USA > Kentucky > Biographical cyclopedia of the commonwealth of Kentucky > Part 34
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He was chosen as a state elector on the Douglas ticket in 1860, and held a series of joint debates with the Hon. W. C. P. Breckinridge, who had been his classmate, who was an elector on the ticket headed by the brilliant John C. Breckin- ridge. These debates added much to the reputation of Mr. Brown. About the close of the war Mr. Brown moved to Henderson, in another congres- sional district, from which he was again elected to Congress. He was refused his seat on account of alleged disloyalty, but his constituents refused to elect another in his stead, and for two years the district remained without a representative. He was elected again in 1873 and again for the fourth term in 1875, after which he refused to allow his name to be presented. He remained in political retirement until 1891, when he was triumphantly elected governor of Kentucky.
It was during 1874 when Mr. Brown made his famous denunciatory speech in Congress against General Butler, which made his name ring around the continent. A resolution of censure was passed against him for this speech, but he was much ap- plauded for it throughout the South, and a subse- quent Congress, by a unanimous vote, ordered the whole matter expunged from the record.
The greatest victory of his life was won by Mr. Brown when he secured the Democratic nomina- tion for governor in 1891. He had very formid- able opposition for the nomination in the persons of C. M. Clay, Jr., president of the Constitutional Convention of 1890-91; Dr. J. D. Clardy, also a prominent member of that body-now congress-
man from the Second District-and ex-Attorney General P. W. Hardin. At the election following his majority over his nearest competitor was over twenty-eight thousand.
Coming into the gubernatorial office at the time of the adoption of the new constitution and the consequent entanglement into which the laws had fallen, the first part of Governor Brown's term was characterized by laborious work and by occasion- al conflicts with the Legislature. His veto mes- sages were masterly state papers, and it is a satis- factory commentary on their worth when it is known that of the many vetoes sent to the two Assemblies that met during his term of office, all were promptly sustained. He retired from office on December 10th, 1895, and is now engaged in the practice of law in Louisville.
Governor Brown's social life has been pre-emi- nently a happy one. When quite a young man he was married to Rebecca Dixon, the beautiful and highly accomplished daughter of Hon. Archi- bald Dixon, lieutenant-governor and United States Senator.
Governor Brown is an orator among the giants in Kentucky, the home of oratory. In his younger days he attained a reputation for eloquence that was not confined to his state or the South. Since his return to political life he has shown that he has not lost the fire of youth, and with the added strength that experience has given he can sway the people as few speakers can. While a reticent man, he is not taciturn, and people who have been thrown with him through official relations or by personal contact, bear testimony to his genial manner and warm-hearted friendship and gener- ous hospitality.
JOHN HAWKINS HART, County Clerk of Henderson County , son of John Bradford Hart and Gabriella Hawkins Hart, was born in Henderson County, Kentucky, November 3, 1856. His father, John Bradford Hart, was also born in Henderson County, July 7, 1819. He went with his father's family to Lexington, and from there to Harrodsburg, where he served sev- eral years as deputy circuit clerk under Phil T. Allen. In 1845 he returned to Henderson County, where he was for many years engaged in farm-
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ing, but subsequently removed to Henderson, and is now a merchant in that city.
William Hart (grandfather) was a native of Caswell Court House, North Carolina, who came to Kentucky in 1796 to look after his interests in a large tract of land which he inherited from his father, and which had been purchased from Rich- ard Henderson & Company. He married Danah Allen Bradford, daughter of John Bradford, edi- tor of the Kentucky Gazette and a native of Vir- ginia. Mr. Hart located on his tract of land near the city of Henderson and spent the remainder of his days there. He was the father of three sons and two daughters: Mrs. Mary Sophia Allen; Mrs. Eleanor Cabell, wife of Robert Cabell of Henderson; John Bradford Hart (father), David Hart, a merchant of Henderson, and Dr. Charles F. Hart, who was a physician in the Western Kentucky Insane Asylum at Hopkinsville for many years, a surgeon in the Union army dur- ing the Civil war, and died some years later in Colorado.
David Hart (great-grandfather) was a member of the Transylvania Company to which the Leg- islature granted two hundred thousand acres of land in Kentucky for important services rendered. He accompanied his brother, Nathaniel Hart, on one of his perilous trips to Kentucky, but returned to North Carolina, where, with his wife, Susanna Nunn, he spent the remainder of his life.
The progenitor of the Hart family in this coun- try was Thomas Hart (great-great-great-grand- father), who emigrated from London, England, to Hanover, Virginia, in 1690, or about that date, where he died, leaving one son, Thomas J. Hart (great-great-grandfather), who married Susanna Rice, an aunt of Rev. Daniel Rice of the Presby- terian Church, who came to Kentucky in 1781.
David Hart (great-grandfather) of North Car- olina, was (probably) a son of Thomas J. Hart and Susanna Rice Hart.
Gabriella Hawkins Hart (mother) is a native of Henderson County, Kentucky, and a daughter of Strother J. Hawkins, who was a colonel in the War of 1812 and a merchant in Christian County, who subsequently removed to Hender- son County, where he enjoyed the peaceful life of a farmer during his declining years,
John Hawkins Hart, descendant of this long list of ancestors who figured so prominently in the early settlement of Kentucky and Henderson County, started in life as a farmer's boy ; but after obtaining a good education in the schools of the county and later in the Henderson public schools, gained much practical business experience in the store of his father, who had in the meantime re- moved to the city.
After reaching maturity he served the city in the capacity of deputy marshal, under S. A. Young, for several years. In 1890 he was elected to the office of county clerk, his present position, having been re-elected in 1894. In this capacity he has rendered good and faithful service, and by his exemplary life and gentlemanly bearing has shown himself worthy of the honored name which he bears.
He is prominent in the local affairs of the Dem- ocratic party, and was a delegate to the Demo- cratic state convention held in Louisville in 1895. He was not responsible, however, for the defeat of the ticket which that convention nominated, as he was vigilant and active in his endeavors to secure the success of his party.
He is a prominent and influential member of a number of benevolent orders, including Knights of Pythias, the Ancient Essenic Order and the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
Mr. Hart was married in 1885 to Susan B. Powell of Henderson, a granddaughter of Gov- ernor Dixon, a brief sketch of whose life is given in the biography of his son, Dr. Archibald Dixon, in this work.
L A VEGA CLEMENTS, a worthy descendant of a family of patriots, and a distinguished young attorney of Owensboro, is the eldest son of Samuel A. and Laura (Wagoner) Clements, and was born near Philpott, Daviess County, Ken- tucky, December 25, 1868. His father was born in Daviess County on March 31, 1839, and was educated in the county schools, and after reaching manhood engaged in merchandising at Philpott, but subsequently removed to Owensboro, where he now resides. His mother, Laura (Wagoner) Clements, is of German descent, and a daughter of Harry Wagoner, who in his day was a
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worthy and prosperous farmer of Spencer County, Indiana. She was born January 8, 1854, and had the misfortune to lose both of her parents in her early childhood. She was married to S. A. Cle- ments in January, 1868.
La Vega Clements spent his early days in the country, receiving such educational advantages as could be had from the Kentucky public schools. To these and the public schools of Salisbury, Mis- souri, he is indebted for his education, his parents being unable to afford him any better facilities for his early training. But with this he entered the office of Judge Wilfred Carico of Owensboro in March, 1887, as a law student. After diligent study for more than a year he was admitted to the bar in July, 1888, when only nineteen years of age. He remained with his preceptor until De- cember, 1891, when he formed a law partnership with T. F. Birkhead, with whom he is at present associated. The firm enjoys a large practice, and both are prominent as members of the Owens- boro bar. Mr. Clements was elected city attorney of Owensboro in November, 1893, for a term of four years, carrying over his opponent every vot- ing precinct in the city, a compliment which was due to his personal popularity and an evidence of the high esteem in which he was held by the com- munity as a lawyer of ability, a man of upright character and a Christian gentleman. He was married November 16, 1890, to Maggie Brown, daughter of Thomas Brown of Knottsville, Ken- tucky. They have one child, Gerald S., born Oc- tober 16, 1894.
Mr. Clements' grandfather, Charles O. Cle- ments, was born near Baltimore, Maryland, Janu- ary 29, 1808, and emigrated to Kentucky at an early day and settled in Nelson County, near Bardstown; he soon afterwards removed to Da- viess County, where he resided until his death, December 29, 1879. He was a soldier in the war with Mexico, and had the honor of serving with General Winfield Scott at the siege of Vera Cruz. His wife, Susan Philpott, was also a native of Maryland, and was born January 12, 1811, and died January II, 1872. She was a daughter of John S. Philpott, who was born in 1780 and died in 1839, and who was a descendant of a family prominent in the early settlements of Maryland.
William Clements, the father of Charles O. Cle- ments, lived and died in Maryland, and was a sol- dier in the Revolutionary war under General Marion. He and his brother Charles joined the patriot army at the beginning of the War for Inde- pendence, one leaving home one day and the other the next. Charles served under Washing- ton, and, strange to say, they never saw each other during the entire struggle for independence, and at the end returned home as they had left, one day apart. William Clements married Winfred Hardy, a daughter of Frederick Hardy, who lived and died near Baltimore. The Clements family have always been Democrats, and are of English descent, the progenitor of the family in this coun- try being one of the party who accompanied Lord Baltimore in settling the first colony in the wilder- ness of Maryland.
JAMES H. HAZELRIGG, one of the judges of the Court of Appeals and an able lawyer and jurist, is a member of an old and honored Kentucky family. He is the son of George and Elizabeth (Greene) Hazelrigg, and was born in Montgomery County, Kentucky, December 6, 1848. His father was a native of Clark County, and in later years was a prominent and successful farmer in Montgomery, continuing that occupa- tion until his death in February, 1874, at the age of fifty-four years. He was a leading member of the Christian Church, was originally a Whig in politics and then fell in with the Union and after- ward with the Republican party. He held the office of magistrate many years in his county.
Dillard Hazelrigg (grandfather) was a native of Bourbon County, Kentucky, who moved to Montgomery County in 1834, where he was en- gaged in farming until his death in 1871, in the seventy-second year of his age. His wife was Sally Renick, sister of Abram Renick, the most noted and successful shorthorn breeder of Amer- ica. He was a prominent churchman (Christian) and took some interest in politics, voting the Whig ticket until the war, when he affiliated with the Democratic party. His father, John Hazel- rigg, was a native of Virginia, and came to Ken- tucky in 1787, and was the founder of the family in this state. His wife was Annie Cleveland,
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whom he married in Virginia. She was a direct descendant of Oliver Cromwell, her father, Charles, being the grandson of Lord Cleveland, who married Cromwell's daughter.
The Hazelriggs were prominent adherents of Cromwell and figured conspicuously in those stir- ring times, fighting against the "divine right" of kings.
Elizabeth J. Greene Hazelrigg (mother) was a native of Montgomery County, Kentucky, who died in 1849 at the age of twenty-three years. Her father, Thaddeus Greene, was a native of Vir- ginia, who settled in Montgomery County when quite a young man, where he became a large land and slave owner and a prosperous farmer. His second wife (grandmother) was the sister of Har- vey Kerr of Bourbon County, Kentucky, a cele- brated breeder of fine saddle horses. Thaddeus Greene died in 1860, at the age of sixty-eight years. He was a stanch Democrat and an influ- ential citizen of his community. His religious belief was that of the "Hard Shell" Baptist denom- ination, and he belonged to the same family as the Honorable Grant Green, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume.
Judge Hazelrigg remained on his father's farm in Montgomery County until he was fifteen years of age, and attended the district schools in the winter months. In 1864 he joined the Confeder- ate army as a private in Company D, of Captain Bedford's company, E. E. Clay's battalion, and served in the ranks until the surrender of his regi- ment under Colonel Giltner at Mt. Sterling, in May, 1865.
In 1867 Judge Hazelrigg became a student in the Kentucky University at Lexington, and grad- uated from that institution in the class of 1871. He returned to Mt. Sterling and entered the office of Apperson & Reid as a law student, and was ad- mitted to the bar in 1873. In 1874 he was elected city attorney of Mt. Sterling and held that office until 1882, and was then elected county judge, which latter office he held until 1886. In 1892 he was nominated by the Democratic party for the office of judge of the Court of Appeals; and after a spirited contest in opposition to ex-Chief Jus- tice Holt, the nominee of the Republicans, he was elected in November of the same year. Judge
Hazelrigg is a stanch Democrat, having always taken an active interest in the success of his party, and having been for many years chairman of the Montgomery County Executive Committee.
In 1872 Judge Hazelrigg wedded Mattie Laudeman, daughter of James H. Laudeman of Lexington, and this union has been blessed with four daughters and one son: May H., wife of Courtland Chenault of Montgomery County; Elizabeth G., Emily D., Dyke L. and Hattie A., the last named dying in infancy.
Judge Hazelrigg is a member of the Christian Church and a gentleman of pleasing and courte- ous manners. As a judge in the highest court in the state, he is rapidly pushing himself to the front, and by his careful decisions and wise inter- pretations of the law, has gained the reputation of being one of the most prominent members of the Kentucky Court of Appeals.
W TILLIAM T. ELLIS, ex-member of Con- gress and a leading attorney of Owens- boro, was born in Daviess County, July 24, 1845. He received a fine literary education in his native county considering that before he was sixteen years of age he enlisted in the First Regiment Kentucky Cavalry. He was mustered in October 5, 1861, and "followed the varying fortunes of the Confederacy" till the close of the war, as a private and latterly as a non-commissioned officer in com- mand of scouts.
He returned to his home after the surrender, and resumed his studies, working during vacation to obtain means to defray his expenses. For two years he taught school while still pursuing his studies and reading law. He received his license to practice law in the spring of 1869, and after this attended a course of lectures in the Harvard Law School.
Returning to his home in 1870, he was elected county attorney in August of the same year; served four years and was re-elected in 1874; in 1876 he was Democratic elector for his district on the Tilden and Hendricks ticket; in 1888 he was elected a member of the Fifty-first Congress; was re-elected to the Fifty-second and Fifty-third Congresses; declined further service in the National House of Representatives, and returned to the practice of law at the expiration of his third
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term, March, 1895. At the close of a brilliant career of six years in Congress he was still one of the younger members and had gained a reputa- tion as one of the brightest and ablest members of the Kentucky delegation. His loyalty to the gov- ernment and his idea of justice to those who fought to preserve the Union was clearly ex- pressed in a speech made in committee of the whole May 5, 1894, from which the following ex- tracts are taken :
"I do not believe, Mr. Chairman, that the mat- ter of pensions is a political question, though the effort in this body since I have been here has constantly been to make it such. If it had been left to the men who fought the battles of the war on both sides, it never would have been a politi- cal question. The wonder to me has always been that Democrats have suffered our Republican friends as a political party to masquerade before the country as the only friend of the Union sol- dier.
"Why, Mr. Chairman, if the Republican party alone had been left to fight the battles of the war Richmond would never have fallen, and Sheri- dan's cavalry would have halted long before it reached Appomattox.
"Speaking for myself and who as a boy fol- lowed the varying fortunes of the Confederacy from the opening to the close of the war, and cor- rectly reflecting as I think the sentiments of every soldier who wore a Confederate uniform and hon- ored it, I am in favor of a liberal pension for every Union soldier who is disabled, whether that dis- ability results from wounds received in battle or from broken down or shattered health consequent upon the exposure and hardship to which he was subjected while engaged in the service of his country.
"I go further, Mr. Chairman, and say I am in favor of pensioning the dependent widows and children of the Union soldiers who fell in battle and whose silent gravestones mark every mile of the way from Shiloh to Gettysburg.
"The Republican party, as such, has no patent or trade mark entitling it to the exclusive confi- dence, esteem or votes of Federal soldiers, and the time has come when that fact should be thor- oughly understood.
"If the Federal soldier owes the scars he wears, his halting step, his rude crutch and his empty coat sleeve to the punishment he received at the hands of his adversaries, he is entitled at least to know that those who fought him so fiercely in war are his friends in peace, and that they stand ready, not only to co-operate with him in defend- ing the integrity of the national flag, but in secur- ing for him a liberal pension for all the injuries they inflicted upon him. The attitude of the ex- Confederate and his section on this subject has been too long misunderstood and his sentiments too often misrepresented.
"Confederates believed when the armies of the South were disbanded that the war was over. Hungry, clad in rags, without money and with- out price, they followed with unfaltering trust the Confederacy's altering star of hope, until it sank forever behind the bloody fields on which they won their fame. But when they could no longer contend against fearful odds they saluted the stars and stripes, struck hands with the visitors, and greeted them with the genuine salutation, 'Henceforth, let us have one flag and one coun- try.'"
The spirit of fairness and conservatism indi- cated in this speech is a fair index of Mr. Ellis' public life. Possibly, however, Mr. Ellis' speech in Congress in opposition to what was known as the Carlisle Bill gave him his widest reputation. Although a member of the Committee on Bank- ing and Currency, which reported the Carlisle Bill, he assailed its provisions furiously. In op- posing it he took advanced grounds and predict- ed that its passage would bring financial ruin upon the whole country. Affirming his allegiance to the Democratic party he assailed the Carlisle Bill as undemocratic and as an unwise and unpatriotic measure. In the course of this speech he de- nounced the financial policy of Mr. Cleveland's administration and questioned the soundness of the chief executive's democracy. The speech was widely quoted throughout the country.
As a lawyer he stands pre-eminently at the front of the Owensboro bar. He has been a close student of the science of law and with a natural aptitude for the discussion of legal questions, pleasing address, a ready flow of language and
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a graceful delivery he attracts and holds the at- tention of his hearers. While he . manages his civil cases with excellent judgment and marked ability, it is said by his friends that he rather ex- cels in the criminal practice where adroitness in the examination and cross-examination of wit- nesses and fine rhetoric are essential to success.
During Mr. Ellis' absence in Congress his law business was conducted by his senior and junior law partners, Hon. W. N. Sweeney and J. J. Sweeney, and it was owing to the fact that the business of the firm had increased to such an ex- tent as to require his whole time, that he declined to remain longer in public life.
William T. Ellis and Alice Coffey, daughter of Colonel C. R. Coffey of Owensboro, Kentucky, were married October 20, 1871. His wife died in 1872, and he was married again November 2, 1876, to Mattie B. Miller, daughter of Dr. W. F. Miller, an eminent physician of Louisville.
Mr. Ellis' father, Luther R. Ellis, was born in Shelby County, Kentucky, November 18, 1818. He was married to Mary M. Kellum of Daviess County and died when he was less than thirty- seven years of age. He left two sons: William T. and Dr. J. W. Ellis.
The Ellis family were natives of Culpeper County, Virginia, and came to Kentucky in 1804. The grandfather of Mr. Ellis first located in Shelby County, but subsequently removed to Daviess County, where he was a large and pros- perous farmer.
H ARBARD A. POWELL, formerly proprie- tor of the Corydon coal mine, now retired, son of Harrison and Elizabeth (McClanahan) Powell, was born in 1818.
His father, Harrison Powell, was born in North Carolina in 1786, removed to Tennessee in 1821, and later to Kentucky; stopped in Logan County for a short time and then located in Henderson County, where he was a farmer nearly all his life, and died August 30, 1838. He was drafted for the War of 1812 and furnished a substitute. He married Elizabeth McClanahan and had eleven children, one of whom died in infancy: Wil- loughby, died at the age of twenty years; Anna, Thomas W., Nancy G., Harrison, Harbard A.
(subject), Smith, Elizabeth, Lazarus, James and Louisa.
Willoughby Powell (grandfather) lived for a time in Logan County, and subsequently removed to Henderson County, Kentucky, where he died. He married Mary Whitehead, a sister of Lazarus Whitehead, a prominent member of the bar in Europe, who died a bachelor, leaving a large for- tune.
Thomas McClanahan (maternal grandfather) was a native of Virginia, who removed to Logan County, Kentucky, where he died at the age of ninety-six years. He was a captain in the Revo- lutionary war by appointment of General Nathan- iel Greene, who after the war was over sent him out on the frontier in command of a squadron of soldiers, and was stationed at a place called Nickajack, now Nashville, Tennessee. He was a brave and fearless man. Few men of his type ever lived, and he stood high in the community in which he lived and died. He married Nancy Greene, a niece of General Greene.
Thomas McClanahan (great-grandfather) was a native of Virginia and a Baptist minister, whose wife was a Miss Marshall of Virginia.
Harbard Alexander Powell was educated in the common schools of Henderson County, and early in life became a farmer. He was for some time employed on the farm of his father-in-law, and in 1840 he purchased land and by great energy and economy became quite prosperous. In 1857 he built a stemmery and began to deal extensively in tobacco, preparing it for the European market.
When the Corydon Coal Mining Company was organized he was elected president of the com- pany, and within a few years he bought in the stock held by others and became sole proprietor of the mine. In 1894 he sold the property to his so11, B. M. Powell, and is now retired from ac- tive business pursuits.
He was the first constable elected by the peo- ple of Henderson County, and in 1859 served as justice of the peace.
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