The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 104

Author: Armstrong, J. M., & company, pub
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Cincinnati, J. M. Armstrong
Number of Pages: 946

USA > Kentucky > The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century > Part 104

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

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South, and lately in the North-west. In December, 1875, the firm was compelled to make an assignment, being succeeded by the Louisville Mantel and Grate Company. Mr. Hackett is the inventor of all the specialties of their business, and many less important patents. Their firm employs one hundred men in its workshops. The local press has often dwelt with pride upon the energy and success of this large business in their city. In 1846, at Cincinnati, he married Henri- etta M. Airey, of New York City, and by this marriage had nine children, five of whom are now living. In religion, he is an Episcopalian: united with Grace Church in 1863; and has been a member of the Vestry of that Church. Prior to his financial embarrassments, in 1875, he enjoyed a considerable fortune, acquired by his excellent personal and business habits, and entire devotion to his business. In disposition, gentle but firm, Joseph Hackett is a worthy citizen, and a model husband and father.

UNNINGHAM, HON. WELLINGTON, Law- yer, was born January 6, 1828, in Bourbon County, Kentucky. His parents were Abner and Pamelia (Clarkson ) Cunningham. His father was a native of Clarke County; followed agricultural pursuits through life ; and died in Missouri, in 1853, to which he had moved the year be- fore. His grandfather, Robert Cunningham, was a sol- dier in the war of 1812; a Virginian by birth; and set- tled in Clarke County at a very early day. His mother was a native of Bourbon County, and daughter of Peter Clarkson, a farmer from Virginia. The subject of this sketch passed his boyhood on the farm. He prepared for college at Winchester Academy, and entered Centre College about the age of sixteen, and graduated in 1846. In the same year, he entered upon the study of the law, at Winchester, under the direction of Judge James Simp- son, during the same time acting as deputy clerk in the Circuit Court for Clarke County. In 1850, he was ad- mitted to the bar; and, soon after located in St. Joseph, Missouri, where he remained, in the practice of his pro- fession, until 1865. In that year he returned to Ken- tucky, and located at Paris, where he has since resided, and established a large and valuable law practice, and taken a fine position in his profession. While residing in Missouri, he was elected to represent Buchanan County in the Lower House of the Legislature of the State; and was the first Whig ever elected in that county to the Legislature. In 1873, he was elected from his dis- trict to the Kentucky Senate, and is at present a mem- ber of that body. In 1876, he was a delegate from the Ashland district to the St. Louis Democratic Presidential Convention, and assisted in the nomination of Tilden and

Hendricks. His first Presidential vote was cast for Gen. Scott, and he was identified with the Whig party until its dissolution. He is now a Democrat. Religiously, he is associated with the Episcopal Church. Mr. Cun- ningham has been twice married: in 1849, to Miss Sa- rah Batterton, of Nicholas County, who died in 1856; in 1858, to Miss Anna Belle Boyd, a native of Berkeley County, Virginia.

ERKINS, REV. EDMUND TAYLOR, D. D., Minister, was born October 5, 1823, at Rich- mond, Virginia. His father was George Per- kins, a planter of Cumberland County, Virginia, and commission merchant at Richmond. His

grandfather, a native of Wales, settled in Buck- ingham County, Virginia, and married a lady of that State, Elizabeth Feame, niece of Richard Henry Lee, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Edmund T. Perkins was educated at private and board- ing-schools until his seventeenth year, then attended the Episcopal High-school, near Alexandria, Virginia, two years; in 1843-4, was teacher at the same school; then attended the Virginia Theological Seminary three years; graduated, and was ordained deacon in June, 1847. His first parish was at Trinity Church, Parkersburg, Vir- ginia, where he remained six years; finished the erection of the church begun by his predecessor, and aided in building three other church edifices in that vicinity. In 1848, he was ordained to the priesthood by the Right Rev. Bishop William Meade; soon after, having re- ceived three flattering calls to other parishes, he chose one at Wheeling, Virginia, as being in his native State, and succeeded the Rev. William Armstrong; remained in this pastorate eight years, declining, meanwhile, a call from San Francisco, California. In 1861, with his family, he went to Eastern Virginia, to visit his aged mother, leaving every thing as though for a speedy re- turn; but, the political difficulties culminating, he found the way of his return shut off, and, a few months later, sent in his resignation of his Wheeling parish. The Episcopal Church of Virginia appointed him missionary at large to the Confederate army, and the Confederate Government at once appointed him chaplain at large to the army. While thus engaged, he declined the chap- laincy of General Stonewall Jackson's Corps. His min- istry among the soldiers was successful, and there- fore a source of happiness to him amid all his perils and discomforts. He remained in active service with the army till the close of the war. During this period, he was associated with many of the leading gentlemen of Richmond on the Ambulance Committee, made up by the citizens of Richmond, Virginia; just before the downfall of Gen. Lee, Dr. Perkins, at the re-

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quest of the Government, by his appcals and solicita- tions, raised a large quantity of supplies, which fell eventually into the hands of the Union forces. He was, in 1865, called to take charge of a small Church in Smithfield, Isle of Wight County, Virginia; all his means, much of which was in slaves, had disappeared with the war. After a year's service there, he went to St. James's Church, Leesburg, Loudon County, Virginia, where he remained nearly two years. Having received a call from St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Louisville, he accepted it, and succeeded Rev. F. M. Whittle, just elected Assistant Bishop of Virginia. Since 1868, the time of his ordination as rector of St. Paul's, he has ac- complished the enlarging of that church, at a cost of fifty thousand dollars, built a chapel adjoining for the purpose of the Sunday-school and lectures, has greatly increased the membership, and perfected the organiza- tion, of "St. Andrew's," "Zion," and "Emanuel" Churches, in Louisville, as offshoots from St. Paul's. The Sunday-schools are large and flourishing. Dr. Perkins fills many offices in the Episcopal denomination, both in the local, State, and national interests of that religious body. He is an active supporter of the "Evangelical Societies" of the Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States-known as the American Church Missionary Society (of which he is one of the vice-presidents), the Evangelical Educational Society, and the Evangelical Knowledge Society. The degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on him in June, 1871, by Gambier College, Ohio. He was married, May 15, 1848, to Mary E., daughter of Thomas B. Ad- dison, of Georgetown, District of Columbia, and has · six children, four of whom are living. Dr. Perkins is one of the most active, able, and useful ministers of the Episcopal Church in the State of Kentucky; is a gen- tleman of profound learning in theology, and very courteous and agreeable in his manners.

ILSON, JAMES, M. D., was born in Pendle- ton County, Kentucky, December 23, 1805. His parents were James and Agnes ( Pickett) Wil- son. His father was a native of Caroline County, Virginia ; emigrated to Kentucky about 1789, and settled in Scott County ; but shortly aft- erwards removed to Pendleton, where he lived as a farmer, until his death, August 12, 1829. He was a non-commissioned officer in the Revolutionary army, his half brother, Nicholas Long, being Adjutant-General. His grandfather, Abraham Wilson, was a colonel in the Revolution. His mother, Agnes Pickett, was also a native of Caroline County, Virginia, and daughter of John Pickett, one of the valuable pioneer farmers of Clarke and Harrison Counties. Until his fifteenth year

he lived on the farm, and was taught industry and morals. In the Winter, he attended school; at the age of fifteen he entered on a course of mathematical, scien- tific, and classical studies at Pendleton Academy, and in the select classical school of James Samuel, at Cynthiana, which course he continued assiduously for several years. In 1823, he commenced reading medicine, under the supervision of Dr. John Bennett, of Newport, Ken- tucky. For three years he read and attended lectures in the Medical College of Ohio,. at Cincinnati. In 1826, he began practice, in partnership with his preceptor, in Newport. Four years afterwards he located at Falmouth, where he has since resided, and established a large, lucrative, and reputable practice. He has passed through six epidemics of cholera, and several of other malignant forms of disease, and practiced his profession success- fully for nearly half a century in one community. In 1863, he was elected by the Republicans to the Legis- lature, and re-elected, at the close of his term, in 1865. Before the dissolution of the Whig party, he acted with that organization ; he afterwards became a Republican, and was, during the rebellion, a staunch supporter of the Union and the national arms. Since 1829, he has been a member of the Methodist Church. He is a man of earnest and decided convictions, and firmly devoted to his principles, though not aggressive in his deportment ; his personal and professional habits have always been exceptionally fine; has been characterized for his up- rightness, and his general interest in the welfare of the community, where he has lived a long career of useful- ness ; and now, at over seventy, is a fine specimen of a physically and mentally well preserved man.

ARVIS, MAJOR WILLIAM, Retired Pork Merchant, was born October 2, 1790, three miles south-west of Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky. His father, Robert Jarvis, a farmer in Ireland, left that island, with his wife, in 1783; coming to America, he lived at Balti- more until 1788, when he came to Kentucky, and there spent. the remainder of his days. William Jarvis at- tended school at the old-time log school-houses, about three months each year, until his sixteenth year, when he went on his father's farm for a short time, but soon began learning the making of cotton goods. In 18II, with his brother, Robert Jarvis, he began operating a cotton-spinning factory at Shelbyville, Kentucky, which he continued until 1821, when they sold out, and started the dry-goods and grocery business in the same place, continuing until 1828, when the firm dissolved, his brother removing to Louisville, and he continuing the same business until 1850. Moving to Louisville, hc en- tered the pork-packing firm of Miles & Coller, whose

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interest in the firm he afterwards, in May, 1855, bought out; took R. Watters into partnership; bought out Watters's interest, in 1859, to take his son, Joshua S. Jarvis, into his business, with whom he continued until 1871, when he retired, and his son took Henry S. Phill- ips and Bryan P. Scally into partnership. By a long business career, Major Jarvis has acquired a handsome fortune, never meeting with any serious financial rever- ses, and passing safely through the severe financial panics of 1837, '47, and '57. His first vote was cast for James Monroe, and he has always supported the Demo- cratic party. He joined the Baptist Church in 1834, under the ministration of the Rev. William Ford, at Shelbyville, Kentucky; he is now a member of the Fourth and Walnut Street Baptist Church, in Louis- ville, having for many years been a deacon in that Church. On the 3d of February, 1824, he was married to Mary R., daughter of Gen. Y. P. Wells, of Jefferson County, Kentucky; by her he had five children, of whom, Joshua S. Jarvis, the only son, still survives. He was married again, July 8, 1856, to Sarah, daughter of David G. Bright, of Madison, Indiana, but by this marriage he has no offspring. From 1818 to 1828, he was Captain of the Grenadier Company of Artillery at Shelbyville, Kentucky; in 1828, he was appointed major of a battalion in the State militia. Major Jarvis is one of the worthy, wealthy, and most respected citi- zens of Louisville, now arrived at the venerable age of eighty-seven, his life's work almost done, and "only waiting."

DWARDS, ELISHA BEALL, Physician and Dentist, was born February 2, 1824, in Elkton, Todd County, Kentucky. He is about the oldest native citizen of his town. His parents were of English ancestry; the family emigrat- ing to the United States at a very early period of its colonization, settling in Virginia, but moving to Kentucky some time before the year 1795. His father, Elisha B. Edwards, was the first County Clerk of Todd County, and held the office until his death. Dr. Ed- wards received a fine English education, which he com- pleted at Princeton College, Kentucky, in 1840. He began the study of medicine, with his uncle, at Alton, Illinois, and continued his studies, for several years, at St. Louis; commenced practice in his native county, in the mean time studying dentistry, to which he finally devoted his entire attention. When the civil war com- menced, he entered the Federal army as Captain in the Twenty-fifth Kentucky Regiment; resigned when his regiment was consolidated with the Seventeenth, hav- ing participated in the battle of Fort Donelson and the great battle of Shiloh. In 1864, he was appointed Deputy Provost-Marshal of Todd County, holding the

position until the close of the war, with honor to him- self and acceptably to the people. In 1867, he was ap- pointed Assistant Assessor of Internal Revenue, holding the position until 1873, when the office was abolished. In the same year, he was appointed postmaster of Elk- ton, where he has always resided. In 1858, he was elected Police Judge of Elkton, without opposition ; was re-elected, holding the office four years. Since 1842, he has been a member of the Baptist Church, and is a Mason of high standing ; he has filled all his public trusts with signal ability, giving universal satisfaction, and winning the respect and confidence of the people. He is a man of the highest integrity of character; is strongly attached to his friends and family ; is agreeable in his manners; and is one of the enterprising, upright, and valuable men of his community. In 1849, he was married to Miss Sarah B. Porter, daughter of James W. Porter, of Elkton, Kentucky. They have three grown children.

OHNSTON, C. A., Lawyer, was born Novem- ber 30, 1846, at Lebanon, Kentucky. His parents were Harvey and Mary E. (Hager) Johnston; the former a native of Shippens- burg, Pennsylvania; the latter, of Woodford County, Kentucky. His education was liberal, and received in the best private schools of the country ; in 1869, he was admitted to the bar; began the prac- tice of his profession at once, in Lebanon; was elected Police Judge of Lebanon, in 1870; served four years ; and, in 1875, was elected one of the Justices of Marion County. He is identified with the Republican party. In religion, he is Presbyterian. Mr. Johnston was mar- ried, November 29, 1872, to Miss Nannie E. Fiddler, a native of Marion County, and daughter of Samuel Fid- dler, a merchant of that county.

ROWN, SAMUEL D., was born March 27, 1844, at Brandenburg, Meade County, Ken- tucky, and is the son of Dr. E. O. Brown, of Louisville. He received a collegiate education. At the age of seventeen and a half, he entered the Twenty-sixth Kentucky Infantry, under Gen. Burbridge, and served about four years with that regiment, participating in the battles of Shiloh, Salt- ville, Nashville, and the siege of Corinth, and many engagements of less importance ; and was highly compli- mented, in general orders, for gallantry displayed on the field of battle. He was promoted from the ranks to second lieutenant, and afterwards promoted first lieuten- ant and adjutant. At the close of the war, he engaged in the drug business, at Louisville; was subsequently

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appointed in the Internal Revenue Department of the Government, serving as store-keeper and gauger; was appointed special agent of the Post-office Department ; was subsequently removed from that position; but, un- der President Hayes, was reinstated as special agent for the Post-office Department in the South. Since the war, he has been a member of the Republican Execu- tive Committee for the Fifth District of Kentucky, and takes a prominent interest in the affairs of his party. He is a man of fine executive ability, and of recog- nized integrity; is open and fair in his treatment of men, yet firmly attached to his principles; is a man of generous and admirable traits, and would fill honorably any position to which he might be called. Religiously, he is associated with the Methodist Church. Mr. Brown was married to Miss Fannie Wilkins, daughter of J. C. Wilkins, of Bowling Green, Kentucky. They have three living children.

ICKETT, GEN. JOHN T., Lawyer and Sol- dier, son of Colonel James C. Pickett, late of Washington, District of Columbia, and a grandson of General Joseph Desha, of Ken- tucky, was born near Maysville, in the county of Mason. He received his early education in Scott County; was appointed to the Academy at West Point, from Kentucky; afterwards studied law at the Lexington Law School; was United States Consular Agent at Vera Cruz for many years; became interested in the " manifest destiny " movements along the Gulf, and soon distinguished himself as an active supporter of the principles of the Ostend Manifesto. Yielding to his military penchant, he joined Lopez, Crittenden, and others, in the year 1850, in a crusade upon Cuba, and personally commanded in a gallant fight, against heavy odds, at the battle of Cardenas; but the entire expedi- tion, like most others of its kind, was a failure; he was commissioned, by Louis Kossuth, as a general in the Hun- garian army; served with distinction as chief of staff to Gen. Breckinridge during the late war; and represented the Confederate States, at the opening of the contest, as Commissioner to the Government of Mexico. Whilst holding this position, he urged the Confederate Govern- ment to sccure foreign intervention, and strengthen the military resources of the Confederacy by freeing the negro and calling him to the field-a policy which was subsequently favored, though unsuccessfully urged, by Gen. Robert E. Lee. A full account of this interesting phase of the Confederate struggle is given in the prefacc to a "politico-economical treatise," recently translated from the French by the Hon. Ben. E. Green, of Georgia. Since the close of the war, Gen. Pickett has been en- gaged in the practice of law at Washington, District of

Columbia. He is an accomplished scholar, a graceful and vigorous writer, a superior linguist, and a gentleman of commanding presence and captivating address.

IRKER, JABEZ GILES, Millwright, and En- gineer, was born in the year 1813, in Sunder- land, Durham County, England. His father, James Kirker, was a native of Ireland. Jabez Giles Kirker attended the schools of his native town, obtaining a good education, until the age of sixteen years. Upon leaving school, he apprenticed himself to a millwright, -being bound for the regular English term of seven years. This trade, in those early days, comprised a knowledge of pattern making, me- chanical drawing, fitting and erecting machinery-de- partments which are, at the present day, distinct branches of industry. After serving his time with his first employer, he went to other shops; and, by working in these, soon gained a complete mastery of his trade in all its branches and details. When he had become thoroughly competent in the business of a millwright, and well versed in all matters relating to machinery, he resolved to come to America. In 1842, he took his de- parture for this country; and chose Louisville, Ken- tucky, for his residence. He soon became actively en- gaged in his business, his first step being to superintend the construction of several flour mills in the western part of Indiana. After these mills had been placed in running order, he returned to Louisville, where he suc- ceeded in finding employment as a pattern maker in a foundry of that city. He worked at this branch of his trade for a short period; when, being an excellent draughtsman, hc secured a position with Messrs. Roach & Long, in that capacity. This firm were the makers of the engines for the celebrated steamer "Falls City." Upon leaving Roach & Long, he procured a situation as draughtsman in the well-known establishment of In- man, Galt & Co. While in the employ of this firm, the first " Mechanics' Fair" ever held in the State came off; and some of his work put upon exhibition attracted universal attention, and was the subject of the highest commendation. He was also the designer of an agricul- tural engine, exhibited at this fair, which was awarded the premium as being the most perfect engine of its class. In the exhibition held in 1857, he received the diploma for the finest display of mechanical drawing. About this time, the firm of Ainslie, Cochrane & Co. commenced business, and he entered into their service as draughtsman, continuing in this position until 1859. He had now made sufficient progress to be able to be- gin business upon his own account, and established him- self as a millwright, contractor, superintendent of the erection of grist, saw, and cement mills, and expert in

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mechanical construction. He soon achieved a reputa- tion as one of the most successful and leading mill- wrights throughout the South-west. Among his first operations, was the building of the Fifth Ward Mill, in Louisville, which was done in the most substantial manner; and, after the lapse of seventeen years, remains in good condition. He has built a large number of mills in Louisville, among which the following are the most important ones: James Kennedy's mill, situated on Eighth Street, built in 1865; the saw-mill occupied by Mr. Van Seggern, erected in 1866; in 1874, he remod- eled the mill of Wielish & Co .; in 1869, he built the celebrated "City Mill," William Trow & Co. proprie- tors, of Madison, Indiana; a few years later, the large mill at the corner of Madison and Eighteenth Streets, Louisville ; and, in 1875, he designed and superintended the construction of the Louisville Grain Elevator, one of the best arranged and substantially built structures of the kind to be found in the entire West. He also has contracts and work from all parts of the South and West ; and has always sustained his reputation for doing only first-class work, and never fails to give entire satis- faction in every contract he undertakes to fulfill. Mr. Kirker's abilities are of a high order, and his character is beyond reproach. He has reached his present high standing by his own industry, and is well deserving of the success he has achieved. He is unostentatious and retiring in his manner, and is highly respected by all classes of citizens for his many noble qualities. In the home circle, he is kind and affectionate, and much be- loved; always polite and obliging, and attentive to the wants of others.

ITCHELL, STROTHER D., Lawyer, was born October 15, 1823, in Montgomery County, Ken- tucky. His ancestors were Virginians. His early education was received in the classical school of William Rainey, at Bacon College, Harrodsburg, and at St. Mary's College, near Lebanon, Kentucky. He pursued the study of medi- cine for a time, but finally chose the law as his profes- sion, practicing successfully, as the partner of Hon. Richard Apperson, Sr. He was elected member from Montgomery County to the Kentucky Legislature, in the years 1849-53, and served his constituents with abil- ity. He was a lieutenant in the Mexican War, contract- ing disease from which he never fully recovered, dying August 23, 1854, at the early age of thirty-one years, leaving behind him many pleasant memories. Having already achieved reputation in the halls of legislation and at the bar, the future was to him full of promise. Gallant, generous, and true, as a friend; devoted, as a husband; respectful upon his attendance at the religious

services of the Presbyterian Church, and always to be relied upon in any emergency, Strother D. Mitchell de- serves honorable mention among the worthy dead of Kentucky. Mr. Mitchell was married, July 1, 1845, to Miss Anne Elizabeth Apperson. Their children are: R. A. Mitchell, at present Clerk of the Circuit Court of Montgomery County ; and Mrs. Mary Chiles, wife of L. T. Chiles, of the firm of Chiles, Bean & Co.

RAND, JOHN, was born in Montrose, Scotland, in the year 1775, and was descended from one of the old Northmen who plundered the east- ern coast of Scotland from the ninth to the thir- teenth century. Brand, in the old Norse, signi- fies a torch, and hence, metaphorically, a sword, in which sense it is still used in poetry. He removed to Dundee, in 1794, where, by his energy, he soon estab- lished a large business as a manufacturer of sail cloth. In 1800, when Paul of Russia united the northern bar- ons against Great Britain in armed neutrality, the em- bargo law on British shipping in Russian ports bore heavily upon him, and, unable to meet his engagements, he placed his property in the hands of trustees, paying a dividend of six shillings tenpence to the pound, and im- mediately sailed for the United States. After arriving in this country, from the advice of friends met in Phila- delphia, he determined to try his fortune in the West. Crossing the mountains in a wagon with his young wife, he took boat from Pittsburg for Maysville, and thence made the overland journey, usual in those days, to Lex- ington, then and still the center of the hemp-growing region and manufacture of Kentucky. Shortly after his arrival at Lexington, he formed a partnership, for the manufacture of hemp bagging, with John D. Hunt. This partnership continued for nearly twenty years, at the end of which time, he found himself possessed of handsome property. Although under no legal obligation to dis- charge the remainder of the debt which his assets in Scotland had failed to satisfy, his strong sense of justice impelled him to settle in full the balance due to his fortu- nate creditors. "In the Summer of 1818," says the Dundee "Courier" of September, 1820, "he employed an agent in Edinburgh to write to his creditors, offering to pay them the principal of their several claims, which was accepted, and, some time after, the money, to a con- siderable amount, was paid to Mr. Brand's creditors." His conduct on this occasion was in such a striking con- trast with that of the majority of Europeans of that day who came to America under similar circumstances, that a Dundee paper made reference to the transaction in a highly complimentary paragraph, under the caption of "One Honest Man in America." Subsequently, he car- ried on hemp manufacture on his own account so suc-

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The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 104

Author: Armstrong, J. M., & company, pub Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Cincinnati, J. M. Armstrong Number of Pages: 946

Author: Armstrong, J. M., & company, pub
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Cincinnati, J. M. Armstrong
Number of Pages: 946