USA > Kentucky > Memorial record of western Kentucky, Volume II > Part 11
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by water, and to encircle the globe with a message within forty minutes without any special effort. The submarine cable, the idea of which was conceived by Mr. Sleeth and under his direction laid at Paducah, was the forerunner of the world's great system of submarine cables.
Captain Sleeth was engaged in boating until the Civil war, when he enlisted in the Confederate army and served under General Roddy, gaining the rank of captain during the war. After the conflict was over he went back to the river and became one of the very best known, competent and popular of western steamboat captains, although his life was principally spent upon the Tennessee river. Until within one year of his demise Captain Sleeth was engaged in his work, and he left be- hind him a record of which his family may well feel proud, while his estate was a large one, accumulated by his untiring efforts. In his happy home Captain Sleeth was always a kind and loving husband and father; in the city of Paducah he was universally respected, and with men of his own calling his experience made him a man of great esteem.
In 1867 Mr. Sleeth married Margaret McGaugh of Mt. Hope, Alabama, who is still living, aged fifty-five years, a lady of much refine- ment and culture. The children born to Captain and Mrs. Sleeth were : John Sleeth, who died young ; James Porter Sleeth, who is a well known business man of the city, educated in the. Paducah public schools and the Louisville College of Pharmacy, from which he was graduated in 1901, after which he purchased the drug establishment of E. H. Gilson at the corner of Ninth and Broadway, and is now engaged in conducting this concern. James P. Sleeth married; in January, 1903, Miss Suc Janes, daughter of William Janes, a well known real estate agent of Paducah.
Robert Sleeth, a brother of our subject and resident of Pittsburg,
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Pennsylvania, has a record from Mr. Field, of New York, stating that he obtained the idea of a submarine cable from Jack Sleeth, of Paducah, Kentucky, to whom he had sent a representative while he was residing in Paducah, to get this same idea, and this record Mr. Sleeth values very highly as it is to a certain degree a slight recognition of his brother's great service to science and civilization.
ELBRIDGE GUTHRIE.
Elbridge Guthrie, dry-goods merchant of Paducah, was born in Buckingham county, Virginia, in the year 1849. His parents were John James Guthrie and Martha (Goodman) Guthrie, natives of Buck- ingham and Cumberland counties, respectively. The paternal grand -- father, William P. Guthrie, was born in Cumberland county, Virginia, of Scotch ancestry, while the maternal grandfather, Thomas Goodman, was born in Amelia county, Virginia. John James Guthrie was a farmer by occupation. In politics he was an old-line Whig, but when the Civil war came on, with fitting loyalty to his native state, he cast his lot and fortune with the Confederate states by enlisting in the Con- federate army. Ile served therein until the close of hostilities, then re- turned home and resumed civic life, and farmed until his death in 1893, dying at the ripe old age of seventy-four years. He died in March, and in December of the same year his wife's death occurred, she being seventy-four years of age also at the time of her demise. To this worthy couple were born the following children: Mrs. Elizabeth England, of Graves county, Kentucky; Mrs. Georgie Shepard, of Virginia; Mrs. Alice Apperson, of Virginia; Mrs. Martha J. Shepard, of Virginia ;
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Mrs. Angeli Foster, of Virginia; Thomas G., John B. and Forest, all living in Virginia; Edward B., of Paducah, Kentucky, and Elbridge.
Elbridge Guthrie was reared on his father's farm, and given a fair literary education. In October, 1869, he left the parental home. The greater part of the two succeeding years he spent in Calloway county, Kentucky. In 1871 he came to Paducah to accept a clerical position with his cousin, J. J. Guthrie, then a dry-goods merchant of this city. For twenty years thereafter he was a dry-goods clerk. In 1893 Mr. Guthrie embarked in the dry-goods business on his own ac- count. He has propered in business and to-day is recorded among the substantial and trustworthy merchants of Paducah. September 21, 1880, Mr. Guthrie married Miss Mollie McElroy, a daughter of the' late James H. McElroy, of Lebanon, Kentucky, where Mrs. Guthrie was born and reared. Her mother bore the maiden name of Jane M. Grundy and was born in Washington county, Kentucky, in 1814. She is now past eighty-nine years of age, and makes her home with Mrs. Guthrie. Her father was Samuel Grundy, a brother of Felix Grundy, who served as United States attorney general.
One child has blessed the home of Mr. and Mrs. Guthrie, Robert Rivers, born January 22, 1802. They are members of the Presby- terian church, and are numbered among the most respected of Paducah's people.
JOHN HORACE TERRELL.
John Horace Terrell, deceased, was born in Richmond, Virginia, March 12, 1815, and died in Paducah, Kentucky, in 1876. He was a son of Chiles and Cordelia ( Upshaw ) Terrell, both natives of Virginia. His parents came to Kentucky in 1835 and settled on a farm at old Wil-
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mington, the first county seat of MeCracken county. While his father resided on a farm, farming was incident in his life, for he was a pioneer school teacher, and teaching was his profession. He was a well educated man and a very competent instructor. Both he and his wife died here.
Their son, John Horace Terrell, received a fair education and early in life embarked in business of various forms. As a speculator he was successful and eventually acquired large real estate possessions, much of which were farm lands, which deteriorated much in value in con- sequence of the Civil war. Nevertheless he died leaving a fair estate, which under the excellent business management of his widow materially increased in worth.
In 1842 he married Miss Martha Grundy. She was born in Wash- ington county, Kentucky, December 6, 1824. Her parents were George and Mary (Logan) Grundy, the former a native of Washington county, Kentucky, and the latter a native of Virginia. Mrs. Terrell's paternal grandfather was John Grundy and her maternal grandfather was David Logan, and both were born in Virginia and were of Scotch descent. George Grundy was a farmer by occupation and in 1837 he settled in McCracken county, Kentucky, locating on the property now known as Grundy Hill, two miles from Paducah. Here he and his wife passed away in death. They were Methodists in church faith, and numbered among the respected pioneers of McCracken county. He died in 1840, aged about forty-eight years. His wife survived him many years and died aged seventy-nine years. While living in Washington county he served in the legislature of Kentucky some two or three terms. To him and his wife were born the following children: William, John, David, Benjamin, George, Robert, Thomas and Samuel, the sons, all of whom are deceased, and the daughters were Susan (now Mrs. Stone, of Louis-
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ville), and Martha (the widow of our subject), the daughters being the only survivors of the family.
To the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Terrell were born the following children : Mary C., widow of E. W. Vaughan; Susan, deceased; and Nannie, single and living with her mother in Paducah.
Mrs. Terrell is well known in Paducah, to which city she and her husband came in the year 1853, since when she has resided here. She is respected for many excellent traits of character, both of mind and heart. She bears her age well, retaining health and mental faculties to a remarkable degree, her recollections of carlier days being very enter- taining. Her life has been that of a consistent Christian, a member of the Presbyterian church.
WILLIAM V. EATON.
William V. Eaton, attorney-at-law at Paducah, Kentucky, and one of the city's most influential citizens, was born on a farm in the southern part of Barren county, Kentucky, March 22, 1874, a son of John L. and Mary (Jordan) Eaton. John L. Eaton was born in Barren county, and his wife was born at Tompkinsville, Monroe county, Kentucky. The paternal grandfather, Carrol Eaton, was born in Metcalf county, Kentucky, and the father of Carrol was born in the western part of North Carolina, coming .of English ancestors and being a member of an old and substantial family of that state. The maternal grandfather, Charles Jordan, was born in the Shenandoah valley, Virginia, and in 1840 located in Monroe county, Kentucky. The father of Charles Jordan was born in Virginia, and the latter had elder brothers who participated in the Revolutionary war. The maternal grandmother was Amanda
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Lad, who was born in Winchester, Kentucky, and her ancestors came from Pennsylvania and New England. One of her ancestors, General Warren, distinguished himself and was killed at the battle of Bunker Hill, while an uncle on the paternal side was in the battle of New Orleans. Both father and mother of our subject are living, residing at Scottsville. Kentucky, where the father is retired from farming, which he has made his life work. In politics he is a Democrat. The mother is a consistent member of the Christian church. Five children were born to these worthy people: William V .; James W., a farmer of Scottsville; Miss Ethel, a teacher ; Ida L., at home; Lizzie, at home.
William V. Eaton was reared upon the farm until he was seventeen years of age, and first attended school in the country, but later went to the public schools of Scottsville, from which he was graduated in 1893, when he was nineteen years of age. Although young for such a position, he taught in the schools of Scottsville for five years, during which time he was increasing his store of knowledge in a general way and reading law, and then spent two years in South Kentucky College at Hopkinsville, Kentucky, continuing his law studies, and on April 19, 1899, was admitted to the bar at Scottsville. In 1900, March 17, Mr. Eaton established his residence in the city of Paducah where he has since been actively engaged in the practice of law. In politics he has always taken an active part, and is a recognized factor in the Demo- cratic ranks. Fraternally he is a Knight of Pythias, and is very popu- lar in that organization. Of the Christian church Mr. Eaton is both an earnest and esteemed member. In 1901 Mr. Eaton was married to Miss Cora Follis, of Bowling Green, Kentucky. This marriage has been blessed by the birth of one child, Mary Frances.
The success which has attended the efforts of Mr. Eaton is all the
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more deserved as he has gained it through his own unaided efforts, having since the age of seventeen not only supported himself, but also earned the means to complete his literary education and acquire a thorough knowledge of his chosen profession. He has had a number of very important cases, and in the management of which he has dis- played an ability that has gained for himself rank among the representa- tive members of the Kentucky bar.
JAMES ELMER WOELFLE, M. D.
James Elmer Woelfle, M. D., a well known medical practitioner at Paducah, Kentucky, was born October 31, 1871, at Anna, Union county, Illinois, a son of John Martin and .Anna ( Clark) Woelfle. The father was born December 12, 1826, in Bavaria, Germany, and died at Stonefort, Illinois, December 11, 1882. He came to America in 1849, at the age of twenty-three years, a fair representative of the educated young German. He had graduated in medicine at Strassburg, Germany, and located for the practice of his profession at Alton, Illinois.
The outbreak of the Civil war and the great need of stanch, true men, gave Dr. Woelfle an opportunity to prove his loyalty to his adopted country, and in 1861 he enlisted in the Thirty-first Missouri Artillery, Battery B, and continued in the service until the close of the war, com- ing out of the army as captain of his battery. Until his death he was an active member of the Grand Army. Captain Woelfle married, when about twenty-eight years of age, Miss Anna Clark, who was born at Pellum Center, Canada, March 4, 1834, of Irish ancestry. She still resides at Grand Chain, Illinois. Six children were born to Captain
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Woelfle and wife, two sons and four daughters, all surviving except one daughter.
Dr. J. E. Woelfle is the youngest member of his parents' family, except one. He was reared in Anna, Illinois, and was twelve years old when his father died. His mother then removed to Vienna, Illinois, and there he pursued his education and finished the high school course be- fore beginning his study of medicine. Dr. George Bratton was his able preceptor and prepared him for entrance to the St. Louis College of Physicians and Surgeons, where he was graduated in 1897. After serving for six months as an interne in the St. Louis City Hospital, he located at Grand Chain, in his native state, and continued in practice there until 1901, when he located at Paducah. He is well known in the medical associations of both Illinois and Kentucky, being a member of the Illinois State Medical Society, the Southern Illinois Medical Society, the McCracken County (Kentucky) Medical Society. Fraternally he is a Royal Arch Mason.
In 1900 Dr. Woelfle was united in marriage with Hannon Echols, who was born in Illinois, and they have one little daughter, Kathleen Marie.
THOMAS B. HARRISON.
Thomas B. Harrison, a leading member of the Paducah bar, was born on a farm in Lewis county, Kentucky, July 10, 1873, and is a son of Thomas B. and Mary ( Voorhees) Harrison. The father was born near Richmond, Virginia, and belonged to a family from which have sprung many noted statesmen. The mother belonged to an equally prominent New York family. They still reside in Lewis county and are among its most esteemed residents. Mr. Harrison now lives re-
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tired after an active business life, first as a merchant and then as a tanner."
Thomas B. Harrison is one of a family of seven children, four of whom are deceased. He was reared in his native county and was edu- cated at Chester Academy at Maysville and subsequently took a course in a Cincinnati technical school. At the age of eighteen he left the farm, and after completing his education became associated with his father in the tanning business. In 1893 they sold the tannery, and Thomas went to Washington, D. C., entering the law department of the Columbian University, where he was graduated in 1896. In the same year he was admitted to the bar in Lewis county, and in Feb- ruary, 1897, located for practice at Paducah.
Mr. Harrison has had a very successful career in his profession. At times he has been associated in practice with a number of well known attorneys-Colonel L. D. Husbands, Henry Burnette, of Louisville, W. A. Berry and J. C. Flournoy, the latter being his present law partner. In politics Mr. Harrison has been actively identified with the Demo- cratic party. Fraternally he belongs to the Order of Elks, and relig- iously is a Presbyterian.
EDMOND W. HUBBARD.
Edmond W. Hubbard, attorney-at-law, of Paducah, was born in Caldwell county, Kentucky, on a farm, January 29, 1866, and is a son of James P. and Helen ( Nichols ) Hubbard, both natives of Caldwell county, Kentucky. The paternal grandfather was Butler Hubbard, also a native of Caldwell county, and his father was a native of Virginia, while the Nichols family came from North Carolina.
The father of Edmond W. Hubbard was a farmer, and spent his
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life in Caldwell county and was successful in his work. In 1863 he enlisted in the Forty-eighth Kentucky Infantry, Union army, and served until the close of the war. His death occurred in January, 1901, aged sixty-six years. The mother still lives and makes her home on the old homestead, aged about sixty-seven years. The father was a Re- publican, and he and his wife early joined the Methodist church. They reared a family of eleven children, and gave them excellent educations, although they themselves had been denied that privilege.
Edmond W. Hubbard was reared upon a farm and attended the country schools until he was seventeen years of age, when he entered Princeton (Kentucky) Collegiate Institute, where he spent two years. At the age of nineteen years he began teaching country schools in Cakdl- well county, and taught and attended schools alternately for some six : or seven years, thus gaining a very liberal education. He became deputy postmaster at Princeton in 1892 and held that office for two years. In 1893 he was elected city judge of Princeton, and retained that office for three years. During the intervening years he attended the Louisville University of Law, from which he was graduated April 24, 1896, and, returning to Princeton, practiced his profession until 1901. In 1896 he was appointed master commissioner of Caldwell county, and discharged the duties of that office until March 1, 1898, when he was appointed deputy United States internal revenue collector, and in April, 1901, when he was transferred to the Paducah district, he removed to this city. May 1, 1903, Mr. Hubbard resigned the posi- tion of United States internal revenue collector, to again take up the practice of law, which he had suspended on coming to Paducah in April of 1901. He opened a law office in Paducah and thus resumed his profession.
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In December, 1901, he was married to Miss Cora Leibel, of Padu- cah, and one child has been born of this marriage, Elizabeth. Mr. Hubbard is a Republican in his political opinions. He has been a Master Mason since he was twenty-one years of age, and is a very ener- getic, enterprising young man.
WILLIAM ALFRED WHAYNE, M. D.
William Alfred Whayne, M. D., was born in Fulton county, Ken- tucky, April 22, 1864, and is a son of Alfred B. and Lucy ( Morris) Whayne, both natives of Kentucky. They were the parents of four children of whom our subject was the eldest. The father has been a resident physician of Fulton, Kentucky, for many years. He was one of the youngest surgeons of the Confederate army. His alma mater was the Kentucky Medical College, whence he went to Bellevue Medical College, New York. His wife died about 1876. She was a most excellent lady, and a tender, loving mother.
Dr. W. A. Whayne was mostly reared in his native county, and after receiving a liberal literary education, read medicine, first with his father, and in 1880 was graduated from the Chicago College of Phar- macy. In 188y he was graduated from the medical department of the University of Louisville, and in 1895 from the New York Polyclinic. He first practiced medicine at Fulton, after he had graduated at Louis- ville, but later went to Greenville, Texas, and acted as surgeon of the Sherman, Shreveport & Southern Railway for about three years. He then returned to Fulton and in 1899 settled in Paducah and established a special practice as an eye, ear, nose and throat physician, in which line he met with marked success. In 1903 he sold his practice and re-
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moved west. Dr. Whayne is a member of MeCracken County Medical Society, Southwestern Kentucky Medical Society and the American Medical Association.
In 1890 he was married to Alice Reid. Fraternally he is a Royal Arch Mason and member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and Knights of Pythias.
JOHN D. SMITH, M. D.
John D. Smith, M. D., of Paducah, is one of the oldest and most skilful physicians of western Kentucky, and is known throughout all Kentucky and other states for the active part he has taken in recent years in connection with and in behalf of the Prohibition movement. He is a native of North Carolina. In Anson county of that state he was born, March 18. 1829, of excellent parentage and ancestry. His parents were John A. and Lucy ( Williams) Smith, both natives of the county in which their son was born, as one of thirteen children.
When John D. Smith was a lad of nine years his parents emigrated westward and settled in Henderson county, Tennessee. He was reared on the farm amidst pioneer scenes, and was given a common school education. He began the study of medicine under the instructions of a practicing physician, and, becoming fitted in this way for the practice of medicine, began his professional career in Benton county, Tennessee. After a practice of four years, Dr. Smith entered the Memphis Medical College, and in 1854 was graduated therefrom. Then locating at Friend- ship, Tennessee, he continued there for a few years, and then removed to Dyersburg, Tennessee, where he resided and practiced medicine up to 1886, in which year he located in Paducah, Kentucky, which city
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has since been his place of residence, and here he has continued in an active practice, interrupted only by his services in behalf of prohibition.
In 1861 Dr. Smith enlisted in the Confederate army, as a private, but soon after the enlistment was made assistant surgeon, and not much later promoted to rank of surgeon of, first, the Forty-seventh Tennessee Regiment, and later of the Twenty-ninth Tennessee Regiment. Subse- quently he was transferred to the hospital department, and his service continued nearly to the close of the war. The Doctor is a member of the Southwestern Kentucky Medical Society, and fraternally is a Royal Arch Mason. For nearly a half century he has been an active member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, serving as steward of the church most of this time.
In early life he supported the men and measures of the Whig political party, but on the close of the war between the states he acted in matters political with the Democratic party. In 1884 he cast his last vote for the men and measures of the Democratic party. Since then he has been an ardent supporter of the Prohibition party. Always a close student of public measures and questions, he became convinced of the dreadful consequences of intemperance and the liquor traffic, deem- ing it a menace to the welfare of the individual and consequently to society, to the state and the nation. At the Kentucky state Prohibition convention, held in August of 1900, he was honored by an election to the chairmanship of the Kentucky state Prohibition executive com- mittee. He has since continued as chairman of the committee, and under his administration much effectual work has resulted, and grati- fying progress of the cause has followed, the vote of the party having increased steadily, and the support of hundreds of the very best men of the state has been enlisted. To Dr. Smith's wise, consistent and well
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directed efforts is due the splendid organization of the party as it now exists in Kentucky. The party is being rapidly organized in every county and community of the state, and in the fall of 1902 the party had a ticket in every congressional district in Kentucky. As an organizer and campaigner Dr. Smith possesses rare accomplishments. As a thinker and writer he has contributed much to Prohibition literature which has already given fruitage of much good in way of educating the people and creating a sentiment favorable to the cause of prohibition.
In his personal relations Dr. Smith is of a deportment calculated to win admiration and friendship. His home life is equally praise- worthy. Fifty years ago he was united in marriage with Miss Vetury White, a native of Tennessee. To him his wife has been an in- valuable and devoted helpmeet. To their marriage were born eleven children, four of whom have passed away in death. Their children were- given good educational advantages, and taught lessons of useful industry and moral and religious truths. Certainly the life of Dr. Smith is well worthy of emulation, and in the realm of biography a sketch of his con- sistent life deserves recognition.
ELI G. BOONE.
Eli G. Boone, a well known citizen of Paducah, Kentucky, who is a large real estate dealer and insurance man in this city, was born here May 2, 1852, a son of Richard T. and Lucy (Willett) Boone. Richard T. Boone was born in 1824, in Todd county, Kentucky, a son of Ilick Boone, of Virginia, and died at Paducah in 1894. His wife was born at Corydon, Indiana, where her father, George Willett, was an early settler from Maryland, and she was reared in her native state.
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About 1847 she accompanied a relative, Eli Gaither, by way of flat- boat, to Paducah, where she met and married Richard T. Boone. Here the parents of our subject lived during the remainder of their lives, the mother dying in 1896, aged sixty-five years. They had a family of eleven children, and five of these, three sons and two daughters, are still living. Richard T. Boone was a contractor and builder, and met with business success. He was a man of excellent mental caliber and occupied prominent positions in city and county. In politics he was a Democrat and served several years as city marshal, and later as county magistrate. In religious belief he was a Universalist and a man of the highest moral character. For many years he was prominent in Masonry and was the first Knight Templar in Paducah. Few men were more sincerely respected than was Richard T. Boone.
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