Kentucky:  A History of the State, Battle, Perrin, & Kniffin, 3rd ed., 
1886. Warren County.

PROF. JOHN P. DOWNER was born January 28, 1858, near Fairview, Todd Co., 
Ky., and is a son of Benjamin and Emily L. (Pendleton) Downer, who had 
born to them five sons and four daughters, of whom our subject is the 
sixth.  The father was born in Todd County in 1819, as a leading farmer 
of that county and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.  He was a 
son of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Slaughter) Downer, who came from 
Spottsylvania County, Va., and settled in Todd County about 1809.  
Elizabeth (Slaughter) Downer was a daughter of John S. Slaughter, who 
married Susan Brown in 1779 and reared thirteen children.  John S. 
Slaughter was a son of John Slaughter, and he a son of Francis 
Slaughter, and he the son or grandson of a Welshman, who settled in 
Virginia in its early days. The mother of Prof. Downer was a daughter of 
John Pendleton, who came from Spottsylvania County, Va., in 1812, and 
settled in southern Kentucky; he was a teacher and surveyor.  Prof. 
Downer was reared on a farm, and received a good common school 
education.  At the age of eighteen he entered Cumberland University, at 
Lebanon, Tenn., from which he graduated in the spring of 1881 as A. B. 
In the fall of the same year he was engaged as assistant in Smith's 
Grove College under the management of Rev. R. W. Hooker.  In 1882 he 
moved to Franklin and taught one term, when he returned to Smith's 
Grove, and with Prof. John O. Beck opened Smith's Grove College.  In 
September, 1884, he took entire charge of the college and leased the 
buildings and grounds for a term of years.  English, the sciences and 
the classics embrace the three courses of study in the college.  There 
is also a musical department.  The Professor is thorough and is one of 
the leading educators in the State.  The college is located in a 
beautiful grove in the village surrounded by a beautiful country, and 
for health is unsurpassed.  December 23, 1884, the Professor was united 
in marriage with Jennie Kirby, daughter of David and Lydia (Bohannon) 
Kirby, Prof. Downer is a member of the Baptist and his wife of the 
Cumberland Presbyterian Church.  

Downer Pendleton Slaughter Brown Hooker Beck Kirby Bohannon 
=
Todd-KY Spottsylvania-VA TN

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/warren/downer.jp.txt