My Genealogy Hound

THOMAS F. TERRELL. But few men are now living who emigrated to the Purchase as early as did the subject of this sketch. His father, Chiles Terrell, was a practical surveyor, and came from Virginia to McCracken County, Ky., as early as 1826, with his son, J. H. Terrell, then eleven years old, and surveyed a large portion of the land in said county. At that early day no stage lines even connected this with the more civilized portions of the country. Their journey to this place and return to Virginia, was consequently made on horse-back, and attended by perils of various kinds, as well as requiring about one month for the trip each way. Chiles Terrell was by no means an ordinary man; he was reared in the faith of the Friends or Quakers, and received a thorough education; was particularly proficient in mathematics, and occupied the position of professor of that science in the old Rumford Academy, of Virginia. In the year 1827 he moved to Louisville, Ky., and in the year 1828 was professor of mathematics in the Jefferson Seminary, the oldest institution of learning in the city of Louisville, Ky. He moved to the Purchase in 1839, settled in McCracken County, and there, in October, 1851, he died, in his seventy-second year. He had married Mary C. Upshaw, who died in 1836, in Jefferson County, Ky. Thomas F. Terrell was born to these parents January 13, 1820, in the city of Richmond, Va., and was consequently mostly reared under the influence of pioneer life, farming in Jefferson County, Ky., and in the Purchase. When twenty-two years old he went to New Orleans and for two years engaged in the mercantile pursuit; returning thence to Kentucky he was appointed sheriff of Ballard County in 1843, serving as such until 1849, when he was put in nomination by the Whig party for representative. As such he was elected to the lower house, although the district, then as now, was intensely Democratic, and voted for Henry Clay for United States senator, in January, 1849. The last time he was returned to said body, he died before his term expired. In 1851, under the new constitution, he was again made the sheriff of Ballard County, serving two terms. In December, 1856, he removed to Paducah, since which time he has exerted a potent influence in the business interests of the city. He has been principally engaged in the tobacco warehouse business. He occupies a prominent position in the trade, and is respected for his integrity and fair dealing, and now is a member of the firm of Terrell, Reeves & Co. Mr. Terrell is a man of sound, practical judgment, kind in his disposition and full of charity for his fellow-men; a friend to the cause of education and for several years an active member of the board of education in Paducah; is retained from year to year as a member of the city council, and conservative in his views for all improvements as fast as the financial condition of the city will admit; opposed to heavy taxation, and a friend to the mechanic and laboring classes. He is a member of the Masonic order; was married in 1844 to Miss Mary Fletcher, a native of Virginia. Seven of a family of eight sons born to them are now living, and are honorable business men.