USA > Kentucky > Biographical cyclopedia of the commonwealth of Kentucky > Part 73
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army to another. Serving at one time in this capacity under General Washington, he was con- plimented on the field of battle by that illustrious leader and patriot, who entrusted him with a most important and perilous mission, telling him that he had never failed him and he felt that now he was the only man in his command who would be able to deliver his message, which was done at the risk of his life, thus saving the day.
Rev. Samuel Calhoun, grandfather of C. C. Calhoun, removed with his father, George Cal- houn, to Daviess County, Kentucky, where he became profoundly and deeply impressed with a call to the ministry, and although his education had been neglected, on account of delicate health and poor facilities, yet with remarkable persever- ance he prepared himself for his high calling, which he soon entered with his heart and soul full of love for his fellow-man and fired with en- thusiasm to proclaim to them the glad tidings of the gospel of peace. He soon became one of the leaders of his church (the Cumberland Presby- tcrian), preaching all over Southwestern Ken- tucky for a term of fifty years. At all times and under all circumstances he absolutely refused to receive any salary for his work, yet his financial prosperity abounded largely above that of his fellows. He held his congregations solidly to- gether during the exciting scenes of the Civil War; and at the ripc age of eighty-six years, he was called away from his earthly labors to re- ceive an eternal reward at the hands of his Master.
His youngest son, John R. Calhoun, father of C. C. Calhoun, was born in Daviess County, Ken- tucky, March 17, 1839. Owing to delicate health, and much against his will, he was forced to give up his college course, in which he gave great promise and through the advice of his physicians he has devoted himself to farming, spending what spare time he could in the study of the Bible and sacred literature, and to the service of his church.
December II, 1862, he was married to Miss Margaret N. Bosley, who was educated at Science Hill, Shelbyville, Kentucky. Mrs. Calhoun being possessed of high intellectual endowments, kind and gentle manner, unselfish and considerate of others, is loved and admired by all who know her. Her father, Nicholas G. Bosley, was born in
Maryland, April 9, 1803, and came to Daviess County, Kentucky, in 1826. He possessed great enterprise and industry with the highest morality and integrity. By hard work and good manage- ment, he acquired a comfortable fortune, but had a large portion of it taken from him by the Fed- eral forces during the Civil War.
Clarence C. Calhoun was the eldest of a large family, and the duty of looking after his father's business devolved upon him at an early age, so that he had neither time nor opportunity to ac- quire an education, although he endeavored to improve every opportunity which presented itself. He usually had a book with him studying while his team and the other workmen rested. In this way, while plowing, he mastered the subject of fractions so thoroughly and so well as to enable him to take a college course without again going over the subject. When twenty-one years old, he left the parental roof fully determined to obtain an education, although his capital, which he had saved up, amounted to the modest sum of $15.00. With a resolution to do or die, he went to work building patent fences, digging ditches, working in the harvest field or at anything else that was honorable until he had accumulated about $100. January 24, 1886, he entered the State A. &. M. College at Lexington, Kentucky, and was there three and one half years, taking a scientific and classical course. While taking his course the trustees of the college placed him in charge of the commercial department of that institution now known as the Lexington Business College. While attending college, or rather during vacations, he made the money to defray his expenses at manual labor or by selling books, making as much as $200 in one month.
He had been a student in this institution less than a year when he was called upon by the faculty to deliver an address on Commencement Day. This effort was made in the presence of Senator James B. Beck, Governor Proctor Knott and many of the most distinguished men of the state. At the conclusion Senator Beck arose to his feet and complimented the address in a most enthusiastic manner, which was heartily entered into by the other distinguished gentlemen present.
The Lexington Business College has had a
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wonderful growth under his able management. When it started, less than seven years ago, the school was located in an old dwelling, almost entirely without equipment and with less than one dozen students. Since then thousands of young men and women have been given a business training, and placed in positions in which they are able to make comfortable livings. Through his influence and work a new building has been erected, especially adapted to the business col- lege. This is situated on East Main street, near the Phoenix Hotel, and its magnificent and im- posing front constructed of stone is the chief at- traction in that part of the city. It is unequaled in the arrangement and equipment of its several departments, the planning and furnishing of which was done under the direction of Mr. Cal- houn, whose management of the school has made it possible for this fine building to be erected. Thus by his energy and business tact he has built up an institution which is destined to stand among the most renowned business colleges on this continent. He is a hard worker himself, and expects all work done under him to be faithful and conscientious and based upon the highest principles of honesty and integrity.
When Mr. Calhoun was at home, occasionally attending the country common schools, they were so poor and the results of their work so unsatis- factory, he determined if ever in his power to do something for the improvement of the system and the advancement of the cause of education in Kentucky. Accordingly in January, 1892, in connection with Hon. A. L. Peterman, he began the publication of an educational journal known as "The Southern School," which has developed into the largest and most popular periodical of the kind west of the Allegheny Mountains. In a little more than two years it has gained a sub- scription list of over six thousand, and its weekly visits are hailed with delight by teachers in every state in the South. When it was projected its publishers did not expect it to be a success from a financial point of view, but in this they have been happily disappointed, while they have seen it grow and flourish until it has done more for the public school system in Kentucky than any other instrumentality. In conclusion it may be said
of Mr. Calhoun that he has accomplished, within ten years, a work which few men have equaled in a lifetime.
"C. C. Calhoun, when a boy at home with his father, was noted for his stability of character, fixedness of purpose and close application to business. What he did was thoroughly done; he lost no time; when not engaged in physical labor his time was occupied in reading. He was ever trusty, faithful and punctual in attendance upon his father's business and immovable in his moral character." Written by his father as a just tribute.
S AMUEL P. AMENT, deceased, financier,
business man, manufacturer, missionary preacher and soldier, for many years before his death a citizen of Louisville, was born in Jessa- mine County, Kentucky, May 12, 1801.
His father, Gabriel Ament, was a native of Germany who came to Kentucky and was a suc- cessful farmer in Jessamine County. He married Mary Metcalfe, sister of Governor Metcalfe, and was a man of education and of fine intelligence. Their son, Samuel, was reared on the farm and sent to the common schools, obtaining the rudi- ments of a fair education; but it was in the home under the wise and careful training of his gifted mother that he imbibed the knowledge and the principles which guided him in all the affairs of a remarkably busy and useful life.
He inherited very little of this world's goods, but received from his parents that which is more precious than wealth. Possessing unusual talent, he applied a vigorous intellect and an honest pur- pose with diligence, industry and wise discretion and was rewarded with a degree of success which few self-made men enjoy.
Leaving the parental roof before he was twenty years of age, he went to Nashville, Tennessee, and there laid the foundation for a large fortune, estab- lishing a foundry as the nucleus of his business operations, and extending his interests on mer- cantile lines, at one time having a supply house for steamboats, and in the year of the cholera epidemic, he was proprietor of three or four drug stores.
While active, energetic, enterprising and suc- cessful in business, occupying a prominent and
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enviable position among the leading business men of Nashville, accumulating wealth and dis- tinction as a man of the highest integrity, up- rightness and enterprise, it was in the capacity of a Sunday school teacher and worker and as a missionary preacher of the gospel that he was most prominent and popular. In this line his sticcess was co-equal with that of his business career.
In McFerrin's history of "Methodism in Ten- nessee" a detailed account of Mr. Ament's early work is given. In Redford's "History of Method- ism in Kentucky" his father, Gabriel Ament, is mentioned as one of the earnest workers in the early days of the century in Kentucky. Dr. McFerrin says that Samuel P. Ament came to Nashville, June, 1820 (his nineteenth year), where he knew no one but Honorable Felix Grundy and his wife. Mrs. Grundy was a devout Presbyterian and having invited young Ament to her house, she informed him that a few friends had deter- mined to establish a school for the purpose of edu- cating poor children who wished to attend and for religious instruction of the children generally. He readily consented to become one of the teachers.
The first meeting was held on the first Sunday in July, 1820, in a little dilapidated building with no glass in the windows. The books used were Webster's spelling book and the New Testament. Meetings were held each Sunday morning at eight o'clock and the teachers became mission- aries to solicit attendance, and for this they were subjected to persecutions in almost every con- cievable way. They were denounced as Sabbath- breakers and violators of the law, and were threatened with punishment as disturbers of the peace. The finger of scorn was pointed at them on all occasions, and the churches pronounced against them, declaring that they should not be countenanced. In fact, their greatest opposition came from the churches who refused them the use even of the basement rooms and thus com- pelled the abandonment of the school during the winter months. But it was revived in the follow- ing spring, and they obtained permission to use the basement of an old cabinet shop, which had been the resort of hogs and where they had wallowed and slept and where there were "innum-
erable little insects with hopping propensities." Other good people joined the little band of teachers and the good work was carried on.
Mr. Ament found two boys fighting, separated them, took them into the Sunday school where they were taught and reformed and both became men of superior talent and of high moral and Christian character.
Eventually the opposition gave way, and in November, 1822, they were invited into one of the churches. This was undoubtedly the first Sunday school in Nashville, and out of it grew some of the churches in that city. Among the fruits of this school and others which followed, Mr. Ament could point to many of the communi- cants in the various congregations in the city who were trained in the Sunday school, and many of the leading lights in the ministry were pupils of these earnest "Sabbath-breakers and violators of the law."
Dr. McFerrin writing (1879) before the death of Colonel Ament, says: "He still lives in the en- joyment of a green old age, full of zeal and con- stant in labor for the good of the rising genera- tion. For the instruction of the children and the prosperity of the Sunday schools, his zeal knows no abatement."
Colonel Ament was not a man to exploit his own achievements, and the good work that he accomplished cannot now be estimated. It is known, however, that he built a mission church in Nashville, at his own expense, in which he preached regularly every Sunday night; that he was never too much engrossed with his large business interests to devote his time and con- tribute of his means for the work of the church and its nursery, the Sunday school.
Little is known of his record as a soldier, but he enlisted and fought in the Mexican war, and thus won the military title of Colonel, by which he was known.
He was for some time after the war a resident of Washington, District of Columbia, where he bought a fine home and practically retired from business pursuits.
He was married February 10, 1887, to Mary Ann Howard, daughter of Alfred Hoskins and Nancy Monroc.
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Colonel Ament made his home in Louisville until his death in June, 1891. He is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery at Nashville, Tennessee.
Alfred Hoskins, Mrs. Ament's father, was a native of Hardin County, whose parents came to this state from Virginia. He was a prosperous farmer and slave owner and for some years kept a tavern and stage office on the Louisville and Nashville turnpike, about five miles from Louis- ville. He died when Mrs. Ament was thirteen years of age. His wife, Nancy Monroe, was a native of Bullitt County, whose parents were from Virginia. Her father was the youngest brother of President James Monroe. Mrs. Ament survives her husband and is living in Louisville and has with her Daisy Lee Dyer her grand- daughter.
F RANK E. DAUGHTERY, of Bardstown, Clerk of the Nelson County Circuit Court, son of Dr. Daniel Daughtery and Sarah Slevin, was born in Bardstown, July 5, 1871.
His father, a native of Philadelphia, Pennsyl- vania, came to Bardstown in 1840 and engaged in the practice of dentistry in which he continued until the time of his death, July 4, 1888, having reached the age of seventy-two years. He was a very learned man, especially in the science of dentistry, and his work was of the highest standard. He soon made a reputation for ex- cellent work and gained a very large patronage from the best people in the county and established himself in the confidence of the people, by whoni he was universally respected. He was a brother of Hon. M. A. Daughtery, who was Judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio for many years and both were devout Catholics.
Sarah (Slevin) Daughtery, who was a native of Somerset, Ohio, survives her husband and is a resident of Bardstown. The grandfathers of the subject of this sketch were natives of Ireland.
Frank E. Daughtery was educated in the Bards- town schools, at Bethlehem Academy and St. Joseph's College, and after quitting college was correspondent of Louisville and Cincinnati news- papers, in which he did special work of a very ac- ceptable character.
In 1892 he was employed in the office of the
Clerk of the Circuit Court under D. C. Hardin and in June, 1892, Mr. Hardin was appointed Secre- tary of the Railroad Commission by Governor Brown and Mr. Daughtery announced himself as a candidate for the office of Clerk of the Circuit Court. When the vacancy occurred Judge Russell expressed his desire to appoint Mr. Daughtery to the office, but he was not of legal age and the County Clerk, W. J. Dalmazzo, was appointed to serve until after the primary election, which was to be held August 1, 1892. Mr. Daughtery received the nomination over two opponents, and Mr. Dalmazzo resigned the Cir- cuit Clerkship and the candidate took charge of the office to which he was easily elected in the following November for a term expiring in 1897.
Mr. Daughtery is quite active in politics and for one of his years has made a mark of considerable breadth. Few young men have accomplished as much before reaching their twenty-fifth birthday and he was hardly out of his teens until he was something of a wheel-horse in the political arena. His hustling qualities and his effective methods were soon recognized by the older politicians and they made him Chairman of the County Demo- cratic Campaign Committee in 1895 and he led them to an easy victory, while other Democratic strongholds in the state were demolished by the Republicans and others who were clamoring for a change. Mr. Daughtery not only managed the campaign by virtue of his position as Chairman, but he took the stump and preached the gospel of Democracy with telling effect in every school house in the county.
He is the youngest Circuit Clerk in the state at present and one of the most efficient. He will go forward, not backward, and those who watch his career for another quarter of a century will see him away up in front.
TEPHEN A. YOUNG, Clerk of the Circuit S Court and an exceedingly popular citizen of Henderson, was born in Union County, Ken- tucky, October 2, 1842.
His father, Judge Milton Young, removed from Nelson to Union County, where he was county judge for two terms, and represented his county for one term in the Kentucky Legislature. He
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was quite wealthy before the war, and owned a large number of slaves. He removed to Hender- son in 1859 and spent the remainder of his days in that city.
Hon. Bryan R. Young, M. D. (grandfather), owned a large estate in Nelson County, and was the father of a large family, of whom Judge Mil- ton Young was the junior member. Dr. Brown served the Bardstown district in Congress for one term, 1845-7. He was a successful physician, and astonished the neighbors by building the first brick house in Nelson County, which is still standing as a reminiscence of former days.
John Young (great-grandfather) was a native of London, England, who came to this country soon after the Revolutionary war.
C. M. Singleton (great-grandfather) came to Kentucky in 1796 and located in Nelson County, near Chaplin, where he owned a large tract of land. He was the father of ten sons and daugh- ters, among whom was William Singleton (grand- father), who represented his district in Congress back in the '30's.
Stephen A. Young, son of Judge Milton Young and Maria Thompson Young, is a brother of Mil- ton Young, the owner of McGrathiana of Lexing- ton, and is a worthy descendant of an illustrious ancestry. He lived with his father in Union County until about eighteen years of age, attend- ing the common schools, where he acquired the rudiments of a good education. After removing to Henderson he attended an excellent private school, where he advanced rapidly and soon com- pleted a course which was deemed sufficient for one who was then inclined to agricultural pur- suits. Leaving school, he was engaged in farm- ing for four years, when he was elected constable in the Henderson district, serving two terms. He was then elected marshal and tax collector of Henderson, and performed this double duty for two terms.
In 1883 he was appointed clerk of the Circuit Court, to fill a vacancy, and in the following No- vember was elected to that office, to which he has been re-elected the second time. Soon after his appointment as clerk he was also made com- missioner of the Circuit Court, which office he held in connection with the clerkship for five years.
His frequent elections were due to his universal popularity, his admirable qualifications, and inci- dentally to his excellent standing in the Demo- cratic party, in which he is a leader and an active worker.
He is one of the sinking fund commissioners of the city by appointment of the mayor, a deserved compliment to his excellent judgment and ability as a financier and to his unswerving integrity in business transactions.
Mr. Young is a member of the Methodist Epis- copal Church, and is a Knight of Pythias, in both of which he is an active worker and a helper of others.
He was married in 1863 to Caroline Bank, daughter of David Bank of Henderson.
G EORGE D. TODD, Mayor of Louisville, vice-president of the Todd-Donigan Iron Company, president of the Kentucky Machinery Company, vice-president of the Kentucky Society of Sons of the American Revolution, vice-presi- dent of the Union Soldiers' and Sailors' Monu- ment Association of Kentucky, and incidentally connected with other business, social, political and patriotic interests, a descendant of a long line of ancestors whose names are inscribed on the pages of history, was born in Frankfort, Ken- tucky, April 19, 1856. He is the tenth of twelve children-who reached maturity-of Harry Innes and Jane (Davidson) Todd, who were for many years well known citizens of Frankfort.
George D. Todd was educated in the public school of Frankfort, and in 1874, when eighteen years of age, went to Louisville and found em- ployment as bookkeeper in the hardware estab- lishment of W. B. Belknap & Company, and was thus engaged for six years, when the Todd-Doni- gan Iron Company was organized (1880) and he engaged in business on his own account. As a stockholder and vice-president of that company he has made his way to the front in commercial circles, built up a substantial and growing busi- ness, and has encouraged and assisted other en- terprises and business men; has aided in the general growth and prosperity of the business interests of the city by his individual efforts and by his active interests in and labors for the Board
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of Trade, in which he was a director for many years.
With all of these interests and the many duties which they have imposed, he has given much of his valuable time and helpful assistance to the Kentucky Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, of which he is vice-president; to the Union Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument Associa- tion, of which he is also vice-president, and to the cause of the Republican party in Kentucky, being treasurer and one of the most active managers of the State Executive Committee, and a hard-work- ing, successful and invincible leader in local and state politics.
His election by the Republican City Council to the office of mayor was a tribute to his worth as a business man and as a true friend of the com- mercial interests of the city, as well as to his wise leadership in his party. Henry S. Tyler, mayor, having died in office, the election of his successor became the duty of the City Council, both boards of which were solidly Republican for the first time in the history of the city, and Mr. Todd was the logical candidate, being supported by the better element in his party, and by the substantial, rep- resentative business men of all parties. He was in- augurated mayor January 31, 1896, and at once began to apply the wise and safe rules of busi- ness in the management of the affairs of the city. Without giving up his attention to other interests he has already done faithful service in his respon- sible position as chief magistrate of Louisville.
Mr. Todd is unmarried, being devoted to the care of his aged mother and a sister, who presides over his household affairs. His home is the de- pository of a fine collection of relics of early times in Kentucky, in which his forefathers figured prominently; and in addition to his association with Kentucky history and active work in that line, he is a member of the Virginia Historical Society. He is a Mason of the Thirty-second degree, and is a member of the Presbyterian Church.
Harry Innes Todd (father) was born in Frank- fort, Kentucky, September 16, 1818; died in his native city May 12, 1891. He was educated in Frankfort, and when a young man went to Louis- ville and was employed as a clerk with Coleman
& Ward for a few years. Returning to Frankfort he was engaged in steamboating as captain of one of the boats then plying the Kentucky and Ohio Rivers; was sheriff of Franklin County for two terms; was lessee of the state prison for eight years, and then warden of the same institution for one term, after which he retired from active business.
He represented Franklin County in the Legis- lature for two terms. During the Civil war he was an uncompromising Union man, and after that a Democrat-although a protectionist-and was very active and successful in politics; had a wide acquaintance throughout the state and enjoyed the happy faculty of remembering the face and name of every man he met, and thus secured the good will and warm friendship of a host of promi- nent people.
John Harris Todd (grandfather) was born in Frankfort, Kentucky, in 1796, and was a young lawyer of distinction with the promise of a bril- liant career, but died in his twenty-eighth year. He married Maria K. Innes, daughter of Judge Harry and Anne (Harris) Innes. (See brief sketch of Judge Innes herewith.)
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