USA > Kentucky > Biographical cyclopedia of the commonwealth of Kentucky > Part 57
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He was married to Alice Bell Deakins, daugh- ter of John T. and Polly (Woodsides) Deakins of Shelby County, and they have three children: Luther Francis, now in college at Georgetown; Mary Hill and Walter.
W ILLIAM WELLS CLEAVER, M. D., a leading physician of Lebanon, son of David and Lucy (Kirk) Cleaver, was born in Lebanon, Kentucky, March 15, 1827.
His father was born in Marion County, in 1804; was educated at St. Mary's College, and was a man of superior intelligence. He married Lucy Kirk in 1824, and they were members of the Presbyterian Church. He followed farming and stock trading and was prosperous in his busi- ness. He was identified with the Democratic party, but merely as a voter. Having reached the age of seventy-seven years, he died in 1885, and is buried in the cemetery at Lebanon.
David Cleaver (grandfather) was a native of New Jersey, who came to Kentucky in 1788 and settled in (now) Marion County. Three brothers came with him; and after living as neighbors for
JUDGE CHAS. G. RITCHIE.
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a while, two of them removed to Missouri and one went to Alabama, and thence to Arkansas. David remained in Kentucky and spent the re- mainder of his days on the farm upon which he located as one of the pioneers of the county. His wife's name was Lettitia Griffey, who was of Irish parentage.
Lucy Kirk (mother) was a daughter of James and Annie (Horton) Kirk; a devout Christian and a member of the Presbyterian Church. She died in 1827, and is buried beside her husband at Lebanon. Her parents were of Scotch-Irish extraction.
James Kirk (grandfather) was a native of Staf- ford, Virginia, came to Kentucky in 1788; was a soldier in the war of the Revolution; married (first) Annie Horton, who was the mother of his twelve children. He lived to the extreme age of ninety-nine years; and when he was eighty-one years of age he married his second wife, who was then twenty-two years of age.
Dr. William W. Cleaver was educated in Lebanon Seminary and studied medicine in the University of Louisville, from which he was graduated in 1850. He practiced in Lebanon for a short time and in 1853 went to Louisville and followed his profession in that city until 1855, when he returned to Lebanon and located per- manently. He had attained gratifying success when, in 1862, he recruited a company and joined Morgan's cavalry; was in command of his com- pany at the battle of Perryville and other stirring engagements; was subsequently appointed sur- geon; was with General Morgan in his celebrated Indiana and Ohio raid; was captured with the rest and taken to Fort Delaware, where he re- mained about five months, doing duty as a sur- geon in a hospital while there.
After the close of the war he resumed his pro- fessional work at Lebanon, since which time he has given his whole time to the exacting duties of a very extensive practice.
Long experience and faithful attention to busi- ness have made him an enviable reputation as one of the most skillful physicians in his city and county. His services are in demand in almost all extreme cases within his reach. He is one of the pillars in the Presbyterian Church and is a
Mason of long standing and high degree; a mem- ber of the Marion County Medical Society, of the Kentucky State Medical Society, ex-member of the National Medical Association; and is known in politics merely as a loyal voter of the Democratic ticket. Nevertheless, he was elected to the legislature in 1893, representing his county for one term of two years.
Dr. Cleaver was married (first) in 1850 to Joanna Grundy, daughter of Felix B. Grundy and Esther McElroy. She was a native of Lebanon, a woman of superior mind and culture and a devout member of the Presbyterian Church. She died in 1894. Their seven children were named: Dr. J. F. Cleaver, deceased; George Hannibal, deceased; Esther, wife of Dr. A. Rose of Utah; Lucy Hemans, wife of G. W. McElroy of Lebanon; Willie Elizabeth, wife of Rev. George A. Blair of Portland, Oregon; Thomas Foster, physician of Lebanon; and David Irvin, deceased.
Dr. Cleaver was married (second) November 28, 1895, to Miss Minnie McElroy, daughter of Abraham B. and Mary Buckner McElroy.
H JONORABLE CHARLES G. RICHIE, Judge of the Jefferson County Court, is probably the youngest man ever elected or ap- pointed to a judgeship in the state, and is one of the ablest of the numerous gentlemen who adorn the bench in the city of Louisville. He was elected to this office in November, 1893, before he was twenty-seven years of age, receiving a majority of two thousand votes over Judge Hoke, his Democratic opponent, who had held that office during the lifetime of the successful candi- date. He had been made the nominee of the Re- publican party and went into the race with the support of his own party and of a host of friends, and with a reputation as an exemplary young man, as a lawyer of marked ability and of the highest integrity, and his success was due to the fact that he was admirably adapted for the posi- tion as well as to the general impression that a change in the office would be for the public good. In the one year or more in which he has pre- sided over the judicial affairs of the county, he has more than met the expectations of his most
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sanguine friends, having rejuvenated the office and corrected many errors, which had naturally and perhaps inadvertently crept into the methods of the court under an administration of too long standing. Of commanding and prepossessing ap- pearance, being over six feet in stature, of large manly frame, surmounted by a large brainy head, no one would think of his age in taking the meas- ure of the man. He is industrious, painstaking, conscientious and determined; thoroughly con- versant with the law, with sufficient self-reliance to depend upon his own judgment in the disposi- tion of business. Personally, a very affable gen- tleman, he has clothed his office with a new dig- nity and respect which has been favorably com- mented upon by the habitues of the court house. A Republican of the most pronounced convic- tions and a partisan in politics, he is fair and im- partial as a judge and in legal matters his bit- terest political opponent knows that he will re- ceive an unprejudiced hearing and a just decision in the court over which the jurist and not the politician presides.
The newspapers have complimented him upon his admirable manner of conducting the affairs of his office, and have shown him courtesies which few men in his position would be able to com- mand from political opponents. He has charge of the entire election machinery of the county, and while the one general election held under his administration was of the most exacting charac- ter, no charge has ever been made by his political opponents that his course has been in the least partial to his party.
Judge Richie was born in Louisville, Ken- tucky, January 18, 1868, and was graduated from the high school in the class of 1887. He then at- tended the Louisville Law University and gradu- ated in 1889, after which he entered the office of Honorable Walter Evans, with whom he was as- sociated in the practice of law for three years. In 1893 he formed a law partnership with A. J. Speckert, which business relation continued until Mr. Richie's elevation to the bench in January 1895.
Judge Richie is exceedingly popular, es- pecially with the younger people of Louis- ville, with whom he has mingled all of
his life. As a lawyer he occupies a place in the front rank of the profession, and is held in the highest esteem by the members of the bar. As a judge he has the utmost confidence and respect of the legal fraternity who have business in his court. As a citizen he is known as a man of the highest integrity, and his relation to the Methodist Church, of which he is a member, is that of an upright Christian gentleman.
Judge Richie's father, H. C. Richie, is a native of New Albany, Indiana, and a well-known citi- zen of Louisville, who has been sole traveling agent for the Eclipse Woolen Mills for twenty years. He is a man of fine education and unusual business ability, a vigorous writer and speaker, an enthusiastic Republican and protectionist, and is well-informed in national politics.
William H. Richie (grandfather) was also a native of New Albany, Indiana, and a lifetime resident of that city. He was a pilot on the west- ern rivers and continued his work upon the river until a short time before his death, in 1884.
Sophia Spurrier Richie (mother) is a native of Sumner County, Tennessee; a leading spirit in the Methodist Church and a lady of fine attainments, and is especially noted for her many "good works."
Edward Sperrier (grandfather) was for many years a resident of Clarksville, Tennessee. He removed to Cave City, Kentucky, in 1865, where he kept a hotel for a short time, subsequently re- moving to Hardin County, where he died in 1882. He was of Scotch-Irish descent.
Judge Richie was married August 29, 1895, to Margaret Pierce, daughter of LaFayette and Nan- nie (Lyles) Pierce. Mrs. Richie was born in Sum- ner County, Tennessee, September 1, 1873.
CHARLES F. WEAVER, Secretary and Treasurer of the Ashland Foundry and Ma- chine Works, was born in Cochran, Indiana, March 10, 1858. His father, Daniel L. Weaver, was born in Gordonsville, Pennsylvania, Febru- ary 25, 1835, and was a master mechanic in the Baldwin Locomotive Works at Philadelphia, and an excellent workman. He served eighteen months on the gunboat "Carondalet" in the Mis- sissippi squadron in the Civil war, and after his
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honorable discharge, continued in the service of the government as master mechanic during the remainder of the war, after which he held a similar position with the Ohio & Mississippi Railroad Company for fourteen years. He was then master mechanic of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Company at Lexington for four years. He re- moved to Ashland in November, 1886, and es- tablished the Ashland Foundry and Machine Works, which he operated successfully until the time of his death, December 11, 1894. He was a very popular man and a public-spirited citizen, who made many personal friends and enjoyed the confidence of the business community, by whom he was regarded as a man of the highest integrity. He was a Republican in politics, and took a hand in all important elections but would accept no office. He was a general favorite among his ac- quaintances, particularly as a member of benevo- lent societies, including the Masons, in which he was an officer and an enthusiastic and zealous worker.
Jonathan Weaver (grandfather) was a native farmer of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where he owned a large tract of valuable land, and where he died. His wife, who survived him, was Nancy Lefevre, a native of the same county, and died there in 1888. His father was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and was wounded at the bat- tle of Brandywine.
Henry W. and Jonathan R. Weaver (uncles) served in the war of the Rebellion, enlisting in the naval service at Aurora, Ind., and were dis- charged at Helena, Arkansas, in 1864.
Charles F. Weaver's mother, Arjyra Daniels, was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, December 16, 1838, and was educated in Philadelphia; married Daniel L. Weaver June 7, 1857, and is now living in Ashland. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and a devout Christian woman, who is loved and respected by a large circle of friends.
Abel Davis (grandfather) was a native of Bal- timore, Maryland, where he received a good edu- cation and was engaged in the drug business for a time, and was for some years traveling salesman for the Baltimore Steam Packing Co., and subse- quently kept books for a hotel in Charlestown,
South Carolina, and suffered a paralytic stroke in that city. He went to Philadelphia and opened a Home for Southern Students, who were numer- ous in the educational institutions in that city, and died there January 28, 1861. He was married January 14, 1838, to Eliza Whittis, a native of Elizabeth City, North Carolina; educated in Nor- folk, Virginia; died June 7, 1853, and is buried in the Odd Fellows' Cemetery at Philadelphia.
Daniel L. and Arjyra Weaver were the parents of six children: Charles F., born March 10, 1858; Elizabeth, born March 25, 1860, wife of B. F. Myers; Hattie A., born July 8, 1862; Harry Marion, born May 13, 1864; Maggie Rose, born February 24, 1866, and Jerrie Arjyra, born No- vember 28, 1877.
Charles F. Weaver began business as a civil engineer, for which he was prepared by a splendid education, and was employed on the staff of the engineer who built the Kentucky Central Rail- road from Paris to Richmond. Being a Republican he accpted the position of chief clerk to Major D. J. Burchett, United States Marshal of Kentucky, at Louisville, and served during President Harrison's administra- tion, after which he returned to his home in Ash- land and was made secretary and treasurer of the Ashland Foundry and Machine Works. In 1892 he was elected to the legislature from the Ninety-eighth District and served one term, but is now out of politics, except for the lively interest he takes in the success of the Republican party.
THOMAS FOSTER CLEAVER, M. D., son of Dr. William W. and Joanna (Grundy) Cleaver, was born in Lebanon, Kentucky, Novem- ber 25, 1865, and was educated in the best schools of his native city and in the Commercial College at Lexington, under Colonel Wilbur F. Smith; studied medicine in the University of Louisville, from which he was graduated March, 1887. He at once engaged in the practice of medicine with his distinguished father, making a specialty of the treatment of diseases of eye, nose and throat, in which he has been highly successful, while attend- ing to a large share of the general practice of the firm.
He is a member of the Marion County Medical
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Society; is a prominent member of the Presby- terian Church and is noted for his interest in good works, and his many deeds of charity. He is very able and skillful as a physician, and is deeply interested in his profession.
He was married in March, 1888, to Mamie Nutting, daughter of J. P. Nutting of Indian- apolis, Indiana.
JOSEPH B. SIMRALL, Mayor of the city of Lexington, son of the late Rev. John G. Sim- rall, was born in Fayette County, Kentucky, Feb- ruary 4, 1844. He is a brother of Judge John G. Simrall, the eminent jurist of Louisville, whose sketch with a brief history of the family will be found in this volume. Mayor Simrall was pur- suing his studies in the academy at Walnut Hills, near Lexington, when the North and South crossed swords and prepared for the four years' conflict that followed, and the young student, fired with a love for the Sunny Soutli and with zeal in behalf of the cause of his people, enlisted early in the conflict as a private in Company B, Eighth Regiment of Kentucky Cavalry, under General Morgan. His career as a soldier was very brief, except as a prisoner of war, in which capacity he served an unusually long term, endur- ing privations and sufferings in body and mind which he would gladly have exchanged for the dangers of the battlefield. He was taken pris- oner at Buffington Island in 1863, and confined in Camp Chase, Columbus, Ohio, where he re- mained for six months, and was then removed to Delaware prison, from which he was not re- leased until after the war was over, in June, 1865.
He returned to his home in Fayette County and soon afterwards engaged in the drug business in Lexington, in partnership with Mr. Richard- son, under the firm name of Richardson & Sim- rall. This relation continued for about twenty years, when, in 1886, Mr. Simrall became sole proprietor of one of the most popular, enterpris- ing and reliable drug houses in the city, an estab- lishment of which he is still proprietor.
As a business man, rather than a politician, Mr. Simrall has taken a lively interest in municipal affairs and has always been ready to participate as far as possible in all public enterprises and
has been found on the right side of all public interests. He was a member of the Board of Aldermen from 1888 until 1892, and in Novem- ber, 1895, he was elected chief executive of the city, an office into which he was installed but a short time previous to the writing of this sketch. He brings to his office a thorough knowledge of the needs of the city, a mind well trained in busi- ness affairs and a strong and abiding purpose to do the right, with the moral courage to obey the dictates of his conscience. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church and the graces and vir- tues of the Christian religion are so pronounced in his character that all men have confidence in him, and predict for him a wise and progressive ad- ministration of the city's affairs.
Mayor Simrall and Ellen Harrison were mar- ried November 23, 1871. Mrs. Simrall died Au- gust 11, 1892, leaving four children living: Sarah, Harrison, John and Ellen. Margaretta, the oldest child, is deceased.
Harrison Simrall (son) is pursuing his studies in the Kentucky State University, and John is in the city schools.
Mrs. Simrall's father, Hon. James O. Harrison, was one of the most distinguished attorneys of the Lexington bar. He was born April 11, 1804, and died August 1, 1888.
H ENRY CHRISTIAN SULLIVAN, a young lawyer of the highest integrity of Louisa, Kentucky, was born in Ashland, Kentucky, in 1863, and is a son of Christian Mills and Chattie Clifford (Moore) Sullivan. His fath- er was born in Mason County and educated in Lexington, and was a prominent minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, being a strong Southerner in all of his opinions. He was presiding elder for many years of the district in which he lived, and at different periods of his ministry he preached at Ashland, Kentucky, Charleston and Clarksburg, West Virginia, and Greenup and Louisa, Kentucky.
Henry C. Sullivan, after leaving school, in 1880, engaged in railroading in Georgia, and from 1881 to 1884 he was fireman on an engine running between Rome and Macon; when not on the road he worked in the shops and assisted in building
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engines. Returning to Louisa, he clerked in a grocery and was assistant postmaster for several years before entering the office of Alexander Lackey as a student at law. He was chairman of the Lawrence County Democratic Executive Committee from 1888 to 1892, and during the first year of his service on that committee the county went Democratic for the first time in seven years.
He was admitted to the bar in 1891, and during the following year he attended the University of Michigan. It was in that year that the one-year class was organized. A Kentuckian was elected valedictorian of that class, this being the first time that honor had been conferred upon a student who lived south of Mason and Dixon's line. Mr. Sullivan was the originator of a political move- ment in the class which resulted in great advan- tage to the Southern students.
In 1893 he began the practice of law, and hav- ing a large acquaintance and excellent standing in the community, he at once stepped into a lu- crative practice, which has grown rapidly. He is one of the brightest young men in the profession in Louisa, and undoubtedly has a brilliant future before him. He is a member of Louisa lodge No. 270, I. O. O. F., which he has represented in the Grand Lodge of Kentucky, and served in every official position in his lodge, being its treasurer at present. He is also a Knight of Pythias and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
Mr. Sullivan was married October 11, 1893, to Nora K. Borders of Louisa, Kentucky. She was born in Catlettsburg in 1868, and is a graduate of Wesleyan College, Cincinnati, Ohio, and was a teacher in the Louisa and Lawrence County schools before her marriage.
W TILLIAM EDWARD RAGSDALE was born near Lafayette, Christian County, Kentucky, July 31, 1847. His father, William Jones Ragsdale, a farmer and native of Virginia, moved to Tennessee near the state line in 1839, and afterwards removed to Kentucky, where he died. Reverses consequent upon the war left his widow, Emily (Tillotson) Ragsdale, in moderate circumstances, with seven children, whose names
were as follows: Elizabeth Rogers, Lucy Coop- er, Mary Rives, James S., Emily Foster, Rebecca Hancock and William E.
With a very incomplete education, the youngest son found himself confronted with the problem of life. Bright, energetic and determined, he brave- ly faced the difficulties of his position and de- cided to carve out a career for himself. He was descended from fine old Scotch-English ancestry and had a grand, good mother, who reared a family of children who were noted for their honor, culture and true citizenship. In strength of char- acter, resolute and inflexible devotion to princi- ple, her devotion to family, church and her sec- tion was evidenced by tireless ministrations, and during the war she did much to relieve the sick and wounded soldiers. Under the influence of such a mother, he acquired naturally honor, char- ity and a love of liberty and a spirit of inde- pendence.
His maternal grandmother was Mildred (Gold) Tillotson, the only daughter of Jack and Marion Gold of Mecklenburg County, Virginia, who married a descendant of Sir John Tillotson, who left her a widow at the age of twenty-six and the mother of six children, viz .: Nancy Yancey, Sarah Blaine, Joyce Wilkinson, Emily Ragsdale, Eleanor Rives and Rebecca Baynham. She never married again and died at the advanced age of eighty.
His paternal grandfather was William Jones Ragsdale, Sr., of Virginia, a planter, merchant and money lender, who possessed vast wealth be- fore the war, a considerable amount of which was invested in slaves. He married Miss Young, a daughter of General Young, a distinguished sol- dier and statesman. Being a man of quiet habits and vigorous health, he was as free from con- tagions and infections as "the sound oaks are, and the stars," and lived to the ripe age of eighty- one, leaving five children, viz .: John H., Smith, William J., Elizabeth Mann and Frances Hester.
Before he was quite twenty years of age, Wil- liam E. Ragsdale married Achilles Collins, No- vember 20, 1866, and had other responsibilities in addition to his widowed mother and sisters to call forth his energies.
Old men now in the vicinity of his boyhood tell
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how Will Ragsdale made his first speculation in tobacco when only twelve years old. Stephen Rogers, an old negro man, had a crop to sell, and the boy asked what he would take for it. The darkey, doubtless knowing the state of his finances, said, "I'll take five dollars, your silver watch (which, by the way, ran backward and for- ward with equal energy) and a squirrel and cage." This was exactly what Will owned, so they "traded."
The investment netted him $36, and he was stimulated to try again and again until, finally, he became a capable judge of tobacco. After deal- ing in tobacco five years in Lafayette, Kentucky, he removed in 1872 to Hopkinsville, Kentucky, which is now the first dark tobacco market in the world. He purchased the Main Street Ware- house and conducted an enormous business of buying and selling the weed in that and in New York markets. In 1874 he cleared $116,000. The year following he sold his warehouse to Buckner & Wooldridge and bought of S. G. Buckner "Woodlawn," a fine farm of 526 acres seven miles from the city, and began farming on a large scale, at the same time continuing a broker's business in Hopkinsville. In this he was successful and did a more extensive business than any other one man there.
He was also the owner of fine horses. In 1879 he bought a colt for $500 and named her Minnie R., had her trained upon his own track, then raced her for two years, winning in more than half the rings she entered. In Chicago, Illinois, July 17, 1882, she won a purse of $3,000, and even before the race was done he sold her to Com- modore Kittson of St. Paul for $10,000. He was the owner of "Arlington Denmark," a com- bined saddle and harness horse; "Highflyer," "Toppy" and "William Singerly," a pacer with a record of 2:163.
"Arlington Denmark" was shown at fairs for four years all over the state and never lost a race. In St. Louis he captured first prize out of thirty- six starters.
In 1884 Mr. Ragsdale sold his farm to Joe F. Garnett and again bought a home in Hopkins- ville, where he still lives. He repurchased Main Street Warehouse and does a splendid business
under the firm name of Ragsdale, Cooper & Co. He has scores of premiums which he has won from time to time as the best judge of tobacco.
The foundation of his active life was laid in Hopkinsville and the people both of that city and country entertain for him the highest regard and admiration as a business man and a Christian gentleman. Firm and conscientious in all his convictions and bold and fearless in the defense of them, he has always commanded the respect of those who honestly differed with him in politi- cal faith. He is the father of twelve children: Manfred, Lucy, Will, Roy, Clark, James, Achilles, Howell, Thomas, Douglas, and two died in in- fancy.
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