USA > Kentucky > Memorial record of western Kentucky, Volume II > Part 6
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Shortly after their marriage, Rev. E. C. Eager and wife moved to Mississippi, where nine children were born to them, viz. : Ann J., the wife of John E. Moseley, died in 1883; William C., who died in Petersburg, Virginia, in 1864, a member of the Sixteenth Mississippi Infantry Regiment; Rev. George B. Eager, who, after pastorates in Knoxville, Tennessee, Mobile, Anniston and Montgomery, Alabama, now occupies the chair of Biblical Introduction and Pastoral Duties in the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, at Louisville, Kentucky ; Rev. John H. Eager, a Baptist minister, for seventeen years a mis- sionary in Italy, who now resides in Baltimore, Maryland, and is spe- cially employed in the endowment work of the Southern Baptist Theo- logical Seminary, of Louisville, Kentucky; Patrick Henry Eager, presi- dent at one time of Brownsville (Tennessee) Female College, and Bay- lor Female College, at Belton, Texas, and professor of English in the University of Mississippi, at Oxford, and who now lives at Clinton, Mississippi, and is professor of English in Mississippi College; Har- riet Ide Eager, who died in Clinton, Mississippi, at four years of age; Susan Eager, the wife of Rev. I. P. Trotter, pastor of the Baptist church at Hattiesburg, Mississippi; and Mary Manassa Eager, the wife of Rev. J. M. Joiner, pastor of the Baptist church at Elkton, Kentucky, formerly a missionary in North China, until broken health compelled his return to this country.
Dr. Benjamin F. Eager was the fourth child, and was born in Jefferson county, Mississippi, July 18, 1848. His life to carly man-
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hood was spent in Jefferson and Hinds counties. His education was obtained at Oakland College, near Rodney, and at Mississippi College, at Clinton, Mississippi. He graduated in Cincinnati, Ohio, at the Ohio College of Dental Surgery, in 1872, as the valedictorian of his class. He graduated in medicine, in 1877, from the Louisville Medical Col- lege, at Louisville, Kentucky.
Immediately after graduating he located near Newstead, seven miles southwest of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, for the practice of medi- cine, where he remained about four years.
He moved to Hopkinsville in 1881, and three months afterward was appointed second assistant physician of the Western Kentucky Asylum for the Insane, under the superintendency of the late Dr. James Rodman. Upon the retirement of Dr. Rodman, April 20, 1889, Dr. B. W. Stone was promoted to the superintendency, and Dr. Eager was promoted to first assistant physician, in which capacity he served until April 9, 1896, when he resigned, and re-entered general practice, in Hopkinsville, in partnership with Dr. T. W. Blakey.
Dr. Eager was married June 21, 1888, to Miss Carrie Downer, daughter of Mr. Benjamin Downer, of an old and highly respected family of Todd county, Kentucky. They have three children: Benja- min F., Jr., Louise Downer and Henry Ide. Dr. Eager is a member of the Christian County Medical Society, the Kentucky State Medical Association and the American Medical Association. He is an active member of the Baptist church, and has served for years as chairman of its board of deacons.
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HENRY L. BRADLEY.
Henry L. Bradley, one of the successful young business men of Paducah, Kentucky, was born in this city, July 28, 1872, a son of William IT. and Lucy C. (West) Bradley. The father is a native of Georgia, where he was born September 5, 1836, and when yet a child went with his parents to western Tennessee, locating in Paris, Henry county, remaining there until 1858, when he removed to Paducah, and was there employed as bookkeeper by the old firm of J. W. Sherrer & Company, wholesale grocers. William Bradley is the only man now living who was connected with that firm when it closed its doors dur- ing the Civil war, and he also enjoys the honor of being the first man to travel for a Paducah wholesale house. At one time he was in busi- ness with J. T. West & Company, and later became the senior mem- ber of the firm of Bradley & Terrell, millers, but he sold his interest in this concern in 1873, and operated a commission house at Cairo, Illinois, for a year. At different times he was employed as a traveling salesman for M. Livingston & Company, and also for D. W. Swan Manufacturing Company. For nine years he traveled for Thompson, Wilson & Company, wholesale liquor dealers. Since 1880 he has been in the employ of the W. L. Weller & Sons' wholesale liquor house of Louisville, Kentucky, the oldest house of its kind in the state.
Henry L. Bradley is the youngest of three living children. He obtained his education in the public and private schools of his native city, and at the age of seventeen years began working in a flour mill. After four years' experience he assumed management of the Three Rivers Milling Company, of Paducah, and acted in that capacity for two years. In 1895, when only twenty-three years old, he embarked
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in a grain business on his own responsibility, his first establishment being on the south side of the town, but in 1899 he removed to his present convenient premises at 823 and 825 Harrison street, and added coal to his other commodities, now dealing in grain, coal, and corn- meal, which he manufactures himself.
In 1901 Mr. Bradley was married to Miss Emma MeKnight, a native of Paducah. In politics he is a Democrat. In religious matters lie is a Presbyterian, while his wife is a Methodist. Fraternally he is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and is highly es- teemed by all who know him.
AARON BUTLER.
Aaron Butler, one of the substantial and highly respected men of Paducah, Kentucky, was born November 15, 1860, in Pope county, Illinois, and is a son of John and Susan (Barger) Butler, the former of whom was born in the same locality as his son, in 1829, and is still living, being a well known farmer. In politics he is a Republican, and . has served as school trustee for many years. In religious matters he is a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church. The mother was born in 1837 and died in 1864. The children born to this worthy couple were as follows: Jacob, Frank, Aaron and Margaret. The last named married F. H. Rector, of Pope county, Illinois, but later died, all the others surviving her.
Aaron Butler was educated at Eddyville, and after leaving school in 1882 went into a general medicine and drug business at Shuttleville, Illinois, but in 1888 removed to Paducah, where he embarked in a grocery business, and thus continued until 1898, when he disposed of
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his interests in that line, and started in the butchering business, and continued to operate the concern then inaugurated with success to a re- cent date, when he sold out.
In 1885 Mr. Butler and Miss Laura A. Cooper were united in marriage. He is a Republican, and takes an active part in local affairs, although his time has been too much occupied with business affairs for him to hold office. Fraternally he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, while his religious affiliations are in the Meth- odist church, of which body he is a liberal supporter. Mr. Butler is well and favorably known, and is recognized as an enterprising, upright and conscientious business man.
FLAVIUS J. SULLIVAN, M. D.
A worthy, prominent and representative member of the medi- cal fraternity in Caldwell county is Dr. Flavius Josephus Sullivan, of Princeton. He was born in Wilson county, Tennessee, on the 10th of May, 1838, and is a son of Eclemuel and Martha (Stone) Sullivan. The father was born in Tennessee and was a son of Azel and Sophia (West) Sullivan. The paternal grandfather was born in Maryland, and his father was of Irish birth. The grandmother was born in Wales and was of Welsh lineage. After residing for some years in Maryland, Azel Sullivan removed to Tennessee, establishing his home there at an early period in the development of that state. The Doc- tor's father was reared in Tennessee and became a distiller, following that pursuit in early life. Later he engaged in trading, and while in North Carolina upon a trading expedition he died, passing away when about forty-five years of age. In his early manhood he had wedded
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Miss Martha Stone, who was born in North Carolina, as were her parents, Nicholas and Sarah (Thomason ) Stone. Mrs. Sullivan sur- vived her husband for a number of years, and passed away at her okdl home in Tennessee when nearly eighty-nine years of age. By her marriage she became the mother of eight children, of whom four are now deceased.
Dr. Sullivan was reared in his native county, and was educated at Cumberland College, in Lebanon, Tennessee, having thus acquired a good literary education. He prepared for professional life and was graduated from Nashville Medical College at the completion of a full course in medicine, with the class of 1865. Prior to the war he had studied medicine, but when the country became involved in hostili- ties he enlisted in the fall of 1861 as a private of Company F, Forty- fifth Tennessee Confederate Regiment. After the close of the war Dr. Sullivan resumed the study of medicine, and after his graduation in 1865 came to Kentucky and located at Farmersville, Caldwell county, where he practiced continuously for thirty years, or until 1895, when he came to Princeton. Here he soon gained a liberal patronage, and he now has a very extensive practice, which is indicative of the confidence reposed in him by the public. His skill and ability are marked, his knowledge of the science of medicine being comprehensive and exact, while in its application to the needs of suffering humanity he is ever accurate. He belongs to the Caldwell County Medical Society and to the Southwestern Kentucky Medical Society, and he is continually broadening his knowledge by reading and investigation, that his efforts may be of the greatest benefit to his fellow men.
In 1867 Dr. Sullivan was married to Miss Lucy Mary Beckner, who was born in Virginia, and they now have three children: Frank-
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lin H., Maymie and Eclemuel Beckner. The first named is now a lawyer in St. Louis. The Doctor votes with the Democracy, but has little opportunity to take an active part in political affairs, because of the demands made upon him by his large general practice. He has met with success in his chosen life work, and is to-day one of the leading and honored representatives of the medical fraternity in Cald- well county.
BERT F. WALLACE.
Bert F. Wallace, an attorney at law, practicing at the bar at Princeton, was born upon a farm in Union county, Kentucky, on the 30th of August, 1876, and is a son of Hiram J. and Bettie Sue (Tay- lor) Wallace, who are also natives of Union county, and have always lived within its borders, the father devoting his time and energies to agricultural pursuits. For many years the former has been very prom- inent and successful in business affairs, his prosperity coming as the just reward of his earnest labor, persistency of purpose and marked enterprise. The son, Bert F., is the fourth in order of birth in a fam- ily of five children, numbering two sons and three daughters, and his brother is a prominent dry-goods merchant of Sturgis, Ken- tucky.
On the old family homestead in Union county, Bert F. Wallace remained until fifteen years of age, and during that time pursued his education in the public schools of Sturgis. He then left home and went to Auburn, Kentucky, entering the academy at that place, and pursuing in that institution a three years' course of study. On com- pleting his course in that institution he entered his brother's dry-goods store, where he was employed as a salesman for three years, but, de-
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siring to follow a professional rather than a commercial career, he matriculated in the Cumberland University at Lebanon, Tennessee, where he mastered various branches of learning, and was then gradu- ated from the law department with the class of June, 1899. At Morganfield, this state, he was admitted to the bar, and at once en- tered upon practice in that city, remaining for over two years.
In March, 1901, Mr. Wallace located in Princeton, where he has now lived for about three years. He has gained a good practice as an able young lawyer. The gift of research is his, and he has broad and comprehensive knowledge of the principles of jurisprudence, which he applies with accuracy to the points in litigation. He is now serv- ing as city attorney for Princeton, and has a very gratifying private practice. Politically Mr. Wallace is a Democrat, and fraternally a Master Mason. He also belongs to the Cumberland Presbyterian church, and his various associations thus indicate him to be a man of sterling worth of character. Genial and courteous, he has become popular in social circles, and has a large number of friends in his adopted city.
R. W. MOREHEAD, D. D.
No minister of the gospel in western Kentucky is more widely known or more beloved by all alike than Rev. Robert Woodson More- head, D. D., the present pastor of the First Baptist church of Prince- ton. He was born in Logan county, Kentucky, in 1834, being the oldest son of James Duncan Morehead and Henrietta Poor Morehead, both natives of Logan county. His grandfather, Presley Morehead, was a Virginian and was a major in the war of 1812. The Moreheads are of Scotch-Irish descent. His grandfather on his mother's side was
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Drewry W. Poor, also a Virginian and a colonel of militia, being of Scotch-Irish blood.
He was a student at Bethel College two years, and entered Union University, at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, in 1859, graduating therefrom with the degree of Master of Arts. He was licensed to preach in 1856 and was ordained at Green Ridge church, Kentucky, in 1859. His first charge was Bethel church, in Christian county, which he served from 1860 to 1864, although during the Civil war he was chaplain to the First Kentucky Cavalry under General Ben Hardin Helm, former governor of Kentucky.
In February, 1863, he was united in marriage to Miss Helen Garnett, of Christian county. She was the only child of E. B. and Frances Pendleton Garnett, both Virginians by birth. She had four brothers: Virgil A. Garnett, deceased in 1889; W. W. Garnett, presi- dent of the Pembroke Bank; John P. Garnett, a retired capitalist of Pembroke; and Hon. James B. Garnett, of Cadiz, for eighteen years commonwealth's attorney of the fourth judicial district, and univer- sally acknowledged to be the ablest prosecutor the state has ever pro- duced.
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Dr. Morehead's father, Presley Morehead, was the first cousin of James T. Morehead, Charles S. Morehead and Simon Bolivar Buckner, all three governors of Kentucky, and of Governor John Morehead, of North Carolina. His wife is the grandniece of Hon. Richard W. Thompson, of Indiana, secretary of the navy under President Hayes. They have three children, Clarence G., Charles S. and Miss Fannie, all of whom reside in Princeton.
Dr. Morehead was pastor at Cadiz in the latter part of the six- ties, and accepted a call to New Bethel, Lyon county, in 1874. This
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is one of the strongest Baptist organizations in Kentucky, and Dr. Morehead served this congregation continuously for twenty-five years.
The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him in 1891 by Bethel College. He is the author of numerous tracts, and has also written "A History of Little River Association." "The Divine Pur- pose and Man's Free Agency" is his most ambitious production. Dr. Morehead is a man of strong religious convictions, full of zeal for the cause of Christianity, but charitable to the shortcomings of others, and his pure and beautiful life has been an inspiration to those about him. Loved and honored by all'in the faith, and respected and pointed to as an example by that class who claim no religious convictions and who even at times are wont to scoff at Christianity, he has been a bless- ing to the world.
CHARLES SOUTHERN MOREHEAD.
The subject of this sketch was born in Cadiz, Kentucky, in June, 1869, and removed with his parents to Princeton in 1874. He at- tended Professor Blanton's high school for about, eight years, and entered Georgetown College in 1886 at the age of seventeen, at once taking rank with the brightest minds of the institution. In 1889, after a brilliant contest with a number of other students, he was chosen as Georgetown's representative in the state intercollegiate oratorical con- test, and bore off first honors over prize orators from five other col- leges. He graduated in 1890 with the degree of Master of Arts, and afterwards taught school in Georgia. He was granted license to prac- tice law in 1896, but abandoned law when he undertook the editor-
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ship and publication of the Princeton Banner in 1900. The paper is straight Democratic in politics, and has been established thirty-two years. Mr. Morehead is owner of the plant. As a paragrapher and editorial writer he has few equals and no superiors among the younger journalists of the state.
A portion of his time since his college days he has always devoted to literature, and, though he has made no ambitious efforts, some of his works have been widely read and praised, and his poems have ap- peared in the leading periodicals of the country. In 1893 the Pollard Publishing Company, of New York, accepted and brought out his first novel, printing ten thousand copies in the first edition. Three years ago he published a short novel, of which the Illustrated South, a monthly magazine, published at Louisville, has to say: "Charles South- ern Morehead, the brilliant and versatile young poet-journalist, makes a masterful claim to literary distinction in an ambitious little volume entitled 'The Remarkable Story of Conrad Johnston.' We rarely find such a combination of quaint thought and quiet tenderness, of lofty yet terse description, of reverence and love, of noble and subtle character vividly drawn, as is revealed yet concealed in the story of Marie Roche and Virginia Linderton, Conrad Johnston and John Godfrey Ware. The interest is fastened from the first page, and the strange plot is worked out and the mystery solved in the sepulchral silence of Man- moth Cave. By readers to whom fine literary construction is a keen pleasure, the story will be perused with much enjoyment. In this story, as in Mr. Morehead's poems, every sentence is as perfect and polished as a jewel." Speaking of him further, the Illustrated South says: "In his veins flows the best blood of the state. In his paternal ancestry he names three governors of Kentucky, James T. Morehead,
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Charles S. Morehead and Simon Bolivar Buckner, and Governor John Morehead, an ante-bellum governor of North Carolina. His maternal grandmother was a first cousin of Richard W. Thompson, secretary of the navy under President Hayes, and his mother is a sister of Hon. James B. Garnett, a criminal lawyer without a peer in a state noted for its forensic orators." He is the second son of Rev. Dr. R. W. and Mrs. ITelen Garnett Morehead, both of whom are living. In 1900 he was married to Miss Mattie Bond, of Caldwell county, and one child, Helen Frances, has blessed the union.
THOMAS JEFFERSON JOHNSON.
Thomas Jefferson Johnson, who for many years has been en- gaged in merchandising in Princeton, and whose business ability is indicated by the creditable measure of success which he has long en- joyed, was born in Eddyville, Kentucky, on the 13th of October, 1842. He is his father's namesake. His mother bore the maiden name of Eliza Ann Barnard and was born in Princeton, while Mr. Johnson, Sr., was a native of Nashville, Tennessee. Their son, Thomas J., was about two years of age when the parents came to Princeton to make their home, and here he was reared and educated. His father was a merchant of this city, and he became his assistant in the business, aid- ing him in the conduct of the store, and also in the management of a hotel and of a stage line. In 1855 the father sold out and removed to a farm in Christian county, Kentucky. Thereafter Mr. Johnson, of this review, was agent for stage lines at Hopkinsville, Kentucky, for two years, being thus engaged up to the time of the Civil war.
On the 13th of April, 1861, he enlisted as a private in the Oak 29
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Grover Rangers, and later became a member of Company A, First Ken- tucky Cavalry Regiment, of the Confederate army. He served with this regiment for twelve months, and after the expiration of his term a second Kentucky regiment of cavalry was organized, and Mr. John- son became a member thereof. He was made corporal, and served with General Forrest and General Joe Wheeler. He was captured at Sec- tion 36 on the Northwestern Railroad, near Nashville, on the 6tli of September, 1864, and was held a prisoner at Camp Chase until the close of hostilities, when he was released. He is now a member of the United Confederate Veterans' Association, being colonel of the First Regiment of the Second Brigade. About 1885 he organized Company B, of the Third Regiment of the Kentucky State Guards, and by rea- son of his connection therewith was made major, and is now every- where known by that title, although at the present time he is not affiliated . with the military organization.
Soon after the close of the Civil war Mr. Johnson went to Mon- tana and spent five years in that state, being engaged in mining dur- ing the greater part of that time. On the expiration of that period he returned to Kentucky, locating in Princeton, where he has since been identified with the business interests of the city. Through five years he was employed as a salesman in a store, and then established a livery stable, which he conducted with success for eighteen years. On sell- ing his stable, he opened a grocery store, which he has since carried on.
In 1880 occurred the marriage of Mr. Johnson and Miss Ida Belle King, of Princeton, and to them have been born five children, namely: Joel King, who is now in the employ of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, at Paducah, Kentucky; Jefferson Warren, who is with the Illinois Central Railroad Company, at Omaha; Ray Barnard,
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who is employed as a salesman in a drug store at Troy, Alabama ; Hazel Emeline and Ida Dale, both at home. The wife and daughters are members of the Christian church, and Mr. Johnson has also long been identified with that church. Fraternally he is a Master Mason, and in his political affiliations is a Democrat. He has served as coun- cilman, as city tax collector, and as city treasurer, occupying the last named position for a number of years. In public office he is ever loyal and faithful, and in all life's relations is found true to the trust re- posed in him.
RUFUS W. LISANBY.
Practicing his profession in Princeton, Rufus W. Lisanby has gained an enviable reputation as one of the prominent and capable young lawyers of Caldwell county, and to-day enjoys a distinctively . representative clientage, which many an older practitioner might well envy. He was born upon a farm in Hopkins county, Kentucky, on the 4th of February, 1869, and is a son of Monroe Walker and Win- nie J. (Hicks) Lisanby. The father was a native of Tennessee and died when Rufus was but four years of age, leaving two children, Charles M. and our subject. The mother afterward married again, becoming the wife of W. J. Eli, of Hopkins county, Kentucky, where she is yet living. By her second marriage she has three children.
At the age of six years Rufus W. Lisanby went to live with his uncle, J. H. Hicks, a well known farmer and magistrate of Caldwell county, by whom he was reared. He worked in the fields upon his uncle's homestead, and attended the district schools through the win- ter months, thus acquiring his preliminary education. He continued upon his uncle's farm until twenty years of age, and later resumed his
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studies, and when twenty-five years of age was graduated from the high school of Princeton. He then began the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in 1897, since which time he has practiced in this city. In the meantime, however, he had earned his living, for at the age of twenty years he obtained a teacher's certificate, and for sev- eral years successfully engaged in teaching in the public schools of Caldwell and Union counties. For three years he was the efficient principal of the schools of Dekoven, Kentucky, and his earnings as a teacher aided him to further educate himself and prepare for the practice of law. In 1901 he became county attorney by appointment, but has held no other office than this, preferring to devote his ener- gies to the private practice of law, in which he has gained very enviable success. His devotion to his clients' interests is proverbial, and he prepares his cases with great thoroughness and precision, while in their ·
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