USA > Kentucky > A history of Kentucky and Kentuckians; the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume III > Part 90
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he gave up his slaves without any feeling of reproach toward the government. He was de- cidedly successful in his various business un- dertakings and prospered even during the strenuous war times. He gave his children the best educations possible for one in his circum- stances, and reared them under the influences of a fine home and in a high moral atmosphere. He was a man of liberal views, temperate in all things, benevolent and charitable, and in him the poor and needy ever found an ardent sympathizer and faithful friend. In May, 1872, his first wife was called to eternal rest and in October, 1873, was solemnized his mar- riage to Sarah W. Furnish, widow of Graves Furnish. She was born in Fayette county, Kentucky, and was a daughter of Joseph and Susan Gayle, the former of whom was the founder and promoter of the public schools at Lexington, Kentucky, in which he gave effi- cient service as the first principal. Samuel Hinds Riley was captain of the state militia from 1838 to 1845 and was a justice of the peace for several years before the constitution of 1850. His death occurred in 1898, at which time he was eighty-seven years of age.
Samuel Hinds Riley, grandfather of him to whom this sketch is dedicated, was the first born of the above children and his birth oc- curred on the 15th of December, 1811, in Cler- mont county, Ohio, whither his father had re- Ninien Smith Riley, the first in order of birth of the children born to Samuel Hinds Riley by his first wife, was born on the 4th of December, 1834, and he is the father of Otis V. Riley, of this review. In January, 1858, was recorded his marriage to Julia A. Violett, who was at that time a girl of seven- teen years of age. She was born on the 2nd of January, 1841, and was a daughter of Joseph and Olivia (Shipp) Violett, residents of Henry county, Kentucky. Joseph Violett was a cabinet-maker in early life. He was 1830, and shortly after that event removed to Henry county, Kentucky, where he passed the residue of his life and where he was an emi- nently successful farmer at the time of his demise, in 1850, having been the owner of extensive tracts of land and numerous slaves. To Ninien S. and Julia A. Riley there were born nine children, concerning whom the fol- lowing brief data are here incorporated : Mar- garet Olivia, who became the wife of Guthrie Allnut, is deceased, as is also her husband, and they are survived by one son, Robert Pryor Allnut; Otis Violett Riley is the immediate subject of this review; Mary E. is the wife of William D. Davis and they reside at Shelby- ville, Kentucky ; William Thomas is deceased ; James M. maintains his home in Oklahoma ; Anna S. was the wife of Ashby A. Stewart prior to her demise ; Samuel Hinds is engaged in agricultural pursuits in Owen county. Ken- tucky, as is also Albert T .; and Ninien S., Jr.,. moved from Fayette county. He married Miss Margaret Van Deren, a daughter of James and Sallie (Journey) Van Deren, the ceremony having been performed on the 14th of Novem- ber, 1833. Sallie J. (Van Deren) Riley was born in the state of New Jersey, her father and grandfather having both emigrated to that commonwealth from their native land of France. Samuel and Margaret Riley became the parents of ten children,: Ninien Smith, James Van Deren, Louvenia E., Martha, Madi- son, Samuel, Nancy and Joe S. and two who . married, in Woodford county, Kentucky, in died in infancy, unnamed. James V. Riley, Madison Riley and James M. Frost, who be- came the husband of Nancy Riley, were all three ministers in the Baptist church and they were gentlemen of splendid education, Georgetown College, Kentucky, having con- ferred upon them the degrees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Divinity. Samuel Hinds Riley was a farmer during the major portion of his active business career and he was known far and wide as a man of strict integrity and unusual business ability. He was a member of the. Baptist church at Dallasburg, in Owen county, Kentucky, and was a deacon therein from the time of the organization of that church in 1840, until his demise. In his politi- cal proclivities he was a stanch supporter of the old-line Whig party until the formation of the Democratic party, when he transferred his allegiance to its cause. He was an ardent Union sympathizer during the Civil war and
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resides in the city of Louisville, Kentucky. Ninien S. Riley is a prominent and influential farmer in Owen county, Kentucky. As a man his salient traits are similar to those of his honored father ; he is a member of the Baptist church, is a God-fearing, law-abiding citizen and in the various avenues of usefulness he has so conducted himself as to command the whole- souled confidence and esteem of all with whom he has been associated. Though adversity again and again stripped him of all the fruits of his labors and the Civil war ravages exacted a bounty he could ill afford to pay, he still faced the battle of life with an honest heart and a willing hand. He has been abundantly awarded for his persistency and well directed endeavors and is now living virtually retired, in full enjoyment of former years of earnest toil and labor. His cherished and devoted wife passed into the great beyond on the Ioth of December, 1910, and she was to the time of her death a helpmate and companion in the most significant sense of the terms. When the clouds of life darkened and adversity overtook them she was ever at hand with good counsel and words of encouragement.
Otis Violett Riley, of this notice, was born in Owen county, Kentucky, the date of his na- tivity being the 26th of August, 1860. He passed his boyhood and youth on the hold homestead farm and received his rudimentary education in the common schools of the neigh- borhood. Subsequently he attended the acad- emy at New Liberty and in 1877 he was matric- ulated in the State University of Lexington, in which excellent institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1884, duly receiv- ing his well earned degree of Bachelor of Science. After leaving college he was engaged in teaching school for a time and in reading law. In 1887 he entered the University of Louisville, in the law department of which he was graduated in 1888, with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. The 21st of May, 1888, marks his advent in Pineville, Kentucky, his trip to this place having been made on the first regular passenger train that entered the town. He immediately opened law offices and here initiated the active practice of his profession, in due time building up a large and representa- tive clientage. In January, 1890, he was hon- ored by his fellow citizens with election to the office of county attorney, he being a candidate on the Democratic ticket in a strong Repub- lican county. In 1898 he was commissioned colonel on Governor Bradley's staff, and he served one term as city attorney of Pineville.
He has ever manifested a deep and sincere interest in educational affairs at Pineville, and he was most active in organizing a High School
in Pineville, in 1906, and contributed liberally to its support until the law giving state aid went into effect. He has also been very lib- eral in his contributions to church and phil- anthropical institutions.
On the 25th of February, 1890, was solem- nized the marriage of Mr. Riley to Miss Mary Allen Jones, who was born in Wayne county, Kentucky, on the 2nd of April, 1860, and who is a daughter of Lewis Russell and Emily (Coffee) Jones, both of whom were represent- ative and prominent citizens of Lincoln coun- ty. Mrs. Riley is a woman of innate refine- ment and rare charm of personality, one who wields a potent influence for good in the home and community. Mr. and Mrs. Riley are the fond parents of five children, concerning whom the following brief record is offered: Samuel Russell is now a resident of Los Angeles, California; Julia Violett was graduated in the Knoxville high school and is attending the state normal school at Richmond, Kentucky; Emily Portia is now attending the Pineville high school; and Otis Cable and Ninien S. are pupils in the graded schools, the latter being an energetic little newsboy.
In his political convictions Mr. Riley is an uncompromising advocate of the principles and . policies for which the Democratic party stands sponsor, as previously intimated. While he has always taken an active part in local politics and been incumbent of a number of public of- fices of trust and responsibility, he is not a poli- tician strictly speaking. He is a man of stern integrity, modest, unassuming, a home lover, who seeks and finds his chief pleasure by his own fireside in the companionship of his fam- ily and intimate personal friends. Club life or the mad whirl of political strife have little or no attraction for him. From the time he was seventeen years of age, Mr. Riley received practically no help from any one. He earned his own way through college and the substan- tial success which crowns his efforts to-day is the outcome of his own well directed en- deavors. He is a self-made man in the triest sense of the word, is a lawyer whose ability is recognized throughout this section of the old Blue Grass commonwealth, and as a citizen his intrinsic loyalty and public spirit have ever been of the most insistent order. He and his wife are devout members of the Baptist church and they hold a high place in the regard of their fellow citizens.
JOSEPH A. DONALDSON .- A native son of the old Blue Grass state and a representative mem- ber of its bar, is this well known and influential citizen of Carrollton, the metropolis and ju- dicial seat of Carroll county, where he is suc- cessfully engaged in the practice of his pro-
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fession and where he is also president of the First National Bank, concerning which specific mention is made on other pages of this volume. Judge Donaldson is at the present time a mem- ber of the state senate and he has been called upon to serve in various other offices of public trust, the while he has been an influential factor in political affairs in his section of the favored old commonwealth which has ever been his home and in which he has gained special pres- tige as a legist and jurist.
Judge Donaldson was born at Petersburg, Boone county, Kentucky, on the 13th of Janu- ary, 1847, and is a son of Allen and Amanda (Foster) Donaldson, the former of whom was born in Virginia, and the latter of whom was born in Boone county, Kentucky. The lineage of the Donaldson family is traced back to staunch Scottish origin, and the original pro- genitors in America, leaving their native land to escape religious persecutions, established homes in Virginia in the Colonial era of our national history. Andrew Donaldson, grand- father of him whose name introduces this arti- cle, and a man of strong character and impreg- nable integrity, came to Kentucky in an early day and established his residence at Peters- burg, where he engaged extensively in manu- facturing barrels, to which he devoted his at- tention during the major portion of his active career. He was a fine example of the old- school gentleman, and he long continued to wear the knee-length trousers that were com- mon in the Colonial days. He removed to Mason, Illinois, when well advanced in years, and there he passed the residue of his long and worthy life.
Allen Donaldson was a child at the time of the family removed to Kentucky, and he was reared to maturity in Boone county, in whose somewhat primitive schools of the pioneer epoch he received his early educational train- ing. In 1856 he removed to Carroll county, where he purchased a tract of land and where he continued to be successfully engaged in agri- cultural pursuits, upon an extensive scale, for many years. He finally retired from active labors, after years of earnest toil and endeavor, and he passed the closing days of his life at Carrollton, where he died in 1894, at the age of seventy-three years. He was a man who ordered his life according to the strictest prin- ciples of probity and honor, and he ever held secure vantage place in the confidence and re- spect of his fellow men. He was reared in the somewhat stern faith of the Scotch Presby- terian church.
Allen Donaldson was a staunch adherent of the Democratic party and, endowed with strong intellectual powers, he was well fortified in his
opinions as to matters of public import. Though he never sought or held office he was a zealous worker in behalf of the cause of his party and he was influential in the community that so long represented his home. While still a resident of Boone county he raised a com- pany of volunteers for service in the Mexican war, and he was chosen captain of the same, but as the war closed soon afterward the com- pany was not called into active service. His wife was reared in Boone county, Kentucky, and educated in Cincinnati, Ohio, and she was summoned to eternal rest in 1900, at the age of seventy-five years. Allen and Amanda (Foster) Donaldson became the parents of seven children, of whom three sons and three daughters are now living, and Judge Donald- son of this review is the eldest of the number.
Joseph A. Donaldson was a lad of eight years at the time of the family removal from Boone county to Carroll county and he was reared to maturity on the home farm, in the meanwhile duly availing himself of the advan- tages of the common schools, after completing the curriculum of which he contiued his higher academic studies at Carroll Seminary, a well ordered institution of the period. For ten months he was engaged in teaching in the schools of Carroll county, and in the meantime he initiated the study of law. Finally he went to the city of Covington, this state, where he prosecuted his technical reading under the able preceptorship of Judge James Pryor. Later he entered the Cincinnati Law School, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1871 and from which he received his degree of Bachelor of Laws, but in order to fortify himself still more adequately for the work of his chosen profession he took a post-graduate course in the Louisville Law School, in which he was graduated in 1873. He was forthwith admitted to the bar of his native state and at once initiated the practice of his profession at Carrollton, where he has since maintained his home and where he has long held a position of pre-eminence as one of the most able and ver- satile members of the bar of the northern part of the state.
Judge Donaldson has been one of the influ- ential figures in the councils of the Demo- cratic party in his native state and has been an active and efficient advocate of its principles. He served nine years as county attorney, and for the long period of fifteen years he was on the bench of the county court, where he made an enviable record for the judicial wisdom and discrimination of his decisions, very few of which met with reversal by courts of higher jurisdiction. He retired from the bench in 1888 and has since given his attention to the
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private practice of his profession, in which he has been identified with many of the most im- portant cases brought before the courts of this section of the state. He was school commis- sioner of his county for nine years, and in 1907 he was elected to represent the Twenty-first senatorial district, comprising the counties of Carroll, Trimble, Oldham and Henry, in the state senate, of which he has since continued a valued working member and in which he has done much to promote wise and effective legis- lation. While incumbent of the office of coun- ty attorney he prosecuted many important cases, both in the criminal and civil divisions, and while serving on the bench he did much to further judicious public improvements in the county, including the construction of more than one hundred and twenty miles of free turn- pike road. This notable work was accom- plished within his regime on the bench, as was also the erection of the fine county court house, the funds for the expenses of which were raised in full before the building was com- pleted. Judge Donaldson has been a most zealous friend of popular education and while serving as school commissioner he did splendid work in bringing the public schools of Carroll county up to an advanced standard. Within his regime in this office was established in Car- rollton its first public school, in which free tuition was granted in all departments, and he also urged and assisted in the erection of better school buildings and the employment of com- petent teachers by the paying of proper sal- aries. Judge Donaldson was also one of those actively concerned with securing to Carroll- ton the fine industrial enterprise now conducted under the title of the Carrollton Furniture Manufacturing Company, in 1882, and he served as president of the corporation during the first two years of its existence. Concern- ing this company more specific mention is made in the sketch of the career of Henry Schuerman, the present president of the same. In 1881 Judge Donaldson was the prime factor in effecting the organization of the First Na- tional Bank of Carrollton, and he has since served continuously as president of this sub- stantial and popular institution, concerning which mention is made on other pages of this work, as already noted. He is the owner of a valuable landed estate in Carroll county, where he has several well improved farms, and is also the owner of improved realty in his home city. The Judge and his wife are most earnest and active members of the Presby- terian church in Carrollton, and he has been an elder in the same for many years. He is a charter member of the local lodge of the
Knights of Pythias and is also affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
In the year 1876 was solemnized the mar- riage of Judge Donaldson to Miss Susie I. Giltner, who was born and reared in Carroll county and who is a daughter of the late Michael Giltner, a representative farmer and honored citizen of the county. Judge and Mrs. Donaldson became the parents of six children, all of whom are living except one daughter, who died in infancy; Allen, who was gradu- ated in the Louisville Medical College, is en- gaged in the practice of his profession in Car- rollton; Giltner Andrew, who studied law un- der the preceptorship of his father and the University of Virginia, is engaged in practice at Carrollton; Velma is at home; Eula is the wife of Joseph E. Robertson, of Carrollton; and Joseph Lyter is attending Central Uni- versity of Kentucky.
FIRST NATIONAL BANK OF CARROLLTON .- Among the staunch institutions that have emphasized the financial stability and con- servatism of the state of Kentucky is the First National Bank of Carrollton, the county seat of Carroll county and one of the alert and progressive cities of the state. This bank was organized on the 15th of November, 1881, and. initiated business on the Ist of the following January. Its history has been one of con- secutive and substantial growth and it has enlisted the capitalistic and executive sup- port of citizens of the highest standing, so that it has ever had secure vantage ground in the matter of popular confi- dence and support. The wise policies and marked discrimination of its administrative officers have carried it successfully through seasons of financial panic and depression, and the bank is worthy of mention as one of the strong and valuable financial institutions of the state.
The officers of the bank at the time of its incorporation were as here noted: Judge A. Donaldson, president; John I. Forbes, vice- president ; and James E. Barnett, cashier. In addition to the president and vice-president the original directorate included Paschal T. Baker, Peter Lostutter, William H. Tandy, Henry H. Adcock and James V. Conn. Mr. Barnett held the office of cashier for five months and was succeeded by the present in- cumbent, John M. Giltner, who has proved a valuable factor in the upbuilding of the busi- ness of the institution. Joseph A. Donald- son, of whom specific mention is made on other pages of this work, has served continu- ously as president and John I. Forbes has like- wise retained consecutively the office of vice-
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president. Theodore B. Forbes is assistant cashier. The bank bases its operations upon a capital stock of sixty thousand dollars; its surplus and undivided profits aggregate fifty- five thousand dollars, its deposits are in excess of four hundred thousand dollars, while the loans and discounts represent approximately the same amount ; and the institution has paid five per cent semi-annual dividends, whose aggregate has reached the noteworthy amount of one hundred and thirty-five thousand dol- lars.
JOHN W. HINKSON .- A decidedly progres- sive and influential farmer and stock-grower in Harrison county, Kentucky, is John Wil- liam Hinkson, who owns and operates a splen- did estate of six hundred acres south of Lair, known as Lynnhurst, and who is the owner of a fine business block at Cynthiana. Mr. Hinkson is descended from an old Pennsyl- vania family, a representative of which, Colo- nel John Hinkson, came to Kentucky in 1775 with a colony of settlers, whose idea it was to take up and improve the Blue Grass lands.
Colonel John Hinkson, great-grandfather of him whose name initiates this review, was born in Ireland, in the vicinity of Belfast, and he emigrated to America when a young man, locating in Westmoreland county, Penn- sylvania. In the spring of 1775 a party, known as Hinkson's company, started out from Pennsylvania for Kentucky in search of lands to improve. This company consisted of John Hinkson, John Haggin, John Martin, John Townsend, James Cooper, Daniel Cal- lahan, Patrick Callahan, Mathew Fenton, George Gray, William Haskins, William Shields, Thomas Shares, Silas Train, Samuel Wilson and John Wood. Those sturdy pio- neers came down the Ohio river in boats and thence up the Licking river in canoes, land- ing at the mouth of Willow creek, on the east side of Main Licking, four miles above the forks, where Falmouth now stands. On ac- count of rainy weather and high water the party was forced to remain at the latter place for two nights and one day. They then pro- ceeded up the Licking river to near the Lower Blue Licks. A few days later, in the spring of 1775, another company, known as the Miller Company-fourteen persons in all- came in canoes down the Ohio and up the Licking to Lower Blue Licks, where they joined the Hinkson colony. Each party sent out explorers who examined the country and who reported to their respective companies at the Blue Licks. They all traveled together, following the main buffalo trace toward what is now the city of Lexington until they reached a trace turning westward, which has since
been called Hinkson's trace, because the party headed by Colonel Hinkson followed it, while the Miller party encamped on a small stream which they called Miller's run, the same being at the crossing of the lower Limestone road. The Hinkson party continued its progress along the Buffalo trace until they came to the south fork of the Licking river, about one mile and a half south of what is now Lair. Here they camped and initiated operations to- ward settlement, clearing the land and build- ing log cabins. They explored the surround- ing country, naming the creeks after different members of the company, as Townsend creek, Cooper's run, Gray's run and Hinkson's creek. In April, 1775, Colonel Hinkson cleared a piece of ground and erected a log cabin on the banks of Licking, near the mouth of Townsend creek. Several other members of the party did likewise and they began to raise corn, with which they later furnished seed to a number of other improvers. Hink- son's settlement soon became a station and as such was the central source of supply. Short- ly after the settlement there was quite an en- gagement between Colonel Hinkson, who was in command of the station, and the notorious renegade, Simon Girty, of the Indian forces. The ammunition gave out at the station and Colonel Hinkson was forced to surrender him- self to the Indians. This he did under prom- ise from Girty that the remainder of his men, women and children should be allowed to re- main at the station unmolested and he, Hink- son, to be furnished with Girty's uniform as a guaranty of safety while a prisoner. These conditions were complied with and he was taken to "broad ford" on the south fork of Licking in the northern part of Harrison county. He was there hid and guarded by large numbers of Indians, who formed a circle facing to the center, and thus lay down to sleep, but when slumber ciosed upon them his cords were untied by Mrs. Boyers, who also was a prisoner, and he sprang to his feet seized a gun and ran to the bank of the river, which was very deep, plunged in and swam safely to the other side, amid a shower of bullets from the Indians, who had been sud- denly awakened and were in hot pursuit. On the following day he returned to the station with clothes torn and presenting a very un- natural appearance. At first he was not rec- ognized by his friends at the station but, climbing a tree, he soon made himself known, when he received a hearty welcome. In the fall of 1775 all of the Miller company and seven of the Hinkson party returned up the Ohio river to their old homes in Pennsyl- vania. In the spring of 1776 nearly all of
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