Farmer Johnson Eversole (1874-1952)

Portrait from the History of Kentucky, Vol. IV, 1922.

   Kentucky yields another odd-named public figure in Farmer Johnson Eversole, for many years an active member of the Perry County bar. A former County Attorney for Perry County, Eversole would later be appointed as Master Commissioner of the Circuit Court of Perry County and served seven years in that post.

  The son of George Washington Eversole and the former Susannah Johnson, Farmer Johnson Eversole was born on October 20, 1874. His education took place in the public schools of Perry County and the Booneville Academy and at age fourteen is recorded as a teacher in the Perry and Lee County school systems. He continued along this route for eight years and later enrolled at the University of Kentucky, his dates of study being unknown at this time. 

   Eversole entered local politics for the first time in 1898 when he began a stint as Deputy County clerk for Perry County. He would serve in that post for about a year, and in 1899 was admitted to the Kentucky bar. Three years later he was elected as Perry County Attorney, and during his four-year term "proved his resourcefulness as a trial lawyer." Eversole married during his term in 1905 to Mary Cassandra Morgan (1884-1936), with whom he had four children: Farmer Jr. (1905-1962), Susie (1907-1980), Homer, and Jessie Elmer.

   In 1915 Farmer Eversole returned to Kentucky political life when he was appointed as Master Commissioner of the Perry County Circuit Court, his primary function being to aid that court in the "discharge of its duties and the enforcement of its judgments." His tenure extended until 1922, having "given characteristically effective service" to his appointed office.

  Active in several business concerns in Perry County, Farmer Eversole held the vice presidency of both the Perry County Bank and the Concoa Coal Company. A longstanding member of the Masonic fraternity, Eversole served as a delegate to the Masonic Grand Lodge of Kentucky in 1908. Little could be found on the latter period of Farmer Eversole's life, excepting notice of his death in Knoxville, Tennessee on December 19, 1952, at age 77. He was preceded in death by his wife in 1936 and both were interred at the Englewood Cemetery in Hazard.