The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 79

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

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fine collection of her poems, published in book form, has been widely circulated over the country. They

have had eight children, five of whom are living.

ICKETT, HON. JAMES C., Lawyer, Editor, and Politician, was born February 6, 1793, in Fauquier County, Virginia, and was the son of Col. Jno. Pickett. He enjoyed the advantages of a thorough classical education, and was dis- tinguished, indeed, as one of the first scholars of Kentucky. In the war of 1812, he was an officer in the United States Artillery Service ; again entered the army in 1818, but after several years resigned, and en- tered upon the practice of the law, in Mason County, Kentucky, where his father had settled when he was a boy. He was for a time, editor of the "" Maysville Eagle ;" was elected a member of the State Legislature, in 1822; was Secretary of State of Kentucky, under Gov. Desha, from 1825 to 1828; was Secretary to the United States Legation to South America, from 1829 to 1833; was subsequently Commissioner of the United States Patent Office ; was Fourth Auditor of the Treas- ury, from 1835 to 1838 ; in the latter year, was Minister to Ecuador; from 1838 to 1845, was Chargé d'affaires . to Peru; was for a time editor of the "Congressional Globe;" and was one of the most accomplished gentle- men, and a writer of uncommon strength and elegance, and one of the ripest scholars of his day. He died July 10, 1872, at Washington City. His wife was the daugh- ter of Gov. Joseph Desha, of Kentucky. His son, Rev. Joseph Desha Pickett, for a time a professor in Bethany College, Virginia, afterwards chaplain in the Confederate army, became Professor of English Literature and Sacred History in Kentucky University, in 1866; and his son, Gen. Jno. T. Pickett, resides in Washington City.

cBRAYER, JAMES ALEXANDER, Banker, was born March 1, 1828, in Lawrenceburg, Kentucky. He received a fair education ; and, at the age of fifteen, began to write in the office of the circuit and county clerk. . In 1851, he was elected clerk of the county court; was re- elected in 1854, and again in 1858, holding the office seventeen years. During that time, he studied law, and was admitted to the bar; and, after resigning his posi- tion as county clerk, practiced law for a short time; and, from 1862 to 1866, engaged successfully in merchandis- ing. In the latter year, he became cashier of the bank- ing-house of J. & J. A. Witherspoon, and has since oc- cupied that position, the bank now being known as the Anderson County Deposit Bank. Since 1855, he has

engaged successfully in farming. He has taken an ac- tive interest, since early manhood, in every thing look- ing to the growth and prosperity of his community; and is one of the most enterprising and valuable citizens of Lawrenceburg. He has never been active in political matters, but is identified with the Democratic party. Re- ligiously, he is connected with the Presbyterian Church. Mr. McBrayer was married, July 22, 1851, to Miss Mar- tha J. Wash. She died in 1876. They had eight chil- dren-four girls and four boys.

UNCAN, JOHN, College Professor and Editor, . was born in Scotland, November 24, 1846. Of his school life, four years, from the age of eleven to fifteen, were spent in faithful study, at Glasgow ; and the next four years, from fif- teen to nineteen, at the Agricultural College, at York, England. He then went up to London, and, after a severe critical examination, was admitted to the Royal Botanical Gardens, at Kew. At the end of his first year there, he excited the jealousy of his fellows by snatching from them the prize in botany, always thereto- fore taken by an ambitious four years' student. At the end of the second year, he carried off a double prize in botany-the ten-guinea prize of the Society of Arts, in- creased to twenty-five guineas ($125) by the Royal Hor- ticultural Society ; and was placed in charge of the bo- tanical collection in Kew Gardens. During the same time, he took a four years' course in the great London School of Mines, grown famous under the professorships of Huxley, Tyndall, and others. There he acquired a thorough education in the sciences of zoology, geology, physiology, natural philosophy, chemistry, magnetism and electricity-the fact of graduation making him, by law, specially qualified as a teacher of the sciences in any of the numerous scientific schools of Great Britain. As another mark of distinction during his scientific course, he was detached, by Government order, and sent out to India, in a man-of-war, in charge of an invoice of cin- chona plants, which the British Government was trans- planting from Peru to the Himalaya Mountains, to insure or increase the supply of Peruvian bark, with its quinine and other extracts. His scientific cruise, after leaving In- dia, took in Australia and parts of Africa ; and well-nigh made Mr. Duncan a confirmed cosmopolitan. But his love of science and scientific adventure, and his pros- pects of promotion in England as a scientist, could not repress a settled determination to seek a home in America. The story of the promise of his life had pre- ceded him across the Atlantic, and, while he was voyag- ing westward, a letter, inviting him to a college profess- orship in Kentucky, passed him upon the ocean. By a singular coincidence, and through a different channel,

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Regent John B. Bowman heard of him again in New / York, in 1870; sought him out, and engaged him as Professor of Agriculture and Botany in the Agricultural College of Kentucky, one of the colleges of Kentucky University, at Lexington. While thus occupied, he be- came an occasional contributor to the " Farmers' Home Journal," published at Lexington; and, shortly after resigning his professorship, was made associate editor of that paper, and subsequently, before its removal to Lou- isville, its sole editor. As a journalist he has already made his mark; and, modest, earnest, and able as he is, as a writer, professor, and student, he is determined to make his the leading agricultural journal of the great but partially undeveloped South. He has courage and culture, snaps his finger at others' impossibilities, and is brimful of that sense of beauty in nature which makes labor like his a joy to himself, and a source of blessing to his kind.

ROUCH, REV. BENJAMIN, Clergyman, was born July 1, 1796, in New Castle County, Dela- ware, and was the son of John Crouch, who emigrated to Maryland, and, in 1800, settled near Washington, Pennsylvania. When he was ten years old, his father died, leaving his mother with a family of eight children. She again married, and survived his father thirty-six years, being, for fifty-six years, an earnest and exemplary mem- ber of the Methodist Church. In 1812, lie entered the army as a volunteer, and served honorably dur- ing the second war with England. In 1816, he joined the Church; and, in 1819, was. licensed to preach near Connersville, Indiana, at once entering upon the duties of a traveling preacher, beginning his itinerant career on foot, with his Bible and hymn-book in his hand. In 1820, he was sent to the Little Kanawha Circuit, placing him in the Kentucky Conference; in 1821, labored, with Louis Parker, on the Sandy River Circuit; in the following year, was sent to Shelby Cir- cuit, with Simon Peter; on that circuit, he distinguished himself as a controversialist; labored with great ear- nestness and constancy; and, in 1824, was so reduced in health as to be unable to receive an appointment ; at the following Conference, was appointed to the Lexing- ton Circuit, including Frankfort, Versailles, Georgetown, and Nicholasville, as well as other points. In 1826, he was stationed at Frankfort and New Castle, twenty- six miles apart; in 1827, accepted a superannuated position, in which he continued for three years, residing at New Castle; in 1830, recovering his health, was again sent to Frankfort ; in the following ycar, was made Pre- siding Elder on the Ohio (afterwards the Louisville) District, remaining in that position for four years; in 1835, was appointed to Shelbyville and Christiansburg.

In the following year, he was returned to the Louisville District, giving great strength and confidence to his Church wherever he went; in 1840, while presiding elder, held a controversy with Rev. John L. Waller, at Owensboro, on the subject of Baptism. In 1841, he was appointed to the Lexington District; was next placed on the Shelbyville District ; in 1849, on the Har- rodsburg District ; in 1852, was stationed at Carrollton, where he had mainly been instrumental in founding the Church, thirty years before. He soon after obtained a superannuated position, and spent two or three years in superintending a school at Goshen, in Oldham County ; and, after preaching two sermons at the Goshen Church, on the Sabbath-day, in apparently good health, he died on the following evening, April 26, 1858, and his re- mains were buried at La Grange. And thus passed away one of the most earnest, able, pious, and useful ministers of the Methodist Church. He was a member of the Convention which met at Louisville, in 1845; and, with the exception of one session, was a member of every General Conference from 1828 until the time of his death. Mr. Crouch was married, July 1, 1823, to Miss Anna V. W. Talbott, daughter of Nathaniel Tal- bott, of Shelby County, Kentucky. She was a noble woman, and proved to him a helpmeet, indeed, in his great work. They gave to the Church and ministry a brave and gifted son, Benjamin T. Crouch, who fell, gallantly leading a regiment in the Confederate"cause, at the battle of Thompson Station.

ODD, REV. THOMAS J., D. D., Professor of Hebrew and English Literature in Vander- bilt University, was born August 4, 1827, at Harper's Ferry, Virginia. His father, James B. Dodd, was long President and Professor of Mathematics of Transylvania University, Lex- ington, Kentucky. (See sketch of Prof. James B. Dodd.) At this institution, Prof. Thomas J. Dodd graduated, in 1857. He studied theology under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South ; and, entering upon his ministry with great zeal, was pastor for many years of several of the most influential Churches of his de- nomination in the State, including those at Frankfort, Covington, and Maysville, together with many minor charges. He has been, for many years, one of the most successful educators in the country, teaching much of the time while engaged in the pastoral work. He is a member of the Kentucky Conference of the Southern Church, and, although devoted to his Church and its doctrines, is a man of broad and charitable views, enter- taining kindly feelings toward those of different religious sentiments. He has been one of the most popular and successful ministers of his denomination. Although in-

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variably preparing his sermons with great care, he sel- dom writes them, and never makes use of the manu- script, though delivering the most finished discourses. Coming of a family of scholars and teachers, several of whom have been among the most noted educators of Kentucky, and himself endowed with superior traits as a teacher, few men have taken a higher position in the educational history of the country. He was, for a time, Principal of the Conference High-school, at Millers- burg; was afterwards Principal of a Select High-school, composed of sons of leading citizens at Paris; and, sub- sequently, became President of Kentucky Wesleyan Col- lege, at Millersburg. In the Summer of 1876, he was elected to the Chair of Hebrew and English Literature in the theological department of the Vanderbilt Uni- versity, which position he now holds. He is a man of great earnestness, giving spirit and success to any cause he espouses; devoted heart and soul both to the work of the ministry, and to the cause of education. He has written and delivered addresses on various subjects, but, for several years, has devoted his leisure largely to the acquisition of the Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldee, Syriac, and other languages, many of which he has taught with great success, and probably few ministers of the Meth- odist Church rank so high as a philologist. Prof. Dodd was married, in October, 1873, to Miss Eva Baker, daugh- ter of Aaron Baker, a lady of deep religious nature, pos- sessing fine literary ability, and more than ordinary ac- complishments. They have had two children.

UNKEL, HENRY C., M. D., Homoeopathic Physician, was born September 5, 1825, in Ger- many. His parents never emigrated to Amer- ica. He received a good education, and was raised to the drug business. In 1850, he came to the United States, and located in Philadel- phia. He had previously been engaged, at intervals, in the study of medicine; in 1852, returned to Germany, with the view of completing his medical studies; re- mained one year at the University of Leipsic; in 1853, returned to this country, and located at Newport, Ken- tucky, where he has since resided. He attended lec- tures at the Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery ; for several years attended hospital clinics; attended lec- tures at the Eclectic Medical College of Cincinnati, and received from that institution the degree of M. D. He soon after turned his attention to the study and practice of homeopathy, and has been one of the most successful physicians of that school in this country. He is a man of powerful physique, with great brain and nervous force, with a strong sympathetic nature, extremely kind and fascinating manners, at all times unpretentious and unaggressive, most admirably adapting him to the prac-

tice of medicine. He has never allowed himself to be drawn into politics, nor into social or professional tur- moil, devoting himself almost exclusively, in a quiet way, to the duties of his profession. Starting without means, he has accumulated a considerable fortune, which he enjoys with his family, without show, singularly free from professional or social prejudice.

CAFEE, GEN. ROBERT B., Lawyer and Sol- dier, was born in 1784, on Salt river, in Mercer County, Kentucky, and was the son of Robert McAfee, who came to that county in 1779, and, while on a trading expedition to New Orleans, in 1795, was murdered for his money. His mother, Jane McAfee, died in 1788, and his family was, to a great extent, identified with the early history of Kentucky. Robert B. McAfee, received a thorough classical education, under private tutors in his own county, and at Transylvania Seminary. He studied law with Hon. John Breckinridge; entered upon the prac- tice of his profession in Mercer County; was soon after elected to the Legislature; entered the army in the war of 1812; soon became a lieutenant ; was afterwards quar- termaster in Col. Johnson's regiment; in 1813, was com- missioned captain, having previously recruited a com- pany ; served in Col. Johnson's regiment on the frontier; was in the battle of the Thames, October 5, 1813; in 1819, was again sent to the Legislature; in 1821, be- came State Senator; in 1824, was elected Lieutenant- Governor, and served in that capacity four years; in 1829, declined to make the race for Congress, after having received the nomination; was again elected to the Legislature in 1830, and re-elected at the expiration of his term; in 1832, was a delegate to the Democratic Presidential Convention, at Baltimore; from 1833 to 1837, was Chargé d'Affaires to the Republic of Columbia; in 1841, was elected to the State Senate; in 1842, became President of the Board of Visitors to West Point Mili- tary Academy; retired to his farm in Mercer County, and died five years subsequently. Gen. McAfee was married, in 1807, to Mary Caldwell.

HRUSTON, HON. CHARLES MYNN, Law- yer, was born in 1793, in Jefferson County, Kentucky, and is the second son of John Thruston, who came to Kentucky from Vir- ginia, at an early day, and settled on the Beargrass, in Jefferson County, where he fol- lowed agricultural pursuits during his life. His grand- father, Charles M. Thruston, was a native of Glouces- ter County, Virginia, and came of a distinguished old

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English family; was educated at William and Mary College; was lieutenant of a company of provincials, in the campaign against Fort Du Quesne; studied for the ministry; in 1767, was sent to London for holy orders; after his return to Virginia, continued his min- isterial services until the commencement of hostilities prior to the war of the Revolution; as captain of a company, he joined Washington in New Jersey ; was wounded in an engagement near Amboy ; was after- wards promoted colonel; never resumed his pastoral functions; became a member of the Virginia Legisla- ture ; was, for a time, Judge of the Court of Frederick County; in 1809, moved to the South-west, and died near the city of New Orleans. The mother of Charles M. Thruston was a Miss Whitny, of Virginia, a woman of unusual accomplishments and beauty. She survived her husband many years, and was married to Captain Aaron Fontaine, whose descendants are quite numer- ous in Kentucky. The subject of this sketch obtained a liberal education, chiefly at Bardstown, Kentucky. He chose the profession of law, and entered upon its study under his brother-in-law, Warden Pope; and, while in his minority, was licensed to practice. He soon rose to distinction in his profession, and was noted throughout his life for his intellectual vigor, and his great ability as a lawyer. He possessed an eloquence of great potency, and was unsurpassed in his influence before a jury ; and, usually taking the side of the de- fcnse, and favoring the injured or persecuted, he ap- peared prominently in most of the remarkable and ex- citing cases in the courts of Louisville. Although early espousing the Democratic principles of the celebrated Pope family, whom he considered infallible, yet, during the agitation of the United States Bank question, he went over to the Whig party; and, in 1832, made a race for Congress against Hon. C. A. Wickliffe, and, although defeated, greatly reduced the Democratic ma- jority in his district, and, by his personal popularity, gave the Whig party the precedence in Louisville. He was frequently elected to the State Legislature, but never sought public position. The prosperity of Louis- ville was one of the cherished objects of his life, enter- ing into all schemes to advance her material interests. He became a warm advocate for the establishment of the State Institute for the Blind, and was every-where conspicuous in charitable movements which would place the city on an equal footing with other great commu- nities. He was an ardent advocate of the American Colonization Society; and, although having no sympa- thy with Abolitionism, favored some system of gradual emancipation which should finally relieve the country of slavery. Although not a member, he was a firm supporter of the doctrines of the Presbyterian Church; and throughout his life had been an earnest student of the Bible, and was firmly devoted to the great main

truths of Christianity. He was a man of strong and admirable traits of character; possessed fine social quali- ties ; had rare gifts as an orator; was universally be- loved as a citizen; and was one of the most able and upright lawyers of his day. He died January 7, 1854, at the residence of his son-in-law, Dr. Lewis Rogers, and his remains were interred, with every demonstra- tion of honor and respect, in Cave Hill Cemetery. Mr. Thruston was married to Eliza Cosby, the daughter of Fortunatus Cosby, a distinguished citizen of Louisville, and a granddaughter of Captain Aaron Fontaine, a woman of great physical beauty, and superiority of mind and heart. She died before her husband, leav- ing a family who cherished her memory with great de- votion.

HISTER, JUDGE ELIJAH CONNER, Law- yer, was born October 8, 1822, in Maysville, Kentucky. His father, Conrad Phister, of Ger- man ancestry, was born in Philadelphia; was a carpenter by pursuit ; came to Kentucky, and settled in Maysville, in 1818. His mother, Mary W. Conner, was a native of Maryland, and of Irish-English origin. He attended school during the greater part of his boyhood, and graduated, in 1840, at Augusta College, Augusta, Kentucky. He chose the profession of the law; passed two years in a course of preparatory reading ; in the Spring of 1842, entered regularly upon the study of the law at Philadelphia, under the supervision of Hon. John Sargent, a distin- guished Pennsylvania lawyer; completed his legal prep- aration with Payne & Waller, at Maysville; was admit- ted to the bar in 1844, and at once began to practice his profession in his native town. He was elected Mayor of Maysville, in 1847; was re-elected, in 1848; was elected Circuit Judge of the Tenth Judicial District, in 1856; performed the duties of that office for the term of six years; was elected to the Legislature, in 1867; was re- elected, in 1869, and served as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. Judge Phister is, politically, a Democrat. He cast his first Presidential vote for Henry Clay, and was identified with the Whig party until 1856. He is of a most energetic, active temperament; rapid and skill- ful in his decisions, hardly ever escapes a point of law ; seems always equal to any emergency, without exhaust- ing his resources; is a fine speaker; a man of dignified manners ; is strongly devoted to his profession, in which he has been eminently successful; has had few equals on the bench, probably few judges having made a more sat- isfactory record or gained more admirers-his quick per- ception, urbanity, and uncommon executive ability ren- dering him exceedingly popular; as an able lawyer, stands in the front rank of the profession in the State, and would fill any position with honor in the gift of the people.

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6 ALLAM, JAMES RUSSELL, Lawyer, was born October 16, 1818, at West Alexander, Washington County, Pennsylvania. His par- ents were Charles and Rosanna (Hagen) Hal- lam; the former a native of Maryland, the latter of the north of Ireland, daughter of John Hagen, an Irish Presbyterian, who settled, at an early day, in Brooke County, Virginia. His paternal ancestors were prominent people of Hallamshire, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. His immediate branch were Episcopalians, and settled in Maryland, in 1701. His father followed agricultural pursuits, set- tled in Western Pennsylvania prior to the war of 1812, and participated in that war. James Russell Hallam was educated in the schools of his native county, and at Washington College, Pennsylvania. In 1835, he went to Tennessee, and was engaged for a while in mer- cantile pursuits; in 1836, began to read law at Nashville, under the direction of Felix Grundy, one of the distin- guished lawyers of this country; in 1839, was, for a time, assistant editor of the "Nashville Whig; " and, in the same year, was editor of the "Tennessee Tele- graph," at Murfreesboro; was afterwards editor of the Fayetteville (Tennessee) "Signal;" during a part of the year 1841, was a clerk in the War Department, at Wash- ington City; in the Winter of that year, attended lec- tures at Fredericksburg, Virginia; in the Fall of 1842, located at Owenton, Kentucky; was admitted to the bar, and at once entered upon the practice of his profes- sion ; was two years County Attorney of Owen County, and, for three years, its School Commissioner; in 1851, was Commissioner of Common-schools for Grant County, to which he had removed; and, in that year, removed to Newport, where he has since resided, actively engaged in his profession, and has been prominently identified with the schools, city government, and various interests of that place. In 1873, he was appointed, and served, as Chan- cellor of the Chancery Court of Campbell, Kenton, Bracken, and Pendleton Counties. Since the dissolution of the Whig party, he has been a Democrat in politics. During the civil war, he sympathized with the cause of the South, and was twice arrested and imprisoned by the military, at Camp Chase, Ohio. Religiously, he is connected with the Episcopal Church. He is a man of strong mental characteristics, dignified manners, a fine speaker, and one of the most thorough, cautious, and able lawyers in the State. Mr. Hallam has been twice married; in 1841, at Fayetteville, Tennessee, to Clarina M. Bailey, of Fredericksburg, Virginia; she died in 1859; from this marriage, he had five children. In 1863, January 6, he was married to Miss Martha P. Robinson, of Fayette County, Ohio, daughter of Major John H. Robinson, and niece of Rev. Stuart Robinson, of Louisville. From this marriage, there are also five children, the youngest of whom, named for the late

eminent Kentucky Chief-Justice, George Robinson, died from accident, December 30, 1876. His son, Theo. Hal- lam, is a member of the Legislature.

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The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 79

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