Early Life
James Guthrie was born to General Adam and Hannah (Polk) Guthrie near Bardstown, Nelson County, Kentucky on December 5, 1792. Though his immediate ancestors came from Ireland, Guthrie was of Scottish descent. He was lineally descended from a martyred Scottish clergyman of the same name.
Guthrie's father was a pioneer and Indian fighter from Virginia who developed a large plantation in Kentucky and served in the state's General Assembly from 1800 to 1805, and again in 1808. Guthrie received his early education in a log schoolhouse. Due to his father's military service, he completed his studies at McAllister's Military Academy in Bardstown.
In 1812, Guthrie found employment on a flatboat transporting goods down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans, Louisiana. After three such trips, he decided this work was unfulfilling, and, along with Ben Hardin and Charles A. Wickliffe, began to study law under Judge John Rowan. He was admitted to the bar in 1817, and commenced practice in Bardstown.
In 1821, Guthrie married Eliza Churchill Prather; the couple had three daughters: Mary Elizabeth, Ann Augusta, and Sarah Julia. Eliza Prather Guthrie died in 1836. Sarah Julia Guthrie married chemist J. Lawrence Smith, after whom the J. Lawrence Smith Medal is named.
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