James B. NOURSE:BIOGRAPHY ************************************************************************ File contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Jean Smallwood USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ************************************************************************ Source: Centennial History of Missouri (The Center State), One Hundred Years in the Union 1820-1921, Illustrated, Volume V, St. Louis - Chicago, The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company 1921 James B. NOURSE: James B. NOURSE, an attorney of Kansas City, practicing as a member of the firm of HUTTON, NOURSE & BELL, was born in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, April 22, 1888, and is a son of Dr. Wallace Logan and Sadie (BARTRIM) NOURSE. His ancestral line is not only traced back to the early colonization period in American history but to a remote century in English history. The records show that Thomas CHICHELEY died in England in 1400, leaving three distinguished sons, Henry, Robert and John, of whom Henry became archbishop of Canterbury, while Robert was lord mayor of London in 1421 and John was attorney general to King Henry and was the direct ancestor from whom James B. NOURSE of this review traces his descent. It was Henry CHICHELEY, Archbishop of Canterbury, whom SHAKESPEARE uses as one of his characters in the opening scene of King Henry V. The third son, John CHICHELEY, attorney general to King Henry, had a daughter, Phillipia, who married John NOURSE, and their grandson, Walter, who married Christina, daughter of Sir Fredrick WALL, built the house of Weston in Herefordshire in 1600. It is still standing a splendid example of Tudor architecture and in it was born James NOURSE, who went to Virginia in 1769 and served with the American troops in the Revolutionary war. He left London on the 16th of March and arriving at Hampton, Virginia, purchased land near Charleston. He became one of the legislators of that state, representing Berkeley County in the general assembly, and was very active in equipping troops for service in the war of independence. His son, James NOURSE, was a prominent lawyer and his grandson, Charles NOURSE, was a merchant of Bardstown, Kentucky. Joseph NOURSE of this family was the first registrar of the United States treasury. Among the ancestors of James B. NOURSE were also Benjamin LOGAN of early Kentucky history and Judge William LOGAN who was United States Senator in 1819 and 1820 and who served as a member of the Kentucky court of appeals. He was the first white child born in the state of Kentucky and it was his daughter, Rosa, who became the mother of Wallace Logan NOURSE, a distinguished Presbyterian divine, who was born at Bardstown, Kentucky, November 30, 1834. His father, Charles NOURSE, born in the same town, became a well known businessman there and was prominent as a leader in the Whig party and as an influential member of the Presbyterian Church. Dr. NOURSE pursued his early education in the schools of Bardstown and afterward attended the Presbyterian Theological Seminary at Danville, teaching school at intervals before completing his course. He was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of Louisville in 1862 and in his early work in the ministry was located in Daviess and Hancock counties in connection with the Synod of Kentucky. In 1869 he removed to Rockport, Indiana, where he remained for sixteen years and during that period was instrumental in building several churches. In 1885 he accepted the pastorate of the Ninth Street Presbyterian church, now the West Minister church, in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, where he occupied the pulpit continuously for eighteen years, accomplishing a great work not only in the spiritual upbuilding of the membership but in the salutary influence he exerted throughout the community. At length he resigned his pastorate after which he had charge of the Leste Memorial church in South Christian and of the Presbyterian Church at Franklin, Kentucky, but continued to make Hopkinsville his home. One of the papers of that city, at the time of his passing, said: "No man was better known to the people and none held in higher honor and esteem, and his gifts and graces, the sweetness and light of his life, his zeal in the service of Christ, his patriotism and civic pride, his wise counsels and his constant and intelligent activity in advancing the moral and material welfare of the city will be held in enduring and grateful remembrance." In a memorial prepared by the Athenaeum, of which Dr. NOURSE was the president, it was said: "Dr. NOURSE was truly a man of God and one of earth's noblemen. As a minister he was learned and distinguished; as a scholar he was ripe in knowledge and possessed a wide range of information; as a citizen he was patriotic, decided in his convictions and correct in his judgment; as a literary man he deserved to rank with the leaders of thought and the ablest exponents of advanced ideas amongst those with whom he came in contact; as a friend and associate in our club life he was near and dear to us all, and his death is a source of grief that cannot find expression in mere words." In a memorial service held in Hopkinsville, H. D. SMITH, after speaking of Dr. NOURSE's devotion to the principle of entire separation of church and state - an adherence which at times seemed to bring upon him even the disapproval of many of his friends and parishioners because he would not speak of prohibition as a political measure in his pulpit, said of him: "Dr. NOURSE was careful to exercise his right of suffrage. He went often to the courthouse to note the course of justice and was interested in good roads, in new railways and in the coming factories to the neighborhood. He had a great local patriotism. * * *He was a farmer, practiced gardening and cared for an orchard. * * *Perhaps no preacher has been so variously, so intimately and so vitally related to and identified with this community. * * * He was deeply and continuously interested in all educational institutions and activities, was a chief originator and promoter of the public library and was once a member of the city school board. As a member of the Men's Literary Club of the town he was an active and leading member and at the time of his death was its president; but we should not do justice to his memory as a friend and helper of education if we did not add that he had small respect for intellectual culture divorced from morality and religion. * * * Dr. NOURSE was leonine, rugged, somewhat brusque in speech, but he was full of kindliness and sympathy with all who suffered. He possessed a generous sense of humor. He was thus a good friend, a pleasant companion, an excellent neighbor. * * * He found out the sick and sorrowing, inquired after them, sent them messages of affection and cheer, and them he frequently visited without regard to their relation to the church, going to them as their neighbor. * * * and withal our friend possessed a beautiful simplicity. He was genuine. He lived close to nature. He loved God's great out-of-doors. * * * He kept a simple heart and was glad when folks spoke to him of homely things in simple words. He was singularly free