The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 47

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

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idential vote for Gen, Harrison, and stuck to the Whig party until its final demise, voting for Bell and Everett in 1860; and, throughout the great rebellion, adhered to the cause of the Union. He has since been identi- fied with the Democratic party. He is associated with the Disciples' Church, and is a citizen of sterling worth. On February 20, 1844, he was married to Miss Eliza J. Curle, a native of Madison County, Kentucky, and daughter of Farmer Jefferson Curle, of that county.

ULLOCK, HON. WILLIAM F., was born January 16, 1807, in Fayette County, Ken- tucky. His father, Edmund Bullock, was a native of Hanover County, Virginia, and settled in Fayette County, Kentucky, about the begin- ning of the present century ; represented that county in the Lower House of the Legislature, from 1807 to 1817; was three times elected Speaker of the House, as a testimonial of his high standing as a pre- siding officer; and was one of the most valuable men of his day in the State. Judge Bullock received a thorough education, graduating at Transylvania University, in 1824, when but seventeen years of age, and was distin- guished for his learning, and unusual powers as an orator. His first noteworthy public effort was the address of welcome, delivered while at Transylvania University, to Henry Clay, mainly designed as a mark of respect to that statesman, for the part he took in the election of Presi- dent Adams, and as an earnest expression of confidence in his patriotism and integrity. In 1828, he removed to Louisville, and entered, with great success, upon the practice of the law, in the midst of as formidable com-

petition as the bar of Kentucky afforded. He rose rapidly, soon occupying an enviable position in the pro- fession. In 1838, he was elected to the Legislature; was re-elected in 1840; was one of the most efficient and energetic workers in that body, and was the author of some of the best laws of the State. He introduced into the Legislature the bill for the establishment of the present common-school system of the State; has, in various ways, been called upon to defend that system, and has, throughout his life, been a firm friend to the cause of public education. To his exertions, is Ken- tucky greatly indebted for her common-school system. In 1842, he submitted to the Legislature a report on the management of the State insane, which attracted great attention, and to him is largely due many of the move- ments to better the condition of that class of the peo- ple. He also made great exertions, to bring about Legislative endowment for an institution for the educa- tion of the blind, and was himself one of the original trustees of that institution, and has been one of the most active and useful of its board of managers, up to the present time. He is the acknowledged founder of this noble charity in the State of Kentucky. In 1846, he was appointed Judge of the Fifth Judicial District, and held the position with great credit to himself, becoming so thoroughly established in the public estimation, that, when the office became elective in 1851, although his district had been changed unfavorably to him, and op-

posed by a popular candidate, he was elected to the office by a large majority. On the bench he was singu- larly free from narrowness, being guided only by law and justice; knew neither fear nor favor ; was clear in his judgment, prompt, and unwavering; sat with great

dignity on the bench; and, although firm, independent, and conscientious in the discharge of his duties, he re- tained, throughout his official career, a strong hold on the popular feeling. In 1849, he was elected Professor of "the Law of Real Property and the Practice of Law, including Pleading and Evidence," in the law depart- ment of the University of Louisville. He has been, for a number of years, President of the Cook Benevolent Institution, of Louisville, designed to provide for the necessities of old, feeble, and disabled women, and founded by Samuel Cook. For many years he has been actively engaged in providing a literature for the blind ; and has been, for many years, President of the Ameri- can Printing-house for the blind. This institution was originally chartered by the State of Kentucky. Its work has not only been a blessing to the unfortunates of this State, but has extended its advantages through- out this country and Europe, and has long since taken the position of an American institution. In 1855, Judge Bullock resigned his position on the bench, and has since been actively and successfully engaged in the prac- tice of his profession. He stands among the ablest law-

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yers of Kentucky; and, in all his responsibilities, has been true to the highest interests of his race, to the strictest integrity and the purest dictates of justice; and, both in his public and private life, lives "ever in the Great Task-master's eye."

ILKINSON, ROBERT L., M. D., was of En- glish parentage, and was born May 18, 1807, in Albemarle County, Virginia. His father was an enterprising and successful farmer. After receiving an education at Charlottesville, in his native county, he commenced trading in to- bacco, at Richmond, Virginia, and met with considerable success. In 1827, having determined upon the pursuit of the medical profession, he went to Cincinnati, and attended lectures at the Ohio Medical College. He com- menced the practice of his profession in Casey County, Kentucky, and continued it for a period of thirty years, at New Haven, Nelson County, Kentucky, meeting with eminent success. In 1832, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Ann Bowman, of Casey County, which mar- riage has been blessed with eleven children, six of whom survive. Politically, he adhered to the old Andrew Jack- son Whig party. He was a practical member of the Methodist Church, and, as a member of the Masonic fraternity, was thrice elected as delegate to the Grand Lodge of Kentucky. A man of a benevolent disposi- tion, and strict business integrity, he had a host of friends through Nelson County, where he spent much of his time, in his favorite sports of hunting and fishing. To the sorrow of his family, and the regret of the com- munity, Dr. Wilkinson died, from concussion of the spinal cord, caused by being thrown from a wagon, in Minnesota, on December 9, 1869. His eldest son, Dr. Morrow Wilkinson, commenced the practice of medicine in 1861, in New Haven, where he has a large and suc- cessful practice, and is winning for himself the same reputation borne by his father.

EEVES, WILLIS LONG, SR., Lawyer, was born in Woodford County, Kentucky, while his parents were en route from Virginia to Ken- tucky, on the 9th of February, 1796. His edu- cational attainments were necessarily limited, but, by close application, he succeeded in ac- quiring an English education in advance of the ordinary facilities offered in his times. Owing to a pecuniary misfortune with which his father was stricken, he was, at an early age, thrown upon his own resources, and succeeded, at the age of sixteen years, in obtaining em- ployment in the clerk's office at Hopkinsville, notwith-

standing his residence in Trenton, Todd County. In this position he remained until 1822, when he was made, first Circuit Clerk of the County, and, in a few years, County Clerk, holding and filling both offices until the adoption of the new State Constitution, in 1850. After leaving his public offices he gave his attention to his farm, and other large property interests, of which he had at this time possessed himself. He early united with the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, of which he was an active and leading member, and transacted all the legal business of the congregation gratuitously, be- sides donating largely from his means toward the sup- port and encouragement of the cause. In politics, he was a steadfast Henry Clay Whig, both from conviction of the correctness of the principles and a strong personal attachment to the leader of the party. He was a man of great energy and most indomitable will, who knew not failure. He turned a great deal of his time and attention, besides his means, to the education and eleva- tion of the masses. His death, which occurred on the 29th of April, 1866, was universally regretted, and the community sustained a loss not easily repaired. He was married, in 1856, to Mrs. Emily Carr, daughter of James H. Davidson, Esq., of Logan County, and left five children.

ONVERSE, REV. FRANCIS BARTLETT, Ed- itor and Clergyman, was born in Richmond, Virginia, June 23, 1836. He is the son of Rev. Amasa Converse, D. D. When a child, his father moved to Philadelphia, and he attended the public and high schools there, afterwards passing into and graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, in 1856. After studying theology in the Princeton Seminary for two years, he graduated, in 1860. Having a natural inclination to- wards journalism, all his studies were directed with a view to perfecting himself for the pursuit of that profes- sion. He soon became associated with his father on the editorial staff of the "Christian Observer," a leading journal of the Presbyterian Church, continuing with it to the present time. When the late war broke out, the "Christian Observer" was the only "peace paper " published in Philadelphia, and was suppressed in August, 1861, by order of Secretary W. H. Seward, and all the property confiscated. Having previously removed to Richmond, Virginia, he was, soon after the suppression, joined by his father, and the publication of the "Chris- tian Observer" recommenced. The confiscation of their property, and the scarcity of paper, type, and other fix- tures necessary for the publication of a newspaper, ren- dered the accomplishment of the task difficult. But, notwithstanding these obstacles, the regular issue of the paper was interrupted by the omission of but one num-

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ber during the entire course of the war. After the burning of Richmond, all was in confusion; and the "Observer" was the first, of all the papers in that city, to recover, and re-establish its circulation. On the 23d of June, 1869, the "Free Christian Commonwealth," well known as the Rev. Stuart Robinson's paper, was merged into the "Observer;" and the publication office removed to Louisville, Kentucky, in the following August; the consolidated journal being issued under its present title of "Christian Observer and Commnon- wealth." A few years of unremitting attention to the business sufficed to repair the losses incurred during the war, and every appearance of success was presented, until it attained the distinction of being the leading re- ligious newspaper of the South-western States. On the death of his father, on December 9, 1872, Rev. F. B. Converse assumed the position of editor-in-chief, and, with his brother, has continued the publication. Join- ing the Presbyterian Church while a youth, he is now a minister of that denomination. During the war, and his stay in Richmond, he had charge of "Olivet Church," twenty-five miles east of that city, for about two years. Part of that time, that Church was within the enemy's lines; but he, faithful to the discharge of his duties, attended services regularly; sometimes walking, and without regard to the weather. Laboring also in the hospitals, among the sick, wounded, and dying, of both armies, he did what he could for the relief and salvation of the men. Married, on the third day of May, 1866, to Miss Ellen E. Pollard, daughter of Dr. George W. Pol- lard, of Hanover County, Virginia, he is the father of five children-one daughter and four sons. Mr. Con- verse is a devout Christian gentleman, a master in his profession, and true and just in all his intercourse with mankind; and is one of the most enterprising, deserv- ing, and valuable citizens of Louisville, besides being, through his paper and otherwise, one of the most influ- ential and useful men in his Church.

IROR, S. V., M. D., son of Jacob and Magda- lene (Valentine) Firor, was born April 7, 1825, in Frederick County, Maryland. His father was a prominent business man and a politician of some reputation, and, at a time, was a mem- ber of the Maryland Legislature. The subject of this sketch received an academic education, and, at the age of eighteen, began the study of medicine, in the office of Dr. Ephraim L. Brown, of Mechanicstown, Maryland; and, in the Winter of 1844, took his first course of lectures, in Washington University, at Baltimore. In the following Winter, he entered the University Medical College, of New York City, and graduated in March, 1846. He began practice at once, in Franklin County,

Pennsylvania. In the following year, he settled in Pickaway County, Ohio, where he remained in active and successful practice until the Fall of 1860, when he removed to Catlettsburg, Kentucky, where he has estab- lished a large and valuable practice, and taken a front rank in his profession, in Eastern Kentucky. He is « thoroughly posted, and up with the advance in medical science, contributing, occasionally, to the literature of the profession. He has been, for many years, examin- ing surgeon for the war pensioners; is a member of the Ohio State Medical Society, and the Boyd County Medi- cal Society. Politically, he is a Democrat, but took no active part, anywhere, during the rebellion. He is an elder in the Presbyterian Church ; has been a zealous member of the benevolent order of Odd-fellows for twenty-five years; during which time, he was honored with a seat as representative, first, in the Grand Lodge of Ohio, and, more recently, in the Grand Lodge of Kentucky. He is a man of fine professional and per- sonal habits, and stands deservedly high in the commu- nity. Dr. Firor was married, in 1860, to Miss Margaret Mc Whorter, of Pickaway County, Ohio. They have two children, both daughters.

UDLEY, PROF. ETHELBERT L., M. D., Physician, Surgeon, and Soldier, son of Am- brose Dudley, Jr., and nephew of Dr. Benja- min W. Dudley, was born in 1818, in Fayette County, Kentucky. He was educated at Har- vard University; studied medicine under his relative, Dr. Benjamin W. Dudley ; graduated from the medical department of Transylvania University, in 1842, with great distinction, after attending three full courses of lectures ; still distrusting his own attainments, he took two other full courses of medical instruction, under the direct supervision of his distinguished kinsman, for whom he was sometimes prosector, in the Winters of 1842 and 1843; was appointed Demonstrator of Anatomy at Transylvania, in 1844; held the position with energy and success, until 1847; in the Winter of that year, was ap- pointed Professor of General and Pathological Anatomy and Physiology; in 1846, he had delivered a course of lectures on Comparative Anatomy; in 1749, became sole editor of Transylvania Medical Journal, of which he published three annual volumes ; in the Spring of 1850, visited Europe for professional improvement ; on his return, in the same year, accepted the Chair of Descrip- tive Anatomy and Histology, in the Kentucky School of Medicine, at Louisville ; assisted greatly in building up that new institution; in its second year, was transferred to the Chair of Surgical Anatomy and Operative Sur- gery ; the sessions of the two schools not conflicting; about the same time, was transferred to the Professor-

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ship of Surgery, in Transylvania Medical College, and continued to teach with distinguished ability until the schools were closed by the outbreak of the civil war, having, however, several years previously resigned his position in the Kentucky school. As a practitioner, he always commanded the highest respect of his colleagues, and the warmest friendship of his patients, and was not more admired as a physician than as a man ; was gentle and sympathetic ; devoted himself to his profession, his patients, and his friends; was a man of fine person ; and, with nerves of steel, unswerving hand, professional knowledge rarely surpassed, his medical career, though short, was brilliant. At the outbreak of the war, his patriotism and loyalty to the nation caused him to take an active part against the rebellion ; and, while the State of Kentucky hung yet in the balance of professed neutrality, he was actively instrumental in the organiza- tion of a battalion of "Home Guards," of which he was elected commander, and which aided much in prevent- ing the precipitation of Kentucky into the war for se- cession. He was authorized to raise a regiment of vol- unteers; was made its colonel, preferring that active position to the less belligerent one of medical director, which had been proffered him; left Lexington with his command, the Twenty-first Kentucky Federal Infantry, for the southern part of the State, and there, exhausted by the continued labors and exposures of his position, soon fell a victim to typhoid fever. He died, deeply and universally beloved, February 20, 1862. Dr. Dud- ley was married, in 1843, to Mary Scott, daughter of Matthew T. Scott, of Lexington, Kentucky. Of his two children, a son and a daughter, only the latter sur- vives-Louise, now the wife of Major Joseph C. Breck- inridge, Second United States Artillery.

OBERTS, WILLIAM H., Clerk of the Circuit, Chancery, and Criminal Courts of Pendleton County, was born June 4, 1839, in Scott County, Kentucky. He is the oldest of the six chil- dren of William B. Roberts and Elizabeth F. (Payne) Roberts. His father was a native of the District of Columbia, and a prominent physician of Falmouth, Kentucky. His mother was a daughter of Thomas Payne, a leading farmer of Warren County. The subject of this sketch was raised on a farm, and was educated, mainly, in the private schools of the county. He also spent part of one year in Transylvania University, at Lexington. After the war was fairly in- augurated, in the Fall of 1862, he joined the First Mis- souri Battery of Confederate Light Artillery, under Captain Samuel T. Ruffner ; served till the end, and was mustered out in 1865, at Baton Rouge. He was en- gaged in the battles of Bentonville, Pine Bluff, Fort

Pleasant, or Saline River, in the Red River campaign, and numerous smaller engagements and skirmishes in Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana. At the close of the war he returned home, and began teaching school in Pendleton County, and was thus engaged until the Winter of 1867. In this year, he was elected Clerk of the Circuit, Chancery, and Criminal Courts. In 1874, he was re-elected to the same office, and has since served as Clerk to all of these courts. He is a Democrat in pol- itics. Mr. Roberts has been twice marricd; first, May 14, 1871, to Miss Mary B. Edwards, a native of Jessa- mine County, and daughter of G. W. Edwards, a mer- chant of Falmouth. She died in 1872. October 5, 1875, he was married to Miss Martha Hall, daughter of Squire Hall, a farmer of Pendleton County, by whom twin daughters, Jessie and Emma, were born, on the 24th of July, 1876. He is a member of the Baptist Church, and one of the most exemplary, useful, and val- uable citizens of the county.

NDERWOOD, HON. JOSEPH ROGERS, Lawyer and Judge, was born October 24, 1791, in Goochland County, Virginia. He was the oldest of eight children of John Underwood, who frequently represented Goochland County in the Virginia Legislature. His grandfather was Thomas, and his great-grandfather was William Thomas Underwood, the last emigrating from England in the latter part of the seventeenth century. His great-grandfather's second wife was a Miss Taylor, and his grandfather's second wife was also a Taylor, thus doubly relating him to the numerous Taylor family of Virginia. His mother was Frances Rogers, daughter of George Rogers and Frances Pollard. He was named for his uncle, Joseph Rogers, and was raised by his uncle, Edmund Rogers, who brought him to Barren County, Kentucky, in 1803. He was early placed in the school of Rev. John Howe, near Glasgow; was afterwards under the charge of Rev. Samuel Findley, at Danville ; subsequently attended school at Lancaster ; and completed his literary education at Transylvania University, in 1811. He at once commenced the study of law under Robert Wickliffe, at Lexington ; in 1813, enlisted in the army ; became lieutenant of a company in the regiment of Col. William Dudley, and partici- pated in Dudley's defeat; took command of his com- pany ; was wounded severely by a rifle ball, which re- mained in his body throughout his life; was surrendered to the Indians with the remnant of Dudley's command ; was compelled to run the gauntlet, and, after being held a prisoner at Fort Wayne for some time, was re- leased, and returned to his home. In the Fall of 1813, he was licensed to practice law ; opened his office in

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Glasgow, and was fortunate in his practice from the outset. In 1816, he was elected to represent Barren County in the Legislature ; continued to represent that county for four years, retired, as he thought, from po- litical life, and devoted himself to his profession with great energy. In 1823, he moved to Bowling Green, where he resided during the rest of his life. In 1825, as a Whig, and an "Old Court" man, he was elected to the Legislature from Warren County, after a most animated contest ; when he again retired and engaged actively in his practice. In 1828, he was candidate of the Anti-Jackson party for Lieutenant-Governor, but was defeated; in the same year, was appointed one of the Judges of the Court of Appeals, by Gov. Metcalfe, Judge George Robertson being the only other member of that Court ; remained on the bench until 1835; was elected, in that year, to Congress, from the Third Congressional District, defeating Elijah Hise; was re-elected in 1839, 1841, and 1843; in 1845, was again elected to the Legislature, and made Speaker of the House in the ensuing session; in 1846, was elected by the Legislature to the Senate of the United States, for a term of six years, and served with distinction in that body, gaining a national reputation. In 1860, he was again elected to the Legislature, from his county, to fill a vacancy; was re-elected in 1861 ; declined to become a candidate for Speaker, and was active in the stormy sessions of that period; in 1844, he was Presidential Elector. In politics, he was a firm and consistent Whig; since the disorganization of that party, was a Conservative; and, during the rebellion, was a decided Union man. He delivered a vast num- ber of speeches, wrote voluminously, and was promi- nently identified, in his writings and works, with every important political movement which agitated Kentucky and the people of the United States. His judicial opin- ions run through nine volumes of reports, published by the authority of the State. He was a man of expansive and liberal views, possessed of sound judgment and a logical mind; benevolent to a high degree; public- spirited, using every exertion to improve the condition of his section; and, notwithstanding many reverses, accumulated a handsome fortune; and was one of the most able, learned, and valuable men of the State. In person, he was nearly six feet high, and finely pro- portioned ; retained, throughout his life, in a remarkable degree, the vigor and elasticity of early manhood; acted no small part through a long and important period of the country's history ; and died, August 23, 1876, greatly esteemed and lamented. Judge Underwood was twice married; first, in 1817, to Miss Eliza M. Trotter, daugh- ter of John Trotter, and granddaughter of the Rev. David Rice. She died in 1835. From this marriage, he raised a large family of children, among the living of whom, is the Hon. Eugene Underwood. During his

service in Congress, he was married to Miss Elizabeth Cox, daughter of Col. John Cox, at that time Mayor of Georgetown, D. C. From this marriage, he also raised a large family, the most distinguished member being the present Lieutenant-Governor of Kentucky, Hon. John C. Underwood.

INER, SAMUEL STILLMAN, Merchant, was born March 8, 1808, in Wethersfield, Hartford County, Connecticut. The earliest paternal an- cestor, of the name, of whom we have any account, was a citizen of Somersetshire, Eng- land, a miner by occupation, whose name, Henry Bullman, was changed by order and grant of King Edward the Third, to Henry Miner, in considera- tion of his loyalty in furnishing the king with an escort of one hundred men, all armed with double battle-axes, upon the occasion of his passage through Somerset, on his way to war with France, in the year 1346. He died, A. D. 1356. Tracing the record of male descendants to the ninth from Henry, we find the name Thomas Miner, born A. D. 1608, who came to America in 1630, in the ship "Arabella," in company with John Winthrop, afterwards second Governor of Massachusetts. He landed at Salem, but came, with a son of Governor Winthrop, through Boston, and settled in Pequot, now New Lon- don, Connecticut. To him, most or all the families of the name of Miner, in this country, trace their lineage. The subject of this sketch was the second child of Sel- den and Elizabeth Miner. Selden Miner, his father, was born in Lyme, New London County, and settled in Wethersfield, Connecticut ; was a shoe manufacturer by pursuit. He died in 1844. Elizabeth Miner, his mother, was a native of Connecticut also, and a daughter of Joseph Stillman, of Wethersfield, a Revolutionary sol- dier, who entered the Continental army as a private, at the age of sixteen, and was promoted to major. Samuel S. Miner attended the public-schools until twelve years of age, when he attended the Wethersfield Academy until his sixteenth year, at which time he had acquired a fair education, when he began to learn the trade of shoemaking, at Wethersfield, at which he continued until 1830, having been engaged most of the time as foreman for his father. From 1830 to 1832, he was en- gaged, at Hartford, Connecticut, in establishing and conducting the shoe factory of his uncle, Normand Smith. In 1833, he came to Kentucky and located at Maysville, where he has since resided. Soon after his arrival here, he started the shoe business, in connection with Henry Taylor. This partnership lasted only a year or two. After this he continued the business with a succession of partners, with remarkable success, for nearly half a century, husbanding his accumulations,

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The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 47

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