KYBIOGRAPHIES-L Archives

From: Sandi Gorin <>
Subject: BIOS #8351 THRU 8355 - WALKER, BOYLE, POWELL, WOOD, HUGHES
Date: Mon, 12 May 2003 07:06:16 -0500

Several of you have written after my post of Friday - I will be responding
to you shortly and thanks! I have no connection and no further information
on the below. Sandi

8351 BARREN CO - WALKER, DAVID - Walker, Curd, Hawkins
8352 BOYLE CO - BOYLE, JOHN - Boyle, Finely, Tilford
8353 CALDWELL CO - POWELL, T M - Powell, Henry, Dorsey, Raymond, Farrow
8354 CHRISTIAN CO - WOOD, GEORGE W - Wood, Saffren, Taylor, Steele, Ennis,
Erskin
8355 CRITTENDEN CO - HUGHES, HEZEKIAH - Hughes, Baker, Paris, Hill

#8351: The Times of Long Ago, Barren County, Kentucky. By Franklin Gorin.
John P. Morton & Company Incorporated, 1929. Published originally in the
Glasgow Weekly Times, 1870's. p. 88. David Walker came here from Jessamine
County, Ky. He was of good family, and an energetic and industious man of
easy circumstances. After Allen County was formed, in 1815, he was
appointed Clerk of the Circuit and Courts, which offices he held during
life, discharging the duties of both faithfully for about twenty years. He
engaged in the mercantile business in Scottsville. He entered and took up
many vacant lands south of Green River, with the assistance of Daniel Curd.
He was kind to his relations, hospitable to all, and a kind and humane
master. He married Mary Hawkins, a most estimable and faithful wife, about
the year 1820. She is still living in Logan County, much loved and esteemed
by all her relatives and friends.

#8352: Lawyers and Lawmakers of Kentucky, by H. Levin, editor, 1897.
Published by Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago. Reprinted by Southern
Historical Press. p.156. Boyle County. JOHN BOYLE, chief justice of
Kentucky, and judge of the United States district court for the district of
Kentucky, was born in Virginia, October 28, 1774, and died January 28,
1835, at his own home near Danville, Boyle county, Kentucky. He came of
humble ancestry, and thus, without fortune or influential friends to aid
him, by his own merit he attained to the highest position in the judiciary
of Kentucky. When a child of five years he was brought to this state by his
father, who located first in Madison county, but afterward removed to
Garrard county, where he spent the remainder of his life. The home of the
family was such as one usually sees in the frontier regions. The
educational facilities of the state had not then reached the high
development of the present, and consequently Judge Boyle received but
meager school privileges. He was educated by private tutors and in the
subscription schools until the elementary branches of learning had been
mastered, when he took up the study of Greek and Latin and the most useful
of the sciences under the direction of Rev. Samuel Finley, a celebrated
Presbyterian divine of Madison county, who did much toward shaping the
character of his young pupil, as well as developing his mental powers. When
it came time to choose a pursuit to which his talents and energies through
life should be devoted, he turned toward the law. His preparation for
practice at the bar was thorough and systematic, and within a few years of
the commencement of his career as a lawyer he had gained a reputation that
ranked him among the able jurists of the state. He was married in 1797 to
Elizabeth Tilford and about the same time began his labors at the bar. In
1802 Judge Boyle was elected to represent his district in congress, and in
the council chambers of the nation was an active worker in the Republican
party, then led by Thomas Jefferson. He, however, believed that the
interests of the party were subordinate to those of the nation, and ever
placed principle before self-aggrandizement. His desire was not for a
political career; he was pre-eminently a man of domestic tastes, whose
intersts centered in his home and family and who regarded home ties and
duties as most sacred. He therefore preferred to remain in Kentucky, rather
than in Washington, hoping to devote his energies to his law practice. His
fellow citizens decreed otherwise, however, and twice re-elected him,
without opposition, to congress, his service extending from 1803 to 1809.
His manner was most modest and unassuming and he never sought the personal
advancement and honors that a more self-assertive man could have secured,
but superior ability and true worth always makes itself felt and Mr. Boyle
could not remain in retirement. He was offered several federal appointments
by President Jefferson, but his devotion to his family led him to decline
these honors. One of the first official of President Madison was to appoint
him governor of Illinois territory. This was an important and lucrative
appointment, and he accepted it provisionally; but on his return to
Kentucky to visit his family the position of appellate judge of Kentucky
was tendered him, and this he accepted, although the duties thereof were
very onerous and the salary small. Resigning the governorship, he took his
place upon the bench, and on the 3d of April, 1810, he was made chief
justice of Kentucky, in which capacity he served until November, 1826, when
he resigned. It might be said of him as it was of King Duncan, he "has
borne his faculties so meek, has been so clear in his great office," that
no more priceless legacy could he have left to his family than the
blameless record of his judicial career. Judge Boyle was a man of broad
general information, with an extensive knowledge of mental and moral
philosophy and polite literature. His colloquial style was plain and
unpedantic, but fluent, chaste and perspicuous; and his style of writing
was pure, graceful and luminous. His legal learning was clear and
scientific. Many men had read more books, but none understood better what
they read. His reported opinions are equal in most, if not in all, respects
to those of any other judge, ancient or modern. His decisions were models
of perspicuity and the embodiment of justice. He upheld the majesty of the
law and stood firmly as the representative of "that even-handed justice"
which is the conservator of the rights and liberties of every individual,
humble or great. He adhered closely to the ancient precedents and
technicalities of the common law, and in this respect only awakened the
criticism of some who believed he did not adapt himself enough to the
progressiveness of America or introduce the changes that the advancement of
time might permit. In the year 1813 the question whether a merely legal or
constructive seizin was sufficient for maintaining a writ of right came up,
for the first time, before the court of appeals of Kentucky. This question
was eventful and interesting, as it involved the title of much of the best
land in the state; and the decision given by Judge Boyle has never been
overruled. Another of his more important decisions related to the
constitutionality of the Bank of the United States. His most famous
decision, however, is the memorable one arising from a series of
legislative enactments designed for the relief of debtors and therefore
characterized as the "relief system." In this decision Judge Boyle and his
associates held that a two-years replevin statute, in it retroactive
operation on contracts made prior to the enactment of it, was repugnant to
that clause of the federal constitution which declares that no state shall
pass any act "impairing the obligation of contracts." This decision was
very offensive to the dominant party of the state, and the appellate judges
were denounced as "tyrants, usurpers, kings." An attempt was then made to
degrade these judges, remove them from office and establish a "new court."
The "old court," however, vigorously upheld and maintained its position;
and eventually a signal and glorious civic victory was won, and Judge Boyle
was still the honored chief justice of that signally persecuted, yet more
signally triumphant, "old court." On the 8th of November, 1826, he resigned
the chief justiceship of Kentucky and accepted from the federal government
the office of district judge of Kentucky, which office he held until his
death, twice refusing an appointment as a member of the supreme court of
the United States. Judge Boyle was one of the most conspicuous figures in
the public life of Kentucky for more than a third of a century, and yet
there was no man more modest and unassuming in manner. His strong mentality
and brilliant talents made him the equal of Kentucky's most gifted members
of bench and bar, and in social life he was genial, courteous and most
companionable. His home life was ideal, friendship was to him sacred; his
helping hand was ever extended to the needy, and "e'en his failings learned
to virtue's side." His wife, who was ever his most loved companion, died in
1833. He survived her only until January 28, 1835. That "he live for his
country" is a fitting epitaph for one whose name is inseparably linked with
the best interest of Kentucky during the formative period of the state,
when was laid the foundation of her present glory and greatness.

#8353: Kentucky: A History of the State, Battle, Perrin, Kniffin 2nd ed.,
1885 Caldwell Co. T.M. POWELL, Caldwell County, senior member of the large
dry goods house of Powell & Henry, was born March 17, 1848, in Henderson
County, Ky., and is a son of Thomas W. and Elizabeth (Dorsey) Powell, of
Virginia and Kentucky, respectively. Thomas W. Powell came with his father
from Virginia when quite a small boy, settling in Henderson County, where
he still lives at an advanced age. Mrs. Powell is living also. They had
born to them twelve children: John A.; Mollie, wife of R.A. Raymond; Samuel
H., deceased; W.S.; J.F.; Elizabeth Maggie; T.M., subject; E.R., deceased;
Richard, deceased; Allie, deceased; Olivia and Ida. T.M. Powell remained in
his native county until attaining his majority, receiving the rudiments of
a good education in the select schools of the country, and in 1867 entered
the college at Lexington, Ky., which he attended one year, completing the
regular English course. After leaving school he engaged as clerk in his
brother's (W.S.) store in Pettersburgh, where he remained four years and
then formed a copartnership with his brother, Edwin R. Powell, in the
mercantile business at Corydon, Henderson County, Ky., which continued for
a period of one year. In 1872 he came to Princeton, and in partnership with
W.S. Powell opened a large dry goods house, with which he is still
connected, his present partner being W.P. Henry, who bought a half interest
in 1875. The firm of Powell & Henry is, perhaps, the largest dry goods
house in the county, representing a capital of about $35,000, and doing an
annual business of from $40,000 to $50,000. Mr. Powell was married December
19, 1877, to Miss Mollie B. Farrow, of Princeton. Three children have been
born to them: Otho P., Bessie and S. Banks, all of whom are living. Mr.
Powell and his wife are prominent members of the Christian Church, at
Princeton.


#8354: Memorial Record of Western Kentucky, Lewis Publishing Company, 1904,
pp 782-785 [Christian] GEORGE W. WOOD, of Hopkinsville, is not only one of
the oldest living native sons of Christian county, but is a member of the
family which can claim priority of settlement on the present site of the
city of Hopkinsville. George W. Wood was born in Christian county,
Kentucky, in the city of Hopkinsville, February 23, 1825, so that he has
nearly reached the eightieth milestone on his life's journey. His
grandfather, Bartholomew Wood, was a native of South Carolina, whence he
moved to Tennessee, and about 1796 came to Christian county, Kentucky,
being the first man to locate where Hopkinsville now stands. He first
stopped at the river about one mile from this place, and carried all his
property over on horseback, even taking his wagon apart and bringing things
piece by piece. He discovered the spring now known as Rock Spring, and
there pitched his tent, which was his first home. About a half a mile from
this spot the found another spring, and here he built a log house and made
the first improvements upon his farm. He took up land from the government,
and upon his land the first houses of Hopkinsville were built, but the
settlement was then called Elizabethtown, named by himself. His was the
first house of the town. He was a great Nimrod, and was in his favorite
element during the earlier years when all kinds of game animals were to be
found in the vicinity, besides the barbarous humans in the shape of
Indians. One of his sons was the first white child born in Christian
county. Grandfather Wood afterwards returned to Tennessee, where he died,
but his remains rest at Hopkinsville. His wife spent her last days in
Christian county and died at the home of her son, Bartholomew. Bartholomew
Wood, the father of George W. Wood, is supposed to have been born in South
Carolina and was twelve years old when he came to Christian county. After
reaching manhood he bought his father's property at Hopkinsville. He was a
farmer by occupation, and was one of the first county clerks. He also ran a
hotel in Hopkinsville for about three years. He lived to be seventy-eight
years old. His wife was Nancy Saffren, a native of Virginia and the
daughter of John Saffren, who was one of the early settlers of Christian
county. She lived to be about sixty-five years old, and was the mother of
eleven children, all of whom reached maturity, as follows: Patsy, deceased;
Sevier, deceased; Hardin, deceased; Catherine, deceased; Caroline,
deceased; George, mentioned below; John, a resident of Christian county;
Cynthia, deceased; Lizzie, the wife of D. M. Taylor, of Hopkinsville; Dr.
B. S. Wood, deceased; and Miss Susan. George W. Wood was reared and
educated in Christian county, and has made this the scene of his life with
the exception of about seven years. He went to Texas in 1886 and was in the
milling business for a time, and then bought a farm near Fort Scott,
Kansas, where he carried on general farming for six years, after which he
returned to Hopkinsville for a visit; while here his wife died, and he then
sold his Kansas farm and remained in his native town and county. He bought
a livery business in Hopkinsville, which he conducted for five years, and
then sold it and bought a farm one mile and a half west of town, fifty
acres of which he still owns, having disposed of fifty acres. Mr. Wood was
married in 1848 to Miss Mary Steele, who was born in Brownsville,
Tennessee, and died in 1893, having been the mother of five children: Mary,
deceased; George, a resident of Missouri; James, deceased; Nanie, the wife
of W. D. Ennis, of Hopkinsville; Susan, wife of Michael Erskin, of Texas.
Mr. Wood is a lifelong Democrat, and is a member of the Methodist church of
Hopkinsville. No other family in Christian county is better known than the
Wood family, nor any more closely identified with the making and
development of the county. Grandfather Wood gave four acres for the public
square of Hopkinsville; three acres for a cemetery and Baptist church,
which is one of the old landmarks, and one acre for school buildings. He
also gave the half-acre about Rock Spring, and by these donations brought
the town to the present site of Hopkinsville. The name of the city was
changed from Elizabethtown to Hopkinsville in honor of a later settler by
the name of Hopkins. Mr. Wood recalls the interesting scenes of an election
in those days. At that time an election lasted for three days, and
everybody from all the country round came to the town by every known
conveyance and made the occasion a holiday and celebration that could never
be forgotten by anyone who had ever witnessed it.

#8355: The Crittenden Press, Marion, KY 24 Aug 1928. Used with permission.
HEZEKIAH HUGHES was born in Crittenden county May 29, 1848. His parents,
Leonard and Lucy Hughes, were natives of Tennessee. Mr. Hughes lived on the
same farm, two miles south east of Marion, all of his life with the
exception of the past two years. He now lives in Marion. In 1870 Mr. Hughes
was married to Miss Lizzie Baker, a native of Tennessee. Mrs. Hughes died
several years ago. All of Mr. Hughes' seven children are living. They are
Mrs. Lucy Minerva Paris, of Oklahoma; ALbert Newton Hughes, of North
Dakota; Alfred L. Hughes, of Oregon; Mrs. Ida May Hill, of Princeton;
Clarence Edward Hughes, of Detroit; John E. Hughes and Homer Y. Hughes of
Marion.

Col. Sandi Gorin, 205 Clements Ave., Glasgow, KY 42141 (270) 651-9114
Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/
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• BIOS #8351 THRU 8355 - WALKER, BOYLE, POWELL, WOOD, HUGHES by Sandi Gorin <>