The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 8

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

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RIDER, HON. HENRY, was born in 1796, in Garrard County, Kentucky, and was the son of Henry Grider, a soldier of the Revolution, who came to Kentucky at a very early day; took an active part in the Indian troubles, and partici- pated in the memorable battle of Blue Licks, in 1782, and was also a soldier in the second war with Great Britain. The subject of this sketch received a good English education, obtained in a rather desultory manner, being at one time a pupil of Rev. John Howe, and schoolmate of Judge Asher W. Graham. He went out with his father and brother in the war of 1812, and served with Gov. Shelby in his campaign to Canada. He studied law at Bowling Green, in the office of the

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

late Hon. Frank Johnson. In 1827, he was elected to the Lower House of the Legislature; was re-elected in 1831; in 1833, was elected to the State Senate, and served four years; was elected to the Lower House of Congress in 1843; was re-elected in 1845; in 1861, was again elected to Congress, serving on the Committees on Revolution Claims, and Mileage; was re-elected in 1863, and in 1865. In the following year his health failed, and, September 9, 1866, he died. During the intervals of public service, he engaged actively in the practice of his profession, and was one of the first men at the bar of Southern Kentucky. He was noted for his unflinching integrity, for his bold support of what he deemed just and right, and few men in his section wielded greater in- fluencc. During the late civil war, he took sides with the friends of the Union, and maintained his position to the last; and his continual election to office not only in- dicated the sentiment of his district, but also showed his personal popularity. He was a member of the Methodist Church, and, by his conversation and life, daily illus- trated his principles. He was less than six feet in height, robust in frame, and of fine bearing and manners. He was twice married. His first wife was Rachel Cov- ington, sister of the late Gen. Elijah M. Covington. His last wife was Miss Sallie C. Bryan, who still survives, with three daughters and one son by his first marriage. His son, Col. Benjamin C. Grider, was a man of a high order of talent, and died in 1872.

ARRE, W. L., Author and Editor, was born July 18, 1830, near Bowling Green, in Warren County, Kentucky. His early years were passed upon a farm; and a few terms at a common country school, and a session with a first-class teacher in Bowling Green, constituted the educa- tional advantages of his boyhood. When sixteen years of age he went to Franklin College, at Nashville, Ten- nessee, where he passed several sessions, taking a high position as a student, occupying the position of historian in the college; and, during his last session, overpaid his college expenses as editor of "The Naturalist," a monthly periodical published by the president of the institution. He was an inveterate reader, consuming every thing with- in his reach, and, in his sixteenth year, copied Plutarch's "Lives," entire, into blank-books, which were burned in the Bowling Green Gazette office, in 1862. Returning from college, he taught school for some time in Bowling Green and vicinity; was appointed School Commissioner for Warren County; wrote articles for various papers and magazines, and some poetry, favorably received at that time. When twenty years of age, he married Miss Z. E. Shuts, who died two years after, leaving a daugh- ter. In 1856, he went to Buffalo, New York, and wrote

his "Life and Public Services of Millard Fillmore," which was received with great favor throughout the country. In 1857, he located at Cincinnati, and, during most of the ensuing three years, was engaged in prepar- ing the "Speeches and Writings of Hon. Thomas M. Marshall," a standard work, which has passed through ten editions; during this time, also wrote "Lives of Illus- trious Men of America," a work of one thousand octavo pages, published simultaneously in Cincinnati and New York, and passing through eleven editions. Returned to Bowling Green in 1859, becoming one of the editors of the "Bowling Green Gazette," continuing in that posi- tion till the paper suspended, in 1861; while the Con- federate troops occupied Bowling Green, wrote the "Bayard Letters" for the "Nashville Banner," which acquired a circulation throughout the country; in 1862, became army correspondent of the New York "Times ;" in that capacity went through the Buell-Bragg campaigns, and was in all engagements up to the battle of Stone river ; returned to Cincinnati in 1864, and was appointed Librarian of the Mercantile Library Association; soon after resigned, to become army correspondent of the Cin- cinnati "Times;" joined the army in time for the battle of Resaca, acquiring considerable reputation at home and abroad as army correspondent; participated in and described fourteen pitched battles, and numerous other engagements, and was himself four times shot, and had two horses killed under him while in action. In the Fall of 1864, he reported the proceedings of the Convention at Chicago, which nominated McClellan; was subse- quently associate editor of the Cincinnati "Times;" had formerly been briefly connected with the "Gazette," of that city; in 1865, was, for a short time, associated with the Louisville "Courier," and afterward with the Louis- ville "Journal;" in 1866, was connected with the Nash- ville "Union and Dispatch;" afterward went to Cuba to report upon the revolution; returned to Galveston, Texas, through Mexico; was connected with the press of that city for some time; returned to Nashville, as editor of the "Union and American ;" while there, wrote the . life of William T. Haskell, yet unpublished; in 1872, became associate editor of the "Memphis Daily Regis- ter;" in the same year, took charge of the "St. Joseph (Missouri) Daily Commercial;" was variously engaged with his pen in the West until 1873, when he returned to Kentucky, editing, for a while, the "Bowling Green Republican ;" in the following year, was associated with the "Green River Pantagraph," and is now editor of that paper, at Bowling Green. He has written a num- ber of poems, many of which have had a wide circula- tion. He has been a writer of great versatility and force, and deservedly ranks as one of the first newspaper men of the South. Mr. Barre was married, at Galveston, Texas, February 18, 1869, to Miss Sue W. Stith, eldest daughter of Gen. Marcus W. Stith, Brigadier-General in

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the Confederate army, from Missouri; a lady of rare in- tellect and culture, adorned with many Christian virtues. She is now assistant Professor of Languages in one of the female colleges of the State. They have one child.

OPKINS, GEN. SAMUEL, was born in Albe- marle County, Virginia, and died at an advanced age, in October, 1819. He served with distinc- tion in the Revolutionary War; participated in the battles of Princeton, Trenton, Monmouth, Brandywine, and Germantown, in the last of which he was wounded while commanding a battalion of infantry; was lieutenant-colonel at the siege of Charles- ton, and, after the death of the colonel, commanded his regiment until the close of the war; in 1797, came to Kentucky, and settled on Green river; was several ses- sions in the Kentucky Legislature; served in Congress from 1813 to 1815; in 1812, led two thousand mounted volunteers against the Kickapoo towns on the Illinois; failed in the objects of the expedition, and returned to Vincennes, where his troops were disbanded. He soon after retired to his farm, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was a man of great bravery and patriotism, bore an untarnished name, and was one of the most able and valuable men of his day.

cCREARY, HON. JAMES BENNETT, Gov- ernor of Kentucky, was born July, 8, 1838, in Madison County, Kentucky. His ancestors, on both sides, came to Kentucky from Virginia, one of his grand-parents having resided in the old fort at Boonesborough, the first fort of any consequence built in the State. His family were not only connected with the early settlement of Kentucky, taking part in the trials, hardships, and sufferings of the " Dark and Bloody Ground," but both his grandfathers participated with honor in the stirring scenes and events of the war of 1812 -- sometimes aptly styled "our second war of independence." His father was extensively en- gaged in agricultural pursuits in Madison County, and the family held political position in the State as far back as 1809, when Dr. Charles McCreary was representative from Ohio County to the Legislature, and from that time to the present have held positions of public trust, reflect- ing honor upon themselves and their constituencies. Gov. McCreary graduated with distinction, at the age of eighteen, from Centre College, Danville, Kentucky, an institution which numbers among its alumni Gen. John C. Breckinridge, Ex-Gov. Beriah Magoffin, Hon. Thomas C. McCreary, United States Senator fron Ken- tucky ; Hon. J. C. S. Blackburn, member of Congress

from Ashland district; Hon. John Young Brown, mem- ber of Congress from the Third District; Hon. John F. Phillips, member of Congress from Missouri; Col. W. C: P. Breckinridge, and many others scarcely less dis- tinguished in the affairs of the country. He chose the law for a profession, and, after a full course of reading, graduated, and was valedictorian of a class of forty-seven, in the law college of the University of Tennessee, at Lebanon. He at once opened an office at Richmond, in his native county, and entered upon the practice of his profession. . He soon succeeded in establishing a fine patronage, and rose rapidly to dis- tinction at the bar. Although engaged in the practice of the law, he has never given up his agricultural inter- ests and pursuits, and is now the owner of a large landed estate in Fayette and Madison Counties, and of a cotton plantation near Selma, Alabama. At the be- ginning of the late war, although deeply regretting the circumstances which brought about the unhappy con- flict, yet, when forced to take sides, he ranged himself with the people of the South, and assisted in raising a regiment for the Confederate service, of which he was elected Major. Subsequently he became Lieutenant- Colonel of the Eleventh Kentucky Cavalry, in which position he continued till the close of the war, serving with distinction under Gens. Bragg and Morgan, in the West, and, toward the close of the struggle, under Gen. Breckinridge, in Virginia. When the surrender came, he accepted the results in good faith, and resumed his former avocations. Gov. McCreary was married, June 12, 1867, to Miss Katie Hughes, daughter of Thomas Hughes, of Fayette County, Kentucky, a gentleman who acquired no little reputation as an agriculturist, and owner of thoroughbred cattle and horses. Prior to 1869, he had acted as delegate to a Democratic National Convention, and was once elected Presidential Elector, and, although not aspiring to political station, was in that year elected, without opposition, to represent Mad- ison County in the popular branch of the Legislature, and was twice re-elected from the same county, without opposition from his own party. From the time of tak- ing his seat in the Legislature, he developed a remarka- ble talent as a presiding officer, being often called, dur- ing his first term, to the Speaker's chair, pro tem. After serving one term, he was elected Speaker of the House, in 1871, and, again, in 1873; and, during the entire four years in which he acted in that capacity, no appeal was taken from his decisions. Such was his familiarity with all points and bearings of parliamentary law, and such his skill in the management of the apparently incongru- ous elements of a legislative body, that he received many encomiums from old legislators and prominent men. Having served six years in the Legislature, with marked distinction, gaining an enviable popularity over the State, he designed returning to the practice of his

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

profession and his agricultural pursuits; but the Demo- cratic State Convention, in May, 1875, nominated him as the candidate of the party for the highest office in the gift of the people of the Commonwealth; and, after an exciting canvass against the able and popular Repub- lican, Gen. John M. Harlan, he was elected, by a large majority, having received the largest number of votes ever cast in Kentucky for any candidate to any office, up to that time, and that, too, in a year when it was apparent that the Democratic party had lost considera- ble strength in a number of other States. The canvass was conducted throughout with marked ability, and de- corum, and chivalrous courtesy, on both sides, nothing growing out of the contest to disturb the friendly rela- tions which had always existed between the two candi- dates, and yet it is remembered as one of the ablest and most energetic gubernatorial contests ever made in the. State. He has now performed the duties of the Chief Magistracy of Kentucky for two years, and, it is uni- versally conceded, has discharged them with an ef- ficiency and conscientious devotion to the best interests of the Commonwealth, and a success probably unsur- passed by any of his predecessors. Clear-headed, com- prehensive, just, conservative, yet liberal and far-sighted in all his views of public policy, constantly siding with the demands of genuine progress, blest with a robust physique, he is enabled to accomplish an amount of of- ficial work, and to meet drafts upon his mental and physical endurance, which probably few previous in- cumbents of the office would have been able to perform. Although an ex-Confederate, and the first that has ever been elected Governor of a State which remained in the Union during the war, he has always favored restoration of fraternal feeling between the sections, and believes that the Republic will have accomplished its grandest triumph when, forgetful of the sorrows and strife of the past, we shall resume, in every part of the Union, an onward career as a free, prosperous, and united people. In his inaugural address, and his first biennial message to the General Assembly, he recommended the hearty participation of Kentucky in the Centennial Celebration and Exposition at Philadelphia-not only as a means of bringing the vast resources of the State before the world, but also as a fitting occasion for the development of fraternal feeling between the people of all sections. In his inaugural he said: "I wish to see the records of secession, coercion, and reconstruction filed away for- ever, and the people of the whole country earnestly ad- vocating peace and reconciliation, and all looking to the Constitution as the guarantee of our liberties, and the safeguard of every citizen." In view of the distin- guished promotion Gov. McCreary has already achieved, with so much apparent ease to himself, it may be safely predicted that he has before him a future fraught with usefulness to his State, and with honorable distinction

and advancement to himself. Occupying, in the vigor of his manhood, the first office in the Commonwealth, the acknowledged idol of the country and community in which he was reared, with troops of friends throughout the State, and being a shining ornament to the legal profession, and intimately connected with the agricul- tural and commercial interests of the country, with splendid opportunities for benefiting his State, it can hardly be doubted, in the light of his hitherto honora- ble career, that any promotion, influence, or power he may hereafter achieve will be exerted with an eye single to the welfare and progress of his native State, as well as for the good of the country at large.

ILLER, HON. SAMUEL F., Lawyer, and As- sociate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, was born April 5, 1816, in Rich- mond, Kentucky. His father emigrated from Pennsylvania to Kentucky in 1812, and was of German origin. His mother was a Kentuckian by birth, of North Carolina parentage. He obtained a good education, studied medicine, and graduated in the medical department of Transylvania University, in 1838; practiced his profession, for several years, in Knox County, Kentucky; from disgust for that profes- sion, abandoned it; studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1844, meeting with success from the outset. He was a Whig, in politics, and an earnest supporter of Henry Clay. At the time of the agitation of emancipa- tion, in 1849, he took an active part in the movement to elect delegates, to the last Constitutional Convention, who would favor some plan of emancipation. The de- feat of his cause more firmly fixed slavery upon the people of the State, and the obnoxious features of the new Constitution induced him, in 1850, to remove, with his family, to Keokuk, Iowa, where he soon acquired a large and varied practice, including real estate, ad- miralty, and commercial suits, immediately taking the front rank in his profession, and being regarded as the leader of the Iowa bar. On the organization of the Republican party, in 1854, he gave his time, labor, influ- ence, and means, unsparingly to promote its success ; and, after Mr. Lincoln came to the Presidential chair, a new Judicial District was organized in the North-west, and the bar throughout those States, and the Senators and Representatives then in Congress, united, almost unanimously, in recommending him for appointment as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. He was ac- cordingly nominated, in July, 1862, and at once con- firmed. At that period his public career really com- menced, and, at the most critical time of the nation's history, his influence in shaping the judgments of the Court, and in determining the principles on which these

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

judgments were based, was soon felt and acknowledged. He has delivered many of the elaborate opinions of the Court, most of which have been concurred in by his associates, and have also met the approval of the coun- try. He was one of the five Justices of the Supreme Court who were chosen as members of the celebrated Presidential Commission, in 1877. Mr. Justice Miller has, to a very high degree, the respect and confidence of the bar of the United States, and is a man of the utmost purity of private character; with official integrity above suspicion, and with talents which singularly befit his judicial eminence, he well deserves the esteem and honor in which he is held.

ANDRAM, COL. JOHN J., was born Novem- ber 16, 1826, at Warsaw, Kentucky, and is the son of James P. and Maria (Brown) Landram, both natives of Scott County, Kentucky. He obtained a common English education, and, at the age of nineteen, enlisted in Capt. Lillard's Company of the First Kentucky Cavalry, to engage in the war with Mexico; was made orderly sergeant; was present at the battle of Buena Vista, under Gen. Taylor, and during part of that engagement had command of his company ; at the regular election of 1851, was elected to the Kentucky Legislature, on the Whig ticket, from the Democratic county of Gallatin; after the expiration of his term, was elected Circuit Court Clerk, and held that office, being at the same time Master Commissioner, until 1858; in the mean time studied law, without a pre- ceptor, resigned his position, attended lectures in the law school of Louisville, where he graduated; entered on the practice of his profession at Warsaw, and continued suc- cessfully engaged until the commencement of the rebell- ion. In 1861, he again made the race for the Legislature, and, after a fierce contest, was defeated by a few votes; soon after opened a Federal recruiting office at Warsaw, and was made Lieutenant-Colonel of the Eighteenth Regiment of Kentucky Volunteers, the regiment being mustered into the United States service in February, 1862; was subsequently placed in command of the force guarding the Kentucky Central Railroad, with head- quarters at Cynthiana, where a large quantity of govern- ment supplies were stored; and was there attacked, July 17, 1862, by the Rebel forces, under Gen. Mor- gan, having in his own command three hundred and forty home guards, including about seventy-five raw re- cruits, under the command of Maj. W. O. Smith, of the Seventh Kentucky Cavalry, and an artillery squadron, under Capt. William Glass, of Cincinnati, with one brass twelve-pounder. After a desperate conflict, he was finally defeated, much of his incompetent force killed and wounded, and the government stores burned, escaping

himself, with a slight wound, to Paris; and, on the follow- ing day, having united a force of home guards, delivered to his command by Hon. William H. Wadsworth, of Maysville, with Col. Leonidas Metcalfe, they attacked Morgan at Paris, but, at the favorable opening of the en- gagement, were ordered by Gen. G. C. Smith to fall back, under the impression that Morgan had been re-enforced during the night by Gen. Humphrey Marshall. August 30, 1862, he engaged with his regiment in the disastrous battle of Richmond, Kentucky, where, after having his horse shot several times under him, was himself severely wounded in the head by a musket ball, from which he never wholly recovered, losing, to a great extent, his left eye, by which he was forced to retire from the service, although recommended for promotion as Brigadier- General. He was elected to the State Senate from the counties of Gallatin, Boone, and Grant, serving in that body from 1863 to 1867; was Chairman on the Committee of Military Affairs, and was actively associated with some of the most earnest and valuable men of the State, in upholding the Federal Government in the most trying period of its history. In 1876, he was nominated by the Republicans as their candidate for Congress in the Sixth Kentucky District; made the race as a forlorn hope, can- vassing the district in advocacy of the principles of the Republican party, and the election of Hayes and Wheeler. In politics, he was connected with the Whig party until its dissolution ; was a delegate to the Republican National Convention at Cincinnati, in 1876; has taken an active interest in all matters of importance to his country ; has been a member of the Christian Church since 1869; is an able lawyer, standing deservedly high in his profession ; is broad and liberal in his views; brave and generous, upright in his dealings with men; is tall in person, and of admirable bearing ; is easy and attractive in manners; and has been, throughout his life, one of the most enterprising and valuable men in his community. Col. Landramı was married, November 27, 1849, to Miss Susan M. Swope, a native of Lincoln County, Kentucky, and they have two living children.

ARSHALL, HON. JOHN JAMES, Lawyer, was born August 4, 1785, in Woodford County, Kentucky. He graduated in letters, in 1806, at New Jersey College; became distinguished as a lawyer and politician ; was for several terms in the State Legislature; from 1836 until his death was a Judge of the Circuit Court; in 1837, his large fortune was placed at the disposal of his friends, and he died a poor man. He published in scven vol- umes, 8vo., in 1831 and 1834, his " Reports of the Ken- tucky Court of Appeals." Ile died in June, 1846, at Louisville, Kentucky, and was one of the most learned and able members of the celebrated Marshall family.

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA.

ENNETT, JUDGE CASWELL, Lawyer, was born August 27, 1836, in Halifax County, Vir- ginia. His father, Ambrose L. Bennett, was a lawyer, and for many years a farmer in that county, and was of Scotch origin. Judge Ben- nett was liberally educated in the schools of his native county, and at Millwood College, in Tennessee, under James B. Rains, who became a General in the Con- federate army, and was killed in the battle of Murfrees- borough. He commenced the study of the law in the Law College at Lebanon, Tennessee; subsequently read with Judge Joseph R. Underwood, of Bowling Green, Kentucky; finished his legal preparation with Hon. F. H. Bristow, and was admitted to the bar in 1857. He at once entered upon the practice of his profession, at Smithland, Kentucky, where he has resided since, estab- lishing a fine practice, and taking position as one of the first lawyers of his district. In 1867, he was elected Circuit Judge of the Third Judicial District, holding the position six years, and was re-elected without oppo- sition. In 1870, he was candidate before the Demo- cratic Convention for the Appellate Bench, but was de- feated. Judge Bennett was married, in 1867, to Miss M. T. Cruce, daughter of James W. Cruce, of Crittenden County, Kentucky.

ALLARD, CAPTAIN BLAND W., was born October 16, 1761, near Fredericksburg, Vir- ginia. He came with his father's family to Kentucky, in 1779, and settled in what is now Shelby County, and became one of the most valuable among the early pioneers of the State. He served in Col. Bowman's expedition, in 1779; was in Clark's expedition against the Piqua towns, in 1780, and was dangerously wounded in the last expedition ; was in Clark's second expedition against the same In- dian settlements, in 1782; was with Gen. Wayne, in 1794, at the battle of the " Fallen Timbers;" was en- gaged in nearly all the expeditions against the Indians organized in Kentucky; served as a hunter and spy for Gen. Clark, and had many fearful rencounters with the Indians, in which he generally came out victorious, never having been captured but twice. In 1788, when his father was residing near the fort, a few miles from Shelbyville, the Indians attacked his house. When he heard the guns he went to his father's assistance, and, although having one of the most noted hand to hand conflicts in his life, and succeeding in killing several of the Indians, his father, step-mother, sister, and half- sister were killed, and his youngest sister tomahawked. After the admission of Kentucky to the Union, he rep- resented Shelby County in the Legislature several times; commanded a company in Col. Allen's regiment in the

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The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 8

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