History of Louisville, (Jefferson County) Kentucky United States of America

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Biographies:

Albert Haller Gross, composer, was born in Louisville, Ky., March 18, 1844; son of Dr. Samuel David and Louisa (Weissell) Gross. He was educated at the University of Virginia, entered the junior class of the University of Pennsylvania in 1862 and was graduated A.B. 1864, A.M. 1867. He studied law and was admitted to the Philadelphia bar in 1867. President Johnson appointed him U.S. district attorney of New Mexico in 1868 and after a short service he resigned on account of ill health. He was a member of the select council of Philadelphia, 1882, and declined the U.S. consulship at Athens, Greece, in 1885. He was an advocate of cremation of the dead as early as 1874. He published various poems and vocal and instrumental compositions in English, French and German, and with his brother, Samuel Weiswell, he prepared an autobiography of his father.

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

George Francis Train, author, was born in Boston, Mass., March 24, 1829; son of Oliver and Maria (Pickering) Train; grandson of the Rev. George Pickering, a slave owner and Methodist preacher of Baltimore, Md. (who married Miss Bemis, daughter of a well-to-do farmer of Waltham, Mass., and subsequently resided on the Bemis farm); and, a descendant of the Pickerings of Virginia, South Carolina and Maryland. George Francis Train was taken to New Orleans, La., in 1832, and after the death of his mother and three sisters from yellow fever, in 1833, he was sent by his father to Waltham, Mass., and given over to the care of his maternal grandmother. His father probably became a victim of the fever soon after, but the son never ascertained the time or place of his death. He attended school, 1840-43; was a farmer until 1843; grocer's clerk, 1843-44; employed in the grocery business, Cambridge, Mass., 1844-45; as a shipping clerk by the firm of Enoch Train & Co., 37 Lewis Wharf, Boston, Mass., 1845-47; as manager of the same, 1847-50; was sent to Liverpool as agent of the firm, and was a member of that firm, 1849-53. He started forty clipper ships for California in 1849. He was married at Louisville, Ky., Oct. 5, 1851, to a daughter of Col. George T. M. Davis, editor of the Louisville Courier. Mrs. Train died in 1877, leaving three children: Susan Minerva (born 1855), wife of Philip Dunbar Guelager, a resident of Stamford, Conn., in 1903; George Francis, Jr. (born 1856), in business in San Francisco, Cal., in 1903; and Elroy McHenry (born 1857), a resident of Chicago, Ill., in 1903. In 1853 Mr. Train established the firm of George F. Train & Co., agents for the "White Star" line, Melbourne, Australia, where he remained until 1858, returning that year to London for the purpose of placing the first mortgage bonds of the Atlantic and Great Western railroad. In 1859 he made his first efforts to introduce street railways into England, the United States and Australia. After his return to the United States in 1862, he went to Omaha, Nebraska, where he projected the Union Pacific railway, through the Credit Mobilier trust, which was built, 1862-69, and owned real-estate consisting of 5000 lots valued at $30,000,000, which property, despite foreclosure proceedings, continued to remain in his possession, although he was deprived of its occupancy and control, having been legally declared insane. In 1868 he built "Train Villa," in Newport, R.I. He was probably one of the organizers of the French commune, October, 1870, after his return from a trip "Around the World in Eighty Days," as recorded by Jules Verne in 1872. He was an independent candidate for President against Grant and Greeley, in 1871-72; was imprisoned for six months in 1874, for libellous publications during the Beecher-Tilton controversy; made a third trip around the world in 1890, and a fourth in 1892, accomplishing the feat in sixty days, then the shortest known record. In addition to his lectures, delivered in the principal cities of the world, he is the author of: An American Merchant in Europe, Asia and Australia, and Young America Abroad (1857); Young America in Wall-Street (1858); Spread Eagleism, and Every Man His Own Autocrat (1859); Young America in Slavery, and Observations on Street Railways (1860); George Francis Train, Unionist, on Thomas Colley Grattan, Secessionist (1861); Train's Union Speeches (1862); Downfall of England (1865); Irish Iindependency (1865); Championship of Women (1868), and My Life in Many States and in Foreign Lands (1902). In 1903 Mr. Train was residing at Mills Hotel in New York city.

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

George W. Ranck, author, was born in Louisville, Ky., Feb. 13, 1841; son of Solomon and Sarah (Marman) Ranck; grandson of Samuel, 2d. and Mary (Aultz) Ranck, and descendant of Michael and Anna (Barbara) Ranck, Huguenots, and adherents of the Moravian church, who escaped from Holland in the English vessel Morton House, and landed in Philadelphia, Pa., Aug. 24, 1728, helping to found the town of New Holland. George W. Ranck was a student at Kentucky university, 1864?68, at Harrodsburg, 1864?65, and at Lexington, 1865?68; was tutor there for some time and principal of its academy in 1868. He was editor of the Lexington Observer and Reporter, 1868?71, and in 1871 became owner of the paper. He was married in 1868, to Helen, daughter of John and Mary E. Carty of Lexington. He was one of the organizers of the Kentucky Historical society at Frankfort, 1878: was a member of the Virginia Historical society; the Massachusetts Historical society, and of various other learned and patriotic organizations; and delivered the historical address, "Centennial of Lexington," at Morrison college, April 2, 1879. His death resulted from being struck by a train, while examining the stone sills and under ties of the first railroad built in Lexington, Ky., in quest of historical information for an article he had in preparation. His publications are: History of Lexington, Kentucky (1872); O'Hara and His Elegies (1875); several chapters for History of Lafayette Co., Ky. (1882); Guide to Lexington (1883); Girty, the White Indian (1886): The Traveling Church (1891); The Story of Bryan's Station (1896); The Bivouac of the Dead and its Author (1898); Boonesborough (1901). He died in Lexington, Ky., Aug. 2, 1901.

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

Gilderoy Wells Griffin, author, was born in Louisville, Ky., March 6, 1840. He attended the University of Louisville, was admitted to the practice of law in 1861, followed his profession for several years and then became a journalist. He was appointed by President Grant U.S. consul at Copenhagen in 1871 and at the Samoan Islands in 1876. In 1879 President Hayes gave him the consular office at Auckland, New Zealand, and in 1884 President Arthur transferred him to Sydney, Australia, which post he held until his death. He is the author of a sketch of the life of George D. Prentice (1869); Studies in Literature (1871); Life of Charles S. Todd (1873); Danish Days (1874); A Visit to Stratford (1875); and New Zealand, Her Commerce and Resources (1884). He also edited Prenticeana (1871). He died in Louisville, Ky., Oct. 21, 1891.

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