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.
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 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 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 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.
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.
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.
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:
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 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, 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, 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, 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.
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.
Used here with the permission of The Providence-Journal Enterprise, Providence, Kentucky
From the
Centennial Supplement of THE PROVIDENCE ENTERPRISE:
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.
Published Every Thursday: Volume XXXVIII, Providence,
Kentucky,
Thursday, July 18, 1940, Number 38
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