USA > Kentucky > Christian County > County of Christian, Kentucky : historical and biographical > Part 23
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ROBERT L. BOYD was born in Christian County, Ky., Septem- ber 13, 1835. IFis father, John Washington Boyd, was a native of Hal- ifax County, Va., born in 1814. When he was four years of age he was brought to Christian County by his parents, who settled five miles north of Hopkinsville. He married in this county, and during his life followed the occupation of a farmer. His death occurred on the 5th of April, 1865. He was a man of good reputation, a member of the Baptist Church, and of the Masonic fraternity. Elizabethi (Anderson) Boyd, his wife, and mother of our subject, was born in this county in 1815, and died in 1859. She was of Irish descent, and a daughter of Josiah Anderson, a native of North Carolina, and an early settler of Christian County. She was the mother of seven children, of whom the following are now living : John W., James A., Mary E. (widow of John W. Long), George W., Benjamin C. and Robert L. (subject), who was the second child born. He remained with his parents until he reached his majority, and since has followed farming. On the 19th of February, 1863, he married Miss Bettie White, a native of this county, born December 9,' 1839. Her father, R. G. White, was born in Louisa County, Va., August 31, 1791, and died in this county June 15, 1871. Her mother, Elizabeth (Amos) White, was born May 20, 1797, and died November 19, 1881. They came to Christian County in 1832. Mr. Boyd has four children : Mary E., born June 27, 1866; Lulu, November 15, 1867 ; John R., November 11, 1875; and Fannie E., November 16, 1877. Mr. and Mrs. Boyd with their two eldest children are members of the Baptist Church. He is a member of the Masonic order, and K. of H.
PAC. GILES. The father of the gentleman whose name heads this sketch, Jesse Giles, was born in Halifax County, Va., in 1789, where he was reared, educated and married. He served through the war of 1812. In 1333 he came to Christian County, and during his life followed farm- ing, and became the owner of about 1,000 acres of land. His death occurred June 30, 1873. His wife, subject's mother, Dicie (Jones) Giles, was born in Halifax County, Va., and died in February, 1874, aged eighty-three years. She was the mother of nine children, of whom the following are now living: Martha, widow of John C. Furguson; Dolly, widow of L. Nance; Jesse; John ; and Paschal, the subject of this sketch. He was born near his present residence August 27, 1836, and
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was reared on a farm and remained at home with his parents until the breaking out of the late Civil war ; he then enlisted in 1861 in Company K, Tenth Kentucky Cavalry, and was Orderly Sergeant. He served till the close of the war, and participated in the battles of Chickamauga, Saltville, Va., and many minor engagements. In 1865 he was honorably discharged and returned home, but soon after began traveling and con- tinued the same for about three years. In 1869 he engaged in mercan- tile business in Tennessee, and was thus engaged for six years. In 1875 he removed to his present farm, where he has since resided, engaged in farming and trading. He is now the owner of about 800 acres of land. In February, 1881, he married Miss Lulu Lyle, a native of Providence, Tenn., and a daughter of B. and Allie (Trice) Lyle, both natives of Tennessee. Mr. Giles is one of the wide-awake business men of the precinct, and is a member of the Masonic order, K. of H. and Grange. They have one child-Lillian Anna Bell Giles.
CORTEZ LEAVELL. The father of this gentleman was Benja- min Leavell, a native of Culpepper County, Va., born in 1780, and was there reared, educated and married. He emigrated to Tennessee, after- ward to Todd County, Ky., and subsequently, in 1834 or 1835, to this county, where he remained engaged in farming to the time of his death, which occurred in 1850. He was the owner of 1,200 acres of land ; a man of even temperament, of moral character, a great admirer of Henry Clay, though not an active politician himself. His brother, Lewis Leavell, was the first settler in and founder of Trenton, Ky. Elizabeth (Willis) Lea- vell, the mother of subject, was born in Louisa County, Va., in 1790, and died in Hopkinsville in 1866. She was the mother of twelve children, of whom four are now living, viz .: William, Benjamin, Ophelia (wife of H. G. Abernathy) and Cortez, our subject. He was born in Todd County, Ky., September 11, 1831, and was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools. At nineteen years of age he began farming at his present place, where he owns 310 acres, called " Forest Home." He is also the owner of a farm of 140 acres located near Garrettsburg. In 1861 he married Miss Susan Metcalf, a native of the county, who died in March, 1877, leaving four children : Louisa, Benjamin (now deceased), Fanny and Bessie. In October, 1881, he married Mrs. Anna Grundy, a native of Paducah, Ky., who has borne him one child-Carrie Bailey Leavell.
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. Mr. and Mrs. Leavell are members of the Baptist Church. Ile is a mem- ber of the Masonic fraternity.
J. J. C. McKNIGIIT was born in Christian County, Ky., on the 9th of September, 1832. He was reared in the northern part of the county, and was educated in the subscription schools of the neighborhood. When he was twenty-one years of age, he left his home and commenced life as a farmer. In 1861 he enlisted in the late Civil war, and served in Company A, First Kentucky (Confederate) Cavalry, under command of Col. Ben. Hardin Helm, Lieut-Col. Woodward, for twelve months; and served through the war as Third Lieutenant. He participated in the battles of Chickamauga, Saltville, Va., Loudon, Stone Mountain, Bull Gap, and covered the retreat from Dalton back to Atlanta; at that time he was under Col. Johnson. In 1865 he was honorably discharged, returned home and engaged in farming, at which he still continues, and is the owner of 650 acres of good land. In 1876 he married Miss Ophie Wills, & native of the county and a daughter of George Wills. She died Septem- ber 1, 1879, leaving two children, of whom one is now living, viz .: George William, born August 11, 1877. William McKnight, the father of our subject, was born in 1803 in South Carolina, and in 1824 with his parents came to Hopkinsville, Ky., and the following year bought land and settled in Scates' Mill Precinct, where he became the owner of about 4,000 acres of land. He died in 1878. Charlotte (IIamby) MeKnight, his wife, and mother of our subject, was born in Christian County, Ky., and died in 1840, aged thirty years. She was the mother of eight chil- dren, of whom two are now living, viz .: J. J. C. and Thomas T.
JOIIN CALVIN METCALF, M. D., deceased, was born in Win- throp, Me., in 1801, where his childhood and youth were spent. When about twenty-one years of age, he moved to Charlotte County, Va., where he remained eight years, engaged in teaching school and studying medi- cine. About 1830 he came from Virginia to this county, and settled at Garrettsburg, where he lived to the time of his death, which occurred February 3, 1872. For more than thirty years Dr. Metcalf had a large and lucrative practice of medicine. He also educated a number of medical students. He was for a number of years Elder of the Presbyterian Church at Lafayette, and lived the life, and died the death, of a Christian. In all the walks of life, Dr. Metcalf was honored and beloved by a large
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circle of friends. He was a graduate of the Pennsylvania University, Philadelphia. He first married Martha Louisa, daughter of Nicholas J. and Rebecca (Raglan) Poindexter, of Christian County, who died in 1860, leaving the following children : Dr. J. N. Metcalf, of Lafayette; Mary Elizabeth, widow of H. E. Bacon; Susan Olive, who married Cortez Leavell; and David Johnson Metcalf. On the 9th of April, 1862, he was married to Mrs. Victoria Dabney, widow of Dr. Samuel H. Dabney, and daughter of Robert G. and Eliza Watson (Michie) Willis, of Chris- tian County. Mrs. Metealf is the mother of one child-John Calvin Met- calf, who was born August 7, 1865. Her farm, " Shamrock," contains 200 acres of land. A portrait of J. C. Metcalf, M. D. (deccased), ap- pears on another page in this volume.
HON. AUSTIN PEAY was born on the 29th day of February, 1844, in Christian County. His parents, Austin and Maria A. (Pendle- ton) Peay, were both natives of Virginia. From that State they removed in the year 1835 to this county, coming across the mountains on horse- back. The father devoted his life to the prosecution of his farming inter- ests, and was a man of substantial worth to the community, being a man of sound judgment and of practical business proclivities, and was univer- sally looked upon as one possessing great strength of mind, and his life was an active one, commanding the respect of all. He dicd compara- tively young in years, in 1852. Ilis distinguished son, who bears his name, possesses much of his father's practical turn of mind and energetic business qualities. He received a good education in the schools of Christian County, and prepared himself to enter the University of Virginia, but the following four years were destined to be spent far differently-upon the battle-field of deadly strife. Though very young-seventeen years of age-he enlisted at the opening of the war, in the First Kentucky Con- federate Cavalry (Col. B. H. Helm), in which he served out the twelve months of enlistment. His company and one other went into the mem- orable Second Kentucky Cavalry, commanded by Col. Woodward, and after his death by Maj. Tom Lewis. In this regiment our subject served throughout the war, being successively under the command of Gens. For- rest, Wheeler and Hampton. His long service was gallantly rendered, and during it he sustained but a slight wound, received in Wheeler's attack on Fort Donelson. At the close of the war, Mr. Peay returned home,
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and gave his attention to farming pursuits. His beautiful farm residence is known as " The Oaks," and his farm property consists of 500 acres of land in a high state of cultivation. Mr. Peay is a warm adherent to the Democratic party ; he has served his party with a love born of a belief in its principles. For twelve years he filled the position of Magistrate for Garrettsburg Precinct, acceptably to the people, and with credit to him- self; his great popularity reduced an opposing Republican majority of nearly 1,000 votes to 224 in his race for a seat in the State Legislature ' in 1880, against Breathitt, one of the ablest young men in the county. Two years later he received the nomination for the State Senate, and accepted the position as the unanimous gift of the people, receiving no opposition in a Republican district from either side. His career in this responsible capacity has been active and eminently creditable to himself and friends ; he is Chairman of the Senate Committee on Military Affairs, and, as a member of the Committee on Charitable Institutions, he had in charge the late investigations into the charges preferred against the man- agement of the Anchorage Asylum, and he performed the duties thereof in a manner reflecting great credit on himself, the inquiry under his super- vision being an active, determined and conscientious one; he has also prepared and brought before the Senate many important bills of various kinds. How long he will serve in his present or in a higher position could be determined, it appears, if the length of his life's lease were known, for the people will be loth to part with the service he so satisfac- torily renders as a representative of their thoughts and desires. Mr. Peay has been twice married, the first time to Miss Cornelia F. Leavell, of Hopkinsville, which happy union gave five children, four of whom sur- vive : Mary B., Anna P., Austin and Cornelia F. Mrs. Peay died December 11, 1880. Mr. P. was subsequently married to Miss Anna B. Lewis, a daughter of Judge Walter Lewis, of Guthrie, Ky. Mr. P. is a member of the Salem Baptist Church of this county. A portrait of him will be found elsewhere in this work.
J. B. RADFORD was born in Christian County, Ky., October 10, 1840, to Benjamin and Martha (Quisenbury) Radford. The elder Rad- ford was born in Greene County, Ky., January 1, 1811, and was there reared and educated. Arriving at his manhood he came to Christian and engaged in farming. After renting land for about three years he settled
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on the farm where his son, our subject, now resides, and there remained to the time of his death. In 1831 he married Adaline Whitlock, who died in 1837, leaving three children, of whom Mary Ann and Lycurgus are now living. He subsequently married Miss Quisenbury, subject's mother, who is now living with her son on the homestead. She is a daughter of James and Catherine (Thralkale) Quisenbury, natives of Culpepper County, Va. He died February 14, 1839, and she died March 19, 1866. Mrs. Radford is the mother of two children, viz .: Kit- tie, deceased, who married I. B. Wood, and J. B. Radford, whose name heads this sketeh. His early life was spent at home. He was educated in the subscription schools of the county. In March, 1868, he married Miss Isabella Long, who died in July, 1874, leaving two children, viz .: Edgar C. and Viola P., who died October 31, 1880, aged nine years. On the 11th of October, 1881, he married Miss Amelia Park. This union has been blessed with one child-Mattie May. Mr. Radford is the owner of 260 acres of land. He is a member of the Baptist Church and his wife of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church. He is a member of the Masonic order.
MRS. REBECCA A. RIVES. This lady was born in Warren County, N. C., on November 22, 1822. She was a daughter of Reves and Ruth Lumega (Vaughn) Turner. The father was a native of the same county, the mother of Granville County, N. C. When our subject was ten years old her parents moved to Sumner County, Tenn. Here they resided some time, but afterward moved to Weakley County, where they died. Mrs. Rives' schooling was received in Sumner County. In Montgomery County, Tenn., while visiting her uncle, on September 22, 1841, she was married to Mr. James T. Rives. This gentleman was born in Warren County, N. C., on March 21, 1816. He was a son of Thomas and Mary E. (Collins) Rives. When he was about ten years old his parents moved to Christian County, Ky., and settled in the southern part of Garretsburg Precinct. There the father resided until his death in 1872. Mr. J. T. Rives, after his marriage, first settled in Montgomery County, Tenn., and resided there until the spring of 1851, when he came to the farm now owned by subject. Here he resided until his death, which occurred on April 15, 1882. He left a wife and six children, viz .: Rufus, James T., Mrs. Addie Wills, Mrs. Maude A. Wills, Mrs. Mattie
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B. Allen (of Montgomery County, Tenn.) and Thomas, to mourn his loss. The farm, which contains about 700 acres, is now managed by Mrs. Rives and her family. Mrs. Rives is a member of the Methodist Church.
THOMAS J. TERRELL is a son of John W. and Elizabeth (Bagby) Terrell, and was born in Halifax County, Va., September 7, 1820; his father was a native of the same county, a farmer, and a soldier of the war of 1812; he died in 1876, aged ninety-seven years. He was a son of William Terrell, a native of Buckingham County, Va., of English descent, and who served through the Revolutionary war, lived to a ripe old age, and died in his chair while smoking his pipe. The mother of our subject was born in Prince Edward County, Va., and died in Halifax County, in 1869, aged seventy-seven years. She was the mother of six children, of whom the following are now living: Parthenia, wife of George Perkins ; Thomas J .; Mary, wife of Robert Daniel ; Martha, wife of Thomas B. Perkins. Thomas J. Terrell, the subject, was reared on the farm, and at nineteen years of age left home and lived with his uncle and grandparents. In 1843 he came to Christian County and engaged in farming, and is now the owner of a farm of 575 acres. In 1847 he married Maria S. Garrott, who died in 1873, leaving two children, viz .: John W., and Eliza, wife of Charles Fleming. In 1875 he married Fannie Crowder, who died in 1877. His present marriage occurred in 1879, to Mrs. Hattie E. Evans, widow of Thomas E. Evans, a native of Christian County. Mrs. Terrell is the mother of two children-John T. and Jesse Evans. Mr. and Mrs. Terrell are members of the Christian Church, and he is a member of the Grange.
JOHN W. TERRELL was born in Christian County, Ky., June 25, 1850; his early life was spent at home assisting to till the soil of his father's farm, and receiving such an education as could be obtained in the neighborhood schools. When he was twenty-two years of age he left his home and commenced life as a farmer, and continued the same until 1878, when he sold his farm and engaged in the mercantile business at Garretts- burg for two years, and the latter year added farming in connection. In 1881 he bought his present farm of 265 acres, and upon which he has since resided, engaged in farming. In September, 1875, he married Miss Azille H., daughter of John B. and Eliza J. White, of Garrettsburg. They have three children : William Lee, born in June, 1876; Thomas
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Jefferson, born in February, 1878, and James Isaac, born May 1, 1882. Mr. Terrell is a member of the Grange and K. of H., and he and wife are members of the Baptist Church.
THOMAS H. WALLACE'S father, John W. Wallace, was born in Culpeper County, Va., in 1818, where he was reared until he was fifteen years of age, and at that age came to Crittenden County, Ky., and in 1850 to Christian County and settled near Long View, and afterward on the Ragsdale farm. During his life he followed the occupation of farming ; he died March 25, 1883; he owned 1,000 acres of land in the county ; his wife and mother of subject, was Catherine (Sharp) Wallace, a native of Hopkinsville born in 1828, and died in 1860. She was a daughter of Fidelio Sharp, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume. She was the mother of five children of whom the following are now living : Thomas H., Fidelio C., Arthur M. and Caroline K. Thomas H. was born in September, 1847, and was educated at the Washington and Lee University, and graduated from that institution in 1870. Dur- ing the years of 1870 and 1871 he was in California. In 1872 he returned to this county and has since been engaged in farming, controlling 1,000 acres. of which he owns 260 acres.
J. B. WHITE was born in Virginia, October 29, 1814, and is a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Bragg) White, who were natives of Virginia. Subject was the oldest of five children, two of whom are now living : Mrs. Rosanna Northington, in this precinct, and J. B. (our subject). The latter received his education in the schools of his native county, and when he was about twenty-one years of age, his father came to this county. The latter settled in this precinct, and followed the trade of a blacksmith, also farming. He resided here until his death, which occurred in Febru- ary, 1872. Our subject learned the blacksmith trade of his father, while residing in Virginia, and after arriving in this county he worked with his father until about 1840; he then came to the town of Garrettsburg and began carrying on the business for himself. He engaged in blacksmith- ing until 1865, and then commenced merchandising at the same point. Here he has been engaged in business ever since ; he also owns about 250 acres and has farming carried on. He was married in this county on July 23, 1840, to Miss Eliza J. White, a daughter of R. G. and Elizabeth (Amous) White. The parents were natives of Louisa County,
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. Va., and came to this county in 1830. They settled in the north part of the precinct ; here the father died on June 13, 1871, and the mother on . November 19, 1881. Mrs. White was born in Virginia on January 27, 1824, and is the mother of twelve children, seven of whom are now living, viz .: Eudora T., wife of J. H. Barns; James H., Eoline, wife of N. B. Dickson ; Ada B., wife of W. B. Sargeant of Little Rock, Ark .; Azille, wife of J. W. Terrell; M. K. and Aritosa I. Mr. White has served as Magistrate of the county ; he was appointed Postmaster in about 1858, and has since held that office. Mr. and Mrs. White are both members of the Baptist Church. Mr. White is identified with the Democratic party in politics.
EDWARD A. WILSON, M. D., was born in Lunenburg County, Va., February 10, 1828. His father, Josiah B. Wilson, was a native of the same county, where he was reared, educated and married. In early life he followed mercantile pursuits, and in his latter years was a farmer ; he was in the war of 1812; his death occurred in 1872, aged eighty years; he was a son of Edward Wilson, of Scotch-Irish descent, and a native of Virginia ; he served through the Revolutionary war, and was a farmer. Martha A. (Moore) Wilson, subject's mother, was born in Lun- enburg County, and died in 1849, aged fifty-six years. She was the mother of three children, viz .: Edward A., Josiah B., a farmer of Vir- ginia, and Richard H., a farmer and trader of Hopkinsville. Dr. Wilson spent his early life at home assisting on the farm, and receiving such an education as the schools of Petersburg afforded. When he was eighteen years of age he began reading medicine under the preceptorship and in the office of Hatchett & Connelley, and remained with them one year. The following summer he assisted Dr. John R. Pettus in his practice, and in the winters of 1848-49 and 1849-50, attended the Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, and graduated from the institution in March, 1850. He immediately entered upon the practice of his profession in his native county, where he remained four years, and removed to Mecklenburg County, where he was engaged in his practice until the spring of 1866, when he came to Kentucky and located at Garrettsburg. In 1875 he removed to his present farm residence, " Ashwood," where he owns 156 acres. In Virginia, in 1853, he married Miss Indiana C. Burton, who died in 1865. In 1867, on the 3d of December, he married Frances E.
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Edwards, a native of Christian County, and a daughter of Nicholas and Lucy W. (Boswell) Edwards ; he a native of Halifax County, Va., was born in 1797, and came to this county in 1828 and died in 1854. She was born in Virginia in 1805, was married there in 1825, and is now liv- ing, and is the oldest member of the Lafayette Methodist Church. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson have been blessed with the following children : Nannie B., Fannie E., Lucy B., Edward A. and Olney M. Dr. Wilson is a member of the Baptist Church, of the orders A. F. & A. M. and A. O. U. W., and of the Christian County Medical Association, of which he has been President.
BAINBRIDGE PRECINCT.
HENRY H. BRYANT is one of the leading farmers and stock-raisers of this section. His farm of about 400 acres lies mostly in Christian ยท County, though his present residence is situated just across the line in Trigg. He was born in Christian County February 9, 1843, to Lawrence and Margaret (Harrison) Bryant, natives respectively of Virginia and this county, the latter being a daughter of the well-known Major Harri- son. The father of our subject was a farmer by occupation, and he came to Christian County when only a few years old with his father, Lawrence Bryant. He was what might be called a natural lawyer, being a sharp thinker and apt debater, and had in early life secured law books and made them his study ; but being in poor circumstances, thought himself unable to continue his studies in that direction, and he turned his attention to farming pursuits. He commenced with nothing but good sense and a plentiful supply of energy, and at the time of his death had accumulated about 1,600 acres of land ; he had filled the position of Magistrate, but cared but little for political office. To him and his wife were born six children, of whom there are four now living. Our subject gives special attention to stock, having many head of fine horses and cattle, and recently sold two fine horses at $1,000 each. In the fall of 1861 Mr. Bryant enlisted in the Eighth Kentucky Infantry (Confederate). He was afterward taken sick and was discharged, later joining Morgan's Cavalry, and with it serving till the close of the war. He was first married to Miss Blanche Farmer, a daughter of Capt. John S. Farmer of Logan County, Ky. By her he had seven children, one of whom is living- Pearl. His present wife was formerly Miss Mary Guthrie, a daughter of John Guthrie, a resident of Nelson County, Ky. This union has given one child. Mr. Bryant is a man of muchi enterprise and activity. He subscribed liberally to the proposed new railroad through this section of the country, and is interested in all enterprises calculated for the gen- eral good.
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