The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 67

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 67

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for the good he might do mankind. Professor Todd has been three times married; first, to Eliza Dickinson, of Virginia, November 29, 1836, and from this marriage has four living children. January 20, 1862, he was mar- ried to Mrs. Kate Carr, of Sumner County, Tennessee, and from this marriage has one child now living. No- vember 12, 1868, he married Miss Mattie T. Garth. They have one child. Professor Todd was not only for- tunate in all his marriages, with beautiful and noble women, but succeeded in rearing a family not only a source of pride to himself, but of honor and worth to the world.

cDOWELL, LUCIEN, M. D., son of James E. and Lucretia Caroline (Feemster) McDowell, was born May 8, 1830, at Flemingsburg, Ken-' tucky. His father, Dr. James E. McDowell, was a native of Fayette County ; and, for thirty years, practiced medicine at Flemingsburg. He died in 1869. His grandfather, James McDowell, was a private in the army of the Revolution, and a major in the war of 1812; of Scotch-Irish extraction ; a Virginian by birth; and settled in Kentucky in 1780. His mother, Lucretia C. Feemster, was a native of Ab- beville District, South Carolina, and came with her parents, to Montgomery County, Kentucky, about 1816. The subject of this sketch worked on the farm some, but chiefly attended school until his sixteenth year, when he began school-teaching. For several years he was so en- gaged, but using his leisure hours in preparing for the medical profession, under his father. He attended lec- tures in the medical department of the University of Louisville, and graduated in 1849. He was then, for a while, associated with his father, but, in 1850, he went to Nicholasville. In September of 1851, he was mar- ried to Eveline B. Hord, daughter of Abner Hord, a farmer of Mason County. He then located in the southern part of Mason County. In 1856, he removed to Chillicothe, Livingston County, Missouri, and car- ried on the drug business until the commencement of the war, when he became Captain of Company C of the Second Regiment, Clark's Division, State Guards. At the expiration of the six months, he became Sur- geon of Artillery in the First Brigade, Missouri Confed- erate Troops. After the siege of Vicksburg, he was transferred to Forrest's Cavalry Corps, and made Sur- geon-in-Chief to Chalmer's Division, until 1864. His health being now impaired, he took charge of Tusca- loosa Hospital, and afterwards of the hospital at Gren- ada, Mississippi. He was wounded by a bullet in the head, at the battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas; and also by a bullet in the right leg, during the siege of Vicks- burg; he also participated in the battles of Wilson's Creek, Iuka, Corinth, and other minor engagements.

Dr. McDowell's first vote was cast for Gen. Winfield Scott, and his last, before the war, for Bell and Everett. He was, originally, a member of the Whig party, but is now a Democrat.

ALBOTT, ALBERT GALLATIN, Agriculturist and Politician, was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, April 4, 1808. His parents were natives of Virginia, and came to Kentucky at a very early date. The family is of English- Scotch descent. He acquired a classical edu- cation at Forrest Hill Academy, Jessamine County, with a view to adopting the legal profession, which, how- ever, he never pursued. He early embarked in commer- cial' and agricultural pursuits, dealing largely, also, in lands in Jessamine and Fayette Counties, with marked success. In 1846, he moved to Boyle County, and turned his attention to politics, and, in 1849, was elected as delegate to the Constitutional Convention of that year. In the following year, he was sent to the Legis- lature, without opposition, and, in 1855, was elected to Congress. At the expiration of his term, he was again elected ; and, in 1869, was made United States Senator for four years, the expiration of which closed his polit- ical career. His political record is an enviable one, and above reproach. He is a member of the Christian Church, and as such takes an active part in advancing its interests. In 1831, he was married to Mrs. Elizabeth Caldwell, of Jessamine County, and, in 1839, to Mrs. Maria E. Talbott (née Owsley), youngest daughter of Gov. William Owsley, of Kentucky, and is the father of four children.

LARK, GOV. JAMES, Lawyer, son of Robert and Susan Clark, was born, in 1779, in Bedford County, Virginia. His father came to Kentucky at an early day, and settled near the Kentucky river, in Clarke County. Gov. Clark was edu- cated under private tutors, was sent to Virginia, and studied law with his brother, Christian Clark; and, in 1797, entered on the practice of his profession, at Winchester, Kentucky. He soon acquired a fine pro- fessional reputation, and obtained an extensive practice. He was several times elected to the State Legislature, and took an influential position in that body. From 1810 to 1812, he was a Judge of the Court of Appeals ; served in Congress from 1813 to 1816; in 1817, was appointed Judge of the Circuit Court, filling the office with ability until his resignation, in 1824. In 1823, he rendered his opinion declaring the " Relief Laws" unconstitutional; the decision, although creating great excitement, established him more firmly in the

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estimation of his fellow-citizens. In 1825, he was elected to Congress, and continued to represent his district until 1831; in 1832, was elected to the State Senate, and became speaker in the place of Mr. Morehead, who had become Governor on the death of Gov. Breathitt; and, at the regular election of 1836, was elected Gov- ernor of the State, and died at Frankfort, September 27, 1839. Gov. Clark was a man of fine mental traits, and great force of character; possessed a fine person, was easy and fascinating in manners, and was univer- sally admired, his death being widely felt and greatly deplored.

EVIER, COL. ROBERT SCOTT, Lawyer, was born at Painted Post, Steuben County, New York, on the 28th of April, 1834. His father, Benjamin W. Bevier, was a farmer of that place, and about one year afterwards moved to Michi- gan, and then to Kentucky. The family, whose name originally was De la Baviere, came from · France, at the time of the " Massacre of St. Bartholo- mew's Day," which event compelled them to seek refuge in Holland, where they remained about one hundred years, and until they emigrated to this country with the New York Patroon Van Rensselaer. After receiving a liberal education, he commenced the study of law, under the direction of John Todd, Esq., of Russellville, a distinguished lawyer of Logan County, and continued it at the law school at Lebanon, Ten- nessee. On the completion of his studies, and his admission to the bar in 1852, he went to Bolivar, Polk County, Missouri, and commenced the practice of his profession. In the Winter of 1855, he went to Kansas as prosecuting attorney, and, while there, became engaged in the "Wakarusa War,"and in the various conflicts with John Brown and his followers. In 1856, he located at Keokuk, Iowa, but in con- sequence of the strong Republican tendencies of that vicinity, he soon removed to Bloomington, Macon County, Missouri, where he continued to reside until . the breaking out of the late civil war, having met with good success in his profession. During that time, he was selected as local attorney for the Hannibal and St. Joseph and the North Missouri Railroads ; County School Commissioner ; Douglas Elector for his district, in 1859; and was appointed by Gov. Jack- son division inspector, with the rank of colonel. He was unanimously elected to the command of the regiment from Macon County, and, joining Gen. Ster- ling Price, was soon engaged in the struggle, par- ticipating in the battles of Drywood, Elkhorn, Far- mington, Iuka, Corinth, Grand Gulf, Port Gibson, Champion Hills, Big Black, and through the sieges of Lexington, Vicksburg, and Richmond. His regi-

ment becoming greatly reduced in numbers, by hard service and casualties, he was ordered to Richmond as General Military Agent for the State of Missouri, con- tinuing there during the remainder of the war, with the exception of the time consumed in a mission of carry- ing foreign dispatches to Cuba, in the accomplishment of which he was obliged to run the famous blockade. At the termination of the war, he returned to his old home, at Russellville, Kentucky, being prevented, by reason of political disabilities, at that time existing, from returning to Missouri. He again resumed the practice of law, and was elected Vice-President and General Agent of the Owensboro and Russellville Rail- road. He possesses fine literary qualities, and contrib- utes to various magazines. He has also becn selected as historian for the First and Second Missouri Brigade. "From Wakarusa to Appomattox," a production of his pen, has been published in serial form, in " Ware's Valley Monthly," preparatory to being issued in book form, in connection with his "History of Gen. Price's Army." He was a Greeley Elector, in 1872; was a candidate for nomination for Congress, in 1874, but failed to receive it; and is now devoting his time to his profession, hav- ing taken a high rank as a criminal and jury lawyer.

OBBS, EDWARD D., Engineer, Railroad President, and Agriculturist, was born in 1810, in Jefferson County, Kentucky. He was edu- cated mainly in Louisville, his family having removed to that city in 1820; from 1830 to 1835, was engaged as city engineer; was the founder of the Louisville Savings Institution; estab- lished the first real estate agency in that city ; in 1840, removed to his farm, near Anchorage ; was elected to the Legislature, in 1843, and was twice re-elected; was elected to the State Senate without opposition, in 1847; resigned before the expiration of his term ; was President of the Louisville and Frankfort Railroad Company, from 1855 to 1867, and administered the affairs of that road with great ability, being one of the most successful railroad men of Kentucky. In 1867, he retired to his farm, and has since devoted his attention mainly to agri- cultural pursuits, giving much of his time to horticul- ture and fruit-growing ; and, although an invalid for a great part of his life, against he was thirty years of age, he had accumulated a considerable fortune. Religiously, he is associated with the Methodist Episcopal Church ; and has been noted for his integrity of character, his sound judgment, and business skill, and is universally beloved and esteemed as one of the most energetic, and valuable men in his part of Kentucky. Mr. Hobbs was married, December 4, 1832, to Miss Henning, daughter of Samuel Henning, the brother of James W. Henning,

Eng ª & Ped by Homer Ite & Co. N. Y.

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of Louisville. In 1839, he was married to Miss Craig, daughter of Dr. John D. Craig, of Georgetown, Ken- tucky, and from this marriage has five living children.

NDERSON, HON. LUCIEN, was born in June, 1824, at Mayfield, Graves County, Kentucky. He received a good English education ; became a lawyer; served for one or two terms in the Kentucky Legislature; in 1863, was elected a Representative to the Thirty-eighth Congress, serving as a member of the Committee on the District of Columbia; during the Fall of 1863, was taken pris- oner by some "Confederates," and retained in custody until just before the meeting of Congress, when he was exchanged. He was Presidential Elector, in 1853, and was a delegate to the Baltimore Convention, in 1864, and has been, throughout his life, one of the first men of his part of the State.

GINTON, CHARLES, Lawyer, was born Sep- tember 23, 1814, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father, William Eginton, was a native of Ire- land, and followed mercantile pursuits. Charles Eginton received a good education in his native city, and, in 1833, came to Kentucky; and, after clerking for a year or two in a store at Winchester, entered the office of Judge Simpson, as a student of law, and, before reaching his twenty-first year, was licensed to practice, remaining actively and successfully engaged in his profession in that place until 1870, when he located in Covington. While at Winchester, he practiced in the Court of Appeals; was also admitted to the sessions of the Supreme Court at Washington City, his business ex- tending over Clarke and the adjoining counties. In poli- tics, he was originally a Whig; and, on the breaking out of the civil war, took a decided stand in favor of the Union; in 1864, was on the Republican ticket for Presidential Elector; in 1866, was Republican candidate for Congress in the Lexington district; in 1868, was delegate, from the State at large, to the National Repub- lican Convention, at Chicago; in 1870, was the Republi- can Electoral candidate, canvassing the State for Grant and Wilson ; in 1872, was the Republican candidate for Congress in the Covington district; but, since locating in that place, has devoted his attention almost exclu- sively to the duties of his profession. He has been one of the prominent Masons of the State, holding the most honorable positions in that fraternity ; he has, also, been one of the most active workers in the temperance movc- ments of the day, and was for three years editor of the "New Era," a temperance organ published in Louis-

ville. He has been a hard, persevering worker, and a diligent student; is a speaker of great force; is clear and systematic in the presentation of his causes, and com- mands great respect and strength in the court; and is one of the most active, successful, and able lawyers of Northern Kentucky. Mr. Eginton was married, in 1838, to Sarah L. Taylor, daughter of Reuben T. Taylor, of Fayette County, Kentucky. They have one living child, Thomas Eginton, a prominent lawyer of Winchester, Kentucky.

EANS, JOHN, of Ashland, Iron Manufacturer, and President of the Lexington and Big Sandy Railroad, Eastern Division, was born September 21, 1829, at West Union, Adams County, Ohio. His parents were Thomas W. and Sarah (Elli- son) Means; the former a native of South Caro- lina, and the latter of Ohio, and daughter of John Elli- son, one of the early settlers and valuable men of Adams County, in that State. His father is now the oldest, most extensive, wealthy, and influential iron manufac- turer in the famous Hanging Rock iron and coal region of the Ohio. (For many facts concerning him and the Means family, see sketch of Thomas W. Means.) His grand- father, Col. John Means, was a colonel in the war of 1812, and four of whose brothers actively participated throughout the great struggle for American independ- ence ; was a large slave-holder and prominent man in South Carolina; became an ardent emancipationist ; moved to Ohio in 1819, freed his slaves, and became one of the leading iron and business men of South-eastern Ohio. John Means spent the greater part of his boy- hood at school; on account of ill health, left Marietta College without graduating, in 1848; in the following year, took a special course of business instruction, in an- other institution, and commenced life as store-keeper at Ohio Furnace, then owned by his father and David Sin- ton, of Cincinnati. He afterwards became book-keeper at that furnace ; and, in 1851, went to Buena Vista Fur- nace, in Boyd County, Kentucky, and soon after became its manager, holding the position until 1855. In that year he located at Catlettsburg, and became the finan- cial manager and supply agent for the furnace, acting in that capacity until the commencement of the civil war, in 1861, caused the fires to go out in these great fur- naces. In 1857, he removed. to Ashland, Kentucky, where he has since resided. He was one of the origi- nators, in 1856, of the Cincinnati and Big Sandy Packet Company, made up chiefly of large freighters in the iron region, but which was not organized into a regular corporation until 1866; since which he has been one of the directors, and has always been one of its stockholders. This company first went into operation with one boat, the "Scioto," but now embraces all boats running from

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Pomeroy, Huntington, Portsmouth, Maysville, etc., to Cincinnati; is still under the original management ; still has connected with it all the original stockholders now living; and is one of the richest corporations of its kind in the country. In the Spring of 1856, he became a Director in the Kentucky Iron, Coal, and Manufactur- ing Company, organized for the purpose of building the city of Ashland, and establishing manufactories and rail- roads. He continued to be one of its directors, and, since 1865, has been its president. He was one of the organizers of the Lexington and Big Sandy Railroad Company, Eastern Division; has since been one of its directors and stockholders; in 1869, became its vice- president ; in the following year was elected president, and still holds that position. This is the most influen- tial and wealthy corporation in the Ashland section. To this company belongs the Ashland Furnace, one of the largest and most complete in the United States ; uses bituminous coal from the veins south of Ashland, and is now making over a thousand tons of iron monthly. This enterprise was originated and planned by him, and the entire structure was built under his supervision. The honor of firing this great furnace, first, was enjoyed by two of his daughters, August 30, 1869. He was one of the organizers of the Ashland Coal Com- pany; also, in 1864, of the Hanging Rock Iron and Coal Company, now owning Pine Grove, Union, and Ohio Furnaces, and the coal mining interests of Hang- ing Rock, Ohio. He is one of the Directors of the Norton Iron Works, and was treasurer for the company while building the works, in 1872. In 1873, he was one of the organizers of the Lowmoor Iron Company, in West Virginia. This company own four or five miles square of fine ore lands in that State, designing ulti- mately to erect large works for the manufacture of iron in the best possible methods and without the admixture of foreign ores. He is also president of this company. He has a large interest in the forty or fifty thousand acres of mineral and other lands belonging to these vari- ous companies ; and has generally been concerned in the adventures of his father, being also joined by him in his own enterprises. In 1856, he was one of the originators of the Bank of Ashland; was its cashier from January, 1866, to July, 1869, and, after resigning that position, remained in its directory until the winding up of its affairs, in 1872. In that year, the Ashland National Bank was organized, with the old directory and a few additional members, he taking the position of its vice-president. In 1870, he was interested in laying out the Amanda Furnace addition to Iron- ton; in that year he bought the ground and laid out the Ashland Cemetery, and is now one of the trustees in its management ; in 1860, was elected a trustee of the town of Ashland ; has since been contin- ually re-elected to the same position ; is now a member

of the City Council, or government of Ashland, and has been largely connected with cvery movement of advan- tage to the town and community since its organization. During the war, he was commissioned, by the Military Board of the State, to forward and pass over public ways all soldiers, recruits, and war equipage in his part of the State; and, in 1872, was appointed by Governor Leslie as one of the five Commissioners from Kentucky, to confer with five Commissioners from seven other States, for memorializing Congress as to the improvement of the Ohio river. He owns the Ashland Academy property, and is one of the most liberal patrons of edu- cation, and an earnest supporter of the common-school system of the country. Religiously, he is a Presbyte- rian. In politics, he is a Republican, and during the civil war was an ardent supporter of the National Gov- ernment. In 1874, he was the Republican candidate for Congress, for the Tenth District, and, although he would not exhibit himself before the people as a candidate, he received a majority of the votes cast in his own county. He was one of the first to uncover the mineral wealth of Eastern Kentucky ; was largely instrumental in bring- ing in capital and skill, and establishing various indus- tries; and has been an almost inexhaustible source of strength in the development and improvement of that section of the State. He has probably never undertaken any cause or work that he did not bring to a success- ful issue; and is one of those men who know no such thing as failure. He is in the prime of life, has fine so- cial and personal qualities, is absolutely unpretending in manners, of undoubted integrity, clear judgment, excep- tional business and executive ability ; and, while living greatly for the benefit of others, has accumulated a for- tune for himself, and has certainly been one of the most useful men Eastern Kentucky has ever had. Probably to himself and associates, more than to any other men, belongs the credit of developing the mineral wealth, and establishing the trade and prosperity, of a large part of the Ohio Valley. Mr. Means was married, Octo- ber 25, 1854, to Mrs. Harriet E. Perkins, youngest daughter of Dr. Samuel Prescott Hildreth, of Marietta, Ohio, a member of the Legislature, Assistant State Ge- ologist, and one of the most learned and prominent men of his profession in that State.

MITH, HON. JOHN SPEED, Lawyer and Statesman, was born July 31, 1792, in Jessamine County, Kentucky. He studied law, and set- tled in Richmond, Kentucky, when its bar was one of the ablest in the country. He rose to eminence in his profession; represented Madison County in the Lower House of the Kentucky Legisla- ture, being elected first in 1819; was subsequently

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elected to the same body in 1827, re-elected in 1830, also, in 1839, 1841, and 1845; in 1827, being Speaker of the House; in 1846, he was elected to the State Sen- ate, serving until 1850; in 1821, was elected to Con- gress, serving one term; was appointed United States Attorney for the District of Kentucky, by President Jackson; was sent on a mission to South America, by President J. Q. Adams; in 1839, he was sent, by the Legislature of Kentucky, as one of the Commissioners to the Ohio Legislature, to influence that body to pass some laws to prevent citizens of Ohio from assisting negroes in escaping from their masters, and to provide a more efficient method for recapturing fugitive slaves from Kentucky; handsomely performed his mission ; was several years Superintendent of Public Works in Ken- tucky; and, in the campaign of 1813, served with dis- tinction as aid-de-camp to Gen. Harrison. Mr. Smith was one of the most accomplished and able lawyers of his day, and one of the most enterprising, popular, dis- tinguished, and valuable men of Kentucky. He died June 6, 1854, in Madison County, Kentucky.

OOK, ARCHIE BROWN, A. M., M. D., Phy- sician and Surgeon, was born September 23, 1828, in Noblestown, Alleghany County, Penn- sylvania. His father, John Cook, was a farmer of that county, and relative of Rev. Dr. Cook, a distinguished Presbyterian minister of Ire-

land. He began school in his native county ; spent some time at Wheeling, Virginia, in the academy of Rev. William Wallace; was afterwards under the tu- telage of Rev. David Wallace, now President of Mon- mouth College, Illinois; entered Jefferson College, at Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1844, and graduated, as one of the orators of his class, in 1848. In 1851, his Alma Mater conferred upon him the degree of A. M. He soon after came to Jefferson County, Kentucky, and, after spending a short time in teaching, in 1849 began the study of medicine, under Dr. E. D. Foree; com- pleted his preparatory studies under Dr. J. A. Glenn, of Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania; attended lectures, in the Winter of 1851, at the College of Physicians and Sur- geons, New York City; graduated, in the Spring of 1853, in the Kentucky School of Medicine, at Louisville; and, in the Fall of that year, entered upon the practice of his profession in New Castle, Henry County, where he soon acquired a fine practice. He soon after ac- cepted the Professorship of Anatomy and Demonstrator of Anatomy in the Kentucky School of Medicine; held the position till 1856; was then elected Demonstrator of Anatomy in the medical department of the University of Louisville, holding the position several years. Dur- ing this time, he taught private classes in various ined-

ical branches, and gave special lectures in surgery and surgical anatomy, being also successful in building up a large and lucrative practice in Louisville. In 1863, he was elected Professor of Surgery in the Kentucky School of Medicine; held the position till the Fall of 1866, when, the two medical faculties uniting, he took the Chair of Surgical Diseases of the Genito- urinary Organs and Rectum, in the University of Lou- isville. In 1867, he was again elected to the Chair of Principles and Practice of Surgery, in the Kentucky School of Medicine, and is now President of the Fac- ulty; in 1875, was elected to the same chair in the Louisville Medical College, filling both positions at the present time. He has contributed a number of articles to the medical journals. In 1859, he published a paper in the "Semi-monthly Medical News," on the "Fixed Apparatus; or, Immediate Dressing in Fractures of the Femur," since using it with great success, securing bony union in the intra-capsular fractures of old per- sons, without deformity, and very little shortening of the limb. In January, 1850, he published in the "Rich- mond and Louisville Medical Journal," an article on joined twins, illustrated with plates, from a dissection by his hand, of a case of that kind of lapsus nature; and another article, in the " Medical and Surgical Reporter," on an operation for adhesion of the soft palate and uvula to the wall of the pharynx, in which a new method of dressing with lead plates was recommended, to prevent adhesion. He has successfully performed several operations in ovariotomy, hernia, and lithotomy; is conservative in his practice and remarkably cautious, but is intrepid in operation when the case actually de- mands it. In 1860, he was appointed surgeon, with the rank of major, on Gen. Buckner's staff, in the Kentucky State Guards; for ten years, was physician to the Epis- copal Orphan Asylum; for several years, was connected with dispensaries for the benefit of the poor, in the or- ganization and management of which he took an active part ; was fifteen years one of the surgeons in the Louis- ville City Hospital; was twice elected member of the Board of Health, serving on important committees; in 1870, was, by unanimous vote of the City Council, elected member of the Board of Commissioners of Charity, and was Chairman of the Hospital Committee; in 1855, became a member of the American Medical Association ; was a member of the State Medical Society ; of the College of Physicians and Surgeons; and, the Medico-chirurgical Society of Louisville. He is a man of generous sympathies, never withholds his aid from the poor; is attractive in manners, takes a lively interest in all matters of importance looking to the public good, and especially in the line of his profession; and is one of the most popular, able, and successful physicians and surgeons in Louisville. Dr. Cook was married, February 21, 1872, to Mrs. Fannie M. Roberts, of Louisville.

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The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 67

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