USA > Kentucky > Biographical cyclopedia of the commonwealth of Kentucky > Part 8
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He accepted a pastorate in the city of Buffalo and was ordained in July, 1887. He labored there with gratifying success for four years and, as one of the results of his work, founded the Fillmore Avenue Baptist Church of Buffalo.
On the second day of January, 1891, he ac- cepted a call from the Baptist congregation of Frankfort, and at once assumed the duties of pastor of that church. Under his ministra- tion this congregation has steadily increased in numbers, strength and usefulness and was never before in as prosperous a condition as it is to-day.
Mr. Taylor is an eloquent speaker, an able minister, excellent pastor and enjoys the confi- dence of his people. Interesting and pleasing in conversation, warm and sincere in his friendships, he commands the respect and good will of the community, in which he has been the instrument of accomplishing great good.
He was married May 15, 1889, to Ida Meyer, daughter of C. C. Meyer of Rochester, New York; and they have two daughters, Ruth and Esther.
Dr. Taylor was honored with the title of Doc- tor of Divinity by the Georgetown College, Georgetown, Kentucky, at its annual commence- ment of 1895. During the latter part of that summer and the following autumn he made a tour of Palestine, Egypt and several European
George Taylor (great-grandfather), a native of. , countries with a view to special study of Biblical and historical literature.
E UGENE M. TERRY, Master Lock Manager of the Louisville & Portland Canal, son of John and Mary Moss Terry, was born in Glas- gow, Kentucky, August 13, 1838. His father was
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born in Louisa, Virginia, and came to Kentucky with his father, William M. Terry, when he was nine years of age. They first settled in Todd County and when John Terry reached his man- hood, he went to Glasgow and lived there until 1848, when he removed to Louisville and engaged in the wholesale grocery business. He was a member of and officer in the First Christian Church, an upright citizen and successful business man. He died in 1873, aged sixty-three years.
William M. Terry (grandfather) was a native of Virginia, who removed to Todd County in 1819, or about that time, and was a farmer and highly esteemed citizen of that county until the day of his death in 1858. He was at one time sheriff of Todd County.
Mary Moss Terry (mother) was born in Barren County, near Glasgow, in 1819 and died in Louis- ville in 1894. She was a lifetime member of the Christian Church and was greatly loved by the congregation with which she was connected in Louisville.
Josiah Moss (grandfather) was a native of Vir- ginia; was a popular hotel keeper in Glasgow, and at the same time owned and operated a farm in Barren County. He died in Glasgow at the age of seventy years.
Eugene M. Terry came to Louisville with his father's family in 1848 and continued his schooling in that city. After leaving school he was a clerk in his father's grocery until the breaking out of the war, when he entered the government service in the commissary department in Louisville, in which he served for three years; but just before the close of the war he gave up this position and was engaged in the leaf tobacco trade for two years. He was then in the railroad contracting business for two years, after which he served in the city engineer's department of the city as superintendent of public works for a term of five years, afterwards being variously engaged in contracting, etc., until October, 1893, when he was appointed Master Lock Manager of the Louisville & Portland Canal by the Secretary of War.
Mr. Terry was married in 1863 to Bettie M. Spalding, daughter of the late Daniel Spalding of Louisville; and they have three sons and four
daughters: Hattie, Florence, Eugenia, John, Daniel, Bessie and Charles. Hattie is the wife of W. P. Kennedy, a farmer of Jefferson County ; and Eugenia is the wife of E. B. Casler of Louisville.
A NDREW JACKSON WORSHAM, Mayor of the City of Henderson, is a son of the late Elijah W. Worsham and Mariam (Graham) Worsham, and was born in Henderson County, Kentucky, May 17, 1850.
His father, by honest effort, faithful applica- tion and fine judgment, had gained a competency which enabled him to give his children the best educational advantages, and Andrew was sent to private schools in Henderson, to Smith's Military Institute at Eminence and to a commercial col- lege at Poughkeepsie, New York.
He applied himself to his studies diligently and acquitted himself with credit to himself and to his father, who had been so mindful of his son's welfare.
In the month of August, 1873, his father re- moved with his family to California and settled near San Francisco on the San Joaquin river. A. J. Worsham there engaged in ranching for the period of two years.
On the Ioth of November, 1873, he had the most thrilling experience of his life. In com- pany with a friend named Duncan Cargill, he undertook to cross the river. The high winds had made the river, which was one and a half miles wide at that point, very rough; and when they started a perfect wind storm set in at dark and the waves were rolling and white caps flying house-top high. They struggled manfully, but progressed very slowly until they reached the middle of the stream, when the boat was capsized, the two men were thrown into the cold waves, and Cargill was drowned. The situation was very appalling, and, exhausted from his exertions and chilled by the water, Worsham still clung to the up-turned boat. It was about 10 o'clock when they left the shore, it was near midnight when the boat capsized. Near daylight he had drifted near the shore and had almost lost consciousness, when a Mr. Sutherland came to his rescue, lifting him from the water, carried him on his shoulder to his
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home, where restoratives were administered and his life saved.
On the 7th of June, 1876, not quite three years after his experience as related above, Mr. Wor- sham was united in marriage to Florence Rhorer at her home in San Francisco, California. As a result of this union they have seven living chil- dren: John C., Mariam J., Milton R., Ludson, Arch. D., George A., and Virginia Rhorer Wor- sham.
Soon after marriage he was elected Superinten- dent of the Calcutta Gold and Silver Mining Com- pany, and removed to Gold Hill, Nevada, where he engaged in mining, until the spring of 1877, when he removed to Banning, where he engaged in merchandising. Mr. Worsham was also post- master of Banning during his residence there. He returned to Henderson in 1881; and with his father engaged in the wholesale liquor and dis- tilling business under the firm name of E. W. Worsham & Company, which partnership con- tinued until the death of his father, December 31, 1891. In November following, the distillery was incorporated in the name of the Worsham Dis- tilling Company, with D. C. Worsham, President; A. J. Worsham, Vice President, and R. D. Rey- nols, Secretary and Treasurer.
On the 5th of November, 1895, Mr. Worsham was elected Mayor of Henderson, a position for which he is qualified in an eminent degree, having served in the City Council, and being a man of unusual business capacity. Mayor Worshamn is a republican in politics, and his election in a democratic city was due in a large measure to his popularity and to the generally conceded fact that he was the man for the place. He is a member of several leading benevolent orders, including the Odd Fellows, Elks, Knights of Pythias and A. O. U. W.
He is a very industrious man, attending dili- gently to his business, and is always ready to assist in the promotion of a good cause. In the brief time which he has been chief executive for his city, he has applied his well known business methods in the management of the affairs of the city, and has inaugurated a policy of reform which promises to distinguish his administration as one of the most progressive the city has ever enjoyed.
Elijah W. Worsham (father) was born near Henderson, February 12, 1823. His father, Lud- son Worsham (grandfather) removed from Indi- ana to Kentucky in 1820 and purchased a farm about half a mile above Evansville on the Ohio river. In 1832, Ludson Worsham, having a con- tract for carrying mail between Henderson and Evansville, Elijah Worsham, then nine years of age, was required to make the weekly trip be- tween these two points on horseback. He per- formed this duty manfully for three years and was frequently frightened out of his wits as he passed through the wilderness. His early education was fragmentary, the schools of those days not being the best, and his opportunities of attending even these were limited to such times as he could be spared from the work on the farm.
In 1844, when twenty-one years of age, he married Mariam J. Graham, a lady of great beauty. In 1847 he purchased a farm near Bloomington, where he lived for three years, and in 1850 he removed to his father's old place. He was an active politician, and in 1855 he was elected to the legislature by the American, or Know-Nothing party. In 1859, he purchased a farm within two miles of Henderson on the Owensboro road. In 1863, he built the Overton tobacco factory, and began tobacco stemming on an extensive scale. In 1867 he removed from his farm to Henderson.
In 1870 he formed a partnership with A. S. Winstead, and, under the firm name of E. W. Worsham & Company, bought and sold liquors at wholesale and manufactured bitters and ma- larial medicines. In 1873, in company with others, he purchased a large tract of Tule lands in California and moved to that state. His ex- perience in wheat raising on these lands for two years was satisfactory, but he sold out and went to San Francisco, remained one year, and thence to Los Angeles, where he engaged in raising sheep and other successful ventures. In 1881 he re- turned to Henderson, and, under the firm name of E. W. Worsham & Company, built a large sour mash distillery, now known as the Worsham Distillery.
Thus he had many ups and downs, yet by his superior judgment, keen foresight and careful management, he held his own and amassed a
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splendid fortune. He willingly served the public in any way in his power; was a member of the school board and the city council and was twice elected President of the Henderson Fair Com- pany. He joined the Odd Fellows' order in 1844, and was a useful and active member, at one time serving as Deputy District Grand Master. He united with the Baptist Church in 1846, and was an influential member until 1870, when he with- drew. He died December 31, 1891, in the sixty- ninth year of his age.
T HOMAS RODMAN, president of the Farm- ers' Bank of Kentucky, Frankfort, is a worthy member of one of the most prominent families in the state. He has had a most suc- cessful business career, and is to-day one of the leading citizens of Frankfort. He is a son of John and Patsy (Foree) Rodman, who were descend- ed, respectively, from Irish and Huguenot an- cestry.
John Rodman was born in Pennsylvania in 1787, and in 1790 came to Kentucky and located near the present site of Louisville, where he re- mained one year with his father, and then removed to Shelby County and subsequently to Henry County, where he died in 1833. He was a man of influence and prominence in his county, hav- ing served one term in the Legislature and being a member of the State Senate at the time of his death. He was a leading and exemplary mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church. His father, Hugh Rodman, was born in Pennsyl- vania, and was one of the early settlers in Jef- ferson County, subsequently removing to Shelby County, and later to Henry County, Kentucky.
Patsy Foree Rodman (mother) was a native of Virginia, and died in Frankfort in 1883 at the age of eighty-seven years. Her father, William Foree, a Huguenot, came to this country upon the revocation of the Edict of Nantes and located, first, in South Carolina, where he lived a short time, and then removed to Virginia, where he married Magdalene Loe, and spent the remainder of his days in that state.
Thomas Rodman was born in New Castle, Henry County, Kentucky, August 10, 1823. His education was limited and at the age of fourteen
he was apprenticed to a dry goods firm for a term of four years. His compensation during the first year of his service was fifteen cents a day. His employers soon realized, however, that young Rodman possessed a talent for business far above the mediocre; and, after a few years of faithful service, he was given an interest in the establish- ment and was admitted as a partner. He con- tinued in that business and prospered until 1863, when he removed to Frankfort and engaged in the dry goods business in that city, where he was quickly recognized as one of the leading and most successful merchants in central Kentucky. After being in the dry goods business in Frank- fort for nearly a quarter of a century, he sold out in 1887 and retired from mercantile pursuits.
It was largely due to his ability and excellent judgment in financial matters that, soon after his retirement, he was elected president of the Farm- ers' Bank, one of the oldest and most favorably known banking houses in the South. This posi- tion he has filled to the entire satisfaction of all who are in any way identified with the bank.
For thirty years he has been one of the trustees of the Georgetown Baptist College and for the same number of years he has been a member of and a deacon in the Baptist Church, and is a mem- ber of the Executive Board of the Baptist Asso- ciation. As a stanch democrat he has been frequently urged to become a candidate for the legislature and other offices, but has steadily declined all such honors. Among his friends in and around Frankfort, he is known as the "general peace-maker," a title which he has earned on account of his having arbitrated many misunder- standings, preventing unwise and unnecessary litigation, and in some cases personal conflict, among his friends and neighbors.
Mr. Rodman is a self-made man in the truest sense of that term, having risen from an appren- tice boy to the presidency of one of the most substantial banking institutions in the country. His ability as a financier is recognized by the leading business men of the community, while his career as a merchant and business man has been marked by all of the characteristics of an honest and upright man.
He is a member of a family who have attained
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prominence and success in their callings. His of Customs at Dubuque, Iowa, and a Christian brother, Dr. James Rodman (see sketch), is an eminent physician of Hopkinsville, who was for twenty-eight years superintendent of the Western Kentucky Asylum for the Insane at that place; his brother, John Rodman, deceased, was Attor- ney General of Kentucky for eight years and his brother, J. L. Rodman, is a prominent dry goods merchant in Frankfort.
Mr. Rodman has been twice married; first in 1844 to Sarah E. Thomasson, daughter of Captain Joseph M. Thomasson of Henry County. She died in 1857, leaving three children, two of whom! are now living. His second marriage was in 1858 to Julia Willoughby of New York, who died in 1886, leaving four children.
R EV. JOHN STEELE SWEENEY, generally known as Elder Sweeney, the able pastor of the First Christian Church, Paris, was born in Liberty, Casey County, Kentucky, September 4, 1834, and belongs to a family of distinguished ministers who have been and are among the brightest lights in the Christian and Baptist Churches. He is a son of Rev. Guirn E. and Talitha (Campbell) Sweeney, both of whom are natives of Kentucky. His father, born in Lin- coln County in 1807, was for many years a min- ister in the Baptist Church, but in the early days of Alexander Campbell and his able and dis- tinguished confrere, Barton W. Stone, he left the Baptist denomination and accepted the doctrines of the founder of the Christian Church. He has been preaching the gospel for sixty-five years, and while having no charge at present, still preaches occasionally when opportunity is of- fered. He is remarkably well preserved for a man over eighty-eight years of age. His facul- ties are clear and he preaches with wonderful power and irresistible logic. He is now living with his son in Paris.
His wife, Talitha Campbell, was a daughter of John Campbell, of Scotch descent, and a relative of Rev. Alexander Campbell. They had a family of eight sons and daughters, all of whom reached maturity,and four sons and two daughters are now living. All of the sons are ministers of the gospel: Rev. W. G. Sweeney, who is at present Collector
minister; Elder John S. Sweeney of Paris; Rev. George W. Sweeney of Chicago; and Rev. Zacha- riah T. Sweeney, minister and lecturer, of Colum- bus, Indiana, who was Consul General to Turkey during President Harrison's administration. He is one of the ablest ministers and most popular lecturers in the country. The daughters of Rev. G. E. Sweeney are married and are active mem- bers of the Christian Church.
Rev. Job Sweeney (grandfather) was a native of Belfast, Ireland, who came to the United States with his father, Moses Sweeney, when he was three years of age. He was for many years one of the leading Baptist ministers in Lincoln and ad- joining counties. It was not customary to pay the preachers large salaries, and, like many other ministers, he devoted a part of his time to the cultivation of his farm in order to support his family.
Moses Sweeney (great-grandfather) was one of the pioneers of Lincoln County, and was contem- porary with Daniel Boone. Soon after his arrival in Kentucky, one of his children was killed by the Indians.
Elder John S. Sweeney was brought up on the farm, attending the irregular sessions of tlie dis- trict school. At the age of nineteen years, he went to the Oakland Institute at Columbia, Ken- tucky, taught by an old Englishman by the name of Saunders, a prominent educator of his day, at that time a Unitarian, but who subsequently joined the Christian Church. He was in this academy for two years and he then took up the study of law at Columbia and, after a careful preparation, was admitted to the bar.
He removed to Jacksonville, Illinois, where for a short time he was engaged in the practice of law; but, finding that this profession was not congenial to his tastes, he abandoned it and accepted the editorial management of the Bible Advocate, the state organ of the Christian Church of Illinois. He remained in this capacity for two years, when the personnel of the paper was changed and he then turned his attention to religious work of another character. This paper, after having gone through several evolutions and changes, is now the Christian Evangelist, published at St. Louis,
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and is one of the very ablest religious journals "la public spirited citizen and takes a deep interest published by the Christian Church. During his ; in all that pertains to the welfare of the community and religious work at large.
residence in Jacksonville, Mr. Sweeney devoted his entire time to his paper and to ministerial work in the Christian Church. When he relin- quished his connection with the paper, he engaged in evangelical work throughout Illinois and other Western cities, making his home in Winchester, Illinois. During his evangelical labors, he preached on an average of one sermon a day.
His first regular charge where he confined himself to pastoral work exclusively was in Chi- cago, to which place he removed in 1864. Three years later he resigned, but was afterwards re- called and for two years was pastor of the Wabash Avenue Christian Church. During his last stay, some of the very best people of Chicago became members of this church, including Mr. Potter Palmer and wife and the wife of the Honorable Fred Grant, and many other wealthy and dis- tinguished citizens of Chicago.
In 1871 Elder Sweeney removed to Paris, where he has labored most successfully for over a quar- ter of a century, and where he presides over one of the largest congregations in Kentucky, the membership of which is made up of the most prominent people in Bourbon County. When he came to this church in 1871, the membership was only three hundred, but under his ministration it is now nearly twelve hundred.
In the meantime Elder Sweeney has done a great work in organizing and building up other churches. For many years he was one of the leading controversialists in his church, and his reputation in this regard extends throughout the country. He has been engaged in over one hun- dred debates, held in nearly every state in the Union and in Canada, and has discussed religious questions with Methodists, Presbyterians, Bap- tists and infidels. He is a stanch believer in the religious doctrine of his church and is well able to defend his denomination against the most intel- ligent adversaries.
During the war, Rev. Sweeney was nominated for Congress by his party, but declined to become a candidate for a political office.
He is generally known throughout the country as an able minister and platform speaker. He is
In 1858 he married Mary E. Coons of Win- chester, Illinois, who died in 1873. He was again married, in 1876, to Alice Monin of Hardin Coun- ty, by whom he has five children, four boys and one girl.
A. WILKES SMITH, of Richmond, one of the most learned members of the medical and dental profession in the state, a practicing physician-dentist in Richmond, was born in Champaign County, Ohio, September 12, 1844.
His father, James Smith, was a native of New York who came to Kentucky with his parents when he was a child, in 1817. He lived in Georgetown until he was twenty years of age, when he went to Champaign County, Ohio, and lived there until 1869. He then removed to Tren- ton, Indiana, where he died in 1883, aged sixty- eight years. He was a man of fine scholarly attainments, and of excellent traits of character, which distinguished him as a man of unusual intelligence and ability. During the earlier years of his business career, he was employed as a civil engineer, but the greater part of his life was spent in merchandising.
John Smith (grandfather) was a native of Eng- land, who came to the United States in 1812, or about that time, and after stopping a short time in New York city, came to Georgetown, Ken- tucky, where he spent the remainder of a long and useful life, reaching the unusual age of nearly one hundred years. He was a general merchant in Georgetown and was known as a man of ster- ling integrity and honesty. Being an elder in the Baptist Church, he was probably more widely known and respected as Elder Smith. He con- ducted the services at more funerals than any other minister in Scott County, and few men were as well known in the county. He married Margaret Britton of New Jersey, a sister of Col- onel Britton, who formed a colony in the early settlement of Oregon. She was a lady of great beauty and intelligence, and was quite active as a co-laborer with her husband in religious work. She died of cholera in the epidemic of 1839.
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Mary Lang Smith (mother) was born in Mar- tinsburg, Virginia, in 1817, and is still living with Dr. Smith in Richmond. Thomas Lang (grand- father) was a native of Virginia and was for many years a resident of Martinsburg, Virginia. He was a prosperous planter, and served his country as an officer in the war of 1812. He married Elizabeth Elliott of Virginia, daughter of Colonel William Elliott of Revolutionary fame. The Langs are of English extraction, whose ancestors were among the most illustrious families of Vir- ginia and Maryland. His sword, used in the Revolutionary war, is still in the possession of his family.
Dr. A. Wilkes Smith enjoyed fair advantages in the common schools of Champaign County, Ohio, while his scholarly father encouraged and aided him in making rapid advancement. After this elementary work, he studied the classics and sciences under able private tutors. He was thrown upon his own resources at an early age, on account of reverses in his father's business, and this probably was one of the most useful experiences of his youth. While studying medi- cine he taught school and earned the money to pay his way.
At the age of nineteen he went to Philadelphia, where he continued the study of medicine for several years with a view to entering the United States navy as a surgeon; but before reaching the goal of his ambition he learned that South Amer- ica was a promising field for dentistry and he accordingly took up that branch of the medical profession and graduated from the Pennsylvania College of Dentistry in March, 1871. At this time his father's health failed and he was called home and afterwards was sent to Kentucky to look after his grandfather's estate, which was in litigation, and he eventually abandoned his pur- pose to go to South America.
Of Southern parentage, his affections were naturally with the people and institutions of the South, and he decided to make his home in Ken- tucky. He accordingly selected the garden of the Blue Grass State and located in Richmond in June, 1871. Believing that medicine and den- tistry should go together, that the dentist should be a physician and surgeon, he has made a
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