History of Elizabethtown, (Hardin County) Kentucky United States of America

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Biographies:

Joseph Cross, clergyman, was born in Somersetshire, England, July 4, 1813. He was brought to the United States in 1825 and in 1829 became a boy preacher in the Methodist church at Genesee, N.Y. He removed to Lexington, Ky., in 1848, where he was married to Jane Tandy Chinn, widow of James P. Hardin, a lawyer of Harrodsburg, Ky., and he made a tour of Europe with his wife, who wrote letters to the Christian Advocate and to the Charleston and Nashville papors. She also aided him in conducting the female seminary at Spartanburg, S.C., 1848-66, and for her loyalty to the south during the civil war, was with her daughters tried by a military tribunal and imprisoned. She published her experiences in "Duncan Adair" and "Azili" (1868). She died in Elizabethtown, Ky., in October, 1870. Her husband was professor of English literature in Transylvania university and was identified with the southern branch of the M.E. church. He was official reporter of the Nashville general conference of 1856. He accepted the faith of the P.E. church in 1866 and took holy orders, serving as rector, among other places at Houston, Tex., Buffalo, N.Y., and St. Louis, Mo. In 1885 he became rector of St. Paul's, Los Vegas, N.M. He published over a score of popular religious books, 1855-85, and compiled a Church Reader for Lent (1885).

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Benjamin Hardin Helm, soldier, was born in Elizabethtown, Ky., in 1830; son of John Larue and Lucinda Barbour (Hardin) Helm, and grandson of George B. Helm and of Benjamin Hardin. He was graduated at the U.S. military academy in 1851, was assigned to the dragoon service at the U.S. cavalry school, Carlisle, Pa., and was afterward on frontier duty at Fort Lincoln, Texas. He resigned from the army in 1852, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1854, and practised law in Elizabethtown, 1854-58, and at Louisville, 1856-61. He was a representative in the state legislature, 1855-56, and state's attorney, 1856-58 He was married in 1856 to Emilie, daughter of Robert S. Todd. He joined the Confederate army in 1861 as colonel of the 1st Kentucky cavalry, and for bravery at Shiloh was made a brigadier-general, March 14, 1862. He commanded the 2d brigade of Gen. Charles Clark's 1st division in the army of Gen. John C. Breckinridge in the unsuccessful attack on Baton Rouge, La., Aug. 5, 1862, where he had his horse shot and was wounded. He commanded the 1st brigade in Breckinridge's division, D. H. Hill's corps in the battle of Chickamauga, where he conducted several brilliant movements, including a successful attack on Negley's infantry at Glass's Mill, Sept. 19, 1863. He was killed while leading his brigade on the morning of the 20th in an endeavor to carry the Federal breastworks in order to protect his men exposed to a flank fire. He died at Chickamauga, Ga.. Sept. 20, 1863.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Ephraim Geoffrey Peyton, jurist, was born in Elizabethtown, Ky., Oct. 29, 1802; son of Ephraim and ? (Jennings) Peyton, and grandson of Robert and Ann (Guffey) Peyton, and of Jonathan Jennings. He was a cousin of Balie Peyton of Tennessee, their fathers being brothers. He was educated in Gallatin college, Tenn., and in 1818 removed to Mississippi, where he taught school and learned the printer's trade. He was admitted to the bar in 1824, and settled in practice first in Copiah county, and then in Gallatin, Miss. He was married, March 31, 1831, to Artemisia G., daughter of Francis Patton, a planter of Claiborne county, Va. He was a representative in the Mississippi legislature in 1835, was district attorney of the fourth judicial district for several years from 1839, and in 1861 refused to favor seccession. He was a member of the Mississippi constitutional convention of 1865, and a Republican representative to the 39th congress in the same year, but was denied his seat because Mississippi was not a reconstructed state. He was judge of the supreme court of Mississippi, 1868-70, and chief justice, 1870-75. He lost his fortune, estimated at about $100,000, by the failure of the banks, and was left deeply in debt, which debt he fully paid. He died in Jackson, Miss., Sept. 5, 1876.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Benjamin Helm, pioneer, was born in Fairfax county, Va., May 8, 1767; son of Capt. Thomas Helm, a pioneer settler of Kentucky, who removed from Virginia to the Falls of the Ohio in the fall of 1779. In the spring of 1780 Captain Helm, Col. Andrew Haynes and Samuel Haycraft located where Elizabethtown now stands and built three forts and blockhouses, locating them on a triangle one mile apart, and they were known as Helm's Station, Haynes's Station and Haycraft's Station. In 1801-03 Captain Helm erected the first brick bouse built in the place. Benjamin became a surveyor; was state senator, 1796-1800; clerk of the Hardin county courts, 1800-17; an officer with the rank of major in the War of 1812; filled various other offices of honor and trust in Kentucky; purchased the farm owned by Christopher Bush, father of Mrs. Sallie (Bush) Johnston Lincoln, step-mother of Abraham Lincoln, from his heirs; and was a partner in the general store of the place with Duff Green, conducting the business as Green & Helm. Major Helm's widow, Mary Helm, died in 1871, aged 94 years, and the major died at Elizabethtown, Ky., Feb. 24, 1858, nearly 91 years of age.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor