USA > Kentucky > Biographical cyclopedia of the commonwealth of Kentucky > Part 21
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his time to the study of theology, and frequently preached the gospel. Upon his defeat for re-elec- tion in 1882 he began preaching, and it was not long until he was called to the pastorate of the Baptist Church at Trenton, Kentucky, where he was greatly beloved by all Christian people.
Captain Francis Lockett (grandfather) was a native of Mecklenburg County, Virginia, and was the author of a popular treatise on the cultiva- tion of tobacco. He came to Henderson when it was scarcely more than a wilderness, and at once became a leader of men, whose advice and counsel were sought by his neighbors. He was a captain of the militia in Virginia and a leader in social and business life in Kentucky. He was a member of the legislature, 1815-17; was then elected State Senator and served until 1819, and was succeeded by the late Governor Archibald Dixon. The Locketts were English people, known as "Roundheads," who came to this coun- try in the time of Charles II.
Elmira Eakins Lockett (mother) was born in Henderson County, Kentucky, May 5, 1843. Her father, John Eakins, was one of the early set- tlers of Henderson County.
William Hickman (father's maternal grand- father) was a Baptist minister, and was the first to proclaim the gospel in Kentucky. He com- menced preaching at Harrodsburg in 1776, when on a tour of observation, merely, and after several months returned to Virginia and remained there several years. He then located in Kentucky and was an earnest laborer in his chosen field for over fifty years, and was familiarly known as "Father Hickman." Paschal Hickman was a soldier at the battle of River Raisin, the terrible massacre in which hundreds of his comrades were slain. Hickman County takes its name from him.
William Hickman (grandfather) was a native of Franklin County, and was also a preacher of con- siderable distinction.
John Francis Lockett was a pupil in the Hen- derson ward and high schools, during the super- intendency of that finished scholar and disciplin- arian, Professor Maurice Kirby, who is now prin- cipal of the Louisville male high school. He gained an education worthy of his teacher, and few young men have started upon the voyage of
life more thoroughly equipped. At an early age he chose the legal profession, and applied him- self assiduously to the acquirement of a knowl- edge of law, reading in his father's office; and in 1879 he was admitted to the bar. Like his father, he proved a graceful, pleasing speaker and an able lawyer. For three years, up to and includ- ing August, 1886, he was prosecuting attorney and was county judge from August, 1886, to Jan- uary, 1895, proving himself a most efficient officer and accomplished jurist.
He was married April 14, 1881, to Minnie, only daughter of Alvan L. Jones of Henderson, and they have four children: Alvan, Hickman, Sarah and Marie.
Mrs. Lockett's maternal great-grandfather, Au- gustine Eastin, was a Baptist preacher, who came from Virginia to Kentucky at the time Boones- borough and Bryant's Station were established by the very early pioneers. At one time he was ar- rested and confined in the jail at Richmond, Vir- ginia, for preaching to the British soldiers; and, for persisting in his purpose to continue to do so, was threatened to be shot. His son, General Zachariah Eastin, was born in Virginia, January II, 1777. He was a colonel in the War of 1812, and fought at Tippecanoe and River Raisin and, in fact, was throughout the campaign with Gen- erals Shelby, Metcalfe and Desha and Colonel Richard M. Johnson of Tecumseh fame. While engaged in this campaign, Colonel Eastin was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general, which commission he held until 1824, when he resigned on account of some misunderstanding between himself and General Desha. General Eastin came to Henderson in 1843, where he died some years later.
S TEPHEN M. LOOMIS, County Attorney,
Falmouth, son of John W. and Harriet K. Loomis, was born in Pendleton County, Febru- ary 3, 1864. His father is also a native of Pen- dleton County, in which he has spent his life as a farmer.
Rev. Thomas J. Loomis (grandfather), a native of Dayton, Kentucky, was a prominent Baptist minister, who was well known in the northern part of the state. He resided in Kenton County
KENTUCKY BIOGRAPHIES.
for many years, where he died in 1880 in the seventy-fifth year of his age.
Harriet K. Loomis (mother) was born in Pen- dleton County in 1828 and is still a resident of that county. 1
Stephen M. Loomis received a good education in the county schools and in Nelson Business Col- lege, Cincinnati. Being an expert penman he taught penmanship for some time and in 1883, at the age of nineteen, he became a partner in the music publishing house of Allen Bros., Arcade, Cincinnati. He continued in this for about two years, when he disposed of his interest and ac- cepted the position of bookkeeper in the store of J. Glasscock in Williamstown, where he re- mained until 1889, when he returned to his home, located in Falmouth, and engaged in the real es- tate business. He soon began the study of law under Judge L. P. Fryer at that place and was admitted to the bar in 1892, and has since then combined the practice of law with his real estate business. In November, 1894, he was elected county attorney on the Republican ticket by a handsome majority, defeating his preceptor, who was the opposing candidate. He took charge of the office in January, 1895, and has made a repu- tation as a faithful and efficient attorney. As an attorney he was associated with Col. Weden O'Neal of Cincinnati in the trial of the Rachford- Finn assassination case and also in the Downard- Vogelsong assassination case, both of which tragedies were enacted in Falmouth and created widespread interest.
Mr. Loomis is a great friend of the newspaper men and he has since early in his 'teens been con- nected with the press, both as correspondent and editor. He is a fearless, entertaining and forcible writer and would make a very successful news- paper man. He has always taken an active in- terest in politics and it is during a heated cam- paign that his trenchant pen is called mostly into use in educating and swaying public sentiment.
His parents being unable to give him the edu- cation they wished him to have, encouraged him in his studies at home and his early personal efforts to acquire a good business education, he having taught public schools in Grant and Pen- dleton Counties, before entering business college.
He was married in 1891 to Miss Mayme Hall, daughter of J. B. Hall, and granddaughter of Col. H. Bullock of Falmouth, has built him a nice home in West Falmouth, where he expects to make his future home. He is building up a good law practice and enjoys the highest esteem and confidence of his constituents.
H ON. GEORGE W. LAIL, Judge of Harri- son County Court, son of Charles and Louisa (Ingels) Lail, was born near Colemans- ville, Harrison County, October 23, 1838. His father was born in Harrison County, September 15, 1807. He followed farming all his life and was justice of the peace for twelve years. He died May 20, 1861.
John Lail (grandfather) was a native of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, who came to Kentucky when an infant with his parents. When only three years of age he was captured by the Indians at Fort Hinkson, Bourbon County, now known as Ruddles Mills. His mother afterward recov- ered him by trading some blankets for him. An older brother was captured at the same time, who was never restored to his family; but when twen- ty-four years of age he paid his brother, John Lail, a visit, coming from Missouri, where he had located. John Lail was a farmer. He died at the age of seventy-seven years. The Lails were of German descent, and belonged to an old Penn- sylvania family.
Louisa Ingels Lail (mother) was a native of Harrison County. She was born April 18, 1814, and died February 20, 1880. Her father, Joseph Ingels, was a native of North Carolina, who came to the northern part of Harrison County and farmed all his life. Her mother, Mary Bryan Ingels, was a niece of Daniel Boone and daugh- ter of William Bryan, who settled what is now known as Bryan Station, and who was killed by the Indians.
Judge Lail was educated in the common schools and was engaged in farming until the be- ginning of the Civil war. He enlisted in the Con- federate army, April 22, 1861, joining Company C, First Kentucky Infantry, in which he served for twelve months, and was wounded in the first fight at Drainsville, Loudoun County, Virginia.
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He recovered from his wound sufficiently to re- enlist in October, 1862; this time joining Com- pany B, Second Battalion Mounted Infantry; which was commanded by Col. Thomas Johnson of Mt. Sterling. He entered this service as a private, but was soon elected second lieutenant and served in that capacity until the close of the war. He was in Camp Chase when the war ended, having been captured February 1, 1865, while at home on a furlough.
Returning to his old home, he settled down to the quiet life of a farmer. He was justice of the peace from 1882 to 1895. In November, 1894, he was elected county judge on the Democratic ticket, and assumed the duties of that office in January, 1895.
Judge Lail was married June 15, 1871, to Flor- ence Day, daughter of N. C. Day of Harrison County. They have eight children living, four sons and four daughters: Maud, Jennie, Wade Hampton, Louisa, Ina, Charles E., Rodney F., and George Shirley.
D. D. BELL, deceased, formerly a beloved and exemplary citizen of Lexington, Ken- tucky, was born in that city June 6, 1849, and died at his home in Lexington June 26, 1892. He was a son of the lamented Henry Bell, a brief sketch of whose noble life is given in connection here- with. Like his father, D. D. Bell's chief charac- teristic was his unstinted generosity and kindly regard for the poor and needy and the hospital- ity which he lavished upon his friends and ac- quaintances, who always found a hearty welcome in his palatial home. He welcomed the stranger to Lexington and to his house and gave his city a good name by his personal kindness and the magnificent entertainment which he provided for visitors. He appreciated good fellowship and was never so happy as when entertaining those who enjoyed his generous hospitality.
He was a loyal friend and he had no enemy. He was a public-spirited citizen, who was always ready to aid with his means or by personal effort any enterprise which he thought would be helpful to the city; a public benefactor, and a philanthro- pist who sought to cover up his deeds of char- ity, but the instances of his generosity were so
numerous that he was constantly being found out. It was said of him that he gave car loads of coal to the poor and none but the recipient was aware of it, while others gave a cart-load and the fact was published in all the papers. Truly, he was a noble, generous man, who gave to others as the Lord had given to him.
He was a man of marked ability in business af- fairs whose surroundings and opportunities were favorable, it is true, but he grasped opportunities and improved them, and made great advancement through good business management; neverthe- less, his chief object in life was to do good to his fellowmen, and he was never so much absorbed in business or so fascinated with his success in money making that he forgot to be thoughtful of others. His home was a veritable palace, where he surrounded himself and his family with com- fort and luxury. But he was, withal, a plain man, without ostentation, unassuming in his everyday life, and no one would suppose from his demeanor that he was the wealthiest man in Lexington.
D. D. Bell took the place of his father, Henry Bell, as director in the Northern Bank, and upon his death the surviving directors, as they had done on his father's death, adopted resolutions of respect, expressing their sincere sorrow, regret- ting that they would no more enjoy his genial companionship and wise counsel, and testifying to their high regard for his many good and honor- able qualities of mind and heart, their sincere affection for his person in life and their grief in his death.
To his intimate friends alone he revealed the many sterling qualities which stamped him as a man with a full realization of the responsibilities of life, and they alone saw the cheerful courage w th which he assumed and discharged every obligation that these responsibilities imposed. The sunny side of his nature was always presented to the world, and to those whom he met casually he rarely disclosed his remarkable knowledge of human nature or his accurate and methodical business acquirements. His whole life was guid- ed by the golden rule, and the world that knew him was made brighter and happier for his hav- ing been in it. His acquaintance extended throughout the whole country, and there was
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mourning in nearly every state and city when the telegraph flashed the unwelcome tidings of his death throughout the land.
His bright and useful life was suddenly cut off in the midst of his usefulness. He was stricken with paralysis on Wednesday and died on the fol- lowing Sunday, June 26, 1892. He was mourned in the city as if each individual acquaintance had met with a personal loss; women and children and even stout-hearted men wept in the streets.
Mr. Bell was happily married April 5, 1880, to Sydney S. Sayre, daughter of the distinguished banker and financier, E. D. Sayre, a sketch of whose life is given in this work; and this union of two families who were life-long friends, strengthened the ties between the members of these households and made them as one. He left his companion and an only daughter, Clara D. D. Bell, but the circle of relatives and friends who were bereaved by his untimely end embraced a city full of mourners, who have never found an- other to take the place of D. D. Bell in their affec- tions.
JAMES CAMPBELL, Lawyer and ex-Circuit J Court Judge of Paducah, was born in that city April 9, 1843. After the usual preliminary schooling he went to Stewart College, Clarksville, Tennessee, for two years and then spent two years in European schools, and after returning home he matriculated in the McGill College and Univer- sity, Montreal, Canada, where he studied for one year, and was licensed to practice law at Paducah. He was admitted to McCracken County bar in 1866, and has made Paducah his home and the practice of law his profession for thirty years.
He was a member of the City Council for two years, and in 1881 he was elected to succeed Hon- orable Edward Crossland as Circuit Court judge of the First Judicial District of Kentucky, embrac- ing the seven "Purchase" counties of McCracken, Ballard, Hickman, Fulton, Calloway, Marshall and Graves, and also Livingston County, beyond the Tennessee River. He served until the expira- tion of his term, but was not a candidate for re- election. At the close of his administration the unusual compliment of commendatory resolu- tions, endorsing his course as a man and a judge,
were passed by the bar and the officers of the court and the people in each county in his judi- cial district. This endorsement was more grati- fying to him than a re-election would have been had he sought to retain the office.
Judge Campbell was married in 1868 to Mary K. Wheeler, daughter of Dr. James Wheeler of Christian County. They have four children: Wheeler, born in 1869 and admitted to the bar of Paducah in 1890; Bessie, Jeanette and James Campbell, Jr.
James Campbell (father) was born in Peters- burg, Virginia, in 1798, and came to this state early in the present century, and was one of the most prominent lawyers in Western Kentucky. He was for some time judge of the Circuit Court. He died in Paducah in 1880, in the eighty-second year of his age. His father was a Scotchman, born in Argyleshire, and was the only member of his family who came to America. He was a citi- zen of Petersburg, Virginia, and an officer in the Revolutionary war. His wife (grandmother) was Mademoiselle Victoire de la Porte, a royalist, who fled from France with her family and her uncle, Baron du Boeuf, during the French Revolution of 1789. She was in the palace of the Tuileries, a member of the household, and witnessed the fam- ous massacre of the Swiss Guards. She met and married Mr. Campbell in Virginia.
Dixon Given (maternal grandfather) was a prominent citizen of Livingston County, who for many years represented his district in the Ken- tucky Senate.
W ILLIAM J. DAVIS, Secretary and Treas- urer of the Louisville School Board, is a son of William Kincaid and Sarah M. (Zimmer- man) Davis of Darlington C. H., South Carolina. His father was born in South Carolina in 1809 and was a cotton planter in Fairfield District, South Carolina, until his removal to Charleston in 1848, where he was a successful cotton factor and where his death occurred in 1872.
Jonathan Davis (grandfather) of Fairfield. South Carolina, was a large cotton planter and a Baptist minister, as, indeed, were nearly all of his male ancestors in this country.
James Davis (great-grandfather) was an officer
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in General Sumter's Brigade in Northern South Carolina during the Revolutionary war-one of seven brothers, sons of John Davis, planter, Fair- field, S. C .- who entered the patriot army in one company of cavalry, but two of whom survived.
The family is of Welsh extraction, the first ancestor in this country, David Davis, purchasing thirty thousand acres of land from William Penn and settling his congregation, whom he brought over at his own expense from Pembroke County, Wales, in 1710. The church which he built is still standing about thirty miles from Philadelphia. Benedict gives an account of this religious move- ment in his history of the Baptists; and the Rev. John Davis, whilom pastor of the Second Bap- tist Church of Boston, published a history of the "Welsh Tract" Baptists, giving many interesting facts concerning that colony.
William J. Davis was born in Fairfield County, South Carolina, March 23, 1839. He was eight years of age when his father removed to Charles- ton, and he was educated in that city, graduating with the highest honors at the "Citadel," the State Military Academy.
Soon after the beginning of the late Civil war, January 19, 1861, he was commissioned first lieu- tenant and shortly after captain in the First South Carolina Infantry, P. A. C. S., and was with that regiment until January, 1863, when his service was commuted to Morgan's Cavalry. He served as commander of scouts and as adjutant-general in General Duke's Brigade of that division until the close of the conflict, except when confined as a prisoner of war. When the war closed he re- turned to South Carolina, but removed to Louis- ville in May, 1866. He was connected with the house of John P. Morton & Company for some time, having charge of their educational publica- tions, and did excellent work as palaeontologist in connection with the State Geological Survey, devoting several years to that branch of public service.
In 1877 he was elected secretary and treasurer of the Louisville School Board, to which position he has been re-elected annually for nineteen years without opposition.
Major Davis has been an industrious student and writer, having contributed many articles to
newspapers and magazines on various topics and has published in pamphlet form numerous arti- cles and monographs on geological subjects, physical geography and natural history, among which may be mentioned especially "The Fossil Corals of Kentucky," which was published by the state in 1880.
Major Davis has devoted his leisure hours and much of his valuable time to the advancement of science in the line which he marked out in early life. His work has already proved of incalculable benefit to his state, and will be greatly appreciated by future generations. His lectures on geology, fossils of Kentucky, natural history, etc., have at- tracted attention among scholars and students and are exceedingly instructive and interesting even to those who make no pretentions to scien- tific knowledge.
Major Davis was married in December, 1866, to Frances Cunningham, daughter of Cleland T. Cunningham of Springfield, Kentucky, and they have eight children, six sons and two daughters: William J., Cleland, Francis, Edith, Edwin, Ethel Churchill, Basil Duke and Warren Offutt. The eldest son, William J. Davis, Jr., is first assistant electrical and mechanical engineer in the testing department of the General Electric Company at Schenectady, New York. The second son, Cle- land Davis, is ensign in the United States Navy, now stationed at Washington, D. C. The third son, Francis Davis, is a civil engineer, employed on a railroad in process of construction between La Follette, Tennessee, and Middlesborough, Kentucky. The fourth son, Edwin Davis, gradu- ated with the honors of his class from the High School of Louisville and is studying medicine. The other children are at home, and are capable of taking important places in the work of the coming generation.
H ENRY BELL, father of D. D. Bell, was born in Georgetown, Delaware, March 28, 1808. He married Clarissa Davis, daughter of Daniel Davis of Salisbury, Maryland, and came to Ken- tucky when he was a young man, and made his mark, not as the popular politician and statesman, but as a merchant and financier, who was hon- ored for his integrity and universally loved for his
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goodness of heart and many deeds of charity. A man of strong intellect, well informed on all top- ics of the day, he was still a most companionable man.
He was an associate and confidential friend of such men of his time as the Wickliffs, Johnsons, Paynes, Wards, Prentice, Wooley, Brand, Mor- gan, Hunt and others whose names are found in the history of the "mellow, happy" ante-bellum days; and he wielded an influence among men and in politics which made others conspicuous while he modestly remained in the background. He accumulated a princely fortune, and his hand was ever ready to respond to the promptings of a noble and generous heart in behalf of the poor and distressed.
While phenomenally successful in business, at- tracting attention to his wonderful ability as a merchant and financier, he was even more con- spicuous for his broad charity and generous gifts to the poor of the city. He could not wait for those in need to come to him, but sought oppor- tunities of helping others and alleviating distress, just as other men seek opportunities for invest- ment.
When his health failed and he was advised to go to Florida he consented, but thinking of those who would miss his benefactions he left $500 to be distributed to the poor of his city during his absence. He was then in his seventy-fifth year, and his advanced years and failing health made the trip to the South of no avail, and he died in Jacksonville, Florida, April 7, 1883.
The following tender tribute to his memory was written by Jennie C. Morton and printed in the Frankfort "Yeoman":
A NAME IN WHITE.
Tho' dead, he leaves his life to speak- The best, his meed of praise; He needs no tributes that we make, Nor poet's glowing lays. No, no; this noble man has said: "If I have lived in vain,
No gilded words above me spread Can blot out any stain.
" "Tis what we do, what we have been, That's good and wise and true,
Must stand the test at last all men Here are submitted to."
To live the life approved the best- For life in death goes on-
We live in hearts and lives we've blest, Not words, when we are gone.
A kindly man, with genial smile, And gentle, tender heart, One in whose Scottish blood no guile Had ever smallest part.
There was no waver in his course, His life-way pointed straight;
And by its own unswerving force He won his goodly fate.
Now dead, he speaketh thro' his deeds: The test death makes and leaves;
Found his life all sown with seeds Up-bearing golden sheaves. From North to South, from East to West, The plaudit is the same,
They whose hearts and lives he blest Now rise to bless his name.
JENNIE C. MORTON.
W ILLIAM ANDREW BYRON, Attorney at Law, Brooksville, was born in Mason County, March 23, 1860; son of Andrew and Ellen (Ryan) Byron. His father was born in County Limerick, Ireland, January, 1818, and came to America in 1849. He located in Mason County, where he engaged in farming. He had received a collegiate education in the old country and was one of the most intelligent citizens of the county. He was a Democrat in politics and a member of the Catholic Church. He died May II, 1887, and is buried in the Catholic Cemetery at Brooksville. His wife was also a native of County Limerick; born in 1826; came to Ameri- ca in 1849; located in Maysville and was mar- ried to Mr. Byron in 1851. She is a member of the Catholic Church and is now living near Brooksville. They had five children, one daugh- ter and four sons, of whom William A. Byron is the youngest.
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