Obituary from Kentuckian (February 23, 1892):
Mr. Henry J. Stites died yesterday
????ing from exhaustion caused by
?????????????born June 5, 1859
???????????????????in the 33rd
?????
and his growing business
??him confined to a degree that se-
riously affected his health. As attor-
ney for the Louisville & Nashville
Railroad he was entrusted with the
conduct of many important cases. It
was in this line of practice that much
of his success was attained.
He was regarded as one of the best
lawyers of that great corporation
which extends over several states.
He was not only a paid attorney, but
a trusted advisor of the president of
the L. & N. Company in all mattters
affecting its interests in this section
of the state. His place in this respect
will be exceedingly hard to fill.

About a month ago Mr. Stites was
tendered by Gov. Brown the appoint-
ment of Commissioner of the Western
Lunatic Asylum. He even Hesitated
to accept this place, so reluctant was
he to assume any duties that might in-
terfere with his profession, but he
finally decided to qualify, and was ta-
ken ill before he had ever met with
the Board. This was the only official
position he ever held.
It must not be supposed, however,
that he was not ambitious. He was
not averse to official preferment but
his aspirations were all within the
line of his chosen calling and he aimed
high in his ambitions. He had marked
out for himself a successful career as
a lawyer and had he lived he would
have been one of the eminent
jurists of Kentucky.
But in the brightness and hopeful
promise of ??????
fallen. A happy home has been made
desolate and a gloom has overshad-
owed the community where he was
known and loved by all.
On Saturday January 30, he was
taken with fever incident to la grippe.
His customary energy and will power
kept him at his desk through sick
enough to be in bed until Tuesday,
when he was forced to call in a physi-
cian. Dr. Frank Stites, his brother,
Dr. T. W. Blakey and Dr. R. W.
Gaines had attended him constantly
since his illness assumed a serious
phase about two weeks ago but in
spite of medical skill and loving at-
tention he grew gradually worse. On
Saturday Dr. Preston B. Scott, of
Louisville, arrived and held a consul-
tation with the local doctors. He
pronounced his malady typhoid fever
and held out slight hopes of recovery.
On the following day, however, the
sufferer grew worse and by noon was
delirious. He continued to sink until
1 a.m., yesterday, when he expired.
Mr. Stites was married to Miss
Susie Edmunds., a daughter of the
Col. J. T. Edmunds. June ???
1888. He leaves two children
bright little boys aged three
years and one year respectively. The
older bears his father’s name, Henry
J. Stites, while the baby is called
Jack Edmunds, for his grandfather,
Col. Edmunds. There was no hap-
pier home than that which death has
entered. A loving husband a ???
father and a devoted friend, his death
falls with crushing force a upon ???
household. The sorrow and grief of
his family is shared by the whole city,
for no one knew Henry Stites but to
hold him in the highest esteem.
????????
????????
????????
????????????was descended from
??????????has been noted for able
???????nt men. He is a son of Maj.
????Stites who still lives in this city
at the age of 80 years respected and es-
teemed by all who have known him in
the years gone by.
Hon. H. J. Stites, of Lou-
isville, is his uncle and the sub-
ject of this sketch gave promise of add-
ing new lustre to the name borne by
this illustirous lawyer. Judge Stites
was licensed to practice law in this
city in 1840 and practiced for eleven
years, when he was elected Circuit
Judge. In 1854 he was elected Judge
of the Court of Appeals. In 1867
he became Judge of the Jefferson
Court of Common Pleas and was
three times re-elected without opposi-
tion. His career as a jurist extended
over a period of more than thirty years.
The nephew and namesake of this
??? Judge was much like his dis-
tiguished relative in possessing
what lawyers call a judicial mind.
He took to the law as naturally as the
born artist takes to his brush. His
legal studies were carefully and sys-
tematically pursued and when he was
licensed to practice law he speedily
took front rank with the best lawyers
at the local bar. He was a close stu-
dent and studied his cases as though
every principle involved was a difficult
problem that must not only be solved,
but thoroughly undersood. He soon
acquired a reputaion for legal knowl-
edge and profound learning in his
profession and his fellow attorneys
concede that he had no equal in this
section of the State, of his age, in
those qualities that go to make up the
successful lawyer.
At the age of thirty years he had
made his reputation as a lawyer
with a mind well-stored with info-
mation, with a clearness and strength
of intellect that enabled him to im-
??? ideas with force and effect to
judge or jury, with a good woice and
an argumentative style of speaking,
with a conscientious application and
indefatigable industry in studying
his cases, and above all possessing an
upright, incorruptible sense of honor
and integrity, his career has been a
series of successes until he had fought
his way while yet in his youth to a
position of prominence that few law-
yers in small cities attain at the end
of long lives. He abjured office seek-
ing ??? devoted his entire time to his
????? ...