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awakened the sympathies of the whole American public, was
born in the town of Owingsville, and county of Bath, 4th Decem-
ber, 1809. His father, RICHARD MENEFEE, was an early emigrant
from Virginia. He was a man by trade a potter, and exercised
his calling for many years in Bath. Although of exceedingly
limited education and originally of very humble fortune, the
native strength of his mind and the love of information raised
him to very respectable attainments in knowledge, while the
integrity of his character, no less than his sagacity commanded
the confidence as well as the respect of all who knew him. He
was repeatedly elected to the legislature of Kentucky and
served one term in the Senate. The characters and the career
of distinguished men have sometimes been traced to circumstan-
ces apparently trifling, which even in infancy have been thought
to have settled the bent of the mind. The biographer of Na-
poleon has noted among the earliest and most prominent incidents
of his infancy, that his first play thing was a miniature cannon,
with its mimic equipments. From this first impression, or early
predilection, the indelible image of war may have been stamped
upon the mind and decided forever the genius and the passions
of the conqueror of Europe. In 1809, Kentucky's great Senator
was fast drawing upon himself the gaze of men. The saffron
tints of morning had already announced the coming of that orb
which has since shone forth with such splendor in the eyes of
the civilized world. The father of our Richard had at one time
determined to call his son Henry Clay, and indeed the infant
statesman and orator wore the name for the first two or three
months of his existence. It was subsequently altered to Richard
Hickman, from respect to a warm personal and family friend,
but the boy was apprised of the prcenomen of his infancy and
fired even in childhood by the fame of his great countryman,
breathed often to heaven his fervent orison, that he might one
day equal the eloquence, the greatness and the reputation of Mr.
Clay. That the love of glory was the master-passion of his na-
ture, and that sooner or later some event or circumstance must
have roused it into life and action we cannot doubt, and yet it
may be, that the simple circumstance we have cited, may have
marked out the path and determined the object of his ambition.
That it made a deep impression upon his (hi1i!d(iSh inginmtion, is