USA > Kentucky > Biographical cyclopedia of the commonwealth of Kentucky > Part 19
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Mr. Hoge is also a stockholder and director in the Safety Vault & Trust Company of Frankfort, and a stockholder in the Kentucky Building & Loan Association of Frankfort. His interest in the wholesale grocery house of Hoge & Hutch- inson at Staunton, Virginia, is looked after by the resident partner. He has made his home in Frankfort since 1882 and is identified with the material, social, political and religious interests of the city. He is a member and generous supporter of the Presbyterian Church, and a willing, cheer- ful helper in every good cause.
Mr. Hoge was married October 14, 1868, to Anne B. French, daughter of Stephen French of Prince William County, Virginia; and they have two sons and three daughters: Stephen F., Evelyne B., Hildred Merrill, Mary Kerr and Percy Echols. The eldest son, Stephen F. Hoge, graduated third in his class from the Virginia Military Institute, with the degree of Civil En- gineer, in 1891, and is now a member of the firm of Mason, Hoge & Company, in charge of a branch of the work on the Chicago Drainage Canal.
D OCTOR J. OLIVER JENKINS, of New- port, Kentucky, one of the leading and most successful members of the medical profes- sion of that city, is a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. Born August 8, 1851; son of William and Le- marian (Mann) Jenkins. William Jenkins was born in Bristol, England, and came here with his parents to the United States in 1820. In 1846 William Jenkins removed to Cincinnati, which has been his home ever since. William Jenkins is now seventy-nine years of age, has always been a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and a Republican in politics. In his early manhood he learned the trade of tanning, which he carried on, in connection with his father and brothers, for a number of years.
John Jenkins (grandfather) was also a native of England, who, after his arrival in this country in 1820, located with his family at Newark, N. J.,
whence he removed in 1824 to Northern Pennsyl- vania, where he remained until the time of his death, which occurred in 1858. William Jenkins wedded Lemarian Mann, a native of Cincinnati, in 1850.
Dr. James O. Jenkins spent his youth in his native city and was educated in the public schools. After leaving school in 1869 he commenced to learn the trade of electro-plating, but gave it up soon on account of ill-health. After recovering his health he was employed as assistant librarian for a number of years in the "Public Library of Cincinnati," and during that time he occupied his spare moments in the study of medicine. In the fall of 1873 he entered the Ohio Medical College. In 1880 he again returned to the Ohio Medical College, and after two years of study was gradu- ated with honors from that well-known institution, in the class of 1882. He immediately located in Newport, Kentucky, where he has since prac- ticed and earned a reputation as one of the most successful general practitioners in Northern Ken- tucky. Dr. Jenkins is a member of the State Med- ical Society and of the Mississippi Valley Medical Association, and is a contributor to some of the leading medical journals of the country.
He was married in 1883 to Mary A. Clark, daughter of John Clark, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and they have one son and two daughters: Robert C., Ruth L., and Grace, one daughter, Helen, hav- ing died of pneumonia October 4, 1886.
Dr. Jenkins is Democratic in politics, and after the organization of the Board of Health of New- port, in 1892, he was one of its first members. He has always taken an active and conspicuous part in the cause of education, and in 1893 was elected president of the Board of Education of the City of Newport for a term of two years, end- ing December 31, 1895.
M AJOR J. PAUL JONES, a prominent farmer of Boyd County, near Ashland, and a distinguished and influential citizen of the county, was born in Uniontown, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, September 30, 1823.
His father, Edward Jones, was a native of Mer- thyr-Tydvil, Glamorganshire, South Wales, who came to America and settled in Uniontown, Penn-
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sylvania, where he lived for a period of twenty- five years, when he started to return to his old home on a visit, but was lost in the "President," a ship which went down in mid-ocean. His father was a native of Wales.
Sarah Howell Jones (mother), a native of the same neighborhood in Wales, removed to Madi- son, Wisconsin, after her husband's death, and made her home there until her death. She and her husband were members of the Baptist Church.
J. Paul Jones received a good education in col- lege in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, completing his literary studies in 1842. He then began the study of medicine, but through the influence of a friend, he was induced to accept a position as man- ager of a furnace for William Lindsay Pogue, at Amanda, which position he held for two or three years. In 1840 he resumed the study of medi- cine. Returning to Amanda, and having mar- ried a daughter of his former employer, he en- gaged in business with his father-in-law, and took an active part in the management of the business for several years. He then went to farm- ing in Greenup (now Boyd) County.
In 1861 he entered the Union army as captain of cavalry, but was transferred to the position of regimental quartermaster, in which capacity he served for several months, and then returned to his home and recruited a battalion of six com- panies for the Twenty-second Regiment of Ken- tucky State troops. He was made major and was in command of the battalion until the close of the war. The principal work of his command was skirmishing and fighting guerrillas, one of the most difficult and annoying duties a soldier is called upon to perform. In this case it was very necessary, and the work of Colonel Jones' com- mand was of the highest importance.
After the close of the war Major Jones re- turned to his farm, which had in the meantime been under the capable management of his esti- mable wife, and has given it his undivided atten- tion until the present time. Unlike many sol- diers of distinction and men of education and marked ability, Major Jones has never aspired to political preferment. Intensely a Union man in his sentiments during the war, he has affiliated
with the Democratic party during the past thirty years, and could have had almost any favor in the gift of the people merely by indicating his willing- ness to accept. He is a prominent member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and takes a deep in- terest in the affairs of veteran soldiers.
Major Jones was married February 2, 1846, to Anna Amanda Pogue, daughter of William L. Pogue. She was born May 24, 1829, and re- ceived a superior education in a seminary at Steubenville, Ohio, and was a lady of rare accom- plishments. She was, among other things which distinguished her as a lady of great strength of character, an accomplished equestrienne, and could ride any horse she ever saw. During her husband's absence in the army, she conducted the business of the farm with excellent business tact, without neglecting her household or social duties. She died on the 16th day of September following Major Jones' return from the war. Her father, William L. Pogue, was one of the first white men born in Harrodsburg, Kentucky. He died in Ashland, March 31, 1881. His wife, Ann Mc- Cormick, was a native of Richmond, Virginia.
The children of Major and Anna Amanda Pogue Jones were: Anna Amanda, deceased; Sallie Flournoy, Robert William, Fannie Wells, Har- riet Milton, Mary Louisa, Lottie Culver, and Lindsay, who died in infancy.
W ASHINGTON FITHIAN, M. D., physi- cian and surgeon, was born January 8, 1825, in Salem County, New Jersey. His parents were Joel and Sarah Dick (Sinickson) Fithian. His father, Dr. Joel Fithian, was a native of New Jersey; in 1831, moved to Oxford, Ohio, and fol- lowed the medical profession through life. His mother was the daughter of Andrew Sinickson, of New Jersey; and members of both families were officers or soldiers in the War of the Revo- lution, and were among the early settlers in New Jersey. The subject of this sketch received a lib- eral education, mainly at Miami University, at Oxford, Ohio, where he graduated in 1845. In that year he began the study of medicine; pre- pared for his profession under his father, at Ox- ford; attended lectures regularly, and graduated in the Ohio College of Medicine, at Cincinnati,
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in 1848. In the same year he located at North Middletown, Kentucky, and entered upon the practice of his profession. He established a valu- able and successful practice at North Middletown, and remained there fifteen years. He spent a part of the year 1863 in Shelbyville, and in 1864 removed to Paris, where he has given his time and best energies to his profession, to which he is greatly attached, and in which he occupies an enviable position. He is a member of the Lick- ing Valley Medical Society; has contributed with his pen to the medical literature of the day; and, by his practice, writings and example, has been an advocate of the most elevated standard for the noble profession. In politics he is an independ- ent voter. His first presidential vote was for Gen- eral Taylor, and he voted with the Whig party during its existence. At the election preceding the war he voted for Bell and Everett. During the Rebellion he was an earnest Union man, and was several months a surgeon in the Federal army. He is associated with the Methodist Church, and has been distinguished for his great integrity of character through life and his excep- tional personal, social and professional habits. He was married in September, 1850, to Lucinda, daughter of Reubin Hutchcraft, of Bourbon County.
F AYETTE HEWITT, president of the State National Bank of Frankfort, is descended from an old French Huguenot family of that name who settled on the James River, in Virginia, in 1689. His mother, Eliza Chastain, was also a descendant of French Protestant refugees who were driven from France during the bloody reign of Louis XIV., when, by his order, the Edict of Nantes was revoked in 1685, forty thousand of the Huguenots left their native country and set- tled in the American provinces. This country has never had better citizens than those sturdy Huguenots and their descendants. Many thou- sands of them are among the most prominent peo- ple-in the pulpit, at the bar, and in the halls of legislature, and there is no record to show that any one of them has ever disgraced himself, his ancestors or his country.
General Fayette Hewitt's father, Robert Hewitt,
was a native of Bedford County, Virginia, who came to Kentucky in 1829. He was for many years principal of an academy at Elizabethtown, Hardin County, and was a man of fine scholarly attainments, who enjoyed a high reputation as an educator. He devoted his life to teaching, but died at the early age of thirty-nine years, in 1850.
John Hewitt (grandfather) was a native and farmer of Bedford County, Virginia. He was a highly respected citizen, and in the War of 1812 he served his country well at the head of his regiment. He died in his native county, in 1841.
Eliza Chastain Hewitt (mother) was a native of Frederick County, Virginia; daughter of Rev. Louis Chastain, one of the early ministers in the Methodist Episcopal Church, in Virginia, who was sent to Kentucky for the purpose of organ- izing and building up churches. Mrs. Hewitt survived her husband, residing in Elizabethtown until the day of her death, in 1876.
General Hewitt was born in Hardin (now La- rue) County, Kentucky, near the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln, October 15, 1831. He re- ceived his early education under the careful in- struction of his father, who died when Fayette was eighteen years of age. He at once succeeded his father as principal of the school and continued the academy for ten years, fully sustaining the high standard of the school, and making for him- self a reputation as one of the most competent educators in the State. He was compelled to re- sign in 1859, on account of failing health, and went south for the purpose of recuperating.
In 1860 he received an appointment in the Postoffice Department at Washington, under President Buchanan. This he resigned in March, 1861, and soon afterwards was appointed adjutant- general under President Davis of the Confederacy. He served in this capacity in the trans-Mississippi department and with General Breckenridge as ad- jutant-general of a brigade, enduring all manner of hardships and sufferings in behalf of the cause that was lost. He had three horses killed under him, in different battles, and several bullets pierced his clothing, but he escaped unhurt. He participated in many bloody battles throughout the war, and distinguished himself as a daring, gallant and fearless soldier.
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When he returned home it had been his inten- tion to practice law, but the Kentucky legislature had passed a law that no one who had been a soldier in the Confederate army should practice law in the State, and he resumed the profession of teacher, taking charge of a select female school at Elizabethtown. When the law prohibiting him from practicing was repealed, a year later, he was at' once admitted to the bar of Hardin County, and made a successful beginning in the legal pro- fession; but in 1867 Governor Stevenson appoint- ed him quartermaster general, which office he held until 1876, when he resigned and returned to Elizabethtown with the intention of practicing law; but on account of the death of his brother, in Louisville, he removed to that city to settle the estate.
In August, 1879, he was elected State auditor, and assumed the duties of that office January I, 1880. He was twice re-elected State auditor, and held that office until November, 1889, when he resigned to accept the presidency of the State National Bank of Frankfort, since which time he has given his attention to the affairs of that bank and to other financial matters, having been presi- dent of the Frankfort Safety Vault & Trust Com- pany since its organization, and being general manager of the Kentucky Investment & Building Association.
Virgil Hewitt, brother of the general, was ad- jutant of the Sixth Regiment Kentucky Infantry, C. S. A., in the brigade of General Joseph H. Lewis; and was severely wounded a number of times in the hard-fought battles of Tennessee and Georgia. He was county clerk of Hardin County and deputy clerk of the Court of Appeals, and as- sistant auditor of State until January, 1896. An- other brother, Fox Hewitt, participated in some of the battles around Richmond, and after the war was clerk of the County Court of Hardin County.
JOSEPH FITHIAN, a member of the med- ical firm of W. and J. Fithian, and an hon- ored and substantial citizen of Paris, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, November 18, 1830. He removed to Oxford, Ohio, with his
father's family when he was quite young and was educated in the Miami University, at that place, which, at that time, was one of the leading edu- cational institutions in the country.
He read medicine with his father, who was one of the most noted physicians of Oxford, and at- tended Jefferson Medical College, at Philadelphia, from which he was graduated in 1854.
In the same year he located in North Middle- town, Bourbon County, and began the practice of medicine and continued there with excellent suc- cess until 1861, when he went to Missouri, re- maining there but a short time.
He served in the Union army for three and a half years as surgeon of the Eighteenth Regiment Kentucky Infantry, and during that time was fre- quently detailed as brigade and division surgeon.
Following the close of the war he resumed his professional work in North Middletown and prac- ticed with marked success in that vicinity until 1871, when he removed to Paris. Here he soon took a leading position among the most eminent physicians of the city and county, a position which he has maintained without a question as to his professional ability or his high social standing.
A scholarly and highly cultured gentleman, he is deeply interested in the cause of education, and has been a member of the Board of Education ever since its organization in 1874, and is now its president.
He is an elder in the Presbyterian Church, and was elected to represent Ebenezer Presbytery in the General Assembly, which met in Saratoga, in 1883.
Dr. Fithian was married December 23, 1856, to Emina K. Owen, daughter of G. W. Owen, of Bourbon County; and they have three children: Dr. Frank Fithian, a successful young physician, of Paris, and two daughters, Nellie and Georgia.
Dr. Joseph Fithian's father, Joel Fithian, M. D., was a native of Cumberland County, New Jer- sey, and a graduate of Pennsylvania University. His principal work as a physician was performed at Oxford, Ohio, in which place he located in 1831, and where he spent the remainder of a use- ful life.
Amos Fithian (grandfather) was a soldier in the Revolutionary War; and his brother, Philip Vic-
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tor Fithian, a Presbyterian minister, was a chap- lain in the patriot army.
According to tradition, the Fithian family came from Kent County, England, where some of the members lived as long ago as 1648. In 1683 William Fithian, the progenitor of the family in the United States, located at Easthampton, Long Island, where his will is recorded. Whether he was the grandfather or great-grandfather of Amos Fithian, who was Dr. Joseph Fithian's grand- father, is not definitely known.
Sarah Dick Sinickson Fithian (mother) was a daughter of Thomas Sinickson, of New Jersey, who was a captain in the Revolutionary War, and was in the battle of Princeton. Her uncle, Colonel Sinickson, of the patriot army, made him- self so conspicuous and so obnoxious to the op- posing authorities that Lord Howe offered a re- ward of one hundred pounds for his apprehension, dead or alive. Colonel Sinickson and another uncle of Mrs. Fithian were members of the Con- stitutional Congress.
Andrew Sinickson, the original founder of the distinguished family in America, came to this country with a Swedish colony under Peter Min- uet, which settled near Chester, Pennsylvania. Andrew Sinickson afterwards removed to Salem County, in that State, and entered a tract of land the title to which remains in the family to this day.
W. HOWARD MCCORKLE, the junior member of the well-known dry goods firm of McMichael & McCorkle, of Lexington, was born in Lexington, Virginia, May 9, 1861. He received his education in the country schools of Rockbridge County and in the classical schools of Lexington, Virginia, conducted by Jacob Ful- ler and Henry B. Jones, captain of Liberty Hall Volunteers, and at Washington and Lee Uni- versity. Leaving there in 1879 he located in New York City, where he was engaged in the cotton commission business until 1883, when he came to Lexington, Kentucky. Here he engaged in stock raising until 1887, when, in the fall of that year, he became a member of the above-men- tioned firm, wholesale and retail dealers in dry goods. Mr. McCorkle is a Democrat in politics
and a member of the Board of Aldermen. He was first elected to that body in 1893, and was made chairman of the Joint Ways and Means Committee. He is also a member of the Board of School Trustees.
In November, 1887, he was united in marriage to Sarah B. McMichael, a native of Lexington, and a graduate of Hamilton College. She is a daughter of Robert McMichael, one of the oldest and most highly respected business men of Lex- ington.
Alexander McCorkle, the founder of the Mc- Corkle family in Rockbridge County, was a na- tive of Ulster Province, Ireland. He settled in the Colony of Virginia in 1760, and wedded Mary Steels. His son, Samuel McCorkle, was an act- ive participant in the War of the Revolution. His wife was Margaret McCullum. John McCorkle, a brother of Samuel, was an ensign in Capt. James Gilmore's company of militia from Rock- bridge County that marched to meet Tarleton's raiders in South Carolina. In the battle of the Cowpens, which followed, he received a wound in the wrist, which, owing to the fearfully cold weather, resulted in lock-jaw and death. He is said to have been buried near McCowan's Ford, in North Carolina.
The following notice of the death of W. How- ard McCorkle's father, a sketch of his family, ap- peared in the Rockbridge County (Virginia) News:
"William H. McCorkle, an old and highly re- spected citizen of Rockbridge, died at his home, three miles southeast of Lexington, Tuesday morning, at eight o'clock. He had been in quite infirm health for some time, but his death, at this time, was not anticipated. He was born in No- vember, 1819, and was a son of William McCor- kle, who lived upon and owned the farm on which William H. McCorkle lived and died. This place has belonged to the family for several generations, and is the very first deed that appeared on the records of the county after it was founded in 1778.
"His grandfather was Samuel McCorkle, one of the first grand jurors of this county, who, with his two brothers, John and William, and their father, were pioneer settlers in the hill country, southeast of Lexington, and there, since 1760,
W. H. McCORKLE.
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their descendants have lived. His mother was Nancy Welch, of Fancy Hill neighborhood. Mr. McCorkle married Virginia Wilson, daugh- ter of the late James Wilson, Sr., of Buffalo, who survives him with five sons and one daughter: Charles E., who resides at the old home; Walter E., a lawyer of New York City; Reverend Dr. E. W., of Clifton Forge; and W. Howard, of Lex- ington, Kentucky. Mrs. John T. Dunlop, of Rockbridge, and Henry, the youngest son, are also at home. Mr. McCorkle was a thrifty and industrious farmer, a good citizen, exemplary Christian, and a man of exceptionally fine com- mon sense. He gave his children the best op- portunities, and lived to be paid for his exertions in their behalf, by the success and by the hon- orable position he saw them attain."
W. Howard McCorkle, since his residence in Lexington, Kentucky, has identified himself with the business interests of the city, and by his uni- form suave and genial manners, his courtesy and manly bearing towards all, has won for himself a host of friends and an enviable position among the leading citizens of Lexington.
Mr. McCorkle's father was connected with the Civil Service of the Confederate States, and, though past the required age, marched at different times with the Home Guards to meet the enemy. His kinsmen in both lines, as officers and privates, served as soldiers under Lee, Stonewall Jackson and J. E. B. Stuart, many of them were killed, wounded and imprisoned.
JAMES R. W. SMITH, a prominent attorney and acting judge of the Louisville City Court, was born in New Albany, Indiana, August 28, 1842. His father, Major Isaac P. Smith, was a native of Springfield, New Jersey, who removed to New Albany in 1835. He was an architect and builder and was appointed architect and super- intendent of the State Prison at Jeffersonville. He built the county jail and the city hall in New Albany and was architect and builder of many of the finest buildings in that city. During the Civil war he was quartermaster of the Twenty-third In- diana regiment until the organization of the Sev- enteenth Army Corps, when he was detailed by
General James B. McPherson as acting assistant quartermaster general of transportation on Gen- eral McPherson's staff, and served in that posi- tion until the death of General McPherson at Atlanta. After the war he held an important position in the quartermaster's department in Jef- fersonville until within a short time before his death, which occurred January 7, 1887, when he was eighty years of age. Major Smith was a member of the Second Presbyterian Church of New Albany for many years and a resident of the city for over fifty years before his death.
Abby H. Campbell Smith (mother) was a na- tive of Newark, New Jersey, and is now a resident of New Albany, greatly advanced in years; a member of the Second Presbyterian Church and a lady of education and refinement, beloved by a large circle of devoted friends, and noted for her deeds of charity.
Judge James R. W. Smith spent his boyhood in New Albany attending the public schools and finishing his preparatory education in a celebrated academy, of which Professor O. V. Tousley was principal.
He then began the study of law in the office of Judge David W. La Follette, and after reading with him for two years, went to the Cincinnati Law College and was graduated with the first honor of his class, April 19th, 1865. Since May Ist, of the same year, he has been a practitioner of the Louisville bar.
He has represented the Eleventh Ward in the Louisville School Board a number of terms be- ginning in 1876. In 1883 he was elected state senator for a term of four years from the Thirty- eighth senatorial district, comprising the Eighth and Twelfth Wards inclusive. In this capacity Judge Smith distinguished himself as a man of ability and of the highest integrity, taking a very active part in all measures of importance, and not caring for a law committee, was made chairman of the railroad committee. He was state senator during the memorable senatorial contest for a caucus nomination for United States senator be- tween Hon. John S. Williams and Hon. J. C. S. Blackburn, and made a reputation as a man of firmness and individual opinion by refusing to change his vote from "Old Cerro Gordo Wil-
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