The Biographical encyclopaedia of Kentucky of the dead and living men of the nineteenth century, Part 85

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 85

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).

488

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

as the world judges, but in the light of Christian moral- ity. Firm and decided in his opinions and convictions, he was yet generous and forbearing ; with few but dur- able attachments, he was unusually tender and devoted to his family ; long as he was identified with business, he died owing absolutely nothing, while every body bore testimony to his honesty and integrity, his exem- plary piety, and the purity of his life. By a curious co- incidence, that venerable citizen and friend of James Small, John B. Bland, Sr., died the same day and in the same house.

OONE, COL. DANIEL, the Great Western Hunter and Pioneer, was born February II, 1735, in Exeter Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. His grandfather, George Boone, with his wife Mary, and their large family of two daughters and nine sons, emigrated from near Exeter, England, and purchased and settled on a large tract of land in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in 1717, and named his place Exeter, after the city near which he was born. He afterward's owned various other tracts in Maryland and Virginia, and it is also believed that he owned the site on which now stands the city of Georgetown, District of Columbia, and that he laid out that town and named it after himself. Of his sons, only three have in any way come into history, John and James lived and died on the Exeter purchase in Penn- sylvania, and Squire had seven sons and four daughters, one of his sons being the subject of this sketch. Squire Boone married Sarah Morgan, and she was the mother of the old " Kentucky Rifleman." Daniel Boone re- ceived very little schooling, and from early childhood was devoted to hunting, soon becoming very skillful in the use of the rifle. While he was a youth, his father settled, with his family, on the Yadkin, eight miles from Wilkesboro, North Carolina, when Daniel was about eighteen years of age, probably. In that State he grew into manhood, and there married Rebecca Bryan; for several years followed farming, never forsaking his gun; at times making hunting excursions farther into the wilderness, and, as early as 1761, it appears, headed a company of hunters and explorers as far as Abingdon ; probably before that time, had made extensive tours into the wilderness. In May, 1769, he set out, with a party of men, in search of the "Country of Kentucky," and, in June of that year, actually arrived on the banks of the Kentucky river, where they camped and hunted until late in the Fall, being undisturbed by the Indians. In December, Boone and Stewart left the little company to return to Virginia ; were soon afterwards captured ; escaped, on the seventh night of their captivity, while the Indians were asleep; found their way back to the camp on the Kentucky river, but it was plundered and

deserted, it never being ascertained what became of Fin- ley and the rest of Boone's party; in January, 1770, Squire Boone, Daniel's brother, arrived with ammuni- tion ; soon after, Stewart was killed in an encounter with the Indians; he remained alone for several months after the death of Stewart, while Squire returned to Carolina ; during that period, he doubtlessly explored, alone, a great part of Central Kentucky; after the return of his brother, in July, they removed to the Cumberland river ; explored that region, and named the leading waters; in March, 1771, returned to his family, on the Yadkin ; sold his farm; and, on September 25, 1774, with his family, started for Kentucky, being accompanied by his brother Squire, their company being largely increased afterwards; in October, six of their number were killed by Indians, near Cumberland Gap, and they were com- pelled to return to the Clinch river; in June of that year, he was sent, in connection with Michael Stoner, by Gov. Dunmore, to conduct a body of surveyors to the falls of the Ohio ; was, soon after performing that serv- ice, with the rank of captain, put in charge of three garrisons on the Virginia frontier ; after the close of Dun- more's war, he was sent as a commissioner to the Cher- okee Indians, in behalf of Henderson's Company ; on April 5, he began the erection of the fort at Boonesbor- ough, which became quite famous in the early history of Kentucky; and, from that time, the name of Boone is every-where identified with the hardships, struggles, and Indian warfare of the " Dark and Bloody Ground." In the early part of 1778, with a company of inen, Boone went to the Blue Licks, to make salt for the settlement ; and, while out hunting, was captured by the savages, whom he led to his camp, and to whom he surrendered his entire company of twenty-seven men, under pledge of good treatment, which they received. For his con- duct in this case, he was widely censured; but it was afterwards decided that, by his course, the entire set- tlement of Boonesborough was saved; and he was, accordingly, justly acquitted, although tried by a court- martial. He and his men were marched to Chilli- cothe; he, with ten others, was subsequently taken to Detroit; but he was returned to Chillicothe, and adopted as a son by the Indians; was employed by them in making salt at the Scioto Licks; was greatly favored, and allowed to make distant hunting tours alone; and finally took advantage of one of these ex- peditions to escape, in time to save the settlement at Boonesborough from destruction. He, some time after- wards, with fifty able and determined men, defended Boonesborough for nine days, against a force of five hundred Indians, led by several of their distinguished chiefs, and commanded by Capt. Du Quesne, under the flag of Great Britain; and, from that time, Boones- borough was never disturbed by any great body of the wily foe. This was one of the most important events

Daniel Boone

491

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

in the life of the old pioneer, as to him seems to be due, mainly, the successful defense of the place. But on many a bloody field, and on innumerable occasions, did he render his name especially dear to the early founders of the noble State. During his long captivity among the Shawnee Indians, his family, thinking him dead, returned to North Carolina. He again brought them to Kentucky, in 1779; and, with considerable ac- tivity, devoted himself to cultivating his farm. On the division of Kentucky into three counties, about 1780, in reorganizing the militia, he was commissioned one of the three Lieutenant-Colonels, having been promoted to the rank of major, Gen. George R. Clark being commander-in-chief of the entire militia of the territory. In 1782, the fatal battle of the Blue Licks was fought, and in it Col. Boone led the detachment from Boones- borough ; and, early in the engagement, his son Israel was killed. Boone was opposed to risking an engage- ment until the arrival of Col. Ben. Logan with re-en- forcements. To hotter and more inconsiderate heads must be placed the responsibility of the great battle of the Blue Licks, in which fell sixty of the bravest among the early sons of Kentucky. Col. Boone received a grant of land for military services from the State of Virginia, and divided his time between farming and hunting; and also accompanied some of the distant expeditions against the warlike tribes. But with the times of peace and safety came hordes of settlers; and, in the great contests over titles, he lost all his lands, even his home near Boonesborough being snatched from him. In 1790, disappointed, grieved, and out- raged, he removed to the Kentucky river, near Point Pleasant, where he cultivated a farm, and raised some stock, also engaging at times in his favorite sport, hunting. About 1795, he removed to Missouri, first living with his son, Daniel M. Boone, in the Femme Osage settlement; in 1800, was appointed commandant of the Femme Osage District, by the Spanish authori- ties; continued with satisfaction in that position until the country was transferred to the United States; re- ceived a grant of land from the Spanish Government for his services, but out of that he was also cheated, through some legal formality. In 1812, he petitioned Congress to confirm his original land claims; also, solicited the aid of the Kentucky Legislature to that effect. In 1814, Congress passed an act confirming his title to a small body of land. For ten years before his death, he en- tirely abandoned hunting; and, after the death of his noble wife, in March, 1813, he spent most of his time in visiting among his children, Mrs. Callaway, Major Nathan Boone, and his grandchildren. Daniel Boone died, September 26, 1820, at the residence of his son, Nathan Boone, in Missouri, and his remains were placed by the side of his wife's, in a coffin which he had kept on hand for several years. The Legislature of Missouri

adjourned in his honor, and every-where great respect was shown his memory. In 1845, his own and the remains of his wife, Rebecca Bryan, were brought, by

. permission of Missouri, and interred, by the people of Kentucky, in the cemetery at Frankfort, under great demonstrations of popular regard. And so passed away the old hunter and pioneer, one of the most remarkable men of his times, and doubtlessly one of the most useful. His name will stand prominent for ages on the pages of American history. As to his religious belief and prac- tice, unfortunately, nothing is known. Col. Boone had five sons and four daughters. His two oldest sons were killed by the Indians. His third son, Col. Daniel Morgan Boone, died in Missouri, about 1842, past the age of eighty. His fourth son, Jesse Boone, died at St. Louis; and his youngest child, Major Nathan Boone, who received a commission in the army, long resided in Missouri, and died in that State. His daughters, Jemima, Susannah, Rebecca, and Lavinia, were all married, and, it appears, all died in Kentucky.

ANSON, HON. RICHARD HICKMAN, Law- yer, son of Samuel Hanson and his wife, Ma- tilda Calloway Hickman, was born March 18, 1819, at Winchester, Kentucky. The Hansons of Kentucky came, originally, from the exten- sive family of that name long resident in Maryland. His father was a native of Alexandria, Vir- ginia ; studied law; came to Kentucky, in 1807, first stopping for a while at Paris and Richmond, but finally permanently settling at Winchester, in Clarke County ; was one of the most able and successful lawyers in the State ; was, for a number of years, Commonwealth's At- torney ; served eight years in the State Senate-from 1835 to 1843; was Speaker of the Senate, and acting Lieutenant-Governor, from the death of Gov. James Clark, in 1839, until the inauguration of his successor, after the regular election of 1840; was first elected to the Lower House in 1818, and served his last term in 1851 ; was son of Samuel Hanson, Sr., who never came to Kentucky. His wife belonged to a family, from the earliest days, intimately identified with the history of the State; they had thirteen children ; she died in 1846, and he, in 1858, at their home in Winchester. Matilda Calloway Hickman, his mother, was a native of Clarke County, Kentucky, and daughter of Lieutenant-Governor Richard Hickman, who was one of the early Virginia settlers of that county, and one of the distinguished men of the State; he was a soldier in the war of the Revolution; was a farmer by occupation ; was a member of the second Constitutional Convention, which assem- bled at Frankfort, in 1799; was a member of the Lower House of the Legislature, from 1793 to 1798; was six-

492

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA.

teen years in the State Senate, being first elected to that body in 1800, and serving his last term from 1819 to 1823; was the fourth Lieutenant-Governor of Kentucky, elected in 1812; acted as Governor, in the absence of Gov. Shelby, during the campaign of 1813; was es- teemed for his many virtues; and was one of the most intelligent and valuable men of his day. Richard Hick- man Hanson was liberally educated, chiefly at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, and at Centre College, Dan- ville, Kentucky. He spent a part of 1837 as Deputy Sheriff of Clarke County; began to read law at Win- chester, under his father, in 1839; graduated from the law department of Transylvania University, in 1840; practiced law in his native town until 1843; in that year, located in Paris, where he has since resided, actively and successfully engaged in the practice of the law. He was elected to the Legislature, from Bour- bon County, in 1846, and re-elected in 1847; was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1849; was appointed Commonwealth's Attorney, for the district of which Bourbon County formed a part, by Gov. Critten- den; was elected, by the people, to the same office; filled the position nearly six years, resigning before the expiration of his term of service; was elected to the Legislature, in 1863, and served one term. He was a Whig, until the dissolution of that party ; voted for Bell, for the Presidency, in 1860, and was an earnest Union man throughout the civil war. He is now identi_ fied with the Democratic party. He is one of the lead- ing lawyers and citizens of Central Kentucky. Mr. Hanson was married, in 1843, to Eva Talbott, daughter of Charles Talbott, of Paris, one of the early Virginian settlers of Bourbon County.

cDOWELL, MAJOR WILLIAM PRESTON, Soldier, son of Dr. William Adair McDowell, was born in 1838, in Louisville, Kentucky. He was educated in his native city, chose the pro- fession of law, and was engaged in his legal studies at the outbreak of the civil war. When the President called upon Kentucky for troops to aid in suppressing the rebellion, he at once enlisted in the Fifteenth Volunteer Infantry; and, in September, 1861, was commissioned adjutant of the regiment, serving in this capacity until August, 1862, when he was detailed to serve on the staff of Gen. Rousseau, commanding the Third Division of the Army of the Ohio, and serving with gallantry at the battle of Chaplin Hills, Perryville, Kentucky. After that engagement he served as assist- ant adjutant-general on the staff of Gen. Rousseau, until after the battle of Stone river, where he was wounded, and, after fighting through most of the battle, was compelled to retire from the field. In March, 1863,

he received a commission from President Lincoln, as assistant adjutant-general, with the rank of major in the regular army, and is one of the youngest, bravest, and most talented officers in the regular service. Major McDowell was married, in Louisville, in 1865, to Miss Kate Wright, daughter of J. H. Wright, of that city.

MITH, ELDER JOHN, Clergyman, and one of the founders of the Christian or Disciples' Church in Kentucky, was born October 15, 1784, in Sullivan County, Tennessee, and was the ninth in a family of thirteen children. His father, George Smith, was of German parent- age, his family settling in Virginia about 1735. He married Rebecca Rowan, an Irish girl; participated in the war for American independence; moved, with his family, to the valley of the Holston, in Tennessee, in 1784; and was an humble-minded, earnest, sensible, good man, sternly devoted to his religious principles, which were according to the strictest Calvinistic inter- pretation. He removed to Kentucky in the Spring of 1796, settling in the valley of the Cumberland river, in what was afterwards Clinton County; and there he died. John Smith's mother survived her husband for many years, living to see her son one of the most able and self-sacrificing builders of a new Church. She was a woman of great strength of character, and was endowed with a restless ambition to overcome obstacles, which was displayed, to a remarkable degree, in her son, the subject of this sketch. Elder Smith received most of his education of Robert F. Ferrell, an educated wheel- wright of Stockton's Valley, where his mother lived, and while he engaged in farming, and providing for the large family his father had left. He was baptized by Isaac Denton, in 1804, and joined the Baptist Church at Clear Fork, Kentucky, and soon began to exhort. In 1806, he married Anna Townsend; located on a farm in an adjoining neighborhood; there soon organized his acquaintances into a Church, and, in May, 1808, was or- dained to preach by the Presbyters of the Stockton Valley Association, at once entering the ministry with great ap- parent zeal. In 1810, he visited the Blue Grass region, and was somewhat dazzled by the wealth and comfort he saw, and, on his return home, began to devise plans for establishing his earthly fortune. While on a tour look- ing to that end, his house was burned, and in it two of his children ; but, still anxious to increase his temporal welfare, in 1814, he removed to Alabama, settling near Huntsville. There his wife shortly after died, and, after passing himself through a long lingering sickness, he re- turned to Kentucky, and, his vision of wealth and ease having vanished forever, devoted himself now with real earnestness to the cause of the Lord. On December 25,

493

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA.

1815, he married Nancy Hart. In 1818, he settled on a farm in Montgomery County, having previously 'been appointed to preach to several Churches in that county. He met Alexander Campbell at Flemingsburg, and soon began to espouse similar views of Christianity, and finally, in 1822, renounced Calvinism, and became one of the most earnest and able supporters of the doctrines of the " Reformation," and one of the founders of the - Disciples' Church in Kentucky and the West. He gave the care of his farm and home wholly to his wife, and devoted himself to building up the faith. It became the great all-absorbing work of his life; many of the old Calvinistic Baptist Churches, with which he had formerly labored, after a fierce war of opposition, gave way and began to embrace his teachings, member after member, and society after society taking the name of Christian or Disciple, he often immersing many hun- dreds in a year, under the old apostolic cry of " Believe, and be baptized." He every-where visited the strong- holds of Calvinism, and invited its defenders to open fra- ternal contest. In 1829, he dropped his connection en -. tirely with the Baptists, and united with the Christians at Mt. Sterling; and now the old Baptist organizations in every part of the State began to take the new name, and, in 1830 or 1831, at Lexington, the Christians and Disciples united, and the organization began to assume a powerful form under his leadership and that of Elders John T. Johnson, Barton Stone, and other noble men who had joined the cause. At Lexington he was appointed an Evangelist; traveled over a great part of the State ; visited Tennessee and Indiana; was one of the arbiters in the celebrated debate between Alexander Campbell and Rev. N. L. Rice, at Lexington; visited St. Louis; was afterwards located with Churches at Mount Sterling, Georgetown, and other points. On November 4, 186r, his wife died, and her remains were interred at Lex- ington. She was the mother of eleven children, five of whom survived her. She was a woman of uncommon and admirable traits; one of the noblest of the mothers of the Christian Church in Kentucky, and one whose memory is most highly esteemed by the Disciples of the State. After the death of his excellent wife, he lived mainly with his daughter, Mrs. Emma S. Ringo, at Mexico, in Missouri. In 1865 and 1866 he preached some in that State; spent the Winter of 1866 in Ken- tucky; spent some time at Daughters' College, at Har- rodsburg; finally, returned to Missouri, and, at the resi- dence of his daughter, in Mexico, died, February 28, 1868. His remains were carried to Lexington, Ken- tucky, and interred by the side of his wife's. IIe was one of the most remarkable characters who ever flour- ished in Kentucky, and one of the most useful and val- uable men connected with the history of the "Christian Reformnation" in that State. The origin or propriety of his appellation of "Raccoon John Smith" seems not

well founded. He was not a great orator, or polished scholar, but was undoubtedly a man of great power and value, and died universally beloved. A volume con- taining a complete record of his life-work, beautifully written, by Prof. John August Williams, of Harrods- burg, Kentucky, is now published by Chase & Hall, of Cincinnati. From that work, the facts above written were taken, by permission of the publishers.

cMILLAN, WILLIAM HENRY, Lawyer, son of Robert and Matilda (Barkley) McMillan, was born March 22, 1842, near Pine Grove, Clarke County, -Kentucky. His parents were both natives of the same county. His mother was the daughter of William Barkley, an early settler of that county. His grandfather, Col. William McMillan, was Lieutenant-Colonel of the Seventeenth Regular Infantry in the war of 1812; saw service in the North-western army; participated in the battle of the Thames; was engaged in the early Indian wars; was one of the earliest settlers of the region now known as Clarke County in this State, from Virginia; was an officer of considerable note in the early State militia organization ; was a member of the Kentucky Legisla- ture for nearly twenty years, serving in both branches; and was largely and prominently connected with the growth and prosperity not only of his own section, but, to a great extent, of the entire State. The subject of this sketch was raised on the farm, and educated in the private schools of the country, and at Clay Seminary, in Bourbon County. After finishing his education, he taught school for a year or two, in Clarke and Nicho- las Counties. In 1860, he was appointed a constable in Bourbon County, and served a year or more. In 1862, he entered the Federal army as a private, in Company A, Fourteenth Kentucky Cavalry ; was, soon after, elected captain of his company; and served, with the regiment, for over a year in Kentucky. After the war, he engaged in merchandising at Danville, Indiana, for a while; in 1866, he again 'acted as constable at Paris; in 1867, was appointed Deputy Sheriff of Bourbon County ; but resigned both positions during that year. He now entered upon the study of the law, attended law lectures in Kentucky University, at Lexington, and graduated at that institution, in 1870, as the valedictorian of his class. In that year, he located in Paris, where he has since re- sided, in the active and successful pursuit of his profes- sion, in partnership with Hon. James H. Brent. He is a Democrat in politics, and cast his first Presidential vote for George B. McClellan. He is a man of fine per- sonal and business habits; stands well in his profession and as a citizen; and is, religiously, associated with the Christian or Disciples' Church.

494

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

HOMAS, JOSHUA H., Physician and Farmer, was born March 10, 1804, in Montgomery County, Maryland. He received a good En- glish education in the schools of the country, and afterwards studied Latin and Greek, in a neighboring academy. At the age of seven- teen, he began the study of medicine, with old Dr. S. P. Smith, of Cumberland, Maryland, and, during the next three years studied and attended lectures; and, at the age of twenty, commenced practice, in Hampshire County, Virginia; but shortly afterwards removed to Frederick County, where he remained in active practice until 1839, when he emigrated to Kentucky, and soon afterwards settled in Breckinridge County, continuing practice until 1857. During a part of this time, he had also engaged in farming. In 1857, he bought a farm in La Rue County, to which he removed, having previously abandoned his profession, and now turned his attention largely to stock-raising, in which he was very successful. In 1872, he sold his farm and removed to Elizabeth- town, where he now resides, retiring from all business; but possessing the activities and appearance of a well- preserved gentleman of fifty. He still has two farms, in La Rue County, demanding some attention from him, but they are carried on quite satisfactorily by his former servants. Soon after Dr. Thomas located in Breckinridge County, in 1840, the county was visited by congestive fever, which became very fatal, few persons attacked surviving the third chill. He had had two years' ex- perience in the treatment of this disease in Virginia, and his success soon attracted general attention, and, although his treatment was bold, and startled the pro- fession of the country, he soon acquired a reputation, which laid the foundation to his fortune. He at once became popular, his practice extending over a large tract of country, and his income increasing to an un- common extent. In 1851 and 1852, he represented Breckinridge County in the Legislature. And there, as every-where else in life, was marked as a man of decided ability, great natural force, and independent mental pro- clivities. Although since that time he has held no pub- lic office, and taken no very active part in politics, yet, when the war broke out, he at once took the side of the Union, with his characteristic devotion to every well-de- fincd purpose, and maintained this position through the entire war, not flinching through dangers, losses, and hardships. He attended the late convention at Louis- ville, for the appointment of delegates to the National Republican Presidential Convention, held at Cincinnati, June 17, 1876, and was Chairman of the Committee on Credentials. Since he came to Elizabethtown, he joined his brother, S. B. Thomas, in a private banking business, which they carried on very successfully for some time. Dr. Thomas has been twice married; in Frederick County, Virginia, to Miss Lucy L. C. Colston, and by

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 85

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