Biographical cyclopedia of the commonwealth of Kentucky, Part 14

Author: Gresham, John M., Co., Pub
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Chicago, Philadelphia, J. M. Gresham company
Number of Pages: 726

USA > Kentucky > Biographical cyclopedia of the commonwealth of Kentucky > Part 14

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).

Presley B. Oldham (grandfather) was born in Jefferson County, Kentucky, June 15, 1808, and died in his native county in 1861. He owned large tracts of land and was very successful as a business man. His ancestors were English peo- ple of the highest respectability. He married Margaret Keller, who was born July 29, 1813, and died at the old home place June 2, 1877.

Laura A. Mathews Oldham (mother) was born in New Castle in 1841; died March 24, 1896.

Caleb M. Mathews (grandfather) was born near Staunton, Virginia, October 29, 1810, and was raised on a farm in Woodford County, Kentucky. He studied law under George H. Robertson of Lexington, and graduated from Transylvania, law department, in 1837; married Mrs. Frances S. Beazley, nee Edwards; located in New Castle and cultivated a small farm and garden in con- nection with his legal work. He spent his money and devoted much time to the education of his large and now influential family. He was largely instrumental in establishing Henry College, of which he was a trustee for twenty-five years. He was prominently connected with the best move- ments for the advancement of educational inter- ests in the county, and was conspicuous in all good work. He died in New Castle June 8, 1891.

John Mathews (great-grandfather) belonged to an influential Virginia family. He came to Ken- tucky in 18II, and settled in Woodford County, and died in 1813, leaving a widow and three sons. His wife, Sarah McDowell (great-grandmother), was a daughter of Major General Joseph Mc- Dowell, an officer in the Revolutionary war; sis- ter of General Joseph McDowell of Ohio; sister-

KENTUCKY BIOGRAPHIES.

in-law of Governor Allen Trimble of Ohio; cou- sin of Governor James McDowell of Virginia; aunt of Governor John P. Gaines of Oregon; sis- ter-in-law of Colonel L. Ford of the United States Army; and a relative of Dr. Ephraim McDowell of Danville, Kentucky.

Dr. John Y. Oldham enjoyed excellent edu- cational advantages, attending the public schools in New Castle until he was thirteen years of age, when he took a three years' course in the State College at Lexington, and was one year in Cen- tral University, in Richmond, after which he rea 1 medicine with his uncle, Joseph McDowell Ma- thews of Louisville, and graduated from the Ken- tucky School of Medicine in 1885. His first work in the line of his profession was as an assistant to Dr. Dudley S. Reynolds in his office practice, and in the Hospital College of Medicine, in which ca- pacity he was employed for two years. In Sep- tember, 1887, he opened his office in Lexington, making a specialty of the treatment of diseases of the eye, car, nose and throat, in which he was at once successful, and soon established an enviable reputation.

Dr. Oldham is a member of the Kentucky State Medical Society; the Mississippi Valley Medical Association, and the Lexington and Fay- ette County Medical Society, and is an occasional contributor to medical periodicals on the subjects pertaining to his special line of practice. He is a member of Merrick Lodge No. 31, I. O. O. F .; of the Ancient Essenic Order, Lodge No. 262; and of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, in which he holds the office of Esteemed Lectur- ing Knight. He is also a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Lexington.

Dr. Oldham was married March 29, 1887, to Mary S. Flood, daughter of Major John H. Flood of Lynchburg, Virginia, and has two sons: J. Harry Oldham and William B. Oldham.

A DAM SMYRL of Bellevue, a member of the firm of Smyrl & Hughes, No. 59 West Fourth street, Cincinnati, Ohio, was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, March 8, 1843. He was particularly fortunate in his school days, and em- braced the opportunities which his parents gave

him in the common schools and best academies in the county.

He came to America in 1869, stopping near Worcester, Massachusetts. He found employ- ment in one of the large woolen mills there, and stuck to it until he mastered the business, which he followed in the New England States until 1876. His mother, having arrived in this country, was living in Bellevue, and when he came to visit her in 1876 she persuaded him to remain with her.

He accepted a position in the house of C. H. Bishop & Co., flour merchants, and continued with them until 1883, when he formed a partner- ship with W. C. McClanahan and embarked in the flour, grain and commission business in Cin- cinnati. The firm of Smyrl & McClanahan con- tinued until 1888, when Mr. McClanahan with- drew, and a new firm under the style of Smyrl, Armstrong & Hughes was formed, in which name the business was continued until 1894, when Mr. Armstrong retired and the name was changed to Smyrl & Hughes. The extensive business of this house is the best evidence of Mr. Smyrl's ability and integrity as a business man. Although his principal place of business is in Cincinnati, he is greatly interested in the town in which he has his residence, and is one of the most enterprising citi- zens of Bellevue.

He is president of the Bellevue and Dayton Land Company ; also president of the South Belle- vue Development Company, and is interested in other enterprises pertaining to the advancement of the community in which he lives. He has been a director of the Cincinnati Chamber of Com- merce; was a member of the Bellevue City Council for eight years: is president of the Jamestown Magisterial District of Bellevue; was chairman of the Bellevue School Board, and is president of the L. J. Crawford Republican Club of Bellevue. While he is not in any sense a politician, he is deeply interested in the success of the Republican party.

He is a member and trustee of the Presbyterian Church; superintendent of the Sabbath school, and is a good citizen, honored and respected by all who know him.

Mr. Smyrl was married May 3, 1882, to Mary L. Milligan, daughter of Samuel Milligan of Cin-

KENTUCKY BIOGRAPHIES.

cinnati. She is also a member of and active work- er in the Presbyterian Church.

Mr. Smyrl's parents, Gabriel and Sarah Ann (Bell) Smyrl, were natives of County Tyrone, Ire- land. His father died in his native country at the age of forty-six years, in 1856. He was a man of fine intelligence and a devoted Christian in con- nection with the Presbyterian Church; had many friends in his country. He had visited America, and seen considerable for a man in the humble position of a farmer. After his death Mrs. Smyrl came to this country, where some of her relatives had preceded her, and finally made her home in Bellevue, where she reached the good old age of four score years, and died in November, 1893.

Mr. Smyrl has several brothers, who are re- spected citizens of Bellevue.

D R. JOSEPHUS MARTIN of Cynthiana, son of Dr. William H. and Mary F. (Whitehead) Martin, was born at Robinson Sta- tion, Harrison County, August 14, 1861. His father was also born in Harrison County, of which he has been a resident all his life; has practiced medicine in the county fifty-one years, and is sup- posed to be the first physician who performed laperotomy in the United States. This was in 1852. He is a graduate of the Jefferson Medical College of Philadelphia; also attended the old Transylvania College at Lexington, Kentucky. He had a very large practice not only in the imme- diate vicinity of his home at Robinson, but throughout the county. He was a member of the late Constitutional Convention, and has always been noted for great moral courage. His mother was a daughter of josephus Perrin, who repre- sented Harrison County in the legislature a num- ber of times.

William Martin (grandfather) was born in Har- rison County, January 4, 1790, and was a farmer in that county until his death in 1831, aged forty- one years. He was a soldier in the war of 1812; married Katherine Clopton Perrin, whose grand- father, Josephus Perrin, came to Virginia from England with three brothers, who fought in the war of the Revolution.

Mary F. Whitehead Martin (mother) was a na-

tive of Claysville, Harrison County, and a devout member of the Christian Church. She died in 1863. Her father, Nimrod Whitehead, was a na- tive of Harrison County, and was a son of Capt. Jolın Whitehead, of Virginia.

Dr. Josephus Martin was educated in the pub- lic schools of Cynthiana and at Georgetown Col- lege. He read medicine with his father and at- tended the Ohio Medical College at Cincinnati, graduating in 1885. He at once entered upon the practice of his profession in the county, and in 1892 removed to Cynthiana, where he has been remarkably successful.

Dr. Martin is a member of the Kentucky State Medical Society. He was married in 1886 to A. Stella Garnett, daughter of William T. and Dor- cas (Ewalt) Garnett of Harrison County. They are members of the Baptist Church.

THOMAS SAMUEL VENABLE, banker and wholesale merchant, of the firm of Venable & McJohnson, of Owensboro, was born in Prince Edward County, Virginia, June 17, 1840. He came with his father to Owensboro November 21, 1860, having been educated in his native county, and for many years has been a member of the above mentioned firm, wholesale and retail deal- ers in grain and seeds, and president of the Owens- boro Savings Bank. He was elected elder in the Presbyterian Church in 1870, and is greatly de- voted to his church and its good work. In poli- tics, he is for the prohibition of the liquor traffic. The members of the Venable family have been staunch Presbyterians as far back as their history can be traced.

Mr. Venable was married August 2, 1864, to Sallie Quicksall Anderson, daughter of James B. and Mary (Robertson) Anderson. She was born at "Wood Lawn," her father's home, near Owens- boro, November 13, 1844. Their children's names are: Virginia Woodson, born July 4, 1865; graduated from the Owensboro High School June, 1880; also graduated from the High School of Detroit, Michigan, in 1882; married James Truman Shaw of Detroit, May 14, 1889, and re- sides in Detroit, where her husband is in business.

James Anderson Venable, born March 9, 1868;

KENTUCKY BIOGRAPHIES.

graduated from the Owensboro High School in 1885; immediately entered the Owensboro Sav- ings Bank as clerk; remained in the bank until January, 1889, when his uncle, T. S. Anderson, who had been owner of the bank, having gone to Detroit and engaged in the same business, James accepted a position in that institution, and in 1892, without his solicitation, was elected Cashier of the Michigan Car Company; afterwards engaged with his brother-in-law, James T. Shaw, in the grain business in Detroit, under the firm name of J. S. Lapham & Company.

Mary Ann Venable, born October 27, 1875; died May 8, 1880.

Matilda Tyler Venable, born December 4, 1876.

Elizabeth Thompkins Venable, born Septem- ber 21, 1882.

Samuel Lewis Venable (father) was born in Prince Edward County, Virginia, January 8, 1803. He received a very fine education, and was a dis- tinguished Latin and Greek scholar. On reach- ing his majority, his father gave him a farm and a number of slaves, having given all of his sons the same start in life. He was an elder in the Presby- terian Church and a man of most excellent char- acter. He was married October 3, 1833, to Vir- ginia Woodson Bransford, daughter of Benjamin Bransford of Cumberland County, Virginia. She was born October 16, 1813, and died September 21, 1895. She was descended on her mother's side from the noted family of Woodsons, who in- termarried with the Venables. There were three sons and one daughter in this family: Goodridge Wilson, born August 16, 1836; Nathaniel Benja- min, born August 29, 1838; Thomas Samuel, born June 17, 1840, and Elizabeth Mary, born November 29, 1844.

Nathaniel Venable (grandfather) was born in Virginia, March 28, 1768, and died in 1837. He married his first cousin, Martha Venable, gener- ally called Madam Pattie Venable, February 28, 1799. He was a very wealthy planter of Virginia, owning large tracts of land and several hundred slaves.

Abraham Venable (great-grandfather) was born in Virginia in January, 1725, and died in 1778. He married Elizabeth Micheaux, who was born June 18, 173I.

Abraham Venable (great-great-grandfather) was born March 22, 1700, and died March 16, 1768. He married Martha Davis, who was born in 1703, and died in 1765.

The earliest ancestor of the Venable family of whom anything is known came from New Rouen, in Normandy, France, where there is a town called Venables, so named from this family. He accompanied William the Conqueror, and took part in the battle of Hastings. He settled in the County Palatinate of Chester, and was one of the Palatine barons of the County. About the close of the Seventeenth Century two of the younger brothers of the family, Abraham and Joseph Vena- ble, emigrated to America. Joseph went to the Colony of Lord Baltimore and settled at Snow Hill (now West) Virginia. A license was ob- tained for the erection of a Presbyterian house of worship on Joseph Venable's land, and now, after a lapse of more than a century and a half, the Presbyterian Church which was then organized still prospers at Snow Hill.

The other brother, Abraham, journeyed up the James River and settled in Hanover, now Flu- vanna County, Virginia, and there married a widow, whose maiden name was Mildred Lewis, and these two were the great-great-great-grand- parents of Thomas S. Venable.

Mr. Venable's grandmother-who was a grand- daughter of Nannie Micheaux and her husband, Richard Woodson-distinctly remembered hear- ing her grandmother relate the early history of the family.

In the reign of Louis XIV, during the religious persecution consequent upon the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, there lived a man named Roche in the city of Sedan, who was Madam Pattie Vena- ble's great-great-grandfather. He had three daughters, the eldest about eighteen, who, as was the custom, had been examined by the priests or government officials; and her father, fearing she would be taken from him and placed in a Catholic school, sent her and his married niece, who had an infant child, to a seaport, that they might em- bark for Holland. They were escorted by men dressed in women's clothes. The guards were attracted by the crying of the child, and "nine lusty men captured and carried them to prison."

KENTUCKY BIOGRAPHIES.

The father was permitted to ransom his daughter and take her home, but his niece was retained in prison and was required to walk the streets every morning, exposed to the ridicule and scoffs of the Catholics, as a penalty for her attempt to escape. Her husband had gone to Holland previously un- der the guise of a ship carpenter.

Mr. Roche, after paying a certain amount of tribute annually for the privilege of living in peace, determined again to send his daughters to Holland. On the journey Susanna Roche, the younger daughter (who was mother Venable's great-grandmother), was taken very sick and was taken to a public house. While there they were suspected of being Huguenots, and narrowly escaped the vigilance of the soldiers. They went thence to Amsterdam, where their father visited them and provided them with comforts, for he said that the more he had been persecuted the more the Lord had prospered him. Their mother also went to see them, carrying money in her hair.

The elder of the two sisters married and went to the West Indies. The younger, Susanna Roche, married Abram Michaux. She was a lacemaker while in Holland, and her husband was a gauze weaver. They remained in Holland until they had five or six children, when they came to America and located first in Stafford County, Vir- ginia, and later, when they proposed to go to Manikin, the previous settlers there objected, say- ing they were not entitled to their portion of the land granted by King William to the Huguenots, as they had not come in time, but the king thought differently and decided in their favor. However, they declined settling there, and took up land on the James River at the place now known as Michaux Ferry.

Susanna (Roche) Michaux was the mother of twelve children, seven daughters and five sons. The daughters were: Jane, who married Le Grande; Susanna, married Quinn; Judith, mar- ried Morgan; Elizabeth, married Lanbourn Woodson; Nannie, married Richard Woodson; Esther, married Alexander Cunningham, and there was one daughter who did not marry. The sons were: Jacob, who married Judith Woodson; John, James and Paul, who remained out of wed- lock.

P INCKNEY THOMPSON, M. D., one of the

- oldest and most distinguished physicians of Henderson, was born in an humble sphere of life, in Livingston County, Kentucky, April 15, 1828. His father, William Thompson, was a native of North Carolina, whose family settled in Living- ston County before Kentucky was admitted to the Union. He was apprenticed or bound to Colonel Ramsey, a farmer, until twenty-one years of age, and on reaching his majority volunteered in Cap- tain Barbour's company, which assembled at Hen- derson and marched overland to join Gen. Samuel Hopkins' army, then stationed at Vincennes, Indi- ana. The company arrived too late for the battle of Tippecanoe and returned to Henderson. Wil- liam Thompson made several trading trips to New Orleans, and while there was pressed into the service by General Jackson. After a short service he was honorably discharged and returned to Liv- ingston County on foot, a very usual means of transportation in those days; settled down to hard work on the farm and was thus engaged for sixty years. He died in 1871 at the residence of his son in Henderson. His wife, Jane (Thomp- son) Thompson, a native of Livingston County, whose father, William Thompson, came to that county from North Carolina in 1796, and with whom he lived happily for fifty-eight years, sur- vived him about four months and died in Jant- ary, 1872. They are buried in the beautiful ceme- tery at Henderson.

Pinckney Thompson received his first lessons in Livingston County when the backwoods log cabin schoolroom was the only avenue to educa- tion. But he improved every hour and by the light of the traditional log fire, after a hard day's work on the farm he assiduously prepared himself for the profession to which he was naturally in- clined. In 1849 he began the study of medicine under Dr. D. B. Saunders of Smithland, a very distinguished physician of that time, continuing with him until 1851, when he went to Louisville and studied under the preceptorship of Dr. T. G. Richardson, demonstrator of anatomy in the medical department of the University of Louis- ville, who subsequently became professor of sur- gery in the Louisiana University. At the same time Dr. Thompson attended the University of

KENTUCKY BIOGRAPHIES.

Louisville for two years and was graduated March 4, 1853, having served previous to his graduation in the Louisville City Hospital, in which capacity he gained much practical knowledge.

After visiting his old home he located in Hen- derson, arriving April 15, 1853; and, without any money, and with only three acquaintances in the city, began the practice of his profession. He was not long in securing a lucrative business, and in the forty-two years of professional life he has en- joyed the reputation of being one of the most successful physicians in the community. He has operated in tracheotomy three times, twice suc- cessfully; in lithotomy three times, successfully, and has performed two successful operations for cancer in the breast; besides a large number of minor, yet difficult, operations.

Dr. Thompson is a member of the Henderson Medical Club, of the McDowell Medical Society, of the Kentucky State Medical Society, of the American Medical Association, and of the Ameri- can Public Health Association; has been presi- dent of the Henderson Medical Club, of the State Medical Society, of the McDowell Medical So- ciety, and was for sixteen years president of the State Board of Health; and is prominent and aggressive in all matters pertaining to the public health and the advancement of the medical pro- fession.

He is also quite active and prominent in church work, and in 1869 he conceived the idea of estab- lishing a Mission Sunday school for the benefit of children who were not attending other schools. He carried out this idea, eventually donating a lot and erecting a building for the purpose, and for a number of years supporting the school, mostly at his own expense. He has been superin- tendent of this school for twenty-seven years. From this humble beginning the Second Presby- terian Church of Henderson was founded. There is nothing in which he prides himself more or in which he takes a greater interest than his large family of Sunday school children. For the past twenty years Dr. Thompson has been president of the Henderson County Auxiliary Bible Society of the American Society, and has been an elder in the Presbyterian Church since 1862. He is also a Master and Royal Arch Mason.

In the line of his profession Dr. Thompson has always been found in the front ranks. As presi- dent of the State Board of Health he visited Hick- man during the yellow fever epidemic and made an able report to the board; was present at the meeting of the Sanitary Council of the Mississippi Valley at Memphis in 1879, and was elected vice- president. He has always taken great interest in sanitary matters and probably did more than any other man to secure the enactment incorporating the State Board of Health and established it upon a sound and practical basis. At one time when the state appropriation was inadequate for the purposes of the board, he visited Washington and secured from-the National Board sufficient help to guarantee a successful fight against epidemics ; and in many other ways he has done efficient work for the advancement of medical science. He has been identified in every movement for the im- provement of Henderson, taking an active inter- est in its educational institutions and contribut- ing his quota to the material building up of the city. He was one of the first and most active trustees of the public school and was the first president of that board and author of the law creating the colored school of Henderson.

Dr. Thompson was married November 26, 1857, to Nannie S. Holloway, daughter of Wil- liam S. Holloway, and has two sons who are young men of great promise, Starling H. and Dr. William Irving Thompson.

H TON. JOHN WILLIAM CALDWELL, of Russellville, Kentucky, son of Austin and Louisa Harrison Caldwell, was born in that place January 15, 1838. The early traditions of his father's family induce the belief that they were of Danish or Norman origin with a strong Celtic cross. They emigrated from Ireland to America in early times and settled in Virginia. From that state five of the sons of his great-grandfather, Oliver Caldwell, moved to Kentucky. John, the eldest, and a half-brother to the other four, mar- ried a Miss Akers and located in Hardin County. In 1834 his son, Austin, moved to Logan County, where he subsequently married the young widow of his half uncle, David Caldwell.

Mrs. Louisa Harrison Caldwell was born in Vir-

KENTUCKY BIOGRAPHIES.

ginia, October 20, 1805, and was educated in Richmond. Her father, Peyton Harrison, moved about 1809 from Virginia to Logan County, Ken- tucky. Her mother, Eliza Mary Barclay, who was educated in Paris, France, was the daughter of Thomas J. Barclay, who came to America from Straban, Ireland, and was in the consular and diplomatic service of this government in the days of the Confederation. The crest of the family was a naked arm wielding a broken javelin. Mrs. Caldwell's father, Peyton Harrison, was born at "Clifton," the country seat of his father, Carter Harrison, and was educated at "Hampden Sidney College," in Prince Edward County, Virginia. His mother, Susanna Randolph, was the youngest daughter of Isham Randolph of "Dungeness," Goochland County, Virginia. Carter Henry Har- rison was the son of Benjamin Harrison of "Berk- ley," and Anne Carter, daughter of Robin Carter of "Curratoman," who is known in Virginia his- tory as "King Carter," on account of his large landed estates. Benjamin Harrison was also the father of Benjamin Harrison, the signer of the Declaration of Independence, and of General Charles Harrison of the Revolutionary war; and was the grandfather of President William Henry Harrison.

In 1843 Austin Caldwell, the father of John W. Caldwell, died in Russellville, Kentucky, under twenty-nine years of age, leaving him, his only living child, with an estate so much embarrassed that he had no opportunity to receive a collegiate education. All his school training was received in the common schools of Russellville and Chris- tian County before he had reached the age of fourteen, about which time he, in care of his maternal uncle, Dr. Robert Peyton Harrison, went overland to what was then practically the frontier of Texas. He remained in that state four or five years, working on a farm, clerking, carry- ing a surveyor's chain and hunting. During his life in Texas he had many perilous adventures and hair-breadth escapes in swimming swollen rivers and fighting bears, Mexican lions and other wild beasts. He was fond of reading and spent all of his leisure time over the pages of poetry, romance, history and such scientific works as came within his reach. He returned to Kentucky in his nine-

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.

Biographical cyclopedia of the commonwealth of Kentucky, Part 14

Author: Gresham, John M., Co., Pub Publication date: 1896 Publisher: Chicago, Philadelphia, J. M. Gresham company Number of Pages: 726

Author: Gresham, John M., Co., Pub
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Chicago, Philadelphia, J. M. Gresham company
Number of Pages: 726