USA > Kentucky > Biographical cyclopedia of the commonwealth of Kentucky > Part 7
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Mr. Stratton was married in 1874 to Mamie Varble, daughter of Captain Pink Varble, dc- ceased, of Louisville; and they have one son, Frank L. Stratton. Captain Varble was one of the best known pilots and steamboatmen on the Ohio River, an exceedingly popular and worthy citizen, who died in 1892.
W ILBUR FITZALAN STIRMAN, M. D., one of the most popular and distinguished surgeons and physicians of Owensboro, son of Dr. William Doswell and Rachel (Wall) Stirman, was born in Owensboro, Kentucky, June 2, 1856. His father was also an eminent physician of Owensboro for more than thirty years. He was born in Washington County, Kentucky, Decem- ber 12, 1820, and was educated in the schools of that county and, after reading medicine with Dr. Linton in St. Louis, was graduated from the medical department of the St. Louis University, February 29, 1844. He was elected Demonstra- tor of Anatomy in that institution the following
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year, and held that position for two years. In 1849 he resigned the professorship in the uni- versity and returned to Kentucky, and located in Rumsey, McLean County, remaining there but a short time, when he removed to Owensboro, where he continued to reside until his death, May 8, 1893.
In 1858 he was called to the chair of Professor of Anatomy in the Kentucky School of Medicine at Louisville, and spent the winter months in that city until 1861, when he resigned on account of the interruption of the school's business upon the outbreak of the war. After this his whole time was given to the practice of his profession.
He was a dignified, scholarly gentleman, warm hearted, sympathetic and gentle; and his genial manner in the sickroom made him a favorite, but his great worth was as the true physician, in whom his patients trusted implicitly.
He was no less prominent as a citizen, for he was greatly interested in the progress and wel- fare of the community and was ever ready to help a good cause by word or deed. During the later years of his useful life he was regarded by his many friends and acquaintances as the "Grand Old Man" of Owensboro, while in medical circles he was acknowledged the mentor of the profes- sion. He belonged to several local, state and na- tional medical associations, and helped them along. He was not a politician, but as a good citizen he exercised the right of suffrage and voted the Democratic ticket. He was a true and faithful Christian in connection with the Methodist Epis- copal Church; and in all spheres of life in which he was called to act, he was the same dignified scholar, the kind physician, the respected citizen and the beloved Christian gentleman.
He married Rachel Anne Wall, November 29, 1849. She was born in McLean County, Ken- tucky, April 29, 1829; and was educated at Mrs. Tevis' Science Hill Academy, Shelbyville. She survives her husband, and is now living in Owens- boro, greatly loved for her personal worth and lovely Christian character. She is the mother of five sons and one daughter: William Wall Stir- man, deceased; Fannie Conway, wife of Joseph L. Lee of Owensboro; Dr. Wilbur F. Stirman, the subject of this sketch; Middleton Goldsmith Stir-
man, married Sarah D. Perkins; Joseph Scobee Stirman, married Martha Lumpkin, and Fred- erick Victor, married Susan Gilmour.
James H. Stirman (grandfather) was a native of Roanoke County, Virginia, where he was a merchant and planter for many years. He was a captain in the War of 1812, and received three gunshot wounds at the battle of Thames and fell within twenty-six feet of the spot where Tecum- seh fell. He recovered from his wounds and sub- sequently removed to Memphis, Tennessee, where he died in 1820. His wife was Elizabeth L. Doswell, daughter of Thomas Doswell of Han- over County, Virginia, who removed to Wash- ington County, Kentucky, where their marriage took place. The Doswells belonged to an old Virginia family, whose ancestors came to that state from England.
Bannister Wall (maternal grandfather), a to- bacconist, was born in Pearson County, North Carolina, and married Sarah Tate Thompson, who was born in Nelson County, Kentucky, but at the time of their marriage were living in Mc- Lean County.
Boyd Wall (great-grandfather) married Eliza- beth Wade, and they were residents of North Carolina.
Sarah Tate Thompson (grandmother), wife of Bannister Wall, was a daughter of Anthony Thompson, native of Pennsylvania, and Rachel Handley of Virginia.
Anthony Thompson (great-grandfather) was a son of James Thompson and Sarah Finley, both of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Wilbur F. Stirman received a good literary education in the Owensboro schools; at Hanover College, Indiana, in which he took the Sophomore and Junior courses; and then went to Vander- bilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, from which he was graduated in the class of 1877. In the following autumn he went to the St. Louis Medi- cal College, from which he graduated in medi- cine in 1879. He spent the three years following in hospital work in St. Louis, thereby gaining a valuable experience.
In 1881 he joined his father in Owensboro, under the firm name of Stirman & Stirman, and this partnership relation continued until the death
.
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of the senior member, May 8, 1893. After enter- ing upon the duties of the profession with his father, Dr. Stirman took several post-graduate courses in the Polyclinic Institute, New York City. He succeeded to the large practice of his father and has taken his place in the hearts of the people, who have the same confidence in the son that they had so implicitly placed in the father.
Dr. Stirman is especially distinguished as a surgeon, and is acknowledged by the profession as the ablest surgeon in the county. His services are in demand in all cases in which important surgical skill is required, and other physicians rarely undertake serious work of that character without his assistance or consultation with him. Aside from this branch of work, for which he has especially prepared himself, he enjoys a very extensive general practice, for which he is natur- ally adapted, being kind, considerate and gentle in the sickroom, and having acquired a knowledge of medicine which few men of his age in the state have attained. He has inherited and culti- vated many of the fine traits of character of his distinguished father and is quite as popular as a citizen as he is as a physician and surgeon.
In recognition of his ability as a surgeon, he is employed in that capacity by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company; the Louisville, St. Louis & Texas Railroad Company; the Chesa- peake & Ohio Railroad Company, and the Elec- tric Street Railway Company of Owensboro.
He is a member of the McDowell Medical So- ciety, and of the American Medical Association. Dr. Stirman is faithful to the principles of the Democratic party, and his vote helps to swell the comfortable majority of the Democracy in his city and county.
Socially Dr. Stirman is a great favorite, being a companionable, genial and courteous gentle- man of scholarly attainments, whose becoming dignity is lost sight of in the company of his friends and associates.
H ON. JOHN W. BARR of Louisville, Judge of the United States District Court, was born in Versailles, December 17, 1826. His early instruction was received in private schools in his
native county, and his legal education at Tran- sylvania University, Lexington, whence he was graduated when twenty years of age.
His father, William Barr, was also a native Kentuckian, born in Fayette County, near Lex- ington, in 1796. He received a good education in the best private schools; was engaged for many years in the mercantile business in Versailles and Louisville, continuing in the former place until 1840, when he disposed of his interests there and removed to Mississippi, where he engaged in cotton planting. He devoted his best energies to business, enjoying a quiet life and caring but lit- tle for politics, although he was a Whig of very strong convictions. He died in Washington County, Mississippi, in 1844.
Judge Barr's paternal grandfather was a native of Pennsylvania, and a farmer, removing to Fay- ette County in 1787, where he spent the remainder of his days, farming near Lexington.
Dr. John Watson (maternal grandfather) was a native of Maryland; married Nancy Howe, daughter of Major Howe of Virginia; came to Woodford County when a young man and en- gaged in the practice of medicine, where he con- tinued his professional work during the remainder of his life. His daughter, Ann Watson (mother), was born in Virginia in 1808. She received a liberal education in Woodford County; was mar- ried to William Barr in 1825, and died in Ver- sailles in 1829, at the early age of twenty-one years. She was a devout member of the Pres- byterian Church.
After completing his legal studies at Lexington, Judge Barr returned to Versailles, remaining there but a short time when he removed to Louis- ville and engaged in the practice of his profes- sion in partnership with the late Joseph B. Kin- kead. This partnership continued for eight years, when it was dissolved by mutual consent, the parties thereto remaining steadfast friends until the death of Mr. Kinkead.
Judge Barr continued to practice in the higher courts alone until 1864, when he entered into partnership with Hon. John Kemp Goodloe. In 1868 Judge Alexander P. Humphrey came into the firm, which continued without change until 1880, when Mr. Barr was appointed United States
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District Judge, in the place of Judge Bland Bal- lard, deceased.
Although a stanch Whig in his early days and an ardent Republican ever since the organization of that party, Judge Barr has never been active in party affairs and has never sought political preferment. But he has held many offices of trust and honor in Louisville. From 1868 to 1871 he was President of the Louisville Sinking Fund Commissioners; for twenty years he was a direc- tor of the Bank of Kentucky ; he served a number of terms as representative of his ward in the City Council. In all of his relations in public life he has enjoyed the respect and confidence of his fellow citizens.
In November, 1859, he married Susan Rogers, daughter of Col. Jason Rogers of Louisville. Mrs. Barr was a highly educated and cultured lady, receiving the best instruction that the schools of Louisville and a private school in New York could afford. She was a member of the Presby- terian Church, a devout Christian. She died in 1871, leaving seven children, two sons and five daughters: John W. Barr, Jr., Anna W., Caro- line H., Susan R., Josephine P., Elise R. and Jason Rogers Barr.
Judge Barr and his family attend the College Street Presbyterian Church.
M. K. SCOTT, a leading wholesale hard- ware merchant of Paducah, son of John and Martha (Broaddus) Scott, was born in Louisville, Kentucky, August 17, 1832. His father was born in Chillicothe, Ohio, in 1794, and was educated there, removing to Louisville when he was a young man, where he was engaged in blacksmithing on a very extensive scale. He was a soldier and an Indian fighter in the troublous times of the early years of the present century; was wounded in the battle of Tippecanoe, and was in a number of serious engagements with the Indians. He was in business in Louisville for fifty years, retiring in 1865, when he went to Paducah to live with his son, and died there in 1868. He was strictly a man of business and cared nothing for politics, personally; but, dur- ing the life of the Whig party, he voted with it
and wished it success. He was a strong Union man during the war of the '60's, but he was ad- vanced in years and, having served his country faithfully in his younger days, he took no active part in the struggle between the sections. He was a good citizen, and a pious member of the Presbyterian Church. His ancestors were from Ireland.
Martha Broaddus Scott (mother) was a native of Culpeper County, Virginia, who came to Louis- ville after receiving her education in her native county, and was married there to John Scott. The Broaddus family was one of the first to set- tle in Virginia and were distinguished for their intelligence and fine traits of character. M. K. Scott, after attending the public schools of Louis- ville, learned the tinner's trade, in which he was employed in Louisville and New Orleans.
On the first day of August, 1851, he took steamer from the latter city for Cuba, having ten- dered his services as a private soldier in the cause of Cuba against Spain. There were four hundred and fifty men in the party and they were nine days on the water, finally running on a reef a mile from land, so that the men were forced to go ashore in boats. They were discovered and fired on by the inhabitants, but without great loss. General Lopez, a native born Cuban, but opposed to the Spanish Government, was in command. After landing Lopez took three hundred and fifty men and started for the interior of the island, leav- ing one hundred men under General W. L. Crit- tenden (nephew of John J. Crittenden, United States Senator from Kentucky), with instructions to bring ammunition, baggage and supplies. Crittenden was attacked by Spanish troops and fifty of his one hundred men were slain on the spot. With the remaining fifty men he attempted to escape in a schooner, expecting to be picked up by an American vessel, but they were cap- tured by a Spanish man-of-war and taken to Havana, where Crittenden and all of his men were shot. The Spaniards commanded the sol- diers to turn their backs to the squad of execu- tioners and kneel; and all of them did so except Crittenden, who faced his slayers and said, "A Kentuckian kneels to none but God." This sen- timent has been commemorated in a poem by
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Mary E. (Wilson) Betts: "He Never Turned His Back on the Enemy."
Fortunately, Mr. Scott was with Lopez, whose forces had a successful fight with the enemy the next (Sunday) morning. After the battle, Lopez went to the mountains to escape from a superior force. The next Sunday after the first battle they had another battle at General Lopez' plantation, and again resorted to the mountains and again, on the following Sunday, they defeated the enemy in another battle. Four weeks after landing they were defeated again, their ammunition having given out. The command then broke up into small parties and sought refuge in the mountains; and, after waiting some time, they resolved to risk going to the seacoast, where they hoped to be picked up by a friendly vessel. In attempting this Mr. Scott, with a party of five, was captured. One of the party, named Mahon, from Maysville, Kentucky, had been chosen by lot to go into the valley to secure provisions. He was successful in his mission, but on his way back he ate all of the provisions he had received. While the party was cussing and discussing the situation, they saw that they were pursued by Spanish sol- diers, accompanied by bloodhounds and, after a lively chase, all were captured. Mr. Scott was forced by the hounds to climb a tree. When the soldiers came up they advised him to come down and as he obeyed a bayonet was thrust into his back. He was bound and taken to a town called St. Christopher and, with others of his party, put in stocks. Mahon was not cap- tured for a few days. They were kept in the stocks for four or five hours, when they were re- leased and given the privilege of the town. A few days later they were sent to Havana and placed in Potter prison, their heads were shaved and they were dressed in prison clothes and placed in irons. They were in this sorry plight about three weeks, when they were placed on board a vessel bound for the quicksilver mines in Africa. They were one hun- dred and five days going from Havana to Vigo, Spain; and, while in quarantine at the latter place, owing to the intercession of the American con- sul, they were pardoned by the queen. The Ger- mans and Hungarians did not claim citizenship
in the United States and their respective govern- ments would not recognize them, so they were sent to Africa. The American consul took charge of the party and furnished them with provisions for six weeks while waiting for passage.
Mr. Scott landed safely in New York, March 10, 1852, entirely satisfied with his war experience. He at once returned to his home in Louisville, and for three years was employed by Bridgeford & Company, when he went to Paducah, where he was engaged by E. R. Hart for seven years. In 1863 he embarked in the tinning and hardware business in Paducah on his own account, and has continued with the most satisfactory results until the present time.
As to politics, Mr. Scott is a Democrat with- out political aspirations. He is faithful in busi- ness, devoted to his family and can be depended upon for a good turn in behalf of his friends and neighbors.
Mr. Scott was married in July, 1857, to Eliza- beth Applegate; and they have eight children living: Frank, William, Elizabeth, Anna, Belle, Ruebie, Etta, Richard and Irene. Two of their children, Harry and Walter, are deceased.
D R. SAMUEL C. SMITH, formerly of Hen- derson, now a resident and practicing phy- sician of Audubon, Henderson County, was born in Lunenburg County, Virginia, July 12, 1831. He completed his education at Hampden-Sidney College, Virginia, and graduated in medicine at the National Medical College, Washington, D. C. (the medical department of Columbian Uni- versity), in 1861. In 1862 he entered the service of the Confederate States of America in the capacity of surgeon, and was assigned to duty at Chimborazo Hospital, in the city of Richmond, Virginia; was transferred to Farmville, Virginia, in 1863, where he served until the close of the war. He removed from Virginia to Henderson in Sep- tember, 1870, and was a practicing physician in that city until 1892, when he removed to Audu- bon (a suburb of Henderson), his present place of residence and the center of his field of opera- tions, practicing in the city of Henderson, where his office is located, and in the surrounding coun- ties in Kentucky and Indiana.
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Dr. Smith is a member of the Kentucky State Medical Society, the McDowell Medical Society and other organizations for the promotion of medical science. He has been a member of the Presbyterian Church since 1863.
He married Susan J. Street, daughter of Peter W. Street of Lunenburg County, Virginia, in 1854. They had ten children, five of whom died in infancy and five are now living, viz .: Jessie S., wife of Dr. J. K. Hayes, now of Hanson's Sta- tion; Lillian, wife of G. Rives Williams, grocer of Henderson; Annie M., wife of William M. Carr of Morganfield, and Walter S. and William A. Smith, both of whom are unmarried and living in Henderson.
Dr. Anthony W. Smith (father) was also a native of Lunenburg County, Virginia, and was a celebrated physician and surgeon, hav- ing served in a professional capacity dur- ing the war with Great Britain in 1812. He was a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church for many years; contributed his quota to the medical and surgical literature of his day, and at the time of his death in 1858, was the oldest Mason in his native county. He graduated in medicine from the University of Pennsylvania in 1818, and located in the city of Baltimore, where he mar- ried Miss Margaret E. B. Wheeler of Easton, Maryland; and, after her death, he returned to his native county and state with an only son, O. M. Smith, now deceased. He married Ann M. McRobert of Prince Edward County, Virginia, in 1826, and there were five children by this union, viz .: John Henry, Emily Montford, Camilla, Samuel C. and Henrietta A. Emily Montford died in infancy. Camilla, married James Hayes, Jr., and settled in Mecklenburg County, Virginia; died from effects of fall from a buggy. Jno. Henry died in his sixty-ninth year from apoplexy, unmarried. Henrietta mar- ried James Hayes after the death of her sister Camilla and is still living-being a widow.
Dr. S. C. Smith, the subject of this sketch, is now in his sixty-fourth year and is still engaged in active practice of all the branches of his pro- fession. Office and address is 100 I-2 Main street, Henderson.
F
RANK O. YOUNG, M. D., a well-known and
popular physician of Lexington, son of Richard B. and Jane (O'Neal) Young, was born in Lexington, Kentucky, November 13, 1854.
Richard B. Young was a native of Fayette County and when quite young became a resident of Lexington, where he was a leather merchant for many years and where he died, January 26, 1873, in the sixty-sixth year of his age. He was a consistent Christian in connection with the Baptist Church. In politics he was an enthu- siastic follower of Henry Clay, and after the disruption of the old Whig party, he voted the Democratic ticket.
Ambrose Young (grandfather) was also a na- tive of Fayette County and was an enterprising and industrious farmer until the time of his death, which occurred in 1849, when he had reached an advanced age.
Richard Young (great-grandfather) was of Scotch-Irish descent, and was born in Virginia. He came to Kentucky and was a Fayette County farmer and a highly respected citizen of the coun- ty until the day of his death.
Jane O'Neal Young (mother) was a native of Harper's Ferry, Virginia. Her parents died when she was a child and she then came to Ken- tucky, where she found a home with relatives in Woodford County. She is now living and is a devoted member of the Christian Church. Her father, Frank O'Neal, was a native of Ireland who came to America in the first decade of the present century, and died in Virginia, when he was in the prime of life.
Frank O. Young was educated in Lexington, attending the primary schools and Transylvania University for a time and was graduated from Beech Grove College in 1870. He read medicine with Dr. Hawkins Brown of Hustonville, Ken- tucky, graduated in medicine from Medical De- partment of the University of Louisville, Ken- tucky, and in March, 1874, before he was twenty years of age, he located at Liberty, Casey County, where he practiced medicine for six years. He then removed to Lancaster, where he practiced for two years, after which he returned to Lexing- ton, his native city, and located permanently and was soon recognized as one of the most successful
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physicians in Fayette County. He is a member of the Kentucky State Medical Society, Medical Society of Lexington and Fayette County and of the Medical Society of Central Kentucky; presi- dent of the Board of Aldermen and acting Mayor of Lexington; president of the Lexington Board of Health and of the Saturday Night Building and Loan Association. He is a Knight Tem- plar, an Odd Fellow, a Knight of Pythias, an Elk and a member of the Christian Church.
Dr. Young was married June 15, 1881, to Addie Barkley, daughter of William L. Barkley of Fay- ette County. She died December 18, 1892.
Dr. Young is a self-made man, as it is owing to his own exertions that he has won his way to the front both as a citizen and as a physician. He is one of the most popular men in his profession, and there are few men in Lexington who have Deen more zealous for the upbuilding and material progress of that beautiful city.
R' EV. WILLIAM CARSON TAYLOR, D. D., pastor of the Baptist Church at Frank- fort and one of the most eloquent pulpit orators in Kentucky, was born in Taylorsburg, Henry County, Virginia, February 7, 1858. He is a son of Rev. James I. Taylor, who was a minister in the Baptist Church, but is now retired from active work in the ministry and is engaged in farming in Oregon, to which state he removed from Virginia in 1874. He was born in 1831 in Taylorsburg, a town which takes its name' from the Taylor family.
Reuben Taylor (grandfather) was born in Tay- lorsburg in 1790, and was engaged in agricul- tural pursuits in Henry County, where he died in 1864. He was quite prosperous in his occupation, and was one of the leading citizens in his county and a prominent member of the Baptist Church. Three of his brothers were soldiers in the war of 1812.
Wales, came to America in 1772; and in 1779 took a large tract of land in Henry County, receiving his title from the government when General Washington was President of the United States and Thomas Jefferson was Governor of Virginia. He died in Henry County in 1823.
Ruth Taylor (mother) is a native of North Carolina, and is now residing in Oregon, and is well advanced in years.
William C. Taylor remained on the farm in his native county until he was sixteen years of age, when he removed with his parents to the state of Oregon. Soon after arriving there he entered the State University of Oregon, in which insti- tution he received his classical education; and subsequently attended the New York Theological Seminary at Rochester and, after three years' preparation for the work of the ministry, was graduated from that institution in 1887.
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