The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 71

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 71

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RABUE, STEPHEN FITZ-JAMES, Lawyer, was born September 19, 1821, in Bourbon County, Kentucky, and is descended from an old and distinguished family of Huguenots, who fled from France during the days of the perse- cution of that people. His father, Chastine H. Trabue, was a prominent merchant for many years, and, at his death, was engaged in the banking business at Louisville. His grandfather, and all of his family who were able to bear arms, were soldiers in the war of the Revolution; and, when the second war with England began, they, to a man, took up arms in defense of their country. This family of patriots left Virginia about 1783, and, coming to Kentucky, were among the first land-owners in Woodford County. Some members of the family settled in the Green river country, and others in other parts of the State, where they became conspicuous in the affairs of the early settlements, and Indian wars, and were ever ready to buckle on their armor in defense of their country. His mother was Miss Elizabeth Trabue, and, by her marriage with his father, two sections of the family, long dissevered, were again united. Her father, James Trabue, was commis- sary-general under Gen. George Rogers Clark, and was present with him at the capture of Kaskaskia and Vin- cennes. He located large tracts of land in Bourbon and Harrison Counties, and was one of the wealthiest land- owners in the State. Stephen F. J. Trabue received a fine education under private tutors, and at Adair Acad- emy, and Tuscumbia, Alabama; and, although he never took occasion to graduate in any institution of learning, he became a fine scholar, and is thoroughly versed in the Latin, Greek, and French languages. He chose the law for a profession, and entered upon its study, in 1841, at Frankfort, in the office of Cates and Lindsey, and graduated in the law department of Transylvania University, the following year. From early youth, he displayed not only great aptitude in learning, but more than ordinary ability for trade and speculation, and en- gaged quite successfully, before entering upon his pro- fessional studies, in dealing in the depreciated paper of the banks of Mississippi and Alabama. Immediately after finishing his legal preparation, he went to Rich- mond, Virginia, and Washington City, with a view of re- covering the bounty lands, amounting to about ten thou- sand acres due the heirs of his grandfather, for services during the Revolution. This induced him to engage in land speculations in Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, and Kentucky, west of the Tennessee river, which he continued with great success, until 1852, accu- mulating a large fortune, a great deal of which, his restless, enterprising spirit led him to sink in the coal banks at Hawsville and other points on the Ohio river; and, after other considerable losses, brought about by the necessities of his friends, he finally returned, in 1854,

Eng & Pt " by Homer Lee & Co.N.Y.

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to Frankfort, with a view to settling down on his farm, and entering upon the practice of his profession. He had early taken an active interest in the politics of the State, and, in 1847, he was induced to make the race as an independent candidate for Congress, from the Ashland district, his opponents being the late Gov. Morehead and Dr. A. K. Marshall. In 1849, he again made the race for Congress against Mr. Morehead, and, although developing great strength, and contend- ing against the old prejudice against young aspirants to public favor, succeeded in reducing Mr. Morehead's majority to sixty-seven votes. But these brilliant con- tests were of great advantage, being largely instrumental in breaking up the old tendencies to follow in party ruts, and in placing at the head of public affairs a younger and more energetic class of men. In 1872, he was again candidate for Congress, during the famous Greeley- Grant-O'Connor campaign, his opponent being Senator J. B. Beck. He made the race as an Independent, and, although by taking this position he was unable to win the hearty support of either Republicans or Democrats, and, notwithstanding the district was Democratic by six thousand, he received a majority in his own town, and alarmingly reduced the usual majority in the district. Although he has taken an active interest in political affairs, and has made some exciting contests, he has con- tinuously engaged in the pursuit of his profession, in which he has been prominent in many of the leading cases before the courts of the State. He is a lawyer of fine ability and scholarly attainments; is an earnest, eloquent public speaker ; is a man of large views; has great administrative ability; is conscientious and just in his dealings with men, and is possessed of those traits of character which would bring him to the front in any public emergency. He occupies a high position in some of the social organizations of the day, in which he has been a leader; and is one of the most active, energetic, and enterprising men of his section. Mr. Trabue was married, June 1, 1854, to Miss Alice E. Berry, daughter of E. T. Berry, one of the leading farmers of Henry County, Kentucky. They have five children-four sons and one daughter. Their son, Edmund F. Trabue, is a lawyer of Louisville.

LLEN, COL. JOHN, Lawyer and Soldier, son of James Allen, was born December 30, 1772, in Rockbridge County, Virginia. His father emi- grated to Kentucky, in 1780, and settled near the present town of Danville; in 1784, he settled in Nelson County, on Simpson creek, and was one of the most valuable, adventurous, and useful, of the hardy pioncers of Kentucky. Col. John Allen attended school at Bardstown, for a time, under Dominie Shackel-

ford, and afterwards finished a fair education under Dr. James Priestly. At this school, he had for his associates Joseph H. Daviess, John Rowan, Felix Grundy, and others, who became distinguished in the history of Ken- tucky. In 1791, he commenced the study of the law, at Stanton, Virginia, under Archibald Stewart ; contin- ued his studies for several years ; returned to Kentucky, in 1795, and settled at Shelbyville, engaging in the prac- tice of his profession, until the war of 1812. He raised a regiment of riflemen for service under Gen. Harrison; part of his command was engaged in the battle of Brownstown, in 1813; at the river Raisin, his regiment constituted the left wing of the American army, and there, with many of the brave men from Kentucky, he found a bloody grave. Col. Allen had already risen to great distinction in his profession, and was noted for his great integrity and devotion to manly principles. He was a man of fine mental traits, great dignity of char- acter, brave to a fault, and was, in every way, a fine specimen of the accomplished gentleman of that day. .

RADY, JOHN A., M. D., was born Septem- ber 13, 1832, in Washington County, Kentucky. His father, Milton A. Brady, was a farmer of that county, native of Kentucky, of Virginia parentage. Dr. Brady attended the schools in his native county, and finished his education in St. Mary's College, near Lebanon. He began the study of medicine, in 1852, in Mackville, Kentucky, under the supervision of Dr. H. C. Allen ; attended lectures in the Winter of 1854, at the University of Louisville, under Gross, Miller, Rogers, and Flint ; and graduated at the New York University, in the Spring of 1856, under Mott, Draper, Bedford, and Post; commenced practice imme- diately, at Mackville, with fine success, until the break- ing out of the civil war. He entered the army as Sur- geon of the First Kentucky Cavalry, under Col. Frank Wolford, and served with the regiment until the battle of Perryville ; was in the Sandy Valley campaign, under Gen. Garfield ; was detached from the regiment, and placed in charge of the sick and wounded in the Third Army Corps, under General Gilbert , was subsequently ordered to Lebanon, where he acted as medical director until the closing of that post. In the Spring of 1863, was ordered to the Louisville Hospital; remained in charge until expiration of his time of service, and was mustered out in Fall of 1864, when he at once located in Louisville, and entered actively upon the practice of his profession, in which he has taken a front rank among the physicians of that city. He served as a member of the Board of Health, in 1866 and 1867; is member of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Louisville, and, since 1864, has been a member of the State Medi-

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cal Society ; has always been a Whig in politics, and votes the Republican ticket. Religiously, he is associ- ated with the Methodist Church. Dr. Brady was mar- ried, October 14, 1856, to Martha J. Peter, daughter of Eli Peter, of Shelbyville, Kentucky.

ARTMELL, SIMON MORGAN, M. D., son of David Cartmell, was born January 2, 1818, in Charleston, West Virginia. His father was a member of one of the old families of Virginia, was a lawyer by profession, and died at Charles- ton in 1823. His mother, Nancy Morgan, was the daughter of Simon Morgan, a Virginian officer in the Revolutionary army. She moved with her family to Kentucky, and settled in Fleming County, about the year 1823 ; and in the private schools of that county, and at Flemingsburg Academy, he received his education. In 1836, he began reading medicine at Flemingsburg, under the direction of Dr. L. D. Anderson; attended medical lectures at Transylvania University ; in 1838, entered on the practice of medicine at Concord, Lewis County ; met with great success at once; in 1848, re- moved to Mt. Carmel, Fleming County ; in 1851, located in East Maysville; in this year entered the University of Pennsylvania, and received his medical degree in 1852; then located at Washington in Mason County ; in 1861, entered the Government service as Surgeon of the Sixteenth Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, under Col. Charles A. Marshall; was in active service with the regiment for three years, in Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky; in 1864, returned home, and actively re- sumed the practice of his profession at Maysville, where he has since resided, established a large practice, and been distinguished for his skill and success. He has always taken a lively interest in public affairs, although he has never sought or held a political office, and is decidedly averse to social or personal pretensions or dis-" play. He cast his first Presidential vote for Gen. Har- rison; voted for Bell and Everett, in 1860; was an ardent Union man during the war, and is now a Republican in politics. Dr. Cartmell was married, in 1848, to Lucretia Taylor Wood, daughter of Charles Wood, of Mason County, a soldier in the war of 1812.

AWKINS, EDMUND WALLER, Lawyer, was born March 9, 1815, in Spottsylvania County, Virginia, and was son of Joseph L. and Mary J. Hawkins. His father was a farmer by pur- suit, and died in Virginia, his native State, in 1823. His mother was born at Bryant's Station, and was the daughter of Rev. William E: Waller, who

came from Virginia while Kentucky was a part of that State; and was, with Ambrose Dudley, Moses Bledsoe, William Marshall, John Gano, and some others, among the most noted of the pioneer ministers of the Baptist Church in Kentucky. Mr. Hawkins came to Kentucky in 1831 ; and, for some time, wrote in the office of his cousin, Richard P. Butler, Clerk of Gallatin County, during his leisure hours studying law, under the super- vision of Gen. William O. Butler, also his relative. He entered Hanover College, at South Hanover, Indiana; and, after pursuing a thorough and full course of study, graduated in 1837; in 1840, he graduated from the law department of Transylvania University; in the same year, located, for the practice of the law, at Warsaw; in 1853, removed to Newport, where he has since resided, actively and successfully engaged in his profession. In 1840, he was elected to represent Carroll and Gallatin Counties in the Legislature; from 1858 to 1862, was Mayor of Newport; during the war of the rebellion, was appointed Commissioner of the Board of Enrollment of the Sixth Congressional District, by President Lincoln, but resigned after two years' service; he was candidate for Presidential Elector, on the Republican ticket, in 1876. He was a member of the old Whig party until its demise; cast his first Presidential vote for Gen. Harri- son; and, in 1860, voted for Bell and Everett, the so- called Union candidates for President and Vice-President. He is a fine speaker, has great strength in the court, and is distinguished as an upright and able lawyer ; is a man of fine personal and social traits; as a politician, is broad and liberal, stooping to nothing low or unfair; in all con- ditions is incorruptible, and is justly and universally es- teemed as a valuable citizen. Religiously, he is con- nected with the Presbyterian Church. Mr. Hawkins was married, in 1854, to Miss Mary Mundy, a daughter of Harrison Mundy, a farmer of Owen County, Kentucky.

HUCK, MICHAEL S., M. D., Physician and Surgeon, was born December 12, 1799, near Pittsburg, when his parents were on the way from Pennsylvania to Kentucky. His parents were John and Mary Shuck, both Pennsyl- vanians. They came to this State in 1799, and settled in Marion County. His father was a farmer by pursuit ; was a soldier in the Revolutionary War; and died in 1814. The death of his father left him early to shift for himself; and, after acquiring a fair education, he learned the trade of wheel making, and was wonder- fully successful ; but, after spending five or six years in acquiring an education, and working at this trade, he commenced reading medicine, in 1823, at Lebanon, under Dr. J. A. McElroy. After a thorough prepara- tion, he graduated in medicine at Transylvania Univer-

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sity, in 1827; at once entered upon the practice of his profession at Lebanon, where he has since resided. He was probably the first graduate in medicine, at Transyl- vania, from Washington County ; performed the first surgical operation which attracted much attention in that county ; for a long time was the surgeon of that part of the country ; had an extensive practice; was zealous in advancing the interests of his profession, to which he was greatly devoted. He was not only suc- cessful professionally, but as a business man ; and an en- ergetie, valuable citizen. He now enjoys a comfortable fortune, and the universal esteem of the community, in which he has been a physician for half a century. Since 1832, he has been a member of the Presbyterian Church, and has been long prominent in its local affairs. Since the dissolution of the old Whig party, he has been identified with the Democrats. Dr. Shuck was married, February 12, 1828, to Priscilla Irvin, daughter of John Irvin, a farmer of Boyle County. They have had but three children, one of whom is now a physician of Leb- anon, Kentucky.

AVIS, HON. GARRETT, Lawyer and Legisla- tor, son of Jeremiah Davis, was born Septem- ber 10, 1801, near Mt. Sterling, in Montgom- ery County, Kentucky. His father served some time in the Kentucky House of Representatives, and was a man of strong and admirable traits of character ; and died, December 25, 1813, at Mt. Ster- ling. His mother was a Miss Garrett, of a family long known, down to the present time, as prominent in the affairs of her native State. Both of his parents were Marylanders by birth; came at a very early day to Ken- tucky, and settled in Montgomery County. His brother Amos was elected to Congress in 1833, and died at Ow- ingsville, in the Summer of 1835, before the time for his re-election. Mr. Davis received a common English edu- cation, in the schools of his native county; and after- wards, by his own private efforts, acquired a good knowl- edge of Latin, Greek, history, and other higher branches of learning; and became one of the refined and intelli- gent men of the country. He had a remarkable mem- ory, and hardly ever forgot any thing he read or heard at any time in his life. He early chose the profession of the law, and entered on its study with great zeal. With a view to obtaining a more practical knowledge of his profession, he obtained the position of deputy in the Circuit Court for Montgomery County. In 1823, he re- moved to Bourbon County ; there continued to write, for some time, in the Circuit Clerk's office of that county. In 1824, he was admitted to the bar, and immediately began the practice of the law at Paris. In 1833, he was first elected to represent Bourbon County in the lower branch of the Legislature, and was twice re-

elected. In 1839, he was elected to represent the Mays- ville distriet in the Congress of the United States; was elected for three consecutive terms from the Ashland district, to which Bourbon County had been transferred ; declined re-election ; was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1849; was opposed to some features of the new Constitution; withdrew from the Convention without signing that instrument, and became its earnest opponent before the people. In 1861, he was elected to succeed John C: Breckinridge in the United States Senate; and, at the end of his term, in 1867, was re- eleeted for six years. He was a prominent leader in the Know-Nothing movement; was nominated by the American party as their candidate for President, in 1856,

but declined; was again nominated by the American party for Governor, in 1855, and again declined; and, in 1848, was nominated by the Whigs for Lieutenant- Governor, also declining to make that race. From early manhood until the death of Henry Clay, he was one of the most intimate personal and political friends of that statesman, and acquired great distinetion, in Congress and at home, for his earnest defense and support of the doctrines and measures of the Whig party. He was strongly opposed to secession ; was a Union man during the war; and was one of the few distinguished Ken- tuckians who, during the first years of the conflict, favored the prosecution of the war, and supported the policy of the Administration. During the last years of his life, he earnestly assailed the leading measures of the Republican party, in Congress and at home, and became thoroughly identified with the Democracy. Few men lived a more active life; few men had greater phys- ical and mental powers to support an active career ; no movement of importance in the State went without his influence in some way ; at the outset of the rebellion his open and vigorous defense of the Union gave the Government strength in the State, and weakened the efforts of its enemies; throughout the entire country his name was recognized as a power during the early dark days of the Republic; when the country. was safe, and old things were done away, and new issues began to arise that he considered inimical to his State, and im- politic outside of it, he was forced to range himself with the political party which he had fought during the greater part of his life ; yet the great cardinal principles which he had supported remained. His name will take its place in history among those of the most able, wise, and useful men of his day. He was a bold and fearless defender of any cause he espoused ; a deep and exhaust- ive reasoner ; a fine speaker; an able lawyer ; was of a superior order of intellect; and, in every respect, one of the first men of his State. He died at his residence, near Paris, Kentucky, September 22, 1872, before the expiration of his second Senatorial term. Mr. Davis was married in 1825, to the daughter of Robert Trimble,

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once Chief-Justice of Kentucky, and a Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. She died at Washington City, in 1842, leaving two daughters and a son. In 1845, he was married to the widow of Thomas Elliott, a prominent lawyer of Paris. His son, Robert Trimble Davis, is a lawyer, of Paris, and has represented his county in the State Legislature.

OOT, OLIVER W., Lawyer, son of Ira and Sarah A. (Perry) Root, was born October 3, 1835, in Newport, Kentucky. He was liberally educated, graduating from Miami University, . at Oxford, Ohio, in 1858. He at once began the study of the law; graduated at the Cincin- nati Law School, in 1861, and immediately entered on the practice of his profession at Newport. He was elected County Attorney of Campbell County, in 1861 ; was elected City Solicitor of Newport, in 1865, and re- elected in 1868; ran for Congress, on the Republican ticket, in 1867, receiving two thousand votes more than any Republican who had previously made the race for the same office; was candidate for Presidential Elector on the Republican ticket, in 1869 and 1873, and, dur- ing those exciting campaigns, vigorously canvassed his own State and Ohio. Mr. Root is one of the foremost lawyers at the bar of Northern Kentucky, and is an orator of uncommon versatility and power, few men in the country being his superior before a jury, or in the assemblies of the people.

UCKNER, BENJAMIN FORSYTHE, Lawyer, C was born August 19, 1836, in Jacksonville, Illi- nois. His parents were Aylette and Charlotte (Forsythe) Buckner, the former a native of Henderson, and the latter of Bourbon County, Kentucky. His father was a lawyer by profes- sion, during the last years of his life was Clerk of the Circuit Court for Clarke County, in which county he lived during the greater part of his life ; he died in 1867. His mother was the daughter of Benjamin Forsythe, a Bour- bon County farmer. He was educated at the Kentucky Military Institute, near Frankfort, leaving that institu- tion in 1852; was for several years deputy in the office of the Circuit Court, in Clarke County ; devoted his leisure hours to reading law under his father ; in 1856, attended lectures at the Louisville Law School ; in the following year, was admitted to the bar, and entered on the prac- tice of the law, at Winchester. When the civil war began, he entered the United States army, as Major of the Twentieth Kentucky Federal Infantry; served till the expiration of the term for which his regiment was

enlisted, in 1863 ; participated in the great battle of Shiloh, and in numerous less important engagements in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama; returned to Win- chester and resumed the practice of his profession ; in 1870, removed to Lexington, where he has since resided. In 1865, he was elected to the Legislature, and, in 1874, was elected Judge of the Common Pleas Court of the Lexington District, consisting of Fayette, Bath, Bour- bon, Scott, Clarke, Woodford, and Madison Counties. In politics, he is a Democrat. Judge Buckner was mar- ried, in 1862, to Miss Helen P. Martin, daughter of Dr. Samuel B. Martin, of Clarke County, Kentucky.

UNTER, REV. HIRAM ALIFF, was born August 13, 1800, near Lynchburg, Virginia. His father, James Hunter, emigrated to Ken- tucky in 1804, and settled on a farm near Rus- sellville. Hiram A. Hunter was educated in private schools and the Russellville Seminary till his fourteenth year, then commenced studying law; soon afterwards professed religion, at a Presbyterian camp-meeting, and at once commenced the study of theology. In 1818, he was a member of Gen. Jackson's body-guard, during the first Seminole War; witnessed the execution of Arbuthnot and Ambrister, the capture of Fort St. Marks and Fort Barancas, and those military events which led to the political difficulties with Spain, and the cession of Florida to the United States. After his return from the war, he was licensed, in 1820, as a preacher of the Gospel, by the Logan Presbytery of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church; was appointed to a circuit, and traveled in Kentucky two years; was then in charge of various congregations in the State of In- diana for the next fourteen years. From 1827 to 1834, he taught school at Washington, Logansport, and Prince- ton, in that State. Returning to Kentucky in 1835, he had charge, for fourteen years, of a Church at Owens- boro; then, for four years, at Uniontown, in Western Pennsylvania; then four years pastor of a congregation at Philadelphia, in the same State. He then returned to Louisville, and for three years ministered to the con- gregation worshiping at the corner of Floyd and Chest- nut Streets. In 1861, he resigned this pastorate; joined the Union army, as Chaplain of the Twenty-eighth Ken- tucky Volunteers, Col. W. P. Boone commanding, re- maining in active service over three years. He then returned to Louisville, was appointed and acted as hos- pital chaplain till the termination of the war. In 1866, he took charge of four congregations in adjoining coun- ties, but resigned in 1867, when the Green River Synod appointed him synodical missionary, he acting in that capacity for four years, visiting Ohio, and for a few months laboring in the Miami Presbytery. His health

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declined, and he was placed upon the superannuated list in 1872, after fifty odd years' service in the Lord's vineyard. While in Indiana, he numbered among his pupils several Pottawatomie Indians. He is a Mason, an Odd-fellow, and a member of a great many temper- ance societies. He was married, in 1822, to Avice Cow- ardin, and has by her one surviving child; was again married, to Susan Robb-one surviving child the issue of this union; was a third time married, to Mary Jane McNeely, by whom he has one living child; and, in 1844, was united to Emily Griffith, having three chil- dren now living, the issue of this marriage. Mr. Hunter is a theologian, a fine preacher, and an earnest, faithful pastor. His has been an unusual service in the ministry, not wanting in those trials which the older circuit riders long encountered.

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The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 71

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