Providence History
Providence Biographies

 

SYLVESTER H. WILLIAMS

Sylvester H. Williams was born in Henderson county, Ky. April 30th 1819 to Burle and Zelotus Sugg Williams, the former a native of North Carolina, the latter of Virginia.

James Williams, father of Burle Williams and grandfather of Sylvester H. came to Henderson County in an early day and purchased land. Burle Williams died in 1829, aged 50.

After his death Sylvester H. made his home with Mr. and Mrs. Robert Robertson, of Providence. Mrs. Robertson, who was Louisa Sugg, was a sister of Mrs. Burle Williams.

Sylvester H., at maturity first worked at the cabinet business, then the saddler's trade. Later he was in the grocery business for 7 years. In 1850 he bought 190 acres of wild land 3 miles Northeast of Providence. To this he added from time to time until his farm comprised of 1200 acres of highly cultivated land.

In 1847 he married Mss Prudence Kennaday, who died in January 1863 leaving one son, Henry Burle. Mr. Williams then married in September 1863 Miss Sallie Bassett, daughter of Elijah and Mary Pearle Bassett. Three sons and five daughters were born to this marriage.

Mr. Williams died July, 1901. At the present only two daughters and one son survive, Mrs. H. H. Loving, Detroit Mich. Mrs. B. W. Dyer, Sturgis, Ky., and A. B. Williams, Nashville, Tenn.

Mr. Williams has a large number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren and great great grandchildren. Still living in Providence are two grand children, K. B. Williams and Mrs. C. J. Miedreich; two great grand children, Burl Letzinger and Mrs. H. A. Boyd; and two great great grandchildren, Biily Boyd and Jane Letzinger.

D. B. BAKER

The Baker family is one of the pioneer families of Webster county, having come from North Carolina in the late seventeen hundreds, and settled where the town of Lisman now is.

D. B. Baker, born Nov. 15, 1868, the son of D. V. Baker, near Lisman, came to Providence in 1901. He was a lawyer, and as a young man went to Texas where he lived and practiced law. He later came to Louisville and was in the law office with Col. Bennett H. Young.

On the death of his father, who was a large land owner, he gave up the practice of law, came home and looked after his father's estate.

He organized the Citizens' Bank in Providence and was its first cashier. He later organized the Webster County Coal company, gave up his position in the bank and devoted his time to coal interests and farming.

Mr. Baker was a very public spirited man, widely read and highly educated. He was married to Miss Dixie Jackson, daughter of T. J. Jackson. He died on May 15, 1920.

LIEUT. J. W. HOLLOMAN

Lieut. J. W. Holloman was born near Providence Sept. 12, 1832. He later owned the home of the late Anderson Brown, (father of Mrs. Opal Brown Herrington) on Willow Street. He was first lieutenant during the Civil War and was taken prisoner at Fort Donelson. He was a representative to the state legislature while Webster county was a part of Hopkins county. He was the grandfather of Carl and Frank Holloman and Mrs. Eulon Sigler of this city.

DR. JOHN A. BASSETT

Dr. John A. Bassett was for fifty years one of the most dominant and conspicuous figures in Providence, Ky. Born in Bracken county, Kentucky March 16, 1841 he moved while a lad with his parents to Hopkins county and to Providence a short time later. He died at his home on Cedar Street on March 9, 1912.

In 1868 Dr. Bassett began the practice of medicine in Providence and continued until a few weeks before his death. Through heat and cold, mud and dust, rain or shine he traversed every highway and bridle path throughout this section countless times.

He was twice married. His first wife was Miss Virginia Wetzel who was the mother of thier daughter, Mrs. R. L. Price. After her death he married Miss Frances Givens and they had three sons: Gus, Maurice and Ed Bassett. Mrs. Bassett died in March, 1938.

Dr. Bassett was a mason and filled every office in the gift of the lodge, service as Master several times. He was a lifelong Democrat and was a member of the First Baptist Church for many years. A man of rare intelligence, he was a close student, a lover of good literature and his mind was a storehouse of information. He was always ready to respond to a cry of distress from the helpless and needy.

FRANCES BASSETT PRICE and ROBERT L. PRICE

Frances Bassett Price was born in Providence and is the only surviving child of Dr. John A. Bassett and his first wife, nee Virginia Wetzel.

She was educated at the Boys and Girls Home School, the M. and F. Academy, and Bethel Female College in Hopkinsville. She has been a member of the First Baptist Church in Providence since childhood.

She was married to Robert L. Price in Providence on May 15, 1895.

Robert L. Price, the youngest son of Richen Price and Jane Nichols Price, was born at the family home three miles north of Providence. He came to Providence with his father in 1885 to reside.

He was in the mercantile business for a number of years. He represented the county in the General Assembly of Kentucky in 1904-05 where he voted to retain the capital at Frankfort, and also for the appropriation for the new Capital. He is a charter member of the Presbyterian church and has been a ruling elder since 1895. He has been in the insurance business since 1913.

Children of Mr. and Mrs. Price are John Bassett Price, Washington, D.C.; Robert L. Price, Jr., Carbondale, Ill.; Alan Wetzel Price, St. Louis, Mo.; Mrs. John Gip Hancock, Waverly, Ky.; and Mrs. Evelyn Price Nolan, St. Louis, Mo.

REV. ELEAZAR DORRIS

The Rev. Eleazar Dorris was born on a farm near Providence in 1834, son of Eleazar and Roxy Ann Dorris, and was educated in the district school. In his early twenties he was married to Harriet Wilson and they had six children, three of whom are now living: Carlton Dorris, and Mrs. Annie Dorris Curry of Providence and Edwin Dorris of Evansville. He was ordained a minister of the Primitive Baptist church in 1882. He died in 1919.

REV. NICHOLAS LACY

The Rev. Nicholas Lacy was born Nov. 5, 1816 in Christian County, and died in Madisonville on Jan. 10, 1897.

For more than fifty years he was a preacher in the Missionary Baptist church and also an able and prominent school teacher. He came to Providence in 1859 and remained as pastor of the Sharon Baptist church and founder of the M. and F. Academy, for ten years.

His first wife, Nancy Adeline Meacham of Sangamon County, Ill., was born Aug. 18, 1822 and died April 17, 1876. They were married Nov. 22, 1838 and had six children. He later married Miss George Proctor.

His oldest daughter, Vida, married James Kerr Givens, prominent merchant of Providence in the 1860's and 70's. Two daughters, Mattie and Nannie, married Laban M. Rice, tobacconist and capitalist. Cale Young Rice of Louisville, one of the nation's greatest poets, who was born in Dixon, is the son of Laban Rice and Mrs. Mattie Lacy Rice.

THE RICE FAMILY

James Rhodes and Edward Rice of Orance County, N. C. came into western Kentucky in the early part of the century. They established a trading post and did a thriving business at Belleville on Tradewater River.

In 1825 Edward married Miss Mary Nichols. James Rhodes Rice married Miss Elizabeth Nichols. Their father was a preacher from Raleigh, N. C. A number of distinguished men and women have descended from both marriges. Among the descendents may be mentioned:

Laban Rice, farmer, tobacconist, and capitalist, son of James Rhodes and Elizabeth Rice, father of the noted Kentucky writer, Cale Young Rice and the philanthropist and educator Col. Laban Lacy Rice. Their mother was Miss Mattie Lacy, daughter of the Rev. Nicholas Lacy.

K. G. Rice, son of Edward and Macy Rice, prominent Providence citizen for many years. He was interested in many enterprises. He was born Dec. 17, 1830; died Aug 5, 1890. He was a Confederate soldier and was taken prisoner at Donelson. His cousin, J. C. Tapp, son of Sallie Rice and Henry Tapp, also attained the rank of Sergeant-Major under Gen. John H. Morgan.

Dr. E. N. Rice son of Joseph and Mrs. Elizabeth Givens Rice, was a popular and beloved physician here for many years.

ABEDNEGO LLEWELLYN

Abednego Llewellyn settled northwest of the hamlet of Providence at an early day. He had come from Wales with Ellis Clark and Nancy Clark when he was a small boy. He married their daughter, Rebecca Clark. His land is still called Roy Field (Roi in French for king). Memoirs in his family strongly indicate that he was one of the royal family, Llewellyn, destroyed largely by the English victors at the time of the conquest of Wales.

His children were Arsenia, who married James Trader, and Leroy. Arsenia was the mother of Absalom Weir Trader, father of Justin Trader.

ALFRED TOWNES

Alfred Townes, son of Henry Hopkins Townes, moved from King William County, Virginia with his seven children and negroes and settled in Henderson County, Kentucky about 1807. He married Ann Maclin of Mecklenbergh, Virginia in 1836, and brought his wife to Hopkins County where he had lived a number of years before his marriage. He settled Nebo, Kentucky and named it. He burned the first coal, had the first carriage and first piano in the county. His wife was a very talented musician and the old settlers said she could get the sweetest music out of a box they had ever heard.

He was an engineer and surveyed the L. & N. Rialroad from Evansville Indiana to Nashville, Tennessee, threw the first shovel of dirt and drove the last spike in that division of the L. & N. Railroad. He formed a stock company to build a road to connect the coal fields of Webster and Union county with the L. & N. Railroad. He surveyed the Railroad from Madisonville to Providence, Kentucky. The company got cold feet and were afraid to put their money in a railroad, so he took his own negroes and money and started to build the road himself. After spending $125,000.00 of his own money another company was formed and the road completed.

He once rode horseback from Madisonville, Kentucky to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to see a railroad engine. He formed a close friendship with John J. Audubon of Henderson, Kentucky. Audubon, wishing to make a trip to France, sought a loan from Alfred Townes, his friend, saying he would paint his picture as he would probably never be able to repay the loan. The above picture is a photograph of the original painting of Alfred Townes by John J. Audubon. [Photo may be available at a later date] Alfred Townes has a number of direct descendents in Providence, Kentucky of whom Mrs. M. C. Palmer, Mrs. J. A. Cowan and Alfred Townes are great nieces and nephews. He died in 1871.

W.J. NISBET, OLDEST COAL OPERATOR

W. J. Nisbet, shown above as a young man, was born at Madisonville on July 6, 1872, the son of Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Nisbet. [Photo may be available at a later time]

He moved to Providence on January 9, 1891, only a short time after the Slope mine of the Providence Coal Mining Company had opened. At that time, his father was president of the company.

Shortly afterwards, he was made general manager and then president. During his career, he dug, trapped, weighed and tipped. He served as civil engineer and electrician during the early days of the company and designed many of the machines and apparatus used by his company. He also designed the building plans for the office and store, constructed in 1897, but still modern.

Mr. Nisbet is today the oldest active coal operator in Western Kentucky in point of service. His coal company was the first commercial mine opened here and he has been a highly successful business man.

He was married to Miss Cora Belle Head in 1899 and a son, William, survives this union. His first wife died in 1900 and he was married to Miss Emma Mills in 1905.

Mr. Nisbet has contributed much to the development of Providence and his company has always cooperated with any movement to advance the interests of the city.

PERCY D. BERRY

Percy D. Berry, who came to Providence in 1891 from Madisonville where he was born, contributed in a large measure to the development of the coal mining industry, and his interest in good roads was credited with aiding greatly in the development of the present highway system in western Kentucky.

Percy D. Berry was the only child of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Berry. He was educated in Madisonville and Louisville. When he came to Providence he began work as a laborer in the No. 1 slope mine which was located near the present site of the Phoenix Mill. He was soon promoted to the office of the Providence Coal Mining Co., then was a traveling salesman, treasurer and general sales agent, vice president, and was made president in 1919. He served continuously as president until his death on May 5, 1934 at the age of 59. He was also president of the Providence Citizens Bank and Trust Company and the Lutton Mining Company.

Mr Berry served as president of the old Providence Fair Association during the heyday of its career, and was president of the Tradewater Trail Association.

He was considered an authority on soft coal production, but in his busy life, he found time to accept other responsibilities and to take an active part in civic undertakings.

In November 1899, Mr. Berry married Miss Frances Wynn of this city who died about twelve years before her husband. They had two sons; one died in childhood; the other, Frank D. Berry is now city attorney in Madisonville.

THE WEIR FAMILY

Wm. Weir and his brothers, Absalom and Ashel came into this locality in an early day.

Wm. Weir located a large body of land east and north of the old Indian trail now known as U.S. 41. He married Amelia Green and left one child, Judith, who married John Givens, son of Jack and Martha (Given) Givens.

The other brother's land lay beyond toward Nebo, one was known as the Langley place, the other as the Hoggard place.

Wm. Weir was senator from Hopkins county in 1820. He was representative from Hopkins county in 1815, 16, 17.

On April 9, 1838 reference is made in court records when Absalom Weir, Benjamin Parker, David Kennedy, and Jonathan Foxwell were appointed "viewers" of the road from Providence to Henderson near Newton Headley's residence (now Highland Dairy).

The bridge over Weir's Creek on the road to Providence is mentioned Nov. 14, 1837. This road is often mentioned in early records as being the road from Madisonville to Bellville, which was an early settlement on Tradewater River about two miles from Providence. The Rices, Bells, Dunnings had trading posts there. Thomas Williams had a large warehouse there.

From the Centennial Supplement of THE PROVIDENCE ENTERPRISE:
Published Every Thursday: Volume XXXVIII, Providence, Kentucky,
Thursday, July 18, 1940, Number 38

Used here with the permission of The Providence-Journal Enterprise, Providence, Kentucky


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