USA > Kentucky > Biographical cyclopedia of the commonwealth of Kentucky > Part 95
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igan in 1828 and there died at the age of sixty- five.
Roxanna Fairman Kenyon, Dr. F. P. Ken- yon's mother, was also a native of Wayne Coun- ty, New York, and accompanied her father to the then far West, to which he had preceded her and prepared the way, returning for her. She there met her husband, and they were married, July, 1835, and celebrated their sixtieth wedding anni- versary in 1895. She is now in her seventy-ninth year and in good health. Her father was a native of Massachusetts, who went to Plymouth, Mich- igan, and completed the ninety years of a very useful, but uneventful life.
Dr. Kenyon received an academic education in Ypsilanti, Michigan, and read medicine with Dr. T. A. McGraw, one of the most eminent surgeons of Detroit. He then attended the Detroit Med- ical College, from which he graduated in 1876. He supplemented his very thorough course in medicine by practice and study in the hospitals of Vienna and Berlin, and returning, located in Montague, Michigan, where he practiced suc- cessfully for eight years. His health failing there, he went to Fargo, North Dakota, and prac- ticed for three years; but his health did not im- prove materially, and he was compelled to seek a milder climate, which he found in Knoxville, Tennessee, in the fall of 1888. He had only fairly established himself in that place when, in 1889, he was induced to seek a home in the Eldorado of Kentucky, and, with other Knoxville people, came to Middlesborough in the fall of 1889, when the boom was on, and finding a healthful climate and lucrative practice, he soon became a permanent and prominent citizen.
Thoroughly equipped for the duties of his pro- fession by study and long experience, he was at once recognized as a skillful surgeon and ex- cellent physician, and has enjoyed as large a practice as one could expect in a locality so con- ducive to health. He is one of the most schol- arly and cultured gentlemen in the city, a man of influence in the community, and one of the most thoroughly accomplished physicians and surgeons in that section of the state.
He is a member of the American Medical Asso- ciation, of the Kentucky Medical Society, and
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was the first president of the Middlesborough Medical Society. He is also a member of the Masonic order, Knights of Pythias and the Mac- cabees.
Dr. Kenyon was married in 1877 to Gertrude Shattuck, daughter of Nelson S. Shattuck of Reading, Michigan.
H UGH B. PHILLIPS, one of the most sub- stantial business men of Owensboro, was born in Meade County, Kentucky, March 8, 1833.
He began business life as a commission and dry goods, grocer and produce merchant in Brandenburg in 1857 with Captain J. M. Phillips, remaining there until 1864, when he removed to Lebanon and engaged in general merchandising and commission business, in which his brother, James G. Phillips, joined him, forming the firni of Phillips & Bros .; was also a member of the firms of H. B. Phillips & Company, and J. G. Phillips & Company, merchants, in Columbia, Adair County; also of the firm of Hoskin, Bryant & Company, in Campbellsville, Taylor County; was interested in merchandising in Rockcastle with his brother (1881); was interested in min- ing at Livingston, Rockcastle County, at the same time; is a member of the firm of Phillip & Matthews at Owensboro, Kentucky, which is en- gaged in exporting tobacco to European mark- ets, and is now a member of the firm of Phillips Brothers & McAtee, the largest wholesale and retail merchandising establishment of that city.
Mr. Phillips is a man of extraordinary execu- tive ability, as may be inferred from the fact that he has made a success of every undertaking. Few men have larger or more diversified interests, and yet he has conducted them all, with the aid of his competent associates, in a manner that has proved him one of the finest business men in the state. He has traveled extensively in the United States and in Europe, Cuba and Canada, and although denied even an ordinary education in his younger days, he has gained by reading and observation a fund of information and a knowl- edge of affairs which few men possess.
Mr. Phillips was married (first) in 1862 to Liz- zie Seymour, daughter of Austin Seymour; and
she was the mother of six children: Annie, wife of John McChord; Rosa L., wife of W. H. John- son; Julia, wife of John Polk; Minnie, married (first) Ray Edmunds, (second) Rev. Fred Hale; Hugh B., died October, 1890; Carrie, wife of O. W. Thomas of Lebanon, Kentucky; and Sey- mour.
Mr. Phillips was married (second) February 4, 1896, to Elizabeth H. Solomon of St. Louis, Mis- souri.
Thomas Phillips (father) was born in Wash- ington County, Kentucky, in 1793, and died in Meade City, in 1847. He spent most of his life in farming; married Julia Maxwell, who was born near Lebanon, and died in Meade County in 1840. They were members of the Baptist Church and were noted for their religious convictions and good citizenship. They had nine children: Ap- poline, who married John Hall; Elizabeth, mar- ried Jabez Durham; Mary, married William Hen- dricks; Sarah, married J. S. Cox; Thomas; Cap- tain Joseph M., now of Chicago; James G .; Wil- liam D. and Hugh B. Phillips, the principal sub- ject of this sketch.
Thomas Phillips (grandfather), a native of Vir- ginia, of Scotch-Irish parentage, came to Wash- ington County, Kentucky, and cleared a farm upon which he spent the remainder of his days. He was one of the pioneers of the state; settled on Hardin's Creek, Washington County, and the residence which he built over one hundred years ago is now in a good state of preservation, being first built of logs and since weatherboarded.
JOHN W. LEWIS, Member of Congress and J distinguished lawyer of Springfield, son of William and Ann (Carlile) Lewis, was born in Green County, Kentucky, October 14, 1841. He graduated from Center College, Danville, Ken- tucky, in 1862, and in that same year began to study law at Greensburg, and was admitted to the bar in 1863. He remained in Greensburg until 1869, and then removed to Springfield, Ken- tucky, and formed a partnership with Hon. R. J. Browne. In 1867 he was the candidate of the third party in Green and Taylor Counties for rep- resentative in the state legislature, and in a strong Democratic district was defeated by only
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eighteen votes. The third party was composed of Union men in Kentucky who refused to join the Democratic ranks. In 1874 he was Repub- lican candidate for commonwealth attorney of his district, and in 1876 was Republican candi- date for Congress in the Fourth District, and again defeated. His presidential vote was cast for General McClellan in 1864, and in 1894 Mr. Lewis was elected to the Fifty-fourth Congress as a Republican.
Mr. Lewis is an able lawyer, indefatigable in the practice of his profession, and punctilious to the extreme in the honorable discharge of its responsibilities. He is a painstaking attorney, keenly alive to the interests of his clients, and the entire community has confidence in the effi- ciency of his legal methods. Mr. Lewis is a warm hearted man, devoted to his family and true to his friends. He is a man of fine con- versational powers and of many prepossessing social qualities. Although an enthusiastic and uncompromising partisan, there is a vein of sen- timent in his nature that enables him to recognize the better part of every man's nature, irrespective of politics and environment. No good thing in literature, either humorous or pathetic; no bril- liant leadership in the field or in the House of Representatives, whether found in political com- rade or in foe, is lost to Mr. Lewis through preju- dice or narrow partisan conception. The follow- ing clipping from a leading paper in Kentucky will show the estimation in which he is held in his native state:
"There are but few Republicans in Kentucky whose names produce as pleasurable a sensation as that of John W. Lewis. Fighting the battles of the party, when it was apparently a hopeless minority, and when he was but a youth, he has grown in the esteem and affection of his country- men, until the new party is a great party and John W. Lewis one of its trusted leaders. At all times, his word has been his bond, and it has never been forfeited. Political allies as well as opponents, alike, accord to him the courage of his convic- tions and that attribute of true manhood which could never, under any circumstances, do an un- worthy act.
"His friends here who have known him through
many years, would take his word, concerning any measure, however important, or regardless of what it might portend. If personal and moral courage added to intellectual ability of high or- der, and the qualities of an orator at once per- stasive and convincing, be passports to a great place, then John W. Lewis possesses the quali- fications to represent Kentucky in the United States Senate."
Mr. Lewis was married June 20, 1877, to Eliza- beth Philips, daughter of James G. Philips, of Lebanon, and they have one child, a daughter. Wm. Lewis (father) was a native of Pittsylvania County, Virginia, and followed mercantile pur- suits. He was a man of strong personality, with mental qualities of a high order and fine business ability. No man in the private walks of life ever stood deservedly higher.
He married Ann Carlile, daughter of Wm. Carlile of Green County. She is a most exem- plary woman, kind, sympathetic, intelligent and a devoted Christian.
Her father, Wm. Carlile, was a farmer of Green County, energetic and prosperous, and a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church (North), a very influential man in his county and church connection.
EDWARD BILTZ, Mayor of Newport, and a blacksmith and machinist doing busi- ness in Cincinnati, Ohio, was born in the latter city, June 10, 1848. His parents removed to Newport in the same year, and he has been a life-time resident of the city of which he is now the chief executive; was educated in the public schools; learned blacksmithing with his father, whose shop was in Cincinnati; when twenty-one years of age he bought his father's interest, and has continued the business of blacksmithing and manufacturing in that place with profitable re- sults and increasing trade until the present time, employing a large force of skillful mechanics and doing a high class of work.
Mr. Biltz has been identified with the affairs of Newport for many years, having served as alderman prior to his election as mayor, and was a trustee of the waterworks for several years. He is a gentleman of excellent business qualifi-
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cations and his standing in the community may be inferred from the honors that have been thrust upon him.
He was married in 1870 to Miss Sarah Miller, daughter of Peter Miller of Maysville, Kentucky, and they have five sons and one daughter living: Edward F., Charles H., George W., Lula May, Frederick B. and Howard M. Amy E. died in 1894 in her eighteenth year.
Mr. Biltz and his family are members of the Methodist Church South and he is a prominent Knight of Pythias and a member of the Royal Arcanum.
Charles Biltz (father), a native of Germany, came to the United States when he was six years of age. His parents settled in Pennsylvania, and he remained with them until he was twenty years of age, when he went to Cincinnati and engaged in blacksmithing; removed to Newport in 1848, and is now retired from business in the seventy- second year of his age; a member of the Meth- odist Church and an honored and respected citi- zen.
Margaret Fable Biltz (mother) was a native of Germany and came to Cincinnati when a child; was educated there; married Mr. Charles Biltz in 1844, and died March, 1892. She was a mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church and a woman of lovely Christian character.
G EORGE S. FULTON of Bardstown, able lawyer, distinguished citizen and state sen- ator, son of Samuel S. Fulton and Margaret Anderson, is a native of Spencer County.
His father was born in Washington County, Pennsylvania, March 8, 1814, and was reared and educated in his native county, taking his collegiate course in Washington College. In his earlier years he was a teacher and gained con- siderable distinction as an educator. Coming to Kentucky in 1838, he taught in Jefferson County for two years, following which he removed to Spencer County in 1840, remaining there until 1848, when he returned to Jefferson County, and two years later removed to Nelson County and located on a farm near Bloomfield, where he made his home, and followed farming until his death, which occurred February 12, 1880.
Senator Fulton (grandfather) was a native of Washington County, Pennsylvania, and was a captain in the Revolutionary war.
Margaret Anderson Fulton (mother) was born in Lincoln County, Kentucky, October 16, 1816, and died in Nelson County, June 17, 1877. Her father, John Anderson, was one of the pioneers of Nelson County, and for a number of years a merchant in Bloomfield, where he died about 1826.
The children of Samuel S. and Margaret An- derson Fulton were Mary, wife of Bodine Mc- Clasky, who died May 2, 1896; George S., the subject of this sketch; Eugene, deceased; John A., formerly judge of the Nelson County Court, now chief deputy collector of internal revenue at Louisville; Samuel and W. A. Fulton of Florida.
George S. Fulton was born in Taylorsville, Spencer County, Kentucky, April 27, 1847. While he was quite young his father removed to his farm near Bloomfield and there the son "got his raisin'" and his primary education, inciden- tally gaining a practical knowledge of the science of farming. At the age of seventeen he entered Forest Home Academy in Jefferson County, in which school he finished his course in one year, for in this and in all of his school duties, he received valuable assistance from his father, who instructed him in the classics and higher math- ematics; and in these he had anticipated the work in the academy, which enabled him to complete the course in much less time than is usually re- quired by less favored pupils.
After quitting school he was engaged in teach- ing in Nelson County, and later had charge of the Covington Institute at Springfield for one year. He then (1868) began reading law, and in 1869 entered the law department of the University of Louisville, from which he graduated in 1872. He opened his office in Bardstown, May 9, 1873, and began a successful career, practicing in the courts of Nelson and adjacent counties, and to- day occupies a place of enviable prominence among the votaries of the law.
For twenty-three years or more he has labored with perseverance and untiring devotion, ever striving to uphold the dignity of his profession; enjoying a goodly share of the legal business of
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his section, walking uprightly, turning aside for no honors or emoluments other than the legiti- mate fruit of honest toil in the line of his profes- sion. Of course, politics have interested him. Almost every good lawyer finds himself drawn into politics from circumstances or preference, if not from personal motives. But he has never been found scrambling for office. He may have found it necessary to run sometimes in order to keep out of office, and when he failed in 1892 and was elected to the state senate, it was no fault of his. The Fourteenth is one of the most important senatorial districts, and there was need of a good man, and he was captured by his friends, defeated for once in his life in his purpose to keep out of office, and having been chosen he obeyed the call.
He served on the Judiciary Committee and others in which a high order of legal ability was required, and throughout the deliberations of the two sessions in which he served his record is that of a white tablet neatly inscribed with deeds of honor. He took part in none of the questionable methods which characterized the session of 1896, save that he stood unalterably and unfalteringly by the nominee of his party, but counselled forbearance and honest effort for the promotion of the interests of the common- wealth.
Mr. Fulton was married October 8, 1874, to Kate R. Adams, daughter of Stephen G. Adams and Elizabeth Ray of Daviess County, and they have two sons, Eugene A. and Stephen G. Ful- ton. Mr. Fulton and his family are members of the Presbyterian Church, in which he has been a communicant since 1867.
J UDGE WILLIAM E. RUSSELL, an emi-
nent lawyer of Lebanon, son of Andrew Russell and Elizabeth Echols, was born in Co- lumbia, Kentucky, October 6, 1830, and was edu- cated chiefly under the instruction of David Page, an eastern man who was employed as tutor in the Caldwell family.
Judge Russell also attended Hancock Acad- emy, three miles from Columbia, conducted by W. H. Saunders, and when seventeen years of age, enlisted in the Mexican War, and was made
Orderly Sergeant of the company in General John S. William's Regiment, in the same brigade with J. C. Breckinridge, and in General Scott's command. Upon the death of his Captain he was made Lieutenant and was for several months in command of the company. Peace being declared he returned to Columbia, June, 1848, and studied law under Isaac Caldwell; was admitted to the bar at the age of nineteen and immediately began to practice his profession. His first partnership was with Captain Edgar B. Gaither, who, with Theodore O'Hara, composed the famous poem, "The Muffled Drum's Sad Roll Has Beat," etc., and continued until Mr. Gaither died, and then, with Colonel Nathan Gaither until he removed to Harrodsburg. The Gaithers were cousins of the mother of Henry Watterson.
He was one of the Democrats, faithful and true, who opposed the Know-Nothing movement in 1854-5 and distinguished himself as one of the ablest speakers and most active men in opposition to that craze which swept the state like a cyclone and as quickly came to naught. In 1857 Mr. Russell was elected to represent his county in the Legislature and was one of the really representa- tive men in that body. He continued in the prac- tice of law in Columbia until 1867, when he re- moved to Lebanon, which has been his home and the central point of his professional career since that time.
In 1886 he was elected Circuit Judge by the people of the district composed of the counties of Mercer, Nelson, Washington, La Rue, Taylor and Marion. He made the race for Judge of the Appellate Court against Judge Joseph Lewis, and although he carried the city of Louisville by three thousand majority, was defeated. His standing on the bench is second to none and his fearless and determined advocacy of the principles he conceives to be for the good of the state make him a power in politics.
Judge Russell is one of the most prominent lay- men in the Catholic Church, and, as his record in connection with that denomination abundant- ly proves, has been an earnest and enthusiastic member, giving his time and energies nnstintedly to the work of the church. He has held the high and responsible offices successively of Supreme
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Vice-President and Supreme President of the Catholic Knights of America, being elected to the latter office in 1883, and re-elected in 1885, and was sent as a delegate to New York in the inter- est of the order, showing the confidence reposed in his fidelity and executive ability. He declined a third term.
He was married November 14, 1854, to Susan Agnes Elder of Lebanon, daughter of Colonel Sylvester Elder and Elizabeth Dickens, a rela- tive of Charles Dickens. Mrs. Russell was edu- cated at Calvary Convent in Marion County and is a devout member of the Catholic Church. They have seven children: Sylvester; Fannie, wife of Colonel J. B. Watham of Lebanon; Henry, Emma, William Edwin, Jr., Lev. and Echols Rus- sell.
Lev. Russell (son) was born in Lebanon, Ken- tucky, May 23, 1874. He attended St. Mary's College and read law with his distinguished father and his brother, Sylvester, and was li- censed to practice in 1893. By hard work and close application to the duties of his profession he has obtained a splendid and varied knowledge of law and his friends predict for him a brilliant future. In manners he is as gentle and refined as a woman and his private character is an example of morality. His many good qualities have won for him golden opinions from all who know him.
Sylvester Russell, another son of Judge Rus- sell, graduated from St. Mary's College in 1876 and began the practice of law in 1877. He rep- resented Marion County in the Legislature of 1883-4; has been prominent in all the noted criminal cases in Marion County and adjoining counties since he entered upon the practice of law and has been connected with important liti- gation outside of the state. He obtained from a jury a verdict which was affirmed by a higher court for the largest damages ever obtained and affirmed in the state. Like most Kentuckians in the legal profession he is a ready debater and his wonderful reserve force based upon a genuinely profound knowledge of law, together with his indomitable spirit, elicit the admiration and con- fidence of the people. He was married July 17, 1878, to Lula Caldwell, who died. She was the mother of four children.
Andrew Russell (father of Judge W. E. Rus- sell) was born of Scotch-Irish parentage in Lin- coln County, Kentucky, in 1800, and was edu- cated there. He owned a large farm in Adair County and employed the many negroes that be- longed to his wife in cultivating the farm. He was married in 1823 to Elizabeth Echols of Vir- ginia, who came when she was young to Adair County. She was a member of the Baptist Church and her husband belong to the Chris- tian Church.
Andrew Russell came to Kentucky when the people lived in forts and, of course, endured all the hardships incident to pioneer life. Flora Rus- sell, his cousin, and niece of General Logan But- ler, the historian says, was tomahawked by the Indians.
In 1851 Andrew Russell went with his family to Dallas, Texas, and located there. At that time Dallas was very unhealthy and several of the chil- dren were taken ill and an elder brother and sis- ter of Judge Russell died there in 1852 and are buried in Dallas.
The children of Andrew Russell and Elizabeth Echols were: Dr. Timolean, who died in Texas; Frances, deceased, who married Dr. Rice, and A. K. Russell and Bettie, first wife of Dr. John Clemens of Louisville, Kentucky, both of whom are dead, and Judge William E. Russell.
Three brothers came to Baltimore, Maryland, from Scotland; one went east and the other two went to Virginia, and one of these was Judge Russell's great-grandfather.
Colonel Sylvester Elder, father of Judge Wil- liam E. Russell's wife, was the son of Joseph El- der of Baltimore, and his grandfather came from England with Lord Baltimore, and settled in Bal- timore, Maryland. He was a cousin of Arch- bishop Elder of Cincinnati.
G US W. RICHARDSON, farmer and poli- tician of Guston, Meade County, and Dep- uty Collector of Internal Revenue, Fifth District of Kentucky, was born in Meade County, Ken- tucky, near Ekron, April 25, 1849. He was born and raised on a farm and has always been, and is, a farmer, and yet there have not been many months since he was nineteen years of age in
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which he has not performed official duty in one capacity or another. He was Deputy Sheriff for two years; was County Surveyor for four years; Magistrate four years, being elected in 1882; was elected to the Legislature in 1885; re-elected in 1887 and again in 1889, serving three terms in succession, an honor which had never been con- ferred on any former member, and he was only prevented from serving a fourth and perhaps other terms, by the sentiment in favor of rota- tion in office, and even this unwritten law was sustained by a meager majority of about 100 votes.
The most exciting race of his life was in the primaries of the Democratic party for the nomi- nation for the State Senatc in 1892, with Cap- tain A. J. Gross, then Adjutant-General of Ken- tucky. It was the hottest contest Mr. Richard- son ever had, and with the "machine" in favor of his opponent there were men who winked one eye when the vote was counted and the other man declared the nominee. In Meade County there werc one thousand and eighty votes, and Mr. Richardson got all of them except one hundred and sixty-four, which is some evidence of the popularity of the man in his own county.
Mr. Richardson was appointed Deputy Col- lector of Internal Revenue in 1894, and placed in charge of the bonded accounts with distillers, one of the most important desks in the Collector's office at Louisville; and he is serving his country in that office at this writing, retaining his home and his farming interests in Meade County.
Mr. Richardson was married December 12, 1871, to Alice A. Thompson, daughter of J. H. Thompson and Elizabeth Wimp Thompson of Meade County. Their children are Julia T .; James Adrian, deceased; Orla Coburn; Gus Al- bert, and Anna Lucille.
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