The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 70

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 70

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

equals in the West. His son, John M. Phillips, is now associate Agent of the Eastern Book Concern of the Methodist Church in New York.

EYWOOD, REV. JOHN HEALY, Clergyman, was born March 30, 1818, at Worcester, Mas- sachusetts. He was the son of Levi Heywood, a lawyer of fine standing in that city. He at- tended the common-schools of his native city until his twelfth year, when he was prepared for college by George Folsom, an able teacher of Worcester. He entered Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1832, and graduated in 1834. After teaching school in Boston for a year, in 1837, he entered the School of Divinity at Harvard College, graduating in 1840. Just after his graduation, he was called to the pastorship of the First Unitarian Society of Louisville, Kentucky, of which congregation Rev. James Freeman Clark had been pastor during the seven years just pre- vious. He entered upon its duties with an earnestness which soon won the respect and confidence of his peo- ple. His first labors commenced at the church on the cor- ner of Fifth and Walnut, which was vacated by the con- gregation in July, 1870; they then dedicated and occupied the present edifice, January 15, 1871, which was de- stroyed by fire in December of the same year, and re- built and reopened December 15, 1872. He has been in charge of the pastorate of this society now nearly forty years, and is the oldest-located minister in the city of Louisville. He was largely instrumental in building up the educational interests of Louisville. In the early history of the public-school system of that city, his time and thoughts were largely devoted to its promotion. For many years, a prominent member of the Board of Education, he was, for fourteen years, its presi- dent, and to his wise counsels, active supervision, and efficient management, is attributable that success which has made the public-schools a source of pride to the city. He was associated with the United States Sanitary Commission during the war. His efforts largely aided in forming, in 1864, the "Old Ladies' Home," whose benefits are well known in the community. He was for two years and more an assistant in the editorial management of the "Louisville Ex- aminer." He has been a frequent contributor to the " Christian Register;" he prepared the Report on Intem- perance for the National Conference of Unitarian and other Christian Churches, held at Saratoga, New York, in September, 1874; also an article on the same subject for the "Unitarian Review," which was published, called " Unitarian Views Vindicated." He was first married, in 1848, but in the following year his wife died ; was married, in 1853, to Margaret R., daughter of

402.

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.

the late John Cochrane, of Louisville, and has one daughter. Mr. Heywood is a gentleman whose ener- getic labors, public and ministerial, have made him hosts of friends, and no enemies. However differing in religious views, his best friends are among the clergy of other denominations. When he came to Louisville, severe attack and criticism werc being made upon the Unita- rian doctrines, but he simply said, "I will live it down;" and all will admit that his long and active life has been thoroughly consistent with the broad Christian doctrine which he has cver preached. He is a careful student, sound thinker, and wise teacher. His sermons have always been marked rather by their enforcement of the dutics and privileges of practical piety, than by abstruse theorizing upon theological mysteries. He has always been among the foremost to propose and organize works of public benevolence and usefulness, and his efforts have always been in favor of divesting such work of any thing like sectarian character, and of giving to it the united support of all sects and classes. The apprecia- tion in which he is held by the community was shown some ten years ago, when it was rumored that he was about to remove from the city, by the prompt and em- phatic protest of its best citizens, that Louisville could not afford to lose so good a man.

COLLINS, LEWIS, an Historian of Kentucky, was born in Fayette County, Kentucky, De- cember 25, 1797, and died (away from home) at Lexington, eight miles from the spot of his birth, January 29, 1870, aged seventy-two. He was the third son of Richard Collins, a soldier of the Virginian army of the Revolutionary War. Thrown upon his own resources, by being left an orphan at thirteen, he began practical life as a printer ; at seventeen was assistant editor, and at twenty associ- ate publisher, of the " Union," at Washington, Mason County, Kentucky; November 1, 1820, before he was twenty-three, he removed to Maysville; was editor and proprietor of the "Maysville Eagle," and so continued for twenty-five years. The paper is still published (1877), the second oldest in Kentucky, and the third oldest in the West. He was a bookseller for over twenty years, School Commissioner of Mason County for nearly twenty years, and the first Judge of the Mason County Court, 1851-54. The great work of his life was his " History of Kentucky," five hundred and sixty pages, eight volumes, published in 1847, which was the standard history of the State until 1874, when it was revised, enlarged fourfold, and republished, by his son, Richard H. Collins. A resolution of the Ken- tucky Legislature, passed a few months after his death, "expressed its appreciation of Judge Collins's great purity

of character, enlarged public spirit, and valued services ; of his association, for a half century, with the press of the State, which he adorned with his patriotism, his elevated morals, and his enlightened judgment; and of his authorship of a "History of Kentucky," which evidenced extended research, and was an invaluable con- tribution to the literature and historical knowledge of the State."

cHENRY, REV. BARNABAS, Clergyman, was born December 6, 1767, in North Carolina, but was raised and educated in Virginia; at an carly age entered the Methodist Church, and began to preach, at the age of nineteen, in North Carolina; in 1788, he preached on the Lexington (Kentucky) Circuit; in the following year, was on the Danville Circuit; during the next three years, traveled on the Madison, Cumberland, and Salt river charges; engaged in teaching for several years at Frankfort, Danville, and Richmond; subsequently re- moved to his farm, near Springfield ; was afterwards en- gaged in the Salt river district ; in 1821, had charge of Bardstown and Springfield Station ; was superannuated in 1822; occupied a high place in the ministry of his Church; was exceedingly popular over the country ; was a man of many admirable and attractive qualities ; and was one of the most useful and valuable pioneer preachers of Kentucky ; he died of cholera, June 15, 1833, his wife and daughter dying of the same disease a few hours afterwards. Mr. McHenry was married to Sarah Hardin, daughter of Colonel John Hardin.

ETERS, HON. BELVARD J., Lawyer and Judge, was born November 3, 1805, in Fau- quier County, Virginia. His father, William Peters, emigrated to Kentucky in 1809, and settled on a farm in Woodford County, devised to him by his maternal grandfather, Capt. John Ashby. After being three years under the tuition of Dr. Lewis Marshall, at Buck Pond Academy, Wood- ford County, he was sent to Transylvania University, and graduated in the literary department of that institu- tion, in 1825. He read law under Chief-Justice John Boyle, of Mercer County ; was admitted to the bar, and began the practice, at Owingsville, Bath County, Ken- tucky, in February, 1827. In the Fall of 1829, he was appointed County Attorney by the Bath County Court, and held the office until his resignation, in the Fall of 1836, having held that office for four years after he re- moved to Montgomery County. In 1832, he was ap- pointed by the Montgomery County Court to the same office, and held the position until the Spring of 1845,

4º3

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

when he was elected member of the Kentucky Legisla- ture from Montgomery County, having previously re- moved from Bath County. He was again sclected as a candidate, in 1846, but declined, that he might be enabled to pursue his profession with more dili- gence. He immediately resumed the practice of law, in Mt. Sterling, which he has pursued with great en- ergy and success. In 1848, he was induced, by Judge Farrow, to accept the Clerkship of the Circuit Court for Montgomery County, to fill a vacancy caused by the death of James G. Hazelrigg, and held the position un- til 1851 ; but was not a candidate for election under the new Constitution. In 1856, he was a candidate for Cir- cuit Judge, but was defeated by Hon. J. W. Moore. In 1860, he was elected Judge of the Court of Appeals, from the First District, overcoming a political majority of over two thousand votes, his competitor being Hon. James Simpson. He was re-elected in 1868, defeating his opponent, Hon. George W. Williams, of Paris, by nearly ten thousand votes. His term of office expired in 1876. Though past the age of seventy, he is pos- sessed of great mental and physical vigor. He came of a distinguished and long-lived family, and those who have the good fortune to know him well, wish him great length of days, and the full enjoyment of his declining years, and the honors he has so worthily won. Judge Peters was married, September 1, 1831, to the daughter of Hon. Kenaz Farrow.

RIMBLE, HON. LAWRENCE S., Lawyer, was born August 26, 1825, in Fleming County, Kentucky. He studied law, and entered into the practice of that profession. He was a member of the Kentucky Legislature, in 1851 and 1852; was Judge of the Equity and Crim- inal Court of the First Judicial District, from 1856 to 1860; from 1860 to October, 1865, was President of the New Orleans and Ohio Railroad Company ; was elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress, serving on the Commit- tees on Revolutionary Claims, on Manufactures, and Revenue Frauds; was re-elected to the Fortieth and Forty-first Congresses, and placed on the Committees on Invalid Pensions and Indian Affairs.

ANKS, THOMAS H., Lawyer, was born No- vember 6, 1823, in Anderson County, Ken- tucky. His father was of Scottish ancestry, was a native of Virginia, but moved to Ken- tucky as early as 1800, settling in Anderson County. Thomas H. Hanks received a plain English cducation in the best schools of his native

county. In 1848, he began the study of the law, in the office of G. W. Kavanaugh ; but, in the following year was elected member of the Legislature, and, in 1856, was made Circuit Clerk for Anderson County, holding the position until 1862; in the mean time studying law, was admitted to the bar by Judges Duvall and Kava- naugh, in the same year. Shortly after entering upon the practice of his profession, he was elected County Attorney for Anderson County, and held the position one term. He has been engaged in most of the impor- tant cases in the circuit of his practice; has been very successful ; and, as a criminal lawyer, stands among the first in the State. In politics, he is an active Democrat. He is a lawyer of ability, a fine public speaker, of un- pretending and agreeable manners; is widely known and influential in his county ; and is a man of fine nat- ural talent and splendid personal appearance. Mr. Hanks was married, in 1858, to Miss M. R. Myers, daughter of Silas and Sarah Myers, of Anderson County, Kentucky.

ORTER, REV. DOCTOR NEWTON, M. D., was born in Henry County, Kentucky, Janu- ary 17, 1816. His father, Eli Porter, emigrated from Virginia, and settled in Henry County, Kentucky, near New Castle, in 1814, where he remained during his life. His mother was Mar- tha Ball, daughter of John Ball, an old Virginia gen- tleman, and soldier of the Revolution. The Porters were Welsh; and the Balls, English. The subject of this sketch was the last in a succession of seven sons, and a family of fourteen children. Being the seventh son, the old tradition of mysterious powers probably induced his parents to christen him Doctor. However this may have been, he has vindicated the tradition, in his long and remarkable career. He was early sent to school, as the farmers' boys of that day; but made. no great advancement until after the death of his par- ents, when, at the age of sixteen, he began, in a sys- tematic way, to educate himself. He then attended some of the best schools in the country, and took a course in Georgetown College. During these years of struggle for an education, he taught, commencing his first school when not quite sixteen years of age, and remained a professional teacher for sixteen years. Dur- ing this period, he selected the law for a profession ; but was afterwards induced to study medicine. While teaching, at the age of twenty-three, he began his medi- cal studies, under the direction of Dr. N. Green, then of Carrollton, Kentucky. He pursucd the study of medi- cine for twelve years, before he found it convenient (for want of means) to graduate; and, notwithstanding lie was obliged to practice some, on account of the impor- tunities of friends, yet he would not regularly announce

404

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

himself as a physician until after he had attended lec- tures, and graduated, in 1851, in the Kentucky School of Medicine, at Louisville. He graduated at the head of his class, and was awarded the valedictory. At the age of thirteen, he joined the Baptist Church; and, in 1841, was ordained as a minister of that denomination, in the community where he was raised. He was two years pastor of East Baptist Church, in Louisville; for some time pastor of the Church in Frankfort, and of various Churches over the country ; and is now pastor of three Churches, to which he preaches regularly. In all this time, he has practiced his profession honorably, and profitably to himself, and with the highest praises from the community, his medical practice extending over a cir- cuit of many miles, and being one of the most lucrative and successful in the professional history of the coun- try. He is now one of the leading obstetricians, and has doubtlessly performed more obstetrical surgical op- erations than any man in his part of the State. He regards all his attainments in life as being the re- sult of determined personal effort, home study, and untiring application and devotion. He is yet a hard student, has a large and well selected library ; has read over a vast field, and probably no man in Henry County is more generally and thoroughly well informed. He is a fine writer, and has written voluminously for the med- ical and religious journals. His theological productions have been of a decidedly controversial nature. He is a member of various medical societies, State and national, and served two years as President of the Kentucky State Medical Society. He was several years Secretary of the Kentucky State Baptist Ministers' Meeting; and was for fifteen years Secretary of Sulphur Fork Association, of his Church. He was at a time President of the Board of Trustees of Eminence College, and President of Eminence Male and Female Seminary. Has been Presi- dent of Eminence Cemetery Society since its organiza- tion ; was also, at a time, President of the Board of Town Trustees ; President of Eminence and Shelbyville Turnpike Company ; a Director in the Eminence Bank since its organization, and a member of high degree in various popular social organizations; and, indeed, has been prominent in most affairs of importance in his community. He has been a resident of Eminence since its foundation, and located near the present site of the town twelve or thirteen years before it was laid out as a town. Dr. Porter has been twice married. First, in 1841, while he was yet a student, to Miss M. E. H. Rees, daughter of Thomas F. Rees, of Henry County. After her death, he was again married, in 1852, to Miss Kesia Scott, daughter of Levi Scott, of the same county ; and now has three children living : one daughter, who is principal of the female department of Eminence Sem- inary, a lady of superior culture; one son who is a farmer, and one an apothecary. This is but a brief

record of the most remarkable career of a man whose professional and private habits have been models of cor- rectness, who has literally preached and practiced, in a sense of which he may well be proud, and who justly occupies an honored place in a community he has served so long and faithfully.

ANT, HENRY CLAY, Merchant, was born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, January 4, 1829. Archibald Gant, his father, was a Virginian, of English extraction; emigrated to Kentucky at an early day, and became one of the first set- tlers, and most prominent merchants of Hop- kinsville. The subject of this sketch received his edu- cation in the schools of his native town, and, at the age of fourteen, entered his father's store as clerk. On the death of his father, in 1853, he succeeded to the busi- ness, which he carried on successfully until 1857, when he removed to Missouri, where he remained in active business for several years. In the Fall of 1865, he re- turned to Hopkinsville, and, in 1868, in connection with his brother, started a large dry-goods establishment, which is now one of the most extensive, liberally con- ducted, and successful of its kind in Southern Kentucky. Mr. Gant is a Mason in high standing; and, although not connected with any Church, he is a patron of all Churches, and is free in giving material and moral sup- port to every good and worthy social cause, and, de- servedly, ranks as one of the most open-handed, public- spirited, and useful men in his community. In 1857, Mr. Gant was married to Miss Missouri Thompson, daughter of Judge J. V. T. Thompson, of Liberty, Mis- souri. They have two living children.

ILTNER, ELDER WILLIAM S., President of Eminence College, was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky, May 18, 1827. On both sides, his ancestors were Germans, and some of them were prominent in the wars and adven- tures of Frederick the Great, conspicuously sharing the favors of that eccentric monarch. They emigrated to America, and located in Kentucky before it became a State. John Giltner, his father, was a farmer of wealth, was born in Kentucky, and was one of the early converts to the "Christian Reformation," un- der Rev. B. W. Stone. He died in Bourbon County, in 1864, at the age of sixty-eight. The subject of this sketch began his education at Woodland Academy, in Fayette County. After spending several years in school, some misfortunes befalling his father, and having ac- quired some knowledge of drafting, and having a de-

405

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA.

cided taste in that direction, he at once set out in life as an architect and builder. This he followed, with great success, for four years. He then determined to finish his education, and, accordingly, at the age of twenty-two, entered Bethany College, Virginia. In 1852, he graduated, taking the valedictory in a class of eighteen, and at once took charge of Sylvan Academy, in Fayette County. At the end of the first six months, he accepted the pastoral charge of the Christian Church in Paris, and the Principalship of the Tubman School at that place. These positions he held five years, and, in 1858, accepted the Presidency of Eminence Col- lege, at Eminence, Kentucky; and immediately entered upon his office at the commencement of the second year of that institution, since which time his ministerial work has necessarily been in the missionary field. He has been mainly instrumental in gathering the funds for, and building, Antioch Church, in Bourbon County ; the new church in Paris; Bagdad Church, in Shelby County ; and the churches in Taylorsville and Russellville. The last was the work of accident, and shows the great invent- ive and business ability of the man. He was going to fill an engagement at Glasgow, and, missing the train at a station on the railroad, went on a construction train to Russellville ; there met .the few members of the Church; preached on the Lord's-day; set afoot the project for a church building; solicited the funds on the streets; and, in one week, had raised four thousand nine hundred and fifty dollars, had the securities deposited in bank, and the church under contract. But once since has he been in Russellville, and that was at the dedica- tion of the now prosperous church, which he founded, in the providence of God, like a work of chance. For eighteen years, Prof. Giltner has presided over the college at Eminence. Under his superior management and ability, it took the rank of college, by act of the Legislature. He now mainly owns the college and the fine farm connected with it; has devoted much of his time to beautifying the grounds, and has, by great en- ergy and perseverance, made it not only one of the most beautiful and fascinating, but also one of the most suc- cessful and prosperous, educational institutions of the country. As an educator, he, doubtless, has few supe- riors; is broad and liberal in his views, and is wide awake to all the progressive tendencies of the age. He is a writer of great ability, but, as yet, has necessarily con- fined his writings to educational themes and contribu- tions to journals of the Church. Although he has been quiet, and largely neutral on political questions, yet he did not hesitate, during the late rebellion, in his adherence to the cause of the Union. For twenty-three years, he has been a minister in the Christian Church, and, although unable much of that period to hold pas- toral relations with Churches, he has been an ever ready and indomitable worker as a missionary and evangelist.

In the meridian of life, few men have lived more act- ively or successfully. His organizing and general busi- ness capacity is extraordinary, all his operations being characterized by quick perception, rapid decision, and energetic execution. He is one of those men who recognize no such thing as failure, and whose future may be set down as a success from the history of his past. Prof. Giltner was married, August 26, 1856, to Miss Lizzie Rains, the daughter of Elder Aylette Rains, one of the oldest and ablest clergymen of the Reform Church. Mrs. Giltner is matron of the college, an artist and poet of decided ability, and a woman of great beauty. They have three daughters and three sons. Miss Annabel Giltner, the oldest, is an artist of great promise. The second daughter, Lizzie D. Giltner, although young, is a mathematician and linguist of more than ordinary ability.

ORRIS, GEORGE VALENTINE, Merchant, was born June 3, 1821, in Cincinnati, Ohio. His parents were George Morris and Mary (Cress) Morris. His father was a Marylander ; was, some way, concerned in the war of 1812; settled on the line of Bourbon and Nicholas Counties, in Kentucky, where he married; and after- wards moved to Cincinnati, where he died, in 1826. The grandfather of this subject was a soldier in the war of the Revolution, and a direct descendant of the cele- brated signer of the Declaration of Independence, Rob- ert Morris. His mother, Mary Cress, was a native of Bourbon County, Kentucky, and daughter of George Cress, a pioneer farmer of that county, and of German extraction. At the age of twelve, the subject of this sketch went to live with Henry and R. M. Bishop, then merchants of Elizaville, in Fleming County, where he learned business, and acquired a fair education. In 1841, he went to Maysville, where he spent five years, as salesman and book-keeper for J. B. McElvane, in the grocery and commission business. In 1846, he returned to Flemingsburg, and bought out the business of R. M. Bishop & Co., who were then carrying on a retail dry- goods and grocery trade in that town. He associated with him his brother-in-law, George W. Bishop, who retired in 1855, since which he has continued a large, valuable, and wide-spread business alone. He has en- larged his trade in different directions, adding the grain and commission, and establishing several stores through the mountain regions; much of his direct personal at- tention being given to the business of his drug-house at Flemingsburg, which is one of the largest establishments of the kind in Eastern Kentucky. He was married, May 1, 1845, to Mary A. Bishop, a native of Fleming County, daughter of Henry Bishop, a merchant of

408

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

1873, April 28. His mother, who was the daughter of Benjamin Holston, a prominent planter and influential citizen of Wythe County, is still living. The Houn- shells, for several generations, have been men of remark- able physical strength and courage, imperious in will, quick and impulsive in temper, self-reliant and generous, and of that martial spirit which fights from pure love of fight; the Holstons were also a family of talented, sensitive, honorable men. The characteristics of these families are largely displayed in David Stuart Hounshell, who was educated at the Virginia Military Institute, at Lexington. In 1854, he entered upon the study of the law, at the noted school of Judge John W. Brocken- brough, at Lexington, Virginia; graduated, and was admitted to the bar in the following year; and at once commenced the practice of the law in his native county; in 1857, removed to Jeffersonville, Tazewell County, where he remained until the breaking out of the civil war. About this time, he became acquainted with the Floyds; was greatly attached to them; with them, es- poused the cause of the South ; threw himself into the contest with all the ardor of his nature; entered the Confederate service, as Major of the Fifty-first Virginia Infantry ; assisted in the organization of Floyd's Brigade, at Camp Jackson, Wythe County; in May 1862, was promoted lieutenant-colonel of his regiment, for distin- guished skill and gallantry in the battle of Princeton; in the following year, was promoted Colonel of the First Battalion, Virginia State Line, under Gen. Floyd; and participated in many of the great battles of the war, in Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky. . He was married, December 31, 1861, to Miss Lucy Rodgers, daughter of John Rodgers, a planter of Greenbrier County, and, at the close of the war, resumed the practice of the law at Lewisburg, in that county ; in 1867, left Virginia, fol- lowed by the confidence, esteem, and affection of the people of that State; and, after remaining for a time in Catlettsburg, located with his family at Newport, Ken- tucky, in 1869, where he has since resided; became established in the confidence of the people, and placed himself in the first rank of his profession. He has al- ways been a student of history and philosophy; has a fine memory, never letting a fact or idea escape him; is rapid, accurate, and methodical in his thoughts; is a fluent, forcible, and polished speaker; is greatly devoted to his profession ; has an unlimited capacity for work, and is never daunted by an obstacle of any kind. In person, Col. Hounshell is slender, but powerfully built ; six feet in height; erect, sinewy, and active, with fine, energetic features. He is a man who despises the low and mean; has a high sense of honor; is an enthusiast in his devotion to his friends ; of unbounded generosity; is fearless in the discharge of his duty; and his great personal gallantry, in a more'romantic age, would make him chivalrous to the last extreme.

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

The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 70

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