Memorial Record of Western Kentucky, Lewis Publishing Company, 1904,
pp 447-449 [Henderson]

     JOHN LLOYD DORSEY was born December 17,1853, in Henderson county,
Kentucky.  His father, John N. Dorsey, M. D., was a physician of
superior merit, whose reputation enabled him to command an extensive
practice.  He was born in Jefferson county, Kentucky, and was a
representative of an honored pioneer family of this state that came from
Maryland and located on the frontier.  He wedded Miss Patsey R.
Atkinson, who also belonged to an old family whose identification with
the history of Kentucky covers a period from 1815 down to the present
time.  The ancestry were of Scotch-Irish origin, and the first of the
name to cross the Atlantic to America became a resident of Virginia in
1790.  Since that time many members of the family have become
distinguished at the bar and in the council chambers of the nation.
     Mr. Dorsey acquired his education in Bethel College, of
Russellville, Kentucky, and after pursuing a course of law study in the
office of Malcom Yeaman, of Henderson, he was admitted to the bar in
December, 1876.  He at once located in the city of Henderson, which is
still his home, and immediately entered upon the practice of his chosen
profession, and has demonstrated his legal lore and his ability to
handle successfully the intricate problems of the law by many successes
at the bar, where he has met in forensic combat many of the most gifted
representatives of his calling in this section of the state.  In 1879 he
was elected to represent his district in the general assembly, where he
served for two years, --the youngest member of the legislature at that
time.  He was made chairman of the committee on county and city courts
and was a member of the committees on judiciary and codes of practice. 
A close student of the questions and issues of the day and of the policy
of the different factions who advocated measures, he brought to bear
upon all matters that came up for decision, calm deliberations and sound
reasoning and his representation of Henderson and the adjoining
territory was at once satisfactory to this constituents and beneficial
to the state.  He filled the office of council advisor to the city of
Henderson for seven years---from 1886 to 1893---and was a candidate for
the position of circuit judge of the fifth judicial district in 1892. 
There were then no party nominations and Mr. Dorsey polled a very
complimentary vote; for his opponent, Judge M. C. Given, then the
incumbent of the office, received a majority of only twenty-one, and the
total number of votes cast was nearly nine thousand.  He has the respect
of the entire bar, and its members have the fullest confidence on his
ability.
     Mr. Dorsey has been interested in many of the most important cases
that have come up for trial in Henderson since he was licensed to
practice.  As city counselor he was connected with the tax the great
railroad bridge crossing the Ohio river within the limits of the city,
the most important of these coming up for hearing under the name of the
Henderson Bridge Company versus the City of Henderson and Atkin versus
the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company.  Mr. Dorsey was also
engaged as counsel in the preliminary examination of what was known as
the Delaney cases, involving a conspiracy to commit murder, these being
the most celebrated cases in western Kentucky.
     On the 10th of December, 1885, Mr. Dorsey was united in marriage to
Miss Nannie Dixon, a daughter of Robert Dixon and Alice (Young) Dixon. 
Mr. and Mrs. Dorsey have three children---Alice Young, John Lloyd and
Nannie Dixon Dorsey.
     Mr. Dorsey is an active participant in political affairs and
espouses the cause of the Democracy.  He has been a frequent
representative of his county in the state conventions and has done
effective service in logical addresses in campaigns.   He is a member of
the Presbyterian church and of the Masonic and Knights of Pythias
fraternities.  Mr. Dorsey is a man of strong will and indefatigable
industry, quick at retort, fertile in resources in the trial of a case,
and his extensive knowledge of the law and his ready application of it
to the points in controversy have made him a successful practitioner.

Dorsey Atkinson Yeaman Given Dixon Young
=
Jefferson-KY MD VA

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/henderson/dorsey.jl.txt