USA > Kentucky > Christian County > County of Christian, Kentucky : historical and biographical > Part 4
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business he was very successful, and at his death left an estate valued at about $60,000; he and his affectionate wife and helpmate were blessed with three children, viz .: William I .; Leonora, wife of A. W. Williams, and Mary J. Fraser. William I. Fraser was born March 10, 1844, in Christian County, and here received his education ; he has followed farm- ing, and is now the owner of a farm in Tennessee. At present he is con- nected with Mr. Hanceck in the tobacco business. The portrait of John W. Fraser appears elsewhere in this work.
WILLIAM M. FUQUA, M. D., was born January 16, 1838, in Charlotte County, Va., and is of Huguenot descent ; his father, William A. Fuqua, was a distinguished physician of Virginia, and was born in Campbell County, as was also his mother, Mary J. Barksdale, who was of English and Welsh origin, and was born in Charlotte County, Va. William M. was the second of their family of nine children, and in boy- hood had the advantages of the University of Virginia, in which he after- ward commenced the study of medicine. In October, 1858, he entered the Medical College, Richmond, Va., from which he graduated in 1859; he immediately established a practice in Richmond, but in 1861, at the breaking out of the late war, he became a surgeon in the military service, Confederate States Army, and was at first assigned to the Libby Prison hospital ; his connection with the army was not severed until the close of the war, and his reputation as a surgeon has ever since taken rank with the first in the State. While he enjoys an extensive general practice, his special merit lies in his ability and skill as a surgeon, and is a successful ovariotomist and lithotomist. He came to Christian County, Ky., and located in Hopkinsville in 1868. He is a member of the American Medical Association, and has filled the office of President of the McDow- ell Medical Association, and the Medical Association of Christian County ; he is now an officer in the State Medical Association, and a liberal con- tributor to the various popular medical journals. In 1882 he was a candi- date for Congress from the Second District, for which position he was de- feated by the IIon. J. II. Clay. He came to Christian County, Ky., and located in Hopkinsville in 1868. In 1861, in Richmond, Va., he was mar- ried to Miss Vandalia Davis, daughter of Capt. John Davis, of Norfolk, Va. Their family consisted of Broussais, Eunice, Mary, Morton II. (deceased), Victor Hugo, Vandalia, Nelson, Louis and Hortense Fuqua. In another part of this volume will be found a portrait of Dr. Fuqua.
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RICHARD W. GAINES, M. D., one of the oldest and worthiest physicians of the city, was born in Charlotte County, Va., July 5, 1815; he is the only child of Richard W. and Nancy (Morton) Gaines, both of whom were natives of Virginia. His mother died of pulmonary disease when he was but a few weeks old, and his father afterward married Miss Anna White, who bore him seven children ; the eldest of these was Gen. John W. Gaines, who died in Trigg County, Ky., January 13, 1884. Richard W. Gaires, died in Virginia in 1846, and Anna (White) Gaines died in 1869, in Trigg County, Ky. Dr. R. W. Gaines was reared on the farm under the beneficent influence of pious parents, and was educa- ted in the Randolph Macon College of Mecklenburgh County, Va., of which his father was an early patron and founder. He graduated in 1833, and in 1834 entered the Transylvania Medical College of Lexington, Ky., graduating in 1837. From the latter date to 1853 he practiced his pro- fession in Charlotte Court House, Va., during which time he acquired an enviable reputation ; he came to Hopkinsville, Ky., in 1853, since which time he has had a very successful practice, in which he is still actively engaged ; he possesses, to a remarkable degree, the sympathetic nature and refined sensibilities so necessary to the true physician, deriv- ing vastly more enjoyment in being able to relieve the suffering than in receiving their remuneration for his services. He is an ex-President of the State Medical Society, is a member of the American Medical Association, and also of the Christian County Medical Association ; he is a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the Southern Assembly of the Presbyte- rian Church. He was first married in Virginia to Sarah E., daughter of Col. James P. Marshall. She was born in Charlotte County, Va., and died in 1861, leaving no children. He afterward married Mary C., daughter of Richard I. Gaines of the same county. She died in Hop- kinsville in August, 1880. ITis present wife, Sallie M. Adkerson, to whom he was married June 28, 1883, is a. daughter of John II. Adker- son, of Murfreesboro, Tenn., where she was born in 1855.
JOSEPH K. GANT (deceased) was born in May, 1827, in Christian County, where his parents, who were among the early settlers, had resided for many years. Ile received his education, which was fair, in the schools of Hopkinsville, up to the age of fifteen years. When eighteen years old he entered into partnership with his father, as merchant. When his
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father retired from business, which was in about 1848 or 1850, he took his place, and for several years carried on business at his father's old stand, and did a large and lucrative trade; he also engaged in farming. Ile was a man of quiek perceptive faculties, urbane and kind in his man- ners and disposition, and attracted patronage in whatever business he undertook ; he was a man of fine mental and physical endowments, of courage and resolute purpose, and of indomitable will and untiring energy. Everything he undertook was pushed forward with resolution and upon as large a scale as his circumstances would permit ; he did a large business as merchant, as farmer, and in later years as warehouseman or commis- sion merchant in Hopkinsville ; he was a remarkably good judge of human nature, and seldom failed in judging correctly of men's motives. To this, as well as to his extensive acquaintance, was he largely indebted for the success he met with in his business enterprises ; he was a man of strong attachments for his friends, and perhaps no man ever lived who had more affeetion and concern for his family. When he confined him - · self to his business, with which he was familiar, few men were as success- ful : when he strnek out into new fields, his boldness and confidence were apt to carry him too far. For many years he excreised as much influence upon the business affairs of the county as any man who ever lived within its borders ; he was a leader in everything he undertook, was publie- spirited, was in favor of progress and development, and ever ready to sub- scribe as liberally as his means would permit, to any enterprise for gen- eral improvement, and withal gave to poor and to charities generously. The portrait of Mr. Gant is on a page elsewhere.
DANIEL J. GISH, M. D. " America boasts of her self-made men." The career of Garfield from the tow path to the Presidency, from poverty to honor, loses none of its interest in the fact, that it is but a brilliant type of what is frequently accomplished in the more limited and humble sphere of private life. The subject of this sketch belongs emphatically to the class of self-made men, and no citizen of the county, perhaps, deserves more creditable mention than he. Born amid humble surroundings, and deprived by poverty of even the limited educational advantages common. in the days of his youth, but by honesty, industry and economy, he has overcome the obstacles in his pathway, and achieved a snecess in life of which he may justly be proud. Of delieate frame, and
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for many years subject to ill health, yet he has had as large a practice in his profession as any physician in the county, and it can be said to his credit, that during his busiest years the needs of the poor were never forgotten, and his kind ministrations at the bed side were always freely given, regardless of the ability of his patient to pay. Dr. Gish, as his name indicates, is descended from a German family, inheriting therefrom the honesty and rugged independence which is a national, characteristic. His grandfather, Christopher Gish, was one of the earliest settlers of south Kentucky, coming from Virginia in the latter part of the seven- teenth century. His son, Joseph Gish, the father of Dr. Gish, was born while his father lived in Virginia, and grew to manhood in Ken- tucky; he was married to Sarah Sandes, a Virginian by birth, and to them were born four children, of whom Daniel J. was the eldest. He was born in Muhlenburg County, Ky., July 16, 1816. The early death of his father required him as soon as possible to lend his assistance to the maintenance of the family, and his early years were spent in the hard labor of the farm, depriving him of any educational advantages, a loss that he made up by attending night schools and employing every leisure hour in scholastic pursuits. When sixteen years old he came to Hopkinsville, and for two and a half years served as an apprentice to the tailor's trade, in which time he so impaired his health as to necessitate his return to farm life. After regaining his health he returned to Hop- kinsville and secured a position as bank clerk in the old Bank of Ken- tueky, under the presidency of R. R. Rowland, which he filled until again compelled to try country life in the open air. Notwithstanding these experiences, his native energy and determination to achieve success in life induced him to accept a situation as a student under Dr. L. Lindsay, to whose memory he often pays tribute for the kindness shown him. IIc graduated from the Medical College of Columbus, Ohio, in 1840, and immediately opened a practice in Hopkinsville, meeting with merited suc- cess, although opposed by some because of his medical, political and relig- ious views, all of which were unpopular in the county at that time. IIc was a Jacksonian Democrat at the time the county was intensely and bit- terly Whig in politics. Adopted the Eclectie system of practice only to meet the bitter opposition of the entire medical fraternity, and became a member of the Christian Church, when that denomination was opposed by all
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existing religious parties. In this his characteristic independence of thought was manifested, no opposition of foes or entreaty of friends could swerve him from a course of action when once approved by his conscience. Ile followed the Union sentiment during the war, and has been identified with the Republican party since, but always reserved the right to "scratch " any name, or disapprove of any action of his party that did not harmonize with his ideas of right. After a practice of fourteen years he became satisfied of the superiority of the Homoeopathic system of medicine, and in 1852, graduated from the Cleveland Homoeopathic College, of Ohio. Notwithstanding a change so radical he succeeded in retaining his former patrons to whom he added a number of the best fam- ilies of the city. He still does an office practice, the general practice being performed by his partner, Dr. James A. Young. In 1844 he was married to Miss Eliza C. Garnett. She was born in Christian County, and died in Ilopkinsville, in 1850, leaving one child-Eliza C., wife of R. R. Donaldson, of Hopkinsville. His present wife, to whom he was married in 1851, was Mrs. Ellen D. Young, widow of Rev. James Abner Young, and daughter of Rev. John Kerr, a noted Presbyterian minister of Newry, Ireland. She came to the United States at the age of thir- teen. They have two children-Cora E., wife of Rev. L. II. Stine, of Illinois, and Elizabeth C., wife of Dr. Andrew Seargent, of Ilopkins- ville. Dr. Gish is also the head of the firm of Gish & Garner, the lead- ing drug firm in the county ; he is an Elder of the Christian Church, and has been prominently identified with educational interests in the past. No man has the confidence of the community to a greater extent, and his career should be an incentive to all young men. Let them imitate his example in honesty, industry and economy, adopt his motto learned from his mother, "Do unto others as you would be done by," and they may reasonably expect equal honor and wealth.
M. W. GRISSAM'S grandfather, whose name was John W. Grissam, with his wife, Nancy (Chapman) Grissam, came from South Carolina to Kentucky in the year 1807, and made a settlement in the northern part of Christian County, on land now owned and occupied by Samuel John- son, on which is situated Johnson's Mill. They remained on this place engaged in farming for a few years only, and removed thence to the State of Indiana, locating at Patoka. John W. Grissam took part in the war
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of 1812, through its earlier struggles and triumphs, but died before its termination at his home at Patoka. His widow was afterward married to a Mr. Perry and removed to the State of Tennessee, where she died. John W. Grissam had a family of four sons and two daughters : John W., Jr., the father of M. W. Grissam ; Jefferson, Alfred, William, Elvira and Caroline Grissam. John W., Jr., was by trade a cabinet- maker, and came to Hopkinsville, Ky., about 1819, but soon after removed to the scenes of his earlier childhood in the north part of Chris- tian. He was born near the old battle-field of Guilford Court House, in South Carolina, on the 19th day of November, 1797. In Muhlenburg County, Ky., in 1824, be married Miss Sarah, daughter of Micajah and Ann Wells. She was born January 12, 1802, in Nash County, N. C., and came to Kentucky with her parents in 1804. She is still living, and is now a member of the family of her son, an csteemed citizen, M. W. Grissam, of Hopkinsville. Mother Grissam enjoys the enviable rep- utation of having been a consistent member of the Methodist Church for " three score and ten years," and, considering her life-work nearly per- formed, is looking in the near future for the reward of a well-spent life. She is the second wife of John W. Grissam, he having married in 1818, while temporarily located at Port Gibson, Miss., Elizabeth Walker, who died in 1819, as did also the one child born to them. Though an uneducated man, Mr. John W. Grissam was a comprehensive reader, and being for many years an invalid he became a man of fine general infor- mation. He was an honored member of the Methodist Episcopal Church ; served the county in various official capacities, and died November 9, 1861. As a result of his second marriage he had fifteen children, twelve of whom grew to maturity. Micajah W. is the tenth of this family, and was born on the 18th day of August, 1837. His early life was spent on his father's farm. In 1866 he removed to Kirkmansville, Todd Co., named the village, and was its first Postmaster, and engaged in mercantile pur- suits, which have been his principal occupation since. In September, 1878, he removed thence to Hopkinsville, Ky., where he opened a hotel business, which he continued but one year, though he still owns the val- uable hotel property known as the Phoenix Hotel. For several years he has engaged in the grocery and provision trade, and is numbered among the most reliable dealers in the city. On the 21st of December, 1870,
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in Todd County, he was married to Miss Nannie M. Lacy, daughter of William and Julia Lacy. She was born March 6, 1851, and bothi she and Mr. G. are Methodists. Their children are: Charles Walter (deceased), Lena Octavia, Gano Chapman and Hibernia .Aion Grissam.
THOMAS R. HANCOCK'S father, Nathan Hancock, was born in Charlotte County, Va., in 1807, where he now resides, enjoying the confidence and esteem of all who know him. Besides being a Justice of the Peace for a third of a century, he has been closely identified with the railroad, agricultural and mercantile interests of that county, and has accumulated a fair property. Ilis wife, Paulina (Rudd) Hancock, was born in Charlotte County in 1811, and died in 1847. She was the mother of eight children, of whom Thomas R. (subject) was the seventh born. Ile is also a native of Charlotte County, and was born in 1842. He was reared and educated in his native county, and in early life engaged in mercantile pursuits, which he continued until the breaking out of the late Civil war, when he entered the Confederate Army as Second Lieuten- ant in Brook Neal's Company. of Campbell County, Va., in which he served six months, and then became a member of Company A, of the Twenty-first Virginia Regiment. Ile participated at the battle of Gettys- burg and all of the battles of the Valley of the Potomac, including Frederickstown, Wilderness and Winchester. Of the 137 who were nem- bers of this company, he is one of the eighteen known to have survived the war. Ile served till the close of the war and was once wounded. In 1866 he came to Trigg County and engaged in the mercantile business. Since 1870 he has been engaged in the tobacco commission business, and four years, by appointment, was Inspector of Tobacco on Staten Island. In Christian County, December 26, 1875, he married Miss Rebecca E. Ragsdale, a daughter of William J. and Emma J. (Tillotson) Ragsdale. Mrs. Hancock was born in this county in 1853, and is the mother of four children, viz .: William Martin, James Wallace, Douglas Buckner and Thomas Ragsdale. The portrait of Mr. Hancock will be found in this volume.
LAWSON B. HICKMAN, M. D., was born near Athens, in Fay- ette County, Ky., June 1, 1818, and there grew to man's estate, mean- time receiving the advantages of a liberal education, chiefly obtained in the Morrison College in Lexington. Having decided to pursue the study
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of "materia medica," he entered the Medical Department of the Tran- sylvania College, from which he graduated in 1837, going the same year . near Vicksburg, Miss., where he opened a general practice, remaining about four years. He then located in Todd County, Ky., where for about thirty years he pursued an extensive and successful practice. His practice in Hopkinsville dates from 1870, making altogether an unbroken practice of over forty-seven years, and he is still actively engaged. He was married in Todd County, in 1843, to George Ann Baylor, daughter of Tucker and Barbara Baylor, of Todd County, members of one of the oldest families of Kentucky. Their family consists of Ellen, widow of Dr. Bass, of Todd County ; Jammie, wife of J. P. Thompson, of Cinein- nati, Ohio; Lucy B., wife of M. L. Flack, of Hopkinsville; William L., of St. Louis; Mary G., wife of William P. Gray, of St. Louis; Mattie Hickman and Baylor Hickman. Dr. Hickman is a member of the Ma- sonic order and I. O. O. F.
RICHARD HI. HOLLAND was born in Christian County in Feb- ruary, 1857. His father, John S. Holland, a well-known farmer, who · died in Pembroke Precinct in 1867, came to this county from Virginia in 1834. He was born in Virginia in June, 1830, and grew to manhood in this county. In 1855 he was married to Miss Elizabeth Palmer, who was born in 1835 in Kentucky. They had two children : Linn MeCau- ley IIolland, born November, 1855, and died in January, 1856; and Richard II. Ilolland. John S. died in 1867, and his wife in 1859. Richard H., after the death of his mother, was reared principally in the family of Capt. D. R. Beard in the town of Hopkinsville; he was edu- cated in the Bethel Male College of Russellville, Logan County, Ky. ; he began his practical business career as a farmer on the old homestead, and now owns a farming interest of 600 acres in Pembroke Precinct of this county. Since leaving the farm he has shown his enterprise by erecting an elegant opera building in Ilopkinsville at a cost of $30,000.
JAMES M. HOWE, son of William IIowe and Eliza S. (Dairy) Howe, was born in Pittsburgh, Penn., July 24, 1854. The father, Will- iam Ilowe, was born in England in 1809, and his mother was born in 1812 on the island of Helgoland, in the North Sea, where she was left an orphan in early childhood. She was reared by relatives who brought her to Canada. She was married to William Ilowe in Toronto, Canada,
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October 2, 1835. To these parents were born ten children, the youngest of whom was born in 1858, and all are still living : William Henry, of Nashville, Tenn. ; Sallie, wife of Samuel Williams, of Pittsburgh, Penn .; Frederick Augustus, of Huntsville, Ala. ; Jennie, wife of Robert MeMil- len, of Pittsburgh, Peun. ; Anna L. IIowe; Amelia II., wife of James M. Lindsay, of Pittsburg, Penn. ; Fannie W., wife of Thomas J. Porter, of Pittsburgh, Penn. ; Thomas J. Howe, James M. and Charles Edward IIowe. James M. Howe, the subject of this sketch, came to HIop- kinsville, Ky., in September, 1868, and for eleven years engaged in the jewelry business for his brother William II., whom he bought out in 1879. Subject was married in Hopkinsville, Ky., March 12, 1878, to Miss Mollie, daughter of E. W. and Carrie (King) Hen- derson. . Mrs. IJowe was born in Hopkinsville, Ky., March 30, 1859. They have two children-Walter Emerson and Jessie Fay. Mr. Howe is a member of the Hopkinsville Lodge, No. 37, A. F. & A. M., Oriental Chapter, No. 14, R. A. M., Moore Commandery, No. 6, Knights Templar, and of the Knights of Pythias. Both he and wife are mem- bers of the Christian Church. The parents of Mr. Howe are living and now residents of Pittsburgh, Penn. It is but just to Mr. Howe to say that he is thoroughly acquainted with his business and understands the wants of his patrons, which he is amply prepared to supply. He is a true gen- tleman, and in every way worthy of the confidence of the people, which he so fully possesses.
JAMES E. JESUP, a native of Fayette County, Kentucky, was born December 17, 1820. He is the fourth of a family of eight children born to Samuel B. and Catherine Jesup (nee Sidener). The Jesup family was first represented in Kentucky by the father of Samuel B., who came from Virginia about 1802. Samuel was born in Virginia in 1798 and consequently was about four years old when he came to Kentucky. He was married in Bourbon County, Ky., to Miss Catherine Sidener, and in 1830 they settled in Croghan's Grove, since called Jesup's Grove ; here Samnel B. Jesup died. James E. Jesup was reared on the farm, re- ceiving such educational advantages as the country then afforded. In 1845, in Hopkinsville, he was married to Miss Lucy Long. She was born in Christian County and died at Hopkinsville. They had eight children, five of whom are now living : Kate, wife of D. A. Tandy of Hopkinsville;
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Thomas S., of Iowa ; Nellie, wife of W. S. Davidson, of Iowa; James G. and Mamie C. Jesup of Hopkinsville. ITis present wife, to whom he was married in Trigg County, May 21, 1879, was Mary Redd, widow of Sta- pleton Redd, and daughter of Moses Thompson of Trigg County, Ky. As the result of this union, Mr. Jesup has two daughters : Hattie and Addic Jesup. He is a member of the firm of Nelson & Jesup and deals in tobacco and grain. Both he and his wife are honored members of the church. The portrait of Mr. Jesup will be found in a group elsewhere.
JUDGE JOSEPH I. LANDES, was born January 3, 1836, in Christian County, Ky. His father, Isaac Landes, was born in Rocking- ham County, Va., on the 4th of October, 1796. The parents of Isaac, who were of German origin, removed from Virginia about 1805, and settled in Muhlenburg County, Ky., where they afterward died and where Isaac grew to maturity. About 1822 he came to Christian County, and in 1824 was married to Miss Susannah, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Summers) Kelly. This family came from Virginia about 1800 and made settlement in Bourbon County, Ky., four years later removing to Christian County, where they died. Elizabeth (Summers) Kelly is remembered as possessing rare literary ability, though not a scholastic education. Su- sannah (Kelly) Landes was born in Bourbon County, Ky .. March 3, 1803. She was the mother of five children : Catherine E. (wife of James Ruth- erford of Hopkinsville), born in 1828; Susannah (who died in early child- hood), born in 1830 ; Benjamin D., now of Logan County, born in 1834; the subject of this sketch, and Samuel J., of Atlanta, Ga., born in 1843. Joseph I. received his educational training in the schools of Hopkinsville, and IJardinsburg, after which he studied law in the University of Vir- ginia at Charlottesville. In 1858 he was licensed to practice by Judges Stites and Duvall, of the Kentucky Court of Appeals, and at once engaged in practice at Ilopkinsville. Ile has served the city of Hopkinsville four years as Judge and for the same length of time was County Attorney. He is a member of the Hopkinsville Lodge, No. 37, A. F. & A. M., Ori- ental Chapter, No. 14, and of the Royal Arcanum ; he is also a Ruling Elder in the Presbyterian Church. Judge Landes was married in Colum- bus, Ohio, April 27, 1865, to Miss Mary McD. Carter, daughter of Dr. F. Carter of that city. Her mother, Anna (Starling) Carter, was a daughter of William and Polly (McDowell) Starling.
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