Nelson County, KY Genealogy and History

Major Blythe Hynes.

The Bar of the State has no better representative than in the person and high qualifications of Mr. Blythe Hynes. He was born at Bardstown, Nelson County, Kentucky, on the 10th of November, 1833. His father, Dr. A. M. Hynes was an old settler and practitioner in that section, and was both largely and favorably known.

Our subject entered St. Joseph's Jesuit College in 1846, and graduated in 1850, on the 10th of April, He entered immediately afterward the office of Jones & Blythe, of this city, and after a most thorough course in legal studies, was admitted to practice in 1855. Two years subsequently he formed a partnership with John Jay Chandler, which lasted till 1864, and the firm enjoyed the patronage of an extensive list of clients.

In 1860 Mr. Hynes was elected Prosecuting Attorney for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, and during his two years' term of office added largely to his reputation, by the earnest and vigorous discharge of its duties. The people appreciated his efforts, and elected him, in 1864, as County Clerk, which he held for four years. This was a flattering testimonial to our subject, as he was absent in the army at the time of his first candidacy.

He was appointed Provost Marshal by President Lincoln, and resigned the office to go into the hundred-days' service, as Major of the One Hundred and Thirty-sixth Indiana Infantry.

Major Hynes was married, in 1858, to Miss Mary E. Jones, daughter of Colonel J. G. Jones.

Time has dealt lightly with the strong physical frame of our subject; and his good health, in addition to his well-trained and capacious intellect, will be of vast aid to him in the close application with which he attends to his professional duties.

An affable gentleman he is a strong man before a jury and a very sagacious and far-sighted counselor.

Source: Evansville and Its Men of Mark [Transcribed by Cathy Schultz; July 2010]

BEMISS, Samuel Merrifield, physician, medical editor: b. Bloomfield, Nelson county, Ky., Oct. 15, 1821; d. New Orleans, La., Nov. 17, 1888. He received a literary education from his father, Dr. John Bemiss, and at the age of eighteen years began the study of medicine under his kinsman, Dr. Samuel Merrifield. In 1844 he graduated from the medical department of the University of New York and soon formed a partnership with his old preceptor, Dr. Merrifield, and they practiced together in Bloomfield , Ky. , for several years. In 1849 Dr. Bemiss was appointed registrar of Kentucky and in 1853 removed to Louisville , Ky. , where he associated himself with Dr. Benjamin Wible. He held various chairs in the medical department of the University of Louisville , being at one time vice-president. Throughout the War of Secession he served the Confederacy as acting surgeon, full surgeon, medical examiner, assistant hospital director, and ultimately director. In 1866 he went to New Orleans , La. , to accept the chair of the theory and practice of medicine in the University of Louisiana . From 1868 to 1883 he edited The New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal. During the yellow fever epidemic of 1878 President Hayes appointed Dr. Bemiss chairman of the committee to investigate the origin of the fever, and his report really resulted in the foundation of a national board of health in 1879. Dr. Bemiss was a voluminous writer for medical journals. [Source: THE SOUTH in the Building of the Nation Volume XI; Ed. by James Curtis Ballagh, Walter Lynwood Fleming & Southern Historical Publication Society; Publ. 1909; Transcribed and submitted by Andrea Stawski Pack.]

RAPIER, CHARLES WILLIAM, lawyer, circuit judge, was born in 1819, in Nelson County, Ky., his father being a farmer of English descent. He received his education at Bardstown and Lexington, graduating from the law school at the latter place. He read law with Judge Rowan, afterwards federal senator. In 1842, he went to Mobile, where he opened a law office; in 1853, was elected to the circuit bench over the incumbent, Hon. John A. Cuthbert; and in 1859 was again elected for a second term of six years over Major O. S. Jewett of Clarke. The war ended at the close of his term, and he was kept on the bench by Gov. Parsons at the request of the bar, and was again re-elected in May, 1866. He held this position until the congressional reconstruction of July, 1868, forced him to withdraw from office. Married, in 1867, to Miss Labretta, a Mobile lady of Italian birth. Last residence: Mobile.
[Source: History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume 4 By Thomas McAdory Owen, Marie Bankhead Owen, 1921 - Transcribed by AFOFG]

RAPIER, JOHN LAWRENCE, editor and publisher, was born June 15, 1842, at Spring Hill, Mobile County; son of Thomas Gwynno and Evelina (Senac) Rapier, the former who was born near Bardstown, Ky.; grandson of Pierre and Agnes (Krebbs) Senac of Pensacola, Fla. After receiving a good education he became identified with commercial interests, and engaged as a clerk in a mercantile business in Mobile, until 1861, when the War of Secession broke out. He enlisted in the Chasseurs-a-pied, under the command of Henry St. Paul, going with that organization, first to Pensacola, and then to Virginia. The company afterwards became a part of a Louisiana battalion, commanded by St. Paul, as major. In 1862, when the reorganization took place, the battalion was assigned to the First Battalion Zouaves, under command of Col. Gaston Coppens, with which Wheat's command was consolidated at a later date. After the battle of Seven Pines, he was promoted to the rank of sergeant-major of the battalion, and a month later, during the Seven Days' battle, was promoted to adjutant. He participated in the campaign of second Manassas, Sharpsburg, and Fredericksburg, while serving with the Second Louisiana brigade under command of Gen. W. E. Stark, and was then transferred to southeastern Virginia. He took part in the siege of Suffolk, and several fights in this vicinity, during Longstreet's campaign. In December, 1863, Mr. Rapier was ordered to Richmond for examination to enter the regular service of the C. S. Army, and was commissioned and assigned to duty at Drewry's Bluff, below Richmond, and afterwards at Mobile. He was appointed adjutant of a battalion, August 3, 1864, which was organized to reinforce the forts for the impending combat with the enemy, and being stationed at Ft . Gaines, was captured there, August 5, when the combined forces of the Federal fieet and army attacked the fort. He was imprisoned first at the Picayune, and then in the Union Press at New Orleans, was selected for exchange in three weeks, and was removed to a business office, and kept under guard. On the night of October 13. 1864, thirteen of the party escaped through a hole in a brick wall, leaving only five of their comrades behind, among them being Paymaster Richardson who was disabled by a wound. Mr. Rapier and his friend Fendall, sought refuge with friends in the city, and after securing some money, were taken out of the city, and after seven days and nights of travel on the treacherous bayous, reached Ponchatoula, a distance of fifty miles. He returned to Mobile and meeting Capt. Fry, a confederate naval officer who lost his life years after at the hands of the Spaniards at Santiago, Cuba, was given command of two thirtytwo pounder guns on his gunboat, which position he held until the boat surrendered, April 21, 1865, on the Tombigee River. After the war he engaged in the newspaper business at Mobile, establishing "The Register" and becoming president of The Mobile Register Company. During the second administration of Cleveland, he was appointed postmaster of Mobile. Residence: Mobile.
[History of Alabama and dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume 4 By Thomas McAdory Owen, Marie Bankhead Owen, 1921 - Transcribed by AFOFG]