USA > Tennessee > A history of Tennessee and Tennesseans, the leaders and representative men in commerce, industry and modern activities, Volume V > Part 10
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Houston Fisher Stratton is indebted to the public schools of Leba- non for his early educational discipline and at the age of twenty-one years he began reading law under effective private preceptorship. He made substantial and rapid advancement in his absorption of legal lore and was admitted to the bar, at Lebanon, in 1888. He has since proved himself most resourceful and successful in the practical work of his profession and has presented causes in the various courts of the state, including the supreme court and those of Federal establishment. He has served as circuit court clerk for his native county since 1910, and he gives a most careful and acceptable administration of his official duties, besides controlling a substantial and representative law practice with prestige as one of the able and popular members of the bar of Wilson county. In both political and religious lines he has not deviated from the ancestral faith, as he is a staunch Democrat and a member of the
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Methodist Episcopal church, South; his wife being a member of the Cumberland Presbyterian church.
On the 11th of July, 1902, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Stratton to Miss Emma McCauley, daughter of the late Broderick Mc- Cauley, a representative agriculturist and honored citizen of Houston county, this state. Mr. and Mrs. Stratton have one child, Samuel G., who was born on the 22nd of September, 1904, and who is now attending the public schools of Lebanon.
ROBERT Cox. Capable, energetic and progressive, Robert Cox, post- master at Lebanon, Tennessee, is a young man who stands high in the regard of his fellow men in his native county of Wilson and is a very worthy representative of its best citizenship. As a business man he is resourceful and accomplishing, and to his duties as an official and citizen he gives of his highest order of endeavor.
Born at Greenvale, Wilson county, Tennessee, September 7, 1877, he grew to young manhood in the vicinity of his birth and during that time obtained a good education, his earlier discipline received in the public schools of Wilson county and at Watertown Academy being supple- mented by about two years of study in the University of Tennessee. When entering upon independent activity in the business world he did so as a farmer, but shortly afterward, or in 1898, he came to Lebanon to take up the duties of assistant postmaster, in which position he con- tinued to serve six years. He severed his connection with the postoffice in 1904 by resignation and engaged in the laundry business in Lebanon, continuing that business identification until 1910, and in the meantime serving as business manager of the Lebanon College a year and a half, or until it burned in 1909. In 1910 he was appointed postmaster at Lebanon and at that time took up the duties with which he was already familiar and which he has since performed in the most acceptable man- ner. He is a Republican in political sentiment and adherency. The parents of Robert Cox, who are James A. and Ann S. (Grimmet) Cox, well known and highly respected citizens of Wilson county now residing at Watertown, are both natives of this county, the former's birth having occurred at Statesville in 1843, and the birth of the latter having occurred at the village of Greenvale in 1841. The elder Mr. Cox fol- lowed merchandising successfully for a number of years, or until 1908, when he assumed the duties of postmaster and served in that office until 1912. He is now living retired. In his political belief he is a Repub- lican, but while he has always taken an active part in the local political affairs of his party he never ran for office and his one request for official position was granted him. He has served as a member of the county committee for fifty years. This branch of the Cox family originated in Tennessee with A. W. Cox, the father of James A., who was a native of North Carolina and came into this state early in the last century. A
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tailor by trade, he came here alone at the age of seventeen and settled in Statesville, Wilson county, in 1835. Mrs. Ann S. (Grimmet) Cox is a daughter of William H. Grimmet, who also was an early settler in Ten- nessee and became well known throughout this section of the state through his services as a Baptist minister. He was a native Virginian and came to Tennessee on horseback in 1830 as a young man. He was engaged in spreading and teaching his religious faith until his sudden death at Statesville, Tennessee. To James A. and Ann S. (Grimmet) Cox were born three children, two of whom are living: Mary, now Mrs. Thomas J. McAdoo, of Memphis, Tennessee, and Robert of this review
In 1905 Mr. Cox was married to Miss May Belle Wilson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Wilson, residents of Rome, Tennessee, and pros- perous farmer citizens of that community. William Bell, the maternal grandfather of Mrs. Cox, gave true and manly service in defense of the Confederacy during the Civil war, but was captured early during that struggle and served as a prisoner of war at Staten Island three and a half years. Yet surviving at the remarkable age of ninety-nine years, he resides at Rome, Tennessee, and is well and prominently known through- out the state. He is a cousin of John Paul Jones, the naval hero of the Revolution. Mrs. Cox is a member of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Cox affiliates fraternally with the Masonic order and the Knights of Pythias, and is a past chancellor commander of the latter order.
L. B. WALTON, M. D. The name of Dr. L. B. Walton connects both a distinguished family and a notable career in the medical profession, in which he has been prominent for considerably more than a half cen- tury. In both paternal and maternal lines has his ancestry been of dis- tinction. To a leading Virginia family belonged Martyn Walton, phy- sician and land owner, his grandfather; and of a similar class came his paternal grandmother, who was a sister of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. They came from Louisa county, Virginia, to Robertson county, where their son T. J. Walton, was born. Through the latter the families of Walton and Bartlett were joined. Thomas Bartlett (the maternal grandfather of our subject), was a native of Louisiana and a very wealthy man, an extensive portion of whose estate was left to his daugh- ter. She, Martha Bartlett, was born in Robertson county, Tennessee, and here married T. J. Walton, referred to above. He it was who be- came, in his day, Robertson county's most noted physician, practicing here for sixty-four years. He was also a land owner of extensive prop- erty and a slave holder as well. Martha Bartlett Walton, his wife, was a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal church and carefully reared the four children who were born to her and Dr. T. J. Walton ; of these three are yet living. The first born child of his parents was L. B. Walton, whose name forms the caption of this biographical account.
Born in Robertson county on December 27, 1827, T. J. Walton in Vol. V-6
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his earlier years was given such educational advantages as were obtain- able in the common schools of the period. He fitted himself for entrance into the medical college at Louisville, Kentucky, from which institution he was graduated in 1848. He immediately entered upon his medical practice, locating at Crossplains, where he has ever since remained, gradually increasing his usefulness and his reputation through his more active years. His services have been in great demand, his professional errands of mercy have been many and arduous, and he has frequently ridden on horseback such distances as from Goodletsville to Adairsville. He has lived a life not only of usefulness, but also of thrift. The Civil war left him without property, the estate his wife had brought into the family having been swept away by the fortunes of war. But the doctor's tireless toil and his wise care have established a gratifying financial status. He is the owner of five hundred and fifty acres of land and has been prominently connected with the Crossplains bank, of which he was president for one year.
Not the least of the good doctor's achievements, nor the least consid- erable phase of his good fortune is his family. On December 18, 1854, he was united in marriage to Miss Mildred H. French, the daughter of Thomas J. French, who was a native of Montgomery county, Tennessee, and a member of a rich and prominent family of that region. The doc- tor and his wife are the parents of four sons and two daughters. The eldest, christened Mattie, is Mrs. George Bradford, of Nashville; T. J. Walton, the elder son, is also a resident of that same capital city ; Fan- nie Walton became Mrs. W. S. Simmons and lives in Springfield; Mar- tin-the junior Dr. Walton-continues the family line of physicians and now relieves Dr. L. B. Walton of much of his practice. The mother of these sons and daughters passed to the invisible life in May of 1905, remembered for her noble qualities as a mother and a Christian. The family church connection is that of the Baptist denomination. The fraternal affiliation of Dr. L. B. Walton is Masonic; he has been a mem- ber of the organization for sixty years and is also a chapter Mason. Few men of the estimable doctor's age can look back upon years of greater usefulness.
JOHN CALVIN GEURIN, M. D. There is perhaps no field of modern practical science in which more notable progress is being made than in that of medicine. The conservation of human resources, the symmetrical development and care of body, nerves and brain, the amazing possibilities life holds, not only for the strong, but for those heretofore defrauded of their birthright of health-these are receiving from the up-to-date physi- cian more constructive study than ever before. The present-day physi- cian is no mere drug-dispenser; he is also apostle of sane living. He takes pride not only in the cure, but in the prevention of disease; he pre- scribes not only antidotes in bottle form, but also intelligent rules for
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his patient to follow ; he understands not only materia medica, but also psychotherapy; he not only mends the battered human structure, but also builds up a higher, finer development. His mission is not only of today, but of tomorrow. It is said that, financially, the physicians of today are losing out, for the multitude who pay willingly for bottled nostrums, grudge payment for the wise advice which accompanies or takes its place. But the conscientious doctor toils on, looking to a day when medical practice may be institutionalized and each practitioner justly remunerated by a system as advanced and efficient as that of his own science.
One who may live to see that day is the talented young physician of Slayden, Tennessee, Dr. John Calvin Geurin. Tennessee is this young physician's native place, as it is also that of his parents. His father's family were formerly of North Carolina residence, Henry Geurin, his grandfather, having spent his latter days in Tennessee, where H. K. Geurin, the doctor's father, was born. Cumberland Furnace was the birthplace and March 29, 1851, the date of birth of H. K. Geurin, who married Miss Dona Martha Slayton, born in 1852, in the ninth dis- trict of Dickson county. They lived in that same locality, where they possessed a farm of 101 acres. H. K. Geurin was at one time connected with the fraternal society The Wheelers, an organization which no longer exists. Politically he is a Democrat. Both he and his wife are still living.
In the parental home, located as above noted, John Calvin Geurin and five other children were born, three of whom are now living. The subject of this review was the first-born, the date of his birth being De- cember 11, 1878. The second in line was Augusta, now Mrs. L. C. O'Hara, of Princeton, Kentucky; and the third, William Geurin, now a resident of Dogwood, Tennessee. Dr. Geurin's early education was pur- sued in the south side public schools and his professional preparation was accomplished in the University of Nashville, where in the medical depart- ment he studied the prescribed courses, and having completed his period of research, received his license to practice medicine in the year 1906.
Dr. Geurin gained his initial experiene in medical practice at Par- due, Tennessee, where he located immediately for practice. From there he removed to Ellis Mills, where he remained until 1908, the date of his coming to Slayden. Here he has ever since been in practice with a steadily growing patronage and with an increasing reputation for thor. ough reliability.
The Montgomery County Medical Society and the State Medical So- ciety include Dr. Geurin as one of their most enthusiastic members. Of non-professional organizations, he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in Slayden lodge, No. 469, and of the Masonic Camp,
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lodge No. 445, Slayden. His political alignment is with the Democratic party.
HARRY E. DOWLEN of Montgomery county, Tennessee, not content with the ordinary successes that greet any hard working farmer who does not have a run of hard luck, has followed the trend of the times toward specialization, and by devoting all of his energies toward raising certain products, has become one of the most prosperous farmers in Montgomery county. He is a native of the state of Tennessee and is descended from parents and grandparents who were citizens of this state, so his interest and activity in her behalf are necessarily strong.
Harry E. Dowlen was born in Robertson county, Tennessee, on the 13th of March, 1883. His parents were both born in Tennessee, his father having been born in 1852 and his mother in 1853. He is a son of Cicero Dowlen, whose wife was Sallie W. Thompson before her marriage. Cicero Dowlen is the son of John Dowlen, who was an early settler in the state of Tennessee. The maternal grandfather of Harry E. Dow- len, William R. Thompson, was a native of Virginia, and also settled in the state at an early date, becoming a successful farmer and tobacco merchant. Both of Mr. Dowlen's grandparents were large slaveholders and the owners of fine plantations in Montgomery and Robertson coun- ties. Cicero Dowlen was reared and educated in Robertson county, and after completing his own education he became a school teacher and for a number of years taught quite successfully. On giving up pedagogy as a profession he turned to farming and the remainder of his life has been spent in this occupation. He has been very successful and owns one of the best producing farms in Montgomery county. In politics Cicero Dowlen is a member of the Democratic party, and for twenty-five years he has been magistrate in district No. 5. He is a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows and takes much interest in all the inter- ests that he has in addition to his farming. A brother of Cicero Dow- len, Harris by name, served through the Civil war as a member of the Confederate army, but'he was too young to enlist. Five children were born to Cicero Dowlen and his wife, namely, Harry; R. E., who owns part of the farm which Harry Dowlen operates; John S., who lives with his father; Coma, who also lives at the old homestead, and Erma, who is dead. Mrs. Dowlen died in 1904. She was a member and active worker in the Methodist Episcopal church, South.
Harry Dowlen was educated at the schools in Montgomery county, attending two terms of school at Murfreesboro. He began work for his living on his father's farm and in 1905 he saved enough money to buy some land for himself. This property in which he owned a one-third in- terest was one hundred and twelve acres in extent. After a time he sold this land and went to east Tennessee, where he bought a one-third in- terest in four hundred acres. He only remained in that part of the
Iff Gelagert
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state for a year, and on his return to Montgomery county he purchased his present farm of one hundred and thirty-four acres. In the August after his return he was elected magistrate, and now sixty-six years in this office have been rounded out by the men of his family, for his father and grandfather held the office before him. Mr. Dowlen has served the public in other capacities, at the age of twenty-one being elected consta- ble, an office which he held for four years. Wheat and tobacco are his principal crops and he has met with great success in the cultivation of both commodities. This year he has forty-six acres planted in tobacco. Mr. Dowlen has never cared to take a very active part in fraternal affairs, but he is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, affiliating with the Clarksville chapter, No. 601.
On the 13th of February, 1911, Mr. Dowlen was married to Ruth Marshall, of Tullahoma, Tennessee. Mrs. Dowlen is a daughter of W. A. Marshall, who is a wealthy and prominent resident of Tullahoma, having been mayor of that city for twenty years.
JOHN HORATIO CLAGETT. Probably no member of the Hickman county bar is better or more favorably known than he whose name introduces this review. His grandfather came from the state of Mary- land in 1817 and settled on Lick creek in Hickman county, where he was one of the first white men to enter land. After a residence of a few years there he removed to Bedford county, but some years later returned to Hickman county, where he was engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death in 1867. His son, Horatio Clagett, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born in District No. 2, Hickman county, January 18, 1819, and was one of a family of seven children. He was educated in the common schools of Hickman and Bedford counties and upon arriving at manhood formed a partnership with his brother and engaged in merchandising under the firm name of W. G. & H. Clagett at Centerville. This association lasted for almost fifty years. In 1847 Horatio Clagett and Elizabeth Montgomery were united in marriage. She was born at Charlotte, Dickson county, Ten- nessee, in 1827. Of the seven children born to this marriage, five are still living. When the First National Bank was organized at Cen- terville in 1885, Horatio Clagett was elected the first president of the institution, which he held until the time of his death, December, 1912. About 1890 he disposed of his mercantile interests, and thereafter lived retired until his death. In his early years he was identified with the old Whig party, and after that organization was discontinued he affiliated with the Democratic party. His church relationship was with the Methodist Episcopal denomination, South, of which his wife was also a member until her death in February, 1908, and he was a Mason.
John Horatio Clagett, the fifth child of his parents, was born at Centerville, June 4, 1859, and received his elementary education in
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the schools of his native county. He then attended Vanderbilt Uni- versity at Nashville, Tennessee, for two years, after which he entered the law department of the University at Lebanon, Tennessee, from which institution he received the degree of LL. B. in 1881. The same year he was admitted to practice at Centerville and formed a partnership with J. A. Bates, which association lasted until 1890, when Mr. Clagett removed to Union City. Three years later he returned to Centerville, where he practiced alone for some time and then formed a partnership with W. B. Flowers, now of Nashville, Tennessee. In 1912 the present firm of Knight & Clagett was formed and it occupies a prominent place in the legal affairs of Hickman and adjoining counties. For more than thirty years Mr. Clagett has been engaged in the practice of his chosen profession in his native state. His university training gave him the groundwork for a thorough understanding of the law, and his studies since leaving college have placed him among the well equipped attorneys of Tennessee. Conscientious in looking after the interests of his clients, careful in the preparation of his cases, and energetic in all matters pertaining to his business, he has achieved a measurable success in a practice that has covered practically all branches of the law.
Mr. Clagett is a Democrat in his political views, a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, and belongs to Sam Davis Lodge, No. 158, Knights of Pythias, of Centerville. In political, church and fraternal circles he has made many friends by his courteous demeanor and genial disposition.
JOSEPH E. JUSTICE. Whatever the vocation or calling, it is efficiency that finally determines the question of success. The profession of law requires a strong mentality and a keen discriminative ability, but it is only when such native talents are combined with patient study, investi- gation, training in reasoning and with a large capacity for the most laborious attention to detail that the lawyer attains a distinctive position in his profession. Well qualified in these different directions for the profession of his choice, Joseph E. Justice, of Ashland City, Tennessee, has won a foremost place at the Cheatham county bar. He is not only an able lawyer but is a representative of the native talent of Tennessee and of his own immediate vicinity, for he was born in the 13th civil dis- trict of Cheatham county, the date of his birth being May 17, 1866. He is also a representative of pioneer connections in this vicinity of Tennes- see and on the paternal side is a scion of Virginia ancestry, while his mother's people, the Hilands, were originally North Carolinians. The first of the Justice family here were the grandparents of Joseph E., both of whom were Virginians by birth and migrated to Tennessee in an early day. Their son James E., the father of our subject, became one of the prominent and well known men of Cheatham county. He was born in Coopertown, Robertson county, Tennessee, in 1834, and spent
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many years in the profession of teaching, being superintendent of public instruction in Cheatham county at the time of his death in 1869. In po- litical faith he was first a Whig, but on the breaking up of that party he became aligned with the Republican party. He wedded Ann J. Hi- land, who was born in Cheatham county, Tennessee, in 1832, and sur- vived her husband many years, passing away in 1905 at the age of seventy-three. She was a member of the Presbyterian church, while Mr. Justice affiliated with the Missionary Baptist church. They became the parents of four children, three of whom are yet living, namely : Mrs. Effie Carroll, who resides in Dickson county, Tennessee; Joseph E. Jus- tice, of this review ; and Mrs. Jennie Cooley, whose home is near Union City, Tennessee. The parents of Mrs. Justice were George W. and Mar- tha A. (Morris) Hiland, the former of whom was a native of North Carolina and came to Robertson county, Tennessee, as a pioneer, becom- ing an extensive farmer and large slave holder there. Mrs. Hiland was born in Robertson county, this state.
Joseph E. Justice grew up in Cheatham county, receiving his literary education at Ashland City and Dickson and his preparation for law at Cumberland University, Lebanon, Tennessee, from which institution he was graduated in 1904. He began the practice of law at Ashland City as a partner of J. C. Wilson, but later the firm dissolved and since 1906 Mr. Justice has continued his professional labors there alone. He is ad- mitted to practice in all the courts and has demonstrated that ability as a lawyer that places him among the leading members of the Cheatham county bar. He is the legal representative of the Ayer & Lord Tie Company, which is very extensively engaged in the timber business in this section, and he was one of the organizers and one of the first direct- ors of the Ashland City Bank & Trust Company, in which he yet re- tains an interest. Mr. Justice has been largely dependent upon his own resources in making his way in life and has employed them to that advantage that today he is a man of competence, as well as a lawyer of well established reputation and practice. In political views he is a Democrat and a staunch supporter of his party, and at one time was the Democratic candidate for the office of attorney-general of the ninth judicial district. Fraternally he is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and has filled the executive offices in the local lodge of each of these orders.
In November, 1897, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Justice and Miss Lula Lenox, daughter of Judge J. J. Lenox, who was a prominent member of the Cheatham county bar for many years and was also a wealthy farmer. Mrs. Justice, who was a devoted and consistent mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal church, South, died in December, 1904, leaving three children : Kathleen, James E., and Mary A., all of whom
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