USA > Kentucky > Biographical cyclopedia of the commonwealth of Kentucky > Part 15
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teenth year-a perfect athlete, inured to hardship, a dead shot with a rifle, a good horseman, and with a wide knowledge of men gleaned on the frontier.
A few months afterward he began the study of law in Russellville with his kinsman, William Morton, Esq., then a prominent lawyer of the Logan County bar. He attended one course of lectures in the law department of the Louisville University in the winter of 1856-7, winning the honors of the junior class. In the fall of 1857 he commenced the practice of his profession in Logan County, and soon established himself as a lawyer, giving early evidence of forensic ability.
When quite young he married Miss Sallie J. Barclay, daughter of Hugh Barclay, she having shortly before graduated with the honors of her class at the celebrated school, Science Hill, at Shelbyville, Kentucky, which was then conducted by the well known educator, Mrs. Julia A. Tevis. One son and two daughters were the result of this marriage.
When the Civil war broke out, though he had opposed the secession of his state from the Union, guided by his sympathy with the South, he vol- unteered as a private, and was immediately elect- ed captain of the "Logan Grays," a company then being recruited in Logan County for the Confed- erate service. On the entrance of the Confeder- ates into Kentucky under General S. B. Buckner Captain Caldwell reported his company to him at Bowling Green, and it was assigned as Com- pany A, Ninth Kentucky Brigade, which was commanded by General John C. Breckenridge. On the retreat of General Albert Sidney Johnston south from Bowling Green Captain Caldwell had command of the Ninth Kentucky Regiment until he was relieved by the return of Colonel Thomas H. Hunt from New Orleans. He participated in the battle of Shiloh, where he received three or four contused wounds on his body and had his left arm badly broken, losing sixty-five per cent. of his company, killed and wounded. He was at once promoted to the rank of major of the Ninth Kentucky, and six weeks later, on the reorgan- ization of the regiment, he was unanimously elected lieutenant-colonel. Early in the spring of 1863, on the resignation of Thomas H. Hunt,
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he was made colonel. Until the close of the war he continued in command of his regiment when not commanding the First Kentucky, better known as the "Orphans' Brigade," and is said to have been in command of this famous military organization longer than any of its regular briga- dier-generals (Breckenridge, Hanson or Helm), except General Joseph H. Lewis. Colonel Cald- well was again badly wounded at Chickamauga, his left arm being broken through the elbow and a slight wound received in his left side. The Board of Army Surgeons, on account of his in- juries, offered to retire him from the service, but he declined; and after a two months' absence returned, with his arm in a sling, to the army at Dalton, Georgia, taking command of his regi- ment before the opening of the celebrated cam- paign between Johnston and Sherman. During that campaign the march of Sherman through Georgia and the subsequent fighting in South Carolina, when not in command of his regiment, he was in command of the "Orphans' Brigade." After the close of hostilities he surrendered with the brigade at Washington, Georgia, and was paroled a prisoner of war May 6, 1865. He im- mediately returned to his home in Kentucky, and in the fall of that year he resumed his practice as a lawyer at the Russellville bar.
In August, 1866, he was elected judge of the Logan County Court, held that office for eight years, and did a large and lucrative practice in the criminal, circuit and higher courts of the com- monwealth, establishing a reputation as a lawyer of ability and one of the most successful jury advocates that ever practiced at the Russellville bar. Two years after his retirement from the office of county judge he was, in 1876, elected as a Democrat to represent the Third District of Kentucky in the Forty-fifth Congress, and was re- elected to the Forty-sixth and Forty-seventh. On account of ill-health and the necessity of looking after his private affairs, over the protest of his constituents, he declined a renomination to the Forty-eighth Congress, though he had no oppo- sition, and the Republicans conceded that it was impossible to defeat him in the district.
His congressional career, while not a brilliant one, was honest and conservative, Several of his
speeches in the House of Representatives were given a wide publication through a part of the daily and country press, and the New York Sun said of him: "He is a Democrat with an honest record; always at his post, and invariably opposed to corrupt and extravagant legislation." He was the stern and unflinching advocate of home rule, tariff reform, hard money and economy in public expenditures. On his retirement from Congress he did not resume the practice of law, but became the president of Logan County Bank, which posi- tion he now holds.
JAMES A. CURRY, the senior member of the J firm of Curry, Tunis & Norwood, a leading wholesale grocery establishment of Lexington, is a son of James and Katherine (Stagg) Curry, and was born in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, June 23, 1829. His father was born in Mercer County, March 25, 1796. He was a contractor and builder and a man of many admirable traits of character, honored and highly respected by all of his neigh- bors; a deacon in the Presbyterian Church for many years; a member of the Sons of Temper- ance, a strong and reputable organization of his time, and was a soldier in the War of 1812, serv- ing in Colonel Slaughter's regiment, which par- ticipated in the battle of New Orleans under the immediate command of Major-General John Adair. He was a Henry Clay Whig, strong in his convictions and influential in his party. His home was in Harrodsburg, where he died in 1878.
William Curry (grandfather) was born near Staunton, Virginia, and came to Mercer County, Kentucky, in 1790. He married Anna Hill, a relative of General A. P. Hill; was a successful farmer in Mercer County, a member of the Pres- byterian Church, a model Christian gentleman and was prominently identified with the old Whig party.
Katherine Stagg Curry (mother) was born in Gettysburgh, Pennsylvania. She came to Ken- tucky with her father's family when she was a young lady. Her father, Daniel Stagg, located on a fine tract of land about three miles west of Harrodsburg and there established the old Stagg homestead. He married Mary Conover of Hack- ensack, New Jersey.
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James Stagg (great-grandfather) was a soldier in a company of militia from Morris County, New Jersey, in the Revolutionary war. His wife was Leah Brewer of New Jersey.
James Stagg (great-great-grandfather) was one of the Covenanters of Scotland who fled to Hol- land to escape persecution on account of their religious belief. He first went to Holland, with many others, and subsequently came to the United States, locating in Hackensack, New Jer- sey. His wife's maiden name was Anna Christie.
James A. Curry, whose ancestry is partially given above, was educated in Harrodsburg, and at the age of fifteen, during the brilliant Presi- dential campaign in which Clay and Frelinghuy- sen were the Whig candidates, he was employed as a clerk in the Harrodsburg postoffice. After one year's service in that office he was apprenticed to a tailor and served his full term of four years in learning his trade. When about twenty years of age he began the business of merchant tailoring in Harrodsburg, which he continued until 1856, when he engaged in the drug and book business, continuing there until 1878, when he removed to Danville, where he was in the same business until 1883. In that year he disposed of his store in Danville, removed to Lexington and became the senior member of the wholesale grocery firm of Curry, Howard & Murray. Mr. Murray died in 1885 and J. T. Tunis became a member of the firm, the style of which was changed to Curry, Howard & Co. In 1890 Mr. Norwood took the place of Mr. Howard, who withdrew, and the present firm of Curry, Tunis & Norwood was established.
The citizens of Lexington and the grocery dealers throughout the state will testify to the high standing and unswerving integrity of the company over which Mr. Curry has presided with commendable watchfulness throughout its successful career. As a citizen his character has always been in keeping with the high moral and religious convictions which he inherited from his Scotch Covenanter ancestors and which were inculcated by the careful training of his Christian parents. In politics his affiliations are with the Republican party, the rightful descendant of the old Whig party, in which he was brought up.
He voted for Bell and Everett in the final strug- gle of that party to recover its supremacy, and failing in this he fell in with the new party whichi adopted the principles of the old.
Mr. Curry is closely identified with and deeply interested in the work of the Presbyterian Church, in which he has been an elder for twenty- five years, serving in Harrodsburg, Danville and in the Second Presbyterian Church of Lexington. In 1886 and again in 1893 he was a commissioner to the General Assembly, and in the Assembly of 1893 was one of the committee of fifteen who found a verdict in the famous trial of Dr. Briggs for heresy; he is a member of the executive com- mittee in charge of the missionary work of the Presbyterian Church in Kentucky; chairman of the Committee on Systematic Benevolence in Ebenezer Presbytery; president of the Young Men's Christian Association of Lexington, in which he takes a deep interest and which is large- ly indebted to his wise counsel for its usefulness, popularity and excellent standing, and has been a member of the Board of Trustees of Center Col- lege for twelve years past. He is president of the Lexington and Vicinity Bible Society, a life mem- ber of the American Sunday School Union, life member of the American Tract Society and life member of the American Bible Society.
Mr. Curry's chief characteristic, aside from his proverbial honesty and integrity in business mat- ters, is his faithful devotion to the church and its work; and in this there is no show of ostentation or personal pride, but on the contrary a seeming unconsciousness of the superiority which others accord to him.
Mr. Curry was married September 21, 1852, to Elizabeth Porter Lewis, daughter of Thomas P. Lewis of Harrodsburg. Mrs. Curry was born in Harrodsburg January 4, 1833. They have four children, whose names and the names of the per- sons whom they married and the names of their children are as follows:
(I) Kate: educated at Daughters' College, Harodsburg, and at College Hill, near Cincin- nati, Ohio; now the wife of Major C. H. Teb- betts, superintendent and commandant of Culver Military Academy at Culver, Indiana, situated on Lake Maxinkuckee; their children are: James
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Curry, Mary Winlock, Jonas M., Elizabeth Por- ter and Marian.
(2) Thomas Porter Curry: graduated from Center College, receiving the highest honors in the class of 1875; is the patentee of the Curry railway signal; a resident of Danville; married Anna Roach, daughter of Edwin Roach, and has two children, Edwin Porter and Kate.
(3) Mary: educated at Danville; wife of J. T. Tunis, who is a graduate of Center College, class of 1881; a resident of Lexington and a member of the firm of Curry, Tunis & Norwood; they have two children, James Curry Tunis and John Theodore Tunis, Jr.
(4) James Howard Curry: educated in Danville and at the Kentucky University, Lexington; now in business with his father; married Elizabeth Norton Sage, daughter of Osmer Sage of Lexing- ton, and has one son, James A. Curry, Jr.
G EORGE COX, a son of a salesman of re- spectable standing, was born in the city of London on the first day of March, 1791, and ac- cording to a good old English custom was chris- tened at the Church of St. Mary Magdalen, Ber- mondsey, on the Ist of April following.
His father was John Cox, third son of Henry Cox, born at Ross, Herfordshire, May 13, 1756; and his mother was Mary Cowell, born October 26, 1756. They were married at the Parish Church of St. James, Clerkenwell, London, May 2, 1784. The result of this union, which was a most happy one, was eight children: Edward and Henry, dying in childhood; John, born Sep- tember 24, 1789, and supposed to have been killed in Spain or Portugal while serving his country in the Peninsular war, under the command of the Duke of Wellington; George, the subject of this sketch; Ann Maria, born January 1I, 1793, died December 12, 1867; Frances, mother of the late James Wormald of Maysville; Margaret, died in infancy, and Esther became the wife of George Herbst, May 8, 1834, dying in 1840.
There are authentic records which trace Mr. Cox's ancestry back for more than three hundred years, but the purpose of this article is to treat of the individual whose lifework affords a shining example.
His father was employed in the hosiery shop of a man named Marsh, and into this shop the son was taken at the early age of nine years, and from that period to the day of his death he devoted his energies to well directed industry. His mother died February 20, 1811, and was laid to rest in the burial ground of St. Mary, Newington, Surrey, July 16, 1814. His father married again, his second wife being Elizabeth Caroline Rose.
In 1817, at the age of twenty-six, and after a service of seventeen years in the shop of Mr. March, Mr. Cox determined to seek a home in the "Western World," and he succeeded in getting his father, stepmother, his sisters and a number of his cousins to come with him. They landed at Baltimore and came from that point overland as far as Pittsburgh, where they took a flat-boat down the Ohio for Maysville, their destination being Lexington, Kentucky, then the foremost city of the west. Here the party located, and for several months George Cox sought in vain for employment. During these months he made the acquaintance of Ann Hopkinson, an English girl, born in Nottingham, July 15, 1796. From Lex- ington he went to Cincinnati, where he found em- ployment for a short time, and on April 10, 1819, he returned to Lexington and made Miss Hopkin- son his wife.
With her he came to Maysville to engage in business, his only capital being $300 in money, a strong frame, good health, industry, and, above all, honesty. He opened a small store in a frame house on Front street, above Market, one-half of the house being occupied by his cousin and broth- er-in-law, Edward Cox, as a book store and bind- ery. Both families lived in the second story of the building.
Mr. Cox was a methodical merchant from the very start. He kept a record of every transaction. The first item of goods sold by the merchant is set down thus: "1819, May 5, Quills, 6 1-4 cents." His simple system of keeping accounts enabled him to know what he was doing at all times. He paid for articles as he bought them, and when they were gone, if he had money to replace them, it was evident that he was neither losing money nor getting in debt. At the end of each week he footed up his sales, the first entry of that kind
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in his account book for the week from May 31 to June 6, 1819, $23.37 1-2. From this modest beginning George Cox's business grew until his name was as familiar to the merchants of the east as that of any man in the Union, and it car- ried with it a prestige that might well be envied.
It was not many years before increasing busi- ness obliged Mr. Cox to secure larger quarters, and he moved into the building now occupied by St. Charles on Front street. Here he remained until 1840, when he bought the property immedi- ately across the alley, and this he occupied as store and dwelling until 1850, when the site now occupied on Second street was purchased. Wil- liam H., Mr. Cox's eldest son, was at about that time admitted to a partnership in the house un- der the firm name of George Cox & Son. Their business grew until it was perhaps the largest retail dry goods trade in Northern Kentucky. Mr. Cox was among the few Englishmen who became Americanized.
In 1851 he paid a visit to London, but found little pleasure in the trip. Nearly all his relatives had died or removed to other lands, and upon his return to Maysville he told his family: "I am an American now; I am no longer an English- man."
He was an unflinching friend of the government during the dark days of the rebellion and loaned largely of his means to aid in carrying on the war, taking in return government bonds, despite the protests of many of his friends that the bonds would be worthless. He reasoned that if the gov- ernment was lost everything was lost, and he would rather sacrifice his fortune in the effort to save his government.
Mr. Cox was a liberal contributor to every pub- lic enterprise and every worthy object. He was opposed to taxing the public for railroads and other internal improvements, believing that they should be built by public enterprise. His death, September 21, 1881, removed from Maysville her stanchest merchant. Although possessed of a large fortune, consisting of real and personal property, he made no will, expressing that the law would make an equitable and satisfactory di- vision among his heirs, a confidence that was not misplaced.
Z ACK PHELPS, one of the most brilliant all- round lawyers of the Louisville bar, son of James S. Phelps, the prominent tobacco ware- houseman, was born in Christian County, Ken- tucky, July 7, 1857. He came to Louisville with his parents when he was six years of age and attended the public schools, graduating from the Male High School in 1877. He was made class historian and carried off the second honor of his class. At the close of his school life, his health being impaired, he went to Salt Lake City, Utah, and while recuperating there began the study of law in the office of Judge J. C. Hemingray. After a careful course of study he passed a highly cred- itable examination before Mr. Justice Schaffer of the United States Supreme Court, who gave him a certificate authorizing him to practice law.
He returned to Louisville in 1880 and began a most successful career as an attorney. He soon formed a partnership with the late W. L. Jack- son, Jr., who was later elected judge of the Cir- cuit Court to succeed his father. A few years later J. T. O'Neal became a member of the young firm, and the three continued in partnership for six years, until the elevation of Mr. Jackson to the bench. The dissolution of the firm followed, and Mr. Phelps became associated with W. W. Thum, under the firm name of Phelps & Thum, which is one of the most popular and widely known law firms in the city at the present time.
In 1890 Mr. Phelps took a prominent part in the movement to secure a new constitution of the state and made a number of speeches throughout the state favoring a constitutional convention. He was elected by the people of Louisville as a member of the convention which framed the pres- ent constitution of Kentucky in 1890-91. His labors in that body were of a character requiring an intimate and varied knowledge of law and he distinguished himself as one of the most active and influential workers for the public good.
Mr. Phelps has devoted a great deal of his valuable time to public life in the interests of others and for the advancement of his city and state, but has had no aspiration for office, pre- ferring to devote his best efforts to the legal pro- fession, in which he has gained an enviable reputa- tion as an all-round lawyer of versatile ability of
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the highest order, and especially as an expert cross-examiner of witnesses.
In October, 1893, Mr. Phelps was selected by Honorable Charles D. Jacob, ex-mayor of Louis- ville, to meet Colonel Bennett H. Young in de- bate upon municipal affairs, the main issue being a comparison between the administrations of ex- Mayor Jacob and (then) Mayor Henry S. Tyler. In this sort of contest Mr. Phelps was easily the superior of his able opponent, being loaded with facts, and having an aptitude for debate and con- troversy which is rarely excelled. He carried off the honors for Mr. Jacob, and his enthusiastic audience carried their champion out of the hall on their shoulders. This is only one of the numerous victories on the stump and in the court room, in which he has exerted the power of the ready speaker and won the victory over men of ac- knowledged ability, or convinced a jury by his fine logic and practical eloquence.
On the first day of January, 1881, Mr. Phelps was married to Amy Kaye, daughter of John and Amanda Kaye of Louisville, and the family group in their beautiful home on New Broadway, in the Highlands, consists of the father and mother and four children, John, Zack, Mary Glass and Amy.
Mr. Phelps' father, James S. Phelps, was born in Hopkinsville, Christian County, Kentucky, March 8, 1830. He was educated mainly under the instruction of James D. Rumsey of Hopkins- ville and in a school taught by a venerable Bap- tist minister near that place. He served for some time as deputy in the office of the clerk of the court, and studied law in the office of Henry J. Stites. He was admitted to the bar and opened an office, but shortly afterward engaged in the mercantile business in partnership with Joseph K. Grant, a venture which proved quite successful. In 1856 he sold his interest in the store to his partner and in 1862 removed to Louisville and engaged in the tobacco warehouse business under the firm name of Phelps, Caldwell & Company. This house was sold in 1867 to Ray & Company. The Planters splendid warehouse was erected in 1875 by Mr. Phelps and the firm of J. S. Phelps & Company was formed, John C. Durrett being Mr. Phelps' partner. The present company, of which Mr. Phelps is president, was incorporated
in 1881 with a capital stock of $150,000, which is owned by himself and four sons.
He is one of the founders and is a liberal sup- porter of the Highland Baptist Church; has been prominently connected with the Odd Fellows, and served several years as grand deputy of the state; a Democrat, but not a politician; a busi- ness man of sterling integrity; an honored and highly respected citizen.
James S. Phelps and Mary Jane Glass, daugh- ter of Zachariah and Mary Jane Glass of Hop- kinsville, were married July 25, 1849.
John H. Phelps (grandfather) was born in Vir- ginia in July, 1790. He came to Kentucky with his brother and married Caroline Shipp, a mem- ber of a well known and highly respected family of Christian County. Caroline Shipp Phelps died in 1830, and John H. Phelps was married again to a sister of Governor James T. Morehead.
The Phelps family is probably of English de- scent, but the progenitor of the family in Virginia left no record of his ancestry.
Zachariah Glass (maternal grandfather) was a native of Christian County and a merchant in Hopkinsville for many years, and was subsequent- ly elected, and oftentimes re-elected clerk of the County Court, and at the time of his death, in 1855, was one of the wealthiest men in Christian County.
THORNTON M. DORA, son of William and Elizabeth (Morris) Dora, was born in Brack- en County, May 3, 1833. His father, also a na- tive of Bracken County, was born September 6, 1802, and was educated in the country schools. He engaged in farming for some years, and in 1849 embarked in the mercantile business in Brooksville, in which he was very energetic and highly successful. He was a Whig, but was never active in political matters. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, going with the Southern wing of that body after the division, in which he was a faithful member and an office bearer until the time of his death, October 28, 1855. He was buried in Mount Zion Cemetery, near Brooksville.
Ferdinand Dora (grandfather) was born in Maryland, May 13, 1758, and came to Kentucky
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during the early settlement of the state, located in Bracken County and was the founder and build- er of the first country church in Bracken County. It was built of logs and was known as "Dora Church." A brick building known as Mount Zion Church now occupies the site. He died January 24, 1830, and his wife, Nancy Beau- champ, died January 10, 1840. Both were mem- bers of the M. E. Church.
John Dora (great-grandfather) was born near London, England, where the name was spelled Dore. After coming to America, the name was changed to Dora. On his arrival in this country he located in Somerset County, Maryland, near Baltimore. He had five sons who served in the Revolutionary War, two of whom, Jesse and Ben- jamin, have not been heard from since. His first wife was a Miss Tillman of Maryland.
John Dora, or Dore, was the only child of his father and mother, who belonged to a very weal- thy family in England.
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