The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 107

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

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UIGLEY, THOMAS, Banker, was born Decem- ber 14, 1800, at Shippensburg, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. His parents were of Irish descent; and his father was, for many years, a farmer in Cumberland County, Penn- sylvania. Thomas Quigley, owing to the very scanty facilities for obtaining a good education at his home, had to be content to commence his career with- out the advantages of learning that are enjoyed by the youth of the present day. He was, however, endowed with a strong will and great perseverance; and what was denied him in the way of education in his youth was counterbalanced by his indomitable energy and natural ability. He early became a close student of the affairs of men, and gathered great practical knowl- edge by his contact with men of business. He educated himself, by means of the books he could procure, in the fundamental principles of commercial transactions; and this, in connection with his vast practical knowledge, soon made him conversant . with all the details of the theory and practice of mercantile transactions. At an early age, he left the home of his childhood, in Cumberland County, to seek his fortune in the varied pursuits of the metropolis. He found his way to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; arriving a poor boy, without friends, and no other resources than a strong body and unbending determination with which to commence the struggle of life. Having had a predilection for mer- cantile pursuits, he set about to get employment in the business of his choice; and soon found a situa- tion as clerk in an extensive mercantile house of that city. Here he had abundant opportunities of acquir-

ing a thorough knowledge of business operations, and devoted himself diligently to the study of every thing that could be of any assistance to him in his calling. Determining to start business for himself he left Pitts- burg and came to the West. An opportunity present- ing itself at Hopkinsville, Kentucky, he decided to locate in that place, where he commenced in business as a country merchant. He soon began to extend his opera- tions, and, with his great business foresight and under- standing of the laws of trade, was able to profit by the fluctuations in the market. He was a very large opera- tor in pork and tobacco; and, in a great measure, met with flattering success in all his undertakings. Encour- aged by his good fortune, and at the solicitation of a host of warm friends, he concluded to seek a wider field for the prosecution of his labors, and accordingly re- moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky, opening there in 1823. After a few years' stay in this place, meeting with such uniform success, he decided to locate in Lou- isville, Kentucky, where he was destined to become one of the most prosperous, philanthropic, and influential citizens. Arriving there, he began in the tobacco and pork trade, two of the most important interests of the commerce of the West, and he soon became one of the most extensive and successful operators in the city. In all his transactions he maintained the strictest regard for honesty and fair dealing, and his course won for him the implicit confidence and unreserved esteem of all with whom he was associated. His high standing in private life soon opened the way to public favors, and he was intrusted with many positions of honor. Being an active business man, and fully alive to the advancement of all commercial interests, he was a warm advocate of public improvements for the benefit of trade. He was one of the projectors of the line of railroad connecting Louis- ville with Nashville, Tennessee, thus giving the former direct communication with the great producing region of the South. When this road was organized, he be- came one of its leading directors. For many years he filled the responsible position of Director of the Bank of Kentucky, one of the most substantial and prosperous institutions of its kind in the country. There were few interests of any importance to his city and section that did not receive his assistance in some way-a great part of his active and successful career being devoted to the public welfare. He was a prominent member of the Presbyterian Church, having been taught in that faith from his youth up. He was, for a long time, an elder of his Church, and always took an active inter- est in religious matters. He was married to Miss Emily Graham, and had nine children. He was kind and affectionate in the domestic circle, and possessed many excellent social qualities. By his death the community sustained a loss, which will long be felt, of a man who was alike an honor to his friends and family.

Engª 3 Mrd by Homer Lee & Co NY

Silvester Johnson

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OHNSON, SILVESTER, Merchant, son of John Johnson, was born October 14, 1813, in Nelson County, Kentucky. His father was a Mary- lander by birth; came to Kentucky in 1798, and located on a farm, near New Haven, in Nelson County, and became one of the most enterpris- ing, public-spirited, successful, and valuable farmers of that county. His mother was a Miss Miles, also a native of Maryland, and was descended from one of the old En- glish families of that State. Silvester Johnson was very liberally educated, mainly at St. Mary's College, in Marion County, Kentucky, then under the presidency of Rev. William Burns, the founder of that institution. After leaving college, he spent two or three years in teaching school in Nelson and Hardin Counties, and made some reputation as a teacher; but, marrying in 1835, he settled down as a merchant, at New Haven, in his native county, where he has since resided; and is still carrying on the same business, and in the same locality where he started over forty years ago. He has extended his mercantile interests in various directions, and has every-where met with exceptional success. Prob- ably no man in his county has met with such marked success in every undertaking, and with such flattering results to himself; and few men have used their for- tunes with greater and more widely felt benefits to the community. Especially during the first years of his active career, he was somewhat prominent in political affairs, and served as sheriff of the county, from 1843 to 1857. In 1859, he was elected to represent Nel- son County in the Legislature, serving two years. Al- though always interested in the political welfare of the country, he has not sought public place, preferring to devote himself to his extensive business affairs, and the immediate social demands of the community. He is a member of the Catholic Church, and has not only been devoted to its general interests, but has been a pillar of the Church in his own county, all of its local institutions of education and charity receiving his con- stant patronage. In 1872, he built, and donated to the Church at New Haven, the fine institution of learn- ing now conducted under the auspices of the Sisters of Loretto at that place; and has made the Church the con- stant object of his care. But, outside of his Church con- nections, and in his business and general relations to society, probably no man in Nelson County has been more useful, and has been more highly esteemed and val- ued. He is one of the wealthiest men of Nelson County, and one of the most successful business men of the country. Mr. Johnson is still a well-preserved and active business man; agreeable and courteous in manners, pop- ular in his community ; is concerned in almost every movement of importance to his county, and is one of its most influential men ; and bids fair to continue his use- ful career for a score of years. In 1835, he was married

to Mildred Boone, daughter of Charles Boone, of Hardin (now La Rue) County, a lady of many admirable quali- ties and Christian virtues. She dicd several years ago.

RAHAM, ANDREW, Tobacco Merchant, was born August 13, 1813, and is the son of An- drew and Mary Graham. His father was a na- tive of Ireland, and was a respectable farmer and trader in the County of Tyrone. His par- ents came to America in 1830, and soon after settled in Louisville, Kentucky. His father dying dur- ing the first year of their residence in that city, with a small capital he started a retail grocery, which he gradually increased until he had established a large business, and become one of the first merchants in the city. At an early age he had succeeded in accu- mulating a considerable fortune, on which he retired from active business; but, soon discovering that inactiv- ity was unsuited to his taste, he engaged in the to- bacco business, and soon became one of the first and most successful traders in that line in Kentucky. When he first began life in Louisville, but a few hundred hogs- heads of tobacco were handled in a year; since which time the trade has continually increased, until Louisville has become the largest center of the tobacco trade of the country, seventy-five thousand hogsheads being annually bought in that market. To Mr. Graham is largely due the credit of establishing this valuable interest to the city. Of late years, he has given considerable attention to the cotton trade, but is still a careful and safe oper- ator in tobacco; is Director of the Tobacco Board of Trade; is also Director of the Louisville House of Ref- uge ; has taken an active interest in every thing looking to the welfare of the city; and has been one of the most charitable, liberal-spirited, and valuable business men of Louisville. He was married, January 23, 1838, to Miss Martha C. Parker, daughter of Samuel Parker, Sr., of Louisville.

WEN, JAMES HARVEY, Physician and Surgeon, was born May 19, 1801, in Shelby County, Kentucky, two miles east of Shelby- ville; and was the third son of John Owen, who emigrated from Prince Edward County, Virginia, with his father, Brackett Owen, in 1783. His grandfather, Brackett Owen, built one of the first forts for defense against the Indians in the new country ; and was one of the most prominent men of his day in that part of Kentucky. His mother, Martha Tal- bot, was a native of Virginia, and came to Kentucky as early as 1780. She was the daughter of James Talbot, a Virginian, who descended in a direct line from Tal-

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bot who fell at the battle of Colloden, in the cause of Prince Charles, leaving a son, Matthew, who emigrated to Virginia, and planted there the family which bears his name. Dr. Owen received his education mainly un- der De L'Huys, a French scholar, who carried on a school for many years in Shelbyville. After complet- ing a tolerably fair course of literary study, he began to read medicine with his cousin, Dr. John M. Talbot, of Louisville. He also received no little assistance from Drs. W. C. Galt, James C. Johnston, and Richard Babbington Ferguson, men of high reputation in the medical profession, from whom he received a certificate recognizing his superior qualifications, and an indorse- ment to practice medicine and surgery, after having spent five years in a thorough course of preparation. Most of the practitioners of that day were without di- plomas, there being no medical college then west of Philadelphia. In 1822, he entered on the practice of his profession at New Madrid, Missouri, where he estab- lished a large business, traveling even into Kentucky, and taking for his services all kinds of productions of the country. In 1827, he moved to Port Gibson, Missis- sippi, and, while there, besides engaging in his profes- - sion, carried on a mercantile business, which ultimately proved disastrous. In 1829, he was induced to take charge of Claiborne Female Seminary, but, in the fol- lowing year, he resumed mercantile business, and the practice of his profession. In 1832, he removed to Louis- ville, Kentucky, where he gave up all other pursuits, and entered with vigor upon the duties of his profession. He soon established a large practice, but received little ready cash for his services, which induced him to at- tempt to collect money for his medicines at the time of his professional visits. This plan met with considerable opposition, which finally led him to abandon personal visits to his patients, confining himself entirely to office practice, exacting the price of his prescription at the time of making it. His office became to a great extent a drug-store, and his patronage increased. Establishing himself high in the confidence of the people, he was urged to become a candidate for public position, and was the first choice of the people of Louisville, in 1849, for candidate for Congress, but all these indications of popular esteem he declined to accept. About 1853, he purchased a farm in Hunter's Bottom, which he named Glendower, to which he retired from the practice of medicine, and where he spent the remainder of his life. In politics, he was a Democrat of the extreme Jackson school, but not obnoxious in his intercourse with men of opposing dogmas. Religiously, he was decidedly Cal- vinistic, until, on hearing Alexander Campbell expose to view the beauties of a better way, he embraced the doctrines of the new departure, and was ever after an earnest Christian or Disciple. Dr. Owen was married, October 23, 1828, to his cousin, Martha Owen, daughter

of David Owen, and had six children, four of whom, with their mother, survived him. He was a man of attractive countenance, of admirable general appear- ance; was always ready to give his aid in every work of public or private merit; was exceedingly popular in his social relations; acquired a considerable fortune ; and died, greatly beloved by his family and friends, December 1, 1857. His remains lie at Cave Hill Cemetery. Of him, John H. Harney said : "He died as he had lived, a Christian." Many members of the Owen family, his immediate relatives, became noted men in the earlier days of Kentucky and the West. Abraham Owen, a son of Brackett Owen, was killed in the battle of Tippecanoe. David Owen, his son, was a major, and Brackett Owen's oldest son, Brackett, also commanded a company, in the war of 1812, and, after that, became prominent in the Legislature of his State. John Owen, the second son of Brackett Owen, was also a captain in the war of 1812. On the Talbot side of Dr. Owen's family, there were also a number of distin- guished men, among whom were Isham, James, and Williston Talbot. Isham, who fought at the Blue Licks in 1782, especially becoming distinguished in the early days of Kentucky.

EE, REV. NATHANIEL HENDERSON, D. D., was born April 29, 1816, in Campbell County, Virginia, and is the son of Andrew Lee and his wife, Elizabeth Henderson. He received his education in the private schools of the country, and at Urania College, Glasgow, Kentucky. As soon as he was prepared, he engaged in teaching school, in order to supply himself with means for completing his literary and theological studies. In 1836, he connected himself with the Methodist Church in Barren County ; was licensed to exhort in the follow- ing year; was licensed to preach, and was recommended to the Kentucky Conference, by the Quarterly Confer- ence of the Glasgow Circuit, in 1838; entered the trav- eling connection of the Church in that year, and was appointed to the Hopkinsville Circuit, with Rev. Gilbert Kelly; in 1839, was appointed to the Mt. Pleasant mis- sion; in the following year was reappointed to the same mission ; in 1842, was ordained elder, and appointed to the Owensboro Circuit; was returned to the same cir- cuit; in 1844, was appointed to Smithland Station; in 1845, was appointed Presiding Elder of Morganfield Dis- trict, and reappointed, in the following year, by Bishop Soule; in 1847, took charge of the Eighth Street Station, in Louisville; in the following year was at Hardinsburg; and, in 1849, was reappointed to that circuit, soon after returning to Owensboro; in 1850, was Presiding Elder of the Bowling Green District; in 1851, was appointed

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Presiding Elder of Hopkinsville District, and was reap- pointed to the full term; in 1855, was sent to the Hen- derson District, remaining until 1858, at which time he was appointed agent for the American Bible Society in Western Kentucky, remaining in that capacity until 1860, when he became Presiding Elder of the Louisville District ; in 1861, held the position of a supernumerary to Bowling Green Station, and was afterwards Presiding Elder of Mammoth Cave District; occupied the Glas- gow Station in the following year; was subsequently on that circuit ; from 1866 to 1869, acted as presiding elder; from 1869 to 1873, was President of Logan Female Col- lege; from 1873 to 1875, was on the Henderson Dis- trict, and was subsequently made Presiding Elder of the Louisville District. In 1853, he was first elected to the General Conference, and was re-elected in 1857, 1861, 1865, 1869. He received the degree of D. D. from Trinity College, North Carolina, and from some other institution in 1867. Few ministers in the Methodist Church have done more earnest and arduous work, and few men have been more successful in advancing the great work of the Church. He is the author of a criti- cal work in defense of the Bible, and has written largely, for many years, for the Church periodicals, taking rank among the most able and valuable men in the Southern wing of the Methodist Church. Dr. Lee has been twice married, and has five living children.

HOMAS, WALTER MASSIE, Lawyer, was born June 14, 1824, in Allen County, Ken- tucky. His father was a native of South Caro- lina, came to Kentucky at the beginning of this century, and, in 1802, settled in Allen County, where he served as first County Judge under the new Constitution, and became a man of consid- erable influence in his community. W. M. Thomas received a thorough literary education, graduating in the college at Jacksonville, Illinois. He subsequently engaged for a time as civil engineer; afterwards studied law under Judge Mayes, of Cadiz, Kentucky; was ad- mitted to the bar in 1852; regularly entered upon the practice of his profession, in 1855; in the following year opened his office in Allensville; in 1870, was elected Judge of the Court of that town ; in 1874, located at Guthrie ; two years subsequently was elected Judge of the Police Court at that place, and still holds the position. He has been concerned in many important legal cases in the country, especially conducting some of the noted criminal cases; and has established a reputa- tion as a lawyer of first-class ability, and especially dis- tinguishing himself in criminal practice. In 1851, he was corresponding editor of the " Hopkinsville Press," and canvassed the southern part of the State in favor of

Hon. L. W. Powell for Governor of the State. He has written, from time to time, a number of papers on polit- ical and other subjects for the "Courier-Journal," and other papers. He is a speaker of ability, and has de- voted his talents in that direction in support of the doc- trines of the Democratic party. Judge Thomas was mar- ried, in 1845, to Mrs. Martha E. Gill ; after her death, was again married to Miss N. T. Boyd, who died, leav- ing three children. In 1860, he was married to his present wife, Elizabeth A. Keller.

ARBLE, SUMNER, Lawyer, was born January 20, 1816, in Hampshire County, Massachusetts; and is the son of Asa Marble, a prominent member of one of the leading families of the Old Bay State. His mother, Silence Clark, was also a native of that State. Sumner Marble received a good education, and remained on the farm until his twenty-second year. He subsequently engaged in teaching in New Jersey. In 1839, he came to Ken- tucky, and settled in Henry County. In 1841, having studied law, he settled at Salem, in Livingston County, and entered on the practice of his profession. He sub- sequently removed to Crittenden County, and, in 1849, was elected to the State Legislature. He afterwards located at Princeton, in Caldwell County; but, from 1858 to 1863, he practiced his profession in Chicago, Illinois. In the latter year, he removed to Princeton, where he has since resided, actively and successfully engaged in his profession. In 1875, he was elected to the State Senate, and is still a member of that body. Mr. Marble was married, in 1844, to Miss Eliza J. Watts, daughter of Wm. Watts, of Hopkinsville, Ken- tucky. After her death, he was again married, in 1866, to Miss V. C. Edmunds, a native of North Carolina. His son, William Marble, is a lawyer of Princeton.

ANDERS, HENRY, Merchant and Banker, was born May 7, 1803, in Faulkner County, Vir- ginia. His father, Jacob Enders, was of Ger- man descent, and a farmer by pursuit. He received a good English education, and, at the age of fifteen, came to Kentucky, remaining three years as a clerk in the dry-goods business of Peter Catlett, at Catlettsburg. He subsequently settled at Morganfield, in Union County, Kentucky, and, in connection with his brother, engaged successfully in the produce business; after five years, removed to Shawnee- town, Illinois, where they also carried on the dry-goods business, and traded extensively between that place and Smithland, Kentucky, where they had another store,

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and New Orleans. In 1828, he opened a branch of the Smithland house at Paducah, when there were but few families residing in that place, and, since that time, he has continued to reside there. In 1833, they centered their business at Paducah. After the death of his brother, he wound up their successful business, which . had continued for over forty years, and has since de- voted his attention to dealing in real estate, in this and adjoining States, still transacting a large banking and realty business. He has accumulated a considerable fortune, but he still prefers to continue his usual pur- suits. He has been one of the most extensive and suc- cessful business men of the State; is noted for his integrity of character and universally fine commercial standing; has been humane in his dealings with the less fortunate; has been of great value socially, and to the business of his section, and has been a useful man in the community. Mr. Enders was married, in 1833, to Miss Jacob, a daughter of Arnold Jacob, and has seven living children. His oldest daughter is the wife of Dr. D. D. Thomson, of Louisville; his son, Dr. F. H. Enders, fills a medical position in the Sandwich Islands; and his other children are prominent members of society.

MITH, ALFRED, A. M., M. D., was born September 9, 1838, in Bardstown, Kentucky, and was the son of Francis and Ursula Smith ; the former a native of Maryland, emigrating to Kentucky while a boy, and the latter a Ken- tuckian by birth. His father was an energetic, successful wagon-maker. Dr. Smith received a thorough education, graduating at St. Joseph's College, at Bards- town, in 1858, with the degree of B. A. In 1860, he received the degree of A. M. from his Alma Mater. He had previously studied medicine, and, after graduation, immediately entered the office of Dr. Mattingly, engag- ing earnestly in the pursuit of his studies for two years, in the mean time attending lectures; graduated in medi- cine, in the Spring of 1860, at St. Louis. He was en- gaged actively in his profession, at Bardstown, till the breaking out of the civil war, when he entered the Con- federate army, as Assistant Surgeon in the Ninth Ken- tucky Regiment of the First Kentucky Brigade, under Gen. John C. Breckinridge. He served in that capacity till 1864; and, from that time till the close of the war, was Surgeon of the Fourth Kentucky Regiment. He returned to his home at Bardstown, and resumed the practice of his profession, in which he has been very successful, establishing an extensive business, and taking rank as one of the first physicians and surgeons of his section. He is a man of fine personal and social habits, and is a devout member of the Roman Catholic Church. Dr. Smith has been twice married: first, in 1867, to

Miss Sue Boone, who died in 1871. In 1873, he was married to Miss Flora Pitt, of Fairfield, Kentucky. He has one child by his first marriage.

cDERMOTT, THOMAS LAWRENCE, M. D., was born September 6, 1843, in Louisville, Kentucky; and is the son of William McDer- mott, who emigrated from Ireland, and became one of the first settlers of Louisville, where he married Miss Katherine Byrne, and followed mercantile pursuits throughout his life. Dr. McDer- mott received his education in the private schools of Louisville, and in St. Joseph's College, at Bardstown, Kentucky. He began the study of medicine with Prof. J. W. Benson, of Louisville, and graduated at Bellevue College, New York, in 1865; and, in the same year, located in Virginia City, Montana, and entered upon the practice of his profession, at the same time being interested in mercantile enterprises; but, in a year or two, returned to Louisville, where he has since devoted himself exclusively to the duties of his profession, hav- ing established a large and lucrative practice, and taken a position among the rising physicians of that city. In 1870, he was elected a member of the City Council; in the following year, was elected member of the Board of Health, and, at the expiration of his term, was re- elected to that position. He has taken an active inter- est in politics, and has represented his ward, as a Demo- crat, in many of the political conventions. He is a member of the Roman Catholic Church. He is a man of admirable habits, courteous and attractive in manners, is liberal and charitable in his views, and is a useful and valuable man in his community. Dr. McDermott was married, January 5, 1868, to Miss Clara Miller, daughter of Capt. John A. Miller, who was long and prominently known in connection with the river inter- ests of Louisville, Kentucky.

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The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 107

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