The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 17

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 17

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BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

Charles Shackleford, a lawyer in Bloomington, Illinois; William C. Shackleford, a druggist in Maysville; Sprigg Shackleford, a lawyer. Dr. John Shackleford, the sub- ject of this sketch, is six feet four inches in height, erect and soldierly in carriage, of dignified and princely pres- ence; and is accounted by his fellow-citizens as a man of the heroic type, the impersonation of every manly virtue. It may be said of him, as was said by an Irish Presbyterian, when, being asked what he thought of Oliver Cromwell, he replied: "God gave him stern work to do, and he did it." Yet, with all his will and courage, he has ever been, especially in his latter years, most gentle and considerate in his treatment of the ignorant and wretched of earth, and particularly noted for a most sincere and pleasing courtesy of manner. He is now in his seventy-seventh year, and presents to every thoughtful eye a fine living picture of a venerable and honorable old age.

URGE, RICHARDSON, Merchant, was born January 4, 1810, in Prince George County, Vir- ginia. He acquired a common English educa- tion, while laboring on the farm till his nine- teenth year, when he started with a small capi- tal as a country merchant. By great industry and economy, he was soon enabled to remove to Peters- burg, Virginia, where his fine business habits and ability gave him remarkable success. In 1839, he settled in Louisville, Kentucky, where he engaged in the tobacco trade, which he has since pursued. In . 1849, an insur- ance company was organized by the tobacco dealers of that city, and he was made its President. He was for a long time President of the People's Insurance Company of Louisville, and is now Vice-President of the Falls City Tobacco Bank. Since 1870, his only son, Albert W. Burge, has been associated with him in the manage- ment of his extensive business, exporting most of their tobacco to Europe. In 1855, he bought the site of Old Fort Nelson, upon which he erected a spacious mansion, in which he still resides. Mr. Burge is, strictly speak- ing, a self-made man, and has been one of the most re- markably successful merchants of the country. Although devoting his attention chiefly to his own business inter- ests, he has yet taken opportunity to make himself felt as one of the most useful, enterprising, and valuable citi- zens of Louisville; contributing with his ample fortune to the growth and beauty of his adopted city, having erected many of the largest and most elegant of its busi- ness houses; and, in various ways, has been greatly bene- ficial to the general welfare of the community. Mainly in connection with his large business interests, he has traveled over the United States, and the greater part of Europe, acquainting himself with the business customs of different parts of the world, and is doubtless one of

the most thoroughly informed and intelligent business men of the country. Of late years, he has added the wholesale and retail carpet trade to his other business, desiring morc scope for his activities. He has always been identified with the Democratic party, but has never taken a great interest in politics. He has been scrupu- lously upright; is distinguished for his support of every good cause; is a man of admirable habits; is courteous and dignified in manners; and his excellent qualities place him in high estimation among his fellow-citizens. Mr. Burge has been three times married: in 1836, to Miss Ann Aldridge, of Virginia ; in 1847, to Miss Louisa Applegate, daughter of Elisha Applegate, of Louisville ; and, after her death, to Mrs. Mary Beatty, in 1868. Six of his children are still living.

ARROD, JAMES, Pioneer and Hunter. Noth- ing is now known of the time and place of the birth of this remarkable old backwoodsman and Indian fighter, who has had assigned to him the honor of building the first log cabin in Ken- tucky. He was uneducated in letters, not even being able to read and write. But this does not appear at all strange, considering the times in which he lived. At this day, almost every community throughout the land presents an instance of the kind; and the large centers of commerce and so-called civilization teem with men and women who can not read or write. James Harrod was not an ignorant man, evidently pos- sessing fine natural abilities, and being especially en- dowed with those faculties which adapted him to cir- cumstances, and made his name honorable in pioneer annals. As early as 1774, he first appeared at the site of the present town of Harrodsburg, which bears his name. From that time, he was intimately asso- ciated with the early affairs of the settlements. He was well acquainted with the habits of the Indians, and was one of the most skillful leaders in the warfare long waged with that people. His associates conferred upon him the title of colonel-well deserved distinction, no doubt, but less appreciated by the old hunter than the foundationless titles so agreeable to gentlemen of the present day. But his habits as a leader, and his suc- cessful conduct of many engagements with the Indians, made the distinction a neat and fitting testimonial of re- spect from his companions. He was expert in the use of his gun, and was ever ready with it to defend his country and friends. He was frugal in his habits, of simple manners ; was independent in his sentiments ; was tall, athletic, and commanding in person; of mild voice; free from a sense of danger; and just and honor- able in his life. His name will ever be pointed to with respect in the history of Kentucky. His fondness for

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA.

hunting, delight in solitude, and disposition to be free from social restraint, led him on excursions to remote and unsettled parts of the country. From one of these he never returned. Nothing is known as to the manner of his death. He left a wife and daughter, and with them a considerable landed estate.

ILLER, WILLIAM CHESNE, Lawyer, was born January 26, 1840, in Madison County, Kentucky, and was the oldest child of William M. and Mary J. Miller, both natives of the same county. His great-grandfather, John Mil- ler, was a captain in the Revolutionary army, and witnessed the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, at Yorktown; came from Albemarle County, Virginia, in 1784, and settled in what is now Madison County, Ken- tucky ; built the first house ever erected in Richmond, 1785; was prominently identified with the early history and growth of that part of the State; was one of the first three delegates elected from Kentucky to the Vir- ginia Legislature; he died September 8, 1808. His mother was the daughter of Robert C. Patterson, a Virginian by birth, and a farmer of Madison County. He was educated at Transylvania University, Kentucky University, and Columbia University, Missouri. In 1862, he entered the Confederate army, and served in Kentucky and Tennessee, as a private in Morgan's Ken- tucky Confederate Cavalry ; was taken prisoner in 1863, and confined for a number of months in Cincinnati and at Camp Chase. In 1864, he entered the Cambridge Law School, in Massachusetts; graduated in the follow- ing year; soon after, entered upon the practice of his profession at Richmond; was elected Police Judge of Richmond, in 1868; was elected County Attorney for Madison County, in 1870; served four years; and, in 1874, was elected County Judge. Mr. Miller is a Dem- ocrat in politics. He was married, November 28, 1867, to Miss Susie White, a native of Madison County, and daughter of R. X. White, of Richmond.

URNETT, HON. HENRY CORNELIUS, Law- yer, was born November 25, 1825, in Esscx County, Virginia, and died of cholera, Septem- ber 28, 1866, near Hopkinsville, Kentucky. He was brought to this State when quite young by his father, Dr. Isaac Burnett, who was a prominent physician of his day; and who became quite a politician ; was elected to the Legislature, to represent Trigg County, in 1833; was afterwards twice elected to the same branch of that body ; was in the State Senate from 1836 to 1843, and made several brilliant unsuccessful

races for Congress. His mother was a Miss Garnett, a member of the family of that name, long resident in Virginia. Henry C. Burnett studied law under C. D. Bradley, and, after being admitted to the bar, was elected Circuit Clerk; at the age of twenty-five, was a candi- date for Congress against Linn Boyd; was elected to Congress, in 1854, continuing to represent his district until 1861; at the last election, succeeding in the race as the candidate of the Secessionists ; soon after made a speech in Congress, which made it necessary for him to absent himself from that body. He left Washington in company with John C. Breckinridge; made speeches through the State, advocating secession and opposing neutrality, and about this time was expelled from Con- gress for treason. He raised a regiment of volunteers for the Confederate service ; was made colonel; partici- pated in the battle of Fort Donelson ; made his escape from the fort in the night; had just been elected to the Confederate Congress by the so-called Provisional Leg- islature, at Russellville, Kentucky ; resigned his com- mission in the army ; took his seat at Richmond ; was an advocate of all war measures, and a warm supporter and friend of Jefferson Davis. At the close of the war he returned to his home at Cadiz, in Trigg County, and resumed the practice of his profession with great success. He was an able lawyer, and one of the first popular or- ators of the day, winning considerable distinction and universal favor to himself during his service in the Rebel Congress. He was a member of the Christian Church, and was a man of high standing in the community. He was married, April 13, 1847, to Miss Mary A. Terry, daughter of Abner R. Terry, a merchant of Cadiz, Ken- tucky. He left three children; his oldest son, Henry Burnett, is a lawyer, of Paducah.

ING, CAPT. CHARLES F., Lawyer, was born in 1780, in New Bedford, Massachusetts. His parents were Quakers. From an early period, his ancestors had been ship-owners, and, in com- mon with many of his townsmen, had amassed considerable wealth from coasting trade and whale-fishing. When the war of the Revolution came on, his father suffered great losses, and, after fruitless exertion to recover himself, moved with his family to Kentucky, making a temporary settlement near Lexing- ton. Charles F. Wing, at an early age, entered the office of the Circuit Court of Mercer County, where he remained for several years. In the mean time, he be- came Assistant Clerk of the Lower House of the Legis- lature; and, for years before and after his removal to Muhlenburg County, Kentucky, was in the habit of spending the Winters in Frankfort. On the organization of Muhlenburg County, he was appointed Circuit and

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County Clerk, holding both positions uninterruptedly for fifty years. During the war of 1812, he raised a company, with which he joined Kincheloe's regiment, and was in the battle of the Thames. Early in life, he became a member of the Old School Presbyterian Church; was one of its most earnest, active workers; was ardently devoted to his country and its flag; was warm in his convictions; was a man of great integrity of character, detesting every thing base and ignoble; was magnanimous and generous; and, for half a century, his home was known in Western Kentucky as the center of hospitality, intelligence, and refinement. He was one of the most worthy, useful, and upright men of the country, and left behind him the legacy of an honest and unstained character. He died in September, 1861. Capt. Wing was married, in 1806, to Miss U. S. Camp- bell, a woman of excellent sense and culture, descended from the Campbells and Russells of Virginia. Of his children who survived him, J. M. Wing was, for many years, a merchant in Owensboro; his daughter, Miss J. M. Wing, was the wife of the late Edward Rumsey, member of Congress from the Second District; his sec- ond daughter was married to J. Shut, of Greenville; and his third daughter, to Professor J. K. Patterson, now President of the Agricultural College of Kentucky.

IBLE, BENJAMIN MILLER, M.D., Physician and Surgeon, was born in 1814, in Nelson County, Kentucky. His great-grandfather was a native of Switzerland, and emigrated to Penn- sylvania when nine years old; and, about 1780, he came, with his family, to Nelson County, Kentucky. John Wible, his father, was a farmer by oc- cupation ; served in the war of 1812; and was married to Ruth Miller, of Nelson County. Some of his mater- nal ancestors were Virginians, and came to Kentucky late in the last century, settling on the east fork of Cox's Creek, in Nelson County. His ancestors on both sides served in the war of the Revolution. Dr. Wible re- ceived his education mainly under private tutors; began the study of medicine in 1833, and graduated in 1837, at the Medical College of Ohio. From that time, until 1846, he engaged in the practice of his profession at Mount Washington, Kentucky. In the latter year, he removed to Louisville, where, in connection with Drs. Flint, Bullitt, Rogers, and others, he conducted a pri- vate hospital, and established a good private practice. In 1848, he went out, in the Mexican War, as contract surgeon for a Kentucky regiment, remaining until the following year, when a surgeon was regularly appointed to the regiment. He continued his practice with suc- cess in Louisville, until the breaking out of the rebell- ion. In 1861, he was commissioned as surgeon in the

Confederate army ; served with Harrison's regiment un- til the battle of Fort Donelson; was appointed to. the medical command of the post at Huntsville, Alabama; participated in the battle of Shiloh; was appointed med- ical inspector of the armies in the South-west; was pres- ent at many of the great battles of the war; and served actively and faithfully in various responsible trusts through the great conflict. He again resumed the prac- tice of his profession in Louisville, establishing a fine reputation as one of the first men of his profession. He died in March, 1877. He wrote some valuable articles for the medical journals; was a man of fine physical and mental traits, and yet possessed, at the time of his death, much of the vigor of his early manhood. Dr. Wible was married, October 18, 1864, to Miss C. M. Brown, of Houston County, Georgia, a lady of great refinement and elegance of manners, daughter of Dempsey Brown, one of the wealthiest planters of the South.

"LLIOTT, JOHN DARWIN, Lawyer, was born August 28, 1826, at New Haven, Nelson County, Kentucky. His father was a successful physi- cian, for many years resident at New Haven, and was also one of the most prominent farmers of his county. Retiring from his practice in 1843, he spent the rest of his life on his farm, twice representing his county in the Legislature. John D. Elliott received a thorough English education in the best schools of his native county, and spent a great part of his early life on his father's farm. In 1848, he en- tered the office of the famous Ben. Hardin, and began the study of the law; was admitted to the bar in 1850; was appointed Deputy United States. Marshal the same year; was elected Clerk of the County Court of Nelson County at the first regular election under the new Con- stitution; was re-elected in 1854; at the expiration of his term, in 1858, entered actively on the practice of his profession at Bardstown, continuing with great success for five years, a part of that time being in connection with E. E. McKay, now a prominent lawyer of Louis- ville. In 1861, he was commissioned major of the militia of Nelson County, and was aid to Gen. Buckner. In 1863, on account of impaired health, he mainly retired from his profession, but, in 1871, was elected Clerk of the County Court; was re-elected in 1874, his term ex- piring in 1878. From June, 1866, to June, 1870, he was Public Administrator and Guardian for Nelson County ; in the latter year he was appointed Master Commissioner and Receiver of the Nelson Circuit Court; and was reappointed, for a term of four years, in 1876. In politics he belonged to the Whig party, but since its dissolution, in 1856, he has acted with the Democracy. Since 1843, he has been a member of the Methodist

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Episcopal Church, South ; is prominently connected with some of the popular social organizations of the day; is a systematic, thorough-going business man; is a man of fine culture, admirable habits, and stands deservedly high in the community of which he has always been a useful and valuable member. Mr. Elliott was married, June 26, 1855, to Miss Sue E. Carpenter, daughter of the late Judge Samuel Carpenter, of Bardstown., They have eight living children, five daughters and three sons.

LACK, JAMES BROWN, was born May 14, 1825, in Washington County, Kentucky. His grandfather, William Slack, came to Kentucky as early as 1777, and settled in Harrod's Fort, Mercer County. William G. Slack, his father, was born at Harrod's Fort, now Harrodsburg, in 1781, and died at the age of eighty-five. His mother was Miss Henrietta Wathen, of Virginia, whose family were among the early settlers of this State. The Wathens were Welsh, the Slacks Scotch, and, in this country, they have usually been farmers. The subjeet of this sketeh was educated in the schools of Washing- ton County, and, at the age of seventeen, left home and went to Bardstown, where he worked five years at the tanner's trade. He was then married, but continued to work, in various capacities, in the tannery, until 1856, when he moved to Elizabethtown, and bought the old tannery of J. B. Hayden. This he carried on, with great success, until 1872. This tannery had been in ex- istence over fifty-six years, and was the last carried on in the county. In 1873, he took charge of the Showers House, of which he is still proprietor, and which he has earried on with success and great popularity. For eleven years he has held the position of member of the Board of Trustees of Elizabethtown, to which he was first elected in 1858. In this body he has been very active in measures of greatest interest to the people of the town. Yet, generally, he has taken but a passing interest in public affairs, having sought no office or con- nection with any social organization. He is a man of uncommon versatility of character, with ability to turn every thing he touches to advantage, and adapt himself to any surrounding circumstances; a man of fine nat- ural abilities, and most genial temperament, making himself agreeable to all with whom he comes in contact, and, therefore, stands deservedly high in the com- munity. Mr. Slack was married, in 1847, at Bardstown, to Miss Elvina A. Winfield, whose family were among the early Catholic cmigrants from Maryland, who be- came prominent in the affairs of Kentucky. They have seven living children, five boys and two girls; Ella being the wife of James Montgomery, Esq., a prominent

lawyer of Elizabethtown; Robert one of the leading young lawyers of Owensboro, and other sons being busi- ness men of Elizabethtown.

Y, ING, GIDEON, One of the Founders of Emi- nence, Kentucky, and son of Mount Joy King, a farmer from Fairfax County, Virginia, was born in Nelson County, Kentucky, November 15, 1817, and was educated under the old sys- tem of private schools. After teaching vocal music for several years in Shelby County, he purchased a farm in Henry, the western part of which is now in- cluded in the town of Eminence. In 1849, he built, and now resides in, the first house erected in that place. His personal history is largely that of the town, there having been few of its interests not connected with his name, or uninfluenced by his enterprise and liberality. For many years he has been engaged in the insurance business, still carrying on his farm, and devoting con- siderable attention, very successfully, to horticulture. In 1856, he was elected Justice of the Peace, and held the office eight years, then declining re-election. He is one of the direetors of Eminence Bank; has con- tributed largely toward the construction of the pikes of the neighborhood, and is now an officer in two of the pike companies. He was concerned in the establish- ment of Eminence College, and has long been a mem- ber of its Board of Trustees; and it was he, with James H. Drane, who owned, laid out, and named the town of Eminence. He erected many of its buildings, and has been one of its most successful and respected busi- ness men. He has always been a man of fine personal habits, showing them to advantage in a well-preserved body ; and has, for many years, been an officer and active member of the Disciples' Church. Mr. King has been twice married ; first, in 1842, to Mary P. Thomas. From this marriage, no children now live. In 1856, his sec- ond marriage occurred, to Miss Sophie Woodruff. They have two daughters.

EWIS, MARTIN LEE, M. D., son of Jede- diah H. Lewis, was born June 10, 1800, in Worcester County, Massachusetts. In 1819, he began the study of medicine at Columbus, Ohio, under the direction of Drs. Jones and Morrow, of the Eclectic Institute of that city. He after- wards went to Cincinnati, and continued his studies; and finally, in 1824, graduated at the Cincinnati Eclectic College of Medicine. He commenced practice in Co- lumbus, Ohio ; but, in 1827, removed to Louisville, Kcn- tueky, where he has since remained, in active and sue-

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

cessful practice, for half a century; and is one of the oldest medical practitioners now in Louisville. Consid- ering the disfavor in which his school of medicine has generally been held, and especially by the allopathists, his long-continued practice and success in Louisville have been remarkable. This has, doubtless, been very largely owing to his plain, unassuming, unaggressive character, his life-long practice of attending to his own business without show, and his constant effort, every- where, to do all the good in his power. This course has brought him no enemies in the medical profession, and has won him friends and general esteem outside. He is a prominent Mason, and has been, from early boyhood, a member of the Methodist Church. He has never been a politician, and, during the rebellion, took no decided stand on either side; and has never had a controversy in medicine or politics. Dr. Lewis was married, in 1827, to Miss Eliza A. Johnston, of Columbus, Ohio. They have six living children; four daughters, and two sons. Their son, Dr. W. C. Lewis, has been a physician for many years, located near Perryville, Kentucky; and their younger son, Dr. Lewis, has been established for many years in successful practice, near Louisville, Kentucky.

ILLIAMS, HON. GEORGE W., Lawyer, was born October 7, 1801, in Bourbon County, Kentucky, and died at his residence, in Paris, January 30, 1870. His parents were Roger and Mary (Kerfoot) Williams, both Virginians, and

among the early settlers of Kentucky. . His father was a descendant of Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island, who was a relative of Oliver Crom- well. His wife, Winifred Webb, was a cousin of the wife of President R. B. Hayes. He graduated at Tran- sylvania University, in the palmiest days of that institu- tion, and was an accomplished scholar, with the purest literary tastes; and, up to the latest years of his life, read the Latin classics with great fluency and pleasure. Soon after graduating at the University, he studied law under the late Judge Mills, of the Supreme Court, and entered upon the practice of his profession; and was, for nearly half a century, a prominent and leading mem- ber of the Bourbon bar, and was especially distinguished

one or the other branch of that body for about twenty years. He was prominently connected with the adop- tion of the new or present State Constitution; was a recognized leader in the movement resulting in the call of the Constitutional Convention of 1849; was one of the two delegates from Bourbon County to that Conven- tion, and contributed largely to the success of the re- formatory features of the present Constitution ; was, at that time, a member of the State Senate, and was chosen as a champion of the "New Constitution Party ;" his reply to Lieut .- Gov. John L. Helm was distributed throughout the State, and became the key- note to the campaign; his party were successful in his county, as well as throughout the State; he was a member of the succeeding Legislature, and actively participated in inaugurating the new Constitution, and in the adoption of the Revised Statutes and Code of Practice; soon after this, he voluntarily retired from public life, although his name was frequently urged in connection with offices of high public trust, easily within his reach; his tastes and temperament leading him to prefer the quiet of his home, and the peaceable pursuit of his profession. He was an. earnest advocate of the cause of temperance, and was unanimously nominated by the Prohibitionists, at their convention of 1855, as their candidate for Governor; after a careful considera- tion of the subject, he declined the nomination, and the organization was disbanded ; in the same year, he came within a few votes of receiving the nomination of the American or Know-Nothing party, for the same office. He was a Whig during the existence of that party ; stood with the American party until the inauguration of the civil war; was an uncomprising Union man, and, at the outbreak of the rebellion, took a firm stand against se- cession ; in the subsequent division of parties, in Ken- tucky, he associated himself with that portion of the Union party denominated "Radicals," and which be- came identified with the great progressive Republican party of the nation. In 1864, at Louisville, he was chosen permanent President of the first Republican State Convention ever held in Kentucky; in 1868, without his desire, his name was placed on the poll-books as the Republican candidate for Judge of the Supreme Court of the State; the result, although adverse to the party, was highly gratifying to his friends, and a source of alarm to the Democracy. He was the founder of the Deposit Bank of Paris, and for many years its Presi- dent; and, through a long and active life, was thor- oughly identified with the interests of his county, being a leader in all movements looking to its material and social advancement. He was a man of genial, attract- ive qualities, making friends wherever he went; was, himself, warm in his attachments; and, was a man of unflinching rectitude, never swerving from what he

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The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 17

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