USA > Kentucky > Biographical cyclopedia of the commonwealth of Kentucky > Part 86
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Judge Crossland's wife, Mary Hess, daughter of Nelson I. Hess, was born in Trenton, Ten- nessee; was married to Judge Crossland in 1846, and is still living in Temple, Texas.
Nelson I. Hess, father of Mrs. Crossland, lived in Trenton, Gibson County, Tennessee, and was a physician and minister in the Cumberland Pres- byterian Church. He married Adeline North- cutt and died in 1870. His mother was a sister of Joseph Hamilton Daviess of Mercer County, Kentucky.
The following is a public tribute to the mem- ory of Judge Crossland:
The rapid resume of the civil and military posi- tions held by Judge Crossland bear unquestion- able testimony to the fact that he was deeply cherished in the affections of the people, and that his popularity was based upon their unbounded confidence in his ability and integrity. It was not the evanescent popularity of a day or a season, but that of a life-time; solid, impregnable. Nor was it undeserved. The people did not misun- derstand or mistake him. "They loved him be-
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JUDGE EDWARD CROSSLAND.
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cause he first loved them." Every pulsation of his heart was in unison with their interests. He had a faculty of seeing things as the people saw them, and of feeling them as the people felt them. His thoughts and emotions came from the ready mould of his genius, glowing and commending their own worth to every one who listened to his words. In this respect he was a born orator. In the quickness of his perceptions and the rapid- ity with which his conclusions were reached he had few equals. His firm and deeply grounded principles of truth and honor and patriotism for- tified him against the errors and vices of the mere political demagogue.
His affections were high and pure and gen- erous, and chief among them was charity. In him charity of thought, word and deed was one endur- ing and overpowering enthusiasm.
As a soldier he was brave to recklessness of his own life, but the wounding or death of any of those under his command affected him to tears. In his death the district lost one of the purest and ablest of jurists.
He was always kind, brave, self-sacrificing and devoted. The soldier, the lawyer, the jurist, the statesman and the citizen, as well as the hero and patriot, is no more.
The Graves County bar adopted the following resolutions:
"That in the death of Judge Edward Crossland the people of the First Judicial District have been deprived of the services of an eminent and impartial judge; of a lawyer of extraordinary in- dustry, fidelity and ability; sound in judgment and unblemished in integrity.
"That Graves County has sustained a calamity in being deprived of one of her ablest and most highly gifted citizens, who was kind, generous and hospitable and brave, with a heart alive to every noble and magnanimous impulse-whom the people of our own country delighted to hon- or." Signed by the Committee: W. N. Boaz, F. Metcalf, P. Lyles, and W. M. Smith.
Samuel Crossland (father) was born in South Carolina and came to Hickman County, Ken- tucky, in 1820. He married Elizabeth Harry in South Carolina and had two daughters: Eliza- beth and Mary. He died in 1854 and is buried in
Hickman County. His family is a very numerous one in South Carolina.
S. H. Crossland, son of Judge Crossland and Mary Hess, was born August 7, 1849, in Hick- man County, Kentucky. He entered Washing- ton and Lee University in 1867; he studied two years there and then read law in his father's office and attended the law department of the Univer- sity of Louisville; was admitted to the bar in 1871 in Mayfield, and practiced in that judicial district; was elected county attorney in 1882 for one term; was elected commonwealth's attorney of the district in which he lived in 1886, then composed of eight, now only five counties. He went out of office in January, 1893, since which time he has been in the regular practice of his profession.
Mr. Crossland was married December 25, 1873, to Miss Mattie E. Smith, daughter of W. H. Smith of McCracken County, Kentucky. She died in December, 1895, and is buried in May- field, Kentucky. They had six children: Ed- ward, Nannie, Lal., Caswell Bennett, Kathleen and Samuel. Mr. Crossland is one of the best criminal lawyers in his district, in fact, criminal law is his specialty, but he has a large general practice. He is greatly devoted to the memory of his distinguished father.
R OBERT M. JACKSON, Cashier of the First National Bank of London, eldest son of William H. Jackson and Maria McKee, was born in London, Kentucky, June 1, 1859. He received his general education in private schools in his native city, and graduated from the Lexington Commercial College, March 28, 1877.
He began his business career in the drug busi- ness with his father and brother, a firm which has done an extensive business from its begin- ning. November 9, 1885, he was appointed post- master of London by President Cleveland and held that office nearly five years, and until his successor was appointed by President Harrison. It was conceded that he conducted the affairs of that office with fidelity and dispatch, devoting his whole time and most careful attention to its duties.
Upon the organization of the First National
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Bank in December, 1888, he was elected vice president; and January 10, 1893, upon the re- tirement of R. C. Ford, he was elected cashier, since which time he has given his undivided attention to the affairs of the bank, with the re- sult that it is now in a better condition than at any time in its history, and is one of the safest financial institutions in the interior of the state: It was in a large measure due to his ability and wise management that this bank was able to stem the financial storm that swept over the coun- try in 1893, when many stronger institutions went down as a consequence of mistrust and doubt on the part of depositors.
He was appointed aide on the staff of Governor John Young Brown in 1891, but has never held, or been candidate for, any elective office. For four years past he has been chairman of the Eleventh Congressional District Democratic Committee, and in that capacity has done much efficient work for his party. He has done well for a man of his years and has bright prospects for the future. He is deeply interested in the wel- fare of London and Laurel County, is public spirited and enterprising, and ever ready to aid in the establishment of new companies and indus- tries. He is quite prominent in Masonic circles, being high priest of the Royal Arch Chapter, and has taken the degrees of Knight Templar and the Mystic Shrine.
Mr. Jackson was married in 1880 to Alice Ewell, daughter of Hon. R. L. Ewell of London, a sketch of whose life and ancestry is given in this volume. They have one of the most attractive homes in London.
William H. Jackson (father) was born in Lau- rel County, Kentucky, in 1830, and has been a resident of London since 1856. He followed his trade as a blacksmith until 1868, since which time he has been engaged in the general mercantile and drug business. In 1867 he was elected jailer of the county and served one term, otherwise he has held no office.
Stephen M. Jackson (grandfather) was born, lived and died in Laurel County; was a modest, well-to-do farmer; a devout member of the Bap- tist Church, and a good citizen. He reached his seventy-fourth year and died in 1889.
John Jackson (great-grandfather), a native of England, came to the United States when a young man, with three brothers, and was among the first settlers of Madison County. He was a farmer and owned the ground upon which the city of Richmond now stands.
Maria McKee Jackson (mother) was born in Laurel County in 1841, and is now a resident of London. She and her husband are prominent members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Her father, John V. L. McKee, a native of Vir- ginia, of Irish parentage, became one of the ear- liest residents of Laurel County. He was a farm- er and carpenter, and a highly esteemed citizen.
W ILLIAM F. SCOTT, M. D., Superinten- dent of the Lexington Asylum for the Insane, son of Dr. John D. and Martha Ann (Farris) Scott, was born in Stanford, Kentucky, March 7, 1828.
His father, Dr. John D. Scott, was born in Garrard County, near Bryantsville, and removed to Stanford when a young man. He lived there and practiced medicine for many years. He was one of the most popular and successful physi- cians in all that section, and his practice enabled him to accumulate a large and valuable estate in land and slaves. Becoming independent, he re- tired from the practice of his profession and re- moved to Louisville, where he died at the age of sixty-five years. He was a Christian physician, a member of the Presbyterian Church, a man of great purity of character, a scholar and a true Kentucky gentleman.
His grandfather, John Scott, descended from an old Pennsylvania family, but was a native of Kentucky, and one of the pioneer farmers of Garrard County, before and after the admission of Kentucky to the union of the states. He was a man of advanced ideas, great personal influence, and accumulated great wealth.
Martha Ann Farris Scott (mother) was born near Walnut Flat, Lincoln County, early in the present century. She was a woman of unusual piety, a member of the Presbyterian Church, and was greatly esteemed for her intelligence and many personal graces.
William Farris (grandfather) was one of the
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most noted breeders of race horses of his time, and accomplished a good work in the improve- ment of stock in his state, which was even at that time noted for fine horses. He was a very wealthy man. His wife (grandmother) was a Miss Owsley, cousin of Governor Owsley.
Dr. William F. Scott was educated in the high schools of Stanford and read medicine with Dr. Thomas Montgomery of that place, and with Dr. Reed of Hustonville. He graduated from the medical department of Transylvania University at Lexington in 1852, where he was a pupil of the celebrated Dr. Benjamin Dudley, and in the same year located in Somerset, Pulaski County, where he has since practiced his profession; has been a successful general practitioner and has the reputation of being one of the most skillful surgeons of southern Kentucky. By his faithful- ness and kindness in the discharge of his duties, he has greatly endeared himself to every one throughout that section of country, and no man has more influence with the people of his com- munity.
He has successfully performed all the difficult operations in surgery, including lithotomy, etc. In 1894, month of February, he performed an operation on Thomas Hurd, extracting a stone from the bladder weighing four ounces, one among the largest on record.
In 1862 he was appointed and commissioned surgeon in the Thirty-second Regiment Kentucky Volunteers, commanded by his brother-in-law, Col. Thomas Z. Morrow. He served with dis- tinction as surgeon in the field for one year, and was post surgeon more or less throughout the war; was one of the charter members and stock- holders and directors of the First National Bank of Somerset, organized in 1871; was president of the Board of Pension Examiners by appointment of President Benjamin Harrison, and has obeyed the call of his party in every case where his pro- fessional services have been required. He is an officer of the G. A. R. and a member of the Ken- tucky State and Pulaski Medical Societies.
Dr. Scott is progressive in his ideas, and not- withstanding his fidelity to the old school is ever ready to accept new and true principles which lead to advancement in medical science; is a con-
stant student and a reader of medical and scien- tific literature, and is up to date in study and practice.
In 1860 Dr. Scott was married to Miss Mar- garet E. Bradley, an intelligent, accomplished young lady, daughter of Robert M. and Ellen Lotten Bradley. R. M. Bradley was one of the most noted land lawyers of Kentucky, and his wife one of the most excellent women of her time. Mrs. Scott is a sister of W. O. Bradley, governor of Kentucky. Dr. and Mrs. Scott have three sons living: Thomas M. Scott, who held a position in the revenue office under Col. Dan Collier; Ethelbert D. Scott, a lawyer of Lex- ington, and Dr. Samuel Scott, a young physician. Dr. Scott and his wife are members of the Baptist Church.
Dr. Scott has been a life-long Republican, and has rendered valuable service to the party in its earlier and later struggles for supremacy. In January, 1896, he was appointed by Governor Bradley superintendent of the Eastern Kentucky Asylum. The political aspect of his appointment was merely incidental, the doctor's qualifications for the office being paramount. His appointment has given general satisfaction, and he brings to his position ripe experience, devotion to duty, and is meeting the most sanguine expectations of his many friends and admirers.
JAMES GAYLE TODD, County Attorney of Owen County, son of Howard Todd and Wil- lina Duvall, was born in Owen County, Novem- ber 21, 1858. He was educated in the common schools in New Liberty and at Concord College. Upon leaving school at the age of sixteen, he engaged in farming and stock-raising, but began the study of law with Joseph Blackwell at New Liberty and was admitted to the bar in 1880; was in partnership with Joseph Blackwell there, but finally located at Owenton. In 1894 he was elected to his present position as county attorney of Owen County, on the Democratic ticket. Mr. Todd was married in 1884 to Kitty Kale of Owen County.
Howard Todd (father) was born in Scott Coun- ty, Kentucky, in 1806, and was educated in the backwoods schools of that day, and was a trader
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and farmer in Owen County all his life. When fourteen years of age he was made deputy sheriff of Gallatin County, which then comprised the present counties of Carroll, Gallatin, Trimble and Owen. He served as deputy and sheriff alto- gether for fifteen years and was a delegate to the State Constitutional Convention from Owen County in 1849. Before the war he was an old line Whig and afterwards a Democrat. Mr. Todd was a hospitable Kentucky gentleman of the old school, a large land and slave owner, and, like most Kentuckians of that day, entered hear- tily into the spirit of the Masonic order.
Among the papers which he left is a receipt dated 1819, showing that John Gayle of Gallatin (now Owen) County had property listed at one thousand acres of land and a number of negroes. His total tax at that time was $5.40, showing the vast increase in taxation. Under the present rates his taxes would have been several hundred dollars.
Howard Todd married Willina Duvall, a native of Scott County, who was educated at Frankfort, and they had eight children: Lewis, Annette, Jennie, Pike, Bettie, Howard, Mattie and James Gayle.
Samuel Todd (grandfather) was born in Fred- ericksburg, Virginia; came to Scott County, Kentucky, in 1805, and thence to Owen County in 1807; was sheriff of Gallatin County, as is stated above, and was a member of the Missionary Baptist Church. He married Mary Willis, a na- tive of Fredericksburg, Virginia.
John Duvall (maternal grandfather) was born in Maryland in 1784. He was a farmer by occu- pation and came to Scott County and became a very wealthy man; was a colonel in the War of 1812; served in the Kentucky legislature in 1827 and died in 1859. He married Jennie Branham, a native of Scott County, Kentucky. Their chil- dren were: Thomas, Howard, Alvin, Elizabeth, who married Dr. English; William P., who rep- resented his district twice in the state senate and house of representatives; Burbridge, Edward, Annie, who married William G. Simpson; Mar- tha, and John, Jr., who represented Owen County in the Kentucky house of representatives.
Judge Alvin Duvall, distinguished son of John
and Jennie Branham Duvall, graduated with hon- ors from Georgetown College; studied law under Governor James F. Robinson, and afterwards took a legal course in Transylvania University at Lexington; represented his county in the legisla- ture in 1850; was appointed circuit judge in 1852; was judge of the Court of Appeals from 1856 to 1864, and in 1864 was again a candidate, when the military governor of Kentucky, Burbridge, caused his name to be stricken from the poll- books three days before the election. General Burbridge then ordered his arrest on the ground that he was in sympathy with the Southern cause. To avoid the consequences of this high-handed usurpation of power, he fled to Canada, but after two months returned to Georgetown and resumed the practice of law; was appointed reporter of the Court of Appeals in 1866, and the two volumes of reports published by him have been highly commended. In May, 1866, he was nominated for clerk of the Court of Appeals and was elected by a majority of thirty-seven thousand, nine hun- dred and fifty-four votes over his Republican opponent. In 1868 he was elected president of the Farmers' Bank of Kentucky, which position he held until his death, in 1893.
E VAN EVANS SETTLE of Owenton, Ken- tucky, distinguished lawyer and politician, son of William H. and Harriet Evans Settle, was born in Frankfort, Kentucky, December 1, 1848.
His education was commenced at Frankfort under that distinguished educator, B. B. Sayre, and continued in the Louisville Male High School, from which he graduated in 1864, at the age of sixteen. He was first employed as a clerk in the provost marshal's office in Louisville in the winter of 1864-65, and upon returning to Frankfort was a clerk for one year in the audi- tor's office under W. T. Samuels. He went to Greenville, Mississippi, in 1866, and was a clerk there under W. A. Haycraft. In 1887 he returned to Kentucky and was employed in the United States District and Circuit Courts, of which A. J. Ballard was then clerk, and in 1868 went to Owen County and was for one year in the office of A. B. Roberts, County Court clerk. He studied law alone and has practiced in Owen
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County since he obtained his license; was elected county attorney in 1878, re-elected in 1882 and again in 1886, but resigned that office in 1887, and was elected to the legislature by his party, and was re-elected in 1889; was a delegate to the St. Louis National Convention (Democratic) in 1888 and seconded the nomination of Governor Gray of Indiana for vice president. He was a candidate for the Democratic Congressional nom- ination in 1894 in the Seventh District against W. C. P. Breckenridge and W. C. Owens. In this memorable campaign there was a great deal of bad feeling and bitterness engendered between the candidates and their friends. Personal vitu- .peration and abuse of each other was indulged in by the candidates and excitement ran very high. In striking contrast to the methods employed by the others to win the endorsement of their party was the dignified and high plane on which Mr. Settle conducted his campaign. He did not want to go to Congress on the issue of the private short-comings and misdoings of either of his opponents, and in accord with this positively re- fused to attack the moral character of either of them. He considered their public record only as a legitimate object of attack. This conduct won for him much commendation and many friends, but not quite enough votes, for in the unprece- dented excitement of the campaign the other way seemed to be what the people wanted.
Mr. Settle married Lizzie R. Herndon, Octo- ber 20, 1875. She was born and educated in Owen County. They have six children: Mary, Margaret, Evan E., Eunice, Horace H. and Har- riet Clay.
Thomas P. Herndon, Mrs. Settle's father, was a soldier in the Mexican war and served in the Confederate army during the war between the states. His wife was Margaret Threlkeld of Owen County, Kentucky.
William H. Settle (father) was born in Frank- lin County, Kentucky, January 27, 1823, and was educated in the common schools there. He was a wholesale merchant and speculator in Frankfort and in Louisville, living in Frankfort until the beginning of the war, when he removed to Louis- ville, and invested largely in land at that place. Before the war he was an old line Whig and
during the war was a Union man. He was a Democrat in politics and in religion a Presby- terian. He married Harriet D. Evans, who was born and educated in Frankfort. By this mar- riage there were five children: Evan E., Sallie, James H., Mattie and William.
Mr. Settle was married (second) October 23, 1861, to Mary W. McCraw, a native of Lynch- burg, Virginia, and a daughter of Colonel Hill McCraw (well known in Louisville) and Nannie Elliott McCraw. The children of this marriage are William, Nannie, John, Joseph and Samuel. Mr. Settle died in 1886.
Joseph Settle (grandfather) was born in Frank- lin County, Kentucky. He was a millwright and gunsmith; married Sallie Sanders, daughter of Hugh Sanders, who came from Virginia and was a son of Nathaniel Sanders, a soldier of the Rev- olutionary war.
Evan Evans (maternal grandfather) was a con- tractor and builder, and was one of the architects who superintended the erection of the present state house at Frankfort. He was a native of Wales and came to this country in the early part of this century ; settled first in Pennsylvania, where he married Mary Breese, also a native of Wales. They were Presbyterians. Their children were: John Evans, an eminent lawyer of Frankfort; James S. Evans, civil engineer and soldier in the Mexican war, and Humphrey Evans, who was also in the Mexican war and a major in the Con- federate army, being in many important battles, in the Army of the Mississippi.
D AVID ROWLAND FRANCIS, ex-Gov- ernor of Missouri, was born October I, 1850, in Richmond, Kentucky; educated in Rich- mond Academy and in the school taught by Rev. Robert Breck. In 1866 entered Washington University at St. Louis, graduated in 1870; en- gaged as shipping clerk for the firm of Rowland & Shryock for two years, then junior partner of said firm for two years. In 1878 established his own business, the D. R. Francis Commission Company, later engaged in the wholesale grain business, both enterprises being eminently suc- cessful, and his conduct of them entitling him, although young, to be called one of the ablest
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financiers in the city of St. Louis. He is a man of broad public spirit and endowed by nature with the qualities which stamp him as a leader of enter- prises for the public weal. Is magnetic to an un- usual degree and inspires the confidence of all with whom he is associated. He is identified with many corporations.
In 1883 was elected vice president of the Mer- chants' Exchange and elected president in 1884, in one of the most spirited contests ever held. He is vice president of the Mississippi Valley Trust Company and vice president of the Laclede Bank. In 1885 was nominated by the Demo- cratic convention for mayor of St. Louis on the one hundred and eighty-fourth ballot. One of the issues of his campaign for the mayoralty was cheap gas, and it was largely due to his efforts after election that the rate for this necessity was reduced. He vetoed the Electric Elevated Rail- way bill on account of the small compensation received by the city for the franchise. During his administration $950,000 passed into the city treasury from the Missouri Pacific Railroad Com- pany. In May, 1884, he was elected delegate- at-large from Missouri to the Democratic Na- tional Convention held in Chicago in June, and was one of the first politicians that recognized the adaptiveness of Grover Cleveland for the presi- dency. He gave Mr. Cleveland an ardent sup- port. In 1888, August 22, he was nominated for governor of Missouri by the Democratic State Convention, and was elected in November of the same year-was inaugurated January 14, 1889. His administration was exceedingly popular. He displayed great executive ability in the man- agement of it. It was characterized by wisdom and the spirit of legitimate progress.
Gov. Francis is a member of the Presbyterian Church and a Knight Templar. He was married January 21, 1876, to Miss Jane Perry, daughter of John D. Perry, and is the father of six manly boys: Perry, David Rowland, Charles Broad- dus, Salton Turner, Thomas, Sidney Rowland.
He had two brothers, Thomas H. and Sidney Rowland, and two sisters, Hallie Francis Boyd and Mary Francis Ellerbe. Sidney Rowland Francis passed away December 4, 1893. He was a remarkable man, possessing many traits in com-
mon with Governor Francis. No man stood higher in the affection and esteem of the people of St. Louis. Although comparatively a young man, he had amassed a large fortune. Thomas H. Francis lives in St. Louis and has sterling busi- ness qualities. Hallie Francis, wife of William Boyd, passed away December 1, 1893, leaving three young daughters to mourn her irreparable loss. She was a woman of strong character, amiable and loving in her family relations, and in her religious convictions so devotedly and prac- tically pious that she was a living epistle seen and known of men. Her husband, William G. Boyd, is a relative of Gov. Francis and associated with him in business. In 1894 he was elected president of the Merchants' Exchange, making the third of the immediate family who have held the position-David Pittman Rowland, an uncle, David Rowland Francis and William G. Boyd. Mr. Boyd has recently been elected vice president of the Mercantile Club.
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