Kentucky: A History of the State, Battle, Perrin, & Kniffin, 4th ed., 1887
Boyle County

JUDGE ROBERT J. BRECKINRIDGE was born September 14, 1835, in Baltimore,
Md., and is the oldest son of Rev. Robert J. and Sophonisba (Preston)
Breckinridge, who were born in Fayette and Washington Counties, Va.,
respectively, and reared a family of five sons and four daughters.  Robert
J. Breckinridge was born in April, 1800, and was one of the eminent
ministers in the Presbyterian Church; was also a lawyer and served in the
Kentucky Legislature, and also as superintendent of public instruction of
the State; was one of the most active and prominent men of Kentucky, and
died in December, 1871.  He was a son of John and Mary (Cabell)
Breckinridge, natives of Fincastle, Va., and near Lynchburg, Va,
respectively.  John Breckinridge was elected to the lower house of Virginia
Legislature twice before he became of age-the first time was but nineteen
years old-and while attending William and Mary's College was elected to
Congress but would not accept the office because he was not of
constitutional age, besides having business in Kentucky, where he settled
about 1790, and moved his family in the spring of 1793.  He served in the
Kentucky Legislature, also in the United States Senate from Kentucky; was
Attorney-general under Jefferson's administration, died in 1806 and was a
son of John Breckinridge, who was a patriot in the war for independence.
They were of Scotch-Irish extraction.  Col. Robert J. Breckinridge left
Baltimore with his parents in 1845 for Kentucky.  Then the family moved to
Pennsylvania, his father having accepted the presidency of Jefferson
College, which he resigned in 1847 and returned to Lexington, Ky., and took
charge of a church and was the founder of the present school system in
Lexington.  In 1854 they moved to Danville and the father accepted a
professorship of the theological seminary.  Robert J. received his
education at Transylvania and Danville and the University of Virginia;
graduated from the latter in 1852, after which he spent three years in the
service of the United States coast survey.  He resigned the position in
1854 and soon after began the study of law at Danville under Gen. Boyle and
Hon. W.C. Anderson.  In the spring of 1856 he graduated from the law
department of Transylvania University and immediately entered the practice
of his profession at Lexington with uniform good success.  In July, 1861,
he raised a company for the Confederate service, which company became the
second of the Second Regiment at Camp Boone, which he established.  This
was the nucleus of the Orphan Brigade.  In 1862 he was elected to the
Confederate Congress and served one session.  In the spring of 1863 he
resigned his seat and again entered the army as colonel of a cavalry
regiment, which was composed of the fragments of several regiments; first
reported to Gen. Marshall, afterward to Gen. Breckinridge.  In February,
1865, was captured in Kentucky and retained as a prisoner at Louisville,
Columbus, Ohio Penitentiary and Johnson's Island, until the close of the
war; was released in June 1865, and located on a farm in Lincoln County and
practiced his profession; in 1874 located in Danville; in 1876 was elected
common pleas judge; previous to 1874 he had gone to Louisville and
practiced two years, when he returned to Danville; in 1869 made the race
for the Kentucky Senate.  The issue was the right of Negroes to testify in
court, he taking the grounds that they should.  This was the first time the
subject was discussed in a campaign in the State; upon this issue he was
defeated by only twenty-five votes.  Judge Breckinridge is an able lawyer,
is a pleasant gentleman and possesses many of the admirable and brilliant
qualities of his distinguished family.  He was married March, 1856, to Miss
Kate Morrison, a daughter of M.B. and Kate (Taylor) Morrison; her father
was a merchant in Lexington and died in 1862, aged sixty-two years.  This
union of our subject is blessed with two children: Robert J. and Morrison.
Mr. and Mrs. Breckinridge are members of the Presbyterian Church.  The
Judge is a Democrat and cast his first presidential vote for James
Buchanan.

Breckinridge Preston Cabell Jefferson Boyle Anderson Marshall Morrison
Taylor Buchanan
=
Lincoln-KY Fayette-VA Washington-VA MD

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/boyle/breckinridge.rj.txt