Union County, KY Genealogy and History - presented by Genealogy Trails

BLACKWELL, William Hudson, coffee and tea merchant; born, Uniontown , Ky. , 1869; son of Thomas Clayton and Virginia Evaline ( Taylor ) Blackwell; educated in public and private schools at Uniontown , Ky. , and in military school at Hopkinsville , Ky. , 1885-86; married, Wichita , Kan. , June 15, 1901, Grace Nelis Richardson. Began business career as clerk in a retail grocery store in Uniontown, Ky., in 1890; became a traveling salesman in 1896, and in September, 1899, became connected with Meyer Bros. Coffee and Spice Co., wholesale jobbers of coffees, teas and spices, of which is vice president. Member Travelers' Protective Association. Democrat. Episcopalian. Office: 400 S. 7th St. Residence: 4567 Washington Ave. (Source: The Book of St. Louisans, Publ. 1912. Transcribed by Charlotte Slater)

BROWN, John Young, a Representative from Kentucky; born on a farm near Geigers Lake, Union County, Ky., February 1, 1900; attended the county schools and the high school at Sturgis, Ky.; Centre College, Danville, Ky., A.B., 1921, and from the law department of the University of Kentucky at Lexington, LL.B., 1926; was admitted to the bar the same year and commenced practice in Lexington, Ky.; also engaged in agricultural pursuits; city representative of Lexington, Ky., in 1930; county representative of Fayette County, Ky., in 1932 and again in 1946; member of the State house of representatives 1930 to 1932, serving as speaker in 1932; elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-third Congress (March 4, 1933-January 3, 1935); unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1934; resumed the practice of law; unsuccessful Democratic candidate for the United States Senate in 1946; member, State legislature in 1953 and 1954; defeated for the Democratic nomination in 1960 for United States Senator; member, Kentucky house of representatives, 1962-1963, and 1966-1967, during which time he served as majority floor leader; returned to law practice in Lexington and Louisville; died in Louisville, Ky., June 16, 1985; interment at Lexington Cemetery, Lexington, Ky. Contributed by A. Newell

MAJOR-GENERAL ORMSBY McKNIGHT MITCHELL was born in Union County, Kentucky, in 1810, and graduated at West Point in 1829. He was appointed assistant professor of mathemathics at the Military Academy, and held the position two years; after which, having resigned from the service, he studied law, was admitted to the bar, and practiced in Cincinnati until the year 1834, when he was elected professor of mathematics, astronomy, and philosophy, in the college of that city. He proposed in 1845 to erect a grand observatory, and the design was ultimately carried into operation. While in 1859, he was chosen director of the Dudley Observatory at Albany, he still continued connected with that at Cincinnati He was distinguished as an astronomical lecturer, wrote several standard works on the subject, and had gained a high reputation as a savant, when he left his scientific pursuits for the tented field. In August, 1861, he was commissioned brigadier-general of volunteers, and served under General Buell in the Department of the Ohio. After the capture of Bowling Green and Nashville, he moved rapidly to the southward, and broke the enemy's communications, by seizing the railway between Corinth and Chattanooga. He was relieved of his command in July, 1862, and in September of the same year appointed commander of the Department of the South. Preparing for an active campaign, he fell a victim to the yellow fever at Beaufort, South Carolina, October 30th, 1862. Throughout his short, but brilliant military career, he displayed all the qualities of a good general and a thorough Christian soldier.
Source: A Complete History of the Great Rebellion of the Civil War in the U.S. 1861-1865 with Biographical sketches of the Principal actors in the Great Drama. By Dr. James Moore, Published 1875; Contributed by Linda Rodriguez