My Genealogy Hound

COL. JAMES BRYSON HUSBANDS was born in 1805, in Rowan County, N. C., soon after which his parents, Harman and Sarah Husbands, emigrated to Kentucky and settled in Christian County. Until he was seventeen years old he received his literary education from his father, after which he became a pupil of William P. Nichols, one of the earliest teachers of Christian County. After one year as a student he began to teach, and taught not only his former schoolmates, but also his former teacher, Mr. Nichols. He continued to teach until he was twenty-three years old, when having decided on the profession of law, he went to Princeton, Ky., and did the usual preparatory reading in the office of William Lander. In 1828 he received his license, and in the fall of that year removed to Wadesboro, Calloway County, since which time the name of Col. J. B. Husbands has been familiar to every resident of the Purchase District. During the years of his active practice he was contemporary with Judges Fowler, Campbell, Shackelford, Richard Mayes, Matthew Mayes and others, who have all gone to make their final plea at the bar of Eternal Justice. The legal career of Col. Husbands clearly proves that he is no ordinary man, and it may be truthfully said that he has brought more suits in law than any man in western Kentucky, if not in the State. He is now in his seventy-ninth year, confined mostly to his room, but with a mind still vigorous and unimpaired, and with four of his children, is living in Paducah, calmly awaiting the summons to a higher court. Col. Husbands was never an aspirant for political honors; the only office he ever accepted was that of commonwealth’s attorney. He was married in 1832 to Miss Maria S. Martin, of McCracken County; she died in November, 1876, the mother of ten children, of whom seven are still living. In 1840 subject became a member of the Masonic fraternity, and two years later of the Methodist Church, of both of which he has ever proven a valuable defender.