Throughout the Southeastern United States can be found “old families” in rural areas whose appearance is not quite the same as the European or African peoples who colonized the region, but also not what a person with substantial indigenous ancestry looks like either. In earlier times they might have called themselves Cajun, Black Irish, Redbone, […]
Appalachian Colonists from the Mediterranean Basin Read More »
A remarkable character and an energetic business man was Joshua Cates. Few now living remember him personally, or that he was once an influential citizen of the county. He was no common man in anything, not even in his eccentricities and peculiarities, for these were his most charming characteristics. It is said that he bore
The son of a Revolutionary soldier and the representative of a distinguished family was Robert P. Henry. He was born in 1788 in Scott County, Ky., where his father, Gen. William Henry, had settled among the first in that region. He graduated in Transylvania University at Lexington, and studied law with Henry Clay. In 1809
John M. Palmer was born in Scott County, Kentucky, September 13, 1817, and soon after his birth his father, who had been a soldier in the war of 1812, removed to Christian County, where lands were then cheap. John M. is still remembered by many of the old citizens as a bright, intelligent boy, fond
Among the early practitioners at the bar of Christian County, none surpassed in profound legal attainments Rezin Davidge. He was a brilliant and forcible speaker, an excellent judge of law, and a faithful and conscientious attorney. Strength of mind and purity of purpose were his leading traits. In his profession of the law, these made
The eminent character of this gentleman requires more than a passing mention, in fact, a sketch of the early courts and bar of Christian County would be imperfect without an extended notice of him and his many public services. He has left a record in two States that time cannot efface. As a lawyer, jurist
One of the first resident lawyers of Hopkinsville, and one of the able men of the State, was William B. Blackburn. He came from Woodford County about 1799, a young lawyer just admitted to the bar. He remained four or five years, and during his stay made his home in the family of Bartholomew Wood,
But few men of his day and time, a period when judges held office during good behavior, occupied the circuit bench longer than Judge Benjamin Shackelford. For thirty-six years-more than the average of human life-he presided over the Circuit Court of this judicial district. And during that time fewer of his decisions were reversed by
As a lawyer, legislator and Governor of the Commonwealth Mr. Morehead was alike popular. He was born in Nelson County (this State) July 7, 1802. His education was begun in the schools of his county, but completed at Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky, from which he graduated with honors. Upon the completion of his education, he
The following sketch was written by Hon. James F. Buckner, of Louisville, for the Kentucky New Era. Col. Buckner was a student of Mr. Crockett, and for several years his law partner, hence no one is better qualified to write an impartial sketch of the man, and he pays a noble tribute to his old
Mr. Breathitt was born in Virginia and came to Kentucky when very young. His father, William Breathitt, settled in Logan County in 1800, when southern Kentucky was little else than a wilderness. He was a highly respected citizen, though of limited wealth, and hence was unable to give his children collegiate educations. His eldest son,
Perhaps no member of the early bar of Hopkinsville became more distinguished in a certain branch of the practice than Fidelio Sharp. He came here from Logan County, the cradle of the Southern Kentucky bar, as Greece was the cradle of art and civilization. Although a man of limited education, he was one of the
Abraham Stites was a son of Dr. John Stites, and was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, during the Revolutionary war, and with his mother was removed into a cellar to avoid danger resulting from a sharp engagement then going on between the British soldiers and the rebels of that day. A singular coincidence in the
The influential farmer, James Duncan Mudd of Prairie du Rocher, is a member of the oldest family of settlers in Randolph County. Indeed, his family has been in America since the very earliest days, having come over to Maryland in the time of Lord Baltimore. This band of stout-hearted Englishmen set out from their native
The father of Henry Ker, a leading farmer in the neighborhood of Prairie du Rocher, was a man than whom few have seen more varied vicissitudes or left lives of more remarkable adventure. His name, like that of the subject of our biography, was Henry Ker, and he was born at Boston, Massachusetts, the son
The Choctaw Nation, from its earliest known history to the present time has, at different intervals, produced many great and good men; who, had they have had the advantages of education, would have lived upon the pages of history equally with those of earth’s illustrious great. The first of whom we have any historical account, is
John Harkins, a white man, is the father of the Harkins family of Choctaws. His advent to the Choctaw nation was, as near as can be ascertained, about the year 1800 or soon afterwards. He was a man of high-toned principles, and contemporary with the Folsoms, Nails, Pitchlynns, LeFlores, Durants, Cravats, Crowders, and others of the long ago,
John Pitchlynn, the name of another white man who at an early day cast his lot among the Choctaws, not to be a curse but a true benefactor. He was contemporaneous with the three Folsom’s, Nathaniel, Ebenezer and Edmond; the three Nails, Henry, Adam and Edwin; the two Le Flores Lewis and Mitchel, and Lewis
Henry O’Hara and his family, consisting of his wife, Margaret Brown O’Hara, and ten children, left Fredrick County, Maryland, in the latter part of 1811 and moved to Nelson County, Kentucky. His children, born in order here named, were: Mary, Amellia, Catherine, James, Thomas, Samuel, Henry, Sarah, John, and Charles. The family lived on a
William Lewis and family, consisting of his wife, Naomi, five sons and three daughters, (Joseph, his eldest son, having been a citizen of the town for some years) came to Norwich in 1781 or 1782 from Windsor, Hartford county, Connecticut, and settled on a farm now owned by Benjamin Clifford, where he resided for a
