USA > Kentucky > Biographical cyclopedia of the commonwealth of Kentucky > Part 39
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108
to Fults by the great-grandfather of John P. Fults, Jr. They were generally men who lived to a great age, and were highly educated, represent- ing the legal, medical and other leading profes- sions, and occupying prominent positions in life.
John P. Fults, Jr., was educated in the Louis- ville public schools and in the A. and M. State College at Lexington, to which institute he was admitted by appointment from Jefferson County, taking a special course of two years in the classics, English and the languages. He then attended the law department of the University of Louis- ville, and was admitted to the bar in 1890, after which, before beginning to practice, he traveled extensively in the United States and Mexico, a part of the time as a salesman, but generally as a newspaper correspondent, representing some of the leading newspapers in the country. This ex- perience was of great value to him, especially as he was under age and his very youthful appear- ance did not recommend him as a lawyer. His newspaper work was of a high order, and he could have made his mark in journalism, both as a writer and as an artist, but he had no intention of adopting it as a profession.
He accompanied the militia to the scene of the Eversole-French feud in 1888 as correspondent and sketch artist for the Louisville Commercial and as special correspondent for the New York Sun, a duty for which he volunteered when "war correspondents" were hard to find, owing to the uncertainty of life in that section of the country at that time.
He has been a member of Company E, First Regiment, Kentucky State Guards of Louisville, for ten years, and has been promoted from the ranks through the non-commissioned offices to first lieutenant, and has gone with his company every time it has been called upon for active duty. Of an adventurous spirit, somewhat reckless and daring, he has always been ready for a skirmish and eager for the fray, and had opportunity of- fered would have distinguished himself as a sol- dier.
In 1894, when only twenty-four years of age, he was elected county attorney of Jefferson County, and was one of the most active and efficient Re- publican campaigners during the canvass prior
224
KENTUCKY BIOGRAPHIES.
to the election, and the success of his ticket was due in a large measure to his activity. He has conducted the business of his office since January, 1895, in a manner which has surprised his politi- cal opponents and the older lawyers who thought a "boy" should not have been elected to a posi- tion of so much importance. His work has met with the approval of all who have business in the County Court. His friends say of him that he can take more men by the hand and call them by name than any man but one in Jefferson County.
Mr. Fults is a director in the Colored Industrial School of Louisville, and is connected with other institutions and enterprises in the city.
He is a member of the Masonic Order, of the Junior Order of American Mechanics, of the Red Men, of the Essenic Order, of the Iroquois Wheel- ing Club, the Commercial Club and the Garfield Club of Louisville.
JOHN M. BURNS, an attorney-at-law of dis- tinction and ability, of Ashland, was born in Boyd County, Kentucky, March II, 1825. He was educated in the schools of his native county, and studied law under W. H. Burns at West Lib- erty, and after his admission to the bar in 1851. formed a partnership with his preceptor. W. H. Burns lived in West Liberty and John M. Burns was then a resident of Whitesburg, Letcher Coun- ty, while their practice covered a large scope of country, embracing Letcher, Perry and Breathitt Counties.
John M. Burns was elected county attorney of Letcher County, which office he held until 1853, when he removed to Prestonburg. There he formed a co-partnership with John M. Elliott, who was killed by Buford at Frankfort, and was associated with him for six years, during which time, in 1857, he was elected representative of his district, Floyd and Johnson Counties, in the leg- islature. In 1860 he was elected state senator from the Thirty-third District, embracing Pike, Floyd, Johnson and Magoffin Counties; but when it was discovered that an error had been made in the apportionment of representative districts, and that there was one too many senators, Mr. Burns resigned his seat and delivered a very fine speech, which elicited great applause on the floor
and in the galleries. He returned to his home and resumed his work in the legal profession.
In 1864 he removed to Catlettsburg; served two terms as school commissioner, and attended to his practice in Boyd and adjacent counties. From 1883 to 1885 he was revenue agent and inspector for the district of Kentucky and Ten- nessee, by appointment of President Arthur.
In 1886 he was elected circuit judge of the Sixteenth Judicial District, composed of the coun- ties of Boyd, Carter, Lawrence, Martin, Johnson, Floyd and Pike, and served on the bench the full term with distinction.
Judge Burns has always taken a deep interest and an active part in Republican politics, and has been a delegate to the State Conventions for many years. He is one of the most widely known men in northern Kentucky, and is popular with all classes. He has been a Mason for forty years, and is a member of the Missionary Baptist Church.
He was married, April 25, 1843, to Keziah Clay, daughter of William and Rebecca (Cecil) Clay. There were ten children by this marriage, five of whom are living: Catherine, Roland C., Sophia A., Milton and Minnie. The names of the de- ceased children are Mary, William, Leonidas H., James Trimble and Cora Lee. Judge Burns married again June 11, 1875, to Josephine Christ- man. By this marriage there were four children, three of whom are living: Cora Lee, Catherine and Bell Vivian, and Maggie (deceased).
Judge Burns' father, Rowland T. Burns, was born in Monroe County, Virginia, in 1790; was educated in his native place and studied law with John McConnell of Greenup County, Kentucky. He represented Lawrence and Morgan Counties in the legislature in 1830. He was a preacher in the Christian Church, and died when compara- tively young, August 19, 1833. His wife was Catherine Brinkley Keyser, who was born in 1790 at Warm Springs, Bath County, Virginia. She died December 14, 1857.
Jeremiah Burns (grandfather) was of Scotch ancestry and a native of Maryland. His wife was a Miss Roland, a native of the Shenandoah Val- ley, whose parents were natives of France.
Rowland T. Burns, a brother of Judge Burns, is
225
KENTUCKY BIOGRAPHIES.
a resident of Louisa; and Lafayette, another brother, is living on the old Burns homestead in Boyd County. The other brothers and sisters of the subject of this sketch are dead, viz .: Harri- son G., William H., Jeremiah, James D., Kezialı, Nancy, Rowland and Elizabeth, who married A. C. Hanley of West Virginia.
M R. JOHN D. CLARDY of Christian County, Kentucky, member of the LIVth Congress from the Second District and one of the repre- sentative farmers of southern Kentucky, was born in Smith County, Tennessee, August 30, 1828. He is the son of John C. and Elizabeth (Cayce) Clardy. His father was a native of North Caro- lina who removed to Tennessee and thence to Christian County, Kentucky, and was a progres- sive and highly successful farmer and a prominent man in the county. He died in 1853 at the age of fifty-six years. He had six sons and two daughters: William D., John D., James M., Ben- jamin F., Dr. Thomas F. and Henry H. Of these sons Benjamin F. died in the Confederate service during the war, and Henry H. was killed while in the service of the Confederate army. Dr. Thomas F. Clardy was surgeon of the Seventh Kentucky Regiment and was promoted to the rank of brigadier surgeon on General Buford's staff in Forest's Cavalry; died in Christian County February, 1886. The daughters, Mrs. Sarah A. Wills and Mrs. Fannie C. Burke, are both living.
Benjamin Clardy (grandfather) was a native of North Carolina and a farmer, whose life was spent in his native state and in Tennessee, where he died about 1839. His ancestors were Hugue- nots.
Elizabeth Cayce Clardy (mother) was born in Cumberland County, Virginia, in 1804, and is living at present with her son, J. M. Clardy, on the old homestead in Christian County, where the family settled in 1831. Her father, Fleming Cayce, was a native of Virginia, where he lived and died. His widow removed with her family to Smith County, Tennessee, and died there.
John D. Clardy, after reaching the limit of the county schools, went to Georgetown College, Kentucky, and graduated there in 1848, before he was twenty years of age. He taught school one
year and then began the study of medicine with Dr. Nicholas Thomas of Tennessee. After taking a course of one year in the medical department of the University of Louisville, he went to the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania and received his degree in that institution in 1851, when twenty-two years of age.
He began the practice of medicine at Long View, Kentucky, and remained there three years, then removing to Blandville, Kentucky, where he practiced with signal success until the beginning of the Civil war, when he returned to his native heath and located in his present home, known as "Oakland," situated seven miles southwest of Hopkinsville. . Since that time he has added to his possessions until the farm on which he lives con- sists of five hundred and five acres, besides other large tracts of land, nearly all of which are in Christian County. After locating here he spent most of his time during the war in New York City, where he was a member of the firm of Bacon, Clardy & Company, large dealers in and exporters of tobacco. Before the war nearly all Kentucky tobacco was sent to New Orleans, but traffic in this direction being interrupted by the armies, New York became the outlet for shipments to Europe. This venture proved very successful, but preferring his Kentucky home, he returned in 1866, and while practicing medicine irregularly, devoted his time principally to the extension and improvement of his large estate, at present own- ing various tracts of farm lands amounting in the aggregate to fifteen hundred acres.
John D. Clardy is by no means a politician in the usual acceptation of that term, but by sheer force of character he has taken a leading position in the Democratic party which he is ever ready to serve to the best of his ability. He was elected a member of the Constitutional Convention in 1890 by over three hundred majority, although his county usually gives a Republican majority of 500 to 1,000; was a candidate for governor before the Democratic convention in 1890, but owing to duties in the Constitutional Convention did not make a thorough canvass of the state, and was defeated by John Young Brown. In 1894 he was nominated for Congress in the district convention, defeating Judge Samuel Vance and William Mc-
15
226
KENTUCKY BIOGRAPHIES.
Clain of Henderson, and was elected to the Fifty- fourth Congress in November by the unusual Democratic majority in that district of three thou- sand votes. His Republican opponent was Elijah G. Sebree of Henderson County. Dr. Clardy has expressed his opinion on the money question by saying that he is in favor of the free coinage of silver if it can be kept on a parity with gold.
He was married in 1854 to Ann F. Bacon, a native of Trigg County, daughter of Fielding Bacon. Her grandfather, Captain Edmond Bacon, lived with President Thomas Jefferson for twenty years and was his financial secretary and adviser. He surveyed the ground upon which the University of Virginia was built. This insti- tution was founded by Jefferson and was his "pet," and he contributed largely to its support.
Dr. and Mrs. Clardy have three children: John F., who is a farmer, has a wife but no children, and his home is known as "Rockhollow"; Fleming Cayce, also a farmer, who has a wife and two chil- dren, and Fannie C., wife of Rev. John W. Prest- ridge, who is president of Williamsburg College, Whitley County, Kentucky.
Dr. Clardy's father and grandfather were mem- bers of the Baptist Church and he is a deacon in the church of his fathers. His mother-a stanch Baptist-still lives, and at the age of ninety-one retains her mental faculties to a remarkable de- gree; reads any print without glasses, and writes with much of the accuracy and vigor of former years. A Christian with unclouded faith, await- ing with joyous expectation her summons to come up higher.
W ILLIAM L. LYONS, senior member of the well and favorably known firm of W. L. Lyons & Company of Louisville, was born in that city June 3, 1857.
His father, Henry J. Lyons, was born in Wash- ington City, District of Columbia, in 1829, and came to Louisville when he was a young man; was elected clerk of the Circuit Court when he was twenty-one years of age; was re-elected and resigned before the expiration of his second term, and then engaged in the banking business as a member of the firm of Quigley & Lyons; re-
moved to New York City in 1862, and was in a similar business there as the senior member of the firm of Henry J. Lyons & Company until his death, April 11, 1867. During his residence in Louisville he was frequently elected a member of the City Council, and was a vestryman in Calvary Episcopal Church. His death occurred in Louis- ville, where he was taken ill on his return trip from Cuba, where he had gone with the hope of improving his health. He is buried in Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville.
John Lyons (grandfather) was born in Wash- ington, D. C., and was married to Nancy Hurley, January 19, 1828. She was a daughter of Henry Hurley, who was a prominent citizen of Wash- ington City.
Laura Simmons Lyons (mother) was born in Bullitt County, Kentucky, in 1838, and died in Louisville in 1878, leaving two sons, William and Henry J. Lyons.
William Simmons (maternal grandfather) was a native farmer of Bullitt County, where he died. He married Matilda Ann Lee, who was a mem- ber of the Maryland branch of the distinguished family of that name.
William L. Lyons' early education was begun in New York City and continued in Louisville after his father's death. He completed his studies at Highland Military Academy, Worcester, Mas- sachusetts. He was for some time employed in the general freight and passenger department of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. In 1878 he began the business of broker in stocks, bonds, grain, provisions and cotton, in which he has con- tinued without interruption until the present time. In 1887 his brother, Henry J. Lyons, was admit- ted to an interest in the firm. The house has a splendid patronage throughout the country, and is favorably known as sound and thoroughly re- liable.
Mr. Lyons is interested in quite a number of en- terprises, including the Louisville Silvering & Beveling Company, of which he is vice-president. He is an active member of the Board of Trade, and of the Commercial Club; also a member of the Pendennis Club, a member of the Louisville Commandery Knights Templar, and of Calvary Episcopal Church.
227
KENTUCKY BIOGRAPHIES.
He has been quite prominent in city politics in the past, having served as councilman for eight years, during a considerable portion of which time he was chairman of the finance committee of the Board of Councilmen and president of the Council for three terms. He was for several months mayor pro tem., in which capacity he distinguished him- self as a man of sound judgment and fine execu- tive ability. He was one of the most popular members of the City Council and one in whom the business men of the city placed implicit con- fidence.
Mr. Lyons was married in 1881 to Mary Belle Clay, daughter of Samuel Clay of Lexington. They have two sons and two daughters living: Samuel Clay, Laura S., Mary Rogers and Wil- liam L. Lyons, Jr.
W ILLIAM POAGE, a member of one of the oldest families of Northern Kentucky and a member of the Boyd County bar, was born in Greenup County, Kentucky, August 22, 1854.
His father, Hugh Calvin Poage, was born in the same county in 1830; received a fair common school education and was a teacher before engag- ing in the mercantile business in Ashland in 1854. During the late war his sympathies were with the Southern people, but he took no active part in the conflict. He is a member of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, South, and a member of the Masonic order. The lodge of which he is a mem- ber-No. 325, Poage Lodge-was named in honor of the family.
Thomas Hoge Poage (grandfather) was a native of "old" Virginia; came to Greenup County, Ken- tucky, early in the present century, and engaged in the iron and furnace business, and died in Texas.
William Poage, son of Hugh Calvin and Sarah E. (Davenport) Poage, received a limited educa- tion in Ashland and at the age of eighteen years accepted a position as "chief engineer" of a hand- pump on the wharfboat in that city, where he also acted in the capacity of freight clerk and col- lector for the wharfmaster, R. C. Richardson. During the years 1875-76 he was employed at Buena Vista and Princess iron furnaces by Cul- bertson, Means & Culbertson, then the leading
manufacturers of iron in this section; was also employed in the internal revenue service in Cen- tral Kentucky from 1883 to 1885, and while thus engaged he pursued his studies for the legal pro- fession; was admitted to the bar in December, 1886, after a rigid examination by Circuit Judge John M. Burns, Colonel Laban T. Moore and Colonel Frank H. Bruning. He at once began the practice of law in Ashland, and in the course of labor in his chosen field has accomplished very satisfactory results.
In 1890 he was elected city attorney on the Re- publican ticket, and was re-elected to that office in 1893 for a term of four years.
William Poage and Lauretta Shaw, daughter of John W. Shaw, were united in marriage April I, 1881. Mrs. Poage was born at Gallipolis, Ohio, January II, 1863, and is a graduate of the Ash- land High School. They have two children: Jan- uary Paul, born January 1, 1882, and Judith Princess, born December 1, 1883.
G EORGE E. PLATTS, M. D., a graduate of I Denison University of Granville, Ohio, and of the Miami Medical College of Cincinnati, a druggist and well known business man of Belle- vue, was born in the town of Dent, Hamilton County, Ohio, August 6, 1854, and is a son of David G. and Hannah Ann (Wood) Platts, both of whom were natives of Bridgeton, New Jersey. They came to Hamilton County, Ohio, in 1834, where they lived until three or four years prior to Mr. Platts' death in 1892, when they removed to Bellevue, Kentucky, the present home of Mrs. Platts, who is greatly advanced in years. Mr. Platts was a farmer in Ohio for nearly sixty years and was a quiet and unpretentious citizen, a man of intelligence and culture, and an upright Chris- tian gentleman who commanded the respect and confidence of his neighbors. He was a Republi- can in politics, having decided convictions, and was free to express his sentiments; but he was not an office-seeker, or in any sense a politician. His antecedents were of French-German extrac- tion.
George E. Platts was educated in the common schools of Dent, at the Denison University of Granville, Ohio, from which he graduated in 1876,
228
KENTUCKY BIOGRAPHIES.
and prepared for the medical profession in the Miami Medical College in Cincinnati, graduat- ing in 1882.
He practiced medicine for one year at Cheviot, Hamilton County, Ohio; and in 1883 engaged in the drug business in the thriving little city of Bellevue, a business which has grown in propor- tion to the growth of the population of the place. Thoroughly equipped for the responsible business of the pharmacist, Dr. Platts has commanded the confidence of his patrons. His drug store re- quiring all of his time he has abandoned the pro- fessional work of the practicing physician.
He takes a lively interest in the prosperity of Bellevue and deals to some extent in real estate. He is particularly interested in the public schools and has served as school examiner, an office for which he is qualified in an eminent degree. He is a Republican, but is devoted to his business and has no aspirations for political preferment.
Dr. Platts was married in 1883 to Kate Davis, daughter of Shipley Davis and Harriet Cullom of Hamilton County, Ohio, and they have one son, Charles Gilman Platts. Mrs. Platts is a grad- uate of the Cincinnati College of Pharmacy and assists her husband in his business, in which ca- pacity she is thoroughly competent.
W ILFORD E. SENOUR, M. D., a young physician of Bellevue, where he has been practicing in the best families for five years past, was born in Independence, Kenton County, Ken- tucky, July 17, 1866.
His great-grandfather, Bryant Senour, was a native of Scotland, who came to America in the latter part of the eighteenth century and made his home in Kenton County, where Dr. Senour's grandfather, Wilford Senour, his father, Tilman W. Senour, and himself were born.
Wilford Senour (grandfather) was a farmer and resident of Kenton County all his life and died there in 1876.
Tilman W. Senour (father), born and raised in Kenton County, is still a resident of Independence in that county, where he is engaged in farming and dealing in tobacco; a prominent citizen and man of superior intelligence, respected by all who know him, and is known by nearly every one in
the county. He is a strong Republican in poli- tics, and takes a lively interest in the success of his party throughout the country.
Dr. Senour's mother, Anna E. (Cox) Senour, also a native of Kenton County, is a daughter of Frederick Cox, a well-to-do farmer of the county. She is now living with her husband in Independence.
Dr. Senour was a typical farmer's boy, going to school when there was nothing to do on the farm; but he had an ambition to learn a profes- sion, and by careful study he was prepared for a classical course, and at the age of eighteen years he entered Central Normal College at Danville, Indiana, from which he graduated in 1889.
He taught in a graded school in Independence for seven months, and was a teacher in the Scioto Commercial College at Chillicothe, Ohio, for a short time before commencing to read medicine with his brother, Dr. U. G. Senour, at Pleasant Ridge, Ohio.
He subsequently attended the medical depart- ment of the University of Louisville, from which he graduated in 1891; and in the same year began the practice of medicine in Bellevue, where he was by no means a stranger and where he secured a valuable practice in a short time. He is well equipped for the work of the physician, attentive to his patients, kind and obliging in his disposi- tion and popular with all classes.
He is interested to a considerable extent in real estate, and has acquired a valuable estate, which is, perhaps, the most substantial evidence of his popularity and success in his profession.
JAMES HENDERSON McCONNELL, Judge of the Police Court of Catlettsburg, son of Charles and Belle (Henderson) McCon- nell, was born in Greenupsburg, Greenup County, Kentucky, July 9, 1854. His parents removed to Catlettsburg in 1860, and he received his educa- tion in that place; studied law with Colonel Laban T. Moore and was admitted to the bar in 1874 when he was twenty years of age; practiced law in Catlettsburg alone for seven years; was deputy sheriff of Boyd County for four years; went to the mouth of Pond Creek on the Tug River, opposite Williamstown, West Virginia, and was engaged
229
KENTUCKY BIOGRAPHIES.
in the mercantile and timber business for four years, following which he was engaged in steam- boating on the Ohio and Big Sandy Rivers for four years; returned to Catlettsburg and was elected police judge in November, 1894, an office which he has filled acceptably and with unusual ability.
Judge McConnell is a man of modest demeanor, well versed in law, a wise counselor and an able pleader, and has greatly raised the standard and dignity of the court over which he presides.
He is popular socially, prominent in Demo- cratic councils, a member of the Methodist Epis- pocal Church, South, and a Mason.
He was married October 15, 1880, to Ida Rice, daughter of Jolin M. Rice of Louisa. (See sketch of J. W. Rice.)
Charles McConnell (father) was born near Greenupsburg October 31, 1825; was educated at Marietta (Ohio) College; studied law in the University of Louisville; was the first county at- torney of Greenup after the erection of that county; returned to Catlettsburg and was judge of the police court at one time and the first judge of the Boyd County Court during the war; re- tired from the practice of law and engaged in mercantile pursuits, and is now living in Catletts- burg. He is highly esteemed and respected as an upright Christian gentleman. He was married September 28, 1853, to Belle Henderson of Zanes- ville, Ohio, who was educated in Putnam (Ohio) Seminary and in a select school in Coshocton, Ohio. They had two children: James Hender- son, the subject of this sketch, and Lucy Bragg, born May 19, 1856, married George F. Miller of Huntington, West Virginia, and died January 8, 1889.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.