Lawyers and Lawmakers of Kentucky, by H. Levin, editor, 1897. Published
by Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago.  Reprinted by Southern Historical
Press.  p. 120.  Franklin County.

JOHN RODMAN, of Frankfort, was born in Henry county, Kentucky, on the 6th
of August, 1820, and died on the 24th of October, 1866, in Louisville.
He was a son of Colonel John and Patsey (Foree) Rodman, the former a
native of Berks county, Pennsylvania, the latter of Prince Edward county,
Virginia.  Colonel John Rodman was a soldier in the war of 1812, and did
good service in the northwest.  At the close of the war he returned to
Kentucky and shortly afterward married Miss Foree, locating in New Castle,
where he became prominent.  His urbanity, enterprise, high personal
courage, great interest in the knowledge of public affairs quickly bought
him to the front and won for him the love and confidence of his fellow
citizens, who, almost by common accord elected him to represent his
district in the lower branch of the state legislature.  He was afterward
elected state senator and was a faithful and efficient member of the
general assembly; but almost at the beginning of his public career, in
the prime of life--ere he had attained the full measure of his
usefulness--he was stricken by disease (cholera) and died in 1833.  He
left his widow with six sons, all of tender years.  He had provided a
competence to supply the needs of youth and to provide them with a good
education.  Not the least important part of their training in boyhood,
however, came from the noble mother who devoted herself untiringly to
the interests of her sons, carefully and tenderly rearing them and making
nobler men and good citizens of all, save one who died in early youth.
No matron of old Rome, no Cornelia, had more confidence in or was ever
prouder of her boys than was Mrs. Rodman.  The tack and skill that she
displayed in developing their young minds and in inspiring them with
noble principles, manly sentiments and laudable ambitions, was wonderful;
and it was a grand and touchingly beautiful sight to look upon the
love-begotten power of control that she possessed and exercised, even in
her declining years, over their fully developed hearts and minds.  She
lived to an old age and saw them all succeed in their several callings; yet
yet during her long life her watchfulness, motherly care for and devotion
to them never weakened, never ceased.
     The pure, untarnished character of her son, John Rodman, most
plainly exhibited the impress of her formative hand.  His whole career,
in all the walks of life, in the bosom of his family, in the church, on
the rostrum, in the legislature, at the bar, demonstrated that his heart
and mind had been trained and developed; that his intellectual and moral
character had been molded by a pure, brave and self-reliant woman, for
at no time, under no circumstances, did he ever do a thing or utter a
sentiment incompatible with the teachings of such a woman.  His character
was ruggedly masculine, yet there was about it a touch of the feminine,--a
halo of womanly tenderness and purity.
     Mr. Rodman married young and was an exemplary husband.  His first
wife was Ann Eliza Russell, and his second her sister, Harriet Virginia
Russell, of Franklin county, Kentucky.  They had ten children, six sons
and four daughters.  Early in life Mr. Rodman became an earnest but
unobtrusive Christian.  He was eminently domestic in his tastes and home
was his earthly paradise; there he seemed ever happiest, brightest and
most lovable.
     Physically he was scant six feet, with dark hair, blue eyes and dark
complexion; was lithe, active, strong, and possessed an alertness and
elasticity of movement that even in his more advanced life challenged
attention.  His bearing and carriage were superb.  Morally and physically
brave, tender-hearted and ever regardful of the feelings of others, he
was unique in that while he was the most attached, devoted, thoroughgoing
and self-sacrificing of friends, he was palpably combative, and
occasionally imperious and aggressive.  Always brimfull of charity and
cheerfulness, without a spark of hate or envy about him; abounding in
humor and illustrative anecdotes, his conversations and company were at
all times agreeable and interesting, not only to those who loved him but
also to those who did not.  He was strongly magnetic,--to some highly
attractive, to others repellent.
     An industrious, able and successful lawyer, he won and held with an
unrelaxing band during a long life at the bar a large and lucrative
practice.  He removed to Frankfort about 1852, a young lawyer of thirty-two
years, without money, but full of energy, pluck and perseverance.  He
met at this bar such men as John J. Crittenden, Charles S. Morehead, Ben
Monroe, Judge John Hewett, Thomas N. Lindsey and W. D. Reed.  It was only
a short time until he took a leading position as a lawyer and advocate,
and was thus ranked until his death.  He was a superb and fearless
advocate and was strongest in addressing a jury.  A splendid judge of
human nature, he understood how to catch the attention, capture the hearts
and feelings of a jury and hold them with wonderful tenacity. Before a jury
his skill and power as an advocate might well have been envied by a Choate,
a Conkling or a Voorhees.  Among the many criminal causes with which he
was connected as counsel was the trial of Thomas Buford for the
assassination of Appellate Judge John M. Elliott.  His prosecution will go
down in history as one of the most celebrated criminal arguments ever
addressed to a Kentucky jury.  His knowledge of medical jurisprudence,
his terrific arraignment of the accused for the violation of law, his
scornful denunciation of the character of the crime of the accused, made
one of the most powerful and effective addresses ever heard at the
Frankfort bar.  The result was that the murderer was condemned to a long
term in the penitentiary.  Mr. Rodman also prosecuted with marked ability
John J. Cornelison for his assault upon Judge Richard Reid of the
superior court.
     Mr. Rodman won distinction honors in the field of politics and for
a number of years was recognized as one of Kentucky's leading statesmen.
He was twice elected to represent his district in the state legislature,
and in 1867 was called to the office of attorney general of Kentucky,
which he retained for eight years under the administrations of Governor
John W. Stevenson and Governor Preston H. Leslie.  The important
litigation with which he was connected during his official service gave
him a prestige at the Kentucky bar which nought could disturb.  On his
retirement from the office of attorney general he became official reporter
to the court of appeals, in which position he served until his death,
which occurred in Louisville, while he was en route for Frankfort.
     The acknowledge leader of the Frankfort bar, John Rodman died
honored and respected by all who knew him.  His mind was acute, clear,
quick in perception and rapid in deduction, just that kind that fitted
him for a successful nisi-prius practitioner; sometime he seemed to doze,
or to be more on the lookout for fun that for downing his opponent, but
this was only seemingly so; he rarely napped or failed to have the law
and facts of his case well in hand, to take in all his surroundings, to
catch and note all the weak, frivolous or assailable points of his
adversary's case or to grasp them with deftness and to hold on to them with
the strangling force of a trained athlete.  Quick at repartee, skillful
in defense, vigorous in assault, he was ever a formidable adversary. With
a quick perception and keen appreciation of his surroundings he grasped
with ease and grace the strong and winning facts and points of his side
with the grip of a giant and flung them always clothed in forcible and
apposite language before the jury with a force and effect of a cyclone,
ever relying more on the strength of his proof than the weakness of his
opponents.  But his chief characteristics as a jury lawyer and as an
advocate, wherein he was greatest, were his undaunted courage, fiery
earnestness and daring zeal.  He never appeared daunted or surprised at
anything that turned up on a trial, but gave his thrusts and made his cuts
and parries with as much skill and aptitude as if he had read the mind of
his antagonist, and had foreknown every movement, every incident of the
conflict.  Quite at home in the elementary principles of the law, full to
the tips of his fingers and precedents, well versed in American and
English history and literature, up to date in all the news,--religious,
social, political and scientific,--his oratorical arsenal was well supplied
with all necessary weapons of offense and defense, bright and apt for use.
He was ever ready with whatever the occasion might require, whether it
was logic, sophistry, wit, humor, anecdote, ridicule, sarcasm or
pathos; and besides was master of a bold, broad style of denunciation
that an O'Connel might have envied.  He was always kind, gentle and
helpful to all young and inexperience attorneys and gave the all the
assistance he could.

Rodman Russell Foree Buford Elliott
=
Henry-KY Jefferson-KY Prince_Edward-VA Berks-PA

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/franklin/rodman.j.txt