USA > Kentucky > Biographical cyclopedia of the commonwealth of Kentucky > Part 90
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108
522
KENTUCKY BIOGRAPHIES.
name to posterity, "as a patriot without reproach and a soldier without ambition."
The vote of Congress assigning to him and to General Harrison each a gold medal, commemo- rative of the decisive victory on the Thames, was delayed one session in consequence of some pre- judice prevailing in the public mind in relation to General Harrison. As soon as Governor Shelby was advised of this fact, he solicited his friends in Congress, through Mr. Clay, to permit no expres- sion of thanks to him, unless associated with the name of General Harrison. This magnanimous conduct and the unqualified commendation which he gave of the career of General Harrison on that campaign, connected with a favorable report of a committee at the next session of Congress, in- stituted at the request of the General, of which Colonel R. M. Johnson was chairman, led to the immediate adoption of the original resolution.
Governor Shelby was unremitting in the aid which he extended to the operations of the gen- eral government during the war. He furnished troops to defend the country around Detroit, and dispatched an important reinforcement to Gen- eral Jackson for the defense of New Orleans. His sagacity led him to send General Adair as Adju- tant-General, with the rank of Brigadier-General, to meet the precise contingency, which actually occurred, of General Thomas being sick or dis- abled. The result of this measure was exhibited in the critical succor afforded by General Adair on the memorable 8th of January.
In the civil administration of the state, Gov- ernor Shelby's policy continued to establish and confirm the sound principles of his predecessors. Integrity, fidelity to the constitution, and ca- pacity, were the qualifications which he required in public officers; and his recommendations to the Legislature enforced a strict regard to public economy and to the claims of public faith. In the fall of 1816, his term expired, and he retired again to the sweets of domestic life, in the prosecution of his favorite pursuit.
In March, 1817, he was elected by President Monroe to fill the department of war; but his ad- vanced age, the details of the office, and his de- sire, in a period of peace, to remain in private life, induced him to decline an acceptance of it.
In 1818, he was commissioned by the President to act in conjunction with General Jackson in hold- ing a treaty with the Chickasaw tribe of Indians, for the purchase of their lands west of the Ten- nessee River within the limits of Kentucky and Tennessee, and they obtained a cession of the territory to the United States, which unites the western population, and adds greatly to the de- fense of the country, in the event of future wars with the savages, or with any European power. This was his last public act.
In February, 1820, he was attacked with a par- alytic affection, which disabled his right arm, and which was the occasion of his walking lame on the right leg. His mind continued unimpaired until his death, by apoplexy, on the 18th of July, 1826, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. He had been for many years a member of the Pres- byterian Church; and in his latter days, was the chief instrument in erecting a house of worship upon his own land.
B ENJAMIN F. BRIGGS, editor of the May- field Monitor, was born in Sumner County, Tennessee, August 27, 1848. He came to Graves County, Kentucky, with his father when quite young and clerked in his father's dry goods store until 1870. But he was not satisfied there and decided that the trade of printing would be more congenial to his taste, and he therefore learned printing under Mr. Warren, editor of "The Jack- son Purchase." He was in the composing room of this paper for three years and was accredited with the greatest proficiency there.
In 1873 he established a weekly paper entitled "The Banner of Temperance," published in the interest of temperance, which scored an immedi- ate success, and in 1875 founded "The Mayfield Monitor." This paper, under Mr. Briggs' ex- cellent management, has reached a large and growing circulation, and wields a strong influ- ence in the political, social and civil affairs of Graves County.
Mr. Briggs is a Democrat, and for three years was secretary of the Graves County Democratic Committee, supporting personally and through the columns of his paper, the platform and can- didates of his party.
523
KENTUCKY BIOGRAPHIES.
He is a man of fine literary attainments and wields a trenchant pen. He is a member of the Methodist Church, is a Knight of Pythias and a Knight of Honor.
Mr. Briggs was married April 26, 1883, to Mary Rives, daughter of John Rives. She was educated at Mayfield and is a most estimable and cultured woman. They have one child, Nell.
W. M. Briggs (father) was born in Bardstown, Kentucky, in 1814. He married Julia Watwood in 1839 and in 1840 he removed to Sumner Coun- ty, Tennessee, and there engaged in mercantile business. He was a man of strong Southern sympathies and an old line Whig at first and after- wards a Democrat. He removed to Union County, Illinois, in 1861, where he died. His wife died in Gallatin, Tennessee, in 1854.
D AVID T. TOWLES, a leading criminal law- yer of Greensburg, son of George W. Towles and Fannie Mason, was born in Green County, Kentucky, June 6, 1830, and with the exception of one year at St. Mary's College, Marion County, he was educated in the common schools of Green County. After leaving school he taught in his native county for five years, studying law during that time. He secured his license to practice in 1853 and immediately began the practice of his chosen profession. He has made a specialty of criminal law, and since 1865 there has never been a murder case in his county that he has not been engaged in the defense. The first office that he held was that of assessor of Green County, to which he was elected in 1856 and held for a term of four years. In 1862 he was elected clerk of the County Court and held that office for twelve years and was county judge for eight years. He is now master com- missioner of his circuit by appointment of Judge Patteson. Judge Towles is a Mason and was superintendent of the Methodist Sunday School for fifteen years. He was in the Mexican war and figured conspicuously in the historic battle of Buena Vista. For the space of seven months only he took part in the Civil war, ill health com- pelling him to resign his commission as cap- tain of Company C, Thirteenth Kentucky In- fantry, in the Federal army. In 1851 he married
Martha A. Montgomery, daughter of David Montgomery and Tabitha Holland, both of Green County. Mrs. Towles was educated in the schools of her native county.
The Montgomery family originally came from Virginia. Her grandmother was scalped by the Indians and left by them for dead, but she was found by a party of immigrants on their way to settle in Kentucky and was taken care of by them.
Judge and Mrs. Towles had eight children, only three of whom are living: George W. Towles, a lawyer of Greensburg; Montgomery Towles, farmer of Green County, and Lena, wid- ow of Luther L. Foster.
George W. Towles (father) was born in Cul- peper County, Virginia, in 1793, and was the son of Joseph Towles and Martha Weatherall of Virginia. He married and came with his father to Kentucky in 1822 and settled in Green County. He received a common school education in Vir- ginia and studied law there, receiving his license in Kentucky in 1830; begun the practice of his profession in Green County; was a Democrat and twice elected to the legislature from his coun- ty; was an earnest, consistent Christian and a member of the Baptist Church. He died in 1856. His wife was Fannie Mason, daughter of Enoch Mason of Culpeper County, Virginia, of the dis- tinguished Virginia family of that name, one of whom was James M. Mason, United States Sen- ator. Fannie Mason Towles was born in Vir- ginia in 1800. She was a woman of remarkable strength of intellect and was known as a very devout member of the Baptist Church. She died in 1863 and is buried beside her husband at Summersville, Kentucky. Of their twelve chil- dren, only David T. Towles, the subject of this sketch, is now living.
George Washington Towles, son of Judge David T. Towles and Martha Montgomery, was born within six miles of Greensburg, September 25, 1860. He was educated in Greensburg and studied law in the office of his father and his father's law partner, Colonel Hudson; received his license in January, 1885, and for five years practiced his profession in Greensburg.
In 1887 he was elected city attorney; in 1890 he removed to Campbellsville to practice his pro-
524
KENTUCKY BIOGRAPHIES.
fession, and in the same year was elected city attorney there. In the memorable race in Green County for county attorney George W. Towles made the race as a Democrat against his brother- in-law, Luther L. Foster, the Republican candi- date, and was defeated by thirty-one votes, having made the best Democratic race in that county since the war. Upon his return to Greensburg he was made examiner of Green County.
He married Mary Chandler in December, 1885, daughter of Elzy Chandler and Lizzie Scott. Lizzie Scott Chandler was the daughter of a celebrated Baptist, John Scott. Mrs. Towles was born in Greensburg and educated there and in Louisville and Nashville, graduating at the latter place. They have three children: Frederick Mason, Elzy Chandler and David T. Towles.
JOHN M. HIGGINBOTHAM, President of the Citizen's Bank of Lancaster, son of Wil- liam Higginbotham and Eleanor Roberts, was born in Garrard County, Kentucky, September 21, 1842. He was educated in the common schools of Garrard and Madison Counties and was a farmer in that county until the beginning of the war between the states, when he enlisted as a private in the Confederate army, serving throughout the war as a member of Capt. M. D. Logan's company in Third Kentucky Regiment of Cavalry, commanded by Col. R. M. Gano; after the regiment was captured on the Ohio raid he escaped and went back South and joined Gen. J. S. Williams' brigade in Gen. Jo Wheeler's division of cavalry. He participated in many a hotly contested battle, among them Chickamauga and Knoxville and those around Atlanta. In a skirmish near Lynchburg, Virginia, his finger was wounded so badly that it had to be ampu- tated, and this was his only wound. He was also at the fight at Green River Bridge, where so many gallant young Kentuckians were killed -beardless youths most of them, fresh from the class room and the tender home circle. A hand- some shaft now marks the spot where so many of his comrades fell on that eventful Fourth of July, 1863. After the war closed Mr. Higgin- botham returned to Kentucky and again en- gaged in farming; was elected sheriff of Garrard
County in 1878, although the county had pre- viously been Republican, by a majority of one hundred and fifty votes. He served two terms in this office; he organized the Citizen's National Bank of Lancaster in 1882 and was made presi- dent, which position he now holds.
In 1885 he established a hardware business, and this he still manages in connection with two farms; one of which, situated about twelve miles from Lancaster, is the old Higginbotham farm. He has served as councilman of the city of Lan- caster and has faithfully performed his duty as a citizen whenever called upon to do so.
November 24, 1886, he married Emma Palmer, daughter of John M. and Nancy Palmer. She was born in Garrard County and educated there. Mr. Higginbotham is an extremely popular man, honorable and conscientious in business, consid- erate and accommodating, courteous in his social relations and faithful in his religious duties in the Christian Church, of which he and his wife are members.
William Higginbotham (father) was born in Garrard County, January 1, 1812; was educated there and engaged in farming and was greatly interested in politics, as a Democrat. He was married in 1840 to Eleanor Roberts, daughter of James Roberts and Elizabeth Mitchell of Lin- coln County. She was educated in the common schools and was a member of the Christian Church. They had ten children, six of whom are living: Alzira, wife of R. D. Ballard of Gar- rard County; Ellen, wife of Cunningham Stafford of St. Louis; Bettie, wife of F. M. Shumate of Boyle County; George T., farmer near Lex- ington, and Matilda, wife of Isaac Arnold of Guthrie, Oklahoma.
William Higginbotham died in April, 1880, and his wife died in November, 1888. They are buried in the old family burial ground in Gar- rard County.
Emmanuel Higginbotham (grandfather) was the descendant of one of the several brothers who came from Scotland to Amherst County, Vir- ginia. From that place he emigrated to Ken- tucky in 1795, and settled in the eastern part of Garrard County on a farm. His wife's maiden name was Reid.
525
KENTUCKY BIOGRAPHIES.
W ILLIAM LOGAN was the eldest son of General Benjamin Logan, and was born at Harrodsburg on the 8th day of December, 1776. He was, probably, the fifth white child born in Kentucky. In 1799 he was a member of the convention which formed the present con- stitution of the state, being then only twenty- three years of age. His selection to this respon- sible office, so early in life, evinced the high opin- ion entertained of his character and talents by his fellow citizens. About the same time he com- menced the practice of the law, and soon at- tained considerable eminence in his profession. He was frequently elected to represent his county in the legislature, and on several occasions was made speaker of the house of representatives. He was twice appointed a judge of the Court of Appeals, in which station he was noted for the propriety with which he discharged its various duties. In 1820 he was elected a Senator in the Congress of the United States. He resigned his seat in this body in 1820, for the purpose of be- coming a candidate for governor of the state, but was not elected.
He died at his residence in Shelby County, on the 8th of August, 1822, in the forty-sixth year of his age. At the time of his decease he was generally looked to by the people of the state as the candidate for governor in 1824, and had he lived would no doubt have succeeded General Adair in that office.
W ILLIAM WARFIELD of Lexington, one of the best known breeders of short-horn cattle in America, son of Benjamin Warfield and Sarah Caldwell, was born in Fayette County, Kentucky, at the old country home called "Gras- mere," May 30, 1827.
Benjamin Warfield, his father, was born near Annapolis, Maryland, February 8, 1790, and was brought to Kentucky in the autumn of the same year, Elisha Warfield, his father, removing with his family to a farm near Bryant's Station, Fay- ette County.
The family originated in America with Richard Warfield, who, in 1637, emigrated from England and settled at Black Horse Inn, nine miles from
Annapolis, Maryland. The family was a large and substantial one, owning a considerable body of real estate and taking an active part in local affairs.
Elisha Warfield, son of Benjamin, son of John, son of Richard Warfield (the immigrant) was ac- tive in advocating the resistance to Great Britain in 1774-6, and served on a committee of observa- tion for Anne Arundell County. After his re- moval to Kentucky, he devoted himself to agri- cultural pursuits till his death in 1817.
Benjamin Warfield, the father of the subject of this sketch, graduated at Transylvania University and read law in Lexington and was there ad- mitted to the bar. He then removed to Mount Sterling and began the practice of his profession. As soon as the war broke out in 1812, he volun- teered, and on June 5th he was chosen First Lieu- tenant in Captain Samuel Williams' Company. In the next campaign he commanded a company in Colonel Richard M. Johnson's command, and was present at the battle of the Thames, where the Kentucky troops so brilliantly retrieved the defeat at the River Raisin. He was present in a num- ber of engagements and was chosen by General William Henry Harrison for several special serv- ices, in one of which he was wounded by a ball in the thigh.
After the war he went to Cynthiana, where he practiced law till 1824. He also served in the Legislature during this period.
In 1824 he moved to Lexington and began the practice of the law in partnership with Robert Wickliffe, Esq., in which he was very successful till his retirement in 1831. From 1831 till his death, October 27, 1856, he devoted himself to his farm and the breeding of thoroughbred stock, in which he had long been interested.
The mother of William Warfield was Saralı Caldwell, who was born in Bourbon County, in 1799, and died in Fayette County in 1836. Her father, William Caldwell, was born in the Cun- berland Valley, Pennsylvania, of Scotch-Irish parentage, was a soldier in the Revolution, serv- ing in the Second Regiment of the Pennsylvania line, and lost an arm from a wound. Her mother was a Miss Sutherland.
William Warfield attended the school of Bev-
526
KENTUCKY BIOGRAPHIES.
erley Hicks so well known in "the old times," and tion in his devoted adherence to the Presbyterian Church.
afterward the public schools of Lexington. He graduated at Transylvania University in 1846, and several years after took two courses in the medical department, but never practiced medi- cine as a profession. He had early (1843) been entrusted by his father with the care of one of his farms, and became very much interested in the business. He especially fancied the short-horn cattle, and soon developed the herd which his father had begun as early as 1827. He was in- terested in a number of importations, and dill a great deal to increase the knowledge of the breed in this country. No herd in America has so long and so interesting a history. The record of its victories in the show ring would fill a small vol- ume. But it is as the basis of fifty years' scien- tific study of the theory and practice of breed- ing that the herd deserves most lasting fame. The results of this study have been embodied in a "History of Imported Short Horns" (1884), a volume of immense and accurate learning, un- rivaled in the annals of the breed, and the "Theory and Practice of Cattle Breeding" (1888), a thorough discussion of the subject, which has met wide recognition both as a hand-book for the general reader and a text book in the agricultural colleges. Its sale in England has been a special indication of the writer's wide reputation. Be- sides these volumes Mr. Warfield has written a great deal for the "Breeders' Gazette," the "Na- tional Live Stock Journal," and the "London Live Stock Journal."
"Grasmere," the home of this herd, is one of the most beautiful farms of the Blue Grass region, and is about one mile from the city of Lexington. Since the burning of the house, some years ago, Mr. Warfield has made his home in Lexington. The herd to-day speaks eloquently for the skill of the accomplished breeder.
The Warfields were an old Whig stock and William Warfield was no exception to the rule. Mr. Lincoln asked him to accept a commission of Captain in the army in 1861 for the sake of the example, which he gladly did, although he was compelled on account of ill-health to resign in the winter of 1861-2. In politics he continues a Republican, and keeps up another family tradi-
He married December 21, 1848, Miss Mary Cabell Breckinridge, daughter of Rev. Robert J. Breckinridge, D. D., LL.D., and granddaughter of Attorney-General and Senator John Breckin- ridge, and of General Francis Preston. They have two living sons who, though still young men, have already made their mark. The elder son, Benjamin Breckinridge Warfield, D. D., LL.D. (born November 5, 1851), is now professor of Theology in Princeton (N. J.) Theological Semi- nary. He graduated with the highest honors at Princeton College, 1871, and Seminary, 1876. He also studied abroad in 1872-3, and at Leipsic, Germany, 1876-7. In 1878 he became professor of New Testament Literature in the Western Theological Seminary (Allegheny, Pa.), and in 1887, succeeded the celebrated Dr. A. A. Hodge in his present chair. He is the directing editor of the Presbyterian and Reformed Review, an able writer, fine linguist, and generally recog- nized as the leading theologian of the Presby- terian Church. The younger son, Ethelbert Dud- ley Warfield, LL.D. (born March 16, 1861), now president and professor of Political Science at Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania, gradu- ated at Princeton College (1882), studied at the University of Oxford, England, and in Germany (1882-3), and graduated at Columbia College (N. Y.) Law School (1885). He practiced law from 1885-8, when he became president of Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, whence he was called to Lafayette College in 1891. Mr. Warfield ac- knowledges the assistance of his sons in much of his literary work.
M ARTIN J. BROWN, Attorney-at-Law of Newport, son of Frederick Brown and Margaret Miller Brown, was born in Warsaw, Ohio, May 30, 1860.
His father was a native of Germany, who came to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1847 and made his home in that city until 1869, when he removed to New- port and died there in 1883, aged sixty-one years. He was a blacksmith by occupation and master of his trade, industrious and honorable in all his dealings. He was of the Catholic faith, and very
527
KENTUCKY BIOGRAPHIES.
faithful in his religious duties; was not much in- clined to politics, but voted the Democratic ticket.
Margaret Miller Brown (mother), now living in Newport in her seventy-second year, was born near Baden, Germany. She is a member of the Catholic Church, and a woman of most excel- lent character.
Martin J. Brown was nine years of age when his parents removed to Newport. He was educated in a Catholic school at Delhi, Ohio; at St. Mich- ael's in Cincinnati; at St. Vincent College in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and finally at St. Xavier College, Cincinnati.
He studied law in the office of A. T. Root, who was then city attorney of Newport, and was admitted to the bar September 25, 1880, when he began the general practice of law, in which he now has a large clientele and a lucrative business. He has made a special study of law regulating corporations, and is special attorney for five or six organizations, building and loan associations, etc. He has devoted his time wholly to his large practice and has taken no active part in politics and has sought no office at the hands of the Democratic party, with which he affiliates.
Mr. Brown was married January 10, 1882, to Hattie Kearney, daughter of James Kearney, deceased, of Newport. She died in 1892, leaving a family of two sons and three daughters: Hat- tie, Mary, Lillian, George and Martin, Jr.
Mr. Brown adheres to the religious faith of his father and venerable mother.
W TILLIAM HENRY GILTNER, Attorney- at-Law in the Columbia Building, Louis- ville, son of Professor William S. Giltner and Elizabeth (Raines) Giltner, was born in Emi- nence, Kentucky, January 23, 1870. He grad- uated from Eminence College in 1888, taking the degree of A. B., and the following year received the honorary degree of A. M .; spent two years in Harvard College, taking a special course in law, and received his certificate from that institution in 1890; studied law in Sedalia, Missouri, with H. T. Williams and was licensed to practice law in May, 1891; attended the lectures at the Uni- versity of Michigan during the term of 1891-92, and graduated from that institution in June, 1892,
and began the practice of his profession in Louis- ville in July of the same year. He was asso- ciated with Augustus E. Willson from October, 1892, until March, 1896, when he removed his office to the Columbia Building, making a spe- cialty of real estate cases, wills, etc.
Mr. Giltner made no haste in entering his pro- fession, but prepared himself most thoroughly for his work. He has made many acquaintances in the city, among whom he is exceedingly popular.
He is a Democrat from principle, but does not take an active part in politics and has no aspira- tions for office. He is a member of the Christian Church and of the Knights of the Ancient Essen- ic Order, of the Signet Club of Harvard and Kappa Signa Fraternity of Michigan University.
From the following sketch of his parents and their ancestry it will be seen that Mr. Giltner comes of excellent families.
William Spencer Giltner (father), ex-president of Eminence College, educator and Christian minister, son of John Giltner and Rosanna Sid- ner, was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, May 18, 1827; was educated in Woodland Academy in Fayette County, and in Bethany College, West Virginia, from which he grad- uated in 1852, and was chosen valedictorian from a class of eighteen. After graduation he took charge of Sylvian Academy in Fay- ette County, and after that was principal of Tubman College in Paris-a school founded by Mrs. Emma Tubman of Augusta, Georgia; at the same time was pastor of the Chris- tian Church at Paris, remaining there six years, and then removed to Eminence, August 6, 1858; took charge of the high school, which was chartered as Eminence College, in 1860, and had charge of that institution until 1893, when he was compelled to abandon active work on ac- count of failing health. For thirty-six years he was the leading spirit in building up and foster- ing this institution of learning, where hundreds of men and women who are known in various spheres of life for their scholarly attainments and highly moral and religious character, have been educated and prepared for their life work. No man in Kentucky has performed a greater ser- vice for his state, and the college which he has
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.