USA > Kentucky > Memorial record of western Kentucky, Volume II > Part 16
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After this he was selected by the Democratic and People's party committee as one of the two candidates for presidential elector for the state of Kentucky at the November election, 1896, representing the People's party. He was not an aspirant at either honor, the positions being unsolicited. He has always been a consistent and firm supporter of the political principles advocated by Jefferson.
In May, 1850, Mr. Turner was united in marriage to Miss Lucinda, the only daughter of Dr. John Slavens, of Harrodsburg, a successful physician and graduate of the medical department of Transylvania Uni- versity in 1825, under Dr. Benjamin Dudley. Mr. and Mrs. Turner have had five children : Sophy, wife of William Soaper, of Hender- son, now deceased; Josephine, wife of Benjamin C. Allin, of Chicago; Mary, wife of William W. Shelby, of Henderson; Fielding Lewis Turner, who was graduated in the law department of Union Uni- versity, of New York, in 1876, and engaged in the practice in Hen- derson for a few years, but is now engaged in extensive farming in Ballard county, Kentucky; and Lucy, wife of Chapman T. Blackwell,
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of Henderson. There are now a number of grandchildren who add happiness to the old family homestead.
Mr. Turner joined the Christian church at an early age; his wife and children are members of the Protestant Episcopal church. In 1849 he became a member of the Masonic fraternity, was made a Knight Templar in Webb Encampment, in Lexington, in May, 1850, and was master of Good Samaritan Lodge, in 1852.
Mr. Turner is a man of domestic tastes who finds his greatest enjoy- ment in his home, where he is surrounded by his family and friends, to whom he delights to extend the warm-hearted hospitality so character- istic of the southern mansion. He is himself a true type of the chiv- alrous, aristocratic old southern gentleman whom all delight to honor. Ile resides upon his farm adjoining the city limits of Henderson, and . is devoted to agricultural and horticultural pursuits, which he makes his source of recreation. The old place has been his home for over forty years, and each tree and flower there is to him a familiar and loved friend.
ED B. WALKER.
Ed B. Walker, editor and publisher of the Twvice-a-Week Gasette at Clinton, Hickman county, Kentucky, is a native son of Clinton and one of its representative citizens. With the exception of a few years, he has been devoted to editorial work all the years'of his active career, having learned the business when a boy.
Mr. Walker was born in Clinton, Kentucky, August 25, 1862. A few years later he lost his father, R. W. Walker, by death. He was a well known lawyer of Clinton. Harriet ( Bullock) Walker, his
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mother, was a daughter of Judge E. I. Bullock, a pioneer lawyer and jurist of this section; she is still living in Clinton.
Mr. Walker was educated chiefly in the public schools, and also took a course in Clinton College, but did not graduate. At the age of eighteen he entered a printing office, and in newspaper work, thus early begun, found the occupation for which his talents have best fitted him and in which he has met with best success. After following the profession of an editor in Kentucky and Tennessee for several years, he went to Texas in 1884 and became editor of a paper at Gainesville. In 1885 he served as committee clerk in the Texas state senate and then returned to Gainesville and studied law and was admitted to the bar. He practiced law there for several years, then took an editorial position on the Gainesville Evening Register. This latter he resigned in 1890 and returned to his "old Kentucky home," where he bought the Clinton Democrat, which he conducted until 1902. In November of the latter year he established the Twvice-a-Week Gasette in Clinton, and since then has been successfully engaged in building up its patron- age and making it one of the influential organs of the county and town.
The only public office to which Mr. Walker has been elected by the votes of the people was that of mayor of Clinton, to which he was chosen in 1892 or 1893. He served as chairman of the county Demo- cratic committee in 1896 and 1897, memorable years in this section of Kentucky because of the political issues joined and settled. Mr. Walker has always been a Democrat, and has been a Hickman county delegate to many state conventions. Ile served as state central com- mitteeman for the first congressional district for one or two years, 1894-5. Mr. Walker has no church connections, and is not identified with any social or fraternal organizations.
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September 22, 1887, Mr. Walker was married at Owensboro, Ken- tucky, to Miss Jennie Greene, and four children have been born to them, three girls and a boy, the latter the eldest and now about fifteen years old.
JOHN ROBERT COLEMAN, M. D.
Dr. John Robert Coleman, of Paducah, Kentucky, was born in Henry county, Tennessee, August 22, 1860, a son of Robert Spillsby Coleman, M. D., and Fannie (Williams) Coleman, both natives of Tennessee and both descended from English ancestry. The Colemans originally came from North Carolina, while the Williams family for years resided in Tennessee. Robert Spillsby Coleman received his medical education in the University of Tennessee, at Nashville, and until 1872 was engaged in the practice of medicine in Tennessee. In that year he came to Kentucky and located in Murray, where he re- mained until 1886, removing thence to Princeton, where he has since continued his residence, all the while giving his time to the active practice of his profession. During the Civil war he was a physician in the Confederate army, under General Forrest.
The son of a physician, John R. Coleman early gave his attention to the study of medicine and adopted his father's profession. He is the oldest of a family of five, three sous and two daughters. In his youth he received a common and high school education in the towns in which they lived, he being twelve years old at the time the family removed to Kentucky and settled in Murray. After studying medi- cine in his father's office he entered the University of Louisville, where he completed his medical course and graduated with honors, February
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28, 1883. From the time of his graduation until 1900 he practiced at Murray, and for the past three years has been in Paducah. Dr. Cole- man is a member of the Southwestern Kentucky Medical Association, of which he is an ex-president; of the Kentucky State Medical Society ; the American Medical Association; the West Tennessee Medical and Surgical Association; and the McCracken County Medical Society, of which he is president. He is a Knight Templar Mason and a member of the Mystic Shrine, and for a number of years has figured prominently in Masonic circles. Politically he is a Democrat. He is a member and president of the board of education of the city of Paducah.
Of Dr. Coleman's home life we record that in 1885 he married Miss Jessie McElrath, of Murray, and they have two daughters, Misses Rella and Fannie.
WALTER W. BLANE.
Walter W. Blane, a prominent farmer and tobacco-raiser in Graves county, Kentucky, is the grandson of John Blane, who was born in Virginia in 1805 and died in 1892, aged eighty-seven. William Ed- ward Blane, the son of the latter, was born in Halifax county, Virginia, in 1834, and was a farmer throughout his life, coming to Graves county, Kentucky, in 1881; he lived to be sixty-three years old and died in 1897. His wife was Bettie E. Ford, who was born in Stewart county, Tennessee, in. 1842, and was married in 1858. Patrick Ford, her father, was born in North Carolina in 1818, and died in Tennessee in 1879. Mrs. W. E. Blane is still living at the age of sixty-one. The brothers and sisters of Walter W. Blane are as follows: William, now in the piano and organ business at Mayfield, Kentucky; John, who died
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when only eight years old; Lester, a farmer of Carlisle county, Ken- tucky; Lena, the wife of Edward Comer, a carpenter of Graves county ; Gladys, the wife of Dr. Charles Brandon, of Palouse, Wash- ington ; and Mollie, the wife of John Turnbowe, a farmer in the state of Washington.
Walter W. Blane was born in Stewart county, Tennessee, in 1860, and was educated in that county. He then engaged in farming, and in 1881 came to Graves county, Kentucky, where he has since been engaged in farming and the raising of tobacco. In 1885 he was mar- ried to Miss Mary Belle Lewis, who became the mother of the follow- ing children : William L .; James; Ruth, who died in 1895 at the age of three years; Tinie; Ella; and Bettie.
ELIPHALET CASE.
When Eliphalet Case was called to the home beyond one more name was added to the list of honored dead whose earthly record closed with these words, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant," but as long as memory remains to those who knew him the influence of his noble life will remain as a source of encouragement and inspiration. "Our echoes roll from soul to soul," and the good we do lives after us through all ages, handed down from generation to generation. Who, then, can measure the results of a life work, and especially such a life work as that of Eliphalet Case? To his fellow-men his best energies were ever - devoted. With unerring judgment he recognized the "spark of divin- ity" in each individual and endeavored to fan it into a flame of righteousness. Not to condemn but to aid, he made the practice of his life; and the world is better and brighter for his having lived. But
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though the voice is stilled in death, the spirit of his worth and work remains as the deep undercurrent of a mighty stream, noiseless, but irresistible.
No history of Carlisle county would be complete without mention of Eliphalet Case. He was born in Warren county, Indiana, on the 5th of June, 1821, and passed the eighty-first mile-stone on life's journey. Hardships, trials and unremitting labor were his lot in boyhood. His father died during the infancy of the son, and when but seven years of age Mr. Case was left an orphan by the death of his mother. From that time forward the period of his life which should have been bright and joyous, free from care and happy with the pleasures of youth, was burdened with responsibility and arduous work. At the age of nine years he was apprenticed to one who proved a cruel and vindictive . master. He suffered hardships greater perhaps than have ever been pictured as devolving upon the luckless slave. It is wonderful that he accomplished as much in life as he did, but he had a nature that rose above all the environments of his early youth, sought the things that are best in life and developed into a character whose grandeur has been an inspiration for many. In early boyhood he came to Hickman, Ken- tucky, and here for a very brief time he was led from the strict path of rectitude by worldly companions, but soon, through the influence of a most estimable lady, he returned to the straight and narrow path in which he continued to walk throughout the remaining days of his life. For more than a half century he was a pillar in the church, and his life a criterion of good citizenship and an example for emulation. In early youth he had learned the tailor's trade and became a journeyman tailor. At the time of his arrival in Hickman in 1842 the place was a strug- gling hamlet of about three hundred inhabitants. Upon the hillside
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grew clusters of oak, poplar and other trees, and the most far-sighted could hardly realize that these would give way to handsome homes and thriving business interests which were to establish a city of importance in southwestern Kentucky. Mr. Case, however, with wonderful fore- sight, believed that Hickman was destined to become a place of con- siderable size, and resolved to open a tailoring shop here. This he did, and for nearly forty years conducted business along that line. As the town grew his patronage increased and he always maintained a foremost place as a representative of his line of work. In his business affairs he prospered, and he evidenced his confidence in the city's future by his investments in business, residence and other property. This returned to him an excellent income and proved as well a benefit to the city. He erected three of the stores occupied by leading merchants of Hickman, and his enterprise was a marked factor in the improvement of the town.
From the time of the organization of the Republican party until his death, Mr. Case was one of its most stalwart supporters. He cour- ageously upheld his principles even during the Civil war when the majority of his old friends and neighbors were strong in the advocacy of the Confederate states. Though he never tried to hide his opinions, in fact, announced them on all suitable occasions, he always enjoyed in the highest degree the respect, confidence and continued friendship of those with whom he was associated, and that he was held in the highest regard and that he enjoyed the good will of his fellow-men is shown by the fact that he was retained as a member of the city council and as mayor of the city for a period of eighteen years, and during that entire period he was also postmaster of Hickman. No public trust reposed in him was ever betrayed in the slightest degree. He was ever
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loyal to duty and to the right, and he would never compromise his position in the least by a questionable method of practice. His church relationship was maintained with the Baptist denomination, and he was untiring in his efforts to advance its interests. He was also very active in behalf of temperance and was spoken of as a Neal Dow.
At the age of twenty-eight years Mr. Case was united in marriage to Mrs. William B. Holt, who was a widow with three children, and by her second marriage she became the mother of three children, but are all now deceased. Her death occurred February 7, 1895, and on the 19th of September, 1897, Mr. Case was again married, his second union being with Mrs. Isabelle Adams, a widow. She was born in Stewart county, Tennessee, July 23, 1848, and was a daughter of Orville and Mary N. Champion. Her father was a native of South Carolina, while her mother was from Tennessee. He died in 1883 at the age of seventy-two years. Mrs. Case was the ninth in a family of eighteen children, and has been married three times. In December, 1870, she became the wife of Charles Adams, who died in 1873, leav- ing two children : Mary Y. and Charlie Lena. Her second husband was Henry. Brown, by whom she had one child, Harriett Idella.
Mr. Case was a man of noble character, of kindly and charitable spirit, and his life was one of marked helpfulness. He reared fourteen orphan children, one of whom, Edward Case, is now engaged in busi- ness in Hickman. His usefulness was recognized in every honorable walk of life-in business, where he was straightforward; in citizenship, where he carried out his belief that it was every man's duty to support the principles in which he believed lay the welfare of the country; in social life, where he held friendship inviolable; in the church, where
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he was true and consistent; in the home, where the obligations of hus- band and father were very dear and sacred to him.
"He was a man, take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again."
ROBERT M. CHOWNING.
For a number of years Robert M. Chowning has occupied a con- spicuous place among the leading business men of this section, and is now serving as cashier of the First National Bank of Fulton. He was born in Owen county, Kentucky, in New Liberty, on the 16th of Feb- ruary, 1864, being a son of Christopher C. and Lizzie ( Miller) Chown- ing, both also natives of that county. His father, who was a carpenter by trade, made his home in Owen county until 1868, in which year he removed to Mayfield, Kentucky, there residing for twenty-five years, on the expiration of which period he removed to Shelbyville, this state, where his life's labors were ended in death in 1893, at the age of eighty- three years. In the family of Christopher Chowning were two children, the daughter being Mrs. J. E. Robbins, of Mayfield, Kentucky.
Robert M. Chowning received his educational training in the schools of Mayfield and Shelbyville, and on reaching his fifteenth year he entered the battle of life for himself. During the intervening period from 1879 until 1888 he was engaged in railroad work, having pre- viously learned the art of telegraphy, and during his connection with the railroad service he rapidly climbed the ladder of promotion. For four years he was the efficient agent of the road at Mayfield, but in 1888 resigned that position to enter the employ of the Graves County Bank- ing and Trust Company, at Mayfield. In 1891 this corporation estab)-
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lished the First National Bank of Fulton, of which Mr. Chowning was made the cashier, and he has ever since continued to discharge the duties of this important position, having proved himself an invaluable official and one who by his conservative and wise management has pro- moted the welfare of this financial institution and placed it among the substantial banking houses of the county.
The marriage of Mr. Chowning was celebrated in 1889, when Miss Emma Mayes, of Mayfield, became his wife, and they have become the parents of two children, a son and a daughter. Mr. Chowning gives his political support to the Democracy, while in his fraternal affilia- tions he is a member of the old and time-honored Masonic order. In all his varied relations of life he is proving himself honorable, sincere and trustworthy, thus winning the esteem and confidence of all with whom he is associated.
WILLIAM J. WHITLOW.
William J. Whitlow, a well known farmer near Sedalia, Graves county, is a native Kentuckian, and enjoys the distinction of having arrived at a comfortable degree of material prosperity through his own efforts and from an inauspicious beginning, when he was poor and had only his hands to help him. He is now only in the vigor and health of middle age, but through his industry and thrift has accumu- lated means which insure his declining years from any want. He bears the reputation of being an upright and reliable man, kind and provi- dent for his family, and public-spirited and true in his ideals of citi- zenship.
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Mr. Whitlow's family is of Irish descent, being one of the many which settled in South Carolina from the earliest days of coloniza- tion, in which state grandfather Jesse Whitlow was born. Alfred M. Whitlow, the father of William J. Whitlow, was born in Allen county, Kentucky, as was also his wife, Rena ( Long) Whitlow, who was a daughter of Nicholas Long. Alfred Whitlow has followed the trade of a blacksmith all his life, and he also buys farms. He now makes his home on a fine farm of eighty acres near Sedalia, and is strong and vigorous at the age of seventy-three. He has always voted the Democratic ticket, and is a member of the Missionary Baptist church. Ilis wife died in 1864, having borne her husband six children: Louisa F., William J., George, deceased, Rena, deceased, one that died in in- fancy, and Rufus, deceased.
Mr. William J. Whitlow was born in Allen county, Kentucky, December 23, 1855. He learned the ins and outs of farming at an early age, and had to make his start in this work without any capital. He has been increasingly successful, so that he is now the owner of a model farm of one hundred and sixty acres, well improved and stocked, not far from the village of Sedalia, and to this he devotes the best- efforts of his years.
Mr. Whitlow is a stanch Democrat in politics, and follows the family creed by being a member of the Missionary Baptist church. On December 23, 1883, his birthday, he was married to Miss Maggie Atherton, who was born in Carlisle county, Kentucky, in September, 1864, a daughter of James and Savilla Jane (Goldsmith) Atherton, who are both living in Carlisle county. Mrs. Whitlow was reared and educated in her native county. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Whitlow: Donnie Belle, one that died in infancy, Willie
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May, Cletus, Rhode and Kirskey. Mr. and Mrs. Whitlow are highly esteemed throughout the neighborhood, and are numbered among the representative people of Graves county.
JAMES R. CURTCHFIELD.
Residing near the town of Wingo and ranking with the representa- tive farmers of Graves county, is found James R. Curtchfield. He is a native son of the Bluegrass state, his birth occurring in Todd county, Kentucky, in 1845. His father, Edward HI. Curtchfield, was born in Prince Edward county, Virginia, in 1800, and was a son of William Curtchfield, also a native of that county, but who removed to Todd county in 1803 and there engaged in agricultural pursuits. In Wil- liam Curtchfield's family were fifteen children who grew to years of ma- turity. Edward H. Curtchfield was married in 1842 to Jane Landrum, who was born in 1817, and was a daughter of John Landrum, a native of Prince Edward county, Virginia. The latter moved to Christian county, Kentucky, in 1803, where he, too, followed the life of a farmer, and he became the father of ten children who grew to years of maturity. In the family of Edward HI. and Jane Curtchfield were four children, namely : John W., who was a saddle and harness-maker in Todd coun- ty, and his death occurred in 1886, when seventy years of age; James R .; Mary Jane, the wife. of Adolphus Campbell, a carpenter in Indian Territory; and Nancy J., the wife of J. R. Pyler, an undertaker in Christian county, Kentucky.
James R. Curtchfield received an excellent education in Hopkins- ville College of Christian county, and after leaving the schoolroom he embarked in the tobacco business in Christian county. The year 1868
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witnessed his arrival in Graves county, where he is now the owner of one hundred and twenty acres of excellent farming land, and as an agriculturist his efforts have been attended with a high and well merited degree of success. After his arrival in Graves county Mr. Curtchfield was united in marriage to Miss Mattie Meenam, their wed- ding being celebrated in 1869, and the following named children have been born to them: Edward H., an employe of the Illinois Central Railroad Company; Henry L., engaged in the tobacco business at Mad- isonville, Kentucky; Gertrude, the wife of Boliver Dodson, a farmer and stock-raiser of Hickman county, this state; Amaryllis, who was employed as clerk by D. J. Slaughter at Wingo; Lexie, who is em- ployed in the same capacity at Mayfield, this state; and Willard, a student at Wingo. In his political affiliations Mr. Curtchfield has been a life-long Democrat, and in 1884 he was elected chairman of the Democratic central committee, of which position he is still the incum- bent. His career has been an active, useful and honorable one, and his name is found on the roll of the representative citizens of Graves county.
PHILLIP HOWARD.
Phillip Howard, a successful farmer and extensive landowner in both Hickman and Graves counties, Kentucky, resides upon his pleas- ant and valuable homestead in the former county. He was born in Surry county, North Carolina, in 1819, and is a son of Benjamin How- ard, also a native of that state, but who subsequently located in Graves county, Kentucky, and engaged in agricultural pursuits. He was an excellent business man, and his death occurred in 1835. In his family were seven children who grew to years of maturity. The maternal
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grandfather of our subject was Joseph Campbell, who removed from his native state of South Carolina to Graves county, Kentucky, in 1828. where he devoted his attention to agricultural pursuits. His death oc- curred in the year 1840, and he now lies buried in Graves county.
When the time came for him to engage in the active battle of life for himself Phillip Howard secured employment at cutting cord wood in Fulton county, being thus engaged from 1837 until 1838. In the latter year he left his boyhood home and made his way to Arkan- sas, where he was employed in driving a team for the government, haul- ing supplies for the Indians, and followed that occupation until 1839, the year in which he came to Graves county. Here he turned his at- tention to agricultural pursuits, and here he remained until his children were grown, after which he located in Hickman county, on his present homestead. His fertile and well cultivated farm consists of two hun- 1 dred and forty acres, and in addition to this he is also the owner of a tract of one hundred and twenty acres of excellent land in Graves county.
In 1841 Mr. Howard was united in marriage to Rachel Campbell, who was born in South Carolina in 1823, and the following children have been born of this union: Joseph B., a farmer of Graves county ; Mary Jincie, the wife of J. T. Cunningham, a farmer of Weakley county, Tennessee; J. Kimburn, also a farmer in Graves county; W. C., an agriculturist, physician and merchant in Texas; W. D., engaged in agricultural pursuits in Arkansas; Mrs. L. E. Sherffins, whose hus- band is a farmer in Arkansas; George W., who follows agricultural pursuits in Hickman county ; and Mrs. R. D. Pittman, whose husband is a farmer in Hickman county. In 1901 the wife and mother was called to the home beyond, passing away at the age of seventy-seven
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