The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 41

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 41

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

and gentlemanly attention to his customers and em- ployés. He possesses all those traits of character which are exhibited by the great merchants of the East. Be- lieving in hard work, he is found doing what less suc- cessful men leave for others to do; and he is so well known that his name has become a familiar household word in the city. Having not yet reached the prime of life, and judging from the ability and business tact dis- played, it is not unreasonable to expect an after career as brilliant as those of many of the merchant princes of the East. For six years, Mr. Fitch has been a member of the Episcopal Church. He was married, in the Spring of 1868, to Miss Florence Wilson, and they have two daughters.

OULMIN, REV. HENRY, Unitarian Clergy- man, son of Rev. Joshua Toulmin, was a na- tive of England ; emigrated to this country in 1791, and settled in Kentucky; in the following year went to England, and published a pam- phlet, called the "Description of Kentucky," inviting emigrants to this country ; and was Secretary of State of Kentucky, from 1796 to 1804, during the entire administration of Gov. Garrard. He subsequently moved to Alabama, where he died at an advanced age. His son, T. L. Toulmin, who was born in Kentucky, and died in Mobile, in 1866, was prominent in the affairs of that State.

PALDING, ALFRED, M. D., was born Octo- ber 24, 1815, at Amherst, New Hampshire. His father was a distinguished physician and surgeon of that State; his mother, a daughter of Hon. Joshua Atherton, was a woman of su- perior intelligence and refinement. Dr. Spald- ing entered Dartmouth College, and, at the close of the Freshman year, entered the Sophomore Class at Yale; but, on account of severe and protracted sickness, was compelled to give up his college course at the end of the Junior year; he received the degree of M. D. at Dartmouth, in 1843; the following year, located in Greenupsburg, Kentucky ; where, in May, 1846, he mar- ried Rebecca, daughter of Samuel Seaton, Esq., a prom- inent man in Greenup County, and highly respected. They have five children; the oldest, George Atherton, graduated at Yale, and took the degree of M. D. at the College of Physicians and Surgery, in New York City, where he is now located. Dr. Spalding was, for many years, an owner in "Caroline and Kentucky Steam Furnaces," and, although he was taxed to the utmost to save them from ruin in one of the great re- vulsions of the iron business, yet he continued actively employed in the duties of his profession. He is remark-

234

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

able for his patience, industry, and energy; these, with many other qualities fitting him for the profession of his choice, have gained for him a wide-spread reputation in Ohio as well as Kentucky. Early in the war, he re- ceived the appointment of post-surgeon ; soon after, was made Surgeon of the Board of Enrollment for the Ninth District of Kentucky, which office he held until the close of the war. Dr. Spalding is noted for his taste for fine stock, having raised and owned some of the finest horses in Eastern Kentucky.

ARVIE, JOHN, was born in Richmond, Vir- ginia, December 1, 1783, and died of a malig- nant carbuncle, in Frankfort, Kentucky, Sep- tember 20, 1838. His father, John Harvie, was one of the signers from Virginia of the Articles of Confederation, and, for many years, Register of its Land Office. He also filled various other offices of honor and trust in that Commonwealth. John Har- vie, the son, and the subject of this sketch, was edu- cated at the old and long celebrated college of William and Mary, in Virginia. In his early manhood, he chal- lenged and fought a duel-growing out of some slight offense at the bar to his grandfather, the celebrated John Gabriel Jones, of Virginia, a kinsman and the ex- ecutor of Lord Fairfax-with a Mr. Grimes, a young Virginia lawyer, who subsequently removed to Lou- isiana, and became one of the most famous members of the New Orleans bar. Both principals were wounded. In 1808, he married his cousin, Miss Margaretta Haw- kins, daughter of John Hawkins, a highly influential and honored citizen of Scott County, Kentucky ; and also a granddaughter, through her mother, Anna Ga- briella Jones, of John Gabriel Jones. The Harvie and Hawkins families are of mixed Scotch, English, and Welsh descent, tracing their lineage back, through their Jones ancestry, for centuries, to the ancient princely house of Wales. They number among their family connections, more or less near, by blood or marriage, many of the most eminent and influential old families of Virginia and Kentucky-the Washingtons, Jeffersons, Madisons, Lewises, Randolphs, Joneses, Strothers, Mar- shalls, Brockenbroughs, Blairs, Breathitts, Butlers, Tay- lors, Garrards, Buckners, and others nearly or equally prominent. Mr. Harvie emigrated to Kentucky, in 1813, to one of the richest farms in Woodford County, but removed thence to Frankfort in 1818; January 20, 1820, he was elected by the Legislature a Director of the old Bank of Kentucky ; and, by the same body, on December 7, 1820, chosen President of the Bank of Kentucky, over Robert Alexander, then president, and over the distinguished jurist, Martin D. Hardin. The vote stood : Alexander, 30; Hardin, 49; Harvie, 58; and

on the second ballot (Alexander having been dropped) : Harvie, 77; Hardin, 60. To this very highly responsi- ble and honorable position the Legislature annually re- elected him for eight years, when he declined to serve further. December 20, 1826, the same body selected him as one of the commissioners to superintend the building of the present State-house; February 28, 1835, Gov. James T. Morehead appointed him, John L. Hick- man, and James Harlan, the State Board of Internal Improvements, but he resigned, January 22, 1836. Au- gust 3, 1835, the Whigs elected him to the Legislature, from Franklin County, by nineteen majority, over J. O. T. Hawkins, Democrat ; whereas, the next year, the Democratic candidate, Dandridge S. Crockett, succeeded by just nineteen majority, over Mason Brown. Mr. Harvie was a remarkable man ; no man ever had a nicer sense of honor. The excellency of the man con- sisted in the harmonious blending of almost every manly virtue. To do right was the great aim of his life, and in the prosecution of that purpose he knew no fear, but would effect it at every hazard. To a temper thus finely attuned, was added a spirit of hospitality which was bounded only by the degree of honest merit in those to whom it was extended. In his character as a citizen, he came fully up to the mark, shrinking from the per- formance of no duty that society could require at his hands; but always found among the foremost, with head and hand and purse, to meet any demand on either for the furtherance of the public good. He was loved and honored and trusted as few men are. He was, indeed, a father of whom any family in the land might be proud, and, had he left them nothing else, the legacy of his good name, and the memory of his virtues, was enough to make them truly rich. His manners were usually bland, courtly, and dignified; occasionally, when highly provoked, stern and indignant to a pro- nounced degree. His mind was clear, vigorous, and always prompt to reach its conclusions. He, himself, never paltered with words in a double sense, and could not brook, but spurned with lofty scorn, the slightest dishonor, equivocation, or fraud in others. He was one of the very finest specimens of the Old-Virginia gentle- man, and that term, applying to him, as it did with all its force, conveys the most perfect idea of his life and character. Mr. Harvie at one time studied law, but never engaged in its practice. The care and manage- ment of his large estate occupied the greater portion of his time and attention throughout life. His tastes strongly inclined him to agricultural pursuits, and to the daily enjoyment of vigorous exercise in the open air, chiefly on horseback. Even when residing in Frankfort, charged, as he was for eight successive years, with the onerous and most responsible duties of the Presidency of the Bank of Kentucky, he was more or less constantly `engaged in the management of several large farms he

235

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

owned in the county, and other valuable real estate in other counties and States. He had no ambition what- ever for mere political pursuits and honors. The one purely political office he ever held, was not the result of his own self-seeking, or intrigue, but was assumed at the earnest entreaties of his friends, on account of his per- sonal worth and popularity, to meet a public exigency, when the internal improvement and public-school sys- tems of the State-then in their infancy, and of both of which systems he was an enthusiastic friend-were in great danger. Had his tastes or ambition taken a differ- ent direction, his figure would unquestionably have been as prominent in political as it was in business and social life, for twenty-five years. The large fortune he inherited, and acquired by marriage, was somewhat in- creased by his own enterprise, and judicious investments, It would have been very greatly added to but for his constant acts of generosity to his friends, and other per- sons and objects having claims upon his liberality as a man and a citizen. He was an intimate friend of both Henry Clay and John J. Crittenden ; the former gener- ally made his house his home, when visiting Frankfort; and of the latter's family, Mr. Harvie, after the death of his wife, was a member for several years. Of his nine children, only four survived him: Mrs. Gabriella A. Breathitt, relict of James Breathitt; John S. Harvie, Miss C. Ellen Harvie, and Col. Louis E. Harvie, all residents of Frankfort, Kentucky.

ARVIE, COL. LOUIS EDWIN, Lawyer, Far- mer, and Manufacturer, was born October 9, 1825, at Frankfort, Kentucky, and is the son of John Harvie. (See sketch of John Harvie.) He received a thorough education, and gradu- ated at Centre College, Danville, Kentucky, in

1843. He began the study of the law under Morehead and Read; finished his law preparations, under Judge B. Munroe, and graduated in the law department of Har- vard College, in 1845, under Judge Story and Simon Greenleaf. After engaging in the practice of his pro- fession for two years, ill health compelled him to turn his attention to farming and out-door pursuits, spending most of his time in the care of a large inherited estate. During part of the years 1851 and 1852, he was political editor of the "St. Louis Daily Intelligencer," in which he distinguished himself as a writer of ability, but ill health again compelled him to make a trip abroad, and to return to farming and other active pursuits. He has always taken an active interest in public affairs, writing numerous articles on politics and other questions of com- mon interest, which were cxtensively copied and read throughout the country. He first suggested, in a couple of articles, published in the "Louisville Democrat,"

of datcs November 25 and 28, 1860, the idea, or plan, of holding a convention of delegates from the Border Slave States, having an entire community of sentiment and inter- ests, to consider and determine their united position in the threatened war between the Cotton States and the North. Out of this suggestion grew the more enlarged idea and scheme of a Border State Convention, composed of del- egates from all the Border States, both slave and free, with a wide diversity both of sentiment and interests; which was afterwards held, and so signally failed to settle the conflicting disputes between the sections, or agree upon a common line of policy and action. His idea and plan was for the Border Slave States to unitedly propose what they believed a fair and just compromise of all principal points in controversy between the slave- holding and non-slaveholding States, in the nature of an ultimatum to both the North and the extreme South, accompanied with the determined declaration and pur- pose, that, in the event of their rejection by either party and acceptance by the other, the united military re- sources of all the Border Slave States would be put forth on the side of the party accepting their ultimatum, thus specifically laid down. Had such a position been reso- lutely taken by the Border Slave States, at the time, it is more than probable that the late calamitous civil war might have been averted, at least for many years. In 1855, he was prominent in the efforts to reorganize the old Whig party, and was a strong opponent of the Know-Nothingism, which gained temporary strength in the State; but, failing in his efforts, has since been iden- tified with the Democracy. During the great contest of 1860, he was a Douglas man, and was Chairman of the Douglas State Executive Committee, at Louisville, and was also, subsequently, a member of the State Ex- ecutive Committee, which proclaimed the doctrine of armed neutrality. In 1867, he was chosen a mem- ber of the State Central Committee of the Demo- cratic party, and, although taking an active part in all matters connected with that political organization, he has never desired or sought party preferment. He was one of the first and most active advocates of law and order in Kentucky, and the most bitter opponent of Ku-kluxism, and, with a few others, was mainly in- strumental in the passage of the Ku-klux Law by the Legislature. On the breaking out of the war, in 1861, he took sides with the South, and, in the following year, became aid-de-camp, with the rank of captain, on the staff of Gen. Buckner, serving in various capacities, and holding some important positions of trust, until the close of the war. The Harvies, father and son, were, each in his day, active with their means, time, and ability, in the promotion of enterprises, public and private, to the social and material interests of their city, county, and State. To the forethought and persistent cnergy of the son, Louis E. Harvie, in opening and

236

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

building roads, establishing mills, encouraging. the erec- tion of churches and schools, is very largely due the present prosperous development, from the condition of a comparative wilderness but a few years ago, of a large portion (north-west) of Franklin County. He, with a few others, pioneered the way to the adoption of the new turnpike system, inaugurated by the county in 1869-70, and was the projector and first president, and, as he has been generally since his resignation of that position, the active spirit in the management and extension of the Frankfort and Flat Creek Turnpike Road. This road has opened, to the enjoyment of citizens and visitors to the State capital, some of the most beautiful and romantic scenery to be found in the Western country. He has also been, at various times, the earnest advocate of the feasibility and duty of the city availing itself of its great natural advantages, and thereby making of it- self the flourishing center of a large manufacturing in- dustry. Col. Harvie is a man of strong convictions, independent in maintaining his views of right and wrong, although often greatly to his social disadvan- tage; has distinguished himself as an earnest thinker, and writer of ability; and has throughout his life, al- though greatly disturbed by feeble health, been one of the leading men of his community.

EANS, THOMAS WILLIAMSON, Iron Manu- facturer, son of John and Ann (Williamson) Means, was born November 3, 1803, at Spartan- burg, South Carolina. The name Means is of Scotch origin, and was at one time preceded by the syllable Mac; considerable diversity also has appeared in its orthography at different periods, and among different people. In America, Mayne and Maynes are traceable to the same origin; and the Irish are disposed to spell as they pronounce, Main or Mains; and, at Glasgow, the name of John Main appears in the record of 1666, among the "Martyrs of the Covenant." The ancestors of the family settled in the north of Ire- land, about the time of William the Third, and have always been Presbyterians, where they had any connec- tion with Church organization. Many of the family were prominent in the professions, and in public and business life in the old country. In America, they ap- pear in two or three branches: one having originally settled in New England; another, in Pennsylvania, a part of this one subsequently removing to South Caro- lina; and others came to Carolina from Ireland. William Means settled in Juniata County, Pennsylvania; after- wards removed to South Carolina, and was the earnest partisan of the Colonies in the early troubles with Great Britain. Several of his sons participated in the war of the Revolution. His youngest son, Col. John Means, a

native of Union district, South Carolina, became an in- fluential and prominent man of that State; was an extensive planter; an officer in the State militia; and member of the South Carolina Legislature, in 1815 and 1816. Strongly antislavery in his principles, he moved to Ohio in 1819; brought his twenty-four slaves with him, and gave them their freedom; settled in Adams County ; was a member of the Legislature of Ohio, from 1825 to 1827; was a farmer and iron manufacturer in that State; one of the pioneers in the iron business on the Ohio; was largely interested in building and operat- ing the first furnace of that region; and was one of the active and successful business men of the country. Ann Williamson, his wife, was a Carolinian by birth, whose mother, Ann Newton, was a relative of Sir Isaac New- ton. Col. Means died at Manchester, Ohio, March 15, 1837. His wife died August 17, 1840. They had six children, one of whom was Thomas W. Means, the sub- ject of this sketch. He spent six years in a select school, established by his father, chiefly for the education of his own children, and acquired not only a fine English edu- cation, but also a very respectable knowledge of the classics. After coming to Ohio, he spent some time working on his father's farm; also clerked, for several years, in a store, in which his father had an inter- est, at West Union; and, in 1826, took a flat-boat, loaded with produce, to New Orleans. In the same year, he became store-keeper at Union Furnace, which his father and others were then building, four miles from Hanging Rock. This was the first blast furnace built in Ohio in the Hanging Rock region; and he had the pleasure of first "firing" it. The old Steam and Argolyte were the only furnaces previously in exist- ence in that region, and they were in Kentucky. Since 1855, the old Union has not been in operation ; but the lands belonging to it are yet owned, in part, by him. In 1837, he and David Sinton became the owners of Union Furnace, and rebuilt it, in 1844. In the follow- ing year, they rebuilt Ohio Furnace. In 1847, he be- came interested in, and helped build, Buena Vista Fur- nace, in Kentucky. In 1852, he bought Bellefonte Furnace, Kentucky; in 1854, became interested in, and helped build Vinton, Ohio; in 1863, in connection with others, bought Pine Grove Furnace and Hanging Rock Coal-works; and, in the following year, with others, bought Amanda Furnace, Kentucky. In 1845, he and David Sinton built a tram-road to Union Furnace, one of the first roads of its kind built in the country; and they now have a railroad, four miles in length, running from the river to their Pine Grove Furnace. The Ohio was the first charcoal furnace in the country which made as high as ten tons a day, and was the first that aver- aged over fifteen tons. This furnace also produced iron with less expense to the ton than had been arrived at in any other; and it still leads in this respect. In 1832,

Thomas It Means

239

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

when the Union had been worked up to six tons a day, | of ostentation. Mr. Means was married, December 4, the Pennsylvania furnaces were averaging but two tons. 1828, to Sarah Ellison, a native of Buckeye Station, Adams County, Ohio, daughter of John Ellison, an early settler in that county. She died, in 1871, at the age of sixty-one, in their home, at Hanging Rock. Their children now living are, John, of Ashland, one of the most energetic, successful, and upright business men of the country ; William, a successful business man and iron trader of Cincinnati; and Mary A. and Margaret, residing at home with their father. He is now, in connection with the Culbertsons, building the Princess, a stone-coal furnace, ten miles from Ash- land, in Kentucky; and also has in contemplation an- other, at Hanging Rock. In the first year of Union Furnace, three hundred tons of iron were produced ; in the last year, 1855, it reached twenty-five hundred. Three hundred tons, in 1827, was as large yearly pro- duction as had been reached in the United States; and this rate was fully up to that of England. The large furnaces now reach fifteen thousand tons a year in this country. Under the supervision of him and David Sin- ton, the experiments for introducing the hot blast were first made; and, at their Union Furnace, they put up the second hot blast used in the United States, only a few years after its introduction in England, in 1828. This was, probably, the greatest step forward that had yet been made in the manufacture of iron. Always fa- voring the advance in every improvement, under him many changes were made in the forms of furnaces, and in the modes of operating them; and, under his pat- ronage, in 1860, at Ohio Furnace, was introduced the Davis hot blast, which has greatly improved and modified the charcoal furnace business of the coun- try. He has been longer engaged, and doubtlessly more extensively and directly concerned in the growth and prosperity of the iron business, than any other man in the Ohio Valley. Besides his large interests in the various furnaces, he has a very considerable interest in eighteen thousand acres of ore, coal, and farm land in Ohio, and nearly thirty thousand acres in Kentucky. He was the originator of the Cincinnati and Big Sandy Packet Com- pany, and is its leading stockholder ; was one of the cor- porators of the Norton Iron Works, and is one of its largest stockholders; helped lay out and originate Ash- land; is a large stockholder in Ironton Iron Railroad; was one of the originators of the Second National Bank of Ironton, Ohio, and has been its President since the organization, in 1864; and is also a stockholder in the National Bank of Ashland. In 1866, he purchased a farm near Hanging Rock, Ohio, where he has since resided. He cast his first Presidential vote for John Quincy Adams, and was identified with the Whig party. He is now a Republican, and, during the war of the rebellion, was an ardent supporter of the National Gov- ernment. In religion, he is Presbyterian, but attends the Congregational Church, and is not a member of any denomination. He has always been a man of fine per- sonal and business habits ; of strong constitution, able to sustain a long life of incessant activity; with a high sense of social and business integrity, his great fortune is the legitimate result of uncommon business ability and judgment. He is a man of fine bearing, still erect, six feet in height, agreeable in manners, and wholly void

MITH, HON. ZACHARY F., Railroad Presi- `dent and former State Superintendent of Public- schools, was born January 7, 1827, in Henry County, Kentucky. His father, Zachary Smith, was a native of Boyle County, and was a suc- cessful farmer and tanner. Z. F. Smith was chiefly educated at the old Bacon College, at Harrods- burg, Kentucky. He engaged in farming until 1860, when he sold his farm and devoted his attention to other interests. In 1867, he was elected to the office of Su- perintendent of Public-schools for the State, and filled the position with great energy and credit for four years. He favored the increase of the school-tax, the elevation of the standard of ability among teachers, commission- ers, and trustees; the grading of the schools, and vari- ous radical and necessary changes, designed to advance the school-system of Kentucky to the successful and popular condition of the schools of other States. He secured the passage of a bill, by the Legislature and before the people, which largely increased the public- school fund of the State, and many of his ideas have since been carried into effect. He was one of the most active and able Superintendents who have had charge of the public-school interests of the State. He was the originator, manipulator, and, in a very large sense, the sum and substance of the Cumberland and Ohio Rail- road, and, after doing an immense amount of work, and serving three years as the President of that enterprise, resigned entirely his connection with it. He is now President of the Austin and Pacific Railroad, and is in- terested in other roads in the South-west. He has long been a member of the Christian Church, and was for fifteen years President of the Kentucky Educational Society of that denomination, for the education of young men for the ministry. He is a member of the Board of Curators of the Kentucky University, and has been very active in that capacity; in fact, he pursues with enthu- siasm any cause he espouses. He is a speaker and writer of ability, and has contributed in both ways to politics and his Church, and largely to the cause of pop- ular education. He is a man of fine mental and per- sonal traits, and is largely endowed with those virtues

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 41

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