JAMES W. HEAD was born in Oldham County, Ky., April 21, 1850, and is the eldest son of B. M. Head and Sarah (Barrickman) Head, also natives of Oldham County. B. M. Head, a son of James Head, was born in 1820, was of Scotch descent, and died in 1861, in the county of his birth. His mother, Susan (Oglesby) Head, was an aunt of Richard J. Oglesby, now governor of Illinois. Jonathan Barrickman, the maternal grandfather of James W. Head, was also born in Kentucky, and was of English extraction. James W. Head, between the ages of ten and twelve years, entered the Masonic College at LaGrange, Ky., under the instruction of John Trimble, as president, and ex-Chief Justice Hines, of Kentucky, as one of the professors. Here he remained until sixteen. He then taught school until twenty, when he entered the State University of Indiana, at Bloomington, in February, 1870, from which he graduated in a regular classical course in 1874, and then entered the law department, studying for one year. He returned to Kentucky, and in February, 1876, located in Shelbyville, Ky., and read law with Hon. C. M. Harwood and Hon. J. L. Caldwell, and began practice in September of the same year. In 1878 he was elected prosecuting attorney, served four years, and then resumed practice. December 14, 1880, he married Miss Annie Lou Ross, daughter of Dr. Samuel Ross (deceased) and Agnes M. Ross, of Shelbyville, Ky. Mrs. Annie Lou Head died March 8, 1884, leaving one child, Annie Ross Head. Judge Head is a member of the Sigma Chi Association, of his alma mater, and is now a successful lawyer. 454

http://www.rootsweb.com/~kygenweb/kybiog/shelby/head.jw.txt

Kentucky: A History of the State, Battle, Perrin, & Kniffin, 6th ed., 1887, Shelby Co.