Thank you, Leathel. And Roger, too! I'm wondering if we have any descendants of Samuel Harper Boles on this list...? Yours, Linne > Judge Samuel Harper Boles, 1825 - 1902 > >Samuel Harper Boles was born in Cumberland Co, Ky, Jan 12, 1825, the eldest >son of Elam Farmer Boles & Mary Harper Jones, b Sept 18, 1800 In Virginia, >and d Aug 9, 1873 in Cumberland Co Ky . His paternal grandfather was Thomas >Boles, b May 5, 1775 in Chesterfield Co, Va, and paternal grandma was >Tabitha Farmer, b Feb 13, 1775 in Chesterfield Co, Va & died Nov 13, 1846 >in Cumberland Co, Ky. > >As a youth, Judge Boles attended the Burkesville school, later going to >Todd Co, Ky, where there was a school of some note, conducted by professors >from New York. As a young man, he was fond of sports and was considered >quite an athlete. Sports at the time consisted of racing, running, >jumping, wrestling & horseback riding. The Rev James Lewis, Methodist >minister, had this to say of Boles. "Sam Boles came as a teacher, He was a >spare young man, five feet eleven inched tall, keen blue eyes, thick black >hair, and a very florid complexion. I have seen him lay his hand on his >saddle & vault into it with perfect ease. In the single broad jump, his >record, cut in the stone curbing in front of the old White Hall Tavern, was >13 feet 8 inches. He whipped fiercely if the boy was small enough to lay >across his lap. How the blows did rain down. He was an excellent, honest, >capable, conscientious & generally popular teacher. His private life was >clean, his morals good & at that time he was a member of the Christian >Church. Rev Lewis happenned to be one of the small boys laid across his lap. > >In 1848 Boles married to Mary Rebecca Parham, of Montgomery Co, TN, b Oct >14, 1828 in Henrico Co, Va & d.March 1, 1902, Barren Co, Ky, the daughter of >Charles Lewis Parham & Mary Ann Smith, both natives of Va, but resided at >that time in Montgomery Co, TN > >Sam Boles & Rebecca Parham had 10 children: > >Mary Tabitha Boles, b May 9, 1849, md W D Wade >Charles E Boles, b June 21, 1851 md Eliza Jewell >James Thomas Boles, b May7 25, 1853 >Samuel Junius Boles, b aug 21, 1855 >Jennie Lou Boles, b Feb 17, 1858 >Jimmie B Boles, b feb 24, 1860, md John T Hall >Sallie J Boles, b May 1, 1862, md Joseph T Altsheler >Sidney L Boles, b Sept 12, 1864 >Sam Ella Boles, b Mar 3, 1868, md Chris C Hall >Jessie Boles, b Jul 15, 1870, d June 27, 1875 > >Sam Boles gave up teaching & returned to Burkesville in 1850 or 51 to study >law. He took a law course at the University of Louisville, at the age of >26 began to practice law. At age 33, he was elected to the State Senate. >In 1866, They moved to Glasgow, Ky. He formed a law practice under the >name of Lewis, Boles, & McQuown. In 1883 he was elected to the State >Senate & in 1892 as a member of the Constitutional Convention. As a >lawyer, he was noted for his intense loyalty to his clients, holding on >when others would have surrended. He was ever a friend of the poor & >oppressed, his charity reaching out to the colored man, who at that time, >he did not believe received justice in the courts. He was of a generous >nature and liked to share what he had with others. He was a great family >man & enjoyed the home circle in the love of his wife & children. He was >never puritanical in his outlook on life, as many were in those days, and >liked to see his children enter into and enjoy the pleasures of the day. >Dancing & card playing were not taboo with him, these he regarded as >innocent pleasures. > > >Judge Boles died Aug 22, 1902, at his home 3 miles north of Glasgow. his >portrait hangs in the law library of the Barren County Courthouse. He was >a most delightful speaker on the stump, and the bare announcement that he >would deliver an address on a political subject was suffieient to attract a >crowd that included every white male of voting age for ten miles around. > >As a lawyer, Judge Boles stood among the foremost for half a century. His >wonderful hold upon the people was due to his sincerity of purpose, his >charm of personal magnetism & his commanding ability. Through all his >long public career, he was ever the friend of the masses. He was a man of >strong convictions, dauntless courage, boundlaess evergies, & magnificent >abilities. > >The following incident in his life was printed in the Glasgow Times, a >letter by Govorner P H Leslie. He says" I was in Burkesville attending >court when the first blow of the Civil War was struck at Ft Sumpter. The >town was full of people from all over the county, and many lawyers from >adjoining counties. The excitement was intense & in a few moments Judge >Bramlett, later Governor, adjourned the court and a mass meeting was held >in the courthouse, Judge Zack Wheat led off in a vigorous denunciation, >comdemning the Southern side of the then great question. He was followed >by Wm Simpson, later a judge of the Court of Appeals, adding fuel to the >flames. All of these speeches were listened to and the allpause was long & >loud. After they had spoken and the crowd was beginning to disperse, then >young Sam Boles walked through the crowd and took his place upon the >platform from which they had spoken. All eyes looked him in the face, all >noise was hushed. He looked upon & over the large crowd & upon the three >distinguished gentlemen. his speech was a fire brand thrown into the >crowd. His words were burning cinders and his voice was emotionally >projected. I had never before, nor have I since, witnessed a more >courageous outspeaking of a mans sentiments than displayed by Boles." Gov >Leslie continued, " The crowd was overwhelmingly against him & scarcely >anyone gave out compliments to him, as then Cumberland Co was a strongly >Union as it is strongly Republican today. By this speech, his life was >placed in jeopardy by the lower elements of the county, some of whom had >vowed to take his life. In later years, I heard him say that it was >better that the nation as a Union had been preserved. He came to realize >that there was something great & good in Abraham Lincolm & believed that >had his life been spared, the South would have fared better than it did." > >Copied from notes by Judge Boles daughter, Mrs Jennie Lou Boles Ellison, >and obituries, submitted by Roger M Parrish, Bowling Green, Ky