USA > Kentucky > Biographical cyclopedia of the commonwealth of Kentucky > Part 16
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Elizabeth Morris Dora (mother) was born in Bracken County, February 13, 1808, and was edu- cated in Augusta. She and William Dora were married November 17, 1825. She was the moth- er of eight children, three sons and five daughters. She was a devoted member of the Methodist Church and died in the faith February 2, 1882. Her father, Dickison Morris, was a native of Vir- ginia, and was one of the pioneers of Bracken County. Being one of the first civil engineers in the county, he surveyed a great many tracts of land in Bracken and adjoining counties. He mar- ried Fannie Buckner, daughter of Philip and Tabitha Buckner. The Morris family was of Scotch extraction.
Thornton M. Dora on reaching manhood taught school for two years and while thus en- gaged, in 1853, commenced the study of law, read- ing under the instruction of John H. Bonde of Brooksville. In 1854 he went to Chicago, Ill., and studied with his uncle, B. S. Morris, for one year. In 1855 his father died and he returned to take charge of the estate, and by this event his plan of life was changed and he became a mer- chant, taking up his father's business, which he has successfully followed since with the exception of about two years which he spent on the farm.
He was elected police judge in 1865 and served for many years, being frequently re-elected. He has also been a magistrate and notary public since 1864, and was for many years a deputy county clerk. Since March, 1863, Mr. Dora has resided at Germantown.
During the war his sympathies were with the South and he was quite liberal in his support of the "cause."
He was married March 16, 1858, to Matilda Frances, daughter of John and Elizabeth Reed, who was born August 17, 1837. She graduated from Science Hill Academy, Shelbyville, in 1856. They have had two children: Samantha Bell, born December 16, 1858, died January 3, 1860, and Neppie Eugenia, born February 24, 1861, mar- ried May 26, 1880, to W. D. Reneker, who died in November, 1885; to them was born a daugh- ter (Dora Reneker), November 25, 1882. In De- cember, 1888, she became the wife of Stephen Douglas Rigdon, now living in Toledo, Ohio, and to them two sons have been born-Thornton and Thurman.
E' DWARD LESLIE WORTHINGTON, one of the leading members of the Mason County bar and a member of one of the prominent pioneer families of Kentucky, was born in Mason County October 20, 1851. He is a son of Madi- son Worthington, who was also a native of Mason County, and a grandson of Thomas T. Worth- ington, a native of Maryland. Thomas T. Worth- ington emigrated from his native state and set- tled in Mason County at a very early day and was one of the first sheriffs of the county. He located about nine miles west of Maysville in the Fern Leaf neighborhood. Samuel Worthington (great- grandfather) came to this country from England about the year 1660, and became a resident of Maryland, where he lived and died.
Madison Worthington (father) wedded Eliza- beth Bledsoe, daughter of Benjamin Bledsoe, one of the pioneers of Mason County.
E. L. Worthington grew to manhood on his father's farm and in 1869 entered Kentucky Uni- versity (formerly Transylvania), where he re- mained a student during 1869 and 1870. In 1872 he entered the Cincinnati Law School and was
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graduated from that institution in the spring of 1874. He was subsequently admitted to the bar, but remained on the farm until 1880, when he located in Maysville, and at once took rank as one of the most successful practitioners in the county. In 1885 he was elected by the Demo- cratic party to the state senate from the district composed of the counties of Mason and Lewis. During a term of four years in that body he took an active and leading part in its deliberations and was a member of the judiciary committee.
Mr. Worthington's law practice is not confined to the local courts in Maysville, but has a great many cases before the Court of Appeals and a large clientele in the counties adjoining Mason. He is industrious and zealous in the prosecution of his work and any cause entrusted to his hands is sure of careful attention, and, if just, is almost sure of a verdict. He is assiduous in the prepara-
tion of all the business he brings into court, rely- ing more upon this and the weight of evidence than upon a display of oratory before the jury, but when a strong plea is needed he has few superiors as an advocate. Mr. Worthington is a thorough lawyer, a popular and influential citi- zen, an honored member of one of the first famil- ies and a representative Kentucky gentleman.
E MMETT FIELD, Judge of the Common Pleas Division of the Jefferson Circuit Court of Louisville, son of William H. and Mary (Young) Field, was born in Louisville, Kentucky, October 28, 1841. His father was born in Cul- peper County, Virginia, in 1816, and was educat- ed and studied law in that state. When he was twenty-two years of age he came to Kentucky and practiced law in Westport, Oldham County, for some years and then removed to Louisville and formed a law partnership with Preston S. Loughborough, with whom he was associated for a long time. Several years before the Civil war he removed to Pettis County, Missouri, and pur- chased a farm upon which he lived until June 5, 1861, when he was killed at his home by Union soldiers. He was in sympathy with the south, but was a non-participant in the war.
Henry Field (grandfather) was a farmer in Cul- peper County, Virginia, and a member of an old
and distinguished family whose people were close- ly associated with the early development of the state.
Dr. Henry Young (maternal grandfather) was a physician of repute who lived near Bedford and practiced his profession in Trimble County, Ken- tucky.
Judge Field, now one of the most distinguished jurists on the Louisville bench, received his col- legiate education at Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri, and before he was twenty years of age he stepped out of the schoolroom and into the ranks of the Confederate army. He enlisted in the Second Regiment Missouri Cavalry, con- manded by Colonel Alexander, later by Colonel McGoffin, and still later by Colonel Robert Mc- Cullough, with whom he remained a greater part of the time that he was in the service. Returning to Louisville he entered the law department of the University of Louisville, from which he grad- uated.
The first two years of his professional career were spent in Springfield, Washington County, after which he joined his brother, Richard Field, in Louisville and was associated with him in the practice of law. This partnership was dissolved on account of the failing health of his brother, who removed to Minnesota, and Judge Field was alone in business until his elevation to the bench, with the exception of about one year, when he was associated with Buford Twyman.
In 1886 Mr. Field was elected judge of the Court of Common Pleas, now known as the Jef- ferson Circuit Court, Common Pleas Division, and has served in that high judicial position for nearly ten years. He is a skilled lawyer and an able judge, and is highly esteemed for the wisdom and impartiality of his decisions. His frequent re-election, in opposition to strong political forces, is probably the highest testimonial of his worth and of the esteem in which he is held by the bar and the people of Louisville.
He is a most genial, polished gentleman, a Democrat, but not a politician, and is unbiased by party prejudice in the discharge of his duties on the bench.
Judge Field has been a professor in the law department of the University of Louisville during
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the past ten years, and while his duties in this relation require much time and research, he en- joys its labors as a relief from the exacting re- quirements of the judge, and is deeply interested in the success and progress of his Alma Mater, in which so many distinguished attorneys in the city and state have acquired a knowledge of the legal profession.
Judge Field was married in 1869 to Sue Mc- Elroy, daughter of Anthony McElroy of Spring- field, Kentucky. She was educated in Professor Sloan's school in Danville. They are members of the Presbyterian Church, and enjoy a high social position in Louisville society. They reside in the beautiful suburb of Crescent Hill.
G EORGE W. FRANTZ, proprietor of one of the largest tanneries in the United States, a man of large fortune made by his own honest industry, a broad-minded, liberal politician and public-spirited citizen, formerly chief of the fire department, and recently elected park commis- sioner of Louisville, was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, September 6, 1844
His father, David Frantz, was born in Alsace, Germany, August 30, 1810, and came to the United States in 1829, stopping first in Baltimore, where he was employed as a journeyman tanner for two years, and then walked from Baltimore to Cincinnati, where he was superintendent of the tannery of the old firm of A. M. Taylor & Com- pany until 1847, when he came to Louisville as a partner of A. M. Taylor and established the tan- nery now owned by his son, George W. Frantz, situated at the corner of Franklin and Buchanan streets. They began in a small way and con- tinued to work together until 1856, when A. M. Taylor withdrew and H. W. Taylor took his place in the firm. This partnership continued until January 1, 1864, when Mr. Taylor withdrew and David Frantz, Jr., and George W. Frantz were admitted to the firm under the style of D. Frantz & Sons. On the first day of January, 1886, the senior member of the firm retired and the busi- ness was continued by the sons under the firm name.
David Frantz was one of the best and most in- dustrious citizens of Louisville and was success-
ful through his industry, honesty and square deal- ing. He was a member of the German Lutheran Church, and a man of great moral courage and strength of character. He died in 1891, aged eighty-one years.
Christina Staebler Frantz (mother) was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, in 1805, and was mar- ried to Mr. Frantz in Cincinnati. She was a faith- ful member of the German Lutheran Church, and a noble Christian woman. Her father, Jonathan Staebler, was a native of Germany, but came to this country some years before his death.
George W. Frantz was educated in the Louis- ville public schools and spent two years in the Lutheran College at St. Charles, Missouri. At the age of eighteen years he was well qualified for the prominent part he has taken in the management of large business interests and in public affairs, to which he has given much attention.
On the fourth day of March, 1862, he began work in his father's tannery and, as above stated, became a partner in the concern on the first day of January, 1864; and on the first day of Febru- ary, 1895, on the retirement of his brother, he be- came the sole proprietor of the oldest and largest tannery in Louisville. He made many improve- ments and increased the capacity of the plant a hundred-fold. The yard covers an area of four acres of ground and the establishment employs one hundred men, who, with the recent improve- ments in machinery and the increased facilities, can accomplish as much as twice that number of men could do under the old regime.
Mr. Frantz has always been a Democrat and has taken a lively interest in politics from the busi- ness man's standpoint, being opposed to the draw- ing of party lines in city politics. In 1878 he was elected by the City Council chief engineer of the fire department, but the constant diligence re- quired of him in the department conflicted with his business interests, and after two years of effi- cient service he retired from that office, having placed the department upon a better footing and upon a higher standard of excellence than it had ever reached before.
In 1895 he was nominated by the Republican party, without his wish or consent, for the im- portant office of park commissioner-a nomina-
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tion which was a high compliment to his busi- ness ability-and although a Democrat, he ac- cepted the nomination and was elected by a large majority, receiving almost as many Democratic as Republican votes. While he is very much gratified by his election under such circumstances, he realizes his responsibility to the general pub- lic, and has given much thought and labor to the development of the extensive park system of the city. His ability as a financier, together with his high regard for the judicious expenditure of public funds, has made him one of the most use- ful and popular of the six park commissioners.
Being a self-made man, whose fortune has been acquired by great industry, close personal atten- tion to business and honesty of purpose, he knows the value of a dollar, and applies the rules of pri- vate business in the disposition of the public funds more rigidly than he does in conducting the affairs of his own establishment. He will see that the money entrusted to the park commis- sioners is judiciously expended. At the same time he is broad and liberal in his views of the public needs, and is neither penurious nor lavish in the use of money for needed improvements.
A man of ample fortune, noted for his generous public spirit and deeply interested in the progress of the city, Mr. Frantz enjoys the confidence and good will of men of all parties. Besides being a large property holder in the city, and having ex- tensive business interests in which he has a vast amount of capital invested, Mr. Frantz owns one hundred and sixty thousand acres of land in Crosby County, Texas, worth an average of five dollars per acre, and which is increasing in value. This land, the finest in the state, was pur- chased some years ago by a syndicate of Louis- ville capitalists for ranching purposes and a com- pany was organized and known as the Kentucky Cattle Raising Company. They owned forty thou- sand head of cattle at one time, but the business failed through mismanagement, and Mr. Frantz became the purchaser of the land in order to save himself and his friends from loss, and it has proven a good investment.
Mr. Frantz is a Knight Templar, an Odd Fel- low, a member of the Knights of Honor and a member of the Methodist Church, South.
He was married April 5, 1866, to Mary M. En- derlin of Louisville, and has five sons and one daughter: George W. Frantz, Jr., Emma E., wife of John W. Klein of Louisville; Walter L., David W., Edwin A. and Harold W. Frantz.
R EVEREND WILLIAM H. FELIX, pastor of the Baptist Church, Lexington, son of Josiah and Jane Ann (Shouse) Felix, was born in Mortinsville, Woodford County, Kentucky, Octo- ber 6, 1838.
His father was a native Kentuckian, and when a young man he settled in Woodford County, where he married and lived up to the time of his death in 1867, aged fifty-nine years. He was a member of the Baptist Church, and a follower of the political teachings of Henry Clay, but after the dissolution of the old Whig party he acted with the State Rights party of Mr. Jefferson.
Josiah Felix was long a justice of the peace under the Constitution of 1799. He was an indus- trious farmer and also was largely engaged in the manufacture of bagging and rope. These articles were carried on steamboats to New Orleans and other cities of the Southern states. He was an energetic and successful business man, and em- ployed on an average of one hundred operatives in his hemp factory, and managed a large farm. He was strictly honest and never forgot the small- est item of expense in his business operations. He was of German descent.
Jane Ann Shouse (mother) was a native of Woodford County. She died in 1893, in her eighty-fourth year. She was a well preserved lady, and a faithful and worthy member of the Baptist Church.
William H. Felix remained on his father's farm until he was sixteen years of age. In 1855 he en- tered Georgetown College, and was graduated from that institution in June, 1860. He then took charge of a Baptist Church at New Castle in Henry County, Kentucky. He was ordained by Doctor Duncan R. Campbell, president of Georgetown College, who preached the ordination sermon.
At this time the Civil war between the states was inaugurated, and he, still pursuing the min- istry, read law; was admitted to the bar in 1862, and practiced law one year at Shelbyville.
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In September, 1863, Mr. Felix was called home to take charge of the First Baptist Church, Lex- ington, Kentucky, and served this church until 1869, when he received a call from the Pilgrim Baptist Church of New York City, and was pas- tor of that church for one year. In 1870 he ac- cepted a call to the First Baptist Church of Cov- ington, where he remained as pastor for fourteen years and resigned in 1884. For two years there- after he served country churches in order to re- gain his health. In 1887 he was called to the church at Lexington, his present charge.
When he came to Lexington in 1887, the church had four hundred and twenty-five mem- bers; after his eight years of labor there are now eight hundred and forty-five, a gain of four hun- dred and twenty-five, having himself received six hundred into the church.
Rev. William H. Felix is a Baptist minister of high character and renown, and wherever he is known he is greatly loved and respected. As a minister he is energetic and faithful. In his spirits he is seldom greatly elevated or depressed, a uniform dignity marking his deportment in daily life. His conversation is entertaining, and his ser- mons abound in rich thought, plain expression and solemn appeals to the conscience. There are few men whose labors in the ministry have pro- duced a greater portion of good.
Mr. Felix was married in 1861 to Mattie Hay- don, daughter of Thomas Haydon of Louisville, Kentucky. She died in 1871, leaving four chil- dren: Mary, wife of Hamilton Wright of Hart- well, Ohio; Jennie, now Mrs. Caldwell of Visalia, Kentucky; Josie, wife of Richard Cummings of Covington, and Mattie, wife of William Bain of Lexington.
Rev. Felix was married the second time in 1875 to Camilla Hemmingray, and by this union one son and one daughter have been born: William H., Jr., and Annie Bradford Felix.
T IMOTHY ALEXANDER FIELD, whole- sale grocer of Ashland, son of James L. and Mary (Hicks) Field, was born in Kanawha County, West Virginia, July 30, 1863. His father, James L. Field, was born in Bedford County, Virginia, November 13, 1837, and was educated
in the common schools of Kanawha County, West Virginia. He was a merchant of Charleston, West Virginia, and at one time served as superin- tendent of schools in Kanawha County, West Virginia. He was a deacon in the Baptist Church and was active in all good work. He married Mary Matilda Hicks January 9, 1862. She was born October 4, 1844 in Kanawha County, West Virginia. They had twelve children, of whom Timothy Alexander, the subject of this sketch, was the eldest.
John Field (grandfather) was born in Fairfax County, Virginia, and was a manager of salt fur- naces. He married Elizabeth Thurman, a cousin to Senator Allen G. Thurman of Ohio. He died December 4, 1880.
Timothy A. Field received his education in Kanawha County, West Virginia; in 1885 en- gaged in the mercantile and lumber business in Carter County, Kentucky, and in 1888 he removed to Ashland and embarked in the wholesale gro- cery business with Thomas J. Crump, the firm name being Crump & Field, a house which is well known throughout Northeastern Kentucky.
Mr. Field is a member of the City Council of Ashland, having been elected by the Republicans, to which party he belongs. He is a Knight Tem- plar, a popular citizen and a successful business man. He was married June 10, 1887, to Hattie Crump, daughter of Thomas J. Crump. They have two children living, James Thomas and Dorothea Crump.
D R. LAMME STEELE GIVENS of Cyn- thiana was born in that city January 14, 1866. His father, David A. Givens, was born in Cynthiana in 1831. He was engaged in the mer- cantile business for many years. He was also largely engaged in raising cattle and brought the first imported Jersey cattle to this county. For many years he was very successful, making large sales of Jerseys in New York City and other places. He served as justice of the peace, but never held any other office. He was an elder in the Presbyterian Church, and a highly respected citizen of his native town, and died July 26, 1895. His father, Col. Alexander Givens, was born in Cynthiana in 1792. He was a farmer and stock
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raiser, and was a colonel in the state militia. He died in 1840, at the age of forty-eight years. His father, George Givens, was a native of Virginia, a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and was one of the earliest settlers of Harrison County. He was of Scotch-Irish descent.
Margaret Keller Givens (mother) was born in Cynthiana in 1838. She was a faithful member of the Presbyterian Church, and died in 1882. Her father, Abraham Keller, was born in Cyn- thiana in 1808 and died there in 1868, aged sixty years. He was the distiller of the renowned brand of "A. Keller Whisky." This distillery is still in operation and is owned by Ashbrook Bros.
Dr. L. S. Givens, after leaving the public schools of Cynthiana, attended Central Univer- sity and graduated from the Ohio Medical Col- lege, Cincinnati, in 1887. He spent the next year abroad in the hospitals of Berlin and London, and in 1889 he began the general practice of medicine in Cynthiana, giving especial attention to diseases of the nose, throat and ear. He is a member of the Kentucky Medical Society and a contributor to the medical journals. He is coro- ner of the county, having been elected to that office on the Democratic ticket in 1894.
Dr. Givens and Nettie Martin, daughter of Reed M. Martin of Cynthiana, were married, November 18, 1891. They are members of the Presbyterian Church and are prominent in so- ciety.
REV. BERNARD GREIFENKAMP, rector of St. Augustine's Church, Augusta, was born in Cincinnati, November 20, 1858. The days of his boyhood were spent in Newport, where his parents made their home; and, after receiving his primary schooling, he went to St. Xavier College in Cincinnati, where he took the degree of A. M. in 1879. He then went to St. Francis Seminary, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and finished his studies with distinction in 1882. He was ordained to the priesthood in the same year at Covington by Rt. Rev. A. M. Toebbe. He at once began the work of the ministry as assistant rector of St. Aloysius Church, Covington, and labored in that capacity for four and a half years. He then was placed in charge of the St. Augus-
tine's Church at Augusta, and in the nine years of his ministry in that place he has enjoyed the love and confidence of his parishioners and the respect of the entire community. He is a modest, unas- suming gentleman, a fine scholar and, withal, a diligent student, an eloquent speaker and a wise counsellor. His work has been fraught with good results in his parish and in the community, and his worth is appreciated by all classes of citi- zens, and by Christians of all denominations.
Father Greifenkamp's ancestors were from Germany and were among the earliest settlers of Cincinnati, where his parents lived at the time of his birth.
W ILLIAM ALVIS GUTHRIE, M. D., of Franklin, Kentucky, son of Francis M. and Nancy (Marcum) Guthrie, was born in Clinton County, Kentucky, August 31, 1864. His father is a native of the same county, where he has been a farmer and a lumber merchant since reaching his manhood. He is a good citizen, an excellent neighbor and a member of the Methodist Church.
Anderson Guthrie (grandfather) was also a native of Kentucky, and a farmer of Clinton County, and died there in 1893 at the age of seventy-eight years. His father was a native of Virginia, who came to Kentucky very early in the present century, and his father (great-great- grandfather) was born in Ireland and came to America and settled in Virginia, but in what year the records of the family do not show.
Nancy Marcum Guthrie (mother) is a native of Cumberland County, Kentucky, a daughter of Basil Marcum, a well-known citizen of that county.
William A. Guthrie attended school in his native county and spent some time in the Alex- ander College at Burksville, and three years at a high school in Cumberland County. He then read medicine with Dr. W. G. Hunter of Burks- ville, and subsequently went to the University of Tennessee at Nashville, from the medical depart- ment of which he was graduated in 1889. He first settled in Summer Shade, Metcalfe County; and, after practicing there for three years, he went to New York and took a course in diseases of women and in surgery in the Post-graduate
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Medical College of that city. In 1891 he re- turned to Kentucky and located in Franklin, his present residence. In 1893-94 he built his large brick sanitarium, which he designed for a home or hospital for the treatment of the diseases of women, a specialty in which he has had marvelous success. This enterprise has been rewarded with a very large patronage; and is one of the most noted and flourishing institutions of the kind in southern Kentucky. Dr. Guthrie has an exten- sive general practice also, but gives special atten- tion to the treatment of the diseases of women and surgery. He is a member of the American Medical Association, the Kentucky State Medical Society and the Southern Kentucky Medical As- sociation, and is a contributor to the medical journals.
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