Memorial Record of Western Kentucky, Volume I and Volume II, Lewis
Publishing Company, 1904, pp. 156-159.  Graves Co.

MAJOR HENRY STEPHENSON HALE

     Maj. Henry Stephenson Hale, of Mayfield, was born in Bowling Green,
Warren county, Kentucky, May 4, 1836.  His parents were Nicholas and Rhoda
(Crouch) Hale.  His father was born in North Carolina and was of English
lineage.  He was a son of Joshua Hale, formerly from Virginia.  Nicholas
Hale married Rhoda Crouch, a native of Henry county, Tennessee, and a
daughter of David Crouch, a pioneer farmer of Henry county, and who was a
private soldier in the Mexican war; he was of Scotch Irish lineage.
Nicholas Hale was a soldier in the war of 1812.  For a time he farmed and
resided in Henry county, Tennessee, whence he removed to Warren county,
Kentucky.  In 1844 he removed to Arkansas, but two years later returned to
Kentucky, and settled in the southern part of Graves county, and here his
death occurred shortly afterward.  His wife survived him some nine or ten
years.  Their children were William Harrison Hale, born in Henry county,
Tennessee, January 16, 1829, merchant and tobacco dealer of Mayfield,
Kentucky, and died in 1881; Sarah Hale, who married George W. Thompson, and
died in 1898; N.T. Hale, born in Henry county, Tennessee, December 6, 1833,
merchandised in Murray, Kentucky, for forty-five years, and died December
24, 1902; Jennie Hale, deceased, wife of J.T. Craig, died in 1878, aged
thirty-nine; David A. Hale merchandised in both Murray and Mayfield, and
had large farm interests in Graves county, and died in 1892, aged fifty.
     Maj. Henry S. Hale was a mere boy when his parents took up their
residence in Graves county.  Here he grew to manhood and obtained a fair
education.  For a period of time just before the outbreak of the Civil war
he clerked in a store at Lynnville, Kentucky.  Possessed of the true
southern spirit, and a heart full of love for the "sunny south" and its
institutions, he espoused the cause of the Confederacy and fought gallantly
in the conflict between the sections.  In the fall of 1861 he entered the
Confederate army as captain of a company in the Seventh Kentucky Regiment;
was soon promoted to major, and was in command of the regiment in several
hard-fought battles.  He was wounded in the left hip at Harrisburg,
Mississippi, and disabled for several months.  Then, recalled by General
Forrest, he was promoted for gallantry on the battlefield of Brice's Cross
Roads to the rank of lieutenant colonel and assigned to the Third and
Seventh consolidated regiments.  With the close of the war his military
services closed.
     The following extract from a Mayfield paper, describing Major Hale as
a soldier, is worthy of reprint:  "Major Hale was a young man of about
twenty-four years of age.  He was full of zeal and chivalry as the fine
climate and good soil of southern Kentucky could make one.  He was a live,
wide-awake officer, a man for emergencies, and would undertake anything he
was commanded to do by his superior officers.  Nothing was impossible with
him.  He had a loud, clear voice and a fine presence, and made a fine
impression; in short, he was a model soldier.  He commanded the regiment in
some of the hardest-fought battles.  His conduct in the face of the enemy
was always inspiring to others.  At one time, when the regiment showed
signs of wavering, he snatched the colors and ran forward, flaunting them
in the face of the enemy.  The effect was magical; every man moved forward
and the enemy was driven from its position."
     In 1866 the Major was elected sheriff of Graves county, which office
he held for four years, and in 1871 he was elected state senator,
representing Graves, Hickman and Fulton counties and serving his
constituents with fidelity.  He was elected as the Democratic candidate.
For a number of years Major Hale served as chairman of the Democratic
committee of his county.
     In 1876 the First National Bank of Mayfield was organized, and he was
elected its first president, and is now the president of this bank.
     When Judge Sharp resigned the office of state treasurer, Major Hale
was appointed by Governor Buckner to fill out the unexpired term.  At the
next regular election he became a candidate for the office and was elected
by a very complimentary vote.  The manner in which he managed the affairs
of the office, the ability he displayed as a financier and the general
official conduct of Major Hale won the admiration of the people.  In 1895
he was a candidate for secretary of state (the constitution forbidding that
he should hold the office of treasurer another term), but in the election
of that year he went down with a great many other good men of the
Democratic party, in consequence of the victory of the Republican party.
     Major Hale is an active and prominent member of the Christian church,
and was a leading spirit in founding the Western Kentucky College of
Mayfield.  He is a man of sterling worth, and his true manhood and
integrity have won for him the respect of all who know him.
     November 8, 1865, Major Hale married Miss Virginia A. Gregory, of
Mississippi, born April 22, 1843.  They have six living children, four sons
and two daughters:  William Lindsay, who was assistant treasurer of state
during his father's term of office, and is now in the milling business at
Mayfield; Henry S., a business man of Frankfort; Joseph Theodore, yet in
school; and the daughters are Annie B. and Mary E.

Hale Crouch Thompson Craig Gregory
=
Warren-KY NC VA Henry-TN AR Calloway-KY Hickman-KY Fulton-KY MS

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/graves/hale.hs.txt