USA > Kentucky > Biographical cyclopedia of the commonwealth of Kentucky > Part 63
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Simeon Westfall (grandfather) kept a shoe
store in Wilkinsburg. He left that business and engaged in hauling merchandise between Phila- delphia and Pittsburgh before the day of canals and railroads. He married Hannah Barr of Har- risburg, and after living for a time in East Lib- erty, where Dr. German's mother was born, he removed to Harrisburg and spent the remainder of his life there.
Robert Barr (great-grandfather) was a Scotch- Irish Presbyterian, a stone mason by occupation, who came to America in 1770. The oath of alle- giance which he took before the formation of the government is framed and kept as an heirloom by a member of the family.
L. Wesley German was educated in the High School of Harrisburg and at Pennsylvania State College, Pennsylvania. In November, 1874, he began the study of dentistry and was graduated from the Philadelphia Dental College in 1878. He had charge of a dental office in Polo, Illinois, for one year prior to this. After completing his course in the Dental College he returned to Polo, Illinois, and practiced dentistry there for one year; and in the fall of 1879 he located permanently in Louisville, where his success was at once assured.
He identified himself with religious work in the Lutheran Church and in the Young Men's Chris- tian Association, and in 1880 was elected a mem- ber of the Board of Managers of the Y. M. C. A. One year later he was elected one of the secre- taries of that association, which office he held for three years, when he was again elected a member of the Board of Managers, and one year after was made treasurer, in which capacity he served for three and a half years.
Dr. German is a hard working member of the Lutheran Church and is the teacher of a large young men's Bible class in the Sunday school, and has been particularly active in missionary work, having helped to organize three congrega- tions as the result of work in which he has been associated with others. He was a deacon in the First Lutheran Church and assistant superintend- ant of the Sunday school; was an elder in St. Paul Lutheran Church, having assisted in the organization of the two last named and also one other church.
Dr. German is an active member of a number
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of benevolent orders, having been several times dictator in the Knights of Honor and a member of the State Grand Lodge of that order, and was regent for several terms in the Royal Arcanum. He is also a member of the Masonic fraternity.
He was one of the fifty citizens who went to Pittsburgh to secure the Twenty-ninth Annual Grand Army Encampment of the Republic for Louisville, and was an indefatigable worker in the preparations in the city for that notable event.
In November, 1895, Dr. German was elected a member of the City Council, representing the Sixth Ward, and was urged to accept the presi- dency of the board, but declined the honor.
He is not only a dentist, but is also a graduate of the Kentucky School of Medicine, class of 1888, and was for a time a practicing physician until his dental work required all of his time. He is still a diligent student of medicine and dental surgery, keeping up with the times through the best medical literature of the day.
Dr. German was married July 18, 1889, to Orrel M. Davis, daughter of George Davis of Louis- ville, and they have one child, Marguerite Eliza- beth.
JAMES H. PARRISH, Banker and Insurance Agent of Owensboro, son of Isaac Newton and Elizabeth (Givens) Parrish, was born in Bul- litt County, Kentucky, February 28, 1855. His father was born in Goochland County, Virginia, April 4, 1818. His education was obtained by his own efforts, as the sum total of his schooling was one month in the common school. He came to Kentucky with his father in 1822, who settled in Jefferson County, afterward a part of Nelson, and still later a part of Bullitt County, and was a resi- dent of three different counties without changing his location. He went to Louisville when sixteen years of age and learned the tailor's trade; re- turned to Bullitt County, and followed that occupa- tion until 1865. He was drafted during the war, but was exempted on account of having artificial teeth. After the close of the war he removed to Owensboro and was engaged in tailoring there until 1878, when he became interested with his son in the wholesale and retail book business, the firm name being W. E. & I. N. Parrish. He was a
prominent member of the Methodist Church, and a trustee of Settle Chapel. He was twice mar- ried, first to Martha Amos, a native of Jefferson County, Kentucky. Two children of this union died in infancy. The second wife, to whom he was married in October, 1846, was Elizabeth Givens. Their children were: Jane Givens, wife of William A. Brotherton, of Owensboro; George W. and John Otis, wholesale book dealers in Owensboro; James Howard, the subject of this sketch; Arthur Lee, assistant cashier of the Owensboro Savings Bank; Lizzie Sue, now liv- ing with her mother in Owensboro; William E., wholesale book dealer. Isaac N., who began busi- ness as a newspaper carrier, graduated from the Owensboro High School at the age of sixteen, and in 1890 was elected cashier in a bank. He was married February 10, 1895, to Mat- tie B. Haney; Walter Benjamin, died March 1883, and Mary Martha.
Nelson Parrish (grandfather) was a native of Goochland County, Virginia; came to Jefferson County in 1803; was a farmer and cooper, and married a Miss Cosby of Virginia, who died in Bullitt County. He was the father of eight chil- dren: Milton W., Marion, Lester, Edwin, Eliza- beth, Isaac N., Rebecca and Lucien.
George Givens (maternal grandfather) was born in Lincoln County in 1792. He was a farmer, a Democrat in politics and member of the Baptist Church. He married Mary Simpson and was the father of seven children: Elizabeth (mother), Wil- liam, Joseph, Agnes, Samuel, Jane and Sallie: They removed from Lincoln to Daviess County in 1860 and he died there in 1864, aged seventy-two years. 1
The great-grandfather Givens was a native of Virginia, who emigrated to Kentucky and lived on a farm at Fort McKinney, in Lincoln County, and the widow of one of his sons is still living on that farm at a greatly advanced age.
James H. Parrish was educated in the schools of Owensboro; learned the printing trade in the office of the Owensboro Monitor, when Thomas H. Pettit was proprietor; remained in that office five years; was employed in the office of the Examiner, of which Lee Lumpkin was editor; became clerk in the Owensboro Savings Bank in
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1877, and within one year was made cashier. T. S. Anderson, president of the bank, withdrew in 1884, and Mr. Parrish and others bought his in- terest, since which time he purchased the other stockholders' shares and is now the owner and cashier of the bank in which he began as a clerk. He is a member of the insurance firm of Stirman & Parrish, and is one of the most progressive business men of the city.
In past years he was a Democrat, but is not associated with any political party, preferring to vote according to his judgment and to support the best man regardless of his political affiliations.
He has been a member of the Baptist Church since he was twelve years of age and a deacon for many years; has been superintendent of and is teacher of a primary class in the Sunday school, and is greatly interested in the work of the school and the church.
Mr. Parrish was married June 14, 1881, to Jessie Moorman, daughter of Silas Mercer Moor- man, who was for many years a merchant in Breckinridge County; was in the Confederate army as quartermaster under General Buckner, and was promoted to the rank of major; was in the service three years and died of camp fever at La Grange, Georgia, in 1863, and is buried there. His wife was Sarah Talbott, who was born in New Market, Tenn. Their children were: George, Edward, Sallie, Henry, Hetty, Belle, Guy, Ten- nessee and Jessie (wife).
Mrs. Parrish was educated in Owensboro, and at a private school in New Orleans. Of the four children born to Mr. and Mrs. Parrish, Moorman, who was born March 12, 1886, is the only one living. Nora, born July 24, 1882, died June 21, 1890; Sarah Moorman, born June 25, 1884, died August 31, 1884; Maria Louise, born March 8, 1890, died March 31, 1890.
M ILTON C. RUSSELL, wholesale grocer of Maysville, one of the most conspicuous and successful business men of Northern Kentucky, was born in Maysville April 6, 1844,
His father, Christopher Russell, was born in England in 1814 and came to America in 1821, locating in Wilmington, Delaware, from which place he removed to Maysville in 1839. He was
one of the leading contractors and builders of his time and built many houses in Maysville. Having reached his eightieth year, he died in 1894. His wife was Mary Maule, a native of Pennsyl- vania. Her father, John Maule, was also a native of that state and a son of John Maule, who was a native of Scotland.
Milton C. Russell was educated principally in Rand and Richeson's Seminary in Maysville. Leaving school when sixteen years of age he be- gan his business career as a salesman in the gro- cery of John H. Richeson, with whom he re- mained for four years, when he accepted a similar position with Dudley A. Richardson, remaining with him as salesman until 1881, when he ac- quired an interest in the house. This partnership continued until July, 1886, when the whilom clerk bought out the proprietor, and from that time he has been the controlling spirit in the affairs of an ever increasing business.
In 1892 the old house was torn away and the present elegant five-story building was erected in its stead, giving Mr. Russell and his sons more room and better facilities and adding a valuable improvement to the city. This house, 42x80 feet, is filled with goods, embracing a stock of about $50,000 in value, and is one of the best equipped and most thoroughly stocked jobbing houses in the state. The trade, while not far reaching, being confined chiefly to adjacent counties, is kept well in hand by traveling salesmen. In 1890 his son, James B. Russell, became a partner in the estab- lishment, and another son, Thomas M. Russell, is now associated with him in business.
Mr. Russell is president of the Union Trust Company (capital $50,000), of which he was one of the organizers. He is secretary of the Mason County Building & Loan Association, one of the most substantial associations of that character in the state. Beginning life as a clerk without any pecuniary assistance and without capital, save industry and a marvelous capacity for business, he has forced himself to the front, and is now recognized as one of the most progressive and substantial business men of Maysville, thoroughly respected and trusted and greatly admired for his fine traits of character and superior business acumen,
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He is prominently identified with the leading benevolent fraternities, being a Knight Templar in Masonry, an Odd Fellow and a Knight of Pythias and Red Men.
Mr. Russell was married in 1865 to Elexene P. Johnson of Maysville, and has three sons, two of whom are associated with him in business. Christopher D. Russell has embarked in business on his own account as wholesale and retail dealer in queensware, glassware, in Maysville.
R EV. WALLACE L. NOURSE, pastor of the Ninth Street Presbyterian Church of Hop- kinsville, was born in Bardstown, Kentucky, No- vember 30, 1834. His father, Charles Nourse, was also born in Bardstown, was educated in the schools of that place, and engaged in mercantile business there when twenty-two years of age. He was a man of great force of character, a promi- nent and influential inember of the Presbyterian Church, a Whig in politics, whose convictions were as freely and openly expressed as they were firm and decided. He spent most of his life in Bardstown, but removed to Jefferson County, where he died in 1865, in the seventy-fifth year of his age.
James Nourse (grandfather) was born in Vir- ginia, emigrated to Kentucky when he was a young man and became a prominent lawyer of Harrodsburg. He was a man of great influ- ence and personal magnetism and made friends wherever he was known. He was agent of a Kentucky Land Company and transacted a great deal of business for the early settlers of the state.
James Nourse (great-grandfather) was a native of England, who emigrated to Virginia, and died there in 1780.
Rosa Logan Nourse (mother) was a daughter of Judge William Logan and Priscilla Wallace, and was born in Shelby County in 1802. She lived to the extreme age of ninety-one years, and was hale and hearty and was an interested reader of the newspapers and the literature of the day until within a short time before her death, which occurred in Louisville, November, 1895.
William Logan (maternal grandfather) was born in Fort Asaph, near Harrodsburg, Decem- ber 8, 1876, and was the first white child born in
the State of Kentucky. Collins states that of the early born sons of Kentucky "he was the most gifted and eminent." He was a judge of the Court of Appeals for many years; was United States Senator in 1819-20, resigning his seat in the Sen- ate to become a candidate for governor of Ken- tucky during the old and new court controversy, but was not elected; was a member of the Con- stitutional Convention in 1799 and frequently a member of the Kentucky Legislature from both Lincoln and Shelby Counties, and three times speaker of the house. He died August 8, 1822, aged forty-six years. His father was General Ben Logan of pioneer fame.
Wallace L. Nourse was educated in the Pres- byterian schools of Bardstown and attended the Presbyterian Theological Seminary at Danville, teaching school in the meantime, and was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Louisville in 1862. He began his work in the ministry in Daviess and Hancock Counties. In connection with the Synod of Kentucky he removed to Rockport, In- diana, in 1869; remained there for sixteen years, and was instrumental in building several churches in that vicinity, to which he made liberal contri- butions in time, labor and money. In 1885 he went to Hopkinsville, where he has accomplished a good work in building up the church, and has sustained his reputation as one of the ablest preachers and finest pulpit orators in that sec- tion of the state.
He married (first) Louisa Bell of Owensboro, in 1864, by whom he has two children living and one deceased. In 1875 he married (second) Sadie, daughter of James Bartrim of Rockport, Indiana, who is the mother of eight children.
H UGH RAY RIFFE, druggist of Bellevue, son of Dr. John M. and Mary A. (Ray) Riffe, was born in Winchester, Clark County, Ken- tucky, September 17, 1858. His father, Dr. John M. Riffe, is a native of Liberty, Casey County, and is now living in Covington, where he has been a practicing physician for more than a quar- ter of a century. He is a man of great piety and is loved and respected by a host of friends, not only in the Christian Church, of which he is a member, but in the entire community. He is now
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well advanced in years, having passed three-score and ten, but he is quite active and is greatly de- voted to his profession, in which his services are as much in demand as when he was younger.
George Chilton Riffe (grandfather) was born in Casey County in 1802. He was educated for the medical profession, and studied medicine under Dr. Ephraim McDowell of Danville, but his preference was for agricultural life, and he never entered the active profession of medicine. He was a farmer all his life after completing his studies, but being a man of more than ordinary intelligence and of excellent education he was frequently elected to the legislature, serving in the lower house in 1838-40, and in the Senate from 1862 to 1870. He was magistrate in Casey Coun- ty for many years, and was prominent in all of the affairs of interest to his county. He was mar- ried March 17, 1823, to Elizabeth Blaine Ander- son, daughter of Walter Anderson of Virginia, and was the father of nine children, of whom Dr. John M. Riffe was the eldest. He was a man of great strength of character and a member of the Christian Church, whose daily life was in keeping with his profession.
Christopher Riffe (great-grandfather) was born in Pennsylvania in 1765. At the age of seventeen he was married to Polly Spears of Virginia, and came to Kentucky, at first locating in Harrods- burg, but he subsequently removed to Casey County. He served in the War of 1812 under General Shelby, in the commissary department, receiving the title of general. He represented the counties of Casey and Russell in the Legislature for sixteen years. He was a very intimate friend of Daniel Boone, Simon Kenton and other dis- tinguished Kentucky pioneers. He died in 1850 in the eighty-fifth year of his age.
Walter Anderson (maternal grandfather) was a Virginian and a Baptist minister, but connected himself with the Christian Church about the time of its organization. He married Sarah Ann Blaine, daughter of Alexander Blaine. He died in 1862, aged ninety-one years, and she in 1877. Her father was aide-de-camp to General Wash- ington, and was a relative of James G. Blaine. The family was originally from Ireland.
Hugh R. Riffe was educated principally in the
public and high schools of Covington, to which place his parents had removed when he was twelve years of age. He began business as a clerk in the drug store of his brother, John M. Riffe, Jr., and at the age of nineteen began business in the same line on his own account. In 1887 he re- moved to Bellevue, where he has continued in the drug business, at the same time trading more or less in real estate, and has acquired some valu- able property.
He was married April 24, 1883, to Mamie Lee Cassiday, daughter of the late James A. Cassiday of Covington, and they have three children: James M., Hugh Ray, Jr., and Laura Cassiday.
A. F. GOETZE, a leading druggist of Day- ton, was born in Cincinnati, October 21, 1858. He is a son of August and Sophia (Hart- man) Goetze. His father was born in Cassel, Ger- many, June 9, 1829, and came to America and located in Cincinnati, July 16, 1854. He received a good education in Germany and at once stepped into prominence in Cincinnati, where he was en- gaged in the wholesale hat business until 1882, when he removed to Dayton, Kentucky. In 1883 he was elected city treasurer of Dayton, and when he took charge of that office the little city was overwhelmed with debt. Its bonds were held at from 60 to 75 cents on the dollar, and there were no purchasers willing to take them at any price. Mr. Goetze proved a very able financier, and in ten years he paid every debt, including bonds to the amount of $40,000 in the Jamestown district. There are few more popular or useful citizens of Dayton than August Goetze.
Herman Goetze (grandfather) was born in Cas- sel, Germany, June 29, 1778, and was a resident of that country all his life.
Sophia Hartman Goetze (mother) was born in Cassel, Germany, May 14, 1830, and received a fine education in that country. Her marriage to Mr. Goetze took place on his arrival in this coun- try in July, 1854, and they have spent over forty years of married life together. She is a daughter of Valentine Hartman, who was born in Germany May 13, 1779, and died there May 17, 1846. His wife, Sophia, was born August 22, 1800, and died May 22, 1830.
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A. F. Goetze was educated in the public schools of Cincinnati, finishing with credit to himself when sixteen years of age. He attended the Cincin- nati College of Pharmacy in 1876, and was grad- uated in 1878, and while pursuing his pharmaceu- tical studies was employed in a drug store in Day- ton, and after completing his course located in that city permanently, and has now one of the best retail drug stores in Campbell County.
Mr. Goetze is a Republican in politics, as is his venerable father, and is prominent as a Mason and Knight of Pythias.
He was married March 12, 1884, to Lula M. Jones, daughter of Thomas Jones, a prominent politician of Dayton. Mrs. Goetze was born April 15, 1863. Their only child, Earl, was born December 24, 1884.
J OHN C. HOOE, Railroad Ticket and Freight Agent and Agent of the Adams Express Com- pany at Lawrenceburg, was born in Mercer Coun- ty, Kentucky, August 21, 1860. His father, Wil- liam Archer Hooe, was born in Virginia, in 1809, and at the age of twenty-two years came to Har- rodsburg, and after studying law began the prac- tice of his profession in Harrodsburg. He retired from active work a few years before his death in 1869. He was twice a member of the Kentucky Legislature and was a prominent and popular man in political affairs. His father was a Vir- ginian, who died in his native place.
Sue B. (Burford) Hooe, mother of the subject of this sketch, was born in Harrodsburg August 24, 1843, and is still a resident of that city.
Elijah Burford (maternal grandfather) was born in Indiana in 1801, and removed to Harrodsburg in 1820, where he lived to be eighty-six years old. He was a general merchant in Harrodsburg for fifty years.
John C. Hooe enjoyed the usual advantages of the country boy in the way of schools, and com- pleted his studies at Daughters' College, Harrods- burg. At the age of seventeen began a successful business career as clerk in a store. After one year of service in this capacity he accepted a position as clerk in the office of the Southwestern Railroad Company. Three years later he was appointed agent of the company at Harrodsburg, which po-
sition he resigned five years later to become super- intendent of the Southwestern Railroad. He held this important office for seven years and resigned to accept the office of superintendent of construc- tion on the Louisville Southern Railroad, and held that position for eighteen months, when he was made general agent of the Louisville Southern, with headquarters at Harrodsburg. When the Monon people leased the road he was made travel- ing auditor of the Louisville Southern line, and after two years of service as auditor he resigned and became superintendent of the T. B. Ripy Dis- tillery at Lawrenceburg, and was there for six years when he again resigned to accept the posi- tion of ticket and freight agent in connection with the Adams Express Company's agency at Law- renceburg, and this is the only position he has ever held that he has not resigned.
Mr. Hooe was married November 23, 1884, to Mary V. Roemer of St. Louis. She died Septem- ber 30, 1885. He was married again November 3, 1891, to Maggie Crenshaw of Georgetown, and she died May 19, 1895.
Mr. Hooe is an active and influential member of the Christian Church, and a member of the Order of Maccabees. He has one son, R. B. Hooe, the child of his first wife.
C B. HAYGOOD, City Clerk of Dayton, . son of Susan (Von Gundy) and Plato Hay- good, was born in Cincinnati, January 28, 1852. His father was born in Geneva, New York, in 1816; spent his school days in Cleveland, Ohio, and was a clerk in many of the leading hotels in the large cities, including Cleveland, Columbus, Ohio, St. Louis and New Orleans. He was a pure, good man, a member of the Presbyterian Church, an Odd Fellow and a thirty-second degree Mason. He died in Cincinnati in 1876, at the age of sixty years, and is buried near that city in Spring Grove Cemetery. His ancestors came from Scotland.
Susan Von Gundy Haygood (mother) was born in Hamilton County, Ohio, in 1827, and was edu- cated in the common schools. She and Plato Haygood were married in 1850, and she survives him, being now a resident of Dayton. Her father, Christian Von Gundy, was a native of Germany. C. B. Haygood, subject of this sketch, was edu-
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cated in the splendid schools of Cincinnati, gradu- ating from the high school in 1868. He began business as a clerk in the well known wholesale grocery establishment of Babbitt, Harkness & Co. of Cincinnati and was with them for ten years. He then engaged in the retail grocery business on his own account in Dayton and was thus en- gaged for seven years.
In 1879 he was elected city assessor; was a member of the City Council from the Third Ward in 1885; was elected city clerk in 1886, and has held that office four consecutive terms, rendering service that has given entire satisfaction to the citizens. He takes an active and leading part in Republican politics; is a Mason, Odd Fellow, Knight of Pythias and a member of the Presby- terian Church, in all of which organizations he takes a lively interest.
Mr. Haygood and Mary Brooks, daughter of Samuel Brooks, were married June 19, 1873. She is a native of Columbus, Ohio. They have four children: Clarence, born May 8, 1876; Walter, born October, 23, 1878; Alma, born July 22, 1889, and Dallas, born April 26, 1893.
M ARTIN J. BROWN, a popular lawyer of Newport, was born in Warsaw, Ohio, May 30, 1860. His father, Frederick Brown, was born in Germany in 1822 and came to America in 1847. He lived in Cincinnati until 1869, when he re- moved to Newport. He was a blacksmith and followed his trade with great industry and success. He died in 1883, aged sixty-one years. He mar- ried Margaret Miller, a native of Germany, near Baden, who survives him.
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