Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. II, Part 63

Author: Collins, Lewis, 1797-1870. cn; Collins, Richard H., 1824-1889. cn
Publication date: 1874
Publisher: Covington, Ky., Collins & Co.
Number of Pages: 1654

USA > Kentucky > Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. II > Part 63

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A eulogy of singular beauty and power was pronounced by Henry Watter- son, editor of the Courier-Journal, by invitation of the legislature of Ken- tueky. His poems have been collected by his son, with a view to publication in a volume-to which, it is hoped, some of his most marked prose contribu- tions will be added. As an author and poet Mr. Prentice had few equals ; but he was a journalist of pre-eminent ability and versatility. Always bold,

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sometimes rash, he was not always prudent. He thought with precision, scope, and power, and what he thought he expressed in language clear, forci- ble and beautiful. In writings of a personal cast or character he excelled, in retort and sarcasm was keen, and in ridicule inimitable. His surgical knife was always sharp and polished, and his dissections thorough. If his subject required, he was minute, even when comprehensive, never superficial, frequently exhaustive, always able.

JAMES SPEED was born in Jefferson co., Ky., March 11, 1812; graduated at St. Joseph's College, Bardstown, Ky. ; studied law at Transylvania Univer- sity and commenced practice at Louisville, 1833; a representative in the Ky. legislature, 1847, and senator, 1861-63; Nov., 1864, appointed by President Lincoln U. S. attorney general, which he resig :ed July, 1866, and resumed the practice of law at Louisville.

HENRY PIRTLE was born Nov. 5, 1798, in Washington county, Ky .; studied law at Bardstown, under John Rowan; began the practice at Hartford, Ohio county, but soon removed to Louisville ; judge of the circuit court and general court, 1826-32; author of a digest of the decisions of the court of appeals, 2 vols., 1832 ; state senator, 1840-43; circuit judge, 1846, and resigned ; chan- cellor of the Louisville chancery court, 1850-56 and again 1862-68; professor in the law department of the University of Louisville, from its organization in 1846 to 1869; practicing law, when not on the bench.

WALTER NEWMAN HALDEMAN-conspicuous and cotemporary with Prentice, Harney, Shad. Penn, as Kentucky editors who have a national reputation- was born in Maysville, Ky., April 27, 1821. He was educated at the cele- brated academy of Jacob W. Rand and-Wm. W. Richeson in that city ; and among his schoolmates were Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, president of the United States, Hon. Thos. H. Nelson, U. S. minister to Mexico, Hon. Wm. Henry Wadsworth, of the Mexican Claims Commission, and Richard H. Collins, the junior author of this work. He removed to Louisville at the age of sixteen, and entered actively upon business pursuits.

Mr. Haldeman, it may be noted, was the first to introduce cheap literature to the West. In December, 1843, he purchased from an association of printers a newspaper called the Daily Dime, which he afterwards converted into the Louisville Morning Courier. Its establishment was problematical. Louisville had been the graveyard of newspapers-the Journal, conducted by the brill- iant Prentice, only surviving the general mortality. At that day politics almost exclusively engrossed the attention of the people and the talent of the press. Mr. Haldeman determined to strike out on a new line. He made NEWS the chief feature of his paper, and its success and permanent establish- ment followed, as the fruits of his enterprise and sagacity. The Courier thence- forth became a power in the state.

Before the late civil war was inaugurated, the Courier denounced the coer- cive policy of the Federal government. and as a states-rights journal espoused the cause of the South. When the Federal troops entered Louisville, in Sept., 1861, the Courier was suppressed by orders from Washington-Mr. Haldeman learning of his intended arrest in time to flee for safety. He reached Nash- ville, and promptly re-established the Courier, which was printed until that city was captured by the Federals. He removed with the army, and published it at several other points.

Mr. Haldeman remained in the South during the war, and on the cessation of hostilities again repaired to his old Louisville home. Although broken in fortune, and half awed by the enormous advance in paper and printing material growing out of the war and a depreciated currency, he could not resist the earnest popular demand for the re-establishment of the Courier. The day it re-appeared, Dec. 5, 1865, it was an evident success. The prestige of the old Courier was in its favor, and irresistible. To " make assurance doubly sure," Mr. Haldeman determined the new paper should deserve success. Re- gardless of the outlay, he arranged as rapidly as possibly for special telegraphic and other correspondence from all parts of the country. It was a new era

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in journals in Louisville. Within six months, the lively and enterprising Courier so far outstripped its local contemporaries. that the latter, in spite of editorial strength, came to be regarded as second rate journals.

Three years later, Mr. Haldeman conceived the bold project of consolida- ting the Journal and the Democrat, the only other dailies in Louisville, with his Courier. His purpose was accomplished, and the leading political and news paper of the west and south-west, the Louisville Courier-Journal, of which he is the controlling spirit, is the offspring of that union.

Perseverance, energy, and enterprise, is the secret of Mr. Haldeman's success in life. But besides this, his whole career has been marked by a strong common sense and a comprehensiveness of mind which made him far-reaching and far-seeing in his aims. When to these qualities are added his genial manners, his diligence, and fidelity to laborious duty, it is by no means strange that he has gathered in the rich fruits of success. There is scarcely one of the profession in the country better known than Mr. Haldeman. What Bennett with the Herald, and Greeley with the Tribune, were to the North and East, Haldeman with his Courier-Journal, is to the South and South-West. He is the oldest member of the daily newspaper press in Kentucky, and one of the oldest in the country.

Judge HENRY C. WOOD was born at Munfordville, Hart co., Ky., Nov. 27, 1821, and died in Louisville, Feb. 11, 1861, aged 39; graduated at Centre college, Danville, Sept., 1841, when the subject of his graduating address was the "Legal Profession ;" studied law, and began the practice in his native town-where, and on the circuit, he took high rank among the leading mem- bers of the bar, Hon. Jos. R. Underwood, Judge Elijah Hise, Jesse Craddock, Frank Gorin, and others; was county attorney ; representative from Hart county in the legislature, 1848; removed to Louisville, 1850, and in conjunc- tion with Wm. F. Barret, soon became a leading law firm; in Aug., 1858, was elected a judge of the court of appeals, for 8 years, 1858-66, but in two years and a half was carried to his final rest, "worn out, with his harness on." Judge Wood's physique was extremely delicate, his will resolute, his intellect- ual and moral organization of the highest type. His decisions as a judge displayed profound research, and a thorough appreciation of the immutable principles of justice and morality which underlie the science of the law.

Gen. LOVELL H. ROUSSEAU, a lawyer, soldier, and political leader, was born in Lincoln co., Ky., Aug., 1818; died in New Orleans, La., Jan. 7, 1869. His limited education, and the death of his father in 1833, leaving a large family in straightened circumstances, made manual labor a necessity ; and, while employed in breaking rock on the Lexington and Lancaster turnpike, he mastered the French language. When of age he removed to the vicinity of Louisville and began the study of law; he was entirely without instruction, and had no conversation on the subject previous to his examination for license. In 1840, he removed to Bloomfield, Ind. ; was admitted to the bar in 1841, and soon attained consideraole success ; was a member of the Indiana legis- lature in 1844, '45.

In 1846, he raised a company for the Mexican war, and took a prominent part in the battle of Buena Vista, his company losing 14 out of 51 men. He was elected to the Indiana senate, four days after his return from Mexico; removed to Louisville in 1849, before the expiration of his term, but not being permitted by his constituents to resign, served them for one year while living out of the state. He immediately took a prominent position at the Louisville bar, his forte, like that of most lawyers who became prominent as successful commanders during the late war, being with the jury and in the management of difficult cases during the trial. He began recruiting for the U. S. army early in '61, but was obliged to establish his camp in Indiana ; participated in most of the principal engagements in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia; was early made a brigadier general ; for gallant services at Perry- ville won a major general's commission (see description of battle of Perryville, pp. 113-14, ante). He served with distinction in the battles of Shiloh, Stone River, and Chickamauga, and was commandant of the district of Northern

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Alabama, and afterwards of Tennessee. In 1865, he was elected, as a Union man, to the U. S. house of representatives, where he sided with the Democrats. In 1867, a brigadier general in the regular army, he was sent to take pos- session, in the name of the United States, of Alaska, and upon his return was appointed to the command of the Gulf Department. Gen. Roussean was a man of commanding figure and extraordinary personal presence, and seems to have been a better soldier than administrative officer or legislator.

JAMES GUTHRIE, LL.D., (see portrait in group of Kentucky Statesinen. ) was born near Bardstown, Ky., Dec. 5, 1792, and died in Louisville, March 13, 1869, aged 76. Failing health, during several years, had compelled him, in Feb., 1868, to resign his seat in the U. S. senate, he being the oldest of the members of that body. He was educated at Bardstown Academy, and before he was grown became a flat-boat or produce merchant to New Orleans ; afterwards studied law in the office of Judge John Rowan, and practiced in Nelson county ; was made commonwealth's attorney in 1820; soon after, removed to Louisville, and obtained a lucrative practice ; was a representa- tive from Jefferson co. in 1827, '28, '29, and from the city of Louisville in 1830, and senator from 1831-40; early in his political career was shot by an opponent, the wound confining him for three years to his bed ; was a member of the convention which formed the present constitution of Ky., 1849, and its presiding officer ; secretary of the treasury in President Pierce's cabinet, 1853-57; a candidate before the Charleston Democratic convention for the presidency, 1860, and a delegate to the Democratic national convention in Chicago, 1864; elected by the Ky. legislature a delegate to the Peace Con- vention which assembled at Washington city just before the outbreak of the civil war, 1861, and afterwards was a delegate to the Border State conven- tion at Frankfort, 1861; U. S. senator from Ky., 1865-71, but resigned, 1868, as above; was an earnest and consistent Union man, during the war, and a member of the Union national convention at Philadelphia, 1866.

This is the brief record of his public services. Besides, he was a leading spirit in various great enterprises, of which his city and state now reap the harvest. Chief of these is the great bridge over the Falls at Lonisville and the building of those lines of railroad which have their termination in that city. Mr. Guthrie had no powers of oratory, yet he was peculiarly success- ful at the bar. His strong common sense, and shrewd management supplied the deficiency of that gift. He could have been a great political leader, had he not been a great financier. But finance was his forte-as illustrated scarcely less by the management of his own private affairs than by his mas- terly administration of the National Treasury. It is doubted that that high place ever had a wiser chief. Mr. Guthrie accumulated an immense fortune.

The First Incorporated Bank was opened in 1812, a branch of the Bank of Kentucky ; previous to this, there was an unincorporated establishment named the Louisville Bank, whose capital of $75,000 was thrown into the new bank, with an addition of $25,000.

One Branch of the Marshall Family .- Col. THOMAS MARSHALL, formerly commander of the 3d Virginia regiment on continental establishment, subse- quently colonel of the regiment of Virginia artillery, during the Revolution- ary war, was a gallant soldier-the friend and neighbor of Washington. Being appointed surveyor-general of the lands in Kentucky appropriated by Virginia to the officers and soldiers of the Virginia state line, he emigrated with his wife, Fanny Keith, and part of his children, to Kentucky in the year 1785, coming down the Ohio river to Limestone (Maysville). (See narrative under Mason county.) They had 15 children: seven sons-John (chief justice of the United States), Capt. Thomas (first clerk of the Mason county court, Ky., and a member of the convention which formed the 2d constitution of Kentucky), James M., Charles, William, Alexander Keith (reporter to the Ky. court of appeals.in 1818), and Dr. Louis (of Woodford co., Ky., father of Thomas F. and Edward C., and president in 1855 of Washington college- now Washington-Lee university-Lexington, Va. ); and eight daughters-

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Elizabeth (wife of Rawleigh Colston), Mary Ann or Polly (blind a considera- ble portion of her life, wife of Humphrey Marshall, U. S. senator from Ky., 1795-1801. and historian of Kentucky, 1812 and 1824), Judith (wife of Geo. Brooke, ) Lucy (wife of Col. John Ambler), Susannah (wife of Judge Wm. McClung), Charlotte (wife of Dr. Basil Duke), Jane (wife of Geo. Keith Tay- lor), and Nancy (wife of Col. Joseph Hamilton Daveiss). Jolin, and several brothers and sisters, remained in Virginia. The father died at his home in Woodford co., Ky., July, 1803.

The Marshall family-both in its male and female branches-has given to Kentucky and to Virginia some of their most distinguished names. The Colstons, Amblers, and Taylors, of Virginia, the MeClungs, Dukes, Janua- rys, and Marshalls, of Kentucky, may be named among those through the female branches. Rev. John A. MeClung, D.D., Dr. Basil Duke, Thos. Jan- uary, of Kentucky, and Col. Alex. K. McClung, of Mississippi, are familiar names to people of those states, and will be remembered by large circles of admiring friends.

HUMPHREY MARSHALL, the U. S. senator, (see sketch under Franklin county, and portrait in the group of Kentucky historians, ) was born in Virginia, the son of John Marshall and Jane Quisenberry, who were humble in for- tune, and raised a large family. He had three children, JOHN J., THOMAS A., and a daughter who was killed by lightning in infancy, in Woodford county. The two brothers were well known to the people of Kentucky as men of ability, chiefly signalized by their judicial and political labors; for both were judges for many years, and both were repeatedly elected by the people to political stations. They were men of high mental culture, genial disposition, and great amiability of character. They had early advantages of education, John having taken the first honors at Princeton college, New Jersey, while Thomas graduated with distinction at Yale. They entered life, each with fortune which was colossal at the time, and each ran a career of great distinction. John represented Franklin county in the lower house of the legislature in 1815 and 1833, and in the senate, 1820-24; and was a judge of the Louisville circuit for many years. John J. Marshall in 1809 married Anna Reed Birney, daughter of James Birney, of Danville, niece of Thomas B. Reed, U. S. senator from Mississippi, 1826-27, '29, and sister of James G. Birney, who was several times the "Liberty " candidate for president of the United States (see sketch under Boyle county). Several of their sons achieved distinction-Gen. Humphrey Marshall, born at Frankfort, Jan. 13. 1812, whose intellect was as massive as his body was immense; James Birney Marshall, an active, erratic, and rather brilliant journalist and pub- lisher; and Charles E. Marshall, who in 1846 represented Henry county in the legislature.

THOMAS A. MARSHALL, above, was born in Woodford co., Ky., Jan. 15, 1794, and died in Louisville. April 16, 1871, aged 77. When a boy, he spent some time in Washington city, while his father was U. S. senator. One day, dressed in homespun, he climbed up one of the huge posts, in the vestibule of the old capitol, and wrote his name. Some one inquired what he was doing. " I am writing my name," he replied, "and I want to see if it will be here when I come to congress." He was but seven years old. In 1831-35 he came to congress, from the Paris and Maysville district, but the name written in infancy had been painted out. He had previously, 1827, '28, rep- resented Bourbon county in the Ky. house of representatives, as he did the city of Louisville, 1863-65. From April, 1835, to August, 1856, and for a short period in 1866, he was upon the court of appeals bench, and from 1847-51, 1854-56, and in 1866 was chief justice. His claim to greatness and renown will be found in the 24 volumes of Ky. Reports from 3d Dana to 17th Ben. Monroe. From 1836, when he removed to Lexington, to 1849, he was a professor in Transylvania law school. In Nov., 1816, he married Miss Price, of Lexington, a niece of Mrs. Henry Clay. Several of their sons have attained distinction, Col. Thos. A. Marshall, of Charleston, Illinois, and Judge Chas. Marshall, of Paducah, Ky.

OLD

Tuck

SMITHLAND, KY., IN 1846.

PUBLIC LIBRARY OF KENTUCKY, LOUISVILLE.

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H. D. NEWCOMB (sce portrait in group of railroad presidents) was born and educated in Franklin co., Mass. ; settled in Louisville about 1833; from 1834 to 1869 applied himself to mercantile pursuits ; was senior partner of JI. D. Newcomb & Bro., whose business was, for 25 years, one of the largest and most successful ; conducted for 20 years the largest cotton mill in the west ; aided greatly in improving his adopted city, crected some of her finest buildings, and was mainly instrumental in re-building the Galt House, the best arranged and most elegant structure in America for hotel purposes, costing, when opened, over $1,000,000; been president of the Louisville and Nashville railroad, since 1868, and has made it the most powerful, extensive, and successful railroad enterprise in the south or southwest.

Col. REUBEN T. DURRETT was born in Henry co., Ky., Jan. 22, 1824 ; graduated at Brown University, R. I., 1846, and at the Louisville Law School, 1850; editor of the Louisville Daily Courier for two years, 1857-59; and just two years later, Sept. 18, 1861, because prominently on the side of the South, was arrested by the military and sent to Fort Lafayette-the first political prisoner in Kentucky. As a lawyer, editor, scholar, writer, Col. Durrett has made his mark. But the crowning glory of his life, so regarded, is the un- paralleled success of his favorite scheme for a great "Public Library of Ken- tucky" at Louisville, open and free to all; permanently established (Jan., 1874), in a magnificent building, 168 fect front and four stories high, which cost $210,000, and with a library of over 40,000 volumes and a museum of over 100,000 specimens and curiosities.

EDWARD D. HOBBS, civil engineer, railroad president, and legislator, was born in Jefferson co., Ky., 1810; educated principally in Louisville; re- moved to that city, 1820; was city engineer or surveyor, 1830-35; prepared and had passed the charter of the Louisville Savings Institution, and was its first cashier, 183-, but resigned in a year; established the first real estate agency in the city, and made it a highly useful, influential, and prosperous business ; removed in 1840 to his farm, near Anchorage, engaged extensively in the nursery business, and greatly stimulated the culture of fine fruits in the county ; was a representative from Jefferson county in the legislature of Kentucky for three terins, 1843, 1844, and 1846, and was elected without opposition the state senator, from the county and from the city of Louisville, for four years, 1847-51, resigning a year before his term expired ; was presi- dent of the Louisville and Frankfort railroad company for twelve years, 1855-67 (see his portrait in the group of railroad presidents), but resigned from ill-health (having been for 23 years a confirmed invalid), and again re- tired to his farm, and has since found improved health and great pleasure in agriculture, arboriculture, and floriculture.

Mr. Hobbs' railroad administration was probably the most handsomely successful of any in the history of Kentucky railroads. Before his accession, but one cash dividend had been paid; and the road was burdened with a debt of $1,000,000. This he funded, and introduced such system, enterprise, and economy, that during his presidency were paid over twenty cash divi- dends, averaging six per cent. per annum, and one stock dividend declared, of fifty per cent. on the entire capital stock; the market value of the stock, which was thus increased one-half, being 70 cents on the dollar, against 30 @ 35 cents twelve years before.

All the younger and more recent inhabitants of Louisville-now a city of some 125,000-will be surprised to learn that Mr. Hobbs (although Nov., 1873, not yet an old man), as the agent of the Prestons of Virginia and Ken- tucky, of the Breckinridges, the Carringtons, and of Gov. John B. Floyd, laid off into streets, squares, and lots almost the whole of that portion of the city which lies east of Jackson street. Nearly all of it was covered with a heavy forest, and he had the timber felled to make way for the enlargement of the city. But few, if any, of the present houses of Louisville were standing, when Mr. Hobbs removed to it in 1820; they have all been built within his personal memory. During all that time, Mr. H. has sustained among the citizens the highest character for integrity, sound judgment, business sagacity, and practical good sense, and has been constantly honored, useful, and beloved.

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JESSAMINE COUNTY.

JESSAMINE county, the 36th county erected in Kentucky, was formed, in 1798, out of the southern part of Fayette county ; is situated in the middle section of the state, on the Kentucky river, which forms its s. E., s., and s. w. boundary line. It is bounded N. by Fayette, E. by Madison, s. by Garrard, and w. by Garrard, Mercer, and Woodford counties. The part of the county north of Nicholasville is gently undulating, with a black, friable, and remarkably rich soil, over the fossiliferous beds of the blue lime- stone ; that which lies to the south, over the chert beds and the Kentucky river marble, is not so good; along the river, it is quite hilly and broken, but productive. The leading products are hemp, corn, blue grass, and cattle.

Towns .- Nicholasville, the county seat, is situated 12 miles s. of Lexington, and 37 miles from Frankfort. It contains, besides the usual public buildings, 8 churches (Methodist, Baptist, Reform, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, and three for colored people), one male and one female academy, 2 schools, 2 hotels, 15 stores and groceries, 10 mechanics' shops, 1 bagging factory ; 6 lawyers and 6 physicians ; population in 1870, 1,089; established in 1812, and named in honor of Col. George Nicholas. In the heart of a fine country, and the terminus of the Kentucky Central railroad, Nicholasville is necessarily a place of considerable business. Keene -the present name of the town established in 1813 as North Liberty-is situated in the N. w. part of the county ; population about 300; it contains 3 stores, 1 church, and 3 physicians.

STATISTICS OF JESSAMINE COUNTY.

When formed. See page 26 Hemp, corn, wheat, hay .... pages 266, 268

Population, from 1800 to 1870 .p. 258 Horses, mules, cattle, hogs ... .. p. 268.

whites and colored. .p. 260 Taxable property, 1846 and 1870 ... p. 270

towns. .p. 262 Land-No. of acres, and value ...... p. 270

white males over 21. p. 266 Latitude and longitude ... p. 257

children bet. 6 and 20 ..... p. 266

Distinguished citizens .. .. see Index.

MEMBERS OF THE LEGISLATURE FROM JESSAMINE COUNTY, SINCE 1815.

Senate .- George I. Brown, 1829-34; Wm. Clarke, 1838-42 ; Tucker Woodson, 1842-46, '53-57 ; A. Lawson McAfee, 1869-73. From Jessamine and Woodford counties, Wm. Vawter, 1808 ; Richard C. Graves, 1850.

House of Representatives .- Wm. Caldwell, 1815, '16, '18, '20, '22; Win. Walker, IS17 ; Samuel H. Woodson, 1819, '25 ; Jas. Clarke, 1820 ; Richard E. Meade, 1822 ; George I. Brown, 1824, '50 ; Harrison Daniel, 1826, '27 ; John Cunningham, 1828 ; George W. Brown, 1829. '32; Courtney R. Lewis, 1830; David M. Woodson, 1831; J. W. S. Mitchel, 1833, '34 ; Tucker Woodson, 1835, '36, '37, '40 ; George S. Shanklin, 1838, '44, '61-65; Alex. Wake, 1839 ; George T. Chrisman, 1841 ; Jas. H. McCampbell, 1642, '45, '55-57 ; Jas. H. Lowry, 1843; Jos. W. Thompson, 1846; Jos. C. Christopher, 1847, '49; John M. Reynolds, 1848; Jas. C. Wilinore, 1851-53; Larkin Fain, 1853-55 ; Allen L. MeAfee, 1857-59; Wm. Fisher, 1859-61, '65-67; Thos. T. Cogar, 1867-71; Jas. H. McCampbell, 1871-73, but died Dec. 25, 1872, and was succeeded by Wm. Brown, 1873, '73 ; N. D. Miles, 1874-75.

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Collins historical sketches of Kentucky. History of Kentucky: Vol. II, Part 63

Author: Collins, Lewis, 1797-1870. cn; Collins, Richard H., 1824-1889. cn Publication date: 1874 Publisher: Covington, Ky., Collins & Co. Number of Pages: 1654

Author: Collins, Lewis, 1797-1870. cn; Collins, Richard H., 1824-1889. cn
Publication date: 1874
Publisher: Covington, Ky., Collins & Co.
Number of Pages: 1654