The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 30

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

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OCKER, JESSE SHY, Lawyer, was born March 5, 1851, in Lincoln County, Kentucky. He was the seventh child of a family composed of eight children. His parents, Richard W. and Mar- garet Ann Hocker, were also natives of that county ; both belonged to pioneer families from Virginia; the latter was a daughter of William Shanks, a farmer of much influence and respectability. His pa- ternal grandfather, Joseph Hocker, was among the first settlers of Lincoln County. His father, Richard W. Hocker, followed agricultural and mercantile pursuits, at which he accumulated considerable wealth; he died at the age of forty. J. S. Hocker, having completed the usual course of English branches and classics, as taught in his native county, attended Kentucky University. After

leaving the University, he was engaged for several years in mercantile pursuits, in the towns of Lancaster and Stanford. In the month of November, 1874, he com- menced a course of law reading and lectures in Central University, at Richmond, Kentucky ; in September, 1875, was admitted to the bar; and, in the Winter of that year, he attended law lectures at the University of Louisville, and, on the first day of March, 1876, the degree of Bach- elor of Laws was conferred on him by that University. Returning immediately to Stanford, he formed a law partnership with his brother, R. W. Hocker, and en- tered on the active practice of his profession. Mr. Hocker is a Democrat in politics, and cast his first Presidential vote, much against his inclination, for Horace Greeley. In May, 1876, his firm was appointed City Attorney for Stanford.

INTERSMITH, HORATIO GATES, Merchant, was born March 12, 1785, in Martinsburg, Vir- ginia ; and was the son of Dr. Charles D. Winter- smith, who served as a surgeon in the Hessian army, and was of German origin. At the age of twelve, his father died, leaving him with a limited education, and without means. In 1805, he came to Kentucky, with Major James Crutcher, and settled at Elizabethtown, and, after clerking in his store for several years, was given an interest in Mr. Crutcher's business. He was very successful in accumulating money, and, after five or six years, started his own business, which he extended over the country in branch stores, partly with a view to his own advantage, but largely for the purpose of benefiting young men in his employ. In a short time he succeded in accumulating a large fortune, a great part of which he lost in the finan- cial crisis of. 1819; and, although able to save himself by paying his creditors in the currency of the country, he was unwilling to do this, as his obligations called for payment in gold and silver; and to meet his demands, and save his reputation, he was compelled to sacrifice a large portion of his personal estate. During that period he was cashier in a bank in Elizabethtown; and, out of the great number of independent banking-houses in the State, his was the only one that paid its stockholders and creditors in full. He was not only one of the most upright and successful business men, but also. one of the most public-spirited, enterprising, universally es- teemed, and valuable citizens of .Southern Kentucky. Besides attending to his mercantile interests, he kept a hotel for some time in Elizabethtown; was prominently connected with every enterprise looking to the welfare of the community, and was in every way, throughout his life, identified with the growth and best interests of Hardin County. He died January 21, 1835. Mr. Win- tersmith was three times married. His first wife was

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Elizabeth Hodgen, daughter of Robert Hodgen, of Hodgenville, Kentucky. By this marriage he had four children. His second wife was Matilda Morehead, daughter of Major Charles Morehead, of Logan County, and sister of Gov. Charles S. Morehead. She was the mother of Richard C. Wintersmith, who was for ten years Treasurer of the State of Kentucky, and two other children. His third wife was Jane Steven, of Greene County, and by this marriage he had four children.

, AVANAUGH, REV. HUBBARD HINDE, D. D., Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was born January 14, 1802, near Winchester, in Clarke County, Kentucky. His father, Rev. Williams Kavanaugh, of Irish descent, was born in East Tennessee, while his parents were on their way from Virginia to Kentucky; he traveled several years as a minister in the Methodist connection, in the early days, when that Church forbade the mar- riage of its clergy ; but he finally married Miss Hannah H. Hinde, daughter of Dr. Thomas Hinde, who had been an officer in the British army; and, after leaving the ministry for a time, he united with the Episcopal Church, and was among the first ministers of that de- nomination who ever preached in Louisville; he died when the subject of this sketch was between four and five years of age. His mother, Hannah Hubbard Hinde, was a native of Hanover County, Virginia, where she was born, March 6, 1777. In 1797, she came, with her father, to Kentucky, settling near Winchester. In the following year, she became the wife of Rev. Williams Kavanaugh, and had six children. She was again mar- ried, in 1812, to William Taylor, and had two children by that union. After the death of her second husband, she was married to Valentine Martin, and from that marriage she was the mother of two daughters. This remarkable woman died, January 11, 1852, in Madison County, Kentucky. She early became a Methodist ; was a woman of great fortitude and hope; had an ex- haustless fund of patience; was deeply pious, and exerted an influence, in the rearing and training of her children, which was mainly instrumental in making them worthy and valuable citizens; and to her is the Methodist Church largely in debt for that training which gave to it one of its most shining ornaments, the subject of this sketch. He was educated in the old-style private schools of the country, and, at the age of thirteen, was placed in the family of Rev. John Lyle, a Presbyterian clergy- man, at Paris, in Bourbon County, to learn the print- ing business, and was esteemed by that worthy man so highly that he offered to give him a classical educa- tion, on condition that he should enter the Presbyterian Church. But his good mother had planted in him the

principles of Methodism, and these now appealed to his reason. Still, the kindness of Mr. Lyle was not lessened by his refusal ; and, when he had determined to prepare himself for the ministry, Mr. Lyle relieved him from his apprenticeship two years before the expiration of the time. He then returned to his mother's home, in Clarke County, and entered upon a systematic course of study. He had united with the Methodist Church in 1817, and soon began to feel it his duty to preach the Gospel. He rose to the ministry by regular steps; first, being a leader for the black people, then for the whites; was, in 1822, recommended by the quarterly conference of the Mt. Sterling Circuit to the district conference as a fit person to preach, and was licensed to exhort in the pul- pits of the surrounding country; and was finally, as if . by a great stretch of human consideration, taken into a private room at Augusta, where he was then living-and where he edited and printed the " Western Watchman," a paper published by James Armstrong, a merchant of that place-and induced to deliver a trial sermon before a select few. But James Armstrong and others, who led him to this test, were his friends, and had so conducted the matter that he should not know their purpose; and, although he undertook it with reluctance, his effort was very fine, and its effect overwhelming. From that time the church of the town was open to him, and his suc- cess in the pulpit secured. John P. Finley was then President of Augusta College, and was a preacher of great popularity. Mr. Kavanaugh was recommended to the annual conference, which met at Maysville in the Fall of 1823; was admitted on trial, and assigned to the Little Sandy Circuit, laboring for several years in the more rugged fields of the conference. He afterwards became pastor of most of the important Churches, and scarcely any part of the State has not felt his influence, or been benefited by his presence. In February, 1839, he was appointed Superintendent of Public Education for the State, by Governor Clark, and filled the position until in the following year, and was again proffercd the position by Gov. Wickliffe. In 1839 and 1840, he was also agent for the College at Augusta, under the auspices of his Church. In 1854, at the General Conference, lield in Columbus, Georgia, he was elevated to the episcopal office, the highest within the gift of the Church, and in that office has met the highest expectations of his people. He is a man of attractive manners, and has been noted for his great activity and endurance, no amount of labor imposed upon him being too great for his abilities. Up to Octo- ber, 1850, he had preached three thousand three hun- dred and thirty sermons, besides attending to the other important demands upon his time and energies. Since 1850, he has preached over four thousand sermons, and, during his short stay of ten months in California, de- livered over three hundred and fifty sermons. For over

H. Notavanaugh

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half a century he has been before the country as a min- ister of the Gospel, and for nearly half of that time has held the office of bishop. He is gifted with superior intellect, and powers of oratory seldom equaled; being pure in his life, few men in the ministry have occupied so large a space in the public mind and heart ; and upon no one has the Church of which he is so able a repre- sentative, and for whose advancement he has so long and so faithfully labored, looked with more pleasant re- flections. Although, with his advancing years, his gait is not so steady as in earlier life, he has lost none of his masterly intellect, none of the fires of his early ministry, none of the power of that eloquence by which he has attracted around him thousands of admirers, and is yet the "Old Man Eloquent." "Enshrined in the affec- tions of a Church who love him for his 'work's sake,' no less than for the fineness of his temper and the purity of his life," he is smoothly passing into a green old age. Bishop Kavanaugh has been twice married; first, in 1828, to Mrs. Margaret Crittenden Green, a lady of charming character, daughter of Charles Railey, of Woodford County, Kentucky. She died in 1863; and, in 1865, he was again married, to Mrs. Martha D. P. Lewis, daughter of Capt. Robert D. Richardson, of the United States Army. He has no children living.

YLES, MADISON, Physician and Surgeon, was born in 1820, in Daviess County, Kentucky, and died in Louisville, in April, 1866. His father, Samuel Pyles, was of French Huguenot origin, and was one of the early farmers and planters of Kentucky; and his mother was sis- ter of Hon. John C. Calhoun, of Kentucky, and cousin of John C. Calhoun, of South Carolina. While he was young, his father dying, he was adopted by his uncle, Mitchell Calhoun, a cotton-planter of Mississippi. After acquiring a good education, at the age of sixteen, he began the study of law ; but, being dissatisfied with the field of usefulness which opened before him in the legal profession, after taking a full course of study, and grad- uating in law, he finally abandoned it, and began the study of medicine. After completing one course of lec- tures in the medical department of the University of Louisville, he was appointed, by the City Council, as Resident Physician to the Hospital, which position he held till 1849, when he resigned, and entered actively upon a large and successful practice in his profes- sion. He extended his services to all classes of people, without reference to remuneration, giving his time and skill, even where no fee could be expected. He was a man of fine qualities of heart and mind; was greatly interested in the sufferings of the people, and devoted himself to their alleviation with great sin-

gleness of purpose; was gentle and attractive in man- ners, and a man of admirable personal appearance; was universally esteemed, and his death was mourned as a great loss to a large circle of friends, and those who had relied upon his professional services for their safety. His widow, Cordelia Pyles, second daughter of Dr. John M. Talbot, and two of their children, still survive him.

CLEAN, JUDGE ALNEY, was a native of Burke County, North Carolina. He came to Kentucky in 1805, and began the practice of the law at Greenville, Muhlenburg County ; was elected to the State Legislature in 1812; in the same year entered the army as captain ; at the close of the war, in 1815, was elected to Con- gress; in 1819, was again elected to that body; was Presidential Elector, and cast his vote for Henry Clay in 1825; in 1833, was again Presidential Elector, and served for many years as a Circuit Judge.

OPE, HON. HAMILTON, Lawyer, was born in 1817, at Louisville, Kentucky, and is the son of the distinguished Worden Pope, one of the most upright and valuable men Louisville ever had. Hamilton Pope received a good edu- cation, mainly under private teachers, and, at an early age, entered the office of his father as deputy clerk. At the age of twenty-one, he began the study of law under Charles M. Thruston, and, after three years spent in thorough preparation, was licensed to prac- tice, and entered upon his profession in connection with his preceptor. That relation was maintained for five years, until the death of Mr. Thruston. He was afterwards, for a time, associated with J. G. Barrett. In 1875, he was elected to the Lower House of the Legislature; was re-elected, and, in 1850, was elected to the State Senate. He was a delegate to the Union Democratic Convention at Chicago, in 1864; was also a delegate to the convention at Philadelphia, and was, for a long time, during the war and afterwards, a mem- ber, or chairman, of the executive committee of his party for his district. At the breaking out of the civil war, he was placed in charge of the militia, or "State Guard," at Louisville, with the rank of brigadier-gen- eral, and held that position until the troops were or- ganized into the Government service. Religiously, he is connected with the Presbyterian Church, and is a man of great probity of character; is cultivated and re- fined in manners; dignified and courteous in bearing; is moderate in his views, but adheres firmly to his convic- tions; is a man of splendid personal appearance and

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superb natural endowments; has been exceptionally suc- cessful in his profession, and is not only one of the oldest and most honorable, but also one of the ablest members of the Louisville bar. Mr. Pope was married, in 1855, to Miss Henrietta Prather, and has no children.

INTERSMITH, ROBERT LAWRENCE, Mer- chant, second son of Horatio G. Wintersmith, by his first marriage, was born August 13, 1816, in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. At the age of twelve years, he entered his father's business house as clerk, and, at the age of twenty-one, began merchandising on his own account, which he con- tinued, with varying success, for several years, when he en- gaged in farming, and, after five years, resumed his mer- cantile pursuits in Louisville, and New Albany, Indiana. While residing in Louisville, he was appointed State Tobacco Inspector; at the same time, in connection with his sons, again began business at Elizabethtown, whither he removed, in a few years, with his family, and where he has since resided. In politics, he is a Republican, and is one of the most determined and energetic mem- bers of his party, and, since 1860, has been a delegate to all the Republican conventions in the State. He is a man of fine judgment; of great natural talent; is fear- less in the defense of his principles; and yet his out- spoken and generous manners, and honorable and up- right character, have established him in the confidence and good will of the community. Mr. Wintersmith was married, August 14, 1838, to Miss Euphemia Swan, a Kentuckian by birth, daughter of David C. Swan, who emigrated from Scotland, and settled in Hardin County, Kentucky. Her family were people of culture and edu- cation ; some members of it, having emigrated to this country before the Revolution, were among the early defenders of the cause of the colonies. James Swan, her uncle, a noble specimen of the Scotch Highlander, was a merchant in Boston at the outbreak of the Revo- lution, and offered his purse and his life to John Han- cock for the good of the country, and served as aid to General Warren, at the battle of Bunker Hill. They have one daughter and four sons now living.

PEED, HON. JOSHUA FRY, son of John Speed and Lucy G. Fry, his wife, was born, November 14, 1814, in Jefferson County, Ken- tucky. His father was a Virginian by birth ; moved to Kentucky, in 1797, and followed ag- ricultural pursuits. The subject of this sketch, was the fifth in a family of ten children, and received a good education in the private schools of the country,

and in St. Joseph's College, at Bardstown, Kentucky ; spending the years 1832 and 1833 in the latter institu- tion, under the presidency of Bishop Reynolds. He spent seven years as a merchant, at Springfield, Illinois, the home of Abraham Lincoln, and was, for five years, the intimate companion and bedfellow of the great Presi- dent. He subsequently returned to Jefferson County, Kentucky, where he spent nine or ten years in farming pursuits, and, in 1851, removed to Louisville, where he has since remained, chiefly engaged in operations in real estate. In 1848, he was elected to represent Jefferson County in the Legislature ; from 1853 to 1855, he was President of the Louisville, Cincinnati, and Lexington Railroad, and has since been Vice-President and one of its directors. Is also Director in the Savings-bank of Lou- isville, and the Louisville Cement Company. He was repeatedly urged to accept office under President Lin- coln, but continually declined; but, through what is called Mr. Lincoln's undying esteem for the Speed family, his opportunities became very great, throughout the war, for alleviating the sufferings, and lessening the hardships, which war brought upon the people of his State ; and probably no man lives to-day who knew more perfectly, and reveres more profoundly, the char- acter of Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Speed was married, February 15, 1842, to Fannie Henning, daughter of Samuel Henning, and sister of J. W. Henning, of Lou- isville. He is a man of fine judgment, solid intellectual attainments ; of exceptional conversational powers; is a man of fine taste ; is possessed of many admirable traits of character ; is a successful and upright business man, and is one of the most widely esteemed and valuable citizens of Louisville.

ALKER, REV. HIRAM PEARCE, Clergyman, was born September 28, 1834, in Fleming County, Kentucky. His family emigrated from Scotland to Virginia, among the early settlers of the State, and are now represented in almost every State in the Union, his grandfather set- tling in Mason County, Kentucky. His mother was Mary A. Dale, of French and English descent. He re- ceived a very good high-school education; and, after leaving school, engaged in teaching, still prosecuting his studies. From quite an early age, he had been impressed with the belief that he was designed for the ministry, and, in his thirteenth year, united with the Methodist Church; but afterwards endeavored to turn his atten- tion from that belief by beginning the study of med- icine, but at last yielded to his convictions, and began a course of theological study, in connection with his duties as teacher, in his eighteenth year, which he continued till 1856, when he was received into the Kentucky Con-

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ference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, of | died February 8, 1862, at the residence of Judge Collins which he has since become one of the first ministers ; Fitch, his son-in-law, near Garnettsville, Kentucky. Mr. Boone was married February 8, 1798, to Lucy Galman. was appointed to the circuit in Floyd County, on the Big Sandy, and, during his ministry there, received one hundred and seventy-five persons into the Church ; was appointed, in 1858, to the Orangeburg Circuit, in Mason and Fleming Counties, here also receiving many addi- DAMS, HON. GEORGE M., Lawyer, was born December 20, 1837, in Knox County, Kentucky. He was educated at Centre College, Danville; studied law; was Clerk of the Circuit Court of Knox County, from 1859 to 1861 ; served for a short time as a captain in the Union army during the war; was Paymaster of Volunteers from 1861 to 1865; was elected to the Fortieth Congress, serving on the Committees on the Militia and Freed- men's Affairs; was re-elected to three succeeding Con- gresses, serving on the Committee of Indian Affairs, and, in 1875, was elected Clerk of the House of Reprc- sentatives for the Forty-fourth Congress. tions to the Church; was stationed, in 1860, in Mays- ville, Kentucky; and, in 1862, in Newport, where the Church was much disturbed by differences caused by the civil war. His duties were arduous, but his efforts se- cured a large number of members to the Church. From Newport, he was sent to Danville, Kentucky, and, while there, availed himself of the opportunity to attend the Theological Seminary ; was a member of the famous committee of the conference at Covington, in 1859, from which two reports, a majority and a minority, were re- ceived ; the latter, of which he was the author, was ac- cepted, the supporters of the former being, in conse- quence, defeated as delegates to the General Confer- ence. Mr. Walker was, at this time, made elder of the Covington District; and was sent, while holding that po- sition, to Lexington, to settle some difficulties in the Church. He was on the Lexington Circuit until 1867, when he was stationed at Covington, and conducted, during his four years' ministry there, some remarkable re- vivals. He was delegate to the General Conference, at Memphis, in 1870; and, in 1872, was appointed to the Church at Mt. Sterling, where he also remained four years, meeting with great success in his labors. He was, for three years, editor of the "Methodist Miscellany," and, a short time, of the " Kentucky Methodist," both published in Covington ; and these, with a number of published sermons, one of which, on the " Duration of Future Punishment," was published in the " Kentucky Conference Pulpit," and several exegetical and critical notices, constitute his literary work. He has been, for several years, a member of the Board of Education of the Kentucky Wesleyan University, at Millersburg. In 1858, Mr. Walker was married to Miss Kate Kenner, daughter of L. W. Kenner, a merchant of Fleming County, and has three sons and three daughters.

OONE, ENOCH, was born November 16, 1777, in Madison County, Kentucky, and was the son of Squire Boone, and was one of the first white children born in the State. He was a nephew of Daniel Boone, and entered the army before he was seventeen years old; served in Wayne's campaign against the Indians; from 1808 to 1816, lived in Harrison County, Indiana, and held a commission as a captain under Gen. Harrison ; subse- quently, removed to Meade County, Kentucky, and

OGERS, LEWIS, M. D., Physician and Sur- geon, son of Dr. Coleman Rogers and his wife, Jane Farrar, was born October 22, 1812, near Lexington, Kentucky. In 1829, he entered Transylvania University, under the Presidency of Alvin Wood; in 1831, in his Senior Year, entered Georgetown College, for the special purpose of studying the French language; at the close of the first session, took the degree of Bachelor of Arts; returned to Transylvania, delivered the salutatory address in Latin, and received the same degree; in the Fall of 1831, entered regularly upon the study of medicine, with his father; in the Fall of 1833, entered the med- ical department of Transylvania University ; on his return to Louisville, in the following Spring, was ap- pointed resident physician to the city work and poor house; after four years' study under his father, and some of the best Kentucky medical teachers, in 1835, entered the University of Pennsylvania, and, in the fol- lowing year, graduated as Doctor of Medicine. He returned at once to Louisville, and engaged in the prac- tice of his profession, and soon after formed a partner- ship with his father, which lasted many years. In 1836, he was appointed Clinical Assistant to Dr. Caldwell, in the Louisville Medical Institute, and gave his time and influence to the advancement of the interests of that school, until his health compelled him to abandon all unnecessary labor. In 1849, when the changes were made in the faculty of the Institute, which had become the medical department of the University of Louisville, he, standing at the head of his profession in that city, was selected by the Trustees to fill one of the vacant chairs, succeeding Dr. Short in the Professorship of

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The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 30

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