The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 37

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

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ONTGOMERY, ALEXANDER BROOKS, Law- yer, was born December II, 1837, in Hardin County, Kentucky. His father, William W. Montgomery, was a native of the same county. His grandfather emigrated to America in 1798; remained at Baltimore awhile, and, about 1800 came to Kentucky, settled in Elizabethtown, and be- came one of its most prominent business men. He died on a farm in the county. His mother was Kittie A. Brooks, of Virginia, who is still living. The subject of this sketch attended the neighborhood schools until the age of eighteen, when he entered Georgetown College, and, after a regular course, graduated in the class of 1859. In the next year he began the study of the law, in the office of Judge M. H. Cofer, at Elizabethtown. He at- tended lectures in the Louisville University, and grad- uated in law, in 1861; when, his health failing, he returned to the farm, where he remained until 1870.

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In that year, he was elected Judge of Hardin County, and filled that office four years; since which he has been actively engaged in his profession, and has become one of the most able and successful lawyers at the Har- din bar. During the war, his sympathies were with the South; yet he has taken no very active part in State or National politics. He has always been a Democrat. He is a member of the Baptist Church, and is one of the most upright, substantial, and valuable men of the community. Mr. Montgomery was married, February 13, 1866, to Miss Mildred F. Coons, of Fayette County, Kentucky. They have four children.

EAF, JOHN, Iron Manufacturer, was born in Prussia, in January, 1832. His father, Peter George Leaf, was a weaver and farmer by occupation ; and left Germany for this country about 1836, settling in Louisville, Kentucky. John Leaf was educated in the Public-schools of the city of Louisville, which he attended until thirteen years of age; when he commenced the earnest duties of life. He obtained employment in a bagging factory, but, after working a short time, he met with an accident which incapacitated him for labor for a considerable period, during which he was enabled to spend four years more in the pursuit of knowledge. When he arrived at the age of seventeen years, he had fully regained his strength, and was soon actively engaged in gaining a livelihood on board the great steamers navigating the Western waters. He followed the river until twenty years of age, when he returned to Louisville, and became an apprentice at the trade of a molder. After working at his trade for over twelve years, he, with an associate, Mr. Fisher, started a foundry for the manufac- ture of marbelized iron mantels, grates, and other articles in this line, and, after spending some time in perfecting all the details of the undertaking, they, in 1866, were, by their united efforts, enabled to erect an establishment well fitted for their purpose. The firm was styled Fisher, Leaf & Co., the latter gentleman acting as fore- man of the foundry. Their persevering efforts were soon rewarded; for the business of the concern kept constantly increasing, from month to month, until it as- sumed the proportions of the largest establishments of the kind in the West. In 1867, they opened a sales- room on Market Street ; and such was the demand for their wares, that they shortly were obliged to remove to more commodious quarters, now occupying the capacious building on Jefferson Street. The works of this firm are composed of substantial brick buildings; and the entire establishment, with all its different departments, covers an area of two acres of ground. Their operations are carried on by the most approved methods ; and their pro-

ductions are of the best quality in the market. They have taken out a patent for, and are engaged in the manufacture of, a fire-grate, which is rapidly coming into general use. Mr. Leaf has met with a degree of success surpassing his most sanguine expectations; but it has been reached through his untiring efforts and in- defatigable energy, and is a just recompense for his per- severing labors. He is a sterling business man, and his standing in the commercial community may well be con- . sidered as enviable. In his relations as employer, he has always been liberal and just ; and he enjoys the highest respect and confidence of his employés. With his past successful career as a criterion, there is every reason to believe his future will be attended with the same grati- fying results.

9 ¿ILTNER, COL. HENRY L., son of Michael and Mary (Lyter) Giltner, was born June 5, 1829, at Carrollton, Kentucky, His parents were of German origin, and both natives of Bourbon County, in this State. His father was a farmer by pursuit. Col. Giltner was educated at Carrollton, and in Hanover College, Indiana. After leaving school, he had charge of, and owned, the ferry at Carrollton. In 1858, he was elected Sheriff of Carroll County ; was re-elected in 1860, but resigned in 1861, and entered the Confederate army, as a private, in the Buckner Guards, at Munfordsville ; in the Fall of that year, he was sent to Virginia, and became aid-de-camp to Gen. Humphrey Marshall ; in 1862, returned to Ken- tucky, recruited a regiment of men, and, in October, joined Marshall's brigade. His regiment was designated as the Fourth Kentucky Cavalry. In the Summer of 1863, he succeeded to the command of Gen. Preston's (formerly Gen. Marshall's) brigade, and was brevetted brigadier; shortly afterwards, from the necessities of the service, this brigade was dispersed, he going in command of his old regiment, the Fourth Kentucky Cavalry, to the assistance of Gen. William E. Jackson, in East Ten- nessee; subsequently, served as a colonel, under Gen. John S. Williams, and, after Williams was removed from the command, became commander of Williams's brigade, which position he held until the close of the war, surrendering his forces at Mt. Sterling, April 30, 1865. He was engaged in the battles of Lime-stone Depot and Big Creek, East Tennessee ; was at the siege of Knoxville, and covered the rear of the retreating army ; was in the engagement at Crockett's Cove, West Virginia ; was in two actions at Blue Springs, Tennessee, and at Raytown, in that State; was in engagements at Mt. Sterling and Cynthiana, and numerous less impor- tant actions. At the close of the war, he returned to his home, at Carrollton, where he has since chiefly resided, engaged in carrying on the marble business, and as a

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farmer. Religiously, he is Presbyterian in his inclina- tions, although not a Church member. He is a Demo- crat in politics. Col. Giltner was married, December 4, 1856, to Martha G. Young, daughter of Capt. William E. Young, who commanded Company E, in Col. R. M. Johnson's regiment, in the war of 1812. They have three living children.

SMANN, CHARLES, Jeweler, was born Septem- ber 29, 1831, in Germany, where he learned the jeweler's trade, and, in 1854, came to America; and, after working for a time in the jewelry business in Cincinnati, located in Covington, Kentucky. Until 1863, he was engaged in the house of George W. McDonald, and, in that year, bought out Mr. McDonald, and has since continued the busi- ness with great success, having always kept up to the demands of the public in his line ; has accumulated con- siderable property, and is now the oldest and most in- fluential jeweler of Covington. In 1865, he was elected member of the City Council, serving in that body two years ; was one of the original movers in the organization of the German Mutual Fire Insurance Company, of which he was elected first President, and is now one of its Directors; takes an active interest in all public affairs; is modest and unassuming in manners; is con- nected with several social organizations; is an energetic, enterprising, and upright business man ; and one of the most substantial and worthy citizens of Covington. Mr. Asmann was married, in 1856, to Miss Emma Albrecht, of Cincinnati. They have six children.

DAMS, JOSEPH, Tobacconist, Banker, and Farmer, son of Joseph and Sibyl Adams, was born January 5, 1817, in West Cambridge, Massachusetts. His father's vocation was of a mercantile and agricultural nature. The house in which he was born was the home of four generations of his family. His family can trace their genealogy as far back as 1640, and to the present date are among the most patriotic and valuable citizens of the Old Bay State. Some of them have at times appeared eminently in the affairs of the nation, and others were soldiers in the war for independence, and in the second war with England. When he was five years of age, his father died; but his mother was a woman of superior strength, refinement, and culture, and determined to educate her children well. Accordingly, after receiving a thorough preparation in the school of his native town, at the age of fifteen, he entered Lexington College, Massachusetts, where he finished his education. He

commenced life for himself as a clerk in a store in New York City, and, after three years' experience in that ca- pacity, made a trip to Cuba, returned by New Orleans, and, in 1839, settled at Henderson, Kentucky, where he has since resided. In a few weeks after locating in Henderson, he purchased the establishment in which he was employed as a clerk, and soon acquired a profitable business, which he carried on with success for many years. In 1854, he commenced the tobacco business, putting up strips and leaf for the English markets, and, to the present date, is engaged in that pursuit. In 1867, he built an additional establishment, at Uniontown, Kentucky, and is now one of the most successful and extensive tobacco dealers in the country. He has also devoted much time to the interest of his farms, and in this, as in every thing else, has been exceptionally suc- cessful. For over fifteen years, he has been President of the Farmers' Bank of Henderson, and, although a man who mainly attends to his own affairs, he has been greatly interested in the welfare of his adopted city. He was for many years a member of the City Council, and prominently connected with some of the social or- ganizations of the day. He is a man of generous im- pulses, open-handed charities, ever ready to fill the de- mands of the community upon him ; of great integrity of character, and with considerable personal pride, is ever jealous of his social and business reputation; and is one of the most unpretending, public-spirited, useful, and valuable business men Henderson has ever had. In politics, he is a Democrat, but takes no part in political turmoil. Mr. Adams was married, in 1844, to Miss Eleanor S. Grayson, daughter of Robert H. Grayson, member of the Virginia family of that name. They have four sons, most of whom are in business with their father.

UKE, JOHN MARSHALL, M. D., son of Dr. Basil Duke, was born at Washington, Mason County, Kentucky, October 29, 1811. His father was a Marylander by birth; came to Ken- tucky in 1790, and located in Lexington ; but soon after removed to Washington, Mason County, where he practiced medicine until his death, in 1828. His mother, Charlotte Marshall, was the daugh- ter of Col. Thomas Marshall, of Fauquier County, Vir- ginia ; a man of superior talents, who was a colonel in the Revolutionary War, and father of a family of fifteen children, the oldest of whom was Chief-Justice John Marshall, not only the most illustrious American judge, but, in every particular, one of the greatest and best of men. Dr. Duke received a liberal education, chiefly at the celebrated school of Dr. Lewis Marshall, in Woodford County, subsequently pursuing a special course of study under his brother, James K. Duke. He chose the pro-

Iteams,

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fession of medicine, and began his preparation in 1828, at Hopkinsville, under Dr. John F. Henry, afterwards Professor in the Medical College of Ohio; continued his medical studies with Dr. Henry for four years; in the mean time attending lectures at Transylvania University and the Medical College of Ohio, and graduating from the latter institution in 1832; and, in the same year lo- cated, for the practice of his profession, at Washington, luis native town. In 1834, he was married to Hannah Morton, daughter of John M. Morton, of Maysville; and, in the same year, removed to that city, where he has since resided, actively engaged in the duties of his profession. Although Dr. Duke has devoted his ener- gies, with great success, in the line of his profession mainly, he has always taken great interest in public affairs; and for the last twenty years has been a mem- ber of the Council of Maysville, and is one of the most valuable members of his community, professionally and as a citizen. In politics, he is conservative ; in 1864, he was a delegate to the National Convention that nom- inated George B. McClellan ; during the civil war, was a Union man, and was formerly a member of the old Whig party.

AYLOR, HON. HARRISON, Lawyer, son of Joseph and Elizabeth ( Harrison) Taylor, was born August 10, 1810, in Lewis County, Ken- tucky. His father was a Pennsylvanian, and his mother a Virginian, but they were married in Lewis County, in this State, and he was their first child. He obtained some education, and, at the age of fifteen, entered the office of the Clerk for the County and Circuit, where he wrote for four years. He then entered the office of the Clerk of Mason County and Circuit Courts, at Washington; was soon after ap- pointed Deputy Clerk; while engaged in the duties of that office used all his spare time in study and in read- ing law, in which he was greatly assisted by Hon. John Chambers, Governor of Iowa under Gen. Harrison; was admitted to the bar in 1833, and at once entered upon his legal career, in partnership with Rev. John A. McClung, then a brilliant lawyer. This connection con- tinued until 1850, when Mr. McClung returned to the pulpit. Mr. Taylor was not a great speaker, but was an indefatigable and exhaustive worker; this pleased Mr. McClung, who had a distaste for the drudgery of prepa- ration, and gloried in the contests of the court. Thus organized, this became one of the most able and popular law firms in Northern Kentucky. In 1836, he was elected to represent Mason County in the Legislature; in 1839, was appointed, by Gov. Clark, Commonwealth Attorney for the district, of which Maysville was then a part ; held that position until 1850; in that year was a candidate for the Constitutional Convention, but was

defeated; was for several years County Attorney for Mason County; in 1857, was elected, from Mason and Lewis Counties, to the State Senate ; his term expired in 1861 ; was, in that year, elected to the Lower House of the Legislature; was re-elected in 1863; was chosen Speaker; was again elected in 1865, and re-elected Speaker, serving as Speaker of the House from 1863 to 1867; in 1864, he was chosen Presidential Elector, on the Democratic ticket ; in 1867, was nominated for Gov- enor by the Conservatives, was not willing to make an active canvass, and declined; was then put in the field as candidate for Lieutenant-Governor, made the race, but was unsuccessful. He resided at Maysville almost throughout his long legal career, and died suddenly, November 28, 1876, at his hotel in Brookville, Bracken County, where he was attending court. He was an able lawyer, too generous to be successful in accumulat- ing money ; an open, big-hearted, noble-spirited, useful man, who died universally regretted and respected. During the great civil war, he was decidedly a Union man, and cast all his influence, during that stormy period in the Legislature, against the secession of the State, and in favor of an undivided country; and, at home, was the friend of peace. Mr. Taylor was married, in 1840, to Miss Charlotte J. Duke, daughter of Dr. Basil Duke, late of Mason County, and sister of Dr. John M. Duke, of Maysville. Her mother was the daughter of Col. Thomas Marshall, of Virginia, and sister of Chief-Justice John Marshall. They had six children, five of whom, with their mother, survive him.

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ARRISON, HON. JAMES, Lawyer, was born May 1, 1799, in Louisville, Kentucky. He was the youngest son of Maj. John Harrison, a distinguished officer in the Revolutionary army, who emigrated and settled, in 1785, at Louis- ville, and, in 1787, married Mary Ann, daugh- ter of Dr. Benjamin Johnston, and died in 1821, leaving five children, all born at Louisville, except a daughter, Mrs. New, who was born in 1787, at the fort at Clarks- ville, Indiana, during a period when the people of Louisville sought temporary refuge and protection from the impending Indian attack. James Harrison received a moderate English education at the Jefferson Seminary, under Professors Butler, Tompkins, and Murray. Im- mediately after leaving school, he entered the office of Worden Pope, Clerk of the Jefferson County and Circuit Courts, with whom he remained until 1820, from which time to 1823, hc devoted himself to the study of history, metaphysics, and law. He was admitted to the bar, but did not enter upon professional practice, engaging from 1823 to 1828 in the wholesale and retail dry-goods busi- ness, in partnership with his father-in-law; from 1828

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to 1831, he engaged in the manufacture of tobacco, cigars, and cotton-yarns; from 1831 to 1834, he carried on a saw-mill; and, from 1834 to 1843, engaged in the real estate business; quitting commercial life at last to follow his profession. From 1843 to the present, he has been engaged in a large and important practice, and now, in his seventy-eighth year, his superior activity and devotion to professional duty is a marvel in the eyes of his younger brethren of the bar. His political services have been valuable to both his native city and his State. In 1828, the city of Louisville was incorporated, and, almost against his wishes, he was elected a member of the first Board of Council of the city. Among his many valuable services in this capacity, several deserve espe- cial mention; he introduced a general system of improv- ing the streets of the city, and aided in making the con- tract for the work; he also introduced and passed the ordinance to establish the public-schools of Louisville, from which has emanated the whole public-school system of that city. Such was his ability and fidelity in the performance of this public trust, that he was called upon to continue the same for a period of ten years, until his removal from the city. In 1840, he was employed by the City Council of Louisville to codify the city charter and the laws relating to the city of Louisville and Jeffer- son County, and further to draft ordinances for the city ; this duty was accomplished to the entire satisfaction of the Board of Council, and was published, in book form, with the author's name. After his removal to the country, he was, for eighteen years, a Justice of the Peace, for two years Sheriff of Jefferson County, and, in 1864, elected to the State Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Hon. Gibson Mallory. During his term as Senator, he rendered unusual service as Chairman of the Committee on Judiciary, reporting all business referred to his committee within a day after its reference, by devoting himself, during the greater por- tion of the night, to the consideration of the same, and upon one occasion he reported sixty bills for the action of the Senate. He introduced measures to repeal such laws as operated against those who sympathized with the Southern Confederacy, and also measures to regulate the status of the colored citizens of the State. He was urged to become a candidate for re-election, and would have been elected without opposition, but declined. He entered the Order of Odd-fellows in 1831, and, prior to his removal to the country, was very active in that society. He united with the Methodist Episcopal Church in August, 1820, and has ever since been an active member of that denomination, holding the usual lay offices. He has, for a number of years, been an efficient member of the Board of Trustees of the Insti- tution for the Education of the Blind. He was married, in 1823, to Mary P., daughter of the Rev. J. H. Over- steed; she bore him five children, and died in 1832. In

1834, he married Susan Howard, widow of Lee White, who bore him two children, and died in 1854. In 1858, he married Virginia Cortell, widow of James McGram ; by her he had five children. He has lost six children, two being married daughters. Mr. Harrison is of high integrity of character, and, after obtaining a release from all his debts, after failing in business, in 1840, he afterwards, out of his professional income, paid every dollar of the debts from which he had long before been released. He began practicing his profession late in life, but matured by study and business experience; his suc- cess was unusual, and has always continued; and no lawyer at the Jefferson County bar is more highly respected.

UCKER, HENRY, Lawyer, was born Decem- ber 6, 1850, in Georgetown, Kentucky. His parents were Henry M. Rucker and Fanny (Scott) Rucker; the former a native of Scott County, and the latter of Jessamine. He is the elder of their family of two children. He re- ceived a fine education, and, in 1874, graduated in the Law School of Yale College. In the same year, he lo- cated at Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky, and entered upon the practice of his profession. He is a man of fine ability, admirable manners, and exceptional business and professional habits. Religiously, he is associated with the Methodist Church. He is greatly devoted to his profession, to which he gives his time and energy, taking but a passing interest in the political movements around him. He is a Republican in politics. Mr. Rucker was married, December 3, 1874, to Miss Julia A. Allen, of Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

URDETT, BENJAMIN MASON, Lawyer, was born December 2, 1837, in Garrard County, Kentucky. His parents were Nelson and Amer- ica Letcher (Samuel) Burdett ; the former a na- tive of Garrard, and the latter of Franklin County. His father followed agricultural pur- suits mainly ; was for a long time Justice of the Peace, and, for twenty years, Sheriff of Garrard County ; of German extraction, and son of Joshua Burdett, who was a son of Frederick Burdett, a Virginian, who early set- tled in Garrard County. His grandfather, Reuben Sam- uel, was one of the Virginia pioneers of Central Ken- tucky. His wife was a sister of Gov. R. P. Letcher, of Kentucky, and cousin of Gov. John Letcher, of Vir- ginia. Benjamin M. Burdett remained on the farm until his twenty-sixth year, having, in the mean time, finished a liberal education, at Georgetown College. In 1862, he began to read law at Lancaster, under his brother,

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Joshua Burdett; in 1864, was admitted to the bar, and at once entered into practice at Lancaster, where he has since continued his profession with ability and success. He is prominently identified with some of the popular social organizations of the country, and is a man of fine personal and business habits. He is a Democrat in pol- itics, but voted for Bell and Everett, in 1860. During the civil war, he was an ardent Union man, and, in 1861, was an officer in the Kentucky State Guard. Mr. Bur- dett was married, November 7, 1867, to Miss Belle Walton, a native of Mason County, and daughter of John Harvey Walton, a farmer of that county.

ORD, CAPT. JOHN BATIEST, Steamboat Builder, and founder of American plate-glass manufacture, was born November II, 1817, at Danville, Kentucky. His father had emigrated from Pennsylvania, followed farming near Dan- ville, and married a daughter of John Batiest, a Frenchman noted for the culture of fruit, and the first to introduce in the State the culture of the grape. The subject of this sketch had but the limited educational opportunities of the country lads of that time; in his fifteenth year he was apprenticed to John Jackson, a sad- dle-maker of Danville, being allowed to attend school during the Winter till his eighteenth year; with this employer he remained till reaching his majority, when he went to Salem, Indiana, on a futile attempt to bor- row some money from an uncle. Being at Greenville, and there finding parties with hoop-poles for sale, he purchased them on credit, hired the hauling of them to the Ohio river (about twelve miles) on the same terms, and, after payment of every thing, found his first ven- ture realizing about one hundred dollars. With this small capital, he commenced business at Greenville, as a saddler; was successful financially; a few years later, opened a dry-goods and grocery store, and also carried on a flour-mill. In 1859, he sold out all he owned, moved to New Albany, and began manufacturing rail- road and merchant iron; made money rapidly, and established an ax factory in that city. Having pur- chased the State right of a patent for straw-cutting, he made sufficient money thereby to purchase three houses and lots. In 1868, having made quite a study of the making of glass, he began the manufacture of glass at New Albany, building almost all of the works now operated in that city. In 1869, he sold out his interest in the iron business, to give his entire attention to the manufacture of hollow and plate glass, traveling all over the United States, and devoting several years to studying the mysteries of the various departments of its manufac- ture, but with little satisfaction. Finally, in 1870, he succeeded, by successful experiment, in overcoming his

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The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 37

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