USA > Kentucky > Biographical cyclopedia of the commonwealth of Kentucky > Part 62
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State Medical Society and of the American Med- ico-Psychological Society.
Doctor Evans was married April 17, 1889, to Pearl Chenault, a daughter of Doctor R. C. Chenault of Madison County. Dr. and Mrs. Evans are members of the First Presbyterian Church at Lexington.
The name of Evans is an honored one in this country, having lost none of the lustre that clus- ters around it in Wales. The Welsh are de- scended from the ancient Britons who fought the Roman legions under Caesar with more un- daunted courage than any other people in the Isle of Great Britain, and it is the old Welsh barons who forced King John to sign the Magna Charta on the field of Runnymede, June 15, 1215.
D RURY JAMES BURCHETT, President of the Bank of Louisa, one of the best known and most popular Republicans in the state, son of Armstead and Rebecca (Pigg) Burchett, was born in Floyd County, Kentucky, August 15, 1843.
His father was born in the same county, May 12, 1818, and was a prominent citizen, farmer, soldier and business man in his native county until his death, which occurred on his birthday, May 12, 1894. He was a Democrat before and a Republican after the Civil war; enlisted in the Union army and was a sergeant in the Four- teenth Regiment Kentucky Infantry, and was not actively engaged in business thereafter.
Drury Burchett (grandfather) was a native of Virginia; married a Miss McCowan; removed to Kentucky and was a farmer in Floyd County. His father and four brothers were soldiers in the Revolutionary war. The family is of Scotch- Irish origin, the progenitor coming to this coun- try in colonial times.
Rebecca Pigg Burchett (mother) was born in Floyd County, Kentucky, in 1820; was educated in the county schools; married Armstead Bur- chett in 1841, and is now a resident of Louisa.
James Pigg (maternal grandfather) was a na- tive of Virginia; married a Miss Ratliff of that state; removed to Kentucky and was a farmer in Floyd County. His ancestors were of Scotch- Irish extraction.
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Major D. J. Burchett left the school room in Louisa to enlist as a private in Company K, Fourteenth Regiment Kentucky Infantry, June 30, 1861; was promoted to the rank of first lieu- tenant November 8, 1861; promoted to the cap- taincy of the company February 1, 1862, and to the rank of major August 6, 1864, and served until the close of the war. During eighteen months of his service as captain, he was in com- mand of a battery of eight guns on the border between Virginia and Kentucky.
He was in several battles of the Eastern Ten- nessee campaign, and went from there on to Atlanta; returned with General Thomas to Nash- ville; was in command of the regiment from Gaylesville to Rome, Georgia, and of the bri- gade from Chattanooga to Pulaski and Nash- ville, and thence to Johnsville. Few men saw more active service during nearly four years of the war, and have had as little to say about it since the smoke cleared away.
Returning to Louisa, he was mustered out of the service January 31, 1865. For fifteen years following he was engaged in mercantile pursuits in Louisa, during which time he was a prominent figure in the Republican party in his county and district; was elected to the legislature August, 1865, and returned in 1877 and again in 1879, representing Boyd and Lawrence Counties; was chairman of Committee on Banks and a member of the Committee of Ways and Means; was ten- dered the nomination for Congress in 1884, which he then declined, but accepted the candidacy of his party in 1888, and was defeated by only two hundred and twenty-nine votes; was appointed United States marshal for the District of Ken- tucky by President Harrison in 1889 and served the full term of four years; was a delegate to the Republican National Convention at Minneapo- lis in 1892, and was an ardent supporter of Presi- dent Harrison, who was renominated. It is hardly necessary to add that he is uncompromis- ing in his loyalty to the Republican party.
The Bank of Louisa was organized in 1890 and Major Burchett, who was then serving as United States marshal, was elected president of that cor- poration. This is the nearest banking point for the Counties of Lawrence, Johnson and Martin
in Kentucky and Wayne County, West Virginia. The extensive lumbering and mining interests of that section are greatly facilitated by the estab- lishment of a bank at Louisa.
He is also president of the Louisa Milling Com- pany; is interested in a wholesale grocery estab- lishment; has investments in real estate and is a very active and enterprising citizen of the thriving city of Louisa.
Major Burchett was married March 15, 1865, to Addie Jones, daughter of Daniel D. Jones of Lawrence County. She was educated in the schools of her county; was a very intelligent and attractive woman, noted for piety and Christian charity; a devout member of the Methodist Epis- copal Church; died February 7, 1890. Major Burchett's children are: Mary, wife of J. F. Rat- cliff; Emma D., wife of G. R. Vinson, cashier of the Bank of Louisa; Harlan Geiger, now employed in the bank; John, a student in Centre College at Danville; and Addie and Drury, who are at home.
W ES. B. WILSON, Clerk of the Kenton County Court, Covington, was born in Kenton County, Kentucky, December 12, 1852. He was a typical farmer's boy and attended the common schools when he had nothing else to do, and later attended a private school at Independ- ence in Kenton County; was for a time a matric- ulate in the Kentucky University at Lexington, where he advanced rapidly, and was subsequently admitted to West Point, where he spent one year. After leaving school as a pupil he became a teach- er, and followed that profession for seven years, being well equipped and quite successful. While thus engaged he was appointed deputy clerk of the Circuit Court at Independence, the old county seat of Kenton, and filled that position front 1879 to 1888. In 1885 he represented his dis- trict in the Legislature, and in 1890 he was elect- ed clerk of the County Court for a term of four years. He was re-elected in 1894, and is the present incumbent of that office. He is a leader in the Democratic party, and enjoys the friend- ship and good will of men of all parties. He is a prominent member of the Knights of Pythias and of the Elks; is a man of influence in business
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matters, being a director in the Farmers & Trad- ers' Bank and a director in the Covington Trust Company.
Mr. Wilson was married in 1876 to Lyda Miles of Covington, and they have four sons and one daughter: Grace, Miles, Hansford, Earl and L. B.
Mr. Wilson's father, Walker H. Wilson, was born in Kenton County, of which he was a resi- dent until the time of his death in April, 1895, when he was seventy-two years of age. He was a prosperous farmer and dealer in live stock. He was a devout member of the Christian Church.
Aquilla Wilson (grandfather) came to Kenton County from Virginia in 1800, and was one of the pioneer farmers of that county. He died in 1839. The Wilson family is descended from Cavalier English stock.
W. B. Wilson's mother, Mary J. (Hansford) Wilson, was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, in 1828, and died at the age of sixty-five years, in 1883. She was a member of the Christian Church, a woman of superior intelligence and loveliness of character.
N APOLEON M. DURBIN, deceased, was born near Claysville, Harrison County, Kentucky, April 1, 1815. His father, Daniel Durbin, with two brothers, came from the vicin- ity of Baltimore, Maryland, descending the Ohio river on flatboats and landing at Maysville before there was any town there. Daniel found his way through the wilderness to Bourbon County, where he bought a large tract of land near Paris. He also owned a grist mill on Stoner Creek, which is still in operation, about three miles from Paris. After some years' residence in Bourbon County, he sold his property and purchased a large tract of land near Claysville, Harrison County, where he died in 1827, aged eighty-six years. He was the grandfather of Rev. John P. Durbin, D. D., deceased, a noted divine of the Methodist Episcopal Church and Eastern trav- eler, who was president of Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia.
Daniel Durbin (father) was twice married; first to a Miss Nunn of Bourbon County, Ken-
tucky, by whom he had several children, one of whom, a son, Hosier, was the father of Rev. John P. Durbin. Hosier is buried at Cane Ridge, Bourbon County, Kentucky. The other chil- dren were daughters: Cassie, who married a Dr. Sappington, and Nancy, who married Gen- eral Eastin of Fayette County. Elizabeth Pursell was the second wife of Daniel Durbin, and she was the mother of three children: Napoleon M. Durbin, John Bonaparte Durbin and Corilla Boracea Durbin. John B. died without issue. Corilla B. married John C. Wilson, the father of N. B. Wilson, now a resident of Cynthiana.
Napoleon M. Durbin enjoyed but limited ad- vantages in getting an education; but he was an ambitious and faithful student, and with his nat- ural qualifications was well equipped for almost any position in public life. In starting out he found lucrative employment as a surveyor and he soon acquired property in two grist mills and a woolen factory, which were the beginning of a handsome fortune.
A man of his intelligence could not be kept out of public life, although he sought no office. He represented his county in the legislature in 1846, being elected by the Whig party. He served in that body with General Lucien Desha, they having defeated Hugh Newel and Joseph Shawhan.
He was a very fluent speaker and was one of the most popular campaigners of his time. He became a Democrat before the war and was out- spoken in his sympathies for the South during the war; and on that account he spent a good portion of his time in prison, while his friends were fighting for the South.
The primary cause of his long imprisonment was the fact that he organized a company, and when about to depart with his company to join the Confederate forces, was captured and taken to Lexington.
He was a formidable and successful opposer of taxation for private or quasi-public enterprises. He strongly and vigorously fought the pro- posed levy of a tax on Harrison County prop- erty to aid in the construction of the Kentucky Central Railway. The proposition was defeated, to the great gain of the county.
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He owned a large number of slaves, every one of whom praised and willingly obeyed him. Those of them who are still living speak of him as the kindest, noblest and best hearted man who ever lived. He was just, generous and benevo- lent, noble in his bearing and gentlemanly in his deportment; true and ever faithful to his friends; fierce and bordering almost on the ter- rible when aroused, yet magnanimous to his ene- mies.
He died March 12, 1871, at the old homestead near Claysville in Harrison County, which had been the home of his father for many years.
Mr. Durbin was married in 1860 to Cynthia Hill, daughter of James Hill, of Fayette County. She died in October, 1888, aged fifty-nine years.
His son, Daniel Durbin, attorney-at-law of Cynthiana, was born at the family homestead in Harrison County, November 27, 1862. When fifteen years of age he entered Prof. Smith's clas- sical school, which he attended for four and a half years, and then went to Ann Arbor College, Michigan, for one year. He studied law in the Cincinnati Law School for two years, graduating in 1889, and at once entered upon the practice of his profession in Cynthiana.
He was married in 1887 to Mary L. Fisher, daughter of John W. Fisher of Bourbon County. They have two sons and two daughters: Cul- len, Bessie, Laura and one other.
Daniel Durbin has two sisters: Mary, wife of Darwin E. Fisher of Bourbon County; and Elizabeth, wife of Dr. James B. Adams, a dentist of Cynthiana. He also had a brother John, who died in December, 1870.
The large estate of Napoleon Durbin has been kept intact by his children.
JOHN CALVIN HOPKINS, a leading busi- ness man of Catlettsburg, was born in Taze- well County, Virginia, January 25, 1849.
His father, John Calvin Hopkins, was born in Bedford County, Virginia, August 13, 1812; was educated in Lynchburg and was a merchant in Tazewell County, Virginia, where he died July 20, 1889. Prior to the war he was a Whig and afterwards a Republican; a member of the Pres-
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byterian Church; a good and exemplary citizen and an upright and honest business man.
John Hopkins (grandfather) was a native farm- er of Bedford County, Virginia. His ancestors were of Scotch-Irish descent.
Elizabeth Tabler Hopkins (mother) was born in Frederick City, Maryland, in 1820; educated in the best schools of that city; married John C. Hopkins in 1847, and died in 1880.
William Tabler (maternal grandfather) was sheriff of Frederick County, Maryland, a hotel keeper and a prominent politician. He was of German extraction.
John Calvin Hopkins of Catlettsburg was edu- cated in Jeffersonville, Virginia; began business as traveling salesman for the hat house of R. G. Lampkins and was with that house from 1871 till 1873; went to New York and was engaged in real estate business with his father in 1874; removed to Kentucky and married Monsie L. Martin, October 20, 1874; lived in Prestonsburg about two years and removed to Catlettsburg February 15, 1876; was engaged in the retail grocery business for one year, when he became interested in steamboating, as captain and owner of a fine line of steamboats, which he has con- tinued to operate with marked success until the present time; has also a retail gentlemen's fur- nishing establishment in Catlettsburg; has been a member of the city council for ten years; was elected mayor of the city in 1893, the first mayor under the present city charter; was master com- missioner of the Circuit Court for eight years; is a director in the Catlettsburg National Bank; and in many ways identified with the material interests of his city and county.
His wife, Monsie L. Martin Hopkins, a de- scendant of a very distinguished family whose antecedents are given herewith, was born August 7, 1848. They have four children :
Elizabeth, born in Prestonsburg, July 16, 1875; Mary Grau, born in Catlettsburg, June 24, 1877; Nellie, born in Catlettsburg, January 3, 1880; John Martin, born in Catlettsburg, June 30, 1884.
John P. Martin, Mrs. Hopkins' father, was born in Jonesville, Lee County, Virginia, Octo- ber 17, 1811 ; removed to Prestonsburg, Kentucky, in 1828 and soon rose to distinction as a lawyer,
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politician and statesman. He was twice elected to the Kentucky house of representatives, twice to the Kentucky senate and once to Congress. He was one of the best informed and most bril- liant men of his time and exerted a wonderful power over the people whom he represented in public affairs; was a most eloquent speaker; of elegant manners, courteous towards others who looked up to him, and universally popular with all classes. One of the secrets of his power was the fact that he had a very fine library and was a constant reader and tireless student; and he thus equipped himself for the battle of life and was ever ready to inform and enlighten his constitu- ents and to combat the errors of those who op- posed him.
His daughter, Mary W. Martin, who was his constant companion, was hardly less distin- guished than her father. Born in the little town of Prestonsburg, September 13, 1837, she be- came one of the brightest women of Kentucky or of any state. She was educated in a school for girls in Alexandria, D. C., and in the female sem- inary at Steubenville, Ohio. She spent much of her time in Washington, where she was asso- ciated with the most intelligent people, who ap- preciated her talents and admired her qualities of mind and heart, and her many personal attrac- tions. She never lost her identity with Kentucky. She loved the people of her native state and was greatly loved and admired by them.
She was married in 1868 to Major James Trimble and removed to Harrisonville, Missouri, where she died in 1880.
Her brother, Alexander L. Martin, was a very prominent and popular man in his day. He was a member of the Kentucky senate, and the county of Martin was named for him. His wife was a daughter of Judge George N. Brown (see sketch in this work).
John P. Martin (Mrs. Hopkins' grandfather) was a merchant, lawyer and politician of Pres- tonsburg, where he died in 1863. He was a mem- ber of the Kentucky legislature in 1840, and was the only Democrat in that session, "the whole legislature being a den of Whigs;" was a candi- date for lieutenant governor with Linn Boyd, in opposition to Helm and Stephenson; was a very
strong Southern sympathizer, and often contrib- uted blankets and bedding to the Confederate soldiers. He was married May 14, 1835, to Eliza- beth Lackey, daughter of Alexander and Mary (Morgan) Lackey. Mrs. Martin died June 18, 1889.
W ILLIAM ALONZO TALIAFERRO, a leading farmer of Bracken County, son of Nicholas and Elizabeth (Kelsey) Taliaferro, was born in Bracken County, Kentucky, Septem- ber 9, 1834.
His father was a native of Bracken County and was educated in the county schools; was a tanner, and had a very large trade in early days, but when the eastern manufacturers began to send their goods into his section of the country he gave up tanning and spent the remainder of his days on a farm. He was a man of fine intelli- gence; a Whig in politics; a Southern sympa- thizer during the war, and after that a Democrat; was a member of the Sons of Temperance, a Mason and a member of the Presbyterian Church. His chief characteristic was his love of home, and his highest ambition was to be a successful farmer. He died November 6, 1867, and is buried in the family burying ground on the old homestead.
Nicholas Taliaferro (grandfather) was a native of Virginia, who came to Kentucky about one hundred years ago and bought a farm of one hun- dred and fifty acres in Bracken County, which place he called "Grampion Hill." He served as a cavalryman in the Revolutionary war.
The genealogy of the Taliaferro family as far back as the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch is given as follows:
Colonel William Taliaferro and his wife, Mary, daughter of Nicholas Battaile of "Hay," Caroline County, Virginia, had issue: Nicholas, born Octo- ber 30, 1757, died February, 1812; married, first, Annie, daughter of Colonel John Taliaferro of "Dissington"; second, Frances Blassinggame. John, born July 31, 1753, married Ann Stockdell. Lucy, born December 15, 1755.
Nicholas had issue by his first marriage: Lucy Mary, born August 6, 1789; married Captain William Buckner of Augusta, Kentucky. John Champ, born October 12, 1784; married Susan
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Buckner. Matilda B., born September 3, 1787; married Martin Marshall of Kentucky. Mary Willis, born August 11, 1789; died January 25, 1797. George Catlett, born March 21, 1792; died March 23, 1823; married Mary King. William T. (Dr.), born January 16, 1795, soldier of 1812, and a distinguished physician; married Elizabeth Ramsay. Nicholas had issue by his second mar- riage: Lawrence, born October 28, 1800. Nicho- las, born August 14, 1806. Marshall, born March 9, 1808.
George Catlett and Mary King Taliaferro had issue: Matilda Ann, born December 28, 1814, married Colonel Alfred Souard.
John and Annie Stockdell Taliaferro had issue: Hay and John, who married, had a son, who died young, and three daughters: Anne, married Isaac Walters, and had John L., George and Alfred. Lucy, married James Bosnell, had several chil- dren. Mary, married James Bosnell; had no children.
Elizabeth Kelsey Taliaferro (mother) was born in Bracken County, January 1, 1807; was edu- cated in the county schools; married Nicholas Taliaferro, November 5, 1829; died March 21, 1893, and lies in the family burying ground by the side of her husband.
William Kelsey (maternal grandfather) was born in Virginia, September 9, 1777, and was a farmer in Bracken County. He was married November 2, 1805, to Sallie Fee, who was born May 23, 1786. There were two children of this union: Elizabeth (mother) and Caroline, born July 6, 1810. William Kelsey died May 17, 1852, in the seventy-fifth year of his age, his wife, Sarah (Fee) Kelsey, having died on the 23d day of the preceding month, in her sixty-seventh year.
Sallie Fee Kelsey (grandmother) was a daugh- ter of John Fee and Elizabeth Bradford Fee, who were married February 18, 1783. Elizabeth Bradford (great-grandmother) was born March 13, 1757. She was the mother of nine children. She died November 15, 1839, having survived her husband, John Fee, who died November 7, 1822.
W. A. Taliaferro's only sister, Laura Augusta Caroline Taliaferro, was born September 23, 1836. He was educated in the schools of Bracken Coun- ty; bought the old Charles Gibbons farm, which
has been the scene of his prosperous labors since his early manhood.
He was married November 5, 1860, to Anna J. Curtis, daughter of Nicholas and Rebecca (Pet- ticord) Curtis. She was born November 16, 1835, and died January 10, 1865. There were three children by this union: Lizzie, born October II, 1861; died May 28, 1862. Nicholas C., born July 24, 1863; died July 14, 1891. William A., born October 28, 1864; died July 10, 1894.
Nicholas C. Taliaferro, the second son, was a young man of superior business qualifications, very talented and highly educated, having gradu- ated from Richmond University in the class of 1884 with the highest honors of his class. His early death was a heavy blow to the hopes of his family and many friends and admirers.
Mr. Taliaferro was married a second time, May 7, 1868, to Lizzie Pinkard, daughter of Stanfield and Rebecca (Harmon) Pinkard. She was born December 3, 1841. They have one child, Mat- tie, born November 26, 1869; married Carroll Asbury, May 3, 1894.
Stanfield Pinkard, Mrs. Taliaferro's father, was born March 29, 1798; died October 17, 1846.
Rebecca Harmon Pinkard was born March 26, 1803; died March 29, 1879.
Mr. Taliaferro is an elder in the Presbyterian Church; takes the part of a good citizen in the matter of politics, voting the Democratic ticket, but has never sought any position or favor at the hands of his party.
L.
WESLEY GERMAN, D. D. S., M. D., a . leading dentist of Louisville, an industrious worker in the Young Men's Christian Associa- tion and in the church and Sunday school, a direc- tor of one of the city missions and a member of the City Council of Louisville, is a native of Penn- sylvania. He was born in Harrisburg, Septem- ber 7, 1855, and is a son of E. S. and Sarah J. (Westfall) German, he a native of Harrisburg, where they now reside, and she of East Liberty, Pittsburgh, Pa.
His father was born August 3, 1822, and after learning the printer's trade and reading law he embarked in the book business in 1856, dealing principally in works of a religious character, from
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which occupation he retired in 1878, being suc- ceeded by his sons, Philip and John. The latter subsequently sold out and the establishment is now conducted by Philip German. E. S. Ger- man (father) is a prominent member of and an office-bearer in the Lutheran Church. He has always been active in religious work in connec- tion with that church; and is noted for his re- markable knowledge of the Bible, in the study of which he takes great delight, as he says, "amidst the labors of the day and in the watches of the night." Few men have a more extended and valuable knowledge of religious publications. He was twice elected to the School Board of Harris- burg, but has never aspired to political honors. His ambition has been to be useful in the promo- tion of true life according to the teachings, exam- ple and spirit of Christ, and has recently organ- ized the New Church (Swedenborgian) in Har- risburg.
Philip German (grandfather) was a native of Meyerstown, Pennsylvania, and became a brewer in Harrisburg. He was a volunteer soldier and corporal in the War of 1812, and marched to Bal- timore with others at the time of the attack of the British on that city. His regiment was quar- tered outside of the city ready to participate in the battle when the English commander was shot and the victory won by the patriots. Fol- lowing the war, he removed to Harrisburg, where he was engaged in his former business until his accidental death in 1855. He married Mary Elizabeth Hirsh, whose mother was Catherine Seltzer and her grandmother was Catherine Linde of Stockholm, Sweden. Her father was from Wittenberg, Germany. The father of Philip Ger- man (grandfather) and his father's father were natives of Germany, near Heidelberg; and it is definitely known that they were members of the Lutheran Church.
Sarah J. Westfall German (mother) was born in East Liberty, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, June 12, 1823, and is now a resident of Harrisburg, a member of the Lutheran Church, and has been a willing helper in the work in which her hus- band has been engaged in the church and in the Sunday school.
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