USA > Kentucky > Memorial record of western Kentucky, Volume II > Part 27
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Gabriel L. Spink was the youngest of the twelve children, and was reared on the farm in Hardin county until he was fourteen years of age. After his mother's death he went to live with his father in
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Louisville, and was also in Indiana for a time. At the age of fifteen he began a partnership mercantile business in Indiana, but after a year sold out and returned to Hardin county, Kentucky, and engaged in merchandising in Colesburg with his brother. They also conducted the postoffice and express office at that place. Mr. Spink finally sold out his interest, and then learned telegraphy. He entered the general offices of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company at Louisville, and was in the employ of the company for fifteen years, serving in different capacities. In 1879 he came to Princeton, Kentucky, as agent of the company, and in 1897 entered into his present business in that city. At the organization of the Railroad Agents' Association he became its secretary and president, and filled the position for some years and was active in the work. He is still the station agent at Princeton, and is a popular man in railroad circles.
Mr. Spink was married in 1888 to Mrs. Julia W. Fowler, of Prince- ton. He is a Republican in politics, and has been public-spirited and interested in all matters affecting the general welfare of city and state. Ile is a fine mathematician and accountant, and has often been called to examine the books of banks and other institutions as an expert.
JOHN WATKINS CROCKETT.
John Watkins Crockett, who for many years was connected with the bar of Henderson, was born in Jessamine county, Kentucky, May 17, 1818, and died in Madisonville, June 20, 1874. His father, John W. Crockett, was a native of the same county and was a farmer by occupation. His grandfather, Joseph Crockett, was born near Charlotte- ville, Virginia, and was colonel of a Virginia regiment during the war
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of the Revolution. In 1872 he emigrated to Kentucky and took an active part in the organization of the state, serving as United States marshal for a time. The first of the family to come to America was of French-Huguenot extraction, members of the Huguenot band having fled from their native France in the days of the persecution and sought safety in Ireland, whence their descendants came to America. The name at that time was spelled Croquetaine. The sons of this family were seafaring men, and engaged in this calling in connection with the " Maury family before locating in Virginia. The mother of our subject was Louisa (Bullock) Crockett, of Jessamine county, Kentucky, a member of the prominent family of that name in this state.
John Watkins Crockett was educated in the common schools of Jessamine county, Kentucky, and in Hancock county, Illinois, while residing there with his sister, Mrs. Hannah ( Crockett) Bell. At the age of twenty-one he returned to Hopkinsville, Kentucky, where he read law with his cousin, Joseph Crockett, an attorney of renown, who later became one of the justices on the supreme bench of California. Mr. Crockett was admitted to practice at Paducah, Kentucky, and removed to Henderson a short time before the inauguration of the Civil war. Ilis sympathies were with the south, and his conscientious convictions of the supreme right of the states to sever their union with the national government led him to give his influence and support to the Confederacy. He was sent as a delegate to the convention held in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and there was elected to represent the second congressional district in the Confederate congress. He maintained this position during the greater part of the war, devoting his time and abilities to advancing the cause of the south, and when the war was over returned to Hender- son, where he resumed the practice of law. To that work he devoted his
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energies until 1872. when failing health caused him to leave the bar and he returned to Madisonville, where he died in 1874.
Mr. Crockett was twice married. He first wedded Mrs. Smedley, and of this union there are two surviving children,-John W. and Mrs. Lucy (Crockett ) Thornberry, of Montgomery, Alabama. For his sec- ond wife Mr. Crockett chose Miss Louisa Ingram, daughter of Wyatt H. Ingram, a merchant of Henderson. Kentucky. The Ingrams came to this state from Virginia at a very early day. The only surviving child of the second marriage is Ingram Crockett, who is teller in the Planters' Bank of Henderson, and who, aside from his duties in the bank, gives much attention to authorship, having written many beautiful poems which have appeared in such standard publications as the Youth's Companion and Frank Leslie's, and have also been published for dis- tribution and sale.
In concluding the sketch of John Watkins Crockett it is but just to give an account of his forensic ability, which has seldom been equaled. He was by nature an orator. He possessed a vigorous intellect, wide information and keen wit, and his command of language was such as to make his speech apt and fitting at all times. Careful in arranging and preparing his cases, he was never at a loss for forcible and ap- propriate argument to sustain his position and he met in the arena of the court-room and in public debate such men as Archibald Dixon, Lazarus W. Powell and others of like caliber, and rarely was worsted in the combat. He was of a genial, generous nature, courteous and frank and ready at all times to aid the unfortunate and needy. Though thirty years have passed since he was laid in the tomb his memory is still enshrined in the hearts of many friends, and his virtues and good- ness still live in the recollection of those who knew him.
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JOHN HILARY NEWBERRY.
Fulton county is one of the best agricultural counties of the great commonwealth of Kentucky, and is such not solely because of fertile soil, but because its farmers are enterprising and representatives of the noble, honest and independent pursuit they follow. Among the most successful farmers of this county is the subject of this personal memoir, John Hilary Newberry.
Mr. Newberry is a native son of Fulton county. He was born here on the Ioth day of November, 1861, and is a son of James and Susan D. (Plummer) Newberry. His father was born August 20, 1836, and his mother's birthday was June 30, 1834. They were married in 1860, and to them only two children were born-two sons, namely : John H., and Thomas C., born October 14, 1863. The mother died in 1865, and two years later the father died. So their children were left orphans when they were mere children. Both have grown to useful manhood and become well respected citizens.
John H. Newberry has spent his entire life as a resident of Ful- ton county. He gained a limited education, but in the fields he was taught to till the soil and on the farm in his youth he labored, and there learned the most valuable of lessons, that of industry and per- severance. To farming he has devoted his time and efforts, and has achieved success. He owns a fine farm of over one hundred acres, and has it well improved and stocked. While he produces wheat, corn and other farm products, tobacco is his best paying crop, and he is num- bered among the most successful tobacco growers of his county.
In 1884 Mr. Newberry married Miss Sarah Finch, a daughter of John Finch, who was one of the pioneers and highly respected citizens
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of Fulton county. He died in 1881, at the age of seventy-two, and in 1890 his wife died at the age of seventy-four years. Besides Mrs. New- berry they were the parents of the following named children: John Finch, who was a farmer of Fulton county, and died in 1903, aged sixty-seven years; Mary E., wife of James Shikle, a farmer of Fulton county, died in 1873, aged thirty-six years; Thomas J., a farmer resid- ing in Texas; George, died in 1887, aged thirty-three years, was a farmer of Fulton county; and Paulina Ellen, who married John P. Feimster, a farmer of North Carolina, and died in 1898, at the age of forty years.
Mr. and Mrs. Newberry have the following children, namely : Tidie, Mary E., Nicie, George Ivy, Virginia Pearl, John Thomas and Birdie Ellen. Both Mr. and Mrs. Newberry are members of the Chris- tian church, and their home is well known for the generous hospitality . shown to those who visit there.
JOHN ADAMS MILNER.
John Adams Milner is a well known farmer and resident of Fulton county, Kentucky. Mr. Milner was born in this county September II, 1855. Hlis parents were John and Sallie ( Haynes) Milner, both of whom were natives of Kentucky. Mr. Milner's paternal grandfather, John Milner, was also a native of Kentucky, and very early in his mar- ried life became a pioneer settler in Fulton county, which at the time was still a part of Hickman county.
John and Sallie (Haynes) Milner were the parents of the follow- ing children: James H., who died of measles while serving in the Confederate army; Susan, who married Mort Willingham, of Sebree, Kentucky ; Marcus, a farmer of Texas and a Confederate veteran of the
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Civil war: William, deceased, was a merchant of Sebree, Kentucky : George, who removed to Texas and died there, a farmer: and the youngest of the family is John Adams Milner. Their paternal grand- father was a farmer by occupation. He served as county judge, and was highly respected. The mother of these children died during the progress of the Civil war, and later the father married a second time, wedding Lettie Jones, who bore him one child, a daughter, Mattie, who married Frank Wilkinson and died some seven or eight years ago. The father did not live long after his second marriage. He was a farmer by occupation and shared the full confidence of his fellow citizens.
John A. Milner obtained a fair common school education, and quit school to become bookkeeper for a produce commission dealer of Louis- ville, Kentucky, where Mr. Milner last attended school. He held this position only a short time, and in 1875 returned to Fulton county, where he has since resided and farmed, meeting with fair success in life.
In 1886 Mr. Milner was fortunate in securing in marriage the hand of Miss Mattie Alexander, a native of Fulton county, and a daugh- ter of John and Margaret ( Brown) Alexander, both of whom are now deceased. In the fall of the year in which they were married Mr. and Mrs. Milner established their home where they now reside, about three miles north of the city of Fulton. The years that have since passed have been blessed in many ways unto them, and pleasant has been their journey of life as man and wife. One child, Lillian by name, has been born to them, and she, together with May Asbell, whose guardian is Mr. Milner, has been a source of much happiness in their home, which is widely known because of the generous hospitality here accorded many friends of the family.
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In church relations Mr. and Mrs. Milner are Cumberland Pres- byterians, and in politics he is a Democrat, though he has never sought political honors or office. As a farmer Mr. Milner is regarded as a progressive and prosperous man, and he enjoys the confidence and esteem of his neighbors and many acquaintances.
PETER FAITH.
Peter Faith, late of McCracken county, Kentucky, was a native of this state, born in McLean county in 1858, son of William J. and Mary (Johnson) Faith, both deceased, the father having died in 1900, the mother in 1887. Their other children beside Peter are as follows : Frances, who died in 1887, was the wife of Woodson Moore, who was a groceryman in Muhlenberg county .and who died in 1901; Lenard; William J .; John Elvis; and Effie, wife of Azro Hendrix, a farmer of . McCracken county. .
Peter Faith was reared and educated in his native county and moved from there, in 1887, to McCracken county, where he was en- gaged in agricultural pursuits, making a specialty of raising tobacco and corn. Here he died in the prime of life, in 1899, at the age of forty-one years. He left a widow and six children. In 1883 he had married Miss Mattie E. Miller, daughter of Simon and Eliza Miller, who are still living and are residents of MeLean county. The children of this union are as follows: Ira, Robert, Murray, Herbert, Ethel and Alice.
Politically Mr. Faith was a Democrat, religiously a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, in which he was for years an active and influential worker. As an honorable, upright citizen and Christian man he stood high in the estimation of all who knew him.
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