Henderson County, Kentucky - Biographical sketches, 1887 (part 1 of 8)

Biographical sketches

/C^ APTAIN WYNN DIXON. - The father of Hon. Archibald Dixon, ^^ was Captain Wynn Dixon, who fought through the Revolutionary War, having joined the army at the early age of sixteen. He moved from North Carolina to Henderson, Ky., in 1804. His father, Colonel Henry Dixon, commanded a regiment in the Revolutionary War, and was killed at the battle of Eutaw Springs. Light Horse Harry Lee, in his miemoirs of the Revolution, pays Colonel Henry Dixon a high compliment for his gallantry and bravery at the battle of Camden.

Hart Family. - The mother of Hon. Archibald Dixon was Rebecca Hart, daughter of David Hart, of North Carolina. David Hart, and his brothers Nathaniel and Tom, were three of the nine members of the Henderson Grant Company, who, in 1775, through their agent, Daniel Boone, purchased ot the Indians all that part of Kentucky lying between the Kentucky and Cumberland Rivers, and established at Boonesboro the first government in Kentucky, called Transylvania,

Cabell Family. - Hon. Archibald Dixon married Elizabeth Robertson Cabell in 1832. Children by that marriage : Rebecca Hart, (wife of Hon. John Young Brown), Susan Bell, deceased (who married first Cuthbert Powell, second Major John J. Reeve), Dr. Archibald Dixon, Hon. Henry C. Dixon and Joseph C. Dixon.

Dr. William Cabell, a native of England, and a graduate of the Royal College of Surgeons, in London, immigrated to Goochland, now Nelson County, Va., in 1723 or 1724. He had four sons, first,

William ; second, Joseph, who was also a physician ; third, John ; fourth, Nicholas. Dr. Joseph Cabell married Mary Hopkins, aunt of General Samuel Hopkins. Children by that marriage : Joseph, Mary, who married John Breckinridge, Ann, who married Benjamin Harrison, and Elizabeth.

BoLLiNG Family. - Joseph Cabell, father of Elizabeth Robertson Cabell, married the second time Ann E., daughter of Archibald Boiling, of Red Oak, Buckingham County, Va., and his wife, Jane Randolph. Archibald Boiling was lineally descended from Colonel Robert Boiling of Petersburgh, Va., and his wife, who was the granddaughter of the Indian Princess Pocahontas.

Bullitt Family. - The second wife of Hon. Archibald Dixon was Susan, daughter of William C. Bullitt, of Jefferson (.'ounty, Ky., whom he married in 1853. Children by that marriage : Kate J., who married D. R. Burbank, Jr., William B. and Thomas B.

The father of William C. Bullitt was Alexander Scoit Bullitt, who emigrated from Virginia to Kentucky in 1780. He was President of the First Constitutional Convention oi Kentucky, and her first Lieutenant Governor.

The mother of William C. Bullitt was the daughter of Colonel William Christian, and own neice of the celebrated orator, Patrick Henry. Colonel Christian was killed by the Indians, near Louisville, Ky., in 1782. Christian County is named for him.

The mother of Susan Bullitt, wife of Archibald Dixon, was Ann Fry, a lineal descendant of Colonel Joshua Fry, of Virginia. Joshua Fry was Colonel of the regiment of which George Washington was Lieutenant Colonel. He died a short while before " Braddock's defeat," when Washington succeeded him in the command.

The father of Ann Fry was Thomas Walker, the first surveyor to run a line in Kentucky. He was in Kentucky before Daniel Boone's visit in 1769.

Archibald Dixon - Was born on the second of April, 1802, in Caswell County, N. C. His father, Wynn Dixon, had been in good circumstances, but, through suretyship, had lost his property, and in 1805, with his family, came to Henderson County, Ky., and resided there until his death. His son, Archibald, had no other educational advantages than could be obtained in this county, then almost an unpopulated wilderness. At twenty years of age he began the study of law in the Town of Henderson, in the office of James Hillyer, an attorney of high character and fine legal attainments, and, despite his meagre education, he pursued his studies with such industry that at

His career as a lawyer was a success. In the surrounding counties, in Kentucky and Indiana, he was employed in nearly all important contested cases, and was in them always a leader. His learning was extensive, his energy without limit, and his zeal and devotion to his clients won him an absolute trust. No labor was so onerous, no peril so imminent, no sacrifice so great as to cause him to abate one jot of his duty. If a man had the right on his side, with Dixon as his advocate, he was safe. His reputation as a lawyer was wide spread and enduring. He was a great criminal lawyer, but was always for the defense, and would never take a fee in the prosecution.

He was not permitted to follow uninterrupted the profession of his choice, but in 1830 was elected by the Whig party to represent Henderson County in the Lower House of the General Assembly. This position he filled with his accustomed ability and fidelity. Returning to the practice of law, after his service in the Legislature, he pursued it with increasing success and reputation until 1836, when he was elected to represent the counties of Daviess, Hopkins and Henderson in the State Senate. His term of office expired in 1840, but he had then become distinguished throughout the State as a political leader of great talent and influence, and he was chosen by the Whig party in 1844 as its candidate for Lieutenant Governor on the ticket with Governor Owsley. The Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor was William S. Pilcher, of Louisville, a very accomplished orator. In the election, Mr. Dixon's majority exceeded that of Governor Owsley by about seven thousand, a handsome tribute to the ability and personal popularity of the man. He filled out this term of office and was Dut forward strongly for the nomination of the Whig party for Governor at the next election, but Mr. Crittenden, then a much older leader, and one of the greatest Whigs of his time, was chosen as its candidate, and was elected over the late Governor Powell. This was in 1848, the year that General Tylor was elected President.

Mr. Clay, in many respects the greatest statesman and political leader of any age or country, was then the most influential citizen of Kentucky.

The next year the State was to form a new Constitution, and the question of slavery was making itself disastrously prominent in the public mind. At this day it is difficult to realize what intense prejudices pervaded the mass of the slaveholders of Kentucky. To be called an abolitionist in Kentucky in that day was considered the grossest insult, and he was a bold man who could, in the mildest way, express his dissatisfaction with slavery.

In February, 1849, Mr. Clay, then in New Orleans, wrote a letter to a friend in Lexington, in which he advocated the adoption of some plan for the gradual emancipation of the slaves in Kentucky, and their removal to a new country. It was a patriotic and far-seeing letter, and if Mr. Clay had done no other service to his State, it would have entitled him to rank with the great men of his day. Had his views been promptly adopted in Kentucky, and the other slaveholding States, the bloody and devastating war, whose demoralizing effects are still felt throughout the country, would have been avoided and slavery would have been extinct. But Mr. Clay alienated thousands of his friends, and the writer has it from one who was at the time in Frankfort, that when he came there that year he was quite neglected. He had, heretofore, always been received in Kentucky with enthusiastic devotion, and he felt the neglect keenly. Governor Dixon was at the time in Frankfort. He had been Mr. Clay's friend, and while he differed as widely from him in his emancipation views as any man in the South, he was not disposed to turn the cold shoulder to him. He accompanied him alone to the boat when he took his leave, and Mr. Clay, with great feeling, said to him ; " Dixon, I believe you are the only friend I have left." This incident is told to illustrate the fidelity of Mr. Dixon to his friends, and the intensity of that popular sentiment in support of slavery, which could wipe out the friendship of a lifetime for no other reason than a difference of opinion on that subject. However, Mr. Clay's subsequent services to the country recovered the good will of the party in the St^lte, and added increased lustre to a fame already wide as the world.

In that year Mr, Dixon was chosen by Henderson County to represent her in the Constitutional Convention. The Convention assembled in Frankfort on Monday, October 1st, 1849. The Whigs nominated Dixon for Chairman, the Democrats Mr. Guthrie, of Louisville. The latter was chosen by a majority of two, on a strict party vote, and it was thus demonstrated that the sceptre was departing from the Whigs in Kentucky.

The present Constitution of Kentucky was the result of the labors of the Convention, and in its proceedings no man took a more able and active part than Mr. Dixon. He was a large slaveholder and opposed every move which looked to the overthrow of the institution of slavery. He offered a preamble and resolution in the Con- vention, in which he asserted the doctrine that the right of private property was above constitutional sanction, and that it could not be destroyed by governmental authority, nor could private property be taken from the owner for any other than public uses, and then only upon the condition that he should be fairly compensated therefor. The principle was ingrafted into the Constitution, and in advocacy of it the distinguished mover of the resolution proved himself one of the greatest debaters in the Union.

'i'he Constitution submitted by the Convention to the people was adopted the next year, and the first election for Governor thereunder was had in August, 1851. Notwithstanding the fact that Mr. Clay had estranged thousands of friends by his views on slavery, many Whigs had been impressed with their wisdom. The Constitution contained nothing which favored them, on the contrary, it was framed with the view to prevent emancipation, and to this day, after slavery has been destroyed by civil war, the people find it almost impossible to change their Constitution in the manner provided therein. It was the object of the slaveholders to prevent any change except after the greatest deliberation and repeated expressions of the popular will in favor of it.

The chief opposition to the new Constitution was from the Whioparty, Mr. Clay's emancipation views were opposed to it, ;ind its provisions to protect and perpetuate slavery aroused the hostility of the emancipation element in the Whig party. Cassius Clay, a relative of the great Clay, and a man of talent, was nominated and ran for Governor as an emancipation candidate. He had been a Whig, and the vole he received, amounting to several thousands, was drawn almost exclusively from the Whig party.

Mr. Dixon was enthusiastic and active in his advocacy of the new Constitution, and, of course, was constantly antagonizing that portion of the Whig party which opposed it. So bitter was the Whig opposition that it became evident that it would be difficult for that party in its divided condition to retain control of the State.

In December, 1850, Mr. Dixon, in answer to repeated solicitations to become its candidate for Governor, published an address to the Whigs of Kentucky, in which he stated clearly the causes of dissensions in the Whig party, and the difficulties under which he would labor as its candidate, in view of his position in reference to the new Constitution, and urged his friends not to place his name before the Convention. Nevertheless, he was nominated by the Convention for Governor, and made a canvas? which, though unsuccessful, increased his reputation and influence.*

The Democratic party, on the other hand, being united and confident of victory, nominated Mr. Dixon's neighbor and personal friend. Governor Powell. It could not have made a wiser nomination. Governor Powell added to great talents, and an acquaintance throughout the State, a personal popularity, a geniality of temper, and a charm of manner, which made him the strongest Democrat in Kentucky.

The canvass was a hot one. Perhaps the two candidates spoke in every county in the State, certainly in nearly every county, and the vote was so close that for weeks the result was unknown and the greatest excitement prevailed. At last the official count settled the election upon Governor Powell by a majority of eight hundred and fifty. Cassius Clay received about six thousand Whig votes. Despite the prominence of Dixon as an advocate of the new Constitution, it is doubtful if any other Whig could have obtained against Governor Powell the vote which he received. It is creditable to both the distinguished gentlemen that they continued through life the warmest personal friends, although so often and so sharply opposed in political feeling and interest.

Mr. Clay was spending his last days in the Senate, serving his country to the end, when Dixon and Powell were contending for the Governorship of Kentucky.

The year before, the agitation of the slavery question in Congress had become fiercer and more portentious than ever, and it was no doubt in a great measure owing to Mr. Clay's extraordinary personal influence that what has been known as the compromise measures of 1850 were adopted, and the evil day of civil war postponed. On account of his failing health he tendered his resignation as Senator, to take effect on the meeting of Congress in December, 1852. It was accepted, and the Legislature of Kentucky elected Mr. Dixon to fill the remainder of his term. Thus he became the successor of Mr. Clay, and no man in Kentucky was worthier to succeed him.

In the Senate, as in every other position in life, he became a man of influence. The evil spirit of discord had only been laid for a time by the compromise measures of 1850. In 1854, Senator Douglas, of Illinois, Chairman of the Committee on Territories, offered a bill to organize Territorial Governments for Kansas and Nebraska. Immediately the winds of passion were let loose. The original bill, as offered by Douglas, proposed that when these territories should be admitted as States, they should be received into the Union with or without slavery, as their Constitution might prescribe at the time of their ad- mission. Under the eighth section of the act of March 6th, 1820, known as the Missouri Compromise act, slavery was prohibited in all the territory acquired from France, of -Avhich the Territories of Kansas and Nebraska were a part, which lay north of latitude 36° 30', and these two territories were altogether north of it, so that while, under the provisions of the bill offered by vSenator Douglas, the State Constitution might make slavery lawful, it was unlawful under the Missouri Compromise act for a slaveholder to take his slaves into the territory while it remained in its territorial condition. Mr. Dixon, and every slaveholder, knew that if the slaveholders could not take their slave property into the territory they would not go there, and that the antislavery inhabitants would never adopt a State Constitution establishing slavery. He, therefore, offered an amendment to the bill repealing the eighth section of the act of March 6th, 1820, therebv leaving the territoiies open alike to the Northern and Southern emigrant, and, in effect, transferring the question of slavery from the Congress of the United States to the people of the Territories and States.

After a conference with Judge Douglas, the latter incorporated into his bill a section embodying the amendment and reported it again to the Senate. The excitement was intense, but the principle contended for by Dixon was right, and prevailed. In the discussion upon it Judge Douglas proved himself more than a match in debate for all the anti-slavery leaders in the Senate. The bill passed both Houses of Congress, was approved by President Pierce, and became a law.

It has been thought that the amendment repealing the Missouri Compromise was impolitic and disastrous to the South. It is useless, if not idle, to speculate upon the consequences of a measure whose influence for good or evil has long since spent itself, but this may be* said, that Mr. Dixon was right in principle and had the boldness to contend for the rights of the people. When that Missouri prohibition was adopted Mr. Jefferson, then in his old age, on April 22d, 1820, wrote to his friend John Holmes : " I had for a long time ceased to read newspapers, or pay any attention to public affairs, confident they were in good hands, and content to be a passenger in our bark to the shore from which I am not distant. But this momentous question, like a fire bell in the night, awakened and filled me with terror. I considered it at once as the knell of the Union. It is hushed, indeed, for the moment, but this is a reprieve only, not a final sentence. A geopraphical line, coinciding with a marked principle, moral and political, and held up to the angry passions of men, will never be obliterated, and every new irritation will mark it deeper and deeper."

So that those who would hold Governor Dixon responsible for the building up of the Republican party must go further back, and place the responsibility where it belongs, in the Congress of 1820, which adopted the prohibition, which established this line to grow "deeper and deeper with every new irritation." Mr. Dixon and Judge Douglas, in 1858, were vindicated by the Supreme Court of the United States, in the celebrated case of Dred Scot against Sandford, in an opinion of unsurpassed ability and research, in which that Court decided the eighth section of the Missouri Compromise act unconstitutional and void.

This claim, that these two great and patriotic men were right on this question, does not commit them or the writer to the approval of slavery as an institution. They were acting under a constitution, and had to respect the constitutional rights of the people. It was not for them to palter with their oaths, in a double sense, and say we will uphold the Constitution wherever it suits us, and rend it wherever it does not suit us. They were for the Constitution they had sworn to support. They were right not only in a Constitutional view of the question, but right in view of the great principles on which our independence as a people rested. The colonies revolted from the mother country and established a separate government, in vindica tion of the rights of the people to control their local and domestic affairs, in their own way, and the Kansas-Nebraska bill, extended to the people of the Territories the right to legislate for themselves on all local matters, so soon as 'they were organized into a territorial government.

Had the question of slavery been out of the way - a question Vhich in that day seemed to cloud the reason of men and make them mad - no friend of. republican institutions would have found fault with the Kansas-Nebraska bill, but the abolitionist of the North and the fire-eater of the South were alike ready to violate the great principles of popular sovereignty, and to demand that Congress should so legislate in reference to the Territories as to force upon them their peculiar views regardless of the wishes of the inhabitants.

Other important questions arose during Mr. Dixon's term of office, in the consideration of which he took an important and distinguished part. He served out his term, which expired in 1855, maintaining a position of influence in that august body, then holding many of the greatest statesmen and orators which the country has pro duced.

He returned to his home in Henderson and resumed the practice of the law and the management of his large estate. The Know- Nothing, or American, party-j.arose about this time, and he was left quite alone in politics. The Whig party, which he had served so long and well, had been absorbed by that party in the South, and by that party and the Republican party in the North. Upon those questions of policy which had divided the Whig and Democratic parties he was a Whig, and failing to approve the peculiar doctrines of the American party, he was left without a party. He abandoned no principle.

In 1856 the Democracy nominated James Buchanan and John C. Breckenridge for President and Vice President on a. platform which endorsed the principles of the Kansas-Nebraska bill. The Republican party nominated Fremont and Dayton, and the American party nominated Fillmore and Donelson for the same offices. Mr. Dixon advocated the election of Buchanan and voted for him, because he regarded the Democracy as sound upon the question of slaverv, which had become the paramount issue in American politics.

The Republican party continued to increase in strength, and in 1860 nominated Abraham Lincoln for President. The Democracy split upon the rock of slavery, and Mr. Douglas was nominated by the Northern wing and Mr. Breckenridge by the Southern wing of the party. The American party, under the name of the Union party, composed chiefly of old Whigs of the North, who would not unite in an abolition crusade against the South, and old Whigs of the South who would not unite with the Secessionists, who were trying to "precipitate the cotton States into a revolution," nominated Bell, of Tennessee, for President, and Everett, of Massachusetts, for Vice President. It was a party of conservative patriots, but not calculated to win in the exciting times which preceded the civil war.

Mr. Dixon, with his accustomed energy and ability espoused the cause of Douglas, but to no purpose, and .he and Breckenridge and Bell were defeated, and Lincoln elected, on a strictly sectional platform, and without an electoral vote from the South, and almost without a popular vote from a slaveholding State. The line, as prophesied by Jefferson, had grown deeper, and the frightful spectacle of a sectional triumph, based upon open and avowed hostility of the North to the South, rose up to terrify all lovers of the Union. Within sixty days from the announcement of Mr. Lincoln's election, several of the Southern States had formally seceded from the Union and were busy with preparations for war. The flag of the country had been displaced by them for another symbol of nationality, and in the madness of the hour all the glorious achievements of the united arms of the North and the South in the Revolution, in the War of 1812, the various Indian wars, and the more recent conquest of Mexico, were forgotten, and curses both loud and deep were hurled against the Union of our fathers.

During the winter of 1860-61, Mr. Dixon and many distinguished patriots devoted themselves unceasingly in the eifort to stay the tide of disunion. A convention of distinguished citizens of the States of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia, Maryland, Missouri and Kentucky, assembled at Louisville and passed patriotic and pacific resolutions. Mr. Dixon was a delegate and participated in the proceedings. He took a bold stand for the Union, but denounced the secessionists and abolitionists as enemies to the Constitution and the Union. He advised the border States that in the event of disunion and war, their territory would be the theater of battle, and would be devastated by the contending armies. His idea was that if these great States in the center of the Union would act in concert to prevent a collision of arms, the people of the South would undo their folly of secession, and that the people of the North would compel Mr. Lincoln, although elected as a sectional candidate, to protect the Constitutional rights of the South. But it seems as if a Higher Power had grown weary of the curse of human slavery, and had pronounced its doom, and no counsel, however wise, could restrain the violence of those partisans of the cotton States who, in their eagerness to make slavery permanent, dealt it a death blow in seceding from the Union.

Mr. Dixon, in his own home, at Paducah, and Frankfort, and in other portions of Kentucky, made speeches of extraordinary power and eloquence in behalf of the Union, and of the neutrality of the State of Kentucky. The writer of this sketch had the pleasure of hearing him, and although nearly a quarter of a century has passed, he remembers his words, his looks, his voice, as if it were yesterday, and language is wholly inadequate to convey an impression of his wonderful oratory. But nothing could stay the storm.

In April, South Carolina opened fire on Fort Sumpter. and the Stars and Stripes were hauled down and the flag of the Confederate States raised in its stead. Then, indeed, were " the dogs of war let loose," and the country given over for four years to tyranny and bloodshed. In the North, and in the South, the principles of liberty were forgotten. A free press and free speech were silenced. The great writ of habeas corpus was contemptuously spurned by any petty

It was in these dark an^ troublesome times that Mr. Dixon's character shone most resplendent. Living on the dividing line between the North and South, his county and town were the scene of many heartrending tragedies. He remained at home, the incarnation of peace unterrified, amid ihe tumult of war, doing all in his power to relieve the distressed and unfortunate of either side, and to mitigate the horrors of bloody and irregular warfare. To his influ ence and prompt intercession with Mr. Lincoln, with whom he was personally acquainted, it is pretty certain that some among the living owe their lives. No one applied to him for help that he did not receive it, not grudgingly, nor for pay, but receive it free as the air of Heaven.

His farms were ravaged and his slaves forced from their homes. He was not made ungenial by wrongs or misfortune, and the slaves who had served him in bondage, looked to him as their friend and protector in freedom. His influence over them, and their reverence and affection for him, showed that he had discharged the duty of a master to them, as he had all other duties, in an unexceptionable way, and their tears fell freely when he died.

After the war he took an active interest in building up the prosperity of the country and restoring to the South the Constitutional rights to which she was entitled as a part of the Union. He acted with the Democratic party, and opposed, those military usurpations in the South, which marked the administration of Grant. Occasionally he published communications on the affairs of the country, which were read far and wide, but his health was too feeble to permit him to take an active part in political life He never entered the political arena after the war, but continued to exert the influence of a private citizen in behalf of the Constitution of the country.

He was especially hostile to the interference of the military in elections, and publicly advocated an amendment to the Federal Constitution prohibiting such interference in either State or Federal elections.

Notwithstanding his activity in State and National affairs, he was not unmindful of the local interests of his neighbors and friends. He originated many enterprises of great importance to Henderson, and urged them forward with energy and resolution. If the writer is correctly informed, he was among the first to advocate the building of a railroad from" Henderson to Nashville, and the erection of a bridge across the Ohio at Henderson, and was instrumental in procuring charters for these great works. His interest in the prosperity of the city, and its people, was undiminished through life.

This is an outline of the career of Governor Dixon, in those matters which were of a strictly public nature, and it will be seen that he was a man to whose life any country could look with pride and gratitude. But the private life of so distinguished a character can be no less interesting than his public career.

He was a man of the most striking appearance. He was slightly above the medium height, and stood perfectly erect There was nothing out of line in his figure. In his early and middle life he was rather spare, but in old age he became somewhat more fleshy, yet never to a degree to impair the symmetery of his proportions. His movements were full of grace and dignity. His face was no less attractive than his form. Every feature of it seemed full of expression, and in moments of enthusiasm, when speaking, his eyes seemed to flash fire. His temperament was nervous and sanguine, and his manner excitable, and at times tempestuous, but he was always se\icontrolled, and his will kept in subjection the ardor of his disposition. No man possessed a higher order of courage. He was incapable of fear, and nothing could daunt him. For twenty years before his death' his hair was white as snow, his complexion clear and fair, his port majestic, and, seen among ten thousand, he would be singled out as a great man. A gentleman of Union County said that he believed him the greatest man Kentucky ever produced, and mentioned that when he attended court there, if from any cause he was late entering the court room, as he did so, every eye was turned to gaze upon him. Another, who accompanied him to hear his friend Douglas speak at Indianapolis in 1860, in that memorable struggle for the Presidency, said that when he registered at the hotel inquiries from all parts of the office were heard as to who he was. A great soul has seldom animated a finer form.

He was genial and friendly in his intercourse with men, never failing to salute those whom he met. The ragged negro in the street was as sure of his cheery recognition as the most distinguished of his neighbors. To young men he had always words of encouragement and good cheer, and many now in mature life cherish him in their memories with grateful affection.

His information was extensive and his literary taste very fine. He was a lover of Shakespeare, and his conversation and writings showed that he was familiar with his masterpieces. Added to his lite- rary, legal and political information, he had an extensive business experience, and there have been few men who were more practical and sensible in their affairs. He -iiad an abundant share of that talent which is called common sense, the most useful of all talent.

His moral character was above suspicion. Being a distinguished and successful man he was naturally a mark for calumny, but it is doubtful if in the darkest corners, where slander lurks, there was ever a whisper against his integrity. He was just, true, public spirited, honorable and courageous, a liberal friend to all good enterprises, and a most kind hearted gentleman. His bearing toward females was as courteous and chivalric as that of the knight errant of the middle ages. In social conversation he was quite as happy as in his public addresses, and no one capable of appreciating good company could talk with him without being instructed and entertained. He was fond of out door exercise, and was daily to be seen walking alons: the streets, a pleased observer of any improvement that was going on, usually in company of some friend or some young man whom he wished to help along by his sympathy and fatherly counsel.

In religion he was no churchman in a sectarian sense, but he was a Christian, thoroughly imbued with the great truths taught by the Savior, and they comforted him in his last days. He was stricken down several weeks before his death, and was conscious that his end was near. No unmanly apprehension, no remorse for evil deeds, no distrust of the goodness of God, fretted his latter moments. He talked of death, and of his accountability to God, as if he, in full health, had been discussing the condition of some other person. Yet in that time, so full of sorrow to his friends and family, it should not be thought that life had lost its attractions for him. When a friend called on him a few days before he died, and said that in another county his friends had made anxious inquiries concerning his condition, he said, with a feeling which wrung tears from those present, " Give them my compliments and bid them a long farewell." A few days after, on Sunday night, the twenty-sixth of April. 1876, he died, surrounded by his family, who had done all that love could suggest to prolong his life and soothe his sufferings.

He was twice married, first in March, 1834, to Mrs. Eliza B. Pollett, a most estimable woman, who died in 1851, leaving him six children, five of whom still live. In October, 1853, he married Miss Sue Bullitt, of Jefferson County, who survives him with three children, and upon whom compliment is exhausted in saying that she is in every way worthy the confidence and love which her distinguished husband lavished upon her.

Archibald Dixon, M. D., Physician and Surgeon, is the second son of Hon. Archibald Dixon and Elizabeth Robertson Cabell, and was born in Henderson on the 4th day of March, 1844. He received his early education at the local schools of his town, was then sent to the Sayre Institute at Frankfort, Ky., and afterwards to the University of Toronto, Canada.

Herndon, of Frankfort, an intelligent, as well as beautiful woman, a good talker, and a social, interesting companion, of a bright and happy disposition.

Dr. and Mrs. Dixon have had born unto them four children, two promising sons, Wynn and Archibald, and two affectionate, loving daughters, Maggie and Julia.

Our subject followed the business of farming on his place near Henderson up to 1876, yet in earlier life he had acquired a fondness for physics, and occupied a great part of his time in reading medical works. Circumstances, however, denied him adopting his chosen life's work until 1877, when he graduated from the Louisville Medical College, one of five of the brightest of his class. Having lost his patrimony in 1877, he moved to the City of Henderson to practice his profession, starting life anew, with nothing but the profits arising from his profession on which to support his family.

At that time, as now, the profession had enrolled among its numbers in Henderson physicians of equal standing with any in the entire Commonwealth. These old practitioners held their score of patrons against the world, and only when one would die, or move away, could a young graduate hope to subsist on anything more than the pickings, at all times uncertain in the payment of fees. This fact, then, together with all the proverbial difficulties that are attendant upon a young physician's first practice, Dr. Dixon was necessarily required to encounter.

Did he hesitate ? Did he flinch ? By no means. On the contrary, no difficulties, no distresses, dampened his professional zeal. It was life and death with him, and for that reason, if for none other, he devoted himself to the work ahead of him with an energy and intelligence seldom equaled. He went up, up, his evening and morning star growing biighier with each day's practice. While many others were prophesying his downfall, he was then tasting the fruits of a dese'rved harvest, a testimony to his worth, geniality and ability as a practicing physician. He fought a manly fight with poverty, and the frowns and scowls of an unforgiving and pursuing world, and he has won.

Dr. Dixon is a member of the " Mississippi Valley Medical Society," the second largest Association in the country. In 1885, the very distinguished honor of President was conferred upon him by the Society. He served- with a dignity and intelligence that made him a host of friends.

He is a member of the Kentucky State Medical Society, member, and now President of the District McDowell Society, of the local Medical Club, and an extensive correspondent and contributor to various medical journals in this country.

Dr. Dixon was raised in the Presbyterian faith, and some time since connected himself with the church. He is a member of the Masonic and Knights of Pythias orders, in the former having attained to the rank of Knights Templar. The first Laparotomy ever performed in Henderson was done by him.

Hon. Henry C. Dixon. - Was born in Henderson on the nineteenth day of September, 1845. He is the second living son of Archibald Dixon and Elizabeth Robertson Cabell ; of his father we have already written. His mother was a woman noted for her high character, strong intellect and great personal and social charms. She was a direct descendant of Pochahontas, and in addition, otherwise inherited the very best blood known to " Old Virginia." Henry C. Dixon received a fine education from the private schools of his native town, and was then sent to the Sayre Institute at Frankfort, the Capital of the State, a school noted for its educational advantages.

At this school he enlisted in the front rank, and retained that standard up to the time of his leaving it. During the years 1862, '63, he was a student of the Toronto, Canada, University, and upon leaving that school made a trip, in 1864, to Europe, confining his travels to England and France. Returning from this trip he studied law in the office of his father. Having access at all times to all of the standard works, as well as law reports, the benefit of an instructor profoundly versed in the practice, a quick keen mind of his own, coupled with studious application, our subject was not long in qualifying himself for the practice of his chosen profession. Soon after he was licensed, his father's health became poor, and the management of his large estate, in a very great measure, was assigned to our subject. His father imposed the greatest confidence in his judgment and legal learning, and therefore most, if not all of the numerous legal documents in which he was interested, were drawn by the son. From this reason, therefore, Henry C. Dixon, has never applied himself to the active practice of the law.

In reii^rious iraming. Mr. Dixon is a Presbvienan. He is also a nember of the Masonic and Knights of Pyihias orders. In polirics be is an unflinching Democrat, and being well posted in all of the great political questions of the day, be is not only able to handle ibe questions of the new era in the country's history ^ith marked abilit}- and earnestness, but few men by natural endowments or education and training, are better able to advocate the peoples interest in the Legislative halls of the country, or in the public contests of the times. Mr. Dixon is peculiarly endowed with admirable popular traits, but lite all men h^s his enemies. He is skilled in the use of sarcasm and ridicule. wearwDns that especially ser\-e him whenever the occasion demands. He is Senator-elect from this, the Third Senatonal District of Kentuck} . composed of Henderson and Union Counties, be having had the distinction conferred upon him in 1883. He has ser\ed two sessions, and in each was a recognized leader. He was found at all tiroes battling for the right as he understood it, and in no instance was the welfare of his constituents o\erlooked. Mr. Dixon has never married, and in his singleness of life, he takes a philisophic view of all matters, no matter how small their import. He takes life in. a quiet easy way, enjovs himself, and assists many others in doing the veni* same thing. He is most comfortably situated, and his domicil is o|>en at all times to his friends. This, coupled with his open, frank humorous, social nature, secures him visitors at all seasons.

In addition to other landed interests, Mr. Dixon is the owner of five hundred acres of river bottom alluvial land, located in Union Countv, four hundred of which is cleared and in a hi^h state of cultivation. From this he derives a handsome yearly income.

Joseph C. Dixon - Fourth son of .Archibald Dixon, was bom in the to-vra of Henderson on the twent}--fifth day of December, 1848. At an early age he was sent to the best private schools the town afforded, and subsequently in 18«>3 and '^ to the Sayer Institute at Frankfort, Kentucky. Being bom of a bright, quick mind, he learned easily and rapidly - so much so, that he soon prepared himself to enter the University of Virginia, where he studied law and fitted himself for its practice. Returning to his home, he was licensed tc practice, but, owing to bad health and. perhaps, a taste for a life more ccmgenial, he has never sought clients or attempted to practice a profession he had learned so well. Our subject inherited a goodly ponion of his father's quick and fier}- intellect, and, doubtless, would have made a leading practitioner had he fancied the life. At the death of his father, he inherited a large and verv* valuable landed estate, comprising four hundred and eighty-six acres, four hundred and forty-five of which is cleared and in a high state of cultivation. Upon this land he farmed until a few years since ; finding that life incompatible to both health and comfort, he removed into the city. On the fourth day of December, 1874, Mr. Dixon was married to Miss Lucie Henderson Alves, granddaughter of James Alves and great granddaughter of Walter Alves, one of the signers of the ordinance establishing the town ot Henderson. Mrs. Dixon is a lady of excellent domestic judgment, very popular and in every way fitted to adorn her husband's home. They have had five children, three of whom are living : James Alves, Susie Reeve and Maria Davis. Mr. Dixon in politics is a strong, uncompromising and unflinching Democrat, and in excited, hotly contested elections, primary or general, he usually makes his influence felt. He is a fine conversationalist and earnest worker. He is warm-hearted, honest and sincere in his friendship, in fact, no man will go further for a friend. He was raised a Presbyterian, but has never attached himself to the church.

LAZARUS W. POWELL was born in Henderson County on the sixth day of October, 1812. His father. Captain. Lazarus W. Powell, only a few years previous to the birth of the subject of our memoir, had settled on a tract of land lying twelve miles south of Henderson, on the Morganfield road, and it may be said continued to reside thereon until April, 1869, when at the advanced age of ninety-two years he died. His mother was the daughter of Captain James McMahon, of Henderson County, a gentleman who had served in the ranks of the Kentucky volunteers in the War of 181*2. He was a man of strong native intellect, but exceedingly eccentric in manner and habits. Though both of the late Governor's parents were possessed of average natural talents, neither had ever enjoyed the benefits of intellectual culture beyond its simplest rudiments. Lazarus was their third son. Lazarus W. Powell at a very early age began to exhibit those traits of character which, in their fuller development, caused him to be loved and respected wherever he was known. When he had arrived at an age to be able to appreciate the advantages of education, he used diligently the very inadequate means that were within his reach to acquire knowledge. The school he first attended was a primary one kept by a Mr. Ewell Wilson, in the village of Henderson. Here he learned to read and write. Later he became a pupil of the late George Gayle, Esq., a gentleman of rare talents and attainments, under whose tuition he acquired a fair academical education.

Young Powell was a manly youth, ingenious .md truthful, and not a little ambitious. He had scarcely reached the age of eighteen years before he had marked out for himself a pathway in life and chosen the profession by which he hoped to acquire a moderate competency and possibly the other results of a reasonable ambition. He did not say - for his aspirations were all civic - but with a like spirit that breathes through this immortal sentiment of the world's greatest poet, he pursued his course and allowed no obstacle to interpose between his will to do and the accomplishment of the act he so willed. Few farmers in Kentucky, at the time to which we refer (1830), were possessed of any great abundance of ready means, and thus it turned out when young Powell was preparing to carry out his design of entering upon the study of the law, that his father was only enabled to furnish him with a sum of money that was quite insufificient to cover the expenses incident to the position he expected to occupy. Early in the month of June, 1830, the young man rode over to the town of Owensboro, the county seat of the adjoining county of Daviess, for the purpose of consulting with an old legal friend of his father, the Hon. Philip Thompson. This gentleman was then engaged in a large practice in the circuit presided over by the Hon. Alney McLean. Mr. Thompson readily assented to Powell's wish to enter his office as a student. He soon discovered, however, that the insufficiency of his young friend's educational attainments would be a great drawback to his hoped for success in the undertaking upon which he had entered, and he urged upon him the necessity of suspending his legal studies until he could avail himself of the advantages of a classical education.

This was a great blow to Powell's hopes. He had the good sense, however, to see that the advice that had been given him was the result of a kindly interest in his affairs. Returning home, he set about revolving in his mind the unlooked for difficulty and the means at his disposal for overcoming it. The result of his self-communing was a determination to visit Bardstown, then the seat of one of the best literary institutions m the State. Having obtained from Mr. Thompson a letter of introduction to the Hon. John Rowan, an old friend of the writer, he set out for Bardstown, at which place he arrived in the first week of September, 1880. His entire riches consisted of the horse he rode and less than one hundred dollars in money. He took early occasion to present his friend's letter to Judge Rowan, and was by that true gentleman treated with a degree of kindness and interest which he ever afterward remembered and spoke of in terms of the deepest gratitude. Judge Rtfwan was perhaps the most learned man of his profession in the State. In order to test the qualifications of the young man for the profession he had chosen, he introduced into their conversation certain literary, scientific and historical questions which he deemed it important that every one should be acquainted with who had any thought of entering upon the study of the law. The result was as unsatisfactory in regard to young Powell's scholastic attainments as had been his former trial before Mr. Thompson. His natural good sense, however, and his evident candor made a most favorable impression on the erudite statesman, and again he was strongly advised to apply himself to the acquisition of a thorough collegiate education.

With becoming modesty the young man acknowledged to Judge Rowan that he had not sufficient means to defray the necessary expenses of a college course of studies. Having arrived at the details of his present means and future prospects, Judge Rowan gave him hopes that the particular difficulty might be overcome. He told him that he was well acquainted with the Faculty and Professors of St. Joseph's College, and that, having some influence with them, he thought it highly probable that he would be able to arrange with them for his immolate matriculation and subsequent tuition.

Early the following morning Judge Rowan accompanied the young man to the college where he was formally introduced to the President, the late Rev. George A. M. Elder. Mr. Elder was a man of the kindest impulses. He was also an excellent judge of character. The manly appearance of young Powell, his candor in stating his wishes and the inadequate means he possessed toward their realization, together with ^his evident disinclination to accept of unusual terms or such as would compromise his own independence, all deeply interested the good ecclesiastic. Other members of the Faculty were called to the consultation, and, before they separated, the name of Lazarus W. Powell was duly entered on the college register. It is scarcely necessary to state that every obligation entered into by Mr. Powell was afterwards fully redeemed.

To say that young Powell was what is termed popular with both his Professors and his fellow-students, would inadequately express the general sentiment with which he was regarded in college. By the former he was beloved to a degree that can only be fully understood when reference is made to the bond that exists between parent and child. He was the pride of the latter, admired and looked up to as something to be made much of and copied after. There was no waywardness in their feelings toward their idol, because there was no blot upon his escutcheon. He was listened to and his advice followed, because of their respect for his character and their confidence in his judgment. Who can measure the restraining influence of such a mind over the weaknesses and latent propensities to evil of less steadfast associates ? His young companions learned to respect virtue, principle, assiduity and goodness, because of all these their friend was ever the consistent exponent.

Early in August of the year 1833, only a few days after his graduation, Mr. Powell entered the law office of the Hon. John Rowan, of Bardstown, Kentucky, for the purpose of resuming his legal studies, which had been interrupted by his college course. The studious habits, which so remarkably distinguished him while passing through college, equally characterized him in his new position. He brought all the powers of his mind to bear upon the acquirement, within the least possible period of time, of that sum of knowledge of his profession which would enable him to look forward to an honorable career in life. He was happy in having for his legal preceptor one of the master minds of his day and the country. Judge Rowan was not only a well read lawyer, but he was also a profound scholar and a man of the rarest natural intelligence. His diction was always elegant, and he spoke without seeming effort.

Mr. Powell remained in the office of Judge Rowan until in the winter of 1834, '35, when he repaired to Lexington with the view of attending a course of law lectures at Transylvania University. Not only was Powell assiduous in study during his stay in Lexington, and prompt in his attendance at the University lectures, but he let no occasion pass in which it was possible for him to acquire a knowledge of the practical part of his profession by making himself familiar with the proceedings of the Courts of Law when these happened to be in session. The bar of Lexington had one advantage over that of Bardstown - the number of its prominent members was much greater. Among the resident practicing attorneys then in Lexington could be named such men as the Hon. Henry Clay, the Hon. Robert Wickliffe, Judge Thomas M. Hickey, A. K. Woolley, Esq., Charlton Hunt, Esq., James Cowan, Esq., and Madison C. Johnson, Esq., the latter being then a young man, but giving promise of the high reputation in his profession which he has since acquired.

The law session at Transylvania over, Mr. Powell returned to Henderson in the spring of 1835, where he opened a law office and sought for business in the line'of his profession. His success equalled his expectations from the first, but a few months later, having formed a partnership with the leading practitioner at the Henderson bar, Archibald Dixon, Esq., he was at once placed on the high road to that eminence as a lawyer which he afterwards attained, as well as to the substantial remunerative benefits of an extended practice. His business connection with Mr. Dixon continued till the year 1839.

Governor Powell's reputation as a lawyer was not built upon any peculiar talent possessed by him for forensic display. In his addresses, to be sure, whether to the court or to the jury, he was always forcible and sometimes eloquent. But he depended more for his legal triumphs upon the careful analysis of his cases. It was his invariable custom to come into court fully prepared to meet the objections of the opposing counsel with his authoritities before him, whether as to the law bearing upon the case or to previous judicial decisions. Owing to this custom, he was always a formidable antagonist in the courts in which he practiced. What he lacked in readiness of suggestion, had its full compensation in the preliminary care in which he never failed to bestow upon each particular cause as it came into his hands. His wonderful success in his profession is more to be attributed to this fact than to any other.

On the eighth day of November, 1837, Lazarus W. Powell was united in marriage to Miss Harriett Ann Jennings, the orphan daughter of Captain Charles Jennings, deceased, who had been an esteemed and prosperous citizen of Henderson County. During her life, Mrs. Powell bore to her husband three sons, two of whom are still living. The death of Mrs. Powell took place on the thirtieth day of July, 1846, and, to use the expression of one of the late Governor's eulogists, "for her sake he ever afterwards devoted to the children she had left to his care, all the wealth of his manly and magnanimous heart."

When not occupied by official duties, during the progress of the civil war. Governor Powell spent most of his time at his home in Henderson and in overlooking the farming operations upon his plantations in the county. This was for him, as it was for thousands of others in the State, a period of great anxiety - suspected by the government military officials, who had, for the greater portion of the time, complete control in the river towns, on account of his well known antipathy to the bloody method that had been adopted to jDreserve the integrity of the Union ; saddened at the sight of the utter ruin which the war had brought upon many of his neighbors, and which was threatening others ; disgusted with the cruelties of the vengeful military despots who were then ruling Kentucky, and whose so-called retaliatory measures were continually involving the lives and liberties of innocent men ; indignant at the shameful venality of some among these same despots and their pliant subordinates, and at their contemptuous disregard of even the forms of State laws in taking upon themselves all control over the elective franchise. Go\ernor Powell, no doubt, felt these years of the war to be the saddest of his life.

Always circumspect in his conduct and for one of his known views, in a certain degree trusted in by the authorities at Washington, he was enabled to serve many who had become involved in the troubles of the times, not only in his own section, but throughout the South, and never was his influence asked for in vain by a worthy object. His means, too, were dispensed with a lavish hand to those who found themselves reduced to poverty by the military raids which were of common occurrence in his own and the neighboring counties of Southern Kentucky. Whether the sufferer happened to be attached to one cause or the other, it was all the same with him. Human misery was a plea that never failed to awaken in him active sympathy, and with this plea he never permitted consideration of party affinity nor even of policy to interfere.

When the war finally closed. Governor Powell entered upon the practice of his profession with more energy than had ever before distinguished him, save during the first years of his professional career. This was most probably done with the view of introducing his eldest son Col. J. Henry Powell, who had then become associated with him in the practice of the law, into the routine of his profession. Up to the time of his mission to Utah, in 1858, he had been a great sufferer from a rheumatic affection, and though he had since been apparently entirely relieved from the disorder, his nervous system, in consequence of its ravages, as he thought himself, had remained afterwards in an exceedingly delicate condition. Seeing him immersed in business, and to all appearance as anxious in its prosecution as he had been when starting out in life thirty years before, there were those among his friends who doubted if his physical strength was equal to the labor he was imposing on himself. On Wednesday of the last week in June, 1867, he appeared for the last time in the streets of Henderson a living man.

After a day of some fatigue, induced possibly more from the shattered condition of his nerves than from anv great amount of phy sical or mental labor, he returned to his house and immediately retired to his room. Nothing wis thought of this circumstance until the following morning when he was found to be seriouslv ill. The family physician, Dr. Pinkney Thompson, was at once called in. l^he report made by this gentleman was sufficiently alarming, but neither did he nor the members of the Govornor's family at first apprehend a fatal termination of his sickness. It was at first supposed that his disease was a slight attack of congestion of the brain. A subsequent examination proved that a blood vessel at the base of the brain had become ruptured and that this had induced apoplexy, followed by a partial paralysis of the right side, and eventually of the whole body. During Thursday and Friday he was enabled to distinguish his 'friends as they approached his bedside. His physician called to his assistance Dr. John T. Berry, of Henderson, and Dr. M. J, Brav, of Evansville, Ind. Their consultation took place on Saturday, and' the result was J sorrowful acknowledgement that the case was hopeless.

When this opinion was made known among the Governor's neighbors and fellow citizens, the effect was as if an impending calamky were threatening their own hearth-stones. Business appeared to be forgotten, and men and women gathered together in knots, brooding sadly and speaking in whispers of the one absorbing topic which filled their thoughts. In the meanwhile the Governor lav in a comatose state, from which it was difficult to arouse him at intervals, in order to administer such alleviatives as had been prescribed by his physicians. On Sunday, the last day of the month, his friend and neighbor, Grant Green Esq., made a persistent attempt to arouse him from the stupor by which he was overcome and with such success, that faint hopes were induced of his ultimate recovery. On the following morning, however, he again relapsed into unconsciousness and thus continued till death intervened about 3 o'clock in the evening of July 3d., 1867. Greater sympathy was never manifested by a community for one of its number when stricken, ill and dying, nor were ever sincerer tears shed than when it was announced among his friends and neigh-^ bors that his "spirit had gone to the God who gave it."

house and office in the town was closed and almost all were draped in emblems of mourning. The Rev. Rector of the church was too much overcome to trust himself to speak on the occasion, and his place in the pulpit was supplied by the Rev. Jahleel Woodbridge, Pastor of the Presbyterian Church, of Henderson. The text of the discourse preached by the reverend gentleman, was taken from the 46th. Chapter of Psalms: ^'- Be still and know that I am Godr On the announcement of the text, a solemn silence seemed to wrap the entire auditory, and this till the close of the discourse, was only broken at intervals by the stifled sobs and smothered sighs of stricken hearts, as the eloquent divine glowingly pictured the exalted character of him whose cold remains lay coffined before them.

The Masonic body of Henderson, although Governor Powell had never belonged to the order, formed in procession and accompanied his remains to the grave. The procession of citizens on the occasion was the largfest ever seen in Henderson. In it walked the rich and the poor, women and men, and even little children. One division of the mourners deserves to be specially noticed. This was composed of the newly-created freedmen, his own former slaves and those of his neighbors who had known him, many of them all their lives. They had come, some of them from points ten and fifteen miles distant, trudging on foot in order to pay their tribute of respect and gratitude over the arave of one who had never ceased to be their best friend and counselor. No more, genuine sorrow was exhibited on that mournful day than was evinced by the blacks of whom he had once been the master, and who up to the day of his death had been in the habit of addressing him by that title.

During the latter years of his life, the Governor seldom spent his evenings away from his own home. When he had no visitors he was in the habit of retiring to his room for study, or in order to prepare the causes in which he had been retained. When wearied with these occupations, he would repair to the apartments of his daughter-in-law, and there amuse himself with the prattle of his little grand-children. His family mansion was surrounded by ornamental grounds and a large garden. To the embellishment of these grounds, he devoted many of his leisure hours, and found in such employment both health and enjoyment.

One great source of care to Governor Powell, after the Proclamation of Emancipation of President Lincoln, was a number of helpless blacks, formerly his slaves, who had no one else to look to for support and protection. Had the Government, when it deprived him of his rights of property in those of his slaves, who were capable of performing manual labor, taken upon itself, at the same time, the support of those who were incompetent to earn their own living, there would have been little hardship in his individual case, as there would have been little in thousands of other cases, still more onerous. He might, to be sure, had he been a brute, and no man, have evicted the aged and infants among his former slaves from his plantations, and have suffered them to die of hunger and exposure on the highway. ^ Had the war bereft him of all his property, as it did hundreds of slave owners in the South, even his well known humanity could not have stood between these poor creatures and destruction. As it was, he never thought of them otherwise than as dependents on his bounty, whom it was his duty to serve and protect. Up to the day of his death they were fed and clothed at his expense, and they are ^ill cared for at the expense of his heirs. Had the unmistakable tokens of profound sorrow that characterized that portion of the mourners at Governor Powell's funeral, which was composed of his former * slaves, been witnessed by those whose fanaticism brought on the late war and all its horrors, they might well have stood in astonishment at a sight so foreign to all their notions of the relations that often existed between master and slave.

Governor Powell, though he never professed any particular form of Christian faith, was unquestionably a firm believer in the truths of Divine Revelation. Many expressions are to be found in his speeches which show that he was familiar with the Bible, and had for that Sacred Book the most profound reverence There was no one in the community in which he lived that was more liberal of his means for objects connected with religion. He appeared to have no preference for one denomination over another, but gave to all with a large-hearted liberality that was at once the evidence of his regard for religion in general, and of his esteem for those whose vocation it was to preach the Gospel. His house was as free to all ministers of religion, without exception as to creed, who happened to be temporarily sojourning in the town, as it was to himself. On one occasion, which has come to our knowledge, he spoke seriously of religion and of his regret that he had not identified himself, in profession, with the followers of Christ. Conversing with a Christian neighbor, he remarked that he had long desired to make himself better acquainted than he was with the peculiar doctrines of the various Christian churches, and that it was his intention to enter upon this study with the view to the profession of that form of faith which should commend itself to his more enlightened judgment.

It is said, bv some, that Governor Powell never exhibited anv evidence of extraordinary genius. This may be true, though there are abundant reasons to doubt it. The placidity of his mind was such as to foil observers in their attempts to detect the riches concealed in its depths. Of the erratic ingenius he was certainly totally void. But even admitting that he gave to the world no extraordinary exhibition of genius, it must be allowed that he gave to it what are ordinarily of much more value - exhibitions of determination in the assertion and defense of principles that were directly conservative of the best interests of society and government - exhibitions of moderation and prudence in the performance of duty when called to the discharge of high functions in the State, and in the hour of defeat, or of failure, of unshaken confidence in the ultimate triumph of his own arrd his party's patriotic purposes for the welfare of the nation. He was no coward, and he never mistook present failure for final defeat. In the darkest hours of the Republic he never lost hope, never relinquished his right to appeal to the reason of those who were permitting their passions and their prejudices to sway their judgments and to control their policy. He gave utterance to the convictions of his mind, temperately, yet firmly, and never in language calculated to alienate the respect of his opponents. However they may have doubled, or pretended to doubt, the correctness of his views, they were convinced of his candor, and did homage to his manhood.

Governor Powell well understood what few public men have seemed to learn, that every truly beneficial measure, every wholesome reform in government, is to be secured and permanently retained only through efforts that have for their animus the general good, and not that of a section of the country, or a party among the people. He may have been said to be a partisan, in so far as he had definite notions in regard to the structure of the government, and the proper policy to be pursued in order to promote the prosperity of the country and the happiness of the people, but he was no partisan in the general acceptation of the term. He never deferred principle to party, or the good of the masses to party success. Above all, he could, and did, distinguish between the individual and his party predilections and never alienated the respect of the former by bitter denunciation of the latter.

Courtesy, whether in speaking to, or about, his political opponents, was a habit of his mind, and this habit, except under the provocation of unmistakable insult, he carried with him through life. A

" In Washington City, Democrats and Radicals spoke of him as a friend whose loss they deplore. No ma^vvas ever able to hate Powell long. Several undertook it, but he outlived their resentment, and at the date of his death he probat)ly had not an enemy on earth."

What a noble eulogy is this ! It tells us, by implication, that he had a just perception of what was due to others and what was due to himself. It tells us, also, that he possessed a mind that was capable of rising above those paltry passions, which are with the majority of men so difficult of restraint, in the hearing of false representations of facts and motives of coarse invectives or tantalizing inuendoes coming from one's political or personal foes. It tells us, further, that he possessed a heart that was all alive to those humane amenities that are resistless to propitiate good will and to curb dissension.

His Public Life

In July, 1836, at the earnest solicitation of a number of his political friends, Mr. Powell announced himself as the Democratic candidate for the ofifice of Representative of the County in the Lower House of the Kentucky Legislature. The Whig party was largely in the ascendancy in Henderson at the time, and it was more for the object of keeping up their organization, than with any expectation of success, that the party in the minority proposed to place a candidate in the field, Mr. Powell's Whig competitor for the the place was John G. Holloway, Esq., a very estimable and popular citizen of Henderson. While the former industriously canvassed every precinct and neighborhood of the county, making friends and securing votes everywhere, the latter, relying upon the party bias of his proposed constituency, made liitle or no exertion to win their confidence, and thus he lost his election. The result was as unlooked for, by both parties, as it was highly honorable to the industry, and address of the successful candidate.

During the session of the General Assembly, which followed his election Mr. Powell proved himself a careful legislator. He was especially attentive to his duties as a member of the various committees upon which he had been placed, and was always alive to the interests of his constituency and those of the entire State. At the next general election he was again a candidate for the ofifice which he had so creditably filled for two years. Whether it was, that by this time, party lines had been more closely drawn, or that his old competitor had learned from his former experience to depend more for success upon his personal exertions in the canvass, than upon the party predilections of the people of the county, certain it is, that Mr. Holloway beat him in the race by a considerable majority.

In the Presidential canvass of 1844, Mr. Powell accepted from his party the position of District Elector, and canvassed his own and the neighboring districts for James K. Polk. In this canvass he was brought prominently before the people of Western Kentucky, and thus far, he laid the foundation of that personal popularity which afterwards enabled him to serve his party in more important positions. Mr. Polk was elected over his competitor, the Hon. Henry Clay ; but the Democrats were defeated in Kentucky.

In the spring of 1848, the State Democratic Convention met at Frankfort for the purpose of nominating candidates for the executive offices of the commonwealth, to be voted for at the coming August election. The choice of the convention fell upon the Hon. Linn Bovd, of McCracken County, for Governor, and the Hon. John P. Martin, of Floyd County, for Lieutenant Governor. Before the dissolution of the convention, authority was given to the Democratic Central Committee of the State to fill all vacancies, if any, that should occur on the ticket proposed by declination or otherwise. Upon being informed as to the action of the Convention, Mr. Boyd, in a letter addressed to the Chairman of the State Central Committee - the Hon. James Guthrie - formerly declined the candidateship which his party friends had proposed ; and it thus became necessary to put forward some one in his stead. A meeting of the committee was held a few days subsequently, and the name of Lazarus W. Powell was placed at the head of the ticket. This result, it is said, was mainly due to the influence of Mr. Guthrie, whose sound, practical views of the situation, and whose clear perception of the character and qualifications of the gentlemen whose names had been mentioned in connection with the candidateship, were never more forcibly illustrated than on this occasion.

The Whig party in Kentucky had nominated as its candidate for Governor, the Hon. John J. Crittenden, who was then a member of the United States Senate from Kentucky, and undoubtedly one of the most deservedly popular men in the State. At the outset of the canvass, Mr. Powell was encountered by a feud in his own party. The Hon. Richard M. Johnson, of Scott County, had announced himself an independent Democratic candidate for the ofiice of Gover-nor, and had already entered upon the canvass. Perceiving that success would be out of the question with two Democratic candidates in the field, Mr. Powell hastened to the home of his old friend, with whom he sought and obtained an interview, the result of which was entirely satisfactory to both parties. Col. Johnson not only declined to prosecute the race any further, butjexpressed his readiness to canvass his own district in behalf of the nominee of the convention.

The energy with which the Gubernational canvass of 1848, was prosecuted in Kentucky by both Whigs and Democrats, was strongly indicative of the fears of the party in the majority, on account of the personal popularity of the opposition candidate, and of the hopes raised in the minds of the Democratic minority, by having for its standard bearer one who was known never to have addressed his fellow citizens without having made additions to the number of his friends. The beginning of the decadence of the Whig party in Kentucky may be referred to this memorable canvass. Everywhere the zeal of its advocates abated and defections from its ranks were numerous. Mr. Powell threw himself into the arena of political controversy with an energy that was resistless. Every part of the State was thoroughly canvassed, and eveiy effort of the opposition was encountered and resisted. The canvass was a substantial triumph, though it ended in the defeat of the constitutional party. The seed had been sown which was to spring forth, richly ladened whh fruit for the coming harvest.

In 1852, the claims of Mr. Powell were fully recognized by the nominating convention of the Democracy of the State. He was again put forward by that Convention as its candidate for the office of Governor of the Commonwealth. There were peculiar circumstances con nected with the canvass of this year that rendered it in the highest degree extraordinary. Mr. Powell's Whig competitor in the race, was the Hon. Archibald Dixon, a resident of the same town - his life-long personal friend, and at one time his partner in the practice of law. For not one moment whether before, during, or after the canvass, were the intimate personal relations between the two interrupted. They traveled together, spoke together, put up at the same houses, and had their meals at the same table, and, except when brought into contact in the exposition of their dissimilar political dogmas, they exhibited toward each other and before the public, a cordiality of demeanor that is as rarely witnessed between political antagonists, as it was pleasant to contemplate.

It was in this canvass, most likely, that Governor Powell learned that perfection of self-control by which he was afterwards so greatly distinguished in the Senate of the United States. Both candidates had an all-sufficient motive in their personal friendship - to shun displays of temper. Courtesy thus became a habit of their minds, and its influence lived long beyond the occasion that called it into activity. Mr. Powell secured his election by a small majority, while Robert N. Wickliffe, Esq., the candidate on the same ticket for the office of Lieutenant Governor, was beaten several thousand votes by his opponent, the Hon. John B. Thompson. Lazarus W. Powell was inaugurated Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky on the morning of September 5th, 1851. Accompanied by an escort, comprised of three military companies of the city, and a large number of prominent citizens, he left Louisville early on the morning of the diy named, and reached Frankfort before ten o'clock. At the Frankfort depot, he was met by a large concourse of citizens and strangers, and, entering a carriage in waiting, with the Lieutenant Governor elect, the Hon. John B. Thompson, he was driven to the State House building, when he was formally welcomed to the seat of his future magisterial labors in a congratulatory address by the Hon. Judge Hewitt. The Gov^ernor- elect, having been introduced to the assembled multitude by the retiring Governor, the Hon. John L. Helm, replied briefly and appropriately to the address of Judge Hewitt and returned his thanks for the confidence reposed in him by the people.* He expressed his distrust of his ability to discharge properly the duties of the office to which he had been elevated, but declared his determination to use such powers as he possessed for the maintenance of good government. He would administer the government to the best of his ability, in accordance with the constitution and laws, and in the interests of the whole people of the State. The oath of office was administered by Judge Shannon.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth met on the third day of November, 1851, and, on the following day, the first message of Governor Powell was presented to and read before that body. The local issues and interests discussed in that document need not be here referred to.

did his relations with that body assume a partisan character. The most exacting among his political opponents were obliged to acknowledge that his entire policy was conceived and carried out with due reference to his responsibility to the whole body of the people and the best interests of the State.

In the spring of 1858, through the intervention of Thomas L. Kane, Esq., of Pennsylvania, President Buchanan was induced to dispatch a commission to Utah with the hope of arresting the rebellion that had broken out in that Territory. The Commissioners named were Governor Powell, of Kentucky, and Major Ben McCullough, of Texas. On the arrival of these gentlemen at the camp of the military expedition, they immediately issued the proclamation of the President, offering pardon to all Mormons who should submit to the Federal authority. This offer was accepted by the heads of the Mormon church, and all trouble was arrested.

At the session of the General Assembly, which took place in 1859, Governor Powell was elected to the Senate of the United States for the full term of six years. Without extending this sketch to too great length, we find it impracticable to give the reader more than a general outline of Governor Powell's course while a member of the Senate. His speeches to that body would of themselves fill a large volume, and these are all to be found in the published reports of the congressional proceedings of the period. He entered the Senate at a time of great political excitement. A party had arisen in the country and was daily growing stron2:er, which had, for its main idea, the extinction of slavery as a national institution, or as one recognized in the fundamental law of the land. By the governments of several of the Northern States, the fugitive slave law had been openly proclaimed a measure which required from them no obedience. The Southern States, disgusted at what they conceived to be want of faith on the part of their Northern associates, and seeing, from the complexion of the Legislation of the country, that they would soon be powerless to protect their constitutional rights against the requirements of a constantly increasing majority in the National Legislature, already were contemplating secession. In both houses of Congress, fanaticism ruled one part of the people's representatives, and, with but few exceptions, passion the remainder.

Few of our public men possessed a clearer understanding of the causes that led to the late conflict than Governor Powell. In a speech on the '* Bill Giving Freedom to the Families of Negro Soldiers," delivered in the Senate on the ninth day of January, 1863, Mr. Powell remarked : " Some call this a war for the negro, but, in my opinion, those who look upon African slavery as the cause of the war are greatly mistaken. This war was not designed by the large slave holders of the South ; they did not want the war. It is not war of the negro ; it is not a war of tariffs ; it is not a war of any particular line of policy, but it is a war of politicians who were faithless to their constitutional obligations, and there the responsibility will be placed by the philosophical historian in all after time. If I were to describe it in a sentence. I should say that it was a war of the politicians, both North and South - a war of ambitious, fanatical zealots, and they existed North as well as South. I speak of a class of politicians who are faithless to their oaths of office, and who claim to be governed by a law higher than and above the Constitution."

HON. GRANT GREEN was born in Henderson County on the third day of February, 1826. His ancestors immigrated from England and settled in Fauquier County, Virginia, in the year 1640. His grandfather raised a large family of children, many of whom held distinguished positions in the country's service. All of the male members, old enough at the time, joined the army of the revolution and fought for American Independence with distinguished credit to themselves and their country. His grandfather came to Kentucky with his family about the year 1815, and settled in this county. Mr. Green's mother was Martha Dixon, the daughter of Captain Henry Dixon, whose father was a Colonel in the Revolutionary War. She was born in Caswell County in the year 1804, and brought by her father to Henderson County in 1805. Mr. Green and Miss Dixon were married in 1820, and after nine years of happy wedded life he died, leaving to the care of his widow four children, of whom, the subject of this sketch was the second son. Falling heir to but little realty, and a scanty allowance of actual cash, Mrs. Green was necessarily greatly embarassed ; yet, with superhuman endurance and self-denial, she most nobly met her allotted life, sacrificing all the pleasures thereof that her four children might be properly raised to a position in the social and busi. ness world, her devoted interest so justly claimed for them. She managed to give them such an education as was afforded at that time by county schools, and this, coupled with her own great and good ex ample, sufficed to impress upon them the importance of determined effort. The subject of this sketch commenced business life by teaching a small country school - the same in which he had only a short time previous been a student - among whose pupils were numbered many of his old classmates equally of age with himself. He was a very successful teacher, giving more satisfaction perhaps to his patrons than his modesty allowed him to claim for himself. After teaching about one year and a half he reluctantly gave up his school to accept the position of deputy sheriff under his uncle, William Green, who was made Sheriff of the county in 1848. He rode deputy sheriff for two years, at the end of which time he was tendered a deputyship under WilUam D. Allison, at that time Clerk of both the Circuit and County Courts, and Trustee of the Jury" Fund. In Mr. Allison he found a fast friend, and his life with him was one continued sunshine. He appreciated his great worth and influence, and is no doubt more indebted to his training and general knowledge gained while in the office, for his success in life, than to all other sources combined. In 1851, Mr. Green's personal popularity gained for him the Democratic nomination for Representative of this county. Inflexible in his political opinions, he was yet averse to taking an active part in politics, and only after much persuasion accepted the nomination thus tendered him. The issue that year was fought by Governor Powell, the Democratic nominee for Governor, and Governor Archibald Dixon, a cousin of Mr. Green and the Whig nominee for the same office, and both of Henderson County. These were two of the most distinguished men of the State, and, of course, the contest was made warm throughout the entire Commonwealth, and particularly so in this county. Mr. Green was elected by a respectable majority, and took his seat at the beginning of the session of 1851-'*52. This was the second session of the General Assembly after the adoption of the present Constitution, and as the laws then in existence had to be modified and new laws enacted in conformity to the terms of the new Constitution, the work necessarily required the keenest foresight and unrestrained wisdom of the members. This Legislature was one of the'ablest the State had ever had, and did its work in a most superior and satisfactory manner. After the adjournment of the Legislature, and on the twenty-sixth day of February, 1852, our subject was appointed Secretary of State by Governor Powell, and served in that capacity until the expiration of the Governor's term of office, September 3d, 1855. During this time he was a member of the Democratic State Central Committee. In 1855 he received the Democratic nom. ination for the office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, but this was the year the " Know Nothing" party swept the State and the entire Democratic ticket, after a most gallant fight, was defeated. On the twenty-eighth day of February, 1855, Mr. Green was united in marriage with Miss Katie S. Overton, a most accomplished lady, and at the expiration of his term of office as Secretary of State, returned to Henderson, commenced the practice of law in partnership with the Hon. H. F. Turner, and continued to practice until the summer of 1858, when he was elected County Judge. In the year 1859 he received the Democratic nomination for the office of Auditor of

Public Accounts, and at the August election was declared elected by a handsome majority. He then resigned the office of County Judge* returned to Frankfort, and on the first day of January 1860, entered upon the duties of his new and most important office, and served the State with most commendable fidelity and zeal for four years. Durino- the trvinjr times of the war, he manao:ed the State's finances, so far as the same was to be controlled through his official position, with eminent ability, giving entire satisfaction to all parties. At the expiration of his term of office, and at his request, the Legislature appointed a Committee whose duty it was to give his office a thorough examination. This was done and a very complimentary report returned. He was re-nominated for a second term, and notwithstanding the interference of Federal troops in many of the counties of the State, he was defeated by a comparatively small vote. He then returned to Henderson in 1864, and engaged in the tobacco business for two vears. At the expiration of that time, n co-partnership was formed bv and between himself, W. J. Marshall and Edward Atkinson, under the firm name of Green, Marshall & Co., and engaged in the general banking business. He continued in this tirm until May, 1868, when he received the appointment as cashier of the Farmers' Bank (mother bank) of Kentucky, at Frankfort, and returned again to that city, and is to-day filling the same position. The stock of the bank when he was elected Cashier was w^orth only eighty-three cents on the dollar. At this time 122 has been offered and refused. The bank to-day stands in credit among the very best of the leading banks of the country.

Mr. Green, many years ago, united with the Episcopal Church, and has proven a faithful, consistent member, always ready with his good advice and purse to advance its interests. His life has been a brilliant one, alternating between Henderson and Frankfort, his present home. His promptness in brusiness, his integrity in action, and his clear judgment have been, and are yet, shining traits in his character, and by these has he been actuated throughout his entire business and social life.

CAPTAIN HENRY DIXON, better known as Capt. Hal., was born in Caswell County, North Carolina, in the year 1777, during the Revolutionary troubles. His grandfather, Henry Dixon, was a distinguished Colonel in the Revolutionary War, and was killed at the battle of Eutaw Springs. He was also highly complimented for gallantry at the battle of Camden. Captain Dixon was a brother of Wynn Dixon, father of Governor Archibald Dixon. He immigrated to Kentucky in 1808 and settled upon the land now owned by Joshua Staples.

Subsequent to that he purchased the farm now owned by Thomas Buckman, lying on the Madisonville road, and built the house that is yet used as a residence by Mr^Buckman. In 1853 he sold his farm and removed to Union County, settling at the Sulphur Springs. In November, 1858, he died. Captain Dixon was a remarkable man, large, muscular and weighing ordinarily from two hundred and twentyfive to two hundred and fifty pounds. He was a man of indomitable will and absolutely fearless. He was an industrious worker, ever active in attending to business matters. He was never much of a politician, yet he possessed unbounded influence and was a power when he chose to exercise it. He was an unflinching Jackson Democrat and took an active interest in his race against Henry Clay. He was elected and served one term in the Kentucky Legislature, and in this connection several good stories are told. It is said that when the Captain approached the polls to cast his vote and the usual question, " How do you vote ? " had been asked him, he good humoredly, yet positively, replied, ''I like Captain Dixon better than I do the other feller, so put me down for Dixon." It is a traditionary statement that up to that time the vote between the Captain and his opponent was a tie, and that the Captain voting for himself decided the election. Again another good story is told of him while a member of the Legislature. It is said that he was no speaker, and for a man of his courage and good sense was remarkably timid upon such occasions, even though he knew every man in the house.

The Legislature was in session, and the Captain in his seat. He desired to introduce a bill and to preface it by a few remarks. When he arose, he imagined that one or two of the members offered him an indignity and bringing himself to the full extent of his majestic proportions and forgetting what he had arisen for, he addressed the speaker in the following laconic language: " Mr. Speaker, I am no speaker, but sir, I can whip any infernal scoundrel in this house who dare insult me."

Captain- Dixon was twice married. His first wife was Miss Mary Johnston, of Virginia; his second wife Mrs. John Talbot, of Henderson County. Twelve children resulted from his first marriage, to-wit: Roger, Martha, Henry, Mary, EHza^ John, Robert, Niel, Susan, George, Judith and Francis.

Martha married John Green, father of Hon. Grant Green, and had four children, Henry, Grant, John and Mary Ann. Henry married Miss Lambert, of Arkansas, and died leaving children ; Grant married Miss Katie S. Overton, of Virginia, and has quite a family of bright, promising children ; John married Miss Randolph, of Henderson County, and has several children ; Mary Ann married Theodore Hall ; she died leaving three children.

Henry married Miss Ann Mariah Ashby and had two children, John E. and Mary; John married Miss Mary Sugg and they have children ; Mary married George W. McClure and they have three children.

Mary married Gabriel Grant Green, by whom she had three children, Henry Dixon, Gabriel and Ann. Subsequent to Mr. Green's death, she married Dr. A. H. Bailey, by whom she had three children, Cornelius, John, and Eliza, who married Hon. C. C. Ball, Mayor of the City of Henderson.

Eliza married William Posey, by whom she had thirteen children, Reuben, Mary, Thomas, Lucy, Henry, John, Eliza, William, George, Robert, Addison, Sallie and one other whose name is unknown to the writer.

Reuben studied law, practiced his profession for a number of years in Louisiana, and for many years last passed has held the office of Circuit Judge in one of the parishes of that State. He has been twice married, first to Miss Kavanaugh and second to Miss Russell, of Texas ; he has children. Mary married John N. Lyle and removed to Louisiana, they have several children ; Thomas married Miss Augusta Alves, died a few years afterwards, leaving two or three children ; Lucy married William J. Marshall and has a large family of children ; Henry married Miss Emma Butler and has several children ; John married Miss Sarah Taylor and has several children ; Eliza married Cornelius Bailey and has children ; William married Miss Addie Alves and has children; Addison is a leading physician in San Francisco, California ; he recently married a lady of that State. Sallie, married twice, first, Dr. Ross and again Dr. Doyle, of Madisonville. Thomas, Sallie, George and Robert are dead.

John married Miss Sarah E. Powell, of Henderson County, by whom he had eleven children, Charles, Henry, Thomas, John, George, Mary, Joseph, Simmeon, Robert, Roger and Thomas. Of this number, Charles, Thomas, George, Robert and Roger are dead ; Henry married Miss Mary Ellen Grayson, John married Miss Amanda Watson, George married Miss Julia Taylor, Mary married twice, first Weston Anderson, second William E. Powell ; Joseph married Miss Blanch Pennell, Simmeon married Miss Harriet Arvin. They all have children.