USA > Kentucky > Memorial record of western Kentucky, Volume I > Part 13
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SAMUEL HESS CROSSLAND.
Samuel Hess Crossland, attorney-at-law, of Mayfield, Kentucky, was born on a farm in Hickman county, Kentucky. August 7, 1849, a son of Judge Edward Crossland. Mr. Crossland was reared in Clin- ton, Kentucky, and there received his early schooling. In 1867 he entered Washington and Lee University, where he completed a two years' course of study. He then began the study of law under his father, and later attended the law department of the University of Louis- ville. He was admitted to the bar at Mayfield in 1871, and at once entered upon a successful career as a lawyer. He was elected county attorney for Graves county in 1882, and in 1886 he was elected com- monwealth's attorney for the first judicial district. In both of these positions his services were very acceptable to the people. His term of office as commonwealth's attorney expired in January, 1893, and since then he has given his time and energies to the practice of the law. He has enjoyed a constantly increasing practice, and has won for himself an enviable reputation as a lawyer. Mr. Crossland is an able criminal lawyer, and he has no superior in this line of law practice in all of the first congressional district of Kentucky. In politics he is an uncompro- mising Democrat, and is prominent in the councils of his party. Fra- ternally he holds membership in the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias order and Redmen.
In 1873 Mr. Crossland married Miss Martha E. Smith, who was born in Christian county, Kentucky, in 1852, and died in Mayfield in 1892. To this marriage the following children were born : Edward, Nannie, Lal., Caswell Bennett, Kathleen and Samuel Hess.
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EDWARD CROSSLAND.
Edward Crossland, oldest son of Samuel HT. and Martha E. (Smith) Crossland, was born in Mayfield, Kentucky, March 24, 1875. He was educated in the schools of Mayfield and Center College, Danville, Ken- tucky. He began the study of law under his father, with whom he is now associated in the practice of law. He was admitted to the bar in 1808. During the Spanish-American war he served in the First Tennessee Regiment as a private. For four months he did service in the Philippine Islands. Like his father, he is an ardent Democrat politi- cally. He is serving as city attorney for Mayfield, and is one of the most promising young attorneys of his judicial district. In 1899 he married Miss Ernestine Taylor, of Clinton, Kentucky, and has two children, namely : Maria Taylor, deceased, and Samuel H., Jr.
EDGAR H. MAJOR.
Edgar H. Major, one of the representative farmers of Christian county, Kentucky, residing near Hopkinsville, was born here on what has long been known as the Major farm, in March, 1800. Madison Major, his father, was a Virginian, who came in early life to Kentucky and settled in Christian county, where he became the owner of about four thousand acres of land. He was killed, in 1876, at the age of sixty- five years. Our subject's mother was, before marriage, Miss Har- riet Elmira Garrott. Her father, Isaac Garrott, was one of the wealthy men of Christian county, owning a large tract of land and many slaves. Hle, too, was a Virginian. His wife, Jane ( Radford) Garrott, was a member of a prominent family. Madison and Harriet E. Major were
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the parents of fourteen children, all of whom were born in Christian county, and of this number four sons and four daughters are living, and, with one exception, all are in Christian county.
Edgar Il. was the tenth in order of birth in the above family. He has spent his life on the farm on which he was born, and has been suc- cessfully engaged in agricultural pursuits here all these years. He owns one hundred and eighty-five acres of land.
December 30, 1885, Mr. Major married Miss Ida Wilson, a native of Trigg county, Kentucky, daughter of Hawk and Sallie (Wilford) Wilson, she being the eldest of their six children, four daughters and two sons. Her father died when she was a child, and a few years later she was orphaned by the death of her mother. She was reared by her uncle, Robert Wilford, in Cadiz, the county seat of Trigg county. Both her grandfathers, Joseph Wilson and Bennett Wilford, were carly set- tlers of Kentucky, the former a pioneer of Trigg county, and the lat- ter of Trigg county. Mr. and Mrs. Major have seven children, all at home: Nannie A., U. L., W. A., Edgar II., Jr., Flora Irene, Walter Bennett and Harriet Ida.
Mrs. Major has been a member of the Methodist Episcopal church since her thirteenth year. Mr. Major is a Baptist. Politically he has harmonized with the Democratic party since he was old enough to take an interest in public affairs.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN BRIGGS.
Benjamin Franklin Briggs, editor and publisher of the Mayfield Monitor, was born in Gallatin, Sumner county, Tennessee, August 27, 1848, and is a son of William MeWhirter and Julia ( Watwood) Briggs,
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the former of whom was born in Bardstown, Kentucky, in 1814 and died at Jonesboro, Illinois, in 1876, while the latter was a native of Tennessee and died at Gallatin, that state, in 1854. They were married in 1839, and in 1840 moved to Sumner county, Tennessee.
Benjamin F. Briggs was reared upon a farm until he was ten years of age, then accompanied his father when the family removed first to Nashville, then to Jonesboro and finally to Mayfield. In the various places he obtained a fair common school education, and also clerked in the dry-goods store of his father until the latter left Mayfield and re- turned to Jonesboro. He then took up the printer's trade, and, rising steadily, in 1873 became editor and proprietor of the Banner of Tem- perance, which he established in Mayfield, but in 1875 he changed its name to that of Monitor, and has continued to edit that publication, which he issues as a weekly. In politics he is a Democrat. His religious affiliations are with the Methodist Episcopal church. Fraternally he is a member of the Knights of Pythias order and of the Knights of Honor.
On April 26, 1883, he was married to Miss Mary Rives, a daughter of John W. Rives, a pioneer settler of Mayfield, Kentucky, in which city he was for many years a prominent tobacco merchant and now at the age of eighty-four years is one of the oldest citizens of the county. He was born in Virginia and came to Graves county in 1850, where he has since resided. Mr. and Mrs. Briggs have one child, Nell, at home. Mrs. Briggs has conducted a. millinery store in Mayfield for about ten years, meeting with very pleasing success. She is a member of the Baptist church, but her daughter is a member of the Methodist church, and both ladies are very well and favorably known throughout the community, as is also Mr. Briggs.
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SAMUEL PAYTON VAUGHN.
Samuel Payton Vaughn, who is now connected with the Carlisle Manufacturing Company of Bardwell, has spent his entire life in Car- lisle county, where he has usually been identified with farming or car- pentering. Ile is a self-made man, and whatever success he has achieved is the direct result of his own efforts.
Mr. Vaughn was born April 20, 1848, on a farm about seven miles east of Bardwell. His paternal grandfather, Benjamin Vaughn, was a resident of White county, Tennessee, and died during the boyhood of his son, James Madison Vaughn. The latter was born in White county, Tennessee, in 1826, and remained there until eighteen years of age, when he came to what is now Carlisle county, then a part of Ballard county, Kentucky. Here he was married to Miss Winnie Hawes, who was born in Butler county, Kentucky, about 1828, a daughter of Samuel Hawes, who was one of the honored pioneer settlers of what is now Carlisle county. He arrived here when Indians still resided in this locality, and he lived amid frontier environments, sharing in the hard- ships and trials of life on the frontier and taking an active part in promoting the development of the county. He continued to live here from 1820 until his death, which occurred about 1878. He was one of Kentucky's native sons, his birth having occurred in Butler county, whence he removed to Ballard county, then embracing the district now contained within the borders of Carlisle county. His wife was a daugh- ter of Payton Brown, who was a soldier of the Revolutionary war, and our subject now has in his possession a cup which his great-grandfather made from a cow's horn and carried during that long struggle for inde- pendence, using it as a drinking cup.
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James M. Vaughn spent his last days in Butler county, Kentucky, where he died in 1860. He had for some time been following his trade of wagon making in the town of Rochester, and it was there that his death occurred. His wife died in Blandville, Ballard county, at the home of her son, Samuel P., in the year 1878. In their family were eight children, six of whom reached years of maturity, while only two are living at this writing ( 1903).
With the exception of about four years during which his parents resided in Butler county, Kentucky, Samuel P. Vaughn spent his boy- hood and youth in Carlisle county, and in fact his entire life has been passed here. He had the opportunity of securing only a limited educa- tion. In early life he learned the carpenter's trade, beginning his ap- prenticeship at the age of seventeen years. During almost his entire life he has followed carpentering and farming, and his life has been one of unfaltering industry, that element of his character being the basis of all his success. In 1900 he came to Bardwell and purchased an interest in the Carlisle Manufacturing Company, incorporated, manufacturers of and dealers in doors, sash, moulding, brackets and all kinds of build- ing materials, including both rough and dressed lumber. He began his business career a poor man, but has met with fair success in life, and is now accounted one of the substantial citizens of this community.
In April, 1870, Mr. Vaughn was united in marriage to Miss Susanna Hurd, a native of Carlisle county and a daughter of John and Nancy (Lovelace) Hurd. For thirty years they traveled life's journey happily together, and Mrs. Vaughn was then called to her final rest, on the 31st of January, 1900, at the age of fifty-one years. They were the parents of eight children, four sons and four daughters: Lulu May, who was the wife of W. L. Tegethoof and died at the age of twenty-eight years,
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leaving five children : Ora Anna, who is the wife of William Kendall, of Carlisle county; William B., who is associated with his father in business ; Samuel Edgar, who married Cora Beard and follows agri- cultural pursuits in Carlisle county ; George Thomas, an engineer re- siding in Bardwell, married Pearl Jackson ; Maggie Lovinia, Lolah Pay- ton and Robert Madison, all at home.
Mr. Vaughn exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the Democracy, and since August, 1869, he has been connected with the Odd Fellows society, belonging to Bardwell Lodge No. 179. When seventeen years of age he joined the Missionary Baptist church, of which he was a member for eighteen years thereafter. Ilis wife was a member of the same church for about fourteen years, and then she and her eldest daughter withdrew from that church and joined the Christian church, and soon afterward Mr. Vaughn also put his membership with the latter denomination, of which he is now a devoted adherent. His life has ever been honorable, upright and useful, and his record should serve as a source of inspiration and encouragement to others who have to begin life empty-handed, for his career demonstrates that success is not a matter of genius but the result of clear judgment, ex- perience and industry.
SAMUEL BILLINGSLEY CALDWELL ..
For many years the subject of this sketch, Samuel Billingsley Caldwell, has figured as a prominent and influential citizen of Paducah, Kentucky. He was born amid pioneer scenes in west Tennessee, in Henry county, November 2, 1824, son of John L. and Myra ( Morgan) Caldwell, the former born in South Carolina, October 26, 1796; the
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JBLcaldwell
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latter born near Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1800. The paternal grand- father, Matthew Caldwell, was of Scotch descent, his progenitor having come from Scotland to America in the colonial period; in South Caro- lina the family tree was planted, grew and flourished. The Calhoun family, to which the famous John C. Calhoun belonged, were related to the Caldwells. Matthew Caldwell was a farmer and was an early settler in the Green river valley of Kentucky. He settled in Warren county in 1806. Later in life, in 1820, he removed to Missouri and took up his residence in Gasconade county, where he died in 1840, at an advanced age.
Myra (Morgan) Caldwell, on the maternal side, traced her ances- try back to Ireland; her grandfather, Charles Richardson, was a native of the north of Ireland, and a Revolutionary soldier. John Morgan, her father, was a native of North Carolina, of Scotch-Irish descent. Ile became one of the early settlers of Warren county, Kentucky, where he lived and died.
John L. Caldwell and wife spent the most of their lives in Ken- tucky, but from 1823 to 1825 resided in Henry county, Tennessee. In 1825 they moved to Calloway county, Kentucky, and in 1834 to Mc- Cracken county. By occupation he was a farmer. He died in 1863, at the age of sixty seven years; his wife being about fifty-seven at the time of her death. They had nine children, of whom three are living, Samuel B. being their fourth born.
Samuel B. Caldwell was reared in Kentucky, back to which state his parents moved from Tennessee when he was three months old. In March, 1834, they settled on land six miles south of Paducah, which was the family home until 1849, when it was changed to the eastern part of the county, where the parents died. From the time he was
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ten years old Mr. Caldwell has lived in McCracken county. His school advantages in early life were limited to about six weeks during the year, after the crop was planted and matured. He improved his time, however, by home study on rainy days and Sundays, and at night by the aid of the tallow candle or the firelight. At the age of twenty-one he left the parental home and went out to make his own way in the world as a surveyor and civil engineer. In this occupation he was engaged for six years or more, following which time he was blind three years. This blindness caused him to turn his attention to the study of diseases of the eye, and even before he recovered his sight he took up the study of medicine and pursued a course in the Missouri University of Medicine. After his marriage, which event occurred in 1856, he settled on a tract of land and developed a farm in McCracken county. Here he established an eye infirmary, and successfully treated diseases of the eye, continuing this practice until 1870. Also at inter- vals he was engaged in surveying. About 1870 he became interested in other enterprises, giving much attention to real estate and its im- provement. He disposed of no less than one hundred thousand acres of Texas lands. Besides his real estate sales in Texas, he has bought and sold much property here and elsewhere, meeting with marked suc- cess in this line of business. Since 1870 his home has been near the city of Paducah, with the growth and development of which he has been closely identified.
Mr. Caldwell has never been in politics to any extent, but is a Democrat. For many years he has been a church member. After having been identified with the Methodist church for forty years, he joined the Old School Presbyterians, of which his wife was a member, and with which he is at present identified.
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Mrs. Caldwell was before her marriage Miss Elizabeth Napier, of Boyle county, Kentucky. She died November 13, 1902. Four chil- dren came to bless the home of Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell, of whom two are deceased. James W. died at the age of twenty-seven years; Samuel B., Jr., is a prominent young attorney of Paducah; Mary Elizabeth is the wife of E. L. Mallory, of Paducah; and Reuben D. died at the age of twenty-seven years.
Mr. Caldwell has led an exemplary moral and consistent Christian life. His business career has been one of remarkable success, and owing to the fact that he began it under none too favorable circumstances and yet having so well succeeded, his success in life should encourage the young man who is about to begin a business or professional life whether under favorable or unfavorable circumstances. The secrets of his suc- cess have rested in his keeping in harmony with the administration of the laws of health and hygiene and the higher laws of honesty, truth, justice and kindness. To do which insures the highest possible success in life, a happy death and blissful immortality.
As a surveyor and civil engineer, Mr. Caldwell, when about enter- ing the field of business affairs, became a trusted employee of Mr. G. W. Norton and brother, W. F. Norton, who purchased, surveyed and sold thousands of acres of farm lands and other real estate in Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri and Texas. In Mr. G. W. Norton, then of Louis- ville, with whom closer business relations were held for a period of more than twenty years, Mr. Caldwell recognized unsurpassed business ability. Mr. Norton and his brother were sagacious business men. Mr. G. W. Norton was especially successful in business affairs, and possessed a trait of character, which for twenty years Mr. Caldwell closely studied, at last discovering that he possessed not a trait of mind
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uncommon to all men, but that Mr. Norton's secret of success lay in the fact that when he heard and analyzed a business proposition, he promptly acted upon the first impression or intuition presented to his mind concerning the proposition, be that impression favorable or un- favorable. He never dallied with arguments pro and con, but acted in harmony with suggestions of an inward monitor, which governed his first impression concerning a business proposition. This made Mr. Norton the sapient business man that he was, and, having discovered the secret of Mr. Norton's success, Mr. Caldwell has ever operated in business by utilizing the secret which made his old employer and friend so successful. No one is without this intuition, and success may be had by acting in lines suggested by this inward monitor .. Failures follow because men do not discover and heed this inward monitor. Surely the remarkable success achieved both by Mr. Norton and Mr. Caldwell evidences the wisdom of this philosophy, which is worthy of earnest consideration if success is sought.
WILLIAM PICKNEY LEE.
William Pickney Lee, attorney-at-law in Mayfield, Kentucky, was born at Canton, Trigg county, this state. December 25, 1853, and is a son of B. P. and Martha F. (Cotton) Lee. The father was born in Stewart county, Tennessee, and was a son of Anthony Lee, a native of North Carolina. In his native county the father was married, and received his education there. The mother was also a native of Ten- nessee. The young couple located at Dover, Tennessee, where the father embarked in a mercantile business. From there they removed to Lafayette, Christian county, Kentucky, and thence to Canton, where
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he was also a merchant. From there the father and a brother, A. G. Lee, went to Paducah and bought the dry-goods business of Lane & Boyd, and continued successful merchants until 1857, when they erected the first steam flouring mill of Paducah, and conducted it until the outbreak of the Civil war. The mill was seized by the Federal troops, and the father removed to Marshall county, Tennessee, where he died in Decem- ber, 1864, aged fifty-four years. The mother died in 1881, aged sixty- seven years. They had but two children who lived, our subject and a daughter now deceased.
From the age of eight years, William P. Lee was reared upon the farm, and he attended the county schools and Benton Academy. After completing his education, he taught school for some five years, and during this time began the study of law under Judge Philander Palmer, at Ben- ton, and in December, 1876, was admitted to the bar. He began the practice of his profession at Benton. In August, 1878, he was elected county judge of Marshall county, and re-elected in 1882, serving two terms of four years each. In October, 1886, he removed to Mayfield, Kentucky, his present home, and has there built up a very desirable practice. In November, 1892, he was again honored, being elected to the office of county judge of Graves county, and served a short term of three years. From 1888 to 1894 he served as chairman of Graves county Democratic committee, and has always been very prominent in party matters.
In 1877 he was married to Miss Dora A. Chiles, of Marshall county, Kentucky, who was born in Graves county, a daughter of Dr. WV. T. Chiles. Two daughters have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Lee, namely : Donna Deane and Clarice. Both Mr. and Mrs. Lee are con- sistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church, South. There are
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few people more widely known or generally liked than Mr. Lee and his charming wife, and visitors to their home are received with a gracious hospitality which is characteristic of the true southerner.
WILLIAM R. MIZELL.
This bright and energetic young lawyer of Mayfield, Kentucky, is the son of John Henry and Anne (Smith) Mizell, both natives of Tennessee, the former born April 10, 1833, and died in Carlisle county, Kentucky, April 24, 1903, and the latter born in 1843. The father moved from Tennessee to Hickman county, Kentucky, in 1880, and in 1890 removed to Carlisle county and there lived till he died. At the beginning of the Civil war in 1861, he enlisted in the Confederate army in the One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Tennessee Regiment, and served till 1865 . He participated in the battles of Shiloh and Corinth. He was married in 1868, and his wife is still living in Carlisle county. Their children are : Mary, the wife of George W. Jarvis, a prominent farmer of Carlisle county, Kentucky; Della, the wife of I. B. Mosby, a wealthy farmer of Arlington, Kentucky; Laura, the wife of W. B. Berry, a farmer and Stock-raiser of Carlisle county, Kentucky ; our subject; Daisy, wife of Forrest Pryor, a farmer of Ballard conuty, Kentucky; Miss Alma, a school teacher of Arlington, Kentucky, and Ethel.
William R. Mizell is the only brother of these sisters, and was born in Humphreys county, Tennessee, March 24, 1877. He was edu- cated in the graded school of Arlington, and from 1898 to 1900 at- tended the Southern Normal University of Huntingdon, Tennessee. He studied law, which he had chosen for a life pursuit, under R. J. Bugg, now circuit judge of Carlisle county, and was admitted to the bar in
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1902. He opened an office in Mayfield, Kentucky, and in a short period of his practice has been doing well, and is already spoken of as one of the reliable and keen attorneys of the town, with prospects of a bright future before him. Like his father, he is a Democrat, and takes a good citizen's interest in public affairs.
HENRY CLAY SHELTON.
Henry Clay Shelton, one of the older and favorably known men of Graves county, was born in Montgomery county, Kentucky, December 26, 1836, a son of Richmond T. Shelton, who was born in 1807, in Pittsylvania county, Virginia, and who died in Stewart county, Ten- nessee, December 31, 1844. He was a son of Lemuel Shelton, born, reared, lived and died in Virginia, living to be over one hundred years of age. The family is an old one, and its early members did gallant service in the Revolutionary war.
The father of our subject was reared in Virginia, and when a young man went to Montgomery county, Tennessee, and there married Miss Colie S. Keatts, who was born in Pittsylvania county, Virginia, and was a daughter of a pioneer of Montgomery county, Tennessee. She lived to be nearly ninety-three, and her death occurred in Graves county. Not long after their marriage the parents settled on a farm in Montgomery county, Kentucky, but in 1843 they removed to Stewart county, Tennessee, where the father died. Subsequent to his death the family moved back to Montgomery county, and there our subject made his home until 1874, when he settled in Graves county, Kentucky. The family of which he was a member was as follows: Nancy Ann, deceased, married Daniel Lewis; Mary Jane married Jarrett Avertt, of
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Graves county, and in her home her mother died; Martha E., deceased, married W. A. Freeman; Henry Clay; Elbridge M., of Mayfield; and Thomas L., of Calloway county, Kentucky, a Baptist preacher. The father was a Whig in politics, and both he and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
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