to Covington, Kenton county, where he engaged in the tobacco business. He carried on this line of enterprise for many years and achieved eminent success in the same as broker in the Cincinnati market and from 1899 to 1904 he was inspector for that market. In the latter year he retired from active business life and is now living in the enjoyment of former years of earnest toil and endeavor.

In politics Mr. Hiles is a stalwart supporter of the principles and policies of the Democrat- ic party, and he served for five years as a member of the city council and four years as alderman in Covington. In the Masonic fra- ternity he is affiliated with the Blue Lodge, No. 156, Free & Accepted Masons.

In 1871 Mr. Hiles was united in marriage to Miss Mary Sommer, who was born and reared in the city of Covington and who is a daughter of John Sommer, who owned and operated the old Central Hotel at the corner of Pike and Washington streets in Covington for many years. Mr. and Mrs. Hiles became the parents of twelve children, of which num- ber the following named are now living : Mary is the widow of Albert Sloscher; Ger- trude is the wife of George Maloney and they reside in Bracken county, this state; Virginia is the wife of Adolph Hager, of Kenton coun- ty; Pettus is the wife of Ferdinand J. Ruh, of Covington, to whom a sketch is dedicated on other pages of this work; and Edwin remains at the parental home. The children who are deceased are Abigail, William C., Jr., John R., Leona, Anna and two who died in infancy.

Vol. III-3

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Mrs. Hiles and the children are all communi- cants of the Catholic church, in which they hold membership in the parish of St. Patrick's church in Covington.

EDWIN TIMPSON BRUCE, M. D., is among the successful physicians of the younger class. He was born in New York city on March 22, 1880, and is the son of W. M. and Emily C. (Westerberg) Bruce, both natives of New York city, the father a descendant of Scotch ancestry and the mother of English parentage. W. M. Bruce is a graduate of Columbia Col- lege, and was a successful practitioner in the profession of law on Wall street for thirty years, being now retired.

Dr. Bruce acquired his early education in the New York city schools, took a further course at Temple College, Philadelphia, from which he received the degree of B. S. in 1897. He then entered the Jefferson Medical College at Philadelphia, in which he spent three years and finally won his graduation degree of Doc- tor of Medicine from the medical department of Centre University, Kentucky, in 1905. While he was at the Jefferson Medical College and at Centre College he spent eighteen months at the Germantown Hospital, Philadelphia.

Having acquired a thorough knowledge of the duties of his profession the Doctor began active practice in Louisville in 1905, as a gen- eral practitioner, also making a specialty of X-ray diagnoses, the only physician in Lou- isville engaged in that special line. In connec- tion with this work he is Radiographer to the University of Louisville and the Louisville City Hospital, and is on the staff of the Home of the Incurables.

Dr. Bruce is a member of the Jefferson County Medical Society, the Mississippi Val- ley Medical Society, the Society of Physicians and Surgeons of Louisville, the Louisville Academy of Medicine, the Louisville Clinical, the Kentucky State Medical Society and the American Medical Association, and is also a member of the Phi Chi, Greek letter frater- nity.

Dr. Bruce married Isa Robertson, of Phil- adelphia, the daughter of James Robertson, a Scotchman who graduated as a physician from Edinburgh University and is now in mercantile business in Philadelphia. To the Doctor and wife has been born one son, Alfred Eli. The promise of the future for Dr. Bruce, judging from the record of the past, contains a vista that is most encouraging and promises a cer- tain fulfillment.

ELLIOTT B. BEARD .- With many of the lead- ing measures resulting in the permanent devel- opment of the city of Shelbyville, Elliott B. Beard has been identified, and his efforts have

been such that they have not only won him a place among the prominent people of the city, but have also contributed in a large measure to the general improvement and development of the city along lines of substantial advance- ment. At the bar and in the handling of busi- ness interests, Mr. Beard has become a factor in the life of Shelbyville, which is his native town and has been his continued place of residence, and of business.

Elliott B. Beard is a native of Shelby coun- ty, Kentucky, born January 15, 1868, the son of Dr. William F. and Matilda (Roberts) Beard. The father was born near Lexington, Kentucky, in 1835, the son of Joseph M. Beard, who was born in Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania, in 1803, the son of Henry Beard, who was a native of Ireland, and settled first at Philadelphia, and then in Fayette county, Ken- tucky, in 1805. Joseph M. Beard, grandfather of Mr. Beard, removed from Fayette county to Oldham county, Kentucky, from where Dr. Beard, our subject's father, removed to Chris- tiansburg, Shelby county, where he practiced medicine until 1890, when he removed to Shelbyville, where he has since practiced and is now the leading physician of Shelby county. Dr. Beard was graduated from the Medical Department of the University of Louisville in the class of 1859. His wife, Matilda Roberts Beard, was born in Shelby county, and was the daughter of William Roberts, also a native of Shelby county.

Their son Elliott B. attended the public schools and was graduated from Georgetown (Ky.) College in 1890 with the degree of A. M. He taught for one year, then read law in the office of Pryor J. Foree, Shelbyville, and was admitted to the bar in 1893. Practical industry, wisely and vigorously applied, never fails in securing a due measure of success, and the well known and able business man of whom this sketch is written has given in his career an exemplification of the truth of the statement. Soon after entering the practice of law, Mr. Beard formed a partnership with Judge Charles C. Marshall, which partnership was terminated in 1907 when Judge Marshall went on the Circuit bench.

Mr. Beard has served with credit in several positions and has in every instance received the commendation of his supporters and fel- low-citizens. He served as judge of the city police court from 1896 to 1900, as city attorney from 1900 to 1902 and as master commissioner of Shelby county courts from 1903 to 1906 and as a member of the Kentucky Legislature in the session of 1908. He is an interested mem- ber of the Masonic Order, and has advanced to a high position in its lodges, being a member

WIM Smith

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of Solomon Lodge No. 5, F. & A. M., Shelby- ville Chapter No. 2, R. A. M. and Shelby Com- mandery No. 32. He was one of a committee selected to prepare a book on Masonic laws of Kentucky. Mr. Beard married Miss Willie May Rives, the daughter of H. P. Rives, of Christian county, Kentucky.

WILLIAM MAYFIELD SMITH deserves con- sideration in this publication by reason of his standing as one of the representative mein- bers of the bar of the city of Louisville, as well as from the fact that he is a native son of the fine old Blue Grass state. He was born in Christian county, Kentucky, on the 3d of January, 1853, and is a son of Samuel R. and Mary J. (Pattillo) Smith, both of whom were born in the state of North Carolina, where they were reared and educated and where their marriage was solemnized, after which they came to Kentucky, first settling in Chris- tian county, whence they later removed to Graves county, when their son William M. was seven years of age. Samuel R. Smith became a successful farmer of this state and both he and his wife continued to reside in Graves county until their death. Samuel R. Smith, Sr., grandfather of him whose name initiates this article, was of stanch English ancestry, and the family was founded in America in the Colonial epoch of our national history. He served as a soldier in the Conti- nental army in the Revolutionary war. In the maternal line William Mayfield Smith traces his ancestry back to French-Huguenot stock, and the Pattillo family likewise was early founded in North Carolina. *

William Mayfield Smith is indebted to the public schools of Mayfield, Kentucky, for his preliminary educational discipline, and in 1871-2 he was a student in the Louisville Law School, in which he was graduated in the lat- ter year, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He had previously given careful attention to preliminary reading of the law and thus came to his profession admirably fortified for its work. He initiated practice in Mayfield, Ken- tucky, immediately after his graduation, and he soon gained distinctive precedence as one of the successful members of the bar of Graves county. He served four years as pros- ecuting attorney of that county, and also rep- resented the same in the lower house of the state legislature. In 1892 Mr. Smith estab- lished his home in the city of Louisville, and from September of that year until the fol- lowing February he was assistant United States district attorney for the Kentucky dis- trict. In February, 1893, in recognition of bis eligibility and fine legal powers, Presi- dent Cleveland conferred upon him the ap-

pointment to the office of United States dis- trict attorney for the same district. The in- cumbency he retained for a period of four years, and his retirement therefrom was the result of a change in the administration of national affairs, as the Rupublican party tlien came into power. So excellent had been his record as district attorney that he was made special district attorney for a period of eight- een months, at the expiration of which he retired. He has since given his attention to his private practice, in which he retains a large and representative clientage, and he is known as a skilled and versatile lawyer and well for- tified counselor. In politics, as has already been intimated, he is a stanch supporter of the cause of the Democratic party. Mr. Smith is identified with the Masonic order. in which he has attained the chivalric degrees, besides which he is affiliated with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias.

Mr. Smith has twice been married. In 1874 he was united in marriage to Miss Au- gusta Anderson, daughter of Lucien Ander- son, of Mayfield, Kentucky. She was sum- moned to the life eternal in 1879 and is sur- vived by three sons :- Harry A., Terry P. and Lucien R. Harry A. and Lucien R. are en- gaged in the practice of law at Louisville and Mayfield, Kentucky, respectively, and the sec- ond son, Terry P., is engaged in the banking business in Mayfield. In 1887 Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Dillah Sherrill, daughter of Colonel Lee Sherrill, of Ballard county, Kentucky. The children of the sec- ond marriage are :- Linda Lee, Ralph W., William Mayfield Jr. and Ludie Sherrill. Mrs. Smith and the children are members of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, and Mr. Smith is a member of the Christian church.

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A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume III, Part 7

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