The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 62

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

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the State; took an active part in the debates of that body, opposing the "Native American" and anti- Catholic views of some of its members; in the follow- ing year, was elected to represent the city of Louisville in the Legislature; in 1851, was elected to the State Senate, but, in 1852, was elected to fill a vacancy in Congress; was re-elected, in 1853, serving the regular Congressional term; in 1852, was Presidential Elector for the State at large, voting for Scott; was member of the Convention at Cincinnati which nomi- nated James Buchanan, in 1856; was appointed by Mr. Buchanan, Minister to Spain, in 1858; when Carolina seceded, he forwarded his resignation ; returned to Ken- tucky, and was one of the first to join the Southern cause, leaving home on the same night of September, 1861, with John C. Breckinridge, to share the fortunes of the South. He joined Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston at Bowling Green, and served on his staff as colonel until the battle of Shiloh, where Gen. Johnston died in his arms; was soon after promoted brigadier-general; commanded the right of Breckinridge's division at Mur- freesboro; was engaged in all the leading battles of Tennessee; was at Corinth, at the first siege of Vicks- burg; was in command of the troops in South-western Virginia for a time ; and was division commander at Chick- amauga, where he especially distinguished himself. In the Winter of 1863, he was appointed Confederate States Minister to Mexico; requested to be recalled, when he found nothing could be accomplished in Mexico; joined E. Kirby Smith, in Texas, and was promoted major-general. In 1866, he located with his family at Lexington, where he has since resided, retired from business. In 1869, he served in the Legislature. Gen. Preston is a man of magnificent personal appearance and of great dignity of manner, an accomplished scholar, a brave and skillful soldier, a polished diplomat, and a leader in the politics of his State. In 1840, he was married to Margaret Wickliffe, the youngest daughter of Hon. Robert Wick- liffe, of Lexington.

ARNEY, JOHN MILTON, M. D., and Poet, was born March 9, 1789, in Delaware, and died January 12, 1825, at Bardstown, Kentucky, and was the son of Major Thomas Harney, and brother of Gen. Wm. S. Harney. He became a man of considerable notoriety in his part of the State, and, in 1814, married a daughter of Judge John Rowan. He was a man of the rarest kind of wit and the most refincd nature, and was socially very attractive. At the age of twenty-three, he wrote "Chrystalina, a Fairy Tale," in six cantos, which was published in 1816; but, owing to his extremely sensitive nature, the work meeting with some unfavorable criti-

cisms, he suppressed it. One of his most beautiful pre- served pieces was "Echo and the Lover: "

LOVER. Echo ! mysterious nymph, declare

Of what you are made, and what you are- "Air!" ECHO. LOVER. 'Mid airy cliffs and places high, Sweet Echo ! listening, love, you he- ECHO. " You lie !"

LOVER. You but resuscitate dead sounds- Hark ! how my voice revives, resounds ! "Zounds !"

ECHO.

LOVER. I'll question you before I go- Come, answer more apropos !" ECHO. " Poh ! Poh !"

LOVER. Tell me, fair nymph, if e'er you saw So sweet a gir! as Phœbe Shaw ?

ECHO. " Pshaw !"

LOVER. Say, what will win that frisking coney Into the toils of matrimony ?"

ECHO. " Money !"

LOVER. Has Phoebe not a heavenly brow ? Is it not white as pearl-as snow ? ECHO. "Ass, no !"

LOVER. Her eyes! was ever such a pair ? Are the stars brighter than they are ? ECHO. "They are !"

LOVER. Echo, you lie, but can't deceive me ; Her eyes eclipse the stars, believe me -- ECHO. " Leave me !"

LOVER. But come, you saucy, pert romancer, Who is as fair as Phoebe ? answer.

ECHO. "Ann, sir !"

ELLY, CLINTON W., M. D., was born Febru- ary II, 1844, in Henry County, Kentucky. His father is one of the most successful and wealthy farmers of that county. When the war broke out, he entered the Confederate army, and served in the commands of Generals Giltner, Preston, and Humphrey Marshall, remaining actively engaged until the Summer of 1863, when he went to Canada, and entered Queen's College, Kingston ; in the following year, went to Montreal, where he grad- uated, in McGill's College, in 1867. At the close of the session of 1864-5, he received a prize for highest stand- ing in botany ; for the session of 1865-6, he received the highest prize for his standing in medical branches; and, at the conclusion of the session of 1866-7, he received the prize for the best final examination, and the gold medal for the highest general standing. In the Fall of 1867, he went to Germany, and studied under Langen- beck, Trauve, Frerrichs, and Von Graefe. In 1870, hc returned to Louisville, and began to practice medicinc; in the same ycar, was made Professor of Anatomy in the Kentucky School of Medicine, holding the position

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for two sessions; was afterwards elccted to the same chair in the Louisville Medical College, which position he still occupies. He is a member of the Kentucky State Medical Society, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Louisville, and of the American Medical Association. Dr. Kelly is married to Kate W. Harris, daughter of the late Alfred Harris, a lawyer of Lou- isville.

UDLEV, AMBROSE WILLIAM, Banker, and member of one of the most distinguished fami- lies of the State, was born October 31, 1798, in Fayette County, Kentucky. The Dudleys were of English origin, and trace their ancestry back to the thirteenth century. Robert Dudley was a lieutenant in the war of the Revolution, and died while in the service; Ambrose, his brother, commanded a company during the Revolution; and Robert, son of Ambrose, accompanied Gen. Wayne in his campaign, in 1794; Col. William and Peter participated in the battle of Fort Meigs, where the former was killed ; Peter and Ambrose, Jr., were in the battle of the Thames; Peter commanded a battalion under Gen. McArthur, in his campaign to Upper Canada, in 1814; Jephtha was a cap- tain in Col. Owings's regiment, United States Infantry ; James Dudley commanded a company in Col. Francisco's regiment, during the war of 1812; and Elder Thomas P. Dudley participated in the battle of the Raisin and that of New Orleans. (See sketches of Col. William, Dr. Benjamin W., Dr. Ethelbert L., and Elder Thomas P. Dudley.) Thus it may be seen that the family were early distinguished in their devotion to the country, and among their descendants, in the professions and business life, have been some of the most worthy and noted men of the State. His mother was Mary Smith, a native of Kentucky, and a member of a family distinguished in the history of Virginia and Kentucky. His father, Will- iam E. Dudley, was a farmer of Fayette County, and son of Rev. Ambrose Dudley, who was a leading Baptist preacher of Kentucky, and also a farmer, a native of Virginia, and a captain in the Revolutionary War, as before mentioned; and who reared a family of fourteen children, among whom was the celebrated Dr. Benjamin W. Dudley, and the only living member of which is the Rev. Thomas P. Dudley. The subject of this sketch received a good English education; and, after spending several years as a clerk in a dry-goods house in Frank- fort, he turned his attention to farming, and the manu- facture of Kentucky linseys and jeans. He was, for fifteen years, Quartermaster-General of the State; and, although continuing his agricultural pursuits, has for the last thirty years been President of the branch Bank of Kentucky at Frankfort. For over half a century, he has been thoroughly identified with the growth and

prosperity of Frankfort, and has greatly assisted, by his means and hands, in building up the interests of the community ; in constructing the important State works; and has filled many minor positions of trust, for the sin- gle purpose of serving his fellow-men; few movements of value arising in his county were uninfluenced by his support; and, although now far beyond the usual age, he is still active in his social and business interests; and, throughout his long life, has been recognized as one of the most useful and valuable men of Franklin County. Mr. Dudley was married, in 1824, to Miss Eliza Talbot, daughter of Hon. Isham Talbot, and granddaughter of Gov. James Garrard, and had seven children, of whom six still live. Their son, A. T. Dudley, is a lawyer of Henderson; James G. and William T. Dudley are busi- ness men of Frankfort; Maria is the wife of T. H. Winston, a lawyer of Chicago; Margaret married E. R. Smith, a planter of Alabama; and Mary Dudley is the wife of a Franklin County farmer.

'ASTLEMAN, CAPT. GEORGE CLINTON, of New Castle, was born, in Shelby County, Kentucky, September 22, 1810, and is the son of Sarah (White) Castleman and Gen. Jacob Castleman, a brigadier-general in the war of 1812, who was born in Woodford County, April 2, 1777, and became one of the most extensive and successful business men of the State. He was lost, with a large number of others, May 9, 1837, on the ill-fated steamer "Sherrod," burned on the Lower Mississippi, near Fort Adams. His body was never recovered. His son, Capt. C. G. Castleman, was commander of the "Sherrod." The subject of this sketch received a fair education in the private schools of the country, and, at the age of twenty, left home, and went to New Albany, Indiana, where he superintended the saw-mill of his brother-in-law, Capt. Robeson De Hart. After two years, he went on the river as second clerk of the steamer "Herold," commanded by his brother, C. G. Castleman. He filled various positions on the river for several years, and, in 1835, went to Pittsburg, to super- intend the building of the "Gen. Wayne," of which he became commander. In 1837, he was married to Miss Jane C. Torbitt, of Woodford County, Kentucky. He afterwards superintended the building of the "Robert Morris," and commanded the old " Ben. Franklin." In June, 1838, he left the river, after a successful and event- ful career, and returned to the old homestead, in Wood- ford County. In 1851, his wife died, and, shortly after- wards, he sold his farm, and went to Texas, and there for a few years engaged in shipping cattle to New Or- leans and the West. In 1857, he returned to Kentucky, and, in company with his wife's brother, J. P. Torbitt,

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started the wholesale grocery house of Castleman & Torbitt, in Louisville. In this, as in most other enter- prises, he was very successful; and this became one of the largest and most reliable houses of its kind in the country. In 1861, he retired from this business, his son, Samuel, taking his place, and the firm changing to Torbitt & Castleman. In the same year, he located in New Castle, in Henry County, where he bought several farms, and where he had formerly contracted some interests by marriage, February 24, 1859, to Mrs. Mary J. Gist (née Brinker). He has since lived in New Castle, and has been chiefly concerned in looking after his farming interests, but has at no time lost sight of the common interests of the community. He was one of the organizers of the National Bank of New Castle, and is now its president. He is a member of the Chris- tian Church, and one of its most substantial supporters. He was an Old-line Whig; but, after the demise of Whiggery, has not been, strictly speaking, attached to any party, but was a staunch supporter of the Union through the entire rebellion. He is one of those men, who, having once espoused a cause or adopted a princi- ple, maintains it at all hazard. His whole business career has been a series of successes, largely owing to this fact, no doubt. He is a man of naturally fine ability, with great constitutional vigor, and power to sustain any amount of mental and physical labor, which he has been free to utilize in a most checkered and suc- cessful life. He has three children now living : Samuel being a member of the house of Torbitt & Castleman, Louisville, and one of the first business men of the country ; David, who married a daughter of Judge William S. Pryor, is a farmer of Henry County; and Josephine, who resides with her uncle, J. R. Torbitt, in Louisville.

'OOPER, JOHN C., Lawyer, was born October 26, 1833, in Lincoln County, Kentucky, and is the son of George B. and Susan H. Cooper, both Virginians by birth; his mother being daughter of Richard Lee, a member of the celebrated family of that name in Virginia, who was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and became one of the early settlers of Lincoln County. His father was a far- mer by occupation ; first settled in Pulaski County, which he represented for several years in the Legislature; and subsequently removed to Lincoln County, where he died, in 1861. John C. Cooper was educated at Centre College, Danville ; in 1859, began teaching school, and reading law at his leisure; in the following year, he attended lectures in the law department of Transylvania University, and was admitted to the bar; and at once entered upon the practice of his profession, at Stanford, where he has established a valuable practice, and the

reputation of an able and successful lawyer. In 1860, he was Presidential Elector, on the Bell and Everett ticket ; in 1861, was elected to represent his county in the Legislature, and served two years; and, in 1862, was elected County Attorney for Lincoln County, and held the office four years. During the civil war, he was an unconditional Union man, and, as such, was elected to the Legislature. He is now identified with the Demo- cratic party. He is a member of the Methodist Church, and an energetic, useful citizen. Mr. Cooper was mar- ried, November 12, 1861, to Miss Pauline Karr, a native of Madison County, and daughter of Thomas M. Karr, a farmer of that county.

RATT, GEN. JOHN TAYLOR, was born July I, 1797, in Scott County, Kentucky. His grand- father was a native of Wales; settled in the Abbeville District, in South Carolina; there his wife was killed by the Indians. He died, leav- ing two sons, Joseph and William, the latter being the father of the subject of this sketch. His ma- ternal grandfather, a German by birth, was the associate, in the Baptist ministry, of such men as Ambrose Dud- ley, Father Taylor, and Father Hickman. William Pratt, above mentioned, was married in Scott County, Kentucky, to Susan Reding, a lady born in Virginia, but from childhood a resident of Kentucky ; by her he had ten children, of whom John Taylor Pratt was the eldest. The early education of this son was in the common-schools of Scott County ; when seventeen years old, in 1814, he entered West Point, as a cadet, grad- uating in 1818, with the first class graduated from that military school, which, although in existence since 1802, had not prior to this date arranged for graduating the cadets. He became a lieutenant in the United States regular army, from which service he resigned in 1819. Of his West Point classmates, forty-two in number, one only, Henry P. Biles, of Owen County, Kentucky, now survives. In 1813, he enlisted in Col. R. M. Johnson's regiment of cavalry, and was present at the battle of the Thames. After leaving the army, he began farm- ing, which he pursued until the year 1848, when he purchased the premises on which his hotel now stands, at Georgetown, and has for the past thirty years been its landlord. His acquaintance has been very extensive, and his popularity not less limited. In 1837, he was elected, by the Democrats, to the lower branch of the Legislature, where he also filled two ensuing terms; in 1841, was elected to the Senate, in which body he served four years, declining re-election. In 1847, was again elected to the House. In 1850, at the Constitutional Con- vention, he opposed the alteration of the Constitution, and refused to allow the use of his name as a candidate for

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office. Since this time he has never held political office. From 1831 to 1838, he was postmaster at a town in Scott County. When the Mexican War broke out, he made application to Governor Owsley for the Colonelcy of the Fourth Kentucky Regiment, which had been raised for service in that campaign. For political reasons the commission was refused, and issued to Hon. M. V. Thompson, formerly Lieutenant-Governor of the State. He held the rank of Major-General in the Kentucky State Militia. In politics, he had been prominent, and was always an active and faithful Democrat. He has been for many years a member of the Christian Church. On the 20th of August, 1818, he was married, in New York City, to Eliza C., daughter of Zebina Kinsley, of West Point, New York. They have no children. General Pratt has seen Scott County change from a wil- derness to the populous abode of the present day. In this community, he has lived many long years, active and earnest ; called to many responsible positions, whose duties he has ever performed well and faithfully.

ELL, COL. A JOHN, Iron Manufacturer and Proprietor of the Ashland Hotel, son of Carter and Sarah (Mefford) Bell, was born July 30,

1824, in Fleming County, Kentucky. His father was of Scotch descent; was a farmer and brick-mason, an officer in the old State militia, and lived and died in Mason County. The Meffords were of German origin, and were among the early emi- grants to Maryland; his branch finally settled in Ken- tucky. The subject of this sketch was raised on a farm in Mason County, and received a limited education, which he used every means to make better through a variable and busy life. At the age of seventeen; he left home, and went, on a flat-boat loaded with plows, from Maysville to New Orleans, and from there made a trip to Galveston. In 1844, he returned to Ohio, and, in the Winter, taught a school in Brown County. In 1846, he became store-keeper at Raccoon Furnace, Greenup County, Kentucky, and was afterwards clerk and assist- ant manager until 1849. In that year he built Ashland Furnace, on the Cumberland, and was afterwards its manager until 1851, when he returned, and was, for a time, master of Big Sandy Furnace. In 1852, he bought an interest in Pennsylvania Furnace, and acted as its superintendent for a year. He then finished and ran Howard Furnace, in Ohio, for a while; but, in 1854, he returned to Greenup Furnace, in Greenup County, where he remained until 1860, as its general supcrin- tendent. In that year he went to Alabama, and rebuilt Round Mountain Iron Works, belonging to Judge Sam- uel Marshall. In 1862, these works were burned by the Federal troops; and at this time he was conscripted by

the rebels, and made manager of the Etowah Confeder- ate Iron Works, in Alabama. These were the most ex- tensive works in the South, and consisted of three blast furnaces, a nail mill, rolling mill, machine shop, foundry, flouring mill, and saw-mill, and were the main source of supplies to the rebel army. The Confederate Government gave him a considerable interest in these works, and made him a colonel in the army, so giving him the semblance of authority for gathering provisions from the surrounding country. In 1864, Sherman's cav- alry came upon these works and completely burned and demolished them; a vast amount of the valuable stock belonging to this establishment he had succeeded in conveying to Macon, when he saw the sure disaster that approached ; this he eventually turned into bushels of scrip, and a very considerable amount of that into gold and silver, at the rate of from three to twenty dollars, or more, to one of coin. While engaged in this busi- ness, the last rebel conscription came, and he, with most others, was gathered in. But, chiefly through bribery and the friendship of rebel officers, some of whom were Union men, like himself, he escaped serving in the army. He went up to Richmond, and proposed to the officer of ordnance, Colonel Gorgus, that he would suffer himself to be shot, rather than serve in the army as a soldier; and that he preferred to go to Texas, and take charge of the iron works there, and equip Kirby Smith's army, as he had done the armies of the East. This was at once accepted, his commission and passes made out, and his salary fixed at ten thousand dollars a year, to be paid in paper ne- gotiable anywhere, as he told Gorgus their scrip was worthless. While at Richmond, he visited Petersburg, and saw Gen. Grant blow up the mines there, and re- ceived, from Col. Gorgus, the rebel plan for destroying the Northern cities. He then made his way, with his wife and daughter, towards the Mississippi, his real ob- jective point, where, after some wonderful adventures, they finally were taken up by the United States gun-boat "Curlew," and conveyed to Cairo. From thence, by order of President Lincoln, he went to Columbus, Ohio, and gave Gen. Heintzelman the details of the rebel plans for destroying the Northern cities. He then re- turned to Greenup County, Kentucky. Shortly after- wards, he went to Macon, Illinois, and purchased a hotel, which was soon after burned, without much loss to him; he then bought the lease and furniture of Hotel Bates, in Indianapolis, Indiana, and, after running that house very successfully for a year or so, sold it at an advance of fourteen thousand dollars. He was now able to pay off entirely an anti-war debt of seventy thousand, and, in 1869, took charge of the Ashland Hotel, at Ashland, on the Ohio River, which he has since carried on successfully. Before the war, Col. Bell was a Whig in politics, and, during the war, was a Union

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man. In 1873, he was the Republican candidate for Congress from his district, but withdrew in favor of Mr. John Means, who was beaten by the Hon. John B. Clarke. He is a man of great native ability ; of peculiar business adroitness and energy; great personal daring, and an adventurousness which would always bring him to the surface in social or political turmoils; an invincible will, and, although habitually deferential and unob- trusive, in any great emergency he would doubtlessly trample on men as he would on their ideas; and yet his generous, expansive, rugged nature could not stoop to be low or dishonest; a man whose body is far above the average among .men, and who presents, mentally and physically, a combination of striking and admirable traits. In 1846, Col. Bell was married to Miss Clara G. Greene, daughter of Dr. Henry E. Greene, of Greenup County, Kentucky, a lady of superior excellence, who has been an almost infinite source of strength by his side, through every step of life. They have one child, Mary Bell, who shared their dangerous but romantic life, during the war, in the South, and who is now the wife of Dr. F. W. Tiernan, a leading physician of Ash- land, Kentucky.

HORNTON, HON. DAVID, Banker and Man- ufacturer, was born January 4, 1796, in Milford, Delaware. His father, James Thornton, came to Kentucky about 1808, and, after remaining in Louisville for a time, finally settled at Ver- sailles, in Woodford County. David Thornton received a good English education, and, at an early day, was apprenticed to a saddler; and, after reaching the age of twenty-one, he engaged in business for himself, and was remarkably successful. Industry, thrift, and sobriety, added to a clear and well-balanced mind, and a manly and generous disposition, were qualities which fitted him for the battle of life, and sustained him through a long career of usefulness and honor. After fourteen years in his trade, he devoted himself to mer- chandising, and subsequently to the manufacture of hemp. In 1835, he was elected a Director of the Bank of Kentucky, at Frankfort ; and, there being no bank in Versailles, the banking business of the county was largely transacted through him, in which he acquired great reputation for his prudence and integrity. In 1844, he was elected, by a large majority, to represent his county in the Legislature. In that position he gave universal satisfaction, and, in 1846, was elected from his district to the State Senate. He co-operated with the Whig party during its existence, and was a staunch sup- porter of its champion, Mr. Clay. During the war, he was known as a firm though conservative Union man, and afterwards, as did a majority of the Union men of the State, preferred the Democratic to the Republican

party. In 1852, he was chosen President of the Ver- sailles branch of the Commercial Bank of Kentucky, lo- cated there in that year, and was annually re-elected until the closing of the bank, and was then elected President of the Commercial National Bank of Versailles, holding the position up to the time of his death. As a banker, he applied the same conservative principles which had given him success in other affairs, and the business of the institutions over which he presided was uniformly profitable. In 1820, he became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and continued, through- out his life, as one of its most earnest and faithful work- ers. He was distinguished for his great liberality to re- ligious and charitable enterprises, and for his unselfish participation in every thing looking to the welfare of the community. Before the late civil war, he was pos- sessed of a considerable fortune; but, during this period, reverses occurred which greatly reduced his property. Yet he never complained, and his life throughout dem- onstrated that he was no seeker of wealth for its own sake. He discharged all the duties and obligations of life, unaffected by the smiles or frowns of fortune, and left an untarnished name, a legacy to his family. He died, February 6, 1873, full of years and honors. Mr. Thornton was married, in 1823, to Miss Charlotte Railey, and much that was good in his life was doubt- lessly owing to her many virtues and admirable qualities. The venerable widow still resides in the old family resi- dence, built about the time of their marriage; and six children-three sons and three daughters-the result of this marriage, still survive.

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The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 62

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