Jessamine-Boyle County KyArchives Biographies.....Barkley, John 1809 - 1853
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com August 6, 2007, 7:35 pm

Author: Bennett H. Young

John Barkley.

   In the earlier history of Jessamine county that portion of it lying in the
general neighborhood of Keene produced an unusual number of very enterprising as
well as very gifted men. Among these was John Barkley, who held large landed
interests in Jessamine county prior to 1834. At that time Mr. Barkley removed to
Boyle county, and established the first hemp manufactory south of the Kentucky
river. He was largely engaged in merchandise and was also one of the leading men
in the development of the state. He was born in Jessamine county in 1809.

   He was the first President of the proposed railroad from Lexington to
Danville from the South. Railroad building at that period presented almost
insurmountable difficulties. Mr. Barkley went to New York and engaged a civil
engineer to examine the prospects for the construction of the road. The mighty
chasms of the Kentucky river stood in the way. Cantilever and suspension bridges
for railways had not then been used or even invented. The construction of a
railway was practically impossible without a bridge which would span the
Kentucky river. Mr. Adams, the engineer, surveying the road from Lexington to
Danville, proposed to span the Kentucky at the point where the Cincinnati
Southern now crosses.

   The engineering and financial difficulties would have defeated most men, but
they only aroused Mr. Barkley to higher effort. He was a man of great pluck,
high order of talent, sparkling wit and a fine conversationalist. He had
received the best educational advantages and had followed these with wide
reading, especially in English literature.

   He represented Boyle county in the legislature in 1845, and was a leader in
all movements for the prosperity and development of the county.

   Prior to his death he had purchased one of the finest farms in Boyle county,
near Danville, and was residing there at the time he undertook the construction
of the Lexington & Danville Railroad. While on his way from Danville to
Nicholasville, in company with Mr. Adams, the engineer, to arrange some matters
in connection with the enterprise, the horse, which he was driving, became
frightened on the cliffs of the Kentucky river, and ran away, striking the
vehicle against a rock on the side of the road. He was thrown out and instantly
killed. This occurred on the 21st day of January, 1853.

   Few men at that time would have been a greater loss to Kentucky. Mr. Barkley
was one of the master spirits of enterprise in that period when Kentucky, above
all others, needed men to lead, promote and advance internal improvements.
   He left the work which he had inaugurated for others to complete, but the
boldness of his plans and the wisdom of his designs have been vindicated in
later years and that great thoroughfare, the Cincinnati Southern Railway, is the
consummation of that which Mr. Barkley had devised at a time when other men
would have dismissed such a project from their minds as utterly impossible.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

A HISTORY OF JESSAMINE COUNTY, KENTUCKY,
FROM ITS EARLIEST SETTLEMENT TO 1898.
By BENNETT H. YOUNG,
PRESIDENT POLYTECHNIC SOCIETY; MEMBER FILSON CLUB; MEMBER CONSTITUTIONAL
CONVENTION, 1890; AUTHOR HISTORY OF THE CONSTITUTIONS OF KENTUCKY, OF "BATTLE OF
BLUE LICKS, ETC, ETC.

S. M. DUNCAN, ASSOCIATE AUTHOR.

Every brave and good life out of the past is a treasure which cannot  be
measured in money, and should be preserved with faithfullest care.

LOUISVILLE, KY.: COURIER-JOURNAL JOB PRINTING CO., 1898.


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