USA > Ohio > Memoirs of the lower Ohio valley, personal and genealogical : with portraits, Volume I > Part 14
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Subsequently he took two of his sons into partnership, under the firm name of D. Lehmann & Sons, and added lumber to his trade. David and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church, and he and all of his sons are Democrats. There were seven children in the family. John died in infancy; Alice married F. D. Carpenter and resides at Lexington; Annie married John Freml and also lives in Lexington; David lives at Midway and is a traveling salesman for the Spring- field Coffin and Casket Company; William and Harris are associated with their father in business at Midway; and Joseph is the subject of this sketch. All the children attended the private academy of Prof. J. R. Hammond. After attending this school Doctor Lehmann spent one year in the Central university, at Richmond, Ky. In 1894 he entered the Cleveland Medical college and graduated in 1896. For a year he practiced at Lexington, after which he located at Carrollton, where he has built up a lucrative business and ranks high as a physi- cian. He possesses to a large degree that analytical turn of mind, that love for patient research and ambition to succeed that has made the physicians of Germany the greatest on earth. Less than a dec- ade has elapsed since he received his degree yet these traits of char- acter have won for him a name in the medical profession and the future holds out bright prospects for greater achievements.
COL. FRANK P. SEBREE, planter, stock dealer, tobacco buyer, and a prominent Democrat of Carroll county, Ky., was born near Ghent in that county, Dec. 16, 1856. For more than a century his family have been identified with Kentucky, its growth, its develop- ment, and its politics. In the latter part of the eighteenth century his paternal grandfather came from Virginia and settled near Frank- fort. There Richard W. Sebree, the father of Colonel Sebree, was born in 1799. Before attaining his majority he was interested in keelboating on the Kentucky river, conveying hay from Carrollton to Frankfort. In 1835 he went to Owen county and in 1847 he came to Carroll, locating near Ghent, where he passed the remainder of his life as a successful farmer. He was a first cousin to Col. Dick Johnson, so well known in the annals of Kentucky. Richard W. Sebree married Emily Poindexter, and to this union were born ten children, nine of whom lived to maturity. Frank is the youngest of the seven sons. He received a high school education and when he was nineteen years of age the farm was turned over to his manage- ment. In 1888 he went to Louisville, where for ten years he was a familiar figure in the tobacco market, buying and rehandling, and in
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which he was successful because of his keen foresight and untiring industry. Coming back to Carroll county in 1898, he bought a farm of 220 acres, on the west side of the Kentucky river, within half a mile of Carrollton. His farm is about equally divided between valley and hill lands and is nearly all in a high state of cultivation. Fine build- ings add to its appearance and the whole place bears witness to the thrift of its owner. In politics Colonel Sebree has followed in the foot- steps of his worthy sire and is a potent factor in the councils of the Democratic party. Imbued with the righteousness of that funda- mental principle of Democracy-"majority rule"-he is always found working for its advancement and perpetuation. He was a personal friend and an ardent supporter of the late lamented Governor Goebel, and in June, 1900, he was appointed on the staff of Governor Beck- ham with the rank of colonel. This appointment was an act of wis- dom on the part of the governor and was duly appreciated by Colonel Sebree's many friends. In 1904 Colonel Sebree was nominated for representative to the state legislature by the Democracy of Carroll county; another evidence of the esteem in which he is held by his fel- low citizens. He is prominent in Masonic circles, being a member of the lodge at Worthville and the Royal Arch Chapter at Ghent. Col- onel Sebree was married on Oct. 1, 1881, to Miss Susan P., daughter of George P. and Maria Gullion, of Carrollton. Mr. and Mrs. Sebree have two daughters, Frankie and Ruth Lester. Both parents are members of the Baptist church, to the good work of which Colonel Sebree is a liberal contributor.
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RALPH M. BARKER, one of the leading citizens of Carrollton, Ky., was born at Covington in that state, Nov. 22, 1875, and is a son of M. I. and Virginia A. (Clark) 'Barker, the former born at Penn Yan, N. Y., and the latter in the city of Philadelphia, Pa. They were married in St. Louis; removed to Cincinnati in 1876; and in 1879 the father built the first tobacco factory in Carrollton. After, several years in the tobacco business, during which he was the largest broker in that staple in Cincinnati, he came to Carroll county, where he has ever since been engaged in that business. He also bought a fine farm, erected the finest farm house in the county and turned his attention to raising fine horses. Among the fast horses bred and reared at the Barker farm may be mentioned Navy Bean, 2:111/2; Nellie B., 2:141/2; Gentry's Treasure, 2:10, and a host of others. In this work Ralph has been intimately associated with his father and is one of the best trainers in the country. He knows all about pedigrees and under-
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stands all the intricate points in the combinations of blood to produce the best possible horse. In 1898 Ralph M. Barker secured a franchise and built telephone lines connecting Carrollton with all the surround- ing towns and cities, using about five hundred miles of wire for the purpose and giving the people of these towns and cities an excellent local service. In 1903 he sold out his telephone interests and built the canning factory at Carrollton, which gives the farmers a home market for their fruits and vegetables at the best possible prices. He also built and equipped a steam laundry and in 1904 organized the firm of R. M. Barker & Co., wholesale liquor dealers. He is also treasurer of the Barker Packing Company; secretary of the Carroll- ton & Prestonville Bridge Company; director in both the above cor- porations and also in the Ohio Valley Traction Company. The name of Richlawn stock farm, of which Mr. Barker is the proprietor, is becoming known to horsemen all over the country, for the excellent stock that has been bred there, and it is in this enterprise that Mr. Barker finds his greatest delight. In all his business undertakings Mr. Barker has been guided by quick decision, cool judgment, un- daunted courage, confidence in his ability, firmness, and above all an unflinching honesty and a strict adherence to correct business princi- ples. While he has worked for his own financial benefit he has not been unmindful of the public welfare, and Carroll county can boast no more public spirited citizen, no one more interested in the general prosperity than Ralph M. Barker. In political matters he is actu- ated by the desire to promote the public weal and votes for the man that his judgment leads him to believe is the best for the place. Consequently he is not wedded to his party idols but exercises the right of suffrage as a freeman should-candidly, fearlessly and intel- ligently. Mr. Barker was elected mayor of Carrollton in 1901, more upon his merits as a man than upon his record as a politician. Under his administration the interests of the city were guarded with the same care and the same success that direct and attend his private business. In fraternal circles he is a member of Louisville Lodge, No. 8, Benevo- lent and Protective Order of Elks. On Dec. 14, 1899, Mr. Barker was united in marriage to Miss Nellie Gill Long, a daughter of Capt. E. E. and Kate Gill Long, of Vevay, Ind. Her father is a well known steamboat captain. Mr. and Mrs. Barker have one son: M. I., born June 19, 1901. Mrs. Barker is a member of the Presbyterian church.
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CAPT. ALBERT N. JETT, United States storekeeper, residing at Carrollton, Ky., was born in Carroll county, Ky., Oct. 27, 1840, his parents being R. H. V. and Elizabeth (Bradley) Jett, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Del- aware. William Jett, his grandfather, was a member of one of the old Virginia fam- ilies, came to Kentucky in the early teens and located in Carroll county. R. H. V., the father of Albert N. Jett, moved to Carrollton, in 1844. In politics he was, until 1860, an Old Line Whig and upon the nomination of Abraham Lincoln for President, he espoused that cause, remaining a Republican until his death, which was in 1872. Of the ten children born to the parents of Albert N. Jett, William is dead; Mary Jane married and is now a widow; Richard Henry is a planter and merchant in Gregory, Ark .; Kate is the wife of William Langstaff of Indianapolis, Ind .; John B. served in the Union army in the Thirtieth Kentucky infantry and died in 1881; Albert N. is the subject of this sketch. Joseph S. Jett is a distiller in Peoria, Ill .; a second son, named William, died in 1847; James F. and Joseph S. Jett are the proprietors of the Richland distillery, the opera house, and several other large interests in Carrollton; and George W. is engaged at Jett Bros.' distillery. All received good educations and became good, useful citizens. In September, 1861, at the age of twenty, Albert N. Jett and his brother, Joseph S., enlisted in the Federal army in Company K, Thirteenth Kentucky volunteer infantry. He was soon promoted from first duty sergeant to first lieutenant and when mus- tered out of service at Louisville, Ky., in January, 1865, he was cap- tain of his company. During his service in the army, he was in some of the fiercest battles of the war, among them being Shiloh, Corinth, Iuka, and the operations in East Tennessee. He was wounded in the battle of Huff's Ferry near London, Tenn., and participated in many of the battles of the Atlanta campaign. After the war was over he returned to Carrollton. In 1867 he moved to Harrison county, Ky., where he was engaged as distiller until 1872, when he received the appointment of United States storekeeper, which he held until 1881, when he moved to Carrollton, and with his brothers, Joseph S., James F. and George W., built and operated a distillery until 1888. Then he and George W. sold their interest in the distillery to Joseph S.
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and James F. Jett, at which time he was appointed deputy collector, which he held for one year, and was again appointed United States storekeeper, which he held until Cleveland's second term as president. He resigned in August, 1893, and again entered the distillery with his brothers, but in February, 1898, he again sold his interest in the distillery and accepted another appointment as United States storekeeper, which place he still holds and says that he will hold it until a Democratic president is elected or death removes him. Captain Jett is an uncompromising Republican and takes an active part with his party. He attends most all congressional and state conventions and as chairman of the Republican county committee helped to bring the party in Kentucky up to the election of a Republican governor and once to give her electoral vote to Mckinley. He was married in 1867 to Miss Sarah B. Price, of Harrison county, Ky., and to this marriage were born the following children: Minnie C., wife of Charles E. Heinrich, of Cincinnati; John B., a resident of Harrison county, Ky .; Bettie M., now the wife of Charles Radcliff, of London, Ky .; Richard and Henry Mc., both of whom died in infancy. Mrs. Jett died in 1875 and Mr. Jett subsequently married Mary Morgan, of Coving- ton, Ky. She died in 1889. To this second marriage there were born David H., now married and living in Carrollton; Grace F., at home ; Mabel, wife of Ernest Lewellyn, county superintendent of schools of Carroll county, and Joseph at home. On Sept. 21, 1890, Captain Jett was married to his present wife, who was Miss Sallie B. Tate, of Bour- bon county, Ky., this marriage taking place at Paris, Ky. The children of the third wife are Daisy, aged twelve years, and Katie, aged six, at home with their parents; and James F., the second child, who died in infancy. Captain Jett and his family have always been strong and consistent members of the Christian church.
L. P. HOLZHAUER, government storekeeper and gauger, New- port, Ky., was born in that city in 1873. His father was a native of Wurtemberg, Germany, and his mother of Cincinnati. The father came to this country at the age of sixteen, located at Newport and there followed the vocation of druggist until his death in 1895, being one of the oldest and best known druggists in the city. The mother is still living in Newport. Of their four children L. P. is the subject of this sketch; Edna is the widow of Frank Meadow- croft and resides in Newport; Iona is Mrs. Milton S. Smith, of New- port; Clara is an actress, a graduate of the old Pike school, sup- ported Edward Breeze in "Monte Cristo," and played an important
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character in "Sky Farm." L. P. attended the public schools of his native city and before reaching the age of twenty years he graduated from the Cincinnati College of Pharmacy. He has followed the busi- ness of druggist all his life, most of the time with his father, though he was for three years in charge of the pharmaceutical manufactory of F. F. Ingham & Co., of Detroit, and has worked in Cleveland, Day- ton, Piqua, and other Ohio cities. In 1904 he was appointed to his present position, for which he is eminently fitted by his thorough training in his private business. Mr. Holzhauer is an active Repub- lican. He served five years on the Newport board of education, his father having previously served a similar length of time on the board, and both father and son made good records as members of that body. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; the Junior Order of American Mechanics; the Improved Order of Red Men; and the Essenes. On New Year's day in 1894 he was married to Miss Florence, a daughter of John Winters of Newport. She is a graduate of the Newport high school and is a lady of fine attain- ments. They have one son, L. McKinley, born Sept. 6, 1901.
WALTER KELLY, government storekeeper and gauger, Car- rollton, Ky., was born in Boone county of that state, Feb. 2, 1867. He is a son of James P. and Lucinda (Cravens) Kelly, the former a native of Boone county, Ky., and the latter of Hamilton county, Ohio. The paternal grandfather, Jesse Kelly, was born at Lexington, Ky., was a brickmason and farmer and in his day was one of the prominent citi- zens of his community. The Kelly family has been one of the leading Southern families for several generations. James P. Kelly located in Boone county in his early manhood and there lived until his death in 1881, his widow surviving until 1897, when she passed to her eternal rest. Both belonged to the Universalist church. They had a family of thirteen children, eight of whom are still alive. Walter is the ninth of the family. He received his primary education in the com- mon schools, after which he took a commercial course in the Ken- tucky university, graduating in 1891. He then taught school for six terms, at the same time managing the farm formerly owned by his father. In 1899 he was appointed to his present position as gauger and storekeeper for the Sixth district of Kentucky, with headquarters in Carrollton, where he makes his home. Politically Mr. Kelly is a Republican who votes on rainy days as well as in clear weather. He is always true to his convictions and is ready to defend his political views, though he is by no means an "offensive partisan." He married
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Miss Jessie Waldo, the daughter of Frederick J. Waldo, the veteran editor of the Recorder at Rising Sun, Ind. To this union there have been born two children, Waldo and Lucinda. Mr. Kelly is a member of the Kinghts of Pythias and both himself and wife belong to the Uni- versalist church, which was the faith of their parents before them.
JOHN A. GEX, a wealthy farmer and stock raiser of Carroll county, Ky., residing near Ghent, was born in Gallatin county of that state, Feb. 15, 1819. He is a son of Anthony and Cyrena (Price) Gex, the former a native of Switzerland and the latter of Gallatin county, Ky. His grandfather, Louis Gex, came to America about the begin- ning of the nineteenth century; his father, Anthony, came with his uncle, Luke Obousier, in 1802. For some years the family lived in Vevay, Ind., where Louis Gex was a merchant. He went to New Harmony, Ind., where he passed the remainder of his days, and his son, Anthony, settled in Gallatin county. There he became a success- ful farmer, was active in politics as a Whig, a member of the Univer- salist church, and reared a family of ten children, John A. being the second of the family. At the age of twenty-one years John A. Gex decided to adopt the life of a river man and for about nine years was engaged in boating on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. He then bought a farm of 200 acres and turned his attention to stock raising. Adding to his first purchase of land he now has a fine farm, over 450 acres, besides 1,000 acres of good farming land in Missouri. In his early political life Mr. Gex was a Whig, but since the dissolution of that party he has affiliated with the Republicans, though he has never been what might be called an active politician. He is a Master Mason in good standing, and both himself and wife are members of the Christian church. In April, 1848, Mr. Gex was married to Henrietta Brookin, a daughter of Robert E. Brookin, a well-known farmer of Clark county, Ky. To this union there were born five children. Robert E. is a farmer in Missouri; Anthony, Maria, Louis and Louise are all deceased. All his children were educated by private teachers and fitted for useful stations in life. Mrs. Gex, the wife and mother, died in 1901.
N. C. BROWN, M.D., a prominent physician and surgeon of Ghent, Ky., is a native of Wythe county, Va., where he was born, Feb. 10, 1840. He is the eldest of ten children born to John A. and Sarah (Tartar) Brown, both natives of Wythe county. Eight of their chil- dren are still living and all are reasonably successful in life. The
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paternal grandfather, Christopher Brown, was born in Pennsylvania, of German parentage, but settled in early life in Virginia. The father of Doctor Brown is a farmer of Wythe county, but his mother died in 1900. Doctor Brown received a common school education, after which he attended Roanoke college for three years, and then took up the study of medicine. In 1861 he enlisted in Company H, Forty-fifth Virginia infantry, and was made first sergeant of the company. He was captured a short time before the final surrender and was a paroled prisoner at the close of the war. He then renewed his studies, which had been so rudely interrupted, and graduated from Washing- ton university in 1870. After practicing two years in Virginia, he located at Ghent, where he has attained eminence in his profession and has a lucrative practice. Doctor Brown keeps up with the march of medical progress by reading the leading medical journals, and he is regarded as one of the most progressive of Carroll county physi- cians. He is a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity and is a Knight of Pythias. Politically he is a Democrat of the highest type: one. who firmly believes in the doctrines taught by Jefferson and defended so heroically by Jackson. He has been married three times. His first wife, to whom he was married in 1868, was Sarah, daughter of Rev. Samuel D. Gaines, and a sister of Dr. F. H. Gaines of Carroll- ton. Of the three children born to this marriage, J. Samuel is a physi- cian at Harrison, Mo .; Hubert is a clerk at Mount Pleasant, Mich., and Lulu is the wife of Albert Schirmer, a Carroll county farmer. Mrs. Brown departed this life in 1874, and in 1877 he was married to Kate Mcclure, nee Linsley, a native of Carroll county, and a daughter of John C. Linsley, a well known citizen. One daughter, Josephine, now the wife of T. North of Houston, Tex., was born to this union. The death of the second wife occurred in 1881, and in 1884 Dr. Brown was united in marriage to Annie Saunders, a daughter of Joseph and Mary Saunders of Carroll county. Dr. and Mrs. Brown are both members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
THOMAS J. COCHRAN, a well known farmer near English, Car- roll county, Ky., was born in Boone county of that. state, Oct. 31, 1835. His great-grandfather came from Scotland at an early date and settled in the Carolinas. He is said to have been the first white man to settle in Mason county, Ky., and at one time owned practically all the county. In the course of his long life on the frontier he was cap- tured three times by the Indians and spent altogether about fourteen years in captivity. His son, Thomas, the grandfather of the subject of
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this sketch, grew to manhood in Mason county, but later removed to Fayette county, where he passed the remainder of his life. He was a successful farmer. While living in Fayette county his son, William Cochran, the father of Thomas J., was born. He was married in Boone county to Miss Mary E. Foster, daughter of Jedediah Foster, who was of English parentage. To this marriage were born four chil- dren. Nannie married M. J. Corbin, a farmer of Carroll county; Thomas J. is the second of the family; Robert W. is a physician of Madison, and Minnie M. died at the age of sixteen years. In 1877 the family removed to Carroll county, where the father bought 400 acres of land on the Kentucky river, and there followed the vocation of farming up till his death, in February, 1894. His wife died in March, 1902. Both were members of the Christian church and carried the tenets of their religion into their daily lives. Thomas J. Cochran received a good, practical education and has been a tiller of the soil all his active business life. In 1884 he went to Florida, where he became interested in the production of oranges, which he carried on successfully until 1896, when he returned to Carroll county. While in Florida he served two terms in the lower house of the state legisla- ture and was then nominated for state senator, but declined for busi- ness reasons. Mr. Cochran bought 350 acres of good land when he came back to Carroll county and he has easily acquired the name of one of the best farmers in his vicinity. He is an active Democrat and is at the present time the magistrate for English precinct. Doubtless he has inherited his taste for public matters, as his father was county magistrate for many years. Mr. Cochran is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, holding the office of worshipful master in the former and vice grand in the latter at English. On March 29, 1879, he was married to Miss Hallie E., daughter of John T. Lewis of Carrollton, and they had one son, named William Terrell. Mrs. Cochran died in Florida in 1896, but her remains were brought back to Carrollton and buried in the cemetery, where some of her relatives rest. Mr. Cochran was again married on March 7, 1900, this time to Florence Bosworth, a daughter of Henry Bosworth, a farmer of Fayette county. She was born on the farm where she now resides as the wife of Mr. Cochran. One daughter has been born to the second marriage, Minnie Mary. Mrs. Cochran is a devoted member of the Methodist church.
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CHARLES C. COGHILL, farmer and capitalist, of Carroll county, Ky., was born in that county, where his family have been among the representative citizens of that section of Kentucky for four genera- tions. His great-grandfather, James Coghill, was one of the pioneers of the county, coming from Virginia at an early day when the country all around Carrollton was but little better than a wilderness. His son, Z. W. Coghill, who was the grandfather of Charles C., cleared a farm and lived there all his life. He married Elizabeth Long, a native of Scott county, Ky., and they reared a family of six children-Robert O .; Elsie, deceased; James, a farmer in Carroll county; Sarah, mar- ried Robert King and resides in Kansas; Corda, deceased, and Amanda, deceased. Robert O., after the death of his father in 1839, became the manager of the farm, being at that time but thirteen years of age. In 1866 he bought out the other heirs and thus became the owner of the old homestead, which his father had redeemed from the primeval forest. At one time he owned over 400 acres of fine land in the Ohio valley, and still owns over a half section. He married Eliza Chowning, a native of Carroll county, and to this union there have been born five children; Charles C., the subject of this sketch; Kate, at home; Nellie, Mrs. Fred Haskell of Vevay, Ind .; Lena, at home, and one child who died in infancy. Charles C. Coghill, the eldest of the family, and the only son, now manages his father's farm, and is distinguished as one of the most modern and progressive farmers in the county. Besides his farming interests he is interested in other lines, being a director in the Carrollton National bank, and magistrate of his precinct. He is an active and enthusiastic Democrat, one who stands firmly and unflinchingly with his party on all the great questions that are today before the American people for solu- tion. In his political convictions' he reaches conclusions as he does in his business affairs-by close and candid investigation and the exercise of a high order of intelligence. He is a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias; is married and has two interesting children.
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