The tomb of Henry F. Given is a landmark in Smithland Cemetery, which overlooks the town of Smithland in Livingston County, Kentucky. His family was among the earliest settlers of the area but through business ventures, they spread out across the country and Europe. H.F. Given was living in New Orleans at the time of his death.
“After a long life of usefulness and virtue, H.F. Given died yesterday, at 3 o’clock, of heart disease. It was only on Sunday that he attended services at church apparently in good health, but an insidious disease of the heart last evening suddenly cut short his life.
Born at Smithland, Ky., he engaged himself in business there when quite young on the wharf boat of that place, and by his strict mode of dealing and unswerving honesty earned the highest respect from all with whom he came in contact.
He came to New Orleans in 1854 and entered the commission business, doing a very extensive trade, and so popular was he, few men enjoyed higher standing in our commercial community. The firms of Given, Watts & Co. for many years stood among the most prominent of our business houses, and both in this country and Europe their reputation was second to none. Mr. Given was a man of generous impulses and kindly instincts. Of a domestic disposition, in the bosom of his family he realized and appreciated those luxuries and comforts of the home circle which he so much desired. His loss is a public one, and to his family his unlooked for demise will fall with a severe effect.
A large and extensive circle of friends will be startled at the sad news, and it will be difficult for friends to realize that H.P. Given is no more.” [1]
H.F. Given married as his first wife, Adaline Haynes. The tomb in Smithland Cemetery was built shortly after her death in 1860. On the 2nd of August 1862, H.F. married Miss Annie Gregory at her mother’s home in Henderson County, Kentucky. [2]
In 1868, the estates of Henry F. Given, Henry H. Bryan, Dickson A. Given and William C. Watts, individually and as members of the firm of Given, Watts & Co. filed for bankruptcy in the U.S. Marshall’s office, District of Louisiana. [3]
“Paducah, Ky., April 17 – Mrs. Annie E. Given, aged 60 years, died this afternoon … of heart failure. She was the widow of Henry Given, who, during the war, was a member of the mammoth banking establishment of Watts, Given Co., which concern had branch offices in New Orleans, New York, London and other places. After the war the establishment failed for something like $5,000,000. Mrs. Given left three children of this city, besides two sisters, Mrs. John B. Hart, of Henderson, and Mrs. E.S. Ferguson, of New Orleans. The body will be taken to Smithland for interment beside her husband.”[4]
[1] “Death
of H.F. Given,” The Times-Picayune, New Orleans, Louisiana, Tues., 14
Oct 1873, p. 4, Newspapers.com, accessed 15 Mar 2017.
[2]
Marriage of Wm. H.F. Given and Miss Ann E. Gregory, 2 September 1862, Kentucky
County, Marriages 1797-1954, Henderson County, Ancestry.com.
[3]
Bankruptcy Notice, New Orleans Republican, Tues., 7 April 1868,
Newspapers.com, accessed 12 June 2021.
[4] “Mrs.
Annie Given Dead. Widow of a Man Once
Famous in the Business World,” The Courier-Journal, Louisville,
Kentucky, Wednesday, 18 April 1900, p. 7, Newspapers.com, accessed 12 June
2021.
Published 29 July 2021, Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog, http://wkygenealogy.blogspot.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment