William Wright
and Adaliza Southgate
Information comes from the family files at the Campbell County Historical Society
William Wright Southgate was born November 27, 1800 in Newport, Kentucky, the son of Richard Southgate and Ann Winston Hinde. His father was the builder of the Southgate House which still stands on Third Street in Newport across from the Newport Aquarium.
William got his name in part from his grandfather, Wright Southgate who had come to America from England about 1745. William graduated from Transylvania College in Lexington, then settled in Covington to practice law. He eventually became a law partner of Moritmor Benton, Covington's first mayor. William married Adaliza Keene, who was born in Lexington Ky. on November 7, 1823 in Campbell County and had 13 children.
Children of William Wright Southgate and Adaliza Keene (1808-28 Aug 1892)
1. Laura Southgate b-1824 in Covington m-William L Grant in 1845
2. Martha Southgate b-1826 in Covington
3. Richard Wright Southgate b-1829 in Covington
4. Martha Southgate b-1831 in Covington; m-Samuel Walker; d-1856 in Covington;
br-Linden Grove Cemetery
5. William Wright Southgate b-1833 in Newport; d-17 Apr 1870 in Covington; br-Linden
Grove Cemetery
6. Henry Hinde Southgate b-27 Nov 1835 in the Highlands; d-31 May 1891 in
Covington; br-Evergreen Cemetery in Southgate; m-Katie M Carrick 4 June 1879 in
Campbell Co
7. Adeliza Southgate b-1837 in Covington; m-William Evans Arthur in 1855 d-1858
8. William Richard Southgate b-May 1840 Covington; d-11 Sep 1887 in Covington;
br-Linden Grove Cemetery; m-Martha McClean 5 Dec 1872 in Covington; also became
a lawyer
9. Julia Southgate b-Jan 1843 in Covington; d-8 Dec 1913 in Covington; br-10 Dec
in Linden Grove Cemetery
10. Ethel Linda Southgate b-1844 in Covington; m-William Evans Arthur in Dec 1860
11. Nancy Southgate b-Jan 1848 in Covington; m-George G Lott 6 Dec 1865 in
Covington; d-4 Aug 1923 in Montgomery Co Oh
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Children of William Richard Southgate and Martha McClean
1. William Southgate b-1874 in Covington
2. George Southgate b-1878 in Covington
3. Wright Southgate b-1880 in Covington
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William Wright Southgate became active in the Whig Party and a supporter of Kentucky's most famous early statesman, Henry Clay. In the early 1800s, the Whigs and the Democratic Republicans were the country's two major political powers. William Southgate ran and was elected as a Whig to the U. S. House of Representatives in November 1836 and served in Congress from 1837-39. At the time he lived in Covington along the Licking River.
Bu 1842 he had become a law partner of J W Culvert of Burlington. That same year on September 29, he was part of a Kentucky delegation which, along with their Ohio counterparts, hosted a great barbecue by Whig leaders in Dayton, Ohio. An estimated 100,000 people attended the massive banquet.
See also William Wright Southgate's Congressional Record
William was only about 45 years old when he became ill and died at his Covington home on December 26, 1849. An account two days later in the Licking Valley Register said Southgate's unexpected death had "cast a gloom over the city such as we have never before witnessed."
Services were held at the Masonic Hall in Covington and burial was in the Southgate vault in Linden Grove Cemetery. William and Adalezia's oldest daughter Laura married William L Grant in 1845. Grant, a one time Covington city clerk and councilman, would become a state legislator and help to obtain public funding for a school for African Americans in Covington. The school would later be named William Grant in his honor.
One of Southgate's sons, Wright left for the California
gold rush in 1852, but returned to Covington and like his father died young at
38.