A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume III, Part 81

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 81

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).

John Murray, was born in Breckenridge county, November 9, 1807, and died at Lewis- port, Hancock county, in 1873.

The subject of this sketch at an early age moved with his parents to Louisville, Ken- tucky, where he resided until the death of his mother in 1885, after which he made his home with his great-uncle, Eli Horace Stone, and his great-aunt, Mrs. Sarah Stone Sterett, at Bloomfield, Nelson county, Kentucky. He at- tended the schools at Bloomfield until 1892, when he became a student at the Kentucky University, now Transylvania University, Lex- ington, Kentucky, from which institution he graduated with honors in 1895, with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. For the three years suc- ceeding his graduation he taught school at Bloomfield, reading law at the same time. He attended the law school at the University of Virginia in 1896, and was admitted to the prac- tice of law at Owensboro, Kentucky, in 1897. He entered actively upon the practice of his profession at Bardstown, Kentucky, in 1900, and has continued since in the active practice. At the close of the legislative session of 1904 he moved to Frankfort, which presented a wider field for the practice of law. He formed a partnership with Judge Lewis McQuown, formerly of Bowling Green, under the firm. name of McQuown & Brown. This partner- ship continued until 1907, when Judge Mc- Quown and wife found it necessary to make an extended stay in Europe on account of their health. The partnership was dissolved and Mr. Brown continued his practice alone until August, 1909, when he formed a partnership with his present partner, Mr. Lewis Nuckols, under the firm name of Brown & Nuckols.

At the legislative session of 1906 Mr. Brown was elected by the General Assembly a member of the Board of Penitentiary Commissioners, defeating the incumbent, Hon. Edward Fin- nell. Factional feeling in the Democratic party was bitter in the year 1907, which resulted that year in the election of a Republican state ad- ministration and the Legislature elected at the same time elected a Republican to the United States Senate. The Board of Penitentiary Commissioners during this time was the object of violent attack by a faction in the Demo- cratic party and by the Republican state ad- ministration. However, Mr. Brown became a candidate to succeed himself and at the legislative session of 1910 was re-elected for a period of four years, receiving both the Democratic and Republican caucus nomina- tions and the unanimous vote of the General Assembly.

Mr. Brown's public service in the General Assembly and as member of the Board of

------

1539

HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS

Penitentiary Commissioners is too extensive to be included in a sketch of this character. He was an active participant in all of the dis- cussions and consideration of legislation pending during the six years beginning with the legislative session of 1900 and afterwards drafted the Indeterminate Sentence Law, the Reformatory Act and the Parole Law, passed by the General Assembly of 1910, which revo- lutionized the treatment of criminals in Ken- tucky.

In 1902 Mr. Brown was married to Miss Rose McKnight Crittenden, of Frankfort, Kentucky, the daughter of John Allen Critten- den and his wife, Virginia Lafon Jackson. Mrs. Brown is a member of a distinguished Kentucky family. Her maternal grandfather was Richard Jackson, of Woodford county, and the maiden name of her grandmother was Mary Lafon. Her great-grandfather on the paternal side was Major John Crittenden, of Virginia, an officer in the Revolutionary war, who afterwards moved to Fayette county, Kentucky, and represented it many times in the General Assembly of Kentucky. He was also a member of the Society of the Cincin- nati; her grandfather was Henry Crittenden, of Shelby county, once secretary of state of Kentucky. He married Ann Maria Allen, of Shelby county, daughter of Colonel John Al- len, who lost his life at the battle of River Raisin in the war of 1812.

Mrs. Brown's father, John Allen Critten- den, had three brothers and no sisters, namely -Henry Crittenden, a lawyer who died early in life and unmarried; Colonel William Crit- tenden, who was an officer in the United States Army and who was a member of the ill-fated Lopez exposition in Cuba, where he was captured and executed, and he also was unmarried ; and Thomas T. Crittenden, after- wards governor of Missouri. John Allen Crit- tenden had four half-brothers, namely- Judge John Allen Murray, of Cloverport, Ken- tucky ; General David R. Murray, of Hardins- burg, Kentucky; General Eli Huston Murray, of Cloverport, Kentucky; and Logan C. Mur- ray, president of the American National Bank, Louisville, Kentucky.

Three children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Brown, their names being Virginia Crit- tenden, Eli Huston and Dorsey Washington. Mr. Brown's mother was Nancy W. Dorsey, the daughter of Dr. Washington Dorsey, of Yazoo City, Mississippi, whose wife was Nancy Stone, daughter of Eli Hammond and Sallie Stephens Stone. The grandfather was John Stone, the son of Eli Stone; John Stone came to Kentucky from Fauquier county, Vir-

ginia, between 1786 and 1790. . He settled in Nelson county, Kentucky, on a farm of six hundred acres, which now belongs to Mr. Brown and his brother and sister. Mr. Brown was one of a family of four children-Hor- ace Stone Brown, who died in 1894; W. Dor- sey Brown, who is a resident of Kaufman, Texas; and Sarah Dorsey Brown, now Mrs. George G. Black, of Seattle, Washington.

JAMES LESTER AMMERMAN .- Ranking among the prosperous agriculturists of Har- rison county, Kentucky, a record of whose lives fill an important place in this volume, is James Lester Ammerman, of Lair. A native of Kentucky, he was born February 16, 1860, in Harrison county, six miles west of Cyn- thiana, on Lexington Road, which is now the Mt. Vernon Pike. He is a son of Cornelius Ammerman and grandson of Daniel Ammer- man. He is of true pioneer descent, his great- grandfather, Philip Ammerman, a native of Maryland, having migrated to Bourbon county, Kentucky, at an early day, taking up land near Cane Ridge, where he resided until his death in 1844.

Daniel Ammerman, who moved from Bour- bon county to Harrison county, locating on White Oak Pike, married a Miss Reed, a daughter of Jonathan Reed, of Bourbon county. He died in 1864 on his home farm.

Cornelius Ammerman was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky, July 8, 1817. and as a boy came with his parents to Harrison county. After his marriage he purchased a small farm and embarked in agricultural pursuits on a modest scale. Meeting with good success as a tiller of the soil, he purchased more land as his means allowed, in due course of time be- coming owner of three hundred acres of good land, advantageously located on Mt. Vernon Pike, where he continued as a farmer until his death, January 3, 1896. A man of upright principles and solid worth, he was for many years an active worker in the Mt. Hope Meth- odist Episcopal church, of which his wife was also a member, and was held in high regard as a citizen.

On May 19, 1839, Cornelius Ammerman was united in marriage with Elizabeth Ren- aker, who was born near Selma, Harrison county, Kentucky, October 30, 1823, and died on the home farm April 17, 1898. Her par- ents, Jacob and Frances (Bennett) Renaker, resided for many years in Harrison county. Nine children blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius Ammerman, namely: Sarah F., wife of A. W. Lydick, of Cynthiana ; Mar- tha Ellen, wife of Thomas Henry, of Cyn- thiana; Daniel, of Harrison county; Louisa,

1540

HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS

wife of Robert Forsythe, of Mercer county ; Jacob H., of Harrison county ; Elizabeth, de- ceased; James Lester with whom this sketch is chiefly concerned, and two daughters wlio died, Zuba and Mary.

J. Lester Ammerman grew to manhood on the farm which his father improved and was educated in the rural schools of his district, remaining with his parents until his marriage. Leaving home at that time, he was away two years when he returned, and subsequently continued on the homestead until 1905. Mr. Ammerman then purchased his present estate of one hundred and sixty-four acres at Lair, where he is carrying on a substantial business as a general farmer and stock grower, raising an abundance of the cereals common to this region and keeping a good grade of stock.

Mr. Ammerman married, January 20, 1886, Maria Lee David, who was born December 13, 1864, in Bourbon county, Kentucky, between Shawhan and Ruddels Mills. Her father, John David, was twice married, by his first wife, whose maiden name was Wilson, having two children. He married for his second wife, June 15, 1854, Maria Simms, who died in 1906, aged eighty-one years, leaving two chil- dren, Elizabeth, wife of D. P. Patton, of Bourbon county, Kentucky, and Mrs. Am- merman. Six children have made their ad- vent into the home of Mr. and Mrs. Ammer- man, namely: Clyde David, born December 24, 1886, and now living in Memphis, Ten- nessee ; Robert Lee, born September 29, 1888, and married Mary Belle Renaker, of Broad- well, and who now live in Memphis, Tennes- see; Lester, born June 9, 1891; Ruth, born December 3, 1892; Cornelia, born April 17, 1897; and John, born October 31, 1899. Brought up in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal church, Mr. Ammerman is still one of the most faithful members, while Mrs. Am- merman is a consistent member of the Presby- terian church.

WILLIAM D. URMSTON .- One of the most venerable and estimable of the farmer citizens of Harrison county is William D. Urmston, proprietor of that far-famed and valuable property, the Cold Spring Farm, near Lair on the old Lair Pike. He was one of the brave young Kentuckians who upheld the cause of the South at the time of the Civil war and to-day he stands as an example of the genial, optimistic Kentucky gentleman, dowered with many good gifts of mind and heart. Mr. Urm- ston was born August 1, 1830, in Bourbon county, Kentucky, north of Jacksonville, to Thomas and Eliza (Harcourt) Urmston. Thomas Duff Urmston was born near Chilli-

cothe, Ohio, February 12, 1801, and he lived to see more than eighty years, his demise oc- curring January 23, 1883. His father, Ben- jamin Urmston, who died in 1820, was one of the founders of Chillicothe, the original cap- ital of Ohio. Thomas Duff was twice mar- ried, the first time in 1825, to Eliza Harcourt, of Bourbon county, mother of William D., her death occurring in 1855. Of the thirteen chil- dren born to that union Mr. Urmston is the only one who survives at the present time. The second marriage was with Ann G. Hurst, who died in 1878, some five years previous to her husband.

Thomas Duff Urmston was of the sturdy pioneer stuff which made possible the rapid development of the middle and southwest. When he was fourteen years old he left home with his brother Nathaniel, the size of the family making it expedient that the children become self-supporting as early as possible. They walked to a point four miles below Cyn- thiana, Kentucky, and there Thomas appren- ticed himself to learn the tanning and curry- ing trade. The brother Nathaniel secured work for a time, but his ambitions were set on becoming a minister. Prospects were dubi- ous, however, for the accomplishment of this purpose and he might have been disappointed' had not Thomas, as soon as he began to earn money, divided each month's wages with him in order that he might get the required educa- tion. Nathaniel Urmston in due time became a minister of the Presbyterian church and preached at Millsburg and in various points in Missouri, his demise occurring after a use- ful life at West Union, Ohio.

After Thomas Duff had mastered the de- tails of his trade he worked for a Mr. Morri- son at Cynthiana, and subsequently moved to Bourbon county, north of Jacksonville, near the Harrison county line. There he pur- chased a small tract of land and began the building of a tanyard. He discovered to his chagrin that his vats would not hold water because of the shale rock sub-soil, so in 1832 he sold out and moved across the line into Harrison county, about two miles south of Broadwell. There he built a large tanyard and currying shop and built up a large busi- ness in that line, while at the same time oper- ating a store. In 1851 the tannery business began to grow slack, and ever alert to better business prospects he moved his tannery to a point two miles above Claysville on the Lick- ing river, there constructing another tanyard. He piped his water supply from above. This enabled him to clean out his vats and have plenty of water in his tanning business. Here

1541

HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS

he tanned his hides and hauled them in a wagon drawn by six horses to his shops, where he made the leather into boots, shoes, horse collars and all kinds of leather goods; this from what he did not send to the mar- kets. With the proceeds he purchased mer- chandise for his store, the same being hauled across the country. His business was of broad scope and importance and he employed a large force of men, shoemakers, harness-makers, tanners and the like. In addition to all this he operated a farm of one hundred and forty acres. Thomas Urmston was a very enter- prising and successful man. He started in the world without anything, handicapped by lack of education, and at the age when most boys feel themselves entitled to the shelter of the home roof. In view of all these circum- stances his success was nothing short of won- derful. All his life he was an avidious reader and he was well informed despite the short time he spent behind a desk in the school room. He never gave up active life even when his years had come to number many. Politically he was a Whig and he was a man of deep religious conviction. There was no Presbyterian church at Cynthiana when he first came to Kentucky, but on November 17, 1817, he joined the Mt. Pleasant Presbyterian church near Broadwell and continued a mem- ber for sixty-six years. For half a century he was an elder in the church. His life as a Christian was most admirable and irreproach- able and his Christian principles were for every-day use. He was very liberal in support of the church and its various projects. He was one of the organizers of the Jacksonville Cemetery. He was one of the most enlight- ened in his trade of that day and took many premiums for his leather goods, the same be- ing valued mementoes in the family to-day.

The early years of William D. Urmston were passed near the Broadwell place and there he obtained a good common school edu- cation for that time, and his father's tanyard was the scene of his first employment. A part of his work consisted in driving a six-horse team between home and Claysville. In 1852, laboring under the conviction that "Home- keeping youth have ever homely wits," he left home and went to Clark county, Missouri, set- tling on two hundred and forty acres of land which his father had entered; one hundred and sixty acres of this was raw prairie land and the other one hundred and twenty was timber land. The tract to which young Urmston bent his energies is near the present site of the town of Kahokia, Missouri, which he event- ually helped to name. He was successful in

the improving and cultivation of this land and he remained in Missouri until the outbreak of the long threatened Civil war.

He enlisted in September, 1861, in Colonel Green's regiment, the Tenth Missouri Regi- ment of the Army of the Confederacy, under Captain Richardson, and his service continued for a little over a year, or until October, 1862, taking part in several severe engagements. After his discharge he sold out in Missouri and returned to his native state, whose at- tractions had ever remained strong with him. He first located in Bourbon county, where he purchased a farm, but this he sold within a few months and returned to Harrison county, the district of his youth, and purchased a farming property near Leeslick, which he op- erated until 1869. In that year he became the possessor of his present desirable farm of one hundred and sixty-one acres, one and one-half miles from Lair, on the east bank of the South Licking river. His home is situ- ated on one of the loveliest bends of this pic- turesque stream. His home is extremely at- tractive, the fine old house having been erected by Mr. Urmston to take the place of the orig- inal which was destroyed by fire a good many years ago. It has ever been the scene of gracious hospitality and is a favorite spot, for Mr. Urmston is a fine old gentleman and can lay claim to many friends and admirers. He is a faithful member of the Presbyterian church at Lair and has always given his suf- frage to the Democratic party.

Mr. Urmston was first married September I, 1856, Mary C. Talbot, a native of Bourbon county, Kentucky, and a daughter of Henry H. Talbot, becoming his bride. She was a member of the prominent pioneer family of Bourbon county of that name. She passed to the other life in 1871, no children having been born to her and her husband. In September, 1874, Mr. Urmston took as his wife Rebecca Ann Switzer, born in 1845, her worthy and useful life being terminated January 15, 191I. More extended mention of this Switzer family is found on other pages of this work, but a briefer review of the family will be here in- serted. Her parents were Nathaniel and Su- san (Shropshire) Switzer, the former of whom is deceased and the latter of whom resides with her son, Robert W. Switzer. She has

attained to a very great age, her birth having occurred October 21, 1816. Nathaniel Swit- zer was born in Ireland in 1814 and emigrated to America when a youth of about sixteen years. He subsequently found his way to Bourbon county and there entered upon an apprenticeship as a saddler. He married in

1542

HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS

1838 and some years later came to Scott county, where he purchased a farm and there- upon resided for the residue of his life. He died in 1891. Of the eight children born to these good people Mrs. Urmston was one. Two brother survive,-Howard V., of Norfolk, Virginia, and Robert W., a Harrison county agriculturist. Mrs. Urmston's maternal grand- father, Abner Shropshire, was born May 13, 1761, enlisted in the Revolutionary army at the age of seventeen years, and came from his native state, Virginia, at the close of the war, to the state of Kentucky, there meeting and marrying his wife and spending his remaining years. Mrs. Switzer is a well-preserved, in- telligent and worthy woman, and she lives in the best sense of the word despite her ninety- five years.

The ideal marriage union of Mr. and Mrs. Urmston was further cemented by the birth of six children, four of whom survive at the present day : Mary B. is the wife of H. W. Drath and resides in Chicago, Illinois; Eliza- beth is the wife of J. M. Cooley and makes her home in Rome, Georgia; Howard and Kath- erine G. remain at home with their father, the latter presiding over the household since the death of her mother, whose memory will long remain green in the hearts of the many who knew and loved her.

CAPTAIN DANIEL WEBSTER OWENS, one of Shelby county's prominent citizens now living retired at Shelbyville, was for many years identified with Kentucky's agricultural inter- ests and was also one of that valiant and loyal company who at the time of the Civil war put aside all personal considerations to offer their services to the government. He can look back over a most adventurous and thrilling career as a soldier, which embraced many of the crucial engagements of the great struggle. Mr. Owens, who is the scion of a well-known Kentucky family, was born in Henry county, four miles north of New Castle, the county seat, and in the vicinity of the old Mt. Gilead church, the date of his birth being December 19. 1840. The scenes upon which his eyes at first opened were those of the old Boulware farm, his mother having been Esther Boul- ware. His father was R. L. Owens, and he came to Henry county in 1806, at the age of six years, from his native county of Culpeper in the Old Dominion. Captain Owens had the misfortune to lose his mother when but three years old and four other children were left motherless by this sad event, one of them being an infant. One of his brothers was Thomas L., a teacher and later a tobacco mer- chant, who died in Louisville in February,

191I. L. B. Owens became a farmer and now resides in Indianapolis. B. F. is a physician now making his residence in Louisville. A half-brother, H. P. Owens, an attorney and editor of Monticello, Indiana, died about 1887. Captain Owens' mother was his father's sec- ond wife. The maiden name of the first wife was Rouzee, and the third was Mary A. Perry, of Shelby county, and she recently died in Indiana, at the age of ninety years. The father was called to the Great Beyond in October, 1886, his age at the time being eighty-seven. He spent his life in Shelby and Henry counties and was at one time a slave holder.

Captain Owens had not yet attained his majority when the Civil war broke out, and almost at the outset, in October, 1861, he en- listed in the Sixth Kentucky Infantry, under General Walter C. Whittaker. His regiment was a part of the Army of the Cumberland, which meant that he was in the thickest of the fight. He was in the battle of Shiloh, and at Columbia, Tennessee, he stripped and waded Duck River in order to meet Grant at Pittsburgh Landing, and was actively engaged in the second day's battle. He participated in the siege of Corinth and marched to Iuka, Mississippi, then back to Murfreesboro, re -. turning with Buell to Kentucky. His regi- ment lay close at the time of the battle of Perrysville, but two miles away, waiting for a signal in case assistance was needed. It followed Bragg to London, Kentucky, and back to Murfreesboro; was in the battle of Stone River on December 31, 1862, and thence went to Chickamauga as a part of the division of General Palmer. It took part of the battle of Chickamauga September 19-20, 1863, and from there retreated to Chattanooga, it be- ing the only battle of his service in which he had to retreat. General W. B. Hazen was in charge of one thousand picked men that passed Lookout Mountain in pontoon flotilla to raise the Chattanooga blockade. Captain Owens was in command of one of the boats. In this movement it joined with General Hooker. On the 23rd of November Orchard Knob was captured, from which point he witnessed Hooker's wonderful battle above the clouds on Lookout Mountain November 24th. On November 25th Captain Owens led his com- pany with great gallantry in the general move- ment on Missionary Ridge, in which he faced eighty pieces of artillery (and assisted in cap- turing sixty of them) and a well-manned rifle pit. This was a signal victory. On Novem- ber 27th he made a forced march to Knoxville, Tennessee, to the help of General Burnside. The winter of 1863 and 1864 was spent in

1543

HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS

eastern Tennessee without tents or a change of clothing and living off of the community. The spring of 1864 was made memorable by the Atlanta, Georgia, campaign, in which he was almost constantly under fire for one hun- dred and twenty days. Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain, Marietta, Peach Tree Creek and other engagements constituted a part of this campaign. After the fall of Atlanta the regi- ment came back to Tennessee and was used as a railroad guard in the Cumberland moun- tains and remained thus engaged until mus- tered out at Nashville on Christmas week of 1864. From the time of his enlistment Cap- tain Owens had not seen home, having had no furlough, his service extending over three years and three months. At the battle of Stone River he was made first lieutenant of Company K, up to that time having been third sergeant of the same company. In June, 1864, he was commissioned captain. His brother, Dr. B. F. Owens, was with him from October 7, 1861, to February 14, 1862, when from protracted illness he was discharged.

Like most of the young men just inustered out after long service, Captain Owens was undecided as to what vocation to follow. For the first year he engaged as a partner in busi- ness at New Castle, but eventually took up agriculture, where his intelligent methods se- cured him success. For ten years he engaged in dairying. His land was situated near Bag- dad in Shelby county, Kentucky. He retired from his strenuous duties in the year 1910 and since that time has resided in Shelbyville, in the possession of a large circle of friends and admirers. He finds no small amount of pleasure in renewing old war comradeship and . is one of the enthusiastic and popular mem- bers of the Grand Army of the Republic. Po- litically he is a Republican, and in unmistaka- ble evidence of the confidence in which he is held in the community he was nominated County Judge in 1886, but found it necessary to be absent during the entire campaign and consequently was not elected. For fifty-five years he has been a zealous member of the Baptist church, being but sixteen years of age when he became a church member. For twenty years he has been a member of the church at Bagdad, having been one of those who assisted in its organization. He is inter- ested in everything likely to prove of benefit to all of the people and can ever be counted upon to give such measures his support.

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 81

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