Biographies R
James Buckner Ryan
Capt. James Buckner Ryan, Muhlenberg County, was born in Bath County, Ky., June 24, 1838. He is a son of Maj. Moses Ryan, who is also a native of Kentucky, born in Mason County about the year 1796; his wife, Dulcinea, whom he married in 1820, was a daughter of William Payne, of Mason County. They were the parents of six daughters and one son, all of whom were born and educated in Kentucky and Tennessee. Three are now living: Mrs. D.C. Payne, of Kansas City; Mrs. M.A. Hall, of Omaha, Neb.; and James B.
Moses Ryan, in 1853, removed to Nashville, Tenn., where he resided until his death, which occurred in April, 1862. During his life-time he accumulated a large property, and was in affluent circumstances.
James B. Ryan received a collegiate education, and is well versed in the literature of the day, as well as in the English classics. In 1861, he entered the Confederate army with the rank of second lieutenant, in the First Battalion of Tennessee Cavalry, which office he resigned in 1862, and soon after recruited a company for the Confederate service. He was chosen and commissioned a captain, and with his company joined the command of Gen. John H. Morgan, with whom he served until the close of the war.
He returned to his former home in Nashville, Tenn., where he remained until 1870, when he sought the solitude of the wilds of Kentucky, and entered the coal business on a limited scale, and settled on Mud River in Muhlenberg County, where for three years his leisure time was spent; his constant and sole companions were his gun and dog, but in this seclusion he found the quietude he so much craved, and spent the time in hunting and fishing, and in the study of various subjects, from the books that he could procure from time to time.
In 1873, having discovered that the locality was rich in minerals and ores, he set to work assiduously to develop the resources of that section, to which purpose he devoted every energy, and through this means was organized the “Mud River Coal, Coke & Iron Manufacturing Company,” and since that time he has been the superintendent of the operating force at the mines.
His wife, formerly Miss Steele, of Muhlenberg County, is a lady of rare accomplishments; they are the parents of one daughter, Carrie, and two sons, Herbert and Buck.
The captain is a Master Mason of Rochester Lodge No. 270, of the order of A.F. & A.M. Politicially he is a Democrat, and cast his first vote for Bell and Everett in 1860, and has voted on two occasions only since. He was opposed to the secession movement, and voted against it first, but when his adopted State went out of the Union, he went out with it. In religious matters he is a liberal thinker, and his principles are based on justice and fair dealing.
Source: Battle, J.H., W.H. Perrin, and G.C. Kniffen. cite>Kentucky: A History of the State. Louisville, KY: F.A. Battey, 1885. Pages 922.
Updated July 9, 2018