The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 48

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 48

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Eng d by Homer Lee & ColTY

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watching his business, and adhering strictly to the business for which he was prepared and educated. The result of this devotion to his business has been an old, wide-spread, honorable business reputation, an . extensive and valuable trade in his own city, and surrounding country, and, what is always agreeable to men of his age, a comfortable fortune. Probably there has never been a shoe-house in Northern or East- ern Kentucky which has done so large, safe, and repu- table a business as his. Notwithstanding his success as a merchant and business man, he is no less a good citi- zen and honored Church member, where his labors have . been neither few nor light. In 1834, while on a visit to his parents, in Wethersfield, Connecticut, he joined the Baptist Church, and, in 1838, became one of the con- stituent members of the Maysville Baptist Church, with which he has occupied responsible relations, having filled the offices of trustee, treasurer, deacon, clerk, and Sunday-school superintendent; resigning the first three positions on his transferring his membership to the Mays- lick Church, in 1870, having been one of the pillars, and a very considerable part of the structure, of that de- nomination in Maysville. Few are the school or other interests of Maysville which have not been furthered by his hand or support, in some way. Yet he is absolutely without pretense or show, and is characteristically one of those men who seldom speak of their deeds. His personal and social habits have always been exceptional, and in keeping with his undisputed private and public integrity. Mr. Miner gave his first Presidential vote for Andrew Jackson, and usually voted with the Democratic party, till, in 1860, he voted for Abraham Lincoln, and was, during the war of the rebellion, a strong Union man. He is now a Republican in politics. He was married, December 14, 1835, to Araminta Brooks, of Mason County, Kentucky. He is pleasantly surrounded by six children and eight grandchildren, four of his children being married.

URRAY, GEN. ELI HUSTON, Lawyer and Soldier, was born February 10, 1843, at Clover- port, Breckinridge County, Kentucky, and is the son of the well-known and wealthy tobacco merchant, Col. Murray, of that place. He re- ceived a thorough education, under private tutors, at his father's home. In 1861, at the age of eighteen, he raised a company, and, as its commander, entered the Third Kentucky Union Cavalry, under Gen. James S. Jackson. In November of that year, he was promoted major; and, August 13, 1862, was promoted colonel, continuing in the army, without leavc of ab- sence, during the entire war. He engaged in all the campaigns under Buell, Rosecrans, and Thomas; and commanded half of the cavalry force in Sherman's cele-

. brated march to the sea. He commanded his own regi- ment at Corinth ; and, in 1863, was ordered to Western Kentucky, where he engaged, with his regiment, in a short and active campaign. He commanded a brigade at Chattanooga, and fought gallantly in the battles of Dalton, Resaca, Iuka, and Shiloh; and, after having accomplished the famous march through the Southern States to the Atlantic coast, received his commission as brigadier-general, and closed his military career as com- mander of the south-western district of Kentucky. In 1865, he studied law in Missouri, with his half-brother, Hon. Z. T. Crittenden; attended lectures in Louisville Law School ; and graduated with honor, in 1866. At the close of the war, he identified himself with the Re- publican party, and took an active part in the election of President Grant, being a delegate to the National Convention in Philadelphia, and subsequently made pub- lic addresscs and participated actively in the campaign. Under the new administration, he was appointed United States Marshal for the State of Kentucky, and held the position until 1877. His military career was a most re- markable and successful one, serving throughout the war in many of the most desperate pitched battles and exciting campaigns; yet he was never seriously wounded; and, at the close of the great conflict, was probably the youngest brigadier-general in the service. Raised in affluent circumstances, with his friendships largely in the South, he entered the service of the Gov- ernment out of pure motives of patriotism; and few men served the country better, and made a more hon- orable record. He is a man of fine natural ability, possessing those traits of mind and person which would insure him success in any pursuit, and give him prom- inence as a leader among men. He is a man of stately bearing, over six feet in height; attractive in countenance; winning and accomplished in his man- ners; and probably few men are more favorably en- dowed, and enjoy more flattering prospects of social preferment. Gen. Murray was married, January 18, 1876, to Miss Evelyn Neale, the beautiful and accom- plished daughter of Edward P. Neale, of Louisville, Kentucky.

CKEE, COL. WILLIAM R., Merchant and Soldier, was born September 24, ISO8, in Gar- rard County, Kentucky, and came of a family of patriots. His grandfather, William McKee, was one of the pioncers of Kentucky, and bore a conspicuous part in the early Indian wars. His father, Samuel McKee, was a member of the Ken- tucky Legislature, in 1806, 1808, and 1820, and was a representative in Congress from 1809 to 1817, and while still in that position, entered the army, in the war of 1812, as a private, serving with distinction. William R.

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McKee was educated at West Point Military Academy, ! ernor of Kentucky, and was largely instrumental in where he graduated with honor, in 1829, and entered the establishing the present school system of the State. He founded the Eclectic Institute, at Lexington, and, asso- ciating with himself some other popular gentlemen, that institution met with great success ; in 1833, was elected fifth President of Transylvania University, holding that position until 1835; in that year, organized a school for boys in Louisville ; in the same year was elected first rector of St. Paul's Church, in that city ; in 1838, be- came editor, in New York, of the "Journal of Christian Education," and the Sunday-school publications of his Church; was also placed in charge of the educational interests of his Church throughout the United States. Under these great labors, his constitution gave way ; was sent to Cuba for his health, but, returning, died, August 20, 1842, at Louisville, Kentucky. He was a man of great zeal in every good cause; was distinguished for his learning and piety, and was one of the best and most able men of his Church. army as lieutenant, in the Third Regiment of Artillery. He remained in the army till 1836, when, the claims of his family demanding his attention, and the army, in time of peace, affording no opportunity for future distinc- tion, he resigned his commission, and located at Lexing- ton, where he engaged in mercantile pursuits until the Mexican War, occupying a prominent position in society. He was one of the first to offer his services, when the Government called on Kentucky for volunteers. He en- tered the army at a great sacrifice to himself and family, actuated by motives of pure patriotism, and esteeming it a privilege and a duty to serve his country, as he had been educated in the military school of the nation, and recognized the right of the Government to his services. He was appointed Colonel of the Second Kentucky Regiment of Infantry, serving with great bravery and distinction at the head of his regiment, till he fell, gal- lantly fighting, at Buena Vista. Col. McKee was a man of great firmness of character; entertained the highest sentiments of honor, and was passionately devoted to his country ; was amiable, generous, and free from per- sonal display, and died leaving a name honored among the soldiers of the nation; to his country, a glorious ex- ample, and, to his widow and children, the inheritance of a spotless name.

EERS, REV. BENJAMIN ORR, Clergyman and Educator, was born April 20, 1800, in Loudon County, Virginia, and was the son of Major Valentine Peers, who came of a Scotch- Irish family; settled in Virginia ; in 1777, be- came brigade major on the staff of Gen. George Weedon, and served in many of the battles during the great war for American independence. He emigrated to Kentucky, in 1803, and settled in Nicholas County, engaging, for a time, in salt manufacturing, at the Lower Blue Licks; established a cotton-mill at Mays- ville and at Paris; was also a Judge of the Court of Quarter Sessions at the latter place; was a valuable member and officer of the Presbyterian Church ; and died, at the age of seventy-four, in 1830, at Maysville, Ken- tucky. Benjamin O. Peers received a liberal education, commencing in Bourbon Academy, and graduating in Transylvania University, about 1820. In 1827, he was elected Professor of Moral Philosophy in his Alma Mater; was educated at Princeton Theological Sem- inary, for the purpose of entering the ministry of the Presbyterian Church, but was ordained a deacon in the Episcopal Church, in 1826; in 1829, he visited the East- ern and Middle States, to examine the systems of pub- lic education, by especial appointment from the Gov-

ROWNE, HON. RICHARD J., Lawyer, was born March 24, 1820, in Washington County, Kentucky. His parents were William and Eliza Browne, and he was the elder of their two children. His father, Dr. William Browne, was a native of Petersburg, Virginia ; graduated at Hampden Sidney College; came to Kentucky in 1810, and located at Lebanon, where he practiced medicine until his death, in 1822. He was the son of William Browne, who served under Washington, as a lieutenant- colonel in the war of the Revolution. His mother was a Virginian by birth, and was the daughter of William Jones, a captain in the Revolutionary army, who came to Kentucky in 1817, and died in Washington County, in 1825. Richard J. Browne graduated at Centre Col- lege, Danville, in 1840; commenced writing in the office of the Clerk of Washington County, and reading law at his leisure ; in the Winter of 1841, entered the law de- partment of Transylvania University ; in 1842, graduated, and immediately entered upon the practice of his pro- fession at Springfield, where he has since resided, en- gaged in a large and valuable legal practice. In 1849, he was first elected to represent his county in the State Legislature; in 1861, he was again elected to the Leg- islature; and re-elected in 1863, and again, in 1867, serving through the entire period of the rebellion. During the organization of the Whig party, he sup- ported its men and measures, and voted for John Bell for President at the election preceding the war; during the great conflict, was an out-and-out Union man, and is now an ardent Republican. In 1872, he was Re- publican Elector from the Fifth Congressional District. Religiously, he is an Episcopalian. He is a lawyer of

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fine ability, and has been distinguished for liis excep- tional professional and personal habits, and great in- tegrity of character. Mr. Browne .was married May 20, 1845, to Miss Harriet M. McElroy, daughter of Hugh McElroy, a merchant of Springfield, Kentucky.

EWITT, MAJ. LAFAYETTE, Lawyer, is a native of Hardin County, Kentucky, and was reared chiefly at Elizabethtown, where he now resides. His father was long principal of the academy in that town; devoted his life mainly to literary pursuits ; was a man of fine scholarly attainments, and one of the most highly esteemed and valuable citizens of Elizabethtown. Maj. Hewitt, as early as the age of sixteen, had passed through the en- tire college course of studies, and, on the death of his father, served, for some time, as principal of the acad- emy at Elizabethtown, becoming largely responsible for the education of his brothers and the care of his father's family. Ill health compelled him to abandon teaching ; and, after spending two years in Louisiana, with a view to the restoration of his health, went to Washington City, and held a position in the postal service, under Postmaster-General' Holt, until the Spring of 1861. His principles and predilections led him to take the side of the South, and he at once repaired to Virginia to offer his services to the Confederacy. He spent some time at Montgomery, in assisting in the organization of the Confederate mail system ; and, in December, 1861, was ap- pointed assistant adjutant-general, with the rank of cap- tain, and served with Generals Albert Pike, Hindman, Holmes, and Walker, until 1863; afterwards served on the staff of Gen. Breckinridge, and subsequently under Gen. Ben. Hardin Helm; participated in the battles of Jackson, Chickamauga, and the various other engage- ments of the First Kentucky Brigade. Although ex- posed, in every possible way, in many of the pitched battles of the war, and having his horse literally torn to pieces from under him, he passed through uninjured himself, making an enviable record as a brave, efficient, and valuable officer. At the close of the war, he took the position of Principal of the Elizabethtown Female Academy, for some months; but, after the repeal of the expatriation laws, he entered on the practice of the law in the courts of Hardin County. In 1867, he was ap- pointed Quartermaster-General of the State, under Gov. Stevenson, and earnestly engaged in the work of his office. He arranged the claims of the Commonwealth against the United States, originally involving about four millions of dollars, and pushed the work to a most successful issue. Maj. Hewitt is a man of fine ability, and large administrative skill ; is scholarly in his attain- ments; is a man of great uprightness of character; is ex-

ceptional in his personal and social habits; and, besides being known as one of the most substantial and valua- ble men in Hardin County, has made a reputation throughout the State of which he may justly be proud.

EBB, HON. ISAAC N., Lawyer, was born in Henry County, Kentucky, May 17, 1817. His father, Waller Webb, emigrated from Virginia to Kentucky about 1783, and settled in Fayette County, but soon after removed to Henry, where he remained until his death. His mother was Hannah Young, daughter of Bryan Young, of Nel- son County. The history of his grandmother, while she was yet Mrs. Davis, constitutes a page of thrilling inter- est in the annals of the "Dark and Bloody Ground." Mrs. Davis and two of her children were captured by the Indians. The children were murdered in her pres- ence. The Youngs were among the oldest, most wealthy, and most importantly connected families of the State, and were largely identified with its interests and pro- gress. The subject of this sketch was raised on a farm, and attended school, but afterwards completed his edu- cation at Hanover College, during the presidency of Dr. James Blythe. After leaving college, in 1837, he commenced reading law at New Castle, in the office of E. F. Nuttall, then a prominent lawyer in that part of the State; and was admitted to practice in 1840. Since that time he has resided in New Castle; has established a large and lucrative practice, and become one of the substantial men of his part of the State. In 1865, he was elected to fill an unexpired term in the Lower House of the State Legislature. In the following year, he was again elected to the same position, which he held for one term, and was Chairman of the celebrated Com- mittee on Privileges and Elections, consisting of Col. Frank Wolford, Judge B. F. Buckner, Judge Jas. Har- lan, Gen. Stout, M. J. Roark, and himself. He is prominently connected with some of the social organiza- tions of the country; has devoted much of his time to the educational interests of the community, having served many years as President of the School Board of the town; and has been connected with most matters of in- terest to the community. He is yet apparently but little beyond the prime of life, with great constitutional vigor, and fine social and business habits. In 1847, Mr. Webb was married to Miss Leviann Gist, of Tuscumbia, Ala- bama. His son, John G. Webb, is a physician of New Castle; Minnie, the oldest daughter, is wife of J. W. Kelley, Surveyor of Henry County ; the second daugh- ter, Sallic, is widow of Dr. W. Chenault, late Assistant Superintendent of the State Institution for the Feeble- minded at Frankfort; and his daughter Mary is wife of Joseph Barbour, of New Castle.

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HAWHAN, HENRY E., President of the Na- tional Bank of Cynthiana, Farmer and promi- nent business man of Harrison County, was born November 20, 1805, in Bourbon County, Kentucky. His parents were Joseph and Sallie (Ewalt) Shawhan. His grandfathers, Daniel Shawhan and'Henry Ewalt, were both from Alleghany County, Pennsylvania. His father was born in that county, and emigrated to this State with his parents, in 1788, and settled in Bourbon County. In 1816, he re- moved to Harrison, where he died in 1871. He was a soldier of the war of 1812 ; was, for several terms, a mem- ber of the State Legislature; followed agricultural pur- suits; was of Scotch-Irish extraction; and was one of the most influential and valuable men in his county. Sallie Ewalt, his mother, was a Bourbon County woman by birth, and also belonged to one of the old pioneer families of the State, of German origin. The subject of this sketch was raised on the farm, his education being confined to the country schools, as organized in his boy- hood days. He was actively engaged on the farm until 1838. In that year, he turned his attention to the mak- ing of whisky, and built a distillery in Harrison County, four miles from Cynthiana; and from this time until 1869, in connection with his farming interests, he con- tinued distilling, and buying and selling whisky of vari- ous distillers of the county. In 1864, he took an interest in the grocery house of Shawhan & Jewett, of Cyn- thiana ; in the following year, formed a partnership with J. Shawhan, in the same business ; in the following year, bought the interest of his partner, and has since been sole proprietor of one of the largest grocery businesses of Cynthiana. In 1874, he became one of a number of capitalists who undertook to build a narrow-gauge rail- road from Mt. Sterling to the mountains, or the coal and iron region of Eastern Kentucky. Several miles of this road are in actual operation, and its great local impor- tance is now largely felt. It is the ultimate purpose of the originators of this valuable. enterprise to terminate the road at Cynthiana. Mr. Shawhan is a director, and is largely interested in the stock and the future success of the road. In 1871, he was elected President of the National Bank of Cynthiana, which position he has since occupied. In 1872, he became candidate for Sheriff of Harrison County. He has always been a Democrat; and, during the rebellion, his sympathies were strongly with the cause of the South. He is a man of sterling qualities, unmarred by deep prejudices ; of plain, unaf- fected, honest manners; moves through life without show or pretense; is of irreproachable integrity of char- acter; has been a man of great physical endurance, and now, at an advanced age, is a fine specimen of mental and physical vigor. Mr. Shawhan has been three times married : October 20, 1835, to Mary Varnon, daughter of John Varnon, a Bourbon County farmer. She died

in 1842. Two years afterwards, he was married to Mrs. Sallie Pugh (née Cantrill), who died in 1857. In 1859, he was married to Mrs. Sallie Cult, a native of Bourbon County, and daughter of John Ravenscraft, a farmer of that county. He is the father of eight children by these marriages.

IGHTFOOT, ROBERT ANDREW, M. D., Prominent Physician of Flemingsburg, second son of William and Elizabeth (Caldwell) Light- foot, was born 'April 19, 1827, in Fleming County, Kentucky. His father is a native of Culpepper County, Virginia; came to Ken- tucky in 1815; is a farmer, and still resides in Fleming County. His grandfather, Robert Lightfoot, a Virgin- ian, was a soldier in the war of the Revolution," and the war of 1812. The Lightfoots were English, and became prominent in the affairs of Virginia, as did some of the Lees, to whom they were related. His mother, Eliza- abeth Caldwell, was a Fleming County woman by birth, her father, Andrew Caldwell, having settled in that county soon after his emigration to America from the north of Ireland. The subject of this sketch worked on the farm some as a boy, but mainly went to school until he was sixteen years old, when he commenced teaching. During the next ten years he engaged in teaching a part of the time, but probably spent the greater portion of it in the Helena Academy, under old Prof. Eli Adams, who was the master of a great many distinguished men of the country, and who is now one of the oldest but most active teachers in America. In 1851, he commenced reading medicine, under Dr. John Shackleford, of Maysville. His pecuniary circumstances still made it necessary for him occasionally to resort to teaching, but mainly for four years he studied and at- tended lectures at the Louisville Medical University, where he graduated in 1855, and at once began practice at Maysville, in connection with his preceptor, Dr. Shackleford. In the Fall of 1855, he located at Flem- ingsburg, where he has since resided, and where he has made a large and reputable practice. In 1862, he went into the Confederate army, as assistant surgeon of Eze- kiel Clay's battalion of Marshall's brigade of Kentucky Volunteer Confederate Cavalry. In 1865, he was made surgeon to Early's staff, by recommendation of the med- ical director of Early's army. He participated in many battles and skirmishes, and returned home at the close of the war greatly impaired in health. Although a sur- geon in the army, he was subject to most of the dan- gers and hardships of the war. He was taken prisoner at the battle of Half Mountain, on the Licking river ; was for a long time held as a hostage, and was a priso- ner of the Government, at Louisville, Fortress Monroe, and Fort Delaware. Previous to the war, he was a

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Whig ; he is now associated with the Democratic party. Dr. Lightfoot was married, in May of 1856, to Sarah E. Stockwell, a native of Fleming County, and daughter of John Stockwell, a merchant of Poplar Plains.

EARSON, LORENZO D., son of Peter Pearson, was born January 10, 1810, in Shelby County, Kentucky, where his father was a successful and honorable farmer. His father died when he was three years old, and, after remaining on the farm, and acquiring some education in the country school, at the age of fourteen he began to learn the cabinet trade. In 1831, he went to Louisville, where he subsequently commenced business on Main Street, as an undertaker, in which he has since contin- ued, and has been one of the most active and successful business men of the city, having accumulated a consid- erable fortune, and is deservedly noticeable among those enterprising men who, starting in life without means, and with limited education, by great energy, business ability, and uprightness, become honorable, successful, and useful citizens. Religiously, he is asso- ciated with the Methodist Church, and is a prominent member of quite a number of social organizations ; is a man of pleasant and polite habits; is benevolent and liberal in his disposition, and is one of the valuable men of Louisville.

OVING, HON. WILLIAM VOLTAIRE, Law- yer, was born March 22, 1803, near Lovingston, Nelson County, Virginia. His father, John Loving, a distinguished lawyer of that State, after whose family the town of Lovingston was named, removed to Warren County, in 1811. William V. Loving attended school, for several years, at Bowling Green, in this State, and completed his educa- tion at the University of Virginia, in 1826. He taught school, for two years, at Pulaski, Giles County, Ten- nessee, and, during that time, applied himself to the study of the law; was admitted to the bar in 1829; com- menced practice at Bowling Green, where he soon suc- ceeded to a large and lucrative business; was induced to become editor of one of the local papers, which he soon relinquished, giving his entire attention to his pro- fessional duties. He was, for several years, a partner of Col. Henry Grider; in 1840, was elected to the Legis- lature; in the following year, was elected to the State Senate, serving in that body until 1844; in the Spring of 1845, was appointed, by Gov. Owsley, Commonwealth's Attorney for the Sixth Judicial District; in May, 1849, was commissioned, by Gov. Crittenden, Circuit Judge of the same district; and, in the following year, was again

commissioned by Gov. Crenittden to the Circuit Judg- ship. In the convention assembled in Louisville, Feb- ruary 22, 1855, he received the nomination for Governor of the State, but was compelled to withdraw from the contest in the following June, on account of continued ill health. The nomination was tendered to Charles S. Morehead, who was elected by a large majority. From early manhood, he was an Old-line Whig, and, during the late civil war, was an ardent Union man, and has always been true to the Government of his country. For many years, he has been a member of the Presby- terian Church; he was an able lawyer, a bold and forci- ble speaker, and has few equals before a jury. He was a man of great breadth of thought and character, en- terprising, warm-hearted, and generous. In 1869, he removed to Louisville, where he has continued to reside, with his son-in-law, James H. Goodwin, having attained a ripe old age, beloved by his friends, and honored by the admirers of honesty, integrity, and purity of char- acter. Judge Loving was married, in 1829, to Amanda M. Graham, and has three surviving children-two sons and a daughter.

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The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 48

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