Biographical cyclopedia of the commonwealth of Kentucky, Part 67

Author: Gresham, John M., Co., Pub
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Chicago, Philadelphia, J. M. Gresham company
Number of Pages: 726

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Mr. Veith and Annie Burke of Cincinnati were married in 1886, and have two children, Carl and Helen. Mr. Veith's father, Frederick Veith, was born in Germany in 1831, and came to the United States when eighteen years of age. After living in Cincinnati two years he removed to Newport, where he engaged in the grocery business until the time of his death in 1885. He was a member and one of the organizers of St. John's Lutheran Church in Newport. His wife, Catherine (Schmidt) Veith, who survives him, was born in Cincinnati in 1837, and is a faithful member of St. John's Lutheran Church.

C OLONEL ROBERT JOHNSON (the father of Colonels Richard M., James and Major John T. Johnson), was a native of Virginia, and emigrated to Kentucky, then a county of that state, during the stormy period of the revolu- tion. He was distinguished for that high-toned integrity and courage which marked the age and country in which he lived; and took an active and prominent part in the sanguinary conflicts which raged between the settlers and natives in the early settlement of Kentucky. So great was the confidence reposed in his skill and courage by the adventurers of that age, by whom he was surrounded, that he was called to take a con- spicuous position in almost every hazardous en- terprise. The sentiments of patriotism and integ-

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rity which marked the history of his active life he did not fail to inculcate upon the minds of his children; and the character of those children, as developed, shows that they were not without their proper effect. Of Colonel Richard M. Johnson, the eldest son, a sketch will be found under the head of Johnson County. Colonel James Johnson was the lieutenant-colonel of the mounted regi- ment of Colonel R. M. Johnson, during the late war, and distinguished himself at the battle of the Thames, as well as on several occasions while in the service. He subsequently served several ses- sions in the Congress of the United States with general acceptance. At the time of his death, which occurred many years since, he was in com- munion with the Baptist Church, and was esteemed a zealous and devoted Christian. Major John T. Johnson was for nine months a judge of the "New Court" of Appeals; for five years a Representative in the Legislature; from 1821-25 a member of Congress; and from 1831 until his death in 1856, a distinguished minister of the Christian Church.

G OVERNOR GEORGE W. JOHNSON- --

son of William Johnson and grandson of Colonel Robert Johnson (one of the early settlers and defenders of Bryan's Station, and the ancestor of a large and distinguished family in Kentucky and other states in the South and West)-was born near Georgetown, Kentucky, May 27, 18II, and died April 9, 1862, aged nearly fifty-one years. He was a graduate of Transylvania Uni- versity; studied law, and practiced at the George- town bar; abandoned the law for agricultural pur- suits-farming in Kentucky and cotton-planting in Arkansas; represented Scott County in the Kentucky Legislature for three years, 1838, '39 and '40; was twice a candidate on the Democratic ticket for Presidential elector, but defeated. In 1861 he labored earnestly to place Kentucky by the side of the Southern States in the Civil war; and went, in September of that year, in company with General John C. Breckinridge and others, to the South. He set on foot the organization of a provisional government for Kentucky, which was effected by the convention at Russellville,

Logan County, November 18-21, 1861. A consti- tution was adopted, Mr. Johnson elected provi- sional governor, and December 10 Kentucky admitted as a member of the Confederacy. He was mortally wounded at the battle of Shiloh, April 7, 1862.

B ENJAMIN HARDIN, one of the great lawyers of Kentucky, was born in 1784 in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania; was the son of Ben and Sarah Hardin, cousins, the lat- ter a sister of Colonel John Hardin. He was brought, in 1787, to the neighborhood of Spring- field, Washington County, Kentucky; received his early education from Ichabod Radley, and then at Bardstown, and at Hartford, Ohio Coun- ty, from Daniel Barry, an Irish linguist; studied law in 1804 at Richmond, Kentucky, with Mar- tin D. Hardin, and in 1805 at Bardstown with Judge Felix Grundy; in 1806 was licensed, mar- ried to Miss Barbour, and settled at Elizabeth- town, where he remained not quite two years. Some friends of William Bray, under arrest on a charge of murder, employed young Hardin to defend him "until the big lawyers came down from Bardstown." The full meaning of that expres- sion and qualified employment flashed upon Har- din at once; going immediately home he told his wife they must pack up forthwith and remove to Bardstown, or he would never be called a big lawyer; and before Bray was indicted, at spring term, 1808, Mr. Hardin was a resident of Bards- town, and continued to live there until his death; yet in about forty-six years he was not absent from more than six terms of the Hardin Circuit Court and frequently attended the County Court. He was an indefatigable practitioner in the Coun- ties of Nelson, Washington, Hardin, Bullitt, Meade, Grayson, Marion, Breckinridge and some- times Spencer, and in winter time in the Court of Appeals, and at special calls in Louisville and in the State of Indiana. His practice yielded him a handsome revenue and a consequent handsome fortune, in spite of the extremely low fees he charged. At full prices for his services his for- tune would have been immense, for he had one side or other of nearly every seriously contested

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case. His consultations with his clients were very brief; he seemed to catch the points and facts of a case by intuition; this enforced brevity some- times gave offense, but on the trial no client ever complained that he did not fully understand his case. His memory was extraordinary, and was cultivated and relied upon; he steadily refused to take a single note, and yet, in the concluding ar- gument, was often known to trace correctly the evidence of a dozen witnesses, repeat what each witness swore, and answer all the points made by the two opposing counsel. He seldom dealt in figures of speech or fancy sketches; his force lay in his perspicuity, in clearly arraying facts and fitting the evidence to sustain each fact in its proper place; he was an animated speaker, al- ways commanding the closest attention, even if not carrying conviction.

Mr. Hardin served his county in the House of Representatives of Kentucky in 1810, 1811, 1824 and 1825, and in the Senate from 1828 to 1832; and represented his district in Congress from 1815 to 1817, from 1819 to 1823 and from 1833 to 1837-ten years in all. From September, 1844, to February, 1847, he was secretary of state, under Governor Owsley, with whom he had one of the most heated controversies which has ever taken place among the public men of Kentucky; his speech defending himself before the senate com- mittee on executive affairs in January, 1847, was remarkable for its length, power and keenness. His last public service was in the convention that formed the present constitution of Kentucky in 1849-50.

G ENERAL JOSEPH DESHA was a de- scendant of the Huguenots of France, his paternal grandfather being one of that persecuted sect, who in the middle of the seventeenth cen- tury fled to America to avoid the fury of intoler- ance, and enjoy unmolested the religion of their choice. The subject of this notice was born De- cember 9, 1768, in Monroe County, in the eastern part of the then colony of Pennsylvania. In July, 1781, his father emigrated to Kentucky, and in the following year removed to that part of the present State of Tennessee, which was then known as the Cumberland District. In the month

of December, 1789, Joseph Desha was united in marriage with the daughter of Colonel Bledsoe, and in the year 1792 settled permanently in Mason County, Kentucky.

As early as the year 1794 he volunteered under General Wayne, and served in his campaigns against the Indians with distinction. Indeed, at the early age of fifteen, and between that age and twenty-two, he took an active part in various skirmishes with the foe, who at that period in the early history of the west proved so fatal an annoyance to the settlers. In one of these skir- mishes he had the misfortune to lose two of his brothers, who were killed in Tennessee, an event which no doubt stimulated his courage and great- ly excited his vengeance against the perfidious enemy. His gallant bearing as a soldier and amiable qualities as a man, rendered him justly popular with the people, and for nine years previ- ous to 1806 he represented the County of Mason in the State Legislature. In 1816 he was elected to Congress, and by successive re-elections was continued in that body until the year 1819.

OVERNOR CHARLES ANDERSON

G I WICKLIFFE, the youngest of nine chil- dren of Charles and Lydia (Hardin) Wickliffe, and brother of the late Robert Wickliffe of Lex- ington, was born June 8, 1788, in a log cabin on Sulphur Run, a branch of Cartwright Creek, six miles southwest of where now stands Spring- field, Washington County, Kentucky; and died at the residence of his son-in-law in Howard County, Maryland, October 31, 1869, aged eighty-one years. His mother was a sister of Colonel John Hardin, so celebrated in the tra- ditions of the west for his heroism and tragic fate.

His early education was limited. He remained at home until his seventeenth year, then spent a year at a grammar school in Bardstown under Rev. Dr. Wilson, and the ensuing nine months under the instruction of Rev. Dr. James Blythe, acting president of Transylvania University. He studied law in the office of his cousin, General Martin D. Hardin. The bar of Bardstown, when he settled there and began his professional career, was the ablest (perhaps excepting Lexington) west of the Allegheny Mountains. It comprised

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such men as John Rowan, an advocate unex- celled and rarely equaled in his day-afterward a judge of the Court of Appeals and United States Senator; John Pope, one of the strongest debaters that this country has ever produced; Ben Hardin, one of the great lawyers of the state; and at a subsequent period that prodigy, John Hays, whose marvelous eloquence is never spoken of without enthusiasm by those who had the good fortune to hear him. In this battle of the giants Mr. Wickliffe, by fair and honorable exertion, forced his way to a high place in public estimation.

After war had been declared in 1812, Mr. Wick- liffe volunteered as a private, but was soon ap- pointed aid to General Winlock. He was elected to represent Nelson County in the Legislature in 1812, and re-elected in 1813. When the news of the appalling disaster at the River Raisin, which covered the state with mourning, reached Frankfort, the Legislature requested the vener- able Colonel Isaac Shelby, then governor for the second time, to take command of the Kentuck- ians and lead them to victory and vengeance. Governor Shelby by proclamation invited his fellow-citizens to meet him at Newport; Mr. Wickliffe again volunteered, was appointed aid to General Caldwell, of the Kentucky troops, and rendered valuable service at the battle of the Thames.

In 1820 and 1821 he was again a member of the Legislature, and for ten years consecutively, 1823 to 1833, represented his district in Congress. In 1825, when the choice of President of the United States devolved upon the United States House of Representatives, Mr. Wickliffe, in opposition to most of his colleagues, voted for General Andrew Jackson in preference to John Quincy Adams-which action his constituents sustained by a re-election with over 2,000 majority. He was chosen by the house one of the managers of the impeachment of Judge Peck before the United States Senate, and made one of the ablest speeches reported in the proceedings of that trial.

In 1833, 1834 and 1835 Mr. Wickliffe was again a member of the Kentucky House of Rep- resentatives, and in 1834 was chosen speaker

after an animated race, over Daniel Breck and John L. Helm. In 1836 he was elected lieuten- ant-governor, upon the Whig ticket, with Judge James Clark for governor-receiving 35,524 votes to 32,186 cast for Elijah Hise, the Van Buren candidate. By the death of Governor Clark, Mr. Wickliffe became governor, October 5, 1839, until September, 1840. He was United States postmaster-general in the cabinet of Presi- dent Tyler, September 13, 1841, to March 3, 1845; during which time, August 1, 1843, an attempt was made to assassinate him by a crazy man.

COLONEL GABRIEL . SLAUGHTER, Governor of Kentucky, was a native of Virginia, but emigrated in his youth to Ken- tucky, and settled in Mercer County, some iew miles from Harrodsburg. His residence was widely known under the attractive name of "Traveler's Rest."

Early in life he became a member of the Bap- tist denomination of Christians, and was exten- sively known as a prominent and useful member of that numerous and respectable society. He was frequently employed as messenger to its associated churches, and generally presided as moderator of their assemblies.

He rendered gallant and distinguished service in the battle of New Orleans on the 8th of Janu- ary, 1815, as a colonel of a regiment of Kentucky troops. On one occasion, while acting as presi- dent of a court-martial-whose decision was not in accordance with the views of General Jackson -the court were ordered to reverse their pro- ceedings; but Colonel Slaughter declined to comply, saying, "He knew his duty, and had per- formed it." General Jackson entertained the highest respect for his character as a soldier and patriot.

Colonel Slaughter was elected in 1816 to the office of lieutenant-governor, and upon the death of George Madison, succeeded him in the execu- tive chair, and administered the government as acting governor of Kentucky for the four years of Madison's term. He appointed John Pope, Esq., secretary of state, who, at that time, was somewhat unpopular in Kentucky, on account of his opposition to the war with England while

DJSallis

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Senator of the United States. In consequence, it is thought, of this unexpected appointment, the new election question was fiercely agitated during the first session of the Legislature after Governor Slaughter's inauguration, and at the succeeding session also. The new election movement failed, and the construction or exposition then given to the constitution, in regard to the succession of the lieutenant-governor to the office of governor, upon the "death, resignation, or refusal to qual- ify," of the governor-elect, has been acquiesced in ever since, and regarded as a settled precedent.

D ANIEL JAMES FALLIS, of Covington, was the late president of the Merchants' National Bank of Cincinnati, and also vice-presi- dent (for Ohio) of the National Bankers' Associa- tion of America. He was born near Fredericks- burg, Fauquier County, Virginia, August 19, 1809, and the place of his nativity abounds in historic associations. Mr. Fallis was descended from Scotch-Irish ancestry, and his great-great- grandfather presided at a manufacturers' meeting in Dublin in 1698, for which he was compelled to sell his glass manufactory to avoid ruinous taxa- tion, and finally was executed for treason. In the same year his great-grandfather, Thomas Fallis, came to the American colonies and landed in Philadelphia, and nine days after his arrival George Fallis (grandfather) was born. Remain- ing there twenty-three years, they emigrated to Virginia, where they purchased a large landed estate in Stafford County. There was a commun- ity of Quakers in that vicinity, to which the Fal- lises belonged, owing to which fact they were non- combatants during the revolution.

George Fallis was personally acquainted with and a friend of General Washington; and, learn- ing of the suffering of the Continental soldiers, he wrote letters of sympathy offering to render him any service, except bearing arms, in his power for the relief of the army. Much of his property, con- sisting of many farms, was sold for the purpose of raising money to make good his offer. At one time the Continental money on hand from a por- tion of these sales amounted to one hundred and one thousand dollars ($101,000).

In 1797 Thomas Fallis (son of George) married

Mary James; and, of the eight children born to them, Daniel James was the sixth.

Mr. Fallis remained in Virginia until 1824, when he followed two uncles to Wilmington, Ohio; and in 1826 went to Hillsboro, Ohio, where, until 1853, he was engaged in the mercan- tile business, but sold out preparatory to com- mencing business in Cincinnati.

In 1854 he began banking, and was the head of the firm of Fallis, Brown & Company, Third street, Cincinnati; but later Mr. Fallis bought his partner's interest and carried on the business un- der the firm name of Fallis & Company, until De- cember, 1859, when the firm Fallis, Young & Company was created, continuing until 1865, and then merged into the Merchants' National Bank, with a capital of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000). In 1867 this bank purchased the stock of the Ohio National Bank, thus increasing the capital to $1,000,000. Of this bank Mr. Fallis was the president until he tendered his resignation on his eighty-second birthday, August 19, 1891. He was therefore in the banking business unin- terruptedly over thirty-seven years, and twenty- six years as president of the Merchants' National Bank. He was the oldest banker in Cincinnati who had steadily continued in the business, hav- ing passed safely through all the financial crises, never suspending or failing to meet the demands of his depositors and creditors.

One of his partners, John Young, was a warm personal friend of Secretary Chase. From this arose the fact that Mr. Fallis' judgment was also invoked touching the financial measures of the government, and had great weight upon the public mind. It was from this intelligent and unfaltering support of the leading bankers of the nation, of whom Mr. Fallis was a representative, that the government, through the treasury depart- ment, derived the wisdom and courage to take the steps which finally led to the crowning consum- mation of the specie payment; and the glory that surrounded the names of Chase and Sherman is none the less enduring because they were great financiers and not generals. These great secre- taries, supported by their lieutenants, the repre- sentative bankers of the nation, their judgment and co-operation, commanded the revenues and

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marshaled the resources that constituted the sinews of the war.

Mr. Fallis was president of the Cincinnati Clear- ing House, an important institution, which he and John W. Ellis, Esq., now of New York City, were chiefly instrumental in organizing. He was a large stockholder, director and chairman of the executive committee of the pioneer iron estab- lishment of Alabama, known as the Eureka Com- pany; was director and president of the Western Tract Society of Cincinnati. Besides these inter- ests he invested his capital in other enterprises, which yielded profitable returns while they gave employment to many men.

In politics Mr. Fallis was first an old line Whig, then a Know-Nothing, and finally an ardent Re- publican.

At the age of nineteen he became a member of the Presbyterian Church, and for many years was one of the ruling elders. At the time of his death, and for many years previous, he was connected with the old First Presbyterian Church, Cincin- nati, and was its most able supporter. Mr. Fallis never hesitated to say that he owed his success in life to the Bible and its Author. These consti- tuted the foundation of his character. Add to these experience, judgment, quick perception, a fine moral sense, unquestioned integrity, and we have the main reasons for a business career which was as honorable as it was successful. His inter- est in the world at large, and especially in his own country and in the church of his choice, had not abated as his years increased. It can be said that he was a very quiet man; and, while pursuing his business, he unostentatiously dispersed his charities.

October 30, 1835, Mr. Fallis married Miss Ann Poage, daughter of General John Poage, of Greenup County, Kentucky, and granddaughter of Colonel George Poage, who commanded un- der General Washington at the siege of Yorktown.

Colonel Poage's father (John Poage) came to the American colonies with his parents in 1740, and occupied a high civil office throughout the Revolutionary war.

Mrs. Fallis most emphatically belongs to one of Kentucky's oldest families, as her mother was the fourth white child born in this state, and at Har-

rodsburg, when it was only a fort, in the year 1777.

Mr. and Mrs. Fallis had but two children, a daughter, now Mrs. Charles G. Rodgers, and son, the Honorable John T. Fallis, who was a member of the Cincinnati bar and represented Hamilton County in the Ohio Legislature. From March, 1861, until his death, Mr. Fallis resided in Coving- ton, in a beautiful home that has been the scene of hospitality and domestic happiness, but alas! the Angel of Death hovered over it, and on May 7, 1893, the only and beloved son was taken from it. This was a very great shock to Mr. Fallis and one from which he never recovered, yet he claimed to be sufficiently well to undertake a journey, so on the evening of June 7 (just one month after his son's death) he left home, but on the following morning was suddenly and fatally attacked with heart disease at Jamestown, New York, his sickness and death both occupying but a few minutes. His remains were brought to the home he so much loved, and there his funeral took place. Beside his son he was laid in High- land Cemetery, back of Covington, and a hand- some monument marks their resting place. At this writing Mrs. Fallis, with her daughter, Mrs. Rodgers, occupies the old homestead.

E DMUND HAYNES TAYLOR, Jr., of Frankfort, Kentucky, is descended from one of the pioneer families of Kentucky and Virginia.

The progenitor of this family in America was James Taylor, who came from England and set- tled in what was then New Kent County, Vir- ginia, about the year 1650. He was a wealthy man for that time and invested largely in land, and died in 1698, leaving a large family.

The oldest son of the first James Taylor, also named James, was one of the earliest surveyors of Virginia, who ran out the lines between Hanover, Spottsylvania and Orange Counties and located about 10,000 acres of land in the latter county, to which he removed at a very early date, as he was living there at the time of his death in 1729. He married Martha Thompson and left a family of nine children; the eldest child, Frances, mar- ried Ambrose Madison and was the grandmother of President James Madison. The third child

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and oldest son was named James, and was the ancestor of the large Taylor family of Newport, Kentucky.

The fourth child and second son was Zachary Taylor, father of the gallant Lieutenant Colonel Richard Taylor of the Revolution, and his brother, Hancock Taylor, who together made the first journey down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers from what is now Pittsburg to the mouth of the Mississippi, returning through the unknown In- dian country overland in 1769. Lieutenant Colo- nel Richard Taylor was the father of Major Gen- eral Zachary Taylor, President of the United States.

The fifth child, and third son, of James and Martha Thompson Taylor was George Taylor, born in Orange County, Virginia, in 17II.

He was appointed deputy clerk of Orange in 1749 and in 1750 was appointed clerk, which posi- tion he held until 1772, when he was succeeded by his eldest son, James Taylor.

George Taylor was appointed colonel of the Orange County militia by Governor Dinwiddie, during the French and Indian war, and at the outbreak of the Revolution was a member of the Orange County Committee of Safety. He was a member of the House of Burgesses from Orange from 1748 to 1758, and member of the Virginia Convention of 1775. He married, first, Rachel Gibson, daughter of Jonathan Gibson, at one time clerk of Orange County, who bore him eleven sons: James, George, Jonathan, Edmund, Fran- cis, Richard, John, William, Charles, Reuben and Benjamin.

Of these sons, George died in 1761, but all of the other ten served either in rank or file of the Revolution.

James was a sergeant; Jonathan was lieuten- ant; Edmund an officer of Virginia militia; Francis, colonel of the Regiment of Convention Guards; Richard, captain in the Navy of the Commonwealth; John, a lieutenant in the navy, was captured by the British, carried to New York and confined in the old prison ship "Jersey," and died while a prisoner; William was major in the Second Virginia Regiment; Charles, surgeon in the Regiment of Convention Guards; Reuben at first a private in the Minute Men and later cap-

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Biographical cyclopedia of the commonwealth of Kentucky, Part 67

Author: Gresham, John M., Co., Pub Publication date: 1896 Publisher: Chicago, Philadelphia, J. M. Gresham company Number of Pages: 726

Author: Gresham, John M., Co., Pub
Publication date: 1896
Publisher: Chicago, Philadelphia, J. M. Gresham company
Number of Pages: 726