commissioning of Daniel Boone by the Transylvania Company to build the Wilderness Road and establishing the first government in Kentucky. Kentucky colonels subsequently were the highest-authority in Kentucky until 1791 when they selected a new governor. The Commonwealth of Kentucky after becoming a state only commissioned uniformed ceremonial and militia colonels until 1895, when it officially adopted the title "Kentucky Colonel" with the style of Honourable as a civilian honor bestowed to its most noteworthy and outstanding citizens. Tennessee Colonel – The highest honor of Tennessee is "Colonel, Aide-de-camp". Those who receive this award are recorded by the Secretary of State of Tennessee with those who have been commissioned into the State Guard and Tennessee National Guard. Texas once bestowed the honor as well, Texas Colonelcy was replaced with the honor of Admiral in the Texas Navy. From 2005 to 2015 Illinois allowed for the Governor of the State to make appointments to the Governor's Regiment of Colonels, but no appointments were ever made. Many states have provisions in their articles or bills concerning state defense forces which allow the governor to grant honorary membership of the officer ranks or granting honorary colonelcy to civilians in the common law of Colonial America. Notable uses There are over 1,000 businesses in the United States that use or have used the term "colonel" as part of their corporate name. "The Colonel" is also often a shorthand reference to restaurateur Colonel Harland David Sanders, the founder of the Kentucky Fried Chicken ("KFC") chain of franchised restaurants, whom Ruby Laffoon, Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, commissioned a Kentucky colonel in 1935. There are well over 300 major celebrities that have been recognized with colonelcy, many of them never use the title. Another famous "colonel" was Colonel Thomas Parker, Elvis Presley's manager, who received his title from Governor Jimmie Davis of Louisiana as a reward for Parker's help in Davis's political campaign to be elected governor. Col. Edward Mandell House was an American diplomat, and an advisor to President Woodrow Wilson. He was known by the nickname "Colonel House", although he had performed no military service as a Texas Colonel. He was a highly influential back-stage politician in Texas before becoming a key supporter of the presidential bid of Wilson in 1912. Many other prominent people in the South used the title going all the way back to before the American Revolutionary War, the