The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 16

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

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but maintained that the question was one which the people of Kentucky alone had the right to decide, so far as Kentucky was concerned; and that the Federal Government, and the citizens of other States, had no right to interfere. When the war between the States was being discussed, he was in favor of compromise, be- lieving that almost any thing was better than civil war.

Opposed to secession, he was equally opposed to co- ercion. He was in favor of the Union by maintaining the bond of the Union-the Constitution. He united himself with the Democratic party, as the only organized

party in the country sustaining the reserved rights of the States. During the civil war, every Democratic newspaper published in the State of Kentucky had been suppressed, and the party itself had been disbanded. In this condition of affairs he, with S. I. M. Major, former proprietor and editor, revived the " Kentucky Yeoman," a newspaper which had been suppressed by military order, and boldly struck out to infuse life once more into the inanimated Democratic party of the State. Under the circumstances, it was a bold and hazardous undertaking. But, after a laborious and per- sistent effort, others joining them, they succeeded in secur- ing a convention of Democrats at Louisville, on the Ist of May, 1866, at which a candidate for the clerkship of the Court of Appeals was nominated, and afterwards elected by the people. During the years of 1865, '66, '67, and '68, he made many speeches, in different portions of the State, in favor of the restoration of the constitutional right of the people, and the reserved right of the State. His speeches had a powerful influence upon the people, and contributed largely to the formation and consolida- tion of the Democratic party, which has controlled the policy of the State for the last ten years. In one of his speeches, made in the month of March, 1867, he said : "By common consent, it seems to be conceded that. the Democratic party is the only political organization which is capable of grappling with the revolutionary vandals now in the possession of the legislative branch of the government. The eyes of the nation are fixed upon it, and, as that noble old party steps out upon the arena, an athlete bold, armed with the Constitution, and bear- ing in its front the flag of the country, with not a miss- ing star, and upon which may be distinctly seen the motto, written in letters of light, 'E Pluribus Unum,' the heart of every patriot throbs with joy, and hope lights up the countenance of the desponding. The sheen of its escutcheon is undimmed by time. Em- blazoned upon its disc may be seen the names of Jeffer- son, Madison, Monroe, Jackson, and a host of the illustrious dead-names familiar in the chronicle of the nation's glory and prosperity." Its traditions come down from the fathers who made the Constitution, and after- wards put it into operation, and administered the gov- ernment with glorious success. It enters the list now to . save that Constitution from destruction, and to redeem the inheritance of the people." In 1867 or 1868, he ac- cepted the chairmanship of the State Democratic Cen- tral Committec, which position he continued to hold until very recently. With the aid of his Committec, the affairs of the party were managed with great skill, avoiding extreme views growing out of questions con- nected with the civil war, recognizing the legitimate re- sults of the war, allaying the ill feelings and hostilities among the people, and building up and consolidating the party upon broad Democratic principles and theories.

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In 1868, he was a Democratic Elector. He was Secre- tary of State during the greater part of Gov. Leslie's term of office. In 1873, he was appointed upon the Com- mission to revise the Statutes and Codes of Practice of the State, and acted as umpire of the Commission. In 1875, he was elected as Representative of the county of Franklin, in the Lower House of the Kentucky Legis- lature, which office he now holds. He has, on several occasions, been voted for, in the State Democratic Con- ventions, as a suitable nominee of the party for the office of Governor, although not a candidate, or seeking the office. On the twenty-second day of April, 1835, he was married to Miss Mary T. Murray, daughter of James Murray, of Munfordville, Kentucky. She died on the sixteenth day of August, 1839, leaving one child, Charles F. Craddock, who is a lawyer, now living in San Fran- cisco, California. On the fourteenth day of January, 1841, he was again married, in Frankfort, to Miss Harriet W. Theobald, daughter of William Theo- bald. By this marriage he has five living children. As a lawyer and politician, Mr. Craddock is now one of the most advanced men in the State. A long experience at the Frankfort bar, and in the Court of Appeals, where success is only achieved through ability, has given him professional prominence, and fitted him eminently for the conduct of the many important causes in which he is employed. While thoroughly imbued with all the great elements underlying the common law, he has given much of his life to a right understanding of the theory of re- publican government, and an ardent study of the true principles upon which it is founded. His opinions, whether professional or political, are held in respect by all parties, and he is accorded the credit of being earnest and honest, as well as of being a man of superior ability. As a public speaker, he belongs strictly to the old school. In oration, he opens with a slow and rather tiresome manner, but every word carries force, and every sentence conveys an idea. He reasons clearly and rapidly, and altogether carries great weight before an audience. In debate, he is one of the strongest speakers in the Commonwealth, ready and brilliant, leaving no openings in his own armor, and finding the weak points in that of his opponent. As a general thing, his public utterances are characterized by solid and dignified argument; yet he has an acute appreciation of humor, and, when occa- sion admits, can employ it with telling effect. In phy- sique, he is a man of fine appearance, about six feet tall, well proportioned, indicating much vigor in his earlier life; his features are decisively cut, altogether having an admirable appearance. Holding the respect and con- fidence of his neighbors and associates, he is not jealous or envious of any man's political success, but keeps the even tenor of his way, every-where displaying the true traits of the gentleman. He has no enemies, and is no man's enemy. His disposition is amiable and forgiving,

though he sometimes gives way to a momentary passion. He is always ready to amend the wrong which he does, and readier to forget the wrong done him. Altogether, George W. Craddock is a man of great strength of char- acter, and would do honor to any position in the gift of his State.

LOYD, JOHN, was born in 1750, in Virginia, and was the son of William Floyd, and his wife, Abadiah Davis. His parents emigrated to Kentucky, and settled in Jefferson County, at an early day. Three of his brothers, and two of his brothers-in-law, were killed by the In- dians ; in 1774, he assisted, under Colonel William Pres- ton, in surveying Kentucky, making his first surveys on the Ohio river, in what is now Lewis County ; was re- called by Governor Dunmore during the same year, and in the following Spring returned to Kentucky, and en- gaged in surveying through the central part of the Ter- ritory ; in May of that year was a delegate from Stan- ford, then Saint Asaph, to the convention at Boonesbor- ough which organized the government of Transylvania; subsequently united his fortunes with, and became the principal surveyor of, Henderson & Company ; in the following year, accompanied Daniel Boone for the rescue of his daughter Jemima, and Elizabeth and Fannie Cal- loway, from the Indians; in this year he returned to Vir- ginia, became commander of a privateer, and, while en- gaged in the destruction of British shipping, was cap- tured and imprisoned at Dartmouth, England ; escaped . by the assistance of the jailor's wife, crossed the chan- nel to France, and was furnished means to return to America by Dr. Franklin ; for many years was one of the foremost in all plans organized for the development of the country ; was widely known and feared by the In- dians ; accompanied General Clark on several military expeditions ; was offered a title and a considerable sum of money, by the British commander at Detroit, to join the fortunes of England, and lead the Indians against the frontier settlements ; spurned the bribe ; in 1779, built a station on Beargrass, Jefferson County, called Floyd's Station; in 1781, led a small company of men to the as- sistance of Boone's Station, near Shelbyville ; but was led into an ambuscade, and half his men killed by a body of savages, April 12, 1783 ; while riding in the company of his brother Charles, some distance from his station, they were fired upon by the Indians, and he was mortally wounded. Colonel Floyd was a man of most attractive personal appearance, agreeable and impressive in man- ners, and was one of the most intelligent, enterprising, and brave of the early settlers of Kentucky. Before reaching his twentieth year he was married to Miss Bur- well, of Chesterfield County, Virginia. She died within " a year, and he was subsequently married to Jane Bu-

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chanan, granddaughter of Colonel James Patton, one of the pioneer settlers of the valley of Virginia. Several of his children survived him ; and his son John, who was born in Jefferson County, Kentucky, served many years in the Legislature of Virginia ; was twelve years in Con- gress, and, from 1829 to, 1834, was Governor of Virginia.

cGARVEY, REV. JOHN WILLIAM, Pro- fessor of Sacred History in the College of the Bible, in Kentucky University, was born March I, 1829, in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. His father, John McGarvey, came from Dublin, Ireland, when a youth, and settled in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, where he followed mercantile pursuits, and died in 1833. His mother was Sallie A. Thompson, a native of Scott County, Kentucky. His father died when he was four years old, and his mother, marrying again, in 1839, removed to Tazewell County, Illinois, where he received a thorough preparatory education, and entered Bethany College, Virginia, in 1847, and graduated in 1850. After graduation, he went to Mis- souri, and engaged in teaching ; and, in September, 1851, was ordained to preach ; was settled with the Church at Dover, Missouri, in 1853, and labored with that and other Churches until the Spring of 1862, when he was called to preach for the Church at Lexington, Kentucky, until the duties of his position in the college, to which he had been elected in 1865, compelled him to resign in 1867. In 1869, in connection with M. E. Lard, Robert Graham, L. B. Wilkes, and W. H. Hopson, he estab- lished the " Apostolic Times," a weekly religious news- paper, of which he continued to be an editor until the close of the year 1875. He is one of the most scholarly and able writers of his Church, and, in 1863, published his "Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles," with a revised version of the text, which has passed through several editions; and, in 1874, published his "Commen- tary on the Gospels of Matthew and Mark," which has been most favorably received throughout the country. In 1870, he was induced to assume pastoral charge of the Broadway Church, in Lexington, and still continues in that relation. He is a man of great strength and clearness of mind; seldom displays the least confusion in his ideas; is physically and mentally able to endure any amount of hard labor; is exceedingly cool and self- possessed, and is one of the most skillful debaters, and one of the most able and attractive preachers, in the Disciples' Church. He takes an active interest in the schools and public affairs, and in all social matters look- ing to the welfare of Lexington; and is not only one of the first men of his Church, but is also one of the most earnest, broad, libcral-spirited, and valuable members of the community in which he has so long lived. Mr.

McGarvey was married, in 1853, to Miss Mary Otway F. Hix, of Howard County, Missouri; and, of their eight children, seven are still living.

ALE, ROBERT HARDIN, M. D., Physician and Surgeon, was born January 25, 1828, in Owen County, Kentucky. His father was a physician and surgeon for many years in that county, and enjoyed a wide-spread reputation, having performed some original and successful operations in surgery. He is of Scotch-English origin. He attended school in his native county for a number of years, and finished his education at Transylvania University, at Lexington. He studied medicine with his father; went to Jefferson Medical College, Philadel- phia, in 1848, and subsequently graduated with great credit, receiving his degree in medicine. He soon after commenced the practice of medicine at Covington, Kentucky; was appointed on the Medical Staff of the Commercial Hospital, of Cincinnati; after one year's service in that capacity, returned, through the solicita- tion of his friends, to his native county ; practiced with great success for several years; was twice elected Pro- bate Judge before he had reached his twenty-fifth year ; became candidate for the Legislature in 1859, and was elected, by an opposition of seven votes, in a voting population of twenty-four hundred. He served in that body on several important committecs, and took an active part in its work during the troublesome times prior to the initiation of the civil war. From the first, he took a decided stand for the South, and was a prom- inent member of the Democratic Convention, which met at Charleston, and afterward at Baltimore, in 1860. When the war came on, he entered the Confederate service, as surgeon of Col. D. Howard Smith's regi- ment, remaining on active duty until failing health com- pelled him to return home. In 1873, at the solicitation of Gen. Eccles, President of Louisville, Cincinnati, and Lexington Railroad, he accepted the position as agent and surgeon for that company ; in 1874, he received a similar appointment under the Louisville, Paducah, and South-western Railroad, still holding both positions. In 1876, he was elected as Secretary of the American Mutual Benefit Association of Physicians, whose offices are located at Louisville; became member of the State Medical Society in 1873; was delegate from it to the American Medical Association, which met at St. Louis in that year; at that meeting, was made one of the Ju- dicial Council on the Code of Ethics for the profession ; and, serving the short term, was re-elected the following year at Detroit, and now serves in that connection. In May, 1874, he was elected surgeon on the Visiting Staff of the Louisville City Hospital; has been annually re-

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

elected, and, in 1876, was made President of the Board of Medical Officers of that institution. He was the first physician in Owen County to give ice-water in fever, where the patient had previously been on mercurial treatment ; has been particularly successful in numerous cases of lithotomy ; is quick in his conceptions, and bold and vigorous in carrying them out, and, as such, stands as a pioneer in some of the most successful surgical operations. He is a writer of force; is a man of strong convictions-considers his position and maintains it; is a man of fine personal appearance, easy and winning in his manners; stands deservedly high in the community, and is one of those characters who would take a place in the front rank of any profession. Dr. Gale was mar- ried, December 31, 1846, to Miss M. C. Green, and has had eight children, three of whom are now living.

ODGE, GEN. GEORGE BAIRD, Lawyer and Soldier, was born April 8, 1828, in Fleming County, Kentucky. His father, William Hodge, was a native of Mason County, followed agri- cultural pursuits, lived for many years in Flem- ing County, and died in Mason, in 1862. His mother was Sarah Baird, daughter of Absalom Baird, an officer in the Revolutionary army, for some time Inspec- tor of the forts of Western Pennsylvania, and grand- father of the present Gen. Absalom Baird, of the United States army. Gen. Hodge received a fine education at the Maysville Seminary, and the Naval Academy, at Annapolis. He was midshipman, and acting lieutenant in the Navy for nearly six years; was aid to Commo- dore David Connor at the siege of Vera Cruz; made several voyages around the world; resigned in 1851; in 1853, at the age of twenty-five, made a remarkable race for Congress, as the Whig candidate, against Hon. R. H. Stanton, a most popular Democrat, of Marysville; was unsuccessful, but greatly reduced the usual majority ; studied law; was admitted to the bar; soon afterward located at Newport, where he was married to Miss Katura Tibbatts, daughter of Col. John W. Tibbatts, and grand- daughter of Gen. James Taylor ; was elected to the Leg- islature in 1859, and was Chairman of the Committee of Federal Relations, and was candidate for Elector for the State at large, on the Breckinridge ticket, in 1860. He left Kentucky in September, 1861, with John C. Breck- inridge and William Preston, and entered the Southern army, as a private, under Gen. Buckner; was elected member of the " Executive Council" of the Confederate Provisional Government of Kentucky, assembled for the first time in December, 1861, at Bowling Green, within the lines of the Confederate army ; resigned, and was chosen to represent Kentucky in the Confederate Provis- ional Congress ; was afterward elected and served in the

first permanent Confederate Congress, at Richmond; while not at the Confederate seat of government, was actively engaged in the field; was made Captain and Assistant Adjutant-General in Breckinridge's division; was engaged in the battle of Shiloh, and was promoted Major for gallant and meritorious conduct on that field; was promoted Colonel, in 1864 ; served for a time as In- spector-General ; was made Brigadier-General in the same year; participated in the battle of Chickamauga ; and subsequently commanded the district of East Lou- isiana and Mississippi, until the close of the war; soon after which he resumed his law practice at Newport. In 1772, he was elected Presidential Elector for the State at large, on the Greeley ticket, and was President of the Electoral College. In 1873, he was elected State Sena- tor, term expiring in 1877. General Hodge is a fine writer, a forcible and polished speaker, an able lawyer, a man of great natural dignity of character ; could not, in any ordinary sense, be termed a politician, and is a man of magnificent and attractive personal appearance.

ONDIT, REV. JOHN HOWELL, Presbyterian Clergyman, was born September 15, 1806, in Hanover, New Jersey. His father was a Pres- byterian minister, his only sister married a min- ister, and three of his four brothers were active ministers of the Gospel. Thus, belonging to a family of clergymen, he was trained from infancy in the religion of his ancestors, and, at the age of eighteen, began his preparation for the Gospel ministry. He commenced his literary course at Woodbridge Academy, and graduated at Princeton College, 1831. He graduated at Princeton Theological Seminary, in 1835, and was licensed to preach. In that year, he started, with his wife, to seek a home in the West, designing, first, to visit Terre Haute, Indiana, where his only brother, en- gaged in secular business, resided. On their way down the Ohio, they stopped off the boat to spend the Sab- bath at Bethesda Church, now Ashland, Kentucky. He preached on the Sabbath, and was invited to become the pastor of that Church. He remained there over four years, dividing his labors between that and the Greenup Union, twenty miles below. This labor proved to be too great for his physical strength, and, together with the weakness of the Church at that time, he was compelled to seek another field. In April, 1840, he accepted the pastorship of the Presbyterian Church at Washington, Mason County, and that became the field of his life- work. He remained in charge of the Church at Wash- ington until June, 1868. When the difficulties that un- happily and unfortunately divided the Church in Ken- tucky began, though greatly troubled by the strife, and foreseeing the final result, he firmly took his stand with

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

the Old Assembly. Exceedingly sensitive, and greatly attached to his people, he could not engage in conflict with them, and seeing his official acts misconstrued, and his ministerial rights invaded, he at last gave up his charge and retired. This dissolution of his long pastoral relation seemed to break all the bonds that bound him to the earth. He sought the home of his son, at Ash- land, and there, surrounded by the early friends of his ministry, died August 1, 1869. While the fervency of life yet remained, he called his friends to his side, and said: "I give this as my dying testimony, that Christ is a precious Savior, and I subscribe to the declaration of the apostle, 'It is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.'" And at his grave, in the cemetery at Ashland, they erected a neat monument, and wrote on it, that it was a "token of affection, and a tribute to his worth, by his many friends and the people of his early charge." This was the end of the earthly perfec- tions of one of the most useful, earnest, and pure- spirited ministers of the Gospel. Mr. Condit was mar- ried, September 30, 1835, to Miss Louisa Cutter. His widow and one child survive him. His son, the Rev. William C. Condit, is now pastor of the Church at Ash- land, over which his father spent the first four years of his ministerial life.

AMERON, REV. ARCHIBALD, Presbyterian Clergyman, was born in the Highlands of Scot- land, in 1770 or 1771; was brought by his par- rents, John and Janet (McDonald) Cameron, to America, when very young; remained in Penn- sylvania until 1781 ; in that year, settled in Nel- son County, Kentucky, at the foot of what is now called "Cameron's Knob;" learned Latin and Greek with his brother; attended Dr. Priestly's school at Bardstown, where he was reputed as the brightest scholar, although a classmate of John Rowan, Felix Grundy, and John Pope; afterwards attended Transylvania Seminary, and became an accomplished scholar; joined the Presbyterian Church at the age of nineteen; studied for the ministry under Rev. David Rice; was licensed by Transylvania Presbytery in 1795; preached in Shelby, Nelson, and Jefferson Counties; planted most of the Churches, and established Presbyterianism in those counties; was, for over forty years, pastor of many of those Churches; was one of the most worthy, able, eloquent, and useful preach- ers of his day; was the author of many works, widely read in the Church; among the most notable of these, arc, "The Monitor," "The Faithful Steward," "An Appeal to the Scriptures," "A Defense of the Doctrines of Grace," and quite a number of pamphlets, addresses, etc. He died, as he had lived, a Christian, full of faith and piety, in 1836.

HACKLEFORD, JOHN, M. D., oldest son of James and Elizabeth Shackleford, was born March 8, 1801, in Mason County, Kentucky. His father was of English ancestry, and was a native of Fauquier County, Virginia, where some of his family had long been settled; was a soldier in the Revolutionary War; followed agricultu- ral pursuits ; settled in Bourbon County, Kentucky, about 1790; a few years subsequently settled in Mason County, where he lived till his death, in 1825. His mother was also a native of Virginia, and daughter of Charles Clarke, a prominent English Virginian. Dr. Shackleford was educated in the private schools of Ma- son County, and, at the age of eighteen, began reading medicine under the supervision of Dr. John F. Henry, at Washington. He continued his medical studies with Dr. Basil Duke, another of the early leading physicians of Mason County; also, attended lectures at Transylva- nia University, and, after a thorough preparation of five years' duration, graduated in medicine, at that institu- tion, in the Spring of 1824, and soon after entered upon the practice of his profession at Maysville, where he has since resided. He has now practiced medicine in his native county for over half a century; has estab- lished a large and lucrative practice, and is one of the most accomplished and dignified members of his profes- sion who has ever flourished in North-eastern Kentucky. Although holding his residence at Maysville, unbroken, through such a long professional career, his medical practice has extended over a large surrounding territory, has been exceptionally successful, and brought him an enviable and wide-spread reputation. He has been, for a number of years, examining surgeon for the Govern- ment; has always been prominent in matters pertaining to his profession, and is one of the oldest and most influential physicians in his part of the State. He has always taken great interest in public affairs, especially those pertaining to the welfare of his own community; has always been a friend and patron of universal educa- tion, and has been, for a number of years, a curator of Kentucky University. He has been, for many years, a professor of religion, and an active member of the Christian Church. In politics, Dr. Shackleford was originally a Whig, casting his first vote for Henry Clay; he is now a Republican, first becoming identified with that party in 1864, at the re-election of Abraham Lincoln. During the war of the rebellion, he was a staunch Union man, a most zcalous supporter of the Emancipation Proclamation. He was marricd, Decem- ber 26, 1833, to Ann, daughter of Jamcs Chambers, of Mason County. They have five sons: John ShackIc- ford, Jr., a minister of the Gospel, and Professor in Kentucky University ; Dr. James Shackleford, one of the leading physicians of Maysville, and now State Senator, being elected in 1877, after a most exciting contest ;

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The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 16

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