By Steve Flairty
NKyTribune columnist
Sometimes getting off the path and following a rabbit trail can lead to an interesting bit of newfound knowledge.
With Father’s Day passing but still freshly on my mind, I was looking for information on the tiny community of Berlin in Bracken County. Why? Back in the 1960s, my dad occasionally mentioned Berlin being on his rural route while talking about his days as a wholesale ice cream distributor for Clover Leaf Dairy, based in Ft. Thomas. As a youngster, hearing about Berlin meant little to me other than it being the same name of a huge city in Germany, a place I recognized. Curious, I wanted to find out a little more about Berlin and help connect to that time in Dad and my lives.
Alas, I found out little about Berlin and didn’t have the time to travel there to talk to the locals. However, I discovered that a future U.S. congressman was born in or near the community. His name is John Marshall Robsion. I read a little on him in the Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky and also found a recent article in The Knoxville Focus that covered his story quite well. This Berlin native made a name for himself in politics and was called “Mr. Republican,” winning many elections in a state controlled by Democrats.
For sure, Robsion, born in 1873, was an overcomer. Both his parents died when he was a young boy, and he would go on to put himself through college, then graduated in 1900 from law school at Centre College. Moving to the town of Barbourville, in Kentucky’s Knox County, he taught in public schools and also Union College. In 1911, he became president of the First National Bank there.
He changed careers in 1919, being elected as a Republican to the U.S. House of Representatives and serving until 1930. Stepping down that year, he was appointed to the U.S. Senate to fill an unexpired term. But in the general election afterward, Robsion lost to Marvel Logan in a close race. Not to be deterred, Robsion again ran for the House of Representatives in 1935 and won in a landslide. He stayed until his death in 1948. He is buried in the Barbourville Cemetery.
With a renewed interest in learning about Bracken County, I did a bit more searching for notable people connected to the county other than in Berlin. I found a few. Ron Ellis, Northern Kentucky’s acclaimed writer, is all over Bracken County, which he calls “Belden County,” in his book, Cogan’s Woods. John G. Fee, the founder of Berea College, was born in Augusta.
And, of course, there are the Clooney family members of show business fame. Actor George grew up in Augusta and went to high school there. His father, Nick Clooney, is noted as a news anchorman and was host of the American Movie Classics (AMC) series, along with much more. His wife, Nina, was a beauty queen and a city council member. They live in Augusta. Nick’s illustrious sister, Rosemary Clooney, was a nationally known singer, primarily in the 1950s, and was part of the White Christmas movie cast.
Miss America 2000, Heather French Henry, grew up in Augusta, a town established by a part of her ancestry. She and her husband, former Kentucky Lieutenant-Governor, lead a foundation that directs the Rosemary Clooney Museum, located in Augusta.
Ed McClanahan, author of The Natural Man and Famous People I Have Known, was born and lived his early life in Brooksville, taking a good deal of his writing material from those days.
And for old-timers like me, you might recall Don Galloway, who played Sgt. Ed Brown alongside lead actor Raymond Burr in the NBC TV drama, Ironside. It ran from 1967 to 1975. Galloway grew up in Brooksville, Bracken County’s county seat, and graduated from UK. The Ironside TV role was probably his most notable, but he also acted in Arrest and Trial and two soap opera series, The Secret Storm and General Hospital, plus four episodes of Dallas. He also had a part in the 1983 movie, The Big Chill, among an assortment of other films. Interestingly, he briefly took on the real-life role as a deputy sheriff in San Bernadino, CA, in the 1990s.
Galloway died of complications from a stroke at age 71, in 2009. He is buried near his parents in the Concord Methodist Church graveyard, in Brooksville.
As one can see, Bracken County, Kentucky, has some real star power . . . starting with a person from Berlin.
