USA > Kentucky > Biographical cyclopedia of the commonwealth of Kentucky > Part 70
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He remained in Detroit until March, 1893, dealt in real estate successfully, and then moved back with his family to his old home, Owensboro,
Kentucky, since which time he has been attending to his private business only.
Mr. Anderson is an elder in the First Presby- terian Church of Owensboro, and is superinten- dent of its Sabbath school. He is an ardent temperance man in principle and in practice, and since about 1885 has voted with the national Pro- hibition party. Previous to that time he voted the Republican ticket.
Mr. Anderson was married May 29, 1867, to Susan Elizabeth Harris, daughter of Giles Harris of Petersburg, Virginia. They have three chil- dren, daughters: Mary Ann, wife of William A. Underhill, a native of Brooklyn, New York; Pat- tie Bransford and Susan Harris.
Giles Harris, Mrs. Anderson's father, was born in Prince Edward County, Virginia, September 19, 1805; married Martha Williamson Bransford, December 24, 1828; died Sunday, March 15, 1874, in Owensboro. He was a prominent planter and tobacconist and was one of the leading citizens of his city.
Martha Williamson Bransford (Mrs. Ander- son's mother) was born in Cumberland County, Virginia, February 15, 1807.
John Claibourn Harris (Mrs. Anderson's pater- nal grandfather) was a prominent planter in Prince Edward County, Virginia; married Polly Gana- way. Mrs. Anderson's maternal grandfather was Benjamin Bransford, who was born in Cumber- land County, Virginia, December 15, 1769; was a planter; married Lucy Hatcher of the same county. He was a son of John Bransford and Judith Amonette Bransford, who had ten children; he was a grandson of John Bransford, who was the father of three daughters and two sons.
W ILLIAM A. BYRNE, Attorney-at-Law, Covington, son of James and Margaret (Hughes) Byrne, was born in Louisville, Novem- ber 16, 1854. His father was born in County Wexford, Ireland, where he received a good edu- cation, and where he followed farming. He came to Kentucky when a young man and lived in Louisville; but left that city in 1855 on account of the "Know Nothing" riot which occurred there on Monday, August 1, 1855, and removed to Covington, where he continued to reside until
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his death in 1892. He was an uncompromising Democrat in politics, and was a member of the Catholic Church.
James Byrne, Sr. (grandfather), was born in County Wexford, Ireland, and was killed in the revolution in Ireland, in which his family dis- tinguished themselves. His wife was Johanna Cousins, who belonged to a prominent family in County Wexford.
Margaret Hughes (mother) was born in County Wexford, Ireland. Her father, William Hughes, was a highly respected farmer in his county. His daughter and two sons, Andrew and Thomas, came to America, and Andrew was killed in the Union army.
W. A. Byrne was educated in St. Xavier Col- lege, Cincinnati, graduating in 1875. He studied law with Hon. John G. Carlisle for two years; was admitted to the bar, and after practicing law for three years, was elected city attorney, and was re- elected for three terms, consecutively. At that time all of the civil and criminal cases were con- ducted by the city attorney; but the legislature changed this, making two offices and dividing the work between the city solicitor and the prose- cuting attorney. Under this arrangement, Mr. Byrne was elected city solicitor for a term of four years, and was twice re-elected.
Under the new constitution there was a ques- tion whether he could hold the office until the expiration of the term for which he had been elected, and it devolved upon Mr. Byrne to decide this question. His decision was that he could not, thus depriving himself of two years of service. He became a candidate for re-election in 1893 and was defeated by W. McD. Shaw, the Repub- lican candidate.
During his long service as city attorney and solicitor, the city did not lose an important case. In this way he saved the city large sums of money. Since giving up his office, the city has employed him as special attorney, which is probably the best evidence of the public appreciation of his legal services.
Mr. Byrne is president of the Alumni Associa- tion of St. Xavier College; and president and originator of the Catholic Institute and Gymna- sium in Covington, which has over four hundred
members and is well equipped with library, read- ing room, gymnasium, billiard room, bath rooms, etc. He is deeply interested in this work, especially in behalf of the young men of Covington.
He has been twice married; first to Mary Byrne of Newport, May 11, 1882. They had two chil- dren, James and William, both of whom are dead. She died in 1885. His second marriage, in 1892, was to Mrs. Anna McNamara, widow of George McNamara, of Covington. By the second mar- riage there were three children; Leo, who died, and Xavier and Martina, who are living.
D AVID JACKSON WALLIN, M. D., a pop- ular gentleman and capable physician of Brooksville, son of John and Mary (Bridges) Wal- lin, was born in Montgomery County, near Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, May 2, 1840.
His father was born and reared near Cumber- land Gap, Tennessee, and removed to Montgom- ery County, Kentucky, where he followed mill- wrighting; and being a most excellent mechanic, his services were greatly in demand far and near. After some years of successful business in the line of his trade, he studied medicine and practiced for one year. Returning to the Cincinnati Medical College in 1842 to take a second course, he acci- dentally cut his finger while dissecting a subject who had died of puerperal fever; blood poison resulted and he died within twenty-four hours after the time of the accident. He was a man of intelligence, excellent judgment and remarkable industry, and was greatly respected in every com- munity in which he lived.
Mary Bridges Wallin (mother) was born in Montgomery County, Kentucky, and was the daughter of Hiram and Elizabeth Bridges. She died in 1850. She was an exemplary Christian woman, noted for her kind and loving disposi- tion and her deeds of charity, and was greatly loved and admired for her many Christian graces.
After completing his literary studies in the Montgomery County schools, Dr. D. J. Wallin studied medicine in the Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati, taking two courses, graduating in 1860 and commenced the practice of medicine in Brooksville in the same year.
In 1861 he entered the Confederate army, join-
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ing Captain Stoner's company in Major Bradley's battalion and General Humphrey Marshall's bri- gade. After serving one year he recruited a part of a company at Mt. Sterling and Captain Tipton having raised a part of another company, they consolidated and Dr. Wallin was made first lieu- tenant of Company I, Eighth Regiment, Ken- tucky Cavalry, which was commanded by Col- onel Roy Clukes. They joined Morgan in Octo- ber, 1862, and accompanied him in his raid through Indiana and Ohio in 1863. Dr. Wallin was taken prisoner with the rest, and sent to Camp Chase, where he remained a prisoner of war for three months and was then transferred to Johnson's Island-a prison for Confederate offi- cers-and was held there for two years. While there he was surgeon of one of the departments, and in that way found something to do to prevent him from becoming rusty in his medical and sur- gical practice.
He returned to Brooksville in the fall of 1865 and resumed the practice of his profession, to which he has given his undivided attention for more than thirty years. He is a skillful and popu- lar physician, and is a wide-awake and enterpris- ing citizen, progressive and aggressive in his ideas, keeping fully abreast of the times in his knowledge of the great science of medicine. He is the physician of the County Infirmary, and a member of the Board of Examiners for Pensions, and secretary of the board; a member of the Christian Church, and is active in good work.
Dr. Wallin was married January 29, 1866, to Mary A. Corlis, daughter of Dr. John Corlis, and has two children living: William Bridges, born March 17, 1870, and Corlis, born July 22, 1872. Another child died in infancy. His sons are grad- uates of the medical department of the University of Louisville and are associated with him in the practice of medicine.
JOHN GIVENS CRADDOCK, editor and pro- prietor of the Paris Kentuckian-Citizen, one of the best newspapers in the state, was born in Harrison County, Kentucky, near the line of Bourbon County, nine miles northwest of Paris, August 28, 1825. He is a son of Richard Clough Craddock, a native of Virginia, who was making
the journey from his home in Virginia to the Green River country in Kentucky, and, stopping in Paris, he met the widow Givens, who was the mother of six children, and married her. His trip to the promised land in the Green River country was abandoned or postponed indefinitely, as he doubtless thought the Blue Grass country would compare favorably with any other section of the state. So he settled down early in the '20's and became an industrious tiller of the soil in the vicinity mentioned above. He was the father of two children, the subject of this sketch and a daughter, Ann, who died when she was of tender years.
John G. Craddock, who has become so well known as a newspaper man and as the Nestor of the Kentucky press, studied for two professions before finding that his talents were best suited to the tripod. After his school days were over he studied medicine at Transylvania University, but before completing his course he joined Colonel Simm's company, Second Regiment Kentucky In- fantry, for the Mexican war (1846) and served until that war was ended. He is one of a few remain- ing Mexican war veterans in Kentucky. In 1852, having read law with Governor Hawes, he began doing editorial work for the "Flag," and this lat- ter work, which he began as an amusement, be- came so congenial, and his talent being recog- nized by the publisher of the paper, he virtually abandoned the idea of practicing law and became joint editor of the Flag with Colonel Simms. The paper was successful and grew in popularity until 1861, when the Civil war began, when it was com- pelled to discontinue on account of its sympathy with and advocacy of the cause of the Southern people.
Mr. Craddock took no part, personally, in the war, except to make an occasional reconnoiter as scout on the Confederate side, and spent most of the time during the four years of the conflict in Canada.
In 1866 he established the Paris True Ken- tuckian, which soon came to be known as the best local paper in Kentucky.
In 1886 this paper consolidated with "The West- ern Citizen," and in accordance with the custom11 in such cases, the hyphenated name of Kentuck-
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ian-Citizen was given the paper. The combined circulation of the two papers gave Mr. Craddock a larger audience than he had before, and under his leadership the new venture has prospered until it now has a circulation of about four thousand copies.
Mr. Craddock has for many years enjoyed the reputation of having the best local newspaper published in the state of Kentucky, and the edi- tors and publishers throughout the state have endeavored to follow the pattern which he has given them, but few of them have succeeded in worthily imitating their leader. The main pur- pose of his paper has been to give the local news in pithy paragraphs, and this, in addition to the force of his editorials and a careful regard for general news and choice literary matter, has made his paper exceedingly popular with the people of Bourbon and adjacent counties, while among newspaper publishers and politicians it is regarded as first in importance and value among their ex- changes. The Kentuckian-Citizen is published semi-weekly, on Wednesday and Saturday, by J. G. Craddock and William Remington.
In 1882 Mr. Craddock, who had made no pro- fession of religion previous to that time, was the first of six hundred and two persons who con- fessed religious conviction under the powerful preaching of that eminent evangelist, Rev. George O. Barnes.
W ILLIAM HENRY SWEENEY of Spring- field, commonwealth attorney of the Elev- enth Judicial District, son of Harvey Sweeney and Mary Edmondson, was born in Marion Coun- ty, Kentucky, October 22, 1858, and was educated in the high school of Lebanon and at Forest Acad- emy, near Anchorage, Kentucky; began the study of law with Russell & Averitt and received his license to practice law from Judge Wickliffe, Au- gust, 1879; began the practice of law in Spring- field in February, 1880, since which time he has devoted his best energies to the legitimate labors of his calling. However, in 1885 he purchased the Leader, a weekly newspaper at Springfield, which he edited and published for about eighteen months. In the spring of 1886 he became a can- didate for the nomination by the Democratic party
for county judge, and received the nomination over Judge W. E. Selectman, the then incumbent, but was defeated at the ensuing August election by the Republican candidate, Judge Andrew Thompson, who was elected by a small majority, the county at that time being a Republican county.
In September, 1886, Mr. Sweeney was appoint- ed master commissioner and receiver of the Cir- cuit Court; in 1892 he became a candidate for the office of commonwealth attorney in the Eleventh Judicial District, embracing the counties of Green, Marion, Taylor and Washington, and in the pri- maries received a majority in each of the voting precincts except four. In his own (Washington) county out of a vote of over 1,200 cast he received every vote with the exception of six. His elec- tion followed in November without opposition and he is still attending to the duties of that office with fidelity and marked ability. His popularity, which was forcibly attested in his nomination and election, has suffered nothing from the vigorous and conscientious performance of his duties as prosecuting attorney.
One of the most noted cases which have come within the range of his official duties was his prosecution of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company in the Marion Circuit Court, May, 1895, in which the railroad company was charged with extortion in freight charges. In that celebrated case Mr. Sweeney met a number of the greatest railroad lawyers in the country, including Judges Edward Baxter of Nashville, Bruce of Louisville, Alcorn of Standford, Kentucky, and others, and despite this galaxy of legal talent and the powerful influence of that great railroad corporation, he won his case, the jury, after being out about thirty minutes, returning a verdict of guilty, assessing a fine of $500.
Mr. Sweeney has been very active in politics, as in everything else in which he takes an interest, especially as chairman of the Democratic County Committee for six years and until the close of 1895, when he declined further service in that place of honor.
W. H. Sweeney and Mary A. Leachman of Washington County were united in marriage February 22, 1882. Mrs. Sweeney was educated in Bellwood Seminary and is an estimable and cul-
COL. W. W. BALDWIN.
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tured lady. Her father, Thomas Leachman, a Washington County farmer, was a very substan- tial citizen, who enjoyed the unbounded confi- dence of his neighbors. Emeline Thompson, Mrs. Sweeney's mother, was a daughter of James Thompson, a leading and influential citizen of Washington County.
Mr. and Mrs. Sweeney have five children: Ella, Harvey, Sue, Mary and William Sweeney, Jr.
The family history of Mr. Sweeney, which is a matter of record, is given as follows:
Moses Sweeney (great-grandfather) was born in Ireland and came with his parents to Virginia when about four years of age. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary war in General Putnam's command and died in Virginia in 1787.
Daniel Sweeney (grandfather) was the oldest child of Moses Sweeney and was born in Virginia in 1776; immigrated to Kentucky and settled in Lincoln County when about eighteen or twenty years of age and afterwards removed to Wash- ington County, near Mackville, and resided there until 1837, when he moved to Boone County, Missouri, where he died in 1859.
Lizzie Sweeney (great-grandmother) was a Miss Johnson of New Jersey and an own cousin of Vice President Richard M. Johnson.
Elizabeth Sweeney (grandmother) was a Miss Jones, daughter of Evan Jones of Lincoln County. She was born in 1777 and died in Washington County in 1838.
. Harvey Sweeney (father) was born in Wash- ington County, February 15, 1809, and lived there until the fall of 1833, when he removed to Lebanon, Kentucky, where he is still living in good health at the advanced age of eighty-seven years. He is a mechanic by trade, but for a num- ber of years operated a farm near Lebanon. He has been a strong, active, energetic man, and in early life took an active part in all matters con- nected with the town and county; has been a life-long Democrat and has always taken a lively interest in political matters; was a Confederate sympathizer during the war and no Southern sol- dier ever appealed to him for help in vain.
Joseph Edmondson (maternal grandfather) was born in Scotland and came to Virginia at an early
age. He was a nephew of General Stevens, from whom he inherited a considerable tract of land situated on Cartwright's Creek in (now) Marion County. He married a Miss Watts in Virginia and removed to Kentucky in 1798, and settled on his land, as above stated.
Wilson Edmondson (grandfather) was born in Virginia in 1791 and came to Kentucky with his father and resided in (now) Marion County all of his life. He was a farmer by adoption and died in Lebanon, Kentucky, at the age of ninety-two years. He married a Miss Shelby (grandmother), daughter of William Shelby.
Mary Edmondson Sweeney (mother) was the oldest child of Wilson Edmondson and was born in 1812 in (now) Marion County and died Decem- ber 4, 1884, leaving two children: Fannie, the wife of A. C. Van Cleave of Lebanon, Kentucky, and William H. Sweeney, the subject of this sketch.
Daniel Sweeney and Wilson Edmondson (grandfathers) were soldiers of the War of 1812 and served under General Jackson at New Or- leans.
C OLONEL WILLIAM W. BALDWIN of Maysville, who is popularly and universally known throughout Northern and Central Ken- tucky, was born one and one-half miles south of the city of Maysville, Mason County, Kentucky, January 23, 1827. His father, Garrison Baldwin, was a well known farmer and trader of his day and was a native of King William County, Vir- ginia. He was a son of Henry Baldwin, who emi- grated from his native State of Virginia to Ken- tucky and became one of the pioneer and promi- nent settlers of Mason County. Garrison Bald- win wedded Nancy Marshall Anderson, a native of Prince Edward County, Virginia, and a daugh- ter of Worsham Anderson, who was also one of the early settlers of Mason County. Garrison Baldwin's death occurred in 1829, at about the age of forty years. He had three sons and two daughters, of whom Colonel Baldwin and one sister only survive. He was of Scotch-Irish de- scent.
Colonel William W. Baldwin at the age of two years was left an orphan by the death of his father,
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who had been in good circumstances, but hav- ing met with reverses, left no estate. Colonel Baldwin grew up on the farm, and received only the advantages afforded in the ordinary schools in the neighborhood of that day. He started out to make his way in the world with little money, but being endowed with good common sense and ex- cellent judgment, he has reached a degree of success in business that few men have attained without aid. For many years he has been one of the most conspicuous fig- ures in his section of the state, both in business and politics. His first venture in busi- ness was in buying and selling tobacco, which he conducted for some years in connection with gen- eral farming, and which he carried on success- fully until 1866, when, in partnership with Charles E. Tabb, he purchased the Calhoun Plow Works at Maysville-which was at that time a very ex- tensive and important industry of the city-and employed on an average two hundred operatives. These works were burned in 1873 and were never rebuilt. After their plant was burned they en- gaged quite extensively in the grain and stock business at Maysville, but the partnership was subsequently dissolved, and in 1884 he formed a partnership with Newton Cooper and engaged in the grain and tobacco business on Front street.
Colonel Baldwin has large turnpike interests, and owns a majority of the stock in the Maysville & Lexington Turnpike Company, of which he is president and superintendent, and which is one of the best managed roads in the country; he is also president of the Germantown Turnpike Com- pany, and it has been through his management, principally, that these roads have been made profitable to the stockholders. In 1855 and 1856 he served as deputy sheriff of Mason County, and in 1858 to 1862 held the office of sheriff of the county. In 1871 he was elected from Mason County to the lower house of the State Legisla- ture, and was re-elected, serving on the Commit- tee of Ways and Means, since which time Colo- nel Baldwin has never sought for office.
In the Legislature, being a careful business man, of fine judgment, painstaking and far-see- ing, he exercised those admirable qualities that have so signally advanced his private interests.
In politics he is a sound money Democrat, and wields a remarkable influence among politicians of his party. He owns a beautiful farm south of Maysville, containing six hundred acres of valu- able land, where he resides and entertains his many friends with that hospitality so characteris- tic of old-time Kentuckians. He was united in marriage November 20, 1850, to Martha A. Tabb, a native of Mason County, and daughter . of Edward and Letitia (Gill) Tabb. Her father was born in Virginia and her mother in Maryland. Of the children born to this marriage six are now liv- ing: Lucia, wife of C. W. Cartmell of Maysville; Nannie Marshall, wife of A. C. Respass, ex-post- master of the same city; Sue B., who was the wife of Frank B. Ranson, and is now deceased; Wil- liam W., Jr .; Mattie, wife of W. E. McCann of Lexington, and Robert Lee, who is a prominent young business man of Maysville.
While possessed of great firmness, and strength of character, Colonel Baldwin is of pleasing ad- dress, unassuming and affable in manner and pop- ular with all classes, and although in his seventieth year is apparently in the prime of perfect man- hood. Having been very successful in business he is by no means a gentleman of elegant leisure, but retains the vim, vigor and industrious habits of his earlier years, still devoting his energies to the management of the many enterprises in which he is interested.
Colonel Baldwin was never known to desert a friend; there is no deception in his nature; is bold and aggressive and is universally esteemed by the people of Northern and Central Kentucky.
J JOHN R. PFLANZ of Louisville, Sheriff of Jefferson County, was born in Portland, now a part of the City of Louisville, July 15, 1855. His parents, John Reinhard and Mary F. Hol- licher Pflanz, were natives of Germany, but were married in this country. His father died in Port- land in 1868, when thirty-six years of age. He was a member of the Presbyterian Church, while his wife, who is still living in Louisville, is a com- municant of the Catholic Church. Left an orphan at an early age, Mr. Pflanz did not enjoy the ad- vantages of a thorough educaion. He attended the excellent ward schools for a while, but left
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his studies soon to assist his mother in her grocery, and the best part of his education was of the most practical nature. He regards his early business experience as being quite as useful as any school- ing which he could have received after leaving the old Portland school.
After clerking for his mother for some time, he bought out the grocery and opened a bar in con- nection with it. This branch of the business proved quite successful, and his patronage in- creased so rapidly that he soon abandoned the grocery department and devoted his time to the bar exclusively. He continued in this until 1892, when he engaged in the manufacture of brick, but sold out after a brief experience in that line. His next venture was in the "Herald Tobacco Works," but at the same time he was incidentally and to some extent financially interested in a number of other enterprises which he was helping to push along. In November, 1894, he organized the Peerless Cider and Vinegar Works, in which he is the principal stockholder. The works are situ- ated in a large brick building owned by Mr. Pflanz on Thirty-third street. This is one of the largest establishments of the kind in the country, having a daily capacity of two hundred barrels; and while interested in other enterprises, Mr. Pflanz is especially partially to his cider and vine- gar factory and has great expectations for its future.
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