HISTORY OF KENTUCKY AND KENTUCKIANS, E. Polk Johnson, three volumes,
Lewis Publishing Co., New York & Chicago, 1912. Common version, Vol. III,
pp. 1313-14  Boyd County.

HON. WILLIAM WIRT CULBERTSON.  A man of undoubted ability and energy, with
a broad capacity for commanding and directing large enterprises, Hon.
William Wirt Culbertson, of Ashland, Boyd county, Kentucky, has met with
unlimited success in his various undertakings and is now enjoying a well
earned leisure in his declining days.  A resident of that city for forty
years, he has taken an active part in promoting and advancing its material
growth and prosperity, filling positions of honor in the municipality and
representing his constituents in the State Senate in in Congress.  Honor
and integrity are synonymous with his name, and he enjoys the confidence,
regard and esteem of his fellow-men.  A son of Samuel Culbertson, he was
born in Greenwood, Miffin county Pennsylvania, September 23, 1835, and is
a lineal descendant of a family of Scotch Covenanters.
     During the reign of Charles the Second of England, who was styled the
"Merry Monarch," three brothers named Culbertson, faithful Covenanters,
migrated from Scotland to the north of Ireland.  A descendant of one of
these brothers, one Samuel Culbertson, came to America in 1736, and settled
in Chester county, Pennsylvania.  His son, Colonel John Culbertson, brigade
inspector of the Pennsylvania Militia, was the grandfather of Hon. W. W.
Culbertson.
     Brought up and educated in his Pennsylvania home, Samuel Culbertson,
Mr. Culbertson's father, learned the details of the mercantile trade in
his father's store while clerking, and when ready to start in business
for himself opened a store at Greenwood, Pennsylvania.  Selling out soon
after his marriage he removed to West Union, Adams county, Ohio, where he
continued as a merchant for a time.  The panic of 1837 proved very
disastrous to his business, and in 1838 he migrated with his family to
Washington county, Iowa, where he served as county judge for four years
and continued his mercantile undertaking, selling goods to the Indians
under the protection of United States troops.  Going from there with his
family to Greenup, Kentucky, in 1844, he assumed charge of the Greenup
furnace.  Subsequently returning to Adams county, Ohio, he spent his
last days in West Union.  On September 15, 1834, he married Ann Kennedy,
and to them five children were born, four sons and one daughter, William
W. being the youngest child.
     But three years old when his parents removed to Ohio, William Wirt
Culbertson acquired a practical education in the public schools of
Ironton, and while yet in his teens clerked in his father's store at
Greenup Furnace, later holding a similar position in Adams county, Ohio.
He was afterwards a storekeeper at Clinton Furnace, subsequently being
clerk and manager of a store at Ohio Furnace, in Lawrence county, Ohio.
     In 1861, inspired by patriotic enthusiasm, Mr. Culbertson raised a
company of soldiers was was made captain of Company F, Twenty-seventh
Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was at the front in many engagements of
importance, including the battles at Lexington, Missouri, Blackwater,
Springfield and Island No. 10; the sieges at Corinth and Iuka; the second
engagement at Corinth; and was with Sherman in the beginning of his
famous march.  Mustered out in the spring of 1864, Captain Culbertson
soon afterward took charge of Pine Grove Furnace and of the Buena Vista
Furnace in Kentucky.  He subsequently became part owner of the latter
property as a member and the treasurer and superintendent of the firm of
Culbertson, Means & Culbertson, to which his brother Kennedy also belonged.
This enterprising firm subsequently built a new furnace, located about ten
miles from Ashland, Kentucky, christening it "The Princess," a venture that
proved successful.  The large and superior output of all the furnaces with
which Mr. Culbertson was connected in those days was due entirely to his
untiring energy, sound judgment and progressive spirit.  He was likewise
associated with numerous beneficial projects, having built the Ashland
Ferry and having been a stockholder in the Big Sandy Company, in a
wholesale and retail drug establishment, and in the Ashland Foundry
Company, of which he was president and secretary.
     Taking up his residence in Ashland in 1871, Mr. Culbertson has filled
various positions of eminence and responsibility, having been mayor of
the city and state senator.  Although a straightforward Republican in
politics, he was elected to congress in 1882 from his district, which was
a Democratic stronghold, an honor showing his popularity with all people.
In 1886 he was tendered the nomination for congress by acclamation, but
declined the honor.  He has served as chairman of the Republican District
Committee, and in 1876, 1880 and 1884 was a delegate to the Republican
national convention.  At the Republican convention held in Chicago in 1880
he was one of the old guard of three hundred and six which faithfully
espoused the nomination of General U. S. Grant for president. He belongs to
the Ohio Commandery of the Loyal Legion.
     Mr. Culbertson married, In February, 1865, Sarah Jane Means, a
daughter of Thomas W. Means.  Of the three children born of his union two
died in infancy, one, Thomas Means Culbertson, is living.  Mrs. Sarah J.
Culbertson passed to the higher life September 19, 1874, in early
womanhood.  Mr. Culbertson subsequently married for his second wife Lucy
Hardie, and they are the parents of five children, namely: William Wirt
Jr., Henry Hardy, Lucia Robertson, Samuel Kennedy and Jupiter Ammon.
     Thomas Means Culbertson was born November 13, 1870, at Hanging Rock,
Lawrence county, Ohio, but was reared in Ashland, Kentucky, where he
obtained his elementary education.  Completing his early studies at the
Georgetown University, in Washington, D.C., he was subsequently
storekeeper at Pine Grove Furnace for two years, after which he was for
two years secretary of the Ashland Fire Brick Company.  Public-spirited
and progressive, he has been actively identified with the upbuilding of
Ashland and a promoter of many of its more important industrial and
business enterprises, serving as a stockholder and director in each.
Always taking an intelligent interest in the affairs of the city, he has
been very active in real estate development and improvement, and in
addition to having built many modern residences erected "The Elms," the
finest modern apartment building in this section of the Blue Grass state.
     Following in the footsteps of his father, he is a stanch Republican,
actively interested in municipal and party affairs, and stands for honesty
and stability in politics and public matters.  On January 1, 1910, he was
appointed by the council as city treasurer for a term of two years, and is
serving with characteristic fidelity and ability in that capacity.  He was
appointed by Governor Willson as a delegate to represent Kentucky at all
meetings of the Lincoln Centenary Committee, and at the Lincoln Centenary,
held at the Lincoln farm in Larue county February 12, 1909, when the
cornerstone of the Lincoln Memorial was laid and the old log cabin and farm
were dedicated, President Roosevelt being the chief of ceremonies and the
principal speaker of the day.
     On January 28, 1897, Mr. Thomas M. Culbertson was united in marriage
with Mary Pollard, who was born in Boyd county, Kentucky, which was
likewise the birthplace of her parents, William H. and Rachel V. (Powers)
Pollard, neither of whom are now living.  Two children have been born of
their union, Mary Margaret and Sarah Virginia.  Both he and his wife are
members of the Presbyterian church, of which he is a trustee.  He is also
one of the trustees of the Ashland cemetery, and is a member of the
Loyal Legion.

Culbertson Means Hardie Pollard Powers
=
Greenup-KY Miffin-PA Chester-PA Washington-IA Adams-OH Lawrence-OH
Scotland Ireland

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/boyd/culbertson.ww2.txt