The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 109

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

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University. A liberal charter was granted by the State, and, under the designation of Christian College, it was formally organized in the Spring of that year. His con- duct of the institution brought it into public notice and universal popularity, filling it to overflowing with young women of the best families of the State. He presided over that institution until 1856, when ill health, and a desire to return and labor in his native State, induced him to resign. In that year, he and his father purchased "Greenville Springs," near Harrodsburg, and opened Daughters' College, which has since been continued with great prosperity. After taking charge of this institu- tion, fifty of his pupils from the far West followed him, and, during the many prosperous years of the college, it has graduated pupils from many States, its Alumna being among the most thoroughly educated and accom- plished women and teachers of the country. In 1865, on the removal of the Kentucky University, and its consolidation with Transylvania University, at Lexing- ton, he was prevailed upon to accept the Professorship of Moral and Mental Philosophy, and, while occupying that position, was elected President of the State depart- ment of the University. After filling that position with distinction for nearly three years, he returned to his place at the head of Daughters' College, where he now is. His life has been a busy one. He was one of the original movers, in the organization of the State Teach- ers' Association, and has taken a prominent interest in every thing looking to the educational advancement of the State. He has contributed largely to the religious and literary papers, is the author of many addresses, and is an able writer. His life of Elder John Smith is a well-known and standard work. He will soon have ready for the press his most important work, "Chris- tian Ethics." He has not only used his pen extensively, but has been induced, from surrounding circumstances, as well as personal tastes, to occasionally fill the pulpit in various Churches in and out of his denomination. He has a large, active brain, and uses it to great advan- tage; is possessed of a large heart, and does not re- strain its noble impulses ; is a man of fine tastes, which he displays every-where around him ; has great fondness for poetry and refined literature ; is a man of strong and admirable character; and, besides being an easy and elegant writer, is a speaker of ability ; and ranks as one of the first scholars and most successful educators of his State. He is a man of genial and attractive man- ners, of fine person and stately bearing; is deservedly popular in the institution over which he presides. Prof. Williams was married, in 1848, to Miss Mary L. IIatha- way, daughter of Philip Hathaway, of Montgomery County, Kentucky, a member of one of the old pioneer families from Virginia, and a lady of great worth of heart and mind. Of their six children-three daughters and three sons-the sons only are now living.

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OBINSON, GEN. JAMES TAYLOR, son of Gov. James F. Robinson, was born November 25, 1832, in Georgetown, Kentucky. (See sketch of Gov. Robinson.) His life until his majority was passed on his father's estate, and, though not actively engaged in the labor of the farm, he made himself familiar with the practical details of its management ; received a collegiate education, graduating at Georgetown College in 1853; manifested a capacity for trading and speculation at an early age, and, when only twenty-three, being attracted by the prospect of a brilliant fortune to be realized from investments in West- ern lands, removed to Iowa, where he engaged for a time in speculations in real estate; then returned to his native State; devoted two or three years to the man- agement of his private affairs, when he received the ap- pointment of Quartermaster-General of Kentucky from his father, Gov. Robinson, which he filled satisfactorily till 1861; resigned his position, and removed to Lex- ington, where he again engaged in trade, and also en- tered into a contract for furnishing supplies to the Gov- ernment, which was continued till the close of the war, when he became one of the proprietors of the Phoenix Hotel, which takes rank as one of the first hotels of the State. He was married, in 1859, to Miss Mary Wheeler, of Winchester, Kentucky; has been called to fill various positions of trust, succeeding Gen. Breckin- ridge in the Presidency of Kentucky Association, hav- ing previously served as Vice-President of the same for several years ; has been Chairman of the Democratic Ex- ecutive Committee for his city and county for about seven years; and was elected to the office of City Col- lector, which he still holds. He has been a Democrat since 1858, and was a strong Union man during the war. Gen. Robinson has been a Mason for twenty-five years, and is now a Knight Templar ; is known throughout the State as a good business man and a kindly neighbor, full of good deeds and active charity.

RIGHT, HON. JESSE D., was born December D. 18, 1814, at Norwich, New York, and was the son of David G. Bright, long a merchant of Fincastle, Virginia; and, after residing for many years in New York, in 1819 came West ; remained, for a time, at Shelbyville, Ken- tucky; but, in 1820, located permanently at Madison, Indiana, where he died in 1852. Jesse D. Bright re- ceived a fine education ; studied law, and entered on its practice in 1834; was elected Probate Judge in 1836; resigned, in 1838, to become United States Marshal for Indiana; resigned that position, and was elected State Senator, which position he also resigned, and was elected Lieutenant-Governor, on the Democratic ticket,

in 1843; but, before the expiration of his term, was elected to the United States Senate, and was twice re- elected, but was expelled from that body in 1862; while a member of the Senate, was elected President of that body, holding the position from December, 1855, to the Spring of 1857; and was ex-officio Vice-President of the United States, William R. King having died. In 1864, he located in Carroll County, Kentucky ; was Elector on the Seymour and Blair ticket; in 1867, was elected to represent Carroll and Trimble Counties in the Ken- tucky Legislature; was re-elected in 1869, and, during that time, removed to Covington, Kentucky. In poli- tics, he belonged to the States Rights wing of the Dem- ocratic party ; was a man of undoubted ability and great strength of character; was distinguished for his fearless defense of his political principles, and his delib- erately formed convictions of right and wrong; and long stood among the leaders of the Democratic party. Mr. Bright died May 20, 1875, in Baltimore, Maryland.

OFER, HON. MARTIN HARDIN, Lawyer, Soldier, and Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals, is a son of Thomas and Mary Cofer; and was born in Elizabethtown, Hardin County, Kentucky, April 1, 1832. His father was a farmer, and a son of William Cofer, who emigrated from Virginia to Kentucky in 1781, and set- tled in Bullitt County. His mother was a daughter of Col. Martin Hardin, of Hardin County, Kentucky, where the Hardin family had long resided, and in whose honor the county was named. Col. Hardin was a farmer, and also a man of note and influence there, having represented the county several times in the Lower House of the Legislature. He made it his home until his death. In this county is to be found the more numerous branch of the Cofer family, although it is quite liberally represented in the neighboring county of Bullitt. The Cofers and Hardins have always been held in high repute in Kentucky, and counted among the best families of the State. Upon Judge Cofer, as a mark of respect to his grandfather, was bestowed the name of Martin Hardin. And in the county of Hardin, too, it was his fortune to be reared and schooled, though the instruction he there received was but of the most ordinary character, being all the times and locality could afford. Its deficiencies, however, were essentially made up, at a later period of life, by a rigid course of self-culture. At the age of twenty, Judge Cofer set out in the business of life for himself-his first vocation be- ing that of a surveyor ; his next, that of a lawyer. He followed surveying from 1852 to 1856, and the practice of the law from the latter year, when admitted to the bar at Elizabethtown, Kentucky, until 1861, when, the

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conflict between the North and South having begun, he abandoned the arts of peace to engage in those of war. Sympathizing with the South, he entercd the Confederate service, and, under orders, recruited and organized a battalion of six companies of men, which became a part of the Sixth Regiment of Ken- tucky Infantry, First Kentucky Brigade. He was made lieutenant-colonel of the regiment, and, though severely wounded in action at Shiloh, Tennessee, April 7, 1862, participated with the regiment in all its engagements up to August 30, 1864, except Mur- freesboro alone. For gallant and meritorious service, he was promoted, on the 30th of September, 1863, to the colonelcy of the regiment, and held the position un- til the close of the war. On the day preceding the first battle of Jonesboro, Georgia, he was detailed to serve as Provost-Marshal General of the Army of the Tennes- see, taking charge of the general police and discipline of all the troops of the department. This, though a duty of great difficulty and responsibility, was cheerfully ac- cepted, and discharged with efficiency, fidelity, and credit. Soon after its assumption, Gen. Hood entered Tennessee, when he accompanied that officer, rendering most important aid; and, after the disaster which befell the Confederate arms at Nashville, was sent to Colum- bia, Tennessee, with orders to arrest the retreating strag- glers at Duck river. Here he found every thing in the most inextricable confusion; and, failing to check but partially the retreat of the troops, who were being hard pressed by Gen. Thomas, was ordered ahead to the Ten- nessee river, to provide ways and means for the crossing of the troops, which he successfully accomplished. Reaching Tupelo, Mississippi, huts were hastily built to go into Winter quarters; but had scarcely been finished when orders came to proceed forthwith to Gen. John- ston, in North Carolina. Arriving there shortly after, the command was, in a brief time, surrendered to the United States forces at Greensboro, and the war virtu- ally brought to a close. As a military man, Judge Cofer was noted for his self-reliance, cool determination, prompt action, and unflinching bravery. His methods and habits were all systematic, precise, and regular; and, while he tolerated nothing contrary to the good order and strict discipline of the army, and exacted duty to the letter, he was never known to use power arbitrarily nor unnecessarily. Every emergency proved him to be an officer of extraordinary merit. Peace restored, he resumed the practice of the law at Elizabethtown, Ken- tucky, and in the courts of the surrounding counties, continuing the same until January, 1870, when Gov- ernor Stevenson appointed him Circuit Court Judge, which position he filled as an appointee until the fol- lowing August, when he was regularly elected to the office by the people, and served until 1874. While holding, as Circuit Judge, a session of his court, at

Brandenburg, Kentucky, May 12, 1871, he rendered one of the most important judicial decisions ever pro- mulgated from the bench of Kentucky. It involved the rights of a very large body of the people of the commonwealth ; and, owing to the peculiar state of political sentiment at that time, commanded marked attention, and caused wide-spread comment. The decis- ion was embodied in a charge to the Grand Jury of Meade County, Kentucky, in the case of a white man who was held for indictment under an accusation of maliciously cutting and wounding a negro, with intent to kill. The jury had asked the opinion of the judge as to the competency of some negro witnesses, who had been recognized to appear in behalf of the common- wealth and give testimony before the Grand Jury. He decided that such testimony was competent, upon the ground that this class of people were entitled, in com- mon with their white fellow-citizens, to the full and equal protection of the laws, under both State and United States Constitutions. The decision, of course, invalidated Section I, Chapter CVII, Revised Statutes of Kentucky, which law had been especially framed and enacted to exclude the hearing of negro testimony against white persons in the State Courts. The decis- ion was important and notable; coming, as it did, from a States Rights Democrat of the pronounced stamp, and one, too, who has always voted with his party, though not an active participant in politics, it is all the more valuable, and far less likely to be controverted, if such a thing as controverting it be possible. It must ever stand as a superb court judgment. In August, 1874, Judge Cofer was elected an Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals, which position he now holds, and, though not long on the bench, has already, by his able, forcible, and clear opinions, made himself quite distin- guished. He is the author of "Cofer's Kentucky Di- gest," which is an embodiment of the decisions of the Court of Appeals, and a work of rare merit and stand- ard authority in Kentucky jurisprudence. It has a place in every well regulated law library, and, to a Kentucky lawyer, is a matter of indispensability. Judge Cofer, in society relations, is a Mason of the Knight Templar degree; and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, with which he has been closely identi- fied since the year 1855. He is known to be a sincere Christian and God-fearing man. He married Miss Mary E. Bush, daughter of Christopher Bush, a farmer of Hardin County, Kentucky. She is a sister of W. P. D. Bush, of Frankfort; to Squire H. Bush, of Eliza- bethtown; and to Robert Y. Bush, a lawyer of Hawes- ville. Her people have always been thrifty, substantial citizens, and of good social position, but never held a public office. She is a lady of great personal worth, and highly regarded by all who know her. The family reside in Elizabethtown, but Judge Cofer is at Frank-

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fort the year round, in attendance upon the duties of his office. He has one son, Harry A., who now studies law under his direct personal supervision.

LUSKY, MICHAEL W., Editor and Author, was born in Savannah, Georgia, in 1830, of Irish parents. His father was a surveyor and architect of some note, and all his family were possessed of great natural talent. At the age of twenty-one, Michael W. Clusky entered upon his public career, having about that time become Post- master of the National House of Representatives. He served in that capacity until 1859, and was one of the best known and most popular men in Washington City. In that year he removed to Memphis, Tennessee, and became editor of the " Memphis Avalanche," and con- ducted that paper with great ability, his intimate knowl- edge of politics and machinations of party leaders giving him peculiar advantages as a skillful and trenchant po- litical editor. At the breaking out of the civil war, he, having warmly espoused the Southern cause, entered the Second Tennessee Regiment, and served with it in Vir- ginia ; afterwards returned to the West; participated in the battle of Shiloh, and was present at the various en- gagements of the Army of the Tennessee. At Atlanta he was severely wounded; and was afterwards elected to the Confederate Congress, holding that position until its disorganization. At the battle of Shiloh, he was pro- moted, for gallant conduct, adjutant-general, serving in Gen. Preston Smith's brigade. He had previously risen from the ranks to captain, for meritorious action on the field. When the great conflict at arms was over, he re- turned to Memphis, and resumed editorial charge of the "Avalanche; " but failing health soon compelled him to relinquish his connection with that paper, when he re- moved to Louisville, Kentucky. About that time the "Ledger" of that city was established, and he became its first editor. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Public Library, and was one of the committee that bought the books; and became warmly connected with Dr. C. C. Graham, and entertained the same notions as to the management of that institution. He was a writer of rare ability; wielded considerable influence as a politician ; during the Buchanan campaign, was Secretary of the Democratic National Committee; and numbered among his friends and admirers some of the first men of his party. While at Washington, he gathered a vast store of information, from which he pub- lished "Clusky's Political Text-book," considered a vade mecum among politicians. He also published, anony- mously, another work of similar character; and got up a curiously interesting work of miniature oil-paintings of all members of Congress. He was a man of prodig-

ious memory and great natural ability; was extremely benevolent; lent an open heart and ready hand to every good cause; was an eloquent speaker; was frail in phys- ique, but brave and manly in his character; was greatly admired, and was apparently cut off in the very opening of a brilliant career. He died in 1873. He was mar- ried, in Louisville, to the accomplished Mrs. W. R. Ja- cob (née Hall), of Shelby County, Kentucky, the widow of W. R. Jacob, brother of the present Mayor of Louis- ville. She still survives. They had no children.

'REILLY, JOHN JOSEPH, M. D., was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, October 21, 1833; and is the son of Dr. John O'Reilly, a physician of note and of many years' practice, now living in Louisville, Kentucky. John Joseph was ed- ucated at St. Joseph's College, in Bardstown, Kentucky, and graduated therefrom.in the year 1859, after which he studied medicine in the Universities at Louisville, Kentucky, and Nashville, Tennessee, and re- ceived his diploma, at the latter institution, in 1865. Early in the war, he was appointed an Assistant Sur- geon in Hospital Number One, at Louisville, Kentucky, Dr. Brandies surgeon in charge; in 1862, went to Nash- ville, Tennessee, where he was made Assistant Surgeon in the Tennessee Lunatic Asylum. While holding this position, Gen. Bragg's army moved between the asylum and Nashville, and the superintendent, becom- ing alarmed, deserted his post, leaving the principal care of the institute to Dr. O'Reilly, who remained steadily in the discharge of his duties, and succeeded in protecting and preserving the property from damage or loss. After leaving the asylum, he passed an ex- amination before the Army Medical Board, and re- ported to Surgeon Chambers, United States Volun- teers, by whom he was appointed Surgeon of the Tenth Tennessee Infantry (styled "Andrew Johnson's Body-guard"), to fill the post made vacant by the death of Dr. Johnson, son of Gov. Johnson, of Ten- nessee. He was afterwards Secretary of State Board of Examiners for Surgeons in Tennessee Military Service ; also, Assistant Surgeon to Dr. Chambers, for examining and reporting on cases of female venereal contagion, in Nashville-the first effective board of this kind ever in- stituted in this country, the necessity of which arose from the exigencies of the times. At the close of the war, in May, 1865, he returned to Louisville, where he commenced the practice of his profession, which he has continued ever since, gaining an extensive business, and earning a fine reputation as a physician. For so young a man, he stands exceedingly high in his profession, and is frequently consulted in matters where extraordinary knowledge and skill are required. He has been, for

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several years, a member of the "Board of Health," " Professor of Diseases of Children in the Kentucky School of Medicine," and, also, one of the Board of Public-school Education. He has contributed nu- merous valuable articles to the "American Practi- tioner," and, also, to the "Medical and Surgical Re- porter," which have been extensively copied, both in this country and in Europe, and is considered one of the most ready, solid, and advanced among the medical writers of the day. His frank and genial manners make him a universal favorite in society and with his profession, while his assiduous attention to duty, and his great rectitude of character, insure him the confi- dence and commendation of the community.

ILLER, HENRY M., M. D., was born Novem- ber I, 1800, in Barren County, Kentucky. His father was one of the original settlers of Glas- gow, in that county ; was a native of Maryland and of German origin. Although Dr. Miller did not receive a collegiate education, he became a fine English scholar, and possessed a good knowledge of Greek and Latin ; and, indeed, few men of his day were better scholars. At the age of seventeen, he began the study of medicine at Glasgow, under Drs. Bain- bridge and Gist. After two years spent in preparation, in 1819, he attended the first full course of lectures de- livered in the Transylvania University, at Lexington, after which he began the practice of medicine at Glas- gow, his native village, associated with his preceptor, Dr. Bainbridge. In the Fall of 1821, he again returned to Transylvania University, and, after completing his second course of lectures, graduated with a high rank in his class. He again returned to Glasgow and resumed the practice of his profession. In 1822, he was appointed Demonstrator of Anatomy in his Alma Mater; and after spending some time in Philadelphia, in furthering his medical knowledge, entered upon the duties of his new position. Some dissensions arising in the medical faculty, which were disagreeable to him, he resigned, and again returned to the practice of his profession, at Glasgow. In 1827, he removed to Harrodsburg; in 1835, located in Louisville to aid in organizing the Medical School, in which he had been appointed a professor, although the attempt was unsuccessful. In 1837, the Medical Institute at Louisville was established, in which he was Professor of Obstetrics and Diseases of Women and Children. After that institution was made a part of the University of Louisville, he filled the same chair until 1858, when he resigned, after having filled the position during the many changes in the faculty for twenty-one years. In 1849, he published his work, "Theoretical and Practical Treatise on Human Parturition," which was subsequently

revised, and issued under the title of "Principles and Practice of Obstetrics," at the time received with great favor, and still one of the most reliable text-books on that subject. He also made other additions to medical litera- ture through the medical journals, and in the form of pamphlets. He wrote extensively, and was known at home and abroad as one of the first medical writers and teachers of this country. In 1869, he was again induced to enter the University, to fill the special Chair of Medical and Surgical Diseases of Women. He shortly afterwards resigned, and, in 1869, accepted a similar professorship in the Louisville Medical College, which he held until his death. He not only took position among the first medical teachers and writers of his time, but was also regarded as one of the most skillful and successful medical practitioners of the day. IIe was the first surgeon of Louisville who used anæesthetics in ob- stetric practice, and was one of the first in the country who used the speculum uteri in chronic diseases. Dr. Miller was married, June 24, 1824, to Clarissa Robert- son, daughter of William Robertson, who survived him, with four of their children: George R., Edward, Caro- line M., and Mary E., the last being the wife of James H. Turner; and Caroline M., the wife of Dr. John Good- man. Dr. Miller died February 8, 1874; and, at the next commencement of the Louisvillle Medical College, the President of its Board of Trustees, Hon. H. W. Bruce, gave the following tribute to his memory : " His services were never withheld from the poor and needy; nor were such, seeking alms, ever turned from his door. In these, the more tender and delicate of his relations toward the public, as well as in the high and responsible official positions to which he was at different times called, he discharged ever his whole duty, with eminent success and to the entire satisfaction of all who were concerned in his conduct; and, outside the sacred precincts of his own desolate household, there are none who will miss his vast learning, his wisdom, his prudence, and his moderation, so much as his bereaved colleagues in the Faculty of the Louisville Medical College. The chair which he so long, so ably, and so gracefully filled and adorned, is now vacant, and draped in mourning. How he was esteemed as a professor, his colleagues attest by feeling that his place can never be fully supplied. As a consort and parent, he was all that could be expected of a husband and father-protecting, kind, loving, and in- dulgent to a fault. As a citizen, he was an example worthy to be followed by his fellow-citizens. As a prac- titioner, he was prudent and cautious in general, but, when the occasion required it, he was bold and intrepid, and fully abreast, if not in advance, of the age in which he lived. As a writer, he was careful, accurate, analyt- ical, philosophic, and logical ; as a student, unwearying, independent, and exhaustive; as a reviewer, honest, just, and generous; as a teacher, progressive, faithful,

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The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 109

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