History of Madison County Kentucky United States of America

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Cassius Marcellus Clay, diplomatist, was born in Madison county, Ky., Oct. 19, 1810; son of General Green and Sally (Lewis) Clay; and fourth in descent from Charles Clay, who immigrated to America with Sir Walter Raleigh, and settled in Virginia. He attended Centre college, Ky., and Pennsylvania university, and was graduated at Yale in 1832, having entered in the junior year. Upon his return to Kentucky he proclaimed himself an emancipationist and his great wealth and independent spirit made him a marked factor in politics. He was married in 1833 to Mary E., daughter of Dr. E. Warfield of Lexington, Ky., and in 1870 they were divorced. He was admitted to the bar, but never practised law. In 1835 he was elected to the lower house of the general assembly, His advanced theories as to internal improvements, gradual emancipation and the final extinction of slavery, prevented his re-election the next year, but he gained followers, and in 1837 was again elected. He was a delegate to the Whig convention of 1839 and was a supporter of the candidacy of General Harrison, who received the nomination. He removed to Lexington, canvassed the state for Harrison, and in 1840 was again a member of the assembly. When he presented himself in 1841 for re-election, his anti-slavery views caused his defeat. He introduced the common school system in Kentucky and was instrumental in reforming the jury system. His opposition to the admission of Texas further antagonized his constituents and in 1844, when Henry Clay was made the Whig candidate, he canvassed the northern states in his behalf. Clay's defeat stimulated him to take aggressive measures against the institution of slavery and he established in Lexington The True American, issuing the first number June 3, 1845. So determined was the opposition to this movement that the editor clad his office with iron and furnished it with a complete armament to repel invasion. During his absence from the office, caused by illness, the mob seized his press and sent it to Cincinnati, thus putting it outside the limits of a slave state. The mob published its determination to assassinate him should he persist in issuing the "incendiary" organ, but this threat had no effect and the paper appeared weekly, printed in Cincinnati and distributed throughout Kentucky. The aggressive editor was always armed and at political meetings and elsewhere made no secret of his readiness to fight. This attitude led to several sanguinary encounters and fatal duels. He recovered from the state of Kentucky $2500, in a suit for damages for the destruction of his office, and this victory he declared to be the first movement in Kentucky toward a free press. When the Mexican war began he was made captain of the "Old Infantry," a company that had seen service under General Harrison in 1811. While in the advance of General Scott's army, on their march to the City of Mexico, he was taken prisoner, with seventy others, Jan. 23, 1847, being one hundred miles in the van of the main army. While prisoners in the City of Mexico, Captain Clay, by his presence of mind and gallant bearing, saved himself and comrades from death at the hands of their captors. They were exchanged after Scott had captured the city, and on his return to Kentucky, Captain Clay was received by his political enemies as a hero. In Lexington the whole populace turned out to do him honor, and his fellow citizens presented him with a sword in token of their appreciation of his valor. In 1848 he supported General Taylor for the presidency, carrying Kentucky for the ticket. He was still determined to fight slavery and in 1849 he called an emancipation convention at Frankfort. In 1850 he formally separated from the Whig party and accepted the nomination for governor on the anti-slavery ticket, polling about 5000 votes in the election. In the national convention and canvass of 1856 he gave his support to Fr?mont and in 1860 to Lincoln. He was a "Jeffersonian emancipationist," and advocated emancipating the slaves by law and reimbursing the owners for their loss. On March 28, 1861, he was appointed by President Lincoln minister to Russia, and repaired to Washington preparatory to leaving on his mission, but when the national capital was threatened he enlisted volunteers and organized Clay's battalion, which he commanded until troops arrived from the north. He then sailed for St. Petersburg, where his diplomacy went far toward securing for the Union the sympathy of the Czar. He resigned in June, 1862, to accept a position as major-general of volunteers. In March, 1863, he resigned from the army and President Lincoln again made him U.S. minister to Russia, which post he occupied until Sept. 25, 1869. On his return to the United States he espoused the cause of the Cubans, then fighting for independence, and was made president of the Cuban aid society. He attacked the administration of President Grant and supported for the presidency Horace Greeley in 1872, Tilden in 1876, and Hancock in 1880. After 1884, when he gave his support to Mr. Blaine, he took but little interest in national politics, living quietly at his home, "Whitehall," Ky. On Dec. 13, 1894, General Clay, then in his eighty-fifth year, was married to Dora Richardson, a girl of fourteen, from whom he was divorced in 1898. In 1897 he applied to the government for a pension for his services in the Mexican war as a precaution against poverty. A pension of $50 per month was granted him in April, 1898. He received the degree of LL. D. from Transylvania university. See "The Life, Memoirs, Writings and Speeches of Cassius M. Clay (1896). He died in Whitehall, Ky., July 22, 1903.

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

Richard Moberly Dudley, educator, was born in Madison county, Ky., Sept. 1, 1838; great-grandson of the Rev. Ambrose Dudley. He was graduated from Georgetown college, Ky., in 1860, and was pastor of a Baptist church in Louisville, Ky., 1861-65. He then became editor of the Western Recorder, a Baptist weekly, which he afterward purchased. He sold this in 1871 to become pastor of a church in Fayette county, Ky. He was a trustee of Georgetown college, 1868-73, and 1878-80; professor of history and political economy there, 1872-79; chairman of the faculty and acting president of the college in 1879. In 1880 he was elected president of the college, which office he held until his death at Georgetown, Ky., Jan. 5, 1893.

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

James Streshley Jackson, soldier, was born in Madison county, Ky., Sept. 27, 1823. He was graduated at Jefferson college, Pa., in 1844, and in law at Transylvania university, and began practice at Greenupsburg, Ky., in 1845. On May 20, 1846, he fought a duel at Bethlehem, Ind., with Robert Patterson, of Frankfort, Ky., Thomas F. Marshall acting as second for Jackson, while George B. Crittenden acted as second for Patterson. After shots were exchanged the difficulty was settled by the seconds. He helped to raise a company of cavalry, known as Captain Cassius M. Clay's company, for the Mexican war, and serving first as lieutenant and subsequently as captain. On Oct. 4, 1847, while stationed at Port Lavaca, Texas, he fought a duel with Capt. Thomas F. Marshall, both escaping unhurt, and he resigned from the army to avoid a court-martial. He then resumed law practice, at first in Greenupsburg, and afterward in Hopkinsville, Ky. He was a state representative from Christian county, Ky., 1857-59. At a special election, June 20, 1861, he was elected a representative in the 37th congress, as a Unionist. He resigned early in 1862, and organized for the U.S. government the 3d Kentucky cavalry, of which he became colonel. His regiment was defeated in a skirmish with Col. N. B. Forrest, at Sacramento, McLean county, Dec. 27, 1861. He took part in the battle of Shiloh, April 6-7, 1862. On July 16, 1862, he was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers, and was present at the battles of Iuka, Miss., Sept. 19, 1862, and Corinth, Miss., Oct. 3-4, 1862. He was killed at the battle of Chaplin Hills, or Perryville, Ky., where he commanded a division of 5500 men, Oct. 8, 1862.

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

Green Clay, soldier, was born in Powhatan county, Va., Aug. 14, 1757; son of Charles, grandson of Henry and great-grandson of Charles Clay, who, with his brothers Henry and Thomas, immigrated to America with Sir Walter Raleigh and settled in Virginia. He was educated as a surveyor, went to Kentucky about 1777 and engaged in locating lands, thereby acquiring an extensive estate. He was a delegate to the Virginia legislature, and a member of the convention that ratified the Federal constitution in 1789. He was a conspicuous political factor in the state constitutional convention of 1799, and was a member of the state legislature from its first session, serving as president of the state senate. He was a member of both branches of the Kentucky legislature, serving at one time as speaker of the lower house. As major-general of militia he marched in 1813 with 3000 state troops, to the relief of General Harrison at Fort Meigs, and afterward defended the fort against an assault by Tecumseh and General Proctor. At the close of the war he returned to his home and engaged in agricultural pursuits. He died on his plantation in Madison county, Ky., Oct. 31, 1826.

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

History of Madison County Kentucky

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